`Prainifes of the Mefsiiah I/indicated. 105 amoizg the Nations, he faith fl'w fl `PC N11 WORM, This Judge, or Hr that judged% is the King Meffiah. The like alfo faith Aben Ezra on the, fame place ; and Jambi on the fame words in the Prophefìe ofMicah. And as this is true, fo whereas Jehovah alone is mentioned in the foregoing Verfes, unto Whom.and.no other this expreilion can relate, how it is poflible for them todeny that theMeffiah is the Lord, the Godof Jacob alfo s for undeniably it is he, concerning whom it is Paid, that he fhall judge among the Nations ; And by their confefsion that it is the Mo ab who is the Shophet the Judge here intended, they areplainly convinced out of their own mouths, and their in- fidelity condemned by themfelves. Abarbinel teems tó have been aware ofthis entanglement , and thereföre as he wrefts the Prophefie, ('by his own confefsion contrary to the fenfe of all other Ex- pofitors ) unto the times of the building Of the Second Temple ; fo becaufe he could not avoid theconvi6tion of one that fhould judge among the Nations , he makes it to be the Hoasfe it fef, Wherein as he layes, Thrones for Judgement were to be ereeled; the vanity of which figment fecures it from any further confutation. Wehave then evidently in thrfe words three Articles of the Faith' of the Antient Churchconcerning the Mefsob ; as Firli That as to his Perfon, heGould be, God and man ; the God of acob, whoGould in abodily prefence judge the People, and fend forth the Law among_, the Nations, v. 4. Secondly, That the Gentiles fhould be called unto ,faith in him, and the Obedience of his Law, e.3. Thirdÿ,-That theWor/hipof the Lord in the dayes of the Mefah fhould be far more glorious than at any time whileft the firfh Temple was }landing, for fo it is foretold, v. z. and fo our Apofile proves it to be, in his Epitlle to the Hebrews. And this whole Prophefie is not a little perverted by them, who apply it to the defeat ,ofRefzrz and Pet ab whenthey came againfl Jerufalem, and who in their Annotations on the Scripture, whereby they have won to themfelves a great Reputation in the world, feldom depart from the fenfe of the Jews, unlefs it be where they are in the Right. Ifar 4.v. 2. In that day (ball the branch of the Lord be Beauty and Glory. Targ. 4. 29 7p+ 51 mrirh +7 Nit'`tUJ 1 tiro N)ly2; ,aì that time fhall the Mefiab of the Lord be for Joy and Honour. And this Prophefie alfo is by the moth learned of the Rabbini applied unto the Meffiah. Kimchi interprets t1í8, the branch , by that of Jcrem. 23. v. 5. I will raft i up unto David a Righteous Branch, a King fhall reign and profiler. Abets Ezra enclines untothem whowould have Hezekiah to be intended; a Cbriltian Expofitor refers the words toEzraand Nehemiah, upon the return from the Captivity, on what grounds he doth not declare. Abarbinel having, as is his manner álwayes,. repeated the various Expofitions and Opinions of others , adds at daft; rLno rirlm i p-Y moos 17p 'ar11t4 tarn 1=s1rIN1; others expound the words of the Meab our Righteoufnefi; let him be fpeedily revealed: But they may alfodo well to confider, that the Perlon here promifed tobe the Beauty and Gloryof the Church, by whom the Remnant of Ifrael, which. are, written in*the Book, of Life (hall be faved, is theB R A 'NOH of the Lord, and theFruit of theEarth e which better expreffeth his two Natures in one Perlon , than that he Gould be for a while a barren Branch, and afterwards bear fruit in'the defiruéfion of GigandMagog, which is their globs on the words. The illufirious Prophefies concerning 'the name of the Mef fah, Immanuel, and his being born of a Virgin, Chap. 7:& 8. muff be handled apart afterwards and vindicated from the exceptions ofthe Sews, and are therefore here omitted. - Ifaiah 9. v. 6. And his' Name fhall be called Wenderfull, Counfell1r, the mighty Gods Q. 30' the everlafting Father,thePrince ofPeace.Targ. N1t7N 189 i= tp jto ietJtU rtprirtri And his Name iscalled of old, flip ¿ö- is the fame with O1pB ; Micah 5. v. 2. Targ jlciptho; that is, as in the next words, from everlafing, from the dayes of ' Eternity. For although Cap To, be frequently ufed for 110'10 from before the face or fight, as the words of theTargumifi are here vulgarly tranflated, (as in theTran- Ration in the Polyglott Bibles) afacie admirabilis Confilü Deus i which is blamed by Cartwright in his Mellificium, for not puttingDeus in the Genitive Cafe, aswell as ad- mirabilis, (which indeed were rational, if L77p to were neceffarily a fade, ) but it is allo ufed abfolutely withreference unto time, and fo there is no need that the following words Gould' be regulated thereby. So is it twice ufed, as Prov. 8. v.22. 91111y =113 Tat, and before his world, that werewrought ;that is freimEternity. And v 23. N0112 i=gyp 7Bt ; and before the World. And in that fenfe is' Ttovtm al- wayes ufed,; as Ifaiah 23.V. 7. Pfalm78, v. 2. Ifa. 46. v. 50, And thus the words will P yield
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