A Pisgah-Sight of Palestine, Book 3 · Body of book · Chapter 11
Here the Map of Simeon is to be inserted.
THE TRIBE OF SIMEON. CHAP. 11.
§ 1. SIMEON second son of Iacob by Leah his wife probably was active in the persecution of his brother Ioseph; (therefore singled out inaGen. 42. 24. Egypt to be a prisoner) certainly imbrued his hands with Levi in the bloud of thebGen. 34. 25. Shechemites: Whereupon Iacob jointly cursed them,cGen. 49. 7. I will divide them in Iacob, and scatter them in Israel. Which prediction took a threefold effect in this Tribe, namely in their
1 Paucity. Scarce any Tribe came*Numb. 1. 23. & 26. 14. more out of Egypt, not any by much entred fewer into Canaan. So sensible was their diminution, that of fifty…nine thousand, but twenty two thousand two hundred possessed their inheritance. It seemeth that the many mortalities in the wilderness did light heavy on the Simeonites. Yea after they were setled in their possessions, the Text saith, they had d1 Chr. 4. 27.not many children, neither did all their family multiply, like to the children of Iudah. And althoughe1 Chr. 4. 38. immediately after it is recorded, that the house of their Fathers increased greatly; yet the proportion is to be measured, not in relation of this to other Tribes, but in the reference of these families to others in the same Tribe of Simeon.
2 Obscurity. Neither Judge nor Prophet extracted from this Tribe: save that in this dearth of eminent persons (famine will make those crums to be taken up, which otherwise would be cast away) we must take infIudi. 9. 3. Iudith, with her Apocrypha atchievements. But most sure it is that one notoriously infamous, namelygNum. 25. 14. Zimri, the son of Salu, who defied justice, and boldly avouched his adultery with a woman of Midian, was son to a Prince of Simeon.
3 Dispersedness. Their Countrey was but a jagged Remnant originally belonging to, and still surrounded withhIosh. 19. 1. 9. Iudah on all sides, save on the sea, amongst whom their townes were scattered.
§ 2. Yet in process of time, as the dispersion of the Levites was turned totally, so the scattering of the Simeonites was changed partially into a blessing. Their locall mixture with Iudah begate a politicall confederacy with them,tIudg. 1. 3. Come up with me into my lot, and likewise I will goe with thee into thy lot. Whence a double benefit accrued to the Simeonites.
1 Spirituall: they were hedged in by their habitation, in the right way of Gods worship: so that, when the ten Tribes made their idolatrous defection under Ieroboam, many of the Simeonites persevered in Gods true service: and they fell to King Asa in k2 Chr. 15. 9.abundance.
2 Temporall. When the rest of their brethren were finally carried away captive under Hoshed in the sixth year of the reign of King Hezekiah, … l2 King. 17. 6.probable it is that a considerable number of the Simeonites remained, as hath been proved before, by their habitation within the lot of Iudah.
§ 3. The Lot of Simeon was transcendently fruitfull▪ having a most temperate aire, insomuch that Saint Hierome …, in his time it was termed Regio salutaris, the healthy Countrey. No marvell then if the Patriarchs Abraham and Isaac having their choice of the whole Countrey, preferred to live so long in these parts. And the latter of them sowing grain near Gerar reaped mGen. 26. 12.an hundred fold, which was the greatest increase which that Corn returned, which fell into good ground, in thenMark. 13. 8. Gospell.
§ 4. In the north-east corner of this Tribe we find… that mountain before Hebron, to theoIudg. 16. 3. top whereof, full twenty miles from the City, Samson carried the gates of Azzah. There he laid them down, not in a plain but steep place, partly in the gallantry of his strength, that not faintness, but his free pleasure made him lay them down, and partly, that in so conspicuous a place the Gazites might easier finde their gates there, then fetch them thence. A little more westward, not far from the banks of the river Sorek, stood the City Ziglag, whichp1 Sam. 27. 6. A…hish King of Gath, bestowed on David during his abode there. If any demand why David, when King of Israel, did not restore Ziglag to Achish again; let such know, that (besides that Cities once passed into a potent hand, are too precious things to be parted with) David being crowned King of Israel had an undoubted right derived unto him by Gods grant, not onelyonly to this City, but to the whole Kingdome of Gath, and land of the Philistines, which God had given to Iudah, though hitherto they were not able to recover it.
