To this we agreed, and no more was said. Howbeit many of us could not so far constrain ourselves, but we had some searchings of heart; and passing clouds of trouble sometimes crossed our souls for that the Pharisees were set against us, and because Jesus himself had that day seemed like unto one bearing a burden of the Lord. Notwithstanding on the morrow, when we looked upon his countenance, full of brightness and cheerfulness, and when we heard him speak, after his wont, of the greatness and the glory of the Kingdom that was to come, behold, all our dark thoughts had immediately vanished away.
CHAPTER XI
Among them that came to Jesus, a few were outcasts from the synagogues, or, as they were called, “sinners”; and it grieved the chief ruler of the synagogue in Capernaum and the elders of that synagogue that Jesus should receive such people. But Jesus received them gladly, and his anger waxed daily hotter against the rulers of the synagogues and against the Scribes, “because,” said he, “they kept the key of the Kingdom, and yet they would neither enter in themselves nor suffer others to enter in.” He also spake sometimes of a new Key which he must give to his disciples; but this, as yet, he spake not clearly. But as I remember, these words concerning the Scribes were spoken when Jesus first heard of the story of Hannah; which I will set down here, though the matter occurred some days before.
There lived in Capernaum a certain woman whose name was Hannah, sister of the mother of Nathanael. This woman was afflicted by Satan, so that she could not stand upright, but was bowed down to the earth. Now it came to pass that on a certain day when Nathanael visited her in her affliction, behold, the Rabbi Eliezer was in her house, questioning her touch[pg 144]ing her sins. And Eliezer had persuaded the woman that she was guilty of many sins; for enquiring whether she had visited any of her acquaintance on the Sabbath, he found that one of them, a widow, old and bed-ridden, lived somewhat more than two thousand paces from her house; wherefore he declared that Hannah had broken the Law in visiting this poor widow on the Sabbath. Moreover he reproved Hannah because she had borne burdens on the Sabbath, in that she had worn ribbons upon her garment during the Sabbath, which ribbons were not sewn to her garment; neither had she observed the Law of the Sabbath as touching things that are not living. Many other like sins did Eliezer reprove in Nathanael’s kinswoman.
But when she sought how to be forgiven, he said, “Thou hast not sinned against man, but against God. If a man sin against men, the judge shall judge him: but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him? But give of thy substance to the treasury of the synagogue, and I will entreat for thee if perchance the Lord will deal mercifully with thee. Howbeit thou must needs wait till the Day of Atonement: for until that day thou mayest not be forgiven. But in the mean season fast, and eat no pleasant food, nor drink wine: but afflict thy soul before the face of the All-merciful (blessed is He) if perchance He may incline His ear unto thy prayer.”
Now when Hannah heard these things, her spirit fainted within her, and she knew not what to do, and she cried aloud to Eliezer, “Alas! the Angel of Death is even now upon my threshold, and my sins weigh heavily upon me. I beseech thee therefore, entreat the [pg 145]Lord for me, that He may forgive me immediately, lest I die unforgiven.” But he made answer, as before, that she must needs wait till the Day of Atonement; and he made ready to depart. Then she caught him by the garment to entreat him; but he would not stay, but went out.
On the third day after these things, it came to pass that seven evil spirits entered into Hannah and possessed her in the shapes of swine; and Eliezer heard it, and said that it was a judgment of the Lord. Then was Nathanael sorely grieved, and he came to Jesus and told him everything; both that which Eliezer had said, and how Hannah had cried unto him, and afterwards how the evil spirits had entered into her. But Jesus (as it was reported to me by Nathanael), being exceeding wroth, arose in haste upon hearing of this story; and he went forth straightway to the house of Hannah and cast out the seven devils, and bade her be of good cheer and live in peace. And then it was that he uttered this saying against the Scribes, whereof I made mention above, namely that they kept the key of the Kingdom of God, but would neither enter in themselves, nor suffer others to enter in.
Now it happened that, soon after these things, I brought Nathanael to visit the Rabbi Jonathan at his lodging in Capernaum; and we found there the aforesaid Eliezer the son of Arak conversing with him. When Eliezer saw us, he complained sorely of the light-mindedness (so he called it) which our Master manifested in receiving sinners. But Jonathan replied saying that the cause lay in the exceeding gentleness of our Master, because he knew not the evil nature of man.