of this difficulty, and fhew us, that the power and fceptre of Judah, relative to the being and fubfiftence of the tribe, were not removed during this captivity. And indeed, what reason is there to think that this conftitution was disturbed by the transplanting the people to Babylon, which began under the power of the kings of Egypt, and fubfifted with all the forms and changes of government, which the people of Ifrael underwent, from their coming out of the Egyptian bondage, to their going into the captivity of Babylon? Sure we are, from the accounts preserved in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, that the tribes of Judah and Benjamin fubfifted as such during the captivity, and preferved very regular accounts of their genealogies: that they had likewise their chiefs and elders, who decided their affairs, there is no doubt; they are mentioned in Ezra and Nehemiah as the persons managing the great affairs of the return, and reestablishing the service of God in Jerufalem that they came back to their own country as a people and nation governed by their own laws, is evident from the complaint fent against them to Artaxerxes, in which they make too great a figure, and are represented too confiderable to be thought a fet of mere flaves, fubjected entirely to a foreign yoke, Lord, give not thy fceptre unto them that be nothing, and let them not laugh at our fall, c. xiv. 11. And if the writer of the history of Sufanna knew any thing of the ftate of the Jews in Babylon, it is plain they had rulers and judges of their own, who executed their laws even in capital causes, yer. 41, and 62. z Ezra i. 5. ii. 68. iii. 12. viii. 1. ix. I. x. 14. Nehem. ii. 16. iv. 14, 19. vi. 17. $2 without law or government of their own. It is true, that, from the time of their captivity, the Jews were never fo free a people again, as they had been formerly; they lived under the fubjection of the Perfian monarch, and under the empire of the Greeks and Romans to their last destruction; but ftill they lived as a diftinct people, governed by their own law": and the authority of the Perfian and other kings over them deftroyed not the rule and authority of Judah, which fubfifted with it; as it had, in its firft commencement, fubfifted under the kings of Egypt, and oftentimes under judges and kings of their own. How the cafe ftood in the time of the Afmonean princes, may be collected from several paffages of the Maccabees; but especially from the preambles of public leagues made by and with the Jews. Hiftorians oftentimes speak loosely; but authentic public acts preserve forms, and fhew in what hands the government refides. The ambaffadors fent from Jerufalem to Rome speak in the name of Judas Maccabeus, and his brethren, and the people of the Jews. The league which followed upon this application to Rome is ftyled, A covenant with the people of the a Ezra iv. II. b Artaxerxes's commiffion to Ezra is exprefs, that he should appoint fuch magiftrates and judges as know the laws of thy God. - Περσῶν, καὶ μετ ̓ ἐκείνους ἡγουμένων τῆς ̓Ασίας Μακεδόνων, Αἰγύ πτιοι μὲν ἐδούλευον, ἀνδραπόδων οὐδὲν διαφέροντες· ἡμεῖς δὲ ὄντες ἐλεύ θεροι προσέτι καὶ τῶν πέριξ πόλεων ἤρχομεν, &c. Jofeph. contra Apion. lib. ii. fect. 2. Jews. When the league was made with the Lacedæmonians, the public letter was in the following ftyle; Jonathan the high-priest, and the elders of the nation, and the priests, and the other people of the Jews. When Simon was their governor, his authority was conveyed to him in the congregation of the priests, and people, and rulers of the nation, and elders of the country. These are elsewhere called the council, and the rest of the Jews; and the people of the Jews. These inftances are fufficient to fhew, that the polity of the Jews, as a diftinct people, under heads and rulers of their own, fubfifted in this period, and was not extinguished by the power of the Afmonean princes. That things continued in this ftate to the very death of Chrift, may be evinced from many paffages in the Gospel: fome I fhall produce, and close this article. When our Saviour tells the Jews, The truth fhall make you free; they reply, We are Abraham's children, and were never in bondage to any mani. Surely they had not forgot their captivity in Babylon, much less could they be ignorant of the power of the Romans over them at that time; and yet you see they account themselves free and fo they were; for they lived by their own laws, and executed judgment among themselves. This is plain from the cafe of the woman taken in adultery: Mofes in the law, fay the Scribes and Pharifees, commanded us, that fuch fhould be ftoned; but what fayeft thou? When our Saviour foretels his difciples that they fhould be delivered up to councils, and scourged in Synagogues, he fhews at the fame time what power and authority were exercised in the councils and fynagogues of the Jews. When Pilate, willing to be delivered of Jefus, fays to the Jews, Take ye him and crucify him and again, Take ye him and judge him according to your own law m; he alfo fhews, that the Jews lived under their own law, and had the exercise of judicial authority among themselves". This was the condition of things at the death of Chrift. By this deduction it appears evidently, that the fceptre, placed in the hand of Judah by his father Jacob juft before his death, continued in his pofterity till the very death of Chrift. From that time all things began to work towards the deftruction of the Jewish polity; and within a few years their city, temple, and government, were utterly ruined; and the Jews, not carried into a gentle captivity, to enjoy their law, and live as a diftinct people in a foreign country, but they were fold like beasts in a market, and became flaves in the ftricteft fenfe; and from that day to this have had neither prince nor lawgiver among them. Nor will they ever be able, after all their pretences, to fhew any figns or marks of the Sceptre among them, till they difcover the unknown country, where never mankind dwelt, and where the i John viii. 5. 1 John xix. 6. * Matt. x. 17. n See this proved at large by Wagenseil, Car. Lip. Con. pag. 299, &c. apocryphal Efdras has placed their brethren of the ten tribes o. Before I take leave of this fubject, it is neceffary to observe, that this interpretation of the prophecy of Jacob relating to Judah is very much confirmed by another prophecy given by Mofes, not long before his death. In the 33d chapter of Deuteronomy Mofes bleffes the tribes; and as there are many paffages in this laft benediction of Mofes, which correspond to the bleffings pronounced by Jacob; fo particularly the bleffing of Judah by Mofes feems to relate to the laft ftate of that tribe, and the continuance of the fceptre of Judah after the difperfion of the other tribes. The words of Moses are these: Hear, Lord, the voice of Judah, and bring him unto his people: let his hands be fufficient for him; and be thou an help to him from his enemies P. This benediction cannot relate to the time when it was given, for then Judah's hands were very fufficient for him; this tribe being by much the greateft of the twelve tribes, as appears by two different accounts of the forces of Ifrael in the Book of Numbers 9: and there was more reason to put up this petition for feveral other tribes, than for Judah. Befides, what is the meaning of bringing Judah to his people? How were he and his people at this time feparated? What means likewise the other part of the petition? Be thou an help to him from his enemies. This petition fuppofes a state of diftrefs: yet what diftrefs was Judah in at this time; at least, what |