Commentary on Judges, Introduction
LECTVRES OR SERMONS VPONUPON THE WHOLE BOOKE of IVDGES: and firſt, the entrance into them.
I Confeſſe, it is no ſmall matter for a man to take vponupon him to ſet foorth Lectures or Sermons of any part of the word of God, eſpecially of an whole booke thereof: and the rather for that it is a matter of much greater difficultie and danger ſo to doe, then to preach them (ſeeing for mine owne part, I would eaſilier be brought to preach three Sermons, then to ſet foorth or penne one:) and beſides, we ſee that learned men (I ſpeake of many) who might for their excellent gifts profit many, and doe the Church much good, are haraly drawne thereto. I leaue their reaſons to themſelues: perhaps they thinke it a needleſſe worke to ſet foorth more bookes. For mine owne part, I knowing that many would reade little, if there were not new bookes ſet foorth, I thinke it to good purpoſe to labour in that kinde: eſpecially when the things ſet foorth are for the quickening vp of the preſent drowſie age. And ſo I teſtifie my iudgement by my writings, that I am of another minde: not for that I would diſſent from learned men, or ſeeke glorie and praiſe by this my practiſe, when (to ſpeake as the truth is) I confeſſe freely, that Reaſons of this my attempt.as I come many degrees behinde them in gifts for that purpoſe: ſo I would not take vponupon me this exerciſe of writing, vnleſſe I were led to it by waightie reaſons: but in the ſimplicitie of my heart I ſpeake it, that I ſet myſelfe to this worke, as I can hauehave time and leiſure from my publike imployment in my Miniſterie, and other priuate duties, euen to keepe myſelfe from danger in this euill world, as idleneſſe, too much tampering in the world, and ſuch like needleſſe and hurtfull beſineſſe, as well as for the deſire I hauehave to benefit any other hereby: and beſides, I thinke it better to benefit the Church while wee liue, being but a ſhort time, (other may riſe vp after to perfit ſuch beginnings) then to burie our gifts vtterly, and ſo to depriue it altogether of the ſame by death.
Alſo I ſee that eueryevery age of men hath ſundrie troubles annexed to it (the old as well as the young) and occaſions are offered of ſinning and offending God many waies by one occaſion or other, which are not thought of before they come. In ſo much as when the danger of youth and of the former yeeres of our life is paſſed with inwara peace, and without any groſſe and iuſt offence to others (which yet to doe is few mens caſes, and rarely obtained, and not without much ſtriuing and watching to enter in at the ſtraight gate:) yet the diuell ſo much the more enuieth our credit in the Church, and the comfort we hauehave from God, in ſuch an eſtate, eſpecially the Miniſters: and therefore hee doth the more bend his force againſt ſuch, that hee may in their latter end diſgrace them by winding them into ſome reprochfull and foule offences: that ſo he may (as much as in him lieth) make their former vertues and part of life, to be ridiculous and of no account.
And therefore, as I am not aſhamed to confeſſe, that I hauehave receiued wonderfull cauſe of thankſgiuing to God, for his ſo great bountie and fauour towards me (the moſt vnworthie) in my younger yeeres, to keepe me from the infection of the time, and ſins of the age wherein I hauehave liued, (yet God be mercifull to my many ſlips and infirmities) ſo I am not (I ſay) aſhamed to confeſſe, that I feare in this my declining age, haſting apace to the graue (as with griefe of heart I hauehave ſeene in many) that I may poſsibly, yea and that full eaſily, be drawne to an vnprofitable, earthly, idle, and dead courſe of life, and thereby, to greater offending of God, and blemiſhing of my profeſſion and Miniſterie, vnleſſe I ſhould labour to preuent it by ſome ſet labour and ſtudy, and ſo to hold faſt that which I hauehave receiued of the Lord: and that is, by the occupying and vſing the gifts which he hath giuen me, as in this kinde of ſtudie, namely of writing, I may: and alſo if I ſhould not endeuour to grow forward in grace, experience, 2. Pet. 3. 17.and in the knowledge of our Lord Ieſus Chriſt, (from the which a man may be eaſily hindred by the error of the wicked) rather then to looke what I hauehave done heretofore, I might eaſily flatter myſelfe thereby, and ſo (at leaſt) ſtand at a ſtay: or (which is worſe) goe backe, and ſo loſe my part of happineſſe with them that continue to the end. For I make chiefe account of that, hauing it not in fruition as yet, but by hope onelyonly: and I know it may eaſily and many waits be hindred and ſtaied, as Satan can handle the matter, and as I ſee many goe to worke. And for this cauſe I deſire to be occupied vntill the Lord come, and in this manner, hauing more then one foote in the graue. And to the end I may tye myſelfe to liue the freer from dangerous falles and offences, while I am here a ſtranger and abſent from home, and therefore I ſay, I hauehave ſet myſelfe to this kinde of worke, as being not able through debilitie of body, and lamenes, to trauaile abroad, and helpe other neighbours, more then at home, by preaching, as I hauehave done ſince I firſt began (where my labour was deſired:) and by conferring much, as occaſion was offered, as I vſed in health to doe. And if any laugh at this which I hauehave ſaid of my fearing myſelfe, as thinking it meere folly, I cannot doe with it, neither am moued for their ſo cenſuring me: but I tell them this, that while they feare not their frailtie alſo but count it fooliſhnes, they haſt apace to vtter miſerie.
