Aaron Bernstein - Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ

Stephen and James the Elder – and is even silent about the exclusion of Jewish converts from the Temple, which we gather only from the Epistle to the Hebrews. This fact is to us an evidence that St. Luke, the first ecclesiastical historian, had no design to shew to the world the inherent power of the Gospel exemplified by the conversion of many of the very people who had rejected Christ, and it proves the genuineness and authenticity of the Acts of the Apostles and the date commonly assigned, for had it been written later, as some critics maintain, the author would surely have taken the trouble to give his readers some detailed information concerning at least one per cent. of that vast multitude of Jewish converts mentioned by St. James. Such is the method of the ecclesiastical historian in modern as well as in ancient times, as the following two examples will shew: Pastor de le Roi, Jewish missionary historian, has for years not only collected statistics of Jewish converts in various churches, and summed up the whole number as being 224,000 in the nineteenth century, but he has also furnished us with a great deal of information concerning the history of many of these converts. For, as the Rev. W. T. Gidney rightly says, "Jewish converts must be weighed as well as counted." The second example is Hegesippus, who, according to Eusebius, was a Palestinian Hebrew Christian, and lived in Rome about 150 A.D. He is the father of Church history, and wrote a book under the title "Hyponeymata Pente," with the special design to answer the question of the Pharisees, "Have any of the rulers believed in Him?" and to shew that the Gospel made rapid progress among the Jews in the first century in spite of great opposition. Of this opposition the Jewish Liturgy to this day bears witness in the so-called "Blessing against the heretics," which Samuel the Little composed in the Synagogue of Yabne, in the presence of Gamaliel the Elder. Justin Martyr in his Dialogue, Origen in Homily 18, Jerome on Isaiah, complained of it, and it has, alas, been a source of trouble to the Jews at various times throughout the Christian ages. Hegesippus supplies information about a number of Jewish sects, who regarded each other as heretics. It is a pity that the greater part of his book has been lost, and we have only a few fragments in "Euseb. History iv.," and an extract in "Photius Bibliotheca" (page 232). That probably contained detailed information about the more prominent converts in the Apostolic age. Still, the most valuable relic for us is his list of Hebrew Christian bishops in regular succession in the mother Church at Jerusalem. These are as follows: James, the Lord's brother (Gal. i. 19), of whom Hegesippus states that he was martyred while praying in the Temple. Symeon about 62 A.D., Justus I. 64, Zacchæus 112, Tobias 114, Benjamin 116, Justin 118, Matthias 120, Philip 122, Seneca 125, Justus II. 126, Levi 128, Ephres 130, Joseph 132, Jude 133. The shortness of their episcopates probably indicates that it was a time of great tribulation. To this list may perhaps be added Ananias, who baptized Saul of Tarsus at Damascus, and, according to tradition, was subsequently bishop there and suffered martyrdom (See "Schaff. Bible Dictionary"); Crispus, Chief of the Jewish Synagogue (Acts xviii. 8), who, according to tradition ("Constituit Apost." vii. 46), was afterwards Bishop of Ægina; Clement, of Rome, who, according to Bishop Lightfoot, was an Hellenistic Jewish convert or son of a convert. The bishop came to this conclusion, after weighing much the internal evidence of his Epistle to the Corinthians. 1 1 Rev. Dr. Giles writes: "In the 'Homiles and Recognitiones,' falsely ascribed to Clement, his father is said to have been one Faustinus, descended from the family of the Roman Cæsars, and this absurd fable is copied in the 'Liber Pontificates,' or book of the Roman Pontiffs, and in the work of Eusebius, Bishop of Lyons." ("Hebrew Records," vol. ii. 294).

Two of the converts of the first century are mentioned in the Talmud and receive there an excellent testimonial. The first is Nicodemus, identical, according to the writer in the "Jewish Encyclopædia," with Nicodemus ben Gorian. He is said to have been a great saint. The other is Jacob of Kefar Sakanya (Simai). He once met R. Eliezer in the upper market-place of Sepphoris and asked his opinion on a curious ritualistic question bearing upon Deut. xxiii. 8. As R. Eliezer declined to give an opinion, Jacob acquainted him with the interpretation of Jesus derived from Micah i. 7. R. Eliezer was pleased with the interpretation, and was consequently suspected of Christian leanings by the governor (Abodah Zarah, 17. a). On another occasion, Jacob went to heal R. Eleasar ben Dama of a poisonous bite by a serpent in the name of Jesus, but his uncle, R. Ishmael, would not allow it. Jacob said to him, Rabbi Ishmael, my brother, let me heal him, and I will prove to you from the Torah, that it is allowed, but R. I. was obstinate. In the meantime the patient died, and his uncle apostrophized the corpse in these words: "Happy art thou Ben Dama that thy body is pure and thy soul departed in purity, as thou hast not transgressed the words of thy fellow rabbis" (Abodah Zarah, 27. b).

Besides Hegesippus, one reckoned among the church fathers was Epiphanius, a native Jew of Palestine, who embraced Christianity at sixteen years of age, and eventually became Bishop of Constantia, and died at sea (according to Bartolocci) in 403 A.D. He wrote a book entitled, "Panarion," in which he gives information about eighty heretical sects, including Jewish; also a treatise on Biblical weights and measures and on the lives of the Prophets, in which he makes Hebrew quotations.

Another noted Jewish convert belonging to this period was Joseph, a physician of Tiberias (called by the Jews "The Apostate"). He had been a member of the Sanhedrin in his native town, was sent by them as a delegate to the Jews in Cilicia, where he became acquainted with the Christian bishop, who gave him a New Testament. According to Milman (vol. iii., p. 179) he was detected reading it, was hurried to the synagogue and scourged. The bishop interfered. But he was afterwards seized again and thrown into the river Cydnus, from which he hardly escaped with his life, and was baptized. On his return he told his friends in Palestine that the Gospel made progress among the enlightened Jews. The Emperor Constantine elevated him to the rank of Comes or Count of the Empire, and he devoted his life to the building of churches at Tiberias, Capernaum, Nazareth, and Sepphoris (Dio Cæsarea). It is worth mentioning in this connection the report of Epiphanius that Hillel, who succeeded his father Judah II. in the patriarchate of Tiberias, embraced Christianity and was secretly baptized on his death-bed by a bishop. Joseph, his physician (says Milman) had witnessed the scene which wrought strongly upon his mind. The house of Hillel after his death was kept closely shut up by his suspicious countrymen. Joseph obtained entrance, and found there the Gospels of St. John and of St. Matthew, and the Acts in a Hebrew translation. 2 2 This is denied by Gräetz. See article in the "Jewish Encyclopædia," where it is asserted that this Hillel was honoured by Julian the Apostate. But we have also the solution of the difficulty there. It is avowed that there is no clear distinction between Juda II. and Juda III. Milman says distinctly that this Hillel was the son of Juda II., whereas Jewish writers make him to be the son of Juda III.

Tabius, of high priestly descent, son of one Anan, probably the one who was sent on embassy to the Emperor Claudius, is also mentioned by ecclesiastical writers as having embraced Christianity.

Asher ben Levi, called Abed al Masih, lived in the fourth century in Sinjar Mesopotamia. His school companions, both Zoroastrian and Christian, shunned him, but the latter on one occasion baptized him. Asher's mother hid him from his father, who was a warden of the synagogue, fearing his anger, but he was eventually killed by him. A church was built afterwards in his memory. There is a Syriac MS. which contains this story.

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