And this is that which the Scripture says: And this shall be a token unto thee that I have sent thee: when thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain, (Exod. iii. 12).

VI. Hence we say, that we would not believe any prophet that should arise after Moses our Rabbi, in consequence of the sign alone, saying: "If he perform a sign, we will hearken unto him in every thing that he may say," but [if we hearken unto him, it is] in consequence of the commandment, with which Moses charged us in the law, saying: "When he gives you a sign, ye shall hearken unto him;" just as he commanded us to decide a [legal] matter by two witnesses, although we may not know whether they have borne true or false witness, so are we also commanded to hearken unto this prophet, although we do not know whether the sign be true, or [the work of] witchcraft or enchantment.

VII. And therefore if a prophet were to arise and perform great signs or wonders, but sought to deny the prophecy of Moses our Rabbi, we should not hearken to him, but should know certainly that the signs were [performed] by enchantment or witchcraft; seeing that the prophecy of Moses our Rabbi was not [established] by

4

2 DIN MNYD literally: Hence thou sayest.

literally: by witchcraft or enchantment. literally: plainly, clearly.

signs, so that we could compare the signs of this man with the signs of the other; but we saw it with our own eyes, and heard it with our own ears, the same as he (Moses) himself heard it.

VIII. Behold! what the matter resembles; it is just like witnesses that were to bear witness before a man, respecting a thing which he saw with his own eyes, that it was not so as he saw it; in which case he would surely not hearken unto them, but would know certainly that they were false witnesses. And therefore the law says, that if [even] the sign or the wonder come to pass, thou shalt [still] not hearken unto the words of that prophet; for behold! this [man] comes to thee with a sign or wonder, to deny that which thou sawest with thy own eyes; and since we only believe signs, in consequence of the commandment with which Moses has charged us, how then are we to receive the sign of him, who comes to deny the prophecy of Moses our Rabbi, which we both saw and heard?

PRECEPTS RELATING TO THE FOUNDATIONS

OF THE LAW.

CHAPTER IX.

WITH regard to the law, it is clear and manifest, that it is a commandment which is to last for ever and ever, and which does not admit of any alteration, diminution or addition; for it is said: What thing soever I command you, observe to do it; THOU SHALT NOT ADD THERETO, NOR DIMINISH FROM IT, (Deut. xii. 32). Again it is said: But those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children FOR EVER, that we may do all the words of this law, (Deut. xxix. 29). Behold! this informs us, that, with respect to all the words of the law, we are commanded to perform the same FOR EVER. Moreover it is said: An ordinance FOR EVER in your generations, (Numb. xv. 15.); and again it is said: It is not in heaven, (Deut. xxx. 12).

II. Behold! this informs us that no prophet is allowed to introduce henceforth any innovation. Should therefore any man arise either from among the nations or from among Israel, and perform any sign or wonder, and declare that the Lord has sent him to add any commandment, or to diminish any commandment, or to explain any of the com

mandments in such a way' as we have not heard from Moses; or if he were to say that the commandments which have been commanded to the Israelites are not [to last] for ever, and from generation to generation, but that they were only temporary commandments: then, behold! that man is a false prophet, (for behold! he came to deny the prophecy of Moses), and so he is to be destroyed by strangulation3 in consequence of his

I literally: an explanation, i. e. by such an explanation as &c.

2 literally: and for the generations of genera

tions.

3

ההוא וכל מיתה האמורה וכתיב ומת הנביא בתורה סתם אינה אלא חנק

And it is written: Even that prophet shall die, (Deut. xviii. 20). Now whenever death is recorded in the law without [the mode] being specified, it is no other than that by strangulation.

Bab. Talmud, Treatise Sanhedrin, Section 10.

The punishment of death, according to the doctrine of the Talmudists, is divided into two principal classes; namely, into

מיתה death awarded by the court of justice, and מיתת בית דין

death by the hands of Heaven, viz. when God has reserved it to Himself to destroy the transgressor. The first was, according to the nature of the crime, inflicted in four different manners, viz.

1. By pelting or stoning; when the culprit, pinioned and stripped of his clothes, with the two witnesses, ascended a scaffold twice as high as the height of a man, whence one of the witnesses pushed him down, so that he fell with his face to the ground; if death ensued, there was no occasion for stoning or pelting; but if there still remained life in the culprit, then the other witness flung a very large stone at his chest; and if, after this, the culprit was still not quite dead,

the

having dealt proudly by thus speaking in the name of the Lord, things which He has not commanded

the people pelted him with stones till life was extinct, thus conforming to the command given in Deut. xvii. 7: The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people.

2dly. By Burning; when the culprit was placed in dung up to his middle, and the two witnesses, by pulling the two ends of a towel which was put around his neck, compelled him to open his mouth; some melted tin, lead, or other metal, was then poured into it, so as to cause his bowels to be burnt by the same.

3dly. By 2 Slaying; which always implies

"D destroying with a scimitar or sword, by which the culprit was decapitated.

4thly. By pn Strangulation; when the culprit was also placed in dung up to his middle, and the two witnesses, by pulling the two ends of a towel which was put around his neck, put an end to his existence.

In the order in which these four different modes of execution succeed each other here, they were supposed by the Rabbins to be each of them successively less severe than the preceding one; so that, according to them, PD Stoning, was the severest, and pn Strangulation, the most lenient of all.

Blasphemers and idolaters, after they had been stoned to death in the manner already described, were suspended from a post a short time before sun-set, and then immediately taken down; conformably to the commandment: his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, (Deut. xxi. 23). Men only were hung, and not women; in consequence of its being written, with regard to those that are to be hung: And if a MAN have committed a sin worthy of death, (Deut. xxi. 22.), which, according to the Rabbins, excludes women.

With respect to the punishment of death to be awarded to

R