Exposition of the Whole Bible

among many brethren, as follows: and fhall be in bitternefs for him, as one that is in bitternefs for bis Jrft-born, fin is a bitter thing, and makes work for bitter repentance.

_ ¥. a1. In that day foall there be a great mourning in Ferufalem, 8ec.] Great numbers being awakened, convinced, and converted, and brought to true repentance: as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. Lightfoot * thinks the prophet alludes to the two great and general lamentations of J/rael, the one about the rock Rimmon, where a whole tribe was come to 400 (it fhould be 600) men, Fudg. xx. 47. and may be rendered, the fad fhout of Rimmon, and the other in the valley of Megiddo, for the death of Jofab. Some take Hadadrimmon to be the name of a man, as Aben Ezra; and the Targum and Farchi fay who he was, and alfo make two mournings to be alluded to *; paraphrafing the words thus, ‘‘ at that time mourning ‘© fhall’be multiplied in Yeru/alem, as the mourn- “ing of Abad the fon of Omri, whom Hadadrim- <¢ mon the fon of Labrimmon flew in Ramoth-Gilead; “< and as the mourning of Fofah the fon of Amon, whom Pharaoh Necho, or the lame, flew in the ** valley of Megiddo:” and fo the Syriac verfion renders it, ‘* as the mourning of the fon of Amon “ in the valley of Megiddo.” Of the firft of thefe, fee 1 Kings xxii.-31—37. and of the latter, 2 Kings xxiii. 29. according to Ferom, it was the name of a place in the valley of Megiddo near to Fezreel, and which, in his time, went by the name of Maximianopolis, called fo in honour of the emperor Maximian; it was feventeen miles from Czfarea in Paleftine, and ten miles from Fezreel': and mention is made by Fewi/b ™ writers of the valley of Rimmon, in which place the elders intercalated the year; tho’ Ferom elfewhere * fays, that Adadrimon was a king, the fon of Tabrimmon, who reigned at Carchemifob, whom Pharaoh Necho flew, at the fame time he flew Fofiah. Both words, Hadad or Adad and Rimmon, are names of idols with the Syrians.

y. 12. And the land fhali mourn, &c.| That is, the inhabitants of it; not only Ferufalem, but the land of udea, and the people in it every where: in the Zalnud °, *tis faid, this is the mourning of the Meffiah, that is, -on his account: every family apart; tho’ the mourning will be general and pubs lic, yet it will be not in a body of the whole péoa ple together, but feparate and diftin@: the family of the houfe of David apart, and their wives apart 5 the men by themfelves, and the women by themfelves, which is according to the cuftom of the Jews in public worfhip; thofe that belong to the family of David, fhall mourn becaufe of the Zeews long rejection of the king Meffiah, Jefus the Son of David, the Saviour, whom God raifed up of his feed: the family of the houfe of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; not of Nathan the Son of David, the brother of Solomon, as fome think; for as Aben Ezra oblerves, he and his family are coms prehended in the family of David; but of Nathan the prophet, who will mourn becaufe the Fews have fo much flighted Jefus the great prophet, the Lord raifed up in J/rae/, his doétrines and ordinances.

¥. 13. The family of the houfe of Levi apart, and their wives apart, &c.| Becaufe of the contempt of the prieftly office of Chrift, which theirs prefigured, and was abolithed by his; becaufe of their trampling upon his blood, righteoufnefs, and facrifice: the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; not of Shimea the fon of David, 1 Chron. ill. 5. as Farchi thinks, for his family is comprehended in the family of David; nor of Shimei the fon of Merari, and grandfon of Levi, 1 Chron. vi. 16. for the fame reafon: fome think, that by way of prophecy the family of Semei, mentioned among the progenitors of Chrift, Luke iii. 26. is intended; and others have thought of Shammai, a- famous Mifnic dogtor in the times of Chrift, whofe difciples were called the houfe or family of Shammaz?, of which frequent mention is made in the Mi/xa and Talmud: but the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic verfions read, the family of Simeon, mentioned together with Levi, as brethren in iniquity, and now mourn for the common concern they had. in the crucifixion of Chrift, and their refufal of him.

