All religious spirits of the time longed to secure this happy vision
and communion with God, and to obtain even here on earth a foretaste of
the heavenly life. The Jews sought to attain this end by a painfully
exact observance of the ordinances of their law, but in so doing they
became entangled in a mesh of such minute and tiresome regulations
that the more they applied themselves to the service of the law
the more difficult it appeared. It seemed to be no longer possible
to reconcile the demands of everyday life with one's religious
duties. Some therefore withdrew from the life of the world and in
retirement and quiet endeavoured to devote themselves exclusively
to the "inner life." In Egypt the Therapeutes or Physicians, a
religious association composed of Jews and their proselytes, with their
headquarters in the neighbourhood of Alexandria, sought in this manner,
as Philo informs us in his work "On the Contemplative Life," to give
effect to the claims of religion as expressed by Philo himself. [30]
Their religious observances resembled those of the Orphic-Pythagorean
sects, as in abstinence from flesh and wine, admiration for virginity,
voluntary poverty, religious feasts and community singing, and the
use of white garments.
They made a deep study of the mystical writings of revelation that had
been handed down, and these they used as a guide in the allegorical
explanation of the Mosaic law. They united a contemplative piety with
a common religious observance, and thus sought to strengthen themselves
mutually in the certainty of religious salvation. Beyond the Jordan the
Jewish sect of the Essenes (from the Syrian word chase, plural chasen
or chasaja) had their chief settlement. These called themselves, as is
expressed by their name, the "Pious" or "Godfearing." In their esteem
of temperance, celibacy, and poverty, their reprobation of slavery,
private property, the taking of oaths, and blood-sacrifice, in the
honour they paid the sun as a visible manifestation of the divine
light, they agreed with the Therapeutes. They differed from them,
however, in their monastic organisation and the regular manner in which
the life of the community was divided among different classes, their
strict subordination to superiors, their maintenance of a novitiate of
several years, the secrecy of the traditions of the sect, and their
cultivation of the healing art and magic. The Therapeutes passed
their lives in leisurely contemplation and spiritual exercises; the
Essenes, on the other hand, engaged in the rearing of stock, farming,
and bee-culture, or they pursued a handicraft, and in the country
places or towns of Judæa, where they often dwelt together in houses of
the order, they lived as dwellers in a desert the life of purity and
sanctity. Both sects, again, were alike in expecting an early end of
the world and in seeking to prepare themselves for the reception of the
promises of God by the cultivation of brotherly dispositions amongst
themselves, by justice, good works, and benevolence towards their
fellow-men, finding therein the special occupation of their lives. [31]
Of what nature were the secret traditions upon which these sects
rested? We know from the Jewish historian Josephus that the Essenes
clung to an extreme dualism of soul and body, in which, indeed, they
agreed with the other religious associations of antiquity. Like all
mystical sects, they regarded the body as the grave and prison-house
of the immortal soul, to which it had been banished from an earlier
life in light and blessedness. They also grounded their longing for
deliverance from the world of sense and their strivings towards the
glory of a better life of the soul beyond the grave upon pessimism
in regard to human existence. They even regarded the performance
of secret rites as a necessary condition of redemption. But in the
opinion of the Essenes it was essential above all to know the names of
the angels and dæmons who opened the passage to the different heavens,
disposed one above another. This knowledge was to be revealed to men
by one of the higher gods, a god-redeemer. A conception allied to that
lay at the root of the Book of Wisdom, as well as of Philo's work--the
belief in the magic power of the redemptive word of God, mingled by the
Essenes with many strange Egyptian, Persian, and Babylonian ingredients
and removed from the sphere of philosophic thought to the region
of a rankly luxuriant superstition. Thus the closely related Jewish
Apocalypse had expressly supported the revelation of a secret divine
wisdom. [32] Indeed, we now know that this whole world of thought
belonged to an exceedingly manifold syncretic religious system,
composed of Babylonian, Persian, Jewish, and Greek ingredients,
which ruled the whole of Western Asia in the last centuries before
Christ. Its followers called themselves Adonæi, after the name of its
supposed founder, Ado (? Adonis). It is, however, generally described
as the Mandaic religion, according to another name for its followers,
the so-called Mandæi (Gnostics). [33]
Of the numberless sects into which this religion split only a few names
have come down to us, of which some played a part in the history of the
heresies of early Christianity; for example, the Ophites or Nassenes,
the Ebionites, Perates, Sethianes, Heliognostics, Sampsæes, &c. [34]
We are thus much better acquainted with their fundamental ideas,
which were very fantastic and complicated. They all subscribed to
the belief in the redemption of the soul of man from its grave of
darkness by a mediatory being, originally hidden in God and then
expressly awakened or appointed by him for this purpose. In original
Mandaism he bore the name of Mandâ de hajjê--that is, Gnosis, or "word"
of life. In the form of Hibil-ziwâ, the Babylonian Marduk or Nabu,
he was to descend from heaven with the keys thereof, and by means of
his magic obtain the dominion of the world. He was to conquer those
dæmons that had fallen away from God, introduce the end of the world,
and lead back the souls of light to the highest Godhead.
