is, but the administration of the Water of Jealousy (Sotah) seems to have fallen into disuse even while the Temple, where the rite was observed, was standing.[1] The wording of vows (Nedarim) was as precise as it is recorded to have been in the Gospel (Matt, xxiii, 16). The Nazarite, abstaining (either for life or for a stated time) from all impurity, from wine, and from shaving the head (Nezir, vi, 1), might still observe the ancient practices. But the power of the Sanhedrin to punish by stoning, strangling, burning, and beheading (Sanhedrin, vii) was taken away by the Romans (Sotah, viii, 12) and even scourging could not be inflicted (Macoth, i, 12). The Jews awaited the coming of Elias (Sotah, viii, 15), and that of the Messiah[2] with the resurrection of the pious (Sanhedrin, xi, 1; Sotah, viii, 15) and many questions were to remain unsettled till Elias should come (Edioth, viii, 7; Baba Metzia, ii, 8), but the ashes of the red heifer could no longer be prepared with water from Siloam, drawn from thence by boys seated on bulls, and said to have been born in the Temple and there kept to avoid impurity till the time arrived (Parah, iii, 2-6). These ashes might not be taken across water (ix, 5), and could only be prepared in the Temple, and the rite appears to have been observed under the Hasmoneans and down to about the Christian era (iii, 5). But the limit of a Sabbatical journey was still obligatory (Erubin), and the limits of unwalled towns defined by ropes (Erubin, i, 9), as they still are at Safed;[3] while the Sabbatical year was certainly observed in Herod's time, and apparently in the second century A.D. (Shebiith, vi, 1). The law as to trees not eaten of till the fourth year (Orlah) was less strict in Syria than in Palestine, and a law as to first fruits only held beyond Jordan (Bicurim, i, 2). The three boxes to receive the old shekels for Israel, Syria, and Babylon (Shekalim, iii, 4) could no longer be set out in the sanctuary, and the daily "continual" service (Tamid) was abolished, though the "Story of Creation" could be read in the synagogue (Taanith, iv, 2) as of old.
V.—Language.
The languages of everyday life were Aramaic and Greek, but that of the Mishnah is Hebrew. I have already given a list of Greek and Latin words from the Mishnah, but it requires to be considerably extended, and I here give the results of further study of the subject:—[4]
- ↑ It was abolished by Rabbi Johanan Ben Zacai about 70 A.D. (Sotah, ix, 9).
- ↑ The term Messiah was also applied to the High Priest on service (Horaioth, iii, 4), and the priest anointed for war (Sotali, viii, 1).
- ↑ Dr. Chaplin states that the limits are shown by wires at Jerusalem in the present day.
- ↑ Quarterly Statement, October, 1890.
