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A. M. CIR. 2118. B. C. CIR. 1886.

God, that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son: but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned.

24 And Abraham said, I will swear. 25. And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water, which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away.

26 And Abimelech said, I wot not who hath done this thing: neither didst thou tell me; neither yet heard I of it, but to day.

27 And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant.

28 And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.

a Heb. if thou shalt lie unto me.-b Bee Ch. 26. 15, 18, 20, 21, 22-e Ch. 26. 31. d Ch. 33. 8-e Ch. 31. 48, 52-f Ch. 26. 33.-g That is, the well of the oath.-h Or,

God is with thee] Meymra dayai, the WORD of Jehovah, see before, chap. xv. 1. That the Chaldee Paraphrasts use this term not for a word spoken, but in the same sense in which St. John uses the Aoys Tou ou, the WORD of God, chap. i. is evident to every unprejudiced reader.

Verse 23. Now therefore swear unto me] The oath on such occasions probably meant no more than the mutual promise of both the parties, when they slew an animal, poured out the blood as a sacrifice to God, and then passed between the pieces. See this ceremony, chap. v. 18. and on chap. xv.

According to the kindness I have done] The simple claims of justice, were alone set up among virtuous people in those ancient times, which constituted the basis of the famous Lex talionis, or law of like for like, kind office for kind office, and breach for breach.

Verse 25. Abraham reproved Abimelech] Wells were of great consequence in those hot countries; and especially where the flocks were numerous, because the water was scarce, and digging to find it was accompanied with much expense of time and labour.

Verse 26. I wot not who hath done this thing] The servants of Abimelech had committed these depredations on Abraham without any authority from their master; who appears to have been a very amiable man, possessing the fear of God, and ever regulating the whole of his conduct by the principles of righteousness and strict justice. Verse 27. Took sheep and oxen] Some think that these were the sacrifices which were offered on the occasion, and which Abraham furnished at his own cost; and in order to do Abimelech the greater honour, gave them to him to offer before the Lord.

Verse 28. Seven ewe lambs] These were either given as a present, or they were intended as the price of the well; and being accepted by Abimelech, they served as a witness that he had acknowledged Abraham's right to the well in question.

Verse 31. He called the name of the place Beer-sheba] ya Na Beer-sheba, literally, the well of swearing, or of the oath, because they both sware there, mutually confirmed the covenant.

Verse 33. Abraham planted a grove] The original word, wx eshel, has been variously translated, a grove, a plantation, an orchard, a cultivated field, and an oak. From this word, says Mr. Parkhurst, may be derived the name of the famous Asylum, opened by Romulus, between two groves of oaks, at Rome, (90grov Suoir Seuμv, Dionys. Hal. lib. 2. c. 15.) And as Abraham, Gen. xxi. 33. agreeably, no doubt, to the institutes of the patriarchal religion, planted an oak in Beer-sheba, and called on the name of Jehovah the everlasting God, (compare Gen. xiii. 8. xviii. 1.) so we find that oaks were sacred among the idolaters also. Ye shall be ashamed of the OAKS ye have chosen, says Isaiah (chap. i. 29.) to the idolatrous Israelites. And in Greece we meet, in very early times, with the oracle of Jupiter at the oaks of Dodona. Among the Greeks and Romans we have sacra Jovi quercus, the oak, sacred to Jupiter, even to a proverb. And in Gaul and Britain, we find the highest religious regard paid to the same tree, and to its misletoe, under the direction of the Druids, that is, the oak-prophets or priests, from the Celtic, deru, and Greek, eus, an oak. Few are ignorant that the misletoe is indeed a very extraordinary plant, not to be cultivated in the earth, but always growing on some other tree. "The Druids," says Pliny, Nat. Hist. 1. xvii. c. 44. "hold nothing more sacred than the misletoe, and the tree on which it is produced, provided it be the oak. They make choice of groves of oak on this account, nor do they per

