A Thousand Years of Jewish History From the Days of Alexander the Great To the Moslem Conquest of Spain WITH TWO MAPS BY THE REV. MAURICE H. HARRIS, A. M., PH D. Author of "People of the Book," "Selected Addresses," etc. 3 A Thousand Years of Jewish History From the Days of Alexander the Great To the Moslem Conquest of Spain WITH TWO MAPS BY THE REV. MAURICE H. HARRIS, A.M., Pn.D Author of " People of the Book," "Selected Addresses," etc NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR, 10 BAST 129TH STREET 1904 Copyright 1904, by Mrice H. Harrif PMBSS or PHILIP cow 4*9 FIFTH AVBHUK NBW YORK FOREWORD "If a literature is called rich in the possession of a few classic tragedies, what shall we say to a national tragedy lasting for fifteen hundred years in which the poets and the actors were also the heroes." ZUNZ When the impatient youth demands, like the heathen from Hillel, a "definition" of Judaism, bid him "go and learn " the history of the Jew. Let him follow the fascinating story from hoar antiquity, when the obscure Hebrews, "leaving kindred and father's house," took a bold and new departure for the land that God would show the land that would show God. Point to the colossal figure of Moses on Sinai, " great- est of the prophets," who gave the first uplifting impulse with his Ten Words of Faith and Duty. Trace with him the soul struggle of this " smallest among the nations " to reach the truth of divinity beginning with a crude conception that became steadily exalted and clarified with each successive age, until, at last, the idea is realized of an all-pervading Spirit, with "righteousness and justice as the pillars of His throne," and Whom " the heaven of heavens cannot contain." Make clear to him how the revelation of the divine will came to be expressed in Law. And, how the preservation and development of this Law, in the inter- preting hands of prophets, scribes, rabbis, poets and philosophers, became henceforth the controlling motif of the history of the Jew, his modus vivendi, whether under Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Ara- bians or Franks. Help him to see that through it the Jew held in his keeping the religious fate of Orient and Occident, that took from him their respective impres- sions of Islamism and Christianity. Let him see the "God-intoxicated" teaching his message by living it ; the Suffering Servant whose mar- tyrdom brought healing to his smiters. Then, perhaps, he may understand that no one defi- nition can completely express the Faith of the Jew and his place in the divine economy. But with this glimpse of his history the grandeur of his inheritance will sink into his consciousness, becoming part of himself, and he will be thrilled with the tremendous responsibility devolving upon him as a member of the priest-nation, the witnesses of God, whose mission was and is to " bring light to the Gentiles that salvation may reach to the ends of the earth." NOTE. While this is an independent work, it is at the same time intended to continue the history of Israel where the third volume of the " People of the Book " closed. Indeed, it has been written at the request of teachers who have used that manual of Biblical History. It will also be found suitable for Post-Graduate Classes and Study Circles. The Chautauqua plan has been followed of confining all references to works or translations in the English language. Yet these will enable the advanced student to carry research further. For fuller details generally, the student is referred to Graetz's " History of the Jews," to which this work has been most indebted. OO^TTIBIbTTS- BOOK I. JUDEA A VASSAL STATE Chap. I. The Close of the Persian Rule - - 9 " II. -Greek and Jew 16 " III. Judea Fights for its Faith - - 21 " IV. Daniel and the Apocrypha 28 " V. Judea Fights for its Independence - 36 " VI. In the Diaspora 42 BOOK II. JUDEA INDEPENDENT Chap. VII. Pharisees and Sadducees - 49 " VIII.-A Royal House Again - 57 " IX. Rival Claimants for the Throne - 61 " X. Judea under Roman Suzerainty - - 64 " XL Herod 68 " XIL Hillel - - 74 " XIIL Herod's Successors 79 BOOK III. JUDEA UNDER ROME Chap. XIV. The Regime of the Procurators - - 83 " XV. Jesus of Nazareth - 87 " XVL A Jewish King Once More - 95 " XVIL The Alexandrian School 100 " XVIII. Philo - - 104 " XIX. The Last Procurators 109 " XX. Judea's War with Rome - 113 " XXL The Siege - 116 " XXIL The Fall of Jerusalem - 120 " XXIII. The Works of Josephus - - 123 BOOK IV. THE TALMUDIC ERA Chap. XXIV. Jochanan ben Zakkai 120 " XXV. The Palestinian Academies - 135 " XXVI. The Development of Christianity - 141 " XXVII. Rome's Regime After Judea's Overthrow 146 " XXVIII. Akiba - - 150 " XXIX. Last Struggle for Liberty - 154 " XXX. The Mishna 160 " XXXI. Babylonia and its Schools - 170 " XXXII. Christianity the State Church of Rome 178 " XXXIII. The Division of the Roman Empire - 184 " XXXIV. The Talmud - 189 BOOK V. JAPHETH AND SHEM Chap. XXXV. The Beginning of the Jewish Middle Ages 197 " XXXVI. In the Spanish Peninsula - 203 " XXXVII. -Arabia - 208 " XXXVIII. Mahomet 213 " XXXIX. Islam and the Jews - - 218 BOOK I. JUDEA A VASSAL STATE f dA "/ QiA^^^^^^ f2 PERSIA B.C.B. Cyrus conquers the Babyloni- ans 536 Cambyses 529 Darius 522 CHAPTER I. CLOSE OF THE PERSIAN RULE. W Xerxes 485 Artaxerxes I (Longimanus; 461 Darius II (Ochus 424 Artaxerxes II Mnemon ... 404 Artaxerxes III (Ochus) 358 Alexander, the Greek, over- throwsthePer-. sian Empire.. 332 Return of Ju- dah from Ex- ile 536 Second Temple rebuilt 516 Esther and Mor- decai 485 Ezra goes to Je- rusalem 458 Nehemiah's first visit 445 Nehemiah Gov- ernor of Judea 432 Judea subject to Greek rule ... 332 FAMOUS CONTEMPORARIES FLOURISHED B.C. Gautama Buddha 500 Confucius.. . 500 Socrates 450 Xenophon 400 ' < The story covered by the early dates in this is not yet post-Biblical. It is already told in the later Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggaj^and Zechgriah . ' ta The history of this volume begins with theji close of the life-work of these men. The restoration of the Jews to Judea did not mate- rialize as gloriously as Isaiah in Babylon had prefigured 10 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. / AJUtWlt/ iLAutA^ 4jfUt CkM$A4 A** " *" s) in his sublime addresses. (Isaiah xl-xlviii) Life's reali- zations very often disappoint their anticipations. Cyrus. opened the door; but only a poor remnant re- ^ Turned to a poor land. Even then, enemies made their appearance, envious of the royal grant, and plotted against their welfare. So it took many years to re- build the Temple and many more to rebuild Jerusalem and to reorganize a new community. This service we owe to Nehemiah. After the chronicle of Nehemiah's service in plac- ing the Jewish colony on a working basis, we are told hardly anything more of the doings of Israel in this epoch. Either there was no further history of the Jews under Persian sway, or it has never been told. There is a silence of about a hundred years. One reason for this silence of course, is that the Jews had no separate political life. What there is to tell can be disposed of in a few sentences. We infer from the sixty-third chapter of Isaiah that they suffered during the campaigns of the two Ar- taxerxes against Egypt. We know that some were ban- ished to the Caspian Sea because they were implicated in a wide-spread insurrection against the fast declining Persia, instigated by the different peoples settled around the Mediterranean shore. We are told further that an upstart named Bagoas heavily taxed the Jews and made the excuse of a quarrel over the priesthood, to desecrate their Temple. That is really all. When this intriguer attempted to place his own candidate on the Persian throne the knell had been rung. Persia's days were numbered. Like its Babylonian predecessor, it had been "weighed CLOSE OF THE PERSIAN RULE. II in the balance and found wanting." The Greek forces of Alexander were advancing and about the year 332 the Persian dynasty, founded by Cyrus let us say the Great passed away. But silent though the period was in external doings, it was a stirring time in Israel from the point of view of the experience of the soul. When we turn to the religious life of the Jews, the epoch apparently so barren, is freighted with significance. Great achieve- ments are here disclosed behind the historian's silence. To tell the religious story, we must go back to Ezra ^JjUx^kgain, Ezra was the father of the SCRIBES. A scribe ^ \vas not merely, as the name might imply, one who copied the writings of others, but one who expounded them. The Pentateuch which contained many codes of law came to be called The Law as a whole. (Torah) We shall learn how later this term included the vaster code that was gradually deduced from the Biblical books. This is the age then of Legalism, when JUDA- _ ISM IS INTERPRETED AS LAW. " Without explaining just now the significance of 'presenting our religion through the medium of law, we can attribute the fact to the following causes: In ancient times Religion and State were one, so that P 3 * ^ 8111 merged into piety and treason into infidel- ity. Hence the Pentateuch contains laws touching the civil as well as spiritual relations, and regulated affairs both secular and sacred. For example, it contains laws about servants, agriculture^ a war code, laws of poverty and inheritance, in fact every need that entered the civilization of the time. On the other hand, it contains the Decalogue, the festival regula- 12 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. tions, the Law of Holiness (Levit. xvii-xxvii). and exhortations to noble living. It is beautiful to notice how the jrioraj_ pervades the secular and gives to all a sanctifying touch. Thus the scribes of this latter day had to interpret Scripture for the daily affairs of public life as well as to regulate the festivals and the religious ceremonial "in Israel's semi-independent state. So the Sanhedrin (a Greek word), a body of seventy members, was a House of Legislature and an s aj . ou^- < The precedent for the number 70 was fcjand in the" Council of Elders appointed by Moses ( Exodus xxivjf jWhen all political power was taken from the Jews, the presentation of religion through the forms of law very naturally survived. There is yet another reason for Religion being in- terpreted as Law, which touches the genius of Judaism. , It has always been less a Faith to be confessed than a Life to be lived. The emphasis was laid on .deed ^"rather than on dogma. So while the realm of \$\P was ver y str * ct ty circumscribed, the realm of thought was remarkably free. We shall later see that it was on this -very distinction that Christianity broke away ..from the parent religion to become a separate Faith. 'For Paul, its chief apostle and virtual founder was antinomistjc,. which means opposed to the obligations of Law, while he placed new emphasis on faith. Of course, the reduction of Religion to Law had its abuses as well as its excellences. It led to the multi- plication of ceremonial. (The law|.of ritual cleanliness and of Sabbath restriction are ver*y voluminous and very minute). This left less room for spontaneity of CLOSE OF THE PERSIAN RULE. action. Israel's detractors say it blurred the moral dis- tinctions. This is a superficial and erroneous inference, for it quite as often reinforced them, preventing any temporizing with duty. At its best it tended to sanctify every act of life and to bring the humblest obligation into relationship with God. But whenever a religion crystallizes into an institution, as it inevitably must, the spirit occasionally gets lost in the form. Then it be- comes the function of the prophet to bring back the emphasis to religion's vital issues. A further word on the religious life of pos^fiadlic Israel. We must remember at the start that it was a colony subject to Persia, but granted complete autcm- ojrny in the management of its internal affairs. The head of the community was the High Priest. He not only regulated all functions in the Temple ( the religious centre), but exercised secular power as a temporal pnnce. That temporal power vested in the High Priest's hands was to cause Judah much woe later and became one of the causes of its downfall. Distinct from the Temple, Houses of Praye/ wer springing up, called , SYNAGOGUES. The Synagogue ^^^MMMMMriMMMfr gradually developed a distinct ritual and Sabbath read- ings from the Pentateuch aria the Prophets became a permanent institution. The religious activities and conditions here described were not limited to the Persian era, but continued to the Greek period that immediately followed. * A word about the literature of this post-exilic epoch. The most important of the later Biblical books are ascribed to it, notably : Chronicles, the Five Scrolls; 14 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. some Psalms, and even Job. It was further the time of literary activity in editing Bible books already writ- ten and deducing new law from Scripture. But noth- ing appears now of the prophetic style of writing. Haggai, Zachariah and Malachi were the last, and already we miss the prophetic grandeur. The days of prophecy were over. There are no great names. Yet, under the title of "Men of the Great Synagogue," some noble masters of the Law contributed splendid service while renouncing all personal recognition. A sacred collection accepted as books of authority on religious life is callect tne CANON, a Greek word llWSUlliig rule, it was a work of great responsibility. Nor was it completed at one time. Begun by the men of the Great Synagogue, its final completion was post- ned until nearly a century after the Christian era. The Bible books were placed in three groups L,A\ PRO>HWTS, WRITING^ This sequence marked both the order of their production and the order of their import- ance. The Law included the five books of the Pentateuch. The Prophets fell into two groups : The Former Prophets comprising the historic books from Joshua to Kings, illustrative of the divine guidance of Israel. The Later Prophets were the prophetic books proper first, the three largest Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel; then the twelve smaller prophetic books from Hosea to Malachi. The third division, Writings, was a miscellaneous collection of scripture, some written very late indeed. They included Psalms, Proverbs, Job, the Five Scrolls (Megilloth), Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah and Chron- CLOSE OF THE PERSIAN RULE. 15 icles. Some books were well weighed before being admitted into this sacred library. Some of those not chosen are doubtless lost. Some found their way into another collection known as the Apocrypha. No, the post-exilic epoch was not a time of empty silence, but of tremendous activity. One of the most fruitful periods in our history. NOTES AND REFERENCES. Persian ideas unconsciously exercised their influence. Conception of future life and retribution beyond the grave was made more definite than in its earlier Biblical presentation. So too the belief in angels and evil spirits received further development. The Hebrew square characters now came to be used in place of the earlier form. That Israel laid stress on creed is further proved by the late date of the formulation of any Articles of Faith. Even the Creeds of Maimonides (end of nth Century) were drawn up rather to differentiate Judaism from Christianity and Mohammedanism than to explain its teachings to its own. Read "The Law and Recent Criticism," in the eleventh volume of the "Jewish Quarterly Review" (London, Macmillan) in reply to a criticism against Judaism as Law; Montefiore, "Bible for Home Read- ing," vol ii, pages 12-18, on the Law; Hibbert Lectures, 1892, Montefiore, parts of Chapters vi and ix on the Scriptures. Introduction Literature of the Old Testa- ment. Driver. (Scribner.) A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. CHAPTER II. GREEK AND JEW. The Greeks and the Jews have been the greatest con- tributors toward the higher civilization of mankind. Therefore we discern the hand of Providence in their meeting, for they influenced each other. The meeting of Greek and Jew is one of the great events of history, greater than many of the battles that have decided the fates of empires. Greece had already lived her most thrilling epoch when the meeting took place, but Plato, disciple of the moral philosopher, Socrates, had but recently passed away (347) and Aristotle, profoundest philosopher of antiquity, still lived. Macedonia had absorbed the other Greek principal- ities and ALEXANDER, now sole master, carried his army eastward in the hope of founding a universal empire. Whenever he conquered a land, he colonized it with Greeks and thus spread Greek civilization. Egypt, Asia Minor, Syria, Phoenicia and ultimately Ethiopia and India fell successively before his triumphant approach. The Persian empire of Cyrus, that had been fast decay- ing, was included in the great array of conquests. Tired of the intriguing adventurer placed over them, the Jews gladly welcomed the conqueror. Legend weaves a pretty story of the Jewish High Priest, Onias going forth with a company clad in white to meet Alexander, and that in this picture he saw the fulfillment of a dream. It is certain that they hailed this change of masters. In this rise and fall of empires a new group- GREEK AND JEW. 1 7 ing of countries took place. Judea became part of Celo-Syria (hollow Syria), a province whose bounda- ries reached from Lebanon to Egypt. Higher Syria formed another province in the neighborhood of the Eu- phrates. Samaria, once the capital of northern Israel, was chosen as the seat of the governor. The rebellious Samaritans were quelled, and Alexander gave the inter- vening land to the Judeans to whom he further showed his favor by freeing them from taxation during the Sab- batic year. This broad minded conqueror was indeed a second Cyrus to the Jews, but there was no Isaiah now to hail his advent or to interpret his triumphant advance in terms of divine purpose. A further reason for his kind- ness to the Jews may be due to the fact that some already settled in many places outside Judea, became his guides and interpreters when he entered the un- familiar realms of Asia. All too soon, in the midst of his ambitions, Alexander died in the year 323. Conflict among his generals fol- lowed, and the great empire was dismembered. After many wars, in one of which the Jews showed their re- ligious fidelity in submitting to slaughter rather than defend themselves on the Sabbath day, the empire was again divided into four kingdoms. They were the fol- lowing : The Graeco-Syrian, the Graeco-Egyptian, the Thracian and the Macedonian. Graeco-Syria, granted to Seleucus, included the greater part of Asia, with Persia as its centre. He introduced the Selencidean era named after him, later used by the Jews. This name too, came to be applied to the kingdom itself. Many Jews were invited to settle in the new capital Antioch l8 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. on its Mediterranean border. The next kingdom fell to Ptolemy Lagos and included Egypt and the adjoining lands, one of which was Judea. So the Jews now came under the sway of the Ptolemaic regime. It will be well to keep these geographical divisions distinctly in mind. The remaining two divisions of the empire, Thrace and Macedonia, hardly enter into this history. The Jews did not suffer in the change of rule. They were as free as before to live their own life. The High Priest continued as the head of the Jewish community whose centre was still Jerusalem. ALEXANDRIA, a sea- port named after the conqueror, was made the capital of Greco-Egyptian kingdom. Many Jews settled there, and it gradually became the most important Jewish community outside of Judea, both intellectually and re- ligiously. If there were Jews in Greek towns, so also were there Greeks in Jewish towns. This meant a mingling of the two races and a lessening of Jewish isolation. Alexander had brought the Greek tongue to the East and even the commercial interchange of com- modities brought necessarily with it an interchange of ideas. The first man of achievement to hear from in this epoch was the High Priest, Simon the Just. That he was called "The Just" tells much in a word. Like Aristides, he really earned his title. He rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, ravaged by war, and improved the water supply. Ben Sirach (one of the writers of the Apocrypha) compares him to the sun shining on the Temple of the Most High. Here is one of his maxims : "The world rests on three pillars, on the Law, on Wor- ship, and on Charity." He took a broad and moderate GREEK AND JEW. 19 view of life. When over-zealous souls would wish to impose upon themselves the abnegations of the Nazarite (See Numbers vi) he discouraged such extremes. "Why voluntarily renounce gifts that God in His love has bestowed for our joy?" That voices the spirit of Juda- ism. It is said that certain wondrous manifestations of Divine grace ceased with his death. These are but legends, but they show how much he was revered and loved. Joseph, the nephew of Onias, a man of resources, was appointed by Ptolemy Euergetes tax-gatherer of the Palestinian lands. It was a position of great import- ance, and made him practically governor (230 B. c. E.) of all Palestine with title of Satrap. He exercised his power with severity. Still he brought wealth and im- provement to Judea and awakened in the Jews a greater confidence in themselves. Certainly contact with the Greeks widened the hori- zon of the Jews, furthered their culture, and gave them a taste for the arts. But Greek civilization had perils as well as advantages nor was it transplanted to the East in its noblest form. The Greeks were fond of conviviality, so often the stepping-stone to immorality. That was why the prophets, from Samuel on, so frowned upon Canaanitish revelries. Some Jews quickly imitated this pagan frivolity and dissipation. Joseph, the satrap, in order to please Ptolemy Philo- pater, the next Graeco-Egyptian monarch, introduced Dionysian (Bacchanalian) festivities in Jerusalem; these really meant drunken orgies. Next he imported to the Jewish capital dissolute dancing-women. These associations began to loosen the adherence of the people 2O A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. to Judaism's strictly moral code. Epicureanism, that sanction for indulgence, was beginning to take its place. In the meantime the greed and ambition of kings changed the map once more. Antiochus the Great, of Syria, seized Egypt in 203. This transferred Judea from the Egyptian to the Seleucidean rule. Warring nations had played battledore and shuttlecock with the land of our ancestors since the year 600. Antiochus was checked by the newly rising power of Rome from retaining all the Graeco- Egyptian dominions, but Celo- Syria, including Judea, remained under his sway. In the struggle, some Jews sided with the Egyptian and some with the Seleucidean party. For Jews were be- ginning to differentiate; they were not any more all of one mind either politically or religiously. Led by the unfortunate example of Joseph and his successors, some Jews began cultivating Hellenistic habits to win favor with their Greco-Macedonian rulers. A Jewish leader of the Greek faction was one Joshua, who Gre- cianized his name to Jason. This worldly man encour- aged his people to neglect their Jewish ideals in favor of pagan standards of life. The safeguards built around the Jewish Law by the teachers of old were ruthlessly overthrown. But these traitorous extremes brought their own reaction. A pious party sprang up to counteract it and zealously determined to fulfill the Jewish Law in its strictest interpretation. These were the Chassidim (Greek, Assidean), meaning the pious. Here then were two extreme parties in Israel one, the Hellenists, whose mania for everything Greek made them almost traitors to the Jewish cause; and on the other hand the Chassidim, who observed the law with JUDEA FIGHTS FOR ITS FAITH. 21 a rigidity greater than its own demands; and in the midst the great bulk of the people, who tried to avoid the extremes of both. CHAPTER III. JUDEA FIGHTS FOR ITS FAITH. SYRIA JUDEA B.C.E. B.C.B. Antiochus III, the Great.. 223 Antiochus IV, Epiphanes. 175 Uprising under Mattathias 168 Judas Maccabee 167 Temple rededicated Ha- nukkah 165 Antiochus V, Eupater 164 Antiochus was succeeded by his son of the same name, an eccentric despot who claimed the title of Epi- phanes, the "illustrious," though in rabbinic literature he is called Harasha, the "wicked." The rule of this ill-balanced tyrant was to bring woe to Judea, for which their own internal troubles were in a measure respon- sible. Indeed, it was these discords that drew his at- tention to this particular province. The Hellenists, who had grown to quite a party, sought his interference in their behalf. Jason offered the king a bribe to make him High Priest and depose Onias, his own brother. What a blasphemy on the holy office to fight for its material powers ! The system was wrong as well as the man. Olympic games, gymnasia, were now introduced into Judea. These games were intimately associated with A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. the Greek religion, for they were accompanied by sac- rifices to Greek gods. Yet they also involved immoral- ities, so contradictory were some ancient conceptions of religion. Menelaus, another unscrupulous character, offered to Antiochus a still higher bribe for the priesthood and thus obtained it, regardless of the fact that it had already been sold to Jason. Like master, like man. Led from crime to crime, Menelaus became a traitor to his people. He robbed the Temple of some of its treasures to pay his bribe and then slew the deposed but worthy Onias because he had denounced the sin. The outraged people rose against Menelaus, but an armed guard provided by the king enabled him to hold his office by force, and saved him for the time being. At about this time (170) Antiochus, like his pre- decessor, attempted to seize Egypt. Some patriotic Jews in Alexandria showed active sympathy for the en- dangered nation. Therefore Antiochus on his return from the expedition took Jerusalem, making the rival- ries of Jason and Menelaus his excuse. This meant the slaughter of many souls and the desecration and plun- der of the Temple. Not content with this, Antiochus spread slanders against Judaism to justify his excesses. The rumor went forth, for example, that a golden headed ass was found in the Temple. Next year his further attack on Egypt was checked by Rome. Again he vented his rage on the Jews and determined to exterminate their religion as the most complete means of erasing their distinct individuality. Apollonios, his general, attacked Jerusalem on the Sab- bath day, when he knew religious scrupks would pre- JUDEA FIGHTS FOR ITS FAITH. 23 vent their resistance. Many more were slain and the women and children sold in slavery. A general plunder followed. The paganizing of Judea became now the determined policy of this tyrant. Therefore a decree went forth forbidding the recognition of the God of Israel and His Law and commanding the worship of Greek divinities "gods that were nothings," to quote the Psalmist. The Law was burned and the statue of Jupiter set up in the Temple. Jewish ceremonial, Sabbath festivals, the Abrahamic rite, were replaced by the sacrifice of unclean animals. At the same time other methods were employed completely to subdue the peo- ple. The same policy was applied against Jews in Syrian and Phoenician towns. But if some were weak enough to surrender their Faith, many were prepared to be staunch to it. Eleazar in Antioch met a martyr's death. Hannah, a mother in Israel, taught her sons how to die for conscience's sake. Martyrdom such as that found its counterpart in many scattered places. Not succeeding by threats and persecutions Antiochus re- sorted to arms. Again followed an unresisted Sabbath slaughter. The walls of Jeruslaem were leveled and Zion made a fortress with a Syrian garrison. Greek colonists were transplanted for the purpose of Helleniz- ing Judea. The country was placed under rigid sur- veillance. If a copy of the Law was found on the monthly inspection or an act of circumcision discovered, the punishment was death. Participation in the Dionysiac festivals was now a compulsion. Yet many dared resist. From the human point of view, opposition seemed madness, but religious zeal 24 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY counts not the material cost. In Modin, a town three miles north of Jerusalem, MATTATHIAS with his five sons John, Simon, Judas, Efeazar and Jonathan threw down the gauntlet and began the attack against the enemies of their Faith. The old warrior sent this message to the people : "Whoever is zealous for the Lord and whosoever wishes to support the Covenant, follow me." That became the rallying cry. The little band deposed the Syrian overseer and guard. This de- cisive act was throwing down the gauntlet to Antiochus. Once more when attacked on the Sabbath, the Jews submitted to slaughter. Then they came to the realiza- tion that self-defense was their duty, even though on that holy day. Were they not fighting for a holy cause? They began at first guerilla warfare on apostates and heathens. Avoiding regular attacks, they would swoop down with a bold dash on a town to punish and reform. Next year (167) Mattathias died. Simon became the counselor and JUDAS was chosen commander of the trusty band of revolutionists. He was Israel's greatest warrior since David. The title given him was trans- mitted to his party Maccabeus, the Hammer. It would be an interesting study to follow what the Ham- mers have achieved in history from Gideon to Charles Martel. But a something more than generalship was to decide this contest Faith. Judged by material standards, it seemed like a forlorn hope, but the intrepid bravery of this staunch band fighting pro aris et focis, "for their altars and their hearths," increased the num- ber of their adherents and even won back the allegiance of some who had almost drifted from the fold. The first victory over the Syrians was small, but JUDEA FIGHTS FOR ITS FAITH. 2$ Appolonius, the general who had been entrusted with carrying out the persecuting laws, was slain. In a second engagement they were attacked at Beth Horon, north of Jerusalem, and Judas won here a still more de- cided success over an army much larger than his own. Antiochus became alarmed. He had not the means to raise a large army to meet this unexpected opposition, because all his resources were taxed to meet troubles in other quarters Parthia, Armenia, Phoenicia. Angered at the rebellion of this petty people, he now determined on their extermination, Hellenists and all. He sent Lysias with full power to Jerusalem to raze the city to the ground. To the Syrians the Jewish defeat seemed so certain that slave-dealers with money and chains followed the army, sure of a harvest in their repulsive trade. A horror like unto that of Shushan in Esther's days spread over the doomed city. But it raised champions, even among the Hellenistic Jews, who were still attached to their Faith when the decisive test came. It was in the year 166 that Lysias sent an army of four thousand men into Judea under the generals Ptol- emy, Nicanor and Gorgias. But Judas Maccabeus had now a well organized force, although it consisted of but six thousand men. Before the struggle began he called a solemn assembly at Mizpah, where Samuel had gathered Israel nine hunderd years earlier, ordered a fast, conducted a service of prayer and read the Law. In reading the story of the Puritan war against Charles I. of England and their singing hymns before the battle, we are reminded of the religious earnestness of these Maccabeans. The usual proclamation that you will 26 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. find in the twentieth chapter of Deuteronomy was now read, excusing certain classes from the ranks, which re- duced the army still more. Then the struggle once more began. By a clever stratagem Judas Maccabeus met the Syrian army on a plain nej|r$immaus, not far from the capital. With the words of the Law on his lips and with an encouraging appeal to fight for the holy cause, he gave the signal to advance. Defeating the first contingent of the enemy before the main army came up, the next battalion fled without fighting. The moral effect of this decisive victory was most valuable, apart from the fact that the booty obtained supplied arms to all the force of Maccabeans the sinews of war both in a literal and metaphoric sense. But Lysias dared not be beaten. He therefore sent a big army against Judas, whose force had meanwhile increased to some ten thousand. The Syrians chose a new route to Beth Horon, but only to meet the old de- feat. This was the turning point in the war. The struggle was not over, but confidence was restored and a respite gained. Judas Maccabeus marched to the capital and a sorry picture of desolation met his gaze. His first work was to remove all signs of idolatry and desecration. A new altar was built, the Temple was repaired and dedicated, and on Kislev 25th in the year 165, it was recon- secrated. The ceremony recalls Solomon's consecra- tion, not as splendid a ceremonial perhaps, but it meant far more. Solomon's Temple had cost treasure, but this had cost blood. It was more than a civil victory, it was a triumph of the divine cause expressed in Israel's mission. They fought for Zion as an idea JUDEA FIGHTS FOR ITS FAITH. 2/ rather than Zion as a city the "Zion from which went forth the law." They proved again that ideals can con- quer battalions. This great lesson is always brought home to us when we celebrate our festival of Hanukkah (rededication) instituted by the Great Council. The Syrian had been defeated. He was the enemy without. But a greater foe had to be conquered, the enemy within religious indifference, that lurked among the Hellen- ist worldlings and many faint-hearted souls throughout the land. The legend ran that when Judas Maccabeus wished to consecrate the Temple, but one flask of pure oil bear- ing the priestly seal had been left after the enemy's ravage. It was a measure that would last for a day, but marvelous to tell it served for eight, by which time new oil was prepared. The story is immortalized in the name Feast of Lights, and in its ceremonial, kindling an additional light in the week's festival, from one to eight. What is the meaning of the ceremonial and the story? It is the Maccabean victory told in poetry. First, Mattathias stood alone for Juda- ism's cause, a solitary light. Then came his sons ; then a tiny army growing instead of lessening with each con- flict, from two thousand to six thousand, from six to ten; and with the conquest on the field rose the faith in the hearts of the people. The tiny embers became a flame, and the flame burst into a conflagration. This miracle is found often repeated in Israel's history. The Feast of Lights is called a Minor Festival in our calendar, for reasons accidental rather than logical. It is hard to institute a new observance after a religion is crystallized. It is still harder to give it the old sane- 28 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. tion. Yet in very truth Hanukkah is a great festival. None question its authority all are thrilled by its stirring story. NOTES AND REFERENCES. Read "Banner of the Jew," poem by Emma Lazarus, and Judas Maccabeus, by Longfellow. Read Psalms Ixviii, xlii, Ixxxvi, Ixxxix; and from liii to lix, as- signed to this period. CHAPTER IV. DANIEL AND THE APOCRYPHA. In seeking to realize the critical time of "Storm and Stress," we shall be aided somewhat by taking a glimpse at its literature. For here we see pictured the struggles and sufferings experienced and the alternate hopes and fears that swayed the heart of the nation. We must mention first the Book of DANIEL, perhaps the latest of the Bible books. Its complete meaning is revealed only when we learn that it was a product of these times. This book is written in the form of a revelation of future events depicted through dream and vision to the God-fearing Daniel, one of the Babylonian exiles. These visions cover the incidents of the inter- vening period between the Exile in the Year 600 and the Maccabean uprising in 175 B. C. E. The first picture is the dream of King Nebuchadnez- zar, which Daniel who is as wise as he is good is able to interpret. The dream presented an image with DANIEL AND THE APOCRYPHA. 2g a head of gold, breast and arms of silver, the lower limbs of baser metal and clay. A stone cut without hands destroyed the image and then grew to a mountain that filled the earth. In the light of later events, it is thus translated : The golden head was Babylon, the silver breast and arms the dual kingdom of Media and Persia, the lower limbs of baser metal and clay was the Greek empire, split up into many principalities, com- pleting the picture down to the rule of Antiochus Epi- phanes. But what did the "stone" represent? It ex- presses the faith of the writer in Israel's eventual triumph and the spread of Judaism over the world. But it was doubtless written when the outcome was still uncertain. The same march of events is later repeated in visions to Daniel himself. The different kingdoms are now depicted in the figures of beasts that give the same as- surance of Israel's ultimate victory. In the third vision our attention is focused on the events nearer the Maccabean time. A ram with two horns is the Medo-Persian empire. A he-goat repre- sents Greece, its horn Alexander the Great. Four horns that uprose in its place are the four kingdoms into which his empire was split Macedonia, Thrace, Syria and Egypt, while a little horn that overthrows Judah's sanctuary is none other than Antiochus Epi- phanes. A last vision drops metaphor and mentions the king- doms by actual name. The persecutions under Antio- chus are vividly depicted : "They shall profane the Sanctuary, even the fortress, and shall take away the continual burnt 3O A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. offering; and they shall set up the abomination that maketh desolate. And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall be pervert by flattery; but the people that know their God shall be strom> and do exploits. They that be wise among the people shall instruct many. Yet they shall fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by spoil many days. Now when they shall fall they shall be helped with a little help (the Maccabees). And some shall fall, to try them and to purge and to make them white." (The last reference indicates the ennobling influence of martyrdom touchingly depicted also in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah). The death of these noble souls deepened the be- lief of this writer in the future life as demanded by divine justice: "Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to righteous- ness, as the stars for ever and ever." The book was certainly written by the pious author to inspire his brethren during that dark struggle, to urge them to be loyal to God and His Law with the staunch conviction that all would come right in the end. Daniel himself, who is further presented as dar- ing a fiery furnace and a lion's den, unswerving in his righteous determination to be true to the God of his fathers and saved from both stands forth as a thrilling and inspiring example. Who can say how many may have been nerved to be loyal and to "wait for God salvation" by these im- passioned pictures ? So. next to Judas Maccabeus, the DANIEL AND THE APOCRYPHA. 