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← Discours sur l'histoire universelle/Book 1 · Discours sur l'histoire universelle — Seconde partie : La suite de la religion
Chapter 3DiscoursHistUniv.1.3

Moïse, la Loy écrite, & l'introduction du Peuple de Dieu

The Divine Plan for Israel

God's providence guides the history of his people, from their long captivity in Egypt to the mission of Moses.

Moses, the written Law, and the entry of the people into the Promised Land. After Jacob died, God's people stayed in Egypt until Moses's mission—a period of about two hundred years. So four hundred and thirty years passed before God gave his people the land he had promised them. He wanted to train his elect to trust his promise, confident that it will be fulfilled sooner or later, and always at the times marked out by his eternal providence.✦ The iniquities of the Amorites, from whom he meant to give them both the land and the spoils, were not yet, as he declares to Abraham, at the full measure he was waiting for before handing them over to the hard and merciless vengeance he meant to work on them by the hands of his chosen people. This people needed time to multiply so they would be ready to fill the land destined for them and seize it by force, wiping out its inhabitants, who were cursed by God. He wanted them to endure a harsh and unbearable captivity in Egypt, so that once they were delivered by wonders never heard of before, they would love their liberator and celebrate his mercies forever. This is the order of God's counsels, as He Himself has revealed them to us, to teach us to fear Him, to worship Him, to love Him, and to wait for Him with faith and patience. When the time came, he heard the cries of his people, who were being cruelly afflicted by the Egyptians, and he sent Moses to deliver his children from their tyranny.✦

The Revelation of the Law

God reveals his name to Moses and gives the written Law to protect his people from the rampant idolatry of the nations.

He reveals himself to this great man more fully than he had ever done to anyone else alive. He appears to him in a way that is both magnificent and comforting: he declares that he is the One who is.✦ Everything that stands before him is only a shadow. I am who I am, he says: being and perfection belong to me alone.✦1 He takes a new name that points to being and life in him as their source; this is that great name of God—awe-inspiring, mysterious, and incommunicable—under which he wants to be served from now on.✦2 I won't recount for you in detail the plagues of Egypt, Pharaoh's hardening, the crossing of the Red Sea, or the smoke, the lightning, the resounding trumpet, and the awe-inspiring noise that met the people on Mount Sinai. There, God engraved the fundamental precepts of religion and society onto two stone tablets with his own hand, while dictating the rest to Moses in a loud voice. To keep this law in force, he was ordered to form a venerable assembly of seventy counselors, which could be called the senate of the people of God and the perpetual council of the nation. God appeared publicly and had his law proclaimed in his presence with an astonishing demonstration of his majesty and power. Until then, God hadn't provided anything in writing to serve as a rule for human beings. The children of Abraham had only circumcision, and its accompanying ceremonies, as the mark of the covenant God had made with this chosen race. By that mark they were set apart from the peoples who worshiped false gods; for the rest, they kept themselves in God's covenant by the memory they kept of the promises made to their fathers, and they were known as a people who served the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.✦ God was so thoroughly forgotten that he had to be identified by the name of those who had been his worshipers, and of whom he was also the declared protector. This great God would no longer leave the mystery of religion and his covenant to human memory alone. It was time to establish stronger barriers against idolatry, which was flooding the entire human race and finishing the work of extinguishing whatever remained of the natural light within it. Ignorance and blindness had grown enormously since the time of Abraham. In his time, and shortly after, the knowledge of God was still evident in Palestine and Egypt. Melchizedek, king of Salem, was the priest of God Most High, who made heaven and earth. Abimelech, king of Gerar, and his successor of the same name, feared God, swore by his name, and marveled at his power. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, dreaded the threats of this great God; but by the time of Moses, these nations had corrupted themselves. The true God was no longer known in Egypt as the God of all the peoples of the world, but as the God of the Hebrews. People even worshiped beasts and reptiles. Everything was God except God himself; and the world God had made to display his power seemed to have become a temple of idols. The human race went so far astray as to worship its vices and passions; and that should not surprise us. There was no power more inevitable or more tyrannical than theirs. People, accustomed to regarding anything powerful as divine, felt themselves dragged into vice by an invincible force; they readily believed that force was outside themselves and soon made a god of it. That is how shameless love came to have so many altars, and how impurities that fill us with horror began to be mixed into the sacrifices.3 Cruelty entered into them at the same time. The guilty person, troubled by a sense of their crime and regarding the deity as an enemy, believed they couldn't appease it with ordinary victims. Human blood had to be poured out along with that of beasts: a blind terror drove fathers to sacrifice their children and burn them to their gods in place of incense. These sacrifices were already common in the time of Moses, and they were only part of those horrible iniquities of the Amorites, whose vengeance God entrusted to the Israelites.

The Preservation of Truth

Moses gathers the ancient traditions and sacred songs to preserve the memory of God's works for future generations.

But they were not peculiar to those peoples. We know that in every culture across the world, without exception, people have sacrificed their fellow human beings; there has been no place on earth where people haven't served those grim and dreadful divinities whose implacable hatred of the human race demanded such victims. In the midst of so much ignorance, man came to worship even the work of his own hands.✦ He thought he could shut the divine spirit up inside statues, and he forgot so thoroughly that God had made him that he, in his turn, thought he could make a god.✦ Who could believe it, if experience didn't show us that an error so stupid and so brutal was not only the most universal among people, but also the most deeply rooted and the most incorrigible? So we must admit, to the shame of the human race, that the first of truths—the one the world itself proclaims, the one whose imprint is the most powerful—was the farthest from human sight.✦4 The tradition that still kept it alive in their minds, though still clear and fairly present if anyone had paid attention, was on the verge of vanishing: prodigious fables, as full of impiety as of extravagance, were taking its place. The moment had come when the truth, poorly kept in human memory, could no longer be preserved without being written down; and God, having also resolved to form his people in virtue by laws more explicit and more numerous, decided at the same time to give them in writing.✦ Moses was called to this work. This great man gathered the history of the ages past: that of Adam, that of Noah, that of Abraham, that of Isaac, that of Jacob, that of Joseph—or rather that of God himself and of his wonderful works. He didn't have to dig far to unearth the traditions of his ancestors. He was born a hundred years after Jacob died. The old men of his time had been able to talk for several years with that holy patriarch; the memory of Joseph and the wonders God had worked through that great minister of the kings of Egypt was still fresh.5 The lives of three or four men reached back to Noah, who had seen the children of Adam and, so to speak, touched the beginning of things. So the ancient traditions of the human race, and those of Abraham's family, were not hard to gather: memory of them was still alive; and it's no wonder if Moses, in his Genesis, speaks of things that happened in the earliest ages as settled facts, of which people could still see remarkable monuments both among the neighboring peoples and in the land of Canaan. While Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived in that land, they had set up monuments everywhere of the things that had happened to them. People still pointed out the places where they had lived: the wells they had dug in those arid regions to water their households and flocks; the mountains where they had sacrificed to God and where He had appeared to them; the stones they had erected or piled as memorials for future generations; and the tombs where their blessed ashes rested. The memory of these great men was still fresh, not only throughout that entire country but across the whole East, where several famous nations have never forgotten that they descended from their line. So when the Hebrew people entered the promised land, everything there celebrated their ancestors; and the cities and the mountains, and even the stones themselves, spoke of these marvelous men and of the astonishing visions by which God had confirmed them in the ancient and true faith. Those who know even a little about antiquities know how eager the earliest ages were to raise and preserve such monuments, and how carefully later generations held on to the occasions that had led them to be set up. It was one of the ways of writing history: later people shaped and polished the stones; and statues, after columns, took the place of the rough, solid masses that the earliest ages used to raise.6 We even have strong reasons to believe that in the lineage where the knowledge of God was preserved, people also kept written records of the earliest times. After all, human beings have never been without this concern. At the very least, it's certain that songs were created which fathers taught their children; these songs, performed at festivals and assemblies, kept the memory of the most splendid deeds of past ages alive. From this, poetry was born, later evolving into various forms. The oldest of these is still preserved in the odes and songs used by all the ancients—and still used today by peoples who lack writing—to praise the divinity and great men. The style of these songs is bold and extraordinary, yet natural in that it is well suited to represent nature in its raptures; for that reason it moves by vivid, impetuous bursts, free of the ordinary connections that smooth, continuous discourse looks for, and held, moreover, within measured cadences that heighten its force—it startles the ear, seizes the imagination, moves the heart, and imprints itself more easily on the memory.7 Of all the peoples in the world, God's people were the ones who used such songs the most. Moses recorded a great number of them, identifying them by their opening lines because the people already knew the rest. He composed two of these himself. The first sets before our eyes the triumphant crossing of the Red Sea, and the enemies of God's people—some already drowned, and the others half overcome by terror. In the second, Moses confounds the people's ingratitude by celebrating the kindnesses and wonders of God. The following centuries imitated him. It was God and his marvelous works that formed the subject of the odes they composed: God himself inspired them, and strictly speaking, only among the people of God has poetry come by true enthusiasm.8 Jacob had spoken, in this mystical language, the oracles that held his children's destiny, so that each tribe could more easily remember what concerned it and learn to praise the One who was as magnificent in his predictions as he was faithful in fulfilling them.

