1. Second principle supposed by the apostle Paul in his discourses with the Hebrews: The promised Messiah was then come, and had done his work. 2. The first promise recorded סֵפֶר בִּמְגִלַת—Promise with the limitation of time for his coming necessary. 3. First determination hereof made by Jacob, Gen. 49:8–10—The promise confined to Judah, afterwards to David; no more restrained. 4. Jews' self-contradicting exceptions to the words of Jacob's prophecy. 5. Interpretation of Rashi; 6, 7. Of Aben Ezra examined. 8, 9. Who meant by "Judah"—The tribe, not his person, proved. 10. "Sceptre" and "scribe," how continued in Judah— The same polity under various forms of government—How long they continued. 11. Did not depart on the conquest of Pompey, nor reign of Herod. 12. Continuance of the sanhedrim—The name סנדרין, whence— Συνέδριον, the place and court of judges—Jews' etymology of the word. 13. Institution of that court, Num. 11:16. 14. The orders of the court. 15. Place of their meeting—Λιθόστρωτος, גַּבָּתָא, John 19:13. 16. Qualifications of the persons—Who excluded. 17. Their power. 18. Punishments inflicted by them. 19, 20. The lesser courts—Mistake of Hilary. 21. "Shiloh," who, and what the word signifies. 22. Judaical interpretation of כִּי עַד refuted. 23. Argument from the words. 24. Rule granted unto Judah, proved by the context. 25. Consent of Targumists. 26. Use of the words. 27. Judaical evasions removed. 28. Rise and signification of the word "Shiloh." 29. Messiah intended thereby. 30. עַמִּים קְּהַת לוֹ opened and vindicated. 31. Consent of Targums, 32. Talmuds, and most learned rabbins. 33. Sceptre long since departed. 34. Story of Benjamin Tudelensis examined—Messiah long since come.
1. THE second great principle supposed by the apostle in all his discourses with the Hebrews, in his Epistle to them, and which he lays as the foundation of all his arguments, is, that the Messiah, whom we have proved to have been promised from the foundation of the world, was actually come, and had finished the work appointed for him, then when he wrote that Epistle. This the Jews pertinaciously deny unto this very day, and this denial is the centre wherein all the lies of their unbelief do meet; and hereupon, in a miserable, deplorable condition, do they continue crying for and expecting his coming who came long since, and was rejected by them. Now, this being the great difference between them and Christians, and that such a one as hath a certain influence into their eternal condition, as they have endeavoured to invent evasions from the force of the testimonies and arguments whereby our faith and profession are confirmed, so are we to use diligence in their vindication and establishment; which we hope to do unto the satisfaction of the sober and godly wise in our ensuing discourse.
2. The first great promise of the Messiah, at large insisted on before, declared only his coming, and the end of it in general. This promise was recorded בִּמְגִלַּת־סֵפֶר, Ps. 40:8, or, as our apostle, Heb. 10:7, ἐν κεφαλίδι βιβλίου,—in the beginning, head, or first roll, of the book of God, namely, Gen. 3, as a stable foundation of all the rest that ensued; and it respected all the posterity of Adam, that they might have a refuge whereunto to repair in all their distresses. When the care of it, and respect unto it, and faith in it, were rejected by the world, εἴασε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη πορεύεσθαι ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὑτῶν, Acts 14:16, God left it unto the ways of its own choosing, to shift for itself, and in his sovereign grace and pleasure renewed the promise unto Abraham, with a restriction and limitation of it unto his family, as that which was to be separated from the rest of mankind, and dedicated to the bringing forth of the Messiah in the appointed season, as we have declared. Upon the giving of that promise, with the call and separation of Abraham, whereon the church became in a special manner visible, there wanted nothing, to confirm the faith and fix the expectation of those that desired his coming, but only the determination of the time wherein he should so do.
And this was necessary upon a double account:—(1.) That those who were to live before his advent, or appearance in the flesh, might not only by faith see his person afar off, and be refreshed, as Cant. 2:8, but also behold his day, or the time limited and prefixed unto his coming, and rejoice therein; and that not only as Abraham, who knew that such a day should be, John 8:56, but also as those who had a certain day so limited as that, by diligent inquiry, 1 Pet. 1:11, they might take some especial prospect of it. (2.) To guide them who were to live in the days of the accomplishment of the promise unto a more earnest expectation of him and desire after him; as Daniel had for the return of the people from the captivity, when he understood by books that the time limited for it was accomplished, Dan. 9:2, 3. Accordingly it came to pass; for from hence it was that at that season when he was to be exhibited all men were in expectation of him, and prepared thereby to inquire after him, Luke 3:15.
3. Now, this determination of time inquired after was first made by Jacob, Gen. 49:8–10, accompanied with a signal demonstration of one especial person from whom the Messiah was to proceed, even in the family of Jacob himself. Such another restriction also, and but one, ensued, when that privilege, which originally rested in Abraham and his family, and was afterwards restrained unto Judah and his posterity, was lastly confined unto David and his offspring, and ever after left at large unto any branch of that family. And this I mention by the way, to prevent any difficulties about his genealogy: for as, in the very first instance of the regal succession in the house of David, there was no respect had to the primogeniture, 1 Kings 2:22, so there was no necessity that the Messiah should spring from the reigning family, although he did so, but only that he should be of the seed of David. For as, after the promise given unto Abraham, the Messiah might have sprung from any family whatever of his posterity by Isaac, until the limitation made by Jacob unto the person of Judah; and after that limitation might have done so from any family of his tribe or posterity, until the confinement of that privilege to the person of David; so no restriction or limitation being afterwards added, his production by any person of his posterity, whether in an alliance nearer to or farther from the reigning line, was all that was included in the promise. To return: the words of the place above quoted are, "Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? קְּהַת וְלוֹ שִׁילֹה כִּי־יָבֹא עַד רַגְלָיו מִבֵּין וּמְחֹקֵק מִיהוּדָה שֵׁבֶט לֹא־יָסוּר עַמִּים;"—"The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver" (or "scribe") from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and to him the gathering of people." These last words are the seat of our argument, the former, therefore, we shall no otherwise consider but as they give light and evidence to their interpretation.
4. The great masters among the Jews are exceedingly perplexed with this testimony, and have therefore invented endless ways for the enervating of it, openly and loudly contradicting one another almost about every word in the text. Some would evade the sense of it by interpreting שֵבֶט to be only "a rod," of correction, say some, of supportment, say others; and מְחֹקֵק, they would only have to be a scribe, such as they fancy their present rabbins to be. Some by יְהוּדָה understand the person of Judah, unto whom they ascribe I know not what pre-eminence, and not his family or tribe. Some would have דַ֤ע to be separated from כִּי, that follows, because of the accent Jethib, and to signify "for ever." Some by the שִילֹה would have David intended; some, Ahijah the prophet; some, the city Shiloh; and most know not what. קְּהַת, some would have to be "destruction;" some, "instruction and obedience." And on every one of these cavils do they build various interpretations, and provide various evasions for themselves; all which we shall either obviate or remove out of the way in the ensuing discourse.
