[477] Schürer, following Wieseler, supposes the Sanhedrin to have been of Roman institution. But the arguments of Wieseler on this point (Beitr. zur richt. Wurd. d. Evang. p. 224) are inconclusive.
[478] Comp. Derenbourg, u. s. p. 95.
[479] Thus we read: The sayings of the elders have more weight than those of the prophets' (Jer. Ber. i. 7); an offence against the sayings of the Scribes is worse than one against those of Scripture' (Sanh. xi. 3). Compare also Er. 21 b The comparison between such claims and those sometimes set up on behalf of creeds' and articles' (Kitto's Cyclop., 2nd ed., p. 786, col a) does not seem to me applicable. In the introduction to the Midr. on Lament. it is inferred from Jer. ix. 12, 13, that to forsake the law - in the Rabbinic sense - was worse than adolatry, uncleanness, or the shedding of blood. See generally that Introduction.
[480] Eduy. i. 3. See the comment of Maimonides.
[481] It is so explained in the Aruch (ed Zandau, vol. ii. p. 529, col b).
[482] Comp. Hamburger, u.s. p 343.
[483] Comp. here especially the detailed description by Herzfeld (u. s. vol. iii. pp. 226, 263); also the Introduction of Maimonides, and the very able and learned works (not sufficiently appreciated) by Dr. H. S. Hirschfeld, Halachische Exegese (Berlin, 1840), and Hagadische Exegese (Berlin, 1847). Perhaps I may also take leave to refer to the corresponding chapters in my History of the Jewish Nation.'
[484] Midr. Shochar Tobh on Ps. ix. 6. ed. Warshau, p. 14 b; Abde R. Nath. 2.
[485] Similarly, the expressions in Ex. xxiv. 12 were thus explained: the tables of stone,' the ten commandments; the law,' the written Law; the commandments,' the Mishnah; which I have written,' the Prophets and Hagiographa; that thou mayest teach them,' the Talmud - which shows that they were all given to Moses on Sinai' (Ber. 5 a, lines 11-16). A like application was made of the various clauses in Cant. vii. 12 (Erub. 21 b). Nay, by an alternation of the words in Hos. vii. 10, it was shown that the banished had been brought back for the merit of their study (of the sacrificial sections) of the Mishnah (Vayyik R. 7).
[486] Hos. viii 12;comp. Shem. R. 47.
[487] Ex. xxxiv. 27.
[488] Jer. Chag. p. 76 d.
[489] Tos. Shabb. xiv.
[490] Another reason also is, however, mentioned for his prohibition.
[491] Erub. 54 b.
[492] Deut. i. 5.
[493] Hirschfeld, u. s. pp. 92-99.
[494] From {hebrew} to lean against. At the same time the ordinances, for which an appeal could be made to Asmakhta, were better liked than those which rested on tradition alone (Jer. Chag. p. 76, col d).
[495] {hebrew}
[496] {hebrew}
[497] In connection with this it is very significant that R. Jochanan ben Zaccai, who taught not many years after the Crucifixion of Christ, was wont to say, that, in the future, Halakhahs in regard to purity, which had not the support of Scripture, would be repeated (Sot. 27 b, line 16 from top). In geneal, the teaching of R. Jochanan should be studied to understand the unacknowledged influence which Christianity exercised upon the Synagogue.
[498] {hebrew}.
[499] {hebrew}.
[500] But this is not always.
[501] St. Matt. xxiii. 3, 4.
[502] To elucidate the meaning of Christ, it seemed necessary to submit an avowedly difficult text to fresh criticism. I have taken the word kinen, moveo in the sense of ire facio (Grimm, Clavis N.T. ed. 2^da, p. 241 a), but I have not adopted the inference of Meyer (Krit. Exeget. Handb. p. 455). In classical Greek also kinen is used for to remove, to alter.' My reasons against what may be called the traditional interpretation of St. Matt. xxiii. 3, 4, are: 1. It seems scarcely possible to suppose that, before such an audience, Christ would have contemplated the possibility of not observing either of the two first classes of Halakhoth, which were regarded as beyond controversy. 2. It could scarcely be truthfully charged against the Scribes and Pharisees, that they did not attempt to keep themselves the ordinances which they imposed upon others. The expression in the parallel passage (St. Luke xi. 46) must be explained in accordance with the commentation on St. Matt. xxiii. 4. Nor is there any serious difficulty about it.