BISHOP WILLIAM THOMSON, D. D.—It may be fairly said that the genuineness of the Four Gospel Narratives rests upon better evidence than that of any other ancient writings. They were all composed during the latter half of the rust Century: those of St. Matthew and St. Mark some years before the destruction of Jerusalem; that of St. Luke probably about A. D. 64; and that of St. John towards the close of the century. Before the end of the second century, there is abundant evidence that the four Gospels, as one collection, were generally used and accepted.—Smith's Dict of Bible, p. 942.
THE EARLY FATHERS. —IRENÆUS, a disciple of Polycarp, knew the four Gospels Hœr., iii., c. I. TATIAN, who died A. D. 170, composed a harmony of the Gospels, under the name of Diatesseron; Eus. Hist. Ee., iv., c. 29. THEOPHILUS, bishop of Antioch, about A. D. 168, wrote a commentary on the Gospels; Hieron ad Alga. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, about 189, Was acquainted with the Four Gospels. TERTULLIAN, born about A. D. 160, knew the Four Gospels, and was called on to vindicate the text of one of them against the corruptions of Marcion. ORIGEN, born A. D. 185, calls the Four Gospels the four elements of the Christian faith. We have another class of evidences for the Gospels in the citations made from them. BARNABAS, CLEMENS ROMANUS, POLYCARP, JUSTIN MARTYR, etc., make numerous quotations from them. There is yet another line of evidence. The heretical sects, as well as the Fathers of the church, knew the Gospels, and appealed to them as authorities.—See Smith's Dict. of Bible, art. “Gospel."
NORTON.—The direct historical evidence for the genuineness of the Gospels consists in the indisputable fact, that throughout a community of millions of individuals, scattered over Europe, Asia and Africa, the Gospels were regarded with the highest reverence, as the works of those to whom they are ascribed, at so early a period that there could be no difficulty in determining whether they were genuine or not, and when every intelligent. Christian must have been deeply interested to ascertain the truth.— Gen. of' Gasp., Additional Notes, p. 269.
BISHOP WILLIAM THOMSON, D. D.—The Gospel which bears the name of St. Matthew was written by that apostle according to the testimony of all antiquity. And we are told on the authority of Papias, Irenæus, Pantænus, Origen, Eusebius, Epiphanius, Jerome, and many other fathers, that this Gospel was first written in Hebrew, i. e., in the vernacular language of Palestine, the Aramaic.—Smith's Dict. of Bible.
PAPIAS.—Matthew wrote the Divine Oracles in the Hebrew dialect, and each interpreted them as he was able. —Euseb. Hist. Ec., iii., 39.
IRENÆUS.—Whilst Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome and founding the church, Matthew put forth his written Gospel amongst the Hebrews in their own dialect.—Iren., iii., I.
ORIGEN.—As I have learned by tradition concerning the Four Gospels, which alone are received without dispute by the Church of God under heaven, the first was written by St. Matthew, once a tax-gatherer, afterward an apostle of Jesus Christ, who published it for the benefit of the Jewish converts.— Euseb. Hist. Ec., vi., 25.
EUSEBIUS. Matthew having first preached to the Hebrews, delivered to them, when he was preparing to depart to other countries, his Gospel, composed in their language.—Hist. Ec., iii., 24.
The World's Expectation
Matt. 1:2323Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. (Matthew 1:23).—Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
TACITUS.—Many were under a strong impression that in the ancient books, kept by their priests, a prophecy was contained. That at this very time the power of the East should prevail, and out of Judæa should spring such as should rule over all nations.—Hist., lib. v., c. 13.
VIRGIL.—
The last great age, foretold by sacred rhymes,
Its course propitious now begins.
The base degenerate iron offspring ends;
A golden progeny from heaven descends.
O chaste Lucina! speed the mother's pains,
And haste the glorious birth! thy own Apollo reigns.
The lovely boy, with his auspicious face,
Shall Pollio's consulship and triumph grace:
Majestic months set out with him to their appointed race.
The fathers' banish'd virtue shall restore;
And crimes shall threat the guilty world no more.
The son shall lead the life of gods, and be
By gods and heroes seen, and gods and heroes see.
The jarring nations he in peace shall bind,
And with paternal virtues rule mankind.
—Ecl. IV., v. 3-17.
SUETONIUS.—A firm persuasion had long prevailed through all the East that it was fated for the empire of the world at that time to devolve on some One who should go forth from Judæa.—Vespas., c. 4.
The Savior's Birth
JOSEPHUS.—This Herod—Herod the Great—was the second son of Antipater, who was appointed Procurator of Judea by Julius Caesar, B. C. 47, and Cypros, an Arabian of noble descent. At the time of his father's elevation, though only fifteen years old, he received the government of Galilee, and shortly afterward that of Cœle-Syria. When Antony came to Syria, B. C. 41, he appointed Herod and his elder brother Phasael Tetrarchs of Judea. The next year. Herod was obliged to leave Judea, and fled to Rome (B. C. 40). At Rome he was well received by Antony and Octavia, and was appointed by the Senate King of Judea to the exclusion of the Hasmonæn line., In the course of a few years, by the help of the Romans, he took Jerusalem (B. C. 37), and completely established his authority throughout his dominions.— Antiq., B. xiv. c. 7, 9, 13,
Wise Men of the East
DIODORUS SICULUS.—From a long observation of the stars, and an exact knowledge of the motions and influences of every one of them, wherein they excel all other nations, they foretell many things that are to happen. The appearance of comets, they say, is significative of good or evil, not only to nations in general, but to kings, and even to private individuals.—Diod. Sic., II, 30.
CICERO.—According to the Chaldeans the birth of infants is regulated by the moon, and they observe and take particular notice of the natal stars with which the moon happens to be in conjunction at the moment of a nativity.—De Div., II., 43.
SENECA.—Certain magi, who by good fortune had been at Athens, visited the tomb of Plato, and there offered, incense to him as a divine being.—Epist. 58; see also Diogenes Laertius, II., 45.
THE COMPILER.—The town or village of Bethlehem still remains, under the name Beit-lahm. It is situated some six miles south of Jerusalem, on a narrow, hill ridge, and corn-fields below, as in the days of Ruth and Boaz, with the well a little distance from the gate as when David longed to quench his thirst therefrom, and the wild hills spreading eastward where the shepherds flocks "who kept watch by night " may have wandered. The site and the whole surrounding scene of this town are in perfect agreement with all we read of them in the sacred history; there exists no doubt of Sits identity, nor has there ever been a doubt. Justin Martyr, who wrote within fifty years after the death of the apostle John, mentions that the spot of the Nativity was well known, and pointed out to pious visitors in his day. And 180 years later, in commemoration of the event, the emperor Constantine erected his magnificent Basilica, or Church of the Nativity, over what was then believed to be the very place; that church, after passing through many and various vicissitudes; remains there to the present day, and is now the oldest monument of Christian architecture in the world.—From Present Conflict of Science with Religion, p. 634; see also Thomson's Land and the Book, Vol. II., p. 500-515; and Stanley's Sinai and Palestine, p. 432
Matt. 2:1111And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. (Matthew 2:11)—And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and, worshipped him; and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
REV. JOSEPH ROBERTS. —In the East, the birth of a son is always a time of great festivity; the relations come together on the occasion, to congratulate' the happy parents, and to present their gifts to the little stranger. Some bring the silver anklets; others the bracelets or earrings, or the silver cord for the loins. Others, however, are the bearers of gold, and a variety of needful articles. The “wise men” did not make presents as a matter of charity, but' to show their affection and respect. When the infant son of a king is shown, the people make their obeisance to him.—Orient. Illust., p. 523.
DR. A. CLARKE.—The people of the East never approach the presence of kings and great personages, without a present in their hands.—Note, In loco.
The Flight into Egypt
Matt. 2:1313And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. (Matthew 2:13).—Arise, and take the young child' and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word; for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.
JOSEPHUS.—Herod had no power or authority in Egypt. And beside this the Jews were about this time encouraged to enter and settle in Egypt; and great numbers of them lived there in the enjoyment of high privileges, civil and religious. They even had a Temple and a Priesthood there, after the pattern of those at Jerusalem. Here, then, Joseph and Mary with their Babe would find a safe and welcome refuge among their own nation, and readily obtain employment and support during their stay. For the above facts, see Jos. Antiq., B. 13, c. 3, § I, 2, etc.
Slaughter of the Innocents
Matt. 2:1616Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. (Matthew 2:16).—Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—The massacre of the Innocents is profoundly in accordance with all that we know of Herod's character. The master passions, of that able but wicked prince were a most unbounded, ambition, and a excruciating jealousy. His whole career was red with the blood of murder. He had massacred priests and nobles; he had decimated the Sanhedrin; he had caused the High Priest, his brother-in-law, the young and noble Aristobulus, to be drowned in pretended sport before his eyes; he had ordered the strangulation of his favorite wife, the beautiful Asmonæan princess Mariamne, though she seems to have been the only human being whom he passionately loved. His sons Alexander, Aristobulus, and Antipater—his uncle Joseph—Antigonus and Alexander, the uncle father of his wife— his mother-in-law Alexandra—his kinsman Cortobanus—his friends Dositheus and Gadias, were but a few of the multitudes who fell victims to his sanguinary, suspicious and guilty terrors ... . There is no conceivable difficulty in supposing that such a man would have acted in the exact manner which St. Matthew describes; and the belief in the fact receives independent from various sources. —Life of Christ, Vol. I., p. 42-44
JOSEPHUS—There was at this time a sect of men among the Jews called Pharisees; these were believed to have the foreknowledge of things to come by inspiration, and certain of them foretold how God had decreed that Herod's government should cease, and his posterity should be deprived of it. These predictions were told to the king. So the king, for this prophecy, slew the Pharisees; and he slew also all those of his own family who had consented to what the Pharisees foretold. —Antiq., XVII., 2, § 4.
SUETONIUS.—It is related that shortly before the birth of Augustus there was; a prophecy in Rome that a king over the Roman people would soon be born. And the expectation that such a Ruler Would appear prevailed SO strongly, that the Senate, in order to guard against such a danger to the Republic, made a decree that all the male children born in that year should be-destroyed by desertion or exposure; but the Senators, whose wives were pregnant, took means to prevent the execution of the statute, because each of them hoped 'that the prophecy might refer to his own child. Vita August., p. 94.
JOSEPHUS.—And now Herod, (in his last sickness,) altered his Testament ... .and granted the kingdom to Archelaus.... When he had done this he died.... When his death was made public, Salome and Alexis gathered the soldiery together in the amphitheater' at Jericho, and read Herod's letter addressed to them, thanking them for their fidelity and good will to him, and exhorting them to afford his yin Archelaus; whom he had appointed for their king; like fidelity and goad will. After which, Ptolemy, who had the king's seal entrusted to him, read the king's Testament. So there was presently an acclamation made to Archelaus, as King.—Antiquities, XVII:, 8; § I.
The Return to Nazareth
Matt, 2:21, 22.—And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and carne into the land a Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus did reign, in Judea is the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither.
JOSEPHUS.—Archelaus was Herod's own son, and without delay let the nation understand his spirit. Even before his claim to the throne had been confirmed by Caesar, who could either give it to him or not, he had given a speoimen of his future virtue to his subjects, and with what kind of moderation and good administration he would govern them, by that his first action which concerned them, his own citizens, and God himself also, when he made the slaughter of three thousand of his own countrymen at the temple! How then were the people to avoid the just hatred of him, etc.—Antiq., XVII., II, § 2.
DR. JOHN KITTO, F. S. A.—It will be recollected that the death of Herod took place just before the Passover; and Joseph being then commanded to return from Egypt, must, according to all reasonable probability, have reached the borders of Judea, just after the perpetration of this sanguinary act, which, we learn incidentally, was at the Passover, just previous to which Herod died. The news of it, therefore, must have met him on his approach, together with the intelligence that Archelaus did reign. Everyone he met could talk of nothing else-every mouth was full of it; and dreadful as the fact was, it doubtless reached his ears with a thousand circumstances of aggravation. This, with the general character of the prince, may well have made Joseph doubt that he could safely execute his design of remaining in Judea; for there, everything combined to render it probable that Archelaus would by no means hesitate to execute the purpose of his father, should it come to his knowledge, or should he even suspect, that the child was still alive whom Herod supposed he had destroyed.—Daily Illust., p. 150.
DR. JOHN KITTO, F. S. A.—Galilee was obviously, under the circumstances, the best and safest place for the bringing up of the child Jesus. Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch of that province, though not a good man, was a person of mild disposition as compared with Archelaus, with whom he was, moreover, on terms so hostile that there was not the least likelihood that he would, even if demanded, give up the infant Christ into his power.—Daily Illust., p. 151.
