principles and spirit of which, a few general remarks may be offered.
The right consideration of this divine institute, says Dr. Graves, will
surround it with a glory of truth and holiness, not only worthy of its
claims, but which has continued to be the light of the world on
theological and moral subjects, and often on great political principles,
to this day. If we examine the Jewish law, to discover the principle on
which the whole system depends, the primary truth, to inculcate and
illustrate which is its leading object, we find it to be that great
basis of all religion, both natural and revealed, the self-existence,
essential unity, perfections, and providence of the supreme Jehovah, the
Creator of heaven and earth. The first line of the Mosaic writings
inculcates this great truth: In the beginning God created the heaven and
the earth.” When the lawgiver begins to recapitulate the statutes and
judgments he had enjoined to his nation, it is with this declaration:
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord,” Deut. vi, 4; or, as it
might be more closely expressed, Jehovah our Elohim, or God, is one
Jehovah. And at the commencement of that sublime hymn, delivered by
Moses immediately before his death, in which this illustrious prophet
sums up the doctrines he had taught, the wonders by which they had been
confirmed, and the denunciations by which they were enforced, he
declares this great tenet with the sublimity of eastern poetry, but at
the same time with the precision of philosophic truth: Give ear,” says
he, O ye heavens, and I will speak: and hear, O earth, the words of my
mouth. My doctrine shall drop rain: my speech shall distil as the dew,
as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the
grass,” Deut. xxxii, 1, &c. What, is that doctrine so awful, that the
whole universe is thus invoked to attend to it? so salutary as to be
compared with the principle whose operation diffuses beauty and
fertility over the vegetable world? Hear the answer: Because I will
publish the name of Jehovah; ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He is
the rock, his work is perfect: a God of truth, and without iniquity,
just and right is he.”
This, then, is one great leading doctrine of the Jewish code. But the
manner in which this doctrine is taught displays such wise accommodation
to the capacity and character of the nation to whom it is addressed, as
deserves to be carefully remarked. That character by which the supreme
Being is most clearly distinguished from every other, however exalted;
that character from which the acutest reasoners have endeavoured
demonstratively to deduce, as from their source, all the divine
attributes, is self-existence. Is it not then highly remarkable, that it
is under this character the Divinity is described on his first
manifestation to the Jewish lawgiver? The Deity at first reveals himself
unto him as the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob; and therefore
the peculiar national and guardian God of the Jewish race. Moses,
conscious of the degeneracy of the Israelites, their ignorance of, or
their inattention to, the true God, and the difficulty and danger of any
attempt to recall them to his exclusive worship, and to withdraw them
from Egypt, seems to decline the task; but when absolutely commanded to
undertake it, he said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of
Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me
unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say
unto them? And God said unto Moses, _I am that I am_: and he said, Thus
shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, _I Am_ hath sent me unto
you,” Exod. iii, 13, 14. Here we observe, according to the constant
method of the divine wisdom, when it condescends to the prejudices of
men, how in the very instance of indulgence it corrects their
superstition. The religion of names arose from an idolatrous polytheism;
and the name given here directly opposes this error, and in the
ignorance of that dark and corrupted period establishes that great
truth, to which the most enlightened philosophy can add no new lustre,
and on which all the most refined speculations on the divine nature
ultimately rest, the self-existence, and, by consequence, the eternity
and immutability, of the one great Jehovah.
But though the self-existence of the Deity was a fact too abstract to
require its being frequently inculcated, his essential unity was a
practical principle, the sure foundation on which to erect the structure
of true religion, and form a barrier against the encroachments of
idolatry: for this commenced not so frequently in denying the existence,
or even the supremacy, of the one true God, as in associating with him
for objects of adoration inferior intermediate beings, who were supposed
to be more directly employed in the administration of human affairs. To
confute and resist this false principle was, therefore, one great object
of the Jewish scheme. Hence the unity of God is inculcated with
perpetual solicitude; it stands at the head of the system of moral law
promulgated to the Jews from Sinai by the divine voice, heard by the
assembled nation, and issuing from the divine glory, with every
circumstance which could impress the deepest awe upon even the dullest
minds: I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of
Egypt, out of the house of bondage; thou shalt have no other gods beside
me,” Exod. xx, 2, 3. And in the recapitulation of the divine laws in
Deuteronomy, it is repeatedly enforced with the most solemn earnestness:
Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord,” Deut. vi, 4. And again:
Unto thee it was showed, that thou mightest know that the Lord he is
God; there is none else beside him. Know, therefore, this day, and
consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and
in the earth beneath: there is none else,” Deut. iv, 35, 39.
