TYPES OF THE MESSIAH, ETC.

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That the things of the Old Testament are types of things appertaining to the Messiah and his kingdom and salvation, made manifest from the Old Testament itself.

We find by the Old Testament, that it has ever been God’s manner from the beginning of the world, to exhibit and reveal future things by symbolical representations, which were no other than types of the future things revealed. Thus when future things were made known in visions, the things that were seen were not the future things themselves, but some other things that were made use of as shadows, symbols, or types of the things. Thus the bowing of the sheaves of Joseph’s brethren, and the sun, moon, and stars doing obeisance to him, and Pharaoh’s fat and lean kine, and Nebuchadnezzar’s image, and Daniel’s four beasts, etc. were figures or types of the future things represented by them. And not only were types and figures made use of to represent future things when they were revealed by visions and dreams, but also when they were revealed by the word of the Lord coming by the mouth of the prophets (as it is expressed). The prophecies that the prophets uttered concerning future things, were generally by similitudes, figures, and symbolical representations. Hence prophecies of old were called parables; as Balaam’s prophecies, and especially the prophecies of the things of the Messiah’s kingdom. The prophecies are given forth in allegories, and the things foretold spoken of, not under the proper names of the things themselves, but under the names of other things that are made use of in the prophecy as symbols or types of the things foretold. And it was the manner in those ancient times, to deliver divine instructions in general in symbols and emblems, and in their speeches and discourses to make use of types, and figures, and enigmatical speeches, into which holy men were led by the Spirit of God. This manner of delivering wisdom was originally divine, as may be argued from that of Solomon, Proverbs 1:6. “To understand a proverb, (or parable,) and the interpretation, the words of the wise and their dark sayings;” and from that of the psalmist, Psalm 49:3,4. “My mouth shall speak of wisdom, and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding. I will incline mine ear to a parable. I will open my dark sayings upon the harp.” And Psalm 78:1,2. “ Give ear, O my people, to my law; incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable, I will utter dark sayings of old.”

By a parable is meant an enigmatical symbolical speech. Ezekiel 17:2. and 23:3. Hence speeches of divine wisdom in general came to be called parables, as the speeches of Job and his friends. Hence of old the wise men of all nations, who derived their wisdom chiefly by tradition from the wise men of the church of God, who spoke by inspiration, fell into that method.

They received instruction that way, and they imitated it. Hence it became so much the custom in the eastern nations to deal so much in enigmatical speeches and dark figures, and to make so much use of symbols and hieroglyphics, to represent divine things, or things appertaining to their gods and their religion. It seems to have been in imitation of the prophets and other holy and eminent persons in the church of God, who were inspired,, that it became so universally the custom among all ancient nations, for their priests, prophets, and wise men to utter their auguries, and to deliver their knowledge and wisdom in their writings and speeches, in allegories and enigmas, and under symbolical representations. Every thing that the wise said must be in a kind of allegory, and veiled with types: as it was also the manner of the heathen oracles, to utter themselves under the like representations.

We find that it was God’s manner throughout the ages of the Old Testament, to typify future things, not only as he signified them by symbolical and typical representations in those visions and prophecies in which they were revealed, but also as he made use of those things that had an actual existence, to typify them, either by events that he brought to pass by his special providence to that end, or by things that he appointed and commanded to be done for that end.

We find future things typified by what God did himself, by things that he brought to pass by his special providence. Thus the future struggling of the two nations of the Israelites and Edomites was typified by Jacob’s and Esau’s struggling together in the womb. Genesis 25:22,23. “ And the children struggled together within her, and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the Lord; and the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels. And the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger.” And the prevalence of Jacob over Esau, and his supplanting him, so as to get away his birthright and blessing, and his posterity’s prevailing over the Edomites, was typified by Jacob’s hand taking hold on Esau’s heel in the birth. Genesis 25:26. “And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob,” or, supplanter. Chap. 27:36.” Is he not rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold now he hath taken away my blessing.” Hosea 12:3,6. “He took his brother by the heel in the womb — Therefore, turn thou to thy God,” etc. And as the Israelites overcoming and supplanting their enemies in their struggling or wrestling with them, was typified by Jacob’s taking hold on Esau’s heel, so Jacob’s and his seed’s prevailing with God, in their spiritual wrestling with him, was typified by his wrestling with God and prevailing. Genesis 32:28. “Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince thou hast power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.” Hosea 12:4. “Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him. He found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us, even the Lord God of hosts, the Lord is his memorial. Therefore, turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.” The prevalence of the posterity of Pharez over Zarah, who first put forth his hand, was typified by his unexpectedly breaking forth out of the womb before him. Genesis 39:29.

