§. 237. THE METHOD IN WHICH THE OFFICERS AND OTHERS HELD INTERCOURSE WITH THE KING.

The kings of the east, as has been already observed, are almost inaccessible. Those who seek any favour, or wish to present any accusation, are under the necessity of giving a paper to that effect to one of the officers attached to the court, in order that it may be handed by him to the king, 2 Kings, iv. 13. In case no one is willing to receive it, they themselves take the opportunity, when the king appears in public, to present it to him in person. If the inhabitants of a province wish to accuse their governor, many hundreds of them, assembling at the harem, utter loud exclamations, tear their clothes, and scatter dust in the air, till a messenger is sent from the king to inquire the cause, Exod. v. 15-19.

But to the kings of the Hebrews, as has also been stated, there was more easy access, 2 Sam. xiv. 2, 3; xv. 2, 3.

Those who went before the king, even the principal officers in the government, appeared in his presence with the customary obeisance and ceremony, and stood like servants before their master. Hence to "stand before the king" is a phrase which means the same as to be occupied in his service, and to perform some duty for him, Gen. xli. 46; 1 Sam. xxii. 6, 7; 1 Kings, x. 8; xii. 6–8; Dan. i. 18. The same expressions are used in respect to the priests and Levites, who were the ministers or officers of God, to denote the religious services which it was their part to perform, Deut. x. 8; xvii. 12; Jer. xv. 1; xviii. 20; xxviii. 5; Ps. xxiv. 3; Luke, xviii. 11, 13.

The servants and officers of the king were entirely dependent on his will; and they exercised a similar arbitrary power (for instance, the governors of provinces) over those who were immediately subject to themselves. Hence it is that the prophets frequently complain of their oppressions and violence.

The royal officers of every grade are denominated the servants of the king; and, like the orientals of the present day, they were proud of this denomination. They gloried in yielding prompt obedience to the orders of their master, even if such orders were unjust.

Those who have the management of the collection of the revenues, or who hold any places of trust, are not often called to an

account. In case they are called upon to render an account of their proceedings, they show themselves well versed in the arts of deception; but the consequence of the discovery of an attempt at misrepresenting or defrauding, is almost certain destruction, Luke, xvi. 2. It should be observed, however, that the case was somewhat different with respect to Persia, inasmuch as the magistrates in the provinces were visited yearly by a legate from the king, who, being supported in his duties by the attendance of an army, investigated the state of affairs, and the management of the governors.

§. 238. MAGISTRATES DURING AND AFTER the CAPTIVITY.

The Hebrews, during the captivity, and after that period, continued among them that class of officers, denominated heads of families, and also probably, the princes of the tribes; who, under the direction of the royal governors, ruled their respective tribes, and family associations, Ezek. xiv. 1; xx. 1-8; Ezra, i, 5 ; iv. 3; v. 5; vi. 8; Neh. ii. 16; iv. 13; vi. 17, 18. But it is most probable that Jehoiachin, and afterwards Shealtiel and Zerubbabel, held the first rank among them, or in other words, were their princes.

After their return to their native country, the Hebrews obeyed their, or president. Such were Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, who were invested with ample powers for the purposes of government, Ezra, vii. 25. When, from any cause, there was no person to act as president, authorised by the civil government, the high priest commonly undertook the government of the

state.

This state of things continued while the Hebrews were under the Persians and Greeks, until the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, in whose reign they appealed to arms, shook off the yoke of foreign subjugation, and having obtained their freedom, made their high priests princes, and at length kings.

The Jews who were scattered abroad, and had taken up their residence in countries at a distance from Palestine, had rulers of their own. The person who sustained the highest office among those who dwelt in Egypt, was denominated ALABARCHUS; the magistrate at the head of the Syrian Jews was denominated ARCHON.

While the Jews were under the Roman government, they en

joyed the privilege of submitting litigated questions to referees, whose decisions the Roman pretor was bound to see put in execution, Cod. lib. I. tit. ix. 1. 8. de Judæis. As Christians, when they first made their appearance, were regarded as a sect of the Jews, they likewise enjoyed the same privilege. Paul, accordingly, blamed them, (1 Cor. vi. 1-7,) because they were in the habit of bringing their causes before the pretor, instead of leaving them to referees.

§. 239. TETRARCHS.

After the subjugation of the Jews by the Romans, certain provinces of Judea were governed by that class of Roman magistrates denominated tetrarchs. The office of tetrarch had its origin from the Gauls; who, having at a certain time made an incursion into Asia Minor, succeeded in taking from the king of Bithynia that part of it which is denominated from their own name, Galatia. The Gauls, who made this invasion, consisted of three tribes; and each tribe was divided into four parts or tetrarchates, each of which obeyed its own tetrarch. The tetrarch was of course subordinate to the king. The appellation of tetrarch, which was thus originally applied to the chief magistrate of the fourth part of a tribe, subject to the authority of the king, was afterwards extended in its application, and was given to any governors, subject to some king or emperor, without regard to the portion of the people or tribe which they governed. Thus Herod Antipas, and Philip, although they did not rule so much as a fourth part of Judea, were denominated tetrarchs, Matt. xiv. 1; Luke, ix. 7; Acts, xiii. 1. Although these rulers were dependent upon Cæsar, i. e. the Roman emperor, they, nevertheless, governed the people who were committed to their immediate jurisdiction, according to their own choice and discretion. They were inferior, however, in point of rank, to the ethnarchs, who, although they did not publicly assume the name of king, were addressed with that title by their subjects; as was the case, for instance, in respect to Archelaus, Matt. ii. 22; Josephus, Antiq. lib. XVII. c. 11. §. 4.

