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tempt of us; reform thyself, and act more wisely for the time to come. Considering that God is displeased with those that are insolent towards their parents; because he is himself the Father of the whole race of mankind; and seems to bear part of that dishonour which falls upon those that have the same name, when they do not meet with due returns from their children. And on such the law inflicts inexorable punishment; of which punishment mayst thou never have the experience!" Now if the insolence of young men be thus cured, let them escape the reproach which their former errors deserved; for by this means the lawgiver will appear to be good, and parents happy, while they never behold either a son or a daughter brought to punishment. But if it happen that these words, and the instructions conveyed by them, in order to reclaim the man, appear to be useless; then the offender renders the law an implacable enemy to the insolence he has offered his parents. Let him therefore be* brought forth, by these very parents, out of the city, with a multitude following him; and let him be stoned;† and when he has continued there for one whole day, that all the people may see him, let him be buried in the night. And thus it is that we bury all whom the laws condemn to die, upon any account whatsoever. Let our enemies that fall in battle be also buried; nor let any one dead body lie above ground, or suffer a punishment beyond what justice requires.

Let no one lend to any of the Hebrews upon usury, neither usury of what is eaten, or what is drank. For it is not just to make advantage of the misfortunes of one of thy own countrymen; but when thou hast administered to his necessities, think it thy gain, if thou obtainest his gratitude to thee; and withal that reward, which will come to thee from God, for thy humanity towards him.

Those who have borrowed either silver, or any sort of fruits, whether dry or wet; (I mean this, when the Jewish affairs shall by the blessing of God be to their own mind;) let the borrowers bring them again, and restore them with pleasure to those who lent them;

* See Herod the Great insisting on the execution of this law, with relation to two of his own sons, before the judges at Berytus.

† Deut. vi 21.

laying them up, as it were, in their own treasuries, and justly expecting to receive them thence, if they shall want them again. But it they be without shame, and do not restore it, let not the lender go to the borrower's house, and take a pledge himself, before judgment be given concerning it; but let him require the pledge, and let the debtor bring it of himself, without the least opposition to him that comes upon him under the protection of the law. And if he that gave the pledge be rich, let the creditor retain it, till what he lent be paid him again; but if he be poor, let him that takes it return it before the going down of the sun; especially if the pledge be a garment, that the debtor may have it for a covering in his sleep, God himself naturally shewing mercy to the poor. It is also not lawful to take a mill-stone, nor any utensil thereto belonging, for a pledge; that the debtors may not be deprived of instruments to get their food withal, and lest they should be undone by their necessity.

Let death be the punishment for stealing a man;§ but he that hath purloined gold or silver, let him pay double. If any one kill a man that is stealing something out of his house, let him be esteemed guiltless; although the man were only breaking in at the wall. Let him that hath stolen cattle pay fourfold what is lost, excepting the case of an ox; for which let the thief pay fivefold. Let him that is so poor that he cannot pay what mulet is laid upon him, be his servant to whom he was adjudged to pay it.

If any one be sold to one of his own nation, let him serve him six years; and on the seventh let him go free.** But if he have a son by a woman servant, in his purchaser's house; and if on account of his good will to his master, and his natural affection to his wife and children, he will be his servant still, let him be set free only at the coming of the year of Jubilee, which is the fiftieth year; and let him then take away with him his wife and children, and let them be free also.

If any one find gold or silver in the road, let him enquire after him that lost it, and make proclamation of the place where he

Deut. xxiii. 19.
Deut. xxiv. 10.

§ Exod. xxi. 16. ** Deut. xv 12.

found it, and then restore it again; as not thinking it right to make his own profit by the loss of another. And the same rule is to be observed in cattle found to have wandered away into a lonely place.* If the owner be not presently discovered, let him that is the finder keep it with himself, and appeal to God, that he has not purloined what belongs to another.

It is not lawful to pass by any beast that is in distress, when in a storm it is fallen down. in the mire, but to endeavour to preserve it; as having a sympathy with it in its pain.†

It is also a duty to shew the roads to those who do not know them; and not to esteem it a matter of sport, when we hinder other's advantage, by setting them in a wrong way.

