Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/468

This page needs to be proofread.

JEZABEL


404


JEZABEL


and for the spiritual welfare of the cliildren born of such alliances. With regard to the special legislation against printing, circulating, etc., the Talmud, there was the particular grievance that the Talmud con- tained at the time scurrilous attacks upon Jesus and the Christians (cf . Pick, " The Personahty of Jesus in the Talmud "in the " Monist ", Jan., 1910), and the permanent reason that " that extraordinary compila- tion, with much that is grave and noble, contains also so many puerilities, immoral precepts, and anti-social maxims, that Christian courts may well have deemed it right to resort to stringent measures to prevent Christians from being seduced into adhesion to a system so preposterous" (Catholic Dictionary, 484).

History proves indeed that church authorities exercised at times considerable pressure upon the Jews to promote their conversion; but it also proves that the same authorities generally deprecated the use of violence for the purpose. It bears witness, in par- ticular, to the untiring and energetic efforts of the Roman pontiffs in behalf of the Jews especially when, threatened or actually pressed by persecution, they appealed to the Holy See for protection. It chronicles the numerous protestations of the popes against mob violence against the Jewish race, and thus directs the attention of the student of history to the real cause of the Jewish persecutions, viz., the popular hatred against the children of Israel. Nay more, it discloses the principal causes of that hatred, among which the following may be mentioned: (1) The deep and wide racial difference between Jews and Christians which was, moreover, emphasized by the ritual and dietary laws of Tahnudic Judaism; (2) the mutual religious antipathy which prompted the Jewish masses to look upon the Christians as idolaters, and the Christians to regard the Jews as the murderers of the Divine Sav- iour of mankind, and to believe readily the accusa- tions of the use of Christian blood in the celebration of the Jewish Passover, the desecration of the Holy Eucharist, etc.; (.3) the trade rivalry which caused Christians to accuse the Jews of sharp practice, and to resent their clipping of the coinage, their usury, etc.; (4) the patriotic susceptibilities of the particular na- tions in the midst of which the Jews have usually formed a foreign element, and to the respective inter- ests of which their devotion has not always been be- yond suspicion. In view of these and other more or "less local, more or less j ustified, reasons, one can readily understand how the popular hatred of the Jews has too often defeated the beneficent efforts of the Church, and notably of its supreme pontiffs, in regard to them.

Hamburger, Realencyclopiidie des Judenthums (Leipzig, 1896); The Jewish Encyclopedia (New York, 1901-1906); the handy vols, of the Americun Jewish Year Book (Philadelphia, 1S99-1909); Kreutzwald in Kirchenlex.. a. v. Judcn: von Haneberg. ibid., s. v. Judenthum; .Schuhlein in Bcchberger, Kirchliches Handlei., a. v. Juden and Jutientum. In addition the following works may be mentioned as more important or more accessible: — .

General .Jewish History. — Basnage, Histoue des Juifs depuis Jesus-Christ (Rotterdam, 1706); Adams, History of the Jews from the Destruction of Jerusalem to the Present Time (Bos- ton. 1812); JosT, Hist, of the Jews from the Maccabees to Our Day, tr. (New York, 1848) ; Idem, Geschichle d. Judenthums u. s. Secten (Leipzig, 1857-59); Milman, The History of the Jews (London, 1863) ; Palmer, A History of the Jewish Nation (Lon- don, 1874); Reinach, Hist, des Israelites depuis I'epome de leur dispersion jusqu'ii rws jours (Paris. 1884); Magnds, Outlines of Jewish History (Philadelphia. 1884); Back, Gesc?i. d. iudischen Volkcsu.s. Literal ur vom babylonischen Exile bis aufdie Gegenwart (Lissa. 1894); Gratz. Hist, of the Jews, tr. (Philadelphia, 1891- ys); Karpeles. Sketch of Jewish Hist. (Philadelphia, 1898); UuBNow, Jcwixh Hi.^t.. tr. (Philadelphia, 1903); Geiger, Das Jwlcilhum u. .1. (:,:'rlu.l,ir (jii,! pd., Breslau, 1909).

Special .lewisli Hi .t.irv — Schlatter, Israels Geschichle von Alrran.l.r ./. ',/.. - /. '" H.i.lri.in (rarlo\'itz, 1901); CoNDER, ./,„/, I/,,,, ,■,, , .|,.n,l,,ii. IX'I li; \.i-. ScHUHER. A //w(. o/Mc

./., ' , , ; . , ,,,,/, V ..,,/. Ir. (New York, 1891);

M,, ,, , / / . ,,,/,, /,■,,„,-„ /,•„/.■ (New York, 1893);

111 (..,.,: / ,/ , / ,/f), , ,,/. ,./ il'in, IS24); DkiM'ING, ics

J ,nl <l.nr.l, l/.-v-.i I r/, ( I ',-i ii^, I S : 1 , T, i i , M( I,' I 1 1 1 , / - .A "l/s Crt lr,n,,, ,n ll'iL' .; , H /■■ /i.i.iH. I I' .: I I '-: II i llistoru

