Chapter V
How Christ was presignified as a Nazarite by these types. The parallel be
tween him and Samson. How God having thus in the type foretold that
Christ should le a Nazarite, so wisely ordered it, that both his conception and education should be there, that so that name Nazarite, as an inhabitant
of that city, might belong to him.
Now follows the second head, which hath two things in it.
1. How his being a Nazarite, or devoted person from his very concep
tion, and education in his younger years, was foresignified in any of these
types.
2. How it came to pass that, though he was called a Nazarite by the Jews as in their common language, noting forth only an inhabitant of
Nazareth, as Matthew tells us, this should yet withal fall in and serve to
fulfil God s intention of his being called a Nazarite, as was by these pro
phetical types foresignified ; and by what a wonderful providence this was
brought about, so to fulfil the prophecy.
. 1. For the first ; take the type of Samson, and see how exactly parallel
CHAP. V.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 153
it falls out to foresignify Christ s being a Nazarite from his conception. Let us but seriously compare the history of both.
Of Samson, Judges xiii. 2, 3, 5, And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah ; and his wife was
barren, and bare not. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not : but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son. . . . For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son ; and no razor shall come on his head : for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb ; and he shall begin to deliver
Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
Of Christ, Luke i. 26-31, And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man, whose name was Joseph, of the house of David ; and
the virgin s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said,
Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee : blessed art thou among women. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary; for thou
hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.
(1.) Observe Samson s wonderful separation from his conception. An
angel is sent to foretell it. The prophecy of an angel is recorded : so it is
in Christ.
(2.) Both appearances of the angels are afore the conception of either.
(3.) As the angel is sent to a woman utterly barren, to shew Samson s
conception should be extraordinary, as to an extraordinary end, so Gabriel
is sent to a virgin, who without man s copulation with her had a womb far more barren and incapable to conceive a child than Samson s mother s was. And therefore to strengthen her faith the angel tells her, ver. 36, 37, Be
hold, thy consin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age
: and this is the sixth month with her that was called barren. For with God
nothing shall be impossible.
(4.) The messages sent at and before their conception, to both, concerning these their sons, are parallel.
[1.] That he be a Nazarite of God, that is, holy and consecrated to God from the womb (yea, from his conception, and therefore his mother was warned not to drink wine nor strong drink from this time afore his concep
tion, nor whilst she bore him) unto the very day of his death. Now of
* The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee :
Christ, it is at and from his conception, Luke i. 35,
therefore also that holy thing, which shall be born of thee, shall be called
the Son of God. Now a Nazarite of God, and one holy unto God, were
all one ; as hath been said.
[2.] In that the work which each of these were separated unto is declared
alike at their conception, as to be saviours of the people. Of Samson it
is said, He shall begin (as being Christ s type) to save Israel out of the hands of the Philistines. And as expressly of Christ it is said by the
angel, Mat. i. 21, She shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus ; for he shall save his people from their sins. Not to insist on this addition which some make, that Herod a Philistine was then king, and the Jews subject to Christ,- when this message was delivered of Christ, as in Samson s time they also were.
[3.] And lastly, how Christ was a Nazarite until the day of his death from the womb, as of Samson it is said, I need not shew. That one text * Evidently a misprint. I suppose him. ED.
154 OF CHKIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK IV.
speaks it, olediens usque ad mortem, obedient until death, all his life long,
Philip, ii. 8. Only take this, that at his conception at first, those three
fore-mentioned characters or designments of a Nazarite were declared by the
angel. 1. Jesus a saviour. 2. The holy one of God. 3. His dignity and
pre-eminence over all : Luke i. 31, 32, Thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. And he shall be
great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest ; and the Lord God shall
give unto him the throne of his father David. To which the types, both
of Samson the judge, and Joseph the ruler, do fully answer. Thus also
again at his death, those all meet in the inscription on the cross, Jesus
* Nazarene, the holy One, king of the Jews. For the second particular, viz., how it was ordered by God that the Jews
the saviour, of Nazareth, or
should call Jesus a Nazarite ; three things are worthy our notice in it.
