A. M. 1997. A. C. 2007; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 3318. A. C. 2093. GEN. CH. x. AND CH. xi. VER. 10. TO THE END. : useful arts and sciences, were reverenced while they lived, and after death canonized. The prevailing notion of the soul's immortality, made thein imagine that the spirits of such excellent persons either immediately ascended up into heaven, and settled there in some orb or other, or that they hovered in the air, whence, by solemn invocations, and by making some statue or image resemblant of them, they might be prevailed with to come down and inhabit it. Those who worshipped universal nature, or the system of the material world, perceived first, that there was excellency in the several parts of it, and then (to make up the grandeur and perfection of the idea) they joined them altogether in one Divine Being. Those who laboured under a weakness and narrowness of imagination, distributed nature into its several parts, and worshipped that portion of it which was accounted of most general use and benefit. Usefulness was the common motive, but it was not the only motive which inclined the world Whether the idolatry of image worship was first begun to idolatry for upon farther inquiry, we shall find, that in Chaldea or in Egypt, we have no grounds from whatever ravished with its transcendent beauty, what-history to determine: but wherever it had its origin, the ever affrightened with its malignant power, whatever design of making statues and images at first was astonished with its uncommon greatness, whatever, in certainly such as the author of the book of Wisdom short, was beautiful, hurtful, or majestic, became a deity, has represented it, namely, to commemorate an absent or as well as what was profitable for its use. The sun, deceased friend, or to do honour to some great man or men soon perceived, had all these powers and properties sovereign prince; which (whether so intended or no at united in it: its beauty was glorious to behold, its motion first) the ignorance and superstition of the people turned, wonderful to consider, its heat occasioned different in time, into an object of religious adoration; “the effects, barrenness in some places, and fruitfulness in singular diligence of the artificer," as our author expresothers; and the immense globe of its light appeared ses it, "helping to set forward the ignorant to more highly exalted, and riding in triumph, as it were, round superstition: For he, peradventure, willing to please the world. The moon, they saw, supplied the absence one in authority, forced all his skill to make the resemof the sun by night; gave a friendly light to the earth, blance of the best fashion; and so the multitude, allured and, besides the great variety of its phases, had a won- by the grace of the work, took him now for a god, who, derful influence over the sea and other humid bodies. a little before, was but honoured as a man." The stars they admired for their height and magnitude, We cannot but observe, however, with what elegance and the order of their positions, and celerity of their motions, fine satire it is that the Scripture sets off the stupidity and thence were persuaded either that some celestial and gross infatuation both of the artificer and adorer. vigour or other resided in them, or that the souls of The carpenter heweth down cedars, and taketh the their heroes and great men, were translated into them cypress, and the oak. He stretcheth out his rule, he when they died; and upon these, and such like presump-marketh it out with a line, he fitteth it with planes, he tions, they accounted all celestial bodies to be deities. "The force of fire, the serenity of air, the usefulness of water, as well as the terror and dreadfulness of thunder and lightning, gave rise to the consecration of the meteors and elements. The sea, swelling with its proud surface, and roaring with its mighty billows, was such an awful sight, and the earth bedecked with all its plants, flowers, and fruits, such a lovely one, as might well affect a pagan's veneration; when for the like motives, namely, their beneficial, hurtful, delightful, or astonishing properties, beasts, birds, fishes, insects, and even vegetables themselves, came to be adored." The pride and pomp of the great, and the low and abject spirits of the mean, occasioned first the flattery, and then the worship of kings and princes as gods upon earth. Men famous for their adventures and exploits, the founders of nations or cities, or the inventors of Tennison on Idolatry. 