From this number they exclude expressly persons over old, de- - formed, and eunuchs, whom they conclude to be cruel and unmerci- ful, 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 deter- mined. They had power also to determine about lawful war. They had two sorts of war: myp nondp, “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
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274 THE PROMISED MESSIAH [ EXERC. XIL
they had nwnn nnndy, “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 en- largement 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: naw mdpp ps ma Dey min yas pam) 397 ;—“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 ndvin nova ‘wx, “The men of the great congrega- tion.” 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, eraminal 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 institu- tum in omni synagoga septuaginta esse doctores;”—“ Moses had ap- pointed 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 doctrinze Dominus in evangeliis meminit, di- cens ;”—“ Whose teaching our Lord mentions in the gospel, saying, The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ chair;” so referring the direc- tion 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 evi- dent that they were continued amongst them until the coming of the Shiloh; for themselves constantly aver that the power of judg-
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ing 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 destruc- tion 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. ow, “ Shiloh,” is a word used only in this place; and it comes from 77%, “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 law-writer is, N3‘"3 4Y, 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 *3 TY, “until :”—First, that 7¥ 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,” ‘2 being often causal. But though TY 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 ‘>, which limits the duration inti- mated by the subject-matter treated on, and sense of the ensuing words that they have respect unto. They except, again, that TY 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 pre- ceding it, as in this place it hath. Besides, 02¥ and PRN, “ 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.