NEVER was any Commonwealth better ordered than that of the Hebrews: All the magnificent Ideas that Solon, Plato, and Aristotle had formed to themselves of a Commonwealth, were but so many crude Ideas, which were never put in execution. What they have left us of them in their Books is beautiful, and well conceived; the Difficulty was the putting it in practice, in which they were not able to succeed. Moses alone, who was inspired by God, and under the Guidance of his Holy Spirit, understood how to give necessary Rules for the good Government of a Commonwealth, and had the Consolation to see the happy Effect of them. The Reason of this is, that the old Philosophers followed only the Lights of Reason, which are very weak, unless they are seconded by the Lights of Grace; whereas Moses consulted God in all things, and acted upon Principles of Religion, which should serve for a Basis and Foundation to the Edifice of good Government, From this divine Source are derived those wise and fine Regulations which he delivers in his Books.
Here, in reality, we find the true and surest Rules for the good Government of States, as M. Bossuet demonstrates in his Piece upon the Subject of Policy, which is borrowed from, and expressed in the very Words of Holy Scripture, and was printed after his Death at Paris, 1709, in 4to. or two Vols. in 12mo. This is the Commonwealth and Polity of the Hebrews, which has employed the Pens of so many learned Men, the principal of whom we shall here mention.
Herman. Witsius, Oratio de Theocratiâ Israelitarum. This Discourse upon the Theocrasy of the Israelites was printed at Amsterdam, 1700, in 4to. See his Title in the Index.
Josephus the Historian, in his second Book against Appion, p. 1071, of the Edition of his other Works which we shall mention lower, in the Article concerning the History and Annals of the Jews.
Gustav. Georg. Zeltner, lib. de adolescentia Reipub. Israel. sub temporibus Judicum, Norimberg, 1696, in 8vo. Here he explains the sixth Chapter of the first Book of Samuel, and the 20th Verse of the xiiith Chapter of the Acts. The Author was a German Lutheran, and Professor of the Oriental Languages at Altorf.
Guil. Moller, de 12 Judicibus Exercitatio. 1709. This is a Disputation upon the Twelve Judges of the Jews, printed at Nuremberg, 1709, in 4to. See his Title in the Index.
Henrici Hahnii, Diatagmata de rebus Judaicis ex jure Cæsareo & Pontificio concinnata, at Helmstadt, 1665, in 4to. He was a great Lawyer, and wrote much upon the Law, as may be seen in Lipenius’s Bibliotheca Juridica.
Guil. Welwood, Juris divini Judæorum & Juris civilis Romanorum parallela, printed at Leyden, 1594, in 4to. Welwood was a Lutheran.
Mosaicarum & Romanarum legum collatio, edente Pithæo in Criticis Londin. What Pithou has here published is nothing more than what Licinius Rufinus had collected. It was printed with his Notes on the great Criticks, of the first Edition, tom. 8. p. 150. It was published first in M. Pithou’s Miscellaneous Works, at Paris, 1619, in 4to. Pithou was of Troyes in Champagne; was born in 1539, studied the Belles Lettres under Turnebe, and Law under Cujacius, and died near Troyes in 1596, at 57 Years of Age. As to Rufinus, he was a Monk, and a Lawyer, and lived in the time of Cassiodorus, about 540, if we believe Marquard Freher: But this Work was composed rather by a Jew, to shew that the Laws of his Nation are not altogether different from the Roman Laws. See what Fabricius says of this Matter, in his Latin Bibliotheca, l. 4. c. 9.
Samuelis Bochart, Notæ in Ecclesiæ Gallicanæ decreta quædam in Judæos sancita, tom. 1. Oper. p. 499, &c. See the Title Bochart in the Index.
Pagninus Gaudentius treated of the Difference between the Roman Laws and those of Moses; which Piece has not hitherto been printed; but the Publication of it is promised in the Thesaurus of Jewish Antiquities, as Fabricius tells us in his Bibliographia, p. 28. This Gaudentius was Professor of Eloquence at Pisa. He died in 1649.
Seb. Castalionis, Reip. Hebræorum ex Josepho excerpta, Helmstad, 1616, in 8vo. F. le Long informs us, that this is in the same Author’s Bible, printed in 1697, in fol. See the Article of Latin Bibles, and the Title of this Castalio in the Index.