form any of their sacred rites without the leaves of those
trees, so that one may suppose that they are for this reason
called, by a Greek etymology, Druids. And whatever
misletoe grows on the oak, they think is sent from heaven,
however, is very rarely found; but when discovered, is
and is a sign that God himself has chosen that tree. This,
treated with great ceremony. They call it by a name
which signifies, in their language, the curer of all ills;
and, having duly prepared their feasts and sacrifices under
the tree, they bring to it two white bulls, whose horns are
robe, ascends the tree, and with a golden pruning-hook
then for the first time tied: the priest, dressed in a white
cuts off the misletoe, which is received in a white sagum
or sheet. Then they sacrifice the victims, praying that
God would bless his own gift to those on whom he has
this account, without thinking of HIM who was the desire
bestowed it." It is impossible for a Christian to read
of all nations, of the Man whose name was the BRANCH,
who had indeed no father upon earth, but came down
from heaven; was given to heal all our ills, and after
fine linen, and laid in the sepulchre, for our sakes. I
being cut off through the divine counsel, was wrapped in
cannot forbear adding, that the misletoe was a sarred
emblem to other Celtic nations, as for instance, to the
ancient inhabitants of Italy. The golden branch, of
which Virgil speaks so largely, in the sixth book of the
Eneis, and without which, he says, none could return
from the infernal regions, see line 126, seems an allusion
to the misletoe, as he himself plainly intimates, by com-
paring it to that plant, line 205, &c. See Parkhurst,
under the word SN eshel.

In the first ages of the world, the worship of God was exceedingly simple; there were no temples, nor covered edifices of any kind: an altar, sometimes a single stone, sometimes it consisted of several, and at other times merely of turf, was all that was necessary; on this the fire was proper, as they knew that the object of their worship filled lighted and the sacrifice offered. Any place was equally the heavens and the earth. In process of time, when families increased, and many sacrifices were to be offered, might enjoy the protection of the shade, as a considerable groves or shady places were chosen, where the worshippers time must be employed in offering many sacrifices. These groves became afterward abused to impure and idolatrous purposes, and were therefore strictly forbidden. See Exod. xxxiv. 13. Deut. xii. 3. xvi. 21.

And called there on the name of the Lord] On this important passage, Dr. Shuckford speaks thus:-"Our English translation very erroneously renders this place he called upon the name of Jehovah; but the expression P Dva kara beshem, never signifies, to call upon the name: DNP kara shem, would signify, to invoke or call upon the name; or by Np kara el shem, would signify, to cry unto the name, but vap, kara be shem, signifies to invoke IN the name, and seems to be used, where the true worshippers of God offered their prayers in the name of the true Mediator, or where the idolaters offered their prayers in the name of false ones, 1 Kings xviii. 26.; for so the false worshippers had gods many and lords many; as the true worshippers had but one God and one Lord, 1 Cor. viii. 5. We have several instances of Np kara, and a noun after it, sometimes with, and sometimes without the particle by el, and then it signifies to call upon the to call upon the Lord; Psal. xiv. 4. xvii. 6. xxxi. 7. liii. person there mentioned: thus p kara Jehovah, is 4. exviii. 5, &c. and mm by Np kara el Jehovah, imports the same; I Sam. xii. 17. Jon. i. 6, &c. but Dap kara be shem, is either to name By the name, Gen. iv. 17. Num. xxxii. 42. Psal. xlix. 11. Isai. xliii. 7. or, to invoke IN

CHAPTER XXII.

2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a Isaac, 7; and Abraham's answer, 8. Having arrived at mount Moriah, he pre- burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which

The faith and obedience of Abraham put to a most extraordinary test, 1: he is commanded to offer his beloved son Isaac, for a burnt-offering, 2: he prepares, with the utmost promptitude, to accomplish the will of God, 3-6. Affecting speech of

pares to sacrifice his son, 9, 10; and is prevented by an angel of the Lord, 11, 12 A ram is offered in the stead of Isaac, 13; and the place is named Jehovah-fireh, 13, 14. The angel of the Lord calla to Abraham a second time, 15; and, in the

I will tell thee of.

e

3 | And Abraham rose up early in the mornmost solemn manner, he is assured of innumerable blessings in the multiplicing, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose

and prosperity of his seed, 16--18. Abraham returns and dwells at Beer-sheba, 19; hears that his brother Nahor has eight children by his wife Milcah, 20; their names, 21-23; and four by his concubine Reumah, 24.

AND it came to pass after these things, that up, and went unto the place of which God had

God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I

am.

b

a 1 Cor. 10. 13. Heb. 11. 17. James 1. 12. 1 Pet. 1. 7.-b Heb. Behold me.-c Heb. 11. 17.

the name when it is used as an expression of religious worship." CONNEX. v. 1. p. 293. I believe this to be a just view of the subject, and therefore I admit it without scruple.

