Exposition of the Whole Bible

the world ‘was, ‘and all powér in heaven’ and in earth; difpenfing gifts and: grace to men, ‘and ‘receiving honour and glory from them, and feeing the travail of his foul with. fatisfaction: but’why may it not be underftood more confiftent with the fcope of the vifion, of his fitting in his church, at his table there with his faints, eating with them, and they with him, in his word and ordinances before the Lord? fee Cent: i. 12. and iv. 16. and v. I. Rev. tii. 20: be fhail enter by the way of the

porch of that gate, and fhall go out by the way of

the fame; which fome explain of Chrift’s afcenfion to heaven,-and defcent from thence in the fame way; he went up to heaven in the eaftern part of the world, from the mount of Olives, to the eaft of Yerufalem, and in like manner fhall he defcend, and his feet fhali ftand on that mount, Asi! 11,— 12. Zech, xiv. 4. but it may be interpreted of his going in and out of his church at his will and pleafure; ‘and affording his gracious -prefence and fellowfhip with himfelf in his houfe’ and ‘ ordinances. ¥. 4.’ Then brought he me the way of the northgate before the houfe, 8ec.] The north-gate‘of the inward «court, whither he was brought from the eaft-eate, “which was fhut: this, and what follow, may have fome refpeét to the churches in thefe our northern parts of the world, in their now declining circumftances, which are aptly reprefented in. fome following verfes; but will hereafter be filled with the glory of the Lord, as follows: and I looked, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the houfe of the Lord; as he had feeh at the*eafterngate, ch. xliti. 2, 4,5: and I fell upon my face; as he had done before, under a fenfe of the greatnefs and glory of the divine majefty, and of his own vilenefs and unworthinefs; fee ch. xliii. 3. ¥.5. And the Lord faid unto me, fon of man, &c.| ‘This is ftill the voice of the Lord {peaking out of the houfe to the prophet, ch. xliii. 6: mark well; or, fet thine heart ‘; be attentive to what is about to be faid, as being of great concern and importance: and behold with thine eyes, and bear with thine ears all that I fay unto thee, heart, eyes and ears, are all to be employed in the moft dili-

| gent manner in’ regarding thethings hereafter delivered; the fame expreffions exciting attention, were ufed at the firft of this vifion, ch. xl. 4: concerning all the ordinances of the houfe of the Lord, and all the laws thereof; fee the note on ch. xliii. 11: mark well the entring in of the houfe, with every going forth of the Janftuary, the way of entrance into the gofpel-church, and the manner of exclufion from it, and the laws and rules concerning thefe; the prophet is bid particularly to obferve thefe well, becaufe it was in thefe things God’s profeffing people chiefly offended, as appears by what follows; they were not fo careful as they fhould have been in the admiffion of perfons among them, or in the exclufion of delin-

¥. 6. And thou fhalt fay to the rebellious, even to the houfe of Ifrael, &c.] This is a character of literal J/rael from the beginning, Deut. ix. 24. and frequently given it in this prophecy, ch. ii. 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8. and iii. 9, 26, 27. and well agrees with thefe declining churches in the latter day, and even in our times; it reprefents them as rebellious, becaufe of their difregard to the ordinances of God’s houfe principem quod attinet, princeps ipfe inquam, &c. Pifcator;

houfe, and to the laws and rules of it 5 and are not only called rebellious, but rebellion & itfelf; expreffive of the greatnels of their fin, and the aggravations of it: thus faith the Lord Ged, O ye house of Tracl, let it fufice you of all your abominotions; that -is, let the abominations you, have committed, will-worfhip and fuperftition, paying a. regard to the doétrines and commandments of men, be fufficient; ftop, and proceed no further; relinquifh thofe things which are fo abominable in my fight; let the time pait fuffice to have wrought them; ceafe entirely from them; fee 1 Piivy i thefe abominations are more particularly expreffed in the following words.

