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The peculiar use of the ashes of the red heifer was to purge from pollutions by dead bodies. So the use for which God designs the suffering and persecutions of his church, is to rouse his people from coldness and deadness in religion, and from carnality, and worldly or fleshly mindedness, whereby some become as dead carcasses; for he or she that liveth in pleasure, is dead while he liveth. Carnal things are well compared to dead carcasses, for they are fleshly, and they are filthy and loathsome like stinking flesh.

[73] Numb. xxiii. 23. "According to this time shall it be said of Jacob, and of Israel, What hath God wrought?" That is, God shall do a very strange and wonderful thing for Jacob and for Israel. Such interrogations denote the wonderfulness of the thing about which the interrogation is, as Isai. lxiii. "Who is this that cometh from Edom ?" &c. And Ps. xxv. "Who is this King of glory?" See notes on that Psalm. "According to this time;" that is, what he hath done at this time, is a shadow and representation of it. He hath now redeemed out of Egypt, with the strength of an unicorn, and there is no enchantment against him, as in the words immediately foregoing; and hereafter he shall send Jesus Christ to redeem them out of spiritual Egypt; with a greater strength shall he redeem them from the power of the devil.

[418] Numb. xxiv. 17. "And shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth." It would be unreasonable on many accounts to suppose that this Sheth is the same with Seth the son of Adam, and so that by the children of Sheth is meant all mankind. But the Sheth here mentioned is a founder of one of the chief families of the Moabites; probably one of the sons of Moab. The father of the people called from him Shittim, as the posterity of Heth, are in scripture from him called Hittim, which we translate Hittites; whence that part of the land where those people dwelt was called Shittim, which was the part of that land in which the people now were, where Balaam beheld them when he blessed them; he beheld them in the inheritance of the people of Sheth, or the land of the Shittim, or Shittites, as appears by the first verse of the next chapter, and Josh. ii. 1, and ii. 1, and Mic. vi. 1. All that renders this doubtful is, that the radical letters in Seth and Shittim are not the same, as in one is , and the other .

[468] Deut. vi. 13. "Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and swear by his name." It might have been

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rendered swearing in the name, or into the name, in the original Bishmo. And the thing chiefly intended here by it seems to be, the making that public, solemn profession of faith in the name of God, of being the Lord's, and being dedicated to his honour and glory, and that covenanting and avowing to be the Lord's, and serve him, that is very often in scripture called by the name of swearing. A public profession of religion has respect to two things.

It has respect to something present, viz: their belief, or faith this is the profession God's people make of their faith. It has respect also to something future, viz: their future behaviour in the promises or vows that are made in a public profession.

It is evident that the profession that is made in the latter, viz in the promises and vows of the covenant, is often called swearing; but the profession that is made in the former which relates to their faith, is a no less solemn profession. In the public profession they make of religion, they profess what is present with the same solemnity as they promise what is future. They declare what their faith is with the same solemnity with which they declare their intentions. Both are declared with an oath-one an assertory oath, and the other a promissory oath; and the whole profession is called swearing in, or into the name of the Lord. In the former part of it, they swear their faith in the name of the Lord, and swear that they are God's; that their hearts are his, and for him. In the latter part they swear to live to his honour and glory, which is often called his name. And by the whole they appear by their profession to be God's people, which in scripture is often expressed by being called by God's name; and so by this swearing they come into the name of God, as persons when they make profession of religion by baptism, are said to be baptized into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

The former part of this profession of religion, viz: the profession of faith in God, is called saying, or swearing the Lord liveth. Jer. v. 2. "And though they say the Lord liveth, surely they swear falsely." They have sworn by them that are no God, i. e. had openly professed idol worship. Chap. iv. 2. "And thou shalt swear the Lord liveth in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness, and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory." That this saying that the Lord liveth was in their profession of faith in the true God in the public profession they made of his name, is confirmed by Jer. xliv. 26. " Behold I have sworn by my great name, saith the Lord, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord.

liveth" i. e. they shall never any more make any profession of the true God, and true religion, but shall be wholly given up to heathenism. And Jer. xii. 16. "And it shall come to pass if they will diligently learn the way of my people, to swear by my name, The Lord liveth, as they taught my people to swearby Baal, then shall they be built in the midst of my people." Here is a promise to the heathen, that if they would forsake their heathenism and turn to the true God, and the true religion, and make an open and good profession of that, they should be received into the visible church of God. Jer. xvi. 14, 15. "Therefore, behold the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, The Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of the north" i. e. God's people, in their public profession of their faith, shall not so much insist on the redemption out of Egypt, as on a much greater redemption that shall hereafter be accomplished. We have the same again, Jer. xxiii. 7. 8. Hos. iv. 15. "Though thon, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye into Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear, The Lord liveth.”

This has respect to that public profession of religion which the ten tribes made at Bethel, (here called Beth-aven) the place of their public worship before the calf that was set up there, by which they pretended to worship Jehovah. Amos viii. 14. They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth, and the manner of Beersheba liveth." They had also places of public worship at Dan (where was one of their calves,) and at Beersheba. See chap. v. 5.

