- -. 



MOSEa 



were to to appointed in every city. (U-uL xvi. 18.) In the 

 tiuw of the klnn they wen grmrnlly Ukcn, like the judges, from the 

 tribe of LerL Their BUD* (C"!'<f) u derived from a root, which still 

 xists in Arabic ( aar"). meaning 'to write.' From thii and other 

 ll<S*laiiiies it U concluded that they were the officer* who kept the 

 Mteawfical refiatrrs and apportioned the public burdeui to every 

 individual. They alo conveyed to the people the generals order* in 

 tupeofwar. (Joah. i 10.) 



Such was UM IsraeUUah utato, consisting of the congregation of the 

 people, governed by the head* of families, the princes of triUs, the 

 dm. and the aeribee. To tbU democratic constitution the tribe of 

 Lev! formed a counterpoise. They had no landed property, but 

 received the titkr* of all the other tribe*. Besides these they receive, 1 

 the 6nt fruit* of all produce, probably about a sixtieth part of the 

 whole crop ; they had a part of every sacrifice ; and while the people 

 mere in the wilderness every beaut killed for food wa* offered a* a 

 sacrifice, and afterward* the print received a portion of every 

 slaughtered beast that wa* not brought to the altar ; they had every- 

 thing that wa* devoted to Ood, and the redemption fee* of the first- 

 born of men and unclean cattle, a share of the spoil* taken in war, 

 and come minor article*. A calculation of these item* would ihow 

 that their revenues were enormous, and far more than i* needed for 

 the support of a body of religion* instructors. But this was not the 

 office of the Levite* ; and the circumstance of their living in cities of 

 their own made the discharge of such an office impossible. They wero 

 indeed, in a different en-e, the mini-tern of religion; for they per- 

 formed all raiivious ceremonies, preserved copies of the law, explained 

 it in doubtful ca-es, and wen bound to read it over to the people once 

 every seven years ; but a body of religious teacher* or ' doctor* ' did 

 not exist till after the Babylonish captivity. The Levites were the 

 ' literary class ' of the nation, and filled all the learned professions. 

 Difficult questions of law were to be referred to them for judgment. 

 (Dent. xvii. s-13 ; xxl 5.) In the wilderness they formed a guard to 

 the Ubernacli and to Hoses. The occasion of their obtaining the 

 priest* office i* related in Exod. xxxiL 25-29. 



The brad of the Levitical order was the high-priest, who was always 

 taken from the family of Aaron. He possessed great influence in the state. 

 He was tie supreme legal authority. In L)eut. xvii. 12, he is placed on 

 a level with the judge or chief magistrate ; and when there wa* no king 

 or joxlce, the high priest wa* the chief magistrate, as in the case of Ell 



ilpses did not determine what should be the nature of the supreme 

 magistracy. Before bis own death he appointed a successor in the 

 person of Joshua, who was a ' military leader,' and whose office it was 

 to put the peopls in possession of Palestine. Joshua was succeeded 

 at intervals of time by the 'judges ' (who must not however be con- 

 founded with the ordinary judges mentioned above). The office is 

 mentioned by Moses (Dent, xvii 1*2), but ho give* no command for the 

 appointment of the judge. The judge* seem to have been somewhat 

 analogous to tbn Carthaginian suHetes. They were not the ordinary 

 and permanent magistrates, but they governed Israel in times of 

 troubl-. There was no regular succession of them, si.d it is by no 

 sain dear that all of them governed the whole nation. 



The judges wen succeeded by kingifof whom there was a regular 

 MMWssion from Ssol to the Babylonian captivity. 



'1 bough Moses evidently desired that the state should remain a free 

 npnblie under the inpreme government of Jehovah, and though when 

 UM foople actually asked for a king. God, by Samuel, represented 

 their de*ire as both foolish and sinful (1 Sam. viii.) ; yet as Hose* 

 foresaw that they would with for a king, iu imitation of the surrounding 

 nations, he gave the people power to choose one, and prescribed his 

 duties, (Dent xvii. 14-20.) "" 

 which Mo.es shows one of t 

 10 making the best provisions 



of attempting to curry out bia view* of what was best where the 

 character of the people made those views impracticable. The following 



t i < i . -i a (BBSS* ... .... 



king was 

 he mutt 



_ appointment 



most be one which bad the sanction of Uod (ver. IS), whose will on 

 this subject was made known through a prophet, as we find from 

 hbtory. (1 Ham. ix., x.) lie was not to ke p a strong body of 

 cavalry, nor a great number of hone* (ver. 16). This law was well 

 to the pbysi ' 



character ol we people made tbose views impracticable. The follow 

 are the chief laws respecting the king : The election of the king 

 left to the people (bent. xvii. 14), with the restriction that he ni 

 be an Israelite by birth, not a foreigner (ver. 16); the appoint 11. 



suited 



. ysical condition of Palestine, a mountainons country, 

 which could be defrudtd without cavalry, and where the keeping up 

 of sacb a Ion* could only arise from a spirit of conquest! Thus 'ike 

 some other* of tte MOMU- law*, wa* disregarded by Solomon, who bad 

 an enormous number of boner. The king was forbidden to lead tho 

 people back to Egypt (ver. 16), which probably means that he wa* not 

 to attempt to reconquer the land of Uosben. (Michael!*, vol. i., pp. 

