Latest / Philosophy and Faith / 52 - Commentary on The Book of Genesis
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- 0:00Speaker 1: A Chapter forty nine. This chapter is a prophecy. The
- 0:05Speaker 1: likest to it we have yet met with was that
- 0:08Speaker 1: of Noah Chapter nine, Verses twenty five and et cetera.
- 0:11Speaker 1: Jacob is here upon his death bed, making his will.
- 0:15Speaker 1: He put it off till now, because dying men's words
- 0:18Speaker 1: are apt to make deep impressions and to be remembered long.
- 0:22Speaker 1: What he said here he could not say when he would.
- 0:26Speaker 1: But as the spirit gave him utterance, who chose the
- 0:29Speaker 1: time that divine strength might be perfected in its weakness.
- 0:34Speaker 1: The twelve sons of Jacob were in their day men
- 0:36Speaker 1: of renown, But the twelve tribes of Israel, which descended
- 0:40Speaker 1: and were dominated from then, were much more renowned. We
- 0:44Speaker 1: find their names upon the gates of the New Jerusalem Revelation,
- 0:47Speaker 1: Chapter twenty one, verse twelve. In the prospect of this,
- 0:51Speaker 1: their dying father says something remarkable of each son or
- 0:55Speaker 1: of the tribe that bore his name. Here is Roman one,
- 0:59Speaker 1: the verses one and two, Rouin two, the prediction concerning
- 1:04Speaker 1: each tribe Verses three to twenty eight, Roman three, the
- 1:07Speaker 1: charge repeated concerning his burial Verses twenty nine to thirty two,
- 1:11Speaker 1: And Roman four his death, Verse thirty three. Jacob's Prophecy
- 1:18Speaker 1: concerning his sons b. C. Sixteen eighty nine, Verses one
- 1:23Speaker 1: to four. And Jacob called unto his sons and said,
- 1:28Speaker 1: gather yourselves together, that I might tell you that which
- 1:32Speaker 1: shall befall you in the last days. Gather yourselves together,
- 1:36Speaker 1: and hear ye, sons of Jacob, and hearken unto Israel
- 1:40Speaker 1: your father, Reuben, Thou art my first born, my might,
- 1:45Speaker 1: and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity,
- 1:49Speaker 1: and the excellency of power. Unstable as water. Thou shalt
- 1:53Speaker 1: not excel. Because thou wentest up to thy father's bed,
- 1:57Speaker 1: Then defilest thou it he went up to my couch.
- 2:02Speaker 1: Here is round one the preface to the prophecy, in
- 2:05Speaker 1: which one the congregation is called together Verse two. Gather
- 2:10Speaker 1: yourselves together. Let them all be sent for from their
- 2:15Speaker 1: several employments to see their father die and to hear
- 2:18Speaker 1: his dying words. It was a comfort to Jacob, now
- 2:22Speaker 1: that he was dying, to see all his children about him,
- 2:25Speaker 1: and none missing. Though he had sometimes thought himself bereaved,
- 2:29Speaker 1: it was of use to them to attend him in
- 2:31Speaker 1: his last moments, that they might learn of him how
- 2:35Speaker 1: to die, as well as how to live. What he
- 2:38Speaker 1: said to each he said in the hearing of all
- 2:40Speaker 1: the rest, for we may profit by the reproofs, counsels,
- 2:44Speaker 1: and comforts that are principally intended for others. He is
- 2:48Speaker 1: calling upon them once and again to gather together, intimated
- 2:51Speaker 1: both a precept to them to unite in love, to
- 2:55Speaker 1: keep together, not to mingle with the Egyptians, not to
- 2:57Speaker 1: forsake the assembling of themselves together, and a prediction that
- 3:02Speaker 1: they should not be separated from each other, as Abraham's
- 3:05Speaker 1: sons and Isaac's were, but should be incorporated and all
- 3:09Speaker 1: make one people. Two. A general idea is given of
- 3:13Speaker 1: the intended discourse verse one, that I may tell you
- 3:17Speaker 1: that which shall befall you, not your persons, but your
- 3:21Speaker 1: posterity in the latter days. This prediction would be of
- 3:25Speaker 1: use to those that came after them, for the confirming
- 3:28Speaker 1: of their faith and the guiding of their way on
- 3:31Speaker 1: their return to Canaan and their settlement there. We cannot
- 3:34Speaker 1: tell our children what shall befall them or their families
- 3:37Speaker 1: in this world, but we can tell them from the
- 3:40Speaker 1: word of God, what will befall them in the last
- 3:42Speaker 1: day of all, according as they conduct themselves in this world.
- 3:47Speaker 1: Three attention is demanded verse two. Hearken to Israel, your father.
- 3:53Speaker 1: Let Israel that has prevailed with God prevail with you.
- 3:57Speaker 1: Note children must diligently hearken to what their godly parents say,
- 4:01Speaker 1: particularly when they are dying. Here, you, children, the instruction
- 4:06Speaker 1: of a father, which carries with it both authority and affection.
- 4:10Speaker 1: Proverbs Chapter four, Verse one, Roman two. The prophecy concerning Reuben.
- 4:17Speaker 1: He begins with him verses three and four. For he
- 4:20Speaker 1: was the first born, But by committing uncleanness with his
- 4:23Speaker 1: father's wife, to the great reproach of the family to
- 4:26Speaker 1: which he ought to have been an ornament, he forfeited
- 4:29Speaker 1: the prerogatives of the birthright, and his dying father here
- 4:33Speaker 1: solemnly degrades him. Though he does not disown nor disinherit him.
- 4:37Speaker 1: He shall have all the privileges of a son, but
- 4:40Speaker 1: not of a first born. We have reason to think
- 4:43Speaker 1: Reuben had repented of his sin, and it was pardoned.
- 4:46Speaker 1: Yet it was a necessary peace of justice in detestation
- 4:50Speaker 1: of the villainy, and fore warning to others to put
- 4:53Speaker 1: this mark of disgrace upon him. Now according to the
- 4:57Speaker 1: method of degrading one, Jacob Pears puts upon him the
- 5:01Speaker 1: ornaments of the birthright verse three, that he and all
- 5:04Speaker 1: his brethren might see what he has forfeited, and in
- 5:07Speaker 1: that might see the evil of the sin. As the
- 5:11Speaker 1: first born, he was his father's joy, almost his pride
- 5:14Speaker 1: being the beginning of his strength. How welcome he was
- 5:18Speaker 1: to his parents. His name bespikes Reuben see a son.