,.f Ih. !/,,/„, ,„/./,„ , (\,.,v \..,l , I i-, .1 • • rl„- He-

fcr."N „;, !„/.,■., r, (N.-iv "I c.rk. 1>>^-- , W . u i , / ' . I ii Jew

as l-iitnol, .Siilili, r, and (■ilizen (l'liiln.l.li.lu;i, l.v.i,,i; Kai.v, 7/ie


Settlement of the Jews in North America (New York, 1893); ToVEY, Anglia Judaica (Oxford, 1788); Piccioto, Sketches of Anglo-Jewish Hist. (London. 1875) ; Goldschmidt, Gesch. d. Ju- den in England (Berlin. 1886); Hallez. Les Juifs en France (Paris, 1845); Koenen, Geschiedenis d. Joden in Nederland (Utrecht, 1843); da Costa, Israel en de Volken (Utrecht, 1876); Steinberg, Studien zur Gesch. d. Juden in der Schweiz wahrend des Mittelalters (Zurich, 1902); Vogelstein and Rieger, Gesch. d. Juden in Rom (BerUn. 1895-96); Lagumjna. Codice diplomatico dei Giudei di Sicilia (Palermo, 1885); Lindo, The History of the Jews of Spain and Portugal (London, 1848); Amador de los Rigs, Historia social, politica, y religiosa de los Judios de Espana y Portugal (Madrid, 1875-76); Kayserung, Gesch. der Juden in Spanien und Portugal (Berlin, 1861-67); Stobbe, Die Juden in Deutschland wahrend des Mittelalters (Brunswick, 1866); FiiRST, Urkunden zur Gesch. der Juden (Leipzig, 1844); Quellen zur Gesch. d. Juden in Deutschland (Berlin, 1888); Wertheimer, Die Juden in Oesterreich (Leipzig, 1842); Wolf, Judentaufen in Oesterreich (Vienna, 1863); Bergl. Gesch. der ungarischen Juden (Leipzig, 1879); Muller, Urkundliche Beitrdge zur Gesch. der mnrischen Judenschaft im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert (Olmiitz, 1903); Podiebrad and Foges, AlterthUmer d. Frager Josef stadt (Prague, 1870); Verax, La Roumanie et les Juifs (Bukarest, 1903); Elk, Die jiid. Ko- lonien in Russland (Frankfort, 1886); Errera. The Russian Jews, tr. (New York, 1.894); Sternberg, Gesch. d. Juden in Polen (Leipzig, 1878) ; Bershadski, Litovskie Yevrei (St. Peters- burg, 1883); Russko-Yevreiski Arkiv (St. Petersburg. 1882); Gazes. Essai sur Vhistoire des Israelites de Tunisie (Paris, 1888) ; Fregier. Les Juifs Algeriens (Paris,_ 1865).

Literary History. — Furst, Bibliotheca Judaica (Leipzig, 1849-63); Winter and Wunsche, Die judische Literatur (Trier, 1891-96); Karpeles, Jewish Literature and Other Es- says (Philadelphia, 1895) ; Lippe, Bibliog. Lexicon (Vienna, 1899); Wiener. The History of Yiddish Literature in the 19th century, tr. (New York, 1899); Cassel, Manual of Jewish His- tory and Literature, tr. (New York, 1903); Slousch, Renaissance de la littcrature hebraique (Paris, 1903); Brody and Albrecht, The New School of Poets of the Spanish- Arabian Epoch (London, 1906); .\br.\hams, A Short History of Jewish Literature (New York, 1906).

Jewish Religion. — Nathan, Religion, Natural and Revealed (New York. 1875) ; Toy, Judaism and Christianity (Boston, 1890); Mendelsbohn, Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence of the Talmud (Baltimore, 1891); Levin, Die Reform des Judenthums (Berlin, 1895); Hirsch, Nineteen Letters, tr. (New York, 1899); Friedl.\nder. The Jewish Religion (2nd ed.. New York, 1900); Lazarus, Ethics of Judaism, tr. (Philadelphia, 1901); Morris Joseph, Judaism as Creed and Life (New \ork, 1903); Schrei- NER, Die jiingsten Urtheite iiber das Judenthum (Berlin, 1902); Montefiore, Liberal Judaism (New York. 1903); Levy, La Famille dans VAntiquite Israelite (Paris, 1905); Schechter, Studies in Judaism (New York, 1896); Idem, .Some Aspects o] RabbinicTheology (Nevf York, 1909). pjj_.^N(,ig E. GiGOT.

Jezabel ^afN*; Sept., 'lefa^^X, 'Icfa^A), wife of Achab, Iving of Israel. She was the chiughter of Eth- baal I, King of the Sidonians, who was also grand pon- tiff of the goddess Astarte (the Ishtar of the Assyr- ians) worshipped by that people. It is probable that the marriage of this princess with Achab was brought about in order to strengthen the house of Amri (father of Achab) against the Syrians. She introduced into Samaria various forms of Phoenician luxury hitherto unknown in that capital of the Northern Kingdom, and also prevailed upon Achab to establish there the worship of the PhcEnician gods and goddesses of which she was a fanatical devotee (III Kings, xvi, 31, 32). She maintained 450 priests for the worship of Baal and 400 for that of Astarte (III Kings, xviii, 19). Con- sistently she persecuted and slew the prophets (III Kings, xviii, 4), but to prevent their complete exter- mination Abdias, governor of the king's house, caused a hundred of them to hide themselves in caves where they were secretly sustained. After the slaying of the 450 priests of Baal by Elias on Mount Carmel (III Kings, xviii, 40), Jezabel sought the life of the prophet and he fled to the kingdom of Juda (III Kings, xix, 1-3). How she brought about the death of Naboth in order to confiscate a vineyard which he had refused to sell to Achab is related in III Kings, xxi. Elias again appears on the scene and declares the Divine retribu- tion which is to fall upon the perpct rat ors of the crime. The blood of Achal) shall lie licked liy the dogs in the very field where they licked the blood of Naboth, and the dogs shall eat Jezaliel in the field of Jezrahel. .\fter file death of Achab, Jezabel continued to exer- cise a strong and baneful influenrc ()\er lier two sons Ochozias and Joram who reigned successively in his place, and through her daughter .\tli;dia who married