Abraham’s subjects could not sin in obeying him.
7. Hence it follows, that Abraham’s subjects could not sin in obeying him, provided that Abraham commanded them not to deny God’s existence or providence, or to do somewhat expressly contrary to the honour of God. In all other things, the word of God was to be fetched from his lips only, as being the interpreter of all the laws and words of God. For Abraham alone could teach them who was the God of Abraham, and in what manner he was to be worshipped. And they who after Abraham’s death were subject to the sovereignty of Isaac or Jacob, did by the same reason obey them in all things without sin, as long as they acknowledged and professed the God of Abraham to be their God. For they had submitted themselves to God simply, before they did it to Abraham, and to Abraham before they did it to the God of Abraham: again, to the God of Abraham, before they did it to Isaac. In Abraham’s subjects therefore, to deny God was the only treason against the divine Majesty; but in their posterity, it was also treason to deny the God of Abraham, that is to say, to worship God otherwise than was instituted by Abraham, to wit, in images made with hands,[[20]] as other nations did; which for that reason were called idolaters. And hitherto, subjects might easily enough discern what was to be observed, what avoided in the commands of their princes.
God’s covenant with the Hebrews at Mount Sinai.
8. To go on now, following the guidance of the holy Scripture; the same covenant was renewed (Gen. xxvi. 3, 4) with Isaac; and (Gen. xxviii. 13, 14) with Jacob; where God styles himself not simply God, whom nature doth dictate him to be, but distinctly the God of Abraham and Isaac. Afterward being about to renew the same covenant by Moses with the whole people of Israel, (Exod. iii. 6): I am, saith he, the God of thy Father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Afterward, when that people, not only the freest, but also the greatest enemy to human subjection, by reason of the fresh memory of their Egyptian bondage, abode in the wilderness near mount Sinai, that ancient covenant was propounded to them all to be renewed in this manner (Exod. xix. 5, 6): Therefore if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, (to wit, that covenant which was made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob); then shall ye be a peculiar treasure unto me, above all people; for all the earth is mine, and ye shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. And all the people answered together, and said, (verse 8) All that the Lord hath spoken, will we do.
From thence God’s government was called a kingdom.
9. In this covenant, among other things, we must consider well the appellation of kingdom, not used before. For although God, both by nature and by covenant made with Abraham, was their king, yet owed they him an obedience and worship only natural, as being his subjects; and religious, such as Abraham instituted, as being the subjects of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, their natural princes. For they had received no word of God beside the natural word of right reason; neither had any covenant passed between God and them, otherwise than as their wills were included in the will of Abraham, as their prince. But now by the covenant made at Mount Sinai, the consent of each man being had, there becomes an institutive kingdom of God over them. That kingdom of God, so renowned in Scriptures and writings of divines, took its beginning from this time; and hither tends that which God said to Samuel, when the Israelites asked a king (1 Sam. viii. 7): They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them; and that which Samuel told the Israelites (1 Sam. xii. 12): Ye said unto me, nay, but a king shall reign over us, when the Lord your God was your king; and that which is said, Jer. xxxi. 31: I will make a new covenant, &c. although I was an husband unto them; and the doctrine also of Judas Galilæus, where mention is made in Josephus’ Antiq. of the Jews, (Book xviii. chap. 2), in these words: But Judas Galilæus was the first author of this fourth way of those who followed the study of wisdom. These agree in all the rest with the Pharisees, excepting that they burn with a most constant desire of liberty; believing God alone to be held for their Lord and prince; and will sooner endure even the most exquisite kinds of torments, together with their kinsfolks and dearest friends, than call any mortal man their Lord.
What laws were by God given to the Jews.
10. The right of the kingdom being thus constituted by way of covenant, let us see in the next place, what laws God propounded to them. Now those are known to all, to wit, the decalogue, and those other, as well judicial as ceremonial laws, which we find from the twentieth chapter of Exodus to the end of Deuteronomy and the death of Moses. Now of those laws, delivered in general by the hand of Moses, some there are which oblige naturally, being made by God, as the God of nature, and had their force even before Abraham’s time. Others there are which oblige by virtue of the covenant made with Abraham, being made by God as the God of Abraham, which had their force even before Moses’s time, by reason of the former covenant. But there are others which oblige by virtue of that covenant only, which was made last with the people themselves; being made by God, as being the peculiar king of the Israelites. Of the first sort are all the precepts of the decalogue which pertain unto manners; such as, honour thy parents, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet; for they are the laws of nature. Also the precept of not taking God’s name in vain; for it is a part of natural worship, as hath been declared in the foregoing chapter ([art. 15]). In like manner the second commandment, of not worshipping by way of any image made by themselves; for this also is a part of natural religion, as hath been showed in the same article. Of the second sort is the first commandment of the decalogue, of not having any other Gods; for in that consists the essence of the covenant made with Abraham, by which God requires nothing else, but that he should be his God, and the God of his seed. Also the precept of keeping holy the Sabbath; for the sanctification of the seventh day is instituted in memorial of the six days’ creation, as appears out of these words (Exod. xxxi. 16-17): It is a perpetual covenant, (meaning the Sabbath), and a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed. Of the third kind are the politic, judicial, and ceremonial laws; which only belonged to the Jews. The laws of the first and second sort written in tables of stone, to wit, the decalogue, was kept in the ark itself. The rest written in the volume of the whole law, were laid up in the side of the ark, (Deut. xxxi. 26). For these, retaining the faith of Abraham, might be changed; those could not.
What the word of God is, and how to be known.
11. All God’s laws are God’s word; but all God’s word is not his law. I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, is the word of God; it is no law. Neither is all that, which for the better declaring of God’s word is pronounced or written together with it, instantly to be taken for God’s word. For, Thus saith the Lord, is not the voice of God, but of the preacher or prophet. All that, and only that, is the word of God, which a true prophet hath declared God to have spoken. Now the writings of the prophets, comprehending as well those things which God, as which the prophet himself speaks, are therefore called the word of God, because they contain the word of God. Now because all that, and that alone, is the word of God, which is recommended to us for such by a true prophet, it cannot be known what God’s word is, before we know who is the true prophet; nor can we believe God’s word, before we believe the prophet. Moses was believed by the people of Israel for two things; his miracles and his faith. For how great and most evident miracles soever he had wrought, yet would they not have trusted him, at least he was not to have been trusted, if he had called them out of Egypt to any other worship than the worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob their fathers. For it had been contrary to the covenant made by themselves with God. In like manner two things there are; to wit, supernatural prediction of things to come, which is a mighty miracle; and faith in the God of Abraham, their deliverer out of Egypt; which God proposed to all the Jews to be kept for marks of a true prophet. He that wants either of these, is no prophet; nor is it to be received for God’s word, which he obtrudes for such. If faith be wanting, he is rejected in these words, (Deut. xiii. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5): If there arise among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign, or a wonder; and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, &c. that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death. If prediction of events be wanting, he is condemned by these, (Deut. xviii. 21, 22): And if thou say in thine heart, how shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken; but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously. Now, that that is the word of God which is published for such by a true prophet; and that he was held to be a true prophet among the Jews, whose faith was true, and to whose predictions the events answered; is without controversy. But what it is, to follow other gods, and whether the events which are affirmed to answer their predictions, do truly answer them or not, may admit many controversies; especially in predictions which obscurely and enigmatically foretel the event; such as the predictions of almost all the prophets are; as who saw not God apparently, like unto Moses, but in dark speeches, and in figures. (Numb. xii. 8). But of these we cannot judge, otherwise than by the way of natural reason; because that judgment depends on the prophet’s interpretation, and on its proportion with the event.