¥. 14. All the families that remain, 8&c.] That will be in being in thofe times: every family apart; and their wives apart; for the whole nation {hall be born at once, and converted, and all Z/rael thalk be faved, J/- Ixvi. 8. Rom. xi. 26.

N this chapter are prophecies concerning the purification of the penitent Fews before fpoken of; the removal of idols, and falfe prophets, out of the earth; the death of Chrift; the deftruction of the greater part of men, and the falvation of a few of them. ‘The cleanfing of fuch that mourn for fin, in a fountain opened for that purpofe, is fpoken of, ¥. 1. the utter abolition of idols, and falfe prophets, and unclean fpirits, is affirmed, y. 2. the parents of falfe prophets will forbid them to prophefy; they themfelves will be afhamed of their vifions; they’ll throw off the rough garment, which was a token of their being prophets, and by which they deceived; they’ll confefs they are no prophets, and what they are, and own the wounds they have received from their friends on that account, ¥. 3,

4, 5, 6. and whereas the Meffiah, as pierced and crucified, is fpoken of in the preceding chapter, whofe blood is the cleanfing fountain mentioned in this, an account is given of his death; who is de- {cribed by his office, the fhepherd of the Lord; and by his natures, human and divine, the man his fellow; his death is fignified by fmiting with the fword, which was done by the order of the Lord; the confequences of which were the fcattering of the fheep, and the turning of the hand of the Lord upon them in a way of mercy, y¥. 7. and then it is declared, that two parts in three of the land fhould be cut off, and a third part faved, but yet fo as by fire, whom the Lord would own as his people, and they fhould acknowledge him to be their God, ¥. 8, 9..

'y. 1. Tn that day there foall be a fountain opened,

&c.] Which ben Ezra and Kimchi underttand li- the church ‘of Rome-will be at an end, and will never be revived more: and alfo [will caufe the terally; but R. Mo/es the prieft figuratively; and prophets, and the unclean fpirit, 10 pafs out of the fo the Targum, which interprets it of the doctrine of the law being open as a fountain of water, and fo Abendana, who compares*it with J/ ii. 3. but rather it fhould be underftood of the preaching of the gofpel, and the adminiftration of gofpel-ordinances; tho’ better of Chrift himfelf, the fountain of gardens, and of living waters, from whofe pierced fide, of whom mention is made as pierced in the preceding chapter, fprung blood and water; blood for juftification, remiffion, and cleanfing, and water for fanctfication: and beft of all of his blood particularly, called a fountain, not fo much for the quantity of blood fhed, as for its full virtue and efficacy to anfwer the purpofes for which it was fhed; it being the blood not only of man, and of an innocent man, but of the Son of.God,; arid may be faid to be opened, ‘becaufe of its continued virtue to cleanfe from fin; it is not fealed, but opened, and always ftands open; there is no hindrance or obftruction in coming to it; not the, meannefs or poverty of perfon, they that have no money may come to thefe waters; nor their finfulnefs, even tho’ they are the chief of finners; nor their being of this and the other nation, it is expofed to all; to-all ‘that the Father has given to Chrift; to all fenfible finners’: tho’ it follows, fo the houfe of David, and to the inbabitants of Ferufalem; for this, as it may be literally underftood land, by the prophets are meant falfe prophets, “as the Targum explains it, even all the popith hierarchy, pope, cardinals, archbifhops, bifhops, prielts, &e. all that wretched body, which goes by ‘the name of the falfe prophet, who at the battle OF Armageddon will be taken, and with the beaft cait alive into the lake of fire, Rev. xix. 20. and by — the unclean fpirit, or fpirits, the fingular for the plural, are meant the three unclean 4pitics ke trogs, and which are the fpirits of devils} that come out of the mouth of the dragon; beaft, and falfe prophet, the jefuits, monks, and friars; thele fhall be no more then on the earth, after thefe times, Rev. xvi. 13, 14. Farchi and Kimchi intert pret the unclean /pirit of the corraption of natures but that will not ceafe, as long as mén are in & mortal ftate. This prophecy is, by the ancient Fews », applied to the times of the Meffiah. ms ¥. 3. And it foall come to pafs, that’ when any foall yet prophefy, 8cc.| Or attempt to’ prophefy, or propagate their idolatrous religion and principles after this time, when they fhall be abundantly detected and expofed: then bis father and bis mother that begat him, of whom he is born, and who as his parents muft be fuppofed to have the moft, tender regard unto him, even to theft, the impotture will be fo flagrant, that they will ‘not ‘encoura him, but on the contrary, fhall fay unto bim, thon of the Yews in the latter day, including their great /ha/t not live; but die, according to the law againft men and common people, high and low, rich and poor; fo myftically of all the family of Chrift the Son of David, and of all that belong to the heavenly Ferufalem, even the whole church of the firft-born, whofe names are written in heaven: for fin, and for uncleannefs; that is, for fin, which is uncleannefs; fin is an unclean thing, and has defiled all human nature, and nothing can remove the pollution of it; but the blood of Chrift can remove it, and that being fhed makes atonement for it, procures the pardon of it, and juftifies from it in the fight of God; and being fprinkled on the confcience, removes it from that. The Targum interprets it myftically of the forgiveneds of fins, paraphrafing it thus, “* I will forgive their iniqui-

