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For a summary of the religious doctrines and moral precepts of the patriarchal times, as exhibited in the book of Genesis, see Volume I. pp. 142, 143.

1. Allusions to the creation.-Psal. xxxiii. 9. He SPAKE and it was done; he COMMANDED, and it stood fast. This is manifestly an allusion to Gen. i. 3. et seq.-Psal. xxiv. 2. He VII. From an imaginary difficulty in explaining the lite- (Jehovali) hath founded it (the earth) upon the seas, and ral sense of the first three chapters of Genesis, (a difficulty, established it upon the floods.-2 Pet. iii. 5. By the word of however, which exists not with the devout reader of the the Lord the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out sacred volume), some learned men, who admit the Penta- of the water and in the water. In these two passages, the teuch to have been written by Moses, have contended that sacred writers allude to Gen. i. 6. 9.—2 Cor. iv. 6. Gop, who the narrative of the creation and fall is not a recital of real coMMANDED LIGHT to shine out of darkness, hath shined into events, but an ingenious philosophical mythos, or fable, in- our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of vented by Moses after the example of ancient Greek writers, God in the face (rather person) of Jesus Christ. Here St. to give the greater weight to his legislative enactments! and Paul alludes to Gen. i. 3. in so specific a manner, that it is imdesigned to account for the origin of human evil, and also possible not to perceive the designed reference. From Eccl. vii. as an introduction to a history, great part of which they 29. and Eph. iv. 24. compared with Col. iii. 10. and Jam. iii. 9. consider to be a mere poetic fiction. But the inventors of this fiction (for such only can we term it) have assumed that been created, is the moral image of God, viz. uprightness or we learn, that the divine image, in which man is said to have as proved which never had any existence; for the earliest Grecian cosmogony extant, namely, that of Hesiod, was not of our first parents, related as a fact in Gen. i. 27, 28., is explirighteousness, true holiness, and knowledge. And the creation composed until at least five hundred and forty-five years after the death of Moses! Further, the style of these chap-citly mentioned as a real fact by our Lord, in Matt. xix. 4. and ters, as, indeed, of the whole book of Genesis, is strictly Mark x. 6., as also by the apostle Paul. Compare 1 Cor. xi. 9. historical, and betrays no vestige whatever of allegorical or 2. Allusions to the temptation and full of our first parents, figurative description; this is so evident to any one that which are related in Gen. iii.—Job xxxi. 33. If I covered my reads with attention, as to need no proof. And since this transgressions like Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom. history was adapted to the comprehension of the commonest Matt. xxv. 41. Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting capacity, Moses speaks according to optical, not physical fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.-John viii. 44. Ye truth: that is, he describes the effects of creation optically, are of your father the devil, and the works of your father ye or as they would have appeared to the eye, and without any will [rather, wish to] do. He was a murderer from the beassignment of physical causes. In doing which he has not ginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in merely accommodated his narrative to the apprehension of him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he mankind in an infant state of society, and employed a is a liar, and the father of it.—1 Tim. ii. 13, 14. Adam was first method of recital best suited to a vulgar capacity; but he formed, then Eve: and Adam was not deceived; but the woman thereby also satisfies an important requisition of experimen- having been deceived, was in the transgression.-2 Cor. xi. 3. tal philosophy, viz. to describe effects accurately and faith- The serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty.-1 John iii. 8. fully, according to their sensible appearances: by which He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth means the mind is enabled to receive a clear and distinct from the beginning. For this purpose was the Son of God maniimpression of those appearances, and thus to reduce them to fested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. their proper causes, and to draw from them such conclusions The reality of the facts recorded in the first three chapters of as they are qualified to yield; for the determination of causes the book of Genesis was acknowledged by the Jews who lived must follow an acquaintance with their effects.2 "Besides, previously to the time of Christ. Vestiges of this belief are to if it be granted that Moses was an inspired lawgiver, it be found in the apocryphal books of Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus. becomes impossible to suppose that he wrote a fabulous-God created man to be immortal, and made him an image account of the creation and fall of man, and delivered it of his own eternity. Nevertheless, through envy of the devil, as a divine revelation, because that would have been little, if at all, short of blasphemy; we must, therefore, believe this account to be true, or that it was declared and understood by the people, to whom it was addressed, to be allegorical. No such declaration was ever made; nor is there any mention of such an opinion being generally prevalent among the Jews in any early writing. The rabbis indeed, of later times, built a heap of absurd doctrines upon this history: but this proves, if it proves any thing, that their ancestors ever understood it as a literal and true account; and, in fact, the truth of every part of the narrative contained in the book of Genesis is positively confirmed by the constant testimony of a people, who preserved a certain unmixed genealogy from father to son, through a long succession of ages: and by these people we are assured, that their ancestors ever did believe that this account, as far as it fell within human cognizance, had the authority of uninterrupted tradition from their first parent Adam, till it was written by the inspired pen of Moses."3

