something beyond their offering,2 he must have felt that 'the blood of bulls and of goats,
and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean,' could only 'sanctify to the purifying of
the flesh;' that, indeed, the whole body of ceremonial and ritual ordinances 'could not
make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience.' They were only 'the
shadow of good things to come;' of 'a new' and 'better covenant, established upon better
promises.'3 It was otherwise with the thought of the Kingdom. Each successive link in the
chain of prophecy bound Israel anew to this hope, and each seemed only more firmly
welded than the other. And when the voice of prophecy had ceased, the sweetness of its
melody still held the people spell-bound, even when broken in the wild fantasies of
Apocalyptic literature. Yet that 'root of Jesse,' whence this Kingdom was to spring, was
buried deep under ground, as the remains of ancient Jerusalem are now under the
desolations of many generations. Egyptian, Syrian, Greek, and Roman had trodden it
under foot; the Maccabees had come and gone, and it was not in them; the Herodian
kingdom had risen and fallen; Pharisaism, with its learning, had overshadowed thoughts
of the priesthood and of prophetism; but the hope of that Davidic Kingdom, of which
there was not a single trace or representative left, was even stronger than before. So
closely has it been intertwined with the very life of the nation, that, to all believing
Israelites, this hope has through the long night of ages, been like that eternal lamp which
burns in the darkness of the Synagogue, in front of the heavy veil that shrines the
Sanctuary, which holds and conceals the precious rolls of the Law and the Prophets.
1. It may be said that the fundamental tendency of Rabbinism was anti-sacrificial, as
regarded the value of sacrifices in commending the offerer to God. After the destruction
of the Temple it was, of course, the task of Rabbinism to show that sacrifices had no
intrinsic imp ortance, and that their place was taken by prayer, penitence, and good works.
So against objectors on the ground of Jer. xxxiii. 18 - but see the answer in Yalkut on the
passage (vol. ii. p. 67 a, towards the end) dogmatically (Bab. B. 10 b; Vayyikra R. 7, ed.
Warsh. vol. iii. p. 12 a): 'he that doeth repentance, it is imputed to him as if he went up to
Jerusalem, built the Temple and altar, and wrought all the sacrifices in the Law'; and in
view of the cessation of sacrifices in the 'Athid. labho' (Vay, u.s.; Tanch. on Par.
Shemini). Soon, prayer or study were put even above sacrifices (Ber. 32 b; Men. 110 a),
and an isolated teacher went so far as to regard the introduction of sacrificial worship as
merely intended to preserve Israel from conforming to heathen worship (Vayyikra R. 22,
u. s. p. 34 b, close). On the other hand, individuals seemed to have offered sacrifices even
after the destruction of the Temple (Eduy. viii. 6; Mechilta on Ex. xviii. 27, ed. Weiss, p.
68 b).
2. Comp. 1 Sam. xv. 22; Ps. xl. 6-8; li. 7, 17; Is. i. 11 -13; Jer. vii. 22, 23; Amos v. 21, 22;
Ecclus. vii. 9; xxxiv. 18, 19; xxxv. 1, 7.
3. Hebr. ix. 13, 9; x. 1; viii. 6, 13. On this subject we refer to the classical work of Riehm
(Lehrbegriff des Hebraerbriefes, 1867).
This great expectancy would be strung to utmost tension during the pressure of outward
circumstances more hopeless than any hitherto experienced. Witness here the ready
credence which impostors found, whose promises and schemes were of the wildest
character; witness the repeated attempts at risings, which only despair could have
prompted; witness, also, the last terrible war against Rome, and, despite the horrors of its
end, the rebellion of Bar-Kokhabh, the false Messiah. And now the cry had been
suddenly raised: 'The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!' It was heard in the wilderness of