"For, in truth, both HEROD and PONTIUS PILATE, with the GENTILES, and PEOPLES OF ISRAEL, were affembled together against thy holy child JESUS, whom Thou didst ANOINT: to do, whatjoever thy council predetermined to happen, &c.

"And when they had prayed, the place wherein they were affembled together, was fhaken, and all were filled with THE HOLY GHOST, &c.

In this clear, diftinct, and authoritative commentary, "the Gentiles,' are intimated to be the Romans; "the peoples," the peoples of Ifrael, or the Jews; "the kings of the land," Herod and Pontius Pilate; "the rulers" the Jewish fanhedrim or council; and "the Lord's CHRIST❞—His Holy Child JESUS, whom He anointed, or ordained, to be MESSIAH, REGENT, OF KING.

Following this admirable elue, we fhall be the better enabled to underStand and explain the Hebrew text:

Verfe, 1.-"The Gentiles" or Heathen Nations (1) are here contrafted with "the peoples," (ps) or tribes of Ifrael; as in many parts of the Old Teftament, especially in the Divine Ode, usually called Mofes's Song, Deut. 32, 8-(The following tranflation is taken from THE INSPECTOR, p. 155.)

"When THE MOST HIGH divided to the nations* their fettlements,
When he feparated the fons of Adam:

He affigned the boundaries of the peoplest [of Ifrael]
According to the numbers of the fons of Ifrael;

For the portion of THE LORD is his people,‡

Jacob, the furvey of his inheritance."

"Where, the fettlements of the Gentiles, are finely contrafted with those of "the peoples" or tribes of Ifrael: each tribe, on account of their immenfe population being confidered as a people in itself; while the aggregate of the twelve tribes-" According to the number of the fons of Ifrael," -compofed collectively "his people," whom THE LORD chofe to be a peculiar treasure unto Himfelf"-"though all the earth be his"-for Abraham their Father's fake."-But p'ny and pins, are often taken as fynonimous. See Gen. 27, 29. Ifa. 51, 4, &c.

On the authority of the Septuagint verfion, fanctioned by the apostles, I have rendered the Hebrew verbs, in the past rather than the prefent tense,

Why did the Gentiles rage," &c.—which is their grammatical import, and alfo more conformable to the context; this moft noble and highly poetical compofition of the infpired pfalmift reprefenting "the tranfcendant exaltation" of the SON OF GOD, on the day of his refurrection; after his perfecution by the impotent rage and idle machinations of all his foes.So minutely and circumftantially foretold by OUR LORD himself, and defcribed by the Evangelifts:

1. When Simon Peter, in the name of all the apoftles, had acknowledged "JESUS, to be THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD;" "from thenceforth began JESUS to fhew unto his disciples, that he must needs go to Jerufalem, and fuffer many things from the elders, and chief priests, and fcribes, and be killed, and be raised, the third day? Matt. 16. 21. Compare Mark, 8. 31. Luke. 9, 22.

2. Soon after his transfiguration, while they abode in Galilee; Jefus faid

unte

עחו *

.עדים *

גויס *

unto them, "THE SON OF MAN is going to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they fhall kill him; and he shall be raised, the third day” Matt. 17, 22. Compare Mark, 9, 31. and Luke, 9, 44.

3. On his way from the coafts of Jordan to Jerufalem, "He took the twelve difciples apart and faid unto them, lo, we are going up to Jerufalem, and THE SON OF MAN fhall be betrayed to the chief priests and elders and they fhall condemn Him to death, and fhall deliver him to the Gentiles, to mock and to fcourge and to crucify; and he thall rise again, the third day. Matt. 20, 17. Compare Mark 10, 33. Luke, 18, 31.

4. When the Pharifees, to intimidate him, faid " get thee out and depart hence, for Herod meaneth to kill thee," He answered, go and tell that for; lo, to day and to morrow, I caft out demons and perform cures; and the third day I fhall be perfected: nevertheless, I must needs [ftay] to day and to morrow, and depart the next day; for it is not poffible that a prophet perish out of Jerufalem!" Luke 14, 31-33.