Further, in addition to the collateral testimony already adduced, to the credibility and reality of the facts related in the first three chapters of the book of Genesis, there are numerous incidental references, in the Old and New Testament, to the creation, temptation, and fall of our first parents, which clearly prove that they were considered as acknowledged FACTS, not requiring proof, and handed down from primitive tradition. Of these we select the following instances, out of very many which might have been cited:1 This notion is current among the divines of Germany, and the modern Socinians in this country; it is particularly enlarged upon by Bauer, (Herm. Sacr. pp. 351-365.), and by Gramberg (Libri Geneseos Adumbratio nova, pp. 16-18. Lipsiæ, 1828, 8vo.); and it is adopted by Dr. Geddes in his translation of the Bible (vol. i.), and also in his Critical Remarks, of which the reader will find a masterly refutation from the pen of the late eminently learned Bishop Horsley, in the British Critic (O. 3.), vol. xix. pp. 6-13. The younger Rosenmüller had adopted this mythical interpretation in the first edition of his Scholia on the Old Testament; but maturer consideration

having led him to see its erroneousness, he, greatly to his honour, returned to the proper and literal interpretation in the new edition of his Scholia, lately published. (Dublin Christian Examiner, May, 1827, p. 388.)

* Penn's Comparative Estimate of the Mineral and Mosaical Geologies, vol. i. p. 163. (2d edit.) In pp. 165-268, there is an elaborate examination and vindication of the literal interpretation of the first chapter of Genesis. Bishop Tomline's Elements of Christ. Theol. vol. i. p. 61.

See vol. i. pp. 69-78.

came death into the world, and they that hold of his side do find it. (Wisd. ii. 23, 24.)-Wisdom (that is, the eternal Son of God) preserved the first formed father of the world, who was created alone; and brought him out of his full (by the promised seed of the woman,) and gave him power to rule all things. (x. 1, 2.)-Of the woman came the beginning of sin; and through her we all die. (Ecclus. xxv. 24.)

pendent testimonies, here collected together, prove that the If words have any meaning, surely the separate and indeMosaic narrative is a relation of real facts. To consider the whole of that narrative as an allegory "is not only to throw whole Pentateuch in doubt and obscurity, but to shake to its over it the veil of inexplicable confusion, and involve the that the seed of the woman should bruise the head of the very basis Christianity, which commences in the promise, serpent. In reality, if we take the history of the fall in any other sense than the obvious literal sense, we plunge into greater perplexities than ever. Some well-meaning all difficulties, by considering some parts of the Mosaic hispious commentators have, indeed, endeavoured to reconcile this is to act in a manner utterly inconsistent with the tenor tory in an allegorical, and other parts in a literal sense; but and spirit of that history, and with the views of a writer, the distinguishing characteristics of whose production are simplicity, purity, and truth. There is no medium nor palliation; the whole is allegorical, or the whole is literal."

In short, the book of Genesis, understood in its plain, obin philosophy, which would otherwise be inexplicable. Thus vious, and literal sense, furnishes a key to many difficulties it has been reckoned a great difficulty to account for the introduction of fossil shells into the bowels of the earth: but the scriptural account of the deluge explains this fact better than all the romantic theories of philosophers. It is impossible to account for the origin of such a variety of languages in a more satisfactory manner than is done in the narrative

The arguments to prove the literal sense of the first three chapters of Genesis, which we have necessarily given with brevity, are ably and fully stated in Mr. Holden's elaborate Dissertation on the Fall of Man, London, 1823, 8vo.

Maurice's History of Hindostan, vol. i. p. 868.
See vol. i. pp. 71, 72.

V. TYPES OF THE MESSIAH are Aaron (Heb. iv. 14-16. v. 4, 5.);-the Paschal Lamb (Exod. xii. 46. with John xix. 36. and 1 Cor. v. 7, 8.);—the Manna (Exod. xvi. 15. with 1 Cor. x. 3.);-the Rock in Horeb (Exod. xvii. 6. with 1 Cor. x. 4.);-the Mercy Seat (Exod. xxxvii. 6. with Rom. iii. 25. Heb. iv. 16.)

of the confusion of tongues which took place at Babel. (Gen. xi. 1-9.) And although some futile objections have been made against the chronology of this book, because it makes the world less ancient than is necessary to support the theories of some modern self-styled philosophers; yet even here, as we have already shown by an induction of particulars, the more rigorously it is examined and compared with the extravagant and improbable accounts of the Chal-eleven paraschioth or chapters, and twenty-nine siderim or dæan, Egyptian, Chinese, and Hindoo chronology, the more firmly are its veracity and authenticity established. "In fine, without this history, the world would be in comparative darkness, not knowing whence it came, or whither it goeth. In the first page of this sacred book, a child may learn more in an hour, than all the philosophers in the world learned without it in a thousand years."2

SECTION III.

ON THE BOOK OF EXODUS.

