Exposition of the Whole Bible

in, that milk which new-born babes defire, and are fed with; thofe plain truths of the word, which thofe of the weakeft capacity are able to. take in, receive and embrace; in the knowledge of which, tho’ fools, they err not; fuch as fal-_ vation by Chrift alone; juftification by his righteoufnefs; peace and pardon by his blood; which are. fo plain, as to be underftood by every truly gracious foul, tho’ of ever fo mean a capacity: or it may intimate the {mall fpread of the gofpel at firft in Fudea, Samaria, and Galilee.;

y. 4. And again he meafured a thoufand, and brought me thro’ the waters; the waters were to the» knees, &c.} The man with his line meafured another thoufand cubits {trait on from the firft; and then bid the prophet crofs and ford them again, and then they were knee deep: again be meafured a thoufand, and brought. me thro’; the waters were to the loins; a third time he meafured a theufand cubits {till onward, and ordered the: prophet to wade thro’ them, when they were rifen fo high as to reach his loins. The waters to the knees and loins may fignify the greater knowledge of the go- {fpel, and the myfteries of it, the apoftles had after the fpirit was poured forth; and the greater fpread of it in the world, among Fews and Gentiles > or elfe may defign thofe doctrines of the gofpel, and myfteries of grace, which are more fublime, and more difficult to underftand; which require fome ° pains to fearch into, and get the knowledge of; as. concerning predeftination, election, the covenant of grace, and the eternal tranfactions between the Father and the Son, &c. which are meat for ftrong men, who have their fenfes exercifed to diicern between good and evil.

¥. 5. Afterward ‘be meafured a thoufand, &c.} A fourth time a thoufand cubits. Some think thefe four meafurings refpect the preaching of the gofpel in the four parts of the world; but rather they refer to four remarkable feafons of the miniftry of it; as in the times of Foha the Baptit, and the difciples of Chrift before his death; in the primitive churches of the three firft centuries; at the time of the reformation; and in the latter dayglory, which is the fourth and laft meafuring: and it was @ river, that I could not pafs over; the prophet could not fet his foot on the bottom, and wade thro’ it, and crofs over it, as he had done before: for the waters were rifen, waters to fwim in; not to walk in: a river that could not be paffed over; by any man, on his feet; only by fwimming, and perhaps not by that, at leaft not without difficulty: this may fignify the large fpread of the gofpel in the latter day, when the earth fhall be filled with it, as the waters cover the fea; and the great light into it, and knowledge of it, that men fhall then have, J/ xi. 9. and xxx. 26, and » yet that there are fome doctrines exceeding deep, out of the reach and penetration of men, called the deep things of God, which human reafon cannot attain, and where it cannot fix its foot, 1 Cor. ii. 9, 10, 14. and which are only to be reached and embraced in the fwimming arms of faith; and tho’ believed, can’t be accounted for, as to the modus of them, and are not to be dived into; - fuch as the Trinity of perfons in the Godhead, and the diftiné&t manner of their fubfifting in it; the -— generation of the Son; the proceffion of the Spirit; the incarnation of Chrift; the union of the two natures in his perfon; the refurrection of the dead, &e.. nas of it; which, like water, cools thofe who are inflamed with the heat of the fiery law; extinguifhes the thirft of fenfible finners, and refrefhes them; cleanfes and purifies their fouls, which is inftrumentally done with the wafhing of water by the word; and makes them fruitful and flourifhing: this is not of men but God; comes from heaven, the holy of holies; and out of the houfe and church of God; from Zion and Ferufalem, by Chrift the door, and: points to him the way; and is chiefly concerning him, the altar, his facrifice and fatisfaction, peace, atonement and propitiation by him; fee Uf. ii. 3. Fael iit. 18. Zech, xiv. 8.

