Works

The order and time of these former PROPHETS.

THE Murder of Zacharias the son of Barachias, or Jehoiada was the first ruin of Judah, and the beginning of their first rejection. For when they slew that Prophet and Priest of the Lord in the Court of the Temple, and besides the Altar, they plainly shown how they despised and rejected the Lord and his Temple, Priest-hood and Prophesy. From that time did their state decay, and was mouldering towards ruin, and that from thence forward fell into sad diseases as well as King Joash did, that commanded the Murder. This Hosea toucheth upon as the very Apex of their wickedness, when they so brake out, as that blood touched blood, Hos 4. 2. the blood of the Sacrificer was mingled with the blood of the Sacrifice, as Luke 13. 1.

And the very Apex of their incorrigibleness, in that they proved a people that strove with the Priest, Hos. 4. 4. And this wicked act of theirs our Savior makes as the very period and Catastrophe of their State and Kingdom, Matth. 23. 35. How they declined from that time, both in Religion, [ Joash and Amaziah, and the people with them becoming open Idolaters] and in the State, by the oppression of Syria and of Joash, is so apparent in the Story that he that runneth may read, and he that readeth not the cause with these effects, readeth not all that may be read. But more especially in these times that we have in hand, in the latter times of Jeroboam, the Lord spake indignation from Heaven in more sensible and more singular and terrible manner, in three dreadful judgments, the like to which neither they nor their fathers had seen nor heard, and the sight and feeling of which, when it did not avail with them for their conversion and bettering, the Lord hath a company of Prophets that are continually telling them of worse judgments, namely, of final subversion to come upon them.

The first of these fearful judgments was an earthquake so terrible that it brought them to their wits ends, and put them to flee for their lives, but they knew not whether. Ye shall flee as they fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, Zech. 14. 5. This was as the beginning of their desolation, and the shaking of the earth was as a sign unto them, that their State and Kingdom should ere long be shaken. Amos prophesied of this two years before it came, Amos 1. 1. and that the Lord would roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem, as did Joel also some time before, Joel 2. to 11. This earthquake was in the days of Jeroboam, as well as in the days of Uzziah, for so Amos showeth clearly; and therefore it was neither when Uzziah was made leprous, nor in the year when he died, as the Jews conjecture; but it was before.

After this came a Plague of more misery, but of lesser terror, and that was of fearful and horrid Locusts, Caterpillars, and Cankerworms, whose like the oldest men alive had never seen, Joel 1, 2, 3, &c. These came towards harvest time, in the beginning of the growth after mowing, Amos 7. 1. And then were the fields and trees laden with corn and fruit, but these laid the vines waste, and barked the fig-trees, Joel 1. 7. And causeth the harvest of the field to perish, and the trees to wither, so that there was not corn and wine sufficient for a meet Offering and drink Offering in the House of the Lord, ver. 10, 11, 12. then did the Cattle groan, ver. 18. and the beast of the field did languish, Hos. 4. 3.

This heavy Plague of Locusts was at last removed by prayer, but the sins of the people called for another. Therefore the Lord called to contend by fire, Amos 7. 4. namely, by an extreme drought, with which were mingled fearful flashes of fire which fell from Heaven, as in Egypt, Eccl. 9. 23. and devoured all the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame burnt up all the trees of the field, Joel 1. 19. and some Cities were consumed by fire from Heaven as was Sodom, Amos 4. 11. Isaiah 1. 9. And the rivers of water were dried up, Joel 1. 2. yea even the great deep was devoured by the heat, and part of it eaten up, Amos 7. 4. and the fishes destroyed, Hos. 4. 3.

After all these judgments when they prevailed not, but the people were still the same, God set a line upon his people, and decreed that the high places of Isaac should be desolate, and the Sanctuaries of Israel should be laid waste, Amos 7. 9. yet did not the Lord leave himself without witness, but against and in these times of Judgment, and successively, and continually did the Lord raise up a race of Prophets among them, both in Israel and Judah, that gave them warning, threatening, instruction, and exhortation, from time to time, and did not this only by word of mouth, but also committed the same to writing, and to posterity, that all generations to come might see the abomination and ingratitude of that people, written as it were with a pen of Iron, and a point of a Diamond, and might read and fear, and not do the like.

The Prophesy of HOSEA.

CHAP. I, II, III, IV.

THE first Prophet of this race was Hosea; and so he testifieth of himself chap. 1. verse. 2.: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 The Lord spake first by Hosea: And thus as under an Hosea, Israel did enter into the Land of Canaan, Numb. 13. 16. and under an Hosea were captived out, 2 King. 17. So did the Lord raise up an Hosea the first of these Prophets, to tax their unthankfulness for the one, and to foretell the fearfulness of the other. His Prophesy is common both to Israel and Judah, even as was his adulterous wife, a mate as unfit for so holy a Prophet, as her actions were fit to resemble such a wicked people. The date of his Prophesy tells us, that he began in the days of Uzziah, and continued till the days of Hezekiah, and so was a Preacher at the least seventy years, and so saw the truth of his Prophesy fulfilled upon captived Israel. Of all the Sermons that he made, and threatenings, and admonitions, that he gave in so long a time, only this small parcel is reserved, which is contained in his little Book, the Lord reserving only what his divine Wisdom saw to be most pertinent for those present times, and most profitable for the time to come. That being to be accounted canonical Scripture; not what every Prophet delivered in his whole time, but what the Lord saw good to commit to writing for posterity.

To fit every Prophesy of this Book, whether Chapter or part of Chapter to its proper year when it was delivered, is so far impossible, as that it is not possible to fit them certainly to the Kings reign, and therefore the Reader can but conceive of their time in gross, as they were delivered by him in the time of his Preaching, which was exceeding long: only these two or three considerations and conjectures may not be unprofitable towards the casting up of some of the times, and towards the better understanding of his Prophesy in some particular.

1. He began to Prophesy in the days of Uzziah, and began first of any that were Prophets in his reign, as were Joel, Amos, and Isaiah: [ Jonah was a Prophet in these times, but there is no Prophesy of his left against Israel or Judah ] the second Verse of the first Chapter cited even now, cannot be understood so properly in any sense as this, that God now raising up in the days of Uzziah a generation of Prophets, that should continue in a succession till the captivity, and that should leave their Prophesies behind them in writing, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 The Lord spake first of all these by Hosea: Therefore whereas it is apparent that Amos, by the date of his Prophesy, ver. 1. lived in those days of Uzziah, which were contemporary with the days of Jeroboam, so also is it apparent by this passage of Hosea, that he himself began in some time of those concurrent years of Uzziah and Jeroboam, which were fifteen, and somewhat before the beginning of Amos.

2. His two first Chapters seem to be uttered by him in the very beginning of his Preaching: of the first there can be no doubt nor controversy, and the other two may be well conceived to be of the same date, as appeareth by the matter. In the first Chapter, under the parable of his marrying an adulterous wife [which he names Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, either for that there was some notorious whorish wife in those times of that name, or for the significansie of the words, for they import corruption of figs, as Jer. 24. 3. as our Savior in a parable nameth a beggar Lazarus, either because there was some noted poor needy wretch of that name in those times, or for the significansie of the word, Lazarus, signifying, God help me, as proper a name for a beggar as could be given] under this Parable, I say, of his marrying an adulterous wife, and begetting children of her; he foretells first the ruin of the house of Jehu, this typified by a Son she bears, called Jezrael, then the ruin of the ten Tribes, this typified by a daughter she bears, which he calls Lo-ruchamah, or unpitied, for in these times of Jeroboam, when Hosea began to Prophesy, the Lord had pitied Israel exceedingly, and eased them much of their trouble and oppressions, 2 King. 24, 26, 27. but now he would do so no more: but Judah he would yet pity and save them, not by bow and sword, but by an Angel in the days of Hezekiah, destroyeth Sennacherib's Army: yet should Judah at last be also cast off, and become Lo-ammi, and then the Gentiles should be called in, in Israel's and Judah's stead. And thus having laid the generals of his Prophesy down in the first Chapter, he goeth on in the second to particularize upon those heads, and to show the reason and manner of the Jews rejection, and the manner and happiness of the Gentiles calling; And thus the time of these two first Chapters is reasonably apparent.

