WALL OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 From a riwto^raf>h. 
 
SK ETCHES 
 
 OF 
 
 JEWISH SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 IN 
 
 THE DAYS OF CHRIST. 
 
 REV. DR. EDERSHEIM, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE TEMPLE: ITS MINISTRY AND SERVICES,' 
 "THE BIBLE HISTORY," ETC. 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY, 
 
 56, PATF,RNOSTER Row; 65, ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD; 
 
 AND 164, PICCADILLY. 
 
LONDON: 
 
 PARDON AND SC&S, PRINTERS, 
 WINE OFFICE COURf, FLEET STREET, B.C. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE object of this volume is kindred to that of my 
 previous book on The Temple, its Ministry and Services as 
 they were at the Time of Jesus Christ. In both I have 
 wished to transport the reader into the land of Palestine 
 at the time of our Lord and of His apostles, and to show 
 him, so far as lay within the scope of each book, as it 
 were, the scene on which, and the persons among whom 
 the events recorded in New Testament history had taken 
 place. For I believe, that in measure as we realise its 
 surroundings so to speak, see and hear for ourselves what 
 passed at the time, enter into its ideas, become familiar 
 with its habits, modes of thinking, its teaching and worship 
 shall we not only understand many of the expressions 
 and allusions in the New Testament, but also gain fresh 
 evidence of the truth of its history alike from its faith- 
 fulness to the picture of society, such as we know it to 
 have been, and from the contrast of its teaching and aims 
 to those of the contemporaries of our Lord. 
 
 For, a careful study of the period leaves this conviction 
 on the mind : that with reverence be it said Jesus Christ 
 was strictly of His time, and. that the New Testament is, 
 in its narratives, language, and allusions, strictly true to the 
 period and circumstances in which its events are laid. But 
 in another, and far more important, aspect there is no 
 
vi Preface. 
 
 similarity between Christ and His period. " Never man n 
 of that, or any subsequent period " spake like this 
 man ; " never man lived or died as He. Assuredly, if He 
 was the Son of David, He also is the Son of God, the 
 Saviour of the world. 
 
 In my book on The Temple, its Ministry and Services, 
 I endeavoured to carry the reader with me into the 
 Sanctuary, and to make him witness all connected with its 
 institutions, its priesthood, and its solemnities. In this 
 book I have sought to take him into ordinary civil 
 society, and to make him mingle with the men and women 
 of that period, see them in their homes and families, learn 
 their habits and manners, and follow them in their 
 ordinary life all, as illustrative of New Testament history ; 
 at the same tiaie endeavouring to present in a popular 
 form the scenes witnessed. 
 
 Another, and perhaps the most important part in its 
 bearing on Christianity, yet remains to be done : to trace 
 the progress of religious thought as regards the canon 
 of Scripture, the Messiah, the law, sin, and salvation to 
 describe the character of theological literature, and to 
 show the state of doctrinal belief at the time of our Lord. 
 It is here especially that we should see alike the kinship 
 in form and the almost contrast in substance between what 
 Judaism was at the time of Christ, and the teaching and 
 the kingdom of our Blessed Lord. But this lay quite outside 
 the scope of the present volume, and belongs to a larger work 
 for which this and my previous book may, in a sense, be 
 regarded as forestudies. Accordingly, where civil society 
 touched, as on so many points it does, on the theological and 
 the doctrinal, it was only possible to "sketch" it, leaving the 
 outlines to be rilled up. To give a complete representation 
 

 Preface. vii 
 
 of the times of our Lord, in all their bearings to show not 
 only who they were among whom Jesus Christ moved, 
 but what they knew, thought, and believed and this as 
 the frame, so to speak, in which to set as a picture the life 
 of our Blessed Lord Himself, such must now be the work, 
 to which, with all prayerful reverence and with most 
 earnest study, I shall henceforth set myself. 
 
 It seemed needful to state this, in order to explain both 
 the plan of this book and the manner of its treatment. 
 I will only add, that it embodies the results of many years' 
 study, in which I have availed myself of every help within 
 my reach. It might seem affectation, were I to enumerate 
 the names of all the authorities consulted or books read 
 in the course of these studies. Those mentioned in the 
 foot-notes constitute but a very small proportion of them. 
 
 Throughout, my constant object has been to illustrate the 
 New Testament history and teaching. Even the " Scripture 
 Index " at the close will show in how many instances this 
 has been attempted. Most earnestly then do I hope, that 
 these pages may be found to cast some additional light 
 on the New Testament, and that they will convey fresh 
 evidence to my mind of the strongest kind and in a 
 new direction, of the truth " of those things which are most 
 surely believed among us." And now it only remains at 
 the close of these investigations once more to express my 
 own full and joyous belief in that grand truth to which 
 all leads up that "CHRIST IS THE END OF THE LAW 
 
 ALFRED EDERSHEIM. 
 
 THE VICARAGE, LODERS, BRIDPORT : 
 November, 1876. 
 
vi Preface. 
 
 similarity between Christ and His period. " Never man n 
 of that, or any subsequent period " spake like this 
 man ; " never man lived or died as He. Assuredly, if He 
 was the Son of David, He also is the Son of God, the 
 Saviour of the world. 
 
 In my book on The Temple, its Ministry and Services, 
 I endeavoured to carry the reader with me into the 
 Sanctuary, and to make him witness all connected with its 
 institutions, its priesthood, and its solemnities. In this 
 book I have sought to take him into ordinary civil 
 society, and to make him mingle with the men and women 
 of that period, see them in their homes and families, learn 
 their habits and manners, and follow them in their 
 ordinary life all, as illustrative of New Testament history ; 
 at the same time endeavouring to present in a popular 
 form the scenes witnessed. 
 
 Another, and perhaps the most important part in its 
 bearing on Christianity, yet remains to be done : to trace 
 the progress of religious thought as regards the canon 
 of Scripture, the Messiah, the law, sin, and salvation to 
 describe the character of theological literature, and to 
 show the state of doctrinal belief at the time of our Lord. 
 It is here especially that we should see alike the kinship 
 in form and the almost contrast in substance between what 
 Judaism was at the time of Christ, and the teaching and 
 the kingdom of our Blessed Lord. But this lay quite outside 
 the scope of the present volume, and belongs to a larger work 
 for which this and my previous book may, in a sense, be 
 regarded as forestudies. Accordingly, where civil society 
 touched, as on so many points it does, on the theological and 
 the doctrinal, it was only possible to "sketch" it, leaving the 
 outlines to be filled up. To give a complete representation 
 
Preface. vii 
 
 of the times of our Lord, in all their bearings to show not 
 only who they were among whom Jesus Christ moved, 
 but what they knew, thought, and believed and this as 
 the frame, so to speak, in which to set as a picture the life 
 of our Blessed Lord Himself, such must now be the work, 
 to which, with all prayerful reverence and with most 
 earnest study, I shall henceforth set myself. 
 
 It seemed needful to state this, in order to explain both 
 the plan of this book and the manner of its treatment. 
 I will only add, that it embodies the results of many years' 
 study, in which I have availed myself of every help within 
 my reach. It might seem affectation, were I to enumerate 
 the names of all the authorities consulted or books read 
 in the course of these studies. Those mentioned in the 
 foot-notes constitute but a very small proportion of them. 
 
 Throughout, my constant object has been to illustrate the 
 New Testament history and teaching. Even the " Scripture 
 Index " at the close will show in how many instances this 
 has been attempted. Most earnestly then do I hope, that 
 these pages may be found to cast some additional light 
 on the New Testament, and that they will convey fresh 
 evidence to my mind of the strongest kind and in a 
 new direction, of the truth " of those things which are most 
 surely believed among us." And now it only remains at 
 the close of these investigations once more to express my 
 own full and joyous belief in that grand truth to which 
 all leads up that "CHRIST IS THE END OF THE LAW 
 
 ALFRED EDERSHEIM. 
 
 THE VICARAGE, LODERS, BRIDPORT : 
 November, 1876. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHA#. 
 
 i. PALESTINE EIGHTEEN CENTURIES AGO .....' 
 
 n. JEWS AND GENTILES IN "THE LAND" 14 
 
 in. IN GALILEE AT THE TIME OF OUR LORD 30 
 
 iv. TRAVELLING IN PALESTINE: ROADS, INNS, HOSPITALITY, 
 
 CUSTOM-HOUSE OFFICERS, TAXATION, PUBLICANS . . 42 
 
 / v. IN JUDAEA 59 
 
 " vi. JEWISH HOMES . 86 
 
 vn. THE UPBRINGING OF JEWISH CHILDREN . . . . .103 
 
 VIIL SUBJECTS OF STUDY. HOME EDUCATION IN ISRAEL ; FEMALE 
 
 EDUCATION. SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS . . .122 
 
 ix. MOTHERS, DAUGHTERS, AND WIVES IN ISRAEL. . . .139 
 
 x. IN DEATH AND AFTER DEATH 161 
 
 ^ XL JEWISH VIEWS ON TRADE, TRADESMEN, AND TRADES' GUILDS 182 
 
 / xii. COMMERCE 199 
 
 XIH. AMONG THE PEOPLE, AND WITH THE PHARISEES . . .213 
 
 xiv. THE "FRATERNITY" OF PHARISEES 227 
 
 xv. RELATION OF THE PHARISEES TO THE SADDUCEES AND ESSENES, 
 
 AND TO THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST 239 
 
 xvi. SYNAGOGUES : THEIR ORIGIN, STRUCTURE, AND OUTWARD 
 
 ARRANGEMENTS 249 
 
 xvii. THE WORSHIP OF THE SYNAGOGUE 265 
 
 xviii. OUTLINE OF ANCIENT JEWISH THEOLOGICAL LITERATURE . 281 
 APPENDIX I. TRANSLATION OF THE MISHNIC TRACTATE "MIDDOTH" 297 
 
 APPENDIX II. TRANSLATION OF SELECTIONS FROM THE BABYLON 
 
 TALMUD, TRACTATE "BERACHOTH" . . 309 
 
SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE, 
 
 31 n 3|llu0tratton of tlje i]2rtx> <<e0tatmm;, 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PALESTINE EIGHTEEN CENTURIES AGO. 
 
 TI^IGHTEEN and a half centuries ago, and the land 
 JLl/ which now lies desolate its bare, grey hills looking 
 into ill-tilled or neglected valleys, its timber cut down, its 
 olive- and vine-clad terraces crumbled into dust, its villages 
 stricken with poverty and squalor, its thoroughfares insecure 
 and deserted, its native population well-nigh gone, and with 
 them its industry, wealth, and strength presented a scene 
 of beauty, richness, and busy life almost unsurpassed in 
 the then known world. The Rabbis never weary of its 
 praises, whether their theme be the physical or the moral 
 pre-eminence of Palestine. It happened, so writes one of 
 the oldest Hebrew commentaries, 1 that Rabbi Jonathan 
 was sitting under a fig-tree, surrounded by his students. 
 Of a sudden he noticed how the ripe fruit overhead, burst- 
 ing for richness, dropped its luscious juice on the ground, 
 while at a little distance the distended udder of a she-goat 
 
 l See Hamburger, Real-Enr. d. Judcnth. i. p. 816, note 37. 
 
 B 
 
2 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 was no longer able to hold the milk. " Behold," exclaimed 
 the Rabbi, as the two streams mingled, " the literal fulfilment 
 of the promise : ' a land flowing with milk and honey.' " 
 " The land of Israel is not lacking in any product whatever/' 
 argued Rabbi Meir, " as it is written (Deut. viii. 9) : ' Thou 
 shalt not lack anything in it.' " l Nor were such statements 
 unwarranted ; for Palestine combined every variety of climate, 
 from the snows of Hermon and the cool of Lebanon to the 
 genial warmth of the Lake of Galilee and the tropical heat of 
 the Jordan valley. Accordingly not only the fruit trees, the 
 grain, and garden produce known in our colder latitudes were 
 found in the land, along with those of sunnier climes, but also 
 the rare spices and perfumes of the hottest zones. Similarly, 
 it is said, every kind of fish teemed in its waters, while birds 
 of most gorgeous plumage filled the air with their song. 2 
 Within such small compass the country must have been 
 unequalled for charm and variety. On the eastern side of 
 Jordan stretched wide plains, upland valleys, park-like forests, 
 and almost boundless corn and pasture lands ; on the western 
 side were terraced hills, covered with olives and vines, 
 delicious glens, in which sweet springs murmured, and fairy- 
 like beauty and busy life, as around the Lake of Galilee. 
 In the distance stretched the wide sea, dotted with spreading 
 sails ; here was luxurious richness, as in the ancient posses- 
 sions of Issachar, Manasseh, and Ephraim ; and there, beyond 
 these plains and valleys, the highland scenery of Judah, 
 shelving down through the pasture tracts of the Negev, or 
 
 1 In discussing the lawfulness of a peppercorn on the Day of Atonement. 
 Yoma t 91 b, towards the end. 
 
 2 Detailed references are here, of course, impossible ; but compare, for example, 
 the accounts of so careful and able a naturalist as Canon Tristram. 
 
Palestine Eighteen Centuries Ago. 3 
 
 South country, into the great and terrible wilderness. And 
 over all, so long as God's blessing lasted, were peace and 
 plenty. Far as the eye could reach, browsed " the cattle on 
 a thousand hills ; " the pastures were " clothed with flocks, the 
 valleys also covered over with corn ; " and the land, " greatly 
 enriched with the river of God," seemed to " shout for joy," 
 and " also to sing." Such a possession, heaven-given at the 
 first and heaven-guarded throughout, might well kindle the 
 deepest enthusiasm. 
 
 "We find," writes one of the most learned Rabbinical 
 commentators, supporting each assertion by a reference to 
 Scripture, 1 " that thirteen things are in the sole ownership of 
 the Holy One, blessed be His Name ! and these are they : the 
 silver, the gold, the priesthood, Israel, the first-born, the altar, 
 the first-fruits, the anointing oil, the tabernacle ,of meeting, 
 the kingship of the house of David, the sacrifices, the land of 
 Israel, and the eldership." In truth, fair as the land was, its 
 conjunction with higher spiritual blessings gave it its real and* 
 highest value. " Only in Palestine does the Shechinah mani- 
 fest itself," taught the Rabbis. Outside its sacred boundaries 
 no such revelation was possible. 2 It was there that rapt 
 prophets had seen their visions, and psalmists caught strains 
 of heavenly hymns. Palestine was the land that had Jeru- 
 salem for its capital, and on its highest hill that temple of 
 snowy marble and glittering gold for a sanctuary, around 
 which clustered such precious memories, hallowed thoughts, 
 and glorious, wide-reaching hopes. There is no religion so 
 
 1 R. Bechai. The Scripture references are : Hagg. ii. 8 ; Ex. xxix. I ; Numb, 
 iii. 13 ; Lev. xxv. 55 ; Ex. xx. 24 ; Ex. xxv. 2 ; Ex. xxx. 31 ; Ex. xxv. 8 ; 
 Numb, xxviii. 2 ; I Sam. xvi. I ; Lev. xxv. 23. Comp. Relandi, Palast. (ed. 
 1716), p. 14. 
 
 2 See, for example, the discussion in Mechilta on Ex. xii. J- 
 
4 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 strictly local as that of Israel. Heathenism was indeed the 
 worship of national deities, and Judaism that of Jehovah, the 
 God of heaven and earth. But the national deities of the 
 heathen might be transported, and their rites adapted to 
 foreign manners. On the other hand, while Christianity was 
 from the first universal in its character and design, the 
 religious institutions and the worship of the Pentateuch, and 
 even the prospects opened by the prophets were, so far as 
 they concerned Israel, strictly of Palestine and for Palestine. 
 The> are wholly incompatible with the permanent loss of 
 the land. An extra-Palestinian Judaism, without priesthood, 
 altar, temple, sacrifices, tithes, first-fruits, Sabbatical and 
 Jubilee years, must first set aside the Pentateuch, unless, as in 
 Christianity, all these be regarded as blossoms designed to 
 ripen into fruit, as types pointing to, and fulfilled in higher 
 realities. 1 Outside the land even the people are no longer 
 Israel : in view of the Gentiles they are Jews ; in their own 
 view, " the dispersed abroad." 
 
 All this the Rabbis cou d not fail to perceive. Accordingly 
 when, immediately after the destruction of Jerusalem by 
 Titus, they set themselves to reconstruct their broken com- 
 
 i This is not the place to explain what substitution Rabbinism proposed for 
 sacrifices, etc. I am well aware that modern Judaism tries to prove by such 
 passages as I Sam. xv. 22 ; Ps. li. 16, 17 ; Isa. i. 11-13 > Hos. vi. 6, that, in the 
 view of the prophets, sacrifices, and with them all the ritual institutions of the 
 Pentateuch, were of no permanent importance. To the unprejudiced reader it 
 seems difficult to understand how even party-spirit could draw such sweeping con- 
 clusions from such premisses, or how it could ever be imagined that the prophets 
 had intended by their teaching, not to explain or apply, but to set aside the law 
 so solemnly given on Sinai. However, the device is not new. A solitary 
 voice ventured even in the second century on the suggestion that the sacrificial 
 worship had been intended only by way of accommodation, to preserve Israel from 
 lapsing into heathen rites 1 
 
Palestine Eighteen Centuries Ago. 5 
 
 monwealth, it was on a new basis indeed, but still within 
 Palestine. Palestine was the Mount Sinai of Rabbinism. 
 Here rose the spring of the Halachak, or traditional law, 
 whence it flowed in ever-widening streams ; here, for the first 
 centuries, the learning, the influence, and the rule of Judaism 
 centred ; and there they would fain have perpetuated it. The 
 first attempts at rivalry by the Babylonian schools of Jewish 
 learning were keenly resented and sharply put down. 1 Only 
 the force of circumstances drove the Rabbis afterwards volun- 
 tarily to seek safety and freedom in the ancient seats of their 
 captivity, where, politically unmolested, they could give the 
 final development to their system. It was this desire to pre- 
 serve the nation and its learning in Palestine which inspired 
 such sentiments as we are about to quote. " The very air of 
 Palestine makes one wise," said the Rabbis. The Scriptural 
 account of the borderland of Paradise, watered by the river 
 Havilah, of which it is said that "the gold of that land is 
 good," was applied to their earthly Eden, and paraphrased 
 to mean, " there is no learning like that of Palestine." It was 
 a saying, that " to live in Palestine was equal to the obser- 
 vance of all the commandments." " He that hath his perma- 
 nent abode in Palestine," so taught the Talmud, "is sure 
 of the life to come." " Three things," we read in another 
 authority, " are Israel's through suffering : Palestine, tradi- 
 tional lore, and the world to come." Nor did this feeling 
 abate with the desolation of their country. In the third and 
 fourth centuries of our era they still taught, " He that dwelleth 
 in Palestine is without sin." 
 
 Centuries of wandering and of changes have not torn the 
 passionate love of this land from the heart of the people. 
 
 1 See my History of the Jewish Nation, pp. 247, 248. 
 
6 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 Even superstition becomes here pathetic. If the Talmud l had 
 already expressed the principle, " Whoever is buried in the 
 land of Israel, is as if he were buried under the altar," one of 
 the most ancient Hebrew commentaries 2 goes much farther. 
 From the injunction of Jacob and Joseph, and the desire of 
 the fathers to be buried within the sacred soil, it is argued 
 that those who lay there were to be the first " to walk before 
 the Lord in the land of the living" (Ps. cxvi. 9), the first to rise 
 from the dead and to enjoy the days of the Messiah. Not 
 to deprive of their reward the pious, who had not the privilege 
 of residing in Palestine, it was added, that God would make 
 subterranean roads and passages into the Holy Land, and 
 that, when their dust reached it, the Spirit of the Lord would 
 raise them to new life, as it is written (Ezek. xxxvii. 12-14) : 
 " O My people, I will open your graves, and cause you to 
 come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of 
 Israel .... and shall put My Spirit in you, and ye shall live ; 
 and I shall place you in your own land." Almost every 
 prayer and hymn breathes the same love of Palestine. Indeed, 
 it were impossible, by any extracts, to convey the pathos of 
 some of those elegies in which the Synagogue still bewails the 
 loss of Zion, or expresses the pent-up longing for its resto- 
 ration. 3 Desolate, they cling to its ruins, and believe, hope, 
 and pray oh, how ardently ! in almost every prayer for the 
 time that shall come, when the land, like Sarah of old, will, at 
 the bidding of the Lord, have youth, beauty, and fruitfulness 
 
 1 Chelh. iii. a. the reference here being most curiously to Ex. xx. 24: "An 
 altar of earth shalt thou make to Me." Indeed, that whole page of the Talmud is 
 very characteristic and interesting. 
 
 2 Ber. Rabba. 
 
 3 See especially the sublimest of these elegies, that by Judah ha-T.evi. 
 
Palestine Eighteen Centuries Ago. 7 
 
 restored, and in Messiah the King " a horn of salvation shall 
 be raised up " 1 to the house of David. 
 
 Yet it is most true, as noticed by a recent writer, that no 
 place could have been more completely swept of relics than is 
 Palestine. Where the most solemn transactions have taken 
 place ; where, if we only knew it, every footstep might be 
 consecrated, and rocks, and caves, and mountain-tops be 
 devoted to the holiest remembrances we are almost in abso- 
 lute ignorance of exact localities. In Jerusalem itself even 
 the features of the soil, the valleys, depressions, and hills 
 have changed, or at least lie buried deep under the accumu- 
 lated ruins of centuries. It almost seems as if the Lor<k 
 meant to do with the land what Hezekiah had done with that 
 relic of Moses the brazen serpent when he stamped it to 
 pieces, lest its sacred memories should convert it into an 
 occasion for idolatry. The lie of land and water, of mountain 
 and valley, are the same ; Hebron, Bethlehem, the Mount of 
 Olives, Nazareth, the Lake of Gennesaret, *-he land of Galilee, 
 are still there, but all changed in form and appearance, and 
 with no definite spot to which one could with absolute 
 certainty attach the most sacred events. Events, then, not 
 places ; spiritual realities, not their outward surroundings, 
 have been given to mankind by the land of Palestine. 
 
 " So long as Israel inhabited Palestine," says the Babylonian 
 Talmud, " the country was wide ; but now it has become 
 narrow." There is only too much historical truth underlying 
 this somewhat curiously-worded statement. Each successive 
 change left the boundaries of the Holy Land narrowed. 
 
 1 These are words of prayer taken from one of the most ancient fragments of 
 the Jewish liturgy, and repeated, probably for two thousand years, every day by 
 every Jew. 
 
8 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 Never as yet has it actually reached the extent indicated in 
 the original promise to Abraham (Gen. xv. 18), and afterwards 
 confirmed to the children of Israel (Ex. xxiii. 31). The 
 nearest approach to it was during the reign of King David, 
 when the power of Judah extended as far as the river 
 Euphrates (2 Sam. viii. 3-14). At present the country to 
 which the name Palestine attaches is smaller than at any 
 previous period. As of old, it still stretches north and south 
 "from Dan to Beersheba ;" in the east and west from Salcah 
 (the modern Sulkhad) to " the great sea," the Mediterranean. 
 Its superficial area is about 12,000 square miles, its length 
 from 140 to 1 80, its breadth in the south about 75, and in 
 the north from IOO to 120 miles. To put it more pictorially, 
 the modern Palestine is about twice as large as Wales ; it is 
 smaller than Holland, and about equal in size to Belgium. 
 Moreover, . from the highest mountain-peaks a glimpse of 
 almost the whole country may be obtained. So small was 
 the land which the Lord chose as the scene of the most 
 marvellous events that ever happened on earth, and whence 
 He appointed light and life to flow forth into all the world ! 
 
 When our blessed Saviour trod the soil of Palestine, the 
 country had already undergone many changes. The ancient 
 division of tribes had given way ; the two kingdoms of Judah 
 and Israel existed no longer ; and the varied foreign domina- 
 tion, and the brief period of absolute national independence, 
 had alike ceased. Yet, with the characteristic tenacity of the 
 East for the past, the names of the ancient tribes still attached 
 to some of the districts formerly occupied by them (comp. 
 Matt. iv. 13, 15). A comparatively small number of the 
 exiles had returned to Palestine with Ezra and Nehemiah, 
 and the Jewish inhabitants of the country consisted either of 
 
Palestine Eighteen Centuries Ago. 9 
 
 those who had originally been left in the land, or of the tribes 
 of Judah and Benjamin. The controversy about the ten 
 tribes, which engages so much attention in our days, raged 
 even at the time of our Lord. 1 " Will He go unto the dis- 
 persed among the Gentiles ? " asked the Jews, when unable to 
 fathom the meaning of Christ's prediction of His departure, 
 using that mysterious vagueness of language in which we 
 generally clothe things which we pretend to, but really do not 
 know. " The ten tribes are beyond the Euphrates till now, 
 and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by 
 numbers," writes Josephus, with his usual grandiloquent self- 
 complacency. But where he informs us as little as any of 
 his other contemporaries. We read in the earliest Jewish 
 authority, the Mishnah (Sanh. x. 3) : " The ten tribes shall 
 never return again, as it is written (Deut. xxix. 28), ' And He 
 cast them into another land, as this day.' As 'this day' 
 goeth and does not return again, so they also go and do not 
 return. This is the view of Rabbi Akiba. Rabbi Elieser 
 says, ' As the day becomes dark and has light again, so the 
 ten tribes, to whom darkness has come ; but light shall also be 
 restored to them.' " 
 
 i This is not the place to discuss the question. There can be no reasonable 
 doubt, that colonies from some of tHese tribes are scattered far and wide. Thus 
 descendants of them are traced in the Crimea, where the dates on their grave- 
 stones are reckoned from " the era of the exile, in 696 B.C. ; i.e., the exile of the 
 ten tribes ; not 586 B.C., when Jerusalem was taken by Nebuchadnezzar " (Dr. S. 
 Davidson, in Kitto's Cycl. of Bibl. Lit. iii. p. 1173). For notices of the wander- 
 ings of the ten tribes see my Hist, of the Jewish Nation, pp. 61-63 ; also the late 
 Dr. Wolffs researches in his journeys. How prone even learned Talmudical Jew* 
 are to credulity in the matter of the ten tribes may be gathered from the Appendix 
 to Rabbi Schwartz's (of Jerusalem) Holy Land (pp. 407-422 of the German ed.). 
 The oldest Hebrew Crimean inscriptions date from the years 6, 30, and 89 of our 
 era (Chwolson, Mem. d' V Ac. de St. Petersb. ix. 1866, No. 7). 
 
lo Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 At the time of Christ's birth Palestine was governed by 
 Herod the Great ; that is, it was nominally an independent 
 kingdom, but under the suzerainty of Rome. On the death 
 of Herod that is, very close upon the opening of the gospel 
 story a fresh, though only temporary, division of his 
 dominions took place. The events connected with it fully 
 illustrate the parable of our Lord, recorded in Luke xix. 12- 
 15, 27. If they do not form its historical groundwork, they 
 were at least so fresh in the memory of Christ's hearers, that 
 their minds must have involuntarily reverted to them. Herod 
 died, as he had lived, cruel and treacherous. A few days 
 before his end, he had once more altered his will, and nomi- 
 nated Archelaus his successor in the kingdom ; Herod Antipas 
 (the Herod of the gospels), tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea ; 
 and Philip, tetrarch of Gaulonitis, Trachonitis, Batanaea, and 
 Panias districts to which, in the sequel, we may have further 
 to refer. As soon after the death of Herod as circum- 
 stances would permit, and when he had quelled a rising in 
 Jerusalem, Archelaus hastened to Rome to obtain the 
 emperor's confirmation of his father's will. He was imme- 
 diately followed by his brother Herod Antipas, who in a 
 previous testament of Herod had been left what Archelaus 
 now claimed. Nor were the two alone in Rome. They 
 found there already a number of members of Herod's family, 
 each clamorous for something, but all agreed that they would 
 rather have none of their own kindred as king, and that the 
 country should be put under Roman sway ; if otherwise, they 
 anyhow preferred Herod Antipas to Archelaus. Each of the 
 brothers had, of course, his own party, intriguing, manoeuvring, 
 and trying to influence the emperor. Augustus inclined from 
 the first to Archelaus. The formal decision, however, was for 
 
Palestine Eighteen Centuries Ago. 1 1 
 
 a time postponed by a fresh insurrection in Judaea, which was 
 quelled only with difficulty. Meanwhile, a Jewish deputation 
 appeared in Rome, entreating that none of the Herodians 
 might ever be appointed king, on the ground of their infamous 
 deeds, which they related, and that they (the Jews) might be 
 allowed to live according to their own laws, under the suze- 
 rainty of Rome. Augustus ultimately decided to carry out 
 the will of Herod the Great, but gave Archelaus the title of 
 ethnarch instead of king, promising him the higher grade if 
 he proved deserving of it (Matt. ii. 22). On his return to 
 Judaea, Archelaus (according to the story in the parable) took 
 bloody vengeance on " his citizens that hated him, and sent 
 a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to 
 reign over us." The reign of Archelaus did not last long. 
 Fresh and stronger complaints came from Judaea. Archelaus 
 was deposed, and Judaea joined to the Roman province of 
 Syria, but with a procurator of its own. The revenues of 
 Archelaus, so long as he reigned, amounted to very consider- 
 ably over 240,000 a year ; those of his brothers respectively 
 to a third and sixth of that sum. But this was as nothing 
 compared to the income of Herod the Great, which stood 
 at the enormous sum of about 680,000 ; and that afterwards 
 of Agrippa II., which is computed as high as half a million. 
 In thinking of these figures, it is necessary to bear in mind 
 the general cheapness of living in Palestine at the time, which 
 may be gathered from the smallness of the coins in circulation, 
 and from the lowness of the labour market. The smallest 
 coin, a (Jewish) perutah, amounted to only the sixteenth of a 
 penny. Again, readers of the New Testament will remember 
 that a labourer was wont to receive for a day's work in field 
 or vineyard a denarius (Matt. xx. 2), or about 8d., while the 
 
12 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 Good Samaritan paid for the charge of the sick person whom 
 he left in the inn only two denars, or about is. 4d. (Luke x. 35). 
 
 But we are anticipating. Our main object was to explain 
 the division of Palestine in the time of our Lord. Politically 
 speaking, it consisted of Judaea and Samaria, under Roman 
 procurators ; Galilee and Peraea (on the other side Jordan), 
 subject to Herod Antipas, the murderer of John the Baptist 
 " that fox " full of cunning and cruelty, to whom the Lord, 
 when sent by Pilate, would give no answer; and Batanaea, 
 Trachonitis, and Auranitis, under the rule of the tetrarch 
 Philip. It would require too many details to describe 
 accurately those latter provinces. Suffice, that they lay 
 quite to the north-east, and that one of their principal cities 
 was Caesarea Philippi (called after the Roman emperor, and 
 after Philip himself), where Peter made that noble confession, 
 which constituted the rock on which the Church was to be 
 built (Matt. xvi. 16; Mark viii. 29). It was the wife of this 
 Philip, the best of all Herod's sons, whom her brother-in-law, 
 Herod Antipas, induced to leave her husband, and for whose 
 sake he beheaded John (Matt. xiv. 3, etc. ; Mark vi. 17 ; 
 Luke iii. 19). It is well to know that this adulterous and 
 incestuous union brought Herod immediate trouble and 
 misery, and that it ultimately cost him his kingdom, and 
 sent Him into life-long banishment. 
 
 Such was the political division of Palestine. Commonly it 
 was arranged into Galilee, Samaria, Judaea, and Peraea. It is 
 scarcely necessary to say that the Jews did not regard 
 Samaria as belonging to the Holy Land, but as a strip of 
 foreign country as the Talmud designates it (Chag. 25 a.), 
 " a Cuthite strip," or " tongue," intervening between Galilee 
 and Judaea. From the gospels we know that the Samaritans 
 
Palestine Eighteen Centuries Ago. 13 
 
 were not only ranked with Gentiles and strangers (Matt. x. 5 ; 
 John iv. 9, 20), but that the very term Samaritan was one of 
 reproach (John viii. 48). " There be two manner of nations," 
 says the son of Sirach (Ecclus. 1. 25, 26), "which my heart 
 abhorreth, and the third is no nation ; they that sit upon the 
 mountain of Samaria, and they that dwell among the Philis- 
 tines, and that foolish people that dwell in Sichem." And 
 Josephus has a story to account for the exclusion of the 
 Samaritans from the Temple, to the effect that in the night 
 of the Passover, when it was the custom to open the Temple 
 gates at midnight, a Samaritan had come and strewn 
 bones in the porches and throughout the Temple to defile 
 the Holy House. Most unlikely as this appears, at least 
 in its details, it shows the feeling of the people. On the 
 other hand, it must be admitted that the Samaritans fully 
 retaliated by bitter hatred and contempt. For, at every 
 period of sore national trial, the Jews had no more deter- 
 mined or relentless enemies than those who claimed to 
 be the only true representatives of Israel's worship and 
 hopes. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 *JEWS AND GENTILES IN "THE LAND." 
 
 COMING down from Syria, it would have been difficult to 
 fix the exact spot where, in the view of the Rabbis, 
 "the land" itself began. The boundary lines, though men- 
 tioned in four different documents, are not marked in any- 
 thing like geographical order, but as ritual questions connected 
 with them came up for theological discussion. 1 For, to the 
 Rabbis the precise limits of Palestine were chiefly interesting 
 so far as they affected the religious obligations or privileges 
 of a district. And in this respect the fact that a city was in 
 heathen possession exercised a decisive influence. Thus the 
 environs of Ascalon, the wall of Caesarea, and that of Acco, 
 were reckoned within the boundaries of Palestine, though the 
 cities themselves were not. Indeed, viewing the question from 
 this point, Palestine was to the Rabbis simply "the land," 2 
 all other countries being summed up under the designation 
 of " outside the land." In the Talmud, even the expression 
 " Holy Land," so common among later Jews and Christians, 3 
 
 1 Rappoport, Er. Mill. p. 208, in Neubauer's Geogr. du Talmud, p. IQ. 
 
 2 So mostly ; the expression also occurs " the land of Israel." 
 
 * The only passage of Scripture in which the term is used is Zech. ii. 12, or 
 rather ii. 16 of the Hebrew original. 
 
Jews and Gentues in "the Land? 15 
 
 does not once occur. It needed not that addition, which 
 might have suggested a comparison with other countries ; for 
 to the Rabbinist Palestine was not only holy, but the only 
 holy ground, to the utter exclusion of all other countries, 
 although they marked within its boundaries an ascending 
 scale of ten degrees of sanctity, rising from the bare soil of 
 Palestine to the most holy place in the Temple (CJieL i. 6-9). 
 But " outside the land " everything was darkness and death. 
 The very dust of a heathen country was unclean, and it 
 defiled by contact. 1 It was regarded like a grave, or like the 
 putrescence of death. If a spot of heathen dust had touched 
 an offering, it must at once be burnt. More than that, i r Dy 
 mischance any heathen dust had been brought into Palestine, 
 it did not and could not mingle with that of " the land," but 
 remained to the end what it had been unclean, defiled, and 
 defiling everything to which it adhered. This will cast light 
 upon the meaning conveyed by the symbolical directions 
 of our Lord to His disciples (Matt. x. 14), when He sent 
 them forth to mark out the boundary lines of the true Israel 
 " the kingdom of heaven," that was at hand : " Whoso- 
 ever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye 
 depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your 
 feet." In other words, they were not only to leave such a 
 city or household, but it was to be considered and treated 
 as if it were heathen, just as in the similar case mentioned 
 in Matt, xviii. 17. All contact with such must be avoided, 
 all trace of it shaken off, and that, even though, like some 
 of the cities in Palestine that were considered heathen, they 
 were surrounded on every side by what was reckoned as 
 belonging to Israel. 
 
 1 The references here are too numerous lor special mention. 
 
1 6 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 The Mishnah 1 marks, in reference to certain ordinances, 
 '* three lands " which might equally be designated as Palestine, 
 but to which different ritual regulations applied. The first 
 comprised, " all which they who came up from Babylon took 
 possession of in the land of Israel and unto Chezib" (about 
 three hours north of Acre) ; the second, " all that they who 
 came up from Egypt took possession of from Chezib and 
 unto the river (Euphrates) eastward, and unto Amanah " 
 (supposed to be a mountain near Antioch, in Syria) ; while 
 the third, seemingly indicating certain ideal outlines, was 
 probably intended to mark what " the land " would have 
 been, according to the original promise of God, although 
 it was never possessed to that extent by Israel. 2 For our 
 present purpose, of "course, only the first of these defini- 
 tions must be applied to " the land." We read in Menachoth 
 vii. i : " Every offering, 3 whether of the congregation or 
 of an individual (public or private), may come from 'the 
 land,' or from 'outside the land, be of the new product 
 (of the year) or of old product, except the omer (the wave- 
 sheaf at the Passover) and the two loaves (at Pentecost), 
 which may only be brought from new product (that of the 
 current year), and from that (which grows) within ' the land.' " 
 
 1 Shev. vi. I ; Chall. iv. 8. 
 
 2 The expressions in the original are so obscure as to render it difficult to form 
 a quite definite judgment. In the text we have followed the views expressed by 
 M. Neubauer. 
 
 3 Neither of the English words : "sacrifice," "offering," or "gift" quite cor- 
 responds to the Hebrew Korban, derived from a verb which in one mood means to 
 be near, and in another to bring near. In the one case it would refer to the 
 offerings themselves, in the other to the offerers, as brought near, the offerings 
 t/iinging them near to God. The latter seems to me both etymological ly and 
 theologically the right explanation. Aberbanel combines both in his definition of 
 Korban. 
 
and Gentiles in "the Land" 17 
 
 To these two, the Mishnah adds in another passage 
 (Chel. i. 6) also the Biccurim, or first-fruits in their fresh state, 
 although inaccurately, since the latter were likewise brought 
 from what is called by the Rabbis Syria, 1 which seems to have 
 been regarded as, in a sense, intermediate between " the land '* 
 and " outside the land." The term Soria, or Syria, does, not 
 include that country alone, but all the lands which, according 
 to the Rabbis, David had subdued, such as Mesopotamia, 
 Syria, Zobah, Achlab, etc. It would be too lengthy to explain 
 in detail the various ordinances in regard'" to which Soria 
 was assimilated to, and those by which it was distinguished 
 from, Palestine proper. The preponderance of duty and 
 privilege was certainly in favour of Syria, so much so, that if 
 one could have stepped from its soil straight to that of 
 Palestine, or joined fields in the two countries, without the 
 interposition of any Gentile strip, the land and the dust of 
 Syria would have been considered clean, like that of Palestine 
 itself (phol. xviii. 7). There was thus around " the land " a 
 sort of inner band, consisting of those countries supposed to 
 have been annexed by King David, and termed Soria. But 
 besides this, there was also what may be called an outer band, 
 towards the Gentile world, consisting of Egypt, Babylon, 
 Ammon and Moab, the countries in which Israel had a 
 special interest, and which were distinguished from the rest, 
 "outside the land," by this, that they were liable to tithes 
 and the Therumoth, or first-fruits in a prepared state. Of 
 course neither of these contributions was actually brought 
 into Palestine, but either employed by them for their sacreci 
 purposes, or else redeemed. 
 
 1 Syria sent Biccurim to Jerusalem, but was not liable to second tithes, nor for 
 the fourth year's product of plants (Lev. xix. 24). 
 
 C 
 
itf Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 Maimonides arranges all countries into three classes, " so 
 far as concerns the precepts connected with the soil " " the 
 land, Soria, and outside the land ;" and he divides the land of 
 Israel into territory possessed before and after the Exile, 
 while he also distinguishes between Egypt, Babylon, Moab 
 and Ammon, and other lands. 1 In popular estimate other 
 distinctions were likewise made. Thus Rabbi Jose of Galilee 
 would have it, 2 that Biccurim* were not to be brought from the 
 other side of Jordan, " because it was not a land flowing with 
 milk and honey." But as the Rabbinical law in this respect 
 differed from the view expressed by Rabbi Jose, his must have 
 been an afterthought, probably intended to account for the 
 fact that they beyond Jordan did not bring their first-fruits 
 to the Temple. Another distinction claimed for the country 
 west of the Jordan curiously reminds us of the fears ex- 
 pressed by the two and a half tribes on their return to their 
 homes, after the first conquest of Palestine under Joshua 
 (Joshua xxii. 24, 25), since it declared the land east of Jordan 
 less sacred, on account of the absence of the Temple, of which 
 it had not been worthy. Lastly, Judaea proper claimed 
 pre-eminence over Galilee, as being the centre of Rabbinism. 
 Perhaps it may be well here to state that, notwithstanding 
 strict uniformity on all principal points, Galilee and Judaea 
 had each its own peculiar legal customs and rights, which 
 differed in many particulars one from the other. 
 
 What has hitherto been explained from Rabbinical writings 
 gains fresh interest when we bring it to bear on the study of 
 
 1 f filch. Ther. i. 6. 2 Bice. i. 10. 
 
 3 For a full explanation of the distinction between Biccuritn and Thcrumoth see 
 my work on The Temple: its Ministry and Services as they were at the Time oj 
 Jesus Chri>\, 
 
Jews and Gentiles in "the Land" ig 
 
 the New Testament. For, we can now understand how those 
 Zealots from Jerusalem, who would have bent the neck of the 
 Church under the yoke of the law of Moses, Sought out in pre- 
 ference the flourishing communities in Syriafor the basis of their 
 operations (Acts xv. l). There Was a special significance in 
 this, as Syria formed a kind of outer Palestine, holding an 
 intermediate position between it and heathen lands. Again, it 
 results from our inquiries, that, what the Rabbis considered 
 as the land of Israel proper, may be regarded as commencing 
 immediately south of Antioch. Thus the city where the first 
 Gentile Church was formed (A.cts xi. 20, 21); where the 
 disciples were first called Christians (Acts xi. 26) ; where Paul 
 so long exercised his ministry, and whence he started on his 
 missionary journeys, was, significantly enough, just outside 
 the land of Israel. Immediately beyond it lay the country 
 over which the Rabbis claimed entire sway. Travelling south- 
 wards, the first district which one would reach would be what is 
 known from the gospels as " the coasts (or tracts) of Tyre and 
 Sidon." St. Mark describes the district more particularly (Mark 
 vii. 24) as " the borders of Tyre and Sidon." These stretched, 
 according to Josephus (Jewish Wars, iii. 3, i), at the time of 
 our Lord, from the Mediterranean towards Jordan. It was to 
 these extreme boundary tracts of "the land," that Jesus had 
 withdrawn from the Pharisees, when they were offended a\. 
 His opposition to their " blind" traditionalism ; and there He 
 healed by the word of His power the daughter of the " woman 
 of Canaan," the intensity of whose faith drew from His lips 
 words of precious commendation (Matt. xv. 28 ; Mark vii. 29). 
 It was chiefly a heathen district where the Saviour spoke the 
 word of healing, and where the woman would not let the 
 Messiah of Israel go without an answer. She herself was r, 
 
2O Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 Gentile. Indeed, not only that district, but all around, and 
 farther on, the territory of Philip, was almost entirely heathen. 
 More than that, strange as it may sound, all around the dis- 
 tricts inhabited by the Jews the country was, so to speak, 
 fringed by foreign nationalities and by heathen worship, 
 rites, and customs. 
 
 Properly to understand the history of the time and the 
 circumstances indicated in the New Testament, a correct view 
 of the state of parties in this respect is necessary. And here 
 we must guard against a not unnatural mistake. If any one had 
 expected to find within the boundaries of " the land " itself one 
 nationality, one language, the same interests, or even one 
 religion publicly professed, he would have been bitterly dis- 
 appointed. It was not merely for the presence of the Romans 
 and their followers, and of a more or less influential number of 
 foreign settlers, but the Holy Land itself was a country of 
 mixed and hostile races, of divided interests, where close by 
 the side of the narrowest and most punctilious Pharisaism 
 heathen temples rose, and heathen rites and customs openly 
 prevailed. In a general way all this will be readily under- 
 stood. For, those who returned from Babylon were com- 
 paratively few in number, and confessedly did not occupy the 
 land in its former extent. During the troubled period which 
 followed, there was a constant influx of heathen, and unceasing 
 attempts were made to introduce and perpetuate foreign 
 elements. Even the language of Israel had undergone a 
 change. In the course of time the ancient Hebrew had wholly 
 given place to the Aramaean dialect, except in public worship 
 and in the learned academies of theological doctors. Such 
 words and names in the gospels as Raka, Abba, Golgotha, 
 Gabbatha, Akel-Dama, Bartholomaios, Barabbas, Bar -Jesus, 
 
Jews and Gentiles in "the Land'' 21 
 
 and the various verbal quotations, are all Aramaean. It was 
 probably in that language that Paul addressed the infuriated 
 multitude, when standing on the top of the steps leading from 
 the Temple into the fortress Antonia (Acts xxi. 40 ; xxii.). 
 But along with the Hebraic Aramaean for so we would 
 designate the language the Greek had for some time been 
 making its way among the people. The Mishnah itself con- 
 tains a very large number of Greek and Latin words with 
 Hebraic terminations, showing how deeply Gentile life and 
 customs around had affected even those who hated them 
 most, and, by inference, how thoroughly they must have 
 penetrated Jewish society in general. But besides, it had 
 been long the policy of their rulers systematically to promote 
 all that was Grecian in thought and feeling. It. needed the 
 obstinate determinateness, if not the bigotry, of Pharisaism to 
 prevent their success, and this may perhaps partly explain 
 the extreme of their antagonism against all that was Gentile. 
 A brief notice of the religious state of the outlying districts of 
 the country may place this in a clearer light. 
 
 In the far north-east of the land, occupying at least in 
 part the ancient possession of Manasseh, were the provinces 
 belonging to the tetrarch Philip (Luke Hi. i). Many spots there 
 (Mark viii. 22; Luke ix. 10; Matt. xvi. 13) are dear to the 
 Christian memory. After the Exile these districts had been 
 peopled by wild, predatory nomads, like the Bedawin of our 
 days. These lived chiefly in immense caves, where they stored 
 their provisions, and in case of attack defended themselves 
 and their flocks. Herod the Great and his successors had 
 indeed subdued, and settled among them, a large number 
 of Jewish and Idumaean colonists the former brought from 
 Babylon, under the leadership of one Zamaris, and attracted, 
 
22 Sketches of Jeiuish Life. 
 
 like the modern German colonists in parts of Russia, by 
 immunity from taxation. But the vast majority of the people 
 were still Syrians and Grecians, rude, barbarous, and heathens. 
 Indeed, there the worship of the old Syrian gods had scarcely 
 given way to the more refined rites of Greece. It was in this 
 neighbourhood that Peter made that noble confession of faith, 
 on which, as on a rock, the Church is built. But Caesarea 
 Philippi was originally Paneas, the city devoted to Pan ; nor 
 does its change of name indicate a more Jewish direction 
 on the part of its inhabitants. Indeed, Herod the Great had 
 built there a temple to Augustus. But further particulars 
 are scarcely necessary, for recent researches have everywhere 
 brought to light relics of the worship of the Phoenician Astarte, 
 of the ancient Syrian god of the sun, and even of the Egyptian 
 Ammon, side by side with that of the well-known Grecian 
 deities. The same may be said of the refined Damascus, 
 the territory of which formed here the extreme boundary of 
 Palestine. Passing from the eastern to the western bounds 
 of Palestine, we find that in Tyre and Ptolemais Phrygian, 
 Egyptian, Phoenician, and Greek rites contended for the 
 mastery. In the centre of Palestine, notwithstanding the 
 pretence of the Samaritans to be the only true representatives 
 of the religion of Moses, the very name of their capital, 
 Sebaste, for Samaria, showed how thoroughly Grecianised 
 was that province. Herod had built in Samaria also a 
 magnificent temple to Augustus ; and there can be no doubt 
 that, as the Greek language, so Grecian rites and idolatry 
 prevailed. Another outlying district, the Dccapolis (Matt. iv. 
 25 ; Mark v. 20 ; vii. 31), was almost entirely Grecian in con- 
 stitution, language, and worship. It was, in fact, a federation 
 of ten heathen cities within the territory of Israel, possess- 
 
yews and Gentiles in "the Land" 23 
 
 ing a government of their own. Little is known of its cha- 
 racter ; indeed, the cities themselves are not always equally 
 enumerated by different writers. We name those of most 
 importance to readers of the New Testament. Scythopolis, the 
 ancient Beth-shean (Josh. xvii. 11, 16 ; Judg. i 27 ; I Sam. 
 xxxi. 10, 12, etc.), was the only one of those cities situated 
 west of the Jordan. It lay about four hours south of Tiberias. 
 Gadara, the capital of Peraea, is known to us from Matt. viii. 
 28 ; Mark v. I ; Luke viii. 26. Lastly, we mention as 
 specially interesting, Pella, the place to which the Christians 
 of Jerusalem fled in obedience to the warning of our Lord 
 (Matt. xxiv. 15-20), to escape the doom of the city, 
 when finally beleaguered by the Romans. The situation 
 of Pella has not been satisfactorily ascertained, but 
 probably it lay at no great distance from the ancient 
 Jabesh Gilead. l 
 
 But to return. From what has been said, it will appear 
 that there remained only Galilee and Judaea proper, in which 
 strictly Jewish views and manners must be sought for. Each 
 of these will be described in detail. For the present it will 
 suffice to remark, that north-eastern or Upper Galilee was in 
 great part inhabited by Gentiles Phoenicians, Syrians, Arabs, 
 and Greeks, 2 whence the name " Galilee of the Gentiles " 
 (Matt. iv. 15). It is strange in how many even of those cities, 
 with which we are familiar from the New Testament, the 
 heathen element prevailed. Tiberias, which gave its name to 
 the lake, was at the time of Christ of quite recent origin, 
 having been built by the tetrarch Herod Antipas (the 
 Herod of the gospel history), and named in honour of the 
 
 1 Compare the full discussion in Caspari, Chronol. Geogr. Einl. in d. Lebe* 
 7. C. pp. 87-90. Jos. J. W. iii. 9, 3- 
 
24 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 Emperor Tiberius. Although endowed by its founder with 
 many privileges, such as houses and lands for its inhabitants, 
 and freedom from taxation the latter tying continued by 
 Vespasian after the Jewish war Herod had to colonise it by 
 main force, so far as its few Jewish inhabitants were concerned. 
 For, the site on which the city stood had of old covered a place 
 of burial, and the whole ground was therefore levitically 
 unclean (Jos. Ant. xviii. 2, 3). However celebrated, therefore, 
 afterwards as the great and final seat of the Jewish Sanhedrim, 
 it was originally chiefly un-Jewish. Gaza had its local deity ; 
 Ascalon worshipped Astarte ; Joppa was the locality where, 
 at the time when Peter had his vision there, they still showed 
 on the rocks of the shore the marks of the chains, by which 
 Andromeda was said to have been held, when Perseus came 
 to set her free. Ccesarea was an essentially heathen city, 
 though inhabited by many Jews ; and one of its most con- 
 spicuous ornaments was another temple to Augustus, built 
 on a hill opposite the entrance to the harbour, so as to be 
 visible far out at sea. But what could be expected, when in 
 Jerusalem itself Herod had reared a magnificent theatre and 
 amphitheatre, to which gladiators were brought from all parts 
 of the world, and where games were held, thoroughly anti- 
 Jewish and heathen in their spirit and tendency ? (Jos. Ant. 
 xv. 8, i). The favourites and counsellors by whom that 
 monarch surrounded himself were heathens ; wherever he or 
 his successors could, they reared heathen temples, and on all 
 occasions they promoted the spread of Grecian views. Yet 
 withal they professed to be Jews ; they would not shock 
 Jewish prejudices ; indeed, as the building of the Temple, the 
 frequent advocacy at Rome of the cause of Jews when op- 
 pressed, and many other facts show, the Herodians would 
 
and Gentiles in " the Land" 25 
 
 fain have kept on good terms with the national party, or rather 
 used it as their tool. And so Grecianism spread. Already 
 Greek was spoken and understood by all the educated classes 
 in the country ; it was necessary for intercourse with the 
 Roman authorities, with the many civil and military officials, 
 and with strangers ; the "superscription" on the coins was in 
 Greek, even though, to humour the Jews, none of the earlier 
 Herods had his own image impressed on them. 1 Signifi- 
 cantly enough, it was Herod Agrippa I., the murderer of St. 
 James, and the would-be murderer of St. Feter, who introduced 
 the un-Jewish practice of images on coins. Thus everywhere 
 the foreign element was advancing. A change or else a 
 struggle was inevitable in the near future. 
 
 And what of Judaism itself at that period ? It was miser- 
 ably divided, even though no outward separation had taken 
 place. The Pharisees and Sadducees held opposite principles, 
 and hated each other ; the Essenes looked down upon them 
 both. Within Pharisaism the schools of Hillel and Shammai 
 contradicted each other on almost every matter. But both 
 united in their unbounded contempt of what they designated 
 as " the country-people " those who had no traditional 
 learning, and hence were either unable or unwilling to share 
 the discussions, and to bear the burdens of legal ordinances, 
 which constituted the chief matter of traditionalism. There 
 was only one- feeling common to all high and low, rich and 
 poor, learned and unlettered : it was that of intense hatred of 
 the foreigner. The rude Galileans were as " national " as the 
 
 1 The coin mentioned in Matt. xxii. 20, which bore an "image," as well as a 
 "superscription," must therefore have been either struck in Rome, or else one of 
 the tetrarch Philip, who was the first to introduce the ixnage of Cnesar on strictly 
 Jewish coins. 
 
26 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 most punctilious Pharisees ; indeed, in the war against Rome 
 they furnished the most and the bravest soldiers. Everywhere 
 the foreigner was in sight ; his were the taxes levied, the 
 soldiery, the courts of ultimate appeal, the government. In 
 Jerusalem they hung over the Temple as a guard in the 
 fortress of Antonia, and even kept in their custody the high- 
 priest's garments, 1 so that, before officiating in the Temple, he 
 had actually always to apply for them to the procurator or 
 his representative ! They were only just more tolerable as 
 being downright heathens than the Herodians, who mingled 
 Judaism with heathenism, and, having sprung from foreign 
 slaves, had arrogated to themselves the kingdom of the 
 Maccabees. 
 
 Readers of the New Testament know what separation 
 Pharisaical Jews made between themselves and heathens. It 
 will be readily understood, that every contact with heathenism 
 and all aid to its rites should have been forbidden, and that in 
 social intercourse any levitical defilement, arising from the use 
 of what was "common or unclean," was avoided. But Pharisa- 
 ism went a great deal further than this. Three days before a 
 heathen festival all transactions with Gentiles were forbidden, 
 so as to afford them neither direct nor indirect help towards their 
 rites ; and this prohibition extended even to private festivities, 
 
 1 The practice commenced innocently enough. The high-priest Hyrcanus, 
 who built the Tower of Baris, kept his dress there, and his sons continued the 
 practice. When Herod seized the government, he retained, for reasons readily 
 understood, this custody, in the fortress of Antonia, which he had substituted 
 for the ancient tower. On similar grounds the Romans followed the lead of 
 Herod. Josephus (Ant. xviii. 4, 4) describes "the stone chamber" in which 
 these garments were kept, under seal of the priests, with a light continually burning 
 there. Vitellius, the successor of Pilate, restored to the Jews the custody of the 
 high-priestly garments, when .they were kept in a special apartment in the 
 Temple.. 
 
yews and Gentiles in "the Land." 27 
 
 such as a birthday, the day of return from a journey, etc 
 On heathen festive occasions a pious Jew should avoid, if 
 possible, passing through a heathen city, certainly all dealings 
 in shops that were festively decorated. It was unlawful for 
 Jewish workmen to assist in anything that might be subser- 
 vient either to heathen worship or heathen rule, including in 
 the latter the erection of court-houses and similar buildings. 
 It need not be explained to what lengths or into what details 
 Pharisaical punctiliousness carried all these ordinances. From 
 the New Testament we know, that to enter the house of a 
 heathen denied till the evening (John xviii. 28), and that all 
 familiar intercourse with Gentiles was forbidden (Acts x. 28). 
 So terrible was the intolerance, that a Jewess was actually 
 forbidden to give help to her heathen neighbour, when about 
 to become a mother (Avod. S. ii. i) ! It was not a new 
 question to St. Paul, when the Corinthians inquired about the 
 lawfulness of meat sold in the shambles or served up at a 
 feast (i Cor. x. 25, 27, 28). Evidently he had the Rabbinical 
 law on the subject before his mind, while, on the one hand, he 
 avoided the Pharisaical bondage of the letter, and, on the other, 
 guarded against either injuring one's own conscience, or 
 offending that of an on-looker. For, according to Rabbi 
 Akiba, " Meat which is about to be brought in heathen wor- 
 ship is lawful, but that which comes out from it is forbidden, 
 because it is like the sacrifices of the dead " (Avod. S. ii. 3). 
 But the separation went much beyond what ordinary minds 
 might be prepared for. Milk drawn from a cow by heathen 
 hands, bread and oil prepared by them, might indeed be sold 
 to strangers, but not used by Israelites. No pious Jew would 
 of course have sat down at the table of a Gentile (Acts xi. 3, 
 G : al ii, 12). If a heathen were invited to a Jewish house, he 
 
28 Sketches of Jeivisk Life. 
 
 
 
 might not be left alone in the room, else every article of food 
 or drink on the table was henceforth to be regarded as unclean. 
 If cooking utensils were bought of them, they had to be puri- 
 fied by fire or by water ; knives to be ground anew, spits to be 
 made red-hot before use, etc. It was not lawful to let either 
 house or field, nor to sell cattle, to a heathen ; any article, 
 however distantly connected with heathenism, was to be de- 
 stroyed. Thus, if a weaving-shuttle had been made of wood 
 grown in a grove devoted to idols, every web of cloth made 
 by it was to be destroyed ; nay, if such pieces had been mixed 
 with others, to the manufacture of which no possible objection 
 could have been taken, these all became unclean, and had to 
 be destroyed. 1 
 
 These are only general statements to show the prevalent 
 feeling. It were easy to prove how it pervaded every rela- 
 tionship of life. The heathens, though often tolerant, of 
 course retorted. Circumcision, the Sabbath-rest, the worship 
 of an invisible God, and Jewish abstinence from pork, formed 
 a never-ending theme of merriment to the heathen. 2 Con- 
 querors are not often chary in disguising their contempt for 
 the conquered, especially when the latter presume to look 
 down upon, and to hate them. In view of all this, what an 
 almost incredible truth must it have seemed, when the Lord 
 Jesus Christ proclaimed it among Israel as the object of His 
 coming and kingdom, not to make of the Gentiles Jews, but of 
 both alike children of one Heavenly Father ; not to rivet 
 upon the heathen the yoke of the law, but to deliver from it 
 
 1 These particulars are gathered from the Mishnic tractate Avoitah Sarah (idol- 
 worship), although we have designedly given only a general outline. 
 
 2 For details compare the well-known and valuable collection of Meier (Jiuiaica 
 ten -vet. scr. prof, de reb. Jud. frag.). 
 
yews and Gentiles in "the Land." 29 
 
 Jew and Gentile, or rather to fulfil its demands for all ! The 
 most unexpected and unprepared-for revelation, from the 
 Jewish point of view, was that of the breaking down of 
 the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile, the 
 taking away of the enmity of the law, and the nailing it to 
 His cross. There was nothing analogous to it; not a hint 
 of it to be found, either in the teaching or the spirit of the 
 times. Quite the opposite. Assuredly, the roost unlike 
 thing to Christ were His times ; and the greatest wonder 
 of all " the mystery hidden from ages and generations " 
 the foundation of one universal Church. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 IN GALILEE AT THE TIME OF OUR LORD. 
 
 ** I any one wishes to be rich, let him go north ; if he 
 A wants to be wise, let him come south." Such was 
 the saying, by which Rabbinical pride distinguished between 
 the material wealth of Galilee and the supremacy in traditional 
 lore claimed for the academies of Judaea proper. Alas, it 
 was not long before Judaea lost even this doubtful distinction, 
 and its colleges wandered northwards, ending at last by the 
 Lake of Gennesaret, and in that very city of Tiberias which at 
 one time had been reputed unclean ! Assuredly, the history 
 of nations chronicles their judgment ; ] and it is strangely 
 significant, that the authoritative collection of Jewish tra- 
 ditional law, known as the Mishnah, and the so-called Jeru- 
 salem Talmud, which is its Palestinian commentary, 2 should 
 finally have issued .from what was originally a heathen city, 
 built upon the site of old forsaken graves. TBut so long as 
 Jerusalem and Judaea were the centre of Jewish learning, no 
 
 1 "The history of nations is the Nemesis of nations " (" Die Weltgeschichte ist 
 das Weltgericht "), writes Schiller. 
 
 2 There are two Talmuds the Jerusalem and the Babylonian to the text of 
 the Mishnah. The Babylonian Talmud is considerably younger than that of 
 Jerusalem, and its traditions far more deeply tinged with superstition and error 
 of every kind. For historical purposes, also, the Jerusalem Talmud is of much 
 gi eater value and authority than that of the Eastern Schools. 
 
In Galilee at the Time of our Lord. \\ 
 
 terms of contempt were too strong to express the supercilious 
 hauteur, with which a regular Rabbinist regarded his northern 
 co-religionists. The slighting speech of Nathanael (John i. 4^), 
 " Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth ? " reads 
 quite like a common saying of the period ; and the rebuke 
 of the Pharisees to Nicodemus (John vii. 52), "Search, and 
 look : for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet," was pointed by 
 the mocking question, " Art thou also of Galilee ? " It was 
 not merely self-conscious superiority, such as the " towns- 
 people," as the inhabitants of Jerusalem used to be called 
 throughout Palestine, were said to have commonly dis- 
 played towards their " country cousins " and everyone else, 
 but offensive contempt, outspoken sometimes with almost 
 incredible rudeness, want of delicacy and charity, but always 
 with much pious self-assertion. The " God, I thank Thee 
 that I am not as other men" (Luke xviii. 11) seems like 
 the natural breath of Rabbinism in the company of the 
 unlettered, and of all who were deemed intellectual or 
 religious inferiors ; and the parabolic history of the Pharisee 
 and the publican in the gospel is not told for the special 
 condemnation of that one prayer, but as characteristic of 
 the whole spirit of Pharisaism, even in its approaches to God. 
 " This people who knoweth not the law (that is, the traditional 
 law) are cursed," was the curt summary of the Rabbinical 
 estimate of popular opinion. \ To so terrible a length did it go" 
 that the Pharisees would fain have excluded them, not only 
 from common intercourse, but from witness-bearing, and that 
 they even applied to marriages with them such a passage as 
 Dent, xxvii. 2 1. 1 
 
 1 Every one who is curious to sec tly Jer^tTis to which Pharisaical pride cou'd 
 gn in its contempt of the country people should read Pa. 49, a and b. 
 
32 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 7 But if these be regarded as extremes, two instances, 
 chosen almost at random one from religious, the other from 
 ordinary life will serve to illustrate their reality. A more 
 complete parallel to the Pharisee's prayer could scarcely be 
 imagined than the following. We read in the Talmud (Jer. 
 Ber. iv. 2) that a celebrated Rabbi was wont every day, on 
 leaving the academy, to pray in these terms : " I thank Thee, 
 O Lord my God and God of my fathers, that Thou hast cast 
 my lot among those who frequent the schools and synagogues, 
 and not among those who attend the theatre and the circus. 
 For, both I and they work and watch I to inherit eternal 
 life, they for their destruction." The other illustration, also 
 taken from a Rabbinical work, is, if possible, even more 
 offensive. It appears that Rabbi Jannai, while travelling by 
 the way, formed acquaintance with a man, whom he thought 
 his equal. Presently his new friend invited him to dinner, 
 and liberally set before him meat and drink. But the sus- 
 picions of the Rabbi had been excited. He began to try his 
 host successively by questions upon the text of Scripture, 
 upon the Mishnah, allegorical interpretations, and lastly on 
 Talmudical lore. Alas ! on neither of these points could he 
 satisfy the Rabbi. Dinner was over ; and Rabbi Jannai, 
 who by that time no doubt had displayed all the hauteur and 
 contempt of a regular Rabbinist towards the unlettered, called 
 upon his host, as customary, to take the cup of thanksgiving, 
 and return thanks. But the latter was sufficiently humiliated 
 to reply, with a mixture of Eastern deference and Jewish 
 modesty, "Let Jannai himself give thanks in his own house." 
 " At any rate," observed the Rabbi, " you can join with me ; " 
 and when the latter had agreed to this, Jannai said, "A dog 
 has eaten of the bread of Jannai 1 " 
 
In Galilee at the Time of our Lord. 33 
 
 Impartial history, however, must record a different judg- 
 ment of the men of Galilee from that pronounced by the 
 Rabbis, and that even wherein they were despised by those 
 leaders in Israel. Some of their peculiarities, indeed, were 
 due to territorial circumstances. The province of Galilee of 
 which the name might be rendered "circuit," being derived 
 from a verb meaning " to move in a circle " covered the 
 ancient possessions of four tribes : Issachar, Zebulon, Naph- 
 tali, and Asher. The name occurs already in the Old 
 Testament (compare Josh. xx. 7 ; i Kings ix. 1 1 ; 2 Kings 
 xv. 29 ; i Chron. vi. 76 ; and especially Isa. ix. i). In the 
 time of Christ it stretched northwards to the possessions of 
 Tyre on the one side, and to Syria on the. other ; on the 
 south it was bounded by Samaria Mount Carmel on the 
 western, and the district of Scythopolis (in the Decapolis) on 
 the eastern side, being here landmarks ; while the Jordan and 
 the Lake of Gennesaret formed the general eastern boundary- 
 line. Thus regarded, it would include names to which such 
 reminiscences attach as "the mountains of Gilboa," where 
 " Israel and Saul fell down slain ; " little Hermon, Tabor, 
 Carmel, and that great battle-field of Palestine, the plain of 
 Jezreel. Alike the Talmud and Josephus divide it into Upper 
 and Lower Galilee, between which the Rabbis insert the 
 district of Tiberias, as Middle Galilee. 1 We are reminded 
 of the history of Zaccheus (Luke xix. 4) by the mark which 
 the Rabbis give to distinguish between Upper and Lower 
 Galilee the former beginning " where sycomores cease to 
 grow." The sycomore, which is a species of fig, must, of 
 course, not be confounded with our sycamore, -and was a very 
 delicate evergreen, easily destroyed by cold (Ps. Ixxviii. 47), 
 
 1 Shev. ix. 2. 
 
34 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 and growing only in the Jordan valley, or in Lower Galilee up 
 to the sea-coast. The mention of that tree may also help us to 
 fix the locality where Luke xvii. 6 was spoken by the Saviour. 
 The Rabbis mention Kefar Hananyah, probably the modern 
 Kefr Anan, to the north-west of Safed, as the first place in 
 Upper Galilee. Safed was truly " a city set on an hill ; " and 
 as such may have been in view of the Lord, when He spoke 
 the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. v. 14). In the Talmud it 
 is mentioned by the name of Zephath, and spoken of as one 
 of the signal-stations, whence the proclamation of the new 
 moon, made by the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem, 1 and with it 
 the beginning of every month, was telegraphed by fire-signals 
 from hill to hill throughout the land, and far away east of the 
 Jordan, to those of the dispersion. 
 
 The mountainous part in the north of Upper Galilee pre- 
 sented magnificent scenery, with bracing air. Here the scene 
 of the Song of Solomon is partly laid (Cant. vii. 5). But its 
 caves and fastnesses, as well as the marshy ground, covered 
 with reeds, along Lake Merom, gave shelter to robbers, out- 
 laws, and rebel chiefs. Some of the most dangerous charac- 
 ters came from the Galilean highlands. A little farther down, 
 and the scenery changed. South of Lake Merom, where 
 the so-called Jacob's bridge crosses the Jordan, we come 
 upon the great caravan road, which connected Damascus in 
 the east with the great mart of Ptolemais, on the shore of the 
 Mediterranean. What a busy life did this road constantly 
 present in the days of our Lord, and how many trades and 
 occupations did it call into existence ! All day long they 
 passed files of camels, mules, and asses, laden with the 
 
 1 See my book on The Temple : its Minislry and Services at the Time oj jksitf 
 Christ, pp. 170, 251. 
 
In Galilee at the Time of our Lord. 35 
 
 riches of the East, destined for the far West, or bringing the 
 luxuries of the West to the far East. Travellers of every 
 description Jews, Greeks, Romans, dwellers in the East 
 were seen here. The constant intercourse with foreigners, 
 and the settlement of so many strangers along one of 
 the great highways of the world, must have rendered the 
 narrow-minded bigotry of Judaea well-nigh impossible in 
 Galilee. 
 
 We are now in Galilee proper, and a more fertile or 
 beautiful region could scarcely be conceived. 1 It was truly 
 the land where Asher dipped his foot in oil (Deut xxxiii. 24). 
 The Rabbis speak of the oil as flowing like a river, and they 
 say that it was easier in Galilee to rear a forest of olive-trees 
 than one child in Judsea ! The wine, although not so plen- 
 tiful as the oil, was generous and rich. Corn grew in 
 abundance, especially in the neighbourhood of Capernaum ; 
 flax also was cultivated. The price of living was much lower 
 than in Judsea, where one measure was said to cost as much 
 as five in Galilee. Fruit also grew to perfection ; and it was 
 probably a piece of jealousy on the part of the inhabitants of 
 Jerusalem, that they would not allow it to be sold at the 
 feasts in the city, lest people should forsooth say, " We have 
 only come up in order to taste fruit from Galilee." 2 Josephus 
 speaks of the country in perfectly rapturous terms. He 
 counts no fewer than 240 towns and villages, and speaks of 
 the smallest as containing not less than 15,000 inhabitants! 
 This, of course, must be gross exaggeration, as it would 
 make the country more than twice as thickly populated as 
 
 1 See also, generally, an interesting paper on "The Fertility of Ancient Pales- 
 tine" in the Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund for July, 
 1876, pp. 120-1*2. 2 Pes. 8 b. 
 
36 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 the densest districts in England or Belgium. Some one has 
 compared Galilee to the manufacturing districts of this 
 country. This comparison, of course, applies only to the fact 
 of its busy life, although various industries were also carried 
 on there large potteries of different kinds, and dyeworks. 
 From the heights of Galilee the eye would rest on harbours, 
 filled with merchant ships, and on the sea, dotted with white 
 sails. There, by the shore, and also inland, smoked furnaces, 
 where glass was made ; along the great road moved the cara- 
 vans; in field, vineyard, and orchard all was activity. The 
 great road quite traversed Galilee, entering it where the Jor- 
 dan is crossed by the so-called bridge of Jacob, then touching 
 Capernaum, going down to Nazareth, and passing on to 
 the sea-coast. This was one advantage that Nazareth had 
 that it lay on the route of the world's traffic and inter- 
 course. Another peculiarity is strangely unknown to Chris- 
 tian writers. It appears from ancient Rabbinical writings l 
 that Nazareth was one of the stations of the priests. All 
 the priests were divided into twenty-four courses, one of 
 which was always on ministry in the Temple. Now, the 
 priests of the course which was to be on duty always 
 gathered in certain towns, whence they went up in company 
 to the Temple ; those who were unable to go spending the 
 week in fasting and prayer for their brethren. Nazareth was 
 one of these priestly centres ; so that there, with symbolic 
 significance, alike those passed who carried on the traffic of 
 the world, and those who ministered in the Temple. 
 
 We have spoken of Nazareth ; and a few brief notices of 
 other places in Galilee, mentioned in the New Testament, 
 may be of interest. Along the lake lay, north, Capernaum, 
 
 1 See the reference in Neubauer, p. 190. 
 
In Galilee at the Time of our Lord. 37 
 
 a large city ; and near it, Chorazin, so celebrated for its grain, 
 that, if it had been closer to Jerusalem, it would have been 
 used for the Temple; 1 also Bethsaida, 2 the name, "house of 
 fishes," indicating its trade. Capernaum was the station where 
 Matthew sat at the receipt of custom (Matt. ix. 9). South of 
 Capernaum was Magdala, the city of dyers, the home of Mary 
 Magdalene (Mark xv. 40 ; xvi. I ; Luke viii. 2 ; John xx. i). 
 The Talmud mentions its shops and its woolworks, speaks 
 of its great wealth, but also of the corruption of its inhabi- 
 tants. Tiberias, which had been built shortly before Christ, 
 is only incidentally mentioned in the New Testament (John 
 vi. i, 23 ; xxi. i). At the time it was a splendid but chiefly 
 heathen city, whose magnificent buildings contrasted with the 
 more humble dwellings common in the country. Quite at 
 the southern end of the lake was Tarichaea, the great fishing 
 place, whence preserved fish was exported in casks (Strabo, 
 xvi. 2). It was there that, in the great Roman war, a kind 
 of naval battle was fought, which ended in terrible slaughter, 
 no quarter being given by the Romans, so that the lake was 
 dyed red with the blood of the victims, and the shore 
 rendered pestilential by their bodies. Cana in Galilee was 
 the birthplace of Nathanael (John xxi. 2), where Christ per- 
 formed His first miracle (John ii. i-ii); significant also in 
 connection with the second miracle there witnessed, when the 
 new wine of the kingdom was first tasted by Gentile lips 
 (John iv. 46, 47). Cana lay about three hours to the north- 
 north-east of Nazareth. Lastly, Nain was one of the 
 
 1 Men. 85 a. 
 
 8 There were two places of that name, one east of the Jordan, Bethsaida Julias, 
 referred to in Luke ix. 10 ; Mark viii. 22 ; the other on the western shore of the 
 Lake of Galilee, the birthplace of Andrew and Peter (John i. 44). See also Mark 
 vi. 45 j Matt. xi. 21 ; Luke x. 13 ; John xii. 21, 
 
38 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 southernmost places in Galilee, not far from the ancient 
 Endor. 
 
 It can scarcely surprise us, however interesting it may 
 prove, that such Jewish recollections of the early Christians as 
 the Rabbis have preserved, should linger chiefly around 
 Galilee. Thus we have, in quite the apostolic age, mention 
 of miraculous cures made, in the name of Jesus, by one 
 Jacob of Chefar Sechanja (in Galilee), one of the Rabbis 
 violently opposing on one occasion an attempt of the kind, 
 the patient meanwhile dying during the dispute ; repeated 
 records of discussions with learned Christians, and other 
 indications of contact with Hebrew believers. Some have 
 gone farther, 1 and found traces of the general spread of such 
 views in the fact that a Galilean teacher is introduced in 
 Babylon as propounding the science of the Merkabah, or the 
 mystical doctrines connected with Ezekiel's vision of the 
 Divine chariot, which certainly contained elements closely 
 approximating the Christian doctrines of the Logos, the 
 Trinity, etc. Trinitarian views have also been suspected in 
 the significance attached to the number " three " by a Galilean 
 teacher of the third century, in this wise : " Blessed be God, 
 who has given the three laws (the Pentateuch, the Prophets, 
 and the Hagiographa) to a people composed of three classes 
 (Priests, Levites, and laity), through him who was the 
 youngest of three (Miriam, Airon, and Moses), on the third 
 day (of their separation Exod. xix. 16), and in the third 
 month." There is yet another saying of a Galilean Rabbi, 
 referring to the resurrection, which, although far from clear, 
 
 1 See generally the learned volume of M. Neubauer, La Geographie du Tatmud, 
 p. 1 86, etc. Compare, also, Derenbourg, UHistoire et la Geographie de la 
 Palestine, pp. 347-365* 
 
In Galilee at the Time of our Lord. 39 
 
 may bear a Christian application. Finally, the Midrash 
 applies the expression, " The sinner shall be taken by her " 
 (Eccl. vii. 26), either to the above-named Christian Rabbi 
 Jacob, or to Christians generally, or even to Capernaum, with 
 evident reference to the spread of Christianity there. We 
 cannot here pursue this very interesting subject farther than 
 to say, that we find indications of Jewish Christians having 
 endeavoured to introduce their views while leading the public 
 devotions of the Synagogue, and even of contact with the 
 immoral heretical sect of the Nicolaitans (Rev. ii. 15). 
 
 Indeed, what we know of the Galileans would quite prepare 
 us for expecting, that the gospel should have received at least 
 a ready hearing among many of them. It was not only, 
 that Galilee was the great scene of our Lord's working and 
 teaching, and the home of His first disciples and apostles ; 
 nor yet that the frequent intercourse with strangers must 
 have tended to remove narrow prejudices, while the con- 
 tempt of the Rabbinists would loosen attachment to the 
 strictest Pharisaism ; but, as the character of the people is 
 described to us by Josephus, and even by the Rabbis, they 
 seem to have been a warm-hearted, impulsive, generous race 
 intensely national in the best sense, active, not given to 
 idle speculations or wire-drawn logico-theological distinctions, 
 but conscientious and earnest. The Rabbis detail certain 
 theological differences between Galilee and Judaea. Without 
 here mentioning them, we have no hesitation in saying, that 
 they show more earnest practical piety and strictness of life, 
 and less adherence to those Pharisaical distinctions which so 
 often made void the law. The Talmud, on the other hand, 
 charges the Galileans with neglecting traditionalism ; learning 
 from one teacher, then from another (perhaps because they 
 
40 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 had only wandering Rabbis, not fixed academies) ; and with 
 being accordingly unable to rise to the heights of Rabbinical 
 distinctions and explanations. That their hot blood made 
 them rather quarrelsome, and that they lived in a chronic 
 state of rebellion against Rome, we gather not only from 
 Josephus, but even from the New Testament (Luke xiii. 2 ; 
 Acts v. 37). Their . mal-pronunciation of Hebrew, or rather 
 their inability properly to pronounce the gutturals, formed a 
 constant subject of witticism and reproach, so current that 
 even the servants in the High Priest's palace could turn round 
 upon Peter, and say, " Surely thou also art one of them ; for 
 thy speech bewrayeth thee " (Matt. xxvi. 73) a remark this, 
 by the way, which illustrates the fact that the language com- 
 monly used at the time of Christ in Palestine was Aramaean, 
 not Greek. Josephus describes the Galileans as hard-working, 
 manly, and brave ; and even the Talmud admits (Jer. Cheth. 
 iv. 14) that they cared more for honour than for money. 
 
