Exposition of Jude, Exegesis of Jude · Verse 5 · Part 7
EXPLICATION.
Two things may here be explained.
1, What this deſtruction was which befell Iſrael afterward.
2. Wherein the eminency and remarkableneſſe of this deſtruction which was afterward, did appear.
1. For the firſt. The Scriptures record ſundry deſtructions brought upon the Iſraelites while they were in the wilderneſſe, after their deliverance from Egypt: As 1. Some were deſtroyed after their idolatrous worſhipping of the Golden Calfe, Exod. 32.28, … by the command of Moſes, to the number of three thouſand men. 2. There was a deſtruction by fire which the Lord kindled, mentioned Num. 11.1, 2, 3. whether this fire brake out of the earth, or came from the Pillar of fire which went before the Iſraelites, or was poured upon them from heaven, it is not expreſſed; certain it is, that it was a grevious burning; and therefore the place where it burnt was called Taberah. 3. Another deſtruction by the plague, wee read of in the ſame chapter, ver. 33. at Kibroth Hataavah, after the people had impatiently and diſcontentedly, luſted for fleſh. 4. There's a deſtruction by fiery ſerpents, recorded, Num. 21.6. Where after their murmuring for want of water it's ſaid, much people of Iſrael dyed. 5. Many of the Iſraelites were deſtroyed, about the conſpiracy of Corab and his complices, related Num. 16.31. Where, beſides the ſwallowing up of ſundry in the earth, and the conſuming by fire of two hundred and fifty who offered incenſe, fourteen thouſand ſeven hundred more were deſtroyed for murmuring and raging againſt the former judgments. 6. For committing whoredome with the daughters of Moab, and bowing down to their gods, wee read Num. 25.9. of a plague, by which dyed twenty five thouſand. 7. Beſides the death of ten of the ſpies who brought up a ſlander upon the promiſed land, a diſcomfiture of the Iſraelites by the Amalekites and Canaanites is recorded, Num. 14.45. for a rebellious attempt to invade it againſt the will of God; Theſe deſtructions by violent death are the principall which are mentioned particularly in the ſacred ſtory. But though the deſtruction which is here intended by the Apoſtle, be not excluſive of theſe, yet is it to be extended beyond them, and to be underſtood of that more generall deſtruction which Numb. 14.29. &c. is threatned againſt all the Iſraelites from twenty yeers old and upward, whoſe carcaſſes for forty yeers fell in the wilderneſſe, in regard of their rebellious and unbeleeving murmurings againſt God, upon the evill report which the ſpies had brought upon the land of Canaan.
For the ſecond, viz. the eminency and remarkableneſſe of this deſtruction, it was a diſpenſation compounded of Severity, principally intended, Mercy alſo comprehended. in the ſetting down of this example.
I. Firſt, For its ſeverity. This appears in theſe two conſiderations.
1. The perſons who were deſtroyed.
2. The ſeaſon when they were deſtroyed.
1. The perſons who were deſtroyed, are conſiderable, 1. in their quality, and priviledges. 2. In their quantity and number.