The Discipline of the Covenant

Moses establishes the Law as the foundation of Israel's life, creating a holy society set apart by its worship and obedience.

These are the means God used to preserve the memory of past events up until the time of Moses. Instructed by all these means and raised even higher by the Holy Spirit, this great man wrote of God's works with an exactness and simplicity that draw belief and admiration not to himself, but to God. To the past events, which held the origins and ancient traditions of God's people, he added the wonders God was then working for their deliverance.9 For these events, he cites no other witnesses to the Israelites than their own eyes. Moses doesn't tell them of things that happened in hidden places or deep caverns; he doesn't speak into thin air. He provides details and sets out the circumstances of everything, like a man who has no fear of being contradicted.10 He bases all their laws and their entire commonwealth on the wonders they have seen.11 These wonders were nothing less than nature suddenly changed on various occasions to deliver them and punish their enemies: the sea dividing in two, the earth splitting open, heavenly bread, abundant water drawn from rocks by a stroke of a staff, the sky providing a visible signal to mark their path, and other similar miracles that they witnessed for forty years.12 The people of Israel were no more intelligent or subtle than other nations, who, having given themselves over to their senses, could not conceive of an invisible God. On the contrary, they were as coarse and rebellious as any other people, if not more so.13 But this God, invisible in his nature, made himself so perceptible through constant miracles, and Moses impressed this upon them so forcefully, that eventually this carnal people allowed themselves to be touched by the pure idea of a God who did everything by his word—a God who was nothing but spirit, reason, and intelligence.✦1415 In this way, while idolatry—which had grown so much since the time of Abraham—covered the entire earth, only this patriarch's descendants remained free from it. Their enemies bore witness to this; and the peoples among whom the truth of the tradition had not yet been entirely extinguished cried out in astonishment: "No idol is seen in Jacob; no superstitious omens are seen there; no divinations or spells are seen there: it is a people that trusts in the Lord its God, whose power is invincible." To impress on people's minds the unity of God, and the perfect uniformity He required in His worship, Moses often repeats that in the promised land this one God would choose a place where alone the feasts, the sacrifices, and all public worship would be performed. While they waited for that long-desired place as they wandered through the desert, Moses built the tabernacle—a portable temple—where the children of Israel offered their vows to the God who made heaven and earth, and who did not disdain to journey, so to speak, with them and lead them. The entire law was built upon this religious principle, this sacred foundation—a law holy, just, beneficent, upright, wise, far-seeing, and simple, which bound human society together through the holy fellowship of man with God. To these holy institutions he added majestic ceremonies, feasts that kept alive the memory of the miracles by which the people of Israel had been delivered; and—what no other lawgiver had dared to do—precise assurances that everything would succeed for them as long as they lived subject to the law, whereas their disobedience would be followed by open and inevitable vengeance. It took assurance from God to give his laws that foundation, and the outcome has proved that Moses hadn't spoken on his own. As for the great number of observances with which he burdened the Hebrews, even though they now seem superfluous to us, they were then necessary to set the people of God apart from the other peoples, and served as a barrier against idolatry, for fear that it would sweep this chosen people away along with all the others. To maintain the religion and all the traditions of the people of God, among the twelve tribes one tribe is chosen to which God assigns, along with the tithes and the offerings, the care of sacred things. Levi and his children were themselves consecrated to God as the tithe of the entire people. Within the tribe of Levi, Aaron was chosen to be high priest, and the priesthood was made hereditary in his family. Thus the altars have their ministers; the law has its special defenders; and the continuity of the people of God is vindicated by the succession of its high priests, which runs without break from Aaron, the first of them all.16

The Promise of the Messiah

The Law of Moses serves as a preparation for the coming of the Messiah, the true Prophet who will fulfill all things.

But the best thing about this law was that it paved the way for a more majestic law, one less burdened by ceremonies and more fruitful in virtues.✦ To keep the people waiting for this law, Moses confirms to them the coming of that great prophet who was to spring from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. "God," he says, "will raise up for you from among your own people and your own brothers a prophet like me."✦ Listen to him.✦ Who could this prophet like Moses—this lawgiver—be, if not the Messiah, whose teaching was one day to order and sanctify the whole world? Until he came, no prophet like Moses was to rise in all Israel—one to whom God would speak face to face, and who would give laws to his people. So until the time of the Messiah, the people relied on nothing but Moses in every age and through every hardship. Just as Rome revered the laws of Romulus, Numa, and the Twelve Tables; just as Athens turned back to those of Solon; and just as Sparta kept and honored those of Lycurgus, the Hebrew people constantly cited those of Moses. Furthermore, the lawgiver had organized everything so well that no one ever needed to change a thing. That is why the body of Jewish law isn't a collection of various laws made at different times for different occasions. Moses, enlightened by the Spirit of God, had foreseen everything. You won't find ordinances from David, Solomon, Jehoshaphat, or Hezekiah, even though all of them were deeply zealous for justice. Good princes only had to enforce the law of Moses, and they were content to recommend its observance to their successors. Adding or taking away even a single article was an outrage the people would have viewed with horror.✦ They needed the law at every moment to govern not only the festivals, the sacrifices, and the ceremonies, but also every other public and private act: judgments, contracts, marriages, inheritances, funerals, even the form of clothing, and in general everything that touches manners and morals. There was no other book in which people studied the precepts of the good life. You had to leaf through it and meditate on it night and day, gather its sayings, and keep them always before your eyes.✦ That was where the children learned to read. The only rule of education given to their parents was to teach them this holy law, to impress it upon them, and to make them keep it—the only thing that could make them wise from childhood.✦ So it had to be in everyone's hands. Besides the diligent private reading each person was supposed to do, every seven years, in the solemn year of remission and rest, there was a public reading of it—almost a fresh publication—at the Feast of Tabernacles, when the whole people was assembled for eight days.17 Moses had the original of Deuteronomy deposited beside the ark: it was an abridgment of the whole law.✦ But for fear that it might eventually be altered by human malice or negligence, authentic copies were made beyond those circulating among the people. These were carefully reviewed and kept by the priests and Levites to serve as the official originals. The kings (for Moses had clearly foreseen that this people would at last want kings like all the others)—the kings, I say, were bound by an express law in Deuteronomy to receive from the priests' hands one of these so carefully corrected exemplars, so that they would copy it out and read it all their lives.✦18 The exemplars thus reviewed by public authority were held in singular veneration by the whole people: they were regarded as having come straight from Moses's hands, as pure and complete as God had dictated them to him. An ancient volume of this severe and religious correction, having been found in the house of the Lord under the reign of Josiah—and perhaps it was the very original Moses had had placed beside the ark—stirred the piety of that holy king, and gave him occasion to lead this people to repentance. The profound effects that the public reading of this law has had in every age are countless. In short, it was a perfect book that, when joined by Moses to the history of God's people, taught them everything at once: their origin, their religion, their government, their morals, and their philosophy. It covered everything needed to order life and unite society, including examples of good and bad behavior, the rewards for some, and the severe punishments that followed others.19 Through this admirable discipline, a people who had emerged from slavery and spent forty years in the desert arrived fully formed at the land they were to occupy.

The Legacy of Moses and the Conquest

Moses concludes his mission, and Joshua leads the people into the Promised Land, continuing the work of divine judgment and settlement.

