as will appear in the following chapters; and 3dly, becaufe Haggai in effect calls the temple of which he fpeaks, The fecond or third house; by 399 which expreffion he fo diftinctly points out the fecond temple to us, that it would be ridiculous to fuppofe it meant of a third temple, to be built 1700 years after the ruin of that of which he prophefied.

CHA P. XIV.

That the Meffiab was to be born of a Virgin of the House of DAVID.

H'

ITHERTO we have feen that the Meffiah was to be born of the pofterity of Abraham by Ifaac, of that of Ifaac by Jacob, and of that of Jacob by Judah. This hath been fufficiently made out already.' I have alfo fhewed from the oracle in the I. Sam. chap. vii. that he was to be born of the pofterity of David; and we find the fame very particularly and fully fet down in the lxxxixth Pfalm.

The following prophets have expreffed themieives to the fame purpose ; Isaiah xi. verf. 1, 2 3. and the prophet Jeremy hath ideas, chap. xxiii. verf. 5, 6. and chap. xxxiii. verf. 116, 17. fued the fame PV

Neither do the prophets only diftinguith the Meffiah by his being born of a virgin, but alfo by determining that virgin to the houfe of David. Neither need I repeat here what I have already obferved, that this is a truth, the grounds whereof God had laid down in his firft promife, viz. The feed of the woman shall bruise the ferpent's head: where he makes mention of the feed of the woman only, without naming that of the man, the word of feed or pofterity very evidently defigning a man to be born of the woman, which is acknowledged by the Jews in another prophecy, and the fame which the Apostle St. Paul (e) takes notice of as a maxim generally owned by the doctors of the fynagogue. It is alfo evident that the word woman plainly denotes the fex of which this perfon was immediately to be born.

It was obvious to judge, that fomething miraculous was to attend the birth of the Meffiah. We fee Ifaac born of a barren mother, paft the age of child-bearing; we find also fomething very fingular at the birth of Sampfon and Samuel: and it is well known that the promife of the Meffiah was fomething far greater than the birth of thefe now mentioned, how illuftrious foever they might be; and that therefore probably his birth was to be attended by a greater miracle. But becaule this was a thing wholly new, we ought to obferve in what manner God did particularly foretell it.

The prophecy of Isaiah expreffeth it thus, chap. vii. verf. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. Moreover the Lord fpake again unto Ahaz, faying, Ask thee a fign of the Lord thy God, afk it either in the depth, or in the height

(c) Galat. iii.

above

above. But Ahaz faid, I will not afk, neither will I tempt the Lord. And he faid, Hear ye now, O boufe of David, is it a fmall thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a fign; behold, a virgin fhall conceive and bear a fon, and fhall call his name Immanuel. Butter and honey fhall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good: for before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choofe the good, the land that thou abborreft shall be forfaken of both her kings. The Lord hall bring upon thee, upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah, even the king of Affyria. Where we may obferve,

1. That the promise here is made to a wicked king, but of the family of David, to whom the prophet particularly addresses himself.

2. That this prophecy was given at a juncture of time very capable of awakening their attention to it, at a time when the ftate of the Jews was reduced to the greateft extremity, and the houfe of David in particular in a very great confternation.

3. The prophecy was uttered by a very illuftrious prophet, who was of the royal family.

4. It was fealed and confirmed with the prediction of the birth of a child, which came to pafs accordingly.

5. It is fet forth as a very extraordinary fign, inftead of that which the wicked king refused to afk, when Isaiah offered it him, in the name of God.

I am not ignotant that the modern Jews deny that this character of being born of a virgin belongs to the Meffiah: but it is an easy matter to confute them.

For, firft, would it not have been ridiculous for the apoftles to go about to apply this oracle to their Meffiah, if it had not been a thing univerfally owned by the Jews, that this was the meaning of Isaiah's prophecy? Is it not evident that this character, fo difficult to gain belief, would rather perplex than strengthen their proofs ? And yet certain it is that St. Matthew has done fo, chap. i. verf. 23; as likewife St. Luke, chap. i. verfe 31.

