probably have exposed him to the rage and resentment of the people. It was on pretence of freeing them from this tributary yoke, that Judas of Galilee, or (as Josephus calls him) Judas Gaulanites, excited an "insurrection in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him;" Acts v. 37. Of this Josephus gives a particular account,* and saith, that when the census was first extended to Judea by Cyrenius, after Archelaus had been deposed by Augustus, the Jews were greatly chagrined at it; but at the persuasion of Joazer, the high-priest, they generally submitted. Yet, it seems, much against their wills; for when this Judas excited the people to rebellion, and to assert their liberty, they heard him, saith the historian, "with incredible pleasure," and made an insurrection on that account, under him as their leader. Tertulliant imagined, that the publicans, among the Jews, were all heathens; which, not understanding Hebrew, he grounded on a spurious text in the Septuagint. This opinion is confuted by the instances of Matthew and Zaccheus, who both appear to be Jews, by their names and their history. The latter is expressly said to be a son of Abraham; and as for Matthew, we may be assured, that our Lord, who, at present, was sent to none but the lost sheep of the house of Israel, would not have made an apostle of a Gentile. However, the Jews, who accepted the office of publicans, were, on that account, hated of their own nation equally with heathens, with whom they are sometimes ranked, Matt. xviii. 17; and, according to the rabbies, it was a maxim, “A religious man, who becomes a publican, is to be driven out of the society of religion."§ * Antiq. lib. xviii. cap. i. sect. i. edit. Haverc. De Pudicitiâ, sect. ix. p. 561, C. edit. Rigalt. ་་ ↑ Deut. xxiii. 18, in the Greek. The words are, our esai teλeσpopos año θυγατέρων Ισραήλ, και ουκ εσαι τελισκόμενος από ύιων Ισραηλ. They were probably at first a gloss in the margin, or inserted in the text of the Seventy from some other version; and are strangely misunderstood by Tertullian, who supposes TEXEσpopos to signify, in this place, a publican, or tax-gatherer, which it most commonly does; but here it means a prostitute for hire, such as in the Pagan mysteries raised contributions by their lewdness. See Grotius and Le Clerc in loc. § See Lightfoot, Hora Heb. on Matt. xviii. 17. CHAPTER III. ISRAELITES AND PROSELYTES. GODWIN distinguishes the people of Israel into two sorts, Hebrews and Proselytes. We may properly advance a step higher, and divide the whole world, after the commonwealth of Israel had been formed, into Jews and Gentiles. The Jews, or Israelites, were those members of the Hebrew republic who worshipped the one true God according to the Mosaic ritual; all others they called a goim, Gentiles, and D› ummim, the people, meaning, of the world, Psalm ii, 1. In the New Testament they are styled 'EXλnveç, Greeks; Rom. i. 16, and ii. 9, 10. When Greeks are opposed to barbarians,* the term signifies the learned, as distinguished from the illiterate part of mankind; the Greeks in those days being looked upon as a people of the most erudition, or at least their language being esteemed the most improved and polite. But when Greeks are opposed to Jews, they include the whole heathen world, of which the Greeks were the most considerable. Some have imagined, that the triple distinction which St. Paul makes, Gal. iii. 28, "there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female," refers to a form of thanksgiving which the Jews are said to have repeated in their daily prayers; wherein they gave thanks to God for these three things: that he had made them Jews, and not Gentiles; that he had made them free, and not bond-men, or slaves; that he had made them men, and not women. Instead of the third article, the women thanked God that he had made them as it pleased him. If this As by St. Paul, Rom. i. 14, and by heathen authors: avтikeita yap Tw 'EXλnvi & Bapbapos,-"The barbarian is opposed to the Greek." Thucyd. lib. i. sect. iii. Schol. v. p. 3, edit. Huds. Oxon. 1696. Aixa diαipovvтas awaν TO TWV ανθρώπων πληθος εις Έλληνας και βαρβαρους, dividing the whole world into Greeks and barbarians." Strab. lib. ii. p. 45, edit. Casaub. Paris, 1620. 1 242 JEWISH ANTIQUITIES. [BOOK I. the manner in which the revelation was made, both by God However, before we directly consider the manner in which The first and most essential qualification of a prophet was true piety. This is the constant sense and opinion of the Jewish doctors.* To which agree those words of St. Peter, Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost;" 2 Pet. i. 21. Yet this general rule is not without exceptions; for God, on special occasions and for particular purposes, sometimes vouchsafed the prophetic spirit to bad men; as to Balaam," who loved the wages of unrighteousness." However, it may well be supposed, that none but good men were stated prophets, so as to be frequently favoured with the divine afflatus; and especially, that none but such were honoured with being employed as the writers of any part of the canon of Scripture; insomuch, that the assertion of St. Peter concerning the written prophecies of the Old Testament, is true without exception. We may, perhaps, reasonably account for the ceasing of the spirit of prophecy from among the Jews in the latter ages of their polity, till it was revived at the coming of our Saviour, from their universal degeneracy and corruption in religion and morals. 