Part III, Chapter XL, 1

ON THE RIGHTS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD IN ABRAHAM, MOSES, HIGH PRIESTS, AND THE KINGS OF JUDAH

The father of the faithful, and the first to enter the Kingdom of God by Covenant, was Abraham. For with him the Covenant was first made, by which he bound himself and his descendants to acknowledge and obey God's commands: not only those they could discover through the light of Nature, such as the moral laws, but also those God would deliver to him in a special way through dreams and visions. They were already bound by the moral law and needed no further agreement secured by the promise of the land of Canaan. Nor could any contract add to or strengthen the obligation by which they, like all other people, were naturally bound to obey Almighty God. Abraham's Covenant with God was therefore to accept as God's command whatever was commanded to him in God's name through a dream or vision, to communicate it to his family, and to cause them to observe it.

In this agreement between God and Abraham we may observe three points with important consequences for the government of God's people. First, when the Covenant was made, God spoke to Abraham alone. He therefore contracted with Abraham's family and descendants only insofar as their wills, which constitute the essence of every Covenant, were already included in Abraham's will before the agreement was made; Abraham was thus presumed to have lawful power to make them fulfill everything he covenanted on their behalf. Accordingly God says (Gen 18.18, 19.), “All the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him; for I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord.” From this we may conclude, first, that those to whom God has not spoken directly must receive his positive commands from their Sovereign, as Abraham's family and descendants received them from Abraham, their father, lord, and civil Sovereign. Consequently, in every Common-wealth those who have no supernatural revelation to the contrary ought to obey their own Sovereign's laws in the outward acts and profession of religion. As for people's inward thoughts and beliefs, of which human governors can have no knowledge—for only God knows the heart—they are not voluntary or produced by laws, but by the unrevealed will and power of God; consequently they cannot be placed under obligation.

From this follows another point: it was not unlawful for Abraham to punish any of his subjects who claimed a private vision, spirit, or other revelation from God in support of a doctrine Abraham forbade, or who followed or adhered to anyone making such a claim. Consequently, a Sovereign may now lawfully punish anyone who sets his private spirit against the laws, for the Sovereign holds in the Common-wealth the place Abraham held in his family.

A third point also follows: just as no one but Abraham in his family could determine what was or was not the Word of God, so no one but the Sovereign in a Christian Common-wealth can do so. For God spoke only to Abraham; only Abraham could know what God had said and interpret it to his family. Thus those who hold Abraham's place in a Common-wealth are the sole interpreters of what God has spoken.

The same Covenant was renewed with Isaac and afterward with Jacob, but not again until the Israelites were freed from Egypt and came to the foot of Mount Sinai. It was then renewed through Moses, as I have said before in chap. 35., in such a way that from that time onward they became God's particular Kingdom. Moses was God's lieutenant during his own lifetime, and succession to that office was settled on Aaron and his heirs after him, making them a priestly Kingdom under God forever.

By this arrangement a Kingdom was acquired for God. But Moses had no authority to govern the Israelites as a successor to Abraham's right, since he could not claim that right by inheritance. It does not yet appear, then, that the people were obliged to accept him as God's lieutenant any longer than they believed God spoke to him. His authority, despite their Covenant with God, still depended entirely on their opinion of his sanctity, the reality of his conversations with God, and the truth of his miracles. If that opinion changed, they were no longer obliged to accept as God's law anything he proposed to them in God's name. We must therefore consider what other basis there was for their obligation to obey him. God's command could not itself oblige them, because God did not speak directly to them, but through Moses himself. Our Savior says of himself (John 5. 31.), “If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.” Much less should Moses's testimony about himself be accepted, particularly when claiming kingly power over God's people. His authority, therefore, like that of every other prince, must rest on the people's consent and their promise to obey him. And so it did: for “the people” (Exod. 20.18.), “when they saw the thunderings and the lightnings, and heard the sound of the trumpet, and saw the mountain smoking, drew back and stood far off. And they said to Moses, Speak with us, and we will hear; but do not let God speak with us, lest we die.” This was their promise of obedience; by it they bound themselves to obey whatever he delivered to them as God's command.

