History of the Jews (Vol. 1-6). Graetz Heinrich

History of the Jews (Vol. 1-6) - Graetz Heinrich


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force in the Jewish world, grateful posterity has attributed all beneficial institutions whose origin is unknown.

      CHAPTER XX. THE SOPHERIC AGE.

       Table of Contents

      Enmity of the Samaritans against the Judæans​—​The Temple on Mount Gerizim​—​The High-Priest Manasseh​—​The mixed language of the Samaritans​—​Their veneration for the Law of Moses​—​Judaism loses its national meaning​—​The Jubilee and Sabbatical Year​—​Almsgiving​—​The Council of Seventy​—​The Assyrian Characters​—​The Schools and the Sopherim​—​Observance of the Ceremonies​—​The Prayers​—​The Future Life​—​The Judæans under Artaxerxes II. and III.​—​Their Banishment to the Caspian Sea​—​Johanan and Joshua contend for the office of High-Priest​—​Bagoas​—​The Writings of the Period​—​The Greeks and Macedonians​—​Alexander the Great and the Judæans​—​Judæa accounted a Province of Cœlesyria​—​Struggles between Alexander's Successors​—​Capture of Jerusalem by Ptolemy​—​Judæa added to the Lagidean-Egyptian Kingdom​—​The Judæan Colonies in Egypt and Syria and the Greek Colonies in Palestine.

      420–300 B. C. E.

      Hatred which arises from rejected love is stronger and more vehement than enmity resulting from inexplicable antipathy, jealousy, or disagreement. Sanballat, as well as his Samaritan followers and companions, out of preference for the God of Israel, had struggled to be received into the Judæan community. The virulence of their enmity against Nehemiah, who had raised the commonwealth from its declining state, was in reality an impetuous offer of love, by which they hoped to secure an intimate connection with Judæa. But as they were repulsed again and again, this yearning love changed into burning hatred. When Sanballat, who thought he had attained his aim by his connection with the high-priest's family, learned of the insult shown him in the banishment of his son-in-law Manasseh, because of that priest's marriage with his daughter, the measure of his wrath was full. He cunningly conceived the plan of disorganising the Judæan community, by the help of its own members. What if he were to raise a temple to the God of Israel, to contest the supremacy of the one at Jerusalem? There were among his followers priests of the descendants of Aaron, who could legally conduct the service, as prescribed in the Torah, in the projected sanctuary. The dignity of high-priest could fitly be assumed by his son-in-law Manasseh, and the other Aaronides who had been expelled from the Temple could officiate with him. Everything appeared favourable to his design. Both his desire of worshipping the God of Israel, and his ambition to be at the head of a separate community, could easily be satisfied at the same time.

      On the summit of the fruitful Mount Gerizim, at the foot of the city of Shechem, in the very heart of the land of Palestine, Sanballat built his Temple, probably after the death of Artaxerxes (about 420).

      The Aaronides who had been expelled from Jerusalem, and who were well versed in all the tenets of the Law, had selected this site because they knew that, according to the Book of Deuteronomy, the blessings were to be pronounced upon the followers of the Law of Moses from that mount. But the Samaritans gave to the old words a new interpretation. They called, and still call to this day, Mount Gerizim "the Mount of Blessings," as if blessing and salvation proceeded from the mount itself. Even the town of Shechem they called "Blessing" (Mabrachta). Sanballat, or the priests of this temple of Gerizim, declared that the mixed race of the Samaritans were not descendants of the exiles placed in that country by an Assyrian king, but that, on the contrary, they were true Israelites, a remnant of the Ten Tribes, or of the tribes of Joseph and Ephraim. There may indeed have been amongst them some descendants of the families who, after the destruction of the kingdom of the Ten Tribes, clung to Samaria; but that the numerous Cuthæans who gathered round Sanballat, together with the Ammonites and the Arabians, were descendants of Joseph and Ephraim and Israelites, was one of those ingenious and audacious fictions which, by their very exaggeration, stagger even those who are thoroughly convinced of their falsehood. Their language, however, betrayed their mixed origin; it was a conglomeration of Aramaic and other foreign elements, so that it is to this day impossible to define its origin satisfactorily.

