Exposition of Jude, Exegesis of Jude · Verse 7 · Part 5
EXPLICATION.
1. The word foreign, here tranſlated Vengeance, is of a ſignification belonging to the proceedings of Courts of Juſtice; and it is taken ſeverall wayes, 1. Properly it ſignifies right or juſtice; in which reſpect among the Heathens, the Goddeſs of juſt vengeance (Nemeſis) was called foreign, Juſtice or Vengeance, Act. 21.4. No doubt (ſay the Barbarians of Paul) this man is a murderer, whom though he hath eſcaped the ſea, Non dubito quin ſicut plurimis locis foreign accipitur pro foreign, & foreign pro foreign, ſic etiam foreign ponatur hoc loco, pro foreign. Bez. in Act. 25. foreign Comprehendit ſeriem totam judicii, uſque ad execu…ionem. Lorin. in Act. 25.yet (foreign) vengeance ſuffereth not to live. 2. It is taken for the Sentence of damnation given by the Judge, as Act. 25.15. where it is ſaid, that the chief Prieſts and Elders, deſired to have (foreign) judgement againſt Paul. 3. For the puniſhment it ſelf inflicted after the paſſing of ſentence: thus, 2 Theſ. 1.9. the Apoſtle ſaith, The wicked ſhall be puniſhed (foreign) and thus it is taken in this place by Jude, who fitly expreſſeth the puniſhment inflicted by God upon the Sodomites by this word, becauſe it was moſt juſtly, and according to the merit of the offence and offenders, executed by the Judge of all the world, who is righteous in all he brings upon ſinners; yea, is righteouſneſſe it ſelfe, whoſe very judgements, even becauſe they are his, are juſt and righteous; and as to the caſe of Sodom and Gomorrha, ſo eminent was the righteouſneſſe of Gods judiciall proceeding, Gen. 18.21. that he would go down to ſee whether they had done altogether according to the cry of their ſin: where he ſpeaks after the manner of men, who ought not to condemn any before an accurate examination of the cauſe. But of this, by occaſion of the words (judgement and, the Great Day) much hath been ſpoken in the foregoing verſe.
For the ſecond, the fire wherewith theſe Sodomites were puniſh'd.
They burnt with a threefold fire. 1. The fire of luſt (both ſin and puniſhment) They burned in their luſt one toward another, 1 Cor. 7.9 Rom. 1.27.and God gave them up to uncleanneſſe and to vile affections.
2. The fire which was rained down from heaven upon them, His verbis ſignificatur quod preter naturalem rerum curſum, miraculum operatus eſt, puniendo iniquos; ad differentiam enim naturalium cauſarum naturali ordine occurentium ad generandum ſulphur & ig▪ nem, idjunctum eſt illud à Jeho veb. Cajetan. ſic quoque, Toſtatus, Pererius, & è noſtris. Calvin. Zanch. Muſcul. Pareus. Rivet.Gen. 19.24. the remarkableneſſe of which puniſh ment by fire, appears in ſundry reſpects: It was 1. A miraculous fire, beſides the courſe of nature. Brimſtone (to which ſome add ſalt) and all that vaſt quantity of fiery matter, were never produced by naturall cauſes; God it was who provided the matter for ſo great a flame, the fall wherof alſo he ordered for time and place. Hence its ſaid, that the Lord rained brimſtone and fire from the Lord, (that is) by an elegant Hebraiſm, from himſelfe, the Noune being put in the place of the Pronoune, as 1 Sam. 15.22. 1 King. 8.1. 2 Tim. 1.18. &c.) to ſhew, that the raining there mentioned was not from the ſtrength of naturall cauſes, nor after a naturall manner, but immediately from the Lord himſelf, and by the putting forth of his owne omnipotent arme 2. It was an abundant fire, of a vaſt quantity; and hence it is ſaid to be rained down; it was not a ſprinkling, but a ſhowre; Here were not ſparks, but flakes, ſheets of fire, rivers of brimſtone. 3. It was a Sudden fire. It came not by degrees, when the morning aroſe, or at break of day there were no tydings of deſtruction; till then Lot was in Sodom, and yet when the Sun aroſe, Gen. 19.24. Cen. 19.28.fire was rained down; and early in the morning Abram beheld the ſmoak of the country; haply the work was done in a quarter of an hour; Lam. 4.6. Sodom was overthrown, as in a moment. 4. It was a tormenting fire: The execution by fire hath ever been accounted one of the moſt afflictive to ſenſe, and therefore impoſed upon the greateſt offenders. How great is the torment when the skin is puckerd, the ſinews crack'd, the blood ſcalded: Famine, the greateſt of puniſhments, is but a kind of fire, whereby the naturall moyſture is dryed up; nay, fire lends a reſemblance to the torments of hell. 5. It was a deſtructive fire, utterly conſuming all upon which it fell; Gen. 19.25. Deut. 29.23.Cities, Inhabitants, the plain, and all that grew upon it; and (as Brochardus reports) ſo far as the vapour ariſing out of lake of Sodom is carried by the wind, it makes all places dry and barren, deſtroying all fruits, graſſe, plants, and what ever the earth yeilds. And