Reference: Government
Hastings
The purpose of this article will be to sketch in outline the forms of government among the Hebrews at successive periods of their history. The indications are in many cases vague, and it is impossible to reconstruct the complete system; at no period was there a definitely conceived, still less a written, constitution in the modern sense. For fuller details reference should be made throughout to the separate articles on the officials, etc., mentioned.
We may at once set aside Legislation, one of the most important departments of government as now understood. In ancient communities, law rested on Divine command and immemorial custom, and could as a rule be altered only by 'fictions.' The idea of avowedly new legislation to meet fresh circumstances was foreign to early modes of thought. At no period do we find a legislative body in the Bible. Grote's dictum that 'The human king on earth is not a lawmaker, but a judge,' applies to all the Biblical forms of government. The main functions of government were judicial, military, and at later periods financial, and to a limited extent administrative.
1. During the nomadic or patriarchal age the unit is the family or clan, and, for certain purposes, the tribe. The head of the house, owing to his position and experience, was the supreme ruler and judge, in fact the only permanent official. He had undisputed authority within his family group (Ge 22; 38:24; De 21:13; Jg 11:34). Heads of families make agreements with one another and settle quarrels among their dependents (Ge 21:22; 31:45); the only sanction to which they can appeal is the Divine justice which 'watches' between them (Ge 31:49,53; 49:7). Their hold over the individual lay in the fact that to disobey was to become an outlaw; and to be an outcast from the tribe was to be without protector or avenger. The heads of families combined form, in a somewhat more advanced stage, the 'elders' (Ex 3:15; 18:21; Nu 22:7); and sometimes, particularly in time of war, there is a single chief for the whole tribe. Moses is an extreme instance of this, and we can see that his position was felt to be unusual (Ex 2:14; 4:1; Nu 16). It was undefined, and rested on his personal influence, backed by the Divine sanction, which, as his followers realized, had marked him out. This enables him to nominate Joshua as his successor.
2. The period of the 'Judges' marks a higher stage; at the same time, as a period of transition it appeared rightly to later generations as a time of lawlessness. The name 'Judges,' though including the notion of champion or deliverer, points to the fact that their chief function was judicial. The position was not hereditary, thus differing from that of king (Jg 9 ff. Gideon and Abimelech), though Samuel is able to delegate his authority to his sons (1Sa 8:1). Their status was gained by personal exploits, implying Divine sanction, which was sometimes expressed in other ways; e.g. gift of prophecy (Deborah, Samuel). Their power rested on the moral authority of the strong man, and, though sometimes extending over several tribes, was probably never national. During this period the nomadic tribe gives way to the local; ties of place are more important than ties of birth. A town holds together its neighbouring villages ('daughters'), as able to give them protection (Nu 21:25,32; Jos 17:11). The elders become the 'elders of the city'; Jg 8:6,14,18 mentions officials (s
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At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, God is with you in everything you do.
And [the pillar or monument was called] Mizpah [watchpost], for he [Laban] said, May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent and hidden one from another.
The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, and the god [the object of worship] of their father [Terah, an idolator], judge between us. But Jacob swore [only] by [the one true God] the Dread and Fear of his father Isaac.
Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.
And the man said, Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? Then Moses was afraid and thought, Surely this thing is known.
God said also to Moses, This shall you say to the Israelites: The Lord, the God of your fathers, of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has sent me to you! This is My name forever, and by this name I am to be remembered to all generations.
And Moses answered, But behold, they will not believe me or listen to and obey my voice; for they will say, The Lord has not appeared to you.
And Moses said to Joshua, Choose us out men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.
Listen now to [me]; I will counsel you, and God will be with you. You shall represent the people before God, bringing their cases and causes to Him,
Moreover, you shall choose able men from all the people -- "God-fearing men of truth who hate unjust gain -- "and place them over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, to be their rulers.
Then Moses brought the people from the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.
Then his master shall bring him to God [the judges as His agents]; he shall bring him to the door or doorpost and shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him for life.