So by Moses’s being wonderfully preserved in the midst of great waters, though but a little helpless infant, and being drawn out of the water, seems apparently to be typified the preservation and deliverance of his people, that he was made the head and deliverer of, who were preserved in the midst of dangers they were in in Egypt, which were ready to overwhelm them, when the prince and people sought to their utmost to destroy them, and root them out, and they had no power to withstand them, but were like an helpless infant, and who were at last wonderfully delivered out of their great and overwhelming troubles and dangers, which in scripture language is delivering out of great waters, or drawing out of many waters. 2 Samuel 22:17. “He sent from above; he took me he drew me out of many waters.”

And Psalm 18:16. It is the same sort of deliverance from cruel and bloodthirsty enemies that the psalmist speaks of, that the Israelites were delivered from. And so he does again, Psalm 144:7. “Send thine hand from above; rid me and deliver me out of great waters from the hand of strange children.” And Psalm 69:2. “I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me;” with verse 14. “Deliver me out of the, mire, and let me not sink; let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.” That the king of Israel smote three times upon the ground with his arrows, was ordered in providence to be a type of his beating the Syrians three times. 2 Kings 13:18,19. The potter’s working a work upon the wheels, and the vessel’s being marred in the hand of the potter, so that he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to him to make it, at the time when Jeremiah went down to the p otter’s house, was ordered in providence to be a type of God’s dealing with the Jews. Jeremiah 18.

The twelve fountains of water and the threescore and ten palm-trees, that were in Elim, Exodus 15:27. were ma nifestly types of the twelve patriarchs, the fathers of the tribes, and of the threescore and teii elders of the congregation. The paternity of a family, tribe, or nation, in the language of the Old Testament, is called a fountain. Deuteronomy 33:28.” Israel shall dwell in safety alone; the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine.” Psalm 68:26. “ Bless the Lord from the fountain of Israel.”

Isaiah 48:1. “Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah.” And the church of God is often represented in Scripture by a palm-tree or palmtrees. Psalm 92:12. Song of Solomon 7:7, 8. And therefore fitly were the elders or representatives of the church compared to palm-trees. God’s people often are compared to trees. Isaiah 61:3. and 60:21. and elsewhere.

We find that God was often pleased to bring to pass extraordinary and miraculous appearances and events, to typify future things. Thus God’s making Eve of Adam’s rib, was to typify the near relation and strict union of husband and wife, and the respect that is due, in persons in that relation, from one to the other; as is manifest from the account given of it, Genesis 2:2 1-24. “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall. a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh.” And when God spake to Moses from the burning bush, concerning the great affliction and oppression of the children of Israel in Egypt, and promised to preserve and deliver them, what appeared in the bush, viz, its burning with fire, and yet not being consumed, was evidently intended as a type of the same thing that God then spake to Moses about, viz. the church of Israel being in the fire of affliction in Egypt, and appearing in the utmost danger of being utterly consumed there, and yet being marvelloushy preserved and delivered. Such a low and weak state as the people were in in Egypt, and such an inability for self-defence, we find in the Old Testament represented by a bush or low tree, and a root out of a dry ground, as was that bush in Horeb, which signifies a dry place. Isaiah 53:2. Ezekiel 17:22-24. Affliction and danger in the language of the Old Testament, are called fire. Zechariah 13:9. “1 will bring the third part through the fire.” Isaiah 48:10. “I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.” And God’s marvelously preserving when in great affliction and danger, is represented as being preserved in the fire from being burnt. Isaiah 43:2. “When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee-when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” And God’s delivering the people of Israel from affliction, and from the destruction of which they were in danger, through bondage and oppression under the hand of their enemies, is represented by their being delivered out of the fire. Zechariah 3:2. Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? Yea, that very thing of the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, is often represented as their being delivered out of the fire. Psalm 66:12. “We went through fire and through water, but thou broughtest us into a wealthy place.” Deuteronomy 4:20. “The Lord hath taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt.” So I Kings 8:51. and Jeremiah 11:4.

So Moses’s rod’s swallowing up the magicians’ rods, Exodus 7:12. is evidently given of God as a sign and type of the superiority of God s power above the power of their gods, and that his power should prevail and swallow up theirs. For that rod was a token of God’s power, as a prince’s rod or sceptre was a token of his power. Thus we read of the rod of the Messiah’s strength, Psalm cx. So the turning of the water of the river of Egypt into blood, first by Moses’s taking and pouring it out on the dry land, and its becoming blood on the dry land, and afterwards by the river itself, and all the other waters of Egypt, being turned to blood, in the first plague on Egypt, was evidently a foreboding sign and type of what God threatened at the same time, viz. that if they would not let the people go, God would slay their first-born, and of his afterward destroying Pharaoh and all the prime of Egypt in the Red sea. (See Exodus 4:9. and chap. 7.)

God’s making a great destruction of the lives of a people is, in the language of the Old Testament, a giving them blood to drink. Isaiah 49:26. “And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh, and they shall be drunken with their own blood.” Aaron’s rod budding, blossoming, and bearing fruit, is given as a type of God’s owning and blessing his ministry, and crowning it with success. His rod was the rod of an almond-tree, Numbers 17:8. which God makes use of in Jeremiah 1:11., 12. as a token and type of his word, that speedily takes effect, as Moses’s rod of an almond-tree speedily brought forth fruit.

