in its self-chosen darkness amid a world of fantastic images (comp. Carpzov, A pp. Crit. 1, 7; Schbttgen, Hor. Ueb. de Mess, i, 4; Zunz, Gotlesdienstl. Vortrdye, p. 42- 61; Jost, Judenth. Hi, 65-81).
4. Some of the IJistinfjuished Doctors of the Law of this Period and their Tenets. — As the presidents and vice-presidents of the chief seat of learning during the whole of this period are given in chronological order in the article Schools (llKiiUKw), we shall here onlj' men- tion such of the doctors of tlie law as have influenced the Jewish mind and the religious opinions of the nation, and bj' their teaching prepared the way for Christian- ity. Foremost among tliese doctors of the law are to be mentioned :
a. Antigonus of Soho (B.C. 200-170), whose famous maxim, according to tradition, gave rise to Sadducee- ism and Boetluislanlsm [see Sadducek], and who re- ceived the traditions of the fathers from Simon the Just, and transmitted them to his successors (Ahoth, i, 3). The tenet of the Sadducees, however, never commanded the adhesion of more than a small minority. It tended, by maintaining the sufficiency of the letter of the law, to destroy the very occupation of a scribe, and the class, as such, belonged to the party of its opponents. The worda "scribes" and "Pharisees" were bound together by the closest possible alliance (Matt, xxni, passim ; Luke v, 30). See Phakiske. Within that party there were shades and subdivisions, and to understand their relation to each other in our Lord's time, or their con- nection with his life and teaching, we must look back to what is known of the five pairs (r'J'l't) of teachers who represented the scribal succession. Why two, and two only, are named in each case we can only conject- ure, but the Kabbinlc tradition that one was always the nasi, or president, of the Sanhedrim as a council, the other the ab-beth-din (father of the House of Judg- ment), presiding in the supreme court, or in the Sanhe- drim when it sat as such, is not improbable (Jost, Ju- denih. i, 160).
b. Jose ben-Joeser of Zereda and his companion, Jose ben-Jochanan of Jerusalem, who were the first of the four pairs (ri5"T) that headed the Sanhedrim and the doctors of the law as president and vice-president (B.C. 170-140). Jose ben-Joeser was a priest, and played an important part in the Maccabrean struggles. He was the spiritual head of the Chasidim (Mishna, Chagigah, 11, 7), also called scribes {ypaf-i^artic, 1 Mace, vil, 12, 13; 2 Mace, vi, 18), who afterwards developed them- selves into the Essenes [see Chasidlm; Essknes]; was among the " company of Assuteans who were mighty men of Israel, even all such as were voluntarily devoted unto the law," and the high -priest of the sixty who were slain bj' Bacchides through the treachery of Alci- mus (1 Mace. 11, 42; vll, 12-16, with Chagigah, 18 b; Bereshilh Rahba, mipir, § Ixv). The grand maxim of Jose ben-Joeser was, " Let thy house be the place of assembly for the sages, sit in the dust of their feet, and eagerly drink in their words" (.4 both, i, 4). Bearing in mind the distracted state of the Jewish people at that time, and the fearful strides which Hellenism made among the highest sacerdotal functionaries, and which threatened to overthrow the ancestral doctrines, this solemn admonition of the martyr that every household should form itself into a band of defenders of the faith, headed by sages — 1. e. sci-ibes, or doctors of the law — and that every Israelite should strive to be instructed in the religion of his forefathers (the phrase " to be en- veloped in the dust of their feet" has its origin in the ancient custom of disciples sitting on the ground and sometimes in the dust at the feet of their teachers), will be appreciated. This will also explain the maxim of his colleague Jose ben-Jochanan: "Let thy house be wide open, let the poor be thy guests, and do not talk too much with women" (Abulh, i, 51. To erect a wall of partition between the apostate Hellenists, who dese- crated the sanctuary, and the faithful, as well as to
SCRIBES, JEWISH
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SCRIBES, JEWISH
prevent the residence of Jews among the Sj-rians, and check Hellenistic luxuries, these two doctors of the law enacted that contact with the soil of any foreign coun- try, and the use of glass utensils, impart Levitical de- filement {.Scibbatfi, 14 b). These rigorous laws of Le- vitical purity laid the foundation of the withdrawal of the Essenes from the community at large, and of the ritual and doctrinal difference between the Pharisees and Sadducees, as hitherto the differences of these two parties were chiefly political. Hence the remark in the Mishna: "Since the death of Jose ben-Joeser of Zere- da and Jose ben-Jochanan of Jerusalem, the unity in the schools has ceased" (jSotiih, ix, 9). The precepts ascribed to them indicate a tendency to a greater elab- oration of all rules connected with ceremonial defile- ment. Their desire to separate themselves and their disciples from all occasions of defilement may have fur- nished the starting-point for the name of Pharisee. The brave struggle with the Syrian kings had turned chiefly on questions of this nature, and it was the wish of the two teachers to prepare the people for any future conflict by founding a fraternity (the Chaherim, or as- sociates) bound to the strictest observance of the law. Every member of the order, on his admission, pledged himself to this in the presence of three Chaberim. They looked on each other as brothers. The rest of the na- tion they looked on as " the people of the earth." The spirit of scribedom was growing. The above precept associated with the name of Jose ben-Joeser pointed to a further growth (Jost, i, 233). It was hardly checked by the taunt of the Sadducees that " these Pharisees would purify the sun itself (ibid, i, 217). See Pharisee.