Exposition of the Laws of Moses, Exegesis 1 · Part 16 – Part 17
EXERCITAT. XVI. The Lord would not have his Prieſts uſe the cuſtomes of the Heathen Prieſts. A ceremoniall appendix of Commande. 2.
Exod. 20.26. Thou ſhalt not goe up by ſteps upon mine Altar.
THe Iſraelits learned Idolatry in Egypt, and their Pappes were bruſed, Ezek 23.3. and the Prophet Ieremiah calleth Egypt a very faire Heifer, Cap. 46.20. who was laſcivious and wanton, following Idolatry, and therefore was called, great in fleſh, Ezek. 16.26.foreign ſive foreign aeſtro exagitor, aeſtro velut immiſſo concito ab foreign aſilus, aeſtrus, metaphorice ſtimulus. And Iſrael followed Egypt who was like a backeſliding heifer, Hoſ. 11.6. the Seventy tranſlate it, foreign, like a Heifer ſtung with Hornets, who runneth here and there: ſo did they after their Idols; therefore he threatneth, that he will feede them as a lambe in a large place, that is, he would ſend the ten Tribes to captivi…ie, where they ſhould have libertie enough to run as they pleaſed.
The Lord would not have them to imitate the beaſtly Prieſts of the Moabites.When the Iſraelites were comming out of Egypt, travelling towards Canaan, the Lord forbiddeth them to follow the beaſtly Idolatry of the Moabites, to diſcover their nakedneſſe, as their Prieſts did; and for this cauſe that they ſhould not goe up by ſteps, or degrees upon the Altar; for their cloathes were ſhort when they travelled through the Wilderneſſe with the ambulatory Tabernacle, and if they had aſcended by ſteps upon the Altar, their nakedneſſe might have beene ſeene.
Priapus what.This filthy Idolatry of the Moabites was the worſhipping of Baal-peor who was alſo called Priapus. This Priapus was a young man in Helleſpont, who was expelled out of the countrie as a corrupter of the youth. He went into Greece, where afterwards, beaſtly & filthy perſons made a god of him,Priapus the God of the Moabites. The Moabites made choiſe of him alſo for their god, and he was called Baal-peor, becauſe he was made with his nakedneſſe diſcovered. this Idoll was alſo called miphlezeth, 1 King. 15.13. Horrenda ſtatua, and Idolum pudoris, Hoſ. 11.9. and 9.10. and like unto this worſhip was that worſhip of Tammuz, Ezek. 8. with their foreign and foreign.
The Moabites chooſe a filthy God like unto themſelves.Was not this ſtrange that they could imagine that their gods and their goddeſſes were ſuch? but we are not to admire this; for even as the Atheiſt, that hee may ſinne the more ſecurely, fained to himſelfe that there is not a God: ſo the uncleane and filthie man imagineth a god like unto himſelfe, Pſal, 50.21. becauſe I kept ſilence thou thoughteſt that altogether I was ſuch a one as thy ſelfe they who write of the Ethiopians, ſay, that they paint the Angels blacke, and the Divels white; they paint the Angels blacke, becauſe they are blacke themſelves; they thinke the blacke colour the moſt comely colour, and the white the moſt uncomely colour. So theſe filthie Moabites made choiſe of a god like unto themſelves; and as their god Baal-peor was a filthie god, ſo were his Prieſts filthie Prieſts, in ſhewing their nakedneſſe. The more modeſt amongſt the heathen thought it a filthie thing to ſhew their nakedneſſe, and therefore they ſayd,Caro pro pudendis, honeſtatis cauſa. in ſcaenam ſine ſubligaculo nemo prodeat, and as they had a filthy god, and filthy Prieſts; ſo they had a filthy Sacrifice, they offered an Aſſe to Priapus, which was a beaſt of great fleſh, Ezek. 23.20.
Afterwards this filthy Idoll was called by the Latines Deus hortorum, Priapus called Deus hortorum, and why.becauſe they uſed to commit ſuch filthineſſe in gardens; and therefore they uſed this word hortum in re amorum, when they ſpake of filthy and unchaſt luſt.
Quod meus hortus habet, ſumas impune, licebit,
Si dederis nobis, quod tuus hortus habet.
And when they would inſinuate their filthy luſts, they ſay,
laegere olera, legere nuces, legere poma. Propertius.