2 Herbert's Ancient Religion of the Gentiles. a The extent of idol worship, and the similarity of the system of idolatry in all the countries in which it has been practised, are truly amazing. From these circumstances, some learned writers have been led to trace it up to the plains of Shinar, and to maintain that it issued from thence, and accompanied the progress of the human race over the globe. Whatever truth there may be in this opinion, the history of mankind amply proves, that man, without the light of revelation, is prone to idolatry, and to give to the creature, or to the deifications of his own mind, the worship which is due to God. This proneness had widely shown itself so early as the time of Abraham, when it was necessary to separate that patriarch and his posterity, to preserve the knowledge of the living and true God.-See on the Nuture and History of Idolatry, Dewar's Moral Philosophy, vol. 2. ch. vi. marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man.-He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied; yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire; and the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image. He falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me, for thou art my god; never considering in his heart, nor having knowledge or understanding to say, I have burnt part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof: I have roasted flesh, and eaten it; and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? Shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?' That rational creatures should be capable of so wretched a degeneracy as this amounts to, may justly provoke our wonder and amazement: and yet we may remember, that these people (who may possibly be the object of our scorn and contempt) had the boasted light of nature to be their guide in matters of religion: nay, they had some advantages that we apparently want: they lived much nearer the beginning of the world; had the terrors of the Lord in the late judgment of the deluge, fresh in their minds; had the articles of their religion comprised in a small compass; and (what is no bad friend to reason and sober recollection) lived in more simplicity, and 3 Ch. xiv. 15, &c. A. M. 1997. A. C. 2007; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 3318. A. C. 2093. GEN. CH. x. AND CH. xi. VER. 10. TO THE END. 16 less luxury than these later ages can pretend to; and yet, notwithstanding these advantages, so sadly, so shamefully did they miscarry, that the wit of man would be at a loss to devise a reason for their conduct, had not the divine wisdom informed us, that they alienated themselves from the life of God, and lightly regarded the counsels of the Most High; that they forsook the guide of their youth, and rejected those revelations, which at sundry times, and in divers manners,' were made to their forefathers, for the rule and measure of their faith and practice. We indeed, had we lived in those days, may be apt to think that we would not have been carried away with the common corruption; that the light of nature would have taught us better than to pay our devotions to brute beasts, or to look upon their images as our gods. But alas! we little consider, what the power of reason, of mere unassisted reason, is against the force of education and the prevalence of custom, engaged on the side of a false but flashy and popular religion. Aristotle, Plato, and Cicero, were, in after ages, some of the greatest reasoners that the world has produced, and yet we find them complying with the established worship of their country: what grounds have Eph. iv. 18. 141 we then to imagine, that, in case we had been contemporaries with them, we had acquitted ourselves any better? Our reason indeed now tells us that we should have died rather than submitted to these impious modes of worship: but then we are to remember, that reason is now assisted by the light and authority of a Divine revelation; that therefore we are not competent judges how we would act without this superior aid; but that, in all probability, 2 taking away the direction and restraint of this, reason would relapse into the same extravagancies, the same impiety, the same folly and superstition which prevailed on it before. And therefore (to conclude in the words of our blessed Saviour, spoken indeed upon another, but very applicable upon this occasion), Blessed are the eyes which see the things which ye see,' a full and perfect rule of faith and manners contained in that Holy Bible, which is in every one's hands; for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.' 'Roger's Necessity of a Divine Revelation.. Luke x. 23, 24. THE HISTORY OF THE OF THE BIBLE. BOOK III. CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THINGS FROM THE CALLING OF ABRAHAM TO THE ISRAELITES' DEPARTURE OUT OF EGYPT, IN ALL 430 YEARS.