Jonathan Edwards · 335 of 409

Judges to 2 Chronicles · Part 1

[352] Judg. i. 12, 13, 14, 15. Concerning Othniel and Caleb’s daughter. Othniel in this story is a type of Christ. As Othniel, Caleb’s nephew, obtained Caleb’s daughter, his first cousin, to wife, by war, and the victory he obtained over Caleb’s enemies, and taking a city from them to be a possession for Caleb and his heirs; so Christ, who, as nearly related to both God and us, is fit to be a Mediator between God and us, has obtained the church, God’s daughter, by war with God’s enemies, and the victory he has obtained over them, and by his redeeming a city, the spiritual Jerusalem, or Zion, out of their hands, to be a possession for God and his heirs. Achsah, Othniel’s wife, moves her husband to ask of her father a blessing, and an inheritance. So it is by the intercession of Christ that the church obtains of God the blessings and the inheritance she needs. She complains to her father that she inherited a south, i. e. a dry, desert land; she asks of him springs of water, and Caleb granted her request; he gave her freely and abundantly; he gave her the upper springs, and the nether springs. And if men, being evil, know how to give good gifts to their children, how much more shall our heavenly Father give good things to them that ask him! When Caleb’s daughter inhabited a south land, and dwelt in the quenched places of the wilderness, she asked springs of water, both the upper and the nether springs. So, when the souls of God’s people are in a droughty, pining, languishing condition, it is not a new thing for them to go to their heavenly Father through the mediation of Christ, for all such supplies as they need; he will give them springs of water like the upper and the nether springs. Godliness hath the promise of the things of this life, and that which is to come. God will give grace and glory, and no good thing will he withhold from those that walk uprightly. Achsah improved that time to move her husband to intercede for her, when she came to him; which should teach us, when we are brought especially nigh to Christ, and have specially seasons of communion with him, to be careful then to improve our interest in him, and to seek his intercession for us with the Father for such blessings as we need.

But this probably has a special respect to some particular seasons of God’s blessings on the church, and the accomplishing a glorious alteration in the state of things for her sake; and particularly two seasons.

1. That glorious change that was made at and after Christ’s first coming. The church before that did as it were inhabit a south land, was held under weak and beggarly elements, was under the ministration of death, the letter, and not the spirit. But when Christ came nigh to the church, he took her nature upon him; he came and dwelt with us, and received his church into a much greater nearness to himself; and through his mediation was obtained of God a far more glorious dispensation, springs of water in abundance, a ministration of the Spirit, the Spirit was abundantly poured out upon her, and her inheritance was greatly enlarged. Instead of being confined only to the land of Canaan, she had the Roman empire given with all its wealth and glory, and so had the nether springs, as well as the upper.

2. That glorious change that will be accomplished in favour of the church at the fall of antichrist. Now the church of Christ does as it were inherit a dry land, and has so done for a long time dry both upon spiritual and temporal accounts; both as to the upper and nether springs, and is much straitened in her inheritance. But the days will soon come wherein Christ will come in a spiritual sense, and the church shall forsake worldly vanities, and her own righteousness, and shall come to Christ, and then God will gloriously enlarge her inheritance, and will bestow both spiritual and temporal blessings upon her in abundance.

[211] Judg. v. 20. “They fought from heaven, the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.” The learned Bedford, in his Scripture Chronology, p. 510. supposes that Sisera, with his army, had passed the river Kishon, and that when Barak came to engage him, God appeared against Sisera in a dreadful storm of thunder and lightning; and the battle continuing all day, and Sisera and his host being at last put to flight, the Israelites pursued in the night; and that the way that the stars fought for them was by shining with an extraordinary brightness to help the Israelites in their pursuing the enemy, who, when they came to the river Kishon, went in; but the storm having swelled the river, the swift stream carried them away; and that there was thunder and lightning. Then he argues from the 15th verse of the foregoing chapter., where it is said that the Lord discomfited Sisera and all his chariots, and all his hosts. He says the word in the original signifies to strike a terror by the noise of thunder and lightning, and the truth is, it is no where said that God discomfited the enemies of God’s people where this word was used, but that it appears that God fought against them with thunder and lightning. So 1 Sam. vii. 10. and Josh. x. 10. (vide Notes on Heb. iii. 11.) and 2 Sam. xxii. 15. Psal. xviii. 4.

