possession of his House again Thus the Talmudists In the Cities of the Levites it was not so but for their houses they had the benefit of the same Law which was establisht by Moses concerning the Fields and rurall possessions of all the Hebrews as hath been said Wherefore they might redeem them after the year was past and what was not before redeemed the Jubily restored Amongst all the Cities most eminent was Jerusalems sanctity and as the Talmud delivers it remain'd perpetuall ever since the Dedication by the most glorious King Salomon That Ezra consecrated it again was unnecessary for it was not capable to be prophan'd like other Cities by the hands of the Sacrilegious Whence it came to pass as the Talmud-tradition is that it was lawfull to sacrifise at Hierusalem and to feast upon the sacrifices even in the dust and ashes of the destroyed City But how great was the Religion of the place appeared by those Jews whom Hadrian the Emperour permitted once a year to visit the deformed reliques of the holy City and there to lament and deplore the misery of their Nation This City was not assigned by lot unto any one tribe but was common to them all Wherefore the Talmudists free it from that Law which commands the bloud secretly shed in the borders of the Tribes to be expiated by slaving of a Heifer This which follows is not from superstition but from the antient and approved custom of the Nation Maimonides relates if any had an upper room so high that it gave them a prospect to the Holy of Holies they might indeed once a week go up to see all safe but oftner or for other cause they might not Verily King Agrippa much offended his people when from a lofty room in his palace he took a frequent view of the Temple saw from on high what was done within it The Jews thinking this to be an unsufferable thing raised a high wall to cut off the Kings prospect and without delay sent unto Rome ten Legates with Ismael the High-Priest and Eleazar the Treasurer to Petition Nero for a confirmation of that which Religion had compell'd the people to do What Hecâ—taeus of Abdera saith in Flavius that Jerusalem was of 50. furlongs compass inhabited by one hundred twenty thousand persons were not very materiall for us to know but that there is something of singular note concerning the enlargement of their pomaeria which Maimonides hath declared out of the Talmudicall Books And this it is In the enlargement of the City the great Senate Sanhedrin and the King and one Prophet consulted the oracle called Urim and Thummim After that they had agreed among themselves about the interpretation of the divine answer the Senators of the Sanhedrin recited two Verses of thanksgiving and having taken two Loaves of leavened Bread and departing presently with instruments of Musick made a stand at the turning of every Sticet and at all Monuments erected in the City and pronounced these words I will extoll thee O Lord because thou hast lifted me up At last when they were come unto the place designed for consecration because it was to be the bound of their pomaeria they all stayed and there of the two Loaves taken with them after the Verses sung they eat one the other they burnt in the flames These things received from their Ancestors the Talmudicall writers have thus left upon record Nor are they improbable seeing the like and almost the same are exstant in the 12. Chapter of Nehemiahs commentaries Yet in after times the liberty of the Jews being opprest by the Romans this prolation of their pomaeria depended not upon the pleasure of the great Councill but of the Roman people Farther this is also deliver'd by Cornelius Tacitus that the Jews with a great sum of money purchased leave to fortify Whence it appears the Queen of Cities Jerusalem was in the same condition with all towns under the Roman power whose Walls could not be repair'd without the Authority of the Prince or Governour nor any thing joyned to them or set upon them as * L. 9. sect ff de rerum divis Ulpian the Lawyer saith And truly Claudius Caesar when he had received intelligence that they were enclosing Jerusalem with a mighty Wall admonished Agrippa of that new attempt and thereupon the King in obedience to the Emperour left off the work he had undertaken The Talmudicall writers say Jerusalem had this privilege above other Towns of Judaea that no house in the City after one year could be retained by the buyer They say also it was not lawfull to plant Orchards or gardens there affirming that of the whole City which Hecataeus hath written of the circuit of the Temple Dead bodies which were carried any whither were not admitted into that City out of a respect unto the Holiness thereof Only two Sepulchers were there of David and of Olda built they say by the old Prophets Yet were the Levits bound up with a more strict Religion being prohibited to bury the dead in their Cities and in the Field of their Suburbs too Wherefore by divine appointment they received