THE CRADU 
 HRISTIAN 
 
NOV 1 ' 1916 
 
 
THE CRADLE OF 
 CHRISTIANITY 
 
 OR 
 
 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE TIMES OF 
 CHRIST 
 
 ( 
 
 NOV 1 1 M( 
 
 S. p. T. PRIDEAUX, B.D. ^^ -"^- 
 
 RECTOR OF DOGMERSFIELD, AND LATE INCUMBENT OF CHELSEA 
 OLD CHURCH AND DEAN OF WHITELANDS COLLEGE 
 
 WITH A FOREWORD BY 
 
 The Rev. JOHN VAUGHAN, M.A. 
 
 CANON OF WINCHESTER 
 
 NEW YORK 
 E. P. BUTTON & COMPANY 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 It is very necessary for students of the New Testament, 
 if they would acquire an adequate knowledge of the 
 subject, to gain a clear idea of the conditions of life in 
 Palestine in the time of our Lord. Indeed, without such 
 knowledge much that is contained in the four Gospels 
 cannot be fully understood. Not only should the 
 historical geography of the Holy Land be thoroughly 
 grasped that a right setting may be given to the sacred 
 narratives, but the conditions, social, political, reHgious, 
 under which the inhabitants lived should be realized : — 
 the Roman occupation, the Hebrew customs, the parties 
 into which Judaism was divided, the Apocalyptic 
 literature which so largely influenced the religious 
 thought of the people. 
 
 It is in the hope of being able to present this know- 
 ledge, in a concise, and at the same time popular form, 
 that Mr. Prideaux has been led to pubhsh " The Cradle 
 of Christianity." The basis of the book consists of two 
 courses of lectures, delivered in the diocese of Winchester, 
 under the auspices of the Society for promoting " Higher 
 Religious Education." The little volume is admirably 
 suited to its purpose. Nowhere, in so small a compass, 
 do I know such a clear and scholarly account of the 
 
iv FOREWORD 
 
 religious and social conditions under whicli Christ was 
 born. The chapters on the Messianic Hope, on Hellenism, 
 on Apocalyptic Literature are excellent ; while the 
 treatment of the sects and parties of the Jews reveals 
 a full knowledge of the latest researches on the subject. 
 I heartily recommend the little book. It should prove 
 most useful to teachers, and students of Training 
 Colleges, and to intelligent lay folk who wish to under- 
 stand their New Testaments. May it receive the 
 recognition it so thoroughly deserves. 
 
 JOHN VAUGHAN, 
 
 The Close, Winchester, 
 Noveynber, 1915. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAfiB 
 
 I. Conditions in Palestine in the time of our Lord 
 
 — Geographical and Historical ... ... 9 
 
 II. Roman Influence— Social Conditions ... 32 
 
 III. The Messianic Hope ... ... ... ... 45 
 
 IV. Hellenism AND THE Dispersion — "Wisdom"... 65 
 V. The Apocalyptic Literature ... ... ... 87 
 
 VI. The Synagogue— Sects and Parties ... 104 
 
 VII. The Sadducees and Pharisees ... ... ... 123 
 
 VIII. The Scribes and their Teaching ... ... 147 
 
 Index ... ... ... ... ... ... 179 
 
THE FOLLOWING ARE THE CHIEF 
 BOOKS REFERRED TO 
 
 E. Bevan : " Jerusalem under the High Priests " (J.H.P.). 
 
 E. H. Charles: "Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testa- 
 ment" (A. & P.). 
 
 A. Edersheim : *' Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah." 
 
 W. Fairweather : " From the Exile to the Advent " (E.A.). 
 „ «' The Background of the Gospels " (B.G.). 
 
 H. Latimer Jackson: "Eschatology of Jesus." 
 
 Josephus : '* Antiquities of the Jews " (Ant.). 
 „ " The Jewish Wars " (B.J.). 
 
 ,, "Against Apion " (C.Ap.). Mainly from Whiston's 
 
 translation. 
 
 L. A. Muirhead : " The Times of Christ." 
 
 Shailer Matthews : " A History of N.T. Times in Palestine." 
 
 Oehler : " Theology of the O.T." 
 
 W. 0. E. Oesterley : " Books of the Apocrypha." 
 
 „ „ " Evolution of the Messianic Idea " (M.I,). 
 
 „ „ " The Last Things " (L.T.). 
 
 H. E. Savage : •' Gospel of the Kingdom." 
 
 E. Schiirer : " The Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ." 
 
 Westcott : "Introduction to the Study of the Gospels." 
 
 Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. 
 
 Encyclopaedia Biblica. 
 
 N.B.— An admirable list of books relating to the subject, by 
 H. M. Slee and E. J. Grindley, is published by the S.P.C.K. 
 
THE CRADLE OF 
 CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 CONDITIONS IN PALESTINE 
 
 The country with wtiicli we have to deal is small : 
 roughly some 140 miles long by 50 miles wdde ; but in 
 that small compass it exhibits a wonderful variety of 
 both terrain, climate, and population.* All the way up 
 the coast runs the great maritime plain, embracing 
 ancient Philistia, the Plain of Sharon, and the Phenician 
 coast. Inland from Philistia, and parallel with it, runs 
 the Shephelah, or low hills. Inland again comes the 
 mountainous ridge that stretches from the Negeb in the 
 south, right up to the fertile plain of Esdraclon or 
 Jezreel, the heart and centre of Israel's life all through 
 its history. Eastward still of this, and still parallel, 
 runs the Jordan valley, at varying ranges of depth 
 below sea-level ; and, beyond this, the desert. North 
 
 * A glance at a map, such as Murray's Palestine, in '* Handy 
 Classical Maps," 1?., will make this clear. 
 
10 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 of the Plain of Esdraelon stretclies rugged Galilee, 
 reaching up to the heights of Mounts Lebanon and 
 Hermon. 
 
 In such a country we should expect a great variety 
 of climate, and so we find. Dr. George Adam Smith 
 (" Historical Geography of the Holy Land,"' p. 56) says : 
 " In Palestine there is every climate between the sub- 
 tropical of one end of the Jordan valley and the sub- 
 Alpine above the other end. There are palms in Jericho 
 and pine forests in Lebanon. In the Ghor, in summer, 
 you are under a temperature of more than 100° F., and 
 yet you see glistening the snow-fields of Hermon. All 
 the intermediate steps between these extremes the eye 
 can see at one sweep from Carmel — the sands and plains 
 of the coast ; the wheat-fields of Esdraelon ; the oaks 
 and sycamores of Galilee ; the pines, the peaks, the 
 snows of Anti-Lebanon." And he contrasts the sheep- 
 skin clad shepherds of the Judacan uplands and their 
 sohd stone houses with the desert BedaAvin a few miles to 
 the east, living in tents and wearing cottons. 
 
 These variations result from the great variations in 
 level, and from the lie of the land. The levels range from 
 1300 feet heloiv sea-level, to 9000 feet above ; and the 
 country is afiected both by the influence of the Mediter- 
 ranean on one side, and the desert on the other. Tem- 
 perature and weather and climate must necessarily vary 
 greatly under such conditions ; and so must occupations. 
 Both desert and highland arc dry in summer, and are 
 fertilised only by the heavy winter rains (cf. Cant. 2^^). 
 Elsewhere are " large and copious fountains," bursting 
 forth from the foot of the hills and fertilising oases and 
 
CONDITIONS IN PALESTINE 11 
 
 valleys. They are best near Mount Hermon, fair in 
 Galilee and Samaria, and but scanty on the table-lands 
 of Judaea. In the low-lying plains the soil is fertile, and 
 productive of good grain crops ; and the hill country is 
 suited only for vines, olives, and other fruit trees, and 
 the pasturing of flocks. 
 
 Together with these physical variations went, in 
 early days, similar variety of population. We are 
 familiar with the seven original Canaanite tribes, the 
 Hittites, Hivites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, 
 Perizzites, and Jebusites, with others ; and Dr. G. A. 
 Smith (p. 58) points out that Palestine has always been 
 tenanted by a great variety of peoples, the character of 
 the country being eminently favourable to this. In 
 early days the separate valleys and tracts of country 
 were always cut off from one another by the configura- 
 tions of the land (we are not unfamiliar with this even 
 in England to-day) ; so that many kinds of peoples could 
 live close to one another without mixing, and tribalism 
 and clannishness flourish. Thus, after the settlement, 
 each of the Twelve Tribes had its own appointed territory, 
 and there were frequent risings and feuds of one against 
 another, as the early historical books of the Old Testa- 
 ment testify. Moreover, it was very far from being 
 the case that these aboriginals were exterminated by 
 the invading Israelites ; there was always the " stranger 
 within the gates," and inter-marriage naturally resulted, 
 in spite and defiance of stringent conmiands to the 
 contrary. 
 
 This could not fail in its effect on the national character 
 and temperament. The wide and varied sources from 
 
12 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 which later Israel drew its blood all conduced to 
 catholicity and adaptabihty, as well as to an intense and 
 narrow race-feeling. And when, after centuries of 
 discipline and training the Twelve Tribes became a 
 nation ; and when the nation had gone into captivity 
 and become a People of Dispersion, their multiform 
 ancestry enabled them to become citizens of every 
 country to which they went. 
 
 In origin they were Semites ; and their long ap- 
 prenticeship in the Arabian deserts gave them a strenu- 
 ousness and determination of character, and a detach- 
 ment from earthly things. In the desert, says Dr. G. A. 
 Smith (p. 29), '' seers, martyrs, and fanatics are bred " ; 
 and under these influences was fostered the austere and 
 lofty monotheism w^hich distinguished the Hebrew from 
 his Canaanitish neighbour, and enabled him, though 
 after many lapses, to resist the attractions of other 
 forms of w^orship. The next stage of his life, among 
 varieties and extremes of climate, in small communities 
 and narrow homes, rendered him hardy and vigorous* 
 passionate and warlike, independent and proud, versatile 
 and persistent ; his experience of the ways of God as 
 revealed in nature taught him that God possessed moral 
 attributes, and that behind nature was a loving, wise, 
 and righteous Providence. 
 
 Speaking generally, Palestine may thus be compared 
 to Wales. It has about the same extent of territory, 
 and the same physical variations of mountain and valley, 
 of mild and severe climate ; historically the conditions 
 of life in both countries have been in many ways similar ; 
 and the peoples of both have shared the same intense 
 
CONDITIONS IN PALESTINE 13 
 
 nationalism, the same passion for religion, the same 
 excitability and pugnacity. 
 
 It is not easy for us, who come of Western stock, 
 and live in an age of comparative order and security, 
 to realise and appreciate the spirit and conditions of our 
 Lord's times. Probably the conditions obtaining in the 
 Balkan States are the nearest parallel in modern times ; 
 for there you have the fiery, fanatical spirit, fed by 
 religion and the tribal feeling ; you have the perpetual 
 ferment and unrest, the frequent rising and bloodshed, 
 the intrigues and party wire-pulling. Many of us have 
 grown up with the idea that our Lord lived a quiet, 
 peaceable life in an obscure country village, such as 
 might be found easily in Surrey or Hampshire, plying 
 His carpenter's trade year in year out ; meditating, 
 perhaps rather dreamily, on His Father's Love, and 
 nature ; w^hile round Him rolled the tide of peaceful 
 agricultural life, unmoved as a rule by any strong feeling 
 or activity. 
 
 But, in reality. His times w^ere as stirring, as turbulent 
 and stormy, as uncertain, as bloodstained, as any, 
 perhaps, in history.* In the Koman Empire, of which 
 Judaea was but a part, only 30 to 40 years had elapsed 
 since the battles of Philippi and Actium, and the struggle 
 for power between Julius Caesar, Pompey, Crassus, 
 Mark Antony, and Octavian, and the spells cast by 
 Cleopatra, a not-distant neighbour of Judaea. And 
 although Octavian, now called Augustus Caesar, was 
 
 * Nor was Nazareth a '' backwater " ; see Edersheim, I. p. 
 146, ff. 
 
14 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 firmly settled on the Imperial throne, the malcontents in 
 the Eastern portion of his Empire had to be schooled 
 into submission. The world then, like Europe of recent 
 years, was an armed camp with punitive expeditions 
 always coming and going ; the civil power rested openly 
 on the mihtary, and in practice martial law reigned. 
 
 Those who have studied the period of history between 
 the two Testaments (and some such study is essential to 
 a proper understanding of the N.T.), will recollect the 
 unhappy position in which Judaea found herself, succes- 
 sively the buffer-state between the world-empires of 
 Babylon, Persia, Macedonia, Syria and Egypt, and, 
 like Belgium and the Low Countries, the cock-pit of the 
 East. She could not help being drawn into the politics 
 of the time ; we see the beginning of this in the Old 
 Testament : self-preservation prompted alliances now 
 with this power, now with that. These alliances did not 
 always lead to seli-jyreservation, and Jewish allegiance was 
 not infrequently a forced allegiance. The old narrow 
 particularism, the tribal patriotism, of the Jew, which 
 had helped him to preserve his separate existence from 
 early days and all through the disintegrating times of 
 captivity, was further challenged and stiffened by such 
 men as Antiochus Epiphanes, and under the Maccabaean 
 rule the national independence had been gloriously 
 defended and upheld. Be it remembered, too, that 
 national life to the Jew was indistinguishable from 
 what we should call Church life ; patriotism and religion 
 were to them practically convertible terms ; and 
 national defence was a matter not so much of pohtical 
 expediency or commercial security, as of faith and 
 
CONDITIONS IN PALESTINE 15 
 
 conscience. God bad given His Law to men ; Israel 
 was the chosen keeper of It ; His Temple was at Jeru- 
 salem ; their enemies were His enemies ; and He and 
 His Law must be defended at all costs. 
 
 In our Lord's day, they had their own rulers, 
 certainly, though these were of Edomite stock, in 
 which the enmity of Jacob aiid Esau was perpetuated ; 
 and behind these were the Komans, for the past 60 
 years the conquerors of their country, and for this reason 
 the source of continual discontent, obeyed only ^vith a 
 sullen, grudging obedience, and because they could not 
 be disobeyed with impunity. 
 
 Of public honour there was none. The highest in 
 the land made regular use of bribes, intrigues, murder, 
 as weapons of state to secure their ends ; justice of a 
 sort was done, and order of a sort maintained ; but it 
 was inspired more by expediency than by principle. The 
 public revenues were farmed out, so that the collectors 
 enriched themselves at the expense of the people. 
 Domestic morality, to say the very least, was not en- 
 couraged by the example of those in the public eye. 
 
 The story of the century preceding our Lord's birth 
 is really a most sad and pitiable account of plot and 
 counterplot, rebellion and its punishment, open blood- 
 shed and secret murder, intrigues and liaisons and 
 shameless debauchery, bribes and peculations in peace, 
 and the destruction of property and the wasting o£ 
 territory in war. A graphic account is given by Jose- 
 phus (a.d. 37 — c. 95), in his "■ Antiquities of the Jews " ; 
 it does not occupy many pages, and is well worth the 
 reading ; an English translation is to be found in most 
 
16 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 libraries and many houses, and may be bought at no 
 great price. 
 
 Here is a brief outline of public events in these years, 
 giving a very unpleasant and disturbing contrast with 
 life as you and I have known it, at all events until the 
 recent terrible European War. 
 
 In the year 65 B.C. there was civil war in Judaea, the 
 Pharisees asserting the claims of Hyrcanus II. to be their 
 High Priest and King, the Sadducees upholding his 
 brother, Aristobulus II. Hyrcanus was at first obliged 
 to give way ; but at Antipater's instigation, he ob- 
 tained help from Aretas, King of Arabia, and eventually 
 shut up Aristobulus in the Temple, and laid siege to 
 him. 
 
 The probable course of events was materially altered 
 by the appearance of the Roman Pompey, who, having 
 restored order in Asia, proceeded to Syria. His general, 
 Scaurus, was charged with this mission, and to him the 
 rival brothers sent the usual embassies, with the usual 
 bribes, each amounting in this case, according to Jose- 
 phus (Ant., 14. 2. 3), to 400,000 talents. The decision 
 was given in favour of Aristobulus, who promptly 
 attacked and defeated his brother's forces. 
 
 The next year Pompey arrived in person, and to him 
 Aristobulus sent a golden vine, worth 500 talents, and 
 soon after Hyrcanus sent Ms representatives and gifts. 
 Pompey postponed his decision between the rival 
 claimants ; Aristobulus suddenly revolted, and retired 
 to Jerusalem. Negotiations broke down, because the 
 civil population were willing to receive Pompey, but the 
 
CONDITIONS IN PALESTINE 17 
 
 soldiers absolutely refused. The Komans managed to 
 enter the city, but could not take the Temple, until the 
 Jews' unwillingness to fight on the Sabbath gave them a 
 slight advantage (cf . p. 44). After three months a breach 
 was effected, and the Temple fell. Some 12,000 Jews 
 are said to have been killed, and Pompey himself entered 
 the Holy of Holies ; the Temple treasures, however, 
 he left untouched. Aristobulus was taken prisoner to 
 Rome and Hyrcanus reinstalled as High Priest. So 
 passed the temporal power of the Maccabean house to 
 the foreigner ; and while they still possessed the high- 
 priesthood, and a large measure of autonomy, the Jews 
 had for ever lost their independence, and became once 
 more a subject-people. 
 
 Our knowledge of Jewish character would not lead 
 us to expect a calm acquiescence in the course of events. 
 They could not, and did not, take kindly to the foreign 
 yoke, even though it did not always press heavily. 
 There was always smouldering the fire of revenge for the 
 insults offered to Jehovah and to His people ; there was 
 always the innate love of freedom ; there was the memory 
 of past glories, and the promise of greater to come. The 
 narrow, fanatical patriotism and political Messianic 
 ideals repeatedly found expression, and as repeatedly 
 brought the people into conflict with their new masters. 
 
 In 57 a rising was headed by Alexander, a son of the 
 Aristobulus II. who had led the Jews in their fatal re- 
 sistence to Pompey. This rising came to little, and the 
 Komans took the opportunity to tighten their hold on 
 the nation, reorganizing the system of government, 
 although giving the Jews some little autonomy. 
 
 B 
 
18 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 The next year, 56, Aristobulus himself, who had 
 escaped from Rome, attempted to regain his old position. 
 But he, too, failed, in spite of a large following and much 
 bravery. A year later, again, his same son Alexander 
 renewed the attempt, \vith like result. In the next year, 
 54, the Roman triumvir Crassus, always greedy of gold, 
 robbed the Temple of 10,000 talents' worth of treasure, 
 in order to defray the cost of his expedition against the 
 Parthians. He was defeated by them and fell at 
 Carrha? ; whereon the Jews again revolted, only to be 
 again worsted by Cassius, and 30,000 of them were sold 
 into slavery. 
 
 Now conies more and more to the fore a man whose 
 family play a most important part in the subsequent 
 history, Antipater, the governor of Idumea. or Edom. 
 We have seen him helping Hyrcanus 11. in his struggle 
 with his brother ; and now he is made Procurator of 
 Judaea, 47. He was a diplomatist of the first water, 
 and possessed extraordinary skill in ingratiating himself 
 with other people, and in bringing delicate schemes to 
 a successful issue. He had been of considerable assist- 
 ance already to the Romans ; and now, by his astute- 
 ness and his friendship with Julius Caesar, he secured 
 considerable privileges and immunities to the Jews. 
 He had favoured Pompey's cause in the struggle between 
 the triumvirs ; but, after Pompey's defeat at Pharsalia 
 in 48, he changed sides, and, fortunately for the Jews, 
 was able by his skill and his resources to render Caesar 
 invaluable aid both in Egypt and in Syria. In return 
 for this Caesar made him a Roman citizen and Pro- 
 curator of Judaea ; confirmed Hyrcanus as hereditary 
 
CONDITIONS IN PALESTINE 19 
 
 High Priest ; restored some of its judicial powers to 
 the Sanhedrin ; allowed Hyrcanus to rebuild the walls 
 of Jerusalem ; excused the Jews from supporting Roman 
 troops and from supplying auxiliaries, and from paying 
 tribute in the Sabbatical year. 
 
 Joseph us (Ant., 14. 10) quotes the Roman decrees 
 made at this time, from which the following extracts may 
 be of interest : — 
 
 " I also ordain that he (Hyrcanus) and his children 
 retain whatsoever privileges belong to the office of High 
 Priest, or whatsoever favours have been hitherto granted 
 them. And if at any time hereafter there arise any 
 questions about the Jewish customs, I will that he de- 
 termine the same. And I think it not proper that they 
 should be obliged to find us winter quarters, or that any 
 money should be required of them. 
 
 "... that the Jews be allowed to deduct out of 
 their tribute every second year [in the Sabbatic period] a 
 corns of that tribute, and that the tribute they pay be 
 not let to farm, nor that they pay always the same 
 tribute. 
 
 "... that all the country of the Jews, excepting 
 Joppa, to pay a tribute yearly for the city of Jerusalem, 
 excepting the seventh, which they call the Sabbatical 
 year, because therein they neither receive the fruit ot 
 their trees, nor do they sow their land ; . . . and 
 that they pay the same tithes to Hyrcanus and his sons 
 which they paid to their forefathers. And that no one, 
 neither president nor lieutenant nor ambassador, raise 
 auxiliaries within the bounds of Judaea, nor may soldiers 
 exact money of them for winter quarters, or under 
 
20 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 any other pretence, but that they may be free from all 
 sorts of injuries ; and that whatsoever they shall here- 
 after have, and are in possession of, or have bought, they 
 shall retain them all. 
 
 " It does not please me that such decrees should 
 be made against our friends and confederates, whereby 
 they are forbidden to live according to their own customs, 
 or to bring in contributions for common suppers and holy 
 festivals, while they are not forbidden to do so even 
 at Rome itself ; . . . accordingly, when I forbid other 
 Bacchanal rioters, I permit these Jews to gather them- 
 selves together, according to the customs and laws of 
 their forefathers, and to persist therein. It will be there- 
 fore good for you that if you have made any decree 
 against these our friends and confederates, to abrogate 
 the same, by reasons of their virtue, and kind disposition 
 towards us. 
 
 "... because they are not allowed to bear arms or 
 to travel on the Sabbath days, nor there {i.e. in the 
 Roman armies) to procure themselves those sorts of food 
 which they have been used to eat from the times of their 
 forefathers, I do therefore grant them a freedom from 
 going into the army, . . . and permit them to use the 
 customs of their forefathers, in assembling together for 
 sacred and religious purposes, as their law requires, 
 and for collecting oblations necessary for sacrifices." 
 
 Undoubtedly Antipater procured indulgences for 
 the Jews, but they could never forget that he was an 
 Edomite ; the old quarrel of Jacob and Esau, true to 
 Jewish vindictiveness, had never been allowed to die 
 down ; the hostility of Edom at the time of the Exodus, 
 
CONDITIONS IN PALESTINE 21 
 
 and their conduct at the fall of Jerusalem in the 
 Babylonish captivity, were never forgotten (cf. Ps. 
 1377). He was a foreigner ; he was also a friend 
 of the Koman ; he was too clever to be trusted ; 
 presently open hostility was shown him ; and in 43 
 he was poisoned. 
 
 He had appointed two of his sons to important 
 positions under him,Phasael to be Governor of Jerusalem, 
 and Herod of Galilee. The latter, destined to figure large 
 on the stage of Jewish history as Herod the Great, was a 
 worthy son of his father, and commenced to distinguish 
 himself at an early age. There was near his jurisdiction 
 a large robber-band, the plague of it and the adjoining 
 parts of Syria. Herod energetically attacked and routed 
 them, capturing and executing their leader, and killing 
 many of their number. But the Jewish leaders viewed 
 with disfavour the growth and power of Antipater's 
 family, and they arraigned Herod before the Sanhedrin 
 on a technical charge of exceeding his powers ; for the 
 Sanhedrin alone could pronounce a sentence of death, 
 and this only after due trial. 
 
 On his father's advice Herod obeyed the summons ; 
 but came attended by a considerable bodyguard. This, 
 and an intimation from the Roman governor of Syria, 
 caused a delay of the sentence, of which Herod took 
 advantage and fled to Syria. His hot spirit inclined 
 him to take active revenge on the Sanhedrin, but he was 
 dissuaded by his father and brother. 
 
 The public atmosphere was neither peaceful nor 
 happy, with the twin causes of unrest in the factions 
 operating in Roman and Jewish internal affairs. In 
 
22 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 43, after the murder of Julius Caesar, Herod characteristi- 
 cally wins the favour of Cassius, who gives him the com- 
 mand of Syria, with both naval and land forces at his 
 disposal. In this year the old dispute between the rival 
 branches of the Hasmonean or Maccabean dynasty 
 breaks out again ; Antipater, as already noticed, is 
 poisoned, and open risings occur. Herod and Phasael 
 manage to hold their own ; and when, in 42, after the 
 battle of Philippi, Antony comes to settle affairs, Herod, 
 with his usual bribes and his usual skill, wins the favour 
 of Antony ; he and his brother are made tetrarchs, with 
 full political power. The house of Antipater is thus 
 confirmed in its position by the Roman, and Herod does 
 his best to heal the breaches in the Jewish nation, by 
 betrothing himself to Mariamne. This lady was de- 
 scended from both the rival branches, and by the marriage 
 Herod himself was allied with the Maccabean line, 
 although his action amounted to a confession of the 
 weakness of his own claim to his position. 
 
 And Herod was by no means secure yet. Antony 
 soon became occupied, poHtically and otherwise, with 
 Cleopatra, and in 40 Antigonus, son of Aristobulus II. 
 Mariamne's uncle, bribed the Parthians to make him 
 King. They appeared before Jerusalem, secured Phasael 
 and Hyrcanus the High Priest, by treachery, plundered 
 the city, and left Antigonus installed as King and High 
 Priest. Herod, warned by Phasael, just managed to 
 escape, and eventually found his way to Rome. Here 
 he persuaded both Antony and Octavian to support him, 
 and the Senate decreed him King of the Jews. He re- 
 turned at once to claim his kingdom, and, thanks to the 
 
CONDITIONS IN PALESTINE 23 
 
 marauds of the Parthians, received a welcome from 
 many of his subjects, especially in Galilee. But Anti- 
 gonus was gaining power ; and it took Herod two years 
 of plotting and scheming and manoeuvring and fighting, 
 before he could take Jerusalem, capture Antigonus, and 
 finally end the Hasmonean rule. Some forty-five of the 
 Sadducean party, who had favoured Antigonus, Herod 
 at once executed ; and at the same time he courted the 
 good \vill of the Pharisees ; they were not professed and 
 active politicians like the Sadducees, and at least would 
 not hinder him. Antigonus he persuaded Antony to 
 have beheaded ; and from this date the civil and religious 
 authority are finally separated, the Jewish rulers for the 
 past century having been both High Priests and Kings. 
 The Hasmonean family still exists ; and their intrigues 
 and Herod's relation to them oblige him to instal the 
 young Aristobulus, brother to Herod's wife Mariamne 
 and sole male heir of the Hasmoneans, as hereditary 
 High Priest. But, shortly afterwards, Herod manages 
 to have him drowned while bathing, himself protesting 
 loudly and making great profession of grief at this 
 intentional " accident." (35) 
 
 Herod's family now begin to plot and scheme against 
 him, the arch-intriguers being Alexandra the mother of 
 Mariamne, and Herod's sister Salome, the latter poisoning 
 Herod's mind with doubts as to Mariamne's fidelity to 
 him, his wife to whom he seems to have been really 
 attached. In spite of Alexandra's machinations and 
 Cleopatra's demands, Herod retains Antony's favour ; 
 and he also successfully prosecutes a war against the 
 Kincf of Arabia, 
 
24 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 In 31 was fought the battle of Actium, in which 
 Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra. Matters 
 might now have gone ill for Herod ; but his power 
 and reputation, together with his skill and daring, 
 induced Octavian to retain him as the ally of Rome 
 and confirm him in his Idngdom. His domestic troubles 
 increased more and more ; in 29 he executed Mariamne, 
 on a false charge of trying to poison him. He fell ill, 
 and became mad with grief at what he had done ; 
 whereat Alexandra plotted to recover the kingdom for 
 herself and her grandsons, only to follow Mariamne. 
 In 25 a number of others, possibly dangerous, were also 
 put to death. No wonder that Augustus said, " It 
 were better to be Herod's pig than his son.'* 
 
 For the next twelve years Herod had no rival, and 
 the peace of the empire was assured, under the rule of 
 Octavian, now called Augustus. Herod takes this 
 opportunity to consolidate and build up his kingdom, 
 and ingratiate himself still more with his Imperial 
 master. The ravages of the previous wars and rebellions 
 are repaired ; old cities and fortresses are restored ; and 
 new ones built. These not all without design ; and they 
 are used for the purpose of rendering his own position 
 more secure, and to preserve the balance of parties 
 in an always turbulent and factious people. Thus 
 Samaria is rebuilt and enlarged, and called Sebaste 
 (= Augusta) as a compliment to the Emperor ; and the 
 neighbourhood colonised with his veteran troops, who, 
 with, the native Samaritans, act as a check on the dis- 
 affected spirits of Jerusalem. Other strongholds form 
 a barrier on the north-east or Syrian border, and against 
 
CONDITIONS IN PALESTINE 25 
 
 Arabia in the south. At Caesarea, now so called for 
 the first time, a magnificent harbour is constructed. 
 His territories are from time to time increased by- 
 Augustus. His cities are embellished with fine buildings 
 and works of art. Theatres and amphitheatres are built, 
 Greek games and gladiatorial shows are introduced, 
 with other foreign and Gentile customs. In Jerusalem 
 itself he builds a palace for his own use, and commences 
 to restore and complete the Temple. 
 
 There can be no doubt that in many ways Herod's 
 rule was most beneficial, and, but for his unscrupulous 
 methods and his domestic record, he would have earned 
 his title of " the Great." His public works, although due 
 to his passion for display, were amazingly extensive, 
 and must have added enormously to the wealth and well- 
 being of his subjects. His activity was endless, and his 
 action prompt. His skill in governing his headstrong 
 people, and preserving friendship with Augustus, to 
 say nothing of the manoeuvrings and diplomacy by 
 which he attained his position, all bespeak abihties 
 and energies of no mean order. He was a strict ruler 
 and suppressed disorder with a firm hand, and reduced 
 the robber-bands which overran the mountainous 
 district of Trachonitis. When a famine occurred in 
 24, 50,000 men were employed on public works ; his 
 own furniture and plate he sold for the benefit of the 
 sufferers ; on two occasions he remitted part of the 
 taxes. 
 
 He was not popular ; such a man could never win 
 his people's love ; he could only inspire fear and respect, 
 and some grudging gratitude. He was, above all 
 
26 THE CEADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 things, a diplomatist ; lie played off one party against 
 another, and kept the favour of all by occasional con- 
 cessions and benefactions. These could not be denied, 
 and were usually substantial ; and they were effective 
 to prevent opposition and grievances from becoming 
 serious. But no one can have credited him with sin- 
 cerity. He cajoled the Jews by his personal respect 
 for the Law and the Temple, for their opinions and 
 prejudices ; by his generosity and pubUc services ; by 
 his rebuilding of the Temple. But the heart was taken 
 out of all these actions by his love of Gentile customs ; 
 by the games and sports which he introduced ; by temples 
 in his new cities ; by the pagan trophies which he 
 erected in Jerusalem ; and, above all, by the golden 
 eagle which he erected over the main gate of the Temple, 
 a most wanton and obvious insult. He was always 
 suspicious and jealous, unscrupulous and selfish, and 
 maintained an army of spies and secret agents ; at 
 times he even went about himself disguised among his 
 people. 
 
 The following extracts from Josephus may be of 
 interest : — 
 
 " He was brutish, and a stranger to all humanity. 
 ... a man ambitious of honour, and quite overcome 
 by that passion, he was induced to be magnificent, 
 wherever there appeared any hopes of a future memorial 
 or of reputation at present." (Ant., 16. 5. 4.) 
 
 " A man he was of great barbarity towards all men 
 equally, and a slave to his passions ; but above the con- 
 sideration of what was right : yet was he favoured by 
 fortune as much as any man ever was, for from a private 
 
CONDITIONS IN PALESTINE 27 
 
 man he became a king ; and though he were encompassed 
 with ten thousand dangers, he got clear of them all, 
 and continued his life to a very old age." (Ant., 
 17,8.1.) 
 
 " Now Herod had a body suited to his soul, and was 
 ever a most excellent hunter, where he generally had 
 good success, by means of his great skill in riding horses ; 
 for in one day he caught forty A^dld beasts : ... He was 
 also such a warrior as could not be withstood : many 
 men therefore there are who have stood amazed at his 
 readiness in his exercises, when they saw him throw his 
 javelin directly forward, and shoot the arrow upon the 
 mark." (B. J., 1. 21. 13. ; cf. 11, 12.) 
 
 Playgoers will remember the drama of Herod's 
 life by Mr. Stephen Phillips, which gives a vivid 
 picture of his character and some of the scenes in his 
 life. 
 
 We need not pursue the last years of his reign of 
 thirty-seven years in detail. Unluckily for him, his 
 two sons by Mariamne, Aristobulus and Alexander, 
 grew up, and became the centre of fresh family jealousies 
 and intrigues, with Antipater, his eldest son by another 
 wife, the succession to the throne being the cause of the 
 dissension. For ten or twelve years the trouble con- 
 tinued, and was aggravated by a rebellion in Trachonitis, 
 which led Herod into war with Arabia, and lost for 
 him Augustus' friendship for the time being. At home 
 Antipater plotted incessantly, also his own brother, 
 Pheroras. In the words of Dr. Fairweather, " His heart 
 became a hell within him, his home a howling wilderness, 
 and his whole existence a nightmare." Or, to quote 
 
28 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Josephus : " These suspicions afflicted him, and becoming 
 more and more uneasy, he believed everybody against 
 everybody ... he was overrun with suspicion and 
 hatred against all about him. . . . What more can 
 be said, but that those who before were the most intimate 
 friends, were become wild beasts to one another ; . . . 
 and a melancholy solitude rendered the kingdom 
 deformed, and quite the reverse to that happy state 
 it was formerly in." (Ant., 16. 7. 3 ; 8. 2, 6.) 
 
