For the space of nine or ten years I was content to give myself wholly to
the study of the Law; but when I had now numbered thirty years, my doubts
and fears came back to me again. While I sat in the school with the
Scribe, and heard his answers and asked him questions, so long I seemed to
myself righteous and on the path of righteousness; but when I came forth
into the streets, or back to my mother’s house, then seemed my
righteousness immediately to have vanished away. At such seasons the
learning of the Wise seemed to me not bread, but a stone.
Moreover, my heart was turned from some of the Scribes that lived in
Sepphoris, even them that were counted as props and pillars of the Law. To
Jonathan the son of Ezra I ceased not to pay honour; but Abuyah the son of
Elishah I could not reverence, and others also like unto him: for they had
regard unto the praise of men rather than to the love of God. As, for
example, Abuyah, whensoever he was delayed by the crowd so that he came
not to the synagogue in time for prayer, he would stand where he chanced
to be, at the hour of prayer, praying in the middle of the market‐place.
When he walked, he walked with a mincing gait and with his eyes half
closed, feigning to be given up to the meditation of the Law, so that he
saw no passer by. On fast days he would ever look pale and worn, as if
with watching and hunger; and whensoever he met a woman as he went in the
way, he would shiver and turn aside. It came to pass that on a certain day
one of his pupils asked him which was the most weighty of precepts. Then
Abuyah answered, “The Law of Tassels”; and continued he, “so do I esteem
this law that once, because I had chanced to tread upon a portion of the
fringe of my garment, going up a ladder, I steadfastly refused to move
from the spot where I stood, till such time as the rent had been
repaired.” Another day, this Abuyah chid my mother because she wore on her
dress a ribbon that was not sewn, but only fastened to her vesture. For
thus, he said, my mother transgressed the Law by bearing burdens on the
Sabbath. But by such teaching Abuyah himself laid upon his pupils burdens
grievous to be borne; and among the Rabbis of Israel there were more like
unto Abuyah the son of Elishah than unto Jonathan the son of Ezra.
Many things also in the traditions of the Wise seemed to me not worthy of
wise men, nor even of honest men. I had joined myself to a certain
brotherhood (who all, or almost all, were Pharisees), such as bound
themselves to observe the Law with special strictness, and in particular
to pay tithes of all things. The brotherhood was called Chabura, and each
of the brethren was called a Chaber. Now it was the custom of us Chaberim
to meet on the Sabbath day at one another’s houses that we might sup
together. But the space between our houses often exceeded two thousand
paces, which distance was not to be exceeded by a man journeying on the
Sabbath day. Therefore to a plain man it would have seemed that we could
not sup with one another on the Sabbath day and at the same time obey the
Law. But the Scribes were otherwise minded; and many of them, yea even of
the strictest sect, escaped from the Law after this fashion. On the
evening before the Sabbath, they would place small pieces of meat, distant
two thousand paces one from another, on the road whereon they desired to
journey. Where a man’s meat is, said they, there is his home. So when they
were come in their journeying to the first piece of meat, they would say,
“Now I am at my home and may walk yet another two thousand paces.” And so,
walking from this home to other homes if need were, they walked as far as
they listed. This mixing of distances they called _erûbh_, or “mixture;”
and the device remaineth unto this day.
Again, if a man’s ox were dying on some holy day, and the owner thereof
desired to kill it; he was forbidden. But if he slew the beast and then
took of the meat and ate thereof, yea, even though it were a piece of
flesh no bigger than an olive, and if he said, “I slay the beast to
provide a necessary meal,” then he was held excused. Likewise, though a
man might not buy from a butcher on the Sabbath, yet if he abstained from
mentioning the number or weight of the things bought, and the sum of money
to be paid, then he might buy as much as his heart desired and be held
blameless. Thus he would say, “Give me a portion, or half a portion of
meat,” and the butcher would give it; and the buyer would go away, paying
naught. But next day the money would be paid. And this was called not a
sale, but a gift. After the same manner they did away with the Law which
remitteth debts in the Sabbatical year. On the day of payment the creditor
would come (such was the ordinance of the Scribes) and say, “In accordance
with the Sabbatical year I remit thee the debt.” Then the debtor was bound
to reply, “I nevertheless wish to pay it,” and the debt was paid, and the
Law was made of none effect.
