BENEDICT DE SPINOZA: Theological-Political Treatise

Theological-Political Treatise
when they had to join forces to ¢ght a common enemy. This was especially
the case in Joshua’s time when they did not yet all have a ¢xed
abode, and all things were held in common right. But after all the tribes
had divided among themselves the lands they possessed by right of war
and the additional territory they were commanded to annex, no longer
did all things belong to all men.This is why there was no longer any basis
for a common commander, since, owing to the division, the di¡erent
tribes needed to be thought of not so much [as bodies of] fellow citizens
but confederates. With respect to God and religion indeed they still had
to be thought of as fellow citizens, but only as confederates with regard
to the right one had over another.
This much resembles the situation of the States General of the United
Netherlands ^ apart from the common Temple. For the division of a
common thing into parts simply means that each now possesses his part
alone, and the rest give up the right which they had to that part.This was
why Moses chose chiefs for the tribes, so that after the division of the state,
each would have responsibility for his portion, in consulting God through
the high priest about the a¡airs of his own tribe, commanding his militia,
founding and fortifying cities, appointing judges in each city, attacking the
enemy of his own individual territory, and generally in handling all issues
of war and peace. He was not obliged to recognize any judge other than
God 11 or someone whom God had expressly delegated as a prophet.
Otherwise, if he defected from God, the other tribes would be obliged not
to judge him as a subject but attack him as an enemy who had violated his
treaty obligations.
We have examples of these things in scripture. When Joshua died, it
was the children of Israel, not a new supreme commander, who consulted
God.When it became clear that the tribe of Judah had to attack an
enemy of its own for the ¢rst time, it made an agreement of its own with
Simeon to attack the enemy with the joint forces of both; the other
tribes were not included in this league (see Judges 1.1^3). Each tribe
waged war separately (as narrated in the previous chapter) against their
211 own enemies and accepted into submission and allegiance whichever
they wished, even though there was a commandment not to spare any of
them via any kind of agreement, but to exterminate them all. For this
transgression they were indeed rebuked but not brought to justice by
11 Spinoza’s footnote: see Annotation 38.
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