Moses leads them to the threshold, and, warned that his end is near, he entrusts the remaining work to Joshua. But before he died, he composed that long and admirable canticle which begins with these words:20 .21 .22 etc.23 In this silence of all nature, he first speaks to the people with unmatched force, and, foreseeing their unfaithfulness, he lays bare its horror.✦ All at once he transcends himself, as if finding every human word inadequate for such a great subject: he reports what God says, and makes Him speak with such loftiness and such goodness that you can't tell which He inspires more—fear and shame, or love and trust.✦24 The whole people learned this divine canticle by heart, by the order of God and Moses.✦ After that, this great man died content, like someone who had forgotten nothing necessary to preserve among his own people the memory of God's benefits and precepts. He left his children among their fellow citizens without any distinction or special provision.25 He was admired not only by his own people but by everyone in the world; no lawgiver has ever held such a great name among men. It is believed that he wrote the book of Job.26 The sublimity of the thoughts and the majesty of the style make this history worthy of Moses. For fear that the Hebrews would grow proud by claiming God's grace as theirs alone, it was good to make them understand that this great God had his elect even in the line of Esau. What teaching was more important? And what more useful lesson could Moses give the people afflicted in the desert than that of Job's patience—who, handed over into Satan's power to be tried by every kind of suffering, finds himself stripped of his goods, his children, and every comfort on earth; immediately after that, struck with a horrible disease, and shaken within by the temptation to blasphemy and despair; who nevertheless, by standing firm, shows that a faithful soul, upheld by divine help, in the midst of the most terrifying trials, and despite the darkest thoughts the evil spirit can suggest, knows not only how to keep an invincible trust, but also how to rise through its own afflictions to the highest contemplation, and to recognize in the pains it endures, together with the nothingness of man, God's supreme dominion and his infinite wisdom? That is what the book of Job teaches. To keep the character of that age, we see the holy man's faith crowned with temporal prosperity; and yet God's people learn what power there is in suffering, and taste the grace that one day would be fastened to the cross. Moses had already tasted it when he preferred the sufferings and disgrace he had to bear with his people to the pleasures and abundance of the king of Egypt's house.✦ From then on, God made him taste the reproaches of Jesus Christ.✦ He tasted them even more in his sudden flight and his forty years of exile. But he drained the cup of Jesus Christ to the dregs when, chosen to save that people, he had to endure their constant revolts, which put his life in danger.✦ He learned what it costs to save the children of God, and showed from afar what a higher deliverance would one day cost the Savior of the world. This great man didn't even have the consolation of entering the promised land; he only saw it from the top of a mountain, and he wasn't ashamed to write that he was shut out of it by a sin which, light as it seems, deserved to be punished so severely in a man whose grace was so eminent. Moses served as an example of God's severe jealousy, and of the judgment He exercises with such terrible exactness on those whom His gifts bind to a more perfect faithfulness.27 But a higher mystery is shown to us in Moses's exclusion. This wise lawgiver, who by so many wonders does no more than lead God's children to the neighborhood of their land, himself serves us as proof that his law brings nothing to perfection, and that without being able to give us the fulfillment of the promises, it makes us greet them from afar, or at most leads us as if to the door of our inheritance. It is a Joshua—it is a Jesus, for that was Joshua's true name—who by that name and by his office represented the Savior of the world: it is this man, so far beneath Moses in every respect, and superior only by the name he bears; it is he, I say, who must bring God's people into the holy land.28 By the victories of this great man, before whom the Jordan turns back, the walls of Jericho fall of themselves, and the sun stands still in the middle of the sky, God settles His children in the land of Canaan, from which by the same means He drives out abominable peoples. By the hatred He gave His faithful for them, He inspired in them an extreme aversion to their impiety; and the punishment He inflicted on those peoples through their ministry filled them themselves with fear of the divine justice whose decrees they were carrying out. Some of these peoples whom Joshua drove from their land settled in Africa, where long afterward people found, in an ancient inscription, the monument of their flight and of Joshua's victories.29

The Rise of the Kingdom

The tribe of Judah takes its place at the head of the people, leading to the establishment of the royal line of David.

After these miraculous victories had put the Israelites in possession of the greater part of the land promised to their fathers, Joshua and Eleazar the high priest, together with the chiefs of the twelve tribes, divided it among them according to the law of Moses, and assigned to the tribe of Judah the first and largest share. Since the time of Moses, it had already surpassed the others in numbers, courage, and dignity. Joshua died, and the people continued the conquest of the Holy Land. God willed that the tribe of Judah should lead the way, declaring that he had delivered the country into its hands. And so it defeated the Canaanites and took Jerusalem, which was to be the holy city and the capital of the people of God. It was the ancient Salem, where Melchizedek had reigned in Abraham's day—Melchizedek, the king of righteousness (as his name implies) and also the king of peace (since Salem means peace)—whom Abraham had recognized as the world's greatest high priest, as if Jerusalem had been destined even then to be a holy city and the center of religion.30 This city was first given to the children of Benjamin, who, being weak and few in number, could not drive out the Jebusites, the ancient inhabitants of the land, so the Jebusites remained among them.31 Under the judges, the people of God are treated differently according to whether they do well or ill. After the death of the elders who had seen the miracles of God's hand, the memory of those great works grew weak, and the universal bent of the human race dragged the people into idolatry.✦ As often as they fall into it, they are punished; as often as they repent, they are delivered.✦ Faith in providence, and the truth of Moses's promises and threats, is confirmed more and more in the hearts of the true faithful. But God was preparing even greater examples of this.32 The people asked for a king, and God gave them Saul, who was soon rejected for his sins: He finally resolved to establish a royal family from which the Messiah would come, and He chose it in Judah. David, a young shepherd from that tribe, the last of Jesse's children—whose worth neither his father nor his family recognized, but whom God found after His own heart—was anointed by Samuel in Bethlehem, his hometown.✦✦33

Read the original Latin

Moïse, la Loy écrite, & l'introduction du Peuple dans la Terre promise.

Aprés la mort de Jacob, le peuple de Dieu demeura en Egypte, jusques au temps de la mission de Moïse, c’est à dire environ deux cens ans.

Ainsi il se passa quatre cens trente ans avant que Dieu donnast à son peuple la terre qu’il luy avoit promise.

Il vouloit accoustumer ses eleûs à se fier à sa promesse, asseûrez qu’elle s’accomplit tost ou tard, et toûjours dans les temps marquez par son éternelle providence.

Les iniquitez des amorrhéens dont il leur vouloit donner et la terre et les dépouïlles, n’estoient pas encore, comme il le déclare à Abraham, au comble où il les attendoit pour les livrer à la dure et impitoyable vengeance qu’il vouloit exercer sur eux par les mains de son peuple éleû.

Il falloit donner à ce peuple le temps de se multiplier, afin qu’il fust en estat de remplir la terre qui luy estoit destinée, et de l’occuper par force, en exterminant ses habitans maudits de Dieu.

Il vouloit qu’ils éprouvassent en Egypte une dure et insupportable captivité, afin qu’estant delivrez par des prodiges inoûïs, ils aimassent leur liberateur, et célebrassent éternellement ses misericordes.

Voilà l’ordre des conseils de Dieu, tels que luy-mesme nous les a révelez, pour nous apprendre à le craindre, à l’adorer, à l’aimer, à l’attendre avec foy et patience.

Le temps estant arrivé, il écoute les cris de son peuple cruellement affligé par les egyptiens, et il envoye Moïse pour delivrer ses enfans de leur tyrannie.

Il se fait connoistre à ce grand homme plus qu’il n’avoit jamais fait à aucun homme vivant. Il luy apparoist d’une maniere également magnifique et consolante : il luy déclare qu’il est celuy qui est. Tout ce qui est devant luy n’est qu’une ombre. je suis, dit-il, celuy qui suis : l’estre et la perfection m’appartiennent à moy seul. Il prend un nouveau nom, qui désigne l’estre et la vie en luy comme dans leur source ; et c’est ce grand nom de Dieu terrible, mysterieux, incommunicable, sous lequel il veut doresnavant estre servi.

Je ne vous raconteray pas en particulier les playes de l’Egypte, ni l’endurcissement de Pharaon, ni le passage de la mer Rouge, ni la fumée, les éclairs, la trompette resonnante, le bruit effroyable qui parut au peuple sur le mont Sinaï. Dieu y gravoit de sa main sur deux tables de pierre les préceptes fondamentaux de la religion et de la societé : il dictoit le reste à Moïse à haute voix. Pour maintenir cette loy dans sa vigueur, il eût ordre de former une assemblée vénerable de septante conseillers, qui pouvoit estre appellée le senat du peuple de Dieu, et le conseil perpetuel de la nation. Dieu parut publiquement, et fit publier sa loy en sa presence avec une démonstration étonnante de sa majesté et de sa puissance.