-ACCORDING TO DR HALES 1015 YEARS. PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. a ABRAHAM was born only two years after the death of Noah, from whom he descended in the line of Seth. Of Abraham the sacred historian gives us little information till he was seventy-five years old, when the Lord called him to leave his father's house and his native country. Promises were added, for his encouragement, respecting his posterity, that from him should arise a numerous and powerful people; and respecting himself, that God would so highly honour him, as not only to make his name great, but also to render his life a general blessing to mankind. In wisdom and in mercy God called Abraham, the person in whose family he intended to uphold the true religion, out of his own country, which was the land of Chaldea, and from his kindred, to a far distant land, that his posterity might there remain, a people separate from the rest of mankind, that so the true religion might be maintained and preserved. A foundation was thus laid, and means were thus provided, for upholding the church of Christ in the world till he should come. For the world having become idolatrous, it was necessary that the people of God should be thus separated, that they might receive and preserve the types and prophecies that were to be given concerning Christ; that they might be the depositaries of the Oracles of God; and that, at the appointed time, the light of the gospel might shine forth from them to the rest of the world. As Abraham was the person in whom this foundation, as it were, was laid, he is represented in Scripture as though he were the father of all the church, the father of all them that believed, -the stem whence the visible church thenceforward through Christ rose, as a tree distinct from all other plants,—and from which, after a That is reckoning according to the common or Hebrew computation; but, according to Josephus and Dr Hales, Noah died B. C. 2805, and Abraham was born B. C. 2153; consequently, a period of 652 years intervened between the death of the former and birth of the latter.-ED. Christ came, the natural branches were broken off, and the Gentiles were grafted in their stead. At this era there was given a more full and clear discovery of the plan of redemption than had previously been enjoyed by the church. There had been given, on two particular occasions, disclosures of the covenant of grace,-one to our first parents immediately after the fall-the other to Noah and his family soon after the flood. There is now a third, and a more particular revelation given of the provisions of that covenant, which, in due time, was to be sealed and ratified by the blood of Christ. It was now revealed, not only that Christ should come into the world, but that he should be of the seed of Abraham, and that in him all the families of the earth should be blessed. In the institution of circumcision, there was appointed a seal of the covenant of grace,- a seal of the righteousness of faith.' This sacrament distinguished Abraham's seed from the world, and kept up a distinction and separation in future ages. It was in consequence of the clearer vision which was vouchsafed to this patriarch, that he rejoiced to see the day of Christ, and was glad. Nor should we omit to notice, in our survey of the period on which we are now entering, the preservation of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, during their sojournings in the land of Canaan. For the inhabitants of that country were exceedingly wicked; so much so, that Abraham, when he was old, could not be content till he had made his servant swear that he would not take a wife for his son of the daughters of the land. When we consider that the lives of those holy men formed a continual reproof of the wickedness of the Canaanites, and that they were strangers and sojourners among them, we cannot but admire the remarkable dispensation of providence in their preservation. In the course of this period, we have presented to our view an extraordinary and visible manifestation of God's displeasure against sin, in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities of the plain. b See Dewar on the Atonement, p. 30. A. M. 2083. A. C. 1921; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 3333. A. C. 2078. GEN. CH. xii-xxv. 11. The destruction of the world by the flood served to exhibit the terrors of the law, and manifest the wrath of God; and thus to make men sensible of the absolute necessity of redeeming mercy. But this was now, in a great measure, forgotten; and God was pleased again, in a most striking manner, to show his abhorrence of sin, and his determination to punish it; which tended to convince men of the necessity of redemption, and so to prepare the way for the accomplishment of that great work. Bearing in mind that the sacred history is the history of the gradual and progressive unfolding of the plan of redemption, we shall not fail to mark, in our survey of this period, the renewal of the covenant of grace to Isaac and to Jacob. God said to Isaac,'' And I will perform the oath which I swore unto Abraham thy father; and