206 THE STUDY OF THE LAW. 



they yielded to absolute necessity : but the tax- 

 gatherers were looked upon as unclean creatures : no 

 respectable men would eat with them or pray with 

 them ; their evidence was not accepted in the courts 

 of justice. 



Their own government consisted of a Sanhedrim or 

 Council of Elders, presided over by the High Priest. 

 They had power to administer their own laws, but 

 could not inflict the punishment of death without the 

 permission of the Procurator. All persons of considera- 

 tion devoted themselves to the study of the Law. 

 Hebrew had become a dead language, and some 

 learning was therefore requisite for the exercise of this 

 profession, which was not the prerogative of a single 

 class. It was a Rabbinical axiom that the crown of 

 the kingdom was deposited in Judah, and the crown 

 of the priesthood in the seed of Aaron, but that the 

 crown of the law was common to all Israel. Those 

 who gained distinction as expounders of the sacred 

 books were saluted with the title of Rabbi, and were 

 called scribes and doctors of the law. The people 

 were ruled by the scribes, but the scribes were re- 

 cruited from the people. It was not an idle caste — 

 an established Church — but an order which was filled 

 and refilled with the pious, the earnest, and ambitious 

 members of the nation. 



There were two great religious sects which were also 

 political parties, as must always be the case where law 

 and religion are combined. The Sadducees were the 

 rich, the indolent, and the passive aristocrats ; they 

 were the descendants of those who had belonged to 

 the Greek party in the reign of Antiochus ; and it was 

 said that they themselves were tainted with the Greek 

 philosophy. They professed, however, to belong to 



