BENEDICT DE SPINOZA: Theological-Political Treatise

Annotations
[C hapte r 17 ]
A n notatio n 35 (p. 209) ‘that they c ould u nde r t ake nothing in the futu re’:
‘Two c o m m on s oldi e rs u nde r to ok to transfe r the gove r n me n t of the
Ro man p e ople , and they did s o’ (Tac itus , Histories , 1). 45
A n notatio n 36 (p. 215)‘seeNumbers 11 .28’: In this pa s s age 46 tw o m e n 47 265
are accus e d of having prophe s i e d in the c amp, 48 and Jo shua advis e s that
they should i m me diately b e ar reste d. He would not have don e this , 49 had
it b e e n p e r mis s ible for anyon e to g ive divin e re sp ons e s to the p e ople
without Mo s e s’ p e r mis s ion. Eve n s o, Mo s e s dec ide d to acquit the m, and
rebuke d Jo shua for his u rg ing hi m to s e ek royal p owe r for hi ms elf at a
t i me whe n he wa s s o ve r y t ire d of r uling that he would prefe r to die
rathe r than gove r n alone , a s is evide n t from ve rs e 14 50 of the s ame
chapte r. This is his reply to Jo shua: 51 ‘Are you ang r y on my acc ou n t
Would that the whole p e ople of Go d we re prophe ts.’ That is , 52 wo u l d
that the r igh t of c onsulting Go d would succe e d in plac ing the gove r n -
me n t in the hands of the p e ople the ms elve s. 53 Jo shua the refore wa s not
ig noran t of the law 54 but of the requireme n ts of the t i me and this is why
he wa s repro ache d by Mo s e s , just a s Abishai wa s by David whe n he
advis e d the king to c ondemn Shi me i to de ath, who wa s ce r t ainly guilty of
trea s on ; s e e 2 Samuel 19.22^3 .
Annotation 37 (p. 215) ‘ On this see Numbers 27.21’: The translators (that
I happen to have seen) make a bad job of verses 19 and 23 of this chapter.
These verses do not signify that he gave Joshua orders or instructions, but
rather that he made or appointed him leader, as often in Scripture, e.g.,
Exodus 18.23, 1 Samuel 13.14, Joshua 1.9,and1 Samuel 25.30,etc. 55
45 Tacitus, Histories, 1.25.2.
46 ‘In Numbers’ [in French].
47 ‘W h o s e n am e s a re g iven ch. 11 ver s e 28 of t h i s b o o k’ [ in Fre nc h] .
48 ‘The news of it came immediately to Moses’ [in French].
49 ‘And one would not have hesitated to report it to Moses as a criminal action’ [in French].
50 ‘And 15’[inFrench].
51 Numbers 11.29.
52 ‘You would wish that there was only me to rule; as for myself, I would wish that the right of
consulting God would return to each individual and they would all rule together, and let me go’.
[in French].
53 ‘And they would let me go’ [in French].
54 ‘And the authority’ [in French].
55 ‘The harder translators try to render verses 19 and 23 of this chapter literally’, adds the (very competent)
original French translator of Spinoza’s text, either Gabriel de Saint-Glain (c. 1620^84)or
Jean-Maximilian Lucas (1646^97) ‘the less intelligible they make it, and I am convinced very few
people understand the true sense of it. Most imagine that God commands Moses in verse 19 to
instruct Joshua in the presence of the Assembly, and in verse 23 that he laid his hands upon him
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