Now for taking this booke in hand, to ſet out my Sermons vponupon it, which I hauehave before preached, though I hauehave gone ouer, in the courſe of my Miniſterie, many other beſides this: I take this booke in hand, not as making compariſon betwixt it and other bookes of Scripture: but partly ſeeing no Lectures or Sermons are ſet out vponupon it, that I know, to giuegive light and helpe to ſuch as need it: and partly at the earneſt deſire of thoſe that heard my Sermons on it: and if I may know and perceiue my labours in this to be thought worth the ſetting foorth, I would be willing, as much as in me lieth, to doe the like in ſome other booke. In this worke, beſide the people, who are not brought vp in learning, who may ſee that their whole life may be directed hereby and may much profit by it, ſo I intended alſo in it to benefit Students and Preachers, who are not yet experienced: nor beſt furniſhed with matter for the edifying of the hearers: ſo that beſide the fruite they may reape hereby in common with the people; ſo they may learne how to make vſe of the hiſtoricall part of the Bible, and learne to draw doctrine and inſtruction out of the examples thereof, fit for the people (and that out of the bad as well as the good) euen as well as out of other Scripture: which all hauehave not learned to doe, neither hauehave attained vntounto: and therefore doe oft times offer violence to the Scriptures, by making allegories of them, and ſo wreſting them to another ſenſe then the holy Ghoſt hath made of them; without which manner of handling them, they can draw none or little matter out of the moſt examples in the ſtories of them: and ſo beſide that their doctrine is not ſoundly gathered, ſo they giuegive too fearefull ſuſpition to the ignorant, that ſuch parts of the Scripture are barraine and drie, while they doe by ſuch ſhifts, and yet indirect, ſo hardly draw matter and doctrine out of them, when yet it is certaine and cleere, that they are full of ſound inſtruction.
But to come to my purpoſe, I will now ſet downe ſome generall things before I enter into the text, which may giuegive ſome light to the better vnderſtanding of the whole book: ſuch as I gather partly, by obſeruing & laying together that which I read in it, (comparing one thing with another:) and partly out of that learned and reuerend Father Maſter Peter Martyr, whoſe workes neither the moſt priuate men can vnderſtand, nor many Miniſters, though they may vnderſtand them, can come by, neither if they can, ſhall they finde there, that which ſhall be much for their ſimpler hearers benefit.
And firſt let the reader marke, how this booke agreeth with all the former, from Geneſis to the end of Ioſhua, and what is the ſumme of them and this. Concerning the booke of Geneſis, after mention is made (in the beginning of it) of the creation of the world, and the generations to the flood: it doth afterward ſhew, how God choſe his people out of Abraham and his poſteritie, and how they were ſent into Egypt to auoid the famine. In Exodus theſe things are the principall: how the people of God multiplied and increaſed in the land of Egypt, till there roſe a King who cruelly oppreſſed and vexed them ſore: and how they were deliuered out of the bondage, which they were in there, by Moſes: and how they had lawes giuen them, to gouerne them And this laſt point is the ſumme of Leuiticus alſo. The booke of Numbers declareth their diuers resting places in the deſert, and their goings forward toward the land of Canaan. In Deuteronomy, Moſes being to depart out of this world, and to leaue the people, doth moſt faithfully repeate the law to the generation which came after the former, and which then liued, I meane, to the poſteritie of Abraham. Then came Ioſhua and led the people into the promiſed land, and diuided the land of the Amorites and Canaanites, which partly was ſubdued and gotten out of their hands, and partly remained to be conquered: he (I ſay) diuided it amongst the twelue tribes, according to the commandement of God, after he had brought them ouer Iordan, ſlaine many of the Kings of Canaan, and poſſeſſed their cities and grounds in that countrey. This is the ſumme and contents of the booke of Ioſhua. After his death, (to come to our purpoſe) the Lord gouerned his people the Hebrewes, being placed in that land, by Iudges: whom to that end he indued with excellent gifts, and by them deliuered and kept the people out of the hands of their enemies, who as yet did all the daies of the Iudges remaine in great numbers to vex them.