- 5:23Speaker 1: To him belong the excellency of dignity above his brethren,
- 5:26Speaker 1: and some power over them. Christ Jesus is the first
- 5:30Speaker 1: born among many brethren, and to him of right belong
- 5:33Speaker 1: the most excellent power and dignity. His church, also through him,
- 5:38Speaker 1: is a church of first born. Two. He then strips
- 5:43Speaker 1: him of these ornaments verse four, lifts him up that
- 5:46Speaker 1: he may cast him down by that one word, thou
- 5:49Speaker 1: shalt not excel a being thou shalt have as a tribe,
- 5:54Speaker 1: but not an excellency. No judge, prophet, nor prince is
- 5:58Speaker 1: found of that tribe, nor any person of renown, except
- 6:01Speaker 1: Dathan and Abriam, who were noted for their impious rebellion
- 6:05Speaker 1: against Moses. That tribe as not aiming to excel meanly
- 6:11Speaker 1: chose a settlement on the other side of Jordan. Reuben
- 6:14Speaker 1: himself seems to have lost all that influence upon his
- 6:17Speaker 1: brethren to which his birthright entitled him, for when he
- 6:20Speaker 1: spake unto them, they would not hear. Chapter forty two,
- 6:25Speaker 1: Verse twenty two. Those that have not understanding and spirit
- 6:29Speaker 1: to support the honors and privileges of their birth will
- 6:31Speaker 1: soon lose them and retain only the name of them.
- 6:35Speaker 1: The character fastened upon Reuben for which he is laid
- 6:38Speaker 1: under this mark of infamy is that he was unstable
- 6:41Speaker 1: as water. Sub One. His virtue was unstable. He had
- 6:46Speaker 1: not the government of himself and his own appetites. Sometimes
- 6:50Speaker 1: he would be very regular and orderly, but at other
- 6:52Speaker 1: times he deviated to the wildest courses. Note instability is
- 6:57Speaker 1: the ruin of men's excellency. Men do not because they
- 7:00Speaker 1: do not fix sub two. His honor consequently was unstable.
- 7:05Speaker 1: It departed from him, vanished into smoke, and became as
- 7:09Speaker 1: waters built upon the ground. Note those that throw away
- 7:13Speaker 1: their virtue must not expect to save their reputation. Jacob
- 7:17Speaker 1: charges him particularly with the sin for which he was
- 7:20Speaker 1: thus disgraced. Thou wentest up to thy father's bed. It
- 7:24Speaker 1: was forty years ago that he had been guilty of
- 7:27Speaker 1: this sin, yet now it is remembered against him. Note
- 7:31Speaker 1: as time will not, of itself wear off the guilt
- 7:34Speaker 1: of any sin from the conscience, so there are some
- 7:36Speaker 1: sins whose stains it will not wipe off from the
- 7:39Speaker 1: good name, especially Seventh Commandment sins. Reuben's sin left an
- 7:44Speaker 1: indelible mark of infamy upon his family, a dishonor that
- 7:48Speaker 1: was a wound not to be healed without a scar.
- 7:50Speaker 1: Proverbs Chapter six, verses thirty two and thirty three. Let
- 7:55Speaker 1: us never do evil, and then we need not fear
- 7:58Speaker 1: being told of it Verses five to seven. Simeon and
- 8:05Speaker 1: Levi are brethren. Instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O,
- 8:10Speaker 1: my soul, come not thou into their secret unto their
- 8:13Speaker 1: assembly mine honor. Be not thou united. For in their
- 8:18Speaker 1: anger they slew a man, and in their self will
- 8:21Speaker 1: they digged down a wall. Cursed be their anger, for
- 8:24Speaker 1: it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel.
- 8:27Speaker 1: I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.
- 8:33Speaker 1: These were next in age to Reuben, and they also
- 8:36Speaker 1: had been a grief and shame to Jacob when they
- 8:38Speaker 1: treacherously and barbarously destroyed the Shechemites, which he here remembers
- 8:43Speaker 1: against them. Children should be afraid of incurring their parents
- 8:47Speaker 1: just displeasure, lest they fare worse for it long afterwards,
- 8:51Speaker 1: and when they would inherit the blessing be rejected. Observe
- 8:55Speaker 1: one the character of Simeon and Levi. They were brethren
- 8:59Speaker 1: in dispace position, but unlike their father, they were passionate
- 9:02Speaker 1: and revengeful, fierce and uncontrollable. Their swords, which should have
- 9:07Speaker 1: been only weapons of defense, were, as the margin reads
- 9:11Speaker 1: it verse five, weapons of violence, to do wrong to others,
- 9:15Speaker 1: not to save themselves from wrong. Note it is no
- 9:19Speaker 1: new thing for the temper of children to differ very
- 9:21Speaker 1: much from that of their parents. We need not think
- 9:24Speaker 1: this strange. It was so in Jacob's family. It is
- 9:27Speaker 1: not in the power of parents, no not by education,
- 9:31Speaker 1: to form the dispositions of their children. Jacob bred his
- 9:35Speaker 1: sons to everything that was mild and quiet, and yet
- 9:37Speaker 1: they proved to be thus furious. Two. A proof of
- 9:42Speaker 1: this is the murder of the Shechemites, which Jacob deeply
- 9:45Speaker 1: resented at the time Chapter thirty four, verse thirty and
- 9:49Speaker 1: still continued to resent. They slew a man shechem himself,
- 9:53Speaker 1: and many others, and to effect that, they digged down
- 9:56Speaker 1: a wall, broke the houses, to plunder them and murder
- 9:59Speaker 1: them inhabitants. Note the best governors cannot always restrain those
- 10:04Speaker 1: under their charge from committing the worst villanies. And when
- 10:08Speaker 1: two in a family are mischievous, they commonly make one
- 10:11Speaker 1: another so much the worse, And it were wisdom to
- 10:14Speaker 1: part them. Simeon and Levi, it is probable, were the
- 10:17Speaker 1: most active in the wrong doing to Joseph, to which
- 10:20Speaker 1: some think Jacob has here some reference, for in their anger,
- 10:24Speaker 1: they would have slain that man. Observe what a mischievous
- 10:28Speaker 1: thing self will is In young people, Simeon and Levi
- 10:31Speaker 1: would not be advised by their aged and experienced father. No,
- 10:35Speaker 1: they would be governed by their own passion, rather than
- 10:38Speaker 1: by his prudence. Young people would better consult to their
- 10:41Speaker 1: own interests, if they would less indulge in their own will.
- 10:45Speaker 1: Three Jacob's protestation against this barbarous act of theirs, O
- 10:50Speaker 1: my soul, come not thou into their secret. Hereby he
- 10:55Speaker 1: professes not only his abhorrence of such practices in general,
- 10:58Speaker 1: but his innocence particularly in that matter. Perhaps he had
- 11:02Speaker 1: been suspected as underhand aiding and abetting. He therefore thus
- 11:07Speaker 1: solemnly expresses his detestation to the fact that he might
- 11:10Speaker 1: not die under that suspicion. Note our soul is our honor.
- 11:15Speaker 1: By its powers and faculties, we are distinguished from and
- 11:19Speaker 1: dignified above the beasts that perish. Note further, we ought
- 11:24Speaker 1: from our hearts to detest and abhor all society and
- 11:27Speaker 1: confederacy with bloody and mischievous men. We must not be
- 11:31Speaker 1: ambitious of coming into their secret or knowing the depths
- 11:34Speaker 1: of Satan. Four his abhorrence of those brutish lusts that
- 11:39Speaker 1: led them to their wickedness. Cursed be their anger. He
- 11:43Speaker 1: does not curse their persons, but their luss Note sub one.