There are several things that make this opinion of Mr. Bedford probable. This was an instance wherein God had extraordinarily appeared against the enemies of Israel, as appears by this song; and this verse of this song seems to intimate something miraculous of God’s appearing in it, and it was the more probable that there was something miraculous for a prophetess being at the head of the army of Israel, and then God had in this manner appeared from time to time fighting against the enemies of his people. So he fought against the Egyptians at the Red sea; so he terrified his enemies in all the neighbouring countries with amazing thunders and lightning, when he entered into covenant with his people at Sinai. So God fought against the Amorites before Joshua. So God fought against the Philistines in Samuel’s time. 1 Sam. vii. 10. So God fought for David. (See Notes on Psal. xviii. 7., &c.) So God seems to have fought against Sennacherib’s army in Hezekiah’s time, Isa. xxx. 30. “And so Hezekiah prophesied that God would appear against the enemies of his people.” 1 Sam. ii. 10. And the reason why Deborah begins this song with taking notice that God appeared with thunder and rain for his people in the wilderness, ver. 4, 5. as he had done at the Red sea and at mount Sinai, probably is because God never had so appeared for them in the deliverance that she celebrates in this song. God appeared so for his people when he took them first into covenant and made them his people; and now he had appeared in like manner again, and so appears to be still the same God; she therefore mentions it as celebrating his covenant faithfulness: and then it is in no wise to be supposed that the river Kishon, that is elsewhere called a brook, Psal. lxxxiii. 9. was by any means sufficient to sweep away and drown an army, unless extraordinarily swelled by rain. Again, it is probable, because the great battle in which the enemies of the church shall be destroyed, and that shall usher in the glorious times of the church that we read of in the 16th chap. of Rev. is represented as being accompanied with thunder, and lightning, and hail; but it is compared to this battle at Megiddo, and therefore the place where it is fought, is said to be in the Hebrew tongue, Ar-Megeddon, i. e, the mount of Megiddo, and it is probable that the way Mr. Bedford mentions was the way in which the stars fought against Sisera: it is most likely that the stars fought against Sisera the same way that the sun fought against the Amorites, viz. by giving light to Israel, that they might be avenged of their enemies, Josh. x. 13. As this that God wrought now was parallel with that in Joshua’s time, in that God fought against the enemies of Israel in a storm of thunder and lightning; so if we suppose the stars shone at night with miraculous brightness to help Israel against their enemies, it will in a good degree be parallel to another instance; for then the day was lengthened for them by the sun’s standing still, and now the day is as it were lengthened by causing the stars to shine in a miraculous manner to supply in a great measure the want of daylight; the sun fought then, and the stars now, and both by giving light, but only there is this difference, the sun fought standing still, but the stars fought in their courses or paths, as it is in the original. This instance is very parallel with that at the Red sea; for there God fought against their enemies with thunder and lightning, and drowned them in the Red sea; and here God fought against them with thunder and lightning, and drowned them with their horses and chariots in the river Kishon. Hence we may possibly see a reason why the great destruction of God’s enemies before the glorious times of the church is compared to this influence, rather than to either of those two great influences of God’s wonderfully destroying his enemies, viz. because this is parallel to both, and what is peculiar to both, is here comprised, viz. the drowning of the Egyptians in the Red sea, which is peculiar to the first, has here an equivalent in the drowning of the host of Sisera in Kishon; and the sun’s standing still and fighting, is here answered by the stars fighting in their courses; and the Holy Ghost might rather choose to compare it to this, because the sun’s standing still was a representation of Christ’s humiliation. (Vide Note on Josh. x. 12, 13, 14.) But Christ will be for them fighting as in a state of humiliation at that time when introducing the glorious times of the church, and Christ will not then personally appear fighting as he did in his state of humiliation, but he will fight by his Spirit in his saints, which are called the stars of heaven.

Christ will fight by increasing their light, and so their enemies shall be destroyed, and they shall fight in their courses, and in running the race that God hath appointed them; and it is compared to this rather than the instance at the Red sea, for the children of Israel, and Moses, and the pillar of cloud, being in the Red sea, was a type of Christ’s humiliation.

That there should be such things at the battle with Sisera, and yet not mentioned particularly in the history, is not strange; for so there was thunder and lightning at the Red sea, and in the day when the sun and moon stood still, and at Baal-Perazim, and yet it is not mentioned in the history.