3! hero of the Hanukkah story, let us enshrine in our hearts and memories the unknown author of the Book of Daniel who fed the faith and the courage of Israel in their days of sorrow and darkness. Next we will turn to that collection of writings pre- viously mentioned,, called the APOCRYPHA, a Greek word meaning hidden or obscure. This title as applied to their use was to indicate that the books were used for private circulation, rather than for reading at pub- lic worship. The term as applied to their origin was to indicate that their authority as sacred scripture was not as decided as that of the Bible books. This last application has given a rather sinister meaning to the word apocryphal. But the collection is full of lofty re- ligious sentiment well worthy to be included in our most sacred treasures. Like the Bible, this collection was not written all at one time, nor in one land. It spreads over the period between 200 B. C. E. and 150 A. C. E., written there- fore under Persian, Greek and Roman rule; some in Judea, others in the lands of the Diaspera. While the term covers some writings of non-Jewish scribes, the Apocrypha proper includes the Jewish writings only, and only such will be considered here. These consist of fourteen books that occur in the following order : i and 2, T and II Esdras; 3, Tobit ; 4, Judith; 5, Additions to the Book of Esther To, Wis- dom of Solomon ; 7, Wisdom of Jesus, son of Sirach, or Ecclesiasticns ; 8. Baruch (with epistle to Jeremiah) ; 9, Song of the Three Holy Children; 10. History of Susanna; n, History of Bel and the Dragon; 12, 32 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. Prayer of Masses, King of Judah; 13 and 14, I and II Maccabees. Some are narrative, some prophetic or rather apo- calyptic, and some didactic. While the narratives arc not all histories, they are invaluable as depicting the inner life of the people, their brave struggles, their deep convictions, and their yearnings for better things. One idea seems common to all. Each story is presented as an illustration of the temporal trials of good men and women, like Tobit and Susanna, and the ultimate re- ward of their fidelity ; the edifying purpose throughout tending to foster the faith and courage of the people in time of tribulation. In this respect the apocryphal books resemble Daniel. While these books as a whole lack the freshness and originality and the exquisite simplicity of the best Bible books, they show none the less an advance in thought and survey. There is more mysticism in the apocry- phal writings. Wisdom is personified, almost merging into a being. Angels and spirits play a larger part. Immortality is brought to the fore, and Asmodeus, a sort of devil, appears upon the scene. Some of these ideas, such as the personification of wisdom and the existence of a devil, were further fostered in Christian- ity and developed into distinct doctrines, while the in- herent rationalism of Judaism gradually threw them off. Let us consider the BOOKS OF THE MACCABEES, for these are the classic authority on the Maccabean up- rising. The first Book gives a graphic picture of the struggle and the events that led up to it. It is also our source for the subseqttent events which will be related DANIEL AND THE APOCRYPHA. 33 in due course, carrying 1 the narrative down to 135 B. C. It is written from the strict standpoint of the Chassidim. These, it will be remembered, were the extremely pious party. It is couched in sober historic style. Its value as authentic Jewish history cannot be over-estimated. Written originally in Hebrew (or Aramaic), it un- fortunately has come down to us only in a Greek trans- lation. The second Book of Maccabees was written in Greek and is a condensation of a larger work. It confines it- self to the series of events between 175 and 160. Though written in more ornate style, it is less reliable; but it contains some interesting stories, such as the martyrdom of Eleazar, Hannah and her seven sons. Like Daniel, it is written to edify and inspire. We have space here only for a detailed notice of Ben Sirach and Wisdom of Solomon, as indications of the influence of Greek thought at its best on Jewish think- ers. Together with the Bible books of Proverbs,' Job and Ecclesiastes, they form a group called "Wisdom Literature." A large part of both books is devoted to the value of wisdom, but it is that wisdom the begin- ning of which is the fear of the Lord. The Wisdom of Jesus (Greek for Joshua), Ben Si- rach or ECCLESIASTICUS is a commentary on the times. It was written about 180, in Judea, before the persecu- tion began under Antiochus, the Syrian, who was so little Greek and so largely pagan. It urges obedience to the Lew arid Commandments and gives copious rules of conduct in every relation of life. 34 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. Ben Sirach was a Jewish scribe. Some of his say- ings are edited and some are original. Here are a few quotations : Woe to the sinner that goeth two ways. Wine and music rejoice the heart, and the love of wisdom is above both. The knowledge of wickedness is not wisdom and the prudence of sinners is not counsel. They (the laboring class) maintain the fabric of the world; and in the handiwork of their craft is their prayer. He that sacrificeth of a thing wrongfully got- ten, his offering is made a mockery. As one that slayeth his neighbor is he that tak- eth away his living. As God's mercy is great, so is His correction also. Before man is life and death, and whatsoever he liketh shall be given to him. There is a shame that bringeth sin, and there is a shame that is glory and grace. A slip on the pavement is better than a slip with the tongue. Depart from wrong and it shall turn aside from thee. The influence of Greek ideas on Ben Sirach is slight, on WISDOM OF SOLOMON it is pronounced. Indeed, this latter book was written in Greek, in Alexandria, the centre of Hellenist government. Its date is about 100 B. C. Like most of the books of this collection, it is ascribed to one of the great men of the Bible. Here King Solomon exhorts the rulers of the earth to seek wisdom and to shun idolatry. He expatiates on the influence of divine wisdom on life as exemplified in the DANIEL AND THE APOCRYPHA. 35 noble souls of Israel's great past. Here are some ex- tracts : Beware of murmuring which is unprofitable: and refrain your tongue from back-biting: for there is no word so secret that shall go for nought. Honorable age is not that which standeth in length of time, nor that is measured by number of years. If riches be a possession to be desired in this life, what is richer than wisdom that worketh all things? Fear is nothing else but a betraying of the suc- cours which reason offereth. For these men [idolaters] there is but small blame, if they perad venture do but go astray while they are seeking God and desiring to find Him. Even if we sin, we are Thine. But we shall not sin, knowing that we have been accounted Thine: for to be acquainted with Thee is perfect righteous- ness. Court not death in the error of thy life. God made not death, nor delighteth He when the liv- ing perish, for He created all things that they might have being. Wisdom is the effulgence from everlasting light, and the unspotted mirror of the working of God, and the image of His goodness. NOTES AND REFERENCES. The discovery of fragments of the original Hebrew text of Ecclesiasticus was made by Prof. Solomon Shechter. See a number of articles in Vols. X. and XII. of the "Jewish Quarterly Review." (Macmillan, London.) Compare the treatment of wisdom in Proverbs ( viii.) and in Ecclesiasticus. In addition to the quotation from Daniel on immor- 36 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. tality quoted in this chapter, we append here further Biblical quotations that express this belief: Ezekiel, xxxvii ; Hosea, vi-2; Isaiah, xxvi-ig; Ecclesiastes, xii- 7; Psalms, xvi, 9-11 ; xvii-15; Proverbs, xii-28. Montefiore, "Bible for Home Reading" Vol. II, Sec- tion I, Chapters II to V ; Section V, Chapter II. Driver "Daniel," Cambridge Bible. (Cambridge University Press.) CHAPTER V. JUDEA FIGHTS FOR ITS INDEPENDENCE. SYRIA JUOEA Demetrius I, Soter 162 Judas Maccabee died .... 160 Jonathan, High Priest and Tributary Prince 152 Alexander Balas 150 Demetrius II, Nicator 145 Simon Judea independ- ent 142-13* Antiochus VII, Sidetes ... 138 Demetrius II again; . . . 128 Antiochus VIII 125-96 This Temple consecration was the climax of the Maccabean story, but it was by no means its close. The worship had been restored, but the struggle to assure its perpetuity was not yet over. Independence was yet to be won, nor were animosities at home quite forgot- ten. It was an armed peace at best. Judas Maccabeus must now build new fortifications against possible in- vasion. The petty nations around all looked on with ill-concealed hatred. Those who in many instances had become Syrian allies had now to be met on the field. JUDEA FIGHTS FOR ITS INDEPENDENCE. 37 The alert and energetic Judas marched out once more and subdued the Idumeans and Ammonites and won peace and security for his people dwelling on their borders. Appeals from brethren whose possessions had been despoiled and their families slain reached him from many sides. With the aid of his brother Simon, whom he despatched to Galilee while he marched to Gilead, these heathen raids were suppressed. Jewish refugees were brought to Judea. So there were new rejoicings at these victories on his return next year (164). The fight for the restoration of the Jewish faith was now over, but the fight for the restoration of the Jewish nation had only just begun. Not for very long was Judas allowed to rest. It is far easier to take up the sword than to lay it down. The never-sleeping Syrians were again in the field, de- feating two of his generals. But once more victory crowned his arms. In the same year Antiochus, hu- miliated with defeats in Parthia and Persia as well as in Judea, came to a sad end. His death left two rival governors for the regency of the Syrian kingdom. The obstinate Hellenist party within Israel, who had not yet learned their lesson, appealed to the new mon- arch, Antiochus Eupator, to take up their cause. So war broke out again in 163. It was the Sabbatic year, when nothing is sown and when the land is allowed to lie at rest. (See Leviticus xxv.) So these circum- stances added further embarrassment to the normal evils of war. It meant scarcity of provisions and the terror of long siege. Siege was a usual phase of an- cient warfare. A brave fight in the open field against large odds brought reverse to the Maccabeans. One of 38 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. the brothers, John, died on the field, a martyr to his bravery. He stabbed an elephant supposed to bear the king, though like Samson, he must fall in the overthrow he designed. The army retreated before the second siege was begun. Meanwhile Philip, the rival regent of Syria, raising an army against Lysias, compelled his withdrawal from Jerusalem. So Lysias concluded an honorable peace with the Judeans, allowing them the religious liberty for which they had at first taken up arms. The blessings of peace were now theirs for a space. Judas Maccabeus was made High Priest. He was not of the priestly line, but the office involved the wielding of temporal as well as spiritual authority. For the former, none more fitted than he. Yet the strict party were not satisfied that it should pass from the tradi- tional priestly family. The Hellenist menace had not yet disappeared, though Jason and Menelaus, its fathers, were now both dead. This party now sup- ported a new Syrian claimant against the one endorsed by the Maccabeans Demetrius (162), whose agent, Bacchides, appointed one of these very Hellenists, Al- cimus, as High Priest. Thus discord was sowed anew in Israel. The Syrians with large armies twice repulsed the small army of Judas, but Nicanor, the cruel general of Demetrius, was slain. This brought such relief to the Jews that "Nicanor Day" was celebrated in Judea for some years as a day of rejoicing. Judas was certainly at the head of the commonwealth now, even though he did not exercise its priestly functions. Hearing of Rome's great power and recognizing that it exercised a JUDEA FIGHTS FOR ITS INDEPENDENCE. 39 kind of sovereignty over Syria, Judas entered into an alliance with it, but too late for its interference to be of aid. For he had now to meet a larger avenging army under Bacchides with a meagre force, discouraged by persistent war and overwhelming odds. With but a few hundred men, he went forth to meet the picked thousands of his foes, as brave and as determined as the Greeks at Thermopylae. When defeat was certain he yet stood fighting and undaunted till wounded unto death. So died a great man who had wrought salva- tion for Israel. He had made Judah a nation of war rior heroes exalted by religious zeal. His name, his spirit, continued to inspire them to determined resist- ance against foes without and within. Their religious liberty gained at such fearful cost, even Demetrius, though now holding Judea in subjection, no longer dared defy. With Judas the Great and his brother John both dead, with Alcimus. the Hellenist, as High Priest, and with a Syrian garrison in the capital and all the sur- rounding places, there was more or less conflict and demoralization. The outlook was not promising. But JONATHAN, another of Mattathias' five sons, a worthy brother of Judas, kept the Hasmonean party together. So, although from the death of Alcimus, there was no High Priest or political head for seven years, still the confidence of the Jews in Jonathan quietly grew; and be enabled them to hold their own in a new uprising. Indeed, he made them strong enough for Bacchides lo enter into terms of peace. At this juncture Jonathan was recognized as their official head. The Hellenist 4O A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. party quietly died out ; they never had the people behind them. When the Syrian throne was seized by an adventurer, Alexander Balas, he realized sufficiently the impor- tance of Jonathan to appoint him High Priest and Tributary Prince in 1 52 ; though the deposed Demetrius now sought Jonathan's aid too. The tables were turned and Jonathan held something like a balance of power, for Demetrius still maintained a partial sway. Jona- than showed his foresight in remaining loyal to Alex- ander Balas, also to his son who became Antiochus VI. Loaded with honors, Jonathan was now given the golden clasp of independence, and his brother Simon made a Syrian commander. Loyalty to the Syrians meant hard fighting now for the Jews, but the oppor- tunity was given now to strengthen the defences of Jerusalem and to enable the city and the people to re- cover from the ravages consequent on a long series of wars. Judea had now an army of forty thousand men. They stood by Alexander Balas when all deserted him. Even then concessions were obtained from the new king, Demetrius II., showing that the Syrian power was broken. The treachery of Tryphon, a general of the new king, led to Jonathan's death and the massacre of a thousand of his men. It is hard to say to whom Israel owed the greater debt, Judas or Jonathan. Judas saved the na- tion at a perilous hour; Jonathan reorganized it and gave it an abiding strength. SIMON, the last brother, now placed himself at the head to rally and save Judea. This resolution, where only the non-resistance of despair was looked for, com- JUDEA FIGHTS FOR ITS INDEPENDENCE. 4! pletely upset Tryphon's scheme and saved Judea from disaster. Like Jonathan, he became at once by popular choice the religious and civil head of his people with the title, High Priest, included. He felt the time had come to throw off the weak rule of the unreliable, vacil- lating Syrian power, though this was far beyond the original expectation when the revolt began and far be- yond its aims. Yet the march of events made it a logi- cal sequence. He decided to recognize Demetrius II. against Tryphon on condition that Jewish independ- ence be recognized in turn. The terms were accepted "We release you from the crown which you owe us and we remit the taxes that we laid on Jerusalem." Verily, the yoke of the Gentiles was taken away from Israel. The Seleucidean Era was now renounced together with the Seleucidean sway, and the reckoning of years began anew from 142 with the accession of Simon as High Priest, Commander of the Army and Prince of the Nation. This marked again the independence of Judah that had been lost since the year 600 B. C, when Nebuchadnezzar overthrew Jerusalem and its Temple and took the Jews into Babylonian exile. NOTE. Jewish shekel and half-shekel coins of Simon's time are still in existence. (See Anglo-Jewish Historical Exhibition Volume.) 42 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. CHAPTER VI. IN THE DIASPORA. Having brought our story to the close of an epoch, we will pause and glance at the status of the Jew in other lands. The dispersion in a voluntary way had already begun, though Judea was still the centre of gravity. The sway of the High Priest reached not only to the Palestinian provinces Phrenicia, Samaria, Galilee, Gilead, Edom and Philistia but extended through parts of Asia Minor and lands on both banks of the Mediterranean Sea. These lands of settlement in the First and Second Centuries before the Christian Era outside of Palestine are called the Diaspora. The land that next to Judea contained the largest number of Jews was Egypt. Our narrative has been moving to and fro between these two lands. In no country out- side of Greece itself was the Greek spirit so completely diffused as in Egypt. Alexandria, its new capital, dis- placing it as the intellectual centre of the world, was quite a colonial Athens, and while the Greek civiliza- tion at its worst was tinctured with an enervated orien- talism and had much in it debasing, yet the Greek spirit at its best also found its way to Alexandria, and its in- fluence was intellectually broadening and elevating on the Jews resident there. It has already been pointed out that the meeting of Greek and Jew was to be of lasting consequence to the world at large. Under this Greek regime the Jews were given equal- ity in Egypt, and also in Cyrene (on the coast of the adjoining country, Lybia), at least officially. The IN THE DIASPORA. 43 Greek- Egyptian royal house was called the Ptolmaic, from Ptolemy, the family name of its kings. Ptolemy Philometer was a contemporary of Antiochus Epi- phanes, and many Jews fled from Palestine to take refuge under his benevolent sway. The Jews have always concentrated in large cities when settling in other lands where they would find themselves a small minority. This has been a source both of strength and weakness to them. Can you see why? The Delta, an Alexandrian district on the sea- coast, was wholly a Jewish colony. The Jews partici- pated in both the commercial and intellectual activities of this famous capital of antiquity. They exported grain, formed artisan guilds, and established schools which were also their synagogues. Onias, son of the Jewish High Priest of the same name, was the most re- nowned of the Judean settlers. He was entrusted with an army in one of Philometer's campaigns. He was likewise chosen by the Judeans of Egypt as their Ethnarch (governor), to direct the affairs of the Jew- ish community. Around him the people coalesced into a strong body. He conceived the idea of building a Temple for the benefit of the Alexandrian Jews whom distance prac- tically debarred from the benefits of the Temple in Jerusalem. If right at all, the right to establish it was most naturally his as heir of the High Priest at Jeru- salem. Yet it was a bold step, a daring precedent, since only one sanctuary, that at Jerusalem, had been recognized since the days of Josiah. Such was the law. (See Deut. xii, especially verse 13.) It was, not un- naturally, condemned by the Jews of Jerusalem. We 44 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. would say, if it was a daring innovation, it was abun- dantly justified under the changed conditions. The Deuteronomy law was of great value at the time in preventing the spread of idolatrous notions through the ministrations of ignorant village priests; but "New occasions bring new duties." Again, the two-and-a- half Tribes in the days of Joshua (see chapter xxii) offered a precedent when they built a second altar on their own side of the Jordan. Lastly, it was almost a realization of the exquisite Messianic picture in Isaiah xix, 19-25, where an altar would be built in Egypt, and Israel, Assyria and Egypt would be united under God's blessing. However, built it was, at Leontopolis, in old Goshen, land of early Israel's sojourn, and near the famous Memphis. It received royal sanction and aid. Philometer's confidence was further shown in ap- pointing Onias Arab-arch, i. e., commander of the Arabian province Heliopolis, and also custodian of the Nile ports. But his interest in Israel was further mani- fested in his hearty endorsement of the translation of the Jewish Scriptures. This translation was made in- cidentally for the Greeks, but really for the Jews. He- brew was growing more and more of a strange tongue to the new generation in Alexandria and its surround- ings. Even in Palestine proper they no longer spoke Hebrew, but Aramaic, a sister tongue. A translation oi the Bible had already been made in this language, called Targum. Indeed, the books of Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah are written almost wholly in this lan- guage. But, furthermore, this translation gave the de- sired opportunity to the Jews to explain their faith and IN THE DIASPORA. 45 literature to the people with whom they were now brought in friendly contact, and would silence the slanders of ill-wishers such as the Egyptian priest Man- etho. At first only the Pentateuch was translated, each Book entrusted to a different authority. A pretty story that we must not take too seriously says it was entrusted to seventy-two persons, six from each tribe. The tradi- tion survives partly in its name SEBTUAGINT (seventy), written Ixx. The anniversary of this really great event was commemorated by the Jews as a holi- day. We may say that this translation of our Scrip- ture into this widely spoken tongue was the beginning of the mission of the Jew to carry God's Law to tht Gentiles. The Greeks were among the great educators of the world. Now the Bible was revealed in their tongue, it became the property of the world and its les- sons reached the hearts of many scattered far and wide. NOTES AND REFERENCES. So many Hebrew terms and constructions were used in this Greek translation that it became a modification of the language, a sort of Jewish-Greek. Septuagint. Schurer, "Jewish Life in the Times of Christ," 2d Division III, S. 33 (Scribner). This is a very valuable work on this era, but should be accepted with reservations. The fairest presentation of the Judaism of these times by a non-Jewish author is Toy's "Judaism and Christianity." Read article Alexandria, Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. I "Are there traces of Greek philosophy in the Sep- tuagint?" Freudenthal. Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. II. BOOK II. JUDEA INDEPENDENT PHARISEES AND SADDUCEES 49 CHAPTER VII. PHARISEES AND SADDUCEES. THE HASMONEAN DYNASTY ROME B.C.E. B.C.B. Simon 142 Final subjection of Car- John Hyrcanus 1 135 thage and Greece 146 Aristobulus I. 105 Pompey takes Syria and Alexander janneus 104 closes the Seleucidean Salome Alexander 78 dynasty 65 Aristobulus II 69 Pompey Takes Jerusalem 63 Hyrcanus II. (tributary 1st triumvirate, Caesar, to Rome) 63 Pompey and Crassus.... 60 Antigonus 46-37 Caesar 48 2r, d triumvirate, A n - tony, Octavius and Lepi- dus 44 Herod 37-4 1st Emperor, Augustus, 30 B.C.-14 A C. The new kingdom acquired de jure, must yet be fought for to be maintained de facto. The citadel of Jerusalem, as well as the city of Gazara, key to the mountain passes, had still to be mastered. Successful in both, Judah could enjoy some years of long needed peace. Simon furthered the religious as well as the political welfare of his country. The people could till their ground in peace at least, even if they could not all "sit under their own vine and their own fig-tree" ; for "there was none to fray them away". Simon, more- over, "strengthened those who had been brought low, the Law he searched out, and he beautified the sanctu- ary". (I. Maccabees.) The office of High Priest, maintained hitherto in a hereditary priestly family, was now transferred to the Hasmonean House, and hence devolved on Simon. He renewed the treaty with Rome, which had taken 5O A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. the place of Greece in becoming the greatest power in the world and the arbiter of nations. When Trypho was slain, Antiochus turned against the jews, but was defeated by Simon's sons. Alas, his fate was not to be an exception from that of the rest of his warrior brothers. None died a peaceful death. Simon, together with his sons, was treacherously slain by his own son-in-law, Ptolemy, an unscrupulous man, cruelly ambitious for the throne. JOHN HYRCANUS, the oldest surviving son of Simon, became the next Jewish ruler. So imperceptibly a royal house had been created, and the princely honor came to Hyrcanus by hereditary succession. In just that way have all Kingly lines been created starting with a great deliverer, like Judas Maccabee, Hyrcanus had not only to rout the new usurper before the kingdom could become his, but had also to resist the siege of Antio- chus VII., the next Syrian king,. who would not yet renounce Judea without another struggle. Peace was at last reached by Hyrcanus agreeing to the payment of tribute for a few outlying towns and an indemnity. This first repulse showed that the new kingdom was not very strong and that it owed its independence to Syrian weakness (due to the continued conflicts of rivals and pretenders) , rather than to its own material power. But Syria's embarrassment was Judah's oppor- tunity. J. Hyrcanus, once secure, began a vigorous campaign to enlarge his boundaries after Antiochus had been slain in a Parthian campaign. Very soon he had incorporated the old land of the Ten Tribes, now called Samaria. The complete conquest of the Samaritans was undertaken toward the end of his life. Their PHARISEES AND SADDUCEES. 5! famous temple on Mt. Gerizim was destroyed. Idumea (Edom) was also conquered and Judaism imposed by force, but that kind of conversion was always against the free and tolerant spirit of Judaism and against its very genius. We shall later see that it brought its own Nemesis and weakened the cause of Israel. Let us not forget that the rise of the Hasmoneans had come about in a measure through a conflict for religious integrity between the extreme pietists on the one hand, the Chassidim, and the worldly Hellenists on the other, with varied shades of opinion in between. These religious divergences had now crystallized into two schools that acquired the names PHARISEES and SADDUCEES. It is hard to say just when these distinc- tions began. Perhaps they were always there; for we meet the two groups conservative and progressive in all creeds and in nearly all eras. The division is natural. It marks broadly tl\e two grand divisions into which all human beings become grouped in organized so- ciety. Now let us consider in particular the distinctions that differentiated these two parties in the Jewish State. The Sadducees were largely composed of the priestly families the priestly caste, who were not necessarily the religious class. It corresponded rather to what we would call the aristocracy. In this party too were largely the military. They were faithful to the Mosaic Law, the Pentateuch, but gave slight allegiance to the later religious injunctions that came to be developed from the Law by the Scribes. As to their attitude toward life in general, they did not approve of holding aloof from the world, but encouraged a mingling with 52 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. it and entering into intimate commercial and political relations with other nations. They regarded it their patriotic duty to aggrandize the nation in every way and to make it a splendid power. The name Sadducee is derived from Zadok, of the family of Aaron, the chief priest of the time of Solo- mon's Temple, who thus gave his name to the priestly house, "Sons of Zadok." The Pharisees, while interpreting Biblical law more leniently in certain respects than the Sadducees, were determined supporters of all the mass of legal minutiae that had been evolved from the Law proper and which had become a "Second Law." These rites and cere- monies that were added to the original Mosaic code (occasionally by a rather forced deduction) they con- sidered equally binding with it. They called it the Oral Law to distinguish it from the Written Law, and the tradition was that it too was revealed to Moses. In their political policy they equally diverged from the Sadducees, believing in standing somewhat apart from the peoples about them. They looked askance upon too intimate relations with the world at large; for they believed that we should subordinate all interests, national and commercial, to the religious, trusting the outcome rather to divine providence than to the judg- ment of their statesmen or the enterprise of energetic leaders. Further, as against the priestly aristocracy, that confined all ecclesiastical functions to the priestly order, the Pharisees were more democratic in that they would extend the privileges of priestly sanctification and holiness to all. Purifying ablutions, they claimed, were obligatory on the whole people. Their meals PHARISEES AND SADDUCEES. 53 should also be consecrated, even as the repasts of the priests so that all Israel should be a "Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation." Hence, "Second Macca- bees," a Pharisaical work, declares, "Unto all are given the heritage, the kingdom, the priesthood and the sanctuary." These two characteristics of the Pharisees are ex- pressed in their name : Pharash, the Law expounder ; Pharash, the separatist though the former is probably its true derivation. The Pharisees, it will be seen, were the more pious, the Sadducees the more worldly ; though the Pharisees as a whole were not as pious as the Chassidim had been, nor the Sadducees as worldly as the Hellenists had been. The Sadducees again had less faith and denied belief in bodily resurrection or in judgment after death (though not necessarily renouncing immortality), on the strength of the famous teaching of Antigonus of Socho, "Be not as servants who serve the Master for the sake of reward, but rather as those who serve the Master without thought of reward." As distinct from the Pharisees they were strong believers in free-will, that the destiny of men is in their own hands. In their attitude toward life we might call them the rationalists. Some Pharisees again did carry the fulfilment of rites and ceremonies too far ; a few, perhaps, were even ostentatious in their piety. By strange mischance these few have transferred their dubious reputation to all Pharisees as such. Most unjustly however, for the Pharisees earned the confidence of the great bulk of the people. So strangely has that sinister repute persisted that Pharisee is to-dav defined in some dictionaries as 54 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. self-righteous or hypocritical. How undeserved as de- scribing that group of people whose trust in God was absolute, without reservation or misgiving. This is but one of many instances where the world's verdict has been unjust to the Jew. The noblest men of later days came from the Pharisees. We meet also a third party nearest in sympathy to the Pharisees. The old Chassidim, the extremists, had developed into the ascetics of the Jews, under the name of Essenes, with a similar meaning pious. They lived the life of a communistic celibate brotherhood. They hardly affected the national life of Israel, because they were too few and because they did not recognize pa- triotic obligations. They practiced all the self-denial of the Nazarites of old and sought to reach from cleanli- ness to godliness. Another derivation of the name Essene is "bather," Baptist, from their frequent ablu- tions. The Hasmonean House where did they beiong? Well, we might say that they began their career with all the religious enthusiasm of the Pharisees, they closed it with the political outlook of the Sadducees. This was something like an anti-climax. John Hyrcanus perhaps represents the dividing line. He started on a career of conquest simply to satisfy national ambition; though he had forced Judaism on the Idumeans. In his later years, he rejected many traditional observances of the Oral Law that completed his estrangement from the Pharisees. Taking a ma- terial and external survey, Hyrcanus left the Jews at the end of his life with an independent State, that in power and extent was as great as Northern Israel in its PHARISEES AND SADDUCEES. 55 palmy clays, as great perhaps as the realm of Solomon. He could mint his own coins, on some of which still in existence, we find inscribed, "Jochanan, High. Priest of the Commonwealth of the Judeans." Yes, it was all very splendid ! But surely the Jews had learned by now the insufficiency of national glory that was material and external, that that kind of splendor was apart from the Jewish ideal. "Not by might, not by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord." The age needed an Amos again. Alas, the era of the Prophets was over! NOTES AND REFERENCES. "Hasmonean" was the family name of Mattathias, afterwards assumed by his descendants. Pharisees and Sadducees. Geiger, "History of the Jews," Vol. i, Chapter viii. The fact that Jesus of Nazareth condemned the false Pharisees (See Matthew xxiii and Luke xi) has much to do with their general condemnation in literature. The Talmud is also bitter against the false Pharisees, the Zebuim, the tainted ones who do evil like Zimri and claim goodly reward like Phineas. In its severe denunciation of the false Pharisees, it divides them into six classes: i. Those who do the will of God for earthly motives. 2. Those ostentatious ones who go with slow steps and say "Wait for me, I have a good deed to perform." 3. Those who knock their heads against a wall because in their looking up they fear they may see a woman. 4. Those who pose as saints. 5. Those who say, "Tell me of another duty." 6. Those who are pious because of the fear of God. "Who are the genuine Pharisees?" asks the Talmud. "Those who do the will of their Father in Heaven be- cause they love Him." 56 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. CHAPTER VIII. A ROYAL HOUSE AGAIN. In ARISTOBULUS, eldest son and successor of John Hyrcanus, we see the Hasmonean further and further estranged from the generous spirit that called them to the fore. Judas Maccabeus wished only to be the savior of Judaism and the Jews, Aristobulus wanted but to be their KING. The story of Abimelech in the days of the Judges and Jotham's parable come forcibly tc mind. (Judges ix.) He imprisoned his mother, to prevent her succession to the throne, according to his father's wish, and likewise his brothers on suspicion of treason. Slander said he slew them. But Antigonus was his favorite brother, and he shared the royal power with him. He was certainly unpopular with the people, who accused him of being more Greek than Jew. Calumny made him even worse than he was, ascribing to his instigation the death of his beloved brother Anti- gonus, who was assassinated toward the close of his reign. He continued his father's policy of conquest, and together with his brother subdued portions of northern Palestine, including Galilee, and like his father again imposed Judaism upon them. While in both instances the motive for the forced conversion was probably ancestral pride, still it showed religious zeal too though not of the highest kind. The widow of Aristobulus, SALOME ALEXANDRA, released her husband's brother from prison at his death and by marrying ALEXANDER JANNEUS, the eldest, A ROYAL HOUSE AGAIN. 57 and raising him to the priesthood, he became king 1 . Like his brother, he was not a man of peace, but of war. He further increased Judea's territory by con- quest on the Western Philistine side bordering on the Mediterranean. He was not the man to quiet the growing dissensions between Pharisees and Sadducees, but rather to foment them. For the royal Sadducean party was getting more and more estranged in policy and aim from the national and religious aspirations of the people. There was a not always silent protest against the warrior king- officiating as High Priest. At the Feast of Taber- nacles, the people pelted him with their citrons, which they were carrying together with palms (lulab and esrog), symbols of the Harvest Festival. This could not end without a tragedy, and a large number were slain by his foreign mercenaries. This conflict grew into a civil war, both sides in turn hiring foreign troops,, and resulted in a terrible decimating of Judah's num- bers, the Pharisees losing most largely. Such is one of the evils of uniting religious authority with temporal power. The rebellion was finally put down, but only with an iron hand. This king, who could not be at peace, spent his last days in fighting the Arabians, who were just beginning to be Judea's most dangerous neighbor. He inherited from his Maccabean ancestors love of arms without inheriting their military genius. This meant much wanton waste of life and some reverses. How vain this purpose of spending blood and substance in ex- tending his territorial sway and making it nominally Jewish by force of arms, while fomenting religious an- 58 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. tagonism at home always destructive of religion itself. Such are the ironies of life. He left an even bigger State than his father, John Hyrcanus. Judea now meant the whole seacoast (with the exception of As- calon) from Mi. Carmel to Egypt and reached far east of the Jordan. The throne went by will to Alexander Janneus' widow, who, it will be remembered, was also the widow of his elder brother, Aristobulus. Upon her eldest son, Hyrcanus, Queen Salome bestowed the high priesthood. Her sympathies, however, were entirely with the Phari- sees. The exiles came back and political prisoners were released. The land enjoyed a pleasing contrast under her pious and gentle sway. All the Pharisaic ordi- nances abolished by the late king were reinstituted. In- deed, all the religious interests were placed in their hands. It was a prosperous, peaceful reign, and was looked back upon as a blessed day. In the stormy days that were to follow, it might well seem in retrospect, a golden age. We have seen that the High Priests were no longer the religious centres around which the people rallied. The Jews had outgrown the age of priestism, although the splendid ritual of the sacrificial altar still continued. The religious guides and teachers were the scribes, learned in the Law, who at this time appear in couples. Hence they are called the "Pairs." The first of each pair held the office of Nasi, or President of the San- hedrin, and the second that of Ad Beth Din, or Vice- President. A ROYAL HOUSE AGAIN. 59 These were: Flourished about 1. Jose ben Joezer and Jose ben Jochanan . . 170 B.C.E. 2. Joshua ben Perachia and Mattai the Arbelite 140 - no 3. Judah ben Tabbai and Simon ben Shetach . . 100 - 90 4. Shemaiah and Abtalyon 65 - 35 5. Hillel and Shammai. .