Thus David spoke; and much did yet remain Behind th'attentive Prince to entertain, Edom and Zoba's war, for what befel In that of Moab, was known there too well. Ib. v. 47. 1 Sam. 15. 3. Ib. 23. I. TH NOTES UPON THE FOURTH BOOK. 'Hat is, He bow'd thrice towards the Sun it self (which Worship is most notorious to have been used all over the East) and thrice towards the chief Temple and Image of the Sun standing upon the Hill Phegor. For I have before declared that Baal was the Sun, and Baal Peor, a sirname, from a particular place of his worship. To which I meet with the opposition of a great person, even our Selden, who takes Baal Peor to be Stygian Jupiter, or Pluto (De D. Syris Synt. j. c. 5) building it upon the authority of the 105. (according to our English Translation the 106.) Psal. v. 20. They joyned themselves to Baal-Peor, and eat the Sacrifices of the Dead; which Sacrifices he understands to be Justa, or Inferias, Offerings in memory of the Dead. Novendiales ferias. But why by the name of the Dead may not Idols be meant? The Sacrifices of Idols? it being usual for the Jews to give Names of reproach and contempt to the Heathen Gods, as this very Baal-Peor they called Chemos, Jer. 48. 7. and 13, &c. that is Blindness, in contradiction to his Idolaters, who called him the Eye of the World? or perhaps they are called Sacrifices of the Dead, in regard of the immolation of men to him; for Baal is the same Deity with Moloch of the Ammonites, and had sometimes, though not so constantly, humane Sacrifices. However these verses will agree as well with Mr. Seldens interpretation; for then the sense of them will be, that he bow'd first to the Sun, and next to Baal, another Deity of that Country. 2. Zerith, a place in Moab near the River Arnon. 3. White Horses were most in esteem among the Ancients; such were those consecrated to the Sun. Herodian calls them Atos immo, Jupiters Horses, which is the same. This was the reason that Camillus contracted so much Envy for riding in Triumph with white Horses, as a thing Insolent and Prophane, Maximè conspectus ipse est, curru equis albis juncto urbem invectus, parumq; id non civile modd sed humanum etiam visum, Jovis Solisq; equis æquiparatum Dictatorem in Religionem etiam trahebant. Liv. Horace, Barros ut equis præcurreret albis. Ovid. de Art. Am. Virg. 12. Quatuor in niveis aureus ibis equis. Fungit equos, gaudétq; tuens ante ora frementes In which he imitates Homer. Λευκότεροι χίονος, θείειν, δ ̓ ἀνέμοισιν ὅμοιοι. 4. Their side. Scal. 1. 5. Poet. says, that none but Apollo and Diana wore their Quivers upon their Shoulders; others, by their Sides, which he collects out of some places in Virg. 1. Æn. of Diana, -Illa pharetram Fert humero, gra[di]ensq; Deas supereminet omnes. Æn. 4. of Apollo, Tela sonant humeris. But of a Carthaginian Virgin, Succinctam pharetrå Yet I am afraid the observation is not solid; for Æn. 5. speaking of the Troop of Ascanius and the Boys, he hath, Pars leves humero pharetras. However Side is a safe word. 5. Oeoelkeλos. Like a God, is a frequent Epithete in Homer for a beautiful person. 6. Nebo was a part of the Mountain Abarim in the land of Moab; but not onely that Hill, but the Country about, and a City, was called so too, Fer. 48. I. Deut. 32. 49. 7. 1 Sam. 9. 21. And Saul answered and said, Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the Tribes of Israel; and my family the least of all the families of the Tribe of Benjamin? Wherefore then speakest thou so to me? This was 8. Josh. 41. 4. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even unto the great River, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great Sea, towards the going down of the Sun, shall be your coast. fulfilled all ways but Eastward, for their Dominion never reacht to Euphrates; and it was but just fulfilled to the Letter, Westward, for they had very little upon the Mediterranean, or Western Main. Their own sins were the cause, which made God preserve for thorns in their sides those Nations which he had conditionally promis'ed to root out. It is true, they went Eastward beyond Jordan, but that was not much; and therefore, like an odde Number in accounts (as presently, where I say but Thirty Kings) may be left out. Jordan is the most noble and notorious Boundary. 