390 JESUS OF NAZARETH [EXERC. XVII.
not known her.” So that M5 is YT ND why WIN nbana, “a maid that no man hath known;” that is, an unspotted virgin. And doubt- less such a one, and’ no other, was intended by Abraham’s servant for a wife unto Isaac, when he prayed that the 77¥1 which came forth to the well might answer his token that he had fixed on. Again, it is used Exod. ii. 8, where Moses’ sister, who called her mother unto Pharaoh’s daughter, is termed 272; and her age, being then probably not above nine or ten years old, with the course of her life in her mother’s house, declares her sufficiently to have been a virgin. Once it is used in the Psalms in the plural number: Ps. Ixviiil, 26, MBIA nindy 7n2;—“In the midst the virgins playing with timbrels;” where also none but virgins, properly so called, can be intended, for they were by themselves exercised to celebrate the praises of God in the great assembly. Twice is the word used in the same number, in a metaphorical sense, in the Canticles, and in both places it hath respect unto virgins: Chap. i. 3, “Therefore do the nimeY love thee;” that is, the virgins, as they do a desirable person, from whence the allusion is taken, And chap. vi. 8, the MiD2Y are distinguished first from M22, the “ queens,” or the king’s married wives; and then from the 5°22, or “concubines,” those who were admitted “ad usum thori,” to the marriage-bed, though their chil- dren did not inherit with those of the married wives: and therefore none but those who were properly virgins could be designed by that name. And by them are those denoted who keep themselves chaste unto Christ, and undefiled in his worship. Hence are they in the Revelation, chap. xiv. 4, said to be rupéévor, “ virgins,” or &wamwor evdriov rod Spévov rod Osod, verse 5, “ persons unblamable before the throne of God,” having not defiled themselves with the spiritual fornica- tions of the great whore. There remaineth only one place more wherein this word is used, whence the Jews would wrest somewhat to countenance their exceptions. This is Prov. xxx. 19, 78 77 MD2¥3a ;—“ And the way of a nran with a maid.” And who is in- tended by ndey there, they say the ensuing words declare: 377 {3 NEN NW:—“ So is the way of an adulteress,’ or a woman an adulteress, an harlot. So that %2?¥ may, it seems, be such an one. But, [1.] Suppose the word should in this place be used in a sense quite contrary unto that of all other places wherein mention is made of it, is it equal that we should take the importance of it from this one abuse, rather than from the constant wse of it in other places, especially considering that this place will by no means admit of that signification, as we shall immediately evince? [2.] It is used here peculiarly, with the prefix 3, ngeya, whence it is rendered by the LXX. in the abstract, ’Ev veérqz71, “The way of a man in his youth;” which sense Jerome follows, “ Viam viri in adolescentia;” and it may thus seem to be differenced from the same word in all
SECT. 27, 28.] THE ONLY TRUE AND PROMISED MESSIAH. 391
other places. But, [3.] Indeed the meaning of the wise man is evident, and it is a virgin that he intended by the word, and 733 77) i92Y2 is the way that a man taketh to corrupt a virgin, and to compass his lust upon her. ‘This is secret, hidden, full of snares and evils, such as ought not to enter into the thoughts of a good man to conceive, much less to approve of. And therefore, whereas he says of the residue of the quaternion joined with this, verse 18, 38?5?, “They are too wonderful for me,” he adds, on the mention of this evil, ‘AYT. N°, “TI know it not,” or as Jerome, “ Penitus ignoro ;” which he could not say of the way of natural generation. And by this means she who is called ')2¥, “ a virgin,” verse 19, is made TW NANI, “an harlot,’ verse 20, and has become impudent in sinning. A man having, by subtle wicked ways, prevailed against her chastity, and corrupted her virginity, she afterwards becomes a common prostitute. And this I take to be the genuine medning of the place, though it be not altogether improbable that the wise man in verse 20 proceedeth unto another especial instance of things secret and hidden in an adulterous woman, |2 signifying as much as “ so also,” which it doth in sundry other places.
27. And these are all the places, besides that of the prophet under consideration, wherein the word is used in the Old Testament; so that as its rise, its constant use also will admit of no other signifi- cation but only that of an wnspotted virgin. Besides, the LXX. render it in this place rapévos, “a virgin,’ and the Targum, xnidy, which the other Targums express a virgin by, Gen. xxiv. 16, 57; Esth. ii. 2, iv. 4; Ruth ii. 23; 1 Sam. xxv. 42. Neither is any word in the Scripture so constantly and invariably used to express an in- corrupted virgin as this is. 2 hath respect only unto age, and signifies any one, married or unmarried, a virgin or one defloured, so she be young. moana also is used for one corrupted, Deut. xxii. 23, 24; as also for a widow, Joeli. 8. So that by this word a virgin is precisely signified, or the Hebrews have no word denoting ex- actly that state and condition. And, lastly, the prefixing of 4 in this place, 2297, makes the denotation of the word the more signal. It is but twice more so prefixed, Gen. xxiv. and Exod. i; in both which places the Jews themselves will not deny but that unspotted virgins are intended.