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by Jacob, is thus: Benjamin fhall ravin as a wolf; in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he fhall divide the Spoil. As delivered by Mofes, it is thus Of Benjamin he faid, The beloved of the Lord fhall dwell in fafety by him, and the Lord fhall cover him all the day long, and he fhall dwell between his Shoulders. When Jacob profeffes to declare what fhall befal his fons in the last times, is it hard to fay what must be understood by the morning and night in Jacob's prophecy concerning Benjamin? The natural morning and night cannot poffibly be understood here; and what other morning and night can you suppose intended, but the morning and the night of the Jewish state? For this ftate is the fubject of all Jacob's prophecy from one end to the other; confequently it is here foretold of Benjamin, that he should continue to the very laft times of the Jewish state. And this interpretation is confirmed by Mofes's prophecy; for the prophecy of Mofes is in truth an expofition of Jacob's prophecy. Benjamin, fays Mofes, fhall dwell in fafety; the Lord fhall cover him ALL THE DAY LONG, he shall dwell between his fhoulders. What is this, all the day long? You fee how Benjamin is diftinguished; he is to dwell in Safety, under the cover of the Lord, and between his Shoulders all the day long. Does not this import a promise of a longer continuance to Benjamin than to the other tribes? And was it not most exactly fulfilled?

z Thus fome Jewish interpreters, referred to by Bochart, underftood the expreffion. Manè, id eft primis Ifraelitici regni temporibus-Sub vefperam, id eft poft captivitatis Babylonicæ tempora. Hicron. cap. 10. pag. 828.

The learned Bochart, upon very flight grounds, fuppofes an inverfion in the order of the words in Jacob's prophecy concerning Benjamin; and by the morning and the night, he underftands, the night and morning; fo that the time described is, in his fense, the whole night, and not the whole day. All this is built upon the property of the wolf, to which Benjamin is compared. It is the night wolf, fays Bochart, which catches the prey in the night, and feeds on it in the morning. But I very much question whether the ftyle of the Scripture will bear the teft of fuch claffic nicety and exactness. And though this imagination has been followed by confiderable commentators, yet fince Mofes, in his own prophecy on Benjamin, has expounded this morning and night by all the day long, there is no room to make any further question about it.

I have nothing more to add, but to acquaint the reader, that the interpretation of Jacob's prophecy, now advanced, is not a mere invention of my own; it is, as to the main point, the fame with that which is the fourth in Huetius, and by him rejected, but for such reasons as have been fully obviated in this account. It is the fame which Junius and Tremellius, and our own learned countryman Ainsworth, efpoused; and which, not many years ago, was revived and improved by Mr. Joncourt. This laft mentioned gentleman published several letters upon obfcure paffages of Scripture, and among the reft one upon the fceptre of Judah, which are very well worth the reading. As to the letter upon the Sceptre of Judah, if I had thought nothing wanting in it to clear this prophecy, I would not have troubled the world

with this Differtation. But whether I have fucceeded better in this attempt than those who have gone before me in the fame argument, belongs not to me to judge.

DISSERTATION IV.

Chrift's Entry into Jerufalem.

THE circumftances of this piece of Scripture history are well known, and not lefs to thofe who despise, than to those who receive the Gospel.

My intention is to confider the prophecy relating to this fact, as it ftands in Zechariah, chap. ix. 9. And though the fubject of this Differtation has no immediate relation to the preceding difcourfes; yet it may not perhaps be improper to fubjoin to them the explication of a paffage, which is fure always to find its way into every converfation or controverfy upon the subject of prophecy.

There is indeed no circumftance relating to the Meffiah that has given occafion to more profane wit and ridicule than this now before us. We reckon an afs to be a contemptible creature; and a man, efpecially a man of character, riding upon an ass, to be a ridiculous figure. These are prejudices of our time. and country. And when they who look no further than to the manners and cuftoms which are before them, examine this part of facred story by the standard of modern prejudices, they fee, or think they see, fomething quite inconfiftent with the gravity and dignity of the perfon pretending to be King of the

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