Cum quibus Idaeo legiſti poma ſub antro,
and ſo Virgilius. Malo me Galataea petit, laſciva puella.
The Lord commanded his Prieſts to weare foreign, ſide garments reaching to their feete, and alſo breeches under them.
The Moabites are called the people of Chamos, Num. 21.30. and Ier. 48. hence commeth the Greeke word foreign, and the Apoſtle alludeth to this, Rom. 13.13.foreign. foreign, not in rioting, and drunkenneſſe.
Concluſion. The Concluſion of this is; Spirituall adultery is puniſhed with bodily whoredome, becauſe they changed the glory of the uncorruptible god, into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourefooted beaſts, and creeping things; wherefore God gave them alſo to uncleanneſſe, and to vile affections, Rom. 1.23.
EXERCITAT. XVII. That a woman might not weare a mans apparell. A ceremoniall appendix of Command. 2.
Deut. 22.5. The woman ſhall not weare that which pertaineth to the man.
THe Lord knowing how prone his people were to Idolatry, made a partition wall betwixt them and the Gentiles; and he would have them oppoſite to the Gentiles in their ceremoniall worſhip.
Ʋide Analyſes Iunij in Levit.Firſt, the Egyptians eate onelyonly ſwines fleſh; therefore ye ſhall be oppoſite to them, ye ſhall not eate the fleſh of the Hogge; they worſhipped the Oxe and the Sheepe, therefore yee ſhall eate them, and ſacrifice them.
Secondly, in their apparell; the Prieſts of Iſis did weare linnen, and wooll, therefore yee ſhall weare linnen onelyonly or wooll onelyonly, and not linſey wolſey.
The Iewes oppoſite to the Gentiles in the manner of their worſhip.Thirdly, the Egyptians had foreign to ſave them from evils, therefore the Lord commanded his people to weare phylacteries.
Fourthly, in the manner of their worſhip; they when they worſhipped they looked towards the ſunne riſing, but ye ſhall be contrary to them, and turne your faces towards the Arke, which ſtood in the weſt end of the Temple.
It is a queſtion whether this belongeth to the ſeventh Commandement or to the ſecond. The moſt hold, that it belongeth to the ſeventh Commandement,This is rather an appendix of the ſecond commandement than of the ſeaventh. to teach men and women modeſtie; but if we will conſider the words of the Law more neerely, and the practiſe of the heathen, it may ſeeme rather to be an appendix of the ſecond Commandement;In more nebuchim parte, 3. for this word foreign. abhomination, is ſpoken uſually in the Scripture of Idolatry, & Maimone ſheweth, that it was the manner of Idolatrous men to ſtand with the imbrodered garments of women upon them, before the ſtarre Venus, and the women put upon them mens armour, and ſtood before the ſtarre Mars, and therefore it may ſeeme that the Lord expreſly forbiddeth the woman to put upon her [Celi] the armour of a man:Why women forbidden to put on mens armour. and if it were forbidden onelyonly to eſchew filthineſſe, why would the Lord forbid women to put on mens armour,foreign and the men to put on womens cloathes rather then the mans cloathes, putting Celi and Shimlath. And Iulius Firmicus writing of the Idolatrous cuſtomes of the Aſſyrians, ſaith, that they worſhipped Venus, Men worſhipped Venus with womens cloaths, and women in mens armour.and that it was not lawfull to the Idolatrous Prieſts to worſhip her, niſi effaeminent vultum, & virilem ſexum ornatu dedecorarent; unleſſe they changed their countenance, and fained their ſexe, and diſgraced themſelves,The ceremonies made a diſtinction betwixt the Iewes and Gentiles. putting on womens apparell upon them.
And the Lord in all theſe ceremonials made a diſtinction betwixt the Iewes and the Gentiles, rather than betwixt the male and female.
Ob. Circumciſion diſtinguiſhed the males from the females, therefore the partition wall of the ceremonies diſtinguiſhed the male from the female, as well as the Iew from the Gentile.
Anſw. Circumciſion diſtinguiſhed the people of God from other people;The females circumciſed in the males. but it diſtinguiſhed not the male from the female; for the females were circumciſed in the males, Gen. 34.14. we cannot give our ſiſter to one that is uncircumciſed; the ceremonies were inſtituted then to make a diſtinction betwixt the Iewes the people of God, and the Heathen.