CHAP. IV.

Shewing how far the various distinctions of the Jews, which happen to be spoken of in the Acts, are confirmed by other authors.

I

§. 1. PROCEED now to the second thing proposed, which is, to shew you how far the various distinctions among the Jews, mentioned in the history of the Acts, are confirmed by other authors. The first is, that of Jews and proselytes. This is a distinction so well known, that it is almost needless to tell you, that by proselytes are understood those of other nations who embrace the Jewish religion either in whole or in part. Those who embraced it wholly were in most things esteemed Jews, as much as if they had descended from the sons of Jacob. In some few things they, their offspring, and all their descendants, unless they sprang from marriages with women who were of the race of Israel, had different laws and customs; whereby there was always a distinction kept up between the posterity of proselytes and the native Jews". The children of proselytes, their grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so down to all generations, were under the same laws as were the first converted, and therefore were deemed proselytes. If, indeed, any of them married with women of the Jewish race, the children sprung from that marriage were Jews in the strictest sense of the word, as being descendants from Jacob.

Maim. Issure. Biah, c. 14. Vid. Seld. de Jur. Nat. 1. 2. c. 4. p. 1945-6. 1. 5. c. 20. p. 590-1-2.

Those who embraced the Jewish religion in part only, were such who, from among other nations, forsook the idolatry they had been educated in, and worshipped the one only living and true God, the God of the Jews, and observed what are called the seven precepts of Noah. When the Jews were under their own government, they permitted no foreigners to live in the holy land, though it were for never so short a time, if they did not thus far conform to the Jewish religion. Of the first sort of proselytes was Nicolas the deacon, said, in the history of the Acts, to be a proselyte of Antioch c. Of the second sort was Cornelius the centuriond; and of this latter sort is frequent mention made, by the names of religiouse or devout personsf, of persons that fear Gods, or who worship God. That there were many who had embraced the Jewish religion about that period of time which is the subject of the history of the Acts, is fully evident from almost all the authors who have wrote of that time, and are now extant; such as Tacitus, Suetonius, Dio1, Josephus m, and several of the Roman poets, as Horace, Juvenal, Persius.

We read in several parts of the Acts of women proselytes", more especially of "the chief and honourable women"." That the Jews were not a little diligent in gaining over the fair sex to their religion, and particularly such who were of figure and eminence, we learn from the account Josephus has given us of the conversions of Helena and Fulvia 9, the former a queen, the latter a Roman matron, wife of Saturninus, a favourite of the emperor Tiberius. And that very many women were prevailed with to become proselytes, appears from what he tells us of the citizens of Damascus,

who, having formed a design to kill all the Jews in that city, were obliged, with great solicitude, to conceal it from their wives, because they were well nigh all addicted to the Jewish religion'.

It is said, Acts ii. 10, that there were at that time in Jerusalem strangers from Rome," both "Jews and proselytes; that is, Jews and proselytes who were by birth or habitation Romans, but now sojourned at Jerusalem. That there were great multitudes of Jews who dwelt at Rome, is evident, not only from Josephuss, but from Dio', Suetonius, Tacitus, and I think I may say all the Roman authors of that time, not excepting even the poets; and that there were not a few in that great city proselyted to the Jewish religion, sufficiently appears from the satires of Horace, Juvenala, and Persius".

§. 2. Another distinction we meet with in the history of the Acts is that of Hellenists and Hebrews. Our translators have rendered the word Grecians; but that rendering is far from conveying the true idea of it to the readers. By the Hellenists are to be understood the dispersion among the Greeks, as they are called, John vii. 35; or all those Jews dispersed in the west, who, not understanding the language spoken in Judæa, were obliged to recite their sentences and prayers, and to have the Bible interpreted to them in the Greek language. The language which was at this time usually spoken in the land of Judæa, though not the ancient Hebrew, but, in truth, a dialect of the Chaldee, yet went under the name of the Hebrew language. Such, therefore, who understood this, and to whom the Law and the prophets, when read in their synagogues, were interpreted in this Chaldaic dialect, went under the name of Hebrews, in contradistinction to those who were named Hellenists. It is true, we meet not with this distinction in express words, either in Josephus or any other Jewish writer. But we find

De Bell. 1. 2. c. 20. §. 2.

Antiq. 1. 18. c. 4. §. 5.

* L. 36. p. 37. B.

" In Tib. 36. 2.

* Annal. 1. 2. 85. prop. fin.

2 L. 1. Sat. 4. ver. ult.

"Sat. 14. v. 96, &c.

b Sat. 5. 179, &c.

Ch. vi. 1. and ix. 29. and xi. 20. But the best copies in this last place

y Vid. Juv. Sat. 3. 13, &c. 6. read "Eλλŋves. V. Grot. in loc.

541, &c.

in them those things which were the foundation of it, and which evidently lead to the sense I have now given hereofd.