But if the thief is not found, the house owner shall appear before God [the judges as His agents] to find whether he stole his neighbor's goods.
And Israel took all these cities and dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon and in all its towns.
And Moses sent to spy out Jazer, and they took its villages and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.
And the elders of Moab and of Midian departed with the rewards of foretelling in their hands; and they came to Balaam and told him the words of Balak.
You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns which the Lord your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.
If there arises a matter too hard for you in judgment -- "between one kind of bloodshed and another, between one legality and another, between one kind of assault and another, matters of controversy within your towns -- "then arise and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. And you shall come to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall consult them and they shall make clear to you the decision. read more. And you shall do according to the decision which they declare to you from that place which the Lord chooses; and you shall be watchful to do according to all that they tell you; According to the decision of the law which they shall teach you and the judgment which they shall announce to you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside from the verdict they give you, either to the right hand or the left. The man who does presumptuously and will not listen to the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God or to the judge, that man shall die; so you shall purge the evil from Israel. And all the people shall hear and [reverently] fear, and not act presumptuously again. When you come to the land which the Lord your God gives you and you possess it and live there, and then say, We will set a king over us like all the nations that are about us,
Then the elders of his own city shall send for him and fetch him from there and give him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die.
Your eyes shall not pity: it shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
And put off her prisoner's garb, and shall remain in your house and bewail her father and her mother a full month. After that you may go in to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife.
Then the father of the young woman, and her mother, shall get and bring out the tokens of her virginity to the elders of the city at the gate.
Also Manasseh had in Issachar and in Asher [these six towns], their inhabitants and their villages: Beth-shean, Ibleam, Dor, Endor, Taanach, and Megiddo.
And the princes of Succoth said, Are Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?
And he caught a young man of Succoth and inquired of him, and [the youth] wrote down for him [the names of] the officials of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men.
Then [Gideon] said to Zebah and Zalmunna, What kind of men were they whom you slew at Tabor? And they replied, They were like you, each of them resembled the son of a king.
And when the Ammonites made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah out of the land of Tob;
Then Jephthah came to Mizpah to his home, and behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances! And she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.
That we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.
But some worthless fellows said, How can this man save us? And they despised him and brought him no gift. But he held his peace and was as if deaf.
And the king said to the guard that stood about him, Turn and slay the Lord's priests, because their hand also is with David and because they knew that he fled and did not disclose it to me. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hands against the Lord's priests.
Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder;
And [he] rose up early and stood beside the gateway; and when any man who had a controversy came to the king for judgment, Absalom called to him, Of what city are you? And he would say, Your servant is of such and such a tribe of Israel.
And King David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, Say to the elders of Judah, Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house, when the word of all Israel has come to the king, to bring him to his house?
King Solomon raised a levy [of forced labor] out of all Israel; and the levy was 30,000 men.
Besides what the traders brought and the traffic of the merchants and from all the [tributary] kings and governors of the land of Arabia.
Solomon's horses were brought out of Egypt, and the king's merchants received them in droves, each at a price. A chariot could be brought out of Egypt for 600 shekels of silver, and a horse for 150. And so to all the kings of the Hittites and of Syria they were exported by the king's merchants.
And King Rehoboam consulted with the old men who stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived and said, How do you advise me to answer this people?
So she wrote letters in Ahab's name and sealed them with his seal and sent them to the elders and nobles who dwelt with Naboth in his city.
And the men of his city, the elders and the nobles who dwelt there, did as Jezebel had directed in the letters sent them.
And the king said to Hazael, Take a present in your hand and go meet the man of God, and inquire of the Lord by him, saying, Shall I recover from this disease?
In the seventh year Jehoiada [the priest, Jehosheba's husband] sent for the captains over hundreds of the Carites and of the guards or runners and brought them to him to the house of the Lord and made a covenant with them and took an oath from them in the house of the Lord and showed them the king's [hidden] son.
And Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord, the king, and the people that they would be the Lord's people -- "and also between the king and the people.
And all the people of Judah took Azariah, sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah.
And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king's house.
But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and made Josiah his son king in his stead.
Of whom 24,000 were to oversee the work of the house of the Lord and 6,000 were to be officers and judges.
Of the Izharites: Chenaniah and his sons were appointed to outside duties for Israel, as officers and judges.
He appointed judges throughout all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city, And said to the judges, Be careful what you do, for you judge not for man but for the Lord, and He is with you in the matter of judgment. read more. So now let the reverence and fear of the Lord be upon you; take heed what you do, for there is no injustice with the Lord our God, or partiality or taking of bribes. Also in Jerusalem, Jehoshaphat set certain Levites, priests, and heads of families of Israel to give judgment for the Lord and decide controversies. When they [of the commission] returned to Jerusalem, The king charged them, Do this in the fear of the Lord, faithfully, with integrity and a blameless heart. Whenever any controversy shall come to you from your brethren who dwell in their cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and judgments, you shall warn and instruct them that they may not be guilty before the Lord; otherwise wrath will come upon you and your brethren. Do this and you will not be guilty. And behold, Amariah the chief priest is over you in all matters of the Lord, and Zebadiah son of Ishmael, the governor of the house of Judah, in all the king's matters; also the Levites will serve you as officers. Deal courageously [be strong and do], and may the Lord be with the good!
Then Tattenai, governor on the west side of the [Euphrates] River, and Shethar-bozenai and their companions came to them and said, Who authorized you to build this house and to restore this wall?
Then we asked those elders, Who authorized you to build this house and restore these walls?
Leave the work on this house of God alone; let the governor and the elders of the Jews build this house of God on its site.
And that whoever did not come within three days, by order of the officials and the elders, all his property should be forfeited and he himself banned from the assembly of the exiles.
Let our officials stand for the whole assembly; let all in our cities who have foreign wives come by appointment, and with each group the elders of that city and its judges, until the fierce wrath of our God over this matter is turned away from us.
And the magistrates knew not where I went or what I did; nor had I yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the rest who did the work.
Also, in the twelve years after I was appointed to be their governor in Judah, from the twentieth to the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, neither I nor my kin ate the food allowed to [me] the governor.
Pethahiah son of Meshezabel, of the sons of Zerah son of Judah, was at the king's hand in all matters concerning the people.
But even these reel from wine and stagger from strong drink: the priest and the prophet reel from strong drink; they are confused from wine, they stagger and are gone astray through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble when pronouncing judgment.
Even though Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah tried to persuade the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.
And in the sixth year [of the capitivity of King Jehoiachin], in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house [a captive of the Babylonians] with the elders of Judah sitting before me, the hand of the Lord God fell there upon me.
In the seventh year, in the fifth [month], on the tenth [day] of the month [after the beginning of the Babylonian captivity, which was to last seventy years], certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord and sat down before me [Ezekiel, in Babylonia].
And in a controversy they shall act as judges, and they shall judge according to My judgments; and they shall keep My laws and My statutes in all My appointed feasts, and they shall keep My Sabbaths holy.
The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?
Hear this word, you cows [women] of Bashan who are in the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their husbands, Bring and let us drink!
I also gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities and want of bread in all your places; yet you did not return to Me, says the Lord.
Thus the Lord God showed me [Amos], and behold, He formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the second crop, and behold, it was the second crop after the king's mowings.
But I say to you that everyone who continues to be angry with his brother or harbors malice (enmity of heart) against him shall be liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the court; and whoever speaks contemptuously and insultingly to his brother shall be liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, You cursed fool! [You empty-headed idiot!] shall be liable to and unable to escape the hell (Gehenna) of fire.
So God has appointed some in the church [ for His own use]: first apostles (special messengers); second prophets (inspired preachers and expounders); third teachers; then wonder-workers; then those with ability to heal the sick; helpers; administrators; [speakers in] different (unknown) tongues.