 One person after another suffered the penalty of 
 his suspicion or their o^vn dishonesty ; the painful and 
 horrible disease which had been growing on him grew 
 worse ; and five days after the death of Antipater his 
 own end came. Knowing that the Jews would not 
 lament his death, with characteristic and fiendish care 
 he arranged for a public massacre, so as to secure the 
 mourning which would not otherwise have been made. 
 Happily, his orders were not carried out. 
 
 After his death the intrigues did not cease, and it 
 was the signal for an outburst of disorder. The golden 
 eagle over the Temple Gate was torn down (this, actually, 
 before Herod's death), and the people demanded 
 vengeance for the punishment meted out to the ring- 
 leaders. Three thousand perished in the suppression 
 of this disturbance, at the Passover ; and at Pentecost 
 hostilities began again in the Temple, this second rising 
 only being put down with great slaughter. The census 
 under Qnirinius was accompanied with opposition and 
 bloodshed. In fact, from now began the steady rise 
 of the fanatical, politico-Messianic movement, often 
 finding spasmodic expression, and associated chieiiy 
 
CONDITIONS IN PALESTINE 29 
 
 with the party of the Zealots, which led to the final 
 outburst, and downfall of the nation, in the years 
 A.D. 66-70. (See Jos., Ant., 17. 10. 1 ff.) 
 
 We are now in a position to understand a little of 
 the atmosphere into which our Lord was born, and in 
 which He lived and taught, and to appreciate some of 
 the allusions to contemporary events made by the writers 
 of the New Testament. 
 
 Of Herod's craft, cruelty, and methods we have an 
 excellent example in the incident of the visit of the 
 Magi and the massacre of the Holy Innocents. The 
 mention of a king born to the Jews at once arouses his 
 fear ; he consults the Jewish authorities ; pretends 
 sympathy with the Magi ; and, when foiled, kills out- 
 right all the possible male infants in Bethlehem. 
 
 Pictures of court life are given in the accounts of 
 Herod Antipas (his son) and his relations with Herodias 
 and her daughter, and the murder of St. John Baptist. 
 " The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them," in con- 
 trast to which the Christian ruler is to be servant of all 
 (Mt. 2025) ; the Jews looked for the seats of honour 
 on the Messiah's right and left hand in His kingdom 
 (Mt. 2021), but the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven 
 are those who turn, humble themselves, and become as 
 little children (Mt. 18^). Herod Antipas is named by 
 Christ " that fox " (Lk. 1332); and the visit of Archelaus 
 (possibly also of Herod the Great and of Antipas) to 
 Rome " to receive a kingdom " furnishes a text for 
 the parable of the pounds (Lk. 19^^). The " nobleman " 
 kills his rebellious subjects on his return ; stewards are 
 
30 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 sufficiently unjust to form the subject of another 
 parable (Lk. 16^, 20^) ; and judges " fear not God nor 
 regard man " (Lk. 182). 
 
 In the public mind Messianism and nationalism 
 were one and the same thing. The disciples ask, even 
 at the end of all things, if Jesus is now about to restore 
 the kingdom to Israel (Acts 1^) ; during His ministry 
 He has repeatedly to contend -svith the attempts of the 
 people to "come Avith force and make Him a long'* 
 (Jn. 6^^). Risings and their frequency are alluded to 
 by Gamaliel, when discussing what to do with the 
 arrested Apostles (Acts 5^5) ; Barabbas had taken part 
 in one such, which had led to bloodshed. Christ said 
 that He came to send '' not peace, but a sword " 
 (Mt. 1034). " Wars and rumours of wars " are foretold 
 by Christ, and the betrayal of parents by children and 
 children by parents (Mt. 24^, lO^i). Robbers are frequent 
 on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho (Lk. lO^o). 
 Pilate had forcibly suppressed a rising in Galilee during 
 some feast, and had " mingled their blood with their 
 sacrifices " (Lk. 13^). Caiaphas objects to arresting 
 Him during the feast, " lest there be a tumult among 
 the people " (Mt. 2G''^). The disciples were ready to 
 defend Christ \vith arms, and St. Peter actually com- 
 menced to do so (Lk. 22^9). This had been expected 
 by the authorities, and a considerable force of armed 
 men attended Judas (Jn. IS^). An armed Levitical 
 guard always garrisoned the Temple, something like 
 the Papal guard at Rome ; and when St. Paul had been 
 forcibly rescued by the Roman troops, stationed in 
 Fort Antonia, from the fury of the populace, and was 
 
\ 
 
 CONDITIONS IN PALESTINE 31 
 
 sent to Caesarea, his escort cousistecl of no fewer than 
 200 infantry, 200 spearmen or light infantry, and 70 
 mounted men (Acts 526, 2323). 
 
 A strange background this to the teaching of the 
 Beatitudes : " Blessed are the meek, the poor in spirit, 
 the merciful, the peacemakers, they that hunger and 
 thirst after righteousness," " Kesist not him that is 
 evil," " Love your enemies." The greatest in the 
 Kingdom of Heaven must be servant of all. The dis- 
 ciples, St. James and St. John, are rebuked for calling 
 down divine vengenace on the Samaritans (Lk. 9^^). 
 No wonder that people could not make Him out, and 
 failed in their allegiance to Him. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 ROMAN INFLUENCE— SOCIAL CONDITIONS 
 
 Public order and control was, according to Eoman 
 policy — a policy wisely followed by the British Empire 
 in modern times — left in the hands of native and local 
 rulers, when they could be trusted, with the Imperial 
 power and armed forces to fall back on, if required. 
 Herod the Great, e.g. was a " King ally," with the right 
 of coining money and raising troops. The latter might 
 only be of sufficient strength for policing purposes ; and 
 further forces might be demanded as auxiliaries in time 
 of war ; a tribute was generally payable, and large gifts 
 expected towards the Imperial coffers. Thus the con- 
 dition of the people depended very largely on the personal 
 character of their ruler, as well as on the relations 
 existing between the nation and the Emperor. During 
 the last century B.C. and the first century A.D., the form 
 of government and administration was repeatedly 
 changed, the only constant factor being the Roman 
 power and authority behind all. 
 
 The Jews fared better than most other nations ; and 
 their known character for turbulence and desperate 
 resistance when oppressed, and the skill of their rulers, 
 obtained for them everywhere great concessions and 
 
KOMAN INFLUENCE— SOCIAL CONDITIONS 33 
 
 privileges. They were allowed to live under their own 
 laws ; were often excused taxes, and allowed to collect 
 their own taxes for Temple purposes ; they were often 
 exempt from military service ; their scruples about the 
 Sabbath were respected ; and their rehgious funds and 
 property protected. (Cf. Jos., Ant., li, 10. 2, quoted 
 above, p. 19 ; and 16. 2. 3 ; 6. 1 fl.) 
 
 It is easy to see how this treatment encouraged and 
 fostered the peculiar national spirit of the Jews, so 
 marked a characteristic of their race down to the present 
 day. 
 
 Everywhere in the New Testament the Roman rule 
 meets us. St. Luke gives a list of the governors at the 
 time of the commencement of our Lord's ministry, 
 and the census during which He was born was carried 
 out under Roman orders, Quirinius being Governor of 
 Syria, and charged with it, and the census also being 
 made on the Jewish tribal basis, according to the Roman 
 practice of using local methods ani concihating local 
 feeling. (This is why Joseph and Mary had to make 
 their long journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem.) In 
 the account of the Passion, and in the Acts, the Romans 
 figure largely : the centurions and the soldiers ; Pilate 
 the Procurator of Judaea, who comes into Jerusalem 
 at the Passover with his troops, so as to preserve order ; 
 Herod Antipas, the Jewish Tetrarch of Galilee ; Fehx, 
 and Porcius Festus, the Procurators of Judaea, with 
 their forces and authority. Roman justice, other- 
 wise strict and good, is not well illustrated by Pontius 
 Pilate nor by Fehx ; but this defection must be attri- 
 buted more to the men than to the system. The 
 
 c 
 
34 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 centurions, as has often been pointed out, are uniformly 
 well spoken of ; the servant of one was healed by Christ, 
 and our Lord said He had " not found so great faith, 
 even in Israel " (Matt. 8^) ; this man was friendly to 
 the Jews and had built them their Synagogue in 
 Capernaum. At the Crucifixion the heart of the 
 centurion in charge was touched ; the Sufferer on the 
 Cross was offered by some of the soldiers sour wine 
 to quench His thirst ; and His death drew from the 
 centurion's lips an expression of something very near 
 the ascription of divinity. Cornelius (Acts 10^) was 
 a devout and sincere adherent of the Jewish synagogue 
 at Caesarea, popular and well-reported of. The centurion 
 who rescues St. Paul in Jerusalem is afraid of what may 
 happen when he learns that he has bound a Roman 
 citizen and is about to scourge him. St. Paul's right 
 of appeal to Caesar is unhesitatingly accepted ; and 
 Julius, the centurion who has charge of him, treats him 
 with consideration and indulgence. (Acts 22^9, 26^2, 
 27 ij 3^ 43^) We gather that jurisdiction was summary, 
 and that the authorities had the right of impressing or 
 commandeering the services of civihans ; as in the case 
 of Simon of Cyrene at the Crucifixion, and cf . the allusion 
 in Mt. 5^1. The soldiery, as in every age until the 
 present, bore a reputation for violence (Lk. Si'*) ; this, 
 too, is illustrated by the Passion. They, like every one 
 else, could be bribed. (Mt. 28i2, Acts 24^6, Jos., 
 Ant., 14. 12. 1, 2 ; Matthews, pp. 93, 110, 113.) 
 
 With corruption prevaihng in high places, and with 
 bakhsheesh (on a grand scale) as a recognised business 
 method, it is not surprising to find a low standard of 
 
ROMAN INFLUENCE-SOCIAL CONDITIONS 35 
 
 public honesty ; the general depravity and luxuriousness 
 of society at the time would encourage covetousness, 
 and with it dishonesty. The publicans, or officials of 
 the Imperial revenues, through whom the taxes and 
 imposts were farmed out, were practically encouraged 
 in dishonesty by the system, which required them to 
 send up so much to headquarters, paid them no salary, 
 but left it to them to get what living they could by over- 
 charging those from whom the taxes were due. These 
 men, to the lower order of whom belonged St. Matthew 
 and Zacchaeus, were naturally everywhere most un- 
 popular, and were classed with " sinners " in the current 
 phraseology. Their avarice, vexatious interferences, 
 and exactions, and their position as servants of the 
 Romans, all combined to embitter the population against 
 them (Lk. 3i3, 19'), 
 
 The population of Palestine has been estimated at 
 about three millions, living in an area of 6000 square 
 miles on the west of Jordan, but such estimates are 
 very difficult to make. Thus Dr. Shailer Matthews 
 gives the Jerusalem population as 100,000, and Dr. 
 Edersheim as twice that number or more. Small towns 
 and villages abounded, and must have lain close to each 
 other ; in Galilee alone, says Josephus (Life, 45) there 
 were 240 cities and villages ; and the country was very 
 fertile, so much so, he says, as even to provoke the lazy 
 to cultivate it and reap its rich returns (B. J., 3. 3. 2). 
 Here is part of his description of it : *' Its nature is 
 wonderful, as well as its beauty ; its soil is so fruitful 
 that all sorts of trees can grow upon it, and the in- 
 habitants accordingly plant all sorts of trees there ; 
 
36 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 for the temper of the air is so well mixed that it agrees 
 very well with those several sorts, particularly walnuts, 
 which require the coldest air, flourish there in vast 
 plenty ; there are palm-trees also, which grow best in 
 hot air ; fig-trees also and olives grow near them, which 
 yet require an air that is more temperate. One may 
 call this place the ambition of nature, where it forces those 
 plants that are naturally enemies to one another to 
 agree together ; it is a happy contention of the seasons, 
 as if every one of them laid claim to this country ; for it 
 not only nourishes different sorts of autumnal fruits 
 beyond men's expectations, but preserves them a great 
 while ; it supplies men with the principal fruits, with 
 grapes and figs, continually, during ten months of the 
 year, and the rest of the fruits as they become ripe ; 
 together through the whole year : for besides the good 
 temperature of the air, it is also watered from a most 
 fertile fountain." (B. J. 3. 10. 8 — a passage which 
 throws light on Mk. Ili3). 
 
 In fact, Palestine as a whole was very fertile and 
 prosperous (Ant., 15. 5. 1), and in Herod's time the 
 building, and the luxury of the aristocracy, must have 
 occasioned ample employment and circulation of money. 
 In all ages the Jews have been keen traders and shrewd 
 hands at a bargain ; and in the merchant-classes there 
 must have been not a few incomes more than comfort- 
 able. 
 
 No fewer than 118 imports of different kinds have 
 been identified, and the prices of some of these were 
 high. Thus a cloak might cost £36 ; silk fetched its 
 weight in gold ; purple wool £3 5s. Od, a pound, and if 
 
ROMAN INFLUENCE-SOCIAL CONDITIONS 37 
 
 double-dyed, almost ten times as much. But living 
 was cheap. A slave could be fitted out for IBs., and 
 a citizen from £3 to £6. This was also the price of an 
 ass, ox, and cow ; a horse fetched a little more ; a 
 goat fetched 55. and 6s. ; a calf 155. and under ; a 
 sheep 4iS. to 16s. ; a lamb sometimes as little as 2d. 
 Corn, fruit, wine and oil cost little ; meat was only Id. 
 a lb. A small unfurnished lodging could be obtained 
 for 6d. a week ; and the rate of wages for unskilled 
 labour was 7J(^. a day. {See Edersheim, I. p. 116, and 
 cf. p. 129 fE.) 
 
 There were few class distinctions amongst the Jews, 
 and fewer than in contemporary Greco-Roman life. 
 In the villages, slaves, freemen and employers were the 
 usual grades ; and, in the towns, there were also the 
 priestly families, the Rabbis, the rulers, and the wealthy. 
 Of the latter, who lived in ostentatious luxury, Dives is 
 a type ; and St. James passes severe strictures on them 
 as a class. Slavery was decreasing, and both Pharisees 
 and Essenes were opposed to it. Women enjoyed a 
 considerable amount of freedom and status, but were 
 always regarded as an inferior sex. " The world cannot 
 exist without males and females," said one Rabbi, " but 
 blessed are they whose children are sons, and woe to 
 them whose children are daughters." Marriage and 
 family life were highly praised and upheld by the Rabbis. 
 Among the wealthy it was occasionally the habit to 
 have more than one wife (Jos., Ant., 17. 1. 2), but as 
 a rule few men had more than one. Divorce was easy, 
 and this rendered polygamy unnecessary. Large 
 families were looked on as a blessing and sign of the 
 
38 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Divine favour ; and tlie absence of children was a 
 reproach. (Lk. 125, 36^ cf. Gen. 3023, I. Sam. 1^, 
 Ps. 1139, Isa. 41.) 
 
 Child-life played a large part in the thoughts and 
 
 interests of the nation, and great pains were taken with 
 
 their training and education. " By the breath from 
 
 the mouth of school-children the world is sustained," 
 
 said one Rabbi (Shabb. 119. b.) and it was the prime 
 
 duty of the parents to attend to the education of their 
 
 children. (Prov. is, 41, 620, 131, 30i7, Sir 30i-i3.) 
 
 Says Josephus, " Our chief care is to educate our 
 
 children well ; and we think it to be the most necessary 
 
 business of our whole life, to observe the laws that have 
 
 been given us, and to keep those rules of piety that 
 
 have been delivered down to us." Men of other nations, 
 
 he claims (2. 19), are ignorant of their own laws, and 
 
 even the government officials need assessors to instruct 
 
 them ; but Jews know their Law better even than their 
 
 own names, " because we learned them immediately as 
 
 soon as ever we became sensible of anything, and have 
 
 them as it were engraven on our souls" (cf. 2. 26). 
 
 " The Law ordains that the very beginning of our 
 
 education should be immediately directed to sobriety. 
 
 It also commands us to bring those children up in 
 
 learning, and to exercise them in the laws, and make 
 
 them acquainted with the acts of their predecessors, 
 
 in order to their imitation of them, and that they might 
 
 be nourished up in the laws from their infancy, and 
 
 might neither transgress them, nor have any pretence 
 
 for their ignorance of them." (C. Apion, 1. 12.) 
 
 The words of Philo (Ad Caium, 31) are equally 
 
EOMAN INFLUENCE— SOCIAL CONDITIONS 39 
 
 eloquent : '' We esteem our laws as Divine revelations, 
 and are instructed in the knowledge of them from our 
 earliest youth, so that we carry the image of the com- 
 mands in our souls. We are taught, so to speak, from 
 our swaddling clothes, by parents and teachers and 
 instructors, to recognise the one God as our Father, 
 and the Maker of the world." 
 
 It is evident at once that, to the Jew, education and 
 religion were practically coterminous. As nothing in 
 Hfe was devoid of its religious significance, so religion 
 covered all essentials in the training of the young. " The 
 fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the 
 knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." (Pro v. 
 9i<^.) The golden age was to come, when all the earth 
 should be " full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the 
 waters cover the sea." (Isa. ll^ ; and cf. Jer. SP*.) 
 From the tenderest age a boy bore his part in the worship 
 of the Temple and Synagogue. At the eighth day he 
 was circumcised and received his name with solemn 
 formality (Lk. 159) ; later, he was dedicated to God 
 at the hands of the priest (Lk. 222). Another ceremony 
 took place at his weaning. As soon as he could under- 
 stand he would become familiar with the family prayers, 
 the Sabbath observances, the festival celebrations, 
 Purim, the Passover, the Feast of Weeks, the Day of 
 Atonement ; his boyish spirits would revel in the merry- 
 makings and the Bohemianism of the Feast of Taber- 
 nacles ; and the parents would explain the meaning 
 and significance of each as they came round (cf. Exod. 
 1226, 138, 14, Jos. 46) ; and even the very young were 
 required to attend the observances if possible (cf. 
 
40 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Lk. 242). With the arrival of speech he would be taught 
 the Shema (Deut. 6^-\ lli3-2i, Num. 153'-ii) and 
 other simple texts, hymns, psalms, and prayers. (Cf. 
 the home life of Timothy, 2 Tim. 3^^.) Discipline was 
 severe, if certain passages are to be taken as typical : 
 " He that spare th his rod hateth his son ; but he that 
 loveth him chasteneth him diligently " (Pro v. IS^* ; cf. 
 1918, 2215, 2313, 2915, i7) ; but it was allowed that " a 
 rebuke cntereth deeper into one that hath understanding 
 than an hundred stripes into a fool " (17io). 
 
 At the age of six or thereabouts he was sent to school, 
 schools existing almost certainly in the time of Christ in 
 every town and good-sized village ; later tradition said 
 that it was unlawful to live out of reach of a school 
 (Sanh. 17 b), and a city without a school was to be 
 excommunicated. Schools were kept by regular teachers 
 and Rabbis, at first probably in their own houses (cf. 
 Sir. 636 ; Aboth. 1^), where the pupils sat in a semi- 
 circle at the feet of their teachers (Acts 223 • jj^^ 
 2^6, 1039). Later, regular school-houses would come 
 to be built (perh. cf. Acts 19^), in close connection with 
 the Synagogues, the natural centre of all the teaching. 
 The teaching was under the control of the " teachers 
 of the Law " (Lk. 51^), i.e. members of the great body 
 of Scribes, and delivered partly by them and partly by 
 the Chazzan, answering to our elementary school- 
 masters. Higher education for a selected few was 
 given in colleges called " Houses of the Midrash," 
 where deeper and more technical instruction in the Law 
 was given. 
 
 In all cases the precious Law was the medium of 
 
ROMAN INFLUENCE— SOCIAL CONDITIONS 41 
 
 instruction, and the sole aim of education was its know- 
 ledge and practice — (" Our law-giver included in his 
 legislation the entire conduct of their lives, and brought 
 it so to pass that those that were made acquainted with 
 his laws did most carefully observe them," Jos., C. 
 Apion, 2. IG) ; all mental training and ability were to 
 come incidentally with it. Up to the age of ten the Old 
 Testament was the text-book (cf. Edersheim, I. p. 232) ; 
 and from ten to fifteen the Mishnah or traditional Law. 
 The higher courses of study after this were for only those 
 who showed proper aptitude. In the books of Proverbs, 
 Sirach, and the " Sayings of the Fathers " (Pirke 
 Aboth) we have interesting manuals of education, 
 describing its aims and its methods. Every boy was 
 also taught a trade — Saul of Tarsus had learned to weave 
 the coarse cilicimn out of which tents were made 
 (Acts 18^) ; and there were bodies approaching the 
 nature of trades-unions or guilds, which would interest 
 themselves in this. 
 
 Much of the teaching was by heart, and mnemonic 
 devices were employed to facilitate this, such as the 
 acrostic (cf. Psalms 9, 10, 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, 119, 145 ; 
 Lam. 1-4; Prov. 31io-3i; Sir. 51^3-30)^ and the 
 numerical proverb (Prov. 30 ^^ ff., Aboth, 5). 
 
 The education of girls was on similar lines, but 
 learning for girls was not encouraged. They must 
 certainly be familiar with the elements of the Law and 
 worship, it was held, but not with the deeper knowledge 
 or secular subjects. The ideal for them was naturally 
 and properly domestic (cf. Prov. 31 ^^ ff.), of which 
 Martha is the type. (Cf. Westcott on Jn. 42?.) 
 
42 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Jewish upbringing may be stigmatised as narrow ; 
 but at least it left its pupils familiar mth a remarkable 
 literature and with a knowledge of their nation's history ; 
 and what was really important, the moral and religious 
 element was not separated from the secular instruction, 
 but insisted on as both the source and aim of education, 
 so that the pupils were both saved from the conceit of 
 mere knowledge and mental facility, and received in 
 its place a sense of the Divine providence controlling 
 human affairs, with a sense of vocation and responsi- 
 bility. 
 
 Thus the entire atmosphere of Jewish life was 
 religious, and the Scribes occupied themselves with 
 applying the Law to all the possible contingencies of 
 everj^day life. But it is clear that the effect on the 
 habits and character of the population was not as great 
 as might have been expected. Not many saints were 
 produced, and the sense of the Divine providence and 
 vocation did certainly react and produce in the nation 
 as a whole an intense contempt for other peoples, and an 
 arrogant pride in their own position as God's Chosen. 
 Experience of human nature in our day shows that of 
 the many who are called it is only the few whose hearts 
 are awakened and choose to respond to the call. 
 Religion with us is so largely a veneer, a habit ; it was 
 not less so with the Jew. Arguing from the fact of his 
 being of the Chosen People, of the seed of Abraham, he 
 concluded that he had only to wait and walk into 
 his inheritance in the kingdom ; it did not depend much 
 upon big own behaviour, so long as he did what he was 
 
ROMAN INFLUENCE— SOCIAL CONDITIONS 43 
 
 told, and kept the observances prescribed by the Law. 
 His thoughts seldom went beyond this world. Its 
 activities and needs were sufficient to occupy him, and 
 its pleasures sufficient attraction ; his hope was little 
 more than a rabid nationalism, and the scene of the 
 kingdom when it should come was Jerusalem, restored 
 to his nation, the rightful owners, and the triumphant 
 objects of the world's deferential homage and tribute. 
 
 Of religion in the true sense there was little, if of 
 religious observance there was much. If the Pharisees, 
 the professed leaders of the nation's conscience, could 
 deserve so scathing and unsparing a condemnation as 
 that recorded in Mt. 23, we should not expect great 
 devotion and spirituality from their followers. Religion 
 among the Jews, taken as a ivhole, was a really pathetic 
 thing, the straining at gnats and the swallowing of 
 camels. The highest teaching of the Rabbis was very 
 high, and out of it was born and developed Christianity ; 
 but the things that mattered, apparently, were the 
 tithing of mint and anise and cummin, and petty technical 
 regulations. ^Vherever insistence is made on the 
 outside of religion, and the letter of the Law made im- 
 portant, as in Romanism and its imitators, there is 
 always the danger of stiffing the spirit and perverting 
 the energies, the risk of exhibitions of moral miscon- 
 ceptions, which would be ludicrous were they not pitiful, 
 and even tragic. 
 
 Of this Judaism was an extreme example. They 
 might swear by the Temple, or the Altar ; but they 
 might not swear by the gold of the Temple nor the gift 
 on the Altar. Money might be formally dedicated to 
 
44 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 God's service as Corban, so as to veto a parent's 
 claim on it for maintenance, and then taken and used 
 by the owner as if nothing had happened. A tailor 
 was enjoined to look carefully and remove all needles 
 from his coat on a Friday, lest he should break the Law 
 by " bearing a burden on the Sabbath day." It was 
 this over-punctiHous respect for the Sabbath that 
 helped the taking of Jerusalem by Pompey (cf. p. 17). 
 The Jews refused to fight on the Sabbaths, so that the 
 Romans used these days to perfect their siege-works 
 unmolested (Jos., Ant., 14. 4. 2) ; an incident which 
 may have been in our Lord's mind when He warned 
 them to pray that their flight from Jerusalem in the 
 next siege be not " on the Sabbath." (Mt. 2420 ; of. 
 the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, when many Jews had 
 allowed themselves to be slaughtered, because they would 
 not even defend themselves on the Sabbath : Jos., Ant., 
 12. 6. 2.) A village might call itself a town, when 
 it could prove that ten men regularly attended the 
 Synagogue service, and there were usually ten men 
 kept in fee in order to preserve the quahfication. The 
 population generally was indifferent to the appeal of 
 religion, or anything save pohtical excitement ; they 
 were hke children in the market-place, who could be 
 induced to join in none of their playmates' games. 
 (Mt. 1116 . cf. Muirhead, pp. 57 ff, 86 ff.) 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE MESSIANIC HOPE 
 
 No estimate of Judaism is complete without some 
 reference, at tlie least, to the Messianic hope ; indeed, 
 it was this from which Judaism drew its chief inspiration 
 and power, and coloured the whole of its religious belief 
 and practice. One of the most remarkable features 
 of the Old Testament is its persistent faith and hope ; 
 the eyes of writers, even in the darkest days, are ever 
 fixed on the future, in rapt and confident expectation ; 
 the Golden Age for them is yet to come, in contrast to 
 the regrets of heathen writers. No Jew could ever 
 have written Horace's dismal lines : 
 
 Aetas parentum pejor avis tulit 
 Nos nequiores, mox daturos 
 Progeniem vitiosiorem. 
 
 (Od. 3. 6. 40.) 
 
 The Fourth Eclogue of Virgil is much more in their 
 spirit. And this note of hopefulness is sounded at the 
 very outset of the Old Testament after the unhappy 
 account of the misuse by Adam and Eve of their 
 opportunities, where it is promised to Eve's seed that 
 it shall bruise the serpent's head. (Gen. 3^^.) 
 
 Not long after this appears the note of selection or 
 
4G THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 choice, with its attendant promises. At the time of 
 the Flood, Noah is preserved because of his faithfulness 
 to God, when all else are destroyed for their wickedness ; 
 and on the subsiding of the waters God makes a covenant 
 with him, promising the due succession of seedtime and 
 harvest, and that no similar overwhelming should again 
 take place. (Gen. 68, 822, 912.) With Abraham the 
 promises take a wider connotation. In him and his 
 seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed, and 
 he is to be "the father of a multitude of nations." 
 (123, 174, cf. 15^ 1810, 2215.) Abraham's history is 
 a parable of faith, wdth his journeys out of his father's 
 country and from place to place, and his gift of a son in 
 his old age. The promises are continued to Isaac (262), 
 and to Jacob (28i3, 46^) ; the book ends with the 
 mysterious foretelling of " Shiloh " (49 1^, whatever be 
 the text and the rendering) ; and the principle of faith 
 is upheld again in the stories of Jacob and Joseph. 
 
 During the Exodus, faith and hope are still upheld, 
 in the teaching of Moses, and Joshua, and Balaam, and 
 in the experiences of the nation ; and we now get an 
 appreciation of the sources of these doctrines, i.e. the 
 conception of Jehovah as a Father to His people, and 
 as a loving God, and the covenant-relation existing 
 between Him and Israel. Gradually is the hope reahsed 
 in the evolution of a nation of roughly civilised people 
 out of a semi-barbaric nomad tribe ; Jehovah's people 
 become, on a small scale, a world-power. The Canaanites, 
 if not driven out or destroyed, are subdued ; Philistines, 
 Edomites, Moabites, Amorites, Ammonites, Amalekites, 
 held in check ; after a period of government by petty 
 
THE MESSIANIC HOPE 47 
 
 rulers or judges and prophets, a monarchy is established ; 
 pretenders are removed ; and the throne of David 
 becomes an accomplished fact, and his sway and 
 beneficent rule extend from Tiphsah and the River 
 Euphrates to Gaza and the " border of Egypt." 
 
 His throne is established in the person of Solomon 
 his son; wealth and prosperity are increased; ''every 
 man dwells under his vine and under his fig-tree " ; 
 " Judah and Israel are many, as sand which is by the 
 sea in multitude, eating and drinking and maldng 
 merry " ; silver is made like stones, and is nothing 
 accounted of, and cedar is as common as the worthless 
 sycamore. (1 Kings 420-25, 1027.) 
 
 But this was not to last ; God had '' provided some 
 better thing " for them and for the world ; and Israel 
 had to be weaned from her limited and selfish and 
 material hopes, to something wider and nobler and 
 higher. This proved to be the work of centuries, and 
 during the rise and fall of the fortunes of the Chosen 
 People, we trace the changes and development of their 
 conception of this hope, and the forms under which it 
 was represented. 
 
 It was not long before they were compelled to recall 
 the promises made to their forefathers, and to comfort 
 themselves under present disappointment with renewed 
 and re-emphasised hopes of the future. Rehoboam, 
 Solomon's son, " ample in foolishness, and lacking in 
 understanding, by his counsel made the people revolt " 
 (Sir. 4723) ; and from this time the nation is divided, 
 and frequently at war. 
 
48 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Moreover, the ninth century saw the rise of the 
 Syrian power ; and Kings describes the inroads made 
 upon both Judah and Israel ; Assyria is a still greater 
 power, and both Syria and Judaea feel her might. The 
 people of Jehovah are not always conquerors, their 
 final submission is only delayed by bribes taken from 
 the Temple and Royal Treasury and transferred to 
 foreign cofiers. In 750 many inhabitants of the northern 
 Idngdom are deported (2 Ejngs 15^ 9), in 722 Samaria is 
 taken, and the kingdom of Judah alone remains. Judah 
 is now a buffer state between Assyria (later Babylon), 
 and Egypt ; it eventually falls a prey to Babylon in 
 588. Well might the people say, " Where are the 
 ancient promises ? " 
 
 And in answer to this question the prophets had 
 much to say. They upheld the reality and the sureness 
 of the promises ; their faith and their hope failed not ; 
 and while they still looked for a material blessedness, 
 they realised and insisted that moral and even spiritual 
 things existed ; and they asserted that Israel's failure 
 to realise its material hope was due to its failure to 
 recognise its moral and spiritual responsibilities. 
 
 But at first it was a return of the " good old days " 
 of David and Solomon that they promised, and after 
 repentance and purification Israel was to be established 
 as of old. (Amos 9^1 (c. 750) ; Zeph. 3^2 (630).) This 
 is the prevailing conception down to the time of the 
 destruction of Jerusalem, when all hope of an earthly 
 happiness seemed thereby utterly and finally taken 
 away. 
 
 During the seventy years* exile a wonderful process of 
 
THE MESSIANIC HOPE 49 
 
 purification and spiritualising went on. All their power 
 was gone ; their land inhabited by foreigners ; Jerusalem 
 and the Temple burnt and destroyed ; they themselves 
 practically in the same position as their forefathers in 
 Egypt. Suffering challenged their faith and hope, and 
 their faith and hope stubbornly responded and refused 
 to be broken ; but the higher spirits among them 
 recognised the futility and the powerlessness of earthly 
 power ; they saw that God worked with and in other 
 nations besides themselves, and that these, too, had a 
 claim to God's care and promises ; they learned how 
 another nation had sought after God and had in a 
 measure found Him. Hence they learnt the value of 
 spiritual blessings, truth, righteousness, and the know- 
 ledge of God ; their idea of salvation became less material, 
 more catholic. Their hope varied in its character with 
 the varying fortunes of the nation ; but although at 
 times it was largely identified with national independence 
 and ascendancy, and with earthly prosperity, especially 
 in the minds of the less educated, in the eyes of its better 
 representatives it came more and more to bear an 
 ethical and unearthly character. 
 
 The story of the Chosen People after the exile is not 
 of the cheeriest. Cyrus the Persian conquers Babylon 
 and the Persian Empire takes the leading place in 
 history, lasting for some 200 years, i.e. until about 333, 
 when it gives way to Alexander the Great and the Greek 
 power. Cyrus gave leave to the Jews to return and 
 rebuild Jerusalem, and some 42,000 took advantage of 
 it, including one-sixth of the priests, but few with 
 
 D 
 
50 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 wealth or property, and tlie majority of the tribe of 
 Judah. (Fairweather, E. A., p. 34.) Zerubbabel was 
 their leader. From the first the work was hindered by the 
 Samaritans, who proposed an alliance and were refused ; 
 the difficulties were great, discouragements many ; the 
 settlers lost heart, and grew apathetic and selfish, and 
 it needed the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to arouse 
 them to the completion of the Temple and the repairing 
 of the city. They were but few, and were soon forgotten 
 by those they had left behind. 
 
