A coniparati\ely early tradition enjoined that the collectors of charity should travel in couples (Habii Bathra, Sb). When the son of Rahhan Gamaliel (the grandson of St. Paul's Gamaliel) was ill, the distressed father sent two of his disciples to R. Chanina ben Dosa to request his prayers (Berak., 'Hh). The 5 zufjoth or couples of eminent teachers, the last of which consistedf of Hillel and Shammai, referred to in the Mishna (Peah ii. 6, 'Ahotli i. 4-10), may also be mentioned. The expression ' pairs ' was probably used of them in Rabbinic circles in the time of Christ.
The two wa\s of Mt Ti-'f- probabl\' represent a widely current mode of teaching. Thej- are met with in Jer 21'* (cf. Dt 3(fl^, Sir 151"), Slav. Enoch 3015 • i showed him the two ways, the light and the darkness' (cf. the note of Charles), in the Jewish manual probably incorporated in the early chapters of the Didache (cf. Ep. of Barnabas, Isff.), and in a remarkable passage in the Talmud. When R. Jochanan ben Zakai (c. 80 a.d.) was on his deathbed, he said to his disciples, who wondered at his tears : ' There are two ways before me : one leading to the Garden of Eden and the other leading to Gehenna, and I do not know in which I am about to be led ' (Berak. 2Sli).
Three. — A number of peculiar interest to the student of the Gosj)els is three — rptls, rpis, rpirov, TpiTos. It is purely numerical in the following pass- ages : Mt 15^'-, ^Ik 8- : Peter's words about the three tabernacles on the Mount of Transfiguration (Mt 17S Mk 9-\ Lk ^) ; Mt 18'«--^' 20^ 22-'«, Mk 12^' 15-s, Lk l'" 2** 12'«-*- 20'--=*' 23*^ Jn 2'-6. In a much greater number of passages it obviously or probably means more : in the allusion to Jonah (Mt 12*), in the parables of the 3 measures of meal (Mt IS-*^, Lk 13-'), the friend asking for 3 loaves (Lkll*), the Good Samaritan (Lk 10*^), and the barren hg-tree (Lk 13'), in the 3 temptations (Mt 4 ), and the 3 prayers of Jesus (Mt 26+*, Mk 14-"), in the references to Peters threefold denial (Mt •26^*-'\ Mk 14*- «, Lk •22*'-", Jn IS-'^), in the allusions to the 3 days' interval between the Passion and the Resurrection (Mt 12* 16-' 17-^ 20''-' 26«' 27+''-'^'-, Mk 8-» 9^' lO** 145« 15-«, Lk 9" 13^2 1833 94^- •■^'- *', Jn 2'«f- : add Ac lO"*", 1 Co IS'*), in the 3 manifestations of the risen Lord recorded in the Fourth (iospel (Jn 21'-'), and in the threefold question, ' Lovest thou me?' addre.ssed to Peter (v.'^"'-). In this latter and larger group can be traced a reference to the use of 3 as a significant number, of which there is a multitude of examples in the OT and other Jewisii literature : the 3 feasts (Ex 23'-'), Job's 3 friends (Jolt 2"), the 3 times of prayer (Ps 55'", Dn 6'"), the threefold shooting of Joash (2 K 13"*), the 3 sanctuaries— Eden, Mount Sinai, Mount Zion (T5k. of Jub 8'"), tlie 3 branches of a vine and the 3 baskets rejiresenting 3 days (Gn 40'«- '•-•'«• '«), 3 days' journey (Ex 3'», Nu 10^3, Jon 33), the 3 days' search for the body of Elijah (2 K 2'"), Esther's 3 days' fast (Est 4'«), the 3 days of rejoicing for the honour done to Enoch (Slav. Enoch 68'), the perfuming and anointing of tlie body of Abraham for 3 days (Test, of Abr. text A, ch. 20 >, the 3 sayings of the men of the (Jreat Synagogue ('Abof'/i i. 1), the 3 things on whicli the world standetii (Shim' on the Righteous in 'Ahoth i. 2, and Shim'on ben Gamaliel in 'Ahoth i. 19), and' the 3 sayings ascribed to each of the 5 discijtles of Rabban Jochanan lien Zakai ['Ahoth ii. 1411. ).
It is not difficult to see how the number came to 1)e used in this manner. Several wholes which are often met with can be readily divided into 3 parts : the head, trunk, and legs of a body ; the source, .stream, and mouth of a river ; the root, trunk, and corona of a tree (Konig, DB iii. 562'') ; the van, centre, and rear of an army ; morning, noon, and evening. Early Eastern speculation groujted all things under three heads ; heaven, earth, and the abyss (cf. the Babjlonian triad of gods. Anil, Bel, Ea). It will have been noticed in very early times that 3 is the smallest number with beginning, middle, and end. So it natur- ally came to be used of a small, well-rounded total, especially, as shown above, in reference to time.
The 3 days' interval between the Passion and the Resurrection may perhaps receive additional illustration from the Jewish rule that evidence for the identihcation of a corpse could not be received after 3 days ( Ychamuth xvi. 3). A reason for the rule is given in a tradition ascribed to Bar Kajtpara, who was associated with the compiler of the Mishna (c. a.d. 2u0). This Rabbi is reported to have said that for 3 days the soul hovers near the body, waiting for an opportunity of returning into it, but that at the end of that period, seeing that the features are altered, it goes away (Mid- rash on Genesis, c. 100 ; Midrash on Ecclesiastes 12": cf. Bousset, Die lieligion dcs Judenthums, 285 note). The resurrection of Jesus evidently took place before the close of the period of identification. Be that as it may, there can hardly be a doubt that the belief expressed by Bar Kappara, or some- thing like it, underlay the words of Martha : 'Lord, by this time he stinketh : for he hath been dead four daj-s' (Jn IP'-'). The 3 dajs were ended, and decay, she thought, had advanced so far that the features would be unrecognizable. That the 3 days between the Passion and tlie Resurrection had even the remotest connexion with the 3 days' disapjtearance of the new moon in sjtring (Zimmern in KA'JlZU'l 389), is highly improbable.