This self-existent, supreme and only God is moreover described as
possessed of every perfection which can be ascribed to the Divinity: Ye
shall be holy,” says the Lord to the people of the Jews; for I the Lord
your God am holy,” Lev. xix, 2. Ascribe ye,” says the legislator,
greatness unto our God; he is the rock; his work is perfect; a God of
truth, and without iniquity, just and right is he,” Deut. xxxii, 4. And
in the hymn of thanksgiving on the miraculous escape of the Israelites
at the Red Sea, this is its burden: Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among
the gods? who is like unto thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in
praises, doing wonders?” Exod. xv, 11. And when the Lord delivered to
Moses the two tables of the moral law, he is described as descending in
the cloud, and proclaiming the name of the Lord: And the Lord passed by
before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and
gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness, keeping mercy for
thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and that will by
no means clear the guilty,” Exod. xxxiv, 6, 7.
But to teach the self-existence, the unity, the wisdom, and the power of
the Deity, nay, even his moral perfections of mercy, justice, and truth,
would have been insufficient to arrest the attention, and command the
obedience of a nation, the majority of which looked no farther than mere
present objects, and at that early period cherished scarcely any hopes
higher than those of a temporal kind,--if, in addition to all this, care
had not been taken to represent the providence of God as not only
directing the government of the universe by general laws, but also
perpetually superintending the conduct and determining the fortune of
every nation, of every family, nay, of every individual. It was the
disbelief or the neglect of this great truth which gave spirit and
energy, plausibility and attraction, to the whole system of idolatry.
While men believed that the supreme God and Lord of all was too exalted
in his dignity, too remote from this sublunary scene, to regard its
vicissitudes with an attentive eye, and too constantly engaged in the
contemplation of his own perfections, and the enjoyment of his own
independent and all-perfect happiness, to interfere in the regulation of
human affairs, they regarded with indifference that supreme Divinity who
seemed to take no concern in their conduct, and not to interfere as to
their happiness. However exalted and perfect such a Being might appear
to abstract speculation, he was to the generality of mankind as if he
did not exist; as their happiness or misery were not supposed to be
influenced by his power, they referred not their conduct to his
direction. If he delegated to inferior beings the regulation of this
inferior world; if all its concerns were conducted by their immediate
agency, and all its blessings or calamities distributed by their
immediate determination; it seemed rational, and even necessary, to
supplicate their favour and submit to their authority; and neither
unwise nor unsafe to neglect that Being, who, though all-perfect and
supreme, would, on this supposition appear, with respect to mankind,
altogether inoperative. In truth, this fact of the perpetual providence
of God extending even to the minutest events, is inseparably connected
with every motive which is offered to sway the conduct of the Jews, and
forcibly inculcated by every event of their history. This had been
manifested in the appointment of the land of Canaan for the future
settlement of the chosen people on the first covenant which God entered
into with the Patriarch Abraham; in the prophecy, that for four hundred
years they should be afflicted in Egypt, and afterward be thence
delivered; in the increase of their nation, under circumstances of
extreme oppression, and their supernatural deliverance from that
oppression. The same providence was displayed in the destruction of the
Egyptians in the Red Sea; the travels of the thousands of Israel through
the wilderness, sustained by food from heaven; and in their subsequent
settlement in the promised land by means entirely distinct from their
own strength. Reliance on the same providence was the foundation of
their civil government, the spirit and the principle of their
constitution. On this only could they be commanded to keep the sabbatic
year without tilling their land, or even gathering its spontaneous
produce; confiding in the promise, that God would send his blessing on
the sixth year, so that it should bring forth fruit for three years,
Lev. xxv, 21. The same faith in Divine Providence alone could prevail on
them to leave their properties and families exposed to the attack of
their surrounding enemies; while all the males of the nation assembled
at Jerusalem to celebrate the three great festivals, enjoined by divine
command, with the assurance that no man should desire their land when
they went up to appear before the Lord their God thrice in the year,
Exodus xxxiv, 24. And, finally, it is most evident, that, contrary to
all other lawgivers, the Jewish legislator renders his civil
institutions entirely subordinate to his religious; and announces to his
nation that their temporal adversity or prosperity would entirely
depend, not on their observance of their political regulations; not on
their preserving a military spirit, or acquiring commercial wealth, or
strengthening themselves by powerful alliances; but on their continuing
to worship the one true God according to the religious rites and
ceremonies by him prescribed, and preserving their piety and morals
untainted by the corruptions and vices which idolatry tended to
introduce.
