into peace, and shall rest in his chamber!" 'When the funeral [iroccssion moved towards the grave, a light re- vealed itself in the air; and when the remains were deposited in the tomb, another voice was heard from heaven, saying, "This is he who caused the earth to quake and the kingdoms to shake !" Such is the state- ment concerning Simon ben-Jochai, and in its tradition- al garb it is probably more intended to show the affec- tion and reverence with which this sage was regarded by his disciides. See Fiirst, Bibl. Jud. iii, 329 sq. ; Eth- eridge. Introduction to Jewish Literature, p. 80 sq. ; Gins- burg, The Kabbalah, p. 9 ; Edersheim, History of the Jew- ish Nation, p. 201 ; (irlitz, Gesch. d. Juden, iv, 196 sq. ; 470 sq. ; Biick. Gesch. des jiid. Volkes, p. 199; Cassel, Lehrbuch der jiid. Gesch. u. Literatur (Leips. 1879), p. 176 ; Herzog, Real-Encyklop. s. v.
6. Simon I "the Just" (B.C. cir. 300-200). Under this name he was known Sia Tt to Trpbg ^eiv £i'"i6/3«f Kui TO TTfx'iQ roix o/io^vXovg tvvovv (Josephus, Ant. xii, 2). Derenbourg has conclusively established that this Simon is the same that is spoken of in Ecclesiasti- cus. There are many legends about him. According to one, it was he who encountered Alexander the Great ; according to another, he was the last surviving member of the Great Synagogue (nbnjH HDSD "•-ilT?:); ac- cording to another, it was he who warned Ptolemy Phi- lopator not to enter the Temple. All the traditions, however, combine in representing Simon as closing the better days of Judaism. " Down to his time," says dean Stanley {History of the Jeicish Church, iii, 276 sq.), "it was always the right hand of the high-priest that drew the lot of the consecrated goat ; after his time the left and right wavered and varied. Down to his time the red thread round the neck of the scape -goat turned white, as a sign that the sins of the people were forgiv- en; afterwards its change was quite uncertain. The great light at the entrance of the Temple burned, in his time, without fail; afterwards it often went out. Two fagots a day suflBced to keep the flame on the altar alive in his time ; afterwards piles of wood were insuf- ficient. In his last year he was said to have foretold his death, from the omen that, whereas on all former occasions he was accompanied into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement, to the entrance only, by an old man clothed in white from head to foot, in that j'ear his companion was attired in black, and followed him as he went in and came out. These were the forms in which the later Jewish belief expressed the sentiment of his transcendent worth, and of the manifold changes which were to follow liim." In the book called Ecclesi- asticus we are told of Simon's activity for his people. Thus he made the citj' of Jerusalem, which had suff'ered much through the wars, a great stronghold, in order that it might not be so easily taken, for which many gloomy prospects continually sprang up. The Temple Simon also fortified, repaired all damaged places, and raised the foundation of the fore court. The reservoir in the Temple, holding the water, he enlarged to the extent of a pond, in order that the inhabitants might not suff'er from scarcitj' of water in case of a siege. Since that time, the Temple had always large quanti- ties of water in store, which, in a hot climate, and on dry soil like Jerusalem, was looked upon with great astonish- ment. If Simon thus cared for the material interest of his people, he was not the less severed from the idea of Judaism, that Israel's strength does not depend upon such means. " Of three things Israel's salvation is composed" is taught by the choice sentence preserved to us — " upon observance of the law (Torah) ; upon rec- onciliation with (Jod by virtue of means of grace, which the Temple worship furnishes [Abodah); and upon works of charity (Geuiiliilh Chassadim)." His piety was a purified one, free fmm ascetic excess. His period, full of wars and troubles, brought about many evils, and the strictly pious sought, as during the time of the prophets, to withdraw from human society altogether,
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SIMON"
and to consecrate themselves in vowinj^ to lead a Xaza- ritish life — tlie tirst step to the sect of the Assiiteans. Simon did not like this niDde of life, and showed his pro- test against it by not allowing the priests to use the pieces due to them from the sacrifices of the Nazarites. Only once he made an exception in favor of a young beautiful shepherd who came to him as a Nazaritc. •' Why do you wish," inquired the high-priest of the youth, with a s[)lendiil head full of ringlets. " tu destroy thy beautiful head of liairV" To this the shepherd re- plied, "Because my head full of ringlets has nearly en- ticed me to sin from mere vanity. I once saw my re- flection in a clear stream, and, as my likeness thus met my eye, the thought of self-deitication took hold of me; wherefore I consecrated my hair unto the Lord through the Xazarite vow." On hearing these words Simon kissed the young shepherd of such morally pure sim- l>lieity, and said to him, '• Oh, if there were only in Is- rael many Nazarites like yourself!" Beautiful, indeed, is the magnificent eulogy of Ben-Sira, the writer of Ec- clesiasticus, in which he describes our Simon (1, 1-21) :