Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_700.lzh/6_708.TXT

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wherefore the rows of flowers in the high-priest's
crown, from whence it might be called \^Uyu\^, a flower,
might with more propriety bear_that name. Philo the
Jew {g}, speaking of the golden plate, says it was like a
crown engraven with tbur letters of the name (Je-
· hovah) ; and further observes, that "the mitre under
"it kept the plate from touching the head, on which
"the cidaris or diadem was put; for it was like the
" cidaris which the eastern kings used for a diadem :"
and indeed this crown, and the three rows of flowers
in it, were a hieroglyphic or emblem of the threefold
office of Christ, whom the high,priest represented,
kngly, priestly, and prophetic; and so may be filly
Signified here by crowns in the plural number ;and it
is usual with the Jewish .Wri.ters to speak of three
crowns, the crown of the law, the crown of the king-
dom, and the crown of the priesthood {}; and very pro-
bably from the high-priest among the Jews wearing
crowns it was that the priests among the Heathens
had the same ornaments on their heads; and to be
crowncd was with them the same as to exercise the
office of priesthood {}`, and who was an eminent type of
the Messiah, and in this .of having crowns put upon his
tend, as the tbliowing words shew.
Vet. 12. And speak unto him, saying, &c.] That is,
to Joshua the high-priest, having the crowns on his
head: thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, behold the
man whose name is the BRANCH; which is not to be
understood of Zernbbabei, as some Jewish writers in-
terpret it; for he was not the Branch, by way of emi-
· ~ency, much less that righteous Branch of David,
called the Lord our righteousness, Jer. xxiii. 5, 6. the
same .that is here meant .; besides, he was already
grown up out of his place; nor did he build a temple,
from which he had great glory; nor was he either king
or priest, only governor of Judah; and, however, not
.both, as this person is represeated to be; and who is
no other than the MeSsiah; and so the Targum para-
phraes the wordS, "behold the man Messiah is his
"name ;" and Jarchi owns that some of their Rabbius
interpret the words of the King Messiah. The Branch
iS a name by which the Messiah goes in the Talmud {k},
and in other Jewish writings. It is asked {l}, what is
the name of the Kir,g Messiah ? it is answered, among
others, his name is the Branch; as it is ssid, behold the
man .whose name is the Branch; he shall grow up out of
hisptace: elsewhere {m} they speak of five letters doubled,
which are the foundation of deliverance to certain per-
Sons, or point thereat. -The first four, they observe,
were accomplished in the deliverance of Abraham from
Ur of the Chaldees, of Isaac from the Philistines, of
Jacob from Esau, and of the lsraelites from Egypt;
and the fifth, which is the letter \^u\^, the first letter of
Tzemach, the Branch, by it they say the holy blessed
God will redeem Israel at the end of the four mon-
archies; as it is said, behold the man whose name is
the Branch, &c. ;Philo ttie Jew {} interprets thi's passage
of a divine Person, the son of God, by whom no other
than the Messiah'is meant, "we have heard {says he)
"one of the friends of Moses,/. e, Zechariah, saying
"thus, behold tire man whose name is the east, or
"rising sun (so the Greek version renders the words};
"a new appellation, if you can think it.said of one
"consisting of soul and body; but if of that incur-
" poreal one, bearing the divine image, you wilt own
"that the name is fitly given him, the ancient Sun, the
"Father of. beings will cause to arise; whom other-
" wise he names the first-begotten, and who, being be-
". gotten, imitates the ways of his Father; and looking
"at his archetypal exemplars, forms the same. Aben-
dana {o}, a modern Jew, observes, that "it is right that
"the Targum interprets it of the Messiah, for of him
"it is spoken; therefore it is written, and he shall
"grow up out of his place; for he shhll go forth from
"him, and shall be of the seed of Zerubbabel, --and
"the King Messiah shall bear the glory of the king-
"dom, and he shall rule upon the 'throne of Iris king-
"dom ;" and when he is called a man, the meaning is
not that he is a .mere man, nor was he really man
before his incarnation; but as he was to be man, and
his incarnation was drawing 'near, he is so called : of
his name the Branch, see tan. iv. 2. and xi. 1. Jer. xxiii. 5,
and Zech. 3. '8. and Joshua, he is directed to look upon
himself, with the crowns on his head, as a type of him;
and so were the prophet, and those that were.with
him; and he is to be beheld, as before .in type, so
now in truth, by faith, with love and :affection,
with diligent attention, and great admiration: and he
shall grow .up out of his place: .or, .from under him '{p}.
which may regard his natural descent as man, and
teh persons or ,person from whom he sprung; as
from Abraham, Jacob, Judah, Jesse, and particu-
larly from David, from the royal seed, as .Jarchi in-
terprets it: or else the place.from whence this Branch
arose, 'the land of Judea, the tribe of Judah, the city
of Beth-lehem, where he Was born; or Galitee, and par-
ticularly Nazareth, where he was brought up, and
grew, and increased in the stature of his body, and in
the wisdom of his mind: 'or it may be rendered, from
his infeior place {q}; his superior, place, as the son of
God, is heaven; his i.nferior place, as the son of man,
is the earth; from whence he may be said to be, being
born of a woman; and so this Branch is called the
fruit of the earth, and said to spring out of it, Isa. iv. 2.
Psal. !xxxv. 11. or it is same same as \^wylam\^, from him-
self, as Aben Ezra observes; and so Calvin; for this
Branch did not grow up through any sowing and
planting of man, but without any hand or. concern of
his in it; Christ was born of a virgin,-through the
power of the Highest, and through his own 'power, as
God: and he shall build the temple of the Lord; not a
material temple, but the spiritual temple, .the Church;
called so in allusion to the temple .Of Jerusalem, built
by :Solomon; which was 'typical of the church, in the
builder of it, Solomon, the church being built by
Christ the antitypical Solomon, the true Peace, and

{g} De Vita Mosis, l. 3. p. 670, 671.
{h} Pirke Abot, c. 4. sect. 13.
{i}Paschalius de Coronis, l. 4. c. 13.
{k} T. Hieros. Beracot, fol. 5. 1.
{l} Echa Rabbati, fol. 50. 1.
{m} Pirke Eliezer, c. 48. fol. 58. 1. Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 18. fol.
223. 2.
{n} De Confus. Ling. p. 329.
{o} Not. in Miclol Yophi in loc.
{p} \^wytxtm\^ subter eum, V. L. Pagninus; ad verbum, de sub se, Calvin,
Drusius; de subter se, Cocceius; ex sub eo, Burkius.
{q} Ex inferiore loco, Vitringa in Jesalam, c. iv. 2. E leco suo humili,
Hiller. Onomastic. Sacr. p. 47.