had been scattered among all the nations for the sole purpose of being joined by willing proselytes; and heathen women especially seem to have eagerly turned to the Jewish tenets and customs. But, ere long, undue motives and influences came into play, such as considerations of power and wealth, so that, as for instance in Antiochia, many pagans were induced to adopt the rites and ceremonies of the prosperous Jews, whether they understood and embraced their doctrines or not; slaves especially were not always allowed freedom of action; and Rabbi Akiva went so far as to forbid Jews to keep in their houses Gentiles who did not at once submit to circumcision. It was, in fact, boldly attempted to enlarge the community by fear, menace, and violence. When John Hyrcanus (B. C. 136-105) had subdued the Idumaeans, he gave them the option between expulsion from their land and circumcision together with the adoption of all other Jewish ordinances; attachment to their country caused them to choose the latter alternative, and 'they were thenceforth Jews;'e on precisely the same conditions king Aristobulus I. (B. C. 105-104), who is designated as a 'friend of the Greeks' (pin), permitted the subjected Ituraeans to remain in their homes, and they also became Jews; while

XIV. vii. 2; comp. Judith xiv. 10, 'When Achior had seen all that the God of Israel had done, he believed in God... and was joined to the house of Israel.'

a Talm. Pesach. 87 6, 1 on Cnby; compare Yalk. Hos. § 519 (fol. 75 b).

b Jos. Bell. Jud. II. xx. 2, ἁπάσας πλὴν ὀλίγων ὑπηγμένας τῇ Loudaïky proksiz; Ant. XVIII. iii. 5; XX. ii. 3; comp. Acts xiii. 50; xvi. 14.

с Comp. Jos. Bell. Jud. VII. iii. 3, 'they were made Jews Tρó

Alexander Jannai (B. C. 104-78), 'totally destroyed the town of Pella because its inhabitants would not consent to change their religious rites for those peculiar to the Jews.'a

Not only did the Jews in that period compel proselytes to perform circumcision, as is evident from the instances just referred to, as well as from the example of king Izates quoted above;b but they-or at least the more rigorous and fanatical among them-endeavoured to force that rite upon those who came into their land as fugitives, as is apparent from a very noteworthy account given by Josephus, who in one distinct case succeeded in guarding the liberty of the strangers.c For uncircumcision was considered synonymous with wickedness.d 'Except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved,' was the doctrine of the Pharisees. It was maintained that 'if circumcision did not exist, God would not have created the world,' nor 'would heaven and earth be able to stand were it not for the blood of the covenant;'e and the great Maimonides, though opposed by other

a Jos. Ant. XIII. xv. 4, TaÚTYY (Πέλλας) κατέσκαψεν, οὐχ ὑποσχομένων τῶν ἐνοικούντων εἰς τὰ πάτρια τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἔλη καταβαλέσθαι; comp. Hor. Sat. I. iv. 142, 143, ac veluti te Judaei cogemus in hanc concedere turbam.

b P. 10; comp. Judith xiv. 10, Achior 'believed in God greatly, circumcised the flesh of his foreskin, and was joined to the house of Israel.'

c Vit. c. 23, τούτους περιτέμνε σθαι τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἀναγκαζόντων, εἰ θέλουσιν εἶναι παρ αὐτοῖς, οὐκ εἴασα βιασθῆναι; comp. c. 31, τοὺς ἀφικομένους . . . οὐκ ὀφείλειν ζῆν... μὴ με ταβῆναι θέλοντας εἰς τὰ παρ ̓ αὐτοῖς . ἔλη; Rom. x. 2, μαρτυρῶ γὰρ αὐτοῖς

authorities, sets forth, as Rabbinical teaching, the plain principle that 'no idolater should be allowed to come into the land of the Jews, to sojourn among them even for a short time or to pass from town to town for the sake of trade or commerce." la