3. His third and fourth Chapters may be supposed to have been delivered by him at the same time, because in Chap. 4. 3. he speaketh of the Plagues of Locusts, and that Amos and Joel had spoken of, fore-telling them also as they had done. In the third Chapter under the parable of another marriage with an adulterous wife, he fore-telleth the iniquity of the people after their return out of Babel into their own Land, and also their state in their present rejection, when they neither follow Idols nor God, when neither as a wife they adhere to God, nor yet to any other god, as to another husband.

The fourth Chapter taketh the people up, as they were in their present posture in the Prophets time, and showeth their wickedness, and what Judgments the Lord had in store for them, and according to this tenor he goeth on through the rest of his Book.

5. The rest of the Book may be supposed coincident, some of it with the times of Ahaz, and some of it with the former times of Ezekiel, even to the captiving of the ten Tribes, as shall be observed when we come there.

The Prophesy of JOEL all.

IN these latter days of Jeroboam the second, and much about the times of Amos his first prophesying among Israel, did Joel also appear and begin to prophecy among Judah. Some of the Hebrew Doctors have conceived him to have lived in the time of Elisha, and that these threatenings of his of famine, were accomplished in the seven years famine in that time, 2 King. 8. 1. others have supposed him to have lived and prophesied in the times of Manasseh King of Judah, casting his time as much too forward, as the other was too backward; but his Subject matter will declare his time: for seeing he speaketh of the same Plague of Locusts, and of drought and fire, that Amos doth, it is an argument sufficient to conclude that Amos and he appeared about the same time.

He sadly bemoaneth and describeth in his two first Chapters, the miserable famine, and grievous condition that the people were brought into through the Plagues of Locusts and Drought, and painteth out the Catterpillars, and Cankerworms, and Locusts, which he calleth the Northern Army, as if they were an Army of men indeed: They came in at the North part of the Land, from towards Syria and Hamath, and kept as it were in a body, and devoured all before them as they went along to the South part, and there as they were facing about to go off below the point of the dead Sea, the barrenness of that part affamished them, who had affamished the whole Country. The Prophet yet concludes afterwards with comfortable promises of Rain after the Drought, and flourishing Trees and times after these Locusts: And upon that discourse of the restitution of temporal blessings, he riseth to speak of spiritual blessings in the days of Christ, in the gift of Tongues; and in the wonders that should attend Christ's death, and that should go before the destruction of Jerusalem, and concludes in the third Chapter with threatenings against the enemies of Jerusalem, and particularly foretelleth the destruction of the Army of Sennacherib; against which the Lord caused his mighty ones to come down, verse. 11. namely, his Angels, and destroyed them in the valley of Jehoshaphat before Jerusalem. This Hosea also had particularly pointed at Hos. 1. 7.

The Book of AMOS, all.

THIS Prophesy is so clearly dated, that there needeth not to use many words to show in what time to lay it. It was uttered in the days of Jeroboam, and in the days of Uzziah, that they lived together; and of this Prophets prophesying in any Kings reign further there is no mention.

Almost at the end of his Book he telleth us that Jeroboam was then alive, and Amaziah the Priest of Bethel, would have stirred him up against Amos, as against a Traitor, Chap. 7. 10. &c. so that this Book is to be taken in, in the latter times of Jeroboam, and the proper order of it falleth between the seven and twenty and eight and twenty verses of 2 King. 14. And in the same place also come in the Books of Hosea and Joel. And so we may observe the dealing of the Lord with Israel the plainer. For whereas they had been brought very low by their enemies, and their miseries were become exceeding great; the Lord yet would not destroy them, but would try them with one kindness more, and so he gives them great ease and deliverance by Jeroboam: But when both Jeroboam and they continued still in the Idolatry of the old Jeroboam, and in the wickedness of their own ways, the Lord sendeth these Prophets amongst them, to foretell their final destruction and overthrow.

Amos neither a Prophet nor a Prophets son, by education, Chap. 7. 14. that is neither Tutor nor Scholar in the Schools of the Prophets, but a Shepherd of Tekoa, and of a rude breeding, yet like the Galilean fishers becomes a glorious Scholar in the School of the Lord, and a glorious Teacher in the Congregation of Israel. He began to prophesy two years before the Earthquake, and told of it before it came, that the Lord would smite the Winter house, with the Summer house, Chap. 3. 15. and the Lintel of the door of the Idolatrous Temple should be smitten, and the posts shake, Chap. 9. 1. and so there should be a rent and breach in the Idol Temple at Bethel, when the Lord now came to visit them, as there was at the Temple in Jerusalem, at the death of Christ. It is very generally held by the Jews, that this Earthquake was at that very time when Uzziah was struck Leprous, but that that cannot be we shall observe, when we come forward to the year of his death. Amos prophesieth against six Nations besides, Israel, and Judah, and concludeth them all under an irreversible decree of destruction, for so should that clause be rendered, which in everyone of the threatenings breedeth so much difficulty of translating, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 I will not revoke it. For the sense lieth thus, The Lord will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem: And thus saith the Lord, For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke it. That is, I will not revoke that voice; but Damascus shall be destroyed, and so of the rest. For the masculine affix in 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 cannot possibly be referred to anything that went before, but only to 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 His voice, in verse. 2. and to something that went before it, it must of necessity be referred.

The fourth transgression of every Nation is particularly specified, for so is that clause also to be understood in everyone of the threatenings. For three transgressions of Damascus, but especially for the fourth, I will not revoke the voice that is gone out against it; and so the like phrase is used, Prov. 30. 15, 18, 21.

The Prophesy of OBADIAH.

THERE is no undoubted certainty of the times of this Prophet, and there is some controversy about his person. The Hebrew Doctors most generally hold, that this Obadiah was he that lived with Ahab, 1 King. 18. and that he was a proselited Idumean: they express it thus, The holy blessed God said, Of them, and among them will I raise up one against them: there shall come Obadiah, who dwelt with two wicked persons, Ahab and Jezebel, and learned not their works, and he shall take vengeance of Esau, who dwelt with two righteous persons, Isaac and Rebecca, and learned not their works. But Ibn Ezra moderately and discreetly refuseth this opinion, For, saith he, where it is said, Obadiah feared the Lord, if it had been this very Prophet, how doth he call him a fearer of the Lord, and not rather a Prophet, seeing that Prophesy was a degree more honorable? And withal, when Jezebel sought to destroy all the Lord's Prophets, how could Obadiah have escaped if he had been a Prophet, being always at Court in Jezebel's eye? Had this Obadiah been Ahab's Courtier, it were easy enough to tell in what time and place to lay this Prophesy, but since he was not, as is apparent by these Arguments alleged, and might be confirmed by more, we are still to seek who this Prophet was, and in what time he lived. It appeareth by the matter of his Prophesy, that Judah and Jerusalem had been under great calamity and captivity, and that Edom had helped forward the misery, see ver. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. strangers had carried away captive the forces of Jerusalem, and foreigners had entered into her gates, and cast Lots upon her, and Edom was as one of them: Now whether this meaneth the Babylonish captivity, or some riffling of Jerusalem some time before, there is the question: At the sacking of it by the Babylonians, the Edomites were busy to help on the ruin, as it is related in Psal. 137. 7. and they cried, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation; and if this Prophesy refer to that time, then should it be laid after the Prophesy of Jeremy for time and order: But these two arguments do persuade, that this Prophesy of Obadiah, and this spleen of Edom against Jerusalem were of a timelier and sooner date; 1. Because there is no mention at all of any such a Prophet at and after the destruction of Jerusalem, when men of the best note and eminency are reckoned very carefully. 2. Because he mentioneth only the Captivity of Israel and Judah in Zarephath and Sepharad, not in France and Spain, as the words are commonly interpreted, but in Sarepta of Zidon, and in other places thereabout, or in Edom: Now if this his Prophesy had been after the Babylonian had destroyed Jerusalem, it had been proper to have spoken of the Captivity of Israel in Assyria, and of Judah in Babylon, and not of a small parcel of Captives in two small Towns or Places. Therefore I cannot but conceive that Obadiah lived contemporary with these men, with whose Prophesies his is laid, Hosea, Amos, and Jonah, and that this malicious carriage of the Edomites against Jerusalem and Judah, was either when it was sacked by Shishak King of Egypt, 1 King. 14. 25. or by the Philistines and Arabians, 2 Chron. 21. 16, 17. or by Joash King of Israel, 2 Chron. 25. 21. and that these Captives of Israel and Judah in Sarepta and Sepharad, were like those in Amos 1, 6, 9. taken by the Sidonian, and by whosoever inhabited Sepharad, to be delivered up to Edom.

