Annotations on Job Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon, Prolegomena
PROLEGOMENA.
ALl heavenly Divinity (which consists in a true knowledgeCùm …o…a coelest is theologia in vera justa que Dei & nostri cognitione sit a sit, si plac…bit majestatem Dei ex natura e us in Christo per libros istos cognoscere, habes Proverbiorum Schelomouis partem; si ex creatione & administratione providentiae, habes Jobu…; si ex gratioso foedere cum Ecclesia ini…o, habes Canticum Canticorum: sin autem tibi ad cognitionem nostri, delineari cupis vanissimam, quae à natura est animi nostri, udicio um, & actionum formam, nihil Ecclesiaste convenientius; si officia Ethic… aequè ad pietatem ac humanitatem pertinentia, nihil aptius altera Proverbiorum parte: si denique omnia simul complecti desideraveris, en tibi Psalmorum (ut vulgò appellatur) librum; thesaurum, inqui… Ambrosius, vi…utum omnium. Junius Praefat. ad hos libros. Cum libri omnes ab Hebraeis in tres ordines dist…ibuti sunt, ut ai… Hieronymus super Danielem, & in prologo Galeato, videli…e… in Le…em, & in co… qui Hebraicè C…etu…im per excellentiam dican…ur, id est, Scripturae sa…ctae, Graecè Agiographa, & in Prophetas, quam divisi…nem indicasse visus Christus Dominus Luc. 24. 44. dicens opo…te… or implean…u… quae scripta sunt in Lege, Prophetis & Psalmis de me. Cer è hunc librum ad tertium ordinem A…graphorum reducunt cum …salmis & aliis Psalmorum libris. Joan De Pineda P…aesat. ad Comment. in lib. …ob cap. 9. of God and our selves) is comprehended in these five Books of Scripture.
All the Books of the Old-Testament are divided by the Hebrews into the Law, Hagiographa, and Prophets. These five Books of Job, Psalmes, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticles, are Hagiographa and Poetical.
Dr Jackson in his Comment upon the Apostles Creed, first Volume, cap. 14. saith, The Book of the Psalms, Job, and the Songs of Moses, are the only patern of true Poesie.
Four famous French Poets, Michael Hospitalis, Adrian Turnebus, John Auratus, Th. Beza. Six Italians, A. Sannazius, H. Fracastorius, A. Flamminius, H. Vidas, A. Naugerius, P. Bembus; and one Scotchman, learned G. Buchanan, have execricised their Poetical abilities, in rendring Davids Psalms in verse.
Henry Stevens before Marlorats Ecclesiastical Exposition of theMetaphorae apud quem Poetam aut frequentiores sunt aut elegantiores, at que adeo efficaciores majorem que emph…sin & foreign habentes: Coelum Dei Tabernaculum, tonitrum Dei vocem, fulmina sagit…as Dei appellat. Quid quòd E…stathius v …eres Poetas Graecos à Davide dicente, Qui d…t nivem sicut lanam illud genus lequendi quo nivem appella…it foreign (quasi dicam aquam la…osam) mutuat…s esse asserit? Hebraei formulam sermonis sibi vendicant, sibique propriam & peculiarem habent, exemplum hoc esse possit, Eruntque Coeli tui, qui sunt supra caput aerei, & terraquae est subter te, ferrea▪ Deut. 28. Sic autem & Levit. 26, Dabo coelum vestrum sicut ferrn… & terr…m vestram sicut aes. I nunc & evolve Poetas omnes utriusque linguae, Heroicos, Tragicos, Lyricos, Dithyrambicos, quid tale apud eos reperies? Quis unquam tam sign fican ia, tam emphatica, tantae majestatis p…ena apud eos verba legit, sed quid mirum est ex ore sacro profecta verba ab iis quae profani homines proferunt …o…ge diffe…r…? How▪ …h Epist. Praefix… ad Marlor. Exposit▪ Eccles. in Psalmos. Certè suam poesin esse in sacris Scriptu…is, & …u… …arminis met…ique me…suram cul…am ab Hebraeis constitutum est apud omnes doctores sa…ros, qui uspiam Psalmorum memi…e…nt. Joan. … P…noda Prae…a…. ad Comment. in Lib. Job c. 4. Psalmes hath an Epistle, Omnibus Sacrae Poesios studiosis, where he saith, He being once at Rome fell into the company of some skilfull Poets, which denied that the elegant Art of Poetry could fall into that rough and horrid Hebrew Language, and therefore they much wondered what made Antonius Flamminius to exercise his Poetical vein in translating Davids Psalms. He there excellently vindicates the Hebrew Language from that aspersion unjustly cast upon it, and in several passages highly extolleth the Poetry of the Psalms.
JOB.
The Book of Job is a true History, and hath all the circumstances of a true History, and is attested Ezek. 14. 14. & Jam. 5. 11.Vide Junium.
