Hence Balaam among the Gentiles prophesied of him, Num. xxiv. 17, 19; and Job, among the children of the east that were not of the posterity of Isaac, professed his faith in him, chap. xix, 25, DYpY THyroy PANN 1D YPND AYT 2N1,—« And I know that my Redeemer liveth” or “is living;’ “and afterwards he shall stand on the earth,” or “rise on the dust.” He believed that there was a
83, a Redeemer, promised, one that should free him from sin and misery. Aben Ezra, by “My Redeemer,” understandeth a man that would assist him, or judge more favourably of his cause than his friends at that time did: saw xSywa aw. And his comment on ‘DO and {M8 is very fond: tdyy pons Ay oN OYN3 DY NIT;— “He is at present living, or he shall be born hereafter.” But is this ‘7 °S3, a living Redeemer? “7, 6 fay, “ The living one,” is a pro- perty of God: he is ig Zé, “The living God,’ 1 Tim. iv. 10; 6 wbvog Exwy d&bavaciav, chap. vi. 16, “who alone hath immortality.” A mortal man is not rightly called a living redeemer, one that hath life in his power. Besides, Job met with no such redeemer out of his troubles; and therefore R. Levi Ben Gershom confesseth that it is God who is intended: myxd pp) ‘n Nin WwN,— Who is the living One, and liveth to eternity.” Of this Redeemer Job saith, “ He shall stand on the earth,” or “rise on the dust.” If the words be taken in the former sense (as they will bear either), his incarnation and coming into the world, if in the latter, his resurrec- tion out of the dust, is intended. The former seems more probable, and the earth is expressed by 75¥, “the dust,” to denote the infinite condescension of this Redeemer, in coming to converse on this dust that we live in and upon. And this he shall do 948, The word is used to express the eternity of God: SINS 28) WNT WN, Isa. xliv. 6; —“Tam the first, and I am the last:” so chap. xlvili, 12. Whence Ralbag, [R. Levi Ben Gershom, ] before mentioned, interprets this ex- pression with respect to the works that God shall do in the earth in the latter days. And in this respect our Goél is said to be “ Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the ending;” he that abides thus the same “after all” shall “stand on the earth.’ But the word also is often joined with >j4, a “generation,” a time, a season,
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SECT. 81.] PROMISED OF OLD. 181
Ps. xlviii. 14, cii. 19, and denotes the futurition of it, that it is to come, and shall come. So also with bi, “a day,” as Isa. xxx. 8, point- ing out some signal latter day. And here itis used absolutely for DY] NMS, “in the latter days;” which is the ordinary description and designation of the days of the Messiah in the Old Testament. This is that which Job expected, which he believed. Though he was among the Gentiles, yet he believed the promise, and expected his own personal redemption by the blessed Seed. And thus, although God confined the posterity of Abraham after the flesh unto the land of Canaan, yet, because in the promised Seed he was to be “heir of the world,” he gives unto the Messiah “the heathen to be his inherit- ance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession,” Ps. ii. 8. And upon the accomplishment of the work assigned unto him, he promiseth that “all the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lorp, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him,” Ps. xxii. 27,—a plain declaration of the Gentiles coming in for their share and interest in the redemption wrought by him. See Ps. xlv. 16. For these “ rebellious ones” was he to “receive gifts,” “that the Lord God might dwell among them,” Ps, Ixviii. 18; so that by him Egypt and Ethiopia were to stretch forth their hands unto God, verse 31; yea, “all kings were to fall down before him, and all nations to serve him,” Ps. Ixxii. 11-17.
31. These poor Gentiles were the “little sister’ of the Judaical church, which was to be provided for in the love of her spouse, the Messiah, Cant. viii. 8, 9. For “in the last days,” the days of the Messiah, “many people,” yea, “all nations,” are to be “ brought unto the house of the Lorp,” and are to worship him acceptably, Isa, ji. 2-4. And expressly, chap. xi. 10, the “ Root of Jesse,’ which the Jews grant to be the Messiah, is to “stand for an ensign unto the people,” and “ to it shall the Gentiles seek,” even for that sal- vation and deliverance which he had wrought; and they are pre- ferred therein before Israel and Judah, verse 12. “ Egypt and As- syria,” that is, the other nations of the world, are to be brought into the same covenant of the Messiah with Israel, chap. xix. 25: for “all flesh is to see the glory of God,” and not the Jews only, chap. xl. 5; and the “isles,” or utmost parts of the earth, are to “wait for the law” of the promised Messiah, chap. xlii. 4. And the whole of what: we assert is summed up, chap. xlix. 6, where God speaks unto the promised Seed, and says, “It is a light thing that thou shouldest