5. It were endless to consider all their several expositions; and useless, because they are fully confuted by one another; and whatever seems of importance in any of their exceptions will be fully answered in our exposition and vindication of the text and context. Only, to give the reader a specimen of their sentiments, I shall briefly consider the sense and exposition of one of them, and him of such reputation that he hath generally obtained the name of החכם, "The wise;" and this is R. A. B. Meir, Aben Ezra. And that we may the better see the perverseness of this man, and therein of his followers, I shall briefly give an account of the exposition of Rashi his companion in annotations on the Pentateuch, in their rabbinical Bibles. First, By שֵבֶט "sceptre," he understands "rule and government;" as he doth "scholars in the law" by מְחֹקֵק, from these words, רַגְלָיו מִבֵּין, "from between his feet," expressing, as he conceived, the posture of disciples. By "Judah" he understands the house of David, the ruling family amongst them, the authority whereof was preserved in the ראשי גליות, or "heads of the captivity," whilst they were in Babel. And on these words, שִׁלֹה כִּי־יָבֹא עַד, waiving all the former trivial exceptions, he adds expressly, שהמלוכה המשיח מלך אגדה ומדרש אנקלום תרגמו וכן שלי;—" 'Until the Shiloh come,' that is, Messiah the King, to whom that kingdom belongs, as the words are interpreted by Onkelos in his Targum, and in Midrash Agadah." And עַמִּים תַהְקּ, he expounds, חעמים אסיפת, "The collection" (or "gathering together") "of the people;" so agreeing with the Targum and the truth in the most material passages of the text.
6. But Aben Ezra, as we observed, is otherwise minded, and in him we have an example of the wilful blindness of the residue of them, who will not endure the light of that conviction which is tendered unto them in this testimony. First, By "Shebet" he grants rule to be intended, or preeminence above others; being then somewhat more modest than their later masters. "This," saith he, "shall not depart from Judah שבא עד דוד,"—"until David come." And why David? יהודח מלכות תחלת שהוא;—"For he was the beginning of the kingdom of Judah." So that it seems the meaning of the words is, that "the sceptre shall not depart until the sceptre come;" that is, they should have rule until they had rule! for, as himself well observes, the kingdom of Judah began in David. But what sceptre had the house of Judah before? Four hundred years the people were ruled under judges, of which but one was of that tribe. At length a kingdom was set up in the house of Benjamin. Where was all this while the sceptre of Judah, if that was the space of time designed for its continuance? Two instances he gives hereof. First, נוסע יהורה דגל כי בדאשונה;—"The standard of Judah marched first in the wilderness." גם בתחלה יעלה יהודה השם אמר;—"Again, God said, 'Judah shall go up first.' " But what was this to a sceptre and a lawgiver? The first belonged only unto the order of the tribes in the wilderness, whilst Moses was prince, of the tribe of Levi; and afterwards Joshua, of the tribe of Ephraim: nor was that privilege, if any it were, peculiar unto Judah, but common to the other tribes joined with him. The other was only an occasional expedition, wherein the especial concernment of Judah lay, which gave him no power nor sovereignty amongst his brethren. So that we have here no small instance how the wisest of their masters do befool themselves in seeking evasions from this testimony. Of the sense of the following words, abstracting from the design of the whole, he gives a tolerable account, "Nor a law-giver from between his feet:" ספר על שיחוק סופר מחקק; —"Mechokek is a scribe, who engrosseth any thing on a roll or book;" הקצין רגלי בין יושב להיות סופר כל דדך שכן רגליו מבין וטעם,—"and that expression, 'From between his feet,' is taken from the common custom of such scribes to sit at or between the feet of the prince," namely, to record and enrol the laws of his kingdom; although the phrase of speech seems to incline to another sense, but about this we will not differ with him.
7. He next proceeds to the interpretation of the word שִׁילֹה, which before he applied unto David; and, to show the uncertainty and wanderings of all them who reject the true and only intendment of the Holy Ghost in this expression, he gives us the various opinions of his masters, not knowing himself what to adhere unto. אומרים יש;—"Some," he says, "there are who interpret it from the Syriac, as if it were as much as שלו, 'unto him,' or 'cujus omnia.' " But this yields him no advantage. Sundry learned men suspect some such sense in the word or derivation of it, ה being put for ו; and the translation of the LXX., reading ᾧ ἀπόκειται, seems to have had respect thereunto. But then the Messiah is signally denoted, whose the kingdom was, whom the promises especially respected, and to whom the gathering of the people was to be. Some, he adds, derive it from שליל, which signifies the embryo in the womb; and in allusion hereunto, many interpret the word "his son," from שיל, which is as much as בן, from שליה, "the second birth," or certain membranes of the womb. And he adds afterwards, that שילה may be as much as ה ,בנו being put for ו. But yet neither can he hence obtain any thing towards his design. Wherefore he proceeds, "Some expound it of the city Shiloh, and then they interpret אוֹבָי, 'shall come,' השמש בא כמו, as that, 'The sun cometh,' that is, sets, or goes down, Eccles. 1:5; that is, שילה קץ יבא עד־כי,—'Until the end of Shiloh come;' for so it is written, 'He rejected the tabernacle at Shiloh, and chose David his servant.' " But it is evident unto all who use the least attention unto these things how forced, indeed foolish, this exposition is, "Until Shiloh come,"—'that is, until the city Shiloh be deserted, or forsaken, or destroyed;' so that, "Until it come," signifies, "when it shall be no more!" The application of that word to the setting of the sun, הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ וּבָא, "And the sun goeth down," is clear from the nature of the thing itself, and from the preceding words, הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ וְזָרַח, "The sun riseth;" but thence to draw it here to express the destruction of a city, in which sense it is never used, is a conceit purely rabbinical. Besides, we have showed already that sceptre and lawgiver could in no sense be said to abide with Judah until David came; for before his days that tribe had no especial interest in government at all. But this catching at relief from a word no way suited to contribute the least assistance in the case in hand, is a strong argument of a desperate sinking cause, which rather than men will forego, they will reach after helps from the shadow of the least twig that seems to be nigh unto them. I shall not contend with him about what he nextly asserts, namely, that this "until" doth not prove the ceasing of rule and government when the Shiloh comes. It is enough for us that it was not to cease before he came, as shall further be manifested in our ensuing explication and vindication of this prophecy. I have only by the way more particularly considered the evasions of this man, who is called, amongst the masters of the present Judaical profession "The wise," that the reader may know what thoughts to entertain concerning the expositions and objections of others of them who have not attained that reputation.
