Thomas Hobbes · Complete work
Religion, Chapter XVI, 2
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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.
What was held for the written word of God among the Jews.
12 The Jews did hold the book of the whole law, which was called Deuteronomy, for the written word of God; and that only (forasmuch as can be collected out of sacred history) until the captivity. For this book was delivered by Moses himself to the priests, to be kept and laid up in the side of the ark of the covenant, and to be copied out by the kings; and the same a long time after, by the authority of king Josiah (2 Kings xxiii. 2), acknowledged again for the word of God. But it is not manifest, when the rest of the books of the Old Testament were first received into canon. But what concerns the prophets, Isaiah and the rest, since they foretold no other things than what were to come to pass, either in or after the captivity, their writings could not at that time be held for prophetic; by reason of the law cited above (Deut. xviii. 21, 22), whereby the Israelites were commanded not to account any man for a true prophet, but him whose prophecies were answered by the events. And hence peradventure it is, that the Jews esteemed the writings of those whom they slew when they prophesied, for prophetic afterward; that is to say, for the word of God.
The power of interpreting the word of God, and the supreme civil power, were united in Moses while he lived.
13 It being known what laws there were under the old covenant, and what word of God received from the beginning; we must furthermore consider, with whom the authority of judging, whether the writings of the prophets arising afterward were to be received for the word of God; that is tois to say, whether the events did answer their predictions or not; and with whom also the authority of interpreting the laws already received, and the written word of God, did reside: which thing is to be traced through all the times and several changes of the commonwealth of Israel. But it is manifest that this power, during the life of Moses, was entirely in himself. For if he had not been the interpreter of the laws and word, that office must have belonged either to every private person, or to a congregation or synagogue of many, or to the high-priest or to other prophets. First, that that office belonged not to private men, or any congregation made of them, appears hence; that they were not admitted, nay, they were prohibited with most heavy threats, to hear God speak, otherwise than by the means of Moses. For it is written, (Exod. xix. 24, 25): Let not the priests and the people break through, to come up unto the Lord, lest he break forth upon them. So Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them. It is further manifestly and expressly declared, upon occasion given by the rebellion of Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, and the two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, that neither private men nor the congregation should pretend that God had spoken by them, and by consequence that they had the right of interpreting God’s word. For they contending, that God spake no less by them than by Moses, argue thus, (Numbers xvi. 3): Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord? But how God determined this controversy, is easily understood by verses 33 and 35 of the same chapter, where Corah, Dathan, and Abiram went down alive into the pit, &c. And there came out fire from the Lord, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense. Secondly, that Aaron the high-priest had not this authority, is manifest by the like controversy between him (together with his sister Miriam) and Moses. For the question was, whether God spake by Moses only, or by them also; that is to say, whether Moses alone, or whether they also were interpreters of the word of God. For thus they said, (Numb. xii. 2): Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not also spoken by us? But God reproved them; and made a distinction between Moses and other prophets, saying, (verse 6, 7, 8): If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream: my servant Moses is not so, &c. For with him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches, and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold. Wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? Lastly, that the interpretation of the word of God as long as Moses lived, belonged not to any other prophets whatsoever, is collected out of that place which we now cited, concerning his eminency above all others; and out of natural reason, for as much as it belongs to the same prophet, who brings the commands of God, to unfold them too; but there was then no other word of God, beside that which was declared by Moses. And out of this also, that there was no other prophet extant at that time, who prophesied to the people, excepting the seventy elders who prophesied by the spirit of Moses. And even that Joshua, who was then Moses’ servant, his successor afterward, believed to be injuriously done, till he knew it was by Moses’ consent; which thing is manifest by text of Scripture, (Numb. xi. 25): And the Lord came down in a cloud, &c. and took of the spirit that was upon Moses, and gave it unto the seventy elders. Now after it was told that they prophesied, Joshua said unto Moses, Forbid them, my lord. But Moses answered: Why enviest thou for my sake? Seeing therefore Moses alone was the messenger of God’s word, and that the authority of interpreting it pertained neither to private men, nor to the synagogue, nor to the high-priest, nor to other prophets; it remains that Moses alone was the interpreter of Gods word, who also had the supreme power in civil matters; and that the conventions of Corah with the rest of his complices against Moses and Aaron, and of Aaron with his sister against Moses, were raised, not for the salvation of their souls, but by reason of their ambition and desire of dominion over the people.
