1st. It is not probable that Judah should be invested with such authority, while his father Jacob was still living: much less,

2dly. That he should have such a despotic power over Tamar, who was not one of his family; for, after the death of Onan, she had returned to dwell in her own father's house; ver. 11. Nor,

3dly. If he had possessed such a power, is it likely he would have been guilty of so much injustice and cruelty, as to put her to death, when she was with child? Perhaps therefore Judah might speak only as a prosecutor: "Bring her forth, to her trial, in order that she may be burnt after her delivery." For though the law of Moses, which enacted that adultery should be punished with death, Lev. xx. 10, was not yet given, burning seems, however, to have been the punishment of that crime, which custom had established. We find it practised by the Philistines, who were not under the law of Moses. When Samson's wife had married another man, "they burnt her with fire;" Judges xv. 6. It is farther to be considered, that though Tamar had lived a widow since the death of Onan, yet she was legally espoused to his younger brother Shelah, and only waited till he was of proper age for the consummation of the marriage, and therefore she was considered as a wife, and consequently as an adulteress.

Of the Special Form of the Hebrew Government.

Having thus examined the hints of the patriarchal form of government, which are to be found in the only authentic history of those early ages, we proceed,

II. To consider the special government of the people of Israel, from the beginning of their national polity to its final dissolution. Here I shall distinguish this large tract of time into four periods:

1st. From their entrance into Egypt to their entrance into Canaan.

2dly. From their entrance into Canaan to the captivity. 3dly. During the captivity; and,

4thly. From the captivity to the destruction of Jerusalem. I. The first period is, from their entrance into Egypt to

their entrance into Canaan, which may conveniently be subdivided into two lesser periods.

The former takes up the time of their sojourning in the land of Egypt; the latter, the time of their migration through the wilderness, from Egypt to Canaan.

First. As to the state and form of their government while they sojourned in Egypt.

No doubt, while Jacob and Joseph lived, they were their own masters, and were governed by their own laws. And though afterwards, "when another king arose that knew not Joseph," they were enslaved by the Egyptians, yet we may perhaps discern the shadow, at least, of some form of civil government still subsisting among them.

God commanded Moses to "gather the Dp zikenim, elders of Israel, together, in order to deliver to them the message with which he was sent to their nation;" Exod. iii. 16. And "Moses and Aaron went, and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel;" chap. iv. 29.

By elders some understand the judges in their civil courts; because we find this title afterwards applied to such judges, Deut. xxi. 2, xix. 12, and in several other places. But it is an objection of no small weight against this opinion, that when Moses had brought the Israelites out of Egypt, there were no such judges among them; but Moses judged all himself, to his exceeding great trouble; Exod. xviii. 13, &c. By the elders, therefore, spoken of before, during their abode in Egypt, may only be meant the wisest and gravest men in the highest esteem among them, or at most, according to Mr. Selden, the heads of their tribes.*

As for the Dow shoterim, officers of the children of Israel, Exod. v. 14, which they had amongst them at this time, they seem to have been appointed, and set over them, by the Egyptians, merely for the purpose of overseeing the work they were employed in.

So that, upon the whole, we have only very dark and uncertain hints of any special form of government among the Hebrews during their abode in Egypt. But,

Secondly. The form of their government is far more con

* Uxor. Hebr. lib. i. cap. 15.

spicuous in and during their migration through the wilderness from Egypt to Canaan.

Presently after they had left Egypt, the Theocracy was set up among them, that is, God condescended to be their king, as well as their God. The word toкparia, formed by Josephus from Oɛoç, Deus, and кparɛw, impero, very happily expresseth that peculiar government which God exercised over the people of Israel. To them he stood in a threefold relation.

First. As their Creator, in common with the rest of mankind; and, therefore, as the Lord of their consciences, he required from them all the duties of the moral law.

Secondly. He was their God, as they were a visible church, separated from all the nations of the earth to be his peculiar people. In this character he prescribed the peculiar forms and distinguishing rites and ceremonies of their religious worship.

Thirdly. He was their proper king, the sovereign of their body politic, in which character he gave them judicial or political laws relating to government and civil life; he ordered a royal palace to be built for his residence among them, I mean the tabernacle, in which he dwelt, or manifested his special presence, by the Shechinah, as the Jews call it; that is, by a bright cloud, or glory, appearing over the mercy-seat, betwixt the two cherubim in the innermost room of that palace, Lev. xvi. 2; on which account he is said to "dwell betwixt the cherubim," Psalm lxxx. 1; and to "sit betwixt the cherubim," Psalm xcix. 1. From thence he gave forth oracles, or signified his will concerning matters of importance to the state, which were not determined by the body of written laws; Lev. i. 1.