 04-67.) He was not to take many wives, "that his heart turn not 

 away " (ver. 17,, as happened to Solomon, whose wives seduced him 

 to idolatry. Another reason of this Uw wss probably to discourage 

 polygamy by the example of the king. This law wan constantly broken 

 by the kings of Israel. He was nut to collect excessive qusutities of 

 gold sad silver (v. r. 17). He wa* to be well acquainted with the law, 

 U be wa* to have a copy written out at bis accession, which ho 

 was to resd dady (*r. 18, 19). On hi. obedience to the*e command- 

 ttents depended the continuant* of his kingdom (ver. 20). besides 



this fundamental law, there was an agreement or covenant between 

 the king and the people, which was sworn to by every king at his 

 accession. (1 Sam. x. 25; Miohaelia, Art 56.) The kingly power 

 was therefore not unlimited ; but we find that the government of the 

 kings bad always a tendency to despotism, which may be ascribed to 

 the want of an hereditary military noblesse, and to the notion whi h 

 prevailed among the Israelite*, in common with other Oriental people 

 that it was the office of the king in person to be supreme jud^e. As 

 to the Utter point, it certainly was not the intention of Mo- en tlmt the 

 burden of deciding causes should rest upon the kings, and very 

 mischievous consequence* resulted from their assuming the office. 



The king had the power of enacting new laws, provided they were 

 not at variance with the fundamental principles of the constitution, 

 and of dispensing with the punishments prescribed by Motes, lie had 

 the power of life and death over the priest, even the high-prient ; and 

 it was part of his duty to reform abuses in religion. Those powers, 

 which aro not mentioned in the Mosaic oode, sre inferred from the 

 constant exercise of them by the kings. Such matters probably 

 formed part of the covenant between the king and people mentioned 

 above. It ia uncertain whether ho had the right to declare war at 

 his own pleasure. 



On the subject of the royal revenues Hose* left no ordinance. They 

 consisted of presents (1 Sam. x. 27; xvi. 20), of tithes from all the 

 land (1 Sam. viii. 15), and of a demesne which was probably acquired 

 by confiscations. Tim kings had a right to demand bond-services of 

 the people (1 Sam. viii. 12-16; 1 Kings v. U'-l>), which at first how- 

 over wero chiefly performed by the Caiiaauites who remained in the 

 land. In later times a poll-tax was exacted on pressing occasions. 

 They took advantage of the neighbouring Arabian deserts to rear 

 cattle. (1 Curoii. xxvii. 29-81.) Solomon derived a considerable 

 revenue from foreign commerce. The. monarchy woe hereditary, for 

 the election by the people mentioned above referred not to every 

 individual, but to the family from which the king was to be taken. 

 The crown did not necessarily descend to the eldest son ; thus David 

 appointed which of his sans should succeed him, au 1 the people 

 evidently expected him to do so. (1 Kings i. 20.) But this right of 

 selection was afterwards abrogated. 



The ' foreign relations' of the Israelites were of a simple character. 

 Although, as stated above, it was a fundamental principle of the Mosaic 

 law to avoid foreign intercourse, yet alliances with foreign nations 

 were not forbidden. The alliance* which were afterwards made, in 

 the time of the kings, with Assyria and Egypt were sufficiently impru- 

 dent in their own nature to account for their being opposed by the 

 prophets. There were however some nations whom the Israelites 

 wero commanded to exterminate those Canaanites, namely, who 

 dwelt in the laud which they were to possess ; this command was 

 never perfectly obeyed, and iu later times it was niitigattd. Other 

 nations, as the Amalekites, Ammonites, ami Moabites, were represented 

 by Moses ss the hereditary enemies of the people of Israel, on account 

 of the injuries which they had done them, and which it wai thi-ir 

 duty to revenge when an opportunity occurred. The lawa regulating 

 war against other nations (Ueur. xx.) wero exceedingly severe, but not 

 more so than the international law then recognised is sufficient to 

 account for, and the cruelties exercised by their heathen enemies are 

 known to have been greater than any that the Israelites can be charged 

 with. If a city resisted after being summoned to surrender, all tin 

 men iu it were put to death, and the women and children made 

 slaves. This law however only applied to the cities ' which were very 

 far off;" but as to the cities of the Hittites, Amprites, and others, 

 which wero given as an inheritance to them by God, they wero com- 

 manded to save alive nothing that breathed. The spoil was to be 

 divided among the soldier*, except in some cases, when it was devoted 

 to Qod and destroyed. Horses were to be hamstrung. The fruit-trees 

 in the enemy's country were to be spared. 



1 luring the three gnat festivals, when every male went up to Jeru- 

 salem, then wss a suspension of arms, the assurance being given by 

 Uod that during these periods no man should desire their laud. (Exod. 

 xxxiv. 24.) Michaelis endeavours to show that this truce was observed 

 by all the surrounding nations except the Cauaauites, who were there- 

 fore destroyed. 



Embassies wen only resorted to on particular occasions, a; 

 persons of ambassadors wen sacred. \\hru the Israelite* wanted to 

 pass through the territories of other people, Uoaos ssked permission 

 of the inhabitants. 



The foundation of the ' civil law ' of Moses is laid in the command, 

 Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.' (Lev it. xix. 18.) 



1. Laict relating to Property Moses ordained that after the conquest 

 of Canaan the land should be divided by lot in equal portionn among 

 the Israelites, and should tin n be inalienable for ever. This law was 

 invented with a religious sanction, by representing Ood us the pro- 

 prietor of the whole land, which the people only held as tenants under 

 him. (Levit. xxv. 23.) The Isnd might b.- sold 'nominally,' but as it 

 nverted to the original owner or bis heirs in the year of 'jubilee,' 

 which was every fiftieth year, such a rale nuiounted only to the sale of 

 tho crops for fifty or fewer years. Land so sold might be redeemed on 

 certain condition* before tho year of jubilee. (Levit. xxv. 25, 4c.) Tho 

 law against the alienation of land admitted of exceptions, the chief of 

 which was that land vowed to God, if not redeemed before the jubilee, 



