[539] Dr. Mühlau, in Riehm's Handwörterb. Part viii. p. 682 b, speaks of the dimensions of the old Sanctuary as little more than those of a village church.
[540] It was only finished in 64 a.d., that is, six years before its destruction.
[541] See Conder, Heth and Moab, p. 94.
[542] Such as the Palace of Grapte, and that of Queen Helena of Adiabene.
[543] Baba B. ix. 7.
[544] Arakh. vi. 5.
[545] Baba K. x. 4.
[546] Men. xiii. 8; Baba K. iii. 9.
[547] Tos. Sheq. ii.; Tos. Ar. iv.
[548] Men. xiii. 8.
[549] Tos. Baba Mets. iv.
[550] Yoma 35 b.
[551] Peah viii. 8, 9.
[552] Comp. Herzfeld's Handelsgesch.
[553] Ancient Jerusalem is supposed to have covered about double the area of the modern city. Comp. Dr. Schick in A.M. Luncz, Jerusalem,' for 1882.
[554] Although Jerusalem covered only about 300 acres, yet, from the narrowness of Oriental streets, it would hold a very much larger population than any Western city of the same extent. Besides, we must remember that its ecclesiastical boundaries extended beyond the city.
[555] Maaser. ii. 3.
[556] Baba B. 89 a.
[557] Jer. Ab. Z 44 b; Ab. Z. 58 a.
[558] Jer. Dem 22 c.
[559] Yoma 9 a.
[560] On the question of officially fixing the market-price, diverging opinions are expressed, Baba B. 89 b. It was thought that the market-price should leave to the producer a profit of one-sixth on the cost (Baba B. 90 a). In general, the laws on these subjects form a most interesting study. Bloch (Mos. Talm. Polizeir.) holds, that there were two classes of market-officials. But this is not supported by sufficient evidence, nor, indeed, would such an arrangement seem likely.
[561] Sanh. 89 a.
[562] Erub. x. 9.
[563] Jos. War v. 8. 1.
[564] Ibid. ii. 19. 4.
[565] Tos. Baba Mets. iii.
[566] That of Botnah was the largest, Jer. Ab. Z. 39 d.
[567] Kerith. iii. 7; Temur. iii.5.
[568] Makhsh. vi. 2.
[569] Kethub. ix. 4.
[570] Compare here generally Unruh, D. alte Jerusalem.
[571] St. Mark xiv. 66.
[572] St. Luke xxiii. 6, 7.
[573] Jos. War ii. 3. 1.
[574] Ant. xv. 8. 1.
[575] Ant. xvii. 10. 2; War ii. 3. 1, 2.
[576] Tradition exaggerates their number as 460 (Jer. Kethub. 35 c.) or even 480 (Jer. Meg. 73 d). But even the large number (proportionally to the size of the city) mentioned in the text need not surprise us when we remember that ten men were sufficient to form a Synagogue, and how many - what may be called private' - Synagogues exist at present in every town where there is a large and orthodox Jewish population.
[577] Baba B. 3 b.
[578] Bemid. R. 14.
[579] The occasion is said to have been, that the Rabbis, in answer to Herod's question, quoted Deut. xvii. 15. Baba ben Buta himself is said to have escaped the slaughter, indeed, but to have been deprived of his eyes.
[580] Baba B. 4 a. __________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER II. THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF HEROD - THE TWO WORLDS IN JERUSALEM.
It is an intensely painful history, [581] in the course of which Herod made his way to the throne. We look back nearly two and a half centuries to where, with the empire of Alexander, Palestine fell to his successors. For nearly a century and a half it continued the battle-field of the Egyptian and Syrian kings (the Ptolemies and the Seleucidæ). At last it was a corrupt High-Priesthood - with which virtually the government of the land had all along lain - that betrayed Israel's precious trust. The great-grandson of so noble a figure in Jewish history as Simon the Just (compare Ecclus. 1.) bought from the Syrians the High-Priestly office of his brother, adopted the heathen name Jason, and sought to Grecianise the people. The sacred office fell, if possible, even lower when, through bribery, it was transferred to his brother Menelaus. Then followed the brief period of the terrible persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes, when Judaism was all but exterminated in Palestine. The glorious uprising of the Maccabees called forth all the national elements left in Israel, and kindled afresh the smouldering religious feeling. It seemed like a revival of Old Testament times. And when Judas the Maccabee, with a band so inferior in numbers and discipline, defeated the best of the Syrian soldiery, led by its ablest generals, and, on the anniversary of its desecration by heathen rites, set up again the great altar of burnt-offering, it appeared as if a new Theocracy were to be inaugurated. The ceremonial of that feast of the new dedication of the Temple,' when each night the number of lights grew larger in the winter's darkness, seemed symbolic of what was before Israel. But the Maccabees were not the Messiah; nor yet the kingdom, which their sword would have restored - that of Heaven, with its blessings and peace. If ever, Israel might then have learned what Saviour to look for.