I. Title.-II. Author and date.-III. Occasion and subjectmatter.-IV. Scope.-V. Types of the Messiah.-VI. Synopsis of its contents.-VII. Remarks on the plagues inflicted upon the Egyptians.

I. THE title of this book is derived from the Septuagint Version, and is significant of the principal transaction which it records, namely, the E=OAO2, Exodus, or departure of the Israelites from Egypt. By the Jews, and in the Hebrew copies, it is termed en Ve-ALEH SHEMOTH, "these are the words," from the initial words of the book, or sometimes merely Shemoth. It comprises a history of the events that took place during the period of 145 years, from the year of the world 2369 to 2514 inclusive, from the death of Joseph to the erection of the tabernacle. Twenty-five passages, according to Rivet, are quoted from Exodus by our Saviour and his apostles, in express words; and nineteen allusions to the sense are made in the New Testament.

II. That Moses was the author of this book we have already shown, though the time when it was written cannot be precisely determined. As, however, it is a history of matters of fact, it was doubtless written after the giving of the law on Mount Sinai and the erecting of the tabernacle; for things cannot be historically related until they have actually taken place, and the author of this book was evidently an eye and ear-witness of the events he has narrated.

III. The book of Exodus records the cruel persecution of the Israelites in Egypt under Pharaoh-Rameses II.; the birth, exposure, and preservation of Moses; his subsequent flight into Midian, his call and mission to Pharaoh-Amenophis II.; the miracles performed by him and by his brother Aaron the ten plagues also miraculously inflicted on the Egyptians; the institution of the passover, and the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt; their passage across the Red Sea, and the destruction of the Egyptian army: the subsequent journeyings of the Israelites in the desert, their idolatry, and frequent murmurings against God; the promulgation of the law from Mount Sinai, and the erection of the tabernacle.

VI. By the Jews the book of Exodus is divided into sections: in our Bibles it is divided into forty chapters, the contents of which are exhibited in the annexed SYNOPSIS:PART I. Account of the Transactions previously to the Departure of the Israelites from Egypt.

SECT. 1. The oppression of the children of Israel. (ch. i.)
SECT. 2. The youth and transactions of Moses. (ch. ii.-vi.)
SECT. 3. The hardening of Pharaoh's heart, and the inflic-
tion of the ten plagues. (ch. vii.—xi.)

PART II. The Narrative of the Departure of the Israelites.
(ch. xii.-xiv.)

PART III. Transactions subsequent to their Exodus. (ch. xiv. -xviii.)

SECT. 1. The miraculous passage of the Red Sea, and the thanksgiving of Moses and the people of Israel, on their deliverance from Pharaoh and his host. (ch. xiv. xv. 1—22.) SECT. 2. Relation of various miracles wrought in behalf of the Israelites. (ch. xv. 23—27. xvi. xvii.)

SECT. 3. The arrival of Moses's wife and children with Je-
thro. (ch. xviii.)

PART IV. The Promulgation of the Law on Mount Sinai.
SECT. 1. The preparation of the people of Israel by Moses, for
the renewing of the covenant with God. (ch. xix.)
SECT. 2. The promulgation of the moral law. (ch. xx.)
SECT. 3. The judicial law. (ch. xxi.—xxiii.)
SECT. 4. The ceremonial law, including the construction
and erection of the tabernacle. (ch. xxiv.-xxxi. xxxv.—
xl.) In ch. xxxii.-xxxiv. are related the idolatry of the
Israelites, the breaking of the two tables of the law, the
divine chastisement of the Hebrews, and the renewal of
the tables of the covenant.

VII. The circumstances attending the plagues inflicted upon the Egyptians are fully considered by Mr. Bryant in his learned treatise on this subject (8vo. London, 1810), from which the following particulars are abridged. As many of the Israelites were followers of the idolatry that surrounded them, these miracles were admirably adapted to display the vanity of the idols and false gods, adored by their oppressors, the proud and learned Egyptians.

1. By the first plague-Water turned into blood (Exod. vii. 14-25.)-was demonstrated the superiority of Jehovah over their imaginary river-gods, and the baseness of the elements which they reverenced. The Nile was religiously honoured by the Egyptians, who valued themselves much upon the excellency of its waters, and esteemed all the natives of the river as in some degree sacred. The Nile was turned into blood, which was an object of peculiar abhorrence to the Egyptians.

