Samuel of Nehardea - Relations With The Persian Court

Relations With The Persian Court

It was due to Mar Samuel's influence with the Persian king that the Jews were granted many privileges. On one occasion Samuel even made his love for his own people subsidiary to his loyalty to the Persian king and to his strict view of the duties of a citizen; for when the news came that the Persians, on capturing Mazaca (Cæsarea), in Cappadocia, had killed 12,000 Jews who had obstinately opposed them, Samuel refrained from displaying any sorrow (M. Ḳ. 26a). It is worth noting that Samuel formulated the Talmudic dictum that "the law of the state must be followed".

R' Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog disagrees with that interpretation. First, Samuel intended to demonstrate a Law not his emotions on the subject. Second, Samuel held that the Messianic Era would arrive through natural means. Samuel may have believed that King Shapur I was destined to usher in the 3rd temple era as Cyrus had been before him. Therefore those Jews who fought on the side of the Roman Emperor Julian were prolonging the exile and not worthy of being mourned. (Pesakim U' Kesavim vol.2)

But he had a great love for his people, and he loyally cherished the memory of the former kingdom of Judah. Once, when one of his contemporaries adorned himself with a crown of olive, Samuel sent him the following message: "The head of a Jew that now wears a crown while Jerusalem lies desolate, deserves to be separated from its trunk" (Yer. Soṭah ix. 24b, c). Samuel expected the restoration of the Jewish state in Palestine to come about in a natural way, through permission given to the Jews by the various governments to return to Palestine and establish an independent state there (Ber. 34b)(No such opinion from Samuel exists in Ber. 34b. Just FYI).

Mar Samuel was unfortunate in his family life. He had no sons, and his two daughters were captured by soldiers during the war with the Romans. They were taken to Sepphoris, in Palestine, where they were ransomed by coreligionists, but both died at an early age after having been married successively to a relative (Ket. 23a; Yer. Ket. ii. 26c). The esteem in which Mar Samuel was held appears from the fact that no one thought of attributing his misfortune to any sin committed by him; it was explained rather as being in consequence of some offense committed in Babylon by R. Ḥananya, the nephew of R. Joshua (Yer. Ket. ii. 8; comp. Ket. 23a). After his death Samuel was glorified in legend.