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 prophecy by the spirit of God, and these were all of Moses his election; concerning whom God said to Moses, (_Numb._ xi. 16) _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 (verse 25) _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 (chap. XXXVI.) 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 prophecy, 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 prophecied in the camp, it was thought a new and unlawful thing; and as it is in verses 27 and 28 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 prophecied. 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. [Sidenote: After Moses the sovereignty was in the high priest.] Aaron being dead, and after him also Moses, the kingdom, as being a sacerdotal kingdom, descended by virtue of the covenant, to Aaron’s son Eleazar the high-priest: and God declared him, next under himself, for sovereign, at the same time that he appointed Joshua for the General of their army. For thus God saith expressly (_Numb._ xxvii. 21) concerning Joshua: _He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him before the Lord; at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him_. Therefore the supreme power of making war and peace, was in the priest. The supreme power of judicature belonged also to the high-priest: for the book of the law was in their keeping; and the priests and Levites only were the subordinate judges in causes civil, as appears in _Deut._ xvii. 8, 9, 10. And for the manner of God’s worship, there was never doubt made, but that the high-priest till the time of Saul, had the supreme authority. Therefore the civil and ecclesiastical power were both joined together in one and the same person, the high-priest; and ought to be so, in whosoever governeth by divine right, that is, by authority immediate from God. [Sidenote: Of the sovereign power between the time of Joshua and of Saul.]