y. 7. Ia that ye have brought into.my fantiuary ftrangers, &c.] Unregenerate men, who are ina ftate_of alienation and eftrangement to divine and fpiritual things: ftrangers to God;.to the true knowledge of him in Chrift; to the fear and love of God; to the true grace of God in conyerfion; and to communion with him: ftrangers to Chrift, to his perfor and offices; to the way of peace, life and falvation by him; to his righteoufnels; to faith in him, love of him, and. fellowfhip. with him: ftrangers to the-Spirit; to his perfon, to regeneration and fanctification by him; to.the graces of the Spirit, faith, hope, love, humility, felfdenial, &%c. to the things of the Spirit, which they neither know nor favour; and to. the feveral offices he performs, asa comforter, the fpirit of adoption, an earneft and fealer: ftrangers to their own hearts, and the.plague of them, and fin that dwells in them: ftrangers to the nature of fin, and. the exceeding fintulnefs of it; to the deceitfulnefs of fin, andthe confequences,of it; to true repentance for it, and to the right way of atonement of it, by the.blood of Chrift: ftrangers to the. gofpel af Chrift, and the truths of it; and to the faints and-people of God: and uncircumcifed in heart who never were pricked in the heart for fin, or felc any pain there on account of it; never had the hardnefs of their heart removed, or the impurity of it difcovered to them; never were filled with fhame and loathing becaufe of it; or ever put. off the body of fins in a courfe of converfation; or renounced their. own. righteoufnefs: and uncircumcifed in flee; carnal,,as they were born. men in the flefh, in-a ftate of nature, mind and favour the things of the flefh, and do the works of its having never been taught -by the grace of God to deny ungodlinefs and worldly lufts, and to abftain from flefhly ones: or who put their truft,in the flefh, in outward things, in carnal privileges, and external righteoufnefs: thefe the Lord complains were brought to de in my fanctuary, to pollute it, even my boufe; either to be members here, and partake of all the ordinances and privileges of the Lord’s houfe; or to officiate here as priefts and minifters of the Lord: when ye offer my bread, the fat, and the blood; which, under the law, were the Lord’s; and here fignify the miniftry of the word and ordinances, -the goodnefs and fatnets of the Lord’s houfe; and efpecially the ordinance of the Lord’s fupper, that feaft of fat things; in which Chrift the true and living bread of God, whofe flefh is meat indeed, and whofe blood is drink indeed, is reprefented to the faith.of God’s people: and they have broken my covenant, because of all your abominations; that is, have broken the rule of the divine word and everlafting gofpel by fuch abominations; by admitting fuch minifters and members, the one to adminifter, the other 10» partake of, gofpel-ordinances:: this is the true fte of the cafe of moft of the reformed. churches i our days; it is to be feared that there are mul-_ titudes of unregenerate minifters in them; that they. are full of carnal profeffors; and. notorious it is, that the ordinance of the Lord’s fupper is. proftituted to wicked perfons, and to anfwer ends it never. was defigned. for; which muft be an abo-: mination to the Lord. ae see

¥.8. And ye have not kept the charge of mine, holy things, &c.] That is, have not kept and re-. tained the holy doctrines of the gofpel; nor ob-, ferved the holy ordinances of it, as they. were firft. delivered: Lut ye have fet. keepers of my charge in, my foniuary, for yourfelves,; meaning either, that. fuch as were in public office, did not attend to it; but were idol-fhepherds, and left the flock, their. care and charge to others, to furrogates and curates to do their work -for them; whilft they indulged themfelves in floth and idlenefs:. or that the mem, bers and hearers fet up preachers for themfelves,. according to their lufts, agreeable to their own carnal fentiments, witheut any regard_to the will and glory of God. af} we. s,

¥.9. Lhus faith the. Lord God, &c.] This that follows. is the law and rule to be obferyed, and which, will be obferved by the churches in the latter day, tho’ fo little regarded now: no firanger, uncircumcifed in heart, nor uncircumeifed in flefh,

Joall enter into my fanéiuary, of thefe fee the note on ¥. 7. unregenerate men may not be admitted members of a gofpel-church; for that is holy, and holinefs becomes it; but they are unholy, and as unfit tobe received as fwine into a king’s palace; faints and they can’t talk together, their language being. different, they barbarians to one another; nor can they walk together, being not agreed in fentiment and practice; befides, fuch. perfons difquiet the ‘churches.of Chrift by their quarrels fome behaviour in it, and immoral converfation out of it; and are dangerous and infeCtious perfons, whether heterodox in principle, or immoral in life: and much lefs fhould fuch be admitted to public fervice, to preach the word, and adminifter ordinances; fince they fhould be holy that bear the veflels of the Lord, his name and gofpel; they are blind and ignorant, and fo not apt and fit to teach others; they are dumb, and can’t {peak to cafes they are ftrangers to, as thofe of wounded confciences, tempted and deferted, or backflidden ones; they will bring in ftrange doctrines, foreign to the fcriptures, and the experience of faints; and it is no wonder they are unfuccefs- - ful in their miniftry, and churches don’t thrive” under them; to which, among other things, we muft impute the great decline of religion, even among proteftant diffenters, who, it is to be feared, have too many of this character among them: but there fhould not be here of any ftranger that is among the children of Irael, tho’ they are among, them, nay, tho’ they are the children of them, and have had a religious education; yet being’ ftrangers to the grace of God, fhould not be admitted members, and much lefs minifters of the churches of Chrift. re y.10. And the Levites that are gone pears from y. 13. who profeffed themfelves gofpelpreachers, minifters of the reformed churches; bt departed from the reformation-principles;* erred