 But the district in Galilee to which the mind ever reverts, 
 is that around the shores of its lake. 1 Its beauty, its marvel- 
 lous vegetation, its almost tropical products, its wealth and 
 populousness, have been often described. The Rabbis derive 
 the name of Gennesaret 2 either from a harp because the 
 fruits of its shores were as sweet as is the sound of a harp 
 
 1 The New Testament speaks so often of the occupation of fishers by the Lake 
 of Galilee, that it is interesting to know that fishing on the lake was Jree to all. 
 The Talmud mentions this as one of the ten ordinances given by Joshua of old 
 (Baba Kama, 80 b). 
 
 2 The Biblical name Chinnereth or Chinneroth (Numb, xxxiv. u, and in other 
 places) is derived by the Rabbis from "harp" (chinnor) ; and its post-biblical 
 form, genessar, is represented as extracted from g'ener sariw, gardens of the 
 princes. The Biblical name is really "a basin," so that it can scarcely be 
 derived from the town of Genussar, as M. Neubauer suggests (ut supra, p. 25, 
 and in other places). 
 
In Galilee at the Time of our Lord. 41 
 
 or else explain it to mean " the gardens of the princes," from 
 the beautiful villas and gardens around. But we think chiefly 
 not of those fertile fields and orchards, nor of the deep blue 
 of the lake, enclosed between hills, nor of the busy towns, 
 nor of the white sails spread on its waters but of Him, 
 Whose feet trod its shores ; Who taught, and worked, and 
 prayed there for us sinners ; Who walked its waters and 
 calmed its storms, and Who even after His resurrection held 
 there sweet converse with His disciples ; nay, Whose last 
 words on earth, spoken from thence, come to us with peculiar 
 significance and application, as in these days we look on the 
 disturbing elements in the world around : " What is that to 
 thee? Follow thou Me" (John xxl 22). 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 TRAVELLING IN PALESTINE ROADS, INNS, HOSPITALITY, 
 CUSTOM-HOUSE OFFICERS, TAXATION, PUBLICANS. 
 
 IT was the very busiest road in Palestine, on which the 
 publican Levi Matthew sat at the receipt of " custom," 
 when our Lord called him to the fellowship of the Gospel, and 
 he then made that great feast to which he invited his fellow- 
 publicans, that they also might see and hear Him in Whom he 
 had found life and peace (Luke v. 29). For, it was the only 
 truly international road of all those which passed through 
 Palestine ; indeed, it formed one of the great highways of the 
 world's commerce. At the time of which we write, it may be 
 said, in general, that six main arteries of commerce and 
 intercourse traversed the country, the chief objective points 
 being Caesarea, the military, and Jerusalem, the religious 
 capital. First, there was the southern road, which led from 
 Jerusalem, by Bethlehem, to Hebron, and thence westwards 
 to Gaza, and eastwards into Arabia, whence also a direct road 
 went northwards to Damascus. It is by this road we imagine 
 St. Paul to have travelled, when retiring into the solitudes of 
 Arabia, immediately after his conversion (Gal. i. 17, 18). The 
 road to Hebron must have been much frequented by priestly 
 and other pilgrims to the city, and by it the father of the 
 
Travelling in Palestine. 43 
 
 Baptist and the parents of Jesus would pass. Secondly, there 
 was the old highway along the sea-shore from Egypt up 
 to Tyre, whence a straight, but not so much frequented, road 
 struck, by Caesarea Philippi, to Damascus. But the sea-shore 
 road itself, which successively touched Gaza, Ascalon, Jamnia, 
 Lydda, Diospolis, and finally Caesarea and Ptolemais, was 
 probably the most important military highway in the land, 
 connecting the capital with the seat of the Roman procurator 
 at Caesarea, and keeping the sea-board and its harbours free 
 for communication. This road branched off for Jerusalem at 
 Lydda, where it bifurcated, leading either by Beth-horon or 
 by Emmaus, which was the longer way. It was probably by 
 this road that the Roman escort hurried off St. Paul (Acts 
 xxiii. 31), the mounted soldiers leaving him at Antipatris, 
 about twenty Roman miles from Lydda, and altogether from 
 Jerusalem about fifty-two Roman miles (the Roman mile being 
 1,618 yards, the English mile 1,760). Thus the distance to 
 Caesarea, still left to be traversed next morning by the cavalry 
 would be about twenty-six Roman miles, or, the whole way, 
 seventy-eight Roman miles from Jerusalem. This rate of tra- 
 velling, though rapid, cannot be regarded as excessive, since an 
 ordinary day's journey is computed in the Talmud (Pes. 93 b) 
 as high as forty Roman miles. A //zz'n/road led from Jerusalem, 
 by Beth-horon and Lydda, to Joppa, whence it continued close 
 by the sea-shore to Caesarea. This was the road which Peter 
 and his companions would take when summoned to go and 
 preach the gospel to Cornelius (Acts x. 23, 24). It was 
 at Lydda, thirty-two Roman miles from Jerusalem, that 
 ^Eneas was miraculously healed, and " nigh " to it within 
 a few miles was Joppa, where the raising of Tabitha, 
 Dorcas, " the gazelle " (Acts ix. 32-43), took place. Of the 
 
44 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 fourth great highway, which led from Galilee to Jerusalem, 
 straight through Samaria, branching at Sichem eastwards to 
 Damascus, and westwards to Caesarea, it is needless to say much, 
 since, although much shorter, it was, if possible, eschewed by 
 Jewish travellers; though, both in going to (Luke ix. 53; 
 xvii. i i),and returning from Jerusalem (John iv. 4, 43), the Lord 
 Jesus passed that way. The road from Jerusalem straight 
 northwards also branched off at Gophna, whence it led across 
 to Diospolis, and so on to Caesarea. 1 But ordinarily, Jewish 
 travellers would, rather than pass through Samaria, face the 
 danger of robbers which awaited them (Luke x. 30) along the 
 fifth great highway (comp. Luke xix. I, 28 ; Matt. xx. 17,29), 
 that led from Jerusalem, by Bethany, to Jericho. Here the 
 Jordan was forded, and the road led to Gilead, and thence either 
 southwards, or else north to Peraea, whence the traveller could 
 make his way into Galilee. It will be observed that all these 
 roads, whether commercial or military, were, so to speak, 
 Judaean, and radiated from or to Jerusalem. But the sixth and 
 great road, which passed through Galilee, was not at all primarily 
 Jewish, but connected the East with the West Damascus with 
 Rome. From Damascus it led across the Jordan to Capernaum, 
 Tiberias, and Nain (where it fell in with a direct road from 
 Samaria), to Nazareth, and thence to Ptolemais. Thus, from its 
 position, Nazareth was on the world's great highway. What 
 was spoken there might equally re-echo throughout Palestine, 
 and be carried to the remotest lands of the East and of the 
 West. 
 
 It need scarcely be said, that the roads which we have thus 
 
 1 In Conybeare and Howson's Life and Epistlts of St, Paul (ii. p. 331) this 
 route is indicated as that taken by the Roman soldiery, when conducting St. Paul 
 to Caesarea. 
 
Travelling in Palestine. 45 
 
 traced are only those along the principal lines of communi- 
 cation. But a large number of secondary roads also traversed 
 the country in all directions. Indeed, from earliest times 
 much attention seems to have been given to facility of inter- 
 course throughout the land. Even in the days of Moses we 
 read of "the king's highway" (Numb. xx. 17, 19; xxi. 22). 
 In Hebrew we have, besides the two general terms (derech 
 and orach), three expressions which respectively indicate a 
 trodden or beaten-down path (nathiv, from natkav, to tread 
 down), a made or cast-up road (messillak, from salal, to cast up), 
 and " the king's highway " the latter, evidently for national 
 purposes, and kept up at the public expense. In the time of the 
 kings (for example, I Kings xii. 18), and even earlier, there were 
 regular carriage roads, although we can scarcely credit the 
 statement of Josephus (Antiq, viii. 7, 4) that Solomon had 
 caused the principal roads to be paved with black stone 
 probably basalt. Toll was apparently levied in the time of 
 Ezra (Ezra iv. 13, 20) ; but the clergy were exempt from this 
 as from all other taxation (vii. 24). The roads to the cities of 
 refuge required to be always kept in good order (Deut. xix. 3). 
 According to the Talmud they were to be forty-eight feet wide, 
 and provided with bridges, and with sign-posts where roads 
 diverged. 
 
 Passing to later times, the Romans, as might have been 
 expected, paid great attention to the modes of communication 
 through the country. The military roads were paved, and pro- 
 vided with milestones. But the country roads were chiefly 
 bridle-paths. The Talmud distinguishes between public and 
 private roads. The former must be twenty-four, the latter six 
 feet wide. It is added that, for the king's highway, and for the 
 road taken by funerals, there is no measure (Baba B. vi. 7). 
 
46 Sketches of Jewish Life, 
 
 Roads were annually repaired in spring, preparatory for going 
 up to the great feasts. To prevent the possibility of danger, 
 no subterranean structure, however protected, was allowed 
 under a public road. Overhanging branches of trees had to be 
 cut down, so as to allow a man on a camel to pass. A similar 
 rule applied to balconies and projections ; nor were these 
 permitted to darken a street. Any one allowing things to 
 accumulate on the road, or dropping them from a cart, had 
 to make good what damage might be incurred by travellers. 
 Indeed, in towns and their neighbourhood the police regu- 
 lations were even more strict ; and such ordinances occur as 
 for the removal within thirty days of rotten trees or danger- 
 ous walls ; not to pour out water on the road ; not to throw 
 out anything on the street, nor to leave about building 
 materials, or broken glass, or thorns, along with other 
 regulations for the public safety and health. 1 
 
 Along such roads passed the travellers ; few at first, and 
 mostly pilgrims, but gradually growing in number, as com- 
 merce and social or political intercourse increased. Journeys 
 were performed on foot, upon asses, or in carriages (Acts viii. 
 28), of which three kinds are mentioned the round carnage, 
 perhaps like our gig ; the elongated, like a bed ; and the 
 cart, chiefly for the transport of goods. It will be understood 
 that in those days travelling was neither comfortable nor easy. 
 Generally, people journeyed in company, of which the festive 
 bands going to Jerusalem are a well-known instance. If 
 otherwise, one would prepare for a journey almost as for a 
 change of residence, and provide tent, victuals, and all that 
 was needful by the way. It was otherwise with the travel- 
 ling hawker, who was welcomed as a friend in every district 
 
 1 Chiefly gathered from the juridical tractates Baba Kama and Baba Balhra. 
 
Travelling in Palestine. 47 
 
 through which he passed, who carried the news of the day, 
 exchanged the products of one for those of another district, 
 and produced the latest articles of commerce or of luxury 
 Letters were only conveyed by special messengers, or through 
 travellers. 
 
 In such circumstances, the command, " Be not forgetful 
 to entertain strangers," had a special meaning. Israel was 
 always distinguished for hospitality ; and not only the Bible, 
 but the Rabbis, enjoin this in the strongest terms. In Jeru- 
 salem no man was to account a house as only his own ; and 
 it was said, that during the pilgrim-feasts none ever wanted 
 ready reception. The tractate A both (i. 5), mentions these 
 as two out of the three sayings of Jose, the son of Jochanan, 
 of Jerusalem : " Let thy house be wide open, and let the 
 poor be the children of thy house." Readers of the New 
 Testament will be specially interested to know, that, accord- 
 ing to the Talmud (Pes. 53), Bethphage and Bethany, to 
 which in this respect such loving memories cling, were 
 specially celebrated for their hospitality towards the festive 
 pilgrims. In Jerusalem it seems to have been the custom 
 to hang a curtain in front of the door, to indicate that 
 there was still room for guests. Some went so far as to 
 suggest, there should be four doors to every house, to bid 
 welcome to travellers from all directions. The host would 
 go to meet an expected guest, and again accompany him 
 part of the way (Acts xxi. 5). The Rabbis declared that 
 hospitality involved as great, and greater merit than early 
 morning attendance in an academy of learning. They could 
 scarcely have gone farther, considering the value they attached 
 to study. Of course, here also the Rabbinical order had the 
 preference ; and hospitably to entertain a sage, and to send 
 
4 8 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 him away with presents, was declared as meritorious as to 
 have offered the daily sacrifices (Ber. 10, b). 
 
 But let there be no misunderstanding. So far as the duty of 
 hospitality is concerned, or the loving care for poor and sick, 
 it were impossible to take a higher tone than that of Rabbin- 
 ism. Thus it was declared, that " the entertainment of travel- 
 lers was as great a matter as the reception of the Shechinah" 
 This gives a fresh meaning to the admonition of the Epistle 
 addressed specially to the Hebrews (xiii. 2) : " Be not for- 
 getful to entertain strangers : for thereby some have enter- 
 tained angels unawares." Bearing on this subject, one of the 
 oldest Rabbinical commentaries has a very beautiful gloss on 
 Ps. cix. 31: "He shall stand at the right hand of the poor." 
 " Whenever," we read, " a poor man stands at thy door, the 
 Holy One, blessed be His Name, stands at his right hand. If 
 thou givest him alms, know that thou shalt receive a reward 
 from Him who standeth at his right hand." In another com- 
 mentary God Himself and His angels are said to visit the sick. 
 The Talmud itself counts hospitality among the things of 
 which the reward is received alike in this life and in that 
 which is to come (S/mb. 127 a), while in another passage 
 (Sot. 14 a) we are bidden imitate God in these four respects : 
 He clothed the naked (Gen. iii. 21) ; He visited the sick 
 (Gen. xviii. i) ; He comforted the mourners (Gen. xxv. n) ; 
 and He buried the dead (Deut. xxxiv. 6). 
 
 In treating of hospitality, the Rabbis display, as in so many 
 relations of life, the utmost tenderness and delicacy, mixed 
 with a delightful amount of shrewd knowledge of the world 
 and quaint humour. As a rule, they enter here also into full 
 details. Thus the very manner in which a host is to bear 
 himself towards his guests is prescribed. He is to look 
 
Travelling in Palestine. 49 
 
 pleased when entertaining his guests, to wait upon them him- 
 self, to promise little and to give much, etc. At the same time 
 it was also caustically added : " Consider all men as if they 
 were robbers, but treat them as if each were Rabbi Gamaliel 
 himself ! " On the other hand, rules of politeness and gratitude 
 are equally laid down for the guests. "Do not throw a 
 stone," it was said, "into the spring at which you have drunk" 
 (Baba K. 92) ; or this, " A proper guest acknowledges all, and 
 saith, ' At what trouble my host has been, and all for my 
 sake ! ' while an evil visitor remarks : * Bah ! what trouble has 
 he taken ? ' Then, after enumerating how little he has had in 
 the house, he concludes ; ' And, after all, it was not done for 
 me, but only for his wife and children ! ' " (Ber. 58 a). 1 
 Indeed, some of the sayings in this connection are remark- 
 ably parallel to the directions which our Lord gave to His 
 disciples on going forth upon their mission (Luke x. 5-11, 
 and parallels). Thus, one was to inquire for the welfare of 
 the family ; not to go from house to house ; to eat of such 
 things as were set before one ; and, finally, to part with a 
 blessing. 
 
 All this, of course, applied to entertainment in private 
 families. On unfrequented roads, where villages were at 
 great intervals, or even outside towns (Luke ii. 7), there were 
 regular khans, or places of lodgment for strangers. Like the 
 modern khans, these places were open, and generally built in 
 a square, the large court in the middle being intended for the 
 beasts of burden or carriages, while rooms opened upon gal- 
 leries all around. Of course these rooms were not furnished, 
 nor was any payment expected from the wayfarer. At the 
 
 1 Abbreviated from the Jer. and the Bab. Talmud. See also Ber. 63 b ; 64 a, 
 where Scriptural examples of the blessing attaching to hospitality are given. 
 
50 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 same time, some one was generally attached to the khan 
 mostly a foreigner who would for payment provide any- 
 thing that might be needful, of which we have an instance in 
 the parabolic history of the Good Samaritan (Luke x. 35). 
 Such hostelries are mentioned so early as in the history of 
 Moses (Gen. xlii. 27; xliii. 21). Jeremiah calls them "a 
 place for strangers" (Jer. xli. 17), wrongly rendered "habi- 
 tation " in our Authorised Version. In the Talmud their 
 designations are either Greek or Latin, in Aramaic form 
 one of them being the same as that used in Luke x. 34 
 proving that such places were chiefly provided by and for 
 strangers. 1 In later times we also read of the oshpisa evi- 
 dently from hospitium, and showing its Roman origin as a 
 house of public entertainment, where such food as locusts 
 pickled, or fried in flour or in honey, and Median or 
 Babylonian beer, Egyptian drink, and home-made cider or 
 wine, were sold ; such proverbs circulating among the boon 
 companions as " To eat without drinking is like devouring 
 one's own blood " (S/iab. 41 a), and where wild noise and 
 games of chance were indulged in by those who wasted their 
 substance by riotous living. In such places the secret police, 
 whom Herod employed, would ferret out the opinions of the 
 populace while over their cups. 2 That police must have been 
 largely employed. According to Josephus (Ant. xv. io f 4) 
 spies beset the people, alike in town and country, watching 
 their conversations in the unrestrained confidence of friendly 
 intercourse. Herod himself is said to have acted in that 
 
 ' In the ancient Latin Itineraries of Palestine, journeys are computed by 
 mansiones (night-quarters) and mutationes (change of horses) from five to eight 
 such changes being computed for a day's journey. 
 
 * See a very graphic scene sketched in Delitzsch, Handwerker-Lebtn zur Z. 
 
Travelling in Palestine. 51 
 
 capacity, and to have lurked about the streets at night-time 
 in disguise to overhear or entrap unwary citizens. Indeed, at 
 one time the city seems almost to have been under martial law, 
 the citizens being forbidden " to meet together, to walk or eat 
 together," presumably to hold public meetings, demonstra- 
 tions, or banquets. History sufficiently records what terrible 
 vengeance followed the slightest suspicion. The New Testa- 
 ment account of the murder of all the little children at 
 Bethlehem (Matt. ii. 16), in hope of destroying among them 
 the royal scion of David, is thoroughly in character with all 
 that we know of Herod and his reign. There is at least in- 
 direct confirmation of this narrative in Talmudical writings, 
 as there is evidence that all the genealogical registers in the 
 Temple were destroyed by order of Herod. 1 This is a most 
 remarkable fact. The Jews retaliated by an intensity of 
 hatred which went so far as to elevate the day of Herod's 
 death (2 Shebet) into an annual feast-day, on which all 
 mourning was prohibited. 2 
 
 But whether passing through town or country, by quiet 
 side-roads or along the great highway, there was one sight 
 and scene which must constantly have forced itself upon 
 the attention of the traveller, and, if he were of Jewish 
 descent, would ever awaken afresh his indignation and 
 hatred. Whithersoever he went, he encountered in city or 
 country the well-known foreign tax-gatherer, and was met by 
 his insolence, by his vexatious intrusion, and by his exactions. 
 The fact that he was the symbol of Israel's subjection to 
 foreign domination, galling though it was, had probably not 
 
 1 Hamburger, Real Enc. P. ii. p. 293 ; Jost, Gesch. d. Jud. i. p. 324. 
 
 2 See the Meg. Taan. or roll of fasts, xi. i. Compare on this date Derenbourg, 
 Hist, de Pal. p. 164, 165 ; and Gratz, Gesch. d. J. iii. pp. 426, 427. 
 
52 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 so much to do with the bitter hatred of the Rabbinists 
 towards the class of tax-farmers (Moches) and tax-collec- 
 tors (Gabbai), both of whom were placed wholly outside the 
 pale of Jewish society, as that they were so utterly shameless 
 and regardless in their unconscientious dealings. For, ever 
 since their return from Babylon, the Jews must, with a brief 
 interval, have been accustomed to foreign taxation. At the 
 time of Ezra (Ezra iv. 13, 20; vii. 24) they paid to the Per- 
 sian monarch " toll, tribute, and custom " middah t belo, and 
 halach or rather "ground-tax" (income and property-tax ?), 
 " custom " (levied on all that was for consumption, or im- 
 ported), and " toll," or road-money. Under the reign of the 
 Ptolemies the taxes seem to have been farmed to the highest 
 bidder, the price varying from eight to sixteen talents that is, 
 from about 3,140 to about 6,280 a very small sum indeed, 
 which enabled the Palestine tax-farmers to acquire immense 
 wealth, and that although they had continually to purchase 
 arms and court favour. * During the Syrian rule the taxes 
 seem to have consisted of tribute, duty on salt, a third of the 
 produce of all that was sown, and one-half of that from fruit- 
 trees, besides poll-tax, custom duty, and an uncertain kind 
 of tax, called " crown-money " (the aurum toronarium of the 
 Romans), originally an annual gift of a crown of gold, 
 but afterwards compounded for in money. 2 Under the 
 Herodians the royal revenue seems to have been derived 
 from crown lands, from a property and income-tax, from 
 import and export duties, and from a duty on all that was 
 publicly sold and bought, to which must be added a tax 
 upon houses in Jerusalem. 
 
 Heavily as these exactions must have weighed upon a com- 
 1 Jos. Ant. xii. 4, i, 3, 4, 5. 2 Ibid. xii. 3, 3. 
 
Travelling in Palestine. 53 
 
 paratively poor and chiefly agricultural population, they refer 
 only to civil taxation, not to religious dues. 1 But, even so, 
 we have not exhausted the list of contributions demanded of 
 a Jew. For, every town and community levied its own taxes 
 for the maintenance of synagogue, elementary schools, public 
 baths, the support of the poor, the maintenance of public 
 roads, city walls, and gates, and other general requirements. 2 
 It must, however, be admitted that the Jewish authorities 
 distributed this burden of civic taxation both easily and 
 kindly, and that they applied the revenues derived from it 
 for the public welfare in a manner scarcely yet attained in 
 the most civilised countries. The Rabbinical arrangements 
 for public education, health, and charity were, in every 
 respect, far in advance of modern legislation, although here 
 also they took care themselves not to take the grievous bur- 
 dens which they laid upon others, by expressly exempting 
 from civic taxes all those who devoted themselves to the 
 study of the law. 
 
 But the Roman taxation, which bore upon Israel with such 
 crushing weight, was quite of its own kind systematic, cruel, 
 relentless, and utterly regardless. In general, the provinces 
 of the Roman Empire, and what of Palestine belonged to 
 them, were subject to two great taxes poll-tax (or rather 
 income-tax) and ground-tax. All property and income that 
 fell not under the ground-tax was subject to poll-tax ; which 
 amounted, for Syria and Cilicia, to one per cent. The " poll- 
 tax " was really twofold, consisting of income-tax and head- 
 money, the latter, of course, the same in all cases, and 
 levied on all persons (bond or free) up to the age of sixty-five 
 
 1 Comp. my Temple: its Ministry and Services at the Time of Jesus Christ, p. 334. 
 * For a brief general apenu of these taxes, see Hamburger, u.s. p. 431. 
 
54 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 women being liable from the age of twelve and men from 
 that of fourteen. Landed property was subject to a tax of 
 one-tenth of all grain, and one-fifth of the wine and fruit 
 grown, partly paid in product and partly commuted into 
 money. 1 Besides these, there was tax and duty on all im- 
 ports and exports, levied on the great public highways and 
 in the seaports. Then there was bridge-money and road- 
 money, and duty on all that was bought and sold in the 
 towns. 2 These, which may be called the regular taxes, were 
 irrespective of any forced contributions, and of the support 
 which had to be furnished to the Roman procurator and his 
 household and court at Csesarea. To avoid all possible loss 
 to the treasury, the proconsul of Syria, Quirinus (Cyrenius), 
 had taken a regular census to show the number of the 
 population and their means. This was a terrible crime in the 
 eyes of the Rabbis, who remembered that, if numbering the 
 people had been reckoned such great sin of old, the evil must 
 be an hundredfold increased, if done by heathens and for their 
 own purposes. Another offence lay in the thought, that 
 tribute, hitherto only given to Jehovah, was now to be paid 
 to a heathen emperor. " Is it lawful to pay tribute unto 
 Caesar ? " was a sore question, which many an Israelite put 
 to himself as he placed the emperor's poll-tax beside the half- 
 shekel of the sanctuary, and the tithe of his field, vineyard, 
 and orchard, claimed by the tax-gatherer, along with that 
 which he had hitherto only given unto the Lord. Even the 
 purpose with which this inquiry was brought before Christ 
 
 1 Northern Africa alone (exclusive of Egypt) furnished Rome, by way of taxa- 
 tion, with sufficient corn to last eight months, and the city of Alexandria to last 
 (bur months (Jewish Wars, ii. 1 6, 4). 
 
 " Compare, among others, Hausrath, Neutest. Zdtg. i. p. 167, etc. 
 
Travelling in Palestine. 55 
 
 to entrap Him in a political denunciation shows, how much 
 it was agitated among patriotic Jews ; and it cost rivers of 
 blood before it was not answered, but silenced. 
 
 The Romans had a peculiar way of levying these taxes- 
 not directly, but indirectly which kept the treasury quite 
 safe, whatever harm it might inflict on the taxpayer, while 
 at the same time it threw upon him the whole cost of the 
 collection. Senators and magistrates were prohibited from 
 engaging in business or trade ; but the highest order, the 
 equestrian, was largely composed of great capitalists. These 
 Roman knights formed joint-stock companies, which bought 
 at public auction the revenues of a province at a fixed price, 
 generally for five years. The board had its chairman, or 
 magister, and its offices at Rome. These were the real Publi- 
 cani, or publicans, who often underlet certain of the taxes. 
 The Publicani, or those who held from them, employed either 
 slaves or some of the lower classes in the country as tax- 
 gatherers the publicans of the New Testament. Similarly, 
 all other imposts were farmed and colkcted ; some of them 
 being very onerous, and amounting to an ad valorem duty of 
 two and a half, of five, and in articles of luxury even of twelve 
 and a half per cent. Harbour-dues were higher than ordinary 
 tolls, and smuggling or a false declaration was punished by 
 confiscation of the goods. Thus the publicans also levied 
 import and export dues, bridge-toll, road-money, town-dues, 
 etc. ; and, if the peaceable inhabitant, the tiller of the soil, 
 the tradesman, or manufacturer was constantly exposed to 
 their exactions, the traveller, the caravan, or the pedlar 
 encountered their vexatious presence at every bridge, along 
 the road, and at the entrance to cities. Every bale had to 
 be unloaded, and all its contents tumbled about and 
 
56 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 searched ; even letters were opened ; and it must have taken 
 more than Eastern patience to bear their insolence and to 
 submit to their " unjust accusations " in arbitrarily fixing the 
 return from land or income, or the value of goods, etc. For 
 there was no use appealing against them, although the law 
 allowed this, since the judges themselves were the direct 
 beneficiaries by the revenue ; for they before whom accusa- 
 tions on this score would have to be laid, belonged to the 
 order of knights, who were the very persons implicated in the 
 farming of the revenue. Of course, the joint-stock company 
 of Publicani at Rome expected its handsome dividends ; so 
 did the tax-gatherers in the provinces, and those to whom 
 they on occasions sublet the imposts. All wanted to make 
 money of the poor people ; and the cost of the collection 
 had of course to be added to the taxation. We can quite 
 understand how Zaccheus, one of the supervisors of these 
 tax-gatherers in the district of Jericho, which, from its 
 growth and export of balsam, must have yielded a large 
 revenue, should, in remembering his past life, have at once 
 said : " If I have taken anything from any man by false accu- 
 sation " or, rather, " Whatever I have wrongfully exacted of 
 any man." 1 For nothing was more common than for the 
 publican to put a fictitious value on property or income. 
 Another favourite trick of theirs was to advance the tax 
 to those who were unable to pay, and then to charge 
 usurious interest on what had thereby become a private 
 debt. How summarily and harshly such debts were ex- 
 acted, appears from the New Testament itself. In Matt, 
 xviii. 28 we read of a creditor who, for the small debt 
 of one hundred denars (about 3 6s. 8d.), seizes the debtor 
 
 - Dean Alford's translation. 
 
Travelling in Palestine. 57 
 
 by the throat in the open street, and drags him to prison ; 
 the miserable man, in his fear of the consequences, in vain 
 falling down at his feet, and beseeching him to have patience, 
 in not exacting immediate full payment. What these conse- 
 quences were, we learn from the same parable, where the 
 king threatens not only to sell off all that his debtor has, but 
 even himself, his wife, and children into slavery (ver. 25). 
 And what short shrift such an unhappy man had to expect 
 from " the magistrate," appears from the summary procedure, 
 ending in imprisonment till " the last mite " had been paid, 
 described in Luke xii. 58. 
 
 However, therefore, in far-off Rome, Cicero might describe 
 the Publicani as " the flower of knighthood, the ornament of 
 the state, and the strength of the republic," or as " the most 
 upright and respected men," the Rabbis in distant Palestine 
 might be excused for their intense dislike of " the publicans," 
 even although it went to the excess of declaring them incap- 
 able of bearing testimony in a Jewish court of law, of for- 
 bidding to receive their charitable gifts, or even to change 
 money out of their treasury (Baba K. x. i), of ranking 
 them not only with harlots and heathens, but with highway- 
 men and murderers (Ned. iii. 4), and of even declaring them 
 excommunicate. Indeed, it was held lawful to make false 
 returns, to speak untruth, or almost to use any means to 
 avoid paying taxes (Ned. 27 b. ; 28 a). And about the time 
 of Christ the burden of such exactions must have been felt 
 all the heavier on account of a great financial crisis in the 
 Roman Empire (in the year 33 of our era), which involved 
 so many in bankruptcy, and could not have been without its 
 indirect influence even upon distant Palestine. 
 
 Of such men despised Galileans, unlettered fishermen, 
 
58 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 excommunicated publicans did the blessed Lord, in His self- 
 humiliation, choose His closest followers, His special apostles ! 
 What a contrast to the Pharisaical notions of the Messiah and 
 His kingdom ! What a lesson to show, that it was not " by 
 might nor by power," but by His Spirit, and that God had 
 chosen the base things of this world, and things that were 
 despised, to confound things that were mighty ! Assuredly, 
 this offers a new problem, and one harder of solution than many 
 others, to those who would explain everything by natural 
 causes. Whatever they may say of the superiority of Christ's 
 teaching to account for its success, no religion could ever have 
 been more weighted ; no popular cause could ever have pre- 
 sented itself under more disadvantageous circumstances than 
 did the Gospel of Christ to the Jews of Palestine. Even from 
 this point of view, to the historical student familiar with the 
 outer and inner life of that period, there is no other explana- 
 tion of the establishment of Christ's kingdom than the power 
 of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Such a custom-house officer was Matthew Levi, when the 
 voice of our Lord, striking to the inmost depths of his heart, 
 summoned him to far different work. It was a wonder that 
 the Holy One should speak to such an one as he; and oh! in 
 what different accents from what had ever fallen on his ears. 
 But it was not merely condescension, kindness, sympathy, 
 even familiar intercourse with one usually regarded as a social 
 pariah ; it was the closest fellowship ; it was reception into the 
 innermost circle ; it was a call to the highest and holiest work 
 which the Lord offered to Levi. And the busy road on which 
 he sat to collect customs and dues would now no more know 
 the familiar face of Levi, otherwise than as that of a messenger 
 of peace, who brought glad tidings of great joy. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 IN JUDAEA. 
 
 IF Galilee could boast of the beauty of its scenery and the 
 fruitfulness of its soil ; of being the mart of busy life, 
 and the highway of intercourse with the great world outside 
 Palestine, Judaea would neither covet nor envy such advan- 
 tages. Hers was quite another and a peculiar claim. Galilee 
 might be the outer court, but Judaea was like the inner sanc- 
 tuary of Israel. True, its landscapes were comparatively 
 barren, its hills bare and rocky, its wilderness lonely ; but 
 around those grey limestone mountains gathered the sacred 
 history one might almost say, the romance and religion of 
 Israel. Turning his back on the luxurious richness of Galilee, 
 the pilgrim, even in the literal sense, constantly went up 
 towards Jerusalem. Higher and higher rose the everlasting 
 hills, till on the uppermost he beheld the sanctuary of his 
 God, standing out from all around, majestic in the snowy 
 pureness of its marble and glittering gold. As the hum of 
 busy life gradually faded from his hearing, and he advanced 
 into the solemn stillness and loneliness, the well-known sites 
 which he successively passed must have seemed to wake the 
 echoes of the history of his people. First, he approached 
 SJiiloh t Israel's earliest sanctuary, where, according to tradi 
 
60 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 tion, the Ark had rested for 370 years less one. Next came 
 Bethel, with its sacred memorial of patriarchal history. There, 
 as the Rabbis had it, even the angel of death was shorn of his 
 power. Then he stood on the plateau of Ramah, with the 
 neighbouring heights of Gibeon and Gibeah, round which so 
 many events in Jewish history had clustered. In Ramah 
 Rachel died, and was buried. 1 We know that Jacob set up a 
 pillar on her grave. Such is the reverence of Orientals for the 
 resting-places of celebrated historical personages, that we may 
 well believe it to have been the same pillar which, according to 
 an eye-witness, still marked the site at the time of our Lord. 5 * 
 Opposite to it were the graves of Bilhah and of Dinah. 3 Only 
 five miles from Jerusalem, this pillar was, no doubt, a well- 
 known landmark. By this memorial of Jacob's sorrow and 
 shame had been the sad meeting-place of the captives when 
 about to be carried into Babylon (Jer. xl. i). There was 
 bitter wailing at parting from those left behind, and in weary 
 prospect of hopeless bondage, and still bitterer lamentation, 
 as in the sight of friends, relations and countrymen, the old 
 and the sick, the weakly, and women and children were piti- 
 lessly slaughtered, not to encumber the conqueror's home- 
 ward march. Yet a third time was Rachel's pillar, twice 
 before the memorial of Israel's sorrow and shame, to re-echo 
 her lamentation over yet sorer captivity and slaughter, when 
 
 1 This appears, to me at least, the inevitable inference from I Sam. x. 2, 3, 
 and Jer. xxxi. 15. Most writers have concluded from Gen. xxxv. 16, 19, that 
 Rachel was buried close by Bethlehem, but the passage does not necessarily imply 
 this. The oldest Jewish Commentary (Sifre, ed. Vienna, p. 146) supports the 
 view given above in the text. M. Neubauer suggests that Rachel had died in the 
 possession of Ephraim, and been buried at Bethlehem. The hypothesis is 
 ingenious but fanciful. 
 
 2 Book ofjubil. cxxxii. Apud Hausrath, Neutest. ZtUg. p. 26. 
 s Ibid. c. p. 34. 
 
In Judcza* 61 
 
 the Idumaean Herod massacred her innocent children, in 
 the hope of destroying with them Israel's King and Israel's 
 kingdom. Thus was her cup of former bondage and slaughter 
 filled, and the words of Jeremy the prophet fulfilled, in which 
 he had depicted Rachel's sorrow over her children (Matt, 
 ii. 17, 1 8). 
 
 But westward from those scenes, where the mountains 
 shelved down, or more abruptly descended towards the 
 Shephelah, or wolds by the sea, were the scenes of former 
 triumphs. Here Joshua had pursued the kings of the south ; 
 there Samson had come down upon the Philistines, and here 
 for long years had war been waged against the arch-enemy 
 of Israel, Philistia. Turning thence to the south, beyond the 
 capital was royal Bethlehem, and still farther the priest-city 
 Hebron, with its caves holding Israel's most precious dust. 
 That highland plateau was the wilderness of Judaea, variously 
 named from the villages which at long distances dotted it j 1 
 desolate, lonely, tenanted only by the solitary shepherd, or 
 the great proprietor, like Nabal, whose sheep pastured along 
 its heights and in its glens. This had long been the home of 
 outlaws, or of those who, in disgust with the world, had retired 
 from its fellowship. These limestone caves had been the 
 hiding-place of David and his followers ; and many a band 
 had since found shelter in these wilds. Here also John 
 the Baptist prepared for his work, and there, at the time of 
 which we write, was the retreat of the Essenes, whom a vain 
 hope of finding purity in separation from the world and its 
 contact had brought to these solitudes. Beyond, deep down 
 in a mysterious hollow, stretched the smooth surface of the 
 
 1 Such as Tekoah, Engedi, Ziph, Maon, and Beersheba, which gave their 
 names to districts in the wilderness of Judaea. 
 
62 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 Dead Sea, a perpetual memorial of God and of judgment. On 
 its western shore rose the castle which Herod had named 
 after himself, and farther south that almost inaccessible fast- 
 ness of Masada, the scene of the last tragedy in the great 
 Jewish war. Yet from the wild desolateness of the Dead Sea 
 it was but a few hours to what seemed almost an earthly 
 paradise. Flanked and defended by four surrounding forts, 
 lay the important city of Jericho. Herod had built its walls, 
 its theatre and amphitheatre ; Archelaus its new palace, 
 surrounded by splendid gardens. Through Jericho led the 
 pilgrim way from Galilee, followed by our Lord Himself 
 (Luke xix. i) ; and there also passed the great caravan-road, 
 which connected Arabia with Damascus. The fertility of 
 its soil, and its tropical produce, were almost proverbial. Its 
 palm-groves and gardens of roses, but especially its balsam- 
 plantations, of which the largest was behind the royal palace, 
 were the fairy land of the old world. But this also was only a 
 source of gain to the hated foreigner. Rome had made it a 
 central station for the collection of tax and custom, known 
 to us from Gospel history as that by which the chief publican 
 Zaccheus had gotten his wealth. Jericho, with its general 
 trade and its traffic in balsam not only reputed the sweetest 
 perfume, but also a cherished medicine in antiquity was a 
 coveted prize to all around. A strange setting for such a gem 
 were its surroundings. There was the deep depression of the 
 Arabah, through which the Jordan wound, first with tortuous 
 impetuosity, and then, as it neared the Dead Sea, seemingly 
 almost reluctant to lose its waters in that slimy mass. 1 
 Pilgrims, priests, traders, robbers, anchorites, wild fanatics, 
 such were the figures to be met on that strange scene ; 
 
 1 Plin. Hist. Nat. vi. 5, 2. 
 
In Judcza. 63 
 
 and almost within hearing were the sacred sounds from the 
 Temple-mount in the distance. 1 
 
 It might be so, as the heathen historian put it in regard to 
 Judaea, that no one could have wished for its own sake to wage 
 serious warfare for its possession. 2 The Jew would readily 
 concede this. It was not material wealth which attracted 
 him hither, although the riches brought into the Temple from 
 all quarters of the world ever attracted the cupidity of the 
 Gentiles. To the Jew this was the true home of his soul, the 
 centre of his inmost life, the longing of his heart. " If I for- 
 get thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning," 
 sang they who sat by the rivers of Babylon, weeping as 
 they remembered Zion. " If I do not remember thee, let my 
 tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth ; if I prefer not Jeru- 
 salem above my chief joy" (Ps. cxxxvii. 5, 6). It is from 
 such pilgrim-psalms by the way as Ps. Ixxxiv. or from 
 the Songs of Ascent to the Holy City, 3 that we learn the 
 feelings of Israel, culminating in this mingled outpouring of 
 prayer and praise, with which they greeted the city of their 
 longings as first it burst on their view : 
 
 Jehovah hath chosen Zion ; 
 
 He hath desired it for His habitation. 
 
 This is my rest for ever : 
 
 Here will I dwell, for I desire after it ! 
 
 I will abundantly bless her provision : 
 
 I will satisfy her poor with bread. 
 
 I will also clothe her priests with salvation : 
 
 And her saints shall shout aloud for joy. 
 
 According to the Jems. Talmud (Succ. v. 3) six different acts of ministry ir 
 riie Temple were heard as far as Jericho, and the smell of the burning incense 
 also could be perceived there. We need scarcely say that this was a gross 
 exaggeration. 
 
 2 Strabo, Geogr. xvi. 2. 3 Commonly known as the Psalms of Degrees. 
 
64 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 There will I make the horn of David to bud J 
 I ordain a lamp for Mine anointed. 
 His enemies will I clothe with shame : 
 But upon himself shall his crown nourish. 
 
 (Ps. cxxxii. 13-18.) 
 
 Words these, true alike in their literal and spiritual appli- 
 cations ; highest hopes which, for nigh two thousand years, 
 have formed and still form part of Israel's daily prayer, when 
 they plead : " Speedily cause Thou ' the Branch of David/ 
 Thy servant, to shoot forth, and exalt Thou his horn through 
 Thy salvation." l Alas, that Israel knows not the fulfilment 
 of these hopes already granted and expressed in the thanks- 
 giving of the father of the Baptist : " Blessed be the Lord God 
 of Israel ; for He hath visited and redeemed His people, and 
 hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of His 
 servant David ; as He spake by the mouth of His holy 
 prophets, which have been since the world began" (Luke 
 i. 68-;o). 2 
 
 Such blessings, and much more, were not only objects of 
 hope, but realities alike to the Rabbinist and the unlettered 
 Jew. They determined him willingly to bend the neck under 
 a yoke of ordinances otherwise unbearable ; submit to claims 
 and treatment against which his nature would otherwise have 
 rebelled, endure scorn and persecutions which would have 
 broken any other nationality and crushed any other religion. 
 To the far exiles of the Dispersion, this was the one fold, with 
 its promise of good shepherding, of green pastures, and quiet 
 waters. Judaea was, so to speak, their Campo Santo, with the 
 Temple in the midst of it, as the symbol and prophecy of 
 
 1 This is the fifteenth of the eighteen "benedictions " in the daily prayers 
 
 2 Compare Delitzsch, Comm. u. d. Ps. ii. p. 269. 
 
In Judaa. 65 
 
 Israel's resurrection. To stand, if it were but once, within 
 its sacred courts, to mingle with its worshippers, to bring 
 offerings, to see the white-robed throng of ministering priests, 
 to hear the chant of Levites, to watch the smoke of sacrifices 
 uprising to heaven to be there, to take part in it was the 
 delicious dream of life, a very heaven upon earth, the earnest 
 of fulfilling prophecy. No wonder, that on the great feasts 
 the population of Jerusalem and of its neighbourhood, so far as 
 reckoned within its sacred girdle, swelled to millions, among 
 whom were " devout men, out of every nation under heaven ' 
 (Acts ii. 5), or that treasure poured in from all parts of the 
 inhabited world. 1 And this increasingly, as sign after sign 
 seemed to indicate that " the End " was nearing. Surely tht 
 sands of the times of the Gentiles must have nearly run out. 
 The promised Messiah might at any moment appear and 
 "restore the kingdom to Israel." From the statements of 
 Josephus 2 we know that the prophecies of Daniel were 
 specially resorted to, and a mass of the most interesting, 
 though tangled, apocalyptic literature, dating from that period, 
 shows what had been the popular interpretation of unfulfilled 
 prophecy. 8 The oldest Jewish paraphrases of Scripture, 01 
 Targumim, breathe the same spirit. Even the great heathen 
 historians note this general expectancy of an impending 
 Jewish world-empire, and trace to it the origin of the 
 
 1 We kno^v that in the year 62 the contribution from these four extra- Palestinian 
 communities : Apamea, Laodicea, Adramyttium, and Pergamos amounted to 
 upwards of /8,ooo. 
 
 2 For example, Ant. x. u, J. 
 
 3 Nothing can well be more interesting or important, but also more difficult, 
 than the study of this literature, known as the pseudo-epigraphic writings. The 
 present, however, is not the place for such inquiries, which must be reserved foi 
 wiuch fuller discussion. 
 
66 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 rebellions against Rome. l Not even the allegorising Jewish 
 philosophers of Alexandria remained uninfluenced by the 
 universal hope. Outside Palestine all eyes were directed 
 towards Judaea, and each pilgrim band on its return, or way- 
 faring brother on his journey, might bring tidings of startling 
 events. Within the land the feverish anxiety of those who 
 watched the scene not unfrequently rose to delirium and 
 frenzy. Only thus can we account for the appearance of so 
 many false Messiahs and for the crowds which, despite 
 repeated disappointments, were ready to cherish the most 
 unlikely anticipations. It was thus that a Tlieudas* could 
 persuade " a great part of the people " to follow him to the 
 brink of Jordan, in the hope of seeing its waters once more 
 miraculously divide, as before Moses, and an Egyptian 
 impostor induce them to go out to the Mount of Olives in the 
 expectation of seeing the walls of Jerusalem fall down at his 
 command. 3 Nay, such was the infatuation of fanaticism, that 
 while the Roman soldiers were actually preparing to set the 
 Temple on fire, a false prophet could assemble 6,000 men, 
 women, and children, in its courts and porches to await then 
 and there a miraculous deliverance from heaven. 4 Nor did 
 even the fall of Jerusalem quench these expectations, till a 
 massacre, more terrible in some respects than that at the 
 fall of Jerusalem, extinguished in blood the last public 
 Messianic rising against Rome under Bar Cochab* 
 
 For, however misdirected so far as related to the person of 
 
 1 Suet. Vesp. 4 ; Tac. Hist. v. 13. 
 
 2 Jos. Ant. xx. 5, i. Of course this could not have been the Theudas of Acts 
 v. 36, 37, but both the name and the movement were not solitary in Israel at the 
 time. 
 
 Jos. Ant. xx. 8, 6. 4 Jos. Wars, vL 5, 2. 
 
 ' See my History of the Jewish Nation^ pp. 215-227. 
 
In Judcza. 67 
 
 the Christ and the nature of His kingdom not to the fact or 
 time of His coming, nor yet to the character of Rome such 
 thoughts could not be uprooted otherwise than with the history 
 and religion of Israel. The New Testament proceeds upon 
 them, as well as the Old ; Christians and Jews alike cherished 
 them. In the language of St. Paul, this was " the hope of the 
 promise made of God unto our fathers : unto which our twelve 
 tribes, instantly serving God day and night,hope to come"(Acts 
 xxvi. 6, 7). It was this which sent the thrill of expectancy 
 through the whole nation, and drew crowds to Jordan, when 
 an obscure anchorite, who did not even pretend to attest his 
 mission by any miracle, preached repentance in view of the 
 near coming of the kingdom of God. It was this which turned 
 all eyes to Jesus of Nazareth, humble and unpretending as 
 were His origin, His circumstances, and His followers, and 
 which diverted the attention of the people even from the 
 Temple to the far-off lake of despised Galilee. And it 
 was this which opened every home to the messengers whom 
 Christ sent forth, by two and two, and even after the 
 Crucifixion, every synagogue, to the apostles and preachers 
 from Judaea. The title " Son of man " was familiar to those 
 who had drawn their ideas of the Messiah from the well- 
 known pages of Daniel. The popular apocalyptic literature 
 of that period, especially the so-called " Book of Enoch," not 
 only kept this designation in popular memory, but enlarged 
 on the judgment which He was to execute on Gentile kings 
 and nations. 1 " Wilt Thou at this time restore the kingdom 
 
 1 The following as a specimen must suffice for the present : "And this Son of 
 man, whom thou hast seen, shall stir up the kings and the mighty from their layers, 
 and the powerful from their thrones, and shall loose the bridles of the mighty and 
 break in pieces the teeth of sinners. And He shall drive the kings from 
 their thrones and from their empires, ii they do not exalt nor praise Him, nor 
 
68 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 to Israel ? " was a question out of the very heart of Israel. 
 Even John the Baptist, in the gloom of his lonely prison, 
 staggered not at the person of the Messiah, but at the 
 manner in which He seemed to found His kingdom. 1 He had 
 expected to hear the blows of that axe which he had lifted 
 fall upon the barren tree, and had to learn that the inner- 
 most secret of that kingdom carried not in earthquake of 
 wrath, nor in whirlwind of judgment, but breathed in the 
 still small voice of love and pity was comprehension, not 
 exclusion ; healing, not destruction. 
 
 As for the Rabbis, the leaders of public opinion, their 
 position towards the kingdom was quite different. Although 
 in the rising of Bar Cochab the great Rabbi Akiba acted as 
 the religious standard-bearer, he may be looked upon as 
 almost an exception. His character was that of an enthusiast, 
 his history almost a romance. But, in general, the Rabbis 
 did not identify themselves with the popular Messianic expec- 
 tations. Alike the Gospel-history and their writings show 
 not merely that anti-spiritual opposition to the Church which 
 we might have expected, but coldness and distance in regard 
 to all such movements. Legal rigorism and merciless bigotry 
 
 gratefully own from whence the kingdom has been entrusted to them. And He 
 shall drive away the face of the mighty, and shame shall fill them : darkness shall 
 be their dwelling and worms their bed, and they shall have no hope of rising 
 from their beds, because they do not exalt the name of the Lord of spirits. . . . 
 And they shall be driven forth out of the homes of His congregation and of the 
 faithful" (Book of Enoch, xlvi. 4, 5, 6, 8). A full discussion of this most im- 
 portant subject, and, indeed, of many kindred matters, must be reserved for a 
 work on the Life and Times of our Lord. 
 
 1 The passage above referred to has a most important apologetic interest. 
 None but a truthful history would have recorded the doubts of John the Baptist ; 
 especially when they brought forward the real difficulties which the mission of 
 Christ raised in the popular mind ; least of all would it have followed up the state- 
 ment of these difficulties by such an encomium as the Saviour passed upon John. 
 
In Judcea. 69 
 
 are not fanaticism. The latter is chiefly the impulse of the 
 ill-informed. Even their contemptuous turning away from 
 "this people which knoweth not the law," as "accursed," 
 proves them incapable of a fanaticism which recognises a 
 brother in every one whose heart burns with the same fire, no 
 matter what his condition otherwise. The great text-book of 
 Rabbinism, the Misknak, is almost entirely un-Messianic, one 
 might say un-dogmatical. The method of the Rabbis was 
 purely logical. Where not a record of facts or traditions, the 
 Mishnah is purely a handbook of legal determinations in 
 their utmost logical sequences, only enlivened by discussions 
 or the tale of instances in point. The whole tendency of this 
 system was anti-Messianic. Not but that in souls so devout 
 and natures so ardent enthusiasm might be kindled, but that 
 all their studies and pursuits went in the contrary direction. 
 Besides, they knew full well how little of power was left them, 
 and they dreaded losing even this. The fear of Rome con- 
 stantly haunted them. Even at the destruction of Jerusalem 
 the leading Rabbis aimed to secure their safety, and their 
 after history shows, frequently recurring, curious instances 
 of Rabbinical intimacy with their Roman oppressors. The 
 Sanhedrim spoke their inmost apprehensions, when in that 
 secret session they determined to kill Jesus from fear that, if 
 He were allowed to go on, and all men were to believe on 
 Him, the Romans would come and take away both their 
 place and nation (John xi. 48). Yet not one candid mind 
 among them discussed the reality of His miracles ; not one 
 generous voice was raised to assert the principle of the 
 Messiah's claims and kingdom, even though they had rejected 
 those of Jesus of Nazareth! The question of the Messiah 
 might come up as a speculative point ; it might force itself 
 
70 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 upon the attention of the Sanhedrim ; but it was not of per- 
 sonal, practical, life-interest to them. It may mark only one 
 aspect of the question, and that an extreme one, yet even 
 as such it is characteristic, when a Rabbi could assert that 
 " between the present and the days of the Messiah there was 
 only this difference, Israel's servitude." 
 
 Quite other matters engrossed the attention of the Rabbis. 
 It was the present and the past, not the future, which occupied 
 them the present as fixing all legal determinations, and the 
 past as giving sanction to this. Judaea proper was the only 
 place where the Shechinah had dwelt, the land where Jehovah 
 had caused His temple to be reared, the seat of the San- 
 hedrim, the place where alone learning and real piety were 
 cultivated. From this point of view everything was judged. 
 Judaea was "grain, Galilee straw, and beyond Jordan chaff." 
 To be a Judaean was to be " an Hebrew of the Hebrews." It 
 has already been stated what reproach the Rabbis attached 
 to Galilee in regard to its language, manners, and neglect of 
 regular study. In some respects the very legal observances, 
 as certainly social customs, were different in Judaea from 
 Galilee. Only in Judaea could Rabbis be ordained by the 
 laying on of hands ; only there could the Sanhedrim in solemn 
 session declare and proclaim the commencement of each 
 month, on which the arrangement of the festive calendar 
 depended. Even after the stress of political necessity had 
 driven the Rabbis to Galilee, they returned to Lydda for 
 the purpose, and it needed a sharp struggle before they 
 transferred the privilege of Judaea to other regions in the 
 third century of our era (Jer. Sank. i. i, 18). The wine 
 for use in the Temple was brought exclusively from Judaea, 
 not only because it was better, but because the transport 
 
In Jndcea. 71 
 
 through Samaria would have rendered it defiled. Indeed, 
 the Mishnah mentions the names of the five towns whence 
 it was obtained. 1 Similarly, the oil used was derived either 
 from Judaea, or, if from Peraea, the olives only were brought, 
 to be crushed in Jerusalem. 3 
 
 The question what cities were really Jewish was of con- 
 siderable importance, so far as concerned ritual questions, and 
 it occupied the earnest attention of the Rabbis. It is not 
 easy to fix the exact boundaries of Judaea proper towards 
 the north-west. To include the sea-shore in the province 
 of Samaria is a popular mistake. It certainly was never 
 reckoned with it. According to Josephus (Jewish Wars, iii. 
 3, 5) Judaea proper extended along the sea-shore as far north 
 as Ptolemais or Acco. The Talmud seems to exclude at least 
 the northern cities. In the New Testament there is a dis- 
 tinction made between Caesarea and the province of Judaea 
 (Acts xii. 19; xxi. 10). This affords one of the indirect 
 evidences not only of the intimate acquaintance of the writer 
 with strictly Rabbinical views, but also of the early date of 
 the composition of the Book of Acts. For, at a later period 
 Caesarea was declared to belong to Judaea, although its 
 harbour was excluded from such privileges, and all east and 
 west of it pronounced " defiled." Possibly, it may have been 
 added to the cities of Judaea, simply because afterwards so 
 many celebrated Rabbis resided there. The importance 
 attaching to Caesarea in connection with the preaching of the 
 Gospel and the history of St. Paul, and the early and flourishing 
 Christian churches there established give fresh interest to 
 all notices of the place. Only those from Jewish sources can 
 
 1 Compare the discussion in M. Neubauer's Gfogr. du Talm. p. 84, etc., and 
 the Talmudical passages there quoted. 2 Ut supra. 
 
J2 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 here engage our attention. It were out of place here to 
 describe the political importance of Caesarea, as the seat of 
 the Roman power, or its magnificent harbour and buildings, 
 or its wealth and influence. In Jewish writings it bears the 
 same name by which we know it, though at times it is 
 designated after its fortifications (Migdal Shur, M. Zor, 
 M. Nassi), or after its harbour (Migdal Shina), once 
 .also by its ancient name, the tower of Straton. The 
 population consisted of a mixture of Jews, Greeks, Syrians, 
 and Samaritans, and tumults between them were the first 
 signal of the great Jewish war. The Talmud calls it " the 
 capital of the kings." As the seat of the Roman power it 
 was specially hateful to the Jews. Accordingly it is designated 
 as the "daughter of Edom the city of abomination and 
 blasphemy," although the district was, for its riches, called 
 " the land of life." As might be expected, constant difficulties 
 arose between the Jewish and Roman authorities in Caesarea, 
 and bitter are the complaints against the unrighteousness of 
 heathen judges. We can readily understand, that to a Jew 
 Caesarea was the symbol of Rome, Rome of Edom and 
 Edom was to be destroyed ! In fact, in their view Jerusalem 
 and Caesarea could not really co-exist. It is in this sense that 
 we account for the following curious passage : " If you are 
 told that Jerusalem and Caesarea are both standing, or that 
 they are both destroyed, believe it not ; but if you are told 
 that one of them is destroyed and the other standing, then 
 believe it " (Gitt. 16 a ; Meg. 6 a). It is interesting to know that 
 on account of the foreign Jews resident in Caesarea, the Rabbis 
 allowed the principal prayers to be said in Greek, as being 
 the vernacular ; and that, from the time of the evangelist 
 Philip, good work was done for Christ among its resident 
 
In Judcza. 73 
 
 Jews. Indeed, Jewish writings contain special notice of con- 
 troversies there between Jews and Christians. 
 
 A brief summary of Jewish notices of certain other towns 
 in Judaea, mentioned also in the New Testament, may throw 
 some additional light on the sacred narratives. In general, 
 the Mishnah divided Judaea proper into three parts mountain, 
 Shephelah, and valley (Shev. ix. 2), to whiph we must add the 
 city of Jerusalem as a separate district. 1 And here we have 
 another striking evidence of the authenticity of the New Testa- 
 ment, and especially of the writings of St. Luke. Only one inti- 
 mately acquainted with the state of matters at the time would, 
 with the Rabbis, have distinguished Jerusalem as a district 
 separate from all the rest of Judaea, as St. Luke markedly 
 does on several occasions (Luke v. 17 ; Acts i. 8 ; x. 39). 2 When 
 the Rabbis speak of " the mountain," they refer to the district 
 north-east and north of Jerusalem, also known as " the royal 
 mount." The Shephelah, of course, is the country along the 
 sea-shore. All the rest is included in the term " valley." It 
 need scarcely be explained that, as the Jerusalem Talmud 
 tells us, this is merely a general classification, which must not 
 be too closely pressed. Of the eleven toparchies into which, 
 according to Josephus, 3 Judaea proper was arranged, the 
 Rabbis take no notice, although some of their names have 
 been traced in Talmudical writings. These provinces were 
 no doubt again subdivided into districts or hyparchies, just 
 as the towns were into quarters or hegemonies, both terms 
 
 1 So in many passages. Compare, for example, Cheth. iv. 12. 
 
 2 These, as the New Testament notices about Csesarea, have also been markc-d 
 by M. Neubauer in his Geogr. du Tal. It is to be desired that the occasional 
 inaccuracies, or rather, as we know, misprints in the Talmudic references should 
 be corrected by the learned author. 
 
 * Pliny enumerates only ten. Compare Relanctits (ed. Nuremb.) pp. 130, 131 
 
74 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 occurring in the Talmud. 1 The Rabbis forbade the exportation 
 of provisions from Palestine, even into Syria. 
 
 Travelling southward from Caesarea we are in the plain of 
 Sharon, whose beauty and richness are so celebrated in Holy 
 Scripture (Cant. ii. I ; Isa. xxxv. 2). This plain extends as far 
 as Lydda, where it merges into that of Darom, which stretches 
 farther southwards. In accordance with the statements of 
 Holy Scripture (Isa. Ixv. 10) the plain of Sharon was always 
 celebrated for its pasturage. According to the Talmud most 
 of the calves for sacrifices were brought from that district 
 The wine of Sharon was celebrated, and, for beverage, sup- 
 posed to be mixed with one-third of water. The plain was also 
 well known for the manufacture of pottery ; but it must have 
 been of an inferior kind, since the Mishnah (Baba K. vi. 2) in 
 enumerating for what proportion of damaged goods a purchaser 
 might not claim compensation, allows not less than ten per cent, 
 for breakage in the pottery of Sharon. In Jer. Sotah viii. 3, 
 we read that the permission to return from war did not apply to 
 those who had built brick houses in Sharon, it being explained 
 that the clay was so. bad, that the houses had to be rebuilt 
 within seven years. Hence also the annual prayer of the high- 
 priest on the Day of Atonement, that the houses of the men 
 of Sharon should not become their graves. 2 Antipatris, the 
 place where the foot soldiers had left St. Paul in charge of the 
 horsemen (Acts xxiii. 31), had once been the scene of a very 
 different array. For it was here that, according to tradition 
 ( Yoma, 69 a), the priesthood, under Simon the Just, had met 
 Alexander the Great in that solemn procession, which secured 
 
 1 See on this and generally Neubauer, p. 67, et passim. 
 
 2 See my volume on The Temple : its Ministry and Services^ p. 275. Compare 
 also Neubauer's Geogr. du Tal. in locum. 
 
In Judcea. 75 
 
 the safety of the Temple. In Talmudical writings it bears 
 the same name, which was given it by Herod, in memory of 
 his father Antipater (Ant. xvi. 5, 2). The name of Chephar 
 Zaba, however, also occurs, possibly that of an adjoining 
 locality. In Sank. 94 b, we read that Hezekiah had sus- 
 pended a board at the entrance of the Beth Midrash (or 
 college), with the notification that whoever studied not the 
 Law was to be destroyed. Accordingly they searched from 
 Dan to Beersheba, and found not a single unlettered person, 
 nor yet from Gebath to Antipatris, boy or girl, man or 
 woman, who was not fully versed in all the legal ordinances 
 concerning clean and unclean. 
 
 Another remarkable illustration of the New Testament is 
 afforded by Lydda, the Talmudical Lod or Lud. We read that, 
 in consequence of the labours of St. Peter and the miracle 
 wrought on ^Eneas, "all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron 
 . . . . turned to the Lord" (Acts ix. 35). The brief 
 notice of Lydda given in this narrative of the apostle's 
 labours, is abundantly confirmed by Talmudical notices, 
 although, of course, we must not expect them to describe the 
 progress of Christianity. We can readily believe that Lydda 
 had its congregation of " saints," almost from the first, since it 
 was (Maas. Sh. v. 2) within an easy day's journey west of 
 Jerusalem. Indeed, as the Talmud explains, the second tithes 
 (Deut. xiv. 22 ; xxvi. 12) from Lydda could not be converted 
 into money, but had to be brought to the city itself, so " that 
 the streets of Jerusalem might be garlanded with fruits." The 
 same passage illustrates the proximity of Lydda to the city, 
 and the frequent intercourse between the two, 1 by saying that 
 
 1 The learned Lightfoot (Cent. Chdrogr. Matth. prcemissa, cxvi.) argues, that 
 this was intended by the Rabbinists to show that no material damage was allowed 
 to discourage the piety of the women of Lydda. 
 
76 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 the women of Lydda mixed their dough, went up to Jerusalem, 
 prayed in the Temple, and returned before it had fermented. 
 Similarly, we infer from Talmudical documents that Lydda 
 had been the residence of many Rabbis before the destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem. After that event, it became the seat of a 
 very celebrated school, presided over by some of the leaders 
 of Jewish thought. It was this school which boldly laid it 
 down, that, to avoid death, every ordinance of the Law might 
 be broken, except those in regard to idolatry, incest, and 
 murder. It was in Lydda, also, that two brothers voluntarily 
 offered themselves victims to save their co-religionists from 
 slaughter, threatened because a body had been found, whose 
 death was imputed to the Jews. It sounds like a sad echo 
 of the taunts addressed by "chief priests," "scribes and 
 elders," to Jesus on the cross (Matt, xxvii. 41-43) when, on 
 the occasion just mentioned, the Roman thus addressed the 
 martyrs : " If you are of the people of Ananias, Mishael, 
 and Azarias, let your God come, and save you from my 
 hand!" (Taan. 18, 6.) 
 
 But a much more interesting chain of evidence connects 
 Lydda with the history of the founding of the Church. It is 
 in connection with Lydda and its tribunal, which is declared 
 to have been capable of pronouncing sentence of death, that 
 our blessed Lord and the Virgin Mother are introduced in 
 certain Talmudical passages, though with studiously and 
 blasphemously altered names. 1 The statements are, in their 
 present form, whether from ignorance, design, or in con- 
 sequence of successive alterations, confused, and they mix up 
 different events and persons in Gospel history ; among other 
 
 1 A very ingenious attempt at explaining these names and designations has been 
 made by Professor Cassel in his recent brochure, Caricaturnamen Christi. 
 
In Judcza. 77 
 
 things representing our Lord as condemned at Lydda. 1 But 
 there can be no reasonable question that they refer to our 
 blessed Lord and His condemnation for supposed blasphemy 
 and seduction of the people, and that they at least indicate a 
 close connection between Lydda and the founding of Chris- 
 tianity. 2 It is a curious confirmation of the gospel history, 
 that the death of Christ is there described as having taken 
 place " on the eve of the Passover," remarkably bearing out 
 not only the date of that event as gathered from the synoptical 
 gospels, but showing that the Rabbis at least knew nothing of 
 those Jewish scruples and difficulties, by which modern Gentile 
 writers have tried to prove the impossibility of Christ's con- 
 demnation on the Paschal night. 3 It has already been stated 
 that, after the destruction of Jerusalem, many and most 
 celebrated Rabbis chose Lydda for their residence. But the 
 second century witnessed a great change. The inhabitants of 
 Lydda are now charged with pride, ignorance, and neglect 
 of their religion. The Midrash (Esther i. 3) has it, that there 
 were " ten measures of wretchedness in the world. Nine of 
 those belong to Lod, the tenth to all the rest of the world." 
 Lydda was the last place in Judaea to which, after their migra- 
 
 1 May there not perhaps be some historical foundation even for this statement ? 
 Could the secret gathering of "the chief priests and Pharisees," mentioned in 
 John xi. 47, have taken place in Lydda (compare vers. 54, 55) ? Was it there, that 
 Judas "communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him 
 unto them ? " There were at any rate obvious reasons for avoiding Jerusalem in 
 all preliminary measures against Jesus j and we know that, while the Temple stood, 
 Lydda was the only place out of Jerusalem which may be called a seat of the 
 Rabbinical party. 
 
 2 All the passages on the subject are collated and most ably argued upon in 
 Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. 
 
 3 See the discussion on the date of our Lord's crucifixion in the Appendix to my 
 volume on The Temple : its Ministry and Services. 
 
78 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 tion into Galilee, the Rabbis resorted to fix the commence- 
 ment of the month. Jewish legend has it, that they were met 
 by the "evil eye," which caused their death. There may, 
 perhaps, be an allegorical allusion in this. Certain it is, that, 
 at the time, Lydda was the seat of a most flourishing 
 Christian Church, and had its bishop. Indeed, a learned 
 Jewish writer has connected the changed Jewish feeling 
 towards Lod with the spread of Christianity. 1 Lydda must 
 have been a very beautiful and a very busy place. The 
 Talmud speaks in exaggerated terms of the honey of its 
 dates, 2 and the Mishnah (Baba M. iv. 3) refers to its 
 merchants as a numerous class, although their honesty is 
 not extolled. 3 
 
 Near Lydda, eastwards, was the village of Chephar Tabi. 
 We might be tempted to derive from it the name of Tabitha 
 (Acts ix. 36), if it were not that the names Tabi and Tabitha 
 had been so common at the time in Palestine. There can 
 be no question of the situation of Joppa, the modern Jaffa, 
 where Peter saw the vision which opened the door of the 
 Church to the Gentiles. Many Rabbis are mentioned in 
 connection with Joppa. The town was destroyed by 
 Vespasian. There is a curious legend in the Midrash to the 
 effect that Joppa was not overwhelmed by the deluge. Could 
 this have been an attempt to insinuate the preservation and 
 migration of men to distant parts of the earth ? The exact 
 location of Emmaus, for ever sacred to us by the manifestation 
 of the Saviour to the two disciples (Luke xxiv. 13), is matter 
 
 i Neubauer, p. 80. 2 Cheth. iii. a. 
 
 3 The Mishnah discusses how much profit a merchant is allowed to take on an 
 article, and within what period a purchaser, who finds himself imposed upon, may 
 return his purchase. The merchants of Lydda are certainly not placed in this 
 discussion in the most advantageous light. 
 
In Judcza. 79 
 
 of controversy. On the whole, the weight of evidence still 
 inclines to the traditional site. 1 If so, it had a considerable 
 Jewish population, although it was also occupied by a Roman 
 garrison. Its climate and waters were celebrated, as also its 
 market-place. It is specially interesting to find that among 
 the patrician Jewish families belonging to the laity, who took 
 .part in the instrumental music of the Temple, two those of 
 Pegarim and Zippariah were from Emmaus, and also that 
 the priesthood were wont to intermarry with the wealthy 
 Hebrews of that place (Er. ii. 4). Gaza, on whose "desert" 
 road 2 Philip preached to and baptized the Ethiopian eunuch, 
 counted not fewer than eight heathen temples, besides an 
 idol-shrine just outside the city. Still Jews were allowed to 
 reside there, probably on account of its important market. 
 
 Only two names yet remain to be mentioned, but those of 
 the deepest and most solemn interest. Bethlehem, the birth- 
 place of our Lord, and Jerusalem, where He was crucified. 
 It deserves notice, that the answer which the Sanhedrists of 
 old gave to the inquiries of Herod (Matt. ii. 5) is equally re- 
 turned in many Talmudical passages, 3 and with the same refer- 
 ence to Micah v. 2. It may therefore be regarded as a settled 
 point that, according to the Jewish fathers, Messiah, the Son 
 of David, was to be born in Bethlehem of Judah. But there 
 is one passage in the Mishnah which throws such peculiar 
 light on the Gospel narrative, that it will be best to give it 
 in its entirety. We know that, on the night in which our 
 
 1 Modern writers mostly identify it with the present Kulonieh, colonia, deriving 
 the name from the circumstance that it was colonised by Roman soldiers. Lieut. 
 Conder suggests the modern Khamasa> about eight miles from Jerusalem, as the 
 site of Emmaus. 
 
 2 Professor Robinson has given a most graphic description of that desert road. 
 * Jer* er ii. 3 gives a most curious story connected with this. 
 
3o Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 Saviour was born, the angels' message came to those who 
 probably alone of all in or near Bethlehem were "keeping 
 watch." For, close by Bethlehem, on the road to Jerusalem, 
 was a tower, known as .Migdal Eder, the "watch-tower 
 of the flock." For here was the station where shepherds 
 watched the flocks destined for sacrifices in the Temple. So 
 well known was this, that if animals were found as far from 
 Jerusalem as Migdal Eder, and within that circuit on every 
 side, the males were offered as burnt-offerings, the females as 
 peace-offerings. 1 R. Jehudah adds : " If suited for Paschal 
 sacrifices, then they are Paschal sacrifices, provided it be 
 not more than thirty days before the feast " (Shekal. vii. 4 ; 
 compare also Jer. Kid. ii. 9). It seems of deepest signifi- 
 cance, almost like the fulfilment of type, that those shepherds 
 who first heard tidings of the Saviour's birth, who first 
 listened to angels' praises, were watching flocks destined 
 to be offered as sacrifices in the Temple. There was the 
 type, and here the reality. At all times Bethlehem was 
 among "the least" in Judah so small that the Rabbis do 
 not even refer to it in detail. The small village-inn was over- 
 crowded, and the guests from Nazareth found shelter only in 
 the stable, 2 whose manger became the cradle of the King of 
 Israel. It was here that those who tended the sacrificial 
 flocks, heaven-directed, found the Divine Babe significantly 
 
 1 Formerly those who found such animals had out of their own means to supply 
 the necessary drink-offerings. But as this induced some not to bring the animals 
 to the Temple, it was afterwards decreed to supply the cost of the drink-offerings 
 from the Temple treasury (Shek. vii. 5). 
 
 2 In Echa R. 72 a, there is a tradition that the Messiah was to be born "in 
 the Castle Arba of Bethlehem Judah." Caspari (Chron. Geogr. Ant. ii. d. Lebef 
 Jesu, p. $4) quotes this in confirmation that the present castellated monastery, ih 
 the cave of which is the traditional site of our Lord's birth, marks the real spot 
 In the East such caves were often used as stables. 
 
In Judcza. 81 
 
 the first to see Him, to believe, and to adore. But this is not 
 all. It is when we remember, that presently these shepherds 
 would be in the Temple, and meet those who came thither to 
 worship and to sacrifice, that we perceive the full significance 
 of what otherwise would have seemed scarcely worth while 
 noticing in connection with humble shepherds : " And when 
 they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which 
 was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard 
 it wondered at those things which were told them by the 
 shepherds" (Luke ii. 17, 18). Moreover, we can understand 
 the wonderful impression made on those In the courts of the 
 Temple, as, while they selected their sacrifices, the shepherds 
 told the devout of the speedy fulfilment of all these types in 
 what they had themselves seen and heard in that night of 
 wonders ; how eager, curious crowds might gather around to 
 discuss, to wonder, perhaps to mock ; how the heart of "just 
 and devout " old Simeon would be gladdened within him, in 
 expectation of the near realisation of a life's hopes and 
 prayers ; and how aged Anna, and they who like her " looked 
 for redemption in Israel," would lift up their heads, since their 
 salvation was drawing nigh. Thus the shepherds would be 
 the most effectual heralds of the Messiah in the Temple, and 
 both Simeon and Anna be prepared for the time when the 
 infant Saviour would be presented in the sanctuary. But 
 there is yet another verse which, as we may suggest, would 
 find a fuller explanation in the fact that these shepherds 
 tended the Temple flocks. When in Luke ii. 20 we read that 
 " the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God," the 
 meaning in that connection 1 seems somewhat difficult till we 
 
 1 Compare here verses 17, 1 8, which in point of time precede verse 20. The term 
 rendered in the Authorised Version "make known abroad," and by 
 
 G 
 
82 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 realise that, after bringing their flocks to the Temple, they 
 would return to their own homes, and carry with them, joyfully 
 and gratefully, tidings of the great salvation. Lastly, without 
 entering into controversy, the passage from the Mishnah above 
 quoted in great measure disposes of the objection against the 
 traditional date of our Lord's birth, derived from the sup- 
 posed fact, that the rains of December would prevent the 
 flocks being kept all night " in the field." For, in the first 
 place, these were flocks on their way to Jerusalem, and 
 not regularly pasturing in the open at that season. And, 
 secondly, the Mishnah evidently contemplates their being 
 thus in the open thirty days before the Passover, or in the 
 month of February, during which the average rainfall is quite 
 the largest in the year. 1 
 
 "Ten measures of beauty," say the Rabbis, "hath God 
 bestowed upon the world, and nine of these fall to the lot of 
 Jerusalem " and again, " A city, the fame of which has gone 
 out from one end of the world to the other." 2 "Thine, O 
 Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, and eternity." 
 This explains the Talmud " is Jerusalem." In opposition 
 to her rival Alexandria, which was designated " the little," 
 Jerusalem was called "the great." It almost reminds one of 
 the title "eternal city," given to Rome, when we find the 
 Rabbis speaking of Jerusalem as the " eternal house." 
 Similarly, if a common proverb has it, that " all roads lead to 
 Rome," it was a Jewish saying, " All coins come from Jeru- 
 
 Wahl " ultra citroque narro" does not seem exhausted by the idea of conversation 
 with the party in the ''stable," or with any whom they might meet in " the field." 
 
 1 The average rainfall in Jerusalem for eight years amounts to fourteen inches 
 in December, thirteen in January, and sixteen in February (Barclay, City of the 
 Great King, p. 428). Compare Hamburger, u.s. passim. 
 
 Ber. 38. 
 
In Judcza. 83 
 
 salem." This is not the place to describe the city in its 
 appearance and glory. 1 But one almost feels as if, on such a 
 subject, one could understand, if not condone, the manifest 
 exaggerations of the Rabbis. Indeed, there are indications 
 that they scarcely expected their statements to be taken 
 literally. Thus, when the number of its synagogues is men- 
 tioned as 460 or 480, it is explained that the latter number is 
 the numerical equivalent of the word "full" in Isa. i. 21 ("it 
 was full of judgment"). It is more interesting to know, that 
 we find in the Talmud express mention of " the Synagogue 
 of the Alexandrians," referred to in Acts vi. 9 another im- 
 portant confirmation, if such were needed, of the accuracy of 
 St. Luke's narratives. Of the hospitality of the inhabitants 
 of Jerusalem accounts are given, which we can scarcely regard 
 as much exaggerated ; for the city was not reckoned to 
 belong to any tribe in particular ; it was to be considered 
 as equally the home of all. Its houses were to be neither 
 hired nor let, but freely thrown open to every brother. Nor 
 did any one among the countless thousands who thronged it 
 at feast-times ever lack room. A curtain hung before the 
 entrance of a house intimated, that there was still room for 
 guests ; a table spread in front of it, that its board was still 
 at their disposal. And, if it was impossible to accommodate 
 within the walls of Jerusalem proper the vast crowds which 
 resorted to the city, there can be no doubt that for sacred 
 purposes Bethany and Bethphage were reckoned as within the 
 circle of Jerusalem. It calls forth peculiar sensations, when we 
 read in these Jewish records of Bethany and Bethphage as 
 specially celebrated for their hospitality to pilgrim-guests, 
 
 1 For this compare the two first chapters of my volume on The Temple: its 
 Ministry and Services. 
 
84 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 for it wakes the sacred memories of our Lord's sojourn 
 with the holy family of Bethany, and especially of His last 
 stay there and of His royal entrance into Jerusalem. 
 
