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The Sanhedrin
Amid this universal demolition of Judaic institutions, one body alone withstood the tempests and retained its authority; this was the Sanhedrin, the National Council, established by Moses according to some, while according to others it was first convened after the Captivity. The ascendancy which the prophets and doctors possessed over the people in those days of exile, the absence of the priests and of all external surroundings of their worship, the debasement into which the royal family had fallen after the return from Babylon, the difficulties surrounding any political and religious restoration, all these considerations had led Jews to regard this sovereign assembly as a substitute for the monarchy.
The functions of the Sanhedrin were to interpret the Law, to adjudge more important cases, and to exercise an exact surveillance over the administration of affairs. Hence it became at one and the same time Parliament, High Court of Justice, and the supreme resort of instruction in Judaea. Its 71 members represented the three classes of the nation: the Priests, that is to say the chiefs of the 24 sacerdotal classes, with whom were associated, under Herod and the Romans, the Pontiffs who were in this manner deprived of any temporal authority by their foreign masters; and the Scribes, as doctors and interpreters of the Law; together with the Ancients, chosen from among the elders of each tribe and family.
During 400 years the authority of this Council had remained absolute. Herod was the first to sap its strength; but shrewd as he showed himself in use her finger all other powers, he could not entirely cripple the Sanhedrin. That mighty assembly continued its sittings in the very face of the tyrant, and survived his dynasty; for we see it, under the Romans, asserting its right to settle all questions of doctrine, to administer justice, and to direct and secret the movements of the people.
This, then, is the poor ghost of authority to which the power of Israel was finally reduced; yet what must be said of the deterioration of religion and manners? The last of the Machabees had allowed the Pontificates to be dishonoured by permitting the Scribes to assume a predominant influence. Relinquished to these doctors, so zealous to discuss in their elaborate commentaries the most trivial minutiae, the laws became mere matter for futile argument; and the numerous Sects, each one arrogating to itself the right of interpreting the Law, furnish a most striking proof of the decline of Israel. The fame of three of these great parties has lived up to this day, the Pharisees, Saducees, and Essenes, and according to the testimony of Josephus, to be acquainted with this trio is to understand the ethics and the morals of all their contemporaries.
The Pharisees
As to the origin of Pharisees, we believe it sources should be sought in that isolation which the Law of Jehovah imposed upon the Jews as a nation. To shun contact with idolatrous peoples, in order to preserve the worship of God in its purity, was one of the precepts constantly reiterated by Moses and the Prophets. On the return from Babylon, Esdras and Nehemiah insisted upon this point with all the more earnestness because the defences which they could erect about the Holy Land were so feeble and so frequently infringed upon. This exclusiveness became a duty still more rigorous when the Syrian Kings made apostasy obligatory, and when the High Priests Menelaus and Acimus betrayed the faith by becoming the allies of their persecutors. All the generous hearts that Israel could count upon henceforth entrenched themselves in their despair, forming a band of picked souls whose zeal procured them the name of the Pietists, — the Assideans.
Under the leadership of Mathathias and his sons these children of Abraham had proved themselves invincible. Nothing was wanting of all that goes to make true heroism, austere, indomitable courage, a noble scorn of death, a living faith in the God who was their Protector, and in the Angels, who were there ministers and His. But peace once re-established, this impetuous virtue knew not how to restrain itself; zeal developed into fanaticism;; to fly from their impure contact became the law for these Assideans, a law which they desired to impose upon all Israel. From this, in fact, came the Aramaic name of Parousch, Pharisee (that is to say, a separatist), which is given them by those Jews who oppose the teachings.
The Sadducees
Neither the Machabees nor the Priests who surrounded them followed the Pharisees in these views. Obliged to maintain political relations with other countries, yielding moreover to the attractions of power and wealth, the new princes of Judea rejected the maxims prescribed by the zealots; they confined their observance to the letter of the law, to the sedacha, so highly praised in the holy Books, and it was from this trait that they got the name of Sadducees or the Just, to whom they were fond of likening themselves. Such, in the days of the Machabees, were the diverse tendencies of the Pharisees and Sadducees; there to see how far they have developed their theories of the time of the birth of Jesus.