| ne atway far. from me, &c.] Thefe Levites were priefts, as ap- » from the faith; and either mixed it with the doctrines of men, or wholly dropped, concealed or diffembled it; departed from the word of God, as the rule of faith and practice; and fet up their own reafon, as their guide in matters of religion; were gone off from the pure worfhip of God and his ordinances, and entirely neglected the difcipline of his houfe: when Ifrael went aftray, which went afiray away from me after their idols; tho’ there may be an allufion to fome apottacy of literal / rael under the Old Teftament, and from whence language may be borrowed to exprefs this; either to the Jjraelites, joining themfelves to Baal-peor in the fields of Moab, in the time of Phineas, who was zealous and faithful to the Lord, from whom Zadok defcended after-mentioned: or to the defection in the times of Feroboam and Rehboboam, when al] J/rael forfook the word of the Lord: or to the times of 4baz, when Uriah the prieft made an altar like to that at Damajcus by the king’s order; and which idolatrous practices increafed in the times of Mana/feb; when, no doubt, many of the priefts and Levites, either thro’ fear of kings, or on account of gain, and for the fake of their livelihood, departed from the Lord and his worfhip: but the reference is to a defection in the times of the New Teitament, and in the latter days of thofe times; “not to the falling away of the church of Rome, and its departure from the faith and order of the gofpel, predicted 2 Theff. ii- 3. 1 Tim. iv. 1, 2, 3. 2 Tim. iii. 1—5. tho’, no doubt, fome truly godly minifters have been carried away with the errors of that church, and afterwards reftored, as thefe Levites: but the cafe here referred to, is, the declenfion in the reformed. churches; their formality; their great imperfection in the fervice of God; their departure from the doétrine of faith they once heard and received, which they are called upon to repent of; their defiling themfelves with fuperftition and will-worfhip, and going after the idols of their own hearts, corrupt reafon, the doétrines and inventions of men, and carnal rites and ceremonies; fee Rev. iii, 1—4: they shall even bear their iniquity; that is, the Levites, priefts or minifters; they fhall bear the fhame and difgrace, when they come to fee their errors, and the punifhment and chaftifement of their fin, of which hereafter..

y. 11. Yet they fhall be minifters in my fanéuary, &c.] Tho’ degraded from their office as priefts and minifters of the word, yet being reftored from their fins and errors, fhall have a place in the houfe of God, and do their work there in a lefs honourable, and a more fervile way; as in former times, when minifters had finned fouly, and were degraded from their office, upon repentance they were not reftored to that, but only admitted to laycommunion; fee 2 Kings xxiii. g: having charge at the gates of the boufe; like thofe fort of Levites who were porters and door-keepers in the temple, or like our fextons or pew-openers now: and minifiring to the houfe, employed as the Gibeonites were in hewing wood and bringing water for the ufe of the fanctuary, or in repairing of it; learning and exercifing the bufinefs of fmiths, mafons and carpenters: they foall flay the burnt-offering, and the focrifice for the people, not bring it to the altar, and offer it there; only flay it, and fkin it for the priefts; which is not to be underftood literally, there being no fuch facrifice in gofpel-times; but to denote the menial fervice and inferior poft that fuch fhall be employed in; if they have no trade, they fhall learn one, in order to get a livelihood for themfelves, and be ferviceable to the intereft of religion in a lower way; but minifters of the word they fhall not be: and they fhall fiand before them to minifter unto them; either before the prietts, whofe fervants they fhall be, or before the people;

fignifying, that thofe that fin publickly fhall be: rebuked before all.

¥.12. Becaufe they miniftred unto them before their idols, &c.| Had officiated for them in the prieft’s office, their idols being in the courts of the Lord at the fame time; or preached unto them falfe doctrines, fuch as are not agreeable to the word of God; and led them into {uperitition and will-worfhip, and confirmed them therein: and caufed the boufe of Ifrael to fall into iniquity; or, were for a flumbling-block of iniquity”, unto them the means of their itumbling and falling; by their miniftrations, teaching them unfound doétrine; and by their practices and example, leading them into a way of falfe worfhip, and diffolutenefs of life and converfation; who ought to have been examples to them in word and converfation, in faith and purity: therefore have I lift up mine hand againft them, faith the Lord; to {mite and afflict them, and chaftife them for the fame: or, upon them, or concerning them'; and fo it may be expreflive of an oath, of which lifting up the hand is a fign; wherefore, that what the Lord had faid of them might be believed and expetted, he fwears to it: and they fhall bear their iniquity; which is repeated for the confirmation and certainty of it;

fee ¥. 10. what is meant by it follows.

