INNER LIFE.
Inner Life of the Jews--Sphere of Action of the Synhedrion
and the Patriarch--The Order of Members and Moral
Condition of the Common People--Relation of Christianity
towards Judaism--Sects--Jewish Christians--Pagan
Christians--Ebionites--Nazarenes--The Gnostics--Regulations
of the Synhedrion against Christianity--Proselytes at
Rome--Aquilas and his translation of the Bible--Berenice and
Titus--Domitian--Josephus and the Romans.
The Synhedrion of Jamnia had become the heart of the Jewish nation,
whence life and activity streamed forth to the most distant
communities. Thence proceeded all arrangements and decisions relating
to religious matters, which were to become popular, and the observance
of which was to be ensured. The nation regarded the Synhedrion as
a remnant of the State, and paid to the Nasi (the President), a
member of the house of Hillel and a descendant of David, an amount of
reverence such as might be shown to royalty. The Greek title Ethnarch,
which means Ruler of the People, and which approaches nearest to the
description of a king, seems to show that with the Patriarchate was
associated the princely dignity. Therefore the people were proud of the
house of Hillel, because through its members the ruling power remained
in the house of David, and thus the prediction of the patriarch Jacob
was verified, "that the scepter should not depart from the tribe of
Judah." After the Patriarch came his representative Ab-beth-din,
and the Chacham (the Wise), whose special office is not known. The
Patriarch had the right of appointing judges and the officers of
the congregation, and probably supervised their actions. The Roman
government had not yet interfered with the communal arrangements of
the Jews so far as to cause the judicial offices to be performed by
Romans. The authority of the Patriarch left the power of the teacher,
however, undiminished in certain of the schools; they could confer on
their disciples the dignities of judge or teacher of the people, and
the assent of the Patriarch was not required. The master laid his hand
on the head of the pupil, and this ordination was called _Semicha_, or
_Minui_, and meant Nomination, Ordination, or Promotion. The ordained
bore the title _Zaken_ (Elder), which was almost equivalent to that
of Senator, for through this ordination they obtained the right of
membership of the Council when the choice should fall on them.
The chief activity of the Patriarch was felt at the public meetings of
the Synhedrion. He occupied the highest place, supported by the chief
members who were seated around in a half-circle. Behind these members,
whose number at this time was probably seventy, there were several rows
of the ordained, behind whom stood the pupils, and at the back the
people seated on the ground witnessed the proceedings.
The Patriarch opened the meeting either by introducing some subject of
discussion from the Laws, or by inviting the members to speak by the
formula "Ask." If he himself spoke first, he uttered some sentences
softly to the Meturgeman, who then developed and explained them in an
oratorical manner. Any person had the right to put questions: while
the discussion was being held the assembly would divide into groups
and debate on the matter. The president had the right to close the
discussion, and to bring about its conclusion by saying, "The subject
has been sufficiently discussed." After the conclusion no one was
permitted to return to theoretical discussions. It appears that the
ordained members also had the right of voting. In voting on criminal
cases all votes were taken, the youngest members beginning, so that
they, by coming first, might not be guided by the most influential men;
in other matters this method was reversed. Such was the procedure at
meetings of the Synhedrion when questions were to be answered, disputed
laws to be settled, new arrangements introduced, or old ones to be set
aside.
The Patriarch also exercised an important function in fixing the dates
of the festivals. The Jewish Calendar was not permanently fixed, but
had to be regulated from time to time. The year was in fact partly
solar, partly lunar, the festivals being dependent on the course of the
moon, and on the influence of the sun on the harvests, and the varying
course of the solar and lunar years had to be equalized. Thus, when
the solar year exceeded the lunar by a month, which occurred every two
or three years, a month was inserted, and this leap-year contained
thirteen lunar months. The length of the months was also uncertain;
a month, according to tradition, was to commence when the new moon
became visible, and this period was decided partly by astronomical
calculations and partly by the evidence of actual witnesses. As soon
as the witnesses reported to the Synhedrion that the first streak of
the young moon was visible, that day was fixed as the first day of the
month, provided it concurred with calculations made. If no witnesses
presented themselves, the doubtful day was counted in the current
month. The month thus contained twenty-nine or thirty days. The new
moon was celebrated in a solemn manner, and was announced in earlier
times by means of bonfires, which could easily be used in a mountainous
country throughout the land. Burning torches were seen on the Mount of
Olives, as also on Mount Sartaba (Alexandrion), and on Mount Tabor,
and so on, as far as Beth-Beltis, on the Babylonian frontier. On the
doubtful day between the two months the Babylonian community looked
out for the signal, and repeated it for the benefit of those who lived
afar. The congregations in Egypt, in Asia Minor and in Greece, however,
could not use bonfires, they were uncertain as to the day on which the
new moon fell, and, therefore, they kept two days instead of one. The
intercalary month was announced by the Patriarch in a circular letter
to the community.
The Patriarch Gamaliel introduced the use of set prayers. Although some
of the prayers were very ancient, and were used in the Temple at the
time of the burnt-offerings, yet the chief prayers of those days were
not formulated, but each man was left to pray in whatever words his
feelings dictated to him. Gamaliel introduced the daily prayers, the
eighteen _Berachoth_ (blessings), which are used in the synagogues at
the present day. It is not known by whom the prayers were introduced
for the Sabbath and the Festivals. Prayers were universally considered
as a substitute for offerings, and were called "the offerings of the
heart." The public service was very simple; there were no official
readers, any one who had attained a certain age and was of good repute
could pray; the congregation called on him to do so, and he was named
"the delegate of the community." He stood before the ark in which lay
the scrolls of the Law, and, therefore, to pray was called "to go
before the ark."
The Law, with the exception of the sacrificial system, was strictly
enforced. The tithes were paid to the descendants of Aaron, the corners
of the fields were left standing for the poor, and every three years
the poor-tithes were paid. In remembrance of the Temple, for whose
restoration the most earnest hopes were awakened, many observances
were retained, which could only be of meaning there. All those who
fulfilled strictly the requirements of the Law, giving up the tenth
part of all the fruits which they possessed, formed a sort of order
(_Chaburah_), the members of which were called fellows (_Chaberim_).
