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BENEDICT DE SPINOZA: Theological-Political Treatise

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Annotations<br />

[C hapte r 7 ]<br />

Annotation 7 (p. 106) ‘it is impossible to devise a method’: For us, that is,<br />

who are unfamiliar with this language and ignorant of its idioms.<br />

Annotation 8 (p. 110) ‘conception’: By intelligible things I mean not only<br />

things which are correctly demonstrated but also those that we regularly<br />

accept with moral certainty and hear without surprise. Everyone comprehends<br />

the propositions of Euclid before they are demonstrated. I<br />

would also say that accounts of things relating to the future and the past<br />

which are not beyond men’s belief, as well as laws, practices and customs,<br />

are also intelligible and clear, even though they cannot be mathematically<br />

demonstrated. But sacred signs and stories that seem to exceed what is<br />

believable, I call unintelligible. Even so, they o¡er a good deal that can be<br />

investigated by our method and enable us to understand the mind of the<br />

author.<br />

[C hapte r 8 ]<br />

Annotation 9 (p. 120) ‘Mount Moriah’: That is, by the historian, not<br />

by Abraham; for he says that the place which today is called, ‘it shall<br />

be revealed on the mountain of God’, was called by Abraham ‘God will<br />

provide’.<br />

Annotation 10 (p. 122) ‘conquered’: From this time until the reign of 254<br />

Joram when they revolted from him (2 Kings 8.20), the Idumaeans did<br />

not have kings. Governors appointed by the Jews took their place (see 1<br />

Kings 22.48), 7 and that is why the governor of Idumaea (2 Kings 3.9) is<br />

called a ‘king’. But it may be questioned whether the last of the Idumaean<br />

kings began to reign before Saul was made king or whether in this<br />

chapter of Genesis Scripture meant only to speak of kings who were<br />

unconquered. 8 It is absolute nonsense to include Moses in the list of the<br />

kings: by his divine inspiration he instituted a form of state for the<br />

Hebrews that was at the opposite pole from monarchy.<br />

7 1 Kings 22.47 in RSV.<br />

8 ‘And glorious’ [in Dutch].<br />

263

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