They were also united in the high-priest, during the life of Joshua.
Musean translation
Mouseia’s complete machine-assisted Musean translation, made directly from Hobbes’s own 1651 English version of De Cive, complete (epistle, preface, eighteen chapters with annotations; Molesworth’s 1841 text) for fidelity, the author’s force and cadence, and modern clarity. Molesworth’s index is omitted.
The laws God gave the Jews.
10 Having established by covenant the right to this kingdom, let us next consider what laws God proposed to the people. These are familiar to everyone: the Decalogue and the other judicial and ceremonial laws found from the twentieth chapter of Exodus to the end of Deuteronomy and the death of Moses. Some of these laws, delivered to all through Moses, bind by nature: God made them as the God of nature, and they had force even before Abraham’s time. Others bind by virtue of the covenant with Abraham: God made them as the God of Abraham, and they had force even before Moses through that earlier covenant. Still others bind only by virtue of the last covenant, made with the people themselves by God as the particular king of the Israelites. The first kind includes all the precepts of the Decalogue concerning conduct: honor your parents; do not kill, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness, or covet. These are laws of nature. So too is the precept against taking God’s name in vain, since that is part of natural worship, as explained in the preceding chapter (art. 15). Likewise the second commandment, against worshipping by means of an image of one’s own making, is part of natural religion, as shown in the same article. Of the second kind is the first commandment of the Decalogue, against having any other gods. In that lies the essence of the covenant with Abraham, by which God asked only to be his God and the God of his descendants. The precept to keep the Sabbath holy also belongs here: the seventh day was consecrated in remembrance of the six days of creation, as these words show (Exod. xxxi. 16-17): “It is a perpetual covenant”—meaning the Sabbath—“and a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.” The third kind comprises the political, judicial, and ceremonial laws, which belonged to the Jews alone. The laws of the first and second kinds, the Decalogue, were written on stone tablets and kept in the ark itself. The rest were written in the book of the whole law and placed beside the ark (Deut. xxxi. 26). These last laws could be changed without abandoning Abraham’s faith; the others could not.
What the word of God is, and how it is known.
11 All God’s laws are God’s word, but not all God’s word is his law. “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt” is God’s word, but it is no law. Nor must everything spoken or written alongside God’s word to explain it better be immediately taken as God’s word. “Thus says the Lord” is the voice of the preacher or prophet, not the voice of God. God’s word consists of all and only what a true prophet has declared that God spoke. The writings of the prophets contain both what God says and what the prophets themselves say. They are called the word of God because they contain it. Since only what a true prophet presents to us as God’s word is God’s word, we cannot know what that word is until we know who the true prophet is; nor can we believe God’s word until we believe the prophet. The people of Israel believed Moses for two reasons: his miracles and his faith. However great and evident his miracles, they would not have trusted him—or at least ought not to have trusted him—if he had led them out of Egypt to worship any god other than the God of their fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That would have contradicted the covenant they themselves had made with God. Likewise God set before all the Jews two marks of a true prophet: the supernatural prediction of future events, a mighty miracle, and faith in the God of Abraham who delivered them from Egypt. Whoever lacks either mark is no prophet, and what he presses upon them as God’s word must not be accepted as such. If faith is lacking, he is rejected in these words (Deut. xiii. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5): “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you, and gives you a sign or wonder, and the sign or wonder that he spoke of comes to pass, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ etc., that prophet or dreamer of dreams shall be put to death.” If prediction of events is lacking, these words condemn him (Deut. xviii. 21, 22): “And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not follow or come to pass, that is the thing the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously.” There is no dispute, then, that God’s word is what a true prophet publishes as such, and that among the Jews a true prophet was one whose faith was true and whose predictions were borne out by events. But what it means to follow other gods, and whether events truly correspond to what are said to be predictions of them, admit many disputes. This is especially so when predictions foretell events obscurely and enigmatically, as almost all the prophets’ predictions do: unlike Moses, they did not see God openly, but received his word in obscure sayings and figures (Numb. xii. 8). We can judge such matters only by natural reason, since the judgment depends on the interpretation of the prophecy and how closely it fits the event.