About the thirteenth year of the Emperor Tiberius, it came to pass that I
(being now thirty‐three years old or a little more) discoursed with a
Greek proselyte concerning the Law. He said to me that it seemed to him
better to disannul such ordinances as were not convenient (just as a man
might prune a too luxuriant vine); and not to say, “I will obey the
ordinance, but I will make my obedience the same as disobedience.” His
words pleased me; but when I reported this saying to some of the Scribes
my friends, they with one consent rejected it. Abuyah the son of Elishah
said, scoffing at my doubts, “The Law drowneth them that cannot swim.”
Then said I (repeating a certain saying of the Greek), “But water groweth
bad if it be kept long in one vessel.” But he straightway put me to
silence saying, “Is this likewise the case with the Law? Nay, it is like
unto wine which groweth better as it groweth older.” Jonathan the son of
Ezra also added in a gentle voice, “My son, thou knowest the saying of the
Elders, the first of the sayings of the Wise: Be deliberate in judgment,
and raise up many disciples, and make a fence to the Law. But thou, O my
son, wouldst fain pull down fences. But if we begin to destroy a part of
the Law, who shall stay the hand of the destroyer? And in the end we shall
be even as the Gentiles, which have no law. Is it not better to be too
careful rather than to be too careless? Is it not better to have too many
fences rather than to have too few? For to what is the matter like? Even
to a man watching a garden. If he watch it from without, it is all
watched. But if he watch it from within, the part in front of him is
watched; but the part behind him is not watched. Be thou therefore careful
to go in thine obedience even beyond the things which the Law requireth at
thy hands; and watch the Law not from within, but from without.”
There seemed much wisdom in the sayings of Jonathan, and I knew not what
answer to make. For if to transgress the Law, even in the smallest matter,
was to fall into destruction, then it seemed wise to fence round the Law,
even as a man would fence round a pit; and not to suffer the unwary to go
near, and peradventure to stumble, and so to be swallowed up. Yet I could
not but perceive that it was not well for men thus to resort to the Law
and to the Traditions as to a sacred oracle, even on those occasions and
in those matters wherein the voice of the Lord speaking unto the heart
saith clearly, “This is right, do this. This is wrong, do not this.” For
thus it must needs come to pass that men would pervert even the Law to the
contradicting of the voice of the Lord. And so indeed it was with us. As,
for example, the Law forbade fornication, neither did it permit us to
marry a woman with intent to divorce her; but one of the Traditions,
making the Law of none effect, told us that “If a man first tell her that
he is going to marry her for a season, then it is lawful.” Other
Traditions sinned yet more grievously in the cloaking of sins and
impurities. Hence also the duties of children to parents (albeit upheld
indeed by the better part of the Wise) were by many diminished, or even
made of none effect.
