BSI305 1.8 4 1 5CC BSISO^ 1 '■\ fi ev -Jki 4lijt,s\s^ >.y. . <^*-** ex-' \Jei-ie-' 267 COLERIDGE (Rev. Jolm, of Ottcry) Miscellaneous Dissertations on Judges XVII and XVIII, Author's MS. Corrections, 8vo, old ccdf, 5s^ scarce '_ Privately PrjMed, 1768_ MISCELLANEOUS DISSERTATIONS, ARISING FROM THE XVIIth and XVIIIth Chapters OF THE BOOK of JUDGES, B Y The Rev. Mr. J O H N C O L E ]^ I D G E, Vicar of, and Schooimafter at, Ottery St, Mary,Devon. v^' LONDON: Printed for the AUTHOR. M Dec LXVIII. / T O T H E HONOURABLE and RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD, FREDERIC, LORD BISHOP OF EXON, THESE DISSERTATIONS ARE, BY HIS LORDSHIP'S APPROBATIONT, HUMBLY DEDICATED, BY HIS LORDSHIP'S MOST DUTIFUL, OBEDIENT, AND OBLIGED SERVANT, JOHN COLERIDGE. SUBSCRIBERS NAMES. REvd. Gerveys Allen, curate of Wendion Revd. Mr. Afkew, redor of Blendwofth Sir John St. Aubyn,bart. of Ciowance, Cornwall Revd. John Allen, South- Molton Mr. John Adams of Marian- lleigh B. Revd. George Baker, arch- deacon of Totnes Richard Baker, Efq; of Pen- ryn, Cornwall, colledlor of excife Revd. Thomas Baker Mrs. Catherine Behenna, Penryn Revd. Hugh Bennet Revd. Thomas Bifhop, M. D. V. of South Molton Revd. Mr. Biakeof Fairway, four b'.'oks Revd. George Bent of Ex- bourne, DevonHiire Mrs.Mnrgaret Biackmore of Bilhop'-Nymet, widow Revd. John Bond of Credi- ton Mr. Richard Bovet of Wel- lington, furgeon William Brereton of Bath, Efq; Captain Edward Brereton. Revd. Mr. Bradford of Pin- hoe, two books Mr. Arthur Brown, bookfel- ler, of Honiton Revd. Richard Bryan, B.D. redor of Eaft-Worling- ton Mr. Nicholas Brooks of Exe- ter, merchant Revd. James Buckingham of Stirhians Mrs. Bulier of Downs, Cre- diron, Cornwall John Bulier of Morwall, Cornwall, Efq ; four books Francis Bulier, Efq; Mr. Thomas Bulley, mer- chant Revd. Mr. Buncombe, Otte- ry. Revd. Mr. Barrington, vicar of Chudleigh Francis Balfei of Trehiddv, Efq; Cornwall Revd. Daniel Batwell, Lon- don John Ralph Battle, Efq; London Mr. John Binn, London William Black, Efq; London Revd. Richard Bawden, South-Molton Revd. John Burgefs Revd. Dennis Buckinghaai, redor of Charles A 3 R?vd. SUBSCRIBE Revd. Thomas Barnes, rec- tor ot Rackcnford Mr. SarriuelBadcock,South- Mclton Mr. Hugh Bowdon of Hol- land Mr. John Berry of Swim- bridge. , .^ Rt. hon. vifc. lord Courtenay 'R^ hon. lady Courtenay Revd. Mr. Carrington,chan' ceiior of the diocefe of Exon Mr. Daniel John Cailler of Exeter, merchant Mr. John Carterof Rofe-Afh Revd. Mr. John Carlycn of Truro AmosCalinrd cf Ford, Efq; Mr, James Cornifh of Teign- moutn Mr. John Carpenter of Ta- vyton, near Tavyliock Mr. Co>yndon Carpenter, of Launcefton Mr. William Chowne Mr. John Chuichillof Ot- tery St. Mary Mr. Roherr Clapp, ditto Maf^er Geori;e Clapp, ditto Mii5 Sarah Ciapp, ditto Richd.Coplefione ofKnight- ilone. Efq; ditto Mrs. Joanna Copleftone, dir. Mr. John Chapman of Pid- dle- town, furgeoa Revd. Mr. Chichefter, rec- tor of George Ham and Sbervvell RS NAMES. Lady Chichefler of Sand« ford Mr. Collins of Exeter, apo- thecary Revd. Mr. Cooke of Mary- Clyft, four books Edward Coode, junior, Efq; Penryn, Cornwall Mrs. Elizabeth Clies, Pen- ryn, Cornwall William Crowgley, Efq; Penryn, Cornwall Mrs. Cummins oi Penrofe, Cornwall Mofes da Cofta, Efq; Lon- don, two books Revd. William Churchward, reflor of Goodleigh Revd. John Curdiffe, A.M. leCtoT of Ring's A(h Mr. William Cooke, CIo- velly Revd. Roger Challice, at Mayfield, near Lewes, Suf- fex, fix books D. John Duke, cf Ctterton, Efq; four bocks Mifs Dicks of Exeter Lady Drake, los, 6d. Mifs Anne Duke Mils Sarah Duke of Knlght- ftone Mrs. Dodge of Elfordleigh Mr. Thomas Drake, gtnt. of Culliton Mr. Charles Davy, North- Mr. Samuel Dunning,South- Molton Mr. SUBSCRIBE Mr. William Dale, South- Molton Mr. William Dewey, Ar- lington, t*o books P- Mr. John Enys of En^, Cornwall, 4 books Mr. James Efcotr, merchant Revd. Dr. Ellifton, mafter of Sidney-Suirex college, Cambridge Revd. Mr. Ewings of Feni- ton Mr. Ellfot of Ottery Revd. Mr. Evans of Apple- door. F. Henry Fry of Deer-park, Efq; Mr. Ford of Exeter, two books Mr. Furlong, furgeon and apothecary of Exerer Mr. Thomas Furlong, ju- nior, of Exeter Revd. Mr. Ford of Off-hall Revd. William Ford, redor of Northleigh Revd. Dr. Fynes of More- ton-Hampfiead, D. D. Mr. Charles Fynes, in Ox- ford Revd. fames Flexman, vicar ofNcnh-Multon G. Thomas Gibfon of Gittif- ham, Efq; James Garrett, EHq; Mr. Thomas Gibbons of Ottery St. Mary RS NAMES. Mr. William Govier of Bi- fhops-Nymet Thomas Glynn, junior, Efq; of Hclfton Mr. Nicholas Geare, chap- ter-clerk of Exeter Thomas Gildeart, Efq- Lon- don Mr. John Gofs, merchant William Henry Guyon,Efq; London James Godin, Efq; ditto Peter Gaulfon, Efq; ditto Mr. Lewis Glave, ditto Mr. Timothy Griffies, clerk of Comb- Martin H. Revd. John Hockin ofOke- hamptcn Revd. William Hole, arch- deacon of Barnftaple Revd. Mr Hatherly of Col- liton Revd. Mr. Hill of Ko- niton Revd. Charles Harvvard of Tallaton Mrs. Heath of Ottery St. Mary Revd. Charles Hutton, redor of George Nympton Mifs Jenny Holmes Mifs Nancy Holmes A'"thur Koidfworth, Efq; Southcot Hallet, Efq; Revd. Rich^^rd Hallet of Axmouth Revd Mr. Hobbs cf Colli- ron Rawi^igh Revd. SUBSCRIBE Revd. Sampfon Harris, cu- rate of Falmouth Revd. Mr. Horfenden, near Toiringron, Devon. Revd. M. Hurell, redlor of Drewfteignton Mrs. Mary Hearle, Penryn, Cornwall William Hill of Carwarthe- wick, Efq; Revd. John Hofkin, vicar of Manaccan Revd.Mr. Henvill, re xviii. 10} ycviii. 8} xcvi. 115 Nahum i. 5, to whom we owe the foUowhjg inftances. wax DISSERTATIONS. 5 wax at the prefence of God. The God of the prophets doth not ride over the level waves, in a fwift chariot, like Neptune, but comes flying upon the wings of the wind ; while the floods clap their hands, and the hills and forefts, and earth and heaven, all exult together before their Lord. In what unin- fpired writer is the univerfal prefence of the Infinite Mind reprefented in fo exalted a man- ner as in the divine poet P " Whither fhall I " go from thy prefence ? If I climb up into " heaven, thou art there I If I go down to « hell; lo! thou art there alfo. If I take " wings f, and fly toward the morning, or *' remain in the uttermofl: parts of the weft- « ern ocean ; even there alfo thy right-hand « ftiall hold me." f Our tranflation ftands thus : If I take the nvings of the morn' vigf and fly to the uttermofl parts of the fea. But the imngs of the morning have nothing to do with what the Scripture calls the uttermnfl fea, that is the Weilern Ocean. Our poet in the ori- ginal, and tranflation of the LXX, continues an antithefis with, " Though I fly to the fartheft eaft, where the morning fii-ft " dawns, to the utmoft limits of the weftern ocean." B 3 The 6 MISCELLANEOUS The fubjeclion of all created nature to the great Creator's will, is beautifully impreffed on us by this ferfomfication. " To fay that the " lightning obeyed the command, of God, " would of itfeif be fufficiently fublime ; but *^ a Hebrew bard expreffes this idea with far " greater energy and life : Canft thou fend *' lightings^ that they may go^ and fay unto thee^ " Here we are. How animated 1 how em- " phatical is this unexpected anfwer, — Here " WE ARE. — And how daring is this figure, " when Destruction and Death fay (of *' Wifdom) We have heard the fame thereof with ** our earsP See Job xxviii. 22. Permit me to add, from the Adventurer re- ferred to. thefe excerpts out of the Scriptures. " Tlie fun rifmg and breaking in upon the *' fhades of night, is compared to a bride- *' groom iflliing out of his chamber, in allu- " fion to the Jewifn cuftom of uihering the " bridegroom from his chamber at midnight, " with great folemnity and fplendor, pre- '< ceded by the light of innumerable lights *' and torches. How is the divine favour *^ painted by the following fimilitudes : / " will DISSERTATIONS. 7. <* will be us the dew unto Judca. Hefidllgrow up " as a lilly* His branches Jhall fpread^ and his «' beauty jhall be as the oliroe tree^and his fmell like " Mount Lebanon f. — Not one of the Grecian « poets has fpoken fo feelingly, fo eloquently, " or fo elegantly of beauty, as the emperor « Solomon of his miftrefs or bride, in images " perfectly original and new. Thy hair^ fays « he, is a flock of goats that appear from Mount " Gileadj where we may fee her light-yellow *' treffes wantoning by the wind around her " neck. Thy teeth are like a flock cf fheep^ that are « evenfhorn^ which come up from the wafJ^ing-, by « which fimilitude their exacl equality, even- " nefs and whitenefs, are juftly reprefented. *« Thy neck is like the tower of David, budded for " an armory ; whereon there hang a thoufand buck- " lers, allfhields of mighty men ; that is, ftraight " and tall, adorned with golden chains and " the richefl jewels of the Eaft. T!hy tzuobreajls ** are like two young roes, that are twins, which *' feed among the lillies ; the exquifite elegance " and propriety of which fimilitude need not " be pointed out, and cannot be excelled." f See Hofeaxlv. 5. B 4 I fliall 8 MISCELLANEOUS I fliall add only one comparifon, taken from Job, that our tranflation may be illuftrated. My friends have dealt treacheroully with me. They are like torrents, which when fwoln and increafed with winter-lhowers, promife great and unfailing plenty of wa- ters; but, in the times of violent heats, fuddenly are parched up and difappean The traveller in the defarts of Arabia feeks for them in vain. The troops of Sheba looked, the caravans of Teme waited for them. They came to the accuftomed fprings for relief; they were confounded j they pe- rifhed with thirfl." To- prove that the hiftory contained in the Scriptures is the moil remote, as well as moll true, is needlefs ; and, in the opinion of Cicero, would be culpable, lince he juftly thinks it blame-worthy to cite unneceflary proofs upon fubjed:s not at all difputed ; and the fame obfervation will hold of the antiqui- ty of its geography, and the morality of its dodlrines. That it is full of Jewiih old cuf- toms and idioms, I may elucidate by extract- ing only the feventeenth and eighteenth chap- ter DISSERTATIONS. 9 ter of Judges, where the account of Micah's fetting up his images, and entertaining a prieft in his houfe, feems, at firft fight, not very de- ferving of record ; and the other part of the relation is not only dark and abftrufe, but conveys to the mind an uneafy doubt, whe- ther idolatry was not here unrebuked by God himfelf ; iince the Danites who carried away Micah's images, — in order to provide them- felves with a public worfhip, — were notwith- ftanding profperous in their cnterprize. This part of Scripture is therefore certainly worthy of an examination ; and amongft ma- ny other dilTertations, which will branch out from the body of this compofition, and which are intended to pleafe the reader by their va- riety, will eftablifh thefe following points of ancient knowledge to us. I. That the Jews, beiides their taberna- cle, and, in later times, temple, had in every city and large town a fynagogue ; and in almoft every village, and in fome fami- lies of diftindion, a frofeucha ©r praying- houfe. 2. A TO MISCELLANEOUS 2. A praying -houfe, as well as the temple, is in fcripture - language ftiled, " an houfe of *^ God." 3. Thefe praying - houfes were furnifhed fomewhat in imitation of the tabernacle, af- terwards the temple at Jerufalem, according to the riches and ability of the village and fa- mily. 4. A Levite was generally the prieft in thofe profeuchas, who wore an ephod of linteiim^ or common linen, though not of hyj[us^ or fine- twined linen. 5. A Levite in thofe houfes was prieft, but not a facrificing prieft ; and in the profeucha was an altar or pillar, but not for facrifice. The altar was only a fymbol, that the people, who met there to pray, v/ere in allegiance to the God of heaven. 6. The Jews had a reafonable opinion, that angels are converfant in an houfe of God, ap- pointed by God, as good genii, to protect the wor- DISSERTATIONS. n worfhippers. Tliefe angels are in Scripture fometimes fliled Elohim ; and fometimes the One God only, in the fingular number as to fenfe, is ftiled Elohim, according to the Eafl- ern fublimity of expreilion. c: II A P. 12 MISCELLANEOUS CHAP. II. ^ Bigreffion concerning Names, BU T before we proceed with our proofs on thefe heads, we fliall obferve, that the man's name in the original. Judges xvii. I, 4, is Michajehu, and Michah in other parts of the chapters 5 or Micah "^j if you exprefs the Hebrew letter caph by c only. It is ufu- al, indeed, with the Hebrews, to alter names of men and places, i. By addition of fome paragogical f letter or letters. Thus Elijah in * Caph proniinciatur ut ')^ Grsecorum, vel k (five c durum) Anglorum. Benmfs Heb. Gram. p. i. The Englilh fpelling, therefore, may ftand, and I have followed it accordingly. f Sex literae H 1 M H S^ ^^^^^ paragogicae, & fini vocum euphoniae causa faepe adduntur. Buxtorfs Heb. Gram. p. 4,. To thefe we may add inemi, Thus the city Laifli, in Judges xviii. 27, is called Lefliem in Jofli. xix. 47. Thefe letters are not only added to the end, as it feems to be implied by the word paragogical, but to the beginning or middle of the word. 1 he Rev. Dr. Kennicott, a man who really does an honour to the DISSERTATIONS. 15 the original is generally Elijahu ; Ofliea or Hofliea, Deut. xxxii. 44, is new-named Jo- ihua or Jehofliua, Numbers xiii. 16, which word fignifies a deliverery and denotes that he was appointed by God to deliver the If- raelites from their natural enemies ; whence twice in the New Teftament, viz. in Acts vii. 45, and in Heb. iv. 9, he is called Jefus ; tho' for diftinclion's fake, in my opinion, it would have been better to have tranflated the word Jqfhuay in thofe places, left the fliadow fhould be taken, by common and inattentive minds, for the fubftance j the faviour of the Ifra- his college, to his unlverfity, to his country, to his age, and to learning itfelf, in his diflertations entitled The State of the printed Hebrenv Text oftheOldTeJia7nent confidered, has obferved, (fee Vol. I. page 24, a 8, 36, 83,) that the letter Vau is often inferted i/7, or dii'O^t fronty words in the facred writings. He obferves alfo, an infertion of Aleph ; and of Jod it is evident in Michajehu inftead of Micah ; and thofe other fubfervient letters, by obfer- vation may poffibly be found to be inferted or dropt alfo. In thefe Differtations, which have already vifited a greater part of the known world, he has beyond the power of jangling con- tradi6tion proved, that very furprifing errors have been in- ti'oduced by copyifts; and has demonjRirated many alterations to be only corruptions, occafioned by the carelefsnefs of tran- fcribers, who were often milled by the fimilitude in the for- mation of fome Hebrew letters, elites r4 MISCELLANEOUS elites for the Saviour of the world, or all the true Ifraelites of God. 2dly, By fubtraclion of a letter or letters, efpecially the firfl. Thus Jeconiah, in Jer. xxii. 24, is named Coniah. 3dly, By putting one letter for another, where by chance errors have been introduced by the inadvertency of transcribers, and the great likenefs of forae Hebrew letters to one ano- ther. Thus Berodack, in 2 Kings xx. 12, is the fame with Merodack, in Ifai. xxxix. r. Nebuchadrezzar is the fame man with Nebu- chadnezzar; Ahimelech, 2 Sam. viii. 17, is the fame with Abimelech, t Chron. viii. 16. 4thly, By the common change of vowels. Thus Uzziah, 2 Chron. xxvi. i. Ifai. i. i, is the fame as Uzzah, 2 Kings xxi. 26, and is called Ozias, Matt. i. 8, and Azariah, 2 Kings xv. i, and xiv. 2 r. 5thiy, By tranfpofition of letters. Thus Ammiel, i Chron. iii. 5. is the fame as Eliam, 2 Sam. xi. 3. — I ihall here prefent the reader with a Ihort table of men or women, who, through thefe caufes, and their having two names (as will be hereafter proved) are mentioned in one place of Scripture by one of their names, and in another place by ano- ther, which he may enlarge at his ov/n plea- fur e ; DISSERTATIONS. 15 fure; only obferving, that the difference of fome of thefe names hath been occafioned by the corruptions of heedlefs tranfcribers. Ahaziah, i Chron. iii. 11, ^ Amminadab, i Chr. vi. 22, Araunah, 2 Sam. xxiv. 18, Caleb, I Chron. ii. 18, 19, Uanie], 1 Chron. iii. i, Efarhaddon, Ezr. iv. 2, Elhbaal, 2 Chron. viii. 33, Gideon, Judges vii. t. Jehoahaz, 2 Kings x:dii. 30, Jehoiakim, i Chron. iii. 15, Jethro, Exod. iii. i, Joah, I Chron. vi. 20, 21, Joel, 2 Sam. viii. 2, Jozadar, 2 Kings xii. 21, Mephibolheth, 2 Sam. iv. 4, Sahnanaffar, 2 Kin. xviii. 9, Sarah or Sarai, Gen. xi. 29, Sennacherib, 2 Ki. xviii. 13, Tamar, 2 Sam. xiv. 27, Zedckiah, 2 Kings xxiv. 17, I Chron. iii. 15, Zerubbabel, Ezr. v. ii, Zimri, i Chron. ii. 6, . Azariah, 2 Chron. xxii, 6, Izhar, 1 Chron. vi. 37, 38. Oman, i Chron. xxi. 18. Carmi, i Chron. iv. i. Chileab, 2 Sam. iii. 3. Afnapper, Ezr. iv. 10. Iflibofheth, 2 Sam. ii. 8. Jeriibbaal, Judg. vii. i. Shallum, Jer. xxii. ii. Eliakim, 2 Kings xxiii. 34. JRuel, Exod, ii. 18. /Raguel, Numb. x. 29. Ethan, i Chron. vi. 42. Vadini, i Chron. vi.23, Zabad, 2 Chron. xxiv, 2^. Meribbaal, i Chron. viii. 34* Shalman, Hof. x. 14. Iicah, Gen. xi. 29. Sargon, Ifai. xx. i. Maacha, i Kings xv. 2. K Mattaniab, 2 Ki. xxiv. 17. Shelhbazzar, Ezr. v. 14, 16. Zabdi, Jofli. vii. i. It is evident alfo that the Jews gave tv.'o or three names to every perfon of note. Thus, Acl i. 23, we read of Jofeph who was called Barfabas, and furnamed Juftus ; that is, he was known by the name of Jofeph Barfabas Julius. Jofeph was the name, nomen^ given to him probably at his circumcilion ; Barfa- bas the famiJy-name, which he derived from his i6 MISCELLANEOUS his father, viz. his agnomen ; and Juftus was his furname or cognomen^ given generally from fome quality of the man, or accident of life. Some men had a great many of thefe furnames : thus Solomon was called Jedid- jah, or Favourite of God, 2 Sam. xii. 25. Lemuel, or a Man taught of God, Prov. xxxi. I, as learned men agree upon the place. Choheleth, or the Preacher, Eccl. i. i. Yea, fome will have him to be Agur, Prov. xxx. i, that is, a man coUeded or recovered from his idolatry, into which he had been drawn afide ; and in fuch cafe his mother is, called Jakah, from her obedience to him, ^nd gather- ing of him to her by prudent counfels, which flie is fuppofed to give in the next chapter. There was alfo among the difciples of Chrift, Judas Ifcariot : another difciple Avas called Thomas Didymus, John xi. 16, and xx. 24. If we compare the names of the apoftles in Matt. X. 2,3, 4, and Acls i. 1 3, we fliall find that Simon the Canaanite was called Simon Zelotes; and that Judas the brother of James was called Lebbeus, and furnamed alfo Thad* deus ; and yet he is mentioned by his name Judas w/k in one of the places, and by Leb- beus DISSERTATIONS. 17 beus Thaddeus in the other. Hence it beyond contradiction appears, that in two different places of Scripture, the fame man is fome- times mentioned by different names. — If we compare Matt. ix. 9, and Mark ii. 14, w^e fiiall find that the fame man was called Matthew and Levi. And as Jefus faffed forth from thence y he faio a man named Matthe%u fitting at the receipt ef cuftom ; and he faith unto him^ Fol- low me ; and he arofe and foUoived him. And it came to pafs as he fat at meat in his houfe^ See. Matt. ix. 9, ro. And^ as he faffed by^ he faw Levi the f on of Alfheus fitting at the receift of cuf tomy and f aid unto him^ Follow me. And he arofe and followed him. And it came to fafs^ that as Jefus fat at meat in his houfe^ &c. Mark ii. 14, 15. — All men confefs, and indeed it is felf- apparent on a flight comparifon, that St. Mark's Gofpel is barely an abridgment of that of St. Matthew. That the tranfaction recorded by thefe two Evangelifls in the above-cited places, is one and the fame, is as clear as circumfiances can make any thing whatever. — In each Evangeliff the ferfon fits at the receipt of cuftom, who is called to be a difciple immediately after our Saviour's C curing iB MISCELLANEOUS curing a man of the palfy. This ferfon in facb is a publican, who provides a dinner, where many publicans are prefent. The fame reflection is made by the Pharifees in each place, and the fame anfwer retorted on them. It muft be therefore very certain, that Matthew was called Levi, and menti- oned by one of his names in one place of Scripture, and by his other name in ano- ther. Again, almoft all learned men agree, that Bartholomew the Apoflle was Nathaniel the Ifraelite^ in whom zuas jio guiky John i. 47. And in this aflertion they are llrongly au- thorifed, not only by his being peculiarly called, as all the chofen difciples of Chrift were; but alfo by John xxi. 2, where Na- thaniel by name is reckoned aviongfl thefe chofen difciples. Indeed we do not always read both thefe names ; but, v/henever it is necelTary to diftinguiih them from others, the diftinguiiliing name is generally added. I may obferve alfo, that as Bar is the Chal- dee-Hebrew word for fon^ it is probable that words beginning with Bar may be the DISSERTATIONS. t^ the family-name, in the fame manner as words beginning with mac are in Scotland and Ireland, or words ending with fon are in England, in Johnfon, Richardfon, Willi- amfon, Harrifon, &c. Hence we may well allow that the laft mentioned apoftle was called Nathaniel Bartholomew. In this man- ner we read Acls xv. 22, of Judas Barfabas, who is thereby diftinguiihed from Judas If- cariot, as well as from Judas Lebbeus Thad- deus. In the fame manner we find that Si- mon, afterwards furnamed Peter, was called Simon Barjona, to diilinguifli him from the other difciple called Simon Zelotes. — This cuftom alfo was very ancient ; for Jofephus exprefsly tells us, that Jethro §, the father- in-law of Mofes, Exod. iii. i, or (as he ren- ders it in his Greek exprefiion) Jethegl(ZUSj was the furname of Raguel or Reuel, Exod. ii. 18; or by chance the family -name ^ iince IttikXyiixoc properly fignifies a name fuper-added to the former, whether furname or family- name. From thefe proofs it is put beyond Antiq. Lib. 2. Ca all 2G MISCELLANEOUS all difpute, that Jewifh men and women had fometimes, if not always, two or more names J and that it is ufual in the Jewiih in- fpired writers, to mention the fame perfon fometimes by one name, and fometimes by another ; and of confequence that we have one key for refolving fome recondite places of Scripture, In Mark ii. 25, 2^, we have thefe words: Have ye never read what David did^ when he had needy and was an hungred f How he went into the houfe of God, in the days of Abiathar the high'priefly and did eat the fhew-bread. — But we fee in i Sam. xxi. i, and the following verfes, that Abimelech was at that time high-prieft. — This feeming inconfiRency will vanifh at once, by allov^ing, as we may well do, that the high-prieft was called Abimelech Abiathar^ and that therefore his fon, i Sam. xxii. 20, had the name of his father given to him ; which cuftom was as ufual to the Jews as with us, who gave to their children, and affumed when men, the names of their near- eft relations ; as we may fee in Luke i. 59, 60, 61, and in i Efdras v. 38, where we read that DISSERTATIONS. 21 that Addus married Augia, one of the daugh- ters of Berzerus, and then took the name of his father-in-law. Our Saviour in the place cited did nothing unufual when he called the high-priefl by one name, though he is mentioned in the book of Samuel by his other. Again, there have been great difputes, %vho that Zacharias, the fon of Barachias, might be, who is mentioned in Matt, xxiii. 35, as a very righteous man, flain between the temple and the altar. Our Saviour by his mention of Abel^ in conjunction with that Zacharias, feems to refer to fome righte- ous man of that name, who is recorded in Scripture. Some think this righteous man to be Zacharias the father of John the Baptiil, whom Baronius, from fome doubtful au- thors, affirms to be flain by Herod for not delivering up his fon v/hen the infants were maffacred. But this has fcarce one degree of probability on its fide ; fmce this facl, being fo important, would fcarce have been pafTed over in iilence by all the Evangelifts, and becaufe this Zacharias the fon of Bara- C 3 chias ti MISCELLANEOUS chias is faid by Chrift to be flain by the Jewgj, and not by Herod. Our Dr. Hammond would have him to be Zacharias the fon of Baruch, mentioned by Jofephus to be flain in the temple a little be- fore the diflblution of the Jewiih nation and the definition of the laft temple. -But this event mentioned by Jofephus happened after the death of Chrift ; whereas Chrill himfelf fpeaks not of a thing about to hap- pen, but which had happened already. Some others would have the man to be Zechary, the laft but one of the twelve pro- phets, who, Zech. i. i, is faid exprefsly to be the fon of Barachiah ; but many objections arife even here. For, ift, this prophet feems to be juft come from Babylon at the time of his prophefying. He prophefted in the fecond year of Darius, about the time of the reftoring of the Jews to their native land, and the rebuilding of the temple by Zorobabel, as the drift of the whole pro- phecy (fee chap, ii. 7, and iv. 9, and Ezra v. i.) declares : and though he might live to fee the DISSERTATIONS. 23 the temple repaired, yet it is not probable - that the Jews, fo foon after their captivity, ihould arrive to fo great wickednefs, as to kill God's prophet, who foretels nothing but en- fuing profperity to them ; and, 2dly, we nei- ther in Scripture, which, as we obferved be- fore, Chrift feems here to refer to, nor in any ancient Jewifli writer, can find that this prophet was put to death by the Jews. The perfon marked out by our Saviour, therefore, feems to be Zechariah, the fon of Jehoiada, mentioned in 2 Chron. xxiv. 20, 2 1, to have been flain by the Jews at the commandment of king Joafh, in the court of the houfe of the Lord, flying doubtlefs towards the altar for protection. In fuch cafe the name of Jehoiada, that worthy prieft and zealous worfhipper of his God, was Jehoiada Barachiah ; fo that Barachiah was the family- name. He was the father of a good fon, and probably of as good a grandfon, viz. of Zechariah, mentioned 2 Chron. xxvi. 5, to have underjlanding in the vifions of God, and whomlfaiah, chap. viii. 2, calls the fon of Jeberechiah. Indeed, it is probable that Ze- C 4 chary -4 MISCELLANEOUS chary the prophet, and by chance Zechary the father of John the Baptift, might be de- rived from this good family by a continual fucceffion in the priefthood. Let us hear the account given us of this matter. And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the Jon of Je- hoiada the priefl^ which flood above the people^ and fa'id unto them^ Thus fakh Gody Why tranf- grefs ye the commandments of the Lord^ that ye cannot prof per f Becaufe ye have forfaken the Lord^ he hath alfo forfaken you. And they confpired againfl him^ and floned him with flones at th^ commandmeyit of the k'lng^ in the court of the houfe of the Lord. Thus Joafly the king remembered not the kindnefs which Jehoiada his father had done unto him^ but flew his fon> And when he ciied^ he faid^ The Lord look ipon it^ and require it. 2 Chron. xxiv. 20, 21, 22. Thus Zechariah died in defence of the true worftiip of God, and therefore his blood may well be called righteous) and Our Saviour in the words cited, " that upon you may come all the « righteous blood," feems to refer to this holy man's laft words : " The Lord look upon " it, and require it." Other obfervations of this kind may be made j but thefe are fuf- ficient DISSERTATIONS. 