The Book of JONAH, all.

IN Hosea, Joel, and Amos is shown the rejection and ruin of Isruel and Judah, and in Obadiah, the desolation of Esau the next Kinsman, and when the seed of Jacob and Esau is thus decreed to ruin and casting off, then it was seasonable to send Jonah out to fetch in the Gentiles: He lived in the same time with these Prophets, named in the days of Jeroboam the second, and Prophesied of his Victories, and in his time or not long after he goeth to Nineveh: He at first declineth his Embassage, for love to his own people, knowing that the coming in of the Gentiles would be the casting off of the Jews, and he was unwilling to be the forwarder and instrument of it. At Joppa he diverts from his errand [compare Acts 10. and the like unwillingness in Simon Bar Jonah ] taketh Ship for Tarshish, a City now in the territories of Ninevehs dominion, but comes a shore in a Whales belly: a type of Christ's Burial and Resurrection before the Gentiules calling. Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah, denouncing destruction but forty days off: but about forty years after or less it is destroyed indeed, under the effeminate King Sardanapalus.

AFter the death of Jeroboam, [World 3216] [Uzziah. 16] the Throne of Israel [Division 187] [Uzziah. 17] [Interregnum. 1] was empty twenty two [Division 188] [Uzziah. 18] [Interregnum. 2] years, for Zachariah the son, [Division 189] [Uzziah. 19] [Interregnum. 3] and next successor of Jeroboam [Division 190] [Uzziah. 20] [Interregnum. 4] beginneth not to reign till the [Division 191] [Uzziah. 21] [Interregnum. 5] thirty eight year of Uzziah, [Division 192] [Uzziah. 22] [Interregnum. 6] 2 King. 15. 8. The reason of this [Division 193] may be supposed to be partly [World 3223] [Uzziah. 23] [Interregnum. 7] [Interregnum. 8] sedition, and disturbance in the [Division 194] State, for when a King doth reign he is presently slain 2 King. 15. 10. and partly the bitterness of the Plagues which had begun in Jeroboams time.

2 CHRON. XXVI. ver. 5.

UZZIAH seeketh God, [World 3216] [Uzziah. 16] and prospereth, Zechariah [Division 187] [Uzziah. 17] a Prophet is as it were his [Division 188] [Uzziah. 18] household Chaplain, and following [Interregnum. 1] [Division 189] [Uzziah. 19] his directions it goeth well [Interregnum. 2] [Division 190] [Uzziah. 20] with him. There is mention in [Interregnum. 3] [Division 191] [Uzziah. 21] Isaiah 1. 2. in the times of Ahaz, [Interregnum. 4] [Division 192] [Uzziah. 22] of one of the same name, Zechariah. [Interregnum. 5] [Interregnum. 6] [Division 193]

[World 3223] [Uzziah. 23] Isaiah beginneth to Prophesy [Interregnum. 7] [Interregnum. 8] [Division 194] in this three and twentieth year of Uzziah, when it was now threescore and five years to the captiving of the ten Tribes, for so seems that passage to be dated and understood, Isaiah 8. 8. within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken off that it be not a people: For to what other date can it be referred if it mean barely the ten Tribes captiving. Not from the time that Isaiah uttered that Prophesy in the time of Ahaz; for from the first year of Ahaz to the breaking of Ephraim was but twenty years, nor from the beginning of Amos his Prophesying, as the Jews do cast it, for he began in Jeroboams time, and from Jeroboams last to the breaking of Ephraim was above seventy years, but it is to be counted from the time when Isaiah himself began to Prophesy: He began in the days of Uzziah, and had continued all the time of Jotham, and now it was the reign of Ahaz, and the Lord fixeth him this term for Ephraim's Kingdom; that count from the beginning of his own prophesying, sixty five years forward, and then the ten Tribes should be captived. Now the Holy Ghost reckoneth from that date rather then from any other. 1. Because just now was the middle time betwixt the revolt of the ten Tribes, and the burning of the Temple, which whole sum and space was three hundred ninety years, so summed Ezek. 4. 5. and so shall the Reader see by them when we come there. If any will strictly have these sixty five years reckoned from the time of Esays uttering the Prophesy in the time of Ahaz, we shall lend them a conjecture hereafter.

AFter the death of Jeroboam, [World 3216] [Uzziah. 16] the Throne of Israel [Division 187] [Uzziah. 17] [Interregnum. 1] was empty twenty two [Division 188] [Uzziah. 18] [Interregnum. 2] years, for Zachariah the son, [Division 189] [Uzziah. 19] [Interregnum. 3] and next successor of Jeroboam [Division 190] [Uzziah. 20] [Interregnum. 4] beginneth not to reign till the [Division 191] [Uzziah. 21] [Interregnum. 5] thirty eight year of Uzziah, [Division 192] [Uzziah. 22] [Interregnum. 6] 2 King. 15. 8. The reason of this [Division 193] may be supposed to be partly [World 3223] [Uzziah. 23] [Interregnum. 7] [Interregnum. 8] sedition, and disturbance in the [Division 194] State, for when a King doth reign he is presently slain 2 King. 15. 10. and partly the bitterness of the Plagues which had begun in Jeroboams time.

ESAY I.

2. The people of Jerusalem [much more of Samaria ] were now become so abominable that they are as Sodom and Gomorrah, verse. 10. full laden with iniquity, verse. 4. nothing amended by the sad judgment past, verse. 5. and therefore now determinately given up, verse. 7. 24. And Heaven and Earth called to witness these things, as they were called to witness when these things were foretold, Deut. 32. so that this is a proper place to count the ruin of the ten Tribes, when it was a time of fixing the ruin of Jerusalem.

ESAY I.

2. The people of Jerusalem [much more of Samaria ] were now become so abominable that they are as Sodom and Gomorrah, verse. 10. full laden with iniquity, verse. 4. nothing amended by the sad judgment past, verse. 5. and therefore now determinately given up, verse. 7. 24. And Heaven and Earth called to witness these things, as they were called to witness when these things were foretold, Deut. 32. so that this is a proper place to count the ruin of the ten Tribes, when it was a time of fixing the ruin of Jerusalem.

[World 3224] [Uzziah 24] THE vacancy still continueth [Division. 195] [Uzziah 25] in the Kingdom of [Division. 196] [Uzziah 26] [Uzziah 27] Israel. [Interregnum 9] [Interregnum 10] [Division. 197] [Division. 198]

2 CHRON. XXVI. VI. VII, VIII.

[World 3224] [Uzziah 24] UZZIAH overcometh the [Division. 195] [Uzziah 25] Philistines, and dismantleth [Division. 196] [Uzziah 26] their chief Garrisons of [Interregnum 9] [Interregnum 10] [Division. 197] [Uzziah 27] Gath, Jabueh, and Ashdod, [Interregnum 11] [Division. 198] [Uzziah 28] and buildeth Cities and Garrisons [Interregnum 12] [Division. 199] [Uzziah 29] of his own in the midst of [Interregnum 13] [Division. 200] [Uzziah 30] them. He subdueth the Ammonites, [Interregnum 14] [Division. 201] [Uzziah 31] and some Arabians, and [Interregnum 15] [Division. 202] [Uzziah 32] here some part of the Prophesy [Interregnum 16] [Division. 203] [Uzziah 33] of Amos against the Philistines [Interregnum 17] [Division. 204] [Uzziah 34] and Ammon, beginneth to [Interregnum 18] [Division. 205] [Uzziah 35] take place. Amos 1. 8. 13., but [Interregnum 19] [Division. 206] [Uzziah 36] to be accomplished in a more [Interregnum 20] [Division. 207] [World 3237] [Uzziah 37] complete desolation by the Assyrians [Interregnum 21] [Division. 208] and Babylonian afterward: [Interregnum 22] the waters of a great flood that swept down all before them, as Isaiah 8. 8.

