od
by his own efforts. "Seek ye Me, and live,"(773) says God to His erring
children.

3. _Teshubah_, which means return, is an idea peculiar to Judaism, created
by the prophets of Israel, and arising directly from the simple Jewish
conception of sin. Since sin is a deviation from the path of salvation, a
"straying" into the road of perdition and death, the erring can return
with heart and soul, end his ways, and thus change his entire being. This
is not properly expressed by the term repentance, which denotes only
regret for the wrong, but not the inner transformation. Nor is _Teshubah_
to be rendered by either penitence or penance. The former indicates a sort
of bodily self-castigation, the latter some other kind of penalty
undergone in order to expiate sin. Such external forms of asceticism were
prescribed and practiced by many tribes and some of the historical
religions. The Jewish prophets, however, opposed them bitterly, demanding
an inner change, a transformation of soul, renewing both heart and spirit.

"Let the wicked forsake his way,
And the man of iniquity his thoughts;
And let him return unto the Lord, and He will have compassion upon
him,
And to our God, for He will abundantly pardon."(774)

Judaism considers sin merely moral aberration, not utter corruption, and
believes in the capability of the very worst of sinners to improve his
ways; therefore it waits ever for his regeneration. This is truly a return
to God, the restoration of the divine image which has been disfigured and
corrupted by sin.

4. The doctrine of _Teshubah_, or the return of the sinner, has a
specially instructive history, as this most precious and unique conception
of Judaism is little understood or appreciated by Christian theologians.
Often without intentional bias, these are so under the influence of the
Paulinian dogma that they see no redemption for man corrupted by sin,
except by his belief in a superhuman act of atonement. It is certainly
significant that the legal code, which is of priestly origin, does not
mention repentance or the sinner's return. It prescribes various types of
sin-offerings, speaks of reparation for wrong inflicted, of penalties for
crime, and of confession for sins, but it does not state how the soul can
be purged of sin, so that man can regain his former state of purity. This
great gap is filled by the prophetic books and the Psalms. The book of
Deuteronomy alone, wri