2. In the plague of frogs (Exod. viii. 1-15.) the object of their idolatrous worship, the Nile, was made an instruIV. The SCOPE of Exodus is to preserve the memorial of ment of their punishment. Frogs were deemed sacred by the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, and to represent the Egyptians; but whether from reverence or abhorrence is the church of God, afflicted and preserved; together with the uncertain. By this plague, the waters of the Nile became providential care of God towards her, and the judgments a second time polluted, and the land was equally defiled. inflicted on her enemies. It plainly points out the accom3. The plague of lice (Exod. viii. 16-19.) reproved the plishment of the divine promises and prophecies delivered to absurd superstition of the Egpytians, who thought it would Abraham, that his posterity would be very numerous (com- be a great profanation of the temple into which they were pare Gen. xv. 5. xvii. 4—6. and xlvi. 27. with Num. i. 1-going, if they entered it with any animalcula of this sort 3. 46.); and that they would be afflicted in a land not their own, whence they should depart in the fourth generation with great substance. (Gen. xv. 13-16. with Exod. xii. 35. 40, 41.) Further," in Israel passing from Egypt, through the Red Sea, the Wilderness, and Jordan, to the promised land, this book adumbrates the state of the church in the wilderness of this world, until her arrival at the heavenly Canaan,-an eternal rest."3 St. Paul, in 1 Cor. x. 1, &c. and in various parts of his Epistle to the Hebrews, has shown that these things prefigured, and were applicable to, the Christian church. A careful study of the mediation of Moses will greatly facilitate our understanding the mediation of Jesus Christ.

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upon them. The people, and particularly the priests, never wore woollen garments, but only linen, because linen is least apt to produce lice. The judgment, inflicted by Moses in this plague, was so proper, that the priests and magicians immediately perceived from what hand it came, and confessed that this was the finger of God.

4. The plague of flies (Exod. viii. 20–32.) which was inflicted in the midst of winter, and not in the midst of summer, when Egypt swarms with flies, would show the Egyptians the folly of the god, whom they worshipped, that he might drive away the gad-fly, whose sting is extremely painful.

5. The fifth plague the murrain among cattle (Exod. ix. 1-7.) destroyed the living objects of their stupid worship. The sacred bull, the cow, or heifer, the ram, and the he-goat, fell dead before their worshippers. When the distemper

inflicted by this judgment spread irresistibly over the country, the Egyptians not only suffered a severe loss, but also beheld their deities and their representatives sink before the God of the Hebrews.

6. As the Egyptians were celebrated for their medical skill, and their physicians were held in the highest repute, the sixth plague, the infliction of boils accompanied with blains (Exod. ix. 8-12.), which neither their deities could avert, nor the art of man alleviate, would further show the vanity of their gods. Aaron and Moses were ordered to take ashes of the furnace, and to scatter them towards heaven,

that was in the dungeon; and all the first-born of cattle: and when Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt": for there was not a house where there was not one dead!

SECTION IV.

ON THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS.

contents.

I. THE third book of the Pentateuch (by the Jews termed " va-YIKRA, and he called, from its initial word) is in the Septuagint styled AETITIKON, and in our version Leviticus, or the Levitical book, because it principally contains the laws concerning the religion of the Israelites, which chiefly consisted of various sacrifices; the charge of which was committed to Aaron the Levite (as he is termed in Exod. iv. 14.) and to his sons, who alone held the priestly office in the tribe of Levi; which St. Paul therefore calls a priesthood." (Heb. vii. 11.) In the Babylonish Talmud it is called the law of the priests, which appellation is retained in the Arabic and Syriac versions.

"Levitical

that they might be wafted over the face of the country. This I. Title, author, and date.-II. Scope.-III. Synopsis of its was a significant command. The ashes were to be taken from that fiery furnace, which in the Scripture was used as a type of the slavery of the Israelites, and of the cruelty which they experienced in Egypt. (Deut. iv. 20.) The process has still a further allusion to an idolatrous and cruel rite, which was common among the Egyptians, and to which it is opposed as a contrast. They had several cities styled Typhonian, such as Heliopolis, Idythia, Abaris, and Busiris. In these, at particular seasons, they sacrificed men. The objects thus destined, were persons with bright hair, and a particular complexion, such as were seldom to be found among the native Egyptians. Hence, we may infer that they were foreigners; and it is probable, that whilst the Israelites resided in Egypt, they were chosen from their body. They were burnt alive upon a high altar, and thus sacrificed for the good of the people. At the close of the sacrifice, the priests gathered together the ashes of these victims, and scattered them upwards in the air, with the view, probably, that where any atom of this dust was carried, a blessing might be entailed. The like was, therefore, done by Moses, though with a different intention, and to a more certain effect.

7. The plague of hail, rain, and fire (Exod. ix. 13-35.), demonstrated that neither Osiris, who presided over fire, nor Isis, who presided over water, could protect the fields and the climate of Egypt from the thunder, the rain, and the hail of Jehovah. These phenomena were of extremely rare occurrence, at any period of the year: they now fell at a time when the air was most calm and serene.

The author of this book, it is universally admitted, was Moses; and it is cited as his production in several books of Scripture. By comparing Exod. xl. 17. with Num. i. 1. we learn that this book contains the history of one month, viz. from the erection of the tabernacle to the numbering of the people who were fit for war, that is, from the beginning of the second year after Israel's departure from Egypt to the beginning of the second month of the same year, which was in the year of the world 2514, and before Christ 1490. The laws prescribed upon other subjects than sacrifices have no chronological marks by which we can judge of the times when they were given.