25 ficient to fliew the ufefulnefs of fuch a table, if properly conducled and explained through- out the Scriptures, Another obfervation may Hand thus. We have feen from i Efdras v. 38, that it was ufual for the Jews to affume names, fome- times when adult, from fome kinfman ; and from Gen. x. 25, we may collect that names were fometimes^ and in all probability frequently given and fuperadded to the family name of a man from fome great occurrence in his time ; fince one of Eber's fons was called Pe- leg, which lignifies as a verb, he divided^ and as a noun, a thing divided^ becaufe in his days the earth was divided. Hence fome very in- genious men have with great fhew of reafon colleded occurrences from the name. Adam, we read, had his name from the red earth from which he was created. Eve receiv- ed her name, becaufe fie ivas the mother of all living. Eve, in her foolifli pride, call- ed her iirft-born fon Cainy i. e. acquifition^ becaufe flie imagined that fhe had acquir\ ed a man from the Lord : her notions of dei- ty had not yet fubfidcd; ihe thought her fon i6 MISCELLANEOUS fon like that Divine Appearance which flic once faw in the garden ; and that he was nothing lefs than an angel of God: or if God explained to Adam the redemption of man by the Mefliah, as a facrifice for fin, and ordered him to offer facrifices, as types of that great facrifice by faith in his merito- ous death to come*, then fhe fondly fup- pofed him to be the Mefiiah ; for her words may be better tranflated, / have gotten the man the Lord. She certainly fuppofed him to be the fon of God, by a wanton pride, who was the fon of the devil, and full of malice and mur- derous revenge. As Ihe thought fo highly of her firil-born fon, fo llie feems to have entertained poor notions of her fecond fon Abel, if we may judge by the fignification of the name, which denotes vanity, or eva- nefcence, — —A full proof of that error which had after the fall poileffed the human mind. But if we fuppofe that names were firfi: impofcd characleriftical of the man, and pre- didtive of feme great event, as all the Jewilh writers, with St. Paul, univcrfally explain them ; then we muft allow with Philo Ju- da:us, that Cain had his name of Acqiilfttiony ' becaufe DISSERTATIONS. ij becaufe he feemed to himfelf to have ac- quired all things, and that his own merits were felf-fufficient ; and that Abel was fo called, becaufe he referred all things to God, confidered himfelf as vanity^ and his own offerings of no value without the atonement of the future facrifice. Hence by faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent facrifice than Cairij by which he obtained witnefs that he was righteous^ God teflifying of his gifts ^ by which he being dead yet fpeaketh, or preacheth, Heb. xi. 4. — And what doth he preach ? — but that men have been juftified in the fight of God, from the beginning of the world, by the blood of Chrift. And in what manner did God tefti- fy that the gifts of Abel were accepted ? — Why, fay the Jewifh do5lors^ with great ap- pearance of reafony by the appearing of the great light upon his facrifice. — Abel offered a lamb for a fin-oftering, and fliewed his hu- miliation ; but Cain offered not from the firft- fruits, but from fruits of inferior goodnefs, for a thankfgiving - offering, thinking his own merit felf-fufficient to atone the Deity. The 23 MISCELLANEOUS The name of Abel, as it lignifies evanefcence^ fliews alfo, that Abel fhewed in a figure the death and Ihedding of the blood of Chrift, as Seth, or fubjlitute^ raifed in the place of Abel, prefigured the refurrection and revi- vifcence of Chrifl. The next fon of Cain mentioned is Enoch, or a thmg dedicated to God, which implies that the divine worfhip was continued pure in his family. His fon was Irad, which St. Jerom explains, a city lying low^ or defcending ; which implies his humiliation alfo before God, if we fuppofe that names are chara^leriftic of the man and times, as in general they certainly were. Mehujael, his fon, is, by in- terpretation, troubled of God^ and feems to in- timate an introdud:ion of idolatrous wor- Ihip, and fome divine punifhment follow- ing it. His fon's name Methufael contains in it death and the grave from God^ and implies a farther increafe of idolatry, and a greater plague following it. Lamech implies in his name confumption^ and Ihews the troubles which the divine wrath had brought on the ground. This is the laft father that is men- tioned DISSERTATIONS, 29 tioned of the family of Cain, who married two wives, one called Adal^ from ornamental drefsy the other Zillah, from zvitty converfation. He begat three fons, Jabal, Jubal, and Tu- bal-cain ; all which names feem derived from a word which fignifies to be worn outy to be confumedy and intimates that the family in them was diminifhed by fome diforder, or confumed by toil and ftudy. Their fifter was called Naamah, viz. beauty and harmony^ who feems to be the ante-diluvian Venus, as Tu- bal-cain was their Vulcan. Men who are curious, may in the fame manner carry along the family of Seth, whofe firfl fon was called Enos, which fig- nifies mortal man^ and fhews that the family of Seth were confcious of the difmal effects of Adam's fall, and began to infi:itute pub- lick worfhip and prayer to the true God, He is fuppofed to be the firfi: patriarchal prieft; for, Gen. iv. 26, in his time began men to call upon the name of the Lord, Hence began that difi:incl:ion, that the defcendants of Seth v/ere called fons and daughters of Gody whereas the defcendants of Cain were Itiled 3^ MISCELLANEOUS ftiled fons and daughters of men, becaufe the former maintained the worfhip of God more pure, even unto the days of another Lamech, when, by means of intermarriages, an univerfal idolatry had almoft feized the world. Idolatry being waflied away by the univer- fal deluge, the true religion was re-inftated by Noah, and came down with great pu- rity to Heber, who, according to the Jews, taught the Noachical precepts and divine laws with great exa^lnefs ; for, as the learned Francis Lee^ in his Difiertations, vol. II. fome- where obferves, the grandfon of Shem is called Salah, that is, one fent of God. By him the prophetical or prieilly college, where the precepts of Noah were taught, feems fupported. Hence in the Arabic hiftorians, and apocryphal pieces, he is called Sala, the prophet of God, The fon of Sala was Heber, that is, a filgri?n or pajfenger j fo that, in his name, Sala foretels that his feed Ihould^^ ever Euphrates into Canaan ; and as Shem, Gen. X. 2 r, is faid to be the father of all the children of Heber ; and as father is, by Jewifh writers, DISSERTATIONS. 31 Writers, attributed to a teacher or inJiru6lor ; it feems that all Hebcr's children were edu- cated in the religion of Noah by the inftitu- tion of Shem. In the days of Peleg the fon of Heber happened the confufion of languages, and the general difperfion or di- vifion of lands j whence Heber, from whom the Hebrews took their name, feems to be the laft man educated in, and a fupporter of, the fchool of Shem ; tho' probably the worfhip of the one true God continued in that family to the days of Reu, the feventh in line from Noah, whofe name may be in- terpreted the breaking off, Eufebius and Epi- phanius fay, the true religion began to be adulterated in the time of Serug the fon of Reu. Serug lignifies, a thing entwljled into another. Serug's fon was Nahor, which iig- nifies large nojlrils^ or a full nofe^ and {lands, by the fymbolical characters of the Hebrews, for fatience and long forbearance. By this name it looks as if the pure religion was much decayed, and God's patience exercifed. Terah his fon has the moon for the radix of his name. He by his attention to the hea- venly bodies feems fallen into aflral idolatry, 6 and 32 MISCELLx\NEOUS and probably from the afcendency of Saturn at the birth of his fon, might give him the name of Abram, or high father^ prognofticat- ing that he would be fome high doctor or great man 5 and if that fuppofition is true, it is not wonderful that God Ihould alter his name into Abraham, or the father of multi- tudesy by adding He^ the letter, fay the Jews, which imports fecundity. Abraham, amidft this idolatry, feems to have ftuck clofe to the dodrines of Heberj whence he is called Abraham the Hebrew or Heberite, and the friend of God. We may obferve alfo, that fathers firft built cities, and called them by the name of their fon. Thus Cain, Gen. iv. 17, builded a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his fon Enoch. In the fame manner Sichem or Shechem was probably built by HamoKy who gave it its name from his fon; whence it is ftiled Gen. xxxiv. 20, their city ; whereas before their time it is called the place of Sichem, Gen. xii. 6, or the place on which Sichem was afterwards built. This name is ufed then, wherever it occurs be- fore DISSERTATIONS. 33 fore the days of Hamor, by the facred fcribe, in the way of anticipation, that city being not before founded, though there might be a fmall town ; for all fortifiers or enlargers of towns are perpetually faid by the Eaftern t>eople to build them : hence when we read, I Kings xii. 25, that Jeroboam built Shecbeniy we muft underftand that he fecured and en- larged the town. Its name, which was given to the place or village by Abraham, was Morehy or Allon Moreb^ Interpreted by our tranllators, the -plain of Moreh; by Sti Hierom, the illuftrious vale or plain ; and by the Jcrufalem Targum, fhe valley of vi^bn (from tlH'l Raah, he hath feen) ; becaufe of the viiion of the glory of the Lord, which was there feen by Abraham, as foon as he came thither /rom Haran or Charran. Others render it the oak of Moreby the illiiflrious oak^ or the high oak. And it is Inore than probable, fays the learned Dr. Lee, that there \ras in this place a very fa- mous oak or tree of long duration, under which Jofhua afterwards ereded a facred monumental pillar, D But 34 MISCELLANEOUS But how fhall we reconcile this feeming contradiclion between Gen. xxxiv. 26, 2 7», Sec, where it is faid that Simeon and Leviy the fons of Jacob, took the city and fpoiled it, without the approbation of their father; and Gen. xlviii. 22, where Jacob himfelf is faid to take the city out of the hands of i/je Jmontey with his fwond and his bow f To reconcile thefe places, we may note, that the fons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, flew the males, and fpoiled the city of She- chem. On this Jacob, with good reafon, dreads an infurreclion of the people of the land ; and though it is not exprefsly men- tioned in the Scriptures, yet it plainly appears from this verfe, that the Amorites, or peo- ple belonging to king Hamor, feized the town after this mafiacre, and iffued forth to revenge their king's injury on Jacob; but that Jacob came off victorious, and took the town by force cf arms. Hence we fee the reafonablenefs of Dr. Kennicott's alteration in his Difl'ertations, vol. I. page 59, wherein he turns the words, Gen. xlix. 6, in their felf- will they digged down a wally and in their fay they DISSERTATIONS, 35 ihey deflroyed the -princes^ viz. Hamor and iShechem. For if this account is truly ftated, that Jacob took the town himfelf by his /word and his bow; then it is evident that his fons did not dig down the wall of it, except we imagine it to be built again by the Amorite's in the intermediate time. One very ufeful obfervation of an Hebrew idiom more I ihall make, which I have not met with in any author. We may obferve that. Gen. xlviii. 22, Jacob gave Jofeph one fortlon above his brethern. The word Shechem is the- word there ufed in the original for fortion^ and was certainly alfo the name of that town delivered to him over and above the fhare of his brethren. The Hebrews made ufe of one word to ferve a double end^ to exprefs the name of a town or many and at the fame time ^ without repeating the word^ to explain fow.e other idea. The words in Genefis fhould have been tranflated thus, to exprefs the force of the original : / have given thee Shechem^ as C7ie portion above thy brethren. The Septua* gint, who feem much more verfed in the original than our tranflators, exprefs this D 2 Hebrew 30 MISCELLANEOUS Hebrew idiom : 'Ey ihe herfelf employs a proper workman. — Being not able for the prefent to obtain a prieft, Micah, through neceflity, appoints one of his fons, till a Levite came, when he joyfully entertained a regular prieft ac* cording to the law of Mofes, and rejeded his fon. Some tinie after certain Danites paffed that way, as fpies of the part of the country yet unconquered. Thefe finding by the Levite, that Micah had an houfe of God, turned in to enquire about the event of their way, and obtained an anfwer of fuc- cefs. Thefe Danites execute their commif- fion, return and acquaint their brethren with the condition of the land, and people who inhabited it, and undertake to conduct then] to it. — The fpies knowing that there was no houfe of God in the place which they were about to feize, inform their brethren about Micah's houfe of prayer. They all being willing to fettle a divi'tie worihip amongft themfclves, carried off with them the furni- ture of Micah's frofeucha and his prieft, on tliis maxim, That a It^Jfer good ought to give way DISSERTATIONS. 41 it? a greater ; and accordingly conftituted ao houfe of God at Dan, formerly Laifti. CHAR XVIL tranflated. Verfe i. AND there was a man of mount Ephraim, whofe name was Micah. 2 And he faid unto his mother, The ele- ven hundred Ihekels of lilver that were taken by thee, and about which thou didft oblige me in a moil facred manner, and didfl alfo ftriclly charge me ; behold, the money is with me, I took it. And his mother faid, Bleffed be thou of the Lord, my fon. 3 And he reftored the eleven hundred fliekels of iilver unto his mother j and his mother faid, I wholly dedicated the filver unto the Lord, for my fon to make a graven things and a molten thing. Now therefore ihall I return it unto thee ? 4 So he reftored the money unto his mo- ther ; and his mother took two hundred flie- kels of filver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven thing, and a molten thing, and they were in the houfe pi Micah. 5 -'^"^ 42 MISCELLANEOUS 5 And the man Micah had an houfe of God, and made an ephod and teraphim, and confecrated one of his fons, who became his prieft. 6 In thofe days there was no governor in Ifrael ; but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. - 7 And there was a young man out of Bethlehem-Judah, of the tribe of Judah,who was a Levite, and he fojourned there. 8 And the man departed out of the city, evten from Bethlehem - Judah, to fojourn where he could find a place ; and he came to mount Ephraim, to the houfe of Micah, as he travelled. ^ And Micah faid unto him, Whence comefl thou ? And he faid unto him, I am a Levite from Bethlehem-Judah, and I go to fojourn where I fhall find a place. 10 And Micah faid unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me for a father and a priefi: ; and I will give thee ten Ihekcis of filver by the year, and a fuit of apparel, and thy vic- tuals. So the Levite went in. 11 And the Levite was content to dwell with the man, and the young man.waswith» tira. 12 And DISSERTATIONS. 43 12 And Micah confecrated the Levite, and the young man became his prieft, and was in the houfe of Micah. 13 Then faid Micah, Now know I that the Lord will do me good, feeing I have a Levite to my prieft. CHAP. XVm. tranflated. Verfe i IN thofe days there was no go- vernor in Ifrael : and in thofe days the tribe of the Danites fought them an inherit- ance to dwell in ; for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Ifrael. 2 And the children of Dan fent of their family five men from their coafts, men of valour, from Zorah and from Eflitaol, to fpy out the land, and to fearch it ; and they faid unto them. Go, fearch the land ; who when they came to mount Ephraim to the houfe of Micah, they lodged there. 3 When they were by the houfe of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Xievite, and they turned in thither, and faid unto 44 MISCELLANEOUS unto him, Who brought thee hither? and what doeft thou in this place ? and what haft thou here ? 4 And he faid unto them. Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priefl. 5 And they faid unto him, Aik counfel, we pray thee, of God ; that we may know, whether our way which we go. fhall be prof- perous. 6 And the prieft faid. Go in peace. Be- fore the Lord is the way which ye go. 7 Then the five men departed, and came to Laiili, and faw the people that were there- in; how they dwelt cardefs, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and fecure ; and there was no magiftrate in the land, that might put them to fhame in any thing ; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had no connexion with any man. 8 And they came unto their brethren, to Zorah and EiQitaol ; and their brethren faid unto them. What fay ye ? p And they faid, Arife, that we may go up againft them, for we have feen the land, and DISSERTATIONS. 45 and behold, it is very good ; and are ye ftill ? Be not Ilothful to go, and to enter to poiTefs the land. 10 When ye are come, ye fliall come unto a people fecure, and to a large land for you ; for God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of any thing that -is in the earth. 11 And there went from thence of the family of the Danites out of Zorah and out of Efhtaol fix hundred men, furnifhed with, weapons of war. 12 And they went up and pitched by Kirjath-jearim in Judah : wherefore they call- ed that place Mahaneh-Dan unto this day, — Behold, it is behind Kirjath-jearim. 13 And they paffed thence unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the houfe of Mi- cah. 14 Then anfwered the ^vc men that wen£ to fpy out the country of Laifh, and faid unto their brethren. Do ye not know that there is in thefe houfes an ephod anci tera- phim, and a graven thing, and a molten thing ? Now therefore confider what ye have to do. ^ 15 And 4<^ MISCELLANEOUS 15 And they turned thitherward, and they came to the houfe of the young maa the Levite, even unto the houfe of Micah, and faluted it. 16 An4 the fix hundred men furnifhed with their weapons of w^ar, which were of the children of Dan, ftood by the entering of the gate. 17 And the five men that went to fpy out the land, went up and came in thither, and took the graven thing, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten thing *, and the prieft flood at the entering of the gate with the fix hundred men that were furniflied with weapons of war. 18 But thefe (^ve) men went into Micah^s houfe, and fetched the carved thing, the ephod, and teraphim, and the molten thing. Then faid the prieft unto them. What do ye ? 19 And they faid unto him; Hold thy peace, lay thy hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a prieft. Is it better for thee to be a prieft unto the houfe of one man, or that thou be DISSERTATIONS. 47 be a priefl unto a tribe and a family in Ifrael ? 20 And the priell's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven thing, and went in the midll of the company. 21 So they turned and went their way, and put the youth, and what they had gotten, and the precious things, before them. 22 And w^hen they wxre a good way from the houfe of Micah, the men that were in the houfes near to Micah's houfe were call- ed together, and followed after the children of Dan. 2 3 And they called out unto the children of Dan, and they turned their faces, and faid unto Micah, What aileth thee, that thou Cornell with fuch a company ? 24 And he faid, Ye have taken away my divine furniture which I had prepared, and the prieft, and ye are going away. — And what have I left? And yet ye fay unto me, What aileth thee ? 25 And the children of Dan faid unto him. Let not thy voice be heard among us, left men 4^ MISCELLANEOUS men of paffionate minds fall upon thee, afld! thou lofe thy life, with the lives of thy houlhold. 26 And the children of Dan went their way; and when Micah faw they were too ftrong for him, he turned and went back unto his houfe. 2 7 And they took the things which Micah had made, and the prieft which he had, and came unto Lailh, unto a people that was at quiet, and fecure ; arid they fmote theni with the edge of the fword, and burnt the' city with fire. 28 And there was rio deliverer, becaufe it was far from Zidon, and they had no connexion with any man ; and it was in the Valley that lieth by Beth-rehod 5 and they built a city, and dwelt therein. 29 And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born unto Ifrael. Howbeit the name of the city was Laifh at the firft. 30 And the children of Dan fet up the graven thing ; and Jonathan the fon of Ger- ftiom, the fon of Mofes, he and his fonsr were DISSERTATIONS, 49 were priefts to the tribe of Dan, until the days of the captivity of the land. 31 And they fet up Micah's carved thing which he had made, all the time that the houfe of God was in Shiloh. %^ "5^ i > CHAP. ^o MISCELLANEOUS CHAP. IV. The Chronology of this Hi/lory, jHronology and geography are allowed to be the two eyes of hiilory. The time, in which thefe things of Micah and the Danites were tranfacled, evidently ap- pears to be iliortly after the death of Jofhua, about the year of the world 2500, or 1^60 years before Chrifl, by thefe reafons, I. The tabernacle of God is faid to be fet up at Shiloh, Jofli. xviii. i, and then Joftiua fets about the divilion of the land to the feverai tribes. In this divilion the lot of the tribe of the children of Dan is reckoned up, Joili. xix. 40 ; and this expedition of the Da- nites is mentioned verfe 47, as if it followed foon aftei'. S 2. When DISSERTATIONS. 51 2. When it is faid that the Levitc, whofe name probably was Jonathan, Judg. xviii. 30, and his fons were priefts all the time that the houfe of God was in Shiloh, it looks as if the iirft fetting up of the tabernacle was then in view 3, Since the Danites fent fpies, it appears thai; they had not been long enough in the land to be acquainted with it ; and therefore that this mufl happen foon after their fettle- ment. 4. We read in Judg. i. g, 22, 23, 24, &c. that, immediately after Jofhua's death, each tribe for himfelf was endeavouring to fubdue that part of the people belonging to the country allotted them by Jofhua, which re- mained yet unconqu.ercd, and alfo that fpies were commonly fent. This expedition of the Danites therefore was of the fame na- ture, and doubtlefs made in the fame time ; and fo this relation Ihould follow in order of time after the firft chapter of Judges.— Indeed, in many places of the hzvcd writ- ings there is a tranfpofing of rel-itions ; and £ 2 that S2 MISCELLANEOUS that is fometimes placed firft, which is done laft. To this purpofe the Hebrew doclors have long fince pronounced that there is neither before nor after in the law. Things are not related in Scripture accord- ing to regular fuccellion of time. Now, whereas it is faid that this Jonathan and his fon were priefts to the tribe of Dan, until the day of the captivity of the land, and it has been difputed what captivity of the land is here meant; it is to me clear, from the .laft verfe of the chapter, that it implies the carrying away of the people, and the taking of the ark by the Fhiliftines, when it had been fetched from Shiloh into the camp, in the laft day of the life of Eli ; which hap- pened in the year of the world 2850, or 11 10 years before Chrift. For the foflerity of Jona- than vjere priefts until the captivity of the land^ and Micah'^s furniture was in their praying-houfe^ while the ark of God ivas in Shiloh^ are expref- iions which refer to the fame time. This taking of the ark the Pfalmill alfo exprefsly calls a captivity^ in Pf. Ixxviii. 60, 6r., He for- fook the tabernacle of Shiloh^ the tent which he placed DISSERTATIONS. 53 placed among men ; and delivered his firenglh into captivity, and his glory info the enemies hands. COROLLARY. Since this affair happened probably in the next year after the death of Jofliua, and Jofhua was co-temporary with Mofes, and Gerfhon the fon of Mofes may be proved younger than Joiliua ; it is reafonable to think, that this Jonathan was the very fon of Gerfhon, and not one of his defcendants at a diftance, as Grotius will have it. — And here I fliall jufl take notice of one alteration which I have made in the tranllation, and obferve the refl as they happen to fall in my way- fince along differtation, or notes, on that head would appear too formal and dry to thofe men, who relifli only the pleafiirea- ble part of writing, though men of critical difpofitions can digefl the ufeful only. — I have in chap, xviii. 30, turned ManaJJeh into Mofes^ for thefe reafons. E 3 I. Becaufe 54 MISCELLANEOUS 1. Eeckufe in manufcripts, yea in Hebrew editions, the letter n in ManaJJes is fufpended as a fufpicious letter. In Arias Montanus it is printed thus nSt^^C* ^^ 7^" ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ letter, the word in Hebrew becomes Mofes. 2. Becaufe the Maforites amongft the Jews rejeded it, and afferted that Mofes^ not Ma- tiaffes^ is the right reading. q. Becaufe the alteration makes Scripture agree with Scripture ; for in Exod, ii. 22, and xviii. 8, and i Chron. xxvi. 24, Ger- fhon is faid to be the fon of Mofes. 4. Becaufe by the old tranflation a prieft is derived from Manaifes, contrary to God's commandment, who confined the priefthood to the tribe of Levi. CHAR DISSERTATIONS. 55 CHAP. V. A DigreJJion concerning rnfertlons in the Scriptures by Scribes, TH E Danites at this time after Joflma^s death had not obtained all the lot which. Joihua ailigncd them, and fent thofe fpies. And iince this happened after the death cf Jc- Jhua, we may find tl full proof, though hi- therto, as I imagine, un-noticed by any au- thor, that fime fart at leaft of the book' of jofhua was not written until fome time af- ter his death, but probably was compofed by the fame perfon who wrote the book of Judges. This expedition of the Danites happened after the death of Jofhua ; T^bere was then no governor i'n Ifra^L In verfe 6 of the xviith chapter, and verfe i of the viiith chapter, I have turned ?he word king into governor^ becaufe kingly power had not yet been fettled in the Jewifli flate ; but tlie gc- E 4 vernmei^ S6 MISCELLANEOUS vernment under God, or in fubordination to God, was in the hands of a judge, who here, and in the ift verfe of the xixth chapter, and the 25th verfe of the xxift chapter, is called governor. GOD properly was their king, and in a manner vifibly ruled over them. Under GOD was the judge, as a deputy-go- vernor, joined generally with the high-prieft ; and fometimes, as in Eli, the offices of judge and high-prieft were invefted in the fame man. Thefe the people were ordered by GOD, Deut. xvii. 12, to obey under penalty of death. The judge had a dictatorial power under GOD ; he was GOD's viceg^erent. — The Carthaginians, who fprung from the Phenicians, called their rulers or confuh/uf- fetes OY fufetes^ from the Hebrew name of thefe judges, viz. Sophetim, From this king- ly power, which God exercifed by thefe judges, God tells Samuel, that the Ifraelites who requefted to have a king, had not rejeEl- ed him^ viz. Samuel, but had rejeCled God himfelf that he Jhoidd not rule over them. Sa- muel was governor only under God, and confequently was not king in his own right. r-But at prefent there was a fort of inter- regnum. DISSERTATIONS. 