Nay, there is fomething further, deferves to be taken notice of, as being very fingular in that of Judah: and one ought here to confider a miftery of God's providence, and admire the wisdom of his conduct, in pursuing the defign which Mofes first fets down, and upon which one fees, that the whole Jewish ftate was formed; for when God refolved, that the Meffiah fhould defcend from the tribe of Juda, and the house of David, he made it more particularly known and diftinguish'd than any other family in the whole nation, and for that reafon he fets David upon the throne.

Every one knows, that in every kingdom the genealogy of a king, and of the royal family, is of all others the moft publickly known.

Now if the blood royal alone is always diftinguished how much more muft it be so, when that fupream dignity is conferred upon fuch a family, as God had particularly chofen, to have the Meffiah, who is set forth as the defire of all nations, to be born out of it.

From hence I will boldly conclude, that the only end for which God raised David's family to the throne, was because the Meffiah was really to be born out of that family, reduc'd to a low, and private condition, which Isaiah foretold, faying, That a rod fhould come forth out of the stem of Jeffe, and a branch grow out of his roots (f); and in another place, That he should grow up as a root out of a dry ground (g), which was very agreeable to the character of a Prophet, and to the low ftate of humiliation, in which our Saviour was to appear in the world.

* I

CHA P. XVII.

A Solution of fome Difficulties in thefe Genealogies.

NDEED the difperfion of the ten tribes feems to be a very natural objection to those who would difpute the reflexions which I have already made upon these genealogies.

But after all, there is nothing in it but what confirms the more the faid reflexions.

And we may fay, that the intire difperfion of the whole tribe of Eph raim, and of the others which adhered to it in Jeroboam's rebellion, is a mistery of providence which challenges our admiration, as much as the raifing up that family to the throne, out of which the Meffiah was to be born.

To apprehend this the better, we need only call to mind the pretenfions of the tribe of Ephraim: this Ephraim was the younger brother of Manaffeh; but Jacob had given him the birthright, just as Ifaac before had given it to Jacob, tho' it did of right belong to the elder brother. Jacob had particularly bleffed Ephraim, and even made it a form of bleffing for after ages, as we read in the book of Ruth, that there was

(f) Ifa. xi.

X 4

(g) Ifa. liii.

one

one made for Pharez. Jacob had given to Jofeph two portions in the land of Canaan, and Ephraim had the birthright before Manaffeh, bý God's order; it was then very natural for the tribe of Ephraim, as all tribes did apply to themselves the feveral priviledges promised to their refpective heads, to look upon themselves, as having a particular right to God's bleffing.

And they thought this right of theirs was plainly made out, as by fofeph's dreams, fo efpecially by the words of that prediction which Jacob gave in favour of Ephraim, the words of which run fo very high, that after fuch a prejudice, there might very well be a fair pretence for the hope which the tribe of Ephraim had once to see a Meffiah come out of their tribe, as thofe of Judah expected one out of theirs.

If to all this we add, that Jeroboam's rebellion was authoriz'd by a prophetical infpiration, and by a special fign of God's approbation; and that on the other hand he defired to propofe to his people the two calves which he fet up in Dan and Bethel, as fymbols of the Deity, only to purfue the idea's of Pharaoh's dreams, which Jofeph interpreted, the reprefentation whereof, did clearly fhew both the greatnefs of Jofeph, and the particular care of God's providence over him (b). It was then natural, to the men of Ephraim, to feed themselves with fuch hopes, as the Jews teach us they did, when even to this very day they speak of a Meffiah ofˆ the tribe of Ephraim.

What did God then do, to obviate thefe pretenfions of the tribe of Ephraim? He difperfed them, together with the other nine tribes that fubmitted to the authority of its kings, and fo confounded them with all those tribes which followed their fortune, that tho' there should be still fome Ephraimites in the world, yet it would be impoffible for any of them to justifie his pedigree fo clearly, as that any Meffiah really defcended from that very tribe, could by establishing his genealogy, put his being of the tribe of Ephraim beyond all conteft.

Now according to this notion of things it is vifible (if we may be allowed to enter into the counfels of God,) that he did particularly preserve the tribes of Levi, and Benjamin, with the tribe of Judah, which was the only tribe that was to be preferved of neceffity.

3

Firft, becaufe as St. Paul to the Hebrews obferves, there was nothing ever faid as to the Meffiah, of the tribe of Levi.

