CHAP. XXVI. 1 Of Idolatry, 2 Religioufness. 3 A Blessing to them that keep the Commandments. 14 A Curfe to thofe that break them. 40 GOD promifeth to remember them that repent. 3 If ye walk in my Statutes, and keep my Commandments, and do them; 4 Then I will give you Rain in due Seafon; and the Land thall yield her Increafe, and the Trees of the Field fhall yield their Fruit. 5 And your Threfhing fhall reach unto the Vintage, and the Vintage fhall reach unto the Sowing-time.: and ye fhall eat your Bread to the Full, and dwell in your Land fafely. 6 And I will give Peace in the Land, and ye fhall lie down, and none fhall make you afraid and I will rid evil Beafts out of the Land, neither fhall the Sword go through your Land. 7 And ye fhall chafe your Enemies, and they fhall fall before you by the Sword. As Mes in this Chapter affures and many Felicities they fhould enthe Ifraelites of the great Succeffes, joy in the Land of Canaan, as long as they continue in their Obedience to the Divine Commands; fo he foretels the terrible Judgments and great Calamities that fhoud come upon them, for their Idolatries and Difobedience. The Hiftory of this Nation fully verifys the Truth of these Predictions, which will appear from the following Inftances: 1. As the Red Sea was divided for the Deliverance of the Ifraelites from danwhen it had overflown it's the Egyptians fo was the River JorBanks) for the Paffage of their Army. the Spyes had reported to be impreg 2dly, The Walls of Jericho, which nable, by an immediate and almigh ty Power, fell down before them. 3dly, Jofbua fubdued, and took Poffeffion of the whole Land of Canaan, (the Sun ftanding ftill upon his Prayer) by which the Promifes to Abraham were literally fulfilled. deon, Ba ak, Jonathan, David, and his 4thly, In the Story of Samp/on, GiCaptains, and other Kings were accomplished the Promiles of the great Victories they fhould obtain, while they confided in the LORD of HOSTS. sthly, In the Reigns of David and Solomon, all the Nations from the Banks of the great River Euphrates, to the Borders of Egypt, were fubjeed to them, and the divinePrefence or Schekina was continued in the San&tuary and first Temple. 6thly. Their Riches were so great, that David left to Solomon a greater Treasure than is now current in the whole known World, being an hundred thousand Talents of Gold, and a thousand thousand Talents of Sil ver, 8 And 11 And I will fet my Tabernacle amongst you and my Soul fhall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk among you, and will be your GOD, and ye fhall be my People. 13 I am the LORD your GOD, which brought you forth out of the Land of Egypt, that ye fhould not be their Bond-men, and I have broken the Bands of your Yoke, and made you go upright. 14 But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these Commandments: 15 And if ye shall defpife my Statutes, or if your Soul abhor my Judgments, fo that ye will not do all my Commandments, but that ye break my Covenant: 16 I alfo will do this unto you, I will even appoint over you Terror, Confumption, and the burning Ague; that fhall confume the Eye, and during the Reigns of the feveral This publick Idolatry is continued Kings of Ifrael, till the Time of Hofhea, when the ten Tribes were carried Captive by Salmon Ezer, their Cities deftroyed, and their Country laid defolate; from which Captivity they Difperfion has now lafted above 2400 have never yet been reftored. Which Years. tinued under the Reign of their fe4thly, The Kingdom of Judah converal Kings for more than 100 Years after the Captivity of the Ten Tribes; in which Time it pleafed God to raile warned them of the Calamities that up feveral Prophets, who all forewere to come upon them for their great Impieties. But fo mad were they upon their Idols, that in the Time of Manaffeb and other Kings, the Temple itself was polluted with the Idolatry of the Gentiles; and both in their Impieties, that they murPrince and People were fo obftinate dered their Prophets, and despised all their Threatnings, till they were cardeans, who defolated their City, burnt ried Captive to Babylon by the Chaltheir Temple, and laid waste the whole Countrey. sibly, After feventy Years Continuance in this Captivity, they are reftored by Cyrus, as was foretold by A a caufe caufe Sorrow of Heart and ye fhall fow your Seed in vain, for your Enemies fhall eat it. 17 And I will fet my Face against you, and ye fhall be flain before your Enemies: they that hate you fhall reign over you, and ye fhall flee when none pursueth you. 18 And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you feven times more for your Sins. 19 And I will break the Pride of your Power; and I will make your Heaven as Iron, and your Earth as Brafs. 20 And your Strength shall be spent in vain for your Land fhall not yield her Increafe, neither fhall the Trees of the Land yield their Fruits. 21 And if walk conye trary unto me, and will not hearken unto me, I will bring feven times more Plagues upon you, according to your Sins. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and other Prophets. It may be obferved, that Babylin was the Place where Idolatry firft began after the Flood; and here it was that the Jews were cured of that Idolatry from which their Ancestors could never be reclaimed. But notwithstanding this Deliverance, upon their Refettlement in their Countrey, they fell into many Impieties, for which they were feverely chaftifed and at laft filled up the own Measure of their Rebellions in rejecting the MESSIAH, whom they had fo long, and at that very Time expected; and putting to Death the LORD of Life and Glory, and perfecuting those that believed in him, for which they were pursued by the divine Vengeance. 