how much more zealous ought we to be for the honor of the Holy One—­blessed be He!” On his being led away to the place of execution, the mother craved and obtained leave to give him a farewell kiss.  “Go, my child,” said she, “and say to Abraham, Thou didst build an altar for the sacrifice of one son, but I have erected altars for seven sons.”  She then turned away and threw herself down headlong from the roof and expired, when the echo of a voice was heard exclaiming (Ps. cxiii. 9), “The joyful mother of children” (or, the mother of the children rejoiceth).

Gittin, fol. 57, col. 2.

The story of this martyrdom is narrated at much greater length in the Books of Maccabees (Book iii. chap. 7, Book iv. chaps. 8-18).  In a Latin version the names are given, that of the mother Solomona, and her sons respectively Maccabeus, Aber, Machir, Judas, Achaz, Areth, while the hero of our Talmudic reference, the seventh and last, is styled Jacob.  Josephus, Ant., Book xii. chap. 6, sec. 4, may also be referred to for further and varying details.

The land of Israel was not destroyed till the seven courts of judgment had fallen into idolatry, and these are they:—­Jeroboam, the son of Nebat; Baasha, the son of Ahijah; Ahab, the son of Omri; Jehu, the son of Nimshi; Pekah, the son of Remaliah; Menahem, the son of Gadi; and Hoshea, the son of Elah; as it is written (Jer. xv. 9), “She that hath borne seven languisheth:  she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it is yet day; she hath been ashamed and confounded.”

Gittin, fol. 88, col. 1.

“He stood and measured the earth; he beheld and freed the Gentiles (A.V., he drove asunder the nations, Hab. iii. 6); he beheld that the seven precepts which the children of Noah accepted were not observed; he stood up and set their property free for the service of Israel.”

Bava Kama, fol. 38, col. 1.

This is one of the weightier expositions met with from time to time in the Talmud, in which one recognizes a more than ordinarily deep and earnest feeling on the part of the commentator.  The interpreter expresses himself as a man instinct with the exclusive Hebrew spirit, and as such claims his title to the whole inheritance.  It is a claim abstractly defensible, and the just assertion of it is the basis of all rights over others.  The only question here is whether the Jew alone is invested with the privilege.  There can be little doubt that the principle on which he claims enfeoffment in the estate is a sound one, that the earth belongs in no case to the sons of Belial, only to the sons of God.

Seven things distinguish an ill-bred man and seven a wise man:—­The wise man (1.) does not talk before his superior in wisdom and years; (2.) he does not interrupt another when speaking; (3.) he is not hasty to make reply; (4.) his questions are to the point, and his answers are according to the Halachah; (5.) his subjects of discourse are orderly arranged, the first subject first and the last last; (6.) if he has not heard of a thing, he says, I have not heard it; and (7.) he confesseth the truth.  The characteristics of the ill-bred man are just the contrary of these.