No. V. (Page 218.) ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE JEWISH CHARACTER; EVINCING ITS APTITUDE FOR A DISPENSATION CONSISTING CHIEFLY IN EXTERNAL RITES. IT is affirmed in the text above, that the Israelites were selected to represent those spiritual things which they were incapable of inwardly perceiving and feeling; and it is observed that their genius and temper were such as rendered them better adapted than any other people to this purpose; for they were distinguished by a remarkable tendency to multiply ceremonial observances, even beyond what was required of them, and to substitute these for the morals enjoined by the Law of God. Further to prove that this was really their character I have translated and abridged, from the Synagoga Judaica of Buxtorf, a number of examples of the manner in which they find, in almost every text of Scripture, an authority for some trifling ceremony or custom. These exhibit such marks of a gross and superficial turn of mind, as one would hardly suspect was to be found in the history of man: but idle and ridiculous as they are in themselves, they teach a lesson that is weighty and important, if they establish the view offered in the Lectures, of the purpose for which the Israelites were selected as a peculiar people: they also are not a little curious, as unfolding an extraordinary chapter in the great complex volume of human nature. Buxtorf every where gives as his authorities the Talmud and the Rabbins. It was the practice, says the book Colbo, and in some places is so still, when a child first began to learn to read the Law, to give him some cakes made of honey and milk; because it is written, " He made him to suck honey out of the rock :" [Deut. xxxii. 13:] and again," Honey and milk are under thy tongue" [Cant. iv. 11:] and the letters of his horn-book, also, were smeared over with honey, which he was to lick with his tongue, because the Psalmist says, "How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" [Ps. cix. 103.]*-A truly devout Jew ought to rise before day. light, because David says, I will awake the morning" [Ps. Ivii. 9;-in our translation, I will awake early:"] that is, they say, I awake the morning; not, The morning awakes me.' This is alleged to be necessary on account of the early prayers, which are to be offered at the rising of the sun, and not after it, because David teaches again," They shall fear thee with the sun;" [Ps. Ixxii. 5;] that is, as they explain it." They ought to praise thee, in their morning prayers, at the very rising of the sun." (It is to be observed, that in this passage, as in many other instances, they adhere to the letter of the original in a manner that totally destroys its sense, which is here properly given in the English Version.)-They affirm, from Ps. Ivi. 8, that there is great efficacy in tears shed profusely; and the book Reshith Chocmah states, that if the forehead be washed with tears, certain sins, which are written there, are blotted out; and that this is referred to when it is written," Set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry for all the abominations," etc. [Ez. ix. 4.] Their superstitious practices connected with their Tzitzith, called by our translators (Matt. xxiii. 5,) "the borders of their garments," being dangling appendages to the corners, and their Tephillin or Phylacteries, which are little boxes, containing texts of Scripture, which they fasten on their forehead and arm; and which they found on Num. xv. 38, Ďeut. xxii. 12, ch. vi. 6, 8, and Ex. xiii. 9, 16; are too numerous to be recited we will mention only one circumstance. Beside the passages of Scripture put in the Tephillin or Phylacteries, they represent on that which they fix on the forehead the letter, + Cap. viil. Synag. Jud. Cap. vii. + Ibid on the band which fastens it the letter, and on the thong which binds the other to the arm the letter. Taken together, these letters make the word (Shaddai,) which is one of the names of God; and thus they affirm is fulfilled, with all its advantages, the promise which says, And all the people of the earth shall see that the name of the Lord is called (or read) upon thee, and they shall be afraid of thee." [Deut. xxviii. 10.]* Instead, however, of the women's wearing these phylacteries, or these talismans, (for such they consider them,) it is sufficient for them to say "Amen" to their husbands' prayers; which, they allege, Isaiah teaches when he says, " Open ye the gates. that the righteous nation, which keepeth the truth, may enter in:" [Ch. xxvi. 2.] The Hebrew word for truth is Amen: hence they affirm, that to say, "the nation which keepeth the truth," is the same thing as to say, " they who observe the Amen, who say Amen to every thing, who believe all that is said in the pray. ers, and respond Amen! Selah!"'