An illustration of the types, allegories, and prophecies of the Old Testament

Front matter

aass__ Book-_

GPO

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BOOK I.— Typical Persons

I. Christ and Adam compared, I3

II. The history of Noah, 19

III. The history of Melchizedec, 24

IV. The history of Isaac, 29

V. The history of Jacob, 37

VI. The history of Josepfi. 44

VII. The history of Moses,' 50

VIII. The ordinance of the priesthood, 56

IX. The history^ of Joshua, • • • 63

X. The history of Sampson, 69

XI. The history of David, 75

XII. The history of Solomon, 81

XIII. The history of Jonah, 86

BOOK II.— Typical Things

I. The vision of Jacob's ladder, 93

II. The vision of the burning bush, 97

III. The pillar of cloud and fire, 103

IV. The manna in the wilderness, 109

V. The rock in the wilderness, 115

VI. The brazen Serpent, 121

VII. Thoughts on the vail of Closes, 123

Vin. Of Sacrifices, ' I34

IX. The ordinance of the passover, 145

X. The ordinance of the scape-goat, 149

XI. The ordmance of the red heifer, 156

XII. The ordmance of the year of Jubilee, 162

XIII. The law of the leper, 169

XIV. The law of the near kinsman, 179

XV. The holy nation oi Israel^ 184

XVI. The victory over the nations of Canaan, 189

XVII. The allegory of Hagar and Sarah, 192

BOOK III.— Typical Places

I. The law of the cities of refuge, 200

II. The tabernacle in the wilderness,- •• 205

III. The temple of Solomon, 213

1. The ordinance of the ark and mercy-seat, 217

2. The ordinance of the golden table, 223

3. The ordmance of the golden candlestick, 226

4. The ordinance of the golden altar, 229

5. The ordinance of the brazen altar, 233

6. The ordinance of the brazen laver, 236

7. The ordinance of the anointing oil, 239

IV. The land of Canaan, ■ • • 242

V. The holy city^ of Jerusalem, and the holy hill of Zion, 246

1, The feast of tabernacles,.- •..•».. 249

2, The fast of anniversary atonement, 255

3, The feast of first fruits and of Pentecost, 261

4, The feast of the new moon, 266

0, T^e laetaphorical priesthood of all Christians,- • 269

Introduction

This brief Treatise on the Types, Allegories, and Prophecies of the Old Testament, is earnestly recommended to every candid inquirer after the truth as it is in Jesus, because it is designed to remove the vail which covers and obscures the great doctrines of the Old Testament; and shows satisfactorily that they all point to Christ and salvation only in his name, and illustrate and establish our holy Faith and Profession, That every sincere reader of the New Testament ought to be acquainted with the types and doctrines of the Old, none will deny. Why was the Old Testament given to the world so many centuries before t^ New? Surely to prepare the world for the reception of the promised Messiah when the fulness of the time should come. Why is it placed in the beginning of the Holy Scriptures ? Not on account of its antiquity, but certainly its utility, to prepare the mind of the humble Christian, to read the New Testament with satisfactory understanding; as the grammar must be learned, before a satisfactory knowledge of the language can be obtained. Why was the humble appearance of Christ and his crucifixion, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks ? Because they neglected to read and understand the types and prophecies of the Old Testament. A similar neglect is the cause of the doubts and uncertainties, of not a few of the Christian world, in every age. Witness the doubts of the two disciples on their way to Emmaus — "we trusted it had been He which should have redeemed Israel." Witness also, the reproof and instruction of the Great Teacher, on that occasion — "O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have written ; ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory ?

^ INTRODUCTION.

and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded untcJ them in all the Scriptures, the things concerning himself."