Although the Covenant established a priestly Kingdom hereditary to Aaron, that must be understood to refer to the succession after Moses's death. Whoever organizes and establishes the government as the first founder of a Common-wealth, whether monarchy, aristocracy, or democracy, must hold Sovereign Power over the people while he is doing so. Scripture plainly affirms that Moses held this power throughout his lifetime. First, the passage just quoted says that the people promised obedience not to Aaron, but to Moses. Second (Exod. 24.1, 2.), “And God said to Moses, Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. And Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but they shall not come near, nor shall the people go up with him.” It is plain from this that Moses, alone called up to God—not Aaron, the other priests, the seventy elders, or the people, who were forbidden to come up—was the only one who represented God's person to the Israelites; that is, he was their sole Sovereign under God. Though it is later said (verse 9.), “Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel, and beneath his feet there was something like a pavement of sapphire stone,” and so forth, this did not happen until Moses had already been with God and brought the people the words God had spoken to him. He alone went on the people's business; the others, like nobles in his retinue, were admitted as an honor to a special favor denied the people: to see God and live, as the next verse makes clear. “God did not lay his hand upon them; they saw God and ate and drank”—that is, they lived—but brought back no command from him for the people. Again, throughout the affairs of government, as in the ordering of religious ceremonies in Chapters 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, and 31 of Exodus and throughout Leviticus, it is everywhere said, “The Lord spoke to Moses,” and seldom to Aaron. Moses threw the calf Aaron had made into the fire. Finally, in the dispute over Aaron's authority occasioned by his and Miriam's rebellion against Moses, God himself decided for Moses (Numbers 12.). Likewise, when Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, with two hundred and fifty leaders of the assembly, “gathered themselves together” (Numbers 16. 3) “against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, ‘You take too much upon yourselves, seeing that the whole congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why do you raise yourselves above the congregation of the Lord?’” God caused the earth to swallow Corah, Dathan, and Abiram alive with their wives and children, and consumed the two hundred and fifty leaders with fire. Therefore neither Aaron, the people, nor any aristocracy of their principal leaders, but Moses alone held Sovereignty over the Israelites next under God. This was so not only in matters of civil government but also in religion; for Moses alone spoke with God, and therefore he alone could tell the people what God required of them. No one, on pain of death, could presume to approach the mountain where God spoke with Moses. “You shall set bounds” (says the Lord, Exod 19. 12.) “for the people round about, and say, Take care that you do not go up the mountain or touch its edge; whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.” And again (verse 21.), “Go down and charge the people, lest they break through to the Lord to gaze.” We may conclude from this that whoever holds Moses's place in a Christian Common-wealth is God's sole messenger and the interpreter of his commands. Accordingly, no one should go beyond the bounds set by the respective Sovereigns in interpreting Scripture. For the Scriptures, in which God now speaks, are Mount Sinai, and the bounds around them are the laws of those who represent God's person on earth. People may look upon the Scriptures, behold God's wonderful works in them, and learn to fear him. But to interpret them—that is, to pry into what God says to the person he appoints to govern under him, and set themselves up as judges of whether he governs as God commands—is to cross the bounds God has set us and gaze irreverently upon God.

There was no prophet in Moses's time, nor anyone claiming the Spirit of God, except those Moses had approved and authorized. Only seventy men in his time are said to have prophesied by God's Spirit, and Moses chose every one of them. Concerning them God says to Moses (Numb. 11.16.), “Gather to me seventy of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be elders of the people.” God imparted his Spirit to these men, but it was not a different Spirit from Moses's, for it is said (verse 25.), “God came down in a cloud and took of the Spirit that was upon Moses and gave it to the seventy elders.” But as I have shown before (chap. 36.), Spirit means mind; the passage therefore means no more than that God endowed them with minds in agreement with, and subordinate to, the mind of Moses. Thus they could prophesy—that is, speak to the people in God's name—in a way that advanced, as Moses's ministers and by his authority, doctrine consistent with Moses's doctrine. For they were only ministers. When two of them prophesied in the camp, it was thought novel and unlawful; as the 27. and 28. verses of that chapter tell us, they were accused of it, and Joshua advised Moses to forbid them, not knowing that they prophesied by Moses's Spirit. This makes it clear that no subject ought to claim prophecy or the Spirit in opposition to the doctrine established by the person God has placed in Moses's position.