In like manner let no one revile a person blind or dumb.‡

If men strive together, and there be no instrument of iron, let him that is smitten be avenged immediately, by inflicting the same punishment on him that smote him. But if when he is carried home, he lie sick many days, and then die, let him that smote him escape punishment; but if he that is smitten escape death, and yet be at great expense for his cure, the smiter shall pay for all that has been expended during the time of his sickness, and for all that he has paid the physician. He that kicks a pregnant woman, so that she miscarry, let him pay a fine of money, as the judges shall determine; as having diminished the multitude by the destruction of her offspring; and let money also be given the woman's husband by him that kicked her; but if she die of the stroke, let him also be put to death; the law judging it equitable that life should go for life.

Let no one of the Israelites keep any poi

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Philo and others appear to have understood this law, Exod. xxi. 22, 23, better than Josephus; who seems to allow, that though the infant in the mother's womb, even after the mother were quick, and so the infant had a rational soul, were killed by the stroke upon the mother, yet if the mother escaped, the offender should only be fined and not put to death. While the law seems rather to mean, that if the infant in that case be killed, though the mother escape, the offender must be put to death: and not only when the mother is killed, as Josephus understood it. It seems this was the exposition of the Pharisees, in the days of Josephus.

son, ** that may cause death, or any other harm; but if he be caught with it, let him be put to death, and suffer the same mischief that he would have brought upon them for whom the poison was prepared.

He that maimeth any one, let him undergo the same himself; and be deprived of the same member of which he hath deprived the other,†† unless he that is maimed will accept of money instead of it. For the law makes the sufferer the judge of the value of which he has suffered, and permits him to estimate it, unless he will be more severe.

Let him that is the owner of an ox which pusheth with his horn, kill him; but if he push and gore any one in the threshing floor, let him be put to death by stoning; and let him not be thought fit for food. But if his owner be convicted as having known what his nature was, and hath not kept him up, let him also be put to death; as being the occasion of the ox's having killed a man.‡‡ But if the ox have killed a man-servant, or a maid-servant, let him be stoned, and let the owner of the ox pay thirty shekels to the master of him that was slain. But if it be an ox that is thus smitten and killed, let both the oxen, that which smote the other, and that which was killed, be sold; and let the owners of them divide their price between them.

Let those that dig a well or a pit be careful to lay planks over them, and so keep them shut up; not in order to hinder any persons from drawing water, but that there be no danger of falling into them. But if any one's beast perish by falling into such a well or pit, thus digged, and not shut up, let the owner pay its price to the owner of the beast.§§ Let there be a battlement round the tops of your houses, instead of a wall; that may

**What we render a witch, according to our modern notions of witchcraft; Exod. xxii. 18. Philo and Josephus understood of a poisoner; or one who attempted by secret and unlawful drugs, or philtra, to take away the senses or the lives of men.

This permission of redeeming this penalty with money is not in our other copies. Exod. xxi. 24, 25. Levit. XXIV. 20. Deut. xix. 21.

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prevent any person from rolling down and perishing.

Let him that has received any thing in trust for another, take care to keep it sacred; and let no one invent any contrivance, whereby to deprive him that hath intrusted it with him. of the same; and this whether it be a man or a woman; no, not although he or she were to gain an immense sum of gold; and this where he cannot be convicted of it by any body; for it is fit that a man's own conscience, which knows what he hath, should in all cases oblige him to do well. Let his conscience be his witness, and make him always act so as may procure him commendations from others; and let him chiefly have regard to God, from whom no wicked man can lie concealed. But if he in whom the trust was reposed, without any deceit of his own, lose what he was intrusted withal; let him come before the seven judges, and swear by God, that nothing hath been lost willingly, or with a wicked intention; and that he hath not made use of any part thereof. And so let him depart without blame.* But if he hath made use of the least part of what was committed to him, and it be lost, let him be condemned to repay all that he had received, after the same manner, as in these trusts, it is to be, if any one defraud those that undergo bodily labour for him. And let it be always remembered, that we are not to defraud a poor man of his wages; as being sensible that God has allotted that wages to him instead of land and other possessions. Nay, this payment is not at all to be delayed, but to be made that very day;† since God is not willing to deprive the labourer of the immediate use of what he hath laboured for.

You are not to punish children for the faults of their parents; but on account of their own virtue rather to vouchsafe them commiseration, because they were born of wicked parents; than hatred, because they were born of bad ones. Nor indeed ought we to impute the sin of children to their fathers; while young persons indulge themselves in many practices different from those they have been instructed in, and this by their refusal of such instruction.