“ ties, as they are cleanfed with the water of “ fprinkling, and the afhes of the heifer, which is y. 2. And it fhall come to pafs in that day, faith the Lord of bofts, &c.| Inthe latter day, at the time of the converfion of the ews, when they fhall turn to the Lord, and their fins fhall be forgiven, and wafhed away in the fountain of his blood; for this refers not to the times of the Babyloni h captivity, and their deliverance from that, which was now over, when idolatry ceafed among that people; nor to the times of Chrift, when foon after the falfe prophets among the heathens, and their lying oracles, ceaféd, and paganifm in the Roman empire was deftroyed; but to the times beforementioned, of which it is predi¢ted by. the Lord,

faying, that J will cut off the names of the idols out

of the land, and they fhall no more be remembred;

meaning the idols of gold, filver, brafs, and wood;

images of the virgin Mary, and faints departed, worfhipped by the papifts, Rev. ix. 20, 24. for at this time myttical Babylon will fall, the idolatry of the falfe prophet in Deut. xviii. 20: for thou [peakeft lies in the name of the Lord; which is the very character of the followers of the man of fin, who fpeak lies in hypocrify, pretending that they ate of God, and carrying a fhew of truth, religion, and holinefs, 1 Zim. iv.1, 2: and his father and his mother that begat him, fall thruft him through when be prophefieth 5 fo great will be their love t6 God, and to his truth, that notwithftanding the nearnefs of blood, their hands will be upon him firft, and either beat him, or put him to death; a fon, according to the law, not being to be fpar in fuch a cafe, Deut. xiii. 6—r0. 4 y¥.4. And it fhall come to pafs in that day, that the prophets hall be afbamed, every one of his vifion, when he hath prophefied, &c.| He fhall be afhamed of the doétrines he has delivered, they will ap-~ pear to all men fo ridiculous and abfurd; as the ~ doétrines of merit, and the works of fupererogation; of tranfubftantiation and purgatory; of par- garment to deceive; or a hairy garment 4; fach as. the firft and ancient inhabitants of the earth wore, who ufed the fkins of beafts for covering, as Digdorus Siculus* obferves: and Paufanias * fays of the firft natives of Locris, not knowing how to weave — and make garments, ufed to cover their bodies te — preferve them from the cold, with the undrefied {kins of beafts, turning the hair outward as mefe becoming: and fuch an hairy garment, or mucl like it, £Ujah wore; hence he is called an man, 2 Kings i. 8. and Fohn the Baptift, who in the power and fpirit of that prophet, a in a like habit, clothed- with camel 5 hias iii. 4. and in like manner good men, ef times of diftrefs and trouble, ufed to wan feem to be the fame fort of raiment: and now, in imitation of {uch like good men, and true prophets of the Lord, particularly Elijah, the falfe prophets, as Farchi and Kimchi obferve, in order to deceive the people, and pafs for true prophets, put on fuch rough and. hairy garments, ‘as if they were very humble and felf-denying men. Braunius * thinks, the prophet may have refpect to a cuftom among the idolatrous prophets, who ufed to clothe themfelves with the fkins of the. facrifices, and lie on them in their temples, in order to obtain dreams, and be able to foretel future things;. of which fee the note on Amos ii. 8. but it feems to have refpec&t to the habits of the monks and friars, and of the different orders by which they are diftinguifhed as religious perfons, and. gain refpect and veneration among men; and. under the guife of fanétity and devotion, and of an auftere and mortified life, impofe their lies and deceptions upon them; but now will lay their habits afide, as being afhamed of their profeffion and principles.

