On according to the Scripture statement, "To-day, if ye will hear My voice." After the troubles of the latter day, God will recall His banished; earth will be renovated, many of the heathen be converted, and Israel be at peace with God. the morning of the day of Israel's deliverance, God will prepare a great feast for all the pious departed, and after it the cup will be offered to Abraham to pronounce over it the customary blessing. But Abraham will return it, as having begotten wicked Ishmael, so will Isaac on account of Esau, Jacob on account of his marriage with two sisters, Moses on account of his sin, and Joshua as not having left a male descendant; but David will take it and say, "I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord."1 On A number of vague superstitions were afloat amongst the people. Thus superstitious views were entertained about the influence of outward things upon the mind. Thus, that to eat of that which mice had touched, or of the heart of an ox, or too many olives; to drink of that which had been left from the ablution of the hands; or to wash the feet with the one foot crossing the other; or to place the garments under the head at night, was thought to impair the memory. the other hand, to eat wheaten bread, soft-boiled eggs without salt, to drink pure oil, well-spiced wine, water left from that which had been destined for kneading dough; or to dip one's finger first in water, then in salt, tended to strengthen the memory.2 Again, the number two was under the special rule of Ashmedai the prince of spirits, and consequently highly dangerous. To drink two or four cups, to eat two eggs, etc., was deemed unlucky. Some persons could exercise supernatural powers, which were to be again counteracted by magical formulas. It was deemed unlucky to pass between dogs, between date-trees, pigs, serpents, and women, or to eat under the shadow of a tree, especially of a date-tree. Evil spirits dwelt amongst caper bushes, but as these spirits were blind, it was comparatively easy to eschew them. Other spirits frequented waste places and ruined houses. To comb one's hair without having first dried it, to drink the drops from a bucket, and to put on shoes without having properly dried the feet; to cut the nails or the hair, or to be bled without washing after it, were supposed dangerous.1 However, evil spirits which did mischief might be cited before the Jewish tribunals, and forced to give compensation. It was thought dangerous to go into an empty lecture-room, because the angel of death kept his armoury there. In outward demeanour the sages were to be distinguished from the common people. They were neither to go forth perfumed, nor with patched shoes, nor alone at night; they were not to talk with women in the street, nor to appear late in a lecture-room, nor to hold intercourse with ignorant people. They were to be cleanly and neatly attired, and to walk slowly and modestly, avoiding, however, the mock pietism which had at one time constituted the distinguishing mark of spiritual superiority. A sage was allowed full discretion when to speak the truth and when to tell a lie. He was in every respect to conduct himself in a manner becoming his dignity, and to be treated by others accordingly. To yield to passion, or to indulge in anger, deprived a sage of his wisdom (as in the cases of Moses and Elisha), and involved grievous punishments. It was on this ground that David's elder brother Eliab, who had been angry with David, was deprived of the throne, which otherwise he and not David would have occupied.* For the sake of peace, Gentile paupers were to be allowed to share with the Jews in the charities of the harvest season;5 and in order to promote mutual goodwill, it was right to inform the recipient of a gift of the name of the donor. Examples of the exercise of charity are very numerous among the Jewish sages. Another virtue of great merit was humility, which conciliated the favour of God and men. However, a little pride was not only allowable, but even necessary in a Rabbi.7 In the full and faithful picture of Jewish life which we have attempted to present, amidst much punctiliousness and externality, many things truly good, noble, and great will 1 Pes. 1096-112a. 5 Gitt. 61a. 2 Chul. 105b. 3 Ber. 436. + Pes. 66b. have been observed. In truth, the spirit of the Old Testament had pervaded the nation, and cast Jewish social life. in its mould. What was spiritual in that economy-what referred to things unseen and eternal-had become bedimmed. But what was external and all the relations between man and man were preserved. Only that here also the externality of Rabbinism confined the life-blood till it almost stood still. The impulse of the heart of Judaism was feeble, its arteries had almost become ossified. The blood improperly propelled, returned sluggishly through the social system to its fountainhead. Still it circulated. What a contrast is that presented by the social state and the virtues of the Hebrew race, and the dissoluteness and moral disorganisation of all other nations at the time! It will also have been noticed that often the views and even the words of the Rabbins closely approach those enunciated in the pages of the New Testament. The reverent and careful student of history will not hastily infer from this that either party had borrowed from the other. He will rather conclude that both had drawn from the same source, and gathered up the gems of Divine truth with which the Jewish commonwealth was even in its most degenerate times so richly bestudded. Only we must be allowed to add that the one polished and presented them in their proper setting as a crown of glory, while the others buried them amidst a mass of rubbish, from which only the search of the antiquarian, or the restlessness of spiritual traffic in merit, could rescue them. CHAPTER X PROGRESS OF ARTS AND SCIENCES AMONG THE HEBREWS I. Poetry and Music THE religious tendency which gave to Jewish social life its peculiar aspect, exercised a marked influence upon the progress of literature and art in Palestine. [It was impossible to resist the continuous advance of Greek culture; and in order to preserve their national religion and character, the Rabbins were compelled to raise artificial barriers between themselves and their Gentile neighbours. The principal means to the desired end was the multiplication of legal regulations and restrictions, which formed a constant hindrance to free intercourse with the heathen. Even familiarity with the writings of the great poets and thinkers of antiquity was regarded with suspicion, and literature and art were left to develop themselves on purely national lines. But the same religious earnestness which despised the attractions of Hellenistic learning, were unfavourable to a real interest in literature and culture for their own sakes. Zeal for religion was the primary motive for the Palestinian writers of our period, and we find that nearly all the literary productions which survive are made to serve some moral or religious purpose.1] Unfortunately our materials are more scanty than could have been wished. In the pages of the Talmud we can only look for incidental notices, which require to be connected, arranged, and interpreted. Yet sufficient may be gathered to form a tolerably correct notion of the intellectual life of the period over which our record extends. 1 Comp. Schürer, II. i. 51-56, iii. 1-6. It is remarkable that Palestine has never produced any distinguished painters or sculptors. Whether the genius of the Old Testament was averse to the development of arts, which might so readily be engaged in the service of idolatry or of lust, or whether the prejudices of the Rabbins operated against all attempts at representation, certain it is, that not only at that period, but even to our own days, painting and sculpture have not been cultivated amongst the Jews. The dwellings of the rich were indeed decorated with works of art, but their introduction was one of those foreign innovations which indicated an assimilation with heathen manners and modes of thinking. It was otherwise with those arts which more especially are the exponents of thought and feeling. Poetry and music have always been favourite engagements with Israel; and from the period of biblical times to our own days, Jews have distinguished themselves by a depth and originality peculiarly their own, and peculiarly expressive of their national mental characteristics. Even when the dry logic and the theological wrangling of the schools seemed to have absorbed the intellectual efforts of the nation, the poetic sentiments found an utterance in their songs of praise, in their prayers, and in the unfettered compositions of the Hagadists. The poetry of popular common sense is embodied in the peculiar proverbs current in a country. Every nation has more or less of these, indicating both the aspects of common life and the popular mode of viewing them. Sometimes these proverbs are more scientifically elaborated into similes, collections, sententious sayings or maxims, parallels, and fables. The latter form the point of transition into more regular poetry. An abstraction from common life, clad in poetic and concise language,—such is the proverb. Of these the Hebrews, who united dry humour, the faculty of viewing and presenting things as they are, with readiness of expression, possessed a large number. Some of them are similar to Arabic 1 Jos. Ant. xv. 2. 6, xix. 9. 1. 2 Dukes (Rabbin. Blumenlese) collects 665, but does not arrange them in any scientific manner. |