-..,..,.., 30 Here are some of the most famous sayings attributed to them : Jose ben Joezer Let thy house be a meeting place for the wise. Cover thyself with the dust of their feet and quench thy thirst with their words. Jose ben Joezer Let thy house be opened wide and let the needy be thy household. Joshua ben Perachia Procure for thyself an instructor, possess thyself of a worthy associate, and judge every man in the scale of merit. Mattai the Arbelite Associate not with the wicked and flatter not thyself that thou canst evade punishment. Jehudah ben Tabbai Constitute not thyself dictator to the Judges. Shemaiah Love labor and hate pomp and suf- fer thyself to remain unknown to the head of the State. Simon ben Shetach flourished in this reign. He was brother-in-law of the king, by whom he had been never- theless imprisoned. But when the queen came to the throne, he was practically placed as the religious head of affairs. Simon ben Shetach and his associate Tab- bai reorganized the Council and hence were called "re- 6O A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. storers of the Law." From this time on the Pharisaic became the official interpretation of Judaism. In all large towns Simon ben Shetach established schools for young men for the study of Pentateuch and the laws interpreted from it. As President of the Council, he was very severe on those who infringed on the law. He was even called the Judean Brutus, as he did not spare his own son. He reinstated many cus- toms that had been neglected by the Sadducean regime. Among these was the joyous "Water Celebration" dur- ing Tabernacles, a trace of which still survives in the ritual of Shemini Azareth (the festival that follows. Succoth). The celebrations were accompanied by il- luminations and torchlight processions, religious music and dancing. The water drawing at the Spring of Shiloah was heralded by blasts of the priests' trum- pets. Another national custom revived was the summer "Wood Festival," on Ab 1 5th. It had relation to the use of wood at the altar fires, and was a further op- portunity for joyous unbending among the youths and maidens. The Pharisees on the whole were the more demo- cratic party, and decided that the maintenance of the Temple should be borne by all and not merely by vol- untary offerings of the rich few. This new law brought enormous revenues to the Temple which later became its menace, attracting the covetous rather than the wor- shipper. NOTES AND REFERENCES. Sayings of the Jeivish Fathers, Chapter I. Taylor : Cambridge Press. Translations and notes. These sayings, which form one book of the Mishna, will be found in the Sabbath Afternoon Service of the Jewish Prayer Book. RIVAL CLAIMANT FOR THE THRONE 61 CHAPTER IX. RIVAL CLAIMANTS FOR THE THRONE. Even before the good Queen Salome died, storm clouds began to darken the horizon of Judah. Her second son, ARISTOBULUS, inherited all his father's fierceness and tyranny. The throne had been naturally left to the elder brother, Hyrcanus, but the headstrong Aristobulus was determined to grasp the reins of power, though it might cause blood and treasure. So civil war began before the good queen had quite breathed her last. Hyrcanus, the weak, yielded, and all might have been well were it not for the interference of a new enemy who was eventually to bring about the ruin of the Jewish State. It will be recalled that John Hyrcanus had conquered the Idumeans and made them seemingly Jews. We shall now see the kind of Jews they were. One, Anti- pater, was the local governor of this Idumean province. He was a man who lusted for power and had absolutely no scruples as to the means of gaining his ends. He saw that with the weak Hyrcanus on the throne, he might become a power behind it. He began by insinuating himself into the favor of the Jewish nobility, and, ostensibly, as a pleader for justice, emphasized the evils of Aristobulus' usurpa- tion. Letting that poison work, he came to the innocent Hyrcanus and played upon his fears with a made-up story of conspiracy against his life. Most reluctantly was Hyrcanus persuaded to flee with him from Jeru- salem to an Arabian prince, Aretas. . Aretas was in- 62 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. duced to lend his aid in the expectation that Hyrcanus, once in power, would restore the cities Alexander Jan- neus had taken from the Arabians. So unhappy Judah was plunged in war again to gratify the unworthy ambitions of unworthy men. Aristobulus was defeated in battle by Aretas and was besieged in the Temple Mount. An interesting incident is told at this juncture that recalls the Bible story of Balaam. In the party of Hyrcanus there was a man, Onias, whom rumor said had brought rain in times of drought through his fer- vent prayer. He was now brought into the camp and asked to invoke God's curse on Aristobulus and his allies. But such prayer he considered blasphemous, therefore he voiced his petition to heaven in these words : "O God, King of the whole world, since those that stand now with me are Thy people and those that are besieged are also Thy priests, I beseech Thee that Thou wilt neither hearken to the prayer of those against these, nor bring about what these pray against those." Alas, the temper of warfare had not patience or ap- preciation with this sublime attitude. The man was stoned. But in a sense his prayer was answered. For the Aesop fable of the two bears quarrelling over a find, thus affording opportunity for a third to step in and seize it, was here to be exemplified. Rome was ever on the watch to bring all outlying provinces into her net. Pompey, her victorious general, whose head Julius Caesar was later to demand, was just now making his triumphant march through Asia. The brothers, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, appealed to his lieutenant. To leave the decision with Rome was a RIVAL CLAIMANTS FOR THE THRONE. 63 dangerous precedent, for the power that could grant a throne by its decision might also take it away. So, while it was rendered in favor of Aristobulus, it was as a vassal rather than as independent king that he held his throne for some two years. The real gainer was Rome. It had now the right to revoke its decision; and it did. The people, disgusted with their unworthy leaders who cared nothing for the nation, but only for its honors appealed to Rome to abolish the monarchy lhat had been gradually introduced and restore the old regime of the High Priesthood. But Aristobulus dared resist even Rome and en- trenched himself against invasion. This was fatal both for him and Judea. The Temple Mount was besieged. It was taken with frightful massacre by lustful Romans. This was in 63. Pompey entered the Holy of Holies (a sacrilegious act in the eyes of the Jews), in which, to his surprise he found no idol. He curtailed the Jewish State and made it tributary. Aristobulus must grace Pompey's triumph at Rome. So much for the vain conquests of John Hyrcanus and Alexander Janneus. They evaporated with a word from Pompey. Thus ended the Judean independence for which the early Maccabees had fought so nobly. It had endured but seventy-nine years. Over this tributary State Hyrcanus II. was made High Priest. The kingship created by the first Aristobulus was short- Jived indeed. 64 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. CHAPTER X. JUDEA UNDER ROMAN SUZERAINTY. Rome, from the city on the Tiber, had spread over all Italy. Then gradually it mastered the lands on both sides of the Mediterranean. Greece and Carthage were absorbed in the same year, 146. Soon its tide of con- quest reached to Asia, and all the lands won by Alex- ander excepting Persia were under its sway. When Syria, Judah's quondam over-lord, fell before its arms, it inevitably followed that Judea would eventually suc- cumb at its approach, even without the unhappy series of events that hastened it. In a sense Rome was be- coming the "Mistress of the World." Nor was her sway as transitory as that of earlier world powers Assyria, Babylonia, Persia and Macedonia. It was to endure for many centuries and it has left a lasting im- press upon the world's civilization. Already the captives that Pompey took to Rome, later freed and called Libertini, formed together with earlier emigrants the beginnings of an important Jew- ish community. Here later still we find this Jewish colony on the Tiber quietly influencing Roman affairs. Judea, with the rest of Palestine, was now placed under the general supervision of Rome's Syrian gov- ernor. Internally its life was not interfered with, but all temporal that is political power was taken from the High Priest. His authority was confined to the Temple. Both Aristobulus, who had escaped from Rome, and his son, Alexander, made foolhardy at- tempts for the throne, which only resulted in further JUDEA UNDER ROMAN SUZERAINTY. 65 curtailing of Judah's power. Yet another abortive at- tempt and thirty thousand of the defeated malcontents were sold into slavery. This chafing against its rule only brought Rome's mailed hand more fiercely against them. Rome now entered upon its own period of civil war when men lustful of power drenched their country in blood. In B. c. 60 Julius Caesar, Pompey and Crassus divided the Roman possessions between them and formed the First Triumvirate. Crassus, being given Syria, plundered the Temple treasures. On the death of Crassus, Caesar, ambitious for supreme power the fatal weakness of this really great man crossed the river Rubicon that was the boundary of his province of Gaul, made war on Pompey, who was soon slain, and held for a brief time sole sway. In 44 Caesar was killed by Brutus and Cassius. These in turn were overthrown by Caesar's avenger, Marc Antony, and a new Triumvirate was formed, consisting of Antony, Octavus (Augustus) and Lepidus. These were as dis- loyal to each other as the first group. Antony, seduced from his duty by the witchery of that fatally beautiful woman, Cleopatra of Egypt, was finally defeated and overthrown in the battle of Actium, 30. Octavius Au- gustus now held the reins alone and the Roman Em- pire was launched. Augustus, the first emperor, reigned from B. c. c. 30 to A. c. E. 14. These few outlines of Roman history will have to be kept in mind to follow events in Judea, for much was to happen to storm-tossed Israel between the first Trium- virate and the empire of Augustus. Every change in government at Rome affected the land of Israel. In- 66 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. deed, in all their subsequent history no great event oc- curred in the world without affecting the Jews in some way, and many of these world events were in turn in- fluenced by them. When Pompey was killed in 48, that arch-conspira- tor, Antipater, who had sided with him while in power, now with Hyrcanus, his puppet, professed friendship for Caesar, helping him with Jewish troops for his Egyptian campaign. Caesar extended favors to both. Hyrcanus as High Priest was once more given political authority, and Antipater was made Procurator of Judea. Mark the thin entering of the wedge. Permis- sion was granted to rebuild the walls of Jerusalw^i, and concessions and privileges were also conferred^ Jews of Alexandria and Asia Minor, for reached far. So the Jews sorely lamenj death. The political power granted to Hyr Priest carried with it the title of Ethnarch, governor of a province. But all power ercised by Antipater who, as Procurator of J|id< his son Phasael governor of Jerusalem, and hafPSon Herod governor of Galilee. How this intf&ding stranger had tightened his grip on the land ^-our fathers ! Herod was to play an important role in Judah's for- tunes. Already as governor of Galilee, a youth of twenty-five, he showed his masterfulness in the sum- mary execution of a marauder. Summoned to the Sanhedrin, and knowing how much Rome had reduced its power, he defied it ; for at this moment Caesar, hav- ing been slain, Cassius was master of Syria. He was JUDEA UNDER ROMAN SUZERAINTY. 67 aided by the craftily adaptive Antipater and Herod, who succeeded in squeezing money from Judea for the maintenance of their army against Antony. Herod was now made governor of Caelo- Syria and could snap his fingers at the Sanhedrin. Judea, in fact, was a prey to anarchy. In 42 Brutus and Cassius were defeated at Philippi by Antony and Octavian, and it seemed that an end had come to the fortunes of Herod. His father had been slain, caught in a final act of heartless duplicity against Hyrcanus. But Herod had the adroit cunning of his father and knew how to desert a sinking ship and change his allegiance to the man of rising fortunes. With plausible words Herod made his peace with An- tony. Nor could the complaints against him and his brother by the Jewish nobility avail any. On the con- trary, Antony made them both tetrachs subordinate governors of Judea at the expense of the weak and aging Hyrcanus. ANTIGONUS, a son of Aristobulus, taking advantage of a Parthian uprising, made one more effort to seize the Jewish throne. Herod was put to flight and Hyr- canus deposed altogether. This last scion of the Has- monean house held a brief royal sway from 40 to 37. He lacked the greatness of the earlier Hasmoneans to hold the nation and antagonized the Sanhedrin instead of attaching it to him. Herod, after varied shifts, sailed to Rome, making an appeal at headquarters. De- ceiving all by his plausibility, he obtained an appoint- ment as "King of Judea" from Antony's senate. But for that throne he must now fight the man in posses- sion. There followed a series of engagements in 68 A THOUSAND YEA*RS OF JEWISH HISTORY. which Jewish blood flowed freely. With the aid of Rome, Herod was of course successful, ultimately tak- ing Jerusalem itself. Antigonus was put to death, and this ended the Maccabean or rather the Hasmonean rule in Judea so gloriously begun a little over a cen- tury before. CHAPTER XI. HEROD. What had been the result of the attempt of Alexan- der Janneus to force Judaism upon Idumea? It had given Antipater, from the intimate relations created, the opportunity to make Hyrcanus his puppet, and ended by placing the Jewish crown upon the head of Herod who was absolutely unjewish in ancestry and sympathies and really a pagan at heart. Herod, in fact, delivered Judea to Rome that he might be made its vassal king. He had married Marianne, the beautiful daughter of the weak Hyrcanus a stroke of policy, to be allied in marriage to Judah's royal family. Undoubtedly he was a man of power of a sort, born to command ; but there was no soft spot in his nature. He had all the instincts of a tyrant, and neither scruple nor pity deterred him from carrying out his passionate will and his insatiable ambition. He inherited all his father's cunning allied to fine judgment and untiring HEROD. 69 energy. Though of undoubted bravery, he knew how to fawn before those in power. The first dozen years of his reign were marked by storm and conflict with enemies both without and within. The feelings of the Jews can be imagined in having this alien thrust upon them by all-powerful Rome and whose first act was to slay their patriots and confiscate their property. Rebellion was put down with a merciless hand. Step by step he carried out his relentless purpose and put to death all the survivors of the royal line, the flower of the Jewish nobility, and likewise every member of the Sanhedrin that had some years before censured one of his misdeeds. Very unwillingly he appointed his wife's brother as High Priest. It was a fatal distinction for the young man, for the people too openly expressed their regard for this scion of the Hasmonean line. What was the consequence? One day when refreshing himself in the bath, he was held under the water till life was ex- tinct. It was called an accident ! Alexandra, his moth- er, a hard woman, appealed to Rome through Cleo- patra to punish this murder. Herod wa,s summoned to answer for his conduct before Antony, but his plausible manner aided by bribery won his acquittal. The tyrant marked his return by the execution of his brother-in- law, to whom he had entrusted Marianne in his ab- sence, and against whom his jealousy imagined be- trayal. That Antony at this time gave part of Palestine proper to Cleopatra, including even a bit of Judea, and that Herod the Strong must bear it without protest, showed on what slender tenure he held his throne. So 7O A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. completely was he under Rome's control that Antony, to satisfy the whim of Cleopatra who disliked Herod, commanded him to undertake a campaign against the Arabians, while she secretly assisted them. When Antony fell at Actium in '31 in that contest between continents, Herod managed adroitly at the right moment to go over to the side of the victorious Octavius Augustus, Rome's first emperor. As a need- less precaution he put to death his own father-in-law, the aged Hyrcanus, to whose weakness he in a meas- ure owed his throne. Soon in the good graces of Augustus, he received back all the lands taken from him by Cleopatra. But before his departure for Rome to pay homage to Au- gustus, he had repeated the order given prior to his previous visit, that Marianne should be put to death in case his cause should take a fatal turn in Rome. Learning of this revolting plan in his absence, she up- braided him on his return. This gave his envious relatives opportunity to slander her and defame her honor. The jealous Herod believed the calumny against his innocent wife and think of it ordered her to be put to death, though, in his savage, sensual way he loved her. Remorse came too late, which wild excesses could not drown. Soon her mother followed her to the block on the better founded charge of conspiracy. More deeds of needless bloodshed were perpetrated by his wanton command until every remnant of the Has- monean house was destroyed. Herod was a renowned builder. He wanted to have a splendid capital with which he might dazzle Roman HEROD. 71 grandees and foreign plenipotentiaries. Notice the bent of his mind his conception of a monarch not a father of his people living up to an ich dien maxim, but the possessor of power and glory. He must needs have grandeur without, though there was misery enough within. So we have temples, amphitheatres, and hippodromes. He built for himself a palace that was a fortress too, with parks and gardens around it. New cities were laid out, not for the honor of Israel, but for the honor of Augustus Caesar, and named after him. Samaria was rebuilt and renamed Sebaste. He rebuilt a city on the coast and called it Caesaria, with a fine haven. One he named Antipatris after his father, another after his brother, Phasaelis; Agrippaeum, after Agrippa, and Herodium, a stronghold, after himself. Existing strongholds were restored and strengthened. Nor did he neglect to mark the outlying provinces with examples of his building passion. The old Temple of Zerubbabel now looked shabby among these fine edifices, and he determined to rebuild it. This was one of his great achievements. There was no religious motive whatever in the project, for he had built outside of Jerusalem many heathen shrines. The purpose was wholly worldly. If there is to be a Temple, let it be gorgeous to gratify vanity. It took many years to build and was not finished till long after Herod's death. The whole circumference of the Temple, including the fortress of Antonia connected with it, covered almost a mile. It must have been magnificent, for a proverb arose, "He who has not seen Herod's building has never seen anything beautiful." Yet, with all his grandeur, remember he was but a A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. subject king under the sway of the Roman emperor. He could not make treaties or war without the consent of the emperor, to whom he had to supply on demand troops and money. The introduction of heathen games in theatres and race-courses, in which the lives of gladiators and run- ners were lightly sacrificed to gratify the brutal instincts of the spectators, deeply grieved the faithful Jews. It was in such violent antagonism to the ethics of Juda- ism. But what could they do ? They were in the power of this pagan tyrant. He gathered in his capital, too, Greek litterateurs and artists. To these scholars were given state posi- tions of trust. But this was no more an indication of love of culture than Temple building was love of re- ligion. Ostentation was at the root of both. Yet the Pharisaic party (the great mass of the people) was too strong for him to carry his paganizing influence as far as he wished. He ungraciously yielded, out of prudence, now and then to the religious sensibil- ities of the people. The building of the sanctuary proper he entrusted to priests, nor were images placed on the Jerusalem buildings. But the Roman eagle was later erected over the Temple gate. For an attempt to remove the eagle, forty young men zealous for the law were burnt alive. The Jewish Sanhedrin was shorn of all power. He appointed unfit men as High Priests and removed them when they did not do his bidding. That such appointments should be left in his unsympathetic hands ! Finally, the people were heavily taxed to sup- port heathen splendor of which they did not approve. HEROD. 73 So his reign, so hateful to them, was maintained only by despotism and force. An attempt was even made to assassinate him. The people had to be watched by spies. Yet in the year 25 he brought all his energies to the fore to save the people from the consequences of famine. Let us remember this in his favor; also that he used his power to secure protection for Jews in the Diaspora. By paying lavish court to the emperor and his son- in-law, Agrippa, his territory was gradually doubled. A splendid kingdom viewed superficially, but it brought no happiness to this unscrupulous man. Peace in the home, domestic joy, these are the things that prowess and power cannot buy. The story of how this bar- barian had put to death his favorite wife, Marianne, has already been told. Two of her sons, Alexander and Aristobulus, were now grown to man's estate. But his sister, the wicked Salome, who had plotted against the mother, now tried to fill the king's mind with suspicions against her sons. In this purpose she was aided by Antipater, son of Herod by another of his wives. Learning that their mother had been put to death by their father's mandate, they openly expressed their anger, which so increased the king's suspicions, that he accused his sons before the emperor. The mild- ness of Augustus could only postpone the eventual tragedy the execution of the young men by order of their own father. Antipater the real conspirator against Herod, though his favorite son, was at last detected, and of course executed also. Surely the lat- ter days of this king were bitter. These domestic troubles were aggravated by bodily 74 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. disease and the knowledge that he was hated by his people. Determined to be mourned at all costs, he im- prisoned some of the most distinguished men of the nation with orders that they were to be killed at the moment of his death. Thus would he obtain a mourn- ing at his funeral ! Was not this the climax of savag- ery? This fiendish purpose was, however, never car- ried out, so he died unwept and unmourned. He is called "Great" to distinguish him from some puny Herods that followed in the fast dying Jewish State. We can call him "Great" only in the bad sense an awful example of the abuse of power in the hands of an unscrupulous and blood-thirsty man. NOTES AND REFERENCES. Marianne: Zirndorf, "Some Jewish Women." (Jewish Pub. Society.) Grace Aguilar, "Women of Israel/' In Talmudic literature "Edom" is often a disguised term for Rome, because in the Bible story Esau is the rival of Jacob. When we remember that Antipater and Herod were Idumeans (Edom) and that they practi- cally delivered Judea to Rome for the price of a crown, the rabbinic usage is peculiarly appropriate. CHAPTER XII. HlLLEL. Let us now take a glance at the religious life of Judah in this reign. Hillel was made president of the San- hedrin in the year 30. A new direction was given to the development of rabbinic Judaism under his guid- HILLEL. 75 ance. He was the greatest Jewish teacher since Ezra. Like Ezra, too, he came from Babylon, which had re- mained a Jewish centre since the exile, 600 B. c. E., and was to continue to be a Jewish centre for many centuries later. Pleasing stories are told of the sacri- fices made by this poor boy to gratify his thirst for knowledge, once almost frozen to death while lying on the roof to hear the discussion, since he could not hear it from within. Ultimately he was placed at the head of the Sanhedrin where at first he was a beggar at its doors. Great as he was as the expounder of the Law, he is perhaps best known by the sweetness of his character. None could put him out of temper, it is said. He united in himself gentleness and firmness. Many interesting instances are given of his evenness of disposition that disarmed the violent and won many a convert to the fold, where the brusqueness of his col- league Shammai often drove them away. He thus became the peacemaker. In this connection he taught, "Be of the disciples of Aaron loving and pursuing peace, loving mankind and bringing them nigh to the Law." His consideration for others went so far that a man of standing, becoming suddenly poor, he pro- vided him with a horse and servant that he might still enjoy some of the comforts of his earlier life. He is the author of the famous Golden Rule in its earliest form, uttered in reply to a heathen who would have him teach the whole Law while he stood on one foot. "That which is hateful to thee do not unto thy neighbor. This is the principle, all the rest is com- mentary." /6 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. In the following- maxims many phases of his char- acter are revealed : "He who wishes to raise his name, lowers it." "A name made great is a name destroyed." "My humility is my exaltation: my exaltation is my humility." "He who will not Jearn or teach deserves death." "He who does not progress, retrogrades." "Say not, 'when I have time I will study,' for you may never have leisure." "Trust not thyseif till the day of thy death." "In a place where there is no man, strive to show thyself a man." "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am for myself alone, what am I? And if not now, when ?" Do you realize how much is contained in that brief sentence? Unravel it and you will see revealed his philosophy of life. So gentle, he was yet, daring. Where an old law was abused, he ventured to modify it. The Law, for example, for release of debts every seventh year, made particularly for the benefit of the poor (Deut., xv), hampered the growth of trade in more complex times and changed a generous purpose into an occasional embarrassment. In such cases Hillel allowed the stip- ulation to be stated in the contract that the law of re- lease was to be suspended. To Hillel is due the important service of devising a logical system of deduction by which laws to meet new needs could be developed out of the simpler and briefer Bible code. It must be confessed that these deductions were ocasionally far-fetched. None the less HILLEL. 77 the custom prevailed among the rabbis to make laws for all exigencies in that way for many centuries to come. The practice arose from the reverence paid the Law that induced them to seek authority for every regulation they found needful, in the pages of Holy Writ. We might say it was a virtue carried to the extreme of a fault. Hillel's Seven Rules gave new force to the Oral Law. So he was called the "Re- generator of the Law." In Hillel and Shammai the "Pairs" referred to in Chapter viii reached their culmination. A teaching of Shammai ran, "Say little but do much." These two men were the founders of two distinct schools of interpretation of Jewish Law. They were as distinct in their character as in their exposition of Scripture. Hillel was broad, tolerant and original; Shammai narrow, strict, and conservative. Hillel's opinions were usually accepted by later generations. "Where go you, Master," said his disciples one day when he hastened from the house of learning. "I go to meet a guest," Hillel replied. "Who is this guest of whom thou so often speakest?" The sweetness of the master's face deepened into earnestness. "My guest is my soul. Too often in intercourse with the world must its claims be pushed aside." But the day came, as indeed it must, when the soul was summoned to a greater tribunal than his own. The day of Hillel's death was a day of mourning in Israel. "O. pious, gentle, worthy follower of Ezra," cried the sorrowing people. Such was the love and esteem in which he was held by the scholars of his own and later ages, that the pres- 7& A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. iclency of the Sanhedrin was kept in his family for four centuries, thus almost treated like a Royal Line; and in this way his memory reverenced for many gen- erations. To the Shammai school we owe the many stringent prohibitions with regard to the Sabbath and to ec- clesiastical purity. They objected even to teach the young to visit the sick and comfort mourners on the Sabbath day. We are glad to state that Jewish practice has taken the opposite view. The rabbis of the Sham- mai school were severe in their religious decisions, in the interpretation of patriotism and in their views of life generally. We might compare them with the first Puritan settlers in America. This school was against the admission of proselytes from the heathen. Yet in those stormy times, these severe views against the heathen found the larger fol- lowing. From these doubtless came the band of ZEALOTS those awful irreconcilables whose fanatic hatred of Rome and its institutions became almost a religion, and whose deeds form a lurid chapter in Judah's closing days. NOTES AND REFERENCES. See Geiger's History of Judaism, Vol. I, Chap. VIII. Sayings of Jewish Fathers, Taylor, pp. 34 to 37. Hillel, Jeivish Encyclopedia, Vol. VI. HEROD'S SUCCESSORS 79 CHAPTER XIII. HEROD'S SUCCESSORS. The selfish Herod had split up his kingdom among his three sons Archelaus, Antipas and Philip. Before Rome had yet confirmed the succession, and while a procurator was placed in temporary charge, already the sons were intriguing against each other. Rome carried out Herod's wishes, only that his sons were made Tetrarchs (governor of a fourth part of the province), instead of kings. How steadily Rome moved toward its purposed end! Archelaus was made Tetrarch of Judea Samaria and Idumea. The realm of Antipas was Galilee and Perea, the Jordan dividing the two districts. To Philip was given the remaining provinces of Bacanaea and Tra- chonitis in northern Palestine. A brief word on each of these principalities. PHILIP held a mild sway for thirty-seven years. There is nothing to record in these outlying provinces, partly because they were far removed from the Jewish centre of gravity. The realm of ANTIPAS often mentioned in the New Testament, was a little nearer. His recognition of Judaism was only formal. He inherited all his father's vices and like his father, too, he was a great builder. He built Emmaus in Galilee, and Tiberias on the Lake of Gennesaret. In his reign flourished John the Baptist in Perea, and also Jesus of Nazareth in Galilee, of whom we shall have much to say. As this term, Baptist, was applied to the Essenes because 80 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. of their frequent ablutions, as already suggested, John may have been the leader of that party. We know that John preached in the wilderness in the neighborhood of the Jordan, the centre of the Es- senes. His bold words, in which he denounced the king, led to his imprisonment, on political grounds, as an agitator. His influence on the people was feared by Rome, for it was hard then to separate religion and politics. It is sometimes hard now. It is said he was finally put to death at the wish of Herodias, a wanton woman, to marry whom Antipas had divorced his wife, the daughter of an Arabian king. This not only in- volved him in a disastrous war, but Herodias caused him eventually the loss of his government and his free- dom. For at her investigation, aiming at a kingship, he was banished, and his tetrarchy given to Agrippa, of whom we shall hear later on. To come now to Judea proper which, together with Samaria and Idumea, was entrusted to the unfit ARCHELAUS; like his father he, too, had to secure his throne through bloodshed. Plots and counterplots with the appearance of pretenders for the thrones of Judea and Galilee, characterized this unhappy time. The Jews were disgusted with the rule of Rome and its creatures, and some began open rebellion. Varus, the Syrian governor, finally quelled the revolt, but thousands were slain. Had the Jewish malcontents been organized under trustworthy leadership, some- thing might have been achieved. As it was, it ended in their complete subjection. There is little else to tell of the reign of Archelaus. HEROD'S SUCCESSORS. 81 Serious charges were brought against this tyrant, so serious that the emperor recalled him to Rome and deposed him. He had reigned ten years, 4 B. C. to 6 A. C., thus crossing the dividing line of what is called the Christian Era, from the tradition that it marked the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, who is regarded as its founder. Jesus was actually born four years earlier than this date. Herod had brought Judea so completely under Roman control, that bit by bit all the old vested rights, privileges and local powers had been taken from its Sanhedrin, its High Priest and its royal family. Herod had practically sold Judea to Rome for the privilege of subserving as its king. So that its fate was now wholly in Rome's hands. Leaving the outlying provinces under the rule of Tetrarchs, Rome now decided to govern Judea ab- solutely as a Roman province, or, rather, to make it part of the province of Syria: i. e., it sent out gov- ernors or, as they were called, PROCURATORS, to administer its affairs under the more immediate direc- tion of Syria. The Jews were now to be ruled by strangers who had no understanding of their religion and no sympathy with their traditions or social needs; by men possessed, in fact, for the most part, of an ill- concealed antagonism to the peculiar rites and obliga- tions that entered into the lives of conscientious Jews. At its best Judea had been a Theocracy, i. e., a king- dom in which religion, represented by the priesthood and the Sanhedrin, moulded the thoughts and directed the affairs of the nation. Roman rule, therefore, would 82 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. be revolutionary, even had the procurators been good men and had sought to administer the province in kindness and equity. As a matter of fact, they were nearly all tyrants, lustful for gain at any price and absolutely indifferent to the welfare of the people un- der their charge ; even as we shall see, in many instances wantonly wounding Judea's sensibilities to gratify their cruel pleasure. No wonder the Jews were event- ually goaded into a war of desperation. As to the Jews in other lands under Roman sway, we find Augustus Caesar well disposed to them. He placed the harbors of the Nile under Judean Alabarchs (same as Arabarch) . His kindness to the Alexandrian Jews was in marked contrast with his severity toward the Greek Alexandrians. In the city of Rome he al- lowed the Jewish settlers Libertini to observe their religion undisturbed, and to build synagogues. So in the deepening shadows this was a glimmer of light too. NOTES AND REFERENCES. For the relation of Baptism to the Essenes, read articles on those topics in Vols, II and V, respectively. of the Jewish Encyclopedia. BOOK III JUDEA UNDER ROME JUDEA UNDER PROCURATORS 83 CHAPTER XIV. JUDEA UNDER PROCURATORS. PROCURATORS ROMAN EMPERORS >, A.C.E. Coponius 6 Augustus Marcus Ambivius 9 AnniusHufus 12 Valerius Gratus 15 Tiberius Pontius Pilatus 26 " Marcellus 36 Caligula Marullus 37-41 Claudius The Procurators fall into two groups with a Jewish appointee intervening. The table above is the first group of these administrators of Judea. Their seat of gov- ernment was Caesaria, Jerusalem's rival. The Jews had nominally a certain freedom under this regime. "The oath of allegiance to the Roman emperor was more an oath of confederates than of subjects." The Sanhedrin was still supposed to be the governing body for home affairs with the High Priest as its president. But the arbitrary appointment and removal of High Priests by the procurator placed these powers at the mercy of his caprice, and ultimately the Jews were robbed of these prerogatives altogether. The pro- curator then could always interfere with the carrying out of Jewish law. It is important that these facts should be borne in mind, for even in religious offenses where the High Priest with the Sanhedrin could pro- nounce the death sentence, the confirmation of the pro- curator was required for the execution. So heavily were the people taxed that the tax-gatherers (Pub- licans) were looked upon with opprobrium. Doubt- less many of them dishonestly abused their power. 84 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. Still Judea was the only province in which the worship of the emperor was not compulsory. The reason is obvious. To pagan communities it was an indifferent demand, to the monotheistic Jews it was simply impossible. It was attempted by Caligula, but failed. Even the local coinage bore no figure, nor were the standards bearing the likeness of the emperor tolerated, as such was regarded as an offense by the strict interpreters of the Second Commandment. Even the tyrant Pilate could not force these banners on Judea. They violently opposed a census in the year 7 both on religious and! on political grounds, as they regarded it as an infringement of their sacred rights and the precursor of slavery. But Joezer, the High Priest, quieted them and induced them to submit. Still, from such incidents the stern determination of the Jews may be inferred. Judas of Gamala, in Gaulanitus, a Galilean, and a religious enthusiast, went about preaching the duty of rebellion and the sin of submission. Gradually these malcontents formed themselves into a new party of extremists the ZEALOTS, who believed in using the sword against the heathen to hasten the Messianic realization. They al- ready began nursing the smouldering embers of rebel- lion. So far in general. Now to speak of the rule of the procurators a little more in detail. Passing over the earlier governors of whom we are told little, we may come at once to Pontius Pilate, whose regime was eventful in many ways. More de- tailed accounts, both in the Jewish historian, Josephus, JUDEA UNDER PROCURATORS. 