Caroli Sigonii, de Repub. Hebræorum, cum Notis Joan. Nicolai. Helmstadt, 1686, in 4to. There have been several Editions of it; the last was published at Amster-dam, 1701, in 4to. It has been since likewise inserted in the new Edition of Menochius’s Comment, in 1719, in fol. two Vols. This Work contains seven Books; and not three only, as Fabricius says in his Bibliographia. The first treats of the Commonwealth; the second, of sacred Places; the third, of sacred Days; the fourth, of sacred Rites; the fifth, of sacred Persons; the sixth, of Councils and Judgments; the seventh, of Magistrates.
Sigonius was an Italian of Modena, a Catholick, and Professor of the Latin Tongue at Bologna. He died in 1585.
Cornel. Bonav. Bertramni, de Repub. Hebræorum, cum Notis Constantini Imperator. Leid. 1641. It is printed likewise in the Great Criticks of London, tom. 8. p. 739, of the first Edition. In it he treats of the Jewish Polity, Civil and Ecclesiastical. This is the Title of the Geneva Edition in 1574, and 1580, in 8vo. See his Name in the Alphabetical Catalogue.
Petri Cunæi, de Rep. Hebræorum, cum Notis Joan. Nicolai. Leid. 1703, in 4to. We find it likewise in the great Criticks, tom. 8. p. 812. It has been since printed at Amsterdam, 1717, in 12mo. and in French by Goereé, in 1716, three Vols. in 8vo. with Figures, and with the Supplement, and Sequel of this Work. M. Nicolai’s Edition above-mentioned, contains very long Notes upon every Chapter, except that which relates to Melchisedech, which however most deserved them. He has also omitted Cunæus’s Epistle Dedicatory, which is a considerable Piece.
The first turns upon the Antiquity, Equity, and Usefulness of the Laws of Moses; upon the supreme Power, and to whom it belonged; what relates to the Messiah. The second upon what relates to the Priests and Levites, their Vestments and Privileges. The third is spent in shewing that it is one and the same Church which has been perpetuated from the Beginning of the World to the present time.
Whatever Reputation this Author may have acquired, he is not a safe one, but very liable to mistake things; besides that, he often appropriates to himself, and assumes such Sentiments as of his own forming, which were either pretty common, or at least known before him. He gives into Opinions of a too free and dangerous Nature. He lived in the Beginning of the seventeenth Century, was Professor at Leyden, and esteemed by Men of Learning.
In the Supplement Goereé treats of the Tabernacle, of three sorts of Jewish Temples, and of Sacrifices. To this James Basnage has added two Volumes, with Critical Remarks upon the Commonwealth of the Hebrews, printed at Amsterdam, 1713, in 8vo. Melchior Leidecker, de Rep. Hebræorum. Amst. 1703, 1710. fol. This Work contains twelve Books, wherein the Author treats of the sacred Origin of the Jewish Nation, of the State of it in Egypt, of the Miracles wrought by divine Providence to establish it in the Form of a Commonwealth; of the Theocrasy of it, the Country possessed by it; of its Government and Religion. There is Rabbinical Learning in this Treatise, many things to be read, but few to be remarked. The same Author put out another Work in 1710, printed at Amsterdam, in fol. which is as it were a Continuation of the first. In this he treats in nine Books of the divers Changes which have happened in the Republick of the Hebrews. The Title under which it was published is, De vario Reipublicæ Hebræorum statu.
Conradi Danhaver, Politia Hæbræorum, 1700, in 4to. Helmstadt. John-Andrew Schmid had the care of seeing this Treatise of Danhaver’s printed. See the Title Danhaver in the Index.
Joan. Georgii Vendii, de Rep. Hebr. Dissert. 8. Thorn. 1696. in 4to. These are Theological and Political Enquiries, which treat of the different Governments of the Jewish People, in the different States which they were in. He was a Lutheran, of Breslaw.
Joan Lud. Reimer, de Rep. Hebr. libell. Hafniæ, 1657. He has only copied, or abridged Sigonius, Bertrand, Durer, and others. There is another Edition later than that of Copenhagen above-mentioned, which was printed at Altemburg, in 12mo. He was a German Lutheran, of Hamburgh, and died in 1680.
Joan. Stephan. Menochius, de Rep. Hebr. Paris. 1618. in fol. 1648, according to F. le Long; 1684, according to M. Dupin: These are probably different Editions. This Treatise is in eight Books, upon all the Antiquities of the Hebrews. See his Title in the Index.
Herman. Conringius, de Politia seu Rep. Hebr. Helmstadt, 1684, in 4to. and at Roterdam, 1693, in 12mo. Crenius likewise has inserted it in his second Fasciculus. He was of Frizeland, a Lutheran, Professor of Phyfick at Helmstadt, and died in 1681. We have given some Account of him in the Dissertations upon St. Luke. Joan. Selden, de jure naturali & gentium, in fol.