What the Jews held to be the written word of God.
12 The Jews held the book of the whole law, called Deuteronomy, to be the written word of God, and, so far as can be gathered from sacred history, held no other book to be such until the captivity. Moses himself gave this book to the priests to keep beside the ark of the covenant and to have copied by kings. Long afterward, by the authority of king Josiah (2 Kings xxiii. 2), the same book was again acknowledged as the word of God. It is not clear when the rest of the books of the Old Testament were first admitted to the canon. As for Isaiah and the other prophets, they foretold only things that would come to pass during or after the captivity. Their writings therefore could not then have been regarded as prophetic, because of the law cited above (Deut. xviii. 21, 22), which commanded the Israelites to count no one a true prophet unless events fulfilled his prophecies. Perhaps this is why the Jews later regarded the writings of prophets whom they had killed during their ministry as prophetic—that is, as the word of God.
The authority to interpret the word of God and the supreme civil power were united in Moses during his lifetime.
13 Now that we know what laws existed under the old covenant and what word of God was received from the beginning, we must consider who had authority to decide whether the writings of later prophets should be received as God’s word—that is, whether events fulfilled their predictions. We must also consider who had authority to interpret the laws already received and the written word of God. To answer, we must trace this authority through every period and change of the commonwealth of Israel. Plainly, during Moses’ lifetime it belonged entirely to him. Had he not been the interpreter of the laws and the word, the office would have belonged either to every private person, to an assembly or synagogue of many persons, to the high priest, or to other prophets. First, it did not belong to private persons or any assembly of them: they were not permitted, but expressly forbidden under the severest threats, to hear God speak except through Moses. For it is written (Exod. xix. 24, 25): “Do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord, lest he break out against them. So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them.” The rebellion of Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, with the two hundred and fifty leaders of the assembly, shows still more plainly that neither private persons nor the congregation could claim that God had spoken through them and that they consequently had a right to interpret his word. Claiming that God spoke through them no less than through Moses, they argued (Numbers xvi. 3): “You take too much upon yourselves, since all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you raise yourselves above the congregation of the Lord?” God’s resolution of this controversy is clear from verses 33 and 35 of the same chapter: Corah, Dathan, and Abiram “went down alive into the pit,” etc.; “and fire came out from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who offered incense.” Second, the high priest Aaron lacked this authority, as a similar dispute between him and Moses shows, in which Aaron’s sister Miriam joined him. The question was whether God spoke through Moses alone or through them as well—in other words, whether Moses alone interpreted God’s word or they too could interpret it. They said (Numb. xii. 2): “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not also spoken through us?” But God reproved them and distinguished Moses from the other prophets, saying (verse 6, 7, 8): “If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known to him in a vision and will speak to him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so,” etc. “For with him I will speak mouth to mouth, openly and not in obscure sayings, and he shall behold the likeness of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” Finally, that no other prophet could interpret God’s word while Moses lived follows both from the passage just cited, which places Moses above all others, and from natural reason: the prophet who brings God’s commands must also explain them, and there was then no word of God besides what Moses declared. It also follows from the absence of any other prophet at that time who prophesied to the people, apart from the seventy elders who prophesied by Moses’ spirit. Even Joshua, then Moses’ servant and later his successor, thought their action an injury to Moses until he learned that Moses consented to it, as Scripture shows (Numb. xi. 25): “And the Lord came down in a cloud,” etc., “and took of the spirit that was upon Moses and gave it to the seventy elders.” When Joshua heard that they were prophesying, he said to Moses, “Forbid them, my lord.” But Moses answered, “Are you jealous for my sake?” Since Moses alone was the messenger of God’s word, and neither private persons, nor the synagogue, nor the high priest, nor other prophets had authority to interpret it, Moses alone remained its interpreter. He also held the supreme civil power. Thus the gatherings of Corah and his accomplices against Moses and Aaron, and of Aaron and his sister against Moses, were prompted not by concern for the salvation of their souls but by ambition and the desire to rule the people.
