Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John | Page 2

read to the people, and caused the
people to renew the holy covenant with God. This is the book of the
Law now extant.

When [3] Shishak came out of Egypt and spoil'd the temple, and
brought Judah into subjection to the monarchy of Egypt, (which was in
the fifth year of _Rehoboam_) the Jews continued under great troubles
for about twenty years; being _without the true God, and without a
teaching Priest, and without Law: and in those times there was no
peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations
were upon all the inhabitants of the countries, and nation was destroyed
of nation, and city of city, for God did vex them with all adversity_.
But [4] when Shishak was dead, and Egypt fell into troubles, Judah had
quiet ten years; and in that time Asa built fenced cities in Judah, and
got up an army of 580000 men, with which, in the 15th year of his
reign, he met and overcame Zerah the Ethiopian, who had conquered
Egypt and Lybia, and Troglodytica, and came out with an army of
1000000 Lybians and Ethiopians, to recover the countries conquered by
Sesac. And after this victory [5] Asa dethroned his mother for idolatry,
and he renewed the Altar, and brought new vessels of gold and silver
into the Temple; and he and the people entered into a new covenant to
seek the Lord God of their fathers, upon pain of death to those who
worshiped other Gods; and his son Jehosaphat took away the high
places, and in the third year of his reign sent some of his Princes, and
of the Priests and Levites, to teach in the cities of _Judah_: and they
had the book of the Law with them, and went about throughout all the
cities of Judah, and taught the people. This is that book of the Law
which was afterwards lost in the reign of Manasses, and found again in
the reign of Josiah, and therefore it was written before the third year of
Jehosaphat.
The same book of the Law was preserved and handed down to posterity
by the Samaritans, and therefore was received by the ten Tribes before
their captivity. For [6] when the ten Tribes were captivated, a Priest or
the captivity was sent back to Bethel, by order of the King of Assyria,
to instruct the new inhabitants of Samaria, in _the manner of the God
of the land_; and the Samaritans had the Pentateuch from this Priest, as
containing the law or manner of the God of the land, which he was to
teach them. For [7] they persevered in the religion which he taught
them, joining with it the worship of their own Gods; and by persevering
in what they had been taught, they preserved this book of their Law in

the original character of the Hebrews, while the two Tribes, after their
return from Babylon, changed the character to that of the Chaldees,
which they had learned at Babylon.
And since the Pentateuch was received as the book of the Law, both by
the two Tribes and by the ten Tribes, it follows that they received it
before they became divided into two Kingdoms. For after the division,
they received not laws from one another, but continued at variance.
Judah could not reclaim Israel from the sin of Jeroboam, and Israel
could not bring Judah to it. The Pentateuch therefore was the book of
the Law in the days of David and Solomon. The affairs of the
Tabernacle and Temple were ordered by David and Solomon, according
to the Law of this book; and David in the 78th Psalm, admonishing the
people to give ear to the Law of God, means the Law of this book. For
in describing how their forefathers kept it not, he quotes many
historical things out of the books of Exodus and Numbers.
The race of the Kings of Edom, before there reigned any King over
Israel, is set down in the book of [8] _Genesis_; and therefore that
book was not written entirely in the form now extant, before the reign
of Saul. The writer set down the race of those Kings till his own time,
and therefore wrote before David conquered Edom. The Pentateuch is
composed of the Law and the history of God's people together; and the
history hath been collected from several books, such as were the history
of the Creation composed by Moses, Gen. ii. 4. the book of the
generations of Adam, _Gen._ v. i. and the book of the wars of the Lord,
_Num._ xxi. 14. This book of wars contained what was done at the
Red-sea, and in the journeying of Israel thro' the Wilderness, and
therefore was begun