 In truth, every effort was used to make Jerusalem truly a 
 city of delight. Its police and sanitary regulations were 
 more perfect than in any modern city ; the arrangements 
 such as to keep the pilgrim free to give his heart and mind 
 to sacred subjects. If, after all, " the townspeople/' as they 
 were called, were regarded as somewhat proud and super- 
 cilious, it was something to be a citizen of Jerushalaimah, as 
 the Jerusalemites preferred to write its name. Their constant 
 intercourse with strangers gave them a knowledge of men 
 and of the world. The smartness and cleverness of the young 
 people formed a theme of admiration to their more shy and 
 awkward country relatives. There was also a grandeur in 
 their bearing almost luxury ; and an amount of delicacy, 
 tact, and tenderness, which appeared in all their public 
 dealings. Among a people whose wit and cleverness are 
 proverbial, it was no mean praise to be renowned for these 
 qualities. In short, Jerusalem was the ideal of the Jew, in 
 whatever land of exile he might tarry. Her rich men would 
 lavish fortunes on the support of Jewish learning, the promotion 
 of piety, or the support of the national cause. Thus one of 
 them would, when he found the price of sacrifices exceedingly 
 high, introduce into the Temple-court the requisite animals 
 at his own cost, to render the service possible for the poor. 
 Or on another occasion he would offer to furnish the city for 
 twenty-one months with certain provisions in her struggle 
 against Rome. In the streets of Jerusalem men from the 
 most distant countries met, speaking every variety of language 
 and dialect. Jews and Greeks, Roman soldiers and Galilean 
 
In Judcza. 85 
 
 peasants, Pharisees, Sadducees, and white-robed Essenes, 
 busy merchants and students of abstruse theology, mingled, 
 a motley crowd, in the narrow streets of the city of palaces. 
 But over all the Temple, rising above the city, seemed to 
 fling its shadow and its glory. Each morning the threefold 
 blast of the priests' trumpets wakened the city with a call 
 to prayer ; each evening the same blasts closed the working 
 day, as with sounds from heaven. Turn where you might, 
 everywhere the holy buildings were in view, now with the 
 smoke of sacrifices curling over the courts, or again with 
 solemn stillness resting upon the sacred halls. It was the 
 Temple which gave its character to Jerusalem, and which 
 decided its fate. There is a remarkable passage in the 
 Talmud, which, remembering that the time to which it refers 
 was in all probability the very year in which our Lord died 
 on the cross, reads like an unwilling confirmation of the 
 Gospel narrative : " Forty years before the destruction of the 
 Temple, its doors opened of their own accord. Jochanan, 1 
 the son of Saccai, rebuked them, saying : O Temple, why 
 openest thou of thine own accord ? Ah ! I perceive that 
 thine end is at hand ; for it is written (Zech. xi. i) : ' Open 
 thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars ' ' 
 (Yoma 39 b). "And, behold, the veil of the Temple was 
 rent in twain from the top to the bottom " (Matt, xxvii. 5 1) 
 blessed be God, not merely in announcement of coming 
 judgment, but henceforth to lay open unto all the way into 
 the Holiest of All. 
 
 1 Caspar! suggests that this was the same as the high-priest Annas, the name 
 having only the syllable indicating the name of Jehovah prefixed. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 JEWISH HOMES. 
 
 IT may be safely asserted, that the grand distinction, which 
 divided all mankind into Jews and Gentiles, was not only 
 religious, but also social. However near the cities of the 
 heathen to those of Israel, however frequent and close the 
 intercourse between the two parties, no one could have 
 entered a Jewish town or village without feeling, so to speak, 
 in quite another world. The aspect of the streets, the build- 
 ing and arrangement of the houses, the municipal and religious 
 rule, the manners and customs of the people, their habits and 
 ways above all, the family life, stood in marked contrast to 
 what would be seen elsewhere. On every side there was evi- 
 dence that religion here was not merely a creed, nor a set of 
 observances, but that it pervaded every relationship, and 
 dominated every phase of life. 
 
 Let us imagine a real Jewish town or village. There 
 were many such, for Palestine had at all times a far larger 
 number of towns and villages than might have been expected 
 from its size, or from the general agricultural pursuits of its 
 inhabitants. Even at the time of its first occupation under 
 Joshua we find somewhere about six hundred towns if we 
 
Jewish Homes. 87 
 
 may judge by the Levitical cities, of about an average circum- 
 ference of two thousand cubits on each side, and with pro- 
 bably an average population of from two to three thousand. 1 
 But the number of towns and villages, as well as their popu- 
 lousness, greatly increased in later times. Thus Josephus 
 (Life, 45) speaks of not fewer than two hundred and forty 
 townships in Galilee alone in his days. This progress was, 
 no doubt, due not only to the rapid development of society, 
 but also to the love of building that characterised Herod and 
 his family, and to which so many fortresses, palaces, temples, 
 and towns owed their origin. Alike the New Testament, 
 Josephus, and the Rabbis give us three names, which may be 
 rendered by villages, townships, and towns the latter being 
 surrounded by walls, and again distinguished into those forti- 
 fied already at the time of Joshua, and those of later date. A 
 township might be either " great," if it had its synagogue, or 
 small, if it wanted such ; this being dependent on the residence 
 of at least ten men, who could always be reckoned upon to form 
 a quorum for the worship of the synagogue (the so-called Bat- 
 lanin 2 ); for service could not be celebrated with any less number 
 of males. The villages had no synagogue ; but their inhabit- 
 ants were supposed to go to the nearest township for market on 
 the Monday and Thursday of every week, when service was 
 held for them, and the local Sanhedrim also sat (Megill. i. 1-3). 
 A very curious law provided (Cheth. 1 10), that a man could 
 not oblige his wife to follow him if he moved either from a 
 township to a town, or the reverse. The reason of the former 
 provision was, that in a town people lived together, and 
 
 J Saalschiitz, ArcJueoL d. Hebr. ii. pp. 250, 251. 
 
 2 From "betal," to cease as the glossary to Baba B. 82 a explains: men 
 without reproach, who gave up their work to give themselves wholly to the work 
 of the synagogue. Such had a claim to support from the synagogue revenues. 
 
88 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 the houses were close to each other ; hence there was a want 
 of fresh, free air, and of gardens, which were enjoyed in 
 townships. On the other hand, a woman might object to 
 exchange residence in a town for one in a township, be- 
 cause in a town everything was to be got, and people met in 
 .the streets and market-place from all the neighbourhood. 
 
 Statements like these will give some idea of the difference 
 between town and country life. Let us first think of the 
 former. Approaching one of the ancient fortified towns, one 
 would come to a low wall that protected a ditch. Crossing 
 this moat, one would be at the city wall proper, and enter 
 through a massive gate, often covered with iron, and secured 
 by strong bars and bolts. Above the gate rose the watch- 
 tower. "Within the gate" was the shady or sheltered 
 retreat where " the elders " sat. Here grave citizens discussed 
 public affairs or the news of the day, or transacted important 
 business. The gates opened upon large squares, on which 
 the various streets converged. Here was the busy scene of 
 intercourse and trade. The country-people stood or moved 
 about, hawking the produce of field, orchard, and dairy ; the 
 foreign merchant or pedlar exposed his wares, recommending 
 the newest fashions from Rome or Alexandria, the latest 
 luxuries from the far East, or the art produce of the gold- 
 smith and the modeller at Jerusalem, while among them 
 moved the crowd, idle or busy, chattering, chaffing, good- 
 humoured, and bandying witticisms. Now they give way 
 respectfully before a Pharisee ; or their conversation is hushed 
 by the weird appearance of an Essene or of some sectary 
 political or religious, while low, muttered curses attend the 
 stealthy steps of the publican, whose restless eyes wander 
 around to watch that nothing escape the close meshes of the 
 
Jewish Homes. 89 
 
 tax-gatherer's net These streets are all named, mostiy after 
 the trades or guilds which have there their bazaars. |* For a 
 guild always keeps together, whether in street or synagogue. 
 In Alexandria the different trades sat in the synagogue 
 arranged into guilds ; and St. Paul could have no difficulty in 
 meeting in the bazaar of his trade with the like-minded 
 Aquila and Priscilla (Acts xviii. 2, 3), with whom to find a 
 lodging. In these bazaars many of the workmen sat out- 
 side their shops, and, in the interval of labour, exchanged 
 greetings or banter with the passers-by. For all Israel are 
 brethren, and there is a sort of freemasonry even in the 
 Jewish mode of salutation, which always embodied either an 
 acknowledgment of the God of Israel, or a brotherly wish of 
 peace. Excitable, impulsive, quick, sharp-witted, imaginative; 
 fond of parable, pithy sayings, acute distinctions, or pungent 
 wit ; reverent towards God and man, respectful in the pre- 
 sence of age, enthusiastic of learning and of superior mental 
 endowments, most delicately sensitive in regard to the feelings 
 of others ; zealous, with intensely warm Eastern natures, 
 ready to have each prejudice aroused, hasty and violent 
 in passion, but quickly assuaged such is the- motley 
 throng around. And now, perhaps, the voice of a Rabbi, 
 teaching in some shady retreat although latterly Jewish 
 pride of learning forbade the profanation of lore by popular- 
 ising it for the " unlearned " or, better far, at one time the 
 presence of the Master, gathers and keeps them spell-bound, 
 forgetful alike of the cravings of hunger and of the lapse of 
 time, till, the short Eastern day ended, the stars shining out 
 on the deep blue sky must have reminded many among them 
 of the promise to their father Abraham, now fulfilled in One 
 greater than Abraham. 
 
90 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 ' Back to the town in the cool of even to listen to the deli- 
 cious murmur of well or fountain, as those crowd around it who 
 have not cisterns in their own houses. The watchman is on 
 the top of the tower above the gateway ; presently, night- 
 watchers will patrol the streets. Nor is there absolute dark- 
 ness, for it is customary to keep a light burning all night in 
 the house, and the windows (unlike those of modern Eastern 
 dwellings) open chiefly on street and road. Those large win- 
 dows are called Tyrian, the smaller ones Egyptian. They 
 are not filled in with glass, but contain gratings or lattices. 
 In the houses of the rich the window-frames are elaborately 
 carved, and richly inlaid. Generally the woodwork is of the 
 common sycamore, sometimes of olive or cedar, and in 
 palaces even of Indian sandal-wood. The entablature is more 
 or less curiously carved and ornamented. Only there must be 
 no representation of anything in heaven or on earthTj So deep 
 was the feeling on this point, that even the attempt of Pilate 
 to introduce by night into Jerusalem the effigies of Caesar on 
 the top of the Roman standards led to scenes in which the 
 Jews showed themselves willing to die for their convictions 
 (Jos. Ant. xviii. 3, i) ; while the palace of Herod Antipas at 
 Tiberias was burned by the mob because it was decorated 
 with figures of animals (Jos. Life, 12). These extreme views, 
 however, gave way, first, before the tolerant example of 
 Gamaliel, the teacher of Paul, who made use of a public 
 bath, although adorned by a statue of Venus, since, as he 
 put it, the statue was intended for the embellishment of the 
 bath, and not the bath for the sake of the statue. If this 
 argument reminds us that Gamaliel was not a stranger 
 to Christianity, the statement of his grandson, that an 
 idol was nothing if its worship had been disclaimed by the 
 
Jewish Homes. 91 
 
 heathen (Ab. Sar. 52), recalls still more strongly the teach- 
 ing of St. Paul. And so we gradually come down to the 
 modern orthodox doctrine, which allows the representation 
 of plants, animals, etc., but prohibits that of sun, moon, 
 and stars, except for purposes of study, while, though doubt- 
 fully, it admits those of men and even angels, provided 
 they be in sunken, not in raised workmanship. 
 
 The rule of these towns and villages was exceedingly strict. 
 The representatives of Rome were chiefly either military men, 
 or else fiscal or political agents. We have, indeed, a notice 
 that the Roman general Gabinius, about half a century before 
 Christ, divided Palestine for juridical purposes into five dis- 
 tricts, each presided over by a council (Jos. Ant. xiv. 5, 4) ; 
 but that arrangement was only of very short duration, and 
 even while it lasted these councils seem to have been Jewish. 
 Then every town had its Sanhedrim, 1 consisting of twenty- 
 three members if the place numbered at least one hundred 
 and twenty men, or of three members if the population were 
 smaller. 2 These Sanhedrists were appointed directly by the 
 supreme authority, or Great Sanhedrim, "the council," at 
 Jerusalem, which consisted of seventy-one members. It is 
 difficult to fix the limits of the actual power wielded by these 
 Sanhedrims in criminal cases. But the smaller Sanhedrims 
 
 1 The name " Sanhedrin," or " Sunedrion, " is undoubtedly of Greek deriva- 
 tion, although the Rabbis have tried to paraphrase it as "Sin" (= Sinai) 
 "haderin," those who repeater explain the law, or to trace its etymology, as 
 being " those who hate to accept the persons of men in judgment" (the name being 
 supposed to be composed of the Hebrew equivalents of the words italicised). 
 
 2 An ingenious attempt has lately been made to show that the Sanhedrim of 
 three members was not a regular court, but only arbitrators chosen by the parties 
 themselves (see Schiirer, Neutest. Zeitgesch. p. 403). But the argument, so far as 
 it tries to prove that such was always the case, seems to me not to meet all the facts. 
 
92 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 are referred to in such passages as Matt. v. 22, 23 ; x. 17; 
 Mark xiii. 9. Of course all ecclesiastical and, so to speak, 
 strictly Jewish causes, and all religious questions were within 
 their special cognisance. Lastly, there were also in every 
 place what we may call municipal authorities, under the pre- 
 sidency of a mayor the representatives of the " elders " an 
 institution so frequently mentioned in Scripture, and deeply 
 rooted in Jewish society. Perhaps these may be referred 
 to in Luke vii. 3, as sent by the centurion of Capernaum to 
 intercede for him with the Lord. 
 
 What may be called the police and sanitary regulations 
 were of the strictest character. Of Caesarea, for example, we 
 know that there was a regular system of drainage into the 
 sea, apparently similar to, but more perfect than that of any 
 modern town (Jos. Ant. xv. 9, 6). The same holds true in 
 regard to the Temple-buildings at Jerusalem. But] in every 
 town and village sanitary rules were strictly attended to. 
 Cemeteries, tanneries, and whatever also might be prejudicial 
 to health, had to be removed at least fifty cubits outside a, 
 town. 1 Bakers' and dyers' shops, or stables, were not allowed 
 under the dwelling of another person. Again, the line of 
 each street had to be strictly kept in building, nor was even 
 a projection beyond it allowed. In general the streets were 
 wider than those of modern Eastern cities. The nature of the 
 soil, and the circumstance that so many towns were built on 
 hills (at least in Judaea), would, of course, be advantageous in 
 a sanitary point of view. It would also render the paving of 
 the streets less requisite. But we know that certain towns were 
 paved Jerusalem with white stones (Jos. Ant. xx. 9, 7). To 
 
 i See these and similar regulations chiefly in Mishnah (Baba B. i. and ii. 
 passim}. 
 
Jewish Homes. 93 
 
 obviate occasions of dispute, neighbours were not allowed to 
 have windows looking into the courts or rooms of others, nor 
 might the principal entrance to a shop be through a court 
 cpmmon to two or three dwellings. \ 
 
 These brief notices may help us better to realise the 
 surroundings of Jewish town life. Looking up and down one 
 of the streets of a town in Galilee or Judaea, the houses would 
 be seen to differ in size and in elegance, from the small 
 cottage, only eight or ten yards square, to the mansions of 
 the rich, sometimes two or more stories high, and embellished 
 by rows of pillars and architectural adornments. Suppose 
 ourselves in front of a better-class dwelling, though not 
 exactly that of a patrician, for it is built of brick, or perhaps 
 of undressed, or even of dressed stone, but not of marble, nor 
 yet of hewn stone ; nor are its walls painted with such delicate 
 colours as vermilion, but simply whitewashed, or, may be, 
 covered with some neutral tint, A wide, sometimes costly, 
 stair leads from the outside straight up to the flat roof, which 
 is made to slope a little downwards, so as to allow the rain- 
 water easily to flow through pipes into the cistern below. 
 The roof is paved with brick, stone, or other hard substance, 
 and surrounded by a balustrade, which, according to Jewish 
 law, must be at least two cubits (three feet) high, and strong 
 enough to bear the weight of a person. Police-regulations, 
 conceived in the same spirit of carefulness, prohibited open 
 wells and pits, insufficient ladders, rickety stairs, even 
 dangerous dogs about a house. From roof to roof there 
 might be a regular communication, called by the Rabbis "the 
 road of the roofs " (Baba Mez. 88 b}. Thus a person could 
 make his escape, passing from roof to roof, till at the last 
 house he would descend the stairs that led down its outside, 
 
94 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 without having entered any dwelling. \ To this "road of the 
 roofs" our Lord no doubt referred in His warning to His 
 followers (Matt. xxiv. 17; Mark xiii. 15; Luke xvii. 31), 
 intended to apply to the last siege of Jerusalem : " And let 
 him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, 
 neither enter therein." ' For ordinary intercourse the roof 
 was the coolest, the airiest, the stillest place. Of course, at 
 times it would be used for purposes of domestic economy. 
 But thither a man would retire in preference for prayer or 
 quiet thinking ; here he would watch, and wait, and observe 
 whether friend or foe, the gathering of the storm, or as the 
 priest stationed on the pinnacle of the Temple before the 
 morning sacrifice how the red and golden light of dawn 
 spread along the edge of the horizon. From the roof, also, it 
 was easy to protect oneself against enemies, or to carry on 
 dangerous fight with those beneath ; and assuredly, if any- 
 where, it was " on the housetops " where secrets might be 
 whispered, or, on the other hand, the most public " proclama- 
 tion " of them be made (Matt. x. 27 ; Luke xii. 3). The 
 stranger's room was generally built on the roof, in order that, 
 undisturbed by the household, the guest might go out and 
 come in ; and here, at the feast of Tabernacles, for cool- 
 ness and convenience, the leafy " booths " were often reared, 
 in which Israel dwelt in memory of their pilgrimage. Close 
 by was " the upper chamber." On the roof the family 
 would gather for converse, or else in the court beneath with 
 its trees spreading grateful shade, and the music of its 
 plashing fountain falling soothingly on the ear, as you stood 
 in the covered gallery that ran all around, and opened on the 
 apartments of the household, t 
 \ If the guest-chamber on the roof, which could be reached 
 
Jewish Homes. 95 
 
 from the outside, without passing through the house, reminds 
 us of Elisha and the Shunammite, and of the last Passover- 
 supper, to which the Lord and His disciples could go, and 
 which they could leave, without coming in contact with any 
 in the house, the gallery that ran round the court under the 
 roof recalls yet another most solemn scene. We remember 
 how they who bore the man " sick of the palsy," when unable 
 to "come nigh unto Jesus for the press," "uncovered the 
 roof where He was," " and let him ,down through the tiling 
 with his couch into the midst before Jesus " (Mark ii. 4 ; 
 Luke v. 19). We know, from many Talmudical passages, 
 that the Rabbis resorted in preference to " the upper room " 
 when discussing religious questions. It may have been so in 
 this instance ; and, unable to gain access through the door 
 which led into the upper room, the bearers of the sick may 
 have broken down the ceiling from the roof. Or, judging it 
 more likely that the attendant multitude thronged the court 
 beneath, while Jesus stood in the gallery that ran round the 
 court and opened into the various apartments, they might 
 have broken down the roof above Him, and so slowly let 
 down their burden at His feet, and in sight of them all. 
 There is a significant parallelism, or rather contrast, to this 
 in a Rabbinical story (Hoed K. 25 a), which relates how, 
 when the bier on which a celebrated teacher was laid could 
 not be passed out at the door, they carried up their burden 
 and let it down from the roof on its way, not to a new life, 
 but to burial. Otherwise, there was also a stair which led 
 from the roof into the court and house. Approaching a 
 house, as visitors ordinarily would do, from the street, you 
 would either pass through a large outer court, or else come 
 straight to the vestibule or porch. Here the door opened 
 
96 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 into the inner court, which sometimes was shared by several 
 families. | A porter opened to callers on mentioning their 
 names, as did Rhoda to Peter on the eventful night of his 
 miraculous deliverance from prison (Acts xii. 13, 14). Our 
 Lord also applies this well-known fact of domestic life, when 
 He says (Rev. iii. 20), "Behold, I stand at the door, and 
 knock : if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will 
 come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." 
 / Passing through this inner court, and through the gallery, 
 you would reach the various rooms the family room, the 
 reception room, and the sleeping apartments the most 
 retired being occupied by the ladies, and the inner rooms 
 used chiefly in winter. The furniture was much the same as 
 that now in use, consisting of tables, couches, chairs, candle- 
 sticks, and lamps, varying in costliness according to the rank 
 and wealth of the family. Among articles of luxury we 
 mention rich cushions for the head and arms, ornaments, and 
 sometimes even pictures. The doors, which moved on hinges 
 fastened with wooden pins, were barred by wooden bolts, 
 which could be withdrawn by check keys from the outside. 
 The dining apartment was generally spacious, and sometimes 
 employed for meetings, f 
 
 We have been describing the arrangements and the ap- 
 pearance of towns and dwellings in Palestine. But it is not 
 any of these outward things which gives a real picture of a 
 Jewish home. Within, everything was quite peculiar. At 
 the outset, the rite of circumcision separated the Jew from 
 the nations around, and dedicated him to God. Private 
 prayer, morning and evening, hallowed daily life, and family 
 religion pervaded the home. Before every meal they washed 
 and prayed ; after it they " gave thanks." Besides, there 
 
Jewish Homes. 97 
 
 were what may be designated as specially family feasts. 
 The return of the Sabbath sanctified the week of labour. It 
 was to be welcomed as a king, or with songs as a bride- 
 groom ; and each household observed it as a season of sacred 
 rest and of joy. True, Rabbinism made all this a matter of 
 mere externalism, converting it into an unbearable burden, 
 by endless injunctions of what constituted work and of 
 that which was supposed to produce joy, thereby utterly 
 changing its sacred character. Still, the fundamental idea 
 remained, like a broken pillar that shows where the palace 
 had stood, and what had been its noble proportions. As the 
 head of the house returned on the Sabbath-eve from the 
 synagogue to his home, he found it festively adorned, the 
 Sabbath lamp brightly burning, and the table spread with 
 the richest each household could afford. But first he 
 blessed each child with the blessing of Israel. And 
 next evening, when the Sabbath light faded out, he made 
 solemn "separation" between the hallowed day and the 
 working week, and so commenced his labour once more in 
 the name of the Lord. Nor were the stranger, the poor, the 
 widow, or the fatherless forgotten. How fully they were 
 provided for, how each shared in what was to be considered 
 not a burden but a privilege, and with what delicacy relief 
 was administered for all Israel were brethren, and fellow- 
 citizens of their Jerusalem those know best who have closely 
 studied Jewish life, its ordinances and practices. l 
 
 But this also is rather a sketch of religious than of family 
 life. At the outset, we should here say, that even the 
 
 1 The reader must remember that these are but "sketches." A full elabora- 
 tion of all these subjects, in their various bearings, must be reserved for a 
 larger work, 
 
98 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 Hebrew name for "woman," given her at her creation 
 (Gen. ii. 23), marked a wife as the companion of her husband,^ 
 and his equal (" Ishah," a woman, from " Ish," a man). But 
 it is when we consider the relations between man and wife, 
 children and parents, the young and the aged, that the vast 
 difference between Judaism and heathenism so strikingly 
 appears. Even the relationship in which God presented 
 Himself to His people, as their Father, would give peculiar 
 strength and sacredness to the bond which connected earthly 
 parents with their offspring. Here it should be borne in 
 mind that, so to speak, the whole purpose of Israel as a 
 nation, with a view to the appearance of the Messiah from 
 among them, made it to each household a matter of deepest 
 interest that no light in Israel should be extinguished through 
 want of succession. Hence, such an expression as (Jer. xxii. 
 10), " Weep sore for him that goeth away : for he shall 
 return no more," was applied to those who died childless 
 (Moed K. 27). Similarly, it was said that he who had no 
 child was like one dead. Proverbial expressions in regard to 
 the " parental relation " occur in Rabbinical writings, which 
 in their higher application remind us that the New Testament 
 writers were Jews. If, in the impassioned strain of happy 
 assurance concerning our Christian safety, we are told 
 (Rom. viii. 33), " Who shall lay anything to the charge of 
 God's elect ? It is God that justifieth," we may believe that 
 St. Paul was familiar with a saying like this : " Shall a 
 father bear witness against his son?" (Abod S. 3). The, 
 somewhat similar question, " Is there a father who hateth his 
 own son ?" may recall to our minds the comfort which the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews ministers to those who are in suffering 
 (Heb. xii. 7), "If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with 
 
Jewish Homes. 99 
 
 you as with sons ; for what son is he whom the father 
 chasteneth not ?" 
 
 Speaking of the relation between parents and children, it 
 may be safely asserted, that no crime was more severely 
 v* reprobated than any breach of the fifth commandment. The 
 Talmud, with its usual punctiliousness, enters into details, 
 when it lays down as a rule that " a son is bound to feed his 
 father, to give him drink, to clothe him, to protect him, to 
 lead him in, and to conduct him out, and to wash his face, 
 his hands, and his feet ;" to which the Jerusalem Gemara 
 adds, that a son is even bound to beg for his father 
 although here also Rabbinism would give preference to a 
 spiritual before a natural parent, or rather to one who teaches 
 the law before a father ! The general state of Jewish society 
 shows us parents as fondly watching over their children, and 
 children as requiting their care by bearing with the foibles, 
 and even the trials, arising from the caprices of old age and 
 infirmity. Such things as undutifulness, or want of loving 
 consideration for parents, would have wakened a thrill of 
 horror in Jewish society. As for crimes against parents, 
 which the law of God visited with the utmost penalty, they 
 seem happily to have been almost unknown. The Rabbinical 
 ordinances, however, also specified the obligation of parents, 
 and limited their power. Thus a son was considered inde- 
 pendent whenever he could gain his own living ; and, although 
 a daughter remained in the power of her father till marriage, 
 she could not, after she was of age, be given away without her 
 own express and free consent. A father might chastise his 
 child, but only while young, and even then not to such extent 
 as to destroy self-respect. But to beat a grown-up son was 
 forbidden on pain of excommunication ; and the apostolic 
 
ioo Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 injunction (Eph. vi. 4), " Fathers, provoke not your children 
 to wrath," finds almost its literal counterpart in the Talmud 
 (Moed K. 17 a). Properly speaking, indeed, the Jewish law 
 limited the absolute obligation of a father 1 to' feed, clothe, and 
 house his child to his sixth year, after which he could only be 
 admonished to it as one of the duties of love, but not legally 
 constrained (Chethub. 49 b ; 65 b). In case of separation 
 of the parents, the mother had charge of the daughters, and 
 the father of the sons ; but the latter also might be intrusted 
 to the mother, if the judges considered it for the advantage 
 of the children. 
 
 A few notices as to the reverence due to age will appro- 
 priately close this brief sketch of Jewish home life. It was a 
 beautiful thought however some may doubt its exegetical 
 correctness that just as the pieces of the broken tables of 
 the law were kept in the ark, so old age should be venerated 
 and cherished, even though it should be broken in mind or 
 memory (Ber. 8 b). Assuredly, Rabbinism went to the 
 utmost verge in this matter when it recommended reverence 
 for age, even though it were in the case of one ignorant of 
 the law, or of a Gentile. There were, however, diverging 
 opinions on this point. The passage, Lev. xix. 32, "Thou 
 shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the 
 old man," was explained to refer only to sages, who alone 
 were to be regarded as old. If R. Jose compared such as 
 learned of young men to those who ate unripe grapes and 
 drank of new wine, R. Jehudah taught, " Look not at the 
 bottles, but at what they contain. There are new bottles full 
 of old wine, and old bottles which contain not even new 
 wine " (Ab. iv. 20). Again, if in Deut. xiii. i, 2, and also, 
 
 1 A mother was free from such legal obligation. 
 
Jewish Homes. 101 
 
 xviii. 21, 22, the people were directed to test a prophet by 
 the signs which he showed a misapplication of which was 
 made by the Jews, when they asked Christ what sign He 
 showed unto them (John ii. 18 ; vi. 30) while in Deut. 
 xvii. 10 they were told simply " to do according to all that 
 they of that place inform thee," it was asked, What, then, is 
 the difference between an old man and a prophet ? To this 
 the reply was : A prophet is like an ambassador, whom you 
 believe in consequence of his royal credentials ; but an 
 ancient is one whose word you receive without requiring such 
 evidence. And it was strictly enjoined that proper outward 
 marks of respect should be shown to old age, such as to rise 
 in the presence of older men, not to occupy their seats, to 
 answer them modestly, and to assign to them the uppermost 
 places at feasts. 
 
 After having thus marked how strictly Rabbinism watched 
 over the mutual duties of parents and children, it will be 
 instructive to note how at the same time traditionalism, in 
 its worship of the letter, really destroyed the spirit of the 
 Divine law. An instance will here suffice ; and that which 
 we select has the double advantage of illustrating an other- 
 wise difficult allusion in the New Testament, and of exhibiting 
 the real characteristics of traditionalism. No commandment 
 could be more plainly in accordance, alike with the spirit 
 and the letter of the law, than this : " He that curseth father 
 or mother, let him die the death." Yet our Lord distinctly 
 charges traditionalism with "transgressing" it (Matt. xv. 4-6). 
 The following quotation from the Mishnah (Sank. vii. 8) 
 curiously illustrates the justice of His accusation : " He that 
 curseth his father or his mother is not guilty, unless he curses 
 them with express mention of the name of Jehovah." In any 
 
IO2 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 other case the sages declare him absolved ! And this is 
 by no means a solitary instance of Rabbinical perversion. 
 Indeed, the moral systems of the synagogue leave the same 
 sad impression on the mind as its doctrinal teaching. They 
 are all elaborate chains of casuistry, of which no truer descrip- 
 tion could be given than in the words of the Saviour (Matt, 
 xv. 6) : " Ye have made the commandment of God of none 
 effect by your tradition." 
 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE UPBRINGING OF JEWISH CHILDREN. 
 
 THE tenderness of the bond which united Jewish parents 
 to their children appears even in the multiplicity and 
 pictorialness of the expressions by which the various stages 
 of child-life are designated in the Hebrew. Besides such 
 general words as " ben " and " bath " " son " and " daughter " 
 we find no fewer than nine different terms, each depicting a 
 fresh stage of life. 1 The first of these simply designates the 
 babe as the newly-"born" the "jeled," or, in the feminine, 
 "jaldah" as in Exod. ii. 3,6, 8. But the use of this term 
 throws a fresh light on the meaning of some passages of 
 Scripture. Thus we remember that it is applied to our Lord 
 in the prophecy of His birth (Isa. ix. 6) : " For a babe 
 (' jeled ') is born unto us, a son (' ben ') is given to us ; " while 
 in Isa. ii. 6 its employment adds a new meaning to the charge: 
 "They please themselves (or strike hands) with the ' jalde ' 
 the * babes ' of strangers " marking them, so to speak, as 
 not only the children of strangers, but as unholy from their 
 very birth. Compare also the pictorial, or else the poetical, 
 use of the word " jeled " in such passages as Isa. xxix. 23 ; 
 Ivii. 4 ; Jer. xxxi. 20 ; Eccl. iv. 13 ; I Kings xii. 8 ; 2 Kings 
 
 1 Compare Hamburger, Real-Encyd. voL L p. 642. 
 
IO4 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 ii. 24 ; Gen. xlii. 22 ; and others. The next child-name, in 
 point of time, is "jonek," which means, literally, "a suckling," 
 being also sometimes used figuratively of plants, like our 
 English " sucker," as in Isa. liii. 2 : "He shall grow up before 
 Him as a sucker" "jonek." The word "jonek" occurs, for 
 example, in Isa. xi. 8, and in Ps. viii. 2. On the other hand, 
 the expression in the latter passage, rendered " babes " in our 
 Authorised Version, marks a yet third stage in the child's 
 existence, and a farther advancement in the babe-life. This 
 appears from many passages. As the word implies, the " olel " 
 is still " sucking ; " but it is no longer satisfied with only this 
 nourishment, and is " asking bread," as in Lam. iv. 4 : "The 
 tongue of the * jonek' cleaves to the roof of his mouth for 
 thirst : the ' olalim ' ask bread." A fourth designation re- 
 presents the child as the " gamul," or " weaned one " (Ps. 
 cxxxi. 2 ; Isa. xi. 8 ; xxviii. 9), from a verb which primarily 
 means to complete, and secondarily to wean. As we know, 
 the period of weaning among the Hebrews was generally at 
 the end of two years (Chethub. 60), and was celebrated by a 
 feast. After that the fond eye of the Hebrew parent seems 
 to watch the child as it is clinging to its mother as it were, 
 ranging itself by her whence the fifth designation, " taph " 
 (Esther iii. 13, "Tht 'taph' and the women in one day;" 
 Jer. xl. 7 ; Ezek. ix. 6). The sixth period is marked by the 
 word "elem" (in the feminine, " almah," as in Isa. vii. 14, of 
 the virgin-mother), which denotes becoming firm and strong. 
 As one might expect, we have next the " naar," or youth 
 literally, he who shakes off, or shakes himself free. Lastly, 
 we find the child designated as "bachur," or the "ripened 
 one ; " a young warrior, as in Isa. xxxi. 8 ; Jer. xviii. 2 1 ; 
 xv. 8, etc. Assuredly, those who so keenly watched child-life 
 
The Upbringing of Jewish Children. 105 
 
 as to give a pictorial designation to each advancing stage 
 of its existence, must have been fondly attached to their 
 children. . 
 
 There is a passage in the Mishnah (Abotk. v. 21), which 
 quaintly maps out and, as it were, labels the different periods 
 of life according to their characteristics. It is worth repro- 
 ducing, if only to serve as introduction to what we shall have 
 to say on the upbringing of children. Rabbi Jehudah, the 
 son of Tema, says : " At five years of age, reading of th( 
 Bible ; at ten years, learning the Mishnah ; at thirteen years 
 bound to the commandments ; at fifteen years, the study 01 
 the Talmud ; at eighteen years, marriage ; at twenty, the 
 pursuit of trade or business (active life) ; at thirty years, full 
 vigour ; at forty, maturity of reason ; at fifty, for counsel ; at 
 sixty, commencement of agedness ; at seventy, grey age ; at 
 eighty, advanced old age ; at ninety, bowed down ; at a 
 hundred, as if he were dead and gone, and taken from the 
 world." In the passage just quoted the age of five is men- 
 tioned as that when a child is expected to commence reading 
 the Bible of course, in the original Hebrew. But different 
 opinions also prevailed. Generally speaking, such early 
 instruction was regarded as only safe in the case of very 
 healthy and strong children ; while those of average constitu- 
 tion were not to be set to regular work till six years old. 
 There is both common sense and sound experience in this 
 Talmudical saying (Cheth. 50), " If you set your child to 
 regular study before it is six years old, you shall always have 
 to run after, and yet never get hold of it." This chiefly 1 *" 
 has reference to the irreparable injury to health caused by 
 such early strain upon the mind. If, on the other hand, 
 we come upon an admonition to begin teaching a child 
 
106 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 when it is three years old, this must refer to such early 
 instruction as that of certain passages of Scripture, or of 
 small isolated portions and prayers, which a parent would 
 make his child repeat from tenderest years. As we shall 
 show in the sequel, six or seven was the age at which a 
 parent in Palestine was legally bound to attend to the 
 schooling of his son. 
 
 But, indeed, it would have been difficult to say when the 
 instruction of the Hebrew child really commenced. Looking 
 back, a man must have felt that the teaching which he most 
 indeed, one might almost say, which he exclusively valued 
 had mingled with the first waking thoughts of his conscious- 
 ness.T Before the child could speak before it could almost 
 understand what was taught, in however elementary lan- 
 guage before it would even take in the domestic rites of the 
 recurring weekly festival, or those of the annual feasts it 
 must have been attracted by the so-called " Mesusah," which 
 was fastened at the door-post of every " clean " apartment, 1 
 and at the entrance of such houses as were inhabited by Jews 
 exclusively. \ The "Mesusah" was a kind of phylactery for the 
 house, serving a purpose kindred to that of the phylactery for 
 the person, both being derived from a misunderstanding and 
 misapplication of the Divine direction (Deut. vi. 9 ; xi. 20), 
 taking in the letter what was meant for the spirit. But while 
 we gladly concede that the earlier Jewish practice was free 
 from some of the present almost semi-heathenish customs, 3 
 
 1 The " Mesusah " was not affixed to any that were not " diroth cavod " dwell- 
 ings of honour. Thus not to bath rooms, wash-houses, tanneries, dyeworks, etc. 
 The " Mesusah " was only attached to dwelling-places, not to synagogues. 
 
 2 The tractate Massecheth Mesusah (Kirchheim, Septem libri Talm. parvi Hieros. 
 pp. 12-16) cannot be regarded as an authority for early times. But even the 
 
The Upbringing of Jewish Children. 107 
 
 and further, that many houses in Palestine were without it, 
 there can be little doubt that, even at the time of Christ, 
 this " Mesusah " would be found wherever a family was at all 
 Pharisaically inclined. For, not to speak of what seems an 
 allusion to it, so early as in Isa. Ivii. 8, we have the distinct 
 testimony of Josephus (Ant. iv. 8, 13) and of the Mishnah to 
 their use (Ber. iii. 3 ; MegilL i. 8 ; Moed K. iii. 4 ; Men. iii. 7 
 in the last-mentioned place, even with superstitious addi- 
 tions), f Supposing the " Mesusah " to have been somewhat' 
 as at present, it would have consisted of a small, longitudi- 
 nally-folded parchment square, on which, on twenty-two 
 lines, these two passages were written : Deut. vi. 4-9, and 
 xi. 13-21. Inclosed in a shining metal case, and affixed to 
 the door-post, the child, when carried in arms, would naturally 
 put out its hand to it ; the more so, that it would see the 
 father and all others, on going out or in, reverently touch the 
 case, and afterwards kiss the finger, speaking at the same 
 time a benediction. For, from early times, the presence of the 
 " Mesusah " was connected with the Divine protection, this 
 verse being specially applied to it : " The Lord shall preserve 
 thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and 
 even for evermore " (Ps. cxxi. 8). \ Indeed, one of the mostT^ 
 interesting ancient literary monuments in existence 
 "Mechilta," a Jewish commentary on the book of Exodus, the 
 substance of which is older than the Mishnah itself, dating 
 from the beginning of the second century of our era, if not 
 earlier argues the efficacy of the " Mesusah " from the fact 
 
 "Sohar" contains much that is little better than heathen superstition on the sup- 
 posed efficacy of the "Mesusah." Among later superstitions connected with it, 
 are the writing of the name " Cuso bemuchsas cuso " (supposed to be that of 
 Israel's watching angel), the etymology of that name, etc. 
 
io8 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 that, since the destroying angel passed over the doors of 
 Israel which bore the covenant-mark, a much higher value 
 must attach to the " Mesusah," which embodied the name of 
 the Lord no less than ten times, and was to be found in the 
 dwellings of Israel day and night through all their genera- 
 tions. From this to the magical mysticism of the "Kabbalah," 
 and even to such modern superstitions as that, if dust or dirt 
 were kept within a cubit of the " Mesusah," no less a host than 
 three hundred and sixty-five demons would come, there is a 
 difference of degree rather than of kind. 
 
 But to return. T As soon as the child had any knowledge, 
 the private and the united prayers of the family, and the 
 domestic rites, whether of the weekly Sabbath or of festive 
 seasons, would indelibly impress themselves upon his mind. 
 It would be difficult to say which of those feasts would have 
 the most vivid effect upon a child's imagination. There was 
 " Chanukah," the feast of the Dedication, with its illumination 
 of each house, when (in most cases) the first evening one candle 
 would be lit for each member of the household, the number 
 increasing each night, till, on the eighth, it was eight times 
 that of the first. Then there was "Purim," the feast of Esther, 
 with the good cheer and boisterous merriment which it 
 brought ; the feast of Tabernacles, when the very youngest 
 of the house had to live out in the booth ; and, chiefest of 
 leasts, the week of the Passover, when, all leaven being 
 carefully purged out, every morsel of food, by its differ- 
 ence from that ordinarily used, would show the child that 
 the season was a special one. From the moment a child was 
 at all capable of being instructed still more, of his taking 
 any part in the services the impression would deepen day by 
 day. Surely no one who had ever worshipped within the 
 
The Upbringing of Jewish Children. 109 
 
 courts of Jehovah's house at Jerusalem could ever have 
 forgotten the scenes he had witnessed, or the words he had 
 heard. Standing in that gorgeous, glorious building, and 
 looking up its terraced vista, the child would watch with 
 solemn awe, not unmingled with wonderment, as the great 
 throng of white-robed priests busily moved about, while 
 the smoke of the sacrifice rose from the altar of burnt- 
 offering. Then, amid the hushed silence of that vast multi- 
 tude, they had all fallen down to worship at the time of_ 
 incense. J Again, on those steps that led up to the innermost 
 sanctuary the priests had lifted their hands and spoken over 
 the people the words of blessing ; and then, while the drink- 
 offering was poured out, the Levites' chant of Psalms had risen 
 and swelled into a mighty volume ; the exquisite treble of the 
 Levite children's voices being sustained by the rich round 
 notes of the men, and accompanied by instrumental music. 
 The Jewish child knew many of these words. They had been 
 the earliest songs he had heard almost his first lesson when 
 clinging as a " taph " to his mother. But now, in those white- 
 marbled, gold-adorned halls, under heaven's blue canopy, and 
 with such surroundings, they would fall upon his ear like 
 sounds from another world, to which the prolonged threefold 
 blasts from the silver trumpets of the priests would seem to 
 waken him. And they were sounds from another world ; for, 
 as his father would tell him, all that he saw was after the 
 exact pattern of heavenly things which God had shown to 
 Moses on Mount Sinai ; all that he heard was God-uttered, 
 spoken by Jehovah Himself through the mouth of His servant 
 David, and of the other sweet singers of Israel. Nay, that 
 place and that house were God-chosen ; and in the thick 
 darkness of the Most Holy Place there afar off, where the 
 
no Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 high-priest himself entered on one day of the year only, and 
 in simple pure white vesture, not in those splendid golden 
 garments in which he was ordinarily arrayed had once stood 
 the ark, with the veritable tables of the law, hewn and 
 graven by the very hand of God ; and between the cherubim 
 had then throned in the cloud the visible presence of Jehovah. 
 Verily this Temple with its services was heaven upon earth ! 
 
 Nor would it have been easy to lose the impression of the 
 first Paschal Supper which a child had attended. There was 
 that about its symbols and services which appealed to every 
 feeling, even had it not been that the law expressly enjoined 
 full instruction to be given as to every part and rite of the 
 service, as well as to the great event recorded in that supper. 
 For in that night had Israel been born as a nation, and 
 redeemed as the " congregation " of the Lord. Then also, as 
 in a mould, had their future history been cast to all time ; 
 and there, as in type, had its eternal meaning and import for all 
 men been outlined, and with it God's purpose of love and work 
 of grace foreshadowed. Indeed, at a certain part of the service 
 it was expressly ordained, that the youngest at the Paschal 
 table should rise and formally ask what was the meaning 
 of all this service, and how that night was distinguished 
 from others ; to which the father was to reply, by relating, in 
 language suited to the child's capacity, the whole national 
 history of Israel, from the calling of Abraham down to the 
 deliverance from Egypt and the giving of the law ; " and the 
 nore fully," it is added, " he explains it all, the better."/ In 
 view of all this, Philo might indeed, without exaggeration, say 
 that the Jews "were from their swaddling clothes, even before 
 being taught either the sacred laws or the unwritten customs, 
 trained by their parents, teachers, and instructors to recognise 
 
The Upbringing of Jewish Children. \ 1 1 
 
 God as Father and as the Maker of the world " (Legat. ad 
 Cajum, sec. 16) ; and that, "having been taught the know- 
 ledge (of the laws) from earliest youth, they bore in their souls 
 the image of the commandments" (ibid. sec. 31). To the 
 same effect is the testimony of Josephus, that " from their 
 earliest consciousness " they had " learned the laws, so as to 
 have them, as it were, engraven upon the soul " (Ag. Apion, 
 ii. 1 8) ; although, of course, we do not believe it, when, with 
 his usual boastful magniloquence, he declares that at the 
 age of fourteen he had been " frequently " consulted by " the 
 high priests and principal men of the city . . . about 
 the accurate understanding of points of the law" (Life, 2; 
 compare also Ant. iv. 8, 12 ; Ag. Apion, i. 12; ii. 25). 
 
 But there is no need of such testimony. The Old Testa- 
 ment, the Apocrypha, and the New Testament, leading us 
 progressively from century to century, indicate the same care- 
 fulness in the upbringing of children. One of the earliest 
 narratives of Scripture records how God said to Abraham, " I 
 know him, that he will command his children, and his house- 
 hold after him, and they shall keep the way of Jehovah, to do 
 justice and judgment " (Gen. xviii. 19) a statement which, 
 we may riote by the way, implies the distinction between the 
 seed of Abraham after the flesh and after the spirit 1 How 
 thoroughly the spirit of this Divine utterance was carried out 
 under the law, appears from a comparison of such passages 
 as Ex. xii. 26 ; xiii. 8, 14; Deut. iv. 9, 10 ; vi. 7, 20; xi. 19; 
 xxxi. 13 ; Ps. Ixxviii. 5, 6. It is needless to pursue the 
 subject farther, or to show how even God's dealings with His 
 people were regarded as the basis and model of the parental 
 relationship. But the book in the Old Testament which, if 
 
 1 See Oehler, Theol. d. A. Test. vol. i. p. 91. 
 
112 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 properly studied, would give us the deepest insight into social 
 and family life under the old dispensation we mean the book 
 of Proverbs is so full of admonitions about the upbringing of 
 children, that it is sufficient to refer the reader generally to it. 
 He will find there the value of such training, its object, in the 
 acquisition of true wisdom in the fear and service of Jehovah, 
 and the opposite dangers most vividly portrayed the practical 
 bearing of all being summed up in this aphorism, true to all 
 
 * times :r" Train up a child in the way he should go, and when 
 
 he is old he will not depart from it " (Prov. xxii. 6) ; of which 
 
 we have this New Testament application : " Bring up (your 
 
 children) in the nurture and admonition of the Lord" 
 
 JEph. vi. 4). 
 
 p The book of Proverbs brings before us yet another phase 
 of deepest interest. It contains the fullest appreciation of 
 woman in her true dignity, and of her position and influence 
 in the family-life. It is quite true, as we shall presently show, 
 that the obligation to train the child rested primarily upon 
 the father, and that both by the law of God and by the 
 ordinances of the Rabbis. But even the patriarchal story will 
 prepare an attentive reader to find, especially in the early 
 upbringing of children, that constant influence of woman, 
 which, indeed, the nature of the maternal relationship implies, 
 provided the family-life be framed on the model of the Word 
 of God. Lovelier pictures of this than the mother of Samuel 
 and the pious Shunammite hostess of Elisha can scarcely be 
 conceived. But the book of Proverbs shows us, that even in the 
 early times of the Jewish monarchy this characteristic of Old 
 Testament life also appeared outside the bounds of the Holy 
 Land, wherever pious Israelites had their settlements, j The 
 
 ""subject is so deeply interesting, historically and religiously, 
 
The Upbringing of Jewish Children. 113 
 
 and perhaps so new to some readers, that a slight digression 
 may be allowed us. 
 
 Beyond the limits of the Holy Land, close by Dumah, lay 
 the land or district of Massa (Gen. xxv. 14), one of the original 
 seats of the Ishmaelites (i Chron. i. 30). From Isa. xxi. II 
 we gather that it must have been situate beyond Seir that is, 
 to the south-east of Palestine, in Northern Arabia. Whether 
 the Ishmaelites of Massa had come to the knowledge of 
 Jehovah, the true God ; whether Massa was occupied by a 
 Jewish colony, which there established the service of the 
 Lord; 1 or whether, through the influence of Hebrew immi- 
 grants, such a religious change had been brought about, 
 certain it is, that the two last chapters of the book of Proverbs 
 introduce the royal family of Massa as deeply imbued with the 
 spiritual religion of the Old Testament, and the queen-mother 
 as training the heir to the throne in the knowledge and fear 
 of the Lord. 2 Indeed, so much is this the case, that the 
 instruction of the queen of Massa, and the words of her two 
 royal sons, are inserted in the book of Proverbs as part of the 
 inspired records of the Old Testament. According to the 
 best criticism, Prov. xxx. I should be thus rendered: "The 
 words of Agur, the son of her whom Massa obeys. Spake 
 the man to God-with-me God with me, and I was strong." 3 
 
 1 From I .Chron. iv. 38-43 we infer colonisation in that direction, especially on 
 the part of the tribe of Simeon. Utterances in the prophets (such as in Isa. xxi. 
 and Micah i. ) seem also to indicate a very wide spread of Jewish settlers. It is a 
 remarkable fact that, according to mediaeval Jewish and Arab writers, the districts 
 of Massa and Dumah were largely inhabited by Jews (see Ritter, Arabien, 
 p. 406). 
 
 2 There can be no question that the word rendered in the Authorised Version 
 (Prov. xxx. i and xxxi. i) by "prophecy" is simply the name of a district, 
 " Massa." 
 
 3 Or, according to another rendering, "Spake the man : I diligently searched 
 
 1 
 
1 14 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 Then Prov. xxxi. embodies the words of Agur's royal 
 brother, even "the words of Lemuel, king of Massa, with 
 wnich his mother taught him." If the very names of these 
 two princes Agur, " exile," and Lemuel, " for God," or 
 " dedicated to God " are significant of her convictions, the 
 teaching of that royal mother, as recorded in Prov. xxxi. 2-9, 
 is worthy of a "mother in Israel." No wonder that the record 
 of her teaching is followed by an enthusiastic description of a 
 godly woman's worth and work (Prov. xxxi. 10-31), each verse 
 beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet, 1 
 like the various sections of Ps. cxix. as it were, to let her 
 praises ring through every letter of speech. 
 T As might have been expected, the spirit of the Apocryphal 
 books is far different from that which breathes in the Old 
 Testament. Still, such a composition as Ecclesiasticus shows 
 that even in comparatively late and degenerate times the. 
 godly upbringing of children occupied a most prominent 
 place in religious thinking. But it is when we approach the 
 New Testament, that a fresh halo of glory seems to surround 
 woman. And here our attention is directed to the spiritual 
 influence of mothers rather than of fathers. Not to mention 
 " the mother of Zebedee's children," nor the mother of John 
 Mark, whose home at Jerusalem seems to have been the 
 meeting-place and the shelter of the early disciples, and that 
 in times of the most grievous persecution ; nor yet " the elect 
 lady and her children," whom not only St. John, " but also all 
 they that know the truth," loved in truth (2 John i), and her 
 
 after God, and I- am become weary." This, of course, is not the place for critical 
 discussion ; but we may say that we have followed the general conclusions adopted 
 alike by Delitzsch and Zockler, and by Ewald, Hitzig, and Berthcau. 
 1 The Hebrew alphabet has twenty-two letters. 
 
The Upbringing of Jewish Children. 115 
 
 similarly elect sister with her children (ver. 13), two notable 
 instances will occur to the reader. \ The first of these presents 
 a most touching instance of a mother's faith, and prayers, and 
 labour of love, to which the only parallel in later history is 
 that of Monica, the mother of St. Augustine. How Eunice, 
 the daughter of the pious Lois, had come to marry a heathen, 1 
 we know as little as the circumstances which may have 
 originally led the family to settle at Lystra (Acts xvi. I ; com- 
 pare xiv. 6, etc.), a place where there was not even a syna- 
 gogue. At most then two or three Jewish families lived in 
 that heathen city. Perhaps Lois and Eunice were the only 
 worshippers of Jehovah there ; for we do not even read of a 
 meeting-place for prayer, such as that by the river-side where 
 Paul first met Lydia. Yet in such adverse circumstances, and 
 as the wife of a Greek, Eunice proved one to whom royal 
 ' Lemuel's praise applied in the fullest sense : " Her children 
 arise up and call her blessed," and "Her works praise her in the 
 gates " of the new Jerusalem. Not a truer nor more touching 
 portraiture of a pious Jewish home could have been drawn 
 than in these words of St. Paul : " I call to remembrance the 
 unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grand- 
 mother Lois, and thy mother Eunice ; " and again, " From a 
 child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures " (2 Tim. i. 5 ; 
 iii. 15). There was, we repeat, no synagogue in Lystra where 
 Timothy might have heard every Sabbath, and twice in the 
 week, Moses and the Prophets read, and derived other 
 religious knowledge ; there was, so far as we can see, neither 
 religious companionship nor means of instruction of any kind. 
 
 1 The language of the New Testament leads to the inference that Timothy's 
 father was not only by birth, but continued a Greek being not merely a heathen, 
 but not eren a Jewish proselyte. 
 
ii 6 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 nor religious example, not even from his father; but all 
 around quite the contrary. But there was one influence for 
 highest good constant, unvarying, and most powerful. It 
 was that of a " mother in Israel." From the time that as a 
 " taph " he clung to her even before that, when a " gamul," 
 an " olel," and a " jonek " had Eunice trained Timothy in the 
 nurture and admonition of the Lord. To quote again the 
 forcible language of St. Paul, " From an infant M1 (or baby) 
 " thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to 
 make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in 
 Christ Jesus." 
 
 From the Apocrypha, from Josephus, and from the Talmud 
 we know what means of instruction in the Scriptures were 
 within reach of a pious mother at that time. In a house like 
 that of Timothy's father there would, of course, be no phylac- 
 teries, with the portions of Scripture which they contained, 
 and probably no " Mesusah," although, according to the 
 Mishnah (Ber. iii. 3), the latter duty was incumbent, not only 
 upon men but upon women. The Babylon Talmud (Ber. 
 20 b) indeed gives a very unsatisfactory reason for the latter 
 provision. But may it not be that the Jewish law had such 
 cases in view as that of Eunice and her son, without expressly 
 saying so, from fear of lending a sanction to mixed marriages ? 
 Be this as it may, we know that at the time of the Syrian 
 persecutions, just before the rising of the Maccabees, the 
 possession of portions or of the whole of the Old Testament 
 by private families was common in Israel. For, part of those 
 
 The Greek term means literally "a baby," and is so used, not only by 
 classical writers, but in all the passages in which it occurs in the New Testament, 
 which are as follows : Luke i. 41, 44 ; ii. 12, 16 ; xviii. 15 ; Acts vii. 19 ; 2 Tim. 
 iii. 15 ; and X Pet. ii. 2. 
 
The Upbringing of Jewish Children. 117 
 
 persecutions consisted in making search for these Scriptures 
 and destroying them (i Mace. i. 57), as well as punishing 
 their possessors (Jos. Ant. xii. 5, 4). Of course, during the 
 period of religious revival which followed the triumph of the 
 Maccabees, such copies of the Bible would have greatly 
 multiplied. It is by no means an exaggeration to say that, if 
 perhaps only the wealthy possessed a complete copy of the 
 Old Testament, written out on parchment or on Egyptian 
 paper, there would scarcely be a pious home, however humble, 
 which did not cherish as its richest treasure some portion of 
 the Word of God whether the five books of the Law, or the 
 Psalter, or a roll of one or more of the Prophets. Besides, we 
 know from the Talmud l that at a later period, and probably at 
 the time of Christ also, there were . little parchment rolls 
 specially for the use of children, containing such portions of 
 Scripture as the " Shema " 2 (Deut. vi. 4-9 ; xi. 13-21 ; Num. 
 xv. 37-41), the " Hallel " (Ps. cxiii.-cxviii.), the history of the 
 Creation to that of the Flood, and the first eight chapters 
 of the book of Leviticus. Such means of instruction there 
 would be at the disposal of Eunice in teaching her son. 
 
 And this leads us to mention, with due reverence, the other 
 and far greater New Testament instance of maternal influence 
 in Israel.! It is none less than that of the mother of our 
 blessed Lord Himself. While the fact that Jesus became 
 subject to His parents, and grew in wisdom and in favour 
 both with God and man, forms part of the unfathomable 
 mystery of His self-humiliation, the influence exerted upon 
 
 1 Compare Herzfeld, Gesch. d. Volk. Jes. vol. iii. p. 267, note. 
 
 The "Shema" so called from the first word, "Shema" ("Hear, O 
 Israel ") forms part of the regular prayers ; as the section called "Hallel" 
 ("praise") was appointed to be sung at certain reasons. 
 
n8 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 His early education, especially by His mother, seems implied 
 throughout the gospel history. Of course, His was a pious 
 Jewish home ; and at Nazareth there was a synagogue, to 
 which, as we shall by-and-by explain, a school was probably 
 attached. In that synagogue Moses and the Prophets would 
 be read, and, as afterwards by Himself (Luke iv. 16), dis- 
 courses or addresses be delivered from time to time. What 
 was taught in these synagogue-schools, and how, will be 
 shown in another chapter. But, whether or not Jesus had 
 attended such a school, His mind was so thoroughly imbued 
 with the Sacred Scriptures He was so familiar with them in 
 their every detail that we cannot fail to infer that the home 
 of Nazareth possessed a precious copy of its own of the entire 
 Sacred Volume, which from earliest childhood formed, so to 
 speak, the meat and drink of the God-Man. More than that, 
 there is clear evidence that He was familiar with the art of 
 writing, which was by no means so common in those days as 
 reading. The words of our Lord, as reported both by St. 
 Matthew (Matt. v. 18) and by St. Luke (Luke xvi. 17), also 
 prove that the copy of the Old Testament from which He had 
 drawn was not only in the original Hebrew, but written, like 
 our modern copies, in the so-called Assyrian, and not in the 
 ancient Hebrew-Phoenician characters. This appears from 
 the expression " one iota or one little hook " erroneously 
 rendered " tittle " in our Authorised Version which can only 
 apply to the modern Hebrew characters. That our Lord 
 taught in Aramaean, and that He used and quoted the Holy 
 Scriptures in the Hebrew, perhaps sometimes rendering them 
 for popular use into Aramaean, 1 there can be little doubt on the 
 
 1 Keim (.*.), p. 430, rightly instances Matt, xxvii. 46 as an instance of "the 
 Aramaean colouring " of the Hebrew text. We quote Keim the more readily, as 
 
The Upbringing of Jewish Children. 1 19 
 
 part of careful and unprejudiced students, though some learned 
 men have held the opposite. It is quite true that the Mish- 
 nah (Megill. i. 8) seems to allow the writing of Holy Scripture 
 in any language ; but even Simeon, the son of Gamaliel (the 
 teacher of St. Paul), confined this concession to the Greek 
 no doubt with a view to the LXX., which was so "widely 
 spread in his time. But we also know from the Talmud, how 
 difficult it was for a Rabbi to defend the study or use of 
 Greek, and how readily popular prejudice burst into a 
 universal and sweeping condemnation of it. 1 The same im- 
 pression is conveyed not only from the immediate favourable 
 change which the use of the Aramaean by St. Paul produced 
 upon the infuriated people (Acts xxi. 40), but also from the 
 fact that only an appeal to the Hebrew Scriptures could have 
 been of authority in discussion with the Pharisees and Scribes, 
 and that it alone gave point to the frequent expostulations of 
 Christ : " Have ye not read ?" (Matt. xii. 3 ; xix. 4; xxi. 13, 
 16,42; xxii. 31). 
 
 This familiarity from earliest childhood with the Scriptures 
 in the Hebrew original also explains how at the age of twelve 
 Jesus could be found " in the Temple ; sitting in the midst of 
 the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions " 
 (Luke ii. 46). In explaining this seemingly strange circum- 
 stance, we may take the opportunity of correcting an almost 
 universal mistake. It is generally thought that, on the 
 occasion referred to, the Saviour had gone up, as being " of 
 
 being a strong opponent of the orthodox view ; although his work is far more care- 
 ful and reverent than others that have of late issued, especially from the French 
 press, which it is scarcely possible to read without astonishment at the power of 
 assertion, and moral indignation at what is asserted. 
 
 1 The fact that the Evangelists so frequently quote from the LXX does not in 
 the least affect the argument that our Lord used the Hebrew text. 
 
12O Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 age," in the Jewish sense of the expression, or, to use their 
 own terms, as a " Bar Mizvah," or " son of the command- 
 ment," by which the period was marked when religious obli- 
 gations and privileges devolved upon a youth, and he became 
 a member of the congregation. But the legal age for this 
 was not twelve, but thirteen (Ab. v. 21). On the other hand, 
 the Rabbinical law enjoined ( Yoma, 82 a) that even before 
 that two years, or at least one year lads should be brought 
 up to the Temple, and made to observe the festive rites. 1 
 Unquestionably, it was in conformity with this universal 
 custom that Jesus went on the occasion named to the Temple. 
 Again, we know that it was the practice of the members of 
 the various Sanhedrims who on ordinary days sat as judi- 
 catories, from the close of the morning to the time of the 
 evening sacrifice (Sank. 88 b) to come out upon the Sab- 
 baths and feast-days on " the terrace of the Temple," and 
 there publicly to teach and expound, the utmost liberty being 
 given of asking questions, discussing, objecting, and otherwise 
 taking intelligent part in these lectures. On the occasion of 
 Christ's presence, these discussions would, as usual, be carried 
 on during the " Moed Katon," or minor festive days, inter- 
 vening between the second and the last day of the Paschal 
 week. Joseph and Mary, on the other hand, had, as allowed 
 by the law, returned towards Nazareth on the third day of 
 the Paschal week, while Jesus remained behind. These cir- 
 cumstances also explain why His appearance in the midst of 
 the doctors, although very remarkable considering His age, 
 did not at once command universal attention. Jn point of 
 fact, the only qualification requisite, so far as learning was 
 
 1 Compare Altingius, Academ. Dissert, p. 336, who is almost the only one 
 correct on this point. 
 
The Upbringing of Jewish Children. 121 
 
 concerned, would be a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures 
 in the Hebrew, and a proper understanding of them. 1 
 
 What we have hitherto described will have conveyed to the 
 reader that the one branch of instruction aimed after or 
 desired by the Jews at the time of Christ was religious 
 knowledge. What was understood by this, and how it was 
 imparted whether in the family or in the public schools 
 must form the subject of special investigation. 
 
 1 Lightfoot (Horce Hebr. in Luc. ii. 46) gives an entirely fanciful and erroneous 
 view of the matter, representing the Saviour as either actually teaching or at least 
 qualified to take part in the regular discussions and instructions of the Rabbis. 
 The note of Wetstein (Nov. Test. i. p. 668) approximates more near!) the correct 
 riew. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SUBJECTS OF STUDY. HOME EDUCATION IN ISRAEL ; FEMALE 
 EDUCATION. ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS, SCHOOLMASTERS, 
 AND SCHOOL ARRANGEMENTS. 
 
 IF a faithful picture of society in ancient Greece or Rome 
 were to be presented to view, it is not easy to believe that 
 ?ven they who now most oppose the Bible could wish their 
 aims success. For this, at any rate, may be asserted, without 
 fear of gainsaying, that no other religion than that of the 
 Bible has proved competent to control an advanced, or even 
 an advancing, state of civilisation. Every other bound has 
 been successively passed and submerged by the rising tide ; 
 how deep only the student of history knows. Two things 
 are here undeniable. In the case of heathenism every 
 advance in civilisation has marked a progressive lowering 
 of public morality, the earlier stages of national life always 
 showing a far higher tone than the later. On the contrary, 
 the religion of the Bible (under the old as under the new dis- 
 pensation) has increasingly raised, if not uniformly the public 
 morals, yet always the tone and standard of public morality ; 
 it has continued to exhibit a standard never yet attained, and 
 
Subjects of Study. 123 
 
 it has proved its power to control public and social life, to 
 influence and to mould it. 
 
 Strange as it may sound, it is strictly true that, beyond the 
 boundaries of Israel, it would be scarcely possible to speak 
 with any propriety of family life, or even of the family, as we 
 understand these terms. It is significant, that the Roman 
 historian Tacitus should mark it as something special among 
 the Jews 1 which they only shared with the ancient barbarian 
 Germans 2 that they regarded it as a crime to kill their 
 offspring ! This is not the place to describe the exposure of 
 children, or the various crimes by which ancient Greece and 
 Rome, in the days of their highest cu'ture, sought to rid 
 themselves of what was regarded as superfluous population. 
 Few of those who have learned to admire classical antiquity 
 have a full conception of any one phase in its social life 
 whether of the position of woman, the relation of the sexes, 
 slavery, the education of children, their relation to their 
 parents, or the state of public morality. Fewer still have 
 combined all these features into one picture, and that not 
 merely as exhibited by the lower orders, or even among the 
 higher classes, but as fully owned and approved by those 
 whose names have descended in the admiration of ages as the 
 thinkers, the sages, the poets, the historians, and the statesmen 
 of antiquity. Assuredly, St. Paul's description of the ancient 
 world in the first and second chapters of his Epistle to the 
 Romans must have appeared to those who lived in the midst 
 of it as Divine even in its tenderness, delicacy, and charity ; 
 
 1 Tacitus, Hist. v. 5. In general this fifth book is most interesting, as showing 
 the strange mixture of truth and error, and the intense hatred of the Jewish race 
 even on the part of such men as Tacitus. 
 
 2 De Germania, xix. 
 
124 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 the full picture under bright sunlight would have been scarcely 
 susceptible of exhibition. For such a world there was only 
 one alternative either the judgment of Sodom, or the mercy 
 of the Gospel and the healing of the Cross. 1 
 
 When we pass from the heathen world into the homes of 
 Israel, even the excess of their exclusiveness seems for the 
 moment a relief. It is as if we turned from enervating, 
 withering, tropical heat into a darkened room, whose grateful 
 coolness make.* us for the moment forget that its gloom is 
 excessive, and cannot continue as the day declines. And this 
 shutting out of all from without, this exclusiveness, applied 
 not only to what concerned their religion, their social and 
 
 ? family life, but also to their knowledge. In the days of 
 Christ the pious Jew had no other knowledge,- neither sought 
 nor cared for any other in fact, denounced it than that of 
 the law of God. At the outset, let it be remembered that, 
 in heathenism, theology, or rather mythology, had no in- 
 fluence whatever on thinking or life was literally submerged 
 under their waves. To the pious Jew, on the contrary, the 
 knowledge of God was everything ; and to prepare for or 
 impart that knowledge was the sum total, the sole object of 
 his education. This was the life of his soul the better, and 
 
 i Let it not be thought that we have been guilty of the slightest exaggeration. 
 The difficulty here is to tell the truth and yet find moderate terms in which to 
 express it. That Christianity should have laid its hold on such a society, found 
 there its brightest martyrs and truest followers, and finally subdued and trans- 
 formed it, is quite as great a miracle as that of the breaking down of the 
 middle wall of partition among the Jews, or their spiritual transformation of 
 mind and heart from self-righteousness and externalism* In either case, to the 
 student of history the miracle will seem greater than if "one rose from the 
 dead." The general reader who wishes more details about the state of 
 heathenism is referred to the admirable work of Dollinger, Heidenthum u. 
 Judenth. pp. 679-728. 
 
Subjects of Study. 125 
 
 only true life, to which all else as well as the life of the body 
 were merely subservient, as means towards an end. His 
 religion consisted of two things : knowledge of God, which 
 by a series of inferences, one from the other, ultimately 
 resolved itself into theology, as they understood it ; and 
 service, which again consisted of the proper observance of all 
 that was prescribed by God, and of works of charity towards 
 men the latter, indeed, going beyond the bound of what was 
 strictly due (the Chovoth) into special merit or " righteous- 
 ness " (Zedakah). But as service presupposed knowledge, 
 theology was again at the foundation of all, and also the 
 crown of all, which conferred the greatest merit. This is 
 expressed or implied in almost innumerable passages of 
 Jewish writings: Let one suffice, not only because it sounds 
 more rationalistic, but because it is to this day repeated each 
 morning in his prayers by every Jew : " These are the things 
 of which a man eats the fruit in this world, but their posses- 
 sion 1 continueth for the next world : to honour father and 
 mother, pious works, peacemaking between man and man, 
 and the study of the law,. which is equivalent to them all " 
 (Peak. i. I). 
 
 And literally " equivalent to them all " was such study to 
 the Jew. The circumstances of the times forced him to learn 
 Greek, perhaps also Latin, so much as was necessary for 
 intercourse; and to tolerate at least the Greek translation of 
 the Scriptures, and the use of any language in the daily 
 prayers of the Shema, of the eighteen benedictions, and of 
 the grace after meat. 2 But the blessing of the priests might 
 not be spoken, nor the phylacteries nor the Mesusah written, 
 
 1 The capital sum, as it were. 
 
 2 These are the oldest elements of the Jewish liturgy. 
 
126 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 in other than the Hebrew language (Megil. i. 8 ; Sotah, vii. 1,2); 
 while heathen science and literature were absolutely pro- 
 hibited. To this, and not to the mere learning of Greek, 
 which must have been almost necessary for daily life, refer 
 such prohibitions as that traced to the time of Titus (Sotah, 
 ix. 14), forbidding a man to teach his son Greek. The 
 Talmud itself (Men. 99 b) furnishes a clever illustration of 
 this, when, in reply to the question of a younger Rabbi, 
 whether, since he knew the whole " Thorah " (the law), he 
 might be allowed to study " Greek wisdom," his uncle 
 reminded him of the words (Josh. i. 8), "Thou shalt meditate 
 therein day and night." u Go, then, and consider," said the 
 older Rabbi, " which is the hour that is neither of the day nor 
 of the night, and in it thou mayest study Grecian wisdom." 
 This, then, was one source of danger averted. Then, as for 
 the occupations of ordinary life, it was indeed quite true that 
 every Jew was bound to learn some trade or business. But 
 this was not to divert him from study ; quite the contrary. It 
 was regarded as a profanation or at least declared such 1 to 
 make use of one's learning for secular purposes, whether of 
 gain or of honour. The great Hillel had it (Ab. i. 13): " He 
 who serves himself by the crown (the * Thorah ') shall fade 
 away." To this Rabbi Zadok added the warning, "Make 
 study neither a crown by which to shine, nor yet a spade with 
 which to dig" the Mishnah inferring that such attempts 
 would only lead to the shortening of life (Ab. iv. 5). All was 
 to be merely subsidiary to the one grand object ; the one was 
 of time, the other of eternity ; the one of the body, the other 
 
 1 Such, at any rate, was the profession ; the practice, it is to be feared, was 
 often far different, as the reader of the New Testament will infer from Mark xii. 
 40 ; Luke xvi. 14 ; xx. 47. 
 
Subjects of Study. 127 
 
 of the soul j 1 and its use was only to sustain the body, so as 
 to give free scope to the soul on its upward path. Every 
 science also merged in theology. Some were not so much 
 sciences as means of livelihood, such as medicine and surgery ; 
 others were merely handmaidens to theology. Jurisprudence 
 was in reality a kind of canon law ; mathematics and 
 astronomy were subservient to the computations of the 
 Jewish calendar ; literature existed not outside theological 
 pursuits ; and as for history, geography, or natural studies, 
 although we mark, in reference to the latter, a keenness of 
 observation which often led instinctively to truth, we meet 
 with so much ignorance, and with so many gross mistakes 
 and fables, as almost to shake the belief of the student in 
 the trustworthiness of any Rabbinical testimony. 
 
 From what has been stated, three inferences will be gathered, 
 all of most material bearing on the study of the New Testa- 
 ment. It will be seen how a mere knowledge of the law came 
 to hold such place of almost exclusive importance that its 
 successful prosecution seemed to be well-nigh all in all. 
 Again, it is easy now to understand why students and teachers 
 of theology enjoyed such exceptional honour (Matt, xxiii 
 6, 7 ; Mark xii. 38, 39 ; Luke xi. 43 ; xx. 46). In this respect 
 the testimonies of Onkelos, in his paraphrastic rendering of 
 the Scriptures, of the oldest " Targumim," or paraphrastic 
 commentaries, of the Mishnah, and of the two Talmuds, are 
 not only unanimous, but most extravagant. Not only are 
 miracles supposed to be performed in attestation of certain 
 Rabbis, but such a story is actually ventured upon (Bab. Mez. 
 86 a), as that on the occasion of a discussion in the academy 
 of .heaven, when the Almighty and His angels were of 
 
 1 There is here a most instructive passage in Kidd. iv. 14. 
 
128 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 different opinions in regard to a special point of law, a Rabbi 
 famed for his knowledge of that subject was summoned up 
 by the angel of death to decide the matter between them ! 
 The story is altogether too blasphemous for details, and 
 indeed the whole subject is too wide for treatment in this con- 
 nection. If such was the exalted position of a Rabbi, this 
 direction of the Mishnah seems quite natural, that in case of 
 loss, of difficulties, or of captivity, a teacher was to be cared 
 for before a father, since to the latter we owed only our 
 existence in this world, but to the former the life of the 
 world to come (Bab. Mez. ii. n). It is curious how in this 
 respect also Roman Catholicism and Pharisaism arrive at the 
 same ultimate results. Witness this saying of the celebrated 
 Rabbi, who flourished in the thirteenth century, and whose 
 authority is almost absolute among the Jews. The following 
 is his glossary on Deut. xvii. 1 1 : " Even if a Rabbi were to 
 teach that your left hand was the right, and your right hand 
 the left, you are bound to obey." 
 
 The third inference which the reader will draw is as to the 
 influence which such views must have exercised upon educa- 
 tion, alike at home and in schools. It is no doubt only the 
 echo of the most ancient mode of congratulating a parent 
 when to this day those who are present at a circumcision, and 
 also the priest when the first-born is redeemed from him, utter 
 this : " As this child has been joined to the covenant " (or, as 
 the case may be, "attained this redemption"), " so may it also 
 be to him in reference to the ' thorah/ the ' chuppah,' 1 and to 
 good works." The wish marks with twofold emphasis the 
 life that is to come, as compared with the life that now is. 
 
 1 The marriage-baldacchino, under which the regular marriage ceremony is 
 performed. 
 
Subjects of Study. 129 
 
 This quite agrees with the account of Josephus, who contrasts 
 the heathen festivals at the birth of children with the Jewish 
 enactments by which children were from their very infancy 
 nourished up in the laws of God (Ag. Apion, i. 8, 12 ; ii. 18, 
 25, 26). 
 
 There can be no question that, according to the law of 
 Moses, the early education of a child devolved upon the 
 father ; of course, always bearing in mind that his first train- 
 ing would be the mother's (Deut. xi. 19, and many other 
 passages). If the father were not capable of elementary 
 teaching, a stranger would be employed. Passing over the 
 Old Testament period, we may take it that, in the days of 
 Christ, home-teaching ordinarily began when the child was 
 about three years old. There is reason for believing that, even 
 before this, that careful training of the memory commenced, 
 which has ever since been one of the mental characteristics of 
 the Jewish nation. 1 Verses of Scripture, benedictions, wise 
 sayings, etc., were impressed on the child, and mnemonic 
 rules devised to facilitate the retention of what was so 
 acquired. We can understand the reason of this from the 
 religious importance attaching to the exact preservation of the 
 very words of tradition. The Talmud describes the beau ideal 
 of a student when it compares him to a well-plastered cistern, 
 which would not let even a single drop escape. Indeed, 
 according to the Mishnah, he who from negligence " forgets 
 any one thing in his study of the Mishnah, Scripture imputes 
 it to him as if he had forfeited his life;" the reference here 
 being to Deut. iv. 9 (Ab. iii. 10). And so we may attach some 
 
 1 Gfrorer, Jahrh. d. Heils, vol. i. p. 170, proposes as a curious test that all 
 copies of the Talmud should be destroyed, feeling sure that any twelve learned 
 Rabbis would be able to restore it verbatim from memory ! 
 
 K 
 
130 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 credit even to Josephus' boast about his "wonderful memory" 
 (Life, 2). 
 
 In teaching to read, the alphabet was to be imparted by 
 drawing the letters on a board, till the child became familiar 
 with them. Next, the teacher would point in the copy read 
 with his finger, or, still better, with a style, to keep up the 
 attention of the pupil. None but well-corrected manu- 
 scripts were to be used, since, as was rightly said, mis- 
 takes impressed upon the young mind were afterwards not 
 easily corrected. To acquire fluency, the child should be 
 made to read aloud. Special care was to be bestowed on the 
 choice of good language, in which respect, as we know, the 
 inhabitants of Judaea far excelled those of Galilee, who failed 
 not only in elegance of diction, but even in their pronuncia- 
 tion. At five years of age the Hebrew Bible was to be 
 begun ; commencing, however, not with the book of Genesis, 
 but with that of Leviticus. This not (as Altingius suggests 
 in his Academ. Dissert, p. 335) to teach the child his guilt, 
 and the need of justification, but rather because Leviticus 
 contained those ordinances which it behoved a Jew to know 
 as early as possible. The history of Israel would probably 
 have been long before imparted orally, as it was continually 
 repeated on all festive occasions, as well as in the synagogue. 
 