The everlasting God] by Yehovah el ôlam, JEHOVAH the STRONG GOD, the ETERNAL ONE. This is the first place in Scripture in which by olam occurs, as an attribute of God; and here it is evidently designed to point out his eternal duration: that it can mean no limited time is self-evident, because nothing of this kind can be attributed to God. The Septuagint renders the words, gog, the ever-existing God; and the Arabic says Nell all all we dûha thamma bismillahi ilahitaalami, and he invoked there, in the name of God, the eternal God. The word is from the same root with the Hebrew, and is used by the Arab lawgiver in the commencement of his Koran, to express the perfections and essence of the supreme God. From this application of both words, we learn that by ôlum, and av, aion, originally signified ETERNAL, or duration without end. by alam, signifies he was hidden, concealed, or kept secret: and or, according to Aristotle, De Calo, lib. 1. cap. 9. and a higher authority need not be sought, is compounded of 2, always, and wv, being-v TIN, TO TOU 0884 8443. The same author informs us that God was termed Aisan, because he was always existing, mahira Αισαν, δε και ούσαν, De Mundo, chap. vii. in fine. Hence we see that no words can more forcibly express the grand characteristics of eternity than these. It is that duration which is concealed, hidden, or kept secret from all created beings-which is always existing; still running on, but never running our-an interminable, incessant, and immeasurable duration: it is THAT, in the whole of which God alone can be said to exist; and that which the eternal mind can alone comprehend.

IN all languages words have, in process of time, deviated from their original acceptations, and have become accommodated to particular purposes, and limited to particular meanings. This has happened both to the Hebrew yalam, and the Greek av: they have been both used to express a limited time, but, in general, a time, the limits of which are unknown; and thus a pointed reference to the original ideal meaning is still kept up. Those who bring any of these terms in an accommodated sense, to favour a particular doctrine, &c. must depend on the good graces of their opponents for permission to use them in this way. For as the real grammatical meaning of both words is eternal, and all other meanings only accommodated ones, sound criticism, in all matters of dispute concerning the import of a word or term, must have recourse to the grammatical meaning, and its use among the earliest and most correct writers in the language; and will determine all accommodated meanings by this alone. Now, the first and best writers in both these languages apply ôlam and av to express eternal, in the proper meaning of that word; and this is their proper meaning in the Old | and New Testaments when applied to God, his attributes, his operations taken in connexion with the ends for which he performs them, for whatsoever he doth, it shall be for every myihiyeh le-ôlam, Eccl. iii. 14. it shall be for eternity; forms and appearances of created things may change, but the counsels and purposes of God, relatively to them, are permanent and eternal; and none of them can be frustrated-hence the words, when applied to things which, from their nature, must have a limited duration, are properly to be understood in this sense; because those things, though temporal in themselves, shadow forth things that are eternal. Thus the Jewish dispensation, which in the whole, and in its parts, is frequently said to be by le-ôlam, for ever; and which has terminated in the Christian dispensation, has the word properly applied to it, because it typified and introduced

told him.

4 Then, on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.

d 2 Chron. 3. 1. Psa. 119. 60. Eccl. 9. 10. Isa. 26. 3, 4. Luke 14. 26. Heb. II. 17-19.

that dispensation which is to continue, not only while time shall last, but is to have its incessant, accumulating consumption throughout eternity. The word is, with the same strict propriety, applied to the duration of the rewards and punishments in a future state. And the argument that pretends to prove, and it is only pretension, that in the future punishment of the wicked, "the worm shall die," and "the fire shall be quenched," will apply as forcibly to the state of happy spirits, and as fully prove, that a point in eternity shall arrive, when the repose of the righteous shall be interrupted, and the glorification of the children of God have an eternal end! See the notes on chap. xvii. 7, 8. The absurdity of such tenets prevents them from becoming very dangerous.

Faithfulness is one of the attributes of God, and none of his promises can fail. According to the promise to Abraham, Isaac is born; but according to the course of nature, it fully appears, that both Abraham and Sarah had passed that term of life in which it was possible for them to have children. Isaac is the child of the promise, and the promise is supernatural. Ishmael is born according to the ordinary course of nature, and cannot inherit, because the inheritance is spiritual, and cannot come by natural birth: hence, we see that no man can expect to enter into the kingdom of God by birth, education, profession of the true faith, &c. &c. Those alone who are born from above, and are made partakers of the divine nature, can be admitted into the family of God in heaven, and everlastingly enjoy that glorious inheritance. Reader, art thou born again? Hath God changed thy heart and thy life? If not; canst thou suppose that, in thy present state, thou canst possibly enter into the paradise of God? I leave conscience to answer.

