nuine, and of Divine Authority, being written by. him who had fo many ways given Evidence of his Divine Commiffion. **** CHA P. V. Of the Predictions or Prophecies contain'd in the Books of Moses. IT T was foretold by God himself, upon the Fall of our First Parents, That the feed of the woman should bruife the ferpent's head, Gen. iii. 15. a Maimonides is obferv❜d to take particular notice, that it was the Seed of the Woman, and not of the Man; and the Jews, in their Targums, are obferv'd to apply this Text to the Meffias, which was fulfill'd in our Saviour Chrift, who was born of a Woman, that was a Virgin, and had no Man to his Father: And therefore this Prediction, exprefs'd thus precifely concerning the Seed of the Woman, could be fulfill'd in no other Perfon; and no other Perfon ever gain'd fuch Victories over the Enemy of Mankind, who had fo long tyrannized over the Sons of Men. God reveal'd the precife Time of the Flood to Noah; who thereupon built an Ark, and foretold the Destruction of the World to that wicked Generation, and was a Preacher of Righteousness and Repentance to them, Gen. vi. 3. After the Flood, Noah, by a Prophetick Spirit, foretold the Fate and Condition of the Pofterity of his three Sons, Gen. ix. 25. That Canaan fhould be Servant to Shem; which was accomplish'd, when the Children of Ifrael, the Pofterity of Shem, fubdued the Canaanites, and poffefs'd their Land, about Eight hundred Years after this Prophecy That Japhet fhould dwell in the Tents of a Maim. More Nevoch. Par. 2. c. 30. Shem; Shem; which was fulfill'd in the Greeks and Romans, defcended from Japhet, when they conquer'd Afia: That Canaan fhould likewife be the Servant of Japhet, as well as of Shem. Upon which Mr. Mede obferves, b that the Pofterity of Cham never fubdued the Children either of Japhet, or of Shem; tho' Shem hath fubdued Japhet, and Japhet hath conquer'd Shem: which made Hannibal, defcended from Canaan, cry out, with Amazement of Soul, Agnofco fatum Carthaginis. God promifeth Abraham a Son, in his old Age, by Sarah his Wife, who was likewise of a great Age; and declares, that his Pofterity, by this Son, fhould be exceeding Numerous; that they fhould inherit the Land of Canaan, after they had been afflicted in a ftrange Land Four hundred Years, Gen. xv. 13. and that then they fhould come out of that Land with great fubftance; but that God would judge the Nation that had opprefs'd them; or, that he would procure their Deliverance, by fignal Judgments upon their Oppreffors; and that in the fourth Generation they should be brought back again to the Land of Promife, ver. 16. (the Bounds whereof are defcribed, ver. 18.) which agrees exactly with the Deliverance of the Children of Ifrael out of Egypt, computing the Years from the time that the Promife was made to Abraham, (Exod. xii. 40. Gal. iii. 17.) and reckoning the Four Generations to be betwixt Ifaac the Son promifed to Abraham; and Mofes, in whom the Prediction was fulfilled. Or if we reckon, as divers d Rabbins do, from the time when the Children of Ifrael came into Egypt, from Levi to Mofes, and from Judah to Caleb, were Four Generations inclufively. And whereas in our Tranflation we read, the children of Ifrael went up harneffed, or five in a rank, out of the Land of Egypt, Exod. xiii. 18. In the Septuagint Verfion it is rendred, b Mede, Book 1. Disc. 48. e Liv. 1. 27. They They went out of Egypt in the Fifth Generation. Or, if we compute from the Firft Generation born in Egypt, Mofes and Aaron were of the Third Gene ration, and their Children of the Fourth entred in the Promis'd Land. To compute from the Fourth Generation of the Amorites, may feem precarious; because we have no other Means to know the Number of their Generations, than by an Estimate made from the Generations of the Hebrews. But whatever way we compute the Generations which we find recorded of the Hebrews; the Prophecy was certainly fulfilled. This Promife made to Abraham and his Seed, was renew'd feveral times, and repeated again to him, and to Ifaac and Jacob, Gen. xxvi. 3. and xxviii. 14. and was all along depended upon by the Ifraelites. God foretold of Abraham, That all the na tions of the earth fhould be blessed in him, Gen. xviii. 18. which was fulfill'd, in that God made Abraham's Pofterity his Meffengers to communicate his Will to the rest of Mankind, and more-efpecially in that Bleffing which all Nations receiv'd in the Birth of Chrift. This is a remarkable Prophecy concerning the greatest of Bleffings, and is often repeated. The Bleffing promised to Abraham for Ishmael, was no lefs punctually fulfill'd: And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. Twelve Princes fhall he beget, and I will make him a great Nation, Gen. xvii 20. fulfilled, Gen. xxv. 12. 