PASSAGES RELATING TO JESUS
65
the four private men are Balaam, Doeg,
Ahitophel and Gehazi.
Commentary.-The
famous chapter of the Mishnah
from which these words are taken begins by saying
that,
'
All Israel have part in the world to come,' and
then enumerates the exceptions. The three kings,
Jeroboam, Ahab and Manasseh are all mentioned
in the O.T. as having introduced idolatry, per-
verted the true re
ligion. And, as the four private
men are named
in close connexion with the kings, it
is reasonable to infer that they were condemned for
the same offence. This conclusion is strengthened
by the fact that the preceding paragraph of the
Mishnah in this chapter excepts from the privilege
of the world to come,
'
those who say the resurrection
of the dead is not proved from the Torah, and that
the Torah is not from heaven, also the Epicuros.
R. Aqiba says, He who reads in external books,
also he who whispers over a wound, and says, None
of the diseases which I sent in Egypt will I lay upon
thee, I the Lord am thy healer. Abba Shaul says,
He that pronounces the Name according to its
letters.' These are all, unless perhaps the last, aimed
at heretics who can hardly be other than Christians.
For it will be seen hereafter that the opinions and
practices here condemned were the subject of dis-
pute between Jews and heretics (Minim). Therefore
we naturally expect that the four private men, who
are singled out for exclusion from the world to come,
are condemned on account not merely of heresy but
of actively promoting heresy. Now this is not true
in any especial sense of any one of the four. Balaam,
certainly, according to the story in Num. xxii.-xxiv.
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