II. The general SCOPE of this book is, to make known to the Israelites the Levitical laws, sacrifices, and ordinances, and by those" shadows of good things to come," to lead the Israelites to the Messiah (Heb. x. 1. with Gal. iii. 24.): and it appears from the argument of Saint Paul, that they had some idea of the spiritual meaning of these various institutions. (1 Cor. x. 1-4.)

8. Of the severity of the ravages, caused by the plague of locusts, (Exod. x. 1-20.) some idea may be conceived from the account of those insects in this volume, p. 39. The Egyptians had gods, in whom they trusted to deliver This book is of great use in explaining numerous passages their country from these terrible invaders. They trusted much to the fecundity of their soil, and to the deities, Isis of the New Testament, especially the Epistle to the Heand Serapis, who were the conservators of all plenty. But brews, which, in fact, would be unintelligible without it. by this judgment they were taught that it was impossible In considering, however, the spiritual tendency of Leviticus, to stand before Moses the servant of God. The very winds, care must be taken not to apply the types too extensively: which they venerated, were made the instruments of their the observation of Jerome as to its spiritual import is undestruction; and the sea, which they regarded as their de-doubtedly very pious and just, but few persons will acquiesce fence against the locusts, could not afford them any pro

tection.

9. The ninth plague consisted in three days' darkness over all the land of Egypt. (Exod. x. 21-27.) The Egyptians considered light and fire, the purest of elements, to be proper types of God. They regarded the sun, the great fountain of light, as an emblem of his glory and salutary influence on the world. The sun was esteemed the soul of the world, and was supposed with the moon to rule all things: and not only to be the conservators, but the creators of all things. Accordingly they worshipped them, as well as night and darkness. This miraculous darkness would, therefore, confirm still further (if further confirmation were wanting) the vanity of their idol-deities.

in his remark, that "almost every syllable in this book breathes a spiritual sacrament."3

III. Leviticus is divided by the Jews into nine paraschioth, which in our Bibles form twenty-seven chapters: it consists of four leading topics; comprising

PART I. The Laws concerning Sacrifices, in which the differ-
ent kinds of sacrifices are enumerated, together with their
concomitant rites; as,

SECT. 1. The Burnt Offering (Lev. i.), which prefigured the
full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice of Christ,
"to put away
sin ;" and who, by his "one offering hath perfected for ever
them that are sanctified." (Heb. ix. 26. x. 14. 1 John i. 7.)
SECT. 2. The Meat Offerings. (Lev. ii.)
SECT. 3. The Peace Offering (Lev. iii.), which represented
both Christ's oblation of himself, whereby he became our
peace and salvation (Eph. ii. 14-16. Acts xiii. 47. Heb.
v. 9. ix. 28.) and also our oblation of praise, thanksgiving,
and prayer to God.

10. The infliction of the tenth and last plague the destruction of the first-born (Exod. xi. 1-8. xii. 29, 30.) was most equitable; because, after the Egyptians had been preserved by one of the Israelitish family, they had (contrary to all right, and in defiance of the stipulation originally made with the Israelites when they first went into Egypt,) enslaved the people to whom they had been so much indebted; had murdered their children, and made their bondage intolerable. We learn from Herodotus,2 that it was the custom of the Egyptians to rush from the house into the street, to bewail the dead with loud and bitter outcries: and every member of the family united in the bitter expressions of sorrow. How great, then, must their terror and their grief have been, when, at midnight, the Lord smote all the "Singula sacrificia, immo singule pene syllaba, et vestes Aaron, et first-born of the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Phatotus Ordo Leviticus spirant cælestia sacramenta."-Epist. ad Paulinun!, raoh that sat on his throne, unto the first-born of the captive. This, and the subsequent references to Jerome's Prefaces, are made

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SECT. 4. The Offering made for sins of ignorance (Lev. iv.
v.), which, being consumed without the camp, signified
Christ's suffering" without the gate, that he might sanctify
the people with his own blood." (Heb. xiii. 11-13.)
SECT. 5. The Trespass Offering for sins knowingly com-
mitted (Lev. vi. vii.), in which sacrifice the guilt was con-
sidered as being transferred to the animal offered up to Je-
hovah, and the person offering it, as redeemed from the

to the collection of them, which is prefixed to the Frankfort edition of the Latin Vulgate. (1826. 8vo)

penalty of sin. Thus Jesus Christ is said to have made his | soul an offering for sin. (Isa. liii. 10. with 2 Cor. v. 21.) PART II. The Institution of the Priesthood, in which the consration of Aaron and his sons to the sacred office is related, toge her with the punishment of Nadab and Abihu. (Lev. :) PART III. Te Laws concerning Purifications both of the peo-into the land of Canaan because of their unbelief (Heb. iii. ple and the Fiests. (Lev. xi.—xxii.)