In contradistinction to this order were the peasants--the slaves of
the soil. A striking picture is given of the neglected mental and
moral state of these peasants, to which the frequent rebellions during
the last years of the Jewish state no doubt contributed. They only
observed such laws as appealed to their rude senses, and knew nothing
of a higher life. The members of the order would not eat or live with
them, and even kept aloof from them, that their clothes might not be
made unclean by contact. It was said by contemporaries that the hatred
between the two classes was stronger than that felt between Jews and
heathens.
Thus left to themselves and cut off from the higher classes and from
all share in communal life, without a leader or adviser, the peasants
easily fell under the influence of young Christianity. Jesus and his
disciples had especially turned towards the unprotected class, and had
there found the greater number of their followers. How flattering it
must have been to these neglected beings to hear that on their account
the Messiah had come, that he had been executed so that they might
have a share in the good things of which they had been deprived, more
especially of happiness in a better world. The Law deprived them of
their rights, while Christianity opened the kingdom of heaven to them!
The teachers of the Law, absorbed in the task of upholding the Law and
Jewish life, overlooked the element from which a mighty foe to the Law
would arise. Before they realized it they found an enemy on their own
ground, who was desirous of obtaining the treasure which they had
watched with such devotion. The development of Christianity as a branch
of Judaism, drawing sustenance from its roots, constitutes, so long as
its followers belonged to the Jewish people, a part of Jewish history.
Of the small group of a hundred and twenty persons, who, after the
death of Jesus, had formed his sole followers, a Christian community
had been formed, especially through the energy of Paul. He endeavored
to win over the heathens by the belief in the resurrection of Christ,
and the Jews by the belief that the actual appearance of the Messiah
had proved the inefficacy of the Jewish Law. Christianity could no
longer be contemptuously overlooked, but began to be a new element in
history. But the doctrine of Paul that the Jewish Law was unnecessary,
had sown the seed of dissension in primitive Christianity, and the
followers of Jesus were divided into two great parties, which were
again divided into smaller sects, with special views and modes of life.
Sectarianism did not show itself for the first time in Christianity,
as is supposed, in the second century, but was present at its very
commencement, and was a necessary result of fundamental differences.
The two great parties, which were arrayed in sharp opposition, were, on
the one hand, the _Jewish_ Christians, and, on the other, the _Pagan_
Christians. The Jewish Christians, belonging to the original community,
which was composed of Jews, were closely connected with Judaism. They
observed the Jewish laws in all their details, and pointed to the
example of Jesus, who himself had lived according to Jewish laws. They
put these words into the mouth of the founder of the religion, "Sooner
shall heaven and earth disappear, than that an iota or a grain of the
Law shall not be fulfilled"; further, "I have not come to destroy the
Law of Moses, but to fulfil it." They entertained a hostile spirit
towards the Pagan Christians, and applied to them one of the sayings
of Jesus, "He who alters any, even the most trivial of the laws, and
teaches mankind accordingly, shall be the last in the kingdom of
heaven; but he who obeys them, and teaches them, shall be considered
great in the kingdom of heaven." Even the devotion of Jewish Christians
to Jesus was not of a nature to separate them from Judaism. They
considered him as a holy and morally great man, who was descended in
the natural way from the race of David. This son of David had advanced
the kingdom of heaven because he taught men to live modestly and in
poverty, like the Essenes, from whose midst, in fact, Christianity had
sprung. From their contempt of riches and preference for poverty they
bore the name of Ebionites or Ebionim (poor), which was travestied by
their Christian opponents into a nickname meaning "poor in spirit."
Fearing to be eclipsed by the other party, the primitive Jewish
Christian community sent out messengers to the foreign communities, in
order to impress on them not only the Messianic character of Jesus,
but also the duty which they owed to the Law. Thus they founded
Judæo-Christian colonies, of which that at Rome in time became the
chief.
In opposition to these were the heathen Christians. As the term "Son
of God," as used in the language of the prophets, contained an idea
entirely incomprehensible to them, they interpreted it according to
their own mode of thought, as meaning God's actual Son, a conception
which was as clear and acceptable to the heathen as it was strange
and repulsive to the Jews. When once the idea of a Son of God was
accepted, it became necessary to eliminate from the life of Jesus
all those traits which appertained to him as a human being, such as
his natural birth from parents, and thus the statement developed
that this Son of God was born of a virgin through the Holy Ghost.
The first great difference between the Ebionites and the heathen
Christians lay in their views concerning the person of Jesus; the one
honoring him as the son of David, the other worshiping him as the Son
of God. The second point turned on the stress to be laid on the laws
of Judaism. The heathen party paid but little attention to the laws
relating to the community of property and contempt for riches, which
were the chief ends of Ebionite Christianity. The heathen or Hellenic
Christians had their chief seat in Asia Minor, namely, in seven cities,
which, in the symbolical language of that time, were called the seven
stars and the seven golden lamps. Ephesus was the chief of these
heathen Christian congregations. Between the Ebionite and Hellenic
congregations, which possessed in common only the name of the founder,
there arose strained relations and a mutual dislike, which became
more bitter with time. Paul and his disciples were fiercely hated by
the Jewish Christians. They did not cease, even after his death, to
use expressions of contempt against the circumcised apostle who only
spread error. Admiring the unity and solidarity which prevailed in the
Jamnian Synhedrion, in contrast to the dissensions which reigned in the
Christian community, a Jewish Christian wrote: "Our fellow-tribesmen
follow to the present day the same law concerning the unity of God and
the proper mode of life, and cannot form a different opinion of the
meaning of the Scriptures. It is only according to prescribed rules
that they endeavor to bring into agreement the sayings of Scripture,
but they do not permit a man to teach unless he has learnt beforehand
how to explain the Holy Scriptures. They have but one God, one Law,
one hope. If we do not follow the same course, our word of truth will,
through the variety of opinion, be shattered. This I know, not as a
prophet, but because I see the root of the evil; for some of the
heathens have put aside with the Law the prophecies in agreement with
it, and have adopted the unlawful and absurd teachings of an enemy
(Paul)." These words are placed in the mouth of Peter, the second of
the apostles. But the Ebionites not only called Paul's predictions and
instructions, of which he thought so much, unlawful and absurd, but
gave him a nickname, which was meant to brand him and his followers.