 Eighty years later, 458, laxity had crept in, and 
 Ezra the Scribe arose to revive the nation's hopes. He 
 induced some 7000 more to return with him from 
 Babylon to Jerusalem, and was encouraged and helped 
 by the Persian King, Artaxerxes. (Fairweather, E. A., 
 p. 64.) He reformed the life of the little community, 
 but could not re-fortify and restore the city. This fell 
 to the task of Nehemiah, fourteen years later, though 
 with great difficulties, and Ezra and Nehemiah between 
 them left the Jews more or less organised and settled, 
 their rulers being no longer kings, but high priests. 
 
 Roughly another century passes, and Alexander the 
 Great has conquered all the East, and at his death 
 Ptolemy Lagi has Egypt, and Antiochus Syria, Seleueus 
 Babylon. Judaea again becomes the buffer state and 
 the cock-pit of the East. These three rulers war and 
 intrigue against each other ; eventually Judaea passes 
 under the sway of Egypt and the Ptolemies, and enjoys 
 a century of comparative peace and prosperity. At 
 its end, in 198, Antiochus III. defeats Ptolemy Philo- 
 pator and so Palestine passes to the kingdom of Syria. 
 
THE MESSIANIC HOPE 51 
 
 The Jews are drawn of necessity into politics, their own 
 fortunes depending on the power and goodwill of their 
 neighbours. 
 
 Antiochus IV.,* the next king, surnamed Epiphanes, 
 alluded to in Daniel ll^i {" vile person "), tries to impose 
 Greek religion on the Jews and is resisted. He desecrates 
 the Temple, and persecutes the Jews, who are thus 
 driven into open rebellion (170). Some 40,000 are 
 massacred, and as many sold into slavery ; two years 
 later Jerusalem is plundered and burnt, with more 
 massacres and slavery ; a heathen sacrifice is offered 
 on an idol-altar erected over the great altar (''the 
 abomination of desolation ") and the Temple dedicated 
 to Zeus. 
 
 A national hero arises, Judas Maccabaeus, in 166, 
 and he successfully resists the Syrian power, and secures 
 the promise of religious freedom. Under his two 
 brothers the Jews regain their independence. 
 
 In 135 John Hyrcanus, nephew of Judas Maccabaeus. 
 was compelled to give way to Antiochus VII., but on the 
 latter's death in 128, he was able, owing to internal dis- 
 sensions in Syrian affairs, to reassert his power, and for 
 thirty years the Jews prospered. But they now began 
 to suffer from internal factions. Jewish hopes had become 
 so largely political and material, that the more religious- 
 minded of the people protested ; and there arose the two 
 parties in the state, familiar to us as Pharisees and 
 Sadducees, the former working for the religious ideal, 
 the latter for the political. Civil war broke out in 94 
 and lasted six years, in the reign of Alexander Jannaeus, 
 
 ♦ Cf. Hibbert Journal, July, 1913, p. 819. 
 
52 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 a man of blood although High Priest, and for a generation 
 or more disturbances and faction predominated. 
 
 The power of Rome had now for some time been in 
 the ascendant (in 190 Antiochus III. had suffered 
 defeat at their hands) : in 63 Pompey took the city after 
 a severe siege, and outraged the feelings of the Jews by 
 entering the Holy of Holies. In Rome there was no 
 escape, yet more than one effort was made to regain 
 independence, and the last half-century before the 
 Christian Era continued the tale of poHtical faction, 
 and intrigue, with periodical outburst and bloodshed. 
 (Lk. 131 ; Acts 536 g. ; Savage, " Gospel of the Kingdom," 
 p. 6.) 
 
 This outline of Jewish history has been necessary to 
 show the background of the nation's life, and the 
 atmosphere in which its ideals and hopes were developed. 
 It will help to explain the various forms which those 
 hopes took, and the figures under which it was repre- 
 sented. We shall see, as we discuss them one by one, 
 how the ideas were each fulfilled, either literally or 
 spiritually, in the Person and teaching of Jesus of 
 Nazareth, and developed into the larger hope which we 
 call Christian. It is remarkable how persistently this 
 hope flourished, and refused to be quenched through 
 all the discouragements and afflictions that were laid 
 upon the Jewish people ; if their eyes looked back to 
 the brilliant episodes of the past, it was only in order to 
 encourage their hopes of a still more brilliant future. 
 
 The first point to notice is the notion that God 
 Himself will come to the aid of His people. 
 
 Thus : Ps. 98^ " He cometh to judge the earth/' 
 
THE MESSIANIC HOPE 53 
 
 Ps. 46^0, " I will be exalted among the nations ; I 
 will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of Hosts is with 
 us, the God of Jacob is our refuge." 
 
 Zeph. 317 (630), " Jehovah thy God in the midst of 
 thee, a mighty one who will save." 
 
 Isa. 354 (post-Ex.), " Behold ! your God . . . He will 
 come and save you." 
 
 Isa. 4010, " Tiie Lord God will come as a mighty 
 one." Cf. 5212; 43^1 and pass. " Immanuel," i.e. 
 " God with us." 
 
 Ezek. 34^^, " I myself, even I, will search for My 
 sheep and will seek them out." 
 
 Zech. 149 (post-Ex.), *' Jehovah shall be king over 
 all the earth." (Oehler, II. p. 406.) 
 
 Zech. 210 (520), " I come, and I will dwell in the 
 midst of thee." 
 
 Test. Zeb. S^, " There shall arise unto you Jehovah 
 Himself." 
 
 Test. Simeon 6-^, " Jehovah God shall appear on 
 earth, and save the sons of men." (137-107 B.C.) 
 
 Enoch 253, " God . . . shall come to visit the earth 
 with goodness." 
 
 But this idea possibly derogated too much from the 
 holiness of Jehovah, especially when contrasted with the 
 sinfulness of Israel. The growing sense of sin and of 
 powerlessness, also, encouraged the idea of a mediator, 
 i.e. some one who would by his superior power free the 
 oppressed, and be a less terrible person in his dealings 
 than Jehovah Himself. 
 
 Thus we find Jehovah sends another, an important 
 and far-reaching idea : Micah 5^, " Out of thee are come 
 
54: THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 forth unto Me that is to be a ruler in Israel ; whose 
 goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. ... He 
 shall . . . feed His flock in the strength of Jehovah, in 
 the majesty of the name of Jehovah His God ; ... He 
 shall be great unto the ends of the earth. " 
 
 Most beautiful is the conception of Isa. 11 : " There 
 shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a 
 branch out of his roots shall bear fruit : and the Spirit 
 of Jehovah shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and 
 understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the 
 spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah ; and his 
 dehght shall be in the fear of Jehovah ; and he shall not 
 judge after the sight of his eyes, neither decide after the 
 hearing of his ears : but with righteousness shall he 
 judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of 
 the earth : and he shall smite the oppressor with the 
 rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall 
 he slay the wicked." 
 
 Ezek. 342'"^, 24^ <« j ^Ij s^^ ^p q^q shepherd over them, 
 and he shall feed them, even My servant David ; he 
 shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I 
 the Lord will be their God, and My servant David prince 
 among them." 
 
 Mai. 3^ (c. 400, Nehemiah), " I send My messenger.' - 
 Cf. " Angel of Jehovah " elsewhere in Old Testament. 
 
 Ps. 2 6,', "I have set My king upon My holy hill of 
 Zion. Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee." 
 
 Ps. 110 describes the coming of a Priest-King who 
 shall deliver His people. (Oehler, II. p. 407.) 
 
 It is clear from this that the hope is to be realised 
 
THE MESSIANIC HOPE 55 
 
 not by a mere general ordering or re-ordering of the 
 nation's life, but tbrough the personal intervention of 
 Jehovah, or His representative. It is remarkable that 
 the Apocrypha has no reference to a personal Messiah, 
 but the " Apocryphal " literature has many. 
 
 It would take us too long to trace the growth of 
 this idea, especially in the difficult literature of the 
 period between the two Testaments, of which literature 
 some account will be given later ; still less can passages 
 be fully quoted in support of the description given. 
 We have space only to describe and illustrate the chief 
 forms. Many will recur to the mind from the Old Testa- 
 ment, and the student of the New Testament will 
 recognise how the ideas are all comprehended in the 
 Person of Jesus Christ. It will, of course, be understood 
 that in no single passage is found the total conception of 
 the Messiah, to use the usual title ; it is presented by 
 different writers and different ages in each of its varying 
 aspects. The interesting part is that all and each are 
 found in Jesus Christ. 
 
 The leading figure under which He is represented 
 is that of a King, the most obvious, and to a people with 
 such a national spirit as the Jews, the most popular, 
 and therefore again the most permanent. We have 
 seen it illustrated by Micah and Isaiah ; it colours, 
 partially at all events, Pss. 45 and 72 ; Zechariah bids 
 Jerusalem welcome her King, riding upon an ass, the 
 symbol of humility and peace ; in Daniel His kingdom 
 is from everlasting and not to be destroyed. The Targum 
 of Onkelos explains Gen. 49^0 (Shiloh) and Num. 24^7 
 
56 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 (Balaam) as of a King to come ; and other Targums on 
 other passages uphold the idea. The Sibylline Oracles 
 (Alexandria, c. 140 B.C.), speak of a king sent by God from 
 the sunrise. (Sib. 3. 652 ; Mic. 52 ; Isa. 9 ; 11 ; 32 ; 
 Zech. 99; Jer. 23^; Dan. 7^3; Ps. 45; 72; Test. 
 Levi 814 ; Test. Reub. G^i, 12 ; Ps. Sol. 1736 ; Westcott, 
 124 ft. ; Hastings, i. p. 748 b.) 
 
 This King is to be of the seed of David, and to sit 
 upon David's throne, in accordance with the promise of 
 2 Sam. 7 16, " Thine house and thy kingdom shall be 
 made sure for ever before thee ; thy throne shall be 
 established for ever " (cf. Ps. 891^ ff.). Thus Jeremiah 
 says that " a branch of righteousness is to grow up unto 
 David," and Ezekiel that Jehovah's shepherd will be 
 " His servant David." Isa. 9 assigns " the throne of 
 David " to the Messiah. Ps. Sol. (b.c. 50) appeal to God 
 to " raise up unto them their king, the son of David." 
 Cf. the two bhnd men who hailed our Lord as " Son of 
 David " (Mt. 92"^), and our Lord's question to the 
 Pharisees (Mt. 22^1). (Jer. 33i5 ; Ezek. 3423 ; Ps. Sol. 
 1722, 5 ; Sir. 4711 ; 4 Ezr. 1232 ; Isa. 11^, 10 ; Mt. 1223, 
 2030, 1522^ 219, 15 ; Savage, " Gospel of the Kingdom," 
 p. 11 ; Westcott, p. 125.) 
 
 He comes from the tribe of Judah (David's tribe). 
 (Gen. 4910 ; Jub. 3118 ff. ; Test. Jud. 24^ ; T. Naph. 4^ ; 
 T. Levi 811 ; Mic. 52 ; Lk. 333 ; Heb. 7i4 ; Rev. b'^.) 
 
 In the Test, originally he comes from Levi, i.e. he 
 is a priest first ; but after the breach with Hyrcanus, 
 and after thirty or forty years' popularity, the Judah 
 tradition reappears. (Test. Reub. 6'' ; T. Lev. 8^ ; 18 ; 
 T. Jud. 241 ; T. Dan. 510 ; T. Jos. 19^) 
 
THE MESSIANIC HOPE 57 
 
 Clearly his first work is that of deliverance, he is the 
 champion and Saviour of his people, an idea found in 
 many other nations and peoples (cf. Oesterley, " Messianic 
 Idea/' ch. ix.). Isa. 9 calls him '' the mighty God," 
 and (11) describes how he will smite the oppressor and 
 slay the wicked (cf. 63i^). Ps. Sol. 172* says : " Gird 
 him with strength that he may shatter unrighteous 
 rulers, and that he may purge Jerusalem from nations 
 that trample her down to destruction. (4 Ezra 12^1, 
 1325 . 2 Bar. 402, 72 ; Ps. HO ; Test. Eeub. 612 ; Test. 
 Levi 1812 ; Test. Dan 510, ^ ; Num. 24i7 ; Josh. 5i4, 
 a warrior ; Lk. 2^8, 242i.) 
 
 Correspondingly he will be Judge, to sentence the 
 enemies of Israel and vindicate his people ; but also 
 to punish the wicked and uphold the righteous, a moral 
 distinction taking the place of a national. He will 
 " execute judgment and righteousness in the land " 
 (Jer. 3315). " He shall not judge after the sight of his 
 eyes, neither decide after the hearing of his ears ; but 
 with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and decide 
 with equity for the meek of the earth." (Isa. 11^, ^,) 
 4 Ezr. 13^^, " He shall reprove the nations that are 
 come for their ungodliness . . . and shall reproach 
 them to their face with their evil thoughts." 
 
 Ps. Sol. 1729, " He shall judge peoples and nations 
 in the wisdom of his righteousness." (2 Bar. 39, 40, 72, 
 73 ; 4 Ezr. 12^2 ; Enoch 37-70 ; Ps. (frequent reference 
 to judgment by Jehovah). Test. Levi 18 ; Dan. 7^ ; 
 For retribution in Old Testament : Gen. 1823 ; Exod. 
 3233 ; Num. 1622 ; Dt. 7^0, 24i6 ; Ezek. ; Job ; Eccles ; 
 Dan. 527.) 
 
58 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 He is also figured as a Shepherd. (Cf. above, Mic. 5* ; 
 Ezek. 3423, and Isa. m\ "Jehovah shall feed His 
 flock hke a shepherd," etc. Zech. IV^ ; Ps. Sol. 17^^ ; 
 Westcott, p. 125.) 
 
 Another familiar role is that of Priest. See, espe- 
 cially, Ps. 110, " A priest for ever after the order of 
 Melchisedec." Zech. 6^3, " He shall be a priest upon 
 his throne." Test. Levi 18^, " Jehovah shall raise up a 
 new priest." Test. Levi 81^. This conception was 
 naturally encouraged by the Maccabean " priest-kings." 
 (Cf. esp. Zech. 6i3.) 
 
 Also Prophet. Deut. 18^5 (not Messianic originally). 
 1 Mace. 1441, "until a faithful prophet should arise." 
 Test. Levi S^^, " His presence is beloved, as a prophet of 
 the Most High." Isa. 11. (See Oesterley, " Messianic 
 Idea," p. 232.) Ju. 6i4, 3i ff., 425^ 121 ; Acts 322, 73?. 
 
 The Messiah is called Jehovah's Servant, especially 
 in such leading passages as Isa. 42 ; 52^3 ff. ; the 
 thought is naturally developed in the Targums on such 
 passages ; but in the literature of the intervening 
 period it is not common ; the thought of a hero and 
 leader, rather than a subordinate person, being naturally 
 more popular and more suggested by the history of the 
 times. (Isa. 42 ; 43io ; 52i3, 53" ; Zech. 38 ; Ac. 427, 
 30 ; 313, 26 ; AYestcott, p. 125.) 
 
 Another familiar title is that of The Chosen One, 
 1 Enoch 453, ^, " My chosen one shall sit on the throne 
 of glory : . . . cause my chosen one to dwell among 
 them." (Especially Enoch 40^ ; 492, ^ ; 51^, 13 ; 52^, 9 ; 
 554 ; 615, 8^ 10 ; G21 ; 53^. Cf. Isa. 42^, " My servant, 
 my chosen.'! Lk. 935 • 2335.) 
 
THE MESSIANIC HOPE 59 
 
 The title Messiah = Anointed = Christ, and the verb 
 " anoint " is used originally of making priests and 
 prophets and kings ; as a substantive, only of kings ; 
 e.g. " The Lord's anointed." The idea is the conveying 
 of Divine powers and attributes ; fat, from which 
 unguents were made, was always a specially holy part 
 of the sacrifice, as was the blood ; both were believed 
 to be consumed by the god ; hence the application of 
 fat or oil suggested union with the god, and transmission 
 of his virtues to the person anointed. (See Rob. Smith, 
 " Rel. Sem," p. 233, 382 &.) This rite and title, there- 
 fore, emphasise the Divine choice and consecration of 
 the bearer. 
 
 It occurs first in the later technical sense of the 
 national Saviour, probably in Dan. 9^^, and is found in 
 1 Enoch 524, and Ps. Sol. 1736, 186, 8 ; Mt. 2^, 16i6, 22^2, 
 
 245, 23^ 2663 ; Lk. 2", 26, 4I8, 2426, 46 ; Jn. 120, 41, ^25. 
 
 It is the universal title in Acts and Epistles. (Ac. 
 427, 1038. Oesterley, '' Messianic Idea," p. 190. 1 En. 
 4810; 4 Ezra 729, 1232 ; 2 Bar. 293, etc.) 
 
 In his personal character the Messiah is to be Righteous. 
 (1 Enoch 382, 452 f .^ 536 • Test. Jud. 24^ ; Zech. 9^ ; 
 Isa. 11 ; cf. Acts 3i4, 7^2, 24i4 ; 1 Jn. 2^.) 
 
 Pure from sin. (Ps. Sol. 17^1 ; Test. Jud. 24^ ; Test. 
 Lev. 8.) 
 
 Wise, (Ps. Sol. 1742 ; Isa. 9 ; 11.) 
 
 Meek, (Test. Jud. 24^ ; Zech. 9^ ; Isa. 53' ; Ps. 45* 
 (in Targum and LXX). ) Oesterley (" Messianic Idea"), 
 p. 258 ; contrast Jer. 1725, 22^. 
 
 This is " not an attribute of Messiah 200 B.c- 
 100 A.D." (Charles.) 
 
60 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 He is human, called Son of Man, This name originated 
 Dan. 7^3, and the idea is developed in 4 Ezra 13 ; and 
 the title frequent in 1 Enoch (462-4, 482, Q2^-u, 63^1, 
 
 0926-29^ 701, 7114^ 17). 
 
 This title was used by our Lord, but was not under- 
 stood by the Jews (Jn. 12^4) ; it was clearly revived by 
 Christ with a new meaning, and was not the current 
 conception of the Messiah. 
 
 His human aspect would be the first thought of, 
 and therefore tacitly underlies many of the passages 
 describing His work. (Hastings, iii. p. 355=' ; Oesterley, 
 *' Last Things," p. 147 ff. ; Driver's '' Daniel " (Cam- 
 bridge Bible Series) ; Fairweather, B. G., p. 294.) 
 
 But he is also pre-existent, not one from among the 
 sons of men. (Perhaps Dan. 7i3 ; Mic. 52 ; 2 Bar. 29^, 
 301, 397 . 4 Ezra 726 if., 1232, 148^ 1326 ; Sib. o^u, - from 
 the plains of heaven." 1 Enoch 48^, 6^ 6I10, 626, ?, 70^ ; 
 Jn. 858 ; Westcott, p. 103.) 
 
 And so we come to the notion that he is actually 
 Divine, and Son of God. (1 Enoch 1052, '' My Son " ; 
 4 Ezra 728, 29^ 1332^ 37^ 52^ 149^ » My Son" ; cf. Ps. 2 ; 
 Isa. 9 (especially Oesterley, " Messianic Idea," p. 212 
 fE.) ; Mt. 317, 175, 2663 ; Jn. passim, " My Father " ; 
 Westcott, pp. 103, 133?^.) 
 
 What is to be the effect of his coming ? 
 
 In the first place, it will be attended with suffering 
 to himself, a necessary feature of all work of deliverance. 
 (Gen. 315 ; Isa. 53 ; Zech. 12io.) 
 
 The thought was induced partly by Jacob's exile, 
 the Captivity, and the sufferings at the hands, e.g., 
 of Antiochus Epiphanes, in Maccabean and Roman 
 
THE MESSIANIC HOPE 61 
 
 periods. It is also " in the nature of things " (of. 
 Plato, Repub. 361 E.). 
 
 But the idea existed only in germ; it was never realised 
 or appreciated by the Jews ; it was hard to reconcile 
 with that of a triumphant deliverer ; it was only the 
 personality and teaching of Christ that elucidated and 
 emphasised this aspect, mth what difficulties the 
 Gospels tell us. (Lk. 2426, 46 ; Mk. 930 ff. ; 1 Cor. 123 ; 
 Fairweather (E. A.), p. 36 ; Westcott, p. 145n.) 
 
 Rather were the current ideas just the reverse, and 
 naturally so. The idea of pohtical deliverance and 
 poHtical, national ascendancy took rise in the oppres- 
 sions and difficulties of the eighth century, and developed 
 largely in the Babylonish captivity. Hence it is largely 
 reflected in the Old Testament, especially the Second 
 Isaiah, where a beautiful picture of the returning exiles 
 is given, and their triumph over their oppressors and 
 re-establishment in their own land in unending prosperity 
 and peace. (Cf. also Isa. 9 ; 11 ; 35 ; Mic. 4^ ff., 52 fE. ; 
 Dan. 714; Ezek. 3427.) 
 
 In the Old Testament the idea is almost entirely 
 material and this-worldly, though the prophets included 
 and insisted on a moral purification and restoration. The 
 majority of people can hardly get beyond this conception, 
 and this, with the provocations caused by repeated 
 oppressions and insults offered to the national pride in 
 the intermediate period, had its effect in the popular 
 teaching and literature. 
 
 Thus Sibyll. iii. 652 describes the peace, wealth, 
 and prosperity of the restored people ; Tobit 13^6, 14^, 
 
62 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and the regathering of the 
 tribes ; Sir. 361^ the punishing of their enemies. (Acts 1^ ; 
 Sib. 5249 ff., 420 ; Sib. 3741 fE._794 ; 4 Ezra 1340, 852 . 
 2 Bar. 713-744, 29 ; Isa. 35 ; Westcott, p. 117 ; Hastings, 
 i. p. 742b ff. ; Fairweather (B. G.), p. 168 ff. ; (E. A. 
 p. 175).) 
 
 One feature of his reign is the Feast. (Cf. Isa. 25^ 
 (very late) ; Zeph. 1"^ (a common Oriental conception) ; 
 4 Ezra 6^2 gays on flesh of behemoth and leviathan ; 
 also 2 Bar. 294. i Enoch 62^4 ; Ps. 74i2-i4 ; Lk. 14i5, 
 " Blessed are they that shall eat bread in the kingdom 
 of God." Mt. 811, 221, 2629; Lk. 2230 ; Oesterley, 
 *' Last Things," pp. 60, 122, 142, 187 ; Savage, " Gospel 
 of the Kingdom," p. 195 note.) 
 
 It includes vengeance on Israel's enemies, and on the 
 wicked. (Cf. reference on " judge," p. 57 ; 1 Enoch 
 91i2j sinners are delivered into the hands of the righteous ; 
 2 Bar. 722 ; Prophets passim ; Sir. 35i8 ; Ps. Sol. 17.) 
 
 The benefit is thus all for the chosen people alone, 
 (Psalms and Prophets ; Sir. 36 ; 4 Ezra 6^9, 8^2, 53^ 1325 ; 
 Dan. 722 ; 2 Bar. 72 ; Jub. especially 15^1, 307-17, 129 ; 
 Ass. Mos. 107 ; 4 Ezra ; Ps. Sol. 9^, 184 . Westcott, p. 
 112.) 
 
 Yet the higher ethical and spiritual teaching held 
 its own, and the office of the Messiah grew to that of 
 judge between good and evil, and vindicator of the 
 righteous as well as of the champion and restorer of the 
 seed of Abraham. And ^vith this we trace a breaking 
 away from the old exclusive spirit, and a more catholic 
 and sympathetic ideal springing up. Jerusalem and 
 this earth and the Jews are not to be the centre and 
 
THE MESSIANIC HOPE 63 
 
 scene and the sole beneficiaries of the Messiah's 
 reign ; there is to be a new heaven and earth, a new 
 Jerusalem, every one that is pure and righteous shall 
 dwell therein. 
 
 This higher conception was present from a com- 
 paratively early date, and other peoples were granted 
 a share in the coming blessings, even if their position 
 was subordinate to that of the true IsraeHte. (See 
 especially 2 Isaiah. Isa. IP; Mic. 4^; Jonah; especially 
 Tests. XII. Patr.; T. Benj. 92; T. S. 72; T. N. 2^ ; 
 T. L. U4 ; 44, 814, 211 ; T. S. 6^ ; T. N. 83 ; T. A. 7^ ; 
 T. D. 67 ; T. Jud. 25^ ; T. B. 10-^ ; Ps. Sol. 1732 ; Jn. 
 442.) 
 
 The conception gradually slips away from this earth 
 and material things ; political events prove the value- 
 lessness of earthly power and wealth ; suffering teaches 
 the value of spiritual blessings and virtues ; it is not the 
 Gentiles who are to be punished, so much as the wicked ; 
 and the kingdom of the Messiah is in the spiritual sphere ; 
 the knowledge of Jehovah is the condition of attaining 
 it. Elements of this appear in the teaching of Isa. (11^), 
 and its later development was due largely to the efforts 
 of the Pharisees. The present condition was so hopeless 
 that a new age was necessary for reaHsing the promises. 
 (1 Enoch (911'^), " inexhaustible fountain of righteousness 
 — fountain of wisdom," quoted by Westcott, p. 108. 
 Ass. Mos. 118, repentance ; 1 Enoch 45^, 9V^ ; 2 Bar. 
 4412-15 ; Isa. 258 . pg. Sol. 1728.) 
 
 Cf. also the idea of a new heaven and a new earth, 
 (Isa. 6517 ; 2 Bar. 326, 572 ; 4 Ezra 7^5, 5^5 ; Jub. pQ ; 
 1 Enoch 514, 721 . |^t. I928 ; 2 Pet. 3i3 ; Rev. 2P.) 
 
64 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Hence the last idea to be noticed, that of a future 
 life, or personal immortality (developed partly under 
 Persian influence). (Dan. 122 . jga. 2619, 258 ; 2 Bar. 
 302, 5415^ 592. jub. 2331; 1 Enoch 92^, 51^ (see Charles's 
 note), 9110 ; Hos. 131* ; Ezek. 37i2 ; Enoch 91-104 ; 
 Ps. Sol. ; 4 Ezra 732; Hast.,i. pp. 110b, 748b ; E. Bibl., 
 1345, 1354-6 fi. ; Fairweather, B. G., 283, 290, 49 ; 
 Oesterley, L. T., 116.) 
 
 Each and all of the foregoing characteristics of the 
 Messiah wall have already recalled in our minds many 
 passages and allusions in the New Testament ; and 
 there are a large number of passages and phrases in the 
 Old Testament, too numerous to mention, which receive 
 a fresh and a wonderful light from their use by or appro- 
 priateness to Jesus Christ. And these passages and 
 conceptions, in their collective capacity, form the 
 strength of the Saviour's claim to " fulfil " the Law and 
 the prophets, and of the Apostles' earhest teaching. 
 (Mt. 517, 13^2 ; Acts (pass.) ; '' Lux Mundi," p. 132 ff., 
 159. See especially Westcott, pp. 129, 157, 158.) 
 
 There is a good chapter on this subject in Shailer 
 Matthews (ch. xiv.). (See also Schiirer, II. ii. p. 126 if. ; 
 Latimer Jackson, p. 250, 273, 302 ; Miiirhead, pp. 112.) 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 HELLENISM AND THE DISPERSION — ''WISDOM*' 
 
 Mention was made in Chapters I. and II. of the influence 
 of the Eomans on Jewish life and history ; but the other 
 ancient World-Power, Greece, played no less part in 
 preparing the way for Christ ; indeed, it was of far 
 greater moment, in its influence on Jewish belief and 
 thought ; the points of contact also were far more 
 numerous, being spread over a wider range of area and 
 of history. This influence goes by the name of Hellenism, 
 and was the result of the conquests of Alexander the 
 Great (d. 323). Naturally he left behind him a trail 
 of Greek settlers, and his policy was to found centres 
 of Greek influence in the countries which he conquered. 
 Schiirer has collected the names of a number of places, 
 like Gaza, Azotus, Caesarea, Ptolemais, which had their 
 origin from such a policy of his or his successors (II. i., 
 p. 12 ff.) ; and these would form centres from which 
 Greek methods, Greek habits, Greek manufactures, 
 Greek words, Greek art, Greek ideas, Greek thought, 
 Greek tastes, Greek religion, would radiate, and influence 
 the lines and development of the native races. Judaea, 
 from its close connection with Syria, could not escape 
 
 E 
 
66 THE CRADLE OF CHEISTIANITY 
 
 this influence, and in the century 300-200, whicli was 
 one of comparative peace and prosperity, the Hellenic 
 influence arising from close and constant intercourse 
 must have been very great. 
 
 It was not upon an unwilling or an unprepared 
 people that Antiochus Epiphanes tried to enforce the 
 full acceptance of things Greek ; and not a few of the 
 more enlightened (and enlightened by their very contact 
 with a \^dder world) must have welcomed much that 
 the Greek spirit had brought ; many of the priestly 
 families (the forebears of the later Sadducees) had lent 
 it their support. Indeed, it was only his deliberate 
 attempt to abolish the Jewish religion and his gross 
 profanation of the temple by the erecting on the altar 
 a small altar to Zeus, and the sacrifice of a pig (the 
 " abomination of desolation " of Dan. 11 3^), that caused 
 the resistance to it. Of these events we have the record 
 in 1 Maccabees, lii-i5/i ff. ; 2 Maccabees, 4io ff., with 
 their mention of Greek fashions, clothes, games, etc., 
 their widespread popularity, and the dismay that they 
 caused to the older heads. 
 
 Still more marked was Greek influence among the 
 Jews of the Dispersion where the hold on traditional 
 Judaism, though very real, was slighter. And from the 
 point of view of Judaism taken as a whole this influence 
 is of the greatest importance, by reason of the far greater 
 numerical superiority of these Jews to those in Palestine. 
 For it must be remembered that only some 50,000 Jews 
 returned to Palestine, under Zerubbabel and Ezra, and 
 that the wealthiest and most influential, as well as the 
 majority, remained in Babylon. So that by the time of 
 
HELLENISM AND THE DISPERSION 67 
 
 Josephus (a.d. 37-101) they were reckoned in millions, 
 taking the Euphrates district as a whole. A later 
 tradition said that Cyrus forbade any further return, 
 for fear of losing his population ; and so numerous and 
 powerful were they in a.d. 40, that the Romans shrank 
 from provoking their hostility. (Edersheim, I. p. 8.) 
 Mommsen actually speaks of them as the third factor 
 in the Roman Empire (Bk. V. c. 11). 
 
 To the north-west of the Euphrates valley was 
 another large settlement, in Syria, especially round 
 Antioch and Damascus ; and they spread thence over 
 Asia Minor, especially to the large commercial centres 
 like Ephesus, Pergamos, Sardis. About 200 B.C. 
 Antiochus III. (the Great) settled 2000 Jews from 
 Mesopotamia in Lydia and Phrygia. 
 
 The largest, and ultimately the most important of 
 all, was the colony in Egypt. This had originated in 
 the men who had fled thither from Nebuchadnezzar, 
 taking with them, against his will, the prophet Jeremiah. 
 A large number had gone \^dth Alexander the Great, 
 and eventually founded the famous city and seat of 
 learning, Alexandria. Ptolemy I. (c. 300) imported 
 thousands more, so that they numbered two-fifths of the 
 whole population ; and also into Cyrene, where they 
 formed one-quarter. In the days of the Maccabees 
 Onias IV. (High Priest) fled thither, with a view of 
 transferring the headquarters of Judaism from Jeru- 
 salem, so low had their fortunes sunk in Palestine, and 
 so influential were the Jews in Egypt. He estabHshed 
 a temple at Leontopolis, which survived till the days 
 of Vespasian. In the days of Philo (b.c. 20 — a.d. 45) 
 
68 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 they numbered a million, and in Alexandria two districts 
 out of five were entirely Jewish. 
 
 They were to be found in practically all parts of the 
 civilised world, and Acts 2^ describes the cosmopolitan 
 nature of the crowd at Jerusalem on the day of Pente- 
 cost, and St. Paul found synagogues of the Jews at 
 Thessalonica, Beroea, Athens, and Corinth. At Rome 
 they were increased by the captives taken thither by 
 Pompey, in B.C. 61, and afterwards made freedmen. 
 Horace and Juvenal and Tacitus and others frequently 
 allude to their presence there. (Juv. Sat. 3. 14, 297 ; 
 10. 94 ; 14. 96 ; Hor. Sat. 1. 4. 143 ; 5. 100 ; 9. 69 ; 
 Tac. Hist. 5. 4, 5 ; Cicero, pro Flacco, 66 ; cf . an inter- 
 esting article by Professor H. A. Strong in the Hibhert 
 Journal for January, 1915.) 
 