The Jesuite Pineda in the first Chapter of his Preface to his Commentary on Job, propounds this Question, Whether Job be a true History or a Parable? He determines it affirmatively, and answers the reasons urged against it, chap. 12. He affirms it to be Sacrae auctoritatis.
Leusden in his Philologus Hebraeus Dissertat. 8. Sect. 1. proves Job also to be a true History, he saith there, that his style is concise and difficult, Est liber iste Jobi omnium sacrorum librorum difficillimus, ut qui non modo Theologum, verumetiam Hebraeae, Chaldaicae linguae, Poetices, Dialectices, Rhetorices, Astronomiae, Physices denique bene peritum interpretem requirat. Beza in Epist. ad Exposit. Mercer.
It is a great Question, Who was the Author of this Book? The Hebrews Quid refert sive Mosem, ut Hebraei volunt, sive Jobum ipsum, ut vulgus opinatur, sive alium quempiam Prophetam quod verisimile est, authorem dicas modò (quisquis tandem ille sit) non sine divini numinis afflatu haec aurea monumenta posteritatis memoriae commendarit? Nunquam autem dubitatum est, sed quantum scio, concors omnium cum Hebraeorum, tum eorum qui prosana à sacris discernere possunt est sententia, haec esse Spiritus Sancti eloquia. Stulta est de calami pretio curiosior quaestio, ubi de no…arii …ide nulla est ambiguitas. Oecolampad. Praefat. ad Comment. in lib. Job.say Moses: Pineda, and others Job himself. Oecolampadius thinks some other Prophet was the Authour of it. The Arabick speeches with which this Book abounds, witness that it was written by a man near Arabia.
This Book is written in the judgement of some in Prose, to Chap. 3. vers. 3. In verse thence to Chap. 42. vers. 6. And then again concludes in Prose, thence to the end.
Pineda in the 5th Chapter of his Preface to his Commentary, shews, what was the true Subject of this Book. Calvin *Historia hic descripta docet quemadmodum in Dei manu simus: Ejus potesta tis & juris eise constituere & disponere de vita nostra suo arbitratu: nostrum offi cium esse, ut nos ei cum omni humilitate ac obedientia submittamus: aequum justum que effe ut ei penitus & vivamus & moriamur: Et quoties in nos animadvertere voluit etiamsi non constet nobis cur istud faciat, nihilominus oportere ut eum glorifitemus, confitentes perpe…o ejus aequitatem & justitiam: ne cum eo litigemus, alioqui causa certo casuri. Calvinus.gives a good summe or short comprehension of this History. Beza in his Preface to Calvin's Sermons on the Book of Job, saith Job is written in the form of a Dialogue, and hath its denomination from Job the chief Speaker, It excels (he saith) in gravity of Questions there handled, in sublimity of mysteries there contained, lastly in the profit of Sentences for our whole life.
It is very mysterious and obscure, Beza there commends Oecolampadius, Mercer and Calvin, for good Commentators on it, to which Pineda also may be added.
PSALMES.
The Psalms are-mentioned principally, Luk. 24. 44. because they are the summe and flower of all other Scripture. No Book of the Old-Testament is oftner cited in the New. They contain the very Anatomy of the soul, the Characters and representations of the thoughts, meditations, affections, and workings of it, towards God, towards man, towards her self, throughout all the changes of her pilgrimage in this world. There are contained in them, testimonies concerning all the Articles of our Faith, as Piscator Praefat▪ ad Commentarium in librum Psalmorum, particularly proves. There are in them admonitions also and examples, which may be referred to all the precepts in the Decalogue, as he there also shews.
They are alleadged by Christ himself, Matth. 22. 43, 44. And also by his Apostles. Peter, Act. 2. 25. 1 Pet. 2. 7. And Paul, Act. 13. 33, 35. therefore they were divinely inspired.
Austin in the 9th Book of his Confessions, c. 4. cannot sufficiently expresse what ardent affections he had by reading of the Psalms: And in his tenth Book c. 33. he writes, That he wept when he heard the Songs of the Church presently after his Conversion.
Lorinus Praefat. in Psalmos cap. 14. saith, Est probabile jam inde abVide Cocceium de Potentia Scripturae c 14 p. 267. Apostolis in usu fuisse cantum Psalmorum. And Musculus in his Epistle to the Reader before his Commentary on the Psalms, shews how ancient and laudable the custom of singing of Psalms in the Church is. See my Body of Divinity, l. 8. c. 3.
