R A B 



R A B 



his defcendants, and R. Jochanan, who was of a difTerent 



family. 



Tliofe who belonged to the Jewifh fchools were divided 

 into three claiies or orders. Tlie lowcft was tliat of the 

 difciples or learners ; the fecond, that of the fellows, or 

 companions, who, having made confiderable progrcfs in learn- 

 ing, were occafionally employed by the mafters in teaching 

 the young Undents : and the higheft was that of ttie pre- 

 ceptors, or teachers, to whom they appropriated the re- 

 fpedlful title of do£!or, or rabbi, differing, as fome have faid, 

 from rah only by the addition of the affix pronoun of tlie 

 firft perfon. This title rabb't was the highell accadumical 

 honour. In the gofpels, lilao-K'x'Kc; is given as the Greek 

 tranflation of the S>yi'\-a.c rabbi. (John, i, 38.) Yet this word 

 does not, as the Greek, literally iigmiy teacher ; but, having 

 been conferred at fuil, as a mark of relpeft on aftual 

 teachers, and afterwards on other learned men, was jutUy 

 accounted as appofite a verfion as the Greek language 

 atforded. 



Ih procefs of time, the term rabbi was ufed with great lati- 

 tude ; being bellowed on thofe who were not aflual teachers ; 

 and yet it always retained, ever fince it had been appropri- 

 ated to the learned, a relation to learning, and denoted that 

 the perfon who enjoyed it, though not actually employed in 

 teaching, was well qualified for the office. Rabban, as 

 fome have afferted, is not the name of a degree fuperior to 

 rabbi, though it feems intended for heightening the fignifi- 

 cation, and may be undeiftood to denote eminent or learned 

 rabbi, but it was very feldom ufed. The title rabboni, which 

 we find to have been twice given to our Lord, (Mark, x. 51. 

 John, XX. 16.) is rabban, with the addition of the affix of 

 the firft perfon, and accommodated to the pronunciation of 

 Judea. The ufe of the term rabban does not feem to have 

 extended far beyond Paleltine, as we may conclude from the 

 following circumftance. Although the word rabbi is very 

 common in the Syriac tranflation, the Greek Aitiacrnc>?is being 

 generally fo rendered ; yet in the only place where that 

 tranflator introduces the word rabboni, which is that quoted 

 from John, he prefixes in Hebrew, that is, in the dialeft 

 of Palefline, which was then fo called, adding the explana- 

 tion given by the evangelift, that is, teacher ; which plainly 

 ftievvs that the word rabboni was not Syriac. This is the 

 more remarkable, as in the other paffage, where the hiftorian 

 interprets, in the fame manner, the word rabbi, adding 

 (John, i. 38) " 6 XE'/s'iati \^ij.miWfiim\ JiJaciiaA:-," that inter- 

 preter omits this explanatory claufe as intended only for the 

 Grecian reader, and of no ufe to thofe who underftood 

 Syriac. In the paffage in Mark, where rabboni occurs, as 

 the evangelift had added no explanation, his interpreter has 

 not thought it necelTary to change their own word rabbi; 

 tlius regarding the difference in fignification between the 

 two words as inconfiderable, to which we may add, that the 

 apoftle John explains both by the fame Greek word. It 

 may be here obferved that it was cultomary to enhance the 

 import of a title by doubling it. Thus our Lord, fpeaking 

 of the Pharifees, fays, (Matt, xxiii. 7.) "they love to be 

 called of men, rnbhi, rabbi." In this manner he was himfelf 

 addrefied by Judas, at the time when that difciple chofe to 

 affume the appearance of more thaji ordinary regard. (Mark, 

 xiv. 45.) The title vufi- feems to have been ufed in the lame 

 manner. (Matt. vii. 21.) The words Jewifli rabbles and 

 Jewiffi dodors were commonly ufed fynonimoufly. In 

 Juftin Martyr's dialogue with Trypho the Jew, the rabbies 

 are always called ^idac7x«Xoi. But fome may objeft that this 

 does not account for the application of the title to our Lord. 

