Jews and others When the Common-weal was of all the Hebrews when of the Jews What the Scepter was The plausible opinion of Eusebius confuted Wherein consists and to whom belongs Imperiall Majesty WHat we have now said of the sanctuary is of great moment to the confuting of Mâ—â—monides but wee must produce other Arguments to prove that the Common-wealth of which old Jacob spake to Juda on his death Bed was no where seated but in Palestin We will not go far but cite Mâ—â—monides for a witness against himself How often doth he tell us the holy people without the bounds of the Holy Lâ—nd was loosed from many of the Mosaicall Laws He hath a notable * In Halacha sanhedrin d ssertation wherein he circumscribes with certain limits the power of the Judges both of Palestin and Babylon Certainly the greatest part of Mâ—ses Law is conversant about criminall causes The judgement hereof saith Maimâ—â— could be no where exercised by the Babylonian Jews no not in Palestin And the Jews of Palestin as by the Law they gave judgement to their own people in all causes within their own Country so without it they gave no sentence upon their Country-men unless by the permission of the Babylonian Peers or other heads of the exiled Jews Whence we gather that the Jews of Palestiâ—â— judged of crimes in their own Country alwaies by vertue of the Law sometimes out of their Country but by permission and leave of others the Babylonians no where judged of them not in their own dominion not in Palestin not by force of Law nor by permission And are these the men think you to whom was given the Jewish Scepter after the affairs of Palestin were broken and decayed Surely either the excellent writer knew not what was the dignity of the Scepter or he thought too well of some States of straw that do there boast themselves to be of Davids house But wee wonder not at this light mistake of Maimonides when we consider by what strange interpretations others have laboured for the sense of Jacobs divine speech I remember I had conference concerning this with the honourable Apollonius Scottus assessor of the supreme Senate at what time in his house at the Hague I sweetly spent the Vacation and with great ardor ran over the Luculent commentations of Rabbi Ben Maimon wherewith I was so taken that I crossed almost all my former notes concerning the Jewish State There did this Senator such is his learning and the exceeding vigor of his wit signifie more than once that in his judgment no other Text in the sacred Book is more examined by learned men and less understood Verily I was glad to find of my opinion a man whose authority and repute might encourage me to oppose the interpretations of any other whatsoever Wherefore by his incitement I think I shall not do amiss if in so great a multitude of conjectures I shall also publish what my judgment is about a prophecy so illustrious The Argument indeed is worthy wherein the wit of every man may exercise it self and shew its strength Although in this our Treatise we handle the affairs of Hebrews and Jews in common and without difference for the most part yet to secure the Reader from mistake we will once for all demonstrate that the sacred Common-wealth constituted by Moses according to Gods appointment was alwaies the same and founded on the same Laws but not alwaies of the same persons A long time it was of the Hebrews afterward by change of times it was only of the Jews And so the oracle of Jacob which is of Juda's Scepter pertaineth only to those later times The ignorance whereof is the cause why this admirable prophecy hath been hitherto misunderstood I will not mention here the miserable hallucinations of Origen Austin Epiphanius and others who thought the Jews were promised by those words of Jacob a perpetuall succession of Kings of the same tribe and the same linage even to the times of Messiah An opinion which led the followers of it into insuperable difficulties for they know not what to say nor whither to turn themselves when they saw from the death of Sedechiah to the times of Aristobulus the Kingdom of the Jews was none and after that untill Herods tyranny it was in the hands only of the Hasmonaei of the tribe of Levi. These things of late are discussed well and with good success in the exercitations against Baronius by the most learned man of our age I saack Casaubon who is pleased with the famous opinion of Eusebius extant in the eighth Book of his Evangelicall demonstrations We pretermit all things rightly said both by Eusebius and by Casaubon that we may not do what is done to our hand And we confess among all the Interpretations hitherto divulged that of Eusebius is far the best But because neither Eusebius nor that great Scholar that follows him seem to me to have understood what that Scepter is of which the old Prophet speaks to his Son a little before his death nor when it was given to the Jews this is needfull now to be cleared but not without a preface For it is no pleasure to us to dissent neither from Eusebius whom we have ever esteemed among the greatest writers nor from him whom we have above named the prime man of our age the follower of Eusebius to whom we owe so much reverence that no man is so great with us as He. For He it is by whose conduct these our times have made admirable proficiency toward the perfection of all learning But we are constrained by our