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THE

POOR MAN'S CONCORDANCE

TO THE

SACRED SCRIPTURES.

Α

A. In the very opening of this Concordance, I cannot pass over the first letter, which the Hebrews call Aleph, and which they pronounce A. And I do this the rather, because, as the Greeks call their first letter Alpha, and our adorable Redeemer graciously condescended to call himself by that name; so equally applicable is Aleph, to the person of Jesus. Indeed, as if to shew the infinite fulness and comprehensiveness of his nature and character, the Lord Jesus took the names, both of Alpha and Omega: the former, the first; and the latter, the last, in the letters of the Alphabet. There is no letter before Alpha, and none after Omega. Nothing can be more strikingly characteristic of Christ. For as Christ, he was, and is, and ever will be, the first letter in all JEHOVAH'S alphabet; and the last, in all the ultimate design of his glory. (See Rev. i. 8. Rev. xxi. 6. Rev. xxii. 13.) Now the word Aleph is expressive also of a first, a leader, or chief, and sovereign person. So that in this sense, Jesus is Aleph, as well as Alpha. And it is still worthy of farther remark, that as the sound of the Aleph,

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or A, in Hebrew, is only a soft breathing as it were, and needs nothing more to form it, than the mere motion of the lips; it may be supposed, to have a peculiar reference to Him, who first "breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Gen. ii. 7.) AARON, Son of Amram, and the elder brother of Moses. He was of the tribe of Levi. (Exod. vi. 19, 20.) His name is derived from Har, a Mountain and consequently signifies somewhat great and lofty. And when we consider, to what an high honour Aaron was called; to be the type of Him, who, in the everlasting nature of his office, was, and is, JEHOVAH'S High Priest; both the altar, and the offering, the sacrifice, and the sacrificer, through whom alone, all offerings must be presented: surely, none taken from among men, could be more great and lofty in office than Aaron. The history of Aaron, incorporated as it is with that of Moses, fills a large part in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. But the great eminency of his character is formed from his becoming so illustrious a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every thing in his priestly office ministered to this one point. Indeed the whole law, and consequently the priesthood, became "a shadow of good things to come; but the body, which formed that shadow, was Christ." (Col. ii. 17. Levit. xvi. 2, Numb. xvi. 46, 47.)

ABADDON. This word signifies a Destroyer. As such, it is given to the apostate angel of the bottomless pit, and very properly suits him. His whole pursuit, in scouring the earth, is, we are told, as "a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." (See Rev. ix. 11. 1 Pet. v. 8. See also Devil. Satan.)

ABAGTHA. One of the chamberlains of Persia. His

name, if Hebrew, is compounded of Ab, father, and Gath, a press: probably, he was the "master of the wine-press." (Esther i. 10.)

ABANA. A river of Damascus, made memorable on account of Naaman's leprosy. Its name is compounded of Aben, a stone, and Bana, to build. The Syrian prided himself on the greatness of this river, and contemned the sacred streams of Jordan. His conduct was not unsimilar to modern Syrians in nature; who think high of their own moral excellency, and cannot brook the necessity of being washed from the leprosy of sin, in the blood of Christ. May we not say with the poor captive servant in the house of Naaman: Would God that sinners, conscious, like Naaman, of their disease, "were with the Lord God of the prophets, for he would recover them of their leprosy !" (See 2 Kings v. 1-14.)

ABARIM. These were several smaller mountains, or hills, of rising ground, beyond Jordan, in the country of Moab; which went by the name of Abarim. Nebo, Pisgah, and Peor, were in the number. Nebo became ever-memorable, as being the sacred spot where Moses the man of God died. (Num. xxxiii. 48. Deut. xxxii. 49, 50. Deut. xxxiv. 1.)

ABBA. A Syriac word, sinifying Father. It is thrice used in the New Testament. Once, by the Lord Jesus, (Mark xiv. 36.) and twice by his servant the apostle Paul. (Rom. viii. 15. and Gal. iv. 6.) It is a word of peculiar tenderness; and I could wish that the real and full meaning of it was strongly impressed on the mind of every regenerated believer. It would tend to give great confidence and comfort in a dark and trying hour. David Levi, in his Lingua Sacra, derives it from a root, which signifies, desire, delight. complacency, satis

faction and implying no less, special interest of relationship, as between the nearest of all connections. And agreeably to this account of the word, it is remarkable, that though the word, in its extensive sense, signifies the Ab, or Head, and Lord of a family; yet a slave, or menial servant, was never allowed to use it in addressing the Ab. I very earnestly beg the reader not to lose sight. of this view of the word Abba, but to let it

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possess a suitable place, equal to its importance, in his remembrance. For if it was so specially confined, among the people of the East, to the children of a family; and Jesus and his people in him, are enjoined to use it on this account; can any thing more strikingly prove their relationship? And I cannot but express my hope, that if the reader of this Poor Man's Concordance, is enabled, by grace, to see his own personal privilege herein, and can enter into a proper apprehension of the word, in this most endearing view, he will be led to discover the sweetness and blessedness of it, and from henceforth adopt it, in all his approaches to the throne of God in Christ. And how delightfully in this sense, doth it explain to us that passage of the apostle, in his epistle to the Galatians; where he saith, “Because ye are sons, [not because ye are to be made so, but because ye are already sons] God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father." (Gal. iv. 6.)

While I am upon this word Abba, Father, I cannot forbear adding to those observations, though in a cursory manner, a remark upon the word Ammah, Mother. For it is from the same root, and is also of the like peculiarity of tenderness, in reference to the church of Jesus; which, as the apostle saith, (including both that in heaven and in

earth, for they are but one and the same,) "is the mother of us all.” (Gal. iv. 26.) We meet with the several branches of the same root in Scripture, according to the several relations arising out of it; but they are all one and the same family. (Ephes. iii. 14, 15.) Hence Zion is called, and by the Lord himself, the "Virgin daughter (the Almah) of Zion." (Isaiah xxxvii. 22.) So again she is spoken of as the sister (Ruhamah) (Hosea ii. 1.) And it is no uncommon thing for Christ to call his church by all these names. (See Song iv. 9, 10, 12.) And when Isaiah was commissioned to proclaim to the church, the subject of the miraculous conception, he used the same word as the Lord did of Zion. "Behold, a virgin, (Almah) shall conceive." (Isaiah vii. 14.) I venture to believe that if the recollection of these names, all springing as they do from one and the same source, were frequent in the believer's remembrance, they would much refresh the soul. And I think it worthy of yet farther remark, that there is a beautiful sameness between the first cry of nature, in the infancy of our being, and this language of grace when the souls of believers are first born to God. It was said by the prophet concerning Him, whom he predicted, that "before the child should know to refuse the evil and choose the good," the event leading to it should be accomplished. (Isaiah vii. 16.) And it must be truly said, that before the cry of the soul, in the new birth of grace, goes forth in Abba, or Ammah, the apprehending union, interest, and relationship in Christ with his church, had been settled long before, even from all eternity.

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Though I have already far exceeded, under this article, the ordinary limits to be observed in a work of this kind, yet I must beg to trespass a

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