CHAPTER V.

ON THE TRIBUTE AND TAXES MENTIONED IN THE SCRIPTURES.

I. Annual Payments made by the Jews for the support of their Sacred Worship.—II. Tributes paid to their own Sovereigns.— III. Tributes and Customs paid by them to foreign Powers.-Notice of the Money-changers.-IV. Account of the Publicans or Tax-gatherers.

III. Afterwards, however, the Israelites, being subdued by other nations, were themselves compelled to pay tribute to IV. Among the Romans, the censors let their taxes by their conquerors. Thus Pharaoh-Necho, king of Egypt, public auction; and those who farmed them were called imposed a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and a Publicani, or PUBLICANS. These farmers-general were talent of gold. (2 Kings xxiii. 33. 35.) After their return usually Roman knights, who had under them inferior colfrom captivity, the Jews paid tribute to the Persians, under lectors: Josephus has made mention of several Jews who whose government they were (Ezra iv. 13.), then to the were Roman knights, whence Dr. Lardner thinks it proba Greeks, from which, however, they were exonerated, when ble that they had merited the equestrian rank by their good under the Maccabees they had regained their liberty. In services in collecting some part of the revenue. The collater times, when they were conquered by the Roman arms tectors of these tributes were known by the general name of under Pompey, they were again subjected to the payment of Tea, that is, tax-gatherers, in our authorized version rentribute, even though their princes enjoyed the honours and dered PUBLICANS. Some of them appear to have been redignities of royalty, as was the case with Herod the Great ceivers-general for a large district, as Zaccheus, who is styled a chief publican (APIs). Matthew, who is termed simply a publican (Texas), was one who sat at the receipt of custom where the duty was paid on imports and exports. (Matt. ix. 9. Luke v. 29. Mark ii. 14.) These officers, at

least the inferior ones (like the rahdars, or toll-gatherers, in | modern Persia, and the mirigees, or collectors of customs, in Asia Minor, were generally rapacious, extorting more than the legal tribute; whence they were reckoned infamous among the Greeks, and various passages in the Gospels show how odious they were to the Jews (Mark ii. 15, 16. Luke iii. 13.), insomuch that the Pharisees would hold no communication whatever with them, and imputed it to our Saviour as a crime that he sat at meat with publicans. (Matt. ix. 10, 11. xi. 19. xxi. 31, 32.) The payment of taxes to the Romans was accounted by the Jews an intolerable grievance: hence those who assisted in collecting them were detested as plunderers in the cause of the Romans, as betrayers of the liberties of their country, and as abettors of those who had enslaved it; this circumstance will account for the contempt and hatred so

often expressed by the Jews in the evangelical histories against the collectors of the taxes or tribute.

The parable of the Pharisee and the Publican (Luke xviii. 10-13.) will derive considerable illustration from these circumstances. Our Saviour, in bringing these two characters together, appears to have chosen them as making the strongest contrast between what, in the public estimation, were the extremes of excellence and villany. The Pharisees, it is well known, were the most powerful sect among the Jews, and made great pretences to piety: and when the account of the Persian rahdars, given in the preceding page, is recollected, it will account for the Pharisee, in addressing God, having made extortioners, and the unjust, almost synonymous terms with publicans; because, from his peculiar office, the rahdar is almost an extortioner by profession.

CHAPTER VI.

ON THE GENEALOGICAL TABLES OF THE HEBREWS, AND PUBLIC MEMORIALS OF EVENTS.