- 11:48Speaker 1: Anger is the cause and origin of a great deal
- 11:50Speaker 1: of sin, and exposes us to the curse of God
- 11:53Speaker 1: and his judgment. Matthew, Chapter five, Verse twenty two two.
- 11:57Speaker 1: We ought, always, in the expression of our zeal, carefully
- 12:01Speaker 1: to distinguish between the sinner and the sin, so as
- 12:04Speaker 1: not to love nor bless the sin for the sake
- 12:06Speaker 1: of the person, nor to hate nor curse the person
- 12:09Speaker 1: for the sake of the sin five a token of displeasure,
- 12:14Speaker 1: which he foretells their posterity should lie under. For this
- 12:17Speaker 1: I will divide them. The Levites were scattered throughout all
- 12:21Speaker 1: the tribes, and Simeon's lot lay not together and was
- 12:25Speaker 1: so straight that many of the tribe were forced to
- 12:27Speaker 1: disperse themselves in quest of settlements and subsistence. This curse
- 12:32Speaker 1: was afterwards turned into a blessing to the Levites, but
- 12:35Speaker 1: the Simionites for Zimri's sin numbers Chapter twenty five, verse fourteen,
- 12:40Speaker 1: had it bound on note Shameful dispersions are the just
- 12:45Speaker 1: punishment of sinful unions and confederacies, Verses eight to twelve. Judah,
- 12:53Speaker 1: thou art, he whom thy brethren shall praise, Thy hand,
- 12:58Speaker 1: shall be in the neck of thine enemies. Thy father's
- 13:01Speaker 1: children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's
- 13:05Speaker 1: whelp from the prey. My son, thou art gone up,
- 13:09Speaker 1: He stooped down, He crouched as a lion, and as
- 13:12Speaker 1: an old lion, who shall rouse him up. The scepter
- 13:16Speaker 1: shall not depart from Judah, nor a law giver from
- 13:19Speaker 1: between his feet until Shiloh come, and unto him shall
- 13:23Speaker 1: the gathering of the people be, binding his foal unto
- 13:27Speaker 1: the vine, and his asses cold unto the choice vine.
- 13:30Speaker 1: He washed his garments in wine and his clothes in
- 13:33Speaker 1: the blood of grapes. His eyes shall be red with wine,
- 13:37Speaker 1: and his teeth white with milk. Glorious things are here
- 13:43Speaker 1: said of Judah. The mention of the crimes of the
- 13:45Speaker 1: three elder of his sons had not so put the
- 13:49Speaker 1: dying patriarch out of humor, but that he had a
- 13:51Speaker 1: blessing ready for Judah, to whom blessings belonged. Judah's name
- 13:56Speaker 1: signifies praise in allusion to which he says, Thou art
- 14:00Speaker 1: ar he whom thy brethren shall praise Verse eight. God
- 14:04Speaker 1: was praised for him Chapter twenty nine, Verse thirty five,
- 14:07Speaker 1: praised by him and praised in him, And therefore his
- 14:10Speaker 1: brethren shall praise him. Note these that are to God,
- 14:15Speaker 1: for a praise shall be the praise of their brethren.
- 14:18Speaker 1: It is prophesied that one the tribe of Judah should
- 14:21Speaker 1: be victorious and successful in war, Thy hand shall be
- 14:24Speaker 1: in the neck of thine enemies. This was fulfilled in
- 14:27Speaker 1: David Psalm eighteen, verse forty two. It should be superior
- 14:32Speaker 1: to the rest of the tribes, not only in itself
- 14:35Speaker 1: more numerous and illustrious, but having a dominion over them.
- 14:39Speaker 1: Thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Judah was
- 14:42Speaker 1: the law giver Psalm sixty, verse seven. The tribe led
- 14:47Speaker 1: the van through the wilderness, and in the conquest of
- 14:49Speaker 1: Canaan Judges, Chapter one, verse two, the prerogatives of the
- 14:53Speaker 1: birthright which Reuben had forfeited, the excellency of dignity and
- 14:57Speaker 1: power were thus conferred upon Judah. Observe, thy brethren shall
- 15:02Speaker 1: bow down before thee, and yet shall praise thee, reckoning
- 15:06Speaker 1: themselves happy in having so wise and bold. The commander note,
- 15:11Speaker 1: honor and power are then a blessing to those that
- 15:14Speaker 1: have them, when they are not grudged and envied, but
- 15:16Speaker 1: praised and applauded and cheerfully submitted to verse three, it
- 15:21Speaker 1: should be a strong and courageous tribe, and so qualified
- 15:24Speaker 1: for command and conquest. Judah is a lion's wealth verse nine.
- 15:29Speaker 1: The lion is the king of beasts, the terror of
- 15:31Speaker 1: the forest. When he roars, when he seizes his prey,
- 15:34Speaker 1: none can resist him. When he goes up from the prey,
- 15:38Speaker 1: none dare pursue him to revenge it. By this, it
- 15:41Speaker 1: is foretold that the tribe of Judah shall become very formidable,
- 15:45Speaker 1: and should not only obtain great victories, but should peaceably
- 15:48Speaker 1: and quietly enjoy what was obtained by those victories. That
- 15:51Speaker 1: they should make war not for the sake of war,
- 15:54Speaker 1: but for the sake of peace. Judah is compared not
- 15:58Speaker 1: to a lion rampant all we tearing, always raging, always ranging,
- 16:03Speaker 1: but to a lion couchant, enjoying the satisfaction of his
- 16:06Speaker 1: power and success without creating vexation to others. This is
- 16:11Speaker 1: to be truly great. Four. It should be the royal tribe,
- 16:16Speaker 1: and the tribe from which Messiah the Prince should come.
- 16:19Speaker 1: The scepter shall not depart from Judah till Shiloh come
- 16:22Speaker 1: Verse ten. Jacob hereforeesees and foretells sub one, that the
- 16:28Speaker 1: scepter should come into the tribe of Judah, which was
- 16:31Speaker 1: fulfilled in David, on whose family the crown was entailed.
- 16:34Speaker 1: Sub two, that Shiloh should be of this tribe, his seed,
- 16:39Speaker 1: that promised seed in whom the earth should be blessed
- 16:42Speaker 1: that peaceable and prosperous one, the Savior, so others translated,
- 16:47Speaker 1: he shall come from Judah. Thus, dying Jacob at a
- 16:50Speaker 1: great distance, saw Christ's day, and it was his comfort
- 16:54Speaker 1: and support on his deathbed. Sub three, that after the
- 16:58Speaker 1: coming of the Scepter into the tribe of Judah, it
- 17:00Speaker 1: should continue in that tribe at least a government of
- 17:03Speaker 1: their own till the coming of the Messiah, in whom
- 17:07Speaker 1: as the King of the Church and the great high priest,
- 17:10Speaker 1: it was fit that both the priesthood and the royalty
- 17:12Speaker 1: should determine till the captivity. All along from David's time
- 17:17Speaker 1: the scepter was in Judah, and subsequently the governors of
- 17:20Speaker 1: Judaea were of that tribe, or of the Levites that
- 17:23Speaker 1: adhered to it, which was equivalent till Judah became a
- 17:27Speaker 1: province of the Roman Empire just at the time of
- 17:30Speaker 1: our Saviour's birth, and was at that time taxed as
- 17:33Speaker 1: one of the provinces Luke Chapter two, verse one. And
- 17:37Speaker 1: at the time of his death the Jews expressly owned,
- 17:40Speaker 1: we have no king but Caesar. Hence it is undeniably
- 17:44Speaker 1: inferred against the Jews that our Lord Jesus is he
- 17:47Speaker 1: that should come, and that we are to look for
- 17:50Speaker 1: no other, for he came exactly at the time appointed.
