publicanorum ordine continetur*." He likewise calls them "ordinem mihi commendatissimum+." But as for the common publicans, the collectors or receivers, as many of the socii were, they are spoken of with great contempt, by heathens as well as Jews; and particularly by Theocritus, who said, that 66 among the beasts of the wilderness, bears and lions are the most cruel; among the beasts of the city, the publican and parasite." The reason of the general hatred to them was, doubtless, their rapine and extortion. For, having a share in the farm of the tribute, at a certain rate, they were apt to oppress the people with illegal exactions, to raise as large a fortune as they could for themselves. Besides, publicans were particularly odious to the Jews, who looked upon them to be the instruments of their subjection to the Roman emperors, to which they generally held it sinful for them to submit. For among the laws in Deuteronomy concerning the kings, there is in particular the following: "One from among thy brethren shalt thou set over thee; thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, who is not thy brother," Deut. xvii, 15. Now paying tribute to the Roman emperor they looked upon to be a virtual acknowledgment of his sovereignty. This therefore was a heavy grievance, and created an aversion to the collectors, as the instruments of illegal oppression, apart from all consideration of their rapacious practices. Accordingly, in the New Testament, we find them joined with harlots and heathens, and persons of the most profligate and infamous characters; and it was intended for a severe reproach of our Lord Jesus Christ, when he was said to be "a friend of publicans and sinners," Luke vii, 34. Hence that ensnaring question was put to him, with a design "to entangle him in his talk," Matth. xxii, 15, 17, "Is it lawful to give tribute to Cæsar?" If he had denied it, it would have been judged an offence against the state; and if he had affirmed it, it would • Orat. pro Plancio, apud Opera, vol. v, sect. 9, p. 544, edit. Olivet. + Epist. Famil. lib. xiii, epist. x, apud Op. vol. vii, p. 442. Vid. etiam epist. ix per totum, et Epist. ad Attic. lib. i, epist. xvii, vol. viii, p. 80. ↑ Vid. Hammond on Matth. ix, 10. The twelfth law, under the fourth title, in the thirty-first book of the Digests, is prefaced with these remarkable words: “Quantæ audaciæ, quantæ temeritatis sint publicanorum factiones, nemo est qui nesciat." 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 Joazar, 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. Tertullian 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, Matth. 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. Deut. xxiii, 18, in the Greek. The words are, εκ εςαι τελεσφορος από θυγατέρων Ισραήλ, και εκ έςαι τελισκομενος απο υιών 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 TeλTopos 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 Matth. xviii, 17. CHAP. 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 summim, the people, meaning, of the world, Psalm ii, 1. In the New Testament they are styled Eaλnves, 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 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: avtxita yag Tw Eλλnu o Bapbapos, "The barbarian is opposed to the Greek. Thucyd. lib. i, sect. iii, Schol. v, p. 3, edit. Huds. Oxon. 1696, diya diaıgurtas anaY TO TWP ανθρώπων πληθος είς τε Έλληνας και βαρβαρος, “ dividing the whole world into Greeks and barbarians." Strab. lib. ii, p. 45, edit. Casaub. Paris, 1620. 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 find it first 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. 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. But this reason seems to have its principal foundation in the national pride of the Jews, who would have us believe, that their language was spoken in Paradise, and their ancestors peculiarly favoured of God above all other people, even long before the call of Abraham. But Le Clerc has rendered it highly probable, that the Hebrew was the language of the Canaanites, and that Abraham, whose original tongue was the language of the Chaldee (for he came out of Ur of the Chaldees, Gen xv, 7), learnt it, as Isaac and Jacob and their families did, by dwelling in the land of Canaan*. However that be, it remains to be proved, that the Hebrew language is the same which Eber spoke. What they say of his singular piety is gratis dictum; and their account of the true religion being preserved in his family down to Abraham's time, by no means agrees with Joshua's saying, that the ancestors of the Israelites, who in old time dwelt" on the other side of the flood, even Terah the father of Abraham, served other gods," Josh. xxiv, 2. The second query is, Why the name Hebrew should be given to Abraham and his family rather than to any other of Eber's posterity? for Eber had other sons and daughters, besides Peleg, his son in the line of Abraham, Gen. xi, 17. The common reply is, because the blessings of the covenant of grace were limited to that line of Eber's posterity, which reached down to Abraham. On this account, as it is supposed, Shem is called "the father of the children of Eber;" and not so much because he was their natural progenitor; which he was, likewise, of many other families and nations. And as the posterity of Isaac and Jacob, and not that of Ishmael and Esau, are called the children of Abraham, so the posterity of Eber are the children of Shem xar' oxny. Still the idolatry of Abram's nearer progenitors may be urged as an objection; and it is reasonable to ask, whether the blessings of the covenant were continued to those fathers or ancestors of Abraham, who served other gods? Indeed, that they were limited to Shem's posterity in the line of Eber, before the calling of Abraham, is gratis dictum. This opinion also of the rabbies savours too much of the before-mentioned pride. But, See his Prolegom. to the Pentateuch, diss. i. |