Commentary on the Pentateuch, Commentary 1 · Chapter 36
CHAP. XXXVI. Verſ. 1. This is Edom.]
THe name and note of his profaneneſs. A ſtigmatical Belialiſt. It were a happineſs to the wicked, if they might be forgotten, Eccleſ. 8.10.
Verſ. 4. Eliphaz] Job's friend, ſay ſome: a good man; but much miſtaken in Job, whom he ſo ſharply cenſures.
Verſ. 6. From the face of his brother Jacob] Or, before the coming of his brother Jacob; by a ſpecial providence of God, to make room for the right heir. It is he that determineth the bounds of our habitations, Acts 17.26. It was he, that eſpied out this land for his peculiar people; and that kept the room empty all the time of the Babyloniſh Captivity, till the return of the Natives; though it were a pleaſant country, left deſtitute of inhabitants, and ſurrounded with many warlike Nations. Piſcator renders this text, propter Jacobum, and expounds it, Becauſe he knew that the land of Canaan ſhould be Jacob's, according to Gods promiſe made to him in his fathers bleſſing of him. But I doubt whether Eſau would yeeld to him for any ſuch reaſon.
Verſ. 7. For their riches were more, &c.] And beſides, mount Seir was fitter for a hunter. A good eaſe it was to Iacob, who had little joy in his neighbourhood. God will not take the ungodly by the hand, Job 8.20. no more will his people. When they are forced to be in ill company, they cry, Oh that I had the wings of a dove, that I might flee away! Or if that Oh will not ſet them at liberty, they take up that Wo, to expreſs their miſery; Wo is me, that I ſojourn in Meſhec, &c. It was once the prayer of a good Gentlewoman, when ſhe came to die, being in much trouble of conſcience; Moſes his choice, by M. Bur. pag. 330.O Lord, let me not go to hell, where the wicked are: for, Lord, thou knoweſt, I never loved their company here.
Verſ. 11. And the ſons of Eliphaz] See here the fulfilling of Gods predictions and promiſes, even to an Eſan: will he be wanting to his obedient people?
Verſ. 20. Theſe are the ſons of Seir] Eſau was by marriage allied to this Seir; for he married his neece Aholibamah, verſ. 2. yet the children of Eſau chaſed away the Horims of Seir, and dwelt in their ſtead in mount Seir, Deut. 2.12. Wicked men are void of natural affection, in their purſuit of profit or preferment. Abimelech, Abſalom, Athaliah, for inſtance; and that Amida, Turk. hiſt. fol. 745 747.642.ſon of Muleaſſes King of Tunes, who roſe up againſt his father, and poſſeſſing himſelf of his Kingdom, ſlew his Captains, polluted his wives, took the Caſtle of Tunes; and, after all, put out his fathers and brethrens eyes, like as Muleaſſes himſelf, before, had dealt with his own brethren.
Verſ. 24. That found the mules] By coupling divers kindes together, contrary to Levit. 19.19. Neither did the world, till then, want any perfect kinde of creature; for the mule and the aſs differ not, foreign. B. Babington. Fuit olim pſittacus Romae aureis centum comparatus, &c. C. Rhodig. l 2. c. 32. Maiolus in Canic. colloq. 23. Sphinx Philoſ. pag. 785. Plin. lib. 7. cap. 12.but onelyonly in degree. The Greeks call mules half-aſſes. See here (ſaith one) the buſie curioſity of ſome mens natures, given to news, and ſtrange inventions. So he that taught a Parrot in Rome to repeat the Creed, every Article in order, and by it ſelf, diſtinctly. Another, that painted the whole ſtory of our Saviour's paſſion (both for perſons and things) upon the nails of his own fingers. Had not he little to do, that learned to write a fair hand with his feet? (Heidfeld ſaith he ſaw it, with wonderment.) And he as little, that encloſed Homer's Iliads written in a nut? which Cicero tell us, he ſaw with his eyes. Theſe were toilſome toys, quae nec ignoranti nocent, nec ſcientent juvant, as Seneca ſaith of Sophiſtry. Hard they are to come by; but of no uſe or worth: like an olive, or date-ſtone; hard to crack the one, or cleave the other: but nothing, or nothing worth ought, when crackt or cloven, within either. This ſame fooliſh wittineſs Alexander wittily ſcoffed, when he gave a fellow onelyonly a buſhel of peaſe, for his pains of throwing, every time, a peaſe upon a needles point, ſtanding a pretty way off.
Verſ. 31. Before there raigned any king, &c.] Sicut herba tectorum praecocem habet vigorem, ſed citius areſcit. Exoriuntur impii, ſed exuruntur. They are ſet up on high, but on ſlippery places, Pſal. 73.18. advanced, as Haman; but to be brought down again, with a vengeance. This obſervation the Hebrews make upon this text. Whiles Edom raigneth and flouriſheth, Iſrael groaneth under the ſervitude of Egypt. …omp and proſperity, then, is no ſure note of the true Church.
Verſ. 40. Duke Timnah, duke Alvah] We had a Duke d'Alva lately in the Netherlands, Governour there for the Spaniard, Grimſton, hiſt. of Netherlands.infamous for his inhumanity. For he roſted ſome to death, ſtarved others, and that even after quarter; ſaying, though he promiſed to give them their lives, he did not promiſe to finde them meat. This was a right Romiſh Edomite. The Hebrews think, the Romanes came of the Idumeans. Sure I am, if they be not of the natural deſcent, they are of the ſpiritual, (or unnatural;) and ſo like, as, by the one, we may ſee the face, favour, and affection, of the other.
Verſ. 43. Theſe be the dukes of Edom] As the Principality of Edom began with Dukes, and roſe to Kings; ſo it returneth to Dukes again, after the death of Hadad, in Moſes his time, 1 Chro. 1.51. It is likely, (ſaith an Interpreter) that, upon the unkinde dealing of that Hadad, in denying to let Iſrael paſs thorow his land, the Lord removed the dignity of Kings from that Commonwealth, and let it be ruled by Dukes again; whereof, eleven are here by name rehearſed. So ſenſible is God, and ſo ſevere, in puniſhing the leaſt unkindneſs done to his people. Julius Pflugius complaining to the Emperour (by whom he had been employed) of great wrong done him by the Duke of Saxony, received this anſwer: Have a little patience, Tua cauſ… erit mea cauſa. So ſaith God to his abuſed: He reproveth, yea depoſeth even Kings for their ſakes; and accounts, that the whole world is not worthy of them, nay, not worth one of them, how mean ſoever in regard of outwards; as Chryſoſtome expounds that, Heb. 11.38.