Each proceeded along the downward path it had marked out for itself. The Pontiff Kings and the chiefs of the sacerdotal body fortify themselves in their holdings, endeavouring, in the administration of public business, to conserve the tottering forces by intrigue and shrewdly-planned alliances; while, with the neighbouring nations, they maintained their reciprocal relations with more rigour in proportion as the independence of Judea began to be more generally menaced. From this habitual intercourse with the Pagan world the faith of the Sadducees grew weaker, and the Epicurean doctrines, which so largely on pertained at Rome, attained an influence over them also. If they really retained their belief in the Creator, God, they did not concede to Him any active participation in the government of the world. "The Law once given to the people," they said, "Jehovah withdrew into the repose of Eternity, and abandoned man to his own free will, unchecked and unheeded." Very soon they came to deny the Immortality of the Soul, the Resurrection of the body, and the existence of the Angels. Priests of Jehovah, for the most part, they still continued to observe the laws, and acquitted themselves of the sacred functions; but, even so, they railed against the scrupulosity of the zealots.
"The Pharisees," they would say ironically, "torment themselves to no purpose in this life of ours, since they will gain nothing for their pains in this world or any other."
The laxity of this aristocracy, full of disdain for the people and a friendly toleration for the Gentiles, had been at all times a scandal to the Pharisees, who therefore showed themselves the more ardent to protect the orthodoxy which was thus threaten. According to the Rabbinical expression, they multiplied "hedge after hedge" about their Law, and would have had their prescriptions as strictly obligatory upon all as were the Precepts of the Lord. To lend some show or reason to their pretensions, they asserted that there was no commandment of which Moses had not given an oral interpretation. To collect these traditions and from them to construct a complement to the entire Mosaical ordinance, became their aim. Colleges of learned doctors were formed to enter into the minutiae of these Rules, and the people who, since the Captivity, had ceased to understand the original Hebrew of the holy Books, received these decisions as the words of God himself. The instruction which they received from the Pharisee-Scribes is, therefore, at this epoch, all the religion that Israel retained; to discover what that Doctrine was, it suffices simply to open the Talmud.
An intolerable yoke
No speculative theology, no considerations concerning the Divine Being, or the Soul, or the end of man, or the things of Eternity; only ardent discussions as to puerile observances; scrupulosity as to what was lawful pushed to the last extreme of absurdity, while but faintly and infrequently does some inspired sentence recall the God of Horeb and Sinai. Past all doubt the Pharisees guarded the Law of their God most faithfully; yet, in that Law, the exact payment of Tithes interminable ablutions, and especially the observance of the Sabbath, absorbed all their attention. It would be useless to enumerate the 1279 Rules which issue must have always before his eyes, if he would not violate the "Quiescence of Sanctity," the Precepts ordained for the conduct of guests at public banquets, the innumerable Contaminations to which all were declared to be exposed.
Such a yoke as this was intolerable; the Sadducees threw it off openly, the Scribes resigned themselves to enduring it, merely for the sake of appearances; but, for the most part, under their religious exterior, they concealed nothing but bigotry and hypocrisy. The Talmudic writers have torn the mask from the true features of the Pharisaism of their times; nothing could be imagined more mind-deadening and wretched in its effects then the rules are observed by the zealots in order to regulate their comportment and to overawe the masses. And so we see them, presently, in order to give an added gravity to their carriage, shortening their steps so that their feet might always meet in their mincing gait. Again, that they might never look upon the woman, some kept their eyes so obstinately fixed upon the ground has often to result in sudden collisions with the walls, while others, preserving a still more exact modesty, enveloped their heads in sacks and walked the streets like blind men.