The actions of good men may be misrepresented, and their motives suspected, because those motives are not known; and those who are prone to think evil, are the last to take any trouble to inform their minds, so that they may judge righteous judgment. Abraham, in the dismissal of Hagar and Ishmael, has been accused of cruelty. Though objections of this kind have been answered already, yet it may not be amiss farther to observe, that what he did, he did in conformity to a divine command; and a command so unequivocally given, that he could not doubt its divine origin; and this very command was accompanied with a promise that both the child and his mother should be taken under the divine protection. And it was so : nor does it appear that they lacked any thing but water, and that only for a short time, after which it was miraculously supplied. God will work a miracle when necessary; and never till then: and at such a time the divine interposition can be easily ascertained, and man is under no temptation to attribute to second causes, what has so evidently flowed from the first. Thus, while he is promoting his creatures' good, he is securing his own glory: and he brings men into straits and difficulties, so that he may have the fuller opportunity to convince his followers of his providential care, and to prove how much he loves them. Did we acknowledge God in all our ways, he would direct our steps. Abimelech, king of Gerar, and Phichol, captain of his host, seeing Abraham a worshipper of the true God, made him swear by the object of his worship, that there should be a lasting peace between them and him: for, as they saw that God was with Abraham, they well knew that he could not expect the divine blessing any longer than he walked in integrity before God: they therefore require him to swear by God, that he would not deal falsely with them, or their posterity. From this very circumstance we inay see the original purpose, design, and spirit of an oath, viz. Let God prosper or curse me in all that I do, as I prove true or false to my engagements! This is still the spirit of all oaths, where God is called to witness, whether the form be by the water of the Ganges, the sign of the cross, kissing the Bible, or

5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder, and worship, and come again to

you.

7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, "Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt

6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering? offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

a lea. 53. 6. Matt. 8. 17. John 19. 17. 1 Pet. 2. 24.b Heb. Behold me.

lifting up the hand to heaven. Hence we may learn, that he who falsifies an oath or promise, made in the presence and name of God, thereby forfeits all right and title to the approbation and blessing of his Maker.

But it is highly criminal to make such appeals to God upon trivial occasions. Only the most solemn matters should be thus determined. Legislators who regard the morals of the people, should take heed not to multiply oaths in matters of commerce and revenue.

NOTES ON CHAPTER XXII.

Verse 1. God did tempt Abraham] The original here is very emphatic, Dan Ve-ha-Elohim, nissah eth Abraham, and the Elohim he tried this Abraham: God brought him into such circumstances as exercised and discovered his faith, love, and obedience. Though the word tempt, from tento, signifies no more than to prove or try; yet as it is now generally used to imply a solicitation to evil, in which way God never tempts any man, it would be well to avoid it here. The Septuagint uses the word, which signifies to try, pierce through: and Symmachus translates the Hebrew no nissah, by dožαlev, God glorified Abraham, or rendered him illustrious, supposing the word to be the same with o nas, which signifies to glister with light, whence o nes, an ensign or banner displayed. Thus, then, according to him, the words should be understood, "God put great honour on Abraham, by giving him this opportunity of showing to all successive ages the nature and efficacy of an unshaken faith in the power, goodness, and truth of God." The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel paraphrases the place

thus:

"And it happened that Isaac and Ishmael contended, and Ishmael said, I ought to be my father's heir because I am his first-born; but Isaac said, It is more proper that I should be my father's heir, because I am the son of Sarah his wife; and thou art only the son of Hagar, my mother's slave. Then Ishmael answered, I am more righteous than thou, because I was circumcised when I was thirteen years of age, and if I had chosen, I could have prevented my circumcision; but thou wert circumcised when thou wert but eight days old, and if thou hadst had knowledge, thou wouldst probably not have suffered thyself to be circumcised. Then Isaac answered and said, Behold, I am now thirty-six years old, and if the holy and blessed God should require all my members, I would freely surrender them. These words were immediately heard before the Lord of the universe, and meymra dayai, the WORD of the Lord, did try Abraham." I wish once for all to remark, though the subject has been referred to before, that the Chaldee term Ni meymra, which we translate word, is taken personally in some hundreds of places in this Targum. When the author, Jonathan, speaks of the Divine Being as doing or saying any thing, he generally represents him as performing the whole by his meymra, which he considers not as a speech, or word spoken, but as a person, quite distinct from the Most High, and to whom he gives all the attributes of the Diety. St. John uses the word xoys in precisely the same sense with the Targumists, chap. i. I. see the notes there, and see before, ver. 22. and on chap. xv. 1.