Christian reader, please to notice two things in the example before you ; First. The order. Beginning at Moses and all the prophets. Too many begin at the Revelations, and of course must read the sacred book backwards. Second. The matter the Great Teacher pointed out, viz : the things concerning himself. Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning, the end, and substance of all Scripture. The inestimable treasure hid, not in a sealed fountain or enclosed garden, but in the open field of the Old and New Testament to which all are invited, and in which all are permitted to dig, to seek that treasure. ** Search the Scriptures, (as one seeking the. precious metals,) for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they that testify of me." The great design of Heaven in giving the Scriptures to our lost world, was to testify of Christ : our object in reading them should be to find Christ. The chapter in which you read and find no Saviour, you have read amiss. The hour you bestow on searching the Scriptures, if you find not the Saviour your labor and hour are lost. Examine and search the early Prophecies respecting him, they will afford you great satisfaction. The first shows the nature and design of Christ's appearance ; the seed of the woman was designed to bruise the serpent's head. Second. Prophecy shows his lineage from Abraham ; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. The third shows his tribe and time of appearance. " The Sceptre shall not depart from Judah till the Shiloh come." The fourth shows his extraordinary nativity and nature. Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Imraanuel, i. e. God in our nature. The fifth shows the place of his birth. Bethlehem Ephrata — out of thee shall he come forth unto me. The sixth shows his humble appearance and rejection. He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs. The seventh shows his death by crucifixion. They pierced my hands and my feet. The eighth shows the manner of his' burial. He made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death. The ninth shows the duration of his abode in the grave, as Jonah was restored the third day from the bellv of

INTRODUCTION. XI

the monster of the ocean, so the Son of man was restored from the insatiable monster, the grave, on the third day. "Oh ^ave where is thj^ victory?" As the prophecies, so the types and allegories of the Old Testament are designed to lead us to Christ, to confirm and establish our faith, and trust in him alone for salvation.

We have read how Isaac carried the wood on which he was to be offered, up the mountain of Moriah ; we have also read of Christ, the antitype, carrying the wood of the cross, on which he suffered, up the same mountain (the name only changed). We have read of the Paschal Lamb, slain by the appointment of heaven, its roasted flesh the nourishment and strength, its sprinkled blood, the protection and deliverance of oppressed enslaved Israel. Behold the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. We have read of a rock in the wilderness, smitten by the appointment and rod of God, in the hand of Moses, that afforded water abundantly to supply the wants of the perishing thousands of Israel ; an inspired apostle informs us this rock was Christ, who furnishes his thirsty children drink, in our day, from the wells of salvation. We have also read how Moses, by the direction of heaven, elevated a brazen serpent on a pole, in sight of the camp of Israel, a look on which, restored the sick to health, and the dying to life. The Saviour applies this extraordinary cure to himself; as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have eternal life.

Christian reader, please to examine candidly the little treatise now before you — it contains a satisfactory illustration of the types and shadows of the Old Testament, and clearly shows they all point you to Christ the Saviour, as their substance, in our holy scriptures ; that you may continue the important inquiry till you can say to your brother, as Andrew did to Peter, we have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ ; or with the spouse in the song, I have found him whom my soul loveth; I held him and would not let him go. This is the earnest petition of your sincere friend in our common Lord. J, B,

Book I. Typical Persons

I. CHRIST AND ADAM COMPARED.

The Almighty Creator had now finished the universal frame of nature. He saw the heavens shining in all their glory, he beheld the earth smiling in all her beauty : the sea was stocked with fish, the air with fowls, the field with beasts. But still the master piece of this inferior world was wanting, a creature endued with reason, of upright stature, and qualified at once to rule over the rest of the creation, and correspond with his Creator. ** And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living soul.'' — Gen. ii. 7. Thus far we are told by the Hebrew lawgiver. And we are further informed by the great Apostle of the Gentiles, that this first man, whose name was Adam, was the type or figure of " him that was to come." — Rom. v. 14. For aught we know, it might not so much as enter into the heart of Adam to conceive of this divine mystery; and Moses himself the inspired penman of that truly ancient and authentic history, might not perhaps adveit to it. But since God hath revealed it to us by his Spirit, let us attend where the resemblance lies, of the first to the second Adam ; which we shall obviously find, whether we view him as the first man, the first father, the first lord, the first husband, or the first covenant-head. And let us learn to contemplate the glory of that illustrious person who was so early typified, while we admire the depths of God's foreknowledge, in ordering matters so, that the history of the first man, who was of the earth and earthly, was a prophecy of the second man, who is the Lord from heaven.