I. On the Genealogical Tables of the Hebrews.-II. Public Memorials of Events.

I. THE Hebrews were very careful in preserving their and Babylon, or in any other place whithersoever their priests GENEALOGIES, or the history of the successions of families. were carried, were careful to preserve their genealogies. Vestiges of these histories of families appear in Gen. v. and Such priests after the captivity as could not produce their I. In proportion as the Hebrews increased in numbers dur-genealogies were excluded from the sacerdotal office. Hence, ing their residence in Egypt, it became an object of growing when in Heb. vii. 3. Melchizedek is said to have been withimportance carefully to preserve the genealogical tables of out descent (anotos, that is, without genealogy), the meanthe whole nation, in order that each tribe might be kept per- ing is, that his name was not found in the public genealogical fectly distinct. The charge of these genealogies was, most registers: his father and mother, and ancestors were unknown, probably, confided, in the first instance, to the shoterim, or whence his priesthood was of a different kind, and to be rescribes, of whom a short account is given in p. 42. supra, and garded differently from that of Aaron and his sons. afterwards to the Levites; at least in the time of the kings, we find that the scribes were generally taken from the tribe of Levi. (1Chron. xxiii. 4. 2 Chron. xix. 8-11. xxxiv. 13.) "This was a very rational procedure, as the Levites devoted themselves particularly to study; and, among husbandmen and unlearned people, few were likely to be so expert in writing, as to be intrusted with keeping registers so important. In later times the genealogical tables were kept in the temple."'s

From similar public registers Mathew and Luke derived the genealogies of our Saviour; the former of which, from Abraham to Jesus Christ, embraces a period of nearly two thousand years, while the genealogy of Luke, from Adam to Christ, comprises a period of about four thousand years. It is well known that the Jews carried their fondness for genealogies to great excess, and prided themselves on tracing their pedigrees up to Abraham. Jerome says that they were as well acquainted with genealogies from Adam to Zerubbabel as they were with their own names. Against such unprofitable genealogies Paul cautions Timothy (Tim. i. 4.) and Titus. (iii. 9.) Since the total dispersion of the Jews in the reign of Adrian, the Jews have utterly lost their ancient genealogies.

Whatever injury the public genealogies might have sustained in consequence of the Babylonish captivity, it was repaired on the restoration of the Jewish polity, as far at least as was practicable. (Ezra ii. viii. 1-14. Neh. vii. xii.) Hence it is, that a very considerable portion of the first book of Chronicles is composed of genealogical tables: the com- In exhibiting genealogical tables with any specific design, parison of which, as well as of the genealogy recorded in some of the sacred writers, for the sake of brevity, omitted Gen. v. with the tables in Matt. i. and Luke iii. will contri- names which were of less importance, and distributed the bute materially to show the fulfilment of the prophecies re-genealogies into certain equal classes. Examples of this lative to the advent of the Messiah. Josephus states that the Jews had an uninterrupted succession of their high-priests preserved in their records for the space of nearly two thousand years; and that the priests in Judæa, and even in Egypt

The rahdars, or toll-gatherers, are appointed to levy a toll upon Kafilhes or caravans of merchants; "who in general exercise their office with so much brutality and extortion, as to be execrated by all travellers. The police of the highways is confided to them, and whenever any goods are stolen, they are meant to be the instruments of restitution; but when they are put to the test, are found to be inefficient. None but a man in power can hope to recover what he has once lost....The collections of the toll are farmed, consequently extortion ensues; and as most of the rahdars prescribed dues from the traveller, their insolence is accounted for on the receive no other emolument than what they can exact over and above the one hand, and the detestation in which they are held on the other." At Smyrna, the mirigee sits in the house allotted to him, as Matthew sat at the receipt of custom (or in the custom-house of Capernaum); "and receives the money which is due from various persons and commodities, entering into the city. The exactions and rude behaviour of these men" (says Mr. Hartley, who experienced both)" are just in character with the conduct of the publicans mentioned in the New Testament."....When men are guilty of such conduct as this, no wonder that they were detested in ancient times, as were the publicans; and in modern times, as are the mirigees." (Hartley's Researches in Greece, p. 239.)

Morier's Second Journey, p. 70.

Lardner's Credibility, part i. book i. c. 9. 55 10, 11. Carpzovii Appara tos Antiquitatum Sacri Codicis, pp. 29, 30. As the Christians subsequently were often termed Galilæans, and were represented as a people hostile to all government, and its necessary supports, St. Paul in Rom. xiii. 6. studously obviates this slander; and enjoins the payment of tribute to civil governors, because, as all governments derive their authority from God, rulers are his ministers, attending upon this very thing, viz. the public administration, to protect the good and to punish the evil doer. (Gilpin and Valpy on Rom. xiii. 6.)