Verse 2. Take now thy son] Bishop Warburton's observations on this passage are weighty and important. "The order in which the words are placed in the original, gradually increase the sense, and raise the passions higher and higher, Take no thy son, (rather, take I beseech thee na) thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac. Jarchi imagines this minuteness was to preclude any doubt in Abraham. Abraham desired earnestly to be let into the mystery of redemption; and God, to instruct him in the infinite extent of the divine goodness to mankind, who spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, let Abraham feel by experience, what it was to lose a beloved son, the son born miraculously, when Sarah was past child-bearing, as Jesus was miraculously born of a virgin. The duration too of the action, ver. 4. was the same as that between Christ's death and resurrection, both which were designed to be represented in it; and still farther, not only the final archetypical sacrifice of the Son

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8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offering: so they went both of them together.

e Or, kidd John 1. 29, 36. Rev. 5. 6, 12. & 13. 8.

of God, was figured in the command to offer Isaac, but the intermediate typical sacrifice in the Mosaic economy was represented, by the permitted sacrifice of the ram, offered up, ver. 13. instead of Isaac."-See Dodd.

Only son] All that he had by Sarah his lawful wife. The land of Moriah] This is supposed to mean all the mountains of Jerusalem; comprehending mount Gihon or Calvary, the mount of Sion, and of Acra. As mount Calvary is the highest ground to the west, and the mount of the temple is the lowest of the mounts, Mr. Mann conjectures that it was upon this mount Abraham offered up Isaac; which is well known to be the same mount on which our blessed Lord was crucified. Beer-sheba, where Abraham dwelt, is about forty-two miles distant from Jerusalem; and it is not to be wondered at, that Abraham, Isaac, the two servants, and the ass laden with wood for the burnt-offering, did not reach this place till the third day; see ver. 4.

Verse 3. Two of his young men] Eliezar and Ishmael according to the Targum.

Clave the wood] Small wood, fig and palm, proper for a burnt-offering. Targum.

Verse 4. Saw the place afar off] The Targum says, he knew the place, by seeing the cloud of glory smoking on the top of the mountain.

The third day] "As the number SEVEN," says Mr. Ainsworth, "is of especial use in Scripture, because of the sabbath day, Gen. ii. 2. so THREE is a mystical number, because of Christ's rising from the dead the third day, Matt. xvii. 23. 1 Cor. xv. 4. as he was crucified the third hour after noon, Mark xv. 25.; and Isaac, as he was a figure of Christ, in being the only son of his father, and not spared, but offered for a sacrifice, Rom. viii. 32. so in sundry particulars he resembled our Lord; the third day Isaac was to be offered up; so it was the third day in which Christ also was to be perfected, Luke xiii. 32. Isaac carried the wood for the burnt-offering, ver. 6. as Christ carried the tree whereon he died, John xix. 17.; the binding of Isaac, ver. 9. was also typical: so Christ was bound, Matt. xxvii. 2. Moses desired to go three days' journey in the wilderness to sacrifice, Exod. v. 3. and they travelled three days in it before they found water, Exod. xv. 22. and three days' journey the ark of the covenant went before them, to search out a resting place, Num. x. 33.: by the third day the people were to be ready to receive God's law, Exod. xix. 11. and after three days to pass over Jordan into Canaan, Josh. i. 11.; the third day Esther put on the apparel of the kingdom, Esth. v. 1.; on the third day Hezekiah, being recovered from his illness, went up to the house of the Lord, 2 Kings xx. 5.; on the third day the prophet said, God will raise us up, and we shall live before him, Hos. vi. 2.; and on the third day, as well as on the seventh, the unclean person was to purify himself, Num. xix. 12.; with many other memorable things which the Scripture speaks concerning the third day, and not without mystery; see Gen. xl. 12, 13. xlii. 17, 18. John i. 17. Josh. 2. 16.; unto which we may add a Jew's testimony in Bereshith Rabba, in a comment on this place: There are many THREE DAYS mentioned in the Holy Scripture, of which one is, the resurrection of the Messiah." Ainsworth in loco.

Verse 5. I and the lad will go-and come again] How could Abraham consistently with truth say this, when he knew he was going to make his son a burnt-offering? The apostle answers for him: By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac-accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from whence also he received him in a figure, Heb. xi. 17, 19. He knew, that previously to the birth of Isaac, both he and his wife were dead to all the purposes of procreation-that his birth was a kind of life from the dead-that the promise of God was most positive, In Isaac shall thy seed be called, chap. xxi. 12.—that this promise could not fail-that it was his duty to obey the command of his Maker; and that it was as easy for God to restore him to life after he had been a burnt-offering, as it was for him to give him life in the beginning. Therefore he went fully purposed to offer his son, and yet confidently expecting to have him

9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

a

11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham! and he said, Here am I.