¥. 5. But be fhall fay; I am no prophet, 8&8c.] That he is not of the Romifh clergy, or of any of their religious. orders, having laid afide his habit: Iam an bufbandman; he thall put on the habit of not be able to:fupport himfelf, as before, with the fale. of pardons and indulgences, and by praying fouls out of purgatory; for no man hereafter will buy of his merchandife, Rev. xviii. 11. and he’ll be afhamed of his former calling and traffic, and will not own that he was ever concerned therein; but will affirm that he was never of the Romi/h clergy, but always a layman, and employed in hufbandry: for man taught me to keep cattel from my youth; he will fay he was brought up to hufbandry, or in fome mechanic bufinefs from his youth, and never was in any convent or monaftery, or of any religious order: it may be rendered, for man made me to work from my youth“; and is not to be reftrained to keeping cattel, or any particular employment.

y¥. 6. And one fhall fay unto him, what are thefe wounds in thine hands? &c.] That is, if thou art not a prophet, what’s the meaning of thefe wounds in thine hands? which defign either thofe his father and mother had given him, when they thruft him through for being a falfe prophet, ¥. 3. or the mark of the beaft he received in his right-hand, which he was obliged to take, when he entred into holy orders, Rev. xiii. 9, 16, 17. or the wounds and ftripes he gave himfelf, in the exercife of his fuperftition and will-worfhip: thea be fhail anfwer, thofe with which I was wounded in the houfe of my friends, he will pretend that thefe were wounds he had privately in his father’s family, by way of correétion, for not doing his civil and fecular bufinefs as he ought to have done; or he fhall be obliged to confefs the mark of the beaft on him; or that thefe were wounds he had given himfelf in the temples and-churches, dedicated to angels and faints, his patrons, friends, and lovers; with whom he committed fpiritual adultery or idolatry, and before whofe images and fhrines he had cut and given himfelf thefe wounds and gafhes, to the great difhonour of Chrift, as if his crucifixion and wounds were of no avail; wherefore his fufferings and death até next fpoken of: and fome underftand thefe words of Chrift, introduced after this manner; the prophet having fpoken of the falfe prophet, thruft through by his parents, becaufe that Chrift would be reckoned a falfe prophet and impoftor by his countrymen the ews, and be crucified by them as fuch; reprefents the fews as upbraiding him with his crucifixion, which they fuggeft he righteoufly fuffered, for feducing their nation: to which he replies, that indeed he was crucified, and thereby wounded with the nails drove into his hands ‘and feet; and this ufage he met with from thofe of his own nation, and who pretended to be the friends of the Meffiah, and to expeét his coming, and this at or near erufalem, where was the temple or houfe of God; but all this he endured, not for any crime he had been guilty of, but according to the counfel and will, purpofe and decree of God; whereby he was appointed the fhepherd of the flock; the Mediator.between God and man; the Saviour of his people; and to die fuch a death, in order to obtain falvation for them; which counfel and will of God are clearly and ftrongly exprefied in the following verfe: and to this fenfe Capellus interprets the words.