§ 5. Afterwards, whilest David was marching (at least wise in presence) with Achish against Saul, the Amalekites in his absence burnt Ziglag, carrying away all the people therein captive. Griefe hereat so prevailed in Davids men at their return, that in anguish of their hearts, they were ready toq1 Sam. 30. 6. stone him. Could better be expected from them? Behold their originall, they were at first,r1 Sam. 22. 2. men in debt and distress, whose severall discontents made them generally contented to join together; so that not David, but his necessities chose them to attend him, who now in adversity discovered their impious dispositions. But David to avoid this showre of stones ready to rain upon him, run for shelter to God his Rock, in whom he comforted himself. Thus, as it is always darkest just before the Day dawneth, so God useth to visite his servants with greatest afflictions, when he intendeth their speedy advancement. For immediately after, David not onelyonly recovered his loss with advantage, but also was proclaimed King of Israel: though some war arose for a time between him and Ishbosheth.
§ 6. But the most memorable places of this Tribe are seated on or near the brook of Bezor, which arising in Iudah takes his course southwest, not far fromsIosh. 19. 7. Ethar ort1 Chr. 4. 32. Etan in the north-east corner of this Tribe. In the rock ofuIudg. 15. 11. Etan near the City of that name Samson reposed himself, whence the men of Iudah brought him down, bound with two cords, and delivered him to the Philistines: but he presently found his spirits, and in that place the jaw-bone of an Asse. Bad weapons are better then none; and it matters not what they be, so that they be weilded by Samsons arme, that, guided by Gods hand. This jaw-bone which used to feed on grass, here eat up awIudg. 15. 15. thousand men. Hereupon the place was called Rama-Lehi, the lifting up of a jawbone.
§ 7. Thus Samsons thirst of revenge was allayed with the bloud of the Philistines, but the quenching of one thirst was the kindling of another. How quickly can God tame fury into faintness with want of water! In this straight he hath his recourse by prayer to God, whoxIudg. 15. 17. cleaves a hollow place in the jaw. Heaven can make dry bones yEzek. 37. 3.live, yea give life to others, as here to Samson, water presently flowing out thereof. Let poets fondly brag of Hippocrene, a fountain from a horses hoof; most true it is that a spring did flow from the jawbone of an Asse. Except any be pleased (which indeed is most probable) not to take Lehi in Hebrew for the materiall jaw-bone, but for the Countrey thereabouts, so newly named by Samson, out of a hollow place of the earth whereof, God produced this fountain.
§ 8. Hence Bezor runneth by Ain, the onelyonly City belonging to the*Iosh. 21. 9. 16 & 19. 17. Levites, in this Tribe. Indeed bothzGen. 49. 7. Simeon and Levi were cursed to be scattered in Israel, and this City of the Levites scattered in Simeon, may seem to be dispersed in a dispersion. One City it seems was proportionable to this small and mangled Tribe. Thus even the poorest must have some Preachers to instruct them, and afford those Preachers maintenance for their instruction. At Gerar, the brook Bezor receives from the south a Tributary rivolet, fetching its fountain out of the wilderness of Kadesh, a place full of strong and stately trees. But what saith theaPsal. 29. 8. Psalmist? The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness, yea the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh. As if this of all other was most sturdy and stubborn to withstand the summons of Gods voice: but all in vain, the least whisper of his mouth sending a palsey into the foundations thereof.
