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them. And afterward all the children of Ifrael came nigh b.

The government in the several tribes of Ifrael was not monarchical, but aristocratical; as appears by comparing the paffages referred to in the margin : and that no one tribe had a fuperiority over another, is plain upon the death of Joshuad; for then the people inquire of God, who fhould go up for them against the Canaanites? A queftion that would not have been asked, had any one tribe, or ruler of one tribe, had the right of leading and governing the reft. When the children of Benjamin were guilty in the matter of the Levite's concubine, no one tribe, or ruler of one tribe, pretends to call them to account for it; but all the tribes of Ifrael jointly fend to expoftulate with them, and to demand juftice: and upon refufal of juftice, recourse is had to arms immediately. What authority the princes of tribes had among their own people, may be collected from the fong of Deborah, where they are defcribed as governors in Ifrael, riding on white affes, and fitting in judgment. And it is with allufion to this form of government that our Saviour promises his disciples, that they shall fit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Ifraels.

Having now seen the constitution of the tribes of Ifrael, and the powers and authorities incident to a tribe, as fuch, we may look back to the prophecy,

b Exod. xxxiv. 31, 32. d Josh. xxii. 14.

f Judges v. 9, 10.

Exod. vi. 14. Numb. xxxiv. 18.
Judges i. I.

8 Matt, xix. 28.

and try whether this light will direct us in the expofition of it. Jacob, having fettled twelve princes or rulers of people in his house, summons them together, to hear what should befal them in the last days: he speaks to them as heads of people, and not as fingle perfons, and what he says relates to them and their people collectively, and not to them perfonally. Since then he speaks to all as princes, and tells Judah in particular, that the SCEPTRE fhould not depart from HIM until Shiloh came, what can we understand by the fceptre in this place, but that very power, and right of government, now fettled and established in the house of Judah, and in all the other tribes; and which Jacob forefaw would depart from the other tribes long before the coming of Shiloh, but would remain with Judah until Shiloh came? The promise to Judah, that his fceptre fhould not depart, amounts to a declaration that the fceptres of the other tribes fhould depart; and plainly fhews that the fceptre was not a thing peculiar to Judah for the promise here to Judah is, not that he should have a fceptre, which none of his brethren had, or were to have; but that his fceptre fhould continue longer with him, than his brothers' Sceptres fhould continue with them.

Most of the interpreters whom I have confulted take it for granted, and it is the common notion, that the thing here promised to Judah is the fceptre; and that the SCEPTRE was not to be fettled in Judah's family till fome ages after the death of Jacob: which laft obfervation is grounded upon Jacob's words; That I may tell you that which fhall befal you in the

laft days. But the first of these observations has no ground in the text; nay, rather, is abfolutely inconfiftent with it. The ancient verfions all agree in one fense, the fame which our English verfion has expreffed, The fceptre fhall not depart from Judah. Do not these words fuppofe the fceptre to be already in the hand of Judah? Is there any sense in saying that a thing fhall not depart which never yet was in poffeffion? The prophecy is not a grant of the fceptre, but a confirmation of it: now a confirmation of nothing is nothing; and to make it something, the poffeffion of the thing confirmed must be supposed. I know not by what rules of language or grammar these words can be conftrued into a grant of the fceptre; and though so many writers and interpreters have followed this fenfe, yet I do not remember to have seen one paffage or parallel expreffion from the Scripture, or any other author, produced to justify the interpretation. Yet furely it is no ufual way of speaking, to fay, Your fceptre shall not depart, when the speech is directed to one who has no fceptre, nor is to have one for many ages.

The fecond obfervation, when rightly applied, is right; and if the continuance of the fceptre of Judah be, as I fuppofe, the thing foretold, it extends to the very last days of the Jewish state; and in this respect the interpretation is justified.

Another thing fuppofed by moft interpreters is, that the Sceptre here mentioned is an

emblem of dominion over all the tribes of Jacob. But how can

h Gen. xlix. I.

that be? Had not Jacob fettled a fceptre in every tribe as is evident, ver. 16. Dan fhall judge his people as one of the fceptres of Ifrael. Suppose a father had divided his estate among twelve fons, and should fay of one of them, The estate shall not depart from John for many ages; could you poffibly suppose him to mean more than the fhare of the estate given to John? Could you understand him to mean, that all the eftate, the twelve fhares, fhould come to John, and continue in his family? The cafe is the fame here: twelve princes are created; of one of them Jacob fays, The Sceptre fhall not depart FROM HIM until Shiloh come. Is it not plain then that the fceptres are diftinguished here; and that it is foretold of one, that it fhall long outlaft the reft? The words therefore, The fceptre fhall not depart from Judah, are equivalent to these, Judah's fceptre fhall not depart; and this fenfe is justified by the original, the Seventy, the Vulgate, and the Chaldee Paraphraft. It must be remembered, that Judah does not, in Gen. xlix. mean, what in after-times it came to mean, the whole people of the Jews; but it means diftinctly the tribe of Judah only; and the words now under confideration can poffibly import no more than this, The fceptre fhall not be taken from the tribe of Judah: confequently the fceptre here is an emblem of authority in and over a tribe only; and can by no means, in these circumftances, be made to fignify or denote an authority over all the tribes of Ifrael.

i The original word is fchevet, the fame which is rendered Jeeptre in the prophecy relating to Judah.

* Non auferetur principatum habens à Domo Judæ, C. P. The ruler fball not be taken away from the boufe of Judab.

The fame word in the original (fchevet) fignifies tribe, and a Sceptre; and probably a tribe, because a tribe is a collection of people under the government of one fceptre, or authority. Others, I know, account otherwise for this fignification". But the Seventy interpreters would never have used the Greek word σxйrgov to denote a tribe, had they not thought that the original word was used to fignify a tribe, upon the notion of its being a body under one and the fame government. When the people were affembled for the choice of a king, Samuel fays to them, Present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes”, xarà тà σ×йтgα μν, (Seventy;) and the tribe of Benjamin was taken°, καὶ κατακληροῦται σκῆπτρον BEVIμEV, (Seventy.) When God threatens Solomon to divide his kingdom, he adds, but I will give one tribe to thy fon P, σκῆπτρον ἓν δώσω τῷ υἱῷ σου, (Seventy.) Many other inftances there are; but these are fufficient to fhew the relation between the fceptre and the tribe, and that it is conformable to the language and ufage of Scripture to understand by the word fceptre the authority in and over a single tribe.

τα

1 Traductum vero nomen eft ad fignificandum tribum-quod unaquæque tribus fuam peculiarem virgam haberet, nomine fuo infcriptam, quam tribuum principes-manu geftare confueverant -Cum Dominus Aaronem his verbis alloquitur; fed et fratres tuos de tribu Levi, et fceptrum Patris tui fume tecum; intellige fceptrum ipfum, et totam tribum quæ fceptro fignificabatur, et regebatur. Menochius de rep. Heb. lib. i. cap. 4.

m Schevet; Tribus, quod ex arbore feu ftirpe nata fit, h. e. è patre. Kircherus, Concord. in voce, Schevet.

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