 It has been stated in a former chapter that writing was 
 not so common an accomplishment as reading. Undoubtedly, 
 the Israelites were familiar with it from the very earliest 
 period of their history, whether or not they had generally 
 acquired the art in Egypt. We read of the graving of words 
 on the gems of the high-priest's breastplate, of the record of 
 the various genealogies of the tribes, etc. ; while such passages 
 as Deut vi. 9 ; xi. 20 ; xxiv. I, 3, imply that the art was not 
 
Subjects of Study. 131 
 
 confined to the priesthood (Num. v. 23), but was known to 
 the people generally. Then we are told of copies of the law 
 (Deut. xvii. 18 ; xxviii. 58, etc.), while in Josh. x. 13 we have 
 a reference to a work called " the book of Jasher." In Josh, 
 xviii. 9 we find mention of a description of Palestine " in a 
 book," and in xxiv. 26 of what Joshua " wrote in the book 0** 
 the law of God." From Judges viii. 14 (margin) it would appe7~ 
 that in the time of Gideon the art of writing was very generally 
 known. After that, instances occur so frequently and applied 
 to so many relationships, that the reader of the Old Testa- 
 ment can have no difficulty in tracing the progress of the art. 
 This is not the place to follow the subject farther, nor to 
 describe the various materials employed at that time, nor the 
 mode of lettering. At a much later period the common 
 mention of "scribes" indicates the popular need of such a 
 class. ^We can readily understand that the Oriental mind 
 would delight in writing enigmatically, that is, conveying by 
 certain expressions a meaning to the initiated which the 
 ordinary reader would miss, or which, at any rate, would leave 
 the explanation to the exercise of ingenuity. Partially in the 
 same class we might reckon the custom of designating a 
 word by its initial letter. All these were very early in practice, 
 and the subject has points of considerable interest. Another 
 matter deserves more serious attention. It will scarcely be 
 credited how general the falsification of signatures and docu- 
 ments had become. Josephus mentions it (Ant. xvi. 10, 4) ; 
 and we know that St. Paul was obliged to warn the Thessa- 
 lonians against it (2 Thess. ii. 2), and at last to adopt the 
 device of signing every letter which came from himself. There 
 are scarcely any ancient Rabbinical documents which have not 
 been interpolated by later writers, or, as we might euphemis- 
 
132 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 tically call it, been recast and re-edited. In general, it is not 
 difficult to discover such additions ; although the vigilance 
 and acuteness of the critical scholar are specially required in 
 this direction to guard against rash and unwarrantable in- 
 ferences. But without entering on such points, it may interest 
 the reader to know what writing materials were employed in 
 New Testament times. In Egypt red ink seems to have 
 been used ; but assuredly the ink mentioned in the New 
 Testament was black, as even the term indicates (" melan," 
 3 Cor. iii. 3 ; 2 John 12; 3 John 13). Josephus speaks of 
 writing in gold letters (Ant. xii. 2, n) ; and in the Mishnah 
 (Meg. ii. 2) we read of mixed colours, of red, of sympathetic 
 ink, and of certain chemical compositions. Reed quills are 
 mentioned in 3 John 13. The best of these came from 
 Egypt ; and the use of a penknife would of course be indis- 
 pensable. Paper (from the Egyptian " papyrus ") is men- 
 tioned in 2 John 12 ; parchment in 2 Tim. iv. 13. Of this 
 there were three kinds, according as the skin was used either 
 whole, or else split up into an outer and an inner skin. 
 The latter was used for the Mesusah. Shorter memoranda 
 were made on tablets, which in the Mishnah (SJiab. xii. 4) 
 bear the same name as in Luke i. 63. 
 
 Before passing to an account of elementary schools, it may 
 be well, once and for all, to say that the Rabbis did not 
 approve of the same amount of instruction being given to 
 girls as to boys. More particularly they disapproved of their 
 engaging in legal studies partly because they considered 
 woman's mission and duties as lying in other directions, 
 partly because the subjects were necessarily not always suit- 
 able for the other sex, partly because of the familiar inter- 
 course between the sexes to which such occupations would 
 
Subjects of Study. ,113- 
 
 Iiave necessarily led, and finally shall we say it ? because 
 the Rabbis regarded woman's mind as not adapted for such 
 investigations. The unkindest thing, perhaps, which they said 
 on this score was, "Women are of a light mind;" though in its 
 oft repetition the saying almost reads like a semi-jocular way 
 of cutting short a subject on which discussion is disagreeable. 
 However, instances of Rabbinically learned women do occur. 
 What their Biblical knowledge and what their religious in- 
 fluence was, we learn no^ only from the Rabbis, but from the 
 New Testament. Their attendance at all public and domestic 
 festivals, and in the synagogues, and the circumstance that 
 certain injunctions and observances of Rabbinic origin de- 
 volved upon them also, prove that, though not learned in the 
 law, there must have been among them not a few who, like 
 Lois and Eunice, could train a child in the knowledge of the 
 Scripture, or, like Priscilla, be qualified to explain even to an 
 Apollos the way of God more perfectly. 
 
 Supposing, then, a child to be so far educated at home ; 
 suppose him, also, to be there continually taught the com- 
 mandments and observances, and, as the Talmud expressly 
 states, to be encouraged to repeat the prayers aloud, so as to 
 accustom him to it. At six years of age he would be sent to 
 school ; not to an academy, or " beth hammedrash," which he 
 would only attend if he proved apt and promising ; far less to 
 the class-room of a great Rabbi, or the discussions of the 
 Sanhedrim, which marked a very advanced stage of study. 
 We are here speaking only of primary or elementary schools, 
 such as even in the time of our Lord were attached to every 
 synagogue in the land. Passing over the supposed or real 
 Biblical notices of schools, and confining our attention strictly 
 to the period ending with the destruction of the Temple, we 
 
X 34 J Sketches of JewisJi Life. 
 
 have first a notice in the Talmud (Bab. B. 21, ), ascribing to 
 Ezra an ordinance, that as many schoolmasters as chose should 
 be allowed to establish themselves in any place, and that 
 those who had formerly been settled there might not interfere 
 with them. In all likelihood this notice should not be taken 
 in its literal sense, but as an indication that the encourage- 
 ment of schools and of education engaged the attention of 
 Ezra and of his successors. Of the Grecianised academies 
 which the wicked high-priest Jason tried to introduce in 
 Jerusalem (2 Mace. iv. 12, 13) we do not speak, because they 
 were anti-Jewish in their spirit, and that to such extent, that 
 the Rabbis, in order to " make a hedge," forbade all gymnastic 
 exercises. The farther history and progress of Jewish schools 
 are traced in the following passage of the Talmud (Bab. B. 21, 
 a) : " If any one has merit, and deserves that his name should 
 be kept in remembrance, it is Joshua, the son of Gamaliel. 
 Without him the law would have fallen into oblivion in Israel. 
 For they used to rest on this saying of the law (Deut. xi. 19), 
 *Ye shall teach them.' Afterwards it was ordained that 
 masters be appointed at Jerusalem for the instruction of 
 youth, as it is written (Isa. ii. 3), * Out of Zion shall go forth 
 the law.' But even so the remedy was not effectual, only those 
 who had fathers being sent to school, and the rest being 
 neglected. Hence it was arranged that Rabbis should be 
 appointed in every district, and that lads of sixteen or seven- 
 teen years should be sent to their academies. But this 
 institution failed, since every lad ran away if he was chastised 
 by his master. At last Joshua the son of Gamaliel arranged, 
 that in every province and in every town schoolmasters be 
 appointed, who should take charge of all boys from six or 
 seven years of age." We may add at once, that the Joshua 
 
Subjects of Study. 135 
 
 here spoken of was probably the high-priest of that name 
 who flourished before the destruction of the Temple, and that 
 unquestionably this farther organisation implied at least the 
 existence of elementary schools at an earlier period. 
 i Every place, then, which numbered twenty-five boys of a 
 suitable age, or, according to Maimonides, one hundred and 
 twenty families, was bound to appoint a schoolmaster. More 
 than twenty-five pupils or thereabouts he was not allowed to 
 teach in a class. If there were forty, he had to employ an 
 assistant ; if fifty, the synagogue authorities appointed two 
 teachers. This will enable us to understand the statement, 
 no doubt greatly exaggerated, that at the destruction of 
 Jerusalem there were no fewer than four hundred and eighty 
 schools in the metropolis. From another passage, which 
 ascribes the fall of the Jewish state to the neglect of the edu- 
 cation of children, we may infer what importance popular 
 opinion attached to it. But indeed, to the Jew, child-life was 
 something peculiarly holy, and the duty of filling it with 
 thoughts of God specially sacred. It almost seems as if the 
 people generally had retained among them the echo of our 
 Lord's saying, that their angels continually behold the face of 
 our Father which is in heaven. Hence the religious care con- 
 nected with education. The grand object of the teacher was 
 moral as well as intellectual training. To keep children from 
 all intercourse with the vicious ; to suppress all feelings of 
 bitterness, even though wrong had been done to one's 
 parents j 1 to punish all real wrong-doing ; not to prefer one 
 child to another ; rather to show sin in its repulsiveness than 
 
 1 To this day there is this beautiful prayer in the Jewish liturgy: "In regard 
 to those who curse, let my soul be silent j yea, let my soul be like the dust 
 towards all" 
 
136 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 to predict what punishment would follow, either in this or the 
 next world, so as not to " discourage " the child such are 
 some of the rules laid down. 1 A teacher was not even to 
 promise a child anything which he did not mean to perform, 
 lest its mind be familiarised with falsehood. Everything that 
 might call up disagreeable or indelicate thoughts was to be 
 carefully avoided. The teacher must not lose patience if his 
 pupil understood not readily, but rather make the lesson more 
 plain. He might, indeed, and he should, punish when neces- 
 sary, and, as one of the Rabbis put it, treat the child like a 
 young heifer whose burden was daily increased. But excessive 
 severity was to be avoided ; and we are told of one teacher 
 who was actually dismissed from office for this reason. Where 
 possible, try kindness ; and if punishment was to be adminis- 
 tered, let the child be beaten with a strap, but never with a 
 rod. At ten the child began to study the Mishnah ; at fifteen 
 he must be ready for the Talmud, which would be explained 
 to him in a more advanced academy. If after three, or at 
 most five, years of tuition the child had not made decided 
 progress, there was little hope of his attaining to eminence. 
 In the study of the Bible the pupil was to proceed from the 
 book of Leviticus to the rest of the Pentateuch, thence to the 
 Prophets, and lastly to the Hagiographa. This regulation 
 was in accordance with the degree of value which the Rabbis 
 attached to these divisions of the Bible. 2 In the case of 
 advanced pupils the day was portioned out one part being 
 devoted to the Bible, the other two to the Mishnah and the 
 
 1 The references here are too numerous to be given. In general, compare 
 Hamburger, Real. Enc. vol. i. p. 340; my History of the Jewish Nation, p. 298} 
 and the pamphlet by Ehrmann, Beitr. zur Gesch. d. Schulen. 
 
 * The full explanation of this must be reserved to a larger work. 
 
Subjects of Study. 137 
 
 Talmud. Every parent was also advised to have his child 
 taught swimming. 
 
 It has already been stated that in general the school was held 
 in the synagogue. Commonly its teacher was the " chazan," 
 or " minister " (Luke iv. 20) ; by which expression we are to 
 understand not a spiritual office, but something like that of a 
 beadle. This officer was salaried by the congregation ; nor 
 was he allowed to receive fees from his pupils, lest he should 
 show favour to the rich. The expenses were met by voluntary 
 and charitable contributions ; and in case of deficiency the 
 most distinguished Rabbis did not hesitate to go about and 
 collect aid from the wealthy. The number of hours during 
 which the junior classes were kept in school was limited. As 
 the close air of the school-room might prove injurious during 
 the heat of the day, lessons were intermitted between ten 
 A.M. and three P.M. For similar reasons, only four hours 
 were allowed for instruction between the seventeenth of 
 Thamuz and the ninth of Ab (about July and August), and 
 teachers were forbidden to chastise their pupils during these 
 months. The highest honour and distinction attached to the 
 office of a teacher, if worthily discharged. Want of know- 
 ledge or of method was regarded as sufficient cause for 
 removing a teacher ; but experience was always deemed a 
 better qualification than mere acquirements. No teacher was 
 employed who was not a married man. To discourage un- 
 wholesome rivalry, and to raise the general educational 
 standard, parents were prohibited from sending their children 
 to other than the schools of their own towns. 
 
 A very beautiful trait was the care bestowed on the children 
 of the poor and on orphans. In the Temple there was a 
 special receptacle that "of the secret" for contributions, 
 
138 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 which were privately applied for the education of the children 
 of the pious poor. To adopt and bring up an orphan was 
 regarded as specially a " good work." This reminds us of 
 the apostolic description of a " widow indeed," as one " well 
 reported for good works ; " who " had brought up children, 
 lodged strangers, washed the saints' feet, relieved the afflicted, 
 diligently followed every good work" (i Tim. v. 10). Indeed, 
 orphans were the special charge of the whole congregation 
 not thrust into poor-houses, and the parochial authorities 
 were even bound to provide a fixed dowry for female orphans. 
 Such were the surroundings, and such the atmosphere, 
 in which Jesus of Nazareth moved while tabernacling among 
 men. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 MOTHERS, DAUGHTERS, AND WIVES IN ISRAEL. 
 
 IN order accurately to understand the position of woman 
 in Israel, it is only necessary carefully to peruse the New 
 Testament. The picture of social life there presented gives 
 a full view of the place which she held in private and in 
 public -life. Here we do not find that separation, so common 
 among Orientals at all times, but woman mingles freely 
 with others both at home and abroad. So far from suffering 
 under social inferiority, she takes influential and often leading 
 part in all movements, specially those of a religious character. 
 Above all, we 1 are wholly spared those sickening details of pri- 
 vate and public immorality with which contemporary classical 
 literature abounds. Among Israel woman was pure, the home 
 happy, and the family hallowed by a religion which consisted 
 not only in public services, but entered into daily life, and 
 embraced in its observances every member of the household. 
 It was so not only in New Testament times but always in 
 Israel. St. Peter's reference to " the holy women " " in the old 
 time" (i Pet. iii. 5) is thoroughly in accordance with Tal- 
 mudical views. Indeed, his quotation of Gen. xviii. 12, and 
 its application : " Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling 
 
140 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 him lord," occur in precisely the same manner in Rabbinical 
 writings (Tanch. 28, 6), where her respect and obedience are 
 likewise set forth as a pattern to her daughters. 1 
 
 Some further details may illustrate the matter better than 
 arguments. The creation of woman from the rib of Adam 
 is thus commented on : 2 " It is as if Adam had exchanged 
 a pot of earth for a precious jewel." This, although Jewish 
 wit caustically had it : " God has cursed woman, yet all the 
 world runs after her ; He has cursed the ground, yet all the 
 world lives of it." In what reverence " the four mothers," 
 as the Rabbis designate Sarah, Rebekah, Leah, and Rachel, 
 were held, and what influence they exercised in patriarchal 
 history, no attentive reader of Scripture can fail to notice. And 
 as we follow on the sacred story, Miriam, who had originally 
 saved Moses, leads the song of deliverance on the other side 
 of the flood, and her influence, though not always for good, 
 continued till her death (compare Micah vi. 4). Then " the 
 women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom " contribute 
 to the rearing of the Tabernacle; 3 Deborah works deliverance, 
 and judgeth in Israel ; and the piety of Manoah's wife is at 
 least as conspicuous, and more intelligent, than her husband's 
 (Judg. xiii. 23). So also is that of the mother of Samuel. 
 In the times of the kings the praises of Israel's maidens stir 
 
 1 The following illustration also occurs : A certain wise woman said to her 
 daughter before her marriage : " My child, stand before thy husband and minister 
 to him. If thou wilt act as his maiden he will be thy slave, and honour thee as his 
 mistress ; but if thou exalt thyself against him, he will be thy master, and thou 
 shalt become vile in his eyes, like one of the maidservants." 
 
 * Shab. 23. 
 
 8 There is a Jewish tradition that the women had contributed of their substance 
 to the Tabernacle, but refused to do so for making the golden calf, which is deduced 
 from the account in Ex. xxxii. 2 compared with verse 3. 
 
Mothers, Daughters, and Wives in Israel. 141 
 
 the jealousy of Saul ; Abigail knows how to avert the 
 danger of her husband's folly ; the wise woman of Tekoah is 
 sent for to induce the king to fetch his banished home ; and 
 the conduct of a woman " in her wisdom " puts an end to the 
 rebellion of Sheba. Later on, the constant mention of queen 
 mothers, and their frequent interference in the government, 
 shows their position. Such names as that of Huldah the 
 prophetess, and the idyllic narrative of the Shunammite, will 
 readily occur to the memory. The story of a woman's 
 devotion forms the subject of the Book of Ruth ; that of her 
 pure and faithful love, the theme or the imagery of the Song 
 of Songs ; that of her courage and devotion the groundwork 
 of the Book of Esther : while her worth and virtues are 
 enumerated in the closing chapter of the Book of Proverbs. 
 Again, in the language of the prophets the people of God 
 are called " the daughter," " the virgin daughter of Zion," 
 " the daughter of Jerusalem," " the daughter of Judah," etc. ; 
 and their relationship to God is constantly compared to that 
 of the married state. The very terms by which woman is 
 named in the Old Testament are significant. If the man 
 is Isk, his wife is Ishah, simply his equal ; if the husband 
 is Gever y the riiler, the woman is, in her own domain, Gevirah 
 and Gevereth, the mistress (as frequently in the history of 
 Sarah and in other passages), or else the dweller at home 
 (Nevath bayith, Ps. Ixviii. I2). 1 Nor is it otherwise in New 
 
 1 Similar expressions are Sarah and Shiddak, both Irom roots meaning to rule. 
 Nor is this inconsistent with the use of the word Baal, to marry, and Beulah, the 
 married one, from Baal, a lord even as Sarah "called Abraham lord" (i Pet. 
 iii. 6, the expression used of her to Abimelech, Gen. xx. 3, being BeulaJi). Of 
 course it is not meant that these are the only words for females. But the others, 
 mch as Bath and Naarah, are either simply feminine terminations, or else, as 
 Bethulah, Levush, Nekevah, Almah, Rachem, descriptive of their physical state. 
 
142 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 Testament times. The ministry of woman to our blessed 
 Lord, and in the Church, has almost become proverbial. 
 Her position there marks really not a progress upon, but the 
 full carrying out of, the Old Testament idea ; or, to put the 
 matter in another light, we ask no better than that any one 
 who is acquainted with classical antiquity should compare 
 what he reads of a Dorcas, of the mother of Mark, of Lydia, 
 Priscilla, Phcebe, Lois, or Eunice, with what he Jcnows of the 
 noble women of Greece and Rome at that period. 
 
 Of course, against all this may be set the permission of 
 polygamy, which undoubtedly was in force at the time of our 
 Lord, and the ease with which divorce might be obtained. In 
 reference to both these, however, it must be remembered that 
 they were temporary concessions to " the hardness " of the 
 people's heart. For, not only must the circumstances of the 
 times and the moral state of the Jewish and of neighbouring 
 nations be taken into account, but there were progressive 
 stages of spiritual development. If these had not been taken 
 into account, the religion of the Old Testament would have 
 been unnatural and an impossibility. Suffice it, that "from 
 the beginning it was not so," nor yet intended to be so in 
 the end the intermediate period thus marking the gradual 
 progress from the perfectness of the idea to the perfectness 
 of its realisation. Moreover, it is impossible to read the 
 Old, and still more the New Testament without gathering 
 from it the conviction, that polygamy was not the rule 
 but the rare exception, so far as the people generally 
 were concerned. Although the practice in reference to 
 divorce was certainly more lax, even the Rabbis sur- 
 rounded it with so many safeguards that, in point of 
 fact, it must in many cases b*ve been difficult of accom- 
 
Mothers, Daughters, and Wives in Israel. 143 
 
 plishment. In general, the whole tendency of the Mosaic 
 legislation, and even more explicitly that ot later Rabbinical 
 ordinances, was in the direction of recognising the rights of 
 woman, with a scrupulousness which reached down even to 
 the Jewish slave, and a delicacy that guarded her most 
 sensitive feelings. Indeed, we feel warranted in saying, that 
 in cases of dispute the law generally leant to her side. Of 
 divorce we shall have to speak in the sequel. But what the 
 religious views and feelings both about it and monogamy 
 were at the time of Malachi, appears from the pathetic 
 description of the altar of God as covered with the tears of . 
 "the wife of youth," "the wife of thy covenant," " thy com- 
 panion," who had been " put away " or " treacherously dealt " 
 with (Mai. ii. 13 to end). The whole is so beautifully para- 
 phrased by the Rabbis that we subjoin it : 1 
 
 "If death hath snatched from thee the wife of youth, 
 It is as if the sacred city were, 
 And e'en the Temple, in thy pilgrim days, 
 Defiled, laid low, and levelled with the dust 
 The man who harshly sends from him 
 His first-woo'd. wife, the loving wife of youth, 
 For him the very altar of the Lord 
 Sheds forth its tears of bitter agony." 
 
 Where the social intercourse between the sexes was nearly 
 as unrestricted as among ourselves, so far as consistent with 
 Eastern manners, it would, of course, be natural for a young 
 man to make personal choice of his bride. Of this Scripture 
 affords abundant evidence. But, at any rate, the woman 
 had, in case of betrothal or marriage, to give her own free 
 and expressed consent, without which a union was invalid. 
 
 1 After the elegant poetical version of Dr. Sachs (Stimmen vom Jordan u. 
 Enphrat. p. 347). We select this one poetic description of Jewish wedded love 
 and respect for woman from among many that might be given. 
 
144 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 Minors in the case of girls up to twelve years and one day 
 might be betrothed or given away by their father. In that 
 case, however, they had afterwards the right of insisting upon 
 divorce. Of course, it is not intended to convey that woman 
 attained her full position till under the New Testament. But 
 this is only to repeat what may be said of almost every social 
 state and relationship. Yet it is most marked how deeply the 
 spirit of the Old Testament, which is essentially that of the 
 New also, had in this respect also penetrated the life of Israel. 
 St. Paul's warning (2 Cor. vi. 14) against being " unequally 
 yoked together," which is an allegorical application of Lev. 
 xix, 19 ; Deut. xxii. 10, finds to some extent a counterpart 
 in mystical Rabbinical writings, 1 where the last-mentioned 
 passage is expressly applied to spiritually unequal marriages. 
 The admonition of I Cor. vii. 39 to marry " only in the Lord," 
 recalls many similar Rabbinical warnings, from which we 
 select the most striking. Men, we are told, 2 are wont to 
 marry for one of four reasons for passion, wealth, honour, or 
 the glory of God. As for the first-named class of marriages, 
 their issue must be expected to be " stubborn and rebellious " 
 sons, as we may gather from the section referring to such 
 following upon that in Deut. xxi. n. In regard to marriages 
 for wealth, we are to learn a lesson from the sons of Eli, who 
 sought to enrich themselves in such manner, but of whose 
 posterity it was said (i Sam. ii. 36) that they should "crouch 
 for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread." Of marriages for 
 the sake of connection, honour, and influence, King Jehoram 
 offered a warning, who became King Ahab's son-in-law, be- 
 
 1 The somewhat similar reference to Lev. xix. 19 in PhUo. de Great. Princ. 
 (ed Francof.) pp. 730, 731, mentioned in Wetstein, Nov. Test. ii. p. 193, docs 
 not seem sufficiently parallel for quotation. 
 
 2 Yalkut on Deut. xxi. i> 
 
Mothers, Daughters, and Wives in Israel. 145 
 
 cause that monarch had seventy sons, whereas upon his death 
 his widow Athaliah " arose and destroyed all the seed royal " 
 (2 Kings xi. i). But far otherwise is it in case of marriage 
 "in the name of heaven." The issue of such will be children 
 who " preserve Israel." In fact, the Rabbinical references to 
 marrying " in the name of heaven," or " for the name of God," 
 in God and for God are so frequent and so emphatic, that 
 the expressions used by St. Paul must have come familiarly 
 to him. Again, much that is said in I Cor. vii. about the 
 married estate, finds striking parallels in Talmudical writings. 
 One may here be mentioned, as explaining the expression 
 (ver. 14) :" Else were your children unclean ; but now are they 
 holy." Precisely the same distinction was made by the Rabbis 
 in regard to proselytes, whose children, if begotten before their 
 conversion to Judaism, were said to be "unclean;" if after 
 that event to have been born " in holiness," only that, among 
 the Jews, both parents required to profess Judaism, while 
 St. Paul argues in the contrary direction, and concerning a 
 far different holiness than that which could be obtained 
 through any mere outward ceremony. 
 
 Some further details, gathered almost at random, will give 
 glimpses of Jewish home life and of current views. It was by a 
 not uncommon, though irreverent, mode of witticism, that two 
 forms of the same verb, sounding almost alike, were made to 
 express opposite experiences of marriage. It was common 
 to ask a newly-married husband : " Maza or Moze ? " 
 " findeth" or " found ;" the first expression occurring in Prov. 
 xviii. 22, the second in Eccles. vii. 26. A different sentiment 
 is the following from the Talmud ( Yeb. 62 b ; Sank. 76 b), 
 the similarity of which to Eph. v. 28 will be immediately 
 recognised : " He that loveth his wife as his own body, 
 
 L 
 
146 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 honoureth her more than his own body, brings up his children 
 in the right way, and leads them in it to full age of him the 
 Scripture saith : ' Thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall 
 be in peace } (Job v. 24)." Of all qualities those most desired 
 in woman were meekness, modesty, and shamefacedness. 
 Indeed, brawling, gossip in the streets, and immodest 
 behaviour in public were sufficient grounds for divorce. Of 
 course, Jewish women would never have attempted " teaching " 
 in the synagogue, where they occupied a place separate from 
 the men for Rabbinical study, however valued for the male 
 sex, was disapproved of in the case of women. Yet this 
 direction of St. Paul (i Tim. ii. 12) : " I suffer not a woman to 
 usurp authority over the man " findeth some kind of parallel in 
 the Rabbinical saying : " Whoever allows himself to be ruled 
 by his wife, shall call out, and no one will make answer to him." 
 It is on similar grounds that the Rabbis argue, that man 
 must seek after woman, and not a woman after a man ; 
 only the reason which they assign for it sounds strange. Man, 
 they say, was formed from the ground woman from man's 
 rib ; hence, in trying to find a wife man only looks after what 
 he had lost ! This formation of man from soft clay, and of 
 woman from a hard bone, also illustrated why man was so 
 much more easily reconcilable than woman. Similarly, it was 
 observed, that God had not formed woman out of the head, 
 lest she should become proud ; nor out of the eye, lest she 
 should lust ; nor out of the ear, lest she should be curious ; 
 nor out of the mouth, lest she should be talkative ; nor out of 
 the heart, lest she should be jealous ; nor out of the hand, 
 lest she should be covetous ; nor out of the foot, lest she be 
 a busybody ; but out of the rib, which was always covered. 
 Modesty was, therefore, a prime quality. Jt was no doubt 
 
Mothers, Daughters, and Wives in Israel. 147 
 
 chiefly in jealous regard for this, that women were interdicted 
 engaging in Rabbinical studies ; and a story is related to show 
 how even the wisest of women, Beruria, was thereby brought 
 to the brink of extreme danger. It is not so easy to explain 
 why women were dispensed from all positive obligations 
 (commands, but not prohibitions) that were not general in 
 their bearing (Kidd. i. 7, 8), but fixed to certain periods of 
 time (such as wearing the phylacteries, etc.), and from that of 
 certain prayers, unless it be that woman was considered not 
 her own mistress but subject to others, or else that husband 
 and wife were regarded as one, so that his merits and prayers 
 applied to her as well. Indeed, this view, at least so far as 
 the meritorious nature of a man's engagement with the law 
 is concerned, is expressly brought forward, and women are 
 accordingly admonished to encourage their husbands in all 
 such studies. 
 
 We can understand how, before the coming of the Messiah, 
 marriage should have been looked upon as of religious 
 obligation. Many passages of Scripture were at least quoted 
 in support of this idea. Ordinarily, a young man was expected 
 to enter the wedded state (according to Maimonides) at the 
 age of sixteen or seventeen, while the age of twenty may 
 be regarded as the utmost limit conceded, unless study so 
 absorbed time and attention as to leave no leisure for the 
 duties of married life. Still it was thought better even to 
 neglect study than to remain single. Yet money cares on 
 account of wife and children were dreaded. The same 
 comparison is used in reference to them, which our Lord 
 applies to quite a different " offence," that against the " little 
 ones " (Luke xvii. 2). Such cares are called by the Rabbis, 
 " a millstone round the neck " (Kidd. 29 b). In fact, the 
 
148 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 expression seems to have become proverbial, like so many 
 others which are employed in the New Testament. 
 
 We read in the Gospel that, when the Virgin-mother " was 
 espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was 
 found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her 
 husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her 
 a public example, was minded to put her away privily " 
 (Matt. i. 1 8, 19). The narrative implies a distinction be- 
 tween betrothal and marriage Joseph being at the time 
 betrothed, but not actually married to the Virgin-mother. 
 Even in the Old Testament a distinction is made between 
 betrothal and marriage. The former was marked by a bridal 
 present (or Mokar, Gen. xxxiv. 12; Ex. xxii. 17 ; I Sam. 
 xviii. 25), with which the father, however, would in certain 
 circumstances dispense. From the moment of her betrothal 
 a woman was treated as if she were actually married. The 
 union could not be dissolved, except by regular divorce ; 
 breach of faithfulness was regarded as adultery ; and the 
 property of the woman became virtually that of her betrothed, 
 unless he had expressly renounced it (Kidd. ix. i). But even 
 in that case he was her natural heir. It is impossible here to 
 enter into the various legal details, as, for example, about pro- 
 perty or money which might come to a woman after betrothal 
 or marriage. The law adjudicated this to the husband, 
 yet with many restrictions, and with infinite delicacy towards 
 the woman, as if reluctant to put in force the rights of the 
 stronger (Kidd. viii. I, etc.). From the Mishnah (Bab. E. x. 4) 
 we also learn that there were regular Shit re Entsin, or 
 writings of betrothal, drawn up by the authorities (the costs 
 being paid by the bridegroom). These stipulated the mutual 
 obligations, the dowry, and all other points on which the 
 
Mothers, Daughters , and Wives in Israel. 149 
 
 parties had agreed. The Shitre Erusin were different from 
 the regular Chethubah (literally, 'writing), or marriage con- 
 tract, without which the Rabbis regarded a marriage as 
 merely legalised concubinage (Cheth. v. i). The Chethubah 
 provided a settlement of at least two hundred denars for 
 a maiden, and one hundred denars for a widow, while the 
 priestly council at Jerusalem fixed four hundred denars for a 
 priest's daughter. Of course these sums indicate only the 
 legal minimum, and might be increased indefinitely at plea- 
 sure, though opinions differ whether any larger sums might be 
 legally exacted, if matters did not go beyond betrothal. The 
 form at present in use among the Jews sets forth, that the 
 bridegroom weds his bride " according to the law of Moses and 
 of Israel ; " that he promises " to please, to honour, to nourish, 
 and to care for her, as is the manner of the men of Israel," 
 adding thereto the woman's consent, the document being 
 signed by two witnesses. In all probability this was substan- 
 tially the form in olden times. In Jerusalem and in Galilee 
 where it was said that men in their choice had regard to " a 
 fair degree," while in the rest of Judaea they looked a good 
 deal after money widows had the right of residence in their 
 husband's house secured to them. 
 
 On the other hand, a father was bound to provide a dowry 
 (nedan, nedanjah) for his daughter conformable to her station 
 in life ; and a second daughter could claim a portion equal to 
 that of her elder sister, or else one-tenth of all immovable 
 property. In case of the father's death, the sons, who, accord- 
 ing to Jewish law, were his sole heirs, were bound to maintain 
 their sisters, even though this would have thrown them upon 
 public charity, and to endow each with a tenth part of what 
 had been left. The dowry, whether in money, property, or 
 
150 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 jewellery, was entered into the marriage contract, and really 
 belonged to the wife, the husband being obliged to add to it 
 one-half more, if it consisted of money or money's value ; and 
 if of jewellery, etc., to assign to her four-fifths of its value. In 
 case of separation (not divorce) he was bound to allow her a 
 proper aliment, and to re-admit her to his table and house on 
 the Sabbath-eve. A wife was entitled to one-tenth of her 
 dowry for pin-money. If a father gave away his daughter 
 without any distinct statement about her dowry, he was bound 
 to allow her at least fifty sus; and if it had been expressly sti- 
 pulated that she was to have no dowry at all, it was delicately 
 enjoined that the bridegroom should, before marriage, give her 
 sufficient for the necessary outfit. An orphan was to receive 
 a dowry of at least fifty sus from the parochial authorities. 
 A husband could not oblige his wife to leave the Holy Land 
 nor the city of Jerusalem, nor yet to change a town for a 
 country residence, or vice versd, nor a good for a bad house. 
 These are only a few of the provisions which show how care- 
 fully the law protected the interests of women. To enter into 
 farther details would lead beyond our present object. All this 
 was substantially settled at the betrothal, which, in Judsea at 
 least, seems to have been celebrated by a feast. Only a bond 
 fide breach of these arrangements, or wilful fraud, was deemed 
 valid ground for dissolving the bond once formed. Other- 
 wise, as already noted, a regular divorce was necessary. 
 
 According to Rabbinical law certain formalities were 
 requisite to make a betrothal legally valid. These consisted 
 either in handing to a woman, directly or through mes 
 sengers, a piece of money, however small, or else a letter, 
 
 1 There was also a third mode of espousal simply by cohabitation, but this 
 was very strongly disapproved by the Rabbis, 
 
Mother s. Daughter s, and Wives in Israel. 151 
 
 provided it were in each case expressly stated before witnesses, 
 that the man thereby intended to espouse the woman as 
 his wife. The marriage followed after a longer or shorter 
 interval, the limits of which, however, were fixed by law. 
 The ceremony itself consisted in leading the bride into the 
 house of the bridegroom, with certain formalities, mostly dating 
 from very ancient times. Marriage with a maiden was 
 commonly celebrated on a Wednesday afternoon, whicfc 
 allowed the first days of the week for preparation, and 
 enabled the husband, if he had a charge to prefer against 
 the previous chastity of his bride, to make immediate com- 
 plaint before the local Sanhedrim, which sat every Thursday. 
 On the other hand, the marriage of a widow was celebrated 
 on Thursday afternoon, which left three days of the week for 
 " rejoicing with her." This circumstance enables us, with some 
 certainty, to arrange the date of the events which preceded 
 the marriage in Cana. Inferring from the accompanying 
 festivities that it was the marriage of a maiden, and there- 
 fore took place on a Wednesday, we have the following 
 succession of events : On Thursday (beginning as every 
 Jewish day with the previous evening), testimony of the 
 Baptist to the Sanhedrim-deputation from Jerusalem. On 
 Friday (John i. 29), "John seeth Jesus coming unto him," 
 and significantly preacheth the first sermon about " the Lamb 
 of God which taketh away the sin of the world." On 
 Saturday (ver. 35), John's second sermon on the same text ; 
 the consequent conversion of St. John and St. Andrew, and 
 the calling of St. Peter. On Sunday (ver. 43), our Lord Him- 
 self preacheth His first Messianic sermon, and calls Philip and 
 Nathanael. On "the third day" after it, that is, on Wednes- 
 day, was the marriage in Cana of Galilee. The significance 
 
Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 of these dates, when compared with those in the week of 
 our Lord's Passion, will be sufficiently evident. 
 
 But this is not all that may be learned from the account 
 of the marriage in Cana. Of course, there was a " marriage- 
 feast," as on all these occasions. For this reason, mar- 
 riages were not celebrated either on the Sabbath, or on 
 the day before or after it, lest the Sabbath-rest should be 
 endangered. Nor was it lawful to wed on any of the three 
 annual festivals, in order, as the Rabbis put it, "not to 
 mingle one joy (that of the marriage) with another (that of 
 the festival)." As it was deemed a religious duty to give 
 pleasure to the newly-married couple, the merriment at 
 times became greater than the more strict Rabbis approved. 
 Accordingly, it is said of one, that to produce gravity he broke 
 a vase worth about 2$ ; of another, that at his son's 
 wedding he broke a costly glass ; and of a third, that being 
 asked to sing, he exclaimed, Woe to us, for we must all die ! 
 For, as it is added (Ber. 31 a) : "It is forbidden to man, that 
 his mouth be filled with laughter in this world (dispensation), 
 as it is written, ' Then our mouth was filled with laughter, 
 and our tongue with singing.' When is that to be ? At the 
 time when 'they shall sing among the heathen, The Lord 
 hath done great things for them.'" 
 
 It deserves notice, that at the marriage in Cana there is no 
 mention of " the friends of the bridegroom," or, as we would 
 call them, the groomsmen. This was in strict accordance 
 with Jewish custom, for groomsmen were customary in Judcea, 
 but not in Galilee (Cheth. 25 a). This also casts light upon the 
 locality where John iii. 29 was spoken, in which " the friend 
 of the bridegroom" is mentioned. But this expression is 
 quite different from that of " children of the bridechamber." 
 
Mothers, Daughters, and Wives in Israel. 153 
 
 which occurs in Matt. ix. 15, where the scene is once more 
 laid in Galilee. The term " children of the bridechamber " is 
 .simply a translation of the Rabbinical " bene Chuppah" and 
 means the guests invited to the bridal. In Judaea there were 
 at every marriage two groomsmen or " friends of the bride- 
 groom" one for the bridegroom, the other for his bride. 
 Before marriage, they acted as a kind of intermediaries 
 between the couple ; at the wedding they offered gifts, waited 
 upon the bride and bridegroom, and attended them to the 
 bridal chamber, being also, as it were, the guarantors of the 
 bride's virgin chastity. Hence, when St. Paul tells the 
 Corinthians (2 Cor. xi. 2) : " I am jealous over you with godly 
 jealousy ; for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may 
 present you as a chaste virgin to Christ," he speaks, as it 
 were, in the character of groomsman or " bridegroom's friend," 
 who had acted as such at the spiritual union of Christ with 
 the Corinthian Church. And we know that it was specially 
 the duty of the " friend of the bridegroom " so to present to 
 him his bride. Similarly it was his also, after marriage, to main- 
 tain proper terms between the couple, and more particularly 
 to defend the good fame of the bride against all imputations. 
 It may interest some to know that this custom also was 
 traced up to highest authority. Thus, in the spiritual union 
 of Israel with their God, Moses is spoken of as " the friend 
 of the bridegroom" who leads out the bride (Ex. xix. 17) ; 
 while Jehovah, as the bridegroom, meets His Church at Sinai 
 (Ps. Ixviii. 7 ; PirkediR.EL 41). Nay, in some mystic writings 
 God is described as acting " the friend of the bridegroom," 
 when our first parents met in Eden. There is a touch of 
 poetry in the application of Ezek. xxviii. 13 to that scene, 
 when angels led the choir, and decked and watched the 
 
154 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 bridal-bed (Ab. de R. Nat/tan iv. and xii.). According to 
 another ancient Rabbinical commentary (Ber. R. viii.), God 
 Almighty Himself took the cup of blessing and spoke the 
 benediction, while Michael and Gabriel acted the "bride- 
 groom's friends " to our first parents when they wedded in 
 Paradise. 
 
 With such a " benediction," preceded by a brief formula, 
 with which the bride was handed over to her husband (Tobit 
 vii. 13), the wedding festivities commenced. 1 And so the pair 
 were led towards the bridal chamber (Cheder) and the bridal bed 
 (Chuppafy? 1 The bride went with her hair unloosed. Ordinarily, 
 it was most strictly enjoined upon women to have their head 
 and hair carefully covered. This may throw some light upon 
 the difficult passage, I Cor. xi. i-io. We must bear in mind 
 that the apostle there argues with Jews, and that on their own 
 ground, convincing them by a reference to their own views, 
 customs, and legends of the propriety of the practice which he 
 enjoins. From that point of view the propriety of a woman 
 having her head " covered " could not be called in question. 
 The opposite would, to a Jew, have indicated immodesty. 
 Indeed, it was the custom in the case of a woman accused of 
 adultery to have her hair " shorn or shaven," at the same time 
 using this formula : " Because thou hast departed from the 
 manner of the daughters of Israel, who go with their head 
 covered ; . . . therefore that has befallen thee which thou 
 hast chosen." This so far explains verses 5 and 6. The 
 expression "power," as applied in verse 10 to the head of 
 
 1 It is, to say the least, doubtful whether the Rabbinical form of this benedic- 
 tion and of that at betrothal dates from earliest times. However beautiful, it 
 seems far too elaborate for that 
 
 * The distinction is marked in Joel ii. 16; the Chuppah is also mentioned 
 in Ps. xix. 5. 
 
Mothers, Daughters, and Wives in Israel. 155 
 
 woman, seems to refer to this covering, indicating, as it did, 
 that she was under the power of her husband, while the 
 very difficult addition, " because of the angels," may either 
 allude to the presence of the angels and to the well-known 
 Jewish view (based, no doubt, on truth) that those angels 
 may be grieved or offended by our conduct, and bear 
 the sad tidings before the throne of God, or it may pos- 
 sibly refer to the very ancient Jewish belief, that the evil 
 spirits gained power over a woman who went with her head 
 bare. 
 
 The custom of a bridal veil either for the bride alone, or 
 spread over the couple was of ancient date. It was inter- 
 dicted for a time by the Rabbis after the destruction of 
 Jerusalem. Still more ancient was the wearing of crowns 
 (Cant. iii. n ; Isa. Ixi. 10; Ezek. xvi. 12), which was also pro- 
 hibited after the last Jewish war. Palm and myrtle branches 
 were borne before the couple, grain or money was thrown 
 about, and music preceded the procession, in which all who met 
 it were, as a religious duty, expected to join. 1 The Parable of 
 the Ten Virgins, who, with their lamps, were in expectancy of 
 the bridegroom (Matt. xxv. i), is founded on Jewish custom. 
 For, according to Rabbinical authority, such lamps carried on 
 the top of staves were frequently used, while ten .is the number 
 always mentioned in connection with public solemnities. 2 The 
 marriage festivities generally lasted a week, but the bridal 
 days extended over a full month. 3 
 
 1 See my article on " Marriage " in Cassell's Bible Educator, vol. iv. pp. 267-270. 
 
 2 According to R. Simon (on CheL ii. 8) it was an Eastern custom that, when the 
 bride was led to her future home, "they carried before the party about ten" such 
 lamps. 
 
 3 The practice of calling a wife a bride during the first year o-liur marriage is 
 probably based on Deut. xxiv. 5. 
 
 0? THB 
 
156 Sketches of Jeivisk Life. 
 
 Having entered thus fully on the subject of marriage, a 
 few further particulars may be of interest. The bars to 
 marriage mentioned in the Bible are sufficiently known. To 
 these the Rabbis added others, which have been arranged 
 under two heads as farther extending the laws of kindred 
 (to their secondary degrees), and as intended to guard morality. 
 The former were extended over the whole line of forbidden 
 kindred, where that line was direct, and to one link farther 
 where the line became indirect as, for example, to the wife 
 of a maternal uncle, or to the step-mother of a wife. In the 
 category of guards to morality we include such prohibitions 
 as that a divorced woman might not marry her seducer, nor a 
 man the woman to whom he had brought her letter of divorce, 
 or in whose case he had borne testimony ; or of marriage with 
 those not in their right senses, or in a state of drunkenness ; 
 or of the marriage of minors, or under fraud, etc. A widower 
 had to wait over three festivals, a widow three months, before 
 re-marrying, or if she was with child or gave suck, for two 
 years. A woman might not be married a third time ; no 
 marriage could take place within thirty days of the death of a 
 near relative, nor yet on the Sabbath, nor on a feast-day, etc. 
 Of the marriage to a deceased husband's brother (or the next 
 of kin), in case of childlessness, it is unnecessary here to speak, 
 since although the Mishnah devotes a whole tractate to it 
 (Yebamoth), and it was evidently customary at the time of 
 Christ (Mark xii. 19, etc.), the practice was considered as 
 connected with the territorial possession of Palestine, and 
 ceased with the destruction of the Jewish commonwealth 
 (Bechar. i. 7). A priest was to inquire into the legal descent 
 of his wife (up to four degrees if the daughter of a priest, 
 otherwise up to five degrees), except where the bride's father 
 
Mothers, Daughters, and Wives in Israel. 157 
 
 was a priest in actual service, or a member of the Sanhedrim. 
 The high-priest's bride was to be a maid not older than six 
 months beyond her puberty. 
 
 The fatal ease with which divorce could be obtained, and 
 its frequency, appear from the question addressed to Christ 
 by the Pharisees : " Is it lawful for a man to put away his 
 wife for every cause ? " J (Matt. xix. 3), and still more from the 
 astonishment with which the disciples had listened to the 
 reply of the Saviour (ver. 10). That answer was much wider 
 in its range than our Lord's initial teaching in the Ser- 
 mon on the Mount (Matt. v. 32). 2 To the latter no Jew could 
 have had any objection, even though its morality would have 
 seemed elevated beyond their highest standard, represented 
 in this case by the school of Shammai, while that of Hillel, 
 and still more Rabbi Akiba, presented the lowest opposite 
 extreme. But in reply to the Pharisees, our Lord placed the 
 whole question on grounds which even the strictest Sham- 
 maite would have refused to adopt. For the farthest limit 
 to which he would have gone would have been to restrict the 
 cause of divorce to " a matter of uncleanness " (Deut. xxiv. i), 
 by which he would probably have understood not only a 
 breach of the marriage vow, but of the laws and customs of 
 the land. In fact, we know that it included every kind of 
 impropriety, such as going about with loose hair, spinning in 
 the street, familiarly talking with men, ill-treating her husband's 
 parents in his presence, brawling, that is, " speaking to her 
 
 1 This other reading has been proposed : "for every offence." This would cer- 
 tainly tally better with the spirit of the Pharisees than the reading in our text us 
 receptus. 
 
 2 Rabbinical ordinances so limited the Mosaic law in regard to an adulteress, 
 that the trial and punishment could only have been of the very rarest occurrence. 
 Into these laws and distinctions we cannot, however, at present enter. 
 
158 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 husband so loudly that the neighbours could hear her in the 
 adjoining house " (Chethub. vii. 6), a general bad reputation, or 
 the discovery of fraud before marriage. On the other hand, 
 the wife could insist on being divorced if her husband were a 
 leper, or affected with polypus, or engaged in a disagreeable 
 or dirty trade, such as that of a tanner or coppersmith. One 
 of the cases in which divorce was obligatory was, if either 
 party had become heretical, or ceased to profess Judaism. 
 But even so, there were at least checks to the danger of 
 general lawlessness, such as the obligation of paying to a wife 
 her portion, and a number of minute ordinances about formal 
 letters of divorce, without which no divorce was legal, 1 and 
 which had to be couched in explicit terms, handed to the 
 woman herself, and that in presence of two witnesses, etc. 
 
 According to Jewish law there were four obligations incum- 
 bent on a wife towards her husband, and ten by which he was 
 bound. Of the latter, three are referred to in Ex. xxi. 9, 10 ; 
 the other seven include her settlement, medical treatment in 
 case of sickness, redemption from captivity, a respectable 
 funeral, provision in his house so long as she remained a 
 widow and had not been paid her dowry, the support of her 
 daughters till they were married, and a provision that her 
 sons should, besides receiving their portion of the father's 
 inheritance, also share in what had been settled upon her. 
 The obligations upon the wife were, that all her gains should 
 belong to her husband, as also what came to her . after 
 marriage by inheritance ; that the husband should have the 
 usufruct of her dowry, and of any gains by it, provided he had 
 the administration of it, in which case, however, he was also 
 
 1 The Jews have it that a woman " is loosed from the law of her husband " by 
 only one of two things : death or a letter of divorce ; hence Rom. vii. 2, 3. 
 
Mothers, Daughters, and Wives in Israel. 159 
 
 responsible for any loss ; and that he should be considered 
 her heir-at-law. 1 
 
 What the family life among the godly in Israel must have 
 been, how elevated its tone, how loving its converse, or how 
 earnestly devoted its mothers and daughters, appears suffi- 
 ciently from the gospel story, from that in the book of Acts, 
 and from notices in the apostolic letters. Women, such as 
 the Virgin-mother, or Elisabeth, or Anna, or those who 
 enjoyed the privilege of ministering to the Lord, or who, after 
 His death, tended and watched for His sacred body, could 
 not have been quite solitary in Palestine ; we find their sisters 
 in a Dorcas, a Lydia, a Phoebe, and those women of whom 
 St. Paul speaks in Phil. iv. 3, and whose lives he sketches in 
 his Epistles to Timothy and Titus. Wives such as Priscilla, 
 mothers such as that of Zebedee's children, or of Mark, or 
 like St. John's " elect lady," or as Lois and Eunice, must have 
 kept the moral atmosphere pure and sweet, and shed precious 
 light on their homes and on society, corrupt to the core as it 
 was under the sway of heathenism. What and how they 
 taught their households, and that even under the most dis- 
 advantageous outward circumstances, we learn from the 
 history of Timothy. And although they were undoubtedly 
 in that respect without many of the opportunities which we 
 enjoy, there was one sweet practice of family religion, going 
 beyond the prescribed prayers, which enabled them to teach 
 their children from tenderest years to intertwine the Word of 
 God with their daily devotion and daily life. For it was the 
 custom to teach a child some verse of Holy Scripture begin- 
 ning or ending with precisely the same letters as its Hebrew 
 
 1 This is not the place to enter into the legal details, fully discussed by the 
 Rabbis, 
 
/6o Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 name, and this birthday text or guardian-promise the child 
 was day by day to insert in its prayers. 1 Such guardian 
 words, familiar to the mind from earliest years, endeared to 
 the heart by tenderest recollections, would remain with the 
 youth in life's temptations, and come back amid the din of 
 manhood's battle. Assuredly, of Jewish children so reared, 
 so trained, so taught, it might be rightly said : " Take heed 
 that ye despise not one of these little ones ; for I say unto 
 you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face 
 of My Father which is in heaven." 
 
 1 Kol Kore^ by R. El. Soloweycyk, p. 184. Compare Taan. 9, a. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 IN DEATH AND AFTER DEATH. 
 
 A SADDER picture could scarcely be drawn than that 
 of the dying Rabbi Jochanan ben Saccai, that " light 
 of Israel " immediately before and after the destruction of 
 the Temple, and for two years the president of the Sanhedrim. 
 We read in the Talmud (Ber. 28 b) that, when his disciples 
 came to see him on his death-bed, he burst into tears. To 
 their astonished inquiry why he, "the light of Israel, the right 
 pillar of the Temple, and its mighty hammer," betrayed 
 such signs of fear, he replied : " If I were now to be brought 
 before an earthly king, who lives to-day and dies to-morrow, 
 whose wrath and whose bonds are not everlasting, and whose 
 sentence of death, even, is not that to everlasting death, who 
 can be assuaged by arguments, or perhaps bought off by 
 money I should tremble and weep ; how much more reason 
 have I for it, when about to be led before the King of kings, 
 the Holy One, blessed be He, Who liveth and abideth for 
 ever. Whose chains are chains for evermore, and Whose 
 sentence of death killeth for ever, Whom I cannot assuage 
 with words, nor bribe by money ! And not only so, but there 
 are before me two ways, one to paradise and the other to hei( ( 
 
 M 
 
1 62 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 and I know not which of the two ways I shall have to go 
 whether to paradise or to hell : how, then, shall I not shea 
 tears ? " Side by side with this we may place the opposite 
 saying of R. Jehudah, called the Holy, who, when he died, 
 lifted up both his hands to heaven, protesting that none of 
 those ten fingers had broken the law of God ! It were 
 difficult to say which of these two is more contrary to the 
 light and liberty of the Gospel the utter hopelessness of the 
 one, or the apparent presumption of the other. 
 
 And yet these sayings also recall to us something in the 
 Gospel. For there also we read of two ways the one to 
 paradise, the other to destruction, and of fearing not those 
 who can kill the body, but rather Him who, after He hath 
 killed the body, hath power to cast into hell. Nor, on the 
 other hand, was the assurance of St. Stephen, of St. James, 
 or of St. Paul, less confident than that of Jehudah, called the 
 Holy, though it expressed itself in a far different manner and 
 rested on quite other grounds. Never are the voices of the 
 Rabbis more discordant, and their utterances more contra- 
 dictory or unsatisfying than in view of the great problems of 
 humanity : sin, sickness, death, and the hereafter. Most truly 
 did St. Paul, taught at the feet of Gamaliel in all the tradi- 
 tions and wisdom of the fathers, speak the inmost conviction 
 of every Christian Rabbinist, that it is only our Saviour 
 Jesus Christ Who " hath brought life and immortality to light 
 through the Gospel" (2 Tim. i. 10). 
 
 When the disciples asked our Lord, in regard to the " man 
 which was blind from his birth : " " Master, who did sin, this 
 man, or his parents, that he was born blind ? " (John ix. I, 2) 
 we vividly realise that we hear a strictly Jewish question. It 
 was just such as was likely to be raised, and it exactly 
 
In Death and after Death. 163 
 
 expressed Jewish belief. That children benefited or suffered 
 according to the spiritual state of their parents was a doctrine 
 current among the Jews. But they also held that an un- 
 born child might contract guilt, since the Yezer ha-ra, or evil 
 disposition which was present from its earliest formation, 
 might even then be called into activity by outward circum- 
 stances. And sickness was regarded as alike the punishment 
 for sin and its atonement. But we also meet with statements 
 which remind us of the teaching of Heb. xii. 5, 9. In fact, 
 the apostolic quotation from Prov. iii. is made for exactly the 
 same purpose in the Talmud (Ber. 5 a), in how different a 
 spirit will appear from the following summary. It appears 
 that two of the Rabbis had disagreed as to what were " the 
 chastisements of love," the one maintaining, on the ground of 
 Ps. xciv. 12, that they were such as did not prevent a man 
 from study, the other inferring from Ps. Ixvi. 20 that the} 
 were such as did not hinder prayer. Superior authority 
 decided that both kinds were " chastisements of love," at the 
 same time answering the quotation from Ps. xciv. by pro- 
 posing to read, not " teachest him" but " teachest us out of 
 Thy law." But that the law teaches us that chastisements are 
 of great advantage might be inferred as follows : If, according 
 to Ex. xxi. 26, 27, a slave obtained freedom through the 
 chastisement of his master a chastisement which affected 
 only one of his members how much more must those chas- 
 tisements effect which purified the whole body of man ? More- 
 over, as another Rabbi reminds us, the " covenant " is men- 
 tioned in connection with salt (Lev.ii. 13), and also in connection 
 with chastisements (Deut. xxviii. 58). "As is the covenant," 
 spoken of in connection with salt, which gives taste to the 
 meat, so also is " the covenant " spoken of in connection with 
 
164 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 chastisements, which purge away all the sins of a man. 
 Indeed, as a third Rabbi says : " Three good gifts hath the 
 Holy One blessed be He! given to Israel, and each of them 
 only through sufferings the law, the land of Israel, and the 
 world to come." The law, according to Ps. xciv. 12 ; the 
 land, according to Deut. viii. 5, which is immediately followed 
 by ver. 7 ; and the world to come, according to Prov. vi. 23. 
 
 As on most other subjects, the Rabbis were accurate and 
 keen observers of the laws of health, and their regulations 
 are often far in advance of modern practice. From many 
 allusions in the Old Testament we infer that the science of 
 medicine, which was carried to comparatively great perfection 
 in Egypt, where every disease had its own physician, was also 
 cultivated in Israel. Thus the sin of Asa, in trusting too 
 much to earthly physicians, is specially reproved (2 Chron. 
 xvi. 12). In New Testament times we read of the woman 
 who had spent all her substance, and suffered so much at the 
 hands of physicians (Mark v. 26) ; while the use of certain 
 remedies, such as oil and wine, in the treatment of wounds 
 (Luke x. 34), seems to have been popularly known. St. Luke 
 was a " physician " (Col. iv. 14) ; and among the regular 
 Temple officials there was a medical man, whose duty it was to 
 attend to the priesthood who, from ministering barefoot, must 
 have been specially liable to certain diseases. The Rabbis 
 ordained that every town must have at least one physician, who 
 was also to be qualified to practise surgery, or else a physician 
 and a surgeon. Some of the Rabbis themselves engaged in 
 medical pursuits : and, in theory at least, every practitioner 
 ought to have had their licence. To employ a heretic or a 
 Hebrew Christian was specially prohibited, though a heathen 
 anight, if needful, be called in. But, despite their patronage 
 
In Death and after Death. 165 
 
 of the science, caustic sayings also occur. " Physician, heal 
 thyself," is really a Jewish proverb ; " Live not in a city whose 
 chief is a medical man " he will attend to public business 
 and neglect his patients ; " The best among doctors deserves 
 Gehenna " for his bad treatment of some, and for his neglect 
 of others. It were invidious to enter into a discussion of the 
 remedies prescribed in those times, although, to judge from 
 what is advised in such cases, we can scarcely wonder that 
 the poor woman in the gospel was nowise benefited, but 
 rather the worse of them (Mark v. 26). The means recom- 
 mended were either generally hygienic and in this respect 
 the Hebrews contrast favourably even with ourselves or 
 purely medicinal, or else sympathetic, or even magical. The 
 prescriptions consisted of simples or of compounds, vegetables 
 being far more used than minerals. Cold-water compresses, 
 the external and internal use of oil and of wine, baths (medi- 
 cated and other), and a certain diet, were carefully indicated 
 in special diseases. Goats'-milk and barley-porridge were 
 recommended in all diseases attended by wasting. Jewish 
 surgeons seem even to have known how to operate for 
 cataract. 
 
 Ordinarily, life was expected to be protracted, and death 
 regarded as alike the punishment and the expiation of sin. 
 To die within fifty years of age was to be cut off; within 
 fifty-two, to die the death of Samuel the prophet ; at sixty 
 years of age, it was regarded as death at the hands of 
 Heaven ; at seventy, as that of an old man ; and at eighty 
 as that of strength. Premature death was likened to the 
 falling off of unripe fruit, or the extinction of a candle. To 
 depart without having a son was to die, otherwise it was to 
 fall asleep. The latter was stated to have been the case 
 
1 66 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 with David ; the former with Joab. If a person had finished 
 his work, his was regarded as the death of the righteous, 
 who is gathered to his fathers. Tradition (Bcr. 8 a) 
 inferred, by a peculiar Rabbinical mode of exegesis, from a 
 word in Ps. Ixii. 12, that there were 903 different kinds of 
 dying. The worst of these was angina, which was compared 
 to tearing out a thread from a piece of wool ; while the sweet- 
 est and gentlest, which was compared to drawing a hair out 
 of milk, was called " death by a kiss." The latter designation 
 originated from Numb, xxxiii. 38 and Deut. xxxiv. 5, in which 
 Aaron and Moses are respectively said to have died " accord- 
 ing to the word" literally, "by the mouth of Jehovah." 
 Over six persons, it was said, the angel of death 1 had had 
 no power viz., Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because they had 
 seen their work quite completed ; and over Miriam, Aaron, 
 and Moses, who had died by " the kiss of God." If prema- 
 ture death was the punishment of sin, the righteous died 
 because others were to enter on their work Joshua on that 
 of Moses, Solomon on that of David, etc. But, when the 
 time for death came, anything might serve for its infliction, 
 or, to put it in Rabbinical language, " O Lord, all these are 
 Thy servants ; " for " whither a man was to go, thither his 
 feet would carry him." 
 
 Certain signs were also noted as to the time and manner of 
 dying. Sudden death was called "being swallowed up," 
 death after one day's illness, that of rejection ; after two 
 days', that of despair ; after four days', that of reproof ; 
 after five days', a natural death. Similarly, the posture 
 
 1 We purposely do not enter on the Rabbinical views about the "angel of 
 death." The Babylon Talmud, however, has a curious passage about anointing 
 the eyes of the dying with oil. 
 
In Death and after Death. 167 
 
 of the dying was carefully marked. To die with a happy 
 smile, or at least with a bright countenance, or looking 
 upward, was a good omen ; to look downward, to seem 
 disturbed, to weep, or even to turn to the wall, were evil 
 signs. 1 On recovering from illness, it was enjoined to return 
 special thanks. It was a curious superstition (Ber. 55 #), 
 that, if any one announced his illness on the first day of its 
 occurrence, it might tend to make him worse, and that only on 
 the second day should prayers be offered for him. Lastly, we 
 may mention in this connection, as possibly throwing light on 
 the practice referred to by St. James (Jas. v. 14), that it was 
 the custom to anoint the sick with a mixture of oil, wine, 
 and water, the preparation of which was even allowed on the 
 Sabbath (Jer. Ber. ii. 2). 
 
 When our Lord mentioned visitation of the sick among the 
 evidences of that religion which would stand the test of the 
 judgment day (Matt. xxv. 36), He appealed to a principle 
 universally acknowledged among the Jews. The great Jewish 
 doctor Maimonides holds that this duty takes precedence 01 
 all other good works, and the Talmud goes even so far as to 
 assert, that whoever visits the sick shall deliver his soul from 
 Gehenna (Ned. 40 a). Accordingly, a Rabbi, discussing the 
 meaning of the expression, " Ye shall walk after the Lord your 
 God " (Deut. xiii. 4), arrives at the conclusion, that it refers to 
 the imitation of what we read in Scripture of His doings. Thus 
 God clothed the naked (Gen. iii. 21), and so should we ; He 
 visited the sick (Gen. xviii. i) ; He comforted the mourners, 
 (Gen. xxv. n); and He buried the dead (Deut. xxxv. 6); 
 leaving us in all this an ensample that we should follow in His 
 
 1 An account of the manner of " setting one's house in order " (2 Sam. xvii, 
 23 ; 2 Kings xx. i), would lead beyond our present purpose. 
 
1 68 Sketches of Jeivish Life. 
 
 footsteps (Sota 14 a). It was possibly to encourage to this duty, 
 or else in reference to the good effects of sympathy upon the 
 sick, that we are told, that whoever visits the sick takes away a 
 sixtieth part of his sufferings (Ned. 39 b). Nor was the service 
 of love to stop here ; for, as we have seen, the burial of the 
 dead was quite as urgent a duty as the visitation of the sick. 
 As the funeral procession passed, every one was expected, if 
 possible, to join the convoy. The Rabbis applied to the 
 observance of this direction Prov. xiv. 32, and xix. 17 ; and to 
 its neglect Prov. xvii. 5 (Ber. 18 a). Similarly, all reverence 
 was shown towards the remains of the dead, and burying- 
 places were kept free from every kind of profanation, and 
 even from light conversation. 
 
 Burial followed generally as soon as possible after death 
 (Matt. ix. 23 ; Acts v. 6, 10 ; viii. 2), no doubt partly on 
 sanitary grounds. For special reasons, however (Acts ix. 
 37> 39)> or m the case f parents, there might be a delay 
 even of days. The preparations for the burial of our Lord, 
 mentioned in the gospels the ointment against His burial 
 (Matt. xxvi. 12), the spices and ointments (Luke xxiii. 56), 
 the mixture of myrrh and aloes find their literal confirmation 
 in what the Rabbis tell us of the customs of the period 
 (Ber. 53 a). At one t'me the wasteful expenditure connected 
 with funerals was so great as to involve in serious difficulties 
 the poor, who would not be outdone by their neighbours. 
 The folly extended not only to the funeral rites, the burning 
 of spices at the grave, and the depositing of money and 
 valuables in the tomb, but even to luxury in the wrappings of 
 the dead body. At last a much-needed reform was introduced 
 by Rabbi Gamaliel, who left directions that he was to be 
 buried in simple linen garments. In recognition of this a cup 
 
In Death and after Death. 169 
 
 is to this day emptied to his memory at funeral meals. His 
 grandson limited even the number of grave-clothes to one 
 dress. The burial-dress is made of the most inexpensive linen, 
 and bears the name of ( Tachrichin} " wrappings," or else the 
 " travelling-dress." At present it is always white, but formerly 
 any other colour might be chosen, of which we have some 
 curious instances. Thus one Rabbi would not be buried in 
 white, lest he might seem like one glad, nor yet in black, so 
 as not to appear to sorrow, but in red ; while another ordered 
 a white dress, to show that he was not ashamed of his works; 
 and yet a third directed that he should have his shoes and 
 stockings, and a stick, to be ready for the resurrection ! As 
 we know from the gospel, the body was wrapped in " linen 
 clothes," and the face bound about with a napkin (John xi. 44; 
 xx. 5, 7). 
 
 The body having been properly prepared, the funeral rites 
 proceeded, as described in the gospels. From the account of 
 the funeral procession at Nain, which the Lord of life arrested 
 (Luke vii. 11-15), many interesting details may be learned. 
 First) burying-places were always outside cities (Matt. viii. 28 ; 
 xxvii. 7, 52, 53; John xi. 30, 31). Neither watercourses nor 
 public roads were allowed to pass through them, nor sheep to 
 graze there. We read of public and private burying-places 
 the latter chiefly in gardens and caves. It was the practice 
 to visit the graves (John xi. 31) partly to mourn and partly 
 to pray. It was unlawful to eat or drink, to read, or even 
 to walk irreverently among them. Cremation was denounced 
 as a purely heathen practice, contrary to the whole spirit of 
 Old Testament teaching. Secondly, we know that, as at Nain, 
 the body was generally carried open on a bier, or else in 
 an open coffin, the bearers frequently changing to give an 
 
170 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 opportunity to many to take part in a work deemed so 
 meritorious. Graves in fields or in the open were often 
 marked by memorial columns. Children less than a month 
 old were carried to the burying by their mothers ; those under 
 twelve months were borno on a bed or stretcher. Lastly, 
 the order in which the procession seems to have wound out of 
 Nain exactly accords with what we know of the customs of 
 the time and place. It was outside the city gate that the 
 Lord with His disciples met the sad array. Had it been in 
 Judaea the hired mourners and musicians would have preceded 
 the bier ; in Galilee they followed. First came the women, 
 for, as an ancient Jewish commentary explains woman, who 
 brought death into our world, ought to lead the way in the 
 funeral procession. Among them our Lord readily recognised 
 the widowed mother, whose only treasure was to be hidden 
 from her for ever. Behind the bier followed, obedient to 
 Jewish law and custom, " much people of the city." The 
 sight of her sorrow touched the compassion of the Son of 
 Man ; the presence of death called forth the power of the Son 
 of God. To her only He spoke, what in the form of a 
 question He said to the woman who mourned at His own 
 grave, ignorant that death had been swallowed up in victory, 
 and what He still speaks to us from heaven, "Weep not!" 
 He bade not the procession halt, but, as He touched the bier, 
 they that bore on it the dead body stood still. It was a 
 marvellous sight outside the gate of Nain. The Rabbi and 
 His disciples should reverently have joined the procession ; 
 they arrested it. One word of power burst inwards the sluices 
 of Hades, and out flowed once again the tide of life. " He 
 that was dead sat up on his bier, and began to speak " what 
 words of wonderment we are not told. It must have been 
 
In Death and after Death. 171 
 
 like the sudden wakening, which leaves not on the conscious- 
 ness the faintest trace of the dream. Not of that world but 
 of this would his speech be, though he knew he had been 
 over there, and its dazzling light made earth's sunshine so dim, 
 that ever afterwards life must have seemed to him like the 
 sitting up on his bier, and its faces and voices like those of 
 the crowd which followed him to his burying. 
 
 At the grave, on the road to which the procession repeatedly 
 halted, when short addresses were occasionally delivered, there 
 was a funeral oration. If the grave were in a public cemetery, 
 at least a foot and a half must intervene between each sleeper. 
 The caves, or rock-hewn sepulchres, consisted of an ante- 
 chamber in which the bier was deposited, and an inner or 
 rather lower cave in which the bodies were deposited, in a 
 recumbent position, in niches. According to the Talmud 
 these abodes of the dead were usually six feet long, nine feet 
 wide, and ten feet high. Here there were niches for eight 
 bodies : three on each side of the entrance, and two opposite. 
 Larger sepulchres held thirteen bodies. The entrance to the 
 sepulchres was guarded by a large stone or by a door (Matt, 
 xxvii. 66 ; Mark xv. 46 ; John xi. 38, 39). This structure of 
 the tombs will explain some of the particulars connected with 
 the burial of our Lord, how the women coming early to the 
 grave had been astonished in finding the " very great stone " 
 " rolled away from the door of the sepulchre," and then, when 
 they entered the outer cave, were affrighted to see what 
 seemed " a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a 
 long white garment " (Mark xvi. 4, 5). Similarly, it explains 
 the events as they are successively recorded in John xx. 1-12, 
 how Mary Magdalene, " when it was yet dark," had come to 
 the sepulchre, in every sense waiting for the light, but even 
 
172 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 groping had felt that the stone was rolled away, and fled to 
 tell the disciples they had, as she thought, taken away the 
 Lord out of the sepulchre. If she knew of the sealing of that 
 stone and of the Roman guard, she must have felt as if the 
 hatred of man would now deprive their love even of the sacred 
 body of their Lord. And yet, through it all, the hearts of the 
 disciples must have treasured hopes, which they scarce dared 
 confess to themselves. For those other two disciples, witnesses 
 of all His deeds, on earth, companions of His shame in 
 Caiaphas' palace, were also waiting for the daybreak only 
 at home, not like her at the grave. And now " they both ran 
 together." But on that morning, so near the night of betrayal, 
 "the other disciple did outrun Peter." Grey light of early 
 spring had broken the heavy curtain of cloud and mist, and 
 red and golden sunlight lay on the edge of the horizon. The 
 garden was still, and the morning air stirred the trees which 
 in the dark night had seemed to keep watch over the dead, 
 as through the unguarded entrance, by which lay " the very 
 great stone " rolled away, John passed, and " stooping down " 
 into the inner cave " saw the linen clothes lying." " Then 
 cometh Simon Peter," not to wait in the outer cave, but to go 
 into the sepulchre, presently to be followed thither by John. 
 For that empty sepulchre was not a place to look into, but to 
 go into and believe. That morn had witnessed many wonders 
 wonders which made the Magdalene long for yet greater 
 for the wonder of wonders, the Lord Himself. Nor was she 
 disappointed. He Who alone could answer her questions 
 fully, and dry her tears, spake first to her who loved so much. 
 Thus also did our blessed Lord Himself fulfil most truly 
 that on which the law and Jewish tradition laid so great 
 stress : to comfort the mourners in their affliction (comp. 
 
In Death and after Death. 173 
 
 James i. 27). Indeed, tradition has it, that there was in the 
 Temple a special gate by which mourners entered, that all 
 who met them might discharge this duty of love. There was 
 a custom, which deserves general imitation, that mourners 
 were not to be tormented by talk, but that all should ob- 
 serve silence till addressed by them. Afterwards, to obviate 
 foolish remarks, a formula was fixed, according to which, 
 in the synagogue the leader of the devotions, and in the 
 house some one, began by asking, "Inquire for the ground 
 of mourning;" upon which one of those present if possible, 
 a Rabbi answered, "God is a just Judge," which meant, that 
 He had removed a near relative. Then, in the synagogue, a 
 regular fixed formula of comfort was spoken, while in the 
 house kind expressions of consolation followed. 
 
 The Rabbis distinguish between the Onen and the Avcl 
 the sorrowing or suffering one, and the bowed down, fading one* 
 or mourner ; the former expression applying only to the day 
 of the funeral, the latter to the period which followed. It was 
 held, that the law of God only prescribed mourning for the 
 first day, which was that of death and burial (Lev. xxii. 4, 6), 
 while the other and longer period of mourning that followed 
 was enjoined by the elders. So long as the dead body 
 was actually in the house, it was forbidden to eat meat 
 or drink wine, to put on the phylacteries, or to engage in 
 study. All necessary food had to be prepared outside the 
 house, and was, if possible, not to be eaten in presence of 
 the dead. The first duty was to rend the clothes, which 
 might be done in one or more of the inner garments, 
 but not in the outer dress. The rent is made standing, 
 and in front ; it is generally about a hand-breadth in 
 length. In the case of parents it is never closed up again ; 
 
ij4 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 but in that of others it is mended after the thirtieth day. 
 Immediately after the body is carried out of the house all 
 chairs and couches are reversed, and the mourners sit (except 
 on the Sabbath, and on the Friday only for one hour) on the 
 ground or on a low stool. A threefold distinction was here 
 made. Deep mourning was to last for seven days, of which the 
 first three were those of " weeping." During these seven days it 
 was, among other things, forbidden to wash, to anoint oneself, 
 to put on shoes, to study, or to engage in any business. After 
 that followed a lighter mourning of thirty days. Children were 
 to mourn for their parents a whole year ; and during eleven 
 months (so as not to imply that they required to remain a full 
 year in purgatory) to say the "prayer for the dead." The 
 latter, however, does not contain any intercession for the 
 departed. The anniversary of the day of death was also to be 
 observed. An apostate from the Jewish faith was not to be 
 mourned ; on the contrary, white dress was to be worn on the 
 occasion of his decease, and other demonstrations of joy to be 
 made. It is well known under what exceptional circum- 
 stances priests and the high-priest were allowed to mourn 
 for the dead (Lev. xxi. 10, n; 1-4). In the case of the 
 high-priest it was customary to say to him, " May we be 
 thy expiation ! " (" Let us suffer what ought to have befallen 
 thee;") to which he replied, "Be ye blessed of Heaven" 
 (Sank. ii. i). It is noted that this mode of address to the high- 
 priest was intended to indicate the greatness of their affec- 
 tion; and the learned Otho suggests (Lexic. Rabb., p. 343), 
 that this may have been in the mind of the apostle when 
 he would have wished himself Anathema for the sake of his 
 brethren (Rom. ix. 3). On the return from the burial, friends 
 or neighbours prepared a meal for the mourners, consisting of 
 
In Death and after Death. 175 
 
 bread, hard-boiled eggs, and lentils round and coarse fare ; 
 round like life, which is rolling on unto death. This was brought 
 in and served up in earthenware. On the other hand, the 
 mourners' friends partook of a funeral meal, at which no more 
 than ten cups were to be emptied two before the meal, five 
 at it, and three afterwards (Jer. Ber. iii. i). In modern times 
 the religious duty of attending to the dying, the dead, and 
 mourners, is performed by a special " holy brotherhood," as 
 it is called, which many of the most religious Jews join for 
 the sake of the pious work in which it engages them. 
 
 We add the following, which may be of interest. It is 
 expressly allowed (Jer. Ber. iii. i), on Sabbaths and feast- 
 days to walk beyond the Sabbath limits, and to do all need- 
 ful offices for the dead. This throws considerable light on 
 the evangelical account of the offices rendered to the body 
 of Jesus on the eve of the Passover. The chief mourning 
 rites, indeed,, were intermitted on Sabbaths and feast-days ; 
 and one o.f the most interesting, and perhaps the earliest 
 Hebrew non-Biblical record the Megillath Taanith, or roll 
 of fasts mentions a number of other days on which mourning 
 was prohibited, being the anniversaries of joyous occasions. 
 The Mishnah (Moed K. iii. 5-9) contains a number of regula- 
 tions and limitations of mourning observances on greater and 
 lesser feasts, which we do not quote, as possessing little 
 interest save in Rabbinical casuistry. The loss of slaves was 
 not to be mourned. 
 
 But what after death and in the judgment ? And what of 
 that which brought in, and which gives such terrible mean- 
 ing to death and the judgment sin ? It were idle, and 
 could only be painful here to detail the various and dis- 
 cordant sayings of the Rabbis, some of which, at least, may 
 
176 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 admit of an allegorical interpretation. Only that which may 
 be of use to the New Testament student shall be briefly 
 summarised. Both the Talmud (Pes. 54 a; Ned. 39 b), 
 and the Targum teach that paradise and hell were created 
 before this world. One quotation from the Jerusalem Targum 
 (on Gen. iii. 24) will not only sufficiently prove this, but show 
 the general current of Jewish teaching. " Two thousand 
 years," we read, " before the world was made, God created the 
 Law and Gehenna, and the Garden of Eden. He made the 
 Garden of Eden for the righteous, that they might eat of the 
 fruits thereof, and delight themselves in them, because in this 
 world they had kept the commandments of the law. But for 
 the wicked He prepared Gehenna, which is like a sharp two- 
 edged destroying sword. He put within it sparks of fire and 
 burning coals, to punish the wicked in the world to come, 
 because they had not observed the commandments of the 
 law in this world. For the law is the tree of life. Whoso- 
 ever observeth it shall live and subsist as the tree of life." 1 
 Paradise and hell were supposed to be contiguous, only sepa- 
 rated it was said, perhaps allegorically by an handbreadth. 
 But although we may here find some slight resemblance to 
 the localisation of the history of the rich man and Lazarus 
 (Luke xvi. 25, 26), only those acquainted with the theological 
 thinking of the time can fully judge what infinite difference 
 there is between the story in the Gospel and the pictures 
 drawn in contemporary literature. Witness here the 22nd 
 chapter of the book of Enoch, which, as so many other passages 
 
 i Other Rabbinical sayings have it, that seven things existed before the world 
 the law, repentance, paradise, hell, the throne of God, the name of the Messiah 
 and the Temple. At the same time the reader will observe that the quotation 
 from the Targum given in the text attempts an allegorising, and therefore 
 rationalistic interpretation of the narrative in Gen. iii. 24. 
 
In Death and ater Death. 
 
 from pseudo-epigraphic and Rabbinical writings, has been 
 mangled and misquoted by modern writers, for purposes 
 hostile to Christianity. 1 The Rabbis seem to have believed in 
 a multitude of heavens most of them holding that there 
 were seven, as there were also seven departments in paradise, 
 and as many in hell. The pre-existence of the souls of all 
 mankind before their actual appearance upon earth, and even 
 the doctrine of the migration of souls, seem also to have been 
 held both probably, however, chiefly as speculative views, 
 introduced from foreign, non-Judaean sources. 
 