John Baptist
ÆLIAN.—There are camels in those regions whose hair equals the Milesian wool in softness. The priests and other chief men wear garments formed of this hair.—Hist. Anim., lib. xvii., c. 34.
PROF. H. B. TRISTRAM, LL. D., F. R. S.—The hair of the camel, especially the coarser woolly tufts about the hump and back, is in some places torn off, but more generally, as I have observed, closely shorn once a year, and used for weaving into a coarse thick fabric by the Arab women. It is of this material that the "black tents of Kedar "'are generally constructed, as it is much thicker and stouter than woolen stuff. It is very harsh and rough to the touch, and thus the Baptist's dress was in accordance with the austerity of his life.—Nat. Hist. of Bible, p. 66.
And his meat was locusts and wild honey.
HERODOTUS.—The Nasamonians, a numerous people, in summer leave their flocks and herds upon the sea-shore, and go up the country, where they gather dates.... They also chase the locusts, and, when caught, dry them in the sun, after which they grind them to powder, and, sprinkling this upon their milk, so drink it.—Melpomene, c. 172.
BURCKHARDT.—All the Bedawins of Arabia, and the inhabitants of towns in Nejd and Hedjaz are accustomed to eat locusts. I have seen at Medina and Tayf locust shops, where these animals were sold by measure. In Egypt and Nubia they are only eaten by the poorest beggars. The Arabs in preparing locusts as an article of food, throw them alive into boiling water with which a good deal of salt has been mixed. After a few minutes, they are taken out and dried in the sun; the head, feet, and wings are then torn off; the bodies are cleansed from the salt, and perfectly dried, after which process whole sacks are filled with them by the Bedawins. They are sometimes eaten boiled in butter, and they often contribute materials for a breakfast when spread over unleavened bread mixed with butter.—In Land and Book, II., 107.
PROF. H. B. TRISTRAM, LL. D., F. R. S.—However extensive the Bee colonies of the villages, the number of wild Bees of the same species is far greater. The innumerable fissures and clefts of the limestone rocks, which everywhere flank the valleys, afford in their recesses secure shelter for any number of swarms, and many of the Bedowin, particularly in the wilderness of Judea, obtain their subsistence by bee-hunting, bringing into Jerusalem jars of that wild honey on which John the Baptist fed in the wilderness, and which Jonathan long before unwittingly tasted, when the comb had dropped on the ground from the hollow tree in which it was suspended.—Land of Israel, p. 88.
ROBERTS.—In the East, a respectable man never goes out without his servant or attendant.... When the ground is smooth, or where there is soft grass to walk on, the sandals are taken off, and the, servant carries them in his hand. The devoted and humble John did not consider himself worthy to bear the sandals of his Divine Master.—Oriental Illustrations, p. 523.
Christ at Capernaum
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—Christ chose as the earliest center, of his ministry a bright and busy city, whose marble buildings were mirrored in a limpid sea. That little city was Capernaum. It rose under the gentle declivities of hills that encircled an earthly paradise.... But Capernaum has long since fallen and perished; all that remains to indicate its doubtful site are but a few prostrate fragments.... The shores of that sea are now deserted. With the exception of the decaying remnants of Tiberias and Magdala, there is not a single inhabited spot on its once crowded shores. But the natural features still remain. The lake still lies unchanged in the bosom of the hills, reflecting every varying gleam of the atmosphere like an opal set in emeralds; the waters are still as beautiful in their clearness as when the boat of Peter lay rocking on their ripples; and Jesus gazed into their crystal depths; the cuplike basin still seems to overflow with its flood of sunlight; the air is still balmy with natural perfumes; the turtle-dove still murmurs in the valleys, and the pelican in the waves; and. there are palms, and green fields, and streams, and gray heaps of ruin. And what it has lost in population and activity, it has gained in solemnity and interest. —Life of Christ, Vol. I., p. 174-177.
The Sea of Galilee
Matt. 4:18, 2118And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. (Matthew 4:18)
21And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. (Matthew 4:21).—And Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers.... going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets.
DEAN A. P. STANLEY.—The Lake of Galilee abounds in fish of all kinds. From the earliest times— so said the Rabbinical legends—the lake had been so: renowned in this respect, that one of the ten fundamental laws laid down by. Joshua on the division of the country was, that any one might fish with a hook, in the Sea of Galilee, so that they did not interfere with the free passage of boats. Two of the villages on the banks derived their name from their fisheries—the western and eastern Bethsaida, or House-of-fish; and all of them' sent forth their fishermen by hundreds over the lake.—Sinai and Palestine, p. 367.
The Fame of Jesus
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—The region of the Sea of Galilee (at that day) was occupied by people of many nationalities. The cities and villages were very numerous, and all full of people, the very smallest, according to Josephus, containing no less than 15,000 inhabitants. Four principal roads communicated with the shores of the lake. One led down the Jordan valley on the western side; another, crossing a bridge at the south of the lake, passed through Peræa to the fords of Jordan near Jericho; a third led, through Sepphoris, the gay and rising capital of Galilee, to the famous port of Accho on the Mediterranean Sea; a fourth ran over the mountains of Zebulon to Nazareth, and so through the plain of Esdraelon to Samaria and Jerusalem. Through this district passed the great caravans on their way from Egypt to Damascus; and the heathens who congregated at Bethsaida Julias and Caesarea Philippi must have been" constantly seen in the streets of Capernaum. The waters of the lake also were plowed by 4,000 vessels of every description, from the war-vessel of the Romans to the rough fisher-boats of Bethsaida, and the gilded pinnaces from Herod's palace. Burma, Samaria, Syria, Phœnicia were immediately accessible by crossing the lake, the river, or the hills. The town of Tiberias, which Herod Antipas had built to be the capital of Galilee, and named in honor of the reigning emperor, had risen with marvelous rapidity, with its turreted walls, its strong castle, and the golden house of Antipas, flinging far into the lake the reflection of its marble lions and sculptured architraves. Europe, Asia, and Africa had contributed to its population, and men of all nations met in its market-place. All along the western shores of Gennesareth Jews and Gentiles were strangely mingled, and the wild Arabs of the desert might there be seen side by side, with enterprising Phœnicians, effeminate Syrians, contemptuous Romans, and supple, wily, corrupt Greeks.— (From such a center, how readily and quickly would " the fame of Jesus spread throughout all Syria; " and how natural, and how true to facts, is this statement of the gospel.)—Life of Christ, I., p. 178.
DR. WILLIAM HARRIS RULE.—It is remarkable that a full narrative of communication with Syria, contained in the ecclesiastical history of Eusebius, completely tallies with the words of St. Matthew. Eusebius relates that when the Divinity of our Savior was proclaimed among all men, by reason of the astonishing miracles He wrought, and myriads came to Him from all countries to be healed, a Syrian king, Abgar of Edessa, on the Euphrates, renowned among the nations for his valor, found his body wasting away with a grievous and incurable disease, and sent Him by a courier a letter of request to come and heal him. Eusebius had a copy of the letter taken for him from the records which were then kept at Odessa, the capital of his dominions, and his translation into Greek was, until very lately, the only original of many versions. But the late Dr. Cureton found the Syriac original as it had lain in the archives of Edessa, which were transferred thence to Ecbátana, in Armenia, and from that place to the Natron monastery in Egypt, but now rests in the British Museum. It reads thus:
"ABGAR THE BLACK, sovereign of the country, to Jesus, the good Savior, who has appeared in the country of Jerusalem; Peace. I have heard about Thee, and about the healing which is wrought by Thy hands, without drugs and roots.
For, as it is reported, Thou makest the blind to see, and the lame to walk; and Thou cleansest the lepers, and Thou castest out unclean spirits and demons, and Thou healest those who are tormented with lingering diseases, and Thou raisest the dead. And when I heard all these things about Thee, I settled in my Mind one of two things: either that Thou art God, who hast come down from heaven, and doest these things; or that Thou art the Son of God, and doest these things. On this account, therefore, I have written to beg of Thee that Thou wouldst weary Thyself to come to me, and heal this disease which I have. And not only so, for I have also heard that the Jews murmur against Thee, and wish to do Thee harm. But I have a city, small and beautiful, which is sufficient for two."
There can be no reasonable doubt about the authenticity of this letter. Eusebius had a copy brought to him as it was taken from the original copy soon after A. D. 300, authenticated as part of the public records. Moses of Osrohenè, historian of Armenia, found the same document in the " House of Records," in the century following; and his translation into Armenian, like that of Eusebius into Greek, doubles the assurance that it is not fictitious.—Oriental Records (Historical), p. 173.
And they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with diverse diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. And there followed him great multitudes of people.
DR. W. M. THOMSON.—There is an irresistible bias in Orientals, of all religions, to run after the mere shadow of a prophet, or a miracle-worker. A grand fraud was enacted in Lebanon a few years ago, in order to raise the wind to build a church. The water that burst out while the workmen were digging the foundation, it was published abroad, would restore the blind to sight; and quickly multitudes of these unfortunate people, from all parts of Palestine and Syria, and even ship-loads from Egypt, hastened to the spot, to bathe their sore or sightless balls in the wonder-working water. I myself saw long files of “blind leading the blind," marching slowly and painfully on toward the blessed stream, and it was not until great suffering and loss that the insane multitude could be restrained from making the worse than useless pilgrimage. Such are Orientals of this day; and to know what was the character, in these respects, of those to whom Christ preached, we need only study that of the people around us. In nothing does the East of this day throw more light upon New Testament history than just on this point, and it is certainly one of much importance.—The Land and the Book, II., 84.
Christ on the Mountain
LORD NUGENT.—Tradition points to Kurun Hattin, as being this mountain, on which our Lord's great discourse, "the Sermon on the Mount," was delivered. And there seems no reason whatever to doubt, and every reason to give credit to the probable truth of this tradition, strengthened as it is by the internal evidence of its position, which appears to be more in accordance than any other with that described in the Scripture narrative.—Lands Classical and Sacred, II., 218.
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—The scene of the Sermon on the Mount was in all probability the singular elevation known at this lay as the Kurun Hattin, or “Horns of Hattin." It is a hill with a summit which closely resembles an Oriental saddle with its two high peaks. On the west it rises very little above the level of a broad and undulating plain; on the east it sinks precipitately towards a plateau, on which lies, immediately beneath the cliffs, the village of Hattin; and from this plateau the traveler descends through a wild and tropic gorge to the shining levels of the Lake of Galilee. It is the only conspicuous hill on the western side of the lake, and it is singularly adapted by its conformation, both to form a place for short retirement, and a rendezvous for gathering multitudes. —Life of Christ, I., 250.
ÆSCHYLUS.—I will speak to thee plainly, as friends ought to open the mouth to one another.— Prom. Vinct v. 610.
VIRGIL.—Then Cassandra opened her mouth, and foretold our destiny.—
Æneid, II., 246.
The Beatitudes
ARISTOTLE.—A thirst for philosophy. —De Cœlo, II, 12.
HORACE.—An insatiable hunger and thirst after money.—Lib, 1., Epist.
EURIPIDES.—
Bacchus.—The god even now, being near, sees what I suffer.
Pentheus.—Where is he? for at least he is not visible to my eyes.
Bacchus.—Near me; but you, being impious, see him not.
—Bacc., v. 500
PLUTARCH.—Alexander used to say there was something noble in hearing one's self ill spoken of, while doing Well.—Alex., c. 41.
SENECA. —Socrates, who reduced all philosophy to the conduct of sound morality, affirmed that the principal part of wisdom was to discover good and evil: Would you be happy, he says, be not concerned to be thought by some a fool; if anyone should reproach you, contumeliously, let him do it; you can suffer nothing as long as you adhere to virtue.—Epist. 71.
Salt of the Earth
DIOGENES LAERTIUS.—Pythagoras? opinion of salt was, that it ought to be set before people as a reminder of justice; for salt preserves everything which it touches.—Pythag. Vit., c. 19.
PLUTARCH—A word or a nod from a person revered for his virtue is of more weight than the most elaborate speeches of other men.—Phoc., c. 5.
But if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
REV. W. M. THOMSON, D. D.—I have often seen just such salt, and the identical disposition of it that our Lord has mentioned. A merchant of Sidon having farmed of the government the revenue from the importation of salt, brought over an immense quantity from the marshes of Cyprus—enough, in fact, to supply the whole province for at least twenty years. This he had transferred to the mountain's, to cheat the government out of some small percentage.