Morier's Second Journey, p. 71.

› Michaelis's Commentaries, vol. i. p. 250.

kind occur in Exod. vi. 14-24. 1 Chron. vi. 12-15. compared with Ezra i. 5. and in Matt. i. 17. The Arabs have not unfrequently taken a similar liberty in their genealogies.

II. From the remotest ages, mankind have been desirous of perpetuating the memory of remarkable events, not only for their own benefit, but also in order to transmit them to posterity; and in proportion to the antiquity of such events has been the simplicity of the PUBLIC MEMORIALS employed to preserve the remembrance of them. When, therefore, any remarkable event befell the patriarchs, they raised either a rude stone or a heap of stones in the very place where such times, also, they gave names to places importing the nature event had happened. (Gen. xxviii. 18. xxxi. 45, 46.) Someof the transactions which had taken place (Gen. xvi. 14. xxi. 31. xxii. 14. xxviii. 19. xxxi. 47-49.); and symbolical names were sometimes given by them to individuals. (Gen. xxv. 26.30.) To this usage the Almighty is represented as vouchsafing to accommodate himself, in Gen. xvii. 5. 15. and Xxxii. 28, 29.

Conformably to this custom, Moses enjoined the Israelites to erect an altar of great stones on which the law was to be inscribed, after they had crossed the river Jordan (Deut.

xxvii. 1-4.), and also gave to those places, which had been ascribes the origin of the name of Maccabæus with which signalized by the previous conduct of the Israelites, signifi- Judas was first distinguished (1 Macc. ii. 4.), (who was surcant names which would be perpetual memorials of their re-named PD, MACABA, or the Hammer, on account of his sinbellion against God. (Exod. xvii. 7.) The same custom gular valour and success against the enemies of his nation); obtained after their arrival in the land of Canaan. (Josh. iv.) and also the new name given by our Lord to Peter (Matt. In like manner, Samuel erected a stone at Mizpeh, to com- xvi. 18. John i. 43.), and the name given to the field which memorate the discomfiture of the Philistines. (1 Sam. vii. 12.) was bought with the purchase-money of Judas's treason. In progress of time more splendid monuments were erected (Matt. xxvii. 8. Acts i. 19.) The great festivals, prescribed (1 Sam. xv. 12. 2 Sam. viii. 13. xviii. 18.); and symbolical by Moses to the Jews, as well as the feasts and fasts instimemorial names were given both to things and persons. tuted by them in later times, and the tables of the law which Thus, the columns which were erected in the temple of So- were to be most religiously preserved in the ark, were so lomon,―Juchin he shall establish, Boaz, in it is strength, many memorials of important national transactions. most probably denoted the devout monarch's hope, that Jehovah would firmly establish that temple in the entrance of which they were placed. To the same practice Pareaux. 12. xix. 24.)2

In more ancient times proverbs sometimes originated from some remarkable occurrence. (Gen. x. 9. xxii. 14. 1 Sam

CHAPTER VII.

ON THE TREATIES OR COVENANTS, CONTRACTS, AND OATHS OF THE JEWS.

I. Whether the Jews were prohibited from concluding Treaties with heathen Nations.-II. Treaties, how made and ratified. -Covenant of Salt.-III. Contracts for the Sale and Cession of alienable Property, how made.—IV. Of Oaths.

doubtless, with a view to the great Sacrifice, who was to purge our sins in his own blood; and the offering of these sacrifices, and passing between the parts of the divided victim, was symbolically staking their hopes of purification and salvation on their performance of the condition on which it was offered.

The editor of the Fragments supplementary to Calmet is of opinion that what is yet practised of this ceremony may elucidate that passage in Isa. xxviii. 15. :—We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us, for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves. As if it had been said :-We have cut off a covenant Sacrifice, a purification offering with death, and with the grave we have settled, so that the scourge shall not injure us. May not such a custom have been the origin of the following superstition related by Pitts?

