deserved to be fought for; If the Produce of Nature there was so great, ’tis pity that they should have All of the Profit who had None of the Pains. Thus they pleaded upon their Return out of Captivity, the Land that thou hast given to our Fathers, [14] to eat the Fruit thereof, and the Good thereof, behold we are Servants in it; and it yields much Increase to the Kings whom thou hast set over us because of our Sins; also they have dominion over our Bodies, and over our Cattle at their pleasure, and we are in great Distress.
Thus have I laid out to you the former of these Characters, and shown you how poor a Figure Issachar made in the World. But,
II. We have an Account of better things in the Blessing that he pronounceth upon another Tribe. Dan shall judge his People like one of the Tribes of Israel; Dan shall be a Serpent by the Way, and an Adder in the Path, that bites his Horse’s Heels, so that his Rider falls backward; I have waited for thy Salvation, O Lord.
What is said of this brave People, is so plain a Reverse to the Meanness of the other, that a very little Enlargement will serve here.
1. He begins with a new sort of Language to give us the Description of these. What they did would be worthy the Name they derived from their Father; Dan shall judge his People like one of the Tribes of Israel.
2. We have the Measures that he will take in order to it; and that is, the Use both of his Policy and Courage: He is like a Serpent by the Way, and an Adder in the Path, and, rather than not be trampled on, he’ll bite the Horses Heels; he’ll undermine the Foundations of Tyranny, so that the Rider will fall backwards.
3. These noble Designs are what Jacob recommends to the Blessing of God, in that Prophetick Rapture, I have waited for thy Salvation, O Lord!
(1.) We have a general Honour put upon them. Dan shall judge his People like one of the Tribes of Israel. What judging of his People means I [15] had occasion to show you the last Year; That it includes an Execution of their Laws, and a Defending of their Liberties from any that would oppress them. And this we find that Sampson did, who was of That Tribe, and paid less regard to an Enemy, in whose Country he lived, than any of the Judges. Now, do but consider how this is plac’d in a full Opposition to what was said of Issachar; and from thence you may collect, That those Rulers do not judge their People, who perswade ’em to bow down under Two Burdens: These are inconsistent with one another.
Gen. xiii.
But what I would observe to you, is, the honourable Turn he gives this, That it’s doing like One of the Tribes of Israel: As if they that Neglect it were sunk below the Name. But Dan kept up the Dignity of his Family, and show’d that his Descent from so many Patriarchs was not in vain. Those antient Worthies, whom God had call’d out from the rest of the World, led him the way to it. One of the most remarkable Things that Abraham did in a publick Manner, was the taking of Five Kings Captive; tho’ the People, in whose Quarrel he mingled himself, are the first Rebels we read of: He had Armour ready for three hundred and eighteen Men, train’d up in his House. Upon his return from this Slaughter, Melchisedek, the Priest of the most high God, meets him, and gives him a solemn Blessing in His Name, who is the Possessor of Heaven and Earth. And tho’ it’s true, he refused to be made rich by the Spoils, yet the Right that he had to bring down and plunder so many Tyrants, appears from his paying Tythes to Melchisedek; for we cannot think that he would have brought Robbery for a Burnt Offering. Jacob recover’d a Part of the Land with his Sword, and his Bow out of the Hand of the Amorites; nay he had the Name of Israel given him in the Field of Battle, because by his Strength he laid hold of the Angel, [16] and had Power both with God and Man, and prevailed: So that Cowardice, in any of his Posterity, was a departure from that noble Spirit their Fathers had been Eminent for.
And especially, if you’ll consider ’em as a People set apart to the Worship of God, they were bound to run all Hazards in defending what he gave ’em. When they were frighted with the Anakims, faint-hearted, and durst not go on, it was acting so far below themselves, that he will scarce own ’em to be his People; but says, That it’s a Generation that do err in their Hearts, they knew not his Ways. Their Spirits had a wrong Turn, and he swore, That they shall never enter into his rest; And if they should allow an Enemy to break in upon the Land of their Possession, it was dishonourable to their Name: But Dan bears up the old Figure, and in judging of his People, is like one of the Tribes of Israel.
(2) Here are the Ways that he takes to do it. Where you may observe,
1. The Policy and Wisdom of this People: They are compar’d to Serpents and Adders.
2. Their Courage, or the Hazard they run: They’ll throw themselves into the Path, venture being crush’ed, rather than lose their End.
3. Their Resolution to have the Blessing whatever it cost ’em: If they can’t dismount a Tyrant by mere Force, they’ll bite his Horse’s Heels, so that the Rider shall fall backward.
1. They are represented as a wise and well-instructed People; a Serpent in the Way, an Adder in the Path. Doubtless Issachar thought it a good Prudential to humble themselves, and hold their Lives upon no other Tenure than the Will of a Prince; but this their Way was their Folly. Dan takes his Maxims as they rise from the plain Welfare of the Community: He’ll neither [17] be hector’d nor wheedled out of his Privileges; he’ll lose ’em neither by War nor Treaty: As he’s Serpent enough to understand what’s best for him; so, like the Adder, he stops his Ears against the Voice of the Charmer, charming never so wisely.
Job xvii. 41.
The want of such a Spirit, is the Presage of Ruin. Thou hast hid their Hearts from Understanding, therefore thou shalt not exalt them. Christ himself hath bid his People take to ’em the Wisdom of the Serpent; tho’ here I would not have you mistake this for the mere Wrigling of that Creature. Fraud and Artifice, lurking Ways, and lying Words, are as much below the Wisdom that will save a Nation, as they are against the Honesty that must save a Soul. Those Men that came to David, and had understanding of the Times, and knew what Israel ought to do, found that the Wisdom of the Serpent was consistent with the Innocence of the Dove.
Deut. xxxiii. 22.
2. Besides a Capacity to contrive what is best, here’s a Courage to execute it. This is a Tribe that Moses speaks well of in the Blessing that he gave ’em. Dan is a Lyon’s Whelp, and he shall leap from Bashan. And we may observe a Character of that sort in the Verse before us, That he’ll venture himself as a Serpent in the Way, as an Adder in the Path; he’ll run the Hazard of being trampled under foot, rather than take up with the poor and scanty Terms that an Enemy gives him. ’Tis better being crush’d at once, than condemn’d to a miserable Existence: And these are things that will deliver a People over the Voice of Fame: The good Esteem and hearty Wishes of the World will be to such as offer themselves willingly, and jeopard their Lives in the high Places of the Field.
3. They are determin’d to have the Blessing at any Expence: Nor will they lose Things for [18] want of meer Names and Forms; they’ll endeavour to bring down a Tyrant by his own Methods, if all the rest shall fail: And, when he designs to ride over Liberty and Religion, if they cannot stop his Career, they’ll break his Neck; the very Horse’s Heels, which should have ruin’d Them, shall receive the Wound that will prove fatal to Him. And indeed when a People are thus inclin’d to loose the Bands of their Capacity, it’s no very hard matter to humble the Wicked by the Measures they have taken. Violence and Iniquity do not so easily carry their Load, but, in a little time, their Rider may fall backward.
(3.) WHEN Jacob hath thus describ’d his Son by the brave Measures that he’ll take, he commends the whole Design to the Blessing of God; I have waited for thy Salvation, O Lord.
Some imagine that the good old Patriarch was, at this time, almost spent upon his Deathbed with going so far as he had done; and in these Words he takes breath again: Others think there’s in them the Horror of that Idolatry that