Hebrew Literature Part 63

265 The seventh day on which they used the willows.

266 A log is about half a pint.

267 He is said to have been a Sadducee who rejected tradition. Alexander Jannaeus, to show his contempt for the Pharisees, poured the water on the ground. The people became excited, and pelted him with their ethrogs or citrons till his body-guard interfered, and, as fighting took place, some six thousand Jews were killed in the Temple.

Josephus, "Antiq.," book xiii. chap. xiii. 5.

268 Isa. xii. 3; John vii. 37, 38.

269 Galleries were erected for the women, and the men stood below them.

270 Ps. cxx. to cx.x.xiv. inclusive.

271 The signal for drawing water.

272 The orthodox worshippers in the Temple looked toward the west, or Holy of Holies. The Baal or Sun worshippers turned toward the east, and used the eastward position. Under the Christian dispensation believers are directed to look to Jesus, who promises to be in their midst (Matt. xviii. 20).

273 Ezek. viii. 16.

274 This is one of the very few specimens of Hebrew poetry, apart from Scripture (dating prior to the destruction of the temple), which have come down to us.

275 The priesthood was divided into twenty-four courses (1 Chron. xxiv.

7-19). During the feast all the courses ministered, and, as each day the number of bullocks was decreased by one, the lambs were redistributed so as to supply an offering for every course.

276 In the feast of weeks there were two leavened wave loaves (Lev.

xxiii. 17).

277 Those priests who were slow in attendance, as they were obliged to share their perquisites with the whole priesthood.

278 The course Bilgah was fifteenth (1 Chron. xxiv. 14). Each course had a ring to which the heads of the victims were tied, and also a closet for stores. These were taken from the course Bilgah as a mark of disgrace. During the persecution of Antiochus, Miriam, a daughter of Bilgah, married a Syro-Grecian husband. When the Greeks took the Temple, she struck the altar with her shoe, exclaiming, "O wolf, wolf, how long art thou to consume the wealth of Israel, and canst not preserve them in their hour of need!" It was supposed that she must have learned something evil in her father's house, and the whole course was therefore degraded. The Rabbis say that the courses of the priests were first ordained by Moses, and that he established eight of them. Four courses he a.s.signed to the line of Eleazar, and four he a.s.signed to the line of Ithamar. Samuel is said to have added eight courses more, and the remaining eight were added by David. The Scriptures, however, a.s.sert that David arranged the whole twenty-four courses. This arrangement continued till the captivity.

After the captivity only four courses returned-namely Jedaiah, Harim, Pashur, and Immer. The Babylon Talmud mentions Jojarib instead of Harim. To restore again the number of courses, twenty-four lots were cast into a box, and each head of the four courses, which returned, drew six lots-one for himself, and five for the courses which they wished to revive. The restored order of courses continued as of old, except in the case of Jojarib, who yielded the first rank to Jedaiah, as Jedaiah was of the family of the High-priest Joshua, the son of Jozedek. They soon increased in numbers, and we read that each course kept a station of 2,400 priests at Jerusalem, and half a station at Jericho. The lesser number was stationed at Jericho to give honor to Jerusalem.

279 Nisan answered to part of March and April. The reign of kings was counted from this month, so that if a king began to reign in Adar (February and March), in the following Nisan he would be reckoned to have reigned two years.

280 The pa.s.sover was the first of the three feasts, beyond which one could not neglect a vow.

281 Part of August and September.

282 Part of September and October.

283 Lev. xix. 23-25.

284 Ps. x.x.xiii. 15.

285 Part of July and August.

286 Part of November and December.

287 Part of February and March.

288 Part of April and May.

289 That is, for the new moon observances.

290 The Talmud states that when the sun and moon were first created they were of equal size. The moon became jealous of the sun, and she was reduced in bulk. The moon then appealed to G.o.d, and she was consoled by the promise that Jacob, Samuel, and David were to be likewise small. As, however, some injustice seemed to have been committed, G.o.d ordained "a sin-offering" on every new moon, because the moon had become less than the sun!

291 The Sanhedrin treated gamblers and usurers as thieves.

292 Those who bred pigeons, to bet on their quickness of flight, or to entice their neighbors' pigeons to their dovecotes.

293 Lev. xxiii. 4.

294 Literally, Bithosin, the followers of Biothos, who, with Zadok, the founder of the Sadducees, was a scholar of Antigonus of Socho.

295 Babylon.

296 So called in the Mishna. It means "the place fenced in." The Gemara reads, Beth Yazak, "the place of chains."

_ 297 I.e._, the Sabbath, when they could only go four cubits.

298 To carry money on the day of atonement was unlawful, but according to R. Joshua's reckoning it would have been a day too late.

299 Lev. xxiii. 4.

300 Exod. xxiv. 9.

301 Not to remind G.o.d of the sin of the golden calf.

302 Deut. x.x.xiii. 17.

303 Josh. vi. 5.

304 Num. x.

305 From the obligation of hearing or sounding.

306 Exod. xvii. 11.

307 Num. xxi. 8.

308 There is a supposed hiatus in the Mishna text to the following effect: "In Jerusalem they sounded through the whole city during the session of the Sanhedrin (_i.e._, till noon); but in Jamnia they did not sound in the city, but only before the tribunal of justice. And again," etc.

_ 309 I.e._, of the sheaf of the first-fruits. Lev. xxiii. 10.

310 The t.i.tles or the headings of the blessings which were used in the services of the Temple and of the synagogues out of Jerusalem.

311 Three were read from the Law, three from the Psalms, and three from the Prophets-such pa.s.sages as Exod. xv. 18, Ps. xxiv., Ezek. xx. 33, Zech. xiv. 9, etc.

_ 312 I.e._, they would not read such pa.s.sages as Ps. lxxviii. 39.