Scripture, is of Miriam, who was firuck with leprofy for 
murmuring againft Moles; and, when Mofes interceded 
that Ihe might be healed, “ The Lord faid, if her father 
had but fpit in her face, fliould ihe not be afhamed feven 
days? let her be flint out from the camp feven days, and 
alter that, let her be received in again.” Numb. xii. 14. 
If a father’s rebuke ought to make her alhamed feven 
days, how much more ought a rebuke from .God, againft 
whofe dilpofition fhe had murmured, at leaft equally to 
affett her. Halicotk Olam. p. 116. This they illullrate by 
an inftance in cafes of damage and trefpafs, fpoken to at 
large in title Baba Kama, i. e. The firft Gate, in Seder Ne- 
zikin, The Book concerning Damages. The Baba Kama 
contains rules how to tax the damages done by man or 
beaft, or other cafualties; the laws are in Exod. xxi. xxii. 
If, fay they, a man’s beaft breaks into another man’s 
ground, and trefpalfes by eating up his corn, he lhall 
make fatisfaflion ; then certainly if his beaft gores ano¬ 
ther man’s, beaft, or a man, he is more obliged to do fo : 
for the tooth defigns no damage, but only to be inftru- 
mental to prepare food for the ltomach, whereas the horn 
defigns to do mifehief; this is very fubtil. But the way 
of reafoning is certain, and founded upon nature, and is 
accordingly taken notice of by the great mailers of logic. 
The prophet Jeremiah ufes this way of reafoning twice in 
Jer. xii. 5. “ If thou haft run with the footmen, and they 
have wearied thee, then how canft thou contend with 
horles ? And if in the land of peace, wherein thou truftedft, 
they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the fwelling 
of Jordan ?” Here we ought to obferve, that arguments 
from lefs to greater affirm ; but from greater to lei's deny. 
Our Saviour ufes this laft in Luke xxiii. 31. “ If they do 
thefe things in a green tree, what lhall be done in the 
dry?” If I am taken off, who am the green tree, who am 
innocent, and not, upon the account of any contra&ed 
guilt, fit and ripe for deftruftion, lhall you be fpared ? 
lhall this finful city which has killed prophets, and lloned 
them which were lent unto her, efcape ? No, certainly. 
II. Equality, or agreement of words ; that is, when two 
words are alike in Scripture ; from the one conclufions 
are drawn to the other: or, when they agree, reafonings 
are formed from that agreement. Here they tell us, that 
when two like words occur in the fame verfe, they are put 
together, that the one may be determined by the other. 
Thus they interpret Dent. xv. 12. “ If thy brother, an 
Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be fold unto thee, 
and ferve thee fix years ; then in the feventh year thou 
lhalt let him go free from thee.” In the beginning of 
the law, an Hebrew man and air Hebrew woman are both 
mentioned. Afterwards, to ver. 18, the law fpeaks only of 
the man : yet, becaufe the woman is fpecified as well, as 
the man at firll, the woman is intended to enjoy the pri¬ 
vilege of the law as well as the man, when ihe'has ferved 
out her fix years. Halic Olam. p. 149. 
III. The building of the father. When the Scripture re- 
ver-Js and explains any thing in one place, we are thence 
inrtru&ed how to underftand other places that are like, 
■unto it; becaufe the law is often concife, and from a part 
we mult gather the whole. This fort of argument there¬ 
fore is called “the building of the father,” becaule the 
paflage whi<;h teaches is as a father, and the other palfages 
•which are taught, i. e. explained by means of that, are as 
if they came out of his loins. An inftance or two will 
make this plain. Exod. xii. 16. the law concerning the 
feaft of unleavened bread fays, “ In the firll day there 
fnall be a holy convocation, and in the feventh day there 
ftiall be a holy convocation to you ; no manner of work 
lhall be done in theni, lave that which every man mult 
eat, that only may be done of you.” Hence they gather, 
that the fame prohibition of lervile work holds in all 
other feftivals of the fame nature as it does in this. Here 
the principal llrufture is railed from one verfe. But when 
this principal (trufture, as Buxtorf very properly calls it, 
(Lex Talmud, p. 318. v. Binjan.) is railed from two 
verfes, then the firll verle contains the general propolition. 
and in the fecond the particulars arifing from, and cen- 
tained in, that general propofition are fet down. Thus, 
Levit. xxi. 17. whofoever of the feed of Aaron had any 
hlemilh was commanded not to approach the altar. The- 
feveral forts of blemifhes are fpecified in the following 
verfes. Again, Lev. xv. 2. the law fays, that the man 
who hath a running iffue is, upon the fcore of that iffue, 
unclean. In ver. 4. his bed and his feat are pronounced 
unclean. There, how far the uncleannefs is to reach is 
particularly declared. 