To begin with the creation of our general ancestor. — Adam was the first man in the world of nature, who, being formed out of the dust of the ground, by the immediate hand of his Creator, was without father, and without mother, and, in a sense peculiar to himself, is called "the Son of Grod." — Lid^e iii. ult. He was also a creature perfectly new, to whom there was nothing like and nothing equal, among all the visible works of God ; for his person consisting of a visible body, and an invisible soul, was made after the image, and in the likeness of God, which chiefly consists in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. Now sure it is not difficult to perceive, that all these characters exactly agi'ee to the second man, who is the first-born among many brethren in the world of grace, — without father, as man : without mother as God. His body was formed (not indeed of the dust of the ground, but in a manner equally unexampled and miraculous) of the virgin's substance, by the immediate power of God, and so soon as a reasonable soul was united to it, in the womb of the virgin, both were, that very moment, assumed into the divine person of the Son, wherefore, in all propriety, that holy thing which was born of her, was called " the Son of God ;" — Luke i. 35 ; or, to use the expression of an Old Testament Prophet, was ** a new thing created in the earth.'' — Jer. xxxi. 22. In the man Christ Jesus is found more of the divine likeness than all the saints, than all the holy angels can dare to boast. " For which of them have been called at any time, the brightness of the Father's gloiy, and the express image of his person 1 or to which of them has he said. Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee ]" — Heb. i. 3, 5. Adam, indeed, might resemble

CHRIST AND ADAM COMPARED. 15

his Creator as the image of the coin resembles the king upon the throne ; but Jesus Christ resembles God, as the prince and heir to the crown resembles his royal father, being not only like him, but of the same nature and substance with him. And though all similitudes must be infinitely defective in shadowing forth the constitution of Immanuers person, — the union of Adam's soul and body is perhaps the best natural emblem of it we can expect to find. Nor does it seem unlawful for us to assist our conception of this high mystery by this natural union, inasmuch as the Holy Ghost himself, in the Scriptures of the New Testament, seems to allude unto it, when he calls his humanity the flesh, and his divinity the spirit. In the former he was manifested, in the latter he was justified. — 1 Tim. iii. 18. In the one he was put to death, and in the other he was quickened. — 1 Pet. iii. 18. If the constitution of the first Adam's person was a wonderful mystery in nature, the constitution of the second Adam's person is no less an incomprehensible mystery of grace.

As Adam was the first man that God created, so he was the first father and progenitor of all other men, who are every one born in his image as they come into the world of nature and breathe the vital air. Just so, from Jesus Christ, the everlasting Father, all who come into the world of grace derive their spiritual being; his image they bear. — 1 Cor. xviii. 49 : and from him ''• the whole family in heaven .and in earth is named." — Eph. iii. 15. Though here also there is a considerable disparity betwixt the earthly man and the heavenly Adam. The first man is not the immediate but the remote father of our flesh, -—for, one generation goes, and another comes ;" but Jesus Christ is the immediate Father of all his saints, who in every age receive from him the light of life, as the silver moon, and all the sparkling stars, draw light immediately from the sun, the fountain of the day. " The first Adam," as Moses relates, ** wa^ made a living soul.'' — 1 Cor. xv. 45, that he might convey a natural life to them w^ho had not received it ; but " the second Adam,*' as the apostle declares, " w^as made a quickening spirit,'' to impart a spiritual life to them vv^ho had lost it, and vv^ere dead in trespasses and sins : and at the resurrection of the just to quicken also their mortal bodies. For ** as in Adam all die, so in Christ all shall be made alive."

Once more, Adam v^as the first lord and king of the vrorld. " Being made a little lov^er than the angels, he vras crowned with glory and honor. He had dominion over the works of God's hands ; and all things were put under his feet ; all sheep and oxen, the beast of the field, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas." — Ps. viii. 3, 4, 5. But alas ! the dominion of this lord of the inferior creation was short lived ; for, ** being in honor, he continued not." — Ps. xlix. 12. Nevertheless, in the person of Jesus Christ, God-man, the primeval sovereignty of the human nature is most amply restored ; for " he is made head over all things unto his body the church, both in the heights and depths."— E ph. i. 22, The jurisdiction of Adam, though wide was not universal ; but the kingdom of Jesus Christ ruleth over all. He can, if he pleases, extinguish the stars and the sun, which shine by his permission. And ** of his government and peace there shall be no end." — Is a. ix. 7.

Now let us come to the marriage of our great progenitor. God saw it was not good for man to be alone: — Gen. ii. 18, he casts him into a deep sleep, opens his side, takes from him a rib, by his creative power he forms a woman out of it, closes the wound, presents the newly formed creature to her husband, who being awaked knew what was done unto him, and with wonder acknowledged this last and best gift of heaven, to be bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh.