I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.' This covenant was repeatedly confirmed to Jacob, more especially at Bethel, in his vision of the ladder that reached to heaven, which was a symbol of the way of salvation by Christ :- Thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth; and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south; and in thee, and in thy seed, shall all the families of the earth be blessed.'" Besides these particulars, the reader will observe included in the section of the sacred history on which we are now entering, the preservation of the family from which Christ was to descend, by the instrumentality of Joseph, who was a type of the Great Deliverer; the remarkable prophecy respecting the coming of the Messiah, and the gathering of the people to him, and the upholding of the children of Israel, the visible church of God, in Egypt, notwithstanding the grinding oppression and deep affliction which they suffered. SECT. I. CHAP. I.—Of the Life of Abraham, from his Call to his Death. A. M. 2083, A. C. 1921, or, according to Hales, A. M. 3333, A. C. 2078, from Gen. xii-xxv. 11. THE HISTORY. AFTER the death of his father Terah, Abram, who, by God's appointment, had not long before left Ur in Chaldea, was now ordered to leave Haran, and go into a country whereunto God would conduct him, and who, at the same time, gave him assurance, that he 'Gen. xxvi. 3, 4. 2 Gen. xxvi; xxxv. 10., &c. 3 Gen. xlix. 10. a It is very probable that this was done by some appearance or other of the Shekinah going before him, even as afterwards his posterity was conducted in the way thither; since, passing over rivers, climbing mountains, and travelling through a dangerous and vast desert, he had certainly need of an extraordinary divine direction, and of some sensible exhibition or token of it, while he had nothing but the promise of God to support him in so long and so hazardous a journey.-Bibliotheca Biblica, vol. 1. would bless, protect, and multiply his posterity in an extraordinary manner, and that in his seed all the families of the earth should be blessed.' Abram was fully persuaded of the truth of all God's promises; and therefore, without any hesitation, taking his wife and family, and all his effects, together with his nephew Lot, and his substance with him, he pursued his journey, 'not knowing whither he should go,' until, by the divine guidance, he came into the land of Canaan; and being minded to make some survey of the country, proceeded to the famous Oak of Moreh, not far from с Some interpreters have imagined, that these words require no higher sense than this,-that all nations should see the prosperity of Abraham and his seed so evidently, that they should bless themselves; and others, in some such form as this:"God make thee as great as Abraham and his seed." But, besides the incongruity of supposing that God's everlasting covenant, as he calls it, Gen. xvii. 19, was given only to produce a proverbial form of speech, it is plain matter of fact, that the posterity of Abraham, in the line of Isaac, was far from being the most prosperous, as to temporal affairs, of all the other branches of his family; and therefore this promise must of necessity be supposed to relate to some more spiritual and distant blessing, just as St Paul, in his epistle to the Galatians, has explained it: Now to Abraham and to his seed were the promises made; he saith not, and to seeds, as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ.' Gal. iii. 16.-See Bishop Sherlock's Use and Intent of Prophecy. e The land of Canaan lies between the Mediterranean sea and the mountains of Arabia, and extends from Egypt to Phonicia. It is bounded to the east by the mountains of Arabia; to the south by the wilderness of Paran, Idumea, and Egypt; to the west, by the Mediterranean, called in Hebrew the Great sea; and to the north, by the mountains of Libanus. Its length from the city of Dan (since called Cæsarea Philippi, or Paneadis, which stands at the foot of these mountains) to Beersheba, is about seventy leagues, and its breadth, from the Mediterranean sea to the eastern borders, is, in some places, thirty. It was first called the land of Canaan, from Cainan the son of Ham, whose posterity possessed it. It was afterwards called Palestine, from the people which the Hebrews call Philistines, and the Greeks and Romans corruptly Palestines, who inhabited the sea coasts, and were first known to them. It likewise had the name of the Land of Promise, from the promise God made Abraham of giving it to him; that of the land of Israel, from the Israelites having made themselves masters of it; that of Judah, from the tribe of Judah, which was the most considerable of the twelve; and lastly, the happiness it had of being sanctified by the presence, actions, miracles, and death of Jesus