3. The manner of reading the Law and the Prophets.—Every Sabbatic lesson from the Law (Tronri rictlp) is divided into seven sections (evi dently designed to correspond to the seven days of the week) which, in the days of our Saviour and afterwards, were read by seven different persons (iTtirlp mar), who were called upon for this purpose by the congregation or its chief (Mishna, MegiIla, iV. 2 ; Maimonides, lod Ha-Chezaka Ichoth Tefilla, xii. 7). Great care is taken that the whole nation should be represented at this reading of tbe Law and Prophets. Hence a Cohen go) or priest is called to the reading of the first portion, a Levi (6) to the second, and an Israel 6$.1r) to the third ; and after the three great divisions of the nation have thus been duly repre sented, the remaining four portions are assigned to four others with less care. Every one thus called to the reading of the Law must unroll the scroll, and having found the place where he is to begin to read, pronounces the following benediction— ' Bless ye the Lord, who is ever blessed ;' to which the congregation respond, Blessed be the Lord, who is blessed for evermore.' Whereupon he again pronounces the following benediction— ' Blessed art thou, 0 Lord our God, King of the universe, who hast chosen us from among all na tions, and hast given us thy Law. Blessed art thou, 0 Lord, giver of the Law ;' to which all the congregation respond Amen.' He then reads the seventh portion of the lesson, and when he has finished, rolls up the scroll, and pronounces again the following benediction-4 Blessed art thou, 0 Lord our God, King of the universe, who hast given us thy Law, the Law of truth, and hast planted among us everlasting life. Blessed art thou, 0 Lord, giver of the Law" (Maimonides, ibid. xii. 5). The other six, who are called in rota tion to the reading of the other six portions, have to go through the same formularies. Then the Maphtir (141:1M), or the one who finishes up by the rearling of the Haphtara (MCDri), or the lesson from the Prophets, is called. Having read the few con cluding verses of the lesson from the Law, and passed through the same formularies as the other seven, he reads the appointed section from the Prophets. Before reading it, he pronounces the following benediction-4 Blessed art thou, 0 Lord our God, King of the universe, who hast chosen good pro phets, and delighted in their words, which were spoken in truth. Blessed art thou, 0 Lord, who hast chosen the Law, thy servant Moses, thy people Israel, and thy true and righteous prophets ;' and after reading, Blessed art thou, 0 Lord our God, King of the universe, Rock of all ages, Righteous in all generations, the faithful God who promises and performs, who decrees and accomplishes, for all thy words are faithful and just. Faithful art thou, Lord our God, and faithful are thy words, and not one of thy words shall return in vain, for thou art a faithful King. Blessed art thou, 0 Lord, the God who art faithful in all thy words.' Have mercy upon Zion, for it is the dwelling of our life, and save speedily in our days the afflicted souls. Blessed art thou, 0 Lord, who wilt make Zion rejoice in her children. Cause us to rejoice, 0 Lord our God, in Elijah thy servant, and in the kingdom of the house of David thine anointed. May he speedily come and gladden our hearts.
Let no stranger sit on his throne, and let others no longer inherit his gloiy, for thou hast sworn unto him by thy holy name that his light shall not be extinguished for ever and ever. Blessed art thou, 0 Lord, the shield of David." For the Law, the divine service, the prophets, and for this day of rest' [or of memorial], this goodly day of holy convocation which thou hast given to us, 0 Lord, for sanctification and rest [on the Sabbath], for honour and glory ; for all this, 0 Lord our King, we thank and praise thee. Let thy name be praised in the mouth of every living creature for ever and ever. Tby word, 0 our King, is true, and will abide for ever. Blessed art thou, King of the whole earth, who hast sanctified the Sabbath, and Israel, and the day of memorial' (Maimonides, ibid.) After the Babylonisb captivity, when the He brew language became an unknown tongue to thc common people, an interpreter commn, pai)n) stood at the desk by the side of those who read the lessons, and paraphrased the section from the Law into Chaldee, verse by verse, the reader pausing at every verse, whilst the lesson from the Prophets he paraphrased three verses at a time (Mishna, Megilla,iv. 4); and Lightfoot is of opinion that St. Paul, in Cor. xiv. 22, refers to this cir cumstance (Hone Ilebraa in loco). The lesson from the Law was on these occasions rendered into Chaldee pretty literally, owing to the fear which both the interpreters and the congregation had, lest a free explanation of it might misrepresent its sense, whilst greater freedom was exercised with the lesson from the Prophets. Hence loose para phrases and lengthy expositions were tolerated and looked for both from the professional interpreter and those of the congregation who were called up to read, and who felt that they could do it with edifi cation to the audience. Hence we find that Christ, according to this custom, was asked in the syna gogue, which he attended on the Sabbath, to read and explain the Sabbatic lesson, and that He, in compliance with it, read and expounded Is. Lxi., which was the Haphtara for that Sabbath. The Sabbatic lesson from the I,aw was, as we have seen, divided into seven sections or chapters, each of which had at least three verses, according to the verses of those days, so that the whole consisted of at least twenty-one such verses. The lesson from the Prophets was not portioned out to seven different individuals, but has also at least twenty one verses (Mishna, Megilla, iv. 4; Maimonides,
lad Ha -Chezaka Hilchoth Tefilla, xii. 13). The lesson from the Law for the Day of Atonement is divided into six chapters, for Festivals into five, for New Moon into four, and for Monday's and Thurs days into three chapters or sections. The number of persons called up to the reading of the Law always corresponds to the number of sections. For Mondays and Thursdays, New Moon, and the week days of the Festivals C13.,1D 5117), there are no corresponding lessons from the Prophets (Mishna, Mesilla, iv. 1-3).