57 regnum. — Jofhua was dead, and no new judge eftablifhed in his room. Now the book of Jofhua, at leaft a part, muil be written after this expedition, fince this fame is recorded in Jofliua, chap. xix. verfe 47, where Laijh is called LeJJjem. — So that Mr. Mede has reafon for his opinion^ that the book of Jofhua was written after his death. — In my judgment, every judge was generally a prophet ; and every prophet, from the firfl to the laft, from Mofes to Malachi, wrote exact records of his own time, under the guidance of God's holy fpirit. Hence there were not only the chronicles of the kinp-s of Judah written by the prophets in their days, which are fo often referred to, and a fliort extract of which we have, but other hiflo- rical writings of the prophets. That thcfe records v/ere made by the infpired prophets, wx may learn from St. Paul, 2 Tim. iii. 16 ; but more plainly in 1 Chron. xxix. 29, where we fee that the prophets SamueU Natbany and Gad, were the hiftorlographers of Da- vid -f. One of thefe, viz. either Nathan or t See alfo 2 Chron. xx^tiii. 19, where the life of ManafTcs Is fccorded in the ihyiijgs of the leers, i.e. in the ujitings of the Gad, 58 MISCELLANEOUS Gad, I think, had the name of Jajher^ or up- right ?nan^ ailigned to him ; who is mentioned in 2 Samuel i. 1 8, as an hiftorian of David ; who recorded that David firft taught the children of Ifrael the ufe of the bow ; pro- bably on account of the Philiftines having galled Saul's troops with their arrows at a diflance, and by that means, in human judg- ment, gaining the victory. David not only lamented the lofs of his fincere friend Jona- than, as well as his ftout father in the bat- tle ; but, in order to fet the Ifraelites on an equal advantage with their enemies, taught them an improvement of the ufe of the bow. And this piece of his generalfhip is mentioned in the book of Jaflier, who was plainly there- fore an hiRoriographer of David. Now Sa- muel was dead before this occurrence, and Gad is little mentioned in this early part of David's life ; and therefore Nathan feems to be the man, though mentioned by his other name, which thing we have already proved prophets ; though Arias Montanus for feers puts Hoxai, a pro- 4>er name of a prophet, whofe Prayer of Manaffes is yet extant, and who is fuppofed to be Ezra by fome. Our tranHation, as J think, is right. to DISSERTATIONS. 5^ to be very ufual in Scripture. — From thefc hiftories thus written, under the guidance of God's fpirit, the Bible feems to have been compiled by fome fcribes faithfully compar- ing thefe infpired records, and making juft extracts from them ; and fometimes — to illuftrate or compleat any relation, — infert- ing fome pieces of genealogy or hiftory from other records, though of a much later date, yet equally authentic. This book of Jafher, indeed, is referred to in Jofh. xviii. 13, but the reference is not in the Greek verfion, and therefore feems to have no proper right to be there. However, if we fuppofe that Nathan, or whoever wrote the book of the Juft Man^ took notice of the event there recorded ; it mufl then be granted, that the fcribes did make thefe remarks in their tranfcribing, which I have mentioned ; fmce the author of this book mufl: be alive in or after the days of David, and write in or after his time ; and there- fore the perfon who cites that book muft live in or after that time alfo ; fince no man fure- ly can cite a paffage from a book, who lives before 6o MISCELLANEOUS before the book is written. — Neither doth this obfervation, as I have flated it, dero- gate from, but confirms the facred autho- rity of the Scriptures ; fince, on this fuppo- fition, they muft be all taken from the writ- ings of infpired men by the greateft care of tranfcribers, to whom every little error is imputable ; for I no where find the fcribes represented as infpired men, or invefted with infallibility. — Whoever iliall read over the Scriptures, will pardon me for my opinion, if not affent to it. I fhall defire, however, to explain my fenfe to be this : That thefe tran- fcr'ihers did not vary a wordfrotn the very expref- Jions of the prophets ; but only injerted from other records fome remarks to Uluftrate or perfect any vo- lume. This is the middle way between two contending parties ; one of which will not allow it necelTary for Mofes to be the writer of any part of his Pentateuch in the very fame words in which we now read it, but only that fome fcribe expreffed his exact fenfe ; and the other will not admit of one fyllable being inferted by any other hand. Now I believe, that it will be eafily granted that truth gene- rally lies in the middle between warm pole- mical DISSERTATIONS. 6i mical writers. — As for my part, I verily be- lieve that the books of Mofes were tranfcrib- ed from his own writings in the very flime words J fo that in the moft literal fenfe it is true, which is alTerted in Deut. xxxi. 9, that Mofes wrote this law^ and delivered it unto the -prieftsy the fons of Levi^ who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord-, and verfe 24, that Mofes made an end of writing the words of the law in a booky imtil they were fnifhed ; a?id that he com- 7nanded the Levites to take this law^ end put it in the fide of the ark of the covenayit of the Lord their GOD. — It feems almoft certain that by the word law here are meant the five books of Mofes ; lince their law, Deut. xvii. 19, 20, contained all the ftatutes of the Lord, both moral and ceremonial, and therefore is or- dered by God to be read by kings, or rather in that place, as well as in thofe places of Judges, by governors, all the days of their life, fqr the guidance of their lives and ilate. This book of the law of the LORD eiven bv Mofes was found in the houfe of die Lord by Hilkiah, in the days of Jofiah, 2 Chron. xxxiv. This law God ordered Jofliua io 62 MISCELLANEOUS meditate in day and night. This fame law of Mofes Jofhiia recommended to the Ifraelites, and David very fully to his fon Solomon, I Kings ii. 3. Keep the charge of the Lord thy God to walk in his ways^ to keep his jlatutes^ and his commandments^ and his judgments^ and his tefli^ monies^ as it is written in the law of Mofes. — But> to mention no more proofs, Our Saviour, we know, divides the Old Teftament into the lavj and prophets ; where by lawy are mani- feftly meant the five books of Mofes. It is therefore proved beyond difpute, in my opi- nion, that the fcribe copied the books of Mofes from his very identical words. — But though this may be well granted, yet I think that it muft be allowed that Jofhua, or Ezra j, who is faid, Ezra vii. 6, 11, 12, or •f This Ezra certainly tranfcribed the whole law and pro- phets, and fealed up the canon of the Jewifli Scriptures. He delivered alfo, in great probability, fome apocryphal books to the Jewilh Sanhedrim, fo called becaufe they were kept from the infpeftion of the people, who were fuppofed incapable of taking their fniritual meaning. Of this kind might be the fecond book of Efdras, if it could be ftript of thofe interpo- lations and corruptions which appear in it. He is fuppofed as DISSERTATIONS. 6^ as fome men will have it, Efdras (which men fuppofe him different from Ezra, though in my opinion Efdras and Ezra are two names for the fame man), added the laft chapter of Deuteronomy, either from infpired record, or by the infpiration of God, concerning the death and burial of Mofes. To the fame alfo to have compofed the book of Efther and the two books of Chronicles from fome facred memoirs, which he preferved, as he was the public regifler and chancellor of the nation. Ke eftablilhed fome conjlitutions about public prayer, in which he introduced at the end of each prayer, me?: haujoUm n/jar haix-- oiim, i. e. from j, a following negative, fometimes throws back a negative virtue on the foregoing part. See Hor. Carm. L. III. Od*i$j line 12, 13, 14, &c. )8( ^ -»^ < > V CHAP. ^6 MISCELLANEOUS CHAP. VIIL Other corre8ions in thefe Chapters accounted for. THE other alterations which we have made in thofe chapters, will beft ap- pear at one view, in which we {hall only note, that, in the fecond verfe of the feventeenth chap- ter, I have turned the eleven hiindred Jhekels of filver^ which were taken from thee^ about which thou curfedft^ and f -pake Jl of alfo in mine ears \ into, the eleven hundred fbekels of filver^ which werp taken by thee^ and about which thou laidjl me un- der the obligation of aii oath, and alfo Jlr icily charged/} me. To juftify which alteration we may obferve, that the Hebrew verb xvh^ Lachak, fignifies not only to take away, but fimply to take. Thus this verb is ufed in Gen. xxvii. 46, If Jacob take a wife. Here it plainly fignifies, to take to himfelf In the fame manner liiSSERTATIOiSrS. 97 ifianner Micah's mother had took this nmicy to herfelf ; that is, flie had taken out this from her whole fubftance, and had confecrated it to GOD's worfhip. Hence Arias MontanuS tranflates the words by quod caftum ejl tlb'iy ^dohich was taken by thee ; and the Greek verfl-* on, af ixot^iq (r£oe,ur'/<9 'tuhich thou tookejl to thyfelfj more fully favours lis. Hence this correcli- on has reafon and authority on its fide. Agairl, in th^ Hebrew there are no words' to fignify about which^ though they are im- plied ; but there is the word for ?ne^ after the verb, which the Englifh tranflation render- ed here by curfedfl. The Greek verfion an- fwers here again exaclly to the original, K«t |!jt£ 'huLC'ji^ and thou devotedfl me. The Hebrew word n^tiO!; 0«« : T/je hoitfe of Mi cab was fo him the houfe of God, He had laid out the money in the fsrvice of that Je- hovah, to whom it had been confecrated ; and had an houfe of prayer for himfelf and his neighbours. — The purfuit of thofe neigh- bours with Micah after the Danites, who had taken away the divine funutiire^ not only iliews Micah's great interefl amongft them, but that they thought themfelves interefled i?i it. — The word teraphim I might have turned hy forms of cherubim^ on the authority of St, Jerom, w^ho fays, that fome teraphim were made in imitation of the cherubim by the ark in the tabernacle or tern'ole. 4. h\ the eighteenth chapter and fifteenth verfe, I have tavncdfaluted him into fainted it, llie Danites came to the houfe of Micah, and fiduted DISSERTATIONS. loi faluted //, viz. the whole hoiife or family. In the original it is, They iviJJjed peace to it. Micah, at the arrival of the Danites, does not feem to be at home, but to arrive there in a little time after their departure ; other- wife it is not well to be accounted for, by what means the five Danites, without any oppoiition, took away the furniture of his houfe of prayer.— But there is another rea- fon to be ailigned for the alteration. The words Peace be to this hoiife^ appear to be the common falutation of all travelling Jews at the entering of a ftranger's houfe. This we may fupport by i Sam. xxv. 5, 6, where we read that David fent out ten young men ; and Da- vid /aid unto the young men^ Get you up to Cannely and go to Nabaly and greet hhn hi my 7iame^ and thus Jh all ye fay to h'lm^ For life peace he to thee^ and peace to thine houfe ^ and peace to all that thou hafl. This falutation, therefore, was like to the carrying of the olive-branch in their hands, to &ew that they came peaceably, and without any hoftile defign. Hence Matt. viii. 12, 13, Our Saviour orders his difciples, when they came into an houfe, to falute it ; that is, to let their peace come upon it^ or to fay, Lul^e X. 5, Peace be to this houfe, H 3 I-i 102 MISCELLANEOUS In the eighteenth chapter, verfe the twen- ty- firft, I have turned the little ones^ and cat- thy and the carnage before them^ into words which will bear the fame fenfe, viz. into the yoiithy and what they hadgotten^ and the precious things before them ; not being certain but that the words might include the young Levitc, and their booty : though I verily believe that the words are rightly tranflated ; be- caufe it was ufual for the unfettled Ifraelites to carry their wives, children, and fubftance with them, and in time of battle, to leave them in the camp under a fufficient guard. Indeed the children of Gad, and the children of Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manaffes, built cities, Numb, xxxii. for their wives, their little ones, and their flocks, becaufe their fettlement was fixt, but the perfons unfettled carried them with them ; and therefore 'tis likely that thefe Danites Jiad theirs alfo with them. In the eighteenth chapter, verfe the twen- ty-fourth, I have turned Elohim, by divine worfhip, ox furniture, and not by Gods. It is plain that the Danites had taken away all the furnicure of Micah's houfe of prayer, viz. I his DISSERTATIONS. 103 his Ephod, and his forms of cherubim, as well as his graven thing and his molten thing, and that he muft mean his whole furniture by Elohim. This appears from the words of Micah himfelf : Te have taken away my holy furniture^ even every fart thereof^ for what have I left f The expreflion. What have I left f opens the meaning of the foregoing words. — The word Elohim^ indeed, fome- times iignifies angels^ and fo might refer to the teraphim^ thofe reprefentations of angels. But there is no neceflity for fuch reftriclion, fince Elohim fometimes iignifies divine worflnp^ or the altar^ the principal place of divine worfhip, in the fame manner as the owner is fometimes put for the houfe. Thus, in Pfalm xliii. 4, Then will I go unto the altar of God J unto God my exceeding joy. Here, unto God is plainly put for unto divine worfhip^ or unto the altar^ the principal place of divine woriliip. We ihall find the fame in that diilicult paiTage of the eighty-fourth Pfalm, a paiTage not yet well explained by any man : How amiable are thy tabernacles^ Lord of hojls I My foul longethy yea even faint eth^ for the courts H4 of 104 MISCELLANEOUS of the Lord ; my heart and my flejh crteth out far the liv'mg God. t^ea, thcfparrow hath found an houfcy and the f%v allow a nejl for herfelf where floe may lay her young ; even thine altars^ Lord of hoJIs, my ling and my God.^^ This is our tranflation. — But furely we cannot imagine, that the fwallows built, or the fparrows , edged, upon the altars. - Let us attempt a folution by obferving, lil. That Eaflern writers delfght to take their imae"es from iiniDle nature ; and as Da- vid had been lliev/n by divine inilruclion, either by infpiratlon or by vifion, (fee i Chron. xxviii. II, i2j ^:c. to 19) the whole ilruc- ture of Liie temple which fhould be built by his fon Solomon, he expreiTes, in rapturous fervor of foul, his own defires of entering into fuch a glorious place of worihip, and his warm wilh of fixing on the place and build- ing of the edifice ; and in the moil exalted manner of fublime fimplicity he images out that anxious wifh by the follicitude which birds plainly exprefs, till by flying here and there they have found feme place of feem- ingly DISSERTATIONS, 105 ingly fife retreat by night for themfelves, and of a neft for their young. 2. He fixt on fwallows and fparrows, not only as frequenting houfes, but in thofe countries making their lodgments on the out- fide of temples. This we may collect from that ftory of Herodotus, where he tells us, that Ariftodicus, going on purpofe about the temple of Apollo amongfl the Branchidse, afterwards called Didyme, in Milefia, a coun- try on the confines of Ionia, took down the nefts of fparrows and other birds that lodged there. 3. Buxtorf, in his Hebrew Lexicon, tells us, that when the particle tD^, gajii^ is re- peated in the fame fentence, it lignifies as in the lirll particle, and fo in the other. " Re- fetitiim in continuatione fententla efl^ tarn, quam : Being repeated in the continuance of a fentence it means^ fo^ as ; and we may obferve, in the original, that this particle is repeated. Alfo by fuppofing the paragogicum put to the infinitive mood, which all Hebrew grammars prove ufual j the word hath found will be turned io6 MISCELLANEOUS turned into to find. By which obfervation, without altering one letter, and only by put- ting the comparifon into a parenthefis, an eafy fenfe will arife thus : " How amiable are thy tabernacles^ Lord of hojls ! My flejh longeth ayidfo fineth with defire for the courts of the Lord, and my flefliy^ crieth out for the liv- ing God (as the fparrow to find an houfe and the fwallow a neft, where ihe may lay her young) even for thy altars, O Lord of holls, my king and my God. REMARK. Gajn fignifiesy^) in this conne6lively-relative fenfe, though it ftands fmgle, and the firft gam or chi is fupprefTed. Thus in Hof. iii. 3, Thoti/Jmlt abide for me jnany days ; thou flmlt not flay the harlot^ and thou fhalt 7iot be for an- other man ; fo will I alfo be for thee. Here the fenfe runs thus : And as thou fhalt be for me only^ and not for another man ; fo will I alfo be for thee. Here the word fignifying as is fup- prcffed in the original, and hence not taken notice of in our tranllation. — Sometimes the word DISSERTATIONS. 107 word gam for fo is fuppreffed. Thus in Hof. iv. 6. For t by people are, as they that Jlrlve with the priefl ; that is, thy people 2xt fo^ as they that ftrive with the prieft. In thefe places, gam fignifying in one verfe foy and in the other asy continues the comparifon; and as this ufe of a fingle gam is fcarce obferved in any Hebrew lexicon, this fliort remark may- no t be ufelefs. 0^ f# CHAP. io8 MISCELLANEOUS CHAP. IX. MkaJis CJiaraBer, BY almoft all writers has Micah and his good mother been roughly handled. The fon in particular has been treated as an innovator in religion by confecrating one of his fons, and an idolater in fetting up graven images, in which the mother is intermixed. But if we coniider that Micah was certainly one of thofe friends to all mankind, who kept a houfe of public hofpitality for all ftrangers ; that fingular virtue lays an obli- gation on all men to fee what may be faid in his favour. In Judges ii. 7, we read, that the people ferved the Lord all the days of JoJJnia^ and all the days of the elders that out-lived Jo- fiuay who hadfeen all the great works of the Lor d^ that he did for IfraeL Now we have before proved that Micah lived in tliis time. And it DISSERTATIONS. 109 it appears from the name Jehovah made life of both by him and his mother, that they ferved the true God, They both alfo had manifeftly a religious turn of mind ; for as mount Ephraim, or that part of it where Micah lived, was fomewhat diftant from Shiloh, where the tabernacle of the Lord at this time was, this family was thereby de- prived of the happinefs of ferving God before his altar. To remedy this unhappinefs of fi- tuation as much as poffible, this religious woman had taken out money to eftablifh an houfe of prayer for her family and neigh- bours, and had dedicated it from her hand entirely to the Lord. — She had dedicated it to the Lord (in the original, to Jehovah) the fame Supreme Being to whoni Ihe before had recommended her fon for a blefling : BleJ- ed be thou to Jehovah^ my fon. This fhews that fhe was a worfhipper of the true God, becaufe the name Jehovah in fcripture is ne- ver given to any other God, either falfe or figurative. And whereas fhe dedicated ele- ven hundred fliekels to God, and her graven thing and molten things whatever they were, coft 11^ MISCELLANEOUS coil but five hiindredy ver. 4. it is not to be doubted, but £he laid out the remaining nine hundred in the houfe, and preparing a pro- per falary for a prieft, if any ihouid pafs by that way. It has been one obje6lion to the good Mi- cah, that he could have no right to confecrate his fon or the Levite. He might have no right to confecrate his fon, though great aU lowance muft be had for cafes of neceflity, ef- pecially where the intention is picus. Thus in 2 Chron. xxix. 34, and xxx. 17, in a cafe of neceility the Levites were admitted to per- form a part of the prieft's office. As for the Levite, in the cafe of Micah, he wa: doubtlefs 2i pray hig fri eft before his ar- rival at the houfe of Micah ; and therefore the words he confecratedy can have no other fignification than he made him his prieft ^ by delivering the ephod, we may fuppofe, into his hands. What we tranilate he confe- crated^ in Hebrew, is he filled the hand ; which idiom began from the cuftom pre- fcribed by God at the confecration of Aaron and DISSERTATIONS. in and his fons, Levit. viii. 25 ; where we find that the fat, the rump, the fat that covered the inteftines, the caul above the liver, the two kidneys, and the fat upon them, the xight fiioulder, one loaf of unleavened bread, one cake and one wafer of the meat-offering, were put into the hands of Aaron and his fons ; and Mofes keeping his hand under theirs, that they were waved by them all up and down, all manner of ways, towards the eaft, weft, north, and fouth, to fignify that He to whom the offering was made, was Lord of the whole world. Mofes therefore filled their hands j and hence the phrafe to fill the hand fignifies the fame as to confecrate. But there was no facriiice in the cafe of Micah ; for though it will appear hereafter, that they had altars at this time in their houfes of prayer, yet they were not deligned for facri- fice ; confequently the words here can have no other fignification, than that he made him his prieft by delivering fomething (moft pro- bably the ephod, which was the diftinguifh- ing garment of the priefthood) into his hands. — Indeed we are much in the dark as to the cuftoms of thofe days ; and therefore we 114 MISCELLANEO US we have a flrong reafon to imagine, that all Levites ivere induced into their houfes of prayer by lome peculiar ceremony of the kind above obferved, and that here is pre- ferved a curious piece of Hebrew antiquity. Charity at leaft would incline us to think fo, befides the reafonablenefs of the thing itfelf, rather than to treat the character of the uni- verfally- charitable Micah and his mother in that fcurvy manner in which almoft all writers have done. I am fure that the re- fiedion that Micah m.akes on having a re- gular pricft, is \'cry remote from deferving that derifion and contempt to which it has been fubjcclcd : Now know I that the Lord will do jiie good^ feeing I have a Lev'ife to my priejl. The word Lord in the original is Jehovah^ which fhews that Micah, as well as his mo^ ther, was a worfbipper of the true God. It appears alfo that his confecrating his fon to be their praying prieft, was occafioned by mere neceflity.- — To correct this imperfedion in Micah's v/orfliip, God feems to have direct- ed the Levite there;— at leaft Micah confiders it in that light, — whofe v/ords paraphrafed will ftand thus : / have now a regular worfiip 4 ^/ DISSERTATIONS. 113 ^fthe God of Heaven in my houfe^ and I am certain tfjat the Supreme Gody who has fent me a regular friejly will prof per me. This warm expreflion of confidence in God pleads Urongly for him, and argues, that he was not only a worfhip- per of the true GOD, but an adherent to the vvoriliip inftituted by Mofes. It has been alfo obferved, that thofe words. In thofe days there was no king in Ifrael^ but every man did that which was right in his own eyes^ are inferted to fhew fome irregular practices. The obfervation is reafonable j and I think tliat in chap. xvii. ver. 6. it intimates that Micah had no right to coafecrate his fon ; and he himfelf feems fenlible of his error, iince, on the arrival of a regular prieft, he fets aiide his fon, and then expecls God's bleiling upon his houfe. — And it may reflecl upon his mixt worftip — if he was guilty of it ; though we fhall flrive in that to make our bed apo- logy for him. — But the words in the eigh- teenth chapter plainly refer to the Danites, who unlawfully robbed him of the furniture Qf his houfe of prayer. \ C H A Pc 114 MISCELLANEOUS CHAP. X. The Condud of the Danites faulty^ but of the Le- vite, in a manner^ faultkfs. THOUGH partial favour may plead for the conduct of the Danites, 1. That Micah's houfe, though too re- mote to attend weekly on the fervice of the tabernacle, yet was much nearer to it than Laifli or Dan, 2. That the Danites did not deiign to con- vert the furniture of Micah's frofeitcha to a private ufe; but to continue it in the fervice of that God to whom it had been dedicated. 5. As they continued it in God's fervice, and fo avoided the lin of facrilege, fo they could fcarce be guilty of thievery. The goods were not Micah's, but God's. 'Ayioc- DISSERTATIONS. 115 *^' I have wholly confecrated the filver to the *' LORD from my hand," fays Micah's mo- ther. A. A greater good ought, doubtlefs, to take place of a lefTer. Thefe things may be faid to alleviate, but not to juftify their action j lince^ 1. By this aclion they deprived the good Micah of the public worfliip of God, which at a great expence his mother had fettled. 2. Though thefe holy utenlils were confe- crated to God, yet the ufe of them in religious a6ls is ftill referved to the confecrator, or church, on which they have by him been beftowed, and were depofited. Hence the man or church is robbed of the ufe, even though the velTels in another church are referved for the fervice of God. 3. The Danites could not plead abfolute neceffity, though they might allege a prefent occafion. They might have provided thoie things frbm the fpoils of enemies. I 2 4. They Ii6 MISCELLANEOUS 4. They, beiides the robbery before-men- tioned, moft ungratefully violated the rules of hofpitality ; and acted (Gen. xlix. 17.) like the ferpents by the way, or the adders in the path, which do mifchief to the unfufpecling traveller. But the Levite was not faulty in going with the Danites, for thefe reafons : 1. He had agreed only for a yearly falary. This he received only while he ftaid. When he went away it ceafed, and another travel- ling Levite might be glad of it. Micah could not command his flay, and therefore his de- parture was no injuilice, 2. By departing and following the Danites he was advanced ; and advancement, when juftly attained, is lawful. 3. He may charitably be prefumed to pur- fue a greater good in religion, in preferving the worfhip of God amongft a large town in Ifrael, rather than in a private houfe. Th> DISSERTATIONS. n? This part, however, of the Levite's con- duel has been overlooked ; but the requeft of the Danites to him to confult God, and the anfwer of this prieft, has been treated in a very ridiculous way ; and the Levite has beea taxed with the grofs impiety of anfwering thefe Danites fuitably to their own wifhes, out of his own conceit, and yet pretending to an authority from God. Thefe cenfurers cdn have no authority, from God or man, to lay fuch an uncharitable accufation j efpe- cially when the anfwer v/hich he gave them was true, and probably directed by the God of truth. — Thefe men furely do not confider the importance of the quellion, nor the dan- ger which the Levite muft expofe himfelf to, if his words fhould be found falfe. — The fpies were but five men, who, as well as the Le- vite, were doubtlefs ignorant of the temper and way of life of the inhabitants of the place> which they were going to fearch j and fliould they be discovered and intercepted, they muft perifli i at leaft fly for their lives. — And {hould that have happened, which none but God could forefee that it would not, then let us fee (in Deut. xviii. 20, 21, 22) what I 3 the ii8 MISCELLANEOUS the Levite was to expecl from men enraged? at their difappointment and their paft perils,. and authorized by God to take vengeance. The prophet vjhich JJmll prejime to /peak a word in my namey which I have not commanded him to fpeaky even that prophet Jh all die. And if thou fay in thine hearty Hozv flmll we know the wor d which- the Lord hath fpokenf when the prophet fpeaketh in the name of the Lordy if the thing follow not ?ior come to pafs ; that is the thing which the Lord hath notfpokeuy but the prophet hath fpoken it pre-- fumptiwufy. Thou fijalt not he afraid of him. Every modern annotator, which I have feen on thefe chapters, exclaims every nov/ and then at the ignorance of the Levite, or of Micah, or of the Danites ; as if they knew no more of the law of Mofes, than a poor Mahometan, By chance the ignorance lies in our own minds, who have not duly conli- dered the culloms of thofe days. — By chance here may be traced fome exquiiite pieces of Jewifh antiquities. The affair^ however^ is, worthy of an enquiry. CHAR DISSERTATIONS. 