under the Herodian despotism, were gradually undermining Judaism, not only in its political, but also in its religious aspect. Active resistance was at an end; the leading Pharisees were exterminated,1 every attempt at insurrection was stamped out by the iron heel of the ruthless despot, and nothing remained but to wait patiently for the advent of the ardently-expected Deliverer. The very fact, that "the sceptre had departed from Judah," and was now in the hands of a Gentile usurper, was in itself an infallible indication of His speedy appearance. Meanwhile the nation could only be held together, and at the same time prepared for the inauguration of "the kingdom of heaven" by a more emphatic inculcation of the Law, and the rigid observance of all its details. To ascertain these, Hillel is said to have framed seven hermeneutical rules for the development of the Law, to which six more were subsequently added by Rabbi Ishmael; and as these rules are the basis of the entire oral Law, there can be no question as to the time when that Law first assumed a concrete form. For the further realization of that object, permanent schools of a higher order were opened by Hillel and Shamai,3 and larger numbers of adult disciples, who now for the first time adopted the title of Rabbi, were invited and urged to devote themselves exclusively to the intricate expositions of the Law.

Still these labours might not have risen above the sphere of scholastic speculation, and perhaps would have never entered into the essence of practical Judaism, but for the complete subversion of the Mosaic Theocracy, and the rise of Christianity. The danger to the continued existence of the Jews as a distinct people, arising mainly from the latter cause, and its effects upon the consolidation of Rabbinism, have not been sufficiently estimated. Unparalleled as were the calamities which attended the destruction of the Temple, by far the most terrible of all was the total collapse of Judaism as a creed, through the annihilation of all the Divinely instituted means of access to God. The religious pulse of the nation ceased to beat, as it were, with a suddenness most appalling. We hear nothing of the Sadducees in those days, they would, in times of national adversity, readily bend before the storm, and be swept away like chaff before the tempest never to appear any more. But the Pharisees stood up in the breach, and collecting the miserable remnants of the nation around them, tried to infuse new life into them. Mosaism was irretrievably destroyed; but the foundation of Rabbinism, as we have seen, had already been laid before. It was only necessary to consolidate it, to give it shape and form, and to claim for its expounders a higher authority even than was conceded to the written Law. And this was done, at the close of the first century after the birth of Christ, by the disciples of Rab1 Page 380, Note 15. 2 Page 393, Note 1. 3 Page 263.

bon Yochanan ben Zachai, who were the earliest elaborators of the Mishnah.

So far, then, with the substitution of Rabbinism for Mosaism, and the renewed hope in the speedy manifestation of the Son of David, the fatal consequences resulting from the subversion of the Theocracy might have been averted with comparative ease; for after all, idolatry was far too abhorrent to the Jew for him to yield permanently to it. But if Heathenism offered no haven of refuge to the storm-tossed, but earnest-minded Pharisee, Christianity did so all the more, now that the last formidable barrier to the recognition of its claims, was shattered by the extinction of the old covenant in torrents of Jewish blood. Surely even the rolling thunders and flashing lightnings, which had inaugurated the Law on Mount Sinai, dwindled into utter insignificance, when compared with the terrible demonstrativeness, the awful solemnity, and the crushing effects of the signs and wonders, which attended its abolition on Mount Zion. That the nation was disposed to view the destruction of Jerusalem in this light is evident from the stringent measures adopted by the Rabbis to arrest the progress of the Gospel. That progress, if not checked, would, now that every national tie was broken, have inevitably resulted in the absorption of the Jewish people among the masses of Gentile Christians. But the Rabbis were not unequal to the emergency. At Jamnia, where the first Rabbinic school was re-opened under the auspices of Gamaliel II., shortly before the destruction of the Temple,' the first formal anathema was hurled by the entire Rabbinic assembly against the Christians. A prayer of imprecation, was drawn up by Samuel the Little, at the bidding of that patriarch, and embodied among the Eighteen Benedictions. Other precautions of the most effective nature were taken to prevent all intercourse between Jews and Christians, and thus an impassable barrier was raised against the encroachments of Christianity.