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Let those that have made themselves eunuchs be had in detestation; and do you avoid any conversation with them who have deprived themselves of their manhood, and of that which God had given to men, for the increase of their kind. Let such be driven away, as if they had killed their children; since they beforehand have lost what should procure them. For it is evident, that while their soul is become effeminate, they have withal transfused that effeminacy to their body also. In like manner do you treat all that is of a monstrous nature, when it is looked on. Nor is it lawful to castrate either men, or any other animals.§

Let this be the constitution of your political laws, in times of peace; and God will be so merciful as to preserve this excellent settlement free from disturbance. And may that time never come, which may innovate any thing, and change it for the contrary; but since it must needs happen that mankind fall into troubles and dangers, either undesignedly, or intentionally, let us make a few constitutions concerning them; that so being apprised beforehand what ought to be done, you may have salutary counsels ready when you want them; and may not then be obliged to seek what is to be done, and so be unprovided, and fall into dangerous circumstances. May you be a laborious people, and exercise your souls in virtuous actions, and thereby possess and inherit the land without wars; while neither any foreigners make war upon it, and so afflict you, nor any internal sedition seize upon it; whereby you may do things that are contrary to your fathers, and so lose the laws which they have established. And may you continue in the observance of those laws which God hath approved, and hath delivered to you. Let all sort of warlike operations, whether they befall you now, in your own time, or hereafter in the times of your posterity, be done out of your own borders. But when you are about to go to war, send ambassages and heralds to those who are your voluntary enemies; for it is a right thing to make use of words to them, before you come to your weapons of war; and assure them

Deut. xxiii. 1.

§ We may hence observe, that the Jer oxen, but only bulls and cows, in Judea.

thereby, that although you have a numerous army, with horses, and weapons, and above these, a God merciful to you, and ready to assist you; you do, however, desire them not to compel you to fight against them, nor to take from them what they have; which will indeed be our gain, but what they will have no reason to wish we should take to ourselves. And if they hearken to you, it will be proper for you to keep peace with them; but if they trust on their own strength, as superior to yours, and will not do you justice, lead your army against them; making use of God as your supreme commander, but ordaining as a lieutenant under him one that is of the greatest courage among you. For these different commanders, besides their being an obstacle to actions that are to be done on the sudden, are a disadvantage to those that make use of them. Lead an army, pure, and of chosen men, composed of all such as have extraordinary strength of body, and hardiness of soul; but send away the timorous part, lest they flee in the time of action, and so afford an advantage to your enemies. Do you also give leave to those that have lately built them houses, and have not yet lived in them a year's time, and to those that have planted them vineyards, and have not been yet partakers of their fruits, to continue in their own country; as well as to those also who have betrothed or lately married wives; lest they have such an affection for these things, that they be too sparing of their lives, and by reserving themselves for these enjoyments, they become voluntary cowards.*

When you have pitched your camp take care that you do nothing that is cruel; and when you are engaged in a siege, and want timber for making warlike engines, do not render the land naked by cutting down trees that bear fruit; but spare them, as consider

* Deut. xx. 7.

† Deut. xxii. 5.

Deut. xxii. 5. The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment. This prohibitory law seems directed against an idolatrous usage, which appears to be as ancient as Moses, and which later writers inform us was to be found among several nations in after times; and that too attended with the most abominable practices. From Plutarch (De Isid. et Osir. tom. ii. p. 368. edit. Xylandr.) we learn that the Egyptians called the moon the mother of the world, and assigned to her a nature both male and fe

ing that they were made for the benefit of men, and that if they could speak, they would have a just plea against you; because, though they are not occasions of the war, they are unjustly treated, and suffer in it; and would, if they were able, remove themselves into another land. When you have beaten your enemies in battle, slay those that have fought against you, but preserve the others alive, that they may pay you tribute; excepting the nation of the Canaanites, for as to that people you must entirely destroy them.

