A Theologico Political Treatise [Part IV]
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Benedict de Spinoza >> A Theologico Political Treatise [Part IV]
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(17:165) In order that we may understand these words, and the destruction of
the Hebrew commonwealth, we must bear in mind that it had at first been
intended to entrust the whole duties of the priesthood to the firstborn, and
not to the Levites (see Numb. viii:17). (166) It was only when all the
tribes, except the Levites, worshipped the golden calf, that the
firstborn were rejected and defiled, and the Levites chosen in their stead
(Deut. x:8). (167) When I reflect on this change, I feel disposed to break
forth with the words of Tacitus. (168) God's object at that time was not the
safety of the Jews, but vengeance. (169) I am greatly astonished that the
celestial mind was so inflamed with anger that it ordained laws, which
always are supposed to promote the honour, well-being, and security of a
people, with the purpose of vengeance, for the sake of punishment; so that
the laws do not seem so much laws - that is, the safeguard of
the people - as pains and penalties.
(17:170) The gifts which the people were obliged to bestow on the Levites
and priests - the redemption of the firstborn, the poll-tax due to the
Levites, the privilege possessed by the latter of the sole performance of
sacred rites - all these, I say, were a continual reproach to the people, a
continual reminder of their defilement and rejection. (171) Moreover, we may
be sure that the Levites were for ever heaping reproaches upon them: for
among so many thousands there must have been many importunate dabblers in
theology. (172) Hence the people got into the way of watching the acts of
the Levites, who were but human; of accusing the whole body of the faults of
one member, and continually murmuring.
(17:173) Besides this, there was the obligation to keep in idleness men
hateful to them, and connected by no ties of blood. (174) Especially would
this seem grievous when provisions were dear. What wonder, then, if in times
of peace, when striking miracles had ceased, and no men of paramount
authority were forthcoming, the irritable and greedy temper of the people
began to wax cold, and at length to fall away from a worship, which, though
Divine, was also humiliating, and even hostile, and to seek after something
fresh; or can we be surprised that the captains, who always adopt the
popular course, in order to gain the sovereign power for themselves by
enlisting the sympathies of the people, and alienating the high priest,
should have yielded to their demands, and introduced a new worship? (175) If
the state had been formed according to the original intention, the rights
and honour of all the tribes would have been equal, and everything would
have rested on a firm basis. (176) Who is there who would willingly violate
the religious rights of his kindred? (177) What could a man desire more than
to support his own brothers and parents, thus fulfilling the duties of
religion? (178) Who would not rejoice in being taught by them the
interpretation of the laws, and receiving through them the answers of God?
(17:179) The tribes would thus have been united by a far closer bond, if all
alike had possessed the right to the priesthood. (180) All danger would have
been obviated, if the choice of the Levites had not been dictated by anger
and revenge. (181) But, as we have said, the Hebrews had offended their God,
Who, as Ezekiel says, polluted them in their own gifts by rejecting all that
openeth the womb, so that He might destroy them.
(17:182) This passage is also confirmed by their history. As soon as the
people in the wilderness began to live in ease and plenty, certain men of no
mean birth began to rebel against the choice of the Levites, and to make it
a cause for believing that Moses had not acted by the commands of God, but
for his own good pleasure, inasmuch as he had chosen his own tribe before
all the rest, and had bestowed the high priesthood in perpetuity on his own
brother. (183) They, therefore, stirred up a tumult, and came to him, crying
out that all men were equally sacred, and that he had exalted himself above
his fellows wrongfully. (184) Moses was not able to pacify them with
reasons; but by the intervention of a miracle in proof of the faith, they
all perished. (185) A fresh sedition then arose among the whole people, who
believed that their champions had not been put to death by the judgment of
God, but by the device of Moses. (186) After a great slaughter, or
pestilence, the rising subsided from inanition, but in such a manner that
all preferred death to life under such conditions.
(17:187) We should rather say that sedition ceased than that harmony was re-
established. (188) This is witnessed by Scripture (Deut. xxxi:21), where
God, after predicting to Moses that the people after his death will fall
away from the Divine worship, speaks thus: "For I know their imagination
which they go about, even now before I have brought them into the land which
I sware;" and, a little while after (xxxi:27), Moses says: For I know thy
rebellion and thy stiff neck: behold while I am yet alive with you this
day, ye have been rebellious against the Lord; and how much more after my
death!"