1. That God in his all-wise counsel so ordered it, that the name or title
Nazarite, which in the Greek is Nawa?b, should be used in the common
language of the Jews to express an inhabitant of the city Nazareth, which word also had been singled forth by God to express a Nazarite to himself, one holy and consecrated to himself. It was, as many other words are, vox aquivoca, that had two senses equally and vulgarly in use. Fuit turn nomen gentilitium, turn religiosum, as Latinus, or Aareftog, signified both an
inhabitant, or one born in Italy, an Italian, so denoting a man s country ; and was anciently used to signify one that adhered to, and was one of the
popish religion, as distinguished from that professed by the Greek churches, or now by the protestant. And this was foretold by Irenaeus as the title of
antichrist his followers, long before that division was made ; he thus inter
preting the mystery of the number 666, Rev. xiii. 18. So now Romanics, a Roman, may and doth import one either dwelling or born at Rome, or one of the Romish religion. Or as if a child of an Englishman that had been of the separation at Amsterdam, and educated or born there, should be termed an Amsterdamian, it would import at once both the place whence he came and where he dwelt ; as also (as commonly it doth) that he was of
that profession which the English separatists did hold forth there. Multi tudes of such instances are producible, and thus it fell out here. Now that this word Nafyoc/Jos was then used to express both, I judge more evident.
(1.) In that we are sure that Nawga/bc imported an inhabitant of Naza
reth ; for Matthew, who gives him that style, directly pointeth us unto that
.sense and signification of the word : for he says, He came and dwelt in Nazareth : that it might be fulfilled. He was called a Nazarite, as being
vulgarly so styled from that city ; yea and therefore it was that the Jews
in scorn so called him, to defame him from that city, which was so vile and
mean, as no good was thence expected ; and therefore much less he that was to be the MessialTshould come forth from thence. Also this appears in that in another evangelist, speaking at a time afore that name was given, he is called o UKQ rov Na ags^, one of the city of Nazareth. Then [2.] The scripture or prophets nowhere speaking of Christ s dwell
ing in the city Nazareth, the fulfilling of the prophecies must be found in
this, that this word Naaga/og hath some other mysterious signification, which should be proper and eminent in him that was the true Christ. Now
this title 6 Na^aga/bg is in the same letters and syllables thereof a Nazarite, or one holy and separate to God. For the Septuagint, translating the Hebrew word for Nazir or Nazarite into the Greek, do still use this word with the same syllables and letters, only they sometimes use a,
,CHAP. V.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 155
sometimes j, or tp, NafyoaTog, whereas Matthew, u, Nawga/bg, and that is
all the difference.
And this those of an opposite opinion object, that because Matthew useth
the letter u, whereas the Septnagint useth a, that therefore it is not the same word which they use to signify a Nazarite by. To which the answer
is ready.
For 1. In that the Septuagint themselves do vary it, sometimes writing
it with a, sometimes with jj, yet in each they alike intended to signify a reli
>j, in either intending the same word and the same signification, it may bear as well this other alteration
gious Nazarite. I say, if they alter a into
of u, it being but a matter of diverse pronunciation, as Grotius observes, and not a diversity of the word itself, which in differing dialects, when the word is the same, is ordinary in languages, as we see in the Scottish and
English tongue (which I mention for vulgar illustration). Yea, the ancient
fathers make another alteration, writing it with / : so Eusebius, Epipha-
nius, and Nazianzen, terming them Nazireans or Nazirites.
But 2. We all know that nothing is more usual than, in translating a word out of one language into another, to change a letter ; as Miriam in
the Hebrew, the Greeks into Maria, Schemuel, Samuel, and the like. And
the Syriac, which was the language Christ and the Jews did then speak, did ordinarily in pronouncing the Hebrew, turn a into w : so as Nazareth
after the Hebrew pronunciation was Nazoreth in the Syriac. Now Matthew
in the Greek did incline and conform the termination or sound of the word
to the Syriac rather than to the Hebrew, the Syriac being then in use. And
so Xa-orean, or Nazorite, is all one with Nazarite.
3. I omit to retort, that those of the other opinion that would have Christ
here called by Matthew Na^woa/bg, from Netzer, the title in Hebrew which
Isaiah gives to Christ, Isa. xi. 1, Of the branch, is far remoter in sound and letters by far. And besides that that is a substantive word, this of
N*wfa/bc is an adjective. But of this afterwards.