9. For all the wickednesses and disorders that we read of during the time of the Judges, are attributed in Scripture to the want of a King. And in those days there was no King in Israel. IO. For it was the Tribe of Benjamin that was almost extirpated, from whence Saul the first King descended. David says, Kings, as seeming to suppose that Sauls Sons were to succeed him. II. In Eli, who descended from Ithamar, the youngest Son of Aaron, till which time the High Priesthood had continued in Eleazar the elder Brothers Race. This was the succession, Aaron, Eleazar, Phineas, Abisua, Bukki, Uzzi, and then Eli of the younger house came in. In which it continued till Solomons time. 12. The Scepter is not appropriated to Kings, but to the Supreme Magistrates, as in the famous Prophesie, G[e]n. 49. 10. The Scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a Law-giver from between his feet, till the Shilo come. 13. There is nothing in the whole Scripture that admits of more several opinions then the time of Sauls & Samuels reign. This I will take in the first place for granted, that the 40 years assigned by S. Paul (Acts 13. 20) to Saul, are to include Samuels Judicature; for else there would be found more then 480 years from the departure out of Egypt, to the building of Solomons Temple, neither could Saul be a young man when he was elected; besides, David would not have been born at the time when he is said to slay Goliah. We are therefore to seek how to divide those 40 years between Samuel and Saul. Josephus gives Saul 38 years, 18 with Samuel, and 20 after his death. Most Chronologers (says Sulpit. Severus) 30. Ruffin. and divers others 20, to wit, 18 with Samuel, and two after. None of which can be true; for the Ark was carried to Cariath-jearim before Sauls reign, and at the end of 20 years was removed from thence by David to Jerusalem; wherefore Salianus allows Saul 18 years, Calvisius 15, Petavius 12. some 11. Bucolcer 10. Others make Saul to have reigned but two years, and these considerable Authors, as Arias Montan. Mercator, Adricom. &c. grounding it upon a Text of Scripture, 1 Sam. 13. 1. Filius unius anni erat Saul, cùm regnare cœpisset, & duobus annis regnavit super Israel; which others understand to be three years, to wit, two after the first. Sulpit. Sever. indefinitely, parvo admodum spacio_tenuit_imperium; which opinion seems to me extremely improbable. 1. Because we cannot well crowd all Sauls actions into so small a time. 2. Because David must then have been about 29 years old when he slew Goliah; for he began to reign at Hebron at 30. 3. Because it is hard, if that be true, to make up the 20 years that the Ark abode at Cariath-jearim. 4. The Text whereon this is built, doth not import it; for it signifies no more, then that he had reigned one year before his confirmation at Gilgal, and two when he chose himself Guards. Our Translation hath, Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel, he chose him 3000 men, &c. To determine punctually how long he reigned, is impossible; but I should guess about 10 years, which his actions will well require, and David will be a little above 20 years old (a fit age) when he defeated the Gyant, and the 20 years of the Arks abiding at Cariath-jearim will be handsomely made up, to wit, three years before Sauls anointing, and 10 during his Government, and seven whilst David was King at Hebron. So that of the 40 assigned by the Apostle to Samuel and Saul, there will remain 30 years for the Government of Samuel. 14. For first, the Israelites knew they were to be governed at last by Kings. And secondly, they desired it by reason of the great disorders and afflictions which they suffered for want of it; and it is plain, that this is not the first time that they thought of this remedy; for they would have chosen Gideon King, and annexed the Crown to his Race, and did after actually choose Abimelech. 15. See Moses his Prophesie of it, Deut. 17. 14. and to Abraham God himself says, Genes. 17. 