¥: 3. And when the man that bad the line in his hand, &c.] The fame as in ch. xl. 3. and is no other than Chrift, who appeared in an human form to the prophet; and who hitherto had only made ufe of the meafuring reed in taking the dimenfions of the houfe, and what appertained to it; but now he ufes the line of flax he had in his hand, in meafuring the waters as they ran; by which line is meant the {criptures, the word of God, by which all doétrines'are to be meafured: this is the rule that both preachers and hearers are to go by; and, as by the direction of this perfon the waters flowed where he would have them, fo the doétrines of the gofpel are preached by the order of Chrift where he pleafes; fee Luke xxiv. 47. Ais xiii. 46, 47. and xvi. 6, 7, 10. and thefe move in a direc line, as thofe waters did; error is crooked, and has its windings and turnings; but truth is ftrait and even; all the words of wifdom are right, and there is nothing froward, perverfe, or crooked in them, Prov. viii. 8, 9:. went forth eaffward; which was the courfe the waters took by his direction; the gofpel was firft fpread in the eaftern part of the world, in Afia, where many churches were planted by it; it has been fince in the fouth, in Africa, particularly in the times of Au/tin, when thefe waters, the doctrines of grace, flowed largely; and they have been fince in the north and weft, in Europe, in our northern climes; all which perhaps maay be fignified by the right-fide, or fouth-fide, by which thefe waters flowed, and by the prophet’s going to the north gate, and about, to fee them; but in the latter day they’ll move eaftward again, when the kings of the eaft and their kingdoms fhall become Chrift’s; fee Rev. xvi. 12. Zech. xiv. 8: be meafured a thoufand cubits, or, a thoufand by the cubit*; the Targum is, “* a thou- *¢ fand cubits by the cubit;” with his line, from the eaftern gate of the houfe, at the right-fide of which the waters ran out; this was about half a mile: and he brought me thro the waters; not the thoufand cubits he had meafured; but when he came to the end of them, he made the prophet to crofs the waters, to go thro’ them acrofs, that he might obferve the depth of them: and the waters were to the ancles; were ancle-deep, a few inches: or, to the foles; for, as R. Fonab thinks, % may be additional; and pp in the Syriac language fignifies a part of the hand, Daw. v. 5. and applied to the feet, defigns the foles of them; and then the fenfe is, the waters were fo fhallow, that they only covered the foles of the feet: this may fignify the miniftry of fobw the Baptift, who, tho’ greater than the prophets, yet the leaft in the kingdom of heaven was greater than he; and of the difciples of Chrift, before the effufion of the Spirit: or may defign the more eafy doétrines of the gofpel; thofe waters which Chrift’s lambs may wade y. 6. And he faid unto me, fon of man, haft thou feen this? @c.] That is, the man that meafured the waters faid to the prophet, haft thou carefully obferved all this? from whence the waters flowed? from what fmall beginnings they rofe, and gradually increafed? how they firft iffued forth, as out of a vial; and now, in the fpace of about two or three miles, are become a deep river and impaffable? it is right and profitable to obferve the rife and progrefs of the gofpel; what a fpread it has had in the world, and what it will have: then be brought me, and caufed me to return to the brink of the river; there to ftand and obferve the nature of the waters, and the courfe of them; the multitude of fifh in them; and the trees which grew upon the banks of them; of all which fome account is given in the following verfes.

y. 7. Now when I bad returned, &c.| To the brink of the river: debold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one fide, and on the other; here was a new wonder obferved, which had not been before; and therefore this note of admiration, bebold! is prefixed; on a fudden fprung up trees on each fide of the river of a perfect ftature, and full of fruit; which the prophet had not feen when he went along with the man on the bank of it, as he meafured the waters; but now being returned, fees this wonderful fight; an emblem of true chriftians, believers, and regenerate perfons, who are trees of righteoufnefs, planted by the river of divine love; watered with the grace of God, and doétrines of the gofpel; whereby they become fruitful in good works, and are to be feen whereever the gofpel comes with power and efficacy; fee Pf i. 3. If. \xi. 3. or, am exceeding large tree *; fo ‘Fohn faw but one tree, which was on each fide of the river, which he calls the tree of life, Rev. xxii. 2. but here it feems to be put for many, as appears from ¥. 12.