8. The subject here spoken of is "Judah," and that not as merely declaring the person of the fourth son of Jacob, but the tribe and family that sprang and was to spring from him. So are the whole tribes everywhere called in Scripture by the name of him from whom they sprang, and that principally from the prophecy and blessing in this chapter, wherein the common stream of patriarchal blessing, hitherto running in one channel, is divided into twelve branches, each son of Jacob being constituted a distinct spring of benediction unto his posterity.
Now, that the tribe of Judah, and not his person, but only as from him the whole received its denomination, and as he is included therein, is intended in this prophecy, is evident; for,—(1.) The things mentioned in this great patriarchal benediction were such as should befall the posterity of his children, to whom he spake, הַיָּמִים בְּאַחֲרִית "in the latter days," or "in the end of the days," as were all the blessings of them that went before Jacob also. Now, that expression in general signally denotes the times of Messiah, as we shall afterwards declare, and as hath in part already been made manifest; and as it relates in particular unto any of the tribes, it denotes the whole continuance of their times until that season should be accomplished: so that it cannot be restrained unto the persons of any of them. (2.) Nothing that is spoken of any of the rest of the sons of Jacob belonged unto them personally; no, though it had its foundation in their persons, or in an allusion unto their personal actings. Thus the "dividing of Simeon and Levi in Jacob," and the "scattering of them in Israel," belonged not unto their persons, though what befell their posterity of that nature had a special eye unto their personal miscarriage, verses 5–7. Neither was any thing here spoken of Judah in any measure fulfilled in his person, who spent his days in Egypt, without any pre-eminence among his brethren, or rule with conquest and terror, like a lion, over others. It is then the family, tribe, or posterity of Judah, that by that name is here intended.
9. Now, this tribe of Judah may be considered either absolutely in itself, as it was in its separate stations and condition in the wilderness, without the mixture of any not of his posterity; or with respect unto that accession which was afterwards made unto it occasionally from the other tribes. And this was fourfold:—First, From the lot of Simeon falling within its lot in the first inheritance of the land, Josh. 19:1; whence that tribe, though still keeping its distinct genealogy, was reckoned unto Judah, and became one people with them. Secondly, By the cleaving of the tribe of Benjamin, whose lot lay next unto it, and mixed with it in the very city of the kingdom, to the reigning house of David in the fatal division of the people, 1 Kings 12:20, 21, 27; upon which both those tribes were afterward called by the name of "Judah," verse 20, and the people of both יְהוּדִים, "Judaei," or Jews. Thirdly, By the falling off of the tribe of Levi unto with multitudes of other good men out of all the tribes of Israel, upon the idolatries and persecution of Jeroboam, 2 Chron. 11:13–17; by which means that one tribe quickly became more numerous and potent than all the rest. Fourthly, By the mixture and addition of those great numbers which, out of all the tribes of Israel, joined themselves unto them upon their return from Babylon, and the restitution of the worship of God amongst them in its proper place. Now, it is Judah with all these accessions that is intended in this prophecy and benediction; yet so as that in many things,—as, namely, in the production of the Messiah,—the natural, genuine offspring of Judah was still to have the pre-eminence.
10. That which is foretold concerning this Judah is, that it should have שֵׁבֶט and מְחֹקֵק, a "sceptre" and "law-giver," or a writer of laws for others' observation. That rule, power, and government, are hereby intended shall be afterwards evinced. What time this should come to pass is not limited; only, after it did so, it was not to cease until the Shiloh came. The foundation of the execution, then, of this promise, in the erection of polity and government in that tribe, was not laid until about six hundred and twenty years after this time. So certain is that which we before observed, that this patriarchal benediction concerned not the persons of his sons and their then present condition, but that of their posterity in the latter days; and this was done when the kingdom was given to David, of the tribe of Judah. Neither is the kind of government or rule which should be erected in that tribe expressed in the words, only a rule and polity is promised unto it, or that they should be a people having the principle of rule or government in and among themselves. Whilst they continued such, the sceptre and scribe departed not from them; and this they did, as with great variety in the outward form of government, though the law and polity amongst them were still the same, so not without some intercision of rule, until the time specified was accomplished. And where the law and polity are still the same, accidental alterations in the modes and manner of governing make no essential change in the state of the people or nature of the government. Thus the first constitution or rule in that tribe was in a way of government absolutely monarchical. This being imprudently managed by Rehoboam, lost the ten tribes, who would never afterwards submit unto the regal family of Judah. Its retrieval, after an intercision made of it in the Babylonish captivity, was ducal, or by an honorary president, with a mixture both of aristocracy and of the power of the people. Upon the ceasing of these extraordinarily called rulers, the aristocracy in the sanhedrin prevailed; whereunto succeeded a mixed monarchy in the Asmonaeans into their power and place; and their interest being ruined by intestine divisions, Herod by craft and external force intruded himself.
Neither did his usurpation make any essential change in the rule or polity of the nation, although in his own person he was a foreigner; for even during the turbulent government of the Herodians, with the interposition of the Roman arms, the nation, with that which constitutes a people, its laws and polity, was still continued, though the administration of superior rule was not always in the hands of Jews. In this state things continued amongst them until the destruction of the commonwealth by Vespasian, and of the city and temple by Titus; only, as a presage of the departure of sceptre and scribe, the power of judgment as to the lives of men was some years before taken from the sanhedrin, John 18:31.
11. By this fixation of rule in general in Judah, we are freed from any concernment in the disputes of learned men about the precise time of the departure foretold; and, indeed, if any thing be more intended in this prediction, but only that the tribe of Judah should continue in a national political state, with government in itself, it will be utterly impossible to determine exactly and precisely upon the accomplishment of this prophecy. Some would fix it on the conquest of Jerusalem by Pompey, during the time of Hyrcanus and Aristobulus the Asmonaeans, not many years after which the Shiloh came,—which small remnant of time, as they suppose, impeacheth not the truth of the prediction,—for in that action of Pompey, Cicero declares the nation conquered: "Victa est, elocata, servata," Orat. pro Flacc. But if this might suffice for the departure of sceptre and scribe, much more might the former conquest by the Babylonians do so; which yet, by all men's consent, it did not. Besides, the nation was left free by Pompey unto its own laws and polity, as were many other nations subdued by him. Τῶν εἰλημμένων ἐθνῶν τὰ μὲν αὐτόνομα ἠφίει, says Appian, Bell. Mithrid. cap. cxiv.;—"He left some of the conquered nations free to their own rule and laws," among which were the Jews. Some fix the period in Herod, an Idumaean, a stranger to Judah, only a proselyte; on which account we have many contests, managed by Baronius, Scaliger, Casaubon, Bullinger, Montague, Pererius, A Lapide, Cappellus, Scultetus, Rivetus, Spanhemius, and others innumerable.
