2dly, The tender and forrowful mothers mourning over their flaughtered infants, in and about Bethlehem, may very well be represented by Rachel; not only because Bethlehem was the place of her fepulchre, Gen. xxxv, 19, 20. but because of her eager defire and overmuch fondness of having children, Gen. xxx. 1. and therefore a very fit perfon to reprefent tender and affectionate mothers bewailing the death of their children; and though Bethlehem was in the tribe of Judah, where Leab's, and not Rachel's children lived, yet Ramah was in the tribe of Benjamin, who was Rachel's child; which two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, bordering on each other, the prophecy well agrees with the evangelift's account of this matter; for though Bethlehem of Judah was the principal feat of this tragical action, yet it was not confined there, but was extended to all the coafts thereof; fo that the voice of lamentation was heard in Ramah of Benjamin: Thus the objection of the Jew against the citation of this prophecy in Matthew, and its application to Jefus, is removed.

3dly, The comfort administered from the confideration of a better refurrection, is fuitably adapted to the cafe of those forrowful mothers, ver. 16, 17. Thus faith the Lord, Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work fhall be rewarded, faith the Lord, and they, that is, the children. which were flain, shall come again, in the refurrection from the land of the enemy, the grave, for the last enemy that shall be deftroyed is death; fo that there is hope in thine end, faith the Lord, that thy children fhall come again to their own border, and stand in the latter day upon that very spot of ground where their blood was shed.

4thly, The miraculous conception and birth of the Meffiah, are predicted in ver. 22. as has been made appear in a preceding chapter.

5thly, An account is given of the new covenant in ver. 31-34. which peculiarly belongs to the times of the Meffiah, as is acknowledged by the Jews themselves; so that from the whole it appears, that Jer. xxxi. 16. is a literal prophecy of the flaughter of the infants at Bethlehem, justly cited by the evangelift Matthew, and properly applied to that cafe, which happened quickly after the birth of Jefus.

Fourthly, The next circumstance to be confidered, is Jefus's dwelling in a city called Nazareth, whereby the evangelift fays", was fulfilled which was Spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.

* R. Ifaac Chizuk, Emun. par. 1. c. 28. & par. 2. c. 5.

h Matt. ii. 23.

Here

1

k

. Here the enemies of Chriftianity mightily triumph, and charge the evangelift with manifeft falfhood', in citing a paffage out of the prophets which is not to be found in them: and it must be acknowledged, that there are fome feemingly confiderable difficulties attend this place, and perhaps greater than any paffage which occurs in the whole controverfy about prophecy. Bishop Kidder has obferved feveral things which confiderably abate the difficulties. thereof; as that the evangelift does not quote any particular prophet for thefe words, but fays,, that it might be fulfilled which was fpoken by the prophets; fo that he seems to regard rather the fenfe of many, than the words of any particular prophet. Again, that the expreffion, he shall be called a Nazarene, imports no more than this, he shall be one, which is the frequent ufe of the Hebrew word p to call; fo that if it can be proved, that it was the fenfe of the prophets, that the Meffiah should be a Nazarene, the evangelist will be fufficiently justified in this paffage; befides, as the fame learned prelate well obferves, the evangelist only fays, that it was Spoken by the prophets, he does not fay that it was written by them; fo that we lie under no obligation, from hence, to find out a paffage in their writings where those words expressly occur, for the writers of the New Teftament affert many things as matter of fact, which they received by tradition, and which cannot be reasonably denied; as that Jannes and Jambres withstood Mofes, 2 Tim. iii. 8. that Mofes faid, he exceedingly feared and quaked, Heb. xii. 21. at the giving of the law on mount Sinai, &c. And I would add, that these words, ke shall be called a Nazarene, feem rather to be the words of the evangelift, than any citation out of the prophets; or allufion to any words of theirs; what Matthew fays, is, that be came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets; he does not tell us, in exprefs words, what that was which was spoken by the prophets, though he very plainly hints it to us, which is that he should be defpifed, contemned, and reproached by men, which was not only foretold by one, but by many of the prophets; and then affigns a reason to prove, that what was spoken by the prophets, was fulfilled in his dwelling at Nazareth, 07. Najwpai© x2n0noslar, because he is, and will be called a Nazarene, from his dwelling there, which name was given to him and his followers by way of reproach; and as to the two inftances produced by Mr Whiston', of Christ's being called by Pilate and Philip, Jefus of Nazareth in a contrary fense; he would do well to observe, that the former used this title with a design to reproach, and the latter to fhew that he was not afhamed to own him under Bbb 2

one

1 R. Ifaac Chizuk, Emun. p. 2. c. 6. * Demonstration of the Meffiah, par. ii. p. 65. Edit. fol. ! Supplement to the Literal Accomplishment, p. 27.

