River EUPHRATES to HARAN; (g) and after him a numerous Train of Herds and Flocks, and Abundance of Servants; not wandering poorly without his Subftance, but trufting all his Wealth with GOD, who call'd him to an unknown Land. Now he comes to CANAAN; (b) I fee his Tents pitch'd all about SICHEM, (i) and the neighbouring Plain MoREH (k). There he receives a Promife, that all that Lad (g) Haran, or Charran; Heb. i. e. Anger or Wrath; from Haran, the Father of Lot. It is a Country and chief City of MeSopotamia, upon a River of the fame Name, and not far from Uz, 440 Miles from Jerufalem North-Eastward. There Abrabam liv'd fome Years; the Turks pay a great Veneration to it on that Account, and now call it Heren or Charron, A&ts 7. 4. There the great Craffus, the Roman General and Conful, with his Army of 3000 Men, was overthrown by the Parthians, who took it: Afterwards the Perfians ook it, now the Turks poffefs it. It is eleven Day's Journey, or 232 Miles Westward from Niniveh, now well inhabited, has a good Trade, and is alfo called Ophra. There is a Well of very clear Water, at which Rebecca gave Drink to Eleazar, Abraham's Servant, Gen. 24. 19. They call it Abraham's Well. But Mefopotamia is now render'd very delart and ruinous by the Turks. (b) Canaan; Heb. i. e. A Merchant, from Canaan the Son of Ham, by whom it was firft peopled, Gen. 11. 18. because it lies along the Mediterranean Sea, and gave the Inhabitants an Opportunity of Trade, Mer chandife, and Navigation, over the whole Earth. Such were the old Phoenicians, Tyrians, Sidonians, Carthaginians, &c. An (i) Sichem; Heb. i. e. A Shoulder or Back; because it ftandeth out like one; or from Sichem, the Father of Hamer or Emmor, Gen. 34. 2. Aðs 7. 16. Alfo Sychar; Heb. i. e. Hired or Wages, John 4. 5. and afterwards Scythopolis; See Judith 3. 14. Gr. i. e. The City of the Scythians or Tatars; because fome of them fettled there. antient City of Samaria in Paleftine, between Mount Garizim and Mount Ebal, belonging to Samaria, 36 Miles from Jerufalem Northward. There Jofeph was buried, Joshua 24. 32. Abimelech razed it, Judges 9. 45. But Jeroboam rebuilt it, Kings 12. plofa, Gr. i. e. The new Town; but it is in a very low Condition at this Time. Now it is called Na (k) Moreh; Heb. i. e. The Lordship of the Lord: Or from Morch, one of the old Amorites, who poffefs'd it, Gen. 13. 18. 14. 13. A Piece of Ground near Sichem, where Abraham first settled in Canaan, which Jacob bought of Hamor for 100 Pieces of Money, and gave to Jofeph, Gen. 33. 19. 48. 22, John 4. 5. Land fhould be given to his Pofterity, Northward from HA MATH, (1) to the Defart South of ARABIA; (I call Things by their Names, though as yet they are not nam'd) and Eaft from HERMON (m) to the MEDITERRANEAN Sea; Mount HERMON that lies there! and yonder Sea! (look at each Place in Profpect, as I point to them) Upon the Shore there is Mount CARMEL (n) here the River JORDAN, fpringing from two Fountains, is the Boundary of CANAAN (1) Hamath, Hemath, or Chamath; Heb. i. e. Heat or Anger; from Hamath the Son of Canaan, who built it. A City in the North of Canaan belonging to Syria, between two Hills, near the River Orontes, at the Foot of Anti-Libanus, 280 Miles from Jerufalem; the utmoft Bounds of the Holy Land on the North, and one of the grand Paffes of it, called alfo Zin, Numbers 34. 8. Joshua 13. 5. Now the Turks call it Hems. There is a great Hamath and a little Hamath, Amos 6. 2. Some take it to be the antient Apamea; others on better Grounds, for Epiphania or Antiochia. In the Targum it is called Antiochia, from Antiochus King of Syria. Toi was King of it in the Reign of King David, 2 Sam. 8. 