Sixty-five houses in June—Lady Stanhope's village—were rented and filled with salt. These houses have merely earthen floors, and the salt next the ground in a few years entirely spoiled. I saw large quantities of it literally thrown into the street, to be trodden under foot of men and beasts. “It was good for nothing." Similar magazines are common in this country, and have been from remote ages, as we learn from history both sacred and profane; and the sweeping out of the spoiled salt and casting it into the streets are actions familiar to all men.—The Land and the Book, II., 43.
MAUNDRELL.—In the Valley of Salt, near Gebul, and about four hours' journey from Aleppo, there is a small precipice, formed by the continual taking away of the salt. In this you may see how the veins of it lie. I broke a piece of it, of which, the part that was exposed to the rain and sun and air, though it had the sparks and particles of salt, yet had perfectly lost its savor. The innermost, which had been connected to the rock., retained its savor, as I found by proof.—Early Travels, p. 512.
Light of the World
MAUNDRELL.—Not far from the Mount of Beatitudes is the city of Saphet, supposed by some to be the ancient Bethulia. This stands upon a very eminent and conspicuous mountain, and is seen far and near; and this "city set on a hill," and so plainly seen from where he sat, as he taught the multitude, may have been pointed out and alluded to by Christ as he spoke these words. And this is the more probable from the fact, that our Lord did often illustrate his discourses by objects that were before the eyes of his auditors.—Journey, p. 115.
The Law Abiding
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—The New Commandments of the Mount of Beatitudes were not meant to abrogate, but rather to complete the Law which was spoken from Sinai to them of old. That law was founded on the eternal distinctions of right and wrong-distinctions strong and irremovable as the granite bases of the world. Easier would it be to sweep away the heaven and the earth, than to destroy the least letter, one yod—or the least point of a letter, one projecting horn-of that code which contains the very principles of all moral life.—of Christ, I., 260.
Raca and Fool
LIGHTFOOT. —Raca—a word used by one that despiseth another with the highest scorn: very usual in the Hebrew writers, and very common in the mouth of the nation.—In loco.
BLOOMFIELD.—Thou fool—a term expressive of the greatest abhorrence, equivalent to " thou impious wretch," for in the language of the Hebrews folly is equivalent to “impiety."—In loco.
The Altar
JOSEPHUS.—In front of the Temple stood the Altar, fifteen cubits in height, and in breadth and length of equal dimensions, viz., fifty cubits: it was built four-square, with horn-like corners projecting from it; and on the south side a gentle declivity led up to it. Moreover it was made without any iron tool, neither did iron ever touch it at any time.—Jewish Wars, V., 5, § 6.
Sinful Look
OVID.—That which is not done, only because it is not permitted, is done; for though the body be kept pure, the mind is adulterous.—Amor., lib. iii., eleg. 4.
PLUTARCH.—When Sophocles, who went in joint command with Pericles upon an expedition at sea, happened to praise the beauty of a certain young person, Pericles answered,—A general, my friend, should not only have pure hands but pure eyes.—Pericl., c. 8.
The Right Eye, and Right Hand
SENECA.—We can never quarrel enough with our vices: I beseech you, Lucilius, to persecute these unceasingly; throw away from you everything that tears the heart; and if you cannot otherwise get rid of it, spare not the heart itself.—Epist., 51.
ROBERTS.—This metaphor is in common use at this day in the East: “I can never give her up; she is my right eye." “That fellow forsake his sins! Never—they are his right eye."—Orient. Ill., p. 524.
Swearing
ISOCRATES.—Never call God to witness for the sake of your own advantage, even though you might swear truly. —Orat., I.
EPICTETUS.—Avoid swearing, if possible, altogether; if not, as far as possible. —Euchir., 33
PYTHAGORAS.—Reverence an oath.—Aur, car., v. 2.
AULUS GELLIUS.—It is not allowable for the Flamen Dialis to swear on any, occasion whatever.—Aul. lib. x., c. 15.
Matt 5:34, 35.—Neither by heaven, for it is God's throne: nor by the earth, for it is his footstool.
PHILO, the Jew.—The most high and ancient Cause need not be immediately mentioned in swearing; but the earth, the sun, heaven, and the whole world.— in Pict. Bib., In loco.
MAIMONIDES.—He that swears by heaven, and by the earth, and by the sun, and the like, though his intention be nothing less than to Him who created them, this is not an oath.—Ibid.
A. RHODIUS.—Inviolable oath that Cholchians fear By heaven above and earth below I swear.—Arg., III., 714.
HOMER.—I adjure thee by thine own head.—Odyss., XV., 262.
JUVENAL.—Many traces of primeval chastity may have existed under Jove, before the Greeks were yet ready to swear by another's head.—Sat. VI., 15.
MARTIAL—You swore to me by your gods, and by your head, that you would not make me your heir.—Mart., lib. ix., epgr. 48.
Retaliation
DR. A. CLARKE.—This was the Law of Moses (Ex. 21:2424Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, (Exodus 21:24)); and the Greeks and Romans had the same law. So strictly was it attended to at Athens, that if a man put out the eye of another who had but one, the offender was condemned to lose both his eyes, as the loss of one would not be an equivalent misfortune. It seems that the Jews had made this law (the execution of which belonged to the civil magistrate) a ground for authorizing private resentments, and all the excesses committed by a vindictive spirit.—Note, In loco.
CICERO.—It will appear expedient that a man should not only be munificent in giving, but also that he should not be harsh in exacting; conceding to many much that is his own right, and shunning disputes as far as he can, and, even a little more than he can conveniently.—De Offic., II., 18.
Treatment of Enemies
MAIMONIDES.—A Sew sees a Gentile fall into the sea, let him by no means lift him out; true, it is written, " Thou shalt not rise up against the blood of thy neighbor: "-but this is not thy neighbor.—In Adam Clarke's Com.
PLATO.—It is not right to return an injury, or to do evil to any man, however much one may have suffered from him.—Crito, c. 10.
ARISTOTLE.—It is not the province of a magnanimous man to be mindful of injuries, but rather to overlook them.—Arist's Eth., IV., 3.
M. ANTONINUS.—It is the part of a man to love even those who offend him, —M. Ant., VII., 22.
SOCRATES.—I bear no resentment toward those who condemned me, or against my accusers.—Plat. Socrat. Apol., c. 33.
STRABO.—It has been justly said that men resemble the gods most chiefly in doing good.—Strab., X., 3.
M. ANTONINUS.—The gods, though immortal, do not grudge through so great a duration of time to bear with so many wicked ones of every sort; nay more, they take all manner of care of them: and Bost thou who art so soon to perish grow weary of bearing with them; and that, too, being thyself one of them? M. Ant., VII., 70.
IDEM.—The gods act with clemency towards such, and reach out to them their helping hand, that they may obtain health, and riches, and glory; such is their goodness. You may do the same: or say, what hinders you.—M. Ant., VII., 70.
M. ANTONINUS. —It will be a great advantage to you, to remember this of the gods, that they do not wish us to flatter them, but to imitate them. —M. Ant., X. 8.
Alms Unseen
EPICTETUS.—A wise and good man doth nothing for appearance, but for the sake of having acted well.—Epict., III., 24.
MARTIAL.—It makes a difference whether a man is good, or only wishes to appear so.—Mart., lib. viii., Epig. 38.
M. ANTONINUS.—A good man, when he has done any meritorious act, makes no noise about it: and it may almost be said he knows not that he has done it. —M. Ant., V., 6.
Prayer in Secret
DR. JOHN KITTO.—A traveler in the East is constantly reminded of this practice, reprehended in the Pharisees, because they did it “to be seen of men." In Moslem countries, Palestine among them, nothing is more common than to see men at their prayers in the open air and in public places—in the streets—the squares—the markets—the shops—the coffee—houses—by the sea—shore—in the fields—or in the woods.—Pict. Bible, In loco.
ROBERTS.—False religion has ever been fond of show; hence its devotees have assumed a greater appearance of sanctity, as if to make up for the deficiency of real worth. Perhaps few systems are so replete with the show of religion as Hinduism. Its votaries may be seen in every street with uplifted hands, or bespattered bodies: they are standing before every temple, making their prostrations, or repeating their prayers!—Oriental Illustrations, p. 524.
Vain Repetitions
PROF. C. E. STOWE, D. D.—It is a characteristic of all superstitious devotion to repeat endlessly certain words, especially the names of the deities invoked. When the priests of Baal besought their god for fire to kindle their sacrifice, they cried incessantly for several hours, in endless repetition, O Baal hear us, O Baal hear us, O Baal hear us, etc. When the Ephesian mob was excited to madness for the honor of their goddess, for two hours and more they did nothing but screech with the utmost tension of voice, Great the Diana of the Ephesians, Great the Diana of the Ephesians, Great the Diana of the Ephesians, etc. In the same way, in the devotions of pagan Rome, the people would cry out more than five hundred times, without ceasing, Audi, Cesar; Audi, Cæsar; Audi, Cæsar; etc. Among the Hindus, the sacred syllable, Om, Om, Om, is repeated as a prayer thousands of times uninterruptedly.—Smith's Dict. of Bible, p. 2705.
God Our Father
EPICTETUS.—Ulysses knew that no human creature is an orphan; but there is a Father who always, and without intermission, takes care of all. For he had not merely heard it, as a matter of talk, that Jupiter was the Father of mankind; but he esteemed and called him his Father, and performed all that he did with a view to him.—III., 24.
MAXIMUS TYRTIUS.—God the Father and Maker of all things that exist.— Diss., 38.
Forgiveness
EPICTETUS.—What then? Shall I not hurt him who hath hurt me? Consider, first, what hurt is; and remember what you have heard from the philosophers. For if both good and evil consist in choice, see whether what you say does not amount to this—" Since he hath hurt himself, by injuring me, shall I not hurt myself by injuring him?”—Epict., ii., 10.
MAXIMUS TYRIUS. —If to inflict an injury is in itself a wrong thing, it must be equally wrong to retaliate; for if he who commits an injury is more guilty than he who suffers it, he who commits a similar injury in retaliation renders himself equally guilty. And if he who inflicts a wrong does wickedly, he who renders evil for evil does no less wickedly, though he may seem only to avenge an injury.—Diss., 2.
Treasures on Earth
MARTIAL.—
Thieves may break locks, and with your cash retire;
Your ancient seat may be consumed by fire;
Debtors refuse to pay you what they owe;
Or your ungrateful field the seed you sow;
You may be plundered by a jilting whore;
Your ships may sink at sea with all their store;
Who gives to friends, so much from fate secures;
That is the only wealth forever yours.
—Mart., lib. v., epig. 42.
BARTOLOMEO.—At Pondicherry, I met with an incident which excited my astonishment. I had put my effects into a chest which stood in my apartment, and being one day desirous of taking out a book in order to amuse myself with reading, as soon as I opened the chest, I discovered in it an innumerable multitude of white ants, or rather termes. When I examined the different articles, I observed that these little animals had perforated my shirts in a thousand places, and gnawed to pieces my books, my girdle, my amice, and my shoes, They were moving in columns, each behind the other: and each carried away in its mouth a fragment of my effects which were more than half destroyed. Critica Biblica.
Two Masters
PLATO.—The more men indulge in the desire of wealth, the less will they esteem virtue; for virtue is so at variance with wealth, that supposing each to be placed at the opposite end of a balance, they would always weigh the one against the other.—De Rep., VIII., 6.
Anxiety for the Future
SOCRATES.—I go about doing nothing else than persuading you, both young and old to take no care either for the body or for riches, prior to or so much as for the soul, how it may be most perfect, telling you that virtue does not spring from riches, but riches, and all other human blessings, both private and public, from virtue.—Socr. Apol., 17.
THE COMPILER.—The neighborhood of the Sea of Galilee was enlivened nearly the year round (as it still is) by flocks of birds of various kinds. These, wheeling over the heads of the listening multitude on the mount, in their graceful and sportive and happy flights, would present a striking contrast with the toiling and careworn dwellers of the plain below—sowing, reaping, and stowing away. Such a sight, we may well suppose, it was that led to the touching appeal, Behold the fowls of the air, etc.—In Present Conflict of Science with Religion, p. 664.
Matt. 6:2828And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: (Matthew 6:28).—Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
THE COMPILER.—Summer now coming on, the brilliantly-colored flowers of Palestine were everywhere putting forth their beauties. Variegated tulips, purple and red gladioli, and scarlet anemones (to which the common name shûsan, "lilies," was applied) abounded on the plain of Gennesaret, and covered the hillsides around the Master and the listening throng; and to deepen the impression made by the appeal to the fowls of the air, they are bidden again to fix their eyes and their attention on these—Consider the lilies of the field, etc.—In Present Conflict of Science with Religion, p. 664.