I. A TREATY is a pact or covenant made with a view to by believers and heathens at their solemn leagues; at first, the public welfare by the superior power. It is a common mistake, that the Israelites were prohibited from forming alliances with heathens: this would in effect have amounted to a general prohibition of alliance with any nation whatever, because at that time all the world were heathens. In the Mosaic law, not a single statute is enacted, that prohibits the conclusion of treaties with heathen nations in general; although, for the reasons therein specified, Moses either commands them to carry on eternal war against the Canaanites and Amalekites (but not against the Moabites and Ammonites), or else forbids all friendship with these particular nations. It is however, clear, from Deut. xxiii. 4-9., that he did not entertain the same opinion with regard to all foreign nations for in that passage, though the Moabites are pronounced to be an abomination to the Israelites, no such declaration is made respecting the Edomites. Further, it is evident that they felt themselves bound religiously to observe treaties when actually concluded: though one of the contracting parties had been guilty of fraud in the transaction, as in the case of the treaty with the Gibeonites. (Josh. ix.) David and Solomon lived in alliance with the king of Tyre; and the former with the king of Hamath (2 Sam. viii. 9, 10); and the queen of Sheba cannot be regarded in any other light than as an ally of Solomon's. Even the Maccabees, who were so laudably zealous for the law of Moses, did not hesitate to enter into a compact with the Romans. The only treaties condemned by the prophets are those with the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Assyrians, which were extremely prejudicial to the nation, by involving it continually in quarrels with sovereigns more powerful than the Jewish monarchs; and the event always showed, in a most striking manner, the propriety of their reproofs.

If they (the Algerine corsairs) at any time happen to be in a very great strait or distress, as being chased, or in a storm, they will gather money, light up candles in remembrance of some dead marrabot (saint) or other, calling upon him with heavy sighs and groans. If they find no succou from their before-mentioned rites and superstitions, but that the danger rather increases, then they go to sacrificing a sheep (or two or three upon occasion, as they think needful), which is done after this manner: having cut off the head with a knife, they immediately take out the entrails, and throw them and the head overboard; and then, with all the speed they can (without skinning) they cut the body into two parts by the middle, and throw one part over the right side of the ship, and the other over the left, into the sea, as a kind of propitiation. Thus those blind infidels apply them II. Various solemnities were used in the conclusion of selves to imaginary intercessors, instead of the living and treaties; sometimes it was done by a simple junction of the true God." " In the case here referred to, the ship passes hands. (Prov. xi. 21. Ezek. xvii. 18.) The Hindoos to this between the parts thus thrown on each side of it. This day ratify an engagement by one person laying his right behaviour of the Algerines may be taken as a pretty accurate hand on the hand of the other. Sometimes, also, the cove-counterpart to that of making a covenant with death and with nant was ratified by erecting a heap of stones, to which a imminent danger of destruction, by appeasing the angry suitable name was given, referring to the subject-matter of gods. the covenant (Gen. xxxi. 44-54.); that made between Abraham and the king of Gerar was ratified by the oath of both parties, by a present from Abraham to the latter of seven ewe lambs, and by giving a name to the well which had given occasion to the transaction. (Gen. xxi. 22-32.) It was, moreover, customary to cut the victim (which was to be offered as a sacrifice upon the occasion) into two parts, and so placing each half upon two different altars, to cause those who contracted the covenant to pass between both. (Gen. xv. 9, 10. 17. Jer. xxxiv. 18.) This rite was practised both In like manner Charles, mayor of the palace to the king of France, received the name of Martel, or the Hammer, from the irresistible blows he is said to have given to the Saracens or Moors, who were utterly discomfited in the memorable battle fought near Poictiers, in 733.-Another, and more generally received origin of the appellation Maccabees, has been given in p. 50. supra.

2 Pareau, Antiq. Hebr. pp. 320-322.

Ward's View of the History, &c. of the Hindoos, vol. ii. p. 328.

Festivities always accompanied the ceremonies attending covenants. Isaac and Abimelech feasted at making their covenant (Gen. xxvi, 30.), And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink. (Gen. xxxi. 54.) Jacob offered sacrifice upon the mount, and called his brethren to eat bread. This practice was also usual amongst the heathen nations.'