1. In their quality, noted in the word them; They were the ſeed of Abraham, the friend of God, Iſraelites according to the fleſh. Not heathens, but a peculiar, a choſen people, priviledged above all the people of the earth, to whom belonged the covenant, ſacrifice, 1 Cor. 10.3, 4. Rom. 3.2. Rom. 9.4. Deut. 4.33. Pſal. 147. ult. Deut. 33. ult.ſacraments, worſhip; of which Chriſt came according to the fleſh. A people who ſo heard the voice of God ſpeaking out of the fire, as none other ever did; to whom God had ſhewn his ſtatutes and his judgments, after which manner he had not dealt with any nation. In a word, a people whoſe priviledges Moſes thus admires; Happy art thou O Iſrael; who is like unto thee, O people, &c. How conſpicuous was divine ſeverity in deſtroying a people ſo neer, ſo dear to him; and whom he only knew of all the families of the earth! Oh Lord, (ſaith Joſhuah) what ſhall I ſay, Joſh. 7.8.when Iſrael turneth their backs before their enemies? Oh ſmart ſeverity, thus to fetch blood from a ſon, a firſt born; to deſtroy not Egyptians, Canaanites, but even Iſraelites!Docet Paulus quadringentis triginta annis poſt promiſſiouem à Deo factam Abrae, legem Moſis latam eſſe: Cum ergo ab hoc tempore uſque ad ingreſſum Jacob in Aegyptum, anni ducenti quindecim effluxerint, neceſſariò ſequitur reſtare uſque ad legem datam tertio menſe egreſſionis populi ex Aegypto, annos omnino ducentos, & quinde cim. Lorin. in Act. 7. & Rivet. in exercit. in Geneſ. Pſa. 102.10. Job. 29. per totum. & cap. 30
2. The perſons deſtroyed are conſiderable in their quantity and numbers. The power and mercy of God were not more remarkeable in the recruting of ſeventy ſoules in two hundred and fifteen yeers to ſix hundred thouſand, beſides women and children; than in the reducing of ſo many hundred thouſand in forty yeers to two perſons, a Joſhuah and a Caleb. Oh how angry was their father, to go round his family with his rod! yea how juſt was their judg, to ride ſuch a large circuit with his ſword!
2. The ſeverity of this deſtruction is conſiderable in the ſeaſon when they were deſtroyed. noted in the word Afterward: after they were ſaved out of the land of Egypt; and ſo it was a ſeverity which admits of a threefold amplification.
1. This diſtruction of the Iſraelites afterward, was a fall after an eminent advancement. The higher a place is from which a man falls, the more dangerouſly doth he fall. How wofull is it to have been happy! Its a double mercy to be raiſ'd up from a low, to an high eſtate; and it is a double miſery to be thrown down from an high, to a low degree. Thou haſt lifted me up, and caſt me down (ſaith David.) And thus Job amplifieth his miſery with admirable elegancy; Young men ſaw me, and hid themſelves; Princes refrained talking, &c. But now they who are younger then I, have me in deriſion; whoſe fathers I would have diſdained to have ſet with the dogs of my flock, &c, Oh how glorious was Iſrael in their Egyptian preſervation! their red-ſea-deliverance, their wilderneſſe-proviſions and protections! being (as Moſes in admiration of their happineſſe breaks out) a people to whom none was like, in being ſaved by the Lord. And if ſo, then was no people ſo miſerable in being forſaken by the Lord.
2. This deſtruction of the Iſraelites afterward, was a miſcarriage after vaſt coſt and expences laid out upon them. How angry is that father with his Son, who caſts him off after all his care and coſts of education! How hatefull is that houſe to the owner, which he pulls down after vaſt and immeaſurable expences about its ſtructure and furniture! How much anger did God expreſſe in the deſtruction of the Temple, when after all the coſt which David and Solomon laid out upon it, the Babylonians burn it to aſhes, and carry away all the gold and ſumptuous monuments thereof! Was ever God at ſuch charges with any nation as he was at with Iſrael? For their ſake he turns Egypt up ſide down, he rebuked kings, he ſcattered and deſtroyed armies; the wild water waites upon them in a ſtanding poſture; the Pillar of a cloud and fire conducts them; the heavens pour them down miraculous ſhours of Angels food; the rock ſplits it ſelf into cups, and gives them drink; their garments continue freſh, and grow not old; and which is infinitely beyond all this, God renewes his Covenant with them, and gives them a law from heaven, ſpeakes out of the fire, and ſends them an epiſtle to inſtruct them, written with his own hand; and after all this coſt and care, how great muſt Iſraels deſtruction be!