85 and in the Jewish philosopher, Philo, are given of his regime. From the trustworthy Philo we are told that he was of "an unbending and recklessly hard character." "He has been charged with corruptibility, violence, robberies, ill-treatment of the people, con- tinued executions without even the form of trial, end- less and intolerable cruelties." He wounded Jewish sensibilities in allowing the Roman soldiers to carry a flag with the emperor's likeness, on his very first entry into Jerusalem. For five days they stood outside his palace petition- ing its removal. When the soldiers with drawn swords stood ready to slay at his signal, the people bared their necks, preferring death to toleration of this idolatrous emblem. Such was the religious intensity of the Jews of these last years of their national life, such was the stuff of which they were made. Even tyrants reach limits beyond which they dare not pass. The emblem was sullenly withdrawn. At another time he appropriated the Temple treas- ures, sacredly set aside for religious purposes, for the building of an aqueduct .to Jerusalem. This time he resorted to violence to quell the opposition, many lives being sacrificed. With the purpose only of annoying the people, he put up votive shields inscribed with the emperor's name. But they appealed to Tiberius who not only ordered them removed, but rebuked Pilate at the same time. On another occasion the Samaritans, to whom Ger- izim had all the sanctity that Sinai had for Judea, because the Blessings were announced from its heights 86 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. (see Joshua, viii 33, and Deut, xi 29), gathered there on a rumor that sacred vessels were hidden in its soil. Pilate sent soldiers to wantonly slaughter them. This led to his recall by Tiberius. The Emperor Tiberius decided that it was kinder to the Jews to appoint procurators for long terms than to make frequent changes. It meant the greed of a smaller number to be satisfied. But, on the whole, his attitude was less friendly than that of his predecessor, Augustus. This may have been due to the fact that many Romans of high birth had, unsolicited, accepted the Jewish faith, and had sent gifts to the Temple at Jerusalem. Among these converts was Fulvia, wife of a Roman senator. This led to the banishment from Rome of many thousands of Jews to a dangerous climate, and became for a time a religious persecution. The incident, however, shows that the worthier Romans were becoming more and more distrustful of pagan cults and were looking for something better. We shall see later how zealous Jews from Judea, and more particularly from Alexandria, began making con- verts to Judaism all through Asia Minor. The in- fluence of these converts on future events was farther reaching than their sponsors ever dreamed. NOTES AND REFERENCES. Theme for discussion : Does official Judaism dis- courage conversion? Why did the Jews oppose a census on religious grounds? See II. Sam. xxiv, and article Census in Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. iii. JESUS OF NAZARETH 87 CHAPTER XV. JESUS OF NAZARETH. So far the rule of Pontius Pilate as it concerned Judea. But his rule has become of wide import be- cause of his relation to JESUS OF NAZARETH, who was put to death during his administration, though born in the province of Galilee governed by H. Antipas. To explain how a great religion sprang up around this Galilean Jew, which came afterwards to regard him as its father, can be explained only by a complete grasp of the political and religious aspirations of the time. (a) The ominous mood in which the Jews realized the gradual deprivation of their country and their in- dependence indicated the stirring of deep forces in their nature. Judea was to them a Holy Land, for "from Zion had gone forth the Law." Love of country had become part of their religion. Every political function had its religious aspect. The Sanhedrin was at once a civil and a religious body, and this dual char- acteristic pervaded all the civil institutions. So the longing for the restoration of the royal line of Judah, i. e., the coming of the Messiah, expressed the religious as well as the political hopes of the nation. Not that the word Messiah had any peculiarly religious signifi- cance. It is the Hebrew word Mesheach, meaning "Anointed king," and was applied in the Bible to Saul and even to Cyrus, the Persian. It implied in post 88 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. exilic times nothing more than the re-establishment of the throne in the Davidic line. Many of the pious felt further that with a king once more on an independent throne, the glorious pictures of the coming day foretold by the Prophets and not attained in the first monarchy, would be realized in the second. "The Lord's house would be established on the top of the mountains; all nations would flock to it, saying, Come let us go up to the house of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, we will walk in His paths." (Isaiah and Micah.) Again, "The earth would be full of the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea." The conviction ex- pressed by Jeremiah (Chap, xxxi, 33-34) would be fulfilled, that all would "know the Lord from the least of them to the greatest." One of the latest of the Prophets Zechariah had foretold a day when "ten men would take hold of the garments of him who was a Jew and would say, We will go with you, for we be- lieve that God is with you." So we might quote nearly every prophet from Amos to Malachi, the last prophet, who said that the day of judgment would be heralded by the undying Elijah. A Jewish poet in Alexandria voiced the same hope: Heathendom would disappear and the kingdom of God would be established. Alas, the outlook for either the spiritual or the tem- poral realization seemed farther removed than ever. Every now and then, more particularly under the dis- turbed regime of the procurators, a deluded enthusiast would appear upon the scene and claim that he was a Messiah. So desperate were the times that these agi- tators always found followers. They were always ruth- JESUS OF NAZARETH. 89 lessly put to death by Rome, for the claim of Messiah- ship, i. e., "King of the Jews," was 'treason against Rome. (b) In a previous chapter the Essenes have been described a sect that lived as a brotherhood in the vicinity of the Dead Sea, who shared all goods in com- mon, condemned wealth and passed simple lives away from the great world. While they too looked for the coming of the Messiah, they, together with the most saintly among the rest of Israel, laid less stress upon the political aspect of the coming of the King than upon the spiritual implication. Their deeply religious long- ings, inspired by the great prophets, were directed, not so much to an earthly as to a heavenly kingdom. We have already heard of John the Baptist (Essene) , who so stirred the people by preaching that the king- dom of God was at hand the Messianic hope. He evidently inspired one youth, who may have been of the Essene brotherhood, Joshua (Greek Jesus) from Nazareth, in Galilee. Galilee, like the other provinces in northern Palestine, was away from the learning and culture of Jerusalem. It was the home of simple folk who spoke a corrupt dialect, and who credulously ac- cepted the widespread superstition that every disease came from an in-dwelling spirit of demon. Of the life of the man Jesus who came from these surroundings little is really known, but from a few bare facts very much had been deduced and still more imagined. Apart from the fact that he was the son of a carpenter Joseph we only hear of him about two years before his death, and that occurred at the 90 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. early age of thirty-two. Yet his stirring words and daring manner deeply impressed those about him. So that his admirers formed a separate sect after his death, which in part may have been a continuation of the old Essenes, but which eventually became a differ- ent religion with Jesus as its inspiration. Though by no means a profound scholar in the Law, he exhibited fine moral perception and lived up to the pure ideals of the strict, peace-loving Essene brother- hood. In his teachings or rather preachings, he fol- lowed in the footsteps of the prophets Amos, Isaiah, Micah and Jeremiah, laying stress upon the spirit of religion and minimizing the value of ceremonial. For there were formalists in those days as there were in the days of the Exile. Indeed, every age reveals the experience of the multitude laying more stress upon the ceremony than the idea it is intended to convey giving more attention to the outward, tangible form than to its inward spiritual purpose, the exaltation of life. Nor is that tendency confined to the ignorant either. Religion so easily sinks into a mechanical routine unless we keep vigilant watch. This lesson is preached by the moralists of every age. It was preached by Jesus of Nazareth with rare power. (c) But it was not so much his ethical teaching, lofty though it was, that brought him into prominence and caused the crowds to gather about him, though the rationalists lay stress upon that now. It was partly because he was regarded as a "healer," a power claimed by the Essenes; but chiefly because he was regarded as the long-looked-for Messiah who would deliver Israel JESUS OF NAZARETH. QI from the thraldom of Rome and gratify their wildest expectations. Whether he first of his own accord laid claim to this mysterious title, or whether he was per- suaded into it by his admirers, we cannot gather from the few records that tell the events of his life. For even these, the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) were written long after his death at a time when startling opinions had already been formed about him ; and they do not quite agree. In fact, once regarded as the Messiah, his life was recast to fit the Messianic prophecies in the Scriptures! This made the Jesus of the Gospel largely a mythical character. Jesus could quite honestly have believed himself to be a Messiah in the religious sense, though he was rather evasive when bluntly questioned. For many sincere enthusiasts both before and since his time have believed themselves specially chosen messengers of God to bring redemption to their people. Mohammed, who flourished several centuries later, believed him- self to have been sent by God to bring salvation to the Arabians. And in a sense he was; to call him an im- postor is uncharitable and untrue. In Israel's history, since the days of the procurators not a century has passed but some one has come forward claiming to be the Messiah. Some were honest, though mistaken; some were mere adventurers. Jesus accepted the Essene idea of the Messiah, that is, he was less concerned with ushering in an earthly than a heavenly kingdom. He was spurred on by the religious rather than by the political expectations of the Messiah's advent. This distinction was not clearly realized by the sim- 92 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. pie masses of the people, groaning under a hated yoke; certainly it was not realized by the Romans, who saw in every Messianic claim treason against Rome, a plot to win independence for Judea again. On the other hand, Jesus applying to himself on one occasion the term "Son of God" that may mean so little or so much awak- ened the alarm and antagonism of the priesthood and lost for him many supporters. So Jesus, who was prob- ably innocent of any blasphemous assumptions against Judaism and guiltless of any conspiracy against Rome to seize the throne and be made "King of the Jews," was nevertheless condemned to death like the Messiahs before him and was executed by the Roman method of capital punishment crucifixion. But unlike the Mes- siahs before him all mediocre men his name has been treasured ever since as one of the great religious teachers of the world. (d) For although he died without bringing the re- demption which would have proven his Messiahship, his followers did not lose faith in him. His turning kindly to the poor and despised folk, even the sinful and degraded, to preach his lessons, had won all hearts. As they had believed he had performed miracles in his life- time, so now they tried to persuade themselves that a greater miracle had been fulfilled in his death that he had not really died, but had been translated to heaven like Elijah and that he would return some day and com- plete his unfinished work. In those unlettered days be- lief in the supernatural was very common. Among cer- tain folk it is not so uncommon in our day. So these believers that Jesus was the Messiah became a new sect called Christians. What does Christian JESUS OF NAZARETH. 95 mean? Christ (Christos) is the Greek for Messiah. So the name Christians meant Messiahans, and the name Jesus Christ meant Jesus the Messiah. Though Jesus himself did not speak Greek, but Aramaic, the earlier Christian Scriptures were written in that tongue. The Jewish Christians continued to live much as vhe Essenes before them, like them assuming voluntary poverty and faithful as of old to Jewish Law. But in later years when many pagans joined this sect, they in- troduced into it many idolatrous notions, borrowed from the cults of Greece, Rome and Egypt. The man Jesus was exalted into a divinity and worshiped as such. The shedding of his blood at his execution was regarded as a sacrifice intended by God to atone for the sins of mankind, based on the ancient idea that the priest shed the blood of an animal in atoning for the sins of the people; but the Hebrew prophets and some of the psalmists had all condemned animal sacrifice as a means of atonement ; it was a stage of religion beyond which the Jews were advancing and ceased altogether in the year '70. The next step which separated the Jews from the Christians was the abrogation of the Jewish Law. This was brought about by a later teacher, Paul. The process by which this Jewish sect became a new religion, most of whose adherents came from the heath- en world, was slow and gradual. We shall refer to the different steps in the development of this Faith as they occur, and we shall see how this sect born in Judaism became its antagonist and its most bitter persecutor in later days. NOTES AND REFERENCES. Read the article, "Christianity" in Jewish Encyclo- pedia, Vol. iv, by Dr. K. Kohler. 94 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. The reasons there given why the death of Jesus should not be attributed to the Jews, may be summar- ized as follows : Crucifixion was not a Jewish, but a Roman method of capital punishment. During the period of unrest, prior to the open rebel- lion against Rome, 30-66 c. E., many Jews were cru- cified as rebels, and on very meagre evidence. "The mode and manner of Jesus' death undoubtedly point to Roman custom and law as the directive power," though Jews may have administered a soothing cup to lessen the suffering. None of the well established measures of precaution were taken that always preceded a Jewish execution. It is very doubtful whether Jewish law would tolerate a three- fold execution at one time. A Jewish execution on Friday is almost impossible. If he died on Nissan 14, the execution on the eve of a festival would be irregular. If on Nissan 15 (Pass- over), the execution could not be held. (Bodies of de- linquents were not buried in private sepulchres. ) Penal jurisdiction had been taken out of the hands of the Sanhedrin. There is no corroboration of the custom to liberate a condemned person on account of a holiday. Rome had crucified many other Jewish claimants for Messiahship, who were "rebels" in its eyes, as Messiah meant practically, "King of the Jews." This was the inscription on the cross of Jesus. Many of the accompanying incidents are mere apo- calyptic embellishments. Read As Others Saw Him, Joseph Jacobs; Macmil- lan. Jesus of Nazareth, Schlesinger. Albany. Cradle of the Christ, Frothingham. Putnams. Matthew, Mark and Luke are called Synoptic Gosl- ples is distinct from the Gospel of John, a later and more doctrinal work. A JEWISH KING ONCE MORE 95 CHAPTER XVI. A JEWISH KING ONCE MORE. In contrast with the behavior of Pilate was the con- sideration shown for Jewish sensibilities by the Syrian governor, Vitellius, to whom the procurators were sub- ject. He was the best Roman governor Judea ever had. He exhibited an uncommon forbearance by remitting some burdensome taxes; he sympathetically inquired into the needs of the people and removed the unworthy Caiaphas from the High Priesthood. In speaking of the immediate overseers, we must not forget the relation of the Jews to the highest author- ity the Roman emperor. Some of these gave no thought to them apart from appointing their governors or procurators. With others the Jews came in clashing contact. Such was the case with Caligula, who donned the purple in 37. This demented man believed himself to be a divinity, so that obeisance to his image was not merely an act of allegiance, but of worship. The conse- quences of this sacrilegious command was first felt by the Jews of Alexandria; for the Ptolmaic and the Seleucid empires were both Roman now. An actual persecution here took place in which the Jews were be- sieged in their own quarter, the Delta. For their re- fusal to obey the emperor's childish demand gave ex- cuse to their tormentors to attack them under the guise of patriotism. Patriotism may be the mantle for so many sins. Synagogues were defiled and many persons were slain. Philo, a great Jewish philosopher, went to Rome to intercede for his brethren, but in vain. g6 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. To Judea likewise came the same blasphemous de- mand with the threat of similar punishment. At last the mad monarch ordered his image to be set up in the Temple and entrusted the task to the Syrian governor, Petronius, a man of the stamp of Vitellius. He did his best to delay the wanton edict at the risk of the em- peror's displeasure. At last, yielding to the agonized entreaty of the people, he perilled is life by asking the emperor to revoke the order. Agrippa, a Jewish fav- orite of Caligula, succeeded in persuading the emperor to renounce the abortive project. Soon, however, he repented and determined on its execution. But relief came to Alexandria and Judea at one stroke the em- peror was murdered in 41. The next emperor, Claudius, restored to the Alex- andian Jews all the privileges that had been taken from them during the rule of his predecessor, and their rights were more firmly established than before. In fact, religious freedom was now granted to the Jews throughout the whole Roman empire. But best of all, he stopped the regime of the procurators by appointing a king of Judea, one of their own brethren AGRIPPA. Agrippa was the grandson of Herod the Great and Mariamne, thus having both Idumean and Hasmonean blood in his veins. As a child he was sent for his edu- cation to Rome. The influences of Rome were not healthy. They made the lad luxurious and extrava- gant. Loaded with debts he returned to Judea and was assisted by his brother-in-law, Antipas. After varied fortunes he came again to Rome, befriended by the Ah- barch, Alexander. Tiberius, emperor at that time, re- ceived him favorably and gave him charge of his grand- A JEWISH KING ONCE MORE. 97 son. But still his extravagant habits continued, and an incautious word sent him to prison, where he re- mained till the emperor died in 37. The new emperor, Caligula, who was mad enough to think himself a divinity, was also sane enough to make Agrippa his friend. So now his fortunes began to rise. On the death of Philip and on the deposition of Herod Antipas, their Palestinian provinces were bestowed on him as king. Honored with the title of Praetor, his iron chain was exchanged for one of gold. So, like Joseph, he was transferred from a prison to a throne. While still in Rome, he succeeded in dissuad- ing the emperor from putting his statue in the Jerusa- lem Temple. At Caligula's death he assisted Claudius in obtaining the imperial throne. In grateful recogni- tion Judea and Sanaria were added to Agrippa's do- minions. His kingdom, uniting the various tetrachies of Her- od's three sons, was now even vaster in area than that of his grandfather, Herod. But he was a very differ- ent type of man. In spite of his Roman associations, he possessed strong Jewish sentiment and decided to become the father instead of the tyrant of his people. The wild habits of his youth he laid aside and he hung up in the Temple the golden chain that replaced his prison fetters, as a mark of thankfulness and hu- mility. His rule was a golden age for Judea all too brief. Though partly of alien blood, the Pharisees said on one occasion, "Thou art our brother, Agrippa." He was amiable and benevolent and grateful, and showed a forgiving disposition. His magnanimity changed opponents into friends. 98 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. He entered with hearty enthusiasm into all the cere- monial of Judaism. The Mishna speaks of him in high praise and tells how he carried the first fruit offer- ing to the Temple with his own hand. He looked after the interests of Jews and Judaism at home and abroad. He removed some statues that had been wantonly put in a Phoenician synagogue. Still, outside of Judea he permitted the amphitheatre with gladiatorial com- bats, and bestowed gifts upon many Grecian cities and upon some heathen towns of Palestine. The Sanhedrin was invested by him with new power and dignity, and under the wise presidency of Rabbi Gamaliel, hazaken (the elder), a descendant of Hillel, many liberal laws were made. The same consideration was shown to heathen as to Jewish poor. So esteemed was Gamaliel that the saying arose, "When Rabbi Gamaliel died, the glory of the Torah passed away." One of his teachings ran : "Procure thyself an in- structor; avoid the possibility of doubt; and do not tithe by conjecture." Agrippa would fain have furthered the- hopes of Israel in making them more independent of Rome, but he was watched by envious eyes. A conference of local vassal kings, called by him, was broken up by the suspicious Syrian governor. He wished to strengthen Judea's fortifications, but again the Syrian governor induced the emperor to stop the work. In fact, many jealous Romans feared that a longer continuance of his kingdom might develop it into a menace against Rome. So the assassin's knife was called into play. Suddenly at a moment of triumphal glory, he was stricken down at the early age of forty-five. The kind- A JEWISH KING ONCE MORE. 99 ly disposed emperor would have given the kingdom to his son, but was dissuaded by his counselors. The old regime of the hated procurators was restored once more. It is true this son, called Agrippa II. was given a small dominion, but with little independent power. He was also entrusted with the superintendence of the Temple which he did not always exercise wisely. He was well-disposed to the Jews, to whom he hardly be- longed and even used his influence at court to inter- cede in their favor. He imported wood for the Tem- ple use and employed the discharged workmen of the finished Herodian Temple to pave the city with mar- ble. He did all he could in his impotent way to pre- vent hostilities between Rome and Judea, but his train- ing had been Roman and his spirit was pagan. His was a weak nature entirely under the control of his sister Berenice, a woman of questionable reputation and later a favorite of the Roman emperor Titus, who played so large a part in Judea's last days. NOTES AND REFERENCES. Agrippa II. continued to hold his petty kingdom for some time after Judea had fallen, and lived to read Josephus' history about it. He was the Agrippa before whom Paul appeared, and to whom he said, "With little wouldst thou win me over to be a Christian." IOO A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. CHAPTER XVII. THE ALEXANDRIAN SCHOOL. Before taking up the continuation of the story of Judea under the procurators pleasingly interrupted by the reign of Agrippa let us take another survey of Jews and Judaism in lands outside of Palestine. The voluntary dispersion still went on. The Jews were now scattered over all the Roman Empire, which included Asiatic and European lands from Syria to Spain. We find our ancestors at the beginning of the Christian era in Arabia and in Parthia, an Asiatic kingdom south of The Caspian. But, however widely scattered, religion was the bond of union and Jerusalem the spiritual centre. From distant lands many would from time to time make pilgrimages to the Temple. The attitude of the heathen world was on the whole not friendly to the Jews. They were disliked for their aloofness, their stern morality, their sobriety, and their material success ; while their exclusiveness partly but not wholly justifiable led to the erroneous supposition that they were inimical to mankind. But the Jews of the Diaspora were less exclusive and more tolerant than those of Judea. This was particularly true of Alexandria. There existed here apart from occa- sional outbursts of racial antagonism among the pop- ulace, a cordial interchange of ideas in which the Jews met the Greeks more than half way. They admired the culture of the educated Greeks and felt drawn toward the lofty philosophy of Plato. The broadening effect of this infusion of Greek THE ALEXANDRIAN SCHOOL. IOI thought, gave to Judaism in Alexandria a distinct char- acter, and it came to be known as Hellenistic Judaism (Hellas, Greece), and its espousers, Hellenistic Jews. We have used the term Hellenist in an earlier chapter, in a bad sense as descriptive of Jews who yielded to those Greek influences that were pagan to the detri- ment of Judaism. Here we apply the term in a good sense to those who were open to Greek influences that were intellectual, to the advantage of Judaism. We have already marked the effect of Greek thought in some of the Apocryphal writings, particularly in the "Wisdom of Solomon." Appreciating the metaphysics of the Greek philosophers, they were anxious to bring home to the Greeks the spiritual and moral truths of Judaism. But how to present the revelation of the Law and of the Prophets with an authority that would win the con- viction of the Greeks? In their fervor to make prose- lytes to the Law of Moses, they resorted to a strange expedient. There existed among the Greeks prophet- esses called Sybils, who were supposed to foretell in mysterious oracles the destinies of nations. So some Jewish writers cast the Bible teachings of God and morality in the form of Sybilline oracles. Like the Bible prophets, these Jewish Sybilline writers, warned those who followed false views and bad lives and promised salvation to those who accepted the law of the God of Israel. Doubtless these writings exerted a salutary in- fluence on many Greeks. The Hellenists went so far as to try to prove from Jewish Scriptures many of the loftier ideas of Greek philosophy. In this way Judaism was represented as IO2 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. anticipating the highest knowledge of the time. It must be confessed that this reconciliation of Judaism and Greek philosophy was occasionally forced. The attempt was also made to explain every law allegori- cally, as though intended to convey ideas other than those that appeared on the surface. Thus they read their philosophy into the Bible as the later Greeks read theirs into the Iliad. Indeed the habit of reading the science of the day into the old Bible books still pre- vails. This poetic explaining away of many injunc- tions of Scripture led in some instances to their actual neglect. The complete abrogation of the Law by the Christians in the second stage of their development, under the leadership of Paul of Tarsus, received its de- fense from this tendency of the Hellenistic Jews. The statement is often made that Jews discourage proselytes. It is certainly not true of the Alexandrian Jews who were most zealous in their missionary ef- forts. The translation of their Scriptures into Greek, the presentation of the message of their faith in the form of Sybilline oracles, and the allegorizing away of many of their ceremonials were all different means employed for the bringing of Judaism to the Gentile. Just when the Jewish State was dying, many heathens were seeking this Faith of their own accord, attracted by its ethics and repelled by heathen uncleanliness. Philo says that the adoption of Judaism by many heathens immediately resulted in a marked moral im- provement in their lives. The number of female prose- lytes in Damascus and Asia Minor steadily grew. A zealous Jewish missionary converted Helen, the queen of Adrabene, a province on the Tigris, and all her THE ALEXANDRIAN SCHOOL. 1 03 family. She made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, sent valuable gifts to the Temple, and helped the people in time of famine. So, although Judaism was a faith that imposed on its followers severe restraints and, although the Jews were a very small people, whom some heathens de- spised still, many more knocked at its doors to be admitted into the fold, even for fifty years after its Temple was destroyed and its nationality overthrown tragedies which we shall presently have to tell. Yes, many of the very people that overthrew it the Romans accepted the Jewish faith. Josephus tells us how enthusiastically these converts observed the Sab- bath, the Festivals, and the dietary laws. The Em- peror Domitian made severe laws against proselytes to Judaism, in order to discourage the practice. Indeed, a cousin of the emperor, who was also a senator and consul, accepted Judaism together with his wife. So near was our faith being installed on the throne of the Roman Empire! But ultimately the stream of converts was diverted to the new faith, born of Judaism, Christianity more particularly as in its second stage it sent its mission- aries to the heathen world and told them that accept- ance of Jesus as saviour and divinity would bring them salvation without conforming to the burdensome Jew- ish Law; that the advent of Jesus abrogated the Law, became a doctrine of the new religion. This Chris- tianity on easy terms brought thousands to the fold. This idea was emphasized by Saul (Greek, Paul), at first the opponent of the Christians, but later their most eloquent advocate. This decisive declaration ultimate- IO4 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. ly accepted by these Jewish Christians who first clung to the Law, made Christianity a new religion for the heathen world. For this reason we might call Paul the real father of Christianity. The followers of the two religions had now become people of two different races Judaism followed almost exclusively by Semitic Jews, Christianity by Aryans Greeks, Romans and other Europeans. This racial distinction became the final barrier which completely separated them. CHAPTER XVII. PHILO. We are now ready to consider one to whom fre- quent reference has been made the greatest of the Alexandrian Jews, styled the "noblest Judean of his age" Philo Judaeus. He was born in Alexandria of good family, about 15 B. c. E. , His brother, Alex- ander, was given the influential post of Alabarch, far- mer of taxes. Both received the best education the times afforded and were men of broad culture. Philo early showed a taste for literature in general, and phi- losophy in particular. His circumstances enabled him to devote himself to a literary life, for which he was peculiarly gifted. His warm interest in the cause of his people has already been shown in his journey to Rome as one of the ambassadors to plead before the Emperor Caligula against their persecution. Of this whole incident he himself gives a graphic account in his chronicles of the Jewish events of his time. PHILO. IO5 A many-sided genius, he was the best exponent of that Hellenistic school that sought to harmonize the principles of Judaism with Greek philosophy. He was thoroughly versed in both. His works, as those of all this school, were written in Greek. In his commentary on Scripture following the allegorical method already referred to, he treats all the incidents in Genesis as symbolic of human development and moral truths. He did not, however, go to the extreme of neglecting Jew- ish observance on the strength of metaphoric interpre- tation. Indeed, he even rebuked those who did. In his interpretation of the Mosaic Law in the Penta- teuch, he has the education of the heathen chiefly in mind. He reveals the harmony of its precepts with nature, grouping all duties under the Ten Command- ments. He points out with enthusiasm the humanity of the Law, and completely refutes slanders against Judaism by citing examples of its purity, breadth and philanthropy. His contrasts are the severest condem- nation of Greek and Roman morals. In his philosophy he again applies the allegorical, or rather in this case let us say the Midrashic method of the rabbis to the Pentateuch. He attempts to show that the lofty ideas found in the Platonic, Stoic and Neopythegorean philosophies were already taught in the Jewish Scripture. From Moses, the teacher of mankind, the Greek philosophers derived their wisdom. From the Mosaic Law comes the highest and truest religious revelation. Thus he endeavored to win Jews to an appreciation of Greek literature, and Greeks to an appreciation of Jewish Scripture. A thorough monotheist, his ideas of God show the IO6 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. philosophic influence. God alone is perfect, unchang- able, devoid of all qualities and undefinable, but at the same time combining all perfections. Absolutely per- fect, He cannot come in contact with matter. The gap seemed too vast from God to material things, which were considered unclean and engendering sin. So Philo taught that God acted on the world by in- termediary causes or powers which he first created. These powers he calls Ideas, or again, Angels. In Greek he styles them Logoi (plural of logos, having the two meanings Reason and Word). So God then created all things through Reason or Wisdom. At times he speaks of these Logoi as distinct from God, and at times as emanations from Him. The essence of all of this he calls THE LOGOS a product of, or figuratively, a son of active divine intelligence. With reason then expressed in language, "the Word," God created the world. It is true that we find the Scripture (See Proverbs viii), and more particularly the Apocryphal Book, Ecclesiasticus, personifying Wisdom, God calling the world into being through its means. The Targum (Chaldaic translation of the Bible) identifies the Word of God with the Divine Presence, but in this case it is used rather as a figure of speech. Philo goes a step further, and almost depicts it as a distinct entity. So far Philo; but later Christian mystics put a strange construction on his theory. They declared that the Logos, or Word of God, actually became flesh a human being. It was then but a step to declare that Jesus was that Logos, or human being that he was PHILO. 107 the son of God, not in the Greek, metaphoric sense, but in the literal sense that Jesus was therefore a species of divinity too. It was not till Christianity's second stage that Jesus of Nazareth was in this way raised from a real man into an imaginary divinity. Thus the link with Judaism was broken in the rejection of its fundamental principle of monotheism the be- lief in but One Indivisible God. Philo is, of course, only unconsciously the influence of this doctrinal change, for he did not come in con- tact with the new sect of Christians and never men- tions it, and this idea developed after his day. One word more on his philosophy. Evil, he said, is derived from Matter, which he conceived as lifeless,, formless, and not of God. (This is not our modern idea of matter). The Soul is an emanation of God like the Ideas or Angels, but the souls attracted by the sensuous descend into mortal bodies. This earthly body is the cause of evil. Hence, man should try to suppress his desires and passions and earthly longings. For this man needs the help of God. The wise and virtuous are uplifted out of themselves to a closer knowledge of God, and God's spirit dwells in them. This is highest happiness. In this philosophy are then, contained all the inspiring elements of lofty religion. NOTES AND REFERENCES. For a survey of Philo's teaching put in a popular form, read "Florilegium Philonis," by Montefiore, Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. VII ; in the same vol- ume, "Philo Concerning the Contemplative Life," Conybeare; and in Vol. V, "Latest Researches on Philo," Cohn. 1O8 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. CHAPTER XIX. THE LAST PROCURATORS. PROCURATORS ROMAN EHPERORS YEAR YEAR Fadus 44 Claudius 41 Tiberus Alexander . 45 " Ventidius Cumanus 48 " Felix 52 Nero 54 Festus... 