It should seem, the common way of giving these oracles was by an audible voice. In this manner, we are expressly informed, the oracle was given to Moses, when he went into the tabernacle to consult it; Numb. vii. 89. And it may be inferred from the phrase by which the oracle is usually expressed, "Jehovah spoke, saying," or "Jehovah said."

However that was (which will be considered more fully in its proper place), it sufficiently appears, that by the oracle, or by Jehovah himself, all laws were enacted, war was proclaimed, and magistrates were appointed; in which three

things the summa potestas, or sovereign authority, of any state, consisteth.*

1st. Laws were enacted and promulgated immediately by the oracle, or voice of Jehovah.

Thus, when the laws of the two tables were given at mount Sinai, the voice of Jehovah was heard by all the people; Deut. v. 22, 23. But the majesty in which God manifested himself on that occasion was so very awful, that it struck them with amazement, and a kind of horror; therefore the rest of the laws were, at their request, communicated more privately to Moses, and by him to the people. Yet they were all given immediately, by the oracle, or voice of Jehovah. "The Lord spake unto Moses, saying," is the usual preface to every body or parcel of laws.

Now these laws are an evidence that Jehovah acted as their king, as well as their God, since they contain a number of forensic, as well as moral and ceremonial precepts, relating to their civil polity and government, to their magistrates and judges, their estates and inheritances, their trade and commerce, and even to the form of their houses, their food, and their apparel. God enacted all their laws, and no power was vested in any one else, either to make new, or repeal old

ones.

2dly. God, as king, reserved to himself the sovereign right of proclaiming war and making peace with their neighbouring nations.

He proclaimed war with the Amalekites, Exod. xvii. 16, and with the Midianites, Numb. xxxi. 1, 2; and therefore a certain history of the wars of the Israelites, now lost, is called "the book of the wars of the Lord;" Numb. xxi. 14. Jehovah commanded, and even headed, their armies in their marches and in their battles. Thus the tabernacle, or royal tent, led their marches through the wilderness; from thence, by the rising and falling of a miraculous cloud over it, was the signal given when they should proceed, and when they should rest; Numb. ix. 17, 18. By this extraordinary appearance, or token of the divine presence, was the course, as well as the time, of their marches directed; for "the Lord went before

* Vid. Conring. de Rep. Heb. sect. vii. et seq.

them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night;" Exod. xiii. 21. To these miraculous signals those words of Moses refer, "When the ark set forward, Moses said, Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered, and let them that hate thee, flee before thee. And when it rested, he said, Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel;" Numb. x. 35, 36.

We may remark by the way, with Taubman in his notes on Virgil, that it proceeded, probably, from a tradition of this usual appearance of the God of Israel, that the heathen poets frequently represent their deities as appearing in a cloud, with a peculiar brightness in it.

Now, God himself undertaking to lead their marches, it was great presumption in them ever to march without his signal or order; and when, therefore, they would thus have marched into Canaan, Moses sharply expostulates with them, "Wherefore now do you transgress the commandment of the Lord? But it shall not prosper. Go not up, for the Lord is not among you, that ye be not smitten before your enemies ;" Numb. xiv. 41, 42. Which words suggest a sufficient reason of their being sometimes defeated, though Jehovah himself was their king and general.

The whole direction of the siege of Jericho, and the manner of taking it, Josh. vi., are a further illustrious instance of Jehovah's immediate conduct of their military affairs.

3dly. God in his royal capacity appointed all officers in the state. Thus he made Moses his viceroy or prime-minister; and Joshua not only the successor of Moses after his death, but an associate with him, or his deputy and lieutenant, during his life for so Dr. Patrick understands that order which God gave to Moses concerning Joshua, "Thou shalt put some of thine honour upon him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient;" Numb. xxvii. 20. Onkelos, indeed, and the Hebrew doctors, understand by the word Thod, which we render "honour" in that place (but which more commonly signifies glory), the splendour which shone in the face of Moses, after he came down from the mount, part of which, they supposed, was now imparted to Joshua, in order to make him appear more venerable in the