Secondly, because God would by that means confound the more effectually all the claims of the tribe of Ephraim.

For in fhort, if the tribe of Ephraim was invefted by God with the kingdom over nine tribes of the people of Ifrael, so had the tribe of Benjamin been raised up before to the foveraignty over all Ifrael, over the tribe of Judah, and even that of Ephraim it self.

If the tribe of Ephraim was defcended from a younger brother, to whom Jacob had given his bleffing in prejudice of Manaffeh his elder brother, (which is confiderable because God hath almost constantly preferr'd the younger before the elder) fo the tribe of Benjamin was defcended from him that was both the younger brother of Jofeph himself, and the youngest of all Jacob's children, notwithstanding which, the tribe of Benjamin

(b) Talm. in Succa c. 5. in Gem.

Benjamin did freely yield to the tribe of Judah, and granted that the glory of giving birth to the Meffiah, was wholly due to them.

Be it as it will, there are two reflexions more which must be made concerning these genealogies which appear very natural in this place. The firft is, that both St. Matthew, and St. Luke do begin their Gofpel with the genealogy of the Meffiah.

The other is, that fome time after St. Paul condemns the ftudy of genealogies, which was ftill much in ufe amongst the Jews, as vain; Why therefore is there fuch a different conduct amongst the difciples of the fame mafter?

Certainly, whoever fhall confider with attention the grounds which I have laid down before must acknowledge, that both St. Matthew, and St. Luke, ought to have begun their books, as they have done, with the genealogy of the Meffiah.

For first of all, it was neceffary that the descent of the Meffiah from Abraham by David, fhould be clearly made out: it was requifite therefore that they should fet down fuch a genealogy as was known by the whole Jewish nation: now this they have done with very great care, and the thing was fo eafie, and fo well known, that even a blind-man of the neighbourhood of Samaria, the chief city of the kings of Ephraim, did publickly call Jefus the fon of David.

But on the other fide, St. Paul's forbidding the study of genealogies, does not at all contradict the method of thofe two Evangelifts.

In fhort, he pursues the very fame notions: he faw, that the converted Jews apply'd themselves to the study of genealogies, which was then fo great a part of the study of their nation: it is ftill practised among the Jews, to that degree, that fince their difperfion they gave an exact relation of all the Doctors and Rabbies amongst them who have preserved the tradition, and who were profelytes of juftice (i): What therefore was to be done in this cafe? He took it for granted, that God had engaged every few to study his own pedigree with care, for no other end but only to have that of the Meffiah distinctly known whenever he should

come.

But the use of these genealogies being once over, by the Meffiah's coming into the world, he obferves with reason, that it was no longer necellary to keep up the vain ftudy of all thofe genealogies.

So that we fee he speaks against the ftudy of pedigrees, much upon the fame grounds as in other places he inveighs against circumcifion; for fince the chiefeft use of genealogies, as well as of circumcifion, was to diftinguish Abraham's posterity from the rest of mankind, till the Meffiah was come; the use of these two obfervations was naturally to cease after he was once come.

It is, no doubt, for the fame reason, that whereas the Jews in the Apoftle's time took great care upon all occafions, to take notice of the tribe from which they were defcended, as well as to fet down the names of their fathers, yet one fees that the Apoftles did not all affect it. And if St. Paul mentions his being a Benjamite: it was for a particuJar reason, for otherwife as he preached down the diftinction betwixt

(i) Maimon. Præf. ad Jad. Chazaka.

Fers

Jews and Gentiles, fo he declared himself with the fame earnestnefs against the diftinctions which were observed amongst their tribes.

@XXXXXXXX

CHA P. XVIII.

X*

That the Manner whereby the Law of Moses fixed the People of ISRAEL to the Land of CANAAN, was to keep them feparated from other Nations.

XXNE of the chiefeft means, which God made use of, to distinо guifh his people of Ifrael from the reft of mankind, was fo to fix their affections upon the land of Canaan, that they should look upon it, as a countrey which belonged to them by a particular conceffion from God, which derogated from the Canaanites right, to whom that countrey fell in the divifion of the earth that was made amongst the children of Noah, or which reeftablished the pofterity of Shem in their juft rights, to whom, if we may credit the ancient tradition, related by St. Epiphanius (k), this countrey did really belong by virtue of that divifion amongst the three fons of Noah, tho' afterwards they were driven out of it by the posterity of Ham.