ingenuous love of truth to lay aside affection and impartially inquire what is right The first error of Eùsebius is that the Scepter was given to Juda even from the time of Moses because this Tribe excelled alwaies among the rest with singular dignity and held a more honourable place both in the Camps and in the order of them that offered gifts in the Temple Which Argument moves me no more thaâ— if one should say the Majesty of the Scepter at Râ—â—â— or Athens was not in the Romaâ—â—â—â— Athenian people but in one 〈◊〉 which was more noble or flouâ—â—â—ing For truly it is manifest by the most constant affirmation of antient Authors that in Rome and Athens both were many and divers tribes some above the rest in dignity place and order What is it then Verily I suppose the Scepter to be nothing else but the Majesty of Empire Majesty I mean pertaining to the Common-wealth it self Wherfore whose is the Common-wealth theirs also is the Scepter Now the Hebrew Common-wealth from the age of Moses until the reign of Rehoboam was not of the Jews but of the twelve tribes Whence it follows that the Scepter all that space of time was of all the Israelites But of this Scepter which a long time was common to all the tribes the divine Patriarch spoke not in that celebrious oracle He had respect unto
War they had alwaies good success when the Kings very often had their rashness requited with ill fortune Sometime also the same Judges were employ'd in civill affairs and heard causes but those of the greater moment For they seldom sate in the judgment seat Only the commands and the Empire and the Soveraingty pertained unto them The last of their number was Samuel He whom the Kings followed Who not content with power and rule lifted up themselves above the multitude in their robes and ornaments and splendor of fortune Moreover besides the Soveraign Rulers and Judges of the people and those that were after called Kings there were others not a few who consulted of the Common-wealth gave judgment and arbitrated business For there were certain Synedryes or Councils wherein who were the Senators and what where the matters of their cognizance we must now enquire In the first place presents it self the great Councill of the Sanhedrin into which were ascrib'd seventy Adsessors That Council constituted by Moses continued under the Judges and Kings and high Priests untill the last desolation of Judaea and was holden in that City which was the seat of the Sanctuary and the head of the Common-wealth But because the first times and the next to them are most part obscure and the Holy Book hath delivered to us nothing of principall consideration concerning the City Shiloh We will deliver what the Jews have observed of that Council in the Princess of Cities Jerusalem after the Temple was built there and then wee shall speak of the other Councils which were either at Jerusalem or at particular Cities The Seat of the great Council was in the very Sanctuary where the seventy Senators judged both of divine and humane things Men not chosen from among the Plebeians but all most noble commended by their honourable Parentage and the antient ornaments of their family The place was assigned to them by Moses who commanded they should meet in the place which God should choose to have his name adored there From these Judges was no appeal Whatsoever the other Magistrates and Judges in the towns of Palestin and in Jerusalem it self were not able to decide belonged unto their jurisdiction Two of them excelled the rest in honour and authority one was the head of the Sanedrin by the Talmudists entitled Prince in every place the other next in degree but inferiour to him whom they called the Father of judgment The rest were equall among themselves This Senatorious dignity because it was most honourable was granted to none without a legitimate act namely imposition of hands So Moses layd his hand upon Josuah and the seventy Elders which solemnity being performed presently a divine spirit from above fell down upon them and fill'd their breasts And these being thus initiated themselves admitted others after the same way Yet could not that rite be used without the Holy Land because all the vertue thereof was confined by the bounds of Palestin It is very observeable which Maimonides hath delivered in the fourth Chapter of his Halacha Sanhedrin For whereas of old this act was celebrated at their pleasure by all those upon whom hands had been once imposed that right saith he was streightned by the wise men and a constitution made that no man should after that time use it but by grant from Rabbi Hillel that divine old man He was Prince of the great Councill and had another vice President Sameas a man truculent and ambitious whose followers when a little after they had risen up against the Disciples of Hillel stirred the minds of men with so much passion that willingly the whole people was drawn into their party At length this imposition of hands which had been used long ceased And there was only pronounced a certain form of words according to Ben Maimon of this sense Behold the hand is imposed on thee and power given thee to judge in criminall causes also Besides the Talmudists have told us of another form whose words because the illustrious Joseph Scaliger * In elenâ—ho Trihaeres hath mistaken we shall here restore unto their proper sense The Talmudists