ISRAEL, CONSTITUTION OF.
1. Patriarchal GoVernment. The government of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was a patriarchal government. So long as they resided in the land of Canaan, they were subject to no foreign power, but tended their flocks and herds wherever they chose to go (Gen. xiii :6-12), and vindicated their wrongs by arms whensoever they had sustained any injury (Gen. xiv). They treated with the petty kings who reigned in different parts of Palestine as their equals in dignity, and concluded treaties with them in their own right (Gen. xiv 13, 18-24; xxi :22-32; xxvi:t6, 27-33; xxxi: 44 54)• The patriarchal power was a sovereign domin ion; so that parents may be considered as the first kings, and children the first subjects. .They had the power of disinheriting their children (Gen. xlix :3, 4; Chron. v :t), and also of pun ishing them with death (Gen. xxxviii:24), or of dismissing them from home without assigning any reason (Gen. xxi :14). Further, the patriarchs could pronounce a solemn blessing or curse upon their children, which at that time was regarded as a high privilege and of great consequence. Thus Noah cursed his son Canaan (Gen. ix:25) ; Isaac blessed Jacob (Gen. xxvii :28, 29, 33) ; and Jacob blessed his sons (Gen. xlix). On the decease of the father, the eldest son by a natural right of succession inherited the paternal power and do minion, which in those days was one of the rights of primogeniture. To this right the sacerdotal dignity, in the first ages. seems to have been an nexed; so that the heads of families not only pos sessed a secular power, but also officiated as priests In the families to which they belonged (Gen. yin :20; XII :7, 8; xxxv Although the sons of Jacob exercised, each, the supreme power in his own family, during their father's life (Gen. xxxviii :24), yet the latter ap pears to.have retained some authority over them (Gen. xiii :1-4, 37, 38; xliii:1-13; 1:15-17). After wards, however, as the posterity of Jacob in creased in Egypt, it bel:ame necessary to have magistrates or governors invested with more ex tensive authority; these are termed Elders (Exod.
iii:t6), being probably chosen on account of their age and wisdom. The Shoterim or "officers of the children of Israel" (Exod. v:14, 15, to), have been conjectured to be a kind of magistrates elected by them; but, from the context of the sacred historian, they rather appear to have been appointed by the Egyptians, and .placed over the Israelites in order to oversee their labor.
2. Cheocratic. On the departure of the Israel ites from the land of their oppressors, under the guidance of Moses, Jehovah was pleased to in stitute a new form of government, which has been rightly termed a Theocracy ; the supreine legisla tive power being exclusively vested in God or in his oracle, who alone could enact or repeal laws. The Hebrew government appears not only de signed to subscrve the common and general ends of all good governments—viz., the protection of the property, liberty, safety, and peace of the sev eral members of the community (in which the true happiness and prosperity of states will always consist) ; but also to set apart the Hebrews or Israelites a holy people to Jehovah and a kingdom of priests.
In the Theocracy of the Hebrews, the laws were given to them by God, through the mediation of Moses, and they were to be of perpetual force and obligation so long as their polity subsisted.
The judgcs by whom these laws were ad ministered were represented as holy persons, and as sitting in the place of God (Deut. 1:17; xix: 17). These judges were usually taken from the tribe of Levi; and the chief expounder of the law was the high priest. In this there was a singular propriety ; for the Levites, being devoted to the study of the law, were (as will be shown in a subsequent page) the literati among the Israelites. In difficult cases of law, however, relating both to government and war, God was to be consulted by Urim and Thummim and in matters which concerned the welfare of the state. God frequently made known his will by prophets whose mission was duly attested, and the people were bound to hearken to their voice. In all these cases, Jehovah appears as sovereign king, ruling his people by his appointed ministers.
3. The CiVil Constitution. This had respect to the classification of the people, succession and right of inheritance of land and property. (See INHERITANCE.) The nation, from the twelve sons of Israel, formed a gireat family called "the house of Is rael" (Heb. ns;bayth yis-raw-ale'). Genea logically it was divided (Josh. vii:t4, 16-18) into: (1) Heads or Princes of Tribes and Fami lies. (Heb. 7r4Z mat-teh', or shay' bet).
All the various branches of Abraham's descend ants, like the ancient Germans or the Scottish clans kept together in a body according to their tribes and fainilics; each tribe forming a lesser commonwealth, with its own peculiar interests, and all of them at last uniting into one great re public. The same arrangement, it is well known, obtained among the Israelites, who appear to have been divided into twelve great tribes, pre viously to their departure from Egypt.
(2) Families or Clans. By Moses. however, they were subdivided into certain greater families, which are called mish-ftaw-khoth (Heb. 717177-4,7?), or families.
(3) Households. (Heb. baleyith, house; 2ti 71.; bayth awb, house of father, Num. i:2; Josh. vii:t4). A technical term expressing the larger divisions or family groups each of which again had heads sometimes called heads of houses ot fathers, and sometimes simply heads. These are likewise the same persons, who in Josh. xxiii :2, and xxiv:t, are called Elders (Heb. zaw kane'). (Compare also Dent. xix :i2 and xxi: 1-9). It does not appear in what manner these heads or elders of families were chosen, when any of them died. The princes of tribes do not seem to have ceased with the commencement, at least, of the monarchy; from Chron. xxvii :16-22, it is evident that they subsisted in the time of David; and they must have proved a powerful restraint upon the power of the king. (See HEBREWS, RE