      But the venture was a successful one. The Samaritans had their temple, around which they gathered; they had priests from the house of Aaron; they impudently opposed their Hargerizim, as they called their holy mount, to Mount Moriah; they interpreted the Book of the Law to suit themselves, making it appear that God had designed Mount Gerizim as a site for a sanctuary, and they proudly called themselves Israelites. Sanballat and his followers, intent upon attracting a great many Judæans to their community, tempted them with the offer of houses and land, and in every way helped to support them. Those who had been guilty of crime in Judæa or Jerusalem, and feared punishment were received with open arms by the Samaritans. Out of such elements a new semi-Judæan community or sect was formed. Their home was in the somewhat limited district of Samaria, the centre of which was either the city that gave its name to the province, or the town of Shechem. The members of the new community became an active, vigorous, intelligent people, as if Sanballat, the founder, had infused his spirit into them. In spite of its diminutive size, this sect has continued until the present day. The existence of the Samaritans, as a community, may really be considered a signal victory of the Judæan faith, for it was their religion alone that kept so mixed a people together; it became the loadstar of their lives, and to it they remained faithful, in spite of adversity and disaster. The Samaritans treated the Torah, brought to them by exiled priests, with as much reverence as the Judæans did, and regulated their religious and social life according to its requirements. But, in spite of this community of essential principles, the Judæans were not delighted with this accession to the ranks of their faith. This first Judæan sect caused them as much sorrow as those which, at a later period, grew up among them. The Samaritans were not only their most bitter foes, but actually denied to them the right of existence as a community. They declared that they alone were the descendants of Israel, disputing the sanctity of Jerusalem and its Temple, and affirming that everything established by the Judæan people was a mere counterfeit of the old Israelitish customs. The Samaritans were ever on the alert to introduce into their own country such improvements as were carried into effect in Judæa, though, had it been in their power, they would have destroyed the nation which was their model. On the part of the Judæans, the hatred against their Samaritan neighbours was equally great. They spoke of them as "the foolish people who lived in Shechem." The enmity between Jerusalem and Samaria that existed in the time of the two kingdoms blazed up anew; it no longer bore a political, but a religious character, and was therefore the more violent and intense.

      The existence of the Samaritan sect had, however, a stimulating effect upon the Judæans: as the latter continually came into collision with their opponents, and were obliged to listen to doctrines in the highest degree distasteful to them, they were forced to a careful study of the essence of their own belief. The Samaritans helped them to acquire self-knowledge. What was it that distinguished them, not only from the heathen world, but also from those neighbours who worshipped the one God, and acknowledged as authoritative the same Revelation? It was the thought that they possessed a peculiar creed, and the conception of "Judaism" gained clearness in their minds. Judaism no longer meant a nationality, but a religious conviction. The name "Judæan" lost its racial meaning, and was applied to any adherent of the Jewish faith, be he a descendant of Judah or Benjamin, an Aaronide or a Levite. The two fundamental principles of this faith were the acknowledgment of the one God, and of the Torah, in which God reveals himself through the mediation of Moses.

      The reverence and love with which the Sacred Book came to be regarded after the days of Ezra and Nehemiah were as deep as had been the general indifference to it in earlier times. "A wise man trusts the Law, and the Law is as true to him as the words of the truth-giving Urim and Thummim." The Torah was looked upon as the quintessence of all wisdom, and was honoured as such. Hebrew poetry, still full of life, glorified it with enthusiastic praise. It followed naturally that the Torah became the fundamental law of the little state or commonwealth of Judah. Before a Judæan undertook or desisted from any action, he would ask whether his course


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