after they had spoken of Juda the son of Baba a stout defender of the antient customs of his Nation and who when the jurisdiction in criminals and imposition of hands were almost lost supported the sinking cause adde thus That solemn act is not only done by the hand imposed as Moses did to Josuah but it is also done by a form of words only after this manner I impose my hand upon thee and be the hand on thee imposed But the excellent Scaliger collected from the place that Juda had found out a form different from the most antient which is there conceived when 't is not so nor do the Talmudists say so being deceived by a word which bee renders besides which in Rabbinism signifies only But this is a Grammaticall note and ought to be left to others We are here to consider graver matters Into the Great Councill not only Citizens of prime Nobility as we have said but Levits also and Priests were chosen And the High Priest saith Maimonides was elected too if he were a considering man and fit for Counsell Otherwise it was lawfull to lay him aside For he came not to the Senate by any right of his own but he was admitted by suffrages All the Adsessors were required to be entire and perfect in body Whosoever had any main or deformity was excluded Nor were strangers and foreiners received into this order except the Mother at least were a Jew The Senators of the Sanhedrin had this charge to make their progress through all Judea to take a view of the Assemblies of the people to appoint them Magistrates in every town And all the vertue and authority of the Cabbala a mysterious doctrine delivered from hand to hand even from the beginnings of the CoÌ„mon-wealth was with them Their part also it was to make Statutes in sacred matters and to devise certain wayes to expound the Law Whereof Maimonides hath spoken with great care Moreover the causes of Prophets who had highly offended were no where tryed but in this great Councill Which our Saviour had respect unto when he said in Luke It is not possible that a Prophet should perish out of Jerusalem Lastly which is a point of the greatest power they did also constitute a King and deliberat of waging War and giving battail to the enemy and enlarging the Empire But because in these things the common safety and publick state was so much concerned consultation was therein had for the most part with the people For meetings were called wherein alone they had some share in the Government And truly otherwise they ought not Honours and Magistracies are committed to single and select men Plebeians have not strength and skill to bear them In their meetings as Aristotle hath discreetly noted and in conjuncture the multitude hath some understanding and can advance the publick
round and as the times are turned so are mens manners Verily the same day that deprived them of the fair light of liberty and struck the Scepter out of their hands did also so abate the edge of their ingenuous spirits that they have no more vigor now nor keeness in them Servitude dwarfs the mind and enchains the spirit and choaks all the seeds of generosity What high thoughts can they possibly have who for so many years through the whole world have been wearyed out with so great scorn and contumely whom Children in contempt have pulled by the sleeve and men by the beard lastly upon whom the fury of all the Caesars spent it self Tiberius distributed their young men sending them as it were for Souldiers into the Provinces of unwholesome air The air of Sardinea was very pestilent Thither are four thousand commanded away to meet an untimely death Titus cast almost as many to the beasts when hee set forth shews at Berytum and Caesarea Trajan himself the mildest of all the Princes decreed they should not read the Law so did other Emperors after him at severall times This was the greatest of afflictions and by Rabbi Zacuth is numbred among the persecutions They decreed saith he a persecution that the Jews should not read the Law But these things were done by Pagans Let us who are joyned to them with a closer bond shew them more favour having this communion with them to hear the commands of one and the same God Truly S. Paul desires to lay down his life for them so fervent is his charity to the Nation And it is his saying Rom. 11.16 If the first fruits bee holy the lump is also holy and if the root be holy so are the branches I will not now ambitiously celebrate their praises for wee abhor from nothing more than such Vanity Yet as to these later times the truth is if we cast up the account rightly out Religion is much endebted to that people For who are they but the Jews that have preserved for us the sacred volumes of the Bible safe and sound How many Errata's had stoln into the Holy Scriptures had the custody thereof been committed only to such as Lactantius Austin Gregory Chrysostom most holy men indeed but unskilfull of the Hebrew tongue Amongst all the Greek and Latine Fathers that governed the antient Church Origen and to speak the most Jerom were the only Hebricians the rest had not learned so much as the very Letters Wherefore if the carelesness of Transcribers had made default they were not the men that could make amends But this was all the Jews only study and their sole care to vindicate the Books of Moses and the Prophets and the other holy writings from the injuries of time This is their proper