¥. 13. And they fhall not come near unto me, to do the office of a prief unto me, &c.] To bring the facrifice to the altar, and offer it there; to fprinkle the blood, or burn the fat, or the incenfe; to intercede for the people, or blefs them; fee Hof. iv. 6: nor to come near to any of my holy things in the moft holy place, to do any bufinefs, either in the holy, or in the moft holy place; to offer holy things, or eat of them. The fenfe is, that theie degraded minifters, who had finned fo greatly, and had fallen fo fouly, tho’ reftored by repentance; yet fhould not preach the word, nor adminifter any ordinance: but they fhall bear their fhame, and their abominations which they have committed, that is, the fhame of their abominations, of their abominable principles and practices, which they have held and maintained; being publickly difgraced and degraded, and fo notorioufly diftinguifhed.

y.14. But I will make them keepers of the charge of the boufe, &c.| To be watchmen or porters in it; to open and fhut the doors of it; to fweep and keep it clean; to repair and mend it, and to do fuch like works, as it follows: for all the fervice thereof, and for all that fhall be done therein; in a fervile way; but not as priefts or minifters of the word.

y.15. But the priefts, the Levites, the fons of Zadok, &c.| The priefts who were of the tribe of Levi, whom the Lord chofe and feparated, to minifter to him, and fo had a lawful call to this office, and were regularly invefted with it; and defign true and lawful, as well as faithful 5

-of the word; thefe are called the fons of Zadok, who defcended from Eleazer the fon of Aaron in the line of Phineas, to whom the Lord promifed the everlafting priefthood, and who was put inte this office by Solomon in the room of Abiather, 1 Kings ii. 35. his name fignifies righteous, and was a type of Chrift 5 who, as.a divine perion, 1s effentially righteous; as man, truly and perfectly fo; and as Mediator, God’s.righteous fervant; and who, by his obedience and fufferings, is the author of righteoufnefs to his people; who are his {piritual feed and offspring; children given him of his Father; who have their fon-fhip and adoption thro’ him, and are born of him, his Spirit, and grace; and thefe are made righteous by him, thro’ his righteoufnefs imputed to them, and may be rightly called fons of Zadok: and this agrees with all the faints; and who, under the gofpeldifpenfation, are all priefts, and offer up, themfelves, fouls and bodies, and their fpiritual facrifices of prayer and praife unto God by Chrift, tho’ all have not a right to preach the word, and adminifter ordinances, as minifters lawfully called have, and who feem to be more particularly defigned here; and fuch as are regenerated perfons, and juftified by Chrift’s righteoufnefs, and preach the doétrine of free juftifieation by it, are the only fit perfons for fuch an office: that kept the charge of my fanuary, when the children of Ijrael went afray from me; that kept and held faft the pure doétrines of the gofpel committed as a facred depofitum to them, without mixture, and without wavering, with courage and valour; tho’ a greater number wefe on the other fide, and tho’ they were reproached and perfecuted for it; and who taught the people to keep the ordinances of the gofpel as they were firlt delivered, in faith and love, and without. finifter ends, and fo adminiftered them themfelves; and fuch faithful minifters and members of churches, efpecially in a time of great declenfion and general defection, God takes notice of, and has promifed them great and good things, fee Rev. ii. 7, 10, 115 13, 17, 26, 27, 28. and jii, 5 10, 11, 12, 21, 22. Matt. xxv. 21: they foil coime near to me to minifter unto me; in holy things to his people, which is called miniftring unto him; as to pray to him for them; to preach to them in his name, and adminifter ordinances: all the faints indeed are priefts, and may draw nigh to God thro’.Chrift; men are at a diftance from him thro’ fin; there is no coming -near to him, but by Chrift; and this coming near is not local, but {piritual, and includes all acts of worfhip, particularly prayer; and isa great favour and blefling: and they fhall fland before me, to offer unto me the fat, and the blood, faith the Lord Ged, which, under the law, were both the Lord’s; the one was burnt, and the other fprinkled, on divers things, and in divers places: here it may refpect the adminiftration of the ordinance of thé Lord’s fupper, that feaft of fat things; and which may be eminently called the goodnelfs and fatnefs of the houfe,of God; and in which the blood of Chrift is reprefented as fhed for the remiffion of fins, and as fpiritual drink indeed to believers; and the facriffee of Chrift is commemorated, the feaft being kept in remembrance of that.