60 " Albinus 62 Gessius Florus 6b " Fall of Jerusalem 70 Vespasian 68-79 Agrippa's death was a signal for general indignities by Greeks and Romans throughout Palestine against the people who had lost their defender. Burdensome taxation would have been borne; but all the procu- rators once more placed over them seemed actuated by the wanton purpose of trampling upon everything the Jews held sacred, holding their religion up to scorn, and forcing them into rebellion through madness of despair. Fadus, the first of the second group, was the most harmless. A deluded enthusiast named Theudas claiming to be the Messiah and to be gifted with super- natural powers, was apprehended and put to death together with many of his ^followers. Tiberius Alexander, the next procurator, was a nephew of Philo, but unlike his uncle, had abandoned Judaism, and therefore was a very unfit appointee. He found it necessary to put to death two sons of Judas, the Galilean. These Zealots were the advance guard of a revolution. Rebellions continued to grow in grav- THE LAST PROCURATORS. IOO, ity with each successive rule. During the administra- tion of Ventidius Cumanus a rebellion broke out through the wanton indecency of a Roman soldier dur- ing the Passover celebration. In putting down the in- surrection Cumanus ordered many thousands slain. Once more the Zealots started to lead an attack against Samaria to punish the murder of some of their breth- ren, for the base Cumanus allowed marauders to rove unmolested on the payment of sufficient bribe. Against the Zealots, however, he led an army, for their of- fenses were political, not moral. Through the inter- vention of young Agrippa, Cumanus was banished. But the worst Procurator was to follow Felix. He goaded the Jews beyond endurance. Rebellion was now rife and it could no longer be quelled. All the appointees to the procuratorship were bad, but the ap- pointment of this man as Judea's ruler was an out- rage. He was a freedman, i. e., one from the low classes. His lust and tyranny in public and private life revealed his base origin. How natural that Judah should come to hate Rome when she was represented by such hateful creatures? How natural that the re- bellious element the Zealots should grow in num- ber and determination. These Felix punished with cruel recklessness, resorting often to treachery to en- trap them. By such doing he fomented instead of decreasing the evil. For a still more fanatical group now made their appearance outcome of these unhappy times. They were called Sicarii, from the short daggers, sicae, with which they secretly slew their opponents. These po- IIO A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. litical assassinations made Jerusalem unsafe. Felix was even unscrupulous enough to make use of these deperate men to slay the High Priest Jonathan, whose only crime was that he begged him to administer his office more worthily, and whose only crime against the Sicarii that he did not sanction their outrages. These wild, misguided men were religious enthusiasts of a frenzied sort, for wanton injustice breeds such types. Whenever they gathered with crowds of de- luded followers in the wilderness, claiming a divine call to overthrow Rome, Felix always had .his cohorts ready to hew them down. He knew no remedies other than bloodshed. In one instance where many of the followers were slain, while the leader, an Egyptian Jew escaped, some awaited his return as a Messiah who would deliver them. Gradually a large part of the nation was imbued with the spirit of rebellion. The mismanagement of Felix bi ought also conflict among the priests and quar- rels for the tithes. Conflict arose in Caesaria between Syrians and Jews as to civic rights and privileges. Felix partially decided in favor of the Syrians and again resorted to slaughter to quell the disturbance, which only tended to increase it. By favoritism and bribery the Jews of Caesaria were deprived of civic rights, which they had hitherto possessed and were given a subordinate standing. At last this creature was recalled in 60 by Emperor Nero. His successor was Festus, who meant well, but who could do little in this demoralized state. Things had gone too far to be smoothed over. The upheaval had THE LAST PROCURATORS. Ill to come. The Sicarii continued their assassinations, regarding all the moderates as their enemies. At the death of Festus and after an interval of an- archy, Albinus a second Felix was appointed a public plunderer, a bribe-taker from all parties. Well- to-do criminals could buy their freedom from him ; only the poor remained in prison. The High-priesthood at this time was held by a most unscrupulous man, Anan- ias, who took by violence the tithes of the priests. At last Albinus secretly joined the robber bands of Sicarii. When recalled in 62, he maliciously opened all the prisons and set the malefactors free to fill the country with lawless men. Of course, this made it still harder for his successor and for the people. How the lives and fates and fortunes of these hapless Judeans were bandied about to gratify the wanton lust of these ty- rants and scoundrels! The last procurator, Gessius Florus, held the post till 66 and then the storm burst. For the climax of outrageous rule was reached in him. Josephus says that compared with him Albinus was a law-abiding citizen and to be praised as a benefactor! Need we add more ? He did not as Albinus even hide his crimes. His plunderings were conducted by wholesale. He was verily a partner of robbers. Surely the time for Judah to strike a blow for freedom had come. NOTES AND REFERENCES. A reference to Felix will be found in the New Tes- tament. Paul appeared before him. (See Act, xxiii- 24-) 112 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. CHAPTER XX. JUDEA'S WAR WITH ROME. When Florus after robbing the people began openly to rob the Temple, the last thread of endurance snapped. Called in bitter irony a beggar, for whom forsooth alms must be collected, Florus took a bloody revenge. A second wanton attack upon the long suf- fering people by his arriving cohorts, compelled them to rise against the Roman soldiers in self defense. They gained possession of the Temple Mount and Florus at last, seeing the mischief he had effected, fled to Caesarea. Agrippa tried hard to dissuade the peo- ple from a hopeless struggle against Rome, but he was a man without influence. The Temple offerings for the Roman emperor were stopped that was, so to speak, the official renunciation of their allegiance. The more temperate could not restrain the masses from this determination. These moderates, who represented the judicious, formed a "Peace Party." Conflict arose between them and the advocates of war, in which Agrippa who aided the former with his troops, had his palace burned and his soldiers put to flight. Soon the fortress towers held by the Roman soldiers had to yield and the garri- son was slain. The revolution extended to all the out- lying towns in which Jews and Gentiles fought against each other, and spread even so far as Alexandria. The governor of Syria, Cestius Callus, thoroughly alarmed, came to Jerusalem with a picked army, but JUDEA'S WAR WITH ROME. 113 after a partial success he was forced to retreat. So vigorously was he pursued by these dauntless men, that only by leaving most of his baggage behind him of great value to the revolutionists could he escape at all, and then with but a remnant of his army. This unlocked for success left the Peace Party in a hope- less minority. Roman allies could do naught but leave the capital. The Jews now began to organize their forces and some of the highest men in the city led in the defense. At an assembly of the people Joseph ben Gorion and the High Priest Ananus were given charge of Jeru- salem itself. Two men of the high-priestly family were sent to Idumea. In Jerusalem the walls were strengthened and the youths trained for soldiers. JOSEPHUS, a man of but thirty years, later historian of this war and known so far only as a scholar, was sent to Galilee. Here he was to gather an army from among the people and to meet the first brunt of Rome's experienced hosts as they would arrive via Syria. For the time being he was the governor of Galilee and ap- pointed greater and lesser councils to strengthen the fortifications of all the cities. He had further to meet the opposition to his appointment in the province it- self, chiefly by one JOHN of GISCHALA, a leader bold and violent. For Josephus was not entirely trusted. His attitude was altogether too moderate to satisfy these determined rebels. In his heart of hearts he realized the impossibility of success. That very con- viction at once unfitted him for leadership. The Emperor Nero, hearing of the defeat of the 114 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. governor of Syria, entrusted the task of quelling the rebellion to the experienced general, Vespasian. He at once sent a garrison of six thousand to the important Galilean city, Sepphoris, which took possession before the Jewish army arrived. As the Roman host ap- proached Galilee, Josephus' untrained soldiers re- treated to the highlands, leaving the whole Galilean plain in possession of Vespasian without his striking A blow. Josephus sent word to Jerusalem that if he was to meet the Romans, he must have an army. The re- quest came too late. His troops, such as they were, retired to the fortress of Jotapata, north of Sepphoris. Vespasian appeared before it and a desperate struggle followed. Josephus was a skilful commander and his men showed dauntless courage, but Rome on its side had all the experience of war together with overwhelm- ing numbers. The first attack failed and a siege began. Josephus showed wonderful craft*in obtaining food for his garrison and in breaking the force of the Roman battering rams. But these means could only delay the end; they could not change it. The besieged were worn out by sleeplessness and starvation. The wall was scaled when the exhausted watchmen were asleep. All were either slain or sold into slavery. The city and its fortifications were levelled to the ground. Josephus with forty companions escaped to a cave. Against his advice to surrender, they all decided that they would die by their own hands. Josephus by strat- egem alone managed to escape this fate. He appeared before Vespasian and by adroit flattery was favorably received into his camp. THE SIEGE 115 CHAPTER XXL THE SIEGE. When Vespasian reached Tiberias, on the Sea of Galilee, the people opened their gates and at the re- quest of Agrippa who had now wholly thrown in his fortunes with the Romans they were well treated. In the meantime the army of TITUS, son of Vespasian, took the city of Tarichea. Glance for a moment at the map, so that a mental picture may be formed of the territory involved in the great struggle : Phoenicia, the Lebanon Mts. and Syria ran across the north. Immediately underneath was the province of Galilee, partly bordering on the Mediter- ranean and bounded on the east by the province of Gaulonitis and Decopolis, the Jordan and the Sea of Galilee being the dividing line. Batanaea lay to the east again of Gaulonitis. Still farther south was Ju- dea, with the Jordan dividing it from Perea. Idumea lay in the extreme south. Vespasian was still in the north and next attacked the strong fortress of Gamala in Gaulonitis. But after an entrance was gained into the city, the Jews fought so desperately that the Romans were repulsed with severe loss and for a time were afraid to renew the attack. But on a second determined sally it was taken. At the same time Mount Tabor was taken by a Roman force. There was now left in Galilee only one fortress to be taken Gischala. This task was entrusted to Titus. Its gates were soon opened, but its controlling 1 1 6 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. spirit, John of Gischala, with his band of Zealots es- caped to Jerusalem. By the end of the year 67 all northern Palestine was in the hands of the Romans. These defeats brought consternation to Jerusalem. The leaders, who had been taken from the aristocracy, were blamed and deposed. Some were imprisoned and men from the people were put in their place. But the change was not made without bloodshed. Alas, here was the beginning of a civil conflict as well war with- in war. Judea's cup of misery was full. John of Gis- chala, the escaped Zealot, was soon at the head of the extreme fanatic party. Fighting contingents of mal- contents came into Jerusalem from all over the country and joined the Zealots, which thus became the ruling power. They threw discretion to the winds. A man of the common people was now chosen as High Priest, though this office had always been in the hands of the aristocracy. The Idumeans were now invited to enter Jerusalem and join forces with the Zealots. They began at once a bloody attack on the party of law and order. The old leaders, men of high birth, were put to death. Ver- ily it was Judea's reign of terror. After assisting in all this mischief, the Idumeans departed. The new Christian community also left Jerusalem, deserting their brethren in the sore hour of need, and took refuge in a heathen city. The shrewd Vespasian made no haste to attack the Capital, hoping that the opposing parties left to themselves would weaken each other and make his task more easy. He contented himself THE SIEGE 117 with placing fortified garrisons in the chief surround- ing places. In the meantime Nero died, in the year 68. Galba was made emperor only to be murdered a few months after. These events were watched by Vespasian with keen eyes. The man who had the army with him might win the purple. He therefore made a pause in the war. Another wild Zealot, SIMON BEN GIORA, began a plundering expedition during the cessation of hos- tilities, carrying devastation wherever he went. In 69, after a year's pause, Vespasian vigorously renewed hostilities by subduing the remaining outlying dis- tricts. There was now left for subjugation a few for- tresses and the Capital. Stopped from his robber raids by Vespasian's vigor, Simon ben Giora was now hailed in Jerusalem. Here all was confusion and demoralization. The reckless tyrant of Gischala had indulged in terrible excesses. The people hoped that the admission of Simon would rid them of John's bloodthirsty rule; but there was little choice between them. Although Vitellius was now made emperor of Rome, the armies in Egypt and Palestine decided to nominate Vespasian. He hastened to Rome, found Vitellius murdered, and his own candidature unopposed. So in the year 70 he was acknowledged emperor by both east and west, and the prosecution of the Judean war was left in the hands of his son, Titus. In Jerusalem the reign of terror continued. There was now a third war party under one Eliezar. Each 1 1 8 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. regarded the two others as enemies, and each held a certain portion of the city as jealously against the others as against the Romans. Simon ben Giora held the upper part of the lower city situated on one hill, and the whole of the upper city situated on another hill called Acra. John of Gischala was entrenched in the Temple Mount. Eliezar held the court of the Temple, but soon joined forces with John. In the madness of their folly they played into the hands of the Romans by destroying grain rather than let it fall into the hands of their rivals. Titus with an immense army appeared before the walls of Jerusalem in the spring of the fatal year 70. Still he by no means carried all before him. When we read of the brave and stubborn resistance of the Jews in spite of the unfortunate conflicts within, we can better realize how successful their resistance might have been had they presented a united front to the enemy. The situation of the city had its natural advantages. It was built on two hills with a ravine between, while the Temple standing in spacious grounds, surrounded on all sides by strong walls, was a citadel in itself. Attached to it was the castle of Antonia. The upper and lower divisions of the city had their own separate walls, a town's main protection before the days of gunpowder. There was a common wall around both divisions and a third around the suburb, Bezetha. When the battering rams of Titus began attacking the outer wall in three places, John and Simon stopped their feud and banded together at last to meet the THE FALL OF JERUSALEM. . common enemy. It was only after desperate fighting for very many days that the Romans got possession of the first wall. Five days later the second wall was taken, though the enemy was held back for four days longer. Earth defenses were now built by the legions of Titus against the different fortifications, but no soon- er were these built than they fell, undermined by the vigilant Simon and John. Titus now applied new measures of severity. A stricter siege was maintained. The city was reduced to famine and poor creatures stealing out to gather food were crucified in sight of the defenders. Then he built a wall to shut off all possible escape and so tried to starve them out. The sufferings of the be- sieged, vividly portrayed by Josephus, were desperate indeed and led to still more desperate remedies. CHAPTER XXII. THE FALL OF JERUSALEM. Titus built new fortifications and this time the at- tempt to destroy them was not successful. But no sooner had the wall fallen under the catapults shot from the Roman battering rams than a second wall appeared behind it built by the foresight of John of Gischala. After many attempts this wall was scaled. I2O A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. The Romans reached the Temple walls and took the Antonia tower, which they immediately destroyed. Yet during all this time the daily sacrifices were continued in the Temple. In the presence of the grim monsters, war and starvation, this religious obligation was not forgotten. A proposition of surrender was made at this dire hour, but they would not yield. It is true Titus chose an unfortunate ambassador Jose- phus who was regarded by the warriors in Jerusalem as a traitor. Do you really think he was? Now, within the narrower compass of the Temple site, the siege was maintained, though it was but the beginning of the end. First ramparts were erected by Titus against the outer walls; but these walls were so strong that he could only gain admittance by burning down the gates. Terrifically did the Jewish soldiers, wasted by famine, contest every inch of ground, giv- ing to the Romans many a repulse. But overwhelming numbers told. Titus had decided to save the Temple, but his vandal soldiers set it on fire. The attempts of Titus to quench it were in vain. The beautiful struc- ture of marble and gold monument of Herod's pride was reduced to ashes. While it was burning the Romans began an indiscriminate slaughter of men, women and children. John of Gischala and Simon ben Giora with a small band, now fell back to the last refuge, the upper city. Their request for liberty on condition of surrender was refused. The lower city was now burnt and new ram- parts built against the last stronghold. Yet it took some weeks before entrance was finally forced, and the THE FALL OF JERUSALEM. 121 Romans continued their savage work of burning and massacre. The city was razed to the ground a few gates of Herod's palace and a piece of wall were alone left standing. The survivors were sent to labor in un- wholesome mines to gather wealth for their despoilers. Some were reserved for Roman sport in the amphi- theatre. John, discovered in a subterranean vault and begging like a craven for mercy, was imprisoned for life. Simon ben Giora graced the Roman triumph. Thus fell the city of Jerusalem the religious cap- ital of the world in the year 70 A. c. E., on the same date it is said the gth of Ab on which it had fallen nearly seven hundred years earlier under the attacks of the Babylonians. So the Fast of Ab commemorates the double tragedy. But the work of conquest and the barbaric rejoicings, consisting of forced gladiatorial combats between Jewish prisoners, together with games and triumphs, continued some two years longer. There were still three outlying strongholds to be conquered Herodium, Macharus, on the other side of the Dead Sea, and Masada, far to the south. The first two soon fell, but Masada offered a stubborn resistance which its natural position favored. Under Eliezar and some Sicarii the dauntless bravery of Jerusalem and Jotapata was repeated. They determined not to die by the swords of the Romans, so when the soldiers entered they found the little band all slain by their own hands. On the site of the old Temple was built another, dedi- cated to Jupiter Capitolinus, and, with a refinement of 122 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. cruelty, the Jews throughout the Roman dominions had to pay toward its maintenance the taxes they had hitherto paid to the support of their own beloved sanc- tuary. Thus fell the Israelitish nation that under varied fortunes had continued unbroken, except during the Babylonian captivity, since the days of Saul, i. e., for over a thousand years. Judea remained a separate Roman province, but was no longer a home for the people whose possession it once was. So completely was it levelled to the ground that there was nothing left to make those who came there believe it had once been inhabitated. Rebuilt at a later day, even the name was changed to Aelia Capitolina. But great names cannot so easily be erased by the ruthless hand of man. ] What was now to become of the remaining Jews? What was their status in the world? Nation, Tem- ple, independence were gone. Gone too were their arms, their means, their nobility, and all political power. Would it not seem that this must be the end, that their name and identity must be ultimately merged with their surroundings? Such had been the fate of other nations as completely, conquered Ammon, Moab, Assyria, Phoenicia. But Israel was made of different stuff. Its epitaph was not yet to be written. THE WORKS OF JOSEPHUS. 123 CHAPTER XXIII. THE WORKS OF JOSEPHUS. What literature did this sad period produce? There was neither heart nor leisure to turn to poetry or phil- osophy, or even to write a second "Lamentations," But in the prosaic field of history some important works were produced by one individual, who hardly deserves to be included in the fold of Israel Josephus. After the war he was satisfied to receive favor from the hand of the emperor who had overthrown the Jew- ish State Vespasian and even appended the emper- or's first name, Flavius, to his own a piece of flat- tery, under the circumstances, wholly contemptible. When we see him living at ease on a pension given by Rome while his own brethren were working in the lead mines of Egypt or glutting the slave-markets of Europe, we cannot but contrast his character with that of Jeremiah who had been placed in similar circum- stances some centuries earlier. In the last days of the first nationality, when Baby- lonia was then thundering against the gates of Jeru- salem, Jeremiah belonged to the Peace Party of his day, not for reasons of expediency such as actuated Josephus, but from intense religious conviction. (See Vol. III., "People of the Book," Chap, xxviii.) Ne- buchadnezzar, regarding this attitude as friendly toward Babylon, had offered to Jeremiah ease and lib- erty after Judah was laid in the dust. But he scorned 124 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. to receive gifts from the enemies of his country or to enjoy benefits through their misfortune. Though they had rejected his advice and even persecuted him for it, he made their lot his own, miserable though it was. Like Moses, he died in the wilderness with the gen- eration who had brought that fate upon themselves, because they lacked his faith. But it is not the character, but the works of Jose- phus that we would discuss now, for he was an un- doubted scholar. Though in his last years he may have lived as pagan, he certainly wrote as Jew. He loved his people, but lacked the magnanimity to share their misfortunes. This was his fatal weakness. Posterity is grateful to Josephus for his History of the Jews, called "Antiquities of the Jews" in twenty volumes, the writing of which may have formed the chief occu- pation of his later years. Perhaps he felt that he might yet serve Israel's cause in this way. He be- gins his chronicle with the Bible records, which he em- bellishes with many a Midrashic story, and carries the narrative right down to the procuratorship of Florus. Written for Greek and Roman readers, he sought to give them a better and truer estimate of his people. Indeed, in all his works he never loses an opportunity to defend the honor of Israel. In his next work, "Wars of the Jews," in seven books, he begins with Antiochus Epiphanes, thus duplicating part of his his- tory. But the first two books are but introductory to his real theme, the war with Rome. He presents a vivid picture of the last scenes of Judea's death strug- gle, of part of which he was an eye witness and in part THE WORKS OF JOSEPHUS. 125 an actual participator. It is carefully and skilfully compiled and as a contemporary record it -is invaluable. It was first written in his mother tongue, Aramaic, and later rewritten in Greek. The work was endorsed by Vespasian, Titus and Agrippa. It may be said that such a man was not of fine enough character to be an impartial historian; but impartial historians are quite a modern institution. All ancient historians took great liberties both with events and numbers, and put speech- es of their own composition in the mouths of the lead- ing characters. In connection with this work we may mention his autobiography, covering chiefly his achievements as commander-in-chief in Galilee in 66. To his merit be it further said he gladly became the advocate of his people in the land of the Gentile, and jealously guarded their reputation. Against the tra- ducer, Apion, an Egyptian grammarian, he launched a work in Israel's defense, "Josephus Against Apion," in the form of a letter to a friend. It is in two books. In the first he replies to other traducers of the Jewish people. For the bad fashion had come into vogue of inventing absurd slanders against the Jews a fash- ion, by the way, that has not yet passed away. This kind of work is called an Apology. Further, he wrote a monograph on "The Martyrdom of the Maccabees." His works are couched in simple and attractive style. Written in Greek, they have been translated into all tongues. They were read much by Christians of the Middle Ages, who regarded him as a second 126 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. Livy; but till recent years he has been neglected by his own people. But then so was Philo. NOTES AND REFERENCES. A very poor Hebrew rendering was made of the works of Josephus and was styled "Yosippon." Among writers in defense and appreciation of the Jews of this day were Alexander Polyhistor, Nicolaus of Damascus and Strabo, the geographer. BOOK III. THE TALMUDIC ERA JOCHANIN BEN ZAKKAI. 1 29 CHAPTER XXIV. JOCHANAN BEN ZAKKAI. Because the Jews now belonged to no land, therefore they belonged to all lands. They were cosmopolitans, denizens, if not citizens of the world. To follow their history henceforth we shall have to turn to all the set- tled parts of the globe. What now became the link to hold together their widely scattered members and preserve them from being absorbed by their surround- ings? Their religion. Religions outlive States and spiritual bonds are stronger than temporal. But now that Judaism's centre, the Temple, was no more, now that the sacred capital, Jerusalem, where according to the Law they could alone conduct their sacrificial worship was lost how could they preserve theii continuity and what would become of their priesthood ? Just here will we witness the wonderful adaptability of Judaism in the hands of this deathless race. It only awaited a genius to revive the Faith, apparently in the throes of death, and to endow it with new strength and vitality. The hero who undertook this sacred task was named JOCHANAN BEN ZAKKAI. Jochanan ben Zakkai was the President of the San- hedrin, and already when war was brewing, became the exponent of the Peace Party for he saw that the mad- ness of the Zealots in blindly plunging the country into war could only end in ruin. He may have felt too that the fulfillment of Israel's mission did not rely on na- tional independence and that it could preach its mes- I3O A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. sage in a way other than in bloody conflict. So when the war was at its height, he escaped from Jerusalem in a coffin, since the Zealots treated all peace advocates as traitors. Welcomed by Vespasian, who saw the value of so influential a pleader for surrender, he was allowed to ask a favor. His reply showed that he was not of the Josephus, but of the Jeremiah type. He asked naught for himself, but pleaded for the privilege of establishing an ACADEMY, where the principles of Judaism might be taught. This small request was granted, perhaps contemptuously at its apparent in- significance. Yet by that grant Judaism was enabled to continue its development aye, to outlive the great Roman Empire at whose mercy it now stood. Jamnia was chosen, a place near the Mediterranean and not far from Joppa. Here came many who, being of the conciliatory party, were left free and untouched by Rome at the close of the war. Here Jochanan ben Zakkai summoned a Sanhedrin and by a bold stroke de- cided to continue the authoritative powers of that body in spite of tradition that to be effective, it must sit in the "hewn stone hall" of the Jerusalem Temple. But he took a more daring step still. According to the Law, now that the Holy City was taken, sacrifice was no longer possible ; therefore Jochanan ben Zakkai declared that it was no longer indispensable; saying, charity is a substitute for sacrifice. Prayer, which had so far only been regarded as an accompaniment to sac- rifice was now treated as an independent mode of wor- JOCHANIN BEN ZAKKAI. 13! ship. Thus does genius adapt itself to altered condi- tions. The change was revolutionary and marked a new era in Judaism's development. The epoch of the Priest was over, the Altar was outlived the ideal of the Prophets was attained. Again necessity was the teacher and adversity was found to "have a jewel in its head." Furthermore the creation of a centre of Jewish authority outside of Jerusalem freed Judaism from bondage to a particular locality. Its jurisdiction was now confined neither within municipal nor national confines. The whole earth could become its legitimate home. This also had its moral value. To the simple- minded it made clearer the idea that God was manifest everywhere, that "the heavens was verily His throne and the earth His footstool." It gave tangible appli- cation to the text, "In every place where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come unto thee and bless thee." So the continuance of Judaism after the overthrow of the Temple, the loss of the sacred capital and the Holy Land, after the dispersion of the Jews through- out the world, made it more manifest that it was in- deed a universal Faith. Perhaps then even in this sad tragedy we may discern the hand of Providence. It is true that some pious souls took a disconsolate view of the outlook and, renouncing the world's joys, gave themselves up to ascetic lives of penitence. A few drifted toward the new Christian sect which was now severing all relation with Judaism, thinking it doomed. But under the guidance of Jochanan ben Zakkai the 132 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. great majority faced the future more hopefully and more bravely. The land was gone, but the religion was saved. Henceforth its rallying centre was to be not a Temple, but a Book. We have already seen that the Scribes interpreted the Bible in a way to derive from it new laws to meet new needs. These deductions grew into a Second Law, more voluminous than the first. The patient evolving of this Law to meet all religious social and economic requirements of their altered life became now the chief work of the Jamnia Academy and other schools that sprang from it. To this work of laying bare "the whole duty of man" the scholars now devoted them- selves and regarded it as sacred as divine worship. "The study of the Law," said they, "outweighs all vir- tues." The first order of these great expounders were called TANAIM, which means teachers, and their deci- sions were called HALACHATH. Very preciously did the students who sat at the feet of the sages treasure the Halachath (for they were contained in no book) and handed them down from generation to genera- tion. The people at large now learned to look to the Jam- nian Sanhedrin as their authority in all religious duties and for guidance in varied perplexities. In those days there was no fixed calendar ; the new month was ascer- tained by watching the heavens for the New Moon, and from its advent the Sanhedrin decided the festivals of each month for the community. The Ne^w Moon was announced from place to place by fire signals on the hills. These could not reach distant places outside of JOCHANIN BEN ZAKKAI. 133 Judea and in some cases the signals were tampered with. So, as there was a doubt of one day as to the New Moon's appearance, they introduced the custom of observing an additional day of each festival. Jochanan ben Zakkai, then, revealed his greatness in boldly abrogating institutions that had lost their appli- cation with the Temple's fall, bridging the transition between epochs just as Samuel had done in his day. His great personality strengthened the union between the dispersed Jews. Further, like his master Hillel, he combined in his character gentleness and firmness ; and like him, too, he also exercised an elevating influence on his pupils by his ethical teachings. He showed them how to search the Scriptures, to discover its no- blest lessons. This was distinct from that branch of Bible study already referred to, enabling the student to evolve new rules and new observances. The latter was judicial, the former homiletic. These gradually came to form the two great divisions of the scholarly activ- ities of the Rabbis, the judicial division called Halacha (legal decision), the ethical styled AGADA, which really means narrative for many a story, anecdote, moral maxim or bit of history would be brought in to illus- trate a legal point or to relieve the tension of argu- ment by a pleasing diversion. So Agada meant much miscellaneous material and included everything not strictly judicial. Here are some of the maxims of Jochanan ben Zak- kai : "Fear God as much as you fear man." Try and think all that is implied in this admonition. 134 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. "No iron tool was to be used on the altar, suggesting that religion's mission is peace." NOTES AND REFERENCES. The pupil has already been made familiar with the prophetic views on sacrifice (see People of the Book, vol. III). Here follow some of the advanced opinions of the Rabbis: "The humble-minded is considered by God to have offered all the sacrifices, for it is said that the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit." "Acts of justice are more meritorious than all the sacrifices. Unless the mind is purified, the sacrifice is useless; it may be thrown to the dogs." "He who engages in the study of the Law, re- quires neither burnt offering nor meal offering." "A day in thy courts is better than a thousand." Psalm Ixxiv. is thus explained : God said to David, "I prefer thy sitting and studying before me to the thousands of burnt offerings which thy son Solomon will offer on the altar." "He who prays is considered as pious as if he had built an altar and offered sacrifices upon it." "As the Altar wrought atonement during the time of the Temple, so after its destruction, the Table." With the abolition of sacrifice the Paschal Lamb was indicated only in a symbolic way on the Passover table. THE PALESTINIAN ACADEMIES. 135 CHAPTER XXV. THE PALESTINIAN ACADEMIES. Jamnia was the first of many Palestinian schools; one was located at Sepphoris, another at Tiberias, both in Galilee; another at Lydda in the south, not far from the Mediterranean. So the good work grew, and under sadder auspices the thread of life was taken up again. A new royalty, so to speak, was created in Israel. The first literal royalty of the House of Judah had been overthrown by Babylon seven hundred years earlier. After the Restoration, the Priests became the monarchs of the State, exercising regal powers. Now in the Dis- persion the Teacher was King. Indeed he was called a Prince (NASI). He was the head of the Academy, whose sway was voluntarily yet gladly accepted in matters both re- ligious and civil (as far as the management of inter- nal affairs was granted) by the congregations formed in Rome, Babylonia, Greece, Egypt and the Parthian lands. The first Nasi or Patriarch at Jamnia was Rabbi Gamaliel II., of the family of Hillel, for Jochanan ben Zakkai had held a position sui generis demanded by the exigencies of the time. But it was the wish of all that the official office should remain in the House of Hillel. Gamaliel was so conscientious that in farming his 136 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. estate he would take no interest. He showed both as- tronomical and mathematical knowledge in the regula- tion of the Jewish calendar. He was a stern man, but these troublous times needed a firm hand, religiously as well as politically, for it was a period of unrest; the air was full of schemes and fantastic notions. Even so, he was perhaps too severe, and for a brief period during his thirty years of Patriarchate, he was actually impeached. One indication of his severity was his fre- quent imposition of Nidui- excommunication. The person so condemned had to stand aloof from the com- munity and live as one in mourning. He was ostracised until the ban was removed. As in the days when the Temple stood, there were still two parties not Pharisees and Sadducees now, but Hillelites and Shammaites. In most instances the de- cisions of the School of Hillel, the more liberal party, prevailed. Rabbi Gamaliel, however, endeavored to place himself above party, as the leader should. The following incidents will show the temper of these Jewish scholars : One Akabiah ben Mahalallel was asked to recede from a particular decision. It was even intimated by some that if he would yield, he would be made Ab Beth Din (Vice-President, next in order to the Nasi). To this suggestion he answered, "I would rather be a fool all my life than a rogue for one hour." Is not that magnificent ? Living aloof and asked by his son for a letter of recommendation to his THE PALESTINIAN ACADEMIES. 137 colleagues, the stern father refused. "Thy own works must recommend thee." Another famous teacher was Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, who opened the school at Lydda. His weakness lay in the fact that he would never trust his own judg- ment to deduce a rule. He accepted and taught only what he had learned on the authority of his teachers. That type of man has its value in the world and is like the priest who treasures past traditions. But we need originators too who boldly open up new highways; for if we mistrusted our own powers altogether and walked only in the old paths, knowledge would not grow and the world would not advance. In contrast, let us single out a more Interesting fig- ure, a man who left his impress on his age Rabbi JOSHUA BEN HAN AN! AH. Broad, versatile and gifted, he as a youth had been a chorister in the Temple, now laid waste. Like a true genius, he broke through many of the disadvantages that handicapped him and became one of the Tanaim and the founder of a new academy at Bekiim. He was miserably poor and eked out a scanty existence as a needle-maker. For these great teachers received no emolument for their labors in the religious Academy. It was a service of love. They followed the principle laid down by Rabbi Zadoc, "Do not use the Law as a crown to shine therewith or a spade to dig therewith." Rabbi Joshua was, however, so severely plain that a Roman Emperor's daughter, combining at once a compliment and an insult, asked 138 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. why so much wisdom should be deposited in so homely a vessel. Tradition says he advised her to put her father's wine in golden jars with a lamentable result, to prove that good wisdom, like good wine, may be best preserved in plain receptacles. Rabbi Joshua lacked the presumed advantage of many of the scholars in not belonging to the Jewish aristocracy; he was a man of the "common people." Yet that ultimately became to him a source of power as, being closer to the masses, he was the better able to influence them, and he helped to bring the upper and lower classes of society closer together. By his gentleness and moderation he prevented many a split in Judaism that often threatened when divergence of view reached the danger point. Although, like Gamaliel, a great mathematician and astronomer, he was modest and obedient and submitted to a humiliating ordeal imposed by the stern Nasi be- cause of a mistaken calculation as to the date of a fes- tival. Such example by a great teacher was most bene- ficial on the people at large. Very valuable to the cause too was his shrewd com- mon sense that exposed the folly of extreme and fan- tastic views. "The Law," said he, "was not revealed to angels but to human beings." Some misguided pietists would not partake of wine or meat because, now that the Temple had fallen, they could not be offered on its altar. "Why not," said he, "abstain also from bread and water since they too were used in the THE PALESTINIAN ACADEMIES. 