12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burntoffering in the stead of his son.

14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.

a Heb. 11. 17. James 2. 21.-b1 Sam. 15. 22. Mic. 6. 7, 8.- Ch. 26. 5. Rom. 8. 32. James 2. 22. 1 John 4. 9, 10.-d That is, The LORD will see, or, provide.-e Psa. 105. 9. Ecclus. 44. 21. Luke 1. 73. Heb. 6. 13, 14.-f Ch. 15. 5. Jer. 33. 22.

restored to life again. We will go yonder, and worship, perform a solemn act of devotion which God requires, and come again to you.

Verse 6. Took the wood-and laid it upon Isaac] Probably the mountain top, to which they were going, was too difficult to be ascended by the ass; therefore either the father or the son must carry the wood; and it was most becoming in the latter.

Verse 7. Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb?] Nothing can be conceived more tender, affectionate, and affecting than the question of the son, and the reply of the father on this occasion. A paraphrase would spoil it-nothing can be added, without injuring those expressions of affectionate submission on the one hand, and dignified tenderness and simplicity on the other.

Verse 8. My son, God will provide himself a lamb] Here we find the same obedient unshaken faith, for which this pattern of practical piety was ever remarkable. But we must not suppose that this was the language merely of faith and obedience; the patriarch spoke prophetically, and referred to that Lamb of God which HE had provided for himself, who, in the fulness of time, should take away the sin of the world; and of whom Ísaac was a most expressive type. All the other lambs which had been offered from the foundation of the world had been such as MEN chose, and MEN offered: but THIS was the Lamb which GOD had provided-emphatically THE LAMB OF GOD.

Verse 9. And bound Isaac his son] If the patriarch had not been upheld by the conviction that he was doing the will of God, and had he not felt the most perfect confidence that his son should be restored, even from the dead; what agony must his heart have felt at every step of the journey, and through all the circumstances of this extraordinary business! What must his affectionate heart have felt at the questions asked by his innocent and amiable son! What must he have suffered while building the altar-laying on the wood-binding his lovely sonplacing him on the wood-taking the knife, and stretching out his hand to slay the child of his hopes! Every view we take of the subject interests the heart, and exalts the character of this father of the faithful. But has the character of Isaac been duly considered? Is not the consideration of his excellence lost, in the supposition that he was too young to enter particularly into a sense of his danger; and too feeble to have made any resistance, had he been unwilling to submit? Josephus supposes that Isaac was now twenty-five; see the chronology on ver. 1. some rabbins, that he was thirty-six; but it is more probable that he was now about thirty-three, the age at which his great Antitype was offered up: and on this medium I have ventured to construct the chronology, of which I think it necessary to give this notice to the reader. Allowing him to be only twenty-five, he might have easily resisted; for can it be supposed that an old inan, of at least one hundred and twenty-five years of age, could have bound, without his consent, a young man in the very prime and vigour of life? In this case we cannot say that the superior strength of the father prevailed; but the piety, filial affection, and obedience of the son yielded. All this was most illustriously typical of Christ. In both cases the father himself offers up his only-begotten son; and the father

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himself binds him on the wood or to the cross; in neither case is the son forced to yield, but yields of his own accord-in neither case is the life taken away by the hand of violence-Isaac yields himself to the knife; "Jesus lays down his life for the sheep.

Verse 11. The angel of the Lord] The very person who was represented by this offering; the Lord Jesus, who calls himself Jehovah, ver. 17. and, on his own authority, renews the promises of the covenant: He was ever the great Mediator between God and man. See this point proved, chap. xv. 7.