¥. 16. They foall enter into my fanéluary, &e.]} Both to officiate, and to participate, which ftrangers and uncircumcifed perfons might not do, ¥.9:

and they fhall come near to wy table to minifier 1 me; which fome underftand of the altar of b;

offering, which was as a table, and the facrifies 4 on it was the food of the Lord, Lev. iii. 11, 16. others, the altar of incenfe; fee ch. xli, 22. chi interprets it of the table of fhew-bread; but whatever is meant in the letter, the myftical fenfe — is, the ordinance of the Lord’s fupper, called the. Lord’s table, 1 Cor. x. a1. a table richly fpready and well furnifhed with fpiritual provifion: here Chrift himfelf fits, bids his people welcome, eats with them, and they with him; and here all the faints are guefts, and minifters in particular offi-. ciate: and they foall keep my charge; continue to do fo; for this they did before, ¥. 15. but now fhould be confirmed in their office, and never be difplaced, as others; they that honour God he will honour, 1 Sam. ii. 30. sg ¥.17. And it foall come to pafs, that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, &c.] The priefts before deferibed; when they enter the’right way into a. true gofpel-church, confifting of fuch who are internally renewed, and have an inward work of grace upon their hearts, and are inward court-worihippers; either as private chriftians to pray together, to praife the Lord, to hear his word, and fit down at his table; or as public minifters, to preach the gofpel, and adminifter ordinances: they foall be clothed with linen garments; meani not the outward converfation-garments of the Lord’s people; nor their inward garment of fancs tification; but the robe of Chrift’s righteoufnefs,. and garments of falvation; that fine linen, clean. and white, which is the righteoufnefs of the faints 5 and which, tho’ but one, ferves for many; and anfwers not only all the purpofes of a garment; but even of many, of change of raiment: like a garment it is on, and not in the faints; it is put upon them by imputation; and, like a garment, it covers them, protects them from all injuriess keeps them warm and comfortable, and beautifies and adorns them; and is compared to linen for” its whitenefs and purity; fee Rev. iii. 18. and xix. 8. and in this all the people of God, minifters and private chriftians, perform all their fervices in the houfe of God; making mention of this, and of this only, whereby they become acceptable unto God, P/. Ixxi. 16. Eph. i. 6: and no wool foall come upon them, whilft they minifter in the gates of the inner court aud within; it is certain, that the priefts under the law had wool upon them in the — time of their miniftry; for the purple, blue and {carlet, as the Yewifh writers * obferve, were all of them dyed wool; of which, with other things, the. % girdle common to all the priefts, and the ephod — and breaft-plate of the high-prieft, were their common fervice: to the Fews in general it- was not lawful to wear a garment of linen and — fore, as Fofephus fays', to the priefts only it was — allowed to wear fuch a garment; and it is com-_ mon with the Jewish doctors ™ to obferve, that ** the priefts were not clothed to miniftersin the

‘“* temple, but with wool and linen;” indeed on the day of atonement, the high-prieft whe went into the holieft of all, had only linen’ ments on him; and of the fervice of this archi interprets the text; but Kimchi jects, that the holieft of all cannot be ‘called 2 B.

court; and befides, it is faid in the plural number, they hall be clothed, and minifter; whereas only the high-prieft went into the moft holy place; and therefore he truly obferves, that this is a new thing to be done in future times: and this is true of the fpiritual priefthood of faints and minifters of the gofpel, who are to have no wool upon them in their qiniftrations, whether in a more private or public way; who are, and fhould profefs to be juftified by the righteoufnefs of Chrift only, without any works of their own to be joined with it; which to do, is unneceflary, indecent and dangerous: wool is obferved to be the clothing of brute beafts, and therefore not a fit emblem of the clothing of faints; and likewife of fuch as are moft flow, and fluggifh, and inactive *, and fo an emblem of floth;” and which ought not to be in any of the people of God, and efpecially in minifters, who of all men fhould not be flothful in bufinefs, but fervent in shi ferving the Lord. It may be further oberved, that cloaths made of wool are heavy, and render unfit for bufinefs, and caufe fweat, which is offenfive; and which feems to bea reafon, y. 18. why wool fhould not be upon them, only linen garments wore by them; that they might be more quick and expeditious in the difpatch of ‘bufinefs, and avoid every thing that gives offence, that the miniftry may not ”be blamed: woollen cloaths are alfo liable to moths, and worms, and to contract filth; and may fignify, that the priefts of the Lord fhould be clear of carnal and fenfual lufts; thefe fhould not be upon them, or they under the predominancy of them, and particularly avarice;. they fhould feed the flock, and not fleece it, and clothe themfelves with the wool of it, Ezek. xxxiv. 2,3. The phrafe, and within, or in the houje, feems to denote fome place diftinct from the inner court, even the more inmoft place of the temple, the holy of holies; which fignifies heaven itlelf, into which only the high<prieft entered once a year, typical of Chrift’s entering into heaven; and who has opened a way, and given all his people who are priefts unto God, boldnefs to enter there alfo by prayer, in the exercife of faith and hope; and which fervice they perform in the righteoufnefs of Chrift, and that only; fee Hed. ix. 8. and x. 19, 20. and vi. 20. Dan. ix. 18. ¥. 18. And they fhall have linen bonnets upon their beads, &c.] Denoting gravity and modeity, fubjection to God, and authority among men under him; and alfo purity of doétrine, and clearnefs of light and knowledge: and /hall have linen breeches upon. thei? loins, expreffive of chaftity; fee Exod. XXViii. 40, 42: they fhall not gird themfelves with any thing that caufetb fweat, fo not with wool, which is apt to caufe fweat; and is thought to be the reafon why it is forbidden in the preceding verfe; and fo this girdle muft be different from the prieft’s girdle under the law, for that had wool in it: fweat is of an ill fmell, and very offenfive, and may denote unfound doétrine and immorality”

