2. It pleased the Lord ^'^?'^, " eum contundere, conterere, fran- gere," to bruise or break him; in answer to what was said before, verse 5, " He was wounded, he was bruised," etc.
That which is said, to accommodate all this to Jeremiah, is, that by all this is intended that God permitted it to be done to him. But, —
1. The word )*?in is nowhere used in that sense, nor will anywhere bear that interpretation. And though some active verbs in the Hebrew may be interpreted in a sense of permitting or suffering the thing to be done which is said to be done, yet that all may so be in-
' Or rather, " if not on him that is guilty, at least on one supposed to be guilty." —
DIGRESSION CONCERNING GROTIUS ON ISAIAH LIII. 479
terpreted when we please, without a cogent reason for such an inter- pretation, [and] that this verb, signifying not only to will, but to will with delight and purpose, should be so interpreted, and that in this place, not admitting of such a gloss in any other place, is that which was needful to be said by the learned annotator, but with what pre- tence of reason or truth I know not.
2. As to Christ, to whom he confesseth these words properly belong, the proper sense of the word is to be retained, as hath been showed ; and it is very marvellous the improper sense of the word should be used in reference to him to whom it nextly belongs, and the proper in reference to him who is more remotely and secondarily signified.
For the second passage, " When (or if thou shalt) he shall make his soul an offering for sin/' or, as it may be read, "When his soul shall make an offering for sin," it may relate either to God giving him up for a sacrifice, — his soul for his whole human nature, — or to Christ, whose soul was [offered], or who offered himself, as a sacrifice to God, Eph. V. 2. Which way soever it be taken, it is peculiar to Christ ; for neither did God ever make any one else an offering for sin, nor did ever any person but Christ make himself an offering, or had power so to do, or would have been accepted in so doing. To suit these words to Jeremiah, it is said that ^^'^ in the Hebrew signifies any punishment, though unjustly inflicted.
I will not say that the learned annotator afiirms this with a mind to deceive, but yet I cannot but think that as he hath not given so he could not give one instance out of the Scripture of that use of the word which he pretends. This I am sure of, that his assertion hath put me to the labour of considering all the places of Scripture where the word is used in the full collections of Calasius, and I dare con- fidently assure the reader that there is no colour for this assertion, nor instance to make it good. The Greeks have rendered it Tspi ccfiaprlag, "an offering for sin," as is expressed, Kom. viii. 3, Heb. X. 6, 8: so the Avord is used Lev. v. 16, vii. 1, But, —
If ^^'^ be not used in that sense, yet ^t?0 is, in Gen. xxxi. 89, Zech. xiv. 19. But,—
1. This doth not satisfy, "If this word may not be so interpreted which is here used, yet another, which is not here used, may be so interpreted ; and therefore that which is here used must have the same sense ! " Nor, —
2. Can he prove that ^9- ["^^^] hath any other signification but either of sin, or punishment, or satisfaction. In the first place in- stanced in. Gen. xxxi. 39, Jacob says that for that which was taken away out of the flock of Laban, he expiated it, he made satisfaction for it, as the law afterward required in such cases should be done, Exod. xxii. 12; and in that place of Zech. xiv. 19, it is precisely punishment for sin. But this word is not in our text.
480 VINDICIJE EVANGELICiE.
Take, then, the word in any sense that it will admit of, to apply this expression to Jeremiah is no less than blasphemy. To say that either God or himself made him a sacrifice for sin is to blaspheme the one sacrifice of the Son of God.
For the next words, " He shall see his seed," Grotins knows not how to make any application of them to Jeremiah, and therefore he speaks nothing of them. How they belong to Christ is evident, Ps. xxii. 30, Heb. ii. 8. That " he shall prolong his days" is not ap- plicable to Jeremiah, of whom the annotator knew not how long he lived in Egypt, hath been formerly declared. Christ prolonged his days, in that notwithstanding that he was dead he is alive, and lives for ever.
The last clause, concerning the prospering of the good pleasure, the will and pleasure, of the Lord, in the hand of Jesus Christ, for the gathering of his church through his blood, and making peace be- tween God and man, hath little relation to any thing that is spoken of Jeremiah, whose ministry for the conversion of souls doth not seem to have had any thing eminent in it above that of other prophets ; yea, falling in a time when the wickedness of the people to whom he was sent was come up to the height, his message seemed to be almost totally rejected.