The life and work of St. Paul

96 THE LIFE AND WOKK OF ST. PAUL.
But if the regulation that a Sanhedrist must be a married man was
intended to secure the spirit of gentleness, 1 the rule had failed of its purpose
La the case of Saul. In the terrible persecution of the Christians which
ensued a persecution far more severe than the former attacks of the Sad-
ducees on the Apostles he was the heart and soul of the endeavour to stamp
out the Christian faith. Not content with the flagging fanaticism of the
Sanhedrin, he was at once the prime mover and the chief executor of religious
vengeance. The charge which had cost St. Stephen his life must have been
partially valid against others of the Hellenistic Christians, and although their
views might be more liberal than those of the Galilaean disciples, yet the bonds
of affection between the two branches of the Church were still so close that
the fate of one section could not be dissevered from tliat of the other. The
Jews were not naturally fond of persecution. The Sanhedrin of this period
had incurred the charge of disgraceful laxity. The Sicarii were not sup-
pressed ;
2
the red heifer was slain no longer ; the ordeal of the bitter water
had been done away, because the crime of adultery had greatly increased. 3
Rabbi Joshua Ben Korcha, when R. Elieser had arrested some thieves,
reproached him with the words, " How long will you hand over the people of
God to destruction ? Leave the thorns to bo plucked up by the Lord of the
vineyard." 4 But to the seducer (mesith), the blasphemer (megadeph), and
the 5
idolater, there was neither leniency nor compassion. By the unanimous
testimony of the Jews themselves, Christians could not be charged with the
8
crime of idolatry; but it was easy to bring them under the penalty of stoning,
which was attached to the former crimes. The minor punishments of flagellation
and excommunication seem to have been in the power, not only of the
Sanhedrin, but even of each local synagogue. Whatever may have been the
legal powers of these bodies, whatever licences the temporary relaxation of
7 Roman supervision may have permitted, they were used and abused to the
utmost by the youthful zealot. The wisdom of tho toleration which Gamaliel
himself had recommended appears in tho fact that the great persecution,
which broke up the Church at Jerusalem, was hi every way valuable to the
new religion. It dissipated the Judaism which would have endangered the
of his own, because such were supposed to be less inclined to cruelty, and more likely to
sympathise with domestic affections. (Horepoth, i. 4 ; Sankedr. f. 17, 1, 36, b.; Menachdth,
f. 65, 1 ; Maimon. Sanhedr. ii. ; Otho, Lex. Rabb. a. v.) Whatever may be thought of
the other qualifications, it is probable that this one, at any rate, was insisted on, and it
adds force to our impression that St. Paul had once been a married man (1 Cor. vii. 8 ;
v. supra, p. 45, sq. See Ewald, Sendschr. d. Ap. Paul- p. 161 ; Gesch. d. Apost. Zeitalt.
p. 371).
1 See Surenhus. Mishna, iv. !
Praef.
Sotah, f. 47, 1.
3 Maimon in Sotah, c. 3. They quoted Hoa. iv. 14 in favour of this abolition of Num.
v. 18. Cf. Matt. xii. 39 ; xvi. 4.
Babha Metzia, f. 82, 2 ; Otho, Lex. Rabb., B. v. Synedrium.
* Dent. xiii. 8, 9 ; Sanhedr. f. 29, 1 ; 32, 3.
6 There is not one word about the Christians in the tract Alh6da Za/ra, or on "alien
worship."
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Alarcellus, who was at this time an ad interim governor, held the rank, not of Procurator,
WIIMV, but only of int(it\i)rfc (J08- -AmU. rriii. 4, 2).