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KINGS MENTIONED.

many of the passages where he mentions them we find the remarkable expression "before any king ruled over Israel:" this is one of those inadvertencies which struck even the Rabbins themselves, and from which Spinoza inferred that the Pentateuch was not written by Moses1. R. Simon also made a similar remark2; and in point of fact it is very much the same as if an author of the time of Charlemagne were gravely to inform us that some event he was narrating occurred before the Reformation. The attempts which have been made to defend these expressions consist, when fairly considered, of little more than sophisms. Jahn, Stäudlin3, and others suppose, that as Moses had known kings in Egypt, he might very readily conjecture that his own countrymen would eventually choose one themselves.

and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her."-Gen. xvii. 6 and 16.

"And God said unto him [Jacob], I am God Almighty be fruitful : and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins."- Gen. xxxv. 11.

And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel."-Gen. xxxvi. 31. "Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties."- Gen. xlix. 20.

"When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me, &c."Deut. xvii. 14.

"The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known."Deut. xxviii. 36.

1 p. 108, “ Ex his luce meridiana clarius apparet Pentateuchum non a Mose, sed ab alio qui a Mose multis post seculis vixit, scriptum fuisse."

2 66

Il semble que Moise n'ait pu écrire ces paroles," p. 55. 3 Ammon and Bertholdt's Journal of Theol. Lit., iv. 225.

EASTERN HIERARCHIES.

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But they have no other warrant even for these kings of Egypt than that derived from the Pentateuch, which certainly speaks of them there, although in the true spirit of its own Levitical hierarchy as developed before us, it as expressly forbids them at home. Jehovah is Lord of the soil, the firstborn are his priests, and subsequently set apart for his service; the high priest is his vicar on earth, and the people are destined to become a "kingdom of priests1," all in exact conformity with the spirit and provisions of the hierarchies of Egypt and India2. Even when the people, grown into a nation, required a chief to lead them, before the priesthood had as yet attained its supremacy (a catastrophe of which we find the first indications in the ninth chapter of Judges3), and had at length succeeded in obtaining "a king like those of other nations4," we find that their monarch is still represented as reigning in the place of Jehovah. When raised to the throne, he is, as it were, "begotten by Jehovah5;" he sits on the right hand

1 "And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation."- Exod. xix. 6.

2 See Alt. Indien [the Author's work on Ancient India], i. 252, ii. 44. 3 "Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem, Whether is better for you, either that all the sons of Jerubbaal, which are threescore and ten persons, reign over you, or that one reign over you? ......And all the men of Shechem gathered together, and all the house of Millo, and went, and made Abimelech king, by the plain of the pillar that was in Shechem."-Judges ix. 2, 6.

4 "Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them."-1 Sam. viii. 9.

5 "I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men."-2 Sam. vii. 14.

"Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree the LORD [Jehovah] hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee."-Psalm ii. 6, 7.

of God1, and on the throne of Jehovah2. We find nevertheless that Jehovah, through the mouth of Samuel (the real founder of the Hebrew theocracy), expresses his decided displeasure at the first introduction of the new constitution, without the most distant allusion however to the Pentateuch. The people are accused of rejecting Jehovah, that he should not reign over them; of wishing, as it were, to serve other gods1; and fearful instances of royal despotism are cited to deter them. At a later period

1 "The LORD [Jehovah] said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool."—Psalm cx. 1.

2 << Then Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD [Jehovah] as king instead of David his father, and prospered; and all Israel obeyed him."-1 Chron. xxix. 23.

3" And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them."-1 Sam. viii. 7.

"And ye have this day rejected your God, who himself saved you out of all your adversities and your tribulations."-1 Sam. x. 19.

4 66 According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee."-1 Sam. viii. 8.

5" And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep and ye shall be his servants. And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen

REGULATIONS FOR KINGS.

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the priests gladly seized the first opportunity of destroying this necessary evil; the Pentateuch, however, has it still before its eyes, and hence, in addition to passing indications, whose leaning is sufficiently evident, (the appointment for instance of Aaron the priest to assist his less eloquent brother,) it actually lays down some laws which specially refer to this passage in Jewish history1. The future king is forbidden to induce the people to return into Egypt in order "to multiply horses;" he is prohibited from keeping many wives, or from laying up a large store of treasure, and he is enjoined above all to keep the law of the Levites and to read therein continually2. That these regulations had immediate reference to Solomon's inordinate love of horses (which was actually injurious to the country) and to his numerous concubines, has been long you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day.”—1 Sam. viii. 11—18. Compare De Wette, Beiträge (Contributions), i. 152.

1 "When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; thou shalt in any wise 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," &c. Deut. xvii. 14, 15, and following verses.

2" 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."—Deut. xvii. 18. See also ver. 16, 17.

3 "And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen : and he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he bestowed in the cities for chariots, and with the king at Jerusalem.......And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn."—1 Kings x. 26, 28.

4 "But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites....And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines and his wives turned away his heart." —1 Kings xi. 1, 3.

VOL. I.

H

and generally admitted'. This example lay before their eyes in the pages of history, and, down to the time of the captivity, we meet with kings in abundance who trod in the footsteps of Solomon. To demand here, with Jahn, why this law makes no mention of the idolatry of the kings, or even the division of the kingdom, seems no more reasonable than to require that a fiction should wantonly betray its own fabrication.

The introduction of kings, however, is not the only anticipation of the Pentateuch; it is equally familiar with the captivity, and even holds it out as a punishment. In the book of Deuteronomy we constantly encounter the phrase "I will scatter you among the nations2;" in one passage the captivity is expressly described; the king, too, is carried away prisoner3, and Jehovah manifests thereby his anger

1 See Jost, iii. p. 112, and Winer, who considers these laws as a subsequent interpolation. Biblisches Realwörterbuch (Dict. of Bible), under the word König (King).

2 "And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you."-Deut. iv. 27.

"The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies : thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them : and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth......Thy sons* and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand......The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone......And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone."-Deut. xxviii. 25, 32, 36, 64.

3" The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known."Deut. xxviii. 36.