The name of the second section into which the Jewish community was now divided is wrapped in doubt. There is Sadducees. a tradition that the name of 'Sadducee' was derived from Zadok,' a disciple of Antigonus of Socho. But the statement is not earlier than the seventh century after the Christian era, and the person seems too obscure to have originated so widespread a title. It has been also ingeniously conjectured that the name2 as belonging to the whole priestly class, is derived from the famous High Priest of the time of Solomon. But of this there is no trace either in history or tradition. It is more probable that as the Pharisees derived their name from the virtue of Isolation (pharishah) from the Gentile world on which they most prided themselves, so the Sadducees derived theirs from their own especial virtue of Righteousness (zadikah),3 that is, the fulfilment of the law, with which, as its guardians and representatives of the law, they were specially concerned. The Sadducees-whatever be the derivation of the word-were less of a sect than of a class. It is probable that, if the Pharisees represented or were represented by the Scribes or Rabbis, the Sadducees were the official leaders of the nation, and that their strength was in the Priests, whose chief during this period had so often been the head of the State. They were satisfied with the Law, as it appeared in the written code, without adopting the oral tradition on which the Pharisees laid so much stress. They were contented with the reputation of being 'just' (as their name implied) that is to say, of fulfilling the necessary requirements of the law,5 without aspiring to the reputation of 1 See Ginsburg, in Kitto's Cyclopædia, iii. 781, 782. 2 See Geiger's Urschrift; Twisleton, in Dictionary of Bible. Löw (see Kitto, iii. 726); Derembourg, 78. He meets the linguistic difficulty of their not being called 4 Zadikim by supposing that Zadukim Jos. Ant. xiii. 16, 2; B. J. i. 5, Comp. Luke i. 6, and the constant repetition of the word díkalos in The 'sanctity; that is, of increasing the minute distinctions between themselves and their Gentile neighbours. Their view of human conduct was that it was within the control of a man's own will, and was not overruled by the mere decrees of fate. Their view of the future existence was that, as in the Mosaic law, a veil was drawn across it, and that, according to the saying of Antigonus of Socho, men were not to be influenced by the hope of future reward and punishment. 2 The name of the third sect has an edge somewhat less sharp than the two others because its tendencies were less marked, and its part in the conflicts of the time less conspicuous. Yet here, as in the other two divisions, the most probable explanations of the word 'Essene' point not to any personal leader or founder, but to the moral and social characteristics of their school. It indicates either the 'watchful contemplation' or 'the affectionate devotion' or the silent thoughtfulness' of those who retired from the strife of parties and nourished a higher spiritual life in communities of their own. Deep in the recesses of the Jordan valley, where afterwards there arose the monasteries of Santa Saba and of Quarantania, or the hermits of Engedi, these early cœnobites took refuge. A corresponding Egyptian school in like manner were the precursors of the monks in the Thebaid. In their retirement from the outward ceremonial of the Temple, in their ascetic practices, in their community of property, in their simplicity of speech, in their meals, partly social and partly religious, we see the first beginning of those outward forms, and in some respects of those inward ideas, which before another century was passed were to be filled with a new spirit, and thus to attain an almost universal ascendency. the speech of John Hyrcanus on the 1 Ewald, v. 370; Professor Light foot on Colossians, 119. 2 Jos. Ant. xiii. 5, 10; xvii. 1, 5; B. J. ii. 8, 2-4. couples, It is in the reign of John Hyrcanus that these divisions start for the first time before our eyes. Under him, we The trace the first appearance of those 'couples,'' of two leading Joshua sages who henceforth, in an unbroken succession, figure at and Nittai. the head of the Pharisaic school, perhaps at the head of the national Council, and whose pithy aphorisms shine with a steady light through the darkness or the fantastic meteors of the Talmudic literature. Already this double aspect of truth had appeared in the two Josephs in the Maccabean time-the son of Joazar insisting only on the value of learning, the son of John laying down rigid rules against exchanging even a word with women. The same division is more strongly marked in Joshua, the son of Perachiah and Nittai of Arbela. Avoid a bad neighbour, choose not an 'impious friend, doubt not the judgment that shall fall on 'the wicked.' So spoke the harder and more negative theology of