5. Two days before the Paffover, He faid unto his difciples, "THE SON OF MAN is betrayed to be crucified"—while the chief priests and elders were actually conspiring against him. Matt. 26, 2. Compare Mark, 14,

1. Luke, 22, 1.

he

6. The fame night in which he was betrayed, He faid, during fupper, I verily one of you fhall betray me"-and he marked the traitor, that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the fame fhall betray me"when Judas atked, Is it I, Mafter? He anfwered, thou Speakeft [truth]." --And He alfo pointed him out to the beloved difciple John :-" The fame is he to whom, when I have dipped, I fhall give a fop: and when He had dipped the fop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot-(and after the fop, Satan entered into him:) Then faid JESUS unto him, what thou doeft, do quickly. But none of the guests knew for what intent he fpake [thus] to him.' Matt. 26, 23, &c. Mark 14, 20, &c. Luke 22, 21, &c. John 13, 21,

&c.

7. Shortly after, during his agony in the garden of Bethsemane, after he had prayed thrice, he faid to his difciples, ftill flumbering and fleeping for forrow:-" Lo! the hour is at hand, and THE SON OF MAN is betrayed into the hands of finners :-Rife, let us be going, lo, my betrayer is at hand: And while He was yet fpeaking, lo, Judas-came, &c. Matt. 26, 45, &c. Mark 14, 41, &c. Luke 22, 46.

8. JESUS thus knowing all things that were to come upon him, went forth and faid unto them, whom seek ye? &c. John 18, 4.

9. On the day of his refurrection, He reminded his difciples, of these his predictions;-"That all things written concerning him, in the Law of Mofes, and the prophets, and the Pfalms, muft needs be fulfilled."

Thus it is written, and thus it behoved THE CHRIST to fuffer, and to rife from the dead, the third day."-" Ought not THE CHRIST to fuffer these things [firft, and then] to enter into his glory?" Luke 24, 26-46.

Verse 2. "The kings of the land confederated"

The Hebrew terms, and the Greek Tata or гn, ambiguoufly denote either "the earth" in general or "the land" in particular. The apoftles comment, limits it to the latter fense; "Herod" being then tetrarch of Galilee; and " Pontius Pilate" procurator or governor of Judea, which with Samaria, was then attached to the Roman province of Syria. And in this limited fenfe, the phrafe, di Catineis tns yns. "The kings of the

land"

land" feems to be understood in that fignal miracle of fupplying the capitation tax, for OUR LORD and his disciple Peter, Matt. 17, 24-27.* From the reafon affigned:-" But that we might not offend them;" meaning plainly, the impofers of the tax in queftion, the Roman governor, and Herod :-not "the kings of the earth" at large, as usually but irrelevantly understood.

In the fame limited sense also, is to be understood, that remarkable decree iflued by Augufius Cafar, απογράφεσθαι πασαν την οικεμένην

or

66

*This ftupendous miracle of supplying the tribute money, evincing OUR LORD'S prefcience and his power over all nature, which for its minuteness and frugality is perhaps more wonderful than the fuperfluity of the loaves and fishes; has been greatly obfcured by tranflators, for want of retaining or paraphrafing the technical terms of the original; and miftaken by moft commentators, fuppofing that it was the capitation tax of half a shekel, for each of the congregation of Ifrael above twenty years of age, prefcribed by the Law of Mofes, for facred ufes. Exod. 30. 13. οἱ τα δίδραχμα λαμβανονίες, " the receivers of the two drachmas,” were the τελωναι publicans ;"- -tax gatherers employed by Herod in Galilee, and by the Roman governor, in Judea and Samaria :-And the two drachmas, or two Roman denarii, (worth about seven pence halfpenny of our currency, each) was the amount of the "cenfus" or capitation tax, paid to "Cefar," Matt. 22. 17. which was the fame as the facred. The flater, thus miraculously fupplied, was equal in value, to the facred fhekel, or four drachmas or four denarii; and the exact amount therefore of the capitation tax for JESUS and his difciple Peter. Why OUR LORD chofe to pay the tribute money, rather in this Grecian coin, than in the Roman or Jewish, may perhaps, not idly, be conjectured to have ariten from a curious circumftance, preferved by Helychius, under the article Ilanados agоowπov-where he thus defcribes the Grecian coin: Στατηρ· επι μεν ένος μερος, ΑΘΗΝΑΣ προσωπον· επι θατερα, την γλαυκά. "The ftater had, on one fide, Minerva's face; on the other, her owl" But AOHNA or Minerva, was the Heathen Goddefs of WISDOM; the fpurious, reprefentative of OUR LORD himself. The ftater therefore bore "his image; and He reclaimed it as his own coin.

