No. II. VII.

Pointing out his Lineage, (the Line in which he should come in the Flesh,) and noticing him as "a Blessing unto all Mankind."

No. 2. In thee (i. e. Abraham) shall all families of the earth be blessed. Gen. xii. 3.

No. 3. All the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him (i. e. Abraham). Gen. xviii. 18.

No. 4. In thy (i. e. Abraham's) seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Gen. xxii. 18.

No. 5. In Isaac shall thy (i. e. Abraham's) seed be called. Gen. xxi. 12.

No. 6. The Lord appeared unto him (Isaac) and said, "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." Gen. xxvi. 2. 4.

No. 7. And he (i. e. Jacob) dreamed, and behold the Lord said, "In thee and in thy seed shall all the fami"lies of the earth be blessed." Gen. xxviii. 12, 13, 14.

No. VIII.

Carrying down his Lineage to Judah-referring to his superiority and victory-shewing within what Time he should come-the gathering of the Nations unto him, and (perhaps) intimating the Vengeance he should take upon his Opponents.

No. 8. Judah, thou art He, whom thy brethren shall praise thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies ; thy father's children shall fall down before thee: Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my Son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and " as an old lion, who shall rouse him up: the sceptre shall not

"And" or "even." The latter is frequently the meaning of the Hebrew and Greek connective Particles and Kai. "And" or " even."

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depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be: binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine, he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: his eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. Gen. xlix. 8 to 12.

No. IX.

Looking forward to his Kingdom, the Vengeance he should take upon his Opponents, and the Success and Extent of his Religion.

No. 9. I shall see him, but not now-I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth *: and Edom shall be a possession; Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies, and Israel * shall do valiantly :

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"Depart," &c. Is there still a sceptre in Judah, or a lawgiver between his feet? was there when the Jews told Pilate, (John xviii. 31.) "It is not lawful for us to put any man to "death," and (John xix. 15.) "We have no king but Cæsar?" And if the Sceptre be departed, then is Shiloh come. And who is Shiloh? who but He, who in language similar to v. 11. is described, (Isa. lxiii. 1, 2.) as "coming with dyed garments from Bozrah, as red in his apparel, like him that treadeth in the "wine VAT; and is called in the Revelations, (Rev. v. 5. in the language of v. 9,)" The Lion of the tribe of Judah." See Justin Martyr, 1st Apol. sect. 40. Mede, B. I. Disc. 8. p. 34. Kidder's Demonstration, Pt. 1. c. 3. fol. ed. p. 25. Bp. Newton's fourth Dissertation, and Hale's Trinity, I. 174.

"The gathering," &c. contemplating "the coming in of all "nations to his worship."

"Moab," &c. "Moab and Sheth, and him that remaineth of "the city," are perhaps put for the active adversaries of Christianity; "Moab and Sheth," for the heathen opponents, and "him "that remaineth of the city" for the unbelieving Jews, who ought

out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city. Numb. xxiv. 17, 18, 19.1

No. X. and XI.

Upon Christ's prophetic Character-his acting under God-the Duty of regarding him, and the Vengeance upon those who should not.

No. 10. The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee (i. e. the Israelites) a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like " unto me (i. e. Moses ;) unto him shall ye hearken. Deut. xviii. 15.

No. 11. And the Lord said unto me (i. e. Moses), " I

to have been "God's own citizens and people." "Edom and Seir" are possibly intended for other Gentile nations, and "Israel" for Christ, or Christ's own people. It is common in prophetic language to speak of the future enemies of Christianity, by the name of the nations who had been the great opposers of the Israelites, God's former people, and Moab was a nation which took an active part in opposing their settlement in Canaan. In the prophetic account of the success of Christianity, (Isa. xxv. 10.) it is said that "MOAB shall be trodden down, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill."

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1 That this is a prophecy of Christ, see Kidder's Pentateuch and Bp. Newton's fifth Dissertation, see it also commented upon and explained, Hale's Chronology, II. 227. and Hale's Trinity, I. 179.

"Like," &c. Eusebius has pointed out many particulars in which there was a similarity between our Saviour and Moses: Dr. Jortin has enlarged upon them: Bishop Newton has set them forth in his 6th Dissertation. The great points of resemblance are these: each was a Prophet: each a Mediator between God and man: and each the Founder of a new religious system. See Kidder on the Pentateuch. Kidder's Demonstration, pt. i. c. 4. fol. ed. p. 31, 32. Jortin's Remarks, and Bishop Newton's sixth Dissertation.

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"will raise them (i. e. the Israelites) up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put " my "words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all "that I shall command him: and it shall come to pass, "that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which "he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him." Deut. xviii. 17, 18, 19 °.

Note.-The denunciations in Deut. xxviii. refer probably to all times of the continuance of any of the Israelites, and look forward prophetically, amongst other points, to

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n" Put," &c.

So Isaiah xlii. v. 1. "I have put my Spirit upon him" and Isaiah li. 16. "I have put my words in thy "mouth." And our Saviour accordingly professed to speak under God's influence: "I speak to the world those things I have "heard of him (i. e. God the Father) I do nothing of myself: but "as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things." John viii. 26. 28. And again, John xii. 49, 50. “ I have not spoken of myself, but the Father which sent me, he GAVE ME a command"ment what I should say, and what I should speak: whatsoever "I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.”

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• This Prophecy is referred to by St. Peter, Acts iii. 22. and by Stephen, Acts vii. 37, and with what view could either of them have done so, except to intimate that it was written of, and verified in, Jesus Christ? St. Peter, after noticing the death, and resurrection, and ascension of our Saviour, and its accordance with what God before had shewn by the mouth of

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all his prophets, says, "For Moses truly said unto the Fathers, "A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your "brethren, like unto me: him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear THAT PROPHET shall be destroyed "from among the people. Yea, and all the prophets from "Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, "have likewise foretold of these days." Acts iii. 22-24. And St. Stephen, in speaking of Moses, says, "This is that Moses, "which said unto the children of Israel, A PROPHET shall the

"Lord your God raise up unto you of your

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me: him shall ye hear.'" Acts vii. 37.

brethren, like unto

the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and the dispersion of the Jews. See Kidder on the Pentateuch, and Bishop Newton's seventh Dissertation. I have set forth therefore below such of them as appear to have a reference, though perhaps in part only, to those events P.

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"It shall come to pass if thou (i. e. the people of Israel,) "wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe “ to do all his Commandments * and his Statutes, which I (i. e. Moses,) command thee this day,—the Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth: a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; a nation of fierce countenance,-which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young: and he shall "eat the fruit of thy cattle, and of thy land, until thou be destroyed : which shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or "the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have "destroyed thee: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, "until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou "trustedst throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in "all thy gates throughout all thy land which the Lord thy God "hath given thee. And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own "body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the "Lord thy God hath given thee, in the siege and in the strait66 ness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee: so that the man that is tender amongst you, and very delicate, his eye "shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his "bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall "leave: so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of "his children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left "him in the siege and in the straitness wherewith thine enemies “ shall distress thee in all thy gates. The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole "of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, "her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and “ toward her son, and toward her daughter, and f toward her

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* ،، All his commandments, and one was, TO HEARKEN UNTO THE PROPHET LIKE UNTO MOSES.

"And," or "even."