 Not the least interesting or important colony was 
 that created by Aristobulus (High Priest) son of John 
 Hyrcanus, in 104 B.C., in Iturea, known as " Galilee," 
 or the Region, " of the nations " (Isa. 9^), by compelling 
 them to accept Judaism at the point of the sword. The 
 New Testament refers to the provincial and semi- 
 foreign accent of our Lord's disciples (Mt. 26'^^) 
 
 These Jews, living out of Palestine and possessing 
 thus a double nationaUty, were known as the Diaspora, 
 or Dispersion, as we read in Jn. 7^^ ; Jas. 1^ ; 1 Pet. 1^, 
 though in the two latter passages the technical meaning 
 is obscured in the A.V. The Greek word ^moTrojoa 
 is suggestive, as it conveys the idea of seed scattered 
 abroad with a view to harvest. (See especially "Lux 
 Mundi," p. 151 ff. ; Fairweather, E. A., pp. 102, 
 108 ff., 143; Fairweather, B. G., p. 155; Bevan, 
 
HELLENISM AND THE DISPERSION G9 
 
 J. H. P., p. 115 ; Westcott, p. 64 ; Oesterley, p. 49 ; 
 Schiirer, IL, ii., p. 219 if.) 
 
 With all these Jews, born and bred in Greek cities 
 and under Greek influence, it was inevitable that their 
 habits and mode of life should be affected, and their 
 knowledge and mental outlook widened ; and, on the 
 other hand, that their nationahty and their exclusiveness 
 should be intensified. For if Greek thought and civili- 
 sation came as a revelation to the Jewish mind, it came 
 also as a distinct challenge ; and, as we know, Judaism 
 never failed in lively and vigorous response to any 
 challenge offered it. This exclusiveness and pride of 
 race is evident from early days in the Old Testament, 
 where their boast was that they were the Chosen People 
 of Jehovah, to the contempt of all other peoples. And 
 oppression and persecution only made them draw yet 
 closer to each other. Wherever they went they formed 
 a separate and distinct community, and were able in 
 most cases to procure for themselves peculiar rights and 
 privileges and immunities, such as self-government. 
 Sabbath observance, payment of tribute to Jerusalem, 
 equality of civic rights and advantages with their 
 fellow-townsmen. 
 
 Their attitude towards foreigners, too, had not been 
 of the friendhest, for which they had had good reason 
 during the latter days of the monarchy, the captivity, 
 and the weary centuries when they were overrun by 
 foreign armies ; and, on the other hand, no nation would 
 be too readily inclined to welcome them, with their 
 intense pride, their close freemasonry, their economical 
 habits, their commercial skill, their obstinacy. Gentiles 
 
70 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 had always in their eyes been inferior to the chosen 
 people of Jehovah ; and more than one Gentile nation 
 had earned their undying enmity by conquest and ill- 
 treatment. The feud with the Samaritans, described 
 in Ezra and Nehemiah, and the reforms by which they 
 tried to stop the prevalence of mixed marriages, all 
 intensified the national exclusiveness. 
 
 This exclusiveness found expression also in a strong 
 attachment to the Temple, whither annual tribute was 
 sent, and pilgrimages made at the times of the great 
 feasts. (In the last chapter we saw how the reunion of 
 the scattered tribes and the restoration of Jerusalem 
 and the Temple formed part of the national hope.) 
 Yet perhaps its most potent result was the care with 
 which their religious teaching was preserved, issuing 
 in the formation of the Canon of Holy Scripture, the 
 Septuagint (Greek Version of the Scriptures), the growth 
 of the body of the Scribes, and the teaching of the 
 Rabbis embodied in the later Targums and Talmud. 
 (Edersheim, I. ch. 5, 6 ; Fairweather, B. G., pp. 40, 
 315 ; Fairweather, E. A., pp. 44, 45, 67 ; Wade, '' 0. T. 
 Hist.," p. 499.) 
 
 Up to the time of the captivity and after there had 
 usually been the voice of prophecy to declare God's 
 will and to direct the nation. But with Malachi the 
 race of prophets died out, and for 400 years or so they 
 waited anxiously for the new prophet that should come. 
 (Deut. 18 ; Jn.'l2i, 6i4, 7^0, and Mt. 21ii refs.) Some- 
 thing had to be done ; and we find them turning to the 
 old writings, interpreting them, and gradually forming 
 them into a single collection, known as " the Law, 
 
HELLENISM AND THE DISPERSION 71 
 
 the prophets, and the (Sacred) writings." Ezra estab- 
 lished the reading of the Law as an essential part of 
 public worship, and added to it the delivery of a running 
 commentary or paraphrase ; and so he became the 
 father of the Scribes and the originator of the Targums 
 (Ezra 8^). Schools of study and instruction arose 
 with the Rabbis at their heads ; and whether in Palestine 
 or in the Dispersion, the study of the Law was a powerful 
 bond of union and point d'appui. The rigid care 
 and veneration in which it was held ensured the con- 
 tinuity and purity of the message, even if it was marred 
 and misinterpreted during the centuries of its develop- 
 ment. Students of the New Testament, even of the 
 Gospels only, know how the whole religious Hfe and 
 hope of the people centred round the Law, so as to 
 justify the statement of Professor Wendt, that the 
 formation of the Old Testament canon was " the most 
 important historical fact of post-exilian Judaism." 
 (Fairweather, B. G., p. 40 if. ; Westcott, p. 55 ff. ; 
 Oesterley, p. 160 ; Schiirer, II. i., p. 306.) 
 
 The interpretation of the Scriptures followed close on 
 the heels of the formation of the Canon, and the Helle- 
 nistic atmosphere demanded some statement of the 
 true relation of Jewish teaching to Greek philosophy 
 and thought. Many of the Jews were also entirely 
 Greek in spirit, and apparent contradictions had to be 
 removed, and a synthesis established in which the two 
 formed a harmonious unity. And so we find Aristobulus 
 (B.C. 180-146) in a commentary on the Law of Moses 
 asserting that the Greek philosophers had borrowed 
 largely from him ; to substantiate his position he 
 
72 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 initiated the allegorical method of expounding Scripture, 
 a method by which almost anything might be proved 
 from the sacred text, and for which Alexandria became 
 famous in the days of Clement and Origen. Versions 
 of Homer and Hesiod appeared, cast in a light intended 
 to show their dependence on Moses, and the Sibylline 
 oracles were edited from a similar point of view. 
 
 This tendency developed, and found its fullest and 
 highest expression in Philo, a Jewish philosopher who 
 flourished at Alexandria in the time of our Lord, and 
 largely influenced Christian theology. (Fairweather, 
 B. G., p. 320, 329 if., 349 fl., 418 ; Westcott, p. 78 ff. ; 
 Edersheim, L, p. 33.) 
 
 Living thus in a Greek city, and using Greek as the 
 usual medium of conversation, the Jews would worship 
 in the Greek tongue, and so need a Greek version of 
 the Scriptures ; and this would not only provide for 
 their wants, but would also be a means of introducing 
 their faith to their heathen neighbours. To this need 
 we owe the Septuagint, whatever be the truth as to its 
 actual completion. One account makes it the work of 
 seventy-two scholars sent by request from Jerusalem 
 (hence its name), but it is certainly the work of Alex- 
 andrian Jews, and bears traces of accommodation to 
 Greek thought. (It may be dated roughly 250-150 B.C.) 
 In particular scholars have noticed a tendency to remove 
 or modify anthropomorphisms, i.e. phrases in which God 
 is spoken of in human form and manner, in order to 
 harmonise with the transcendental, spiritual conception 
 of deity held by the Greeks. 
 
 The completion of this work was far-reaching in 
 
HELLENISM AND THE DISPERSION 73 
 
 its effect. It undoubtedly encouraged tlie broadening 
 tendency of Hellenism, by rendering a knowledge of 
 Hebrew no longer necessary for the Jew ; and it was 
 a powerful vehicle for the introduction of Jewish teaching 
 to the Gentile world ; in it all men could read and study 
 for themselves. It was widely used, even in Palestine, 
 as is shown by the number of quotations made from it in 
 the New Testament ; it exercised no small influence on 
 New Testament language and the Fathers ; to us it is 
 a valuable guide as to the original text of the Old 
 Testament, having been made from a Hebrew text far 
 older than any that we now possess ; in the Eastern 
 Church it is established as their " Authorised Version." 
 
 Moreover, it filled a gap in the life of the Jews. 
 To the Dispersion, the Temple at Jerusalem was but a 
 name ; few of them were ever likely to see it, though 
 all hoped to ; and this version of their cherished Law 
 gave them a common link and a rallying point ; all 
 were at one in this, and drew their spiritual life from it, 
 even if the central sanctuary and its services were too 
 remote for them, or even from time to time desecrated 
 and in abeyance. And it bridged the gulf that separated 
 them from the Gentile world ; for now the Greek 
 language was made the vehicle of Jewish thought, and 
 the two, thus united, became, later on, the medium 
 through which Christianity was diffused. (Fairweather, 
 B. G., 325 ff.; Fairweather, E. A., 100; Paterson 
 Smyth, " Old Documents, etc.," p. 147 ; Westcott, p. 77 ; 
 Edersheim, I., p. 26 ; Oesterley, p. 58 ; Schiirer, II., iii., 
 p. 159.) 
 
 The Dispersion was not without its influence on the 
 
74 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 nations with wliom the Jews made their homes. It 
 was a true Preparatio Evangehca, for it familiarised 
 the whole civilised world with Jewish thought, hopes, 
 and beliefs, and so the most important part of the 
 human race (at that time) had instilled into them the 
 seed out of which Christianity was developed. The 
 appeal of Christianity would thus fall on ears not entirely 
 ignorant or unprepared ; while the Jews themselves 
 in all lands would from their previous preparation and 
 strong hope, be naturally ready to welcome Christianity, 
 and so become the nucleus of the Christian Church. 
 If they had done no more than witness to the truth of 
 monotheism, in the middle of a polytheistic and syncre- 
 tistic world, that in itself would have been much. In 
 Palestine, as we have seen, it was from the descendants 
 of foreign Jews in Galilee that our Lord drew at least 
 some of His disciples, and He included in them also St. 
 Philip, who bore, at any rate, a Greek name. (Cf. 
 Fairweather, B. G., p. 367 (quoting Weiszacker).) 
 
 We have yet another phenomenon of this period to 
 describe, the Wisdom movement and literature. Ex- 
 amples of this in the Old Testament are the books of 
 Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job, and certain Psalms ; 
 and in the Apocrypha the books of Sirach (son of), 
 or Ecclesiasticus, and the Wisdom of Solomon (so called). 
 This was the nearest approach to philosophy that a 
 Hebrew could come ; he could not investigate life with 
 an open mind, for he necessarily started from the 
 assumptions of the existence of God and of a Divine 
 revelation in the Law. But he could and did investigate 
 the order of things, and show in the light of these 
 
HELLENISM AND THE DISPERSION 75 
 
 principles liow " all things worked together " under 
 God's providence, and " for good to them that love God." 
 Hebrew thought was thus concrete not abstract, practical 
 not theoretical. In this Wisdom movement may be 
 traced side by side, elements of philosophy, ethics, 
 poetry, mysticism, and religion ; and it owed its rise 
 largely to the wave of Hellenism in the second century 
 B.C., which challenged Judaism to give an account of 
 itself, to the keen and subtle intellects of the Greek 
 world, and to justify its claims. It became, therefore, 
 an apologia pro judaismo, a defence of the Mosaic Law, 
 and a protest against heathenism. 
 
 But it was also forced on the Jews themselves for 
 another reason. The old teaching maintained that if 
 a man did right he was rewarded by material prosperity, 
 and that the wicked were punished with adversity ; 
 moreover, religion had in early days been largely 
 national, and the fortunes of the individual had been 
 but scarcely considered ; but the captivity and the 
 Diaspora had played havoc with national ideals, and 
 the sufferings of the Jews demanded some explanation 
 of the glaring contradiction between promise and 
 result, between faith and experience. Individualism 
 was being forced to the front, and righteousness by no 
 means invariably received its reward. 
 
 Thus the Wisdom literature deals with the problem 
 of the moral government of the world, and while uphold- 
 ing the truth of the Mosaic teaching, it widens its appli- 
 cation, and embraces all mankind in its purview ; while 
 giving minute instructions as to the conduct of this life, 
 it is not unmindful that there is a hereafter, where the 
 
76 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 inequalities and unrighteousness of this world will be 
 redressed. (The same problem appears in Plato, 
 Rep. 360 eff.) 
 
 One remarkable feature is the personification of 
 Wisdom, by which she appears as God's right hand 
 agent, and representative. See Prov. 822-31 5 Wisd. 
 9S 10 ( = Angel of Jehovah). 
 
 " Jehovah possessed (formed) me in (as) the beginning 
 of His way, before (the first of) His works of old. 
 
 " I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, 
 or ever the earth was. 
 
 " When there were no depths, I was brought 
 forth ; when there were no fountains abounding with 
 water. 
 
 " Before the mountains were settled, before the 
 hills was I brought forth : 
 
 " While as yet He had not made the earth, nor the 
 fields, nor the beginning of the dust of the world. 
 
 " When He established the heavens, I was there ; 
 when He set a circle upon the face of the deep : 
 
 *' When He made firm the skies above : when the 
 fountains of the deep became strong : 
 
 " When He gave to the sea its bound, that the 
 waters should not transgress His commandment : when 
 He marked out the foundations of the earth : 
 
 " Then was I by Him, as a master- workman : and 
 I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before 
 Him ; 
 
 " Rejoicing in His habitable earth ; and my delight 
 was with the sons of men." 
 
 Thus she is *' at once the expression of the Divine 
 
HELLENISM AND THE DISPERSION 77 
 
 intelligence, the reflexion of the Divine character, and 
 the unfolding of the Divine purpose." (Fairweather, 
 B. G., p. 83.) Besides this objective conception, she is 
 also viewed subjectively, as man's inner guide and 
 counsellor, and she dwells with those who recognise 
 God's purpose and power, and try to do His Will, 
 denoting man's susceptibility to the Divine reason which 
 permeates the mind. Thus " the fear of the Lord is 
 the beginning of Wisdom." (Fairweather, B. G., p. 
 148 ; Sir. 24 ; Wisd. 99.) 
 
 It is noticeable further about this latter aspect of 
 Wisdom that learning and piety are all but if not quite 
 identified, the moral and intellectual spheres are barely 
 distinguished ; and Sirach makes her equivalent to 
 the keeping of the Law. (Sir. 24io, ^\ 23 ff. . i26 ff. . 
 Prov. 119.) This, however, enshrines the not always 
 evident truth that moral rectitude has a great influence 
 on spiritual perception. (See Jn. 71"^ ; and cf. Sir. 3924 ; 
 Prov. 319; Job 28 ; Ps. llliO; Bar. 39-4^; Jer. 1012; 
 Fairweather, B. G., p. 79 ff., 146; Oesterley, p. 
 226 if.) 
 
 On the question of the Divine justice, and the reward- 
 ing of the godly and the punishment of the wicked, 
 some passages blindly adhere to the original teachin^^ : 
 *' There shall no mischief happen to the righteous, but 
 the wicked shall be filled with evil." (Prov. 122i, 
 cf. 1321 ; Sir. 9^\ 33^ ; 12^ ; 16^2, 219, 41i^, 4i9, 5^, 7^ ; 
 Prov. 316. 
 
 But this assertion, however, full of faith and of trust 
 in God's faithfulness and righteousness, could not be 
 
78 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 maintained in the face of facts ; and it was held that 
 sufEering was a process of purification, by which the 
 good were made better, and the inevitable fire in which 
 the precious metal was refined. See Prov. 3^^, " Despise 
 not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of 
 His reproof ; for whom the Lord loveth He reproveth, 
 even as a father the son in whom he delighteth." 
 
 Sir. 4^1, " At first she will walk wath him in 
 crooked ways, and torment him with her discipline." 
 
 Sir. 3214, " He that feareth the Lord will receive his 
 discipline." 
 
 Sir. 2^, " If thou comest to serve the Lord, prepare 
 thy soul for temptation." 
 
 Cf. Job 517. 
 
 The fullest and deepest treatment of the problem 
 is found in the book of Job, where the three friends 
 take up the attitude that because Job suffers he must 
 therefore have sinned ; he defends himself and asserts 
 his uprightness ; and in the famous passage 19-^ he 
 appeals to his avenger, who in another world, if not in 
 this, will uphold him and vindicate his character. 
 
 As a consequence of these beliefs we have in the book 
 of Sirach a manual of conduct, the appHcation of Wisdom 
 to daily life. In it are given directions as to conduct 
 in many conceivable relations of life, such as family life, 
 adversity, prosperity ; behaviour to the rich and poor, 
 wise and foolish ; choice of friends, of occupations ; 
 dining out ; business ; and various virtues are com- 
 mended ; all in the same sort of way as in Proverbs. 
 
HELLENISM AND THE DISPERSION 79 
 
 (Fairweather, E. A., p. 120 ; Bevan, p. 49 fE. ; Oesterley, 
 p. 321 ; Schiirer, 11. , iii., p. 23.) 
 
 The book of Ecclesiastes, or the Preacher, shows a 
 trace of Greek influence, in the attitude that it adopts 
 in viewing life from the standpoint of the happiness of 
 the individual ; and while the author is no atheist, 
 he is yet a profound pessimist ; *' all is vanity and 
 a striving after wind," is his conclusion. 
 
 In the book of Wisdom we have a kind of counter- 
 blast to the Preacher, and one which is decidedly Greek 
 in thought and character. The writer enumerates the 
 four cardinal virtues of Stoicism (8^) ; alludes to the 
 Pythagorean and Platonic doctrine of the pre-existence 
 of the soul (820) • and speaks of wisdom in the language 
 of Greek philosophy (7^2 f!.). Yet the fundamentals 
 of the book are Jewish, and the writer is persistent 
 in his upholding of orthodoxy. (Especially Fair- 
 weather, B. G., p. 337 if. ; Hastings, iv., p. 928a ; 
 Edersheim, I., p. 32 ; Oesterley, p. 455 ; Schiirer, II., 
 iii., p. 230.) 
 
 Three features of this movement are to be noticed 
 as part of the preparation for Christianity. 
 
 (i.) The conception of Wisdom as a separate entity, 
 an emanation from the God-head, the agent, repre- 
 sentative, of the Creator ; the description of her as " a 
 breath of the power of God," God's " holy spirit," " a 
 clear efHuence of the glory of the Almighty," " an image 
 of His goodness/' " all powerful," " the sharer of God's 
 throne," " all-heaHng," " bearer of God's sword " ; — 
 this opened a way for the appreciation of distinctions in 
 the God-head, i.e. of the Holy Trinity, and of the work 
 
80 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 and mission of the Second and Third Persons in It. 
 (Fairweather, B. G., p. 342.) 
 
 (ii.) In its treatment of the problem of innocence and 
 suffering it prepared the way for the acceptance of the 
 sufferings of the Messiah, and the teaching of Christ 
 on the subject. 
 
 (iii.) The identification of Wisdom with the Law 
 raised another protecting screen under which the study, 
 preservation, and transmission of Jewish teaching were 
 made more secure and certain, especially as the subject 
 matter for the education of the young amongst the 
 Dispersion. 
 
 For the shortcomings and failure of Wisdom to 
 supply man's need, see Westcott, pp. 82, 83. 
 
 Parallel to the conception of Wisdom is that of the 
 Logos. This is a Greek word, meaning both word or 
 speech, and the thought or reason of which speech is 
 the expression. It can trace its use to both Jewish 
 and Greek sources, and was therefore a natural idea for 
 the Alexandrian thinkers to adopt and develop. 
 
 In the Old Testament it appears as the " Word of 
 Jehovah," as when the creation is ascribed to an expressed 
 command, i.e. a word, of God (Gen. 1, 2 ; and this word 
 is poetically personified in Pss. 33^, IO720, U7^5) ; and 
 when the prophets speak of the *' Word of Jehovah " 
 coming unto them in inspiration and mission. In the 
 Targums " Word " is largely used of God when He 
 reveals Himself and makes His will known. Thus it 
 is parallel also to such expressions as *' Arjgel of Jehovah," 
 
HELLENISM AND THE DISPERSION 81 
 
 *' Glory or Shekhinah of Jehovah," " Name of Jehovah," 
 which at least suggested the possibility of distinctions 
 in the God-head. 
 
 It is, again, remarkable that the same expression is 
 found in Greek philosophy, and can be traced back as 
 far as HeracHtus (b.c. 500) ; and it formed part of the 
 teaching of Plato, and especially the Stoics, and echoes 
 of it are found in Pindar and Euripides. Naturally 
 enough, it was familiar to the men of Alexandria, and 
 Philo found in it another convenient link for uniting 
 Judaism and Hellenism. 
 
 But we must be careful to remember that the Greek 
 Logos was not at all the same as the Hebrew " Word '' ; 
 it expressed rather the rational principle underlying the 
 universe, the reason and thought of the deity, by 
 which he was apprehended by human reason and 
 thought. 
 
 The language of Philo is very striking, though decep- 
 tive. He calls the Logos " image of God," " eldest son," 
 "first-born," and "only-begotten," "intercessor," 
 " high-priest," " instrument of creation," " Paraclete," 
 " king of peace " ; and it is easy to see how much his 
 teaching may have influenced St. John and the writer 
 of Hebrews (especially first chapter of both ; also Col. i. ; 
 of. Sir. 4326) ; his influence on the early Church also was 
 very great. But the Logos of Philo, again, is not the 
 " Word " of St. John, and the resemblance is mainly 
 verbal ; and although in this Alexandrian thought un- 
 doubtedly paved the way, the Christian idea of the 
 Logos was a distinct and differing development from it. 
 
 In Philo it is difficult to know just what he does 
 
82 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 mean ; for at one time the Logos is personified, at another 
 it is merely an aspect of God's power at work in the 
 world. Moreover, to Philo, God could be known more 
 clearly by intuition and mystic ecstasy than through 
 the Logos ; and he has no room in his scheme of things 
 for an Incarnation or a Redeemer. (Westcott, pp. 80, 
 151 ; Edersheim, I,, pp. 46, 49, 56 ; Fairweather, 
 B. G., p. 350 ff. ; Estlin Carpenter, '' Comparat. ReL," 
 p. 47 ; Oesterley, p. 61 ; Schiirer, II., iii., p. 363 fE.) 
 
 Gathering up the threads of what has gone before, 
 we may say that the Dispersion and the Hellenic influence 
 generally had an undoubted, and powerful, and in- 
 valuable effect on Jewish thought, in weaning it from 
 a narrow nationalism to a true Catholicism, and a 
 Catholicism of thought and idea as well as of rehgious 
 ideals ; all men had their knowledge of God, if limited, 
 if perverted ; and while God's blessings were for all 
 men ahke, so had all races something to contribute to 
 the knowledge and spiritual welfare of the whole. (Cf. 
 Rev. 2124 ; Fairweather, B. G., p. 315 ff.) 
 
 Particularly was this the case at iVlexandria, now 
 the centre of civilisation and culture, where met together 
 the three forces of Greek thought. Eastern mysticism, 
 and Jewish rehgion. There the Jews received ideas of 
 freedom, which softened their unduly rigid and legahstic 
 and conservative spirit ; and of philosophy and specula- 
 tion, which opened out new avenues of thought beyond 
 the simple record of the dealings of Jehovah with His 
 people and the Decalogue ; there the religion of humanity 
 and toleration and sympathy for all overcame the 
 
HELLENISM AND THE DISPERSION 83 
 
 narrow barriers of race which underlay traditional 
 Judaism. 
 
 The use of the Greek language, of Greek names and 
 habits and dress ; the study of Greek literature, attend- 
 ance in the schools of Greek philosophers, became the 
 normal practice for the keener intellects among the 
 Alexandrian Jews, and even in Palestine, especially 
 under the stimulus of Antiochus Epiphanes (see above, 
 pp. 51, 66). The Jews in Asia Minor would catch the pre- 
 vaihng infection ; and, while adhering stubbornly to 
 the faith of their fathers, they unconsciously shed some 
 of its more uncompromising features, and became more 
 cosmopolitan, more tolerant and sympathetic, more 
 cathoHc. And while giving to the Greek a reHgious 
 conception of the world, they received from him the 
 thoughts and the words necessary to give it scientific 
 expression. (Oesterley, " Books of the Apocrypha," 
 chaps, i.-iv. ; Schiirer, IL, i., p. 1 ff.) 
 
 Traces of the influence of Greek manners and Jewish 
 life may be found in the Apocrypha. Thus Sir. 9^ 
 warns his readers against the company of professional 
 singers ; and in 32^ if. alludes to banquets with musical 
 accompaniments, and compares them to gems and 
 jewels ; in 3827 he mentions engravers of signets, and in 
 38 ^~s we have the famous praise of physicians. The 
 " Book of Wisdom " bears many traces of Greek influence, 
 and is a fine example of Hellenistic literature. (Fair- 
 weather, B. G., p. 337.) 
 
 And in the New Testament we have a mention of the 
 " Grecian Jews " whose widows were neglected in the 
 daily distribution of food (Acts 6^ f!.) ; and the story of 
 
84 THE CBADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 St. Stephen's martyrdom illustrates the liberal tendencies 
 of Hellenistic Judaism, and its divergence from the 
 orthodoxy of the Rabbis. 
 
 This tendency was also fostered by the Synagogue 
 system (see p. 104), a natural growth when worship 
 at the Temple of Jerusalem was no longer possible ; 
 for a place of worship was thus available for a Jew 
 wherever he might go, and his religion was thus not 
 tied down to any one time or place (contrast Deut. 
 ]2-"'^ etc.); and also by the admission, if grudging, of 
 proselytes into the Jewish community, by which non- 
 Jews were granted, nominally, at all events, the same 
 privileges as the seed of Abraham. (Fairweather, 
 E. A., pp. 90, 95, 110; Fairweather, B. G., p. 
 26 n.) 
 
 And this widening tendency was accompanied also 
 by a spiritualising of ideals. The Exile, and then the 
 Diaspora, weakened the national and material ideal ; 
 the loss of their familiar symbols of religion, the Ark, the 
 Temple, and the Temple worship ; the growth of a 
 simpler, less material worship in the synagogues, deepened 
 the spiritual instinct. The teaching uttered by Ezekiel 
 in Chaldea became fruitful in a truer conception of the 
 inwardness of religion, and Persian influences en- 
 couraged their detachment from earthly notions ; perse- 
 cution and suffering quickened their sense of the power 
 of prayer, and turned their hopes to a new age, a new 
 sphere of existence, a new heaven and earth, where the 
 inequalities and limitations of this earth should be 
 removed and set right ; the mingling among the nations 
 changed the dividing line from between Jew and Gentile 
 
HELLENISM AND THE DISPERSION 85 
 
 to between godly and ungodly ; an ethical test took the 
 place of national. (Westcott, pp. 54, 57 ; Fairweather, 
 E. A., pp. 15, 29, 57.) 
 
 With the change from national to spiritual ideals 
 came the spiritualised form of the old teaching about 
 a people of God, so that the ideal became that of a 
 theocracy, a Divine, spiritual kingdom ; a stepping-stone 
 to that of the Christian Ecclesia or Church, a Idngdom 
 " in the world though not of the world," whose ruler 
 was God Himself. (Fairweather, B. G., p. 21 ff. ; 
 Jos., C. Apion, 2. 17.) 
 
 Finally, the break-up of the nation, and life in alien 
 countries brought to the front the importance of the 
 individual, Jeremiah had asserted that the essence 
 of true religion lay in personal communion with God, 
 and Ezekiel had grandly upheld the truth of personal 
 responsibility ; in Egypt, Chaldea, and Greece were 
 found habits and institutions all based upon the same 
 truth, such as the consultation of priests, and astrologers, 
 the study of philosophy, and the formation of select 
 guilds and societies ; and in the Psalms we have some 
 of probably the highest expressions of personal devotion 
 known to man, the fruit of Jewish experience under the 
 hand of God's discipline. 
 
 Moreover, Greek institutions and principles of 
 government were based largely upon the conception 
 of the rights of the individual ; and this gave to the 
 Jews a fresh notion of the human personality together 
 with the opportunity for developing its powers and 
 privileges. They came to realise that the community 
 comes to its best and fullest with the full and free 
 
86 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 development of the members wlio compose it, and that 
 each member, be he member of the state, t.e. citizen, 
 or of a religious body, has both rights to exercise 
 and responsibilities to bear, as well as privileges to 
 enjoy. (Jer. 4^, I710, 3129, 33 ff.^ 3240 ; Ezek., especially 
 chap. 33 ; Fairweather, B. G., p. 30 ^. ; Oesterley, 
 pp. 18, 31.) 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE 
 
 (7 have not quoted in full here from the Old Testament 
 or New Testament, as they can he easilij referred to, and 
 in order to save space.) 
 
 Allusion has been made to the closing and formation 
 of the Canon, and the beginnings of the study and inter- 
 pretation of the Law made under Ezra, and the growth 
 of the order of Scribes, who made it their business to 
 interpret and apply the Scriptures. They could do 
 much for the guidance of the people, especially towards 
 forming regular habits of life and rules of religious 
 exercise. But more was wanted. The order of Prophets 
 had ceased, and a living voice was wanted ; there was 
 " a famine of hearing the words of the Lord " ; "we 
 see not our signs ; there is no more any prophet ; neither 
 is there among us any that knoweth how long." (Ps. 
 74^.) The teaching of the Scribes tended rather to 
 negative conclusions ; it was timid and narrowing ; 
 it could not inspire and guide, and master changing 
 circumstances and present-day problems ; it was 
 academic and grandmotherly, bred of the cloister and 
 not of the battlefield of life. 
 
88 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Particularly in the times of oppression, as in the days 
 of Antiochus Epiphanes, and under Roman dominion, 
 and when the country was torn by civil war and faction, 
 the question was always being asked, " WTiere are the 
 ancient promises," " AVhy does God delay His venge- 
 ance," " How long are the righteous to suffer " ? And 
 in answer the Scribes would turn to the ancient prophets, 
 where they found plenty of idealised visions of a bright 
 and triumphant future as yet unfulfilled. These they 
 allegorised, and by a free use of their material con- 
 structed a forecast of what the faithful were to expect. 
 
 Thus to a certain extent they supplied the need of 
 the times ; but something free and more vigorous was 
 wanted, and the bolder spirits and the more lofty 
 religious genius of the nation evolved it ; and from this 
 allegorising and symbolising tendency sprang the 
 apocalyptic movement, which satisfied the highest 
 aspirations, and exercised a widespread influence. 
 
 The word " apocalypse " means a reveahng, an un- 
 veiling, and the apocalyptic writings purport to be a 
 Divine revelation of the Divine plan, and of the events 
 of the future. Apocalypse was the legitimate successor 
 of prophecy, as the instructor of the people, and the 
 development of certain tendencies already evident in the 
 Old Testament. (Westcott, p. 73 note.) And its authors 
 claimed the authority of the great prophets, and the 
 various writings were issued in their names, a literary 
 device indefensible to our modern ideas, but not sug- 
 gesting to them any dishonesty ; rather it was meritorious 
 to support your own deepest convictions by the use of a 
 great name, than risk their failure to comfort and 
 
THE APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE 89 
 
 encourage at a time when no one teacher could claim to 
 be a leader and prophet. And the authors cared not so 
 much for their own names and reputations, as for the 
 truths that they felt bound to utter for the good of their 
 fellows. These truths are also often the development of 
 Old Testament teaching, hence some right to claim 
 support of a great prophet's name. 
 
 In the Apocalypse the freest rein is given to the imagi- 
 nation, and the teaching conveyed in parables, symbols, 
 and visions ; these were rendered necessary often by 
 the fact that oppressors and great people could not be 
 mentioned safely by name ; and they appealed to the 
 oriental love of imagery. The object of the writings is 
 to console those who are suffering in hard times, both as 
 a nation and as individuals ; to encourage bright hopes 
 of the future ; and to strengthen faith in God's power 
 and goodness. (" Tracts for bad times.") Certain 
 definite ideas and conceptions appear, of the form which 
 events will take in the future, and the deliverance 
 come. The writings are to be ascribed to no one 
 particular party or sect, but are more likely the fruit 
 of a spontaneous outburst of popular religious feeling ; 
 they are essentially popular in form and manner. 
 
 Traces of this movement are found, as has been 
 said, in the Old Testament, most noticeably in the Book 
 of Daniel. See especially c. 7 ff. ; Zech. 14 ; Joel. 2^~^^, 
 22-31 ; Isa. 24. 
 
 This tendency to speak in visions and to announce an 
 idealised future had been strongly encouraged by 
 Ezekiel and the Second Isaiah ; and when national events 
 
90 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 rendered the restoration of the Davidic kingdom and 
 material welfare less and less likely, this was indeed the 
 only form that the hope could take. Consequently, in 
 the extra-canonical apocalyptic writings we notice these 
 important changes from the teaching of the prophets, 
 that the ideal is no longer to be realised in this world ; 
 that it includes all nations and peoples and not Israel 
 alone ; the judgment will proceed also on moral lines, 
 not only on the question of nationality. The oppressions 
 at the hands of the heathen, however, had been so 
 severe that the Gentiles are almost invariably doomed 
 to damnation ; one misses the sympathetic references 
 to them of 2 Isaiah ; and the philosophy of history 
 evoked by the wider conception of the Divine supremacy 
 took the form of a determinism, in which the whole 
 course of human history was considered as fore- ordained 
 and mapped out, and its progress merely a matter of 
 time, rather than of human co-operation. 
 
 Let us now look at one or two typical passages of 
 these writings, so popular and so influential in the 
 two centuries B.C., and reflected so much in part of 
 our Lord's teaching, and other parts of the New 
 Testament. 
 
 Enoch 13 ff. : (second century B.C.). 
 The Holy Great One will come forth from His 
 
 dwelling, 
 And the Eternal God will tread upon the earth, 
 
 even on Mount Sinai, 
 And appear in the strength of His might from the 
 
 heaven of heavens. 
 
THE APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE 91 
 
 And all shall be smitten with fear, 
 And the Watchers shall quake, 
 
 And great fear and trembling shall seize them unto the 
 ends of the earth. 
 
 And the high mountains shall be shaken, 
 And the high hills shall be made low. 
 And shall melt like wax before the flame. 
 
 And the earth shall be wholly rent in sunder, 
 And all that is upon the earth shall perish, 
 And there shall be a judgment upon all men. 
 
 But with the righteous He will make peace, 
 
 And will protect the elect, 
 
 And mercy shall be upon them. ^ 
 
 And they shall all belong to God, 
 And they shall be prospered, 
 And they shall all be blessed. 
 
 And He will help them all. 
 