§ 9. In the confines of this wilderness stood three remarkable Cities, which (lest the Reader should mistake) we have marked with circles on the tops of them. Not that any evill spirits moved therein, seeing these were the places where David haunted, whilest Saul persecuted him, and to whose inhabitants he sent part of his spoile taken from the Amalekites for a present. An act no less politick then just, with the same both discharging the shot of his former entertainment, and for the future obliging them by his bounty to be really sensible of his right of succession to the Crown. The first of theseb1 Sam. 30. 30. Corashan (cIosh. 19. 7. elsewhere onelyonly called Ashan.)1 Char. 4. 32. The seconddIosh. 19. 8. 1 Sam. 30. 27. South-Ramoth, ande1 Sam. 30. 30. Hormah the last and most observable, because of three eminent places of that name in or near the Land of Canaan,
1fNum. 14. 45. Where the disobedient Israelites were destroyed by the Canaanites.
2 Where the Canaanites were destroyed by the penitentgNumb. 21. 3. Israelites.
3 Where the Tribes ofhIudg. 1. 17. Iudah and Simeon associating together destroyed the Canaanites, 1 Char. 4. 30.being properly in this Tribe.
We see that destruction (so Hormah soundeth in Hebrew) gives the name to them all. And wonder not then, that in a Countrey the Seat of war, there were so many towns of this sad denomination, but pray rather that God would seasonably settle a peace in England, lest therein be found more Hormahs then were in Israel.
§ 10. As for Gerar the City above mentioned, it was anciently a kingdome of the Philistines, whose Kings seem all to be called Abimelech's. To one of these Abraham falsely affirmed that Sarah his wife was hisiGen. 20. 2. sister: and afterwards Isaac (see the powerfull influence of Parents faults on their childrens practise!) to another of the same name offended in the like falshood. This latter Abimelech looking out of his window, beheld Isaac kGen. 26. 8.sporting with Rebekah, (gestures not unlawfull as done, but as seen) and from this familiarity (greater his charity then Isaacs caution therein) interpreted her to be not his harlot, but his wife.
§ 11. Afterwards Isaac outed of the City dwelt in the neighbouring valley of Gerar, and whithersoever he removed, Gods blessing, and the Philistines envy followed him. He grew fat in estate, his enemies lean at the fight thereof, which made them spitefully stop thelGen. 26. 15. wells which his Father had digged. Happy that they could neither dam up nor drain dry the dew of Divine blessing, from falling upon him, which, if possible to effect, their malice would have attempted. But Isaac afterwards sunk these wells the second time, and he mGen. 26. 18.called their names after the names by which his Father had called them. See his humility herein, not varying from his Fathers will in an indifferent matter, whereas many now adays count it the greatest honour of this age, in all things to diffent from the former. Besides these renewed wells, Isaac had new ones of his own making, as namely
1nGen. 26. 20. Esech: that is stri…e, so called because his heardmen, and the Gerarites strove about it.
2oGen. 26. 21. Sitnah, that is hatred, so named on the like occassion.
3pGen. 26. 22. Rekoboth, that is enlargement, which he peaceably possessed; God making room for him.
The two former pass for the emblems of our militant condition in this life, the last typyifieth our happy estate in a better, and more roomthy place; In my Fathers house there be many qIoh. 14. 2.mansions.
§ 12. This vale of Gerar was the Granary of Canaan, whither the Patriarchs retired in time of famine; for plenty dwelt there, when penury was elsewhere. Nor will it be amiss to insert the testimony of arGeor. Sands. trav. 3. b. 150. p. Modern traveller, to shew how the Countrey hereabouts, even at this day, retains an indeleble character of its former fruitfulness. We passed this day through the most pregnant and pleasant valley, that ever eye beheld. On the right hand a ridge of high mountains (whereon stands Hebron) on the left hand the Mediterranean Sea bordered with continued hills, beset with variety of fruits. The Champion between about twenty miles over, full of flowry hills ascending leasurely, and not much surmounting their ranker vallies, with groves of Olives and other fruits dispersedly adorned. Yet is this wealthy Bottome (as are all the rest) for the most part uninhabited.
