To them God was revealed, both
as a father and a civil ruler, and obedience to laws relating solely
to this life was all that was required. So low were they in the scale
of civilization and mental development, that a system which confined
them to one spot, as an agricultural people, and prevented their growing
very rich, or having extensive commerce with other nations, was
indispensable to prevent their relapsing into the low idolatries and
vices of the nations around them, while temporal rewards and penalties
were more effective than those of a life to come.
The proportion of time and property, which every Jew was required to
devote to intellectual, benevolent, and religious purposes, was as
follows:
In regard to property, they were required to give one tenth of all
their yearly income to support the Levites, the priests, and the
religious service. Next, they were required to give the first-fruits
of all their corn, wine, oil, and fruits, and the first-born of all
their cattle, for the Lord's treasury, to be employed for the priests,
the widow, the fatherless, and the stranger. The first-born, also, of
their children, were the Lord's, and were to be redeemed by a specified
sum, paid into the sacred treasury.
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