Juftin Martyr obferved, that the notion of this oracle, as we underftand it, hath been entertained amongst the heathens, who built their fable of Perfeus upon it, whom they pretend to have been born of a virgin.

3. It appears that all thofe laws which I mentioned in my reflexions upon Exodus, and the following books, chap. xx. and which have relation to the diftinct knowledge of the ftate of virginity, receive much light from this notion; and are, without it, altogether useless.

4. It is evident that the Jews did not difpute this character, till after they faw that the Chriftians applied it to Jefus Chrift; and thereupon have fallen upon fuch childish fancies as may justly cover them with confufion.

But we fhall be yet further fatisfied hereof, if we add to all thefe juft prejudices, only the following reflexions on the terms the prophet makes

⚫use of.

The firft is, that the feventy interpreters have, in tranflating this pro

phecy,

phecy, made ufe of a word that fignifies a virgin, and not a young woman, as the Jews have underflood it fince our Saviour's time. The fift who rejected the interpretation of the Septuagint was Symmachus (f), who lived in the fecond ceptury, as it is obferved by Justin Martyr and Tertullian, who for this reafon accute the Jews of having falfified the holy fcripture.

The fecond is, That the Hebrew word expressly fignifies fuch an one as, according to the law of virgins, was kept under lock and key from the eyes of men, according to the cuftom of the eastern nations, and efpecially of the Jews, which continues amongst them till this day.

The third is, That this word hath been taken by the Africans in the fame fignification, as St. Jerome obferves.

The fourth is, That the prophet doth fet forth this child-bearing as a prodigy and miracle altogether unheard-of, and as a particular character, by which the houfe of David was to be ftrongly confirmed in the hope of feeing the accomplishment of the promife which God had made of fettling an eternal kingdom upon it, which could not be accomplished but by means of the Meffiah.

The fifth is, That though some Jews have applied this prophecy to king Hezekiah (g); which yet to others of them feems very ridiculous, he being nine years of age when the prophecy was uttered by Ifaiah, and themselves never making ufe of this evafion, except in their difputes against the Chriftians, and fo on this occasion have dropped a confeffion which alone was fufficient to confound them; yet it hath been a thing fo generally received amongst them, that this prophecy did refpect the Meffiah, that, after they had applied it to Hezekiah, one of their most famous doctors concludes (b), that they ought to look for no Meffiah, fince the time of Hezekiah, that prophecy having had its accomplishment in him; an opinion which thofe that fucceeded him have rejected with the greatest abhorrence.

The fixth is, That the title of Immanuel, given to this fon, whose birth is here promised, is reprefented to us, chap. viii. as the name of him who was lord of the land; which is a true representation of the heir promised to David, to whom David faid, O God, thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Pfalm xlv. 7, 8.

The feventh is, That the prophet Ifaiah having alledged and cited two witneffes, Uriah, the fon of Shemaiah, a prophet, who was put to death by Jehoiakim, and Zechariah the fon of Jeberechiah; the former of which lived long after Abaz, and the latter fince the captivity, under Darius king of Perfia, according to the account the Jews themselves give of them; he fufficiently hints, by this circumftance, that the prophecy concerning the birth of the Immanuel he speaks of, was to be fulfilled many ages after, and not in that age wherein he prophefies.

In Dialog. cum Tryphon. Tertull. cont. Jud. cap. 9. (g) Rafchi in h. 1.

(b) Gemar in Sanbed. Cap. Chelech.

That the MESSIAH was to be born at Bethlehem of the Family of David, which at that Time was reduced to a private State.

G

OD had not only pointed out the time in which the Meffiah was to appear, with the miraculous manner and circumftances of his birth; but he had alfo named the family, the place, with the ftate and condition of the family in which he was to be born, as a triple character by which he might be known.

I fay, firft, That according to the Divine oracles, the Meffiah was to be born of the family of David, as will appear if we confider the following oracles.

1. God exprefsly promifeth as much to David, II. Sam. chap. vii. a place I have quoted before, which proves that the Meffiah was to be born of the family of David.

