be occasion) with that which goes before, and the general scope of it, with the thread of the history or discourse, and the collecting of the several parts of it, to be seen at one view, will contribute very much to the understanding of it, and will give the mind abundant satisfaction in the general intention, though there may be here and there a difficult word or expression which the best critics cannot easily account for. This, therefore, I have here endeavoured.
But we are concerned not only to understand what we read, but to improve it to some good purpose, and, in order thereunto, to be affected with it, and to receive the impressions of it. The word of God is designed to be not only a light to our eyes, the entertaining subject of our contemplation, but a light to our feet and a lamp to our paths, (Ps. 119. 106.) to direct us in the way of our duty, and to prevent our turning aside into any by-way: we must therefore, in searching the scriptures, inquire, not only What is this? but. What is this to us? What use may we make of it? How may we accommodate it to some of the purposes of that divine and heavenly life which, by the grace of God, we are resolved to live? Inquiries of this kind I have here aimed to answer.
When the stone is rolled from the well's mouth by a critical explication of the text, still there are those who would both drink themselves, and water their flocks; but they complain that the well is deep, and they have nothing to draw; how then shall they come by this living water? Some such may, perhaps, find a bucket here, or water drawn to their hands; and pleased enough shall I be with this office of the Gibeonites, to draw water for the congregation of the Lord out of these wells of salvation.
That which I aim at in the exposition, is, to give what I thought the genuine sense, and to make it as plain as I could to ordinary capacities, not troubling my reader with the different sentiments of expositors: which would have been to transcribe Mr. Pool's Latin Synopsis, where this is done abundantly to our satisfaction and advantage.
As to the practical observations, I have not obliged myself to raise doctrines out of every verse or paragraph, but only have endeavoured to mix with the exposition such hints or remarks as I thought improvable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, aiming in all to promote practical godliness, and carefully avoiding matters of doubtful disputation and strifes of words. It is only the prevalency of the power of religion in the hearts and lives of christians, that will redress our grievances, and turn our wilderness into a fruitful field.
And since our Lord Jesus Christ is the true Treasure hid in the field of the Old Testament, and was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, I have been careful to observe what Moses wrote of him, to which he himself oft appealed. In the writings of the prophets we meet with more of the plain and express promises of the Messiah, and the grace of the gospel; but here, in the books of Moses, we find more of the types, both real and personal, figures of Him that was to come; shadows, of which the substance is Christ, Rom. 5. 14. Those to whom to live is Christ, will find in these that which is very instructive and affecting, and will give great assistance to their faith, and love, and holy joy. This, in a particular manner, we search the scriptures for—to find what they testify of Christ and eternal life: John 5. 39.
Nor is it any objection against the application of the ceremonial institutions of Christ and his grace, that they to whom they were given, could not discern this sense, or use of them; but it is rather a reason why we should be very thankful that the vail which was upon their minds in the reading of the Old Testament, is done away in Christ, 2 Cor. 3. 13, 14, 18. Though they then could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished, it does not therefore follow but that we who are happily furnished with a key to these mysteries, may in them, as in a glass, behold the glory of the Lord Jesus. And yet, perhaps, the pious Jews saw more of the gospel in their ritual, than we think they did; they had at least a general expectation of good things to come, by faith in the promises made to the fathers, as we have of the happiness of heaven, though they could not of that world to come, any more than we can of this, form any distinct or certain idea. Our conceptions of the future state, perhaps, are as dark and confused, as short of the truth, and as wide from it, as theirs then were of the kingdom of the Messiah: but God requires faith, only according to the revelation he gives. They then were accountable for no more light than they had; and we now are accountable for that greater light which we have in the gospel, by the help of which we may find much more of Christ in the Old Testament than they could.
If any think our observations sometimes take rise from that which to them seems too minute, let them remember that maxim of the Rabbins, Non est in lege vel una litera a qua non pendent magni montes—The law contains not a letter but what bears the weight of mountainʂ. We are sure there is not an idle word in the Bible.