 But all these are preliminary and outside questions, which 
 only indirectly touch the great problems of the human soul 
 concerning sin and salvation. And here we can, in this place, 
 only state that the deeper and stronger our conviction that the 
 language, surroundings, and whole atmosphere of the New 
 Testament were those of Palestine at the time when our Lord 
 trod its soil, the more startling appears the contrast between 
 the doctrinal teaching of Christ and His apostles and that of 
 the Rabbis. In general, it may be said that the New Testa- 
 ment teaching concerning original sin and its consequences 
 finds no analogy in the Rabbinical writings of that period. 
 As to the mode of salvation, their doctrine may be broadly 
 summed up under the designation of work-righteousness. 
 
 In view of this there is, strictly speaking, logical incon- 
 sistency in the earnestness with which the Rabbis insist on 
 universal and immediate repentance, and the need of confession 
 of sin, and of preparation for another world. For, a paradise 
 
 1 We must take this opportunity of referring to a book which has long served as 
 chief storehouse to certain writers, and been too often carelessly accepted as absolute 
 authority by those who should have ascertained tor themselves the accuracy of quo- 
 tations. We are alluding to Gfrorer, Gesch. d. Urchrist. where the passage from 
 Enoch xxii. is certainly misquoted. 
 
 N 
 
1 78 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 which might be entered by all on their own merits, and which 
 yet is to be sought by all through repentance and similar 
 means, or else can only be obtained after passing through a 
 kind of purgatory, constitutes no mean moral charge against 
 the religion of Rabbinism. Yet such inconsistencies may 
 be hailed as bringing the Synagogue, in another direction, 
 nearer to Biblical truth. Indeed, we come occasionally upon 
 much that also appears, only in quite another setting, in the 
 New Testament. Thus the teaching of our Lord about the 
 immortality of the righteous was, of course, quite consonant 
 with that of the Pharisees. In fact, their contention also was, 
 that the departed saints were in Scripture called "living" (Ber. 
 1 8 a). 1 Similarly, it was their doctrine (Ber. 17 a, and in several 
 other passages) though not quite consistently held as it- 
 was that of our Lord (Matt. xxii. 30), that " in the world to 
 come there is neither eating nor drinking, neither fruitfulness 
 nor increase, neither trade nor business, neither envy, hatred, 
 nor strife ; but the righteous sit with their crowns on their 
 heads, and feast themselves on the splendour of the Shechinah, 
 as it is written, * They saw God, and did eat and drink' (Ex. 
 xxiv. 11)." The following is so similar in form and yet so 
 different in spirit to the parable of the invited guests and him 
 
 i I would here take leave generally to refer to my article on " Sickness 
 and Death," in The Bible Educator, vol. iv. pp. 330-333. In Sank. 90 b, 
 91 a and b, we have long argumentations in which the doctrines of immortality 
 and of the resurrection are proved in controversy, chiefly with the Sadducees, 
 but also with heathens, from the law, the prophets, and the hagiographa. The 
 passages quoted are (in Mechilta, Ex. xv. I, which is rendered: "Then Moses 
 shall sing ") : Deut. xxxi. 6 ; xi. 21 ; iv. 4 ; Numb, xviii. 28 ; Ex. vi. 4 ; 
 Numb. xv. 31 ; Ex. xv. i. ; Deut. xxxii. 39; Isa. xxvi. 19; Hi. 8; Cant. vii. 9 ; 
 Ps. Ixxii. 1 6 ; Ixxxiv. 7 (the tense being in this, as in other of the quotations, made 
 future]. Similar reasoning on the subject is found in Abod. S. 18 a ; Pes. 68 a ; 
 Sank. 92 b ; and in many of the Midrashim. 
 
In Death and after Death. 179 
 
 without the wedding garment (Matt. xxii. 1-14), that we give 
 it in full. " R. Jochanan, son of Saccai, propounded a parable. 
 A certain king prepared a banquet, to which he invited his 
 servants, without however having fixed the time for it. Those 
 among them who were wise adorned themselves, and sat down 
 at the door of the king's palace, reasoning thus : Can there be 
 anything awanting in the palace of a king ? But those of 
 them who were foolish went away to their work, saying : Is 
 there ever a feast without labour ? Suddenly the king called 
 his servants to the banquet. The wise appeared adorned, but 
 the foolish squalid. Then the king rejoiced over the wise, 
 but was very wroth with the foolish, and said : Those who 
 have adorned themselves shall sit down, eat, drink, and be 
 merry ; but those who have not adorned themselves shall 
 stand by and see it, as it is written in Isa. Ixv. 13." A some- 
 what similar parable, but even more Jewish in its dogmatic 
 cast, is the following : " The matter (of the world to come) 
 is like an earthly king who committed to his servants the 
 royal robes. They who were wise folded and laid them up 
 in the wardrobes, but they who were careless put them on, 
 and did in them their work. After some days the king asked 
 back his robes. Those who were wise restored them as they 
 were, that is, still clean ; those who were foolish also restored 
 them as they were, that is, soiled. Then the king rejoiced over 
 the wise, but was very wroth with the careless servants, and he 
 said to the wise : Lay up the robes in the treasury, and go 
 home in peace. But to the careless he commanded the 
 robes to be given, that they might wash them, and that they 
 themselves should be cast into prison, as it is written of the 
 bodies of the just in Isa. Ivii. 2 ; I Sam. xxv. 29, but of the 
 bodies of the unjust in Isa. xlviii. 22 ; Ivii. 21 ; and in I Sam. 
 
180 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 xxv. 29." From the same tractate (Shab. 152 a), we may, in 
 conclusion, quote the following : " R. Eliezer said, Repent on 
 the day before thou diest. His disciples asked him : Can a 
 man know the hour of his death? He replied: Therefore 
 let him repent to-day, lest haply he die on the morrow." 
 
 Quotations on these, and discussions on kindred subjects 
 might lead us far beyond our present scope. But the second 
 of the parables above quoted will point the direction of the 
 final conclusions at which Rabbinism arrived. It is not, as 
 in the Gospel, pardon and peace, but labour with the " may 
 be " of reward. As for the " after death," paradise, hell, the 
 resurrection, and the judgment, voices are more discordant 
 than ever, opinions more unscriptural, and descriptions more 
 repulsively fabulous. This is not the place farther to trace 
 the doctrinal views of the Rabbis, to attempt to arrange and 
 to follow them up. Work-righteousness and study of the law 
 are the surest key to heaven. There is a kind of purgation, 
 if not of purgatory, after death. Some seem even to have 
 held the annihilation of the wicked. Taking the widest and 
 most generous views of the Rabbis, they may be thus 
 summed up : All Israel have share in the world to come ; 
 the pious among the Gentiles also have part in it. Only the 
 perfectly just enter at once into paradise ; all the rest pass 
 through a period of purification and perfection, variously 
 lasting, up to one year. But notorious breakers of the law, 
 and especially apostates from the Jewish faith, and heretics, 
 have no hope whatever, either here or hereafter ! Such is the 
 last word which the Synagogue has to say to mankind. 
 
 Not thus are we taught by the Messiah, the King of the 
 Jews. If we learn our loss, we also learn that " The Son of 
 Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." Our 
 
In Death and after Death. 181 
 
 righteousness is that freely bestowed on us by Him " Who was 
 wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities." 
 " With His stripes we are healed." The law which we obey is 
 that which He has put within our hearts, by which we become 
 temples of the Holy Ghost. " The Dayspring from on high 
 hath visited us " through the tender mercy of our God. The 
 Gospel hath brought life and immortality to light, for we 
 know Whom we have believed ; and " perfect love casteth out 
 fear." Not even the problems of sickness, sorrow, suffering, 
 and death are unnoticed. " Weeping may endure for a night, 
 but joy cometh in the morning." The tears of earth's night 
 hang as dewdrops on flower and tree, presently to sparkle 
 like diamonds in the morning sun. For, in that night of 
 nights has Christ mingled the sweat of human toil and sorrow 
 with the precious blood of His agony, and made it drop on 
 earth as sweet balsam to heal its wounds, to soothe its 
 sorrows, and to take away its death. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 JEWISH VIEWS ON TRADE, TRADESMEN, AND TRADES' 
 
 GUILDS. 
 
 WE read in the Mishnah (Kidd. iv. 14) as follows : 
 " Rabbi Meir said : Let a man always teach his son 
 a cleanly and a light trade ; and let him pray to Him whose 
 are wealth and riches ; for there is no trade which has not 
 both poverty and riches, and neither does poverty come from 
 the trade nor yet riches, but everything according to one's 
 deserving (merit). Rabbi Simeon, the son of Eleazer, said : 
 Hast thou all thy life long seen a beast or a bird which has a 
 trade ? Still they are nourished, and that without anxious 
 care. And if they, who are created only to serve me, shall 
 not I expect to be nourished without anxious care, who 
 am created to serve my Maker ? Only that if I have 
 been evil in my deeds, I forfeit my support. 1 Abba Gurjan 
 of Zadjan said, in name of Abba Gurja : Let not a man 
 bring up his son to be a donkey-driver, nor a camel-driver, 
 nor a barber, nor a sailor, nor a shepherd, nor a pedlar ; for 
 their occupations are those of thieves. In his name, Rabbi 
 Jehudah said : Donkey-drivers are mostly wicked ; camel- 
 drivers mostly honest ; sailors mostly pious ; the best among 
 physicians is for Gehenna, and the most honest of butchers a 
 
 1 The Jerusalem Talmud on this Mishnah rather mars its beauty by details. 
 
Trade, Tradesmen, and Trades' Guilds. 183 
 
 companion of Amalek. Rabbi Nehorai said : I let alone 
 every trade of this world, and teach my son nothing but the 
 Thorah ;* for a man eats of the fruit of it in this world (as it 
 were, lives upon earth on the interest), while the capita) 
 remaineth for the world to come. But what is left over (what 
 remains) in every trade (or worldly employment) is not so. 
 For, if a man fall into ill-health, or come to old age or into 
 trouble (chastisement), and is no longer able to stick to his 
 work, lo ! he dies of hunger. But the Thorah is not so, for it 
 keeps a man from evil in youth, and in old age gives him both 
 a hereafter and the hopeful waiting for it. What does it say 
 about youth ? ' They that wait upon the Lord shall renew 
 strength.' And what about old age ? ' They shall still bring 
 forth fruit in old age.' And this is what is said of Abraham 
 our father : * And Abraham was old, and Jehovah blessed 
 Abraham in all things.' But we find that Abraham our 
 father kept the whole Thorah the whole, even to that which 
 had not yet been given as it is said, * Because that Abraham 
 obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, 
 My statutes, and My laws.' " 
 
 If this quotation has been long, it will in many respects 
 prove instructive ; for it not only affords a favourable specimen 
 of Mishnic teaching, but gives insight into the principles, the 
 reasoning, and the views of the Rabbis. At the outset, the 
 saying of Rabbi Simeon which, however, we should remem- 
 ber, was spoken nearly a century after the time when our 
 Lord had been upon earth reminds us of His own words 
 (Matt. vi. 26) : " Behold the fowls of the air : for they sow not, 
 neither do they reap, nor gather into barns ; yet your heavenly 
 Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they ?" 
 
 1 The law of God. 
 
184 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 It would be a delightful thought, that our Lord had thus 
 availed Himself of the better thinking and higher feeling in 
 Israel; so to speak, polished the diamond and made it 
 sparkle, as He held it up in the light of the kingdom of God. 
 For here also it holds true, that the Saviour came not in any 
 sense to " destroy," but to " establish the law." All around 
 the scene of His earthly ministry the atmosphere was Jew- 
 ish ; and all that was pure, true, and good in the nation's 
 life, teaching, and sayings He made His own. On every 
 page of the gospels we come upon what seems to waken 
 the echoes of Jewish voices ; sayings which remind us of 
 what we have heard among the sages of Israel. And this is 
 just what we should have expected, and what gives no small 
 confirmation of the trustworthiness of these narratives as the 
 record of what had really taken place. It is not a strange 
 scene upon which we are here introduced ; nor among strange 
 actors ; nor are the surroundings foreign. Throughout we 
 have a life-picture of the period, in which we recognise the 
 speakers from the sketches of them drawn elsewhere, and 
 whose mode of speaking we know from contemporary litera- 
 ture. The gospels could not have set aside, they could not 
 even have left out, the Jewish element. Otherwise they would 
 not have been true to the period, nor to the people, nor to the 
 writers, nor yet to that law of growth and development which 
 always marks the progress of the kingdom of God. In one 
 respect only all is different. The gospels are most Jewish in 
 form, but most anti-Jewish in spirit the record of the mani- 
 festation among Israel of the Son of God, the Saviour of the 
 world, as the " King of the Jews." * 
 
 1 The elaboration and proof of this must be left for a work entering fully on the 
 life and times of our Lord. 
 
Trade, Tradesmen, and Trades G^dlds. 185 
 
 This influence of the Jewish surroundings upon the circunv 
 stances of the gospel history has a most important bearing. 
 It helps us to realise what Jewish life had been at the time of 
 Christ, and to comprehend what might seem peculiarities in 
 the gospel narrative. Thus to come to the subject of this 
 chapter we now understand how so many of the disciples 
 and followers of the Lord gained their living by some craft ; 
 how in the same spirit the Master Himself condescended to 
 the trade of His adoptive father ; and how the greatest of His 
 apostles throughout earned his bread by the labour of his 
 hands, probably following, like the Lord Jesus, the trade of 
 his father. For it was a principle, frequently expressed, if 
 possible " not to forsake the trade of the father " most likely 
 not merely from worldly considerations, but because it might be 
 learned in the house; perhaps even from considerations of re- 
 spect for parents. And what in this respect Paul practised, that 
 he also preached. Nowhere is the dignity of labour and the 
 manly independence of honest work more clearly set forth than 
 in his Epistles. At Corinth, his first search seems to have been 
 for work (Acts xviii. 3) ; and through life he steadily forbore 
 availing himself of his right to be supported by the Church, 
 deeming it his great " reward " to " make the Gospel of Christ 
 without charge " (i Cor. ix. 18). Nay, to quote his impassioned 
 language, he would far rather have died of hard work than 
 that any man should deprive him of this " glorying." And so 
 presently at Ephesus " these hands" minister not only unto 
 his own necessities, but also to them that were with him ; and 
 that for the twofold reason of supporting the weak, and of 
 following the Master, however " afar off," and entering into 
 this joy of His, " It is more blessed to give than to receive" 
 (Acts xx. 34, 35). Again, so to speak, it does one's heart good 
 
i 86 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 when coming in contact with that Church which seemed most 
 in danger of dreamy contemplativeness, and of unpractical, if 
 not dangerous, speculations about the future, to hear what a 
 manly, earnest tone also prevailed there. Here is the preacher 
 himself ! Not a man-pleaser, but a God-server ; not a flatterer, 
 nor covetous, nor yet seeking glory, nor courting authority, 
 like the Rabbis. What then ? This is the sketch as drawn 
 from life at Thessalonica, so that each who had known him 
 must have recognised it : most loving, like a nursing mother, 
 who cherisheth her own children, so in tenderness willing to 
 impart not only the Gospel of God, but his own life. Yet, 
 with it all, no mawkishness, no sentimentality ; but all stern, 
 genuine reality ; and the preacher himself is " labouring night 
 and day," because he would not be chargeable to any of them, 
 while he preached unto them the Gospel of God (i Thess. ii. 9). 
 " Night and day," hard, unremitting, uninteresting work, which 
 some would have denounced or despised as secular ! But to 
 Paul that wretched distinction, the invention of modern super- 
 ficialism and unreality, existed not. For to the spiritual 
 nothing is secular, and to the secular nothing is spiritual. 
 Work night and day, and then as his rest, joy, and reward, to 
 preach in public and in private the unsearchable riches of 
 Christ, Who had redeemed him with His precious blood. And 
 so his preaching, although one of its main burdens seems to 
 have been the second coming of the Lord, was in no way 
 calculated to make the hearers apocalyptic dreamers, who 
 discussed knotty points and visions of the future, while 
 present duty lay unheeded as beneath them, on a lower 
 platform. There is a ring of honest independence, of healthy 
 manly piety, of genuine, self-denying devotion to Christ, and 
 also of a practical life of holiness, in this admonition (i Thess. 
 
Trade, Tradesmen, and Trades Guilds. 187 
 
 iv. n, 12) : "Make it your ambition to be quiet, to do your 
 own " (each one for himself, not meddling with others' affairs), 
 " and to work with your hands, as we commanded you, that 
 ye may walk decorously towards them without, and have no 
 need of any one" 1 (be independent of all men). And, very 
 significantly, this plain, practical religion is placed in imme- 
 diate conjunction with the hope of the resurrection and of the 
 coming again of our Lord (vers. 13-18). The same admonition, 
 " to work, and eat their own bread," comes once again, only in 
 stronger language, in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, 
 reminding them in this of his own example, and of his command 
 when with them, " that, if any would not work, neither should 
 he eat;" at the same time sternly rebuking "some who are 
 walking disorderly, who are not at all busy, but are busybodies." 2 
 Now, we certainly do not pretend to find a parallel to 
 St. Paul among even the best and the noblest of the Rabbis. 
 Yet Saul of Tarsus was a Jew, not merely trained at the feet 
 of the great Gamaliel, " that sun in Israel," but deeply imbued 
 with the Jewish spirit and lore; insomuch that long afterwards, 
 when he is writing of the deepest mysteries of Christianity, we 
 catch again and again expressions that remind us of some that 
 occur in the earliest record of that secret Jewish doctrine, which 
 was only communicated to the most select of the select sages. 3 
 And this same love of honest labour, the same spirit of manly 
 independence, the same horror of trafficking with the law, and 
 using it either "as a crown or as a spade," was certainly 
 characteristic of the best Rabbis. Quite different in this 
 
 1 So literally. 
 
 2 We have here tried to reproduce the play on the words in the original. 
 
 3 We mean the book Jezirah. It is curious that this should have never bee* 
 noticed. The coincidences are not in substance, but in modes of expression. 
 
1 88 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 respect also far asunder as were the aims of their lives were 
 the feelings of Israel from those of the Gentiles around. The 
 philosophers of Greece and Rome denounced manual labour 
 as something degrading ; indeed, as incompatible with the 
 full exercise of the privileges of a citizen. Those Romans 
 who allowed themselves not only to be bribed in their votes, 
 but expected to be actually supported at the public expense, 
 would not stoop to the defilement of work. The Jews had 
 another aim in life, another pride and ambition. It is 
 difficult to give an idea of the seeming contrasts united in 
 them. Most aristocratic and exclusive, contemptuous of mere 
 popular cries, yet at the same time most democratic and 
 liberal; law-abiding, and with the profoundest reverence for 
 authority and rank, and yet with this prevailing conviction 
 at bottom, that all Israel were brethren, and as such stood 
 on precisely the same level, the eventual differences arising 
 only from this, that the mass failed to realise what Israel's 
 real vocation was, and how it was to be attained, viz., by 
 theoretical and practical engagement with the law, com- 
 pared to which everything else was but secondary and 
 unimportant. 
 
 But this combination of study with honest manual labour 
 the one to support the other had not been always equally 
 honoured in Israel. We distinguish here three periods. The 
 law of Moses evidently recognised the dignity of labour, and 
 this spirit of the Old Testament appeared in the best times of 
 the Jewish nation. The book of Proverbs, which contains so 
 many sketches of what a happy, holy home in Israel had been, 
 is full of the praises of domestic industry. But the Apocrypha, 
 notably Ecclesiasticus (xxxviii. 24-31), strike a very different 
 key-note. Analysing one by one every trade, the contemp- 
 
Trade, Tradesmen, and Trades Guilds. 189 
 
 tuous question is put, how such "can get wisdom?" This 
 "Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach" dates from about two 
 centuries before the present era. It would not have been 
 possible at the time of Christ or afterwards, to have written 
 in such terms of "the carpenter and workmaster," of them 
 "that cut and grave seals," of "the smith," or "the potter;" nor 
 to have said of them : " They shall not be sought for in public 
 counsel, nor sit high in the congregation ; they shall not sit on 
 the judges' seat, nor understand the sentence of judgment ; 
 they cannot declare justice and judgment ; and they shall not 
 be found where parables are spoken" (Ecclus. xxxviii. 33). 
 For, in point of fact, with few exceptions, all the leading 
 Rabbinical authorities were working at some trade, till at last 
 it became quite an affectation to engage in hard bodily labour, 
 so that one Rabbi would carry his own chair every day to 
 college, while others would drag heavy rafters, or work in some 
 such fashion. 1 Without cumbering these pages with names, 
 it is worth mentioning, perhaps as an extreme instance, that 
 on one occasion a man was actually summoned from his trade 
 of stone-cutter to the high-priestly office. To be sure, that 
 was in revolutionary times. The high-priests under the 
 Herodian dynasty were of only too different a class, and their 
 history possesses a tragic interest, as bearing on the state 
 and fate of the nation. Still, the great Hillel was a wood- 
 cutter, his rival Shammai a carpenter; and among the cele- 
 brated Rabbis of after times we find shoemakers, tailors, 
 carpenters, sandalmakers, smiths, potters, builders, etc. in 
 short, every variety of trade. Nor were they ashamed of their 
 manual labour. Thus it is recorded of one of them, that he 
 
 1 Compare Professor Delitzsch's beautiful tractate, Jiid. Hattdwerkerleben zur 
 Zeit Jesu " (p. 75), to which we would here generally acknowledge our obligations. 
 
i go Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 was in the habit of discoursing to his students from the top of 
 a cask of his own making, which he carried every day to the 
 academy. 
 
 We can scarcely wonder at this, since it was a Rabbinical 
 principle, that " whoever does not teach his son a trade is as 
 if he brought him up to be a robber" (Kidd. 29). The Mid- 
 rash gives the following curious paraphrase of Eccles. ix. 9, 
 "Behold, the life with the wife whom thou lovest:" 1 Look out 
 for a trade along with the Divine study which thou lovest. "How 
 highly does the Maker of the world value trades," is another 
 saying. Here are some more : "There is none whose trade God 
 does not adorn with beauty." "Though there were seven 
 years of famine, it will never come to the door of the trades- 
 man." " There is not a trade to which both poverty and riches 
 are not joined ; for there is nothing more poor, and nothing 
 more rich, than a trade." "No trade shall ever disappear 
 from the world. Happy he whom his teacher has brought up 
 to a good trade ; alas for him who has been put into a bad 
 one." 2 Perhaps these are comparatively later Rabbinical 
 sayings. But let us turn to the Mishnah itself, and especially 
 to that tractate which professedly embodies the wisdom and 
 the sayings of the fathers (Aboth). Shemaajah, the teacher 
 of Hillel, has this cynical saying (Ab. i. 10) perhaps the 
 outcome of his experience : " Love work, hate Rabbiship, 
 and do not press on the notice of those in power." The 
 views of the great Hillel himself have been quoted in a 
 previous chapter. Rabbi Gamaliel, the son of Jehudah the 
 Nasi, said (Ab. ii. 2): "Fair is the study of the law, if 
 accompanied by worldly occupation : to engage in them both 
 
 1 So literally in the Hebrew. 
 
 * Compare Hamburger, Real. Encycl. p. 497, where these sayings are collated. 
 
Trade, Tradesmen, and Trades Guilds. 
 
 is to keep away sin ; while study which is not combined with 
 work must in the end be interrupted, and only brings sin with 
 it." Rabbi Eleazar, the son of Asarjah, says, among other 
 things : " Where there is no worldly support (literally, no 
 meal, no flour), there is no study of the law ; and where 
 there is no study of the law, worldly support is of no value " 
 (Ab. iii. 21). It is worth while to add what immediately 
 follows in the Mishnah. Its resemblance to the simile about 
 the rock, and the building upon it, as employed by our Lord 
 (Matt. vii. 24 ; Luke vi. 47), is so striking, that we quote it in 
 illustration of previous remarks on this subject. We read as 
 follows : " He whose knowledge exceeds his works, to whom 
 is he like ? He is like a tree, whose branches are many and 
 its roots few, and the wind cometh, and uproots the tree 
 and throws it upon its face, as it is said (Jer. xvii. 6). . . . a 
 But he whose works exceed his knowledge, to whom is he 
 like ? To a tree whose branches are few, but its roots many; 
 and if even all the winds that are in the world came and 
 set upon such a tree, they would not move it from its place, 
 as it is written (Jer. xvii. 8)." We have given this saying 
 in its earliest form. Even so, it should be remembered that it 
 dates from after the destruction of Jerusalem. It occurs in a 
 still later form in the Babylon Talmud (Sank. 99 a). But 
 what is most remarkable is, that it also appears in yet 
 another work, and in a form almost identical with that in the 
 New Testament, so far as the simile of the building is con- 
 cerned. In this form it is attributed to a Rabbi who is 
 stigmatised as an apostate, and as the type of apostasy, and 
 who, as such, died under the ban. The inference seems to 
 be, that if he did not profess some form of Christianity, 
 he had at least derived this saying from his intercourse with 
 
1 9 i Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 Christians. 1 But irrespective of this, two things are plain on 
 comparison of the saying in its Rabbinical and in its Christian 
 form. First, in the parable as employed by our Lord, every- 
 thing is referred to Him ; and the essential difference ulti- 
 mately depends upon our relationship towards Him. The 
 comparison here is not between much study and little work, 
 or little Talmudical knowledge and much work ; but between 
 coming to Him and hearing these sayings of His, and then 
 either doing or else not doing them. Secondly, such an alter- 
 native is never presented by Christianity as, on the one hand, 
 much knowledge and few works, and on the other, little 
 knowledge and many works. But in Christianity the vital 
 difference lies between works and no works ; between ab- 
 solute life and absolute death ; all depending upon this, 
 whether a man has digged down to the right foundation, 
 and built upon the rock which is Christ, or has tried to build 
 up the walls of his life without such foundation. Thus the 
 very similarity of the saying in its Rabbinical form brings 
 out all the more clearly the essential difference and con- 
 trariety in spirit existing between Rabbinism, even in its 
 purest form, and the teaching of our Lord. 
 
 The question of the relation between the best teaching of 
 the Jewish sages and some of the sayings of our Lord is of 
 such vital importance, that this digression will not seem out 
 of place. A few further quotations bearing on the dignity 
 of labour may be appropriate. The Talmud has a beautiful 
 
 1 Elishaben Abbuja, called Acher, "the other," on account of his apostasy. 
 The history of that Rabbi is altogether deeply interesting. We can only put the 
 question : Was he a Christian, or merely tainted with Gnosticism ? The latter 
 seems to us the most probable. His errors are traced by the Jews to his study of 
 the Kabbalah. 
 
Trade, Tradesmen, and Trades' Guilds. 193 
 
 Haggadah, which tells how, when Adam heard this sentence 
 of his Maker : " Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth 
 to thee," he burst into tears. " What ! " he exclaimed ; " Lord 
 of the world, am I then to eat out of the same manger with 
 the ass ?" But when he heard these additional words : " In 
 the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread," his heart was 
 comforted. For herein lies (according to the Rabbis) the 
 dignity of labour, that man is not forced to, nor unconscious 
 in, his work ; but that while becoming the servant of the 
 soil, he wins from it the precious fruits of golden harvest. 
 And so, albeit labour may be hard, and the result doubtful, 
 as when Israel stood by the shores of the Red Sea, yet a 
 miracle will cleave these waters also. And still the dignity of 
 labour is great in itself : it reflects honour ; it nourisheth and 
 cherisheth him that engageth in it. For this reason also did 
 the law punish with fivefold restitution the theft of an ox, 
 but only with fourfold that of a sheep ; because the former 
 was that with which a man worked. 1 
 
 Assuredly St. Paul spoke also as a Jew when he admonished 
 the Ephesians (Eph. iv. 28) : " Let him that stole steal no 
 more : but rather let him labour, working with his hands the 
 thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that 
 needeth." " Make a working day of the Sabbath : only be not 
 dependent upon people," was the Rabbinical saying (Pes. 112). 
 " Skin dead animals by the wayside," we read, " and take thy 
 payment for it, but do not say, I am a priest ; I am a man 
 of distinction, and work is objectionable to me ! " And to 
 this day the common Jewish proverb has it : " Labour is no 
 cherpah (disgrace) ; " or again : " Melachah is berachah (labour 
 
 1 All these are Rabbinical sayings. Compare the references in Tcndlatt 
 Spruchw. u. Redensartcn, p. 263. 
 
IQ4 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 is blessing)." With such views, we can understand how 
 universal industrious pursuits were in the days of our 
 Lord. Although it is no doubt true, as the Rabbinical 
 proverb puts it, that every man thinks most of his own 
 trade, yet public opinion attached a very different value 
 to different kinds of trade. Some were avoided on account 
 of the unpleasantnesses connected with them, such as those 
 of tanners, dyers, and miners. The Mishnah lays it down 
 as a principle, that a man should not teach his son a trade 
 which necessitates constant intercourse with the other sex 
 (Kidd. iv. 14). Such would include, among others, jewellers, 
 makers of handmills, perfumers, and weavers. The latter 
 trade seems to have exposed to as many troubles as if the 
 weavers of those days had been obliged to serve a modern 
 fashionable lady. The saying was : "A weaver must be 
 humble, or his life will be shortened by excommunication ;" 
 that is, he must submit to anything for a living. Or, as the 
 common proverb put it (Ab. S. 26 a): "If a weaver is not 
 humble, his life is shortened by a year." This other saying, 
 of a similar kind, reminds us of the Scotch estimate of, or 
 rather disrespect for, weavers : " Even a weaver is master in 
 his own house." And this not only in his own opinion, but 
 in that of his wife also. For as the Rabbinical proverb has 
 it : " Though a man were only a comber of wool, his wife 
 would call him up to the house-door, and sit down beside 
 him," so proud is she of him. Perhaps in the view of the 
 Rabbis there was a little of female self-consciousness in this 
 regard for her husband's credit, for they have it : " Though 
 a man were only the size of an ant, his wife would try to 
 sit down among the big ones." 
 
 In general, the following sound views are expressed in the 
 
Trade, Tradesmen, and Traded Guilds. 195 
 
 Talmud (Ber. 17 a) : " The Rabbi of Jabne said : I am simply 
 a being like my neighbour. He works in the field, and I in 
 the town. We both rise early to go to work ; and there is no 
 cause for the one setting himself up above the other. Do not 
 think that the one does more than the other ; for we have 
 been taught that there is as much merit in doing that which is 
 little as that which is great, provided the state of our hearts 
 be right." And so a story is told, how one who dug cisterns 
 and made baths (for purification) accosted the great Rabbi 
 Jochanan with the words : " I am as great a man as thou ; " 
 since, in his own sphere, he served the wants of the com- 
 munity quite as much as the most learned teacher in Israel. 
 In the same spirit another Rabbi admonished to strict con- 
 scientiousness, since in a sense all work, however humble, was 
 really work for God. There can be no doubt that the Jewish 
 tradesman who worked in such a spirit would be alike happy 
 and skilful. 
 
 It must have been a great privilege to be engaged in any 
 work connected with the Temple. A large number of work- 
 men were kept constantly employed there, preparing what 
 was necessary for the service. Perhaps it was only a piece 
 of Jerusalem jealousy of the Alexandrians which prompted 
 such Rabbinical traditions, as, that, when Alexandrians tried 
 to compound the incense for the Temple, the column of 
 smoke did not ascend quite straight ; when they repaired the 
 large mortar in which the incense was bruised, and again, 
 the great cymbal with which the signal for the commence- 
 ment of the Temple music was given, in each case their 
 work had to be undone by Jerusalem workmen, in order 
 to produce a proper mixture, or to evoke the former sweet 
 sounds. There can be no question, however, notwithstanding 
 
196 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 Palestinian prejudices, that there were excellent Jewish work- 
 men in Alexandria ; and plenty of them, too, as we know 
 from their arrangement in guilds in their great synagogue. 
 Any poor workman had only to apply to his guild, and he 
 was supported till he found employment. The guild of 
 coppersmiths there had, as we are informed, for their de- 
 vice a leathern apron ; and when its members went abroad 
 they used to carry with them a bed which could be taken to 
 pieces. At Jerusalem, where this guild was organised under 
 its Rabban, or chief, it possessed a synagogue and a bury- 
 ing-place of its own. 1 But the Palestinian workmen, though 
 they kept by each other, had no exclusive guilds ; the prin- 
 ciples of " free trade," so to speak, prevailing among them. 
 Bazaars and streets were named after them. The workmen 
 of Jerusalem were specially distinguished for their artistic 
 skill. A whole valley that of the Tyropceon was occupied 
 by dairies ; hence its name, " valley of cheesemongers." Even 
 in Isa. vii. 3 we read of " the field of the fullers," which lay " at 
 the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway " 
 to Joppa. A whole set of sayings is expressly designated in 
 the Talmud as " the proverbs of the fullers." 
 
 From their love of building and splendour the Her^dian 
 princes must have kept many tradesmen in constant work. 
 At the re-erection of the Temple no less than eighteen thou- 
 sand were so employed in various handicrafts, some of them 
 implying great artistic skill. Even before that, Herod the 
 Great is said to have employed a large number of the most 
 experienced masters to teach the one thousand priests who 
 were to construct the Holy Place itself. For, in the building 
 of that part of the Temple no laymen were engaged. As 
 
 1 See Delitzsch, u.s. p. 38. 
 
Trades, Tradesmen, and Trades Guilds. 197 
 
 we know, neither hammer, axe, chisel, nor any tool of iron 
 was used within the sacred precincts. The reason of this is 
 thus explained in the Mishnah, when describing how all the 
 stones for the altar were dug out of virgin-earth, no iron tool 
 being employed in their preparation : " Iron is created to cut 
 short the life of man ; but the altar to prolong it. Hence it 
 is not becoming to use that which shortens for that which 
 lengthens " (Midd. iii. 4). Those who know the magnificence 
 and splendour of that holy house will be best able to judge 
 what skill in workmanship its various parts must have required. 
 An instance may be interesting on account of its connection 
 with the most solemn fact of New Testament history. We 
 read in the Mishnah (Shek. viii. 5) : " Rabbi Simeon, the son 
 of Gamaliel, said, in the name of Rabbi Simeon, the son of 
 the (former) Sagan (assistant of the high-priest) : The veil (of 
 the Most Holy Place) was an handbreadth thick, and woven 
 of seventy-two twisted plaits ; each plait consisted of twenty- 
 four threads " (according to the Talmud, six threads of each 
 of the four Temple-colours white, scarlet, blue, and gold). 
 " It was forty cubits long, and twenty wide (sixty feet by 
 thirty), and made of eighty-two myriads " (the meaning of 
 this in the Mishnah is not plain). " Two of these veils were 
 made every year, and it took three hundred priests to immerse 
 one" (before use). These statements must of course be 
 considered as dealing in " round numbers ; " but they are 
 most interesting as helping us to realise, not only how the 
 great veil of the Temple was rent, when the Lord of that 
 Temple died on the cross, but also how the occurrence 
 could have been effectually concealed from the mass of the 
 people. 
 
 To turn to quite another subject. It is curious to notice in 
 
198 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 how many respects times and circumstances have really not 
 changed. The old Jewish employers of labour seem to have 
 had similar trouble with their men to that of which so many 
 in our own times loudly complain. We have an emphatic 
 warning to this effect, to beware of eating fine bread and 
 giving black bread to one's workmen or servants ; not to sleep 
 on feathers and give them straw pallets, more especially if they 
 were co-religionists, for, as it is added, he who gets a Hebrew 
 slave gets his master ! Possibly something of this kind was 
 on the mind of St. Paul when he wrote this most needful 
 precept (i Tim. vi. 1,2): " Let as many servants as are under 
 the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that 
 the name of God and His doctrine be not blasphemed. And 
 they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, 
 because they are brethren ; but rather do them service, because 
 they are believing and beloved, partakers of the benefit." But 
 really there is nothing " new under the sun ! " Something 
 like the provisions of a mutual assurance appear in the associ- 
 ations of muleteers and sailors, which undertook to replace a 
 beast or a ship that had been lost without negligence on the 
 part of the owner. Nay, we can even trace the spirit of trade- 
 unionism in the express permission of the Talmud (Bab. B. 9) 
 to tradesmen to combine to work only one or two days in the 
 week, so as to give sufficient employment to every workman 
 in a place. We close with another quotation in the same 
 -direction, which will also serve to illustrate the peculiar mode 
 of Rabbinical comment on the words of Scripture : " ' He 
 doeth no evil to his neighbour ' this refers to one tradesman 
 not interfering with the trade of another ! " 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 r I "'HE remarkable change which we have noticed in the 
 -L views of Jewish authorities, from contempt to almost 
 affectation of manual labour, could certainly not have been 
 arbitrary. But as we fail to discover here any religious 
 motive, we can only account for it on the score of altered 
 political and social circumstances. So long as the people were, 
 at least nominally, independent, and in possession of their own 
 land, constant engagement in a trade would probably mark 
 an inferior social stage, and imply either voluntary or neces- 
 sary preoccupation with the things of this world that perish 
 with the using. It was otherwise when Judsea was in the 
 hands of strangers. Then honest labour afforded the means, 
 and the only means, of manly independence. To engage in 
 it, just sufficient to secure this result, to " stand in need of no 
 one ; " to be able to hold up one's head before friend and foe ; 
 to make unto God moral sacrifice of natural inclination, 
 strength and time, so as to be able freely and independently 
 to devote oneself to the study of the Divine law, was a noble 
 resolve. And it brought its own reward. If, on the one 
 hand, the alternation of physical and mental labour was felt 
 
2OO Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 to be healthy, on the other and this had been the main 
 object in view there never were men more fearlessly out- 
 spoken, more unconcerned as to mere personality or as to 
 consequences, more independent in thought and word than 
 these Rabbis. We can understand the withering scorn of St 
 Jude (Jude 16) towards those "having men's persons in admi- 
 ration," literally, " admiring faces " an expression by which 
 the LXX. translate the " respect " or " regard," or " accept- 
 ance " of persons (the nasa panim) mentioned in Lev. xix. 1 5 ; 
 Deut. x. 17 ; Job xiii. 10; Prov. xviii. 5, and many other pas- 
 sages. In this respect also, as so often, St. Paul spoke as 
 a true Jew when he wrote (Gal. ii. 6) : " But of these who 
 seemed to be somewhat, whatsoever they were, it maketh no 
 matter to me : the face of man God accepteth not." 
 
 The Mishnah, indeed, does not in so many words inform us 
 how the change in public feeling, to which we have referred, 
 was brought about. But there are plenty of hints to guide 
 us in certain short caustic sentences which would be inexplic- 
 able, unless read in the light of the history of that time. Thus, 
 as stated in the previous chapter, Shemaajah admonished : 
 " Love work, hate Rabbiship, and do not press on the notice 
 of those in power." Similarly, Avtaljon warned the sages to 
 be cautious in their words, for fear of incurring banishment 
 for themselves and their followers (Ab. i. 10, n). And Rabbi 
 Gamaliel II. had it (ii. 3) : " Be cautious with the powers that 
 be, for they only seek intercourse with a person for their 
 own advantage. They are as if they loved you, when it serves 
 for their profit, but in the hour of his need they do not stand 
 by a man." In the same category of sayings for the times 
 we may rank this of Rabbi Matithja : " Meet every one with 
 a salutation of peace, and prefer to be the tail of lions, but 
 
Commerce. 201 
 
 be not the head to foxes." It is needless to multiply similar 
 quotations, all expressive of an earnest desire for honourable 
 independence through personal exertion. 
 
 Quite different from those as to trades were the Rabbi- 
 nical views about commerce, as we shall immediately show. 
 In fact, the general adoption of business, which has so 
 often been made the subject of jeer against Israel, marks 
 yet another social state, and a terrible social necessity. 
 When Israel was scattered by units, hundreds, or even 
 thousands, but still a miserable, vanquished, homeless, weak 
 minority among the nations of the earth avoided, down- 
 trodden, and at the mercy of popular passion no other course 
 was open to them than to follow commerce. Even if 
 Jewish talent could have identified itself with the pursuits of 
 the Gentiles, would public life have been open to them we 
 shall not say, on equal, but, on any terms ? Or, to descend a 
 step lower except in those crafts which might be peculiarly 
 theirs, could Jewish tradesmen have competed with those 
 around ? would they even have been allowed to enter the 
 lists ? Moreover, it was necessary for their self-defence 
 almost for their existence that they should gain influence. 
 And in their circumstances this could only be obtained by 
 the possession of wealth, and the sole road to this was 
 commerce. 
 
 There can be no question that, according to the Divine 
 purpose, Israel was not intended to be a commercial people. 
 The many restrictions to the intercourse between Jews and 
 Gentiles, which the Mosaic law everywhere presents, would 
 alone have sufficed to prevent it. Then there was the express 
 enactment against taking interest upon loans (Lev. xxv. 36, 
 37), which must have rendered commercial transactions irr- 
 
2O2 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 possible, even though it was relaxed in reference to those who 
 lived outside the boundaries of Palestine (Deut. xxiii. 20). 
 Again, the law of the Sabbatic and of the Jubilee year would 
 have brought all extended commerce to a standstill. Nor 
 was the land at all suited for the requirements of trade. True, 
 it possessed ample seaboard, whatever the natural capabilities 
 of its harbours may have been. But the whole of that coast, 
 with the harbours of Joppa, Jamneh, Ascalon, Gaza, and 
 Acco or Ptolemais, remained, with- short intervals, in the 
 possession of the Philistines and Phoenicians. Even when 
 Herod the Great built the noble harbour of Caesarea, it was 
 almost exclusively used by foreigners (Jos. Jew. Wars, iii. 9, i). 
 And the whole history of Israel in Palestine points to the 
 same inference. Only on one occasion, during the reign of 
 Solomon, do we find anything like attempts to engage in mer- 
 cantile pursuits on a large scale. The reference to the " king's 
 merchants" (i Kings x. 28, 29; 2 Chron. i. 16), who imported 
 horses and linen yarn, has been regarded as indicating the 
 existence of a sort of royal trading company, or of a royal 
 monopoly. A still more curious inference would almost lead 
 us to describe Solomon as the first great " Protectionist." The 
 expressions in I Kings x. 15 point to duties paid by retail and 
 wholesale importers, the words, literally rendered, indicating as 
 a source of revenue that " from the traders and from the traffick 
 of the merchants ;" both words in their derivation pointing to 
 foreign trade, and probably distinguishing them as retail and 
 wholesale. 1 We may here remark that, besides these duties 
 and the tributes from "protected" kings (i Kings ix. 15), 
 Solomon's income is described (i Kings x. 14) as having 
 
 1 See Leyrer in Herzog, foal Encyd. v. p. 509 ; and Keil's Comment, on the 
 passage. 
 
Commerce. 203 
 
 amounted, at any rate, in one year, 1 to the enormous sum of 
 between two and three millions sterling ! Part of this may 
 have been derived from the king's foreign trade. For we 
 know (i Kings ix. 26, etc. ; 2 Chron. viii. 17, etc.) that King 
 Solomon built a navy at Ezion-geber, on the Red Sea, which 
 port David had taken. This navy traded to Ophir, in com- 
 pany with the Phoenicians. But as this tendency of King 
 Solomon's policy was in opposition to the Divine purpose, so 
 it was not lasting. The later attempt of King Jehoshaphat to 
 revive the foreign trade signally failed ; " for the ships were 
 broken at Ezion-geber" (i Kings xxii. 48 ; 2 Chron. xx. 36, 
 37), and soon afterwards the port of Ezion-geber passed once 
 more into the hands of Edom (2 Kings viii. 20). 
 
 With this closes the Biblical history of Jewish commerce in 
 Palestine, in the strict sense of that term. But our reference 
 to what may be called the Scriptural indications against the 
 pursuit of commerce brings up a kindred subject, for which, 
 although confessedly a digression, we claim a hearing, on 
 account of its great importance. Those most superficially 
 acquainted with modern theological controversy are aware, 
 that certain opponents of the Bible have specially directed 
 their attacks against the antiquity of the Pentateuch, although 
 they have not yet arranged among themselves what parts of 
 the Pentateuch were written by different authors, nor by how 
 many, nor by whom, nor at what times, nor when or by whom 
 they were ultimately collected into one book. Now what 
 we contend for in this connection is, that the legislation of 
 the Pentateuch affords evidence of its composition before 
 the people were settled in Palestine. We arrive at this 
 conclusion in the following manner. Supposing a code of 
 
 1 The Vulgate renders, " Every year." 
 
2O4 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 laws and institutions to be drawn up by a practical legislator 
 for unquestionably they were in force in Israel we main- 
 tain, that no human lawgiver could have ordered matters for a 
 nation in a settled state as we find it done in the Pentateuch. 
 The world has had many speculative constitutions of society 
 drawn up by philosophers aad theorists, from Plato to Rous- 
 seau and Owen. None of these would have suited, or even 
 been possible in a settled state of society. But no philosopher 
 would ever have imagined or thought of such laws as some 
 of the provisions in the Pentateuch. To select only a few, 
 almost at random. Let the reader think of applying, for 
 example, to England, such provisions as that all males were 
 to appear three times a year in the place which the Lord would 
 choose, or those connected with the Sabbatic and the Jubilee 
 years, or those regulating religious and charitable contribu- 
 tions, or those concerning the corners of fields, or those 
 prohibiting the taking of interest, or those connected with 
 the Levitical cities. Then let any one seriously ask himself, 
 whether such institutions could have been for the first time 
 propounded or introduced by a legislator at the time of David, 
 or of Hezekiah, or of Ezra ? The more we think of the spirit 
 and of the details of the Mosaic legislation, the stronger grows 
 our conviction, that such laws and institutions could have been 
 only introduced before the people actually settled in the land. 
 So far as we are aware, this line of argument has not before 
 been proposed ; and yet it seems necessary for our opponents 
 to meet this preliminary and, as we think, insuperable diffi- 
 culty of their theory, before we can be asked to discuss their 
 critical objections. 
 
 But to return. Passing from Biblical, or, at least, from Old 
 Testament to later times, we find the old popular feeling in 
 
Commerce. 205 
 
 Palestine on the subject of commerce still existing. For once 
 Josephus here correctly expresses the views of his countrymen. 
 " As for ourselves," he writes (Ag. Apion, i. 1 2), " we neither 
 inhabit a maritime country, nor do we delight in merchandise, 
 nor in such a mixture with other men as arises from it ; but 
 the cities we dwell in are remote from the sea, and having a 
 fruitful country for our habitation, we take pains in cultivating 
 that only." Nor were the opinions of the Rabbis different. 
 We know in what low esteem pedlars were held by the Jewish 
 authorities. But even commerce was not much more highly 
 regarded. It has been rightly said that, " in the sixty-three 
 tractates of which the Talmud is composed, scarcely a word 
 occurs in honour of commerce, but much to point out the 
 dangers attendant upon money-making." "Wisdom," says 
 Rabbi Jochanan, in explanation of Deut. xxx. 12, "' is not in 
 heaven ' that is, it is not found with those who are proud ; 
 neither is it ' beyond the sea ' that is, it will not be found 
 among traders nor among merchants " (Er. 5 5 a). Still more 
 to the point are the provisions of the Jewish law as to those 
 who lent money on interest, or took usury. " The following," 
 we read in Rosh Hash. i. 8, " are unfit for witness-bearing : 
 he who plays with dice (a gambler) ; he who lends on 
 usury ; they who train doves (either for betting purposes, or 
 as decoys) ; they who trade in seventh year's products, and 
 slaves." Even more pungent is this, almost reminding one 
 of the Rabbinic gloss : " Of the calumniator God says, 
 1 There is not room in the world for him and Me ' " " The 
 usurer bites off a piece from a man, for he takes from him 
 that which he has not given him " (Bab. Mez. 60 b). A few 
 other kindred sayings may here find a place. " Rabbi Meir 
 saith : Be sparing (doing little) in business, but busy in the 
 
po6 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 Thorah" (Ab.~tfT2). Among the forty-eight qualifications foi 
 acquiring the Thorah, " little business " is mentioned (vi. 6). 
 Lastly, we have this from Hillel, concluding with a very noble 
 saying, worthy to be preserved to all times and in all lan- 
 guages : " He who engages much in business cannot become 
 a sage ; and in a place where there are no men, strive thou 
 to be a man." 
 
 It will perhaps have been observed, that, with the changing 
 circumstances of the people, the views as to commerce also 
 underwent a slow process of modification, the main object now 
 being to restrict such occupations, and especially to regulate 
 them in accordance with religion. Inspectorships of weights 
 and measures are of comparatively late date in our own country. 
 The Rabbis in this, as in so many other matters, were 
 long before us. They appointed regular inspectors, whose 
 duty it was to go from market to market, and, more than 
 that, to fix the current market prices (Baba B. 88). The 
 prices for produce were ultimately determined by each com- 
 munity. Few merchants would submit to interference with 
 what is called the law of supply and demand. But the 
 Talmudical laws against buying up grain and withdrawing 
 it from sale, especially at a time of scarcity, are exceedingly 
 strict. Similarly, it was prohibited artificially to raise prices, 
 especially of produce. Indeed, it was regarded as cheating 
 to charge a higher profit than sixteen per cent. In general, 
 some would have it that in Palestine no one should make 
 profit out of the necessaries of life. Cheating was declared 
 to involve heavier punishment than a breach of some of the 
 other moral commandments. For the latter, it was argued, 
 might be set right by repentance. But he who cheated took 
 in not merely one or several persons, but every one ; and how 
 
Commi rce. 207 
 
 could that ever be set right ? And all were admonished to 
 remember, that " God punisheth even where the eye of an 
 earthly judge cannot penetrate." 1 
 
 We have spoken of a gradual modification of Rabbinical 
 views with the changing circumstances of the nation. This 
 probably comes out most clearly in the advice of the Tal- 
 mud (Baba M. 42), to divide one's money into three parts 
 to lay out one in the purchase of land, to invest the 
 second in merchandise, and to keep the third in hand as 
 cash. But there was always this comfort, which Rab enu- 
 merated among the blessings of the next world, that there 
 was no commerce there (Ber. 17 a). And so far as this 
 world was concerned, the advice was to engage in business, 
 in order with the profit made to assist the sages in their 
 pursuits, just as Sebua, one of the three wealthy men of Jeru- 
 salem, had assisted the great Hillel. From what has been 
 said, it will be inferred that the views expressed as to 
 Palestinian, or even Babylonian Jews, did not apply to 
 those who were " dispersed abroad " among the various 
 Gentile nations. To them, as already shown, commerce 
 would be a necessity, and, in fact, the grand staple of their 
 existence. If this may be said of all Jews of the dispersion, 
 it applies specially to that community which was the richest 
 and most influential among them we mean the Jews of 
 Alexandria. 
 
 Few phases, even in the ever-changeful history of the 
 Jewish people, are more strange, more varied in interest, or 
 more pathetic than those connected with the Jews of Alex- 
 andria. The immigration of Jews into Egypt commenced 
 even before the Babylonish captivity. Naturally it received 
 
 1 Compare Hamburger, Real-EncycL p. 494. 
 
2o8 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 great increase from that event, and afterwards from the murder 
 of Gedaliah. But the real exodus commenced under Alexander 
 the Great That monarch accorded to the Jews in Alex- 
 andria the same rights as its Greek inhabitants enjoyed, and 
 so raised them to the rank of the privileged classes. Hence- 
 forth their numbers and their influence grew under successive 
 rulers. We find them commanding Egyptian armies, largely 
 influencing Egyptian thought and inquiry, and partially 
 leavening it by the translation of the Holy Scriptures into 
 Greek. Of the so-called Temple of Onias at Leontopolis, 
 which rivalled that of Jerusalem, and of the magnificence 
 of the great synagogue at Alexandria, we cannot speak in 
 this place. There can be no doubt that, in the Providence 
 of God, the location of so many Jews in Alexandria, and 
 the mental influence which they acquired, were designed to 
 have an important bearing on the later spread of the Gospel 
 of Christ among the Greek-speaking and Grecian-thinking 
 educated world. In this, the Greek translation of the Old Tes- 
 tament was also largely helpful. Indeed, humanly speaking, 
 it would have scarcely been possible without it. At the time 
 of Philo the number of Jews in Egypt amounted to no less 
 than one million. In Alexandria they occupied two out of the 
 five quarters of the town, which were called after the first 
 five letters of the alphabet. They lived under rulers of their 
 own, almost in a state of complete independence. Theirs 
 was the quarter Delta, along the seashore. The supervision 
 of navigation, both by sea and river, was wholly entrusted 
 to them. In fact, the large export trade, especially in 
 grain and Egypt was the granary of the world was entirely 
 in their hands. The provisioning of Italy and of the world 
 was the business of the Jews. It is a curious circumstance, 
 
Commerce. 2og 
 
 as illustrating how little the history of the world changes, 
 that during the troubles at Rome the Jewish bankers of 
 Alexandria were able to obtain from their correspondents 
 earlier and more trustworthy political tidings than any one 
 else. 1 This enabled them to declare themselves in turn for 
 Caesar and for Octavius, and to secure the full political and 
 financial results flowing from such policy, just as the great 
 Jewish banking houses at the beginning of this century were 
 similarly able to profit by earlier and more trustworthy news 
 of events than the general public could obtain. 
 
 But no sketch of commerce among the early Jews, however 
 brief, would be complete without some further notice both of 
 the nature of the trade carried on, and of the legal regulations 
 which guarded it. The business of the travelling hawker, 
 of course, was restricted to negotiating an exchange of the 
 products of one district for those of another, to buying and 
 selling articles of home produce, or introducing among those 
 who affected fashion or luxury in country districts specimens 
 of the latest novelties from abroad. The foreign imports 
 were, with the exception of wood and metals, chiefly articles 
 of luxury. Fish from Spain, apples from Crete, cheese from 
 Bithynia ; lentils, beans, and gourds from Egypt and Greece ; 
 plates from Babylon, wine from Italy, beer from Media, 
 household vessels from Sidon, baskets from Egypt, dresses 
 from India, sandals from Laodicea, shirts from Cilicia, veils 
 irom Arabia such were some of the goods imported. On 
 the other hand, the exports from Palestine consisted of such 
 produce as wheat, oil, balsam, honey, figs, etc., the value of 
 exports and imports being nearly equal, and the balance, if 
 any, in favour of Palestine. 
 
 1 Hausrath, Neutest. Zeitg. vol. L p. 57. 
 
2io Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 Then, as to the laws regulating trade and commerce, they 
 were so minute as almost to remind us of the Saviour's stric- 
 tures on Pharisaic punctiliousness. Several Mishnic tractates 
 are full of determinations on these points. " The dust of the 
 balances " is a strictly Jewish idea and phrase. So far did the 
 law interfere, as to order that a wholesale dealer must cleanse 
 the measures he used once every month, and a retail dealer 
 twice a week ; that all weights were to be washed once a week, 
 and the balances wiped every time they had been used. By 
 way of making assurance doubly sure, the seller had to give 
 rather more than an ounce in addition to every ten pounds, if 
 the article consisted of fluids, or half that if of solids (Baba B. 
 v. IO, 1 1). Here are some of the principal ordinances relating 
 to trade. 1 A bargain was not considered closed until both 
 parties had taken possession of their respective properties. 
 But after one of them had received the money, it was 
 deemed dishonourable and sinful for the other to draw back 
 In case of overcharge, or a larger than the lawful profit, a 
 purchaser had the right of returning the article, or claiming 
 the balance in money, provided he applied for it after an 
 interval not longer than was needful for showing the goods to 
 another merchant or to a relative. Similarly, the seller was 
 also protected. Money-changers were allowed to charge a 
 fixed discount for light money, or to return it within a certain 
 period, if below the weight at which they had taken it. A 
 merchant might not be pressed to name the lowest price, 
 unless the questioner seriously intended to purchase ; nor 
 might he be even reminded of a former overcharge to induce 
 him to lower his prices. Goods of different qualities might 
 not be mixed, even though the articles added were of superior 
 
 1 See my History of the Jewish Nation^ p. 305, etc. 
 
Commerce. 211 
 
 value. For the protection of the public, agriculturists were 
 forbidden to sell in Palestine wine diluted with water, unless 
 in places where such was the known usage. Indeed, one of 
 the Rabbis went so far as to blame merchants who gave little 
 presents to children by way of attracting the custom of their 
 parents. It is difficult to imagine what they would have said to 
 the modern practice of giving discount to servants. All agreed 
 in reprobating as deceit every attempt to give a better appear- 
 ance to an article exposed for sale. Purchases of corn could 
 not be concluded till the general market-price had been fixed 
 
 But beyond all this, every kind of speculation was regarded 
 as akin to usury. With the delicacy characteristic of Rabbinical 
 law, creditors were expressly prohibited from using anything 
 belonging to a debtor without paying for it, from sending hirr 
 on an errand, or even accepting a present from one who had 
 solicited an advance. So punctilious were the Rabbis ir 
 avoiding the appearance of usury, that a woman who borrowed 
 a loaf from her neighbour was told to fix its value at the time 
 lest a sudden rise in flour should make the loaf returned 
 worth more than that borrowed ! If a house or a field were 
 rented, a somewhat higher charge might be made, if the 
 money were not paid in advance, but not in the case of a pur- 
 chase. It was regarded as an improper kind of speculation 
 to promise a merchant one-half of the profit on the sales he 
 effected, or to advance him money and then allow him one- 
 half of the profits on his transactions. In either case, it was 
 thought, a merchant would be exposed to more temptation. 
 By law he was only entitled to a commission and to compen- 
 sation for his time and trouble. 
 
 Equally strict were the regulations affecting debtor and 
 creditor. Advances were legally secured by regular docu- 
 
212 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 ments, drawn out at the expense of the debtor, and attested by 
 witnesses, about whose signature minute directions are given. 
 To prevent mistakes, the sum lent was marked at the top, 
 as well as in the body of the document. A person was not 
 taken as security for another after the loan was actually con- 
 tracted. In reference to interest (which among the Romans 
 was calculated monthly), in regard to pledges, and in dealing 
 with insolvent debtors, the mildness of the Jewish law has 
 never been equalled. It was lawful, under certain restrictions, 
 to take a pledge, and in the event of non-payment to sell 
 it ; but wearing apparel, bedding, the ploughshare, and all 
 articles required for the preparation of food were excepted. 
 Similarly, it was unlawful, under any circumstances, to take 
 a pledge from a widow, or to sell that which belonged to her. 
 These are only some of the provisions by which the interests 
 of all parties were not only guarded, but a higher religious 
 tone sought to be imparted to ordinary life. Those who are 
 acquainted with the state of matters among the nations 
 around, and the cruel exactions of the Roman law, will best 
 appreciate the difference in this respect also between Israel 
 and the Gentiles. The more the Rabbinical code is studied, 
 the higher will be our admiration of its provisions, character- 
 ised as these are by wisdom, kindliness, and delicacy, we 
 venture to say, far beyond any modern legislation. Not only 
 the history of the past, the present privileges, and the hope 
 connected with the promises, but the family, social, and 
 public life which he found among his brethren would attach 
 a Jew to his people. Only one thing was awanting but 
 that, alas ! the " one thing needful." For, in the language 
 of St. Paul (Rom. x. 2), " I bear them record that they have 
 a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge." 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 AMONG THE PEOPLE, AND WITH THE PHARISEES. 
 
 T T would have been difficult to proceed far either in Galilet 
 J- or in Judaea without coming into contact with an alto- 
 gether peculiar and striking individuality, differing from all 
 around, and which would at once arrest attention. This was 
 the Pharisee. Courted or feared, shunned or flattered, reve- 
 rently looked up to or laughed at, he was equally a power 
 everywhere, both ecclesiastically and politically, as belonging 
 to the most influential, the most zealous, and the most closely - 
 connected religious fraternity, which in the pursuit of it 
 objects spared neither time nor trouble, feared no danger, 
 and shrunk from no consequences. Familiar as the name 
 sounds to readers of the New Testament and students of 
 Jewish history, there is no subject on which more crude or 
 inaccurate notions prevail than that of Pharisaism, nor yet 
 any which, rightly understood, gives fuller insight into the 
 state of Judaism at the time of our Lord, or better illustrates 
 His words and His deeds. Let us first view the Pharisee as, 
 himself seemingly unmoved, he moves about among the 
 crowd, which either respectfully gives way or curiously looks 
 after him. 
 
214 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 There was probably no town or village inhabited by Jews 
 which had not its Pharisees, although they would, of course, 
 gather in preference about Jerusalem with its Temple, and 
 what, perhaps, would have been even dearer to the heart of a 
 genuine Pharisee its four hundred and eighty synagogues, its 
 Sanhedrims (great and small), and its schools of study. There 
 could be no difficulty in recognising such an one. Walking 
 behind him, the chances were, he would soon halt to say his 
 prescribed prayers. If the fixed time for them had come, he 
 would stop short in the middle of the road, perhaps say one 
 section of them, move on, again say another part, and so on, 
 till, whatever else might be doubted, there could be no ques- 
 tion of the conspicuousness of his devotions in market-place 
 or corners of streets. There he would stand, as taught by the 
 traditional law, would draw his feet well together, compose his 
 body and clothes, and bend so low " that every vertebra in his 
 back would stand out separate," or, at least, till " the skin over 
 his heart would fall into folds " (Ber. 28 b}. The workman 
 would drop his tools, the burden-bearer his load ; if a man 
 had already one foot in the stirrup, he would withdraw it. The 
 hour had come, and nothing could be suffered to interrupt or 
 disturb him. The very salutation of a king, it was said, must 
 remain unreturned ; nay, the twisting of a serpent around 
 one's heel must remain unheeded. Nor was it merely the 
 prescribed daily seasons of prayer which so claimed his 
 devotions. On entering a village, and again on leaving it, 
 he must say one or two benedictions ; the same in passing 
 through a fortress, in encountering any danger, in meeting 
 with anything new, strange, beautiful, or unexpected. And 
 the longer he prayed the better. In the view of the Rabbis 
 this had a twofold advantage ; for " much prayer is sure to 
 
Among the People, and with the Pharisees. 215 
 
 be heard," and " prolix prayer prolongeth life." At the same 
 time, as each prayer expressed, and closed with a benediction 
 of the Divine Name, there would be special religious merit 
 attaching to mere number, and a hundred "benedictions" 
 said in one day was a kind of measure of great piety. 
 
 But on meeting a Pharisee face to face his identity could 
 still less be doubted. His self-satisfied, or else mock-modest 
 or ostentatiously meek bearing would betray him, even irre- 
 spective of his superciliousness towards others, his avoidance 
 of every touch of persons or things which he held unclean, 
 and his extravagant religious displays. We are, of course, 
 speaking of the class, or, rather, the party, as such, and 
 of its tendencies, and not of all the individuals who com- 
 posed it. Besides, there were, as we shall by-and-by see, 
 various degrees among them, from the humblest Pharisee, who 
 was simply a member of the fraternity, only initiated in its 
 lowest degree, or perhaps even a novice, to the most advanced 
 chasid) or " pietist." The latter would, for example, bring 
 every day a trespass-offering, in case he had committed some 
 offence of which he was doubtfuLJ^Iow far the punctilious- 
 ness of that class, in observing the laws of Levitical purity, 
 would go, may be gathered from a Rabbi, who would not 
 allow his son to remain in the room while he was in the hands 
 of the surgeon, lest he might be defiled by contact with the 
 amputated limb, which, of course, was thenceforth dead. 
 Another chasid went so far in his zeal for Sabbath observ- 
 ance, that he would not build up again his house because he 
 had thought about it on the Sabbath ; and it was even 
 declared by some improper to intrust a letter to a Gentile, 
 lest he should deliver it on the holy day ! These are real, 
 but by no means extreme cases. For, a Rabbi, contemporary 
 
216 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 with the apostles, was actually obliged to denounce, as incom- 
 patible with the continuance of society, the vagaries of the 
 so-called " Chasid Shoteh," or silly pietist. What was meant 
 by these will appear from such instances as the refusal to 
 save a woman from drowning for fear of touching a female, 
 or waiting to put off the phylacteries before stretching out a 
 hand to rescue a child from the water ! 
 
 Readers of the New Testament will remember that the very 
 dress of the Pharisees differed from that of others. Simple as 
 the garb of Orientals is, it must not be thought that, in those 
 days, wealth, rank, and luxury were not recognisable quite as 
 much, if not more, than among ourselves. No doubt the 
 polished Grecian, the courtly Herodian, the wealthy Sadducee, 
 as well as many of the lady patronesses of the Pharisees 
 (Jos. Ant. xvii. 2, 4), would have been easily recognised. At 
 any rate, Jewish writings give us such descriptions of their 
 toilette, that we can almost transport ourselves among the 
 fashionable society of Tiberias, Caesarea, Jerusalem, or that 
 of "the dispersed," who were residents of Alexandria or of 
 the wealthy towns of Babylonia. 
 
 Altogether, it seems, eighteen garments were supposed to 
 complete an elegant toilette. The material, the colour, and 
 the cut distinguished the wearer. While the poor used the 
 upper garment for a covering at night, the fashionable wore 
 the finest white, embroidered, or even purple garments, with 
 curiously-wrought silk girdles. It was around this upper 
 garment that " the borders " were worn which the Pharisees 
 "enlarged" (Matt, xxiii. 5). Of these we shall speak pre- 
 sently. Meantime we continue our description. The inner 
 garment went down to the heels. The head-dress consisted 
 of a pointed cap, or kind of turban, of more or less exquisite 
 
Among the People, and with the Pharisees. 217 
 
 material, and curiously wound, the ends often hanging grace- 
 fully behind. Gloves were generally used only for protection. 
 As for ladies, besides differences in dress, the early charge of 
 Isaiah (iii. 16-24) against the daughters of Jerusalem might 
 have been repeated with tenfold emphasis in New Testament 
 times. We read of three kinds of veils. The Arabian hung 
 down from the head, leaving the wearer free to see all 
 around ; the veil-dress was a kind of mantilla, thrown grace- 
 fully about the whole person, and covering the head ; while 
 the Egyptian resembled the veil of modern Orientals, cover- 
 ing breast, neck, chin, and face, and leaving only the eyes 
 free. The girdle, which was fastened lower than by men, was 
 often of very costly fabric, and studded with precious stones. 
 Sandals consisted merely of soles strapped to the feet ; but 
 ladies wore also costly slippers, sometimes embroidered, or 
 adorned with gems, and so arranged that the pressure of the 
 foot emitted a delicate perfume. It is well known that scents 
 and " ointments " were greatly in vogue, and often most 
 expensive (Matt. xxvi. 7). The latter were prepared of oil 
 and of home or foreign perfumes, the dearest being kept in 
 costly alabaster boxes. The trade of perfumer was, however, 
 looked down upon, not only among the Jews, but even among 
 heathen nations. But in general society anointing was com- 
 bined with washing, as tending to comfort and refreshment. 
 The hair, the beard, the forehead, and the face, even garlands 
 worn at feasts, were anointed. But luxury went much 
 farther than all this. Some ladies used cosmetics, painting 
 their cheeks and blackening their eyebrows with a mixture 
 of antimony, zinc, and oil. The hair, which was considered 
 a chief point of beauty, was the object of special care. 
 Young people wore it long ; but in men this would have 
 
218 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 been regarded as a token of effeminacy (i Cor. xi. 14). The 
 beard was carefully trimmed, anointed, and perfumed. Slaves 
 were not allowed to wear beards. Peasant girls tied their hair 
 in a simple knot ; but the fashionable Jewesses curled and 
 plaited theirs, adorning the tresses with gold ornaments and 
 pearls. The favourite colour was a kind of auburn, to pro- 
 duce which the hair was either dyed or sprinkled with gold- 
 dust. We read even of false hair (Shab. vi. 3), just as false 
 teeth also were worn in Judaea. Indeed, as in this respect 
 also there is nothing new under the sun, we are not asto- 
 nished to find mention of hair-pins and elegant combs, nor 
 to read that some Jewish dandies had their hair regularly 
 dressed ! However, the business of hairdresser was not re- 
 garded as very respectable, any more than that of perfumer. 1 
 As for ornaments, gentlemen generally wore a seal, either on 
 the ring-finger or suspended round the neck. Some of them 
 had also bracelets above the wrist (commonly of the right 
 arm), made of ivory, gold, or precious stones strung together. 
 Of course, the fashionable lady was similarly adorned, 
 adding to the bracelets finger-rings, ankle-rings, nose-rings, 
 ear-rings, gorgeous head-dresses, necklaces, chains, and what 
 are nowadays called " charms." As it may interest some, we 
 shall add a few sentences of description. The earring was 
 either plain, or had a drop, a pendant, or a little bell inserted. 
 The nose-ring, which the traditional law ordered to be put 
 aside on the Sabbath, hung gracefully over the upper lip, yet 
 
 1 The learned Lightfoot (Hor<z Hebr. pp. 498 and 1081) has expressed a doubt 
 whether the name "Magdalene" is to be rendered " from Magdala " or "the 
 hairdresser." We have noted in a previous chapter, that the inhabitants of 
 Magdala engaged in such and similar business. But the Rabbinical passages to 
 which Lightfoot refers are not satisfactory, since they are evidently dictated by a 
 special animus against Christ and Christianity. 
 
Among the People, and with the Pharisees. 219 
 
 so as not to interfere with the salute of the privileged friend 
 Two kinds of necklaces were worn one close-fitting, the other 
 often consisting of precious stones or pearls, and hanging down 
 over the chest, often as low as the girdle. The fashionable 
 lady would wear two or three such chains,, to which smelling- 
 bottles and various ornaments, even heathen " charms," were 
 attached. Gold pendants descended from the head-orna- 
 ment, which sometimes rose iike a tower, or was wreathed 
 in graceful snake-like coils. The anklets were generally so 
 wrought as in walking to make a sound like little bells. 
 Sometimes the two ankle-rings were fastened together, which 
 would oblige the fair wearer to walk with small, mincing 
 steps. If to all this we add gold and diamond pins, and say 
 that our very brief description is strictly based upon con- 
 temporary notices, the reader will have some idea of the 
 appearance of fashionable society. 1 
 
 | The sketch just given will be of some practical use if it 
 helps us more fully to realise the contrast presented by the 
 appearance of the Pharisee. Whether sternly severe, blandly 
 meek, or zealously earnest, he would carefully avoid all con- 
 tact with one who was not of the fraternity, or even occupied 
 an inferior degree in it, as we shall by-and-by show. He 
 would also be recognisable by his very garb. For, in the lan- 
 guage of our Lord, the Pharisees made " broad their phylac- 
 teries," and " enlarged the borders of their garments." The 
 latter observance, at least so far as concerned the wearing of 
 memorial fringes on the borders of the garments not the 
 conspicuous enlargement of these borders rested really on a 
 Divine ordinance (Num. xv. 37 ; Deut. xxii. 12). In Scripture 
 these fringes are prescribed to be of blue, the symbolical colout 
 
 ' Compare my History tS'he Jewish Nation, pp. 315-318. 
 
220 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 of the covenant ; but the Mishnah allows them also to be 
 white (Men. iv. i). They are not unfrequently referred to in 
 the New Testament (Matt. ix. 20 ; xiv. 36 ; xxiii. 5 ; Mark 
 vi. 56 ; Luke viii. 44). A* already stated, they were worn on 
 the border of the outer garment no doubt by every pious 
 Israelite. Later Jewish mysticism found in this fringed 
 border deep references to the manner in which the Shechinah 
 enwrapped itself in creation, and called the attention of each 
 Israelite to the fact that, if in Num. xv. 39 we read (in the 
 Hebrew), " Ye shall look upon him " [not " it," as in our 
 Authorised Version] " and remember," this change of gender 
 (for the Hebrew word for " fringes " is feminine) indicated 
 " that, if thou doest so, it is as much as if thou sawest the 
 throne of the Glory, which is like unto blue." And thus 
 believing, the pious Jew would cover in prayer his head with 
 this mysterious fringed garment ; in marked contrast to which 
 St. Paul declares all such superstitious practices as dishonour- 
 ing (i Cor. xi. 4). 1 
 
 If the practice of wearing borders with fringes had Scrip- 
 tural authority, we are well convinced that no such plea could 
 be urged for the so-called " phylacteries." The observance 
 arose from a literal interpretation of Exod. xiii. 9, to which 
 even the later injunction in Deut. vi. 8 gives no countenance. 
 This appears even from its repetition in Deut xi. 18, where 
 the spiritual meaning and purport of the direction is im- 
 mediately indicated, and from a comparison with kindred 
 
 1 The practice of modern Jews is somewhat different from that of ancient 
 times. Without entering into details, it is sufficient here to say that they wear 
 underneath their garments a small square, with fringes, called the little tallith 
 (from "talal," to overshadow or cover), or the "arbah canphoth " (four 
 " corners ") ; while during prayer they wrap themselves in the great tallith, 
 or so-called prayer-cloak. 
 
Among the People, and with the Pharisees. 221 
 
 expressions, which evidently could not be taken literally such 
 as Prov. iii. 3 ; vi. 21; vii. 3 ; Cant. viii. 6 ; Isa. xlix. 16. The very 
 term used by the Rabbis for phylacteries " tephillin," prayer- 
 fillets is of comparatively modern origin, in so far as it does 
 not occur in the Hebrew Old Testament. The Samaritans 
 did not acknowledge them as of Mosaic obligation, any more 
 than do the Karaite Jews, and there is, what seems to us, suf- 
 ficient evidence, even from Rabbinical writings, that in the 
 time of Christ phylacteries were not universally worn, nor 
 yet by the priests while officiating in the Temple. Although 
 the words of our Lord seem only expressly to condemn the 
 making broad of the phylacteries, for purposes of religious 
 ostentation, it is difficult to believe that He Himself had 
 worn them. At any rate, while any ordinary Israelite would 
 only put them on at prayer or on solemn occasions, the 
 members of the Pharisaic confraternity wore them all day 
 long. The practice itself, and the views and ordinances con- 
 nected with it, are so characteristic of the party, that we shall 
 add a few further particulars. 
 
 The " tephillin " were worn on the left arm, towards the 
 heart, and on the forehead. They consisted to describe them 
 roughly of capsules, containing, on parchment (that for the 
 forehead on four distinct parchments), these four passages 
 of Scripture: Exod. xiii. i-io ; xiii. 11-16; Deut. vi. 4-9; 
 and xi. 13-21. The capsules were fastened on by black 
 leather straps, which were wound round the arm and hand 
 (seven times round the former, and three times round the 
 latter), or else fitted to the forehead in a prescribed and 
 mystically significant manner. The wearer of them could not 
 be mistaken. But as for their value and importance in the 
 eyes of the Rabbis, it were impossible to exaggerate it. 
 
222 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 They were reverenced as highly as the Scriptures, and, like 
 them, might be rescued from the flames on a Sabbath, although 
 not worn, as constituting "a burden !" It was said that Moses 
 had received the law of their observance from God on Mount 
 Sinai ; that the " tephillin " were more sacred than the golden 
 plate on the forehead of the high-priest, since its inscription 
 embodied only once the sacred name of Jehovah, while the 
 writing inside the " tephillin " contained it not less than 
 twenty-three times ; that the command of wearing them 
 equalled all other commands put together, with many other 
 similar extravagances. 1 How far the profanity of the Rabbis 
 in this respect would go, appears from the circumstance, that 
 they supposed God Himself as wearing phylacteries (Ber. 
 6 a). The fact is deduced from Isa. Ixii. 8, where the "right 
 hand " by which Jehovah swears is supposed to refer to the 
 law, according to the last clause of Deut. xxxiii. 2 ; while the 
 expression " strength of His arm " was applied to the "tephil- 
 lin," since the term " strength " appeared in Ps. xxix. 1 1 in 
 connection with God's people, and was in turn explained by a 
 reference to Deut. xxviii. 10. For "the strength" of God's 
 people (Ps. xxix. n) is that which would cause all to "be 
 afraid " of Israel (Deut. xxviii. 10) ; and this latter would be 
 due to their seeing that Israel was " called by the name of 
 Jehovah," this ocular demonstration being afforded through 
 the " tephillin." Such was the evidence which traditionalism 
 offered for such a monstrous proposition. 
 
 1 We can recommend nothing better, to those who have heard that the teaching 
 of the New Testament has been derived from that of the Rabbis, than to collate 
 the revolting details on this subject, as well as those connected with prayer, in Ber. 
 23 a to 25 b ; or else to study their interpretations of dreams, or such details as 
 Ber. 62 a, b. To those who have been told that Hillel might be compared with 
 Jesus, we recommend the perusal of what at times engaged that great Jewish 
 Rabbi's teaching ; for example, in Ber. 23 a. 
 
