Hebrew Literature

Epiphanius Wilson

• Publisher: Jazzybee Verlag
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9783849631611
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Languages
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Hebrew literature contains some of the most profound and most influential productions of the human spirit. It constitutes a potent factor in modern civilization, and possesses merits which place it far above most other literatures of the world. The common salutation of the Hebrew is "Peace, " while that of the Greeks is "Grace, " and that of the Romans, "Safety." The Greek sought after grace, or intellectual and bodily perfection, and the power of artistic accomplishment. The Roman's ideal was strength and security of life and property. The Hebrew sought after peace, peace in the heart, as founded on a sense of Jehovah's good providence, and a moral conformity in conduct to His revealed will. While the Greek in art, literature, and even in morals, made beauty his standard, the Roman stood for power, domination and law, and the Hebrew for religion. The Hebrew, indeed, introduced into Europe the first clear conception of religion, as implied in monotheism, and a rigidly defined moral law, founded upon the will of Jehovah. The basis of morals among the Latins was political, among the Greeks æsthetic, and among the Hebrews it was the revealed will of Jehovah. While the most important remains of Hebrew literature are comprised in the Scriptures known to us as the Bible, there exists also a voluminous mass of Hebrew writings which are not included in the sacred canon. These writings are of supreme importance and value, and the selections which we have made from them in the present volume give a good idea of their interest, beauty, and subtlety of thought.

Footnotes

1.

Exod. xxiv. 12.

2.

So named from its situation at the mouth (“Pum”) of the Bedaitha, a canal between the Tigris and the Euphrates.

3.

The Cherem was most fearful. The excommunicate was cursed with the curse of Joshua against Jericho, and the curse of Elisha against those that mocked him, and the curse of fiends of deadly power: “Let nothing good come out of him, let his end be sudden, let all creatures become his enemy, let the whirlwind crush him, the fever and every other malady, and the edge of the sword smite him; let his death be unforeseen and drive him into outer darkness,” etc. There were three degrees of excommunication. The first was “the casting out of the synagogue.” The second “the delivering over to Satan.” And the third was the anathema proclaimed by priests with the sounding of trumpets.

4.

Some think he died twelve years b.c.

5.

The Jews say that the Holy Spirit spake to the Israelites during the Tabernacle by Urim and Thummim, and under the first Temple by the Prophets, and under the second by Bath Kol. The Bath Kol, which signifies “daughter voice” or “daughter of a voice,” was a kind of divine intimation, which was as inferior to the oracular voice proceeding from the Mercy Seat as a daughter is supposed to be inferior to her mother. It was said to be preceded by a clap of thunder. This, however, was not always the case. The Talmud relates that “Rabbis Jochanan and Simeon ben Lachish wished to see the face of Rabbi Samuel, a Babylon Rabbi. ‘Let us follow,’ said they, ‘the hearing of Bath Kol.’ They journeyed near a school, and as they were passing it they heard a boy reading from the book of Samuel the words, ‘And Samuel died.’ Observing this, they concluded that their friend wa...

Table of contents

• The Kabbala – A Primer
• On The Sabbatical Year
• On The Sabbath
• On Tabernacles244
• The Sanhedrin
• The Daily Sacrifice
• The Heifer719
• The Kabbalah Unveiled: The Lesser Holy Assembly
• Hebrew Melodies
• Footnotes