(17:189) Indeed, it happened according to his words, as we all know.
(190) Great changes, extreme license, luxury, and hardness of heart grew up;
things went from bad to worse, till at last the people, after being
frequently conquered, came to an open rupture with the Divine right, and
wished for a mortal king, so that the seat of government might be the Court,
instead of the Temple, and that the tribes might remain fellow-citizens in
respect to their king, instead of in respect to Divine right and the high
priesthood.
(17:191) A vast material for new seditions was thus produced, eventually
resulting in the ruin of the entire state. Kings are above all things
jealous of a precarious rule, and can in nowise brook a dominion within
their own. (192) The first monarchs, being chosen from the ranks of private
citizens, were content with the amount of dignity to which they had risen;
but their sons, who obtained the throne by right of inheritance, began
gradually to introduce changes, so as to get all the sovereign rights into
their own hands. (193) This they were generally unable to accomplish, so
long as the right of legislation did not rest with them, but with the high
priest, who kept the laws in the sanctuary, and interpreted them to the
people. (194) The kings were thus bound to obey the laws as much as were the
subjects, and were unable to abrogate them, or to ordain new laws of equal
authority; moreover, they were prevented by the Levites from administering
the affairs of religion, king and subject being alike unclean. (195) Lastly,
the whole safety of their dominion depended on the will of one man, if that
man appeared to be a prophet; and of this they had seen an example, namely,
how completely Samuel had been able to command Saul, and how easily, because
of a single disobedience, he had been able to transfer the right of
sovereignty to David. (196) Thus the kings found a dominion within their
own, and wielded a precarious sovereignty.
(17:197) In order to surmount these difficulties, they allowed other temples
to be dedicated to the gods, so that there might be no further need of
consulting the Levites; they also sought out many who prophesied in the name
of God, so that they might have creatures of their own to oppose to the true
prophets. (198) However, in spite of all their attempts, they never
attained their end. (199) For the prophets, prepared against every
emergency, waited for a favourable opportunity, such as the beginning of a
new reign, which is always precarious, while the memory of the previous
reign remains green. (200) At these times they could easily pronounce by
Divine authority that the king was tyrannical, and could produce a champion
of distinguished virtue to vindicate the Divine right, and lawfully to claim
dominion, or a share in it. (201) Still, not even so could the prophets
effect much. (202) They could, indeed, remove a tyrant; but there were
reasons which prevented them from doing more than setting up, at great cost
of civil bloodshed, another tyrant in his stead. (203) Of discords and civil
wars there was no end, for the causes for the violation of Divine right
remained always the same, and could only be removed by a complete
remodelling of the state.
(17:204) We have now seen how religion was introduced into the Hebrew
commonwealth, and how the dominion might have lasted for ever, if the just
wrath of the Lawgiver had allowed it. (205) As this was impossible, it was
bound in time to perish. (206) I am now speaking only of the first
commonwealth, for the second was a mere shadow of the first, inasmuch as the
people were bound by the rights of the Persians to whom they were subject.
(207) After the restoration of freedom, the high priests usurped the rights
of the secular chiefs, and thus obtained absolute dominion. (208) The
priests were inflamed with an intense desire to wield the powers of the
sovereignty and the high priesthood at the same time. (209) I have,
therefore, no need to speak further of the second commonwealth. (210)
Whether the first, in so far as we deem it to have been durable, is capable
of imitation, and whether it would be pious to copy it as far as possible,
will appear from what fellows. (211) I wish only to draw attention, as a
crowning conclusion, to the principle indicated already - namely, that it is
evident, from what we have stated in this chapter, that the Divine right, or
the right of religion, originates in a compact: without such compact,
none but natural rights exist. (212) The Hebrews were not bound by their
religion to evince any pious care for other nations not included in the
compact, but only for their own fellow-citizens.
[18:0] CHAPTER XVIII - FROM THE COMMONWEALTH OF THE HEBREWS, AND
THEIR HISTORY, CERTAIN POLITICAL DOCTRINES ARE DEDUCED.
