Philochristus. Abbott Edwin Abbott
and in smaller matters, even to the burning of nail-parings, I walked diligently according to the decisions of the Ancients. Thus in all things I strove to bear in mind the saying that “While in the written Law there are light as well as weighty precepts, the precepts of the Scribes are all weighty.” I took little sleep, little merriment; I associated myself ever with the wise, and abstained from the company of the people of the land (for by this name the Pharisees were wont to call them that gave not themselves to the study of the Law); I settled my heart to study; I asked, and answered, and whatsoever I received I strove to add thereto. And it came to pass that, because I had a strength of memory more than was usual among my fellow-students, my teacher said to me, “Joseph, son of Simeon, thou art a plastered cistern, which loseth no drop of water”; and by this name of “plastered cistern” I became known among my fellows. And when I perceived that the Traditions said little concerning a Messiah; and that my teachers also said little, and had no hope, nor so much as a desire (for the most part) that a Messiah should ever come, but were wholly given up to the study of the Law; then I endeavoured myself also to do the same, and to put away the thought of a Redeemer.
Nevertheless at times the question would arise within me, “Wherefore do I serve God for naught?” For all around I saw the wicked and the scornful seated, as kings, in high places, and the poor and the humble trampled under foot. There was the name of peace among us, but it was no peace; for Satan was making war upon us under the semblance of peace. Everywhere defilement was taking the land by force or by stealth. Many Greek cities, called by the names of the great ones among the Gentiles, were built in the midst of us, such as Tiberias, and Julias, and Cæsarea Stratonis, and Cæsarea Philippi; and even in our city of Sepphoris, now rebuilt, we were constrained to admit Greeks to be our fellow-citizens. Theatres and amphitheatres, and games, and alien rites in honour of false gods, had been brought in among us. Images of living things began to be seen on every side, and even our coinage was defiled with the uncleanness of the Gentiles; so that, in place of the vine-clusters and wheat-sheaf and star of Israel, we were forced to handle the semblances of Thracian shields and helmets, and the winged rod of enchantments, called by the Gentiles the caduceus. Moreover, as each year passed, our fears waxed greater and greater, lest at last the eagles of the Gentiles should be brought from Cæsarea into the streets of the Holy City itself, and lest the image of the Emperor should be set up therein. For the former Emperor, even Cæsar Augustus, was now dead, and a new Emperor reigned in his stead, whose name was Tiberius. But he attained not unto the former Emperor in wisdom; wherefore the minds of many were unsettled, the common people fearing lest the Romans should take away their religion, and the Scribes fearing lest the common people should incense the Romans by fresh revolt, and so bring destruction on the nation.
So it came to pass that by reason of my continual sorrow for the burdens of Sion, my heart was pressed down with care, and my trouble became too heavy for me to bear; and I found no peace, no, not even in the study of the Law. In vain I repeated to myself the saying of the Wise, “Whoso studieth the Law, he becometh modest and long-suffering and forgiving of insult”; and again, “The Law is acquired by long-suffering, by a good heart, by faith in the Wise, by acceptance of chastisements.” I looked upon my countrymen in their servitude, and I could not feel long-suffering; neither could I attain to the wisdom of the acceptance of chastisements.
When I mentioned my trouble to my teacher, Abuyah the son of Elishah, he rebuked me for presumption; for he said that such doubts came of evil, neither would he hearken unto me. Therefore I turned to another of the Scribes, whose name was Jonathan the son of Ezra. Now Jonathan was older than Abuyah the son of Elishah, but not so learned. Howbeit he was of a more gentle and loving disposition. He said to me, “Beware lest thou follow the path of Elishah the son of Solomon.” “What path?” I asked. Then Jonathan answered as follows: “It is reported that Elishah the son of Solomon was once studying the Scriptures, and he saw two men taking birds’ nests. The one obeyed not the Law, but took the mother with the young; yet he went his way in peace. The other obeyed the Law and took the young only, but let the mother go free; yet as he descended from the tree a serpent stung him and he died. Then said Elishah the son of Solomon, ‘Is it not written, The young thou mayest take to thyself, but the mother thou shalt surely let go, that it may be well with thee and that thou mayest live many days? Verily the promises of God are naught, for the man that obeyed hath not lived many days, but the man that disobeyed is unhurt.’ ” Then said I, “And what answer was made to Elishah the son of Solomon?” And my teacher replied, “Whosoever obeyeth the Law, his days will be long in the world to come.” Then was my heart comforted for a while, and I devoted myself even more diligently than before to the study of the Law.
