Hobbes - Leviathan.pdf

means, contempt of honour, and hardness of heart concurred to make
them sue for such an office. But amongst the Israelites it was a
positive law of God their Sovereign that he that was convicted of a
capital crime should be stoned to death by the people; and that the
witnesses should cast the first stone, and after the witnesses, then
the rest of the people. This was a law that designed who were to be
the executioners; but not that any one should throw a stone at him
before conviction and sentence, where the congregation was judge.
The witnesses were nevertheless to be heard before they proceeded to
execution, unless the fact were committed in the presence of the
congregation itself, or in sight of the lawful judges; for then
there needed no other witnesses but the judges themselves.
Nevertheless, this manner of proceeding, being not thoroughly
understood, hath given occasion to a dangerous opinion, that any man
may kill another, in some cases, by a right of zeal; as if the
executions done upon offenders in the kingdom of God in old time
proceeded not from the sovereign command, but from the authority of
private zeal: which, if we consider the texts that seem to favour
it, is quite contrary.
First, where the Levites fell upon the people that had made and
worshipped the golden calf, and slew three thousand of them, it was by
the commandment of Moses from the mouth of God; as is manifest,
Exodus, 32. 27. And when the son of a woman of Israel had blasphemed
God, they that heard it did not kill him, but brought him before
Moses, who put him under custody, till God should give sentence
against him; as appears, Leviticus, 24. 11, 12. Again, when Phinehas
killed Zimri and Cozbi,* it was not by right of private zeal: their
crime was committed in the sight of the assembly; there needed no
witness; the law was known, and he the heir apparent to the
sovereignty; and, which is the principal point, the lawfulness of
his act depended wholly upon a subsequent ratification by Moses,
whereof he had no cause to doubt. And this presumption of a future
ratification is sometimes necessary to the safety of a Commonwealth;
as in a sudden rebellion any man that can suppress it by his own power
in the country where it begins, without express law or commission, may
lawfully do it, and provide to have it ratified, or pardoned, whilst
it is in doing, or after it is done. Also, it is expressly said,
"Whosoever shall kill the murderer shall kill him upon the word of
witnesses":*(2) but witnesses suppose a formal judicature, and
consequently condemn that pretence of jus zelotarum. The Law of
Moses concerning him that enticeth to idolatry, that is to say, in the
kingdom of God to a renouncing of his allegiance, forbids to conceal
him, and commands the accuser to cause him to be put to death, and
to cast the first stone at him;*(3) but not to kill him before he be
condemned. And the process against idolatry is exactly set down: for
God there speaketh to the people as Judge, and commandeth them, when a
man is accused of idolatry, to enquire diligently of the fact, and
finding it true, then to stone him; but still the hand of the
witness throweth the first stone.*(4) This is not private zeal, but
public condemnation. In like manner when a father hath a rebellious
son, the law is that he shall bring him before the judges of the town,
and all the people of the town shall stone him.*(5) Lastly, by
pretence of these laws it was that St. Stephen was stoned, and not
by pretence of private zeal: for before he was carried away to
execution, he had pleaded his cause before the high priest. There is
nothing in all this, nor in any other part of the Bible, to
countenance executions by private zeal; which, being oftentimes but