SIR J. E. SMITH.—I am of the opinion that the plant alluded to by the Savior was the Amaryllis lutea, whose golden liliaceous flowers afford one of the most brilliant and gorgeous objects in nature, as the fields of the Levant are overrun with them; to them the expression of "Solomon in all his glory" not being arrayed like one of them, is peculiarly appropriate.—In Pict. Bible.
Matt. 6:3030Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? (Matthew 6:30).—Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
DR. A. CLARKE.—The inhabitants of the East, to this day, make use of dry straw, withered herbs, and stubble, to heat their ovens.—Note, In loco.
JUVENAL.—
Receive my counsel, and your wisdom prove;
Intrust thy fortune to the powers above:
Leave them to manage for thee, and to grant
What their unerring wisdom sees thee want.
In goodness, as in greatness, they excel;
O that we loved ourselves but half so well.
—Sat. X., v. 346.
SENECA.—Nothing can be more miserable, nothing more ridiculous, than to be always in fear: what madness is it for a man to anticipate his misfortunes! Epist., 96.
IDEM.—O when will you behold the day, when you shall know that time does not belong to you; when in a pleasing tranquility, and the full enjoyment of self-complacency, you are regardless of tomorrow.—Epist., 32.
The Mote and Beam
MENANDER.—No one sees faults clearly in himself; but if another behave ill, he will observe it.—.Apud. Stob., XXIII.
PLUTARCH.—Why are you so sharp-sighted, O malicious fellow, after your neighbor's faults, while you overlook your own?—De trap. an. c. 8.
Pearls before Swine
PROF. H. B. TRISTRAM.—" Pearls “are a common Eastern metaphor for precious sayings, or well-chosen sacred words. Thus a short didactic poem is called by the Arabs, "A string of Pearls."—Nat. Hist. of Bible, p. 299.
Golden Rule
SENECA.—Do as you would have others do to you. —Epist., 92.
HERODOTUS.—I shall certainly avoid doing that myself which I deem reprehensible in another.—Thalia, c. 143.
The Wide and the Narrow Gate
Matt. 7:13,1413Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Matthew 7:13‑14).—Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
PLATO.—Hesiod is pointed out by many as a man of wisdom, because he asserted that the road to wickedness is smooth, and offers itself to be traversed without difficulty, being very short.—De Leg., lib. iv., c. 9.
XENOPHON.—Sensuality, to Hercules.—I will lead you through those paths which are smooth and flowery, where every delight shall court your enjoyment, and sorrow and pain shall never appear.
Virtue's response.—The wise governors of the universe have decreed that nothing great, nothing excellent, shall be obtained without care and labor: they give no real good, no true happiness, on other terms. Memorabilia, lib. ii., c. I.
HORACE.—Virtue's paths untrodden lie, Those paths that lead us upward to the sky. —Hor., lib. iii., car. 24.
The Tree and Its Fruit
THEOGNIS.—
No lovely rose,
Or hyacinth, from the rude bramble grows;
Nor from a slavish and degraded breed
Can gentle words or courteous acts proceed.
—Theog, v. 537.
EPICTETUS.—How can a vine have the properties, not of a vine, but of an olive tree? or an olive tree, not those of an olive, but of a vine?—Epict., lib. ii., c. 20.
SENECA.—Good does not spring from evil, any more titan a fig from an olive tree. Every leaf and fruit answers its own seed: that which is good cannot degenerate: as what is fit and honorable cannot rise from what is wrong and vile, so neither can good spring from evil: for fit, and good, is the same thing. -Eibist., 87.
Hearing and Doing
Matt. 7:24-2624Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: (Matthew 7:24‑26).—Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth, etc.
THE COMPILER.—In Palestine, especially in Galilee, heavy rains, rapidly flowing together among the hills, often form torrents that rush down unexpectedly with a violence that tears up the soil and sweeps away whatever may lie in their course. This was what the Savior doubtless had many times witnessed in the parts of Nazareth, as it is still what often occurs there, and His eye while on the Mount might have fallen upon the jagged traces, which some such a torrent had recently plowed down the side of a neighboring hill, which His discerning mind seized and converted into a most appropriate close to his wonderful discourse—" Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, etc."—In Present Conflict of Science with Religion, 15. 665.
The Wondrous Teacher
PROF. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—The teaching of their scribes was narrow, dogmatic, material; it was cold in manner, frivolous in matter, second-hand, and iterative in its very essence; with no freshness in it, no force, no fire; servile to all authority, opposed to all independence; at once erudite and foolish, at once contemptuous and mean; never passing a hair's breadth beyond the carefully-watched boundary line of commentary and precedent; full of balanced inference and orthodox hesitancy, and impossible literalism; intricate with legal pettiness and labyrinthine system; elevating mere memory above genius, and repetition above originality; concerned only about priests and Pharisees, in Temple and Synagogue, or School, or Sanhedrim, and mostly occupied with things infinitely little. It was not indeed wholly devoid of moral significance, nor is it impossible to find here and there, among the debris of it, a noble thought; but it was occupied a thousand fold more with Levitical minutia; about mint, and anise, and cumin, and the length of fringes, and the breadth of phylacteries, and the washing of cups and platters, and the particular quarter of a second when new moons and Sabbath-days began.—But this teaching of Jesus was wholly different in its character, and as much grander as the temple of the blue heaven under which it was uttered was grander than the stifling synagogue or Crowded school.... It dealt not with scrupulous tithes and ceremonial cleansing, but with the human soul, and human destiny, and human life-with Hope, and Charity, and Faith. There were no definitions in it, or explanations, or "scholastic systems," or philosophic theorizing, or implicated mazes of difficult and dubious discussion, but a swift intuitive insight into the very depths of the human heart-even a supreme and daring paradox that, without being fenced round with exceptions or limitations, appealed to the conscience with its irresistible simplicity, and with an absolute mastery stirred and dominated over the heart. Springing from the depths of holy emotions, it thrilled the being of every listener as with an electric flame. In a word, its authority was the authority of the Divine Incarnate; it was a Voice of God, speaking in the utterance of man; its austere purity was yet pervaded with tenderest sympathy, and its awful severity with an unutterable love. It was, to borrow the image of the wisest of the Latin Fathers, a great sea whose smiling surface broke into refreshing ripples at the feet of their little ones, but into whose unfathomable depths the wisest might gaze with the shudder of amazement and the thrill of love.—(How obviously truthful and natural, then, the last touch of the evangelist in his account of the great Sermon on the Mount—"And it came to pass when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the Scribes,")—Life of Christ; Vol. I., p. 265-269.
The Leper Healed
Matt. 8:22And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. (Matthew 8:2).—And behold there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
REV. HENRY HAYMAN, B. D.—The Egyptian and Syrian climates, but especially the rainless atmosphere of the former, are very prolific in skin diseases.
The heat and drought acting for long periods upon the skin, and the exposure of a large surface of the latter to their influence, combine to predispose it to such affections. There was a variety of the disease in Palestine.—Smith's Dict. of Bible, p. 1630.
CICERO.—The power of the Deity is infinite. As nothing but the will is necessary for the motion of our bodies, so the divine will of the gods can, with the like ease, create, move, and change all things.—De Nat. Deor., III., 39.
The Centurion's Faith
Matt. 8:55And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, (Matthew 8:5).—And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, etc.
DEAN STANLEY.—About the beginning of the Christian era, the basin of the Sea of Galilee was the home of a vast population, and a focus of life and energy.... The tax-gatherers were there, sitting by the lake side.... The Roman soldiers were there, quartered with their slaves, to be near the palaces of the Herodian princes, or to repress the turbulence of the Galilean peasantry.—S. and P., p. 369.
Matt. 8:99For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. (Matthew 8:9).—For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
GIBBON.—The strictest subordination and obedience were exacted of every Roman soldier. On his first entrance into the service, an oath was administered to him with every circumstance of solemnity. He promised to submit his own will to the commands of his leaders though he should sacrifice his life thereby, It was an inflexible maxim of Roman discipline that a good soldier should dread his officers far more than the enemy.... The Roman infantry was divided into three principal classes, each of which was composed of thirty companies, and each company contained two hundred men. Over every company were placed two Centurions, one to each hundred; who were, however, far from being equal in rank and honor, though possessing the same office. One was under authority to the other.—Decline and Fall of R. E., Vol. I., chap. I.
CESAR.—There were in that legion two Centurions of great bravery.—De Bel. Gal., V. 44.
LIVY.—Lucius Virginius held an honorable rank among the centurions in the camp.—Livy, III., 44.
Matt. 8:11, 1211And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. 12But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 8:11‑12).—And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
SOCRATES.—If on arriving at Hades, released from those who pretend to be judges, one should find those who are true judges, and who are said to judge there, Minos and Rhadamanthus, Æacus and Triptolemus, and such others of the demigods as were just during their own life, would this be a sad removal? At what price would you not estimate a conference with Orpheus, Hesiod, and Homer? I should be willing to die often if this be true.—Apol. Socr., c. 32.
CICERO.—O glorious day! when I shall depart to that Divine company and assemblage of spirits, and quit this troubled and polluted scene. For I shall go not only to those great men of whom I have spoken before, but also to my friend Cato, than whom never was better man born.—.De Senec., c. 23.
Peter's Wife's Mother
PROF. R. C. TRENCH, M. A.—The miracles of Christ—while they are not nature, so neither are they against nature. Beyond nature, beyond and above the nature which we know, they are, but not contrary to it.... The healing of the sick can in no way be termed against nature, seeing that the sickness which was healed was against the true nature of man—that it is sickness which is abnormal, and not health. The healing is the restoration of the primitive order. We should term the miracle not the infraction of a law, but behold in it the lower law neutralized, and for the time put out of working by a higher; and of this abundant analogous examples are evermore going forward before our eyes. Continually we behold in the world around us lower laws held in restraint by higher, mechanic by dynamic, chemical by vital, physical by moral; yet we say not, when the lower thus gives place in favor of the higher, that there was any violation of law,—that anything contrary to nature came to pass; rather we acknowledge the law of a greater freedom swallowing up the law of a lesser. Thus, when I lift my arm, the law of gravitation is not, as far as my arm is concerned, denied or annihilated; it exists as much as ever, but is held in suspense by the higher law of my wilt... So in a miracle of healing, the law of disease, as to its power and progress, is suspended, by the Divine will, so that the original law of health flows on again.—Notes on the Miracles of Christ, p. 20, 21.
The Great Tempest
REV. W. M. THOMSON, D. D.—Small as the Lake of Galilee is, and placid, in general, as a molten mirror, I have repeatedly seen it quiver, and leap, and boil like a caldron, when driven by fierce winds from the eastern mountains, and the waves ran high—high enough to fill, or “cover " the ships, as Matthew has it. In the midst of such a gale “calmly slept the Son of God, in the hinder part of the ship, until awakened by the terrified disciples."—The Land and the Book, Vol. II., p. 59.
REV. J. P. NEWMAN, D. D.—It was while riding over this broad plateau that we were startled by one of those squalls peculiar to this inland sea. The air had been quiet, the lake calm, and the heavens were cloudless, but within five minutes the wind blew a gale, the sea became troubled, the waves rolled high, and dashed wildly on the shore. It was a repetition of that scene when the disciples were sailing over the sea; when “Jesus, was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow." The natural causes operating and producing such effects in that distant age are still in force. The sea is 600 feet lower than the ocean; the mountains on the east and north rise to a great height, and their sides are furrowed with deep and wild ravines; and the temperature of this volcanic basin differing from that of the mountains above, these profound gorges serve as vast conductors, through which, at certain periods, the cold winds from above rush suddenly down, causing a tempest in an unexpected moment.—From Dan to Beersheba, p. 406.
And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow.
REV. HENRY J. VAN-LENNEP, D. D.—At the extreme end of the stern is often seen a small, low bench, upon which the steersman sometimes sits for a change. Here the captain often rests his head when, as is his custom, he sleeps upon the quarter-deck. This little bench may generally be seen in the fishing crafts, particularly those which ply on the Sea of Galilee, a circumstance which explains the nature of the "pillow" upon which rested the head of our Lord during the sudden storm narrated in the Gospel. Passengers of distinction alone are allowed a place upon the quarter-deck.—Bible Lands, p. 62; see also Rob Roy, p. 358.
Demoniacs from the Tombs
Matt. 8:28-3228And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. 29And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? 30And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding. 31So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. 32And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters. (Matthew 8:28‑32).—And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass that way, etc.