CHRIST AND ADAM COMPARED. 17

" For this cause," says the sacred historian, " should a man leave his father and mother, and cleave unta his wife/' — Gen. ii. 23. Now, may we be allowed to allegorize this real history ] Does not the apostle seem to say, that this is spoken of Christ and the church ] — Eph. v. 32. Let us modestly pursue the allegory a little. The second Adam, that he might give life and being to his beloved spouse, the church, the mother of all that are truly living, was content to sleep the sleep of death. This sleep of death was not the effect of nature, for he died not of old age or sickness ; but he was voluntarily cast into it, and was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God to be crucified and slain . His side was opened with a spear, and from the gaping wound came water and blood, that he might sanctify and cleanse and present " to him a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing." — Eph. v. 27. By this sleep of death, into which he was cast, he becomes at once her husband and her Father ; for she is a part of himself, of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. — Eph. v. 30. When he awaked at his resurrection, his wounds were healed ; he found himself a glorious conqueror ; he saw the travail of his soul, and was satisfied. He acknowledges the relation, and betroths her to himself for ever in lovingkindness, in mercies, and in faithfulness. A bloody spouse was the church to thee, O, dying Redeemer ! So matchless was his love, he left his Father and his mother to cleave to his unworthy bride — he left his Father in heaven, when he came from thence into this lower world, and consented to be forsaken for a season — left his^ mother on earth, when he ascended on high as the Captain of Salvation. He left the blessed virgin that bare him to provide for herself; He left the church of the Jews, although his motherchurch, that he might cleave unto the Gentile church, gathered out of all nations.

Lastly, Adam was the first covenant-head, and pubhc representative. It is true, the hints of this transaction are but sparingly given in the book of Grenesis. However, the truth of it is clearly evinced from the tenor of divine revelation, and it is evident, that before the law was given by Moses, a law was given to Adam, because death reigned from Adam to Moses, and there behoved to be a law by which this death did reign. For, as the inspired apostle argues with the greatest force of reason, "sin is not imputed where there is no law.'' — Rom. v. 13. Was there then a law before the covenant of Sinai ? It was surely none other but the law of works, which God gave to the first man, in whom, as their covenant head, his posterity were either to stand or fall. Full well we know the doleful event. " But as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners ; so by the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous." — Rom. V. 19. The first Adam through pride disobeyed the most easy precept, and the last Adam obeyed the most difiicult commandment. The first Adam being a man, affected to be as God : the second Adam, being God, was found in fashion as a man. The first Adam was assaulted by the devil in paradise, and was overcome : the second Adam was tempted in the wilderness by the same malicious spirit, but he was a conqueror. The first Adam breaking the law in one point, was guilty of all ; the last Adam observing it in every point, did magnify and make it honorable. The moment we become the children of Adam by natural generation, we die, for a sin which we could not personally commit : the moment we become the children of Christ by regeneration, we are made alive, by a righteousness which we could not actually work out. In Adam we are condemned for one sin ; but in Christ we are justified from innumerable offences. In the first book of the Bible wb have a melancholy relation, how the

THE HISTORY OF NOAH. 19

first Adam was so far from being able to transmit life and happiness to his posterity, or to give them to eat of the tree of life, that himself was driven out from the terrestrial paradise, and debaiTed from all access to that sacramental tree ; but in the last book of the sacred oracles, we are presented with a view of the second Adam, in a far more glorious place than that happy garden, and hear him declaring from his own mouth, " To him that overcometh, will I give to eat of the tree of life, that is in the midst of the paradise of God.'' — Rev. ii. 7.

For ever blessed be the glorious name of God, that what the first Adam could not keep, the second hath amply restored to us ; '' For as in Adam sin hath reigned unto death ; so grace hath reigned through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord : — Rom. v. 21, who is not only come that ^' we might have life, but that we might have it more abundantly." — John X. 10.

II. THE HISTORY OF NOAH.

That Noah was a figure of Jesus Christ, seems not obscurely hinted in his very name given him by his religious father, not without prophetic instinct. It signified rest, comfort, and, as some have observed, grace, when its letters are a little transposed. So Christ is our consolation, our rest, and by him grace reigns unto eternal life. Of him we may truly say with the strictest propriety, ** This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands." — Gen. V. 29. Noah " was a just man, and perfect in his generations, and walked vdth God." — Gen. vi. 6. when the wickedness of man was grown to the most exorbitant height, and all flesh had corrupted their way, he dared to be good, when all were turned degenerate ; and, fearless of reproach or violence, he admonished them of their wicked ways, preaching righteousness in their assemblies. — 2 Pet. ii. 5. So Christ preserved his integrity in every the smallest instance, in an evil and adulterous generation, preaching what he practised, wdth not unlike success to Noah. For it is written of him in the Psalms, " I have preached righteousness in the great congregation : lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord thou knowest." — Psal. xl. 9. In some seasons of the Almighty's vengeance, we are informed, that the righteousness of Noah, Daniel, and Job, could not deliver a sinning people, nor yet their nearest relations, from the lifted stroke. — Ezek. xiv. 4. Truly Noah, though righteous, could not by his righteousness, avert the waters of the flood. But the righteousness of our adorable Redeemer is of such infinite value and perfection, as to deliver from death an innumerable multitude of transgressors.