¥. 7. Awake, O fword, againjt my /hepberd, &ee.] Not Fudas Maccabeus, flain in battel by Bacchis “, as Grotius fanfies; but Chrift, Jehovah’s fhepherd, for thefe are the words of Jehovah the Father, concerning his Son, whom he calls my /bepherd; becaufe he has a property in him, as well as in the flock; and he was chofen, called, fet up, and fent as fuch by him; on whom he laid the ftrayings of all the fheep; and who as fuch died and rofe again, and is accountable to his divine Father: for the flock committed to him: by the /word awoke againft him, are meant either the forrows and affictions of Chrift, which like a fword pierced thro’ his foul; or the violent death he was put to, being ftricken and cut off for the tran{greffions of his people;. or the Yews, who were the inftruments of it;-fo wicked men are called, P/. xvii. 13. or rather the glittering fword of juftice, which was drawn againft him, and fheathed in him; which is called upon to awake, it feeming as tho’ it was afleep; it having been a long time fince the firtt fin of Adam was committed, in which all his pofterity was concerned, and for which fatisfaction to divine juftice muft be made; and longer itil, fince Chrift became a furety, and engaged to do it; moreover, it was a great while fince it was promifed that he fhould come, and be fmitten and wounded for fin; and after he was come into the world, it was fome time before the orders were given to this fword to awake againft him: even againft the man that is my fellow, faith the Lord of hofts; the human nature of Chrift is fignified by the man; not that he was really man before his incarnation, only in the purpofe and covenant of God; and he often appearing in an human form; and, the fcripture fpeaking of things future as prefent; tho’ here it regards him in the days of his flefh, and as fuffering: his divine nature is exprefied by being the fellow of the Lord of hofts; not only being near to him in place and affection, but his equal, being truly a divine perfon; of the fame nature, glory, and majefty with him *, tho’ diftint from

# 9)99F3 fecerunt me operari. Noldius; homo operari fecit me, x pyesy focius, proximus; fpeciatim tribuitur him; and fo fit to be the fhepherd of the flock: mite the foepberd, the order is given to the {word of juftice, bythe Lord of hofts, to fmite the Meffiah, the fhepherd, even unto death: this was according to his purpofe; was his will of command; agreeable to his mind; what he took a kind of pleafure in, and in which he had an hand himfelf; for it is rendered, I will fmite, Matt. xxv. 31: and the fheep feall be fcattered, particularly.the apoftles, who upon the feizure of Chrift were fcattered from him, and one another, whereby this prophecy was fulfilled, Mott. xxvi. 31, 56: and I will turn my hand upon the little ones; the fame with the fheep, the difciples of Chrift’; yea, all that Chrift died for, and to whom God is gracious for his fake; even all the little ones that believe in him; who are few in number, little in their own fight, and contemptible in the eyes of the world; pufillanimous, fearful, and of little faith, as the apoftles of Chrift were at the time he died: on thefe thé Lord turned his hand; not his chaftizing hand, though that is fometimes on the faints; much lefs his hand of juftice, which was laid on Chrift, and it would have been unjuft to have laid it on finner.and furety both; but his hand of grace and mercy, power and protection; which was upon the apoftles in their miniftrations, fucceeding them to the converfion of finners, and preferving them from their enemies; and all the elect are faved in confequence of the death of Chrift, and redemption by him. ben Ezra fays, this prophecy refers to the great wars which fhall be in ail the earth in the times of Meffiah ben Fo- Jeph, but they regard the times of Chrift the Son of David, who is already come. The Targum is, “< be revealed, O {word, againft the king, and a- ‘* gainft the ruler his companion, who is like unto « him;” and Farchi interprets it-of the king of Moab, and Aben Ezra of every king of the nations that fhall in the above times reign over the earth, who thinks himfelf to be as God; which fenfe Kimchi approves of, and obferves, that the little ones are governors and princes, who are lefs than kings: and another Fewi/h writer * fays the fenfe is, awake, O fword, againft the king of J/- mael, who is called the king.of the Turks (the grand Seignior) that rules over 4fa and Africa; which are more than three fourths of the world, and the greater part of the Yerwi/h nation are in captivity under his hand; him God calls his fhepherd, becaufe he hath given into his hand to feed his flock in their captivity, and this flock is the nation of Tfrael, and he is called the man his fellow, becaufe he thinks himfelf, thro’ the pride and haughtinefs of his heart, to be as God; and upon the ruin of this prince, he fuppofes, will be the deliverance of the Yews, who being fcattered into feveral parts, will in feparate bodies return to their own land: and by the /itt/e ones he thinks are meant, the kings of the nations of Edom, or of the Roman nations, which are the leffer paftors of the fheep. Manaf- Jeh ben Ifrael* makes mention of the fame expofition of the paffage, but is of opinion, that the words are rather to be underftood of the pope of kome, who calls himfelf a paftor, and next to God,