REV. W. M. THOMSON, D. D.—The name of this prostrate town, my Bedawin guide told me, is Kerza, or Gersa. I identify these ruins with the long-lost site of "Gergesa," where our Lord healed the two men possessed with devils, and suffered those malignant spirits to enter into the herd of swine.... In this Gersa we have a position which fulfills every requirement of the Gospel narrative, and with a name so near that in Matthew as to be in itself a strong corroboration of the truth of this identification. It is within a few rods of the shore, and an immense mountain rises directly above it, in which are ancient tombs, out of some of which the two men possessed of the devils may have issued to meet Jesus. The Lake is so near the base of the mountain that the swine, rushing madly down it, could not stop, but would be hurried on into the water and drowned.... All is perfectly natural just at this point, and here, I suppose, it did actually occur.—The Land and the Book, Vol. II., p. 34-36.
PROF. H. B. TRISTRAM, LL. D., F. R. S.—Dr. Thomson visited at the mouth of the Wady Semakh, directly opposite Gennesaret, some ruins, called by his guide Kerza or Gersa, which he identifies with the "Gergesa" of St. Matthew. The discovery is most interesting and important. I visited the spot myself from a boat, and observed the remains of a village and a khan; but, unfortunately, I was not aware at the time of the interest attaching to the place, and did not ascertain, or at least note down, the name given to it by my boatmen. In one important particular my memory corroborates the statement of Dr. Thomson, viz., that while there is here no precipice, running sheer to the sea, but a narrow belt of beach, the bluff behind is so steep, and the shore so narrow, that a herd of swine, rushing frantically down, must certainly have been overwhelmed in the sea before they could recover themselves.—Land of Israel, p. 465.
CAPTAIN LIGHT.—I left Tiberias early the following morning, coasted along the lake, and trod the ground celebrated for the miracle of the unclean spirit, driven by the Savior among the swine. The tombs still exist in the form of caverns, on the sides of the hill that rise from the shore of the lake; and from their wild appearance, may well be considered the habitation of men exceeding fierce, possessed by a devil. They extend for more than a mile from the present town.—Travels in Egypt and the East.
There met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce.
WARBURTON.—On descending from the heights of Lebanon, I found myself in a cemetery, whose sculptured turbans showed that the neighboring village was Moslem. The silence of the night was now broken by fierce yells and howlings, which I discovered proceeded from a naked maniac, who was fighting with some wild dogs for a bone. The moment he perceived me, he left his canine comrades, and bounding along with rapid strides, seized my horse's bridle, and almost forced him backward over the cliff, by the grip he held of the powerful Mameluke bit.—Crescent and Cross.
Take up Thy Bed
CAPTAIN BASIL HALL.—On the morning after my arrival at Bombay, I got up with the first blush of the dawn, and went out in search of adventures. I had not gone far before I saw a native sleeping on a mat spread in the little verandah extending along the front of his house. He was wrapped up in a long robe of white linen or white cotton cloth. As soon as the first rays of the sun peeped into his rude sleeping- chamber, " He arose, took up his bed, and went into his house”—i. e., having rolled up his mat, which was all the bed he had or required, he walked into the house with it.—Fragments of Voyages and Travels, Vol. III.
Receipt of Custom
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D.F. R. S.—Lying as Capernaum did, at the nucleus of roads which diverged to Tyre, to Damascus, to Jerusalem, and to Sepphoris, it was a busy centre of merchandise, and therefore a natural place for the collection of tribute and taxes.—Life of Christ, Vol. I., p. 245.
Publicans
CICERO.—The office of a publican was the basest of all livelihoods.—De Offic., 42.
STOBÆUS.—Publicans were the wolves and bears of human society.—Serm., II., 34.
PROF. E. H. PLUMPTRE, M. A.—The casuistry of the Talmud enumerates three classes of men with whom promises need not be kept—murderers, thieves, and publicans (Nedar., III., 4). No money known to come from them was received into the aims-box of the synagogue, or the Corban of the temple (Baba Kama, x. I). They were not fit to sit in judgment, or even to give testimony (Sanhedr., f. 25, 2).—Smith's Dict. of Bible, p. 2637.
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—If we can imagine an Irish Roman Catholic in Ireland undertaking the functions of a Protestant tithe proctor, we can realize the detestation in which the publicans were held by the Jews.—Life of Christ, I., 245, n.
PLATO.—To those who are not sick the physician is useless; and the pilot to those who do not sail.—De Rep., I., 7.
PHOCION.—The good have no need of an advocate.—Plut. Phoc., c. to.
New Wine and Old Bottles
THE COMPILER.—Wine-bottles made of skin are mentioned by Homer, Herodotus, Virgil, and many other of the classic writers.
DR. HENRY J. VAN-LENNEP.—The grape juice which is to undergo the process of fermentation is put into skins, which are either entirely new, or which have been carefully examined and found able to withstand the pressure. These skin-bottles have been used in the East from time immemorial, and are still employed throughout the country as far as Persia, also in Northern Africa, and even in Spain-a relic doubtless of the Moors.—Bible Lands, p. 121.
The Disciples Sent Forth to Preach
Matt. 10:9, 109Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, 10Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat. (Matthew 10:9‑10).—Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses; nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.
DR. W. M. THOMSON.—The instructions given to the primitive evangelists may be thus expounded:—" Provide neither silver, nor gold, nor brass in your purses. "You are going to your brethren in the neighboring villages, and the best way to get to their hearts and their confidence is to throw yourselves upon their hospitality. Nor was there any departure from the simple manners of the country in this. At this day the farmer sets out on excursions quite as extensive, without a para in his purse; and the modern Moslem prophet of Tarshîha thus sends forth his apostles over this identical region. Neither do they encumber themselves with two coats. They are accustomed to sleep in the garments they have on during the day, and in this climate such plain people experience no inconvenience from it. They wear a coarse shoe, answering to the sandals of the ancients, but never take two pair of them; and although the staff is an invariable companion of all wayfarers, they are content with one.—The Land and the Book, Vol. I., p. 533.
SCHÖTTGEN. —When traveling in the East, no one need ever scruple to go into the best house of any Arab village to which he comes, and he will always be received with profuse and gratuitous hospitality. From the moment we entered any house, it was regarded as our own. There is not an Arab you meet who will not empty for you the last drop in his water-skin, or share with you his last piece of black bread. The Rabbis said that Paradise was the reward of willing hospitality.—Hor. Hebr., 108.
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—The salute was the immemorial Shalom lakem, which was believed to include every blessing.—Life of Christ, Vol. I., 364.
Persecution Foretold
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—This prediction was completely and abundantly fulfilled. The Apostles were once and again brought before the council at Jerusalem. Paul stood before Felix and Festus, governors of "Judea. Great numbers of Christians and Christian teachers were summoned into the presence of Pliny, governor of Bythinia. Peter is said to have been brought before Nero, John before Domitian, Roman emperors; and others before Parthian, Scythian and Indian kings. The fulfillment of this prophesy is a signal evidence that Christ possessed a knowledge of the future. Few things were more improbable, when this was uttered, than that the fishermen of Galilee would stand before the illustrious and mighty monarchs of the East and the West.—Note, In loco.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—Were there no evidence that this had been done, it would scarcely be credible. The ties which bind brothers and sisters, and parents and children together, are so strong that it could scarcely be believed that division of sentiment on religious subjects would cause them to forget these tender relations. Yet, dreadful as this prediction was, history assures us, that it has been fulfilled, and that all this has been done. Incredible as it seems, parents and children, and husbands and wives, were found wicked enough to deliver up each other, to the most cruel deaths on account of their attachment to the Gospel.—Note, In loco.
REV. ALFRED NEVIN, L. B., D. D.—Tacitus, the Roman historian, like a true Pagan, says, “that the Christians were convicted of enmity to the human race." Jews hated them as revolters from their own religion. Pagans could tolerate each other, and respect and worship each other's gods. But Christians abhorred all Paganism, and so all Pagans abhorred them; thus Christians were hated of all men, whether Jews or Gentiles.—Popular Expositor, In loco.
SOCRATES.—They may, indeed, kill, but hurt me they cannot.—In Epict., lib. i., C. 29.
ÆSCHYLUS.—The devouring flames, my son, that waste.
The body of the dead, touch not the soul.—Choeph., v. 321.
MAXIMUS TYRIUS.—Socrates yielded his body to be bound, but by no means his soul, over which the Athenians had no power.—Max. Tyr., Diss. 39.
Protection of Providence
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—Little birds are still strung together and sold for " two farthings " in the towns of Palestine.—Life of C., I., 366.
XENOPHON. —The Deity is so great and of such a nature that he beholds all things at once, and hears all things, and is everywhere present, and takes care of all things unceasingly.—Mentor., I., 4.
CICERO.—The gods not only provide for mankind universally, but for particular men.—De Nat. Deor., 1., 65.
SOPHOCLES.—All that happens to us is the work of heaven.—Ajax, v. 1036.
DR. JOHN YOUNG.—This awful BEING, unrelated to time, and unrelated to , yet stands in enduring relation to those who are conditioned by both. He is not far from the creation, but very near—near in His entire Godhead, to every atom and every being. Every atom, every being, exists every moment in His immediate, perfect perception. He is the radiant, open, vast eye of the universe, which never slumbers and never shuts, and which is ever as perfectly percipient of the minutest point as if nothing else were within the range of vision.— Creator and Creation, p. 13.
The Baptist's Messengers
Matt. 11:2-62Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, 3And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? 4Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see: 5The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. (Matthew 11:2‑6).—Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, etc.
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—Josephus tells us that this prison was the fortress of Machærus, or Makor, a strong and gloomy castle, built by Alexander Jannæus, and strengthened by Herod the Great—on the borders of the desert, to the north of the Dead Sea, and on the frontiers of Arabia. We know enough of solitary castles and Eastern dungeons to realize what horrors must have been involved for any man in such an imprisonment; what possibilities of agonizing torture, what daily risk of a violent and unknown death. How often in the world's history have even the most generous and dauntless spirits been crushed and effeminated by such hopeless captivity!. ... To a child of freedom and of passion, to a rugged, passionate, untamed spirit like that of John, such a prison was worse than death. For the palms of Jericho and the balsams of Engedi, for the springing of the beautiful gazelles amid the mountain solitudes, and the reflection of the moonlight on the mysterious waves of the Salt Lake, he had nothing now but the chilly damps and cramping fetters of a dungeon, and the brutalities of such a jailer as a tetrarch like Antepas would have kept in a fortress like Makor. In that black prison, among its lava streams and basaltic rocks, which was tenanted in reality by far worse demons of human brutality and human vice than the " goats " and " satyrs " and " doleful creatures" believed by Jewish legend to haunt its whole environment,—we cannot wonder, if the eye of the caged eagle began to film Among so many miracles wrought by Jesus throughout Galilee, might not one be spared to deliver his unhappy kinsman who had gone before His face to prepare his way before him?.... What wonder, we say again, if the eye of the caged eagle began to film! What more natural than that he should have sent, and asked, "Art Thou He that should come, or do we look for another?" —Life of Christ, Vol. I., 289-292.
Corazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum
Matt. 11 20-24.—Woe unto thee Corazin! Woe unto thee Bethsaida!... And thou Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell, etc.
DR. A. CLARKE.—Here ruin, desolation, and the utmost woe are threatened upon these impenitent cities. This prediction of our Lord was literally fulfilled; for, in the wars between the Romans and the Jews, these cities were totally destroyed, so that no traces are now found of Bethsaida, Corazin, or Capernaum.—Note, In loco.
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—" Woe unto thee Chorazin! Woe unto thee Bethsaida! " and unto thee Capernaum, “His own city," a yet deeper woe! With such thoughts in his heart, and such words on his lips, he started from the scene of his rejected ministry; and on all this land, and most of all on that region of it, the woe has fallen. Exquisite still in its loveliness, it is now desolate and dangerous. The birds still sing in countless myriads; the water-fowl still play on the crystal mere; the, brooks flow into it from the neighboring hill, " filling their bosoms with pearl, and scattering their path with emeralds; " the aromatic herbs are still fragrant when the foot crushes them, and the tall oleanders fill the air with their delicate perfume as of old; but the vineyards and fruit gardens have disappeared; the fleets and fishing-boats cease to traverse the lake; the hum of men is silent; the stream of prosperous commerce has ceased to flow. The very names and sites of the towns and cities are forgotten; and where they once shone bright and populous, flinging their shadows across the sunlit waters, there are now gray mounds where even the ruins are too ruinous to be distinguishable.... And the very generation which rejected him was doomed to recall in bitter and fruitless agony these peaceful, happy days of the Son of Man. Thirty years had barely elapsed when the storm of Roman invasion burst furiously over that smiling land. He who will may read in the Jewish War of Josephus the hideous details of the slaughter which decimated the cities of Galilee, and wrung from the historian the repeated confession that “It was certainly God who brought the Romans to punish the Galileans," and exposed the people of city after city " to be destroyed by their bloody enemies." —Life of Christ, Vol. II., p. too.
