BENEDICT DE SPINOZA: Theological-Political Treatise

The Hebrew state in the time of Moses
To ove rc o me this , they p e r mitte d te mple s to b e de dic ate d to othe r go ds ,
s o that the re migh t b e no mo re c onsult at ion of the Levite s. The n, they
s ough t out m ore me n to prophe sy in the name of Go d, s o a s to have other
prophe ts to c ou n te r the ve r it able on e s. But whateve r they tr i e d, they we re
n eve r able to o bt ain what they wan te d. The tr ue prophe ts we re re ady for
eve r ything. They awaite d the opp or tun e m o me n t which is the re ig n of a
new king, s omething always precarious whilst recollection of the previous
king remains strong. At such a moment they could easily instigate against
the new king, on divine authority, a rival well-known for his courage to vindicate
the divine law and take over the government or his part of it by right.
But eve n the prophe ts c ould not b r ing ab out any tr ue i mprove me n t by
this me ans. For eve n if they de p o s e d a tyran t , the c aus e s of tyranny st ill
re main e d, and s o all they achi eve d wa s to b r ing in a n ew tyran t at the
exp e ns e of much c it i z e ns’ blo o d. Cons e que n tly, the re wa s no e nd to str ife
and c ivil war, and the re a s ons why the divine law wa s violate d re main e d
always the s ame ; the s e rea s ons c ould only b e re m ove d by ove r throwing the
st ate e n t irely.
[30] With this we have s e e n how religion wa s in troduce d in to the
Heb rew republic and how the latte r c ould have c on t inue d for eve r if the
just ange r of the Law- g ive r had p e r mitte d it to c on t inue in the s ame way.
But this c ould not b e and he nce it had to p e r ish. He re I have b e e n
speaking only about the ¢rst state, for the second was scarcely a shadow
of the ¢rst, since by that time they were bound by the law of the Persians 221
whose subjects they were, and after they obtained their freedom, the
high priests usurped the right of leadership and obtained absolute control
of the state. Consequently, the high priests aspired to possess both
government and priesthood together, and this is why there has been no
n e e d to s ay m ore ab out this s e c ond Co m m onwe alth. The n ext chapte rs
will show whether the ¢rst state is as imitable as we think it to have been
durable, or whether it is pious to imitate it, so far as this can be done.
[31] Finally, I should just like to repeat the statement we made above,
that what we have shown in this chapter demonstrates that divine law, or
the law of religion, arises from a covenant, and without a covenant there is
no law but the law of nature. It follows that by the ties of religion the
Hebrews were bound in piety only towards their fellow citizens and not
towards the nations who were not party to the Covenant.
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