Such was the theology of the Jewish religion, at a period when the whole
world was deeply infected with idolatry; when all knowledge of the one
true God, all reverence for his sacred name, all reliance on his
providence, all obedience to his laws, were nearly banished from the
earth; when the severest chastisements had been tried in vain; when no
hope of reformation appeared from the refinements of civilization or the
researches of philosophy; for the most civilized and enlightened nations
adopted with the greatest eagerness, and disseminated with the greatest
activity, the absurdities, impieties, and pollutions of idolatry. Then
was the Jewish law promulgated to a nation, who, to mere human judgment,
might have appeared incapable of inventing or receiving such a high
degree of intellectual and moral improvement; for they had been long
enslaved to the Egyptians, the authors and supporters of the grossest
idolatry; they had been weighed down by the severest bondage,
perpetually harassed by the most incessant manual labours; for the
Egyptians made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in
brick, and in all manner of service in the field,” Exod. i, 14. At this
time, and in this nation, was the Mosaic law promulgated, teaching the
great principles of true religion, the self-existence, the unity, the
perfections, and the providence of the one great Jehovah; reprobating
all false gods, all image worship, all the absurdities and profanations
of idolatry. At this time, and in this nation, was a system of
government framed, which had for its basis the reception of, and steady
adherence to, this system of true religion; and establishing many
regulations, which would be in the highest degree irrational, and could
never hope to be received, except from a general and thorough reliance
on the superintendence of Divine Providence, controlling the course of
nature, and directing every event, so as to proportion the prosperity of
the Hebrew people, according to their obedience to that law which they
had received as divine.
It is an obvious, but it is not therefore a less important remark, that
to the Jewish religion we owe that admirable summary of moral duty,
contained in the ten commandments. All fair reasoners will admit that
each of these must be understood to condemn, not merely the extreme
crime which it expressly prohibits, but every inferior offence of the
same kind, and every mode of conduct leading to such transgression; and,
on the contrary, to enjoin opposite conduct, and the cultivation of
opposite dispositions. Thus, the command, Thou shalt not kill,” condemns
not merely the single crime of deliberate murder, but every kind of
violence, and every indulgence of passion and resentment, which tends
either to excite such violence, or to produce that malignant disposition
of mind, in which the guilt of murder principally consists: and
similarly of the rest. In this extensive interpretation of the
commandments, we are warranted, not merely by the deductions of reason,
but by the letter of the law itself. For the addition of the last, Thou
shalt not covet,” proves clearly that in all, the dispositions of the
heart, as much as the immediate outward act, is the object of the divine
Legislator; and thus it forms a comment on the meaning, as well as a
guard for the observance, of all the preceding commands. Interpreted in
this natural and rational latitude, how comprehensive and important is
this summary of moral duty! It inculcates the adoration of the one true
God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is;” who
must, therefore, be infinite in power, and wisdom, and goodness; the
object of exclusive adoration; of gratitude for every blessing we enjoy;
of fear, for he is a jealous God; of hope, for he is merciful. It
prohibits every species of idolatry; whether by associating false gods
with the true, or worshipping the true by symbols and images. Commanding
not to take the name of God in vain, it enjoins the observance of all
outward respect for the divine authority, as well as the cultivation of
inward sentiments and feelings suited to this outward reverence; and it
establishes the obligation of oaths, and, by consequence, of all
compacts and deliberate promises; a principle, without which the
administration of laws would be impracticable, and the bonds of society
must be dissolved. By commanding to keep holy the Sabbath, as the
memorial of the creation, it establishes the necessity of public
worship, and of a stated and outward profession of the truths of
religion, as well as of the cultivation of suitable feelings; and it
enforces this by a motive which is equally applicable to all mankind,
and which should have taught the Jew that he ought to consider all
nations as equally creatures of that Jehovah whom he himself adored;
equally subject to his government, and, if sincerely obedient, entitled
to all the privileges his favour could bestow. It is also remarkable,
that this commandment, requiring that the rest of the Sabbath should
include the man-servant, and the maid-servant, and the stranger that was
within their gates, nay, even their cattle, proved that the Creator of
the universe extended his attention to all his creatures; that the
humblest of mankind were the objects of his paternal love; that no
accidental differences, which so often create alienation among different
nations, would alienate any from the divine regard; and that even the
brute creation shared the benevolence of their Creator, and ought to be
treated by men with gentleness and humanity.