119 •!¥•* CHAP. XI. The high-friefl only zaas allowed to wear the Ephod (m which were placed the Urim and Thummim) and to confult God by Urim ; but other inferior priejls might requejl an anfwcr from God in another way. /T^HE moll reafonable account that I can -*- collecl of the Urim and Thummim, feems to be this : That the Z7m« was an image reprefentative of the Seraphim, an or- der of angels, and afligned to the high-prieft in token of his prophetic office only, when he went to enquire of God in fome embar- ralTed affairs of the ftate, for a perfon, or about a thing of the greateft importance ; and the Thummim was an image made in likenefs of that image, which the Egyptian high-priefts, 1 4 who 120 MISCELLANEOUS who were alfo chief judges, wore, as the en- fign of the judicial oiiice. Thefe two images were the enfigns to the high-priefl of his two great offices, viz. that of confulting God, as high-prieft, and that of chief judge. Thefe were kept from common defilement, as well as from common eyes, by being put into the breaft-plate, which was made fquare, and. being doubled was fown firm on three fides ; and the fourth fide not being fown together, was made in form of a little fquare bag, or purfe ; and fo it inclofed the images, the Urim and Thummini', which were probably ne- ver taken out but in the time of the dif- charge of the particular office hieroglyphi- cally fpecified by each ; and which in their names conveyed the virtues alfo, which a priefl and a judge fhould be endowed with, viz. Light, or (bund Knowledge, and Truth and TJprightnefs of Mind. They were like- wife very exprefiiive of the clearnefs and per- feclnefs of the anfwers given by God to the high-prieft who wore the breaft-plate. In matters therefore which concerned the whole (late, or a principal member, fuch as Jofhua was ; for whom therefore the prieft Eleazar, Numb, DISSERTATIONS. 121 (Numb, xxvii. 2 1 ) is ordered to ajk cmnfel after the judgment of Urim before the Lord) — on af- fairs, or for men, of fuch importance, when the will of God was necefiary to be known, the high-prieft put on his robes, and over them the breaft-plate, in which the Urim and Thummim were. — The prieft thus arrayed, and taking out the Urim in his hand, prefented himfeif before the ark of the covenant j and in extraordinary and unavoidable cafes, as in that of David, mentioned in i Sam. xxiii. pro- bably before fome little altar creeled for that prefent occafion. There he afked counfel of God, with his face turned directly towards the ark, and the mercy-feat over it j upon which the Divine Prefence reiled. There he humbly propofed what he wanted to be re- folved about ; and had, as it is plain from fcripture, an anfwer in an audible voice. The LORD faidy introduces almoft every an- fwer given in this way of confultation ; and men thus confulting, are faid (Ifai. xxx. 2. Jolh. ix. 14) to afk counfel at the ?nouth of God. Hence the place where the ark and mercy-feat ftood, from whence the anfwer was given, is in fcripture ililed the Oracle. — And I may add. 122 MiSCELLANEOtrS add, that fince the Divine Frefence^ which ap peared and returned anfwers, was manifeftly the fecond perfon in the ever-bleffed Trinity, (fee I Cor. viii. 4, 5, 9) hence one reafon ap- pears, why the Son is often ftiled the Word. The anfwer given by God, when enquired of, by Uriniy by his lights, was plainly vocal. This majeflic method of confulting God, was doubtlefs confined to the high-prieft, whofe office, in this refped, was the moft au- ^uft in all human nature. — But was it not o lawful for any other man, befides the high- prieft, to confuit God ; or in any other place befides the tabernacle .^ In my opinion, we may fafely afiert the lawfulnefs. — Jolhua, in- deed, in Numb, xxvii. 2 i, feems ordered to apply to Eleazar for counfel ; but that by the context was plainly defigned, that his orders might have the greater weight with the chil- dren of Ifrael. — But where is there any com- mand, that no man fliould be applied to but the chief-prieft, and in no place but before the tabernacle ? Why Ihould God give that order of punifhing falfe prophets with death, and give the figns of a falfe prophet, who 4 ihould DISSERTATIONS. 123 fiiould prefume to fpeak from his own heart, and yet ufe the name of the Lord, if no man was permitted to prophefy but the chief- prieft ? Was not the will of the Lord reveal- ed unto Samuel (i Sam. iii. 19, 20) when as yet he was not chief-prieft ? Did not Samuel pray unto God at Mizpah, and was heard, I Sam. vii. 9 ? Did he not confult God at Ramah about choofing a king, i Sam. viii. 7, 2 1 ? Did not Satil go there to confult God by means of Samuel, i Sam. ix. 9, com- pared with I Sam. vii. 17 ? Did not David confult God at Keilah, i Sam. xxiii. 8 ? Did not Saul feek to confult God not only by Ui'im, but alfo by dreams and by prophets, I Sam. xxviii. 6 ? Is it not very plain, there- fore, that other men were confulted beiides the high-prieft j and that God fometimes did reveal himfelf to them, though not with an audible voice, as when he was enquired of by Urim ? — The Levite doubtlefe was not per- mitted to confult God by Urim. But does not the requeft of the Danites to him to con- fult God, fhew, that it was permitted to the Levites, on feme extraordinary occafions, to prefent themfelves before the altar in the houfe 124 MISCELLANEOUS houfc of prayer, arrayed with their ephod, and with a little teraphim in their hand, made in imitation of the Urim, and humbly petition an anfwer from God ? , It is not faid that he obtained his anfwer here by a voice. It is almofl certain, that he had his informa- tion by a revelation conveyed direclly into his mind, by the fpirit of GOD, by an imme- diate infpiration. This was often conferred on other men belides the high-priefl:. Thus this immediate irradiation of the fpirit of God fell, we read, upon Saul. Had the Levite received an anfwer by a voice, he would have exprefled himfelf, as in cafes of that kind, hyGodfald^ ov Hear the word of the Lord^ or the like. His prediclion or anfwer feems therefore directed by the divine illapfe into his mind. His anfwer was certainly true, and, in all probability, guided by the God of Truth. In fuch cafe, again, the worfhip there paid to God does not appear difagree- able to him. RE- DISSERTATIONS. 125 R E M A R K. BY chance it may be expecled, that I Ihould at leaft give a Ihort reafon, why I have rejeded the fanciful accounts which have been given of the Urim and Thummim by fome writers of no fmall name. I would have given it, but found that it would draw me in- to a large differtation. Let me note only, that Spencer, Selden, and other writers, have fully proved, that God condefcended to accom- modate his worihip, as much as poflible, to the notions of the Jews, who were apt to be feduced by every thing gaudy ; and, to fuit his fervice to their weaknefs, feleded, for the drefs of his high-prieft, every grand orna- ment that was wore by the heathen priefts throughout the world. Agreeable to this condudl towards his people, he feleded the Thummim, and, in my opinion, the Urim alfo, from the Egyptians. The Egyptian high-prieils were, as well as the Ifraelitifh, among the chief-judges •, and if we obferve that the Septuagint turn Thummim by tfeXn^oT'/i?, truths we fliall find that the Egyp- tian 126 MISCELLANEOUS tian judges wore it, from JEHan's Various Hiftory, B. 14. Chap. 30. AiKocfoa is to ec^- TO dyxXixoc ^AxrJ^iix. " In ancient times, among the Egyptians, the priefts were their judges ; and the oldeft man was the prefident of them all, and judged ail men. But it was expect- ed in him, that he lliould be the moll juft and temperate of all men. He had alfo an image of a fapphire-ftone round his neck, and that image was named TRUTH.'^ Diodorus Si- culus alfo, in his firft book of the Egyptian affairs, defcribes ' A^-xj^^iKarn-^ lyj:»irx rm *Axr,2r£iav l^noT7i(jt.£vm Ix, T» T£is;>/nA», " the chief jud^e hav- ing TRUTH hung on his neck ;'' and again he lays, Xwrot^zig ruv (Ivxyxxioav ttxox nt |3a(riA««c? roig fjt.su ^iH.xs'xig litxvai iroog oiotToo(piiv l^opvyavTo * t&j Jg r 'n $. in 128 MISCELLANEOUS C H x\ P. XII. The nature of Divine Vifion largely explained, WE may colled ^ from fcripture, that God manifefted his will to the high- prieft by a voice ; to his prophets by dreams and vifions ; and to other men, by what the Jews themfelves called the Holy Spirit. It was the received opinion of all the Jewiih do(^ors, that all the revelations made by God to the prophets, however they are expreffed or defcribed, are to be underflood as made to them in a dream or vifion : only that God vouchfafed Mofes a more peculiar favour by converfing with him face to face, for forty days, in mount Sinai. And, indeed, the words of God (Numb. xii. 6) feem to favour this opinion : Hear now 7ny words^ if there be a * The ingenious Treatife of the learned Mr. Peters on Job, has greatly afllHed n^e in thtf dilTertation, prophet DISSERTATIONS. 129 prophet among you ; 1 the LORD will make myfelf known to him in a vifton, a?id will /peak unto him in a dream. My fervant Mofes is not fo^ who is faithful in all my houfe. With him will I fpeak mouth to mouth. If it is here faid, that indeed we can ap- prehend what a difcovery by a dream may be, but cannot conceive the nature of vifion ; it muft be allowed to be difficult to apprehend in what precife manner the prophets received the certainty of any infpiration that way from God, becaufe vifion is now entirely ceafed, — A man who never had fpiritual light, can have no exadt notion of perceiving fpiritual objeds ; no more than a man, who never en- joyed natural fight, can entertain of natural objeds. God, however, who is an eternal Spirit, and the father and life of our fpirits, can eafily communicate to the foul of man the knowledge of his will in an extraordina- ry way ; and that with fo much certainty and light, that the man may be alTured, that God is the author of thofe things, which are at that time communicated to him. God K muft I30 MISCELLANEOUS muft thus enlighten the minds of the pro- phets, who alone fore-knew the future events of things. There may be alfo powers in our minds, which are now clogged, and, as it were, fwallowed up in the heavy dregs of this earthly body, which fleep for a time ; but, when " we have fhuffled off this mortal coil," will be awakened, or rather relieved, from the opprellive weight, and exercife them- felves with freedom and pleafure. By thefe means, we fliall at once fee, and be able to converfe with, fpiritual beings, and enjoy the truevifion of God. Men, who have made the deepeil refearches into the nature of our future happinefs, have concluded this to be truth with the greateft degree of probability. — Perhaps the power of vifion in the pro- phets may be fomething of this kind : a new power of the mind, or a new fenfe awakened in them. The film which their earthy body fpread over the eye of thejoul^ ro o^.^x rr^; ^^x^^> as Philo Judacus calls it, may be removed; and by that means they may enjoy the fight of God, and hear his orders with as much cer- tainty. DISSERTATIONS. 131 tainty, as they hear or fee men with their bodily fenfes. This manifettation of the De* ity, made to them by this kind of vifion, 'tis almoft certain, conferred on the prophets the names oi feers. Thus Gad was David's feer^ r\'ir\ ^?^J2^, nabia chofeh, feeing prophet^ in the original. If we view the account Vv^hich the Scrip- tures give us, we fhall find a very great agree- ment and uniformity in their defcription of the manner of thefs vinons. In condefcen- fion to our prefent appreheniions, God is there defcribed as holding^ a confultation among his heavenly nobles, that hoil of an- gels, who VvTiit around his throne. Into this grand affembly the prophet is admitted, and there permitted to fee and hear what God decrees fliall come to pafs, and from thence is commiiTioned to declare thefe things to men. Hence Jeremiah propofes this very re- markable queftion to the falfe prophets in his days : Jer. xxiii. 18, Who^ or which of you, hath flood hi the council of the Lordy and hath per- cevved and heard his loord f i. e. Which of you hath been admitted into that affembly, which K 2 com- 132 MISCELLANEOUS compofes the council of Jehovah ? Which of you hath been wrapt in true viiion, and, as a llander by, hath heard thofe confultations which are held in the prefence of God, and been commiHioned to publilli his great de- crees to mankind ? Thefe falfe prophets, therefore, deceived the people with pro- mifes of happinefs from God, and made them vain ; pretending a viiion of God, which they received not from the mouth of the Lord, but invented out of their own heart. For thus in ver. 2 1, the true prophet proceeds : / have notfent thefe prophets^ yet they ran ; I have not fpoken to the?n, yet they prophefied : but if they had food in ?ny council, amidft that aiTembly of heaven before mentioned, afid had caufed 7ny people to hear my words, then fhoidd they have turned them from their evil way^ and from the evil of their doings. And ver. 32, Behold, I am againjl them that prophefy falfe dreams, faith the Lord, and do tell them, and caufe my people to err by their lies, and by their lightnefs ; yet I fent them not, nor commanded them, faith the Lord, It is plain that the Scripture fpeaks here of God after the manner of men ; and it is probable, that in our prefent ftate of I being. DISSERTATIONS. 133 being, we cannot apprehend otherwife thefe divine reprefentations. Our underftandings are limited, and things muft be brought down w^ithin thefe bounds, or otherwife we can have no conceptions of them. As kings therefore tranfacl their moft important af- fairs by convening a council of ftate ; fo God. is pleafed to reprefent himfelf as furrounded by his council alfo, and paffing the high de- crees of his will and providence in the af- fembly of his holy angels. Then the pro- phet, to whom God is pleafed to reveal fuch his will, is admitted in a vifion to this folema confultation, as a ftander-by, and hearer of what is there decreed and refolved. He ftands in the council or affembly of Jehovah as a waiter, or fervant, ready to carry his meffage to his people. He fees, and hears his word ; fees what is there tranfacfced ; and hears the decree that is paft, and the meffage which he is to carry. And hence came the reproof of Jeremiah to the falfe prophets, who had never ftood in the council of the Lord, and yet prefumed to carry meffages as if fent by God. K 3 Here 134 MISCELLANEOUS Here then we'may fee the privilege allow- ed to many of the ancient prophets. They declared their words from the order of the Moft High, being admitted into his prefence, and hearing his commands. Llence Ifaiah chap. ii. ver. i) is iliid to fee the word ; that is, to hear it immediately fpoken from God's mouth. So Rev. i. 12, I turned to Jet the -voice that /pake with me. Indeed thefe prophets feemed freed from the weight of mortality "' for a while. They were carried without or mtjide their bodies, being overpowered by the fpirit of God. ^ - - - Corpus mortale tumultus Non tulit ^thereos, - - ~ - - The mortal frame Could not fupport the ftrong rether^al flame. Hence their bodily fenfes were at once clofed, and the fenfes of their foul opened ; fo that they were in a manner fpiritualized by the f\:)irit of God. Thus we read of St. Pq^ ter (Ads x. 10) that he fell into a trance, tVf- DISSERTATIONS. 135 7r£fl-fi/ eV ocxjtov Ixfocc-i^y a jlanding-without fell on him. The defcription of Balaam is very re- markable and explanatory ; Numb. xxiv. 3, 4, And he took up his parable and /aid : Balaa?n the fon of Beor hath f aid ; and the man^ whofe eyes are opened^ hath faid ; he hath faidy which heard the words of God^ which faw the vifion of the Almighty y finking down^ hut havmg his 'eyes open. Here we may obferve (ver. 2) that the fpirit of God came firft upon him ; then he finks down^ ^£) J, nophel, as if his bodily fenfes were at once locked up in lleep ; whence the Septuagint turn the word by h uVi/w, in fleep^ and our Englifli tranllators very rightly by, falling into a trance. In this fleep his eyes are opened ; for fo the original has it, as well as the Greek tranilation, a7roxf>taiAu^w,jW£vot l\. o(p5-xX' LKOi d-n>iy his eyes are uncovered. It is plain here, that his eyes are the eyes of his mind. Hence in ver. 3, he is called the man, whofe eyes are opened, J a^S-ivw? o^w^, that fees really^ *^^>n tZn:!^, Ihethum hawajin, which Bux- torf turns thus : cui oculi nunc illuftrati funt ad res futuras praevidendas, whofe eyes are now enlightened to forefee things to come. There is a fpirit in man^ faith Elihu (Job xxxii. S) ayid K 4 the 1^6 MISCELLANEOUS the fpirk of the Almighty g'lveth them under ft and- ing. Here he intimates to us the operation of the fpirit of God upon men's minds in thofe vifions. Hence prophets are fo often faid to he in the fpirit y viz. under this influence of God's fpirit. Hence a man only pretending to this infpiration of God, is called fpirit ; I John iv. I, 2, 3, Beloved^ believe not every fpirit^ but try the fpirit s whether they are of God) i, e» Believe not every man who claims divine in- fpiration, but try thefe men whether they are of God ; becaife^ as he adds, many falfe pro- phets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the fpirit of God^ i. e. the operation of God's holy fpirit, or a man under that operation. Every fpirit (i. e. man pretending to infpira- tion) that confeffeth that Jefus Chrift is come in theflefl:)^ is cf God^ is moved of true infpira- tion of God. ylnd every fpirit that confefjeth not that Jefus Chrift is come in the fief h^ is not of God; and this is that fpirit of Antichrift, And Jience to perceive v/hat man, claiming infpi- ration, had th€ true fpirit of God, and who had not, is called by St. Paul (i Cor. xii. 10) a difcerning of fpirits. In this cafe, therefore, we may almoil ufe our Saviour's words, John DISSERTATIONS. 1 37 John iii, 6, He that is hornof theflejhisflejh^ and be that is horn of the fpir'it is fpirit. Many inilances we find in Scripture, where the eye of the mind hath been thus enlight- ened, and men have been able to fee beings, which otherwife would have been invilible to mortals. Thus, 2 Kings vi. we read that Eiiflia's fervant, going forth early in the morning, faw a great array of their enemies, the Syrians, encompaffing the city, and in his terror cries out, Alas! my 7nafler^ what Jhall we do f But Elijha bids him^ fear not ; for they that he with us he more than they that he with them. And Elijha frayed^ as it follows, and faid^ Lordy 1 fray thee^ open his eyes that he may fee. Arid the Lord opened the eyes of the young man^ and he faw ; and hehold the mountain was full of horfes and chariots of fire round ahout EUfha. When God had opened his eyes, he could fee the hofts of angels, which encom- paiTed his mafler to fecure him, with the fame certainty as he faw the Syrians lying round the city to apprehend him. — Balaam, as we find, never perceived the angel, till the. Lord opened his eyes ; Numb, xxii, 31. — Job had alfo 1^8 Miscellaneous alfo this eye of his mind opened. Job. xlii. 5, / have heard of thee^ fays he to God, by the hearhig of the EAR^ but now mine eye feeth thee. The knowledge of God had been delivered to him by the tradition of his forefathers ; but he now clearly perceived his divine per- fections. He had fome light throv/n in up- on his mind, w-hich carried its ovi^n evi- dence with it. He had a vifion allowed him, which it is diiScult for us to form an exact notion of, who never felt fuch ; but to him it carried the clearnefs and certainty of light itfelf. But the prophets not only were endued with this extraordinary iight, but they faw things tranfacled in the heavens. // came to fafs^ fays the prophet Ezekiel, in the begin- ning of his prophecy, as I was by the river Chebar^ the heavens were opened (which ufually introduced a divine vifion) and I faw the vi- fions of God. In the fame manner (Rev. iv. i) St. John tells us, that he looked^ and behold a door was opened in heaven ; and the firft voice which he heard^ faid, Coine up hither^ and I will fijew thee things which mujl be hereafter ; and imme- DISSERTATIONS. 139 i?mnediately I ivas in the fp'int^ and behold a throne was fet in heaven. The vifion defcribed in the fixth chapter of Ifaiah, is a very re- markable one, where the prophet fees the LORD fitting upon his heavenly throne, high and lifted up, and that his train of angels filled the temple, Alfo, fays he, ver. 8, / heard the voice of the Lord, faying. Whom flmll I fend f ^hen faid /, Here am /, fend me. And then he re- ceives his commiffion from God and the de- crees of heaven. For the honour of our BlefTed Redeemer, let us hear the commiinon : Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, hut under- ft and not ; and fee ye indeed, hut perceive not ; make the heart of this people fat, and make their eyes heavy ; and fmt their eyes, left they fie with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and under- ft and with their heart, and convert and he healed. This was the order of that God, who fits on the throne of heaven, with all the armies of blifs (ver. 3) adoring him. — But this bleffed Being, this King of Angels, is exprefsly de- clared by St. John (chap. xii. ver. 39, 40, 41) to be our all- adorable Saviour. Therefore they would 7iGt he I i eve, becaife that Efaias faid again, lie hath blinded their eyes and hardened their hearty 140 MISCELLANEOUS hearty that they Jhould not fee with their eyes^ nor under/land with their heart, and be converted, and I Jhould heal them. In ver. 37, it is manifefl that the apoftle is here fpeaking of Chrift, on whom they could not believe, and it is un- deniable that he refers to the prophecy be- fore-mentioned by Ifaiah; and his following words are greatly remarkable : Thefe things /aid Efaias, or Ifaiah, when he Jaw his glory and /pake of him. The prophet faw his glory, faw all the angels of God worfhipping him, and prophelied alfo of him. — Let therefore the proud reafoners of this world glory in their ftrength of knowledge; but let the faithful fubmit their thoughts to the truths revealed, and always worfhip him who is LORD and GOD. I fliall not afk pardon for this di- grefiion, but return. St. Paul, defcribing his villon, 2 Cor. xii. 2, tells us, that he was caught up into the third heaven, which third heaven he (ver. 4) calls Faradife, and there heard unf-peakahle words, myfterious things, which he was un- able to utter. His viiion, however, made fo flrong an ijnprejjion upon him, that whether he faw it DISSERTATIONS. 141 it in the hodjy or out of the hody^ he could not tell. He doubted whether his foul remained in the body, or was adlually feparated from it for a time, and carried to paradife or heaven. — And whether the foul, in thefe vifions of the prophets, is feparated from the body or not, yet it is perhaps affecfled in the fame manner as feparate fouls are with impreflions of things in the next world. It is plain that the thing was as certain and real to St. Paul, as if he had been adually tranfported to heaven or paradife, and had heard and feen things with his ears and eyes j for how elfe fliould fuch a doubt arife in his breaft ? — And, till we know more of the human foul, and what it is capable of ; or how it may be afFed:ed by other fpiritual beings, and efpecially by its Almighty Creator ; this fcripture-account of prophetical revelation, is the beft that we can expecl in this world. We have two reprefentations of thofe di- vine confultations, which are defcribed in the Eaftern figurative boldnefs, and may be confidered in a parabolical light. The firfl we find i Kings xxii, ip, and following verfes. 142 MISCELLANEOUS verfes. I fuw the Lord, fays the prophet MI-* caiah, defcribing his heavenly vifion, fittuig en his throne, and all the hofls of heaven ftanding by, on his right hand and on his left. And the Lordfaid, Who fJwdl perfuade Ahah, that he may go and fall at Kamoth-Gilead f And one faid on this manner, and another faid on that manner. And there came forth a fpirit and food before the Lord, and faid, I will ferfuade him. And the hord faid u7ito him. Wherewith? And he faid., I will go forth, and I will be a lying fpirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he faid. Thou f halt ferfuade him, and prevail alfo. Go forth and do fo. Now, though this confultation was pro- bably not real, but defcribed only by the Eaftern boldnefs ; yet ftill the fubftance or meaning of it was an infallible truth, viz. that Ahab's prophets prophelied lyes, being inftigated by that wicked fpirit, who was a lyar from the beginning, and the father of lyes ; and the reprefentation of it was doubt- lefs impreffed upon the prophet's mind in vi- lion, and he was direfled by God to ufe this account of the decrees of heaven, as it is plain from the folemn words -which introduce it, viz. Hear thou therefore the word of the Lord. Agree- D ISSERTATIONS. 143 Agreeable to this account is that palllige of Job, where we read that there was a day^ when the fons of GOD came to prefent the?nfelves before the LORD ^ and Sat a?! came alfo amongjl them toprefent himfelf before the LORD. Here, as we fee, is the fame grand affembly held in the cafe of Job^ as there was in the cafe of Ahab ; the fame hofts of heaven, called here the y^;zj of God^ prefenting themfelves before Jehovah, who in the vifion of Micaiah are faid to J} and en his right hand and on his left. Here a wicked fpirit appears amongft them called Satan^ or the adverfary.; and there a lying fpirit ; both bent on mifchief, as far as God would give them leave ; both fubjecl to the controuling power of nature's univerfal Lord, and fuffer- ed only to anfwer the ends of his juflice and providence. — Jacob faw, in a dream, a ladder w^hich reached from earth to heaven, and the angels of God defcending and afcending upon it, continually employed in receiving and executing the orders of the Moil High. Thus God in the figurative and vifionary relations of the Scripture, is, with juil magnificence, defcribed to furvey all things from his fu- preme throne in the heaven of heavens j to govern 144 MISCELLANEOUS govern his obedient angels with his golden fceptre, and to commiffion them for the good of mankind; while he controuls the malicious defigns even of devils, and makes them the executioners of the decrees of his wifdom and juftice. I CHAP. DISSERTATIONS. 145 4k»»»4.»»»-$>***4.