PROF. H. B. TRISTRAM, LL. D., F. R. S.—Wherever these cities stood, the absence of remains and the obliteration of their very names more utterly than of those of Sodom and Gomorrah, testify to a fulfillment of that prophetic woe, which, though not denounced against the walls and stones, but against those who dwelt in them, is illustrated by their erasure from the face of the earth—"cast down to hell," lost and forgotten, though consecrated by the presence and mighty works of the Divine Savior. Capernaum in its oblivion preaches to Christendom a sermon more forcible than the columns of Tyre or the stones of Jerusalem. —Land of Israel, p. 448.
The Hungry Disciples Defended
DR. W. M. THOMSON.—I have often seen my muleteers as we passed along the wheat fields, pluck off ears, rub them in their hands, and eat the grains, just as the Apostles are said to have done. This is allowable. The Pharisees did not object to the thing itself, only to the time when it was done.—Land and Book, Vol. II., 510.
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—To reap and to thresh on the Sabbath were of course forbidden by the primary law; but the Rabbis had decided that to pluck corn was to be construed as reaping, and to rub it as threshing; even to walk on grass was forbidden, because that too was a species of threshing;. and not so much as a fruit must be plucked from a tree. (See Maim., Shabb., C. 7, 8.)—Life of Christ, Vol. I., p. 435.
Matt, 12:5.—Have ye not read in the law, how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?
DR. F. W. FARRAR.—The Rabbis had laid it down that there was " no Sabbatism in the temple; " that the priests on the Sabbath might hew the wood, and light the fires, and place hot, fresh-baked show-bread on the table, and slay double victims, and circumcise children, and thus in every way violate the rules of the Sopherim about the Sabbath, and yet be blameless. (See Maim., Pesach., I).—Life of Christ, Vol. I., p. 437.
The Withered Hand
DR. F. W. FARRAR.—According to the stiff and narrow school of Shammai, no one on the Sabbath might even comfort the sick, or enliven the sorrowful, or even send for a physician.—Life of Christ, Vol. I., p. 432.
CICERO.—What house is there so established, or what state so firmly settled that may not utterly be overthrown by hatred and dissension?—De Arnie., c. 7.
Christ's Parables True to Nature
THE COMPILER.—Every observant traveler through Palestine has been struck with the thought, that the imagery of the Savior's parables must have been derived from the peculiar, yet to the inhabitants familiar scenes and operations of that country. And this no doubt is true. The Lord read his Parables to the people from what almost daily fell under their own observation. They are truths which his discerning eye saw inscribed on their fields, their flocks, their vines, and fig-trees. He did not put the lessons into these objects; they were there before. He simply gave voice to the inarticulate symbols which they by nature bore; and thus his Parables are, in an important sense, the natural productions of the land wherein he dwelt and taught—In Present Conflict of Science with Religion, p. 665.
DR. W. M. THOMSON.—It is important to remark that all the allusions, illustrations and parables of Jesus are perfectly natural and appropriate to the country, the people, the teacher, the age, and every other circumstance mentioned or implied in the evangelical narratives. We have the originals still before us. The teachings and illustrations of our Lord would have been out of place in any other country except this. They could not have been uttered anywhere else.—The Land and the Book, Vol. II., p. 86.
Parable of the Sower
Matt. 13:3-93And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; 4And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: 5Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: 6And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: 8But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. 9Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. (Matthew 13:3‑9).—Behold a sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way-side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth, and forthwith they sprung up, etc.
PROP. ARTHUR PENRHYN STANLEY, D. D.—As I rode along the track under the hill-side, by which the plain of Gennesareth is approached, I asked, Is there anything on the spot to suggest the images of the Savior's parables? Seeing nothing at the moment but the steep sides of the hill alternately of rock and grass, when I thought of the parable of the Sower, I answered, that here at least was nothing on which the Divine Teaching could fasten. The thought had hardly occurred to me, when a slight recess in the hill-side, close upon the plain, disclosed at once, in detail, and with a conjunction which I remember nowhere else in Palestine, every feature of the great parable. There was the undulating corn-field descending to the water's edge. There was the trodden pathway running through the midst of it, with no fence or hedge to prevent the seed from falling here and there on either side of it, or upon it; itself hard with the constant tramp of horse and mule, and human feet, There was the good rich soil which distinguishes the whole of that plain and its neighborhood from the bare hills elsewhere descending into the lake, and which, where there is no interruption, produces one vast mass of corn. There was the rocky ground of the hill-side protruding here and there through, the cornfields, as elsewhere through the grassy slopes. There were the large bushes of thorn—the "Malik," that kind of which tradition says that the Crown of Thorns was woven,—springing up, like the fruit-trees of the more inland parts, in the very midst of the waving wheat. And the countless birds of all kinds, aquatic fowls by the lakeside, partridges and pigeons hovering, as on the Nile bank, over the rice plain, immediately recall the "birds of the air," which came and devoured the seed by the wayside.—Sinai and Pat., p. 418, 419.
Other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit.
ARISTOTLE.—We must consider whether it is not true, that the word 'and doctrine have not the same good effect upon all, but it is requisite that the soul of the hearer should have been previously cultivated, as is the ground for the seed which it is intended to nourish.—Eth. X., 9.
And brought forth fruit, some a hundred-fold, some sixty-fold, some thirty-fold.
HERODOTUS.—The country of the Euesperidæ is remarkably fertile; in one of its plentiful years, it produces an hundred-fold; that of Cinyps three hundred-fold.—Melpomene, c. 198.
STRABO.—Babylonia produces barley in larger quantities than any other country; for a produce of three hundred-fold is spoken of.—Strab., XVI., I.
PLINY.—A modius of wheat, at Byzatium, a champaign district of Africa, will yield as much as one hundred and fifty modii of grain.—Hist. Nat., XVIII., 21.
Parable of the Wheat and Tares
Matt. 13:24-3024Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: 25But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 26But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 27So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? 28He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? 29But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 30Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. (Matthew 13:24‑30).—Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: but when men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way: etc.
ROBERTS.—Strange as it may appear, this is still literally done in the East. See that lurking villain, watching for the time when his neighbor shall plow his field: he carefully marks the period when the work has been finished, and in the following night, proceeding with stealthy steps, he casts in what the natives call the pandinellu, i. e., " pig-paddy." This being of rapid growth springs up before the good seed, and scatters itself before the other can be reaped; so that the poor owner of the field will be some years before he can rid the soil of the troublesome weed. But there is another, noisome plant which these wretches cast into the ground of those whom they hate; it is called perum-pirandi, and is more destructive to vegetation than any other plant. Has a man purchased a field which another intended to buy? the disappointed person declares, " I will plant the perum-pirandi in his grounds. "—Oriental Illustrations, p. 530.
But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
DR. HENRY J. VAN-LENNEP.—When the tares first spring up, they are in no way distinguishable from the wheat; the difference, however, begins to appear as soon as the ear comes in sight. This difference, slight at first, grows more and more marked as the seed ripens, so that by the time the field has grown, yellow the ears of wheat can be distinguished from the tares at a single glance. Bible Lands, p. 85.
Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
DR. HENRY J. VAN-LENNEP.—The thrifty husbandman sows none but "good seed," that is, picked seed; whilst the lazy does not trouble himself thus to pick out the tares.—Ibid.
The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest.
DR. W. M. THOMSON.—Even the farmers, who in this country generally weed their fields, do not attempt to separate the tares from the wheat. They would not only mistake good grain for tares, but very commonly the roots of the two are so intertwined that it is impossible to separate them without plucking up both. Both, therefore, must be left to grow together until the time of harvest. —The Land and Book, Vol. II., p. III.
And in the time of harvest, I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
DR. H. J. VAN-LENNEP.—The mode of separation described in the parable is the one still followed when the tares are very abundant:—the tares are first pulled up with the hands, bound in bundles by themselves, and burned, in order to prevent the increase of the noxious weed.—Bible Lands, p. 85.
DEAN STANLEY.—In the great corn-fields of Samaria, I saw women and children employed in picking out the tares from among the wheat. Dr. Wilson describes the same sight in the plains of the Upper Jordan, beyond the Lake of Merom.—Sinai and Palestine, p. 419.
Parable of the Mustard Seed
Matt. 13:31, 3231Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: 32Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. (Matthew 13:31‑32).—The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; which, indeed, is the least of all seeds; but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.
DR. W. M. THOMSON.—I have seen the wild mustard plant, on the rich plain of Akkar, as tall as the horse and his rider.—The Land and the Book, Vol. II., p. 100.
PROF. H. B. HACKETT, D. D., LL. D.—In crossing the Plain of Akka from Birweh, on the north side, to Mount Carmel, on the south, I met with a field—a little forest it might almost be called-of the common mustard plant of the country.—It was in blossom at the time, full-grown; in some cases, as measured, six, seven, and nine feet high, throwing out branches on every side. It might well be called a tree, and certainly, in comparison with its tiny seed, "a great tree."—Smith's Dict. of Bible, p. 2043.
PROF. H. B. TRISTRAM, LL. D., F. R. S.—Goldfinches and linnets alight and perch on the mustard tree in flocks, for the sake of the seed, of which they are very fond.—Nat. Hist. of Bible, p. 473.
Parable of the Leaven in the Meal
REV. WILLIAM LATHAM BEVAN, M. A.—The Hebrew word seor, translated “leaven," has the radical sense of effervescence or fermentation. Various substances were known to the ancients to have fermenting qualities; but the ordinary “leaven" consisted of a lump of old dough in a high state of fermentation, which was inserted into the mass of dough prepared for baking.—Smith's Dict., p. 1621.
DR. HENRY J. VAN-LENNEP.—A little piece of dough 1S always kept for leaven from one baking till the next, when it is mixed in the meal, and thus the whole mass is leavened.—Bible Lands, p. 88.
Parable of the Hid Treasure
RICHARDSON.—In the East, on account of the frequent changes of Dynasties, and the revolutions which accompany them, many rich men divide their goods into three parts: one they employ in commerce, or for their necessary support; one they turn into jewels, which, should it prove needful to fly, could be easily, carried with them; a third part they bury. But while they trust no one with the place where the treasure is buried, so is the same, should they not return to the spot before their death, as good as lost to the living, until, by chance, a lucky peasant, while he is digging in the field, lights upon it. So that when we read in Eastern tales, how a man has found a buried treasure, and, in a moment, risen from poverty to great riches, this is, in fact, an occurrence that not infrequently happens, and is a natural consequence of the customs of these people.—Dissertations on the Languages, etc., of Eastern Nations, p. 180.
TRENCH.—After Mardonius had been conquered at Platæa; a report existed that he had left great treasures buried within the circuit where his tent had stood; Polycrates, a Theban, buying the ground, sought long for the treasure, tut not finding it, inquired at Delphi, and was told to "Turn every stone," which doing, he found it.—Notes On Parabs., p. 104, n.
ROBERTS.—There can be no doubt that there are immense treasures buried in the East at this day. Not long ago, a toddy-drawer ascended a palmirah tree to lop off the upper branches, when one of them in falling stuck in the ground. On taking out that branch he saw something yellow; he looked, and found an earthen vessel full of gold coins and other articles. I rescued three of the coins from the crucible of the goldsmith, and what was my surprise to find on one of them in ancient Greek characters, konobobryza! About two years ago an immense hoard was found at Patlam, which must have been buried for several ages.—Oriental Illustrations, p. 531.
Parable of the Pearl of Great Price
PROF. H. B. TRISTRAM, LL. D., F. R. S.—Pearls were among the most highly prized gems with the ancients, as at the present day; and formerly their value relatively to precious stones was even higher.— Nat. Hist. of Bible, p. 299.
REV. WILLIAM HOUGHTON, M. A., F. L. S.—Pearls are found inside the shells of various species of Mollusca. But the " pearl of great price " is doubtless a fine specimen yielded by the pearl oyster, still found in abundance in the Persian Gulf, which has long been celebrated for its pearl fisheries.—Smith's Dict. of Bible, p. 2403.
PLATO.—Wisdom alone is the right coin for which we ought to barter all other things.—Phœdo., c. 13.
Parable of the Draw Net
Matt. 13:47, 4847Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: 48Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. (Matthew 13:47‑48).—Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.
TRENCH.—The particular kind of net is distinctly specified by the word in the original. It is a net of the largest size—sean or seine—which suffered nothing to escape from it ; it was all-embracing, to indicate the wide reach and potent operation of the Gospel.—Notes On the Parabs., p. 110.