Jusques-là Dieu n’avoit rien donné par écrit qui pust servir de regle aux hommes. Les enfans d’Abraham avoient seulement la circoncision, et les céremonies qui l’accompagnoient, pour marque de l’alliance que Dieu avoit contractée avec cette race éleûë. Ils estoient separez par cette marque des peuples qui adoroient les fausses divinitez : au reste, ils se conservoient dans l’alliance de Dieu par le souvenir qu’ils avoient des promesses faites à leurs peres, et ils estoient connus comme un peuple qui servoit le Dieu d’Abraham, d’Isaac, et de Jacob. Dieu estoit si fort oublié, qu’il falloit le discerner par le nom de ceux qui avoient esté ses adorateurs, et dont il estoit aussi le protecteur déclaré. Ce grand Dieu ne voulut point abandonner plus long-temps à la seule memoire des hommes le mystere de la religion et de son alliance. Il estoit temps de donner de plus fortes barrieres à l’idolatrie, qui inondoit tout le genre humain, et achevoit d’y éteindre les restes de la lumiere naturelle.

L’ignorance et l’aveuglement s’estoit prodigieusement accru depuis le temps d’Abraham. De son temps, et un peu aprés, la connoissance de Dieu paroissoit encore dans la Palestine et dans l’Egypte. Melchisedec roy de Salem estoit le pontife du Dieu tres-haut, qui a fait le ciel et la terre . Abimelec roy de Gerare, et son successeur de mesme nom, craignoient Dieu, juroient en son nom, et admiroient sa puissance. Les menaces de ce grand Dieu estoient redoutées par Pharaon roy d’Egypte : mais dans le temps de Moïse, ces nations s’estoient perverties. Le vray Dieu n’estoit plus connu en Egypte comme le Dieu de tous les peuples de l’univers, mais comme le Dieu des hebreux . On adoroit jusqu’aux bestes et jusqu’aux reptiles. Tout estoit Dieu, excepté Dieu mesme ; et le monde que Dieu avoit fait pour manifester sa puissance, sembloit estre devenu un temple d’idoles.

Le genre humain s’égara jusqu’à adorer ses vices et ses passions ; et il ne faut pas s’en étonner. Il n’y avoit point de puissance plus inévitable, ni plus tyrannique que la leur. L’homme accoustumé à croire divin tout ce qui estoit puissant, comme il se sentoit entraisné au vice par une force invincible, crut aisément que cette force estoit hors de luy, et s’en fit bientost un Dieu. C’est par là que l’amour impudique eût tant d’autels, et que des impuretez qui font horreur commencerent à estre meslées dans les sacrifices. La cruauté y entra en mesme temps. L’homme coupable, qui estoit troublé par le sentiment de son crime, et regardoit la divinité comme ennemie, crut ne pouvoir l’appaiser par les victimes ordinaires. Il fallut verser le sang humain avec celuy des bestes : une aveugle frayeur poussoit les peres à immoler leurs enfans, et à les brusler à leurs dieux au lieu d’encens. Ces sacrifices estoient communs dés le temps de Moïse, et ne faisoient qu’une partie de ces horribles iniquitez des amorrhéens, dont Dieu commit la vengeance aux israëlites.

Mais ils n’estoient pas particuliers à ces peuples. On sçait que dans tous les peuples du monde, sans en excepter aucun, les hommes ont sacrifié leurs semblables ; et il n’y a point eû d’endroit sur la terre où on n’ait servi de ces tristes et affreuses divinitez, dont la haine implacable pour le genre humain exigeoit de telles victimes. Au milieu de tant d’ignorances, l’homme vint à adorer jusqu’à l’oeuvre de ses mains. Il crut pouvoir renfermer l’esprit divin dans des statuës, et il oublia si profondément que Dieu l’avoit fait, qu’il crut à son tour pouvoir faire un Dieu. Qui le pourroit croire, si l’experience ne nous faisoit voir qu’une erreur si stupide et si brutale n’estoit pas seulement la plus universelle, mais encore la plus enracinée et la plus incorrigible parmi les hommes ? Ainsi il faut reconnoistre, à la confusion du genre humain, que la premiere des veritez, celle que le monde presche, celle dont l’impression est la plus puissante, estoit la plus éloignée de la veûë des hommes. La tradition qui la conservoit dans leurs esprits, quoy-que claire encore, et assez presente, si on y eust esté attentif, estoit preste à s’évanoûïr : des fables prodigieuses et aussi pleines d’impieté que d’extravagance prenoient sa place. Le moment estoit venu où la verité mal gardée dans la memoire des hommes, ne pouvoit plus se conserver sans estre écrite ; et Dieu ayant résolu d’ailleurs de former son peuple à la vertu par des loix plus expresses et en plus grand nombre, il résolut en mesme temps de les donner par écrit.

Moïse fut appellé à cét ouvrage. Ce grand homme recueïllit l’histoire des siecles passez ; celle d’Adam, celle de Noé, celle d’Abraham, celle d’Isaac, celle de Jacob, celle de Joseph, ou plûtost celle de Dieu mesme et de ses faits admirables. Il ne luy fallut pas déterrer de loin les traditions de ses ancestres. Il nasquit cent ans aprés la mort de Jacob. Les vieillards de son temps avoient pû converser plusieurs années avec ce saint patriarche : la memoire de Joseph et des merveilles que Dieu avoit faites par ce grand ministre des rois d’Egypte estoit encore récente. La vie de trois ou quatre hommes remontoit jusqu’à Noé, qui avoit veû les enfans d’Adam, et touchoit, pour ainsi parler, à l’origine des choses.

Ainsi les traditions anciennes du genre humain, et celles de la famille d’Abraham n’estoient pas mal-aisées à recueïllir : la memoire en estoit vive ; et il ne faut pas s’étonner si Moise dans sa genese parle des choses arrivées dans les premiers siecles comme de choses constantes, dont mesme on voyoit encore et dans les peuples voisins et dans la terre de Chanaan des monumens remarquables. Dans le temps qu’Abraham, Isaac et Jacob avoient habité cette terre, ils y avoient érigé par tout des monumens des choses qui leur estoient arrivées. On y montroit encore les lieux où ils avoient habité ; les puits qu’ils avoient creusez dans ces païs secs pour abreuver leur famille et leurs troupeaux ; les montagnes où ils avoient sacrifié à Dieu, et où il leur estoit apparu ; les pierres qu’ils avoient dressées ou entassées pour servir de memorial à la posterité ; les tombeaux où reposoient leurs cendres benites. La memoire de ces grands hommes estoit récente, non seulement dans tout le païs, mais encore dans tout l’Orient, où plusieurs nations célebres n’ont jamais oublié qu’elles venoient de leur race.

Ainsi quand le peuple hebreu entra dans la terre promise, tout y célebroit leurs ancestres ; et les villes et les montagnes, et les pierres mesmes y parloient de ces hommes merveilleux, et des visions étonnantes par lesquelles Dieu les avoit confirmez dans l’ancienne et véritable croyance. Ceux qui connoissent tant soit peu les antiquitez, sçavent combien les premiers temps estoient curieux d’ériger, et de conserver de tels monumens, et combien la posterité retenoit soigneusement les occasions qui les avoient fait dresser. C’estoit une des manieres d’écrire l’histoire : on a depuis façonné et poli les pierres ; et les statuës ont succedé aprés les colonnes aux masses grossieres et solides, que les premiers temps érigeoient.

On a mesme de grandes raisons de croire que dans la lignée où s’est conservée la connoissance de Dieu, on conservoit aussi par écrit des memoires des anciens temps. Car les hommes n’ont jamais esté sans ce soin. Du moins est-il asseûré qu’il se faisoit des cantiques que les peres apprenoient à leurs enfans ; cantiques qui se chantant dans les festes et dans les assemblées, y perpetuoient la memoire des actions les plus éclatantes des siécles passez. De là est née la poësie changée dans la suite en plusieurs formes, dont la plus ancienne se conserve encore dans les odes et dans les cantiques employez par tous les anciens, et encore à present par les peuples qui n’ont pas l’usage des lettres, à loûër la divinité et les grands hommes.

Le stile de ces cantiques hardi, extraordinaire, naturel toutefois en ce qu’il est propre à representer la nature dans ses transports, qui marche pour cette raison par de vives et impetueuses saillies affranchi des liaisons ordinaires que recherche le discours uni, renfermé d’ailleurs dans des cadences nombreuses qui en augmentent la force, surprend l’oreille, saisit l’imagination, émeut le coeur, et s’imprime plus aisément dans la memoire.

