112 



"ben Zaccai. In answer to the question from his 

 friends — " Whence these tears ?" He says: " If 

 I were going to appear before a king of flesh and 

 b)lood, he is one who to-day is and to-morrow is 

 in the grave; if he were wroth with me, his 

 wrath is not eternal; if he were to cast me into 

 'chains, those chains are not forever; if he slay 

 me, that death is not eternal. I might soothe 

 liim with words or appease him with a gift. But 

 they are about to bring me before the King of 

 kings, the Lord, the Holy and Blessed One, who 

 liveth and abideth forever. 



i 'And if He is wroth with me. His wrath is 

 eternal; and if He bind. His bonds are eternal; 

 if He slay, it is eternal death; and Him I cannot 

 soothe with words or appease with gifts. And 

 beside all this there are before me two paths, one 

 to Paradise and the other to Gehenna, and I 

 know not in which they are about to lead me. 

 "'How can I do aught else but weep ?" Bera- 

 coth, fol. 82. Dr. Plumptre's comment is signifi- 

 cant, and coming from him is a concession of 

 some importance. He says: " Whatever ques- 

 tions may be raised as to the precise force of the 

 Hebrew words here translated ' eternal,' the 

 whole tone of the passage seems to me to confirm 

 Dr. Edersheim's conclusions, that the dying man 

 w^ho thus spoke was contemplating, as possible, a 

 punishment to which he saw no end. 