2

But as prohibitive measures alone would have proved ineffectual, Rabbinism in all its minutiae was, for the first time, both systematically developed and rigidly imposed upon the amhaaretz, "the people of the land;" and it must be admitted, that to the practical enforcement of that system is due the preservation of the Jewish people, just as the process of disintegration, now going on among them, is attributable to the relaxation of its hold upon them. Of the fierce and prolonged resistance offered by the amhaaretz, to whom allusion is made in St. John's Gospel,3 the nature of the oral

1 Page 419, Note 6.

2 Justin Martyr in his Dial.cum Tryph.complains of the Christians Katapáμevoi év taîs συναγωγαῖς; Origen in Jerem. Homil. 18 says: Εἴσελθε εἰς τὰς τῶν Ἰουδαίων συναγωγὰς καὶ ἴδε τὸν Ἰησοῦν ὑπ' αὐτῶν τῇ γλώσσῃ τῆς βλασφημίας μαστιγούμενον ; and Jerome in Jesaiam says: Ter per singulos dies in omnibus synagogis sub nomine Nazarenorum anathematizant nomen Christianum. 3 Jno. vii. 49.

Law, its doctrines and ethics, the lofty claims of the Rabbis, their character, social, moral, and religious, there is neither space nor occasion to speak here. On all these points the reader of the following pages will be able to form his own opinion. Should his delicacy be wounded now and then by objectionable phraseology, he must bear in mind the impossibility of eschewing it altogether consistently with the desire to give a real conception of the Talmud and its authors. Unfortunately no literature, whether ancient, or modern, is free from this objection-a circumstance which might be adduced in extenuation in this case, if the Rabbis could be divested of the character of religious teachers, or if they had not been upheld as models of purity followed and imitated by the Apostles. It need only be added, that the earliest Rabbis of the Mishnah, which is the most ancient part of the Talmud, are almost exclusively the disciples of Rabbon Yochanan ben Zachai, that they lived at the close of the first century after Christ; that, unlike the later Rabbis, they never speak in the name of predecessors, and that nearly every halachah, and even those which refer to matters of daily and universal practice, as the reading of the Shema, etc., are subjects of dispute,between them.

To Rabbis Meir, the disciple of Achar, Nechemyah, Yehudah ben Illaë, and Shimon ben Yochaë, are severally attributed every anonymous proposition in the Mishnah, the Tosiphta, or the Supplemental Mishnah, Siphra, or Torath Cohanim, i.e., The Legal Expositions respecting the Priests, and Siphri. These Rabbis, having derived their knowledge mainly from Akiva ben Yoseph, taught in accordance with his views. He is, therefore, the author of a large portion of the oral Law, in addition to the numerous halachahs, which are directly ascribed to him. Akiva, in fact, occupies, perhaps, the most prominent position among the Mishnic Rabbis. He stands forth as one of the chief consolidators, if not the second founder, of Rabbinism;" and as one of the most energetic opponents to Christianity. Terrible, indeed, were the calamities which his strenuous efforts and indefatigable exertions for the organisation of the insurrection against Trajan and Hadrian, and his ardent support of the Messianic claims. of Bar-chochab, had entailed upon the nation. But his execution by the Romans, at a very advanced age, and his exhibition of pious fortitude and resignation under the most excruciating tortures, not only saved his memory from the reproaches of the victims of his mistaken zeal, but invested it with a halo of glory, and, unlike Barchochab, whose name was execrated, that of Akiva is always mentioned with the deepest and tenderest veneration. But though a disciple of

1 Sanhedrin, fol. 86, col. 1.

2 Page 454, Note 5. 3 Page 125, T. N.; page 153, T. N.

Rabbis Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, and Yehoshuah ben Chananyah, he not only never speaks in their name, but is often opposed to them: another proof that the earliest halachahs were not finally settled till after the formal constitution and recognition of Gamaliel's supreme authority, as the president of the assembly at Jamnia.1 The subsequent disputes of the Rabbis refer only to questions which had not been determined by their predecessors, and these were always decided by the authorities at the time, until the Mishnah was finally closed by Rabbi Yehudah the Prince.