4. The Origin of this Institution.—The origin of this custom may easily be traced. The Bible em phatically and repeatedly enjoins upon every Is raelite to study its contents (Deut. iv. 9 ; xxxii. 46) ; Moses himself ordered that the whole law should be read publicly at the end of every Sab batic year (Ibid. xxxi. 10-12), whilst Joshua urges that it should be studied day and night (i. 8; comp.
also Ps. i. 2, al.) Now the desile to carry out thi. injunction literally, and yet thc utter impossi bility to do it On the part of those who had to work for daily bread all the week, and who could not afford to buy the necessarily expensive scrolls, gave rise to this institution. On the Sabbath and festivals all were relieved from their labour, and could attend places of worship where the inspired writings were deposited, and where care could be taken that no private interpretation should be palmed upon the Word of God. Hence both James (Acts xv. 21) and Josephus (Contra Apion. ii. 17) speak of it as a very ancient custom, and the Talmud tells us that the division of each Sabbatic lesson into seven sections was introduced in honour of the Persian king (Mesilla, 23), which sliews that this custom obtained anterior to thc Persian rule. Indeed Maimonides positively asserts that Moses himself ordained the hebdomal reading of the law (Hi/chalk Tefilla, xii. 1). Equally natural is the division of the law into Sabbatic sections as the whole of it could not be read at once. The only difficulty is to ascertain positively whether the annual or the triennial division was the more an cient one. A triennial division is mentioned in Afes-illa 29, b, as current in Palestine ; with this agree the reference to 155 sections of the law in the Midrask, Esther 116, b, and the Massoretic divi sion of the Pentateuch into 154 Sedaiiin. But on the other hand R. Simeon b. Eleazar, a Palestinian, declared that Moses instituted the reading of Lev. xxvi. before the Feast of Pentecost, and Deut. xxviii. before New Year, which most unquestionably presuppose the annual division of the Pentateuch into 54 Parshioth. This is moreover confirmed by the statement (Rid 31, a) that the section nt:n (Deut. xxxiii. 1-xxxiv. 12) was read on the ninth day of the Feast of Tabernacles, thus terminat ing the annual cycle, as well as by the fact that the annual festival of the rejoicing of the law (nrnv rrnro which commemorates the annual finishing of the perusal of the Pentateuch [TABERNACLES, FEAST OF] was an ancient institution. 'We must, therefore, conclude that the annual cycle which is now prevalent among the Jews, was the generally adopted one, at least since the Maccabxan times, whilst the triennial, though the older, was the ex ception. It is far more difficult to trace the origin of the flaphtara, or the lessons from the prophets, and its signification. A very ancient tradition tells us that thc Syrians had interdicted the reading of the law, and carried away the scrolls containing it, and that appropriate sections from the prophets were therefore chosen to replace the Pentateuch (Zunz, Gottesdienstslich. Vor. p. 5), whilst Elias Levita traces the origin of the Haphtara to persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes. In his Lex. (s. v. -IUD) he says, 'the wicked Antiochus, king of Greece, pro hibited the Jews to read the law publicly. They, therefore, selected sections from the prophets of the same import as the Sabbatic lessons . . . and though this prohibition has now ceased, this custom has not been left off, and to this day we read a section from the prophets after the reading of the law; ' and we see no reason tu reject this account. The objection of Vitringa, Frankel, Herzfeld, etc., that Antiochus, who wanted to ex terminate Judaism, would not wage war against the Pentateuch exclusively, but would equally de stroy the prophetic books, and that this this implies a knowledge on the part of the soldiers of the distinc tion between the Pentateuch and the other inspired writings, is obviated by the fact that there was an external difference between the scrolls of the Pen tateuch and the other sacred books,* that the Jews claimed the Pentateuch as their law and rule of faith, and that this was the reason why it especially was destroyed. This is corroborated by Maccab. 56, where the laze) only is said to have been burned. Accordingly rritnri, from itn, to liberate, to free, signifies the liberating lesson, the portion from the prophets which is read instead of the portion from the law that could not be read, and which libe rates from the injunction of reading the Penta teuch. For the other opinions about the significa tion of Haphtara, we refer to the Literature quoted below.
literature.—Maimonides, Ila-Chezaka Ilil choth Tefilla ; Bartolacci, Bibliotheca Magna Rab binica, vol. ii. p. 593, seq. ; Zunz, Die Gottesdienst lichen Vortrage der Yuden, cap. i. ; Frankel, Vor studien zz) der Seplitaginta, Leipzig 1841, p. 48, ff. ; Rapaport, Erech p. 66, ff. ; Monatschrift fiir Geschichte und Wissenschaft des yudenthums, p. 352, ff. ; xi. p. 222, ff.; Herzfeld, Geschichte a'es Volkes Israel, p. 209, ff. ; Der Israeletische Volkslehrer, p. 2o5, ff. ; p. 36, ff. ; Ben Cha nanja, vol. v. p. 125, ff.—C. D. G.