from the other Tribes a parcell of ground without their own borders where they might lay the bones of their dead to rest In other Towns it was not unlawfull to bury provided seven honest men gave assent thereto but when once the Corps was carried forth of the gate it might not be received again within the walls although all the people should desire it Jerusalem as we said above was the head city the seat of Religion and holy rites Wherefore that being overthrown there fell with it the form of the Jewish Common-weal both Civill and sacred Truly what Flavius saith of a voice heard out of the Temple before the destruction of the City Let us go hence seemeth unto me to signifie nothing else but that the Common-weal was to be dissolved and the Scepter to be taken away which of old was given to the holy Nation For within a short time the orders and functions and rites and almost all their Laws ceased and there followed great confusion desolation and distraction First of all the most sacred College of the Hasideans that drew its Originall from the Prophets was now no more because their custom was to goe every day to the Temple and to bestow voluntary charges upon Sacrifices and upon the Porches and Walls of the Sanctuary And whereas Moses imposed upon strangers that should become Proselytes the oblation of some certain gift this upon the dissolution began to be deferred altogether till another time when the third sanctuary which they yet expect shall be built Nor doe they any more marry their Brothers Widows which have no Children And the solennity of the Passeover never since that time hath been rightly celebrated for the Law commanded it should be kept in that place wherein God had chosen the seat of his house Of so much consequence was the
the East is accustomed to the yoke of Kings This being so many have admired why God took it ill that the Soveraign power was transferred from Samuel to a King since he had approved it before and said it should be according to the inclination of the holy people Maimonides answers learnedly that the divine Indignation arose from hence Because they desir'd a King by unfaithfull complaints and seditious murmurings not that they might comply with Gods design in the Law but out of a distast of the most holy Prophet Samuel to whom it was spoken by the voice of God They have not rejected thee but me Verily I am of this opinion and I doubt not to assert it that the Kingdom was given to Saul not out of Gods love and care of the Common-wealth but because he perceived his arrogance and cruelty hee meant to glorify Samuel by this unequall comparison and by such a successor make his vertue the more desirable The qualities seem but light and superficiall but they are of great moment which as the Holy Book in severall places hath it were considered by Samuel in the Kings election a gracefull look talness of body and such like which affect and draw the eyes and minds of all These are the things which the great Prophet in the midst of the Assembly commended when he spake these words 1 Sam. 10.24 Behold whom God hath chosen that there is none equall to him in all the people Wherefore it is not the property of Barbarians only but of the most civill men to think them capable of great atchievements whom nature hath graced with a goodly form and stately countenance No less a man than Aristotle hath pronounced thus If any personages are by nature framed so much more excellent than others as the images of Gods excell the images of men it seemeth meet that the rest should be servants unto such If this be true in the body much more in the soul but the souls form and beauty cannot be so easily discerned To leave this In the Holy Bible is mentioned a certain volume 1 Sam. 10.25 wherein Samuel wrote the sacred rights of the Kingdom and laid it up in the Tabernacle A text not well understood by Josephus who imagined all the evils which God foretold the people they should fear from an unjust King were comprehended in that volume We on the contrary believe there were in that Book the Laws which commanded the King to follow justice and equity and to govern the Common-wealth wisely for the peoples good also not to play the Prince in lusts and riots lastly to retain modesty in the greatness of his fortune a vertue well becomming the best of men and very pleasing unto God The matter is deliver'd in Deuteronomy thus Deut. 17.15 c. Thou shalt set him King over thee whom the Lord thy God shall choose One from among thy Brethren shalt thou set King over thee thou mayest not set a stranger over thee which is not thy Brother But he shall not multiply horses to himself nor cause the people to return to Egypt For as much as the Lord hath said unto you ye shall henceforth return no more that way Neither shall he multiply Wives to himself that his heart turn not away neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold And it shall be when he sitteth upon the throne of his