God caused the corn in the land of Judah to spring again, after it had been cut off with the sickle, and to bring forth another crop from the roots that seemed to be dead, and so, once and again, to be a sign and ty e that the remnant that was escaped of the house of J type should again take root downward, and bear fruit upward, and that his church should revive again, as it were out of its own ashes, and flourish like a plant, after it has been seemingly destroyed and past recovery: as 2 Kings 19:29,30. and Isaiah 37:30,31.

God wrought the miracle of causing the shadow in the dial of Ahaz to go backward, contrary to the course of nature, to be a sign and type of king Hezekiah’s being in a miraculous manner, and contrary to the course of nature, healed of his sickness, that was in itself mortal, and brought back from the grave whither he was descending, and the sun of the day of his life being made to return back again, when according to the course of nature it was just a setting. 2 Kings 20.

The miraculous uniting of the two sticks, that had the names of Judah and Joseph written upon them, so that they became one stick in the prophet’s hand, was to typify the future entire union of Judah and Israel.

Also God miraculously caused a gourd to come up in a night, over the head of Jonah, and to perish in a night, to typify the life of man. That gourd was a feeble, tender, dependent, frail vine, It came up suddenly, and was very green and flourishing, and was pleasant and refreshing, and it made a fine show for one day, and then withered and dried up. Jonah 4:6, etc.

God reproved Jonah for his so little regarding the lives of the inhabitants of Nineveh, by the type of the gourd, which was manifestly intended as a type of the life or man; or of man with respect to his life, being exactly agreeable to the representations frequently made of man, and his p resent frail life, in other p arts of the Old Testament. This gourd was a vine, a feeble, dependent plant, that could not stand alone. This God there ore makes use of to represent man, in Ezekiel 15:This gourd was a very tender, frail plant. It sprang up suddenly, and was very short-lived. Its life was but one day; as the life of man is often compared to a day. It was green and flourishing, and made a fine show one day, and was withered and dried up the next. It came up in a night and perished in a night; appeared flourishing in the morning, and the next evening was smitten, exactly agreeable to the representation made of man’s life in Psalm 90:6.” In the morning it flourisheth and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down and withereth.”

The worm that smote the gourd, represents the cause of man’s death. The gourd was killed by a worm, a little thing; as man is elsewhere said to be crushed before the moth. It was that, the approach of which was not discerned; it came under ground: as elsewhere man is represented as not knowing the time of his death, as the fishes are taken in an evil net, etc.

And as being smitten by an arrow that flies unseen. That this gourd was intended by God as an emblem of man’s life, is evident from what God himself says of it, and the application he makes of it. God himself compares the lives of the inhabitants of Nineveh with this gourd, verse 10, 11. Jonah had pity on the gourd, i.e. on himself for the loss of it; for it was very pleasing and refreshing to him, while it lasted, and defended him from scorching heat. So life is sweet. The Ninevites by its preservation were held back from the wrath of God, that had been threatened for their sins. How much more therefore should Jonah have had pity on the numerous inhabitants of Nineveh, when God had threatened them with the loss of life, which was an enjoyment so much more desirable than the gourd was to him I And if he found fault with God, that he did not spare to him the shadow of the gourd; how unreasonable was he in also finding fault with God that he did spare the Ninevites their precious lives?

God miraculously enabled David to kill the lion and the bear, and to deliver the lamb out of their mouth, plainly and evidently to be a type, sign, and encouragement unto him, that he would enable him to destroy the enemies of his people, that were much stronger than they, and deliver his people from them. David did this as a shepherd over the flock of his father; and his acting the part of a shepherd toward them, is expressly spoken of as a resemblance of his acting the part of a king and shepherd towards God’s people from time to time. 1 Chronicles 11:2. Psalm 78:70,71,72. Jeremiah 23:4,5,6. Ezekiel 34:23,24. Chap. 37:24. And God’s people in places innumerable are called his flock, and his sheep, and their enemies, in David’s Psalm and elsewhere, are compared to the lion and other beasts of prey that devour the sheep: and David himself calls his own deliverance, and the deliverance of God’s people, a being saved from the lion’s mouth. Psalm 7:1,2. and 17:12, 13. and 22:20, 21. and 35:17. and 57:3, 4. And David himself thus understood and improved God’s thus miraculously enabling him to conquer these wild beasts, and deliver the lamb, as a representation and sign of what God would enable him to do for his people against their strong enemies; as is evident from what he said to Saul, when he offered to go against Goliath.