Parmi tous les peuples du monde, celuy où de tels cantiques ont esté le plus en usage, a esté le peuple de Dieu. Moïse en marque un grand nombre, qu’il désigne par les premiers vers, parce que le peuple sçavoit le reste. Luy-mesme en a fait deux de cette nature. Le premier nous met devant les yeux le passage triomphant de la mer Rouge, et les ennemis du peuple de Dieu les uns déja noyez, et les autres à-demi vaincus par la terreur. Par le second Moïse confond l’ingratitude du peuple, en célebrant les bontez et les merveilles de Dieu. Les siécles suivans l’ont imité. C’estoit Dieu et ses oeuvres merveilleuses qui faisoient le sujet des odes qu’ils ont composées : Dieu les inspiroit luy-mesme, et il n’y a proprement que le peuple de Dieu où la poësie soit venuë par enthousiasme. Jacob avoit prononcé dans ce langage mystique les oracles qui contenoient la destinée de ses enfans, afin que chaque tribu retinst plus aisément ce qui la touchoit, et apprist à loûër celuy qui n’estoit pas moins magnifique dans ses prédictions que fidele à les accomplir.

Voilà les moyens dont Dieu s’est servi pour conserver jusqu’à Moïse la memoire des choses passées. Ce grand homme instruit par tous ces moyens, et élevé au dessus par le saint esprit, a écrit les oeuvres de Dieu avec une exactitude et une simplicité qui attire la croyance et l’admiration non pas à luy, mais à Dieu mesme. Il a joint aux choses passées, qui contenoient l’origine et les anciennes traditions du peuple de Dieu, les merveilles que Dieu faisoit actuellement pour sa delivrance. De cela il n’allegue point aux israëlites d’autres témoins que leurs yeux. Moïse ne leur conte point des choses qui se soient passées dans des retraites impenétrables, et dans des antres profonds : il ne parle point en l’air : il particularise, et circonstantie toutes choses, comme un homme qui ne craint point d’estre démenti. Il fonde toutes leurs loix et toute leur république sur les merveilles qu’ils ont veûës. Ces merveilles n’estoient rien moins que la nature changée tout à coup en differentes occasions pour les delivrer, et pour punir leurs ennemis ; la mer separée en deux, la terre entre-ouverte, un pain céleste, des eaux abondantes tirées des rochers par un coup de verge, le ciel qui leur donnoit un signal visible pour marquer leur marche, et d’autres miracles semblables qu’ils ont veû durer quarante ans.

Le peuple d’Israël n’estoit pas plus intelligent ni plus subtil que les autres peuples, qui s’estant livrez à leur sens, ne pouvoient concevoir un Dieu invisible. Au contraire, il estoit grossier et rebelle autant ou plus qu’aucun autre peuple. Mais ce Dieu invisible dans sa nature se rendoit tellement sensible par de continuels miracles, et Moïse les inculquoit avec tant de force, qu’à la fin ce peuple charnel se laissa toucher de l’idée si pure d’un Dieu qui faisoit tout par sa parole, d’un Dieu qui n’estoit qu’esprit, que raison et intelligence.

De cette sorte, pendant que l’idolatrie si fort augmentée depuis Abraham couvroit toute la face de la terre, la seule posterité de ce patriarche en estoit exempte. Leurs ennemis leur rendoient ce témoignage ; et les peuples où la verité de la tradition n’estoit pas encore tout à fait éteinte s’écrioient avec étonnement, on ne voit point d’idole en Jacob ; on n’y voit point de présages superstitieux ; on n’y voit point de divinations, ni de sortileges : c’est un peuple qui se fie au Seigneur son Dieu, dont la puissance est invincible .

Pour imprimer dans les esprits l’unité de Dieu, et la parfaite uniformité qu’il demandoit dans son culte, Moïse répete souvent, que dans la terre promise ce Dieu unique choisiroit un lieu dans lequel seul se feroient les festes, les sacrifices, et tout le service public. En attendant ce lieu desiré, durant que le peuple erroit dans le desert, Moïse construisit le tabernacle, temple portatif, où les enfans d’Israël presentoient leurs voeux au Dieu qui avoit fait le ciel et la terre, et qui ne dédaignoit pas de voyager, pour ainsi dire, avec eux, et de les conduire. Sur ce principe de religion, sur ce fondement sacré estoit bastie toute la loy ; loy sainte, juste, bienfaisante, honneste, sage, prévoyante et simple, qui lioit la societé des hommes entre eux par la sainte societé de l’homme avec Dieu.

A ces saintes institutions, il ajousta des céremonies majestueuses, des festes qui rappelloient la memoire des miracles par lesquels le peuple d’Israël avoit esté delivré ; et, ce qu’aucun autre legislateur n’avoit osé faire, des asseûrances précises que tout leur réüssiroit tant qu’ils vivroient soumis à la loy, au lieu que leur desobéïssance seroit suivie d’une manifeste et inévitable vengeance. Il falloit estre asseûré de Dieu pour donner ce fondement à ses loix, et l’évenement a justifié que Moïse n’avoit pas parlé de luy-mesme.

Quant à ce grand nombre d’observances dont il a chargé les hebreux, encore que maintenant elles nous paroissent superfluës, elles estoient alors necessaires pour separer le peuple de Dieu des autres peuples, et servoient comme de barriere à l’idolatrie, de peur qu’elle n’entraisnast ce peuple choisi avec tous les autres. Pour maintenir la religion et toutes les traditions du peuple de Dieu, parmi les douze tribus une tribu est choisie à laquelle Dieu donne en partage avec les dixmes et les oblations, le soin des choses sacrées. Levi et ses enfans sont eux-mesmes consacrez à Dieu comme la dixme de tout le peuple. Dans Levi Aaron est choisi pour estre souverain pontife, et le sacerdoce est rendu héréditaire dans sa famille. Ainsi les autels ont leurs ministres ; la loy a ses défenseurs particuliers ; et la suite du peuple de Dieu est justifiée par la succession de ses pontifes, qui va sans interruption depuis Aaron le premier de tous.

Mais ce qu’il y avoit de plus beau dans cette loy, c’est qu’elle préparoit la voye à une loy plus auguste, moins chargée de céremonies, et plus feconde en vertus.

Moïse, pour tenir le peuple dans l’attente de cette loy, leur confirme la venuë de ce grand prophete qui devoit sortir d’Abraham, d’Isaac, et de Jacob. Dieu, dit-il, vous suscitera du milieu de vostre nation et du nombre de vos freres, un prophete semblable à moy. Ecoutez-le . Ce prophete semblable à Moïse, legislateur comme luy, qui peut-il estre sinon le messie, dont la doctrine devoit un jour regler et sanctifier tout l’univers ?

Jusqu’à luy il ne devoit point s’élever en tout Israël un prophete semblable à Moïse, à qui Dieu parlast face à face, et qui donnast des loix à son peuple. Aussi jusqu’aux temps du messie, le peuple, dans tous les temps et dans toutes les difficultez, ne se fonde que sur Moïse. Comme Rome réveroit les loix de Romulus, de Numa, et des Xii tables ; comme Athenes recouroit à celles de Solon ; comme Lacedémone conservoit et respectoit celles de Lycurgue : le peuple hebreu alleguoit sans cesse celles de Moïse. Au reste, le legislateur y avoit si bien reglé toutes choses, que jamais on n’a eû besoin d’y rien changer. C’est pourquoy le corps du droit judaïque n’est pas un recueïl de diverses loix faites dans des temps et dans des occasions differentes. Moïse éclairé de l’esprit de Dieu, avoit tout préveû. On ne voit point d’ordonnances ni de David, ni de Salomon, ni de Josaphat, ou d’Ezechias, quoy-que tous tres-zelez pour la justice. Les bons princes n’avoient qu’à faire observer la loy de Moïse, et se contentoient d’en recommander l’observance à leurs successeurs.