[World 3224] [Uzziah 24] THE vacancy still continueth [Division. 195] [Uzziah 25] in the Kingdom of [Division. 196] [Uzziah 26] [Uzziah 27] Israel. [Interregnum 9] [Interregnum 10] [Division. 197] [Division. 198]

[Uzziah 28] [Interregnum 11] ESAY II, III, IV. [Division. 199]

[Uzziah 29] [Uzziah 30] [Interregnum 12] [Interregnum 13] Isaiah the Evangelist is a Prophet [Division. 200] [Division. 201] [Uzziah 31] [Interregnum 14] at Jerusalem. He foretelleth [Division. 202] [Uzziah 32] [Interregnum 15] [Interregnum 16] the beginning of the Gospel [Division. 203] [Uzziah 33] [Interregnum 17] in the last days of Jerusalem, [Division. 204] [Uzziah 34] [Interregnum 18] and the conflux of people [Division. 205] [Uzziah 35] [Interregnum 19] to that light of the Lord, [Division. 206] [Uzziah 36] [Interregnum 20] and to that Law that should [Division. 207] [World 3237] [Uzziah 37] come from Zion, as a Law of [Division. 208] [Interregnum 21] old had done from Sinai: that [Interregnum 22] there should be no longer that quarrelling that had been by all Nations against the Jews because of their Religion, for now Religion should be embraced by all Nations, that men's reliance upon their own righteousness should be abolished, and the doctrine of Repentance take place. That Christ the Branch shall be glorious, and the members of the new Jerusalem holy: but the people of the times of his Prophesying so abominable that he prayeth against them, Chap. 2. 9. [as Elias had done against the ten Tribes, 1 King. 19. 14.] and threateneth sore destruction and judgments both upon men and women. Thus was it with the people in manners, though it were so prosperous with Uzziah for Victories, the Lord intended to try Judah with kindnesses still, as he had done Israel in the days of Jeroboam the second: He fore-saw the issue, he would leave them without excuse, and had something yet to do for the glorifying of his Name, and his Ordinances, before he would deliver his people into his enemies hand.

2 CHRON. XXVI. from verse. 9. to verse. 16.

[World 3238] [Uzziah 38] UZZIAH keepeth up [Division. 209] [Zechariah. 1] an Army of 307500. Builds Towers and Forts, and maketh warlike Engines, and groweth exceeding strong; and feared of the Kings round about him.

ESAY V. [Shallum 1]

[World 3239] [Uz. 39] [Shallum 40] ALthough the Prophet Isaiah [Menahem 1] [Division. 210] [Uz. 41] prophesied almost thirty [Menahem 2] [Division. 211] [Uz. 42] years in the time of Uzziah, [Menahem 3] [Division. 212] [Uz. 43] yet have we no more but the [Menahem 4] [Division. 213] [Uz. 44] five first Chapters left of all his [Menahem 5] [Division. 214] [Uz. 45] Prophesies in so long a space, [Menahem 6] [Division. 215] [Uz. 46] and of those we have not the [Menahem 7] [Division. 216] [Uz. 47] certain years neither, but must [Menahem 8] [Division. 217] take them up at conjecture. [Menahem 9] [Division. 218] In this fifth Chapter he singeth a Song for Christ his beloved, concerning his beloveds Vineyard, as they used to •• ng at their Vintages, but it is a doleful ditty, concerning the unfruitfulness and wild Grapes [World 3248] [Uz. 48] of the Vineyard of Israel, after [Menahem 10] [Division. 219] so much husbandry. Some of those sour Grapes he reckons up under several woes after his Song. From this place Christ useth the parable of the Vineyard, and the Jews from hence do soon understand it, Matth. 21. 34, 45.

2 KING. XV. ver. 5. to ver. 23.

[World 3238] [Uzziah 38] ZECHARIAH the son [Division. 209] [Zechariah. 1] of Jeroboam reigneth six months, and is slain, and here endeth Jehues house, and here Hosea's Prophesy taketh place, Hosea 1. 4, 5.

[Shallum 1] SHALLUM reigneth a month, having slain Zechariah. [Uz. 39]

[World 3239] [Uz. 40] MENAHEM slayeth him, [Menahem 1] [Division. 210] [Uz. 41] [Menahem 2] and reigneth ten years; he rippeth [Division. 211] [Uz. 42] [Menahem 3] up the woman with child [Division. 212] [Uz. 43] [Menahem 4] of Tiphsah, Ammon like, Amos [Division. 213] [Uz. 44] [Menahem 5] 1. 13. Menahem doth evil in [Division. 214] [Uz. 45] [Menahem 6] the sight of the Lord, following [Division. 215] [Uz. 46] [Menahem 7] Jeroboams Idolatry. He is [Division. 216] [Uz. 47] [Menahem 8] invaded by Pull King of Assyria, [Division. 217] [Menahem 9] [now is Syria fading and Assyria [Division. 218] rising] but he hireth Pull with 1000 Talents of silver to be on his side, and to strengthen him in his Kingdom: This sum he raiseth again by Tak of 60000 rich men, at fifty shekels a man.

[World 3248] [Uz. 48] [Menahem 10] Menahem dieth: Ephraim by [Division. 219] him is brought in a reliance and resting upon Assyria, which they continue into their own undoing. Hosea taxeth them for this again and again, Hos. 5. 13. & 7. 11. & 8. 9. and foretelleth that therefore the Assyrian shall be their King, Hos. 11. 5. and that they shall eat unclean things in the Land of Assyria, Hos. 9. 3.

UZZIAHS victories and [Division. 220] [World 3249] [Uz. 49] magnificence in time [Pekahiah 1] [Division. 221] [World 3250] [Uz. 50] make him proud. [Pekahiah 2] [Division. 222] [Uz. 51] [Pekah 1] [Division. 223]

UZZIAHS victories and [Division. 220] [World 3249] [Uz. 49] magnificence in time [Pekahiah 1] [Division. 221] [World 3250] [Uz. 50] make him proud. [Pekahiah 2] [Division. 222] [Uz. 51] [Pekah 1] [Division. 223]

2 KINGS XV. Vers. 23, 24, 25, 26, 27.

THIS year Israel's Throne [Division. 220] [World 3249] [Uz. 49] [Pekahiah 1] is empty. Pekahiah reigneth [Division. 221] [World 3250] [Uz. 50] [Pekahiah 2] two years, and is slain by [Division. 222] Pekah the son of Remaliah.

[Uz. 51] [Pekah 1] Pekah the Son of Remaliah, [Division. 223] reigneth twenty years.

2 CHRON. XXVI. from verse. 16. to the end of the Chapter. And 2 KING. XV. verse. 5, 6, 7.

[World 3252] [Uz. 52] UZZIAH is this year struck with Leprosy, and this year dieth. The Holy Ghost hath given a close intimation, that Uzziah's Leprosy befell him in the last year of his reign, and not before 2 King. 15. 50. where it is said that Hosea slew Pekah in the twentieth year of Jotham, upon which arise these two scruples: 1. How Jotham’s twentieth year can be spoken of when he reigned but sixteen, 2 King. 15. 33. this shall be looked after when we come thither. And 2. how can Pekahs twentieth year be called the twentieth of Jotham, when Pekah began to reign a year before him, and so Pekahs twentieth is but Jotham’s nineteenth?

Answ. Why, here is the hint that the Holy Ghost giveth of the time of Uzziahs being struck Leprous, namely, in the last year of his reign: for here by this very expression is shown that Jotham reigned in the last year of his fathers life; and the Text plainly expresseth the occasion, because the Lord smote the King with Leprosy, so that he was a Leper unto the day of his death, and Jotham the Kings son was over the House, judging the people of the Land.

