who by their great Strength in Chariots and Horses had ruined themselves and their Peo. ple. To the same purpose speaks the Prophet Hosea : I will have Mercy upon the House of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by Bow, nor by Sword, nor by Battel, by Horses, nor by Horsemen, i. 7. Thus also the Prophet Micah promised Deliverance to the Remnant of Jacob, and then adds, And it shall come to pass in that Day, saith the Lord, that I will cut off thy Horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy Chariots; and I will cut off the Cities of thy Land, and throw down all the strong Holds, v. 10, 11. Some Commentators have laboured to reconcile these Things, imagining, that there is a great Contradiction, in promising to save the People, and at the same time to cut off their Forces, and throw down their strong Holds: But the true Sense is, that the Salvation should be so perfect and compleat, that they should want neither these Forces nor their strong Holds, for God would be to them instead of Armies and fortified Towns. These Passages mutually support and enlighten each other, and shew undeniably what B 4 the the Prophet had in view when he foretold that the Messias should ride on an Ass. And what is there in all this to make Sport for Unbelievers? Has it appeared to be a mere trifling Circumstance in the Character of a King of Israel, whether he had Chariots and Horses of War or no? Or was it any Reproach to Christ to ride into Jerusalem on the Fole of an Ass, when David, the greatest of his Ancestors, and Solomon the wisest, as long as he was wise, rode in the same manner? Can the Jews object to this Circumstance, and yet talk of the Glories of David, and the Magnificence of Solomon, who in the midst of all their Glory and Magnificence did the very same thing? Or can they stumble at this Character of the Meffias, without forgetting by what Princes their Ancestors were saved, and by what undone ? From this general Account of the Affairs of the Kings of Israel, and the particular Circumstances they were under in regard to their own Law, there arise fome Reflexions, which may be properly here mentioned. As first: The Law given to the Kings of Israel, confidered together with the History of that Nation, forms a very strong Presumption for the divine Original of the Law of Mojes. For sup posing posing Mofes to be a mere human Legislator, like Solon or Lycurgus, what could tempt him to forbid the Princes of his Country the Use of Horses and Chariots for their Defense? Should such a Law be proposed for France or Germany at this Day, what would the World think of it? Or supposing this Law to be his own Contrivance, how comes it to pass that the Event and Success of Things thro’ many Ages does so exactly correspond to the Law ? That the Princes prospered, and extended their Dominion over great Countries, when they had neither Chariots nor Horses; and were ruined and undone when they were strong in these Forces ? Can it be supposed that the History of many Ages, and which relates the Affairs not only of the Princes of Israel, but of other contemporary Kings, is all forged, and merely to Thew an Agreement between the History and this particular Law? Or how shall we account for the Conduct of the Prophets, who saw the People ruined, and instead of reproaching them with Cowardice, and a Neglect of their necessary Defense, Things which usually usher in such Misfortunes, reproach them with having been too strong, too powerful in Horses and Horsemen? 2dly, We These Appearances can never be accounted for by any human Contrivance, and they plainly shew that the Hand of God was in this thing from the beginning to the end. may from hence collect the Nature of David's Crime in numbering the People of Israel. Had he acted in the true Spirit of a King of Israel, he would have been less sollicitous about the Number of his Forces, and would have trusted God with the Work which God had undertaken, and which he had constantly, and in David's Case in a very particular manner, discharged with Fidelity. Read the Promise in the Law " When thou goeft to battel against thine Enemies, and feeft Horses and Chariots, and a People more than thou, be not afraid “ of them, for the Lord thy God is with « thee.” And consider, what but Distrust in God could tempt David to number his Forces ? Happy had it been for him and the People had he then reflected, that God taketh no Pleasure in the Strength of an Horse, neither delighteth be in any Man's Legs. He ought to have remember'd, what his own Experience had taught him, that God wanted not the Assistance either of Horse or Foot to execute the Designs of his Providence. 3dly, 3dly, It may be a Doubt whether King Fofah was not guilty of the fame Fault in his warlike Preparations against the King of Egypt. Jopah has so good a Character in Scripture, that both Jews and Christians have been at a loss to account for the unfortunate End he came to, being flain in Battel against the King of Egypt. The learned Dr. Prideaux has justified his Conduct in opposing the Passage of the King of Egypt, because it was a Service due to the King of Asyria, to whom Johab was a Vaffal: Be it fo; yet his Duty to the King of Assyria could not diffolve his Dependance on an higher Master: He went to war as a Vaffal of the King of Allyria, but did he ask Counsel of God as King of Judah? Or was he attended to the War with such Forces only as the Kings of Judah might lawfully use ? That he had Chariots and Horsemen, appears plainly from the Account of his Death, 2 Chron. xxxv. 24. for he was wounded in one Chariot, removed into another to be carried off, and 'tis very probable that there were Chariots and Horsemen many in his Army, since there appears no Scruple in him upon this Head. That this was the true, or the only Cause of his Misfortune, Į dare not affirm, for I have no express Au thority |