And now even the term ger (a) underwent a most significant change of meaning. We have above shown that, in the Persian period, a distinction had been drawn between the theocratic ger in the stricter sense and the tolerated toshav (win) who was connected with the community only by civil ties. This division was not only maintained but most scrupulously and zealously expanded. The former class received the name of 'strangers of justice' or 'strangers of the covenant," who had to pledge themselves absolutely to all the duties of born Jews; while the latter category were called 'strangers of the gate's and were only bound to observe the so-called 'seven laws of the children of Noah,' comprising monotheism and the fundamental precepts of morality. But this was not enough. As the stranger permanently domiciled among the Jews was obliged, at least as a rule, to embrace Judaism, the term ger received in the later Hebrew dialect exclusively the meaning of convert, and stranger and convert were thenceforth identical. Who can mistake or fail to appreciate the momentous revolution implied in this

simple linguistic change ? The Greek expression proselyte, which originally was stranger in the widest acceptation of the word, then assumed the same pregnant and exclusive meaning, and in this sense it is used in the Greek translations of the Hebrew Scriptures, in the New Testament,b and in all modern languages.

But though the violence displayed by the Jews in securing converts was undoubtedly deplorable, it involved some redeeming points of such high importance, that few will be disposed to judge it with severity; for that excessive zeal proved a willingness to break through the narrow boundaries of descent, and to create a community of all men in regard to faith and religious privilege. It implied that a child of Abraham was not only he who actually belonged to his progeny, but every one who was ready to become his spiritual heir by believing in his God and obeying the Divine commandments. The possibility was opened for establishing a universal covenant and collecting all nations under one common standard. The kingdom of heaven, no longer limited to Israel, might include all who joined Israel in sincere devotion. The means were harsh and often cruel, but the aim was grand and noble. The means were those of growing Pharisaism, the aim was that of the old Hebrew prophets. The impetuous

fervour of proselytising which prevailed in the Hasmonaean period, prepared the way for the extraordinary work of Paul, who courageously selected his sphere of activity among the heathen; who, while breaking the fetters of the Law from within, demolished from without the barriers of nationality; and who, therefore, was able to offer to the Gentiles deliverance and truth without imposing on them a new burden of ceremonials; who almost paradoxically exclaimed that the circumcised have no share in salvation, and declared, "There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich (in mercy) to all that call upon Him." The storm of indignation which was raised against Paul not only by his earlier but by his later co-religionists, proves how little even these were prepared for so radical a transformation, and how difficult they found it to fathom the dialectic subtleties which strove to build up a new covenant upon the repeal of an old one, with respect to which even the master had declared that it is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of it to fail.'

Yet this was the turning point, at which the two chief paths separated. The abrogation of circumcision, of the dietary precepts, and of the exclusive laws of matrimony, when at last carried out in the Christian Church after vehement struggles, led onward to all countries and all nations to the extreme boundaries of the earth; while the obstinate persistence in those peculiar rules and rites confined the Jews to a narrow territory, which indeed always remained in close and lively intercourse with the whole intellectual world, but was outwardly

* Gal. v. 1—3, ἐγὼ Παῦλος λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι ἐὰν περιτέμνησος, Χριστὸς ὑμᾶς oùòè peλýσ; comp. Rom. ii. 25 —29, οὐ γὰρ ὁ ἐν τῷ φανερῷ Ἰου δαῖός ἐστιν, οὐδὲ ἡ ἐν τῷ φανερῷ ἐν σαρκὶ περιτομή, ἀλλ ̓ ὁ ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ Ἰουδαῖος, καὶ περιτομὴ καρδίας ἐν

b

Túμaτ; Philipp. iii. 2, 3; Col. ii. 11, περιετμήθητε περιτομῇ ἀχειροποιήτῳ. Rom. x. 12; comp. i. 16; ii. 10; 1 Cor. i. 22-24; xii. 13, v πνεῦμα ἐποτίσθημεν; Gal. ii. 28; Col. iii. 11; also Acts x. 47; xi. 18. c Luke xvi. 17; Matt. v. 18.