Chap. 40. AnExpofition upon the Bookof Jos, Verf.t beo his wifdom. Again ( Prov. 9 a.) wifdom (fo we tranflate, but the word is wifdoms) loath built her bottle, that is, Jeff's Chrifl bath. And he is expreft by a plural word, to note that all forts and degrees of wifdom meet in him ; according to that of the Apoftle ( Col. 2. 3.) In him are bid all the creaturesof wifd000and knowledg. As David when he would Phew how very foolish and beaftly he had been,in mif-judging the difpenfations of God, Firft, in affliRing the godly; Secondly, in profpering evil men : When (I fay)heconfidered, how foolishly he had done in envying at, or i n being troubled about their profpericy ; he concludes (ver.2z.) So foolifh was and ignorant/yen as a beaff before thee.The Hebrew ufeth the word in the Text, Behemoth, evenas beaffs before thee. As if he had Caid, the beaftlinefs of all beafts centred in me, and all their ignorance, while my fpirit was fo troubled in this matter concerning the providences of God, towards my Pelf who ferve him, and chofe who ferve himnot. Thus David, that he might fully acknowledg, howvery a beafl he was, in fo fpeaking and fo thinking, calls himfelf Behemoth, Beals. This may fuffice to fa- tisfie the Reader why we expound the Text of a particular bead, and whymoil pitch it upon theElephant among all beafts in find- al, though the word be of the plural number. There being no proper or peculiar name in Scripture for the Elephant, it is molt probable that he is herenamed by this Appellative word plural. Yet (before 1 ftep further into that large defcriptionwhich the Lord gives of Behemoth) I cannot forbear to take notice, that the fame induftrious and learned Author, whovaryeth in opi- Sochartus nion ( as was there fhewed ) about the Reem, by us rendred the parsepoßer. 'Unicorn,varyeth here asmuch in his Opinion about Bebemotb,in !i6S,e. o. . timated by our tranflators in the Margin, andaffirmed (as him- felt confeffeth) by the moil general voice of modern interpre- ters, to be the Elephant. I fuppofeit will not be unacceptable to the Reader, if I here offer a brief account of thofe reafons which prevailed with him to turn off from the common opinion concerning this Animal, which he gives as followeth. `In the fortieth and forty -firft Chapters of the book of yob (faith he)Behemotb and Leviathanare fodefcribec', hat 'cis ap- t parent they are beafts of a huge bulk: Whence it comes to pats, e that moil ofthe later Writers have thought Behemoth to be the I iii z Ele-
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