_ in life and converfation, which give offence, and caufe the miniftry to be blamed, to which is op- ofed the girdle of truth and holinefs, Zps. vi. 14. rhe Talmudic doctors interpret this of the place of girding, which is liable to fweat; and they fay °, “ they ufed not to gird neither below the loins,

“< nor. above the arm-holes; but over-again{t, or vo to ys el os 231 * about the armi-holes;” whieh is obferved by Jarchi and Kimchi on the text; and the Targum is, ** they fhall not gird upon or about the loins, bur “* about the heart;” that is, about the breaft or ** paps; hence Chrift our great high-prieft is de- {cribed as girt about the paps with a golden girdle, Rev. i. 13. fo thefe are girt that are made priefts by him; denoting theit hearty zeal and affection for the truths of his gofpel, and the honour of his name, and their readinefs to ferve and glorify him: or, they foall not gird themfelves loofely ® 5 in a negligent manner, which, is both indecent, and hinders bufinefs.

¥.19, And when they go forth into the utter court, 8cc.] Out of the inner court where they minifter, when they have done their fervice: even into the utter court to the people, out of the church into the world, where the people are, doing their bufinefs, whether good men or bad: they hall put off their garments wherein they minifred, and lay them in the holy chambers; the north and fouthchambers; fee the note on ch. xlii. 13,14: and they foall put on other garments; which are their outward converfation-garments, which are proper to appear in before men, for the honour of religion; tho’ not fufficient to appear in before God, and render acceptable unto him: and they fhall not Janttify the people with their garments, the garments Of the priefthood were reckoned holy, and whatfoever was holy, that which it tonched was accounted holy alfo; and therefore to preferve a difference between the priefts and the common people, they were not to wear their holy garments but in the time of feryice; or Jeft any {uperftitious notion fhould obtain among the people, that they were fanctified by touching their cloaths; as the. papifts give out, that if a man is buried in a monk’s cowl, he fhall be faved: or the fenfe is, that they fhould not poffefs the minds of the people with a notion of any real fanétity in their garments; or that their converfation-garments, or

| good works, can be of any fervice to them: this may be oppofed to works of fupererogation.

¥. 20. Neither foall they fhave their heads, &c.]} As the priefts and worfhippers of J/s and Serapis did, as ‘Zerom on the text obferves; and as the Romyh priefts now do, from whom the Lord’s faithful minifters muft be diftinguifhed: nor uffer their locks to grow long; as the Nazarites, that a diftinction might be preferved between thofe who were, and were not fuch; or rather, after the manner of women, their locks hanging down, and flowing about their fhoulders as a token of levity, wantonnefs, effeminacy, pride and vanity; fee 1 Cor. xi. 14, 15: they foall only poll their heads; obferve a medium between both; neither fhave their heads clofe, nor let their hair grow long, but keep it in an even moderate length; for which reafon godly men of the laft.age among us were called round-heads.

y. 21. Neither fhall any prieft drink wine, &c.} That is, to excels, immoderately, fo as to be inebriated with it, Lev. x. 9, 10, 11. fhould not be given to it, and greedy of it, and drink it fo as to difeuife themfelves: this is reckoned among the qualifications of a gofpel-minifter, 1 Tim, iii. 3. otherwile it is not forbidden good men, or minifters of the word to drink wine, for healths-fake,