[364] Judg. vi. 37, 38, 39, 40. Concerning Gideon’s Fleece. There being first dew on the fleece, when it was dry upon all the earth besides, and then dew on all the ground, but dry upon the fleece, was a type of the Jews being in the first place the peculiar people of God, and favoured with spiritual blessings alone when all the world besides were destitute, and then the Jews being rejected, and remaining destitute of spiritual blessings when the Gentile nations all around them were favoured with them. Gideon was a type of Christ; his overcoming that innumerable multitude of Gentile nations with trumpets, and lamps, and earthen vessels, typifies Christ’s conquering the Gentile world by the sound of the trumpet of the gospel, and by carrying the light of the gospel to them by ministers that are as earthen vessels; this event was accompanied with what was typified by the fleece. A sheep is a creature often used to typify Christ. The Jewish nation was as it were Christ’s clothing; they are sometimes represented as such; first they only had the word and ordinances, and the blessing of the Holy Spirit. It was remarkably poured out on them in the day of Pentecost: there was that plenty of dew, that was a bowl full of water, when the Gentile nations were destitute: but afterwards the Gentile nations received the gospel, and God’s Spirit was poured out on them, and the Jews were rejected, and have now remained dry for many ages.

[223] Judg. xi. 30, to the ends. Concerning Jephthah’s vow and his offering up his daughter. That Jephthah did not put his daughter to death and burn her in sacrifice, the following things evince.

I. The tenor of his vow, if we suppose it to be a lawful vow, did not oblige him to it; he promised that whatsoever came forth of the doors of his house to meet him, should surely be the Lord’s, and he would offer it up for a burnt-offering. He was obliged no more by this vow than only to deal with whatsoever came forth of the doors of his house to meet him, as those things that were holy to the Lord; and by right burnt-offerings to God, were to be dealt with by God’s own law, and the rules that he had given. Supposing it had been an ass, or some unclean beast, that had come forth to meet him, as Jephthah did not know but it would, his vow would not have obliged him to have offered it in sacrifice, or actually to have made a burnt-offering of it, but he must have dealt with it as the law of God directed to deal with an unclean beast that was not holy to the Lord, and that otherwise must have been actually a burnt-offering to the Lord, had it not been for that legal incapacity of the impurity of its nature. All living things that were consecrated were to be as it were burnt-offerings to God, i. e. they were actually to be offered up a burnt-sacrifice, if not of a nature that rendered it incapable of this, and then in that case something else was to be done that God would accept instead of offering it up a burnt-sacrifice. The direction we have in Lev. xxvii. 11, 12, 13. “And if it be any unclean beast of which they do not offer a sacrifice unto the Lord, then he shall present the beast before the priest, and the priest shall value it whether it be good or bad; as thou valuest it who art the priest, so shall it be. But if he will at all redeem it, then he shall add a fifth part thereunto of the estimation,” i. e. it should be valued by the priest, and the man should, after it was valued, determine whether he would redeem it, or no, and if not he was to break its neck, if an ass; Exod. xiv. 12, 13. or if other unclean beast, it must be sold according to the priest’s estimation; Lev. xxvii. 27. (as is elsewhere directed to be done to unclean beasts that were holy to the Lord, Exod. xxxiv. 20.) but if he would redeem it, if it were an ass, he was to redeem it with a lamb; Exod. xiv. 12, 13. if other unclean beast he was to add the fifth part to the priest’s estimation, that is, he was to give the value of the beast, and a fifth part more. And if Jephthah had done this in case an unclean beast had met him, he would have done according to his vow. If he had in such a case gone about to have offered an unclean beast a burnt-sacrifice, he would dreadfully have provoked God, his vow could be supposed to oblige him to no other than only to deal with the unclean beast that was consecrated as the law of God directed to deal with it instead of offering it a burnt-offering. And so when it was his daughter that met him, he might do to her according to his vow without making her a burnt-sacrifice, if he did that to her which the law of God directed to be done to a dedicated person, instead of actually making them a burnt-sacrifice, by reason of the incapacity which, by the mercy of God, attends a human person to be a burnt-sacrifice. For to offer either a man or an unclean beast in sacrifice to God, are both mentioned as a great abomination to God, and as what were universally known so to be. Isa. lxvi. 3. “He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood.” But the more fully to clear up the difficulties that attend this matter, I will particularly observe some things concerning the laws that related to persons that were consecrated, so as to become holy to the Lord.

1. Every living thing that was holy to the Lord, whether of men or beasts, was by right a burnt-offering to God, and must be either actually made a burnt-sacrifice, or something else must be done to it that God appointed to be in lieu of burning it in a sacrifice. Thus the first-born of men and beasts, they were all holy to the Lord, and must either be offered up a burnt-sacrifice, or be redeemed, the first-born of men and of unclean beasts were to be redeemed.

2. Persons that were devoted to God by a singular vow, unless they were those that were devoted to be accursed, (of which Lev. xxvii. 28, 29.) were to be brought and presented before the Lord, that the priest might estimate them, and they were to redeem according to the priest’s estimation. But beasts that might be sacrificed were to be sacrificed. Lev. xxvii. 7-9. (See §§§ on v. 2.)