Among the People, and with the Pharisees. 223 
 
 The above may serve as a specimen alike of Rabbinical 
 exegesis and theological inferences. It will also help us to 
 understand, how in such a system inconvenient objections, 
 arising from the plain meaning of Scripture, would be sum- 
 marily set aside by exalting the interpretations of men above 
 the teaching of the Bible. This brings us straight to the 
 charge of our Lord against the Pharisees (Mark vii. 13), that 
 they made " the Word of God of none effect " through their 
 " traditions." The fact, terrible as it is, nowhere, perhaps, 
 comes out more strongly than in connection with these 
 very " tephillin." We read in the Mishnah (Sank. xi. 3), 
 literally, as follows : " It is more punishable to act against the 
 words of the Scribes than against those of Scripture. If a 
 man were tc say, ' There is no such thing as " tephillin," ' in 
 order thereby to act contrary to the words of Scripture, he is 
 not to be treated as a rebel. But if he should say, ' There 
 are five divisions in the prayer-fillets ' (instead of four in those 
 for the forehead, as the Rabbis taught), in order to add to the 
 words of the Scribes, he is guilty." Assuredly, a more signal 
 instance could scarcely be found of " teaching for doctrines 
 the commandments of men," and of, even on their own show- 
 ing, " laying aside the commandment of God," in order to 
 "hold the tradition of men" (Mark vii. 7, 8). 
 ^ Before passing from this subject, it may be convenient to 
 explain the meaning of the Greek term " phylacteries " for 
 these "tephillin," and to illustrate its aptness. It is now 
 almost generally admitted, that the real jneaning of phylac- 
 teries is equivalent to amulets, or charmsTy And as such the 
 Rabbinists really regarded and treated them, however much 
 they might otherwise have disclaimed all connection with 
 heathen views. In this connection we are not going to enter 
 
224 Sketches of Jewish Life, 
 
 into the unsavoury subject of their heathen superstitions, such 
 as where to find, how to detect, and by what means to get rid 
 of evil spirits, or how to conjure up demons as these are 
 indicated in the Talmud. Considering the state of civilisation 
 at the time, and the general prevalence of superstition, we 
 should perhaps have scarcely wondered at all this, had it not 
 been for the claims which the Rabbis set up to Divine autho- 
 rity, and the terrible contrast exhibited between their teach- 
 ing and that we will not say of the New, but of the Old 
 Testament. In reference to the "phylacteries," even the 
 language of Josephus (Ant. iv. 8, 13) savours of belief in their 
 magical efficacy ; although in this matter also he is true to 
 himself, showing us, at the same time, that certain proverbial 
 views of gratitude were already in vogue in his time. For, 
 writing of the phylacteries, which, he maintains, the Jews wore 
 in remembrance of their past deliverance, he observes, that this 
 expression of their gratitude " served not only by way of return 
 for past, but also byway of invitation of future favours!" 
 Many instances of the magical ideas attaching to these " amu- 
 lets" might be quoted ; but the following will suffice. It is said 
 that, when a certain Rabbi left the audience of some king, he 
 had turned his back upon the monarch. Upon this, the courtiers 
 would have killed the Rabbi, but were deterred by seeing that 
 the straps of his " tephillin " shone like bands of fire about 
 him ; thus verifying the promise in Deut. xxviii. 10 (Jer. Ber. 
 v. i). Indeed, we have it expressly stated in an ancient Jewish 
 Targum (that on Cant. viii. 3), that the "tephillin" prevented 
 all hostile demons from doing injury to any Israelite. 
 '" What has been said will in some measure prepare the reader 
 (or investigating the history and influence of the Pharisees at 
 the time of Christ. Let it be borne in mind, that patriotism 
 
Among the People, and with the Pharisees. 225 
 
 and religion equally combined to raise them in popular esteem. 
 What made Palestine a land separate and distinct from 
 the heathen nations around, among whom the ruling families 
 would fain have merged them, was that Jewish element 
 which the Pharisees represented. Their very origin as a party 
 stretched back to the great national struggle which had freed 
 the soil of Palestine from Syrian domination. In turn, the 
 Pharisees had deserted those Maccabees whom formerly they 
 had supported, and dared persecution and death, when the 
 descendants of the Maccabees declined into worldly pomp 
 and Grecian ways, and would combine the royal crown of 
 David with the high -priest's mitre. And now, whoever 
 might fear Herod or his family, the Pharisees at least 
 would not compromise their principles. Again, were they 
 not the representatives of the Divine law not only of that 
 given to Israel on Mount Sinai, but also of those more secret 
 ordinances which were only verbally communicated to Moses, 
 in explanation of, and addition to the law ? If they had made 
 " a hedge " around the law, it was only for the safety of Israel, 
 and for their better separation from all that was impure, as 
 well as from the Gentiles. As for themselves, they were 
 bound by vows and obligations of the strictest kind. Their 
 dealings with the world outside their fraternity, their occu- 
 pations, their practices, their bearing, their very dress and 
 appearance among that motley crowd either careless, gay, 
 and Grecianising, or self-condemned by a practice in sad dis- 
 cord with their Jewish profession and principles would gain 
 for them the distinction of uppermost rooms at feasts, and 
 chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, 
 and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi (" my great one, my 
 great one "), in which their hearts so much delighted. 
 
 Q 
 
226 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 In very truth they mostly did represent, in some one or 
 other degree of their order, what of earnestness and religions 
 zeal there was in the land. Their name probably in the 
 first instance not chosen by themselves had become to some 
 a byword, to others a party title. And sadly they had 
 declined from their original tendency at least in most cases. 
 They were not necessarily " scribes," nor " lawyers," nor yet 
 " teachers of the law." Nor were they a sect, in the ordinary 
 sense of the term. But they were a fraternity, which con- , 
 sisted of various degrees, to which there was a regular novi-~ 
 tiate, and which was bound by special vows and obligations!) 
 This fraternity was, so to speak, hereditary ; so that St. Paul 
 could in very truth speak of himself as " a Pharisee of the 
 Pharisees " " a Pharisee the son of a Pharisee." That their 
 general principles became dominant, and that they gave its 
 distinctiveness alike to the teaching and the practices of the 
 Synagogue, is sufficiently known. But what tremendous 
 influence they must have wielded to attain this position will 
 best appear from the single fact, which has apparently been 
 too much overlooked, of their almost incredibly small numbers. 
 According to Josephus (Ant. xvii. 2, 4), the number of the 
 fraternity amounted at the time of Herod only to about six 
 thousand. Yet this inconsiderable minority could cast 
 Judaism in its mould, and for such terrible evil give its final 
 direction to the nation \ f Surely the springs of such a move- 
 ment must have reached down to the very heart of Jewish 
 religious life. What these were, and how they affected the 
 whole community, deserves and requires not merely passing 
 notice, but special and careful attention. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 THE "FRATERNITY" OF PHARISEES. 
 
 TO realise the state of religious society at the time of our 
 Lord, the fact that the Pharisees were a regular " order," 
 and that there were many such " fraternities," in great measure 
 the outcome of the original Pharisees, must always be kept 
 in view. For the New Testament simply transports us among 
 contemporary scenes and actors, taking the then existent state 
 of things, so to speak, for granted. But the fact referred to 
 explains many seemingly strange circumstances, and casts 
 fresh light upon all. Thus, if, to choose an illustration, we 
 should wonder how so early as the morning after the long 
 discussion in the Sanhedrim, which must have occupied a 
 considerable part of the day, " more than forty men " should 
 have been found " banded together " under an anathema, 
 neither to eat nor to drink " till they had killed Paul " (Acts 
 xxiii. 12, 2 1); and, still more, how such "a conspiracy," or 
 rather "conjuration," which, in the nature of it, would be kept 
 a profound secret, should have become known to " Paul's 
 sister's son" (ver. 16), the circumstances of the case furnish 
 a sufficient explanation. | The Pharisees were avowedly a 
 "Chabura" that is, a fraternity or "guild" and they, or 
 
228 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 some of their kindred fraternities, would furnish the ready 
 material for such a " band," to whom this additional " vow " 
 would be nothing new nor strange, and, murderous though 
 it sounded, only seem a farther carrying out of the principles 
 of their " order." Again, since the wife and all the children 
 of a " chaber," or member, were ipso facto members of the 
 "Chabura," and Paul's father had been a "Pharisee" (ver. 6), 
 Paul's sister also would by virtue of her birth belong to the 
 fraternity, even irrespective of the probability that, in accord- 
 ance with the principles of the party, she would have married 
 into a Pharisaical family. Nor need we wonder that the rage 
 of the whole " order " against Paul should have gone to an 
 extreme, for which ordinary Jewish zeal would scarcely ac- 
 count. |(The day before, the excitement of discussion m the 
 Sanhedrim had engrossed their attention, and in a measure 
 diverted it from Paul. The apologetic remark then made 
 (ver. 9), " If a spirit or an angel hath spoken to him, let us 
 not fight against God," coming immediately after the notice 
 (ver. 8) that the Sadducees said, there was " neither angel nor 
 spirit," may indicate, that the Pharisees were quite as anxious 
 for a dogmatic victory over their opponents as to throw the 
 shield of the " fraternity " over one of its professed members. 
 But with the night other and cooler thoughts came. It might 
 be well enough to defend one of their order against the 
 Sadducees, but it was intolerable to have such a member in 
 the fraternity. A grosser outrage on every principle and vow 
 nay, on the very reason of being of the whole " Chabura " 
 could scarcely be conceived than the conduct of St. Paul and 
 the views which he avowed. Even regarding him as a simple 
 Israelite, the multitude which thronged the Temple had, on 
 the day before, been only restrained by the heathens from 
 
The "Fraternity" of Pharisees. 229 
 
 executing the summary vengeance of " death by the rebel's 
 beating." How much truer was it as the deliberate conviction 
 of the party, and not merely the cry of an excited popu- 
 lace, " Away with such a fellow from the earth ; for it is not 
 fit that he should live ! " But while we thus understand the 
 conduct of the Pharisees, we need be under no apprehension 
 as to the consequences to those " more than forty men " of 
 their rash vow. The Jerusalem Talmud (Avod. Sar. 40 a] 
 here furnishes the following curious illustration, which almost 
 reads like a commentary : " If a man makes a vow to abstain 
 from food, Woe to him if he eateth, and, Woe to him if he does 
 not eat ! If he eateth, he sinneth against his vow ; if he does 
 not eat, he sins against his life. What then must he do ? Let 
 him go before * the sages,' and they will absolve him from his 
 vow." In connection with the whole of this matter it is, to 
 say the least, a very curious coincidence that, at the very time 
 when the party so acted against St. Paul, or immediately 
 afterwards, three new enactments should have been passed by 
 Simeon, the son of Gamaliel (Paul's teacher), which would 
 exactly meet the case of St. Paul. The first of these 
 ordained, that in future the children of a " Chaber " should 
 not be necessarily such, but themselves require special and 
 individual reception into the " order ; " the second, that the 
 -previous conduct of the candidate should be considered before 
 admitting him into the fraternity ; while the third enjoined, 
 that any member who had left the "order," or become a 
 publican, should never afterwards be received back again. 
 
 Three words of modern significance, with which ot late we 
 have all become too familiar, will probably better help us to 
 understand the whole state of matters than more elaborate 
 explanations. They are connected with that ecclesiastical 
 
230 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 system which in so many respects seems the counterpart 
 of Rabbinism. Ultramontanism is a direction of religious 
 thought ; the Ultramontanes are a party ; and the Jesuits not 
 only its fullest embodiment, but an " order," which, originating 
 in a revival of the spirit of the Papacy, gave rise to the Ultra- 
 montanes as a party, and, in the wider diffusion of their 
 principles, to Ultramontanism as a tendency. Now, all this 
 applies equally to the Pharisees and to Pharisaism. To make 
 the analogy complete, the order of the Jesuits also consists of 
 four degrees ] curiously enough, the exact number of those 
 in the fraternity of " the Pharisees ! " Like that of the Jesuits, 
 the order of the Pharisees originated in a period of great 
 religious reaction. They themselves delighted in tracing their 
 history up to the time of Ezra, and there may have been 
 substantial, though not literal truth in their claim. For we 
 read in Ezra vi. 21 ; ix. i ; x. n ; and Neh. ix. 2 of the 
 " Nivdalim," or those who had " separated " themselves " from 
 the filthiness of the heathen ; " while in Neh. x. 29 we find, 
 that they entered into a " solemn league and covenant," with 
 definite vows and obligations. Now, it is quite true that the 
 Aramaean word " Perishuth " also means " separation," and 
 that the " Perushim," or Pharisees, of the Mishnah are, so far 
 as the meaning of the term is concerned, " the separated," or 
 the "Nivdalim" of their period. But although they could 
 thus, not only linguistically but historically, trace their origin 
 to those who had " separated " themselves at the time of Ezra 
 and Nehemiah, they were not their successors in spirit ; and 
 
 1 When speaking of the four degrees in the order of Jesuits, we refer to those 
 which are professed. We are, of course, aware of the existence of the so-called 
 " professi triuni votomm " of whom nothing definite is really known by the outside 
 world, and whom we may regard as "the secret Jesuits," and of that of lay and 
 Clerical " coadjutors," whose services and vows are merely temporary. 
 
The "Fraternity" of Pharisees. 231 
 
 the difference between the designations " Nivdalim " and 
 "Perushim" marks also the widest possible internal differ- 
 ence, albeit it may have been gradually brought about in the 
 course of historical development. All this will become imme- 
 diately more plain. 
 
 jfAt the time of Ezra, as already noted, there was a great 
 religious revival among those who had returned to the land of 
 their fathers. The profession which had of old only character- 
 ised individuals in Israel (Ps. xxx. 4 ; xxxi. 23 ; xxxvii. 28) 
 was now taken up by the covenanted people as a whole : they 
 became the "Chasidim" or "pious" (rendered in the Authorised 
 Version, " saints "). As " Chasidim," they resolved to be 
 " Nivdalim," or " separated from all filthiness of heathenism " 
 around. The one represented, so to speak, the positive ; the 
 other, the negative element in their religion. It is deeply 
 interesting to notice, how the former Pharisee (or " separated 
 one "), Paul, had this in view in tracing the Christian life as 
 that of the true " chasid," and therefore " Nivdal " in oppo- 
 sition to the Pharisees of externalism in such passages as 
 2 Cor. vi. I4~vii. I, closing with this admonition to "cleanse 
 ourselves from all filthiness l of the flesh and spirit, perfecting 
 holiness in the fear of God." And so St. Paul's former life 
 and thinking seem ever to have served him as the type of the 
 spiritual realities of his new state. 2 
 
 1 The Greek word for "filthiness" occurs in this passage only, but the verb 
 from which it is derived seems to have a ceremonial allusion attaching to it in the 
 three passages in which it is used : I Cor. viii. 7 ; Rev. iii. 4 ; xiv. 4. 
 
 2 If St. Paul was originally a Pharisee, the accounts given by the earliest tra- 
 dition (Euseb. H. E. ii. 23), compared with that of Josephus (Ant. xx. 9, l), 
 would almost lead us to infer that St. James was a "Chasid." All the more 
 significant would then be the part he took in removing the yoke of the law from 
 the Gentile converts (Acts xv. 13-21). 
 
232 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 Two points in Jewish history here claim our special atten - 
 tion, without attempting to unravel the whole somewhat 
 tangled web of events. The first is the period immediately 
 after Alexander the Great. It was one of the objects of the 
 empire which he founded to Grecianise the world ; and that 
 object was fully prosecuted by his successors. Accordingly, 
 we find a circle of Grecian cities creeping up along the coast, 
 from Anthedon and Gaza in the south, northwards to Tyre 
 and Seleucia, and eastwards to Damascus, Gadara, Pella, and 
 Philadelphia, wholly belting the land of Israel. Thence the 
 movement advanced into the interior, taking foothold in 
 Galilee and Samaria, and gathering a party with increasing 
 influence and spreading numbers among the people. Now it 
 was under these circumstances, that the " Chasidim " as a 
 party stood out to stem the torrent, which threatened to 
 overwhelm alike the religion and the nationality of Israel. 
 The actual contest soon came, and with it the second grand 
 period in the history of Judaism. Alexander the Great had 
 died in July 323 B.C. About a century and a half later, the 
 " Chasidim " had gathered round the Maccabees for Israel's 
 God and for Israel. But the zeal of the Maccabees soon gave 
 place to worldly ambition and projects. When these leaders 
 united in their person the high-priestly with the royal dignity, 
 the party of the " Chasidim " not only deserted them, but 
 went into open opposition. They called on them to resign 
 the high-priesthood, and were ready to suffer martyrdom, as 
 many of them did, for their outspoken convictions. Thence- 
 forth the " Chasidim " of the early type disappear as a class. 
 They had, as a party, already given place to the Pharisees 
 the modern " Nivdalim ;" and when we meet them again they 
 are only a higher order or branch of the Pharisees "the 
 
The "Fraternity" of Pharisees. 233 
 
 pious " of old having, so to speak, become " pietists." Tradi- 
 tion (Men. 40) expressly distinguishes " the early Chasidim " 
 (harishonim) from "the later" (acheronim). No doubt, those 
 are some of their principles, although tinged with later 
 colouring, which are handed down as the characteristics of the 
 " chasid " in such sayings of the Mishnah as : " What is mine 
 is thine, and what is thine remains thine as well" (P. Ab. V. 
 10) ; "Hard to make angry, but easy to reconcile" (n); 
 "Giving alms, and inducing others to do likewise" (13); 
 " Going to the house of learning, and at the same time doing 
 good works " (14). 
 
 The earliest mention of the Pharisees occurs at the time of 
 the Maccabees. As a " fraternity " we meet them first under 
 the rule of John Hyrcanus, the fourth of the Maccabees from 
 Mattathias (135-105 B.C.) ; although Josephus speaks of them 
 already two reigns earlier, at the time of Jonathan (Ant. xiii. 
 5, 9). He may have done so by anticipation, or applying 
 later terms to earlier circumstances, since there can be little 
 doubt that the Essenes, whom he names at the same time, 
 had not then any corporate existence. Without questioning 
 that, to use a modern term, " the direction " existed at the 
 time of Jonathan, 1 we can put our finger on a definite event 
 with which the origin of " the fraternity " of the Pharisees is 
 connected. From Jewish writings we learn, that at the time 
 of Hyrcanus a commission was appointed to inquire through- 
 out the land, how the Divine law of religious contributions 
 was observed by the people. 2 The result showed that, while 
 
 1 In proof of this, it may be stated that before the formal institution of the 
 "order," R. Jose, the son of Joezer, declared all foreign glass vessels, and indeed 
 the whole soil of heathen lands, " unclean," thus "separating" Israel from all 
 possible intercourse with Gentiles. 
 
 * It may be to the decrees then enacted by Hyrcanus that Josephus refers (Ant. 
 
234 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 the " therumah," 1 or priestly "heave-offerings," was regularly 
 given, neither the first or Levitical tithe, nor yet the so-called 
 " second " or " poor's tithe," was paid, as the law enjoined. 
 But such transgression involved mortal sin, since it implied 
 the personal use of what really belonged to the Lord. 
 Then it was that the following arrangements were made. All 
 that the " country people " (am ha-aretz) sold was to be con- 
 sidered " demai " a word derived from the Greek for 
 " people," and so betraying the time of its introduction, but 
 really implying that it was " doubtful " whether or nor it had 
 been tithed. In such cases the buyer had to regard the 
 " therumah," and the " poor's tithe " as still due on what he 
 had purchased. On the other hand, the Pharisees formed a 
 " Chabura," or fraternity, of which each member " Chaber," 
 or " companion " bound himself to pay these tithes before 
 use or sale. Each " Chaber " was regarded as " neeman," or 
 " credited " his produce being freely bought and sold by the 
 rest of the " Chaberim." 2 Of course, the burden of additional 
 expense which this involved to each non-" chaber " was very 
 
 xiii. 10, 6), when he speaks of their "abolition" after Hyrcanus broke with the 
 Pharisaical party. 
 
 1 I cannot here enter into explanations of the therumah, but must refer the 
 reader to my book on The Temple and its Services, p. 331, etc. 
 
 2 It is with very great reluctance that I dissent from such an authority as Canon 
 Lightfoot. But I cannot regard the reference to Niddah, 33 , in his admirable essay 
 on the Essenes (Commentary on the Epistle to the Colossians, p. 130), as conclusive of 
 the fact that a Sadducee and even a Samaritan might be a " Chaber." Of course, 
 there is a general application of the term ' Chaber " to any kind of association. 
 But the whole passage Niddah, 33 6, originating in a prandial discussion on which 
 R. Papah is very reluctant to enter, shows that neither the term " Samaritan " nor 
 yet that of " Chaber" can be pressed in its primary meaning. If anything, the 
 statement that, under given circumstances, "all Israel are to be regarded as 
 Chaberim" would be decisive, that strict historical value must not be attached to 
 the expressions of Rabbi Papah. 
 
The " Fraternity^ of Pharisees 235 
 
 great, since he had to pay "therumah" and tithe on all 
 that he purchased or used, while the Pharisee who bought 
 from another Pharisee was free. One cannot help suspecting 
 that this, in connection with kindred enactments, which bore 
 very hard upon the mass of the people, while they left " the 
 Pharisee " untouched^ may underlie the charge of our Lord 
 (Matt, xxiii. 4) : "They bind heavy burdens and grievous to 
 be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders ; but they them- 
 selves will not move them with one of their fingers." 
 
 But the rigorous discharge of tithes was only one part 
 of the obligations of a " Chaber." The other part consisted 
 in an equally rigorous submission to all the laws of Levitical 
 purity as then understood. Indeed, the varied questions as to 
 what was, or what made " clean," divided the one " order " of 
 Pharisees into members of various degrees. Four such degrees, 
 according to increasing strictness in "making clean," are 
 mentioned. It would take too long to explain this fourfold 
 gradation in its details. Suffice it, that, generally speaking, 
 a member of the first degree was called a " Chaber," or " Ben 
 hacheneseth," " son of the union " an ordinary Pharisee ; 
 while the other three degrees were ranked together under the 
 generic name of " Teharoth " (purifications). These latter 
 were probably the " Chasidim " of the later period. The 
 " Chaber," or ordinary Pharisee, only bound himself to tithing 
 and avoidance of all Levitical uncleanness. The higher 
 degrees, on the other hand, took increasingly strict vows. 
 Any one might enter " the order " if he took, before three 
 members, the solemn vow of observing the obligations of the 
 fraternity. A novitiate of a year (which was afterwards 
 shortened) was, however, necessary. The wife or widow of a 
 " Chaber," and his children, were regarded as members of the 
 
236 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 iraternity. Those who entered the family of a " Pharisee * 
 had also to seek admission into the " order." The genera\ 
 obligations of a " Chaber " towards those that were " without " 
 the fraternity were as follows. He was neither to buy from, 
 nor to sell to him anything, either in a dry or fluid state ; he 
 was neither to eat at his table (as he might thus partake 
 of what had not been tithed), nor to admit him to his table, 
 unless he had put on the garments of a " Chaber " (as his 
 own old ones might else have carried defilement) ; nor to go 
 into any burying-place ; nor to give " therumah " or tithes to 
 any priest who was not a member of the fraternity ; nor to do 
 anything in presence of an " am ha-aretz," or non-" Chaber," 
 which brought up points connected with the laws of purifica- 
 tion, etc. To these, other ordinances, partly of an ascetic 
 character, were added at a later period. But what is specially 
 remarkable is that not only was a novitiate required for the 
 higher grades, similar to that on first entering the order ; but 
 that, just as the garment of a non-" chaber " defiled a 
 " Chaber " of the first degree, that of the latter equally defiled 
 him of the second degree, and so on. 1 
 
 To sum up then : the fraternity of the Pharisees were bound 
 by these two vows that of tithing and that in regard to puri- 
 fications. As the most varied questions would here arise in 
 practice, which certainly were not answered in the law of 
 Moses, the "traditions," which were supposed to explain and 
 supplement the Divine law, became necessary. j In point of 
 fact, the Rabbis speak of them in that sense, and describe 
 
 1 It is impossible here to reproduce the Talmudical passages in evidence. But 
 the two obligations of " making clean " and of "tithing," together with the 
 arrangement of the Pharisees into various grades, are even referred to in the 
 Mishnah (Chag. ii. 5, 6, and Dcmai ii. 2, 3). 
 
The "Fraternity" of Pharisees.-. 237 
 
 .x / \j i 
 
 them as " a hedge " around Israel and its law. That these 
 traditions should have been traced up to oral communications 
 made to Moses on Mount Sinai, and also deduced by ingenious 
 methods from the letter of Scripture, was only a further 
 necessity of the case. The result was a system of pure ex- 
 ternalism, which often contravened the spirit of those very 
 ordinances, the letter of which was slavishly worshipped. To 
 what arrant hypocrisy it often gave rise, appears from Rabbi- 
 nical writings almost as much as from the New Testament. 
 We can understand how those " blind guides " would often be 
 as great a trouble to their own party as to others. " The 
 plague of Pharisaism " was not an uncommon expression ; and 
 this religious sore is ranked with "a silly pietist, a cunning 
 sinner, and a woman Pharisee," as constituting "the troubles 
 of life" (Sot. iii. 4). " Shall we stop to explain the opinions 
 of Pharisees ? " asks a Rabbi, in supreme contempt for " the 
 order" as such. " It is as a tradition among the Pharisees," 
 we read (Ab. de R. Nathan, 5), " to torment themselves in this 
 world, and yet they will not get anything in the next." It 
 was suggested by the Sadducees, that " the Pharisees would 
 by-and-by subject the globe of the sun itself to their purifica- 
 tions." On the other hand, almost Epicurean sentences are 
 quoted among their utterances, such as, " Make haste, eat and 
 drink, for the world in which we are is like a wedding feast ; " 
 " If thou possessest anything, make good cheer of it ; for 
 there is no pleasure underneath the sod, and death gives no 
 respite. . . . Men are like the flowers of the field ; some 
 flourish, while others fade away." 
 
 " Like the flowers of the field !" What far other teaching 
 of another Rabbi, Whom these rejected with scorn, do the 
 words recall! And when from their words we turn to the 
 
238 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 kingdom which He came to found, we can quite under- 
 stand the essential antagonism of nature between the two. 
 Assuredly, it has been a bold stretch of assertion to connect 
 in any way the origin or characteristics of Christianity with 
 the Rabbis. Yet, when we bring the picture of Pharisaism, 
 as drawn in Rabbinical writings, side by side with the sketch 
 of it given by our Lord, we are struck not only with the life- 
 likeness, but with the selection of the distinctive features of 
 Pharisaism presented in His reproofs. Indeed, we might 
 almost index the history of Pharisaism by passages from 
 the New Testament. The "tithing of mint and anise," to 
 the neglect of the weightier matters of the law, and "the 
 cleansing " of the outside these twofold obligations of the 
 Pharisees, " hedged around," as they were, by a traditionalism 
 which made void the spirit of the law, and which manifested 
 itself in gross hypocrisy and religious boasting are they not 
 what *ve have just traced in the history of "the order ?" 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 RELATION OF THE PHARISEES TO THE SADDUCEES AND 
 ESSENES, AND TO THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. 
 
 ON taking a retrospective view of Pharisaism, as we have 
 described it, there is a saying of our Lord which at 
 first sight seems almost unaccountable. Yet it is clear and 
 emphatic. "All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, 
 that observe and do" (Matt, xxiii. 3). But if the early 
 disciples were not to break at once and for ever with the 
 Jewish community, such a direction was absolutely need- 
 ful. For, though the Pharisees were only " an order," Phari- 
 saism, like modern Ultramontanism, had not only become 
 the leading direction of theological thought, but its prin- 
 ciples were solemnly proclaimed, and universally acted upon 
 and the latter, even by their opponents the Sadducees. A 
 Sadducee in the Temple or on the seat of judgment would 
 be obliged to act and decide precisely like a Pharisee. Not 
 that the party had not attempted to give dominance to their 
 peculiar views. But they were fairly vanquished, and it is 
 said that they themselves destroyed the book of Sadducean 
 ordinances, which they had at one time drawn up. And the 
 Pharisees celebrated each dogmatic victory by a feast! 
 
240 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 What is perhaps the oldest post-Biblical Hebrew book the 
 " Megillath Taanith," or roll of fasts is chiefly a Pharisaic 
 calendar of self-glorification, in which dogmatic victories are 
 made days when fasting, and sometimes even mourning, 
 is prohibited. Whatever, therefore, the dogmatic views of 
 the Sadducees were, and however they might, where possible, 
 indulge personal bias, yet in office both parties acted as 
 Pharisees. They were well matched indeed. When a Sad- 
 ducean high-priest, on the Feast of Tabernacles, poured out 
 the water on the ground instead of into the silver funnel of 
 the altar, Maccabean king though he was, he scarce escaped 
 with his life, and ever afterwards the shout resounded from 
 all parts of the Temple, " Hold up thy hand," as the priest 
 yearly performed this part of the service. The Sadducees 
 held, that on the Day of Atonement the high-priest should 
 light the incense before he actually entered the Most Holy 
 Place. As this was contrary to the views of the Pharisees, 
 they took care to bind him by an oath to observe their ritual 
 customs before allowing him to officiate at all. It was in vain 
 that the Sadducees argued, that the daily sacrifices should not 
 be defrayed from the public treasury, but from special con- 
 tributions. They had to submit, and besides to join in the 
 kind of half-holiday which the jubilant majority inscribed in 
 their calendar to perpetuate the memory of the decision. 
 The Pharisees held, that the time between Easter and 
 Pentecost should be counted from the second day of the 
 feast ; the Sadducees insisted that it should commence with 
 the literal "Sabbath" after the festive day. 1 But, despite 
 argument, the Sadducees had to join when the solemn 
 
 1 I would here refer the reader who wishes further details to the accounts of the 
 feasts and services in the Temple, given in my volume on The Temple. 
 
Relation of the Pharisees to the Sadducees, etc. 241 
 
 procession went on the afternoon of the feast to cut down 
 the "first sheaf," and to reckon Pentecost as did their 
 opponents. 
 
 We have here referred to only a few of the differences in 
 ritual between the views of the Sadducees and those of the 
 Pharisees. The essential principle of them lay in this, that 
 the Sadducees would hold by the simple letter of the law 
 do neither more nor less, whether the consequences were to 
 make decisions more severe or more easy. The same prin- 
 ciple they applied in their juridical and also in their doctrinal 
 views. It would take us too much into detail to explain the 
 former. But the reader will understand how this literality 
 would, as a rule, make their judicial decisions (or rather such 
 as they had proposed) far more strict than those of the 
 Pharisees, by a rigidly literal application of the principle, " an 
 eye for an eye ; a tooth for a tooth." The same holds true 
 in regard to the laws of purification, and to those which 
 regulated inheritance. The doctrinal views of the Sadducees 
 are sufficiently known from the New Testament. It is quite 
 true that, in opposition to Sadducean views as to the non- 
 existence of another world and the resurrection, the Pharisees 
 altered the former Temple-formula into " Blessed be God 
 from world to world " (from generation to generation ; or, 
 " world without end "), to show that after the present there 
 was another life of blessing and punishment, of joy and 
 sorrow. But the Talmud expressly states that the real prin- 
 ciple of the Sadducees was not, that there was no resurrection, 
 but only that it could not be proved from the Thorah, or 
 Law. From this there was, of course, but a short step to the 
 entire denial of the doctrine ; and no doubt it was taken by 
 the vast majority of the party. But here also it was again 
 
 R 
 
242 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 their principle of strict literality, which underlay even the 
 most extreme of their errors. 
 
 This principle was indeed absolutely necessary to their 
 very existence. We have traced the Pharisees not only to a 
 definite period, but to a special event ; and we have been able 
 perfectly to explain their name as " the separated " Not that 
 we presume they gave it to themselves, for no sect or party 
 ever takes a name ; they all pretend to require no distinctive 
 title, because they alone genuinely and faithfully represent 
 the truth itself. But when they were called Pharisees, the 
 " Chaberim," no doubt, took kindly to the popular designa- 
 tion. It was to them to use an illustration what the name 
 " Puritans " was to a far different and opposite party in the 
 Church. But the name " Sadducee " is involved in quite as 
 much obscurity as the origin of the party Let us try to 
 cast some fresh light upon both only premising that the 
 common derivations of their name, whether from the high- 
 priest Zadok, or from a Rabbi called Zadok, whose funda- 
 mental principle of not seeking reward in religion they were 
 thought to have misunderstood and misapplied, or from the 
 Hebrew word " zaddikim " the righteous are all unsatis- 
 factory, and yet may all contain elements of truth. 
 
 There can be no question that the "sect " of the Sadducees 
 originated in a reaction against the Pharisees. If the latter 
 added to the law their own glosses, interpretations, and tra- 
 ditions, the Sadducee took his stand upon the bare letter of 
 the law. He would have none of their additions and supere- 
 rogations ; he would not be righteous overmuch. Suffice it 
 for him to have to practise " zedakah," " righteousness." We 
 can understand how this shibboleth of theirs became, in the 
 mouth of the people, the byname of a party some using it 
 
Relation of the Pharisees to the Sadducees, etc. 243 
 
 ironically, some approvingly. By-and-by the party no doubt 
 took as kindly to the name as the Pharisees did to theirs. 
 Thus far, then, we agree with those who derive the title of 
 Sadducees from " zaddikim." But why the grammatically- 
 unaccountable change from " zaddikim " to " zaddukim ? " 
 May it not be that the simple but significant alteration of a 
 letter had, after a not uncommon fashion, originated with 
 their opponents, as if they would have said : " You are 
 4 zaddikim ? ' Nay, rather, ' zaddukim ' " from the Aramaean 
 word " zadu " (wasting or desolation) meaning, you are not 
 upholders but destroyers of righteousness ? This origin of 
 the name would in no way be inconsistent with the later 
 attempts of the party to trace up their history either to the 
 high -priest Zadok, or to one of the fathers of Jewish tra- 
 ditionalism, whose motto they ostentatiously adopted. History 
 records not a few similar instances of attempts to trace 
 up the origin of a religious party. Be this as it may, we can 
 understand how the adherents of Sadducean opinions be- 
 longed chiefly to the rich, luxurious, and aristocratic party, 
 including the wealthy families of priests ; while, according to 
 the testimony of Josephus, which is corroborated by the New 
 Testament, the mass of the people, and especially the women, 
 venerated and supported the Pharisaical party. Thus the 
 * order " of the " Chaberim " gradually became a popular 
 party, like the Ultramontanes. Finally, as from the nature 
 of it Pharisaism was dependent upon traditional lore, it 
 became not only the prevailing direction of Jewish theological 
 study, but the " Chaber " by-and-by merged into the Rabbi, 
 the "sage," or "disciple of the sages;" while the non- 
 "chaber," or "am ha-aretz," became the designation for 
 ignorance of traditional lore, and neglect of its ordinances. 
 
244 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 This was specially the case when the dissolution of the Jewish 
 commonwealth rendered the obligations of the " fraternity " 
 necessarily impossible. Under such altered circumstances the 
 old historical Pharisee would often be no small plague to the 
 leaders of the party, as is frequently the case with the original 
 adherents and sticklers of a sect in which the irresistible 
 progress of time has necessarily produced changes. 
 
 The course of our investigations has shown, that neither 
 Pharisees nor Sadducees were a sect, in the sense of sepa- 
 rating from Temple or Synagogue ; and also that the Jewish 
 people as such were not divided between Pharisees and 
 Sadducees. The small number of professed Pharisees (six 
 thousand) at the time of Herod, the representations of the 
 New Testament, and even the curious circumstance that Philo 
 never once mentions the name of Pharisee, confirm the result of 
 our historical inquiries, that the Pharisees were first an " order," 
 then gave the name to a party, and finally represented a direc- 
 tion of theological thought. The New Testament speaks of no 
 other than these two parties. But Josephus and Philo also 
 mention the " Essenes." It is beyond our present scope either 
 to describe their tenets and practices, or even to discuss the 
 complex question of the origin of their name. From the 
 nature of it, the party exercised no great influence, and was 
 but short-lived. They seem to have combined a kind of 
 higher grade Pharisaism with devotional views, and even 
 practices, derived from Eastern mysticism, and more par- 
 ticularly from the Medo-Persian religion. Of the former, the 
 fact that the one object of all their institutions was a higher 
 purity, may here be regarded as sufficient evidence. The 
 latter is apparent from a careful study of their views, as these 
 have been preserved to us, and from their comparison with 
 
Relation of the Pharisees to the Sadducees^ etc. 245 
 
 the Zoroastrian system. And of the fact that "Palestine 
 was surrounded by Persian influences," there are abundant 
 indications. 1 
 
 As a sect the Essenes never attained a larger number than 
 four thousand ; and as they lived apart from the rest, neither 
 mingling in their society nor in their worship, and as a 
 general rule abstained from marriage, they soon became 
 extinct. Indeed, Rabbinical writings allude to quite a 
 number of what may probably be described as sectaries, all 
 of them more or less distinctly belonging to the mystical and 
 ascetic branch of Pharisaism. We here name, first, the 
 "Vathikin," or "strong ones," who performed their prayers 
 with the first dawn ; secondly, the " Toble Shachrith," or 
 " morning baptists," who immersed before morning prayer, so 
 as to utter the Divine Name only in a state of purity ; thirdly, 
 the " Kehala Kadisha," or " holy congregation," who spent a 
 third of the day in prayer, a third in study, and a third in 
 labour ; fourthly, the " Banaim," or " builders," who, besides 
 aiming after highest purity, occupied themselves with mystical 
 studies about God and the world ; fifthly, the " Zenuim," or 
 "secret pious," who besides kept their views and writings 
 secret; sixthly, the "Nekije hadaath," "men of a pure 
 
 1 Canon Lightfoot, Comm. on Coloss. p. 151. The masterly discussion of Pro- 
 fessor Lightfoot on the Essenes, so full of most solid learning, and so calm in its 
 judicial summing up, may be said to have almost opened a new era in the study of 
 the sect of the Essenes, taking it beyond often wild speculation into the domain of 
 historical investigation. It is not within the scope of this book either to discuss 
 in a scientific manner the distinctive doctrinal views of the Pharisees and Sad- 
 ducees, or to enter on those of the Essenes. This must be reserved for another 
 occasion. But in view of Professor Lightfoot's results I may be allowed to refer, 
 not without satisfaction, to the circumstance that I had arrived at conclusions 
 somewhat similar to his in my History of ihe Jeivish Nation. See my treatment 
 of the Essenes and abstract of the Kabbalshy pp. 433-461. 
 
246 Sketches of Jeivish Life. 
 
 mind," who were really separatists from their brethren ; 
 seventhly, the " Chashaim," or " mysterious ones ; " and 
 lastly, the " Assiim," " helpers " or " healers," who professed 
 to possess the right pronunciation of the sacred Name of 
 Jehovah, with all that this implied. 1 
 
 If in any of the towns of Judaea one had met the strange 
 apparition of a man dressed wholly in white, whose sandals 
 and garments perhaps bore signs of age for they might not 
 be put away till quite worn out but who was scrupulously 
 clean, this man was an Essene. The passers would stop short 
 and look after him with mingled reverence and curiosity. For 
 he was but rarely seen in town or village the community 
 separating from the rest of the people, and inhabiting desert 
 places, specially the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea; and the 
 character of the "order" for asceticism and self-denial, as well 
 as for purity, was universally known. f' However strictly they 
 observed the Sabbath, it was in their own synagogues ; and 
 although they sent gifts to the altar, they attended not the 
 Temple nor offered sacrifices, partly because they regarded 
 their arrangements as not sufficiently Levitically clean, and 
 partly because they came to consider their own table an altar, 
 and their common meals a sacrifice. They formed an "order," 
 bound by the strictest vows, taken under terrible oaths, and 
 subject to the most rigorous discipline. The members 
 abstained from wine, meat, and oil, and most of them also 
 from marriage. They had community of goods ; were bound 
 to poverty, chastity, and obedience to their superiors. Purity 
 of morals was enjoined, especially in regard to speaking the 
 
 1 Compare Hamburger Real-Enc. fur Bibel u. Talmud, vol. ii. p. 173. Hege- 
 sippus (in Eus. H. E. ii. ) speaks of seven Hebrew sects ; but his information is 
 evidently second-hand. 
 
Relation of the Pharisees to the Sadducees, etc. 247 
 
 truth. To take an oath was prohibited, as also the keeping of 
 slaves. The order consisted of four grades ; contact with one 
 of a lower always defiling him of the higher grade. The 
 novitiate lasted two years, though at the end of the first the 
 candidate was taken into closer fellowship. The rule was in 
 the hands of " elders," who had the power of admission and 
 expulsion the latter being almost equivalent to death by 
 starvation, as the Essene had bound himself by a terrible 
 oath not to associate with others. Their day began with 
 sunrise, when they went to prayer. Before that, nothing 
 secular might be spoken. After prayer, they betook them- 
 selves to agricultural labour for they were not allowed to 
 keep herds and flocks or else to works of charity, specially 
 the healing of the sick. At eleven o'clock they bathed, 
 changed their dress, and then gathered for the common 
 meal. A priest opened and closed it with prayer. They 
 sat according to age and dignity ; the eldest engaging in 
 serious conversation, but in so quiet a tone as not to be heard 
 outside. The young men served. Each had bread and salt 
 handed him, also another dish ; the elders being allowed the 
 condiment of hyssop and the luxury of warm water. After 
 the meal they put off their clothes, and returned to work till 
 the evening, when there was another common meal, followed 
 by mystical hymns and dances, to symbolise the rapt, ecstatic 
 state of mind. 
 
 It is needless to follow the subject farther. Even what has 
 been said irrespective of their separation from the world, 
 their punctilious Sabbath-observance, and views on purifica- 
 tion ; their opposition to sacrifices, and notably their rejection 
 of the doctrine of the resurrection is surely sufficient to prove 
 that they had no connection with the origin of Christianity. 
 
248 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 Assertions of this kind are equally astonishing to the calm 
 historical student and painful to the Christian. Yet there can 
 be no doubt that among these mystical sects were preserved 
 views of the Divine Being, of the Messiah and His kingdom, 
 and of kindred doctrines, which afterwards appeared in the 
 so-called " secret tradition " of the Synagogue, and which, as 
 derived from the study of the prophetic writings, contain 
 marvellous echoes of Christian truth. On this point, however, 
 we may not here enter. 
 
 Christ and the Gospel among Pharisees, Sadducees, and 
 Essenes ! We can now realise the scene, and understand the 
 mutual relations. The existing communities, the religious 
 tendencies, the spirit of the age, assuredly offered no point of 
 attachment only absolute and essential contrariety to the 
 kingdom of heaven. The " preparer of the way" could appeal 
 to neither of them ; his voice only cried " in the wilderness." 
 Far, far beyond the origin of Pharisees, Sadducees, and 
 Essenes, he had to point back to the original Paschal conse- 
 cration of Israel as that which was to be now exhibited in its 
 reality : " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the 
 sin of the world." If the first great miracle of Christianity 
 was the breaking down of the middle wall of partition, the 
 second perhaps we should have rather put it first, to realise 
 the symbolism of the two miracles in Cana was that it found 
 nothing analogous in the religious communities around, 
 nothing sympathetic, absolutely no stem on which to graft 
 the new plant, but was literally " as a root out of a dry 
 ground," of which alike Pharisee, Sadducee, and Essene would 
 say : " He hath no form nor comeliness ; and when we shall 
 see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him." 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 SYNAGOGUES : THEIR ORIGIN, STRUCTURE, AND OUTWARU 
 ARRANGEMENTS. 
 
 IT was a beautiful saying of Rabbi Jochanan (Jer. Ber. v. i), 
 that he who prays in his house surrounds and fortifies 
 it, so to speak, with a wall of iron. Nevertheless, it seems 
 immediately contradicted by what follows. For it is explained 
 that this only holds good where a man is alone, but that 
 where there is a community prayer should be offered in the 
 synagogue. We can readily understand how, after the 
 destruction of the Temple, and the cessation of its symbolical 
 worship, the excessive value attached to mere attendance at 
 the synagogue would rapidly grow in public estimation, till 
 it exceeded all bounds of moderation or reason. Thus, such 
 Scriptural sayings as Isa. Ixvi. 20 ; Iv. 6, and Ps. Ixxxii. I 
 were applied to it. The Babylon Talmud goes even farther. 
 There we are told (Ber. 6 a), that the prayer which a man 
 addresses to God has only its proper effect if offered in the 
 synagogue ; that if an individual, accustomed to frequent 
 every day the synagogue, misses it for once, God will demand 
 an account of him ; that if the Eternal finds fewer than ten 
 persons there gathered, His anger is kindled, as it is written 
 
250 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 in Isa. 1. 2 (Ber. 6 b) ; that if a person has a synagogue in his 
 own town, and does not enter it for prayer, he is to be called 
 an evil neighbour, and provokes exile alike upon himself and 
 his children, as it is written in Jer. xii. 4 ; while, on the other 
 hand, the practice of early resorting to the synagogue would 
 account for the longevity of people (Ber. 8 a). Putting aside 
 these extravagances, there cannot, however, be doubt that, 
 long before the Talmudical period, the institution of syna- 
 gogues had spread, not only among the Palestinian, but 
 among the Jews of the dispersion, and that it was felt a 
 growing necessity, alike from internal and external causes. 
 
 Readers of the New Testament know, that at the time of our 
 Lord synagogues were dotted all over the land ; that in them 
 "from of old " Moses had been read (Acts xv. 21) ; that they 
 were under the rule of certain authorities, who also exercised 
 discipline ; that the services were definitely regulated, although 
 considerable liberty obtained, and that part of them con- 
 sisted in reading the prophets, which was generally followed 
 by an " exhortation " (Acts xiii. 1 5) or an address (Luke iv. 
 17). The word "synagogue" is, of course, of Greek deriva- 
 tion, and means " gathering together " for religious purposes. 
 The corresponding Rabbinical terms, " chenisah," " cheneseth," 
 etc., "zibbur," "vaad," and " kahal," may be generally 
 characterised as equivalents. But it is interesting to notice, 
 that both the Old Testament and the Rabbis have shades of 
 distinction, well known in modern theological discussions. 
 To begin with the former. Two terms are used for Israel as 
 a congregation : " edah " and " kahal ; " of which the former 
 seems to refer to Israel chiefly in their outward organisation as 
 a congregation what moderns would call the visible Church 
 while " kahal " rather indicates their inner or spiritual con- 
 
Synagogues: their Origin, Structure, etc. 251 
 
 nection. Even the LXX. seem to have seen this distinction. 
 The word " edah " occurs one hundred and thirty times, and is 
 always rendered in the LXX. by " synagogue," never by 
 " ecclesia " (church) ; while " kahal " is translated in seventy 
 places by " ecclesia," and only in thirty-seven by " synagogue." 
 Similarly, the Mishnah employs the term " kahal " only to 
 denote Israel as a whole ; while the term " zibbur," for 
 example, is used alike for churches and for the Church that 
 is, for individual congregations, and for Israel as a whole. 
 
 The origin of the synagogue is lost in the obscurity of tra- 
 dition. Of course, like so many other institutions, it is traced 
 by the Rabbis to the patriarchs. Thus, both the Targum 
 Jonathan and the Jerusalem Targum represent Jacob as an 
 attendant in the synagogue, and Rebekah as resorting thither 
 for advice when feeling within her the unnatural contest of 
 her two sons. There can be no occasion for seriously dis- 
 cussing such statements. For when in 2 Kings xxii. 8 we 
 read that " the book of the law " was discovered by Shaphan 
 the scribe in " the house of the Lord," this implies that dur- 
 ing the reign of King Josiah there could have been no syna- 
 gogues in the land, since it was their main object to secure the 
 weekly reading, and of course the preservation, of the books 
 of Moses (Acts xv. 21). Our Authorised Version, indeed, 
 renders Ps. Ixxiv. 8, " They have burned up all the syna- 
 gogues of God in the land." But there is good authority for 
 questioning this translation ; and, even if admitted, it would 
 not settle the question of the exact time when synagogues 
 originated. On the other hand, there is not a hint of syna- 
 gogue-worship either in the law or the prophets ; and this of 
 itself would be decisive, considering the importance of the 
 subject. Besides, it may be said that there was no room for 
 
252 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 such meetings under the Old Testament dispensation. There 
 the whole worship was typical the sacrificial services alike 
 constituting the manner in which Israel approached unto God, 
 and being the way by which He communicated blessings to 
 His people. Gatherings for prayer and for fellowship with 
 the Father belong, so far as the Church as a whole is con- 
 cerned, to the dispensation of the Holy Spirit. It is quite in 
 accordance with this general principle, that when men filled 
 with the Spirit of God were raised up from time to time, those 
 who longed for deeper knowledge and closer converse with 
 the Lord should have gathered around them on Sabbaths and 
 new moons, as the pious Shunammite resorted to Elisha 
 (2 Kings iv. 23), and as others were no doubt wont to do, if 
 within reach of " prophets " or their disciples. But quite a 
 different state of matters ensued during the Babylonish 
 captivity. Deprived of the Temple services, some kind of 
 religious meetings would become an absolute necessity, if the 
 people were not to lapse into practical heathenism a danger, 
 indeed, which, despite the admonitions of the prophets, 
 and the prospect of deliverance held out, was not quite 
 avoided. For the preservation, also, of the national bond 
 which connected Israel, as well as for their continued religious 
 existence, the institution of synagogues seemed alike needful 
 and desirable. In point of fact, the attentive reader of the 
 books of Ezra and Nehemiah will discover in the period after 
 the return from Babylon the beginnings of the synagogue. 
 Only quite rudimentary as yet, and chiefly for the purposes 
 of instructing those who had come back ignorant and semi- 
 heathenish still, they formed a starting-point. Then came 
 the time of terrible Syrian oppression and persecutions, and 
 of the Maccabean rising. We can understand, how under 
 
Synagogues: their Origin, Striicture, etc. 253 
 
 such circumstances the institution of the synagogue would 
 develop, and gradually assume the proportions and the 
 meaning which it afterwards attained. For it must be borne 
 in mind, that, in proportion as the spiritual import of the 
 Temple services was lost to view, and Judaism became a 
 matter of outward ordinances, nice distinctions, and logical 
 discussion, the synagogue would grow in importance. And 
 so it came to pass, that at the time of Christ there was not 
 a foreign settlement of Jews without one or more synagogues 
 that of Alexandria, of which both the Talmuds speak 
 in such exaggerated language, being specially gorgeous 
 while throughout Palestine they were thickly planted. It 
 is to these latter only that we can for the present direct 
 attention. 
 
 Not a town, nor a village, if it numbered only ten men, who 
 could or would wholly give themselves to Divine things, 1 but 
 had one or more synagogues. If it be asked, why the number 
 ten was thus fixed upon as the smallest that could form a 
 congregation, the reply is that, according to Num. xiv. 27, 
 the " evil congregation " consisted of the spies who had 
 brought a bad report, and whose number was ten after 
 deducting, of course, Joshua and Caleb. Larger cities had 
 several, some of them many, synagogues. From Acts vi. 9 
 we know that such was the case in Jerusalem, tradition having 
 also left us an account of the synagogue of "the Alexan- 
 drians," to which class of Jews Stephen may have belonged 
 by birth or education, on which ground also he would chiefly 
 address himself to them. The Rabbis have it that, at the 
 time of the destruction of Jerusalem, that city had not fewer 
 
 1 The so-called " Batlanim." The exact meaning of the term has given rise 
 to much learned discussion. 
 
254 SketcJies of Jewish Life. 
 
 than 480, or at least 460, synagogues. Unless the number 
 480 was fixed upon simply as the multiple of symbolical 
 numbers (4X icx 12), or with a kindred mystical purpose in 
 view, it would, of course, be a gross exaggeration. But, as a 
 stranger entered a town or village, it could never be difficult 
 to find out the synagogue. If it had not, like our churches, its 
 spire, pointing men, as it were, heavenward, the highest ground 
 in the place was at least selected for it, to symbolise that its 
 engagements overtopped all things else, and in remembrance 
 of the prophetic saying, that the Lord's house should "be 
 established in the top of the mountains," and " exalted above 
 the hills" (Isa. ii. 2). If such a situation could not be se- 
 cured, it was sought to place it " in the corners of streets," 
 or at the entrance to the chief squares, according to what 
 was regarded as a significant direction in Prov. i. 21. Pos- 
 sibly our Lord may have had this also in view when He 
 spoke of those who loved "to pray standing in the syna- 
 gogues and in the corners of the streets" (Matt. vi. 5), it 
 being a very common practice at the time to offer prayer 
 on entering a synagogue. But if no prominent site could 
 be obtained, a pole should at least be attached to the roof, 
 to reach up beyond the highest house. A city whose syna- 
 gogue was lower than the other dwellings was regarded 
 as in danger of destruction. 
 
 Of the architecture of ordinary synagogues, not only the 
 oldest still in existence, but the recent excavations in Palestine, 
 enable us to form a correct idea. Internally they were simply 
 rectangular or round buildings, with a single or double 
 colonnade, and more or less adorned by carvings. Externally 
 they had generally some sacred symbol carved on the lintels 
 commonly the seven-branched candlestick, or perhaps th* 
 
Synagogues: their Origin, Structure, etc. 255 
 
 pot of manna. 1 There is one remarkable instance of the 
 use of the latter emblem, too important to be passed over. 3 
 In Capernaum, our Lord's "own city" (Matthew ix. i), 
 there was but one synagogue that built at the cost of the 
 pious centurion. For, although our Authorised Version 
 renders the commendation of the Jewish elders, " He loveth 
 our nation, and has built us a synagogue " (Luke vii. 5), 
 in the original the article is definite : " he hath built us 
 the synagogue" just as in a similar manner we infer that 
 Nazareth had only one synagogue (Matt. xiii. 54). The site 
 of the ancient Capernaum had till comparatively recently 
 been unknown. But its identification with the modern Tell 
 Hum is now so satisfactory, that few would care to question 
 it. What is even more interesting, the very ruins of that 
 synagogue which the good centurion built have been 
 brought to light ; and, as if to make doubt impossible, 
 its architecture is evidently that of the Herodian period. 
 And here comes in the incidental but complete confirma- 
 tion of the gospel narrative. We remember how, before, 
 the Lord Jesus had by His word of blessing multiplied 
 the scanty provision, brought, it might be accidentally, by 
 
 1 " Of the tabernacle in which the ark rested at Shiloh, from the time of Joshua 
 to that of Samuel, no trace, of course, remains. But on the summit of a little 
 knoll we find the remains of what was once a Jewish synagogue, afterwards used 
 as a church, and subsequently as a mosque. On the lintel over the doorway, 
 between two wreaths of flowers, is carved a vessel, shaped like a Roman amphora. 
 It so closely resembles the conventional type of the 'pot of manna,' as found 
 on coins and in the ruins of the synagogue at Capernaum, that it doubtless formed 
 part of the original building. It is a not improbable conjecture that the syna- 
 gogue may have been erected on the sacred spot which for so many generations 
 formed the centre of Jewish worship." Those Holy Fields. 
 
 2 Pointed out by Canon Williams, the learned author of The Holy City. 
 See The Bible, as Illustrated by Modei-n Science and Travel; Papers read be/on 
 the Church Congress at Dublin (1868), pp. 31, 32. 
 
256 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 a lad in the company of those five thousand who had 
 thronged to hear Him, so that there was not only sufficient for 
 their wants, but enough for each of the twelve apostles to fill 
 his basket with the fragments of what the Saviour had dis- 
 pensed. That day of miraculous provision had been followed 
 by a night of equally wondrous deliverance. His disciples 
 were crossing the lake, now tossed by one of those sudden 
 storms which so frequently sweep down upon it from the 
 mountains. All at once, in their perplexity, it was the 
 Master Whom they saw, walking on the sea, and nearing the 
 ship. As the light of the moon fell upon that well-known 
 form, and, as He drew nigh, cast His shadow in increasing 
 proportions upon the waters which, obedient, bore His feet, 
 they feared. It was a marvellous vision too marvellous 
 almost to believe it a reality, and too awful to bear it, if 
 a reality. And so they seem to have hesitated about receiv- 
 ing Him into the ship. 1 But His presence and voice soon 
 reassured them, and "immediately the ship was at the 
 land." That " land " was the seashore of Capernaum. The 
 next morning broke with the usual calm and beauty of 
 spring on the lake. Presently white sails were spreading 
 over its tranquil waters ; marking the approach of many from 
 the other side, who, missing " the Prophet," Whom, with the 
 characteristic enthusiasm of the inhabitants of that district, 
 they would fain have made a king, now followed Him across 
 the water. There could be no difficulty in " finding Him " 
 in " His own city," the home of Peter and Andrew (Mark i. 
 21, 29). But no ordinary dwelling would have held such a 
 concourse as now thronged around Him. So, we imagine, the 
 
 1 Such, at least, is the impression conveyed to my mind by John vi. 21, as com- 
 pared with ven*. 19 and 20, 
 
Synagogues: their Origin, Structure, etc. 257 
 
 multitude made their way towards the synagogue. On the 
 road, we suppose, the question and answers passed, of which 
 we have an account in John vi. 25-28. They had now 
 reached the entrance to the synagogue ; and the following 
 discourse was pronounced by the Lord in the synagogue 
 itself, as we are expressly told in ver. 59 : " These things said 
 He in the synagogue, as He taught in Capernaum." But 
 what is so remarkable is, that the very lintel of this syna- 
 gogue has been found, and that the device upon it bears 
 such close reference to the question which the Jews put 
 to Jesus, that we can almost imagine them pointing up to 
 it, as they entered the synagogue, and said : " Our fathers 
 did eat manna in the desert ; as it is written, He gave them 
 bread from heaven to eat " (John vi. 3.1). For, in the 
 words of Canon Williams, "The lintel lying among the 
 ruins of the good centurion's synagogue at Capernaum 
 has carved on it the device of the pot of manna. What is 
 further remarkable, this lintel is ornamented besides with 
 a flowing pattern of vine leaves and clusters of grapes, 
 another emblem of the mystery of which our Lord dis- 
 coursed so largely in this synagogue." 
 
 Before parting from this most interesting subject, we 
 may place beside the Master, as it were, the two repre- 
 sentatives of His Church, a Gentile and a Jew, both 
 connected with this synagogue. Of its builder, the good 
 centurion, Canon Williams thus writes : " In what spirit 
 the large-hearted Roman soldier had made his offering, 
 the rich and elaborate carvings of cornices and entablatures, 
 of columns and capitals, and niches, still attest." As for the 
 ruler of that same synagogue, we know that it was Jairus, 
 whose cry of anguish and of faith brought Jesus to his house 
 
 S 
 
258 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 to speak the life-giving "Talitha cumi" over the one only 
 daughter, just bursting into womanhood, who lay dead in that 
 chamber, while the crowd outside and the hired minstrels 
 made shrill, discordant mourning. 
 
 Thus far as to the external appearance of synagogues. 
 Their internal arrangement appears to have been originally 
 upon the plan of the Temple, or, perhaps, even of the Taber- 
 nacle. At least, the oldest still standing synagogue, that of 
 the Cyrenian Jews, in the island of Gerbe, is, according to the 
 description of a missionary, Dr. Ewald, tripartite, after the 
 model of the Court, the Holy, and the Most Holy Place. And 
 in all synagogues the body of the building, with the space 
 around, set apart for women, represents the Court of the 
 Women, while the innermost and highest place, with the 
 Ark behind, containing the rolls of the law, represents the 
 sanctuary itself. In turn the synagogue seems to have been 
 adopted as the model for the earliest Christian churches. 
 Hence not only the structure of the " basilica," but the very 
 term " bema," is incorporated in Rabbinical language. 1 This 
 is only what might have been expected, considering that the 
 earliest Christians were Jews by nationality, and that heathen- 
 ism could offer no type for Christian worship. To return. As 
 concerned the worshippers, it was deemed wrong to pray 
 behind a synagogue without turning the face to it ; and a 
 story is told (Ber. 6 b) of Elijah appearing in the form of an 
 Arab merchant, and punishing one guilty of this sin. " Thou 
 standest before thy Master as if there were two Powers [or 
 Gods]," said the seeming Arab ; and with these words " he 
 drew his sword and killed him." A still more curious idea 
 prevailed, that it was requisite to advance the length of at 
 
 1 ^is subject is fully discussed in Vitringa, Synag. pp. 444-456. 
 
Synagogues: their Origin, Struct^lre, etc. 259 
 
 least "two doors" within a synagogue before settling to 
 prayer, which was justified by a reference to Prov. viii. 34 
 (Ber. 8 a). The inference is peculiar, but not more so, per- 
 haps, than those of some modern critics, and certainly not 
 more strange than that of the Talmud itself, which, on a 
 preceding page, when discussing the precise duration of the 
 wrath of the Almighty, concludes that Balaam had been 
 the only person who knew it exactly, since it is written of 
 him (Numb. xxiv. 1 6), that he " knew the thoughts of the 
 Most High ! " Another direction of the Talmud was to 
 leave the synagogue with slow steps, but to hasten to it as 
 rapidly as possible, since it was written (Hos. vi. 3, as the 
 Rabbis arranged the verse), " Let us pursue to know the 
 Lord." Rabbi Seira tells us how, at one time, he had been 
 scandalised by seeing the Rabbis running on the Sabbath 
 when bodily rest was enjoined to attend a sermon ; but 
 that, when he understood how Hos. xi. 10 applied to the 
 teaching of the Halachah, he himself joined in their race. 
 And so Rabbi Seira, as it seems to us, somewhat caustically 
 concludes : " The reward of a discourse is the haste " with 
 which people run to it no matter, it would appear, whether 
 they get in to hear it, or whether there is anything in the 
 discourse worth the hearing. 
 
 As a rule, synagogues were built at the expense of the 
 congregation, though perhaps assisted by richer neighbours. 
 Sometimes, as we know, they were erected at the cost of 
 private individuals, which was supposed to involve special 
 merit. In other cases, more particularly when the number of 
 Jews was small, a large room in a private house was set apart 
 for the purpose. This also passed into the early Church, as 
 we gather from Acts ii. 46 ; v. 42. Accordingly we under* 
 
260 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 stand the apostolic expression, " Church in the house " (Rom. 
 xv> i- 3> 5 J l Cor. xvi. 19; Col. iv. 15; Philemon 2), as implying 
 that in all these and other instances a room in a private house 
 had been set apart, in which the Christians regularly assembled 
 for their worship. Synagogues were consecrated by prayer, 
 although, even thus, the ceremony was not deemed completed 
 till after the ordinary prayers had been offered by some 
 one, though it were a passing stranger. Rules of decorum, 
 analogous to those enforced in the Temple, were enjoined on 
 those who attended the synagogue. Decency and cleanliness 
 in dress, quietness and reverence in demeanour, are prescribed 
 with almost wearisome details and distinctions. Money collec- 
 tions were only to be made for the poor or for the redemption 
 of captives. If the building were in a dangerous condition, 
 the synagogue might be broken down, provided another were 
 built as rapidly as possible in its place. But even so, the 
 sanctity of the place remained, and synagogue-ruins might 
 not be converted into mourning places, nor used as thorough- 
 fares, nor might ropes be hung up in them, nor nets spread, 
 nor fruits laid out for drying. The principle of sanctity 
 applied, of course, to all analogous uses to which such ruins 
 might have been put. Money collected for building a 
 synagogue might, if absolute necessity arose, be employed 
 by the congregation for other purposes ; but if stones, beams, 
 etc., had been purchased for the building, these could not be 
 resold, but were regarded as dedicated. A town synagogue 
 was considered absolutely inalienable ; those in villages might 
 be disposed of under the direction of the local Sanhedrim, 
 provided the locale were not afterwards to be used as a public 
 bath, a wash-house, a tannery, or a pool. The money realised 
 was to be devoted to something more sacred than the mere 
 
Synagogues: their Origin, Structure, etc. 261 
 
 stone and mortar of a synagogue say, the ark in which the 
 copies of the law were kept. Different from synagogues, 
 though devoted to kindred purposes, were the so-called 
 " oratories " or " places where prayer was wont to be made " 
 (Acts xvi. 13). These were generally placed outside towns 
 and in the vicinity of running water or of the sea (Jos. Ant. 
 xiv. 10, 23), for the purpose of the customary lustrations 
 connected with prayer (Philo. ii. 535). 
 
 The separation of the sexes, which was observed even in 
 the Temple at the time of Christ, was strictly carried out 
 in the synagogues, such division being made effectual 
 by a partition, boarded off and provided with gratings, to 
 which there was separate access. The practice seems 
 simply in accordance with Eastern manners and modes of 
 thinking. But the Rabbis, who seek Scripture authority 
 for every arrangement, however trivial, find in this case 
 their warrant in Zech. xii. 11-14, where "the wives" are no 
 less than five times spoken of as "apart," while engaged 
 in their prayerful mourning. The synagogue was so placed 
 that, on entering it, the worshippers would face towards 
 Jerusalem mere " orientation," as it is now called, having no 
 meaning in Jewish worship. Beyond the middle of the syna- 
 gogue rose the platform or " bima," as it was anciently, or 
 " almmeor," as it is presently named. Those who were called 
 up to it for reading ascended by the side nearest, and 
 descended by that most remote from their seats in the 
 synagogue. On this "bima" stood the pulpit, or rather 
 lectern, the "migdal ez," "wooden tower" of Neh. viii, 4, 
 whence the prescribed portions of the law and of the prophets 
 were read, and addresses delivered. The reader stood; the 
 preacher sat. Thus we find (Luke iv. 20) that, after reading 
 
262 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 a portion from the prophet Isaiah, our Lord "closed the book, 
 and He gave it again to the minister, and sat down," before 
 delivering His discourse in the synagogue of Nazareth. Prayer 
 also was offered standing, although in the Temple the wor- 
 shippers prostrated themselves, a practice still continued in 
 certain of the most solemn litanies. The pulpit or lectern 
 "migdal" (tower), "chisse" and "churseja" (chair or throne), 
 or "pergulah" (the Latin "pergula," probably elevation) 
 stood in the middle of the " bima," and in front of " the ark." 
 The latter, which occupied the innermost place in the syna- 
 gogue, as already noticed, corresponded to the Most Holy 
 Place in the Temple, and formed the most important part. 
 It was called the "aron" (ark), the "tevah," or "tevutha" 
 (chest, like that in which Noah and Moses were saved), or the 
 "hechal" (little temple). In reality, it consisted of a press 
 or chest, in which the rolls of the law were deposited. This 
 "ark " was made movable {Taan. ii. I, 2), so as to lift out on 
 occasions of public fasting and prayer, in order to have it 
 placed in the street or market-place where the people gathered. 
 Sometimes there was also a second press for the rolls of the 
 prophets, in which the disused or damaged rolls of the law 
 were likewise deposited. In front of the ark hung the "vilon" 
 ("velum," veil), in imitation of that before the Holy Place. 
 Above it was suspended the "ner olam," or ever-burning 
 lamp, and near to it stood the eight-branched candlestick, lit 
 during the eight days of the feast of the dedication of the 
 Temple (John x. 22), or Candlemas. The practice of lighting 
 candles and lamps, not merely for use, but in honour of the 
 day or feast, is not unknown in the synagogues. Of course, 
 in regard to this, as to other practices, it is impossible to 
 determine what was the exact custom at the time of our 
 
Synagogues : tJieir Origin, Structure, etc, 263 
 
 Lord, although the reader may be able to infer how much 
 and what special practices may have been gradually intro- 
 duced. It would lead beyond our present scope to describe 
 the various directions to be observed in copying out the syna- 
 gogue-rolls, which embodied the five books of Moses, or to 
 detail what would render them unfit for use. No less than 
 twenty such causes are mentioned by the Rabbis. At present 
 the vellum, on which the Pentateuch is written, is affixed to 
 two rollers, and as each portion of the law is read it is unrolled 
 from the right, and rolled on to the left roller. The roll itself 
 was fastened together by linen wrappers or cloths (" mitpa- 
 choth"), and then placed in a "case" ("tik," the Greek 
 "theke"). All these articles are already mentioned in the 
 Mishnah. Later practices need not here occupy our atten- 
 tion. Lastly, it should be noted, that at first the people 
 probably stood in the synagogues or sat on the ground. But 
 as the services became more protracted, sitting accommoda- 
 tion had to be provided. The congregation sat facing the 
 ark. On the other hand, "the rulers of the synagogue," 
 Rabbis, distinguished Pharisees, and others, who sought 
 honour of men, claimed " the chief seats," which were placed 
 with their backs to the ark, and facing the worshippers. 
 These seats, which bear the same name as in the New Testa- 
 ment, were made objects of special ambition (Matt, xxiii. 6), 
 and rank, dignity, or seniority entitled a Rabbi or other 
 influential man to priority. Our Lord expressly refers to this 
 (Matt, xxiii. 6) as one of the characteristic manifestations of 
 Pharisaical pride. That both the same spirit and practice 
 had crept into some of the early churches, appears from the 
 warning of St. James (Jas. ii. 2, 3) against an un-Christ- 
 like " respect of persons," which would assign a place high 
 
264 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 up in "synagogues" of Christians to the mere possession of 
 " goodly apparel " or the wearing of the " gold ring." 
 
 Hitherto we have chiefly described the outward arrange- 
 ments of synagogues. It will now be necessary, however 
 rapidly in this place, to sketch their various uses, their wor- 
 ship, and their officials, most of which are also referred to 
 in various parts of the New Testament. 
 
CHAPTER XVIL 
 
 THE WORSHIP OF THE SYNAGOGUE. 
 
 ONE of the most difficult questions in Jewish history is 
 that connected with the existence of a synagogue 
 within the Temple. That such a " synagogue " existed, and 
 that its meeting-place was in " the hall of hewn stones," at 
 the south-eastern angle of the court of the priests, cannot be 
 called in question, in face of the clear testimony of contem- 
 porary witnesses. Considering that " the hall of hewn stones " 
 was also the meeting-place for the great Sanhedrim, and that 
 not only legal decisions, but lectures and theological discus- 
 sions formed part of their occupation, we might be tempted 
 to conjecture that the term "synagogue" had been employed 
 in its wider sense, since such buildings were generally used 
 throughout the country for this two-fold purpose as well as 
 for worship. Of theological lectures and discussions in the 
 Temple, we have an instance on the occasion when our Lord 
 was found by His parents " sitting in the midst of the doctors, 
 both hearing them, and asking them questions " (Luke ii. 46). 
 And it can scarcely be doubted, that this also explains how 
 the scribes and Pharisees could so frequently " come upon 
 Him," while He taught in the Temple, with their difficult 
 
266 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 and entangling questions, up to that rejoinder about the 
 nature of the Messiah, with which He finally silenced them : 
 " If David then call Him Lord, how is He his Son ?" (Matt 
 xxii. 45). But in reference to the so-called " Temple-syna- 
 gogue," there is this difficulty, that certain prayers and rites 
 seem to have been connected with it, which formed no part 
 of the regular Temple services, and yet were somehow 
 engrafted upon them. We can therefore only conclude that 
 the growing change in the theological views of Israel, before 
 and about the time of Christ, made the Temple services alone 
 appear insufficient. The symbolical and typical elements 
 which constituted the life and centre of Temple worship had 
 lost their spiritual meaning and attraction to the majority of 
 that generation, and their place was becoming occupied by 
 so-called teaching and outward performances. Thus the 
 worship of the letter took the place of that of the spirit, and 
 Israel was preparing to reject Christ for Pharisaism. The 
 synagogue was substituted for the Temple, and overshadowed 
 it, even within its walls, by an incongruous mixture of man- 
 devised worship with the God-ordained typical rites of the 
 sanctuary. Thus, so far from the " Temple-synagogue " being 
 the model for those throughout the country, as some writers 
 maintain, it seems to us of later origin, and to have borrowed 
 many rites from the country synagogues, in which the people 
 had become accustomed to them. 1 
 
 The subject has a far deeper than merely historical interest. 
 For the presence of a synagogue within the Temple, or 
 rather, as we prefer to put it, the addition of synagogue- 
 worship to that of the Temple, is sadly symbolical. It is, so 
 
 1 This is substantially admitted by Herzfeld, Gesch. d. Voltes Jisr. vol. iii. pp. 
 
The Worship of the Synagogue. 267 
 
 to speak, one of those terribly significant utterances (by deed), 
 in which Israel, all unconsciously, pronounced its own doom, 
 just as was this : " His blood be upon us and our children," 
 or the cry for the release of Barabbas (the son of the father), 
 who had been condemned " for sedition " and " murder " no 
 doubt in connection with a pseudo-Messianic rising against 
 the Roman power instead of the true Son of the Father, 
 who would indeed have "restored the kingdom to Israel," 
 And yet there was nothing in the worship itself of the 
 synagogue which could have prevented either the Lord, or 
 His apostles and early followers, from attending it till the 
 time of final separation had come. Readers of the New 
 Testament know what precious opportunities it offered for 
 making known the Gospel. Its services were, indeed, singu- 
 larly elastic. For the main object of the synagogue was the 
 teaching of the people. The very idea of its institution, 
 before and at the time of Ezra, explains and conveys this, 
 and it is confirmed by the testimony of Josephus (Ag. Apion, 
 ii. 17). But perhaps the ordinary reader of the New Testa- 
 ment may have failed to notice, how prominently this element 
 in the synagogue is brought out in the gospel history. Yet 
 the word " teaching " is used so frequently in connection with 
 our Lord's appearance in the synagogue, that its lesson is 
 obvious (see Matt. iv. 23 ; Mark i. 21 ; vi. 2 ; Luke iv. 15 ; 
 vi. 6; xiii. 10 ; John vi. 59; xviii. 20). The "teaching" part 
 of the service consisted mainly in reading a section from the 
 law, with which the reading of a portion from the prophets, 
 and a sermon, or address, were conjoined. Of course, the 
 liturgical element could in such services never have been 
 quite wanting, and it soon acquired considerable importance. 
 Tt consisted of prayer and the pronouncing of the Aaronic 
 
268 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 blessing (Num. vi. 24-26) by priests that is, of course, not 
 by Rabbis, who were merely teachers or doctors, but by lineal 
 descendants of the house of Aaron. There was no service 
 of " praise " in the synagogues. 
 
 Public worship 3 commenced on ordinary occasions with 
 the so-called " Shema," which was preceded in the morning 
 and evening by two " benedictions," and succeeded in the 
 morning by one, and in the evening by two, benedictions ; 
 the second being, strictly speaking, an evening prayer. The 
 " Shema " was a kind of " belief," or " creed," composed of 
 these three passages of Scripture: Deut. vi. 4-9; xi. 13- 
 21 ; Num. xv. 37-41. It obtained its name from the initial 
 word " shema " : " Hear, O Israel," in Deut. vi. 4. From the 
 Mishnah (Ber. i. 3) we learn, that this part of the service 
 existed already before the time of our Lord ; and we are 
 told (Ber. iii. 3), that all males were bound to repeat this 
 belief twice every day ; children and slaves, as well as women, 
 being exempted from the obligation. There can be no 
 reasonable doubt on the subject, as the Mishnah expressly 
 mentions the three Scriptural sections of the " Shema," the 
 number of benedictions before and after it, and even the 
 initial words of the closing benediction (Ber. ii. 2 ; i. 4 ; 
 Tamid, v. i). We have, therefore, here certain prayers which 
 our Lord Himself had not only heard, but in which He must 
 have shared to what extent will appear in the sequel. These 
 prayers still exist in the synagogue, although with later 
 additions, which, happily, it is not difficult to eliminate. 
 Before transcribing them, it may be quoted as a mark of the 
 
 1 Our description here applies to the worship of the ancient, not of the modern 
 synagogue ; and we have thought it best to confine ourselves to the testimony of 
 the Mishnah, so as to avoid the danger of bringing in practices of a later date. 
 
The Worship of the Synagogue. 269 
 
 value attached to them, that it was lawful to say this and the 
 3ther daily prayers to which we shall hereafter refer and 
 the "grace at meat," not only in the Hebrew, but in any other 
 language, in order to secure a general understanding of the 
 service (Sotah, vii. i). At the same time, expressions are 
 used which lead us to suppose that, while the liturgical 
 formulae connected with the " Shema " were fixed, there were 
 local variations, in the way of lengthening or shortening 
 (Ber. i. 4). The following are the " benedictions " before the 
 " Shema," in their original form : 
 
 I. " Blessed be Thou, O Lord, King of the world, Who 
 formest the light and Greatest the darkness, Who makest 
 peace and Greatest everything ; Who, in mercy, givest light to 
 the earth and to those who dwell upon it, and in Thy good- 
 ness day by day and every day renewest the works of creation. 
 Blessed be the Lord our God for the glory of His handiwork 
 and for the light-giving lights which He has made for His 
 praise. Selah ! Blessed be the Lord our God, Who hath 
 formed the lights." 1 
 
 II. " With great love hast Thou loved us, O Lord our God, 
 and with much overflowing pity hast Thou pitied us, our 
 Father and our King. For the sake of our fathers who trusted 
 in Thee, and Thou taughtest them the statutes of life, have 
 mercy upon us and teach us. Enlighten our eyes in Thy law ; 
 cause our hearts to cleave to Thy commandments ; unite our 
 hearts to love and fear Thy name, and we shall not be put to 
 shame, world without end. For Thou art a God Who pre- 
 
 1 This "benediction," while acknowledging the Creator, has such frequent 
 reference to God in connection with the "lights," that it reads like a confession 
 of Israel against the idolatries of Babylon. This circumstance may help to fix 
 the time of its origination. 
 