ſo poyſonfully is that brimſtony lake tainted, which is now in the place where Sodom ſtood, that it is called the Deadſea, having neither fiſh nor any living creature therein. Called alſo Joh. 3.16. The ſalt ſea. Ezek. 47.8.And this is confirmed by the Prophet, who foretelling how theſe waters ſhould be healed by the waters running out of the Sanctuary eaſtward, on which ſide this lake is ſituate, and that then the creatures ſhould live therein, that there ſhould be a multitude of fiſh, and that the fiſhers ſhould ſtand upon it, from Engedy even unto Eneglaim, the two cities at either end of the lake, doth hereby imply, that for the preſent, before this healing, the waters were dead, that no fiſh, nor any creatures lived therein, and that no fiſher man did frequent the ſame, as they did the lake of Genezareth and other places, Olet adhuc incendio terra. Tert. Apol. c. 40. Penpetuo poenas luere videtur. Brocard. 1▪ p. c. 7.thorow which the River Jordan did run. 6. The puniſhment by this fire is laſting, ever laſting, a ſtanding monument of Gods diſpleaſure; in Moſee's time it was ſo, Deut. 29. and the Lord never repented him of this overthrow; It is under a perpetuall deſtruction, recorded by Authors of great credit and reputation, Strabo Solinus Tacitus Joſephus Plinius Tertul. c. 40. Auguſtin de C. D. c. 21. Adrichomius. Brochardus.and it ſhall continue as long as the world ſhall laſt, or there ſhall be any time or age, in alluſion whereunto, when the enemies of the Church are deſtroyed, it is foretold that their Land ſhall become burning pitch. It ſhall not be quenched night nor day, the ſmoak thereof ſhall go up for ever.
3. The fire of Hell: and this (ſome think) the Apoſtle only here intends, becauſe he calls it, Eternall fire. I acknowledge that theſe Sodomites were puniſhed with the eternall fire of hell (Gods dealing with ſome infants or aged, I dare not determin; but 'tis ſure, their children were part of their parents enjoyments, by nature the children of wrath, and that God is an abſolute Lord; and the Lord ſaith concerning Sodom remarkably, Ezek. 16.5. I took them away as I thought good) Chriſt ſaith it ſhall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of Judgment, then for Corazin, &c. but a more tolerable condition in regard of degrees, takes not away, but implies the kind of the condition; the temporall puniſhment of the impenitent Sodomites, was but a degree to the eternall, and in regard of the ſuddenneſs of their deſtruction, they might want time of repentance. Notwithſtanding all which, with ſubmiſſion to better judgements, I conceive that the Apoſtle doth not in this place intend primarily (much leſſe ſolely) the deſtruction of theſe Sodomites by hell-fire. Incluſively, and ſecondarily I ſuppoſe, he doth, as the fire of hell was typified by that which fell upon them from heaven. Nor do I clearly underſtand, how theſe cities can be ſet forth as an example to ſinners, by ſuffering the puniſhment of hell-fire, when of that the Hiſtory of Geneſis doth not ſpeak at all, and the example (ſaith *Quomodo civitates illae per hoc quòd ſuſtinent poenam ignis aeterni, ſunt peccatoribus in exemplum propoſitae, cum de poena ignis aeterni Geneſis hiſtoria non loquatur; exemplum autem ab hiſtoria petatur. Ut omittam quod exemplum ſumi debeat à re not â, notum autem non. crat peccatoribus adverſus quos hic agitur Sodomitas igne aeterno cruciari. Eſtius in loc. Sic Lorinus Probabilior expoſitio, quod ignis aet crnus dicitur, quia civitates igne deletae nunquam reſtituendae ſunt, & effect us illius perſeverat, nec unquam ceſſaret ſi mundus uunquam deſineret. Sci Rivet. 97. exerc. in Gen. Ignis aeternus intelligi poteſt cujus effectus in illa regione perpetuò manent. Heb. 5.6.7.17. Gen. 48.4. Exod. 32.13. Jer. 7.7.25.25. Pſal. 74.1. Illud [ignis aeterni] etſi jungi poteſt cum illo paenam ſuſtinen tes; commodius tamen aptatur illi voci: [exemplum,] ut ſit ſenſus, Sodomiticum illud incendium fuiſſe exemplum ignis aeterni. Peter. in Gen. 19. Vid. Eſtium quoque in Judam.Eſtius) ſhould be taken from the Hiſtory, which ſinners may read and hear. And although it be ſaid, the fire wherewith theſe Sodomites were puniſhed, was eternall, yet is it not neceſſarily to be underſtood of hell fire, for even that fire which conſumed theſe Cities may be called eternall, 1. Becauſe the puniſhment by this fire is rreparable, to laſt to the end of the world, theſe cities being never to be reſtored; and in this ſenſe eternall is often taken in Scripture, where we read of the eternall hils, Deut. 33.15. Pſal. 74.3. Perpetuall deſolations; That the land of Canaan was given to the ſeed of Abraham, for an everlaſting habitation, Gen. 17.8. and for ever, Gen. 13.8. That the Leviticall Ceremonies are for ever, Lev. 6.22.
