As Others Saw Him: A Retrospect, A.D. 54

by Joseph Jacobs

I was crossing one morning the Xystus Bridge on my way to the Temple, when I saw issuing from the nearest gate a herd of beasts of sacrifice. Fearing that something untoward had occurred, I hurried to the gate, and when I entered the Court of the Gentiles, I found all in confusion. The tables of the money-changers had been overturned, and the men were gathering their moneys from the ground. And in the midst I saw one with a scourge in his hand. His face was full of wrath and scorn, his eyes blazed, and on his left temple stood out a vein all blue, throbbing with his passion. He was neither short nor tall, but of sturdy figure, and clad in rustic garb.

Now, as the money-changers were escaping from his wrath, one of them ran [pg 12]against a little child that was in the court, and it fell screaming. The fellow took no heed, but went on his course. But the man with the scourge went to the little child and raised it to its feet, and pressed it to his side; the hand that rested on the curly head was that of a workman, with broken nails, and yet the fingers twitched with the excitement of the man. But, looking to his face, I saw that a wonderful change had come over it. From rage, it had turned to pity and love; the eyes that had flashed scorn on the money-changers now looked down with tenderness on the little child. I remember thinking to myself, “This man cannot say the thing that is not; his face bewrayeth him.”

Meanwhile the money-changers and those with them had collected together near the gate by which I had entered, and stood there whispering and muttering among themselves. All at once they turned towards the man as he was soothing the little child, and shouted out together, “Mamzer! Mamzer!” which in our tongue signifieth one born out of wedlock. Then the man looked up from [pg 13]the little child, his face once more full of rage, and the blue vein throbbing on his temple. He took a step towards the men, and then he stopped. His face changed to a look of pity, and the men themselves, in fear and shame, slunk away before his look through the gate and were gone.

Then he turned towards those that had for sale doves as sacrifices for the women and the poor. To these he spoke in a tone that was calm and yet full of authority, and then I noticed that his voice had the burr of our northern peasantry. He said unto them, “Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house a house of merchandise.” And these, too, went away through the gates, carrying with them the wicker cages full of doves. Ever since that time the doves have been for sale in Hanan’s Bazaar on the Mount of Olives.

Now I must tell thee that at this time there had been much disputing between the Pharisees and the Sadducees as to the sale of beasts for sacrifice. The Pharisees held that each man might buy such beasts wherever he would; but the Sadducees, [pg 14]being mainly priests, or of priestly blood, would have it that the beasts of sacrifice could only be purchased from the salesmen duly authorized by the High Priest; for they said, “Who shall tell that the beasts are according to the Law, if they are bought from any chance person?” Yet many thought they only did this in order that they might share the profit from the sale of the animals. And, indeed, the great riches of the High Priests came mainly from this source. When, therefore, I saw the man with the scourge getting rid of these sacrificial animals from the courts of the Temple, my first thought was that he was of the sect of the Pharisees. Yet these are rarely found in the country parts, and the man bore no great marks of special piety; his phylacteries were not broader than my own; the fringes of his garment were not more conspicuous, nor did he seem as one of the fanatics who are so many in our land. He had done what he had done in all calmness, and with a certain air of authority. My wonder was aroused to think what manner of man this could be, who did the [pg 15]work of the Pharisees, and was not one himself.

While I thus thought, the man turned to a group of men clad in the same rustic garb, saying, “Be ye rather approved money-changers, holding fast the good and casting forth the false;”[1] and, after other words, he turned from them and went up the steps leading to the Women’s Court.

Now thou knowest, Aglaophonos, that at the entrance of this court standeth an inscription which saith, “Let none of alien birth pass within the Temple cloisters: he that transgresses is guilty of death.” As the man with the scourge would enter the Women’s Court, the Roman sentry stopped him, and pointed to this inscription with his spear. He shook his head, saying in faulty Greek, “Jewish I am,” and showed the soldier the fringes of his garment after the Jewish fashion. Then the sentry drew back, and the man passed through.

Thereupon I went up to the men to [pg 16]whom the man with the scourge had spoken, and greeted them with the greeting of peace.

“Peace unto thee, master,” said one of them in the same northern accent I had noticed in their leader.

“Who is that man,” I said, “that has just gone into the Temple cloister?”