6. And Kings shall come out of thee. 16. It is a vile opinion of those men, and might be punished without Tyranny, if they teach it, who hold, that the right of Kings is set down by Samuel in this place. Neither did the people of Israel ever allow, or the Kings avow the assumption of such a power, as appears by the story of Ahab and Naboth. Some indeed did exercise it, but that is no more a proof of the Right, then their Practise was of the Lawfulness of Idolatry. When Cambyses had a mind to marry his Sister, he advised with the Magi, whether the Laws did allow it; who answered, that they knew of no Law that did allow it, but that there was a Law which allowed the King of Persia to do what he would. If this had been the case with the Kings of Israel, to what purpose were they enjoyned so strictly the perpetual reading, perusing, and observing of the Law (Deut. 17.) if they had another particular Law that exempted them from being bound to it? 17. The Tetragrammaton, which was held in such reverence among the Jews, that it was unlawful to pronounce it. It was called therefore ȧveKÓÚVNTOP, Unutterable. For it they read Adonai; the reason of the peculiar Sanctity of this Name, is, because other names of God were appliable to other things, as Elohim, to Princes; but this name Jehovah, or Jave, or Jai (for it is now grown unutterable, in that no body knows how to pronounce it) was not participated to any other thing. Wherefore God says Exod. 3. 16. This is my name for ever, and this is my memorial to all generations. And Exod. 6. 3. But by my name Jehovah was I not known unto them. Josephus calls this Tetragrammaton, Tà lepà vрáμμатa, The Sacred Letters; and, Пpoonyoρίαν περὶ ἧς οὐ μοι θέμις εἰπεῖν, Α name of which it is not Lawful for me to speak; and again, Tò øpiктòv ovoμа тоû Оeoû, The Dreadful Name of God. Stat. Triplicis mundi summum, quem Scire Nefastum est. And Philo relating how Caligula used him and his fellow Ambassadors from the Jews. You (said Caligula to them) are Enemies to the Gods, and will not acknowledge me to be One, who am received for such by all the rest of the world: but by the God that you dare not name (Tòv åкaтavóμаσтov vμîv) and then lifting up his hands to heaven, he spoke out the Word, which it is not lawful so much as to hear, &c. And the Heathens had something like this custom; for the Romans kept secret the name of the Tutelar God of their City; lest the enemies, if they knew how to call him right, might by charms draw him away. And in their Solemn Evocation of Gods from the Cities which they besieged, for fear lest they should mistake the Deities proper name, they added always, Sive quo alio nomine voceris. 18. The Tabernacle, Exod. 39. 9. And thou shalt take the anointing oyl, and anoint the Tabernacle, and all that is therein; and shalt hallow it, and the vessels therein; and it shall be holy. 19. The Bells upon the High-Priests Garments, Exodus 38. 25. 20. There want not Authors, and those no slight ones, who maintain that Samuel was High-Priest as well as Judge; as S. Augustine, and Sulpit. Severus, who says, Admodum senex sacerdotio functus refertur. And some make him to have succeeded Eli, others Achitob. But there is a manifest error, for he was not so much as a Priest, but onely a Levite; of the Race of Isahar, the yonger Brother of Amram, from whom Aaron came, and all the succession of Priests, 1 Chronic. 6. It will be therefore askt, Why I make him here perform the office of the High-Priest, and dress him in the Pontifical Habits? For the first, it is plain by the story that he did often do the duty of the High-Priest, as here, and when Saul was appointed to stay for his coming to celebrate the Sacrifice, &c. For the latter, I know not why he might not as well wear the Habit, as exercise the function; nay, I believe the function could not be well exercised without the habit. I say therefore with Petavius, L. 10. de Doctr. Tempor. That he was constituted of God, High-Priest Extraordinary, and lookt upon as such by reason of the extraordinary visible marks of Sanctity, Prophesie, and Miracles, without which singular testimonies from God we know that in latter times there were often two at once, who did execute the High-Priests Office, as Annas and Cai[a]phas. 21. Well-cut Diadem: i. The Plate of pure Gold tyed upon the Mitre, on which was engraven, Holiness to the Lord, Exod. 28. 36. and Exod. 39. 22. This Breast-Plate is called by the Septuagint, To Xoyeîov Tŵv кploεwv, The Oracle of Judgments: Because whensoever the High-Priest consulted God, he was to have it upon his Breast. The Description of it, and the Stones in it, see Exod. 28. 15. These stones so engraven, and disposed as God appointed, I conceive to be the Urim and Thummi[m] mentioned Verse 30. the Doctrina & Veritas, as the Latine; the perioμol kai reλeiwσels, Light and Perfection, as Aquila; the åλýðɛia kaì ôýλwois, Truth and Demonstration, |