 And light shall appear unto them. 
 
 And He will make peace with them. 
 
 And behold ! He cometh with ten thousands of His 
 
 holy ones (cf . Jude i^) 
 To execute judgment upon all. 
 And to destroy all the ungodly : 
 
92 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Aiid to convict all flesh 
 
 Of all the works of their ungodliness which they have 
 
 ungodly committed, 
 And of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have 
 
 spoken against Him." 
 
 625 fp. 
 " And one portion of them shall look on the other, 
 And they shall be terrified, 
 And they shall be downcast of countenance, 
 And pain shall seize them, 
 When they see that Son of Man 
 Sitting on the throne of His glory. 
 
 • ••••• 
 
 And He will deliver them to the angels for punishment, 
 To execute vengeance on them because they have 
 
 oppressed His children and His elect. 
 And they shall be a spectacle for the righteous and for 
 
 His elect : (cf. Cor. 4^) 
 They shall rejoice over them, 
 Because the wrath of the Lord of Spirits resteth upon 
 
 them, 
 And His sword is drunk with their blood. 
 
 And the righteous and elect shall be saved on that 
 
 day, 
 And they shall never thenceforward see the face of the 
 
 sinners and unrighteous. 
 
 And the Lord of Spirits will abide over them, 
 And with that Son of Man shall they eat. 
 And lie down and rise up for ever and ever.'! 
 
THE APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE 93 
 
 9028 ff. (A vision of the new Jerusalem, the conversion 
 and submission of the Gentiles, and the Messiah.) 
 
 " And I saw till the Lord of the sheep brought a new 
 house greater and loftier than that first, and set it up in 
 the place of the first which had been folded up : all its 
 pillars were new, and its ornaments were new and larger 
 than those of the first. . . . 
 
 " And I saw all the sheep which had been left, and 
 all the beasts on the earth, and all the birds of the 
 heaven, falling down and doing homage to those sheep 
 and making petition to and obeying them in every 
 thing. . . . 
 
 " And I saw that a white bull was born, with larse 
 horns, and all the beasts of the field and all the birds of 
 the air feared him and made petition to him all the 
 time." 
 
 Here is a passage from the Sibylline Oracles, 3^^^ fF. 
 (second century B.C.) : 
 
 " He will raise up His kingdom for all ages over men, 
 He who once gave a holy law to godly men, to all of 
 whom He promised to open out the earth and the world 
 and the portals of the blessed and all joys and everlasting 
 sense and eternal gladness. . . . 
 
 . . . When swords in the star-Ht heaven appear by 
 night towards dusk and towards dawn, and straightway 
 dust is carried from heaven to earth, and all the brightness 
 of the sun fails at midday from the heavens, and the 
 moon's rays shine forth and come back to earth, and a 
 sign comes from the rocks with dripping streams of 
 blood : and in a cloud ye shall see a battle of foot and 
 
94 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 horse, as a hunt of wild beasts, like unto misty clouds. 
 This is the consummation of war which God, Whose 
 dwelling is in heaven, is bringing to pass. 
 
 Cf. Sibyll. 4130 ff., " When a firebrand starting from 
 a deep cavern in the land of Italy shall reach the broad 
 heaven, and burn many a city and consume its men, 
 and clouds of sooty ashes beset the great heaven, and 
 grains fall from the sky like red earth, then recognise 
 the wrath of the God of heaven." (Refers to eruption 
 of Vesuvius.) Also 3^1 if., is^ ff., 669 f^., 796 fi.^ 4175^ 
 
 5342 if., 512. 
 
 Ass. Moses 10^ if. : 
 And the earth shall tremble : to its confines shall it be 
 
 shaken : 
 And the high mountains shall be made low 
 And the hills shall be shaken and fall. 
 And the horns of the sun shall be broken and he 
 
 shall be turned into darkness ; 
 And the moon shall not give her light, and be turned 
 
 wholly into blood. 
 And the circle of the stars shall be disturbed. 
 And the sea shall retire into the abyss, 
 And the fountains of waters shall fail. 
 And the rivers shall dry up." 
 
 Cf. also Enoch 946 ; 2 Bar. 27, 4831 ff., 702 fi. ; 
 4 Ezra 5, 1317, 9^, 620, 863 ; Apoc. Noah 80^ ; Jub. 23^2 
 fi., 3610 ; 2 Mace. 52. 
 
 Cf. also 4 Ezra 726, n^ 12, 13 (Apocrypha) ; T. 
 Jos. 19 ; Ass. Moses (first century a.d.) 10 ; 2 Baruch 
 (first, century a.d.) 39. 
 
THE APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE 95 
 
 Let us now summarise and illustrate some of the 
 leading ideas in these apocalyptic writings, and it will 
 be evident at once how they are both a development 
 of Old Testament thought, and the source of much in 
 the New. 
 
 In the first place notice that the writers have a 
 much wider and more detached view of things than those 
 of earlier days. Their dealings with and successive 
 subjection to the great world-powers taught them to 
 view history broadly and comprehensively ; it was now 
 something far grander and more complicated than the 
 jealous care of a tribal deity for his chosen people. 
 Their sufferings in this world made them despair utterly 
 of it, and made them look to an " age to come," which 
 should be as happy and as essentially good, as '' this 
 world " was hopeless and essentially evil. 
 
 Compare, e.g., 4 Ezra i-^, " The world haste th 
 fast to pass away. For it is not able to bear the 
 things that are promised to the righteous in the 
 times to come ; for this world is full of sadness and 
 infirmities." 
 
 S-'^^ : " Unto you is paradise opened, the tree of life 
 is planted, the time to come is prepared, plenteous- 
 ness is made ready, a city is builded, rest is allowed, 
 goodness is perfected, wisdom being perfect aforehand. 
 The root of evil is sealed up from you, weakness is 
 done away from you, and death is hidden ; hell and 
 corruption are fled into forgetfulness : sorrows are 
 passed away, and in the end is shown the treasure of 
 immortality.'' 
 
96 THE CEADLE OF CHEISTIANITY 
 
 In the New Testament we have mention of the 
 *' Children of this world " (Lk. 20^4) ; those who have 
 left all for Christ's sake and the gospel's, are to receive 
 much more in this world, and in the world to come 
 eternal life (Lk. IS^O). St. Paul says that " the fashion 
 of this world passeth away " (1 Cor. 73^) ; 2 Pet. 3io 
 describes the destruction of it ; and St. John habitually 
 contrasts the " world " with the kingdom of God. 
 
 History not only embraced the whole earth ; and 
 man's destiny, and in particular that of the chosen 
 people, was not only limited to this life ; but there 
 were other powers at work besides God Himself. Under 
 Persian influence had grown up a wide belief in the 
 existence of angels and spirits, both good and bad ; 
 some of these had their due mission and place in the 
 order of the universe ; cf. the angels of the winds, 
 clouds, darkness, hail, frost, fire, the seasons, day and 
 night, etc. (Jub. 2^, cf. Ps. 104.) Others had higher 
 rank, such as the Angel of Jehovah (Old Testament), 
 the Angel of the Presence (Isa. 63^ ; Jub. 2^) ; and the 
 angels who spoke with the seers of the apocalyptic 
 visions, many of whom are named, e.g. Raphael, Uriel, 
 Gabriel, Michael, etc. National guardian angels (Dan. 
 1013, 20) are also alluded to. 
 
 But there were evil angels as well, who had rebelled 
 against the Most High, and had lost their places in the 
 heavenly order. To them was ascribed the origin of 
 evil in the world, and so this world became the natural 
 sphere for their evil energies, and therefore hopeless 
 and worthless for man. In Enoch 69^ their chiefs are 
 
THE APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE 97 
 
 mentioned, and their leader is Azazel, identified with 
 Beliar and Satan (Lev. 16^). Thus grows up the idea 
 of a personal devil, who makes it his business to perse- 
 cute and to tempt the Saints of the Most High. (Dan. 
 10^3 ) iji the Old Testament Satan is a kind of informer, 
 who accuses men to God (see Job 1^ ; Zech. 3^ ; Rev. 
 12^°) ; here he is God's rival and opponent. 
 
 Consequently there grew up what is known as a 
 dualistic idea of the world, which represents it as the 
 battlefield of two contending forces, good and evil, 
 neither for the present able to subdue the other, but 
 each force predominating in turn. The material 
 conception had given place to the spiritual, the natural 
 to the supernatural. The conflict is already noticed 
 in the Old Testament, and the victory ultimately 
 assured to God and His Saints. (Cf. Dan. 10^^^ 
 
 718^ 27 \ 
 
 The idea grew and developed largely under Persian 
 influence, in whose theology the two powers of good and 
 evil, light and darkness, Ormazd and Ahriman, with 
 the final victory of good over evil, held a leading place. 
 And it finds ample expression in apocalyptic writings. 
 
 T. Zeb. 9^, " redeem all the captivity of the sons of 
 men from Beliar." (Cf. T. Dan. 5i^.) 
 
 Jub. 2329, " No Satan nor any evil destroyer." 
 
 Enoch 54^, " Michael and Gabriel and Raphael and 
 Phanuel shall take hold of them on that day, and cast 
 them on that day into the burning furnace, that the 
 Lord of Spirits may take vengeance on them for their 
 unrighteousness in becoming subject to Satan and 
 leading astray those who dwell on the earth " (i.e. 
 
 G 
 
98 THE CKADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 the hosts of Azazel). (T. Dau. 36, 5^ ff., 6^ ; T. Gad. 4^ ; 
 T. Asher 6* ; Ass. Mos. lO^.) 
 
 Mart. Isa. 2^, " The angel of lawlessness, who is the 
 ruler of this world, is Beliar." (T. Levi. I812. Fair- 
 weather, B. G., pp. 48, 266, 271, 282, 295 ; Oesterley, 
 M. I., ch. 13.) 
 
 The influence of this strain of thought on the New 
 Testament is evident at once from our Lord's words 
 about the devil and his angels, Satan and his kingdom, 
 Satan falling from heaven as lightning, the casting out 
 of the prince of this world (Lk. ll^o, IQis ; Jn. 12^i). 
 St. John's gospel is largely coloured by this duahsm ; 
 the Revelation, especially ch. 13, naturally has many 
 affinities with Jewish apocalypse, and St. Paul's words 
 in 2 Thess. 2, of the Antichrist all derive from this 
 source. (Cf. Eph. 22, 612.) 
 
 The final conflict and victory are described as " the 
 Day of Jehovah," "that day," "the last days," a phrase 
 found in the Old Testament. (Cf. Amos 51^ ; Isa. 2-4 ; 
 Joel 2; Jer. 46^0; Zeph. V, ^^ ; Zech. 123, 13\ 14^; 
 Mai. 45.) 
 
 In the Old Testament this is synonymous with the 
 Messianic or Golden age, the day of vengeance on 
 Israel's enemies and of unlimited prosperity. In 
 apocalypse it covers the same idea, with all the varying 
 developments of it. 
 
 Cf. Enoch 10^2^ " the day of their judgment and of 
 their consummation." (16\ 22^, i3^ 973^ loo^.) 
 
THE APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE 99 
 
 AVisd. 318, '' day of decision.'^ 
 (Oesterley, L. T., pp. 12, 20 ; Oesterley, M. I., chaps. 
 11, 12, 16.) 
 
 This day is regarded variously as distant or im- 
 minent ; sometimes the times are so unfavourable that 
 much patience is counselled until the divine purposes 
 shall ripen, and the power of evil shall have spent 
 itself ; sometimes things are so bad that the writers 
 feel that the end cannot be far off. (Cf . Isa. 26^0 ; Dan. 
 725^ 124, 6^ T, i!.) 
 
 Some writers hold that the order of all things is 
 predetermined and flxed, and the whole course of history 
 is mapped out by them into periods. (4 Ezra 4^6 (note) ; 
 Ezek. 46 ; Dan 924, Ipo, 127, n, 92 . Enoch 90^, ^ 
 93, 9112-17 (10 weeks) ; Sibyll. 4^7, 3 (generations) ; 
 2 Baruch 21\ 53 (12 clouds) ; 4 Ezra 730, 43^ 1411 (12 
 periods) ; T. Levi 17 ^^ (7 weeks) ; Ass. Mos. 10^2 (world 
 lasts 4250 years) ; Enoch (world lasts 10,000 years) ; 
 Enoch, Slavonic (world lasts 7000 years).) 
 
 For this compare Rev. 5 (7 seals), 20^ ; Mt. 24^0 ; 
 Mk. 1332 ; 1 Cor. 1523 ft, ; 2 Thess. 23 ; 4 Ezra 1139, 44, 
 1411. (Cf., too, Rom. 1311, 1 and 2 Thess ; Lk. I911 ; Mk. 
 1332, 91 ; Mt. 1628, 2434, 1023 ; 2 Tim. 48, I12, I8 ; 1 Cor. 
 313.) (Fairweather, B. G., p. 296 if.) 
 
 The end, the day of Jehovah, the coming of the 
 Messiah, is to be preceded by signs and wonders, and above 
 all by great suffering and tribulation. This is found in the 
 Old Testament : e.g. Amos 516-I8, 20 ; iga. 136 ff., 243 fp.^ 
 19, 23 ; Zeph. 114 ; Joel 21 ff., 230, 315 ; Dan. 12i. 
 
100 THE CRADLE OF CHBISTIANITY 
 
 For parallels to this in New Testament : cf. x\cts 2^' ; 
 Mt. 243-31 ; 2 Pet. 38 ff. (Fairweather, B. G., p. 
 267 ; Hastings, i., p. 748a ; E. Bibl. 1348, 1350 ff. ; 
 Oesterley, L. T., pp. 14, 77.) 
 
 WTien the end comes it will include a vast summoning 
 of the nations of the world, for the purpose of worshipping 
 and serving Jehovah, or of being punished and destroyed, 
 according to the varying ideas of the writers. Some, like 
 2 Isaiah, looked forward to their sharing in the great 
 Kingdom ; others like the writer of Isaiah 63^, antici- 
 pated their destruction, without which the blessings to 
 Israel could not be realised. (Cf. pro-Gentile ; Isa. 2^, 
 (Mic. 41), 1112, 6618 ; Zech. 2io ; anti-Gentile ; Isa. 13, 
 34 ; Zeph. 3^ ; Hag. 23i.) 
 
 T. Asher 73, " The Most High . . . shall save Israel 
 and all the Gentiles." 
 
 T. Levi 44, " The Lord shall visit all the Gentiles in 
 His tender mercies for ever." 
 
 T. Levi 189, '^ xhe Gentiles shall be multiplied in 
 knowledge upon the earth, and enlightened through the 
 grace of the Lord." (Cf. Enoch 502, 9030, 1021.) 
 
 Jub. 2324, " The sinners, the Gentiles." 
 
 Jub. 2330, " They shall . . . drive out their adversaries 
 . . . and shall see all their judgments and all their curses 
 on their enemies." 
 
 Ass. Moses 10^, " The Most High . . . will appear to 
 punish the Gentiles." (Cf. 2 Bar. 722 g. ; Enoch 37-70 ; 
 4 Ezra 736, 13.) 
 
 Of this, again, are echoes found in the New Testament. 
 Thus the world-kingdom finds its place in the Temptation 
 of Christ ; and while national ideals have given place to 
 
THE APOCALYPTIC LITERATUKE 101 
 
 ethical, the destruction of the ungodly is clearly laid 
 down in 2 Thess. 1^. (Oesterley, L. T., 49, 106.) 
 
 God Himself is to be revealed " at that time," though 
 in the later books in the person of His Messiah. (Amos 
 517; Isa. 2423, 6615; Mai. S^ ; Mic. 13; Zeph. 38; 
 Zech. 213 ; Enoch 13, 22 {see p. 52 fi).) 
 
 He is to be revealed from Heaven with His heavenly 
 hosts: Deut. 332; Dan. T^O; Enoch P ; Mt. 26^3; 
 2 Thess. V; Jude 14; 1 Thess. 4^, 3i3 ; Mk. 838; 
 Mt. 1341. 
 
 In clouds : Isa. 19^ ; Ps. IS^o ; Dan. 7^3 ; 4 Ezra 
 133. Mt. 2664; 1 Thess. 4^7 ; Acts P. (Fairweather, 
 B. G., p. 296.) 
 
 And glory : Enoch 453 and note. 
 
 There is to be a great conflict : (cf . p. 97, supra) ; Ezek. 
 3814-3916 ; Zech. Mi-n ; T. Dan. 510 ; T. Reub. 612. 
 
 And a judgment ; {see p. 57. Fairweather, B. 
 G., 272, 287, 293, 276; Hastings, i., p. 749a; 
 E. Bibl. 1356 ff., 1343; Oesterley, L. T., 23, 28, 
 86, 97.) 
 
 Great prosperity and blessings will follow {see p. 62 ; 
 Oesterley, L. T., p. 101). 
 
 The scene is a new heaven and a new earth {see p. 63). 
 
 Echoes of these ideas are found in the New Testament ; 
 conflict : 2 Thess. 28 ; Rev. 12^, 19l^ 208. 
 
 Judgment : Jude 14 ; 2 Thess. 18 ; Jn. I6I1, 1231, 52? ; 
 Mt. 2531, 1928, 189 . 1 Cor. 313, 45 ; Lk. 2230. 
 
 Prosperity ; 2 Thess. 1^ ; Rev. 214, 22 ; Mt. 1929, 
 1343. 
 
 New heaven and earth : Rev. 21, 22 ; 2 Pet. 3. 
 
 These ideas have been beautifully and grandly used 
 
102 THE CRADLE OF CHEISTIANITY 
 
 and worked up by Milton in " Paradise Lost," and 
 *' Paradise Regained." 
 
 Notice also the individual aspect of the " last times," 
 i.e. that personal as well as collective retribution or 
 reward is promised ; and with this the belief in a resur- 
 rection from the dead and a personal immortality. 
 
 See p. 83 ; and cf. Enoch 104^, " your names 
 are written before the glory of the Great One " ; 2 Ezra 
 7^0^, " then every one shall bear his own righteousness 
 or imrighteousness." 
 
 All this is a clear preparation for the teaching of 
 Christ, although it varies much in character and scope. 
 Thus some books assure a resurrection only to the 
 nation, and deny it to the Gentiles ; some to the good 
 only, not to the wicked. But whatever the details, 
 the idea was clearly taught, and was ready to receive 
 the fuller revelation made by Christ, and the teaching 
 of the New Testament. (Jn. 1124, 529, q^o^ 54 ; i Cor. 
 15 ; 1 Thess. 4i3.) 
 
 Summing up the foregoing remarks, we may say that 
 apocalypse certainly paved the way for Christ by its 
 idealism, its stubborn faith in the goodness and power 
 of God and the righteous ordering of the world. It 
 kept hope alive, under the most hopeless of circumstances, 
 and continually directed the eyes of the people forward 
 and upward. It maintained that God had a definite 
 purpose for the world, and that this purpose was being 
 worked out, even if slowly, even if events seemed to 
 contradict and disprove it ; and that good would 
 ultimately prevail. 
 
THE APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE 103 
 
 And it widened the conception of the Messianic 
 hope ; to a certain extent set it free from the trammels 
 of nationalism (though events were always tending to 
 narrow it down again) ; induced a more catholic atmo- 
 sphere ; and encouraged the growth of a fuller belief in 
 the supernatural and spiritual world. 
 
 It also helped the development of the belief in a 
 future Hfe, in personal responsibility, in a judgment and 
 retribution. It provided Christ with at least one 
 definite title, Son of Man. It contributed a suggestion 
 to the solution of the problem of the presence of evil in 
 the world, a hypothesis which is still both acceptable 
 and workable. And even if these conceptions needed 
 the purification and correction and closer definition 
 that they received from the hands of Jesus Christ, their 
 contribution to the religious beliefs of the world is not 
 to be despised. (Especially Fairweather, B. G., Ch. 6, 
 7 ; Hastings, i., 108 ff., 742 if. ; Ocsterley, pp. 90 ff., 
 198.) 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE SYNAGOGUE — SECTS AND PARTIES 
 
 The Synagogue, to the influence of which allusion 
 has already been made, was a very ancient institution, 
 dating from and a necessity of the period subsequent 
 to the Captivity. AVhen resident in a foreign land, and 
 with the Temple in ruins, the Jews would feel more 
 than ever the need of worship and of a rallying point in 
 the sphere of rehgion. Amid the sights and examples 
 of heathenism, they would cling still more closely to 
 their Divine Law. And there naturally grew up the 
 practice of holding meetings for common worship and 
 instruction, and these in time developed into the 
 Synagogue (the word is Greek for " meeting " or " con- 
 gregation " ; cf. " the Tent of meeting " (Exod. 33^, 
 R.V.). It is possible that these are alluded to in 
 Ps. 74^ ; and wherever Jews lived, in or out of Palestine, 
 there we may be sure that a Synagogue was soon 
 established. The Hellenist Jew of the Dispersion could 
 only hope for a visit to the Temple once or twice in 
 a lifetime, and the peasants of Palestine would only 
 go for the great feasts. So for both the Synagogue 
 provided for the needs of everyday life, and kept ahve 
 the fire of religion. Every village of any size had its 
 
THE SYNAGOGUE-SECTS AND PARTIES 105 
 
 Synagogue, with its regular procedure and ministry ; 
 and in the large towns there would be several, some 
 being owned by large families, like private chapels, 
 and some by trade-guilds. Some were owned by 
 Hellenists (Acts 6^), and these would therefore be of 
 more hberal tendencies. 
 
 In structure they somewhat resembled the Temple, 
 and were orientated so that the congregation faced 
 towards Jerusalem as they worshipped (cf. 1 Kings 
 829-38 ; Ps. 5^, 1382 ; Dan. 6io ; Jonah 2*). At the 
 end nearest Jerusalem was an ark or chest containing 
 the sacred books, and in front of it a curtain, like the 
 Veil of the Temple. Between the curtain and the 
 congregation was a platform, and round it the '' chief 
 seats," like the " set fawr " in a Welsh chapel, coveted 
 by the Scribes, elders, and the vulgar rich, and reserved 
 also for the officials (Mt. 23^ ; Jas. 22 ; and cf. Ps. 
 107^2). On the platform was a seat for the reader or 
 preacher, and a desk for the books. The congregation 
 occupied the rest of the building, the sexes being 
 separated. 
 
 The Sabbath service consisted of the recitation of the 
 Shema (i.e. Deut. 6^-9, 1113-21 ; Num. 1537-41), answer- 
 ing somewhat to our Creed. This was followed by 
 prayer, said by the leader alone, the congregation 
 standing and saying " Amen " at the close. This 
 prayer was part of a regular Liturgy, and may be read 
 in Edersheim, I., p. 439. Other prayers were added 
 at discretion, both written and extempore. Then came 
 the reading of the Law, with its interpretation. The 
 Chazzan (i.e. " Minister," Lk. 420), corresponding to 
 
106 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 our Parish Clerk or Sexton, brought a roll out of the 
 chest, and various members of the congregation were 
 summoned to read. There was a prescribed Lectionary, 
 and a lesson from the Prophets followed that from the 
 Law (Lk. 1629; Acts l^^^, 1521); and the Hebrew 
 original was then translated, and sometimes para- 
 phrased, into Aramaic by the Methurgeman or Inter- 
 preter. This translation and paraphrasing is alluded 
 to in Neh. 8^, and later it developed into the Targum. 
 After the reading came a Sermon, delivered by a Scribe, 
 or some other male member of the congregation held 
 to be competent. (Cf. Lk. 4i6 f!. ; Acts 13i5.) Ques- 
 tions were sometimes asked, and objections raised, and 
 answered ; and the giving of a blessing concluded the 
 service. Preaching, it may be added, was highly 
 thought of. 
 
 The management of the Synagogue was essentially 
 democratic, and the ministers officiated by leave of 
 the " rulers of the Synagogue " (Lk. 1314 ; Acts 1313 
 — Jairus was one of these, Mk. 522), ^ kind of Church 
 Council : ordination was not essential. The rulers also 
 had charge of the Synagogue business generally , and 
 of the discipline of their flock. In fact, we have a close 
 parallel to the Jewish Synagogue in the modern Non- 
 conformist Chapel. (Also in the Telugu village chapel. 
 See " East and West," April, 1915, pp. 211, 212.") 
 
 It is clear how wonderfully adapted was this institu- 
 tion to the Jewish needs. It was so elastic, and so 
 freed from the restrictions of central authority, that 
 worship and instruction were possible under all circum- 
 stances. To it was undoubtedly due the persistence 
 
THE SYNAGOGUE-SECTS AND PARTIES 107 
 
 of Judaism and the preservation of religion ; it ensured 
 that every Jew was instructed in his nation's history 
 and ideals, and brought at some time or other within 
 the influence of spiritual things. As Philo points out 
 (V. Mosis, 3. 27), *' Our houses of prayer in the several 
 towns are none other than institutions for teaching 
 prudence and bravery, self-control and justice, piety 
 and holiness, and every virtue which the human and 
 the Divine recognise and enjoin." (Cf. Jos., C. Apion, 
 2. 18, 19, quoted above, p. 38.) 
 
 But the influence of the Synagogue went further 
 yet ; it is still at work. For the Christian Church and 
 Church Service are merely adaptations of it ; in its 
 architectural arrangement (partly), in its use of prayers, 
 lections, preaching, and in its organisation and ministry, 
 the modern Parish Church is a lineal descendant of the 
 Synagogue. And this fact is due in turn to its work 
 of preparing the minds and the hearts of the Jews, by 
 instructing them in the Prophets and pointing them 
 to the Messiah, and kindling in them the never-dying 
 hope which is so remarkable a feature of their creed. 
 It encouraged a truly spiritual form of reHgion. The 
 approach to God was not conditioned by priest and 
 victim and Temple. Each faithful soul might find Him 
 at all times and in all places in prayer ; laymen as well 
 as clerics might instruct their fellows and lead their 
 worship. 
 
 Piety, therefore, of the elementary kind, and inde- 
 pendence of institutional religion, were both fostered 
 by the Synagogue system ; and both these tendencies 
 in human nature received still further encouragement 
 
108 THE CRADLE OF CHEISTIANITY 
 
 by a body nowhere mentioned in the New Testament, 
 but who must have exercised considerable indirect 
 influence upon the national religious consciousness. 
 Even Herod the Great found it politic to cultivate their 
 friendship. This body, named the Essenes, represented 
 the monastic tendency in men ; and was a brother- 
 hood which combined the strictest Judaism with some 
 elements of both Greek and Oriental religion. In 
 spirit they have been compared both to the Quakers 
 and the Doukhobors, while in their devotion to the Law 
 and their love of ritual and ceremonial purifications they 
 out-Phariseed the Pharisees, and their life was tied up 
 with all manner of strict regulations and procedures. 
 They were as extreme and as ascetic as any brotherhood 
 could be ; and while they pressed their principles even 
 to absurdity, their self-sacrifice and devotion reached 
 an amazing standard, and called forth the admiration 
 of their contemporaries, against whose lax lives their 
 existence was a continual protest. 
 
 In number they were about four thousand, and their 
 existence dated from about 150 B.C. Like the Zadokites 
 (see p. 12G), they originated in a reform movement. 
 The name may mean " pious," and be derived from the 
 Aramaic equivalent of " Chasid " ; and it is quite 
 possible that they were an offshoot of the Chasidim 
 (see p. 134), although diverging widely from them. 
 For while the Chasidim and their descendant Pharisees 
 were strict Jews, the Essenes embraced a number of 
 both Greek and Oriental doctrines and practices, which 
 were markedly un-Jewish. Dr. Edersheim (L, p. 332) 
 pleads with some force for the meaning of " outsiders," 
 
THE SYNAGOGUE—SECTS AND PAETIES 109 
 
 and another suggested meaning is " silent." In any 
 case their actual origin cannot now be determined. 
 
 Josephus and Philo tell us that they had com- 
 munities in every city and village, so that those who 
 travelled about preaching could always find others 
 with whom to lodge. According to Pliny, a large 
 community flourished on the western shores of the 
 Dead Sea, a natural result of their tendency to separate 
 from their fellow-men and their love of seclusion. Their 
 occupation was mainly agricultural, together with the 
 study of Scripture, and they practised community of 
 goods. Needless to say, they eschewed marriage, having 
 a very low opinion of the character of women. Philo 
 says (quoted by Eusebius, Prep. Evang., 8. 11. 8) : " No 
 Essene marries, because women are selfish things 
 and inordinately jealous, and apt to unsettle men and 
 lead them astray by their perpetual wiles. For they 
 use flattering words and other hypocrisies, as if acting 
 a part, beguiling both eye and ear, and deceiving men 
 into their obedience, and imposing on the master mind. 
 If they have children, they are filled with conceit and 
 boldness of speech, and what they previously hinted 
 at secretly and deceitfully, this they now utter with 
 a yet greater effrontery ; and without any shame they 
 force men to do things which bar them from the society 
 of others." There was, however, one order among them 
 who permitted marriage with women who had under- 
 gone a three years' test. (Jos., B. J., 2. 8. 13.) Their 
 numbers they maintained by the free entry of recruits 
 and by the adoption of young children. They were 
 the first society in the world to condemn slavery and 
 
no THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 to renounce it. They were democratic in government, 
 and elected their own priests and officials. 
 
 Here is part of Josephus' account of them (B. J., 
 2. 8. 3-6) : " These men are despisers of riches, and 
 share their goods in a manner that compels our admira- 
 tion. ... It is a law among them that those who 
 come to them must let what they have be common to 
 the whole order . . . and so there is, as it were, one 
 patrimony among all the brethren. They think that 
 oil is a defilement ; and if any one of them be anointed 
 unwillingly it is wiped off his body. They hold it good 
 to go unwashed, and also to wear white garments. 
 . . . They have no one certain city, but many of them 
 dwell in every city ; and if any of their sect came from 
 other places, what they have lies open for them, just as 
 if it were their own. . . . There is, in every city where 
 they live, one specially appointed to take care of strangers, 
 and to provide garments and other necessaries for them. 
 . . . They do not allow the change of garments or 
 shoes, till they be first entirely torn to pieces or worn 
 out by time. Nor do they buy or sell anything to one 
 another, but every one of them gives what he hath to 
 him that wanteth it, and receives from him again in 
 lieu of it what may be convenient for himself ; and 
 although there be no requital made, they are fully allowed 
 to take what they want of whomsoever they please. 
 
 " And as for their piety towards God, it is very extra- 
 ordinary ; for before sunrise they speak not a word 
 about profane matters, but offer certain prayers which 
 they have received from their forefathers, as if they 
 made supplication for its rising. After this every one 
 
THE SYNAGOGUE— SECTS AND PARTIES 111 
 
 of them is sent away by their overseers to exercise some 
 of those arts wherein they are skilled, in which they 
 labour with great diligence until the fifth hour. After 
 which they assemble themselves together into one 
 place, and when they have clothed themselves with 
 white veils, they then bathe their bodies in cold water. 
 And after this purification is over, they every one meet 
 in an apartment of their own, into which it is not per- 
 mitted to any of another sect to enter. And so, being 
 cleansed, they go into their dining-hall as if into a holy 
 temple, and sit down quietly, while the baker sets 
 loaves before them in order, and the cook one plateful 
 of one kind of food.* A priest says grace, and it is 
 unlawful for any one to taste of the food before 
 grace be said. The same priest says grace again after 
 dinner ; and when they begin and when they end 
 they praise God, as He that bestows their food 
 upon them. After this they lay aside their white 
 garments, and betake themselves to their labours 
 until the evening ; then they return home to supper 
 after the same manner, and if there be any strangers 
 there, they sit down with them. Nor is there ever 
 any clamour or disturbance to pollute their house, but 
 they give one another leave to speak in their turn ; 
 which silence, thus kept in their house, appears to 
 foreigners like some tremendous mystery ; the cause of 
 which is the perpetual sobriety they exercise, and the 
 same settled measure of food and drink that is allotted 
 them, and that such is abundantly sufficient for them. 
 
 * opera-goers will remember the striking parallel to this in 
 Wagner's "Parsifal." 
 
112 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 *'. . . They dispense their anger after a just manner, 
 and restrain their passion. They are eminent for fidelity, 
 and are the ministers of peace. Whatsoever they say 
 also is firmer than an oath, and swearing they avoid 
 and esteem worse than perjury ; for they say that he 
 who cannot be believed without swearing by God is 
 condemned already. They also take great pains in 
 studying the writings of the ancients, and choose out 
 of them what is most for the advantage of their soul 
 and body, and they inquire after such roots and medicinal 
 stones as may cure their diseases." 
 
 We may add, also, that they refused to sacrifice 
 to animals, a practice which cut them off from the worship 
 of the Temple, but they sent their offerings to it every 
 year. Philo says that their sacrifice was that of a devout 
 mind, and their meals as described above bear a sacra- 
 mental character. They believed in the immortality 
 of the soul, with future rewards and punishments, but 
 they denied a resurrection to the body. The ancient 
 accounts seem to imply that they worshipped the sun 
 as well as God ; and they used an allegorical method of 
 interpreting the Scriptures, to which they were devoted, 
 especially the Law of Moses. 
 
 A candidate for membership had to pass through a 
 three years' probation or novitiate, and was invested 
 with a small mattock, a girdle, and a white robe, symbolic 
 of discipline and purity. At the end of three years, if 
 approved, he took tremendous oaths of fidelity to the 
 rules of the order, and proceeded to further instruction 
 in their secret teaching. They were graded in four 
 orders, and even the touch from one of a lower order 
 
THE SYNAGOGUE-SECTS AND PARTIES 113 
 
 involved defilement, which had to be removed by cere- 
 monial washing. 
 