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III. TYPES OF THE MESSIAH, in this book, are, The Water that issued from the Rock (Num. xx. with 1 Cor. x. 4. 11.); and the elevation of the Brazen Serpent. (Num. xxi. with John iii. 14.)

Almighty over the Israelites, during their wanderings in the wilderness, and the temptations and murmurings there by which they provoked and offended their Heavenly Protector; so that, at length, he sware in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest. (Psal. xcv. 11.) St. Paul, warning the converted Hebrews, expressly states that they could not enter 19.); and in 1 Cor. x. 1.-11. he states that all these things Among these, the regulations concerning leprosy (xiii.) as re-admonition. The method pursued in this book is precisely happened unto them for ensamples, and they are written for our presenting the universal taint of sin, and those concerning that which would be adopted by the writer of an itinerary; the scape-goat and the great day of atonement (xvi.), de- the respective stations are noted; and the principal occurmand particular attention; as typifying the death and resurrences that took place at each station are related, omitting rection of Christ, and the atonement made thereby (Heb. such as are of comparatively less importance. This circumix. 7—12. 24—27.); while they at the same time inculcate stance is an additional internal proof that Moses was the the hatefulness of sin, and the necessity of internal purity. author of the Book of Numbers, which is cited as his work Chapters xviii. and xix. contain various cautions to the Is-in many parts of Scripture. raelites to avoid the sinful practices of the Egyptians and Canaanites, with laws adapted to the peculiar circumstances and situations of the children of Israel, interspersed with several moral precepts inculcating the duties of humanity and mercy, and the necessity of strict integrity. PART IV. The Laws concerning the Sacred Festivals, Vows, Things devoted, and Tithes. Chapter xxiii. treats of the seven great festivals, viz. the Sabbath, the passover, the feast of first-fruits, the feast of Pentecost, the feast of trumpets, the great day of atonement, and the feast of tabernacles. The celebration of these solemn festivals was of singular use for maintaining the system of divine worship among the Israelites; for distinguishing them from all other people; for the solemn commemoration of the many and great benefits conferred on them by Jehovah; for the preservation and continuance of the public ministry; for preserving purity and unity in divine worship; and, lastly, for prefiguring the manifold and great blessings bestowed on mankind by the Messiah. In chap. xxiv. various ceremonial and judicial rites are enjoined: and in chap. xxv. is recapitulated the law respecting the sabbatical year which had before been given (see Exod. xxiii. 10, 11.); the observance of the jubilee is enjoined, with various precepts respecting mercy, benevolence, &c. The jubilee was typical of the great time of release, the Gospel-dispensation. (See Isa. Ixi. 1—3. with Luke iv. 19.) Chap. xxvi. presents various prophetic promises and threatenings which have In this passage, an eminent critic observes, that Balaam, signally been fulfilled among the Jews. (Compare v. 22. in prophetic vision, descries the remote coming of Shiloh, with Num. xxi. 6. 2 Kings ii. 24. and xvii. 25. with Ezek. under the imagery of a star and a sceptre, or an illustrious v. 17.) The preservation of the Jews to this day, as a dis- prince. Though it was foretold that "the sceptre should tinct people, is a living comment on v. 44. The twenty-depart from Judah" at his coming, this prophecy confirms to seventh and last chapter comprises regulations concerning vows, and things devoted, as well as the tithes which were to be dedicated to the service of the tabernacle.

SECTION V.

ON THE BOOK OF NUMBERS.

IV. This book contains only one PREDICTION concerning the Messiah, viz. Numbers xxiv. 17. 19. which, Rosenmüller and some other eminent biblical critics have contended, cannot apply to Jesus Christ. This passage, it is true, in its of Israel should arise a mighty prince, who would obtain an primary and literal meaning, intimates that from the people entire conquest and bear rule over the kingdoms of Moab and Edom: and it was fulfilled in David, for it is expressly recorded of him, that he finally subdued those nations. (2 Sam. viii. 2. 14.) But, in its full import, it has invariably been considered as referring to that illustrious personage, of whom David was a type and a progenitor: and is, in fact, a splendid prediction of the final and universal sway of the Messiah, when the middle wall of partition shall be broken down, and both Jews and Gentiles shall become one fold under one shepherd. This explanation is perfectly consonant to many other prophecies concerning the Saviour; which, in similar language, describe him as acquiring dominion over heathen countries, and destroying the enemies of his church: and it is observable, that, in several of these ancient predictions, some particular opposers, as the Moabites and Edomites, are put for the "adversaries of the Lord," in general. (See Psal. ii. 8. lxxii. 8. cx. 6. Isa. xi. 14. and xxv. 10.)1

him a proper sceptre of his own: and our Lord claimed it when he avowed himself a "King" to Pilate, but declared that his "kingdom was not of this world." (John xviii. 36, 37.) This branch of the prophecy was fulfilled about 1600 years after; when, at the birth of Christ," the Magi from the East" (who are supposed by Theophylact to have been the posterity of Balaam) came to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is the [true] born king of the Jews? for we have seen his star at its rising, and are come to worship him. "2 (Matt. ii. 1, 2.).

