Exposition of the Moral Law, Book 1 · Commandment 2 · Exercitation 8
EXERCITAT. VIII. The many evils which the people have got out of idolatrous Aegypt.
Deut. 17.16. Ye ſhall not cauſe the people to returne to Aegypt.
AEgypt was the matrix of all idolatrie, therefore the Lord forbad them to goe backe to Aegypt: The evill which the people of God got in Aegypt.they got much miſchiefe out of Aegypt, there were their breasts preſſed, and there they bruiſed the teats of their virginitie: Ezek. 23.3.They loſt their ſpirituall virginitie there. There they learned the grounds of their idolatrie, hence it is, that the moſt of the ceremoniall lawes are oppoſite to idolatrous worſhip in Aegypt.
Secondly, turba miſcellanea, The mixed multitude came from thence.the mixed multitude came out of Aegypt: Exod. 12.38. Who learned them to murmure and to crie; Would to God we were back again at the fleſh pots of Aegypt. Exod, 16.2.
Thirdly, they got their leproſie out of Aegypt, for that ſort of leproſie called Elephantiaſis, The leproſie from Aegypt.when the skin groweth hard like the Elephants skin was bred onelyonly about Nilus in Aegypt. Deut. 28.17. The Lord will ſmite the with the boiles of Aegypt.They forgot their circumciſion there.
Forthly, they forgot their circumciſion in Aegypt, therefore it is called opprobrium Aegypti, Ioſh. 5.9. This day have I rolled away the reproach of Aegypt from you.
The blaſphemer came out of it.Fifthly, the blaſphemer who blaſphemed the name of the Lord, Levit. 24.10. was the ſonne of an Aegyptian.
The golden calves.Sixthly, Ieroboam brought the golden calves out of Aegypt: therefore they were commanded never to goe backe againe to Aegypt. Becauſe Aegypt was ſuch a vile land the Pſalmiſt calleth it the land of Ham Pſal. 105.23.27.Aegypt why called Ham. and 106.22. Ham was curſed by his father Noah, ſo the Egyptians his poſteritie were an accurſed people. Aegypt was a proud people,Aegypt called Rahab. therefore it is called Rahab, Pſal. 87.4 and Eſay 51.9. And now what hast thou to doe in Aegypt to drinke the waters of Sihor? or what haſt thou to doe in the way of Aſſyria, to drinke the waters of the river? Sichor is put for Aegypt.Ier. 2.18. Sihor is Nilus, which ſignifieth blackneſſe, for the troubled waters of Nilus differed much frō the clea…e running waters of Siloh, why then ſhould they goe to drinke of them?So the city, for Ierulem, and Behemoth beaſts, for an elephant. and hee calleth Euphrates the River here Antonomaſticè, for the greatneſſe of it. Gen. 15.18. It is called the great river; theſe two were the borders of Canaan, from the river of Egypt to Euphrates. Exod. 23.31.
What great bleſſing was this then, when five cities in the land of Egypt ſhould ſpeake the languages of Canaan, foreign …ſtr…ctio. foreignthat is, ſhould worſhip the Lord in truth, And one of them ſhall bee called the city of the Sunne, Eſay. 19.18. that is, they ſhall bee converted to profeſſe the truth, and one of them ſhall be the moſt excellent citie, that is Alexandria, the city where Marke taught the Goſpell firſt.
If Egypt was ſo abhorred and deteſted by the Lord, what muſt ſpirituall Egypt be? Revelat. 11.8. and theſe Who take the marke of the beaſt upon them. Revelat. 16.2. And as they were never to returne backe to Egypt again; ſo neither muſt the people of God returne now to ſpirituall Egypt.
Obſerve how Iohn doth parallel the judgements of old Egypt, and ſpirituall Egypt together.Old Aegypt and ſpirituall Aegypt paralleled together in their plagues. Old Egypt was plagued with ſores and botches:In ſores. ſo are they of ſpirituall Egypt. Revelat. 16.2.
Secondly in old Egypt the waters were turned into bloud: So in ſpirituall Egypt. In blood.The waters of the ſea became as the bloud of a dead man, and every living ſoule died in the ſea. Verſ. 3.
Thirdly in old Egypt there was great darkeneſſe:In darkneſſe. So in ſpirituall Egypt there is great darknes. Verſ. 10.
Fourthly, frogs moleſted the Kings chamber in Egypt, In the frogges.So frogges came out of the mouth of the Dragon, and out of the mouth of the beaſt, working miracles to deceive the world and the Kings of the earth. Verſ. 13. Iannes and Iambres withſtood Moſes in Egypt. 2. Tim. 3.8. And when hee wrought his miracles they ſaid, hee carried ſtraw to Aphra, as the proverbe is in the Talmud, In their magitians.they meant that there was Magick enough in Egypt already, therefore hee needed not to come to Egypt, to play his trickes of Magick there; thus they withſtood the man of God, and hardened the heart of Pharaoh: So in ſpirituall Egypt, doe theſe frogges and deceivers ſet themſelves againſt Moſes, ſaying, that hee hath not his calling of God.
Laſtly, there was thundering and lightning in Egypt; In thundering and lightning.ſo in ſpirituall Egypt Verſ. 18.
The concluſion of this is; Come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her ſins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. Revelat. 18.4.