IV. Univerjal and particuk r ,or general and. fpccial. That 
is, when there is fomething general and fomething fpecial 
in the fame pillage, the fpecial binds the general. As’ 
for inftance, Lev. i. 2. God commands, “It any man of 
you bring an offering unto the Lord, ye lhall bring your 
offering of the cattle, even of. the herd and of the flock.” 
Behemah, which we render cattle, includes, according to 
the Talmudifts, all that we call beads, wild as well as tame. 
Therefore that is reftrained in the next words, “even of 
the.herd and of the flock,” t<? Ihow that no beads mull: 
be ufed in facrifice but beeves, fiieep, and goats. Halic. 
Olam. p. 144, 145. « 
V. Particular and univerfal. When a word expreflinr a 
genus is added to any number of fpecies, it is added°to 
ihow that every poflible fpecies that can be included, whe¬ 
ther named or not named, ought to- be comprehended. 
As for inltaftce, Exod. xxii. 9. wh^n an ox, or an afs and 
a Iheep, are mentioned, and any'manner of loft thing is 
added, thence the Talmudifts conclude, that every thing 
that a man can poflibly lofe is defigned herein to be com¬ 
prehended. Buxtorf Lex. Talm. voce Celal. 
VI. Univerfal and particular, and then univerfal c^ain 
where the determination is madt by the particular. The. parti¬ 
cular coming here between two univerfais, ■ Ihows that 
thefe univerlals or generals are not to be taken as the words 
may feen to imply, but ought to be reftrained by this 
particular which comes between. As thus;, the law fays 
concerning the fecond tithe, which was to be turned into 
money, and with that money provifions to be bought at 
Jerusalem, or the place which the Lord fliould choole, and 
fpent there, Deut. xiv. 26 5 “Thou lhalt bellow that mo¬ 
ney for whatfoever thy foul lulleth after, for oxen, or 
for Iheep, or for wine, or for ftrong drink, or for w ha thi¬ 
eve r thy foul defireth.” The fpecies enumerated here 
between the two genera, Ihow that this money was to be 
laid out only upon the produce of the land of Canaan, 
which was then and there to be eaten and drunk. Halic . 
Olam. p. 156. 
VII. Something general, that wants Jbmeihivg fpecial-, and 
fomething fpecial, that wants fomething general. The follow¬ 
ing inltances will explain this: Levit. xvii. 13. the law is 
that “ whatfoever man there be of the children of Iliael 
or of the ftrangers that lojourn among you, which hunteth. 
and catcheth any beaft or fowl that may be eaten, he lhall 
even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dull."' 
Cover here, is a- general word ; ;uid God ufes the fame 
word, which we render hide in Gen. xviii. 17.' “Shall I 
hide (or cover or conceal) from Abraham that thin<* which 
I do ?” Here the general word cover is reftrained, to 
ftiow that the blood mull not be put into any. fort of vef- 
fel, bat mull be covered, i. e. mixed with dull: The ge¬ 
neral here wanted a fpecial. Again, Exod. xiii. 2. the 
Lord faid, “ Sanctify unto me all the firll-born, whatfo¬ 
ever openetli the womb, among the children of Ifrael, 
both of man and bead, it is mine.” It does not appear 
by this, whether females were not intended as well as males- 
That therefore is determined in' Deut. xv. 19. “Ail the 
firltling males that come of thy herd, and of thy flock, 
thou lhalt lanflify unto the ,L orc i thy God.” Still there 
might be a difficulty incale the firll-born were a female, 
whether the firll male that was born afterwards might be 
landlilied: that fcruple is entirely taken away by Exod. 
xxxiv. 19. “All that openeth the matrix is mine.” Here 
then we have every firll-born ; that being too general, is 
reitramed by tine lpecial redaction in Deuteronomy, to 
Jiwic-s, 