- 17:54Speaker 1: Many excellent pens have been admirable well employed in explaining
- 17:57Speaker 1: and illustrating this famous prophecy of Christ. Five. It should
- 18:02Speaker 1: be a very fruitful tribe, especially that it should abound
- 18:05Speaker 1: with milk for babies and wine to make glad the
- 18:08Speaker 1: heart of strong men Verses eleven and twelve. Vines is
- 18:12Speaker 1: so common in the hedgerow, and so strong that they
- 18:15Speaker 1: should tie their asses to them, and so fruitful that
- 18:18Speaker 1: they should load their asses with them wine as plentiful
- 18:21Speaker 1: as water, so that the men of that tribe should
- 18:24Speaker 1: be very healthful and lively, their eyes brisk and sparkling,
- 18:28Speaker 1: their teeth white. Much of what is here said concerning
- 18:31Speaker 1: Judah is to be applied to our Lord Jesus. Sub One.
- 18:35Speaker 1: He is the ruler of all his father's children and
- 18:37Speaker 1: the conqueror of all his father's enemies. And he it
- 18:40Speaker 1: is that is the praise of all the saints sept. Two.
- 18:44Speaker 1: He is the line of the tribe of Judah, as
- 18:47Speaker 1: he is called with reference to this prophecy. Revelation Chapter five,
- 18:50Speaker 1: verse five, who having spoiled principalities and powers, went up
- 18:55Speaker 1: a conqueror, and couched so as none can stir him up.
- 19:00Speaker 1: When he sat down at the right hand of the Father.
- 19:03Speaker 1: Three to him belong the scepter. He is the law giver,
- 19:07Speaker 1: And to him shall the gathering of the people be
- 19:10Speaker 1: as the desire of all nations. Hagai chapter two, verse seven, who,
- 19:15Speaker 1: being lifted up from the earth, should draw all men
- 19:17Speaker 1: unto him. John chapter twelve, verse thirty two. And in
- 19:21Speaker 1: whom the children of God that are scattered abroad should
- 19:23Speaker 1: meet as the center of their unity. John chapter eleven,
- 19:26Speaker 1: verse fifty two, step four. In him there is plenty
- 19:31Speaker 1: of all which is nourishing and refreshing to the soul,
- 19:34Speaker 1: and which maintains and cheers the divine life in it.
- 19:38Speaker 1: In him we may have wine in milk the riches
- 19:41Speaker 1: of judas tribe, without money and without price. Isaiah chapter
- 19:45Speaker 1: fifty five, verse one, verses thirteen to twenty one. Zebulun
- 19:53Speaker 1: shall dwell at the haven of the sea, and he
- 19:56Speaker 1: shall be a haven of ships, and his border shall
- 20:00Speaker 1: be unto ziden Isakar is a strong ass couching down
- 20:05Speaker 1: between two burdens, And he saw that rest was good
- 20:09Speaker 1: and the land that it was pleasant, and bowed his
- 20:12Speaker 1: shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute. Dan
- 20:17Speaker 1: shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel.
- 20:21Speaker 1: Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder
- 20:24Speaker 1: in the path that bideth the horse's heels, so that
- 20:26Speaker 1: his rider shall fall backward. I have waited for thy salvation,
- 20:31Speaker 1: O Lord Gad. A troop shall overcome him, but he
- 20:35Speaker 1: shall overcome it the last out of ashure. His bread
- 20:39Speaker 1: shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties. Neftali
- 20:45Speaker 1: is a hind let loose. He giveth goodly words. Here
- 20:51Speaker 1: we have Jacob's prophecy concerning six of his sons ruin
- 20:55Speaker 1: one concerning Zebulin verse thirteen, that his posterity should have
- 20:59Speaker 1: the lot upon the sea coast, and should be merchants
- 21:02Speaker 1: and mariners and traders at sea. This was fulfilled when
- 21:06Speaker 1: two or three hundred years later the land of Canaan
- 21:09Speaker 1: was divided by lot, and the border of Zebulun went
- 21:12Speaker 1: up towards the sea. Joshua Chapter nineteen, verse eleven. Had
- 21:16Speaker 1: they chosen their lot themselves, or Joshua appointed it, we
- 21:20Speaker 1: might have supposed it done with design to make Jacob's
- 21:22Speaker 1: words good. But being done by Lot, it appears that
- 21:26Speaker 1: it was divinely disposed and Jacob divinely inspired. Note the
- 21:32Speaker 1: lot of God's Providence exactly agrees with the plan of
- 21:34Speaker 1: God's council, like a true copy with the original. If
- 21:38Speaker 1: Prophecy says Zebulin shall be a haven of ships, Providence
- 21:42Speaker 1: will so plant him. Note One, God appoints the bounds
- 21:46Speaker 1: of our habitation. Two, it is our wisdom and duty
- 21:50Speaker 1: to accommodate ourselves to our lot and to improve it.
- 21:53Speaker 1: If Zebulun dwell at the haven of the sea, let
- 21:56Speaker 1: him be for a haven of ships. Roman, too, concerning Isakar,
- 22:02Speaker 1: verses fourteen fifteen. One, that the men of that tribe
- 22:06Speaker 1: should be strong and industrious, fit for labor, and inclined
- 22:09Speaker 1: to labor, particularly the toil of husbandry, like the ass
- 22:13Speaker 1: that patiently carries his burden, and by using himself to it,
- 22:17Speaker 1: makes it the easier. Isakar submitted to two burdens, tillage
- 22:22Speaker 1: and tribute. It was a tribe that took pains, and
- 22:25Speaker 1: thriving thereby was called upon for rents and taxes. Two
- 22:31Speaker 1: that they should be encouraged in their labor by the
- 22:34Speaker 1: goodness of the land that should fall to their lot. Sup. One,
- 22:38Speaker 1: He saw that rest at home was good. Note the
- 22:42Speaker 1: labor of the husbandmen is really rest in comparison with
- 22:45Speaker 1: that of soldiers and seamen, whose hurries and perils are
- 22:49Speaker 1: such that those who tarry at home in the most
- 22:51Speaker 1: constant service have no reason to envy them. Sub Two.