 They added divination to their practical activities, 
 with the knowledge of healing, spells and charms and 
 drugs ; and the same practical tendency showed itself 
 in their teaching, which, while largely mystic and 
 speculative, and occupied with the spiritual world (they 
 had a highly developed angelology), yet avoided specula- 
 tions which had no ethical value or could not be turned 
 to effect in daily affairs. 
 
 It has been suggested that, owing to their being 
 unmentioned in the New Testament, they and Christianity 
 were closely connected. Certainly they had a good 
 deal in common. They practised community of goods ; 
 studied and encouraged prophecy ; some early Christians, 
 at all events, advocated celibacy ; they were democratic 
 in government and loyal to authority ; they dined in 
 common, and in the Eucharist and Agape was a parallel 
 to the Essene meals, almost sacramental in character ; 
 they were charitable and industrious. Our Lord's 
 teaching about oaths and the instructions to the Seventy 
 and the Epistle of St. James resemble Essene teaching 
 and practice. But it is a mistake to ascribe an Essene 
 origin to Christianity ; these similarities could be 
 extended to other systems also, and some are merely 
 accidental, and originate in the common nature and 
 needs of men ; and while the Essenes were severe ascetics, 
 " the Son of Man came eating and diunking " ; and their 
 respective doctrines regarding the Sabbath, the world, 
 ceremonial purity, secrecy, the resurrection of the 
 body, are entirely opposed. Their descendants are 
 
 li 
 
lU THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 rather to be found in the Gnostic sects which in the 
 second century gave so much trouble to the Church ; 
 and these later tendencies may already be traced in the 
 errors condemned by St. Paul in his Epistle to the 
 Colossians. 
 
 They disappeared from history largely because they 
 were few in number, and because their practices could 
 only appeal to the few ; their ideals were too lofty and 
 their regulations too strict to be long maintained ; 
 but still more because Christianity deprived them of 
 their reason for existence. The Church preached a 
 stern morality, philanthropy, and a spiritual religion ; 
 was itself a brotherhood ; reckoned with the good and 
 the truths that all religions had to offer ; was democratic 
 in organisation, and eschatological in teaching. It is 
 probable that some of those who survived the terrors 
 of A.D. 70 became Christians, the others developing 
 into the later Gnostics. 
 
 Besides the leading parties in public politics, of 
 whom more later, there were minor parties, factions, 
 and movements among the people generally. The 
 feud with the Samaritans was very bitter, and it dated 
 right back to the days of the Return, when Joshua 
 and Zerubbabel refused the aid of this mixed people 
 (of Jewish and Assyrian descent) in the rebuilding of 
 the Temple. References to this are found in the book 
 of Nehemiah. This repulse embittered the Samaritans 
 against the Jews ; and the ready acceptance by the 
 Samaritans of the Greek innovations of Antiochus 
 Epiphanes increased the hostility of the Jews against 
 them. In our Lord's day the Jews had " no dealings with 
 
THE SYNAGOGUE-SECTS AND PARTIES 115 
 
 the Samaritans " (Jn. i^) ; the very name '* Samaritan " 
 was a term of abuse (Jn. S^S) ; no traveller from 
 Jerusalem to Galilee would go through Samaria if 
 he could avoid it, but cross the Jordan and go round. 
 The attention shown to the man who fell among thieves, 
 and the gratitude of the healed leper, both take their 
 chief value from the fact that the leper and the man 
 who relieved the unfortunate traveller were both 
 Samaritans, of an alien and hostile race (Lk. 10^^, IT^^). 
 The Samaritans would not admit our Lord on one 
 occasion, because He was professedly going to Jerusalem ; 
 and their hostility aroused the worst passions of two of 
 His disciples, one of whom, be it noted, was afterwards 
 the Apostle of Love (Lk. 9^2) ^ ^^ first, even our 
 Lord forbade His disciples to preach in Samaria (Mk. 10^) ; 
 but it was one of the earliest places to receive Christianity 
 afterwards, its evangelist, however, being a Greek, 
 St. PhiHp ; but the Jewish St. Peter and St. John made 
 no hesitation to accept its allegiance to the Chm'ch 
 (Acts 84; cf. also Jn. 4; Matthews, pp. 63, 141, 145, 207). 
 The Galileans shared the same enmity, though to 
 a less extent. These highlanders, of a brave, healthy, 
 and hardy stock, were of an even more fiery spirit than 
 the Southern Jews. They had the reputation of being 
 ignorant and uncultured ; perhaps " Galilean " was to 
 the Jew of Jerusalem very much what " Boeotian " 
 was to the Athenian (cf. xicts 2^) ; and their descent 
 was partially tainted with Gentile blood. (In Isa. 9^ 
 we read " Galilee, i.e. the district, of the Gentiles ".) 
 Out of Galilee could arise no prophet (Jn. 7^2). In 
 our Lord's time they had a bad name for lawlessness. 
 
116 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 They had shown great opposition to Herod the Great 
 at his accession, and the country had suffered much 
 through their raids and his attempts to suppress them. 
 Later, when Archelaus had succeeded him in Judaea, 
 they again raised the standard of nationalist revolt ; 
 and yet another rising was headed by Judas of Galilee 
 (see Acts 537 ; Jos., Ant. 18. 1.1; B. J. 2. 8. 1), at 
 the time of Quirinius' census. For some time, during our 
 Lord's infancy, the country was overrun with the 
 rebels, and a state of anarchy prevailed ; and the sons 
 of Judas, a generation later, followed in his steps, only, 
 of course, to be similarly and ruthlessly put down. 
 
 The followers of Judas became the party of the 
 Zealots, a kind of extreme " young Jew " party, who 
 carried their nationaUsm to a fanatical extreme. They 
 were an offshoot of Pharisaism (cf. the 6000 Pharisees 
 who refused to take the oath of allegiance to Herod 
 and the Emperor, Jos., Ant., 17. 2. 4; and also the 
 fanatical outburst which led to the tearing down of 
 Herod's eagle from the Temple Gate, 17. 6. 2-4 ; and 
 p. 26 above), but their ideals were political rather than 
 spiritual. These hotheads would have no sort of 
 foreign domination, and they asserted their independence 
 with the true martyr's spirit. " They have an inviolable 
 attachment to liberty, and say that God is to be their 
 only ruler and lord," says Josephus. " They do not 
 value dying any kind of death, nor indeed do they heed 
 the deaths of their relations and friends, nor can any 
 such fear make them call any man lord." (iVnt., 18. 
 1.6.) 
 
 In the New Testament there is little mention of them, 
 
THE SYNAGOGUE— SECTS AND PARTIES 117 
 
 but several traces of their influence are found. One 
 of our Lord's disciples, possibly a member of His family, 
 was a Zealot, i.e. St. Simon Zelotes or Cananean {not 
 " Canaanite," as the Authorised Version wrongly has it ; 
 " Cananean " is Hebrew for the Greek " Zelotes '* 
 =fervent), and this has a twofold bearing on our Lord's 
 position. It witnesses to His broad sympathies and 
 catholicity ; men of all ranks and types were included 
 in the Twelve. And it laid Him open to grave suspicion 
 of being a revolutionary. In fact, it is probable that 
 the question about the tribute (Mt. 22^^) was due to a 
 desire to test this suspicion (cf. Lk. 23^, and 23-^, where 
 the mention of Galilee carries a strong insinuation of 
 sedition). 
 
 Moreover, the presence and influence of the Zealots 
 gives additional point to our Lord's teaching about 
 meekness in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5^, 9, 39-4i)^ 
 and to His efforts at concealment (Mt. 1620, 179 ; Mk. 
 724, 36 ; Jn. 615), and the people's disgust at His failure 
 to satisfy their ideals (Jn. 666). In Mt. II12 there is a 
 possible allusion to the Zealots, and undoubtedly the 
 preaching of St. John Baptist fired many hearts, not 
 a few of whom would have favoured hasty and " violent " 
 methods. Probably the crowd from Galilee which 
 accompanied Jesus to Jerusalem and formed the Palm 
 Sunday procession included many of Zealot sympathies 
 and ideals, hoping that He would at last declare Himself 
 and give them a lead. It has even been suggested 
 that Judas Iscariot planned the betrayal in order to 
 force our Lord's hand (he and St. Simon Zelotes are 
 closely mentioned in all lists of the Twelve) ; but there 
 
118 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 is nothing in the Gospel narrative to suggest this, but 
 rather the contrary. However, Judas' treachery may 
 have been equally due to our Lord's failure to come up 
 to his expectations. 
 
 We notice also that St. Paul and St. Peter found it 
 necessary to be at great pains to emphasise and inculcate 
 the peaceful and law-abiding character of the Christian 
 (Rom. 131 ff. ; 1 Tim. 2^ fi. ; 1 Pet. 2i3 f .). 
 
 Among themselves was organised a band of Sicarii 
 or " Dagger-men," who went about armed among the 
 crowds at feasts, looldng for and taking opportunities 
 for dealing a fatal blow at their supposed enemies. 
 They are alluded to in Acts 21^8 ; and Josephus (B. J., 
 7. 10. 1) describes their obstinacy in refusing to own al- 
 legiance to the Emperor, and their marvellous endurance 
 of great privations and tortures. It was they who pre- 
 cipitated the final war with the Romans, and contri- 
 buted not a little to the internal dissensions which 
 hastened the fall of Jerusalem. {See Fairweather, B. 
 G., pp. 195-202.) 
 
 Besides these parties in the Jewish populace, there 
 were also the Grecian Jews or Hellenists. (See Ch. IV.) 
 These were largely the descendants of foreign Jews, 
 i.e. Jews naturalised in foreign countries, and some the 
 descendants of those native Jews who had accepted 
 the innovations of Antiochus Epiphanes. The former 
 were known technically as the " Dispersion." (See 
 Jn. 735 ; Acts 25, 61 ; Jas. P ; 1 Pet. l\ R.V.) They 
 were more liberal and broad-minded, owing to their 
 contact with men of other habits and modes of thought, 
 
THE SYNAGOGUE— SECTS AND PARTIES 119 
 
 and to the universal prevalence in other countries of 
 Greek philosophy and literature ; hence they were 
 often at variance with their more conservative and 
 stricter brethren. They had their own synagogues in 
 Judaea, for the benefit of occasional residents or those 
 who were finally domiciled in Palestine ; for naturally 
 here they were in a minority. Their numbers had 
 increased largely under the influence of Herod the 
 Great, and even Jerusalem had its amphitheatre and 
 public games, and Greek dress and customs w^ere common, 
 in spite of the opposition and warnings of the orthodox. 
 They, and their relations to the orthodox Jews, are 
 illustrated by the story of St. Stephen (Acts 6, 7). 
 (It should be noted that while the heart of Judaism was 
 undoubtedly in Palestine, the bulk of the Jemsh nation 
 was domiciled elsewhere. Only a small proportion 
 returned from the Babylonish exile ; the bulk stayed 
 behind ; and there was a large settlement also in Egypt.) 
 (See Ch. IV.) 
 
 The impression is already clear that the Jews were 
 a most exclusive people. Their traditional faith in 
 their choice by Jehovah to be His own especial people, 
 and the possession of a Law (certainly lofty and unique), 
 caused them to draw a hard and fast line once and for 
 all between them and all other peoples. The Pharisee 
 was the true representative of Judaism ; and while 
 here and there might be a renegade, who for family or 
 social or commercial or political reasons broke with his 
 own people, the vast majority were as clannish, and 
 jealous of their pure descent, as a people could be. We 
 
120 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 have already seen the deference paid to this by the 
 Romans, with the natural result that it was thereby 
 further strengthened, and the national pride flattered. 
 The privileges obtained, as, for instance, at Alexandria, 
 where two-fifths of the population was Jewish, hardened 
 the barrier between them and the Gentile. It was 
 everywhere their pride and boast that they had 
 " Abraham to their father " (Mt. 3^ ; Jn. 833) ; and 
 the taunts of Christ that the prophets EHjah and Elisha 
 were acknowledged by the Gentiles of Sidon and Syria 
 roused them to fury (Lk. 4^4) ; " salvation " was recog- 
 nised, or at least claimed, to be " of the Jews " (Jn. 4^4) ; 
 the statements of St. Stephen, while nothing more than 
 the plain truth, that Judaism had not always been tied 
 to the Temple and the Promised Land, caused his 
 death ; and so enraged were they, that he had no 
 semblance of a sentence, but was madly lynched by those 
 who should have been the " grave and reverend signiors " 
 of the people (Acts 7). 
 
 If one is inclined to marvel at this spirit, one must 
 remember that local and national pride is one of the 
 hardest things to kill. It exists in many rural villages 
 and provincial towns ; a true gipsy is as exclusive and 
 proud as the Jew ; Welsh and Irish and Scotch refuse 
 to be amalgamated entirely with their fellow-Britons ; 
 the ties of blood are far stronger than any surface-ties 
 of international Socialism and ecclesiastical relations ; 
 war and opposition only consolidate a nation and heal 
 its disunions. So with the Jew ; from earliest days he 
 had been told to keep aloof from the Gentile ; that 
 he was the chosen of Jehovah from among all the 
 
THE SYNAGOGUE— SECTS AND PARTIES 121 
 
 families of the earth ; he had great quahties, which 
 raised him above other men ; he had won his inheritance 
 by hard fighting and perseverance ; his hope of future 
 greatness was high and vivid. Opposition only intensified 
 his spirit and quickened his ideals. 
 
 In the higher ranks of the nation certain clearly 
 defined parties or groups may be discerned and named. 
 One of these, a small group, took their name from the 
 Herodian family. Probably they were men who had 
 given up all hope of a full measure of temporal power, 
 and had not risen to a spiritual ideal for their nation. 
 Sadducean in temperament (cf. Mk. 8^^ with Mt. IG^), 
 they were willing to compromise. They recognised 
 the very great debt that Judaism owed to Herod the 
 Great ; for he had brought them prosperity and com- 
 fort, had built and beautified cities for them, and a 
 harbour ; he had made concessions to their prejudices, 
 even if he had at times flouted them ; he had been 
 generous in famine time, if crafty and unscrupulous at 
 others ; and, above all, by his astuteness he had pro- 
 cured for them the friendship of Rome, and as much 
 independence as they were ever hkely to obtain. When 
 Herod's kingdom, partitioned at his death among his 
 sons, was put under a Roman procurator, the spirit 
 of this Herodian party was challenged, and revived. 
 Their political vision was keen, and they wished, and 
 would have been content, to have had the kingdom 
 re-established in Herod's line ; so they would have been 
 able to make the best of both this world and the next. 
 
 It was doubtless this spirit which induced our Lord 
 to warn His disciples against " the leaven of Herod '.* 
 
122 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 (Mk. 815) ; and it is remarkable, and a proof of the 
 opposition wliicli Jesus aroused, that the Pharisees 
 shoukl have joined forces with them, and still more 
 with the Sadducees, in plotting to destroy Him (Mt. 22 ^^ ; 
 Mk. 3®. It was they who propounded the question 
 about the tribute-money). For the Pharisees were 
 nationalists and reHgious to the backbone, and could 
 not tolerate the worldly spirit of the Herodians ; they 
 were to the Pharisees what the Hellenising Jews had been 
 to the Chasidim in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes ; 
 and Herod's insults to Judaism were too great to be 
 overlooked. Had he not erected heathen temples, 
 introduced heathen sports and games, erected heathen 
 trophies in Jerusalem, and an eagle over the Temple- 
 gate 1 Had he not degraded the High-Priesthood, and 
 destroyed the Maccabean dynasty ? 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE SADDUCEES AND PHARISEES 
 
 Ajstother clearly defined and important party were 
 the Sadducees. Their origin must be sought right away 
 back in the days of the Return, when some of the 
 priestly famihes {e.g. EHashib, Neh. 134; Ezra 9^) 
 contracted matrimonial alliances with Gentiles, and in 
 other ways departed from the traditional exclusive- 
 ness of the Jews, introducing more liberal and broad- 
 minded, not to say more lax, views of life. (This, be 
 it noted, is a tendency found in all communities ; and, 
 naturally, the Jews were no exception to the rest of 
 humanity. Thus, in religion, the monastic tendency 
 found expression in Essenism, the legal and rituahstic 
 in Pharisaism, the Hberal, and also the conservative, 
 in Sadduceeism, the pietistic in the Synagogue system.) 
 In a later age, they naturally accepted the Hellenistic 
 innovations of Antiochus Epiphanes, together with 
 the loosening of ancient restrictions and the luxuries 
 and pleasures of Greek life. (Cf. 1 Mace, l^iff., 43 g. . 
 Zadokite Fragment, 1^ ff., 8^, and 9i9, 20. «' Their wine 
 is the poison of dragons and the cruel venom of asps. 
 The dragons are the kings of the Gentiles and their 
 
124 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 wine is their ways ; and the venom of asps is the head 
 of the kings of Javan, i.e. Greece, who came to execute 
 vengeance upon them ".) Liberalism and worldliness 
 are often not far apart, and when the Maccabean line 
 had raised the nation to a position of independence 
 and given it power, the Sadducees upheld their efforts 
 to maintain these. 
 
 It was at this time, under John Hyrcanus, B.C. 135- 
 105, that the two names Sadducee and Pharisee first 
 appeared, the former as probably as not being a title 
 recaUing the Zadok, High Priest in David's and Solomon's 
 reigns, the nominally ancestral founder of the priestly 
 families (Ezek. 40^6, 43i9, 44^5, 48ii). The later 
 Maccabeans declined from the purely spiritual ideals 
 of their ancestors, and their aims were mainly secular, 
 to secure and increase their national position. This 
 disappointed and alienated the more religious members 
 of the community ; these, when the rift widened into 
 a breach, became the Pharisees ; and the others, the 
 ruling, aristocratic class, who had enjoyed wealth and 
 position for generations, followed their natural bent, 
 and adhered to the leaders whose rule would secure to 
 them that which lay nearest their hearts. 
 
 Their history also influenced their position not a 
 little. The Sadducees had grown up under the shelter 
 of an " Established Church." They were the Sons of 
 Zadok, and their right to the priesthood was unques- 
 tioned and of very ancient date. A long history was 
 theirs, and their traditional position was of great honour 
 and dignity. Novelty and innovation would not com- 
 mend itself to men of such ancestry. The original 
 
THE SADDUCEES AND PHARISEES 125 
 
 written Law was naturally their charter ; the principle 
 of development and growth would seem to lessen its 
 authority ; a conservative, almost liberal, method of 
 interpretation would be preferable, especially if there 
 were tendencies abroad which resulted in far-fetched 
 and fanciful conclusions. It is unjust to say that the 
 Sadducees were altogether irreligious ; in a sense no 
 Jew was without religion ; and their very position was 
 that of champions of the original Law as against modern 
 accretion and unwarranted development. 
 
 In fact, we must probably revise the traditional 
 estimate of the Sadducees, or at least recognise that it 
 apphes only to part of their number ; for it does not 
 square exactly with the facts ; it is based largely on 
 Josephus, and his view has been justly criticised. (See 
 Oesterley, " Books of the Apocrypha," p. 135 ff.) Thus 
 it has been said that they denied any part to God in 
 the course of this world's events, any form of predesti- 
 nation or control ; " they felt no need of a Divine pro- 
 vidence, but relied entirely on their own resources " ; 
 " they claimed nothing from God, nor He from them." 
 (Cf. Jos., B. J., 2. 8. U; Ant. 13. 5. 9.) But if 
 this be so, it conflicts entirely with the doctrine of God in 
 the Pentateuch, which they so stoutly upheld. (Cf . Acts 
 51"^ ff., where the Sanhedrin, with its Sadducean majority, 
 accepts the words of Gamaliel about the Christian 
 movement being a work of God ; and Mt. 3^.) 
 
 We must also beware of ascribing to the Sadducees 
 a denial of a future life. They certainly denied the 
 resurrection of the body (see Mt. 22^3 ; Acts 23^ ; cf. 4^), 
 as it could not be proved from the Pentateuch ; but 
 
126 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 there is only one reason why they should deny the con- 
 tinued existence of the soul after death, which, if it 
 only be the traditional shadowy existence in Sheol, 
 is implied all through the Old Testament. This reason 
 is that they were forced into it by opposition to the 
 Pharisees. From this position they might have developed 
 a disbelief in a judgment, and hence in man's responsi- 
 bility to God ; whence again into the magnifying of 
 man's self-dependence, and the separation of God from 
 the world ; a comfortable set of doctrines, to those who 
 preferred the world to God. 
 
 This confusion of terms, between the resurrection 
 of the body and a future life, may have given rise to 
 the assertion that the Sadducees disbelieved in angels 
 and spirits (Acts 23^) ; for in the Pentateuch are 
 numerous references to angelic visits. What is probably 
 meant is that they denied that men after death became 
 angels or spirits, as when it was said of St. Peter, *' It 
 is his angel " (Acts 12i5). 
 
 Moreover, there is convincing proof that they 
 numbered among them not a few who were devout- 
 minded, even if opposed to the developments taught 
 by the Pharisees ; i.e. they were opposed to the principle 
 of development, like the devout souls to-day who cannot 
 away with the same principle as expressed in the critical 
 and modernist movements. In the interesting " Zadoldte 
 Fragment," it is recorded how about the year 176 u.r., 
 i.e. half a century before the parties were clearly divided 
 and opposed, a reform movement from among the 
 priests was inaugurated. This resulted in an open 
 breach with the worldly and Hellenising priests, and a 
 
THE SADDUCEES AND PHARISEES 127 
 
 secession to Damascus, and the founding of the *' New 
 Covenant," by the " penitents " as the Reformers styled 
 themselves, and a later return to Jerusalem, with the 
 claim to be the true Sons of Zadok and heirs of the 
 promises. {See e\ 8^, is^ 928, 37.) 
 
 It is interesting to note that the Zadokites allowed 
 a certain amount of development in doctrine, and also 
 strongly upheld the prophetical teaching. They be- 
 lieved in a blessed future life, in both predestination 
 and free-will. (See 9"^ and Charles, A. and P., II., 
 pp. 785, 789, 791, 796.) Dr. Oesterley further holds 
 that traces of their teaching, by no means unworthy, 
 may be found in such books as Sirach, the Testaments 
 of the XII. Patriarchs, and Jubilees {op. cit., pp. 148-151). 
 
 One more point may be added. In Mt. 5^7 ff.^ if 
 our Lord's meaning is pressed (and not taken in a merely 
 general sense), it upholds the Sadducean position rather 
 than that of the Pharisees. In Mt. 15^ ff. he clearly 
 condemns the Pharisaic " tradition." (Cf. 23^ if. ; 
 Mk. 71 ff. ; Lk. 1137 fi.) 
 
 The Sadducees cannot be described as merely worldly 
 in their earlier days ; but there is no doubt, when all 
 the facts are considered, that they decHned sadly from 
 their first ideals, just as the Pharisees also largely declined. 
 The reform movement of the Zadokites shows whither 
 the main body were in effect wending. Centuries of 
 wealth and position had bhghted the flower of spiritual 
 religion in them, and the love of this world reduced their 
 interest, and ultimately their belief, in the next. Religion 
 came to be with them more a subject of controversy, 
 a mark of ancient respectability, and a source of revenue. 
 
128 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 They have been compared to the cold Churchmen of 
 the eighteenth century, to whom Christianity was a 
 habit, a decency of Hfe, but who strenuously and in- 
 dignantly resisted any suggestion that it should weigh 
 with their consciences or affect their personal habits, 
 to whom Methodism or any enthusiasm was anathema. 
 For another modern parallel we may compare the picture 
 drawn by Trollope of Archdeacon Grantly and his 
 fellows at Barchester. 
 
 Viewed in another light, they illustrate the effect of 
 reaction. The Pharisees cared for nothing except the 
 Law ; they had even allowed themselves to be massacred 
 by Antiochus Epiphanes, rather than desecrate the 
 Sabbath by fighting. (1 Mace. 162, 223, 42^ 7,) To the 
 Sadducee such fanaticism was mere folly, especially 
 when the Law included, as it did to the Pharisee, a 
 large and increasing body of oral teaching. So he allowed 
 himself increasing freedom as to obeying the restrictions 
 of his faith, and the removal of restraint induced laxity. 
 He denied the oral interpretation of the Law, such as 
 had grown up under the care of generations of Scribes, 
 adhering only to the written text ; and the faith which 
 he had begun thus to doubt, he came eventually to dis- 
 believe, and to disregard. He professed to uphold the 
 practice of virtue for its own sake, and as against the 
 formalism and ritualism of the Pharisee, without hope 
 of future reward ; he ended in a cold rationalism, which 
 denied any future where a reward might be possible. 
 So, too, among the Greeks, Zeno taught self-restraint 
 as the highest virtue, and the Stoics ended by repressing 
 all human instincts and affections. Epicurus taught 
 
THE SADDUCEES AND PHARISEES 129 
 
 that in virtue lay the only true pleasure, and his followers 
 lived as if pleasure-seeking was the only true virtue. 
 (For this effect of reaction, cf. a striking article in the 
 Times of April 14th, 1915, by Mr. George Russell, 
 entitled, "The Spiritual Conflict".) Mere denial, 
 mere protestantism, can only result in spiritual death. 
 Growth, progress, development, are necessary to life 
 in the spiritual, as well as the material world. If the 
 Pharisees went off into strange paths in their inter- 
 pretation of the Law and the development of their 
 faith, at least theirs was a living creed. It was the 
 Pharisees who survived the fall of Jerusalem and pre- 
 served the identity of the people ; the Sadducees dis- 
 appeared at once. 
 
 In our Lord's day they were outwardly in disfavour. 
 Herod the Great had thrown them over, although he 
 could not displace them ; and this, together with the 
 favour of the people, had left the greatest influence in 
 the hands of the Pharisees. Doubtless the sincere and 
 devout Sadducees, such as the followers of the Zadokite 
 movement, like the sincere and devout Pharisees 
 mentioned in the Gospels, welcomed our Lord's teaching, 
 and later became members of the Christian Church 
 (cf. Acts 6'). But, speaking generally, the Sadducees 
 as a party exercised little direct influence at the time of 
 our Lord, as is evident from the pages of the New Testa- 
 ment. They were never numerous ; they are only 
 mentioned four times in the Gospels, three times in the 
 Acts, and never by St. John, although we find several 
 traces of the position and the views which they held. 
 St. John Baptist greeted both them and the Pharisees 
 
 I 
 
130 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 with the cry " ofispriug of vipers " (the Gospels all 
 through give an interesting proof of how extremes 
 meet ; for both came under his and our Lord's con- 
 demnation, and, most strangely, they made common 
 cause together in their antagonism to Him, and this 
 joining of forces is again a proof of the opposition which 
 He aroused). (Cf. also Mt. IG^.) 
 
 It was the Sadducees who propounded to Him the 
 old and fooUsh question of the schools, about the woman 
 with seven husbands, which He took out of their hands 
 and raised to an altogether higher plane, taking also 
 the opportunity to rebuke them for their disbelief in a 
 resurrection (Mt. 2223). 
 
 It was the Sadducees who, as the priestly class, 
 and commanding a majority in the Sanhedrin, were 
 responsible for the maintenance of the Temple, and the 
 ordering of its arrangements. Consequently, it was their 
 interest and their revenues that our Lord interfered with, 
 when He made the scourge of small cords and drove the 
 money-changers and dove-sellers out of the Temple-courts 
 (Mt. 21^2), In general, " chief priests " stands for 
 *' Sadducees," and their vested interest is well illustrated 
 by the reason given for destroying Jesus — " Lest the 
 Romans come and take away both our place and our 
 nation " (Jn. ll^?). Christ, by His Messianic pretensions, 
 was a dangerous person pohtically, and popular risings 
 were feared if He went unchecked ; hence the Sadducean 
 eye to self-interest, and readiness to evade or dis- 
 regard their Law if it interfered with their comfort, 
 combined to condemn Him, even to making the amazing 
 confession, " We have no king but Caesar " (Jn. 19^^). 
 
THE SADDUCEES AND PHARISEES 131 
 
 Similar evidence is aflordcd by the Acts. The 
 Sadducees were " sore troubled," because the Apostles 
 " proclaimed in Jesus the resurrection from the dead '' 
 (42) ; and after the first imprisonment and admonition 
 of the Apostles, it was they who initiated the sterner 
 measures against them (51'^). When St. Paul was 
 arraigned before the Sanhedrin, he skilfully turned their 
 doctrinal controversies to his own account, asserting 
 that the cause of his being before them turned on the 
 question of a resurrection of the dead. St. Luke adds 
 that the Sadducees, besides denying this, denied the 
 existence also of angels and spirits (23^ ; but see above, 
 p. 125). 
 
 In their teaching they rejected the " tradition of the 
 elders," i.e. the oral interpretation of the Law, which 
 had grown up during the centuries, and adhered stolidly 
 to the written Law alone. Cf. Lk. 2037, where our 
 Lord faces them with an argument drawn from the 
 Pentateuch; and ''Zadokite Frag." l^ if., the attack 
 on the Pharisees, the " treacherous men . . . who 
 talked to Israel lying words, and made them go astray 
 in the wilderness where there was no way, so that 
 they should turn aside from the paths of righteousness, 
 and remove the landmark which the fathers had set 
 in their inheritance. They . . . transgressed the cove- 
 nant and violated the statute and attacked the soul of 
 the righteous." (Cf. 2\ 3^ 4io, 5^, 7^, is, 8i2, 92?, 49 ff.) 
 It is strange that they, so liberal in other things, should 
 have been so blindly conservative and reactionary in 
 this. (The real reason was that they came eventually 
 to care more for politics than for religion, and that this 
 
132 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 position was forced on them by their opposition to the 
 Pharisees.) In applying the Criminal Law they were 
 more liberal than the Pharisees, exacting the lex 
 talionis (" an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth ") 
 as laid down, also the law requiring spitting in the face 
 as a sign of repudiation (Deut. 25^). The Pharisees 
 allowed a money payment in the one case, and to spit 
 on the gromid in the offender's presence, in the other. 
 In certain cases they were obliged to allow some oral 
 and traditional teaching, because there were always 
 cases not provided for by the written Law. Thus they 
 were forced to accept the Pharisaic principle. But 
 these enactments were always regarded as temporary, 
 and of less authority than the original Law. The 
 Pharisees upheld both equally, although in their asser- 
 tion that the oral was based on the written, they, too, 
 in turn accepted the Sadducean principle. So difficult, 
 not to say impossible, is absolute consistency. 
 
 One more point of difference between them was the 
 Pharisaic insistence on the most scrupulous cleanliness 
 in all ritual actions, and the most elaborate purificatory 
 ceremonies. At these the Sadducees mocked, saying 
 that the books of Homer were then purer than the 
 Law, seeing that they did not need so much cleansing, 
 or convey defilement to the man who touched them. 
 " These Pharisees," they said, " will end by purifying 
 the sun itself." This, and the numerous other ritualistic 
 requirements, the worldHng Sadducee could not away 
 with : it was too childish ; besides it made too many 
 demands on a man's time and attention, and con- 
 science must be kept in its place. Their spirit has been 
 
THE SADDUCEES AND PHARISEES 133 
 
 thus described by Thackeray (quoted by Fairweather, 
 E. A., p. 159) : " The Baptist might be in the wilderness, 
 shouting to the poor who were Hstening with all their 
 might and faith to the preacher's awful accents and 
 denunciations of wrath or woe or salvation ; and our 
 friend the Sadducee would turn his sleek mule with a 
 shrug and a smile from the crowd, and go home to the 
 shade of his terrace, and muse over preacher and 
 audience, and turn to his roll of Plato, or his pleasant 
 Greek song-book, babbhng of honey and Hybla, and 
 nymphs, and fountains of love." 
 
 His rival, the Pharisee, was of similar ancient origin, 
 and represented the genuinely religious strain in human 
 nature. The name has hitherto been explained as 
 meaning " separated," and certainly the Pharisees 
 upheld the principle of " Come ye out from among 
 them, and be ye separate " (2 Cor. 6^-^), and fostered the 
 spirit of nationahsm and exclusiveness, following the 
 pohcy of Ezra and Nehemiah, who made strenuous 
 efforts, not with entire success, to free the returned 
 exiles from all ties with their neighbours. But in no 
 other sense were they " separate." They originated 
 from among the people, were the " popular " party, 
 and mixed freely with them (cf. Jos., Ant., 13. 10. 6) ; 
 the movement had been largely of lay origin (see 
 Charles, II., pp. 790, 792) ; and they actually con- 
 demned the practice of holding aloof from the people 
 as practised by the Sadducees (Niddah, 4. 2 ; P. Aboth, 
 2. 4). Hence another meaning has recently been 
 suggested, and from the same root, " interpreters ". 
 This has much to commend it ; for the interpretation 
 
134 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 of the Law was their chief occupation, and the battle- 
 field between them and the Sadducees. For this view 
 we may compare Jos., B. J., 2. 8. 14, and their close 
 connection with the Scribes in the New Testament. 
 
 Their own name for themselves was " Chaberim," 
 i.e. brethren, associates, neighbours ; i.e. they regarded 
 themselves as a fraternity, a select inner circle within 
 the holy people, not a monastic order like the Essenes, 
 living out of the world, but a body of men living in the 
 world, only by a stricter rule and on more idealistic 
 lines. In this connection they distinguished themselves 
 from the ordinary people, the " people of the land," 
 whom they despised and ignored. Pharisaism was 
 such that ordinary folk could not possibly know the 
 whole duty of man, still less practise it ; "no boor fears 
 sin, and none of the common herd can be pious," said 
 Hillel (Aboth, 2. 9) ; hence this fraternity prided them- 
 selves on their superiority, and took endless steps to 
 shield themselves from the defiling contact of the 
 multitude, the multitude which " knew not the Law 
 and was accursed " (Jn. 7^^, 9^^). 
 