V. The book of Numbers contains a history of the IsraelI. Title, author, date, and argument.-II. Scope.-III. Types ites, from the beginning of the second month of the second of the Messiah.-IV. Prediction of the Messiah.-V. Chro-year after their departure from Egypt, to the beginning of nology.-VI. Synopsis of its contents.-VII. Observations on the eleventh month of the fortieth year of their journeyings, the books of the wars of the Lord, mentioned in Numbers—that is, a period of thirty-eight years and nine or ten months. (Compare Num. i. and xxxvi. 13. with Dent. i. 3.) Most of the transactions here recorded took place in the second and thirty-eighth years: the dates of the facts related in the middle of the book cannot be precisely ascertained.

xxi. 14.

I. IN conformity with the Hebrew custom, this fourth book of Moses is usually termed, va-JeDaBaR, and he spake, because it commences with that word in the original text: it is also called, BeMiDBAR," In the Desert," which is the fifth word in the first verse, because it relates the transactions of the Israelites in the wilderness. By the Alexandrian translators it was entitled APIOMOI, which appellation was adopted by the Greek fathers; and by the Latin translators it was termed Numeri, Numbers, whence our English title is derived; because it contains an account of the numbering of the children of Israel, related in chapters i.-iii. and xxvi. It appears from xxxvi. 13. to have been written by Moses in the plains of Moab. Besides the numeration and marshalling of the Israelites for their journey, several laws in addition to those delivered in Exodus and Leviticus, and likewise several remarkable events, are recorded in this book.

II. The SCOPE of the Book of Numbers is, to transmit to posterity, for a perpetual example, the providential care of the

Writ contains ten paraschioth or chapters; in our Bibles it
VI. According to the Jewish division, this portion of Holy

1 Robinson's Scripture Characters, vol. i. p. 480.-The same author adds
-"Jesus, then, is the 'Star,' which Balaam foretold; 'the bright and morn-
(Luke i. 78. Rev. xxii. 16.); and to him also the sceptre' of universal go-
ing star,' which, through the tender mercy of our God, hath visited us
verniment is committed. He shall have dominion; for he must reign till
he hath put all enemies under his feet,' (1 Cor. xv. 25.) Balaam looked for-
ward to the time of his coming, which is usually called, as in Num, xxiv. 14.,
'the latter days: and concerning him, he said, 'I shall see him, but not
now; I shall behold him, but not high; which might intimate, that his ap-
pearance was far removed, and that he should see him only by the spirit of
prophecy. But it may also refer to the second advent of the Saviour, when
indeed both Balanin and every despiser of his grace shall see bim' in his
glory-shall behold him, but not nigh for they shall be driven ent from
him with shame and confusion, and be punished with everlasting destruc
tion from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.'"
Ibid. p. 481.
2 Dr. Hales's Analysis of Chronology, vol. ii. book i. p. 229.

consists of thirty-six chapters, which comprise four principal parts or sections.

PART I. The Census of the Israelites, comprising,

SECT. 1. The enumeration of the twelve tribes, and the marshalling of them into a regular camp; "each tribe by itself under its own captain or chief, distinguished by its own peculiar standard." (Num. i. ii.)

The standards or banners of the tribes are not mentioned by Moses (ii. 2.); but they seem to be pointed out by Rev. iv. 7. with which the tradition of the Jews agrees. The standard of Judah is a lion; of Reuben, a man; of Ephraim, an ox; of Dan, an eagle. This agrees with the vision of the cherubic figures in Ezekiel i. 10.1 SECT. 2. The sacred or ecclesiastical census of the Levites; the designation of them to the sacred office, and the appointment of them to various services in the tabernacle. (iii. iv.) Besides the conveniency which would naturally result from the numeration and marshalling of the tribes, this census would demonstrate to the Israelites (as it does to us), how faithful God had been to the promise made to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of multiplying and preserving their posterity. By this, also, they were preserved from all intermixture with their vicious and idolatrous neighbours; each true-born Israelite being obliged and enabled to deliver a clear account of the tribe, and even the family, from which he was descended; which was of still higher and more special importance for preserving the certain and unexceptionable genealogy of Christ the Messiah, who was to be born of this nation, according to original and repeated promise.2

PART II. The Institution of various Legal Ceremonies,—as, SECT. 1. The purification of the camp, by the removal of all unclean persons from it, and the trial of the suspected adulteress by the waters of jealousy. (Num. v.)