¥. 8. Then faid he unto me, &c.] The man that meafured the waters fpoke to the prophet again, and fhewed him the courfe of the waters; the quickening and healing virtue of them, and the multitude of fifh in them: thefe waters iffue out toward the eaft country; the gofpel was firft preached in the eaftern parts of the world; fee the note on ¥. 3. or towards the firft, or ea/t Galilee ‘; in Galilee Chrift began to preach, and wrought his firft miracle; here he called his difciples, and chiefly converfed; and here he had the greateft followers, and fome of the firft chriftian churches were formed here after his afcenfion, Matt. iv. 12, 18, 23. Ads ix. 31: and go down into the defert; or wildernefs, the wildernefs of the people, the Gentiles; to whom the gofpel was carried when rejected by the Hews, and who before were like a defert, but now became as a fruitful field, J xxxv. 1, 2. and xlii. #, 11. The Yews * interpret this of the plain, or the fea of Galilee or Tiberias, at which Chrift called his difciples; near to this he ‘delivered his difcourfes concerning himfelf, the ‘bread of life, and eating his flefh, and drinking his blood; here he met with his difciples after his

-refurrection, and enjoined Peter to feed his fheep and larhbs; fee Matt. iv. 18. ‘fobn vi. 1. and xxi. 1, 15: and go into the fea; the dead fea, or fea of Sodom, the lake A/phaltites, where nothing is faid to live; an emblem of dead finners; and may reprefent the worft of finners, as the Sadomites were; and to fuch the gofpel was fent, and became effectual to falvation: or. it may rather defign the great ocean, and may fignify the whole world, and all the nations of it, to which the gofpel, by the commiffion of Chrift, was to be preached; fee Dan. vii. 2.. Mark xvi. 15. The Targum is, ** and “* go thro’ the fea into the great fea;” it may be rendered, and. go toward the weft”; the Mediterranean-fea being to the weft of Fudea, it is often put for the weft; and fo the fenfe may be, that thefe waters fhould flow eaft and weft, as the living waters in Zech. xiv. 8. the fame with thofe, are faid todo; and all the Fewi/h writers think there is fuch a divifion of the waters intended, and that they had two ftreams or rivers; which may receive fome confirmation from the next verfe, where the word for rivers is of the dual number, and fignifies two rivers. The fenfe of the whole is, that the gofpel fhould be firft preached in Judea and Galilee; then among the Gentiles throughout the Roman empire; and in the latter day efpecially throughout the world, when it fhall be covered with it, as the waters cover the fea, JZ xi. 9: which being brought forth into the fea, the waters foall be healed; that is, which waters of the river being directed and brought into, either the dead fea, or the great ocean, the waters of the one, or of the other, were healed; and of bituminous and bitter waters, were made clear, fweet and wholefome; and fignify the change made in finful men by means of the gofpel, who are thereby quickened, made partakers of the grace of God, and have their fins pardoned, which is often meant by healing in {cripture, P/- ciii..2. Mal. iv. 2. pardon of fin flows from the love and grace of God; is the great doctrine of the gofpel, and by which the ° Lord {peaks peace and pardon, and communicates healing of all fpiritual difeafes to finners fenfible of them; fee P/. cvii. 20.

¥. 9. And it fhall come to pafs, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, &c.] ‘That is, every living man; every one that lives naturally or corporally, that lives, moves and has his being in God, as all men have, Aéfs xvii. 28: whitherfoever the rivers fhall come, foall live, or, the two rivers‘; the waters divided as before, eaft and weft; not the two Teftaments; Old and New; nor the two ordinances of baptifm and the Lord’sfupper; but the gofpel, which, wherever it fhall come with power, and to whomfoever it fo comes, they fhall live fpiritually; not to whomfoever it is preached, for to fome it is not profitable, fee y. cr. but is the favour of death unto death; but to all to whom it is accompanied by the Spirit of God, it is the favour of life unto life; the fpirit that gives life, and is the means of it: indeed, the love of God is the river of water of life, Rev. xxi. 1. it is the fpring of {piritual life to dead finners, and what revives drooping faints, quickens their graces, faith, hope and love; enlivens and cheers their fpirits, and greatly influences true religion and godlinefs, and very much promotes the life and power of it: and fo the grace of the Spirit is living water, by which dead finners are quickened; the work of grace in faints is revived, and which

© Sst mlydan by in Galileam in Vatablus, Tigurine verfion; fo the Targum.

fluvius geminus, Starckius.