But granting Herod to have been an Idumaean, as he was undoubtedly by extract, and that nation not to have been incorporated into Judah upon the conquest made of it by Hyrcanus, only that he was in his own person a proselyte, why the sceptre should any more depart from Judah because of his reign, than it did in the days of the Asmonaeans before him, who were of the tribe of Levi, I see no reason. The government and polity of the nation was that of the Jews, whoever usurped and enjoyed the place of supreme rule; as in the Roman empire the rule and government was that of the Romans, though Philip an Arabian, Maximinus a Thracian, and sundry others, foreigners, were emperors amongst them. One would solve the difficulty of the Asmonaeans and Herodians by affirming that the supreme power of the nation in their days was in the sanhedrin, the greatest number of the persons whereof it was constituted being always of the tribe of Judah, as the Talmudists constantly affirm. But neither are we concerned herein. The government, as hath been manifested, was still in and of the tribe of Judah, with the fore-mentioned accessions denominated from it, until the destruction of the country, city, and temple, by Vespasian and Titus; which is all that in the prediction is intended. And that was the precise season aimed at, especially if we suppose, as rationally we may, that כִּי עַד is to be repeated ἐκ κοινοῦ, and to respect the last clause of the prediction, "And to him the gathering of the nations;" which was accomplished signally before the final ruin of the church and state of the Jews, according as Christ himself foretold, Matt. 24:14.
12. Now, because some fix the departure of the sceptre and law-giver unto the removal of the sanhedrin, it may not be amiss to declare in our passage what that sanhedrin was, and what the power wherewith it was intrusted, and this briefly, because it is a subject that many learned men have laboured in. The name סנדרין or סנהדרין, "sanedrin" or "sanhedrin," is taken from the Greek, συνέδριον. Συνέδριον sometimes signifies the place where the senators meet,—the same with βουλευτήριον; as in Herodian, Συνῆλθον οὖν οὐκ εἰς τὸ συνήθει συνέδριον, ἀλλʼ εἰς τοῦ Διὸς τὸ Καπιτωλίον·—"They assembled not in the accustomed council-house, but in the Capitol, the temple of Jupiter." But most frequently it is taken for "consessus judicum," an assembly of judges, a court made up of many assessors; whence the areopagum, that is, "the court of judges," is so called in Aeschines. Σύνεδρος is an assessor in such a court; and σύνεδρος κύκλος is such an assembly of magistrates or princes as they call "corona considentium,"—such as the sanhedrin was. And this name of sanhedrin, though it be plainly a Greek word, a little corrupted, as is the manner of the Jews in their use of them, is frequently used in the Targum of the Hagiographa; which places are collected by Elias in Tishbi. Some of the Jewish masters would have it to be a word of their own language, whence they invent strange etymologies of it, which are some of them mentioned by Buxtorf. Lex. Tal. Col. 1513; [thus] in Aruch, [a manuscript,] they would have it derived from דורונות שונאי, "haters of gifts," not knowing, doubtless, that "doronoth" is a Greek, and no Hebrew word.
13. The first appointment of this court, the original of this "consessus judicum," is recorded Num. 11:16, where, by God's order, seventy elders are called and designed to join with Moses in the rule of the people, and are instructed with gifts to fit them for that purpose. The continuance of this, with the institution of other courts depending thereon, is enjoined the people, Deut. 16. Some say the first seventy were of them who had been officers over the people in Egypt, and had suffered for them: "Whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people and officers over them,"—הָעָם זִקְנֵי; πρεσβύτεροι and πρεσβύτεροι τοῦ λαοῦ, in the New Testament, "elders and elders of the people." Others think these had been elders and officers of the people before in criminal and civil causes, but now were absolutely joined with Moses in all. These with him made up seventy-one; which was the constant number afterwards.
14. The principal things recorded concerning this court of elders or judges are,—First, Their orders, namely, that there was one that always presided amongst them, whom they called נשיא, "The prince," and מופלא, "The excellent," who supplied the place of Moses; and on his right hand sat he whom they called דין בית אב, "The father of the house of judgment," or consistory, who gathered the suffrages of the assessors; by whom stood two scribes, הדיינים סופרי, "scribes of judgment," one on the right hand of the prince, the other on his left, one whereof wrote down the sentences of them who condemned, the other them who absolved, the persons that were to be judged. There belonged also to the court two criers, and two who received the alms that were given by them who were absolved. Before them, at some distance, sat those wise men out of whom the number of the sanhedrin, when any died or were removed, was to be supplied.
15. Secondly, The place of their meeting, which usually and ordinarily was at Jerusalem, הגזית בלשכת, "in a chamber of hewed stones," whence the judges are sometimes called by them, גזית חכמי, "The wise men of the stone chamber;" although, it may be, no more is intended in that expression but that it was a magnific, stately place or building, such as usually are made of stones hewed and carved. And they tell us that this place was built nigh the temple, part of it being on the holy ground, and part on that which was profane and common: whence also it had two doors; one on the sacred side, by which the prince and the assessors entered; the other on the profane, by which criminal persons were brought in before them by their officers. So Talmud in Joma. And this some take to be the place where our Lord Christ was judged: John 19:13, "He sat down in the judgment-seat, in a place that is called Λιθόστρωτος," that is, הגזית לשכת, the place built and raised up with hewed or squared stones; for that λιθόστρωτος doth not signify merely the "pavement," as we translate it, or the floor of the place, the apostle manifests by adding that "in the Hebrew it is called Gabbatha, גבתא;"—in the Hebrew; for although the word have a Syriac termination, according to the corrupt pronunciation of the Hebrew in those days among the people, yet the original of it is Hebrew, and the Syriac renders it here גְּפִיפְתָא, and reads not גַּבָּתָא. Now this signifies a high place, or a place built up on all sides and exalted; such as the Roman βήματα, or judgment-seats, were placed on. But this might be an alike place to the other; for I much question whether the Roman governor sat in judgment in the meeting-place of the sanhedrin.
