[177]. See Hody on the resurrection, &c. Pag. 205-208.
[178]. Vid. Plat. in Cratyl, who brings in Socrates as gravely punning on the word σωμα, q. d. σημα, sepulchrum; and supposing that this name, was given to denote that the soul suffers punishment for its faults, by being detained or shut up in prison. And Seneca speaks to the same purpose: corpus hoc, animi pondus, & poena est, permanente illo urgetur, in vinculis est. Vid. Sen. Epist. 65.
[179]. Vid. Orig. in Loc. supra citat.
[180]. Beneficium pluviæ ad omnes spectare, resurrectionem mortuorum ad justos tantum.
[181]. The words are, רב’ם מישני, multi ex dormientibus. Now it is certain that רבים, is often translated a multitude, or multitudes, and signifies the same with רוב, or the Greek word το πληθος, as in Gen. xvii. 5. Psal. cix. 30. and in several other places. But the principal difficulty lies in the sense of the particle Mem, which is prefixed to the following word; and is generally supposed to be taken distributively; and accordingly the sense must be, Many, that is, a great number, or part, taken out of them that sleep, shall awake; though, I am apt to think, that the prefix Mem here, is not taken distributively; but denotes the following word to be in the Genitive case, as Lamed and Beth often do; and if so, the words may be rendered, The multitude of them that sleep, shall awake; that is, the whole number of them that sleep shall awake; and so it is the same with what is mentioned by our Saviour in the text but now referred to; all that are in their graves shall come forth, and be disposed of in a different way, as he particularly expresses it; which contains the sense of the prophet’s prediction in this place. There is a scripture, in which the word many plainly signifies το πληθος, the multitude, or all mankind: thus the apostle speaks, Rom. v. 15. of many, as being dead by the offence of one, and by one man’s disobedience, many being made sinners; which none, who allow all the world to have fallen in Adam, will suppose to be taken in any other sense. See other instances of the like nature in Glas. Phil. Sacr. Lib. v. Tract. 1. Cap. xv.
[182]. Vid. Poc. Not. Misc. in Maimon. Port. Mos. Cap. vi. who treats largely on this subject, and gives an account of the opinions of several Rabbinical writers concerning this matter; which renders it needless for me to refer to particular places.
[183]. Vid. Whitby in 1 Cor. xv. 44, 50. If by the bright and shining body, which this author speaks of, he intends that it shall be invested with some rays of glory in the heavenly state, as many others suppose: this, I think, none will deny since it agrees well with what the apostle says concerning the body’s being made like to Christ’s glorious body, and also what the prophet Daniel says, chap. xii. 2. concerning their shining as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars; or, as our Saviour says, Matt. xiii. 43. They shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
[184]. We often read in Heathen-writers, of Æacus, Minus and Rhadamanthus, as appointed to pass a judgment on every one at death, fix them in their respective places of residence, and determine their rewards and punishments. These are generally supposed to have lived about Moses’s time, and are commended for the exercise of justice, and making laws, some of which they are supposed to have received from heaven; and as the reward hereof, have the honour, of being judges of men at death, conferred upon them. Some have been ready to conclude that the account which the Heathen give of these three famous law-givers and judges, is nothing else but a corruption of a tradition which they had received concerning Moses, the great law-giver to the Israelites, set forth by different names, with several things fabulous added thereunto. They who have a mind to see a very learned and critical disquisition on this subject, may consult Huet Demonst. Evang. Prop. iv. § 9-13. And as for the variety of punishments which these judges inflicted, the lakes and rivers of fire to which they are condemned, see Plato’s account thereof, translated by Eusebius, in Præp. Evang. Lib. xi. Cap. xxxvii. who thinks that some things mentioned by him, bear a resemblance to the punishment of sin, which we read of in scripture, which he supposes he received by tradition, from some that were acquainted with divine revelation, as he did many other things which he speaks of in his writings.
[185]. See Vol. II. Quest. LVI.
[186]. Matt. xxiv. 31. This is the most common sense of those words; and how far soever they are supposed, by some, to be taken in a figurative sense, for the preaching of the gospel throughout the whole world, after the destruction of the Jewish state, which some have supposed, is principally intended by what is mentioned in the foregoing verses; yet most conclude that several things in this account of Christ’s glorious appearance, are not without some allusion, at least to what shall be more eminently accomplished, when he shall come to judgment.