Nittai. Get thyself a master and so secure a 'friend; throw thy judgment of everyone into the scale of 'his innocence.' So spoke the more charitable and positive teaching of Joshua, the son of Perachiah. In a strange 5 legend of later times he is represented as having lived onwards to the final struggle of the Pharisaic school, and confronted its great adversary, and repelled Him by a harsh reproof. Rather, we may say, he has, by this one sentence, received by anticipation that Teacher's blessing; nor is it impossible that he had heard, in the exile to which he was afterwards driven in Alexandria, something of the true value of a teacher outside his own circle-something of Aristotle's doctrine of a disinterested friendship-something of that 'sweet reasonableness' which the Greek language expresses in one forcible word and which this fine old Hebrew maxim 1 Derenbourg, 93, 456. 2 The formation of the national Council at this time is so doubtful that it is not here discussed. (See The rup ture with the Pharisees. B.C. 109. so well conveys in substance. To the teaching of which these two sayings are the highest expression, but which, doubtless, was mixed with the baser matter of the party, Hyrcanus devoted himself. At last came a sudden crash. It was after the overthrow of the sanctuary of Gerizim and the city of Samaria that, at the close of his career, John Hyrcanus entertained at a splendid banquet the nobles and scholars of his court. With a characteristic combination of the present glories and the past sufferings of his dynasty, the tables were laden with the dainties of regal luxury, and the roots and herbs, such as those on which his ancestors had lived in the mountains.' On this solemn day, Hyrcanus, like Samuel of old, asked for an opinion on his administration 2 and his conduct. One guest took up the challenge. In him the growing jealousy of the fanatical party found a voice. It was Eleazar the Pharisee. For no moral delinquency, for no violence in war or peace was the splendid Pontiff arraigned. It was the same religious scruple which allied the Pious' with Alcimus. against Judas Maccabæus. It was the well-known perversity of theological animosity, which, under the cover of such scruples, allied itself with personal enmity, and, raking up the ashes of forgotten or invented scandals, insisted on questioning the validity of the Priestly descent of Hyrcanus, on the allegation of an exploded calumny that his motherthe high-spirited wife of Simon-had once been a captive in the Syrian army, and thus shared the bed of Antiochus Epiphanes. The fiery spirit, the tender recollections of John were stirred up by this reflection on his mother's honour. At that moment another rose from the table. It was Jonathan the Sadducee. Now was come the time to reclaim the Prince from leaning to those whom the Priestly caste regarded as their rivals. In Eleazar he denounced the whole party, who, 1 Grätz, iii. 99, 453. 2 Jos. Ant. xiii. 10,5, 6; Derenbourg, 79, 80. though with certain reserves, stood by their comrade. From that time John Hyrcanus broke away from the school which he had hitherto courted. From that time the feud between the two parties was alternately fostered and shunned by his descendants. The Esse nian pro phet. His enemies poisoned B.c. 106. One dreadful interlude between these contests' introduces to us for a moment the third party, of which the real significance is reserved for the next generation. Aristobulus, the son of Hyrcanus, whose family affections were entirely absorbed in his brother Antigonus, had been brought back from his campaign in Ituræa by an illness, which confined him to the Palace built by his father in the Temple precincts. Antigonus had gone in full military pomp, in splendid armour, and with his troops around him, to offer prayers in the Temple for his brother's recovery, choosing, as was the custom for all solemn occasions, the great festival of the Tabernacles. the mind of the King against him. He was invited to come and show his new suit of armour to the King, and, as he passed along the covered corridor from the Temple to the fortress, he was waylaid in a dark corner of the gallery and assassinated. The sudden shock of remorse brought on a violent fit of sickness in the unfortunate Aristobulus. The bason containing the blood which he had vomited was spilt on the pavement where his brother had fallen. The cry of horror which rang through the Palace gave a new shock to the King, who expired with his brother's name on his lips. Amidst these tragic scenes, it was remembered that a singular being, marked probably by his white dress, was standing in the Temple as Antigonus passed to the fatal gallery. 'Look,' he said, to his companions, I am a false prophet; for I predicted, ' and my words have never yet failed, that Antigonus would 'die this very day at Strato's Tower, and here he is on the 1 Jos. Ant. xiii. 11, 2. сс III. |