As the Apocalyptics show, this view had numerous adherents among
the Jews of Palestine also. All those who found no satisfaction
in the literalness of the Pharasaic beliefs and the business-like
superficiality of the official Jewish religion, found edification in
ideas of this sort, which excited the imagination. They dealt with
them as "mysteries," and sought, as may well be from fear of conflicts
with traditional religion, to keep them secret from the public. [35]
Hence it is that we have such an incomplete knowledge of this side
of the religious life of the Jews. At any rate they clothed their
expected Messiah with the attributes of the Mandaic God of Mediation,
and they appear, as is clear from the Apocalypse of Daniel and that
of John, to have taken particular pleasure in the description of the
scene where God calls ("awakes") the Redeemer to his mediatory office
and installs him as Deliverer, Ruler of the World, and Judge of the
living and the dead.
We are accustomed to look upon the Jewish religion as strictly
monotheistic. In truth, it never was, even in the Mosaic times,
until after the return from Exile. And this is clear, in spite of the
trouble which the composers of the so-called historic books of the
Old Testament have taken to work up the traditions in a monotheistic
sense and to obliterate the traces of the early Jewish polytheism,
by transforming the ancient gods into patriarchs, heroes, angels,
and servants of Jahwe. It was not entirely Babylonian, Persian, and
Greek opinions which influenced Judaism in a polytheistic direction;
from the beginning, besides the theory of one God, emphasised
by the priesthood and official world, there existed a belief in
other Gods. This constantly received fresh nourishment from foreign
influences, and it appears to have been chiefly cultivated in the
secret societies. On the descent of the Israelites into Canaan each
tribe brought with it its special God, under whose specific guidance it
believed its deeds were accomplished. By the reforms of the Prophets
these Gods were suppressed; but the higher grew the regard for Jahwe
(apparently the God of the tribe of Judah), and the further he was in
consequence withdrawn from the world to an unapproachable distance,
the more strongly the remembrance of the ancient Gods again arose and
assumed the form of the recognition of divine intermediate beings, the
so-called "Sons of God." In these the longing for the direct presence
and visible representation of God sought expression. Such appears to
have been the "Presence," or "Angel of God," with whom Jacob wrestled
in the desert, [36] who led the Israelites out of Egypt and went before
them as a pillar of flame, [37] who fought against their enemies,
drove the Canaanites from their homes, [38] held intercourse with the
prophets Elijah and Ezekiel, [39] and stood by the people of Jahwe in
every difficulty. [40] He is also called the "King" (Melech), or "Son"
of Jahwe, [41] and thus exactly resembles the Babylonian Marduk, the
Persian Mithras, the Phoenician Hercules or Moloch, "the first-born
son" of God (Protogonos), who also appeared among the Orphics under
the name of Phanes (i.e., Countenance), who wrestles with Zeus at
Olympia as Jacob with Jahwe, and, like him, dislocates his hip in
the struggle with Hippokoon. In the rabbinic theology he is compared
with the mystic Metatron, a being related to the Logos, "The Prince of
the Presence," "Leader of Angels," "Lord of Lords," "King of Kings,"
"Commencement of the Way of God." He was also called the "Protector,"
"Sentinel," and "Advocate" of Israel, who lays petitions before God,
and "in whom is the name of the Lord." [42] Thus he is identical with
that Angel promised in the second Book of Moses, in whom also is the
name of Jahwe, who was to lead Israel to victory over the Amorites,
Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites. [43] But
he, again, is no other than Joshua, who was said to have overthrown
these nations with Jahwe's aid. [44] But Joshua himself is apparently
an ancient Ephraimitic God of the Sun and Fruitfulness, who stood
in close relation to the Feast of the Pasch and to the custom of
circumcision. [45]
Now, many signs speak in favour of the fact that Joshua or Jesus was
the name under which the expected Messiah was honoured in certain
Jewish sects. In Zech. iii. Joshua, who, according to Ezra iii. 2,
led back the Jews into their old homes after the Babylonian captivity,
just as the older Joshua brought back the Israelites into Canaan, the
promised land of their fathers, was invested as High Priest by the
"Angel of the Lord," and promised the continuance of his priesthood
so long as he walked in the ways of the Lord. In Zech. vi. 9-15
the High Priest Joshua is crowned as Messiah and brought into
connection with the "branch" under which the glory of God's kingdom
will come to pass. It is true that in this passage under the title
of Messiah Zerubbabel, the leader of the Jews of the race of David,
was originally understood. In him the prophet thought he could
discern that "branch" by which, in accordance with Isaiah xi. 1,
the House of David was again to obtain the rule. Since, however,
the great hopes set upon Zerubbabel as Messiah were not fulfilled,
a correction was made (and this before the Bible was translated
into Greek) in the text of the prophet, as follows: The name of
Zerubbabel was struck out, the plural changed into the singular,
so that Joshua alone was represented as having been crowned, the
promises regarding the Messiah accordingly also passing over to
him (Stade, "Gesch. des Volkes Israel," 1888, ii. 126, note. Hühn,
"Die messianischen Weissagungen des israel. Volkes," 1889, 62 et sq.).