The accidental rending of Samuel’s mantle, 1 Samuel 15:27,28. signified the rending of the kingdom from Saul. It was a common thing for God to order and appoint things to be done by men, in order to typify future events; so Samuel poured out water in Mizpeh, 1 Samuel 7:6. to signify their repentance. See Pool’s Synopsis. Ahijah’s rending Jeroboam’s garment in twelve pieces, and giving him ten, was to testify the rending the kingdom of Israel, and giving him ten tribes. 1 Kings 11:30, etc. So see Kings 20:35, etc. and 2 Kings 13:14-20. The prophet’s assisting the king of Israel, in shooting an arrow eastward, towards Syria, was appointed of God to signify that he would assist the king of Israel in fighting with the Syrians . 2 Kings 13:15, etc. The prophet Isaiah by God’s appointment went naked and barefoot, to typify the Egyptians and Ethiopians going naked and barefoot in their captivity. Isaiah 20 Jeremiah by God’s appointment typified the captivity of the Jews into Babylon, with many of its circumstances, by taking a linen girdle and putting it on his loins, and hiding it in a hole in a rock by the river Euphrates, and returning again to take it from thence. Jeremiah 13:He was commanded to typify the destruction of the people by breaking a potter’s vessel. Chap. 19:By taking a wine cup and offering it to many nations agreeably to God’s appointment and direction, he typified God’s causing them as it were to drink the cup of his fury. Chap. 25, And he was commanded to make bonds and yokes, and put them upon his neck and send them to the neighbouring kings, to typify the yoke of bondage under Nebuchadnezzar that God was about to bring upon them. Chap. 27 Nehemiah shook his lap, Nehemiah 5:13. to signify the shaking of every man from his house who should not perform the oath which they had taken. Ezekiel very often typified future events, by things that he did by God s appointment; as by his eating the roll, etc. Ezekiel And by lying on his side, and many other things that he was to do, that we have an account of, Ezekiel 4, And by shaving his head and beard, and burning part of the hair in the fire, etc. chap. 5 and by making a chain, chap. 7:23.; and by his removing, with the many circumstances that God directed him to, chap. 12:1, etc.; and by his eating his bread with trembling, verse 18.; by filling a pot with the choice pieces of flesh on the fire, etc.; and by his not mourning for his wife, chap. 24 The prophet Hosea typified the things he prophesied of, by taking a wife of whoredoms, Hosea 1, and by marrying an adulteress, with the circumstances of it, chap. 3:The prophet Zechariah was commanded to typify the things he predicted, by making silver and golden crowns on the heads of those that returned from the captivity, Zechariah vi.; and by the two staves called Beauty and Bands; and by his casting money to the potter in the house of the Lord; and his taking the instruments of a foolish shepherd. Chap. 11 It was so common a thing for the prophets to typify things that were the subjects of their prophecies by divine appointment, that the false prophets imitated them in it, and were wont to feign directions from God to typify the subjects of their false prophecies. See 1 Kings 22:11. and Jeremiah 28:10, Things in common use among the Israelites were spoken of by the Spirit of God as types. Thus the vine-tree is spoken of as a type of man, especially of God’s visible people. Ezekiel 15.

It being so much God’s manner from the beginning of the world, to represent divine things by types, hence it probably came to pass, that typical representations were looked upon by the ancient nations, the Egyptians in particular, as sacred things, and therefore called hieroglyphics, which signifies sacred images or representations. And animals being very much made use of in the ancient types of the church of God, so they were very much used in the Egyptian hieroglyphics, which probably led the way to their worship of all manner of living creatures.

Now since it was, as has been observed, God’s manner of old, in the times of the Old Testament, from generation to generation, and even from the beginning of the world to the end of the Old-Testament history, to represent divine things by outward signs, types, and symbolical representations, and especially thus to typify and prefigure future events, that he revealed by his Spirit, and foretold by the prophets; it is very unlikely, that the Messiah, and things appertaining to his kingdom and salvation, should not be thus abundantly prefigured and typified under the Old Testament, if the following things he considered.

It is apparent from the Old Testament that these things arc the main subject of the prophecies of the Old Testament, the subject about which the spirit of prophecy was chiefly conversant from the beginning of the world. It was the subject of the first proper prophecy that ever was uttered: and it is abundantly evident from the Old Testament, that it is every way the chief of all prophetical events. ‘Tis spoken of abundantly as the greatest and most glorious event, beyond all that eye had seen, ear heard, or had entered into the heart of man; at the accomplishment of which not only God’s people and all nations should unspeakably rejoice, but the trees of the field, the hills and mountains, the sea and dry land, and all heaven and earth, should rejoice and shout for joy; and in comparison of which the greatest events of the Old Testament, and particularly those two most insisted on, the creation of the world and the redemption out of Egypt, were not worthy to be mentioned or to come into mind, and in comparison of which the greatest and most sacred things of the Mosaic dispensation, even the ark itself, the most sacred of all, was not worthy of notice. And it is also abundantly evident from the Old Testament, that it was the grand event that, above all other future events, was the object of the contemplations, hopes, and raised expectations of God’s people, from the beginning of the world.

And furthermore, the introducing of the Messiah and his kingdom and salvation, is plainly spoken of in the Old Testament, as the great event which was the substance, main drift, and end of all the prophecies of the Old Testament, to reveal which chiefly it was, that the spirit of prophecy was given, in that the angel, in Daniel 9:24. speaks of this event, as that in the accomplishment of which prophecies in general are summed up, and have their ultimate confirmation, in which the vision and prophecy, or all prophetical revelation, has its last result and consummation.

Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city; to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.” That what has been expressed is the import of the phrase of sealing up the vision and prophecy, is evident from the drift and manner of expression of the whole verse, and also from Ezekiel 28:12. “Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.” Mr. Basnage, in his history of the Jews, observes, that the rabbies among the Jews still agree to this day, that all the oracles of the prophets relate to the Messiah. Page 371. Colossians 1.

And besides, it is to be considered, that this event was that in which the people of God, from the beginning of the world, were most nearly and greatly concerned: yea, was of infinitely the greatest concern to them of all prophetical events; for ‘tis evident from the Old Testament, that the Messiah was not only to be the Saviour of God’s people, that should be after his coming; but that he was the Saviour of the saints in all ages from the beginning of the world, and that through his coming, and what be should do at his appearing, they all should have the only true atonement for their sins, and restoration from the curse brought upon them by the fall of Adam, the resurrection from the dead, and eternal life. ‘Tis much more reasonable to suppose, that many things pertaining to the state and constitution of the nation of Israel, many things which God ordered and appointed among them, should be typical of things appertaining to the Messiah; because it is evident from the Old Testament, that the very being of that people as God’s people, and their being distinguished and separated from the rest of the world, was to prepare the way for the introduction of that great blessing into the world of mankind, of the Messiah and his kingdom. It seems to be pretty plainly intimated by God, at the first planting of the tree, or founding that ancient church, and separating that people from the rest of the world, in the call of Abraham, in the three first verses of Genesis 12 “Now the Lord had said unto Abraham, Get thee Out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee; and I will make of thee a great nation; and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt he a blessing; and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” It here seems to be manifest, that the introducing that great good, which God had in view, to all the families of the earth, was what God had in view, in thus calling and separating Abraham, to make of him a happy nation. It is therefore much the more likely, that many things belonging to them should be typical of the great future things appertaining to this great blessing, which was the great end God designed by them: and especially considering that we find it to be God’s manner under the Old Testament, in both persons and things, to signify and represent beforehand, that which God made or separated them for, or the special use or design God had in view with respect to them. It was God’s manner beforehand to signify and represent these things, in what appertained to them, or happened concerning them. So he often did in the signification of the names that he gave them, as in the names of Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Israel, Judah, Joshua, David, Solomon, etc and in things which they saw or did, or which came to pass concerning them; as Moses’s being drawn out of the water, and what God showed him in Horeb, before he went into Egypt from Midian, in the burning bush; and in David, in his slaying the lion and bear and delivering the lamb.

Again we find that many lesser redemptions, deliverances, and victories of God’s people, which it is plain even from the Old Testament, were as nothing in comparison with the salvation and victory of the Messiah, were by God’s ordering represented by types; as the redemption out of Egypt.

This was much typified afterwards in institutions that God a p pointed in commemoration of it. And the reason given by God for his thus typifying of it, was that it was so worthy to have signs and representations to fix it in the mind. Thus concerning the representations of their coming out of Egypt, in the passover, by eating it with unleavened bread, wit h their staff in their hand, etc. this reason is given why they should have such representations and memorials of it. Exodus 13:42. It is a night much to be remembered. This redemption out of Egypt was also much typified beforehand. It was typified in the smoking furnace and the burning lamp following it which Abraham saw. Genesis 15:17. It was typified in Moses’s being drawn out of the water, and in the burning bush that survived the flames, and by Moses’s rod’s swallowing up the magicians’ rods. David’s victory over the enemies of God’s people, an d his saving them out of their hands, was typified by his conquering the lion and the bear, and rescuing the lamb. God’s giving victory to Israel over the Syrians, and delivering them from them, was typified by the prophet’s helping the king of Israel to shoot an arrow towards them. 2 Kings 13:15, etc. The salvation of Jerusalem from Sennacherib’s army was typified by the springing of the corn afresh from the roots of the stubble. Hezekiah’s being saved from death was typified by bringing back the sun, when it was going down.

Since, therefore, God did so much to typify those lesser victories and salvations, is it not exceedingly likely that great victory and redemption of the Messiah, which appears by the Old Testament to be infinitely greater, and that was all along so much more insisted on, in the word of the Lord to the people, should be much more typified?

