F 323. i It is plain that thoſe years are to be computed from the firſt AR. 7.6. Premiſe madeto Abraham, Gen: 12: 1, 2. to the giving of the Law, Gal. 3.17. from Gal: 3: 19: where this is affirmed. And although it doth nor plainly appear when that Promiſe was made, becauſe the Scripture mentions not Abraham's Age, neither when it was made, nor when Abraham came to Haran with his Father,Ger:11:31: but only when he went out of Haran, being 75 years old, Gen: 12: 4: yeta good while after it was made, and,as it may ſeem more than probable, 3o years afterward, it is manifeſt there were only 400 years of this time to - come, Gen: 15: 13. And many more years paſſed ere there was ſuch a man as Iſrael or Jacob, and more ere there were any chilaren of 1ſrael, or of Jacob, and yet more ere they came into Egypr. How then can this be true which is here ſaid ? nſw 1.Some affirm that they were - in Eeypt 430 years, which is ſooner ſaid than proved. 2. Some an- cietit Hebrew Copies are ſaid ro have had more words than ours now have ; for the LXX,and Samaritan Interpreters after the words in Egypt, read, and, in the landof Canaan. And ſome otifer Copies af- ter the word, who, add, together with their fathers,or,and their fathers. And fo the difficulty vanitheth.And if it ſhould be granted, thar there were ſome few ſuch errours in our. preſcnt Copies in matters urely Hiſtorical or Chronological, which God mighr permit to be there for many wiſe and holy Reaſons, yer this is no prejudiceto our Faith,or to {:o0d'S Providence, which hath been pleaſed to have ſo ſpecial a care of thoſe Texts which concern the eſſentials of Faith and a good life, that all Copies are agreed in them. 3. Theſe 430 years are not by the Text confined ro Egypr,but may be extended to any place where they were ſojourners ; and the Hebrew word, 4ſber, is not to be rendred,which, as relating to the time of their ſojourn- ing, but who, as be)onging to the perſons ſojourning, as our Tran- ſlation well renders it ; and the ſenſe is, that they were ſojourners, or, which is all one, ffrangers,or dwellers in « land that was my theirs, as it is ſaid Gen: 15: 13: for 430 years. And the Emphaſis lies in the Hebrew word moſhab, which 15 here fitly rendred ſsjourning ; as zoſhab, coming from: the fame root, is commonly uſed for a ſojourner, or one that lives in a Place or Land which is not his, as Levir. 22. To. and 25. 35, 49. Numb. 35. 15. Pſal. 39. 12. There is now but one difficulty remains, How the Children of rae! can be ſaid to be ſojourners ſo long, ſeing much ofthis time paſſed before they were born ? Anſ. As Levi is ſaid to pay tithes in Abraham, Heb. 7. 9. be- cauſe he was in the Loyns of Abraham when Abraham paid Tythes ; with much more reaſon might the Children of 1ſrael! be ſaid to ſo- Journ ſo long,becauſe they ſojourned a great part of itin their own perſons,and the reſt in the Loyns of their Parents. And as oft-times when the Parents only are mentioned, the Children are included or intended, as Gen: 12: 3: thee, i: e: in thy Seed ; and Gen: 13:19: I will give it (the Land ) untothee, i: e: to thy Seed; and Jacob is ſaid to be brought up again out of Egypt, Gen: 46: 4: to wit, in his Poſte- rity ; and David is oft put for his Poſterity, as 1 King:12: 16: Exek: 34: 23: and 37: 24, 25. why may not Parents alſo be underſtood ſometimes, when the Children only are mentioned ? But we need not make Suppoſitions, ſeing we have Examples ; the Perſecution in Egypt, and deliverance out of it, which happened to the Parents only, being attributed to their Poſterity, who neither felt the one, norſaw the other, Deut: 26: 5, &'c. Compare Pſal. 66: 6: Judg: 10: 11,12. And the ſouls of the houſe of Facob ( i: e: ) of the Children . of. Iſrael, (for by houſe it isevident he means only Children ) which came with Jacob into Egypt; are faid to be threeſcore and ten ſouls, Gen 46: . 26,27 In which number and title 7acob himſelf is confeſſedly inclu« ded. And therefore upon theivery ſame ground,nnder this title of the children of Iſrae!,vre mult underftand 7/72e! himſelf, who being the chief author and ſubje& of this ſojourning in Ezypr, it were yareaſonable
of ſuch an Almighty and All-tuffcient God. And becauſe their -
EBXODUS.
4
to exclude him from the number of theſe ſojourtiers. And this Phraſe being once extended to their immediat Parent, may by a parity of reaſon be extended to their great Grandfather 4braham,asbeing the firſt Author of that famous Peregrination or Sojourning,which be- ing begun in Canaan,ended in Egypt. Add to this,that the word 1/rael, as it is put for the People or Children of Jſracl,iselſewhere uſed for the whole Church of God, as Rom: 9:6: and therefore may well in- clude Abraham as the Father,and,under God, the Founder of it. And the title of he children of 1ſrael might well be given toall rhar People, and to the Family from which they deſcended, becauſe they were now known by that name. And that this inaeed was Moſes his mean< ing, which 1s here produced,may be further gathered from hence, that otherwiſe Moſes had contradiGed himfelf ; for by the years of the Lives of Jacob, and Levi, and Kehath, and Amram,and Moſes him- ſelf, which he preciſely ſets down, it appears that the ſojourning of the Children of 1jrael,ſtrictly ſo called,in Egypr,was not above 215 years. And it is abſurd to think that ſo wiſe and learned a man, as all ac- knowledge Meſes to have been, ſhould commit ſo groſs an error, e- ſpecially ſeing that Generation could eaſily have confuted him.
41 And it came to paſs at the endof chefour hundred and thirty years f, even the ſeif-ſame day k it came to paſs, that al! the hoſts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.