Thy teeth [are] like a flock [of sheep that are even] shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none [is] barren among them.
Ver. 2. Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep, &c.] Handsome teeth set forth a woman very well, and they are then held handsome when they are (1.) Even and well matched; (2.) Fair and white; (3.) Thick and full. All this we have here daintily set forth in an allegory. And by teeth the Chaldee paraphrast will have meant (and I dissent not) the priests and Levites of the law, the pastors and preachers, think I, of the Church; who, as they must be "eyes" to see, so they nmst be "teeth" in another regard - viz. (1.) To chew; (2.) To bite. First, They must champ and chew the children's meat for them, as good nurses, such as Paul was, 1Th 2:7 and before him Isaiah. Isa 28:9 Whom shall he teach knowledge, and whom shall he make to understand? Not the wise and prudent, not conceited persons, that make divinity only a matter of discourse, or come to hear only to exercise their critics, and to sit as judges on their ministers' gifts. But such as are "weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts." And how will he do to deal with such, and to "divide the word aright" ορθοτομειν , 2Ti 2:25 to them? He will praemansum cibum in os indere, mollify their harder meat for them, that it hurt not the tender toothless gums of these weanlings, weaklings "Precept," saith he, "shall be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, and there a little." They shall have it as they can take it, neither will he put that upon them that is not fit for them. They shall have milk, and not strong meat; or if they have, it shall be ready chewed for them. Our Saviour spake "as the people could hear," Mar 4:33 and not as he could have spoken. "If we have spoken to you," saith he, "of earthly things" (that is, of spiritual matters under earthly similitudes borrowed from wind, water, &c.) "and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?" Joh 3:12 that is, of more sublime matters and mysteries of eternal life. Ministers must stoop to their hearers' capacities, and not be up in their altitudes, or deliver their discourses in a high language, in a Roman English, &c. For what is that but to "beat the air," to lose their labour, and to be "as barbarians to their hearers?" &c. Non oratorum filii sumus, sed piscatorum; nec verborum πευροχη, sed Spiritus επιδειξει, said that great divine to Libanius the rhetorician. We are not orators, but preachers; neither come we with "excellence of words," but with "evidence of the Spirit and of power," and "by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." 1Co 2:4 2Co 4:2 This is preaching; the art whereof plus operis habet quam ostentationis, as Quintillian saith of the art of grammar, is not a matter of show, but of service. And to the ears of that which St Peter calls "the hidden man of the heart," the plain song always makes the best music.
But, secondly, As ministers must masticate the children's meat, and make it fit for eating, so they are bound to bite - that is, to "rebuke sharply" a those that are unsound in their faith, or enormous in their practice; Tit 1:13 to gore their very souls with smarting pain, and to sting their consciences to the quick, with the forked arrows of biting reproofs and unquestionable convictions. "Thine arrows are sharp in the hearts of the king's enemies, whereby the people fall under thee." Psa 45:5 Ministers must not only whet their teeth against the wicked (as boars do their tusks when provoked), but set their teeth in the sides of those boars that root up the vineyard, and those foxes that destroy the grapes. Thus the ancient prophets pricked and pierced the hearts of their hearers; so did the holy apostles, St Peter for instance. He so handled the matter that they were punctually "pricked at heart" b Act 2:37 they felt the nails wherewith they had crucified Christ sticking fast in their own spirits, and driven home to the head by that "Master of the assembly." Ecc 12:11 Penitence and pain are words of one derivation, and are very near of kin. Hardly will men be made to repent till touched to the quick, till the Preacher do mordaci radere vero, c deal plainly and roundly with them, stab them to the heart with the menaces of the law, and lay them for dead at Christ's feet, that he may revive them, as the pelican doth her young ones with her blood. It is said of Chrysostom, that he took the same liberty to cry down sin that men did to commit it. d Of Mr Bradford, that as he did earnestly persuade to a godly life, and sweetly preach Christ crucified, so he did sharply reprove sin, and zealously impugn errors. Of Mr Perkins, that he came so close in his applications, that he was able almost to make his hearers' hearts fall down, and their hairs to stand upright. This was preaching indeed, preaching in the life of it. I know well that most men are sick of a Noli me tangere, and are apt to hate him that reproveth in the gate. As loath they are to be searched as Rachel, when she sat upon the idols; to have their lusts mortified, as David was to have Absalom executed. "Handle him gently, for my sake," &c. Cannot preachers meddle only with toothless truths, say they, as Balak bade Balaam neither curse nor bless at all. But why hath Christ given his ministers teeth, but to bite and be bitter against sin and wickedness? personal invectives, indeed, proceeding from private grudge, he allows not. Spiritus Christi nec mendax, nec mordax. The Spirit of Christ is neither deceitful nor caustic. The rule here is,
“ Parcere nominibus, dicere de vitiis. ”
“To space by names, is to say concerning the crimes.”
Of Erasmus it is said that he was Mente et dente potens, sharp with discretion. Every minister should be so; and his doctrine should distil as honey, as the property whereof is to purge wounds, but to bite ulcers; e it causeth pain to exulcerate parts, though of itself sweet and medicinable.
That are even shorn.] The commendations of a set of teeth, whereof before. (1.) Even they must be and well matched; so should ministers be "likeminded, having the same love; being of one accord, and of one mind," Php 2:2 serving the Lord with one shoulder, Zep 3:9 not shouldering one another, and striving for precedence, but content with a parity, and in giving honour, going one before another. The six branches in the golden candlestick joined all in one, and the cherubims in the temple looked one toward another, which some think signified the agreement and oneness that should be between the ministers of the gospel.
Which came up from the washing.] (2.) Fair and white, washed in the king's bath of Christ's blood, famous and eximious for their extraordinary and exemplary holiness. It is their office to be fullones animarum, to make and keep white the fleeces of their flocks, the people's souls. And therefore themselves had need be as Jerusalem's Nazarites were, Lamentations 4:7, "Purer than snow, whiter than milk," &c.
Whereof every one bears twins.] Gemelliparae. It must be ministers' care to bring many to God, whom they may one day present with, Here am I, and the children whom thou hast given me. Aaron's sons, by generation, are said to be Moses' sons by institution and instruction. Num 3:1 See Galatians 4:19 1 Corinthians 4:15. "Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them."
a αποτομως, cuttingly.
b Kατενυγησαν τη καρδια .
c Horat.
d Osiand. Hist. Eccles., cent. 5, lib. i. c. 6.
e τοις ελκεσι δριμυ. - Alex. Aphrod. Probl.