Latin writers. Homer has the following expression:

4 This remarkable practice may be clearly traced in the Greek and
Iliad, lib. ii. ver. 124.

Ορκια πιστα τώμόντες.
Having cut faithful oaths.
Eustathius explains the passage by saying, they were oaths relating to
important matters, and were made by the division of the victim. See also
Virgil, En. viii. ver. 640.
Travels, p. 18.

No. 129.
Burder's Oriental Customs, vol. ii. p. 84.-Fifth edition. See examples
of the ancient mode of ratifying covenants, in Homer. I. lib. iii. verses
103-107. 245. et seq. Virgil, En. lib. viii. 611. xii. 169. et seq. Dionysius
Halicarnassensis, lib. v. c. 1. Hooke's Roman History, vol. i. p. 67.

New Covenant, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins. (Matt. xxvi. 28.) By this very remarkable expression, Jesus Christ teaches us, that as his body was to be broken or crucified, ve nav, in our stead, so his blood was to be poured out (xuruvor, a sacrificial term) to make an atonement, as the words remission of sins evidently imply; for without shedding of blood there is no remission (Heb. ix. 22.), nor any remission by shedding of blood but in a sacrificial way. Compare Heb. ix. 20. and xiii. 12.

Afterwards, when the Mosaic law was established, and | cup, said, This is (signifies or represents) my blood of the the people were settled in the land of Canaan, the people feasted, in their peace offerings, on a part of the sacrifice, in token of their reconciliation with God (Deut. xii. 6, 7.): and thus, in the sacrament of the Lord's supper, we renew our covenant with God, and (in the beautiful language of the communion office of the Anglican church) "we offer and present ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice" unto Him, being at His table feasted with the bread and wine, the representation of the sacrifice of Christ's body and blood; who by himself once offered upon the cross has made a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and atonement for the sin of the whole world.

Sometimes the parties to the covenant were sprinkled with the blood of the victim. Thus Moses, after sprinkling part of the blood on the altar, to show that Jehovah was a party to the covenant, sprinkled part of it on the Israelites, and said unto them, Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you. (Exod. xxiv. 6. 8.) To this transaction St. Paul alludes in his Epistle to the Hebrews (ix. 20.), and explains its evangelical meaning.

The Scythians are said to have first poured wine into an earthen vessel, and then the contracting parties, cutting their arms with a knife, let some of the blood run into the wine, with which they stained their armour. After which they themselves, together with the other persons present, drank of the mixture, uttering the direst maledictions on the party who should violate the treaty.'

Another mode of ratifying covenants was by the superior contracting party presenting to the other some article of his own dress or arms. Thus, Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to the sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle. (1 Sam. xviii. 4.) The highest honour, which a king of Persia can bestow upon a subject, is to cause himself to be disapparelled, and to give his robe to the favoured individual.2

III. What treaties or covenants were between the high contracting powers who were authorized to conclude them, that contracts of bargain and sale are between private individuals.

Among the Hebrews, and long before them among the Canaanites, the purchase of any thing of consequence was concluded and the price paid, at the gate of the city, as the seat of judgment, before all who went out and came in. (Gen. xxiii. 16-20. Ruth iv. 1, 2.) As persons of leisure, and those who wanted amusement, were wont to sit in the gates, purchases there made could always be testified by numerous witnesses. From Ruth iv. 7—11. we learn another singular usage on occasions of purchase, cession, and exchange, viz. that in earlier times, the transfer of alienable property was confirmed by the proprietor plucking off his shoe at the city gate, in the presence of the elders and other witnesses, and handing it over to the new owner. The origin of this custom it is impossible to trace: but it had evidently become antiquated in the time of David, as the author of the book of Ruth introduces it as an unknown custom of former ages.