It is much more reasonably and credibly supposed, that God should through the ages of the Old Testament be very much in typifying things pertaining to the Messiah and his salvation, not only in prophecies, but also in types because we find in fact, that at the very beginning of God’s revealing the Messiah to mankind, prophecies and types went together in the first prophecy of the Messiah, and the first proper prophecy that ever was in the world, God foretold and typified the redemption both together, when God said to the serpent, Genesis 3:15. “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” This is undoubtedly a prediction of the Messiah’s victory over Satan, and his suffering from Satan, and of the Messiah’s people’s victory and deliverance through him. And none can reasonably question but that here is also some respect had to that enmity there is between mankind and serpents, and the manner of serpents wounding mankind and of men’s killing them; for God is here speaking concerning a beast of the field that was ranked with the cattle, as appears by the foregoing verse, And this state of things with respect to serpents, was plainly ordered and established in these words. But if we suppose that both these things were intended in the same words, then undoubtedly one is spoken of and ordained as a representation of the other. If God orders and speaks of the bruising of a serpent’s head, and thereby signifies the Messiah’s conquering the devil, that is the same thing as God’s ordering and speaking of the bruising of a serpent’s head as a sign, signification, or (which is the same thing) type of his conquering the devil, And in what is said to the serpent, ver. 14. “Thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field: upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life;” it is evident that God speaks concerning that serpent that was a beast of the field. And yet it is also evident by the Old Testament, that he has respect to something pertaining to the state of the devil, that should be brought to pass by the Messiah; as by Isaiah 65:25. “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together; and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock, and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain;” compared with Isaiah 11:1-9. together with Isaiah 27:1. and Zechariah 3:1,2, etc. Thus the very first thing that was ordered and established in this world after the fall, was a type of the Messiah, and was ordered as such: which argues that typifying of the Messiah is one principal way of God’s foreshowing him. And as types and prophecies of the Messiah began together, so there is reason to think that they have kept pace one with another ever since.

It is more credible, that not only some particular events that came to pass among the Jews, or things appointed to be done among them, should be typical, but that the state or constitution of the nation, and their way of living in many things, was typical, because we have an instance ‘of an appointment of a way of living in a particular family or race, to continue from generation to generation, in the chief and more important things appertaining to the outward state and way of life, requiring that which was very diverse from the manner of living of all others, and that which was very self-denying, in order to typify something spiritual. The instance I mean is that of the posterity of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, who was required by the command of Jonadab, commanding them by the spirit of prophecy to drink no wine, nor build any house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard.

It is a great argument, that the ancient state of the nation of Israel, and both things that appertained to their religious constitution, and God’s providential disposal of them, were typical of the Messiah; that the Jews themselves anciently thus understood the matter. The ancient Jewish rabbies (as Mr. Basnage, in his history of the Jews, observes, p. 368.) judged that all things happened to their fathers as types and figures of the Messiah. See also Bp. Kidder’s Demn, of the Messiah, part 2. p. 40. and part 1. p. 73, 74. Ibid. p. 111, 112. Ibid. 150. and part 2. p. 67, 71, 77, 78, and 106.

As to the historical events of the Old Testament, it is an argument that many of them were types of things appertaining to the Messiah’s kingdom and salvation, that these things are often in the Old Testament expressly spoken of as represented or resembled by those historical events. And those events are sometimes not only mentioned as resemblances, but as signs and pledges, of those great things of the Messiah. In Isaiah Abraham’s great victory over the kings and nations of the east, is spoken of as a resemblance of the victory of the Messiah and his people over their enemies. Abraham is here called the righteous man, ver. 2.; as the Messiah in the same discourse: in the beginning of the next chapter, the Messiah is called God’s servant, that shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles, and bring forth judgment unto truth, and set judgment in the earth. God is said, 41:2. to call Abraham to his foot. Chap. 42:6. it is said of the Messiah, “I have called thee to righteousness.” Of Abraham it is said, chap. 41:2. “That God gave the nations before him, as the dust to his sword, and as the driven stubble to his bow:” and this is spoken of for the encouragement of God’s people, as a resemblance and p ledge of what he would do for them in the days of the Messiah, when he would cause their enemies before them to be ashamed and confounded, to be as nothing and to perish; so that they shall seek them, and should not find them, and they that war against them shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought; and they should thresh the mountains and beat them small, and make the hills as chaff: so that the wind should carry them away, and the whirlwind should scatter them.

Verses 11, 12, 15, 16.

The church or spouse of the Messiah is spoken of, in Song of Solomon 6:13. as being represented by the company of Mahanaim, that we have an account of Genesis 32, at the beginning, made up of Jacob’s family and the heavenly host that joined them.