139 sacrificial service?" Nothing like ridicule at times to explode fallacies. "^.:l Most important perhaps of all his service was his en- deavor to close the breach between Israel and the Romans, which the unforgiving Shammaites would have widened. He advised a graceful submission to the inevitable. In consequence he enjoyed the confidence of the Roman rulers. Like Jochanan ben Zakkai, he turned out to be the man of the hour ; and when a little later Israel again sailed into stormy seas, he was called to the helm. ...; Rabbi Ishmael ben Elisha deserves a brief mention as one of the great Tanaim of this age who, avoiding strained interpretation, explained the Law with logical common-sense. He gladly devoted his wealth to the maintenance of girls orphaned by the war. He too founded a School and was destined, alas, to die a mar- tyr's death. These men assured the continuity of their holy work by training students in the exploration of the Law and transmitting to them the Halachath (decisions) that they thus far deduced. Declared proficient, they or- dained them as sages by the ceremony of Semicha ("laying on of hands"). This gave them right of mem- bership in the Sanhedrin and certain judicial functions and also the title of RABBI, introduced after the Tem- ple's fall of Jochanan ben Zakkai. Outside of Judea in the Diaspora schools were al- so being established in Babylon, Parthia, Asia Minor 14O A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. and Egypt. In Alexandria a modest academy replaced the pretentious Temple of happier days. But all turned to Jamnia where the Sanhedrin met as the centre of religious authority. It was for the time being their spiritual capital. To the presiding Nasi, Rome granted some civil jurisdiction in the administration of inter- nal Jewish affairs. So the Sanhedrin was still quite a House of Legislature in its way. Here were regulated the institutions of Judaism and here was now more completely formulated the RITUAL OF PRAYER already inaugurated in the Syna- gogues while the Temple stood. Here is its outline. The Shema ("Hear, O Israel") was the centre of the first division of the service. It was preceded by two benedictions, the first expressing God's providence seen in Nature, suitably varied for morning and even- ing service; the second God's love for Israel manifested in the bestowal of the Law. The Shema was followed by another benediction voicing gratitude for divine re- demption. The second division of the service was the Prayer proper (Tefillah), containing a set form of praises at the opening and close, with the central part movable to fit the different occasions of week-days, Sabbath and Holy Days. The third section of the service was the reading from the Pentateuch and the Prophets. The Reader was no special functionary, but any Israelite could "stand before the Ark" where the scrolls were placed and read the service. Here again pre- THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIANITY. 14! vailed the idea that religious service was not to be paid for. Prayer for the restoration of Land and Temple was a fixed feature of every service. Perpet- ually to commemorate the Temple's loss by outward signs became a duty in which patriotism and religion were blended. The fasts instituted in Babylon for the fall of the first Temple were reinstituted now to com- memorate the downfall of the second. As may be well understood, a long and disastrous war had demoralized the masses, especially the coun- try folk. The educated classes rather held aloof from the Am'Haaretz (the ignorant masses). This is rather surprising on the part of the scholars, otherwise so conscientious and so benevolent. But the times were rude and ignorance usually went hand in hand with many evil practises. CHAPTER XXVI. THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIANITY. In the meantime the new religion that had sprung from Judaism was entering its second stage of develop- ment. We have seen how the mixture of pagan ideas tended to separate Jews from Christians theologically, We will now see how the trend of events tended to separate them socially. There were still two Christ- 142 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. ian sects the pagan Christians to whom Jesus was th Son of God, whose blood shed on the cross was an atonement for the sins of mankind and whose coming abrogated the Law. These Gentile Christians were called Hellenists, as most of them were first Greeks. These naturally had small sympathy with the Jews in spite of the fact that it was the lofty morality of the Hebrew Scriptures that formed the backbone of the new Faith. On the other hand there were the Jewish Christ- ians, who zealously remained Jews in all but the be- lief that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, that he had risen from the grave and would come a second time to gratify the hopes not fulfilled in his first ad- vent. They also fostered the belief that they could cure by miracles and drive out demons by declaration of a formula of their faith ; for Jesus had also believed in this power of exorcism. They still maintained to a degree the customs of the Essenes, from which body, perhaps they had first sprung, particularly the duty of voluntary poverty. Indeed, the Sanhedrin seriously considered whether they might not be regarded as Jews. But when Judaism and Jews became discredited through loss of land and Temple and the latter were taxed for the privilege of remaining lojal to the for- mer (Fiscus Judaicus), these Jewish Christians be- gan to drift away from people who had lost power and status in the world, and threw in their lot with the con- trolling majority. Such is the way of the world. Fur- THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIANITY. 143 thermore, some of the Jewish country folk, losing faith in the validity of Judaism through the loss of its Tem- ple, were attracted to Christianity with its new scheme of salvation, in which Jesus took the place which they ? md lost in the altar of sacrifice. So the loss of the Temple with its priestly service had much to do with the spread of Christianity. Although great bitterness at first existed between the two Christian sects, the pagan branch soon absorbed the Jewish branch and all too soon the Christians "knew not Joseph." For the antagonism of Gentile against Jew was now transmitted to the new church and, sad to say, it became a more bitter persecutor of the people from which Jesus and Paul had sprung than most of the heathen nations had been. New ceremonials grew up in the new Faith. Pass- over was made a sacrificial service, the unleavened bn?nd and wine supposed to be transformed in some mystic way into the flesh and blood of the Saviour (as Jesu* was styled). Many Roman rites and symbols were consciously or unconsciously taken up by the new creed in the first few centuries of its foundation; for it grew less and less Jewish as the years went on. De- preciation of Judaism became now the accustomed tactics <^f the Church Fathers, for Christianity's justi- fication depended in some respects on the theory of Judaism's insufficiency. This unfortunate spirit of an- tagonism we find in parts of the Christian Scriptures that mar the many beautiful and humane teachings 144 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. they contain. These Scriptures were known as the New Testament, to distinguish them from the Jewish Scriptures which was called the Old Testament, as though the Testament or covenant between God and Israel, there recorded, was now obsolete and super- seded by a "New" covenant in which, as already ex- plained, Jesus the Messiah (Christ), the Son of God took the place of the Law. Many passages from the Hebrew Prophets were retranslated, to fit the impres- sion that they had really foretold the coming of Jesus and the events of his life. The whole Hebrew Bible in fact was treated as but a preparation for Christian- ity's grand climax. Even the history of Israel was regarded as but an allegorical picture of the life of the Nazarine. We cannot pass this period of religious upheaval without a word about certain strange sects neither wholly Jewish, Christian or pagan, but something of all, that arose at this time. They were for the most part called Gnostics, from the Greek "Know," claiming to obtain through weird processes a clearer knowledge of God. Ver yfantastic were the views of some on the problems of life and sin. Some of the sects were led into all sorts of absurdities and excesses. A few Jews were seduced by these fascinating heresies, notably one Elisha ben Abuyah, learned in the Law though he was. Having left the fold, he became a persecutor of his peo- ple. The Rabbis only accounted for the sad change THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIANITY. 145 by a complete revolution in his nature so they called him Acher, "another man." The Sanhedrin found it wise to prohibit the read- ing of such mystic literature that would tend to seduce youth from the sound and healthy teachings of Juda- ism. NOTES AND REFERENCES. For an elucidating picture of the compromise of paganism with Christianity by a Christian writer, read Is Catholicism a Baptised Paganism? by Rev, Heber Newton, in the Forum Magazine; New York, 1890. The book chiefly made use of by Christian apologists for the interpretation of Christianity between its lines is the Prophet Isaiah, particularly its fifty-third chap- ter, though modern Christian critics altogether abandon this old method of biblical exigesis. See Skinner's Isaiah, Cambridge Bible, for good translation and ex- planation of Isaiah, viii., ix., and liii. Also Monte- fiore's Bible for Home Reading, both vols. 146 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. CHAPTER XXVII. ROME'S REGIME AFTER JUDEA'S OVERTHROW. A. C. E. Vespasian 68 Titus 79 Domitian 81 Nerva % Trajan 98 Hadrian 117 Antoninus Pius 138 The Emperor Vespasian who had permitted the in- stitution of the Jamnian Academy, though he had also imposed the Fiscus Judaicus, was succeeded by his son Titus. Titus lived too briefly after he became Emperor to exert a decided influence on Israel, but they could never forget that to his hand had been entrusted the final overthrow of Judea. His brother Domitian, how- ever, the next Emperor, was a tyrant and a degenerate. The Jewish tax was collected with needless cruelty and indignity. He bitterly persecuted those Romans who, in spite of Israel's fallen fortunes, were still drawn to its Faith. Proselytes came in sufficient numbers to make the subject an important theme of discussion in the Jewish Academy. It was probably in Rome itself where the spread of Judaism most alarmed the Emperor. Perhaps its teachings reached the Ro- mans through the Jewish prisoners of war. Certainly many high born Romans were enthusiastically prepared to make sacrifices for its cause. It is said that even Flavius Clemens and his wife, Flavia Domitilla, re- ROME'S REGIME AFTER JUDEA'S OVERTHROW 147 latives of Domitian and possible heirs to the throne, were pledged to Judaism. Clemens was put to death in the year 95, and his wife was exiled. But a step and Judaism might have mounted the imperial throne of Rome and have exchanged destinies with Christianity. That is one of the might-have-beens of history. One of the most famous proselytes was Aquila, a Greek of scholarship and wealth. Dissatisfied with the later Greek translations of the Bible, distorted to fit Christian doctrine, Aquila made a literal translation from the Hebrew that so commended itself to the Rab- bis that it became the "authorized version," so to speak, for the Synagogue. An Aramaic translation of the Bible, following his model, was called after him Tar- gum Onkeles which means "a translation like that of Aquila." It is often printed with the Hebrew texts of Scripture today. Remember, Aramaic was the language spoken by most Jews of the East at this time. It was the unhappy fate of Israel that the mischiev- ous Domitian (who, it is even said at one time contem- plated the extermination of the Jews,) should have reigned so long and that the good Emperor Nerva, his successor, should have reigned so briefly. So although the injunctions against proselytes were removed during the sixteen months of Nerva's rule, as soon as Trajan came to the throne many anti-Jewish laws were re- stored. Like Alexander the Greek, Trajan cherished the wild desire of conquering Asia. When he attacked 148 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. Parthia, the Jews living in semi-independence there became his most vigorous opponents. In Babylon they stubbornly held the city of Nisibis against his legions. No sooner had he subdued the lands on the Euphrates and the Tigris, than the Persian provinces revolted. All the Jews of the Diaspora now seized the occa- sion to throw off the hated Roman yoke. For they had never been reconciled to it and their children, now grown to manhood, had been brought up in the assur- ance that soon Judea would be won back again, and the Temple rebuilt. In Egypt, in Cyprus, a Mediter- ranean island, and in Cyrene, further west on the African coast they rose against their opponents. At first success came to their arms and much blood flowed on both sides ; but there could be no doubt of the ulti- mate outcome with Rome's overwhelming numbers. So vigorous was their resistance that the historian Graetz ventures to think that, in spite of lacking cavalry and being indifferently armed, had these three separate Jewish uprisings been organized under one directing control, it would have gone hard with the Roman le- gions. As it was, their beautiful Synagogue in Alex- andria was destroyed, all the Jewish inhabitants of Cyprus were slain, and the island forbidden them in the future. Many lives were lost in other places of Jewish insurrection, including Judea itself. The revolt certainly nipped in the bud Trajan's foolish ambition to conquer all Asia, and he died in mortification at his failure. ROME S REGIME AFTER JUDEA S OVERTHROW 149 Gamaliel was dead and Rabbi Joshua was Patriarch. The reins of power could not have been entrusted to wiser hands, for he seized the moment of the acces- sion of the new Emperor Hadrian to council concilia- tion. Like Jochanan ben Zakkai, he saw the futility of Israel wasting its strength in fighting with colossal Rome. The Sanhedrin was removed from Jamnia to Oosha in upper Galilee. Joshua's sway was less rigor- ous than that of Gamaliel. At a time when many of his brethren felt nothing but hatred toward the heathen, he uttered the famous dictum : "The virtuous of all peoples have a share in the heavenly bliss of the life to come." The new Emperor also seemed at first inclined to a policy of concession; but there was little choice, for revolt burst out in all parts of the empire, from Asia Minor in the East to Britain in the far West. The discouraged Emperor gladly met many of his enemies half way. Parthia was restored to the control of its own princes. In Judea proper a cruel general, Quietus, was stopped in his terrible purpose of exterminating the Jews and was ultimately executed. To win peace and adherents, he was willing to make many fair promises at the opening of his reign that he had no serious intention of fulfilling. One of these was an offer to the Jews to rebuild their Temple, which they had exacted as the condition of laying down their arms. Imagine the boundless joy with which this news was received a Cyrus come to power once more! He- 1 50 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. brew poets sang of the glories that were to come, Christians and Samaritans were much disconcerted at the news. But as soon as Hadrian had obtained the mastery of the situation and quiet was restored, he resorted to subterfuge. They might rebuild their Temple, but not in the same place. He knew it was that place or none. The Jews saw through the pretense; their hopes were blasted. There was talk of war again, but the wise Rabbi Joshua still councilled submission. So for many years the embers of revolt slumbered in the breasts of the Jews, but did not die out, though as long as Rabbi Joshua lived they did not break into flame. CHAPTER XXVIII. AKIBA. The man who now came to the fore was of a differ- ent mould the famous Rabbi AKIBA. Many a pretty legend is woven around his life. Have you ever real- ized that it is only around great men that legends grow ? Imagination does not seek to picture incidents in the lives of the commonplace. Not only poor, but ignor- ant, he despised scholars and scholarship. Like the great Lawgiver, he served as a humble shepherd the rich Kalba Sabua. One day, so runs the story, he met the beautiful daughter of his master and fell in love AKIBA. 151 with her. Angry at her attachment for this boor, Kalba disinherited his daughter, Rachel. But her sweet self-sacrifice in sharing poverty with him rather than wealth without him, roused the noblest qualities dormant in Akiba's nature. She was determined to bear yet further privation that he might become a scholar in the Law. For it was to his ignorance, rather than to his poverty, that the father had objected. Among no people was illiteracy so great a disgrace as among the Jews, and among no people did learning simply, confer so much honor. So at her urgency, he reluctantly left his home to sit at the feet of the Ra1> bis of the Schools. A wonderful pupil he became, for he had the gift of enthusiasm. But while he was win^ ning renown at the Academy, she, alone and at a dis- tance, was battling with poverty, at one time having to sell her hair to buy food for her child. But still the self-sacrificing woman would not permit his return. One day it was announced in the village in which she lived that the great scholar, Rabbi Akiba, was about to visit it. He came surrounded by many disciples, and as the crowd of admirers gathered about him, they pushed aside a poorly clad woman who tried to reach his side. But espying her, he parted the crowd and caught her in his arms. To the astonished specta- tors he declared, "All that I know I owe to her, for she was my inspiration." So far the romantic side of his life. On its literary side he was a great Tana, and famous scholars came J52 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. from his School. His method of interpreting new Law from old was based on the theory that no word or particle in the Pentateuch was redundant and must therefore have some hidden significance. On such a principle there was no end of the possible deductions from Scripture. Yet the Rabbis were too earnest and too conscientious to knowingly abuse it. He certainly gave them a free hand in devising regulations to meet the complex needs of later times. So the theory worked in the interest of progress. The institution of this method has earned for Akiba the title of "father of Rabbinic Judaism." He further gave an impetus to the classification of the Halachath, already begun before his day. This classification of the Oral Law was called Mishna, or Second Law, of which we shall hear more later on. He too had a voice in fixing the canon of Scripture. Here follow some of his sayings: "How favored is man for he was created in the Image" [of God]. "Everything is foreseen, yet freedom of will is given to man." There is also ascribed to him on doubtful authority the maxim, "Whatever God doeth He doeth for the best." There was a wonderful fascination about the man that attracted hundreds of students to him tradition says thousands. That was in part due to his unbounded AKIBA. 153 faith. Instance of this faith is illustrated in his visit to Rome, with some of his colleagues to intercede with Domitian on behalf of his people. They burst into tears at beholding Rome's splendor and mentally con- trasting it with Jerusalem's desolation. He met their tears with a hopeful smile "The present ruined con- dition of our beloved land, foretold by the Prophets, only assures me of the fulfillment of the brighter proph- ecies of our ultimate triumph." Alas, even faith may have its drawbacks! Akiba's deep conviction that the restoration of Judea's inde- pendence was at hand, to be effected by the advent of the Messiah, induced him to encourage the revolt that was quietly but steadily spreading among his disaffect- ed brethren. Hadrian, little understanding the spirit of this peo- ple reported to the Senate after making a circuit through the Roman provinces, that all was peace. He was both foolish and cruel enough to display his ab- solute power and Israel's complete subjection, not only by withdrawing permission to rebuild the Jewish Temple, but by ordering a heathen shrine to be reared on its site, thus completely to paganize Jerusalem. This was the last straw. The aged Rabbi Joshua went to implore the Emperor to desist from this wanton project, but in vain. It was one of the last acts of the Patriarch's life. Like Antiochus of old, Hadrian wish- ed to obliterate Judaism and Christianity too for that 154 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. matter, and make the idolatrous worship of Serapis universal. NOTES AND REFERENCES. For a critical study of the life and work of Akiba, read the article, "Akiba ben Joseph" in Jewish En- cyclopedia, Vol. I. Massorah is the technical term for the traditional Scripture text handed down by the Fathers of the Synagogue, which has been thus preserved intact in these scrupulous and reverent hands. See article, Massorah, Isidor Harris, Jeu'ish Quarterly Review, Vol. I. CHAPTER XXIX. LAST STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. Preparations for rebellion had been carefully plan- Red for some years. Arms had been stored in caves. Akiba was the inspiration of the revolt, its Deborah, let us say. But who was to be its Barak? The times created the man. A hero appeared to lead the forces of Israel whom the multitude in admiration called BAR COCHBA (Son of a Star). This title was suggested by the name of his birthplace, Koziba, but partly also because he was regarded by the enthusiasts as the long looked for Messiah. This man of colossal strength and strategic resources was going to make Rome feel LAST STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. 155 the power of a scorned people. Reinforcements came fast to the banner of the supposed Messiah, scion of David's house, who was to throw off the yoke of Rome and restore the throne of Judah. Soon he had half a million men at his back. The Roman governor, Turnus Rufus, who is the Talmud's archetype of cruelty, fled with his garrison. In the first year of the war fifty fortresses and a thou- sand towns capitulated before the advancing arms of Bar Cochba ; for the presence of the beloved Akiba gave' confidence to all. We might say of him as was writ- ten of Moses, "When Akiba raised his hand, Israel prevailed." Hadrian, who first slighted the insurrection, had soon reason to fear it. His best generals were dis- patched to Judea only to be repulsed. Already Bar Cochba was having coins struck with his insignia. Alas, the act was premature. King Ahab once said, "Let not him boast who putteth on his armor as he who taketh it off." In the meantime Roman prisoners of war were treated with great forbearance; indeed some heathens impressed with the enthusiasm of the Jews, had joined their ranks. Eventually, after Bar Cochba had held sway for two years without cavalry and had repulsed every Roman army, Hadrian, alarmed, summoned the great general, Julius Severus, from distant Britain. The Jewish focus of operations was at Bethar, south of Caesaria, and one mile from the Mediterranean, and fortifications 156 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. had been placed North, West and East to hold control of the country. Jezreel commanded the centre. Like Vespasian, the great general Severus, decided on siege rather than attack. So he steadily cut off sup- plies and provisions and also barbarously put to death all prisoners of war. There was no Josephus to give us vivid details of this campaign, so we only know its general result. The three great outlying fortresses on the frontier were first mastered. The next battle took place on the field of Jezreel. One by one the Jewish fortresses fell. The whole Judean army was now con- centrated in Bethar where the decisive battle must be waged. It was the Jerusalem of this war. Severus resolved to starve it out. For one year the Jews brave- ly held out against the finest army of the age. At last some Romans found a way into Bethar through a sub- terranean passage which some Samaritans, it is said, betrayed. Then followed an awful carnage in which Roman horses "waded to the nostrils in Jewish blood." More than half a million souls were slain and thou- sands more perished by fire and hunger. Yet so great were also the Roman losses that Hadrian in his mes- sage of the campaign to the Roman senate, significantly omitted the formula, "I and the army are well." In the year 135 Bethar fell and tradition places it on the same date so disastrous in Jewish annals the 9th of Ab. The Roman soldiers kept up a war of exter- mination against the scattered bands that still held out. Many who had taken refuge in caves were brutally LAST STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. 157 massacred. All the Jews throughout the Roman Em- pire were made to feel the weight of Hadrian's anger in heavy taxation. As though wantonly to mark its com- plete desolation, the plow was passed over Jerusalem. North of it was built a Roman city Aelia Capitolina. On the Temple Mount was erected a shrine dedicated to Jupiter, with the vindictive purpose of obliterating the very name of Jerusalem. And it was forgotten for one hundred and fifty years. No Jew dared enter that city under penalty of death. But his real punish- ment of those whom failure made rebels had not yet begun. Keener sighted than Vespasian, who blotted out the nation but protected the Faith, he now saw that there was only one way to crush the Jew that was by crushing his religion. To that abortive purpose he now devoted himself with all the inhumanity of a Pha- raoh. To the cruel but cowardly Turnus Rufus, who had fled at the first alarm, that task was entrusted. Judaism was proscribed. Obedience to its Law was de- clared a capital crime. What should they do commit physical or spiritual suicide ? Was ever a people re- duced to such straits? A few were ready for ignoble acquiescence and call- ed it submitting to the inevitable, forgetting that "in- evitable" is an elastic term that varies with our mor- al determination. Meeting secretly in a garret, the Rab- bis considered the momentous question of the religious policy of this critical hour. They decided that while this terrible decree lasted the people might disregard 158 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. Jewish observances under duress, since the Law was given, not that they should die, but live by it. But fearing that their lenient proclamation might be mis- takenly applied to the fundamentals of religion and morals, they made this safe-guard : Even to save their lives, no Jew must commit the sins of IDOLATRY, IN- CEST or MURDER. This vitally important declaration, involving the all-compelling sanction of the Second, Sixth and Seventh Commandments, became an abiding principle in Judaism. But many of the Rabbis themselves refused to take advantage of the temporary leniency they were willing to grant to others, and determined to obey every in- junction of Judaism ; and particularly, to impart knowl- edge of the Law to their disciples, on which the con- tinuance of the Jewish tradition depended though they knew that martyrdom would be the penalty of discovery. Roman spies were everywhere ready to pounce upon any who committed the offense of obey- ing the dictates of conscience. Some were only fined, but others were put to death with tortures too cruel to tell. Of the ten martyrs among the teachers of the Law, Chananyah ben Teradion, had a scroll of the Law he was expounding wound round him and was burnt in its flames wet wool being placed on his heart to pro- long his agony. His executioner, inspired by such lofty example of faith and courage, sought death with him in the same pyre. LAST STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. 159 Another, Rabbi Juda ben Baba, gathered some of his disciples about him in a lonely spot, to ordain them as rabbis by the rite of Semicha, already explained. Roman soldiers discovering him, pierced him with a hundred arrows. Rabbi Akiba was among the martyrs and would not avail himself of the temporary suspension of the cere- monial Law. Reproached for exposing his life by teaching the Law, he answered in a parable that has since become famous, that of "The Fox and the Fishes." Better that the fish should spurn the advice of the crafty fox and remain in the water their native element even tho' it was made perilous by the nets of men. Was not Judaism the native element of the Jew? Soon this noble soul was seized. Rufus or- dered him to be flayed to death by iron pincers. But religion cannot be killed in that way. In the midst of his agonies, a seraphic smile illuminated his face. "Daily," said he, "I have recited the Shema, 'Love God with heart and soul and might,' and now I under- stand its last phrase 'with all thy might,' that is even though He ask thy life; here I give Him my life." With this wondrous recital of Israel's prayer, this sweet soul, whose opinions may have won some opponents, but whose character all loved, passed away. His par- able of "The Fox and the Fishes" contained a pro- found truth, for verily through the inspiration of his death and that of others like him does Israel abide to- l6o A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. day. Here was another application of the "suffering servant" in Isaiah's fifty-third chapter. Thus ended Israel's last struggle for liberty. It severed too the last link that yet united the Jewish Christians to the parent Jewish body. "Why hold further relation with a community completely crushed and discredited in the eyes of all the world?" CHAPTER XXX. THE MISHNA. Sorrowfully the Jews now took up the burden of life once more. In spite of dreadful devastation and dreary outlook, the faith and spirit of the majority remained unbroken. Hadrian had tried to eradicate Judaism, but he had failed. The defeated were still the victors. In the year 138 Hadrian was succeeded by the more hu- mane Antoninus Pius. The religious persecution was stopped. The Sanhedrin was reopened at Oosha, the Presidency being still retained in the family of Hil- lel. Rabbi Simon, the Nasi, was the father of the maxim, "The world rests on three pillars Truth, Justice and Peace." Compare the "world's three pil- lars" of Simon the Just. Rabbi Mair was a unique figure of this time. He is said to have given one-third of his means to support THE MISHNA. l6l poor students. Not at first recognized because of his youth, he gave expression to the maxim, "Look not at the vessel, but at that which it contains ; for there are new flasks full of old wine and old flasks which contain not even new wine." Did not Rabbi Joshua express a similar sentiment? His wife, Beruria, is the most renowned or perhaps the only renowned woman in Talmudic annals. We might compare her to the Shunamite (II Kings, iv.), whom the Bible calls a "great" woman. Great was Beruria in strength of character, in dignity and withal in motherly affection. She was indeed a helpmeet to her husband and to many of her people in a time of storm and stress. Her own parents had been martyrs in the Hadrianic war. She was a scholar too. Her keen penetration and at the same time her womanly tender- ness are revealed in her interpretation of the text, "Let sinners be consumed out of the earth." (Psalms civ. 35). Not hate-im, but hata-im not sinners, but sin. Then indeed will be fulfilled the hope at the conclusion of the text "The wicked will be no more." Her strength of character is perhaps best revealed in the pathetic story told of the consoling way in which she broke to her husband the terrible news of the death of their two sons. Through a beautiful symbolism she lead him to confess, before she revealed the sad tid- ings, that "jewels" lent to them must be returned; in this way fortifying him with consolation for the sor- l62 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. row awaiting him, she revealed their double bereave- ment. Rabbi Mair was a broad man who gladly gathered knowledge from all, Jew and non-Jew alike. Mark this bit of wisdom : "Who studies the Law for its own sake is worth the whole world and is loved by God and man." Is not the study of the Law for its own sake the very essence of religion ? He would illustrate his lessons by fables in the portrayal of which he was won- derfully gifted. The Tanai epoch, as it opened, so now closes with a remarkable man RABBI JUDAH, called par excellence The Nasi : i. e. greatest of all. And no Nasi before him had been permitted to exercise so much power over the Sanhedrin, now located in Sepphoris in Galilee. Like so many of his predecessors, he devoted much of his wealth to the maintenance of students of the Law, and fed the poor during a famine. His most valuable service was the complete codification of all the Halachath that had been been gradually accumulat- ing since the days of the Maccabees. While similar collections had been made before his time commenced by Hillel, amplified by Rabbi Akiba and revised by Rabbi Mair, his final editing of the previous work be- came the officially accepted condensation of the Oral Law THE MISHNA, superseding all earlier collections. Written in the new Hebrew of the days of the Sec- ond Temple, it became the text-book in all the schools, THE MISHNA. 163 the recognized code for all legal decisions. As the Sec- ond Law which Mishna means it now took its place beside the Law of the Pentateuch, and just as that first Law was a text for further development, so too we shall see that this Second Law, containing Halachath of the Sopherim, the Pairs and the Tanaim, became the parent of a vast growth of precepts and prohibi- tions in the interpreting hands of the generations now to follow. The Mishna is divided into six books : I Seeds. II Festivals. Ill Women. IV Civil and Criminal Law. V Sacrificial Laws. VI Purification. These six groups (Sedarim) contain sixty subdivis- ions, (Mesechtas) as follows: I. SEEDS. 1. Prayers. 2. "Corners" of fields for poor. (Levit. xix., 9-10). 3. Doubtful produce, (whether tithed or untithed). 4. Illegal mixtures. (See Deut. xxii., 9-11). 5. Sabbatic Year. 6. Priests' Tithes. 7. Levites' Tithes. 8. Secondary Tithes. 9. Dough offerings. (Numbers xv., 17). 164 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. 10. Prohibited fruits of first three years. (Levit. xix., 23-25). 11. First fruits. II. FESTIVALS. 1. Sabbath. 2. Uniting localities to extend limit of Sabbath walk. 3. Passover. 4. Half-shekel tax. (Ex. xxx., n). 5. Day of Atonement. 6. Tabernacles. 7. Festival regulations. 8. New Year. 9. Fasts. 10. Purim. 11. Minor Feasts. 12. Festival Pilgrimage to Jerusalem. III. WOMEN. 1. Levirate marriage. (Deut. xxv., 5-10). 2. Marriage contracts. 3. Vows. 4. Nazarites. (Numbers vi., & xxx.) 5. The suspected sinner. 6. Divorce. 7. Betrothal. IV. CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LAW. 1. First division general. 2 Second division Suits between Master and Serv- ant, etc. THE MISHNA. l$ 3. Third Division Municipal and social regula- tions. 4. The Sanhedrin and Criminal Law. 5. Punishment by flogging. 6. Oaths. 7. Witnesses. 8. Idolatry. 9. Ethics of the Fathers. 10. Accidental Offenses. V. SACRIFICIAL LAWS. 1. Sacrifices. 2. Meat offerings. 3. Slaughtered animals for food only. 4. The first born sacrifice. 5. Redemption: ) c T > See Levit. xxvm. 6. and Exchange : 7. Excommunication. 8. Embezzlement. 9. Temple Sacrificial services. 10. Temple arrangements. 11. Offerings of poor. (Levit. v., i-io & xii., 8). VI. PURIFICATION. 1. Household furniture. 2. Tents and houses. 3. Leprosy. 4. The "Red Heifer" purification. (Numb, xix.) 5. Lesser defilements. 1 66 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. 6. Washings. 7. Periodic defilement. 8. Conditional impurities. 9. Wounds. 10. Personal defilement. 1 1 . Washing of the hands. 12. Defilement of fruits. About 150 authorities are quoted in the Mishna, involving about 2,000 statements. While the Mishna is strictly a code only, still its underlying structure is religious. The moral is every- where impressed. One of its sections is a Book of Morals called Ethics of the Fathers, from which rab- binic sayings have already been quoted. We find no system of doctrines in the Mishna and no formulated creed. A bad life is summed up in the general term epicurean, which probably meant sensual self-indul- gence and scoffing scepticism. The Jew is not asked to believe in God's existence. That is taken for grant- ed ; Atheism hardly came within his ken. He is asked only to shun anything that tends to idolatry. The ac- ceptance of two fundamental beliefs is made the con- dition of future life Revelation and Resurrection. To withhold Immortality from him who denies it we might call poetic justice. The punishment of wickedness in general is not Hell, but oblivion; for death atones all sin. While the ceremonial law was rigorous, its observ- ance was saved from being mechanical by the import- THE MISHNA. l/ ance laid on sincerity of intention and on inner devo- tion. Rabba, of whom we shall hear later, said, "He who does good for reasons other than the good itself, it were better that he had never been born." This teaching in characteristic. To transcend the Law in the keeping of one's word merits the highest praise. Many prohibitions were imposed not wrong in themselves, but as barriers against possible wrong. These forme^ a "fence around the Law." The acceptance of the Mishna as the Canon of Jew- ish Law curtailed theoretically at least the freedom of the rabbis that now followed in the evolving of new Law. The teachers were henceforth at liberty only to expound the Mishnas. They are therefore called AMORAIM expounders to distinguish them from the Tanaim that class of teachers who interpreted direct from the Scriptures and whose work closed with the Mishna. The Mishna tended to still further decide the legal character of Judaism. While it may have robbed the individual of spontaneity of religious action, it strengthened the bulwarks of moral law "the cate- gorical imperative," as Kant calls it. Rabbi Judah, the Prince, not only compiled the teachings of others, but he left valuable maxims of his own : "Be as careful of the observance of a light pre- cept as of a weighty one." "Balance the material loss involved in the per- 1 68 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. formance of a precept against its spiritual com- pensation." "Know what is above thee. A seeing eye, a hearing ear, and that all thy actions are written in a book." No Nasi received so much reverential regard from the people at large. While he was dying, they gath- ered around his house, declaring in the hyperbole of grief that they would slay the person who would dare announce his death. At length there came forward Bar Kappara, the only Hebrew poet of this period a man of broad scientific attainments and withal a man of delicate imagination. In these words he announced Rabbi Jehudah Hanasi's death: "Angels and mortals contended for the ark of the Covenant. The angels have conquered, the ark of the Covenant is gone." But a passing word of other great men of this epoch. Rabbi Jochanan showed his breadth of view in encour- aging the study of Greek and opening up its great literature to Jewish youth, and particularly in his rec- ommendation of it for girls. This urging of the culti- vation of the female mind formed a pleasing contrast to the prevailing practise the neglect of the educa- tion of women which practise survives in some of our communities today. To this period also belonged that keen dialectician, Resh Lakish, renowned both for his colossal strength and his schupulous honesty. He alone saw that the THE MISHNA 169 Book of Job was not a history, but a life problem put in the form of a story. He also taught that Hell has no real existence. Another teacher, Rabbi Simlai, searched the Script- ures and enumerated 613 ordinances of Judaism 365 negative and 248 affirmative precepts. He found them further reduced to eleven principles in the 1 5th Psalm ; in Isaiah xxxiii. to six; in Micah vi.-8 to three; in Isaiah; Ivi. to two; and in Amos v.-4 to one; to one also in Habbakuk ii.