Kingdom that he shall write him a Copy of this Law in a Book out of that which is before the Priests the Levites And it shall be with him and he shall read therein all the dayes of his life that he may learn to fear the Lord his God to keep all the words of this Law and these Statutes to do them That his heart be not lifted up above his Brethren These words of the Law are not obscure and they seem to contain the sum of that volume which the great Prophet laid up in the Sanctuary We said * Cap. 8. above the Jews had such a Common-wealth which in the Scripture is called a Priestly Kingdom Whence it follows that their Kings did not only govern in civill affairs and military but were Presidents of Religion and holy Ceremonies For they were sacred persons to whom Gods Commission and the voice of a Prophet gave Empire honour and authority Yet as the Over-sight of Sacred things the Soveraign power and judgment pertained unto them so the mystery and charge of the same things was of right claimed by the Levites that is the High Priest the rest of the Priests and their assistants It was their office to slay the Sacrifices to make expiations to rehearse the divine Laws before the people and to perform other services in the Temple The Talmudicall writers well observe how much the King excelled all both Priests and Prophets which we will relate out of * In Halucha Melachim cap. 2. Maimonides The words are to this effect It was a Statute that the chief Priest should reverence the King and yield him his place to sit in and himself stand when the King came to him But the King standeth not in the presence of the Priest unless when he consults the Urim after the solemn manner And such is the dignity of the King that even the Prophet himself as oft as he comes into his presence bows himself down to the earth as it is written Nathan the Prophet came before the King and to honour him fell upon his face to the ground Yet more David himself whom the Prophet formerly had anointed King so little feared to take upon him the honour of the High Priest that he put upon himself the Ephod and enquired of the Lord whether he should pursue the enemy The place is eminent in the Book of Samuel Cap. 30. v. 7. perverted by the late Interpreters men very learned but here they seem indiligent Let all men judge that have any skill in the originall whether the words translated by them Applicavit sibi Abiathar amiculum Davidis causa signify not the same I have said that David having put on the Ephod of Abiathar consulted the Oracle The English Bible reads it And Abiathar brought thither the Ephod to David Grotius de Imperio c. 6. reads it in this sense Abiathar made the Ephod to come near to David that as he stood before the high Priest which the King only did when he consulted Urim he might see whether the sparkling of the prectous stones would promise him good success Abiathar then had the Ephod upon him not David The Urim answered i. e. God by the Urim vide locum But let us give you some more of our Collections from the Rabbins Herein also consisted an high point of honour Mâ—im c. 2. in Hal. Mâ—l c. 7. Hal. Beth. Habb that the King only and no man else might sit in the Court of the Temple in any place only the King who was of Davids family That Court was divided by
good because the wiser men are present and lead the way but single and apart they have little judgement Concerning a King then and concerning War as I have said Decrees were made sometimes the people being Author all other things the Senators of Sanhedrin dispatched by themselves The weightiest affairs were not too heavy for them because they were chosen for their worth and great abilities by the divine Moses rightly named Elders not only for their age but for their wiâ—dom and experience CHAP. XIII Of two other Councils at Jerusalem besides the Sanhedrin The Senate of 23. in every town The College of 3. The measure of Cities The 5. men for expiation of slaughter The 7. men and 3. men for ordering the Calendar The times disposed by Rabbi Hillel The authority of Sanhedrin lessened OF the great Senate we have said what came to mind the other Councils will not detain us long The most learned * â—n Halaâ—â—a Sanhedrin c. 1. Maimonides relates that in the City of Jerusalem it self were two Councils more They are described in the * In Misna in Gemara Talmud In either of them sate three and twenty Judges And as the Great Council was held in that part of the Temple which is called Gazith so one of these at the Court-gate the other was kept at the Gate opening to the Mount of the Temple The Dignity of them also was not the same for the Judges at the Mount-Gate took it for a preferment to be ascrib'd into the Senate at the Court-Gate And again it was a new degree of honour to ascend hence into the Sanedrin The distinction is exactly made by Rabbi Ben Maimon Farther beside these Councils at Jerusalem there was constituted in every town of Palestin a Senate for