16. Thirdly, The Jews treat much of the qualifications of the persons who were to be of the number of the assessors of this court. For, first, they were to be of the priests, Levites, or nobles of Israel; that is, principal men in the commonwealth. Yet none were admitted into their number merely on the account of their dignity or offices, not the king, not the high priest, unless they were chosen with respect unto their other qualifications;—for, secondly, they were to be קומה בעלי, "men of stature," and מראה בעלי, "men of countenance," or good appearance, to keep up, as they say, a reverence unto their office; and they were also to be חכמה בעלי, "men of wisdom," and זקנה בעלי, "men of age," according to the first institution, and this carried the common appellation, "Elders of the people." They add, in Dine Mamonoth, that they were to be כשפים בעלי, "men skilled in the art of incantations and charms, to find out such practices;" which the Talmudists thought good to add, to countenance themselves, many of whom were professed magicians. And, lastly, they were to be לשון בשבעין ידעין, "skilled in seventy tongues," that they might not need an interpreter; but fewer, I suppose, served their turn. They treat also in general that they ought to be men fearing God, hating covetousness, stout and courageous, to oppose kings and tyrants if need were.
From this number they exclude expressly persons over old, deformed, and eunuchs, whom they conclude to be cruel and unmerciful, as Claudian doth,—
"Adde quod eunuchus nulla pietate movetur
Nec generi natisve cavet; clementia cunctis
In similes, animosque ligant consortia damni."
"Mercy from eunuchs is removed away;
No care of race or children doth them sway.
This only renders men compassionate,
When misery is known their common fate."
17. The power of this court was great, yea, supreme many times, in all things among the people, and at all times in most things of concernment. All great persons and weighty causes were judged by them. When a whole tribe offended, or a high priest, or a king of the house of David, by these were their causes heard and determined. They had power also to determine about lawful war. They had two sorts of war: מצוה מלחמה, "commanded war." Such they esteemed war against the nations of Canaan, against Amalek, against any nation that oppressed Israel in their own land; and this kind of war the king, at any time, of his own accord might engage in. And they had הרשות מלחמה, "war permitted" only, as war for security and enlargement of territories; which could not be engaged in at any time but by consent and upon the judgment of this court. The enlargement of the city of Jerusalem, the reparation of the temple, and the constitutions of courts of judicature in other cities, belonged also unto them. In a word, they were to judge in all hard cases upon the law of God.
18. Their sentence extended to life and death; which last they had power to inflict four ways: וחנק הרג שרפה סקילה דין בית ומסרו מותות ארבע;—"Four deaths (four kinds of death) were committed to the house of judgment,— to stone, to burn, to slay with the sword, and to strangle." These were they who, in the days of the restoration of the church by Ezra, by reason of the excellency of the persons (many of them being prophets and men divinely inspired), are usually called הגדולה כנסת אנשי, "The men of the great congregation." And the power of this court was continued, though not without some interruption and restraint, unto the time of the last destruction of the city by Titus.
19. Besides this greater court, they had also two lesser in other places,— one of twenty-three assessors, which might be erected in any city or town where there were a hundred and twenty families or more, but not less; and these also had power over all causes, criminal and civil, which happened within the precincts of their jurisdiction, and over all punishments, unto death itself.
Hilary on the second psalm tells us that "erat a Mose ante institutum in omni synagoga septuaginta esse doctores;"—"Moses had appointed that in every synagogue there should be seventy teachers." He well calls them "teachers," because that was part of their duty, to teach and make known the law of God in justice and judgment. And he adds, "Cujus doctrinae Dominus in evangeliis meminit, dicens;"—"Whose teaching our Lord mentions in the gospel, saying, The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' chair;" so referring the direction there given by our Saviour to the judicial determinations of these judges, and not to their ordinary teachings or sermons to the people. But herein his mistake is evident, that he supposeth the number of seventy to have belonged to every synagogue, which was peculiar to the great court before described.
And besides this judicature of twenty-three in the greater towns, there were also in the lesser towns appointed a court of three assessors, who might judge and determine in many cases, about money, debts, and contracts, but had nothing to do in transgressions that were capital.
20. In this court's judging and determining according to the law of Moses consisted the rule and polity of the nation: and it is evident that they were continued amongst them until the coming of the Shiloh; for themselves constantly aver that the power of judging capitally was taken from the sanhedrin about forty years before the destruction of the second temple, though, I suppose, it will be found that their power was rather occasionally sometimes suspended by the Romans than absolutely taken away, until the final destruction of the city.
21. Unto this Judah, that we may return, upon the grant and during the continuance of this sceptre and law-writer, it is promised that the Shiloh should come, that is, the Messiah; and that unto him shall be the gathering of the people. So was the promise unto Abraham, namely, that in his seed all people, or all nations of the earth, should be blessed. שִׁילֹה, "Shiloh," is a word used only in this place; and it comes from שָלָה, "shalah," to "prosper," or "save:" so that the most probable denotation of the word is a prosperer, a deliverer, a saviour, as we shall afterwards more fully manifest. The promise of the continuance of sceptre and lawwriter is, כִּי־יָבֹא עַד, until this Shiloh should be come.
22. The Jews, as was intimated before, lay a double exception to the sense and interpretation which we gave of the particles כִּי עַד, "until:"—First, that עַד signifies "for ever:" so that the meaning of the words is, that the sceptre and law-writer shall not depart from Judah "for ever;" the reason whereof is given in the next words, because "the Shiloh shall come," כִּי being often causal. But though עַד may sometimes signify as much as "for ever,"— though mostly it doth but "adhuc," "yet," or "as yet,"—yet it doth not, nor can so, when it is joined, as here, with כִּי, which limits the duration intimated by the subject-matter treated on, and sense of the ensuing words that they have respect unto. They except, again, that עַד is burdened with the accent Jethib, which distinguisheth the sense, and puts a stop upon it. But this they can give no instance in the confirmation of, especially when it hath Athnac immediately preceding it, as in this place it hath. Besides, שֵׁבֶט and מְחֹקֵק, "sceptre and law-writer," are long since actually departed from Judah, and, in their judgment, the Shiloh not yet come; which perfectly destroys the verity of the prediction.
23. Having taken this brief view of the words, we may draw our argument from them, which is this: The Messiah, according to this prediction, must come while the rule and government of Judah was continued, or before it was utterly removed or taken away; but they are long since departed and taken away,—they have been so at least ever since the destruction of the nation, city, and temple, by Titus: and therefore the Messiah is long since come; which was proposed unto confirmation. To manifest the uncontrollable evidence of this testimony, and our argument from it, there is no more necessary but that we demonstrate,—first, That by "sceptre" and "law-writer," rule and government are intended; secondly, That the promised Shiloh is the Messiah; thirdly, That all rule and national polity were long since utterly taken away from Judah, even on the destruction of the city and temple. Now, the proof of the two former we shall take, first, from the text and context; secondly, from the confession of the ancient Jews themselves. The last, being matter of fact, must be evinced from story, and the state of things in the world from those days; whereon there will be no rising up against this testimony by any thing but that pertinacious obstinacy which the Jews are judicially given up unto.
