Obs, XIII. It is a dangerous condition, for children to boast of the privilege of their fathers, and to imitate their sins.
This was almost continually the state of the Jews. They were still boasting of their progenitors, and constantly walking in their sins. This they are everywhere in the Scripture charged withal. See Num, xxxii. 14. This the Baptist reflected on in his first deal- ing with them: “ Bring forth,” saith he, “ fruits meet for repentance; and think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father,” Matt. iii. 8,9. On every occasion they still cried out, “ We have Abraham to our father,’—he who was so highly favoured of God, and first received the promises. For his sake and by his means they expected to be saved temporally and eternally. Hence they have a saying in their Talmud, sy oon: Sy snp Sy sen omany pomaa Syne sere ta nnd;—“ Abraham sits at the gates of hell, and will not permit that any transgressors of Israel shall go in thither, ’—a great reserve against all their ‘sins, but that it will de- ceive them when they are past relief. It is true they had on this account many privileges, as our apostle testifies in sundry places, Rom. iii. 1, 2, ix. 4, 5; and so he esteemed them to be as to his own personal interest in them, Phil. iii 4,5. But whilst they trusted unto them and continucd in the sins of them who had abused them, it turned to their further ruin. See Matt. xxiii 29-32. And let their example deter others from countenancing themselves in privi- leges of any kind whilst they come short of personal faith and obe- dience. Again,—
Obs. XIV. A multitude joining in any sin gives it thereby a great
aggravation.
52 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. III.
Those here that sinned were all the persons of one entire genera- tion. This made it a formal, open rebellion, a conspiracy against God, a design as it were to destroy his kingdom and to leave him no subjects in the world. When many conspire in the same sin it is a great inducement unto others to follow. Hence is that caution in the law, Exod. xxiii. 2, “ Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil.” The law, indeed, hath an especial respect unto judgment and causes of differences among men. But there is a general direction in the law for our whole course: ny pas MANN? ;—“* Thou shalt not be after many” (or “great men”) “unto evils,’—‘ Take heed of the inclination of a multitude unto evil, lest thou art also carried away with their errors and sin; and this aggravates the sin of many. It doth so also, that the opposition unto God therein is open and notorious, which tends greatly to his dishonour in the world. And what resentment God hath of the provocation that lies herein is fully expressed in Numbers, chap. xiv., from verse 20 unto verse 35, speaking of the sin of the congregation in their unbelief and murmuring against him. In the first place, he engageth himself by his oath to vindicate his glory from the reproach which they had cast upon it, verse 21, “As truly as I live,” saith he, “ all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lorp.” Some take these words to be only an asseveration of that which follows; as if God had said, ‘As truly as I live, and as the earth is filled with my glory, all these men shall perish;’ but the words rather contain the principal matter of the oath of God. He swears that as they, by their con- junct sin and rebellion, had dishonoured him in the world, so he, by his works of power and vengeance on them, would fill the earth again with his glory. And there is in the following words a represen- tation of a great zééoc, or “commotion,” with great indignation: “They have,” saith he, “seen my miracles, and have tempted me now these ten times,” verse 22. The Hebrew doctors do scrupu- lously reckon up these temptations. The first, they say, is in Exod. xiv. 11, when they said, “ Because there were no graves in Egypt.” The second in Marah, Exod. xv. 24, “The people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?” The third in the desert of Sin, Exod. xvi. 2, 3, “The whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, and said, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lorp in Egypt; when we sat by the flesh-pots.” The fourth when they left manna until the morning, Exod, xvi. 19, 20, “And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank.” The fifth was when some of them went out to gather manna on the Sabbath-day, Exod. xvi. 27, 28, which God called a “refusing to keep his commandments and his laws.” The sixth was
VER. 7-11.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 58
in Rephidim, at the waters of Meribah, Num. xx. 2-13. The seventh in Horeb, when they made the calf, Exod. xxxii. The eighth at Taberah, Num. xi. 1-8. The ninth at Kibroth-hattaavah, Num. xi. 31-34, The tenth upon the return of the spies, Num. xiv. Thus are the ten temptations reckoned up by some of the Jews, and by others of them they are enumerated with some little alteration. But whether the exact number of ten be intended in the expression is very uncertain; it seems rather to intend multiplied temptations, expressed with much indignation. So Jacob when he chode with Laban told him, “Thou hast changed my wages ten times,” Gen. xxxi. 41; that is, frequently, which he so expressed in his anger and provocation. So doth God here,—“ Ye have tempted me these ten times;” that is, ‘So often, so far, that I neither can nor will bear with you any longer.’ In the whole discourse (which sinners ought to read and tremble at) there is represented as it were such a rising of anger and indignation in the face of God, such a commotion of soul in displeasure (both made use of to declare an unchangeable will of punishing), as scarce appears again in the Scripture. Thus it is for a multitude to transgress against God, as it were by a joint con- spiracy. Such issues will all national apostasies and provocations receive. And this is the first general part of the example proposed to consideration, namely, the persons sinning, with the observations that arise from thence.