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complete the embalming. Lampe does not approve of that account. Nevertheless he is obliged to own, that what was now performed, was done in haste. As Lucas Brugensis is not in many hands, I shall transcribe a part of what he says, for showing what these good women aimed at by their kind offices. And I shall refer to Theophylact, who speaks to the like purpose.

What these women intended to do, we cannot say particularly. Nor can it be reasonably expected that we should be able to determine; because it cannot be supposed that any now are fully acquainted with the various methods of embalming among the Jews, or the whole process of their embalming. But that there was somewhat wanting, somewhat left to be done by respectful and affectionate friends, may be argued from the shortness of time, and great haste, in which our Lord was embalmed and buried; and likewise from the concurring concern of several women, who may be justly supposed to have been as attentive, and as discreet and understanding, as any of their sex. And it has seemed to me, that our Lord foresaw, that, for want of opportunity, there would happen a defect in that respect, which might otherwise have been shown him at his death.

Of the woman that anointed Jesus at Bethany with precious ointment, he said to those who were uneasy at the expense: Matt. xxvi. 12, "For in that she has poured this ointment upon my body, she did it for my burial," "pos To Evтapiaσaι Mark xiv. 8, "She has done what she could. She is come before hand, to anoint my body to the burial," es Tov Evτapiaoμov. John xii. 7," Let her alone. Against the day of my burying has she kept this,” εις την ημεραν το ενταφιασμό με.

με.

But learned interpreters say, thath the original word,

d Leviora sane sunt, quibus persuadere vult, Dominici corporis unctionem quidem susceptam esse, sed non datam exsecutioni. Lampe, in Jo. T. III. p. 644. e Prius nullius est momenti, quia raptim et festinanter Jesum esse unctum, facile concedimus. Id. ib.

Emerunt' a pharmacopolis aromata,' vi exsiccandi et fragrantiam addendi prædita--ut 'ungerent' Jesum mortuum-—Neque vero ignorabant, corpus Jesu a Nicodemo non parce unctum fuisse, centum inquam libris myrrhæ et aloës, quæ præsentes adfuerant, cum ungeretur, quanquam forte suis oculis non viderant. Sed habebat consuetudo, ut carissima capita, et quæ plurimi fierent cadavera, non semel tantum ungerentur, sed sæpius, pluribusque continuis diebus, donec exsiccato et absorpto vi aromatum omni reliquo humore, imo tabefactâ carne aridâ, et quasi æneà reddità, diu servari possent integra, et immunia a putrefactione, &c. Vid. Gen. L. 23. Luc. Brug. in Marc. Theoph. in Marc. xvi. 1.

xvi.

Ad funerandum me: 700c 70 evrapiacaι pɛ. Vulg. et Erasmus, ad me sepeliendum,' male. Nam aliud est fante, quam evrɑpı Suv: ut Latinis

made use of by all the evangelists, does not so properly denote burial, as the preparations made for burial, and particularly the costly preparations made for persons of distinction.

"for

The meaning therefore is: "In that she has poured this ointment upon my body, she has done it," as it were, my embalming," or to embalm me. And this part of our Lord's apology for that pious woman may be paraphrased in this manner, as indeed it was formerly: You may con'sider this anointing as an embalming of me. And it may

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so happen, that neither she, nor any others, shall have an opportunity to lay out all the rich spices and ointments upon me, when dead, which they may be disposed to make 6 use of.'

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CHAP. V.

PAGE 155. Diss. xxxvii. Whom are we to understand by the Grecians and Hebrews mentioned, Acts vi. 1.'

It will be worth the while to put down here the words of the text at length. "And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration."

I am of opinion, that by Hebrews are meant native Jews, descendants of Abraham and Israel, and that by Grecians are meant proselytes to the Jewish religion. This I shall endeavour to make out by an induction of particulars, and by numerous quotations from the Old Testament.

Ebrew, or Hebrew. It is a very honourable, and the most ancient, denomination of the Jewish people. Abraham himself is called "a Hebrew," or " the Hebrew," Gen. xiv. 13. as is Joseph in Egypt, Gen xxxix. 14, 17. chap. xli. 12. The Hebrews are mentioned more than once in his history. Gen xl. 15, and xliii. 32. In particular, the country insepelire est sepulcro condere: funerare vero pollincire, cadaver sepulcro mandandum, prius curare. &c. Bez. ad Matt. xxvi. 12.

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-Habet me jam quasi pro mortuo, atque officium illud solemne modico tantum tempore antevertit. Hunc sensum apertissime significat Marcus voce προέλαβε. Hic το ενταφίασαι, pollincire, interpretandum est per ελλειψιν voculæ, wou tanquam fecit quasi ad me pollinciendum.' Quam voculam prudenter hic, ut et in hac apud Marcum historiâ, addidit Syrus interpres. Et Johanni nuɛpa Evrapiaoue est dies quasi pollincturæ. Grot. in Matt. xxvi. 12. See Vol. ix. p. 427.

habited by Jacob and his family, whence Joseph is brought, is called "the land of the Hebrews, Gen. xl. 15. God himself, when he sent Moses to deliver the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage, took upon himself this title and character," The Lord God of the Hebrews," Ex. iii. 18. Which character is often mentioned in the accounts of Moses's appearances before Pharaoh. Ex. v. 3; vii. 16; ix. 1; x. 3.

I do not now inquire into the origin of this name, though the disquisition might be curious. I had rather, for the sake of brevity, refer to others. Whatever was the origin of the name, it was early known, and seems to have been peculiar to Abraham and his descendants, by Isaac and Jacob, when Moses was sent to conduct the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt. And " the Lord God of the Hebrews," and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," are used as equivalent. Ex. iii. 6, 15, 16, 18; iv. 5.

