I N D E X
The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah
Alfred Edersheim
1883
Book I
THE PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL:
THE JEWISH WORLD IN THE DAYS OF CHRIST
Chapter 1
THE JEWISH WORLD IN THE DAYS OF CHRIST
THE JEWISH DISPERSION IN THE EAST
Among the outward means by which the religion of Israel was preserved, one of the most
important was the centralisation and localisation of its worship in Jerusalem. If to some the
ordinances of the Old Testament may in this respect seem narrow and exclusive, it is at least
doubtful, whether without such a provision Monotheism itself could have continued as a creed
or a worship. In view of the state of the ancient world, and of the tendencies of Israel during the
earlier stages of their history, the strictest isolation was necessary in order to preserve the
religion of the Old Testament from that mixture with foreign elements which would speedily have
proved fatal to its existence. And if one source of that danger had ceased after the seventy
years' exile in Babylonia, the dispersion of the greater part of the nation among those manners
and civilisation would necessarily influence them, rendered the continuance of this separation of
as great importance as before. In this respect, even traditionalism had its mission and use, as a
hedge around the Law to render its infringement or modification impossible.
Wherever a Roman, a Greek, or an Asiatic might wander, he could take his gods with him, or
find rites kindred to his own. It was far otherwise with the Jew. He had only one Temple, that in
Jerusalem; only one God, Him Who had once throned there between the Cherubim, and Who
was still King over Zion. That Temple was the only place where a God-appointed, pure
priesthood could offer acceptable sacrifices, whether for forgiveness of sin, or for fellowship
with God. Here, in the impenetrable gloom of the innermost sanctuary, which the High-Priest
alone might enter once a year for most solemn expiation, had stood the Ark, the leader of the
people into the Land of Promise, and the footstool on which the Shechinah had rested. From
that golden altar rose the cloud in incense, symbol of Israel's accepted prayers; that seven-
branched candlestick shed its perpetual light, indicative of the brightness of God's Covenant
Presence; on that table, as it were before the face of Jehovah, was laid, week by week, `the
Bread of the Face1,' a constant sacrificial meal which Israel offered unto God, and wherewith
God in turn fed His chosen priesthood. On the great blood-sprinkled altar of sacrifice smoked
the daily and festive burnt-offerings, brought by all Israel, and for all Israel, wherever scattered;
while the vast courts of the Temple were thronged not only by native Palestinians, but literally by
`Jews out of every nation under heaven.' Around this Temple gathered the sacred memories of
the past; to it clung the yet brighter hopes of the future. The history of Israel and all their