*»»4-**#4#»»'#-**»'$' CHAP. XIII. Profeucha^ or fraylng-houfes^ in the very beginning of the Jewijh Jlate, TO vindicate, if poflible, Micah's charac- ter from the charge of idolatry, and to open the condition of the Jewifti church in the very beginning of their ftate ; we may ofcferve that the Jews, befides their temple at Jerufalem (and before that, their tabernacle) had in every city and large town a fyna- gogue ; and in every village, and in fome fa- milies of diftindlion, a profeucha, or pray- ing-houfe. That there was a fynagogue in every large town, we may plainly perceive by Acts xv. 21, where it is faid, that Mofes in old time hath^ in every city^ them that f reach hivriy being L read 146 MISCELLANEOUS read in the fynagogues every Sabbat h-dTLy. That there were profeuchay or ades facrce^ may be collected from various places of Scripture. The fanduary at Sichem, which is mention- ed Jolh. xxiv. 26, was plainly a profeucha, or praying-houfe, which had been firft fet alide for a place of divine worfliip by Abraham (Gen. xii. 6, 7) ; though probably it might be fallen into decay, and had been repaired by the Ifraelites (at leaft by the men of Ephraim, in whofe territory it was) after the conqueft of the land. Hence (Jolh. xxiv. i) Jofhua gathered all the tribes of Ifrael to Shechem, and there he and the elders of Ifrael, and their heads, and their judges, and their offi- cers, prefented themfelves before God. Here again, fmce it was a place more holy than others (Judg. ix. 6), the men gathered toge- ther to make Abimelech king : for it was an ancient cuftom (2 Kings xi. 13, 14) to anoint kings in places confecrated to God, if fuch a place was at hand. — Hence alfo we hear of fo many Levites coming to Mount Ephraim, where they attended on the fervice of God : for Shechem (i Chron. vi. 67) was in Mount Ephraim, and given to the Levites, i Chron, vi. DISSERTATIONS. 147 vi. 64, 67. — Yea, In this place, a praying, houfe continued to the times of Chrift. — Epi- phanius, ^ a Jew, born and bred in Paleftine, in his trad againft the MaiTalian heretics, af- ter he hath told us that the Maflaliani built themfelves houfes, or large places like the places of market of the ancients, which they called profeuchae, goes on thus : That the Jeu^s of old fas alfo the Samaritans) had certain places vjithout the city for prayer ^ which they called pro- feucha*s. This appears out of the A6ls of the Apo- files ^ where Lydia^ a feller of purple ^ is faid to have met with the apojlle Paul^ and to have heard him preaching in that place^ which place, in Ads xvi. I 3, is faid tc be a place of prayer. He next ' informs us. That there is ftill at Sichem^ noiu called NeapoUsy above a mile without the city^ a profeucha, or place of prayer, like a theatre which was built without a roof and in the open airy by the Samaritans, who afecled to imitate, the Jews in all tlmigs, Shechem, or Sichem, or Sychem (for the place is the fame), was manifeftly a place of prayer, called therefore the fancluary of God (Jofli. xxiv. 26) in the days of Jolhua, while the ark of God was then at Shiloh. L 2 Another See Mr. Mede. 148 MISCELLANEOUS . Another df thefe houfes of God, or pray- ing-houfes, we may well grant to be atMiz* peh, where the chiefs of the tribes of Ifrael fre- fented themfehes in the ajfembly of the people ofGod^ Judg. XX. I, 2. Here the ark of God feemed to be, in the time, when the things, related in this chapter, were tranfadted ; at leaft it feems clearly intimated, in ver, 27 of chap, XX. compared with ver. i and 5 of chap. xxi. Hence Samuel (i Sam. vii. 5) fays. Gather all Ifrael to Mizpeh, and I will pray for you unto the Lord, We could as fully prove that praying* houfes were at Bethel and Gilgah (i Sam. vii. 16) where Samuel came in his circuits, as well as at Shiloh, i Sam. iii. 15, where Sa- muel is exprefsly faid to open the doors of the houfeof the Lord, but that the tafk is unnecef- fary. The reafonablenefs of the thing itfelf is a fufficient proof. For when the Ifraelites were fettled in the Holy Land, doubtlefs they built fome places of divine worfhip in every town and village, where they might meet to- gether to offer up their prayers to God. Siace the ark could be but in one place of the Holy Land, it was impoilible that they could all keep the Sabbath-day there ; and there- £ fore DISSERTATIONS. 149 fore reafon itfelf would inftrud us, that they prepared fome places, where perfons, who lived near together, might prefent themfelves before God. Thefe places, let me obferve, were not places of facrifice. That privilege, except when a prophet was commiflioned on an extraordinary occafion, was referved (Lev, i.) for the place of the tabernacle. — Indeed we may remark, that though thefe houfes, as be- ing devoted to holy ufes, are called houfes of God ; yet God is not faid to dwell in them, as in the tabernacle, and afterwards the tem- ple ; and therefore came the cuftom among the Jews of praying (either fmgly or in their congregation) in the houfes of prayer, with their faces turned towards the tabernacle, or the temple. Hence we hear, in i Kings viii. 30, 35, 38, of the alTembly's praying towards the temple ; and Daniel, while a captive in Babylon, prayed with his face turned to- wards Jerufalem, and in confequence towards the temple. — From this account it appears, that Micah and his mother did a very chari- table thing in providing a houfe of prayer. L 3 What 150 MISCELLANEOUS What feems to incline men to an averfion againft houfes of prayer, is this : God (Dent. xii. 5) orders all the tribes of Ifrael to affemhk to the f lace which he Jhould choofe out of all their tribes to put his name there^ even unto his habitation ; there to come and bring all their burnt' offerings^ and facrijices^ and tithes^ and heave- offerings^ and vows y and free-will- offerings ^ and firjilings of their herds and of their floch. And ver. 1 3, God orders his people to take heed that they ojfer -not their burnt- offerings in any other place, — Would thefe men, however, confider, that thefe places were deiigned for prayer only, and not for facrifice ; and that facri- fices, and all vows and offerings, were, not- withftanding thefe houfes of prayer, always carried to the tabernacle ; they would recon- cile their" 'own difBculties from thefe text?, and admit^tke force and truth of the former argumerii-s. C H AP. DISSERTATIONS. iji 3^^*)0(*)K*5«(*^ *)J(*§)^*)«(*)^*)^*)8^*>«^^ CHAP. XIV. Praylng-houfes called hoiifes of God, A Praying-House, and alfo a fynagogue, is, in Scripture-language, ftiled a houfe of God, or God's fancluary, as well as the ta- bernacle, afterwards the temple. The pray- ing-houfe at Shechem (Joih. xxiv. 26) is call- ed the fanduary of the Lord ; and Micah, we read here, Judg. xvii. 5, had an houfe of God ; which evidently appears to be a pro- feucha, or little praying-houfe, for himfelf and his neighbours. His neighbours purfu- ing with him after the Danites, ftiews that they were fomewhat interefted in Micah's furniture, and confequently frequented his houfe of prayer. Indeed, fmce thefe build- ings were dedicated to the divine worfhip, they are properly ftiled houfes of God. Hence thefe holy houfes, or fanftuaries, as well as L 4 fynagogues 152 MISCELLANEOUS fynagogues, are comprehended in that com- plaint of David, Pfal. Ixxiv. 7, 8, that the enemy had burnt up all the houfes of God in the land: and Pfal. Ixxxiii. 12, that the Moabites and IJhmaelites^ &c. had confpred together^ and faid^ Let us take to ourf elves the houfes of God in fojfejfion. In David's time, therefore, there were houfes of God, the deftruclion of vi^hich he looked upon to be a very great calamity ; and by that exprefiion, all the houfes of God in the land^ we may fee that fuch houfes were built throughout the country, as places of prayer and devotion. Indeed, without fuch Iioufes, it would be difficult to conceive, ho\^ the Sabbath-day could be well obferve4, or even the knowledge of God retained amongft them. jr r^ "i* ■ CHAP. DISSERTATIONS. 153 CHAP. XV. Fraying'houfes furnilhed in imitation of the tempk. THEY not only had fuch houfes, as it has been abundantly proved, but thefe profeuchae, or praying- houfes, were furnifh- ed fomewhat in imitation of the tabernacle, aftervirards the temple, at Jerufalem. A pro- feucha, by comparing authors ^ and things, feems to have been a plot of ground encom- paffed with a wall, or fome enclofure. All the fpace within this inclofure was called the houfe of prayer, or houfe of God. On the in fide of this inclofure a grove of trees was generally planted ; and in the grove was pro- bably a delubrum^ or chapel, in or rather before which was an altar, and fome utenfils like thofe of the temple, or tabernacle. This fur- • See Mr. Mcde, Len^is's Hebrew Antiquities, &:c. niturc 154 MISCELLANEOUS niture gave it fome refemblance of that place, which was chiefly fanclified by God's glory. The inclofure appears from the words of Epiphanius already cited. The planting of groves in them may be collected from Philo Judaeus, who, relating the barbarous ufage of the Gentiles at Alexandria againft the Jews, there dwelling in the time of Caius, faith, that the citizens of that vaft city (Tuvroc^oe^^ivo^ rocg ^s cUvtok; S'f^afAiot? HaT!(rHai]yc6j/, " drawing Up to^ gether in large companies^ cut down the trees of the profeuchae, or praying-houfes, of which there are a great number in every divijion of the towny and demo it/he d others to the very foundations ^"^^ Hence Juvenal, in his lixth Satire, calls a Jewiih prieftefs interpres legum Solymarum^ mag- na facer do s arborisy " an explainer of the law of Mofes, a great prieftefs of the tree ; " for the Jews built profeuchse, or fome forry imi- tation of them, in that poet's time, in Italy; and, by pretending to divine oracles, carried on in them a fort of a begging fortune- telling trade j and, in particular, had hired a grove 7 and DISSERTATIONS. 155 and chapel confecrated to Egeria and the Mufes, for this purpofe. Hie ubi nodurna Numa conflituebat arnica y Nunc facri fontis nemus^ & delubra locantur Jud(£is^ quorum cophinus fcsnumq; fupellex, Omnis enimfopulo mercedem pendere jujfa ejl Arbor & ejedis mendicat fylva camcsnis. Where Numa met Egeria — heav'nly maid ! — And in wife confultations nightly ftaid ; The grove and chapel's let to Jews, who lay Their wealth in balket mean, or wifp of hay. To pay its poll each tree muft beg around, While banifli'd mufes fly the grating found. David certainly refers to thefe profeuchac in Pfal. Hi. 8. / am like a green olive-tree in the houfe of God ; or, more properly, in an houfc of God. And again, in Pfal. xcii. 11, 12, The righteous flmll flourijh like a palm-tree^ and flmll fpread abroad like a cedar in Lebanon. Such^ as be planted in an houfe of the Lordy fhall flourifh in 1^6 MISCELLANEOUS in the courts of the houfe of our God, And that they had fome furniture in or before their chapel, it appears from this houfe of God, which Micah endowed, and will appear more fully hereafter. But here it may be aiCked, whether this planting of trees within their houfes of God (for the whole enclofure, as I before obferved, had that name) does not contradi<^ that command of God, given in Deut. xvi. 21, 2 2, Thoufhalt not plant a grove of ^ any trees near unto the altar of the Lord thy God, which thoufhalt make thee ; neither fjalt thou fet thee up a pillar (or ftatue) which the Lord thy God hateth, I fhall prove hereafter, that many prohibitions of this kind are to be underftood in a reflrained fenfe, and are fuppofed to have thefe words underftood after them : fo MS to convert them or* it to idolatrous purpofes. This will be feen to be true in images fet up in houfes of prayer, in pillars or rnxxiy in keeping teraphim. For the prefent, we fhall only obferve, that though it was not lawful to plant a grove of trees near the place of the altar before the tabernacle, yet it was lawful, and cuftomary too, to plant groves of trees within the inclofure, which went by the name of \ DISSERTATIONS. 157 of a profeucha. TJoe altar of the Lord thy Gody in the Scripture cited, infers the altar for fa- crifice, which altars in praying-houfes were not. They were fymbols only, that thfli praying perfons were in covenant with God, as we ihall ihew hereafter. — Indeed, Philo Judaeus, in his book of the Law of Allego- ries, has an obfervation which is ingenious, and by chance true. ZnTno-fif St uv t*?, &c. A ferfon may enquire ^ fays he, wherefore ^ Jince it is both jufi and righteous to imitate the works of God^ that I am forbidden to plant a grove by the altar ; whereas God himfelf -planted Paradife. For the law fays ^ Thou fh alt not plant to thy f elf a grove ^ viz, every tree near the altar of the Lord thy God^ which thou fhalt make. And the refult of his anfwer is this, that you may plant fruitful trees, but not a grove confiding of a mix- ture of trees, fruitful or unfruitful. 'Ev aAcj dy^ioct; v?^n<: Ifi >^ Ji^fpy (TfvJpa, &C. for In a grove are both wild and ?nild trees , but we ought not to mix fruitful with unfruitful. As this au- thor was himfelf a Jew, this bears great pro- bability of truth. His tranflation is certainly preferable to ours ; for, in the original, it is not a grove of any trees^ but a grove j viz. every tree. 158 MISCELLANEOUS tree. In fuch cafe, we fliall fee a reafon why tlie olive-tree is mentioned by David as planted in the houfe of God ; and the very- oaks with which their facred groves were chiefly planted, have been found, by all tra- .vellers, to be of that fpecies, which the Ro- mans named afculus^ or rather efculus^ becaufc in that country in particular its fruits are Very efculent and eatable. s/ # CHAP. DISSERTATIONS, 159 C H A P. XVI. A Levite was friefl in the frofeucha^ with his ephod, A Levite was prieft in thefe profeucha?, who wore an ephod, though not of fine-twined linen. Thefe profeuchas were not for facrifice, but for prayer only, as their name implies ; and the Levites were defign- ed by God to be the praying priefts. To pre- ferve the religion of God, it was neceifary that there fhould be fandluaries (as thefe ho- ly houfes are called Lev. xxvi. 31) ; and if there were fancluaries, it was neceflary that there Ihould be priefts. And that the Levites were chofen to be the praying priefts, we may fee in Deut. x. 8. At that time the Lord feparated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lordy to /land before the Lord to minijler t6o MISCELLANEOUS mnijler unto hitriy and to hlefs In his name un-^ to this day. Some of the Levites waited be* fore the tabernacle, and others muft there- fore fojourn ; and thofe provincial and fo- journing Levites were to be received at the altar on their return, as we may fee in Deut. xviii. 6, If a Levite come from any of thy gates out of all Ifraely where he fojournedy and come with all the deftre of his mind unto the place which the Lordfhall choofe^ then he fhall minifler in the name of the Lord his God^ as all his brethren the Levites doy which JI and there before the Lord, Is it not plain from this, that there were travelling Levites defigned by God from the very be- ginning of the Jewifh ftate P The Levites indeed were not permitted to offer facrifice at the altar of the Lord God, as we fhall ob- ferve hereafter ; but they were defigned, when the tabernacle and ark was fixed, to be the praying priefts. This is very plainly in- timated in Numb, xviii. 2, 3, and following verfes ; and in thofe places of Scripture, where we read of Levites within their gates^ Deut. xii.' 12, whom they were not to forfakc in whatever part of the country they lived, Deut. xii. 19, Hence, when a murder was com- DISSERTATIONS, t6i committed nigh any city throughout the land, the priefts, the fons of Levi, were to come near (for them the Lord had chofen to minifter unto him, and to blefs in the name of the Lord) Deut. xxi. 5, and to decide any controverfy. Hence, in fine, they aire fo of- ten called priefts, as in Jofli. iii. 3 ^ 1 7* It fol- lows, as I obferved before, that if the wor- fliip of God was to be celebrated, that there muft be houfes of worlhip and priefts j and iince the fons of Aaron were wholly employed about the fervice of the tabernacle, the other Levites muft ferve in other houfes of prayer. It may be here alked, if thefe Levites did not fucceed, or find employment, what pro- vifion was made for them P On which we may obferve, that the tenth part of the pro- du6ts of the ground, or of herds and flocks, was confecrated to God, or referved for the ufe of his priefts. Lev. xxvii. 32, Concerning the tithe of the herd or of the flocks even of what- foever fajfeth under the rod^ the tenth fh all be holy unto the Lord, — Where we may obferve the cuftom of tithing the lambs or calves amongft M the 162 MISCELLANEOUS the Jews ; which w^as moft probably this : They inclofed, in a fold or pen with a little door, all the lambs or calves, and placed the dams on the outfide. At the entrance flood the keeper, either fliepherd or herdfman, with a rod coloured with oker in his hand, which he held over them in numbering as they paffed ; and every tenth calf or iamb, which came out at the call of its dam, belonged to the Lord, whether good or bad. Thefe , tithes we read. Numb, xviii. 24, 26, were affigned for the ufe of the Levites, with this reftridion only, that they were ordered to take out the tithe of the tithe for the facri- ficing priefts of the houfe of Aaron. Thefe tithes were all brought to the place where God's ark was, and there proper divilions made ; and if the Levites returned from fo- journing, there was a prefent maintenance for them ; Deut. xviii. 6, 7, 8. Tfiefe Levites had ephods of common linen, or Hnteii?n; for though an ephod made of fine- twined linen, or l^yjfus, was a garment to be made for the high-priefls only; yet an ephod of common linen might be worn by any man DISSERTATIONS. i6^ man that was confecrated to the fervice of God. Thus Samuel (i Sam. ii. i8) is fliid to minijler unto the Lord, girded with a line?i ephod. Thus Doeg (i Sam. xxii. i8) is faid to fcdl up- on the priejls^ and to flay in one day four/core and Jive perfons^ that ivore a linen ephod. Some of thefe fourfcore and five perfons were doubt- lefs Levites ; whofe oiEce it was, as inferior priefls, to aflill the other priefts at the taber- nacle. The ephod was plainly the diftin- guiihing garment of every prieft ; and hence we fee that Micah acled agreeably to the will of God and religions cuftoms eflablifhed, both in entertaining a Levite as his prieft, and providing an ephod for him, as a diftin- guifhing veftment of a prieft ufual in thofe days. Ma CHAP, I(J4 MISCELLANEOUS «f;^,^gf?^^e^f^!^5e()eCdS?^3g?j!^M3ef^^ CHAP. XVII. Many places in Scripture explained from Levitical cujloms. FROM thefe travelling Levites we may fee the exad completion of tvro prophe- cies ; the one recorded in Gen. xlix. 5, 6, 7, Simeon and Levi are brethren, Inftrumeiits of crU' elty are in their habitations, O my foul ^ come not thou into their fecret ; unto their affemhly^ mine ho-* Tiour, be not thou united ; for in their anger they flew a man^ and in their felfwill they dhged down a wall, Curfed be their anger ^ for it was fierce ; and their wrath^ for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacobs andfcatter them in IfraeL Jacob here points out the defperate murder committed by thefe two brethren (Gen. xxxiv. 25, 26) on Hamor and Shechem, and all the males of their city. And his prophecy 7 of DISSERTATIONS. 165 of their being fcattered, was fulfilled ; for Si- meon (Jofh. xix, i) had fcattered towns in Judah allowed for his fettlement; and the Levites, we find, were in a great meafure tra- velling Levites, going about fometimes from place to place, and feeking to be employed in fome houfe of prayer, and fo were difperfed through the whole land. Hence, according to the prophecy in Gen. xlix. 7, Levi too was divided In Jacobs and fcattered in IfraeL The other prophecy which is exprefled by this order of travelling Levites, is in Deut. xxxiii. 8, 9, 10. And of Levi he faid^ Let thy Thummim and thy Urim "^ be with thy holy one [in Hebrew, with thy holy man, viz. Aaron, or rather Levi, as reprefentative of all priefts ; with which Aaron^ or with which Levi, as ex- prefled by the priefts in general, the Ifraelites ftrove at Maffah, Numb. xx. 2, 13. Exod., xvii. 7.] whom thou didfl prove at Mafj'ah^ and with whom thou didjl ftrive^ or rather, whom * Whoever confiders the fignification of Urim and Tlium- mim, viz. of Lights and PerfefineJj'eSi may think that St. James, chap. i. 17, had the prayer of Mofes here in view, when he allures us, that every good and every per-feB gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of light *> M 2 ' thou i66 MISCELLANEOUS thou caiifedfl to coAtend, at Meribah. Who faid^ or who fhall fay, unto his father and his mother^ I have not feen him, neither Jhall he ac- knowledge his brethren, nor know his own children. For they have obferved (Ihall obferve) thy wordy and kept (keep) thy covenant. They pall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Ifrael thy law ; they Jhall flit incenfe before thee, and whole burnt-fa- crifice upon thy altar*. Here Mofes indeed in- cludes all the defcendants of Levi, both the high-priefls in the line of Aaron, and the Le- vites properly fo called. However, lince the Levites left often their parents, brethren, and children, to feek fome profeucha, which wanted a man of their order, Mofes here plainly defcribes their departure from their family; and if we convert the eaftern defcrip- tion into our idiom of fpeech, makes them fay to their friends, Tou are to me no more than N * I here explain the words according to the prophetic in- tention 5 for the words alfo refer to a thing paft, when Aaron and the tribe of Levi did not join in murmuring againft God and Mofes at Mafiah nor Meribah, with the reft of the peo- ple 5 yea, the Levites did not join with the people in making the golden calf, bat expiated the iin with the blood of their owa relations. Hence God gives that eulogium of Levi, Mai. ii. 4, 5, 6. flrangers ; DISSERTATIONS. ^6^ ft rangers ; for I am about to leave you^ in order to fer'ixe God in fame houfe of -grayer. To this cuftom of leaving their dearell friends amongft thefe provincial Levites, our Saviour refers, when he fays, that if any man come to me^ aiid hate not (i. e. flight not, and leave, in refpecl of me) his father and mother^ and wife and children^ and brethren and fifters^ yea^ and his own life alfo^ he cannot he my difciple ; Luke xiv. 26 ; and in ver, 33, Whofoever he be of youy that for faketh not all that he hath^ he can- not he my difciple. And in Matt. x. 37, He that - loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me ; and he that loveth fon or daughter more than me^ is ?jot worthy of me. If it is true, alfo, what the Jews with great probability affirm, that thefe travelling Levites always took with them a ftaff and a purfe, and a copy of the law ; then we fliall fee the propriety and force of thefe proverbial exprellions of our Saviour ; who, propofing a fpeedy fetting out, orders his difciples to provide neither purfe nor JlaJ] nor vidua Is for the way. And it is not to be doubted, but the fJmking ojf the duft of their M 4 feet 168 MISCELLANEOUS feet againfl towns and houfes which would not receive them, is deducible from fome ob^ fcure cuftom amongft thofe Levitical travel- lers J who, by that ceremony, teftified their great inhofpitality, as if they would have grudged them even the duft of the ground ; or rather, would not afford water to wafii the duft off their feet ; which water was the firft and moft unexpenfive token of hofpitality. Philo Judaeus, in his Bcok of the Sacrifices of Abel and Cain^ mentions this voluntary de- parture of the Levites from their friends for the fake of publifhing the law of Mofes ; and as this pafTage illuftrates what has been faid, it well deferves a tranflation. 'A^iov §i iayi 7r«- fs^yccg iTKE^/oi(r3'oci rt ^mrols rag iroXiiq rcov Aevitcov ccvnui roig (pvyoicriy Scc, ** We ought alfo carefully to confider^ why God fhould grant the cities of the Levites to thofe who fled for involuntary murther ; permitting the profane to cohabit with the mojl facred 7nen, We mujl firjl allege^ what is con- fequent on obfervations already made^ that a good man is a redemption for a bad man ; fo thatfinners with good reafonfly to facred perfons in order to he pirified, Befides^ the Levitts reafonably entertain wau" DISSERTATIONS. i6^ wanderers y as being infonie degree wanderers them' felves. For as the fliers are forced from their country ; fo the Levites leave children ^ parents^ brethren^ every thing that is moft near and dear ; that for a mortal they may obtain an immortal in- heritance, Here is the difference^ that the one are banifloedy though againjl their inclination^ for a crime which againjl their inclination they commit^ ted ; the other wander voluntarily for the love of what is beJlP This condud of the Levites fully explains our Saviour's orders, when he bids men do, for the fake of publifliing the Gofpel, that better adminiftration, what the Levites, for the fake of the law of Mofes, did "with free-will, when they left their neareft and deareft friends and abodes for the fake of it. — This obfervation will alfo fct our Sa- viour's own condud in a juft light in foine occurrences, in which annotators have grofsly flumbled. He coniidered himfelf, in the exe- cution of his great commiiTion, as a man thus divorced from parents, whofe authority, after the entrance upon the miniftry, plainly ceafed from over the priefts and Levites, if H interrupted the performance of their great pffice, Hence, as a man difengaged from his rela- 170 MISCELLANEOUS relations and abode, he tells the fcribe. Matt. viii. 20. that he had not where to lay his head) and ver. 22, would not fuffer a difciple to return and bury his father, iince that difciple fliould have addided himfelf to his gofpel only. Hence, Matt. xii. 46, 47, &:c. he dif- regards the call of his mother and brethren, when it interrupted the execution of his of- fice, and feemed, as prophelied of true Le- vites on thefe occaiions, not to acknowledge , theniy Deut. xxxiii. 9. but declared that who- ever did the will of his Father which was in hea- ven, the fame was his brother, and fifter, and mo- ther. Hence I Ihould be inclined to read, with Gregory Nyifen, the words in John ii.4, thus. Woman, what have I to do with thee f Is not mine hour yet come f which in our language would {land thus, fuppofmg that his mother intimated their want of wine, either willing that he ihould fupply it by a miracle, or, what is more likely, intimating to her fon that it was proper to withdraw themfelves. Mother, why do you lay your injundions on me f Is not my minifterial ofice begun f. As if he had faid, " Why do you hint to me, mother, that " it is time to withdraw becaufe the wine is «' fpent ? DISSERTATIONS. 171 " fpent ? Is not my office begun ? and can- ** not I therefore reftore fome by a miracle ?" It is certain, that his mother underftood his words, as if he had intimated that he would fupply their defefl in wine, fince flie, on his anfwer, bids the fervants to obey his orders. — When he was amongft the doctors in the Temple, and his mother fought him, and hav- ing found him, mildly rebuked him for leav- ing her and his father and friends, he re- plied — How is it that ye fought me f ivijl ye noty that I miift he about my Father* s bufinefs r"' This reply we read, Luke ii. $0. that his parents at that time underftood not. — But he after- wards, doubtlefs, revealed to them, that he fliould foon leave their care and power over him, and enter upon his miniftry. And this anfwer to his mother in the beginning of his minifterial office, feems to be to the fame purport. This interpretation is, I fuppofe, new : but recommends itfelf, if examined ac- cording to the approved cuftoms amongft God's minifters under the law. Since perfons alfo, who had dedicated themfelves to the fervicc of God, were con- fidered 171 MISCELLANEOUS fidered by themfdves and others as alienated from their parents and relations, we may trace out, perhaps, the origin of that obfcure tradition of the Scribes and Pharifees men- tioned Matt. XV. g, 4, &c. He an/wered and/aid unto therriy Why do you alfo tranfgrefs the command' ment of God by your tradition f For God commanded^ faying^ Honour thy father and mother^ and he that curfeth father or mother^ let h'lni die the death. But ye fay^ Whofoever fhall fay to his father cr mother^ It is a gift^ by whatfoever thou mightejl have been profited by me^ he fhall even by no means honour his father and mother, Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effeB by your tradition. This is the exa(5l tranflation of the words in the original \ whereon we may ob- ferve, I. That Ti/xaw lignifies not Only to honour, in the facred writings, but to entertain hand- fomely^ or to relieve handfomely^ or, in one word, to take a decent care of Thus, i Tim. v. 3, we may turn the words in this fenfe ; Relieve handfomely widows^ that are widows indeed; as we may fee, if we compare this verfe with I Tim. V. 16, where lirocoKiu^ to relieve fufi- ciently^ DISSERTATIONS. 