jurisdiction and the care of publick affairs It consisted of 23. men who sate in judgement upon the life and fortunes of the people and decided all causes except a few reserved as is aforesaid to the great Councill Ben Maimou also describes a certain College of three men and saith it was in such a City which had not a hundred and twenty inhabitants But I am of Aristotles mind that this is not a City For as it is not a Ship which is of one handfull or of two furlongs so is it not a City which wanteth a just measure if it be too little it cannot as a City should subsist by it self and too much greatness turns it from a City to a Nation But we must not call a Rabbi to so strict account It was the office of those three to judge of trespasses of moneys and goods moveable The Capitall offenders were brought as I have shewed before another Bench. â—hedrin c. 5. Ben Maimon * In Halucho Sanhedrin c. 5. addes somethings were of such a kind that they belonged neither to the seventy Elders nor to the College of twenty three nor to the three men but were to be referred to a peculiar Senate In which number he reckons man-slaughter committed by an uncertain hand in the borders of any town Five men saith he must expiate this by the Sacrifice of a Heifer The same Author hath more of this nature which I willingly praetermit For we doe not repeat Dictates That may seem strange that the ordering of times was commended to certain Judges for * In eadem Halacha eod cap. concerning the Leap-year seven concerning the month three men determined But Hillel the Babylonian afterward acquitted all his Countrymen of this care the prime man of his age of whom we have this honourable testimony from Rabbi Abraham * In libro juchasin Zacuth Rabbi Hillel president of the great Councill composed the Intercalation for all Israel till the times of Messiah and that was done by him before the Lawfull act of imposition of hands was abrogated Had not this same Hillel maturely prevented so great an evill certainly the times would have been much confused for not long after ceased the solennity of imposing hands without which those seven men and three men were not appointed overseers and correctors of the Calendar as Maimonides observeth But no more of this lest the Reader think we prepare an accurate and perfect work wheras we only thrust out our suddain and tumultuary Meditations And we desire it may be noted whatsoever we have said of Councils hath relation to the time before Judaea had received the Roman conqueror For he changed and repealed many things not for his lust or pleasure nor out of any cruell design but that he might secure his Dominion Gabinius chiefly the Proconsul of Syria seeing the principall pillar of the Common-wealth was the Sanhedrin thought it good policy to take away the authority thereof in many towns Wherefore at Gadar Amath Hiericho and Sephor he setled four Synedries and a fift at Jerusalem now but a part of what she was all of equall power And the Councils placed by Gabinius in the other Cities as they were not inferiour to that in Jerusalem for power so were they far beyond it in continuance These are meant if I mistake not by * In l. 17. c. de Jud. Cal. Justinian when he requires a Canon from the primates who rule the Synedries of either Palestin But we make no excursion into these times The antient Common-wealth and primitive Institutions are under our consideration To enquire into the rest and set down things that were often changed were unhappily to place our study where no certain truth can be delivered CHAP. XIV The creation of a King A bad one first chosen why What qualities the Prophet had respect unto The Book of the Kingdom laid up The power of the Hebrew Kings Their honour above Priests and Prophets Kings and Priests at first the same The annointing of Kings made them sacred The Holy Ointment hid by Josia and lost with other things RAbbi Ben Maimon * In part post Misnae saith the Israelites received three commands from God to bee fulfilled in Palestin the first whereof was to make themselves a King another to blot out the memory of the Amalekites the third concerning the building of a Temple The performance whereof saith he was at severall times and long distant but in the same order wherein they were commanded For a King was created before the War with Amalek and the building of the Temple was not begun untill that most odious Nation was brought to an end and quite destroyed The testimonies illustrious which are related by the same Author need not be transcribed hither In the 17 of Deuteronomy the most high God saying the Israelites would desire a King addes the truest reason of it because all the neighbouring Nations lived under the royall Government For such is the nature and disposition of men inhabiting that part of the world few prefer liberty before subjection unto just Lords And Claudius Civilis in Tacitus truly saith to his Batavians that Syria and Asia serve and