McClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Samuel The Little

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McClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Samuel The Little


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( ùîåàì ä÷èï ), a contemporary of Gamaliel 2, is known in Jewish history as the author of the prayer against the Minim, or Jewish Christians. In the Talmud treatise Berakoth, fol. 28b, we read: äñãéø ùîåðä òùøä áøëåú ìôðé øáï âîìéàì òì äñãø áéáðä àîø ùîòåï ô÷åìé ìú÷ï áøëú äöãå÷éí òîã ùîåàì ä÷èï åú÷ðä ìäí øáå âîìéàì ìçëîéí ëìåí éù àãí ùéåãò ; i.e. “Simon Pakuli arranged the eighteen benedictions before rabban Gamaliel, in Jabne, in their present order. Rabban Gamaliel said to the sages, ‘Is there none who knows to prepare a benediction against the Zaddukim or Sadducees?' Then arose Samuel the Little and prepared it.” This áøëú äöãå÷éí , or, as it is generally called, áøëú äîéðéí , “the benediction against the Minim, or Jewish Christians,” is the twelfth of the so-called Sh'mone Esre, or Eighteen Benedictions [ comp. the art. SYNAGOGUE], and originally read åìîìùéðéí àì úäé ú÷åä åìîéðéí , i.e. “let there be no hope for the Minim and calumniators.” That this prayer was directed against Jewish Christians is testified by Epiphanius (Ep. adversus Hoeres. 29, 9; ed. Petav. p. 124), who states: ïὐ ìüíïí ãὰñ ïἱ ôῶí É᾿ïõäáßùí ðáῖäåò ðñὸò ôïýôïõò ῾ôïὺò Íáæåñáßïõò ] êÝêôçíáé ìῖóïò , ἀëëὰ ἀíéóôÜìåíïé , ἕùèåí êáὶ ìἐóçò ἡìἐñáò êáὶ ìåñß ôὴí ἑóðÝñáí , ôñὶò ôῆò ἡìÝñáò ὅôå åὐ÷ὰò ἐðéôåëïῦóéí ἑáõôïῖò ἐí ôáῖò óõíáãùãáῖò , ἑðáñῶíôáé áὐôïῖò êáὶ ἀíáèåìáôßæïõóé ôñὶò ôῆò ἡìÝñáò öÜóêïíôåò ὃôé Å᾿ðéêáôáñÜóé ὸ èåὸò ôïὺò Íáæåñáßïõò . With regard to these words of Epiphanius, Grätz remarks that Epiphanius, being by birth a Jew, is a competent witness that this formula was directed against the Jewish Christians. It will be seen that the remark of Dr. Ginsburg, in Kitto's Cyclop. s.v. “Synagogue” (p. 906, note), is not justified either by the statement of Epiphanius or that of the Jewish historian Grätz. See Grätz, Gesch. d. Juden, 4, 434; Derenbourg, Histoire de la Palestine, p. 344-346; Schürer, Lehrbuch der neutestamentlichen Zeitgeschichte, p. 502. (B.P.)