our Lords birth; and he set downe in plainer Hebrew, the expositions, canons and traditi∣ons according to which they had interpreted the Law of God given by Moses, and practised the same: omitting the discourses, fables, disputes, &c. wherewith the Thalmud is re••erced And this Maimony is of such esteeme among the Iewish nation, that of him it is said, From Moses (the Prophet) to Moses (sonne of Maimon) there was none like this Moses. Other Ex∣positors they have, some ancient as the Chaldee paraphrasts, of which Ionathan that inter∣preted the Prophets, is reported to be the Scholler of Gamaliel, at whose feet our Apostle Paul learned the Law: and Onkelos who paraphrased on the Law, was not long after him. Their latter Writers follow for the most part the Thalmuds: and notwithstanding the ma∣ny fables and falshoods that are found generally in them, yet for the many good things and probable truths which from elder daies they doe record, they have beene and are regarded of Christian Writers heretofore, and at this day: that of them it is said, When they doe well, they are the best Expositors; and when they doe evill, they are the worst.
Now whereas I have alleaged many of their interpretations, especially from the Greeke and Chaldee, and Maimony the chiefest of esteeme among them; I am for this blamed, those Writers generally condemned; and to make them the more odious, their heresies, fables, falshoods are displaied, by him, that from two or three late Rabbines, and one Papist, dis∣puted against the sincerity of the Hebrew Text, as before is to be seene. I will not speake of the things by me noted, but leave them to the judgement of the indifferent Reader; nor justi∣fie my selfe for all their allegations, because they being taken from that confused heape of the Iewes traditions, some of them may haply savour too much of their leven: They that have laboured in this kinde before me, have had their second thoughts, & altered both their own Annotations and translations in sundry points, as their publike writings manifest. But that such a generall censure should passe upon them all, (for my sake) and the Wheat should bee plucked up because of the Tares, seemeth not to proceed from love, nor from, a sound judgement.
And first, the esteeme which all Christian Churches have had, and yet have, of such books of the Iewish Rabbines as were written in Greek, and so came to be knowne more easily than other Chaldee and Hebrew workes, might somewhat allay the rigour of this sentence. For the storie of the Maccabees, Ecclesiasticus, Wisdome, and the other Apocryphall writings of the Iewes, notwithstanding the evils in them, have beene, and are translated, commented upon, and commended to be read for instruction.
2 Other of the Rabbines, as the Thalmud, Maimony, and the like, have beene also by Expositors of the Scriptures (and those of the best esteeme) occasionally alleaged: as Tre∣mellius in his notes upon his version of the New Testament out of Syriak, sundry times pro∣duceth them. Beza in his large Annotations on Matth. 26. noteth from Iosephus, Paulus Burgensis, Tremellius, and Scaliger, sundry rituals of the Iewes about the Passeover, and some such as I am taxed for, because I name them on Exod. 12. Vatablus often recordeth the expo∣sitions of the Chaldee and learned Hebrewes. And how many other have done the like in their Notes and Commentaries, all men of learning and reading doe well know.
3 To object the Iewes heresies, fables, and false expositions of many Scriptures, is no sound reason to condemne the good things which are found in them. For even among Christian writers (and those of the ancients) sundry such things are to be seen: yet many pro∣fitable things are found in them for the opening of the Scriptures. In the Apostles daies the Iewes were guilty of these sinnes, Matth. 15. and 23. chap. Rom. 10. 3. Tit. 1. 14. 2 Pet. 1. 16. Yet Christ commanded to heare the Scribes & Pharisees sitting in Moses chaire, Mat. 23. 1, 2. Now the eare trieth words, as the mouth tasteth meat, Iob 34. 3. and as by hearing their speeches, the godly wise might discerne when they taught according to Moses, and when they spake of themselves; so by reading their writings, men of understanding may doe the like at this day.
4 The Apostles also in alleaging sometimes the testimonies of the Rabbines, doe teach us that their writings are not wholly to be despised. Paul nameth Iannes and Iambres the chiefe sorcerers of Egypt, 2 Tim. 3. 8. out of the private Records of the Iewes, as may yet be read in their Thalmud. He rehearseth the persecutions of the godly under Antiochus, recorded in the booke of the Maccabees, Heb. 11. 35, &c. Others speake of the contention between Mi∣chael and the devill, about the body of Moses; and of the prophesie of Enoch, Iude v. 9.