us, that fuch fhould be ftoned; but what fayeft thoui? When our Saviour foretels his difciples that they fhould be delivered up to councils, and fcourged in fynagogues k, he fhews at the fame time what power and authority were exercifed in the councils and fynagogues of the Jews. When Pilate, willing to be delivered of Jefus, fays to the Jews, Take ye him and crucify him1 and again, Take ye him and judge him according to your own lawm; he also fhews, that the Jews lived under their own law, and had the exercise of judicial authority among themselves". This was the condition of things at the death of Chrift. By this deduction it appears evidently, that the fceptre, placed in the hand of Judah by his father Jacob juft before his death, continued in his pofterity till the very death of Chrift. From that time all things began to work towards the deftruction of the Jewish polity; and within a few years their city, temple, and government, were utterly ruined; and the Jews, not carried into a gentle captivity, to enjoy their law, and live as a diftinct people in a foreign country, but they were fold like beafts in a market, and became flaves in the ftricteft fenfe; and from that day to this have had neither prince nor lawgiver among them. Nor will they ever be able, after all their pretences, to fhew any figns or marks of the fceptre among them, till they difcover the unknown country, where never mankind dwelt, and where the ↑ John viii. 5. 1 John xix. 6. * Matt. x. 17. n See this proved at large by Wagenfeil, Car. Lip. Con. 299, &c. pag. apocryphal Efdras has placed their brethren of the ten tribes °. Before I take leave of this fubject, it is neceffary to obferve, that this interpretation of the prophecy of Jacob relating to Judah is very much confirmed by another prophecy given by Moses, not long before his death. In the 33d chapter of Deuteronomy Mofes bleffes the tribes; and as there are many paffages in this laft benediction of Mofes, which correfpond to the bleffings pronounced by Jacob; fo particularly the bleffing of Judah by Moses seems to relate to the laft ftate of that tribe, and the continuance of the fceptre of Judah after the difperfion of the other tribes. The words of Mofes are these: Hear, Lord, the voice of Judah, and bring him unto his people: let his hands be fufficient for him; and be thou an help to him from his enemies P. This benediction cannot relate to the time when it was given, for then Judah's hands were very fufficient for him; this tribe being by much the greatest of the twelve tribes, as appears by two different accounts of the forces of Ifrael in the Book of Numbers : and there was more reafon to put up this petition for feveral other tribes, than for Judah. Besides, what is the meaning of bringing Judah to his people? How were he and his people at this time separated? What means likewise the other part of the petition? Be thou an help to him from his enemies. This petition supposes a state of diftrefs: yet what diftrefs was Judah in at this time; at leaft, what 2 Efdras xiii. 41. P Deut. xxxiii. 7. greater diftrefs than the other tribes? The ancient Targums, and fome old verfions, understand the first petition of bringing Judah back to his people, to be only a request in his behalf for fafe return from the day of battle: but was there not the fame reafon for the fame petition in behalf of every tribe? Nay, how much better would it have fuited Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manaffeh, who left their people and their fettlements on the other fide of Jordan, and paffed over the river, in the very front of the battle, to affift their brethren ? But if you refer this prophecy to the prophecy of Jacob, and to the continuance of the fceptre of Judah after the deftruction of the other tribes, every expreffion is natural and proper, and fuited to the occafion. Do but fuppofe Mofes, in the fpirit of prophecy, to have a fight of the state of affairs when all the people were in captivity, and you will fee how this prophetic prayer answers to that state. All the tribes were in captivity; the ten tribes in Affyria, and Judah in Babylon: but it was implied in Jacob's prophecy, that Judah should retain the Sceptre, and return again; for Judah only therefore does Mofes pray, that he may come to his people again. Jacob had foretold, that at this time the gathering of the people fhould be to Judah; that he should be all in all, the only head of all the remnant of Israel. These people, deftined to be gathered to Judah, were now no people, could be no people, till the return of Judah; at which return many of all the tribes were to join Josh. iv. 12. themselves to Judah, and with him to form one people: how properly then does Mofes pray, that Judah might return to his people! Let his hands be fufficient for him. Good reason was there for this petition, for scarcely were his hands fufficient at the return from Babylon. The tribe of Judah in Mofes's time confifted of 76500, reckoning only those of twenty years old and upward. But upon the return from Babylon, Judah, with Benjamin, the Levites, and the remnant of Ifrael, made only 42360'; and in fo weak a ftate they were, that Sanballat in great fcorn faid, What do these feeble Jews"? And the people themselves complain, as being not fufficient to go through the toil of building the wall: And Judah faid, The ftrength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; fo that we are not able to build the wall. Be thou an help to him from his enemies. The books Ezra and Nehemiah are convincing proofs of the great difficulties and oppofitions which the Jews found in fetting up their temple and city. Once their enemies had so prevailed, that orders came from the court of Perfia to stop all their proceedings; and even at last, when Nehemiah came to their affistance, with a new commiffion from Artaxerxes, they were so befet with enemies, that the men employed in building the wall, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon y. • Numb. xxvi. 22. * Ezra ii. 64. * Neh. iv. 10. u Neh. iv. 2. y Ibid. iv. 17. Lay these two prophecies now together: Jacob foretels, that Judah's fceptre should continue till Shiloh came; which is in effect foretelling, that the sceptres of the other tribes fhould not continue so long. Moses, in the spirit of prophecy, fees the defolation of all the tribes: he fees the tribes of the kingdom of Ifrael carried away by the Affyrians, the people of Judah by the Babylonians: he fees that Judah fhould again return, weak, harassed, and scarcely able to maintain himself in his own country; for them therefore he conceives this prophetic prayer: Hear, Lord, the voice of Judah, and bring him unto his people: let his hands be fufficient for him; and be thou an help to him from his enemies. You will fay, perhaps, why did not Jacob foretel also the continuance of the fceptre of Benjamin, for the tribe of Benjamin run the same fortune with that of Judah; they went together into captivity, they returned home together, and were both in being when Shiloh came? In answer to this I have two things to offer. First, It has already appeared, that, from the divifion of the kingdoms after the death of Solomon, the tribe of Benjamin and the remnant of Ifrael, that is, part of all the other tribes, adhered to Judah as their head; and this was confonant unto Jacob's prophecy, Unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Secondly, Though the continuance of the Sceptre of Benjamin is not foretold, (for the fceptre was to be Judah's,) yet the continuance of the tribe or people of Benjamin is diftinctly foretold, both by Jacob and Moses. The bleffing of Benjamin, as delivered |