In process of time the joining or striking of hands, already mentioned with reference to public treaties, was introduced as a ratification of a bargain and sale. This usage was not unknown in the days of Job (xvii. 3.), and Solomon often alludes to it. (See Prov. vi. 1. xi. 15. xvii. 18. xx. 16. xxii. 26. xxvii. 13.) The earliest vestige of written instruments, sealed and delivered for ratifying the disposal and transfer of property, occurs in Jer. xxxii. 10-12., which the prophet commanded Baruch to bury in an earthen vessel in order to be preserved for production at a future period, as evidence of the purchase. (14, 15.) No mention is expressly made of the manner in which deeds were anciently cancelled. Some expositors have imagined that in Col. ii. 14. Saint Paul refers to the cancelling of them by blotting or drawing a line across them, or by striking them through with a nail: but we have no information whatever from antiquity to authorize such a conclusion.4

IV. It was customary for those who appealed to the Deity in attestation of any thing, to hold up their right hand towards heaven; by which action the party swearing, or making OATH, signified that he appealed to God to witness the truth of what he averred. Thus Abram said to the king of Sodom-I have LIFT UP MY HAND unto the LORD the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,.....that I will not take any thing that is thine. (Gen. xiv. 22, 23.) Hence the expression, "to lift up the hand," is equivalent to making oath. In this form of scriptural antiquity, the angel in the Apocalypse is represented as taking a solemn oath. (Rev. x. 5.)5

In Num. xviii. 19. mention is made of a covenant of salt. The expression appears to be borrowed from the practice of ratifying their federal engagements by salt; which, as it not only imparted a relish to different kinds of viands, but also preserved them from putrefaction and decay, became the emblem of incorruptibility and permanence. It is well known, from the concurrent testimony of voyagers and travellers, that the Asiatics deem the eating together as at bond of perpetual friendship and as salt is now (as it anciently was) a common article in all their repasts, it may be in reference to this circumstance that a perpetual covenant is termed a covenant of salt; because the contracting parties ate together of the sacrifice offered on the occasion, and the whole transaction was considered as a league of endless friendship. In order to assure those persons to whom the divine promises were made, of their certainty and stability, the Almighty not only willed that they should have the force of a covenant; but also vouchsafed to accommodate himself (if we may be permitted to use such an expression) to the received customs. Thus, he constituted the rainbow a sign of his covenant with mankind that the earth should be no more destroyed by a deluge (Gen. ix. 12—17.); and in a vision appeared to Abraham to pass between the divided pieces of the sacrifice, which the patriarch had offered. (Gen. xv. 12—17.) Jehovah further instituted the rite of circumcision, as a token of the covenant between himself and Abraham (Gen. xvii. 9-14.); and sometimes sware by nimself (Gen. xxii. 16. Luke i. 73.), that is, pledged his eternal power and godhead for the fulfilment of his promise, there being no one superior to himself to whom he could make appeal, or by whom he could be bound. Saint Paul beautifully illustrates this transaction in his Epistle to the Hebrews. (vi. 13—18.) Lastly, the whole of the Mosaic constitution was a mutual covenant between Jehovah and the Israelites; the tables of which being preserved in an ark, the latter was thence termed the ark of the covenant, and as (we have just seen) the blood of the victims slain in ratifica-3. tion of that covenant, was termed the blood of the covenant. (Exod. xxiv. 8. Zech. ix. 11.) Referring to this, our Saviour, when instituting the Lord's supper, after giving the : Herodotus, lib. iv. c. 70. vol. i. p. 273. Oxon. 1809. Doughtai Analecta, 1 p. 69. Harmer's Observations, vol. ii. p. 94. Burder's Or. Cust. vol. i. p. * Some pleasing facts from modern history, illustrative of the covenant of salt, are collected by the industrious editor of Calmet, Fragments, No. 130. L

206.

VOL. II.