9. In the 13th Century it had Princes of its own, which were of the Race of Ayub or Job, from whom defcended Saladin, a Sultan of the Turks, who conquered Paleftine, Egypt, Syria, &c. A. D. 1180. Hamath was a City of great Trade, but is now very much decayed. (m) Hermon, or Chermon; Heb. i. e. Snow. An high and Allo fertile Mountain in the North of Canaan, near Mount Lebanes, beyond Jordan to the NorthEaft, 122 Miles from Jerusa lem, and frequently cover'd with Snow, because it is very high. It is called Shirjon by the Sidonians, Pfalm 29. 6. Shenix, by the Amorites, Deut. 3. 9. Sion (not Txion at Jerufalem} Deut. 4. 48. and alfo Baal-Hermon, Heb. i.e. Hermon the Great ; to diftinguish it from a leffer of that Name, near Mount Gilboa and Mount Tabor, in the Tribe of Manasses, 44 Miles from Jerufalem towards the North. At the Foot of it flood the City Nain, Heb. i. e. Pleasant; becaufe it ftood moft pleafantly on the Banks of the River Chifen. Upon this Mountain grew many goodly Trees; wild Beafts allo abounded upon it, Exek. 27. 5. (n) Carmel; Heb. i. e. A Vineyard; because there are many Vineyards upon it. Another very high Mountain in the Holy Land, upon the Mediterranean Sea, to the South of Ptolemais, 50 Miles North-Weft from Jerufalem, in the Tribe of achar. Here the Prophet Elijah began his Reformation of Reli CANAAN on the East Side; but ABRAHAM's Sons fhall dwell as far as SEIR, (o) which is all that long Ridge of Hills! Now confider this well, that all the Nations of the Earth fhall be blefs'd in his Seed: By that Seed, thy GREAT DELIVERER is meant, who fhall bruife the Head of the Serpent; about which, before I depart, I fhall reveal more to thee. This bleft Patriarch (who, by Reafon of his Obedience, fhall be call'd faithful ABRAHAM (p)) leaves a Son, call'd gion, in the Days of Ahab, a very idolatrous and impious King of Ifrael, 1 Kings 18. Here Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, and other Prophets, and alfo Pythagoras, the Heathen Philofopher, long afterwards reforted; for the Sake of Devotion, Contemplation, and Retirement The antient River Kyfon cuts its Way close by the Weft Side of it, through the Plains of Efdraelon into the Sea at a Place called Caypha. Upon this Mountain is a Convent of bare-footed Friars, call'd Carmelites, a little Mofque, with feveral Gardens and Vineyards. Ee (o) Seir, Senir, or Saner; Heb. i. e. Rough. A long and large Ridge of Mountains with many Tracts of fertile Lands, which made the Kingdom of the Edomites, on the South Side of the Dead Sea and Canaan, about 46 Miles from Jerufalem. It is a rocky Country; therefore it is called Trachonites, Syr. Chald. i. e. Rocky, rough; Iturea, Heb. i. e. Mountainous, from Jetur, a Son of Ifmael; Petræa, Syr i. e. Rocky; and Idumea, Heb. i. e. Red, from Efau or Edom; because he and his Sons did fettle in it: But it was called Seir long before that. (p) Abraham; his first Name was Abram, Heb. i. e. An excellent or mighty Father; but when God renew'd his Covenant, he chang'd that into Abrabam, i. e. An excellent or mighty Father of many People. Abraham was the Founder of the Jewish Nation and Church, efteemed a mighty Prince among the Canaanites, a great Prophet at Pharaoh's Court. The Kings of Egypt, Palestine, &c. courted his Friendship, made Leagues with him, and paid him Homage. Nicol. Damafcenus, Jufin, &c. fay, that he was King of Damafcus; his Name was had in Veneration among both Jews, Gentiles, Muhammedans, and Chriftians, in all Ages: They made religious Pilgrimages to his Oak at Mamre, 'till Conftantine the Great ordered it to be deftroy'd; and which is more, he was call'd the Father of the Faithful, and the Friend of God; a Title of Honour never beftow'd on any Man before. He carried the Knowledge of Aftronomy, Arithmetick, and other Sciences, from Chaldea inte call'd Is A AC; and of him a Grandchild, call'd JaCOв, (q) very much like him in Faith, Wisdom, and Renown. The Grandchild, having twelve Sons, departs from CANAAN to a Land, which will afterwards be call'd EGYPT, divided by the River NILE: See there where it flows, difgorging itself at feven Mouths into the Sea! He comes to live