Jesus was a name given, as will be still more clearly shown, not
only to the High Priest of Zechariah and to the successor of Moses,
both of whom were said to have led Israel back into its ancient
home, both having a decidedly Messianic character. The name in
ancient times also belonged to the Healthbringer and Patron of the
Physician--namely, Jasios or Jason, the pupil of Chiron skilled in
healing [46]--who in general shows a remarkable resemblance to the
Christian Redeemer. Consider also the significant fact that three times
at decisive turning-points in the history of the Israelites a Joshua
appears who leads his people into their promised home, into Canaan
and Jerusalem, into the Kingdom of God--the "New Jerusalem." Now, as
Epiphanius remarks in his "History of the Heretics," Jesus bears in
the Hebrew language the same meaning as curator, therapeutes--that
is, physician and curer. But the Therapeutes and Essenes regarded
themselves as physicians, and, above all, physicians of the soul. It
is accordingly by no means improbable that they too honoured the God
of their sect under this name. [47] We, moreover, read in a Parisian
magic-papyrus recently found and published by Wessely (line 3119
et sq.): "I exort thee by Jesus the God of the Hebrews." The words
are found in an ostensibly "Hebrew Logos" of that papyrus, the tone
of which is quite ancient, moreover shows no trace of Christian
influence, and is ascribed by the transcriber to "the Pure," under
which name, according to Dieterich, the Essenes or Therapeutes are to
be understood. [48] The Jessaes or Jessenes (Jessaioi) named themselves
after Jesus, or after "the branch from the root of Jesse." [49] They
were closely connected on one side with the Essenes and on the other
side with the Jewish sect of the Nazarenes or Nazoraes (Nazoraiori),
if they were not absolutely identical. These were, as Epiphanius shows,
in existence long before Christ, and had no knowledge of him. [50]
They were, however, called Nazoraes (Nazarenes (Nazarenos) is only
a linguistic variation of it, cf. Essaes and Essenes) because they
honoured the Mediator God, the divine "son," as a protector and
guardian (Syrian, Nasaryá; Hebrew, Ha-nôsrî) (cf. "the Protector of
Israel," also the fact that Mithras was honoured as "Protector of
the World"). According to Acts xxiv. 5 the first followers of Jesus
were also called Nazoraes or Nazarenes. The expressions "Jesus"
and "Nazorean" were therefore originally of almost like meaning,
and by the addition of "the Nazorean" or "Nazarene" Jesus is not
characterised as the man of Nazareth, as the Evangelists represent it,
but as the Healer and Deliverer.