They called him Simon Magus, a half-Jewish (Samaritan) wizard, who is
said to have bewitched all the world with his words. He was said also
to have been baptized, but it was asserted that he had not received
his position as apostle through the Holy Ghost from Jesus' disciples,
but had sought it through bribes to the Ebionite community. The honor
was not only absolutely refused to him, but Simon Peter had threatened
him with damnation, for his heart was full of deceit, bitterness, and
injustice. The freedom from the Jewish Law inaugurated by Paul was
characterized as unbridled license, as the teaching of Balaam, which
brought in its train the worship of idols and the pursuit of vice.
The leaders of the heathens did not hesitate to reply in a similar
strain, and perhaps repaid their opponents with even greater hatred
when, to religious opposition, there was added the dislike of the
Romans and Greeks to the Jews, even after they had become followers
of Jesus. In the larger Christian congregations the two sects often
fell into distinct groups and became isolated from each other. In the
circular letters, which the chiefs of the various Christian parties
were accustomed to send to the communities, they made use of sharp
or condemnatory observations against the opponents of the opinions
which they held to be the only true ones. Even the stories of the
birth of Jesus, his works, sufferings, death and resurrection, which
were written down, under the title of the Evangels, only in the first
quarter of the second century, were colored by the views of the two
parties, who put teachings and sayings into the mouth of the Founder
of Christianity, not as he had uttered them, but according to their
own views. These narratives were favorable to the Law of the Jews and
to the Jews themselves, when they emanated from the Ebionites, and
inimical towards both in the accounts written by the followers of Paul,
the heathen Christians. The evangelists were thus polemical writers.
The division between the Ebionites and the heathen Christians was by
no means confined to religious belief, but had a political background.
The Jewish Christians hated Rome, the Romans, the Emperor, and their
officials as much as the Jews did. One of their prophets (said to be
John, an imitator of the visions of Daniel), who had composed the first
Christian Revelation or Apocalypse, was inspired with the deepest
hatred towards the town of seven hills, the great Babylon. All the
evil in the world, all the depredations and plagues, all the contempt
and humiliation were announced and invoked in this first Christian
Revelation against sinful Rome. They did not imagine that she would,
at a future time, become the capital of Christianity. On the other
hand, the followers of Paul not only recommended subjection to the
Roman Empire, but even declared it to have been appointed by God. The
Christian party, without any regard for those Jews who were imbued with
a love of liberty, continually recommended that taxes and tithes should
be handed to the Romans. This submission to the existing power, this
coqueting with sinful Rome, which the Jewish Christians thought doomed
to destruction, was another source of disunion amongst various sects of
Christians.
Between the Jews and the Jewish Christians there existed at first
tolerable relations. The former called the latter Sectaries (Minim,
Minæans). Even the Tanaite and Ebionite teachers mixed freely with
each other. The strict Rabbi Eliezer, who refused to the heathens
their share and part in life everlasting, had had an interview with
the Jewish Christian, Jacob of Kephar-Samia, and quietly listened to
his version, as he had received it from Jesus. Once, Bendama, a nephew
of Ishmael, having been bitten by a snake, determined to let himself
be cured by means of an exorcism uttered by Jacob. The transition from
Judaism to Christianity was not a striking one. It is probable that
various members of Jewish families belonged to the Jewish-Christian
belief without giving rise to dissensions or disturbing the domestic
peace. It is related of Hanania, the nephew of Joshua, that he had
joined the Christian congregation at Capernaum; but that his uncle, who
disapproved, removed him from Christian influences, and sent him to
Babylon.
But the Jewish Christians, also, did not remain content with the
simple idea of Jesus as the Messiah. They gradually and unconsciously,
like the heathen Christians, adorned him with God-like attributes,
and endowed him with miraculous powers. The more the Jewish-Christian
conception idealized Jesus, the more it became separated from Judaism,
with which it still thought itself at one. There arose mixed sects from
among the Ebionites and Hellenites, and one could perceive a gradual
descent from the law-abiding Ebionites to the law-despising Antitaktes.
The Nazarenes came next to the Ebionites. They also acknowledged
the power of the Jewish law in its entirety; but they explained the
birth of Jesus in a supernatural manner--from the Virgin and the Holy
Ghost--and ascribed to him God-like attributes. Other Jewish Christians
went further than the Nazarenes, and gave up the Law, either in part
or altogether. After such proceedings, a total breach between Jews
and Jewish Christians was inevitable. At length a time arrived when
the latter themselves felt that they no longer belonged to the Jewish
community, and therefore they entirely withdrew from it. The letter of
separation which the Jewish community sent to the parent body is yet in
existence. It calls on the Jewish followers of Jesus to separate wholly
from their fellow-countrymen. In the Agadic method of that period, the
Epistle to the Hebrews sets forth that the crucified Messiah is at the
same time the expiatory sacrifice and the atoning priest. It proves
from the Law that those sacrifices whose blood was sprinkled in the
Holy of Holies, were considered the holiest, and the bodies were burnt
outside the Temple. "Therefore"--thus continues the Jewish-Christian
monitor--"Jesus, also, that he might sanctify the people through his
own blood, suffered without the gate (of Jerusalem). Let us, therefore,
go forth unto him without the camp (the Jewish community), bearing his
reproach, for we have not here an abiding city (Jerusalem as the symbol
of the Jewish religion), but we seek after the city which is to come."
When once a decided step had been taken to divide the Nazarenes and the
cognate sects from the Jewish community, a deadly hate arose against
the Jews and Judaism. Like the heathen Christians, the Nazarenes
reviled the Jews and their ways. As the written Law was holy to them
also, they directed their shafts against the study of Halachas amongst
the Tanaites, who in those days were the very life of Judaism. In
Jewish-Christian, as in Jewish circles, men were accustomed to view
all events from the point of view of Holy Writ, and to draw counsel
from the explanations and references in the prophecies. The Nazarenes,
therefore, applied to the Tanaites, whom they called Deuterotes, and
more especially to the schools of Hillel and Shammai, a threatening
verse of Isaiah (viii. 14): "It shall be a stone of stumbling and the
downfall of both the houses of Israel." "By the two houses the prophet
meant the two scholastic sects of Shammai and Hillel, from whose midst
the Scribes and Pharisees had arisen, and whose successors were Akiba,
Jochanan, the son of Zakkai, then Eliezer and Delphon (Tarphon), and
then again Joseph the Galilean and Joshua. These are the two houses
which do not recognize the Savior; and this shall, therefore, bring
them to downfall and destruction." Yet another verse from the same
prophet, which runs, "They mock the people through the word" (Is. xxix.