& Tofaphta Succa in Jarchi & Kimchi in loc. fo in Ben Melech. 2 mon duo torrentes, Pagninus, Montanus; geminus torrens, Tigurine verfion, Cocceius 5 always continues and iffues in eternal life, Zobm iv. 10, 14. but the gofpel and its doctrines are rather intended; which are the means of quickening thofe who are dead in trefpafies and fins; ferve greatly to invigorate the graces of the Spirit in the hearts of God’s people; to influence their lives and converfations; to fupport them under afflictions, and to nourifh them up to everlafting life; and point out the way to eternal life, and give a true account

of it. And there fhall be a very great multitude of

fio, becaufe thefe waters fhall come thither, that is, a multitude of fifth in the dead fea, where none lived before, and owing to thofe waters coming thither: it fignifies the great number of living chriftians, true believers, who fhall appear wherever the gofpel is truly, purely, and powerfully preached; of thefe fee more in the next verfe: for they fhall be healed; fee the note on ¥. 8: and every thing fall live whither the river cometh, not only fhall live as before, but continue to live, fhall never die; their graces fhall not die, nor fhall they themfelves die the fecond death, but fhall have eternal life; becaufe of the purpofe of God, who has ordained them to it; and the promife of God, who is faithful to it; and becaufe of the fecurity of their life in Chrift, to whom they are united; and becaufe of the indwelling of the Spirit of life in them, So the Targum, “ they fhall remain in every place ‘¢ where the waters of the river come.”

y. 10. And it fhall come to pafs, &c.] In gofpeltimes: what follows had a fulfilment in the firft times of the gofpel, and will have a greater in the latter times of it: that the fiers fhall fiand upen it, upon the brink of the river, or the fhore of the fea, whofe waters will be healed by this river running into them. Thefe fibers are the apoftles of Chrift, who of fifhermen, were made fifhers of men by him; to whom he gave a call and a commiffion, and gifts qualifying them to preach the gofpel; whereby they caught men, and brought them to Chrift; and fo were the inftruments of faving them, even of great numbers, both in Fudea, and in the Gentile world; of which fome inftances of their fifhing, after their call to the miniftry, were emblematical; fee Matt. iv. 18, 19. Luke v. 4—10. Fohn xxi. 3—11. likewife all other minifters of the gofpel are here meant, efpecially thofe that will be in the latter day; compared to fifhers for the meannefs and contemptiblenefs of their employment in the eyes of the world; for their laborioufnefs in it, and for their patient waiting for fuccefs therein; and for the bad weather, ftorms, and tempefts they are expofed unto, the reproach and perfecution of men; and for their being the happy means of drawing fouls out of the abyfs of fin and mifery unto Chrift, for life and falvation: and their tand- img upon the brink of the waters to catch fifh, may denote their conftancy in their work; their ftrict attachment to the doctrines of the gofpel, and their waiting for fuccefs in it. From Engedi even unto En-Eglaim, two places, which, according to erom, lay, the latter one at the entrance of the dead fea, and the former at the end of it; but Reland* obferves that this could not be, if Fo/fepbus is to be credited, who makes Engedi to be three hundred furlongs from Yerufalem'; therefore could not be far from the beginning of the dead fea, and not where it ended; fince the dead fea, or the lake of

(than fix or feven hundsed furlongs from Yerufalem; but that it was at the beginning of it, is ftilb further manifeft, from the fame writer making the lake to be juft fuch a number of furlongs from. |