- 22:55Speaker 1: He saw that the land was pleasant, yielding not only
- 22:58Speaker 1: pleasant prospects to charm the eye of the curious, but
- 23:01Speaker 1: pleasant fruits to recompense his toils. Many are the pleasures
- 23:05Speaker 1: of a country life abundantly sufficient to balance the inconveniences
- 23:08Speaker 1: of it, if we can but persuade ourselves to think so. Isacur,
- 23:13Speaker 1: in prospect of advantage, bowed his shoulders to bear. Let us,
- 23:17Speaker 1: with an eye of faith, see the heavenly rest to
- 23:20Speaker 1: be good, and the land of promise to be pleasant,
- 23:23Speaker 1: And this will make our present service easy, and encourage
- 23:27Speaker 1: us to bow our shoulder to them. Rumin three concerning Dan,
- 23:33Speaker 1: Verses sixteen and seventeen. What is said concerning Dan has
- 23:37Speaker 1: reference either one to that tribe in general. That though
- 23:41Speaker 1: Dan was one of the sons of the Concubines, yet
- 23:44Speaker 1: he should be a tribe governed by judges of his
- 23:47Speaker 1: own as well as other tribes, and should, by art
- 23:50Speaker 1: and policy and surprise, gain advantages against his enemies, like
- 23:54Speaker 1: a serpent suddenly biting the heel of the traveler. Note
- 23:58Speaker 1: in God's Spiritual Israel, there is no distinction made of
- 24:02Speaker 1: bond or free Colossians, Chapter three, verse eleven. Dan shall
- 24:06Speaker 1: be incorporated by as good a charter as any of
- 24:09Speaker 1: the other tribes. Note also, some like Dan may excel
- 24:14Speaker 1: in the subtlety of the serpent, as others, like Judah,
- 24:17Speaker 1: in the courage of the lion, and both may do
- 24:19Speaker 1: good service to the cause of God against the Canaanites.
- 24:23Speaker 1: Or it may refer to to Samson, who was of
- 24:26Speaker 1: that tribe and judged Israel, that is, delivered them out
- 24:30Speaker 1: of the hands of the Philistines, not as the other
- 24:33Speaker 1: judges by fighting them in the field, but by the
- 24:36Speaker 1: vexations and annoyances he gave them underhand. When he pulled
- 24:40Speaker 1: the house down under the Philistines that were upon the
- 24:43Speaker 1: roof of it, he made the horse throw its rider.
- 24:48Speaker 1: Thus was Jacob going on with his discourse, but now
- 24:51Speaker 1: being almost spent with speaking, and ready to faint and
- 24:54Speaker 1: die away. He relieves himself with those words which come
- 24:57Speaker 1: in as a parentheses eighteen. I have waited for thy salvation,
- 25:02Speaker 1: O Lord, as those that are fainting are helped by
- 25:05Speaker 1: taking a spoonful of cordial or smelling at a bottle
- 25:08Speaker 1: of spirits. Or if he must break off here and
- 25:12Speaker 1: his breath will not serve him to finish what he
- 25:14Speaker 1: intended with those words, he pours out his soul into
- 25:17Speaker 1: the bosom of his God, and even breathes it out.
- 25:21Speaker 1: Note the pious ejaculations of a warm and lively devotion,
- 25:25Speaker 1: though sometimes they may be incoherent, are not therefore to
- 25:28Speaker 1: be censured as impertinent that may be uttered affectionately, which
- 25:32Speaker 1: does not come in methodically. It is no absurdity when
- 25:36Speaker 1: we are speaking to men to lift up our hearts
- 25:38Speaker 1: to God. The salvation he waited for was Christ, the
- 25:42Speaker 1: promised sid whom he had spoken of Verse ten. Now
- 25:46Speaker 1: that he was going to be gathered to his people,
- 25:49Speaker 1: he breathed after him, to whom the gathering of the
- 25:51Speaker 1: people shall be. The salvation he waited for was also Heaven,
- 25:57Speaker 1: the better country, which he declared plainly that he sees
- 26:00Speaker 1: sought Hebrews chapter eleven, verses thirteen fourteen, and continued seeking.
- 26:04Speaker 1: Now that he was in Egypt, Now that he is
- 26:07Speaker 1: going to enjoy the salvation, he comforts himself with this,
- 26:11Speaker 1: that he had waited for the salvation. Note it is
- 26:15Speaker 1: the character of a living saint that he waits for
- 26:17Speaker 1: the salvation of the Lord Christ, as our way to
- 26:21Speaker 1: heaven is to be waited on, and heaven as our
- 26:24Speaker 1: rest in Christ is to be waited for. Again, it
- 26:27Speaker 1: is the comfort of a dying saint thus to have
- 26:30Speaker 1: waited for the salvation of the Lord. And then he
- 26:33Speaker 1: shall have that for which he has been waiting for.
- 26:36Speaker 1: The long looked for will come Roman I concerning God,
- 26:42Speaker 1: verse nineteen, he alludes to his name, which signifies a troop.
- 26:47Speaker 1: Foresees the character of that tribe, that it should be
- 26:50Speaker 1: a warlike tribe, and so we find first Chronicles chapter twelve,
- 26:53Speaker 1: verse eight, the Gadites were men of war fit for
- 26:57Speaker 1: the battle. He foresees that the situation of that tribe
- 27:00Speaker 1: on the other side Jordan would expose it to the
- 27:03Speaker 1: incursions of its neighbors, the Moabites and the Ammonites, and
- 27:08Speaker 1: that they might not be proud of their strength and valor.
- 27:10Speaker 1: He foretells that the troops of their enemies should, in
- 27:13Speaker 1: many skirmishes overcome them, Yet that they might not be
- 27:16Speaker 1: discouraged by their defeats, he assures them that they should
- 27:20Speaker 1: overcome it the last which was fulfilled when in Saul's
- 27:23Speaker 1: time and David's the Moabites and Ammonites were wholly subdued.
- 27:28Speaker 1: Seefhirs Chronicles, Chapter five, verse eighteen, et cetera. Note, the
- 27:33Speaker 1: cause of God and his people, though it may seem
- 27:36Speaker 1: for a time to be baffled and run down, will
- 27:38Speaker 1: yet be victorious at last. Vincimer im prelio is said,
- 27:43Speaker 1: non im bello. We are foiled in battle, but not
- 27:46Speaker 1: in campaign. Grace in the soul is often foiled in
- 27:50Speaker 1: its conflicts. Troops of corruption overcome it. But the cause
- 27:54Speaker 1: is God's, and grace will in the issue come off
- 27:58Speaker 1: conqueror yea more than conquer Romans, Chapter eight, verse thirty seven.
