History of the Jews (Vol. 1-6). Graetz Heinrich

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СКАЧАТЬ an acknowledgment of the holiness of God; a supplication for the accomplishment of all prayers and for the acceptance of sacrifice; a thanksgiving for the preservation of life, and finally a prayer for peace, following the blessing of the priest. In the afternoon and evening, the congregation assembled again for prayer, but the service was short, as the Psalms and chapters of the Law were omitted.

      On the Sabbath and festive days, the morning service was not materially different, except that a particular prayer was interpolated, in which special mention was made of the sanctity of the day, and a longer portion from the Torah was read at its close. In time a portion from the prophets, especially a chapter bearing upon the character of the day, was read. The opposition in which the Judæans stood to the Samaritans prompted this reading from the prophets. For the Samaritans who denied the sanctity of the Temple and of Jerusalem, rejected the prophetical writings, because they contained constant allusions to the holy city and the chosen sanctuary. So much the more necessary did it appear to the upholders of Judaism to publish these writings. In consequence of this regulation, the words of the prophets who had but rarely been listened to while they lived, were now read in every Judæan house of prayer, and though they were but partially understood by the greater number of the congregation, nevertheless they became mighty levers to arouse the enthusiasm of the nation. As these readings ended the morning service, they were called "the conclusion" (Haphtarah). It thus became necessary to make an authoritative collection of the prophetic writings, and to decide which of the books were to be excluded, and which adopted. This choice was probably made by the legislative body of the Sopheric age. The collection embraced the four historical books, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, which were called the Earlier Prophets; then came three books, great in interest, bearing the names of the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel; and lastly the twelve minor prophets, Hosea, Amos, Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zachariah, and Malachi, these twelve, in conjunction with the three greater, being styled the Later Prophets. These works were all recognised as Holy Writ, but were placed next to the Torah, as of secondary degree of holiness.

      In this way the divine service of the Sopheric age was constructed; it was simple and edifying; it contained nothing superfluous, disturbing or wearying, and it embodied the thought and spirit of those time-honoured treasures, the writings of the prophets and the psalmists. It contained only one foreign element, the belief in the resurrection of the dead on the last day. With this exception, everything was taken from the pure spring of the earliest teachings.

      The inhabitants of the country towns introduced in their own congregations an exact copy of the divine service as it was conducted in Jerusalem. They needed no urging to this by mandatory enactments. Thus in each town, houses of prayer (Synagogues, Moăde-El) were established, in which was introduced the order of prayer which is the groundwork of the divine service of the present day. Besides the prayers, sacrifices were offered up according to the letter of the Law. These two forms of divine service were blended into one; they completed and helped one another. The spiritual service adapted itself to the sacrificial ceremonies; three times during the day, whilst the priests were offering up their sacrifices, the congregations assembled in the prayer-houses, whereas on the Sabbath and on festivals, when special sacrifices were offered up in the Temple (Korban Mussaph), the congregation assembled four times for prayer (Tephillath Mussaph). But even the sacrificial service could not shut out the living word; it had to grow, as it were, more spiritual, and it became customary to sing the Psalms at intervals between the offerings, because of the great influence which this sublime poetry possessed.

      There was, however, one very prominent feature connected with the Temple and the sacrifices, which was opposed to the essentially spiritual tendency of the prophetic and psalmistic poetry. It was that which related to the laws concerning purity and impurity. The law of the Torah had certainly given very precise regulations on these matters; an unclean person could not bring offerings, or approach the sanctuary, or even taste consecrated food. There were many degrees of uncleanness, and the Law prescribed how unclean persons might be purified. The last act of purification always consisted in bathing in fresh running water. These laws would never have attained such far-reaching importance, involving every station in life, had it not been for the sojourn of the Judæans, during so many centuries, among the Persians, whose much more stringent purification laws were rigorously observed. The statutes concerning uncleanness, according to the Iranian Avesta of the Persians, whose priests were the Magi, were extremely strict, and the means adopted for purification revolting. Dwelling among the Magi, the Judæans absorbed much from them. The striking resemblance of many of their laws and customs to their own could not escape their observation, and they yielded to Magian influences.

      The fundamental conception of the Deity, as of one incorporeal perfect God, was so firmly implanted in the heart of every Judæan, that no one would allow himself to be influenced by the conception of the Persian god of light, Ahura-Mazda (Ormuzd), however spiritual that conception might be. Their seers, full of penetration, speedily divined the error of the Iranian doctrine of acknowledging two great rival powers, the god of light and goodness, and the god of darkness and sin, Angro-Mainyus (Ahriman). They contrasted that doctrine with their own belief, that the God of Israel created light and darkness, good and evil. They denied that the world and mankind are being perpetually drawn in divergent directions by two rival powers, but are destined to live in peace and unity. The spiritual leaders of the Judæans in the Sopheric age expressed this belief in one of the morning prayers: "God is the Creator of light and of darkness, He has created peace and has made everything." But although the Judæans resisted any alteration in their conception of the Deity, still they could not prevent many of the ideas and customs of the Persians from gaining ground among the nation. They imagined that they were adding to the glory of God if, in imitation of the Iranians, they surrounded Him with myriads of obedient servants. The "messengers of God," whom we read of in the Bible as executors of His will, became, after the pattern of Persian beliefs, heavenly creatures, endowed with peculiar characteristics and special individuality. The people pictured to themselves the divine throne, surrounded by a countless throng of heavenly beings, or angels, awaiting a sign to do the bidding of God. "Thousand times thousands served Him, and myriad times myriads stood before Him." Like the Persians, the Judæans called the angels "the holy watchers" (Irin-Kadishin). The angels received special names: Michael, Gabriel, the strong, Raphael, the healer, Uriel or Suriel, Matatoron, and others.

      As fancy had changed the Yazatas into angels, and given them a Hebrew character and Hebrew names, so also were the bad spirits, or Daevas, introduced among the Judæans. Satan was a copy of Angro-Mainyus, but he was not placed in juxtaposition to the God of Israel, for this would have been a denial of the fundamental doctrine of the Judæans. He, the Holy One, high and mighty and all-powerful, could not be limited, or in any way interfered with by one of His own creatures. Still the first step had been taken, and, in the course of time, Satan grew to be as strong and powerful as his Iranian prototype, and was endowed with a kingdom of darkness of his own, where he reigned as the supreme power of evil. Once created in the image of Angro-Mainyus, Satan had to be surrounded with a host of attendant demons or evil spirits (Shedim, Mazikim, Malache Chabalah). One demon, as an adaptation of the Iranian Daeva names, was called Ashmodai; another, by the name of Samael, was at the head of a troop of persecuting spirits. The angel of death (Malach-ham Maveth), lying in ambush, ready to seize upon men's lives, was endowed with a thousand eyes. These creatures of the imagination soon took firm hold of the Jewish soul, and with them many usages resembling those of the Magi invaded the Jewish religion; and especially the laws of purification became more and more rigorous.

      It was also at that time that a new doctrine of retribution was developed in Judaism. According to the Iranian doctrine, the universe was divided into two great kingdoms; that of light and that of darkness; the pure, or worshippers of Ahura-Mazda, were admitted into the region of light (Paradise), and the wicked, the followers of Angro-Mainyus, into the kingdom of darkness (Hell). After death, the soul remained during three days near the body it had tenanted; then, according to its life upon earth, it was taken by the Yazatas to Paradise, or was drawn down by the Daevas into Hell. This idea of retribution after death was adopted by the Judæans. The Garden of Eden (Gan-Eden), where the story of the Creation placed the first human beings whilst СКАЧАТЬ