The Rights of the Kingdom of God Under Abraham, Moses, the High Priests, and the Kings of Judah

Abraham was the father of the faithful and the first person in the Kingdom of God by Covenant. God first made the Covenant with him. In it Abraham bound himself and his descendants to recognize and obey God's commands. These included not just moral laws, which they could know by the light of Nature, but also particular commands God would give Abraham in dreams and visions. They were already obliged to obey the moral law. God did not need to promise them the land of Canaan to make a Covenant about that duty. No contract could add to or strengthen the natural duty Abraham, his descendants, and everyone else had to obey almighty God. So Abraham's Covenant with God was to accept as God's command whatever was commanded to him in God's name in a dream or vision, to pass it on to his family, and to make them obey it.

We can learn three important things about the government of God's people from this agreement with Abraham. First, when God made the Covenant, he spoke only to Abraham. He therefore made no separate agreement with Abraham's family or descendants. Their wills, which are essential to every Covenant, were already included in Abraham's will when the agreement was made. Abraham was thus assumed to have lawful power to make them do whatever he had promised on their behalf. God accordingly says (Gen 18.18, 19.), “All the nations of the Earth will be blessed through him. For I know he will command his children and household after him, and they will keep the Lord's way.” This gives us the first conclusion: people to whom God has not spoken directly must receive God's specific commands from their Sovereign, just as Abraham's family and descendants received them from Abraham, their father, master, and civil Sovereign. Consequently, people in every Common-wealth who have no supernatural revelation to the contrary must obey their own Sovereign's laws in their outward religious acts and professions. Inward thoughts and beliefs are different. Human rulers cannot know them; only God knows the heart. They are not voluntary or produced by law. They result from God's unrevealed will and power, so they cannot be subject to an obligation imposed by law.

A second point follows. Abraham could lawfully punish any of his subjects who claimed a private vision, spirit, or other revelation from God to support a teaching he forbade. He could also punish those who followed such a claimant. Consequently, a Sovereign today may punish anyone who sets a claim of private spiritual authority against the laws. The Sovereign occupies the same position in a Common-wealth that Abraham held in his family.

A third point follows too: just as only Abraham in his family could determine what was or was not God's word, only the Sovereign can do so in a Christian Common-wealth. God spoke only to Abraham, so only Abraham could know what God had said and explain it to his family. Likewise, those who hold Abraham's position in a Common-wealth are the sole interpreters of what God has said.

The same Covenant was renewed with Isaac and then with Jacob. It was not renewed again until the Israelites were freed from Egypt and reached the foot of Mount Sinai. Moses renewed it there, as I said earlier in chap. 35. From then on they became God's special Kingdom, with Moses as God's deputy during his lifetime. The succession to that office was assigned to Aaron and his descendants, so that they would be a priestly Kingdom under God forever.

This arrangement establishes a Kingdom for God. But Moses had no authority to rule the Israelites as heir to Abraham's rights, since he could not claim them by inheritance. So it does not yet appear that the people were obliged to accept him as God's deputy for longer than they believed God spoke to him. Despite their Covenant with God, his authority thus still depended entirely on their opinion of his holiness, the reality of his conversations with God, and the truth of his miracles. If their opinion changed, they would no longer be obliged to accept as God's law whatever he presented to them in God's name. We must therefore consider what other basis obliged them to obey Moses. God's command alone could not bind them, because God spoke to them only through Moses himself, not directly. Our Savior says about himself (John 5. 31.), “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true.” Still less should Moses' own testimony be accepted as proof of his claim to kingly power over God's people. His authority, like that of other princes, must therefore rest on the people's consent and promise to obey him. And it did. “The people” (Exod. 20.18.), “when they saw the thunder and lightning, heard the trumpet, and saw the mountain smoking, moved away and stood at a distance. They said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself, and we will listen. But do not let God speak to us, or we will die.’” This was their promise to obey. By making it, they bound themselves to obey whatever he gave them as God's command.

