brother unto her. And it shall be that the firstborn which he beareth, fhall fucceed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Ifrael, &c.

This law muft certainly be looked upon as an exception from the general law (Lev. xviii. 16.) and the reafon of it appears in the law itself, viz. "To preferve inheritances in "the families to which they belonged." Therefore all lands which had been mortgaged, were to return back to the owner at the year of jubilee. See Lev. xxv. 25, 28. See also a special provision against the alienation of lands from the tribe to which they belonged, Numb. xxxvi. 2-9. This was of the utmost confequence in the defigns of Propidence refpecting the MESSIAH, whofe genealogy, with refpect to his being of the feed of Abraham-the tribe of Judah-the family of David, was not more afcertained by his lineal descent, than by the prefervation of Bethlehem Ephrata in the tribe of Judah, and family of David. By which it came to pass, that the prophecy concerning the very place of the MESSIAH's birth was literally fulfilled (Comp. Mic. v. 2. with Matt. ii. 4, 5, 6, and Luke ii. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.) The Jewish * doctors, as Mr. Selden, in his Uxor Habraica, and others after him, obferve, made feveral ex

*Their comments on the Old Teftament are about as much to be depended upon, in general, as the Popish comments upon the New. See Fulk on Rhemish Teftament-per tot.

ceptions

ceptions to this law; but as the text makes none, I know not that we are warranted in making any. Bishop Burnet feems to have had a right view of the matter, in his observation on the generality of this law. His words are--" Yea, polygamy was made, in ❝ fome cafes, a duty by Mofes's law; when any died without iffue, his brother, or "nearest kinfman, was to marry his wife, for raifing up feed to him; and all were obliged to obey this, under the hazard of "infamy if they refufed; neither is there.

any exceptions made for fuch as were mar"ried; from whence I may faithfully con"clude, that what God made necessary in "fome cafes, to any degree, can in no cafe "be finful in itself, fince God is holy in all his ways. And thus far it appears that polygamy is not contrary to the law and "nature of marriage."

I am indebted for the above quotation to the before-mentioned reverend Dean's book on polygamy, wherein the Dean seems a little comforted by the Bishop's having said, that "he was at a distance from his books and 66 papers, when he gave his opinion on this "point."—"This," adds he, " was the best "excufe that could be given for fo rash a decifion, which it would have been for "the honour of his reading to have retracted, and which, I fincerely with he

*See before, p. 116.

"had

had retracted, when he returned to his "books."

The good Dean, in his zeal against polygamy, don't give himself time to confider the foundness of the learned prelate's opi

nion.

As there was no law against polygamy, there was nothing to exempt a married man from the obligation of marrying his brother's widow on this account; for if fo, things might have been so fituated, that Bethlehem might have gone away into fome other family than that of David, into fome other tribe than that of Judah, and, of course, Jofeph and his wife Mary have gone elsewhere to be taxed; for this might evidently have been the confequence of the widow and the inheritance going into the hands of a ftranger. But GOD fays -The wife of the dead fhall not marry without unto a franger- her husband's brother shall go in unto her, &c. Here is a negative claufe, pofitively declaring whom the fhall not marry, and an affirmative claufe, as pofitively declaring whom the fhall. Now let us fuppose, that not only the furviving brother, but all the near kinfmen, to whom the marriage of the widow, and the redemption of the inheritance belonged, were married men; if that exempted them from the obligation of this law as they could not redeem the inberitance, unless they married the widow (Ruth iv. 5.)-the end of this important law muft in many cafes be defeated the wi

dow

dow be tempted to marry a ftranger to put herself and the inheritance into, his handsand the whole reafon affigned for the law itfelf, that of raising up feed to the deceased, to preferve the inheritance in his family, that bis name be not put out of Ifrael-fall to the ground. For which weighty reafons, as there was evidently no law against polygamy.. there could be no exemption of a man from the pofitive duty of this law because he was married. As we fay-ubi eadem ratio ibi idem jus.

But the learned Dean, in order to overthrow all the Bishop's reafoning on the fubject, obferves from Selden's Ux. Heb, that "the Chaldee paraphraft, the Midrash, and

Jofephus, agree, that this was the reafon why Mablon's next kinsman refused to re"deem Ruth, his widow, viz.-Because it was not lawful for him to marry her, having " a wife of his own." That people should invent reasons for men's actions, where none are given, is not fo furprizing as overlooking the reafons that are given, and fubftituting others which do not appear to be fo much as thought of by the parties themselves. This is the cafe here-Mahlon's next kinfman is applied to, as by law he ought to have been, to buy Mahlon's inheritance, and to marry Ruth his widow: his anfwer is neither more nor less than this-" I cannot redeem it for

myfelf, left I mar my own inheritance."How these words relate to the lawfulness or unlawfulness

3

unlawfulness of the matter, was referved for the ingenuity of modern interpreters to make out-that they may, and most probably do, relate to the expediency or inexpediency of such a step, the kinfman's prefent circumftances confidered, may be easily inferred from the words of the reafon given. The kinfman might be married, perhaps have many children, and but a small provifion for them -therefore, when he hears of not only difburfing the redemption-price for Mahlon's parcel of land, but that this could not be done, without marrying a very poor young woman, by whom he might have another numerous family of children, which he could not maintain, educate, or provide for, out of the small parcel of land which was * Elimelech's, but muft diminish his own inheritance of which he was poffeffed, to the damage of his other family, he prudently declines the kinfman's part-left, faid he, I mar mine own inheritance. Such a fenfe as this the words will moft certainly bear; but as to their meaning that the man would not marry Ruth" because it was not lawful "for him to marry her, having a wife of his "own"-it is a conceit, fetched even farther than, one would think, the utmost unfairnefs of prejudice itself could reach.

* Elimelech was the father of Mahlon; therefore the land is called Elimelech's, it defcending to Mahlon from

him.