Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_500.lzh/6_577.TXT

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the Ottoman empire with the sword: and the land of
2Vimrod in the entrances thereof; the same .with Baby-
lon, the empire of which was first set up by Nimrod,
the beginning of whose kingdom was Babel, Gen. x.
11. the same with Nebrodas, a name of Bacchus,
which is no other than Barchus the son of Chus, as
Nimrod was the son of Cush, and Bacchus was a
'mighty hunter, as he was; all which Bochart f has
bbserved: now his country was Babel, Erech, Accad,
and Calneh, in the land of Shinar, that is, the land of
Babylon, as the Targum of Onkelos and Jerusalem in
Gen. x. 10, render it; though some think Nimrod ex-
tended his dominions into Assyria; and translate {g} the
following verse, ver. 11, out of that land, ,he (i.e. Nim-
rod) went forth into Assyria, and builded Nineveh, and
the city Rehoboth, and .Calah ; and the Targum of
Jonathan is very express for it, which paraphrases the
words thus, "out of that land went forth Nimrod,
"and he reigned in Assyr:,a, because he would not be
"in the counsel of the generation of the division, and
"he left these four cities; and the Lord gave him a
"place (or Assyria), and he built four other cities,
"Nineveh," &c.; hence some h have thought that the
land of Assyria and the land of Nimrod here design
one and the same country; but Ashur, in the text in
Genesis, seems rather to be the name of a man than Of
a place, even of the son of Shem so called, from whom-
the country of AsSyria had its name; whereas, if
had been so soon in the hands of Nimrod, and so many
cities had been built by him in it, it would rather have
been called by his name than Ashur's; and it seems
most reasonable to conclude that the cities of Nineveh,
&c. were built by the latter, and not the former; and
the two.countries of Assyria and Nimrod, or Babylon,
are very plainly in this text distinguished from one
another; though they might at the time of this pro-
phecy be united under Esar-haddon, who was both
king of Assyria and Babylon; and at this present time
they are both in the hands .of the Turks, and in all
probability will be until this prophecy is fulfilled in
the destruction of them by the Christian princes: the
same thing is meant as before; and the word rendered
in the entrances thereof may as well be translated
with its sword {}; or, as the margin of our Bibles, with
her own naked swords; so Kimchi and Aben Ezra
interpret it: thus shall he deliver us .from the Assyrian,
when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth
within our borders; that is, the King Messiah shall
work this deliverance, as Kimchi and others {k} explain
it; Christ delivered his people from all their spiritual
enemies when he made peace for them; and he will
deliver them in the latter day from both Pope and
Turk, when he will destroy the man of sin by the
breath of his mouth, and dry up the river Euphrates,
and cast both beast and false prophet into the lake that
burns with fire and brimstone; though all that is said
in this and the preceding verse may have had its ac-
complishment already, at least in part, in the Saratens
and their empire, which begun in the year 623, and
who prevailed very much in Arabia, Palestine, Syria,
Persia, Egypt, and Africa, and even penetrated into
Spain and France, in all which places were Christian
churches; and so may be called our land, as the
churches therein our palaces, which these people en-
tered into, trod upon, profaned, or destroyed; and the
seven or e:,ght principal men raised against them may
be the Christian princes that fought with them, and
drove them back, and destroyed their land; such as
Hugh the great, brother to Philip king of France;
Robert earl of Fianders; Robert earl of Normandy,
brother to William the Conqueror, king of England;
Stephen earl of Blois; Rayround earl of Tholouse;
Godfrey duke of Lorrain, and his brothers Baldwin
and Eustachius, and others. These beginning at Nice.
where once a famous Christian council was held, and
driving the army of Solyman from thence, in the space
off our years subdued many provinces of Asia, Ly-
caonia, Cilicia, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Comagena;
and at length having put to flight the Turks, and
ejected the Saracens, took Jerusalem, and made God-
frey of Bullein king of it {}. Some {m} have interpreted
it of the emperor of Germany, and the seven electors in
the empire (for formerly they were no more), happily
and with success carrying on a war against the Turks,
Tartars, and Saracens, when they broke into Europe;
but the former sense seems better; and it is best of' all
to understand the prophecy of the destruction of the
Turk or Ottoman empire in the latter day by the
Christian princes.
Ver. 7. And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the
midst of many people, &c.] The Jews, who will be
converted in the latter day, the remnant of them ac-
cording to the election of grace, as well as all true
Israelites, whether Jews or Gentiles, the Lord's chosen
and peculiar people; who, though but a small number in
comparison of others, and mean and contemptible in
the eyes of men, are such as God has made a reserve
of for himself; and these, though not of the world, yet
are in the world, and will be in the several parts of it,
but a distinct people from it, and of no account in it;
nevertheless will be visible in it, and wonderfully pre-
served in the midst of it: and will be as a dew from the
Lord; both with respect to themselves, being like to
dew for the generation of it, which is from above, from
heaven, and of God, as their regeneration is; and which
secretly and silently falls. as the grace of God in rege-
neration does; and for the number of the drops of it,
which are not to be reckoned; and so numerous are
the people of God, at least they will be in the latter
day, when Christ shall again have the dew of his youth;
or such a number of converts, as will be like the drops
of the morning dew;. as also for the favour, grace, and
blessings of God upon them, which are as the dew;
and which he himself is as that unto them, so that they
themselves are as dew from him, being 'indulged with
his favour; which, as the dew is entirely fi-ee, very
softening, cooling, and refreshing, as well as fructify-.
ing; and having the dews of his grace, or the blessings


{f} Phaleg. l. 1. c. 2. col. 12.
{g} Vatablus, Junius and Tremellius, Bochart, Cocceius, and others.
{h} Bochart, Phaleg. l. 4. c. 12. col. 229. Bedford's Chronology, p. 773.
{i} \^hyxtpb\^ gladiis suis, Pagninus, Montanus, Munster, Tigurine ver-
sion; so R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 31. 2.
{k} R. Isaac, ib. p. 283. Abarbinel, &c.
{l} Vid. Witsii Exercitat. 3. de Assyriis in Miscel. Sacr. tom. 2. p. 218,
219, 220.
{m} Vid. Gurtler. Voc. Typic. Prophetic. Explicat. p. 18.