Читать книгу Moses and Aaron - Goodwin Thomas Aiken - Страница 2

The form and state of Government hath been subject to change and variation amongst all Nations, but especially amongst the Jewes, where these changes are observable.

At first, the Fathers of their several Families, and their First-born after them, exercised all kind of Government, both Eclesiastical and Civil, being both Kings and Priests, in their own houses. They had power over their own Families, to bless, curse, cast out of doors, disinherit, and to punish with death, as is apparent by these examples: of Noah towards Cham, Gen. 9. 25. of Abraham towards Hagar and Ismael, Gen. 21. 10. of Jacob towards Simeon and Levi, Gen. 49. 3. and of Judah towards Thamar, Gen. 38. 24.

In Moses his days then did this prerogative of primo geniture cease: and as Aaron and his posterity was invested with the right and title of Priests; so Moses, and after him Joshua, ruled all the people with a kind of Monarchical authority. For Moses was among the righteous as King, Deut. 32. 5.

After Joshua succeeded Judges; their Officers were of absolute and independent authority, like unto Kings, when once they were elected. But there were long vacancies, and chasms commonly between the cessation of the one, and the election of the other: yea for the most part, the people never chose a Judge, but in time of great troubles, and imminent dangers; which being over-past, he retired to a private life. After that Gideon had delivered the people out of the hand of the Midianites, he being offered the Kingdom, replyed, I will not reign over you, neither shall my Child reign over you, Judg. 8. 23. That of Samuel, that he judged Israel all the days of his life, 1 Sam. 7. 15. was1 extraordinary. In this respect, their Judges symbolize with the Roman Dictators. This state of Regiment continued amongst them by the computation of S. Augustine2, three hundred twenty nine years. In these vacancies or distances of time between Judge and Judge, the greater and weightier matters were determined by that great Court of the Seventy called the Senadrin; in which respect the form of Government may be thought Aristocratical. Kings succeeded the Judges, and they continued from Saul unto the Captivity of Babylon, that is,3 about 502 years.

From the Captivity unto the coming of Christ, (which time is thought4 to have been five hundred thirty six years) the state of the Jewes became very confused. Sometimes they were ruled by Deputies and Vicegerents, who had not supream authority in themselves, but as it pleased the Persian Monarchs to assigne them; they were termed5 ‎‏ראשי גליות‏‎ Rasche galiuth, αἰχμαλωτάρχαι Heads of the Captivity. Of this sort was Zorobabel and his successors, who are reckoned in the Hebrew Chronicles6 to be these, Mesullam, Hananiah, Berachiah, and Hosadiah. All which are thought to have reigned under the Persian Monarchy, and to have been of the Posterity of David: as likewise the other succeeding ten chief Governours after Alexander the Great. In the last of these ten, the government departed from the House of David, and was translated to the Macchabees, who descended from the Tribe of Levi. They were called Maccabæi, from Judas Maccabeus,7 and he had this name ‎‏מכבאי‏‎ Macchabæus, from the Capital Letters of this Motto, written in his Ensigne or banner, ‎‏מי כמוך באלים יהוה‏‎ Quis sicut tu inter Deos, O Domine? Where the first letters are, M, C, B, A, I. Among the Maccabees, soveraign authority continued until Herod the Askalonite his reign, at what time our Saviour Christ was born, according to Jacobs prophecy: The Scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a Law-giver from between his feet, untill Shiloh, that is, the8 Messias come, Gen. 49. 10.

For the right understanding of this Prophecy, We must note two things; 1. The time when the Scepter was given to Judah: 2. When taken from him. But first we must observe how these two words, Judah, and the Scepter, are distinguished.

Some take Judah,

1. For the particular Tribe of Judah9: but this seemeth flat contrary to Scripture, for many of the Judges were of other Tribes, and all the Maccabees of the Tribe of Levi.

2. For the Two Tribes10 which cleaved to Rehoboam; because in that division of the People, these Two Tribes alone were called Jews, and that from Judah, and that never before this division.

3. For all the whole body of Israel11, consisting of Twelve Tribes; all which (in the judgment of these men) were afterwards by the singular providence of God, called Jews from Judah.

Some take Scepter,

1. For legal power12, and soveraign authority, residing in one man principally.

2. For the form of government13, and face of a Common-wealth, governed and ruled by its own laws, customes, and rites: signifying as well the rule and authority of inferiour Magistrates, yea of Priests also, as of Kings and Princes.

From these different acceptions of these two words, flow four different acceptions of Jacobs Prophecy.

Some are of opinion14, that the Scepter taken in the second acception, began to be given to Judah, that is, to the Two Tribes cleaving to Rehoboam, at the time of that division of the People: and that their Scepter was not taken from them until the destruction of Jerusalem; because, that after Herods time until then, their Laws remained in force, their Priesthood continued, and their Common-wealth, though it were much defaced, yet not quite overthrown.

Some are of opinion15, that the Scepter taken in the second acception, began to be given to Judah, that is, to the Twelve Tribes, from the time of Moses; and that this Scepter was not taken from them until the Destruction of Jerusalem: not in Herod, because he was a Jew (in that he was a Proselyte) for a Jew is a name, say they, of Profession, not of Countrey or Nation.

Some are of opinion16, that the Scepter taken in the second acception, began to be given to Judah, that is to the Twelve Tribes, from the time of Moses, and that it was taken from them in Herods time: yet so, that in Herods time, this was but begun, and inchoate, and at the destruction of Jerusalem it was fulfilled and consummate.

Some are of opinion17, that the Scepter taken in the first acceptation, began to be given to Judah, that is to the Twelve Tribes, from the time of Moses, and that it was taken from them fully in Herods time. The former opinions make the coming of the Messias to be a fore-runner of the departure of the Scepter: this, makes the departure of the Scepter to be a fore-runner or token of the Messiah his coming, which I take to be the principal thing aimed at in the prophecy. This opinion, as it is more generally received than the others, so upon juster grounds. Now the Scepter was departed and given to a Proselyte, never so before,18 yea now also the Law-giver was departed from between Judahs feet, and now the Messiah born.