Page 345 - Bible History

The Nazariles
The Galileans
The Samari­ s
318 CHRIST PREPARES TO REDEEM THE WO D
certain monks of the present day. However, they car­ ried their religious zeal to excess. Because they con­ sidered all matter to be evil, they denied the resurrec­ tion of the body. They taught ma othe false doctrines.
The Nazarites were a class of men who took a vow to serve God by a life of great penance and morti ca­ tion. They had existed among the Jews at all times since the days of Moses. During the time that he was bound by his vow, the Nazarite was not allowed to drink intoxicating liquor or to cut his hair. He was not permitted to approach dead bodies.
Though the people of Galilee lived according to the Law of Moses, they were not held in very high esteem by the people of Judea. Some of them were shermen, but most of them were farmers with small farms. They were not as highly cultured as the people of Judea and spoke a dialect.
The people of Samaria had a religion of their own which di ered from that of the rest of the Jews. Their Bible consisted of the ve books of Moses only. They had their own temple on Mount Garizim, ich they insisted was the only temple of the true God. The peo­ ple of Judea and Galilee avoided them. They would not pass through their territory unless it were abso­ lutely necessary, and would not so much as ask them for a drink of water if they were thirsty.
At the time of Christ, four languages were spoken languages in Palestine. The Sacred Books were written in the
The of
Palestme ancient Hebrew, which few of the Jews understood. The language used in every-day life was Aramaic.