noteworthy that, in the form in which at present we possess them, they are the outcome of the
schools of Babylon.
47. According to tradition he returned to Babylon, and died there. Josephus says that he died in
Jerusalem (Anti. xi. 5. 5).
48. Herzfeld has given a very clear historical arrangement of the order in which, and the persons by
whom, the various legal determinations were supposed to have been given. See Gesch. d. V. Is r. vol. iii.
pp. 240 &c.
49. Sanh. 21 b.
50. Although thus introduced under Ezra, the ancient Hebrew characters, which resemble the Samaritan,
only very gradually gave way. They are found on monuments and coins.
51. Herzfeld (u. s. vol. iii. p. 46) happily designates the Palestinian as the Hebrĉo-Aramaic, from its
Hebraistic tinge. The Hebrew, as well as the Aramĉan, belongs to the Semitic group of languages, which
has thus been arranged: 1. North Semitic: Punico-Phoenician, Hebrew, and Aramaic (Western and
Eastern dialects). 2. South Semitic: Arabic, Himyaritic, and Ethiopian. 3. East Semitic: The Assyro -
Baylonian cuneiform. When we speak of the dialect used in Palestine, we do not, of course, forget the
great influence of Syria, exerted long before and after the Exile. Of these three branches the Aramaic is
the most closely connected with the Hebrew. Hebrew occupies an intermediate position between the
Aramaic and the Arabic, and may be said to be the oldest, certainly from a literary point of view.
Together with the introduction of the new dialect into Palestine, we mark that of the new, or square,
characters of writing. The Mishnah and all the kindred literature up to the fourth century are in Hebrew,
or rather in a modern development and adaptation of that language; the Talmud is in Aramĉan. Comp.
on this subject: DeWette-Schrader, Lehrb. d. hist. kr. Eink. (8 ed.) pp. 71-88; Herzog's Real-Encykl. vol. i.
466, 468; v. 614 &c., 710; Zunz, Gottesd. Vortr. d. Jud. pp. 7-9; Herzfeld, u.s. pp. 44 &c., 58&c.
52. Could St. Paul have had this in mind when, in referring to the miraculous gift of speaking in other
languages, he directs that one shall always interpret (1 Cor. xiv. 27)? At any rate, the word targum in
Ezra iv. 7 is rendered in the LXX. by ermhneuw. The following from the Talmud (Ber. 8 a and b) affords a
curious illustration of 1 Cor. xiv. 27: `Let a man always finish his Parashah (the daily lesson from the
Law) with the congregation (at the same time) - twice the text, and once Targum.'
53. Megill. 3 b.
But Palestine owed, if possible, a still greater debt to Babylonia. The new circumstances in
which the Jews were placed on their return seemed to render necessary an adaptation of the
Mosaic Law, if not new legislation. Besides, piety and zeal now attached themselves to the
outward observance and study of the letter of the Law. This is the origin of the Mishnah, or
Second Law, which was intended to explain and supplement the first. This constituted the only
Jewish dogmatics, in the real sense, in the study of which the sage, Rabbi, scholar, scribe, and
Darshan,54 were engaged. The result of it was the Midrash, or investigation, a term which
afterwards was popularly applied to commentaries on the Scriptures and preaching. From the
outset, Jewish theology divided into two branches: the Halakhah and the Haggadah. The
former (from halakh, to go) was, so to speak, the Rule of the Spiritual Road, and, when fixed,
had even greater authority than the Scriptures of the Old Testament, since it explained and
applied them. On the other hand, the Haggadah55 (from nagad, to tell) was only the personal
saying of the teacher, more or less valuable according to his learning and popularity, or the