Although the Covenant established a priestly Kingdom inherited by Aaron, that inheritance was to begin after Moses died. Whoever sets up and organizes a Common-wealth as its first founder—whether a monarchy, aristocracy, or democracy—must have Sovereign power over the people for as long as he is doing that work. Scripture clearly states that Moses held that power throughout his life. First, in the passage just quoted, the people promised obedience to Moses, not to Aaron. Second, Exod. 24.1, 2. says, “And God said to Moses, ‘Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of Israel's elders. Moses alone shall approach the Lord. The others must not come close, and the people must not go up with him.’” Only Moses was called up to God; Aaron, the other priests, the seventy elders, and the people were not, and the people were explicitly forbidden to come up. Clearly, Moses alone represented God's person to the Israelites, and thus he alone was their Sovereign under God. Later verse 9 says, “Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of Israel's elders went up. They saw the God of Israel, and beneath his feet was something like a pavement of sapphire stone,” and so on. But this occurred only after Moses had already been with God and had brought God's words to the people. Moses alone went on the people's business. The others, like nobles in his company, were honored with a special privilege not granted to the people: as the next verse shows, they saw God and lived. “God did not lay his hand on them. They saw God and ate and drank,” meaning they stayed alive. But they carried no command from God to the people. Again, Scripture repeatedly says, “The Lord spoke to Moses,” both in matters of government generally and in ordering religious ceremonies in Chapters 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, and 31 of Exodus and throughout Leviticus. It seldom says this of Aaron. Moses threw the calf Aaron had made into the fire. Finally, God himself decided in Moses' favor the question of Aaron's authority raised by Aaron and Miriam's rebellion (Numbers 12.). God also decided for Moses in the dispute with the people when Corah, Dathan, Abiram, and two hundred and fifty leaders of the assembly “gathered together” (Numbers 16. 3.) “against Moses and Aaron and said, ‘You take too much on yourselves. Everyone in the congregation is holy, and the Lord is among them. Why do you raise yourselves above the Lord's congregation?’” God made the Earth swallow Corah, Dathan, and Abiram alive with their wives and children, and burned up the two hundred and fifty leaders. So neither Aaron, nor the people, nor an aristocracy of leading men held Sovereignty over Israel under God. Moses alone held it, in civil government as well as religion. Only Moses spoke to God, so only he could tell the people what God required. No one else could even approach the mountain where God spoke with Moses without risking death. “You must set boundaries” (the Lord says, Exod 19. 12.) “around the people and tell them, ‘Be careful not to climb the mountain or touch its edge. Anyone who touches the mountain will certainly be put to death.’” Again in verse 21: “Go down and warn the people, or they may break through to stare at the Lord.” We can conclude that whoever holds Moses' place in a Christian Common-wealth is God's only messenger and the only interpreter of his commands. Accordingly, no one should go beyond the limits set by the various Sovereigns when interpreting Scripture. Since God now speaks in the Scriptures, they are Mount Sinai; their boundaries are the laws of those who represent God on Earth. People may look at them, see God's wonderful works, and learn to fear him. But interpreting them means prying into what God says to the person he appoints to govern under him, and making oneself the judge of whether that person governs as God commands. That crosses the limits God has set us and amounts to staring at God without reverence.

In Moses' time there was no prophet or person claiming God's Spirit unless Moses had approved and authorized that person. Only seventy people are said to have prophesied through God's Spirit in his time, and Moses chose every one of them. God said to him (Numb. 11.16.), “Gather for me seventy of Israel's elders whom you know to be elders of the people.” God shared his Spirit with these men, but it was not a different Spirit from Moses'. Verse 25 says, “God came down in a cloud and took some of the Spirit that was on Moses and gave it to the seventy elders.” As I showed earlier in chap. 36., spirit here means mind. The passage means that God gave them minds in agreement with, and subordinate to, Moses' mind. They could then prophesy—speak to the people in God's name—as Moses' assistants, by his authority, to advance teachings consistent with his. They were only assistants. When two of them prophesied in the camp, it was thought to be something new and unlawful. According to verses 27. and 28. of that chapter, they were accused, and Joshua urged Moses to stop them, not knowing that they prophesied through Moses' Spirit. This makes clear that no subject should claim to prophesy or possess the Spirit in opposition to the teaching established by the person God has put in Moses' place.