one of his most contemptible characters; and it may not be amifs to observe, that the word Ayorlar, faying, is not here used by the evangelift; he does not fay, which was spoken by the prophets, faying, as he does in ver. 15, 17. where he cites plain and direct prophecies; though, fuppofing that the evangelist regards fome paffages of the prophets, the fenfe of which is, that the Meffiah fhould be called, or be, a Nazarene, it will not be a very difficult task to undertake to find them out; for not to infift upon Ifa. xi. 1. where the Meffiah is called Netzer, as the Targum on the place explains it, which is the very name of the city of Nazareth, as David de Pomis obferves", and fignifies a branch, by which name the Meffiah is well known in the Old Teftament, as the Jews themselves acknowledge"; I fay, not to infift upon this paffage, which fome think the evangelift had in his thoughts, in Jer. xxxi. 6. it is faid, there shall be a day that the watchmen the Nazarenes, upon the mount Ephraim fhall cry, Arife ye, and let us go up to Zion, unto the Lord our God; by which name. of Nazarenes, it is well known the followers of Jefus were called, as appears from As xxiv. 5. and this being a prophecy of the means of the Jews restoration well fuits with them. R. Abarbinel fays, that the prophet, by the Holy Ghoft, forefaw that the Romans would believe in Jefus of Nazareth, and therefore would be called Nazarenes from him: now, if the prophets foretold that the followers of the Meffiah would be called Nazarenes, then he himself must be called fo, from whom they take the denomination, and, by fome way or other, this must be brought about, which was by his dwelling in the city of Nazareth. Besides, in Ifa. ix. 1, 2. which, by comparing with ver. 6. appears to be a prophecy of the Meffiah, there is mention, not only made of Galilee of the nations, as the place of the Meffiah's habitation, where that pus that great light, was to appear, but alfo of the land of Zebulun, in the midst of which was the city of Nazareth; but this text I fhall more fully consider hereafter in its due place; from the whole it appears, that it may be collected from the prophets, as their fenfe, that the Meffiah was to be a Nazarene, which had its exact completion in Jesus.

Lexic. Heb. p. 141.

& vi. 12.

n

Targum & Kimchi in Jer. xxiii. 5. & xxxiii. 15. Zech. iii. 8. • In loc. P Ar. Montan, Jud. Antiq. 1. 2. c 3.

CHAP.

Concerning the Prophetic Office of the MESSIAH; wherein is proved, that he is the prophet spoken of in Deut. xviii. 15. also enquiry is made, who was to be his fore-runner; what this prophet's work; and where he was to perform his office.

Having traced the prophecies of the Meffiah to the very place of his

habitation, and they being entirely filent as to any thing relating to him, or that should befal him, until the time of his manifeftation, as the great prophet in Ifrael, and the evangelic history being as filent with respect to Jesus, during the fame space of time, unless it be in the fingle inftance of his going up to Jerufalem, at the feast of the paffover, with his parents, and his disputing with the doctors in the temple, when at twelve years of age, I fhall therefore, in this chapter, confider him in the capacity of a prophet, and as exercifing that office; and the method I fhall take will be as follows:

First, I fhall endeavour to prove from Deut. xviii. 15. that the Messiah was to be a prophet.

Secondly, Shall enquire who was to be his fore-runner, according to the prophecies of Isaiah and Malachi.

Thirdly, Shall confider his work as a prophet, in the feveral parts and branches thereof.

Fourthly, Point out the very place, as directed to in prophecy, where he was to perform this office. And,

Fifthly, Shew the fuccefs which was to attend his ministry.

First, I fhall endeavour to prove, that the Meffiah was to be a prophet, from Deut. xviii. 15. The Lord thy God will raife up unto thee a prophet from the midft of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me, unto him fhall ye bearken. These words. are appled to the Meffiah, Jefus, by the apostle Peter in Ats iii. 22. Chrift feems to have regard to them when he fays, John v. 46. Mofes wrote of me.

Nay,

Nay, God the Father manifeftly directs to them, at the transfiguration of Chrift upon the mount, when, Mofes and Elias being prefent, he enjoined the difciples, by a voice from Heaven, only to hearken to him; faying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleafed; hear ye him: which is the very injunction in the text under confideration. How juft the application of these words in the New Teftament, to Jefus, as the Meffiah, is, I fhall now confider. These words can be understood of no other but the Meffiah; not of any single prophet, as Joshua, as fome; or Jeremiah, as others think'; not Joshua, for though he was the immediate fucceffor of Mofes, and was appointed a leader and commander of the people of Ifrael, to whom they hearkened; yet was he no prophet, nor was he ever accounted as fuch by the Jews; nor Jeremiah, for though he was a prophet, yet not like to Mofes, at least he had no peculiar likeness to him, which might not be observed in other prophets; nor is a fucceffion of prophets here intended, which is the opinion of others, for it is a fingle prophet that is here spoken of; fo the Targums, both of Onkelos and Jonathan, and the Septuagint version, understand it; neither had the Jews ever a constant succession of prophets, being frequently without any; besides, take all the prophets, from Mfes to the times of Jefus, and confider them either collectively or fingly, there will appear a very great diffimilitude between them; whether we regard the very great familiarity and intimate converfe he had with God, or the signs and wonders which were done by him, or the great deliverance which he was an inftrument of, as it is faid in Deut. xxxiv. 10, 11. Ant there arose not a prophet fince in Ifrael, like unto Mofes, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the figns and wonders which the Lord fent him to do, &c. Accordingly the Jews have always magnified and extolled Mofes above all the prophets, and that in the cafe of prophecy, calling him, the prince of the prophess; and fay, that "all the prophets prophefied from the fountain of his pro"phecy." Maimonides affigns feveral differences between the nature of their prophefying and his', though he allows the Meffiah to be equal with him as a prophet" and as to miracles, put all those of the prophets together, they do not come up to Mofes's; his miracles in number exceed them all. Manaffeh Ben-Ifrael has took the pains to collect and compare them together", and according to him, the miracles done by, or on the account of the prophets, were feventy