Annotations upon the Holy Bible — Volume 1 — Section 139

3s uſe of the Jews is loſt, and Chriſt muſt be owned pin . rat The Scepter was for a time 1n other Tribes, as in Moſes of the Tribe of Levi, in divers of the Judges, who were of ſeveral Tribes ; and laſtly in the tribe of Benjamin under Saul, bur the Scepter departed from all theſe. Bur this is prophe- fied as Judsh's Privitedge, that when once the Scepter or Govern” ment came into that Tribe, which it did in Dewra's time, it ſhould not depart from it till Chriſt came, and then it ſhould depart. And thus it came to paſs. Concerning the time from David unto the Captivity of Babylon there is no diſpute, there being a conſtant Suc- celfion of Kings in that Tribe a!l that time. For the time of the Babyleniſh Captiviry, wherein there may ſeem to be more difficulty, it is to be conſidered, 7. That the Scepter or Government was not lot or departed from Judah, but only interrupted, and that but for Seventy years at moſt, which in ſo long a ſpace of time as above a Thoutand years is little to be regarded. As none will ſay the Kingdom was departed from the Houſe of Davia, becanſe of thoſe Inter-reigns or Interruptions which ſometimes fell out 1 that Family. Addto this, that God hath given them an abſolute pro- miſe and afſared hope of the Reſtauration of Juda/'s Scepter,to thar this was rather a Sleep than the Death of that Government. 2. Thar _ within theſe Seventy years there were ſome R=mainders and Beams of Judah" s Soveraignty in Jehoiachin, 2 Kings 25: 27: 1N Daniel, who was of that Tribe, Dan. 2: 25: and 5: 13: and of the King's Seed, Dan. 1: 3: and inthe ſucceſſive Heads or Governors of the Exiles, ' of whom the Jewiſh Wrirers ſay ſo much, and they affirm that they were always of the Houſe of David, and were more honou- rable than the Governors of the Jews which were left in the Land of Iſrael. 3. All that was then left of the Scepter of the Jews was in the Tribe ef Judah ; nor was the Scepter departed from Jx4ah to any other Tribe; and that is the thing which ſeems eſpecially to | be reſpefted in this Propheſy : For Judah is here compared with the reſt of the Tribes; and it is here ſignified, that the Power and Dominion which was in Judah, when onceit came thither, ſhould not ſhift from Tribe to Tribe, as it had done, bur whilſt there was any Sceprer or Supreme Government aſong th: Jews, it ſhould be in that Tribe, even till the coming of the Meſſias. Bur 1f there ſhould happen any total, but temporary Intercition or Ceſſatioa of the Government among all the Tribes, which now was tne cafe, that was no prejudice to the truth of this promiſe, nor to the pri- viledge granted to Judah above the reſt of the Tribes. Afffrer the Captivity, the State of the Jews was very various. Sometimes they had Governers put in by the Perſian King, as Zorobabel, who was alſo of the Tribe of Judah, and, as it is ſuppoied, Nephew of Je- hojachin ; and Nehemiah, whom Exſebius afficms to have been of the Tribe of Judah: And though he may ſeem to be numbred among the Prieſts. Nehem. 10: 8. yet a diligent Reader will find that he is even there diſtinguiſhed from them by his Tirle the Tirſbaths, ver. 1. and the word Prieſts ( verſe 8.) relateth only to the reſt there men- tioned beſides him ; eſpecially if this be compared with Chap 9. 38: where the Princes ( among whom ſurely Nehemiah was the chief ) are deſtinguiſhed from the Prieſts. And ſometimes the People choſe Governors, or Captain-generals, as the Maccabees, and others. Bur under all their Viciffitudes, after their return from Babylon, the Chief Government was evidently and unqueſtionably ſeared in the great Council called Sanhedrim, or Synedrium, wherein though Tome of the Tribe of Levi were mixed with thoſe of the Trive of Judah ; yer becauſe they, together with other Members of that Council, had their power beth from that Tribe by which they- were choſen, 'and in it, and for it, the Sceprer did truly remain in the Tribe of Judah ; even as it was rightly called the Roman em- pire when Trajan a Spaniard, or other Foreigners adminiftred it ; Or as we call it, the Kingdom of Poland, when they chuſe a King of another nation. How greatand venerable the Authority of this Council was among the Jews, may ealily be gathered, 1. From the Divine Inftirution of ir, Numb. 11. 16. whereby indeed it was at firſt to conſiſt of Perſons indifferently choſen our of all the Tribes ; bur now the other Tribes being baniſhed and diſperſed in unknown laces, and Benjamin and Levi being as ic were Acceſſons ro the Tribe of Jadah, and in a ſort incorporated with it ; it now be- comes as it. were appropriated to the Tribe of Judah, as a&- ing in its name, and by its Authority ; and the whole Land is called Judza, and all the People Jews, from the predominancy of that Tribe above the reſt. 2: From the great Power and Privi- ledges anciently granted to it, Deut. 17: 8, &c. 2 Chron, 19:8, 11: Pſalm. 122: 5. 3. Frem the teſtimony of Joſephus, and other Jewiſh Writers, which is moſt conſiderable in this Argument, who jarge- ly deſcribe and magnify the Power and Authority of it ; who tel] us that the Power of their King was ſubjet& to that of this Council : and therefore one of them addrefling his Speech to that Council where alſo the King himſelf was prelear, firl ſalutes the Senators, and after them the King. They affirm alſo, that the Power of ma. king War or Peace was veſted in that Council; and that Herod was tried for his Life by it. If ir be ſaid, that the Power of this Coun- cil was 1n @ great meaſure taken away, which the Jews confeſs John 18: 31+ and thar the Scepter of Judza was in the hand of the Romans, and by them given #0 Herod, who was no Jew, but an Idumean, and this before the coming of the M:/jizs, which is the only remaining difficulty ; to this many things may beſaid, r. That this happened but a few years before the coming of Chriſt, when Chriſt was even at the Doors, and about to come, and therefore might we'l be ſaid to be come; eſpecially in the Prophetical Stile whereby things are oft ſaid to be done, which are near doins. 2. That the Jewiſh Senators did long ſtruggle with H-red about the Goverpment, and did not yield it up ro him till his laſt year, when they rook an Oarh of Fealry ro him, which was afrer Chriſt was born Nor indeed was the Sceprter quite gone from them then for thar Council till had rhe Power, tho nor of Life and Death. yet of Civil and Ecclefiaſtical Matters. See John 18: 31: So thac if war was gone, 3 Law-giver remained there ſtil]. Nor was theirGovernment and Common-wealth quite deſtroyed unti Deſtruftion of Jeruſalem by Tirw., And hees ra Tan = Place thus, and that with great probability, The Scepter ſhall not de- part----wntiI the Shiloh eeme, and uncil ( which word is repeated out of the former Member, asir is moſt uſual in the Scripture ) the gatker- ing of the people be to him, ( 7. e.) until the Gentiles be eonverted and brought in co Chriſt, And this interpretation receiveth countenance