Exposition of Ezekiel 14-19, Commentary on Ezechiel · Chapter 16 · Verse 7
VERS. 7.
I have cauſed thee to multiply, as the bud of the Field, and thou haſt increaſed and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breaſts are faſhioned, and thine haire is growne, whereas thou waſt naked and bare.
THis Verſe containes the ſecond benefit which the Lord vouchſafed this Infant, viz. growth, increaſe, after life granted, he caus'd her to multiply.
This Multiplication is ſet out by a double compariſon,
1. Is the bud of the Feild.
2. Is of a young Maid, growing up to a marrigeable condition, Thy breaſts are faſhioned, &c.
I have cauſed thee to multiply.
The Hebrew word for multiply, is, foreign and Montanus renders the word thus, decem millia veluti germen agri dedi te, I have given thee ten thouſand as the graſſe of the Field, I have increaſed thee exceedingly. The Hebrews uſe to put thouſands for great numbers, Pſal. 68.17. The Chariots of God are twenty thouſands, even thouſands of Angels, that is an innumerable, or exceeding great company. Piſc. hath it, in Myriadem te auxi, I have increaſed thee into a Million, I have made thee a very numerous multitude, Exod. 1.7. The Children of Iſrael were fruitfull, and increaſed abundantly, and multiplyed, and waxed exceeding mighty, and the Land was filled with them: God had made a promiſe to Abraham, that he would make of him a great Nation, Gen. 12.2. that his ſeed ſhould be As the Stars of Heaven, Gen. 15.5. As the duſt of the earth. Chap. 13.16. As the ſand on the Sea ſhoare. Chap. 22.17. and here you ſee it made good, his poſterity increaſed ſo abundantly, multiplyed and waxed ſo mightily, that they fil'd the Land.
Some obſerve that it was but 50. yeares from the death of Joſeph to this time, or thereabouts, and in thoſe few years they came to ſuch a numeroſitie as did filthe Land, and exceed the number of the Aegyptians, in their apprehenſions, Exod. 1.9. Behold the People of the Children of Iſrael are more and mightyer then we; when they came into Aegypt, they were not above 70. or 75. ſoules, but when they went out, they were 600000. men, neither women, Children, nor aged men were here reckon'd, for in the ſecond yeare after they were gone out of Aegyt, and the ſecond month of that yeare, they were reckon'd againe, and only thoſe were reckond, who were twenty yeares old and upwards, and able for the warr, and they were found to be 603550. Numb. 1.45, 46. here were neither Levites, aged women, or Children numbred, which had they been, would have doubled the Number. This made David ſay Pſal. 105 24. He increaſed his people greatly.
As the bud of the Feild.
Hebrew is, foreign Sicut germen agri, As the graſſe of the Feild, or whatever growes in the Feild. The Septu. is, foreign, as the riſing or ſpring of the Feild: you know every thing hath life in it, puts forth in the ſpringtime, Corne, graſſe flowers, weeds, Trees, buſhes, every thing buds and ſprings forth, and what a multitude of buds are upon ſome one Tree, ſome one hedge, in one Feild, and the Jewes multiplyed not as ſome one of them, but as the budd of the Feild in generall, Here our Prophet ſeemes to allude to Iſaacks bleſſing of Jacob, Gen. 27.27. The ſmel of my Sonne is as the ſmel of a feild which the Lord hath bleſſed.
Thou haſt increaſed, and waxen great.
God gave out the bleſſing, and preſently increaſe, and greatneſſe followed, both multitude and magnitude; Their multitude is ſet out, in Numb. 10.36. Returne O Lord unto the many thouſands of Iſrael, the Hebrew is, ten thouſands. Their greatneſſe you have, Deut. 4.6, 7, 8. where thrice they are cald A great Nation, yea greater than others, and Joſhua intimates the greatneſſe of his people, when he ſaith to thoſe came out of Joſephs loynes only, Ch. 17.17. Thou art a great people, haſt great power, how great were they al, & al their power.
Thou art come to excellent ornaments.
Hebrew is, foreign ad ornamentum ornamentorum, to the ornament of ornaments: Piſcat: Ʋſ que ad ſummum ornamentum to the chiefeſt ornament, French, Es parvenue, a eſtre ornee d'ornemens. The Sept. ſhewed themſelves here like other men ſubject to errour, for they miſtaking foreign for foreign reade inſtead of ade, adim, are, arim, and ſo make the ſenſe this, thou art come to Cities of Cities, to chief and excellent Cities, but the originall is ornament of ornaments, what thoſe ornaments were, mens thoughts are diverſe: ſome have thought them to be the Law, Tabernacle; but that is too curious. Others referre theſe ornaments to thoſe Jewels of gold and ſilver which they borrowed of the Aegyptians, Exod. 11. and this people both men and women, had bedeckt themſelves with golden earings, which they pul'd off, and brake in peices, to make the molten calfe withall, Exod. 32.23. and not only theſe, but ſome take in all artificiall ornaments, that Virgins marrigeable, and neere marriage, are wont to adorne themſelves withall, that they may be more amiable, and delightfull, but the words in the 11. and 12. verſes, forbid us to cloſe with this opinion, for here the Lord ſpeaks of ſuch things, I decked thee alſo with ornaments, I put bracelets upon thine hands, and a chaine on thy necke, I put a Jewell on thy fore-head and earings in thine eares.