Verse 12. Lay not thine hand upon the lad] As Isaac was to be the representative of Jesus Christ's real sacrifice, it was sufficient for this purpose, that in his own will, and the will of his father, the purpose of the immolation was complete. Isaac was now fully offered both by his father and by himself. The father yields up the son-the son gives up his life: on both sides, as far as will and purpose could go, the sacrifice was complete. God simply spares the father the torture of putting the knife to his son's throat. Now was the time when it might properly be said, "Sacrifice and offering, and burnt-offering and sacrifice for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure in them then said the Angel of the covenant, Lo! I come to do thy will, O God. Lay not thy hand upon the lad: an irrational creature will serve for the purpose of a representative sacrifice, from this till the fulness of time. But without this most expressive representation, of the father offering his beloved, only-begotten son, what reference can such sacrifices be considered to have, to the great event of the incarnation and crucifixon of Christ? Abraham, the most dignified, the most immaculate of all the patriarchs; Isaac, the true pattern of piety to God, and filial obedience; may well represent God, the Father, so loving the world as to give his only-begotten son, JESUS CHRIST, to die for the sin of man. But the grand circumstances necessary to prefigure these important points, could not be exhibited through the means of any or of the whole brute creation. The whole sacrificial system of the Mosaic economy had a retrospective and prospective view; referring FROM the sacrifice of Isaac To the sacrifice of Christ; in the first, the dawning of the Sun of righteousness was seen: in the latter, his meridian splendour and glory. Taken in this light, and this is the only light in which it should be viewed, Abraham offering his son Isaac, is one of the most important facts and most instructive histories in the whole Old Testament. See farther on this subject, chap. xxiii. 2.

Verse 14. Jehovah-jireh] hamm Yehovah-yirch, literally interpreted, in the margin, The Lord will see; that is, God will take care that every thing shall be done that is necessary, for the comfort and support of them who trust in him: hence the words are usually translated, The Lord will proride; so our translators, ver. 8. WYK elohim yireh, God will provide; because his eye ever affects his heart; and the wants he sees, his hand is ever ready to supply. But all this seems to have been done under a divine impulse, and the words to have been spoken prophetically: hence Houbigant and some others, render the words thus, Dominus videbitur, the Lord shall be seen; and this translation the following clause seems to require, as it is said to this day, na behar,

22 And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.

23 And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham's brother.

24 And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bare also, Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.

CHAPTER XXIII.

The age and death of Sarah, 1, 2. Abraham mourns for her, and requests a burial

place from the sous of Heth, 2-4. They freely offer him the choice of all

their sepulchres, 5, 6 Abraham refuses to receive any as a free gift, and requests to buy the care of Machpelah from Ephron, 7-9 Ephron proffers the cave and the field in which it was situated as a free gift unto Abraham, 10, 11. Abraham insists on giving its value in money, 12, 13 Ephron at last consents, and names the sum of four hundred shekels, 14, 15 Abraham weighs him the money in the presence of the people; in consequence of which, the cave, the whole field, trees, being completed, Sarah is buried in the cave, 19. The sons of Heth ratify the bargain, 20

&c are made sure to him and his family for a possession, 16--18. The transaction

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Yehovah yirch; ON THIS MOUNT, THE LORD SHALL BE SEEN. From this it appears, that the sacrifice offered by Abraham was understood to be a representative one; and a tradition was kept up, that Jehovah should be seen in a sacrificial way on this mount. And this renders the opinion stated on ver. 1. more than probable, viz. that Abraham offered Isaac on that very mountain, on which, in the fulness of time, Jesus suffered. See Bishop WarVerse 16. By myself have I sworn] So we find that the person who was called the angel of the Lord, is here called Jehovah, see on ver. 1. An oath, or an appeal to God, is among men an end to strife; as God could swear by no greater, he swore by himself: being willing more abundantly, says the apostle to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, he confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, (his PROMISE and his OATH) in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us. See Heb. vi. 13-18.

Verse 17. Shall possess the gate of their enemies] Instead of gates, the Septuagint has ok, citics; but as there is a very near resemblance betweens, cities, and oxas, gates, the latter might have been the original reading in the Septuagint, though none of the MSS. now acknowledge it. By the gates may be meant all the strength, whether troops, counsels, or fortified cities, of their enemies. So Matt. xvi. 18. On this rock will I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it-the counsels, stratagems, and powers of darkness shall not be able to prevail against or overthrow the true church of Christ-and possibly our Lord had this promise to Abraham and his spiritual posterity in view, when he spoke these words.

Verse 18. And in thy seed, &c.] We have the authority of St. Paul, Gal. iii. 8, 16, 18. to restrain this to our blessed Lord, who was THE SEED through whom alone, all God's blessings of providence, mercy, grace, and glory, should be conveyed to the nations of the earth.

Verse 20. Behold, Milcah hath borne children unto thy brother] This short history seems introduced solely for the purpose of preparing the reader for the transactions related chap. xxiv. and to show, that the providence of God was preparing, in one of the branches of the family of Abraham, a suitable spouse for his son Isaac.