Take care, especially in your battles, that no woman use the habit of a man, nor man the garment of a woman.†

This was the form of political government which was left us by Moses. Moreover he had already delivered laws in writing, in the fortieth year after they came out of Egypt, concerning which we will discourse in another book. But now on the following days, (for he called them to assemble continually;) he delivered blessings to them, and curses upon those that should not live according to the laws, but should transgress the duties that were determined for them to observe. After this, he read to them a poetic song, which was composed in hexameter verse, and left it to them in the holy book; it contained a prediction of what was to come to pass afterward; agreeably whereto all things have happened all along, and do still happen to us; and wherein he has not at all deviated from the truth. Accordingly he delivered these books to the priests, with the ark; into which he also put the Ten Commandments, written in two tables. He also delivered to them the tabernacle; and exhorted the people, that when they had conquered the land, and were settled in it, they should not forget the injuries of the Amalekites;§ but make war against them, and inflict punishment upon

male; and Boyse (Pantheon, p. 72.) says of Diana, Luna, or the moon, that the Egyptians worshipped this deity both as male and female, the men sacrificing to it as Luna, the women as Lunus, and each sex on these occasions assuming the dress of the other. Parkhurst's Heb. Lex. p. 107. B.

These laws seem to be those previously recited in this chapter.

|| What laws were now delivered to the priests, see the note on III. 1.

§ Deut. xxv. 17.

of their own blood, or any city, should attempt to confound or dissolve their constitution of government, they should take vengeance upon them both, all in general, and each person in particular; and when they had conquered them, should overturn their city to the very foundations, and, if possible, should not leave the least vestige of such madness; but if they were not able to take such vengeance, they should still demonstrate that what was done was contrary to their wills. So the multitude bound themselves by oath so to do.

them for what mischief they did them when || might transgress them; that in case any one they were in the wilderness; and that when they had got possession of the land of the Canaanites, and when they had destroyed the whole multitude of its inhabitants, as they ought to do, they should erect an altar that should face the rising sun, not far from the city Shechem; between the two mountains, that of Gerizim, situate on the right hand, and that called Ebal, on the left;* and that the army should be divided, that six tribes. should stand upon each of the two mountains, and with them the Levites and the priests. And that first, those that were upon mount Gerizim should pray for the best blessings upon those who were diligent about the worship of God, and the observance of his laws, and who did not reject what Moses had said to them, while the other wished them all manner of happiness also. And when these last put up the like prayers, the former praised them. After this, curses were denounced upon those who should transgress those laws; they answering one another alternately by way of confirmation of what had been said. Moses also wrote their blessings and their curses; that they may learn them so thoroughly, that they might never be forgotten by length of time. And when he was ready to die, he wrote these blessings and curses upon the altar on each side of it; where he says also the people stood, and then sacrificed, and offered burnt offerings, though after that day they never offered upon it any other sacrifice, for it was not lawful so to do. These are the constitutions of Moses, and the Hebrew nation still live according to them.

On the next day Moses called the people together, with the women and children, to a congregation; so as the very slaves were present also, that they might engage themselves to the observance of these laws by oath; and that duly considering the meaning of God in them, they might not, either for favour of their kindred, or out of fear of any one, or indeed for any motive whatsoever, think any thing ought to be preferred to these laws, and so

*Deut. xxvii. 12.

† Dr. Bernard well observes here, how unfortunate this neglect of consulting the Urim was to Joshua himself, in the case of the Gibeonites; who put a trick upon him, and ensnared him, together with the rest of the Jewish rulers with a solemn oath to preserve them; contrary to VOL. I.-NO. 4.

Moses taught them also by what means their sacrifices might be most acceptable to God; and how they should go forth to war, making use off the stones in the high-priest's breastplate for their direction, as I have before signified. Joshua also prophesied‡ while Moses was present. And when Moses had recapitulated whatsoever he had done for the preservation of the people, both in their wars and in peace; and had composed them a body of laws, and procured them an excellent form of government, he foretold, as God had declared to him, that if they transgressed that institution for the worship of God, they should experience the following miseries: their land should be full of weapons of war from their enemies, their cities should be overthrown, and their temple should be burnt; that they should be sold for slaves to such men as would have no pity on them in their afflictions; and that they would repent, when that repentance would no way profit them under their sufferings. "Yet," said he, "will that God who founded your nation, restore your cities to your citizens, with their temple also, and you shall lose these advantages not once only, but often."

Now when Moses had encouraged Joshua to lead out the army against the Canaanites, by telling him that God would assist him in all his undertakings, and had blessed the whole multitude; he said, "Since I am going to my forefathers, and God has determined

his commission to extirpate all the Canaanites; which oath
yet he and the other rulers never durst break And this
snare they were brought into because they did not ask
counsel at the mouth of the Lord. Josh. ix. 14.
Deut. xxxiv. 9.

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