- 28:03Speaker 1: Roman five, concerning Asher, verse twenty, that it should be
- 28:07Speaker 1: a very rich tribe, replenished not only with bread for necessity,
- 28:10Speaker 1: but with fatness, with dainties, royal dainties, for the king
- 28:14Speaker 1: itself is served of the field Ecclesiastes, Chapter five, verse nine,
- 28:19Speaker 1: and these exported out of Asher to other tribes, perhaps
- 28:22Speaker 1: to other lands. Note the God of nature has provided
- 28:26Speaker 1: for us not only necessaries, but dainties, that we might
- 28:29Speaker 1: call him a bountiful benefactor. Yet, whereas all places are
- 28:34Speaker 1: competently furnished with necessities, only some places afford dainties. Corn
- 28:39Speaker 1: is more common than svices. With the supports of luxury
- 28:42Speaker 1: as universal as the supports of life, the world would
- 28:45Speaker 1: be worse than it is, and that it needs not be.
- 28:50Speaker 1: Roman six concerning Naftali, verse twenty one. A tribe that
- 28:54Speaker 1: carries struggles in its name, it signifies wrestling, and the
- 28:58Speaker 1: blessing entailed upon it signifies prevailing. It is a hind
- 29:03Speaker 1: let loose. Though we find not this prediction so fully
- 29:06Speaker 1: answered in the event as some of the rest. Yet
- 29:10Speaker 1: no doubt it proved true that those of this tribe
- 29:13Speaker 1: were one as the loving Hind, for that is her epithet.
- 29:17Speaker 1: Proverbs chapter five, verse nineteen, friendly and obliging to one
- 29:22Speaker 1: another and to other tribes. Their converse remarkably kind and endearing,
- 29:27Speaker 1: two as the lucent Hind, zealous for their liberty, three
- 29:32Speaker 1: as the swift hind Psalm eighteen, verse thirty three quick
- 29:36Speaker 1: in dispatch of business, and perhaps four as the trembling
- 29:41Speaker 1: timorous in times of public danger. It is rare that
- 29:45Speaker 1: those that are most amiable to their friends are most
- 29:48Speaker 1: formidable to their enemies. Five. That they should be affable
- 29:52Speaker 1: and courteous, their language refined, and they complaciant, giving goodly words. Note.
- 29:59Speaker 1: Among God's Israel there is to be found a great
- 30:01Speaker 1: variety of dispositions, contrary to each other, yet all contributing
- 30:05Speaker 1: to the beauty and strength of the body. Judah like
- 30:07Speaker 1: a lion, Isacar like an ass Dan like a serpent,
- 30:11Speaker 1: Neftali like a hind. Let not those of different tempers
- 30:15Speaker 1: and gifts censure one another, nor envy one another, any
- 30:19Speaker 1: more than those of different statures and complexions Verses twenty
- 30:25Speaker 1: two to twenty seven. Joseph is a fruitful bow, even
- 30:30Speaker 1: a fruitful bow by a well whose branches run over
- 30:33Speaker 1: the wall. The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot
- 30:37Speaker 1: at him and hated him. But his bow abode in strength,
- 30:41Speaker 1: and the arms of his hands were made strong by
- 30:43Speaker 1: the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. From thence
- 30:46Speaker 1: is the shepherd, the stone of Israel, even by the
- 30:50Speaker 1: God of thy Father, whom shall help thee, and by
- 30:53Speaker 1: the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above,
- 30:57Speaker 1: blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the
- 31:00Speaker 1: beasts and of the womb. The blessings of Thy Father
- 31:04Speaker 1: have prevailed against the blessing of my progenitors, unto the
- 31:07Speaker 1: utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on
- 31:11Speaker 1: the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the
- 31:14Speaker 1: head of him that was separate from his brethren. Benjamin
- 31:18Speaker 1: shall raven as a wolf. In the morning he shall
- 31:21Speaker 1: devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.
- 31:26Speaker 1: He closes with the blessings of his most beloved sons,
- 31:30Speaker 1: Joseph and Benjamin. With these he will breathe his last
- 31:34Speaker 1: roman one, the blessing of Joseph, which is very large
- 31:38Speaker 1: and full. He is compared verse twenty two too fruitful
- 31:41Speaker 1: bow or young tree, for God had made him fruitful
- 31:44Speaker 1: in the land of his affliction. He owned it. Chapter
- 31:47Speaker 1: forty one, verse fifty two. His two sons were as
- 31:51Speaker 1: branches of a vine or other spreading plant running over
- 31:55Speaker 1: the wall. Note God can make those fruitful great comforts
- 31:59Speaker 1: to themselves and others who have been looked upon as
- 32:02Speaker 1: dry and withered. More is recorded in the history concerning
- 32:05Speaker 1: Joseph the concerning any other of Jacob's sons, and therefore
- 32:09Speaker 1: what Jacob says of him is historical as well as prophetical.
- 32:13Speaker 1: Observe one the providences of God concerning Joseph, Verses twenty
- 32:18Speaker 1: three and twenty four. These are mentioned to the glory
- 32:21Speaker 1: of God and for the encouragement of Jacob's faith and
- 32:24Speaker 1: hope that God had blessings in soore for his seed.
- 32:27Speaker 1: Here observe sub one Joseph's straits and troubles verse twenty three.
- 32:33Speaker 1: Though he now lived at ease and in honor, Jacob
- 32:36Speaker 1: reminds him of the difficulties he had formerly waded through.
- 32:39Speaker 1: He had had many enemies here, called archers, being skillful
- 32:43Speaker 1: to do mischief, masters of their art of persecution. They
- 32:47Speaker 1: hated him. Their persecution begins. They shot their poisonous starts
- 32:51Speaker 1: at him, and thus they sorely grieved him. His brethren
- 32:55Speaker 1: and his father's house were very spiteful towards him, mocked him,
- 32:58Speaker 1: stripped him, threatened him, sold him. Thought they had been
- 33:02Speaker 1: the death of him. His mistress in the house of
- 33:05Speaker 1: Potiphar sorely grieved him and shot at him when she
- 33:08Speaker 1: impudently assaulted his chastity. Temptations are fiery darts, thorns in
- 33:13Speaker 1: the flesh, sorely grievous to gracious souls. When she prevailed
- 33:17Speaker 1: not in this, she hated him and shot at him
- 33:19Speaker 1: by her false accusations, arrows against which there is little fence,
- 33:23Speaker 1: but the hold God has in the conscience of the
- 33:26Speaker 1: worst of men. Doubtless, he had enemies in the court
- 33:29Speaker 1: of Pharaoh that envied his preferment and sought to undermine him.