2. It appeareth that David believed this himself, from Pfalm cxxxii. verse 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18. The Lord hath fworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I fet upon thy throne. And after having faid, verfe 12. That if his children would keep his covenant, that their children also should fit upon his throne for evermore; and this, because (verfe 13 and 14) the Lord had chofen Zion, and defired it for his habitation, &c. and promifed, verfe 15, that he would abundantly bless her provifion, and fatisfy her poor with bread; that he would, verfe 16, clothe her priests with falvation, and make her faints fhout for joy; he fubjoins, verfe 17 and 18, There I will make the born of David to bud; I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed. His enemies I will clothe with fhame; but upon himself shall his crown flourish. It is very evident, that by this born of David is to be meant a king, the Meffiah, whom he diftinguishes by that expreffion from all the rest of Davia's children. And Zachariah, in his fong of praise, Luke i, verfe 69. applying it to our Saviour, puts the matter out of all doubt.

3. Hence it was the Prophets took occafion to give the Meffiah the name of David. So Ezek. xxxiv. verse 23, 24. And I will fet up one Shepherd over them, and he fhall feed them, even my fervant David; he shall feed them, and he fhall be their fhepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and my fervant David a prince among them: 1 the Lord have fpoken it.

4. The Jews are, and have always been, firm in this perfuafion, grounded on the forefaid and other like places of Scripture, which they conftantly refer to the Meffiah.

I fay, in the fecond place, That the Divine oracles expressly point out Bethlehem for the birth-place of the Meffiah. Micah, chap. v. verse 2. But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee fhall he come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Ifrael; whofe goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity.

The Jews acknowledge that this oracle fpeaks of the Meffiah; and indeed the Prophet, diftinguishing by Bethlehem, adding the word Ephratab (whence the family of David was), from that Bethlehem which belonged

to

to another tribe, makes it apparent that nothing could be spoken more diftinctly to determine the birth-place of the Meffiah. Befides, we find that all the Jewish Rabbies and Priefts agree in this, That the Meffiah was to be born at Bethlehem, when, being confulted by Herod about this matter, they declared this to be their fenfe, grounded upon the forementioned place of Micah, Matthew ii. verfe 4, 5, 6.

In the third place, it appears that the Meffiah was to be born in an abject, contemptible, and weak condition, and very different from the greatnefs of the kings of Judah. Indeed, fhould we only have our eye on II. Sam. chap. vii. and Pfalm cxxxii. it would be natural enough to think the contrary: but Micah's oracle fufficiently refutes them; for how great things foever the Prophet there fpeaks of the Meffiah, whether as to his divine nature, by declaring that his goings forth were from the days of eternity, or to the majefty and glory of his empire, yet however he gives us a different idea, inducing us to conceive of him, as of one that was to be born in the fate of a private perfon; for why elfe is his birth determined, not to Zion, which was the place and feat of the empire of Judah, but to Bethlehem, a town where the family of David lived, whilft they were private perfons, except for this caufe, to make us conceive that the Meffiah was not to be born in that place where the family of David poffeffed the empire, but in a condition far diftant from the glory of kings, and in a place where the house of David was contemtible, and of very small efteem?

The fame is hinted to us by Ifaiah, in his xith chapter, v. I. where he calls the Meffiah a red, or fhoot of the flem of Jefle. Now Jee was not king, but a private perfon. And on the fame account it is that the Prophet describes him, chap. liii. as having no form or comeliness.

The Prophet Zachary alfo, chap. ix. verfe 9. reprefents him, not as a king fitting on the throne in Zion, but as riding to Jerusalem on an ass; and he gives him the title of Lowly, which fignifies as well a mean condition, as the virtue of humility.

But, in fhort, this is very confiderable: 1. That those who acknowledged Jefus to be the Meffiah, thought they had the greatest reason fo to do, because they acknowledged him to be the fon of David:

2. That those who denied him that title, thought themselves fufficiently juftified in fo doing, by esteeming him a Nazarene; as concluding he could not be the fon of David, if he were born at Nazareth, as they fuppofed.

3. The Evangelifts precisely tell us, that Chrift was born at Bethlebem, of the lineage of David, reduced to a very obfcure condition; and fo making this one of the chief characters which spoke him to be the Meffiah.