hierarchy, and supreme interpreter of the laws, had his seat in the
capital of the nation, while the priests of his tribe were scattered among
the other tribes, and were hereditary. The Hebrew priests simply
interpreted the laws; the priests of Egypt made them. Their power was
chiefly judicial. They had no means of usurpation, neither from property,
nor military command. They were simply the expositors of laws which they
did not make, which they could not change, and which they themselves were
bound to obey. The income of a Levite was about five times as great as an
ordinary man, and this, of course, was derived from the tithes. But a
greater part of the soil paid no tithes. The taxes to the leading class,
as the Levites were, can not be called ruinous when compared with what the
Egyptian priesthood received, especially when we remember that all the
expenses connected with sacrifice and worship were taken from the tithes.
The treasures which flowed into the sacerdotal treasury belonged to the
Lord, and of these the priests were trustees rather than possessors.

(M104) Such, in general terms, briefly presented, was the Hebrew
constitution framed by Moses, by the direction of God. It was eminently
republican in spirit, and the power of the people through their
representatives, was great and controlling. The rights of property were
most sacredly guarded, and crime was severely and rigidly punished. Every
citizen was eligible to the highest offices. That the people were the
source of all power is proven by their voluntary change of government,
against the advice of Samuel, against the oracle, and against the council
of elders. We look in vain to the ancient constitutions of Greece and Rome
for the wisdom we see in the Mosaic code. Under no ancient government were
men so free or the laws so just. It is not easy to say how much the
Puritans derived from the Hebrew constitution in erecting their new
empire, but in many aspects there is a striking resemblance between the
republican organization of New England and the Jewish commonwealth.

The Mosaic code was framed in the first year after the exodus, while the
Israelites were encamped near Sinai. When the Tabernacle was erected, the
camp was broken up, and the wandering in the desert recommenced. This was
continued for forty years--not as a punishment, but as a discipline, to
enable the Jews to become indoctrinated into the principles of their
constitution, and to gain strength