Among the Jews, an oath of fidelity was taken by the servant's putting his hand under the thigh of his lord, as Eliezer did to Abraham (Gen. xxiv. 2.); whence, with no great deviation, is perhaps derived the form of doing homage at this day, by putting the hands between the knees, and within the hands of the liege. Sometimes an oath was accompanied with an imprecation, as in 2 Sam. iii. 9. 35. Ruth i. 17. 1 Kings ii. 23. 2 Kings vi. 31.: but sometimes the party swearing omitted the imprecation, as if he were afraid, and shuddered to utter it, although it was, from other sources, sufficiently well understood. (Gen. xiv. 22, 23. Ezek. xvii. 18.) At other times he merely said, "Let God be a witness," and sometimes affirmed, saying, "As surely as God liveth." (Jer. xlii. 5. Ruth iii. 13. 1 Sam. xiv. 45. xx. 21.)

These remarks apply to the person who uttered the oath

Schulzii Archæologia Hebraica, cap. 14. de Fœderibus et Contractibus, pp. 130-132.; Pareau, Antiquitas Hebraica, part iii. § 2. cap. 3. de Fœde ribus et Contractibus, pp. 322-325. Bruning, Antiquitates Hebrææ, cap. 26. pp. 212-245. Michaelis's Commentaries, vol. i. pp. 310-313.

This mode of swearing has descended even to our own times and nation, being still used in Scotland, and there allowed by act of Parliament to those dissenters who are styled Seceders. The Solemn League and Covenant, in the time of Charles I., was taken in this form." Dean Woodhouse, on Rev. x. 5.

Paley's Mor. and Polit. Philosophy, Book iii. ch. 16. § 1.

himself of his own accord. When an oath was exacted, whether by a judge or another, the person who exacted it put the oath in form; and the person to whom it was put, responded by saying, Amen, Amen, so let it be: or gave his response in other expressions of like import, such as u was, Thou hast said it. (Num. v. 19-22. 1 Kings xxii. 16. Deut. xxvii. 15-26.) Sometimes the exacter of the oath merely used the following adjuration, viz. I adjure you by the living God to answer, whether this thing be so or not. And the person sworn accordingly made answer to the point inquired of. (Num. v. 22. Matt. xxvi. 64.) It should be remarked here, that although the formulary of assent on the part of the respondent to an oath was frequently AMEN, AMEN, yet this formulary did not always imply an oath, but, in some instances, was merely a protestation. As the oath was an appeal to God (Lev. xix. 12. Deut. vi. 13.), the taking of a false oath was deemed a heinous crime; and perjury, accordingly, was forbidden in those words, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, that is, shalt not call God to witness in pretended confirmation of a falsehood. (Exod. xx. 6.)

It was also common to swear by those whose life and prosperity were dear to the party making oath. Thus, Joseph swore by the life of the king (Gen. xlii. 15.); and this practice prevailed subsequently among the Hebrews. (1 Sam. xxv. 26. 2 Sam. xi. 11. xiv. 19. comp. Psal. Ixiii. 11.) A person sometimes swore by himself, and sometimes by the life of the person before whom he spoke, as in I Sam. 1. 26.

2 Kings ii. 2. Judg. vi. 13. 15. 1 Kings iii. 17. 26.; a practice which obtains in Syria to this day. In some instances, persons adjured others by the beasts of the field (Sol. Song ii. 7.), a sort of adjuration which still makes its appearance in the writings of the Arabian poets.2

In the time of Christ, the Jews were in the habit of swearing by the altar, by Jerusalem, by heaven, by the earth, by themselves, by their heads, by the gold of the temple, by sacri fices, &c. Because the name of God was not mentioned in these oaths, they considered them as imposing but small, if any obligation; and we, accordingly, find, that our Saviour takes occasion to inveigh, in decided terms, against such arts of deception. (Matt. v. 33-37. xxiii. 16-22.) It is against oaths of this kind, and these alone (not against an oath uttered in sincerity), that he expresses his displeasure, and prohibits them. This is clear, since he himself consented to take upon him the solemnity of an oath (Matt. xxvi. 64.); and since Paul himself, in more than one instance, utters an adjuration. Compare Rom. ix. 1. 2 Cor. i. 23.

In the primitive periods of their history, the Hebrews ligiously observed an oath (Josh. ix. 14, 15.); but we find, that, in later times, they were often accused by the prophets of perjury. After the captivity, the Jews became again celebrated for the scrupulous observance of what they had swom to, but corruption soon increased among them; they revived the old forms, the words without the meaning; and acquired among all nations the reputation of perjurers.