Whether there was a place called Nazareth in pre-Christian days must
be considered as at least very doubtful. Such a place is not mentioned
either in the Old Testament or in the Talmud, which, however, mentions
more than sixty Galilean towns; nor, again, by the Jewish historian
Josephus, nor in the Apocrypha. Cheyne believes himself justified by
this in the conclusion that Nazareth in the New Testament is a pure
geographical fiction. [51]
It is only in the later phases of the tradition that the name appears
in the New Testament as a place-name. In the earlier ones the Nazorean
(Nazarene) only signifies the follower of a particular sect, or is
a surname of Jesus which characterises the significance attached to
him in the thoughts of his followers. "The Nazorean" appears here
only as an integral part of the whole name of Jesus, as Zeus Xenios,
Hermes Psychopompos, Apollo Pythios, &c., &c. It is applied to Jesus
only as Guardian of the world, Protector and Deliverer of Men from the
power of sin and Dæmons, but without any reference to a quite obscure
and entirely unknown village named Nazareth, which is mentioned in
documents beyond any dispute, only from the fourth century on (see
Eusebius, Jerome, and Epiphanius). Or where else is a sect named after
the birthplace of its founder? [52] Moreover, even in the Gospels it
is not Nazareth but Capernaum which is described as his city; while
Nazareth does not play any part at all in the life of Jesus. For the
passages Matt. xiii. 53-58 and Mark vi. 1-6, according to which he
had no success with his miracles in his "patris" on account of the
unbelief of the people, leave the question open whether under the
name of "patris" one is to understand his father-city Nazareth or
somewhere else. The corresponding passage, Luke iv. 16-31, mentions
Nazareth, it is true, in connection with this incident; but it is
in discrepancy with the older versions of Matthew and Mark, and it
appears otherwise recognisable as a later redaction of the passages
in the other Gospels. [53]
Now the expression nazar or netzer in the sense of twig (sprout)
is found not only in the well-known passage Isaiah xi. 1, where the
Messiah is described as the "rod from the tree of Jesse" or "the twig
from its root." In fine, was not the twig looked upon as a symbol
of the Redeemer in his character of a God of vegetation and life, as
was the case in the worship of Mithras, of Men, a god of Asia Minor,
of Attis, Apollo, [54] &c., and did not this idea also make itself
felt in the name of the Nazareans? "He shall be called a Nazarene,"
[55] accordingly, does not signify that he was to be born in the small
village of Nazareth, which probably did not exist in the time of Jesus,
but that he is the promised netzer or Zemah, who makes all new, and
restores the time when "one loads the other beneath vine and fig-tree,"
[56] and wonderful increase will appear. [57] Again, the possibility
is not excluded of the name of the Nazareans having been confused with
that of the Nasiraes (Nazirites), those "holy" or "dedicated" ones,
who were a survival in Judea from the times when the Israelite tribes
were nomads. These sought to express their opposition to the higher
civilisation of the conquered land by patriarchal simplicity and purity
of life, abstinence from the use of oil, wine, and the shears, &c. [58]
According to this, Jesus (Joshua) was originally a divinity, a
mediator, and God of healing of those pre-Christian Jewish sectaries,
with reference to whom we are obliged to describe the Judaism of the
time--as regards certain of its tendencies, that is--as a syncretic
religion. [59] "The Revelation of John" also appears to be a Christian
redaction of an original Jewish work which in all likelihood belonged
to a pre-Christian cult of Jesus. The God Jesus which appears in it has
nothing to do with the Christian Jesus. Moreover, its whole range of
ideas is so foreign even to ancient Judaism that it can be explained
only by the influence of heathen religions upon the Jewish. [60]
It is exactly the same with the so-called "Doctrine of the Twelve
Apostles." This too displays a Jewish foundation, and speaks of a
Jesus in the context of the words of the supper, who is in no wise
the same as the Christian Redeemer. [61] It is comprehensible that
the later Christians did all they could in order to draw the veil of
forgetfulness over these things. Nevertheless Smith has succeeded
in his book, "The Pre-Christian Jesus," in showing clear evidences
even in the New Testament of a cult of an old God Jesus. Among other
things the phrase "ta peri tou Iesou" ("the things concerning
Jesus") [62] which according to all appearance has no reference to
the history of Jesus, but only means the doctrines concerning him,
and in any case could originally only have had this meaning, involves
a pre-Christian form of belief in a Jesus. But this point is above all
supported by the circumstance that even at the earliest commencement
of the Christian propaganda we meet with the name of Jesus used in
such a manner as to point to a long history of that name. For it
is employed from the beginning in the driving out of evil spirits,
a fact that would be quite incomprehensible if its bearer had been
merely a man. Now we know from the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles
that it was not only the disciples of the Jesus of the Gospels, but
also others even in his lifetime (i.e., even in the first commencement
of the Christian propaganda), healed diseases, and drove out evil
spirits in the name of Jesus. From this it is to be concluded that
the magic of names was associated from of old with the conception
of a divine healer and protector, and that Jesus, like Marduk, was
a name for this God of Healing. [63] Judging by this the Persian,
but above all the Babylonian, religion must have influenced the views
of the above-named sects. For the superstition regarding names, the
belief in the magic power attributed to the name of a divine being,
as well as the belief in Star Gods and Astral mythology, which is
a characteristic of Mandaism, all have Babylon as their home. The
Essenes also appear to have exercised the magical and healing art of
which they boasted in the form of wonder-working and the driving out
of evil spirits by a solemn invocation of the name of their God of
Healing. [64]