CHAPTER II
For the space of nine or ten years I was content to give myself wholly to the study of the Law; but when I had now numbered thirty years, my doubts and fears came back to me again. While I sat in the school with the Scribe, and heard his answers and asked him questions, so long I seemed to myself righteous and on the path of righteousness; but when I came forth into the streets, or back to my mother’s house, then seemed my righteousness immediately to have vanished away. At such seasons the learning of the Wise seemed to me not bread, but a stone.
Moreover, my heart was turned from some of the Scribes that lived in Sepphoris, even them that were counted as props and pillars of the Law. To Jonathan the son of Ezra I ceased not to pay honour; but Abuyah the son of Elishah I could not reverence, and others also like unto him: for they had regard unto the praise of men rather than to the love of God. As, for example, Abuyah, whensoever he was delayed by the crowd so that he came not to the synagogue in time for prayer, he would stand where he chanced to be, at the hour of prayer, praying in the middle of the market-place. When he walked, he walked with a mincing gait and with his eyes half closed, feigning to be given up to the meditation of the Law, so that he saw no passer by. On fast days he would ever look pale and worn, as if with watching and hunger; and whensoever he met a woman as he went in the way, he would shiver and turn aside. It came to pass that on a certain day one of his pupils asked him which was the most weighty of precepts. Then Abuyah answered, “The Law of Tassels”; and continued he, “so do I esteem this law that once, because I had chanced to tread upon a portion of the fringe of my garment, going up a ladder, I steadfastly refused to move from the spot where I stood, till such time as the rent had been repaired.” Another day, this Abuyah chid my mother because she wore on her dress a ribbon that was not sewn, but only fastened to her vesture. For thus, he said, my mother transgressed the Law by bearing burdens on the Sabbath. But by such teaching Abuyah himself laid upon his pupils burdens grievous to be borne; and among the Rabbis of Israel there were more like unto Abuyah the son of Elishah than unto Jonathan the son of Ezra.
Many things also in the traditions of the Wise seemed to me not worthy of wise men, nor even of honest men. I had joined myself to a certain brotherhood (who all, or almost all, were Pharisees), such as bound themselves to observe the Law with special strictness, and in particular to pay tithes of all things. The brotherhood was called Chabura, and each of the brethren was called a Chaber. Now it was the custom of us Chaberim to meet on the Sabbath day at one another’s houses that we might sup together. But the space between our houses often exceeded two thousand paces, which distance was not to be exceeded by a man journeying on the Sabbath day. Therefore to a plain man it would have seemed that we could not sup with one another on the Sabbath day and at the same time obey the Law. But the Scribes were otherwise minded; and many of them, yea even of the strictest sect, escaped from the Law after this fashion. On the evening before the Sabbath, they would place small pieces of meat, distant two thousand paces one from another, on the road whereon they desired to journey. Where a man’s meat is, said they, there is his home. So when they were come in their journeying to the first piece of meat, they would say, “Now I am at my home and may walk yet another two thousand paces.” And so, walking from this home to other homes if need were, they walked as far as they listed. This mixing of distances they called erûbh, or “mixture;” and the device remaineth unto this day.
Again, if a man’s ox were dying on some holy day, and the owner thereof desired to kill it; he was forbidden. But if he slew the beast and then took of the meat and ate thereof, yea, even though it were a piece of flesh no bigger than an olive, and if he said, “I slay the beast to provide a necessary meal,” then he was held excused. Likewise, though a man might not buy from a