The reader should, therefore, devote particular attention to the teaching and character of Hillel the Elder, the Gamaliels, Yochanan ben Zachai, Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, Yehoshuah ben Chananyah, and above all, Akivah ben Yoseph, who are the real fathers of Rabbinism, and who flourished during the first and second centuries of the Christian era. He should note the spirit of their legislation with reference to the Rabbinic "Association," the mass of the people, or the amhaaretz, the "aliens," or "the nations of the world," and Christians.

The collective designation of the authors of the Mishnah is Chachamim, wise men, as distinguished from Rabbanan, the Rabbis of the Guemara. Tanaîm, another name of the Mishnic Rabbis, occurs chiefly, if not exclusively, in the Guemara. Of the one hundred and twenty-eight Chachamim mentioned in the Mishnah, ninety-one are the expounders of halachahs, whilst thirty-seven are only incidentally referred to.

The phrase Tanu Rabbanan, which occurs frequently in the Guemara, refers to actions, or utterances, etc., verbally recorded soon after the completion of the Mishnah, and is, therefore, rendered: "The Post-Mishnic Rabbis have related," or "taught."

As the "wise men" lived in Palestine, the title attached to each singly is Rabbi, whereas that prefixed to the Babylonian authors of the Guemara is Rav.

Rabbon is the patriarchal designation in Palestine, as Rabbana is in Babylon. The latter occurs very rarely in the Talmud.

The chronological variations which occur in the course of the work, are due to the difficulty experienced by all writers on the Talmud, from Maimonides downwards, of ascertaining exactly the time when the Talmudic Rabbis lived. The dates have been given approximately, and are open to revision in future editions.

The references to Maimonides and to other Digests of Talmudic Laws, have, for the most part, been copied from the margins of the Talmud, which the Translator had in hand. As far as possible they were verified by referring to these works, and, with occasional mistakes as to the numbers, were found correct.

1 Page 402, Note 5.

M. W.

THE PENTATEUCH

ACCORDING TO

THE TALMUD.

Ten Rabbinical sentences declaratory of the origin and binding force of the Oral Law, and the authority claimed by its expounders.

I. Rav Yehudah said in the name of Rav (who flourished in the middle of the third century as the head of the captivity in Babylon): When Moses ascended on high (Ps. lxviii. 19, A.V. 18; Ep. iv. 8), he saw the Holy One, blessed be He! engaged in attaching crowns (jats and tittles. Mat, v. 18) to the letters of the (Hebrew) alphabet. Lord of the universe! said he, who has hindered Thee (why this latter addition to the Law, explains Rashi, which was in existence long before the creation of the world)? God replied: A man is about to appear after many generations, Akiva ben Yoseph is his name, who will take occasion from every one of these tittles to expound innumerable halachoth (doctrinal and legal decisions). Show him to me, said Moses. Turn backwards, was the reply. He did so, and took a seat at the end of the eighth row (at the celestial academy), where he saw him; but felt annoyed because he was unable to comprehend his meaning. When Akiva reached a certain point which required proof, he was interrupted by the disciples with the question: How dost thou know this? He replied, This halachah was delivered verbally to Moses on Mount Sinai. On hearing this, Moses felt gratified; and returning to the Divine presence, he exclaimed, Lord of the universe! Thou hast such a man, and Thou givest the Law by me! Be silent, was the answer; thus it has occurred to My mind. Again Moses said: Thou hast shown me his learning, show me also his reward. Upon this, he beheld his flesh weighed in the shambles (makulin, μakeλov). Lord of the universe! he cried; such learning and such a reward! Be silent, sounded again the Divine answer; thus it has occurred to My mind. Minachoth, fol. 29, col. 2.

T. N. Rabbi Akiva was the chief consolidator of traditional Judaism as a dam against the alarming encroachments of Christianity and other disintegrating agencies