Exposition of the Laws of Moses, Exegesis 1 · Part 29
EXERCITAT. XXIX. The Prieſts Daughter that defiled her ſelfe with fornication was to be burnt. A ceremoniall appendix of Command. 7.
Levit. 21.19. And if any Prieſts Daughter defiled herſelfe by playing the whore, ſhe profaneth her father, ſhe ſhall be burnt with fire.
THe Prieſts Daughter if ſhe committed whoredome was to be burnt quicke, this the Latines call Vivicomburium. So the King of Babel. Iere. 29.23. Cauſed roſt two adulterous Prieſts in the fire, becauſe they lay with their neighbors wives. She was to be burnt quick,Why the Prieſts daughter was to be burnt quicke. becauſe ſhe had profaned her father the Prieſt. As Simeon, and Levi made their father ſtinke before the Sichemites, becauſe of their vile murther, Gen. 34.30. So the Prieſts Daughter committing whoredome profaneth him and maketh him vile in the eyes of the people. Secondly, ſhe made the ſacrifice of the Lord to be abhorred. As the ſonnes of Eli, lyeing with the women that came to the Tabernacle, made the ſacrifice of the Lord to be abhorred (for the people judged of the ſacrifice by the Prieſt; ſuch Prieſt, ſuch ſacrifice) ſo when the Prieſts Daughter committed whoredome, ſhe made the ſacrifice of the Prieſt to be abhorred.
This ſinne deſerved a fearefull puniſhment,Chriſtus typicus. myſticus. Sacramentalis. proprie dictus. becauſe it was committed againſt the Lord Ieſus in type.
Chriſt is ſet downe to us, in the Scriptures, foure manner of wayes. Firſt; Chriſtus typicus. Secondly, Chriſtus Myſticus? Thirdly, Chriſtus Sacramentalis; and fourthly, Chriſtus propriè dictus. When a profane man or woman defile themſelves with whoredome, and then doe come to the holy Sacrament, thus they defile Chriſt Sacramentally. So when they commit this ſinne; they offend the Church, the Myſticall Body of Chriſt, and they take one of his members, and make it the member of an Harlot. So when the Prieſts Daughter committed whoredome, ſhe ſinned againſt Chriſt in type.
Queſt. Whether was the man that lay with the Prieſts Daughter burnt alſo, or not?
Anſw. Whether the man that lay with the Prieſts daughter, was …urnt or not.Not, and the Iewes ſay, that they killed not two upon one day, unleſſe they were guilty of one and the ſelfe ſame crime, as the adulterer and the adultreſſe were both put to dead upon one day; but they ſay, if one had lyen with the Prieſts Daughter, he was ſtrangled, and ſhe was burnt, and therefore not put to death in one day.
The Iewes afterwards changed this ſort of burning, and they burnt them, powring in hote Leade at their mouth,Combaſtio anima quid apud hebraeos. and this is called Combuſtio animae, and ſo Ionathan the Paraphraſt paraphraſeth it this wayes, ſhe ſhall be burnt powring in hote Leade at her mouth;Combuſti per munus cali q…d, and this ſort of burning they called alſo Combuſtio per manus coeli, that is, as if they were ſtricken from the Heavens by Gods hand immediately; the ground of this puniſhment they made to be this, becauſe it is ſaid of Nadab, and Abihu, combuſti ſunt in animabus ſuis, they were burnt in their ſoules; there was no burning ſeene in their bodies, but they looked like thoſe who were ſtricken with thunder from the heavens, their cloathes were not burnt, Levit. 10.5. And their bodies were caried forth whole and buried; they looked as if they had dyed a naturall death, without any marke in their bodies: not unlike unto this puniſhment was that kind of death, which Sir Roger Mortimer put King Edward the ſecond to, cauſing an hote broach to be put in his fundament, that he might ſeeme to be killed, per manus coeli, as the Hebrewes ſpeake.
The Prieſts Daughter was burnt, and not the man,Why the Prieſts daughter was burnt, and not the man that lay with her. becauſe ſhe defiled her fathers houſe. Sometimes the ſinne is more exaggerated upon the Womans part, then upon the mans; ſo Tamers fault was greater, then Iudahs, becauſe ſhe knew him to be her father in Law; but Iudah tooke her onelyonly to be a whore, and not his Daughter in law.How ſinne is exaggerated both upon the womans and mans part. Sometime againe the ſinne is exaggerated more upon the mans part than upon the womans, Levit. 19.20. if an Iſraelite had lyen with a ſtranger that was betrothed, he was both to be beaten, and to offer a ſacrifice, the woman was onelyonly whipt, and offered not a ſacrifice, becauſe ſhe was not an Iſraeliteſſe, and ſomtimes the ſinne is equall one both their parts, as if a Prieſts ſonne had lyen with a Prieſts Daughter, then they were both to be burnt.
Queſt. What if a Miniſters Daughter, now under the Goſpell ſhould commit whoredome, ſhould ſhe bee burnt as the Prieſts Daughter under the Law?
Anſw. Not,A Miniſters daughter now is not to be burnt if ſhe commit whoredome. becauſe a Miniſter now under the Goſpell is not a type of Chriſt to come, as the Prieſt was under the Law: I grant ſhe ſhould be more ſeverely puniſhed then another woman, in reſpect of Scandall; but not in this reſpect, as if her father were a type of Chriſt. ſo the breach of the Sabbath under the law was puniſhed by death, becauſe it was a pledge to them of all the benefits which they were to receive in Chriſt to come; but the breach of the Sabbath now, is not ſo to be puniſhed, becauſe our Sabbath now is not a type of that which we are to receive in Chriſt to come.
The concluſion of this is, Concluſion. that thoſe who ſhould bee moſt holy, if they become profane, they ſhall endure the greateſt puniſhments in Hell fire.