If disposed to believe that these are but satirical exaggerations, that this picture overdoes the reality, you need only turn over a few pages of the Talmud to discover how far hypocrisy was elaborated into a practical science. Read the ten chapters devoted to the "Eroubin," that is, the expedients to which it was permissible to resort in evading the Law, in the event of its becoming too inconvenient. For example, the " Sabattic Rest" forbade the transporting of any load or burden further than 2000 cubits. In order to double this measure, it was enough to have deposited some food, the night before, at the furthest point in the legal distance. By this act a presumptive domicile was conferred, from which it was allowed to proceed again for another to 2000 cubits in any direction. Should the Pharisee perceive that one of these animals was about to die, he was permitted to kill the creature, without violating the holy Sabbath Rest, provided he swallowed a morsel, of the size of an olive, taken from the beast’s carcass, thus indicating that he had been obliged to butcher it for nourishment. It was allowable for him to buy and sell also; the only precaution he must observe was not to pay until the morrow. We would not venture to add to this list the licentious excesses tolerated by the rabbis, me on condition that they were concealed under an impenetrable mask of secrecy.
Noble exceptions
Is it necessary to mention the fact that, however widespread among the masses was this decadence, there were many noble exceptions still to be found in Israel, many Scribes who were were the descendants of the Assideans, true areas of their faith and virtues. The Gospels speak the praises of more than one, the cap still more had names still others, and, among the first of all, stands Hillel. His poverty, born with such dignified serenity, his steadfast, unswerving constancy, he's as zeal, his charity have rendered him justly celebrated. It was he, indeed, who instructed the contemporaries of Jesus in maxims almost Christian in spirit:"Love and strive after peace."
"Love mankind and reconcile it to the Law."
"He who magnifies is own worth debases it."
"What am I, if I neglect my soul? If I have no care for heat, who will take care of it for me? If I do not think of these things now, when shall I do so?"
Dazzled by his epic grammatical brilliancy, many have unreasonably exulted this Rabbi by attempting to make him an historical peer of the Christ. They forget that Hillel never accomplished anything which can be compared to the works of the Saviour. Like the other Doctors of his day, while commentating upon the Pharisaic laws, he confined his efforts to making that yoke bearable, and spoke only in the schools of Jerusalem to a small group of chosen disciples. Indeed he even shared in the disdain of the Scribes for the poor and humble; this haughty saying comes from him: "no man without education can escape evil doing; no man of the common people has ever attained unto piety." In a word, Hillel was an illustrious Scribe, Jesus is God. Between such there is no comparison possible.
The Essenes
What were the hopes, what were the fanetic dreams which could sustain the Essene in his rude life? It is hard indeed to tell, for the terrible law sealed their lips and on the rack of torture they refused to expose their mysteries. All that anyone knows today is that they worshipped the Sun; that they believed, like the Pythagoreans, in an ethereal soul, which is, for a time, confined within the body. Their aversion to the sacrifices of the Temple, and for the flesh of animals, their linen vestments, their prohibition of speech, all remind one of the Orphics whom Plato knew. Yet what was, in reality, the teaching of this sect? No one can say with any certainty, for it was not long-lived, and it kept its secret to the end inviolate. However, it matters little or nothing so far as it affects the history of Jewish religions, since the doctrine of these ascetics was never popular; being confined to the initiated, it had but feeble influence upon the general populace of Israel.
Carnal Israel
If we wish to understand the feelings and thoughts of these average Jews, we must look to the writings of that period, so, listen to this paragraph, found in the Book of Enoch:"In those days there shall be a wondrous change for the elect. The light of day he shall shine for them without shadow and without night; all majesty, all honour shall attend upon them. In those days the earth shall render up of the treasure which she possesses; the Kingdom of Death also, Hell itself, and all that has been entrusted unto them... The elect shell build a dwelling within the land of delight; a new Temple shall be erected for the Great King, more spacious, more resplendent than the first, and all the flocks of the earth shall be led thither unto sacrifice." In that place, pursues the author of these Messianic dreams, “I see a never-failing fountain of justice, whence flow innumerable streams of wisdom on every side, and all those who have thirst shall come hither and drink.... From over that new Earth the ancient heavens shall fade away, to give place unto another heaven, wherein the stars shall give forth sevenfold more light than before; and thenceforth the innumerable days shall succeed each other in a happiness that shall know no end."