- 33:34Speaker 1: Sub two. Joseph's strength and support under all these troubles
- 33:38Speaker 1: Verse twenty four. His beaux abode in strength, that is,
- 33:42Speaker 1: his faith did not fail. But he kept his ground
- 33:45Speaker 1: and came off a conqueror. The arms of his hands
- 33:49Speaker 1: were made strong, that is, his other graces did their part,
- 33:53Speaker 1: his wisdom, courage, and patience, which are better than weapons
- 33:57Speaker 1: of war. In short, he maintained both his integrity and
- 34:01Speaker 1: his comfort through all his trials. He bore all his
- 34:04Speaker 1: burdens with an invincible resolution, and did not sink under them,
- 34:08Speaker 1: nor do anything unbecoming him sub three the spring and
- 34:13Speaker 1: fountain of his strength. It was by the hands of
- 34:15Speaker 1: the Mighty God, who was therefore able to strengthen him,
- 34:19Speaker 1: and the God of Jacob, a god in covenant with
- 34:22Speaker 1: him and therefore engaged to help him. All our strength
- 34:25Speaker 1: for the resisting of temptations and the bearing of afflictions,
- 34:29Speaker 1: comes from God. His grace is sufficient, and his strength
- 34:33Speaker 1: is perfected in our weakness. Sub four. The state of
- 34:37Speaker 1: honor and usefulness to which he was subsequently advanced. Thence,
- 34:42Speaker 1: from this strange method of providence, he became the shepherd
- 34:45Speaker 1: and Stone, the feeder and supporter of God's Israel, Jacob
- 34:49Speaker 1: and his family. Herein, Joseph was a type friend I
- 34:53Speaker 1: of Christ. He was shot at and hated, but borne
- 34:57Speaker 1: up under his sufferings Isaiah chapter fifty, verses seven tonne,
- 35:00Speaker 1: and was afterwards advanced to be the shepherd and stone
- 35:04Speaker 1: prin too of the church in general and particular believers.
- 35:09Speaker 1: Hell shoots its arrows against the saints, but Heaven protects
- 35:12Speaker 1: and strengthens them and will crown them. Two the promises
- 35:18Speaker 1: of God to Joseph. See how these are connected with
- 35:21Speaker 1: the former, even by the God of thy Father Jacob,
- 35:25Speaker 1: who shall help thee Verse twenty five. Note our experiences
- 35:29Speaker 1: of God's power and goodness in strengthening us. Hitherto are
- 35:33Speaker 1: our encouragements still to hope for help from him. He
- 35:37Speaker 1: that has helped us will help we may build much
- 35:41Speaker 1: upon eben Easers, see what Joseph may expect from the Almighty,
- 35:46Speaker 1: even the God of his father. Sub one, he shall
- 35:50Speaker 1: help thee in difficulties and dangers which may yet be
- 35:53Speaker 1: before THEE. Help Thy seed in their wars. Joshua came
- 35:57Speaker 1: from him who commanded in chief the wars of Canaan.
- 36:01Speaker 1: So two he shall bless thee, and he only blesses. Indeed,
- 36:06Speaker 1: Jacob prays for a blessing upon Joseph, but the God
- 36:08Speaker 1: of Jacob commands the blessing. Observe the blessings conferred upon
- 36:12Speaker 1: Joseph Prien one, various and abundant blessings. Blessings of heaven
- 36:18Speaker 1: above rain in its season and fair weather in its season,
- 36:21Speaker 1: and the benign influences of the heavenly bodies. Blessings of
- 36:25Speaker 1: the deep that lieth under this earth, which compared with
- 36:28Speaker 1: the upper world, is but a great deep with subterraneous
- 36:31Speaker 1: minds and springs. Spiritual blessings are blessings of heaven, above
- 36:35Speaker 1: which we ought to desire and seek for in the
- 36:37Speaker 1: first place, and to which we must give the preference,
- 36:41Speaker 1: while temporal blessings, those of this earth, must lie under
- 36:44Speaker 1: in our account and esteem. Blessings of the womb and
- 36:48Speaker 1: the breasts are given when children are safely born and
- 36:51Speaker 1: comfortably nursed in the Word of God by which we
- 36:54Speaker 1: are born again and nourished up first Peter, Chapter one,
- 36:57Speaker 1: verse twenty three, and Chapter two, verse two. There are
- 37:01Speaker 1: to be new man blessings of both the womb and
- 37:04Speaker 1: the breasts, parin too eminent and transcendent blessings which prevail
- 37:09Speaker 1: above the blessings of my progenitors Verse twenty six. His
- 37:14Speaker 1: father Isaac had but one blessing, and when he had
- 37:18Speaker 1: given that to Jacob, he was at a loss for
- 37:20Speaker 1: a blessing to bestow upon Esau. But Jacob had a
- 37:23Speaker 1: blessing for each of his twelve sons, and now at
- 37:26Speaker 1: the latter end, a copious one for Joseph. The great
- 37:30Speaker 1: blessing entailed upon that family was increase, which did not
- 37:33Speaker 1: so immediately and so signally follow the blessings which Abraham
- 37:37Speaker 1: and Isaac gave to their sons, as if all the
- 37:39Speaker 1: blessing which Jacob gave to his for soon after his death,
- 37:43Speaker 1: they multiplied exceedingly peren thie durable and extensive blessings unto
- 37:50Speaker 1: the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills, including all the
- 37:53Speaker 1: productions of the most fruitful hills, and lasting as long
- 37:56Speaker 1: as they last. Isaiah chapter fifty four, Verse ten. Note
- 38:02Speaker 1: the blessings of the Everlasting God include the riches of
- 38:05Speaker 1: the everlasting hills, and much more well. Of these blessings,
- 38:09Speaker 1: it is here said they shall be. So it is
- 38:12Speaker 1: a promise, or let them be so. It is a
- 38:15Speaker 1: prayer on the head of Joseph, to which let them
- 38:19Speaker 1: be as a crown to adorn it and a helmet
- 38:22Speaker 1: to protect it. Joseph was separated from his brethren, so
- 38:26Speaker 1: we read it for a time. Yet as others read it,
- 38:29Speaker 1: he was a Nazarite among his brethren, better and more
- 38:32Speaker 1: excellent than they. Note. It is no new thing for
- 38:36Speaker 1: the best men to meet with the worst, usage for
- 38:39Speaker 1: Nazirites among their brethren to be cast out and separated
- 38:41Speaker 1: from their brethren. But the blessing of God will make
- 38:44Speaker 1: it up to them Roman too, the blessing of Benjamin,
- 38:49Speaker 1: verse twenty seven, he shall raven as a wolf. It
- 38:53Speaker 1: is plain by this that Jacob was guided in what
- 38:55Speaker 1: he said by a spirit of prophecy, and not by
- 38:58Speaker 1: natural affection. Else he would spoke with more tenderness of
- 39:01Speaker 1: his beloved son Benjamin, concerning whom he only foresees and
- 39:04Speaker 1: foretells this, that his posterity should be a warlike tribe,
- 39:09Speaker 1: strong and daring, and that they should enrich themselves with
- 39:12Speaker 1: the spoils of their enemies. That they should be active
- 39:15Speaker 1: and busy in the world, and a tribe as much
- 39:17Speaker 1: feared by their neighbors as any other. In the morning,
- 39:21Speaker 1: he shall devour the prey which he seized and divided
- 39:24Speaker 1: over night. Or in the first times of Israel, they
- 39:28Speaker 1: shall be noted for activity, though many of them be
- 39:31Speaker 1: left handed. Judges Chapter three, verse fifteen and Chapter twenty,
- 39:35Speaker 1: verse sixteen. Ahad the second Judge and Saul the first
- 39:39Speaker 1: King were of this tribe, and also in the last times,
- 39:43Speaker 1: Esther and Mordecai, by whom the enemies of the Jews
- 39:46Speaker 1: were destroyed, were of this tribe. The Benjanites ravened like
- 39:50Speaker 1: wolves when they desperately espouse the cause of the men
- 39:53Speaker 1: of Gibea, those men of Ballal Judges Chapter twenty, verse fourteen.