Wee are therefore to referre the words to naturall ornaments, and beauty of the body; for when Virgins are growne up and fit for marriage, then they have naturall ornaments, which doe greatly become them. And that this is the genuine ſenſe, the words following doe confirme, Thy breaſts are faſhioned, and thine haire is growne, theſe be naturall ornaments, and in theſe he ſpecifies, what Ornaments he meant.
Thy breaſts are faſhioned.
Hebrew, Shadai nalonu Ʋbera tua facta ſunt firma, the Septu. is, foreign thy breaſts were made right or erected; Vulg. intumuerunt, they ſwelled and grew great: ſo the French Tes mamelles ſe ſont ingroſſies, thy breaſts are growne bigg, they are faſhioned, ſemiglobuli figuram referentes they reſemble the forme of halfe globes, there is great ſympathie betweene the wombe and the breaſts, becauſe of the Veines which goe from the one unto the other.
The Breaſts are placed in the Breaſt, ſaith Laurentius.
1. For generation of milke, they have in them vim foreign a power to beget milke, whereby to nouriſh the birth that comes from them. Through divine providence, much blood flowes from the womb to the breaſts, which being ſpongie, receive it, concoct it, through the heat of the heart and liver, and turne it into milke, for ſuſtenance of the tender off-Spring.
2. They are for the defence of the heart, they defend it, Ab extrinſecus occurſantibus injuriis, from violence without.
3. For ornament and delight, they are compared in the Canticles to things that are ſo, Chap. 4.5. Thy two breaſts are like two young Roes that are twins, like two kids, or Fawnes which are an ornament to the Damme, or delightfull to behold, like an Ewe with two Lambs by her ſides, 1 Kings 7.7. Thy breaſts are like to cluſters of grapes. You know that goodly cluſters, are a choice ornament to the Vine, and very pleaſing to him beholds them, and in the 8. Chap. 10. Verſe, their breaſts are ſaid to be like Towers, and its granted that Towers are as wel for ornament as defence to a Citie: ſo then the Breaſts of a Maiden or woman, are as great an ornament to her, as twins are to the Dam, as Cluſters are to the Vine, as Towers to a Citie.
Now by this faſhioning of the breaſts, is held out the fitneſſe of this metaphoricall Maid (the Iſraelitiſh eſtate) for marriage. Tumor Ʋberum in puellis nubilis aetatis ſignum. Malden:The more prominencie or eminencie of them from the bodie, the more is the evidence of their fitneſſe for marriage, Cant. 8.8. Wee have a little Siſter, and ſhe hath no breaſts, not ſimplie no breaſts, not Ʋbera tumentia, not Breaſts faſhioned and fitted for marriage to Chriſt, the time was not yet come for them, but it was come for the Jewes, and Rabbi David referrs it to their comming out of Aegypt: When a Maiden is a Servant, ſhee is neither free nor ſo fit for marriage.
Whereas thou waſt naked and bare.
Hebrew is, And thou waſt naked and bare, Sept. foreign, and thou waſt naked and full of ſhame. Piſc. Nudiſſima fuiſti & retectiſſima, thou waſt moſt naked and moſt uncovered. Jun. Cum tu nuda eſſes at que nudiſſima, When as thou waſt naked, even moſt naked. Sed eras nuda & detecta, but thou waſt naked and uncovered. Eras nuda & confuſione plena, thou waſt naked and full of confuſion.
This nakedneſſe may referre to the words before, in the fourth and fift verſes, Thou waſt not ſwadled at all, but waſt caſt out in the open Feilds, to the loathing of thy perſon, in the day that thou waſt borne: and ſome are perſwaded to it, upon this ground, becauſe, now was the time of her youth,Sanct: and its improbable that God who had taken care of her (being borne of an Amorite and an Hittite) who had brought her up all this time, ſhould let her be naked and lye expos'd to ſhame, reproach, and contempt: but the Hebrew invites us to put it upon her preſent, not her paſt condition, thus, I have caus'd thee to multiply, increaſe, grow great, brought thee to excellent naturall ornaments, faſhioned thy breaſts, made thine haire grow, and yet thou art but naked and bare, thou art poore and haſt nothing.