Ferufalem™, as he does Engedi; and whereas Exgedi was on the weftern fhore of the lake, as appears from Pliny *, it is probable there was another city on the eaftern fhore, oppofite to it, called En-Eglaim, and there was a city on that fide, the name of which was 4gallim, which, according to Eufebius, was eight miles from Areopolis: and fo it may fignify the extent of the gofpel-miniftry, which in the latter day will be from one end of the earth to the other; and which took a large circuit in the times of the apoftles, and particularly by the apoftle Paul, Rom. xv. 19. They fhall be a place to fpread forth nets, that is, the above-faid places fhall be made ufe of for that purpofe; which defign the gofpel, and the miniftry of it, compared to a net, for its meannefs in the efteem of the world; and yet is a piece of curious artifice and wifdom, even the manifold wifdom of God, and is contrived for the gathering in of finners to Chrift; and tho” it may be like a net per accidens, the means of troubling the world, and drawing out the corruptions of the men of it; yet its principal defign, and the ufe that is made of it, is to draw fouls out of the depths of fin unto the grace of Chrift; fee defign the preaching of the gofpel, and the opening and explaining the doétrines of it, which are fhut up and hidden to men; and to do which requires wifdom and {fkill, ftrength, diligence, and patience, and is done at a venture; and fometimes is caft where fifh are, and fometimes not; but here, and at this time, with great fuccefs. For their fib

Joall be according to their kind, as the fib of the great fea, exceeding many; that is, there fhall be fith of all forts, fmall and great, and in large numbers, as in the great ocean, or as in the Mediterranean fea. Thefe fignify regenerated perfons, who are born of water and the Spirit by the word of God, which is their element; they can’t live but in thefe waters of the fanctuary, and where the doctriges of grace are preached. Now many of all nations, and men of all ranks, will be called; kings, princes, nobles, as well as peafants; men high and low, rich and poor, and multitudes of them, like the fifhes of the fea; which will be the cafe, when the Fews will be converted, and the fulnefs of the Gentiles brought in. i y. 11. But the miry places thereof, and the marfhes thereof, &c.} That is, of the fea; the waters of which were healed, by the waters of the fanétuary coming into them: but the ditches and lakes, the miry and marfh ground, feparate from the fea, which lay near it, and upon the borders of it, fhalt not be healed; thefe defign the reprobate part of the world, obftinate and perverfe finners, that abandon themfelves to their filthy lufts’ and fenfual pleafures; that wallow like {wine in the mire and dirt of fin; are wholly immerfed in the things of this world, mind nothing but earth and earthly things, and load themfelves with thick clay; whofe god i their belly, and who glory in their fhame: ‘allo hypocrites and apoftates may be here meant; who defpifing the gofpel, and the doétrines of it, put re it ‘ it away from them, and judge themfelves unworthy — Ajphaltites, was in length five hundred and eighty furlongs, and confequently Engedi muft be more of everlafting life, and fo receive no benefit by its but on the contrary it is the favour of death unto death unto them; fee I, vi. 9, 10: they fhall be given to falt; left to the hardnefs of their hearts; given up to the Iufts of them; devoted to ruin and deftruétion; and remain barren and unfruitful, as places demolifhed and fown with falt are; fee Deut. XXiX. 23. Fudg. ix. 45. or made an example of, as Lot’s wife was; that others may learn wifdom, and fhun thofe things that have been the caufe of their ruin.. The Targum is, “ its pools and lakes *¢ fhall not be healed; they fhall be for falt-pits.”’ ¥. 12. And by the river on the banks thereof on this fide, and on that fide, &c.] On each fide of the river, on the banks of it: ball grow all trees for meat, fuch as bear fruit, that may be eat, and is good for food: by thefe ¢rees are meant truly _ gracious fouls, converted perfons, real chriftians, ‘true believers in Chrift; who like trees have a root, are rooted in the love of God, in the perfon and ‘grace of Chrift, and have the root of the matter in them, the grace of the bleffed Spirit; and who, -alfo is their fap, of which they are full, and fo grow in grace, and in the knowledge of Chrift; grow up in him, and grow upwards and heavenwards in their affections and defires, and in the exercife of faith and hope: they are the trees of the Lord, trees of righteoufnefs, good trees, that bring forth good fruit; and are often in fcripture compared to trees fhe moft excellent, as palm-trees, cedars, olives, myrtles, c. and wherever the gofpel comes, thefe trees arife, and are watered and made fruitful by it; fometimes in leffer, and fometimes in greater numbers, as in the firft times of the gofpel, and as they will in the latter day; fee Pf. xcii. 12. If, xi. 3: whofe leaf foall not fade; as the leaves of trees in autumn do, and drop off and fall; to which fome profeffors of religion are compared, who bear no fruit, only have the leaves of a profeffion, and this they drop, when any trouble or difficulty arifes, Fud. ¥. 12. Matt. xiii. 21. but true believers, as they take up a profeffion on principles of grace, they hold it fait without wavering; their root, feed, and fap remain, and fo never wither and die in their profeffion; fee Pf i. 3. Fer. xvii. 8: neither fhall the fruit thereof be confumed; which are the graces of the Spirit, and good works flowing from them: the graces of the Spirit are abiding ones, as faith, hope, and love; thefe never die, are an incorruptible feed, a well of water fpringing up unto everlafting life; and good works, which’are fruits meet for repentance, and evidences of faith, and by which trees are known to be good, always continue to be wrought by believers, in the ftrength and grace of Chrift, from whom they have all their fruits, of every kind, Hof. xiv. 8. Phil. i. 11: it fhall bring forth new fruit. according to bis months, or, firft fruits °, that is, every one of thefe trees, or every true. believer, fhall be continually in the exercife of grace, and the performance of duty; they fhall be conftant and immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; they fhall never ceafe from yielding fruit, or doing good; they fhall ftill bring it forth, even in old age; fee Pf xcli. 14. Fer. xvii. 8: becaufe their waters, they ifjued out of the fanéuary becaufe the waters, which iffued out of the fanctuary, ran by thefe trees, and watered them, and made them fruitful, and therefore called their waters: the fruitfulnefs of thefe trees, true believers, is not owing to themfelves, to their free-will and © D7) afferet primitiva, V.L. Vatablus;

