ANATHEMA
21S
ANATHEMA
although doubtless the instances already referred to (Num. xxi, 2 ; Josh, vi, 17) show how a vow was oc- casionally superadded to the command. It may be further noticed that the degree to which the work of destruction was carried out varied. Thus it applied to the destruction of (1) men alone (Deut. xx, 13); (2) men, women, and children (Deut, ii, 34) ; (3) vir- gins excepted (Num. xxxi, 17; Judg. xxi, 11); (4) all living creatures (Deut. xx, 1G; 1 Sam. xv, 3) ; the spoil in the former cases were reserved for the use of the arm)r (Deut. ii, 35 ; xx, 14 ; Josh, xxii, 8), instead of being given over to the priesthood, as was the case in the recorded vow of Joshua (Josh, vi, 19). See Vow.
I. We thus find that the ckerem was a person or thing consecrated or devoted irrevocably to God, and that it differed from any thing merely vowed or sanctified to the Lord in this respect, that the latter could be re- deemed (Lev. xxviii, 1-27), while the former was irre- claimable (Lev. xxvii, 21, 28) ; hence, in reference to living creatures, the devoted thing, whether man or beast, must be put to death (Lev. xxvii, 29). The prominent idea, therefore, which the word conveyed was that of a person or thing devoted to destruction, or accursed. Thus the cities of the Canaanites were anathematized (Num. xxi, 2, 3), and, after their com- plete destruction, the name of the place was called Hormah (!T2"iri; Sept. avaBtfia). Thus, again, the city of Jericho was made an anathema to the Lord (Josh, vi, 17) ; that is, every living thing in it (except Rahab and her family) was devoted to death; that ■which could be destroyed by fire was burnt, and all that could not be thus consumed (as gold and silver) ■was forever alienated from man and devoted to the use of the sanctuary (Josh, vi, 24). The prominence thus given to the idea of a thing accursed led naturall)' to the use of the word in cases where there was no reference whatever to consecration to the sei'vice of God, as in Deut. vii, 26, where an idol is called E"?H, or dvddefia, and the Israelites are warned against idolatry lest they should be anathema like it. In these instances the term denotes the object of the curse, but it is sometimes used to designate the curse itself (e. g. Deut. xx, 17, Sept. ; comp. Acts xxiii, 14), and it is in this latter sense that the English word is generally employed.
In this sense, also, the Jews of later times use the Hebrew term, though with a somewhat different meaning as to the curse intended. The Cin, cherem, of the rabbins signifies excommunication or exclusion from the Jewish Church. The more recent rabbinical writers reckon three kinds or degrees of excommuni- cation, all of which are occasionally designated by this generic term (Elias Levita, in Sej>her Tisbi). (1.) The first of these, "^3, niduui, separation, is merely a temporary separation or suspension from ecclesiasti- cal privileges, involving, however, various civil in- conveniences, particularly seclusion from society to the distance of four cubits. The person thus excom- municated was not debarred entering the temple, but instead of going in on the right hand, as was custom- ary, he was obliged to enter on the left, the usual Way of departure : if he died while in this condition there was no mourning for him, but a stone was thrown on his coffin to indicate that he was separated from the people and bad deserved stoning. Buxtorf (Lex. Taltn. col. L304) enumerates twenty-four causes of this kind of excommunication: it lasted thirty days, and was pronounced without a curse. If the individual did not repent at the expiration of the term (which, however, according to Buxtorf, was extended in such cases to sixty or ninety days), the second kind of excommunication was resorted to. (2.) This was called simply and more properly C*J"I, cherem, curse. It could onty be pronounced by an
assembly of at least ten persons, and was always ac- companied with curses. The formula employed is given at length by Buxtorf (Lex. col. 828). A per- son thus excommunicated was cut off from all religious and social privileges : it was unlawful either to eat or drink with him (comp. 1 Cor. v, 11). The curse could be dissolved, however, by three common persons, or by one person of dignity. (3.) If the excommuni- cated person still continued impenitent, a yet more severe sentence was, according to the rabbins, pro- nounced against him, which was termed JtPfi'J, sham- mata', imprecation (Elias Levita, in Tisbi). It is de- scribed as a complete excision from the Church and the giving up of the individual to the judgment of God and to final perdition. There is, however, reason to believe that these three grades are of recent origin. The Talmudists frequently use the term by which the first and last are designated interchangeably, and some rabbinical writers (whom Lightfoot has followed in his Ilorce Ilebr. et Talm. ad 1 Cor. v, 5) consider the last to be a lower grade than the second ; yet it is probable that the classilication rests on the fact that the sentence was more or less severe according to the circumstances of the case ; and though we cannot ex- pect to find the three grades distinctly marked in the writings in the N. T., we may not improbably consider the phrase " put out of the synagogue," d-oavvdya- yov Troitiv, John xvi, 2 (comp. ix, 22 ; xii, 42), as re- ferring to a lighter censure than is intended by one or more of the three terms used in Luke vi, 22, where perhaps different grades are intimated. The phrase "deliver over to Satan" (1 Cor. v, 5 ; 1 Tim. i, 20) has been by many commentators understood to refer to the most severe kind of excommunication. Even admitting the allusion, however, there is a very im- portant difference between the Jewish censure and the formula employed by the apostle. In the Jewish sense it would signify the delivering over of the trans- gressor to final perdition, while the apostle expressly limits his sentence to the "destruction of the flesh" (i. e. the depraved nature), and resorts to it in order "that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." See Accursed.