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APPENDIX A.

THE ASSIDEANS AND THEIR RELATION TO THE

PHARISEES.

E read in the Book of Numbers the regulations prescribed for those who bound themselves by the vow of a Nazirite. According to the report of Samson's mother to her husband concerning the words of the man of God, the child was to be " a Nazirite unto God from the womb to the day of his death." †

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With these Nazirites, taking their vows temporarily or for life, and lasting on through subsequent Jewish history, the Assideans seem to have been closely connected. The word Assidean, or pious," is in this sense of frequent occurrence in the Old Testament, and generally denotes those who were strict in the rigid observance of the Law, as opposed to "the impious," "the lawless," "the transgressors" (1 Macc. 1. 11; 3. 6, 8, etc.). They formed the synagogue of the Assideans according to 1 Macc. 2. 42. §

They acquired consistency and sharpness of outline as a party or sect through the circumstances of the time. The relations between the Jews and the Hellenic influences which to a large extent surrounded and even penetrated Palestine,

Specially in the Psalms (e.g. 29. 5; 31. 24; 37. 28). Ps. 149. 1 ("and his praise in the assembly of the saints ") has been taken to refer to the Assideans.

§ A less probable reading is that of the Codex Sinaiticus (), 'Iovdaiwv. The language used of them in 1 Macc. 2. 42," everyone that offered himself willingly for the law," seems to imply that they bound themselves by some kind of vow.

gradually divided the nation into two camps, consisting of those who yielded more or less fully to the attractions of new manners and new modes of thought, and on the other hand of the steadfast opponents of all change in matters social or religious. The Assideans were the emphatic upholders of tradition.

As early as the days of Simon II. (in other words, at the beginning of the 2nd century B.C.) they had become a firmly established party, making an earnest protest against concessions to the Hellenism which was becoming fashionable in certain Jewish circles. The excesses of the Greeks and of their admirers in Judea were met by a more rigid asceticism on the part of "the pious," just as the Puritans of our own history protested similarly against the riotous conduct of many of their political opponents. No doubt for a while the mass of the Jewish people took up a neutral position between the two parties, but, as the contest went forward, more and more were forced to declare themselves on one side or the other.

When the country began to suffer acutely from its Seleucid oppressors, the influence of the Assideans was intensified by the circumstances of the struggle, and on the outbreak of the rebellion they warmly supported the Maccabean leaders, as fighting for the cause dearest to them, viz. that of the Law, the sacred trust of the nation. Nevertheless they caused those leaders considerable trouble owing to the rigidity of their views as to Sabbath observance (1 Macc. 2. 32-38).

Two prominent men among them were Jose the son of Joezer of the town of Zereda and Jose the son of Jochanan of Jerusalem. These two constituted one of the pairs which according to Jewish tradition were links in the chain connecting later times with the "prophetic men" of the days of inspiration. "They both founded schools. The one laid more value upon the theoretical study of the Law, the other

upon the practical results of its teaching.* Jose of Zereda taught his disciples, 'Let thy house be a place of assembly for the wise; powder thyself with the dust of their feet; drink in their words with thirst.' Jose of Jerusalem taught on the other hand, 'Let thy house be opened wide; let the poor be thy household, and prolong not converse with women.'"†

Simon II., though an earnest upholder of the Law, never fully sympathized with the extreme views of the Assideans. Onias III. (who succeeded his father Simon circ. 198– 195 B.C.) on the contrary was a leader among them, and we have accordingly noticed earlier in this volume the enmity with which he was regarded by the chief supporters of Hellenism, the Tobiades and their adherents.

On the triumph of the patriotic cause and the consequent relaxation of the contest, Assidean support to the Hasmonean princes ceased. The latter were not content to have gained the day in fighting for religion. They desired as the result of their efforts to establish their nation in a more influential position from a strictly political point of view. And here it was they and the Assideans parted company. The latter were willing to accept Alcimus as High Priest. They desired to preserve the ancient ritual in all its integrity, but, except so far as this was affected, cared but little under what government they lived.

Thus after the death of Judas Maccabeus (circ. 160 B.C.) we may see three distinct parties, the Hellenists (to whom belonged the bulk of the priests), the Assideans, and the upholders of the Hasmonean family. The two last were both animated

* Graetz, History of the Jews (Eng. trans.), London, 1891, i., p. 451. + Pirke Aboth, i. 4, 5.

Even before the death of Judas the suspicions entertained by the Assideans with regard to his aims induced them to desert him at the battle of Eleasa, in consequence apparently of a treaty which he had made with the Romans.

with strong feelings of patriotism, but while that of the Assideans was purely of a religious character, and aimed in no sense at political aggrandisement, the supporters of the ruling family on the other hand "differed from them in their wider perception, in their greater knowledge of outward circumstances, in their manly energy, which could not be deterred from its purpose."

They seem gradually to have merged into the party of the Pharisees, of which they were the forerunners. The general position of both towards the Law and its requirements is virtually identical. The names also are cognate in their signification, "the saints," the "separate." We may compare the change in our own historic nomenclature of religious bodies from Puritan to Nonconformist. The Pharisees, however, unlike their predecessors, did not refuse, as we have seen in the historical sketch, to take a side in the political questions of their times, and after remaining in the shade for a while, while the Sadducees with their leanings towards Hellenism were in the ascendant, to assume under Alexandra an influential position in the state.

The tendency to exclusiveness was reproduced in a much more intense shape in the Essenes of later time, "but whether these [the Essenes] were historically connected with the Chasidim as divergent offshoots of the original sect, or whether they represent independent developments of the same principle, we are without the proper data for deciding."†

Graetz, op. cit., i., p. 506.

+ Lightfoot, Colossians, London, 1876 (2nd ed.), p. 355.

TILL THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE BY THE ROMANS.

ZRA'S promulgation of the Law and directions for public

worship had produced a permanent impression upon the mind of his nation. But as the Rabbinic schools of later centuries looked back to the period which followed the Return from Babylon, they perceived that records of Jewish history were almost nil from Ezra till the commencement of the Greek epoch. And although there were among them those who believed that the interval referred to did not exceed thirty or forty years, yet, whatever its length, there was the need of giving some reply to the question that naturally suggested itself, viz., what was during that space the form of religious government? The kind of answer they gave may well have arisen from the visible existence of the religious body called the Sanhedrim at the time when the above-mentioned problem sought a solution. "The Great Synagogue," whatever varieties of detail are found in the traditionary accounts, would appear to have been a general expression for those learned in the Law during the interval whose history was thus strangely lacking. We may, however, observe that there is no early Jewish testimony connecting the men of the Great Synagogue with the completion of the Canon of the Jewish Scriptures.