Now I have heard certain Romans say that in their Law they also use the
same devices to observe the letter and to break the spirit. But the
mischief was, that our Law was not as the laws of the Gentiles, which
concern naught save lands, and houses, and slaves, and the like, and which
have not to do with the souls and spirits of men. The Gentiles could break
the letter of their laws and sin not: for what sin was it to make a slave
free by feigning to sell him, or, in disputing about a farm, to treat of a
clod as though it were the farm? But our Law had to do with the supreme
God, the Maker of all things, the All‐seeing (blessed is He). Therefore to
observe the letter and to break the spirit of His Law seemed to be a
profaning of His Holy Name. Now I had been trained up from my earliest
years to dread the pulling down of the fences, having this precept, as it
were, engraved and charactered in my memory, “Whoso pulleth down a hedge a
serpent shall sting him:” and I had been taught to prefer Sinai, that is,
the teacher of the Law, even to an “uprooter of mountains,” that is, to a
teacher which hath understanding to remove all manner of offences and
stumbling‐blocks from the path of the weak ones. Howbeit, at times, after
discourse with the Greek proselyte whom I mentioned above, there would
arise in my heart this thought, that when the words of the Law seemed to
contradict that which was right, then we ought to go into the presence of
God and to say, “Thou, O God of righteousness, art righteous altogether,
neither can it be Thy pleasure that we should be unrighteous”; and again,
“Thou art a God of truth, neither can it be Thy will that we should lie
with our hands in Thy presence. Therefore permit us in this case to break
Thy Law. For Thy righteousness is greater than Thy Law.” But the Scribes
would not so much as listen to such words as these; for they said that
scarce even a prophet durst speak so exceeding boldly. But when I asked
them whether it might be that a prophet should arise in Israel, then the
most said that it was not possible; for the Shekinah and the Holy Spirit
had departed from Israel when the first Temple had been destroyed. Thus my
words were an abomination unto my teachers, so that I hid my thoughts in
my heart: but it was pain and grief to me.
Yet another trouble was added to me. For as I grew older and understood
more of the ways of men and perceived the thoughts of men’s hearts, it
seemed to me a strange and horrible thing that the Law of the Lord should
be cut off from the greater part of the Lord’s people: so that it was a
current saying with the Rabbis that the common people were an accursed
rabble which knew not the Law: insomuch that one of the most pious of our
teachers, even Hillel the Great, said that no boor could be a sin‐fearer,
and that the people of the land (for by that name they called the common
people) could not be pious. This, I say, seemed an horrible thing: yet
indeed I could not deny that the Scribes must needs be right, and that the
people of the land could not be pious, so long as to be pious meant to be
obedient to the light precepts of the Law, such as the laws concerning the
exact observance of the Sabbath, and concerning purifications, and
concerning the consumption of nail‐parings, and the like. For the
knowledge of all these things was not to be obtained save by men of
leisure, that could give their time, and settle their minds to the study
of such matters: and how was this possible for them that must needs earn
their bread with the sweat of their brow, to wit, the sailors and
fishermen, the vine‐dressers and ploughmen, the dyers and glassmakers; who
all were called of the Scribes “the people of the land”? So it was borne
in upon me that our Law was a Law for the schools, but not for the lives
of men; and for Scribes, but not for the whole nation. Then my heart sank
within me, and I remembered the words of the Prophet, how that a time
shall come when men shall no longer teach each one his neighbour, saying,
Know the Lord; but all shall know Him from the least even to the greatest;
and I wondered if it would please the Lord to bring such a time as that to
Israel, and to make His Law clear to all our nation, yea, even to the poor
and simple, even to the people of the land.
Others that did not observe the Law so exactly as I did, nor felt the
burdens thereof so sorely, were nevertheless ill pleased that the Scribes
did naught to free them from the yoke of the Gentiles. Of these some dwelt
in Judæa, and a few in Peræa; but the more part dwelt in Galilee, insomuch
that the sect of Patriots was known by the name of Galileans. There were
also living among us James and John, the two eldest sons of Judas of
Galilee, and their youngest brother Manahem. To these, for the sake of
their great father, we all had respect. Many also (like myself) were ever
in a readiness to avenge upon the Romans the blood of kinsfolk shed in the
Galilean wars. Hence it came to pass that in Galilee more than in any
region of Syria, the minds of men were ready for revolt against the
Romans, and waited but for the ripening of occasion.
Now it came to pass that in the fourteenth year of Tiberius Cæsar, there
arose a quarrel between the Tetrarch of Galilee and his father‐in‐law, the
King of Arabia; because the Tetrarch had behaved ill to the King’s
daughter his wife, and sought to divorce her. Then it seemed good to some
of my friends to join the army of Antipas the Tetrarch, to the intent that
they might thereby gain experience in war; but others spake against it,
saying that it was not lawful to take up arms for the unjust against the
just.