praise wherein no other Nation câ—â—imeth any share There is an eminent place in Rabbi Abraham * In libre Juchasin of Salmantica whence we learn That all the Copies of the Bible were amended according to a certain Book of venerable antiquity written long before by the hand of Rabbi Hillel High-Priest of the Jews who came from Babylon into Syria sixty years before the Nativity of our Lord God Jesus Christ In the Kingdom of Leon saith he they found the Bible written by Rabbi Hillel and by it corrected all their Copies part of it I saw which was sold in Afric and was written 900. years before my time Kimhi in his Grammar saith the Pentateuch was at the City of Toledo At that time therefore the Jews were the only Correctors to keep the context of the Bible pure Indeed it had been easy for them to alter and corrupt those places which seemed to condemn their follies when the Christians understood scarce three words of Hebrew but piety with-stood and Religion would not permit them to change what was sacred Nevertheless some have charged them with unfaithfulness in describing much of the text but these men have already had sufficient answer from learned * 8. Explan Esaiae Origen As for me when I consider the unwearyed dilligence and infinite pains of the Masorites I do even stand amazed for having revised accurately and compared all the parts of the Hebrew Bible they signed them with certain notes This was done after the destruction of the second Temple about the year 436. It was observed by them not only how many Verses and words but also how many Letters every Book contained Wherefore that afterward when extreme barbatism opprest the world no tittle of that most excellent Book was lost is a benefit we ow to them Not without cause have the Rabbins said The Masora is as it were the wall and the hedge of the Law In Rabbi Zacuth above cited are Judaicall trifles whereby forsooth it is concluded that the Accents and the Points were extant in the time of Ezra which I therefore mention that it may be added to the rest of those vain arguments alleged by some who in our time deny them to be the invention of the Masorites And in the same Rabbies Book by the same proof is the Targum of Onkelos referd to Ezra's age Which although it be false and easily discovers how little worth the other is yet will find some to defend it the rather that the other may not fall Many are so obstinately given they care not what they say if it may but serve to maintain the opinion they have once embraced That the reading of the holy Scripture is not uncertain and subject to any more variation wee thankfully acknowledge the care and pains of the Jews who lived in the later times after the destruction of the second Temple For when they were fallen from their great and wealthy State they made it their business amidst their extreme calamity to save out of the common Shipwrack this one Chest of inestimable value And this is that we love them for the rest deserve our compassion For they read the Tittles and Letters and Books but they read them only not regarding nor seeking the true and sacred sense So that the saying of their own well agrees unto themselves They make that which is fundamentall a lesser matter and the lesser matter fundamentall And which is worst of all they are not sensible of their Childishness and folly for whereas all their infelicity consisteth in their ignorance of the divine Law they complain of the loss of their Country and of the Kingdom taken from them and of the like things whose possession makes no man happy and whose loss makes no man miserable Seneca tels us of his Wifes fool Harpaste that having on the sodain lost her sight she knew not she was blind and often requested her keeper to bring her to another house for her own was dark The Jews are in the same case They carry about in their own breast the cause of all their misery and suppose by some divine favour they should recover Canaan they would change their climat not
consider that are pleased with the conceit Certainly after that those ten tribes of Israel were once carried away by Salmanassar the Assyrian and dispersed through Colchos Parthia India and Ethiopia they never came back again into their native soil nor were again conjoyned with the Jews but even to this day if there be any reliques of them under the command of barbarous Nations they suffer the grievous punishment of their Apostacy Wherefore to be in the Common-wealth of the Jews or to have the honour a name from the Jews was impossble for them who had no familiarity nothing to do with the Jews but were seated in another World far off and beheld a different Heaven different Stars It will be worth our pains and much to the present dispatch to examine a memorable place that is in Flavius Josephus * L. 11. c. 5. Antiquit. an Author of exquisit and unusuall diligence Flavius had spoken first concerning them who from every quarter out of the neighbouring places came to Babylon that they might return with Ezra to Jerusalem They all were Jews and their Associates of Levi and Benjamin And then concerning the Hebrews of other tribes he addes But all the people of Israel remained in their * Where they were carried by Salmanassar beyond Euphrates seats wherefore both in Asia and in Europe two tribes only fell under the dominion of the Romans the other ten do still continue on the other side of