But to vnderſtand better the meaning of the word [Iudges] a materiall point in this booke to be vnderſtood, though to iudge ſignifie to know the caſes of ſuch as contend, and be at variance, and to giuegive ſentence of iudgement betwixt men: yet theſe Iudges mentioned in this booke, had not that office, neither were called Iudges in that reſpect. But (as the word ſignifieth alſo, to reuenge and to redeeme out of bondage) thus did thoſe Iudges deliuer and redeeme the people, as in this booke is at large declared. (I ſpeak… not of Samuel, who is ſaid after, to iudge them alſo, by deciding 1. Sam. 7. 6. and 15.controuerſies and ciuill cauſes) But theſe Iudges had that office aſsigned them of God, to deliuer the people (as I hauehave ſaid) out of their enemies hands, and ſo to iudge them: and therefore were called by that name of Iudges, and this booke that intreateth of them and their acts throughout, is called, The booke of Iudges.
And briefly to lay out the ſtate and condition that theſe people, the Hebrewes, then liued in: whereby the office of the Iudges may the better be vnderſtood: they hauing not yet conquered the land, were occupied (as at their firſt entrance into it, and after Ioſhuas death a while) in ſubduing it, and their enemies: but afterward they ſuffered them to remaine, and become tributaries to them, and were thereby (as God ſaw it meete, and as need required) in great perill and miſerie by them, and then, becauſe they were his people, leſt they ſhould hauehave been vtterly deſtroyed, theſe Iudges were raiſed vp by him, without the election of men, to reſcue and deliuer them. But afterward when they were at reſt, and peace, God gouerned them not by thoſe Iudges: (therefore Iphtah, when he was deſired, would not raigne ouer them) neither had they authoritie ouer them: but he vſed the help of ſomeother excellent perſons, fit by their vertues and gifts for that purpoſe, and they ruled the people: but the Iudges (as I ſaid) were ſtirred vp by the Lord, in great dangers, brought vponupon them by their enemies, to be helpers and deliuerers vntounto them, and to keepe them in peace afterward, while they lined. So that theſe Iudges were not choſen by ſucceſsion, as Kings: neither by the voyces of the people. but were raiſed vp by God (as wee hauehave heard) indifferently, as well out of one tribe as another: and how meane and vnfit ſoeuer they were before, for that purpoſe: God did furniſh them by and by after he had ſtirred them vp, with moſt excellent gifts for that end, to the which he appointed them. And it went farre better with the people while they were vnderunder them, then it did afterward, when they would needs hauehave a King to raigne ouer them. For they did alwaies deliuer the people of Iſrael out of the calamitie with which they were oppreſſed: whereas their Kings did ſometimes waſte them, and bring them into captiuitie, and were (the moſt part of them) Idolaters.
And although vnderunder the Iudges, the people were ſomtimes oppreſſed grieuouſly by ſtrangers, and eſpecially vnderunder Samſon by the Philiſtims (for why? we muſt know, their horrible ſinnes deſerued it, and prouoked God to deale with them in that manner:) yet they were neuer led into captiuitie while they liued with them. Againe, there were few of the Kings good men, in Iſrael, not one: the Iudges (for the moſt part) were all ſuch. A good teſtimonie whereof, we hauehave in the Epiſtle to the Hebrewes: where we thus reade of the commendation of them: The time would be too ſhort for me to ſpeake of Gedeon, Barak, Iphtah, and Samſon: theſe the holy Ghoſt commendeth. And though ſome of them (as men) did ſometime fall, yet we are to thinke they returned and roſe vp againe: ſeeing the Scripture (as I remember) doth neuer condemne them. So that in reſpect of them, and by their helpe, (if the people could hauehave ſeene it and made benefit of it) we may ſay, they liued in a golden age.
Now whereas it is not ſo apparantly to be ſeene, that this booke doth ſet foorth Chriſt vntounto vsus, in all the commendations of theſe Iudges: (who yet is the end of all bookes of Scripture) to ſuch as demaund about it, I anſwere: that Chriſt is not cleerely ſet foorth in any of thoſe bookes of the old Teſtament firſt written: but darkly, and by types and figures, as God ſaw it meete for thoſe ages: and ſo wee are to thinke of this booke, where the deliuerances from ſo great enemies, as are mentioned herein, are types of that great deliuerance and redemption of men wrought by Chriſt, out of the iawes of the diuell. And let the commending of ſundrie of thoſe Iudges by the holy Ghoſt ſatisfie vsus, that they could not hauehave been good men, nor hauehave liued by faith, as they were ſaid to hauehave done, if they had not beleeued in Chriſt, and been ſanctified thereby. Beſides, what authoritie ſhall we giuegive to the old Teſtament, if they who are commended in it, to hauehave been men of God, as diuers Kings and Prophets, with many other, did not liue and walke by faith, (ſeeing it is not expreſſely ſet downe) without which they could not pleaſe God?