It is called in Hebrew *Hebraei titulum huic libro fecerunt Thehillim, id est, laudes, à parte argumenti: …ò quòd bona pars Psalmorum laudes Dei continet. Graeci inscripserunt foreign significantes hoc vocabulo volumen Psalmorum significatione nova. Nam foreign propriè instrumentum Musicum est quo psallitur. Latini nominant librum Psalmorum. Piscat. Argum. Vol. …salm. Ab hymnis Hebraea denominatio facta est ob illos Psalmos, qui pauci non sunt, in quibus laudes Dei celebrantur: quamvis magis propriè nomen id mereantur, qui Halelujah inscrip. um habent, vel ab ista voce incipiunt. Lorini Praefat. in Psalmos. c. 9. In Psalterio inveniuntur 564. versus, in quibus omnes & singulae voces Psalmorum inveniuntur. Psalmi sunt carmina quae olim David, aliique viri sancti, & nunc Judaei in Synagogis publicè canunt. Leusden. Philol. Hebraeus Dissert. 7.Tehillim, which signifieth Hymns or Praises, or Sepher Tehillim; by the Septuagint foreign, and the AEthiopick Translation accordingly Psalmi, by the Vulgar Latine. Junius and others, Liber Psalmorum; By Ainsworth, The Book of Psalms, or Hymns; So Christ intitleth it, Luk. 20. 42. And so Peter. Act. 1. 20.
The three Books of Salomon follow, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticles.Tres esse Salomonis libros Canonicos citra controversiam asserunt omnes & Judaei & Christiani; Proverbia scilicet, Ecclesiastem, & Canticum Canticorum. Jansen. Proaem. in Proverbia Salomonis. Magna est differentia inter Proverbia▪ vel sententias Gentilium & inter sententias Salomonis, & sacrarum literarum. Illae enim natura notae sunt, & multae ex eis foedae ac obscenae, cum side & charitate pugnantes. Hae verò (nempé Salomonis ac Propheticae) multa continent quae ratio humana videre non potest: omnesque purum Dei verbum sunt, nec metuendum est, ne ex lectione earum asiquid labis nobis aspergatur. Lavat. Comment. in Prov. Proverbia vel similitudines quae Graecis Parabolae dicuntur sermones sunt, & graves sententiae ad omnem virae fidelium rationem conducibiles, moderata obscuritate mult…m in se complectentes utilitatem, ceu prima quaedam principia syncerae theologiae: quibus ad locos communes de fide & moribus, ac ad totius sacrae Scripturae intelligentiam uti poterimus. Pellicanus in Prov. Omnes gentes peculi…ia sua habent Proverbia, quae sunt oraculorum instar, longo enim usu earum verltas perspecta est. Lavaterus.
PROVERBS.
Many magnifie the sayings of sage Heathens, Plato, Plutarch, and the proverbial Sentences of wise Jews, Pirke Avoth, but they come farre short of Salomons Proverbs, which are full of heavenly and divine wisdome.
This Book contains the chief of those three thousand Proverbs which Salomon spake, 1 King. 4. 32. They are instructions of Piety and Wisdom, and the praises of it; they exhort to it, and dehort from the impediments of it in the nine first Chapters. All which serve as a large Preface. Then do follow Proverbs of choice Sentences, foreign, or wise Apothegmes, Salomons Ethicks, all of morality in the rest of the Book. These teach what is true, what false, what is good, what evil, what is to be done, and what to be shunn'd.
ECCLESIASTES.
This is the Book of Salomons Repentance; written in his Old age, as mayIn Ecclesiaste Salomon tractat quaestionem illam celebrem de summo bono, hoc est, qua in re posita fit vera salus, & foelicitas hominis. Ostendit summum bonum esse conjungi eum Deo & eo frui, illic refutat illorum opiniones, qui in aliis rebus illud collocant. Lavaterus. seem to be gathered, both out of the Title of the Book, and the closure of it in the six last verses, and also out of the whole Body of it, being written upon a serious view of the Passages and Practices of his life past, and the great and manifold Experiences he made and found therein. His main Business is a curious search after true felicity and real Contentation, That in order thereunto all things under the Sunne were but Vanity of vanities, and vexation of spirit: and for such experimented by him; though the same improved by humane Wisdom in him to the utmost, Chap. 2. 3. 9.
CANTICLES, or, The Song of Salomon.
It is the Song of Songs, the chiefest of his thousand and five Songs, 1 King. Hic liber non est quidem unum Canticum quod Salomon cecinit, sed multa Cantica sunt, in unum tamen iibrum contracta, ad unum qucque argumentum pertinentia. Pellicanus in Cantica Canticorum. Est Epithala…ium Christi cum sua sponsa Ecclesia. Omnia enim quae de amoribus, complexibus, osculis, forma in illo leguntur, allegoricè interpretanda sunt; de casto amore Christi erga Ecclesiam suam, & vicissim. Lavaterus in Cantica Cantic.4. 32. the most excellent of all others: and that for expressions, mysteries and holiness; but most for the subject matter of it, which is sublime, divine and evangelical.
It is a continued Allegory, full of Obscurities, somewhat the more Difficult, because there are divers Hebrew words here which are not found in the Scriptures besides.
That Reverend Divine Dudley Fenner in his Preface to his Commentary of this Book, shews, That many made doubt of the Authority of it, judging it to be but a Love-song; but he there defends the Canonical Authority of it by solid Reasons.