[85] Pr. 14^{32}, _The righteous hath hope in his death_ ... comes nearest to the idea of immortality; but the accuracy of the Hebrew text is doubtful. Pr. 15^{24} and 23^{17, 18} are to be understood as referring to the character of the good man’s life on earth (see Toy’s notes on these passages). [86] “The influence of the synagogue as a religious factor, even in the times of Ben Sirach, was felt more deeply than the scarcity of references to it in the contemporary literature would lead us to believe”, Schechter, _Judaism_ [Second Series], p. 65; cp. J. Abrahams, _Studies in Pharisaism and the Gospels_, pp. 1ff. [87] The reader familiar with the Gospels should guard against the notion that the Scribes were always guilty of the worst qualities that legalism is apt to foster. A class ought not to be equated with its less worthy representatives, unless we are willing, for example, to condemn the first Christians for the sins of certain orders in the Mediæval Church, or to saddle the eager pioneers of the Reformation with the shortcomings of their followers in the eighteenth century. [88] See the article _Hasideans and Hellenism_ (_Jewish Encyclopædia_, Vol. VI.). [89] Commonly referred to by the abbreviation LXX. [90] See Dr. Taylor’s edition (Cambridge, 1877). [91] _Aboth_, iv. 2. [92] _Aboth_, i. 3. [93] _Aboth_ ii. 13. [94] _Aboth_ v. 30. [95] _Aboth_ iv. 26. [96] N.B.--C.55=Cohen, _Ancient Jewish Proverbs_, No. 55. Quotations of these later Rabbinical Jewish proverbs will be given in this manner, as a reference to Mr. Cohen’s handbook is likely to be of more use to readers than a citation of original Rabbinic sources.