§ 13. From the vale of Gerar the brook Berzor runneth by the grove near Beersheba, sGen. 21. 33.planted by Abraham for the more convenient performance of his devotion. Collect we hence that Abraham resided some considerable time in these parts, seeing trees grow not up as Ionas his gourd in a night, but must have some competent season to come to maturity. But what was piety in Abraham in planting this grove, was profaneness in his posterity to imitate. For after that God had made choice of a fixed place (Tabernacle, or Temple) to put his name there, such as elsewhere sacrificed unto him were not onelyonly guilty of Schisme (separating themselves from the publick worship) but flat Idolatry, serving the true God in a false manner, namely, in a place prohibited. And now it is seasonably remembred, that many ages after, Beersheba was an eminent place of Idolatry. ThetAmos 5. 5. & 8. 14. Prophet threatneth finall confusion to such that say, in nature of an oath, The manner of Beersheba liveth. It being probable that as theu2 King. 18. 4. brazen serpent set up by Moses, was afterwards abused to Idolatry, so this grove of Abrahams planting near Beersheba was by his posterity perverted to some solemn superstition, the manner or way whereof, secundum usum Beershebae, was a precedent, or leading pattern for other places to imitate: as Act. 9. 2. & 18. 25. & 24. 14.
§ 14. But the City of Beersheba it self stood hard by on the brook Bezor. The name imports, The well of an oath. First so called fromwGen. 21. 31. Abrahams, then fromxGen. 26. 33. Isaac's ceremonious swearing and covenanting with Abimelech in that place. Now if Scarlet keep colour because twice died, and therefore called Dibaphon, well might Beersheba retain her name, twice on the same occasion imposed upon it.yGen. 46. 4. Here God comforted Iacob in his journey down into Egypt, promising him safety and sight of his son Ioseph. Many hundred years after, Samuel atz1 Sam. 8. 2. Beersheba set up his Sons for Judges, who degenerated from their Fathers integrity. In the division of the land into two kingdomes, Beersheba belonged to Iudah, wherea2 Chr. 19. 4. Iehoshaphat set up Judges, and whither b1 King. 19. 3.Eliah persecuted by Iezebel fled for succour. Hence he fled into the wilderness, leaving his servant at Beersheba. Not that he carelesly cast him off, but as the case stood with Eliah, life was to be preferred before attendance, and one alone might shift with more secrecy then two together. Besides, by the avoidance of this servant (probably no person of extraordinary performance) divine providence made a way for Elisha (one of more desert) in this vacancy to be inducted into Eliah's service.
§ 15. Coming still west-ward on the bank of Bezor, we finde the place where two hundred of Davids foot being faint stayed with thec1 Sam. 30. 10. baggage, whilest the rest of their brethren pursued and conquered the Amalekites. But these at their return denyed the two hundred staying by the brook, any part of their spoile, till David ordered it as a leading case, that these which attended the baggage should be equall sharers with such who fought in the battell. And very good reason:
1 It was not laziness, but weariness kept them behinde. A stout heart sometimes cannot help a fainting body. Wherefore to punish sickness in them for a sin, had been height of tyranny.
2 Grant their tired bodies could not keep pace with their souls, yet no doubt in desire they marched along with their brethren, and perchance by their prayers facilitated their victory.
3 During their staying behind, their imployment was as necessary, though not so honourable. The stuffe could not secure it self, and the keeping of it in the others absence was a good piece of defensive service.
Now from hence it appears, that in cases not provided for in the judiciall Law, the Princes of Israel were intrusted with power to enact Statutes, in a prudentiall proportion to Gods word, binding all in their dominions to the observation of them. This ordinance of David may from the place be termed the Statute of Bezor. Nor is it any news for Laws to be made in open fields by rivers sides, our English Laws having had their birth in so plain a place in Ronny-mede near the river of Thames, where King Iohn and his Barons first drew them up together. Yea, no fitter place for such solmn acts then a rivers side, where the sight thereof may be the remembrancer, that dAmos 5. 24.Iudgement may run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. Hence Bezor glideth into the Land of the Philistines, whither in due time we will follow it.