CHAPTER VIII.

LAWS RESPECTING STRANGERS, AGED, DEAF, BLIND, AND POOR PERSONS.

I. Of Strangers.-II. Of the Aged, Blind, and Deaf.-III. Of the Poor.

ALL wise legislators have deemed it an important branch | the Hebrews, appear to have been placed in favourable cirof political economy, to direct their attention towards aliens cumstances. At a later period, viz. in the reigns of David and to the poor: and the humanity and wisdom of the Mo- and Solomon, they were compelled to labour on the religious saic regulations in this respect will be found not unworthy edifices, which were erected by those princes; as we may of a divinely inspired legislator. learn from such passages as these:-And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel, after the num bering wherewith David his father had numbered them; and they were found a hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred; and he set threescore and ten thousand of them to be bearers of burdens, and fourscore thousand to be hewers in the mountain. (2 Chron. ii. 1. 17, 18. compared with 1 Chron. xxii. 2.) The exaction of such laborious services from foreigners was probably limited to those who had been taken prisoners in war; and who, according to the rights of war as they were understood at that period, could be justly employed in any offices, however low and however laborious, which the conqueror thought proper to impose. In the time of Christ, the degenerate Jews did not find it convenient to render to the strangers from a foreign country those deeds of kindness and humanity, which were not only their due, but which were demanded in their behalf by the laws of Moses. They were in the habit of understanding by the word neighbour, their friends merely, and accordingly restricted the exercise of their benevolence by the same narrow limits that bounded in this case their interpretation; contrary as both were to the spirit of those passages, which have been adduced in the preceding paragraph."

I. STRANGERS are frequently mentioned in the laws of Moses, who specifies two different descriptions of them, viz. 1. (TOSCHABIM), or those who had no home, whether they were Israelites or foreigners; and 2. (GERIM), or those who were strangers generally, and who possessed no landed property, though they might have purchased houses. Towards both of these classes the Hebrew legislator enforced the duties of kindness and humanity, by reminding the Israelites that they had once been strangers in Egypt. (Lev. xix. 33, 34. Deut. x. 19. xxiii. 7. xxiv. 18.) Hence he ordained the same rights and privileges for the Israelites, as for strangers. (Lev. xxiv. 19-22. Num. ix. 14. xv. 5.) Strangers might be naturalized, or permitted to enter into the congregation of the LORD, by submitting to circumcision, and renouncing idolatry. (Deut. xxiii. 1-9.) The Edomites and Egyptians were capable of becoming citizens of Israel after the third generation. Doeg the Edomite (1 Sam. xxi. 8. Psal. lii.) was thus naturalized; and, on the conquest of Idumæa by the Jews, about 129 years before the birth of Christ, the Jews and Idumæans became one people. It appears, also, that other nations were not entirely excluded from being incorporated with the people of Israel: for Uriah the Hittite, who was of Canaanitish descent, is represented as being a fully naturalized Israelite. But the "Ammonites and Moabites, in consequence of the hostile disposition which they had manifested to the Israelites in the wilderness, were absolutely excluded from the right of citizenship."5

"In the earlier periods of the Hebrew state, persons who were natives of another country, but who had come, either from choice or necessity, to take up their residence among

II. In a monarchy or aristocracy, birth and office alone give rank, but in a democracy, where all are on an equal footing, the right discharge of official duties, or the arrival of OLD AGE, are the only sources of rank. Hence the Mosaic statute in Lev. xix. 32. (before the hoary head thou shalt stand up, and shalt reverence the aged), will be found suited to the republican circumstances of the Israelites, as well as conformable to the nature and wishes of the human heart: for no man has any desire to sink in honour, or to be of less consequence than he was before; and to allow precedence to old age cannot be a matter that will ever affect a young man very sensibly. Nor does Moses confine his attention to the aged. He extends the protection of a special statute to the DEAF and the BLIND, in Lev. xix. 14., which prohibits re Jahn's Archeologia Biblica, by Upham, p. 197.