power; to their own induftry, diligence, and cultivation; but to the fupplies of grace they receive by means of the gofpel, and the doctrines of it; which bring forth, or caufe to bring forth fruit, Wherever they come with power, Col. i. 6: and the fruit thereof fhail be for meat; not for faints themfelyes, who live not, neither on their graces, nor their works; tho’ indeed they do eat the fruits. of their doings, Jf, iii, 10. that is, enjoy good things, confequent on their works, thro’ the free favour and good will of God; but for meat for others; for their fruit, which appears in their words and actions, are very beneficent to others; their fruit is a tree of life, Prov. xi. 30. and their lips feed many, Prov. x. 21. with knowledge and underftanding; with the gofpel, and the doétrines of it; and with the comfortable experience they have of its truths and promifes: yea, their fruit are meat and food for Chrift himfelf; who comes into his garden, and eats his pleafant fruits, feeds and feafts, and delights himfelf with his own grace in his people, and the exercife of it, Cant. iv. 9, 10, 1@. and v. 1: and the leaf thereof for medicine; or, for bruifes®; for the healing of them, which is only done by the blood of Chrift; who is the only phyfician, the fun of righteoufnefs, that rifes with healing or pardon in his wings; and the whole language of this paffage is borrowed from hence by ohn, and applied to Chrift the tree of life, Rev. xxi. 2. and the gofpel profeffed by true believers directs to him for healing, or for the remiffion of fin, and is the means of applying it, Pf. cvii. 20. and a chearful conftant profeffion of Chrift and his gofpel, which is the chriftian’s leaf, does. good like a medicine, both to the chriftian himfelf, and to others; who are animated and encouraged thereby to go on with pleafure in the ways of God, y¥. 13. Thus faith the Lord God, this thall be the border, &c.] Of the land of J/rael, as defcribed in the following verfes; which being different from, and much larger, and more extenfive than it was in the times of Mojfes or Fofhua, or than it was either before or after the captivity in Badylon, fhews, that this muft be underftood either of the land of Canaan, as it will be when poffeffed and inhabited. by the Fews, upon their converfion in the latter day; or rather of the church of Chrift, which is far greater than it was under the former difpenfation; and efpecially it will be {till more extenfive hereafter, when Chrift’s kingdom will be from fea to fea, and his dominion from the river to the ends of the earth; and from the rifing of the fun to the fetting of the fame, his name fhall be great among the Gentiles. ‘This fubject is reaflumed from ch. xlv. 1—8. after the infertion of various things of moment and importance there, a referve upon the divifion of the land is made of an holy portion of it, for the fanctuary; for the priefts, the minifters of it; for the Levites, the minifters of the houfe; and for a poffeffion of the city, and of the prince; and the reft to be given to the houfe of Jacl, the boundaries of which are here fixed: whereby ye foall inherit the land, according to the twelve tribes of Ifrael, by which are meant, not literal Ljrael, or according to the flefh, thefe being not all J rae/, or the children of God, and fo not heirs, and fhall not inherit; but fpiritual J/rae/, or the fpecial people of God, that fhall dwell in the church, and

