and the readiest and most liberal bestowal of gifts, Israel had already had in this age (like the Buddhists in a somewhat similar period in India) an ample training. No other religion taught so thoroughly as that of Israel the duty of doing in this matter what was acceptable to God; but the Pharisees made a regular spectacle out of their good works. In particular, from the letter of the law they hunted out certain outward marks of a genuine devotee bound to the observance of the whole sacred law, and laid on them the greatest stress; the sacred tassel on the dress,2 although the use of this had probably been long discontinued, the fastening of little rolls inscribed with words from the sacred law on the arm or the forehead and neck,3—such were the practices which they derived simply from a too rigid explanation of some passages in the law. To this must be added their extreme strictness in keeping the other sacred usages, whether prescribed or voluntary, in the payment of tithes of various kinds, in purifications of every description," in fasts and other performances. There was another respect, also, in which the Pharisees proved themselves children of their age. Like the pious of previous days, they sprang from a special league and fellowship, and could only conceive of themselves and direct their activities on this footing. Whoever submitted himself boldly and openly in society to the outward marks of a pious man in their sense of the term passed, it is true, as their friend; but those who belonged to the narrower school further distinguished themselves by the performance of certain special duties, without being required at the same time to belong to the learned men or expounders of the law (Scribes). In ordinary times they did not number more than a few thousand, even when they had become highly organised and powerful. Besides the numerous passages in the Old Testament, cf. among the latest works Ecclus. xxix. 9-13, xl. 17. 2 See the Alterth. p. 265. The nippi, which a little later came to be reverenced as charms, through the new superstition promoted by the Pharisees, and were hence called puλakThpia, Matt. xxiii. 5. The Samaritans, on the other hand, consistently reject this Pharisaic explanation and custom; see De Sacy's Correspondence des Samaritains de Naplouse (Paris, 1829, and also in the Notices et Extr. vol. xii.), p. 109; and that the opponents of the Pharisees repudiated them, at any rate in principle, even in Jerusalem itself, follows from the words of the Mish. Sanhedrin, xi. 3. In fact, however, the compulsory use of all such signs was rendered possible only by a crude misunderstanding, not merely of Ex. xiii. 9, 16, but also of Deut. vi. 8, xi. 18.-The trivial prescriptions of the schools about the Tephillin, as well as the (doorposts) and y (tassels), have been published in full, according to the Jerusalem Talmud, in three of the no yaw, Frankf. 1851. See the Alterth. p. 346 note, and further particulars in the Mish. Demâi. See my essay on Die Drei Ersten Evv. 2 It was only with this view that they founded a new school, attracted youth, and sought by their new philosophy of life to make themselves respected and beloved by old and young, by powerful and poor. In respect of the substance of their teachings, they proceeded wholly in accord with the grand line of development which had been running through strict Judeanism ever since the days of Ezra. They placed the law above everything else, without on that account rejecting the other records, traditions, and usages of religion, inherited from the past; they approved of the customary interpretation of scripture without commending the extravagance of allegory which was striving to prevail,' and in other respects were glad to attach themselves somewhat closely in every way to national and established practices, as well as to good moral principles, such as reverence for age. Of Greek philosophy and foreign literature they did not seek much knowledge, nor did their origin permit them to, though they were too prudent to repudiate it altogether in this age. But they well understood that their power over the people depended particularly on the knowledge and application of the holy scripture, and some of their ablest teachers accordingly occupied themselves in establishing a special science of the law, with the further view of being able to dispute with the Sadducees on all important subjects. Moreover, as they desired to secure permanently the fruits of a great popular victory, and above all to rule through the triumph of piety, they involuntarily receded more and more from its original rigidity and ruggedness, and, by the consequences of their position and aim, they came to abate or deny the claims which they had originally been obliged to confirm and maintain. In questions of more abstruse science they sought to take a middle course between the diametrically opposite views of the Sadducees and the Chasidees; 3-and asserted that some events but not all were determined by fate (the philosophical equivalent for God), others by chance, while they assigned much scope also for the play of the human will. Towards the people, however, regard for the philosophy of the day. In other respects Epiphanius, Hær. xv., attributes to the Scribes in general what belonged properly to the Pharisees: in this he only follows the later fashion of setting up exactly seven Jewish sects. s Pp. 278 sq., 282, 371 sqq. 4 In Ant. xiii. 5, 9, Josephus plainly endeavours to correct his statements in Bel. Jud. ii. 8, 14, although in a subsequent passage, Ant. xviii. 