They were also united in the high priest during Joshua’s lifetime.
Plain English translation
Mouseia’s complete Plain English edition, made independently and directly from Hobbes’s own 1651 English version of De Cive, complete (epistle, preface, eighteen chapters with annotations; Molesworth’s 1841 text). Molesworth’s index is omitted.
The laws God gave the Jews.
10 Now that the covenant has established the right to rule the kingdom, let us see which laws God gave its people. Everyone knows them: the Ten Commandments and the other laws, both judicial and ceremonial, found from chapter twenty of Exodus through the end of Deuteronomy and Moses' death. Among these laws delivered through Moses, some bind people by nature. God gave them as the God of nature, and they were in force even before Abraham. Others bind because of the covenant with Abraham. God gave them as the God of Abraham, and the earlier covenant put them in force before Moses. Still others bind only because of the last covenant, made with the people themselves. God gave these as the special king of the Israelites. The first group includes all the commandments about conduct in the Ten Commandments: honor your parents, do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, and do not covet. These are laws of nature. The rule against taking God's name in vain belongs to this group too. As explained in the previous chapter (art. 15), it is part of the worship required by nature. So does the second commandment, which forbids worship through any image made by human hands. As shown in that same article, this too belongs to natural religion. The second group includes the first commandment, forbidding other gods. This is the heart of the covenant with Abraham, in which God asks only to be Abraham's God and the God of his descendants. The rule about keeping the Sabbath holy also belongs to this group. The seventh day was made holy to commemorate the six days of creation, as these words show (Exod. xxxi. 16-17): “It is a perpetual covenant”—meaning the Sabbath—“and a sign between me and the children of Israel forever. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.” The third group consists of political, judicial, and ceremonial laws that applied only to the Jews. The laws of the first two groups were written on stone tablets. These were the Ten Commandments, kept inside the ark itself. The remaining laws were written in the book of the whole law and placed beside the ark (Deut. xxxi. 26). The latter could be changed without abandoning the faith of Abraham. The former could not.
What God's word is and how to recognize it.
11 All God's laws are God's word, but not everything God says is a law. “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt” is God's word, but it is not a law. Nor should we immediately treat everything said or written alongside God's word to explain it as itself God's word. “Thus says the Lord” is spoken by the preacher or prophet, not by God. God's word consists of exactly what a true prophet says God has spoken. The prophets' writings are called God's word because they contain his word, even though they include things said by the prophets themselves as well as things said by God. Since only what a true prophet presents to us as God's word actually is God's word, we cannot know what God's word is before we know who the true prophet is. Nor can we believe God's word before we believe the prophet. The people of Israel believed Moses on two grounds: his miracles and his faith. No matter how great and obvious his miracles were, the people would not have trusted him, or at least should not have trusted him, if he had led them out of Egypt to worship any god other than the God of their fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That would have gone against their own covenant with God. Likewise, God gave all the Jews two signs by which to recognize a true prophet: a supernatural prediction of a future event, which is a powerful miracle, and faith in the God of Abraham, who delivered them from Egypt. Anyone who lacks either sign is no prophet, and nothing he presents as God's word should be accepted as such. If he lacks faith, the following words reject him (Deut. xiii. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5): “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or wonder, and the sign or wonder he spoke of comes to pass, and he says, ‘Let us follow other gods,’” and so on, “that prophet or dreamer of dreams shall be put to death.” If his predictions do not come true, these words condemn him (Deut. xviii. 21, 22): “If you ask yourself, ‘How shall we recognize a word the Lord has not spoken?’—when a prophet speaks in the Lord's name and the thing does not follow or come to pass, that is something the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken presumptuously.” There is no dispute that God's word is whatever a true prophet announces as God's word. Nor is there any dispute that the Jews regarded a person as a true prophet when he had the true faith and events fulfilled his predictions. But people can disagree about what it means to follow other gods, or whether events really did fulfill a prophet's predictions. This is especially so when the predictions foretell events in obscure riddles. Almost all the prophets spoke like this. Unlike Moses, they did not see God clearly, but received visions and figurative messages (Numb. xii. 8). We can judge these matters only through natural reason, because the judgment depends on how a prophet's words are interpreted and how closely that interpretation matches the event.
