Letter Z

Z.

A book OF ZACHARIAS, the father of John the Baptist, which is called the ASSVMPTIO [Assumption], contained — among the other blasphemies feigned by heretics — [the tale] that Zacharias, ¹ while he was burning incense in the Holy of Holies, being caught up in an excess of mind, saw a certain God in the inner shrine clothed in the body of an ass; and when he wished to signify this to the people, lest they should worship an ass for a divinity, he was suddenly made mute, lest he should announce what he had seen. The Synopsis of Athanasius [places] this work among the writings to be de—

[continuing from p148] …the Synopsis of Athanasius enumerates [it] among the writings of impiety to be detested.

The Book OF JEALOUSY (ספר קנאת Sepher Kenaoth), that is, the Book, or leaf, or paper of Jealousy, was that which the priest cast into the cup of reproof of a woman suspected of adultery, either for the detecting of her hidden crime, or for the defending of her doubtful innocence. For — as the fourth book of Moses, and Philo, and the other Rabbis of the Jews testify ² — among the Hebrews the occasion and rite of writing this book was of this kind:

When a husband had come into a vehement and just suspicion of his wife, first he admonished her that she should abstain from the suspected company [of the man]; and if the woman had neglected to do so, the husband was bound to abstain from her until she should be purged. Meanwhile he went up to Jerusalem, to the chief Judges of the Synagogue, and disclosed the causes of his suspicion. They, on a day appointed for the woman, when she had appeared, admonished her that she should prudently weigh the matter with herself; and if she were innocent, that she should purge herself with confidence; but if not, that she should beware of the danger which she was about to bring upon herself, and not so obstinately court victory at the peril of death, but ingenuously confess her fault; [and] that she should remember [that] before her other women — even illustrious ones — had slipped into the same error through womanly frailty, such as the concubine of the Patriarch Jacob with Reuben, and Tamar with Judah. If she, being persuaded, did not deny the sin, she was dismissed to lead thenceforth a solitary life, without a husband, without dowry, and without any honor. But if she persisted in the resolve of purging herself, then the woman was clothed in a mournful and dark garment, and was led by women robed in black into the temple, and was set before the priest — not without the tears of those leading her; and the priest, with outstretched hand, drew off the covering of the woman’s head, that she might be judged with head uncovered, without the insignia of modesty, as was the custom in all capital controversies. Then, a little book or paper being taken, he wrote in it the execration taken from the fourth book of Moses, in these words: ³ IF a strange man has not slept with thee, and if thou art not defiled, having deserted thy husband’s bed, these most bitter waters, into which I have heaped up curses, shall not harm thee; but if thou hast turned aside from thy husband, and art defiled, and hast lain with another man, thou shalt lie subject to these curses: MAY the Lord make thee a curse, and an example among all in his people; may he make thy thigh to rot, and thy swollen belly to burst. Let the cursed waters enter into thy belly, and, the womb rotting, let thy thigh rot, and thy swollen belly burst.

These things, together with the name of the wretched woman, being written on the little sheet, he read out with a loud voice; and, the woman answering, AMEN, AMEN, the priest, taking an earthen urn, poured into it certain most bitter waters, into which he had mixed dust of the earth gathered from the floor of the temple, and had heaped in many dire and lethal execrations; then, the little book being cast into the urn, he washed it so long, until the water had dissolved the letters. These things done, he handed the water to the woman to drink, saying: DRINK now the cup of reproof, which will lay bare and uncover things uncertain and hidden — [thou] who art presently to receive either the reward of chastity or the utmost penalty of a violated marriage. And she drank the water; and if she had suffered calumny [been falsely accused], the water gave [her] a happy conception and childbirth; but if she was not free from fault, straightway, as she had drunk down the washing of that little book, her face grew pale, her eyes started out, her belly swelled, her thigh fell away, her knees gave way, and with intolerable torments her womb was burst — [that womb] which she had refused to keep pure for her husband. And this was the wretched end of her life.

This mode of purgation — as well in this [matter] as in the other vehement suspicions of crimes — the Church of Christ afterward abolished. ⁴ Yet there is found in the acts of the provincial Council of Worms a canon concerning the purging of monks from the suspicion of theft, ⁵ written in these words: IT OFTEN happens that thefts are perpetrated in monasteries, and he who commits them is unknown; therefore we ordain that, when the brothers themselves must purge themselves of such [charges], a Mass be celebrated by the Abbot, or by someone whom the Abbot himself has appointed, in the presence of the brothers; and thus, in the last celebration of the Mass, for their purgation, let them receive the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, that thereby they may show themselves to be innocent; and to the communicants let the Eucharist be delivered with these words: MAY THE BODY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST BE TO THEE THIS DAY FOR A PROOF. Thus the Council of Worms.

But this canon was abrogated by the decree of Pope Stephen V: who, being consulted by Humbert, bishop of Mainz, whether parents — in whose bed infants were found dead in their sleep — ought, by the trial of hot iron, or of boiling water, or by some other similar experiment, to show that they had not smothered the children sleeping together with them, answered in this manner: ⁶ The sacred Canons do not grant that a confession be extorted from anyone by the trial of hot iron, or of boiling water, or by any other superstitious invention: for offenses made public by spontaneous confession, or by the approval of witnesses, the fear of God being had before the eyes, are committed to our government to judge; but hidden and unknown [things] are to be left to Him who alone knows the hearts of the sons of men.

The End of the Second Book.

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