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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Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham. They said: God is with you in all that you do.
and also Mizpah (Watchtower), because he said: May Jehovah watch between you and me when we are unable to see each other.
May the God of Abraham and Nahor the God of their father judge between us. So Jacob swore this oath out of respect for his father Isaac.
A curse is on their anger, because it is so fierce. And a curse is on their fury, because it is so cruel. I will scatter them throughout the land of Israel. I will disperse them among its people.
The man replied: Who made you a prince or a judge over us? Are you intending to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? Moses was afraid and said: Surely the matter has become known.
God, further said to Moses: You shall say to the sons of Israel: 'JEHOVAH, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' (JEHOVAH) THIS IS MY NAME FOREVER! This is my memorial-name to all generations.
Moses responded: What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say? For they may say: 'Jehovah has not appeared to you.'
Moses said to Joshua: Choose some of our men. Then fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill. I will hold in my hand the staff God told me to take along.
Listen to the advice I give you. May God be with you! You must be the people's representative to God and bring their disagreements to him.
You should choose capable men from all the people. Find men who respect God. These must be men you can trust who hate corruption. Put them in charge of groups of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.
Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God. They stood at the foot of the mountain.
He must stand beside either the door or the doorpost at the place of worship. His owner will punch a small hole through one of his ears with a sharp metal rod. This makes him a slave for life.
If the thief is not caught, the owner of the house must be brought to God to find out whether or not he took his neighbor's valuables.
The Israelites settled in the Amorite towns. They settled in the capital city of Heshbon with its surrounding villages.
Moses sent some men to explore the town of Jazer. Some time later, the Israelites captured the villages surrounding it and forced out the Amorites who lived there.
The elders of Moab and Midian left. They took money with them to pay for Balaam's services. They came to Balaam and told him what Balak had said.
Appoint judges and officers for your tribes in every city Jehovah your God gives you. They are to judge the people fairly.
If any case is too difficult for you to decide, between one kind of homicide or another, between one kind of lawsuit or another, and between one kind of assault or another, being cases of dispute in your courts, then you should go to the place Jehovah your God chooses. Approach the Levitical priest or the judge who is in office in those days. Inquire of them and they will declare to you the verdict in the case. read more. Act according to the terms of the verdict they declare to you from that place Jehovah chooses. Be careful to abide by all that they teach you. Act according to the verdict and the terms they tell you. Do not turn away from the word they declare to you. The man who acts presumptuously and does not listen to the priest or the judge will die. This way you will purge the evil from Israel. The priests and judges are there to serve Jehovah your God. Then all the people will hear and be afraid. They will not act presumptuously again. Enter the land Jehovah your God gives you. Possess it and live in it. You will say: I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,
the elders of his city will send for him. They will take him from there and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood that he may die.
Have no pity on him: Take a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, and a foot for a foot.
She should no longer wear the clothes she was wearing when you captured her. She may live in your house and mourn the loss of her father and mother for one month. After that you may marry her.
The girl's father and her mother must present evidence of the girl's virginity to the elders of the city at the gate.
Manasseh had in Issachar and in Asher Beth-shean and her towns, and Ibleam and her towns, and the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, and the inhabitants of Endor and her towns, and the inhabitants of Taanach and her towns, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns, even three countries.
The princes of Succoth said: Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?
He captured a young man from Succoth and questioned him. He described the princes of Succoth, and the elders and even seventy-seven men.
Then Gideon asked Zebah and Zalmunna: What kind of men were the men you killed at Tabor? They answered: They looked like you, every one of them like the son of a king.
When this war occurred, the leaders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah back from the land of Tob.
Jephthah went back home to Mizpah. His daughter came out to meet him, dancing and playing the tambourine. She was his only child.
We want to be like other nations, with our own king to rule us and to lead us out to war and to fight our battles.
Some good-for-nothing people asked: How can this man save us? They despised him and would not bring him presents. He did not respond.
The king said to the guards who were attending him: Turn around and kill the priests of Jehovah! They are also with David. They knew that he was fleeing and did not reveal it to me. But the servants of the king were not willing to lift a hand to attack the priests of Jehovah.
Joab the son of Zeruiah was the commander in chief of the army. Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud kept the government records.
He would rise early in the morning and stand by the road at the city gate. When someone came there with a dispute that he wanted the king to settle, Absalom would call him over and ask him where he was from. After the man told him what tribe he was from,
What all Israel was saying reached the king at his house. So King David sent this message to the priests Zadok and Abiathar: Ask the leaders of Judah, Why should you be the last tribe to reinstate the king back to his palace?
King Solomon drafted thirty thousand men as forced labor from all over Israel.
This was in addition to what came to him from the business of the traders, and from all the kings of the Arabians, and from the rulers of the country.
Solomon's string of horses came from Egypt and from Kue. The king's traders got them at a price from Kue. A war-carriage might be obtained from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. They got them at the same rate for all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram.