173 tiently^ is ufed for n/xaw, to honour. In ihort, niD chabad, in Hebrew, Ttpu in Greek, and fometimes honos in Latin, may fignify an handfome frefent^ whether it be a maintenance^ entertainment^ ox reward. Thus Adls xxviii. ig, Ot ttoxxolk; Ti/xai? lri^%(Toe,v ii/Aar> who entertained US with many entertainments in an handfome manner^ viz. while we ftaid ; and^ when we departed^ they laded us with fuch things as were necejfary. The words medico honos debetury in Cicero, mean that a fhyftcian deferves a handfome fee. And Let the elders^ which rule well^ he counted worthy of a double honour ^ in i Tim. v. 17, might be better turned by, Let the elders^ which rule welly have a double maintenance allowed to them ; for the apoftle feems to have refpecl to the double portion allowed to the eldeft brother among the Jews. Hence alfo ocTrovifxnv Ti/Anv, &c. to give honour unto the wife^ as unto the weaker veffeU i Pet. iii. 17, may be alfo turned by, to afford a handfome maintenance to the wife^ as a weaker vefjel^ or one who is depend- ent on her hufband, as not being equally ca- pable of providing for herfelf. Hence our church catechifm rightly paraphrafes the words honour thy father and mother^ by love^ ho- mur^ 174 MISCELLANEOUS nour^ and fuccour thy father and mother. The words therefore in Matt. xv. 4, 6, might be better tranflated, Honourably relieve thy father and mother ; and, He /ball even by no means honour- ably relieve his father and mother, 2dly, We may obferve, that the Scribes and Pharifees not only would have perfons devoted to God's fervice to be eftranged from their parents, fo that their parents fliould have no farther jurifdidion over them j but that they excepted things alfo devoted to God, from that right which parents, by the commandment of God, had otherwife to them. They feem to have perfuaded their followers, that, though they were, otherwife, obliged to provide for their parents, in obe- dience to God's command ; yet, if they would leave their fubilance, probably at their death, to the ufe of the temple-miniftry, they might be free from that injundion. This any man will fee to be the plain beginning of this tra- dition, who knows that pip, corban, (Mark vii. 11) that is, a gift, fignifies always an obla- tion to God, Therefore (Matt. xv. 5) we may, according to the original Hebrew, turn thus : It DISSERTATIONS. 175 // is dedicated as to whatfoever thou mightejl have been relieved by me. Thus thefe fons of rapine and avarice made the religion of the God of Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob, patronize that cruelty and in- gratitude to parents, which an honeft hea- then would be fliocked to hear. Heiiod only- dreads, left the growing iniquity of the world Ihould arrive at fo unnatural a wick- ednefs. M£(x^o])loci J* ccpx rag ^xXe-rroig (^o^l^ov]^ I7r£e(r3"» x^p^stAioj, yJ'f 3'iuv OTrrj li^orsg* ov^b fjt.tv oiys Here |3a(^ovTf, in the dual number, agrees with T8? Toyinocg in the plural, which concord is allowable amongft the Greeks.- Sons aged parents foon will difregard. Nor their paft cares with honours due re- ward ; And when, with harfher words, they an- gry chide. Will call them peevifii dotards, and deride. A^ile 175 MISCELLANEOUS Vile wretches!— to fome fearful venge* ance giv'n 1 Who flight th' infpedling eye of righteous heav'n ; Who, to requite, ungratefully forbear. Their aged fathers pains, their aged mo* thers care. Returns for nourifliment and education paid to parents, are called S^pfTrl^ipia, and by , Homer, 5p£7r7pa, who, bemoaning the un- timely fate of the young handfome Simoifius^ adds this, a^ an aggravation to his unhappy lot, that he was deprived of rendering a re- compence to his parents by his early death, * - - - - Ou^f roxeLKTt By him unpaid, his parents' cares re-- main. So fliort his date ! — by valiant Ajax flain. CHAP, biSSERTATlONS. i-jf ^^*^*^*^*M * )^#§^*)K*^*^*)^*¥.S CHAP. XVIil. Levites no facrijicing -priejls hi the Jew'iflj churchy Laymen not to he frkfls in the Chnjlian churchy according to a prophecy, NO man, not even a Levite, could take upon him that part of the prieftly of- fice, which confifted in attendance upon the altar of God in the tabernacle or temple, fd as to facrifice or to offer incenfe. This ap- pears from the deftrudion of Korah, the Le- vite, for attempting fuch a thing. The Le- vites, we find, in Numb. xvi. lo, muil not feek the priefthood in that fenfe. They were empowered, indeed, to pray and explain the law in their houfes of prayer, and fo are call- ed priefts in Deut. xviii. i, 3. Jofh. iii. 3, 17. and xviii. 7, and in other places probably of Scripture. — If we enquire by what prefump- tive right Korah invaded the prieRhood, we N ill all 178 MISCELLANEOUS iliall find that it was occafioned partly by his miflaking one text of Scripture ; by which place he thought that he and every Jfradlte hzid an equal right to take upon him that office with Aaron and his fons. The place upon which Korah and his company grounded their prefumption, is in Exod. xix. 3, 4, &c. Thus JJmlt thou fay to the houfe of Jacob ^ and tell the children of Ifrael : Te have feen what I did unto the Egyptians^ and hozv I hare you on eagles wlngSj and brought you unto niyfelf Now there- fore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye fhall be unto me a peculiar trea- fure above all people, and ye fhall be unto me a king- dom of priejls, and an holy nation. This text the unlearned and unfable Korah wrefed unto his own dejlru^lion. He thought that all the people were fanclified by God's prefence in the camp ; and, as Mofes has it, Deut. vii. 6, that all Ifrael was an holy people to the Lord their God. He imagined that every Ifraelite had a right to the priefthood, becaufe the If- raelites were faid to be a kingdom ofpriefis, and an holy nation. This appears from the appli- cation which he makes of thefe words in Numb. xvi. 3, Te take too much upon yon, fay Korah DISSERTATIONS. 179 Korali and his confederates to Mofes and Aaron, feeing all the congregatioji are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is a?no?ig them. Where- fore then lift ye up yourfehes above the congregation of the Lordf Thus Korah made the whole nation at once a kingdom of priefs, not in holi- nefs of life, according to the true meaning of the text, but in attendance upon the altar ; and, with his companions, adventured to of- fer incenfe before God. Their error God re- buked by a moft fearful judgment ; and or- dered their very cenfers to be made broad plates for the altar, that they might be there for a memorial unto the children of llrael, that no Jl ranger, which is not of the feed of Aaron, come near to offer incenfe before the Lord, that they be not as Korah and his company, St. Peter, in his i Ep. il. 5, writes thus to all Chriflians in general : Te alfo as lively fi ones are built up a fpiritual houfe, a holy priefllKod, to offer up fpiritual facrifices acceptable to God by Je- fus Chriji, And in his 9th verfe, he ililes all Chriflians a chofen generation ^ a royal J,rif} hood. But is it not a great and prefumptuoiis mif- take in thefe men, who afllrm from thefe N 2 tCXLS, i8o MISCELLANEOUS texts, that every Chriftian has an equal right to the prieftly office without a regular ordina- tion P Chriflians are friefls^ as the Ifraelites were, in holinefs of life, if they walk worthy of the vocation whereunto they are called; but not priefts attending on the altar. Chrif- tians may offer w^ fpiritiml facrificesy the facri- lice of a contrite fpirit, the facriiice of thankf- giving, and the incenfe of prayer and praife ; but they mufl not prefume to adminifter fa- , craments in the church. St. John, Rev. i. <5, tells us, that Chrijl hatb now made us kings and friejls unto God ; i. e. kings and priefts in a fpiritual fenfe, in governing our pailions, conquering vice, and offering up the facriiice of a good life. Chriftians muil not pretend, from fuch a text, that they are all empower- ed to take on them the kingly power, and govern the civil affairs of ftate, becaufe they are filled fpiritually kings ; no more muft they prefume to conduct the ecclefiaftical af- fairs of the church, becaufe they are filled fpiritually priefts. Chriftians are kings and friefts unto God, but not kings and priefts of the earth. Men who profefs and pra^life Chriftianity are /f^nr, in St. Peter, facrificers ; but DISSERTATIONS. i8i but the preachers with him are bifhops, el- ders, paftors, rulers, teachers, miniders, in the houfe of God. The Chriflians whom St. Peter wTites to, are ftiled by him, babes new born ; but perfons ordained to preach the gofpel, are every where by him ftiled elders and fathers. Chriftians who truly embrace the gofpel, are the fons of God, and babes in Chrifl ; churches are branches of the fami- ly of Chrift ; and perfons ordained and fet over them are ftewards over thofe branches of the family, and difpenfers of the myftery of the gofpel. — To make the kingly or priefl- ly office common, every one mufl know, on the leaft coniideration, would introduce con- fufion into (late and church. — But God is not the God of confufion, but of order, as in all churches of the faints. Thus therefore St. Peter is to be explained : T^e Chrijl'ians are an holy friejlhood^ not in adminiftering the facra- ment and preaching the word of God, but in offering to God, through the interceffion of Jefus Chrift, the fpiritual facrifice of true repentance and a good life. Thus we fee, that Chriflians are priefts to God, to offer up fpiritual facrifices of a contrite heart and N 3 broken t82 miscellaneous broken fpirit, but not the facridces of the temple ; in the fame manner as Levites might pray and be devout in houfes of prayer, but were to be cut off, if they touched the proper duty of the altar in the tabernacle. It will not be looked upon as quite foreign to the prefent fubjecl, if we eftabliih this di- ftinclion of the preaching priefthood of men regularly ordained to adminifter the facra- ments, and of the fpiritual priefthood of all Chriftians in general, from a prophecy of Ifaiah, who (If. Ixvi. 20, 21) has this remark- able prediclion of the Chriftian church : They jhall bring all your brethren for an ojfering unto the Lord^ as the children of Ifrael bring an offering in a clean Teffel unto the hoife of the Lord. Here is the general admiffion of all Chriftians for fpi- ritual priefts. Out of them we find, in the next verfe, fome are to be felecfted for the adminiftration of facraments and public pray- ers ; And I "joill alfo take ofthemforfriefls^ and for Levites^ faith the Lord, God promifes to take of them^ excerpere quofdam ex illisy as the original may be juftly turned, to take out fome from-among them j for the prepolition here ufed has DISSERTATIONS. 183 has the fignification of from- among jl. And / *ujill aljo take priefis for the adminiilration of the facraments, and Levites for public prayer from-amongjl them. God therefore propofes to felecl fome amongft them for priefts, not to make thern all priefts j fmce that would in- troduce a diforder fufficient to fubvert his own worfhip. SC ^-^-y "X < > N4 CHAP. :84 MISCELLANEOUS $ 4" ^4 4"§* i*!- 4' 4 •^•§- # •<&••$• ^ ■$• •% * 4'4"§' 4"§! CHAP. XIX. Altars in praying-houfeSy but not for facrifice. THAT they had altars in thefe houfes of prayer, we may fafely collecl fron^ an altar built, and probably afterwards in- clofed, in fome large profeuchae, by the Reu- benites and Gadites and the half-tribe of Ma- naffeh, on the borders of Jordan, as it is re- corded Jofli. xxii. lo, II, and following verfes ; which altar, we there find, was not built for facrifice, but as a fymbol that they were in allegiance to the God of heaven. The Lord God of Gods^ fay thefe Reubenites, &:c. the Lord God of Gods^ he knoweth. — If it be in re- bellion that we have built an altar^ to turn from following the Lord ; or Pf to offer thereon burnt' offering or meat-offering ; or if to offer feace-offer- ings DISSERTATIONS. 185 ings thereon^ let the Lord hmf elf require if. — And if we have tiot rather done it for fear of this things faying^ In time to come^ your children might f peak to cur children^ and fay ^ What have you to do with the Lord God of Ifrael f For the Lord hath made Jordan a border between us and you. Te children of Reuben^ ayid ye children of Gad ^ ye have no part in the Lord, 'Therefore we faidy Let us now pre- fare to build its an altar ^ not for burnt-offering or for facrificc-i but that it may be a witnefs between us and youy and our generations after us^ that we might do the fervice of the Lord before him^ with our burnt- offerings and with our fieri fices^ and with our feace-o^erings^ that your children may Xiot fay to our children^ in time to come ^ " Ye have no part in the Lord.'' This altar was mani- feftly fet up as a token of their being the people of God (though they lived too remote to offer up their prayers before the taberna- cle) as well as thcfe who ferved God there. And this altar we read (ver. 2 8) was a pat- tern of the altar of the Lord, or was made in the likenefs of that altar, which was in the tabernacle. Now, fmce this was much ap- proved of by all the people of Ifrael, (as we jread in ver. 30, 33) and fiacc the cafe of all 7 men, i86 MISCELLANEOUS men, who lived at any diftance from the ta- bernacle, muft be exadly the fame with this of theReubcnites and Gadites ; can there be any doubt but that, in their houfes of prayer, they built altars for the fame end, viz. to teftify, that though they lived too remote from the tabernacle to ferve God conftantly there, yet that ^ the altar (Jofh. xxii. 34) might be *!5^, wed, a wltnefs^ that the Lord was their God. It A aKJ O 3 with ipS MICSELLANEOUS with my whole heart ; even before the Godsy the Elohim or angels, will I fing praife unto thee. In conformity to this opinion, the angels are faid to be minijlring fpirits fent forth to minif ter to them who fh all he heirs of falvation^ Heb. i. 14. Hence the angels of little children are faid by Our Saviour to fee the face of God in heaven. Hence the difciples, at the houfe of Mary the mother of John, imagin- ed that Peter's angel, not Peter himfelf, ' flood before the gate; and hence St. Paul, I Cor. xi. 10. exhorts u^omen to have a veil over their heads in churches ^ to behave with the greateft modefty and decency in fuch places, hecaufe of the angels^ in reverence to thofe fu- perior beings, who, though invilible, yet law their deportment. lCaV:?.' . CHAP, DISSERTATIONS. ipy ^XX*>C*)K*^*''^ ^* l)*(*)§(*»C*)^*¥ *^ II CHAP. XVIII. Ma?iy proJnbltions in Scripture to be underfiood ivith an exception^ efpecially thofc which concern Images and Pillars, IT remains now to take a fhort view of Micah's woiihip ; and in order to this we mull lay down, by way of preliminary, that many prohibitions of Scripture have an exception always implied, which bounds their force. Thus in the fecond command- ment, Exod. XX. 4, we are forbidden to rnake any graven image ^ or any likenejs of any thing that is in heaven above ^ or that is in the earth be- neath^ or that is in the water under the earth. But thefe words muil be underfiood to iland thus: Thou /halt not make to thy f elf any graven imagey fo as to think it like unto Gody and to wor- Jkip it, Otherwife it was lawful to make () 4 graven 200 MISCELLANEOUS graven images, and to fet them up even in the place of divine worfhip, while they were confidered as ornaments only. This appears from hence, becaufe God himfelf ordered cherubim to be made, and to be fet np by the mercy-feat in the tabernacle ; and, in the temple afterwards, the figures of che- rubim were fet up, as well as the figures of oxen under the brazen-fea. We are forbid- den, indeed, to make any graven image in order to worihip it. Lev. xxvi. i. But men have fet up in houfes of prayer images and Feprefentations of angtis, or other images, for ornaments and decoration. In this manner it was lawful or unlawful to have teraphim in a man's houfe, according to the ufe for which they were deiigned. For ornaments they were lawful, for wor- fhip unlawful. The teraphim were images of fome order of good angels, or of fome heathen deity. EJi enim ( fays Grotius ) ijjsx media ad honas rnalafq; imagines fertinens, '^ It is a common word applicable to lawful and unlawful images." Hence he tranflates the word by ixo^pocfMdT^,, Jbaped things \ and Jofephus by tcotto* tc4jv ^fwi/, figures of gods. In houfes DISSERTATIO M S."^ *^ t houfes of prayer we may well allow that- they were images of the good kind, and cither copies from the cherubim in the taber- nacle, as Grotius, in this place of Micah, will have them, or forms of the Urim to be put in the linen epliod. The cherubim in the temple, Ezek. xli, i8, 19, had two faces, one on each fide of their head ; the face of a man on one lide, and the face of a lion on the other. And if the teraphim of the good kind were like the cherubim, it ap- pears likely that the image (in the original the teraphim) which Michal put ilt the bed, I Sam. xix. 13, inftead of David, was of this kind ; for though the face was covered with a cloth, yet the form of an human face probably w^as vifible. David himfelf, indeed, would not have fuffered an unlaw- ful image to be kept in his houfe, if it came to his knowledge. The teraphim, which Rachel Hole, Gen. xxxi. 19, from Laban, oa the contrary, were doubtlefs of the bad kind, little ftarry images of the Syrian gods. This diftinclion is worthy to be noted, in or- der to underitand thofe places of Scripture- where 202 MISCELLANEOUS where they are mentioned, at leaft in the original. In this account of Micah's houfe of prayer, and in Hofeaiii. 4, they are moft probably of the good kind ; but in Zech. x. 2, and in Ezek. xxi. 21, they are certainly of the bad kind t«>Thefe obfervations may be extended alfo to pillarsy ^yixai^ which are forbidden to be fet up, Deut. xvi.21. Thou Jhalt ijot plant thee a grove^ viz. every tree, near unto the altar of the Lord thy God^ which thou Jhalt make thee, "N either Jhalt thou fet thee up any image (rather pillar), %vhich the Lord thy God hateth. The cuf- tom of planting groves in houfes of prayer has been already conlidered ; and we fliall now {hew that thofe laft words are to be un- derftood as if expreffed thus. Neither fhalt thou fet thee up any pillar^ ** fo as to make it fubfervient to idolatry." This latter claufe 5s implied in thefe words, which the Lord thy God hateth. The word here tranflated jW^^, is, in the original, HHV/t^, Matztzebah, which, throughout the whole Bible, fignifies 7l pillar^ often that pillar on which the idol was placed ; whence, in a large figurative fenfcj DISSERTATIONS. 205 fenfe, our tranllation too often turns it by the image itfelf placed on it. This word properly fignifies a pillar ; and as pillars were fometimes ordered by God to be fet up ia commemoration of his own great works, Exod. xxxiv. 4 ; which pillars are exprefled by the fame word in the original ; it is plain^ to a demonftration, that pillars too are law- ful or unlawful, according to the ufe to which they are applied. All commands of this kind therefore take the form of prohi- bition, in Levit. xxvi. i, Te Jh all make you m idols 7ior graven image^ neither rear you up a pil- lar -y neither Jhall ye fet up any image of Jlone in your land^ to how down unto it, for I am the Lord, CHAR 204 MISCELLANEOUS Micah^s Graven Thing probably an Al^^r^ and bh Molten Tjiing a Laver^ Candhjlick^ or fonie* . thing of that kind. TH E graven image and molten image of Micah I have turned into graven thing and fnolten thing. The other part of the furniture of his houfe of prayer has been fully proved to be lawful ; and could this be cleared up, every difficulty v/ould ceafe, and this hofpitable man be freed from the charge of idolatry. In order to this we may firft cite the words of Grotius on this place. Sculptitia et fidiUa erant altaria^ can^ delabriiniy aliaq; ejufmodi minuta^ vice magno- rwn, qua erant in fandiiario, " His carved thing and ' DISSERTATIONS. 205 and molten thing were an altar ^ candlejllck^ and ether' things of that ktnd of Uffer fort^ infltad of the large ones ivlnch were in the tabernacle. If It is obferved, that the Hebrew word for al- tar is n'lt'::^, Mifebbeach, or, in Chaldaick, ^?^nnD, Madabbecha, neither of which words are here ufed, but inftead of them /DD, Pefel, which properly fignifies a graven things and often an image) and HDDS}, Maffe- cah, which fometimes iignifies a molten image ; it muft be allowed : but then it muft be al- lowed too, that many words of the Hebrew language have a greater extenfion, as well as variety, than lexicons difcover. Illud fra- termittendum non ejl^ fays Montanus, facram Scripturam adeb uberem et fcecujidatn effe^ ut fa- pus duflicem fenfum infe contineat, " We mufl obferve that the holy tongue is fo copious and ex- tenfive^ that it very often contains a double mean- ing in it'* Hence we are often obliged to the LXX interpreters for the meaning of a word, w^hich peculiar meaning we cannot find elfewhere. Happy fhould I be if Grotius had proved his interpretation •, but Grotius has left his explication unfupported by any 1 authority io6 MISCELLANEOUS authority but his own, and truth here is thickly clouded by remote antiquity. Con- jedure, however, is left free to all, and humanity teaches benevolence towards every man. It %^^m Ji CHAP. D I$SERTATIONS. 207 ^*i#4j'***'j5:-*##-§-##*^>###^*##4'***^ CHAP. XXV. To fet lip an Altar the fame as to conjl'itute Divine Worfmp. God's ?refence jirjl fixt the Place of Altars. AMONG the Jews, to fet up^ or to build, an altar^ exprefled the fame fenfe as to conflitute divine worfhip. Altars, we may ob- ferve, were firft erecled on that fpot of ground wherever God appeared. It was a llrong opinion, both of the Jews and Gen- tiles, that the appearance of the Deity fanclified the place where his glory was feen ; apd therefore in fuch places they built altars, and came to worfliip. To trace this truth from its original we may note, that there is the grcateft probability that God taught Adam to build an altar, and to facri- fice to him ; that Cain and Abel offered on -'^ that io8 MISCELLANEOUS that altar; that other altars were built as men increafed ; and facrifices continued by the worfhippers of God, in their different fettlements, to the time of the general de- luge, when the worliiip of the true God was probably confined to a very few, though Scripture is not exprefs in thofe points. Af- ter the deluge in Gen. viii. 20, we read of the firft altar ; and there it plainly appears (iince Noah built it without the leaft com- mand or inftruclion of God about it) that it had been cuRomary before the flood to offer facrifices on altars ; for how elfe, with- out any order from God, fhould it at once come into his mind to build an altar at that time ? That God's prefence fanclified the place, we may fee in Gen. ix. i, becaufe God is there prefent to biefs Noah and his fa- mily. — But this truth appears more evident from Gen. xii. 6, 7, where we read that Jl?ra- ham came to Sychem^ unto the oak-grove (for fo the words might be tranilated, as it will Appear by and bye, inftead of iinio the flam vf Moreh), And the LORD appeared unto Abraham^ and Jaid^ Unto thy feed wUI I ghe this land ; and DISSERTATIONS. 209 nnd there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him. God appears at this place j and for that reafon Abraham builds this altar in this oak-grove in Sychem, and conftitutes, by that means, a place of di- vine w'orfhip. There builded he an altar is the fame as There conjlituted he divine ivor/hip. In the next verfe he builds another on a moun- tain on the eaft of Bethel, that is, he confti- tutes another place of divine worfhip j and here God feems to appear to him, ver. 14. His third place of divine worfhip, or his al- tar, was in the oak-grove of Mamre, again tranilated the flain. Gen. xiii. 18. Thus Abra- ham built three altars, which are recorded, in an oak-grove near Sychem, on an high hill near Bethel, and in an oak-grove near Mamre, in which laft place God is alfo faid to appear to Abraham, Gen. xviii. i. — The next altar of note that we meet with, is built by Ifaac, Gen. xxvi. 24, 25, at Beerfheba, where it is alfo mentioned that God appeared to him. Jacob alfo, Gen. xxxv. 7, builds an altar near Bethel, becaufe God there appeared. For the fame reafon, becaufe God appeared to Mofes at Horeb, Ex. iii. 5, and had there- P by 210 ' MISCELLANEOUS by fan^ified the ground ; Mofes, Ex. xvi. 6^, 15, built there an altar. Gideon, Judg. vi. 24,. built alfo an altar, where the angel of the lord's hoft appeared. That thefe places were confidered as fet apart for divine worfhip where an altar had been erecled, we Ihall fee in Gen. xxviii. 13, and following verfes. We read there, that Jacob going to Padnn-aram lay down and , flept on the place where Abraham had built one of his altars near Bethel ; whofe ftones being fallen down, he took them for a pil- low. Here God appears to him in a dream^. and informs him, that he was the God of Abraham his father. Jacob being awoke re- flects at once, that this place muft have been confecrated ; that it was therefore viiited by the prefence of God, and appropriated to his worfhip. Jacob awaked out of his /leep^ andfaidy Surely the Lord is in this flace^ and I knew it not. And he was afraid^ and faid^ How dreadful is this flace ! This is none other but an Hoife of God^ and this is the gate of Heaven, He there- ford took the ilone, probably the fliaft of the former altar, and fet it up for a pillar, or DISSERTATIONS, ^it j-nXr, to confecrate It again for an altar, and then vows that on his fafe return to that place the Lord fliould be his God. And this ftone^ fays he, ivhich I have fet up for a pillar Jhall be GOD's houfe j and of all that thou fh alt give me^ I ivill furely give the tenth unto thee. Nothing furely can be fuller and plainer than that an altar or confecrated pillar was confi- dered as a place of divine worfhip, and thaC Jacob here vowed tithes to the fupport of that worfliip. Thefe tithes were not com- manded by a ceremonial law, iince the law of Mofes had not yet its being ; nor is it likely that they were fixt by any human law ; fince it is almoft certain, that the laws at this time were only commands of God delivered down from father to fon by oral tradition ; and the payment of tithes to religious houfes has not the leaft obfcure ftamp of any human in- vention. It claims to itfelf therefore a place among thefe precepts, not recorded indeed in Scripture, but given by GOD by chance to Adam, and thence handed down from generation to generation, and in all proba- bility of the fame antiquity as altars or places of worfliip, viz, almofl co-eval with the P z world. 