2dly. The mind of the prophet must be in a proper posture and frame for receiving the divine afflatus, or prophetic spirit ; that is, say the doctors, it must not be oppressed with grief, or disturbed with passion of any kind. Their tradition says, that Jacob did not prophecy all the time of his grief for the loss of Joseph; nor Moses for a long time after the return of the spies, who brought an evil report of the land of Canaan, because of his indignation against them. And by the holy spirit, which David prays might not be taken away, but restored to him, Psalm li. 10, 11, the Chaldee Paraphrast, and the Hebrew commentators, understand the spirit of prophecy, * Maimon. Moreh Nevoch. part ii. cap. xxxii. p. 284. + Maimon. Moreh Nevoch. cap. xxxvi. p. 295, 296. which, they say, was withdrawn on account of his sorrow and grief for his shameful miscarriage in the matter of Uriah. And when he prays, that God would "make him to hear joy and gladness," ver. 8, they understand it of a cheerful frame of mind, which would fit him for receiving the prophetic afflatus; and "the free spirit, with which he prays he might be upheld," ver. 12, they interpret of a spirit of alacrity and liberty of mind, free from the oppression of grief, or discomposure of passion. In order to prove, that passion disqualified a man for receiving the prophetic afflatus, they allege the story of Elisha, in the third chapter of the Second Book of Kings: when the kings of Judah, and Israel, and Edom, in their distress for water during an expedition against Moab, came to Elisha, to inquire of God by him, the prophet seems to have been moved with indignation against the wicked king of Israel, addressing him in the following manner: "What have I to do with thee? Get thee to the prophets of thy father, and to the prophets of thy mother; surely if it were not that I regard the presence of Jehosaphat, the king of Judah, I would not look upon thee, nor see thee;" 2 Kings iii. 12, 13. However, being willing to oblige Jehosaphat, "he called for a minstrel; and it came to pass when the minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him;" ver. 15. The use of the minstrel seems to be to calm his passion and compose his mind, that he might be fit to receive the divine afflatus. This may perhaps suggest to us one reason, why the prophets practised music, see 1 Sam. x. 5; namely, because of its tendency to compose their minds, and to free them from all such melancholy or angry passions, as would render them unfit for the spirit of prophecy. We find this remedy successfully applied to Saul's melancholy: "And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp and played with his hand; so Saul was refreshed and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him;" 1 Sam. xvi. 23. This evil spirit was perhaps originally nothing but melancholy, or grief and anguish, which, however, through divine permission, was wrought upon and heightened by the insinuations of some evil spirit, which, at times, it seems, instigated him to prophesy: "It came to pass on the morrow, 1 form was, indeed, as ancient as the time of the apostle, it may naturally be supposed that he referred to it in this passage, where he is showing that the peculiar prerogatives and privileges which the Jews enjoyed under the Old Testament, were by the gospel equally extended to the Gentiles; and that all who believe in Christ, without regard to their nation, worldly condition, or sex, are admitted into his church, and made partakers of his salvation. We now come to consider the distinction of the members of the commonwealth of Israel, into Hebrews and Proselytes. 1st. As to the Hebrews: The learned are divided concerning the derivation and meaning of this word, which so often occurs both in the Old and New Testament. We find it first applied to Abraham, Gen. xiv. 13; and in a multitude of places to his posterity, to distinguish them from all other people; particularly from the Egyptians, Gen. xliii. 32; and the Philistines, 1 Sam. iv. 9. The more common opinion concerning its meaning, maintained by the Jewish rabbies, and espoused by Buxtorff the son,* is, 1st. That it is appellatio patronymica, a family name, from Eber, who was the great grandson of Shem, and Abraham's great, great, great, great grandfather; that is, he was a lineal descendant from Eber in the seventh generation.† Two queries will naturally be started upon this opinion: 1st. Why Abraham and his posterity should take their name from so remote a progenitor as Eber;-or if from a remote one, why not from Shem, the first father and founder of the family after Noah? 2dly. Why this appellation should be given to Abraham and his family, rather than to any other of Eber's posterity? In answer to the first query, the rabbies tell us, that Eber was a man of singular piety; that the primitive religion and language were preserved by him and his family; and that Abraham and his posterity are called Hebrews, because they spoke the same language, and professed and practised the same religion, that Eber did. See his Dissert. de Linguæ Hebraica Conservatione, apud Dissertat. Philolog. Theolog. p. 147, Basil. 1662. ↑ See the genealogy of Abraham's family, Gen. xi. 10, &c. |