The Life of Jesus of Nazareth | Page 8

the children in
reading the scripture; and two or more receivers of alms. The Sabbath
services consisted of prayers, and reading of the scriptures--both law
and prophets,--and an address or sermon. It was in the sermon that the
people learned to know the "traditions of the elders," whether as
applications of the law to the daily life, or as legendary embellishments
of Hebrew history and prophecy. The preacher might be any one whom
the ruler of the synagague recognized as worthy to address the
congregation.
16. The religious life which centred in the synagogue found daily

expression in the observance of the law and the traditions. In the
measure of its control by the scribes it was concerned chiefly with the
Sabbath, with the various ablutions needful to the maintenance of
ceremonial purity, with the distinctions between clean and unclean food,
with the times and ways of fasting, and with the wearing of fringes and
phylacteries. These lifeless ceremonies seem to our day wearisome and
petty in the extreme. It is probable, however, that the growth of the
various traditions had been so gradual that, as has been aptly said, the
whole usage seemed no more unreasonable to the Jews than the
etiquette of polite society does to its devotees. The evil was not so
much in the minuteness of the regulations as in the external and
superficial notion of religion which they induced.
17. Optimism was the mood of Israel's prophets from the earliest times.
Every generation looked for the dawning of a day which should banish
all ill and realize the dreams inspired by the covenant in which God had
chosen Israel for his own. In proportion as the rabbinic formalism held
control of the hearts of the people, the Messianic hope lost its warmth
and vigor. Yet the scribes did not abandon the prophetic optimism; they
held to the letter of the hope, but as its fulfilment was for them
dependent on perfect obedience to the law, oral and written, their
interest was diverted to the traditions, and their strength was given to
legal disputations. Of the rest of the people, the Sadducees naturally
gave little thought to the promise of future deliverance, they were too
absorbed with regard for present concerns. Nor is there any evidence
that the Essenes, with all their reputed knowledge of the future,
cherished the hope of a Messiah. The other elements among the people
who owned the general leadership of the scribes looked eagerly for the
coming time when God should bring to pass what he had promised
through the prophets. While some expected God himself to come in
judgment, and gave no thought to an Anointed one who should
represent the Most High to the people, the majority looked for a Son of
David to sit upon his father's throne. Even so, however, there were
wide differences in the nature of the hope which was set on the coming
of this Son of David. The Zealots were looking for a victory, which
should set Israel on high over all his foes. To the rest of the people,
however, the method of the consummation was not so clear, and they

were ready to leave God to work out his purpose in his own way,
longing meanwhile for the fulfilment of his promise. One class in
particular gave themselves to visionary representations of the promised
redemption. They differed from the Zealots in that they saw with
unwelcome clearness the futility of physical attack upon their enemies;
but their faith was strong, and at the moment when outward conditions
seemed most disheartening they looked for a revelation of God's power
from heaven, destroying all sinners in his wrath, and delivering and
comforting his people, giving them their lot in a veritable Canaan
situated in a renewed earth. Such visions are recorded in the Book of
Daniel and the Revelation of John. They are found in many other
apocalypses not included in our Bible, and indicate how persistently the
minds of the people turned towards the promises spoken by the
prophets, and meditated on their fulfilment. The Devout were midway
between the Zealots and the Apocalyptists. The songs of Zachariah and
Mary and the thanksgiving of Simeon express their faith. They hoped
for a kingdom as tangible as the Zealots sought, yet they preferred to
wait for the consolation of Israel. They believed that God was still in
his heaven, that he was not disregardful of his people, and that in his
own time he would raise up unto them their king. They looked for a
Son of David, yet his reign was to be as remarkable for its purification
of his own people as for its victories over their foes. These victories
indeed were to be largely spiritual, for their Messiah was to conquer in