The words, Jehovah liveth, summarily comprehended that which they professed in their public profession of religion. They signified hereby their belief of a dependence upon that all-sufficiency and faithfulness that is implied in the name Jehovah, which will appear by the consideration of the following places, Josh. iii. 10. "Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you." 1 Sam. xvii. 26. "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?" Ver. 36. "Seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God." 2 Kings xix. 4. "It may be the Lord thy God will hear all the words of Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria hath sent to reproach the living God." Also ver. 16, and Isai. xxxvii. 4. Jer. x. 8, 9, 10. "The stock is a doctrine of vanities- -But the Lord is the true God (Heb. the God of truth.) He is the living God." Dan. vi. 26. "He is the living God, and steadfast for ever." Ps. xviii. 46. "The Lord liveth, and blessed be my Rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted." So

2 Sam. xxii. 47. Other places showing that by Jehovah's living and being the living God, is meant his being all sufficient, and immutable, and faithful. Gen. xvi. 49. Deut. v. 26. Josh. iii. 10, compared with Exod. iii. 14, and vi. 3, with the 1 Sam. xvii. 26. 36. 2 Kings xix. 4. 16. Ps. xlii. Jer. x. 10, with the context. Hos. i. 10. 2 Sam. xxii. 47. Ps. xviii. 46. Job xix. 25. Matth. xvi. 16. John vi. 69. Acts xiv. 15. Rom. ix. 26. 2 Cor. iii. 3, and vi. 16. 1 Tim. iii. 15, and iv. 10, and vi. 17. Heb. x. 31, and xii. 22.

context.
2, and lxxxiv. 2.
Jer. xxiii. 36.

Isai. xxxvii. 4.

The things professed in a public profession of religion are two, faith and obedience. The faith that was professed, was called believing in God and believing in the name of God, (Beshem, with the prefix Beth.) Gen. xv. 6. "And he believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness." Exod. xiv. 31. "And the people believed the Lord," (in the original, believed in the Lord.) 2 Kings xvii. 14. "Did not believe in the Lord their God." 2 Chron. xx. 20. "Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established." Ps. lxxviii.

22. " They believe not in God." Dan. vi. 23. "Because he believed in his God." The other thing is a believing obedience. This is called a walking in the name of God, (still with the same prefix Beth.) Mic. iv. 5. "All people will walk every one in the name of his God, and we will walk in the name (Beshem) of the Lord our God for ever and ever." And that solemn professing or swearing wherein both these were professed by a like idiom of speech, was called a swearing in the name (Beshem) of the Lord.

Agreeably to this way of speaking, in the New Testament, when persons solemnly profess the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and are devoted to them in their baptism, they are said to be baptized in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

Making a public profession of religion or of faith in God, is often called making mention (Zakar) of the Lord, or of the name of the Lord; and this in the original commonly is making mention in the Lord, or in the name of the Lord, with the prefix Beth, as they are said to swear in the name of the Lord. Thus, Amos vi. 10. "Hold thy tongue, for we may not make mention of the name of the Lord," (in the original Beshem, in the name,) i. e. we may not make profession of our God, being under the dominion of the heathen. Ps. xx. 7. "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God;" in the original, we will remember or make mention (for the word is the same as before) in the name of the Lord our God, with the prefix Beth, i. e. we will openly

profess and declare our faith, and trust in the Lord, &c. Isai. xxvi. 13. "O Lord, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us, but by thee (Beka, in thee) only will we make mention of thy name," i. e. we will forsake all other lords, and renounce our profession of idolatry, and profess and worship. thee alone. They that professed the worship of false gods, are said to make mention in their name. Hos. ii. 17. " I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered (or mentioned, for still the word is the same) by their name," (Bishmain, in their name,) i. e. their name and worship, shall no more be professed. So Josh. xxiii. 7, neither make mention of the name (in the original, in the name) of their gods, nor swear by them.

This abundantly confirms that swearing by or in a God, signifies what was done in the public profession of his name and worship, which is signified by making mention in his name. This also may evidently appear in Isai. xlviii. 1, 2. "Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name (Beshem, in the name) of the Lord, and make mention of the God (Belohei, in the God) of Israel, but not in truth and in righteousness, for they call themselves of the holy city." By their profession they were visibly of the church of God, were called by the name of Israel, and called themselves of the church.

That profession which in the law of Moses and many other places, is called swearing by the name or in the name of the Lord, with the prefix , is evidently the same with swearing to the Lord, with the prefix. Isai. xix 18. " In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the Lord of hosts." (Laihovah.) In 1 Kings xviii. 32, it is said that Elijah built an altar in the name of the Lord, Beshem, that is, to the name of the Lord. Here the prefix Beth is evidently of the same force with Lamed in 1 Kings viii. 44. "The house that I have built for thy name," or to thy name. Here Leshem is plainly of the same signification, in speaking of building a house to God, with Beshem in the other place, that speaks of building an altar to God.

In and to, or the prefixes Beth and Lamed, are manifestly used as of the same signification in the case of swearing to a God, or an object of religious worship, in the same sentence in Zeph. i. 5. "That swear by the Lord, and that swear by Malcham." The words are thus, that swear to the Lord, (Laihovah,) and that swear in Malcam (Bemalcam.) In Gen. xxiii. 8, "Entreat for me to Ephron, the son of Zoar. To Ephron, in the original, is Be Ephron, with the prefix Beth.

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