ESAY VI.

IN the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah seeth the glory of Christ in the Temple, John 12. 41. filling the Temple with smoke in sign of the burning of it, and Angels called Seraphim, that is, Burning ones, because of the firing of the Temple, which was there foretold, do proclaim the Trinity to be Holy, Holy, Holy, yet had the Jews so unholily behaved themselves toward it; that they are deemed to blindness and obduration till they be utterly destroyed.

2 CHRON. XXVI. from verse. 16. to the end of the Chapter. And 2 KING. XV. verse. 5, 6, 7.

[World 3252] [Uz. 52] UZZIAH is this year struck with Leprosy, and this year dieth. The Holy Ghost hath given a close intimation, that Uzziah's Leprosy befell him in the last year of his reign, and not before 2 King. 15. 50. where it is said that Hosea slew Pekah in the twentieth year of Jotham, upon which arise these two scruples: 1. How Jotham’s twentieth year can be spoken of when he reigned but sixteen, 2 King. 15. 33. this shall be looked after when we come thither. And 2. how can Pekahs twentieth year be called the twentieth of Jotham, when Pekah began to reign a year before him, and so Pekahs twentieth is but Jotham’s nineteenth?

Answ. Why, here is the hint that the Holy Ghost giveth of the time of Uzziahs being struck Leprous, namely, in the last year of his reign: for here by this very expression is shown that Jotham reigned in the last year of his fathers life; and the Text plainly expresseth the occasion, because the Lord smote the King with Leprosy, so that he was a Leper unto the day of his death, and Jotham the Kings son was over the House, judging the people of the Land.

ESAY VI.

IN the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah seeth the glory of Christ in the Temple, John 12. 41. filling the Temple with smoke in sign of the burning of it, and Angels called Seraphim, that is, Burning ones, because of the firing of the Temple, which was there foretold, do proclaim the Trinity to be Holy, Holy, Holy, yet had the Jews so unholily behaved themselves toward it; that they are deemed to blindness and obduration till they be utterly destroyed.

2 CHRON. XXVII. all. 2 KING. XV. from ver. 32. to the end.

[World 3253] [Jotham 1] [Pekah 2] [Division 224] JOTHAM reigneth, and [Jotham 2] [Pekah 3] [Division 225] doth uprightly, and prospereth, [Jotham 3] [Pekah 4] [Division 226] buildeth the Gate between [Jotham 4] [Pekah 5] [Division 227] the Kings house and the [Jotham 5] [Pekah 6] [Division 228] Temple, and buildeth many [Jotham 6] [Pekah 7] [Division 229] forts in the Country, subdueth [Jotham 7] [Pekah 8] [Division 230] Ammon as his father had done, [Jotham 8] [Pekah 9] [Division 231] bringeth them under a great [Jotham 9] [Pekah 10] [Division 232] Tribute, and executeth some [Jotham 10] [Pekah 11] [Division 233] more of Amos his Prophesy [Jotham 11] [Pekah 12] [Division 234] against them. He was Son to [Jotham 12] [Pekah 13] [Division 235] JERUSASH the daughter [Jotham 13] [Pekah 14] [Division 236] of Zadok the High Priest. This [Jotham 14] [Pekah 15] [Division 237] it may be made Uzziah the [Jotham 15] [Pekah 16] [Division 238] more forward to assail the Priests Office, because he had married the High Priests daughter, but Jotham, though so much of the Priests Seed, yet did not attempt the like.

2 KING. XV. verse. 28. 29. 1 CHRON. V. all.

[World 3253] [Jotham 1] [Pekah 2] [Division 224] PEKAH seemeth to have [Jotham 2] [Pekah 3] [Division 225] been a Gileadite, and Pekahiah [Jotham 3] [Pekah 4] [Division 226] a Gadite, Pekah with fifty [Jotham 4] [Pekah 5] [Division 227] Gileadites slayeth him in the [Jotham 5] [Pekah 6] [Division 228] Palace at Samaria, and reigneth [Jotham 6] [Pekah 7] [Division 229] wickedly after him. He proveth [Jotham 7] [Pekah 8] [Division 230] a very sore scourge to Judah [Jotham 8] [Pekah 9] [Division 231] before he dieth. In these [Jotham 9] [Pekah 10] [Division 232] times, even in the days of Jotham [Jotham 10] [Pekah 11] [Division 233] there was an account taken [Jotham 11] [Pekah 12] [Division 234] of the families of Reuben, [Jotham 12] [Pekah 13] [Division 235] Gad, and half Manasseh, the [Jotham 13] [Pekah 14] [Division 236] inhabitants beyond Jordan, [Jotham 14] [Pekah 15] [Division 237] 1 Chron. 5. 17. and so had [Jotham 15] [Pekah 16] [Division 238] there been in the days of Jeroboam the second: then at their restoring by Jeroboam out of the hands of Hamath and Syria, and now at their arming against the Assyrian, under whose hand they fall, in the time of Pekah, and are never again restored to Israel.

MICAH. I. II.

IN the reign of Jotham beginneth Micah to Prophesy, and mourneth sadly for the ten Tribes Captivity, which now drew near, and for the misery of Jerusalem which was not far off. He was a Prophet in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah; and it is more proper to conceive, that the subject and matter of his whole Book was the tenor of his prophesying in everyone of their times, then it is easy to tell what Chapters of his Book were delivered in everyone of those Kings time. The conclusion of the third Chapter is allotted to the times of Hezekiah, Jer. 26. 18. and there may the whole Chapter be laid, and all the rest that follow it, and there shall we take them in. Micah was a Prophet of Mareshah in the Tribe of Judah, bordering upon the Philistines, Josh. 15. 44. 2 Chron. 14. 19. He beginneth his Prophesy with the very same words that Michaiah had concluded his to Ahab, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 1 King. 22. 28. in a strange Syntax and construction: Hearken ye people all of them, his Prophesy is in some places very obscure, and very terrible, and in some very plain and comfortable. He speaketh glorious things of Christ, and his Kingdom, and nameth the Town where he should be born, and useth the very words of Isaiah, who was now alive, to express the conflux to the Kingdom of Christ under the Gospel, and his power in it, and the peace that should be under it.

MICAH. I. II.

IN the reign of Jotham beginneth Micah to Prophesy, and mourneth sadly for the ten Tribes Captivity, which now drew near, and for the misery of Jerusalem which was not far off. He was a Prophet in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah; and it is more proper to conceive, that the subject and matter of his whole Book was the tenor of his prophesying in everyone of their times, then it is easy to tell what Chapters of his Book were delivered in everyone of those Kings time. The conclusion of the third Chapter is allotted to the times of Hezekiah, Jer. 26. 18. and there may the whole Chapter be laid, and all the rest that follow it, and there shall we take them in. Micah was a Prophet of Mareshah in the Tribe of Judah, bordering upon the Philistines, Josh. 15. 44. 2 Chron. 14. 19. He beginneth his Prophesy with the very same words that Michaiah had concluded his to Ahab, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 1 King. 22. 28. in a strange Syntax and construction: Hearken ye people all of them, his Prophesy is in some places very obscure, and very terrible, and in some very plain and comfortable. He speaketh glorious things of Christ, and his Kingdom, and nameth the Town where he should be born, and useth the very words of Isaiah, who was now alive, to express the conflux to the Kingdom of Christ under the Gospel, and his power in it, and the peace that should be under it.

[World 3268] [Jotham 16] [Ahaz 1] [Pekah 17] [Division 239] PEKAH is a desperate [Ahaz 2] [Pekah 18] [Division 240] enemy to Judah, and [Ahaz 3] [Pekah 19] [Division 241] joineth with Syria against Jerusalem to make Rezin, a son of Tabeel, or one of the the posterity of Tabrimmon, King there, Isaiah 7. 6.