At this time also a rumour went forth that a new prophet had of late
appeared, John by name, the son of Zachariah a priest, who was calling the
whole of Israel to repent and to be purified with baptisms, prophesying
that the Lord would soon send the Deliverer of Israel, or Messiah: for by
this name of Messiah, the Deliverer that was to come (of whom the prophets
had prophesied) was commonly known among us. Some said that John himself
was the Messiah; others denied it, but said that the Lord had sent down
Elias from heaven, and that John was Elias. Many other rumours also were
noised abroad, and this rumour prevailed most, that “One from the East
would come forth to rule the world,” which saying had spread even to Italy
and Spain: and we in Galilee thought that this conqueror from the East
would be our Messiah. Thus, the hearts of all men everywhere being in
expectation, it came to pass that many of my friends (who were the leaders
of the sect called the Patriots or Galileans), having purposed these many
weeks to hold a council, determined at this time to confer together in a
little valley between Sepphoris and Nazareth, there to resolve what should
be done.
Most of those present were from the inland parts of Galilee: of these
Barabbas, and one other, were from Jotapata. Only Hezekiah, the son of
Zachariah (a Scribe, who was thought to be well affected towards the
Galileans), came from Jerusalem. And from Capernaum came my cousin Baruch,
the son of Manasseh, with three others. There were present also from the
region of Gaulonitis James and John and Manahem, sons of the famous Judas
of Galilee. James the son of Judas spake first, giving his judgment for
war, and saying that Israel had slept too long: “For while we sleep,” said
he, “the leaven spreadeth; Greek cities cover our land; our own cities are
being defiled with Gentile abominations. They are stealing from us even
our language. No man may earn a living in Galilee now, unless he speak
Greek. With Greek theatres and amphitheatres, and baths, and market‐
places; with Greek pictures and images, and feasts and games; with Greek
songs, and poems, and histories, they purpose, by easy degrees, to beguile
the hearts of our young men from the religion of their forefathers. Our
princes are Edomites in the pay of Rome. Our rich men long for the
fleshpots of Rome, and call themselves by the name of Herod. Our Scribes,
our wise men, cry peace when there is no peace, and wink at the payment of
tribute. Publicans and harlots bring down the wrath of God upon the
nation, and go unpunished. All these things are as the meshes of the net
wherein Rome is encompassing our city. And lo, the fowler layeth the net
and the silly bird stayeth still.” Then Baruch said: “But is it so indeed
that the Romans would blot out our religion? Do they not suffer all
religions? The Gauls, the Spaniards, the Numidians, Egyptians and
Scythians, all worship divers gods: so have I heard from a Greek merchant
at Capernaum; and this, without let or hindrance from the Romans.”
“Nay,” cried Barabbas, “but thou seest not that the Roman suffereth all
false religions and hindereth them not; but he hateth the worship of the
true God of Israel. For this alone putteth other gods to shame. The
Syrians and the Egyptians scruple not to worship the Roman gods, besides
Astarte and Osiris, and to offer incense to the emperor of Rome, to boot.
But the children of Israel will bow down to no false god, neither offer
they incense before the image of the emperor. Hence cometh it to pass that
the Romans hate our religion and would fain destroy it. James therefore
speaketh the words of truth; and whoso speaketh otherwise allegeth naught
but pretexts of delay and cowardice.”
“Peace, Barabbas,” said John, the son of Judas; “we meet to hold
conference, not to cast reproaches. Nevertheless, my judgment goeth with
my brother, that our choice lieth between lingering perdition and speedy
deliverance. Hereof this is proof. But lately I was at the Holy City, not
many days before the Passover; and there went abroad a rumour that the
Procurator Pilate was minded to bring the eagles of the legions from
Cæsarea to Jerusalem, yea, even into the streets of the Holy City. Then
the Priests, even the Chief Priests, yea, even the whole Council, fell
down at Pilate’s feet, if perchance he would change his purpose.