That the Law and the Prophets, though read in their synagogues in the ancient Hebrew, were, by an interpreter, rendered into the language then commonly spoken in Judæa, is fully evident from the Talmudists. They tell us, that in the Prophets three verses were read by the reader, and then those three translated by the interpreter, and then three more read and translated, and so on; but that in the Law no more than a single verse was read, and then interpreted, for fear of a mistakef. The reason they gave why the Law and the Prophets were thus interpreted, was, because the ancient Hebrew being no longer the language in common use, this method was necessary to their understanding them. Is not this reason of full as much force when applied to the Jews who understood no other language than the Greek, that they ought to have both interpreted to them in that language? There is no doubt, therefore, but that the Law and the Prophets were interpreted to them in Greek; nor am I sensible that this is a fact disputed by anyh.

There are several learned men who understand by Hellenists, proselytes, such as Beza, Selden, Basnage; but I cannot see the least shadow of a reason to support their opinion. The word Hellenists comes from 'EXλnvičw, Græco more me gero, or Grace loquor; 'Envors qui Græcisat, vel Græce loquitur; and thus is it translated in the Syriac version, Acts ix. 29. The Jews speaking the Greek tongue. Had St. Luke meant proselytes, it's much he should not use the name proselytes here as well as elsewhere; or he might have called them "EXλnνες Ἰουδαίζοντες, οι Ερβαϊσταὶ, that is, Greeks who imitated the Hebrew manners; but there can be no reason in nature assigned why they should be called Ἑλληνισταί.

Vid. Vitrin. de Synag. vet. 1. 3. p. 2. c. 12. p. 1015, &c. Buxtorf. Lex. Chald. in voc. Targem, p. 2642. fin. et in voc. Turgeman, 2643. fin. Vitr. ibid. p. 1019.

Vitr. ibid. p. 1020. fin. et 1021.

Learned men differ much in their opinion whether the Targum and LXX translation were read in the Jewish synagogues during that period of time we are treating of. Buxtorf. Lex. Chald. voce Elinistin. Grotius in Act. vi. 1. and Prideaux, Conn. vol. 2. P. 414. 425. (who quotes Elias Levita, as saying, in his Methurgeman, pref. p. 246. that the Targum was read, in his time, in the synagogues in Germany) think they were; Vitringa and Lightfoot, that they were not. And it is very certain, if the Talmudists are to be credited, that they were not read. The arguments I have made use of noways interest me in this dispute. For both sides agree that the Law and the Prophets were interpreted in the synagogue into a known tongue; whether it was done by reading a written interpretation, or without reading, is of no importance to my argument.

,אליניסתין,Law so

Rabbi Levi ben Chaiatha, going down to Cæsarea, heard them reciting the Shema, that is, certain portions of the Law so called', o, a word very near to that we are treating of, heard them reciting their sentences in Greek, and would have forbidden them; which when Rabbi Jose heard, he was very angry, and said, "If a man does not know how to recite in the holy tongue, must he not recite them at all? Let him perform his duty in what language he can." This is related in the Jerusalem Talmud, Sotah, fol. xxi. 2m. This sufficiently shews that the Hellenists, or persons who recited their sentences in the Greek language, were esteemed an inferior class of Jews. It is remarkable also, from several parts of the Talmud, that as they set a high value on the Babylonian Jews, so they placed the Jews who were dispersed among the Greeks in the lowest form. It is a saying of theirs, "All lands are a mixed lump, compared with the land of Israel; and the land of Israel is a mixed lump, compared with Babylon"." And another: "The Jewish offspring in Babylon is more valuable than that among the Greeks, even purer than that in Judæa itself"."

Josephus tells us that the knowledge of foreign languages, and of Greek in particular, was held in no esteem with his countrymen, was looked upon as a common attainment, and such as their slaves might be masters of; but that skill in their law, and an ability to interpret the sacred books, was greatly admired". In the Talmud is this execration said to be made at the time when Aristobulus besieged his brother Hyrcanus : "Cursed be the man that cherisheth swine; and cursed be the man that teacheth his son the wisdom of the Greeks." And in the war with Titus they decreed that no man should teach his son Greek'. This decree, as appears by the gloss upon the former passage, was made first in the

Vid. Vit. Syn. vet. 1. 3. p. 2. c. 15. p. 1051, &c.

m

Vid. Lightfoot, vol. 2. p. 661. Grot. in Act. vi. 1. Buxtorf. L. Tal

mud. in voce Elinistin.

" Vid. Light. vol. 2. p. 799. • Ibid. p. 558.

Antiq. 1. 20. c. ult. §. ult. to which Origen also may be added,

contra Cels. 1. 2. p. 80. fin.

Bava kama, fol. 82. 2. Vid. not. l'Empereur ad Bava kama, c. 7. §. 7. n. 5. Light. vol. 2. p. 660. Seld. de Syned. 1. 2. c. 9. §. 2. p. 1417. fin. 1418.

· Mishna Sota, c. 9. §. 14. Vid. not. Wagen.