[1366] In proof that such was the common view, I shall here refer to only a few passages, and these exclusively from the Targumum: Jer. Targ. on Gen. xlix. 11; Targ. on Is. xi. 4; Targ. on Amos ix. 11; Targ. on Nah. i. 6; on Zech. x. 3, 4. See also Ab. Z. 2 b, Yalkut i. p. 64 a; also 56 b (where it is shown how plagues exactly corresponding to those of Egypt were to come upon Rome).
[1367] Jer. Taan. 64 a.
[1368] St. John viii. 33, 39, 53.
[1369] Everything comes to Israel on account of the merits of the fathers' (Siphré on Deut. p. 108 b). In the same category we place the extraordinary attempts to show that the sins of Biblical personages were not sins at all, as in Shabb. 55 b, and the idea of Israel's merits as works of supererogation (as in Baba B. 10 a).
[1370] I will not mention the profane device by which apostate and wicked Jews are at that time to be converted into non-Jews.
[1371] Ber. R. 48; comp. Midr. on Ps. vi. 1; Pirké d. R. Elies. c. 29; Shem. R. 19 Yalkut i. p. 23 b.
[1372] Baba Mez. vii. 1; Baba K. 91 a.
[1373] Jer. Chag. 76 a.
[1374] Ber. R. 39.
[1375] Shem R. 44.
[1376] Vayyikra R. 36.
[1377] Ber. 7 b.
[1378] Shabb. 55 a; comp Beer, Leben Abr. p. 88.
[1379] Professor Wünsche quotes an inapt passage from Shabb. 89 b, but ignores, or is ignorant of the evidence above given.
[1380] Ber. R. ed. Warsh. p. 80 b, par. 44.
[1381] Perhaps with reference to Is. ii. 1, 2.
[1382] Lightfoot aptly points out a play on the words children' - banim - and stones' - abhanim. Both words are derived from bana, to build, which is also used by the Rabbis in a moral sense like our own upbuilding,' and in that of the gift of adoption of children. It is not necessary, indeed almost detracts from the general impression, to see in the stones an allusion to the Gentiles.
[1383] Thus the view that charity delivered from Gehenna was very commonly entertained (see, for example, Baba B. 10 a). Similarly, it was the main charge against the publicans that they exacted more than their due (see, for example, Baba K. 113 a). The Greek psnion, or wage of the soldiers, has its Rabbinic equivalent of Afsanya (a similar word also in the Syriac).
[1384] For ex. Jer. Taan. 64 a.
[1385] Volkmar is mistaken in regarding this as the duty of the house-porter towards arriving guests. It is expressly mentioned as one of the characteristic duties of slaves in Pes. 4 a; Jer Kidd. i. 3; Kidd. 22 b. In Kethub. 96 a it is described as also the duty of a disciple towards his teacher. In Mechilta on Ex. xxi. 2 (ed. Weiss, p. 82 a) it is qualified as only lawful for a teacher so to employ his disciple, while, lastly, in Pesiqta x. it is described as the common practice.
[1386] Godet aptly calls attention to the use of the preposition in here, while as regards the baptism of water no preposition is used, as denoting merely an instrumentality.
[1387] The same writer points out that the want of the preposition before fire' shows that it cannot refer to the fire of judgment, but must be a further enlargement of the word Spirit.' Probably it denotes the negative or purgative effect of this baptism, as the word holy' indicates its positive and sanctifying effect.
[1388] The expression baptism of fire' was certainly not unknown to the Jews. In Sanh. 39 a (last lines) we read of an immersion of God in fire, based on Is. lxvi. 15. An immersion or baptism of fire is proved from Numb. xxxi. 23. More apt, perhaps, as illustration is the statement, Jer. Sot. 22 d, that the Torah (the Law) its parchment was white fire, the writing black fire, itself fire mixed with fire, hewn out of fire, and given by fire, according to Deut. xxxiii. 2.