1 Chron. i. 29. The Prophecy of Ifaac, concerning Efau and Jacob, Gen. xxvii. 40. firft, That the Pofterity of Efau fhould ferve Jacob's Pofterity, was fulfill'd, in David's Victories over the Edomites, 2 Sam. viii. 14. 1 Kings xi.15. 1 Chron. xviii. 13. and by Amaziah, 2 Kings xiv. 7. and then that part of it, That the Edomites fhould v vév. Exod. xiii. 18. LXX. Interpr. c. 14. Voll de Tran. break break the yoke from off their neck, was accomplish'd, 2 King. viii. 20. 2 Chron. xxi. 8. Jofeph's own Dream, and his Interpretation of the Dream of Pharaoh, when none of the Magicians or Wife-men of Egpyt were able to interpret it, had remarkable and publick Circumftances, that could neither be mistaken nor forgotten in the Accomplishment. Jacob prefers Ephraim the younger Son of Jofeph, before his elder Brother Manaffeh, and foretels, that tho' Manasseh fhould be great, yet Ephraim fhould be greater than he, and his feed fhould become a multitude of nations, Gen. xlviii. 19. Accordingly we find, that after the Divifion of the Ten Tribes under Jeroboam an Ephrathite, thofe Tribes were denominated from Ephraim, as the two remaining Tribes had their Denomination from Judah; and the Royal Seat of the Kings of Ifrael was at Samaria, in the Tribe of Ephraim. Jacob afterwards defcribes the Borders of their feveral Poffeffions in the Land of Canaan, tho' it were fo many Years after divided among the Tribes by Lot, Gen. xlix. 13. He foretold the different State and Condition of the reft of his Sons; and particularly prophefy'd, That Judah fhould bebecome very honourable among his brethren, and victorious over his enemies'; and that the Sceptre fhould not depart from Judah until Shilo came, i. e. until the Meffias came, as the Jewish Targums explain it. And upon the fulfilling of this and other Prophecies in the Pentateuch, not only the Jews, but the Samaritans, who receiv'd no other Prophecies as they did thefe, expected the Meffias at the time in which our Saviour appear'd in the World; and believ'd on him, becaufe they faw the Prophecies fulfill'd in Him, Joh. iv. 25, 29, 39, 42. Jofeph took an oath of the children of Ifrael, Saying, God will furely vifit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence, Gen. 1. 25. which they did accordingly, Exod. xiii. 19. Jacob had defir'd to be buryed in the Land of Canaan; infomuch that he caus'd Jofeph to fwear to him, that he would bury him there, and and not in Ægypt; and Jofeph and his Brethren went into Canaan to bury their Father, because that was the Land where Abraham and Ifaac had been bury'd, and the Land which their Pofterity was afterwards to pof fels: But Jofeph, as a farther token of Affurance to the Ifraelites, that they fhould inherit that Land, would not have his own Corps carry'd thither, at his Death, but order'd his Bones to be kept, and carry'd up by their Posterity, at their leaving Ægypt; and in the mean time, they were a perpetual Monument and Representation to them of the Promise made to their Fore-fathers, and a Ground and Motive for their Truft and Confidence in God for the Accomplishment of it. ་ The Remembrance of Balaam's Prophecy was pre→ ferv'd in the Eaft; and the Wife-men, upon the Appearance of the Star, knowing it to be fulfill'd, came to Jerufalem, to enquire where they might find the King of the Jews, then newly born, Num. xxiv. 15. Mat. ii. 2. f He prophefy'd likewife of Agag by Name, faying of Ifrael, And his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted, Num. xxiv. 7. thereby foretelling the Government of Ifrael by Kings, and the Deftruction of Agag by Saul; who being the firft King that ever Ifrael had, overcame Agag King of the Amalekites, 1 Sam. xv. 8. The fame Balaam foretold the Conquefts of Alexander, in these words, And Ships fhall come from the coasts of Chittim, and fball afflict Afhur, Num. xxiv. 24. By the Coafts of Chittim, are to be underftood the Coafts of Greece, from whence Alexander's Army was tranfported into Afia; for Alexander came out of the Land of Chettim, or Chittim, I Mac. i. 1. and Perfeus was King of the Citims, or Macedonians, chap. viii. 5. He foretold the Fate of the Moabites, the Edomites, the Kenites, and the Amalekitės; and the Conqueft of the Affyrians, as well as the Succefs and Victories of the Ifraelites, f Hieron. ad Ezek. xxxviii. L Num. |