+ Respecting their Synagogues and the mode of behaving in them, they have numerous precepts, consisting of similar applications of the words of Scripture to external things and performances. Their doctors teach that the synagogue should be built in the highest part of the town, because Solomon says that Wisdom" crieth in the head or crown of those who are tumultuous" [in prayer, as they interpret Prov. i. 21:] It ought therefore to be raised above all the houses in the place, according to the words of Ezra, " to exalt the house of our God." [Ch. ix. 9.] The worshippers ought to rush violently into it like soldiers who take a city by assault; because David says, (as they understand him.)" We will walk into the house of God with noise and haste :" [Ps. lv. 14:]—that is, they say," as if dogs were set at us, and we felt them fastening their teeth in our hind quarters." They also ought to tremble and shake on entering for David says, "Worship the Lord in the glory (or beauty) of holiness;" [Ps. xxix. 2;] where they direct us not to read ) (behadrath) "in glory," but n (bechardath) in trembling." They are to recite the prayers which they call Shmon'esre, standing with both feet straight; because it is said of the living creatures in Ezekiel's vision," And their feet were straight feet." [Ez. i. 7.] When they conclude their prayers, they are to leap three steps backward, bowing at the same time, and before they raise themselves up they are to incline their head towards the left, because there is the right hand of God, before which, when they pray, they are to consider themselves as standing. Their wise men say that this is done in memory of a miracle which happened at Mount Sinai when God gave the people the law. On that occasion we read, that when" all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they removed, and stood afar off:" [Ex. xx. 18:] and the Rabbius affirm, that their terror was such, that in a single moment they fled away three miles.T When they go out of the synagogue, they are to walk backwards; and the Talmudists prove the necessity of doing so by the contrary example of the wicked men seen by Ezekiel," with their backs toward the temple of the Lord:" [Ch. viii. 16:] they are also to retire slowly, making very short steps; for their steps are counted by God, and, if numerous, obtain a great reward; as it is written, " For now thou numberest my steps." Job. xiv. 16.]** He who prays at home must choose a convenient place, which must not be an elevated, but a low one; that he may be able to say with David," Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord." [Ps. cxxx. 1.] He must also shake and twist his body in all directions; to fulfil the words," All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto thee?" [Ps. xxxv. 10.]tt The commandments which enjoin obedience to the law, they apply to the mere reading or hearing of it. Thus they say, that on a man's returning from morning prayers, before he goes out about his usual business, he must spend some time in reading the law; a commandment for which they find in Deut. vii. 12. The word which our translators have there rendered if," It shall come to pass if ye hearken," etc.-means, in its primary sense, the heel; wherefore the Jews prefer to read the passage thus:" The heel shall be, and ye shall hear;" the sense of which they say, is, " Before you lift up your heels to go out, you must read or hear something out of the Law :" The importance of this practice they illustrate by this strange perversion. While the first temple was standing, they state, the people practised at Jerusalem many evils, indulged in heinous sins, committed all kinds of incest, and defiled themselves with the vilest idolatry: all this God passed over, taking no notice of it till they neglected the study of the Law; but then he destroyed or dispersed the people, and levelled the temple with the ground according to his words in Jeremiah: "Wherefore is the laud perished, and is like the burnt up wilderness? Because they have forsaken my Law, which I set before them." [Ch. ix. 12, 13.]* Various trifling ceremonies are to be observed on sitting down to table, and blessing the bread. So, in blessing the wine, the cup is first to be lifted up with both hands, because David says," Lift up your hands in holiness and bless the Lord." [Ps. cxxxiv. 2.] It is afterwards to be held with the right hand alone, but if too heavy, the right hand may be supported by the left; because it is written, in the singular number, "I will lift up the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord." [Ps. cxvi. 13.]