[1423] Dr. Wünsche's Rabbinic notes on the Bath-Qol (Neue Beitr. pp. 22, 23) are taken from Hamburger's Real-Encykl. (Abth. ii. pp. 92 &c.)
[1424] Jer. Sot. ix. 14; Yoma 9 b; Sotah 33 a; 48 b; Sanh 11 a.
[1425] Hamburger, indeed maintains, on the ground of Macc. 23 b, that occasionally it was identified with the Holy Spirit. But carefully read, neither this passage, nor the other, in which the same mistranslation, and profane misinterpretation of the words She has been more righteous' (Gen. xxxviii. 26) occur (Jer. Sot. ix. 7), at all bears out this suggestion. It is quite untenable in view of the distinct statements (Jer. Sot. ix. 14; Sot. 48 b; and Sanh. 11a), that after the cessation of the Holy Spirit the Bath-Qol took His place.
[1426] Comp. on the subject Pinner in his Introduction to the tractate Berakhoth.
[1427] In the Targum Onkelos it is not at all mentioned. In the Targum PseudoJon. it occurs four times (Gen. xxxviii. 26; Numb. xxi. 6; Deut. xxviii. 15; xxxiv. 5), and four times in the Targum on the Hagiographa (twice in Ecclesiastes, once in Lamentations, and once in Esther). In Mechilta and Siphra it does not occur at all, and in Siphré only once, in the absurd legend that the Bath-Qol was heard a distance of twelve times twelve miles proclaiming the death of Moses (ed. Friedmann, p. 149 b). In the Mishnah it is only twice mentioned (Yeb. xvi. 6, where the sound of a Bath-Qol is supposed to be sufficient attestation of a man's death to enable his wife to marry again; and in Abhoth vi. 2, where it is impossible to understand the language otherwise than figuratively). In the Jerusalem Talmud the Bath-Qol is referred to twenty times, and in the Babylon Talmud sixty-nine times. Sometimes the Bath-Qol gives sentence in favour of a popular Rabbi, sometimes it attempts to decide controversies, or bears witness; or else it is said every day to proclaim: Such an one's daughter is destined for such an one (Moed Kat. 18 b; Sot. 2 a; Sanh. 22 a). Occasionally it utters curious or profane interpretations of Scripture (as in Yoma 22 b; Sot. 10 b), or silly legends, as in regard to the insect Yattush which was to torture Titus (Gitt. 56 b), or as warning against a place where a hatchet had fallen into the water, descending for seven years without reaching the bottom. Indeed, so strong became the feeling against this superstition, that the more rational Rabbis protested against any appeal to the Bath-Qol (Baba Metsia 59 b).
[1428] Nov. Test. i. p. 268.
[1429] The force of Gfrörer's attacks upon the Gospels lies in his cumulative attempts to prove that the individual miraculous facts recorded in the Gospels are based upon Jewish notions. It is, therefore, necessary to examine each of them separately, and such examination, it careful and conscientious, shows that his quotations are often untrustworthy, and his conclusions fallacies. None the less taking are they to those who are imperfectly acquainted with Rabbinic literature. Wünsche's Talmudic and Midrashic Notes on the N.T. (Gottingen, 1878) are also too often misleading.
[1430] Jahrh. des Heils, vol. ii. p. 433.
[1431] Chag. 15 a.
[1432] Farrar, Life of Christ, i. p. 117.
[1433] The saying in Chag. 15 a is of Ben Soma, who is described in Rabbinic literature as tainted with Christian views, and whose belief in the possibility of the supernatural birth of the Messiah is so coarsely satirised in the Talmud. Rabbi Löw (Lebensalter. p. 58) suggests that in Ben Soma's figure of the dove there may have been a Christian reminiscence.
[1434] Ber. R. 2.
[1435] Comp. the long illustrations in the Midr. on Song i. 15; Sanh. 95 a; Ber. R. 39; Yalkut on Ps. 1v. 7. and other passages.
[1436] St. Matt. xxi. 25. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________