3. Persons that were thus devoted to God by the vow of their parents, were yet to remain persons separate, and set apart for God after they were redeemed. This may appear from several things.

First. The redemption was only to redeem them from being slain in sacrifice; it was not to redeem them from being holy to the Lord, or persons set apart, and sanctified to him.

Secondly. The first-born were appointed to be given or consecrated to God. Exod. xiii. 2. and xxii. 19. And they were by God’s law holy to the Lord, in the very same manner as persons devoted to him by a singular vow, as is evident, because they were to be redeemed in the same manner, and at the same price, as is evident by comparing the beginning of the 27th chapter of Levit. with Numb. xviii. 15, 16. God, in giving the rule for the redemption of the first-born in the latter place, evidently refers to what he had before appointed in the former place, concerning persons devoted by a singular vow, and so likewise the firstlings of unclean beasts were to be redeemed in the same manner as unclean beasts that were devoted, as appears by comparing Levit. xxvii. 11, 12, 13. with v. 27. but yet the first-born still remained separated to God as his special possession, after they were redeemed. Hence the Levites were accepted for the first-born to a tribe separated to God after the first-born were thus redeemed.

Thirdly. Persons that were dedicated to God by the vow of their parents, were Nazarites, as well as those that were separated by their own vows; the word Nazarite, signifies one that is separated; they might be separated by their parents’ vows or their own. This is very evident in instances that we have in Scripture. Thus Samuel was a Nazarite by the vow of his mother. 1 Sam. i. 11. “And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.” And so it was with respect to Samson, Judg. xiii. 5. But the Nazarite was to continue separated to God, as long as he remained under the vow by which he was devoted.

4. Those that were thus devoted to God to be Nazarites, were to the utmost of their power to abstain from all legal pollutions. Lam. iv. 7. With respect to defilements by dead bodies, they were required to keep themselves pure with greater strictness than the very priests, except the high priest alone, and were obliged to as great strictness as the high priest himself. Num. vi. 6, 7. compared with Lev. xxi. 10, 11. And though only some legal impurities are expressly mentioned, as what the Nazarite was to avoid, yet it is to be understood, that he is to his utmost to separate himself from all legal defilements, agreeable to his name, a Nazarite, or a separate person. The Nazarite was to abstain from all legal impurities in like manner as the priests, and even as the high priest; there are like directions given to one as to the other; the high priest was on no account to defile himself with the dead, and was forbidden to drink wine, or strong drink, when he went into the tabernacle of the congregation. Lev. x. 9. The priests were to abstain from all manner of legal defilement as far as in them lay. Lev. xii. at the beginning.

If it be objected against this, that the Levites who were accepted to be the Lord’s instead of the first-born that were holy to the Lord, were not obliged to such strictness, I answer, that this may be one reason why God did not look on the first-born as being fully redeemed by the Levites being substituted in their stead, but there were still extraordinary charges required of them for the maintenance of the Levites, much more than in proportion to the bigness of the bribe; and God might accept this as an equivalent for their not being so strictly separated, as he accepted extraordinary redemption money for the odd number of the first-born, that were more than the Levites. Num. iii. 46, 47. and xviii. 15, 16.

5. Those that were devoted to God to be Nazarites by a singular vow, were to devote themselves wholly to religious exercises, and to spend their lives in the most immediate service of God; for though this is not particularly expressed, but only some things are expressed that they should abstain from, yet this is implied in their being God’s, his being separated to the Lord, Num. vi. 11. his being holy to the Lord, Num. vi. 6. All the days that he separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy; and ver. 8. all the days of his separation he shall be holy unto the Lord. In like manner as in the second commandment, there are only some things particularly mentioned, that we should abstain from on the sabbath, but it is only expressly said that the day should be spent in religious exercises, yet it is implied in that, that the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord our God, and that we are commanded to keep it holy. This was evidently Hannah’s intention in her vow, whereby she devoted Samuel to be a Nazarite, as was explained by her own words and practice. 1 Sam. i. 28. “Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord, as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord;” and accordingly she brought him and left him in the sanctuary, to dwell continually there, and there to spend his time in sacred business. 1 Sam. ii. 11. “And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house, and the child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest.” Ver. 18. “But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child girded with a linen ephod.”

6. It was necessary that a woman that was devoted to be a Nazarite (for a woman might be a Nazarite, Num. vi. 2.) should thenceforward avoid marrying, and refrain from all carnal intercourse with men. If she was a virgin when she was devoted, it was necessary that she should continue a virgin until her vow was ended; and if she was devoted for her whole life, she must continue a virgin for ever; and if she was a widow, she must continue in her widowhood, and that on two accounts.