§ 16. South of this brook lay the wilderness of Beersheba, often mentioned in Scripture. Herein Hagar andeGen. 21. 14. Ishmael wandred when the bottle of water was spent, the last Legacy which Abraham bequeathed him. Oh how she weeps, as if intending to refill the same from her eyes! but alass, that moisture so brackish would rather increase then allay any thirst. And now what should she do? It was death to her to see her son die, and yet that pity which would not suffer her to tarry by him, would not permit her to depart from him. In this Dilemma of affection she resolves on the distance of a bow-shoot,rGen. 21. 16. as a competent mean betwixt presence and absence, and disposeth her self under one shrub, her son under another. Here Ishmael cryes and God heareth. The very worst in extreme want are the object of pity, and though Ishmael had mockes for Isaac, heaven had mercy for Ishmael. An Angel sent shews Haga… a fountain, not now newly created, but newly discovered to her sight. The object was there before, but the Organ not rightly disposed to behold it. How near may men be to their own happiness and miss it; touching it, yet not seeing it, till God open their eyes! More south in this wilderness was the Iuniper-tree under whichg1 King. 19. 4. Elisha sate so highly discontented. Coales of Juniper we know are extremely hot, but is there any secret quality in the shade of that tree, to put Eliah, sitting under, into such passions, as that nothing but death would please him for the present? Sorrow bought him asleep, and afterwards awaking, being refreshed with a cake of bread, cruse of water, and comfort of an Angel he undertook his journey to Horeb.
§ 17. Not far off betwixt Kadesh and Bered is Beer-laha-roi, that is, the well of him that liveth and seeth: sohGen. 16. 14. named by Hagar, because there an Angel catechised, comforted, and counselled her to return and humble herself to Sarah her mistress. By this well Isaac was walking and meditating,iGen. 24. 62. when Rebekah brought from her Fathers house first met him, in her most modest behaviour. For at the sight of him, though at some distance, shekGen. 24. 64. lighted from her Camel, counting it ill manners to ride, when her husband and master went a foot: as also to give an earnest of her future good housewifery, that she would prefer industry before ease, honest pain before pleasure. The shelGen. 24. 65. vailed her self, partly to shew that the beams of her beauty were hereafter to be appropriated to Isaac alone, & partly in confession of subjection, being now under covert-baron, the command and protection of a husband. Well, I dare compare, yea prefer this vailed wives chastity, before the virginity of many vailed votaries.
§ 18. More south is the river of Egypt the utmost limit, not onelyonly of this Tribe, but of all Israel. Indeed by the river of Egypt foreign (often mentioned in Exodus) onelyonly Nilus is intended. But this stream (which some conceive is particularly called Shichos) is termed the River of Egypt, not because it is in, but is in the high way to Egypt. Otherwise, the traveller who sits down on the banks thereof, shall never come thither. In the Septuagint, Rhinocolura is put for this river of Egypt, being a long named city of short note, seated on the influxe thereof into the sea. Only this Rhinocolura is famous in heathen History, because hither (as into an Hospitall) all those malefactors were sent, whose noses were cut off for their offences: a punishment inflicted on the Egyptians by an Ethiopian King who conquered them Hence had it the name of*Strabo Geog. lib. 16. p. 759. Rhinocolura, or the place of nose-maimed people. But ô how great must that city be which in our age should contain all those, whose faces are nose-less, not by others cruelty, but their own luxury!
