Sea, there he will command the Serpent to bite them; and tho' they go into Captivity, he will follow them with the Sword, and fet his Face against them; there fhall be no Way for them to efcape, chap. ix. 2, 3, 4. Paffages in this Prophecy, where the Expreffions are very elegant, and the Paths or Rhetorick very moving, fuch as are chap. ii. 9, 10, 11. iv. 6. v. 6, 9. vi. 1, 7. viii. 8, 10. and ix. 2, 6. The Book of the Prophet O B A DIAH. Obadiah lived in Judea after the taking of Jerufalem, A. M. 3414, and before the Defolation of Idumea, in about 3410; which Arch-bishop Usher, in his Annals, A. M. 3419, fuppofes this Prophecy to have been ful filled about five Years after the taking of Jerufalem. He prophefied about the Time of taking of Jerufalem, and thereupon in foretelling the Destruction of Edom, he ufes feveral Expreffions which Jeremiah had done before him, fpeaking upon that Subject. Compare Obad. v. 1, 8. with Jer. Ixix. 9, 14, 15, 16. Ezekiel agrees with Jeremiah and Obadiah, in affigning the fame Reason for the Judgments threatned against the Edomites, viz. their infulting over the Jews in the Time of their Diftrefs. See Ezek. xxv. 12. and xxxv. 35, &c. The Book of the Prophet JON A H. Q. WHither was Jonah Sent? A. To Niniveh, the chief City of the Affyrians, to preach. Q. Did he obey the Commandment of God? A. No, he broke it, and went another Way, to Tarfpifb. Q. What Q. What moved him fo to do? A. His own Reafon, because he thought if the Jews repented not by his Doctrine, much lefs would the Heathen: Q. How did be for a Paffage? A. Hired a Ship, and paid his Freight. Q. When he was at Sea, what happened? A. God caufed a Tempeft, that it migh check the Difobedience of Jonah. Q. What did he during the Tempest? A. Sleep. Q. What did the Mariners? A. Studied to find the Caufe of this Disturbance, by cafting of Lots. Q. To whom fell the Lot? A. To Jonah, and the Mariners threw him into the Sea. By whofe Counsel was Jonah caft into the Sea? A. By his own; for his Confcience drew from him both his Sin and the Punishment due to it. Q Was Jonah drown'd? A. "No; tho' his Sin deferv'd it, yet God preferv'd him, and fent a Whale that fwallowed him up Q. What followed? A. The Tempeft ceased, and the Mariners glorified God. Q.. But what did Jonah, being in a Fish's Belly. A. Thought upon his Sin, and cried to the Lord. Q. How did the Lord deliver bim? Q. What may we learn from hence? A. Not to defpair of Succour, being overwhelm'd in the Waves, both of Sin and Punishment. Q. How long had he been in the Fish's Belly? A. Three Days and three Nights. Q. And what followed then? A. The Lord fpake to Jonah the fecond Time, and bade him arife and go to Niniveh, and preach Repentance. Q. Did he now obey? A. Yes; and cried in the Streets, Yet forty Days, and Niniveh fhall be overthrown. Q. How did the People entertain his Doctrine? A. With Fear and Trembling. A. Proclaimed a Faft, from the greatest to the fmalleft: The King himself rose from his Throne, caft off his Robes, and put on Sackcloath, commanding all his Subjects to do the like; and that neither Man nor Beaft fhould tafte Food till they had cried to the Lord for Mercy. Q. When the Lord far their Repentance, what did he? A. Turned away his Wrath, and faved their City. Q. How did Jonah take their Deliverance? A. He was angry; because, being a Prophet, he fhould be found falfe of his Word; and therefore began to upbraid God. Q. In what Manner? A. O Lord, (faid he) was not A. Caufed the Fifh to caft this my Saying when I was yet him up upon dry. Land. in my Country, that thou art a gracious God, merciful, and flow which came up in a Night, and perifhed in a Night; and wouldst thou not have me pity Niniveh, wherein there are Šixfcore Thousand Perfons, that cannot difcern the Right-hand from the Left, and alfo much Cattle ? to Anger, and repenteft thee of Evil; for which Caufe I fled to Tarshish? Therefore I befeech thee take my Life, rather than let me live in Infamy. Q. Whether went he then? A. Out of the City, to feè if after forty Days the Lord would destroy the City. Q. On which Side of the City fat be? A. On the East Side, and built him a Booth. Q. What did God caufe to grow over him to fhadow him? A. A Gourd. Q. What became of the Gourd? A. The next Morning a Worm ftruck it, and it withered. Q. Did Jonah fuffer any Inconveniency by that? A. Yes, the Eastern Wind and Sun-beams beat upon his Head, and made him faint; fo that he griev'd for the Lofs of the Gourd. Q. What faid the Lord to him then? A. Haft thou Pity (faid he) on the Gourd, for which thou haft not laboured, nor made it grow, Q. What learn we by this? A. That we muft not measure the Providence and Mercy of God after the Square of our human Affections. Q. What was the final Caufe of fending Jonah to Niniveh? A. By the fudden Repentance of thefe Heathen