+-Sali is by all means to be put upon the table, because they compare the dining table to the ancient altar and the food which was offered upon it; respecting which it is said." Every oblation of thy meat-offering shalt thou season with salt; [Lev. ii. 13; hence their wise ones say, "If there be salt on the table in which to dip the consecrated bread, the table becomes an altar of expiation, and a protection against punishment." When they give thanks, they cut deeply into the loaf, but take care not quite to divide it; because, as they choose to understand Ps. x. 3, it is written, "The wicked boasteth of his heart's desire; and he that cutteth through when he giveth thanks, irritateth the Lord." Their synagogue-copies of the Law are fastened to wooden rollers, elegantly ornamented, by which alone they are to be carried or touched. These they call the tree of life, the same word in Hebrew signifying both a tree and a piece of wood; and they give this name to the handles of the books, because Solomon has said, "Wisdom is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her." [Prov. iii. 18.] They deem it necessary to celebrate the Sabbath with much festivity, and particularly to have three sumptuous meals, one on the Friday evening when the Sabbath begins, another at the Saturday noon, and the third in the evening. They find this prescribed by Moses, when, speaking of the manna to be eaten on the sabbath, he says, " Eat that to-day: for to-day is a sabbath unto the Lord: to-day ye shall not find it in the field:" [Ex. xvi. 25:] where, because to-day is repeated three times, Moses, they say, meant to intimate, that they should have, on the sabbath, three regular feasts. They are also to wear the best clothes they can afford to purchase. It is written of the sabbath, "Thou shalt honour it;" [Is. lviii. 13: How is it to be honoured? The Talmud answers, "By not suffering your sabbath-day garment to be like your common garment." At dinner, the bread is first laid upon the table-cloth, and then covered with a napkin, in memory of the manna: for, in the wilderness, the dew fell first, then the manna, and then dew again, so that the manna lay in the midst of the dew, just as if it were between two cloths: therefore the bread should be laid upon one cloth and be covered with another. For the same reason, the devout housewives make pies containing meat between two layers of dough. They prove that genial indulgences are to be practised on the sabbath from various texts, and among others from one in which none but a Jew could discover such a meaning. The whole verse of Isaiah before cited is this: "If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable, and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then" etc. Here the words, "call the sabbath a delight," mean, they affirm, that the sabbath is to be filled with all kinds of delights. Many of the Rabbins have given similar precepts, supported by similar applications of texts of Scripture: we will conclude with one by Rabbi Judah, who received it, he says, from the still older sage Rabh: * Cap. xi. + Cap. xii. + Ibid. ¡ Cap. xiv. Whoever spends the sabbath merrily, shall obtain from God the petitions of his heart: as it is written, Delight thyself in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart.'" [Ps. xxxvii. 4.]* Respecting the feast of unleavened bread, this injunction is given in Exodus: "Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall be no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters." [Ch. xiii. 7.] This they have made the ground of various practices, the most remarkable of which is, a formal search, on the night but one before the passover, by the master of the family, assisted by his male servants and children, all with wax candles in their hands, into every corner of the house, in quest of leaven. Supposing such a regular search to be intended by the commandment, why conduct it by candle light? Because it is written in Zephaniah, "I will search Jerusalem with candles?," [Ch. i. 12.1-At the feast of Pentecost, in memory of the law received at that time, they strew the floors of their houses, synagogues and streets, with grass, put green boughs, roses, and other flowers in their windows, and wear green chaplets on their heads. What has this to do with the giving of the Law? They answer, The pastures were green at the time when Moses went up into the mountain; for it is written, "Let not the flocks nor herds feed before that mountain." [Ex. xxxiv. 3. At the day of Atonement, they light up candles in the synagogues, one for every man who belongs to it: for it is written, "Glorify ye the Lord in the fires;" [Is. xxiv. 14:] which they read, "Glorify the Lord with lights." But why light them up for the men only? Take here a specimen of the ingenuity of the Cabbalists, and of the kind of mysteries which they find in the Divine Word. The letters of the word 1 (Ner), which signifies a candle, stand for the number 250. Now it is a received opinion with the Jews, that the members of a man's body are in number two hundred and forty-eight; to which if you add two, for his soul and spirit, you have the number 250: the word (Ner) therefore, whose letters make that number, stands for a man as well as a candle. But a woman, according to their system of physics, has four members more than a man; so she cannot be resolved into a Ner or candle. Very pious persons often light up two wax candles, one for the body and one for the soul, and call the latter, which is the largest, the candle of the soul. As also the soul is called a candle by Solomon, Prov. xx. 27,] they say that to light up a candle for it, makes an atonement for the soul.