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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
to the nativity , is not less than 1437 years , the greater part of which is to be found in the ages prior to the deliverance from Egypt . From the exode to the birth of our Saviour , the difference is only 117 years , 112 of which belong to the time of the Judges , and the remaining tive are scattered over the long space which intervened between the foundation of the temple and the thirtieth year of Augustus Caesar . "
The first book embraces the period from the death of Joshua to the commencement of the regal government . The first chapter of this book is devoted to a consideration of the civil and political constitution of the Hebrews . During this period , the Jewish history is particularly obscure , and affords very few data from which any certain conclusions can be drawn with respect either to the general state of society , or the political relations which bound the several tribes together in a kind of federal connexion . Moses ,
who had been their leader during their wanderings in the wilderness , on the point of death named his successor , but Joshua appointed no one to supply his place . In his address to the tribes , and in the speech which he afterwards made at Shechem , no allusion was made to any form of government which he wished them to adopt , nor can it be determined by any act of public authority recorded , what was the form of administration which
prevailed after the military government under Moses and Joshua had ceased . Every tribe seems to have conducted its own affairs . The patriarchal government was the only one to which the sons of Jacob had been accustomed , till , during their wanderings in the wilderness and before they were finally settled in the promised land , the family jurisdiction was superseded 7 Their inspired leader was esteemed and obeyed as the Lieutenant of the Lord of Hosts , and his successor , Joshua , was considered invested with the same
autborily . The princes of tribes and heads of families were converted into captains of thousands , of hundreds , and of fifties , but when settled , they seemed to revert to the more ancient form of society . As property is the basis of power , it seemed necessary , under the head of the Civil and Political Constitution of the Hebrews , to give an account of the Agrarian law sanctioned by Moses and acted upon by Joshua . The extent of the Hebrew territory is computed to have been sufficient to allow to
every Hebrew capable of bearing arms a lot of about twenty acres , besides what was reserved for the cities of the Levites and for public uses . The territory was equally divided among the tribes and families according to their respective numbers , nor , whatever may be supposed by Harrington , is there any reason to conclude positively , that the princes of tribes and heads
of families were supplied with a larger portion of land than fell to the inheritance of an ordinary household . As the landed property of every Hebrew was inalienable , and every incumbrance must be cleared off in the year of jubilee , no individual could dispose of his estate for more than a certain number of years . Houses in fields and villages were on the same footing as lands , and must return to their respective owners at the year of
jubilee . Houses in cities were redeemable only for one year , after which the sale was binding for ever . Equality of wealth was thus , perhaps , as nearly as possible preserved ; together with equality of rank and political importance , which appears to have been one of the main objects contemplated in the Mosaic constitution . The Hebrews held their land on military service , every man of competent age being bound to bear arms in defence of the country . This is illustrated by the severe punishment inflicted on the men of Jabesh Gilead , who had not sent any aid to the confederate army in the war against the Benjamites .
Untitled Article
Review . —Russells Sacred and Profane Histonj . 55 7
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1828, page 557, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2563/page/45/
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