-4. Nor must we forget those delegate rabbis who, in- vestigating the religious and educational condition of various towns and finding in one place no teachers, asked the magistrate to present the guardians of the city. He marchel forth the armed men. "No," said the delegates, "these are not the guardians, but the destroyers of a city. Its true guardians are the teach- ers." Let us mention in this group too Rabbi Abahu, the last of the great men of the Palestinian schools, re- nowned not so much as an expert on the Halacha as a keen Hagadist. This is another way of saying that he was not so much a subtle jurist as a great Preacher. He was a student of human nature. His keen insight on one occasion chose as the worthiest to pray for rain, a man of bad repute, but whom he had discerned pos- sessed a nature of rare worth. NOTES AND REFERENCES. For a complete numeration of the 613 precepts, see I7O A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. article "Commandments," Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. IV. Read Liberal Judaism, Montefiore; pages 113 and 114: Macmillan. Another collection similar to the Mishna and ar- ranged on the same plan was called Tosephta (adden- dum). This contained, however, more Haggada and for the most part commentaries on Scripture. Read article "Prof. Schiirer on Life Under the Law," by Israel Abrahams in Jewish Quarterly Re- view, Vol. XL, and "The Law and Recent Criticism" Schechter, Vol. III. CHAPTER XXXI. BABYLONIA AND ITS SCHOOLS. Ever since the Bar Cochba war, the numerical centre of gravity of the Jews had shifted to Babylonia, and soon after the compilation of the Mishna in Palestine, this land became the religious centre too. A fertile country, it lay between the Euphrates and Tigris and the Persian Gulf at the south though the term is sometimes used in Jewish annals to include the surrounding lands, the eastern boundary extending as far as the Arabian Desert. This second "Land of Israel" had been a home for the Jews since the first forced exile there in the year 600 B. C. E. in the days of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. From Babylon came both BABYLONIA AND ITS SCHOOLS 17f Ezra and Hillel, though in the four centuries interven- ing between these two men we hear nothing of Jewish life in Babylon. This land had varied fortunes. The home of the Babylonians one of the most important of the Semitic families and one of the most ancient civilizations it was conquered by Cyrus the Persian about 540 B. c. E. About the year 330 it was taken by Alexander in his triumphant march through Asia and became part of the Seleucidean Empire. This brought into it some- thing of a Greek atmosphere. In the year 160 B. c. E. it was conquered by Parthia an Asiatic nation dwel- ling south of the Caspian Sea. This regime continued for four centuries, though the Parthians exercised no influence whatever on the Jews. In the year 226, A. c. E. a Neo-Persian dynasty was re-established. This continued till the coming of the Arabs in the Seventh Century. During all these changes in the controlling power, the Jews continued in Babylonia undisturbed. When Judea fell in the year 70, that seemed almost an an- nihilating catastrophe, their life went on without a break, except that it brought to Babylon a large num- ber of Jewish refugees. So that by the Second Century after the Christian Era, it had become the centre of greatest Jewish influence and activity. Trajan had tried to conquer the land, but failed. So they remained out of the reach of the Roman grasp. What was the Jewish status here? Since the time of 172 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. Cyrus the government had been Persian. Given almost complete political independence, they simply paid taxes to the government. As Persia had granted to the Jews the privilege of administering their own affairs in Judea, so naturally, the same permission was granted in Babylonia. There was this important difference: The head of the Judean community had been the High Priest in the days when the Temple stood. When we turn to Babylon in the century following Jerusalem's overthrow, we find the governor of the Jewish com- munity was called Exilarch or RESH GELUTHA, to use the Jewish expression, (Head of the Exile). Goluth Exile, was a word freighted with emotional meaning to our fathers. In the first place the Resh Gelutha, as distinct from the High Priest, was entirely a civil functionary. In the second, the office carried more power. The Exil- arch was recognized by the government and occupied a place among the Persian nobility. At first but col- lectors of revenue, they were later treated as princes perhaps as a mark of gratitude for the Jewish support of Parthia against Rome. A good deal of pomp came to be associated with the office. These Exilarchs were all chosen from the House of David, and so represented a quasi-royalty. The line continued unbroken till the Eleventh Century. The Exilarchs exercised complete judicial authority among their own people. Unlike the Patriarch or Nasi of Judea with whom we may also BABYLONIA AND ITS SCHOOLS compare them, they were not necessarily learned in the Law. The Jews of Babylonia were for the most part en- gaged in agriculture, various trades and work on the canals. Fortunate indeed were they to have again se- cured a home beyond Rome's cruel control, where un- disturbed they might live their own life. In the study of the Law they found inexhaustible material for in- tellectual and religious activity. But how was religion taught and the continuity of Judaism maintained in Babylonia ? At first they were entirely dependent on the Pales- tinian Academies established in Jamnia and Lydda and other places after the fall of Jerusalem, and were al- together subject to the Judean Sanhedrin. And many students traveled hither to study at its schools. But after a time the community grew strong enough in- tellectually to establish academies of its own. The most famous were those of Nahardea, Sura and Pumbaditha. The heads of the Academies corresponded to the Jud- ean Patriarchs, only that all civil power was vested in the Resh Gelutha. Step by step the Babylonians increased in learning; and, acquiring confidence, came to feel less the need of the guidance of the parent authority. Soon they claim- ed independent jurisdiction. This was bitterly resented in Palestine. The removal of the Sanhedrin to Jamnia had been the first wrench. The second was the removal of the central authority in Judea itself to distant Baby- A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. Ionia. But they could not stem the tide. As the for- tunes of the Jews declined in Judea,the schools declined with them. Steadily waned too the authority of the Patriarch. Babylonian schools also produced great scholars, some of them as renowned as those of Judea. Of course, they are all Amoraim, not Tanaim. Why? Let us mention first ABBA AREKA, popularly called by his many disciples Rab (Rabbi), "the teacher," who flour- ished in Babylonia a few years after the Mishna had been compiled in Palestine. Apart from his duties as expounder of the Law, the Resh Gelutha appointed him to the position of supervisor of weights and measures. Occasioned by this occupation to travel in outlying dis- tricts, he discovered the ignorance of the remoter con- gregations. This led to his establishment of the Acad- emy of Sura, 219, A. c. E. It continued a seat of Jew- ish study for eight hundred years. Hundreds of pupils flocked to his Academy. Some he maintained from his own purse. At the same time the study hours were ar- ranged to give pupils an opportunity to earn their liv- ing. Some lectures were delivered to the public at large. It was not only in the expounding of ritual and civil law to which Rab devoted his energies, but also to raising the moral standard of the people. For the aus- tere simplicity and purity of Jewish life had sadly de- generated in Babylonia. Wonderfully salutary and ef- fective was the influence of Rab in his moral crusade. He made the betrothal and marriage laws more strict and more decorous. He also strengthened the author- BABYLONIA AND ITS SCHOOLS ity of the Courts of Justice by resort to excommunica- tion of refractory persons. Deservedly was this modest man called the Hillel of his day. Usually associated with the name of Rab was the versatile MAR SAMUEL, his contemporary. He was es- sentially the rationalist of his age and discovered with his hard common sense the dreamer who awaited the miraculous. In Jewish Law his ability chiefly was di- rected toward the interpretation of civil jurisprudence, for which he was especially fitted. His most famous decision and that which most affected the Jews was expressed in the phrase, dina d'Malchuthah dina,- "The law of the state is the law for us." This means that it is our duty as Jews to obey the laws of the coun- tries in which we live. This principle tended to recon- cile our fathers to the lands of their exile, taught them their true relation to them and was in the spirit of the message of Jeremiah to the very first exiles to Babylon "Seek the peace of the country whither ye are exiled and pray to the Lord for its welfare." The ultimate result of Samuel's dictum was that the better the Jew. the better the patriot. Samuel had the courage of his convictions. For when the Persian king, Shabur, was engaged in war against Asia Minor, many Jews fell, who were fighting in the ranks on the opposing side. Yet he would not countenance mourning for his fallen coreligionists since they had fought against his king. Babylonia was its broad unbroken plains that gave such wide survey of the heavens, became in conse- quence the cradle of astronomy, and Babylonian Jews 176 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. were expert in this science. So versed was Samuel in the course of the stars that he once said, "The tracks of the heavens are as familiar to me as the streets of Ne- hardea." His astronomical knowledge enabled him to arrange a fixed calendar and made Babylon further in- dependent of Judea in deciding the dates of the festi- vals. He was also a renowned physician. But medi- cine and astronomy were characteristic accomplish- ments of the Jewish sages. Samuel did not scorn to learn from the Persian sages or Magi, as they were called. While greatly esteemed, not all of his contem- poraries realized how profound a scholar he was. For in a sense he was a man in advance of his time. We undejstand him better to-day. What was the religion of Israel's Babylonian mas- ters? The Parthians were inclined toward Hellenism and exercised no religious influence on the Jews. But when the Persians again came under control of Baby- lonia 226 A. c. E V they instituted the religion of the Magi. The founder of this faith was Zoroaster. This great religious genius explained the existence of evil in the world as the persistent conflict of two great spirits Ormuzd, spirit of light and good (God), and Ahri- man (devil), spirit of darkness and evil. The sun was the visible type of Ormuzd and fire the expression of his energy. Thus Ormuzd was worshipped under the symbol of fire. This worship spread over a large part of Asia. It did not deserve to be classed with the idola- tries of the heathen world that brought so many im- moralities in their train, for we see even while disagree- BABYLONIA AND ITS SCHOOLS ing with its recognition of a devil, that it expressed exalted ideas. But the rise of this Neo-Persian dy- nasty, awakening new religious energy, led to a pass- ing persecution of all non-fire-worshippers. Meanwhile the Babylonian schools Metibta, as each was called (Hebrew, Yeshiba) still flourished and ap- pealed to more students than had been reached in Pales- tine, many of whom became great Amoraim. Baby- lon, in fact, was now a Jewish colony regulated by the laws of the Bible and Mishna as interpreted in the Academies. Even the Resh Gelutha was in later times often a Jewish scholar, as for example, Mar Ukba. In addition to the Resh Metibta head of the School there was a Resh Kallah, President of the General Assembly an institution not found in the Palestinian Academies. These were for the benefit of visiting stu- dents and met twice a year in the months of Adar and Elul. Most renowned of Rab's successors was Rabbi Huna, who died in 297. Following the recognized precedent, not to use the Law as a spade, he earned his living by farming. Reverence was shown to Judea now only in so far that the pious Jews desired to be buried there, while persecutions in Roman realms brought still more re- fugees to Babylonia. The next generation of scholars we must pass over rapidly with just a word. In Pumbaditha we may men- tion Rabba, who believed in the saving sense of humor and also set himself the more serious occupation of classifying the Halachath accumulated since the Mishna 178 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. had been compiled. The method of deduction as taught in the Babylonian Schools was more subtle than that of Judea. Its hair-splitting tendency in the next gen- eration of Amoraim occasionally degenerated into casuistry. Rabba's successor, Rabbi Joseph ben Hija, furnished a Chaldean translation of the Prophets. The Torah had already been translated into it for popular use. Bear in mind that Chaldaic, not Hebrew, was the vernacular. NOTES AND REFERENCES. Read Dr. Mielziner's Introduction to the Talmud, (Bloch Publ. Co.), Chap. IV. This book is particularly recommended in connection with the chapters on Mishna, Talmud and the Acad- emies. Read Article "Babylonia," Jewish Encyclopedia, II. CHAPTER XXXII. CHRISTIANITY THE STATE CHURCH OF ROME. ROMAN EMPERORS Antoninus Pius 138 Marcus Aurelius 161 Com modus 180 Alexander Severus 222-235 Diocletian 284 Constantine 320 Constantius II 337-363 At the death of Antoninus Pius two Emperors reigned conjointly Varus, a degenerate, and Marcus Aurelius, a philosopher. The Roman Empire was be- CHRISTIANITY THE STATE CHURCH OF ROME 179 coming steadily demoralized. It was at the mercy of a series of degraded creatures who engaged in scandal- ous conflicts for the bauble of royal power. At times the purple was offered to the highest bidder. But in 222 the throne came into the hands of a bet- ter type of man, Alexander Severus. Unlike most of his predecessors, he respected Judaism, and Hillel's Golden Rule was inscribed on the walls of his palace. So his reign meant thirteen pleasant years for the Jews a little break of sunshine through the lowering clouds. After the death of Alexander Severus, degeneracy again set in and usurper after usurper seized the throne. The monotony of upstarts was occasionally broken by a better type of man like Diocletian. The demoralized condition of the State was reflected in the people at large. Paganism at its best had failed as a scheme of life. Roman society was hopelessly corrupt and on the eve of collapse. The people no longer believed in the supposed divinities Jupiter and Apollo. The philoso- phers tried to explain them away as abstract ideas. The ceremonies of the temples became a mummery. The augurs (priests who were supposed to foretell the events by examining the entrails of birds) could not look each other in the face without laughing. The more earnest prayed for something better. Had Judaism not been discredited and under a ban and the Jews, its followers, spurned as an alien race, it might have been more largely sought though its ceremonial code was exacting and its moral code severe. It made not an iota of concession to win a single pagan to the l8o A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. fold. As it was, in spite of discouraging conditions, many would-be proselytes knocked at the doors of the Synagogue. But for many reasons, Christianity was in a better conditions to make converts. Most of its adherents had come through conversion, and proselytism was a card- inal item in its program. The eagerness of the Christ- ians to bring a religious message to the heathen de- serves high praise and must not be under-rated, though it betrayed weakness in being too ready to make con- cessions to pagan notions. The semi-idolatrous idea that Jesus was at once man and God was a familiar con- ception to the pagan mind. The dramatic picture of his dying on the cross to save mankind appealed to their emotions. The treatment of the Jewish expression "holy spirit," (meaning nothing more than the divine inspiration), as a being a separate divinity intro- duced a third element into the God-idea the "Holy Ghost." (Ghost in old English, spirit; notice the Ger- man "Geist.") This made the Christian divinity a Trinity. But a three-headed God t so revolting to Jew- ish ideas, was quite a recognized theological notion in the heathen world. With these sugar-coated accretions, the nobler Jew- ish teachings which were Christianity's foundations, were more readily swallowed. Christianity became popular in Rome. Its adherents were found in all ranks. When they were a small and feeble group, the Roman Emperors had persecuted them. But now they were in the majority. The tables were turned. Only minorities are persecuted. CHRISTIANITY THE STATE CHURCH OF ROME l8l Thus it was that an Emperor named Constantine de- cided first to give toleration to all cults and ultimately to adopt Christianity "partly from a genuine moral sympathy, yet doubtless far more in the well-grounded belief that he had more to gain from the zealous sym- pathy of its professors than to lose by the aversion of those who still cultivated a languid paganism." This act made it the religion of the Empire. But since Rome was mistress of half the civilized world, this acquisition of power and numbers at once gave to the new Faith an eminence it has never lost. The effect of this promo- tion was profound and lasting and vitally affected the destiny of Israel. The attitude of enthroned Christianity was at once inimical to the parent Faith. At first sight it would seem that it might be more kindly disposed to a re- ligion to which it owed so much and to which it was so closely related. Alas to confess it for such is human nature the very closeness of the relationship was the cause of its enmity. It regarded the very persistence of Judaism as a denial of its theories, and as a challenge to its claims. Christianity declared the Law abrogat- ed ; Judaism was more devoted to it than ever. Chris- tianity declared that the Messiah had come; Judaism maintained he had not. Christianity called Jesus a divinity Son of God ; the Jews spurned this as a blas- phemy. Christianity taught a Trinity ; Judaism, on the other hand, made monotheism a passion and taught the indivisible Unity of God as the cardinal principle of re- ligion. The first act by which Christianity exercised its new l82 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. power was to prohibit Jews from making converts to Judaism (315), while Jews who became proselytes to Christianity were rewarded by the State. Thus it conspired for the gradual elimination of the Jewish Faith. As its ranks rapidly swelled, Christianity continued to make consciously and unconsciously more and more concessions to heathen beliefs, and customs that were deeply rooted in the hearts of people who accepted the new creed more or less superficially. The original Es- sene ideas from which it had sprung were completely lost to view. Taking the imperial government as its model, the Church reproduced Roman administration in its systematic organization, even to its despotic de- mand of sole sway. Enforcing a rigid uniformity of doctrine, there was now organized a hierarchy of pa- triarchs and bishops whose power was enforced by the State and whose provinces corresponded with the ad- ministrative divisions of the Empire, the Emperor being head of the church. In the year 325 a Church Council was called at Nicaea (Asia Minor) to draw up the of- ficial creed of Christianity. For it laid great stress on BELIEF. This marked another distinction from Juda- ism, which, so, far, had formulated no creed and had no particular theory of salvation. The Nicaean Council condemned the teachings of one Arius, whose idea of God was closer to Judaism, and declared the equal eter- nity and divinity of the three persons of the Trinity with more decided emphasis. It further decided, that the Festival of Easter (which was the Jewish Passover readapted to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus) CHRISTIANITY THE STATE CHURCH OF ROME 183 should now be arranged independently of the Jewish calendar. The policy of suppression directed against Juda- ism commenced by Constantine was continued with greater ardor by his son, Constantius. He forbade in- termarriage and imposed the penalty of death on Jews who made proselytes of Christian slaves. He even pro- hibited their converting heathen slaves. Further pro- hibitive acts followed. This hostile attitude was contin- ued for centuries. Thus the Jews in the Roman Empire were trans- ferred from a heathen to a Christian regime. Quietly they continued on the even tenor of their way and prayed with greater fervency for the restoration of home and liberty. It became necessary for Hillel II., Palestinian Patri- arch, in 359 A. c. E. to establish a fixed calendar based on that of Samuel of Babylon, to guide the people as to the time of celebrating New Moon and Festivals, as in these troublous times they could not always either obtain or transmit the news. But the "second" day of the Festivals, instituted for lands outside of Palestine, now no longer needed, was maintained as a matter of sentiment and is maintained still in conservative Juda- ism. This planning of a Jewish calendar by which the Festivals were computed perpetually and yet kept in their natural seasons, was a wonderful piece of astron- omical and arithmetical ingenuity. For a lunar year of twelve months is shorter than a solar year of three- 184 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. hundred and sixty-five and a quarter days. To aver- age the difference and thus prevent, for example, Pass- over eventually occurring in Autumn and Tabernacles in Spring, an additional month (second Adar) was added seven times in every nineteen years. Further, the calendar had to be so devised that certain Festivals should not fall on undesirable days for example to prevent the Day of Atonement falling on Friday or Sunday. This ancient calendar is our guide still for the Jewish year and has never been revised. NOTES AND REFERENCES. Read "Is Catholicism a Baptized Paganism ?" Forum Magazine. ( 1 889) . Read Article "Catholicism," Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. III. CHAPTER XXXIII. THE DIVISION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. But a brief check was made on Christian advance and its pitiless attempt to suppress Judaism in the coming to the throne of Julian in 361. This Emperor did not endorse the new religion, but accepted the old Roman cult of the Pantheon, though in its most idealized form, desiring not to abolish it, but to purify it. But it was too late ; it had been weighed in the balance and found wanting. Julian, whom the Church styled "the Apostate," was THE DIVISION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 185 both tolerant and philanthropic, and a man who fos- tered learning. As between Christianity and Judaism, though bred in the former, to which he continued to grant perfect freedom of observance, his inclination turned rather toward the latter, and he held it in high esteem. Naturally, he removed the restrictive laws and special taxes against Judaism, imposed by his prede- cessors. He even took steps for the rebuilding of the Temple at Jerusalem. The Jews were transported with delight and began at once sending contributions toward its erection with greater zeal than was even shown, according to Scripture, by that generation in the wilderness in their gifts toward the Tabernacle. The Christians looked on with consternation, and re- garded every unfavorable interruption as the miracu- lous intervention of heaven. Not a supposed miracle however, but a real event, brought the project to nought. Julian died on the battlefield. In the meantime Rome was failing fast. The con- flict for the throne on the death of each new Emperor, already mentioned, showed that the Empire was crum- bling from within. Long before the days of Con- stantine armies were setting up their generals to the Imperial dignity all over the Empire. The throne was propped up a little longer by gaudy trappings, but this meant heavier taxation and further slavery. Finally the overgrown and undermined body split in twain, each half maintaining a separate existence. Byzan- tium, afterwards called Constantinople, was the capi- tal of the Empire of the East, with Rome still as the centre of the Western half. The division was finally l86 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. completed in the year 395 with Arcadus as the East- ern and Honorius as the Western Emperor. Although both were Christians, the dual empires were menaced by too many enemies from without to have the leisure to renew the anti-Jewish laws. The influx of barbarians, as all people outside of Rome were called, now came thick and fast. While some were absorbed in a friendly way, impressed with Rome's grandeur, and even served in its army, the Empire was too decayed for such a peaceful solu- tion. Even before the division, Julian had to keep off the incursions of the Franks and Alemanni (Germans). Theodosius, called the Great, fought against destiny and therefore fought in vain. The Goths, driven by the Huns, a Scythian people from Tartary, under the lead- ership of Attila, crossed the Danube into the Roman territory as refugees; but cruelly treated became ene- mies and began devastating the Eastern part of the Empire. Alaric in 410 sacked the imperial city. The Goths, to whom after much fighting, Rome granted important concessions, also like Rome fell into two divisions the Ostragoths (Eastern), who settled on the Black Sea, and the Visigoths (Western), who oc- cupied Dacia from the Dnieper to the Danube. Let us complete this general survey. Already hordes of Suevi, Burgundians, Alemanni and Vandals had invaded Gaul and set up a Vandal Empire in Spain, where they contended with' the Visigoths for control. Genseric (called the scourge of God) invaded Africa in 429 and devastated the coast from Gibraltar to Car- thage. It was he, by the way, who seized the Temple THE DIVISION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 187 vessels that Titus had taken from Jerusalem. They had passed, like their first owners, through many vi- cissitudes. Next the Huns began laying waste the Western Empire, though finally defeated by the Gothic king, Theodoric. At last Odoacer in 476. at the head of barbarian mercenaries, dethroned the last Emperor, and the Roman Empire of the West came to an end in that year. Now that Christianity held the reins of power, its pulpits began to regard it as part of their function to preach against Judaism; even such renowned Church Fathers as Chrysostom of Antioch and Ambrose of Milan. The people at large often burned synagogues or turned them into churches, for numbers and prestige were now on their side. But the Emperor Theodosius I protected the Jews. Later Bishop Cyril cruelly drove the Jews out of Alexandria. No redress was made to them for loss of home and property. His disciples, following this barbarous precedent, seized the cultured Hypatia, a teacher of Platonic philosophy, whose rare learning had made her home a gathering-place for stu- dents and scholars, and the fanatic crowd rent her limb from limb. .j But let us not forget it was a bigoted and savage age. In mentioning the cruelly fanatic bishops, let us not forget the kind ones Bishop Hilary of Poictiers (in Gaul), at whose funeral the sympathetic Jews ex- pressed their sorrow in the recital of Hebrew Psalms. WitTi Theodosius II, Emperor of the Eastern divi- sion of the Roman Empire, who came to the Byzantine 1 88 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. throne in 408, began the systematic restraint of Juda- ism the harsh discrimination against them before the law. The Jews were prohibited from building new synagogues, from exercising jurisdiction between Chris- tian and Jew and from owning Christian slaves. The bishops and clergy began fomenting attacks in different localities, forcing baptism on some by threat. Ulti- mately the Patriarchate of Judea was abolished in 425 after the Hillel family had enjoyed this dignity for three and a half centuries. Christianity now developed ascetics who went to grotesque extremes and imposed absurd privations upon themselves to express religious zeal. Some con- demned themselves to stand on pillars hence called "pillar saints"; some, to live as hermits in the desert. But with them all Jewish persecution was deemed a kind of piety, the logic being that Jewish beliefs were opposed to the truth and the Jews were the enemies of God. The most famous of these pillar saints was Sim- eon, surnamed Stylites, meaning pillar. In the Roman Empire of the West under Emperor Honorius, Jews were excluded from most public of- fices. The monies hitherto contributed both from East and West to maintain the Patriarchate were now de- manded to be continued as a Jewish State tax. Thus did Christian Rome follow the precedent of pagan Rome. This was the kind of treatment that they were now to meet in all Christian lands, marking the begin- ning of the Jewish Middle Ages. Still Christian divines were glad enough to sit at the feet of Jewish scholars and learn from them the THE TALMUD 189 Hebrew tongue. In this way Jerome was enabled to make from the Hebrew a new translation of the Bible in Latin. It was called the Vulgate (Latin Vulgata, for public use). It has remained the authorized trans- lation for the Catholic Church to this day. NOTES AND REFERENCES. Read The Holy Roman Empire, Bryce; Chapters II and III. (Burt, New York.) Read Hypatia, Kingsley. On the Emperor Julian's relations with the Jews, especially with regard to his proposition of rebuilding the Temple, see two articles in the Jewish Quarterly Review (Vols. V. and X.). CHAPTER XXXIV. THE TALMUD. The times were so uncertain in Babylonia as well as in Judea that the Jews felt it necessary now to col- lect and ivrite down their varied traditions and laws. They could no longer trust the transmission by word of mouth ; they could no longer rely on their memories, marvelous though they were, and though further aided by a mnemonic grouping of the Halachas. So they were reluctantly compelled to overcome their senti- mental objection to writing down these traditions which from the very title, Oral Law, implied that they should be transmitted from mouth to mouth, inscribed 9 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. only on the tablets of the mind. Perhaps, too, they felt that writing would crystallize the Halachath at the point where they were transcribed into unchange- able dicta and prevent their further development. For while unwritten, they were fluid and could be modified from age to age. As a matter of fact, the writing down of the laws did tend to crystallize them, and thus hampered the progressive growth of Jewish Law. The work of codifying and writing down the Oral Law was commenced by Rabbana Ashi about the year 400. Placed at the head of the declining Academy of Sura, he breathed new life into it. His knowledge won him both esteem and authority such as had been granted to Rabbi Juda Hanasi, compiler of the Mishna in Palestine about two hundred years earlier. But Rabbi Ashi's was a vaster task the compiling of all supplementary laws that had grown out of the Mishna proper and from all the Mishna collections in the course of two hundred years. It included, too, the discussion and incidental material that revealed the original proc- ess of deduction. This vast after-growth or commen- tary was called Gemara, which means completion. To- gether with the Mishna, which formed the text, it was called the TALMUD. This commentary, Gemara, is far bulkier than the Mishna. Sometimes a few lines of Mishna would call for pages and pages of Gemara. For about half a century Rabbana Ashi and his dis- ciples, particularly Rabina, labored on this gigantic task. The completed work was called the Babylonian Talmud, as it was not only written in Babylonia, but contained largely the decisions attained in the Baby- THE TALMUD Ionian schools. Though do not forget that its Mishna text was written in Palestine. The final touches were made by Rabbi Jose about the year 500. It contains twelve folio volumes or 2,947 leaves. A similar work had been done in Judea about 380. This Judean commentary was called the Jerusalem (Palestinian) Talmud, and was but a quarter of its size. Outside of Boraitha quotation, the Jerusalem Talmud is written in Aramaic. Whether it originally contained commentary or all Mishna we cannot say; but in the copies now extant there are only the first four Sedarim and some commentaries on a few addi- tional chapters. For this reason it is a much smaller and less important work. Indeed, when we speak of the Talmud, we usually mean the Talmud Babli. As to the language of the Talmud : The Mishna is written in Hebrew, and so too are some of the older quotations in the Gemara. But the bulk of the Gemara is written in a dialect of Aramaic we might say in Juedisch- Aramaic, just as we speak of Juedisch- Deutsch to-day. As to its contents Gemara on some of the Mishnas is here also lacking in the Babylonian Talmud never- theless it is an immense work. The two great divisions of Halacha and Hagada have already been explained in the chapter on the Mishna. It will be understood at once then that the Talmud is not merely a code of laws for Jewish guidance, though primarily that is its pur- pose. It also gives us, though incidentally, an insight into the manners and customs of the Jews, their theo- logical views and general reflections on life; their hopes 192 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. and their sufferings for a period of some six hundred years "A work in which a whole people had deposited its feelings, its beliefs, its soul." We have fragments of biography of Jewish scholars, bits of inner history under Roman and Persian rule, homely philosophy of the sages; glimpses too of their weaknesses and occasionally of their superstitions and their mysticism all the more faithful because unconsciously por- trayed. Interspersed between their legal discussions will be found an anecdote, an abstract thought of the rabbi whose decision is quoted, a bit of humor, a pic- ture of Oriental civilization. As direct outgrowth of many of their ritual arguments, we are introduced to their science; astronomy and mathematics in the draw- ing up of their calendar; botany in their agricultural laws ; hygiene, anatomy and physiology in the Shechita laws (slaughtering animals for food) ; and natural his- tory and medicine in various ways. There is of course very unequal value in their data, and naturally they shared many of the limitations of their time. The legal discussions in themselves reveal keen men- tal acumen, subtle logic, vivid sense of justice and philanthropy and touches of vindictiveness too wrung from them in the hour of agony. The study of the Talmud was to become the chief occupation of the Jews for many centuries. It was a world in itself in which they lived and in which they could forget the cruel world without. Its study reacted on their char- acter. First the Jew made the Talmud, then the Tal- mud made the Jew. Like the Bible, the Talmud produced a literature THE TALMUD 193 ] still vaster than itself. While the Gemara is a com- mentary, it needed later commentaries to explain it to the student for although so diffuse| its language is stenographically terse. Therefore in editions of the Talmud to-day, Mishna and Gemara together form the text and are printed in the centre of each page, while commentaries in smaller type are grouped around it. Since the days of printing all editions are paged alike. After the completion of the Talmud the work of the Academies became preservative rather than creative. While not adding to the laws now gathered in the Talmud, the rabbis reviewed them and formulated from them a complete code for practical application. This tended to give a finality to the laws so far evolved, which had both its good and bad side. This under- taking gave to this school of final redactors the name of SABORAIM revisers or critics the third group of law expounders. They edited the Talmud and am- plified it with Agadistic material and finally brought it down into the form in which we have it to-day. At this time a knowledge of grammar was brought to Persia from Greece, which resulted in the important service of introducing vowel points and accents. This tended to simplify the study of Hebrew Scriptures and made the text more certain. NOTES AND REFERENCES. See two pamphlets on the Talmud issued by the Jewish Publication Society ; one by Emanuel Deutsch, and the other, the more critical, by Darmesteter. 