[18:1] (1) Although the commonwealth of the Hebrews, as we have conceived
it, might have lasted for ever, it would be impossible to imitate it at the
present day, nor would it be advisable so to do. (2) If a people wished to
transfer their rights to God it would be necessary to make an express
covenant with Him, and for this would be needed not only the consent of
those transferring their rights, but also the consent of God. (3) God,
however, has revealed through his Apostles that the covenant of God is no
longer written in ink, or on tables of stone, but with the Spirit of God in
the fleshy tables of the heart.
(18:4) Furthermore, such a form of government would only be available for
those who desire to have no foreign relations, but to shut themselves up
within their own frontiers, and to live apart from the rest of the world; it
would be useless to men who must have dealings with other nations; so that
the cases where it could be adopted are very few indeed.
(18:5) Nevertheless, though it could not be copied in its entirety, it
possessed many excellent features which might be brought to our notice, and
perhaps imitated with advantage. (6) My intention, however, is not to write
a treatise on forms of government, so I will pass over most of such points
in silence, and will only touch on those which bear upon my purpose.
(18:7) God's kingdom is not infringed upon by the choice of an earthly ruler
endowed with sovereign rights; for after the Hebrews had transferred their
rights to God, they conferred the sovereign right of ruling on Moses,
investing him with the sole power of instituting and abrogating laws in
the name of God, of choosing priests, of judging, of teaching, of
punishing - in fact, all the prerogatives of an absolute monarch.
(18:8) Again, though the priests were the interpreters of the laws, they had
no power to judge the citizens, or to excommunicate anyone: this could only
be done by the judges and chiefs chosen from among the people. (9) A
consideration of the successes and the histories of the Hebrews will bring
to light other considerations worthy of note. To wit:
(18:9) I. That there were no religious sects, till after the high priests,
in the second commonwealth, possessed the authority to make decrees, and
transact the business of government. (10) In order that such authority might
last for ever, the high priests usurped the rights of secular rulers, and
at last wished to be styled kings. (11) The reason for this is ready to
hand; in the first commonwealth no decrees could bear the name of the high
priest, for he had no right to ordain laws, but only to give the answers of
God to questions asked by the captains or the councils: he had, therefore,
no motive for making changes in the law, but took care, on the contrary, to
administer and guard what had already been received and accepted. (12) His
only means of preserving his freedom in safety against the will of the
captains lay in cherishing the law intact. (13) After the high priests had
assumed the power of carrying on the government, and added the rights of
secular rulers to those they already possessed, each one began both in
things religious and in things secular, to seek for the glorification of his
own name, settling everything by sacerdotal authority, and issuing every
day, concerning ceremonies, faith, and all else, new decrees which he sought
to make as sacred and authoritative as the laws of Moses. (14) Religion thus
sank into a degrading superstition, while the true meaning and
interpretation of the laws became corrupted. (15) Furthermore, while the
high priests were paving their way to the secular rule just after the
restoration, they attempted to gain popular favour by assenting to
every demand; approving whatever the people did, however impious, and
accommodating Scripture to the very depraved current morals. (16) Malachi
bears witness to this in no measured terms: he chides the priests of his
time as despisers of the name of God, and then goes on with his invective as
follows (Mal ii:7, 8): "For the priest's lips should keep knowledge,
and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of
the Lord of hosts. (17) But ye are departed out of the way; ye have
caused many to stumble at the law, ye have corrupted the covenant of
Levi, saith the Lord of hosts." (18) He further accuses them of interpreting
the laws according to their own pleasure, and paying no respect to God but
only to persons. (19) It is certain that the high priests were never so
cautious in their conduct as to escape the remark of the more shrewd among
the people, for the latter were at length emboldened to assert that no
laws ought to be kept save those that were written, and that the decrees
which the Pharisees (consisting, as Josephus says in his " Amtiquities,"
chiefly, of the common people), were deceived into calling the traditions of
the fathers, should not be observed at all. (20) However this may be, we can
in nowise doubt that flattery of the high priest, the corruption of religion
and the laws, and the enormous increase of the extent of the last-named,
gave very great and frequent occasion for disputes and altercations
impossible to allay. (21) When men begin to quarrel with all the ardour of
superstition, and the magistracy to back up one side or the other, they can
never come to a compromise, but are bound to split into sects.
