and in others that Samael would have done it; which proves that it is one and the same who by both names is intended. And hence they usually call him yw byw Eewir > ws3,—* the wicked Samael, the prince of all the devils;” and say of him, xaby Sob xmva os Sxttd,—“ Samael brought death upon all the world.” So that by this Samael, or angel of death, it is evident that they intend him who is termed ¢ d:aoAos, as the prince and ruler of the rest. So also they speak ex- pressly in Bava Bathra, Distinc. Hashatephir: nin sda sn qey sim peny oN pom “x9 st3;—* Rabbi Simeon said, the same is Satan, and the angel of death, and the evil figment ;’ that is, the cause and author of it. And they call him the angel of death on many accounts, the consideration whereof may give us some light into the reason of the expression here used by the apostle. The first is that before mentioned, namely, that by his means death entered and came upon all the world. His temptation was the first occasion of death; and for that reason is he termed by our Saviour, ’Avdoaroxrévos ax cépyijs, John viii. 44, “ A murderer from the beginning.” And herein he had the power of death, prevail- ing to render all mankind obnoxious to the sentence and stroke of it. Secondly, Because he is employed in great and signal judgments to inflict death on men. He is the head of those 9°27 72ND) | “ evil angels,” who slew the Egyptians, Ps. Ixxyiii. 49. So in Ps. xci. 5, these words, “Thou shalt not fear 22 719? 2,” “from the arrow that flieth by day,” are rendered by the Targum, 4x57 sos 7/2 Sarena SIT Nnita, “from the arrow of the angel of death, which he shooteth by day.” And in the next verse these words, D7" 7% 2up2, “from the destruc- tion that wasteth at noonday,” they render, stus poaha7 pw nyo, “ from the troop of devils that waste at noonday ;” the psalmist treating of great and sud- den destructions, which they affirm to be all wrought by Satan. And hence the Hellenists also render the latter place by desucviov weonwSpivev, “the devil at noonday;’’ wherein they are followed by the Vulgar Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic translations.- And this the apostle seems to allude unto, 1 Cor. x. 10, where he says that those who murmured in the wilderness were destroyed dé tov GAo- Spevrov, “by the destroyer ;” 6 dyysros érodpsurgs, that miam yon, “the destroy- ing angel,” or “the angel of death;” as in this epistle he terms him 6 crodpsvay, chap. xi. 28. And it may be this is he who is called "2 Y=2, Job xviii. 13,— ® the first-born of death,” or he that hath right unto the administration of it. They term him also *t12¥s,—that is, caodocurgs, “ the waster” or “destroyer;” and 4, from 71v, “to waste” or “destroy ;” as also ;73s8,——which, as John tells us, is the Hebrew name of the angel of the bottomless pit, Rev. ix. 11, as his Greek name is’ Azoaaday, that is, myan 4Nd2, and carcdpevrgs. Thirdly, The later Jews sup- pose that this angel of death takes away the life of every man, even of those who die a natural death. And hereby, as they express the old faith of the church, that death is penal, and that it came upon all for sin through the temptation of Satan, so also they discover the bondage that they themselves are in for fear of death all their days; for when a man is ready to die, they say the angel of death appears to him in a terrible manner, with a drawn sword in his hand, from thence drops I know not what poison into him, whereon he dies. Hence they wofully howl, lament, and rend their garments, upon the death of their friends; and they have composed a prayer for themselves against this terror. Because also of this their being slain by the angel of death, they hope and pray that their death may be an expiation for all their sins. Here lies “the sting” of death, mentioned by the apostle, 1 Cor. xv. 55. Hence they have a long story in their Midrash, or mystical exposition of the Pentateuch, on the last section of Deuteronomy about Samael’s coming to take away the life of Moses, whom he repelled and drove away with the rod that had the Shem Hamphorash written in it. And the like story they have in a book about the acts of Moses, which Aben Ezra rejects on Exod. iv. 20. This hand of Satan in death, manifesting it to be penal, is that
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436 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. II.
which keeps them in bondage and fear all their days. Fourthly, They suppose that this angel of death hath power over men even after death. One horrible penalty they fancy in particular that he inflicts on them, which is set down by Elias in his Tishbi in “spr wish, out of the Midrash of Rabbi Isaac, the son of Parner; for when a man, as they say, departs out of this world, man 4x2 82 snap by awn, “the angel of death comes and sits upon his grave.” And he brings with him a chain, partly of iron, partly of fire, and making the soul to return into the body, he breaks the bones, and torments variously both body and soul for a season. This is their purgatory$ and the best of their hopes is, that their punishment after this life shall not be eternal. And this various interest of. Satan in the power of death both keeps them in dismal bondage all their days, and puts them upon the invention of several ways for their deliverance. Thus one of their solemn prayers on the day of expiation, is to be delivered from wiah “apn, or this punishment of the devil in their graves; to which purpose also they offer a cock unto him for his pacification. And their prayer to this purpose in their Berachoth is this, memnp ome don mova mbt ras mers abe pm om map bw uraiin pina Sw mmtin;—* That it may please thee (good Lord) to deliver us from the evil decrees’ (or “laws,’”’) “from poverty, from contempt, from all kind of punishments, from the judgments of hell, and from beating in the graye by the angel of death.” And this supposition is in like manner admitted by the Mo- hammedans, who have also this prayer, “ Deus noster libera nos ab angelo inter-= rogante tormento sepulchri, et 4 via mala.” And many such lewd imaginations are they now given up unto, proceeding from their ignorance of the righteousness of God. But yet from these apprehensions of theirs we may see what the apostle intended in this expression, calling the devil “ him that had the power of death.”