 While the actual name Pharisee does not appear 
 until the time of John Hyrcanus (135-105) we read of 
 another section of the people, from whom there is little 
 doubt that the Pharisees ultimately had their origin. 
 These were the Chasidim or Hasideans, the title meaning 
 pious, one who has received the favour of God's intimacy 
 and has responded to it. It is used frequently in the 
 Psalms, of the poor " godly " man, who is contrasted 
 with the rich worldling, and of the " Saints " (cf. 12\ 
 50^ 149^, ^, 9). The name was given first in the time 
 
THE SADDUCEES AND PHARISEES 135 
 
 of Antiochus Epiphanes, to tliat section of tlie people 
 who resisted most strongly the Hellenising, and to them 
 therefore denationalising, efforts of that king. They 
 upheld devotion to the Law as the one thing desirable 
 and necessary, and strenuously resisted all efforts to 
 interfere with it. Their ideal was God and the Law, 
 rather than national independence ; they were not 
 unpatriotic, but they felt that the nation's interest 
 would be best served, and their political status also, 
 by strict adherence to their traditional teaching and 
 faith ; God was supreme and would do what was right, 
 if only they did what was right on their part. (Cf. 
 1 Mace. 714.) 
 
 An instance of their extreme devotion to the Law, 
 to the point of fanaticism, is described in 1 Mace. 2^2 g^^ 
 where many accepted death rather than profane the 
 Sabbath by fighting ; and their martyr-spirit is seen in 
 1^2^ where they chose death in preference to eating 
 unclean food. (Cf. their words in a later day, when 
 the Emperor Caius proposed to erect his own statue in 
 the Temple : " We will die rather than see our laws 
 transgressed " (Jos., Ant., 18. 8. 3).) 
 
 Strictly spealdng, the Hasidean and his descendant 
 the Pharisee stood aloof from politics altogether ; but 
 on certain occasions he was forced to take an active 
 part in public life. To this was due their existence 
 as a party in the State and the crystallising of their 
 tenets, in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes. Later, 
 when the Maccabeans had raised the nation to an 
 independent position, and had fallen away from the 
 purely spiritual ideals which had at first animated them, 
 
136 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 the Pharisees' support waned considerably, and John 
 Hyrcanus definitely broke with them. They were 
 disappointed that no " kingdom of Saints " had appeared 
 as the result of all their efforts ; and they would naturally 
 view with disfavour the alliances made by Hyrcanus 
 with other States, his employment of mercenary troops, 
 the appearance of his own portrait on the coinage, and 
 the evident setting up of a monarchy instead of the 
 hoped-for theocracy. 
 
 According to Josephus (Ant., 13. 10. 5), Hyrcanus 
 consulted them on one occasion as to his Hne of con- 
 duct ; all present commended his actions, except one, 
 Eleazar, who said that if he would be entirely virtuous, 
 he must lay aside the High-Priesthood and be content 
 with the civil power only. When questioned, Eleazar 
 gave as his reason the unsubstantiated story that his 
 mother had been a captive, implying that Hjrrcanus 
 was not a lawful son of Simon, and therefore dis- 
 qualified for his ofiice. The Sadducees took advantage 
 of this insult to turn Hyrcanus against the Pharisees, 
 and to accept their support, and from this date the 
 cleavage between Pharisee and Sadducee was complete, 
 and the Pharisees found themselves entangled in 
 political controversies. 
 
 Not long after, under Alexander Jannaeus, the 
 second of Hyrcanus' sons to succeed him, civil war 
 broke out and lasted for six years, 94-88, the Pharisees 
 taking the side of the people, and the Sadducees that of 
 the king. The king prevailed, but his widow Alexandra 
 reversed his policy and made alliance with the Pharisees. 
 They had the support of the people, and now exercised 
 
THE SADDUCEES AND PHARISEES 137 
 
 very great influence in the State. At first they took an 
 active part in the political reorganisation, and removing 
 their Sadducee opponents ; and then they applied 
 themselves to revising the laws, on their own more 
 lenient lines, rehabilitating the Sanhedrin and developing 
 the worship of the Temple, the indirect effect of which 
 efforts was great, and was seen later in the power that 
 they exercised with later generations. The Rabbis 
 looked back to this as the Golden Age, when the grains 
 of wheat were as large as kidneys, barley like olives, 
 lentils like golden denarii, and rain fell regularly on the 
 eve of the Sabbath, when everybody was indoors. 
 
 The Sadducees were not so easily put down ; and when 
 Alexandra died in 69 hostilities broke out again, only to 
 be ended by the superior power of Rome, in the person 
 of Pompey. But not ended at once ; for the revolt 
 only smouldered and broke out again, and it was not 
 until Jerusalem was besieged and taken that the matter 
 was finally settled. {See p. 16 ff.) 
 
 The action of the Pharisees on this occasion was 
 instructive. They petitioned Pompey for a restoration 
 of their old form of government, i.e. by High Priest 
 and Sanhedrin ; " in other words, they welcomed foreign 
 dominion as a security for the maintenance of the 
 theocracy in all its ecclesiastical purity." (Fair- 
 weather, B. G., 167.) Their active part in politics was 
 now nearly at an end, and its last expression came at 
 the beginning of Herod's reign, when he took them into 
 his confidence and asked their counsels. This was a 
 clever stroke of his ; for he realised their existing power, 
 and felt it necessary to have it on his side. In the 
 
138 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 result both sides were strengthened ; Herod was surer 
 of the goodwill and behaviour of the people, and the 
 Pharisees were free to develop their ecclesiastical schemes 
 under his patronage, and without let or hindrance 
 from others. The Sadducees had now long lost their 
 political power, and the Pharisees gladly surrendered 
 active political work, content with their spiritual 
 ascendency. The ancient quarrel still persisted, but 
 its sphere was limited to the School and the Sanhedrin 
 and the Temple-courts. 
 
 Their teaching has already been hinted at in the 
 description of the Sadducees. Josephus, writing as a 
 Pharisee, describes them as follows (Ant., 18. 1. 3) : 
 " They live meanly and despise delicacies in diet, and 
 they follow the conduct of reason, and what that pre- 
 scribes to them as good for them, they do ; and they 
 think they ought earnestly to strive to observe reason's 
 dictates for practice. They also pay a respect to such 
 as are in years, nor are they so bold as to contradict 
 them in anything which the}^ have introduced. And 
 when they determine that all things are done by fate, 
 they do not take away the freedom from men of acting 
 as they think fit ; since their notion is that it hath 
 pleased God to make a temperament, whereby what 
 He wills is done, but so that the will of man can act 
 virtuously or viciously. They also beheve that souls 
 have an immortal vigour in them, and that under the 
 earth there will be rewards or punishments, according 
 as they have lived virtuously or viciously in this Hfe ; and 
 the latter are to be detained in an everlasting prison, 
 but that the former shall have power to re^^ve and live 
 
THE SADDUCEES AND PHARISEES 139 
 
 again. On account of whicli doctrines they are able 
 greatly to persuade the body of the people, and what- 
 soever they do about Divine worship, prayers, and 
 sacrifices, they perform them according to their direc- 
 tion ; insomuch that the cities give great attestations 
 to them on account of their entire virtuous conduct, 
 both in the actions of their lives, and their discourses 
 also." 
 
 " The Pharisees have delivered to the people a great 
 many observances by succession from their fathers, 
 which are not written in the laws of Moses ; and for 
 that reason it is that the Sadducees reject them, and 
 say that we are to esteem those observances to be 
 obHgatory which are in the written word, but are not 
 to observe what are derived from the tradition of our 
 forefathers, and concerning these things it is that great 
 disputes and differences have arisen among them, while 
 the Sadducees are able to persuade none but the rich, 
 and have not the populace obsequious to them, but the 
 Pharisees have the multitude on their side." (13. 10. 6.) 
 
 Another interesting picture of them is given by the 
 Psalms of Solomon (given in Charles, A. and P., a work 
 dating from about 70-40 B.C.). We quote in full Ps. 14, 
 a beautiful expression of Pharisaic faith and hope : — 
 
 *' Faithful is the Lord to them that love Him in 
 truth. 
 To them that endure His chastening, 
 To them that walk in the righteousness of His 
 commandments. 
 In the law which He commanded us that we might 
 live. 
 
UO THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 The pious of the Lord shall live by it for ever ; 
 The Paradise of the Lord, the trees of life, are 
 His pious ones. 
 Their planting is rooted for ever ; 
 They shall not be plucked up all the days of 
 Heaven : 
 For the portion and the inheritance of God is 
 
 Israel. 
 But not so are the sinners and transgressors, 
 ^Vho love the brief day spent in companionship 
 with their sin ; 
 Their delight is in fleeting corruption, 
 
 And they remember not God. 
 For the ways of men are known before Him at all 
 times. 
 And He knoweth the secrets of the heart before 
 they come to pass. 
 Therefore their inheritance is Sheol, and darkness 
 and destruction, 
 And they shall not be found in the day when the 
 righteous obtain mercy ; 
 But the pious of the Lord shall inherit life in glad- 
 ness." 
 
 In this Ps. note the similarity to some of the 
 Canonical Psalms (i.e. 1, 37, etc.) ; the allusions to the 
 Law as a Way of Life, and the security promised to 
 those who walk faithfully in it ; the " pious " ones, 
 i.e. Chasidim, used in a general and not a party sense ; 
 the foreknowledge of God ; the blessed resurrection of 
 the righteous, but not of the wicked. 
 
THE SADDUCEES AND PHARISEES 141 
 
 In 175 ff. there is a reference to the Hasmoneans, the 
 earthly monarchy, the coming of Pompey, and the taking 
 of Aristobulus and his children prisoners to Rome. (See 
 p. 17.) 
 
 But, for our sins, sinners rose up against us ; 
 
 They assailed us and thrust us out ; 
 
 What Thou hadst not promised to them, they took 
 
 away from us with violence. 
 They in no wise glorified Thy honourable Name ; 
 They set a worldly monarchy in place of that which 
 
 was their excellency ; 
 They laid waste the throne of David in tumultuous 
 arrogance. 
 But Thou, God, didst cast them down, and remove 
 their seed from the earth. 
 In that there rose up against them a man that was 
 alien to our race. 
 According to their sins didst Thou recompense them> 
 God; 
 So that it befell them according to their deeds. 
 God showed them no pity ; 
 He sought out their seed and let not one of them 
 go free. 
 Faithful is the Lord in all His judgments 
 
 Which He doeth upon the earth. 
 The lawless one laid waste our land so that none 
 inhabited it. 
 They destroyed young and old and their children 
 together. 
 
142 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 In the heat of His anger He sent them away even 
 unto the West, 
 And He exposed the rulers of the land unsparingly 
 to derision. 
 Being an alien the enemy acted proudly, 
 And His heart was alien from our God.'! 
 
 In 1723 we have an expression of their Messianic 
 hopes : — 
 
 " Behold, Lord, and raise up unto them their 
 king, the son of David, 
 At the time in the which Thou seest, God, that 
 he may reign over Israel Thy servant. 
 And gird him with strength, that he may shatter 
 unrighteous rulers. 
 And that he may purge Jerusalem from nations 
 that trample her down to destruction. 
 Wisely, righteously, he shall thrust out sinners from 
 the inheritance, 
 He shall destroy the pride of the sinner as a potter's 
 vessel. 
 With a rod of iron he shall break in pieces all their 
 substance. 
 He shall destroy the godless nations with the 
 word of his mouth ; 
 At his rebuke nations shall flee before him. 
 And he shall reprove sinners for the thoughts of 
 their heart. 
 And he shall gather together a holy people, whom he 
 shall lead in righteousness, 
 
THE SADDUCEES AND PHARISEES 143 
 
 And lie shall judge the tribes of the people 
 
 that has been sanctified by the Lord his 
 
 God. 
 And he shall not suffer unrighteousness to lodge any 
 
 more in their midst, 
 Nor shall there dwell with them any man that 
 
 knoweth wickedness, 
 For he shall know them that they are all sons of 
 
 their God. 
 And he shall divide them according to their tribes 
 
 upon the land. 
 And neither stranger nor alien shall sojourn with 
 
 them any more. 
 He shall judge peoples and nations in the wisdom of 
 
 his righteousness. 
 
 And he shall have the heathen nations to serve him 
 
 under his yoke ; 
 And he shall glorify the Lord in a place to be seen 
 
 of all the earth ; 
 And he shall purge Jerusalem, making it holy as 
 
 of old : 
 So that nations shall come from the ends of the earth 
 
 to see his glory, 
 Bringing as gifts her sons who had fainted. 
 And to see the glory of the Lord, wherewith God 
 
 hath glorified her. 
 And he shall be a righteous king, taught of God, over 
 
 them, 
 And there shall be no unrighteousness in his days 
 
 in their midst, 
 
144 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 For all shall be holy and their king the anointed 
 
 of the Lord. 
 For he shall not put his trust in horse and rider and 
 
 bow, 
 Nor shall be multiply for himself gold and silver 
 
 for war, 
 Nor shall he gather confidence from a multitude 
 
 for the day of battle. 
 The Lord Himself is his king, the hope of him that is 
 
 mighty through his hope in God." 
 
 Notice here that the Messiah is to be of the Davidic 
 line, and that his kingdom is to be entirely in this world, 
 although of a spiritual character, and that the other 
 nations are to be Israel's wondering and admiring 
 tributaries. The ideal is thus very similar to that of the 
 Second Isaiah. 
 
 In 18^^ if. we see the Pharisaic belief in the uniformity 
 of the universe, and a divine predestination : — 
 
 " Great is our God and glorious, dwelling in the 
 highest. 
 It is He who hath established in their courses the 
 lights of heaven for determining seasons from 
 year to year, 
 And they have not turned aside from the way which 
 He appointed them. 
 In the fear of God they pursue their path every 
 day. 
 From the day God created them and for evermore. 
 
THE SADDUCEES AND PHARISEES 145 
 
 And they have not erred since the day that He 
 created them, 
 Since the generations of old they have not with- 
 drawn from their path, 
 Unless God commanded them so to do by the 
 command of his Servants." 
 Cf. T. Naphtali 2^ : " By weight and measure and 
 rule was all the creation made." (Job 282^ ; Isa. 40^2 ; 
 Wisd. 1120.) 
 
 We may conclude this account of Pharisees and 
 Sadducees with the criticism of the Rev. F. W. Robertson, 
 of Brighton, which, if indeed omitting the good points of 
 each, at least clearly points out the results into which 
 the extravagances of each side led them : — 
 
 " The Pharisees were men who rested satisfied with 
 the outward. The form of religion which varies in all 
 ages, that they wanted to stereotype. The inner heart 
 of rehgion — the unchangeable — ^justice — mercy — truth — 
 that they could not feel. They had got their two schools 
 of orthodoxy — the school of Shammai and the school of 
 Hillel ; and under the orthodoxy of these two popular 
 idols of the day, they were content to lose their own 
 power of independent thought : souls that had shrunk 
 away from all goodness and nobleness, and withered 
 into the mummy of a soul. They could jangle about 
 the breadth of a phylactery. They could discuss, as 
 if it were a matter of life and death, ecclesiastical ques- 
 tions about tithe. They could decide to a furlong the 
 length of journey allowable on the Sabbath day. But 
 they could not look with mercy upon a broken heart 
 pouring itself out to God in His Temple — nor suffer a 
 
 K 
 
146 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 hungry man to rub an ear of com on the Sabbath— 
 nor cover the shame of a tempted sister or an erring 
 brother. Men without souls, from whose narrow hearts 
 the grandeur of everlasting truth was shut out. 
 
 " There was another class in Israel as different from 
 the Pharisees as man can be from man. The Sadducee 
 could not be satisfied with the creed of Pharisaism, and 
 had begun to cross-examine its pretensions. They 
 felt that the thing which stood before them there, 
 challenging the exclusive name of religion, with its 
 washing of cups, its fastings, its parchment texts, this 
 had nothing in it of the external and the Infinite. This 
 comes not from the Almighty God, and so from doubt 
 they passed on to denial. The usual order had taken 
 place. The reaction from superstition is infideHty. 
 The reaction from ultra-strictness is laxity. The reaction 
 from Pharisaism was the Sadducee. And the Sadducee, 
 with a dreadful daring, had had the firmness to say : 
 * Well then, there is no life to come. That is settled. 
 I have looked into the abyss without trembling. There 
 is no phantom there. There is neither angel, spirit, 
 nor life to come. And this glorious thing, man, with 
 his deep thoughts, and his great, unsatisfied heart, his 
 sorrows and his loves, god-like and immortal as he 
 seems, is but dust animated for a time, passing into the 
 nothingness out of which he came.' That cold and 
 hopeless creed was the creed of Sadduceeism. Human 
 souls were tiying to live on that, and find it enough.? 
 (Sermon on Mt. 3^.) 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE SCKIBES AND THEIR TEACHING 
 
 Another familiar and highly influential group of 
 religious teachers were the Scribes. Some of these were 
 Sadducees, but the majority Pharisees, their profession 
 being the study and exposition of the Law. Their 
 rise is also traced to the days of Ezra, who is himself 
 described as " a ready scribe " (7^). At first they were 
 priests, and Malachi (2'^) and Haggai (2^^) both imply 
 that the priests were the natural exponents of the Law ; 
 but later we find laymen devoting themselves to the 
 work, and holding much the same position as University 
 professors at the present day ; these were designated 
 Rabbi, i.e. Master. In 1 Chron. 2^^ we read of 
 " families " or guilds into which they formed themselves. 
 Eventually they became the repository of Scriptural 
 learning, the recognised teachers of the people, and they 
 organised schools and classes of instruction. To them 
 was referred the decision of difficult questions about 
 conduct and breaches of the Law (cf. Mt. 2*, 17^^), 
 so that, besides scholars, they were ecclesiastical lawyers, 
 jurists, and judges. See for this Sir. 3833, where the 
 writer contrasts the craftsman with the Scribe, and 
 
148 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 says that tlie former " shall not be sought for in the 
 council of the people, and in the assembly they shall 
 not mount on high ; they shall not sit on the seat of the 
 judge, and they shall not understand the covenant of 
 judgment ; neither shall they declare instruction and 
 judgment, and where parables are they shall not be 
 found " ; all of which, it is implied, are the prerogative 
 of the Scribe. In the New Testament are mentioned 
 *' lawyers " and " teachers of the law," and our Lord 
 says that they " sit on Moses's seat " (Mt. 232), i^^ jq 
 the place of supreme authority. 
 
 Their existence as a definite and recognised body is 
 not apparent until the days of the Maccabees, i.e, 
 until the second century B.C. In 1 Mace. 7^2 ^q fj^j 
 them in connection with the Chasidim, and the attempt 
 of Antiochus Epiphanes to Hellenise the people un- 
 doubtedly intensified their adherence to the Law and 
 drew their ranks closer. PoUtical ambitions on the 
 one part encouraged the theocratic ideal and ecclesi- 
 asticism on the other. 2 Mace. 6^^ describes the martjn:- 
 dom of Eleazar, an aged Scribe of ninety years old, 
 who refused to eat swine's flesh or in any way dissemble 
 his convictions. 
 
 From this period onwards their sympathies are 
 almost entirely Pharisaic {see Mk. 2^^ ; Acts 23^, " Scribes 
 of the Pharisees " ; Lk. 5^0, " Pharisees and their 
 Scribes ") ; although, as the Sadducees upheld the 
 Written Law, there must have been Sadducee Scribes as 
 well ; and doubtless there were Scribes who were 
 independent scholars, and belonged to no party. 
 
 As lawyers and judges they possessed indirectly great 
 
THE SCRIBES AND THEIR TEACHING 149 
 
 power and influence with the people ; and from the 
 time of John Hyrcanus (135-105) or Alexandra Salome 
 (78-70) they were admitted to a place in the Sanhedrin, 
 which gave them a certain amount of executive power. 
 But their knowledge of the Law and their position as 
 teachers and consultants was their chief source of 
 influence. It was their business to apply the Law to 
 the details and conditions of every-day life ; they 
 " bound and loosed," i.e. declared what was forbidden 
 and what permitted ; they were the spiritual directors 
 of the people, the keepers of their consciences ; and 
 their power of casuistry was in consequence amazing. 
 Of their teaching something will be said presently {see 
 
 p. 150 if.). 
 
 They were also teachers, and taught in the porticoes 
 of the Temple and in schools and academies, where 
 they trained students to walk in their footsteps, and to 
 hand on with the strictest verbal accuracy the teaching 
 which they had themselves received, or professed to 
 have received, from their predecessors. " To him that 
 forgets a precept it is accounted by the Scribe as if he 
 had forfeited his own life " — " Every one is bound to 
 teach in the exact words of his teacher " ; these were 
 two maxims of the schools, and this strictness would 
 increase the respect felt for them. 
 
 This respect was demanded by and everywhere 
 accorded to them. " Let the honour of thy disciple 
 be dear unto thee as the honour of thy associate ; and 
 the honour of thine associate as the fear of thy teacher ; 
 and the fear of thy teacher as the fear of Heaven " 
 (P. Aboth 4^5). They were to be assisted before parents 
 
150 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 and their claims respected first. *' Even priests and 
 aristocracy bowed to their authority " (Fairweather, 
 B. G., p. 70 n.) ; cf. our Lord's strictures in Mt. 235"" ; 
 and Sir. 3723, 26 ; 3833, 392. 
 
 It has been said that they were not allowed to 
 take fees for their teaching, but were required to support 
 themselves by a trade. But our Lord speaks of them 
 as " devouring widows' houses " (Mk. 12^0 ) ; and St. 
 Luke says that the Pharisees, at all events, were " lovers 
 of money " (16i^). Jewish casuistry was more than 
 equal to taking fees and explaining them away. 
 
 In their teaching they aimed at a strict and rigid 
 uniformity, so that the way of life might be absolutely 
 clear and definite, and the teaching of the Law clear 
 and without ambiguity. In practice, however, the 
 differences of temperament, point of view, and experience, 
 natural to human character, found expression, and 
 occasionally there were serious disputes, in which the 
 grave and learned doctors of the Law would not scruple 
 to come to blows with each other. The School of Hillel, 
 e.g., was broader and more sympathetic than that of 
 Shammai ; and although the differences were really 
 very slight, they were acutely felt, and the Jerusalem 
 Talmud describes '' a dark day, like that on which the 
 golden calf was made ; the Shammaites killed some 
 of the Hillelites." (Cf. Fairweather, B. G., pp. 189, 
 375.) 
 
 This uniformity tended in their hands to make 
 religion merely a mechanical habit, the doing of certain 
 things and the not doing of others. Life to them was 
 supposed to be simplified by being brought under fixed 
 
THE SCRIBES AND THEIR TEACHING 151 
 
 rules ; in practice the rules were so numerous as to be 
 a " burden grievous to be borne," and the spirit of true 
 religion was killed by the slavish insistence on the 
 letter. To the Scribes, " Religion was not a communion 
 of man with God, but a legally correct walk before 
 God." (Hastings, D. B., iv., p. 4:20a,) Hohness meant 
 not so much a doing good as avoiding evil. They main- 
 tained the spirit of the Decalogue, in which only two 
 of the commandments are positive, the rest beginning 
 with the words, " Thou shalt not " 
 
 The written Law had 613 separate commands, 
 each of which was binding on the Jew. And because 
 new conditions had arisen, and because life was so varied 
 and so multiform, the Scribes attempted to apply the 
 principles of the written Law to the inconceivably 
 numerous situations in which a Jew would daily find 
 himself and need to know how to act. This body of 
 oral teaching was known as Halacha, or " The Way," 
 and was held as binding as the written Law, being said 
 to have been given on Sinai to Moses, and handed down 
 by him to Joshua, and so to the elders, prophets, and 
 Scribes. 
 
 In addition they "made a fence about the Law," 
 by laying down regulations for situations that might 
 arise, so that if a man was careful he might never be 
 the least in danger of breaking the Law. And when 
 a situation arose which was unprovided for, it was referred 
 to them to decide what ought to be done. 
 
 Their regulations were concerned mainly with reHgious 
 and ecclesiastical habits and duties, fasting, almsgiving, 
 sacrifices, Sabbath observance, Temple and priestly 
 
152 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 dues, ceremonial purity ; moral matters were in the 
 second place ; by dedicating his property as " Corban " 
 a man might relieve himself of responsibility towards 
 his parents for maintenance ; the Scribes tithed mint 
 and anise and cummin, and left undone the weightier 
 matters of the Law, judgment, and mercy, and faith 
 (Mt. 154 ; 2323). 
 
 To the careful keeper of the Law reward was assured : 
 " Whosoever fulfils the Law in poverty will at length 
 fulfil it in wealth. ... If thou labourest in the Law, 
 He hath much reward to give thee " (P. Aboth, 4^^, 12). 
 But no promise of reward could ever have enabled the 
 most anxious Jew to keep the Law in its entirety (cf. 
 Rom. 83 ; Heb. 7^^), and even the Scribes had to revert 
 to quibbles in order to save their face (Mt. 23^^). And 
 while professing that the Oral Law interpreted the 
 Written, actually it was the tradition that made void 
 the word of God ( Mt. IS^). 
 
 And holiness, besides being dependent on the keeping 
 of the Law, was for that reason also dependent on know- 
 ledge ; so that no one without prolonged study could 
 ever hope to fulfil it. And so Hillel said that " an 
 ignorant man cannot be pious," and learning and piety 
 came to be convertible terms. This meant that, for 
 the ordinary person, the keeping of the Law and its 
 consequent reward were out of the question, although 
 it certainly was productive of much good in the care 
 bestowed upon the education of the Jewish youth. 
 
 Besides, as is evident, the insistence on the Law and 
 obedience to the Scribes opened the way to much abuse, 
 and, as already stated, under their influence rehgion 
 
THE SCRIBES AND THEIR TEACHING 153 
 
 tended to become mechanical, and morality to be dis- 
 regarded. If righteousness consists in the fulfilling of 
 certain external, formal obligations, a perfection 
 based on this ideal must tend to self-complacency and 
 indifference to the " weightier " matters of conduct, 
 and a rule of life will degenerate into petty casuistry. 
 And so far from satisfying, it could only add a burden 
 to the conscience ; and so St. Paul complained that the 
 Law only taught him what sin was, and gave him no 
 deKvery from it (Rom. V^). It might be the slave-boy 
 to lead the pupil to school (Gal. 32*), but it could go no 
 farther. '' The Law made nothing perfect " (Heb. T^^) ; 
 it was barren and lifeless. 
 
 This devotion to the Law, encouraged by the Scribes, 
 was the natural outcome of Jewish tradition. The 
 Jewish religion was confessedly a covenant religion, 
 dating from the giving of the Decalogue to Moses on 
 Mount Sinai. This gift was the sign that Jehovah had 
 chosen Israel, and the keeping of the Law was the con- 
 dition of Jehovah's goodwill and protection. (Cf. 
 Exod. 19^, ^ : " Now therefore, if ye will obey my 
 voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall 
 be a peculiar treasure unto me from among all peoples ; 
 for all the earth is mine : and ye shall be unto me a 
 kingdom of priests, and an holy nation." Also cf. 
 243 ff.) The book of Deuteronomy may be described 
 as an exhortation to the keeping of the Law {see especially 
 Deut. 4 ; and cf. 2 Kings 23^, 3), where the Book of the 
 Law found by Hilkiah has been identified with 
 Deuteronomy : " And the king . . . read in their ears 
 all the words of the book of the covenant which was found 
 
154 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 in the house of the Lord. And the king stood by the 
 pillar, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk 
 after the Lord, and to keep His Commandments and 
 His testimonies and His statutes, with all his heart, 
 and all his soul, to confirm the words of this covenant 
 that were written in this book : and all the people stood 
 to the covenant." In Jer. SPi God speaks of the 
 " New Covenant " which He will make, writing it in 
 His people's hearts instead of on the Tables of stone. 
 In Neh. 8, 9, we learn how Ezra read the Law to the 
 returned exiles, and how they pledged themselves again 
 to keep it. 
 
 In fact we have ample expressions of their devotion 
 to the Law all the way down their history. It must 
 suffice to refer to Ps. 1, an admirable summary of the 
 Jewish ideal and hope ; Ps. 119, an " acrostic " psalm, 
 entirely devoted to the praise of the Law, and the keeping 
 of it ; Sir. 2423, " All these things are the book of the 
 covenant of the Most High God, even the Law which 
 Moses commanded us for a heritage unto the assemblies 
 of Jacob " ; 4 Ezra 9^1, " Behold, I sow my Law 
 in you, and it shall bring forth fruit in you, and ye shall 
 be glorified in it for ever " ; 14^2, " The things that were 
 written in Thy Law in you, and it shall bring forth fruit 
 in you, and ye shall be glorified in it for ever '*' ; 14^2, 
 '* The things that were written in Thy Law, that men may 
 be able to find the path, and that they which would live 
 in the latter days may live " ; Baruch 4^, " This is the 
 book of the commandments of God, and the Law that 
 endureth for ever : all they that hold it fast are appointed 
 to life : but such as leave it shall die." The Book of 
 
THE SCRIBES AND THEIR TEACHING 155 
 
 Jubilees is a commentary (on Genesis), upholding the 
 ritual enactments of the Law, and expressed in forcible 
 language. ^' Judith " illustrates the power of one who 
 kept the Law, in the face of great dangers and difficulties. 
 Cf. alsoa saying of Hillel (P. Aboth. 2^), "Much law, much 
 life " ; and Josephus (C. Apion. 2. 39), " Though we 
 be deprived of our own wealth, of our cities, or of the 
 other advantages we have, om' Law continues immortal." 
 In character the keeping of the Law meant the 
 obeying of certain prescribed regulations, so that from 
 the beginning there was the germ of the legalism which 
 killed the spirit of true rehgion, bound heavy burdens 
 grievous, and in fact impossible to be borne, substituted 
 ritualism for morahty, devotions for devotion. The 
 prophets saw this clearly ; and we have some outspoken 
 denunciations of the keeping of the letter at the expense 
 of the spirit. Micah grandly says (6^) : " Wherewith 
 shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the 
 High God ? Shall I come before Him with burnt- 
 ofEerings, with calves of a year old ? Will the Lord be 
 pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of 
 rivers of oil ? Shall I give my firstborn for my trans- 
 gression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul ? 
 He hath showed thee, man, what is good ; and what 
 doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love 
 mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God ? " The 
 condenmation was even as old as Samuel : " To obey is 
 better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of 
 rams " (1 Sam. 1522, cf . Hos. 6^ " I desire mercy, and not 
 sacrifice ; and the knowledge of God more than burnt- 
 ofierings "). Similar sentiments are found in Ps. 50, 
 
156 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Isa. P^ ff., and Mai. 1. Jeremiah is careful to show the 
 need of a spiritual religion (3133), ^i^d Ezekiel the need 
 of a new heart (3626). 
 
 But Ezekiel is also the spokesman of the opposite 
 and ultimately prevailing tendency, which tried to 
 reduce everything to set terms. His careful and precise 
 regulations for the worship of the Sanctuary are parallel 
 only to the elaborate and amazing regulations for daily 
 life, for which the Scribes were afterwards notorious 
 and the Herodian age largely responsible. 
 
 The chief duties of the devout man were prayer, 
 fasting, and almsgiving ; and thus Simon the Just 
 (High Priest about 300 B.C.) is credited with saying : 
 *' The world is stayed on three things — the Law, Worship, 
 and the doing of kindnesses," no mean expression of the 
 truth, denoting God's revelation to man, man's response 
 to God, and man's love to his fellow-men. 
 
 The rule for prayer was three times a day, and grace 
 at meals ; cf . Ps. 55^'^, " Evening, morning, and at noon- 
 day, will I complain and moan ; and He shall hear 
 my voice " ; and it was Daniel's adherence to this practice 
 that gave his enemies the decision that they wanted 
 against him (see Dan. 6). The " Book of the Secrets 
 of Enoch " (contemporary with our Lord) says : " It is 
 good to go morning, midday, and evening into the Lord's 
 dwelling, for the glory of your Creator " (51* ; cf. Acts 
 2^^, 3^, 10^). Prayer was thus one of the means by which 
 ostentatious Pharisees advertised their piety (Mt. 6-^) ; 
 and it was customary for teachers to teach their pupils 
 forms and methods of prayer (Lk. W). 
 
THE SCRIBES AND THEIR TEACHING 157 
 
 Fasting was as essential. There were regular set 
 fasts, sucli as the Day of Atonement, the anniversaries 
 of the entry of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, of the 
 destruction of the Temple, of the beginning of the siege 
 by Nebuchadnezzar. And, besides these, occasions of 
 private grief and the desire for repentance were marked by 
 fasting (see 2 Sam. 12i6, 21-23^ 1 Kings 2127, Neh. 1^, Dan. 
 93 ; and cf . Tobit 128, 1 ]y[acc. 3^7, 2 Mace. I312, Isa. 583 
 &., Jer. 1410, Zech. 7, 8). It was considered a meritorious 
 act, and one productive both of material and spiritual 
 blessing, and a means of obtaining answers to prayer. 
 The Patriarchs in the " Testaments " frequently exhort 
 their children to follow their example in this, and hold it 
 up as a reason for their prosperity. (See T. Reuben 1^^, 
 T. Simeon 3^, T. Judah 15^, 192, T. Issachar 7^, T. 
 Joseph 34, IQi.) 
 
 In the New Testament we read of Anna serving God 
 in prayers and fastings night and day (Lk. 2^''). The 
 Pharisee in the parable held his fasts up as meritorious 
 in God's eyes (Lk. 18^2) . It was the custom for fasting 
 to be included in the rule of life imposed by a teacher on 
 his disciples (Mk. 2^^) ; and our Lord recognised this and 
 upheld it, but insisted that the fast should be genuine 
 and private (Mt. 6^^). The Early Church fasted on 
 solemn and important occasions (Acts I32, 14:23), and St. 
 Paul alludes to his own practice (2 Cor. 6^, 112^). 
 