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It was a common denomination of the children of Israel, when they dwelt in Egypt: And "the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives -And he said: "When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, if it be a son, ye shall kill him-And the midwives said unto Pharaoh- -because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women," Ex. i. 15, 16, 19. When Pharaoh's daughter found Moses, she said: "This is one of the Hebrews' children. Then said his sister unto Pharaoh's daughter; Shall I go, and call thee a nurse of the Hebrew women?" Ex. ii. 6, 7. Afterwards, when Moses was grown, he went out unto his brethren, and espied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren-[And] when he went out the second day, behold two men of the Hebrews strove together," ver. 11–13.

Hebrew, or Hebrews, is often used in the first book of Samuel, as equivalent to Israelites, or the people of Israel. 1 Sam. iv. 6, 9; xiii. 3; and elsewhere.

When the mariners in the ship said to Jonah, i. 8, 9, "What is thy occupation? and whence comest thou? What is thy country? and of what people art thou? He said unto them; I am an Hebrew. And I fear the Lord God of heaven, which made the sea and the dry land."

This denomination is seldom found in the later books of the Old Testament. However, it is in Jeremiah, ch. xxxiv.

a Vid. Bochart. Geo. S. P. i. 1. 2. c. 14. Scalig. Not. in Græca Eusebii. p 410. Voss. de Orig. Idol. 1. 3. c. 44. p. 356. Br. Walton, Proleg. iii. Huet. Dem. Ev. Prop. iv. cap. 13. Jo. Cleric. Comm. in Gen. x. 21. xiv. 13. et Disserta. de Ling. Hebr.

The place is remarkable, and will be of use to us in the present inquiry. "This is the word, that came unto Jeremiah from the Lord- That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maid-servant, being a Hebrew or Hebrewess, go free: that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother-Then they obeyed, and let them go. Afterwards they caused them to return, and brought them into subjection for servants, and for handmaids- -Therefore the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah, saying; Thus saith the God of Israel; I made a covenant with your fathers, saying; At the end of seven years, let ye go every man his brother, an Hebrew, which has been sold unto thee

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Let us therefore observe the laws, which are here referred to. Ex. xxi. 2, " If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve thee; and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing." Deut. xv. 12, " If thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee." Lev. xxv. 44-46, "Both thy bondmen, and thy bond-maids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen [or the nations] that are round about thee. Of them shall ye buy bond-men, and bond-maids. Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they beget in your land; and they shall be your possession. And ye shall take them for an inheritance for your children after to inherit them for a possession. They shall be your bond-men for ever. But over your brethren, the children of Israel, you shall not rule one over another with rigour."

you,

"By strangers sojourning among them," I understand proselytes, men circumcised after the manner of the Mosaic law. We here therefore see the great difference between the children of Israel, or native Jews, and strangers, or proselytes. And in speaking of this matter, for preventing ambiguity, the words Hebrew or Hebrewess, are used by Jeremiah, as certainly denoting the descendants of Abraham and the other patriarchs.

In the laws, just transcribed from the books of Moses, there are clearly mentioned three sorts of persons: "Hebrews, [or] children of Israel," that is, native Jews; then

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strangers sojourning among them," or proselytes; lastly, "heathens," that is, the nations, or Gentiles. The prophet demands liberty after six years' servitude for the first only, not for any of the others. The law of Moses did not em

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power him to do more. And the command of God, by the prophet, certainly, is agreeable to his own laws, first delivered by the hand of Moses.

I shall just observe, as we go along, that Josephus says of himself, heb was a Hebrew by birth. And Eusebius says of Moses, that he was a great divine, and a Hebrew of Hebrews. He also observes the antiquity of this name, and says, that Joseph was a Hebrew of Hebrews, but there were yet no Jews. Which is very true. For the people of Israel were not called Jews, tille about the time of the Babylonish captivity. After that, a man of any nation, who embraced the religion of the Jews, and was circumcised after the manner of Moses, became a Jew. But he never could be a Hebrew, that denomination being peculiar to the descendants of the ancient patriarchs.

There are three places in the New Testament where this title is found. One is that of the text under consideration. Another is 2 Cor. xi. 22,"Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I." The third is Philip. iii. 5, "Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews." He was circumcised the eighth day; which is a proof, he was born of parents, who were themselves Jews, and punctually obeyed the law of Moses. However, this might have been, and he have been no more than the child of a proselyte; He therefore proceeds, and says, he was of "the stock of Israel," or the seed of Jacob; and particularly, " of the tribe of Benjamin,” an honoured tribe, upon divers accounts, particularly, as Benjamin was one of the sons of Jacob by Rachel, his wife, as shef is styled in the catalogue of Jacob's family, which went into Egypt; but especially as this tribe had, in a great measure, preserved itself from idolatry. "An Hebrew of the Hebrews," or rather, an Hebrew of Hebrews:" meaning, that he was himself a Hebrew, and descended from Hebrews.

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As Paul was a Hebrew, though born out of Judea, at Tarsus in Cilicia, where the Greek tongue was used, we are fully assured, that by the Grecians cannot be meant Jews, who used the Greek language.

• Ο τοινυν μεγας

b —γενει Εβραιος. De B. J. l. i. pr. 1. Θεολόγος Μωσης, Εβραιος ων εξ Εβραίων, ει και τις αλλος. κ. λ. Pr. Ev. I. 7. c. 7. p. 305. * Πλην αλλα και στος Εβραιος, εξ ̔Εβραίων, εχι δε

Ιεδαίος, ότι μηδε ην πω τα Ιεδαίων. Ib. cap. 8. p. 312.

e

Josephus dates the origin of this name after their return from the Babylo

nish captivity. Ant. l. 11. v. 7.

wife: Joseph and Benjamin," Gen. xlvi. 19.

f "The sons of Rachel, Jacob's

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