Hillel

HILLEL, a famous Rabbin, who lived, says St. Jerom, a little before Jesus Christ. Hieron. in Isa. viii. l. 3.He was the Disciple of Sameas or Schamai, and became the Head of one of the most celebrated Schools of the Jews. I am surprized that Josephus, who, in several places, speaks of Sameas, has said nothing of Hillel his Disciple, unless he has called him by some other name; for he makes mention of Pollio a famous Pharisee, Herod’s friend, and Sameas’s master. Antiq. l. 15. c. 1. & 13. p. 541. and of Ananel, whom Herod sent for from Babylon to be High-Priest. Hillel perhaps may be one or other of these two men. Sameas lived in the Antiq. l. 14. c. 17. p. 484. Zachutus in Juchafin. Gedaliah in Schalschelet Hucc. belu. David Ganz in Zemach David.time of Hircanus, and saw the beginnings of Herod. Hillel therefore must have flourished under the reign of this Prince¹.

This Rabbin was born at Babylon, and there abode till he was forty years of age: then he went to Jerusalem, where he applied himself seriously to the study of the Law, wherein he so much distinguished himself, that after forty years he was made Head of the Sanhedrim, at the age consequently of fourscore. He lived there forty years longer, as the Jews say; so that according to their calculation he must have lived an hundred and twenty years. He entred upon his office an hundred years, as they tell us, after the taking of Jerusalem. This Chronology is not exact; but the Rabbins are not very curious in this point.

They pretend, that by the mother’s side he descended from David, for she was of the race of Sephata the son of David and Abital; of the father’s side he was of the Tribe of Benjamin. All the Jewish writers look upon him as the most eminent among the ancient Doctors of their nation: his son and grandsons discharged the Office of President of the Sanhedrim with great honour, for the space of ten generations. All this is related upon the credit of the Rabbins.

Joseph. Antiq. l. 14. c. 17. & l. 15. c. 1.We are of opinion, that the celebrated Doctor Hillel is described by the Historian Josephus, under the name of Pollio. This Historian tells us, that Herod the Great laying siege to Jerusalem, with expectations, that if this city were taken, all Judæa would be compelled to acknowledge him for King; the whole body of the Sanhedrim violently opposed his design, and cried with all their might, The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord! as if God, whom they supposed to be concerned for the glory and preservation of his Temple, were obliged to hinder the holy City’s falling into the hands of Herod, whom they looked upon as a stranger; but that Pollio and Sameas always opposed the other Counsellors, and declared, that it was necessary for them to receive Herod for their King, and surrender the city to him; representing to the people, that the measure of their sins was compleatly filled up; and that God intended to punish them by delivering them up to Herod, so that all their endeavours to resist him would be vain. Their remonstrances made no impression on the minds of those who heard them. Herod made himself master of the city by force, and put to death all the Members of the Sanhedrim, except Pollio and Sameas, or Hillel and Sameas, according to those who believe Pollio to be the same as Hillel.

These are the two Rabbins mentioned in the Mishna, or Deuterosis, or second Law of the Jews: these are the principal Masters of the Jewish Traditions included in the Mishna. These two Rabbins being divided in their opinions, and their Disciples engaging in their quarrel, there was blood shed, and several persons killed on both sides; but Hillel’s school had at last the superiority, and the decision was pronounced by a pretended Voice from heaven, which they call Bath-kol, or the Daughter of the Voice, that put an end to all disorders. Hillel was of a gentle, peaceable humour, and Shammai or Sameas, on the contrary, was of a sharp and violent temper; nevertheless he grew weary of the dispute, and very readily submitted to a voice, which they heard, and gave out to be a kind of oracle. The Jews blame Sameas, and extol Hillel to the heavens.

The latter of these two brought up above a thousand Pupils in the knowledge of the Law; and among these there were fourscore of great distinction; for the Jewish Authors observe, that thirty of them were of such eminence as to be worthy of having the Glory of God to rest upon them, as it had rested formerly on Moses; thirty who were able to stop the course of the Sun, like Joshua; the other twenty were a little inferiour to the first, but superiour to the second. The most eminent of all was Jonathan, the son of Uzziel, Author of the Chaldee Paraphrase upon the Prophets.

The Jews say, that Hillel was so poor, as to be forced to work with his own hands for a livelihood; and that to satisfy the ardent inclination to Learning, with which he was transported, he gave one half of his profit to the University-Porter, and subsisted upon the other. As he wanted work, and so grew unable to prevail, as usual, with the Porter, he got to the window, that he might hear there; and having continued Prid. Connect. Part II. B. 8. there all night, he was found the next morning covered with snow. Sameas having observed him in this condition, admired his affection for study, and believed it excusable to violate the Sabbath in order to warm him.

He became Head of a celebrated School, and had a great number of famous Disciples. The Jews bestow abundance of very high encomiums on him. They call him Prince of the Sanhedrim, Chief of the Pharisees, the Defender of Traditions². He did not follow all the sentiments of his master Sameas. St. See Basnage Hist. of the Jews, t. 2. l. 4. c. 3. p. 26, 27. Edit. Par. About 30 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. Hieron. in Isai viii.Jerom says, that these two great Men formed two parties among the Jews, and were Masters of the Scribes and Pharisees. Akiba succeeded them, and Meïr Akiba. He adds, that the Hebrews make Shammai and Hillel to be the Authors of their Mishna and their Deuteroses³. The Rabbins relate, that Hillel coming from Babylon to Jerusalem, was consulted concerning the celebration of the Passover, which fell that year upon a Saturday; and that his answer gave so much satisfaction, that he was made the Patriarch of his Nation, and that his Posterity succeeded him till the fifth Age of the Church.

He was succeeded by his son Simeon, who has been confounded with old Simeon, who received our Saviour, when Joseph and the Blessed Virgin presented him at the Temple. But this conjecture is absolutely destroyed by observing, that Hillel, having been forty years Patriarch, lived about ten years after the birth of Jesus Christ; so that Simeon and his son could be then neither High-Priest nor Patriarch of the Jews, nor of an age so far advanced as St. Luke intimates. The name of Hillel is not to be met with in the Scripture; and we place it here, only because it is very much celebrated in the writings of the Jews, and he is said to be the father of old Simeon. There was besides another Hillel very famous among the Jews, who lived, according to the Rabbins, about the year of Jesus Christ 240.

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