 As he did not derive his doftrine from any of thofe learned 

 feminaries, frequented by fuch of the youth as were reckoned 



the (lower ol the nation, tlie name doSor could not, with 

 propriety, be applied to him. To this objection it may be 

 rcpHed, that as in Judea at that time they fpoke not Greek, 

 but a dialeft of Chaldce, not diftering confiderably from 

 what is called Syriac, it is evident that tlie aftual compellatiori 

 by wliich our Saviour was addri.llcd, was rabbi, equivalent 

 to the Greek iiJaa-xcAo,. Befides, though the title rabbi 

 could regularly be conferred only by tliofe who had the 

 fuperintendency of their ichools, yet the people would be dif- 

 pofed to give the compellation through courtefy, and on 

 the prefumption that it had been conferred, wherever they 

 faw or fuppofed diftinguidied abilities in teaching ; and this 

 probably was the reafon why it was given to John the 

 Baptift. (John, iii. 26.) Moreover, in the Jevvilh ftate, a 

 divine commiffion was conceived to confer all lorts oi dignities 

 and honours, in an eminent manner, and thus fupcrfeded all 

 ordinary ru' .sand human dellinations. Accordingly, fome 

 of thole who gave the title of 7-abbi to our Saviour, were 

 willing, either fincerely or pretendedly, thus to account for 

 their doing fo. Thus Nicodemus affigns the reafon why he 

 falutcd him rabbi (John, iii. i. &c.), although he knew that 

 he had not been educated in human literature, and had not 

 received iroin man any literary honours. Upon the whole we 

 may remark, that the term iiJas-HaAij may be fitly cxprefled, 

 either by the Enghfh term doSor, or by the Syriac rabbi, 

 which is now fo much naturalized among us, that its meaning, 

 as a Jewifh title of hterary honour, can hardly be miftaken. 

 It mull alio be allowed, that the rabbi among the Jews of 

 our Saviour's age, was a title in the higheft degree refpeft- 

 ful ; and on that account it was intcrdifted by their mafter, 

 even to the apoftles themfelves. Campbell's Seventh Pre- 

 liminary DifTertation. 



Tile modern rabbins are entitled to a confiderable rcfpeft 

 among the Jews: they have the firft places in the fyna- 

 gogues; they determine all matters and controverfies of 

 religion, and very frequently pronounce upon civil af- 

 fairs. They have even a power to excommunicate the dif- 

 obedient. 



They retain a vafl number of fuperftitious traditions, from 

 the writings of their predeceffors ; which they obferve as 

 fcrupuloufly as they do the law of Mofes. 



The ancient ri.bbins were ijifinite dealers in allegories. 

 Their writings are almoit wholly allegorical, particularly 

 their comments and interpretations of the fcripturc. 



They had a great number of rules, and forms of inter- 

 preting and quoting, which fome modern writers fuppofe 

 to have been followed by the apoftles, in their interpretation 

 and quotation of the prophecies of the Old Teftament, in 

 the New. See Quotation. 



Rabbinical CharaSer. See Hebrew. 

 Rabbinical Hebrew. See Hebrew. 

 RABBINIST, a follower of the dodrine of the rab- 

 bins ; a term ufed in contradiftinftion to Caraite. 



Father Simon contends for Rabbanijl, or Rabbanite, in- 

 ftead of Rabbinifl : in effeft, the former readings arc appa- 

 rently preferable to the latter ; the word being derived from 

 the Hebrew Rabbanim, which is the name of the feft, and 

 which the Jews ufe to diftinguifti their doftors from thofe ot 

 the Caraite Jews. 



Rabbinitt, then, fignifies a Jewifh doftor who adheres to 

 the traditions of his fathers ; not fimply a rabbin or doftor ; 

 for the Caraites, who eppofe thofe traditions, have their 

 rabbins as well as the other Jews. 



RABBIT, CuNicuLUS, in Zoology, a well-known animal 



of the hare kind, or the lepus cuniculus of Linnxus, with 



a fhort tail and naked ears. In the wild ftate the colour of 



the fur is brown ; but in a tame ftate it varies to a black, 



7 piedj 