in that Land, being thither invited by a younger Son in a Time of Famine; (call him JOSEPH) a Son, whofe worthy Deeds raife him to be the next in Dignity to PHARAOH in that Kingdom: There he dies, and leaves his Race growing into a Nation; and being thought too powerful, by another King who fucceeded to the Throne of that Kingdom, fome Years after the Death of JOSEPH, he fought to ftop the Growth of their Numbers, looking upon them as too numerous a People to fhare the Land with them: Whence he, inhofpitably, of Guefts made them Slaves; and ordered the Midwives of EGYPT, to kill all the HEBREW male Infants; 'till by two Brethren, (call those two Brethren MOSES (r) and AARON) who fhall be into Egypt, as Jofephus relates: But Geometry was firft found out in Egypt, from the Overflowing of the Nile. He was born A. M. 1948, and liv'd 175 Years. (1) Jacob increased wonderfully; for of 70 Souls which went with him into Egypt, in the Space of 215 Years they increafed to 600,000 armed Men, befides Women, Children, and old Men unfit for War. At the first numbering of them, in the first Year after they went out of Egypt, they were 603,550, Exodus 30. 11, 12. 38. 25, 26. In the fecond Year their Number was the fame, although the Tribe of Levi was not included, fent Numb. 1. 46, 47. In David's Time Joab muster'd a thousand thousand, and a hundred thoufand Men of Ifrael; and four hundred thousand threefcore and ten thousand Men of Judah, that were Soldiers, 1 Chron. 21. 5. And Jofephus reckons three Millions of Men at Jerufalem, affembled at the Passover. (r) Mofes, Mofheh, and Moyfes, Heb. i. e. Drawn out of the Water: See Exod. 2. 10. Jofephus makes it an Egyptian Word from Moy, i. e. The Water: But we know not what Name his Parents gave him at his Circumcifion, unless we give into the Fables of the Jews, whe fent from GOD, to demand his People to be deliver'd from Bondage: They return back again to their promis'd Land, with Glory and Spoils. But firft the lawless Tyrant (who denies to know any Thing of their GoD, or give any Regard to their Meffage) must be compell'd to let them go, by Signs and great Plagues: The Rivers, and Ponds, and Pools of Water, must all be turn'd to Blood; his Palace must be fill'd at different Times with Frogs, and Lice, and Flies, which will be loathfomely fcatter'd all over the Land: There must be a grievous Murrain; his Cattle must die of the Rot, and Blotches and Blains must disfigure all his Flesh, and the Flesh of all his People: Then Thunder, and Hail, and Fire, running along upon the Ground very grievous, fuch as there was none like it in EGYPT fince it became a Nation; and it fmote both MAN and Beaft, and every Herb of the Field, and broke every Tree. What that does not devour, either Herb, or Fruit, or Grain, a darkfome Cloud of Locufts (fuch as had never been before, nor never will be again) must eat, and leave nothing green upon the Ground: A thick Darknefs must overfhadow all his Kingdom; fuch Darknefs as may be felt, and endure for three Days; fo that they neither faw one-another, nor any rofe from their Place: And lastly, with one Stroke at Midnight, all the First-born of EGYPT, from the King to the E é 2 meaneft who fay it was Joachim, Jechotiel, Chabar, &c. Vide Huet. Dem. Evang. p. 120. Mofes was the youngest Son of Amram and Jockebed, of the Tribe of Levi, born in Egypt, A. M. 2373. The grand Prophet and Law-giver of the Jews, and celebrated by the wifeft and beft of the antient Heathens, as being the first and greatest Philofopher, Poet, and Lawgiver in the World; for he was 500 Years before Homer, 800 before Thales, 900 before Pythagoras, 1100 before Socrates, Plato, and Arifotle; and from him they extracted all the beft Parts of their Philofophy, Policy, History, Religion, and Laws. He died on Mount Nebo in the Land of Moab, at 120 Years of Age, upon the 7th Day of the Month, on which he was born, A. M. 2493. |