Their Sybilline Oracles have added to this description, so flattering to the senses, further promises of a felicity more terrestrial still. "The people of the Mighty God shall bathe in seas of gold and of silver, their garments shall be of purple; all lands and oceans shall pour their treasures at their feet, and the Saints shall reign amid unceasing delights. The tiger shall graze side by side with the kid; the olive tree shall be crowned with imperishable fruit; milk, whiter than the snow, shall spring up from the fountains, and the young child shall play with the asp and the serpent without fear." It would be easy to multiply quotations. The Fourth Book of Esdras, the Psalms of Solomon, the Jewish writers of Alexandria, bear witness everywhere to the same longings; everywhere we find these dreams of a people aspiring to a higher destiny, to a fuller fruition, yet looking for it only amid the things of earth and from temporal pleasures.
Spiritual Israel and the true Messiah
All, indeed, as we have pointed out, did not partake of these material sentiments. In this degenerate people, in the midst of this carnal Israel, the spiritual Israel was still alive, are chosen band, predestined to be of the Kingdom of the Christ, holy souls who, by piously pondering the inspired truths, had there been discovered the proper lineaments of the picture which Prophecy had painted of the true Messiah.In the very hour of man's fall God had declared to Adam that One should be borne of the seed of the woman2; and thereafter He set apart, from the race of Sem, one people, of the stock of Abraham, and from that people one tribe, the tribe of Juda, — from which was to be born the Messiah.
That mysterious Figure stands for still more clearly, more perspicuously, as the years hasten on toward the realizing of all expectation of Him. As Moses sees Him, He is a Prophet, his equal in power; in David's eyes He is a King, His Son, heir to his glorious, as well as his misfortunes. His very name is discovered to the Psalmist; this King of all times to come and have the timeless Eternity is to be called the Anointed of God, the Christ, the Messiah. One after another the prophets added each a line to the limning of this portraiture which foreshadowed the advent of Divinity. Bethlehem is to be His birthplace, Galilee His native land, a Virgin His Mother. He will preach the Good News to the pure and humble of heart. He will enter Sion mounted upon the foal of an ass. He shall be despised and rejected, led to the slaughter as a Lamb; His vestment shall be parted, lots shall be cast for His tunic, His hands and His feet pierced; vinegar shall moisten His lips. Yet shall He become subject to the malefactor’s death only that He may show forth the glory of His resurrection; His soul snatched from the deep pit, and His body from corruption, that He may seat Himself upon the right hand of Jehovah, henceforth to reign for ever in the world of human hearts.
Prophecy had been advanced to this point of certainty when Malachy appeared, the last of the Seers. It was he who finished the painting, by his foretelling of the precursor of Jesus. This Herald of the Messiah would arise from among the children of Levi; so then the prophet fixes his gaze upon that tribe. If he scourges the vices of the priesthood, their scandalous alliances with the daughters of Gentiles; if he proclaims the New Sacrifice, offered from the rising unto the setting of the sun,11 and casts aside as worthless the defiled oblations of Israel, it is to prefigure the Forerunner, has he was to separate himself from the Levites, going forth before the face of the Messiah, preparing the way for Him: "Presently shall He come to His Temple, the Saviour whom you see, and the Angel of the Testament whom you desire. Behold, He cometh, sayeth the Lord of Hosts."
Such was the Messiah for Whom are all true Israelites waited in expectation; such was the Precursor, to be sent before Him, and of whose birth Saint Luke will give us the account.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam
Ad Jesum per Mariam
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