thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they
inform thee; according to the sentence of the law which they
shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall
tell thee, thou shalt do; thou shalt not decline from the sentence
which they shall show thee to the right hand nor to the left."
Here, say the traditionists, is a plain and unequivocal command.
No doubt, God here plainly declares what is to be done in a
difficult case. He commands the Israelites to go to the place
which the Lord God chose, that is, to the place where was found
the ark of the covenant; and to inquire, not of the Rabbies, but
of the priests, the Levites, and the judge (Hebrew characters). But this
passage, instead of proving that "the fear of the Rabbi is as the
fear of God," proves the contrary. It supposes first, that the
Rabbies and learned men may differ in judgment, that there
may be a controversy, and consequently, that one party may be
in the wrong. It, therefore, effectually overthrows Rabbinical
infallibility. It shows that these learned men are, after all, only
poor fallible creatures like ourselves, and that, therefore, we are
not to fear them as we would fear God, nor reverence their dictates,
as the Word of God. It shows secondly, that in a case of
difficulty, the Israelites were not to appeal to the Rabbies, but
to the priests (
Hebrew characters), and to the judge (
Hebrew characters), and even to them
only in the place which the Lord should choose. There is not
one word said about the Rabbies or the wise men, and, therefore,
this passage completely annihilates all their lofty pretensions.
For centuries the place which the Lord chose has been desolate,
and there has been no priest standing to minister before the
Lord. The Jews have thus lost all possibility of appeal. They
have neither ministering priest nor judge, and the Mosaic law
nowhere recognises the pretensions of the Rabbies. But some
Jew may say, that though this passage does not prove the
authority of the Rabbies, it does at least warrant the Jews in
persisting to reject the claims of the Lord Jesus, for that he was
condemned by the priests, and in Jerusalem, the place which the
Lord chose. We confess that this objection is plausible; but
can easily prove that it is nothing more. In order to this, we
ask the Jews, whether the above command to abide by the sentence
of the priests is in every case, and without any exception,
binding? To this question there are two answers possible—Yes
and No. If they say No, then they admit that the priests might
sometimes be in the wrong, and we would, of course, take advantage
of this admission to show that they erred in their judgment
on Jesus of Nazareth. They will then, most probably,
say, Yes; the sentence of the priests, the Levites, and the judges,
is in every case binding, and Israel is commanded not to deviate
from it, either to the right hand or to the left, upon pain of
capital punishment. We beg of them then to turn to the 26th
chapter of the Prophet Jeremiah, and to consider the case there
Page:The old paths, or The Talmud tested by Scripture.djvu/28
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