Y ajouster, ou en retrancher un seul article, estoit un attentat que le peuple eust regardé avec horreur. On avoit besoin de la loy à chaque moment pour regler non seulement les festes, les sacrifices, les céremonies, mais encore toutes les autres actions publiques et particulieres, les jugemens, les contrats, les mariages, les successions, les funerailles, la forme mesme des habits, et en général tout ce qui regarde les moeurs. Il n’y avoit point d’autre livre où on étudiast les préceptes de la bonne vie. Il falloit le fueilleter et le mediter nuit et jour, en recueïllir des sentences, les avoir toûjours devant les yeux. C’estoit-là que les enfans apprenoient à lire. La seule regle d’éducation qui estoit donnée à leurs parens estoit de leur apprendre, de leur inculquer, de leur faire observer cette sainte loy, qui seule pouvoit les rendre sages dés l’enfance. Ainsi elle devoit estre entre les mains de tout le monde. Outre la lecture assiduë que chacun en devoit faire en particulier, on en faisoit tous les sept ans dans l’année solennelle de la rémission et du repos, une lecture publique, et comme une nouvelle publication à la feste des tabernacles, où tout le peuple estoit assemblé durant huit jours.

Moïse fit déposer auprés de l’arche, l’original du deuteronome : c’estoit un abregé de toute la loy. Mais de peur que dans la suite des temps elle ne fust alterée par la malice ou par la negligence des hommes ; outre les copies qui couroient parmi le peuple, on en faisoit des exemplaires authentiques, qui soigneusement reveûs et gardez par les prestres et les levites, tenoient lieu d’originaux. Les rois (car Moïse avoit bien préveu que ce peuple voudroit enfin avoir des rois comme tous les autres) les rois, dis-je, estoient obligez par une loy expresse du deuteronome à recevoir des mains des prestres un de ces exemplaires si religieusement corrigez, afin qu’ils le transcrivissent, et le leussent toute leur vie. Les exemplaires ainsi reveûs par autorité publique estoient en singuliere véneration à tout le peuple : on les regardoit comme sortis immediatement des mains de Moïse, aussi purs et aussi entiers que Dieu les luy avoit dictez. Un ancien volume de cette sévere et religieuse correction ayant esté trouvé dans la maison du Seigneur, sous le regne de Josias, et peut-estre estoit-ce l’original mesme que Moïse avoit fait mettre auprés de l’arche, excita la pieté de ce saint roy, et luy fut une occasion de porter ce peuple à la penitence. Les grands effets qu’a operé dans tous les temps la lecture publique de cette loy sont innombrables. En un mot c’estoit un livre parfait, qui estant joint par Moïse à l’histoire du peuple de Dieu, luy apprenoit tout ensemble son origine, sa religion, sa police, ses moeurs, sa philosophie, tout ce qui sert à regler la vie, tout ce qui unit et forme la societé, les bons et les mauvais exemples, la récompense des uns, et les chastimens rigoureux qui avoient suivi les autres. Par cette admirable discipline, un peuple sorti d’esclavage, et tenu quarante ans dans un desert, arrive tout formé à la terre qu’il doit occuper.

Moïse le mene à la porte, et averti de sa fin prochaine, il commet ce qui reste à faire à Josué. Mais avant que de mourir, il composa ce long et admirable cantique, qui commence par ces paroles : . . . etc. Dans ce silence de toute la nature, il parle d’abord au peuple avec une force inimitable, et prevoyant ses infidelitez, il luy en découvre l’horreur. Tout d’un coup il sort de luy-mesme comme trouvant tout discours humain au dessous d’un sujet si grand : il rapporte ce que Dieu dit, et le fait parler avec tant de hauteur et tant de bonté, qu’on ne sçait ce qu’il inspire le plus ou la crainte et la confusion, ou l’amour et la confiance. Tout le peuple apprit par coeur ce divin cantique par ordre de Dieu et de Moïse.

Ce grand homme aprés cela mourut content, comme un homme qui n’avoit rien oublié pour conserver parmi les siens la memoire des bienfaits et des préceptes de Dieu. Il laissa ses enfans au milieu de leurs citoyens sans aucune distinction, et sans aucun établissement extraordinaire. Il a esté admiré non seulement de son peuple, mais de tous les peuples du monde ; et aucun legislateur n’a jamais eû un si grand nom parmi les hommes. On tient qu’il a écrit le livre de Job. La sublimité des pensées, et la majesté du stile rendent cette histoire digne de Moïse. De peur que les hebreux ne s’enorgueïllissent, en s’attribuant à eux seuls la grace de Dieu ; il estoit bon de leur faire entendre que ce grand Dieu avoit ses eleûs, mesme dans la race d’Esaü. Quelle doctrine estoit plus importante ? Et quel entretien plus utile pouvoit donner Moïse au peuple affligé dans le desert, que celuy de la patience de Job, qui livré entre les mains de Satan pour estre exercé par toute sorte de peines, se voit privé de ses biens, de ses enfans, et de toute consolation sur la terre ; incontinent aprés, frapé d’une horrible maladie, et agité au dedans par la tentation du blasphême et du desespoir ; qui neanmoins, en demeurant ferme, fait voir qu’une ame fidele soustenuë du secours divin, au milieu des épreuves les plus effroyables, et malgré les plus noires pensées que l’esprit malin puisse suggerer, sçait non seulement conserver une confiance invincible, mais encore s’eslever par ses propres maux à la plus haute contemplation, et reconnoistre dans les peines qu’elle endure avec le neant de l’homme, le supresme empire de Dieu, et sa sagesse infinie ?

Voilà ce qu’enseigne le livre de Job. Pour garder le caractere du temps, on voit la foy du saint homme couronnée par des prosperitez temporelles : mais cependant le peuple de Dieu apprend à connoistre quelle est la vertu des souffrances, et à gouster la grace qui devoit un jour estre attachée à la croix. Moïse l’avoit goustée lors qu’il préfera les souffrances et l’ignominie qu’il falloit subir avec son peuple, aux délices et à l’abondance de la maison du roy d’Egypte. Deslors Dieu luy fit gouster les opprobres de Jesus-Christ. Il les gousta encore davantage dans sa fuite précipitée, et dans son exil de quarante ans. Mais il avala jusqu’au fond le calice de Jesus-Christ, lors que choisi pour sauver ce peuple, il luy en fallut supporter les révoltes continuelles, où sa vie estoit en peril. Il apprit ce qu’il en couste à sauver les enfans de Dieu, et fit voir de loin ce qu’une plus haute delivrance devoit un jour couster au sauveur du monde.

Ce grand homme n’eût pas mesme la consolation d’entrer dans la terre promise : il la vit seulement du haut d’une montagne, et n’eût point de honte d’écrire qu’il en estoit exclus par un peché, qui tout leger qu’il paroist, merita d’estre chastié si severement dans un homme dont la grace estoit si éminente. Moïse servit d’exemple à la severe jalousie de Dieu, et au jugement qu’il exerce avec une si terrible exactitude sur ceux que ses dons obligent à une fidelité plus parfaite. Mais un plus haut mystere nous est montré dans l’exclusion de Moïse. Ce sage legislateur qui ne fait par tant de merveilles que de conduire les enfans de Dieu dans le voisinage de leur terre, nous sert luy-mesme de preuve, que sa loy ne mene rien à la perfection , et que sans nous pouvoir donner l’accomplissement des promesses, elle nous les fait saluër de loin , ou nous conduit tout au plus comme à la porte de nostre heritage. C’est un Josué, c’est un Jesus, car c’estoit le vray nom de Josué, qui par ce nom et par son office representoit le sauveur du monde : c’est cét homme si fort au dessous de Moïse en toutes choses, et superieur seulement par le nom qu’il porte ; c’est luy, dis-je, qui doit introduire le peuple de Dieu dans la terre sainte. Par les victoires de ce grand homme, devant qui le Jourdain retourne en arriere, les murailles de Jéricho tombent d’elles-mesmes, et le soleil s’arreste au milieu du ciel : Dieu établit ses enfans dans la terre de Chanaan, dont il chasse par mesme moyen des peuples abominables. Par la haine qu’il donnoit pour eux à ses fideles, il leur inspiroit un extréme éloignement de leur impieté ; et le chastiment qu’il en fit par leur ministere, les remplit eux-mesmes de crainte pour la justice divine dont ils exécutoient les decrets. Une partie de ces peuples que Josué chassa de leur terre, s’établirent en Afrique, où on trouva long-temps aprés dans une inscription ancienne, le monument de leur fuite et des victoires de Josué.