PROF. H. B. TRISTRAM.—The fishermen in the Parable are described as drawing their net to shore sitting down, and gathering the good into vessels, but casting the bad away. The bad here, doubtless, means not the putrid or corrupt, but the "unclean "—those forbidden by the law, as wanting fins and scales, and those rejected from prejudice or custom. As illustrating this expression, we may observe that the greater number of the species taken in the lake are rejected by the fishermen, and I have sat with them on the gunwale while they went through their net, and threw out into the sea those that were too small for the market, or were considered unclean. This custom brings out in great force the full bearing of the Parable.—Nat. Hist. of the Bible, p. 290.
A Prophet in His Own Country
PLINY.—Protogenes was held in little estimation by his own fellow-countrymen, a thing that generally is the case.—Hist. Nat., lib. XXXV., c. 36.
Herod's Alarming Conscience
GIBBON.—Symmachus was dragged in chains from Rome to the palace of Ravenna; and the suspicions of Theodoric could only be appeased by the blood of an innocent and aged senator. Theodoric was now descending with shame and guilt into the grave: his mind was humbled by the contrast of the past, and justly alarmed by the invisible terrors of futurity. One evening, as it is related, when the head of a large fish was served on the royal table, he suddenly exclaimed that he beheld the angry countenance of Symmachus, his eyes glaring fury and revenge, and his mouth armed with long sharp teeth, which threatened to devour him. The monarch instantly retired to his chamber, and, as he lay, trembling with aguish cold, under a weight of bed-clothes, he expressed in broken murmurs to his physician, Elpidius, his deep repentance for the murders of Boethius and Symmachus.—Decline and Fall of the R. E., chap. 39.
The Baptist's Imprisonment and Death
Matt. 14:3-123For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife. 4For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her. 5And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet. 6But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod. 7Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask. 8And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger. 9And the king was sorry: nevertheless for the oath's sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her. 10And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison. 11And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel: and she brought it to her mother. 12And his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus. (Matthew 14:3‑12).—For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife. For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her, etc.
JOSEPHUS.—About this time Aretas, the king of Arabia-Petrea, and Herod had a quarrel on the account following Herod, the tetrarch, had married the daughter of Aretas, and had lived with her a great while; but when he was once at Rome he lodged with Herod, who was his brother indeed, but not by the same mother; for this Herod was the son of the high priest Simon's daughter. However, he fell in love with Herodias, this last Herod's wife, who was the daughter of Aristobulus their brother, and the sister of Agrippa the Great. This man ventured to talk with her about a marriage between them, which address, when she admitted, an agreement was made for her to change her habitation, and come to him as soon as he should return from Rome: one article of this marriage also was this, that he should divorce Aretas's daughter. Being secretly informed of this wicked plot, she fled to her father, and told him of Herod's intentions. So Aretas made this the first occasion of his enmity between him and Herod, who had also some quarrel with him about their limits at the country of Gemalitis. So they raised armies on both sides, and prepared for war; and when they had joined battle, all Herod's army was destroyed by the treachery of certain fugitives. Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod's army came from God, and very justly, as a punishment of what he did against John, who was called the Baptist; for Herod slew him, who was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to righteousness towards one another, and piety towards God; and so came to his baptism. Now when the people came in crowds about him, for they were greatly moved by hearing his words, Herod, who feared lest the great influence of John over the people might put it into his power and inclination to raise a rebellion (for they seemed ready to do anything he should advise), thought it best, by putting him to death, to prevent any mischief he might cause, and not bring himself into difficulties by sparing a man who might make him repent of it when it should be too late. Accordingly he was sent a prisoner, out of Herod's suspicious temper, to Macherus, the castle I before mentioned, and was there put to death. Now the Jews had an opinion that the destruction of this army was sent as a punishment upon Herod, and a mark of God's displeasure to him.—Ant., b. 18, c. 5, § I, 2.
But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod.
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—Dancers and dancing-women were at that time in great request. ( Jos. Antq., 12, 4, 6.) A luxurious feast of the period was not regarded as complete unless it closed with some gross pantomimic representation.—Life of Christ, I., 390.
Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask.
HERODOTUS.—When Xerxes had received Artaynta into his palace as his son's bride, he suddenly conceived a passion for her; and she, very soon, returned his love. Now, Amestris, the wife of Xerxes, had woven with her own hands, a long robe of many colors, and very curious, which she presented to her husband as a gift. Xerxes, who was greatly pleased with it, forthwith put it on; and went in it to visit Artaynta, who happened likewise on this day to please him greatly. He therefore bade her ask him whatever boon she liked, and promised that, whatever it was, he would assuredly grant her request. Then Artaynta said to him, “Wilt thou indeed give me whatever I like to ask?" So the king, suspecting nothing, pledged his word, and swore to her. She then, as soon as she heard his oath, asked boldly for the robe. Hereupon Xerxes tried all possible means to avoid the gift; not that he grudged it, but because he dreaded Amestris, who already suspected, and would now, he feared, detect his love. So he offered her cities instead, and heaps of gold, and an army which should obey no other leader. But, as nothing could prevail on Artaynta to change her mind, at the last he gave her the robe. Calliope, c. 108, 109.
And he sent and beheaded John in the prison.
JOSEPHUS.—Out of Herod's suspicion, John, who was called the Baptist, was sent a prisoner to Macherus, a castle in the borders of the dominions of Aretas and Herod, and was there put to death.—Antq., b. 18, c. 5, § 2.
And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel: and she brought it to her mother.
DR. F. W. FARRAR.—This bad age produced more than one parallel to such awful and sanguinary nonchalance on the part of women nobly born. Fulvia again and again ran a golden needle through the tongue of Cicero's dissevered head; and Agrippina similarly outraged the head of her rival, Lolia Paulina. (See Dio Cass., xvii., 9,.60: 33.)—Life of Christ, I., p. 393.
THOLUCK.—This learned author has clearly shown that the personal names, the places, dates, and customs, Jewish and Roman, mentioned or implied in the account of Herodias and of the beheading of John, are fully confirmed by contemporary writers.—See Glaubwurdigkeit der Evans. Geschichte, p. 354-357.
The Multitude Fed in the Desert
Matt. 14:15-2115And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals. 16But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat. 17And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. 18He said, Bring them hither to me. 19And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. 20And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. 21And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children. (Matthew 14:15‑21).—And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away that they may go into the villages and buy themselves victuals, etc.
DR. W. M. THOMSON.—Our long ride through the Jaulan has whiled away the time and the road quite to the end of this Butaiha, and this bold headland marks the spot, according to my topography, where the 5,000 were fed with five barley loaves and two small fishes. From the four narratives of this stupendous miracle, we gather, 1st, that the place belonged to Bethsaida; 2nd, that it was a desert place; 3rd, that it was near the shore of the lake, for they came to it by a boat; 4th, that there was a mountain close at hand; 5th, that it was a smooth, grassy spot, capable of seating many thousand people. Now all these requisites are found in this exact locality, and nowhere else, so far as I can discover. This Butaiha belonged to Bethsaida. At this extreme southeast corner of it, the mountain shuts down upon the lake bleak and barren. It was, doubtless, desert then as now, for it is not capable of cultivation. In this little cove the ships or boats were anchored. On this beautiful sward at the base of the rocky hill the people were seated to receive from the hands of the Son of God the miraculous bread.—The Land and the Book, II., 29.
RAE WILSON.—This mount was called by my guide, The Multiplication of Bread, or, as I had heard others denominate it, The Table of our Lord. It is remarkable, that at this day there is "much grass in the place." Near it I was joined by a miserable, ragged soldier, who had been stationed at the foot of the hill to protect the grass.—Travels in the Holy Land, Vol. II.
The Adverse Wind
DR. W. M. THOMSON.—My experience in this region enables me to sympathize with the disciples in their long night's contest with the wind. I spent a night in that Wady Shukaiyif, some three miles up it, to the left of us. The sun had scarcely set when the wind began to rush down toward the lake, and it continued all night long with constantly increasing violence, so that when we reached the shore next morning the face of the lake was like a huge boiling caldron. The wind howled down every Wady from the northeast and east with such fury that no efforts of rowers could have brought a boat to shore at any point along that coast. In a wind like that, the disciples must have been driven quite across to Gennesaret, as we know they were. To understand the causes of these sudden and violent tempests, we must remember that the lake lies low—600 feet lower than the ocean; that the vast and naked plateaus of the Jaulan rise to a great height, spreading backwards to the wilds of the Hauran, and upward to snowy Hermon; that the water-courses have cut out profound ravines and wild gorges, conveying to the head of this lake, and that these act like gigantic funnels to draw down the cold winds from the mountains.—The Land and the Book, II., 32.
PROF. H. B. TRISTRAM, LL. D., F. R. S.—The land of Gennesaret, according to both Josephus and the New Testament, was situated on the west side of the lake. Josephus describes it as thirty furlongs in length, and twenty in breadth, the exact extent of the Ghuweir, so fruitful that all sorts of trees will grow upon it, and enjoying perpetual spring. Not the slightest question can arise as to the identification of Gennesaret with the modern El Ghuweir.—Land of Israel, p. 444
Unwashed Hands
JOSEPHUS.—The Pharisees have delivered to the people a great many observances by succession from their fathers, which are not written in the law of Moses.—Antiq., b. xiii., c. II, § 6.
MISHNA.—Any transgression of the “Traditions of the Elders," or the "Law upon the lip," is more heinous than a transgression of the written Law.—Sanhed., X., 3.
ARISTOPHANES.—Water for the hands! bring in the table; we sup; we are washed. Vesp., v. 1216.
ROBERTS.—No Hindu of good caste will eat till he have washed his hands.
Thus, however numerous a company may be, the guests never commence eating till they have done this.—Oriental Illustrations, p. 532.
MENANDER.—Each one is destroyed by his own vices; and all things that do injury are within ourselves.—Apud. Stob., 38.
The Woman of Canaan
Matt. 15:21, 2221Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. 22And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. (Matthew 15:21‑22).—Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And behold a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, etc.
DR. WELLS.—The old inhabitants of this tract were descendants of Canaan, the grandson of Noah, who were not driven out by the Israelites; whence this part of the country seems to have retained the name of Canaan, long after the name had ceased in the parts which were taken possession of by the Israelites. The Greeks called the tract inhabited by the old Canaanites, along the Mediterranean Sea, Phenicia; the more inland parts, as being inhabited partly by Canaanites or Phenicians, and partly by Syrians, who had conquered it, they called Syro-Phenicia. Hence this woman is said, by Matthew, to be of Canaan, but by Mark, to be a Syro-Phenician by nation, as she was a Greek by religion and language.—Historical Geography of the Bible.
The Multitude in the Wilderness
Matt. 15:32, 3332Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way. 33And his disciples say unto him, Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude? (Matthew 15:32‑33).—Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way. And his disciples say unto him, Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude?
DR. W. M. THOMSON.—In the Gospel narratives, allusions to manners and customs are more numerous than even those to the topography of the land, and they agree most perfectly with the supposed age of the world and character of the people. It is implied in almost countless ways that those with whom our Lord associated on these shores were accustomed to outdoor life. They meet on the mountain to hear him preach; they follow him into a desert place of Bethsaida to be fed; they spend whole days there without any apparent provision for either shelter, sleep, or food; they are found in the open court of houses, or on the shore of the lake, at all times, etc., etc. Now all the specifications are here, just as they should be—the mountain, the desert place, the shore, the open court, the climate so warm as to lead the people into the open air, the present habits of the people—everything in exact accord with the Gospel narratives.
The inhabitants not only go forth into the country, as represented in the New Testament, but they remain there, and sleep in the open air, if occasion require, without the slightest inconvenience.—The Land and the Book, II., 84.
DR. JOHN KITTO.—We never read in the Bible of cutting of bread with a knife; nor is this now done in the East. Bread was, and is, always “broken." The bread being baked in small cakes, or in broad and thin ones, not in large, dense loaves, is easily broken into such portions as may be required.—Illust.
DR. W. M. THOMSON.—The incidental mention of women and children in the great assemblies gathered around Jesus is true to Oriental life, strange as it may appear to those who read so much about female seclusion in the East. In the great gatherings of this day, at funerals, weddings, fiestas, and fairs, women and children often constitute' the largest portion of the assemblies. I have seen, hundreds of these gatherings in the open air; and should a prophet now arise with a tithe of the celebrity of Jesus of Nazareth, there would quickly be immense assemblies about him “from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan."—Land and Book, II., 84.
Magdala
CAPTAIN WILSON, R. E.—At the southern extremity of the plain of Gennesareth is a heap of ruins, now called Mejdel, the site of Magdala, once the home of that Mary whose history is so touchingly recorded in the New Testament.—Recovery of Jerusalem, p. 275.