212 MISCELLANEOUS world. We may rcafonably, at leaft, think it the ordinance of God ; and lince it was or- dained before any of the ceremonies of the law took place, the ordinance of it muft be of the moral kind, that is, of that fort which is always obligatory; and the perpe- tual obligation to the payment of tithes is from this place as eafily proved, as the per- petual obligation to keep the Sabbath-day can be fhewn from any other text of Scrip-' ture ; though that obligation has been clear- ly and evidently demonftrated by many able writers. According to this vow Jacob is or- dered, Gen. XXXV. i, to build an altar at Be- thel, or nigh Bethel, rather in that place ; and then God there appears to him, and Jacob credls his pillar or r'lA^i, ver. 14, which he confe- crates for an altar, or place of divine worfhip, by pouring a drink-offering and oil upon it. Thus it is plain, that to fet up an altar is to fix an houfe of God, or to conflitute divine worlliip. This flone^ fays Jacob, Jhall he God^s houfe^ i. e. a place of divine worlhip. Hence it is that we find pofcerity ftill frequenting the place where an altar had been eredled. Thus Jacob, Gen. xlvi. r, offers a facrifice on the altar DISSERTATIONS, 2ig altar creeled by his father Ifaac at Beerfheba. We have traced then this Hebrew idiom, and find that to ereil orfet up an altar is the fame exprellion as to conjlitute divine worjlnp. Now, fince thefe Danites under our particu- lar confideration manifeftly defigned to or- dain divine worlhip, it is one reafon to turn ver. 30, 31, of the xviiith chapter of Judges thus : And the children of Dan Jet up the altar^ &c. And they fet up Micalh altar which he made^ all the time that the houfe of God was i7i Shiloh, M ^ "tL f4 ^ ^ P3 CHAP. SI4 MISCELLANEOUS CHAP. XXVI. Altars ereSied originally in groves or on bills, ALTARS were firft erecled in groves or on high hills. Noah's altar was doubt- lefs built on the mountain where the ark refted. Abraham is faid to build his altar when he went unto the place of Sychem, Gen. xii. 6, 7, unto the plain of Moreh in our, tranflation, Itt* tw ^^w mv -o-^^-AXriv in the Greek verfion, miio the high oak-grove ; for the wordJ'^uj fliould not here be tranflated by oak^ but oak- grove ; though one tree in particular, under which the altar flood, is lignalized by it. We have obferved before, that the word Mo- reh in one fenfe fignifies properly vifion, and that God appeared to Abraham in that place, which probably was a large oak-grove. But I cannot but give my vote here for the Greek tranfla- DISSERTATIONS. 215 tranflation, fince Moreh lignifies high^ as it is deduced from the verb K*)D, Mara, to raife up or to ered. Hence the word Moreh high, and Moriah hilly or mountainous, in Gen. xxii. 2, (for the land of Moriah is the Hill-country of Judea, as it was called) may be derived. From this verb, in Job xxxix. 1 8, we read of the oftrich, that /he will lift her- felf up on highy fefe elevaverity in the origi- nal Nn-t^n fafnria^ which is the future tenfe of the conjugation Hiphil, diredly deduced from that verb. The word ]1 /K ^lon, figni- nifies both 3. plain and an oak-grove ; and as the firft places of worfliip were fixt amidft the awefulnefs of groves, which were there- fore condemned when converted to idola- trous purpofes ; and as thefe groves were ge- nerally planted with oaks, whence Habit i2 Graiis oracula quercus, Virg. <* Oaks were accounted oracular by the Greeks j" the reafon of the thing requires, that altars fhould be here fet up in oak-groves or under P 4 oaks. 2i6 MISCELLANEOUS oaks, but not in the midft of a plain. In Judg. ix. 6, we read that the men of She- chem proclaimed Abimelech at the oak-grove of the pillar^ or by the pillar, or altar rather, ere6led there : hence Jotham affumes his apologue or fable of the trees from the place itfclf. Hence Gaal faw people come along by the oak grove, ver. 37, according to Arias Montanus, of Meonenim ; and Abimelech, ver. 48, cut down his boughs. Hence Jacob is faid to hide away the ear-rings and falfe deir ties of his family and attendants. Gen. xxxv. 4, under this oak-grove, which was by She- chem. — The correction then is fully proved. — Abraham again. Gen. xiii. and xiv. 1 3, is faid to dwell in the oak-grove of Mamre, and to build there an altar unto the Lord. On which altar under the tree. Gen. xviii. 8, Abraham ferved up his meat to the Lord, w^ho there appeared unto him. We may ob- ferve alfo fror^ Deut. xi. 30, that Gilgal was by high oak-groves, not by the plains of Mo- reh ; for if the plain of Moreh was by She- chem, we cannot well fuppofc it to be by Gilgal too. Tq DISSERTATIONS. 217 To fliew farther this falfe tranflation, and that the firft altars were often in oak-groves, not in aplain^ we may note from Gen. xxv. 3, that Jacob built an altar nigh Bethel, and ver. 8, buried Deborah beneath Bethel under the oak-grove. Gideon, Judg. vi. 11, fees an angel under an oak, or in an oak-grove, and offers him up meat on an old altar or rock that was there, ver. 20, under the oak ; and Jofhua, Jolh. xxiv. z6y fet up a pillar or riXTi in the famous oak-grove at Shechem. This cuftom we find Jf. i. 29. Ezek. vi. 13. Hof. iv. 13, intro- duced idolatry ; and fo groves for that bad purpofe were forbidden. Indeed the native gloominefs of thofe places made weak peo- ple very vifionary and fantaflical. Hence Virgil adds, in his defcription of the Capitol, pr the temple of Jupiter at Rome, which was in his time like gold, but in ancient times aweful with woody thickets. Jam turn reUigio favidos terrehat agrejles Dira loci ; jam tumfylvam faxumq ; tremebanf^ Hoc nemusy hunc^ i?iquity frondofo vertice collcm (^^is deusincerturnefl) habitat Deus. Arcades ipfum Gredunt fe vidijje Jovemy cumfcepe nigrantem JEgida concuterct dextra, nimbofque cicret. 2ia MISCELLANEOUS The gloomy grove and mountain's fullen height Did then the tim'rons ruftic herd affright. Struck with religious awe. Some God^/ays he. Frequents — (though doubtful who that God may be) — This woody-topped hill, this deepening grove. Arcadians think t' have feen majefticjove; When oft' his dark'ning aegis fhakes the Iky, And clouds tempeftuous o'er the welkin fly. i > CHAP PISSERTATIONS, 213I CHAP. XXVII. Pillars for what purpofe ajidwhen lawfuh PILLARS and columns were fet up for three purpofes which were lawful. Firft, they were erected as a Handing monument of fome agreement which had been made be- tween two great men or ftates, or in memo- rial of fome public order of the flate. An inilance of this cuftom we have in Gen. xxxi. 41, 51, 52, between Laban and Jacob. Arti- cles of peace in nations were engraved upon rrjAai or pillars, and thefe public memorials fometimes kept in their temples. Thus Ifo- crates, in his panegyric mentioning the con- trad made between the Perfian emperor and the Athenian ftate, adds, x^c* t«vt«? [o-uvS-yixa?] h Toi; xoivqk; ruv li^uv a^a^'fivaJ, Atid he co?npelled US, 22(!> MISCELLANEOUS us to engrave thefe contrails on pillars ofjlone^ and to Jet them up in the public temples. Thus when the Athenian people obliged the priells, the Eumolpidae, to devote Alcibiades by curfes ; that the monument of the curfe might be more public, a copy of it was cut in ajlone pillar ^, in pild lapidedy fays Cornelius Nepos, which was erecled in a public place. Second- ly, thefe pillars were fet up as a memorial of fome memorable perfon. Thus Abfalom in his life-time, 2 Sam. xviii. 18, had reared up for himfelf a pillar of this kind to keep his name in remembrance, and doubtlefs de- iigned to be buried under it, for thefe pillars were generally ere(!led on the graves. Thus Gen. XXXV. 20, Jacob fet up a pillar upon Ra- cbePs gravCy that is the pillar of Rachels grave unto this day. A pillar of this kind was with- out doubt the flone of Bohan the fon of Reuben, mentioned Jofh. xv. 6 ; and the ilone of Abel, mentioned i Sam. vi. 18 ; and other remarkable ftones mentioned throughout the Scriptures, as in i Kings i. 9, and 2 Sam. xx. * Hence r«\iTit/M fignifiesto publish, by engravings in pillars, the crimes of any convift. This ivas the firft method of pViHifliing by pUloi'y. 2. Thefe DISSERTATIONS. 221 8. Thefe pillars on graves probably were firft plain, but were very early engraved with the actions of the deceafed, whom blind pofterity not only admired but worfliipped : and hence thefe pillars became the caufes of idolatry. Hence Pefel, which properly fig- nifies an engraved Jl one, came alfo to fignify a grave?! image, from the images afterwards placed on thefe engraved pillars. In latter times we find that they aifo adorned thofe pillars with elegant figures. Thus Simon, I Maccab. xiii. 27, built a monmnent upon the fepidchre of his father and brethren, and raifed it aloft to the fight with hewnflone behind and be^ fore. Moreover he fet up f even pyramids one againft another for his father and his mother and his four brethren ; and in thefe he made cunning devices, about the which he fet great pillars, and upon the pillars he made all their armour for a perpetual memory, and by the armour fJnps carved, that they might be feen of all that fail on thefea. And in I Mac. xiv. 27, we have a full account of the infcription of Simon's atchievments on a pillar of this kind. Thefe pillars were infcribed with the name, and family, and actions of the buried perfon after the early times, and were confi- ^22 MIS CELLANEOUS confidered as very honorary. Hence Jundji in Homer, Iliad xvi. comforts Jupiter on the enfuing death of his fon Sarpedon, by enu- merating this honour among the reft to be conferred upon him. '£kS-a I 70c^)(V(T\i(7i Koca-iyvnTOi Tf, Iroci re TujtAj3w rsy friXn re' to yoc^ y^poc; Ifi ys^ovloov* His friends and people to his future praife A marble tomb and pyramid fhall raife, . And lafting honours to his aihes give : His fame ('tis all the dead can have) fliall live. Thirdly, thefe pillars were ereded in or- der to eternize the memory of fome great favour or wonderful work of God, and fo were ufed for altars. Thus Gen. xxxv. 1 3, 14, God vouchfafes Jacob a gracious appear- ance ; and then Jacob Jet up a pilar in the place where God talked with him^ even a pillar of flone ; and he poured a drink-offering thereon^ and he poured oil thereon, Mofes, Exod. xvii. 15, 16^ builds an altar of this kind (for thefe pil- lars being ufed as altars take often the name of altars) infcribed, fays Jofephus, after his conqueft DISSERTATIONS. 223 conqueft over the Amalechites, TO GOD THE CONqUEROR, and for a memorial that God would utterly deftroy Amalek ; "and, Exod. xxiv. 4, twelve pillars near Mount Sinai are raifed to keep in perpetual remem- brance God's delivery of the law there ; and Samuel, i Sam. vii. 12, fet up a Hone to be- token the place, to which God had aflifted them. I fhall add to the inftances already produced but one more in this place, taken out of Jofliua, chap. iv. where we read that twelve men^ chofen out of every tribe a man^ ve-rfe 3, were to take on their flioulders twelve large ftones out of the river Jordan, to be erected as a memorial of that wonderful work of God, when Jordan fled back before his prefence to give a dry paflage to the Ifraelites. Thefe ftones were fet up in Gil- gal, and were manifeftly. therefore, twelve pillars, and, in all probability, engraven w^ith the defcription of that wonderful aclion ; which is almoft intimated verfe 7, fince they were to he a memorial to the children of Ifraelfor ever, and fmce Jofhua, chap. viii. 32, was inftruded to carve in ftones in great 5 perfection ; 224 MISCELLANEOUS perfeclion ; which art of carving was, in my opinion, derived, through Noah, from the ante-diluvian race of men, who, doubtlefg, in two thoufand years, had learnt many cu- rious arts, and in particular the necelTary one of leaving their tranfadions in fome method of record. — Thefe Hones or pillars, therefore, near Gilgal muft be very remark- able ; and fince Pefel iignifies any carved or graven thing, are doubtlefs meant by Pefilim in Judg. iii. 19, 26, which the Greek verfion expreffes by ra yXvifJa^ carved things, whether images or pillars, but our tranflation by quarries. On thefe pillars they feem to offer facrifice, i Sam. xi. 15, and xiii. 8, 9, fince we read of no other altar erefted for that purpofe ; and thofe pillars were, as it has been proved, fometimes converted to that ufe, on extraordinary occaiions, by a prophet of the Lord. Here then we have found that Pefel may fignify a carved pillar or altar, as well as a carved image. Now fince the good Micah manifeftly ferved the true God, and had a regular prieft, after the law of Mofes, to perform divine fervice ; yea, a prieft who feems to be a grandfon of Mo- 8 fes 5 DISSERTATIONS. 225 fes ; fince alfo the word Pefel will bear the iignification of pillar or altar ; and fince altars in houfcs of prayer have been proved to be only pillars of memorial ; it is furely agreeable to the charader of the man to af- firm with Grotius, that his carved thing was an altar, with fome infcription carved on it, fhewing the dedication of the worfliippers to the true God. If this is allowed, there will remain no difficulty in the word which fig- nifies or is explained by molten image^ fmce it is a common word fignifying fnfion^ and every thing made by fufion, be it image or veffel. O C li A ?. 22(5 MISCELLANEOUS •^!ss:;sC!sxc>!Cs«>x*sxsCK^;x)sxc^xxM4' CHAP. XXVIII. A Pillar of this kind their Altar in Houfes of Frayer, A Pillar of this kind was confidcred as their altar in houfes of prayer. This will appear from the third chapter of the pro- phet Hofea. Then f aid the Lord unto me^ Goy yet love a woman (beloved of herfriend, yet an adul- ter efs) according to the love of the Lord towards the children of Ifrael^ who look to other gods^ and love flagons of %vine» So I bought her to me for fifteeyi -pieces of filver^ and for an homer of barley ^ and for an half homer of barley. And If aid unto her, Thou fh alt abide for me many days ; thoufhalt not^ flay the harlot ^ and thou fhalt not be for another man; fo will I alfo be for thee. For the children of Ifraelfh all abide many days without a king^ andwith^ eut a prince y and without a facrifcey and without a pillar or altar, and without an ephod^ and with- out DISSERTATIONS. 227 ^ut teraphim. If we keep our eye fteady on the allegory of this chapter, and explain it by a iimilar place in Ifaiah Ivii. 6, 7, 8, we (hall find that God is the hufband ; the hoiife of Ifrael the wife, who had acled the adul- terefs by going after other gods ; that God Hill was willing to take his wife into favour ; but, in order to prove her future chaftity, that he would abfent himfelf a while. This abfence the prophet defcribes in the 4th verfe. For the chUdre?i of Ifrael Jhall abide many days Without a kingy and without a frince^ and without afdcr'ifice^ and without an altar^ or mAr, and without an ephod^ and without teraphim ; that is, without civil and ecclefiaftical go- vernment, and without divine fervice in any houfe of prayer. — The abfence of God is furely here defcribed in the ftrongeft and fulleft terms. The children of Ifrael would have no king, nor their princes, viz. the fanhedrim, the fupreme council of the fe- venty chiefs, the moft powerful affembly that ever fat in judgment in any ilate, made tip of the rulers and princes of every tribe. They could cite even a king before them, fay the Talmudifts. Jofephus records, that O 2 they 128 MISCELLANEOUS they called Herod before them for putting a notorious robber to death without their fen- tence. Indeed, we may fee in Jer. xxxviii» 5, that their king without their fuffrage had a very confined power in capital affairs ; and fome think, that if David could have pro- teded himfelf and Bathfheba from their power, he would never have figned the death-warrant of Uriah. The Ifraelites wanting a king and thefe princes, mull want civil government ; and fince they were to be without a facrifice, they would be deprived of their temple-worlhip. Nor was their un- happinefs in being left by God to ftop here. Even the houfes of prayer were to be fliut up ; they muft want too their pillar, ephod, and teraphim. The word Matztzebah in this place is ftrangely turned by JI a tucy whofe only pro- per fignification, as I have before obferved, is that of zfillar^ cr r^^Ar, which in a good fenf& fignifies an altar^ and is accordingly in this place rightly turned by S-uo-iar»ip*ov, al- tar^ in the Greek verfion. It is furprizing that this good fenfe of the word fhould not be obferved by any Hebrew Lexicon •, efpe- cially when thefe pillars, unlefs defigned for DISSERTATIONS. 229 for idolatrous ufes, were lawful, and erecled for God's honour. Thus If. xix. 19, 20, In that day Jl: all there be an altar unto the Lord in the midft of the land of Egypt ^ and a pillar at the border thereof to the LORD. A?id it fhall be for afign^ and for a ivitnefs unto the Lord in the Land of Egypt, Had Grotius confidered this, he would not have paraphrafed thefe words of the prophet Hofea thus : " The children *' of Ifrael fhall be without any worfhip, " either true or falfe." For, though it is a great unhappinefs, indeed, for a nation to be without a true religion, yet furely it cannot be fo to be without a falfe one. But this place of the prophet will be now much clearer, when this pillar, ephod and tcra< phim have been proved to be furniture in their houfes of prayer. Thus in the pro- phet Hofea we fee Micah's furniture to be that which was ufual in houfes of God. Since therefore, in houfes of prayer, there was a pillar or little memorial-altar, in imi- tation of the great one in the fancluary ; and fmce the word Pefel, in its largeft extent, may fignify fuch a pillar ; furely my tranfla- tion, which turns the word by carved things q^3 will 230 MISCELLANEOUS will be juilified, if not Micah's character vin- dicated. Since alfo in houfes of prayer thefe pillars have been proved to be fymbols of the worfliippers being in allegiance with the God of heaven, and, in all probability, marked with fome infcriptions j why may not St. Paul, 2 Tim. ii. 19, be thought to refer to Ihofe infcribed monuments betwixt God and his true worlhippers, when he tells us, that the foundation^ or memorial-ftone, of God flandeth fure^ having this feal^ or engraving on it, The Lord knoweth zuho are his ; and, on the other fide of the ftone. Let every one that nanieth the name of Chrifly depart from iniquity. CHAP, DISSERTATIONS. 231 CHAP. XXIX. Many abfurd TranJIations in Scripture by turning Names proper into appellative, AS the Hebrews have no diftinclion of let- ters into great and fmall, it is fome- times difficult to diftinguifh a proper name of a 7nany or place^ or i^Ke deity, when the name alfo is common to fome other things ; efpecially if we difregard the Hebrew vowels, as the tranfbitors of our Bible manifeftly did, Moloch or Molecby or Melech^ is the name of a falfe deity, and alfo fignifies a ki?7g. I fhall fubmit it to the judgment of learned men, whether the word Moloch^ in If. Ivii. 9, (liould not be put inftead of king. The prophet is certainly complaining of his unworthy coun« trymen, who turned to the worfhip of idols, and, ver. 5, who facrificed their children to fome grim deity. But this dreadful devil, O 4 who 232 MISCELLANEOUS who is defcribed as chiefly delighted with hu- . man facrifices, is Moloch : Moloch, horrid king befmear'd with blood Of human facrifice, and parents tears ; Tho' for the noife of drums and timbrels loud Their children's cries unheard, that paft thro* fire To his grim idol. Milt. Par, lojl, B. i. L. 395, It is furely more agreeable to the context, and more eafy to be underftood, if we read that place of the prophet thus : And thou wentejl to Moloch, viz. to his worfliip, with ointment, and didjl increafe thy ferfumes, and thou fenteji thy mejfengers afar off, viz. to bring home other ftrange gods and ways of worlhip, and d'ldfl dehafe thy f elf even to hell, I do not think it fafe to alter one word in the original j but here conje(5lure feems allowable. In this manner whereas we interpret Zech. xiv. 21, There fh all he no more the Canaanite in the houfe of the Lord j the Vulgate, as the word Canaanite fignifleth alfo a merchant, render- eth it, non erit mercator^ there fh all not be a mer- chanty DISSERTAT IONS. 233 chant, very agreeably to the text, and to the completion thereof by our BleiTed LOUD, who. Matt. xxi. 13, John ii. 16, drove out the buyers and fellers, and would not fufFer his father's houfe to be an houfe of merchandife. So alfo the LXX interpreters turn Huzzaby Nahum ii. 7, by uVorao-*? ; by which they mean the conftitution, the internal fupport of the flate of Nineveh. In thefe inflances a pro- per name is falfely put down for an appella- tive. The Targums of Jonathan and Onke- los thus render Gen. xxxviii. 2, not the daughter of a certain Canaanitey but of a cer- tain merchant. In Pf. cxli. 7, we read Our hones lie fcattered at the grave"* s mouthy as ivhen one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth ; which may be turned into " Our bones lie fcattered before Saul, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth." The Pfalmifl might here commemorate the dreadful flaughtcr i Sam. xxii. 17, 18, when Doeg, before Saul, flew the priefts of the LORD, and hewed them pro- bably in pieces with his fword. This miftake in a tranflation may eafily happen by the like- nefs 234 MISCELLANEOUS nefs to each other of ^iKt^ Sheol, a pit or grave, and ni^ll^ Saul, the name of a king. I would note alfo that i Kings xvii. 4, tDOnyn, the Worebim, the ravens^ are faid to feed Elijah at the brook Cherith before Jor- dan. Now there is a town mentioned Jofh. XV. 6, called Beth-warabah, or fimply Warabah, whofe inhabitants would be called Worebim, or Haworebim, the men of Warabah. Hence it is probable that the tranflation i Kings xvii, 4, 6, fliould {land thus: And it /hall be^ that thou /halt drink of the brook ^ and I have commanded the men of Warabah to feed thee there. And the men of Warabah brought him bread andflefh in the mornings and bread and fiefh in the evenings and he drank of the brook. This obfervation, which I fuppofe I may juftly claim as my own, will take off one topic of ridicule from deiftical men, and be more confirmed by no- ting that the town is, Joih. xviii. 22, in the tribe of Benjamin, and feems not far from the river Jordan. I may add another obfervation, though not my own, on Judg. xv. 19, and advife that lehl DISSERTATIONS. 235 Lehi iignifies both ajazu-hone and a place. Samp- fon threw away the jaw-bone, ver. 17, and called the place Ramath-lehi, that Is, the caft- ingaway of the jaw-hone -, which place is called, ver. 1 9, (imply Lehi. And if it is a proper nan^e in the latter part of the verfe, why (honld it not be in the former, and the verfe (land thus I 'But Gcd clave an hollow place ^ which was in Lehi^ and there came zuater thereout. And when he had drank^ his fpirit came again-^ and he revi- ved ; wherefore he called the name thereof Enhak- kore^ which is in Lehi unto this day, Sampfon called the well which fprung forth Enhak- kore, viz. the well of him that called -, and that well is in Lehi unto this day. It is in Lehi, not in the jaw-bone of the afs, and tliercfore from fomepit in Lehi mud it iirft fpring. C H A P. 236 MISCELLANEOUS CHAP. XXX. The IfraeVites had many of them a mixed worjhif. TO revife the Jewifh church in its firft fettlements we muft confider, that many of the Jews mixt the worfhip of the Egyptian and Syrian gods with the worfhip of the true God. Terah, the father of Abra- ham, and Nahor his brother, Jolh. xxiv. 2, appear to be worftiippers of Syrian gods, and Rachel feems too much touched with the Syrian infedion ; fmce ftie ftole away and concealed her father's gods, called teraphim in the original, li^wXa, idols, by the LXX, and T'jTTGi Tcov S-f^'i/, figures of gods, by Jofephus. The word teraphim here plainly has a bad fignification, fmce, in Gen. xxxv. 2, Jacob orders his houfliold to put away all the ilrange gods which were amongll them. Ac- cordingly, DISSERTATIONS. 237 cordingly, verfe 4, They gave ujito Jacob all the Jl range gods which were in their hand^ and all their ear-rings which were in their ears^ and Jacob hid them under the oak-grove which zvas by §yche?n. Their ear-rings, we muft remark, were ftamped with the ftar of the deity which they worfliipped, and therefore fuperftiti- ouily worn in honour of him. Grotius fays, that their ear-rings were hence called (r'p^xyih<;^ impreffed jewels ; but, according to the Greek tranflation of Exod. xxxv. 22, c(p^xyih^^ ijnprejfed jewels ^ were bracelets Jlamp- ed\ though, doubtlefs, their ho^ia^ ear-rings^ were ftamped alfo. Hence Auguftin, in his feventy- third epiftle, has thefe words : ^id cum eis agendum ftt^ fi folvere in aures funent^ et corpus Chrifti cumfigno diaboli accifere non ti- ment. What can be done with fuch men^ if they are afraid to take off their ear-rings^ but fear not to receive the body of Chrijl^ while they wear the mark of the deviL Their ear-rings were worn as charms, like the ring of Gyges mentioned by Plato, to drive off evil fpirits and difeafes forfooth. Jofephus tells us, that Rachel carried off her father's gods to fecure herfelf from her father's indignation, if he fhould 238 MISCELLANEOUS Ihould overtake them ; fo that thefe teraphini too were charms againft future damage^ Hence it is very plain that the Syrian fuper- ftition and idolatry was ftrong in Jacob's fa- mily, though, doubtlefs, he himfelf ordered and taught them to ferve the true GOD of heaven only ; and it may be doubted whether his houfe was ever truly purged. The going of the children of Ifrael into Egypt, and their long flay there, renewed, I doubt, their , \vor£hip of their Harry gods. Notwithfland- ing they had feen fuch mighty works in Egypt, and at the Red-Sea ; yet at Sin^ Exod. Xv, and at Rephidim, Exod. xvi. they began to queftion whether God was among them or not, and to fay with their idolatrous coun- try-women in Jer. xliv. 18, Since we left off to hum incenfe to the queen of heaven, and -poured out (rather to pour out) drink-offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, — While God was commanding Mofes not to make a graven image, Exod. xx. 4, 25, nor his facrificing altar bf hewn ftone, left it lliould be like the pil- lars of the Heathen ; yea, while, Exod. xxiii. 24, lie is ordering the Ifraelites indeed to pull down, and utterly to overthrow the gods of the DIS SERTATIONS. 239 the Heathens, into whofe land they wer^ to come, quite to break down their pillars, or juAai, according to the true Greek verfion ; even at that time thefe backfliders, Exod. xxxii. were with Aaron making a god in imitation of an Egyptian idol. — It appears from this, that they had not left the Egyp- tian idolatry behind them, but what is very notorious, carried their ftarry gods ftill in their ear-ringSyVev. 2, 3, which they then col- lected to make their graven image. From this time they feem to have continued in their idolatry till they came to the Holy Land, as we may fee in Acts vii. 41, 42, 43. Tbey made a calf in thofe days^ and offered facri- fice unto the idoly a?id rejoiced in the works of their own hands. Then God turned^ and gave them up to worfhip the hofts of heaven^ as it is written in the hook of the Prophets^ ye houfe of IfraeU haic ye offered to me flain beafs and facrifices for the fpace of forty years in the wildernefs f Tea ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch^ and the far of your god B.emphany figures which ye made to worflnp thou. The place here referred to by St. Stephen is that of the prophet Amos, chap. v. ver. 25, 2 5, with this difference only, that 240 MISCELLANEOUS that Remphan is there called Chiun. But the note of Grotius on t4iat place of the pro- phet very well reconciles, as well as explains thefe paffages ; only that he erroneoully turns. Have ye offered unto me f into Have ye not offered unto mef He would have obferved his mif- take, if he had carefully compared the two places with the 14th verfe of the xxivth chapter of Jofliua. I (hall tranflate therefore the ufeful part of the note only, and leave the other part as if not appertaining to the fubjed. 