§. 240. ROMAN PROCURATORS,

Procurators (a magistrate well known among the Romans) are denominated in the New Testament yeμoves, but it appears that

they are called by Josephus èxíτgono. Judea, after the termination of the ethnarchate of Archelaus, was governed by rulers of this description, and likewise during the period which immediately succeeded the reign of Herod Agrippa.

PROCURATORS were sometimes Roman knights, and sometimes the freedmen of the emperor. Felix was one of the latter class, Acts, xxiii. 24-26; xxiv. 3, 22-27; and, according to the remarks of Suetonius in his life of Claudius, which are confirmed by Tacitus in his History, (V. 9,) was, for some particular reason, very dear to the emperor; but was, nevertheless, a very wretched governor. Festus also, according to Herodian, (IV. 8. 11,) was a freedman, Acts, xxiv. 27; xxv. 12; xxvi. 24, 25. It may be necessary to remark here, by way of explanation, that procurators were sent by the emperor, independently of the vote or concurrence of the senate, into those provinces which had been reserved for his own use, and might be considered, during his reign, as his personal property. They were commonly situated in the extremities of the empire. The business of the procurators, who were sent to them, was to exact tribute, to administer justice, and to repress seditions. Some of the procurators were dependent on the nearest proconsul or president; for instance, those of Judea were dependent on the proconsul, governor, or president of Syria. They enjoyed, however, great authority, and possessed the power of life and death. The only privilege in respect to the officers of government, that was granted by the procurators of Judea to that nation, was the appointment from among them of persons to manage and collect the taxes. In all other things they administered the government themselves, except that they frequently had recourse to the counsel of other persons, Acts, xxiii. 24-36; xxiv. 1-10; xxv. 23.

The military force that was granted to the procurators of Judea, consisted of six cohorts, σepat, of which five were stationed at Cæsarea, where they resided, and one at Jerusalem in the tower of Antonia, which was so situated as to command the temple, Acts, x. 1; xxi. 32. It was the duty of the military cohorts to execute the procurator's commands, and to repress seditions, Matt. viii. 5; xxvii. 27; xxviii. 12; Mark, xv. 16; John, xix. 2, 23.

At the great festivals, when there were vast crowds of people at Jerusalem, the procurators themselves went from Cæsarea to

that city, in order to suppress any commotions which might arise, Matt. xxvii. 2—65; John, xix. 2, et seq.

§. 241. OF THE TRIBUTE AND HALF-SHEKEL OF THE

TEMPLE.

The management of the provincial revenues was generally committed to the Roman knights, who were thence denominated ἀρχιτελῶναι and τελωνάρχαι, publicans; the tax-gatherers or ex actors, whom they employed, were termed Teλvas. It was different in Judea, for there the management of the revenues, as already observed, was committed to the Jews themselves; and those who held this office eventually obtained an equal rank with the knights of Rome, Luke, xix. 2; Josephus, Jewish War, lib. II. c. 14. §. 9.

The subordinate agents in collecting the revenues, Teλvai, who are denominated in the Vulgate, though somewhat incorrectly, publicans, took their position at the gates of cities, and in the public ways; and, at the place appointed for that purpose, called the "receipt of custom," examined the goods that passed, and received the monies that were to be paid, Matt. ix. 9; Mark, ii. 14; Luke, v. 27, 29. These tax-gatherers, if we may believe Cicero, were more inclined to exact too much than to forget the promise which they had made to their masters; and were, accordingly, in consequence of their extortions, every where, more particularly in Judea, objects of hatred, and were placed in the same class with notorious sinners, Mark, ii. 15, 16; Luke, iii. 12, 13; comp. Talmud, Baba Kama, c. 10, 113; Col. 1; Nedarim, c. 3. The Pharisees held no communication with them; and one ground of their reproaches against the Saviour was, that he did not refuse to sit at meat with persons of such a character, Matt. v. 46, 47; ix. 10, 11; xi. 19; xviii. 17; xxi. 31, 32.

THE HALF-SHEKEL TAX was a tax or tribute to be paid annually by every adult Jew at the temple. It was introduced after the captivity, in consequence of a wrong interpretation of certain expressions in the Pentateuch; and differed from the revenue which accrued to the kings, tetrarchs, and ethnarchs; and from the general tax that was assessed for the Roman Casars. It was required that this tax should be paid in Jewish coin, a circumstance to which an allusion is made in Matt. xxii. 17-19, and likewise in Mark, xii. 14, 15. In consequence of