But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou [art but] a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she [is] a man's wife.
Ver. 3. But God came to Abimelech in a dream.] Dreams are either natural or supernatural. Natural dreams are not much to be regarded. Ecc 5:7 Diviners and dreamers we are forbid to hearken to. Jer 27:9 Cicero confutes them that do, in his book De Divinatione. a What use there is of them is in physic, to discern our temperatures, - in divinity, our beloved sins. Supernatural dreams are sent by God and his angels; and that either to comfort us, as, Mat 2:19 or to chasten us. Job 7:13-14 And these are, first, usually repeated till they are regarded; as Pharaoh's and young Samuel's dreams: secondly, they do much affect us, and leave a certain persuasion, an inward sense of God's presence in the soul; as Daniel's, Joseph's, and Pareus's dreams. In the Calends of April, - saith he, in his domestical Diary, or Day Book, 1618, - I had a terrible dream at four of the clock in the morning. For I thought, I saw all Heidelberg in a thick smoke, but the prince's palace all on a light fire. O Deus clementissime, averte sinistrum omen, et serva Sareptam tuam a vastatione hostium intus et foris. b Thus that good man dreamed, and thus he prayed: but the decree was passed, and shortly after executed, according to his dream. There are also dreams diabolical. Eusebius tells us, that Simon Magus had his dream-haunting devils, ονειροπομπους, his familiars by whom he deluded men in their dreams, and drew them into the admiration of himself. These devilish dreams are either mere illusions, as that of Eliphaz is thought c to be no better. Job 4:12 ; Job 4:16-17 Or else they tend to sin, as nocturnal pollutions, and other evil dreams; whereby the devil sometimes fasteneth that sin upon the saints when asleep, that he cannot prevail with them to commit while awake. As for Pilate's wife's dream, some divines think it was from the devil, seeking thereby to hinder the work of our redemption.
For she is a man's wife.] Adultery, even in kings, is punishable by death. Emperors and Popes d have been cut off by the just hand of God, in, and for this filthy sin. Society, and the purity of posterity, could not otherwise continue among men, if this crime were not capital. At Geneva they punish fornication with nine days' fasting; adultery with death. God appointed that such should be stoned. He stoneth them, howsoever, with the stone in the heart. Hosea 4:11 Pro 7:22 Hetfer the Anabaptist was put to death for this sin at Constance. e He being a learned man, and a preacher, insinuated himsef into the familiarity of many women of good rank and repute, and defiled them; when he came to execution, he confessed that he would many times have repented of that foul sin, but could not; so fast was he held in the devil's bonds: and that now he was willing to die, and accept of the chastisement of his iniquity. Howbeit, it is an opinion held and maintained by the Anabaptists, that adultery is not to be punished by men, because the Scripture saith, "whoremongers and adulterers God will judge". Heb 13:4 Others would prove the same from those words of our Saviour, to the woman taken in adultery, "Neither do I condemn thee". Joh 8:11 But they may as well say, that inheritances are not to be divided between brethren, because Christ would not divide them, when required thereto. Luk 12:14
a Somnia ne cures, nam mens humana quid optat ,& c.
b Vidi Heidelbergam totam occulto incendio undiquaque fumigantem ,& c. - Philip. Par. in Vita Davidis Parei, operibus eius praefixa.
c Marbury Of Repent.
d Moritur Paulus IV nimio veneris usu ,& c. - Valentinian, Imp. - Heyl., Geog.
e Joh. Manlii, loc. com., pp. 322, 487.