46 Transactions of the Canadian Institute. [Vol. IX. 



to Mr. Birnbaum for the trouble he has taken in this matter and for the 

 interest he has shown in my endeavours to obtain some idea as to the 

 methods of the Hebrew commentators. 



Apparently the foundation for the legend is to be found in the neces- 

 sity which the commentators felt existed for an explanation of the con- 

 cluding sentence of verse 20 of Psalm XXXIV. In the Authorized as 

 well as the Revised English Version this verse reads thus, "He keepeth 

 all his bones: not one of them is broken," and the words have generally 

 been regarded by Christian commentators as a Messianic prophecy refer- 

 ring to the circumstance related in the account of the Crucifixion contained 

 in the Gospel by St. John (Chap. XIX, v. 33), "But when they came to 

 Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs." A 

 literal translation of the Hebrew version of the Psalm referred to vields, 

 however, a distinctly different meaning to the concluding words of v. 20, 

 these taking the form "One of them shall not be destroyed," and this is 

 the rendering found in the Septuagint {C^o'/Arrn-!. -dvza rd oard ahrw-y l^ il 

 aino)'^ (10 ntr^zf)'.{ir,c!z-<i.'^, in Wycliffe's version made from the Septuagint 

 (The Lord kepith alle the boonys of hem; oon of tho schal not be 

 brokun) and in the Vulgate (unum ex illis non conf ringetur) . Here 

 then was a statement in the sacred text of an indestructible bone 

 existing in the human body, and this was sufficient warrant for the rab- 

 binical belief in its existence and a nucleus for the legend which Hebrew 

 mysticism elaborated. 



The legend cited by Bauhin and quoted from him by Diemerbroeck 

 and also by Hyrtl, is contained in the Midrash, a commentary of the 

 Pentateuch written a Httle later than A.D. 200. Since Mr. Birnbaum's 

 translation of this differs slightly from the account given by Bauhin, I will 

 quote his version of it in its entirety. ' ' When the Emperor Hadrian was 

 once grinding bones he asked Rabbi Joshua ben Chanania 'Whence will 

 God form man at the Resurrection?' 'From the Luz of the vertebral 

 column' answered the Rabbi. How knowest thou?' And he answered 

 'Bring me a Luz and I will show thee.' And when he got one he ground 

 it in a mortar, but it was not crushed ; he burnt it in fire, but it was not 

 burned ; he put it in water, but it was not softened ; he placed it on a board 

 and beat it with a hammer, the board was broken, the hammer shattered, 

 and the Luz remained whole." (Bereschit Raba, 28. The same legend 

 is repeated in the Vayikra Raba and in the Kohalet Raba). 



In the Midrash Neelom, pars Toldoth, the bone is again referred to as 

 follows: — "Rabbi Huna said 'I was in the marine cities and heard that 

 the name given the immortal vertebral bone is Bethuel mendax. I asked 