Multitudes ran together round the Prætorium. In vain did they pray and
were disquieted. Under the cloak of night the procurator brought in the
Abomination. Then all the men of Jerusalem, and all the pilgrims which had
come together from the uttermost parts of the earth, clothed themselves in
sackcloth, and sat down in the streets about the palace, with ashes on
their heads after the manner of suppliants; crying aloud that they would
sit there for ever rather than endure the presence of the Abomination. But
when Pilate saw all the streets of Jerusalem thronged, so that no one
might pass night and day, and all business was at a stand, did he yield
from his purpose? Nay, he gave orders that the armed cohorts should beset
the streets around us, threatening to smite us with the sword if we should
not straightway void the streets. And when we would not, then went the
word forth from the captains to draw the swords; and the swords were
drawn, and the soldiers were in act to fall upon us. But we uncovered our
necks and held them out to the soldiers, crying ‘Give us death rather than
defilement.’ So at the last, but not till blood had been shed, the
procurator gave consent that the images should be sent back. Suppose ye
that this was a little matter, naught but an error in judgment of the
procurator? Would a procurator have dared to risk the peace of the whole
province for a little matter? It was no little matter. Pilate did what he
did, not of himself, but at the express instance of the emperor; to prove
the limits of our slavishness, and to force us into defilement and into
the worship of the Abomination.”
Hereat there was a general applause; but he, not heeding it, continued,
“If ye be of one mind with me that the hour is come to smite with the
sword; then how and where? I say, let certain of us join ourselves to the
army of the Tetrarch, which even now maketh ready to march against Aretas.
Thereby we shall gain experience of war, and, as I hope, win over some of
the army to our side. As for the tyrant’s guards, the Gauls, Germans, and
Thracians, they are bought with his money, so that we have no hope of
them; but by far the larger part of the army consisteth of our own
countrymen; and many of them may revolt on our side; as they did with
Simon against Archelaus, and some also helped Athronges, whom men call a
rebel. Meantime, let the rest of us make ready our friends in our several
cities to take up arms next Passover. They in Jerusalem will attack the
garrison there, others break open the armoury at Sepphoris and in Masada.
On the same day our countrymen in Joppa, Cæsarea, and Ptolemais will
attack and drive out the Greeks. Then will rise a flame of war from one
end of Syria to the other. Our rich men, even the Herodians, seeing all
the people to be of one mind, will stand with us; and having Israel with
us as one man, doing battle for the name of the true God against the gods
of the Gentiles, doubt not but we shall have also the sword of the Lord on
our side, as in the days of Gideon.”
The applause was now yet louder than before; and at first it seemed as
though the whole assembly were minded with one consent to obey the words
of John the son of Judas of Galilee. But one of the companions of
Hezekiah, Levi by name, an old man and grey‐bearded, rose up presently and
said that the hour had not yet arrived, because, said he, the Sabbath was
not yet duly observed, and the wrath of the Lord still weighed upon
Israel. Then Barabbas answered with indignation, saying that it was only
the rich and delicate, or else they that were enfeebled with old age, who
were thus content to be the slaves of idolaters.
Upon this Hezekiah the Scribe stood up to speak: “These young men of
Galilee gladly make mention of the old times of Gideon and David, yet do
they not themselves imitate the old times in having respect unto old age.
For even though Levi were old and enfeebled, yet what saith the Tradition?
‘Old age, though it be broken, is yet to be held in reverence, even as the
broken tables of the Law were kept in the ark of the Lord.’ But what
meaneth this youth of Jotapata, when he calleth my friend and companion
Levi, the son of Ezra, delicate or enfeebled; and all because the advice
of Levi is not the advice of Barabbas? Hear, O ye young men of Galilee,
the words of Levi are true: the hour hath not yet arrived. ‘What
hindereth?’ ye ask. I answer in the words of the Wise, ‘The dough in the
leaven.’
