Note 181 — Quest. LXXXVII.

The words are, רב’ם מישני, multi ex dormientibus. Now it is certain that רבים, is often translated a multitude, or multitudes, and signifies the same with רוב, or the Greek word το πληθος, as in Gen. xvii. 5. Psal. cix. 30. and in several other places. But the principal difficulty lies in the sense of the particle Mem, which is prefixed to the following word; and is generally supposed to be taken distributively; and accordingly the sense must be, Many, that is, a great number, or part, taken out of them that sleep, shall awake; though, I am apt to think, that the prefix Mem here, is not taken distributively; but denotes the following word to be in the Genitive case, as Lamed and Beth often do; and if so, the words may be rendered, The multitude of them that sleep, shall awake; that is, the whole number of them that sleep shall awake; and so it is the same with what is mentioned by our Saviour in the text but now referred to; all that are in their graves shall come forth, and be disposed of in a different way, as he particularly expresses it; which contains the sense of the prophet’s prediction in this place. There is a scripture, in which the word many plainly signifies το πληθος, the multitude, or all mankind: thus the apostle speaks, Rom. v. 15. of many, as being dead by the offence of one, and by one man’s disobedience, many being made sinners; which none, who allow all the world to have fallen in Adam, will suppose to be taken in any other sense. See other instances of the like nature in Glas. Phil. Sacr. Lib. v. Tract. 1. Cap. xv.