Christ, has given it the name of the Holy Land, which it retains to this day. -Lamy's Introduction. The d The city of Sichem, or Sechem, or Sychar (for it had all these names), was at this time so called by way of anticipation (for as yet it was not founded), and is a town of Samaria, in the borders of Ephraim, which stands in a narrow valley, between Gerazim on the south, and Ebal on the north, being built at the foot of the former. At present it is called Naplossa, and consists only of two streets, lying parallel under mount Gerazim, and is far from being in the flourishing condition it was once, though it is still full of people, and the seat of a bashaw. true name, which was given it by Abram, was Moreh, or Allon Moreh, which our translation renders the plain of Moreh; by St Jerome, the illustrious vale; by the Jerusalem Targum, the Valley of Vision, because of God's appearing to Abraham here; and by others, the Oak of Moreh, or the Illustrious Oak, &c., though it seems very probable that there was in this place, not only one single tree, but a whole grove of them; and therefore it is called Allon, or Aulon, being a corruption from Elon, in Latin Esculetum, that is, an oaken grove, or forest of evergreen oaks. And since this was the place where Abraham, at his first coming into the country, built an altar, we have great reason to be of the same opinion with the learned and sagacious Mr Mede, namely, that this Allon Moreh was a place of divine worship, a proseucha, or open oratory, in imitation of which the Jewish proseucha (which were certain spaces of ground, with A. M. 2083. A. C. 1921; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 3333. A. C. 2078. GEN. CH. xii-xxv. II. the city of Sichem, then " inhabited by the Canaanites. | she had passed the sixty-fifth year of her age, retained Here he took up his abode for some time, and here built an altar, in order to pay his devotions to God; who, pleased with his behaviour, appeared to him again, as he had done at Haran before, and gave him fresh assurances of his favour, and a promise inviolable, that, in process of time, the whole land, where he then dwelt, should be the portion of his posterity. From Sichem he removed into the mountainous country, which lies between Bethel and Hai, where he likewise built an altar for a place of divine worship, (as he did in all other countries where he came), and from Bethel he was travelling farther to the south, when he was stopped by a famine, which grew grievous in the land, and obliged him to go down to Egypt, the only place for provision in such like exigencies. But as he came to the confines of Egypt, he began to be not a little uneasy upon the account of his wife, who, though с an altar in the midst, encompassed with a wall, or some other enclosure, and open above, but shaded with trees) in after ages were set up.-See Wells' Geography of the New Testament, vol. 1, and Bibliotheca Biblica, vol. 1. Occasional Annotations, 18; where the reader may meet with a particular enumeration, upon how many accounts more this place was in former times very famous. a The words in the text are, Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh, and the Canaanite was then in the land:' from whence some have raised an objection, that Moses could not be the author of this book of Genesis, because the words seem to import that the writer of them lived after that the Canaanites were driven out of the land, which was after Moses' death. But, in answer to this, it may be observed, that as by the land' here we are not obliged to understand the whole country, but only that part of it which lay about Sichem, so by the Canaanite' we need not mean the whole posterity of Canaan, or all the Canaanitish tribes, but only one particular tribe of them, as in the very next chapter, ver. 7, is more distinctly expressed. And the reason why this is taken notice of by the sacred historian, is best accounted for in that ancient tradition in Epiphanius (Hæres. 66. N. 84.), if we will allow it to be true, namely, that according to the original settlement and distribution among the sons of Noah, Palestine was not allotted to any of the sons of Ham, but was usurped by Canaan from the children of Shem, to whom it did of right belong; so that these words, the Canaanite was then in the land,' signify, that they had already invaded the land, before Abraham came thither; and therefore God's promising to give it him, was only in order to restore that to the posterity of Shem, which the children of Ham had wrongfully. seized. Patrick's Commentary, and Bibliotheca Biblica, vol. 1. 6 What our author here means is mount Ephraim, which lay between Bethel, a town not far from Jerusalem, northwards, and Hai, which is situate towards the west of Bethel.-Wells Geography, vol. 1.