® Lana fegnifiimi corporis excrementum eft & prophanus veftitus, itaque danea veftis videtur defidiam, & fegnitiem indi- feipios modo inftabili, nempe neglectim circumponendo cingulum nimis laxum, Gufletius, p, 315. The Tigurine verfion is P qua non adiftringent arctius, and for the refrefhment of nature, provided it is done in moderation, 1 Tim. v. 23. and particularly care fhould be taken that they drink it in fuch a manner, when they enter into the inner court, to - attend divine fervice, fince immoderate drinking affeéts the memory; and fuch may forget the law and doétrines of the Lord, they are to deliver or hear; and may put them upon faying and doing that which is improper and indecent: drunkennets in any chriftian profeflor is abominable, and efpecially in a minifter of the word; and when it appears in his miniitration, it is fcandalous to the laft degree.

¥. 22. Neither fhall they take for their wives a widow, &c.] Who has been not only another man’s, but at-her own will, and done her own pleafure, and been her own miftrefs, and fo not eafily brought into fubjection, and to behave as becoming her ftation: or her that is put away; or, thruft forth 1; out of doors; whofe hufband has given her a bill of divorce; fince fhe may be fu- {pected of having done fome ill thing: but they foall take maidens of the feed of the boufe of I rael;

virgins, and not of the families of unconverted perfons, who have been brought up in an irreligious way, but of godly families, and who have had a religious education: or a widow that had a prieft before; and fo ufed to religious exercifes, and to the manner of living of fuch perfons. All good men fhould be careful whom they marry, and efpecially minifters of the gofpel; who are here fuppofed and allowed to marry, contrary to the church of Rome, which forbids her priefts to marry. It is obferved by fome, and with great propriety, that in the latter days antichriftian churches will be difowned; and that godly faithful minifters will become paftors, and take the care of fuch churches, who are like a chafte virgin efpoufed to Chrift, and fuch who have had faithful paftors over them before. This feems to refer to the law concerning the marriage of the high prieft, Lev. xxi. 13, 14. anc what is there enjoined him, is here enjoined all the priefts of the Lord; and therefore, as Kimchi rightly obferves, this is a new rule refpecting future times.

¥. 23. And they fhall teach my people the difference between the holy and the profane, &c.] Perfons and things; not in a ceremonial, nor mercly in a moral; but in an evangelical fenfe, between truth and error; between the doctrine which is according to godlinefs, and that which is corrupt and unfound, and eats as doth a canker; between holy worfhip and fuperftition; between holy duties, and profane and heathen rites and ceremonies; and between perfons fanétified by the Spirit and grace of God, and unconverted ones: and caufe them to difcern between the unclean and the clean; impure perfons, doétrines, and manners, and thofe which are agreeable to the word of God; the fenfe is, that they fhall take pains to inftruct perfons in the knowledge of divine things, and fhall do it truly, faithfully, and fincerely.

¥. 24. And in controverfy they fhall ftand in judgment, &c.] When any controverfy arifes among the faints concerning civil things, this fhall not be carried into a court of judicature, of the men of the world; but it fhall be brought before the church, and there heard, tried, judged,.and determined; the minifters of the word there prefiding, who fhall give the definitive fentence, and ftand to it, and abide by it, 1 Cor. vi. 1—7. and when any controverfy arifes about the do&trines of the gofpel, or modes of worfhip, or rules of difcipline; they fhall rife up, difcufs the point, determine the queftion, pafs the fentence, and not depart from it: and they foall judge it according to my judgments, not according to their own judgments, or according to their own fancies, or the reafonings of their own minds, but according to thofe directions and rules given in the word of God; which is profitable for the fettling and eftablifhing true doétrine, and for the reproof and correétion of error, and for the inftruction of men in the paths of righteouf- — nefs: and they fball keep my laws, and my flatutes in all mine affemblies, which affemblies are the churches of Chrift, gathered according to gofpel-order; where the faints affemble together for divine worfhip, and where the Lord grants his prefence; and where his word is preached, and his ordinances adminiftred, and fo called his; and of which affemblies gofpelminifters are the mafters, and where they prefide; and whofe bufinefs is to obferve the laws and ftatutes the Lord has made, and to interpret them unto the people, and enforce them on them, and fee that they are kept by them: and they hall ballow my fabbaths,; {uch times as are appointed for divine worfhip; thefe they fhall keep holy themfelves, in the exercife both of private and public — worfhip, and fhall exhort and ftir up all with whom * they are concerned to do the fame.