Aprés que ces victoires miraculeuses eûrent mis les israëlites en possession de la plus grande partie de la terre promise à leurs peres, Josué, et Eleazar souverain pontife, avec les chefs des douze tribus, leur en firent le partage, selon la loy de Moïse, et assignerent à la tribu de Juda le premier et le plus grand lot. Dés le temps de Moïse, elle s’estoit élevée au dessus des autres en nombre, en courage, et en dignité. Josué mourut, et le peuple continua la conqueste de la terre sainte. Dieu voulut que la tribu de Juda marchast à la teste, et déclara qu’il avoit livré le païs entre ses mains. En effet, elle défit les chananéens, et prit Jerusalem, qui devoit estre la cité sainte, et la capitale du peuple de Dieu. C’estoit l’ancienne Salem, où Melchisedec avoit regné du temps d’Abraham ; Melchisedec, ce roy de justice , (car c’est ce que veut dire son nom) et en mesme temps roy de paix , puis que Salem veut dire paix ; qu’Abraham avoit reconnu pour le plus grand pontife qui fust au monde, comme si Jerusalem eust esté deslors destinée à estre une ville sainte, et le chef de la religion. Cette ville fut donnée d’abord aux enfans de Benjamin, qui, foibles et en petit nombre, ne purent chasser les jebuséens anciens habitans du païs, et demeurerent parmi eux. Sous les juges, le peuple de Dieu est diversement traité, selon qu’il fait bien ou mal.

Aprés la mort des vieillards qui avoient veû les miracles de la main de Dieu, la memoire de ces grands ouvrages s’affoiblit, et la pente universelle du genre humain entraisne le peuple à l’idolatrie. Autant de fois qu’il y tombe, il est puni ; autant de fois qu’il se repent, il est delivré. La foy de la providence, et la verité des promesses et des menaces de Moïse se confirme de plus en plus dans le coeur des vrais fideles. Mais Dieu en préparoit encore de plus grands exemples. Le peuple demanda un roy, et Dieu luy donna Saül, bientost réprouvé pour ses pechez : il résolut enfin d’établir une famille royale, d’où le messie sortiroit, et il la choisit dans Juda. David, un jeune berger sorti de cette tribu, le dernier des enfans de Jessé, dont son pere, ni sa famille ne connoissoit pas le merite, mais que Dieu trouva selon son coeur, fut sacré par Samuël dans Bethléem sa patrie.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Gen.15.13-Gen.15.16;Exod.12.40-Exod.12.41 — Then he said to Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and they will serve them, and they will afflict them for four hundred years. Gen.15.14 — And also the nation they will serve I will judge; and afterward they will come out with great possessions. Gen.15.15 — And you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. Gen.15.16 — but the fourth generation will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. Exod.12.40 — Now the time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred thirty years. Exod.12.41 — And at the end of four hundred thirty years, on that very day, all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.
  2. ↩Exod.2.23-Exod.2.25 — And it came to pass in those many days that the king of Egypt died, and the sons of Israel groaned from the slavery, and they cried out, and their cry for help went up to God from the slavery. Exod.2.24 — And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. Exod.2.25 — And God saw the children of Israel, and God knew.
  3. ↩Exod.3.14 — And God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.' And he said, 'Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you.'
  4. ↩Exod.3.14 — And God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.' And he said, 'Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you.'
  5. ↩Exod.3.14-Exod.3.15 — And God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.' And he said, 'Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you.' Exod.3.15 — God said further to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel: 'Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, and this is my memorial from generation to generation.
  6. ↩Exod.3.6 — And he said, 'I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
  7. ↩Ps.115.4;Isa.2.8;Jer.1.16 — Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. Isa.2.8 — And his land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made. Jer.1.16 — And I will pronounce my judgments against them for all their wickedness; for they have forsaken me and have burned incense to other gods and bowed down to the works of their own hands.
  8. ↩Isa.44.9-Isa.44.20;Rom.1.23-Rom.1.25 — All who fashion an idol are nothing, and their cherished things are of no benefit. Their witnesses—they neither see nor know, so that they may be put to shame. Isa.44.10 — Who has fashioned a god or cast an image, to no profit at all? Isa.44.11 — Behold, all his companions shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are but men. Let them all assemble and stand together; let them be afraid and ashamed together. Isa.44.12 — The ironworker shapes it with a chisel, works it over the coals, and hammers it into form with the strength of his arm. Yet when he is hungry, his strength fails; if he drinks no water, he grows faint. Isa.44.13 — A woodworker stretches out a line; he marks it with a stylus. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass, and fashions it in the likeness of a man, in the beauty of humanity, to dwell in a house. Isa.44.14 — He cuts down cedars for himself, and takes a cypress or an oak; he selects for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir, and the rain makes it grow. Isa.44.15 — Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes some of it and warms himself; he also kindles a fire and bakes bread. Then he makes a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down before it. Isa.44.16 — Half of it he burns in the fire; over the other half he eats meat, roasting it and eating his fill. He also warms himself and says, 'Ah, I am warm, I have seen the firelight.' Isa.44.17 — The rest of it he makes into a god, his carved image. He bows down to it, worships it, prays to it, and says, "Save me, for you are my God." Isa.44.18 — They do not know, and they do not understand, for their eyes are smeared so they cannot see, and their minds cannot comprehend. Isa.44.19 — And he does not consider in his heart, nor has he knowledge or understanding to say, 'Half of it I have burned in the fire; I have also baked bread on its coals, I have roasted meat and eaten it. And shall I make the remainder an abomination? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?' Isa.44.20 — He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, 'Is there not a lie in my right hand?' Rom.1.23 — and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image resembling corruptible man, birds, four-footed animals, and creeping things. Rom.1.24 — Therefore God gave them over, in the lusts of their hearts, to impurity, so that their bodies were dishonored among themselves. Rom.1.25 — who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
  9. ↩Ps.19.1-Ps.19.4;Rom.1.19-Rom.1.20 — To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. Ps.19.2 — The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims the work of his hands. Ps.19.3 — Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. Ps.19.4 — There is no speech, and there are no words; their voice is not heard. Rom.1.19 — because what can be known about God is plain among them, for God made it plain to them. Rom.1.20 — For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes have been clearly perceived, being understood through the things that have been made: both his eternal power and divine nature. So they are without excuse.
  10. ↩Exod.24.12;Deut.31.9 — The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets, the law and the commandment, which I have written to instruct them." Deut.31.9 — Then Moses wrote this Torah and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel.
  11. ↩John.4.24 — God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
  12. ↩Isa.40.3 — A voice calls: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God."
  13. ↩Deut.18.15 — A prophet from among your own people, from your brothers, like me, the LORD your God will raise up for you — to him you shall listen.
  14. ↩Deut.18.15 — A prophet from among your own people, from your brothers, like me, the LORD your God will raise up for you — to him you shall listen.
  15. ↩Deut.4.2 — You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor shall you take away from it, so that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you.
  16. ↩Josh.1.8;Ps.1.2;Deut.6.6-Deut.6.9 — This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Ps.1.2 — But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. Deut.6.6 — And these words that I am commanding you today shall be on your heart. Deut.6.7 — Teach them diligently to your children, and speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk along the road, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. Deut.6.8 — Bind them as a sign on your hand, and let them be as frontlets between your eyes. Deut.6.9 — And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
  17. ↩Deut.6.6-Deut.6.7;2Tim.3.15 — And these words that I am commanding you today shall be on your heart. Deut.6.7 — Teach them diligently to your children, and speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk along the road, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. 2Tim.3.15 — and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
  18. ↩Deut.31.24-Deut.31.26 — And it came to pass, when Moses had finished writing the words of this Torah in a book, to the end, Deut.31.25 — Then Moses commanded the Levites, the bearers of the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying: Deut.31.26 — Take this book of the Torah and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, so that it may be there as a witness against you.
  19. ↩Deut.17.18-Deut.17.19 — And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, from the one kept before the Levitical priests. Deut.17.19 — And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes by doing them.
  20. ↩Deut.32.1 — Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
  21. ↩Deut.32.19 — And the LORD saw, and he was provoked to anger, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
  22. ↩Deut.31.19-Deut.31.22 — Now therefore write for yourselves this song, and teach it to the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, so that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel. Deut.31.20 — For when I bring them into the land that I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they eat and are satisfied and grow fat, and turn to other gods and serve them and despise me and break my covenant. Deut.31.21 — And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, then this song will testify against them as a witness, for it will not be forgotten from the mouth of their offspring; for I know their inclination, what they are doing today, before I bring them into the land that I swore. Deut.31.22 — So Moses wrote this song that same day and taught it to the people of Israel.
  23. ↩Heb.11.24-Heb.11.26 — By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, Heb.11.25 — choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin Heb.11.26 — He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to the reward.
  24. ↩Heb.11.26 — He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to the reward.
  25. ↩Matt.26.39;Mark.14.36;John.18.11 — And going forward a little, he fell on his face, praying and saying, 'My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.' Mark.14.36 — And he was saying, 'Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. But not what I want; what you want.' John.18.11 — Jesus said to Peter, "Put your sword into its sheath. The cup that the Father has given me—shall I not drink it?"
  26. ↩Judg.2.7-Judg.2.13 — And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the LORD that he had done for Israel. Judg.2.8 — And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being a hundred and ten years old. Judg.2.9 — And they buried him within the border of his inheritance, in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash. Judg.2.10 — And also that whole generation was gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them, who did not know the LORD, nor even the work that he had done for Israel. Judg.2.11 — Then the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals. Judg.2.12 — and they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they went after other gods, from the gods of the peoples who were around them, and they bowed down to them, and they provoked the LORD to anger. Judg.2.13 — They abandoned the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.
  27. ↩Judg.2.11-Judg.2.19 — Then the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals. Judg.2.12 — and they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they went after other gods, from the gods of the peoples who were around them, and they bowed down to them, and they provoked the LORD to anger. Judg.2.13 — They abandoned the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtaroth. Judg.2.14 — So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies on every side, and they were no longer able to stand before their enemies. Judg.2.15 — In every place they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, just as the LORD had spoken and just as the LORD had sworn to them, and he distressed them greatly. Judg.2.16 — Then the LORD raised up judges, and they saved them from the hand of their plunderers. Judg.2.17 — Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they prostituted themselves after other gods and bowed down to them. They quickly turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, to obey the commandments of the LORD; they did not do so. Judg.2.18 — And whenever the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge and saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and afflicted them. Judg.2.19 — But when the judge died, they would return and act more corruptly than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways.
  28. ↩1Sam.16.1-1Sam.16.13 — The LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have seen among his sons a king for myself." 1Sam.16.2 — And Samuel said, "How can I go? And if Saul hears of it, he will kill me." And the LORD said, "Take a heifer with you and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.'" 1Sam.16.3 — Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will make known to you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I tell you. 1Sam.16.4 — Samuel did what the LORD had spoken, and he came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city trembled to meet him, and they said, "Is it peace — your coming?" 1Sam.16.5 — He said, "Peace! I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice." And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. 1Sam.16.6 — When they arrived, he saw Eliab and said, "Surely the LORD's anointed stands before the LORD." 1Sam.16.7 — But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, for I have rejected him. For not as man sees does God see, for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart." 1Sam.16.8 — Then Jesse called Abinadab and passed him before Samuel. And he said, "The LORD has not chosen this one either." 1Sam.16.9 — Then Jesse made Shammah pass by, and he said, "Not this one either has the LORD chosen. 1Sam.16.10 — And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, "The LORD has not chosen these." 1Sam.16.11 — And Samuel said to Jesse, "Are the young men all here?" And he said, "There is still the youngest remaining; behold, he is tending the flock." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and get him, for we will not sit down until he comes here." 1Sam.16.12 — So he sent and brought him in. He was ruddy, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. And the LORD said, "Rise, anoint him, for this is he." 1Sam.16.13 — Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers, and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. And Samuel arose and went to Ramah.
  29. ↩1Sam.13.14;Acts.13.22 — But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart, and the LORD has appointed him ruler over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you. Acts.13.22 — and after removing him, he raised up David as their king, to whom he also testified, 'I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who will do all my will.'