The redemption out of Egypt is very often in the Old Testament spoken of as a resemblance of the redemption by the Messiah. Numbers 23:22,23. “God brought them out of Egypt, he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn. Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel. According to this time shall it be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!” Micah 7:15. “According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt, will I show unto him marvellous things.” Isaiah 64:1,3,4. “Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens; that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence! When thou didst terrible things that we look not for, the mountains flowed down at thy presence. For since the beginning of the world, men have not heard nor perceived by the ear,” etc. Isaiah 11:11. “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time, to recover the remnant of his people which shall be left from Assyria, and from Egypt; together with verses 15, 16. This redemption out of Egypt, is evidently spoken of as a resemblance of the redemption of the Messiah. In Psalm 68:6. “God bringeth out those that were bound with chains.” Verse 13. “Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold;” in which there is an evident reference to the people’s hands being delivered from the pots in Egypt. Psalm 81:6. and the context, makes this evident, And the drift and design of the psalm shows this to be a promise of the Messiah’s redemption. God’s dividing the Red sea and the Jordan, and leading the people through them, are often spoken of as resemblances of what God shall accomplish or his peophe in the days of the Messiah. Isaiah 11:11. “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people that shall be left from Egypt.” Ver. 15, 16. “And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and cause men to go over dry shod. And there shall he an high way for the remnant of his people, which shall be left from Assyria, like as it was tol srael, in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.” Isaiah 43:2,3. “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow, thee — for I gave Egypt for thy ransom;” ver. 16, 17, 18, 19. “Thus saith the Lord, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters, which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow. Remember not former things-Behold, I will do a new thing.” Chap. 27:12. “And it shall come to pass at that day, that the Lord shall beat off from the channel of the river under the stream of Egypt,” (or the Lord shall strike off, or smite away, both the channel of the river and the stream of Egypt,) “and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel.” Chap. 51:10, 11. “Art not thou it which hath dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed of the Lord to pass over? Therefore, the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion,” etc. Ver. 15. “But I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea,” etc. Chap. 63:11, 12, 13. “Then he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people, saving, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? Where is he that put his Holy Spirit within him? That led them by the right hand of Moses, with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make himself an everlasting name? That led them through the deep as a horse in the wilderness?” Psalm 68:22. “I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea.” Zechariah 10:10,11. “I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt- and he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up, and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away.”

The destruction of Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea, is spoken of as a resemblance of the destruction of the enemies of God’s people by the Messiah. Isaiah 43:16,17. “Thus saith the Lord, which maketh away in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise.” And particularly Pharaoh’s destruction in the Red sea, is spoken of as a type of the Messiah’s bruising the head of the old serpent or dragon.

Isaiah 51:9,10. “Awake, awake, put on thy strength, 0 arm of the Lord.

Art not thou it that hath cut Rahab and wounded the dragon? Art not thou it which hath dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, that hath made the depths of the sea a way or the ransomed to pass over? Therefore, the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion,” etc.

Pharaoh is called leviathan and the dragon in Psalm 74:13,14. as the devil is in a like destruction in the Messiah’s time, Isaiah 27:1. That Pharaoh is intended in those forementioned places by the dragon and leviathan, is very manifest from Ezekiel 29:3 and 32:2.

The joy and songs of the children of Israel at their redemption out of Egypt, and their great deliverance from the Egyptians at the sea are spoken of as a resemblance of the joy God’s people shall have in the redemption of the Messiah. Hosea 2:15. “And she shall sing there as in the days of her youth; and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.” The Spirit of God seems to have reference to the manner of his leading and guarding the people when they went up out of Egypt, in going before them to lead them, and behind to keep the Egyptians from hurting them; and to compare what he would do in the Messiah’s days thereto. Isaiah 52:12. “For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the Lord will go before you; the God of Israel will be your rereward;” the God of Israel, that God that thus led Israel out of Egypt, when he entered into covenant with them, and became the God of that people. Here see Pool’s Synopsis on Exodus 12:14. Gods leading the people through the wilderness, is spoken of as a resemblance of what should be accomplished towards God’s people in the Messiah’s times. Isaiah 63:13. “That led them through the deep as a horse in the wilderness.” Psalm 68:8. “O God, when thou wentest before thy people; when thou didst march through the wilderness;” compared with the rest of the psalm. lbs. 2:14, 15. “I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably to her, and she shall sing as in the days of her youth; as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.” Ezekiel 20:34-37. “ And I will bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand and with a stretched-out arm, and with fury poured out” (plainly alluding to God’s manner of redeeming the people out of Egypt). “And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face; like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God. And I will cause you to p ass under the rod, and will bring you into the bond of the covenant.” Where we may also observe that God’s speaking with the people face to face, and entering into covenant with them, and making them his covenant people when he brought them out of Egypt, is spoken of as a resemblance of God’s revealing himself to his people in the days of the Messiah, and bringing them into a covenant relation to himself by him. God’s appearing with the children of Israel in a pillar of cloud and fire, is spoken of as a resemblance of what God would do for his people in the days of the Messiah. Isaiah 4 “And the Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of mount Sion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flame of fire by night. For upon all the glory shall be a defence.” The quaking of the earth and of mount Sinai, at the time of the giving of the law, is spoken of as a resemblance of what should be in the Messiah’s days. Psalm 68:8. “The earth shook-even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel.” So the great effect of God’s presence on the mountains, and especially mount Sinai’s being all enkindled by so great and dreadful a fire, is plainly spoken of as a resemblance of what should be in the days of the Messiah. Isaiah 64:1-4. “ Oh that thou wouldst rend the heavens, that thou wouldst come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence as when the melting fire burneth When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou earnest down; the mountains flowed down at thy presence. For since the beginning of the world men have not heard,” etc.