270 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 parest salvation, and us hast Thou chosen from among all 
 nations and tongues, and hast in truth brought us near to 
 Thy great Name Selah that we may lovingly praise Thee 
 and Thy Oneness. Blessed be the Lord Who in love chose 
 His people Israel." 1 
 
 After this followed the " Shema." The Mishnah gives the 
 following beautiful explanation of the order in which the 
 portions of Scripture of which it is composed are arranged 
 (Ber. ii. 2). The section Deut. vi. 4-9 is said to precede that 
 inxi. 13-21, so that we might " take upon ourselves the yoke 
 of the kingdom of heaven, and only after that the yoke of 
 the commandments." Again : Deut. xi. 13-21 precedes 
 Num. xv. 37-41, because the former applies, as it were, both 
 night and day ; the latter only by day. The reader cannot 
 fail to observe the light cast by the teaching of the Mishnah 
 upon the gracious invitation of our Lord : " Come unto Me, 
 all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give 
 you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me ; for 
 I am meek and lowly in heart : and ye shall find rest 
 unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is 
 light" (Matt. xi. 28-30). These words must indeed have 
 had a special significance to those who remembered the 
 Rabbinic lesson as to the relation between the kingdom 
 of heaven and the commandments, and they would now 
 understand how by coming to the Saviour they would first 
 take upon them " the yoke of the kingdom of heaven," and 
 then that of " the commandments," finding this " yoke 
 easy" and the "burden light." 
 
 1 This reads peculiarly like the thanksgiving of Israel as God's covenant 
 people. 
 
The Worship of the Synagogue. 271 
 
 The prayer after the " Shema " was as follows : l 
 
 " True it is, that Thou art Jehovah our God and the God of 
 our fathers, our King and the King of our fathers, our Saviour 
 and the Saviour of our fathers, our Creator, the Rock of our 
 salvation, our Help and our Deliverer. Thy Name is from 
 everlasting, and there is no God beside Thee. A new song 
 did they that were delivered sing to Thy Name by the sea- 
 shore ; together did all praise and own Thee King, and say, 
 Jehovah shall reign world without end ! Blessed be the Lord 
 Who saveth Israel!" 
 
 The anti-Sadducean views expressed in this prayer will 
 strike the student of that period, while he will also be much 
 impressed with its suitableness and beauty. The special 
 prayer for the evening is of not quite so old a date as the 
 three just quoted. But as it is referred to in the Mishnah, 
 and is so apt and simple, we reproduce it, as follows : 
 
 " O Lord our God ! cause us to lie down in peace, and 
 raise us up again to life, O our King ! Spread over us the 
 tabernacle of Thy peace ; strengthen us before Thee in Thy 
 good counsel, and deliver us for Thy Name's sake. Be Thou 
 for protection round about us ; keep far from us the enemy, 
 the pestilence, the sword, famine, and affliction. Keep Satan 
 from before and from behind us, and hide us in the shadow of 
 Thy wings, for Thou art a God Who helpest and deliverest 
 us ; and Thou, O God, art a gracious and merciful King. 
 Keep Thou our going out and our coming in, for life and for 
 peace, from henceforth and for ever ! " s 
 
 1 In the form here given it is older than even the prayer referred to in the 
 Mishnah (Ber. ii. 2). 
 
 2 To this prayer a further addition was made at a later period. On the whole, 
 compare Zunz, Gottesd. Vortr. p. 367, etc. 
 
27* Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 The "Shema" and its accompanying "benedictions" seem 
 to have been said in the synagogue at the lectern ; whereas 
 for the next series of prayers the leader of the devotions went 
 forward and stood before " the ark." Hence the expression, 
 "to go up before the ark," for leading in prayer. This differ- 
 ence in position seems implied in many passages of the 
 Mishnah (specially Megillak, iv.), which makes a distinction 
 between saying the " Shema " and " going up before the ark." 
 The prayers offered before the ark consisted of the so-called 
 eighteen eulogies, or benedictions, and formed the " tephillah," 
 or supplication, in the strictest sense of the term. These 
 eighteen, or rather, as they are now, nineteen, eulogies are of 
 various dates the earliest being the first three and the last 
 three. There can be no reasonable doubt that these were 
 said at worship in the synagogues, when our Lord was present. 
 Next in date are eulogies iv., v., vi., viii., ix., and xvi. 
 Eulogy vii., which in its present position seems somewhat 
 incongruous, dates from a period of great national calamity 
 perhaps the time of Pompey. The other eulogies, and some 
 insertions in the older benedictions, were added after the fall 
 of the Jewish commonwealth eulogy xii. especially being 
 intended against the early Jewish converts to Christianity. 
 In all likelihood it had been the practice originally to insert 
 prayers of private composition between the (present) first 
 three and last three eulogies ; and out of these the later 
 eulogies were gradually formulated. At any rate, we know 
 that on Sabbaths and on other festive occasions only 
 the first three and the last three eulogies were repeated, 
 other petitions being inserted between them. There was 
 thus room for the endless repetitions and " long prayers " 
 which the Saviour condemned (Mark xii. 40; Luke xx. 47). 
 
The Worship of the Synagogue. 273 
 
 Besides, it must be borne in mind that, both on entering and 
 leaving the synagogue, it was customary to offer prayer, and 
 that it was a current Rabbinical saying, " Prolix prayer pro- 
 longeth life." But as we are sure that, on the Sabbaths when 
 our Lord attended the synagogues at Nazareth and Caper- 
 naum, the first three and the last three of the eulogies were 
 repeated, we produce them here, as follows : 
 
 I. "Blessed be the Lord our God and the God of our 
 fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God 
 of Jacob ; the great, the mighty, and the terrible God ; the 
 Most High God, Who showeth mercy and kindness, Who 
 createth all things, Who remembereth the gracious promises 
 to the fathers, and bringeth a Saviour to their children's 
 children, for His own Name's sake, in love. O King, 
 Helper, Saviour, and Shield ! Blessed art Thou, O Jehovah, 
 the Shield of Abraham." 
 
 II. "Thou, O Lord, art mighty for ever; Thou, Who 
 quickenest the dead, art mighty to save. In Thy mercy Thou 
 preservest the living; Thou quickenest the dead; in Thine 
 abundant pity Thou bearest up those who fall, and healest 
 those who are diseased, and loosest those who are bound, and 
 fulfillest Thy faithful word to those who sleep in the dust. 
 Who is like unto Thee, Lord of strength, and who can be 
 compared to Thee, Who killest and makest alive, and causest 
 salvation to spring forth ? And faithful art Thou to give life 
 unto the dead. Blessed be Thou, Jehovah, Who quickenest 
 the dead!" 
 
 III. " Thou art holy, and Thy Name is holy ; and the holy 
 ones praise Thee every day. Selah ! Blessed art Thou, 
 Jehovah God, the Holy One!" 
 
 It is impossible not to feel the solemnity of these prayers. 
 
 T 
 
271 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 They breathe the deepest hopes of Israel in simple, Scriptural 
 language. But who can fully realise their sacred import as 
 uttered not only in the Presence, but by the very lips of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, Who Himself was their answer ? 
 The three concluding eulogies were as follows : 
 
 XVII. " Take gracious pleasure, O Jehovah our God, in 
 Thy people Israel, and in their prayers. Accept the burnt- 
 offerings of Israel, and their prayers, with Thy good pleasure ; 
 and may the services of Thy people Israel be ever acceptable 
 unto Thee. And oh that our eyes may see it, as Thou turnest 
 in mercy to Zion ! Blessed be Thou, O Jehovah, Who re- 
 storeth His Shechinah to Zion ! " 
 
 XVIII. " We praise Thee, because Thou art Jehovah our 
 God, and the God of our fathers, for ever and ever. Thou 
 art the Rock of our life, the Shield of our salvation, from 
 generation to generation. We laud Thee, and declare Thy 
 praise for our lives which are kept within Thine hand, and 
 for our souls which are committed unto Thee, and for Thy 
 wonders which are with us every day, and Thy wondrous 
 deeds and Thy goodnesses, which are at all seasons evening, 
 morning, and mid-day. Thou gracious One, Whose com- 
 passions never end ; Thou pitying One, Whose grace never 
 ceaseth for ever do we put our trust in Thee ! And for all 
 this Thy Name, O our King, be blessed and extolled always, 
 for ever and ever ! And all living bless Thee Selah and 
 praise Thy Name in truth, O God, our Salvation and our 
 Help. Blessed art Thou, Jehovah ; Thy Name is the gracious 
 One, to Whom praise is due." 
 
 XIX. 1 " Oh bestow on Thy people Israel great peace, for 
 
 1 We give this eulogy in its shorter form, as it is at present used in evening 
 prayer. 
 
The Worship of the Synagogue. 275 
 
 ever ; for Thou art King and Lord of all peace, and it is good 
 in Thine eyes to bless Thy people Israel with praise at all 
 times and in every hour. Blessed art Thou, Jehovah, Who 
 blesseth His people Israel with peace." 
 
 Another fact, hitherto, so far as we know, unnoticed, re- 
 quires here to be mentioned. It invests the prayers just 
 quoted with a new and almost unparalleled interest. Ac- 
 cording to the Mishnah (Megillah, iv. 5), the person who read 
 in the synagogue the portion from the prophets was also ex- 
 pected to say the " Shema," and to offer the prayers which 
 have just been quoted. It follows that, in all likelihood, our 
 Lord Himself had led the devotions in the synagogue of 
 Capernaum on that Sabbath when He read the portion from 
 the prophecies of Isaiah which was that day " fulfilled in 
 their hearing" (Luke iv. 16-21). Nor is it possible to with- 
 stand the impression, how specially suitable to the occasion 
 would have been the words of these prayers, particularly 
 those of eulogies ii. and xvii. 
 
 The prayers were conducted or repeated aloud by one indi- 
 vidual, specially deputed for the occasion, the congregation 
 responding by an " Amen." The liturgical service concluded 
 with the priestly benediction (Num. vi. 23, 24), spoken by the 
 descendants of Aaron. In case none such were present, " the 
 legate of the Church," as the leader of the devotions was 
 called, repeated the words from the Scriptures in their con- 
 nection. In giving the benediction, the priests elevated their 
 hands up to the shoulders (Sotah, vii. 6) ; in the Temple, up 
 to the forehead. Hence this rite is designated by the ex- 
 pression, "the lifting up of the hands." 1 According to the 
 
 1 The apostle may have had this in his mind when, in directing the order of 
 public ministration, he spoke of "the men . . . lifting up holy hands, 
 
276 Sketches of Jewish Life, 
 
 present practice, the fingers of the two hands are so joined 
 together and separated as to form five interstices ; and a 
 mystic meaning attaches to this. It was a later superstition 
 to forbid looking at the priests' hands, as involving physical 
 danger. But the Mishnah already directs that priests having 
 blemishes on their hands, or their fingers dyed, were not to 
 pronounce the benediction, lest the attention of the people 
 should be attracted. Of the attitude to be observed in prayer, 
 this is perhaps scarcely the place to speak in detail. Suffice 
 it, that the body was to be fully bent, yet so, that care was 
 taken never to make it appear as if the service had been bur- 
 densome. One of the Rabbis tells us, that, with this object 
 in view, he bent down as does a branch ; while, in lifting 
 himself up again, he did it like a serpent beginning with the 
 head ! Any one deputed by the rulers of a congregation 
 might say prayers, except a minor. This, however, applies 
 only to the " Shema." The eulogies or " tephillah " proper, 
 as well as the priestly benediction, could not be pronounced 
 by those who were not properly clothed, nor by those who 
 were so blind as not to be able to discern daylight. If any 
 one introduced into the prayers heretical views, or what were 
 regarded as such, he was immediately stopped ; and, if any 
 impropriety had been committed, was put under the ban for 
 a week. One of the most interesting and difficult questions 
 relates to certain modes of dress and appearance, and 
 certain expressions used in prayer, which the Mishnah 
 (Megillah, iv. 8, 9) declares either to mark heresy or to indi- 
 cate that a man was not to be allowed to lead prayers in 
 the synagogue. It may be, that some of these statements 
 
 without wrath or doubting " (i Tim. ii. 8). At any rate, the expression is pre- 
 cisely the same as that used by the Rabbis. 
 
The Worship of tJie Synagogue. 277 
 
 refer not only to certain Jewish " heretics," but also to the 
 early Jewish Christians. If so, they may indicate certain 
 peculiarities with which they were popularly credited. 1 
 
 Of the services hitherto noticed, the most important were 
 the repetition of the eulogies and the priestly benediction. 
 What now followed was regarded as quite as solemn, if, 
 indeed, not more so. It has already been pointed out, that 
 the main object of the synagogue was the teaching of the 
 people. This was specially accomplished by the reading of 
 the law. At present the Pentateuch is for this purpose 
 arranged into fifty-four sections, of which one is read on each 
 successive Sabbath of the year, beginning immediately after 
 the feast of Tabernacles. But anciently the lectionary, at 
 least in Palestine, seems to have been differently arranged, 
 and the Pentateuch so divided that its reading occupied 
 three, or, according to some, three and a-half years (half a 
 Jubilee-period). 2 The section for the day was subdivided, so 
 that every Sabbath at least seven persons were called up to 
 read, each a portion, which was to consist of not less than 
 three verses. The first reader began, and the last closed, 
 with a benediction. As the Hebrew had given place to the 
 Aramaic, a " meturgeman," or interpreter, stood by the side 
 of the reader, and translated verse by verse into the verna- 
 cular. It was customary to have service in the synagogues, 
 not only on Sabbaths and feast-days, but also on the second 
 and fifth days of the week (Monday and Thursday), when 
 the country-people came to market, and when the local 
 
 1 The Gemara (Ber. 33 b, 34 a) adds little to our understanding of this im- 
 portant question. 
 
 2 For these reasons I cannot adopt the views and inferences so ably stated by 
 Mr. Basil Cooper in his papers on "The Synagogue," in the Sunday at Home for 
 1876, however interesting. 
 
278 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 Sanhedrim also sat for the adjudication of minor causes. At 
 such week-day services only three persons were called up to 
 read in the law; on new moon's day and on the interme- 
 diate days of a festive week, four ; on festive days when 
 a section from the prophets was also read five ; and on the 
 day of atonement, six. Even a minor was allowed to read, 
 and, if qualified, to act as " meturgeman." The section 
 describing the sin of Reuben, and that giving a second 
 account of the sin of the golden calf, were read, but not inter- 
 preted ; those recounting the priestly blessing, and, again, the 
 sin of David and of Amnon, were neither read nor interpreted. 
 The reading of the law was followed by a lesson from the 
 prophets. At present there is a regular lectionary, in which 
 these lessons are so selected as to suit the sections from 
 the law appointed for the day. This arrangement has been 
 traced to the time of the Syrian persecutions, when 
 all copies of the law were sought for and destroyed ; 
 and the Jewish authorities are supposed to have selected 
 portions from the prophets to replace those from the law 
 which might not be produced in public. But it is evident 
 that, if these persecuting measures had been rigidly enforced, 
 the sacred rolls of the prophets would not have escaped 
 destruction any more than those of the law. Besides, it is 
 quite certain that such a lectionary of the prophets as that 
 presently in use did not exist at the time of our Lord, nor 
 even when the Mishnah was collated. Considerable liberty 
 seems to have been left to individuals ; and the expression 
 used by St. Luke in reference to our Lord in the synagogue 
 at Capernaum (Luke iv. 17), "And when He had opened the 
 book, He found the place where it was written," most accu- 
 rately describes the state of matters. For, from Megillah 
 
The Worship of the Synagogue. 279 
 
 iv. 4, we gather that, in reading from the prophets, it was 
 lawful to pass over one or more verses, provided there were 
 no pause between the reading and the translation of the 
 " meturgeman." For here also the services of a "meturgeman" 
 were employed ; only that he did not, as in reading the law, 
 translate verse by verse, but after every three verses. It is a 
 remarkable fact that the Rabbis exclude from public reading 
 the section in the prophecies of Ezekiel which describes " the 
 chariot and wheels." Rabbi Elieser would also have excluded 
 that in Ezek. xvi. 2. 
 
 The reading of the prophets was often followed by a 
 sermon or address, with which the service concluded. The 
 preacher was called " darshan," and his address a " derashah " 
 (homily, sermon, from " darash," to ask, inquire, or discuss). 
 When the address was a learned theological discussion 
 especially in academies it was not delivered to the people 
 directly, but whispered into the ear of an " amora," or speaker, 
 who explained to the multitude in popular language the 
 weighty sayings which the Rabbi had briefly communicated 
 to him. A more popular sermon, on the other hand, was 
 called a "meamar," literally, a " speech, or talk." These 
 addresses would be either Rabbinical expositions of Scripture, 
 or else doctrinal discussions, in which appeal would be made 
 to tradition and to the authority of certain great teachers. 
 For it was laid down as a principle (Eduj. i. 3), that " every 
 one is bound to teach in the very language of his teacher." 
 In view of this two-fold fact, we can in some measure under- 
 stand the deep impression which the words ot our Lord 
 produced, even on those who remained permanently unin- 
 fluenced by them. The substance of His addresses was far 
 other than they had ever heard of, or conceived possible. It 
 
280 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 seemed as if they opened quite a new world of thought, hope, 
 duty, and comfort. No wonder that even in contemptuous 
 Capernaum " all bare Him witness, and wondered at the 
 gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth ; " and 
 that the very Temple-guard sent to make Him prisoner were 
 overawed, and before the council could only give this account 
 of their strange negligence : " Never man spake like this 
 man " (John vii. 46). Similarly, the form also of His teaching 
 was so different from the constant appeal of the Rabbis to 
 mere tradition; it seemed all to come so quite fresh and 
 direct from heaven, like the living waters of the Holy Spirit, 
 that "the people were astonished at His doctrine: for He 
 taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes " 
 (Matt vii. 28, 29). 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 BRIEF OUTLINE OF ANCIENT JEWISH THEOLOGICAL 
 LITERATURE. 
 
 THE arrangements of the synagogue, as hitherto described, 
 combined in a remarkably manner fixedness of order 
 with liberty of the individual. Alike the seasons and the 
 time of public services, their order, the prayers to be offered, 
 and the portions of the law to be read were fixed. On the 
 other hand, between the eighteen "benedictions" said on 
 ordinary days, and the seven repeated on the Sabbaths, free 
 prayer might be inserted ; the selection from the prophets, 
 with which the public reading concluded the " Haphtarah " 
 (from " patar," to " conclude ") seems to have been originally 
 left to individual choice ; while the determination who was to 
 read, or to conduct the prayers, or to address the people, was 
 in the hands of the " rulers of the synagogue " (Acts xiii. 15). 
 The latter, who were probably also the members of the local 
 Sanhedrim, had naturally charge of the conduct of public 
 worship, as well as of the government and discipline of the 
 synagogues. They were men learned in the law and of good 
 repute, whom the popular voice designated, but who were 
 regularly set apart by "the laying on of hands," or the 
 
282 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 " Semichah," which was done by at least three, who had them- 
 selves received ordination, upon which the candidate had the 
 formal title of Rabbi bestowed on him, and was declared 
 qualified to administer the law (Sank. 13 b). The Divine 
 Majesty was supposed to be in the midst of each Sanhedrim, 
 on account of which even that consisting of only three 
 members might be designated as " Elohim." Perhaps this 
 may have been said in explanation and application of Ps. 
 Ixxxii. 6: "I have said, Ye are Elohim; and all of you 
 children of the Most High." 
 
 The special qualifications for the office of Sanhedrist, men- 
 tioned in Rabbinical writings, are such as to remind us of the 
 directions of St. Paul to Timothy (i Tim. iii. i-io). A 
 member of the Sanhedrim must be wise, modest, God-fearing, 
 truthful, not greedy of filthy lucre, given to hospitality, kindly, 
 not a gambler, nor a usurer, nor one who traded in the pro- 
 duce of Sabbatical years, nor yet one who indulged in un- 
 lawful games (Sank. iii. 3). They were called " Sekenim," 
 " elders " (Luke vii. 3), " Memunim," " rulers " (Mark v. 22), 
 " Parnasin," "feeders, overseers, shepherds of the flock " (Acts 
 xx. 28 ; I Pet. v. 2), and " Manhigei," " guides " (Heb. xiii. 7). 
 They were under the presidency and supreme rule of an 
 " Archisynagogos," or " Rosh-ha-Cheneseth," "head of the 
 synagogue " ( Yom. vii. i ; Sot. vii. 7), who sometimes seems to 
 have even exercised sole authority. The designation occurs 
 frequently in the New Testament (Matt. ix. 18 ; Mark v. 35, 
 36, 38 ; Luke viii. 41, 49 ; xiii. 14 ; Acts xviii. 8, 17). The 
 inferior functions in the synagogue devolved on the " chassan," 
 or " minister " (Luke iv. 20). In course of time, however, the 
 " chassanim " combined with their original duties the office of 
 schoolmaster ; and at present they lead both the singing and 
 
Ancient Jewish Theological Literature. 283 
 
 the devotions of the synagogue. This duty originally 
 devolved not on any fixed person, but whoever was chosen 
 might for the time being act as " Sheliach Zibbur," or " legate 
 of the congregation." Most modern writers have imagined, that 
 the expression " angel of the Church," in the epistles to the 
 seven churches in the book of Revelation, was used in allusion 
 to this ancient arrangement of the synagogue. But the fact 
 that the " Sheliach Zibbur " represented not an office but a 
 function, renders this view untenable. Besides, in that case, 
 the corresponding Greek expression would rather have been 
 " apostle " than " angel of the Church." Possibly, however, 
 the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews may refer to it, when 
 he designates the Lord Jesus " the Apostle and High-Priest ol 
 our profession " (Heb. iii. i). Besides these functionaries, we 
 also read of " Gabaei Zedakah," or collectors of charity, to 
 whom the Talmud (B. Bathra, 8 b) by &jeu de mots 1 applies 
 the promise that they " shall be as the stars for ever and ever " 
 (Dan. xii. 3), since they lead many to " righteousness." Alms 
 were collected at regular times every week, either in money 
 or in victuals. At least two were employed in collecting, and 
 three in distributing charity, so as to avoid the suspicion of 
 dishonesty or partiality.. These collectors of charity, who 
 required to be "men of good repute, and faithful," are 
 thought by many to have been the model for the institution 
 of the Diaconate in the early Church. But the analogy 
 scarcely holds good ; nor, indeed, were such collectors 
 employed in every synagogue. 
 
 In describing the conduct of public worship in the syna- 
 gogues, reference was made to the " meturgeman," wh 
 translated into the vernacular dialect what was read out of 
 
 1 Zedakah means righteousness, but is also used for " charity." 
 
284 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 the Hebrew Scriptures, and also to the "darshan," who 
 expounded the Scriptures or else the traditional law in an 
 address, delivered after the reading of the " Haphtarah," or 
 section from the prophets. These two terms will have 
 suggested names which often occur in writings on Jewish 
 subjects, and may fitly lead to some remarks on Jewish 
 theology at the time of our Lord. Now the work of the 
 " meturgeman " l was perpetuated in the Targum, and that of 
 the " darshan " in the Midrash. Primarily the Targum, then, 
 was intended as a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into 
 the vernacular Aramaean. Of course, such translations might 
 be either literal, or else more or less paraphrastic. Every 
 Targum would also naturally represent the special views of 
 the translator, and be interesting as affording an insight into 
 the ideas prevalent at the time, and the manner in which 
 Scripture was understood. But some Targumim are much 
 more paraphrastic than others, and indeed become a kind of 
 commentary, showing us the popular theology of the time. 
 Strictly speaking, we have really no Targum dating from the 
 time of our Lord, nor even from the first century of our era. 
 There can be no doubt, however, that such a Targum did 
 exist, although it has been lost. Still, the Targumim preserved 
 to us, although collated, and having received their present 
 form at later periods, contain very much that dates from the 
 Temple-period, and even before that. Mentioning them in 
 the order of their comparative antiquity, we have the Targum 
 of Onkelos, on the five books of Moses; the Targum of 
 Jonathan, on the prophets (inclusive of Joshua, Judges, and 
 the books of Samuel and of the Kings) ; the so-called (or 
 pseudo) Jonathan on the Pentateuch ; and the Jerusalem 
 
 1 Hence also the term " dragoman." 
 
Ancient Jewish Theological Literature. 285 
 
 Targum, which is but a fragment. Probably the latter two 
 were intended to be supplemental to the Targum Onkelos. 
 Late criticism has thrown doubt even on the existence of such 
 a person as Onkelos. Whoever may have been the author, 
 this Targum, in its present form, dates probably from the 
 third, that of Jonathan on the prophets from the fourth 
 century. 
 
 In some respects more interesting than the Targumim are 
 the Midrashim, of which we possess three, dating probably, 
 in their present form, from the first or second century of our 
 era, but embodying many parts much older. These are 
 mentioning them again in the order of their antiquity 
 " Siphra " (the book), a commentary on Leviticus ; " Siphri," 
 a commentary on Numbers and Deuteronomy ; and " Me- 
 chiltha," a commentary on certain portions of Exodus. But 
 we have even a monument more interesting than these, of the 
 views of the ancient Pharisees, and of their Scriptural inter- 
 pretations. Some of the fathers referred to a work called 
 " Lesser Genesis," or the " Book of Jubilees." This had been 
 lost to theological literature, till again discovered within the 
 present century, although not in the original Hebrew, nor 
 even in its first or Greek translation, but in an Ethiopic 
 rendering from the latter. The work, which no doubt 
 dates from the era of our Lord, covers the same ground as 
 the first book of Moses, whence the name of " Lesser Genesis." 
 It gives the Biblical narrative from the creation of the world 
 to the institution of the Passover, in the spirit in which the 
 Judaism of that period would view it. The legendary addi- 
 tions, the Rabbinical ideas expressed, the interpretations 
 furnished, are just such as one would expect to find in such a 
 work. One of the main objects of the writer seems to have 
 
286 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 been the chronology of the book of Genesis, which it is 
 attempted to settle. All events are recorded according to 
 Jubilee-periods of forty-nine years, whence the name " Book 
 of Jubilees," given to the work. These "Jubilees" are again 
 arranged into " weeks," each of seven years (a day for a year) ; 
 and events are classified as having taken place in a certain 
 month of a certain year, of a certain " week " of years, of a 
 certain " Jubilee "-period. Another tendency of the book, 
 which, however, it has in common with all similar productions, 
 is to trace up all later institutions to the patriarchal period. 1 
 
 Besides these works, another class of theological literature 
 has been preserved to us, around which of late much and 
 most serious controversy has gathered. Most readers, of 
 course, know about the Apocrypha ; but these works are 
 called the " pseudo-epigraphic writings." Their subject- 
 matter may be described as mainly dealing with unfulfilled 
 prophecy; and they are couched in language and figures 
 borrowed, among others, from the book of Daniel. In fact, 
 they read like attempts at imitating certain portions of that 
 prophecy only that their scope is sometimes wider. This 
 class of literature is larger than those not acquainted with the 
 period might have expected. Yet when remembering the 
 troubles of the time, the feverish expectations of a coming 
 deliverance, and the peculiar cast of mind and training of 
 those who wrote them, they scarcely seem more numerous, 
 nor perhaps even more extravagant, than a certain kind of 
 prophetic literature, abundant among us not long ago, which 
 the fear of Napoleon or other political events from time 
 
 i Although the "Book of Jubilees" seems most likely of Pharisaic authorship, 
 the views expressed in it are not always those of the Pharisees. Thus the resur- 
 rection is denied, although the immortality of the soul is maintained. 
 
Ancient Jewish Theological Literature. 287 
 
 to time called forth. To that kind of productions they seem, 
 at least to us, to bear an essential likeness only that, unlike 
 the Western, the Oriental expounder of unfulfilled prophecy 
 assumes rather the language of the prophet than that of the 
 commentator, and clothes his views in mystic emblematic 
 language. In general, this kind of literature may be arranged 
 into Greek and Hebrew according as the writers were 
 either Egyptian (Hellenistic) or Palestinian Jews. Con- 
 siderable difficulty exists as to the precise date of some of 
 these writings whether previous or subsequent to the time 
 of Christ. These difficulties are, of course, increased when it 
 is sought to fix the precise period when each of them was 
 composed. Still, late historical investigations have led to 
 much accord on general points. Without referring to the 
 use which opponents of Christianity have of late attempted to 
 make of these books, it may be safely asserted that their 
 proper study and interpretation will yet be made very 
 helpful, not only in casting light upon the period, but in 
 showing the essential difference between the teaching of the 
 men of that age and that of the New Testament. 1 For 
 each branch and department of sacred study, the more 
 carefully, diligently, and impartially it is pursued, affords 
 only fresh testimony to that truth which is most certainly, 
 and on the best and surest grounds, believed among us. 
 
 It were, however, a mistake to suppose that the Rabbinical 
 views, extravagant as they so often are, were propounded 
 quite independently of Scripture. On the contrary, every 
 traditional ordinance, every Rabbinical institution, nay, every 
 legend and saying, is somehow foisted upon the text of the 
 
 1 This most important and interesting subject is one of those which must be 
 specially reserved for full elaboration in a larger work. 
 
288 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 Old Testament. To explain this, even in the briefest manner, 
 it is necessary to state that, in general, Jewish traditionalism 
 is distinguished into the " Halachah " and the " Haggadah." 
 The "Halachah" (from" halach," to "walk") indicates the 
 settled legal determinations, which constituted the "oral 
 law," or "Thorah shebeal peh." Nothing could here be 
 altered, nor was any freedom left to the individual teacher, 
 save that of explanation and illustration. The object of the 
 "Halachah" was to state in detail, and to apply to all 
 possible cases, the principles laid down in the law of Moses ; 
 as also to surround it, as it were, with " a hedge," in order 
 to render every unwitting transgression impossible. The 
 "Halachah" enjoyed not only the same authority with the 
 law of Moses, but, as being explanatory, in some respects 
 was even more highly esteemed. Indeed, strictly speak- 
 ing, it was regarded as equally with the Pentateuch the 
 revelation of God to Moses ; only the form or manner of 
 revelation was regarded as different the one being com- 
 mitted to writing, the other handed down by word of mouth. 
 According to tradition, Moses explained the traditional law 
 successively to Aaron, to his sons, to the seventy elders, 
 and to the people care being taken that each class heard 
 it four times (Maimonides* Preface to Seraim, i a). The 
 Talmud itself attempts to prove that the whole traditional 
 law, as well as the writings of the prophets and the Hagio- 
 grapha, had been communicated to Moses, by quoting 
 Ex. xxiv. 12: "I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, 
 and commandments which I have written ; that thou mayest 
 teach them." " The ' tables of stone/ " argues Rabbi Lev! 
 (Ber. 5 a), "are the ten commandments; the 'law' is the 
 written law (in the Pentateuch) ; the 'commandments' are the 
 
Ancient Jewish Theological Literature. 289 
 
 Mishnah ; * which I have written/ refers to the prophets and 
 the Hagiographa ; while the words, ' that thou mayest teach 
 them/ point to the Gemara. From this we learn, that all this 
 was given to Moses on Sinai." 
 
 If such was the " Halachah," it is not so easy to define the 
 limits of the " Haggadah." The term, which is derived from 
 the verb "higgid," to "discuss," or "tell about," covers all 
 that possessed not the authority of strict legal determinations, 
 It was legend, or story, or moral, or exposition, or discussion, 
 or application in short, whatever the fancy or predilections 
 of a teacher might choose to make it, so that he could some- 
 how connect it either with Scripture or with a " Halachah." 
 For this purpose some definite rules were necessary to pre- 
 serve, if not from extravagance, at least from utter absurdity. 
 Originally there were four such canons for connecting the 
 " Haggadah " with Scripture. Contracting, after the favourite 
 manner of the Jews, the initial letters, these four canons were 
 designated by the word " Pwdts " 1 (Paradise). They were 
 
 1. To ascertain the plain meaning of a passage (the "Peshat"); 
 
 2. To take the single letters of a word as an indication or 
 hint (" Remes ") of other words, or even of whole sentences j 
 
 3. The " Derush," or practical exposition of a passage ; and 
 
 4. To find out the " Sod " (mystery), or mystical meaning of 
 a verse or word. These four canons were gradually enlarged 
 into thirty- two rules, which gave free vent to every kind o/ 
 fancifulness. Thus one of these rules the "Gematria* 
 (geometry, calculation) allowed the interpreter to find out 
 the numerical value of the letters in a word the HebreM 
 letters, like the Roman, being also numerals and to sub- 
 stitute for a word one or more which had the same numerica' 
 
 1 Of course the vowels are not marked in the Hebrew. 
 
290 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 value. Thus, if in Num. xii. I we read that Moses was 
 married to an "Ethiopian woman" (in the original, "Cushith"), 
 Onkelos substitutes instead of this, by "gematria," the words, 
 *' of fair appearance " the numerical value both of Cushith 
 and of the words "of fair appearance" being equally 736. 
 By this substitution the objectionable idea of Moses' marrying 
 an Ethiopian was at the same time removed. Similarly, the 
 Mishnah maintains that those who loved God were to inherit 
 each 310 worlds, the numerical value of the word "substance" 
 ("Yesh") in Prov. viii. 21 being 3IO. 1 On the other hand, 
 the canons for the deduction of a " Halachah " from the text 
 of Scripture were much more strict and logical. Seven such 
 rules are ascribed to Hillel, which were afterwards enlarged 
 to thirteen. 8 Little objection can be taken to them ; but 
 unfortunately their practical application was generally almost 
 as fanciful, and certainly as erroneous, as in the case of the 
 " Haggadah." 
 
 Probably most readers would wish to know something 
 more of those " traditions " to which our Lord so often 
 referred in His teaching. We have here to distinguish, 
 in the first place, between the Mishnah and the Gemara. 
 The former was, so to speak, the text, the latter its 
 extended commentary. At the same time, the Mishnah con- 
 tains also a good deal of commentary, and much that is. not 
 either legal determination or the discussion thereof; while the 
 Gemara, on the other hand, also contains what we would call 
 41 text." The word Mishnah (from the verb " shanah ") means 
 
 1 Compare Gfrorer, Jahrh. d. Heils, i. p. 244, etc. 
 
 * It would be beyond the scope of this volume to explain these "middoth," or 
 "measurements," and to illustrate them by examples. Those who are interested 
 in the matter are referred to the very full discussion on Rabbinical exegesis in my 
 History of the Jewish Nation, pp. 570-580. 
 
Ancient Jewish Theological Literature. 291 
 
 " repetition " the term referring to the supposed repetition of 
 the traditional law, which has been above described. The 
 Gemara, as the very word shows, means "discussion," and 
 embodies the discussions, opinions, and sayings of the Rabbis 
 upon, or a propos of, the Mishnah. Accordingly, the text of 
 the Mishnah is always given in the pages of the Talmud, 
 which reproduce those discussions thereon of the Jewish 
 theological parliament or academy, which constitute the 
 Gemara. The authorities introduced in the Mishnah and 
 the Gemara range from about the year 180 B.C. to 430 A.D. 
 (in the Babylon Talmud). The Mishnah is, of course, the 
 oldest work, and dates, in its present form and as a written 
 compilation, from the close of the second century of our 
 era. Its contents are chiefly " Halachah," there being only- 
 one Tractate (Aboth) in which there is no " Halachah " at 
 all, and another (on the measurements of the Temple) in 
 which it but very rarely occurs. Yet these two Tractates are 
 of the greatest historical value and interest. On the other 
 hand, there are thirteen whole Tractates in the Mishnah which 
 have no " Haggadah " at all, and other twenty-two in which 
 it is but of rare occurrence. Very much of the Mishnah must 
 be looked upon as dating before, and especially from the time 
 of Christ, and its importance for the elucidation of the New 
 Testament is very great, though it requires to be most judi- 
 ciously used. The Gemara, or book of discussions on the Mish- 
 nah, forms the two Talmuds the Jerusalem and the Babylon 
 Talmud. The former is so called because it is the product 
 of the Palestinian academies ; the latter is that of the Baby- 
 lonian school. The completion of the Jerusalem or Palestinian 
 TalmuJ (" Talmud " = doctrine, lore) dates from the middle 
 of the fourth, that of the Babylonian from the middle of the 
 
292 Sketches of Jeivish Life. 
 
 sixth, century of our era. It need scarcely be said that the 
 former is of much greater historical value than the latter. 
 Neither of these two Gemaras, as we now possess them, is 
 quite complete that is, there are Tractates in the Mishnah 
 for which we have no Gemara, either in the Jerusalem or in 
 the Babylon Talmud. Lastly, the Babylon Talmud is more 
 than four times the size of that of Jerusalem. Obviously this 
 is not the place for giving even the briefest outline of the con- 
 tents of the Mishnah. 1 Suffice it here to state that it consists 
 of six books (" sedarim," " orders "), which are subdivided 
 into Tractates (" Massichthoth "), and these again into 
 chapters (" Perakim "), and single determinations or traditions 
 (" Mishnaioth "). In quoting the Mishnah it is customary to 
 mention not the Book (or " Seder ") but the special Tractate, 
 the Perek (or chapter), and the Mishnah. The names of these 
 Tractates (not those of the books) give a sufficient idea of 
 their contents, which cover every conceivable, and well-nigh 
 every inconceivable case, with full discussions thereon. Alto- 
 gether the Mishnah contains sixty-three Tractates, consisting 
 of 525 chapters, and 4,187 "Mishnaioth." 
 
 There is yet another branch of Jewish theology, which in 
 some respects is the most interesting to the Christian student. 
 There can be no doubt, that so early as the time of our Lord 
 series of doctrines and speculations prevailed which were 
 kept secret from the multitude, and even from ordinary 
 students, probably from fear of leading them into heresy. 
 This class of study bears the general name of the " Kabba- 
 lah," and, as even the term (from " kabal," to " receive," or 
 "hand down") implies, represents the spiritual traditions 
 
 ; In Appendix I. we give as a specimen a translation of one of the Mishnic 
 Tractates ; and in Appendix II. translations of extracts from the Babylon Talmud. 
 
Ancient Jewish Theological Literature. 293 
 
 handed down from earliest times, although mixed up, in 
 course of time, with many foreign and spurious elements. 
 The " Kabbalah " grouped itself chiefly around the history of 
 the creation, and the mystery of God's Presence and Kingdom 
 in the world, as symbolised in the vision of the chariot and of 
 the wheels (Ezek. i.). Much that is found in Cabbalistic 
 writings approximates so closely to the higher truths of 
 Christianity, that, despite the errors, superstitions, and follies 
 that mingle with it, we cannot fail to recognise the con- 
 tinuance and the remains of those deeper facts of Divine 
 revelation, which must have formed the substance of pro- 
 phetic teaching under the Old Testament, and have been 
 understood, or at least hoped for, by those who were under 
 the guidance of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 If now, at the close of these sketches of Jewish life, we ask 
 ourselves, what might have been expected as to the relation 
 between Christ and the men and the religion of His period, 
 the answer will not be difficult. Assuredly, in one respect 
 Christ could not have been a stranger to His period, or else 
 His teaching would have found no response, and, indeed, 
 have been wholly unintelligible to His contemporaries. Nor 
 did He address them as strangers to the covenant, like the 
 heathen. His was in every respect the continuation, the 
 development, and the fulfilment of the Old Testament. Only, 
 He removed the superincumbent load of traditionalism; He 
 discarded the externalism, the formalism, and the work- 
 righteousness, which had well-nigh obliterated the spiritual 
 truths of the Old Testament, and substituted in their place 
 the worship of the letter. The grand spiritual facts, which it 
 embodied, He brought forward in all their brightness and 
 meaning ; the typical teaching of that dispensation He came 
 
294 Sketches of Jewish Life. 
 
 to show forth and to fulfil ; and its prophecies He accom- 
 plished, alike for Israel and the world. And so in Him all 
 that was in the Old Testament of truth, way, and life 
 became " Yea and Amen." Thus we can understand how, on 
 the one hand, the Lord could avail Himself of every spiritual 
 element around, and adopt the sayings, parables, ideas, and 
 customs of that period indeed, must have done so, in order 
 to be a true man of the period, and yet be so wholly not of 
 that time as to be despised, rejected, and delivered up unto 
 death by the blind guides of His blinded fellow-countrymen. 
 Had He entirely discarded the period in which He lived, had 
 He not availed Himself of all in it that was true or might be 
 useful, He would not have been of it not the true man 
 Christ Jesus. Had He followed it, identified Himself with- 
 its views and hopes, or headed its movements, He would not 
 have been the Christ, the Son of the living God, the promised 
 Deliverer from sin and guilt. 1 
 
 And so we can also perceive the reason of the essential 
 enmity to Christ on the part of the Pharisees and Scribes. 
 It was not that He was a new and a strange Teacher ; it was, 
 that He came as the Christ. Theirs was not an opposition 
 of teaching to His ; it was a contrariety of fundamental 
 life-principles. " Light came into the world, but men loved 
 darkness rather than light." Closely related as the two 
 were, the Pharisaical Judaism of that and of the present 
 period is at the opposite pole from the religion of Christ 
 alike as regards the need of man, the purposes of God's 
 love, and the privileges of His children. There was one 
 truth which, we are reluctantly obliged to admit, found, 
 
 1 The full discussion of a subject of such unspeakable importance in all its 
 bearings would require a separate work. 
 
Ancient Jewish Theological Literature. 295 
 
 alas ! scarcely any parallel in the teaching of Rabbinism : it 
 was that of a suffering Messiah. Hints indeed there were, 
 as certain passages in the prophecies of Isaiah could not be 
 wholly ignored or misrepresented, even by Rabbinical inge- 
 nuity, just as the doctrine of vicarious suffering and substi- 
 tution could not be eliminated from the practical teaching of 
 the confession of sins over the sacrifices, when the worshipper 
 day by day laid his hands upon, and transferred to them 
 his guilt. Yet Judaism, except in the case of the few, saw 
 not in all this that to which alone it could point as its real 
 meaning : " The Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of 
 the world." 
 
 And now, as century after century has passed, and the glad 
 some Gospel message has been carried from nation to nation, 
 while Israel is still left in the darkness of its unbelief and the 
 misery of its mistaken hope, we seem to realise with ever 
 increasing force that "The people that walked in darkness 
 have seen a great light : they that dwell in the land of the 
 shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined." Yes : 
 " unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given : and the 
 government shall be upon His shoulder : and His Name 
 shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, 
 The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace " (Isa. ix. 2 y 6). 
 For assuredly, " God hath not cast away His people which 
 He foreknew." But " all Israel shall be saved : as it is 
 written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and 
 shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob " (Rom. xi. 2, 26). 
 " Watchman, what of the night ? Watchman, what of the 
 night ? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also 
 the night" (Isa. xxi. 11, 12}. 
 
APPENDIX 1. 
 
 MASSECHETH MIDDOTH. 
 
 (Being the Mishnic Tractate descriptive of the Measurements of the 
 
 Temple.) 
 
 Middoth is the tenth Tractate of Seder V. (Jfodashim) of the Mishnah. It has no 
 Gemara either in the Jerusalem or the Babylon Talmud. In the former the 
 whole of Seder V. is awanting ; in the latter only two and a-half Tractates 
 (half Tamid, Middoth, and Kinnim). Middoth contains Halachah only in the 
 following passages : i. 2, 3, 9 ; ii. 2, 4, 5, 6 ; iii. 3, 5, 8 ; iv. 2, 5 ; v. 3, 4. 
 Throughout the Mishnah the names of 128 sages are introduced. Of those 
 mentioned in this Tractate almost all witnessed the destruction of the Temple. 
 
 PEREK I. 
 
 1. The priests kept watch in the Temple in three places : in the 
 house Avtinas, and in the house Nitsuts, and in the house of Moked ; 
 and the Levites in twenty-one places : 5 at the five gates leading 
 into the Temple (the Mountain of the House), 4 in the four 
 angles within, 5 at the five gates of the court, 4 in its four angles 
 without, and i in the chamber of offering, and i in the chamber 
 of the vail, and i behind the Most Holy Place (the House of 
 Atonement). 
 
 2. The Captain ot the Temple (the man of the Temple Mount) 
 visited each guard, and burning torches were carried before him. 
 And every guard which did not stand up (which was not standing) 
 the Captain of the Temple said to him : " Peace be to thee." If 
 
298 Appendix I. 
 
 he observed that he slept, he smote him with his stick, and he hac 
 authority to burn his dress. And they said, " What is the noise (voice) 
 in the court? " " It is the noise of a Levite who is beaten, and his 
 clothes are set on fire, because he slept upon his watch." Rabbi 
 Eliezer, the son of Jacob, said : " On one occasion they found the 
 brother of my mother sleeping, and they burned his dress." 
 
 3. There were five gates to the Temple inclosure (Temple Mount) 
 the two gates of Huldah from the south, which served for entrance 
 and for exit ; Kipponos from the west ; Tadi from the north it 
 did not serve for anything; the eastern gate, upon which was a 
 representation of the city of Shushan, and by it the high-priest who 
 burned the Red Heifer, and all who assisted, went out upon the 
 Mount of Olives. 
 
 4. There were seven gates in the court ; three on the north, and 
 three on the south, and one in the east. That in the south was the 
 gate of burning ; second to it, the gate of the firstborn ; third to it, the 
 water gate. That in the east was the gate of Nicanor, and two 
 chambers belonged to it, one on the right hand, and one on the 
 left the one the chamber of Phineas, the wardrobe keeper, and the 
 other the chamber of those who made the pancake offering. 1 
 
 5. And that on the north was the gate Nitsuts, and it was after the 
 form of an Exhedra, and an Alijah was built on the top of it ; and 
 the priests kept guard above, and the Levites below, and it had a 
 door to the Chel. Second to it was the gate of offering ; third to it 
 the Beth Moked. 
 
 6. And four rooms were in the Beth Moked, like small bed 
 chambers 2 opening on a dining apartment ; two in the place that was 
 holy, and two in that which was not holy, and the heads of the beams 3 
 separated between that ivhich was holy and that which was not holy. 
 And for what did they serve ? That on the south-west was the 
 chamber of offering ; that on the south-east the chamber of the shew- 
 
 1 For the daily offering of the high -priest. 
 
 * In the original : Kaitunoth (evidently the Greek KOIT&V) opening upon a 
 Ttraklin, evidently the Triclinium. 3 Roshe Pasfassin. 
 
Massecheth Middotk. 299 
 
 bread ; on the north-east, there the Asmoneans deposited the stones 
 of the altar which the King of Javan had defiled ; on the north-west, 
 there they went down to the bath-house. 
 
 7. There were two gates to the Beth Moked one opened upon 
 the Chel, the other upon the court. Rabbi Jehudah says : " That 
 which opened upon the court had a small wicket by which they went 
 in to explore the court." 
 
 8. The Beth Moked was arched, and was a great house surrounded 
 by extensions (perhaps terraces) of stone, and the elders of the house 
 of their fathers slept there, and the keys of the court in their hand ; 
 and the young priests, every one with his pillow on the ground 
 (perhaps his dress). 
 
 9. And there was a place there, a cubit by a cubit, and a slab of 
 marble, and a ring was fastened on it, and the chain with the keys 
 were hung thereon. When the time came for closing, he lifted the 
 slab by the ring, and took the keys from the chain, and the priest 
 closed the gates from within, and the Levite had to sleep without. 
 When he had finished closing, he returned the keys to the chain, and 
 the slab to its place ; he placed his pillow upon it and slept there. If 
 an accident befell one of them, he went out and had to go by the 
 winding stair 1 which went under the house, and lights were burning 
 on either side, till he came to the bath-house. Rabbi Eliezer, the son 
 of Jacob, said : " By the winding stairs he passed under the Chel, 
 and went out and had to go through Tadi." 
 
 PEREK II. 
 
 i. The Temple inclosure (the Temple Mount) was 500 cubits by 
 500 cubits ; it was largest on the south ; next largest on the east ; 
 then on the north ; smallest on the west. The place where there was 
 most measurement there was also most service. 
 
 1 Mesibbah, literally, that which goes round about. 
 
300 Appendix /. 
 
 2. All who entered the Temple inclosure entered by the right, 
 and turned and went out by the left, except those whom something 1 
 had befallen, who turned to the left. "What ails thee that thou 
 turnest to the left ? " " Because I am a mourner." " He that 
 dwelleth in this house comfort thee ! " " Because I am under the 
 bann." " He that dwelleth in this house put it in their hearts, that 
 they restore thee ! " So Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Jose says to him, 
 "This would make it, as if they had transgressed against him in 
 judgment; but rather : ' He that dwelleth in this house put it in thy 
 heart, that thou hearken to the words of thy brethren, and they 
 restore thee.' " 
 
 3. Farther on was the Sorag, ten handbreadths high. And thirteen 
 breaches were in it, which the Kings of Javan had made. They 
 restored and strengthened it, and they decreed towards them thirteen 
 obeisances [in remembrance\. Again farther on the Chel, ten cubits ; 
 and twelve steps were there ; the step half a cubit high, and half a 
 cubit in extension. All the steps which were there, each step was 
 half a cubit high, and the extension half a cubit, except those which 
 were at the porch. All the doorways and gates which were there, were 
 twenty cubits high, and ten cubits wide, except that in the porch. 
 All the doorways which were there, had doors, except that in the 
 porch. All the gates which were there, had lintels, except that in the 
 gate Tadi, which had two stones resting, this on the back of that. 
 All the gates which were there, were renewed to be with gold, except 
 the gate of Nicanor, because there was wrought upon them a miracle, 
 and some say, because the brass sparkled. 
 
 4. All the walls which were there were high, except the wall in 
 the east, so that the priest who burned the heifer, standing on 
 the top of the Mount of Olives, and directing himself to look, 
 saw through the gateway of the sanctuary, at the time when he 
 sprinkled the blood. 
 
 5. The Court of the Women was 135 cubits long by 135 cubits 
 broad, and four chambers were in the four angles, each 40 cubits 
 
 1 So literally (Davar). Of course, not the same expression as in i. 9. 
 
Massecheth Middoth. 301 
 
 square, and they were not roofed in. And so they are intended to be, 
 as it is said: "And he brought me forth into the outer court, and 
 caused me to pass by the four corners of the court, and behold, in 
 every corner of the court a court. In the four corners of the court 
 courts smoking" 1 ... // is said, they were "smoking," and that 
 because they were not roofed. And for what did they serve ? That 
 on the south-east was the chamber of the Nazarites, where the 
 Nazarites washed their peace-offerings, and polled their hair, and 
 threw it under the pot. That on the north-east was the wood cham- 
 ber, where the priests who were disqualified picked the wood, and 
 every stick in which a worm was found, it was unfitted for the altar. 
 That on the north-west was the chamber of the lepers. That on the 
 south-west Rabbi Eliezer, the son of Jacob, said : "I have forgotten 
 for what it served." Abba Shaul said : " There they put the wine 
 and the oil ; it was called the chamber of the house of Schamanyah." 
 And it [the wall] was at first flush, and they surrounded it with a 
 gallery, so that the women looked from above and the men from 
 beneath, for the purpose that they might not be mixed together. 
 And fifteen steps went up from there to the Court of Israel, like the 
 fifteen degrees in the Psalms [Songs of Degrees in the Psalms]. Upon 
 these the Levites stood singing the songs. They were not rectangular 
 but rounded, like the arc of a rounded substance. 
 
 6. And there were chambers beneath the Court of Israel, and they 
 opened upon the Court of the Women. There the Levites placed 
 their harps, and their psalteries, and their cymbals, and all the musical 
 instruments. The Court of Israel was 135 cubits long by n broad, 
 and similarly, the Court of the Priests was 135 long by n broad, 
 and the heads of the beams divided between the Court of Israel and 
 the Court of the Priests. Rabbi Eliezer, the son of Jacob, said : 
 " There was a step, a cubit high, and upon it the Duchan was placed, 
 and on it were three steps, each half a cubit. It results, that the 
 Court of the Priests was 2% cubits higher than that of Israel. The 
 entire court was 187 cubits long and 135 cubits broad. Thirteen 
 1 Ezek. xlvi. 21, 22. 
 
302 Appendix L 
 
 obeisances took place there. Abba Jose, the son of Chanan, said : 
 " Towards the thirteen gates." The southern were : nearest to the 
 west, the upper gate, then the gate of burning, the gate of the first- 
 born, and the water-gate. And why was its name called the water- 
 gate? Because through it they brought the pitcher of water for 
 pouring out for the " Feast of Tabernacles." Rabbi Eliezer, the son 
 of Jacob, said : " And by it the waters were flowing down, with the 
 direction of coming out below the threshold of the Temple." And 
 opposite to them to the north were : (nearest to the west) the gate of 
 Jeconiah, the gate of offering, the gate of the women, and the gate of 
 the song. And why was it called the gate of Jeconiah ? Because by 
 it Jeconiah went out into captivity. That on the east was the gate 
 of Nicanor, and it had two wickets, one on its right and the other on 
 its left. And there were two [gates] to the west ; they had no name. 
 
 PEREK III. 
 
 i. The altar was 32 by 32 [cubits]. Upwards i cubit, and contract 
 i cubit : that was the base. Remain 30 by 30. Upwards 5, and 
 contract i cubit : that was the circuit Remain 28 by 28. The 
 place of the horns, a cubit on this side and a cubit on that 
 side. Remain 26 by 26. The place for the tread of the 
 priests, a cubit on this side and a cubit on that side. Remain 
 24 by 24 : the place where the sacrifice was laid out Rabbi Jose 
 .said : "At the first it was only 28 by 28; though it contracted and 
 went up, according to this measurement, until there remained the 
 place for laying the sacrifices : 20 by 20. But when the children 
 of the Captivity came up, they added to it 4 cubits on the south 
 And 4 on the west like a gamma, because it is said, 'And Ariel 
 .hall be 12 cubits long by 12 broad, square.' 1 That does not mean 
 
 1 Ezek. xliii. 16, " Ariel" = the lion of God = the altar. 
 
Massecheth Middoth. 303 
 
 that it was only 12 by 12, since it is added: * In the four corner 
 thereof, to teach that it measured from the middle 12 cubits in 
 every direction." And a scarlet line girdled it in the middle to 
 separate between the upper and the lower blood-sprinklings. And 
 the base ran round all the north and all the west side, but was 
 shortened a cubit on the south and on the east. 
 
 2. In the south-western angle were two apertures, like small 
 nostrils, and the blood, poured on the base to the west, and on 
 the base to the south, descended through them, and co-mingled in 
 the canal, and flowed out into the brook Kedron. 
 
 3. Below in the pavement, in that angle, there was a place, a 
 cubit by a cubit, with a tablet of marble, and a ring was fastened in 
 it, and here they went down into the sewer to cleanse it. And there 
 was a sloping ascent to the south of the altar, 32 cubits long by 16 
 broad, and it had a pit at its west side, into which they put sin- 
 offerings of birds that were defiled. 
 
 4. Both the stones of the sloping ascent and those of the altar 
 were from the valley of Beth Cherem. And they dug beneath the 
 virgin soil, and brought out from it undamaged (whole) stones, upon 
 which iron had not been lifted, because iron defiles everything by 
 contact, and by scratching. One of the stones was scratched : it 
 was defiled ; but the rest were lawful for use. And they whitened 
 them twice in the year, once at the Passover, and once at the Feast 
 of Tabernacles ; and the Sanctuary once at the Passover. Rabbi l 
 says : " On the eve of every Sabbath they whitened it with a cloth, 
 on account of the blood-sprinklings." They did not plaster it with 
 an iron trowel, lest it might touch, and defile. For the iron is created 
 to shorten the days of man, and the altar is created to lengthen the 
 days of man, therefore it is not right that that which shortens should 
 be lifted upon that which lengthens. 
 
 5. And rings were to the north of the altar : six rows, each of 
 four ; but some say, four rows, each of six ; and in these they 
 slaughtered the holy sacrifices. The house (place) of slaughtering 
 
 1 The Rabbi, i.e. R. Jehudah the Holy. 
 
304 Appendix /. 
 
 was to the north of the altar. And there were eight short pillars 1 and 
 squares of cedar upon the top of them, and hooks of iron were 
 fastened in them, and three rows were upon each of them, upon 
 which they hung up, and they skinned upon marble tables which 
 were between the pillars. 
 
 6. And the laver was between the porch and the altar, and 
 inclined nearer towards the south. Between the porch and the 
 altar were 22 cubits, and 12 steps were there, each step half a cubit 
 high, and its extension a cubit a cubit, a cubit, and then an exten- 
 sion of three (cubits) ; and a cubit, a cubit, and an extension of 
 three ; and the topmost, a cubit, a cubit, and an extension of four 
 (cubits). Rabbi Jehudah said : " The topmost a cubit, a cubit, and 
 an extension of five (cubits). " 
 
 7. The doorway to the porch was 40 cubits high and 20 broad, 
 and five beams of ash were upon the top of it ; the lowest pro- 
 truded over the doorway a cubit on this and a cubit on that side ; 
 that above it protruded over it a cubit on this and a cubit on that 
 side; it results, that the topmost [was] 30 cubits, and a buttress 
 of stones was between each one of them. 
 
 8. And supports of cedar were fixed from the wall of the Sanc- 
 tuary to the wall of the porch, lest they should bulge ; and chains of 
 gold were fixed in the roof of the porch, and by them the young 
 priests mounted, to look at the crowns, as it is written: 2 "And 
 crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen 
 the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of the Lord." 3 
 A vine of gold was standing over the entrance to the Sanctuary, 
 and was suspended on the top of beams. Every one who vowed a 
 leaf, or a berry, or a bunch, brought it, and hung it up there. Rabbi 
 Eliezer, the son of Rabbi Zadok, said : " It happened (that they had 
 to remove it) and there were numbered for it 300 priests." * 
 
 1 Nannasin, evidently the Greek vdvos. 
 
 * Malteraoth shel Milah Malterah or Ammaltera, from the Greek pf\a6pot> 
 Milah, the Greek fj.e\la. 
 
 3 Zech. vi. 14. 4 To remove or to cleanse it. 
 
Massecheth Middoth. 305 
 
 PEREK IV. 
 
 r. The entrance to the Sanctuary was 20 cubits high, and 10 
 cubits broad ; and it had four doors [two folding-doors] : two within 
 and two without, as it is said : " And the Sanctuary and the Holy 
 Place had two doors." l The outer doors opened to the inside of the 
 doorway, to cover the thickness of the wall, and the inner doors 
 opened inwards into the house, to cover behind the doors. For, 
 the whole house was covered with gold, except behind the doors. 
 Rabbi Jehudah said : " They [both pairs of doors] stood within the 
 entrance, and were like Azteramita? and they folded backwards 
 these 2 \ cubits, and those 2 \ cubits. Half a cubit the door-post from 
 this [corner], and half a cubit the door-post from that, and so it it 
 said : ' And the doors had two leaves alike, two turning-leaves ; twd 
 for the one door, and two leaves for the other.'" 3 
 
 2. And the great gate had two wickets, one to the north and one to 
 the south. That to the south, no man ever passed through it ; and 
 to this clearly refers what is said in Ezekiel, as it is written : " Then 
 the Lord said unto me, This gate shall be shut, it shall not be 
 opened, and no man shall enter in by it ; because the Lord, the 
 God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut." 4 
 He took the key, and opened the wicket, and entered the little 
 chamber (atrium), and from the little chamber into the Sanctuary. 
 Rabbi Jehudah said : " Along the thickness of the wall he walked, 6 
 until he found himself standing between the two gates, and ha 
 opened the outer one from within and the inner one from without." 
 
 3. And thirty-eight little chambers were there fifteen on the north, 
 fifteen on the south, and eight on the west. On the north and on thf 
 
 1 Ezek. xli. 23. 9 - 
 
 1 The term, which seems not to have been quite understood even in Tal- 
 mudical times, is rendered by Jost : twisted leaf, and derived from <rTpe</>. 
 
 3 Ezek. xli. 24. 4 Ezek. xliv. 2. 
 
 6 It is, however, supposed by some to refer to a kind of passage through the 
 walL 
 
 X 
 
306 Appendix I. 
 
 south, five on the top of five, and five on their top ; and on the west 
 three on the top of three, and two on the top of them. And each 
 one of them had three entrances, one to the little chamber on the 
 right, and one to the little chamber on the left, and one to the little 
 chamber on the top. And at the north-western corner were five 
 entrances, one to the little chamber at the right, and the other to the 
 little chamber on the top, and another to the winding-stair, and 
 another to the wicket, and another to the Sanctuary. 
 
 4. And the lowermost (chamber) was 5 cubits, and the roofing (exten- 
 sion, platitude) 6; the middle (chamber) 6, and the roofing 7; and the 
 uppermost 7, as it is said : " The nethermost chamber was 5 cubits 
 broad, and the middle 6 cubits broad, and the third 7 cubits broad, 
 for he made rebatements in the ' house ' round about without, that 
 [the beams] should not be fastened within the walls of the house." l 
 
 5. And a winding-stair went up from the north-eastern angle to 
 the north-western angle, by which they went up to the roofs of the 
 chambers. One went up the winding-stair with his face to the west, 
 and went all along the north side, until he came to the west. He came 
 to the west, and turned his face to the south, and went all along the 
 west side till he came to the south. He came to the south, and turned 
 his face eastwards, and went along the south side, till he came to the 
 entrance of the Alijah; for the entrance to the Alijah opened to the 
 south, and in the entrance to the Alijah were two beams of cedar, 
 by which they went up to the roof of the Alijah, and the heads of the 
 beams 2 divided in the Alijah between the Holy Place and the Most 
 Holy Place. And trap-doors opened in the Alijah into the Most 
 Holy Place, by which they let down the workmen in chests, that 
 they might not feast their eyes in the Most Holy Place. 
 
 6. And the Sanctuary was 100 by 100, by 100 high; the solid 
 foundation 6 cubits, and the height upon it 40 cubits; i cubit, 
 decorated scroll ; 2 cubits, the place for the water-droppings ; i cubit 
 covering, and i cubit pavement, and the height of the Alijah 40 
 cubits, and i cubit scroll-work, and 2 cubits the place for the 
 
 1 i Kings vi. 6, * Roshe Paspassiti, 
 
Massecheth Middoth. 307 
 
 dropping, and i cubit covering, and i cubit pavement, and 3 cubits 
 balustrade, and i cubit scare-raven. Rabbi Jehudah said : " The 
 scare-raven was not counted from the measurement, but the balus- 
 trade was 4 cubits." 
 
 7. From the east to the west 100 cubits the wall of the porch 5, 
 and the porch 1 1 ; the wall of the Sanctuary 6, and its interior space 
 40 cubits, i cubit intermediate wall, and 20 cubits the Most Holy 
 Place, the wall of the Sanctuary 6, and the little chamber 6, and the 
 wall of the little chamber 5. From the north to the south 70 cubits 
 the wall of the winding-stair 5, and the winding-stair 3, the wall 
 of the little chamber 5, and the little chamber 6, the wall of the 
 Sanctuary 6, and its interior space 20 cubits, the wall of the Sanctuary 
 6, and the little chamber 6, and the wall of the little chamber 5, and 
 the place for the going down of the water 3 cubits, and the wall 
 5 cubits. The porch protruded beyond it, 15 cubits from the north 
 and 15 cubits from the south, and it was called the house of the 
 sacrificial knives, because there they deposited the knives. And the 
 Sanctuary was narrow behind and wide in front, and like to a lion, 
 as it is said : " O Ariel, the lion of God, the city where David 
 dwelt." 1 As the lion is narrow behind and wide in front, so is the 
 Sanctuary narrow behind and wide in its front. 
 
 PEREK V. 
 
 1. The whole court was 187 cubits long by 135 cubits broad. 
 From the east to the west 187 : the place for the tread of Israel 
 1 1 cubits ; the place for the tread of the priests 1 1 cubits ; the altar 
 32; between the porch and the altar 22 cubits; the Sanctuary 100 
 cubits ; and 1 1 cubits behind the house of Atonement. 
 
 2. From the north to the south 135 cubits : the altar and the 
 circuit 62 ; from the altar to the rings 8 cubits ; the place of the 
 
 1 Isa. xxix. I. 
 
308 Appendix /. 
 
 rings 24 cubits ; from the rings to the tables 4 ; from the tables to 
 the pillars 4 ; from the pillars to the wall of the court 8 cubits ; and 
 the rest between the circuit and the wall, and the place of the 
 pillars. 
 
 3. There were six rooms in the court three to the north, and 
 three to the south. Those on the north : the salt-chamber, the 
 chamber Parvah, the chamber of those who washed out. The salt- 
 chamber : there they put salt to the offering. The chamber of 
 Parvah : there they salted the skins of the holy sacrifices, and on 
 the roof was the bath-house of the high-priest on the Day of 
 Atonement. The chamber of those who washed out, where they 
 washed the inwards of the holy things, and thence a winding-stair 
 went up to the roof of the house of Parvah. 
 
 4. Those on the south : the wood-chamber, the chamber of the 
 captivity, the chamber of " hewn stones." The wood-chamber said 
 Rabbi Eliezer, the son of Jacob : " I have forgotten for what it 
 served." Abba Shaul said : " It was the chamber of the high- 
 priest, and it lay behind the other two, and a roof was extended 
 over the three (they had one common roof). The chamber of the 
 captivity : a well was there which they of the captivity had digged, 
 md a wheel was placed upon it, and thence they provided water for 
 ihe whole court. The chamber of " hewn stones : " there the great 
 Sanhedrim of Israel sat, and judged the priesthood. And the priest 
 in whom was found disqualification was clothed in black, and veiled 
 in black, and went out, and had to go. And if there was not found 
 in him disqualification, he was dressed in white, and veiled in white ; 
 he went in and served with his brethren the priests. And they made 
 a feast-day, because there was not found disqualification in the seed 
 of Aaron the priest, and thus spake they : " Blessed be God, 1 blessed 
 be He, that there has not been found disqualification in the seed of 
 Aaron, and blessed be He Who has chosen Aaron and his sons, to 
 stand to serve before the face of the Lord in the Most Holy House." 
 
 1 The expression here is Makom, literally " the place," in the same sense in 
 which Throj is used by Philo. 
 
APPENDIX II. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE BABYLON TALMUD. 
 
 Massecheth Berachoth, or Tractate on Benedictions. 
 
 Berachoth is the first Tractate of the first Seder (Seraim, which consists of eleven 
 Tractates). It contains nine Perakim, which successively explain the duty, 
 the exceptions, the posture, the formulas, and the controversies in regard to 
 prayer. The Tractate exists both in the Jerusalem and in the Babylon 
 Talmud. The great Maimonides has prefaced the Seder Seraim by a General 
 Introduction, which presents a general view of Talmudism, and explains what 
 is of greatest importance to the student. Notwithstanding his vast learning 
 and authority, incompleteness and inaccuracies have, however, been pointed 
 out in his Introduction. 
 
 Mishnah. From what time is the " Shema " l said in the evening ? 
 From the hour that the priests entered to eat of their therumah 2 
 until the end of the first night watch. 3 These are the words of Rabbi 
 Eliezer. But the sages say : Till midnight. Rabban Gamaliel says : 
 Until the column of the morning (the dawn) rises. It happened, that 
 his sons came back from a banquet. They said to him : " We have 
 not said the ' Shema.' " He said to them, " If the column of the 
 morning has not come up, you are bound to say it." And not only 
 this have they said, but, wherever the sages have said " till mid- 
 night," their command applies till the morning column rises. The 
 
 1 The well-known prayer, beginning ' ' Hear, O Israel. " 
 
 8 The heave-offering given to the priests, which they ate within the Temple. 
 
 The Jews divided the night into three watches. 
 
3io Appendix II. 
 
 burning of the fat and of the members (of sacrifices) is lawful till the 
 morning column rise ; l and so everything which is to be eaten on the 
 same day (on which it has been offered) is allowed to be eaten till 
 the rise of the morning column. If so, why do the sages say, " till 
 midnight ? " In order to keep a man far from transgressing. 
 
 Gemara. .......... 
 
 Fol. 3 a. To the end of the night watch. How does Rabbi 
 Eliezer mean this ? If he means that the night has three watches, 
 he should say till four hours ; and if he means that the night has 
 four watches, he should say till three hours. Indeed, he means 
 that the night has three watches, but he indicates by the expres- 
 sion that there are night watches in heaven, as there are night 
 watches upon earth. For we have this doctrine : Rabbi Eliezer 
 says, There are three night watches in the night, and in every 
 one of these night watches the Holy One, blessed be His Name, 
 sits and roars like a lion. For it is written (Jeremiah xxv. 30), 
 1 'Jehovah shall roar from on high, from the habitation of His 
 holiness shall He give out His voice; roaring shall He roar on 
 account of His habitation." 2 The signs of this thing are as 
 follows : In the first night watch the ass brays, in the second the 
 dogs bark, in the third the suckling sucks his mother, and the wife 
 speaks to her husband. How does Rabbi Eliezer indicate them ? 
 Does he thus indicate the commencement of the night watch ? The 
 commencement of the first night watch, what need is there for a 
 sign of it, seeing it is night ? Or does he refer to the end of the 
 night watch ? For the end of the last night watch, why does he give 
 me a sign, seeing it is day ? But he indicates the end of the first 
 night watch and the commencement of the last night watch, and the 
 middle of the middle night watch. And if thou wilt, I will say that 
 he refers in all to the end of the night watches. And if thou 
 sayest, the last does not require it, what is attained by it? The 
 
 1 That is, they may be left to consume on the altar from the time of evening 
 sacrifice till then. 
 
 3 So literally in the Hebrew. 
 
Specimens from, the Talmud. 3 1 i 
 
 reading of the "Shema" for him who sleeps in a dark house, and 
 does not know the time for saying the li Shema " when it is, so that, 
 when the woman speaks with her husband and the babe sucks its 
 mother, he may rise up and say the prayer. 
 
 Rabbi Isaac, the son of Samuel, says, in the name of Rab, " The 
 night has three watches, and hi each one of these watches does the 
 Holy One, blessed be His Name, sit and roar like a lion, and say, 
 1 Woe to the children, because on account of their sins I have laid 
 desolate My house, and burned My temple, and have driven them 
 forth among the nations of the world.' " 
 
 We have this doctrine : Rabbi Jose said, " On one occasion I 
 was travelling, and I entered into one of the ruins of Jerusalem to 
 pray. Then came Elijah his memory be for good and waited for 
 me at the door till I had finished my prayer. After that I had 
 finished my prayer, he said to me, ' Peace be to thee, Rabbi/ and I 
 said to him, ' Peace be to thee, Rabbi, and my teacher.' And he 
 said to me, ' My son, why didst thou enter into this ruin ? ' I said 
 to him, ' In order to pray.' And he said to me, 'Thou mightest 
 have prayed on the road.' And I said to him, ' I was afraid that those 
 who passed on the road might perhaps interrupt me.' He said to 
 me, ' Thou shouldest have prayed a short prayer.' In that hour I 
 learned from him three things. I learned that one may not enter 
 into a ruin, and I learned that one may pray on the road, and 1 
 learned that he that prays on the road should pray a short prayer. 
 He also said to me, ' My son, what voice hast thou heard in that 
 ruin?' And I said to him, I have heard the "Bath Kol," 1 which 
 cooed like a dove, and said, "Woe to the children, because on 
 account of their sins I have laid waste My House, and I have burned 
 My Sanctuary, and I have driven them forth among the nations." ' 
 And he said to me, ' By thy life, and by the life of thy head, not only 
 at that time did the voice say so, but every day three times does it 
 say so ; and not only this, but also at the time when Israel enters 
 the house of prayer and the house of study, and when they say, 
 1 Literally "Daughter Voice " the voice from heaven. 
 
312 Appendix II. 
 
 " Blessed be His great Name ; " then the Holy One, blessed be His 
 Name, moves His head, and says, " Happy is the king whom they 
 thus praise in His house." What remains to the father who has 
 driven his children into captivity ? and woe to the children who have 
 been driven forth from the table of their father/ " 
 
 The Rabbis teach : On account of three things a ruin is not to be 
 entered. On account of suspicion, 1 and on account of falling in (of 
 the wall), and on account of evil spirits. On account of suspicion 
 does it not suffice on account of falling in ? (Would that not have 
 been alone a sufficient ground ?) Fol. 3 b. Not if it is recent. 2 But 
 would it not suffice : On account of evil spirits ? Not when there are 
 two. 3 If there are two, does not the ground of suspicion cease? 
 Not if the two are impudent 
 
 The Rabbis taught : The night has four watches. These are the 
 words of Rabbi (Jehudah the Holy). Rabbi Nathan says : Three. 
 What is the reason of Rabbi Nathan ? Because it is written (Judges 
 vii. 19), " So Gideon came, and the hundred men that were with him, 
 unto the outside of the camp, in the beginning of the middle watch." 
 He taught : ' There is no middle, unless there is one before and one 
 after it. And Rabbi, 4 What is the meaning of the " middle ? "' (He 
 replied) 'One of the middle ones among the middle ones.' And 
 Rabbi Nathan, * Is it written : " The middle of the middle ones ?" It 
 is only written the middle one.' But what ground has Rabbi ? Rabbi 
 Serika said, that Rabbi Ami said, that Rabbi Joshua, the son of 
 Levi, said : In one place it is said (Psalm cxix. 62), " At midnight I 
 will rise to give thanks unto Thee, because of Thy righteous 
 judgments." And in another place it is said (verse 148), u Mine 
 eyes prevent the night watches." How is this ? Because the night 
 has four watches. And Rabbi Nathan? He interprets it just as 
 
 1 Of secret sin. 
 
 2 If it has only lately become a ruin, since then there would be no immediate 
 lianger. 
 
 3 Because where there are two, they need not fear evil spirits. 
 
 4 This is Rabbi Nathan's challenge to R. Jehudah. 
 
Specimens from the Talmud. 3 1 3 
 
 Rabbi Joshua. For we have this teaching : Rabbi Joshua says, "To 
 three hours (into the day the 'Shema' may be said) ; for this is the way 
 of kings, to rise at three hours (after daybreak). Six hours of the 
 night (from midnight to dawn are six hours) and two by day make 
 together two night watches " (each of four hours). Rabbi Ashi says : 
 "A night watch and a half might also be called night watches." l 
 
 Rabbi Serika also said, that Rabbi Ami said, that Rabbi Joshua, 
 the son of Levi, said : " You must not speak before the dead anything 
 but the words of the dead." Rabbi Aba, the son of Cahana, said : 
 " They do not say this except in reference to the words of the law 
 (because every one is bound to take part in such conversation) ; 
 but as to ordinary conversation it does not matter." And some 
 say, Rabbi Aba, the son of Cahana, said, " They do not say this 
 merely concerning the words of Scripture, but much more also con- 
 cerning ordinary conversation." 
 
 And David rose at midnight (as before quoted). Did he not rise 
 in the evening? since it is written (verse 147), "I prevented the 
 gloaming, and cried." And how do we know that this gloaming was 
 that of the evening ? Because it is written (Prov. vii. 9) : "In the 
 gloaming, in the evening of the day, in the denseness of the night and 
 of darkness." Rabbi Oshja said, that Rabbi Acha said, So spake 
 David : " Never has the middle of the night passed over me in sleep." 
 Rabbi Seira said, "To the middle of the night he was sleeping like a 
 horse ; from that time and afterwards he strengthened himself like a 
 lion." Rabbi Ashi said, "To the middle of the night he occupied him- 
 self with the words of the law ; from that and afterwards with psalms 
 and hymns." And the gloaming is that of the evening. Is there not 
 also a gloaming of the morning? As it is written (i Sam. xxx. 17) : 
 " And David smote them from the gloaming even to the evening of 
 the next day." Is it not so, from that of the morning to that of the 
 evening ? No, from the evening again to the evening. If this were 
 so, it would have been written, " From the gloaming to the gloaming," 
 
 1 All this is intended to establish Rabbi Nathan's view, that there are only 
 three watches in the night. 
 
3 14 Appendix II. 
 
 or else, " From the evening to the evening." Also Raba said : 
 " There are two gloamings, the gloaming of the night, and then comes 
 the morning, and the gloaming of the day, and then comes the night." 
 And David, How did he know the middle of the night when it was, 
 since Moses our teacher did not know it ? For it is written (Exod. 
 xi. 4), " About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt." 
 What is it "about midnight?" If it should be said that the Holy 
 One, blessed be His Name, said to him " about the middle" can 
 there be any doubting in heaven ? But he said to him " at mid- 
 night." Then came he and said "about midnight" (that is, Moses said 
 so, because he did not know exactly when midnight was). Accordingly 
 he was in doubt ; and David, should he have known ? David had a 
 sign, for Rabbi Acha, the son of Bisna, said that Rabbi Simeon, the 
 pious, said : " A harp was hung up above the bed of David, and 
 when the middle of the night came, the north wind arose and blew 
 over it, and it sounded of itself. Immediately he rose up and 
 studied in the Thorah till the morning column arose. As soon as the 
 morning column arose, the sages of Israel went to him. They said 
 to him : ' Our Lord, O King ! thy people Israel require to be sup- 
 ported.' He said to them, ' Support yourselves one of the other.' 
 They said to him, ' A handful does not satisfy a lion, and a pit is not 
 filled with its own sand.' He said to them, ' Go and spread your 
 hands in the army (make wars of conquest).' Immediately they 
 took counsel with Ahithophel and thought over it in the Sanhedrim, 
 and inquired at the Urim and Thummim." Rabbi Joseph said : 
 "What else should this Scripture be (i Chron. xxvii. 34): 'And 
 after Ahithophel was Benajahu, the son of Jehoiada (the reading is 
 here different from that of our text), and Abiathar; and the general of 
 the king's army was Joab.' Ahithophel, he was the counsellor, and so it 
 is said (2 Sam. xvi. 23), 'And the counsel ot Ahithophel, which he coun- 
 selled in those days, was as if a man had inquired at the oracle ot God.' 
 Benajahu, the son of Jehoiada, that is the Sanhedrim, 1 and Abiathar ; 
 these are the Urim and Thummim. And so it is said (2 Sam. xx. 23), 
 1 Whose chief he is supposed to have been. 
 
