Chapter IV
That Samson, and other Nazarites of the law, were types of Christ the great Nazarite, who dedicated him to the holy work of redemption. By what
rules and reasons we may judge that Christ was in this respect typified by those Nazarites.
Two things here are to be further inquired into.
I. By what it doth appear that Samson and Joseph, and those by the law of vows that were Nazarites under the old law, were therein types of our Jesus, termed the Nazarite.
II. How he, being a Nazarite, or a devoted person, from his very con
ception and education in his younger years, was fore -signified, and how
fitly and correspondency his being termed a Nazarite from the city Naza
reth (which Matthew affirms) falls in herewith ; as also by what a won
derful providence it came to pass that this great and important title of the
Christ, Nazarite, should commonly and ordinarily be given him by the Jews themselves, they intending it only to signify that he was an inhabi
tant of the city Nazareth, and but to vilify him ; but God intending it fur
ther to signify his dedication and consecration to the work of redemption from his conception, and all along in his education, Nazareth being the
place of both.
I. To clear the first, viz., How Samson and other vowed Nazarites
appear to be types of Christ.
1. In general, even by the same rule that we know Adam and Solo mon to have been types of him, and that what was said of them is to be
applied to him, who yet are nowhere in the Old Testament called his
types. And as we receive the testimony of Paul, that so applies it from
them, so we may here do this of Matthew by the same warrant ; though we had no other special application of these types unto Christ in the Old Testament.
150 OF CHEIST THE MEDIATOK. [BOOK IY.
The general rule which the apostles went by, and which the Jews them
selves assented unto, and their teachers taught them, was, that whatever eminent and extraordinary excellency was found in any of their ancestors renowned in the Old Testament, or in the ceremonial law, that all such fore-
signified the Messiah to come, as the perfection and centre of them. This themselves acknowledge of David, who yet was not styled a saviour or
deliverer, as Samson and Joseph are expressly termed, which was also
the eminent character and work of our Jesus ; this I say they acknow
ledge of Melchisedec, David, Solomon, the high priest among the Jews, their kings, &c. Then if it be so, that special institution of the Nazarite must mean the like. And the reason is undeniable ; for what excellency was it that a Nazarite, a votary under the old law, took upon him the pro fession of? Why a peculiar and more singular holiness, separation, con
secration of their person unto God, in some special service which they were by vow or dedication obliged unto above their brethren, which they expressed by a peculiar strictness in abstaining from wine, and the like, which others did not. Thus Num. v. 2-5, Speak unto the children of
Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the Lord ; he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink
any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried. All the days of his
separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine -tree, from the ker
nels unto the husk. All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head ; until the days be fulfilled, in the which he
separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of his hair grow. He shall be holy, that is, peculiarly, singularly holy. Now then, if civil excellencies in public persons were types of him, as
kings, &c., then sacred much more, and that of special holiness and conse cration to God above any other.
Peculiar holiness, whether real or ceremonial, did make a Nazarite ; therefore, in Num. vi. 8, he is called holy to the Lord. And a Nazarite
is translated by the Septuagint ciyiog, a holy man ; especially they were termed such, when these were joined with their being saviours and de
liverers of the people of God. All such were eminently, and must be
acknowledged, types of him that was to be the great saviour and deliverer whom the Jews expected.
2. Particularly, to give the reasons for it.
(1.) Joseph, both for his excelling in holiness above his brethren, as also his eminent advancement over them, was an apparent type of Christ.
[1.] For holiness. It might seem by the story he was devoted thereto from his younger years, when his brethren were vain and wicked, which is discovered in the story by this, that when he was seventeen years old, he,
detesting their sinful ways, brought the report thereof unto his father, being a reprover of his brethren, for which his brethren hated him. That
other, of his dignity, is more apparent. For these reasons he is twice called a Nazarite.
First; By Jacob, his father, in his prophecy, for so that his last speech concerning his son was, Gen. xlix. 26, The blessings of thy father have
prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors, unto the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills ; they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. In the
original it is, That was a Nazarite among his brethren.
CHAP. IV.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 151
Secondly; And then by Moses it is again repeated, as of mystical im
portance, Deut. xxxiii. 16. And in this last place, the Septuagint hath it
* He was glorious above his brethren. And added unto this was (as you all know) Joseph, his being a saviour, and so ac
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knowledged by Jacob. And he was so, upon record, in the bringing the
: My father was a Syrian ready to perish, * and who saved them ? Joseph. And the Gentile
first fruits, acknowledged by all his posterity
Egyptians, they also acknowledged it, Gen. xlii. 2, Thou hast saved our
lives. And he was one separated, singled out by God, and sent afore to
save them. Joseph was beloved of his father, so Christ is the beloved ; Joseph was blessed above all, and his house in him, Gen xlix. 26, Deut.
xxxiii. 16, so we are blessed in Christ. Eph. i. 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Joseph was carried into Egypt, so
Christ too : Mat. ii. 15, Out of Egypt have I called my Son. Joseph sold to the Gentiles, was a saviour to the Jews and Gentiles, so Christ too.