21), the Nazarenes applied to the teachers of the Mishna, "who contemn
the nation through their bad traditions." They place taunts in the
mouth of Jesus against the teachers of the Law, which might, perhaps,
apply to one or another of them, but which as applied to the whole body
were a calumnious libel. They make him say, "On the seat of Moses (the
Synhedrion) sit the Scribes and Pharisees; all that they say you must
follow and do; but their works ye shall not do, for they speak and do
not act in accordance.... All their works they do so that people may
notice them. They use wide phylacteries and fringes on their garments.
They love to have the chief place at meals and in the synagogues, to
be greeted by other men in the public places, and to be called Rabbi,
Rabbi.... Woe to you, ye hypocritical Scribes and Pharisees, who devour
the substance of the widow under the pretense that ye pray long;
therefore shall ye receive punishment; ... woe to you, that ye tithe
the herbs of the ground--both dill and cummin, and that ye leave undone
the weightier matters of the Law, judgment, mercy and faith. The one
must be done, but the other should not be omitted. You blind souls who
strain at gnats and swallow camels, ... who cleanse the outside of the
cups and platters and leave them within full to the brim with extortion
and corruption."
Thus the leaders of the Jewish Christians were opposed to the Judaism
of the Torah, and thus, without actually desiring it, they played into
the hands of the Hellenes. The teaching of Paul thus gained more and
more ground, and came at last to be considered as true Christianity, as
the catholic, the universal religion. It was, therefore, natural that
the various sects of Ebionites and Nazarenes should gradually disappear
amongst the ever-increasing numbers of the heathen Christians, and
that they should become few in numbers and miserable in condition--an
object of contempt both to Jews and Christians. A peculiar phenomenon
was offered in this contest of opinions, that the further the Jewish
Christians departed from the Law, the nearer did the Hellenes approach
to it. In the various epistles and letters which the Christian teachers
sent to the congregations, or to their various representatives, they
could not sufficiently denounce those who sought to make way for the
Law and the Jewish teachings.
Meanwhile, Christianity developed a number of sects with most curious
titles, and of the most eccentric tendency. Half a century after the
destruction of the Temple, the two forms of religion in the Old World
(Judaism and Paganism) underwent a transformation and partial union.
Judaism being without a state or point of centralization, endeavored
to consolidate itself, whilst the Pagan world, in the full flush of
its power, became disintegrated, and a disturbance was caused in men's
minds which led to the most extraordinary results.
To the two elements borrowed from Judaism and Christianity there were
added others from the Judæan-Alexandrian system of Philo, from Grecian
philosophy, and, in fact, from all corners of the earth, whose source
can hardly be determined. It was a confusion of the most opposite modes
of thought and teachings, Jewish and heathen, old and new, true and
false, the lofty and the low, all in close juxtaposition and fusion.
It seemed as though on the advent of Christianity into the world,
all the most decided teachings of ancient times had bestowed a part
of their contents on it, in order to obtain thereby importance and
duration. The old question--whence did evil arise in this world--and
how its existence could be reconciled with the idea of a good and just
providence, occupied in the liveliest manner all minds which had been
made acquainted with Jewish dogmas by means of the Christian apostles.
It was only through a new conception of God that it seemed possible
to solve this question, and this new belief was pieced together from
the most varied religious systems. The higher knowledge of God, His
relation to the world and to religious and moral life, was called
Gnosis; those who thought that they possessed it called themselves
Gnostics, and understood thereby highly gifted beings, who had
penetrated the secrets of creation.
The Gnostics, or more correctly, the Theosophists, who hovered between
Judaism, Christianity and Paganism, and who borrowed their views and
forms of thought from these three circles, were drawn also from the
adherents of these three religions. So powerful must have been the
charm of the Gnostic teaching, that the authorities of the Synagogue
and the Church enacted numberless rules and ordinances against it,
and were yet powerless to prevent Gnostic teachings and formulæ
from gaining ground amongst the Jews and the Christians. Gnosticism
spread throughout Judæa, Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, and flourished
especially in Rome--the capital of the world--where all religious views
and creeds found followers. The language of the Gnostics was of a
mystic-allegorical character, often borrowed from Jewish and Christian
confessions of creed, but treated in an entirely different manner. Some
of the Gnostic sects exemplified the peculiarities of the tendency
of those times. One sect called themselves Cainites, for no other
reason than that its disciples, in defiance of the Biblical narrative,
regarded the fratricide Cain as superior to Abel. The Cainites also
honored the depraved Sodomites, Esau, in spite of his savagery, and
the ambitious Korah. The Ophites and Naasites were filled with similar
love of opposition to the Biblical accounts, but they assigned to it
a better motive than that of the Cainites. They took their name from
the Greek word Ophis and the Hebrew Nahash (Naas) serpent, and honored
this animal very highly, because in the Bible the serpent is considered
as the origin of evil, and, according to the ideas of those times, was
looked upon as the symbol of evil, and as the form taken by Satan. The
Ophites gave thanks to the serpent, by whose means the first human pair
were led into disobedience against God, and thus to the recognition of
good and evil and of consciousness in general.
Varied and contradictory as were the tendencies of the Gnostic sects,
they yet had doctrines in common. The fundamental Gnostic doctrines
concerned the actual knowledge of God, which its founders developed
in opposition to the idea of God formulated by Judaism. The Gnostics
pictured to themselves the Divine Being as divided into two principles
of a God and a Creator, the one subordinate to the other. God they
called Silence or Rest, and depicted him as enthroned in the empyrean
heights, without relation to the world. His fundamental attributes
were grace, love, mercy. From him proceeded emanations which revealed
a portion of his essence; these emanations were called æons (worlds).
Beneath this highest of all beings they set the Creator of the world
(Demiurge), whom they also called Ruler. To him they assigned the
work of creation; he directed the world, he had delivered the people
of Israel, and given them the Law. As to the highest God appertain
love and mercy, which harmonize with freedom, so to the fundamental
character of the world's creator appertain justice and severity, which
he causes to be felt through laws and obligations. According to the
usual practice of the age, the Gnostics found a passage of Scripture to
illustrate these relations between the God of justice and the God of
grace. Isaiah vii. 6 reads: "We will go up to Judah, and instal another
king, the son of the good God (Tab-El)." They depict the Creator as
forming the world out of primeval matter by means of wisdom (Achamot).