3. Yet further, this deſtruction of the Iſraelites, afterward, was a ſad diſappointment of higheſt expectations. Iſrael was now caſt away, as it were, in the haven. They who not long ſince were ſinging and dancing, at the ſpectacle of floting Pharaoh and his followers; they who had paſt thorow the furnace and the ſea, and eſcaped both their oppreſſours and purſuers; they who had ſafely marched through an hot howling wilderneſſe, even unto the borders of the promiſed land, and were now ſafely arrived at the confines of Canaan; In a word, they who had nothing now (as they hop'd) to do, but to enter and take poſſeſſion of a land flowing with milk and hony, Numb. 14.25, 29.30.are not only farbidden to enter it, but commanded back to the ſandy and ſcorching wilderneſſe, there to ſpend the reſidue of their few and evill dayes: Oh ſorrowfull, ſtupendions diſappointment!
II. And yet ſecondly, even in this deſtruction of Iſrael, the mercy of God was more remarkeable then his ſeverity. If Iſraels ſcourge be compared with Iſraels ſin, they had no cauſe to complain. They might rather wonder at what did not, than at what did befall them; rather at the mercy which was left, than at what was removed. Ezra. 9.13.Well might Iſrael ſay with Ezra, The Lord hath puniſhed us leſſe then our iniquities; and with the Church afterward, It is the goodneſſe of the Lord that we are not conſumed. Look upon Iſraels provocations, in Egypt, at the ſea, in the wilderneſſe, their murmurings, idolatry, their unthankfulneſſe for, and ſorgetfulneſſe of Gods multiplyed mercies, their rebellion againſt their godly Governours; their hypocriſie, Covenant-breaking, lingrings after their old Egypt, unreformedneſſe under all the dealings of God with them; eſpecially their diſtruſt of Gods power and goodneſſe after frequent and abundant experience of both; Look, I ſay, upon all theſe, and then wonder that this deſtruction ſhould be,
1. So ſlow, and not more ſpeedy.
2. But in part, and not totall, and univerſall.
1. It was a deſtruction mercifully mitigated, in reſpect of the ſlowneſſe and deferring thereof. How much longer was God about deſtroying a handfull of ſinners, than he was in creating the whole world? Iſrael, a people that could not be kept from ſinning, had a God that could hardly be brought to puniſh them. Had the fire of Gods wrath been proportioned to the fuell of their ſins, he would have deſtroyed them in…al moment. Forty yeers long was I greived (ſaith God) with this generation, Pſal. 95.10. Act. 13.18. foreignand ſo long endured he their manners in the wilderneſſe; daily ſuffering that which he beheld, abhorr'd, and was able to have puniſh'd every moment in thoſe forty years; in ſtead whereof, all that while he waited for their repentance, and was at the expence of ſupplying them with mitaculous proviſion, direction, protection, feeding them, and attending them as carefully, as doth the nurſe her froward infant.
2. The deſtruction of the Iſraelites was but in part, not totall: For beſides the ſparing of Caleb and Joſuah, who beleeved the promiſe of God, all who beleeved not, were not deſtroy'd; for all under 20 years were exempted from the forenamed deſtruction, and reſerved, Num. 14.19.that God might ſtill have his Church among them, and that there might be of them a people left to poſſeſſe the good land, according to the promiſe. Num. 14.13.And in this reſpect it was, Non perſonis, ſed gencri data venia. Calv. in loc.that upon the prayer of Moſes for the pardoning and ſparing of the people, God anſwers, that be had pardoned them according to the word of Moſes; For although he ſpared not the perſons of the elder and rebellious multitude, yet he ſpared the ſtock of Iſrael, remitting the puniſhment of preſent and univerſall death, and not blotting out their memory, leſt the ſeed of Abraham being extinguiſh'd, his Covenant ſhould have fail'd and faln to the ground. The diſtruſtfull refuſall of the parents to accept of the promiſed land, made not God to be unfaithfull, in regard that the bleſſing which they rejected, was performed to their children; God reſerving a ſeed to propagate his Church, and tempering his ſeverity inflicted upon ſome with mercy afforded to others; though deſerved by none.