7. As has been shown above, the dominant view of the Synagogue is that eternal salvation belongs to the righteous among the nations as well as those of Israel. In this sense, Psalm IX, 18, is understood to the effect that “all those heathens who have forgotten God will go down to the nether world.”(1276) One of the sages expresses a still broader view: “When judging the nations, God determines their standard by their best representatives.”(1277) Many rabbis held the belief that circumcision secured for the Jew a place in “Abraham’s bosom” while the uncircumcised are consigned to Gehenna, thus assigning to circumcision a corresponding place to that of baptism in the Christian Church. This belief seems to be based upon a passage in Ezekiel, where the prophet speaks of the _arelim_, or “uncircumcised,” as dwelling in the nether world.(1278) But a number of passages in the Talmud, especially in the Tosefta,(1279) show that circumcision was not believed to have the power to save a sinner from Gehenna, On the other hand, we have the great teaching of R. Johanan ben Zakkai in opposing his disciple Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, telling that the sacrifices which atoned for the sins of Israel are paralleled by deeds of benevolence, which can atone for the sins of the heathen.(1280) Both the Talmud and Philo state that the seventy bullocks which were offered up during the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles were brought by Israel as sacrifices for the seventy nations of the world.(1281) 8. Where no cause existed to fear the influence of idolatry, friendly relations with non-Jews were always recommended and cultivated. A non-Jew who devotes his life to the study and practice of the law, said Rabbi Meir, is equal to the high priest; for Scripture says: “The laws which, if a man do, he shall live by them,” implying that pure humanity is the one essential required by God.(1282) Indeed, Rabbi Meir enjoyed a close friendship with Œnomaos of Gadara,(1283) a heathen philosopher spoken of admiringly in Talmudic sources and placed on a par with Balaam as noble representatives of heathendom. Obviously this good opinion was held, because both spoke favorably of Judaism, whose “synagogues and schoolhouses formed the strongest bulwark against the attacks of Jew-haters.” Other friendships which were described in popular legends and held up as examples for emulation are those between Jehuda ha Nasi and the Emperor Antoninus (Severus)(1284) and that of Samuel of Babylonia with Ablat, a Persian sage.(1285)