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name is, he thinks, 'drawn from N, Ahene, which signifies the dates of palm trees, not come to ripeness.'

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With regard to this derivation, it must be observed, in the first instance, that a supposed place,, BethAhine, 'House of Unripe Dates,' could only have been transcribed in Greek Βηθαινη, Βηθαανη, οι Βηθηνη; and even assuming the A to have dropped (although, often as the word Ahine occurs, it never once is spelt without it), no other Greek form could have been adopted than BŋJun, or BηInvn; for there is some method in these transcripts, however manifold their apparent irregularities. Instead of either of these forms, we invariably find in the New Testament Bnavia, and in the Syriac Vers. A Ls (Arab. Lic), exactly corresponding to the Chaldee. The Aramaic word Ahen, pl. Ahine or Ahene (Arab. !, 'Scapus racemi dactylorum quum viridis est' F.), does mean, as in the passage adduced, any unripe fruit, especially unripe dates, but Bethany has, even according to Lightfoot himself, absolutely nothing to do with that fruit. He does not indeed derive its name from its ability or inability to mature dates, but, he avers, it 'lay over against a certain tract of Mount Olivet;' i. e., 'fifteen furlongs from Jerusalem,' or about half as much from that same tract, where you may see palm trees growing.' Why a town, the figs of which are mentioned, should be emphatically called the Place of Unripe Dates, and in the very same passage where another place is mentioned for its unripe dates: simply because a certain distant tract of Olivet is supposed to bear palm trees, it is very difficult to understand. Nor is this difficulty removed by Lightfoot's utterly gratuitous as

sumption of that certain tract, seven furlongs 'over against it,' bearing date-trees, but being incapable of bearing ripe dates; and by that further stretch of his imagination, that it was therefore originally designated by that misnomer, and imparted it to a village which grew figs.

“As for the ", Beth-Hine or Beth-Hene itself, mentioned, together with a place Tubenia, in the passage adduced above (Pes. 53, a), it would be exceedingly difficult, whatever be its derivation, to fix by its side that of Bethany. In the first instance there is absolutely nothing to show where Beth-Hene lay; and, secondly, it probably never existed at all. For it appears to be simply a corrupt reading for, Beth Yone, which is still found in the parallel passage (Erub. 28, b), from which our passage quotes. This Beth-Hene is unknown to the Aruch (s. v. "D); Mussafia (seventeenth century) first notices it as a variant. Thanks to the united efforts of transcribers and printers, it has crept into the printed text of Pesachim, 53 a, as, and into the third parallel passage (Tosefta Shebiith v. 11), as Beth-Oni, and on the first corruption Lightfoot grounds his argument, heedless of parallel passages, linguistic laws, and logic. The mistake of the text in this instance probably arose from the similarity of the word Ahine, which stands close to it. The first critical edition of the Talmud will have to sweep away many a blunder of this kind, and very many of much greater import.

"Of a Bethany-Bethanía, y, itself, either mountain-tract or town, I can find absolutely no trace in the Talmud. It is neither Lightfood's (not found originally in Pes. 53, a), nor the one found in Chul. 53, a.

-Keth) כפר הינו Erub. 8, 2), nor) בית יוני It is also neither

ub.), nor [11] (Bab. Mez. 88, a, Jer. Peah I. 16, c). Respecting the latter (Beth-Hino), our author argues, in another place (vol. x. p. 220), in this wise: "The Talmudists call [mark the certainty he has arrived at now, having previously only ventured on the remark that Bethany seemed to be the same with ‘among the Talmudists'] Bethany, to which how near does Beth-Heno come!". Thus, according to his etymology, Ahine (green dates) would first be altered into Hine, then into Hene, then into Heno, and finally into Avia, with the accent, be it well understood, on the i.

"All this is mere trifling, and, in truth, no one is better aware of it than Lightfoot himself. Further on in same volume (x. 309) he explains the reason of Bethamara being changed into 'Bethania:' Amara, being writ &

‘since,' he says, 'Bethsignifies a place of wool, and

is here היני (Beth-Ania) בית אברא Bethania being writ

suddenly metamorphosed into NN] signifies a place of sheep' (!!). He then goes on to conjecture that Bethabara was changed into Bethania, because the former might have been taken as a (?) 'the House of Exposition,' and might have been explained on the margin to mean (??) 'the House of Tradition.' He further derives these extraordinary words from the no less extracharacteristically enough: 'Further, had I either leisure or will to play any longer about the word BŋJavia, we might suppose it written, which in the Syriac idiom (among whom it is no unusual thing to change into >, [??]), agrees with Beth-Shania.' But enough of

,etc.; and concludes ,בו תניא בריא ordinary

this.

"Bethany, LA, means, according to all reason

seems to me

able etymology, nothing but 'House of Misery,' 'PoorHouse.' The only reason why many people have clung so pertinaciously to a derivation contrary to linguistic laws, as well as to the real facts a derivation, moreover, thrice denied by the author himself to lie in the equally pleasing and absurd parallelism of Beth-Phage, where, according to Lightfoot, 'you may see fig-trees growing, and that place likewise [as well as some other place 'over against it'] was called 'The place of green figs.' EMANUEL DEUTSCH.

An additional reason why the commentators have clung to the false derivation of Bethany from House of Dates, is found in the circumstance of the people carrying palm branches as they marched along, singing their hosannahs. But the fact is (a fact which Mr. Grove's keen criticism of the sacred text detected) that these palm branches were carried from Jerusalem, being taken from the palm garden in the Temple enclosure. On the moral value of a correct definition of Bethany, there is no need for me to dwell. There is obviously a great difference between the choice of a home in the Village of Dates and in the Village of Misery.

The Holy Land. II.

12

CHAPTER XXI.

The Sanhedrin.

WHEN JESUS began to speak more openly of being sent down from heaven to save the world from death, the Temple courts in which he prayed and taught were filled with tumultuous crowds; men who had come from all parts of Jewry to keep the feast, and were eager to see whether this JESUS of Nazareth was the Christ whom they had sought. Some believed in his words; still more believed in his acts; for in his last few weeks on earth, his miracles increased in number and in power.

The two great parties which divided Jewry treated these tumults in a different way.

If the Sadducees gave them any thought, it was only in so far as they disturbed the public peace. Having much to risk, and nothing to gain by change, the aristocratic party were anxious to keep things safe, so as to prevent any action on the side of Rome. Avoiding the mistake of Gratus, Pilate left the priests alone; so that Annas remained sagan, and his son-in-law high priest; and Annas being content, his partizans were calm. Having no expectations of a Messiah's kingdom, the rich and ancient families of Judea preferred a government of priests and nobles, supported by Roman legions, to the license of a new Judas of Gamala, and the exactions of a

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