Now the ſumme of this booke is thus much: firſt, a declaration generally, of the eſtate of the religion and manner of worſhipping God, which theſe Iſraelites vſed in their Common wealth from the death of Ioſhua to Eli the Prieſt, (for the ſtorie of Ruth containes things done in the daies of the Iudges, Ruth 1. 1.) and more particularly this booke layeth out their ſinnes, and Gods calling them out of them by ſundrie warnings and iudgements, vntounto repentance, with many fearefull examples of their reuolting and turning backe againe: whereby may bee ſeene how corrupt they were both in religion and manners: and this booke is a liuely glaſſe (if we well conſider it) of this our age.
The parts of the booke are three. The firſt ſetteth downe the ſlouthfulneſſe of the Tribes in executing the commandements of God againſt their enemies, and the puniſhment threatned for it, Chap. 1. and 2. and their ſlouthfulneſſe is illuſtrated by the contrarie courſe of Iudah and Simeon (who were forward to goe against them) as in Chapter 1. to verſe 21. is to be ſeene. The ſecond part is from the 2. chapter to the 17. which treateth of the Iudges, and their great actes, according to occaſions offered, who in their due time were raiſed vp. The third part is from chapter 17. to the end: and ſetteth foorth ſome odious and monſtrous acts committed in thoſe confuſed times, when there was no ordinarie Gouernour: and therewithall, the puniſhments which followed.
The author of this booke is vnknowne, but yet the booke is canonicall, and authorized alſo by the new Testament. The time of the actes of it, from the death of Ioſhua to Eli the high Priest, is gathered to be about 300, yeeres. The end of this booke (as ſhall better appeare in the particular handling of it) is to inſtruct and perſwade vsus, in this latter age of the world, to carry our ſelues vprightly, and in a ſtreight and well ordred courſe, both in proſperitie and aduerſitie: I meane, to hold the feare of God in both, and to keep hope and patience in and through out this our pilgrimage, with prayer and repentance: which if we do, God will be no leſſe with vsus, then he was with the good people mentioned herein.
The order which I purpoſe to obſerue in the Lectures vponupon this booke, is firſt to giuegive the ſhort ſumme of the Chapters: then to deuide eueryevery Chapter into parts, for the better diſtinguiſhing the points thereof, that they may be better vnderſtood, and more clearely ſeene into: thirdly, I giuegive the ſenſe of the verſes more fully, and lay forth the doctrine with the reaſons, and vſe thereof, though for the moſt part, they be not alwaies expreſſely ſet downe, which manner of handling the diuerſe hiſtories of this booke (as alſo I thinke the ſame of our preaching out of all other Scriptures) namely, that after the meaning and ſenſe, apt and fit inſtruction ſhould bee drawne out, with the application to the preſent ſtate, need, and vſe of the hearers, plainely and pitbily as may be for their beſt edifying I hold meeteſt to be vſed.
And I weuld to God, that there were conſent giuen therto of al Preachers, and that this courſe were aimed at: I wiſh that eueryevery one did not follow his owne priuate courſe who hath neuer learned any good way or order of preaching. Whereby it commeth to paſſe, that ſome fill their Sermons with the froth of their owne braines, or the bare authorities of men, and leaſt proofe is brought out of the Scriptures: Alſo ſome preach darkely to the little benefiting of the hearers, not to mention all which were endleſſe. And although for many other things I leaue the conſideration therof to my reuerend and learned brethren, yet in this I hope without oſtentation, and arrogating ought to myſelfe, I may be allowed to ſpeake: in regard of the long time which I hauehave ſpent in ſtudying, learning, and practiſing (as I hauehave been able) the holie exerciſe of preaching. And now to end theſe my Lectures, this I ſay: that beſide the varietie of much good therein contained, there are ſome points to good purpoſe, occaſioned touching faith, and repentance: and ſundrie directions giuen how to ſeeke the Lord when we hauehave ſlipped, and how to beare trouble aright.
Thus much I thought good to ſay before I enter into the ſeuerall Sermons, euen to this end, that ſome good light may be giuen, as to him that marketh duly it may appeare. Now I will proceed to the text itſelfe.