Then King Rehoboam consulted elders who had been with Solomon his father when he was living. He said: In your opinion, what answer am I to give to these people?
So she sent a letter in Ahab's name, stamped with his stamp, to the elders and nobles who were in authority with Naboth.
So the elders and nobles in authority in his town did as Jezebel said in the letter she sent them.
He said to Hazael, one of his officials: Take a gift to the prophet and ask him to consult Jehovah to find out whether or not I am going to get well.
In the seventh year Jehoiada the priest sent for the officers in charge of the royal bodyguard and of the palace guards, and told them to come to the Temple. He made them agree under oath to what he planned to do. He showed them King Ahaziah's son Joash
The priest Jehoiada had King Jehoash and the people make a covenant with Jehovah that they would be Jehovah's people. He also made a covenant between the king and the people.
Then all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah.
Hezekiah sent him all the silver in the Temple and in the palace treasury.
But the people of the land put to death all those who had taken part in the design against the king. Then they made Josiah his son king in his place.
David said: Of these, twenty-four thousand are to supervise the work of Jehovah's Temple and six thousand are to be officials and judges.
From the Izharites: Kenaniah and his sons were assigned duties away from the temple, as officials and judges over Israel.
He appointed judges in the country, in each fortified city of Judah. He told the judges: Be careful when you make your decisions in court. Remember these are Jehovah's people. He will know the judgements you decide. read more. Do your work in honor of him and know that he will not allow you to be unfair to anyone or to take bribes. Jehoshaphat also appointed some Levites, some priests, and some of the family leaders to serve as judges in Jerusalem. He told them: Faithfully serve Jehovah! Warn your relatives living in other cities about every case they bring to you, even if the case involves bloodshed or commandments, rules, or regulations derived from the law. Then your relatives will not become guilty in front of Jehovah. Otherwise, he will become angry with you and your relatives. Do this and you will not be guilty of anything. The chief priest Amariah will be in charge of you in every matter involving Jehovah. Zebadiah, who is the son of Ishmael and the leader of the tribe of Judah, will be in charge of every matter involving the king. The Levites will serve as officers of the court. Be strong and do your job. May Jehovah be with those who do right.
At the same time, Tattenai, ruler of the land across the river, and Shethar-bozenai, and their men, came to them and said, Who gave you orders to go on building this house and this wall?
Then we asked the men responsible: 'Who gave you authority for the building of this house and these walls?'
Let the work of this house of God continue. Let the ruler of the Jews and their responsible men construct this house of God in its place.
And that if anyone did not come before three days were past, as ordered by the rulers and the responsible men, all his goods would be put under the curse. He himself would be cut off from the meeting of the people who had come back.
So now let our rulers be representatives for all the people. Let all those in our towns who are married to strange women come at fixed times, and with them the responsible men and the judges of every town, till the burning wrath of our God is turned away from us, and this has been done.
The chiefs had no knowledge of where I had been or what I was doing. I had not then said anything to the Jews or to the priests or the great ones or the chiefs or the rest of those who were doing the work.
From the time when I was made ruler of the people in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year till the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, for twelve years, my servants and I have never taken the food that was the right of the ruler.
Pethahiah, the son of Meshezabel, of the sons of Zerah, the son of Judah, was the king's servant in everything to do with the people.
These also stagger from wine and reel from beer. Priests and prophets stagger from beer and are befuddled with wine. They reel from beer. They stagger when seeing visions. They stumble when rendering decisions.
Even when Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he refused to listen to them.
On the fifth day of the sixth month in the sixth year, I was sitting in my home. Judah's older men were sitting in front of me. The power of the Lord Jehovah came over me.
Some of Israel's elders came to me and sat down in front of me.
Seven years after King Jehoiachin and the rest of us had been led away as prisoners to Babylon, some of Israel's leaders came to me on the tenth day of the fifth month. They sat down and asked for a message from Jehovah.
In all disputes the priests must act as judges and make decisions based on my Laws. They must obey my rules and my regulations at all my festivals. They must observe holy days to worship me.
The lion has roared. Who will not fear? The Lord Jehovah has spoken! Who will not prophesy?
Hear this word you cows of Bashan who live on the mountain of Samaria. You oppress the poor. You crush the needy. You say to your masters (husbands) (lords), Bring us drink.
I also gave you cleanness of teeth (kept food from your teeth) in all your cities and lack of bread in all your places. Yet you have not returned to me, said Jehovah.
This is what the Lord Jehovah showed me: Behold, he formed locusts in the beginning of the sprouting of the second crop. It was the later growth (second crop) after the king's mowing.
Now I tell you that everyone who is angry with his brother [without cause] shall be guilty before the court. Whoever speaks to his brother with words of contempt shall receive condemnation before the Sanhedrin [Supreme Court]. Curse your brother and you will be guilty enough to be destroyed by fire, with the burning trash, at the Valley of Hinnom, outside of Jerusalem (Greek: Gehenna).
God has appointed some in the congregation: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helpers, abilities to direct, different tongues.