Mofes feems to have expreffed this truth, when he faith Gen. XII. that when Abraham came to Canaan, the Canaanite was already in the land; that is, he had already invaded it, neither can we refer what he relates in the XIV. Chapter, concerning the war which the kings from the eaft came to make against the kings of Sodom and Gomorrha to any thing else.

'Twas then for this reason, that long before Mofes's time, God took Abraham out of Chaldea, from amongst Shem's posterity to bring him into Canaan amongst the Hivites, the Amorites, and other nations all equally defcended from Ham, whom God had curfed.

God could have placed Abraham any where else; but he chose to bring him into a countrey, which the pofterity of Ham had seized upon already, rather than into a place poffeffed by the pofterity of Japhet, on purpose that the jealoufie might be the greater betwixt Abraham and the inhabitants of the countrey into which God had brought him.

Nevertheless God did not give him at first an entire poffeffion, but only promised him that his pofterity fhould enjoy it, and in the mean while invested him beforehand, with a right to it, by the purchase of a field for a burying place, wherein his wife, himself, and his children were buried; by which means he strongly fixed his own mind, and the hopes of his pofterity.

In fhort, it is evident, that all the glory which Jacob found in Egypt when he was invited thither by Jofeph, did not make him forget the right which he claimed upon that land, by virtue of the fepulchre both of his father and grandfather that was there. For Mofes informs us, that he defired to be carried thither after his death, and that he did exprefly re

(k) Hæref. lxvi. n. 84.

quire

quire this duty from Jofeph and his other children, who paid it in so very folemn a manner, and with a mourning fo very great and famous, that the name of Abel-Mizraim continued to that very place, where the Canaanites faw the folemnization of that funeral by the fons of Jacob, who were attended by great numbers of Egyptians.

One fee's that Jacob's children still entertained the fame hope: Jofeph folemnly engaged his children to carry his bones into the land of Canaan: and one may judge, that the other Patriarchs were not lefs folicitous to require the fame office at the hands of their children, as St. Stephen (1) fuppofes it Acts VII. agreably to the common opinion of the Jews: all which fhews, that Abraham's pofterity had their hearts fet upon his fepulchre, as upon the pledge and fecurity of God's promife, that they hould be once poffeft of that land where he was buried.

And as the carrying the body of Jacob into Canaan, fufficiently shew'd what were the claims of the Ifraelites; fo the fame was very evident by their care in keeping themfelves unmixt with the Egyptians, all the time they fojourn'd in Egypt. The fplendor of Jofeph was a natural engagement for them to fettle themfelves there for ever; befides, their vaft encrease forced them in a manner to it. For a long time the miseries which they endured, invited them to feek the alliances of the Egyptians by marriages, and to mix themselves with a people who were their mafters, and to to renounce hopes which appeared to be fo very groundless. They feemed to have been warranted by Jofeph's example, who had married an Egyptian. However, one never finds that they tried that method. One fee's on the contrary, that there was little correfpondence between the Hebrews and Egyptians in their facred_things: for the Hebrews facrificed to God the abomination of the Egyptians, that is, those very things which the Egyptians worshipped.

One fee's afterwards, by the great number of flocks which they drove along with them at their going out of Egypt, that they had continued to follow the profeffion of their ancestors, who were fhepherds, a very odious employment to the Egyptians.

One fee's at laft, that after the many miracles which Mofes wrought in the Egyptian court, that this people followed God's conduct, and went out of that countrey, to poffefs the land of Canaan, which none of them had ever seen, and yet they lookt upon the obtaining it as a bleffing they could not miss of.

There are feveral things very remarkable upon that fubject.

The firft is, that fome Egyptians went out with the Ifraelites to dwell with them in the land of Canaan, which was done, not only that there might be fome indifputable witneffes from among the enemies of God, of the truth, and greatness of the miracles which Mofes had wrought amongst them, which also was a prefage of the calling of the Gentiles to the faith, by their infertion into the body of the Jews: but alfo that there might be fome witnesses of the extraordinary affection which the people of Ifrael had for the land of Canaan, and of their claims to it by virtue of God's promife, that he would put them into poffeffion of it. For otherwife it is not a common thing that a colony of flaves fhould be fuffer'd to run away, much less that they should perswade their masters to forfake their