24. The FIRST thing proposed, namely, that by "sceptre" and "law-giver" rule and government are intended, is evident, not only from the words themselves, which are plain and expressive, but from the context also, neither was it ever denied by any of the Jews until they found themselves necessitated thereunto by their corrupt interest. Amongst other things, the dying patriarch foretelling the erection of a rule and government amongst his posterity, whereas it might have been expected that of course it should have been fixed in Reuben, his first-born, according to the line of its descent from the foundation of the world, he deprives him of it, verse 4. Though he was, in the ordinary course of nature, שְאֵת יֶתֶר עָז וְיֶתֶר, "the excellency of his dignity and the excellency of his strength," verse 3, yet saith he, אַל־תּוֹתַר, "Thou shalt not excel,"—'not preserve that excellency in thy posterity, nor have the pre-eminence of rule,' for the reason which he there expresseth. In like manner he passeth by the next in order, Simeon and Levi, taking from them all expectation of that privilege, by foretelling that they should be "divided in Jacob, and scattered in Israel," verse 7. Coming to Judah, there he fixeth the seat of rule, verse 8, "Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise," alluding unto his name, אַהֶיךָ יוֹדוּךָ אַתָּה יְהוּדָה; 'thou shalt be exalted unto that rule amongst them, from the right whereunto the others fell by their transgression.' And this rule, saith he, shall consist, as all prosperous dominion doth, in two things:—First, In the regular obedience of those who de jure are subject unto it: "Thy father's children shall bow down before thee;"—'Thou shalt have the authority among and over the rest of my posterity.' Secondly, In the conquest of the enemies and adversaries of the dominion itself: "Thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; as a lion's whelp thou art gone up from the prey:" whereunto the words insisted on are subjoined, "The sceptre shall not depart,"—that is, 'the sceptre of rule amongst thy brethren, and prevalency against thine enemies, however it may be weakened or interrupted, shall not utterly depart or be removed'—"until Shiloh come." The context is clear and perspicuous. The Jews, as we shall see, only cavil at words and syllables; the reason of the Scripture and the coherence of the context they take no notice of.
25. Secondly, the Targumists have, with one consent, given us the same account of the sense and importance of these words; and some of them are acknowledged by the Jews, in Shebet Jehuda, to have been composed by divine inspiration, or assistance of the בת־קול, as they express it in their Talmuds. Thus Onkelos, the best of them, מדבית שולטן עביד יעדי לא יהודה;—"The ruler, lord, or prince," he that hath dominion, "shall not be taken from the house of Judah." And Jonathan, ושליטין מלכין פסקין לא יהודה מדבית;—"Kings and rulers shall not cease from the house of Judah." The same words are used by that called of Jerusalem. The authority of these paraphrases among the Jews is such, as that they dare not openly recede from them. And therefore Manasseh in his Conciliator, where he endeavours to enervate this testimony, passeth over these Targums in silence, as having nothing to oppose to their authority; which is a sufficient evidence that he saw the desperateness of the cause wherein he was engaged. Solomon and Bechai acknowledge rule and dominion to be intended in the words: but, according to the latter, they are not to be erected until the coming of the Messiah; which is no less expressly contrary to the Targum than to the text itself, affirming plainly that then it was to end, and not begin. Add hereunto, further, to manifest the consent of the ancient Jews unto this sense of the words, that in their Talmuds they affirm the lawgiver here mentioned to be the sanhedrin, whose power continued in Judah until the Shiloh came; whereof we have spoken before.
26. Unto these reasons and testimonies we may subjoin the use of the words themselves. שֵׁבֶט is originally and properly a "rod" or "staff;" all other significations of it are metaphorical. Among them the principal is that of "sceptre,"—an ensign of rule and government; nor is it absolutely used in any other sense, but in that very frequently: Ps. 45:7, מַלְכוּתֶךָ שֵׁבֶט מִישֹׁר שֵׁבֶט;—"A sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of thy kingdom." Num. 24:17, מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל שֵׁבֶט וְקָם;—"A sceptre shall arise out of Israel;" that is, a prince or a ruler. Targum, "Christ shall rule out of Israel." And this sense of the word is made more evident by its conjunction with מְחֹקֵק, a "law-giver"—he that prescribes and writes laws with authority to be observed. Deut. 33:21, "In a portion סָפוּן מְחֹקֵק," "of the lawgiver hidden;" that is, Moses. "The great scribe," saith the Targum; for, as they suppose, the sepulchre of Moses was in the lot of Gad. "Mechokek," saith Aben Ezra; that is, הגדול השליט, "the great president" or "ruler." Ps. 108:9, "Judah, מְחֹקְקִי," "my lawgiver;" with allusion to this prediction of Jacob. Isa. 33:22, "The LORD is our judge, the LORD is מְחֹקְקֵנוּ," "our lawgiver." These two words, then, in conjunction do absolutel denote rule and dominion.
27. The later masters of the Jews, to avoid the force of this testimony, have coined a new signification for these words. "Shebet," they say, is only a "rod of correction;" and "Mechokek" any scribe or teacher, which they would refer to the rabbins they have had in every generation. Some of them by "Shebet" understand a "staff of supportment," which they were to enjoy in the midst of their troubles. So I remember Manasseh Ben Israel, not long since, made it one of his reasons for their admission into England, that thereby this prophecy might receive somewhat of accomplishment by this countenance and encouragement in this land. But the most of them adhere to the former sense of the words. So they call the story of their calamities and sufferings יהודה שבט;—"The Rod of Judah." But this evasion is plainly and fully obviated in the former opening of the words, and confirmation of their genuine importance: for, —(1.) It is openly contrary to the whole context and scope of the place; (2.) To the meaning and constant use of the words themselves, especially as conjoined; (3.) To the Targums, and all old translations; (4.) To the Talmud, and all their own ancient masters; (5.) To the truth of the story, Judah having been long in a most flourishing and prosperous condition, without any such signal calamity as that which they would intimate to be intended in the words, namely, such as for sixteen hundred years they have now undergone; (6.) The supportment they have had hath not been national, nor afforded to Judah as a tribe or people, but hath consisted merely in the greatness and wealth of a few individual persons scattered up and down the world, neither themselves nor any else knowing unto what tribe they did belong; and, (7.) This hath been in things no way relating to the worship of God, or their church-state, or their spiritual good; (8.) Their scribes were not formerly of the tribe of Judah, and their later rabbins wholly of an uncertain extraction. So that this pretence proves nothing but the misery of their present state and condition, wherein they seek a refuge for their infidelity in vanity and falsehood.