SECT. 2. The institution of the Nazareate. (vi.)
SECT. 3. An account of the oblations made to the tabernacle
by the princes or heads of tribes. (vii.)
SECT. 4. The consecration of the Levites. (viii.)
SECT 5. The celebration of the passover. (ix.)

SECT. 6. Regulations concerning the moving or resting of the camp of Israel during their progress. (x.) PART III. The History of their Journey from Mount Sinai to the Land of Moab, comprising an Account of their Eight Murmurings in the Way.

SECT. 1. The first Murmuring of the People on account of the length of the way; which was punished by fire at Taberah. (xi. 1—3.)

SECT. 2. Their Loathing of Manna, and Murmuring for Flesh, punished by the sending of quails and a pestilence. (xi. 4—35.)

SECT. 3. The Murmuring of Aaron and Miriam at Moses, for which Miriam was smitten with a leprosy, but was healed at the intercession of Moses. (xii.)

SECT. 4. The instructions given to the spies who were sent to explore the promised land, and their "evil report" of it. (xiii.) The Murmuring of the People at Kadesh-Barnea ; for which all of them, who were twenty years old and upward, were deprived of entering into Canaan: and the men that brought up "the evil report of the land died by the plague," excepting Joshua and Caleb. In ch. xv. some ordinances are given for conducting the worship of Jehovah in the land of Canaan.

SECT. 5. The Murmuring and Rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and their followers, with their punishment. (xvi. 1-40.)

SECT. 6. The Murmuring of the People against Moses and Aaron, on account of their preceding judgment, and their punishment, with Aaron's intercession for them.3 (xvi. 41

1 Reeves's edition of the Bible, vol. i. on Num. ii. 2.

2 Pyle's Paraphrase, &c. on the Old Test. vol. ii. p. 150.

In Aaron making intercession for the rebel Israelites, we behold a lively type of Jesus Christ, who is a merciful and faithful high priest, in things pertaining to God, to make intercession for the sins of the people.

-50.) The miraculous budding of Aaron's rod among the rods of the tribes, as a confirmation of his priesthood, and as a monument against the rebels (xvii.); which was succeeded by some directions concerning the dignity and superiority of the priestly office over that of the Levites, and respecting the maintenance of both (xviii.), together with regulations concerning the water of separation made with the ashes of a red heifer, and its use for the purification of those who were unclean. (xix.)

SECT. 7. Their Murmuring in the Desert of Zin for Water, the unbelief of Moses, the perfidy of the Edomites, and Aaron's death. (xx.)

SECT. 8. Their Murmuring, as "they journeyed to compass the land of Edom," when "the soul of the people was discouraged because of the length of the way," and also their loathing of manna, by them contemptuously termed light bread," for which they were punished with fiery serpents, but on repentance were healed by looking at a brazen serpent. (xxi.)

PART IV. A History of the Transactions which took place in the Plains of Moab (xxii.-xxxvi.); including, SECT. 1. The machinations of their enemies against them, their frustration, and the prophecies of Balaam respecting the Jews and their enemies, the ensnaring of the Israelites to commit idolatry by the Moabites, with their consequent punishment. (xxii.—xxv.)

SECT. 2. A second enumeration of the people (xxvi.); in which are displayed "the singular providence of God, and the further accomplishment of his promise to the patriarchs, in multiplying the people of Israel so exceedingly, that in all the tribes there were only 61,020 men" less than at the first census," notwithstanding the whole of that murmuring generation" (with the exception of Joshua, Caleb, and a few others) "perished in the wilderness."

SECT. 3. The remaining chapters relate the appointment of Joshua to be the successor of Moses, and various regulations concerning sacrifices, and the partition of the promised land. (xxvii.-xxxvi.) The thirty-third chapter contains a recapitulation of the several stages of the journeyings of the Israelites. As the best elucidation of this subject, the reader is referred to the accompanying Map, together with the table on the following page.

(Heb. ii. 17.) "Does not He, while the pestilence of sin is raging in the world at large, or in the bodies of individuals, stand between us and sin

with the incense of his intercession, and the offering of his blood, and make an atonement and stay the plague, and death eternal, to all who have a lively faith in Him? He is able to save them unto the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. (Heb. vii. 25.)"Plumptre's Popular Commentary on the Bible, vol. i. p. 253. consult Bishop Newton's Dissertations, vol. I. diss. v. and the Dissertation On the accomplishment of all these prophecies delivered by Balaam, sur les Propheties de Balaam, in the Bible de Vence, tom. iii. pp. "Though God had probably rejected Balaam as an apostate prophet, he oracles; to illustrate the impotency of the heathen arts, and to demonstrate deigned to employ him on this signal occasion as the herald of the divine the power and foreknowledge of the Divine Spirit" (Bp. Gray.) Bishop Butler has a fine discourse on the character of Balaam, Works, vol. i. serm. vii.

274-313.

Roberts's Clavis Bibliorum, p. 26. The following comparative statement will show how much some of the tribes had increased, and others had diminished, since the first enumeration:

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