- 39:59Speaker 1: Blessed Paul was a this tribe Romans chapter eleven, verse one,
- 40:02Speaker 1: Philippians chapter three, verse five. And he did, in the
- 40:06Speaker 1: morning of his day devoured the prey as a prosecutor,
- 40:09Speaker 1: but in the evening divided the spoil as a preacher.
- 40:13Speaker 1: Note God can serve his own purposes by the different
- 40:16Speaker 1: tempers of men. The deceived and the deceiver are his
- 40:24Speaker 1: death of Jacob b. C. Sixteen eighty nine, Verses twenty
- 40:29Speaker 1: eight to thirty three. All these are the twelve tribes
- 40:33Speaker 1: of Israel. And this it is that their fathers spake
- 40:36Speaker 1: unto them and bless them every one according to his blessing.
- 40:40Speaker 1: He blessed them, and he charged them and said unto them,
- 40:45Speaker 1: I am to be gathered unto my people. Bury me
- 40:47Speaker 1: with my fathers in the cave that is in the
- 40:50Speaker 1: field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is
- 40:53Speaker 1: in the field of Makpala, which is before Mamre, in
- 40:57Speaker 1: the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field
- 41:00Speaker 1: of Ephron the Hittide for possession of a burying place.
- 41:04Speaker 1: There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they
- 41:07Speaker 1: buried Isaac and Rebecca his wife, And there I buried Leah.
- 41:12Speaker 1: The purchase of the field and of the cave that
- 41:15Speaker 1: is therein was from the children of Heath. And when
- 41:18Speaker 1: Jacob made an end, commanding his sons, he gathered up
- 41:22Speaker 1: his feet into bed, and yielded up the ghost, and
- 41:24Speaker 1: was gathered unto his people. Here is Romaned one, the
- 41:30Speaker 1: summing up of the blessings of Jacob's sons verse twenty eight.
- 41:35Speaker 1: Though Reuben, Simeon, and Levi were put under the marks
- 41:38Speaker 1: of their father's displeasure, yet he is said to bless
- 41:41Speaker 1: them every one according to his blessing, for none of
- 41:44Speaker 1: them were rejected, as Esau was. Note, whatever rebukes of
- 41:48Speaker 1: God's word or providence we are under at any time,
- 41:51Speaker 1: Yet as long as we have an interest in God's covenant,
- 41:54Speaker 1: a place and a name among his people, and good
- 41:57Speaker 1: hopes of a share in the heavenly Canaan, we must
- 42:00Speaker 1: account ourselves blessed. Two. The solemn charge Jacob gave them
- 42:06Speaker 1: concerning his burial, which is a repetition of what he
- 42:08Speaker 1: had before given to Joseph. See how he speaks of death.
- 42:13Speaker 1: Now that he is dying. I am to be gathered
- 42:15Speaker 1: unto my people Verse twenty nine. Note it is good
- 42:19Speaker 1: to represent death to ourselves under the most desirable images,
- 42:23Speaker 1: that the terror may be taken off of it. Though
- 42:26Speaker 1: it separates us from our children and our people in
- 42:28Speaker 1: this world, it gathers us to our fathers and to
- 42:31Speaker 1: our people in the other world. Perhaps Jacob uses his
- 42:34Speaker 1: expression concerning death as a reason why his son should
- 42:37Speaker 1: bury him in Canaan. For he says, I am to
- 42:40Speaker 1: be gathered under my people. My soul must go to
- 42:43Speaker 1: the spirits of just men made perfect, And therefore bury
- 42:46Speaker 1: me with my fathers Abraham and Isaac and their wives
- 42:50Speaker 1: verse thirty one. Observe one his heart was very much
- 42:54Speaker 1: upon it, not so much from a natural affection to
- 42:57Speaker 1: his native soil, as from a prisnciple of faith in
- 43:01Speaker 1: the promise of God that Canaan should be the inheritance
- 43:04Speaker 1: of his seed in due time. Thus he would keep
- 43:07Speaker 1: up in his sons a remembrance of the promised land,
- 43:09Speaker 1: and not only would have their acquaintance with it renewed
- 43:12Speaker 1: by a journey thither. On that occasion, but their desire
- 43:15Speaker 1: towards it and their expectation of it preserved. Two. He
- 43:20Speaker 1: is very particular in describing the place, both by the
- 43:23Speaker 1: situation of it and by the purchase Abraham had made
- 43:27Speaker 1: of it for a bearying place Verses thirty and thirty two.
- 43:31Speaker 1: He was afraid lest his sons, after seventeen years sojourning
- 43:34Speaker 1: in Egypt, have forgotten Canaan, and even the burying place
- 43:37Speaker 1: of their ancestors there, or lest the Canaanites should dispute
- 43:41Speaker 1: his title to it. And therefore he specifies it thus largely,
- 43:45Speaker 1: and the purchase of it, even when he is a
- 43:48Speaker 1: dying not only to prevent mistakes, but to show how
- 43:51Speaker 1: mindful he was of that country. Note it is and
- 43:55Speaker 1: should be a great pleasure to dying saints to fix
- 43:58Speaker 1: their thoughts upon the heavenly Canaan and the rest they
- 44:01Speaker 1: hoped for there after death. Roman three The death of
- 44:06Speaker 1: Jacob verse thirty three. When he had finished both his
- 44:10Speaker 1: blessing and his charge, both of which are included in
- 44:12Speaker 1: the commanding to his sons, and so had finished his testimony,
- 44:16Speaker 1: he addressed himself to his dying work. One. He put
- 44:20Speaker 1: himself in a posture for dying, having before seated himself
- 44:23Speaker 1: upon the bedside to bless his sons the spirit of prophecy,
- 44:27Speaker 1: bringing fresh oil to his expiring lamp. Daniel, Chapter ten,
- 44:30Speaker 1: verse nineteen. When that work was done, he gathered up
- 44:33Speaker 1: his feet into bed, that he might lie along, not
- 44:37Speaker 1: only as one patiently submitting to the stroke, but as
- 44:40Speaker 1: one cheerfully composing himself to rest. Now that he was weary,
- 44:44Speaker 1: I will lay me down and sleep. Two, He freely
- 44:48Speaker 1: resigned his spirit into the hand of God, the father
- 44:51Speaker 1: of spirits. He yielded up the ghost. His separated soul
- 44:55Speaker 1: went to the assembly of the souls of the faithful, which,
- 44:58Speaker 1: after they are delivered from the burden of the flow
- 45:00Speaker 1: us are in joy and felicity. He was gathered to
- 45:03Speaker 1: his people. Note if God's people be our people, death
- 45:07Speaker 1: will gather us to them. End of chapter forty nine.