6thly, The City of Jerusalem, after enduring many terrible Calamities, and a long Siege, in which the tender and delicate Women eat their own Children, as was foretold by Mofes and other Prophets 22 I will alfo fend wild Beafts among you, which hall rob you of your Children, and deftroy your Cattle, and make you few in Number, and your Highways fhall be defolate. 23 And if ye will not be reformed by me by these Things, but will walk contrary unto me: 24 Then will I alfo walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet feven times for your Sins. The City was taken, their Temple burnt, and the Nation difperfed, by the Emperors Titus, Trajan, and Adrian. For fo far had they provoked their Conquerors, that by an Imperial Edit, the Jews were prohibited to fet their Foot upon their own Land. The Emperor Julian, in order to mands the Temple to be rebuilt ; but confound the Chiftian Religion.comno fooner were the Foundations of the old Temple pulled up, but by Earthquakes and Balls of Fire, an End was put to this Attempt. And herein the Prediction of OUR SAVIOUR was literally fulfilled, That not one Stone should be left upon another. 7thly, The Jews are now fubfifting, a People fcattered and difperfed thro all the Nations of the known World, without King, without Prieft, without Sacrifice, without Prophet, and without any fettled Property; as was foretold by Hofea. And they who were fo forward upon every Occafion to run into Idolatry, are now the moft averfe to it. They carry with them the Books of the Prophets who forewarned them of all thefe Calamities and Difperfions. And fuch is their Ve 25 And neration for thefe Books, that if the leaft Miftake be made in the Tranfcript of them, they are not permitted to be read in their Synagogues. So that they are now the living Witneffes of the Truth of these divine Records. The Application that all Chriftians ought to make of thefe direful Sto made to us by the Gospel, of entring ries, is to fear left a Promife being into the eternal Reft of Heaven, we come fhort of it by Unbelief. For because of Unbelief the Jews · were caft off, and the Chriftian Church ftands by Faith. Therefore we should not be high minded, but fear. For if GOD fpared not the natural Branches, take heed left by Unbelief and Difobedience, thofe that call themselves Chriftians do not provoke the divine Vengeance. 27 And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me: 28 Then I will walk contrary unto you alfo in Fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your Sins. 29 And ye fhall eat the Flefh of your Sons, and the Flesh of your Daughters fhall ye eat. 30 And I will deftroy your high Places, and cut down your Images, and caft your Carcafes upon the Carcases of your Idols, and my Soul fhall abhor you. 31 And I will make your Cities wafte, and bring your. Sanctuaries unto Defolation, and I will not smell the Savour of your fweet Odours. 33 And I will scatter you draw out a Sword after you late, and your Cities wafte. 32 And I will bring the Land into Defolation, and your Enemies which dwell therein fhall be aftonifhed at it. among the Heathen, and will and your Land fhall be dcfo 34 Then shall the Land enjoy her Sabbaths, as long as it lieth defolate, and ye be in your Enemies Land; even then 'fhall the Land reft, and enjoy her Sabbaths. 35 As long as it lieth defolate, it fhall reft: because it did not reft in your Sabbaths when ye dwelt upon it. 36 And upon them that are left alive of you, I will Cad a Faintnefs into their Hearts in the Lands of their E I and the Sound of a fhaken Leaf fhall chafe them; n fhall flee, as fleeing from a Sword: and they fhall fod none purfueth. A a z 37 And they fhall fall one upon another, as it were be fore a Sword, when none purfueth: and ye fhall have no Power to stand before your Enemies. 38 And ye hall perish among the Heathen, and the Land of your Enemies fhall eat you up. 39 And they that are left of you, fhall pine away in their Iniquity, in your Enemies Lands; and alfo in the Iniquities of their Fathers fhall they pine away with them. 40 If they fhall confefs their Iniquity, and the Iniquity of their Fathers, with their Trefpafs which they trefpaffed against me, and that alfo they have walked contrary unto me; 41 And that I alfo have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the Land of their Enemies, if then their uncircumcifed Hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the Punishment of their Iniquity: 42 Then will I remember my Covenant with Jacob, and alfo my Covenant with Ifaac, and alfo my Covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the Land. 43 The Land alfo fhall be left of them, and fhall enjoy her Sabbaths, while fhe lieth defolate without them: and they fhall accept of the Punishment of their Iniquity; becaufe, even because they defpifed my Judgments, and becaufe their Soul abhorred my Statutes. 44 And yet for all that, when they be in the Land of their Enemies, I will not caft them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my Covenant with them: for I am the LORD their GOD. 45 But I will for their Sakes remember the Covenant of their Ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the Land of Egypt, in the Sight of the Heathen, that I might be their GOD: I am the LORD. 46 Thefe are the Statutes, and Judgments, and Laws, which the LORD made between him and the Children of If rael, in Mount Sinai, by the Hand of Mofes. CHA P. XXVII. He that maketh a fingular Vow must be the LORD's; 2 the Eftimation of the Perfon, 9 of a Beast given by Vow, 14 of an Houfe, 16 of a Field, and the Redemption thereof. 28 No devoted Thing may be redeemed. 32 The Tythe may not be changed. AN |
