23. Having taken this brief view of the words, we may draw our argument from them, which is this: The Messiah, according to this prediction, must come while the rule and government of Judah was ‘continued, or before it was utterly removed or taken away; but they are long since departed and taken away,—they have been so at least ever since the destruction of the nation, city, and temple, by Titus: and therefore the Messiah is long since come; which was pro- posed unto confirmation. To manifest the uncontrollable evidence of this testimony, and our argument from it, there is no more neces- sary but that we demonstrate,—first, That by “sceptre” and “ law- writer,” rule and government are intended; secondly, That the
276 THE PROMISED MESSIAH [EXERC. XII
promised Shiloh is the Messiah; thirdly, That all rule and na- tional polity were long since utterly taken away from Judah, even on the destruction of the city and temple. Now, the proof of the two former we shall-take, first, from the text and context; secondly, from the confession of the ancient Jews themselves. The last, being matter of fact, must be evinced from story, and the state of things in the world from those days; whereon there will be no rising up against this testimony by any thing but that pertinacious obstinacy which the Jews are judicially given up unto.
24, The First thing proposed; namely, that by “sceptre” and “law-giver” rule and government are intended, is evident, not only from the words themselves, which are plain and expressive, but from the context also, neither was it ever denied by any of the Jews until they found themselves necessitated thereunto by their corrupt interest. Amongst other things, the dying patriarch foretelling the erection of a rule and government amongst his posterity, whereas it might have been expected that of course it should have been fixed in Reuben, his first-born, according to the line of its descent from the foundation of the world, he deprives him of it, verse 4. Though he was, in the ordinary course of nature, 'Y 70) NSW 1M, “the excellency of his dignity and the excellency of his strength,” verse 3, yet saith he, WINS, “Thou shalt not excel,”—‘ not preserve that excellency in thy posterity, nor have the pre-eminence of rule, for the reason which he there expresseth. In like manner he passeth by the next in order, Simeon and Levi, taking from them all expec- tation of that privilege, by foretelling that they should be “ divided in Jacob, and scattered in Israel,’ verse 7. Coming to Judah, there he fixeth the seat of rule, verse 8, “ Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise,” alluding unto his name, 7) TAS TM POX; “thou shalt be exalted unto that rule amongst them, from the right whereunto the others fell by their transgression.’ And this rule, saith he, shall consist, as all prosperous dowinen doth, in two things:—First, In the regular obedience of those who de jure are sub- ject unto it: “Thy father’s children shall bow down before thee ;”— ‘Thou shalt have the authority among and over the rest of my pos- terity.” Secondly, In the conquest of the enemies and adversaries of the dominion itself: “Thy hand shall be in the neck of thine ene- mies; as a lion’s whelp thou art gone up from the prey:” whereunto the words insisted on are subjoined, “The sceptre shall not depart,” — that is, ‘the sceptre of rule amongst thy brethren, and prevalency against thine enemies, however it may be weakened or interrupted, shall not utterly depart or be removed’—“ until Shiloh come.” The context is clear and perspicuous. The Jews, as we shall see, only cavil at words and syllables; the reason of the Scripture and the coherence of the context they take no notice of.
SECT. 24-27.] LONG SINCE COME, 277
25. Secondly, the Targumists have, with one consent, given us the same account of the sense and importance of these words; and some of them are acknowledged by the Jews, in Shebet Jehuda, to have been composed by divine inspiration, or assistance of the Sip-na, as they express it in their Talmuds. Thus Onkelos, the best of them, atin mat jodw pay sy xb;—“ The ruler, lord, or prince,” he that hath dominion, “shall not be taken from the house of Judah.” And Jonathan, m7) n3I0 pxden prado ppop xd-—“ Kings and rulers shall not cease from the house of Judah.” The same words are used by that called of Jerusalem. The authority of these para- phrases among the Jews is such, as that they dare not openly recede from them. And therefore Manasseh in his Conciliator, where he endeavours to enervate this testimony, passeth over these Targums in silence, as having nothing to oppose to their autho- rity; which is a sufficient evidence that he saw the desperateness of the cause wherein he was engaged. Solomon and Bechai ac- knowledge rule and dominion to be intended in the words: but, according to the latter, they are not to be erected until the coming of the Messiah; which is no less expressly contrary to the Targum than to the text itself, affirming plainly that then it was to end, and not begin. Add hereunto, further, to manifest the consent of the ancient Jews unto this sense of the words, that in their Talmuds they affirm the lawgiver here mentioned to be the sanhedrin, whose power continued in Judah until the Shiloh came; whereof we have spoken before.