It is ftrange how fuch a refpectable commentator as Gilpin, could fo greatly under-rate this miracle in his note, as to rank it "among thofe of the lowest class--a miracle adapted to fishermen !-or thus fancifully and irreverently account for it :--"It would be difficult to fay, how JESUS could with more propriety have obtained a fupply:-If he had created it on the fpot, it might have had the appearance of a fort of legerdemain; or it might have laid him open to the accusation of counterfeiting the current coin of the country!!",

And this note of his, may ferve to illuftrate the following excellent advice to facred critics, given by Gilpin himself: Pref. P. xvii. quarto.

"No doubt, as THE SCRIPTURES have been more commented on than any other books, and as people of all professions, and opinions, and under prejudices of every kind, have laboured in this work, there will, of courfe, be many things faid on the subject, which had been better unfaid: Nay even the best commentators, may have their particular opinions, which may often mislead their interpretations: Let the student therefore, with his beft judgement, endeavour to find out where the commentator trifles, where he refines; or above all things, where he deviates from COMMON SENSE, which fhould always guide our interpretations of Scripture.

†The word, Ongue, was anciently used in the limited fenfe of inhabited;" "thus Canaan, is tiled na syn ogμɛvn, "an inhabited land" as diftinguished from the wilderness. Exod. 16, 35. and also by a first rate claffical authority, Xenophon -μer xwga "" an inhabited country" distinguished from senun "a defert.

"that

"that all the inhabited [land] Should be enrolled," Luke 2, 1.-Meaning Herod the Great's dominions of Judea and Galilee;" with whom the emperor had been offended for redreffing himself by force of arms, in a quarrel with Syllæus, a neighbouring prince, without the emperor's permiffion ;At that time, the decree proceeded no further than the enrollment of perfons; by Cyrenius (or Quirinius) the emperor's procurator (as we learn from Juftin Martyr) or commiffioner of his revenues, in the imperial provinces ; acting under Saturninus, prefident of Syria; (as we learn from Tertullian). Herod having contrived to appeafe the emperor's anger: Nor did the affeffment of incomes (ETITIμnois) take place till ten years after the death of Herod, when Archelaus his fon was depofed, on the complaint of the Jews and Samaritans; and the trufty Cyrenius fent again in quality of prefident of Syria; to compleat the Cenfus, and enforce or levy the capitation tax as we learn from Jofephus, Tacitus, and Luke 2, 2. Αυτη η απογραφη πρωτη EYEVETO NYEμOVEVOVTOS TVs Zugias Kugnvis" The taxing itself, was first made, while Cyrenius was prefident of Syria" and not without confiderable oppofition indeed on the part of the Pharifees, and of the infurgents under * Judas of Galilee, εν ταις ημέραις της απογραφής in the days of the taxing" Acts 5, 37. As more fully explained by Jofephus.-And this will, I truft, be found a fimple and fatisfactory folution of the greatest hiftorical difficulty perhaps in the whole range of the New Teftament:-(namely, how to reconcile the Evangelift, with the partial and varying accounts of Juftin Martyr, Tertullian, Jofephus and Tacitus :† -by only altering the prefent afpirated pointing of 'avrn, "this" into the unafpirated auTn, "itfelf"-as warranted by the repetition of fame phrafeology, foon after, Luke 2, 38, Και αυτη, αυτη τη ώρα, επιτασα And this [Anna] at the fame inftant, coming in," &c.

"The confederacy" of Pontius Pilate and Herod, is also thus described by the Evangelift: "The fame day, (εv auth thпuega) were Pilate and Herod made friends together: for before they were at enmity with each other." Luke 23, 12.

