Edwin Abbott - Philochristus

On the third day after the sacrifice, I came to Sepphoris. My mother was so far recovered of her sickness that she was no longer despaired of by the physicians. For the time, my joy thereat, and our rejoicing together (because the Lord had suffered us to look on one another again) drove away my former searchings of heart: which notwithstanding presently came back upon me. My mother took a delight in my continual presence, and that I should sit by her bed, expounding unto her passages of the Law; and many a time, while I was doing this, she would make mention of the title wherewith I had been honoured by Rabbi Jonathan, who had called me “the plastered cistern.” But oftentimes it was not in my heart to find any words of comfort or hope, and when my mother longed for the draughts of the Law I felt that I was a dried-up cistern, and no longer full.

At the last, on a certain morning, my mother, having (as I suppose) noted my silence before, spake aloud reproving me, albeit gently, and saying, “Why flow not the drops of refreshment from the plastered cistern as in former days?” But I replied in haste, “Call me no longer, O my mother, a cistern. For lo, I am become even as a strainer, which letteth out the wine and keepeth in itself nothing but the dregs.” Then my mother wept bitterly, thinking that she had angered me, and that I had spoken falsely; and I also wept, partly for that I had made her weep, but still more because my words were true.

Then went I forth hastily into the street; and meeting Jonathan the son of Ezra, and Abuyah the son of Elishah, I accompanied them. And we came to the well that is on the road to Nazareth, about a thousand paces from the town, and there we sat down to rest. For a time we were silent. Then I turned to Rabbi Jonathan and said, “Simeon the Just was of the remnant of the Great Synagogue. He used to say, ‘On three things the world is stayed: on the Law, and on the Worship, and on the Bestowal of Kindnesses.’ Now there was a certain young man which observed the Law, and worshipped duly in the temple. Also he clothed the naked, and buried them that lay unburied, and fed the hungry: but there was no kindness in his heart. Is such an one, therefore, in the path of righteousness?” Then Abuyah replied at once, “He is righteous. For it is written concerning the statutes and judgments of the Law of the Lord that whosoever doeth them shall live in them; but whether he shall do them easily or with difficulty, or gladly or sorrowfully, concerning this, behold, nothing is written.” But Jonathan the son of Ezra was silent for a while, and said at last, “Antigonus of Soko used to say, ‘Be not as slaves that minister to their lord with intent to receive recompense; but be ye as slaves that minister to their lord without thought of recompense; and let the fear of Heaven be upon you.’ ”

Then I replied, “True, oh my Master; but ought not the love of Heaven as well as the fear of Heaven to be upon us? For is it not said, ‘Learn for love, and honour will come in the end’?” “Thou speakest well,” said Jonathan, “and it is written also as the chief of all the commandments, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.’ ” Then I said, “But what if a man feel no love of God in his heart? For I have met lately certain of the Gentiles, yea, and some also of our own nation, which have no love of God; whereof some even constantly say that there is no God. Yea, and even in mine own heart arise strange questionings as to whence I came into this world, and whither I am going, and before whom I am to give account and reckoning.”

Then Abuyah brake forth again: “Joseph son of Simeon, busy not thyself with questions that are too high for thee: for it is said ‘Whosoever shall consider four things, what is above, below, before, behind, it were better for him that he had not come into the world.’ ” “Yea, but,” said I, smiling, “it is said by the Wise, ‘Consider three things, and thou wilt not come into transgression, Know whence thou earnest; and whither thou art going; and before whom thou art to give account and reckoning.’ ” Hereat Abuyah arose hastily from his seat in sore displeasure, and he said, “Child, thou hast defiled thyself by going to a city of the Gentiles which is not a place of the Law; for it is said, ‘Two that sit together without words of the Law are a session of scorners;’ and again, ‘Betake thyself to a place of the Law, and say not that it shall come after thee, for thine associates will confirm it unto thee: and lean not unto thine own understanding.’ Howbeit, I thank thee, O Lord my God and God of my fathers, that Thou hast cast my lot among them that do frequent the schools and synagogues, and not among such as frequent the theatre and the circus. For both I and they work and watch: I to inherit eternal life, but they for eternal destruction.” So saying he departed, and left me alone with Jonathan the son of Ezra.

Jonathan sat still by my side saying naught, but gazing up into the heaven, or else upon the trees round about us. For all around us were orange-trees and pomegranate-trees; the leaves thereof scarce to be seen for the multitude of white and scarlet blossoms; for the spring was now something worn. The fields also and the gardens and the hedges of cactus, by reason of the rains, were of a marvellous verdure, even above their wont. Behind us, at a little distance, stood a grove of olive-trees, wherein the doves made a pleasant murmuring: and birds of divers colours fluttered to and fro around the well. Nigh over our heads there were passing larger birds, flying in a long train towards the country of the Lake; and far off I could discern an eagle, like a spot, high up in the sky. Then Jonathan spake unto me and said, “My son, dost thou not remember the words of the Psalmist, how he praiseth the name of God because ‘He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst. By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches. He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth; and wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengthened man’s heart.’ Doth not the sight of all this glory and beauty cause thee also to say with the Singer of Israel, ‘O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all’?”

But I made answer, in the bitterness of my heart, according to the words of the same Psalm, saying, “Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled: Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.” Then Jonathan bowed his head and answered nothing, but I continued, “Did not the same hand which made the dove make also yonder eagle to destroy the dove? Did not the God which chose out Israel from among the Gentiles to serve Him, choose out Rome also to rend Israel in pieces? Thou speakest after the manner of Philo the Alexandrine, who saith that God revealeth Himself to us through His Word in the universe. But verily He revealeth Himself not so unto me. Nay rather, unsearchable are the paths of the Creator in the universe, and His ways in the World are past finding out.”

Then the old man covered his face with his hands and wept; but soon raising his head he said, “Is it seemly that a son of Abraham should have so little trust in the Lord? Bethink thee of the times when the Holy Temple was burned with fire, and Judah led into captivity: did not all the Gentiles say in those days, ‘God hath forsaken them’? Yet did the Lord save Israel out of the hand of the daughter of Babylon, and out of the hand of the Assyrian and the Philistine, as also out of the hand of the Egyptian, in the days of old. Commit thy way therefore unto the Lord, and trust in Him, and He shall bring the word of His prophets to pass.