[2428] Sanh. u. s.
[2429] Ps. xcii.
[2430] So it would need to be rendered in this context.
[2431] Ber. R. 22.
[2432] Another beautiful allegory is that, in the fear of Adam, as the night closed in upon his guilt, God gave him two stones to rub against each other, which produced the spark of light - the rubbing of these two stones being emblematic of repentance (Pes. 54 a; Ber. R. 11, 12).
[2433] 2 Chron. xxxiii. 12, 13.
[2434] Debar. R. 2; ed. Warsh. p. 7 a; comp. Sanh. 102 b, last lines, and 103 a.
[2435] Ex. xv. 11.
[2436] Taan. 16 a.
[2437] Rosh haSh. 17 b.
[2438] Baba. Mez. 85 a.
[2439] Ber. 17 a.
[2440] u. s.
[2441] Baba Mez. 85 a.
[2442] Baba Mez. 84 b (quoted by Weber) is scarcely an instance. The whole of that part of the Talmud is specially repugnant, from its unsavory character and grossly absurd stories. In one of the stories in Baba Mez. 85, a Rabbi tries by sitting over the fire in an oven, whether he has become impervious to the fire of Gehinnom. For thirty days he was successful, but after that it was noticed his thighs were singed, whence he was called the little one with the singed thighs.'
[2443] Tanch. Noach 4.
[2444] But such restitution was sometimes not insisted on, for the sake of encouraging penitents.
[2445] See the discussion in B. Mez. 37 a.
[2446] Rabbinism has an apt illustration of this in the saying, that all the baths of lustration would not cleanse a man, so long as he continued holding in his hand that which had polluted him (Taan. 16 a).
[2447] These statements are all so thoroughly Rabbinic that it is needless to make special references.
[2448] Vayyik. R. 3, towards the end.
[2449] In B. Bab. 10 a.
[2450] Vayyik. R. 25, beg. ed. Warsh. p. 38 a.
[2451] Tanch. on Gen. xlviii.
[2452] Ab. Zar. 17 a.
[2453] St. Mark ii. 13.
[2454] Gitt. 34 b.
[2455] Sheq. v. 1.
[2456] Eduy. ii. 5; Yoma 84 a.
[2457] Sanh. 43 a, in the older editions; comp, Chesron. haShas, p. 22 b.
[2458] A ridiculous story is told that Matthew endeavored to avert sentence of death by a play on his name, quoting Ps. xlii. 2: Mathai (in our version, When') I shall come and appear before God;' to which the judges replied by similarly adapting Ps. xli. 5: Mathai (in our version, When') he shall die, and his name perish.'
[2459] The other three disciples are named: Neqai, Netser, and Boni, or Buni. In Taan. 20 a a miracle is related which gave to Boni the name of Nicodemus (Naqdimon). But I regard this as some confusion, of which there is much in connection with the name of Nicodemus in the Talmud. According to the Talmud, like Matthew, the other three tried to save their lives by punning appeals to Scripture, similar to that of St. Matthew. Thus, Neqai quotes Exod. xxiii. 7, Naqi (the innocent' in our version) and the righteous shalt thou not slay,' to which the judges replied by Ps. x. 8, in the secret places he shall slay Naqi (the innocent' in our version)'. Again, Netser pleads Is. xi. 1: Netser (a branch) shall grow out of his roots,' to which the judges reply, Is. xiv. 19: Thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable Netser' (branch), while Boni tries to save his life by a pun on Exod. iv. 22: My first-born Beni (in our version, my son') is Israel,' to which the judges reply by quoting the next verse, I will slay Binkha (in our version, thy son'), thy first-born!' If the Hebrew Beni was sometimes pronounced Boni, this may account for the Grecianised form Boanerges (sons of thunder') for Beney-Regosh, or Regasha. In Hebrew the root scarcely means even noise' (see Gesenius sub {hebrew}), but it has that meaning in the Aramæan. Kautzsch (Gram. d. Bibl.-Aram.) suggests the word regaz anger,' angry impetuosity.' But the suggestion does not commend itself.