2 KING. XVI. ver. 1, 2, 3, 4. 2 CHRON. XXVIII. ver. 1, 2, 3, 4.

[World 3268] [Jotham 16] [Ahaz 1] [Pekah 17] [Division 239] AHAZ reigneth very [Ahaz 2] [Pekah 18] [Division 240] wickedly, serveth Baalim, [Ahaz 3] [Pekah 19] [Division 241] and burneth his Sons, 2 Chron. 28. 3. that is, one of his Sons, 2 King. 16. 3. in the fire to Molech. Hezekiah is preserved by a special providence for a better purpose.

[World 3268] [Jotham 16] [Ahaz 1] [Pekah 17] [Division 239] PEKAH is a desperate [Ahaz 2] [Pekah 18] [Division 240] enemy to Judah, and [Ahaz 3] [Pekah 19] [Division 241] joineth with Syria against Jerusalem to make Rezin, a son of Tabeel, or one of the the posterity of Tabrimmon, King there, Isaiah 7. 6.

2 KING. XVI. Vers. 5. ESAY VII.

AHAZ his wickedness bringeth Rezin and Pekah against Jerusalem, but they cannot prevail against the House of David, for the promise sake. Isaiah assureth Ahaz of deliverance from those two fire brands, both Kings and Kingdoms, which were now grown to be but tails, and were ready to smoke their last: He offereth Ahaz a sign which he scornfully refuseth, and despiseth to try Jehovah [his son Hezekiah is of another mind, 2 King. 20. 8.] therefore the Lord himself giveth this sign, That the Lord will not quite cast off the House of David till a Virgin have born a Son, and that Son be God in our nature, both which are great wonders indeed; yet he threatens sad days to come upon Jerusalem before.

ESAY VIII.

ESay writes a Book full of no other words but this, Mahershalal-hash-baz, and takes two men that were of esteem with Ahaz, Zechariah, his father in law, and Uriah the Priest, to see and witness what he had done, that so it might come to Ahaz his knowledge. He also names a child that his wife bare him by this very name, and all to confirm that Damascus and Samaria, the two enemies of Judah now in Arms against it should speedily be destroyed. He useth two several phrases of the same signification, as applying them to the two places, Samaria and Damascus; yet doth he withal threaten those of Judah that despised the house and Kingdom of David, because it was but like the waters of Shiloam, of a very small stream, in comparison of those great Kingdoms that were so potent, and therefore that desired to be under one of those great Kingdoms, and to make confederacy with it: such men he threatens, that he will bring upon them a Kingdom great enough, which should come as a mighty River, since they despised the small stream, and should over-flow Emmanuels land all over. He prophesieth glorious things of Emmanuel himself, as that he should be a Sanctuary: that he should have children or Disciples, that he should give them a law and testimony, which should be Oracles to inquire at, and that whosoever should transgress that law and testimony should be hard bestead, famished, perplexed, and at last driven to utter darkness.

ESAY IX.

THAT this darkness shall be a worse darkness and affliction then that was in Galilee, in their captivity, either by Hazael or the Assyrian, for those places saw light afterward, for the Gospel began there, but the contempt of the Gospel should bring misery irreparable: He speaketh again glorious things concerning Christ, the Child promised, before David's house fail, the Prince of Peace, and Father of Eternity: A letter of note and remarkableness is in the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Lemarbeh in ver. 7. Mem clausum, to show the hiddenness and mysteriousness of Christ's Kingdom different from visible pomp, and to hint the forty years before Jerusalem's destruction, when this Dominion increased through the world. The juncture of the first verse of this Chapter, with the last of the preceding, and this subject of verse. 9. & 11. show plainly, that this Chapter is of the same time with those two before.

ESAY XVII.

HERE also is the Reader to take in this seventeenth Chapter of Isaiah, made upon the very same subject that these three last mentioned, the seventh, the eighth, and the ninth, were, namely, concerning the final ruin of Damascus and Ephraim. And whereas Damascus was destroyed and captived in the beginning of the time of Ahaz, and as it is easily argued thereupon, that this Prophesy that foretelleth the destruction of it, should be set before the Story that relateth its destruction; so it may be concluded, that this Prophesy may be very properly taken in here, upon these considerations: 1. Till the time of the reign of Ahaz the Prophet, meddles not with Damascus and Ephraim joined together; namely, not till they joined together to invade Judah. 2. Step but one step further in the Chronicle, then this very place where we would have this Chapter taken in, and Damascus is ruined. And therefore this Chapter had to deal with Damascus and Ephraim joined together, it is an argument that it is to be laid no sooner then here; and since it is a Prophesy of the destruction of Damascus before it come, it can be laid no further forward. Now the reason why it lieth in that place of the Book where it doth, is because there are many Prophesies against many several places laid there together; and when the Lord is dealing threatenings among all the Countries and places thereabout, Damascus and Ephraim could not go without: And therefore as these three last named Chapters are laid where they be, as single and singular denuntiations against these two places; so is this Chapter laid where it is, because it should there go in company with other threatenings.

ESAY XXVIII.

IN the same manner is the eight and twentieth Chapter of this Book, which foretelleth also the destruction of Ephraim, laid beyond its proper time, among Chapters on either side it, that are of a date after Ephraim was destroyed; but it is laid there, that threatenings against that place might also come in among the threatenings against other places: And since there is no certain notice of what date that Chapter is, it may not unfitly be taken in here, and so all Esays Prophesies against Ephraim come together.

2 CHRON. XXVIII. verse. 4 to verse. 16.

REZIN and Pekah returning to their several homes from Jerusalem, which they could not overcome, spoil Judah miserably as they go, Pekah slayeth 120000 men, and taketh 200000 women and children Captives, but they are mercifully used and enlarged at the admonition of a Prophet, the only good deed that we read of done in Samaria of a long time; Rezin also carrieth a great Captivity away to Damascus.

2 KING. XVI. ver. 6.

AND not content with that, he taketh his opportunity after he comes home; now Judah is so low to take in Eloth, the Sea-town in Edom, which Uzziah had recovered in the beginning of his reign; and this is the last victory of Syria before Assyria swallowed it up.

2 KING. XVI. Vers. 5. ESAY VII.

AHAZ his wickedness bringeth Rezin and Pekah against Jerusalem, but they cannot prevail against the House of David, for the promise sake. Isaiah assureth Ahaz of deliverance from those two fire brands, both Kings and Kingdoms, which were now grown to be but tails, and were ready to smoke their last: He offereth Ahaz a sign which he scornfully refuseth, and despiseth to try Jehovah [his son Hezekiah is of another mind, 2 King. 20. 8.] therefore the Lord himself giveth this sign, That the Lord will not quite cast off the House of David till a Virgin have born a Son, and that Son be God in our nature, both which are great wonders indeed; yet he threatens sad days to come upon Jerusalem before.

ESAY VIII.

ESay writes a Book full of no other words but this, Mahershalal-hash-baz, and takes two men that were of esteem with Ahaz, Zechariah, his father in law, and Uriah the Priest, to see and witness what he had done, that so it might come to Ahaz his knowledge. He also names a child that his wife bare him by this very name, and all to confirm that Damascus and Samaria, the two enemies of Judah now in Arms against it should speedily be destroyed. He useth two several phrases of the same signification, as applying them to the two places, Samaria and Damascus; yet doth he withal threaten those of Judah that despised the house and Kingdom of David, because it was but like the waters of Shiloam, of a very small stream, in comparison of those great Kingdoms that were so potent, and therefore that desired to be under one of those great Kingdoms, and to make confederacy with it: such men he threatens, that he will bring upon them a Kingdom great enough, which should come as a mighty River, since they despised the small stream, and should over-flow Emmanuels land all over. He prophesieth glorious things of Emmanuel himself, as that he should be a Sanctuary: that he should have children or Disciples, that he should give them a law and testimony, which should be Oracles to inquire at, and that whosoever should transgress that law and testimony should be hard bestead, famished, perplexed, and at last driven to utter darkness.

ESAY IX.