People, to reprove the Obduracy and Hardnefs of Heart of his own Children, that many Years were called upon. Q. The Ninivites complying with the Summons given them by the Prophet Jonah, and the Lord deferring the Execution upon them, Did they continue in their Integrity? A. No? the Increase of their Iniquities made them ripe for Deftruction about 150 Years afterwards, particularly explained in the Prophecy of Nabum. Jonah lived in the Kingdom of Ifrael, under King Joah, and Jeroboam the Second, about the fame Time as Hofea, Ifaiah, and Amos, and was the ancienteft of all the Prophets, whofe Writings are preferved in Scripture Canon. Bishop Lloyd, in his Chronological Tables, fuppofes him to have prophefied in the latter End of Jehu's, or the Beginning of Jeboahaz's Reign; at which Time the Kingdom of Ifrael was brought very low by the Oppreffions of Hazael, King of Syria, 2 Kings xiii. 22. This might be a proper Reafon for Jonah to foretell the Succefs which Jeboabaz's Grandfon, Jeroboam, fhould have in reftoring the Coafts of Ifrael, ibid, chap. xiv. 25. He was of -Gath-hepher, a Town in the Tribe of Zebulon, Joh. xix. 13. not far from Sephorim, or Dio-cafaria, as St Ferom informs us in his Commentary upon Jonah; who adds, that Jonah's Sepulchre was fhewed there in his Time. This Town was fituate in Galilee; and fo confutes that Obfervation of the Pharifees, that out of Galilee there did arife no Prophet, John vii. 52. The : 178 The Book of the Prophet MICAH. QWHAT did Micah prophely of? A. Of the Birth of Chrift, chap. v. 2. of his Kingdom, ver. 4. of his Victory, ver. 8. of the Glory and Peace of the Church, chap. iv. 1, 2, 3. and her Triumph both over her Enemies and Afflictions, chap. vii. 8. Q. In how many Things confifts the Duty of a Chriftian? A. In two; Holiness to God, and Righteousness to our Bre A. For felling Juftice for Money, and eating the Flesh of the People, fleaing off their Skins, breaking their Bones, and chopping their Flesh to Pieces, chap. iii. I, 2. Q. What is understood by that? A. Their pilling and polling the Common-wealth. Q. What elfe did he reprove? A. The Priefts for theirCovetoufnels, ver. 10. Q. And whom else? A. The rich Merchant... A. Because he is full of Lies and Deceit, ver. 12. Q. What are the Virtues here commended? A. Silence and Patience, chap. vii. 5, 9. Q. If we do not repent, what may we expect from this Prophecy? A. The Lord will be Witness against us, becaufe we hearken not to the Reading and Preaching of God's Word, chap. i. 2. The Prophet Micah was probably of Judah, and lived under Fotham, Abaz, and Hezekiah. Jotham began to reign in 3245; and Hezekiah died in 3306. He was cotemporary with Ifaiah, but began later to prophefy, and is called the Morafthite here in Jer. xxvi. 18. from the Place of his Nativity, Morafthi, which St Jerom diftinguishes from Marefpah, mentioned chap i. 15, tho' he places them both in the Tribe of Judah. Lib. de Locis. Hebr. The 179 The Book of the Prophet NA HUM. Q. WHAT doth Nahum A. That it is dangerous to Ninivites. Q. Did they fo? Preaching of Jonah, and the Mercy that was fhewed them at Q. By whom? Nahum appeared in Judea in the Reign of Hezekiah, after the Expedition of Sennacherib, A. M. 3291. The Deftruction of Niniveh here prophefied of is recorded in the Book of Tobit, chap. xiv. 15. Which Account Archbishop Uber, in his Annals, A. M. 3378, Dr Prideaux's Script. Connect. p. 47, 48, and other learned Men, understand of Nabupolaffer, Father to Nebuchadnezzar, (called in the Greek Tranflation Nebuchodonofer) and Cyaxares, King of Media, Abafuerus by Daniel, chap. ix. 1. This remarkable Tranfaction is placed by Dr Prideaux in the 29th Year of Jofiah, and about 24 Years before the Destruction of Jerufalem; which exactly agrees with the Account given by the Heathen Hiftorians, and others, as St Jerom has obferved in his Preface upon Jonah. The Book of the Prophet HABAKKUK. Q. WHAT did Habakkuk prophesy againft? A. The Pride and Tyranny of the Chaldeans,that were puft up with their Spoils and Victories. Q. What doth be compare the Men of this World unto? A. To Filhes; becaufe, as amongst Fifies the great devour the fmall, fo is it amongst Men, chap. i. 14. Q. How loathfome is Tyranny and Pride? A. So loathfome, that the very Stones of the Wall fhall cry out against it, chap. ii. 11. QWhat did he prophesy fhould be the End of the Chaldeans? Bb A. Ruin The Prophet Habakkuk lived in Judea at the Beginning of the Reign of Jehoiakim, before the coming of Nebuchadnezzar into the Country in 3398, and probably was cotemporary with Jeremiah, and prophefied in the Reign. of Jofiah; for the Subject of their Prophecies are much alike, viz. the Deftruction of Judea and Jerufalem by the Chaldeans, for their heinous Sins and Provocations. We may obferve, as Nahum the preceeding Prophet fore told |