28. Our SECOND inquiry is concerning the subject of the promise under consideration, which is the "Shiloh;" whereby we say the promised Seed is intended. About the derivation and precise signification of the word we have no need to contend. Most learned men look upon it as derived from שָלָה, to be "quiet, safe, happy, prosperous;" whence also is שַׁלְוָה, Ps. 122:7, "safety, peace, prosperity, abundance." Hence "Shiloh," says Mercer, "sonat tranquillum, prosperum, pacatum, felicem, augustum, victorem, cui omnia prospere succedunt,"—"signifies one quiet, prosperous, peaceable, happy, honourable, a conqueror, to whom all things succeed well and happily." To this etymology of the word agree Galatinus, Fagius, Melancthon, Pagninus, Drusius, Schindler, Buxtorfius, Amama, and generally all the most learned in the Hebrew tongue. The Vulgar Latin, rendering the words, "qui mittendus est," "who is to be sent," as if it were from שָלַח, corrupts the sense, and gives advantage to the Jews to pervert the words, as both Raymundus and Galatinus observe. Neither is there any thing nearer the truth in the derivation of the word from שֶלּוֹ, as though הֹ were put for וֹ, and שֶ for אֲשֶׁר, so making it as much as לוֹ אֲשֶׁר, "quae ei," "which to him;" whereunto yet that ᾧ ἀπόκειται and the τὰ ἀποκείμενα αὐτοῦ of the Greeks, the former mentioned by Eusebius, the latter in the present copies, both by Justin Martyr, do relate or allude.
Others suppose שיל to signify "a son," from שליה, which denotes the "afterbirth," or membrane wherein the child is wrapped in the womb. Thence שִׁילֹח, "Shiloh," should be the same with בְנוֹ, "his son," ה being put for ו, whi is not unusual, saith Kimchi. But Galatinus supposeth ה to be a feminine affix, denoting that the Messiah was to be the seed of the woman, or to be born of a virgin; neither is his conjecture absolutely to be rejected, although Mercer pronounces it to be against the rules of grammar, for we know they hold not always in things mysterious. He that would be further satisfied about the importance of the word, may consult Raymundus, Porchetus, and Galatinus, in their discourses against the Jews on this subject; Kimchi, Pagnin, Mercer, Schindler, Philip ab Aquino, and Buxtorf, in their lexicons; Munster, Fagius, Drusius, Grotius, in their annotations on the text; Helvicus, Rivet, Episcopius, Boetius, Hoornbeek, in their discourses from it. The weight of our argument lies not in the precise signification of the word. The Messiah it is who is intended in that expression,—
29. For, first, this is manifest from the context and words themselves. The promise of the Messiah was the foundation of that nation and people, the reason of the call of Abraham, and of the erection of a kingdom and a state in his posterity. This we have elsewhere demonstrated. This promise concerning him, and covenant in him, was always the chief matter and head of the patriarchal benedictions, when they blessed their children and posterity. Now, unless we grant him to be intended in this expression, there is no mention of him at all in this prophetical eulogy of Jacob. Besides, his posterity being now to be distributed into twelve distinct tribes or families, and each of them having his peculiar blessing appropriated unto him, wherein it is certain and confessed by all the Jews that this privilege of bringing forth the Messiah was henceforth empaled [i. e., restricted] unto Judah, it must be done in this place, or there is no footstep of it in the Scripture; and it is very strange that Jacob, in reckoning up the privileges and advantages of Judah above his brethren, should omit the chief of them, from whence all the rest did flow. And the very tenor of the words manifests this intention. Fixing on that which was the fountain and end of all blessing, on the promised Seed, he passeth over his elder children, and determines it on Judah, with the continuance of rule to the coming thereof.
30. Secondly, That which in the text is affirmed concerning this Shiloh makes it yet more evident who it is that is intended: קְּהַת וְלוֹ עַמִּים;—"To him the gathering of the people." קְּהַת: LXX., προσδοκία ἐθνῶν, "the expectation of the nations,"—that is, תִּקְוָה, from קָוָה, "to expect or look for." So the Vulgate, "expectatio gentium." Onkelos, וליה עממיא ישתמעון;—"And him shall the people obey," or "to him they shall hearken." Ben Uzziel, עממיא יתימסון ובדיליה;—"Because of him the people shall faint;" that is, cease their opposition, and submit unto him. Targum of Jerusalem, כל דישתעבדון עתידין וליה דארעא מלכותא;—"And to him shall all the kingdoms of the earth be subject." All to the same purpose. קְּהַת, in construction, from יְקָהָה, is from יָקַתּ, "to hear, attend, obey." The word is but once more used in the Scripture, Prov. 30:17, where it is rendered "doctrine," or teaching given out with authority, and therefore to be obeyed: so that primarily it may seem to denote obedience unto doctrine; which because men gather themselves together to attend unto, it signifies also that gathering together; and so is rendered by Rashi, אסיפת, "the gathering together;" collection, or congregating; and also is it by others, who seem to look on קָוָה as its root, which signifies "to gather and collect," as well as "to hope, expect, and look after." That which in all these interpretations is aimed at, wherein they all agree, is one and the same thing,—namely, that the Gentiles, people, heathen, should be called and gathered unto the Shiloh, should hear his doctrine, obey his law, and be made subject unto him.
Now, as this was eminently contained in the great, fundamental promise concerning the Messiah made to Abraham, namely that "in him all the nations of the earth should be blessed," so there is not any description of him in the following prophets more eminent than this, that "unto him the gathering of the people should be," which in many places is made the characteristical note of his person and kingdom. Hence some of the Jews themselves, as Rabbi Solomon, interpret this place by that of Isa. 11:10, דְרשׁוּ גּוֹ ם אֵלָיו,—"To him shall Gentiles seek;" and that of chap. 42:4, יְיַחֵלוּ אִיִּים וּלְתֹורָתוֹ,—"The isles shall wait for his law." The sense also of the words given by the LXX. and the Vulgate, προσδοκία ἐθνῶν, "expectatio gentium," has good countenance given unto it in other places of Scripture: for as he is called, Hag. 2:7, כָּל־הַגּוֹ ם חֶמְדַּת, "The desire of all nations," that which they desire and expect; so speaking of himself, Isa. 60:9, he says, יְקַוּוּ אִיִּים לִי, "The isles" (the same with גּוֹ ם, "the Gentiles") "shall wait for me," or "expect me." Now, he to whom the Gentiles shall seek, whose doctrine they shall learn, whose law they shall obey, to whom they shall be subject, in whom they shall be blessed, and to whom they shall be gathered for all these ends and purposes, is the true and only Messiah; and this is the Shiloh here mentioned.