But let us chiefly consider that memorable history of Noah, his preparing an ark for the saving of his house the antitype of which remarkable event, we are informed by the apostle Peter, is " our being saved by baptism (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ." — 1 Pet. iii. 21, 22. The long-suffering of God was now tired out, and his spirit ceased to strive with rebellious men, whom all means had proved ineffectual to reclaim. The time was come when the threatened vengeance was to descend with resistless fury. Noah, being long before warned of God, had prepared an ark against the approaching deluge : for he believed God; and being moved with fear, he obeyed the commandment of the Lord. He despised the jeers of the unbelieving world, and considered not the huge difficulties he behoved to surmount, before he could get a vessel constructed of such bulk

THE HISTORY OF NOAH, 21

as would contain in its capacious hold, all sorts of beasts and birds, together with their necessary provisions, for so long a time as he was to be a prisoner. That God who commanded him, that God in whom he believed, and whom he feared, enabled him also both to begin and finish. The ship is built, the cargo is taken in, the flood comes, and the waters prevail above the tallest trees, and loftiest mountains. The sinful race of man is buried in a watery grave. But the ark, the peculiar care of heaven, though without helm or mast, rides triumphant over the foaming billows, is preserv^ed from dashing on the craggy rocks, or foundering in the mighty waters. At length a dove fetching in her mouth an olive leaf, — Gen. viii. 11, informs the inhabitants of the ark, that the waters were abated. They are at last released from their tedious confinement. The venerable patiiarch, overwhelmed with gratitude for such a wonderful preservation amidst the howling waste, sacrifices, unto the Lord, who smells a savour of rest. — Gen. viii. 21, and renews with him his gracious covenant, that he will no more curse the ground for man's sake. A glorious rainbow is seen over his head stamped in the clouds, — Gen. ix. 13, which from that time became a peaceful sign that the v/aters shall never more cover the face of the earth ; and though the waves shall toss themselves against the sandy shores, that they shall never prevail. Who sees not in this whole transaction, a lively picture of the method of our salvation by Jesus Christ from a far more dreadful flood, that shall sooner or later, descend upon the head of every sinner ? In Jesus Christ we have the antitype of Noah, both floating in the ark, standing at the altar, and compassed with the rainbow. Indeed he is at once the ark that saves us from the floods of divine wrath, the sacrifice that atones the incensed justice of God, and the rainbow that makes our clouds of every soit to wear sweet smiles.

Though Noah's ark, and sacrifice, and rainbow, were things different from himself, and from one another, in Jesus Christ they are all conjoined.

What mortal wit would have contrived such an expedient as the ark of Noah, to save from an universal deluge ? — There is no doubt the whole scheme appeared very ridiculous to the generality of the world. Noah himself was not the contriver of this project. It was wholly planned by God. Even so, if men and angels had tortured their invention to save a guilty world, they could never have so much as suggested that method which the wisdom of God has fallen upon in the mediation of Jesus Christ. So far does it transcend the thoughts of men ; that naturally they cannot receive the mystery of God's will : For it is " to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness.'' — 1 Cor. i. 23. In this wonderful vessel were found only eight souls, — 1 Pet. iii. 20 ; the little family of Noah ; and how small was that number to the myriads that perished in the waves ] — even so the flock of Christ is but a little flock ; for though ^^ many are called, yet few are chosen." — Mat. xx. 16. O how unsearchable are his judgments ! It was no doubt very strange to see the wildest beast, and birds dwelling peaceably together under the same roof in that time of common danger; but no more strange than what happens every time when sinners are converted unto God, and enter into his sanctuary. For in Jesus Christ, the men of ravenous natures forget their natural ferocity, and put on, as the elect of God, bowels of mercy, humbleness of mind, meekness, and long suffering ; and, to use the lofty style of the prophet, ** the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the young lion and fatling together : — they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain." — Isa. xi. 6, Dreadful, to be sure, were the bufletings of the rolling surges on the