194 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. The ethics of the Talmud have been touched upon incidentally in preceding chapters. For a systematic treatment read Part IV., Outlines of Talmudic Ethics, in Mielziner's Introduction to the Talmud. See also Ethics of Judaism, Lazarus (translation) Jewish Pub- lication Society. BOOK IT. JAPHETH AND 8HEM THE BEGINNING OF THE JEWISH MIDDLEAGES 1 97 CHAPTER XXXV. THE BEGINNING OF THE JEWISH MIDDLE AGES. At the opening of the Sixth Century, Mazdak, a new zealot for the religion of the Magi in Babylonia, about the year 500 tried to impose on all under his rule certain dangerous doctrines of his own that tended to undermine the moral foundations of society. Natural- ly the Jews, always normally a chaste people, stoutly resisted. This meant fight. Again must they lay down the book for the sword, or rather, take up the sword for the cause of the Book. Led by the Resh Gelutha Mar Zutra II, they actually succeeded in throwing off the Persian yoke altogether for some seven years ; but they were, of course, ultimately brought into subjec- tion, and consequently many martyrs were added to the Jewish roll of honor. So, for the time being the Jews were between the two fires of Christian and Magian intolerance. In Judea, *n fact in the whole Eastern-Byzantine Empire, which included all Roman conquests in Asia, Eastern Europe and Northern Africa, life for the Jew grew still more precarious. In many Palestinian towns, notably Caesarea and Antioch, insurrections broke out, usually during the circus races. Ravages against the Jews were actually endorsed by the Emperor Zeno. Churches were everywhere replacing synagogues in the land which had once been theirs, and Jerusalem be- came an archbishopric where Jews were not even ad- mitted. A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. Under Justinian, anti-Jewish legislation was sys- tematized. He was the Emperor who became famous because of the digest of Roman law, accomplished in his reign, in the year 541. His theory was "one re- ligion, one law, one state." Against the fulfillment of such an ideal the Jews stood, so to speak, as an obsta- cle. Therefore the laws of this digest, that concern them, are severe. Among these was the provision that Jewish witnesses could not testify against Christians. Justinian, who further made them bear the expense of the magistrate office without its privileges, also for- bade their celebrating Passover prior to Easter! He even went so far as to prohibit the recital of the Shema since it was a protest against the Trinity! Further- more, he tried so to modify the Synagogue service that it might encourage Christian ideas. Altogether there was rather a monotony of suffering under Byzan- tine rule, but it was saved from being sordid by the knowledge of the cause for which they suffered. While their deep faith that Providence would ultimately usher in a glorious dawn if they were but patiently loyal, saved them from despair. Under the Byzantine rule at its best they were left contemptuously to themselves and were granted a certain autonomy in the manage- ment of their communal affairs. In the early part of the Sixth Century, Persia and Byzantium entered into a struggle for the possession of Palestine in which the Jews took an active part and supported the Persians, who, on the whole, had treated them more humanely. Under the leadership of one Benjamin, Judea had gathered an army once more. THE BEGINNING OF THE JEWISH MIDDLE AGES 199 The Persians, however, were ungrateful to these allies, and when victory seemed to be theirs, not only refused to cede Jerusalem according to promise and for which the Jews had so longingly hoped, but even imposed op- pressive taxes upon them. How cruel the world is to minorities ! Further ill-treatment induced many to en- ter under the banner of the Byzantine Emperor Hera- clius in 627, and by solemn treaty he promised them immunity from all punishment. Fortune turned in his favor. Persia withdrew. The monks now urged the triumphant Emperor to extir- pate the Jews from Palestine. He reminded them of his solemn promise of immunity made" to them. They told him that a promise to Jews need not be kept and that to slay them would be an act of piety. Thus sanctioned, he began a severe massacre. Further, the edicts of Hadrian and Constantine, forbidding Jews to enter Jerusalem were once more enforced in 628. But Judea was not long to remain in Christian hands. As already stated in Chapter xxxiii., the Western half of the Roman Empire succumbed to Northern tribes about the year 500. The Ostragoths, led by Theodoric, became masters of Italy, the Visigoths of Spain, the Franks and Burgundians of Gaul the Gaul that had been great Csesar's pride to conquer! Here we see the beginning of the formation of the nations of Europe. They all accepted the Roman system of law and government to a modified extent, and that which now became the Roman religion too Christianity. So the victors became the disciples of the vanquished 2OO A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. a not unusual experience in history. In each of these lands and under each of these peoples, Israel was pretty well represented by the Sixth Century, and in each they had a distinct history. So, in continuing our story we shall have to follow many strands. They were treated better than in Byzantine lands at least at first. The Ostragoths, who became rulers in Italy, were Arians. The other group of Christians the Ortho- dox called themselves Roman Catholics. Catholic means universal. You have already been told that Christianity claimed to be a universal Church and Rome a universal Empire. This theological monopoly did sad mischief in the coming centuries. These Arian Ostragoths were kinder to the Jews than the Catholics. The greater tolerance of the Arians may perhaps have been due to the fact that their idea of God was a little closer to that of the Jewish conception. These two divisions of Christendom were certainly very bitter against each other. When a Byzantine army threat- ened the Ostragoths, the Jews loyally stood by those who, if they had not treated them generously, had treated them justly. Later we find the Jews defending the sea-coast of Naples for the Ostragoths in 536. Only when overwhelmed by superior numbers did they at last surrender. Italy became a Byzantine province, so these West- ern Jews also found themselves under the Emperor Justinian's sway. In 589 most of Italy fell into the hands of the Lombards, a tribe that had come from the Elbe with the rest of the Northern groups about THE BEGINNING OF THE JEWISH MIDDLE A.GES 2OI the Fourth Century. They now became both wealthy and powerful. Arians at first, they were won over to the Orthodox Faith. Indeed, Arian Christianity soon disappeared just as in the early days of the Church, Jewish Christians were absorbed by pagan Christians. In the meantime the Roman bishop (overseer) ac- quired power over all bishops in other Christian cen- tres, and became the head of the Church with the title POPE (Greek- father). In the course of time these popes exercised immense power, and we shall see kings trembling before them. For they came to be regarded as the representative of God on earth. Whoever dared oppose their will was placed under the ban. Then all shrunk from the excommunicated creature as from a person smitten with leprosy, for the superstitious age regarded him accursed and doomed. Very terrible was it when this dangerous power was in the hands of an unscrupulous Pope, which not infrequently hap- pened. But there were many good Popes, too, and the Tews found among them, as we shall see, friends as well as foes. Gregory I., one of the earliest and also one of the greatest, would not allow his bishops to molest the Jews, though he offered the bribe of remission of taxes for their conversion. Slavery was still a recognized institution of society, due in part to constant warfare, the daily business of life and to the custom of enslaving prisoners of war. So, slaves were in nearly every household and in the fields, taking the place of the humble toilers of to-day. Still we are sorry to find the Jews so active in this 202 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. traffic of individuals, though they often converted them to Judaism and in all cases were kinder to them than most masters. For the Jewish slave-laws were the most humane. Turn to Exodus xxi. and Deut. xxiii., and you will find more consideration shown to the slaves and the rights even of non-Hebrew bond- men were better protected than were the slaves of civil- ized lands a few generations ago. Gregory vigorously objected not to slavery, but to the enslaving of Chris- tians, and particularly to the possession of Christian slaves by Jews. The Church greatly feared that by proselytizing their slaves the Jews might increase their numbers. This was to be prevented at any cost. If the question were asked why Jews came largely to deal in slaves, the answer would be because they were becoming largely dealers in general. It is then part of a larger question how came the Jews to seek commerce as a means of livelihood ? First, by the law of necessity. Most other avenues of activity were be- ing closed to them. Not permitted to own lands, they could hardly be agriculturists. Gradually the army, the public service and most of the professions were forbidden to Jews. Secondly, their dispersion through the world had its compensating advantages. United to their brethren by close fraternal ties and speaking a common tongue, the exchange of commodities was facilitated. Then having smaller opportunities of expenditure and in any case possessing moderate tastes, they naturally pos- sessed ready means. This is all there was in the Me- diaeval belief in the wealth of the Jews. IN THE SPANISH PENINSULA 2Q$ Lastly, the hard fate of their ancestors in their lands; of exile, the growing precariousness of their position- under fanatic powers, quickened their wits in the life struggle and endowed them with the capacities that earn success in trade. We are not therefore surprised to learn that the Jews invented bills of exchange. rC NOTES AND REFERENCES. Read Chapter VI. The Slave Trade in Jewish Life in the Middle Ages, Abrahams. (Jewish Pub- lication Society.) CHAPTER XXXVI. IN THE SPANISH PENINSULA. Following the line of survey of Mediaeval Jews from East to West, from Babylonia to Judea, and then from Byzantium to Italy, let us now take a cursory glance at their position in Western Europe. In Gaul, the land that is largely France to-day, Jewish merchants from Asia Minor had found their way long before the Chris- tian Era. After the fall of Judea, many Jewish prison- ers and slaves were brought thither. The first places of settlement were Aries, Narbonne, Marseilles, Or- leans and Paris. We find them in Belgium too. The inhabitants of Gaul now were Franks. The Franks (free men) were a confederacy formed about 240 A. c. E. of tribes dwelling on the Lower Rhine and the Weser. They invadecf Gaul and Spain and 204 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. reached Africa. The Prankish Empire was not one central government, but was subdivided into several monarchies. But under nearly all the Jews enjoyed the rights of Roman citizenship. We find the Jewish industries varied, including agri- culture, all kinds of commerce and medicine, in which they had been early distinguished. Some were soldiers too, for the restraints of the Church had not yet reached these shores. Even when Christianity was first intro- duced by the warrior Clovis, Jews and Christians min- gled freely and held cordial relations; though the Jew- ish dietary laws occasionally caused embarrassment and ill-will when Jews sat at Christian tables. It was the higher clergy who began to look upon these cordial relations with misgiving and to discourage them. In this way hatred was artificially fostered by the Church. Not till the beginning of the Sixth Century did a Chris- tian king of Burgundy begin to discriminate unfavor- ably against the Jews, and to break off kindly relations by forbidding Christians to sit at Jewish tables. Soon the Church Councils began to issue severe anti-Jewish edicts. So in different states and towns within the Empire we find restrictions such as these gradually introduced: Jews must not make proselytes; must not "insult" Christians by showing themselves in the streets on Easter; they must not be permitted to serve as judges or as tax-farmers. Their worst enemy at this time was Bishop Avitus. He first tried to convert them by sermons. Persuasion failing he resorted to violence and incited a mob to burn their synagogues. Their fanaticism once fed, the IN THE SPANISH PENINSULA 2O5 masses fell upon the Jews and massacre began. Bap- tism was accepted by several in order to save their lives others escaped to Marseilles. So far Gaul. Let us now turn to Spain, or rather to the Peninsula, for Portugal was not yet a separate kingdom, and what is now the South of France was also included in the Visigothic Empire. While the Jews were early settled in the lancls of Southern Eu- rope, in very remote antiquity too early even to trace they were brought in considerable numbers after the Judean War of 70, and were soon redeemed by their sympathizing brethren. As in Gaul, so here the Visi- goths, being of the broader Arian school, regarded the Jews with cordiality and esteem, and their superior knowledge gained for them public positions of honor and trust. So we find the public-spirited Jews defending the passes of the Pyrenees against the inroads of the Franks and Burgundians and winning distinction by their courage and trustworthiness. How patriotic the Jew always becomes when given the barest tolerance, we shall see right through their history. Nor did they forget their religion, but became faith- ful disciples of teachers sent them from the Babylonian schools. For their well-wishing neighbors did not in- terfere with their complete observance of the precepts of their Faith. But as soon as the Orthodox Christians i. e., the Roman Catholics obtained the upper hand, the higher clergy behaving identically like those in Gaul, began to sow the seeds of mistrust in the hearts of the people, 206 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. and forbade as sin close intercourse with Jews. Soon the usual disabilities followed, the unfair discrimina- tion to handicap the Jews in the race of life. How Jewish history repeats itself! Their height of misery was reached when one Sise- but came to the throne in 612. Jews were now pro- hibited from holding slaves, though held by all others and forming a necessary class in the restricted civiliza- tion of the age. The climax was reached when he of- fered them the alternative of baptism or expulsion. Some found the sacrifice of land, home and posses- sions too great and externally submitted to a Faith that cruel experience had taught them to abhor. Very many became exiles. Under his successor, Swintilla, who repealed the harsh laws, the exiles returned to the land and the converts to Judaism. But the Church Council re-enacted the unnatural command of forced baptism and the returned converts were compelled to become Christians again. What sort of Christians could they become under such conditions? But most cruel enactment of all to think that a religious council should have proposed it their children were torn from them and placed in monasteries to become completely estranged from both their Faitli and their kindred. This hard law was mitigated however by the opposi- tion of the powerful Visigothic nobles. Again a king occupied the throne who offered the remaining Jews the alternative of exile or baptism. Again they submitted to banishment. Once more they were allowed to return, though' under many restric- IN THE SPANISH PENINSULA *07 tions. But the forced converts were held in the Church with an iron grip while strange limitation they had yet to pay the Jewish tax! In secret and peril they still continued to observe the Jewish festivals. But the spies of the Church soon discovered the double life and compelled them to spend Jewish and Christian holidays away from their homes and in the presence of the clergy. After a few years in which this cruel vigilance was relaxed, King Erwig won over the clergy to his support by reinstating this Jewish persecution with more violence than all his predecessors. Now baptism was demanded, with confiscation, mutilization and exile as the penalty of its rejection. The Jewish Christians who had secretly clung to Judaism right through, were placed under complete clerical espion- age. These abortive edicts were passed in 68 1. The next king, Egica, "bettered the instruction" of his pre- decessor. Jews were now forbidden to hold landed property, to trade with the Continent, or do business with Christians. In their despair, they entered into a conspiracy against the barbaric government, were discovered, and nearly aH the Jews of Spain reduced to slavery. But relief was to come from an unexpected source. A new religion, Mohammedanism, had been brought to life and soon became a great power in the world. It was destined to change for centuries the fate of the Jews of the Peninsula and transform an iron to a gold- en age. But to understand this movement, we must 208 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. turn to Asia once more and look into the life of a new people the Arabians. NOTES AND REFERENCES. This age produced nothing of a literary character except polemic replies in Latin to works written at this time to prove Christianity from the Jewish Scrip- tures. CHAPTER XXXVII. ARABIA. The Peninsula of Arabia is bounded on the south- west by the Red Sea, on the southeast by the Indian Ocean, on the northeast by the Persian Gulf, and on the north touches the mainland of Palestine and Syria, reaching to the Euphrates. So that we might say it lies between three continents. It is divided T3y geog- raphers into three parts: i. Arabia Felix (fortu- nate) the largest all the land between the three seas. 2. Arabia Petraea (stony) the end adjoining the Peninsula of Sinai. 3. Arabia Deserta the Desert between Palestine and the Euphrates. The old Ishma- lites used to dwell in Arabia Deserta scorched by burning sands, with scant vegetation and brackish water. The Bedouins were brave, hardy, and of simple habits, but restless and rapacious. The description of the wild ass in the third chapter of Job well fits their character. The character of the land made the building of cities ARABIA 2O9 and organized society impossible. Conditions encour- aged a lawless life and necessity, rather than choice, tempted them to attack merchant caravans. A French proverb runs, "To know all is to excuse all." While not endorsing this dangerous maxim, we can see that their home largely decided their character. We are all influenced by surroundings in some degree. Yet some make the most of even hard conditions and bar- ren soil. Not so the Bedouins. They never rose to greatness religiously, satisfied to worship stars and stones and gratify the wants of the hour. So they have not advanced. But of this Arabs of Central and Southern Arabia we have a better story to tell. Long before the fall of the Second Temple proba- bly before the fall of the First many Jews found their way to Arabia. By the time they made their presence felt there we find them established in separate groups or tribes. There were many points of kinship between Jews and Arabians. The Bible hints this in making Abra- ham the father of both peoples, which tradition the Arabs accepted from their Jewish neighbors. Their kinship was farther due to the fact that they both be- longed to the same race the Semitic. The Semites included Assyrians, Chaldeans, Babylonians, Syrians, Phoenicians, Hebrews, Arabs and Ethiopians. In spite of the religious divergence, the Jews adapted themselves externally at least to the Arabian mode of life. It is a nice question in how far Jews should assimilate with their surroundings and in how far stand 210 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. distinct. So, while the Jews of South Arabia engaged in commerce, those of the less civilized North were agriculturists and wandering shepherds like their Be- douin neighbors. Like them, too, some even form robber bands. Yet here at least we meet a favorable variation in that the Jews were more humane to their enemies. Further, the Jews adopted the patriarchal status of society of their Arabian environments not so dissimilar to the social life depicted in Genesis i. e., each group of families lived under the guidance of one patriarch or Sheik. The Sheik was a kind of king and his will was obeyed as law by the particular group under his sway. For there was no central gov- ernment. In unsettled districts hospitality becomes the greatest virtue because it represents the greatest need. This is well illustrated in the Genesis story (Chapters xviii. and xix.) of the contrasted behavior of Abra- ham and the people of Sodom. The religious ideas of the Arabians while not gross were primitive. They had a Holy City, later known as Mecca, near the Red Sea border, in the centre of which was a black stone called the Kaaba. This they no doubt worshipped as an idol. Indeed three hundred idols were associated with this place. While fierce in warfare, in which they frequently engaged, and re- morseless in revenge, these rough tendencies were miti- gated by the institution of four holy months, during which the taking of life was avoided. The Jews as such were better educated than the Arabs and may have taught them writing, and were altogether looked up to as the intellectual superiors of ARABIA 211 the Arabs. Far from interfering with their religion, the Arabs were rather prepared to take the position of disciples. They adopted some Jewish rites, endorsed their calendar, and Jewish teaching exercised a salu- tary influence on their character. Many converts came to Judaism unsought, and when a Sheik accepted Juda- ism, the clan followed. Naturally, under such favor- able auspices the Arabian Jews lived up to their re- ligion with ardor and zeal, though it did not receive the highest interpretation in their hands. They turned for guidance in the fulfillment of the Law probably both to Judea and Babylonia. They had their school too at Yathrib, later called Medina north of Mecca and likewise near the Red Sea. But the Bible was largely brought to them in Midrashic paraphrase. The most important convert to Judaism was Jussuf, the powerful king of Yemen, in the southwestern quar- ter of the Peninsula about the year 500 A. c. E. The Jewish sages were invited to teach Judaism to the peo- ple at large. The enthusiastic but unwise King Jussuf, hearing that Jews were persecuted in the Byzantine Empire, put to death some of its merchants. This only paralyzed trade and brought on war. So the Jews were hardly fortunate in their ally, for he did not grasp the spirit of Judaism and tried to impose it by force i. e., by the sword. This recalls the forced conversions of John Hyrcanus. (See Chapter vu.) Yussuf stirred up enemies against himself, and the Jews in many surrounding lands, who at last completely crushed him. Thus ended the ill-starred Jewish king- dom. No, Judaism was not destined to spread in that 212 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. way. "Not by force, not by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord." Like the Arabs, the Jews cultivated poetry and held it in high esteem. Most renowned of these Jewish poets was Samuel Ibn Adiya, who flourished in Arabia about the same time as the Talmud was being edited in Babylonia. His life is perhaps more interesting than his poetry, for it shows how this stimulating environ- ment at its best encouraged a fine spirit of chivalry among the Jews. For Samuel was also a powerful Sheik in whom the weak and persecuted always confidently sought protec- tion. One day a famous Arabian poet and prince, pur- sued by his enemies, sought refuge in his castle. Go- ing forth to seek the aid of the Byzantine Emperor, Justinian, he entrusted to Samuel his daughter and his arms. But no sooner had he gone than his enemies hastened to the castle, demanding the arms from Sam- uel. But Samuel would not break his promise, so the castle was besieged. Obtaining possession of one of his children, the savage enemies threatened to slay it unless the arms were given up. It was an agonizing alternative to the father, but he did not falter. "Do what you will, the brothers of my son will avenge this deed." So at that awful cost the trust was kept. What wonder that an Arabian maxim should run, "Faithful as Samuel !" Other poets sang his praise. But we must pass quickly over the rest of this epoch till we reach the end of the Sixth Century. By this time Judaism had widely spread and Jewish colonies were found along the whole northwestern coast. In Medina MAHOMET 213 their numbers were particularly large consisting of three great tribes. They had built their own villages and fortified strongholds. It was in the Sixth Century that a man was born whose name, MAHOMET, was to ring through all Asia and whom all broad minds now recognize as one of the great religious teachers of mankind. Closely was his fate linked to Israel's, for again was Judaism to inspire a prophet and give birth to another world religion. CHAPTER XXXVIII. i MAHOMET. Mahomet, to name him by the title that he after- wards acquired, was born in the year 570 in Mecca, and belonged to a branch of the powerful Koreish tribe. He began life as a shepherd. At twenty-five he married Kedija, who had employed him as camel- driver. Travelling extensively for her, he found his fellow-countrymen in a condition of religious neglect. The old star-worship and fetichism had lost their force, just as in more classic lands we saw that the divinities of Olympus had lost their meaning. A man given much to solitary contemplation, he yearned for some- thing better. He became filled with fine aspirations to uplift his fellowmen. In the solitude of the wilderness he experienced strange exaltations, and led for a period an ascetic life, spending much time in prayer. Others like himself, groping for religious truth, were brought in contact with Jewish and Christian colonies in Syria A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. and Babylonia. The monotheistic idea of Allah (God) he learned from Jewish teachers. A highly nervous nature, he "dreamed dreams and saw visions," and gave vent to his emotions in violent outbursts. It was in about his fortieth year that he felt the divine call to preach God to his benighted Arabian brethren after the manner of the Hebrew Prophets, whose works had moved him deeply. He began to feel that perhaps he was the ordained Messiah whom the Jews awaited. He had read the Hebrew Scriptures in the more highly colored Midrashic form. From what he thus learned and from what he gathered from some Baptists and anchorite ascetics, together with his own religious ex- perience, he gradually evolved a religion for his peo- ple that came to bear his name. He reached these convictions not without much an- guish of soul, his spirit torn by doubt the true experi- ence of every deep religious nature. First Kedijah, then his family, then a small circle of adherents, gath- ered about him, convinced of his divine mission. His vigorous personality attracted many more. At first his purpose was not to teach a new religion, but to reinforce the great truths recognized by the noblest natures in all times, his own enthusiasm contributing the only new element. As with Christianity, the hum- bler classes were first attracted, the higher holding aloof. Like the Jews, whose principles had most large- ly influenced him, he preached a strict monotheism. He even adopted the Jewish dietary laws. But gradually he made himself the centre of his message. With some allies, he had many opponents, MAHOMET 215 especially as he denounced the idols of the Kaaba and rode roughshod over many of the cherished traditions and superstitions of the Arabians. This brought against him persecution from the people of Mecca. For the success of his preaching meant the withdrawal of rich revenues from the pilgrims who came to the "holy city." A breach with the Arabians was a breach with the world a living death. So, for a moment he tem- porized and was prepared to make a quasi acknowl- edgement of the old divinities. But with the conver- sion of his uncle and one Omar a man like himself of great force of character he took a rigid stand again. He was put under interdict by the Koreish, his own family tribe. In the meantime he suffered much privation. Among the people of Medina, however, his preaching, in which he referred to the Jewish Scripture for endorsement, received more kindly recognition; for Jewish teach- ing had, as it were, prepared the way. This meant new converts. So, in the year 622 Mahomet bade all his followers emigrate with him to Medina. This was called the famous HEGIRA (flight), and marked the turning point in the movement. In Medina be soon became the natural chief and arbiter. All disputes hitherto decided by combat were now brought to him for decision. Thus he began to build up a system of law and justice. Here then he founded a religious set- tlement, and the social tone was raised. The bitter blood feuds were modified, property rights were re- spected, and the position of woman elevated. He had long since condemned the barbaric Bedouin practice of 216 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. putting to death newly born daughters. The whole life of the people of his community was ordered with a kind of military precision in which the battle cry was, "No God but one God." Unfortunately his motto now became, "Who is not for me is against me." This meant war against all outside his adherents. After some modification the Faith inculcated five cardinal precepts: I. Confession of unity of God; 2. Stated time of prayer; 3. Alms giving; 4. Fast of Ramadhan ; 5. Festival of Mecca. His most daring act perhaps was breaking with that fundamental principle of Arabian life blood relation- ship. The old Arabian ethics had concentrated all duty within tribal boundaries. These were now to be dis- regarded and a new brotherhood built up, that of Islam (submission) a religious brotherhood that could dis- regard even the holiest ties outside of it. Yet to ask them to exchange kinship for faith was an unnatural demand. This long meant bitter resistance. Medina was thus made a Commonwealth, his fol- lowers an army, and a remorseless conflict was waged with all who refused to come within the fold. This brought his arms against the Jews. Thjeir strongly fortified castles were taken one by one. Completely to break with the old regime, he even ordered his fol- lowers to attack the caravans in the holy month of truce. This was a severe test of their faith. Victory steadily followed his aggressions and brought him many converts; and many deputations came in volun- tarily, dazzled into conviction by his success. MAHOMET 217 In 630 he had conquered Mecca. This was called "The Conquest." Although he compelled the inhabi- tants to give up their idols, he compromised so far as to retain the Kaaba and the Feast, and to reinstate Mecca as a holy city. Abraham was credited with be- ing the father of the ritual. Fascinated by the glamor of his remarkable triumphs, adherents came to him from all sides. What other creeds have taken centuries to attain, he achieved in his lifetime. This too rapid success is one of the defects of his movement. It grew too fast for excellence. So some of his successes were failures, for to obtain them the spiritual was occasion- ally sacrificed to the worldly. As each new province came under his sway, its sub- mission was to be exemplified by proclamation of Mue- din for prayer, payment of alms-tax and acceptance of the Moslem law. But their internal tribal affairs were left untouched. In 632, in the eleventh year of the Hegira, Mahomet died. But not till Arabia was at his feet. He had founded a Religion and a State. NOTE. Islam the name given to this religion and Moslem to its followers are both derived from a word meaning 'submission' (to God.) 2 18 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. CHAPTER XXXIX. ISLAM AND THE JEWS. Mahomet never forgave the Jews for their refusal to accept him as "The Prophet" of God superseding all others. He had accepted so much from them the fundamental idea of monotheism, the Calendar, the Sabbath, the Day of Atonement, much of the Scrip- ture and Agada, and many details of the ceremonial Law. He asked of them so little it seemed to re- gard him as God's chosen and supreme messenger to man, to all intents and purposes the Messiah, whose advent was foretold in their own Scriptures, to whom they must now look for the interpretation of their Faith. But that "little" they could not conscientiously give. For not even Moses, their only recognized lawgiver, "greatest of their Prophets," were they prepared to re- gard quite in the way in which Mahomet asked alle>- giance. Their hearts told them that this man was not sent by God on a mission to them, however much he may have been sent to the Arabians. He was not their Messiah. So to accept him would be traitorous to their traditions and to the teachings of Scripture. (Deut. xviii, 15-22). For the acceptance of Mahomet would have ultimately meant the stultification of their religion and its submergence in a new cult of which he would be the founder. At that rejection, his affection for them turned to hate, and instead of allies, he chose to look upon them as rivals, as enemies of the true Faith. Their endorsement was the one thing needed ISLAM AND THE JEWS 2IQ for the complete confirmation of his mission. There- fore, forgetting how much he owed to their spiritual treasures, he became their persecutor. How history was repeating itself! Was not this identically Israel's experience with that other creed to which its religion had given birth Christianity? Its adherents likewise said to the Jews, "We accept your Scripture, ethics and divinity. Accept only from us this individual Jesus, greatest of all prophets, the Messiah in whom all your prophecies have been ful- filled, who represents God's new covenant with man." And because they refused, they were hated and spurned. From endeavoring to pattern his religion as closely as possible after the Jewish example, he now in sullen resentment sought by arbritary changes to emphasize its divergencies. Instead of turning to Jerusalem in prayer, Mahometans were told to turn to Mecca. He changed the Jewish Yom Kippur (Ashura), which he had adopted, for the holy mouth of Ramadhan. He altered the Sabbath from Saturday to Friday. Here again was a parallel experience with Christianity, which after three hundred years changed the Sabbath to Sunday and rearranged its Calendar to make Easter independent of Passover. Then like Christianity, too, he inserted in his Scripture the Koran unkind things and calumnies about the Jews. Yet, on the whole, the Koran holds up many Bible characters as exemplars. There was a third parallel between these two daughters of Judaism. Just as Christianity to win the 220 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. heathen to the fold accepted into its theology many heathen rites and even beliefs, so now Mahomet to win the allegiance of the heathen Arabs, conceded to many of their most cherished traditions. The Kaaba Stone an idol was to be still reverently regarded in the new Faith. Lastly, it also claimed to be the one true universal Faith. so Mahomet's conception of the future life was not -as spiritual as that of Jews or Christians. In offering grosser pleasure in the realms beyond, he unconsciously gratified the expectations of grosser natures. Let us hasten over the sad conflicts between Mahomet and the Jews his wars against their powerful chief- taincies, until he had succeeded in crippling their once mightv clans. The "Battle of the Foss," 627, is one of the unfortunate blots on the reputation of this really great man. Seven hundred Jews were gathered in the market-place and offered the alternative of "the Koran or the sword." But the Jews had been innured to martyrdom. There was no hesitancy in their choice. The grim warrior prophet carried out his savage threat against them. They were all slain and the surviving women were sold. All through Arabia this religious crusade was waged against them. Thus fell the city of Chaibar, but no such ruthless massacre was repeated. Many of the defeated Jews were even left in possession of their lands. They continued their losing fight but little longer against the triumphant advance of Mahomet. By the year 628 all the Jewish tribes had lost their independence; the sword was taken from them. So ISLAM AND THE JEWS 221 that era of arms and chivalry was now closed for the Jews of Arabia. One Jewish woman, Safir, whom Mahomet had seized as a concubine, tried to be a Judith to her people and attempted to poison Mahomet. The dish was hardly tasted by him, so the plot failed and she paid with her life for her daring. Mahomet must be studied from the political side as founder of a great State, as well as from the religious side as founder of a great religion. Indeed, he was a greater statesman than prophet. His followers be- lieved in him intensely and were united to him by ties that death could no longer break. His fiery words embodied in the Koran became their inspired Scripture. With his name upon their lips, the great watchword, "Allah is God and Mahomet is his Prophet," these fear- less warriors carried all before them. Monotheism had grown a great power in half a century, a power that had come to stay. Islam is accepted by nearly two hun- dred million souls to-day. Here was surely a great message lifting the Arab from the slough. We see here, as in the rise of Christianity, the hand of Provi- dence bringing light to the Gentiles. Under Mahomet's successor, Abu Bekr, there was a momentary falling-off, but the movement rallied under the leadership of Omar, who followed the mas- ter's policy of spreading the new Faith by conquest. At the head of the Mosque was now an Emperor a Caliph. Not so many years after Mahomet's death, not only was most of Arabia Moslem, but the sway of 222 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. Islam had reached Persia, conquered the land and superseded the religion of Zoroaster. Syria and Egypt were next wrested from the Byzantian or Eastern Ro- man Emoire. Palestine had been taken from Persia in 628 only to be lost again in 638, and in both wars the long-suffering Jews had looked to the incoming enemies as deliverers. What many changes had Jerusalem seen! When the Jewish Temple was destroyed, it became a heathen capital Aelia Capitolina, adorned with a heathen shrine. In its Christian era it became a bishopric. Under the Mahometans a mosque held the place of honor. Such it remains to-day. As in the spread of Christianity in Europe, so Islam was accepted, not by individuals, but by whole nations. Somewhat intolerant at first against opposing creeds some of the Musselmen were fanatics it became later renowned for its breadth and enlightenment. Very soon the Jews found the Mahometans their friends, against whom they had nought to fear. Jewish poets began to hail their advent. Even in Babylonia the Moslem sway was more liberal than had been that of the Magi in the latter years. The Resh Gelutha was given even heartier endorsement and was treated as a prince by the government, with his civil and judicial powers increased, making the Jewish community in Babylonia almost a State in itself. Its academies at Sora and Pumbeditha were continued without a break and the heads of the former called GAONIM (Illustrious) had also certain judicial powers and took equal rank with the Resh Gelutha. The Jews became loyal subjects of ISLAM AND THE JEWS 223 the Mahometan rulers, and when Caliph All's successor was deposed by a rival house (for the Mahometans had also now split into two wings) , the Jews came gal- lantly to his support. Here and there Moslem law in its freshest and noblest expression reacted favorably even on Jewish law. It will be borne in mind that the Jews in all their past experience were necessarily in- fluenced to a degree by their environment, while re- maining loyal in all essentials to the traditional con- ception of Jewish life. The ceremony of the inauguration of a Resh Gelutha was henceforth more impressive than ever. There was quite a little court about him. Likewise the official organization of the two Academies was very elaborate, with their President, Chief Judge, Assembly of Teach- ers or Senate, and their Greater and Lesser Sanhedrin. The administration left its lasting impress on all Jewish communities. All looked now to Babylonia as their religious centre and gladly sent contributions toward its maintenance. Its prestige steadily grew with the extension of Mahometan sway. It was the spread of this great power that was to bring relief to the Jews of Spain, persecuted almost unto death. Verily the Moslem was unto them as a savior for his arrival brought liberty, light and peace. After having subjected a large part of Asia, its sway spread unresistingly eastward. All the north coast of Africa was soon under both its temporal and spirit- ual control. Christendom was alarmed at the rise of this new star, and the checking of the advancing hosts 224 A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY. from making further inroad into Europe became now the first duty of every Christian monarch. Any war- rior who could throw them back from his country's border at once sprang into fame. In the meantime, however, none could withstand them. Nearer and nearer they approached the borders of Spain. The outrageously treated Jews awaited their arrival as any besieged city at the mercy of a relentless foe awaits the coming of its army of release. Already across the narrow Straits of Gibraltar on the African side, they were making common cause with the Mos- lems and were prepared for the invasion from Africa to Europe. The destined hour arrived. In the year 71 1 a great battle was fought at Xeres, in which the last Visigothic king fell before the army of Tarik. City after city Cordova, Granada, Malaga, Toledo fell before them, the Jews rendering valuable aid from within. The Mahometans found they could not entrust their con- quered towns into more faithful hands than these Jew- ish allies. Thus the Jews were raised at once from their degradation and thraldom to liberty and prestige. A new light had dawned, and under the broad and cul- tured regime of the Moors, as these Western Mahome- tans were called, a Golden Age was now to dawn for the Jews of Spain. DIASPORA. 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