Idem, de Synedriis veterum Hebræorum, in 4to. three Vols. printed at London, 1650, 1655. and in one Volume at Amsterdam 1659, at Frankfort, 1696. in 4to. It is divided into three Books; the first and second into sixteen Chapters; the third into fifteen. Every Book makes a Volume in the London Edition. The first Book treats of the Sanhedrim, and other Law Courts of the Hebrews; of those who presided in them; of their Collegues, Seats, &c. There are also Enquiries relating to the Astronomical and Chronological Epochs. The second and third are a Sequel only of the same Matter.
His Work concerning the Law of Nature and Nations, according to the Discipline of the Hebrews, was first of all printed at London, 1640, in fol. at Strasburgh, 1665, in 4to. and at Wittemburg, 1698, in 4to. There may be said to be a great Fund of Learning in all his Works, and abundance of Enquiries relating to the ancient Customs of the Hebrews.
See our Dissertation on the Polity of the Hebrews, before our Comment upon Numbers.
Joan. Vorstii, de Synedriis Hebræorum apud Cren. Fascic. 4. See his Title in the Index.
Joan. Clerici de magno Synedrio Hebr. ad calcem Commentar. in Esther. See ibid.
M. Basnage’s Continuation of the History of the Jews, l. 7. c. 5. We shall speak of him in the Article concerning the History of the Jews.
Franc. Moncæi de portis civitatis Judæ, & Fori judiciorumque exercendorum rituprisco. What Francis de Monceaux has written concerning the Places where Justice was of old administred among the Jews, was printed at Paris, 1587, in 4to. He was a Catholick, and Lord of Fridevalle. See the Dissertations upon Exodus, or his Title in the Index.
Gilberti Genebrardi, paratitla Talmudicæ Doctrinæ seu de jure veterum Hebræorum. Possevin, who mentions this Work in his Apparatus Sacer, takes notice likewise that it was not as yet printed in his time.
Guil. Zepperi, Legum Mosaicarum forensium Explicatio. We have already spoken of him above, in the Article of Laws.
Jacobi Alting. Resp. Hebræorum. He has treated here only of the Scholastick Commonwealth of the Hebrews; that is to say, of their Schools, or Universities, in four Discourses, whereof two were printed separately at Groninguen, 1652, in 12mo. See upon the Pentateuch, and elsewhere.
Politica Judaica, by John Hemberg, printed in German, 1616, in 4to.
Thomæ Jamesii, de persoñá & officio Judicis apud Hebræos. This Treatise concerning the Person and Office of a Judge among the Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans, was printed at Oxford, 1600, in 4to. He was an Englishman, of Newport, of the Church of England, Library-Keeper to the University of Oxford, and died in 1629. See his other Works, upon St. Matthew and the Canticles. See likewise his Title in the Index.
Maimonides de Juramentis Hebræorum, ex versione Miegii, & Præfatione Jacobi Perizonii, Leid. 1706, in 4to. This, according to Fabricius in his Bibliographia, is John Frederick Miege. This Work of Maimonides is in Tom. 4. of Surenhusius’s Talmud.
Jacobi Lydii Syntagma, de re militari & de jurejurando Hebræorum, cum Notis Salom. Vantil. See upon the same Subject the Authors named by Fabricius in his Bibliographia, c. 12. numb. 7. where he takes notice that Perizon, or Perizonius, treats particularly in his Preface of the Oath made by touching the Thigh.
Selden, de Successione in bona defunctorum ex Instit. Hebræorum, at London, 1636, and at Leyden, 1638, in 8vo.
Maimonides, de Jure pauperis & peregrini apud Judæos, cum Notis Humfredi Prideaux, in the Mishna of Surenhusius’s Edition.
Jocobi Alting. de Servis Hebræorum, Dissert. 6. Heptade 7. tom. 5. Operum.
Joan. Georgii Abicht, de Servorum Hebræorum acquisitione & Servitiis, Lipsiæ, 1704. See his Title in the Index.
Vide Misnam, Edit. Surenbus. tom. 3. p. 362. Pauli Slevogt, de Proselytis Hebræorum. This is in a Treatise wherein he speaks likewise of the Metempsycosis of the Jews, and of the Jubilee Year, printed at Jena, 1656, in 4to. See his Title in the Index.
Lipenius, in his Bibliotheca Theologica, sets down a greater number of Authors who have treated particularly of the Commonwealth and Polity of the Hebrews, tom. 1. p. 18. The Reader may consult likewise his Bibliotheca Juridica & Philosophica.