 The third rule was that of almsgiving and good works, 
 and it is noticeable that in this case also an equivalent 
 reward was promised. (Was not the Jew ever shrewd 
 at making a bargain, true to his forefather Jacob ? 
 see Gen. 282 0.) xhus Tobit enjoins his son : *' Give alms 
 
158 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 of Thy substance : and wlien thou givest alms let not 
 thine eye be envious : turn not away thy face from any 
 poor man, and the face of God shall not be turned away 
 from thee. As thy substance is, give alms of it according 
 to thine abundance : if thou have little, be not afraid 
 to give alms according to that little : for thou layest up 
 a good treasure for thyself against the day of necessity : 
 because alms delivereth from death, and suffereth not to 
 come into darkness." (4^, cf . l^ U^o, Wisd 3^5, Sir. 330, 
 " almsgiving will make atonement for sins " ; T^^ ; the 
 Zadokites prescribed two days' wages in the month as 
 the rule ; Zadok. Frag. 18^. This, again, throws light 
 on the motive of our Lord's teaching about alms in Mt. 62, 
 that they shall be secret, Uke fastings ; and on the 
 parable of the Pharisee and the Publican (Lk. 1812).) 
 
 The doing of kindnesses must usually involve the 
 spending of money ; and Sirach, in a beautiful chapter 
 (29), upholds the practice, even if he backs it with the 
 usual promise of " interest." " Help a poor man for the 
 commandment's sake ; and according to his need send 
 him not empty away. Lose thy money for a brother 
 and a friend ; and let it not rust under the stone to be 
 lost. Bestow thy treasure according to the commands 
 of the Most High, and it shall profit thee more than 
 gold. Shut up alms in thy storechambers, and it shall 
 deliver thee out of all affliction : it shall fight for thee 
 against thine enemy better than a mighty shield and a 
 ponderous spear." But giving and help were not to be 
 indiscriminate ; *' Give to the godly man, and help not 
 the sinner " (124). 
 
 With this last injunction we may compare Mt. 5*3 fp. ; 
 
THE SCRIBES AND THEIR TEACHING 159 
 
 " Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt love thy 
 neighbour, and hate thine enemy ; but I say unto you, 
 Love your enemies," etc. And everywhere in the New 
 Testament the doctrine of salvation by works is con- 
 demned. The rich young man asked what he should 
 do that he might have eternal life (Mt. 19^^). After the 
 feeding of the five thousand, the people asked what they 
 must do that they might work the works of God ; to 
 which our Lord answered, " believe " (Jn. G^S). In 
 exactly the same way the gaoler at Philippi cried out, 
 " What must I do to be saved ? " (Acts 1630.) St. 
 James quite rightly insisted that faith without works 
 is dead (2i^ f!.), doubtless owing largely to his Jewish 
 upbringing ; but St. Paul, " a Pharisee of the Pharisees,'* 
 was granted the vision to see that salvation must be by 
 faith and not by works, which were dead and barren. 
 (Cf. Rom. 320, 116 . Qal. 32 ; Eph. 2^ ; 2 Tim. P ; Tit. 3^ ; 
 Heb. 61, 914.) 
 
 The popular Book of Devotion was the Psalter, justly 
 endeared also to members of the Christian Church ; and 
 in the Psalter we naturally find much direct teaching 
 for the benefit and direction of those who would be 
 "godly." Passages are so numerous as to be beyond 
 full quotation or even reference ; but we give one or two 
 in illustration of the points mentioned. A holij fear was 
 the basis of all good hving (2^^, " Serve the Lord with 
 fear, and rejoice unto Him with trembling," cf. 119^20^ 
 Isa. 112); and this fear removed all other fear (9P, 
 ** Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor 
 for the arrow that flieth by day "). Consequently, the 
 
160 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 godly man had and must have an unfailing trust in God, 
 in His goodness and His power, and the ultimate pre- 
 valence of good over evil (20', " Some trust in chariots 
 and some in horses, but we will make mention of the 
 Lord our God " ; 146^, " Put not your trust in princes, nor 
 in the son of man, in whom there is no help ; . . . Happy 
 is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope 
 is in the Lord his God "). A sense of the awful majesty 
 of God was fitting, and a man must be humble. (39^, 
 " I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because Thou 
 didst it " ; 7322, " Sq brutish was I, and ignorant, I was 
 as a beast before Thee.") He designates himself as 
 " poor and needy " (12^, 37 1*) ; and realises the wrong 
 and the folly of self-dependence (30^) ; and keeps his 
 soul like " a weaned child " (1312). 
 
 Inwardly he meditates in God's Law day and night 
 (12), and keeps it in his heart (37^1, 40^). It is his chief 
 delight, his greatest treasure, the ground of his hope, the 
 light of his daily path (119). Outwardly, he 2^raises God 
 and declares his faith (1191gi, 20', 3b^\ 92^), and tells 
 others of it (40^^). He jprays at home in private, making 
 his bed to swim, and watering his couch at night with 
 tears for his sin (6^) ; and observing the three set hours 
 of prayer (55^^). He bears his witness among his fellow- 
 men to the joy and truth and help of what he has 
 experienced (11913, 46)^ (Por the use of the Psalter, cf. 
 Fairweather, B. G., p. 72 fi.) 
 
 It will be noticed that the virtues and practices 
 recommended are the gentler, passive, and negative 
 ones : i.e. the godly shield themselves under the habit 
 
THE SCRIBES AND THEIR TEACHING 161 
 
 of regular observance, and ensure a blessing by their 
 behaviour. The type of religion is artificial and cloister- 
 bred ; it can only flourish where conditions are favourable ; 
 it cannot conquer the world ; if the world and the ungodly 
 are powerful and oppressive, it retreats timidly into its 
 shell, " until the tyranny be over-past " ; it is calculating 
 and cautious, selfish even ; there is nothing of the heroic, 
 of the risking all for a noble cause for the sake of others, 
 no willingness to perish that another may be saved. 
 Consequently, Pharisaism tended to be narrow, and 
 lacking in freedom and independence and courage. 
 (Cf. Fairweather, B. G., p. 18.) 
 
 Of this school of teaching Sirach is a good exponent. 
 He upholds the ideal of filial piety and general quiet 
 domesticity, i.e. a " pure religion breathing household 
 laws." " He that honoureth his father shall make 
 atonement for sins ; and he that giveth glory to his 
 mother is as one that layeth up treasure. Whoso 
 honoureth his father shall have joy of his children ; and 
 in the day of his prayer he shall be heard " (S^ 5) 
 " Happy is the husband of a good wife, and the number of 
 his days shall be twofold. A brave woman rejoiceth 
 her husband, and he shall fulfil his years in peace. A 
 good wife is a good portion : she shall be given in the 
 portion of such as fear the Lord. . . . Keep strict watch 
 on a headstrong daughter, lest she find liberty for herself, 
 and use it " (26i-3, lO). 
 
 A man should be industrious and orderly, respect the 
 proprieties, and be generally dutiful. *' Hate not 
 laborious work, neither husbandry, which the Most High 
 hath ordained " (7^^). " My son, let thy tears fall over 
 
 L 
 
162 THE CEADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 the dead, and as one that suffereth grievously make 
 lamentation ; and wind up his body according to his 
 due, and neglect not his burial. Make bitter weeping, 
 and make passionate wailing, and let thy mourning be 
 according to his desert, for one day or two, lest thou be 
 evil spoken of : and so be comforted for thysorrow(38^^if.). 
 Due and proper respect should be shown for the 
 priesthood. " Fear the Lord with all thy soul, and 
 reverence his priests. With all thy strength love Him 
 that made thee, and forsake not His ministers. Fear 
 the Lord, and glorify the priest, and give him his por- 
 tion even as it is commanded thee, the firstfruits, and 
 the trespass offering, and the gift of the shoulders, and 
 the sacrifice of sanctification, and the firstfruits of holy 
 things." (729 : cf. U^\ 35\ 3S^\) 
 
 Besides the interpretation of the Law and its ap- 
 phcation to daily life, the Scribes also busied themselves 
 with the interpretation of the historical portions of the 
 Old Testament. This has received the title of Haggada, 
 or " narrative." Into it entered much legend and em- 
 belhshment, and it frequently consisted in the rewriting 
 of history in the light and to serve the views of a later 
 age. E.g., the two Books of Chronicles are found, on 
 examination, to diiTer considerably from those of Kings, 
 and it is generally held now that they represent the views 
 of Scribes, writing somewhere in the early part of the 
 third century, B.C., 300-250. They, with " Ezra," and 
 *' Nehemiah," form one complete work, and are not 
 history so much as didactic works in which the history 
 is made to serve the purposes of religion. 
 
THE SCRIBES AND THEIR TEACHING 163 
 
 There are several traces of this Haggada in the New 
 Testament, e.g. : — 
 
 In 2 Tim. 3^ St. Paul refers to " Jannes and Jambres 
 who withstood Moses." They are the Egyptian magi- 
 cians mentioned, but not named, in Exod. 7^^. One 
 name occurs in Zadok. Frag., 7^^, and both are 
 mentioned in the Talmud (Menach. 85a) ; and there was 
 probably a small book bearing the names as a title, as 
 mentioned by Origen on Mt. 2V. 
 
 In 1 Cor. 10* he speaks of the rock that followed 
 the Israehtes in the wilderness. This, again, is no part 
 of the canonical narrative, but is found in the Targums 
 of Onkelos and Jonathan. 
 
 In Acts 753, Gal. 3l^ Heb. 22, it is said that the 
 Law was given through angels. This is described in 
 the Book of Jubilees, 127 : " And He said to the angel 
 of the presence : Write for Moses from the beginning 
 of the creation till My sanctuary has been built among 
 them for all eternity. . . . And the angel of the presence 
 who went before the camp of Israel took the tables 
 of the divisions of the years — from the time of the 
 creation — of the law and of the testimony of the weeks 
 of the jubilees, etc., etc." 
 
 In Lk. 425, Jas. 5^*^, the length of the famine in 
 the time of Elijah (1 Kings 17^) is given as " three years 
 and six months." In the Old Testament the only note 
 of time is " many days " and " the third year " (18^). 
 The fuller details are given in " Jalkut Simeoni " on 
 1 Kings 16. 
 
 In Jude 9 reference is made to a dispute between the 
 archangel Michael and the devil, over the body of Moses. 
 
161 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITy 
 
 This legend St. Jude obtained from " The Assumption 
 of Moses." (See Charles, A. and P., II., p. 408 n.) 
 
 In Heb. 7 Melchizedek is described as being without 
 " beginning of days nor end of Hfe," and having no 
 parents or genealogy. Of this there is not a word in 
 Gen. 14. 
 
 In Gal. 422 we have an example of Jewish allegorising 
 of the Old Testament narrative ; also in Rom. 10*, and 
 Heb. 7 already mentioned. 
 
 The books of Enoch, Judith, and Tobit are all 
 examples of the writing up of history with a moral and 
 didactic purpose. The two latter are short, and of 
 course available in our " Apocrypha." 
 
 The Book of Jubilees is a Midrash or commentary on 
 Genesis, dating 153-105, from a Pharisaic hand, and 
 some of the interpretations and applications are truly 
 marvellous. Thus, to name only one or two, in 3^ if. 
 the rules for purification after childbirth are based upon 
 the dates of various events in Paradise. It is stated 
 that up to the Fall all the animals could converse and had 
 a common language (328). The covenant with Noah is 
 taken as the basis of that made with Moses, about the 
 non-eating of blood (6^^). It is said that the Feast of 
 Weeks was kept in heaven from the creation until the 
 death of Noah (6^^). And the division of the earth 
 among the sons of Noah is not unnaturally given as 
 the justification for the invasion of Palestine (812 ff.). 
 In 9^^ the author discreetly passes over the incident with 
 Abimelech in Gen. 20 ; and the institution of the Feast 
 of Tabernacles is ascribed to the birth of Isaac. In 21 
 Abraham gives Isaac his dying injunctions about a 
 
THE SCRIBES AND THEIR TEACHING 165 
 
 number of ritual observations, which are, however, 
 paralleled in the Testaments, and traced to a further 
 common source. 
 
 In 261S a " dispensation from heaven " is brought in 
 to remove the guilt of Jacob's deceit ; and in 483 Moses' 
 omission to circumcise his son is passed over by a different 
 version of the incident. (See Exod. 42*.) 
 
 With this overloading of the original text and 
 narrative of the Old Testament with legend may be 
 compared the growth of Christian legend in mediaeval 
 times, alluded to and condemned by the Prayer-Book. 
 (See " Concerning the Service of the Church.") 
 
 Let us now glance at another of these books, typical 
 of the best Scribal teaching, the " Testaments of the 
 Twelve Patriarchs," * a book written c. 109-106, at 
 the end of John Hyrcanus' reign, and purporting to 
 be the charges given by the sons of Jacob on their 
 deathbeds to their descendants. Its influence on the 
 New Testament will be at once apparent. 
 
 Here is a passage which breathes a very different 
 spirit to the usual Jewish vindictiveness (seen at its 
 worst in Ps. 109), and showing how Christian ethics 
 were already on the way. 
 
 T. Simeon 4^ ff., " Now Joseph was a good man, 
 and had the spirit of God within him : being com- 
 passionate and pitiful he bore no malice against me, 
 but loved me even as the rest of his brethren. Beware, 
 therefore, my children, of all jealousy and envy, and 
 walk in singleness of heart. ... Do ye also, my children, 
 
 ♦ Cf. Plummer, "St. Matthew," p. xxxiv. 
 
166 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 love each one his brother with a good heart, and the 
 spirit of envy will withdraw from you." 
 
 In 6^ we have indications of one form of the Messianic 
 hope, i.e. a visible theocracy on earth and an inter- 
 vention of God Himself, and of the widely-developed 
 belief in a spirit- world. " For the Lord shall appear 
 on earth, and Himself save men. Then shall all the 
 spirits of deceit be given to be trodden imderfoot, and 
 men shall rule over wicked spirits." (Cf. Lk. 10^^.) 
 
 Levi, as might be expected, voices the ritualistic 
 demand : " Before entering into the holy place, bathe ; 
 and when thou offerest the sacrifice, wash ; and again, 
 when thou finishest the sacrifice, wash. Of twelve 
 trees having leaves offer to the Lord, as Abraham taught 
 me also. And of every clean beast and bird offer a 
 sacrifice to the Lord. And of all thy first-fruits and of 
 wine offer the first, as a sacrifice to the Lord God ; and 
 everysacrifice thoushalt salt with salt" (9^^ff.; cf. Mk.Q'*^). 
 
 Chapter 13 is a poem expressing the ideal rule of 
 life. It is too long to quote here in full ; but the 
 following verses should be noticed : " Work righteous- 
 ness, therefore, my children, upon the earth, that ye 
 may have it as a treasure in heaven " (v. 5 ; cf . Mt. 6^0) ; 
 " Whosoever teaches noble things and does them " 
 (v. 9 ; cf. Mt. 519 ; 724, 26). 
 
 Chapter 18 describes the coming of the Messiah. 
 Here arc one or two striking extracts : 
 
 " The heavens shall be opened. 
 And from the temple of glory shall come upon him 
 sanctification, 
 
THE SCRIBES AND THEIR TEACHING 167 
 
 With the Father's voice as from Abraham to Isaac. 
 And the glory of the Most High shall be uttered 
 
 over him, 
 And the spirit of understanding and sanctification 
 
 shall rest upon him " (vv. 6, 7 ; cf. Mt. S^^ ; 
 
 2 Pet. 117). 
 " In his priesthood the Gentiles shall be multiplied 
 
 in knowledge upon the earth, 
 And enlightened through the grace of the Lord. . . 
 And he shall open the gates of Paradise, 
 And shall remove the threatening sword against 
 
 Adam. 
 And he shall give to the saints to eat from the tree of 
 
 life. 
 And the spirit of holiness shall be on them. 
 And Beliar shall be boimd by him, 
 And he shall give power to his children to tread 
 
 upon the evil spirits " (vv. 9-12 ; cf. Rev. 2', 
 
 202, 222 . Mt. 1229 ; Lk. lO^^). 
 
 In T. Judah (24, 25) is another remarkable fore- 
 cast of Christ's coming, and especially the assertion 
 of His " meekness," a strange and unexpected ideal at 
 this period :— 
 
 " And after these things shall a star arise to you 
 
 from Jacob in peace. 
 And a man shall arise like the sun of righteousness, 
 Walking with the sons of men in meekness and 
 
 righteousness (cf. Mt. 5^). 
 And no sin shall be found in him. 
 
168 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 And the heavens shall be opened unto him, 
 
 To pour out the spirit, even the blessing of the 
 
 Holy Father; 
 And He shall pour out the spirit of grace upon you ; 
 And ye shall be unto Him sons in truth, 
 And ye shall walk in His commandments first and 
 
 last.'* 
 
 *' And there shall be there no spirit of deceit of 
 Beliar, 
 For he shall be cast into the fire for ever " (cf. Rev. 
 20"). 
 
 With T. Issachar 32, " singleness " of heart, cf. Eph. 
 65, Col. 322 ; with 34, " busybody," cf. 1 Tim. 5i3 ; with 
 3^ " singleness of eye," cf. Mt. 622 ; with 3^, " singleness 
 of heart "=generosity, cf. Rom. 128, 2 Cor. 9^^. 
 
 A curious passage is T. Zebulun 5-8, showing the 
 characteristic doctrine that all good done to another 
 comes back "with interest " ; and notable for the way 
 in which it combats the equally prevalent spirit of 
 vindictiveness (cf. p. 158 ; and Lk. 6^0-35). 
 
 " I was the first to make a boat to sail upon the sea, 
 for the Lord gave me understanding and wisdom therein. 
 And I let down a rudder behind it, and I stretched a 
 sail upon another upright piece of wood in the midst. 
 And I sailed therein along the shores, catching fish for 
 the house of my father until we came to Egypt. And 
 through compassion I shared my catch with every 
 
THE SCRIBES AND THEIR TEACHING 169 
 
 stranger. And if a man were a stranger, or sick, or 
 aged, I boiled the fish, and dressed them well, and offered 
 them to all men, as every man had need, grieving with 
 and having compassion upon them. Wherefore also 
 the Lord satisfied me with abundance of fish when 
 catching fish ; for he that shareth with his neighbour 
 receiveth manifold more from the Lord. For five years 
 I caught fish, and gave thereof to every man whom I 
 saw, and sufficed for all the house of my father. And 
 in the summer I caught fish, and in the winter I kept 
 sheep with my brethren. 
 
 " Now I will declare unto you what I did. I saw a 
 man in distress through nakedness in winter-time, and 
 had compassion upon him, and stole away a garment 
 secretly from my father's house, and gave it to him 
 who was in distress. Do you, therefore, my children, 
 from that which God bestoweth upon you, show com- 
 passion and mercy without hesitation to all men, and 
 give to every man with a good heart. And if ye have 
 not the wherewithal to give to him that needeth, have 
 compassion for him in bowels of mercy. I know that 
 my hand found not the wherewithal to give to him that 
 needed, and I walked with him weeping for seven furlongs, 
 and my bowels yearned towards him in compassion." 
 (Cf . for some of the expressions and sentiments Mt. 5^2 ; 
 Phil. P ; Col. 312 ; 1 Jn. 317 ; Jude 22.) 
 
 In T. Dan. 5 we have " the earHest authority for 
 conjoining love to God and love to one's neighbour " 
 (Charles), as well as passages which are clearly reflected 
 in the New Testament : 
 
170 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 " Speak truth each one with his neighbour, 
 So shall ye not fall into wrath and confusion ; 
 But ye shall be in peace, having the God of peace, 
 So shall no war prevail over you. 
 Love the Lord through all your life, 
 And one another with a true heart. " 
 
 (Cf. Eph. 425 . 1 Thess. 523 ; Rom. 1533 j phil. 4^ ; 
 Mt. 2237.) 
 
 " And there shall arise unto you from the tribe of 
 
 Levi the salvation of the Lord ; 
 And he shall make war against Beliar, 
 And execute an everlasting vengeance on our 
 
 enemies ; 
 And the captivity shall he take from Beliar, 
 And turn disobedient hearts unto the Lord, 
 And give to them that call upon him eternal peace. 
 And the saints shall rest in Eden, 
 And in the new Jerusalem shall the righteous rejoice, 
 And it shall be unto the glory of God for ever." 
 
 (Cf. Lk. 117 . i^ev. 312, 212.) 
 
 One of the most striking of passages is contained in 
 T. Joseph (15 ff.) : 
 
 *' I was sold into slavery, and the Lord of all made 
 
 me free ; 
 I was taken into captivity, and His strong hand 
 
 succoured me. 
 I was beset with hunger, and the Lord Himself 
 
 nourished me. 
 
THE SCRIBES AND THEIR TEACHING 171 
 
 1 was alone, and God comforted me : 
 
 I was sick, and the Lord visited me : 
 
 I was in prison, and my God showed favour unto 
 
 me ; 
 In bonds, and He released me ; 
 Slandered, and He pleaded my cause ; 
 Bitterly spoken against by the Egyptians, and He 
 
 delivered me ; 
 Envied by my fellow-slaves, and He exalted me.'* 
 
 The relation to Mt. 25^5 is obvious. 
 
 Scarcely less remarkable is 18^ ^, although similar 
 sentiments are to be found in 2 Kings 6^2 ; 2 Chron. 
 2815 ; Prov. 2521 : 
 
 " If ye also, therefore, walk in the commandments 
 of the Lord, my children. He will exalt you there, and 
 will bless you with good things for ever and ever. And 
 if anyone seeketh to do evil unto you, do well unto him, 
 and pray for him, and ye shall be redeemed of the Lord 
 from all evil." 
 
 (Here cf. Lk. 627 ; Rom. 122o.) 
 
 In T. Benjamin (3^) is a prophecy of the Messiah : 
 " A blameless one shall be delivered up for lawless 
 men, and a sinless one shall die for ungodly men." 
 (Cf. Jn. 1150.) 
 
 Of T. Benj. 4 we have echoes in the New Testament : 
 
 " See ye, therefore, my children, the end of the good 
 
 man ? Be followers of his compassion, therefore, with 
 
 a good mind, that ye also may wear crowns of glory. 
 
172 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 For the good man hath not a dark eye ; for he showeth 
 mercy to all men, even though they be sinners. And 
 though they devise with vile intent concerning him, by 
 doing good he overcometh evil, being shielded by God ; 
 and he loveth the righteous as his own soul. If any 
 one is glorified, he envieth him not ; if any one is 
 enriched, he is not jealous ; if any one is vaUant, he 
 praiseth him ; the virtuous man he laudeth ; on the 
 poor man he hath mercy ; on the weak he hath com- 
 passion ; unto God he singeth praises. And him that 
 hath the grace of a good spirit he loveth as his own 
 soul." 
 
 (For this passage of. 2 Tim. 4^ ; Jas. V^ ; Rev. 2^^ ; 
 Mt. 623 ; Rom. 1221 ; Jas. 513.) 
 
 In 10^, ^ is voiced the extension of the kingdom 
 to the Gentiles, and the words " on the right hand " 
 remind us of Mt. 2533 • 
 
 " Until the Lord shall reveal his salvation to all 
 Gentiles. And then shall ye see Enoch, Noah, and Shem, 
 and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, rising on the right 
 hand in gladness." 
 
 Remarkable is T. Gad. 5 : " Hatred, therefore, is 
 evil, for it constantly mateth with lying, speaking 
 against the truth ; and it maketh small things to be 
 great, and causeth the light to be darkness, and calleth 
 the sweet bitter, and teacheth slander, and kindleth 
 wrath, and stirreth up war and violence, and all 
 covetousness ; it filleth the heart with evils and devilish 
 poison. . . . drive forth hatred, which is of the devil, 
 and cleave to the love of God. Righteousness casteth 
 
THE SCRIBES AND THEIR TEACHING 173 
 
 out hatred, humility destroyeth envy . . . the fear of 
 God overcometh hatred. For fearing lest he should 
 offend the Lord, he will not do wrong to any man, even 
 in thought. . . . For true repentance after a godly 
 sort destroyeth ignorance and driveth away the dark- 
 ness, and enlighteneth the eyes, and giveth knowledge 
 to the soul, and leadeth the mind to salvation." 
 
 (Here cf. Jas. 3i4 ff., 4^ ; Mt. 521 27; 2 Cor. 710.) 
 
 But by far the most striking and remarkable passage 
 is T. Gad. 6^, unique in its " Christian " sentiment : 
 
 " Love ye one another from the heart ; and if a man 
 sin against thee, speak peaceably to him, and in thy 
 soul hold not guile ; and if he repent and confess, forgive 
 him." 
 
 Dr. Charles calls this passage unique in all ancient 
 literature, and for Judaism it constitutes a new departure 
 in ethics, for although the conduct of Joseph in Genesis 
 42 ff. illustrates it admirably, Jewish writers did not 
 enlarge upon it as an ideal to be followed ; and the 
 noble passages Lev. 19^^, Prov. 2521, gj^. 282, ^re more 
 than counterbalanced by others, such as Prov. 24^^, 
 Ps. 4110. The parallel with Mt. 1815, Lk. 17^, is so 
 clear that we must infer our Lord's familiarity with it. 
 (Cf. also Mt. 614 ; Rom. W^.) 
 
 Allusion has already been made to some of the 
 frequent mentions of Scribes and Pharisees in the New 
 Testament, and there are others which should be noted. 
 Their ostentatious alms are condemned in the Sermon 
 on the Mount (Mt. 6^), and the hollowness of their 
 so-called "righteousness'! (520, Lk. 12\ 189). Their 
 
174 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 exclusiveness showed itself in the complaint that Christ 
 mixed with publicans and sinners (Mt. 9^^, Lk. 7^0). 
 Their belief in a numerous and highly-organised world of 
 spirits appears in the remark about casting out devils 
 through Beelzebub (Mt. 1224; Mt. 2330 ; Acts 23^). 
 Their professed devotion to the Scriptures is criticised 
 by Him, "Have ye never read?" (Mt. 2P6 ; cf. 
 Jn. 539, " Ye search the Scriptures, because ye think 
 that in them ye have eternal hfe.") And their pro- 
 fessional jealousy appears in " How knoweth this man 
 letters, having never learned ? " (Jn. 71^ ; cf. Mt. 21^3 ; 
 Lk. 517 fi.) 
 
 Of their methods of interpretation, ecclesiasticism, 
 and casuistry, we have examples in Christ's teaching 
 *' as one having authority, and not as the Scribes," who 
 said " Rabbi . . . said," i.e. referring to tradition and 
 not themselves ; the complaint about picking the 
 ears of corn on the Sabbath ; in the questions about 
 the tribute, the woman with seven husbands, and the 
 Messiah (Mt. 7^9, 122, 22i5, 23^ 4i) ; in the dispute with 
 the disciples of St. John Baptist about purifying ; and 
 the rejection of His witness of Himself (Jn. 325, 8^3 ; 
 cf. Mt. 521, 27^ 93^ 131, 1G2). 
 
 Their foibles and shortcomings were not unnoticed 
 by themselves ; here is a list of the various kinds of 
 Pharisees, compiled by their own Rabbis : 
 
 i. The Shoulder-Pharisee, who wore openly on his 
 
 shoulder a list of his good deeds. 
 ii. The Temporising Pharisee, who begged for time 
 
 that he might do a good deed. 
 
THE SCRIBES AND THEIR TEACHING 175 
 
 iii. The Calculating Pharisee, who said : " My sins 
 are more than counterbalanced by my many 
 virtues." 
 
 iv. The Saving Pharisee, who said : "I will save a 
 little from my modest fortune to perform a 
 work of charity." 
 
 v. The Pharisee who said : " Would that I knew 
 of a sin which I had committed, in order that 
 I might make reparation by an act of virtue." 
 
 vi. The God-fearing Pharisee, like Job. 
 
 vii. The God-loving Pharisee, like Abraham. 
 
 (See Encycl. Bibl., p. 4325.) 
 
 In Mt. 23, Lk. 11 3^, a most scathing indictment 
 of them is put into the mouth of our Lord, and it has 
 not unnaturally coloured most subsequent judgments 
 passed upon them. It may not, indeed, be contra- 
 dicted, but it may, and should be qualified ; and when 
 all is said and done we must allow a high place to the 
 teaching and work of the Scribes and Pharisees. Perhaps 
 the judgment of posterity may be in a better position 
 to form a fairer estimate of them and their work, than 
 the necessarily biassed minds of their contemporaries. 
 
 One of the best proofs of its value, that it was not 
 wholly evil or barren of fruit, is to be seen in its 
 literature, and the use that our Lord Himself made of 
 its moral teachings. (Examples have been largely given 
 in the present chapter.) There are blots on the Psalms, 
 but none can deny the influence, the inspiration, the 
 comfort that they have had and still exercise ; none 
 would rule them out of the Christian Church (except, 
 
176 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 possibly, Ps. 109). There is much in Sirach and in 
 Proverbs that is of value as practical advice. The 
 other Jewish writings have been shown to contain 
 much that is both beautiful and ennobhng. The Dean 
 of Lichfield, Dr. Savage, in a most interesting book, 
 " The Gospel of the Kingdom," has shown how tho- 
 roughly Rabbinic in its essence is the Sermon on the 
 Mount, how rooted in the teaching of the Scribes. He 
 shows, certainly, how our Lord improved upon and 
 heightened it ; but this in no way detracts from its 
 value ; it rather shows how eternal is its value, in spite 
 of its excrescences, and the extravagances and the 
 defects of its exponents. 
 
 The fact remains that the religion of our Lord's day 
 was entirely due to the labours of the Scribes and 
 Pharisees. They had preserved it through the ages, 
 and to it He and His disciples were themselves indebted 
 for their knowledge and reHgious upbringing. He also 
 upheld their authority : " Think not that I am come 
 to destroy the Law or the Prophets ; I came not to 
 destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you. Till 
 heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall 
 in no wise pass away from the Law, till all things be 
 accompUshed." "It is easier for heaven and earth 
 to pass away, than for one tittle of the Law to fall " 
 (Mt. 517, Lk. 1617). He lived in the hght of their 
 teaching ; it was with texts from Deuteronomy that 
 He repelled each of His three Temptations. It was able 
 to produce and preserve such characters as Zacharias 
 and Elisabeth, Joseph and Mary, Simeon and Anna, 
 Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, Gamaliel. To one 
 
THE SCRIBES AND THEIR TEACHING 177 
 
 Scribe our Lord said : " Thou art not far from the 
 Kingdom of God " (Mk. 1234). He upheld their office, 
 even if He condemned their works (Mt. 13^2^ 232, 3). 
 " Many of the rulers beHeved on Him '* (Jn. 12^7), 
 even if they did not confess Him at first. In Pharisaism 
 were nurtured the thousands who yielded to the preaching 
 of the Apostles, and became the first Christians, the 
 nucleus of the Catholic Church ; of the priests " a great 
 company " joined with the people, and " became obedient 
 to the Faith " (Acts 6^). St. Paul was " a Pharisee and 
 a son of Pharisees " (Acts 23®) ; and if his upbringing 
 could not satisfy his aspirations, it did not stifle them. 
 Their rule of life, in its general principles, was safe, if 
 cautious ; it was entirely honourable and ennobHng, 
 even if it insisted much on the promise of reward ; it 
 was its extravagances that our Lord condemned, rather 
 than its inner self. 
 
 Moreover, it encouraged and strengthened the 
 gentler and weaker spirits ; it acted as a check to 
 ^vilder nationalistic hopes ; it preserved the truth and 
 value of personal piety, and the inwardness of religion. 
 Its regulation of daily life encouraged the sense of God's 
 authority, and made for both orderliness of conduct and 
 the recognition of God in daily affairs. Its discipline 
 encouraged a high standard of life. It provided an 
 atmosphere which surrounded children from their 
 earhest years, and could not fail to react on their cha- 
 racters. (Cf. Philo, quoted p. 39.) It certainly fostered 
 and kept aHve within the Jew an indomitable faith, an 
 unquenchable hope, and a very real love towards his 
 own race, if not to all. And when the nation practically 
 
 M 
 
178 THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 ceased to have an independent existence after the 
 capture of Jerusalem, it was Pharisaism and the Pharisees 
 who preserved what was left, and formed the rallying 
 point and the inspiration for the thousands of Jews, now 
 a nation without a home, and welded them into a vast 
 international brotherhood or ecclesia. It was Pharisaism 
 out of which was born the Ecclesia, the Holy Catholic 
 Church of Christ. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Antiochus Epiphaiies, r>l, 60, 
 
 83, 118, 123, 148 
 Apocalyptic movement, 87 
 
 Dispersion, 06 
 
 ! M 
 
 Messianic hope, 30, 4.5 
 
 I Pharisees, 133, 173 
 Philo, 72, 81 
 Psalms, 159 
 Psalms of Solomon, 139 
 
 Ecclesiastes, 79 
 Ecclesiasticus, 1\ 
 Education, 38 
 Essenes, 108 
 
 Galileans, 115 
 
 H 
 
 Haggada, 162 
 Hellenism, 05, 83, 118 
 Herod the Great, 21 
 Herodians, 121 
 Historical conditions, 10, 10 
 
 Job, 78 
 Jubilees, lOi 
 
 Law, the, 151 
 Logos, 80 
 
 II 
 
 Roman influence, 32 
 
 S 
 
 Sadducees, 123 
 Samaritans, 114 
 Scribes, 42, 70, 147, 173 
 Septuagint, 72 
 Social conditions, 32 
 Synagogue, 84, 104 
 
 Testaments of the XIT. 
 Patriarchs, 105 
 
 Wisdom, 74 
 Wisdom (Book of), 79 
 
 Zadokites, 126 
 Zadokite Fragment, 126 
 Zealots, 116 
 
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