GOVERNMENT
956
GOVERNMENT
functionaries appear under the kings to have conduct- j ed tlie civil a(hiiinistration. It was the duty of the priests and Levites to care for the maintenance of justice (Deut. xvii, 8 sq.). The king himself ren- dered decisions in the highest cases, not seldom in less weighty causes, or even altogether. See Trial. As officers' of the exchequer, at least so for as to provide for the wants cf the royal kitchen, under Solomon, twelve commissioners were ajipointed (1 Kings iv, 7 sq.). Besides, each branch of the roj-al household or estal)lishment, the domains and manors, had their par- ticular superintendent. See Puuveyok. All these constitute together, as we may say, the regal l)oard or court. On the other hand, under the 550 officials of Solomon alluded to in 1 Kings ix, 23 must be reckoned under-orticers, of whose department of service we know nothing further. Among these intermediate jurisdic- tions are, at all events, included the lieutenants of jirovinccs, r.i:"'T^n "i^lw (''princes of the provinces," 1 Kings XX, 14 sq., i. q. district-superintendents), who are first mantioned under Ahab of Israel. In con- junction with them may be dassilied the municipal officers, the elders and magnates of cities, to whom were addressed and who executed the roj'al behests (1 Kings xxi, 8; 2 Kings x, 1). See Old Mex. The oldest and leading men of the tribes (q. v.) also formed a kind of national representatives. The scribes (q. v.) further had a certain official position. See Governor. Under the Chakhvan rule, Gedaliah (q. v.) appears as governor (^i) of desolated and depopulated Judaea (2 Kings XXV, 22), which after this time became, in connection with Egj'pt, Ccelo-Syria, and Phoenicia, a mere satrapy of the Babylonian empire (Bero: us, in Josephus, Ant. x, 11, 1). The Persian court commit- ted all the jirovinces lying west of the Euphrates to satraps, m'n3 (Ezra viii, 3G ; Neh. ii, 9), associated witli whom for civil administration was a government- al chamber, with chancellor, secretary, and assessors (Ezra iv, 8, 9). Yet the same title, nns (i. q. pasha), was also borne bj- the (Jewish) jjrrefects of the new Israelitish colony (Ezra vi, 7 ; Neh. vii, 14, 18 ; comp. Hag. i, 1, 14; ii, 2, 21), whicli it had over its own peo- ple, exclusive of the circuit or ministerial officers (Neh. iii, 9, 14, 15, etc.), municipal officials, or D'^S^p (Neh. ii, 16; iv, 10; v, 7, etc.), and judges (Ezra vii, 25). See Tirsiiathah. Besides the Persian civil functionaries, there were likewise in the subject terri- tories tax-commissioners or treasiirj-.-officers appoint- ed, N^'n^TS (Ezra vii, 21), and under them a general forest-keeper (Neh. ii, 8). During the Seleucid-Syr- iau rula Judrea belonged, while their relations were peaceful, to the precinct of a general or (T-paTip/oQ of Phoenicia and Ccele-Syria (2 jMacc. iii, 5 ; iv, 4 ; viii, 8), who was a provincial officer endowed with civil and military jurisdiction. The administration of the revenue was intrusted to special functionaries (2 ]\Iacc. iii, 3 ; 1 jNIacc. x, 41 ; xiii, 37). The chief manage- ment of the finances, however, was in the hands of the royal chanibcrlain (2 Mace, iii, 7 sq.). During the government of Antiochus Epiphanes we find military appointees (1 Mace, vii, 8) ami extraordinary commis- sioners (1 >lacc. i, 53 ; ii, 15 ; 2 ^lacc. v, 22) in Juda?a. During the contests for the tlirone between Demetrius Soter and Alexander, the Jewish high-priests still re- tained the dignity of vassal-chiefs over Judrea (1 JIacc. x), and Jews were intrusted with executive authority, even beyond the limits of that territory (1 JIacc. xi, 59). Simon was absolute hereditary prince over Ju- da;a, and lield also tlie right of coinaue (1 ^facc. xv). In all this period, as well as earlier under tlie Egyp- tian dominion, the imposts were not unfrequently farmed out to the hiirh-priests, or to wealth}' Jews (1 'Mace, xi, 28; xiii, 15; Josephus, Ant. xiii, 4, 4 sq., in), which l)rought them into close connection with the royal functionaries, and even conferred upon them a
certain executive authorit3^ — Winer, ii, 205. See As-
SESSJIENT.
For the government of Judasa under the Romans, see Roman Empire.
3. Democratic Powers. — Notwithstanding the appar- ently unlimited and independent authority of these different kinds of rulers, the Hebrew people, efpsiial- h' during the earlier and purer ages of the common-
' wealth, reserved to themselves a large measure of di- rective or vetatory and magisterial influence, which enabled the popular will to express itself on all great emergencies, and even in minor points, in a clear and
I decided manner, through regularly constituted chan- nels, the general assembly or the select committee.
The supreme political bod}- of the Hebrew nation, duly met in congress, is designated in the original by two words of nearly equal frequency in the sacred writings, nX", efZa/t', from "i;"^, to apjwint, also tohrivg together ; and bnp, kahaV, from ^'H'p, i. q. Ku\nv, to
I convoke (Sept. tKicXijaia, avvaywyii ; Vulgate, Congre-
\ gatio, Calus, Ecclesiu'). The phrase "tabernacle of tiie Congregation,^' however, which so frequently occurs as indicating the place of meeting, is described by neither of these words, but b}' ^1 J-fl - [^nj<] ; the versions con- sistently mark the difference also, the Sept. invariably translating this phi-ase b}' // (tkiji'i) tov /.(((orvpiot; and the Yulg. by tabernaculum testimonii ; although when the word '1"V2 occurs without the ^rtX (as in Numb, xvi, 2), it has somewhat of the ambiguity of the Latin Curia, which equally well signifies the Senate and the Seiiute-house. In this passage ^"■^ - is translated by llovXi] and Tempus Concilii ; in man}' other passages the word is variously rendered, but generally bears reference to a set time or place, e. g. in Lam. i, 15, A. V. renders it asiemhly; but in ii, G, place of assemblij and solemn feast ; the Sept. and Vulgate arc equall}- capri- cious— Kaipot; and tempus standing in Lam. i, 15, and topTt], tabernaculum awA festivltas in ii, C. This word 1"1'a is the most frequent original equivalent of our noun "congregation." Apart from >nx (tabernacle), it has a highly generic sense, including all the holy as- semblies of the Jews.