“I also, like John the son of Judas, will give proof of my words; but do
ye, being Galileans, incline your ears to the saying of a Galilean,
according to the proverb, ‘A Galilean said When the shepherd is angry with
his flock, he appointeth for their leader a blind bell‐wether.’ Note
therefore the leaders of Israel, which have risen up against the Romans of
late. Hath God sent them in anger or in mercy? Have they been blind bell‐
wethers, or endowed with sight? I say naught of Judas of Gamala, in the
presence of his sons: but Judas the son of the robber Hezekiah, how went
it with him? He thought in his heart that he was a second Joshua, and that
the waters of Jordan would part at his word. But who knoweth not his
miserable end? As also the end of Athronges: who aimed at the kingdom
because, forsooth, he was in stature a second Saul. Simon also, the slave
of Herod the king, when he had shewn forth his valour by destroying the
king’s palace at Jericho, became a portion for foxes at Amathus, and his
head was cast before the feet of the conqueror. Answer then unto me, ye
young men. Hath the Lord sent Simon the slave, and Athronges the shepherd,
and Judas the son of the robber, in mercy or in wrath?
“Nay, but since shame hindereth your answering, I, even I, a man of Judæa,
will answer for you, according as it is said, ‘From Judæa grain, from
Galilee straw, from Peræa chaff.’ The Lord sent these men in wrath. All
these were blind bell‐wethers, blinded by the lust of fame or gain. But do
ye therefore wait for the true leaders whom the Lord your God will send?
Leave it to this young man of Jotapata to follow any knave that may chance
to call himself the Redeemer of Israel because, forsooth, he may be a head
taller than his neighbours, or may have dreamed a dream, or may perchance
have gained some knowledge of herbs or unclean spirits.
“Even now they say there hath appeared in the southern parts (so I heard,
coming but now from Jericho) one John the son of Zachariah, concerning
whom I judge (if he be indeed a true prophet and no deceiver) that he is
either the prophet spoken of by Moses, or else Elias. For that Elias is to
come again we all know, because it is so written; and that the prophet
like unto Moses must needs appear, this also the Scriptures tell us: but
that other prophets should appear is not written, neither is it likely;
for the age of prophets is past. But whether this John be Elias or
whatever else, meet it is that we go to him; for he may perchance reveal
to us what it is our wisdom to do. If ye ask ‘What shall be the sign of
the true prophet?’: I answer, it is written in our traditions, ‘A false
prophet may shew signs on earth and in the deep; but a sign from heaven he
cannot shew.’ Wait therefore till the sign from heaven shall be
vouchsafed, revealing the true Prophet, whom it will be our wisdom to
obey, and for whom (during this present) it is our wisdom to wait.”
When Hezekiah had made an end of speaking, James the son of Judas was sore
displeased at his words, and made as if he would have spoken in answer;
but John (who was of a gentler disposition) prevented his brother, and
said that Hezekiah gave good counsel. For he, like the rest of us, had
been moved by the mention of John the Prophet. So in the end it was
determined according to the words of Hezekiah the Scribe; and we brake up
without resolving anything further, except that we would go straightway,
so many of us as conveniently could, to Bethany beyond Jordan, where the
prophet was baptizing. But on the morrow and on the day after, when I
spake to my friends and acquaintance concerning John the son of Zachariah,
it was a marvel to see how greatly the hearts of all men were stirred at
the thought of a new prophet in Israel. For that after so many hundreds of
years a prophet should arise in Israel (none having prophesied since the
time of Malachi, the last of the prophets, more than four hundred years
ago) this seemed a marvellous thing and well nigh impossible, and almost
as if a man should rise again from the dead. For the prophets were counted
as it were dead and out of mind in Israel, meet to be reverenced for their
past words, but not to be hoped for in the time to come. For this cause
were we much moved by the mention of the name of John the son of
Zachariah. And as the Prophet Elias from the top of Carmel looking out
into the Great Sea and discerning a cloud no bigger than a man’s hand,
foretold the imminent storm, so did all we in Galilee, on the first breath
of the rumour of the coming of a prophet, begin to forebode in our hearts
of the coming of one that should be no common prophet; but, in all
likelihood, Elias from the dead; or else one greater than Moses, to give
us perchance a new Law and a new Kingdom.