—Bethel was situated, according to Eusebius, twelve miles north of Jerusalem, toward Sichem, on the confines of Ephraim and Benjamin. Hai, or Ai, lay a little east of Bethel; and Eusebius and Jerome tell us that, in their time, they were shown some small remains of its ruins. Masuis says that Ai was three leagues from Jericho, and Bethel one from Ai.-ED. c Josephus tells us "that Abraham, understanding that there was a great plenty in Egypt, resolved upon a journey thither; not only to partake of their plenty, but also to consult the priests in their profession in divine matters, with an impartial desire and disposition to find out the truth, and either to give or receive satisfaction, according as the subject in question did require; that here he gained himself infinite credit, not only for the solidity of his judgment, and an admirable felicity of elocution, but for his instructive talent of informing and convincing his hearers at once; and that here he read lectures of astronomy and arithmetic, which the Egyptians understood nothing of until Abraham brought them with him out of Chaldee into Egypt, from whence they passed into Greece."—Antiquities, b. 1. c. 9. still beauty enough to endanger the man's life who should pass for her husband in that country. And therefore, after some deliberation, concluding, that the safest way would be for her to conceal her marriage, he took an opportunity to acquaint her with his fears. | and, with a small entreaty, prevailed with her, in all places where they were to sojourn, to go under the notion of his sister. They had not been long in Egypt before Abram's fears were found to be true. His wife's charms had captivated several, and her beauty was become the common topic of conversation; insomuch, that in a short time it reached the court, and the high commendations which every one gave the king of it, raised his curiosity to see this amiable stranger. Immediately therefore she was brought to court, and taken in to the king's apartment, as designed for one of his royal concubines ;d while her pre- ¦¦ tended brother was treated with great civility for her sake, and loaded with many valuable presents from the king. the patriarch and his consort must have been in, upon It is hardly to be imagined, what a sad distress both this occasion. She was a beautiful woman, in the power of a loose and vicious prince, and destitute of all protection but God's; and her lord not so much as daring to own her his wife, knowing how certain and sudden must be the destruction of an helpless man, that provokes passion and power, rage of lust, and security of gratify. ing it. While matters were in this dangerous position, the providence of God interposed in her behalf, and to detere Pharaoh and his nobles from any dishonourable attempts upon her virtue, infested them with such plagues, as made them not insensible upon whose account it was that they suffered: even upon hers who, though she d When a woman was brought into the seraglio or harem of the eastern princes, she underwent for a considerable time certain purifications before she was brought into the king's presence. It was in this interim that God plagued Pharaoh and his house with plagues, so that Sarai was restored before she could be taken to the bed of the Egyptian king.-Clarke's Commentary.-ED. e Pharaoh was the common name for all the Egyptian kings for above 3300 years (as Josephus tells us, Antiquities, b. 8 c. 2.), but what its proper etymology is, the learned are not so well agreed. Bochart thinks that the word Pharaoh signifies a croco dile, and that Ezekiel alludes to it in these words: ⚫ Behold I am against thee, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of the river,' Ezekiel xxix. 3. M. Le Clerc fancies that the Arabic word Pharaoh, to be raised on high, or to be superior to, is the true root of the name. Kircher does indeed derive the word from the same root, but will have it to signify to deliver, or to free; and that Pharaoh therefore signifies to be exempt from the jurisdiction of the laws. And, to name no more, the learned Renaudot thinks that Pharaoh is the same with the Egyptian Pourro, or Pooro, which signifies a king.-Calmet on the word. f Some of the Hebrew interpreters think that they had griev ous ulcers in their secret parts, which made both him and them incapable of enjoying either her or any other woman; and in the punishment inflicted upon Abimelech and his people, upon the same account, Gen. xx. 18. they suppose that there were such swellings in their privy parts, as that the men could neither enjoy their wives, nor the women who were with child be delivered.— | Patrick's Commentary.-Whatever the plagues were, it is evident they were understood by Pharaoh as proofs of the disapprobation of God; and consequently, even at this time, in Egypt there was some knowledge of the primitive and true religion. — Clarke's Commentary.—ED. |