"And the Rulers were affembled together"

The MESSIAH is introduced, Pf. 31, 14. thus complaining of the railings and threatenings of his foes, "while they confpired together, and plotted to take away my life."-Where the force of the verb, 17013, from (10) is well expreffed by the Alexandrine copy of the Septuagint : ETIσvxnoav:-And how admirably has the Evangelift alfo, expreffed its.. full import: Matt. 26, 2-4.

"Then were the chief priests and the feribes and the elders of the people, affembled together (ovnyxoav) at the palace of the high priest, called Caiaphas: and they confulted together, (ovvɛChevσavlo) to feize JESUS by fubtilty, and put him to death."

Chryfoftom, in his Homily on this chapter, conjectures, that the chief priests put off the celebration of the Paffover, a day later than they ought, hrough eagerness to deftroy JESUS."-Whatever might have been their

+ See Lardner's prolix differtation on this fubject, Vol. I. p. 248-329. In which he has fuccefsfully applied "the method of execution," to refute others; but has failed in establishing his own hypothefis.

intention

intention; the fact itself, that they celebrated it irregularly, is deducible from the Evangelifts:-OUR LORD celebrated it on Thursday," the day -on which the Paffover ought to be facrificed" (evn EAEI Oveσdaι To Taσxa) Luke 22, 7. And which was the ufual day, with the generality of the people, "when they facrificed the Paffover" (OTE TO пαoɣа EOYON) Mark 14, 12. as further appeared from the difciples enquiry of JESUS: (not doubting the fitness of the day) "Where wilt thou, that we go and prepare, that thou mayeft eat the Pallover?" Whereas the chief priefts and their faction, did not celebrate it till Friday; for, when they brought our Lord to receive fentence of * death from Pilate, it was their "preparation day" Luke 23, 54. and “ they themselves entered not into the prætorium (or tribunal) left they should be defiled; but that they might eat the Paffover." Compare Matt. 26, 17. and Luke 22, 15. with John 18, 28 and 19, 14. And this I truft, fatisfactorily folves a material difficulty in harmonizing the several Evangelifts accounts of the crucifixion. The regular time prescribed by the Law of Mofes for facrificing the Paffover, (or the Pascal Lamb;) was on the fourteenth day of the first month, "between the evenings," Exod. 12, 6. Levit. 23, 5. i. e. between the first evening, or ninth hour; (when the daily evening fervice of the temple began) and the fecond evening, or eleventh hour, at fun fet. Deut. 16, 6. But "CHRIST our Paffover," (of whom the Pafcal Lamb was only a type) expired at the first evening, and was interred at the fecond, and his funeral obfequies finished, at the begining of evening twilight, "when the fabbath was going to dawn." Matt. 27, 45-50. Mark 15, 42-45. Luke 29, 54. See THE INSPECTOR, p. 125, where this Syriafm is explained.

Verse 3. Let us break, &c. These words exprefs the rebellion and apoftacy of the Jews, in rejecting the Theocracy, or the dominion of THE LORD and his Regent or Vice Gerent THE MESSIAH: fo remarkably fulfilled in the declaration of the chief priests to Pilate: "We have no king but Cefar." John 19, 15. gated by the chief priests: Matt. 27, 25.

And in the imprecation of all the people, infti"His blood be on us and on our children!"

To this paffage of the Pfalmift, the prophet Hofea feems to allude, in the following defcription of Ifrael's ingratitude. 11, 1.

"When Ifrael was a child, I did love him,

And out of Egypt did I call my fon.†

I called to them, but they went from my prefence,
They facrificed to falfe Gods, and burned incenfe

To graven Images:

Nevertheless, I taught Ephraim to walk;

I took them up in my arms:

But they knew not that I cured them:

* This is vouched by refpectable Jewish evidence: the Shabbat, p. 104, 6. declares, "And fo they did to the fon of Satda (JESUS) in Lud, and hanged him (on the cross] ON THE EVENING OF THE PASSOVER." (Dan 27ya)

This paffage, feems to be applied to JESUS, Matt. 2, 15. rather by way of accommodation, or illuftration, than of the formal accomplishment of prophecy.It being here stated as a past tranfa&tion, fulfilled in the deliverance of the Ifraelites from Egyptian bondage. See Syke's Connexion, &c. p. 230. And Bishop Chandler's Excellent Defence of Chriftianity, p. 218–276. K 2

With