First. Marrying would be contrary to the obligation that has been taken notice of, that the Nazarite was under, with the utmost strictness to avoid all legal defilements, for marrying unavoidably exposed to great legal impurities, and of long continuance. (See Lev. xii.) There were scarcely any legal impurities to which the children of Israel were exposed, except the leprosy, that were so great as those that marriage brought women into. Being therefore devoted to God to be holy to the Lord, in the utmost possible legal purity, she must avoid marrying, and then these legal impurities rendered her incapable of those sacred offices and services that she was devoted to. It incapacitated her from conversing on holy things, or drawing near to God in ordinances, as much as being defiled by the dead body of a man incapacitated a priest from his work and office. Lev. xii. 4. And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days: she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary until the days of her purifying be fulfilled;” which, in all, for a son made up forty days, and for a daughter fourscore days, which must needs be very inconsistent with the circumstances of the Nazarite that was devoted wholly to attend on God, and holy exercises, in the way of the Jewish ordinances. If the Nazarite were a male, his marrying did not expose him to such legal impurities. The Nazarite was to observe as strict a legal purity, as the high priest himself, as has been observed; but he for the greater purity was allowed to marry none but a virgin: therefore doubtless the woman herself that was a Nazarite was obliged to continue a virgin.

Secondly. Marrying would utterly destroy the main design of her being dedicated in the vow of a Nazarite, which was, that she might be wholly devoted to the more immediate service of God in sacred things. If she was married, her time must unavoidably be exceedingly taken up in secular business and cares, in tending and bringing up children, and in providing for and taking care of a family, which exceedingly fills married women’s hands and hearts, and is as inconsistent as possible with the design of the vow of the Nazarite. Hence the woman that was devoted to the special service of God’s house in the primitive church (though not devoted to God so solemnly, nor in so great a degree as the Nazarite) must be one that was not married, and never like to marry, and it was looked upon and spoken of by the apostles as sinful in such to marry. 1 Tim. v. 11.; “But the younger widows refuse, for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry;” and the reason that is given why they should be widows that were like ever to continue so, and free from all worldly care, was that they might be the more entirely at liberty for religious duties. Ver. 3, 4, 5. “Honour widows that are widows indeed. But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to show piety at home, and to requite their parents; for that is good and acceptable before God. Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day.” Those widows in the primitive church, seem to be in some degree in imitation of the Nazarites in the Jewish church. Anna the prophetess was in all probability a Nazarite, or one that after her husband’s death had devoted herself to the service of God, by such a vow as that we have been speaking of, and therefore continued in widowhood to so great an age, because her vow obliged her to it, and therefore she, throwing by all worldly care, devoted herself wholly to the immediate service of God. Luke ii. 36, 37. “And there was one Anna a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; and she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.” The like expression with that the apostle uses, concerning widows, 1 Tim. v. 5.

And therefore when we have an account that after Jephthah’s daughter had been let alone two months, to go up and down the mountains with her companions to bewail her virginity, we are told that she returned to her father, who did to her according to his vow. That which Jephthah did was, that he took her up to the sanctuary before the Lord, and presented her before the priest, that he might estimate her, then paid according to her estimation. Thus the Jews that came out of the captivity vowed that they would offer the first-born of their sons. Neh. x. 35. Whereby she was redeemed from being made a burnt-sacrifice, according to the law; and by thus presenting her in the sanctuary, and offering up that which is accepted instead of her blood, she was actually separated according to the vow; her separation began from that time, and thenceforward she was to begin her strict abstinence from all legal impurities, and to spend her time in sacred offices; and it is probable that Jephthah thenceforward left her in the sanctuary, to dwell there as long as she lived, as Hannah did to her son Samuel, whom she had devoted to be a Nazarite. 1 Sam. i. 22. “I will not go up till the child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord, and there abide for ever; and as the other Hannah, or Anna, did with herself after she had devoted herself to perpetual widowhood as a Nazarite, of whom we read, Luke ii. 37. “That she was a widow of fourscore years old, and departed not from the temple.” And there probably Jephthah’s daughter continued in supplications and prayers, night and day, for she was eminently disposed and prepared for such duties by that remarkable spirit of piety that appeared in her resignation, with respect to the vow her father had made concerning her, and what time she did not spend in duties of immediate devotion, she might spend in making of priests’ garments; Exod. xxxv. 25, 26. in other business subsequent to the work of the sanctuary, as there might be enough found that a woman might do.