The Zealots guffawed, but the visitors from Antioch did not understand. If they had thought about the writing of the name they would have seen that Hananiah spelt backwards gave Yochanan. The twenty-fourth psalm of David had the line: 'The temple court cried out "Lift up your heads, O ye gates and let Yochanan the son of Narbai and the disciple of Pinqai enter and fill his belly with the divine sacrifices."' Ananias was noted for his greed. Pinqai suggested pinka, a dish of stewed meat with onions to which the high priest was partial. In some ways the Jews were a subtle people.
I found this passage from pages 250-251 of my copy of The Kingdom of the Wicked rather puzzling…
… In the story we have reached the events recorded in Acts 23, which does not have the reference to Psalm 24. Psalm 24:7-9 actually says:
7Lift up your heads, O gates!
and be lifted up, O ancient doors!
that the King of glory may come in.
8Who is the King of glory?
The Lord, strong and mighty,
the Lord, mighty in battle.
9Lift up your heads, O gates!
and be lifted up, O ancient doors!
that the King of glory may come in.
10Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts,
he is the King of glory.
(NRSV )
(For Handel's version from the Messiah go to this page and click on the picture of the loudspeaker.)
The Jewish Encylopedia has an article on Ananias, giving his name as Ananias, son of Nebedeus. It also provides a reference to the Talmud. Unfortunately the online version of the Talmud is abridged and doesn't have the same numbering system, making it difficult to track down the reference. The nearest I could find was this:
It is related of Johanan, the son of Narbai, that he used to eat three hundred calves, and to drink three hundred bottles of wine, and to consume forty measures of young pigeons by way of dessert. (Rashi says this was because he had to train many priests in his house.) P'sachim, fol. 57, col. 1.
The other references that I was able to find came from Christian sources quoting the Talmud. But I couldn't find a full copy of the Talmud online to check the quote. This book on the trial of Jesus written by a 19th-century Jewish convert to Catholicism quotes the Talmud as follows:
The Talmud continues: "The porch of the sanctuary cried out four times. ... The third time, Widen yourselves, ye gates of the sanctuary, and let Israel ben Phabi the willful enter, that he may discharge the functions of the priesthood! Yet another cry was heard, Widen yourselves, ye gates, and let Ananias ben Nebedeus the gourmand enter, that he may glut himself on the victims!"
The following citation is very close to Burgess's version. Unfortunately the footnotes are missing.
The high priest at this time was Ananias, son of Nebedaeus, who received the office from Herod of Chalcis (younger brother of Herod Agrippa I) in A.D. 47 and held it for eleven or twelve years. He brought no credit to the sacred office. Josephus tells how his servants went to the threshing floors to seize the tithes that ought to have gone to the common priests, while the Talmud preserves a parody of Ps. 24:7 in which his greed was lampooned:
“Lift up your heads, O ye gates; that Yohanan ben Narbai, the disciple of Pinqai, may go in and fill his belly with the divine sacrifices! Some five years before this time he had been sent to Rome by the legate of Syria on suspicion of complicity in a sanguinary conflict between Judaeans and Samaritans, but was cleared and restored to the high priesthood by the Emperor Claudius, thanks to the advocacy of the younger Agrippa. His great wealth made him a man to be reckoned with even after his deposition from office; and he did not scruple to use violence and assassination to further his interests. His pro-Roman policy, however, made him an object of intense hostility to the militant nationalists in Judaea, and when the war against Rome broke out in A.D. 66 he was dragged by insurgents from an aqueduct in which he had tried to hide, and put to death along with his brother Hezekiah. His son Eleazar, captain of the temple, took fierce reprisals on his assassins.
The quotation is badly punctuated. I think it should read:
... in which his greed was lampooned:
“Lift up your heads, O ye gates; that Yohanan ben Narbai, the disciple of Pinqai, may go in and fill his belly with the divine sacrifices!"
Some five years before this time he had been sent to Rome by the legate of Syria on suspicion of complicity in a sanguinary conflict between Judaeans and Samaritans, ....
Be that as it may, is there anyone out there with access to a copy of the Talmud who can confirm that this parody of Psalm 24 does exist?
