192 PROMISES OF THE [ EXERC. IX.
11. Deut. xviii. 15-19. This place is an eminent prophecy concern- ing the Messiah, and of his prophetical office, not before anywhere mentioned. But the law being now given, which was to continue inviolably unto his coming, Mal. iv. 4, when it was to be changed, removed, and taken away, this part of his work, that he was to make the last, full, perfect declaration of the will of God, is now declared.
The Targums are here silent of him; for they principally attend unto those places which make mention of his kingdom. Rashi refers the words unto the series of prophets which were afterwards raised up; Aben Ezra, to Joshua; others, to Jeremiah, upon the re- jection of whose warnings the people were carried into captivity, which they collect from verse 19. Whatever now they pretend, of old they looked for some one signal prophet from this place, which should immediately come before the Messiah himself. Thence was that question in their examination of John Baptist, “ Art thou that prophet?” John i. 21,—namely, whom they looked for from this pre- diction of Moses. But it is the Messiah himself, and none other, that is intended; for,—First, None other ever arose like unto Moses. This is twice repeated;—in the words of Moses unto the people, verse 15, “ God will raise thee up a prophet "2493 ,”—“ like unto me ;” and in the words of God to Moses, verse 18, “I will raise them up a prophet, 1i2”—“like unto thee,” “as thou art.” Lipman, a blasphe- mous Jew, in his Nizzachon, contends that Jesus cannot be intended, because he was not like Moses: for Moses was a man only, Jesus declared himself to be God; Moses had father and mother, Jesus had not, as we say;—but the comparison intended doth not at all respect their persons or their natures, but their offices. It was in the prophetical office that the prophet foretold was to be like unto Moses: it is a lawgiver, one that should institute new ordinances of worship, by the authority of God, for the use and observance of the whole church, as Moses did; one that should reveal the whole will of God, as Moses did, as to that season wherein God employed him. That this could not be Joshua, nor any of the prophets that ensued, is evident from that testimony of the Holy Ghost, Deut, xxxiv. 10, “There arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses.” This must, therefore, be referred unto some singular pro- phet who was then to come, or there is an express contradiction in the text; and this is none other but the Messiah, concerning whom they acknowledge that he shall be a prophet above Moses. Se- condly, The extermination threatened unto the people upon their disobedience unto this prophet here promised, chap. xviii. 19, never befell them until they had rejected the Lord Jesus, the true and only Messiah. Wherefore this place is rightly applied unto him in the New Testament, Acts iii, 22, 28, vii. 37. And we have hence a
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SECT. 11-14.] " MESSIAH VINDICATED. 193
further discovery of the nature of the Deliverer, and deliverance pro- mised of old, and therein of the faith of the ancient church. He was to be a blessed prophet, to reveal the mind and will of God; which also he hath done unto the utmost. And from this place it is that the Jews themselves, in Midrash Coheleth, cap. i., say, 9 PSE) pans Sy13 13;—“ The latter Redeemer is to be like the former.”
12. Deut. xxv. 19, “Thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it,’ Jonathan Targum, wonn xd smwn xodp rd as1;—“ And also in the days of the Messiah, the King, thou shalt not forget it.’ But as this savours too much of those revengeful thoughts which they frequently discover themselves to be filled withal, so all these apprehensions proceed from the old tradition, that by the Messiah we should be delivered from the hands of “all our enemies;’ which they, being carnal and earthly, do wrest to give countenance unto their own desires and imaginations.
13. Deut. xxx. 4, “If any of thine be driven out unto the out- most parts of heaven, from thence will the Lorp thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee’. Jonathan Targum, Pr yondy NII NIT MST OT Sy pombe wt aww pon? was yond amwp xzdo7 on Sy pon’ ;—“ From thence will the Word of the Lord [your God] gather thee by the hand of Elijah, the great priest; and from thence will he bring thee by the hand of Messiah the King.” The place is not amiss applied unto the deliverance which they shall one day have by the Messiah; for it is to happen after the whole curse of the law is come upon them for their disobedience,
_and after they shall turn again unto the Lord by repentance, verses 1, 2. And whereas the words are doubled, they suppose them to intimate a double work of deliverance; one whereof they have com- mitted to Elias, from Mal. iv. 5, who was to be, and was, the fore- runner of the Messiah,
And these are the places in the books of Moses wherein they ac- knowledge that mention is made of the Messiah. [As] for that way whereby the church of old was principally instructed in his work and office,—namely, in the sacrifices and ceremonies of the law,—they know nothing of it; nor shall it here be insisted on, seeing it must