Verse 21. Uz] He is supposed to have peopled the land of Uz or Ausilis, in Arabia Deserta, the country of Job. Buz his brother] From this person Elihu the Buzite, one of the friends of Job, is thought to have descended. Kemuel the father of Aram] Kamouel, warsex Evewv, the father of the Syrians, according to the Septuagint. Probably the Kamiletes, a Syrian tribe, to the westward of the Euphrates, are meant: they are mentioned by Strabo.

Verse 23. Bethuel begat Rebekah] Who afterward became the wife of Isaac.

Verse 24. His concubine] We borrow this word from the Latin compound, concubina, from con, together, and cubo, to lie, and apply it solely to a woman cohabiting with a man without being legally married. The Hebrew word is we pilgash, which is also a compound term, contracted, according to Parkhurst, from palag, to divide or share, and w nagash, to approach; because the husband, in the delicate phrase of the Hebrew tongue,

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2 And Sarah died in d Kirjath-arba; the same is e Hebron in the land of Canaan; and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.

3 And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying, 4' I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight. 5 And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him,

6 Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.

7 And Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth.

8 And he communed with them, saying, If it

e Ch. 13. 18. Ver. 19. Ch. 17. 8. 1 Chron. 29. 15. Psa. 105. 12. Heb. 11. 9, 13. g Acts 7. 5h Heb. a Prince of God.-i Ch. 13. 2. & 14. 14. & 24. 35. approaches the concubine, and shares the bed, &c. of the real wife with her. The pilgash or concubine, (from which comes the Greek И pallaké, and also the Latin pellex) in Scripture, is a kind of secondary wife, not unlawful in the patriarchal times; though the progeny of such could not inherit. The word is not used in the Scriptures in that disagreeable sense in which we commonly understand it. Hagar was properly the concubine, or pilgash, of Abraham; and this, annuente Deo, and with his wife's consent. Keturah, his second wife, is called a concubine, chap. xxvi. 15. 1 Chron. 1. 32. and Bilha and Zilpah were concubines to Jacob, chap. xxxv. 22. After the patriarchal times, many eminent men had concubines, viz. Caleb, 1 Chron. ii. 46, 48. Manasses, 1 Chron. vii. 14. Gideon, Judg. viii. 31. Saul, 2 Sam. iii. 7. David, 2 Sam. v. 13. Solomon, 2 Kings xi. 3. and Rehoboam, 2 Chron. xi. 21. The pilgash, therefore, differed widely from a prostitute; and however unlawful under the New Testament, was not so under the Old. From this chapter a pious mind may collect much useful instruction. From the trial of Abraham, we again see, 1. That God may bring his followers into severe straits and difficulties, that they may have the better opportunity of both knowing and showing their own faith and obedíence: and that he may seize on those occasions to show them the abundance of his mercy; and thus confirm them in righteousness all their days. There is a foolish saying among religious people, which cannot be too severely reprobated; untried grace is no grace. On the contrary, there may be much grace, though God, for good reasons, does not think proper to put it to any severe trial or proof. But grace is certainly not fully known, but in being called to trials of severe and painful obedience. But as all the gifts of God should be used, and they are increased and strengthed by exercise, it would be unjust to deny trials and exercises to grace, as this would be to preclude it from the opportunities of being strengthed and increased. 2. The offering up of Isaac is used by several religious people in a sort of metaphorical way, to signify their easily besetting sins, beloved idols, &c. But this is a most reprehensible abuse of the Scripture. It is both insolent and wicked to compare some abominable lust, or unholy affection, to the amiable and pious youth, who for his purity and excellence was deemed worthy to prefigure the sacrifice of the Son of God. To call our vile passions and unlawful attachments by the name of our Isaacs, is unpardonable: and to talk of sacrificing such to God, is downright blasphemy. Such sayings as these appear to be legitimated by long use; but we should be deeply and scrupulously careful not to use any of the words of God in any sense in which he has not spoken them. If, in the course of God's providence, a parent is called to give up to death, an amiable, only son, then there is a parallel in the case; and it may be justly said, if pious resignation fill the parent's mind, such a person, like Abraham, has been called to give his Isaac back to God.

Such a father

Independently of the typical reference in this transaction, there are two points which seem to be recommended particularly to our notice. 1. The astonishing faith, and prompt obedience of the father. 2. The innocence, filial respect, and passive submission of the son. and such a son, were alone worthy of each other. NOTES ON CHAPTER XXIII. Verse 1. And Sarah was an hundred and seren and twenty years old] It is worthy of remark, that Sarah is

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