And notwithstanding the covenant constituteth a sacerdotal kingdom,that is to say,a kingdom hereditary to Aaron;yet that is to be understood of the succession after Moses should be dead.For whosoever ordereth and establisheth the policy as first founder of a Commonwealth,be it monarchy,aristocracy,or democracy,must needs have sovereign power over the people all the while he is doing of it.And that Moses had that power all his own time is evidently affirmed in the Scripture.First,in the text last before cited,because the people promised obedience,not to Aaron,but to him.
Secondly,"And God said unto Moses,Come up unto the Lord,thou and Aaron,Nadab and Abihu,and seventy of the elders of Israel.And Moses alone shall come near the Lord,but they shall not come nigh,neither shall the people go up with him."By which it is plain that Moses,who was alone called up to God (and not Aaron,nor the other priests,nor the seventy elders,nor the people who were forbidden to come up),was alone he that represented to the Israelites the person of God;that is to say,was their sole sovereign under God.And though afterwards it be said,"Then went up Moses and Aaron,Nadab and Abihu,and seventy of the elders of Israel,and they saw the God of Israel,and there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone,"etc.;yet this was not till after Moses had been with God before,and had brought to the people the words which God had said to him.He only went for the business of the people;the others,as the nobles of his retinue,were admitted for honour to that special grace which was not allowed to the people;which was,as in the verse after appeareth,to see God and live."God laid not His hand upon them,they saw God,and did eat and drink"(that is,did live),but did not carry any commandment from Him to the people.
Again,it is everywhere said,"The Lord spake unto Moses,"as in all other occasions of government,so also in also in the ordering of the ceremonies of religion,contained in the 25th,26th,27th,28th,29th,30th,and 31st chapters of Exodus,and throughout Leviticus;to Aaron,seldom.The calf that Aaron made,Moses threw into the fire.
Lastly,the question of the authority of Aaron,by occasion of his and Miriam's mutiny against Moses,was judged by God Himself for Moses.So also in the question between Moses and the people,who had the right of governing the people,when Korah,Dathan,and Abiram,and two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly "gathered themselves together against Moses,and against Aaron,and said unto them,ye take too much upon you,seeing all the congregation are holy,every one of them,and the Lord is amongst them,why lift you up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord?"God caused the earth to swallow Korah,Dathan,and Abiram,with their wives and children,alive,and consumed those two hundred and fifty princes with fire.
Therefore neither Aaron,nor the people,nor any aristocracy of the chief princes of the people,but Moses alone had next under God the sovereignty over the Israelites:and that not only in causes of civil policy,but also of religion:for Moses only spoke with God,and therefore only could tell the people what it was that God required at their hands.No man upon pain of death might be so presumptuous as to approach the mountain where God talked with Moses."Thou shalt set bounds,"saith the Lord,"to the people round about,and say,Take heed to yourselves that you go not up into the Mount,or touch the border of it;whosoever toucheth the Mount shall surely be put to death."And again,"Go down,charge the people,lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze."Out of which we may conclude that whosoever in Christian Commonwealth holdeth the place of Moses is the sole messenger of God and interpreter of His commandments.And according hereunto,no man ought in the interpretation of the Scripture to proceed further than the bounds which are set by their several sovereigns.For the Scriptures,since God now speaketh in them,are the Mount Sinai,the bounds whereof are the laws of them that represent God's person on earth.To look upon them,and therein to behold the wondrous works of God,and learn to fear Him,is allowed;but to interpret them,that is,to pry into what God saith to him whom He appointeth to govern under Him,and make themselves judges whether he govern as God commandeth him,or not,is to transgress the bounds God hath set us,and to gaze upon God irreverently.
There was no prophet in the time of Moses,nor pretender to the spirit of God,but such as Moses had approved and authorized.For there were in his time but seventy men that are said to prophesy by the spirit of God,and these were all of Moses his election;concerning whom God said to Moses,"Gather to me seventy of the elders of Israel,whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people."To these God imparted His spirit;but it was not a different spirit from that of Moses;for it is said,"God came down in a cloud,and took of the spirit that was upon Moses,and gave it to the seventy elders."But as I have shown before,Chapter thirty-six,by spirit is understood the mind;so that the sense of the place is no other than this,that God endued them with a mind conformable and subordinate to that of Moses,that they might prophesy,that is to say,speak to the people in God's name in such manner as to set forward (as ministers of Moses,and by his authority)such doctrine as was agreeable to Moses his doctrine.For they were but ministers;and when two of them prophesied in the camp,it was thought a new and unlawful thing;and as it is in the 27th and 28th verses of the same chapter,they were accused of it,and Joshua advised Moses to forbid them,as not knowing that it was by Moses his spirit that they prophesied.By which it is manifest that no subject ought to pretend to prophecy,or to the spirit,in opposition to the doctrine established by him whom God hath set in the place of Moses.