"Wisdom," as it is expressed in their allegorical language, "became
allied with primeval matter which existed from eternity, and a variety
of forms were brought forth; but wisdom became thereby bedimmed and
darkened." According to this exposition, the Gnostics assumed that
there were three original Beings--the highest God, the Creator, and
Primeval Matter, and from these they developed the various conditions
and stages in the spiritual and actual world. All that is good and
noble is accounted an emanation from God; justice and law come from the
Creator; but what is imperfect, bad, or crippled in this world is the
result of the primeval matter.
In correspondence with this Gnostic division of the three powers of the
world, there are also amongst mankind three classes or castes, which
are in the service of these three principles. There are spiritual men
(Pneumatics); they are as a rule and law to themselves, and do not
need guidance or guardianship; to this class belong the prophets, and
the possessors of the true Gnosis. There are, secondly, material men
(Psychics), who are in the service of the lawgiving Demiurge; they
stand under the yoke of the Law, by means of which they keep themselves
aloof from what is worldly, without, however, rising to the height of
spiritual men. Lastly, there are earthly men (Choics), who, like the
lower animals, are bound in the fetters of earth and matter. As types
of these three classes of men the Gnostics gave the three sons of Adam;
Seth was the origin of the Pneumatic, Abel the type of the law-abiding
man, and Cain the picture of the earthly man. Some of the Gnostics also
classified the three religions according to this scheme--Christianity
was the offspring of the highest God, Judaism of the Demiurge, and,
lastly, Paganism was a product of earthly matter.
A by no means insignificant number of Jews allowed themselves to be
blinded by the uncertain light of the new teachings, in which truth
and falsehood were so wonderfully commingled, and to be thus drawn
away from the parent body. The secession of one man, Elisha ben Abuya,
subsequently had very sad results. The reasons which induced this
teacher of the Law, who was not behind his fellows in knowledge, to
fall away, give proof of the important influence exercised by the
false teachings of theosophy on Jewish circles. Legend has, however,
embellished the story, in order to explain how one who was versed in
the Law could take so strange a step as to despise the Law. It is not
to be doubted that Elisha ben Abuya was well acquainted with Gnostic
literature, as also with Grecian songs, and with the writings of the
Minæans. It is also certain that he knew of the fundamental doctrine of
the Gnostics, which represented God as a dual being, and that, like the
Gnostics, he despised the Jewish Law. He is also said to have adopted
practically the evil Gnostic morality, and to have given himself up to
a dissolute life. Having thus fallen away from Judaism he received, as
a mark of his apostasy, the name Acher (another), as though by going
over to other principles he had really become another man. Acher was
considered in Jewish circles as a striking example of apostasy--as a
man who employed his knowledge of the Law to persecute it the more
energetically.
Against such incursions as were committed by Christianity Judaism had
to defend itself, in order to maintain its existence and continuance.
Inimical powers thronged its Temple, desecrated the holy things, dimmed
its clear belief in God, falsified and misapplied its teachings,
turned away its disciples, and filled them with hate and contempt for
what they had formerly honored. The time of the Hellenists in the
Maccabean period, who had first brought dissension into the house of
Israel, seemed to have returned with renewed horror. Once again sons
conspired against their own mother. The narrow circle of the Tanaites
felt the danger most severely; it hoped for nothing good from the
teachings of the Minæans, and recognized that their writings exercised
a seductive influence on the masses. Tarphon (Tryphon) spoke of
this dangerous influence with the deepest conviction. "The Evangels
(Gilion), and all the writings of the Minæans deserve to be burnt,
even with the holy name of God, which occurs therein; for Paganism is
less dangerous than the Jewish-Christian sects, because the former
does not recognize the truths of Judaism from want of knowledge,
whilst the others, on the contrary, deny what they fully know." He
would therefore rather flee for safety to a heathen temple than to the
meeting-house of the Minæans. Ishmael, whose character was less violent
than that of Tarphon, displayed the same feeling against that Jewish
Christianity which had shown itself so false to its origin. He said
that one need not hesitate to burn the name of God in the Evangels,
for these writings only stir up anger between the Jewish people and
its God. Those who professed Christianity were also reproached with
seeking to damage their fellow-countrymen with the Roman authorities
by tale-bearing and accusations. Perhaps by this means the Jewish
Christians sought to recommend themselves to their superiors, and to
show that they had no connection with the Jews. Their contemporaries
therefore always considered the name Minæans as meaning tale-bearers.
It is related as a fact that high officers of one of the emperors,
probably Domitian, came into the school of Gamaliel, in order to
find out what instruction was given with regard to the heathens. The
Synhedrion of Jamnia must have occupied itself with the question
what position the Jewish Christians should occupy in the Jewish
community, and whether they should in fact be considered as Jews at
all. There is no resolution of the Synhedrion extant with regard to
the Minæans, but the regulations which were introduced with regard to
them give evidence as to its existence. An actual line of separation
was drawn between Jews and Jewish Christians; the latter were placed
below the sect of Samaritans, and in some respects below heathens.
It was forbidden to partake of meat, bread, and wine with the Jewish
Christians, as had been the case shortly before the destruction of
the Temple with regard to the heathens, and to the same end--that of
preventing closer intercourse with them. The Christian writings were
condemned, and were put on a par with books of magic. Even to enter
into business relations, or to receive menial services, was strictly
forbidden, especially the use of magical cures which the Christians
performed on animals or men in the name of Jesus was prohibited. A
form of curse (which bore the name of Birchath ha-Minim) was likewise
employed against the Minæans in the daily prayers, as also against
the informers. The Patriarch, Gamaliel, confided the composition of
this prayer to Samuel the Younger. This circumstance confirmed the
idea that the various ordinances against the Jewish Christians, even
if not proceeding direct from the Patriarch, yet had his consent.
The form of curse appears to have been a sort of trial of faith in
order to recognize those who secretly adhered to Christianity. For,
in connection with it, it was decreed that whosoever refrained at the
public prayers from pronouncing the curse, or from praying for the
restoration of the Jewish State, was to be dismissed from his office
of precentor. The Synhedrion published all the enactments against the
Jewish Christian sects by circular letters to the communities. On the
part of the Christians the Jews were accused of cursing Jesus three
times a day--namely, at the morning, afternoon, and evening prayers.