(18:22) II. It is worthy of remark that the prophets, who were in a private
station of life, rather irritated than reformed mankind by their freedom of
warning, rebuke, and censure; whereas the kings, by their reproofs and
punishments, could always produce an effect. (23) The prophets were often
intolerable even to pious kings, on account of the authority they assumed
for judging whether an action was right or wrong, or for reproving the kings
themselves if they dared to transact any business, whether public or
private, without prophetic sanction. (24) King Asa who, according to
the testimony of Scripture, reigned piously, put the prophet Hanani into a
prison-house because he had ventured freely to chide and reprove him for
entering into a covenant with the king of Armenia.
(18:25) Other examples might be cited, tending to prove that religion
gained more harm than good by such freedom, not to speak of the further
consequence, that if the prophets had retained their rights, great
civil wars would have resulted.
(26) III. It is remarkable that during all the period, during which the
people held the reins of power, there was only one civil war, and that one
was completely extinguished, the conquerors taking such pity on the
conquered, that they endeavoured in every way to reinstate them in their
former dignity and power. (27) But after that the people, little accustomed
to kings, changed its first form of government into a monarchy, civil war
raged almost continuously; and battles were so fierce as to exceed all
others recorded; in one engagement (taxing our faith to the utmost)
five hundred thousand Israelites were slaughtered by the men of Judah, and
in another the Israelites slew great numbers of the men of Judah (the
figures are not given in Scripture), almost razed to the ground the walls of
Jerusalem, and sacked the Temple in their unbridled fury. (28) At length,
laden with the spoils of their brethren, satiated with blood, they took
hostages, and leaving the king in his well-nigh devastated kingdom, laid
down their arms, relying on the weakness rather than the good faith of their
foes. (29) A few years after, the men of Judah, with recruited strength,
again took the field, but were a second time beaten by the Israelites, and
slain to the number of a hundred and twenty thousand, two hundred thousand
of their wives and children were led into captivity, and a great booty again
seized. (30) Worn out with these and similar battles set forth at length in
their histories, the Jews at length fell a prey to their enemies.
(18:31) Furthermore, if we reckon up the times during which peace prevailed
under each form of government, we shall find a great discrepancy. (32)
Before the monarchy forty years and more often passed, and once eighty years
(an almost unparalleled period), without any war, foreign or civil. (33)
After the kings acquired sovereign power, the fighting was no longer for
peace and liberty, but for glory; accordingly we find that they all, with
the exception of Solomon (whose virtue and wisdom would be better displayed
in peace than in war) waged war, and finally a fatal desire for power gained
ground, which, in many cases, made the path to the throne a bloody one.
(18:34) Lastly, the laws, during the rule of the people, remained
uncorrupted and were studiously observed. (35) Before the monarchy there
were very, few prophets to admonish the people, but after the establishment
of kings there were a great number at the same time. (36) Obadiah saved a
hundred from death and hid them away, lest they should be slain with the
rest. (37) The people, so far as we can see, were never deceived by false
prophets till after the power had been vested in kings, whose creatures many
of the prophets were. (38) Again, the people, whose heart was generally
proud or humble according to its circumstances, easily corrected it-self
under misfortune, turned again to God, restored His laws, and so freed
itself from all peril; but the kings, whose hearts were always equally
puffed up, and who could not be corrected without humiliation, clung
pertinaciously to their vices, even till the last overthrow of the city.
[18:2] (39) We may now clearly see from what I have said:-
(40) I. How hurtful to religion and the state is the concession to ministers
of religion of any power of issuing decrees or transacting the business of
government: how, on the contrary, far greater stability is afforded, if the
said ministers are only allowed to give answers to questions duly put
to them, and are, as a rule, obliged to preach and practise the received and
accepted doctrines.
(18:41) II How dangerous it is to refer to Divine right matters merely
speculative and subject or liable to dispute. (42) The most tyrannical
governments are those which make crimes of opinions, for everyone has an
inalienable right over his thoughts - nay, such a state of things leads to
the rule of popular passion.