1,3, he does not express himself with any greater clearness. In any they fell more and more into that hypocrisy which is invariably produced when men attempt to rule by the show of piety,' and, closely allied among themselves, they even dared to defy the authorities when it seemed to their interest to do so. Flattering the people in order to govern them, they were ready from a similar cause to devote their services to individuals in power, in particular to eminent women, where they thought they discerned their own advantage; living in poverty before the world, there were many, however, who by no means scorned its treasures and enjoyments. In them, therefore, the various impulses to false religion which were involved in the general tendency of the preceding centuries at length developed themselves with the utmost force, and assumed the clearest prominence; and they who wished to be the most pious, and to appear as teachers of righteousness of every kind, not excepting the highest, were compelled to surround the true religion with the greatest darkness and the closest restrictions, like the Jesuits of modern days. No school brought to light the deeper defects of the hagiocracy of Israel so clearly as that of the Pharisees. 3 A school of this kind, in emerging out of the former pietists, could not long retain the name of the Chasidim, when it assumed so very different a form. The name of the Chasidees, in fact, disappears from this time from the main current of the history, and with the transformation of the school appears the new name of the Pharisees, equivalent perhaps to separatists or specialists, persons who wished to be distinguished above others for their piety, and to be regarded as of more importance or greater holiness." case it is clear that between the two already existing views the Pharisees wished to adopt a medium position, which seemed to involve the greatest advantages and the least risk. Josephus, himself a Pharisee, does not, it is true, bring this point forwards: it must, however, be supplied from the New Testament. salem completely put an end to the Pharisees in their original and essential character, that, viz., of a political party, it is not surprising that in this aspect no mention at all is made of them in the Talmudic writings. Only so far as they entertained opinions at variance with those of the Sadducees and Boëthusians is there any considerable and continuous reference to them under the designation -rather new-Hebrew than Aramaic 2 See the story in Jos. Ant. xvii. 2, 4, where Josephus is compelled almost against his will to use very free language; the title is found in Rab about them. P. 192 sqq. 4 The name 'Sadducees' is certainly derived, as we have already observed, p. 275, from a leader of the school; but it by no means follows from this that the names of the Chasidees and Pharisees, formed in Greek in a similar manner, had a similar derivation; in fact, it would be difficult to find anywhere as a personal name. As the destruction of Jeru VOL. V. BB 2) Those, however, who strove after piety, yet would not join the Pharisees, were now either lost in the nation at large, or found themselves driven by the sharpness of the contrast to these tyrannical hypocrites far beyond what had hitherto been called piety. Regarding society as worldly and incurably corrupt, they abandoned it altogether, and formed among themselves smaller associations on a new basis. These constituted the body which Josephus designates that of the Essenes,1 and always represents as one of the three Jewish schools; but, according to the primitive meaning of their name, they were more correctly called Essees. In the Aramaic country dialect, which had hitherto been the language of common life,3 and only now began to give place in literature to the new-Hebrew, which was by this time fully developed and was afterwards to be firmly established, this name was itself equivalent to Pious,1 and continued to be employed of their own free choice by this new order of devotees, while the new literary language adopted in place of it the word Chasidim, which entirely corresponded 2 Demâi, i. 2, ii. 2, &c. Among Arabic writers the opinion survived that the name was equivalent to del, Abulfatch's Samaritan Chronicle in the Neues Repert. i. p. 142 sqq., Makrîzî in De Sacy's Chrest. Ar. i. pp. 105, 114. This explanation is quite appropriate, though the word has apparently been selected not without reference to the party in Islâm bearing the same name. 1 The first Essene occurring in the history makes his appearance at the time with which we are now concerned, Jos. Ant. xiii. 11, 2. 