Specimens from the Talmud. 3 1 5 
 
 'And Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, was over the Cherethites, 
 and over the Pelethites.' And why was their name called Chereth- 
 ites and Pelethites ? Cherethites, because they cut short their words, 
 and Pelethites, because they were wonderful in their words. 1 And 
 after these was Joab, the general of the king." Rabbi Isaac, the son 
 of Idi, said, " Some say, what else 2 means the Scripture (Ps. Ivii. 8), 
 
 * Awake up, my glory ; awake, psaltery and harp ; I myself will wake 
 the morning ? ' " Rabbi Seria said, " Moses knew it (the midnight 
 hour), and so also did David know it. But if David knew it, for 
 what was the harp ? To awaken him from sleep. And if Moses 
 knew it, why did he require to say, ' about midnight ? ' Moses 
 thought, perhaps, the astronomers of Pharaoh may err, and then say, 
 
 * Moses is a liar.' For the Master says, ' Teach thy tongue to say, I 
 do not know ; perhaps thou mayest be regarded as inventing, and 
 be seized.'" Rabbi Ashi said, " It was in the middle of the night of 
 the thirteenth, after which the fourteenth dawns ; " and so Moses said 
 to Israel, "The Holy One, blessed be His Name, says, ' To-morrow, 
 about midnight, as now, I shall go out in the midst of Egypt.' " 
 
 Fol. 1 6 b. Rabbi Elazar said: "What is it that is written 
 (Ps. Ixiii. 4), ' Thus will I bless Thee while I live ; I will lift up 
 my hands in Thy Name ? ' * I will bless Thee while I live : ' that 
 is saying the 'Shema.' ' I will lift my hands in Thy Name:' that is 
 prayer; and if he does so, of him does the Scripture say, 'My 
 soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness.' And not only 
 this, but he inherits two worlds this world and the world to come, 
 as it is written, ' And my mouth shall praise Thee with lips of joys.' " 3 
 
 Rabbi Elazar, after he had finished his prayer, said thus : " May it 
 please Thee, O Lord our God, that Thou wouldest cause to dwell 
 in our lot love and brotherhood, peace and friendship, and increase 
 our possession with disciples, and gladden our end with a happy end, 
 
 1 There is here a play on the words. 
 
 2 Referring again to the saying of Rabbi Simeon, the pious, mentioned on the 
 previous page. 
 
 3 The plural indicating the two worlds. 
 
316 Appendix II. 
 
 and with hope, and place our portion in Paradise. Order us in good 
 fellowship, and with the inclination for good in this world, that we 
 may rise and find our hearts in the fear of Thy Name, and that the 
 desire of our souls may come before Thee for good." 1 
 
 Rabbi Jochanan, after he had finished his prayer, said thus: " May 
 it please Thee, O Lord our God, that Thou mayest look upon our 
 shame and see our sorrows, and that Thou clothe Thyself with 
 mercy, and that Thou cover Thyself with Thy might, and that Thou 
 robe Thyself with Thy grace, and that Thou gird Thyself with 
 favour, that there come before Thee the measurement of Thy good- 
 ness and of Thy condescension." 
 
 Rabbi Seira, after he had finished his prayers, said thus : " May it 
 please Thee, O Lord our God, that we may not sin, and not be put 
 to shame, and not be confounded before our fathers." 
 
 Rabbi Chija, after he had finished his prayers, said thus : " May it 
 please Thee, O Lord our God, that Thy Thorah be our labour, and 
 that our hearts be not faint, and that our eyes be not darkened." 
 
 Rab, after he had finished his prayers, said thus : " May it please 
 Thee, O Lord our God, to give us prolonged life, a life of peace, a 
 life of good, a life of blessing, a life of nourishment, a life of vigorous 
 strength, a life in which there shall be the fear of sin, a life in which 
 there shall be neither shame nor confusion, a life of riches and 
 honour, a life in which there shall be among us love of the Thorah 
 and the fear of heaven, a life in which Thou fulfil in us all the desires 
 of our hearts for good." 
 
 Rabbi, after he had finished his prayers, said thus : " May it please 
 Thee, O Lord our God, and the God of our fathers, to preserve us 
 from the daring sinner and from daring sin, from an evil man and 
 an evil accident, from the evil impulse, from an evil companion, from 
 an evil neighbour, from Satan the destroyer, from a severe judgment, 
 and from a severe opponent, whether he be a son of the covenant 
 or not." And this, although the officers stood around Rabbi. 2 
 
 1 This and the following are prayers at night. 
 
 1 He was not deterred by their presence from so praying. 
 
Specimens from the Talmud. 3 1 7 
 
 Rabbi Saphra, after he had finished his prayers, said thus : " May 
 it please Thee, O Lord our God, that Thou wilt put peace among 
 the family above (the angels) and in the family below, and between 
 the students who busy themselves with Thy Thorah, whether they 
 busy themselves with it for its own sake or not for its own sake \ and 
 with reference to all who busy themselves with it not for its own 
 sake, may it please Thee, that they may busy themselves with it for 
 its own sake." 
 
 Rabbi Alexander, after he had finished his prayer, said thus: 
 " May it please Thee, O Lord our God, to place us in a corner of 
 light, and not in a corner of darkness, and let not our heart become 
 faint, nor our eyes become darkened." But some say, it was Rab 
 who prayed this prayer, and that Rabbi Alexander, after he had 
 prayed, said thus : " Lord of the worlds, it is manifest and known 
 before Thee that our pleasure is to do Thy pleasure, and who hinders 
 it ? The leaven in the bake-meat and the service of foreign domina- 
 tion. May it please Thee to deliver us from their hands, that we 
 may return to do the laws of Thy good pleasure with a perfect heart." 
 Raba, when he had finished his prayer, said thus : " Lord, until I 
 was created I was nothing, and now that I am created, I am as if I 
 were not created. Dust I am in life, and how much more when I 
 am dead ? Behold I am before Thee like a vessel filled with shame 
 and confusion. May it please Thee, O Lord our God, that I may 
 no more sin, and what I have sinned before Thee, blot out in Thy 
 great mercy, but not through chastisements and evil diseases." And 
 the same was the confession of Rab Hamnuna the Less on the Day 
 of Atonement. 
 
 Mar, the son of Rabina, when he had ended his prayer, said 
 as follows : " Lord, keep our tongue from evil, and our lips from 
 speaking guile. And towards those who curse my soul, let me be 
 silent, and let my soul be like the dust towards all. Open my heart 
 in Thy law, and let my soul follow after Thy commandments, and 
 deliver me from an evil accident, from the evil disposition, and from 
 an evil woman, and from all evil which lifts itself up to come into the 
 
318 Appendix II. 
 
 world. And all who think evil against me, speedily destroy theii 
 counsel, and render vain their thoughts. May it please Thee, that 
 the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable 
 before Thee, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer." 
 
 Rabbi Sheisheth, when he had fasted, said, after he had finished his 
 prayer : " Lord of the world, it is evident before Thee, that at the 
 time that the Sanctuary stood, a man sinned, and he brought an 
 offering, nor did they offer of it anything but its fat and its blood, and 
 he was forgiven. And now I have remained in fasting, and my fat 
 and my blood have been diminished, may it please Thee, that my 
 fat and my blood which have been diminished be as if I had offered 
 them upon the altar, and be merciful to me." 
 
 Rabbi Jochanan, when he had finished the book of Job, said thus : 
 " The end of a man is to die, and the end of an animal is to be 
 slaughtered, and all are appointed to death. Blessed is he who has 
 grown up in the Thorah, and busied himself with the Thorah, and 
 labours to have a quiet spirit towards his Creator, and who has 
 grown big with a good name, and who has departed from this world 
 with a good name. And of him, says Solomon (Eccles. vii. i .) : 'A 
 good name is better than precious ointment ; and the day of death 
 than the day of one's birth/ " 
 
 It was customary in the mouth of Rabbi Meir : " Learn with all 
 thy heart and with all thy soul, in order to know My ways, and to 
 grow up by the gates of My Thorah. Keep My Thorah in thy 
 heart, and let My fear be before thine eyes. Keep thy mouth from 
 all sin, and cleanse and sanctify thyself from all transgression and 
 sin, and I shall be with thee in every place." 
 
 Fol. 55 a. Rabbi Chisda said : "Every dream is without a mean- 
 ing, but not if one has fasted (on account of it)." Also Rabbi Chisda 
 said : " A dream which is not interpreted is like a letter which is not 
 read." Also Rabbi Chisda said : "Neither is there a good dream in 
 which everything comes to pass, nor yet a bad dream in which 
 everything comes to pass." Also Rabbi Chisda said : " An evil 
 dream is better than a good dream." Also Rabbi Chisda said : 
 
Specimens from the Talmud. 319 
 
 " An evil dream, its sorrow is sufficient ; a good dream, its pleasure 
 is sufficient." Rabbi Joseph said : " A good dream even the joy 
 with me annuls it." 1 Rabbi Chisda also said : " An evil dream is 
 heavier than a chastisement, for it is written (Eccles. iii. 14), * And 
 God doeth it, that men should fear before Him.' " And Rabbah, the 
 grandson of Chanah, said, Rabbi Jochanan said : " This refers to an 
 evil dream. (Jer. xxiii. 28), 'The prophet that hath a dream, let 
 him tell a dream ; and he that hath My Word, let him speak My 
 Word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord/ 
 But what have the wheat and the chaff to do with a dream?" But, 
 says Rabbi Jochanan, in name of Rabbi Simeon, the son of 
 Joche, " As wheat alone is not possible without straw, so also is a 
 dream not possible without false things." Rabbi Berachiah said : 
 " A dream, even if a part of it is fulfilled, the whole of it is not 
 fulfilled. "Whence have we this? From Joseph, for it is written 
 (Gen. xxxvii. 9), ' And behold the sun and the moon,' etc. And at 
 that time his mother was no more." Rabbi Levi said : " Let a man 
 always look forward in regard to a good dream, even as long as 
 twenty-two years. Whence have we that ? From Joseph, for it is 
 written (Gen. xxxvii. 2), ' These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph 
 was seventeen years old,' and so en. And it is written (Gen. xli. 46), 
 1 And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh,' and 
 so on. From seventeen to thirty, how much is it ? Thirteen. And 
 seven of plenty, and two of famine, that makes twenty-two." 
 
 Rabbi Huna said : " To a good man a good dream is not shown, 
 and to an evil man an evil dream is not shown. We have this 
 doctrine : All the years of David he did not see a good dream, and all 
 the years of Ahithophel he did not see an evil dream. But yet it is 
 written (Ps. xci. 10), 'There shall no evil befall thee.' " 
 
 Rabbi Huna, the son of Ami, said, Rabbi Pedath said, Rabbi Jo- 
 chanan said : " He that seeth a dream, and his soul is distressed, let 
 him go and interpret it before three." Let him interpret it? But 
 Rabbi Chisda said : " A dream which is not interpreted is like a 
 
 - This Rabbi was blind. 
 
3-'o Appendix 77. 
 
 letter which is not read." But certainly (I mean), that he give a 
 good interpretation before three. He summons three, and he says 
 to them, " I have had a good dream." And they say to him, 
 " Behold, it is good, and it will be good. The Merciful One turn 
 it to good. Seven times let it be decreed upon thee from heaven 
 that it be good, and it will be good." Then they say three 
 turnings, and three deliverances, and three times "Peace." Three 
 turnings (Ps. xxx. n), "Thou hast turned for me my mourning 
 into dancing : Thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me 
 with gladness." Again (Jer. xxxi. 13), "Then shall the virgin 
 rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together : for I will 
 turn their mourning into joy," and so on. Again (Deut. xxiii. 5), 
 "Nevertheless the Lord thy God would not hearken unto Balaam; 
 but He turned," and so on. " Three deliverances," as it is written (Ps. 
 Iv. 1 8), "He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that 
 was against me," and so on ; (Isa. xxxv. 10), "And the ransomed of the 
 Lord shall return," and so on; (i Sam. xiv. 45), "And the people 
 said unto Saul, Shall Jonathan die, who hath wrought this salvation 
 in Israel ?" " Three times peace," as it is written (Isa. Ivii. 19), " I 
 create the fruit of the lips ; Peace, peace to him that is far of, 
 and to him that is near, saith the Lord," etc.; (i Chron. xii. 18), 
 "Then the spirit clothed Amasai," and so on; (i Sam. xxv. 6), 
 " Thus shall ye say to him that liveth, Peace be both to thee, and 
 peace be to thine house," and so on. 
 
 Ameimer, and Mar Sutra, and Rabbi Ashi were sitting all together. 
 They said : " Would that each one might say something which had not 
 been heard by his companion." Then began one among them, and said : 
 " If any one has seen a dream, and does not know what he has seen, 
 let him place himself before the priests of his time, while they spread 
 their hands (in blessing), and let him say thus : ' Lord of the world, I am 
 Thine, and my dreams are Thine. I have dreamt a dream, and I 
 know not what it is, whether I have dreamed for myself, or whether 
 my companions have dreamt of me, or whether I have dreamt of 
 others. If they be good (dreams) confirm them, and strengthen 
 
Specimens from the Talmud. 321 
 
 ibem, like the dreams of Joseph ; and if they need healing, heal 
 them, as the waters of Marah by the hands of Moses, our teacher, 
 and as Miriam from her leprosy, and as Hezekiah from his sickness, 
 and as the waters of Jericho by the hands of Elisha. And as 
 Thou hast turned into blessing the curse of Balaam, the wicked one, 
 so turn all my dreams for me to good.' And let him finish with the 
 priests, that the congregation may say, c Amen.' And if not, let him 
 say thus : ' Mighty One in the heights, Who dwellest in strength, 
 Thou art peace, and Thy name is peace. May it please Thee to 
 dispense to us peace.'" The next one began, and said : " If any one 
 enters into a city, and is afraid of the evil eye, let him take the 
 thumb of his right hand into his left, and the thumb of his left hand 
 into his right hand, and let him say thus : 'I, such an one, the son of 
 such an one, descend from the seed of Joseph, over whom an evil eye 
 can have no power, as it is written (Gen. xlix. 22), "Joseph is a fruit- 
 ful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well," and so on.' " Read not : 
 "by a well" but "transcending the eye." 1 Rabbi Jose, the son of 
 Rabbi Chaninah, said: "From this (Gen. xlviii. 16), 'And let them 
 grow ' (like fishes). 2 As fishes, which inhabit the waters, are covered 
 by them, and no evil eye has power over them, so also the seed of 
 Joseph, no evil eye has power over it. But if he is afraid of his 
 own evil eye, let him look on his left nostril." And the third com- 
 menced and said : "If any one is sick, let him not make it known the 
 first day, lest he make his fate worse. But after that and onwards 
 let him make it known. So it was with Raba when he was ill, the 
 first day he did not make it known. From that and onwards he 
 said to his servant : ' Go outside, and cry, Raba is sick ; he that 
 pitieth me, let him ask for me pity, and he that hateth me, let him 
 rejoice over me.'" And it is written (Prov. xxiv. 17, 18), "Rejoice 
 not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when 
 he stumbleth : lest the Lord see it, and it displease Him, and He 
 turn away His wrath from him." 
 
 1 There is a play here upon the words. 
 a Another play upon the words. 
 
 Y 
 
322 Appendix II. 
 
 Samuel, when he had seen an evil dream, said (Zech. x. 2) : u For 
 the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and 
 the dreams speak false things." And when he saw a good dream he 
 said : " And should dreams indeed speak falsehood seeing it is 
 written (Num. xii. 6 ), ' I will speak in a dream to him ? ' ' Raba 
 asked : "It is written, ' In a dream I will speak to him ; ' and it is 
 written, 'And dreams speak falsehood.' " That is no question for 
 the one is by an angel and the other by an evil spirit. 
 
 Rabbi Bisna, the son of Sabda, said, Rabbi Akiba said, Rabbi 
 Panda said, Rabbi Nahum said, Rabbi Birim said in the name of an 
 aged man and who is he ? Rabbi Banah : " There were four-and- 
 twenty interpreters of dreams in Jerusalem. Once I dreamed a 
 dream, and I went before them all, and what the one interpreted 
 to me the other did not interpret to me, and yet all were fulfilled to 
 me, in order to fulfil what is written, * All dreams go after the mouth.' 
 But is this Scripture, ' All dreams go after the mouth ? ' " Yes, and 
 According to Rabbi Elasar. For Rabbi Elasar said, "Whence this, that 
 all dreams go after the mouth?" Because it is said (Gen. xli. 13), 
 " And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was." Raba 
 said : " But this only, if he interpret to be according to the contents 
 of the dream, as it is written (Gen. xli. 12), * To each man according 
 to his dream he did interpret;' (Gen. xl. 16), 'And the chief baker 
 saw that the interpretation was good.'" Whence did he know it? 
 Rabbi Elasar said : " This teaches, that each one of them saw the 
 dream and the interpretation of the dream of his companion." 
 
 Rabbi Jochanan said : " If one rises, and a verse comes into his 
 mouth, behold this is like a little prophecy." And Rabbi Jochanan 
 said : "Three dreams are fulfilled a morning dream, a dream which 
 one's companion has dreamed, and a dream which is interpreted in 
 the middle of the dream" (or by a dream). And some say also, a dream 
 which is repeated, as it is said (Gen. xli. 32), "And for that the dream 
 was doubled," and so on. Rabbi Samuel, the son of Nachmeni, said, 
 Rabbi Jonathan said : " Nothing else is shown to a man but what is 
 in the thoughts of his heart" For it is said (Dan. ii. 29), "As for 
 
Specimens from the Talmud. 323 
 
 thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed." And 
 if thou wilt, I shall say : from this (Dan. ii. 30), " That thou mightest 
 know the thoughts of thy heart." Raba said : " Thou canst know it, 
 for there is not shown to a man either a golden palm tree, nor an 
 elephant going through the eye of a needle." 
 
 Folio 56 a. 
 
 The son of Hedja was an interpreter of dreams. If any one gave 
 him a reward, he interpreted his dreams for good ; if any one did 
 not give him a reward, he interpreted for evil. Abaje and Raba saw 
 a dream. Abaje gave him a susa, and Raba gave him nothing. They 
 said to him : " We read in the dreams (Deut. xxviii. 31), ' Thine ox 
 shall be slain before thine eyes,' etc." To Raba he said : " Thy 
 business will be ruined, and thou shalt have no desire to eat from 
 sorrow of thy heart." To Abaje he said : " Thy business will be 
 extended, and thou shalt have no desire to eat from the joy of thy 
 heart." They said to him : "We read (ver. 41), 'Thou shalt beget 
 sons and daughters,' and so on." To Raba he said : " They will 
 be taken captive." To Abaje he said : " Thy sons and thy daughters 
 shall be many, and hence thy daughters shall be married outside the 
 land, so that they will seem to thee as if they had been led captive." 
 " We read (ver. 32) : * Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto 
 another people.' " To Abaje he said : " Thy sons and thy daughters 
 shall be many. Thou shalt say, to thy relatives (thou wilt wed 
 them), but she (thy wife) shall say : to her relatives, and she will 
 induce thee, that thou wilt give them to her relatives ; which are like 
 another nation." To Raba he said : " Thy wife shall die, and her 
 sons and her daughters shall come under the hands of another wife." 
 For Raba said, Rabbi Jeremiah, the son of Aba, said, Rav said : 
 " What is it that is written : * Thy sons and thy daughters shall I give 
 to another nation.' That is, the wife of the father (step-mother)." 
 " Wereadin the dreams (Eccles. ix. 7.) : * Go, eat thy bread with joy.' " 
 To Abaje he said : " Thy business shall be extended, and thou shalt 
 eat and drink, and read the verse in the joy of thy heart." To 
 Raba he said : " Thy business shall be ruined, thou shalt kill, but 
 
324 Appendix IL 
 
 shalt not eat nor drink, and shalt read for the sake of comforting 
 thyself." .... .... 
 
 In the end Raba went alone to him. He said to him : " I have 
 seen that the inner house-door has fallen." He said to him : " Thy 
 wife shall die." He said to him : " I saw that my molar teeth and my 
 teetfi fell out." He said to him : " Thy sons and thy daughters shall 
 dif ." He said to him : " I saw that two doves flew away." He said 
 to him : " Two wives shalt thou divorce." He said to him : " I saw 
 two heads of cabbage." He said to him : " Two boxes on the ears 
 shalt thou swallow." Raba went on that day and sat in the academy 
 all the day. Then he found two blind men who quarrelled with one 
 another. Then Raba went to separate them, and they struck Raba 
 twice ; they lifted up to strike another time, and he said, " Hold, I 
 have seen only two." 
 
 In the end Raba came and gave him a reward. He said to him : 
 '' I saw that the wall fell." He said to him : " Property without limits 
 shalt thou obtain." He said to him : " I saw the Palace of Abaje that 
 it fell, and its dust covered me." He said to him : "Abaje shall die, and 
 his chair shall come to thee." He said to him : "I saw my own palace 
 that it fell, and then the whole world came and took brick by brick." 
 He said to him : "Thy teaching shall spread through the world." He 
 said to him : "I saw that my head was split and my brain came out" 
 He said to him : " The wool of thy pillow shall come out." He said to 
 him : " I read the Egyptian Hallel in the dream." He said to him : 
 * Miracles shall be done for thee." He went with him upon a ship. 
 He said : " To a man for whom miracles shall be done, what is the use 
 of this ? " As he ascended, a book fell from him. Raba found it, and 
 saw that there was written in it : " All dreams go after the mouth." 
 He said to him : " Wicked One, upon thee it depended, and thou hast 
 much afflicted me. Everything I forgive thee, except about the 
 daughter of Rabbi Chisda (who was his wife). May it be the will 
 (of God), that this man be given over into the hands of the govern- 
 ment, who have no pity upon him." He said : " What shall I do ? for 
 it is ordered, that the curse of a sage, even if it come causeless, shall 
 
Specimens from the Talmud. 325 
 
 happen. How much more is this the case with Raba, who has judged me 
 with justice." He said : " I will go and emigrate, for the master said, 
 * Banishment expiates sin.'" He arose and emigrated to the Romans. 
 He went and sat down at the door of the head treasurer of the king. 
 The head treasurer saw a dream. He said to him : "I saw a dream, 
 that a needle went into my finger." He said to him : " Give me a 
 susa;" but lie gave him nothing, and hence he said nothing at all to 
 him. He said to him : " I saw that a worm fell upon two of my fin- 
 gers." He said to him : "Give me a susa;" but he gave him nothing, 
 and he did not say anything at all to him. He said to him : " I saw 
 that a worm fell upon my whole hand." He said to him : " A worm 
 has come into all the garments " (of the king). They heard this in 
 the house of the king, and they brought the head treasurer in order 
 that they might kill him. He said to him : " Why I ? let him be 
 brought who knew it and did not say." They brought the son of 
 Hedja. He said to him : " On account of thy susa have been spoiled 
 the garments of the king." They bound two cedars with rope, and 
 tied one foot to one cedar, and the other foot to the other cedar, 
 and let go the ropes, so that his head was split ; for each cedar went 
 back and stood in its place, and he was split and fell in two. 
 
 [And so the interpretation of dreams goes on for other two and a 
 half folio pages. These three specimen extracts may suffice to give 
 examples of the indifferent, the good, and the absurd, which consti- 
 tute the Talmud. They will show the necessity of discrimination, 
 and how readily the Talmud, as a whole, may be either decried by 
 enemies or unduly exalted hy a judicious selection of passages.] 
 
ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. I. PALESTINE EIGHTEEN CENTURIES AGO. 
 
 Palestine Its present condition Its condition at the time of Christ Senti- 
 ments of Rabbis Jonathan and Meir concerning it Climate Vegetable 
 and animal productions Scenery Religious enthusiasm about Palestine 
 Love of the Rabbis for the land Treatment of Babylonian schools 
 by the Rabbis Superstitions concerning Palestine Present state of 
 feeling regarding it How swept of relics Extent of Palestine at the 
 time of Christ Inhabitants Opinions concerning the ten tribes 
 Government Testament of Herod the Great Disputes between Arche- 
 laus and Herod Antipas Income of Archelaus, of Herod the Great, and 
 of Agrippa II. Coins of Palestine Division of Palestine Views of the 
 Jews concerning Samaria Poge 
 
 CHAP. II. JEWS AND GENTILES IN "THE LAND." 
 
 Boundaries of Palestine Views of the Rabbis on the sanctity of the land and 
 the uncleanness of heathen soil The three lands designated as Palestine 
 Offerings, from whence lawful Countries included in Syria Its 
 assimilation to, and distinction from Palestine Jewish views of heathen 
 countries Arrangement by Maimonides of all countries Places 
 allowed by the Rabbis to bring Biccurim and Therumoth Distinc- 
 tions between the country east and west of the Jordan Pre-eminence 
 of Judaea proper over Galilee Antioch The borders of Tyre and 
 Sidon Miracles worked there Parties in Palestine at the time of Christ 
 Dialects Spread of Grecianism Divisions of Judaism Separation 
 between Pharisaical Jews and heathens Views of Jews and heathens 
 respecting each other Pag' 
 
Analysis of Contents. 327 
 
 CHAP. III. IN GALILEE AT THE TIME OF OUR LORD. 
 
 Distinction between Galilee and Judaea Issue of the Mishnah and of the 
 Jerusalem Talmud from Tiberias Sentiments of the Pharisees concern- 
 ing Galilee Prayer of a celebrated Rabbi Rabbi Jannai Peculiarities 
 of Galilee Territory Distinction between Upper and Lower Galilee 
 Safed Scenery of Upper Galilee The great caravan road Fruitfulness 
 of Galilee Towns, villages, and population of Galilee Its industries 
 Nazareth Celebrated cities of Galilee Rabbinical views and sayings 
 concerning it Theological distinctions between Galilee and Judaea 
 Character of the Galileans The Lake of Galilee . . . Page 30 
 
 CHAP. IV. TRAVELLING IN PALESTINE ROADS, INNS, HOSPITALITY, 
 CUSTOM-HOUSE OFFICERS, TAXATION, PUBLICANS. 
 
 Travelling in Palestine Great highways Secondary roads Different terms 
 for them Roman roads Repair of highways Vehicles Caravans 
 Hospitality Rabbinical sayings concerning it Rules for hosts and 
 guests Inns Secret police Tax collectors Tolls and taxes Royal 
 revenues Roman taxation Religious scruples concerning it Publicans 
 
 Calling of Levi . Page 42 
 
 CHAP. V. IN JUD^A. 
 
 Judaea, how distinguished above Galilee Scenery Places passed by pilgrims 
 
 Shiloh Bethel Ramah Rachel's pillar The Shephelah The 
 wilderness of Judaea Masada Jericho The Arabah Jewish feelings 
 concerning Judaea Expectations of the Messiah False Messiahs Senti- 
 ments of the Rabbis on this subject Subjects engrossing the attention 
 of the Rabbis Privileges of living in Judaea Its boundaries Caesarea 
 Divisions of Judaea Plain of Sharon Antipatris Lydda Chephar 
 Tabi Joppa or Jaffa Emmaus Bethlehem, how regarded in connec- 
 tion with the birth of the Messiah Migdal Eder The shepherds pub- 
 lishing the birth of Christ Jerusalem Rabbinical sentiments concern- 
 ing it Names given to the city Synagogues in Jerusal em Hospitality 
 of its inhabitants Bethany and Bethphage Character of the inhabitants 
 of Jerusalem Jewish feelings about the city How peopled The 
 Temple . Page 59 
 
 CHAP. VI. JEWISH HOMES. 
 
 Distinction between Jews and Gentiles Jewish towns and villages Number of 
 townships Distinction between villages, townships, and towns Villages 
 Appearance of towns The gate Places of traffic Guilds Character of 
 the Jews Appearance of a town by night Windows Jewish feelings on 
 
328 Analysis of Contents. 
 
 representations of things in heaven and earth Views of Rabbi Gamaliel 
 The rule of towns and villages Local Sanhedrim Police and sanitary 
 regulations Pavement of towns Structure of houses Roofs The 
 road of the roofs Strangers' rooms Gallery round the court Upper 
 rooms Inner court Furniture Family life Religious rites in the 
 family Family feasts The Sabbath Position of woman Relation 
 between members of a family Childlessness Relation between parents 
 and children Reverence for age Traditionalism destructive of the 
 spirit of reverence for parents P&ge 86 
 
 CHAP. VII. THE UPBRINGING OF JEWISH CHILDREN. 
 
 Terms for the stages of early childhood Different periods of life according 
 to Rabbi Jehudah Age at which the Bible was begun to be read 
 Education, when begun Instruction derived by a child from family life 
 and rites Feelings of a child in the Temple Part taken by children in 
 the Paschal Supper Carefulness of parental training as illustrated by the 
 Book of Proverbs Position of mothers The Queen of Massa Agur 
 Lemuel Mothers of the New Testament Upbringing of Timothy 
 Religious persecution at the time of the rising of the Maccabees 
 Influence of pious women Childhood of our Lord Jesus sitting in 
 the Temple among the doctors . . . . . Page 103 
 
 CHAP. VIII. SUBJECTS OF STUDY. HOME EDUCATION IN ISRAEL ; FEMALE 
 
 EDUCATION. ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS, SCHOOLMASTERS, AND SCHOOL 
 
 ARRANGEMENTS. 
 
 Influence of the Bible in raising the standard of public morality Superiority 
 of Jewish family life Knowledge of the law of God Study of lan- 
 guages Study of the Thorah or law Legends concerning the importance 
 of the Rabbis Influence of exclusive study of the law upon education 
 Home teaching Manner of teaching to read Writing The Scribes 
 Use of initial letters Falsification of signatures and documents 
 Writing materials Education of girls Elementary schools School- 
 mastersMoral and intellectual training Regulations fqr teachers 
 Study of the Mishnah and Bible Schools in the synagogues Care for 
 the children of the poor and for orphans Page 12* 
 
 CHAP. IX. MOTHERS, DAUGHTERS, AND WIVES IN ISRAEL. 
 Position of woman in Israel The holy women of old Rabbinical ideas on 
 the creation of Eve The four mothers Miriam Deborah Manoah's 
 wife Samuel's mother Abigail The wise woman of Tekoah Huldah 
 
Analysis of Contents. 329 
 
 The Shunammite Ruth Esther Social equality of woman The 
 ministry ot women Polygamy Views concerning divorce at the time of 
 Malachi Brides Four reasons for marriage Maza or Moze ? Qualities 
 desirable in a woman Rabbinical reasons for the creation of Eve from 
 Adam's side Marriage a religious obligation Age at which a man ought 
 to marry Money cares Betrothal, how regarded Writings of betrothal, 
 or Shitre Erusin Marriage contracts or Chethubah Dowries Legal 
 formalities at betrothal The marriage ceremony Marriage days The 
 week before the marriage in Cana That marriage as illustrative of Jewish 
 practices Marriage feasts Friends of the bridegroom Children of the 
 bridechamber Bride's attire Bridal veil and crown Bridal lamps 
 Bars to marriage Divorce, for what reasons allowed Obligations incum- 
 bent on husbands and wives Women of the New Testament Birthday 
 texts Page 139 
 
 CHAP. X. IN DEATH AND AFTER DEATH. 
 
 Death of Rabbi Jochanan ben Saccai and of Rabbi Jehudah the Holy Gospel 
 teaching on death Influence of the spiritual state of parents upon their 
 children Sickness, how regarded Chastisements Rabbinical laws and 
 regulations for health Physicians Medicines used Duration of life 
 Premature death Death without leaving a son 903 di fferent kinds of 
 death Death by the mouth of Jehovah Persons over whom the Angel of 
 Death had no power Signs as to time and manner of death Visitation 
 of the sick Burial Funeral of the young man at Nain Burial cere- 
 monies Sepulchres The resurrection ot'Christ 1'reatment of mourners 
 Distinction between the Own and the Avel Mourning Anniversaries 
 of death Teaching of the Rabbis concerning the future state Paradise 
 and hell Sin Rabbinical parables resembling that of the wedding 
 guests Doctrinal views of the Rabbis respecting Purgatory and 
 Paradise Page 161 
 
 CHAP. XI. JEWISH VIEWS ON TRADE, TRADESMEN, AND TRADES' GUILDS. 
 
 Sayings of the Mishnah concerning trade Rabbi Nehorai's views Influence 
 of Jewish surroundings on the Gospel -history Our Lord and His dis- 
 ciplesDignity of labour as set forth by St. Paul Respect of the Rabbis 
 for honest labour Superiority of Jewish views on this subject Combi- 
 nation of study with manual labour Labour, how regarded in the Old 
 Testament and in the Apocrypha Trades of the Rabbis Their prin- 
 ciples concerning trade The Mishnah on labour Resemblance and 
 difference between the teaching of the Rabbis and that of Christ 
 
33 Analysis of Contents. 
 
 Rabbinical teaching on the dignity of labour Trades forbidden by the 
 Mishnah Weavers Workmen in the Temple Traditions concerning 
 Alexandrian workmen Alexandrian guilds Palestinian guilds Places 
 called after workmen Workmen engaged by Herod the Great in re- 
 building the Temple The Veil of the Most Holy Place Difficulties of 
 Jewish employers with their workmen Trade- unions . Page 182 
 
 CHAP. XII. COMMERCE. 
 
 Change in the views of the Rabbis concerning manual labour Rabbinical 
 sayings enjoining submission to authorities Jewish views on commerce 
 Israel not a commercial people Palestine unsuited to commercial pur- 
 suits Trade in the time of Solomon and of Jehoshaphat Income of 
 Solomon Attacks on the antiquity of the Pentateuch answered 
 Rabbinical views on commerce Persons declared unfit for witness- 
 bearing Inspectors of weights and measures Prices Percentage 
 Dishonesty, how regarded Change of Rabbinical views on commerce 
 The Jews of Alexandria Articles of trade Imports and exports 
 Laws regulating trade and commerce Bargains Money-changers 
 Laws against dishonest dealing Price of com Usury Debtors and 
 creditors Pledges Page 199 
 
 CHAP. XIII. AMONG THE PEOPLE, AND WITH THE PHARISEES. 
 
 The Pharisees Prayers of the Pharisees in the streets Rabbinical teaching 
 on the efficacy of prayer Degrees of Pharisees The Chasidim 
 Fashionable dress of the time Dress of ladies Hair, how worn and 
 adorned Jewels Borders of garments Fringes Phylacteries or 
 tephUlin Where and when worn Value and importance of phylacteries 
 in the eyes of the Rabbis Rabbinical legends concerning phylacteries 
 Charge of Christ against the Pharisees Superstitions attaching to the 
 phylacteries Patriotism and religion of the Pharisees-^vHistory of the 
 " fraternity " Their vows and obligations The Pharisees as repre- 
 senting earnestness and religious zeal Their influence . . Page 213 
 
 CHAP. XIV. THE "FRATERNITY" OF PHARISEES. 
 
 The order of the Pharisees Conspiracy against St. Paul explained Absolu- 
 tion from vows Resemblance of Pharisaism to Ultramontanism, the 
 Ultramontanes, and the Jesuits The Nivdalim of the time of Ezra and 
 Nehemiah The Perushim, or Pharisees Application of the terms 
 Chasidim and Nivdalim to the Christian life - Grecianising policy of the 
 
Analysis of Contents. 331 
 
 successors of Alexander the Great Insurrection of the Maccabees 
 Amalgamation of the Chasidim with the Pharisees Principles of the 
 Chasidim Origin of the Pharisees Regulations for Therumah and 
 tithes at the time of John Hyrcanus Chabura of Pharisees Obligations 
 of the Chaberim Degrees of Pharisees Vows binding the fraternity 
 Their system of externalism Contempt of the Rabbis and Sadducees for 
 the sect Antagonism between Pharisaism and the Gospel . Page 227 
 
 CHAP. XV. RELATION OF THE PHARISEES TO THE SADDUCEES AND 
 
 ESSEN ES, AND TO THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. 
 
 Triumph of the Pharisees over the Sadducees A Sadducean high-priest at 
 the Feast of Tabernacles Doctrinal views of the Sadducees Origin of 
 the name Classes to which the Pharisees and Sadducees chiefly belonged 
 The Essenes Connection between their views and the religion of 
 Zoroaster Number of Essenes Sectaries belonging to the mystical and 
 ascetic branch of Pharisaism Dress and appearance of the Essenes 
 Their religious observances Vows and regulations imposed on the sect 
 Their manner of spending the day Difference and resemblance 
 between Essenism and Christianity Essential contrariety between the 
 Gospel of Christ and the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes . Page 239 
 
 CHAP. XVI. SYNAGOGUES : THEIR ORIGIN, STRUCTURE, AND OUTWARD 
 ARRANGEMENTS. 
 
 Rabbi Jcchanan's views on prayer Prayer in the house and in the synagogue 
 The Babylon Talmud on frequenting the synagogue Derivation of the 
 name synagogue The Edah and the Kahal Origin and history of the 
 synagogue Smallest number forming a congregation Number of 
 synagogues in Jerusalem Situation and architecture of these buildings 
 The synagogue at Capernaum John vi. 25, etc., explained by the 
 device on the lintel of this synagogue Oldest synagogue still extant 
 Manner of prayer in the synagogue Legend about Elijah Rabbi Seira 
 on running to the synagogue The Church in the house Money collec- 
 tions in the synagogue Sanctity of the building Oratories Separation 
 of the sexes in the synagogue Arrangements of the interior of the 
 synagogue Synagogue rolls of the law Seats in the synagogue Page 249 
 
 CHAP. XVII. THE WORSHIP OF THE SYNAGOGUE. 
 
 The synagogue in the Temple The hall of paved stones Temple worship 
 superseded by that of the synagogue Opportunities afforded by the 
 
33 2 Analysis of Contents. 
 
 synagogue for the furtherance of the Gospel Synagogue liturgy The 
 Shema The benedictions The prayer after the Shema Evening 
 prayer The eighteen eulogies Leaders of the devotions in the syna- 
 gogue Benediction of the priests Attitude, dress, and appearance in 
 prayer The lectionary Number and time of the services Sermons 
 Christ in the synagogue Page 265 
 
 CHAP. XVIII. BRIEF OUTLINE OF ANCIENT JEWISH THEOLOGICAL 
 LITERATURE. 
 
 Appointments of the Synagogue The Sanhedrim Ordination of Sanhedrists 
 Qualifications The Chassanim or ministers of the synagogue The 
 Sheliach Zibbur The Gabaei Zedakuh The Meturgeman The Targumini 
 The Midrashimlhe, Book of Jubilees, or Lesser Genesis The 
 pseudo-epigraphic writings Their arrangements The Halachah The 
 Haggadah The four canons and thirty-two rules connecting the Haggadah 
 with Scripture Numerical value of words The Mishnak The Gemara 
 The Jerusalem and the Babylon Talmud Arrangement ol the Mish- 
 nah The Kabbalah Relation between Christ and the men of His 
 period . . . . Page 281 
 
 APPENDIX I. Translation of the Mishnic Tractate Middoth . . Page 297 
 
 APPENDIX II. Translation of Selections from the Babylon Talmud, Trac- 
 tate ittractoih. ^ .>... F<u*e 307 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Acco, or Ptolemais, 212. 
 
 ADULTERATION, 210, 211. 
 
 AGUR, 114. 
 
 ALEXANDER THE GREAT, Grecianising 
 
 policy of, 232. 
 ALEXANDRIA, Jews of, 207, 208, 209 ; 
 
 privileges granted to, by Alexander 
 
 the Great, 208 ; workmen of, 195. 
 ALMAH, 104. 
 AMORA, 279. 
 
 ANATHEMA, explanation of, 174. 
 ANTIOCH, as boundary of Palestine, 
 
 19 ; events happening there, 19. 
 ANTIPATRIS, 74, 75. 
 ARABAH, 62. 
 
 ARAMEAN language, 118, 119. 
 ARCHELAUS, disputes with Herod 
 
 Antipas, 10, 1 1 ; decision of 
 
 Augustus concerning, II. 
 ARCHISYNAGOGOS, or Rosh-ha-Chene- 
 
 seth, 282. 
 ARON, otherwise called Ark, Tevah, 
 
 Tevutha, or Hechal, 262. 
 
 ASCALON, 202. 
 
 ASSIIM, 246. 
 
 BABYLONIAN schools, how regarded by 
 the Rabbis, 5. 
 
 BALAAM, Rabbinical statement con- 
 cerning, 259. 
 
 BANAIM, 245. 
 
 BAR ABB AS, insurrection ot, 267. 
 
 BAR COCHAB, 66 ; rising of, 68. 
 
 BARGAINS, 210. . 
 
 BAR MIZVAH, 120. 
 
 BENEDICTIONS, in the synagogue before 
 the Shema, 269 ; pronounced by 
 the priests, 275, 276. 
 
 BEN-HA-CHENESETH. See Chaberim. 
 
 BETHANY, 83. 
 
 BETHEL, 60. 
 
 BETHLEHEM, 61, 79, 80; prophecies 
 concerning, 79 ; its smallness, 80. 
 
 BETHPHAGE, 83. 
 
 BETROTHAL, interval bet ween marriage, 
 151 ; how made valid, 150; how 
 regarded, 148. 
 
 BIBLE, its influence on civilisation, 122 ; 
 in what order to be studied, 136. 
 
 BICCURIM, whence to be brought, 17 ; 
 views of Rabbi Joses, 18; Rab- 
 binical law concerning, 18. 
 
 PIERS, of children, 169, 170. 
 
 BIMA, 261. 
 
 BIRTHDAY texts, for children, 160. 
 
 BORDERS of garments, 219, 220. 
 
 BRIDES, their personal consent, 143, 
 144; dowries, 149, 150; hair, 
 veils, and crowns, 154, 155; of 
 high-priests, 156. 
 
 BRIDAL lamps, 155. 
 
 BRIDECHAMBER, children of, 153. 
 
334 
 
 Index. 
 
 BRIDEGROOM, friends of, 153. 
 
 BURIAL, behaviour of mourners after, 
 174; dress, 168, 169; meal after, 
 174, 175 ; places, their situation, 
 169; preparation for, 168; pro- 
 cessions, and their order, 168, 
 170. 
 
 , by whom built, 202 ; drain- 
 age of, 92 ; in what province, 
 71 ; importance attached to, 71 ; 
 other names of, 72; Rabbinical 
 laws concerning, 72 ; heathen 
 temple in, 24. 
 
 CAPERNAUM, synagogue of, 255, 257. 
 
 CARAVAN road, the great, 34. 
 
 CHABERIM, regulations imposed on, 
 234, 235 j their novitiate, 236 ; 
 Ben-ha-Cheneseth, 235 ; popu- 
 larity of, 243. 
 
 CHANUKAH, 108. 
 
 CHASHAIM, 246. 
 
 CHASIDIM, or pietist Pharisees, anec- 
 dotes of, 215, 216 ; history of, 231, 
 232 ; principles of, 233. 
 
 CHASTISEMENTS, how regarded, 163. 
 
 CHENESAH or Cheneseth, 250. 
 
 CHEPHAR TABI, 78. 
 
 CHEPHAR ZABA, 75. 
 
 CHETHUBAH, or marriage contract, 
 149. 
 
 CHILDHOOD, names describing its 
 different stages, 103, 104. 
 
 CHILDLESSNESS, how regarded, 98. 
 
 CHILDREN, education of, when begun, 
 105, 106 ; their education in New 
 Testament times, 118; taught by 
 father, 129 ; carefulness in train- 
 ing, n i, 112; manner of teaching, 
 130 ; popular opinions concerning 
 education of, 135, 136 ; Ecclesi- 
 asticus on, 114 ; influence of 
 family rites and feasts on, 108, 
 109, no; majority of, 120; poor 
 and orphaned, treatment of, 137, 
 138; punishments of, 99; rela- 
 tionship to parents, 99. 
 
 CHISSE, churseja, or pergulah, 262. 
 
 CHURCH in the house, 259. 
 
 CHRIST in the Temple among the 
 doctors, 120, 121. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY, difference from Juda- 
 ism, 4. 
 
 COINS, superscription on, 25. 
 
 COMMERCE, 201 ; restricted by Mosaic 
 law, 202 ; Jewish feelings concern- 
 ing, 205 ; laws regulating, 210. 
 See also TRADE. 
 
 CORN, price of, 211. 
 
 COSMETICS, 207. 
 
 COUNTRY people, how regarded, 25. 
 
 COVENANT, in connection with salt and 
 with chastisements, 163, 164. 
 
 CREMATION, how regarded, 169. 
 
 DANIEL, prophecies of, 65. 
 
 DAY, how apportioned, 136. 
 
 DEAD, conduct before burial of, 1 73 ; 
 offices for, allowed on the Sabbath, 
 175 ; sea, 62 
 
 DEATH. Angel of, persons over whom 
 he had no power, 166 ; anniversaries 
 of, 174; after, 175; sudden, 166 ; 
 manner of, 166, 167 ; how regarded 
 in the New Testament, 162 ; pre- 
 mature and without leaving sons, 
 165 ; of the righteous, 166 ; 903 
 different kinds of, 166. 
 
 DEBTORS and CREDITORS, laws re- 
 specting, 211, 212 ; parable of 
 Christ concerning, 57. 
 
 DECAPOLIS, towns ol, 23. 
 
 DISHONESTY, how regarded, 206, 207. 
 
 DIVORCE, 142 ; how obtained and for 
 what reasons, 157, 158. 
 
 DRESS, 216, 219. 
 
 EDAH, 250, 251. 
 
 EGYPT, number of Jews in, 208. 
 
 ELEM, 104. 
 
 ELIJAH, legend concerning, 258. 
 
 ELOHIM, 282. 
 
 EMMAUS, site of, and for what noted, 
 
 79- 
 
 ENOCH, book of, 67. 
 
 ESSEN ES, sect of, 244 ; resemblance to 
 the Zoroastrian system, 245 ; num- 
 ber, dress, and appearance, 245, 
 
Index. 
 
 335 
 
 246 ; religious observances, vows, 
 and grades, 246, 247 ; manner of 
 spending the day, 247; retreat of, 
 61. 
 
 ESTHER, 141. 
 
 EULOGIES, the eighteen said before 
 "the ark," 272, 274. 
 
 EXPORTS, Rabbinical law concerning, 
 74, 209. 
 
 EZRA, revival at the time of, 231. 
 
 FAMILY FEASTS, 97, 108 
 
 FAMILY LIFE, 97, 123. 
 
 FEASTS, of Tabernacles, Purim, Cha- 
 
 nukah, and Passover, 108. 
 FRINGES to the borders of garments, 
 
 219, 220. 
 FULLERS, field of; then proverbs, 196. 
 
 GABINIUS, 91. 
 
 GALILEE, cities and inhabitants, 23, 
 24 ; wealth, 30 ; divisions, sce- 
 nery, and products of, 33, 34, 35 ; 
 manufactures, 36, 37 ; Rabbis of, 
 and their sayings, 38 . 
 
 GALILEANS, character and theological 
 views of, 26, 39 ; malpronunciation 
 of Hebrew, 40. 
 
 GAMALIEL, Rabbi, views on decora- 
 tions, 90 ; burial of, 1 68. 
 
 GAMALIEL, the son of Jehudah, 190. 
 
 GAMALIEL IL, 200. 
 
 GAZA, 79, 202. 
 
 GEHENNA, creation of, 176. 
 
 GEMARA, the, 291, 292. 
 
 GENNESARET, the lake of, 40. 
 
 GERBE, synagogue in the island of, 258. 
 
 GEVER,GEVIRAH. and GEVERETH, 141. 
 
 GRAVES, how marked, 170. 
 
 GREEK language, 126. 
 
 GUILDS, Alexandrian and Jewish, 196. 
 
 HAGGADAH, the four canons and thirty- 
 two rules for, 289 ; in the Mishnah, 
 291. 
 
 HAGIOGRAPHA, 288. 
 
 HALACHAH, 288 ; in the Mishnah, 291. 
 
 HALL of paved stones, 265. 
 
 HEALTH, Rabbinical laws and regu- 
 lations for, 164. 
 
 HEATHENS, how regarded by the Jews, 
 IS, 28. 
 
 HEAVENS, when created, 176; number 
 of, 177. 
 
 HEBREW language, 125. 
 
 HEBRON, 61. 
 
 HEROD THE GREAT. 51 ; death of, 51 ; 
 will and revenues, 10, nj coun- 
 sellors and favourites, 24. 
 
 HEROD ANTIPAS, 12. 
 
 HEZEKIAH, his regulations for learn- 
 ing* 75- 
 
 HIGHWAYS in Palestine at the time ol 
 Christ, 42; their size and repairs, 
 
 45 46. 
 
 HILLEL, Rabbi, his trade, 189 ; on 
 business, 206. 
 
 HOSPITALITY, rules and Rabbinical 
 sayings concerning, 47-49. 
 
 HOUSES, appearance of, 90, 93 ; 
 strangers' rooms, ,94; roofs, the 
 road of the roofs, etc., 95 ; inner 
 courts and furniture, 96. 
 
 HUSBAND, obligations towards a wife, 
 158- 
 
 HYRCANUS, John, commission ap- 
 pointed by him, 233. 
 
 IMPORTS, 209. 
 INK, 132. 
 INNS, 49, 50. 
 
 JABNE, anecdote concerning Rabbis 
 
 of, 195- 
 JAMNEH, 202. 
 JANNAI, Rabbi, anecdote concerning, 
 
 3 2 
 
 JEHOSHAPHAT, foreign trade of, 203. 
 
 JEHUDAH, Rabbi, on Paschal sacri- 
 fices, So; on the stages of life, 
 105 ; the Holy, death of, 162 ; on 
 trades, 182. 
 
 JERICHO, soil and surroundings of, 62. 
 
 JERUSALEM, theatre and amphitheatre 
 of, 24 ; religious feelings concern- 
 ing, 63, 64, 84 ; Rabbinical opi- 
 nions of its importance, 82 ; syna- 
 gogues of, 83 ; inhabitants of, 84. 
 
 JOCHANAN BEN $ACCAI, Rabbi, say- 
 
336 
 
 Index. 
 
 ing of, 85 ; death of, 161 ; anecdote 
 of, 195 ; saying on conscientious- 
 ness, 195 ; saying on wisdom, 
 205 ; saying on prayer, 249. 
 
 JOPPA or JAFFA, 78, 202. 
 
 JONATHAN, Rabbi, saying of, i. 
 
 JORDAN, land east of, 18. 
 
 JOSEPHUS on the ten tribes, 9; story 
 of the Samaritans, 13 ; on the 
 religious education of Jewish chil- 
 dren, in; on writing, 131, 132; 
 on commerce, 205 ; on phylacteries, 
 224. 
 
 JOSHUA, the son of Gamaliel, celebrity 
 of, 134- 
 
 JUBILEES, Book of, or Lesser Genesis, 
 285, 289. 
 
 JUDAEA, pre-eminence over Galilee, 18; 
 learning in, 31 ; scenery and cele- 
 brated places, 59, 60 ; wilderness 
 of, 6 1 ; Jewish sentiments con- 
 cerning, 63; Rabbinical opinions 
 of, 70; boundaries and divisions, 
 71. 73- 
 
 KABBALAH, the, 292, 293. 
 KAHAL, 250, 251. 
 KEHALA KADISHA, 245. 
 KHANS, 49, 50. 
 
 KNOWLEDGE of God, how regarded, 
 124, 125. 
 
 LABOUR, love of the Rabbis for, 187 ; 
 manual in combination with study, 
 1 88, 1 89; dignity of, acknowledged 
 by the Talmud and Rabbis, 192, 194; 
 change of feeling concerning, 199. 
 
 LEMUEL, 114. 
 
 LIFE, periods and length of, 105, 165. 
 
 J YDDA, Lod, or Lud, miracles wrought 
 in, 43 ; how illustrative of the New 
 Testament, 75, 76 ; state after the 
 destruction of Jerusalem, 77 ; 
 scenery of, 78. 
 
 MACCABEES, rising of, 116, 117, 232. 
 MAIMONIDES, arrangement of countries, 
 
 18. 
 MANHIGEI, 282. 
 
 MARRIAGE, Rabbinical teaching on, 
 and four classes of, 144 ; a religious 
 obligation, and at what age, 147 ; 
 the ceremony, and wedding days, 
 151 ; in Cana, and surrounding 
 circumstances, 151, 152, 153; 
 festivities, 155 ; bars to, 156. 
 
 MASADA, 62. 
 
 MASSA, royal family and queen of, 113, 
 114. 
 
 MATITHJA, Rabbi, saying of, 200. 
 
 MATTHEW, St., call of, 42, 58. 
 
 MAZA or MOZE, 145. 
 
 MEAMAR, 279. 
 
 MECHILTHA, 285. 
 
 MEDICINAL remedies, 165. 
 
 MEGILLATH TAANITH, or roll of fasts, 
 175, 240. 
 
 MEIR, Rabbi, saying of, 2 ; on trades, 
 182 ; on business, 205. 
 
 MEMUNIM, 282. 
 
 MESSIAH, Jewish expectancy of, 65, 
 66, 67 ; false, 66 ; John the Bap- 
 tist and the Rabbis on, 68, 69. 
 
 MESUSAH, 106, 107. 
 
 METURGEMAN, 277, 278. 
 
 MIDRASHIM, 285. 
 
 MIGDAL EDER, 80. 
 
 MlGDAL EZ, 26l, 262. 
 
 MISHNAH on the ten tribes, 9; from 
 what city issued, 30 ; character of, 
 69; how explanatory of Luke ii. 
 20, etc., 82 ; regulations as to 
 languages in which the Bible may 
 be written, 119 ; study of the, 129; 
 antiquity and contents, 291, 292 ; 
 on the guilt of adding to the words 
 of the Scribes, 223. 
 
 MONEY, changers of, 210; Rabbinical 
 advice for its employment, 207. 
 
 MONOGAMY, how regarded, 143. 
 
 MOTHERS, position and influence of, 
 112, 114, 115 ; of the New Testa- 
 ment, 114, 115, 116; the four, 140. 
 
 MOUNTAIN, the, 73. 
 
 NAIN, burial of the young man of, 170, 
 
 171. 
 NA/ARETH, 36. 
 
Index. 
 
 337 
 
 NEHORAI, Rabbi, on the Thorah, 183. 
 
 NEKIJE HADAATH, 245. 
 
 NER OLAM, or lamp in the synagogue, 
 
 262, 263. 
 
 NEVATH BAYITH, 141. 
 NIVDALIM, 230, 232. 
 
 OFFERINGS, whence provided, 16. 
 
 OLD TESTAMENT, copies and rolls of, 
 for the use of children, 117; in 
 what language used at the time 
 of Christ, 118; Greek translation 
 of, 208. 
 
 OMER, from whence brought, 17. 
 
 ONEN and AVEL, Rabbinical distinc- 
 tion ot, 173. 
 
 ONKELOS, 127. 
 
 ORATORIES, 261. 
 
 OSHPISAS, 50. 
 
 PALESTINE, present condition, i ; clim- 
 ate, scenery, and natural produc- 
 tions, 2 ; spiritual blessings of, 3, 
 4 ; Jewish love for, 5, 6 ; complete 
 loss of relics, 7 ; extent and state 
 at the time of Christ, 8, 9, 10; 
 money at the time of Christ, II, 
 12; divisions, 12; inhabitants, 9; 
 boundaries and degrees of sanctity, 
 14, 15 ; the three countries desig- 
 nated by this term, 1 6 ; parties and 
 dialects, 20, 21 ; Rabbinical say- 
 ings concerning, 3, 4, 5. 
 
 PAPER, 132. 
 
 PARABLES, Rabbinical, resembling that 
 of the wedding guests, 179. 
 
 PARENTS, influence of, on the phy- 
 sical condition of their children, 
 163- 
 
 PAUL, ST., on signing his name to 
 epistles, 131; trade, 185, 1 86 Con- 
 spiracy of the Pharisees against, 227, 
 229 ; on the Christian life, 231. 
 
 PENTATEUCH, antiquity of, 203, 204. 
 
 PENTECOST, the two loaves at, 17. 
 
 PERFUMERS, 217. 
 
 PHARISEES, the Chabura of, 226, 227, 
 228, 234 ; character and degrees of, 
 215 ; appearance of, 219 ; history, 
 
 225, 230 ; grades, and vows, 233, 
 236; prayers of, in the streets, 214; 
 regulations made for, 229 ; resem- 
 blance of, to Ultramontanism, 230 ; 
 sectaries, 245, 246; separation of, 
 from heathens, 26, 27 ; system of, 
 how regarded by the Rabbis and 
 Sadducees, 237 ; triumphs of, over 
 the Sadducees, 239, 240. 
 
 PHILIP, 12; inhabitants and towns of 
 his provinces, 21, 22. 
 
 PHILO, opinions of, on the religious edu- 
 cation of children, no; Pharisees 
 not mentioned by, 1 14. 
 
 PHYLACTERIES, or tephillin, where 
 worn, 220, 221 ; importance of, in 
 the eyes of the Rabbis, 222 ; su- 
 perstitious uses of, 223, 224. 
 
 PHYSICIANS, 164, 165. 
 
 PLEDGES, 212. 
 
 POLICE, secret, 50. 
 
 POLYGAMY, 142. 
 
 PRAYER, in the house and synagogue, 
 249 ; evening, 271 ; how regarded, 
 215; after the Shema, 271 ; Rab- 
 binical teaching on long, 272, 273 ; 
 attitude, dress, and appearance 
 during, 276. 
 
 PRICES, how regulated, 206, 210. 
 
 PROFITS in trade, 210. 
 
 PSEUDO-EPIGRAPHIC WRITINGS, 286, 
 287, 289, 290. 
 
 PUBLICANS, character of, 55, 56, 57, 58. 
 PURGATORY, Rabbinical views on, 180. 
 
 RABBIS, sayings of, 5 ; Akiba and 
 Elieser on the ten tribes, 9 ; Bechai, 
 3 ; Akiba on meat used in heathen 
 worship, 27 ; prayer of, on leaving 
 the academy, 32 ; character of, 
 69 ; opinions of, on different parts 
 of Palestine, 70 ; reverence of, for 
 age, loo, 101 ; how regarded by 
 the Jews, 127, 128; on repentance 
 and the future state, 180; sayings 
 of, on trades, 189, 191 ; teaching, 
 difference from Christianity, 192 ; 
 Seira, anecdote about running to 
 the synagogue, 259. 
 
338 
 
 Index. 
 
 RACHEL'S PILLAR, 60. 
 RAMAH, 60. 
 
 ROYAL REVENUES, whence derived, 
 52, 53- 
 
 SABBATH, how observed, 97. 
 
 SADDUCEES, anecdote of a high-priest, 
 240 ; to what class mostly belong- 
 ing, 243 ; doctrines and principles 
 of> 240, 241 ; name of and origin, 
 242, 243 ; relation of, to the Phari- 
 sees, 239, 240. 
 
 SAFED, or ZEPHATH, 34. 
 
 SAMARIA, how regarded, 12, 13. 
 
 SANHEDRIM, members of, ordination 
 and qualifications, 281, 282 ; of 
 towns, 91. 
 
 SCHOOLS, elementary, 133, 134, 135 ; 
 where kept, and by whom, 137 ; 
 expenses of, and hours of teach- 
 ing, 137- 
 
 SCHOOLMASTERS, regulations for, 135, 
 136. 
 
 SCIENCE, study of, 127. 
 
 SCRIBES, 131. 
 
 SCRIPTURES, how studied by children, 
 119. 
 
 SEBUA, 207. 
 
 SEKENIM, 282. 
 
 SEPULCHRES, 171, 172. 
 
 SHARON, plain of, 74. 
 
 SHELIACH ZIBBUR, 283. 
 
 SHEMA, the, 268, 269, 270; where 
 said in the synagogue, 272. 
 
 SHEPHERDS, at the birth of Christ, 81. 
 
 SHEPHELAH, 61. 
 
 SHILOH, 59. 
 
 SHITRE ERUSIN, or writings of be- 
 trothal, 148, 149. 
 
 SICKNESS, how regarded, 163. 
 
 SICK, visitation of, 167, 168. 
 
 SIN, Rabbinical teaching on, 177, 178. 
 
 SIPHRA and SIPHRI, books of, 285. 
 
 SIRACH, son of, 13. 
 
 SOLOMON, foreign trade and income of, 
 202, 203. 
 
 SON OF MAN, 67. 
 
 SORIA, or SYRIA, what countries in- 
 cluded in, 17. 
 
 SOULS, transmigration of, 177. 
 
 STUDY, subjects for, 124, 125. 
 
 SYNAGOGUES, alms in, 283; arch> 
 tecture, situation, and appearance 
 of, 254, 255 ; arrangements, rulers, 
 and minister of, 258, 281, 282, 
 283; Christ in, 280; congrega- 
 tions, 253 ; consecration and sanc- 
 tity, 260 ; devotions in, by whom 
 conducted, 275 ; lectionary of, 
 277, 278, 279 ; liturgy and wor- 
 ship, 267, 268 ; names, origin, and 
 number in Jerusalem, 250, 251, 
 252, 253; parts and furniture of, 
 261, 262 ; seats in, 263, 264 ; 
 services and sermons, 277, 278, 
 279 ; separation of the sexes in, 
 261 ; Talmudical teaching on, 249 ; 
 in the Temple, 265 j Temple 
 worship superseded by, 266 ; 
 object of, 277 ; mode of entering 
 and leaving, 259. ' 
 
 TALMUD, 7; Jerusalem, from what 
 
 city issued, 30. 
 
 See also GEMARA. 
 TARGUMIM, spirit of, 65 ; of Onkelos, 
 
 Jonathan, and pseudo-Jonathan, 
 
 284, 285. 
 
 TAX-COLLECTORS, 51, 52. 
 TAXES and TOLLS, 45, 52, 53, 54 ; how 
 
 levied, 55, 56. 
 
 TEACHERS, how regarded, 137. 
 TEMPLE, the, scene at its destruction, 
 
 66 ; oil for, whence brought, 71 ; 
 
 opening of doors, 85 ; drainage, 
 
 92 ; stones for rebuilding, 197. 
 TEMPLE of Onias at Leontopolis, 208 ; 
 
 workmen for, 195. 
 TEPHILLAH, the, 272. 
 THERUMOTH, 17. 
 THEUDAS, 66. 
 THIRTEEN things belonging to the 
 
 Almighty, 3. 
 THORAH, Rabbinical opinions on its 
 
 study, 126, 127; influence of, on 
 
 education, 128; qualifications for 
 
 acquiring, 206. 
 TIBERIAS, colleges of, 30. 
 
Index. 
 
 339 
 
 TIMOTHY, 116. 
 
 TITHES and THERUMAH, regulations 
 for payment of, 234, 235. 
 
 TOBLE SHACHRITH, 245. 
 
 TOWNS, appearance, streets, guilds, 
 and houses, 88, 89, 90; autho- 
 rities and regulations, 91, 92, 93 ; 
 circumference and names, 87. 
 
 TRADE, of the Rabbis, 189, 190 ; how 
 regarded by the Mishnah, Tal- 
 mud, and Rabbis, 190, 191 ; what 
 forbidden by the Mishnah, ^4; 
 unions, 198. 
 
 TRADITIONALISM destructive of re- 
 verence, 101, 102. 
 
 TYRE and Si DON, coasts of, 19. 
 
 TYROPOEON VALLEY, 196. 
 
 UPPER ROOMS, 95. 
 
 USURY, how regarded by the Rabbis, 
 205 ; laws respecting, 21 1. 
 
 VAAD, 250. 
 
 VATHIKIN, 245. 
 
 VEHICLES for travelling, 46. 
 
 VEIL, of the Most Holy Place, 197 ; 
 
 of synagogues, 262. 
 VILLAGES, how distinguished from 
 
 towns, 87. 
 Vows, how made, and absolved from, 
 
 229. 
 
 WEAVERS, how regarded, 194. 
 
 WEIGHTS and measures, inspectors of, 
 206 ; laws for, 210. 
 
 WINE used in the Temple, whence 
 brought, 70, 71. 
 
 Wii NESS-BEARING, persons unfit for, 
 205. 
 
 WOMAN, creation of, Rabbinical ideas 
 connected with, 140, 146 ; edu- 
 cation of, 132, 133 ; equality with 
 man, and ministry of, 141, 142 ; 
 Holy women, 139, ^40, 141 ; how 
 protected by the law, 143 ; social 
 position of, 98, 139 ; qualities 
 most desirable in, 146, 147 ; pro- 
 perty of, 148 ; women of the New 
 Testament, 159. 
 
 WORK, injunctions concerning, by St. 
 Paul, 1 86, 187. 
 
 WORKMEN, Palestinian, 196; troubles 
 of employers with, 198. 
 
 WRITING, 130; forgery of, and use 
 of initial letters, 131. 
 
 YOUNG MEN, Rabbinical opinions of 
 their learning, 100. 
 
 ZENIUM, 245. 
 ZIBBUR, 250. 
 ZION, elegies of the synagogues for, 6. 
 
INDEX TO SCRIPTURE REFERENCES, 
 
 GENESIS. 
 Page 
 
 NUMBERS. 
 Paee 
 
 DEUTERONOMY. 
 Page 
 
 2 KINGS. 
 Page 
 
 lii. 21 48, 167 
 
 V; 2 3 . I 3 I 
 
 58.. 131, 163 
 
 iv. 23 252 
 
 xv 18 8 
 
 24 26 . 268 
 
 
 
 xviii. i 48, 167 
 12 139 
 
 xiv. 27 253 
 
 xxxi. 6 178 
 .. 13 i" 
 
 xv. 29 33 
 xx :.i 167 
 
 i9 i 
 *x. 3 141 
 
 xv. 31 178 
 37 219 
 
 xxxii. 39 178 
 
 
 14 "3 
 
 ...39-- 220 
 
 
 
 
 
 6 48,167 
 
 iv. 38-43 113 
 
 
 
 JOSHUA. 
 
 
 , 27 50 
 
 xxiv. 16 259 
 
 
 
 Xllll. 21 50 
 
 EXODUS. 
 
 XXVlll. 2 3 
 
 x. 13 131 
 xvn. ii, 16 .... 23 
 xviii. 9 131 
 
 2 CHRONICLES. 
 
 v| ; 4 178 
 
 iv. 4 178 
 ,, 9, 10 ... .in, 129 
 
 xx. 7 33 
 xxu. 24, 25 .... 18 
 
 xx. 36, 37 203 
 
 M 26 Ill 
 
 VI. 4-9. .107, 117, 221, 
 
 
 EZRA. 
 
 8,14 in 
 
 268, 270 
 
 JUDGES. 
 M? 23 
 
 iv. 13, 20 45, 52 
 
 VI. 21 230 
 
 II-IO 221 
 XV. 1 178 
 
 ,; 9 106, !30 
 
 viii. 5, 7 164 
 
 xni. 23 140 
 
 
 
 
 i SAMUEL. 
 
 
 xx. 24 3, 6 
 
 xi. 13-21 107, 117, 
 
 
 
 
 ,, ....221 268 270 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 21 178 
 
 
 ESTHER 
 
 12 288 
 
 
 xxxi. 10, ii .... 23 
 
 
 
 M 4 167 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 JOB. 
 
 xxxn. 2, 3 140 
 
 
 vni. 3-14 8 
 
 
 LEVITICUS. 
 ii 13 163 
 
 .18 I 3 I 
 XV111. 21, 12 .... 100 
 
 i KINGS. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 12 .. 2IQ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ,, 10, ii 174 
 
 ,, i, 3 T 30 
 
 , ? 28, 29 202 
 
 xxxvii. 28 231 
 
 
 
 j8 45 
 
 
 <;<;.. i 
 
 XXVll. 21 . . 31 
 
 xxii. 48 .. .. 203 
 
 Ixvi. 20 .. .. 161 
 
Index to Scripture References. 
 
 341 
 
 PSALMS. 
 1 
 
 'age 
 153 
 141 
 178 
 
 ISAIAH. 
 
 Page 
 
 MlCAH. 
 
 Page 
 
 ST MATTHEW. 
 Page 
 xxii. 1-14 179 
 20 25 
 30 178 
 
 
 
 196 
 104 
 33 
 295 
 104 
 "3 
 "3 
 295 
 
 
 79 
 140 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 Ixxii 16 
 
 
 vi. 4 
 HAGGAI. 
 ii. 8 
 
 Ixxiv 8 
 
 
 Ixxviii. 5, 6 .... 
 
 Ixxxii. i 
 6 
 
 in 
 
 33 
 249 
 282 
 
 6 3 
 
 ,, 2, 6 103, 
 xi. 8 
 
 ?.. 45 266 
 
 4 235 
 
 
 ZECHARIAH. 
 
 5 2l6, 220 
 .. 6 263 
 
 
 
 
 XXIV. 15, 20 .... 23 
 
 .. 17 94 
 xxv. i 155 
 
 XC1V. 12 
 
 c ix :.3i 
 
 164 
 48 
 
 xxym. 9 
 
 
 xi. i 
 
 CX1X 
 
 cxxi. 8 
 
 6 
 114 
 107 
 
 xlviii. 22 
 xlix. 16 
 
 74 
 179 
 
 221 
 
 2 5 
 I 7 8 
 104 
 
 MALACHI. 
 
 ST. MATTHEV 
 i. 18, 19 
 
 143 
 
 r, 
 
 I4 8 
 79 
 ii 
 Si 
 61 
 5, 23 
 267 
 
 xxvi 7 217 
 12 168 
 ,,..73 40 
 xxvn. 7, 52, 53 .. 169 
 41-43 .... 75 
 46 n8 
 51 85 
 66 171 
 
 ST. MARK. 
 i. 21 267 
 
 
 cxxxii. 13-18 .. 
 cxxxvii. 5, 6 .... 
 
 PROVERBS. 
 "i- 3 
 
 6 4 
 63 
 
 254 
 
 221 
 l6 3 
 221 
 I6 4 
 221 
 200 
 2 5 8 
 
 168 
 168 
 
 200 
 
 J 45 
 1 68 
 
 Hi 8 
 
 liii. 2 
 
 21 
 
 Ixi. 10 
 Ixii. 8 
 
 179 
 179 
 155 
 222 
 I 79 
 249 
 
 250 
 105 
 
 ,, 22 
 
 16 
 17, 18 
 iv. 13, IS i 
 23 
 
 23 
 vii. 3 
 viii. 21 
 
 ... 34 
 xiv. 32 
 
 JEREMIAH. 
 
 xii-4 
 xv. 8 
 xvii. 8 
 
 I 3 :::::::::: 
 
 .. 32 
 vi. 5 
 
 i57 
 
 254 
 
 191 
 
 280 
 
 4 95 
 v.i 23 
 
 22, 23 282 
 25 164, 165 
 
 ,,. 35, 3 6 , 38 282 
 
 
 XV1H. 21 
 
 104 
 98 
 60 
 I0 4 
 60 
 
 
 ... 22 
 
 xxii. 10 
 xxxi. 15 
 
 
 Vlt z ' 2 ^ 
 
 ix. i 
 
 169 
 255 
 37 
 153 
 282 
 
 
 
 
 vii. 7, 8 223 
 
 2-9 
 
 10-31 .... 
 
 ECCLESIASTES 
 
 iv. 13 
 vii. 26 38, 
 ix-9 
 
 "3 
 114 
 114 
 
 104 
 145 
 190 
 
 xli. 17 50 
 
 LAMENTATIONS. 
 iv. 4 104 
 
 ,, 18 
 
 13 223 
 24 19 
 
 x. 5 
 
 3 
 15 
 
 '.'.. 31 22 
 
 viii. 22 37 
 
 EZEKIEL. 
 
 ix. 6 
 
 293 
 104 
 279 
 155 
 153 
 
 6 
 283 
 
 259 
 
 4 
 259 
 
 154 
 
 ,,27 
 
 XI. 21 
 ...28-30 
 
 94 
 37 
 270 
 119 
 
 ix. 23 168 
 
 38, 39 127 
 40 272 
 
 SONG OF SOLOMC 
 
 )N. 
 
 74 
 155 
 34 
 
 XVI. 2 
 
 xxvin. 13 
 xxxvii. 12-14 
 
 DANIEL. 
 
 xi. 54 
 xiv. 3 
 ,, 36 
 
 255 
 
 220 
 
 ,, IS 94 
 xv. 40 37 
 
 vii. 5 
 
 6 .. 
 
 
 xvi. I 37 
 
 ..... 9 
 6 
 
 ISAIAH. 
 
 224 
 
 221 
 
 4 
 
 254 
 132 
 
 103 
 
 xii. 3 
 
 HOSEA. 
 
 16 
 
 xviii. 17 
 
 21 
 12 
 15 
 
 ST. LUKE. 
 
 "'I :::::::::: 
 
 xix. 3, 10 
 4 
 
 57 
 119 
 
 
 
 XI. 10 
 
 JOEL. 
 ii. 16 
 
 ,,68-70 64 
 
 ii. 2 
 
 ,,.i7, 29 
 xxi. 13, 1 6, 42 
 
 44 
 nq 
 
 12, l6 lit) 
 
 .. 17, r8. , Si 
 
 .. 6... 
 
342 
 
 Index to Scripture References. 
 
 ST. LUKE. 
 Page 
 ft 20 8l 
 
 ST. JOHN. 
 Page 
 
 ACTS. 
 Page 
 
 i THESSALONIANS. 
 Page 
 ii g jgg 
 
 46 "9,265 
 
 iii. j , .. 21 
 
 ,, 9' 10 *3 
 
 xviii. 2, 3 89 
 
 o . ,. !8c 
 
 iv. ii, 12 186 
 13-18 . . 187 
 
 
 
 99 8, 17 282 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 16-21 275 
 
 ,, 25-28 257 
 
 ,, 34, 35 185 
 
 
 17 250, 278 
 
 
 xxi. 5 47 
 
 
 v.iy 73 
 
 ,;. 59 257, 267 
 
 ,, 40 21, 119 
 
 
 > J 9 95 
 ,, 29 42 
 vi. 6 267 
 
 ,.,..52. 31 
 via. 48 13 
 
 xxiii. 8, 9 .. . 228 
 
 ,, 12, 21 . 227 
 
 16 227 
 
 ,,.'2 146 
 
 111. i-io 282 
 v. 10 138 
 
 vn. 3 92 
 
 
 31 ... 43, 74 
 
 
 ,,. -5 l6 9 
 via. 2 37 
 
 3 8 , 39 171 
 ,, 44 169 
 
 ROMANS. 
 
 i. 5 "5 
 
 26 23 
 ,, 4 49 282 
 . 44 220 
 
 ,,47 77 
 48 69 
 ,,.54,55 77 
 *:.. 37 
 
 v"i. 33 98 
 ix. 3 174 
 
 ??. I0 X ^ 
 
 iv. 13 132 
 
 PHILEMON. 
 
 ,, 53 44 
 x. 5-10 49 
 
 XVlll. 20 267 
 
 ,, 28 27 
 
 xvi. 35 259 
 
 ii. 259 
 
 ,,3o 44 
 34 164 
 35 12 
 
 5, 7 169 
 xxi. i 37 
 
 vii 145 
 
 iii. i 283 
 
 XL 43 127 
 xn. 3 94 
 V..58 57 
 
 14 282 
 
 ,, 2 37 
 
 ,, 22 4 I 
 
 ACTS. 
 j : 8 73 
 
 >. 39 X 44 
 
 ix. 18 185 
 x. 25, 27, 28 .... 27 
 
 .. 7 98 
 x"i. 2 48 
 7 282 
 
 JAMES. 
 
 xvi 17 ........ 118 
 25, 26 176 
 xvii. 2 174 
 
 31 94 
 
 xix. i 62 
 ,, i, 28 44 
 
 u. 5 65 
 ,,46 259 
 v. 6, 10 168 
 3 6 , 37 40, 66 
 ,, 42 ' 259 
 vi. 9 83, 252 
 
 viii. 2 168 
 .. 28 46 
 
 2 CORINTHIANS. 
 vi. 14 144, 231 
 
 XL 2 153 
 
 GALATIANS. 
 
 u. 2, 3 264 
 v. 14 167 
 i PETER. 
 
 iii. 5 139 
 ,, 6 141 
 
 V. 2 282 
 
 2 JOHN. 
 
 ,, 4 33 
 12-15, 27 .. 10 
 
 ,,..47 272 
 xxiv. 13 78 
 
 ST. JOHN. 
 
 ,, 36 78 
 
 37, 39 168 
 ,, 32-43 44 
 
 ,,28 27 
 ,,.39 73 
 
 20, 21 19 
 
 i. 17, 18 ..*. 42 
 
 12 28 
 
 EPHESIANS. 
 iv. 28 193 
 v. 28 145 
 vi. 4 99, "2 
 
 i 114 
 
 12 132 
 
 13 "5 
 
 3 JOHN. 
 13 ^a 
 
 JUDE. 
 
 35, 42 151 
 
 .,. 2 6 *9 
 
 xn. 13, 14 9 6 
 
 PHILIPPIANS. 
 iv. 3 159 
 
 REVELATION. 
 
 
 >. *9 7 1 
 
 
 
 H 4 3 1 
 u. I-H 37 
 
 xiv. 6 115 
 
 COLOSSIANS. 
 
 Hi- 4 2 3i 
 
 
 .. 13-21 .. .. 231 
 
 
 xiv. 4 33* 
 
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