1. He notes that the tabernacle or fx^iv??, in which the idol was born, was a vc6t(rx(^, or vx^ ^iv'yo(po^'d!j,sy(^ a little fort of chapel or chair in which the image was inclofed, and born by a fort of yoke by two men on each fide, 2. He notes that Moloch is the name which the Ammonites give the ftar Saturn ; that Chiun is the name of the fame planet among the Arabians and Perfians ; and that Riramon, 2 Kings v. 18, or llemvan, or Rem- phan in the Greek pronunciation, is its name among the Syrians. 7 3. He DISSERTATIONS. 241 §. He remarks, that though the fame planet was worfhipped, yet he was worfliipped as two gods under different names, in the fame manner as Diana and Luna among the Ro- mans ; that in particular Moloch was habit- ed like a king, and Chiun figured like a ftar. When the Ifraelites were now arrived to the bounds of the holy land, and had conquered fome enemies ; yet. Numb. xxv. we fee that they quickly fell into the wor- fhip of Baal amongft the Moabites. — Indeed after the death of Mofes, during the life of Jofhua and his cotemporaries, Judg. ii. 7, the greater part of the Jewifh nation feems to have adhered to the worfhip of the true God. They had the drying up of Jordan, and the great fuccefs which God wonder- fully afforded them againfl enemies fuperior in ftreno;th, before their eyes. The jrreater part then in this interval worfliipped the true God. I fay the greater part; for the whole people are denominated true worfliippers or idolaters, according to the affeclions of the majority. We may take notice, that fome men, in the mod idolatrous times, ftuck clofe to God's true worfhip. There were always R fome 2^2 MISCELLANEOUS fome %uho had not bowed the knee to Baal. On the other hand, fome men worlhipped images in the pureft times of religion. Even in the days of Joiliua, Jolh. xxiv. 23, they had ftill ilrangegods amongft them; and too many, therefore, mixt the worfhip of the true God with that of idols, or, in Elijah's words, halted betiveeji two opinions. Now, fince Pefel does generally fignify a graven image that was worfhipped, and Maffekah often a molten^ image ; it has bore hard upon Micah, as if he alfo had a mixt religion, and worfhipped the true God together with idols ; but yet I could wiih that Micah, who himfelf eflablifhed an houfe of prayer to worftiip the God of hea- ven in ; who entertained regularly a Levite for his priefl:, and expecled the blefling of Jehovah on himfelf and family, could be al- lowed one of thofe, who made no other ufe of images, (fuppoling them to be fuch) but only as ornaments about the houfe of prayer. — There is certainly no example, where any other Levite befides Micah' s, whofe fole inhe- ritance was the LORD, fliould fo early revolt from his God and his inter ell, as to permit fuch a mixture of worfliip where he was em- DISSERTATIONS. 243 employed. The Jewifli writers all agree, that no Levite joined in murmuring againll God and Mofes ; no Levite joined with Aaron in making the calf ; but that every priefl of that order retained his integrity to God. Hence God, by his prophet Malachi, Mai. ii. 4, ^y6y faith, Te Jhall know that I have fent this com- mandment unta yoii^ that my covenant might be with Levi, faith the Lord of hofls. My cove- 7iant was with him of life and peace : and I gave them to him, for the fear wherewith he feared me ; and was afraid before my name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips ; he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity. — And it looks now as a flat contradidion to common fenfe, to imagine that Micah's mother would wholly and entirely dedicate money to Jehovah, and yet make with it graven images, in or- der to worfhip them. R 2 C II A P. 44 MISCELLANEOUS C H A P. XXXI. T/je original of ft arry Gods, 1 Have mentioned the Egyptian and Syrian ilarry gods ; and as the Ifraelites (fee Ezek. xxiii.) were chiefly drawn away ai ter them, we may obferve, that it was the opi- nion of the Egyptians, and of the other na- tions under the doclrine of the Zabians, that the intelleclual part of the foul of their great heroes was advanced to a god, and made the ruling power of fome flar ; and that it from that flar fhed down its influence upon its worfhippers. The foul of Ills in particu- lar was fuppofed to reign in the dog-flar. Diodorus Siculus tells us, that the infcrip- tion upon her pillar was, 'Ej^w li/>tl )i h tw Ar^ w t« Kui/t iTnreXXaaroif I am Jhe who arife m the dog- ftar\ The Romans too, had flrongly imbi- bed DISSERTATIONS. 245 bed this opinion. PoJI necem Julii Cafarls^ fays Suetonius, Jlella crinita perfeptem contmuos dies fulfit exoriens circa iindecimam horam, credt- tumque eft animam ejfe Cdefaris hi conhwi receptl, et hdc de caufd fimulachro ejus hi vert ice additur Jlella. " After the death of Juiius Cxfar, a comet fhone for feven continual days, arifing about the eleventh hour ; and it was believed that it was the foul of Csefar received into heaven j and for this reafon a ilar is added to his image on his head." Virgil in his ixtli eclogue 46th line mentions this new ftar. p.f Casfar. ..jc.V.T Daphni^ quid antiquos fignonim fufpicis ortiis f Eccey Dionai procejfit Cafans ajlnim ; J/Irum, quo fegetes gaiidere?it frugibus ) et quo Duceret apricis hi collibus iiva colorem. Why ftill confult for ancjent figns the fkies \ Daphnis, behold the Julian ilar arife ! Whofe pow'r the fields with copious corn lliall fill, And clothe with richer grapes each funny hill. Warton. U. 3 The 2^6 MISCELLANEOUS , The fame poet^ CGmplimenting his great pa* tron Auguftus with the choice of his future honours, fixes him at lafl in a ftar. Tuq ; adedy quern mo^ qudsftnt hahltura dcorum 'Concilia^ incertum ejl^ &c. George L lin. 24. And thou, thou chief, whofe feat among the Gods Is yet unchofen in the bleft abodes ; Wilt thou, great Cefar, o'er the earth prefide, Proted her cities, and her empires guide ? While the vaft globe fhall feel thy genial pow'r. Thee as the god of foodful fruits adore ; Sov'reign of feafons, of the ftorm and wind, And with thy mother's boughs thy temples bind ? Or over boundlefs ocean wilt thou reign. Smooth the wild billows of the raging main I While ^utmoft Thule ihall thy nod obey. To thee in fhipwrecks Ihiv'ring failors pray ; And Tethys, if fome watery nymph fliould pleafe. Would give in dowry all her thoufand feas. DISSERTATIONS. 247 Or wilt thou mount a 7ieio bright fign on high. Betwixt the Maid and Scorpius deck the Iky I Scorpius ev'n now his burning claws confines. And more than a juft fhare of heav'n refigns. Waiiton. Thus the poet places Auguftus to fupport the ballance or Libra, which oilice before was affigned to the Scorpion, which before that time held it up with his two fore-claws ex- tended. And as Libra was the fign which' was faid to prefide over Italy, the poet did his part to continue to his prince the ho- nour of the guardian-angel of his country; and accordingly on gems and medals, on which after the death of Auguftus the figns of the zodiac are impreffed, the ballance be- tween Virgo and Scorpius is feen fupported by a man. In the fame manner, Ovid in his Metamorphofis defcribes the inftellation pardon the new-coined word*— of Julius Cac-: far. V'lx ea fatus erat^ medul cum fede fenatus Conjlttit alma Venus^ 8cc. R ^ Lib. XV. 843.- 248 MISCELLANEOUS Scarce had he ended, when the Cyprian dame Swift as wing'd thought amid the fenate camej Invifible to mortal eyes there ftood ; And from her Caefar's corpfe defil'd with blood. His fpirit juftdiflodg'd did kindly bear Heav'nward, nor fufFer'd to dilTolve in air. In ambient fky well-pleas'd Ihe could perceive It gather light, and growing flames receive : Then let it from her bofom fpring -j-r-when foon It mounted up fuperior to the moon ; And a long train of light afcending drew ; Then flione a ftar to the beholder's view. Sandys. This opinion of the Egyptians is more than once mentioned by Philo Judseus their philo- fopher. *Af£C£(; ^wa Eiva* Afvovja*, xa* ^wa voeooc' fxaXXov ^i vug auroj iKocfoi;, oXog $ioc oA» (TV^Suio^ koci fTocvTog ocvsTTi^iyilog xaxa. Phil, in Cofm. Stars are- /aid to be creatures^ and intelligent crea^ tures ; or rather each of them is itfelf an intelli- gence ; the whole entirely goody and incapable of any evil. Though the great archbilhop Ullier feems to be of a different opinion; yet I myft think that it is reafonably concluded, that DISSERTATIONS. 249 that the place of the burial of Mofes, Deut. xxxi. 6, was concealed, left the children of Ifrael fhould build 3, pillar over his grave, and by degrees worfnip him as fome benign ftar, even as the Egyptians had deified the heroes of their country, their Indlgetes Dii, known to them by pillars of that kind. We may remark alfo, that as the Platonic philofophy divided the foul of man into two parts, viz. the foul properly fpeaking, and the intelligence or uag^ which they confidered as the governing principle of the foul ; which v»f, or intelligence, they fuppofed to be con- verted into a ftar; from which divifion of the foul, or rather from which fuper-indu6lion of this intelligence to the foul, Juvenal fays," that God gave to other creatures animas fouls, but to man anhnum quoque^ an intelligence alfo ; and as they employed fome fouls in ftars, or converted them into ftars; f'^ they employed others in the government of ftates, or as the guardian angels of mankind. Old Hcfiod fo clearly and poetically defcribes this their of- fice for the good of mankind, that I fhall tranfcribe his words, left my tranflation ftiould fall fhort of the original. sso MISCELLANEOUS *AuT«p Itth X.SV raro ysv(^ ycccra. yoncc xaXuxJ^g' Thefe heroes, when they mortals ceas'd to be, Demons became by Jove's fupreme decree ; Benign in nature though terreftrial Gods, » Still man they friendly guard, and man's abodes. Conceal'd from them nor crimes nor virtues lie. The' cloth'd in air, conceal'd from mortal eye; Roaming the earth with wealth they crown the juft. Their difpenfation fuch, and fuch their kingly truft. Indeed fince, in order to exercife their obedience, the bleffed angels, and perhaps glorified faints, are employed by God for the good of his other creation ; and fmce there afe different orders and powers among them \ I can DISSERTATIONS. 251 I can fee nothing inconfiftent with the honour of God, or repugnant to the caufe of refe gion, though we Ihould imagine, that the dif-r ference of their power confifts, while one overfees and guards a good man, another a city, a third a ftate, and another fixed in a ftar, which is a fun to its fyftem, prefides as it were over one of the creations of God. We read in St. Luke xix. 16, 17, &c. of fome that are fee over tWQ cities, others over five, and others over ten ; in Dan. x. 13, 20, 21, of angels who prefide over ftates ; in Rev. xix. 1 7, of an angel in the fun. In Job xxxviii. 7, we read, that at God's creation the morning flars fang together^ and the fins ef God Jhouted for joy ; where by morning flars are cer- tainly underftood angels of a very high order; fince we read in Rev. ii. 26, 27, of this great rew^ard given to a faint or martyr of perfe- vering virtue, that he fhould have a morn- ing-flar. He that overcometh and keepcth my ivorks unto the end^ to him will I give power over the nations (and he fJmll rule them with a rod of iron ; as the veffels of a potter flnill they be broken to flnvers) even as I received of my Father, and I will give him a morning- ftar. Thus whoever « will 252 MISCELLANEOUS will carefully revife the Scriptures, will fee that this notion of mine is not quite owing to a fprightly imagination ; that it is not the to hun TT^etTocvxTrXocTloiJi.svov of Longinus, the conceit fiightily framed^ but that it may be founded on certain truth. The devil deceived mankind by counter- feiting the other ordinances of God ; and it will not therefore be wonderful, if his fub- tlety perverted to idolatrous purpofes this decree of heaven alfo. — This opinion, at leaft, gives us a delightful profpe^t of the glorious employments of the heavenly inhabitants, who are made, as St. John expreffes it, kings and priejls unto God, CHAP. DISSERTATIONS, 253 .^ frcG¥^O^iM^i^>^^^K}^^f^^ CHAP. XXXIL The ivorJJnp of the true God under the reprefenta- tion of an image^ the common idolatry, IT ispoffiblethat Mlcah mightTworfhlp the true God in fome image, but not proba- ble ; for it is ftrange that the Levite his prieft (whofe office it was to explain the law and commandments to thofe under his care, Deut. xxxi. 9, and Deut. xxxiii. lo ; and whofe fole inheritance was the LORD GOD of Ifrael, Numb, xviii. 24. Deut. xviii. 1:^,) fhould be fo ungrateful to his fupreme Lord, fo blind to his own interefl:, fo ignorant in his duty, or if not ignorant, fo hardened in fm, as to admit of fuch a worfhip in an houfc, and afterwards in a tribe, where he was em- ployed. If he did tranfgrefs in that grofs way, he could not plead ignorance, as the Levltes (fup. 254 MISCELLANEOUS (fuppofing that any had been concerned with Aaron in letting up the calf) might in fome meafure have done. Mofes had continued forty days in the mount j the people de- fpaired of ever feeing him more, and deiired a God to go before them one God, not gods. — In Exod. xxxii. i, 23, we mull tura Up^ make us gcds^ which may go before us^ into i/p, make us a God^ which may go before us ; — Thefe be thy gods^ Ifrael^ ver. 4, 8, into This is thy God^ Ifrael ; — and gods of gold y ver. 3 1 , into u God of gold. It was but one calf which Aaron made, and the people knew that it was but one God which brought them out of Egypt. It muft be therefore a contradic- tion to common fenfe, as well as to common fpeech, to fay of one calf or idol, ^hefe be thy gods. This, by the bye, is one proof more, that Elohim may be Angular in its fignification, though verbs or adjeclives adjoined to it are plural, which in fuch cafe have refped to termination only in the agreement. To pafs on, Aaron certainly defigned this image for a reprefentatlon of the true God to the people ; fince in ver. 5, he built an altar before DISSERTATIONS. 255 before zV, and made a proclamation and fa'id^ To-- morrow is afeaft for Jehovah ; for fo the word LORD is in the original ; a name throughout the Scriptures appropriated to none but the true God only. Thus the children of Ifrael chayiged God their glory into the fimilitude of an ox that eateth grafsy Pf. cvi. 20. Now, though Aaron was with Mofes, in all probability, Exod. xix. 24, when the ten commandments were delivered, and fo could not be ignorant that fuch a reprefentation of God was forbid- den ; yet the Levites might not then know the will of God exadly, lince Mofes had not yet brought down the tables from the mount. Mofes certainly charges the caufe of the fin on Aaron alone, Exod. xxxii. 2\^ And Mofes faid unto Aaron^ What did this people unto thee, that thou hafl brought fo great a fin upon them f — - But whatever Aaron's Levites might do thro' ignorance ; yet Micah's Levite muft know both the fin and God's indignation againft it, in the punifhment of it. That the Levites, in general, had a great averfion to fuch a grofs worfhip of God, we may fee by reviewing the fin of Jeroboam, the 2s6 MISCELLANEOUS the fon of Nebat This politician confidered, that if he fliould fufFer the ten tribes which God had withdrawn from the houfe of David, to go up to Jerufalem to worfiiip thrice a year^ Deut. xvi. 1 6, after the eflablilhed cuftom ; that his people might reflecT: on the good which Solomon the father of Rehoboam,/r£>;» whom they had revolted^ had conferred on the children of Ifrael; how he was honoured by, God with building that glorious houfe in the place which God chofe! how they were indebted to David for their extent of empire ! and what promifes God had made to David and his feed ! He thought that the light of the temple might be dangerous, and the converfation of the loyal fubjecls of Da- vid's grandfon infectious; and therefore, In his worldly wifdom erected one calf in Bethel, and another in Dan, i Kings xii. 26 ; and in- linuating convenience of worfhip to his new fubjecls, proclaimed, — Behold thy God, Ifrael^ which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, But what priefts had he to ferve before thofe pre- tended images of the true God ? Did one of the Levites join him ? — He would have ac- cepted them, it is highly probable, if they would DISSERTATIONS. 257 would have fubmitted to his new worfhip. The compliance of the priefts would have given a fine colour to his innovation in reli- gion. He certainly rejected them, becaufe they rejected his idol. Hence he was obliged, I Kings xii. 31, /^ makepriejls of the lowejl of the people^ which were not of the fons of Levi, The Levites and regular priefts, 2 Chron. xiii. 10, ftuck faft to the true God, and left thofe new-fafhioned priefts and the king to the dreadful punifhment, which, from the cafe of Aaron, they could not but think would en- fue. Thus Jeroboam eftabliflied the worfhip, as he pretended, of the true God under the Ihape of an image in ten tribes j and there- fore is emphatically ft iled the man who made Jfrael to fin. This fm is as great a difiionour to God's majefty, as it is even for a man to worfhip falfe gods ; fince this fm afFecls God's efTence, fo as to eftablifli, as much as fuch fmncrs can do, an unworthy apprehcn- fton of it in men's minds ; whereas falfe wor- fhip affecTis chiefly his power and commands. Hence we find that God always {hewed the S greateft -58 MISCELLANEOUS greatefl abhorrence to this vice, and puniflied it with the greatefl: feverity. How came it tO pafs then, that a fin of this high nature fliould pafs uncenfured by GOD in Micah and the Danites ; yea, that the laft fhould, at the time of fettling it, be abfolutely profpered by God ? God's ways, indeed, are unfearch- able ; but would not this tempt us to ima- gine, that the charge againft them is laid ua- juflly? t3 # CHAP. DISSERTATIONS. 259 >M^Mm^^^^^y^^mmmmmm^ CHAP. XXXIII, T/?e true d'lflinclion between the firft and fecond commandments taught by Mofes, SOME divines divide idolatry into two kinds ; one of which is, renouncing the true God, and worjbiffing the Images of falfe deities^ which they apprehend to be the only thing forbidden in the firfl commandment; and the fecond kind of idolatry is, worjhipping the true Godf but as reprefented by an mage^ which they imagine to be an offence againft the fecond commandment. This diflinclion between^ or explanation of thefe two commandments, is neither exact nor true. When the young mjin afked our Saviour, what he ihould do to attain eternal life, he refers him to the ten commandments j affuring him that on the performance of them he fhould live. This is S 2 a full i6o MISCELLANEOUS a full proof that the ten commandments re- quire all kinds of virtue, and guard againft every kind of vice. All falfe vi^orihip there- fore, as vjtW as idolatry, is forbidden in the two iirfl commandments. If there is any kind of falfe worfhip, therefore, which thefe commandments, explained as above, do not reach nor comprehend, the explanation can- not be perfecl j for that is a jull definition cf any things which leaves out nothing of the things to be dejmed] ooc; Ifi o fAn^iv roov opiI^oimvcov mxraXiTrccv. Longinus in his Fragments. — Now Juftin tells us, that the Periians worfhipped the rifing fun. — They paid their devotions not to the vnage of the fun, hut to the fub/lance. Were thefe Perfians guilty of falfe w^orlhip, by tranfgrelling any commandment of God ? They never renounced the true Gody a?idthen worfhip- fed the image of a falfe deity, nor worflnpped the true God in the fhape of an i/iiage. They tranfgrefTed, therefore, neither of the two firft command- ments, if the given explication is perfe<5^. Some nations, again, bowed down to the queen of night, as flic (hone in the heavens, and killed their hands in token of adoration. ^But were thofe men guilty of falfeworfhip ? They D ISSERTATIONS. 261 They were, if we may believe Job, xxxi. 26, 27, 28 ; If I beheld the fun when it fhined) or the moon walking in Irigbtnefs ; and my heart hath been fecretly enticed^ or my mouth hath kiffed my hand ; this furely were an iniquity worthy of judgment j for I fJyould have denied^ the God that is above. This is certainly a falfe worlliip, but it falls not under the firil or fecond com- mandment, explained in the manner above propofed. Befides, if the firfl: command- ment implies renouncing of the true God, and worfliipping the images of faife deities, it is very furprifing that there fhould not one fyllable be there mentioned about images. — Thofc, therefore, who would juftly diftin- guifli thofe two commandments, muft go another way to work. — The full command- ment has nothing to do with idolatry, as the word flriclly fignlfies the worfmp of images. It is reftralned to that worfnip which was paid to the fun, moon, and ftars, as well as other demons which wereworlliipped without an image. The fecond commandment for- bids any image-woriliip, whether directed to the true God, or the falfc and ficlitious dei- ties. For Fefel figniiies any graven image, S 3 vv'Iie- 262 MISCELLANEOUS whether the deity reprefented by it is true or falfe. Thus in Deut. vii. 5, it fignifies the image of a falfe deity. TJous Jhall ye deal wtth tbefn (the falfe deities) \yeJhalldeflroy their altars, and break dotvn their images, and cut down their groves y and burn their graven images (Peiilihcm) ivlth fire. The firft commandment then ref- peels all falfe worfliip ; the fecond refpeds all image-worfliip. This explanation is c6m- prehenfive and eafy, and belongs to Mofes himfelf, who explains the fecond command- mentin Deut. iv. 15, 16, 17, 18, and the firft commandment in the 19th verfe. Take ye therefore good heed unto y our f elves, (^foryefawno manner of fimilitude in the day that the LORD fpoke unto you in Horeb out of the midfl of the fire) lefl ye corrupt yourfehes, and make a graven image, the Ukenefs of any figure; the Ukenefs of male and female ; the Ukenefs of any beafl that is on the earth \ the Ukenefs of any winged fowl th at flieth in the air ; the Ukenefs of any thing that creepeth on the ground', the Ukenefs of anyfifh that is in the waters beneath the earth. As this precept was given to the Jews, no doubt it forbid, chiefly in refpeB of them, the worfhip of the true God in the fliape of any image ; but as this precept was de- figned piSSERTATIONS. 263 figned alfo for all mankind, it forbids plainly- all image-worfliip whatfoever. After this, follows an explanation of the firft command- ment. And Jejl thou lift up thine eyes unto hea- veny andy^vkenthoufeefi the fun and moon^ and the flarSy even all the hofls of heaven^ fhouldfl he dri- 'ven to worfhip them^ and to ferve theniy which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the ivhole heaven. In the fecond command- ment, then, Tefel ligniiies a graven image in general, whether of the true God, or of any fictitious deity. — Julian the apoftate indeed, the revolting Jews, a few men of that ft amp may be faid to have renounced God, and then to have worlhippedfalfe deities; but the wifeft philofophers, and a great part of the heathen world worlhipped what they thought the true God, though unhappily in the fhape of an image. Socrates no more worfhipped another god than Jeroboam ; only that So- crates was fomcwhat excufable in bowing before an image, if he ever could be brought to acl fo low beneath his natural light, for want of a divine revelation; whereas Jero- boam finned againft the revealed light:, the S 4 CX' 2^4 MISCELLANEOUS exprefs will of God, and was therefore alto- gether inexcufable. Thou hajl gone, fays God to Jeroboam, i Kings xiv. 9, and made thee other gods. His pretending to worlhip the true God under a reprefentation, was rather an aggravation of his idolatry. C$0 I & #:^^# H%# CHAP. DISSERTATIONS. 265 ^4..$.^^*^ A,^^^^^.{ji.^^^*^^j^^^^^^ CHAP. XXXIV. ^the conchfton^ with a vindication of Mtcah'^s cha- rafter attempted. WE have feen that Pefel is a general word for any graven image^ and Gro- tius aiErnns that it fignifies alfo an altar, viz. one of thofe engraved 5 memorial-ftones, which we have, with great probability, concluded to be in their houfes of prayer. In this dif- fertation therefore, I pretend with juftice to propofe fuch an hypothefis ; and this hypo- thelis partly depends on the great feill of Gro- tius in languages. Had that truly learned man undertook to prove that ?efel fignified fuch a little ftone-altar, plated probably with filver, to give it the greater refemblance to the altar in the tabernacle, he would, doubt- lefs, have given greater fatisfadion to men of 2U MISCELLANEOUS of learning ; and every candid man will par- don me, if I fail only for want of greater llrength. I have indeed produced the word Pefdim in Judges iii. 19, 26, where the word is tranllated quarries ^ but feems plainly to denote thofe memorial-ftones, fet up to keep in remembrance God's wonderful goodnefs and pov/er exerted in favqur of the children of Ifrael, when the river Jordan was driven back at the prefence of God, in order to per- mit them a dry paffage. Thefe ilones Jofe- phus fays that Jofhua turned afterwards inr- •to an altar. Thefe ftones were, doubtlefs, held in great veneration, though not wor- fliipped; and therefore I thought that thqy might be ftikd FefiUm in a good fenfe. I have -demonftrated fome words to have a good fenfe, which have hitherto been, in general at: kaft, confined to a bad one; and it will be hard to prove, why this word Ihould not be capable of a good fenfe alfo. Moft interpre- ters in Judg, iii. 19, 2(5, have certainly given it a good meaning, fince our Englifh tranfla- tors turn it by quarries ; Arias Montanus by dolatura^ carvings, or carved Hones ; Pagni- nus by lafidicin ^o' Nunne, r. Numa. X75. 12, for i^iiff^i, r. IfTisa-o-t, 204. 14, for Sculptitiat r. Sculptilia* 362. 24, for forbid^ r. fvrbids^ ' t ^13 ] Ptiblijhed hy the fame AuthoR> A Critical Latin Grammar, built on the plan of Dr. Lowth's Englifli Grammar, compared with the Hermes of Mr. Harris, and the beft ancient grammarians as well as modern grammars ; with an Introdiidlion confidering the natural divifions of time in general 5 and by the ufc of Latin authors, fhewing the number, names, and nature of Latin tenfes, and the reafon of the convertibility of tenfes, which often finds place in the pureft Latin writers. There is alfo added a very ufeful Index, fhewing the word governing, and the rule In the grammar by which it governs a particular cafe; fo that it exhibits the re- gimen of almoft every word in any Latin author. The Author teaches the Latin and Greek languages at Ottery St. Mary, Devon, with any branch of mathematics if defired. His general method is to teach, I. His Critical Grammar^ (notes excepted,) and Verbs in Eton way 5 Sententias ; Corderius with- out tranflation, becaufe the lad may tranflate ; and for exercifes, either tranflai. Latin into Englifh, or Turner's Examples to Accidence into Latin. Then he proceeds with Phaedrus' Fables ; fome fele£l Colloquies of Erafmus, Martial's fele