In what this nakedneſſe laye, is needful a little to inquire. Some place it in her being void of the Law, Theodor. ſaith of this perſon, nondum acceperat legis tegumentum, the Law was the chiefe honour and ornament of the Jewiſh people, and where that is not, there is a great nakedneſſe. Some place it in their povertie, the Rabbins ſay, that Iſrael was clad with vile garments, their nakedneſſe was much ſeene.
Its probable their povertie was great in Egypt, when they were to goe out of it, they borrowed Raiment of the Aegiptians, and Jewells of gold and ſilver, Exod. 12.35. Others put it in this, that they were deſtitute of all helpe, they were in great bondage, ſuffered great hardſhip, a pollitick plot was upon them to drowne their Male Children, and ſo to ruine them; and being in this caſe, none pittyed them, came into their Counſell or helpe, and ſo in this ſenſe they were truely naked and bare.
Obſer. 1. The Lord is mindfull of his promiſes, and makes them good by degrees, and in due time; he had promiſed Abraham, that he would make of him a great Nation. Gen. 12.2. That his ſeed ſhould be as the Starrs, Duſt, Sand, and here you ſee it made out, I have cauſed thee to multiply as the bud of the Feild. It was very unlikely that it ſhould ever be ſo, God promiſed Ahraham a Sonne, but he ſtayed neare 20. yeares for him after the promiſe: ſome thinke it was 40 yeare if not more, before Iſaac marryed, and when marryed, his Wife was barren all Abrahams dayes, after he had two Sonnes, Jacob and Eſau; then Jacob had twelve Sonnes, and went downe into Aegyt with 70 ſoules, and from them proceeded multitudes without number: ſo God by degrees accompliſhed what he promiſed, and made Abrahams poſteritie innumerable.
2. From meane beginnings, God ſometimes raiſes to much greatneſſe; he brings from a low deſpicable eſtate to great excellencie; this Iſraelitiſh ſtate was at firſt, as, Infans expoſitus, like a Child throwne out by the friends, as not able to maintaine it, left in the Feilds to periſh; this Child the Lord tooke up, and brought forth a great Nation out of the loynes of it.
Abraham was the man, and from him came the populous Nation of the Jewes, &c. he brought thoſe green buds out of a drie Tree: Its Gods method oft times to raiſe glorious buildings out of rubbiſh, he made the world out of nothing from the little drops, he makes great flouds: from a little duſt in livened, he hath brought forth all mankind.
What is all the world but Adam, and all the Jewes but Abraham?
At the firſt fruit offering, they were to ſay, a Syrian was my Father, he went downe into Aegypt, and ſojourned there with a few, and became there a Nation, mighty, great, and populous. Deut. 26.5.
The Roman ſtate grew up from Romulus a Baſtard.
The Turkiſh had low beginnings.
What was England once?
The Brittons went naked, they painted their bodies blew, were cald picti and skie couloured Brittons, they wore their haire long, their Townes were their woods, they had 10.Brit ſignifies painted, Taine a Nation. or 12. wives a peeice, and thoſe common to Brothers and Parents, they tild no ground, did eate no fleſh; but liv'd much upon rootes, and barks of Trees, they were exceeding ſuperſtitious, and paraleld, if not exceeded the Aegyptian Idols, and idolatrie.
They were given much to Magick.
They held the ſoule paſſed from one to another.
They were hardly, known to other Nations, and had little or no commerce with any.
The Keels and ribbs of their ſhipps, were of light wood, covered over vvith Leather.
Their Coine of braſſe, and Iron rings.
From theſe we came, and our beginning was meane.
3. The vvorke of nature, is the vvorke of God; multiplying, increaſing, waxing great, faſhioning of breaſts, growing of haire, are all naturall things: but I caus'd thee to, &c. opus naturae, is opus intelligentiae: it was the hand of God to bring that greene ſprigg Iſaac out of drie rootes, and its alſo the worke of God to bring branches out of green rootes: Children are the gift of God, Gen. 33.5. He formes them in the wombe, brings them into the world, and beſtowes them upon the Parents. Deut. 32.6. Hath not he made thee, and eſtabliſhed thee?
4. The naturall beautie, excellencie that any perſon or Kingdome hath, is of the Lords good pleaſure, and meere merciemercy: thou art come to excellent ornaments, but who brought her to them? was it not the Lord took her in being caſt out, that gave her breaſts, that faſhioned them, &c. In the 14. v. The Lord ſaith, he Puts comelineſſe upon her; what ever excellencies, ornaments of nature Kingdomes or people have, they had them from the Lord.
5. Man in himſelfe, or naked of himſelfe, hath no excellencie, Thou waſt naked and bare: no free will, no merits.