It is objected, 2. That Christ is also called Jesus Naagjjv&g, the Nazarene, as well as Noof06%, the Nazaraian. But Nazarene was not used (say they) to signify a Nazarite.
And it is answered again, that if Nazarene and Nazaraian (that I may in the English variation express it) signified both one, where his city s name
is intended, as it is evident they did, then why not both these words also be as promiscuously used for a religious Nazarite, when it is evident that one of them was used to express it, viz., his being a Nazarite? There is
nothing more usual in all languages than to make such variations, in names
of religion as well as other, and yet so as they are still but one word in
signification ; as we say sometimes a Grecian, sometimes a Greek, and both signifying either his religion or his country ; a Roman, a Romanist, a Calvinian or Calvinist ; so if you will, a Nazarite, a Nazarean, is all one. And 2. Matthew that holds out to us this mystery, he calls him Nazaraian, or Nazarite, not Nazarene ; so in this place, and so constantly elsewhere. And thus the inscription on the cross (as in John also) and not the other word Nazarene at all. So as Matthew intended to hold forth his being a
Nazarite, as well as of the city Nazareth.
The second thing to be noted is, that as Christ was to be a Nazarite from his conception (as in his type of Samson it was foresigned), and also
in his younger years of education, as well as when he died, so God in his
providence ordered it, that the city Nazareth, from whence he should by the Jews be called a Nazarite, was not only the very place of his education,
156 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK IV.
but also of his very conception ; and this is sedulously noted (to complete this mystery) unto us in the story of his conception
: Luke i. 26, 27, In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David ; and the virgin s name was Mary. So then, though Bethlehem was the place of his birth, yet this Nazareth, from whence he had his name of Nazarite, was the place of his conception, to shew he was a Nazarite from his very conception, which hath been the point I have
pursued. And as it was the place of his conception, so of his abode and
education, until he put himself forth into the world, and appeared as the Messiah. This you have, Mat. ii. 22. Now, yet further, to add unto Matthew s vrfygudfj, and to make up his
fulfilling of prophecies yet more full, it was foretold by the prophet Jere miah that his conception should be in one of the cities of the ten tribes,* which the story here in Matthew tells us was Nazareth. The prophet Micah had, before Jeremiah s time, foretold that the city of his birth should be Bethlehem, which the tribes of Judah and Benjamin gloried in, and therefore despised the other ten. The pharisees understood this, as you read in the evangelists, when Herod puts the question to them. But that any of the cities of the twelve f tribes should have any honour of his
residence, much less the greatest honour of the laying the foundation of
this tabernacle which God, not man, reared, viz., his very conception, they never so much as dreamed of this, especially not of that region or
part of the ten tribes, Galilee ; and above all the cities in Galilee, not out of that barren, desert place of all other, viz., Shall Christ come out of Galilee? say they, John vii. 41. And again, ver. 42, Hath not the
scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was ? And again, ver. 52, Search, and look : for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet. Not so much as a prophet, much less the Messiah, the great prophet. And yet it was apparent, that one of their prophets, Jonah, was a Galilean, 2 Kings xiv. 25. Gathhepher was a city of the tribe of Zebulon, compared with Josh. xix. 13, which Zebulon was a part of Galilee, Isa. ix. 1. But as for that city of Nazareth, they are yet more confident that Christ should not come thence : John i. 46, Can any good come out of Nazareth? And out of this confidence it was that they styled him so ordinarily
* Jesus of Nazareth in scorn, as imagining that alone did carry a confutation and evidence in it that this man of all else could not be the Messiah. So con fident are men often of some one unanswerable argument against a great truth, when on the contrary it proves to be the greatest evidence of that
truth, as in this case it fell out. But, lo, how Jeremiah had foretold how, though Bethlehem was to be the place of his birth, yet one of the cities of the ten tribes, and that in Galilee, should be the place of his conception (which is the thing in hand), as Isaiah had also that Galilee should be of his preaching. Read Jer. xxxi. 21, 22, Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps
: set thine heart towards the highway, even the way which thou wentest : turn again, virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities. How long wilt thou go about, thou backsliding daughter ? for the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man. Jeremiah, as you know, lived till the Babylonish captivity, and had fore told how the captive Jews should again have liberty, by Cyrus his procla mation, to inhabit their own land, when Cyrus should give them liberty, * Jer. xxxi. 21, 22. ED. f Qu . ten ? ED.