Vel ad fanitatem contritiouis, Vatablus 5 ad fractionem fanandam, Pagninus, So Ben Melech, enjoy all the privileges of it; thefe are the fealed ones of all the tribes of J/rae/, an equal number out of each tribe; fee Rev. vii. 4-8. Fofeph thall have two portions for his two fons, Ephraim and Manaffeb, and in virtue of the birthright which fell to him on the forfeiture of it by Reuben; he was an eminent type of Chrift, with whom the faints are joint-heirs; and who has two portions, one for himfelf as Mediator, and another for then.

¥. 14. And ye foall inberit it, one as well as another, &c.] That is, the twelve tribes fhall equally inherit it; one tribe fhall not have more, and another Jefs, but each alike: this was not the cafe, at the divifion of the land, in the times of Moj/es and Fofbua; for to fuch tribes as were very numerous, a greater inheritance was given; and to thofe that were fewer in number, a leffer inheritance, Numb. xxvi. 54. and xxxiii. 54. and upon the return from the Babylonifh captivity, as the tribes of ‘fudab and Benjamin were the largeft, and indeed the only tribes that returned as fuch, they had the largeft fhare of the land; but as this refpects the gofpel-difpenfation, it fignifies, that thofe who are true J/raelites indeed, fhall fhare in the fame gofpel-church-ftate, the privileges and immunities of it alike, with all the bleflings of grace and eternal glory; they being all one in Chrilt Jefus, Gal, iii. 28: concerning the which I lifted up my hand to give it unto your fathers; that is, wore that he would give unto them the land of Canaan; typical of the gofpel-church-ftate and the heavenly glory; which are as fure to all the feed, by the word and oath of God, as that was: and this land Jeall fall unto you for inberitance;. by lot, by the appointment of God, and a goodly one it is, P/ xvi. 6, and xlvii. 4.

y¥. 15. And this thall be the border of the. land toward the north fide, &c.] The defcription of the borders of the land begins on the north fide; becaufe the gofpel, and the intereft of Chrift, would be, as they now are, chiefly in the northern part of the world, before the latter day-glory takes place, and from thence fpread into the other parts of it: from the great fea, the way of Hethlon, as men go to Zedad; the line of this border shall begin at the Mediterranean fea, commonly called the great fea, and fo proceed to Hethlon, a city in Syvia Damafcena, and from thence to Zedad; of which fee Numb, xxxiv. 8. the defcription is taken all along from the places which were on the border of Canaan, or in countries adjacent to it, which plainly point out the enlargement of it,