Joseph was suddenly advanced out of prison, Christ in prison, Is. liii. 8, taken out of prison, and then ascended. Joseph in his advancement for
gives, so Christ on the cross ; and when he came first to heaven, as a
testimony thereof, he converted three thousand of the Jews that had cruci
fied him. Joseph s brethren bow to him ; and of Christ it is said, All knees shall bow to him.
And because that this title Nazarite was, in Joseph s example, used to
design and note out one that excelled his brethren, and was a ruler over
them, as Joseph was ; hence further, the word Nezer and Nazer was after used to express the oil and mitre that consecrated the priest, also the crown
that was set upon their kings ; so as their kings, prophets, and priests were
Nazarites all of them in the type. Thus the mitre on the high priest s
head, in which holiness to the Lord was written, Ex. xxix. 6, is called Nizri ; and chap, xxxix. 30, the oil that anointed his head, Lev. xxi. 12, is
called the holy oil, and the word for holy there is Nezer. And the diadem
of the king is termed by the same name Nezer, 2 Sam. i. 10, Ps. Ixxxix. 4, and Ps. cxxxii. 18, as being a sign of his separation from his brethren.
So, then, this name seems to set the mitre and crown upon Christ s head. In plain words, they were all Nazarites, kings, priests, and prophets. Now, take in all these, and I am sure you must have prophets enough that came in to call him Nazarite, in recording the stories of these his types ; those that call him Holy, holy, holy, as angels do, Isa. vi., or seeing his
glory, as Dan. ix., call him most holy, those who call him separated; Heb. vii. 26, anointed, as Joseph,
* with oil above his brethren, Heb. i. 9 ; a person sanctified to his works, as he speaks of himself, when to die, John xvii. 19. What need I quote any more ? All these express his
being a Nazarite.
(2.) Of Sampson, it is yet more expressly said, Judges xiii. 15, that he should be called a Nazarite to God from the womb. And to what end was that separation of his from the womb made, and he marked out thereby? It follows, He shall begin to save or deliver Israel out of the hands of the Philistines their enemies. And he killed these enemies, and de livered that people without weapons, by the jaw-bone of an ass, a con
temptible instrument for such a slaughter ; and at last died out of an heroicness of spirit, by an extraordinary warrant, for it was effected by an
extraordinary strength renewed upon him ; and so he was a greater con-
Deut. xxvi. 5. ED.
152 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK IV.
queror in his death than in all his life. You know how easy and natural it
is to find all these in our Jesus. But how his being consecrated from the womb was a type of Christ (that is the main intended by me), I shall ex
plain in the second head.
In the mean time, the result of these two types is to represent Christ as
a Nazarite, eminently for these three things.
1. Excelling holiness and strictness of life, which was the law of
Nazarites.
2. Dominion or rule over their brethren, as their kings and priests were, and Joseph, and Sampson, judge of Israel.
3. Being a saviour and deliverer from death and enemies. Sampson began to deliver, &c., Judges xiii. 15. Now, all these are found to have met in our Christ, as is the import of
that ordinary appellation given him, Iqffovg Na^aga/og, Jesus of Nazareth, or the Nazarite, which are usually coupled together.
1. Jesus is the name of Saviour given him atjiis conception: Mat. i. 21, Thou shalt call his name Jesus : for he shall save his people from their
sins. And then Nazarite imports his being separated to that work, namely, to save, as in that speech of the angel he was declared to be, whilst his
conception at Nazareth was effecting in the virgin s womb.
2. For holiness. The first time that we read of, wherein he was called Jesus the Nazarite, was by Satan, Mark. i. 24, and Luke iv. 34. And
there, by the providence of God, this is added and confessed by that evil
spirit, I know who thou art, the holy one of God, that eminent holy one, of whom all other eminent holy ones were types, which was the import of
the name Nazarite. Now, compare this with what is said of Samson, his type, Judges xiii. 5, He shall be a Nazarite unto God, or of God; and the Septuagint translates Nazarite sometimes ay/of, one holy ; and so
to be an holy one of God, and a Nazarite to God, is all one. But of
Samson, his being his type in his conception, more hereafter.
3. His being king. Go to the cross, you find it written there, Jesus
of Nazareth, or, the Nazarite, King of the Jews.