v.25. And they fhall come at no dead perfon to defile themfelves, &c.} Shall not come into places where they are, nor touch them, nor attend their funerals, Lev. xxi. 1, r1. that their work might not be interrupted, or they thro” grief and forrow be made unfit for it, Matt. viii. 22. this, in a fpiritual fenfe, may fignify, that they fhould have — no converfation or fellowfhip with men dead in trefpafies and fins; and fhould abftain from all dead works, as all finful ones are: ut for father, or for mother, or for fon, or for daughter, for brother, or for fifter that hath bad no hufband, they may defile themfelves; by coming near them, touching them, at leaft attending their funerals, becaufe of their near relation to them, and that natural fympathy and affection that muft be in them: all forrow and mourning for dead relations is not forbid. den faints, nor minifters of the word; provided it is in moderation, and not to excefs, and is not for — gracious perfons, as thofe without hope; and fhould as little as poffible break in upon the duties of their office, 1 Theff. iv. 13. Fobn xi. 33, 35. aie all y. 26. And after be is cleanfed, &c,| From any — fin or iniquity, failing and imperfeétion, that Be My, has been guilty of at fuch feafons, in mourning fo a the dead, by a frefh application of the blood of Chrift, which cleanfes from all fin; typified by the water of feparation, made of the afhes of the red heifer, by which thofe who were in this way ce monioufly unclean, were cleanfed, Heb. ix. 13, 14: they hall reckon unto him feven days; that is, days fhall be reckoned from the time of his ¢ fing, before he enters on public fervice again cording to the old law, feven days were from the defilement to the purification; he more are numbered after the purification is made; and therefore, as Kimchi truly notes, this is a new law or rule, to be obferved in after-times.

y. 27. And in the day that he goeth into the far tuary, &c.}] Into the houfe and church of after his cleanfing, and when the feven days from thence are up: unto the inner court, to mumifier in the fanduary, among the inward court-worfhippers, to minifter in holy things to them; to preach the gofpel, and adminifter gofpel-ordinances: he foall offer his fin-offering, faith the Lord Gods tho’ he has been privately cleanfed in the fountain of Chrift’s blood, in which he has wafhed for fin and uncleannefs; yet when he comes into the houfe of the Lord, he muft acknowledge his fins and imperfections over Chrift the fin-offering; which he muft bring in the arms of his faith, and fo enter into the courts of the living God, and do the fervice of the fanétuary. ¥. 28. And it fall be unto them for an inkeritance, &c.) Either the fin-offering, ox the prieft- ‘hood, and the perquifites belonging to it: or, they Jeall bave an inhberitance*; but what fhall it be? God himfelf: Jam their inheritance, the Lord is the portion and inheritance of his people, who are made priefts unto him, whether in a private or public capacity; they are heirs of God, he is their portion in the land of the living, and for ever: God in all his perfections is theirs, and tho’ incommunicable, they have the ufe and advantage of them, fo far as they are capable and ftand in need of them; as his eternity, immutability, omnifcience, omnipotence, omniprefence, grace, mercy, goodnefs, truth, and faithfulnefs: he is theirs in all his perfons; God the Father is their covenant-God and Father; the Son of Godis their head and hufband, their Saviour and Redeemer, mediator and peace-maker, their prophet, prieft, and king; his blood, righteoufneds, {acrifice and faithfulnefs theirs, and even all that he is and has: the Spirit of God is their convincer and enlightener, their quickener and fanétifier; their comforter, and the Spirit of adoption to them, the feal and earneft of their fu- “ture glory; and Ged under every character is theirs, as the God of nature and providence, and as the God of all grace; and this is an inheritance rich and large, a foul-fatisfying portion, an inconceivable’ and an inexhauftible one. And ye shall give them no poffefion in Ifrael, fo the priefts and Levites had none under the Jaw, but were provided for in another way, Numb. xviii. 20, 21. Deut. xviii. 1, 2. For. xiii. 14. the Lord’s people and priefts, under the gofpel-difpenfation, for the moft part are the poor of this world, who have no fhare in the poffeffions of it 5 their good things are. not here, but in the world to come, and in God himfelf: Iam their poffefion; the Lord is enjoyed by them now’; his love fs fhed abroad in their hearts; they have fellowfhip with the Father, and with his Son Jefus Chrift, and communion with the Holy Ghoft; and which is infinitely better than all the pofleffions of this world; and befides, provifion is made for their outward maintenance, as follows.:, | y. 29. They fall eat the meat-offering, and the

‘were typical of Chrift; the meat-offering, or rather _bread-offering, it being made of fine flour, was a ‘type of Chrift the bread of life; and the fin and _trefpafs-offerings pointed at his being made fin and 2, |