§ 19. As for other cities in this Tribe of Simeon they were many, but obscure. It is observable that most of them are written with an Aliàs first, as they are named Iosh. 19. secondly, as they are called 1 Chron. 2. None need to wonder at their different denominations. Here I interpose nothing of the severall writing of the same places
1 According to exact Criticks in spelling them.
2 According to vulgar tongues in pronouncing them.
OnelyOnly we commend to the Readers notice, that the book of Chronicles was written after the return fromm1 Chr. 3. 19. Captivity; and about eighteen generations after the days of Ioshua. And therefore some difference of letters after so large a time is no strange thing. For seeing here we have no continuing nHeb. 13. 14.city, it cannot be expected that any city should have a continuing name. And yet great places longest retain their names unaltered, (as London from Taeitus to our times) whereas small cities like these in Simeon are as often alterable, as passed into the possession of severall owners. Yea seeing it was the custome of the Iews, to oPsal. 19. 11.call their lands after their own names, this haply might changepIosh. 19. 6. Beth-lebaoth in this Tribe, into q1 Chr. 4. 31.Beth-birei, when it came into the possession of a new landlord.
§ 20. So much of this small Tribe, whose portion was too little for his people, and therefore they made two happy expeditions to enlarge their quarters: one in the reign ofr1 Chr. 4. 39. Hezekiah to the entrance of Gedor, even unto the east side of the valley, a place of good and fat pasture; for they of Ham (Canaanites) had dwelt there of old. Mice sometimes may be mens tasters, to teach them which is best for their palate: and those heathen were wise enough to settle themselves in the richest soile, whence now the Simeonites expelled them. This Gedor was in the division of the land allotted to the Tribe ofsIosh. 15. 58. Iudah. Now if any demand by what right the Simeonites might invade this which was assigned to Iudah, they may know that in case a strong hold could not be reduced into subjection by that Tribe to which it belonged, it was not an act of injustice, but valour, for the next Tribe totIud. 1. 34. 35. undertake the conquest thereof: As by their judiciall law if one dyed not having issue by his wife, the next of kin might foreign, and was heire (as I may say) to marry hisuMat. 22. 24. brothers wife; so when Iudah through some defect or debility was unable to improve his Patrimony in Gedor to profit, by casting out the heathen who violently detained it, Simeon (his next neighbour in situation) suecceding to the right of his brother, attempted and effected the conquest thereof: Herein onelyonly it holds not proportion, because the seed so raised up was accounted to his dead brother, whereas here Simeon made bold himself quietly to possess what victoriously he had acquired. Wonder not that this petty Tribe in overcoming Gedor did more then puissant Iudah could performe; for always the battell is not to the wEccles. 9. 11.strong, and weaker means watching advantages may perfect what more powerfull have left uneffected. This Gedor (grudge not reader to sally with thine eye a little out of this Tribe, being still in this map) lay on the north of the river Sorek, and was onexJosh. 12. 13. of the 31. regall cities of the Canaanites. As for the Simeonites second voiage against they1 Chr. 4. 42. Amalekites in mount Seir, more proper thereof hereafter in the description of Edom.
§ 21. Now that which straightned the portion of Simeon, was the multitude of Philistines inhabiting the sea coasts, allotted to, but never possessed by this Tribe. Askelon was a prime city in those parts, once won by zJudg. 1. 28.Iudah assisting Simeon, but after recovered by the Philistines. Samson, being cast to give his companions thirty change of raiment, went neither to the Merchant for the stuffe, nor Taylor for making of them, but (knowing the Philistines garments would best fit Philistines bodies) he marched directly toaJudg. 14. 19. Askelon, where finding thirty Philistines, he bestowed their corps on the earth, and their cases on their fellow-countrey men. This caused that active antipathy betwixt Askelon and Israel, Tell it not in Gath, nor publish it in b2 Sam. 1. 20.Askelon. Near to this city there was acDiod. Siculus. libro 13. lake, by which Semiramis is said to be born, there fed and relieved by Doves. Hence the Poet Tibullus.
Alba Palaestino sancta columba Syro.
The milke-white Dove esteem'd divine,
By Syrians of Palestine.
