What we do find in Pharisaic Judaism, and this is the real answer to
Harnack (_supra_, p. 15), is an attempt to reduce the whole Law
to certain fundamental principles. When a would-be proselyte accosted
Hillel, in the reign of Herod, with the demand that the Rabbi should
communicate the whole of Judaism while the questioner stood on one foot,
Hillel made the famous reply: 'What thou hatest do unto no man; that
is the whole Law, the rest is commentary.' This recalls another famous
summarisation, that given by Jesus later on in the Gospel. A little
more than a century later, Akiba said that the command to love one's
neighbour is the fundamental principle of the Law. Ben Azzai chose for
this distinction another sentence: 'This is the book of the generations
of man,' implying the equality of all men in regard to the love borne by
God for His creatures. Another Rabbi, Simlai (third century), has this
remarkable saying: 'Six hundred and thirteen precepts were imparted unto
Moses, three hundred and sixty-five negative (in correspondence with
the days of the solar year), and two hundred and forty-eight positive
(in correspondence with the number of a man's limbs). David came and
established them as eleven, as it is written: A psalm of David--Lord
who shall sojourn in Thy tent, who shall dwell in Thy holy mountain?
(i) He that walketh uprightly and (ii) worketh righteousness and (iii)
speaketh the truth in his heart. (iv) He that backbiteth not with his
tongue, (v) nor doeth evil to his neighbour, (vi) nor taketh up a reproach
against another; (vii) in whose eyes a reprobate is despised, (viii) but
who honoureth them that fear the Lord. (ix) He that sweareth to his own
hurt, and changeth not; (x) He that putteth not out his money to usury,
(xi) nor taketh a bribe against the innocent. He that doeth these things
shall never be moved. Thus David reduced the Law to eleven principles.
Then came Micah and reduced them to three, as it is written: 'What doth
the Lord require of thee but (i) to do justice, (ii) to love mercy, and
(iii) to walk humbly with thy God? Then came Habbakuk and made the whole