THAT this darkness shall be a worse darkness and affliction then that was in Galilee, in their captivity, either by Hazael or the Assyrian, for those places saw light afterward, for the Gospel began there, but the contempt of the Gospel should bring misery irreparable: He speaketh again glorious things concerning Christ, the Child promised, before David's house fail, the Prince of Peace, and Father of Eternity: A letter of note and remarkableness is in the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Lemarbeh in ver. 7. Mem clausum, to show the hiddenness and mysteriousness of Christ's Kingdom different from visible pomp, and to hint the forty years before Jerusalem's destruction, when this Dominion increased through the world. The juncture of the first verse of this Chapter, with the last of the preceding, and this subject of verse. 9. & 11. show plainly, that this Chapter is of the same time with those two before.

ESAY XVII.

HERE also is the Reader to take in this seventeenth Chapter of Isaiah, made upon the very same subject that these three last mentioned, the seventh, the eighth, and the ninth, were, namely, concerning the final ruin of Damascus and Ephraim. And whereas Damascus was destroyed and captived in the beginning of the time of Ahaz, and as it is easily argued thereupon, that this Prophesy that foretelleth the destruction of it, should be set before the Story that relateth its destruction; so it may be concluded, that this Prophesy may be very properly taken in here, upon these considerations: 1. Till the time of the reign of Ahaz the Prophet, meddles not with Damascus and Ephraim joined together; namely, not till they joined together to invade Judah. 2. Step but one step further in the Chronicle, then this very place where we would have this Chapter taken in, and Damascus is ruined. And therefore this Chapter had to deal with Damascus and Ephraim joined together, it is an argument that it is to be laid no sooner then here; and since it is a Prophesy of the destruction of Damascus before it come, it can be laid no further forward. Now the reason why it lieth in that place of the Book where it doth, is because there are many Prophesies against many several places laid there together; and when the Lord is dealing threatenings among all the Countries and places thereabout, Damascus and Ephraim could not go without: And therefore as these three last named Chapters are laid where they be, as single and singular denuntiations against these two places; so is this Chapter laid where it is, because it should there go in company with other threatenings.

ESAY XXVIII.

IN the same manner is the eight and twentieth Chapter of this Book, which foretelleth also the destruction of Ephraim, laid beyond its proper time, among Chapters on either side it, that are of a date after Ephraim was destroyed; but it is laid there, that threatenings against that place might also come in among the threatenings against other places: And since there is no certain notice of what date that Chapter is, it may not unfitly be taken in here, and so all Esays Prophesies against Ephraim come together.

2 CHRON. XXVIII. verse. 4 to verse. 16.

REZIN and Pekah returning to their several homes from Jerusalem, which they could not overcome, spoil Judah miserably as they go, Pekah slayeth 120000 men, and taketh 200000 women and children Captives, but they are mercifully used and enlarged at the admonition of a Prophet, the only good deed that we read of done in Samaria of a long time; Rezin also carrieth a great Captivity away to Damascus.

2 KING. XVI. ver. 6.

AND not content with that, he taketh his opportunity after he comes home; now Judah is so low to take in Eloth, the Sea-town in Edom, which Uzziah had recovered in the beginning of his reign; and this is the last victory of Syria before Assyria swallowed it up.

2 KINGS XVI. ver. 7. to 17.

[World 3271] [Ahaz 4] [Pekah 20] [Division 242] AHAZ hireth Tiglath-Pilefer; this razor that is hired, namely Assyria, Esa. 7. 20. doth now shave Galilee, Gilead and Damascus; and ere long it lighteth on him that hired it. Tiglath captiveth Damascus to Kir, and slayeth Rezin, as Amos 1. 5. Ahaz goeth to Damascus to see him, and bringeth away with him the pattern of an idolatrous Altar.

[Ahaz 5] [Pekah 1] [Division 243] Ahaz as he falleth into great [Ahaz 6] [Pekah 2] [Division 244] sins, so falleth he into great [Ahaz 7] [Pekah 3] [Division 245] miseries, being oppressed by [Ahaz 8] [Pekah 4] [Division 246] enemies on every hand; yet [Ahaz 9] [Pekah 5] [Division 247] still groweth he worse and [Ahaz 10] [Pekah 6] [Division 248] worse, and is no whit humbled [Ahaz 11] [Pekah 7] [Division 249] by his calamities; therefore the Text sets a special mark and brand upon him for such impenitency. This is that King Ahaz, 2 Chron. 28. 22. He setteth up a Dial, which yieldeth a miraculous sign to his son Hezekiah, though he himself had scorned to ask for a sign.

2 KINGS XV. verse. 30, 31.

[World 3271] [Ahaz 4] [Pekah 20] [Division 242] PEKAH before he dieth loseth all Gilead and Galilee, and at last is slain himself by Hoshea the son of Elah. In the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah. Now is revenge taken on Pekah for all his cruelty against Judah: but it is not for Ahaz his sake; therefore it is not dated by his time, but by Jotham’s in the grave.

[Ahaz 5] [Pekah 1] [Division 243] After the death of Pekah, [Ahaz 6] [Pekah 2] [Division 244] there is no mention of any King [Ahaz 7] [Pekah 3] [Division 245] in the Throne of Israel, for [Ahaz 8] [Pekah 4] [Division 246] complete seven years together: [Ahaz 9] [Pekah 5] [Division 247] For though Hoshea slew Elah in [Ahaz 10] [Pekah 6] [Division 248] the fourth of Ahaz, which is [Ahaz 11] [Pekah 7] [Division 249] called Jotham’s twentieth, yet is not he said to reign till Ahaz his twelfth year, 2 King. 17. 1. The reason of this will be worth the labor a little to inquire after, for the resolving of this matter, doth not only clear this place, but also gives light to one or two places more, which are of obscurity.

HOSEA V. VI.

IN the times of Ahaz, after his seeking to Assyria for help, do these Chapters seem to have been uttered; for Chapter 5. 13. reproveth that in Ephraim and Judah both, and threatens them both with judgments. And Chapter 6. inviteth and exhorteth to repentance and promiseth good. Ephraim is the more specially named in the reproof for relying upon Ashur, though Judah were now under the same sin, and falleth under the same reproof, because Ephraim was first in that fault, 2 Kings 15. 19. and was first ruined by Ashur.

HOSEA V. VI.

IN the times of Ahaz, after his seeking to Assyria for help, do these Chapters seem to have been uttered; for Chapter 5. 13. reproveth that in Ephraim and Judah both, and threatens them both with judgments. And Chapter 6. inviteth and exhorteth to repentance and promiseth good. Ephraim is the more specially named in the reproof for relying upon Ashur, though Judah were now under the same sin, and falleth under the same reproof, because Ephraim was first in that fault, 2 Kings 15. 19. and was first ruined by Ashur.

2 KING. XVI. ver. 17, 18. 2 CHRON. XXVIII. ver. 16. to 26.

[World 3279] [Ahaz 12] [Hoshea 1] [Division 250] AHAZ is intrapt in his [Ahaz 13] [Hoshea 2] [Division 251] own snare: his hired Assyrians now overfloweth himself: Such days come upon him and his people, as had not been since Ephraim departed away from Judah, now that is fulfilled, Isaiah 7. 17.

2 KING. XVII. ver. 1, 2.

[World 3279] [Ahaz 12] [Hoshea 1] [Division 250] HOSHEA reigneth in the [Ahaz 13] [Hoshea 2] [Division 251] twelfth year of Ahaz, and reigneth nine years from that time forward: Now since the time that Hoshea had slain Pekah: Shalmanezer the King of Assyria had come up against him, and brought him into Vassalage: and now in the twelfth year of Ahaz sets the Crown upon his head, and he and the Kingdom of Samaria become subjects and tributaries to the Crown of Assyria, for observe in the Text, that Hoshea becomes Shalmanezers servant, and gave him tribute [this was in the twelfth of Ahaz, and from thence the nine years of his reign are dated] but afterward he is found faulty, and caught and imprisoned, and then Samaria in three years siege is taken: So that those seven years that were between the death of Pekah and Ahaz his twelfth, are without the mention of any King in Samaria, because Hoshea was not yet established in the Throne, but kept under by the Assyrian till the twelfth of Ahaz, and then he sets him up King there. This observation of the vassalage of Samaria, before the final taking of it in the ninth of Hoshea, helpeth first to understand that place in Hosh. 10. 14. namely, that Shalman, or Shalmanezer [for Eser was but an additional title to the Assyrian Monarchs, as Pil-eser, Eser-haddon, &c.] spoiled Beth-arbel in this his first voyage against Samaria, and so would he spoil Bethel at his second.