Notes

  1. 1 ↩French « je suis… celuy qui suis » is the traditional Exodus 3:14 formula; rendered with the familiar English cadence « I am who I am » rather than a stiffer « I am he who am ».
  2. 2 ↩French « terrible » here means fearsome/awe-inspiring majesty, not « awful » in the modern pejorative sense; rendered « awe-inspiring ». « incommunicable » kept as the theological term for the divine name that cannot be shared.
  3. 3 ↩Source has literary/orthographic «eût» for past «eut» («had»); rendered as simple past ownership/proliferation of altars, not as a counterfactual.
  4. 4 ↩« celle que le monde presche » is taken as the primal truth of God/creation that nature and the world themselves preach, not a human sermon about the world.
  5. 5 ↩ce saint patriarche most naturally continues from Jacob in s4; la memoire de Joseph then shifts to Joseph, whom the clause also calls ce grand ministre des rois d'Egypte. If a reader takes the patriarch as Joseph himself, the sense of recent living memory remains the same.
  6. 6 ↩« les statuës ont succedé aprés les colonnes aux masses grossieres et solides » marks a succession of memorial forms: rough solid masses → columns → statues. Rendered as statues succeeding after columns in place of those earlier masses.
  7. 7 ↩In classical French rhetorical usage, nombreuses often means rhythmically measured (from nombre, meter), not merely many; rendered here as measured cadences.
  8. 8 ↩French enthousiasme here has the classical sense of divine possession or genuine prophetic inspiration, not modern cheerful eagerness.
  9. 9 ↩Early modern French actuellement means 'at that very time / then and there,' not modern English 'actually.'
  10. 10 ↩circonstantie is early modern for 'furnish with circumstances / detail the circumstances'; rendered as 'sets out the circumstances.'
  11. 11 ↩république here means the political body/polity of Israel, not a modern republic; rendered as 'commonwealth.'
  12. 12 ↩rien moins que taken in the classical sense 'nothing less than / nothing short of' (full affirmation), not the modern French understatement 'far from being.'
  13. 13 ↩grossier: rendered 'coarse' for intellectual and moral crudeness, not modern slang 'gross'.
  14. 14 ↩sensible: not 'sensible' as wise, but 'perceptible to the senses,' in deliberate contrast with invisible dans sa nature.
  15. 15 ↩peuple charnel: kept as 'carnal people' for the fleshly/sensual sense opposed to the pure idea of God as pure spirit.
  16. 16 ↩suite du peuple de Dieu rendered as 'continuity of the people of God' (historical succession/continuation in Bossuet's 'suite de la religion' sense), not mere 'following' or retinue.
  17. 17 ↩« l'année solennelle de la rémission et du repos » is the sabbatical year of release (shemitah): debts remitted and the land at rest (Deut 15; 31:10).
  18. 18 ↩religieusement corrigez rendered as carefully/devoutly corrected: both 'with religious care' and 'with pious rigor' are present; 'carefully corrected' keeps the sense of scrupulous textual correction without sounding merely modern-editorial.
  19. 19 ↩police rendered as 'polity' (civil/political order), the 17th-c. sense, not modern 'police force'.
  20. 20 ↩The French ends with a colon and a bare period; the quoted opening of the Song of Moses is missing from the supplied source and appears to continue in the empty/etc. units that follow.
  21. 21 ↩Source sentence is only a period; likely a stripped-out line of the Song of Moses quotation introduced in s2.
  22. 22 ↩Source sentence is only a period; likely a second stripped line of the Song of Moses quotation.
  23. 23 ↩Source preserves only the truncation mark 'etc.' after the missing canticle quotation.
  24. 24 ↩'hauteur' rendered as loftiness (divine majesty of speech), not arrogance; 'confusion' as shame/dismay rather than mental muddle.
  25. 25 ↩établissement extraordinaire: rendered as 'extraordinary provision' (settlement/estate/privilege for his line), not a formal political institution.
  26. 26 ↩On tient qu'il... reports a traditional attribution of Job to Moses, not a settled claim of authorship.
  27. 27 ↩jalousie keeps the biblical sense of God's zealous jealousy for holiness among those he has especially gifted, not ordinary envy.
  28. 28 ↩Bossuet equates Josué and Jésus because both render Hebrew Yehoshua / Greek Iēsous; the typology is name-and-office based, not a claim that Joshua equals Christ in rank.
  29. 29 ↩Bossuet alludes to the classical report (via Procopius and later tradition) of a North African inscription commemorating peoples expelled by Joshua; treat as received early-modern historiography, not as verified epigraphy.
  30. 30 ↩Bossuet renders Melchisedec as 'roy de justice' from the Hebrew etymology of the name (king of righteousness) and 'roy de paix' from Salem = peace, following the traditional reading also reflected in Hebrews 7:2.
  31. 31 ↩Subject of 'demeurerent' is ambiguous in the French; rendered as the Jebusites remaining among Benjamin, matching the sense of Judges 1:21.
  32. 32 ↩French 'en' is anaphoric: still greater examples of that confirmation of providence and of Moses's promises and threats.
  33. 33 ↩'sacré' here means anointed/consecrated as king, not 'made sacred' in a general sense.

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