This reproach is quite unfounded, and, like many another made against
the Jews, is based on a misunderstanding. The curse uttered in the
prayers was not directed against the founder of the Christian religion,
nor against the entire body of Christians, but against the Minæan
informers.
The separation of the Jewish Christian sects from the Jewish community
did not efface the results of the influence which for a time they had
exercised. Certain Gnostic, that is to say semi-Christian views, had
found their way into Jewish circles. Ideas regarding the primeval
forces, the æons, the predestined differences of caste among men, even
the teaching as to the two-fold existence of God as a God of kindness
and a God of justice, had been adopted by many, and had become so
firmly fixed as to find expression in the prayers. Certain expressions
were employed in the prayers which bore reference to the Gnostic or
Christian ideas. Forms of prayer as, "The good praise thee, O God; Thy
name is named for good"; the repetition of the expression, "Thee, O
God, we praise"; the use of two names,--all these bore a reference to
the Theosophic theory, which dwelt on the grace of God at the expense
of His justice, and thus endangered the fundamental principles of
Judaism. An impetus was given to this train of thought by researches
into the chapter concerning the creation of the world, and the throne
of God as described in the Prophet Ezekiel, (_Maas'se Bereshith_,
_Maas'se Merkaba_). The exploration of this dubitable ground gave
full scope to the imagination, and, with the assistance of the Agada,
allusions were detected and made to apply to any subject, however far
it might lie outside the true meaning of the text. Researches into such
themes, the darker the more attractive, became a favorite occupation;
such profound meditations, in the mystic language of metaphor, were
called "entering into paradise." Various teachers of the Law are said
to have been admitted to this higher wisdom, but it was not denied that
this occupation brought with it many dangers for the Jewish religion.
These dangers are hinted at in the statement that of those who devoted
themselves to the study, Ben Soma and Ben Asai brought upon themselves
respectively the one an attack of madness, the other early death, Acher
fell away from Judaism, and Akiba alone fortunately escaped the danger,
as, in spite of his theosophic researches, he yet remained on the
territory of Judaism.
In point of fact Akiba had formed the purest conception of God, of his
rule, and of the duty of man; and thus offered a sharp contrast to
the ideas of the Gnostics. He uttered a saying which is noteworthy on
account of its comprehensiveness and its brevity. He said: "There is a
providence in all things; free will is given to man; the world is ruled
by kindness, and the merit of man consists in the multitude of good
deeds" (that is to say, not merely in knowledge). Every word in this
saying bears witness against the errors of that time. As the far-seeing
Tanaites did not shut their eyes to the dangers arising to Judaism from
these inquiries into the highest truths, they made preparations to
avert the same. Akiba especially insisted on placing boundaries to the
unregulated theories which led to a falling-off from Judaism and to
the wildest immorality. He was of opinion that the passages concerning
the theory of creation and the cloud-chariot of Ezekiel should not be
expounded before the whole people, but should be reserved for a few
chosen hearers. Those who could be initiated into higher wisdom must
have the knowledge to understand hints and dark sayings, and, above
all, must have passed their thirtieth year. Akiba endeavored to put an
end to the study of literature which was opposed to Judaism, by denying
to those who took part in it a portion in the future world, as was
decreed against those who denied the resurrection and the divinity of
the Jewish Law. The introduction of such forms of prayer as bore the
impress of the teachings of the Minæans was wholly repressed. These
measures against the introduction of Gnostic Christian theories bore
fruit; the pure beliefs of Judaism, with regard to God, His relation to
the world, and the moral conditions of men, remained in Jewish circles
untainted, as fruitful ideas for the future. To the Tanaites of this
period must be given the credit that, like the prophets of old, they
protected Judaism from the falsehoods and errors which threatened to
overwhelm it. Following the natural instinct of self-preservation,
they, on the one hand, shut out the Jewish Christian sects from the
Jewish community, and, on the other hand, strengthened Judaism, and
armed it with a strong power, which upheld it in the storms which,
through centuries, threatened it with destruction.
Thus strengthened and concentrated, Judaism was enabled to exercise
some external influence. If Christianity, which had sprung from such
slight elements, was proud of the vast number of Pagans who had joined
it, and given up their national deities for the sake of an unknown
God, Judaism had yet more reason to be proud. A great part of the
conquests which Christianity gained in the Pagan world were due to
the Jewish religion, whose fundamental truths and moral teachings had
often facilitated the conversion of the heathens. It was only through
the truths of Judaism that those apostles who desired to convert
the heathens laid bare the inconsistent perversions of the Greeks
and Romans, for they made use of the words of scorn employed by the
prophets against the worship of idols, and the immorality arising
therefrom. But Judaism celebrated its independent triumphs over
Paganism, which appear the more brilliant when it is remembered that it
lacked all the means and advantages which facilitated the conversions
from Paganism to Christianity. The Christians sent out zealous
messengers, and, following the example of Paul, sought to make converts
by eloquence and so-called miraculous cures. They imposed no heavy
duties on the newly-made converts, and even permitted them to retain
their former habits of life, and, in part, their old views, without
separating themselves from their family circle, their relations, or
from intercourse with those dear to them.
With Judaism it was different; it possessed no eloquent proselytizing
apostle; on the contrary it dissuaded those who were willing to come
over, by reminding them of the heavy ordeal through which they would
have to pass. Jewish proselytes had to overcome immense difficulties;
they were not accounted converts unless they submitted to the operation
of circumcision; they had to separate from their families and from the
friends of their youth in eating and drinking and in daily intercourse.
Nevertheless, it is an extraordinary fact that during the half-century
after the destruction of the Jewish State, there were everywhere
conversions of heathens to Judaism, both in the East and in Asia
Minor, but especially in Rome. The question arose as to whether the
Ammonites could be admitted to the community, or whether the Biblical
command with regard to the Moabites and Ammonites, which forbade their
admission into a congregation of God, still held good. Further, a
contest arose as to whether proselytes from Tadmor (Palmyra) could be
admitted, the prejudice against them being strong. An entire portion
of the Law treats of proselytes (_Masechet-Gerim_), and in the daily
prayers the true converts were included (_Gere-ha-Zedek_). Several
converted Pagans acquired a knowledge of the Halachas. Akiba had two
proselytes amongst his disciples.
