Note 29 — INTRODUCTION.

We come now to the Talmud, in which passages from this Song are quoted and interpreted. This elaborate work, consists of what is called the Mishna, constituting the text, and the Gemara, which is a commentary upon it, derived from two sources, viz.—Jerusalem and Babylon. The Jews, from time immemorial, had an unwritten law ‏תּוֹרָה שֶׁבַּעַל פֶּה‎ δόγματα ἄγραφα, in addition to the written one, ‏תּוֹרָה שֶׁבַּכְּתָב‎, ἔγγραφος, contained in the Pentateuch. Hillel of Babylon (born 75 B.C.), who, next to Ezra, was celebrated by posterity as the restorer of the law,29 first arranged and divided this oral law into six parts:—1, concerning sowing; 2, women; 3, festivals; 4, the rights of property; 5, holy things; 6, pure and impure things. This, which comprises everything that appertains to the Jewish law, was called ‏מִשְׁנָה‎ Mishna, δευτέρωσις, or the second recension of the law. In order to reconcile the Sadducees, who denied every law not founded on Holy Writ, Hillel laid down seven hermeneutic rules, whereby the Scriptures might be interpreted in such a manner that the oral law could be deduced from it.30 When fears were afterwards entertained lest the oral tradition should be lost, Rabbi Judah Hakkadosh (i.e. holy), in the year 220 A.D., collected everything that had been said upon the subject, preserving the division of Hillel, and probably making some additions of his own. This he did in a manner so masterly and satisfactory, that it superseded every other previous attempt, and constitutes the present Mishna.