Ye are of your father the devil
Not of his substance, but by imitation and example; and as being
under his authority and influence, his instructions and
directions, and ready to follow after him, and obey his commands;
the word "your" is rightly supplied, and is in some copies:
and the lusts of your father ye will do;
the Syriac and Persic versions read in the singular number, "the
lust", or "desire of your father"; by which may be particularly
meant, his eager desire after the death of Christ, which he
showed at different times; he instigated Herod to seek to destroy
his life in his infancy, and when he was just entering on his
public ministry, he tempted him to destroy himself; and often
stirred up the Scribes and Pharisees, to stone him or kill him,
some other way; and at last put it into the heart of one of his
disciples, Judas Iscariot, to betray him: this looks as if though
the devil had a notion of the salvation of men by Christ, yet
that he thought, as some erroneous men have also done, that it
was only by his doctrine and example, and therefore he was in
haste to get him out of the world, that he might not be useful,
or any more so that way; and not by the shedding of his blood,
the sacrifice of himself, or by his sufferings and death, in the
room of sinners; or otherwise it is scarcely credible, that he
would have sought his death so earnestly: now this selfsame lust
and insatiable desire after the death of Christ prevailed in the
Jews; and they were resolute and bent upon fulfilling it at any
rate, nor could anything divert them from it; this is the thing
Christ is speaking of in the context, and is what fully proved
the devil to be their father, and them to be his children:
he was a murderer from the beginning;
he was not only spoken of from the beginning, as he that should
bruise the Messiah's heel, or should compass his death, but he
was actually a murderer of Adam and Eve, and of all their
posterity, by tempting them to sin, which brought death and ruin
upon them; and who quickly after that instigated Cain to slay his
brother; and has had, more or less, a concern in all murders
committed since; and has been in all ages, and still is, a
murderer of the souls of men; and therefore is rightly called
Abaddon, and Apollyon, which signify the destroyer: the phrase,
"from the beginning", does not intend the beginning of his own
creation; for he was created a holy creature, was in the truth,
though he abode not in it; and was in an happy state, though he
lost it: nor strictly the beginning of time, or of the creation
of the world, which were some days at least before the fall of
man, when the devil commenced a murderer; but it being very near
it, therefore this phrase is made use of: the Syriac version
renders it, "from Bereshith", which is the first word in the
Hebrew Bible, and is frequently used by the Jewish Rabbins for
the six days of the creation; and if Adam fell, as some think,
the same day he was created, it might be properly said that the
devil was a murderer from thence. Philo F16 speaks
of Eve's serpent, as (anyrwpou
fonwnta) , "a murderer of man"; applying to this purpose
the text before referred to, ( Genesis 3:15
) ;
and abode not in the truth;
neither in the integrity, innocence, and holiness, in which he
was created; nor in veracity, or as a creature of veracity, but
spake lies, and formed one, by which he deceived Eve, saying, "ye
shall not surely die", ( Genesis 3:4 ) , when
God had said they should, ( Genesis 2:17
) ; nor in the truth of the Gospel, which was at least in part
made known unto him; particularly that the Son of God should
become man, and in that nature be the head of angels and men:
this he and his associates, in the pride of their hearts, not
bearing that the human nature should be exalted above that of
theirs, left their first estate, broke off their allegiance to
God, and turned rebels against him:
because there is no truth in him;
not that this is a reason why he continued not in the truth, for
there was originally truth in him; though he abode not in it; but
a reason, showing there was none in him now, since he was fallen
from it, and abode not in it; there is no truth in him, that is
natural and genuine, and essential to him; and if at any time he
speaks it, it is not from his heart, but because he is forced to
it, or has an evil design in it:
when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own;
that is genuine and natural, of his own devising, willing, and
approving:
for he is a liar, and the father of it;
he was a liar, as early as he was a murderer, or rather earlier;
it was with a lie he deceived, and so murdered our first parents,
and he has continued so ever since; he was the first author of a
lie; the first lie that ever was told, was told by him; he was
the first inventor of one; he was the first of that trade; in
this sense the word "father" is used, ( Genesis 4:20
Genesis
4:21 ) ; so the serpent is by the Cabalistic Jews F17
called, the lip of lie, or the lying lip.
F16 De Agricultura, p. 203.
F17 Lex. Cabalist. p. 724.