CHAP. V.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 157
as Isaiah had foretold, and as he proiniseth Judah : ver. 23, 24, Thus
saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, As yet they shall use this
speech in the land of Judah, and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring
again this captivity, The Lord bless thee, habitation of justice, and mountains of holiness. And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all
the cities thereof together, husbandmen, and they that go forth with flocks.
Also God courteth Ephraim, or the ten tribes, who had been long afore
dispersed, to return with the tribes of Judah into their cities also, which
they should then have free liberty to do. And to invite and allure them
to it, they had the prophecies of their Messiah to them both, the delight and joy of each, Mai. iii. 1, and glory of the people of Israel; and how each should come to have a share in him, the one in his birth, the other
in his conception.
1. Of his birth ; that it should be in those parts the two tribes inhabit he prophesies
: Jer. xxxi. ver. 15-17, Thus saith the Lord, A voice was heard in Raman, lamentation, and bitter weeping ; Rachel weeping for her
children, refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. Thus saith the Lord, Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from
tears : for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come
again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in thine end, saith
the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border. Now, this properly and exactly relates to the story of his birth, for being born
in Bethlehem, which was on the confines of Judea, near Ramah, his birth
there was the occasion of the slaughter of many of Rachel s, the mother of
Benjamin, her great-grandchildren there in Ramah, and also of Judah in Bethlehem. You all know how Matthew applieth this to his birth : Mat.
* Herod sent forth and slew all the children that were in Beth
ii. 16-18,
lehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, accord
ing to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was
fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, In Ramah was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning ; Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. And to comfort her, he tells her, that together with these lamen
tations and throes of hers, the Messiah s birth (who was the hope of Israel) should be attended into the world, which would sweeten these sorrows in
the end or issue, to the hearts of the rest of the elect, which were to come out of their loins in those times, and then to dwell in those cities. And
so this birth of the Messiah, to be in their quarters, was worth this sorrow, and abundantly recompensed it, and was a sufficent invitation for Benjamin and Judah to return to their cities.
2. Then, secondly, he applies himself to Ephraim, or the other ten tribes, as it is expressed, ver. 18-20, and invites them by this argument to turn
again with Judah into their cities, that the conception of the Messiah should be in their quarters, and in one of their cities, as his birth was to be in the other: ver. 21, 22, Turn again, virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities. How long wilt thou go about, thou backsliding daughter ? for the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man. His meaning is, that this share and
interest they and their regions should have in the Messiah, that in one of
their cities this strange and unheard-of thing in the earth, and which the
first creation knew not, should be; a woman, and a woman alone, without a man, should encompass a man in her womb, and conceive that Gebar, that
strong man, that Son of man, the Christ. Now, this he alleging as an
158 OF CHEIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK IV.
argument to return unto their cities, his scope must be, that in one of
their cities this great thing should be done. Now, then, turn we again to Luke i. 26, and the region, province, or shire in which this fell out was
* In the sixth month
Galilee, and the city in that country this of Nazareth :
the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Naza
reth. So then, in a manifest contradiction to the Jews, here is some good
thing, yea, our chiefest good, comes out of Galilee-; and Nazareth, it was
the place of his conception.
Yea, and to view how all things meet yet more fully, as Samson was from his conception proclaimed a Nazarite, and the eminent type of Christ
in this of his, so as in allusion thereunto, the word which Jeremiah there useth of Christ s conception hath an eye unto Samson, his type herein.
It is not simply that a woman shall conceive a man, but Gebar, a strong man, that strong man of whom the strongest man that ever the world had, Samson, was but a shadow, a man filled with strength to overcome all our
enemies, and to lift hell gates off their hinges, and to carry them up the
mountains, as Samson did. Thus much for the second thing.