An exposition of the morall lavv, or Ten Commandements of almightie God set dovvne by vvay of exercitations, wherein is contained an explanation of diverse questions and positions for the right understanding thereof, together with an explication of these scriptures which depend upon, or belong unto every one of the commandements, all which are cleared out of the originall languages, the customes of the Iewes, and the distinctions of the schoolemen / by Iohn Weemse ...

EXERCITAT. XII. Of Davids vow. Commandement III.

Psal. 132.2. He sware unto the Lord and vowed unto the mighty God of Iacob; surely I will not come into the ta∣bernacle of my house: nor goe up into my bed. I will not give sleep to mine eyes, &c.

DAvid seeing the arke of God ambulatorie, and ha∣ving no resting place, but now in this place and now in that, when he himselfe had gotten rest from all his enemies, hee intendeth to build a temple for the Lord; and hee maketh a vow, neither to come into his new house, nor ascend up into his bed, nor to give sleepe unto his eyes; nor slumber to his eye lids, untill he finde out a place for the Lord to dwell in.

This psalme was written by David when the arke was carried from the house of Obed-edom. 1. Chron. 15. We heard of it at Ephrata, that is, in the citie of Ephraim. Vers. 6. where the Prophet maketh an allusion betwixt Ephraim and Ephrata; and he said, we heard it in Ephra∣ta, that is Shiloh, where the arke remained a long time; and therefore it is called the house of God. Iudg. 20.18. And we found it in the fields of the wood, that is, in Kiriath-Iearim: before he heard of it in Shiloh, but now he found it in Kiriath-jearim in the house of Aminadah, and so hee carried it to Ierusalem, and purposed there to build an house for it; because it had dwelt long in tents which were not firme but moveable: but after that hee was forbidden by the Prophet to build the temple, and

that his sonne Salomon was to build the temple, David dedicateth this psalme to bee sung when the temple should be built; and therefore he calleth it a psalme of degrees, for it was the psalme which they sung upon the thirtenth degree as they ascended into the temple; for there are twelve psalmes of degrees going before: and David who had the whole forme of the temple revealed unto him, saw these degrees as well as the rest of the temple.

How could David vow that he would never give sleepe to his eyes, untill he had built the temple? [Quest.]

The scripture speaketh after the common manner, [Answ.] not that hee should not sleepe at all; but that scarce hee should take a nappe, or that he should not sleepe sound∣ly, or take his rest kindly untill hee had built the tem∣ple. So it speaketh after this manner. Iob. 7.13. They sate downe with him upon the ground seaven dayes and sea∣ven nights; not that they sate all this time, but the most part of this time they sate upon the ground.

But how performed hee this vow, [Quest.] seeing he was for∣bidden to build the temple?

The Lord who appeared to Nathan that same night released his vow, [Answ.] and shewed him the patterne how the temple should bee built; David gathered materials for the building of the temple; but the particular place was not revealed unto him where it should bee built▪ hee fought many battels with the Philistims, he committed adultery, and numbered the people; then the angell of the Lord killed so many thousand of them, and where the angell stood, and held his hand over the floore of Arauna the Iebusite, there Gad the Prophet shewed him the particular place where the temple should be built.

David is rewarded two manner of wayes for this vow. First, a sonne is promised to him, as if the Lord should say to him; Thou promisedst to build an house to mee;

therefore I shall build thee an house, that is, I will give thee a posterity to succeed unto thee in thy throne: So Exod. 1.17. The Lord built them houses, that is, he gave them children. So hee that will not build his brothers house. Deut. 25.19. that is, raise up seed to him.

The second part of the promise is this, that the sonne which was to come out of his loynes should build the temple, and that Iesus Christ who was also to come of him should build the spirituall temple; and this vow of David was so acceptable to God, that hee promised a protection to the temple and to Ierusalem; not onely for Salomons sake who built the temple, but also for Davids sake. 2. King. 19 34. I will defend this cittie, and save it for thine owne sake, and for thy servant Davids sake.

[Conclusion 1] The conclusion of this is, superiours and parents should be carefull to continue the meanes of Gods wor∣ship to their posterity, as David did to Salomon.

[Conclusion 2] Secondly, the vowes of the inferiours are null when they want the approbation of the superior: so was Da∣vids vow here, he was not bound to keepe it, because the Lord did not approve it.

[Conclusion 3] Thirdly, children are bound to performe the reall vowes of their fathers; as here Salomon was bound to build the temple which David had vowed.

[Conclusion 4] Lastly, the Lord respecteth in a vow as much the in∣tention of the heart, as he doth the vow it selfe.

Notes

• The cause which mo∣ved David to vow.
• When David wrote this psalme.
• What is meant by E∣phrata.
• David dedicateth this psalme to be sung at the bringing of the arke into the temple.
• Why called psalmes of degrees,
• The scripture speaketh after the manner of men.
• How David performed this vow.
• David is richly rewar∣ded for this vow.
• What it is to build the house.
• God promiseth a pro∣tection to the temple for Davids cause.