What the Jews regarded as God's written word.
12 Until the captivity, the Jews regarded the book of the whole law, called Deuteronomy, as God's written word, and, as far as we can tell from sacred history, they regarded no other book that way. Moses himself gave this book to the priests to keep beside the ark of the covenant, and kings were to make copies of it. Long afterward, by King Josiah's authority (2 Kings xxiii. 2), they again recognized the same book as God's word. It is not clear when the other books of the Old Testament were first accepted into the canon. Consider the prophets Isaiah and the others: they predicted only events that would happen during or after the captivity. At the time they wrote, their writings could not yet be accepted as prophetic. Under the law cited above (Deut. xviii. 21, 22), Israelites were told to regard no one as a true prophet unless events fulfilled his prophecies. Perhaps this explains why Jews later considered the writings of prophets they had killed to be prophetic, or God's word, although they had killed those prophets when they first spoke.
In Moses' lifetime, he held both the power to interpret God's word and supreme civil power.
13 We now know which laws existed under the old covenant and what was accepted from the beginning as God's word. We must also ask who had the authority to decide whether writings of later prophets should be accepted as God's word. In other words, who decided whether events fulfilled their predictions? Who had the authority to interpret the laws already accepted, as well as God's written word? We must trace these questions through every period and change in the commonwealth of Israel. Clearly, during Moses' lifetime, all this power belonged to him. If he had not been the interpreter of the laws and the word, that duty would have belonged instead to individuals, to an assembly or synagogue of many people, to the high priest, or to other prophets. First, it did not belong to individuals or to any assembly they formed. They were not permitted to hear God speak except through Moses. In fact, they were forbidden to do so under severe threats. Scripture says (Exod. xix. 24, 25): “Do not let the priests or people break through to come up to the Lord, or he will break out against them.” So Moses went down and spoke to the people. The rebellion of Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, together with two hundred and fifty leaders of the assembly, shows even more clearly that neither individuals nor the assembly could claim God had spoken through them, or therefore claim the right to interpret his word. They argued that God spoke through them as much as through Moses, saying (Numbers xvi. 3): “You have taken too much upon yourselves. The whole congregation, every one of them, is holy, and the Lord is among them. Why do you set yourselves above the Lord's congregation?” Verses 33 and 35 of the same chapter show how God settled the dispute: Corah, Dathan, and Abiram went down alive into the pit, and so on; fire came from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who offered incense. Second, Aaron the high priest did not have this authority either. This is clear from a similar dispute between Moses and Aaron and his sister Miriam. The issue was whether God spoke only through Moses or through them as well. In other words, was Moses alone God's interpreter, or were they interpreters too? They said (Numb. xii. 2): “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us as well?” God rebuked them and distinguished Moses from other prophets, saying (verses 6, 7, 8): “If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord will reveal myself to him in a vision and speak to him in a dream. But that is not how I speak to my servant Moses,” and so on. “With him I speak face to face, plainly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord. Why were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” Finally, while Moses lived, no other prophet had the authority to interpret God's word. That follows from the passage just cited about his position above all others. It follows from natural reason too: the prophet who brings God's commands must also explain them. At that time there was no other word of God besides what Moses proclaimed. And no other prophet at that time prophesied to the people except the seventy elders, who prophesied by Moses' spirit. Even Joshua, Moses' servant at the time and later his successor, thought they were acting improperly until he learned Moses had consented. Scripture says (Numb. xi. 25): “The Lord came down in a cloud,” and so on, “and took some of the spirit that was upon Moses and gave it to the seventy elders.” When Joshua was told that they were prophesying, he said to Moses, “My lord, stop them.” But Moses replied, “Are you jealous on my behalf?” Moses alone, then, delivered God's word. Neither individuals nor the synagogue, the high priest, or other prophets had authority to interpret it. Moses alone therefore interpreted God's word, and he also held supreme civil power. Corah and his allies challenged Moses and Aaron, and Aaron and his sister challenged Moses, not to save anyone's soul but from ambition and a desire to rule the people.
During Joshua's lifetime, the high priest held both powers.