The greatest number of converts were to be found in Rome, and this in
spite of the hatred felt for the Jews by the Romans. The clear-headed
historian, Tacitus, could not explain the fact that the Romans of
his time could submit to circumcision, could renounce their country,
disregard their parents, their children and relations, in order to
go over to Judaism. The severe laws of the Emperor Domitian against
proselytes suggest an inference as to their frequent occurrence.
Josephus relates, as an eye-witness, that in his time, amongst the
heathens, there arose great enthusiasm for Jewish customs, and that
many of the people observed the Feast of Dedication (Chanuka), the
Sabbath, and the dietary laws, and that a strong feeling existed in
favor of the Jewish religion. "If each man thinks of his own country
and his own family," says Josephus, "he will find that my assertion is
correct. Even if we do not fully value the excellence of our laws, we
should respect them, on account of the numbers of people who respect
them." Different opinions were held as to the admission of proselytes
by the severe Eliezer and the mild Joshua. Whilst the former held
circumcision to be absolutely necessary for admission to Judaism,
the latter considered a baptism, that is, bathing in the presence of
qualified witnesses, to be sufficient. The milder view seems to have
prevailed. Many of those Romans who joined Judaism, probably did not
undergo the operation. The historian, Josephus,--who, in his "Apology
for Judaism and the Jewish Race," and, perhaps, also by his intimacy
with the higher grades of Roman society, endeavored to gain over the
heathens to the Jewish religion, and was, probably, successful in his
attempts,--did not consider circumcision as imperative.
The pride of Judaism was the proselyte Akylas (Aquila). He came from
the district of Pontus, and owned rich estates. Well acquainted with
the Greek language, and with philosophy, Akylas, at a mature age,
forsook the heathen customs in order to join the heathen Christians,
who were proud of such a disciple. Soon, however, he gave up
Christianity, in order to go over to Judaism. This secession was as
painful an event to the Christians as his former conversion had been
a joyful one, and they spread evil reports concerning him. As a Jew,
Akylas associated with Gamaliel, Eliezer and Joshua, and with Akiba,
whose disciple he became. The proselyte of Pontus became strongly
attached to Judaism, and observed a yet higher degree of Levitical
purity than even the Patriarch. After the death of his father, when
the heritage was divided between him and his brothers, he would not
take the equivalent for the idols which became his brothers' share, but
threw the money into the sea.
Akylas became celebrated through his new Greek translation of the Holy
Scriptures. The license with which the Christians treated the old Greek
version appears to have awakened him to the necessity of a simple but
fixed form of translation. As the Christians read the Holy Scriptures
at their service, and employed the Alexandrian translation of the
so-called Seventy (Septuaginta), they were anxious to deduce from this
text numerous references to Christ. They changed various sentences and
added others, in order to obtain the desired prophecies about Christ
from the Greek text, which they held sacred. Several passages may be
found employed by the teachers of the Church in confirmation of the
teachings of Christ, which cannot be found either in the Hebrew or
in the original form of the Greek text. The Gnostic sects, for their
part, did not fail to make the needful additions, so as to give their
teachings the authority of the Bible. The school of one Artemion is
expressly named as having defaced the Greek translation. The Jews, on
the other hand, startled at the alterations made in order to confirm
the Christian point of view, did not hesitate to introduce changes of
their own in order to remove all apparent allusions to Christ. The
Septuagint was, therefore, the meeting-place for violent encounters,
and the traces of the contest are plainly to be seen in the maimed
condition of the text.
A good Greek translation of the Bible was likewise a necessity for
every Greek-speaking Jew. At that time it was a universal custom to
interpret the portions read from the Bible into the language of the
country. On these grounds, Akylas, who had a perfect knowledge of
the Hebrew and Greek languages, began a new translation, in order to
counteract the unlicensed violence done to the text. For this purpose,
while translating, he kept strictly to the original Hebrew text, and
with excessive caution rendered word for word, without regard to the
fact that thereby the sense became incomprehensible to the Greek
readers. The literalness of Akylas' translation, which has become
proverbial, extended to such particles as have a twofold sense in
Hebrew, and these ambiguities he desired to retain in his rendering. He
wished to make the meaning contained in the Hebrew perceptible in its
Greek form. It was known in Greek as the "Kat' akribeian" (the perfect
fitting). This translation, on account of its exactness, set at rest
all doubts, and comforted the consciences of the pious. The teachers of
the Law used it universally for public readings. The Ebionites, to whom
the older translation was also objectionable, employed that of Akylas
in their services. An Aramæan translation was made partly from that of
Akylas on account of its simplicity, and was called Targum Onkelos.
A great sensation was at that time created in Rome by the conversion to
Judaism of Flavius Clemens and his wife Flavia Domitilla. Flavius was
a cousin of the Emperor Domitian; he was also a member of the Senate,
and Consul. His wife was also a near relative of the Emperor. Their
two sons had been named as Cæsars by Domitian, therefore one of them
would have become emperor. What a brilliant prospect for the Jews that
a near relative of the Emperor Titus should reconstruct the Temple
which the latter had destroyed! Although Clemens probably kept his
adherence to Judaism secret, yet it was known to the Jews in Rome, and
to the leaders in Palestine. On receipt of the news, together with the
information that a decree of extermination had been passed against the
Jews residing in the provinces of the Roman Empire, the four chiefs,
the Patriarch Gamaliel and his coadjutor Eliezer, the son of Azariah,
Joshua and Akiba, set out on the journey to Rome. When not far from
the capital of the world they heard the thousand-voiced noises of the
city, and were painfully affected when they thought of the desolate
silence which reigned on the Mount in Jerusalem. They shed tears at the
contrast. Akiba alone maintained his cheerful demeanor, and consoled
his sorrowing friends with the words: "Why do you weep? If God does so
much for His enemies, what will He not do for His favorites?"
In Rome they were treated with great reverence, both by the Jews
and the proselytes, and they had an opportunity of answering many
religious questions. But they had arrived at an unfavorable moment.
Domitian was at the height of his bloodthirsty tyranny.
