17. Again; their masters have not only dealt dishonestly and blas- phemously, but foolishly also, in this matter, in that they have not suited their own creature unto the end for which they have made
248 FAITH OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH OF THE JEWS [ EXERC. XI.
him. The end, as was showed before, why they advanced this ima- gination, was to give countenance unto what is spoken in the Scrip- tures, or retained by themselves in tradition, concerning the suffer- ings of the Messiah; and it is somewhat strange to me, that having raised up this Ben Joseph, they did not use him worse than they have done, but by a little foolish pity have spoiled their own whole design. They have a tradition among themselves, that the Messiah must bear a third part of all the afflictions or persecutions that ever were or shall be in the world; and what proportion doth a man’s being slain in battle, where his army is victorious (whichis all the hard- ship this Ben Joseph is to meet withal), bear unto the afflictions which befall the church in every age? And for the Scripture, it is mere lost labour to compare the death of this warrior with what is delivered therein concerning the sufferings of the Messiah. Every one not judi- cially blinded must needs see that there is no affinity between them.
The 53d chapter of Isaiah is acknowledged by ther Targum, and sundry of the principal masters of their faith, to be a prophecy concerning him; and we shall afterwards undeniably prove it so to be. Now, the person there spoken of is one whom the Jews are to reject and despise, whom God is to afflict and bruise, by causing the sins of the whole church to meet upon him,—one who by his suffer- ings is to fulfil the pleasure of the Lord, making his soul an offering for sin, justifying the elect, and conquering Satan by his death. This fictitious Messiah is to be honoured of all the Jews, to raise armies, to fight a battle, and therein, after the manner of other men, to be slain; so that a story was never worse told, nor to less purpose. No other use can be made of it, that I know of, but only to consider in it the blindness of poor obstinate sinners, given up unto hardness of heart and a spirit of folly, for the rejection of him whom God sealed, anointed, and sent to be the Saviour of the world. Leaving them, therefore, in the embraces of this cloud, we may consider the other expected Messiah, whom they call Ben David, in whom principally they place their confidence.
18. The endless fables of the Jews about their Messiah, as they have been in part discovered by others, so I design not here at large to recount them. The chief masters of them in the Talmud are full of disputes and contradictions about him, and those of after ages succeed them in their uncertainties. Such will the conceptions of all men be, when they take up fancies and opinions of their own in matters of divine revelation. But some things there are wherein they all generally agree, and those relating unto his person, work, and office, which it shall suffice to give an account of, as answering our present design :—First, Therefore, they contend that he shall be a mere man; and there is nothing that they strive to avoid more than the testimonies of Scripture which show that the promised
SECT. 18. ] CONCERNING THE MESSIAH. 249
Messiah was to be God and man in one person, as hath been already evidenced. ‘They contend also that he shall be born after the man- ner of all men,—not of a virgin, but of a married woman, begotten by her husband. About the place of his birth they are not fully agreed; for although they all acknowledge the prophecy of Micah about Bethlehem to relate unto him, chap. v. 2, yet knowing that town now to have been desolate for many generations, and waste without inhabitant (which would seem to prove that he is come already), they contend that it is said he shall be born at Bethlehem because he is to spring of David, who was born there, for of the tribe of Judah and family of David he must proceed; although they have neither distinction of tribes nor succession of families left in the world amongst them. ‘To relieve themselves from that difficulty, they feign that he shall restore unto them all their genealogies. About the time of his coming they are wofully perplexed, as we shall see afterwards. But many tokens they have of it when it doth come; for they heap up, out of some allegorical passages in the Scripture, such stupendous prodigies as never were nor shall be in the world. One of the principal of them is the sounding of the great trumpet, which all Israel shall hear, and the world tremble at, from Isa. xxvii. 13. The finding of the ark and sacred fire (which things were talked of in the late rumours about them) are indeed a part of their creed in this matter. His office, when he comes, is to be a king; which he shall be anointed unto by them when they are gathered together. And the work he is to do, is in war to fight with Armillus, Gog and Magog, to conquer the Edomites and Ishmaelites,—that is, the Romish Christians and Turks or Saracens,—and in so doing, to erect a glorious kingdom at Jerusalem. In peace, he is to rule righteously, not only over Israel, but also all the nations of the world, if they have any difference amongst them, shall refer all unto his determination and umpirage. In religion, he shall build the third temple, mentioned by Ezekiel, restore the sacrifices, and cause the law of Moses to be most strictly observed. But, that which is the head of all, he shall free the Jews ~ from their captivity; restore them to their own land; make princes and lords of them all; giving them the wealth of all nations, either conquered by him or brought voluntarily unto him; feast them on Behemoth, Zis, and the wine of paradise: so that they shall see want and poverty no more!