Euphrates being infinite in number and unknown Verily they were under a harder fate whom Salmanassar led into captivity than whom afterward Nebuchodonozor carried away For the Israelites were for ever restrained and kept back by the River Euphrates which they had once passed over But the Jews passed the same and repassed and came again at last into Palestin and when Palestin it self became either too narrow for them or less gratefull they enlarged and spred their habitations through Europe and Asia This is the reason why Josephus said only two tribes of the Hebrews were brought into subjection by the Romans For at that time the people of Rome although they had almost subdued the World and the Sun did both rise and set within the compass of their Empire being Lords of the East and West they had not yet extended their bounds beyond Euphrates Therefore that the ten tribes of Israel shut up in eternall prison by that River were not then under the Roman power was truly said by the most accurate Writer CHAP. XI Their Conjecture that say the Scepter of Juda was first given to David The prophecy concerning the Scepter not fulfilled till after times When the Scepter was taken away I Have ingenuously and freely spoken my opinion when the Scepter whereof Jacobs prophecy is extant was given to the Jews also what were the members of that Common-wealth which had its rise and beginning from the Secession of the common people These things Eusebius did not understand yet he alone among so many Interpreters hath rightly and almost divinely judged of that oracle The comments of other men I will not relate But what Eusebius affirms to have been done from the beginning of the Hebrew Common-wealth very many conjecture came to pass at that time when the royall power was devolved upon David descended of the tribe of Juda as the sacred History doth witness These men have already received such a solid and happy confutation from Eusebius that no place is left here for the industry of any other For he shews that Davids posterity possessed the Kingdom only for a small time untill the Babylonian captivity and the sundry Scriptures that speak of his eternall throne he hath well and wisely interpreted in relation to the Messias To adde more of this after Eusebius were to labour in vain for by his pains herein he hath eased every one It remains only that wee answer their doubt who wonder why the event came so far behind the prediction concerning the Jewish Common-wealth For we have said it began under Rehoboam and not before But we give them to understand this was very agreeable to the meaning of the prophetick Patriarch For the old Father before his death breathing forth his last words to his children saith he would tell them what should come to pass in the later dayes Besides in prophecies the times are not curiously to be insisted on for most of them are to be interpreted with very great latitude Observe in this very prophecy when it is said The Scepter shall not be taken away untill Shiloh come you would think 't were meant that presently upon the appearance of Messias the Scepter should be snatcht out of the hands of that Nation Which came not so to pass For the Jews lost not that honour till the City being destroyed and the Temple burnt they ceased to have any Common-wealth and to govern themselves by their own Laws Nevertheless the oracle was infallibly true For although the Saviour of the World had left the earth long before yet for certain these things hapned in the same age which was presignified by the Messias himself wher he speaks of the destruction of the City and Temple in these words Verily Mat. 24. this Generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled This is enough for the wise The rest that love to raise doubts and scruples every where we regard not For my part seeing men of great name fluctuating among uncertain errours I applyed my self to find out some firm ground to rest on which henceforth I might without danger constantly maintain For otherwise this matter would have often hindred our proceeding in this Treatise CHAP. XII Of Dictators and Judges Of the Senate Sanhedrin Of the initiation of Senators The imposition of hands and the solemn words Who were chosen into that Council and what was their jurisdiction Of the peoples assemblies WE have shewed that the Common-wealth of which we discourse was of all the Hebrews for a long time and then only of the Jews The stating whereof concern'd us much Now having past the trouble of that dispute let us declare who they were that ruled over the Holy Nation and what is to be thought of their judicature and of their Senate The Divine goodness granted not leave to Moses to behold in Palestin the beginnings of that Common-wealth whose Laws he had published in the wilderness That Grace was vouchsafed to his Successor Josuah the Captain General and Soveraign of the people for both at home and abroad in the War his word was a Law His Successors with equall power were they who for going in and out before the people and commanding them might well be called Praetors and Dictators but in the sacred Annals are for the like reason named Judges Flavius hath stil'd them Monarchs a name that the Greek writers gave also to Sylla Cinna Marius and other Roman Dictators These Judges in great commotions were created by necessity and experience witnessed that in