ESAY X, XI, XII, XIII, & XIV. to ver. 28.

AND the same observation also helpeth to methodize these Chapters in Isaiah, and to remove that doubt that ariseth by comparing Isaiah 10. ver. 9. 11. with Chap. 14. 28. together, for the former place speaketh of the subduing of Samaria by the Assyrian [which was not till some years after Ahaz his death] and yet the latter speaks but of the the year in which Ahaz died: yet is there no dislocation at all in this, but that taking of Samaria, that Chap. 10. 9. speaketh of was in this first expedition of Shalmaneser against Hoshea, before the twelfth of Ahaz, when he subdued Samaria and her Idols, and brought that Kingdom under tribute. In Isaiah 10. he threatens to do the like to Jerusalem, and indeed he doth it: He came up to Ajath, passed to Migron, laid up his Carriages at Micmash, lodged at Geba, Cities within Ahaz his dominion, and came over the passage, that had been straitly kept as a Frontier between the Kingdom of Samaria and the Kingdom of Judah, &c. and indeed came up to Jerusalem and subdued Ahaz: These were those strong waters that over flowed Judah and Emanuels land in Ahaz his time, Isaiah 8. 8. and the bitter days that he saw, the like not seen since the ten Tribes revolt, Isaiah 7. 17. Of these days it is that Hezekiah speaketh, in the very next year, or fourteenth of Ahaz, Our fathers have fallen • y the sword, and our sons, and daughters, and wives are in captivity, 2 Chron. 29. 9. And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trespassed against the Lord, and the Lord gave them up to desolation, as you see 2 Chron. 30. 7. This coming up of the Assyrian King against Jerusalem, was the occasion of Ahaz his spoiling the things of the Temple, his cutting off the borders and bases, and removing the laver and sea, and the covert for the people to stand under on the Sabbath, and his turning away his own entry aside from the house of the Lord, 2 King. 16. verse. 17, 18. Because of the King of Assyria, as saith the Text, either to bestow those things that he thus cut off upon the King, or for fear the King should see too much of the true Religion there, but that Ahaz might show himself a worshipper of strange gods as well as the King. These sad times, and this expedition the Prophet speaketh of in that tenth Chapter, but in the eleventh and twelfth he again comforts the house of David with the virtue of the anointing, or with the operation of the promise to the Throne of David: that his lamp should not go quite out till the Branch of the root of Jesse should bud, and a King from thence should bear rule over all Nations. And in Chap. 13. & 14. he Prophesieth against the Kingdom of Babylon, which indeed was but now newly sprung: that this stock of Jesse should out-wear both Assyria and it; and that the anointing or decree that God had made concerning David's everlasting Throne should be their ruin that strove against it.

ESAY X, XI, XII, XIII, & XIV. to ver. 28.

AND the same observation also helpeth to methodize these Chapters in Isaiah, and to remove that doubt that ariseth by comparing Isaiah 10. ver. 9. 11. with Chap. 14. 28. together, for the former place speaketh of the subduing of Samaria by the Assyrian [which was not till some years after Ahaz his death] and yet the latter speaks but of the the year in which Ahaz died: yet is there no dislocation at all in this, but that taking of Samaria, that Chap. 10. 9. speaketh of was in this first expedition of Shalmaneser against Hoshea, before the twelfth of Ahaz, when he subdued Samaria and her Idols, and brought that Kingdom under tribute. In Isaiah 10. he threatens to do the like to Jerusalem, and indeed he doth it: He came up to Ajath, passed to Migron, laid up his Carriages at Micmash, lodged at Geba, Cities within Ahaz his dominion, and came over the passage, that had been straitly kept as a Frontier between the Kingdom of Samaria and the Kingdom of Judah, &c. and indeed came up to Jerusalem and subdued Ahaz: These were those strong waters that over flowed Judah and Emanuels land in Ahaz his time, Isaiah 8. 8. and the bitter days that he saw, the like not seen since the ten Tribes revolt, Isaiah 7. 17. Of these days it is that Hezekiah speaketh, in the very next year, or fourteenth of Ahaz, Our fathers have fallen • y the sword, and our sons, and daughters, and wives are in captivity, 2 Chron. 29. 9. And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trespassed against the Lord, and the Lord gave them up to desolation, as you see 2 Chron. 30. 7. This coming up of the Assyrian King against Jerusalem, was the occasion of Ahaz his spoiling the things of the Temple, his cutting off the borders and bases, and removing the laver and sea, and the covert for the people to stand under on the Sabbath, and his turning away his own entry aside from the house of the Lord, 2 King. 16. verse. 17, 18. Because of the King of Assyria, as saith the Text, either to bestow those things that he thus cut off upon the King, or for fear the King should see too much of the true Religion there, but that Ahaz might show himself a worshipper of strange gods as well as the King. These sad times, and this expedition the Prophet speaketh of in that tenth Chapter, but in the eleventh and twelfth he again comforts the house of David with the virtue of the anointing, or with the operation of the promise to the Throne of David: that his lamp should not go quite out till the Branch of the root of Jesse should bud, and a King from thence should bear rule over all Nations. And in Chap. 13. & 14. he Prophesieth against the Kingdom of Babylon, which indeed was but now newly sprung: that this stock of Jesse should out-wear both Assyria and it; and that the anointing or decree that God had made concerning David's everlasting Throne should be their ruin that strove against it.

[World 3281] [Ahaz 14] [Hezekiah 1] [Hoshea 3] [Division 252] HOSHEA reigneth wickedly, but not so wickedly as the Kings of Israel had done that had been before him. This is remarkable, that the last King of all that succession should be the best, and yet under him the Kingdom destroyed.

[World 3283] [Ahaz 16] [Hezekiah 2] [Hoshea 5] [Division 254] EGypt becomes a broken Reed to Israel: they lean upon it, but it does pierce their hand, and not support them.

2 KINGS XVIII. ver. 1. 2, 3. 2 CHRON. XXIX.

[World 3281] [Ahaz 14] [Hezekiah 1] [Hoshea 3] [Division 252] HEZEKIAH reigneth in the third year of Hoshea, and so first it is evident that he reigned in his fathers life time; for if Hoshea began in the twelfth of Ahaz as he did, 2 King. 17. 1. and Hezekiah began in the third of Hoshea, as he did 2 King. 18. 1. then doth it follow inevitably that Hezekiah began his Reign in the fourteenth of Ahaz, and said to reign sixteen years, 2 King. 16. 2. The reason of this is also resolved out of that observation before, about Shalmanezers first expedition against Samaria, and his then expedition against Jerusalem, for he had subdued and deposed Ahaz, and made him to become as a private man, and set up Hezekiah on the Throne in his stead, whom God had reserved for the benefit of his people, and for an instrument of much glory to himself out of the bloody sacrifices of Ahaz to Molech, and out of the massacring hand of the enemy that slew some of his sons. See 2 Chron. 28. 3. 7. It is said in 2 King. 18. 7. That Hezekiah rebelled against the King of Assyria and served him not; intimating that he had been under the Assyrian homage, but he would bear it no longer, and that in time provoked Sennacherib against him. Secondly, Observe how very young Ahaz was when he begat Hezekiah: He was twenty years old when he began to reign, 2 King. 16. 2. and in the fifteenth year of his reign his son Hezekiah begins to reign, being then five and twenty years old current, 2 King. 18. 2. and so was born when Ahaz was but ten years old: the like not to be paralleled again in all the Scripture, unless it was in the very young age of Judah, when he begat his eldest son Er, Gen. 38.

[World 3281] [Ahaz 14] [Hezekiah 1] [Hoshea 3] [Division 252] HOSHEA reigneth wickedly, but not so wickedly as the Kings of Israel had done that had been before him. This is remarkable, that the last King of all that succession should be the best, and yet under him the Kingdom destroyed.