31. We have the concurring assent of all the Targums unto this application of the word "Shiloh." Ben Uzziel: משיחא מלכא ייתי די זמן עד; —"Until the time wherein the King Messiah shall come." The same are the words in that of Jerusalem; both of them, as we saw before, interpreting the next words also of the Messiah. And Onkelos to the same purpose: מלכותא היא דדיליה משיחא עד־דייתי;—"Until the Messiah shall come, whose is the kingdom." Now, after the Scripture itself, there is no greater evidence of the persuasion of the old church of the Jews than what is found in the consent of these Targums; and of how little validity the exceptions of the modern Jews are against their authority is known to all.
32. And we have also the concession of their Talmuds and most learned masters, fully consenting in this cause. So in the Talmud of Jerusalem, in Chelek. "The world," say they, "is created for the Messiah, שמו ומה, and what is his name in the house of Rabbi Shiloh? They said, His name is Shiloh; as it is written, 'Until Shiloh come.' " And in Bereshith Rabba, on this place of Genesis, "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh come:" דוד בן משיח זה;—"This is Messiah the son of David, who shall come to rule the kingdoms with a sceptre," as Ps. 2. And in Bereshith Ketanna, "Until the Shiloh come, עולם אימות שעתידין; for it shall come to pass that the nations of the world shall bring their gifts unto Messiah the son of David." And Kimchi in המשיח על ׃שלה והנבואה בנו פירושו;—" 'Shiloh' is interpreted 'his son;' and it is a prophecy of the Messiah." And innumerable other testimonies from them to the same purpose may be produced; yea, this sense is so common among them, and so known to have been the sense of the ancient church, that the wisest among them turn every stone to retain this interpretation of the words, and yet to avoid the force of the testimony insisted on from them.
33. This, then, we have obtained from this testimony, namely, that the political rule and national government should not absolutely and irrecoverably be removed and taken away from the tribe of Judah until the promised Seed should be exhibited, until the Messiah should come. It remaineth, THIRDLY, that we also evidence that all rule, government, and polity, is long since taken away from, and ceased in, Judah, and that for many generations there hath been no such thing as a tribe of Judah in any national or political condition or constitution in the world. And had we not here to do with men obstinate and impudent, there would need very few words in this matter; but they must have that proved unto them which all the world sees and knows, and takes care to make good, and which themselves, as occasion serves, confess and bewail. Is it not known to all the world, that for these sixteen hundred years last past they have been scattered over the face of the earth, leading a precarious life, under the power of kings, princes, commonwealths, as their several lots in their dispersion have fallen, "sine Deo, sine homine rege?" Cast out of God's especial care, they wander up and down, without law, government, or authority, of their own or amongst themselves. And this, as I said, themselves also confess, as they have occasion. To this purpose see Kimchi on Hos. 3:4, היים בו שאנחנו הגלות ימי הם ואלה;—"And these are the days of captivity, wherein we are at this day; for we have neither king nor priest of Israel, but we are in the power of the Gentiles, and under the power of their kings and princes." Doth this man think that sceptre and lawgiver are departed from Judah, or no? And the Targum of Jonathan on that place is considerable; for saith he, "The children of Israel shall abide many days without a king of the house of David, and without a ruler in Israel: afterwards the children of Israel shall repent, and seek the worship of the Lord their God, and shall obey the Messiah, the son of David, the king." So also are the words of Abarbanel on Isa. 53. He tells us that in their captivity and banishment, part of their misery is היה שלא משפט שבט ולא ממשלת ולא מלכות בישראל;—"that in Israel there is neither kingdom, nor rule, nor sceptre of judgment;" that is, plainly, sceptre and lawgiver are departed: and therefore, if there be any truth in this prophecy, the Messiah is long since come. In like manner Maimonides: "From the time that we have left our own land, we have no power of making laws." And they jointly confess, in the Talmud. Tract. Sanhed., that some time before the destruction of the temple, all power of judging, both as unto life and death, and as unto pecuniary punishments, was taken from them: so that if there be any certainty in any thing in this world, it is certain that sceptre and lawgiver are long since departed from Judah.
34. There are not many things wherein the present Jews do more betray the desperateness of their cause, than in their endeavour to obscure this open and known truth in matter of fact. That which they principally insist upon, is a story out of the Itinerary of Benjamin Tudelensis.
This Benjamin was a Jew, who about five hundred years ago passed out of Europe into the eastern parts of the world, in a disquisition of his countrymen and their state and condition; whereof he hath given an account in his Itinerary, after the manner of vulgar travellers. Among other things which he relates, fide rabbinica, he tells us of a Jew that hath, or rather then had, a principality at Bagdad, whom his countrymen called "The son of David," there being a thousand of them living there all in subjection unto him. This honour was allowed him by the caliph who in those days ruled there; so that when he passeth in the streets, they cry before him, "Make way for the son of David." Fagius long since returned a proper answer to this story in a proverb of their own, עדיו ירחיק לשקר רוצה; —"He that hath a mind to lie, let him place his witnesses at distance enough." When Benjamin passed over those eastern parts of the world, they were greatly unknown to Europeans, and he had thence advantage to feign what he pleased for the reputation of his nation; which he was not wanting to the improvement of. Time hath now brought truth to light. The people of Europe, especially the English and Hollanders, have some while since discovered the state of things in those parts, and can hear no tidings of Benjamin's principality, nor his son of David; nor could the Jews ever since get any one to confirm his relation. Besides, if all that he avers should be granted to be true, as in the main it is undoubtedly false, what would it amount unto as to the matter in hand? Is this the sceptre and lawgiver promised unto Judah, as the great privilege above his brethren? It seems, an obscure, unknown person in Bagdad, in captivity, by the permission of a tyrant, whose slave and vassal he is, hath a preeminence among a thousand Jews, all slaves to the same tyrant!
And this is all they pretend unto in יהודה שבט, in the forty-second story, where they give us an account of this נשא or הגולה ריש, "prince" or "head of the captivity," as they would have him esteemed. A rich Jew they would make him to be, chosen unto a presidentship by the heads or rectors of the schools of Bagdad, Sora, and Pombeditha; and they confess that for many ages they have chosen no such president, because the Saracens killed the last that was so chosen. Is this, I say, the continuance of the tribe and sceptre of Judah? Judah must be a nation, a people, in a political sense and state, dwelling in their own land, and have rule and dominion exercised therein according to their own law, or the sceptre and lawgiver are departed from them; and this they evidently are sixteen hundred years ago: and therefore the Shiloh, the promised Messiah, is long since come; which is the truth whose confirmation from this testimony was intended.
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