When we proceed to the second table, comprehending more expressly our
social duties, we find all the most important principles on which they
depend clearly enforced. The commandment which enjoins, Honour thy
father and mother,” sanctions the principles, not merely of filial
obedience, but of all those duties which arise from our domestic
relations; and, while it requires not so much any one specific act, as
the general disposition which should regulate our whole course of
conduct in this instance, it impresses the important conviction, that
the entire law proceeds from a Legislator able to search and judge the
heart of man. The subsequent commands coincide with the clear dictates
of reason, and prohibit crimes which human laws in general have
prohibited as plainly destructive of social happiness. But it was of
infinite importance to rest the prohibitions, Thou shalt not kill,” Thou
shalt not commit adultery,” Thou shalt not steal,” Thou shalt not bear
false witness,” not merely on the deductions of reason, but also on the
weight of a divine authority. How often have false ideas of public good
in some places, depraved passions in others, and the delusions of
idolatry in still more, established a law of reputation contrary to the
dictates of reason, and the real interests of society. In one country we
see theft allowed, if perpetrated with address; in others, piracy and
rapine honoured, if conducted with intrepidity. Sometimes we perceive
adultery permitted, the most unnatural crimes committed without remorse
or shame; nay, every species of impurity enjoined and consecrated as a
part of divine worship. In others, we find revenge honoured as spirit,
and death inflicted at its impulse with ferocious triumph. Again, we see
every feeling of nature outraged, and parents exposing their helpless
children to perish for deformity of body or weakness of mind; or, what
is still more dreadful, from mercenary or political views; and this
inhuman practice familiarized by custom, and authorized by law. And, to
close the horrid catalogue, we see false religions leading their deluded
votaries to heap the altars of their idols with human victims; the
master butchers his slave, the conqueror his captive; nay, dreadful to
relate, the parent sacrifices his children, and, while they shriek
amidst the tortures of the flames, or in the agonies of death, he drowns
their cries by the clangour of cymbals and the yells of fanaticism. Yet
these abominations, separate or combined, have disgraced ages and
nations which we are accustomed to admire and celebrate as civilized and
enlightened,--Babylon and Egypt, Phenicia and Carthage, Greece and Rome.
Many of these crimes legislators have enjoined, or philosophers
defended. What, indeed, could be hoped from legislators and
philosophers, when we recollect the institutions of Lycurgus, especially
as to purity of manners, and the regulations of Plato on the same
subject, in his model of a perfect republic; when we consider the
sensuality of the Epicureans, and immodesty of the Cynics; when we find
suicide applauded by the Stoics, and the murderous combats of gladiators
defended by Cicero, and exhibited by Trajan? Such variation and
inconstancy in the rule and practice of moral duty, as established by
the feeble or fluctuating authority of human opinion, demonstrates the
utility of a clear divine interposition, to impress these important
prohibitions; and it is difficult for any sagacity to calculate how far
such an interposition was necessary, and what effect it may have
produced by influencing human opinions and regulating human conduct,
when we recollect that the Mosaic code was probably the first written
law ever delivered to any nation; and that it must have been generally
known in those eastern countries, from which the most ancient and
celebrated legislators and sages derived the models of their laws and
the principles of their philosophy.
But the Jewish religion promoted the interests of moral virtue, not
merely by the positive injunctions of the decalogue; it also inculcated
clearly and authoritatively the two great principles on which all piety
and virtue depend, and which our blessed Lord recognised as the
commandments on which hang the law and the prophets,--the principles of
love to God and love to our neighbour. The love of God is every where
enjoined in the Mosaic law, as the ruling disposition of the heart, from
which all obedience should spring, and in which it ought to terminate.
With what solemnity does the Jewish lawgiver impress it at the
commencement of his recapitulation of the divine law: Hear, O Israel:
the Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might,” Deut.
vi, 4, 5. And again: And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require
of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to
love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all
thy soul?” Deut. x, 12. Nor is the love of our neighbour less explicitly
enforced: Thou shalt not,” says the law, avenge, nor bear any grudge
against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself: I am the Lord,” Lev. xix, 18. The operation of this
benevolence, thus solemnly required, was not to be confined to their own
countrymen; it was to extend to the stranger, who, having renounced
idolatry, was permitted to live among them, worshipping the true God,
though without submitting to circumcision or the other ceremonial parts
of the Mosaic law: If a stranger,” says the law, sojourn with thee in
your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you
shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as
thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord thy
God,” Lev. xix, 33, 34.