(18:43) Pontius Pilate made concession to the passion of the Pharisees in
consenting to the crucifixion of Christ, whom he knew to be innocent. (44)
Again, the Pharisees, in order to shake the position of men richer than
themselves, began to set on foot questions of religion, and accused the
Sadducees of impiety, and, following their example, the vilest - hypocrites,
stirred, as they pretended, by the same holy wrath which they called zeal
for the Lord, persecuted men whose unblemished character and distinguished
virtue had excited the popular hatred, publicly denounced their opinions,
and inflamed the fierce passions of the people against them.
(18:45) This wanton licence being cloaked with the specious garb of
religion could not easily be repressed, especially when the sovereign
authorities introduced a sect of which they, were not the head; they were
then regarded not as interpreters of Divine right, but as sectarians - that
is, as persons recognizing the right of Divine interpretation assumed by the
leaders of the sect. (46) The authority of the magistrates thus became of
little account in such matters in comparison with the authority of sectarian
leaders before whose interpretations kings were obliged to bow.
(18:47) To avoid such evils in a state, there is no safer way, than to make
piety and religion to consist in acts only - that is, in the practice of
justice and charity, leaving everyone's judgment in other respects free.
(48) But I will speak of this more at length presently.
[18:3] (49) III. We see how necessary it is, both in the interests of the
state and in the interests of religion, to confer on the sovereign power the
right of deciding what is lawful or the reverse. (50) If this right of
judging actions could not be given to the very prophets of God without great
injury, to the state and religion, how much less should it be entrusted to
those who can neither foretell the future nor work miracles! (51) But this
again I will treat of more fully hereafter.
(18:52) IV. Lastly,, we see how disastrous it is for a people unaccustomed
to kings, and possessing a complete code of laws, to set up a monarchy. (53)
Neither can the subjects brook such a sway, nor the royal authority submit
to laws and popular rights set up by anyone inferior to itself. (54) Still
less can a king be expected to defend such laws, for they were not framed to
support his dominion, but the dominion of the people, or some council which
formerly ruled, so that in guarding the popular rights the king would seem
to be a slave rather than a master. (55) The representative of a new
monarchy will employ all his zeal in attempting to frame new laws, so
as to wrest the rights of dominion to his own use, and to reduce the people
till they find it easier to increase than to curtail the royal prerogative.
(56) I must not, however, omit to state that it is no less dangerous to
remove a monarch, though he is on all hands admitted to be a tyrant. (57)
For his people are accustomed to royal authority and will obey no other,
despising and mocking at any less august control.
(18:58) It is therefore necessary, as the prophets discovered of old, if one
king be removed, that he should be replaced by another, who will be a tyrant
from necessity rather than choice. (59) For how will he be able to endure
the sight of the hands of the citizens reeking with royal blood, and to
rejoice in their regicide as a glorious exploit? (60) Was not the deed
perpetrated as an example and warning for himself?
(18:61) If he really wishes to be king, and not to acknowledge the people as
the judge of kings and the master of himself, or to wield a precarious sway,
he must avenge the death of his predecessor, making an example for his own
sake, lest the people should venture to repeat a similar crime. (62) He will
not, however, be able easily to avenge the death of the tyrant by the
slaughter of citizens unless he defends the cause of tyranny and approves
the deeds of his predecessor, thus following in his footsteps.
(18:63) Hence it comes to pass that peoples have often changed their
tyrants, but never removed them or changed the monarchical form of
government into any other.
[18:4] (64) The English people furnish us with a terrible example of this
fact. (65) They sought how to depose their monarch under the forms of law,
but when he had been removed, they were utterly unable to change the form of
government, and after much bloodshed only brought it about, that a new
monarch should be hailed under a different name (as though it had been a
mere question of names); this new monarch could only consolidate his power
by completely destroying the royal stock, putting to death the king's
friends, real or supposed, and disturbing with war the peace which might
encourage discontent, in order that the populace might be engrossed with
novelties and divert its mind from brooding over the slaughter of the king.
(66) At last, however, the people reflected that it had accomplished nothing
for the good of the country beyond violating the rights of the lawful king
and changing everything for the worse. (67) It therefore decided to retrace
its steps as soon as possible, and never rested till it had seen a
complete restoration of the original state of affairs.
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