An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-eighth, thirty-ninth, fortieth, forty-first, and forty-second,…

First, I• moistens the earth: Secondly, It cools the earth. When Isaac was giving the blessing to Jacob, he put this in particularly (Gen. 27.28.) God give thee of the Dew of Heaven, & the fatness of the earth, and plenty of Corn and Wine; implying that the fatness of the earth causing plenty of Corn and Wine, is caused by the Dew of Heaven. Answerable to this blessing given by Isaac to his son Jacob, is that promise or prophecy given out by Moses (Deut. 33.28.) The Fountain of Jacob shall be upon a Land of Corn and W•ne; also his Heavens shall drop down Dew. By the Fountain of Jacob some understand the posterity of Jacob, or the whole house of Israel spread ab•oad like the overflowing of a Fountain, to which David seems to allude (Psal. 68.26.) Bless ye God in the Congregations, even the Lord from the Fountain of Israel, or (as the words may be rendered) Ye that are of the Fountain of Israel. Now, saith Moses, in that Prophecy, The Fountain ⟨p. 225⟩of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; that is, upon a plentiful land: also his heavens shall drop down Dew; that is, he shall have the best blessings of heaven: Temporal blessings (as Canaan was of heaven) being but a shadow of spiritual and eternal blessings. And when the Lord would show how plenteous in mercy (chiefly in spiritual mercies) he would be to his people, he saith (Hosea 14.5, 6.) I will be as a Dew unto Israel, and he shall grow as the Lilly, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon; his branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the Olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. Thus the Lord spake by the Prophet, in allusion to those great effects which the natural Dew produceth on Earth. Solomon having said (Prov. 19.12.) that, the (just and deserved) wrath of a King is like the roaring of a lion, presently adds, but his favour is as the Dew upon the grass; that is, he exceedingly comforts and refresheth the hearts of all upon whom his favour falls. And when the Prophet Micah, (chap. 5.7.) would show how great a blessing the people of God would be to any place where they were cast, he saith, The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people (how?) as Dew from the Lord, and as showers upon the grass. By the remnant of Jacob, he means the chosen and faithful remainder of Jacob after many scatterings and trials;