SECT. 18-22.] IN PROMISES AND THREATENINGS. 507
not appear. 5. He that despiseth the words of the scribes, much more the words of the law of Moses. 6. He that doth not obey and stand unto the sentence denounced against him. 7. He that hath any hurtful thing in his power, as a biting dog, and doth not remove it. 8. He that sells his field to a Christian or any heathen. 9. He that gives witness against an Israelite in the courts of the Christians. 10. A priest that killeth cattle, and doth not separate the gifts that belong to another priest. 11. He that profaneth the second holy day in captivity. 12. He that doth any work in the afternoon before the passover. 13. He that taketh the name of God in vain on any account. 14, He that induceth others to pro- fane the name of God. 15. He that draweth others to eat of holy things without the temple. 16. He that computes the times, or writes calendars or almanacs, fixing the months, out of the land of Israel. 17. He that causeth a blind man to fall. 18. He that hin- dereth others from doing the work of the law. 19. He that makes profane the killing of any creature by his own fault. 20. He that killeth and doth not show his knife beforehand before a wise man, whereby it may appear to be fit. 21. He that is unwilling to or makes himself difficult in learning. 22. He that putteth away his wife, and afterwards hath commerce with her in buying and selling, which may induce them to cohabitation. 23. A wise man of evil fame and report. 24. He that excommunicateth him who deserveth not that sentence.
20. An instance of this exclusion we have expressly in the gospel: John ix. 22, “The Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, droswdywyos yévnras,’—“ he should be put out of the synagogue.” He should be m2», “menuddeh,’— put under the sentence of niddui. And according to this sentence they proceeded with the blind man whose eyes were opened by the Lord Christ: Verse 34, ’E£é€«Aov,—that is, saith the margin of our translation, “they excommunicated him.” But that is not the signification of the word; it denotes only their causing him to be thrust out of the synagogue by their officers; although there is no doubt but that at the same time they pronounced sentence against him.
21. If a man died under this sentence, they laid a stone upon his bier, intimating that he deserved lapidation if he had lived. Howbeit, they excluded him not from teaching or learning of the law, so that he kept four paces distant from other persons. He came in and went out of the temple at the contrary door to others, that he might be known. All which, with sundry other things, were of their traditional additions to the just prescriptions of the word.
22. In case this process succeeded not, and upon some greater
508 THE SANCTION OF THE LAW [EXERC. XXI.
demerits, the sentence of non, “cherem,” was to be proceeded unto. .
This is an high degree of authoritative separation from the con- gregation, and is made use of either when the former is despised, or, as was said, upon greater provocations. This sentence must not be denounced but in a congregation of ten at least; and with such an one that is m0, thus anathematized, it is not lawful so much as to eat.
The third and last sentence in this kind, which contains a total and irrecoverable exclusion of a person from the communion of the congregation, is called xnow, “shammatha.’ Some of the Talmu- dical rabbins, in Moed Katon, give the etymology of this word as if it should be as much as nn ow, “sham metha,” death is there. But it is generally agreed that it is from now, “to exclude, expel, cast out;” that is, from the covenant of promise and commonwealth of Israel. And this the most take to be total and final, the persons that fall under it being left to the judgment of God, without hope of reconciliation unto the church. Hence it is called in the Targum, Num. xxi. 25, Deut. vii. 26, “The curse, the execration of God;” and by the Talmudists, 5sw ondx7 xnow,—“ The anathema of the God of Israel.” But yet it cannot be denied but that in many places they speak of it as the general name for any excommunica- tion, and so as not at all to difference it from niddui, which is taken to be the least degree thereof. The most learned Buxtorf hath given us, out of an ancient Hebrew manuscript, a form of this excommunication, which is truly ferale carmen, as sad and dis- mal an imprecation as, according to their principles, could well be invented. It is, indeed, by him applied unto the cherem; but as l’Empereur hath observed, in his annotations on Bertram, it was doubtless only made use of in the last and greatest exclusion, which is supposed to be the shammatha. The form of the curse is as ensues :—
23. “By the sentence of the Lord of lords, let such a one, the son of such a one” (355 72 2p), “be in anathema, or be accursed in each house of judgment, that above and that below” (that is, by God and his church); “in the curse of the holy ones on high; in the curse of the seraphim and ophannim” (the wheels or cheru- bim in Ezekiel’s vision) ; “in the curse of the whole church, from the greatest to the least. Let there be upon him strokes great and abiding, diseases great and horrible. Let his house be an habita- tion of dragons,” (nxn, or “serpents.”) “Let his star” (or “ planet”) “)be dark in the clouds. Let him be exposed to indignation, anger, and wrath; and let his dead body be cast to wild beasts and serpents. Let his enemies and adversaries rejoice over him ; and let his silver and gold be given to others; and let all his children be cast at the