§ Respecting the mode of slaughtering and cutting up animals for food, they have invented so many rules, that the art of the butcher forms with them one of the learned professions, and is not allowed to be practised without authority from the Rabbins, conveyed by a regular diploma. No sanction is alleged for their fancies from the Scriptures, but the following passage: "If the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen to put his name there be too far from thee, then thou shalt kill of thy herd and of thy flock, which the Lord hath given thee, as I have commanded thee, and thou shalt eat in thy gates whatsoever thy soul lusteth after." [Deut. xii. 21.] Now as no direction are any where given respecting the mode of killing animals, they affirm that the words, "as I have commanded thee," (though it is not the Lord who is here the speaker, but Moses,) mean, "as I commanded thee orally in Mount Sinai:" the specific directions therefore are not to be sought in the Written, but in the Oral Law, that is, in their traditions; from which source they draw them in great abundance, and have composed bulky treatises on the subject. Of the numerous observances with which their weddings are solemnized, we will mention but one. The bride is led three times round the bridegroom, because it is written, "A woman shall compass a man.' [Jer. xxxi. 22.1¶ The relatives who attend the funeral of a person deceased, when they return, are to sit barefooted on the ground for seven days, neither eating meat nor drinking wine, but exhibiting the utmost wretchedness; and for thirty days they are to wear mournful and squalid apparel, neither washing them * Cap. XV. + Cap. xvii. || Cap. xxxvi. + Cap. xx. ¡ Cap. xxv. D selves nor any of their clothes. Nothing about the duration of mourning is said in the Law; but they find it clearly defined there notwithstanding. It is written in Amos, "I will turn your feasts into mourning:" [Ch. viii. 10:] hence they conclude, as the duration of a festival was seven days, that the duration of the deepest mourning must be the same. But the thirty days neglect of their persons, a part of which consists in not combing or dressing their hair, depends for its sanction on Cabbalistic ingenuity. Aaron and his two remaining sons, when his two eldest were struck dead, were commanded "not to uncover their heads;" [Lev. x. 6;] that is, the Rabbins say, not to clip their hair, but to let it grow. But how does this point to the number of thirty days? Because the Nazarite was also commanded to let his hair grow, and prohibited from clipping it, all the days of his vow; [Num. vi. 5; and this was a period of thirty days. How do they gather this, when still the number is not mentioned? From its being added, [ver. 8,] "All the days of his separation, he shall be holy to the Lord;" where the concluding word '', when its letters are reckoned as numerals, makes the number 30. By plain consequence, then, the days of separation were thirty; and by a consequence equally plain, the same should be the days of mourning!* Some apology may seem requisite for detaining the reader so long among such a wilderness of absurdities; which, however, cannot fail to afford him some amusement: but when the object was, to establish a tendency to ceremonial observances as belonging to the national character of the Jews, it was necessary to produce more than a few instances, which might be regarded as isolated and accidental. Enow, surely, have now been given, fully to prove our position: Buxtorf furnishes a great number more. How striking a comment do they afford upon the Lord's words; "Laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups; and many other such like things ye do!" But, as observed in the Lecture, "this disposition of that people to neglect essentials and to cleave to formalities, if it disqualified them from constituting an interior church themselves, eminently adapted them to be made the representatives of such a church, and to have their affairs overruled, so as to be subservient to such representation." And surely the indubitable fact, that such was their distinguishing genius, affords, by itself, an argument of no inconsiderable weight, that the designs of Providence in selecting them from all other nations, were purely those which we have endeavoured in this Lecture to develope, and were not connected with any partial favour to them, but solely regarded the general bene. fit of all future generations of mankind. No. VI. (Page 240.) CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF JEPHTHAH'S Vow. Judges xi. 31. As some modern writers have thought they have succeeded in clearly establishing the more pleasing view of the fate of Jephthah's daughter from the very words of the vow; and I have nevertheless stated, that I think that the most unforced inference from the language of the original, and from the history in general, is that the sacrifice took place; it seems necessary to give a * Cap. xlix. |