2 The spelling Esseni is found also in Pliny, Hist. Nat. v. 15; on the other hand we have the Essai in Jos. Ant. xv. 10, 4, and elsewhere, according to many MSS. The original meaning and form of the name may appear doubtful, as it was already obscure to somewhat later writers. We can hardly suppose it to be derived from a town called Essa, on the east side of the Jordan (Jos. Ant. xiii. 15, 3, if the reading is correct), or from the Wady Haziz (vol. iv. p. 55 note 2), the locality of which would be more suitable. Philo connects the name with öotos (ii. p. 457. cf. Euseb. Præp. Ev. viii. 11), a play of the same kind as Epiphanius's designation of them as Jessees (Hær. xxix. 50), in allusion to David's father. That they were also called the stout, στιβαρὸν γένος, as stout handicraftsmen, is probably nothing but a later joke, which occurs in Epiphanius, and or חֲסִין from has found its way from the Fathers into Makrîzî (in De Sacy's Chrest. Ar. i, p. 114). If, further, the Therapeutæ are, as is shown below, originally the same, only under a Hellenist name, we might refer to the Rabbinical (properly preserver, guardian), and suppose that the Essenes called themselves so as watchers, servants (of God), since they did not in fact purpose to be anything more than θεραπευταὶ Beoû, as Philo says, ii. p. 457. This name, however, in the form 'AÇavíra, is usually employed only for the well-known officers of the synagogue, Epiphan. Hær, xxx. 11. That they were originally regarded as, physicians, and that their name had this signification, is intrinsically preposterous and has not the support of any ancient writer (before Eusebius, Ecc. Hist. ii. 17, 3, who only describes them, however, as physicians of souls, and does not even quote the name Essces in this connection at all). 3 P. 180 sqq. From the word oor, common in Syrian (but not in Chaldee or Rabbinical Hebrew; cf. my essay Ueber die Sibyllenbücher, p. 46). This word is closely connected in its root with the Hebrew 7 and p, so far as it properly means affectionate attachment. Then in Εσσηνοί has found its way in somewhat after the Roman formation, as in Nazarenus (cf. Simon in & FITTηvós in Hippolytus); cf. vol. ii. p. 230 note 1. 3 to it in meaning, but was good Hebrew. Many Essees were, in fact, only known to the majority of the people as benevolent wardens of the poor and physicians of the sick, who, from their knowledge of the means and method of cure, specially devoted their lives to the aid of suffering humanity. From earlier times there had not been wanting men who, under the permission and guidance of the law, had quitted society to lead a separate life of holiness. In the first period of the history, however, there were none but Nazirites, of whom each lived for himself; in the second, the Rechabites commenced to unite in larger associations; now, however, with the numerous Essees, the conscience of the nation, as it were, withdrew into the wilderness. Coming forth as they did from the Chasidees, it cannot be denied that they present in the most admirable manner the most direct development and logical issue of Judaism after the days of Ezra, which, while sovereign power was beyond its reach, was still practicable before the perfection of the true religion was attained. Since the commencement of the great Syrian persecution, the custom of retiring into the wilderness had become very common, and the first great Asmonean had himself set the example of it; and to this extent the Essees were entirely the product of the age. What was really characteristic of them was that they required from among themselves in the most decided manner that strictness in keeping the law which had been demanded first by Ezra, and after him with still greater vigour by the Chasidees; nor did they shrink in their own persons from whatever labour might be required for carrying it out in every department of life. In their views about God and man, they constitute, like their predecessors the Chasidees, the precise contrast to the Sadducees. On these points it would be fruitless to seek amongst them for any purely original ideas," although at the time of their origin and primitive influence they had their own characteristic writers, whose works readily acquired at a later day a higher and even a sacred authority. The novelty in Thus Ben-Gorion, iv. 6, 7 (pp. 274, 278), and elsewhere, always calls them D'TDM, and the in the M. Ar. cap. 25, has certainly arisen out of this simply by a clerical error; this is decisive, although this late work often replaces unknown names with known ones, and helps itself out with mere conjectures. The change of 5 into 5 is of exactly the same character, p. 369 note 4. 2 Jos. Bell. Jud. ii. 8, 6. 8 See the Alterth. P. 97 sqq. 5 Yet, according to Jos. Bell. Jud. ii. 8, 6 sq., they were bound to preserve their ancient sacred books, especially those on the health of the soul and the body, and those on the names of the angels' (that is, their significance and powers). They certainly had therefore specially sacred. books of their own. In my essay, Ueber das Buch Henokh, pp. 47, 56, I have shown that only its |