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Appendix 2 | Table
of Contents | Appendix 4
The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah
Alfred Edersheim
1883
Appendix 3
RABBINIC VIEWS AS TO THE LAWFULNESS OF IMAGES,
PICTORIAL REPRESENTATIONS ON COINS, ETC.
On this point, especially as regarded images, statues, and
coins, the views of the Rabbis underwent (as stated in the text) changes and
modifications according to the outward circumstances of the people. The earlier
and strictest opinions, which absolutely forbade any representation, were
relaxed in the Mishnah, and still further in the Talmud.
In tracing this development, we mark as a first stage that a
distinction was made between having such pictorial representations and making
use of them, in the sense of selling or bartering them; and again between making
and finding them. The Mishnah forbids only such representations of human
beings as carry in their hand some symbol of power, such as a staff, bird,
globe, or as the Talmud adds, a sword, or even a signet-ring (Ab. Z. iii. 1).
The Commentaries explain that this must refer to the making use of them, since
their possession was, at any rate, prohibited. The Talmud adds (Ab. Z. 40 b,
41 a) that these were generally representations of kings, that they were
used for purposes of worship, and that their prohibition applied only to
villages, not to towns, where they were used for ornament. Similarly the
Mishnah directs that everything bearing a representation of sun or moon, or of
a dragon, was to be thrown into the Dead Sea (Ab. Z. iii. 3). On the other
hand, the Talmud quotes (Ab. Z. 42 b) a proposition (Boraita), to
the effect that all representations of the planets were allowed, except those
of the sun and moon,1
likewise all statues except those of man, and all pictures except those of a
dragon, the discussion leading to the conclusion that in two, if not in all the
cases mentioned, the Talmudic directions refer to finding, not making such. So
stringent, indeed, was the law as regarded signet-rings, that it was forbidden
to have raised work on them, and only such figures were allowed as were sunk
beneath the surface, although even then they were not to be used for sealing
(Ab. Z. 43 b). But this already marks a concession, accorded apparently
to a celebrated Rabbi, who had such a ring. Still further in the same direction
is the excuse, framed at a later period, for the Rabbis who worshipped in a
Synagogue that had a statue of a king to the effect that they could not be
suspected of idolatry, since the place, and hence their conduct, was under the
inspection of all men. This more liberal tendency had, indeed, appeared at a
much earlier period, in the case of the Nasi Gamaliel II., who made use of a
public bath at Acco in which there was a statue of Aphrodite. The Mishnah (Ab.
Z. iii. 4) puts this twofold plea into his mouth, that he had not gone into the
domain of the idol, but the idol came into his, and that the statue was there
for ornament, not for worship. The Talmud endorses, indeed, these arguments,
but in a manner showing that the conduct of the great Gamaliel was not really
approved of (Ab. Z. 44 b). But a statue used for idolatrous purposes was
not only to be pulverized, but the dust cast to the winds or into the sea, lest
it might possible serve as manure to the soul! (Ab. Z. iii. 3.) This may
explain how Josephus ventured even to blame King Solomon for the figures on the
Brazen sea and on his throne (Ant. viii. 7. 5), and how he could excite a
fanatical rabble at Tiberias, to destroy the palace of Herod Antipas because it
contained 'figures of living creatures' (Life 12).2
1. The
Nasi R. Gamaliel made use of representations of the moon in questioning
ignorant witnesses with a view of fixing (by the new moon) the beginning of the
month. But this must be regarded as a necessary exception to the rule.
2. Following
the insufficient reasoning of Ewald (Gesch. d. Volkes Isr. vol. v. p.
83), Schürer represents the non-issue of coins with the image of Herod
as a concession to Jewish prejudices, and argues that the coins of the Emperors
struck in Palestine bore no effigy. The assertion is, however, unsupported, and
St. Matt. xxii. 20 proves that coins with an image of Cæsar were in general
circulation. Wieseler (Beitr. pp. 83-87) had shown that the absence of
Herod's effigy on coins proves his inferior position relatively to Rome, and as
this has an important bearing on the question of a Roman census during his
reign, it was scarcely fair to simply ignore it. The Talmud (Baba K. 97 b)
speaks of coins bearing on one side David and Solomon (? their effigies or
their names), and on the other 'Jerusalem, the holy City.' But if it be
doubtful whether these coins had respectively the effigies of David or of
Solomon, there can be no doubt about the coins ascribed in Ber. R. (Par. 39,
ed. Warshau, p. 71 b) to Abraham, Joshua, David, and Mordecai - that of
Abraham being described as bearing on one side the figures of an old man and an
old woman (Abraham and Sarah), and on the other those of a young man and a
young woman (Isaac and Rebekah). The coins of Joshua are stated to have borne
on one side a bullock, on the other a ram, according to Deut. xxxiii. 17. There
could, therefore, have been no such abhorrence of such coins, and if there had
been Herod was scarcely the man to be deterred by it. On these supposed coins
of David, &c., see the very curious remarks of Wagenseil, Sota, pp.
574, and following. The fullest and most accurate information on all connected
with the coins of the Jews is contained in the large and learned work of Mr. Madden,
' Coins of the Jews' (vol. ii. of 'The International Numismata Orientalia,'
1881). Comp. also the Review of this book in the Journal of the Royal
Archæological Inst. for 1882 vol. xxxix. pp. 203-206.
Appendix 2 | Table
of Contents | Appendix 4
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