So the rain that descended on the people, at the time of the thunder and lightning at mount Sinai, or at the time of the great hailstones that God sent on the Amorites, Psalm 68:7,8,9. “O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness, the earth shook, the heavens dropped at the presence of God. Thou, O Lord, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst refresh thine inheritance when it was weary.’ These things do abundantly confirm, that the redemption out of Egypt, and the circumstances and events t at attended it, were intended by the great disposer of all things to be types of the redemption of God’s people by the Messiah, and of things appertaining to that redemption.

It is an argument that the manna God gave the children of Israel was a type of something spiritual, because it is called the corn of heaven and angels’ food. Psalm 78:24,25. and Psalm 105:40. It could be angels’ food no otherwise than as representing something spiritual.

Now by the way I would remark, was before made use of as an argument, that the great redemption by the Messiah was very much typified beforehand, us very greatly strengthened by what has been now observed. I mean that argument that lesser redemptions were by God’s ordering represented by types, and particularly that the redemption of the children of Israel out of Egypt was much typified beforehand. Now if this was so, that God was much in typifying this redemption beforehand, which itself was a type of the great redemption by the Messiah; how much more may we suppose this great redemption itself, that is the antitype of that, should be abundantly typified! Will God do much to typify that, which was itself but a shadow of the Messiah s salvation? And shall he not be much more in prefiguring the very substance-even that great redemption by the Messiah, in comparison of which the former is often in the Old Testament represented as worthy of no remembrance or notice?

God’s bringing his people into Canaan, to a state of rest and happiness there, is spoken of as a resemblance of what God would do for his people through the Messiah. Jeremiah 31:2. “ Thus saith the Lord, the people that were left of the sword, found grace in the wilderness, even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest:” compared with the rest of the chapter and the foregoing chapter. Isaiah 63:14. “As the beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest. So didst thou lead thy people to make thyself a glorious name:” together with the context. Psalm lxviii. 10. “Thy congregation hath dwelt therein: thou, O God, bast prepared of thy goodness for the poor.” Ver. 13. “Though ye have lain among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove,” etc.- together with the context. The manner of God’s giving Israel the possession of Canaan, viz. by a glorious conquest of the kings and nations of the land, is spoken of as a resemblance of the manner in which God would bring his people to rest and glory, by the Messiah, after his exaltation, Psalm 68:11,12. “The Lord gave the word; great was the company of them that published it. Kings of armies did flee apace; and she that tarried at home divided the spoil.” Ver. 14. “When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was white as snow in Salmon,” taken with ver. 21, 22. 23.” But God shall wound the head of his enemies-The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan; I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea: that thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same.” Ver. 30.” Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of bulls,” etc.-together with the rest of the psalm.

What the people of God should be brought to, in the days of the Messiah, is spoken of as represented by the children of Israel’s slaving Achan in Joshua’s time. Hosea 2:15. “ And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.”

What came to pass in the time of Joshua’s battle with the five kings of the Amorites, and particularly God’s sending down great hailstones upon them, is spoken of as a resemblance of what should be in the days of the Messiah. Isaiah 28:21. “For the Lord shall rise up in mount Perazim, and his wrath as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work, and bring to pass his act, his strange act:” together with ver. 2. “ Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail, and a destroying storm, — shall cast down to the earth with the hand.”

And chap. 30:30. “And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger-with tempest and hailstones.” And 32:19. “ When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place” (or shall be utterly abased). And Ezekiel 38:29. “I will rain upon him an overflowing, rain, and great hailstones.”

What God did for Israel in the victory of Deborah and Barak over the Canaanites, is spoken of as a resemblance of what God would do for his people against their enemies in the days of the Messiah; Psalm 83:9,10. “Do unto them as unto Sisera, as to Jabin at the brook of Kison, which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth.” For this psalm is prophetical, and these things have respect to the great things God would do against the future enemies of his church. For it does not appear that there was any such confederacy of the nations mentioned against Israel in David’s or Asaph’s time; and particularly it does not look probable, that there was any such enmity of the inhabitants of Tyre against Israel, as here spoken of, ver. 7. And it is very probable, that as this psalm is prophetical, so it is prophetical of the Messiah’s days; as most of the psalms are. And there is a great agreement between what is here foretold of the destruction of the enemies of the church, and what is foretold of the Messiah’s days in many other places. And the last verse, which speaks of God’s being made known to all mankind as the only true God, and the God of all the earth, further confirms this.

Gideon’s victory over the Midianites, is spoken of as a resemblance of what should be accomplished in the Messiah’s days. Isaiah 9:4. “For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.” Psalm 83:9. “ Do unto them as unto the Midianites.” Ver. 11. “Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb; yea, all their princes as Zeba and Zalmunna.” As in the destruction of the Midianites every man’s sword was against his brother; so it is foretold, that it should be with the enemies of God’s people .in the Messiah’s times.

Ezekiel 38:14. “Every man’s sword shall he against his brother.” Haggai 2:22. “And I will overthrow the