The period of favor towards the Jews on the part of the Flavian house
was at an end. Even Titus, Domitian's predecessor, had already wiped
away from his mind the recollection of all he owed to them. His love
for the Jewish Princess Berenice he suppressed. When Titus became sole
ruler, Berenice journeyed a second time to Rome to remind him of his
promise of marriage; but she came too soon or too late. Titus at that
time played the part of a reformed sinner, and wished to show the
Romans that he had put aside the past. He banished Berenice from Rome,
who, as was said, left, but with a broken heart. Berenice personified
the relation of Rome to the Jewish people, who were first in high
favor, and afterwards cast into banishment and misery. It is not known
for how long a time the Jewish Princess survived her disgrace. Titus
showed no more gratitude to her brother, Agrippa II. He left to Agrippa
his kingdom or principality as it had hitherto existed, but did not
enlarge it as his father had done. Domitian, the third of the Flavians,
had no reason for displaying any favor to Agrippa. When the latter,
the last of the Judæan kings, died (92), the Emperor appropriated his
territories, and made them into a province of Syria.
Domitian, who, like Titus at his accession, had promised to bring back
a golden era, became, during the course of his government, just as
sinful and bloodthirsty as Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero. He was worthy
of his nation and his times, of which the poet Juvenal said--"It would
be difficult to avoid satirizing them." The Jews had to suffer bitterly
under this reign of blood. Domitian insisted on the payment of the
Jews' poll tax, and levied it in the most humiliating manner, and
under circumstances of peculiar severity. Severe, however, as he was
towards the Jews, Domitian was doubly hard towards the proselytes, and
suffered them to feel the full weight of his tyrannical power. Those
who were accused of a bias for Judaism were, by the emperor's command,
dragged before a tribunal, and if their fault was proved against them,
they were visited with the full punishment of the Roman law against
irreligion. Proselytes were, therefore, despoiled of their property,
sent into exile, or condemned to death. Tacitus relates, in his
inimitable style, that executions not only took place from time to time
and at long intervals, but that they occurred in continuous succession.
At this time (95) Flavius Clemens was condemned to death, Domitian
having heard of his leaning towards Judaism. Neither his relationship
with Domitian nor his high rank could protect him. The four teachers
of the Law from Palestine, who had come to Rome on his account, and
who expected a brighter future from him, were witnesses of his death.
His wife, Domitilla, who was exiled to the island of Pandataria, is
said to have declared to the teachers of the Law that Clemens had been
circumcised before his death.
Josephus, the Jewish historian, with his friendly feelings towards
Rome, appears to have taken part in the lawsuit against Flavius Clemens
and the other Jewish proselytes. He stood in high favor with the
Emperor Domitian and the Empress Domitia; but owing to the position
which, during the last Jewish war, he assumed towards the Romans,
he became so hated by his countrymen that constant complaints about
him were made to the emperor. Once he was even accused of treason to
Domitian by the teacher of his own son. In his spare time Josephus
occupied himself with a comprehensive work on Jewish history from its
commencement to the period before the war, and this he completed in
twenty books in the thirteenth year of Domitian's reign (93). With
much trouble and at great expense he had collected and used non-Jewish
sources, had brought them into unison with the historical accounts of
Holy Writ, and thus erected a national monument, by which the deeds
and thoughts of the Jewish nation became known to the cultured world.
But soon after he erected for himself a monument of shame. Justus
of Tiberias, his former enemy, had meanwhile written his history of
the Judæan wars, in which he represented Josephus as an enemy to the
Romans, a statement which might have led to unpleasant consequences.
Josephus felt that his honor was attacked and his life threatened. Not
much was needed for the suspicious tyrant Domitian to cast a man from
the highest grade of his favor to the abyss of a disgraceful fall.
In order to justify himself against the accusations of his enemy,
Justus of Tiberias, Josephus appended to his history a description of
the events of his own life, describing his conduct during the war.
To clear himself from the imputations cast on him, he represents his
own character in a most unfavorable light, as though he had always
held with the Romans and betrayed his own people. But in his fourth
work, published in 93 or 94, Josephus, though he could not entirely
redeem his character, yet clearly evinced his deep love for his
religion and his race, and thereby earned for himself the thanks of
his people. In two books against the Greeks and against Apion, he
opposes, with deep conviction, the accusations made against Judaism
and the Jewish race, and upholds the religious and moral superiority
of the Jewish law. These two books are probably intended to win over
enlightened heathens to Judaism. Josephus points out with joy that
many of the heathens amongst the Greeks and Romans already honored the
God of Israel and followed His laws. These books were dedicated to
his friend Epaphroditos, a learned Greek, who was strongly inclined
towards Judaism. No doubt Josephus endeavored personally to win over
proselytes. He must have associated with Flavius Clemens, as he lived
in the Flavian palace. When Domitian carried into effect the sentences
pronounced against his cousin Clemens and the followers of Judaism,
it is probable that a prosecution was commenced against Josephus for
having led them astray. A philosophical essay concerning the laws of
Judaism, which he promised to publish in his last books, remained
unwritten, as his thread of life was cut short probably by Domitian.
The Jewish patriots, however, were so embittered against Josephus that
they did not express any sorrow at his death, which was probably that
of a martyr. Nor was it referred to by the four teachers of the Law,
who left oral traditions as to the death of Flavius Clemens.
A complete contrast to the character of Domitian was presented by his
successor Nerva. Just, wise and humane, he was only wanting in the
freshness and courage of youth, in order to give effect to his wise
ordinances, and to restore the Roman empire, shattered as it had been
by Domitian's cruelty and caprice.
The Jews and proselytes immediately felt the effect of the change
of ruler. During the short period of his reign--which only lasted
sixteen months, from September 96, till January 98--Nerva, who had
to put an end to various perversions and abuses in the constitution,
yet found time to occupy himself with the Jews. He permitted every
man to acknowledge his faith as a Jew, without thereby incurring the
punishment of an atheist. The Jews' tax also, if not quite set aside,
was levied with kindness and forethought, and accusations against those
who avoided this tax were not listened to. This act of toleration
on Nerva's part appears to have been of so great importance that a
coin was struck in order to commemorate it. This coin, which is still
preserved, represents on the one side the Emperor Nerva, and on the
other a palm-tree (symbol for Jews), with the inscription, "Fisci
Judaici calumnia sublata" ("Accusations on account of the Jews' tax
are at an end"). It is probable that the four Tanaites, who were still
in Rome at the time of the death of Domitian and the accession of
Nerva, had furthered this favorable turn of events by opposing the
complaints against Judaism, and by inducing those in power to form a
better opinion of it. This reign, which was of but too short duration,
terminated the period of favor shown towards the Jews, and with Nerva's
successor there began afresh the old hatred between the Romans and the
Jews, and soon both nations again stood, sword in hand, arrayed against
one another.