¥. 16. Hamath, Berothab, Sibraim, &c.] The line of the northern border fhould be drawn on by Hamath, the fame with Antiochia in Syria, fince called Epipbania, as Ferom obferves, from Axtiochus Epipbanes, and go on by Berothah, a city of Hadadezer king of Zobah, 2 Sam. viii. 8. the fame with the Barothena of Ptolemy %, placed by him in Syria; and from thence the line would be carried on to Srbraim, a city in Arabia Deferta: which is between the border of Damafcus; the chief city in Syria: and the border of Hamath, before-mentioned.” Calmet * imagines it to be that which Jomael Mbulfeda calls Hovvarin; which he fays is a village of the country of Ems or Hamath, to the foutheaft of the city. Hazar-Hatticon, which is by the coaft of Hauran, this feems to be explanative of Sibraim, which lay between the border of Damajcus, and the border of Hamath; and therefore

* DiQionary, in the word Sibraim, is called the middle town or village, as Hazar- Hatticon fignifies; and lay by the coaft of Heuran, which Ferom calls a town of Damajfcus, with which - it is mentioned, ¥. 18. from whence the count adjacent is called duranitis, as this place is he by the Septuagint. The Targum calls Hazar the fithpool of the 4gbeans, but for what reafon, and what is meant by it, 1 know not. ore} ey y¥. 17. And the border from the fea, foall be Hazar-Enan, the border of Damafcus, &c.] “Which was the furthermoft part and end of the northern’ border, as fixed by Ado/es, Numb. xxxiv.9: aad the north northward, and the border of Hamath, if this is carrying on the border further, it feems to be another Hamath, diftint from the former, y. 16: ond this is the north fide, of the land, and the defcription of the northern border of it, from the Mediterranean fea to Hazarv-Enan,; yt, 18. And the eaft fide ye foall meafure from Hau- ‘van, &c.| ‘The line of the eaftern border of the land thall begin at Hauran or Auranitis; fee ¥. 16. which lay to the fouth * of Damafcus: and it follows, and from the land of Vrael by Jordan, from ihe border unto the eaft fea, and fo from Damafcus, the metropolis of Syria; and likewife from Gilead, a mountain and country beyond Yordan; and alfo from that part of the land of J/rael near to Fordan; and fo from the northern border to the eaft fea, or fea of Galilee or Tiberias: and this is the eaft fide, of the land, or the eaftern border of it, reaching from Hauran to the lake of Genefaret, or to the falt fea, the fea of Sodom; fee Numb. xxxiy. IO, 11, 12. y¥. 19. And the fouth fide fouthward from Tamar, &c.] Not Jericho, as the Targum, Farchi and Kimchi, called by this name from the palm-trees which grew near it; according to Jerem, this is Pals myra, fo called for the fame reafon; but it is rather Exgedi, called Hazazon-Tamar, 2 Chron. xx. 2, the line of the fouthern border began here, and went on, even to the waters of firife in Kadehh; to the waters of Meribab in Kadefb; fo called, from the ftrivings of the children of J/rae/ with the Lord there, Numb. xx. 1, 13: the river to the great fea; it proceeded by the river of Egypt, the river Sibor, the Nile, which is before Egypt, Fo. xiii. 3. and xv. 47. and fo on to the Mediterranean fea: and this is he fouth fide fouthward; the fouth fide of the land, and the fouthern border of it.

y¥. 20. The weft fide alfo thall be the great fea.

from the border, &c.] From the border of Zgypr, and the river of it, to the Mediterranean fea, is the welt fide of the land, and the weftern border of it;.

hence the weftern point is often exprefied in fcrip~« ture by the fea: ¢i// a man come over-againft He. math, Antioch in Syria; fee ¥. 16: this és the weft fide; of the land, and of the weftern border of it. way ta

¥. 21, So foall ye divide this land unto you, 8c} As thus bounded, eaft, weft, north, and fouth: according to the tribes of Ifrael; fee the note on Vy 23s hat y. 22. And it foall come to pafs, &c.} In the laft days, under the gofpel-difpenfation: that ye hall divide it by lot for an inberitance unto you; who were

Traelites, both by natural defcent, and by the Spit and grace of God: the gofpel was firft preache: to I/rael after the flefh, and made effectual to the -converfion of many of them; and the firft chu: ‘were made ‘up of them, and they fhared