2. Becauſe theſe cities ſuffering the puniſhment of fire and brimſtone deſcribed in Geneſis, are a type or figure of Everlaſting fire, and of the eternall puniſhment of wicked men therein. And this ſome learned men ſeem to make good out of the text, they reading theſe words, as referring eternall fire to example, thus: are ſet forth for an example of eternall fire, ſuffering vengeance; not as here our Tranſlators do, who refer Eternall fire, to Vengeance, thus, are ſet forth for an example, ſuffering the vengeance of eternall fire: by which conſtruction they gather that the fire which irreparably hath deſtroy'd Sodom, was a figure or type of that eternall fire reſerved for wicked men in hell, and by which ſinners ought to be warned. And (as Learned Paget (in that Treatiſe of his, called Meditations of death) obſerves) Hell is denominated from the ſimilitude of this place, * The lake of fire burning with brimſtone. And of the Great Whore it is ſaid, Her ſmoke roſe up for ever and ever. [And God (ſaith he) hath made a viſible hell in that great lake which had once been a pleaſant plain.] And Brochardus, who ſpent ten yeers in the viewing of the Country, ſaith, [That the Dead-ſea is alwayes black, ſmoaking, and the very face of hell.]
Nor yet do I conceive, becauſe in theſe words [Eternall fire] Jude may alſo include the puniſhment of the Sodomites in hell fire; that therefore they are there tormented with materiall or bodily fire; it is ſufficient that the torments of the damned, are ſet out by the paines of fire, then which no creature is accounted by men more tormenting; ſo that undoubtedly they are unconceivably greater, and more exquiſite then are any which can be cauſed by materiall fire; and they are more tormenting in ſundry reſpects. Hell fire burns the ſoul; Chriſt bids us fear none but ſoul-torments; Mat. 10.28.and indeed, if we can bear them leaſt, we ſhould fear them moſt. Hell fire though it burns, yet it conſumes not; the wicked ſhall be its perpetuall fuel, and it ſhall be a living death preying upon them, not making an end of them. Hell fire cannot, as ours, be relieving or refreſhing; they who are in it ſhall never ſay, Aha, I have ſeen the fire; but, Oh, I am tormented in this flame. Hell fire is blowne, not as ours, Iſai. 44.16. Luk. 16.24.by the breath of man, or any other created blaſt, but by God himſelf, whoſe breath is both the fire and a ſtream of brimſtone, (Iſai. 30.33.) and the bellowes. A powerfull God, powerfully puniſheth, as is he, ſo is his ſtrength. How unſupportable muſt needs be the pains inflicted by angry omnipotency! Hell fire cannot be extinguiſhed; Mat. 25.41, 46.Hell fire cannot be extinguiſhed; nor tears, nor time can put it out. The many thouſands of yeers that the effect of Sodoms fire laſteth here upon earth, are but a faint reſemblance of the true everlaſtingneſſe of hell fire. Nor yet is God unjuſt in puniſhing thoſe eternally, who have ſinned but a little time: He meaſures the puniſhment by the greatneſſe of the offence, not by the time of the doing the crime; Treaſon or Murder may be committed in an inſtant, but the puniſhment may laſt for ſcores of yeers; nay when men puniſh by death, there is a removing of the Malefactor from the ſociety of men for ever; and if the offence committed againſt God be infinitely heinous, why may not the puniſhment be infinitely laſting; beſides, how ordinarily do men ſell away their poſſeſſions by bargaine, or refuſe an offered gift in a moment, which thereby they part with for ever! and how juſtly are ſinners deprived of true bleſſedneſſe (and that is not leſs then eternall) which, in a ſhort time they refuſed, and ſold away for the ſatisfying of their luſts! Nor can it be unjuſt with God to puniſh thoſe in his eternity, who have ſinned againſt him in theirs, who if they had to eternity been allowed to live, would have improved it altogether in ſin; yea, and who diſpoſitively, and in reſpect of their inclination, did ſo?