“* fear, O my Lord, that that which Zechariah the “© prophet faid, J will /mite the foepberd, and the ‘* Seep of the flock fhall be fcattered, was fulfilled; *¢ when we {mote the fhepherd of thofe little ones ‘*¢ and holy apoftles.” Moreover, it may be obferved, that the word for /ittle ones, fometimes fignifies great ones, as Mr. Pocock * has obferved, and particularly in this text; which, according to the fenfe fome give of it, mentioned by R. Zanchum, is, J will turn mine hand upon the illuftrious and the princes, and not upon the little ones, as commonly — underftood; and which he takes to be the beft of the expofitions adduced: and with this agree the feveral Oriental verfions; fome copies of the Septuagint read, upon the foepherds; and {fo the Arabic verfion; and the Syriac verfion renders it, the fuperiors; and fo may very well be applied to the’ apoftles of Chrift, who were in the higheft office in the church, and fhepherds of the flock; onwhom, after the death of Chrift, God turned his hand of° power, which was upon them, and was with them in their miniftrations, making them fuccefsful wherever they went; and alfo his hand of proyidence was upon them, protecting and preferving: them, until they had done the work they were fent about.. After this prophecy concerning the Meffiah, occafionally inferted here, the prophet returns to his prediction of the ftate of the church, and, what fhall befal ic in the latter day. tpt y. 8. And it fhall come to pafs, that in all the land, faith the Lord, &c.| Hither in all the land of Jjrael, as Kimchi interprets it; or rather in all the world, as 4ben Ezra and others; for this prophecy feems to have refpect, not to the calamities of the Fews at the deftruction of Ferufalem, after the death of Chrift, when a few were faved, a’ remnant according to the election of.grace, yet fo as by fire, for whofe fake the days of tribulation were fhortened; but to the external ftate of the church, and the trouble of it throughout Chrifferdom, about the time of the deftruction of antichrift: two parts therein fall be cut off, and die; all hypocrites, formalifts, and outward court-worfhippers; who feem as if they would be at this time two thirds of the profeffors of true religion; who will not be able to ftand the hour of temptation that will come upon all the earth, to try the inhabicants of it; which will be the laft ftruggle of the beaft of Rome, Rev. iii. 10. but will be twice dead, plucked up by the roots; will die to the profeffion of religion, and be cut off from the people of God, and have no more a name with them: dut the third foall be left therein; the few names in Sardis,. which have not defiled their garments; the hundred forty and four thoufand that will ftand with Chrift, and by him, on mount Zion, being redeemed from among men, Rev. iii. 4. and xiv. 1, 4. compare with this Rev. xvi. 19. Coe gee ¥. 9. And I will bring the third part through the fre, &c.] Into tribulation, as the Targum explains — it; or into great diftrefles, comparable to fire, as _ Kimchi obferves; this is the hour of temptation that will be in the Philadelphian church-ftate, Rev. — iii. 10. Daniel’s time of trouble, fuch as there — never was fince there was a nation, Da / and his vicar on earth; and againft him and thofe like to him, inferior in power, God will make war. and the time of the flaying of the witnefies, Rev. — xi. 7, 8, 9: and will refine them as Silver is refined, om

But much more agreeable, and very remarkable, are the words of R. Samuel Marochianus *, who writing of the coming of the Meffiah, fays, ‘* I and will try them as gold is tried; th principles, and profeffion will be tried 5 and tin will be removed, and they will