But because no mention of this in Scriptures, we forbear further prosecution thereof.
§ 22. Going along south by the sea side (here styled the sea of the Philistines) we come at last to Azzah, d… Exod. 23. 31.or Gaza the fifth satrapy of the Philistines, onceeJudg. 1. 18. Judg. 16. 3. 21. 25. conquered by Iudah, but soon after returning to the former owners Samson, who carried the gates thereof away, could not bring himself hither again, without the guidance of another. Pain here was added to his blindness, when set to grinde in a mill; scorn to his pain, when sent for, at a solemn feast to be the musician to make sport, or rather the Instrument ready tuned for every wanton eye, tongue, and hand to play upon. But such as mock at other mens miseries, sometimes laugh so long till their own hearts ake. For Samson applied himself to the two pillars most fundamentall to the roof of Dagons Temple, and by the strength of his armes andfJudg. 16. 30. prayers, pulling them down, killed and died together. Strange that his enemies knowing his strength resided in his haire, prevented not the second growth thereof. But God first stupefies whom he intends for destruction: Samson had lost his sight, the Philistines their foresight at the same time.
§ 23. Many ages after Gaza was smote bygIer. 47. 1. Pharaoh King of Egypt, and not warned thereby to repent, utter desolation was denounced against it. There needeth no clearer comment on the Prophets prediction,hZeph. 2. 4. Gaza shall be forsaken, then that passage in the Acts of the Apostles, the way unto Gaza which is iAct. 8. 26.wast. This vastation was caused by Alexander the great, when he utterly razed the city, fulfilling whatkIer. 47. 5. Ieremy had foretold, Baldness is come upon Gaza, whereby not onelyonly the hair, but skin and flesh of this proud place fell away, scarce any signes of a city remaining. Out of the ruines hereof, some two miles westward (where Bezor falleth into the sea) Majuma or Sea-Gaza once a proper port-town took its rise and increase, called afterward Constantia by Constantine the great, and Gatzra at this day, where simple roofs supported with carved columns, and broken pieces of Parian lSand. trav. lib. 3. p. 149.Marble, serving for thresholds, jambes of doors, and sides of windows almost to every beggerly cottage, testifie its former better condition. So much for these Philistines, who are taxed for their soothsaying bymIsa. 2. 6. Isaiah, accused of spightfulness and old hatred bynEzek. 25. 15. Ezekiel, challenged for cruelty byoAmos 1. 8. Amos, arraigned for pride bypZach. 9. 6. Zachary, condemned by all to unavoidable destruction. Think not that these Philistines, fox-like, fared the better for being cursed, surely though slow, sure vengeance overtook them; and we undoubtedly beleeve the same, although it be hard in history to shew when, where, and how their particular extirpation was accomplished.
§ 24. Simeon hath usually assigned him for his armes, Gules, a sword in pale, with the point thereof erected argent; alluding to Iacobs words, Instruments of cruelty are in his habitations, because of their perfidious massacring of the Shechemites. None of Solomons Purveyours in the Tribe of Simeon, the reason whereof shall be rendered in our description of Iudah. If any demand, why Simeon alone is omitted in Moses his solemnqDeut. 33. blessing of the other Tribes, let them remember how Iacob coupled Simeon rGen. 49. 5, 6.and Levi in a curse; since which time the Levites had unstrained their credit by their exemplarysExod. 32. 26. zeale against the Idolaters, but the Simeonites had not recovered their reputation by any eminent act by them atchieved. Moses therefore having no commission to recall Iacobs curse, and loth to repeat it, (lest the double-cursed Simeonites should be utterly disheartned) thought it in pious policy best to pass them over in silence. Of such persons, of whom we would willingly say no bad, and cannot truly say any good, it is the wise…t way to say nothing. As for their tradition that the Simeonites were imployed to be Scribes and Notaries to the Tribe of Iudah, it is enough to mention it, knowing no sound authority, whereon the same is grounded.