DEAN STANLEY.—But the most sacred region of the lake—shall we not say of the world?—is the little Plain of Gennesareth. Few scenes have undergone a greater change. Of all the numerous towns and villages in what must have been the most thickly-peopled district of Palestine, one only remains. A collection of a few hovels stands at the southeastern corner of the Plain,—its name hardly altered from the ancient Magdala or Migdol—so called, probably, from a watch-tower, of which ruins appear to remain, that guarded the entrance of the Plain; deriving its whole celebrity from its being the birthplace of her, through whom the name of " Magdalen " has been incorporated into the languages of the world. A large solitary thorn-tree stands beside it. Its situation, otherwise unmarked, is dignified by the high limestone rock which overhangs it on the southwest, perforated with caves, while a clear stream rushes past into the sea.—Sinai and Palestine, p. 374.
A Sign From Heaven
HON. E. T. B. TWISTLETON, M. A.—Antiochus Epiphanes had "partially succeeded in breaking down the barrier which divided the Jews from his other subjects (about 170 B. C.); and it was in the resolute determination to resist the adoption of Grecian customs, and the slightest departure from the requirements of their own law that the Perîshîn, or " Pharisees," took their rise as a party-the signification of the name being Separated.—Smith's Dict. of the Bible, p. 2471.
DR. ADAM CLARKE. —The “Sadducees “had their origin and name from one Sadoc, a disciple of Antigonus of Socho, president of the Sanhedrim, and teacher of the Law in one of the great divinity schools in Jerusalem, 264 B. C.—Note, In loco.
Matt. 16:2, 32He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. 3And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? (Matthew 16:2‑3).—He answered and said unto them, When it is evening ye say, It will be fair weather; for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather today; for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern She face of the sky, etc.
PLINY.—When the clouds are red at sunset, they give promise of a fine day to-morrow.—Hist. Nat., XVIII., 35.
LUCIAN.—Ruddy evening skies foretell the morning fair.—Phars., IV., 125.
ARATUS.—
If bright he rise, from speck and tarnish clear,
Throughout the day no rain or tempest fear:
But if returning to the eastern sky,
A hollow blackness on his center lie;
Or north and south his lengthened beams extend,
These signs a stormy wind or rain portend.
—Diosem., v. 87
CHRYSOSTOM.—That which is once leavened becomes leaven to the rest.—In Matth., Hom., 46.
Cesarea Philippi
DR. ADAM CLARKE. —Cesarea Philippi was a city in the tribe of Naphthali, near to Mount Libanus, in the province of Iturea. Its ancient name was Dan, afterward it was called Lais. But Philip the tetrarch, having rebuilt and beautified it, gave it the name of Cesarea, in honor of Tiberius Cesar, the reigning emperor; but to distinguish it from another Cesarea, on the coast of the Mediterranean, and to perpetuate the fame of him who built it, it was called Cesarea Philippi.—Note, In loco.
JOSEPHUS. —When he had conducted Cesar to the sea, and was returned home, Herod built him a most beautiful temple, of the whitest stone, near the place called Panium. This is a very fine cave in a mountain, which is abrupt and prodigiously deep, and full of still water; over it hangs a vast mountain, and under the caverns arise the springs of the river Jordan. Herod adorned this place, which was already a very remarkable one, still further, by the erection of this temple, which he dedicated to Cesar.—Antq., XV., 10, 3.
DEAN STANLEY.—The cavern-sanctuary of Cesarea was at once adopted by the Grecian settlers, both in itself and for its romantic situation the nearest like-that Syria affords of the beautiful limestone grottos which in their own country were inseparably associated with the worship of the sylvan Pan. This was the one Paneum, or sanctuary of Pan, within the limits of Palestine, which before the building of Philip's city gave to the town the name of Paneas, a name which has outlived the Roman substitute, and still appears in the modern appellation of Banias. Greek inscriptions in the face of the rock (still legible) testify its original purpose.—Sinai and Palestine, p. 390.
Peter
HOMER.—Thou shalt descend to the gates of hell.—Iliad, lib. v., v. 646.
ÆSCHYLUS.—I adjure thee by these gates of hell.—v. 1291.
MARTIN.—When the Jews made a man a Doctor of the Law, they put into his hand the KEY of the closet in the temple, where the sacred books were kept, and also tablets to write upon; signifying by this that they gave him authority to teach, and to explain the Scriptures to the people.—In Clarke's Com., In loco.
Self-Denial
SENECA.—You command impossibilities. We are at best but poor and infirm mortals. This self-denial is too hard a lesson for us.—But do you know why the things commanded seem impossible? I will tell you. It is because we think them so; but they are not so in fact. We defend our vices because we love them. —Epist., 116.
The Soul Beyond Price
PLATO.—Socrates. You would not be willing to give your life in exchange for all Greece, and for absolute dominion over all the Greeks and. Barbarians. Alcibiades. No, indeed! For what use could I make of them?—Plat. II., 4.
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—There was one living who, scarcely in figure, might be said to have “the whole world." The Roman Emperor Tiberius was at that moment infinitely the most powerful of living men, the absolute, undisputed, deified ruler of all that was fairest and richest in, the kingdoms of the earth. There was no control to his power, no limit to his wealth, no restraint upon his pleasures. And to yield himself still more unreservedly to the boundless self-gratification of a voluptuous luxury, not long after this time he chose for himself a home on one of the loveliest spots on the earth's surface, under the shadow of the slumbering volcano, upon an enchanting islet in one of the most softly delicious climates of the world. What came of it all? He was, as Pliny calls him, tristissimus ut constat hominum, confessedly the most gloomy of mankind. And there, from this home of his hidden infamies, from this island where on a scale so splendid he had tried the experiment of what happiness can be achieved by pressing the world's most absolute authority; and the world's guiltiest indulgences, into the service of an exclusively selfish life, he wrote to his servile and corrupted Senate, " What to write to you, Conscript. Fathers, or how to write, or what not to write, may all the gods and goddesses destroy me worse than I feel that they are daily destroying me, if I know." Rarely has there been vouchsafed to the world a more overwhelming proof that its richest gifts are but fairy gold that turns to dust and dross, arid its most colossal edifices of personal splendor and greatness no more durable barrier against the encroachment of bitter misery than are the babe's sand heaps to stay the mighty march of the Atlantic. In such perplexity, in such anguish, does the sinful possession of all riches and all rule end. Such is the invariable Nemesis of unbridled lust. It does not need the snaky tresses or the shaken torch of the fabled Erinnyes. The guilty conscience is its own adequate avenger; and "if the world were one entire and perfect chrysolite," and that gem ours, it would not console us for one hour of that inward torment, or compensate in any way for those lacerating pangs.—Life of Christ, Vol. I., p. 136.
SENECA.—There is nothing admirable in thee, but the soul. Nothing so great as to be compared with the greatness of it.—Epist. 8.
The Temple Tribute
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—A tax of half a shekel was collected of every Jew who had reached the age of twenty years as a "ransom for his soul" unto the Lord. This money was devoted to the service of the temple. This tax was paid by every Jew in every part of the world, whether rich or poor; and as on the first occasion of its payment, to show that the souls of all alike are equal before God, " the rich paid no more, and the poor no less." It produced vast sums of money, which were conveyed to Jerusalem by honorable messengers. These collections are alluded to by Cicero, Dio Cassius, and Josephus.—Life of Christ, Vol. II., 41.
CICERO.—As gold, under the pretense of being given to the Jews, was accustomed every year to be sent out of Italy and all the provinces to Jerusalem, Flaccus issued an edict establishing a law that it should not be lawful for gold to be exported after this way.—Pro Flac., c. 28.
JOSEPHUS.—After the destruction of Jerusalem with the temple, Caesar also laid a tribute upon the Jews wheresoever they were, and enjoined every one of them to bring two drachmae every year into the capitol, as they used to pay the same to the temple at Jerusalem.—Jewish Wars, VII., 6, § 6.
Matt. 17:2727Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee. (Matthew 17:27).—Go thou to the sea, and cast a hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money (marg., stater): that take, and give unto them for me and thee.
REGINALD STUART Foot.; British Museum.—The stater must here mean a silver tetradrachm; and the only tetradrachms then current in Palestine were of the same weight as the Hebrew shekel. And it is observable, in confirmation of the minute accuracy of the Evangelist, that at this period the silver currency in Palestine consisted of Greek imperial tetradrachms, or staters, and Roman denarii of a quarter their value, didrachms having fallen into disuse. Had two didrachms been found by Peter, the receivers of tribute would scarcely have taken them.—Smith's Dict. of Bible, Is. 3109.
DR. F. W. FARRAR.—A stater equals four drachmas, and was exactly the sum required for two people.—Life of Christ, II., 45, n.
The. Punishment of Drowning
REV. THOMAS S. MILLINGTON.—It was customary among the Jews, as well as other nations, to cast sacrilegious and other execrable men into the sea, with a great weight about their necks.—Test. of Heath., p. 488.
DIODORUS SICULUS.—Philip hanged Onomarchus, and the rest he caused to be thrown into the sea, as being guilty of sacrilege.—Diod. Sic., XVI., 35.
GENTOO CODE.— If a woman cause any person to take poison, sets fire to any person's house, or murders a man, then the magistrate, having bound a stone to her neck, shall drown her.—Halhead’s, p. 306.
Offending Brother
SOCRATES.—It is not usual, Melitus, to accuse men before this court for undesigned offenses, but to take them apart and admonish them.—Plat. Socr. Apol., c. 13.
Christ in the Midst
MENANDER.—True reason will find a temple everywhere; for it is the mind that holds communion with God.—Ap. Just. de mon. Del.
SENECA.—God himself ministers to man, and is everywhere present and easy of access to all.— Epist., 95.
The Debtor and His Family Sold
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—By the laws of the Hebrews, they were permitted to sell debtors, with their wives and children, into servitude for a time sufficient to, pay the debt.—Note, In loco.
REV. THOMAS S. MILLINGTON.—By the Laws of the Twelve Tables it was ordained that insolvent debtors should be given up to their creditors bound in fetters and cords. Though they did not entirely lose the rights of freemen they were in actual slavery, and often treated more harshly even than slaves. —Test. of Heath., p. 489.
LIVY.—One who had been a centurion in the army complained that in consequence of debts incurred during the war, he had been dragged by a creditor, not into servitude, but into a place of correction, or rather of execution. He then showed his back, disfigured with the marks of fresh stripes.—Liv., IL, 23.
The Question of Divorce
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—This question (as the word tempt " implies) was beset with many difficulties. It had given rise to a decided opposition of opinion between the two most important and flourishing of the rabbinic Schools. Hillel with his school explained the Mosaic Law in the sense that a man might "divorce his wife for any disgust which he felt towards her; " even, as the celebrated R. Akiba ventured to say, if he saw any other woman who pleased him more; whereas the school of Shammai interpreted it to mean that divorce could only take place in cases of scandalous un-chastity. In those corrupt days the vast majority acted on the principle laid down by Hillel. While polygamy had fallen into discredit, they made a near approach to it by the ease with which they were able to dismiss one wife and take another. Even Josephus, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, who on every possible occasion prominently lays claim to the character and position of a devout and religious man, narrates, without the shadow of an apology, that his first wife had abandoned him, that he had divorced the second after she had borne him three children, and that he was then married to a third.—Life of Christ, Vol. II., p. 550, etc.
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—What a fatal blow would have been given to the world's happiness and the world's morality had He assented to their rash conclusion! And how marvelous a proof is it of His Divinity, that whereas every other pre-eminent moral teacher—even the very best and greatest of all—has uttered or sanctioned more than one dangerous and deadly error which has been potent to poison the life or peace of nations-all the words of the Lord Jesus were absolutely holy, and divinely healthy words.—Life of Christ, Vol. II., p. 556.
Matt. 19:11, 1211But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given. 12For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it. (Matthew 19:11‑12).—But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given. For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, that have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.
DR. THOMAS SCOTT.—Some are born with such a temperament of body, that they are all their lives devoid of those sexual inclinations, to which others are subject.—Note, In loco.
HERODOTUS. —It happened that Periander, son of Cypselus, had taken three hundred boys, children of the chief nobles among the Corcyræans, and sent them to Alyattes for eunuchs. —Thalia c. 48.
IDEM. —And now the Persian generals made good all the threats wherewith they had menaced the Ionians before the battle. For no sooner did they get possession of the towns than they chose out all the best-favored boys and made them eunuchs.—Erato, c. 32.
JOSEPHUS.—It deserves our admiration how much the Essenes exceed all other men in virtue and righteousness. They neither marry wives, nor are desirous to keep servants; as thinking the latter tempts men to be unjust, and the former gives the handle to domestic quarrels.... They reject pleasures as an evil, but esteem continence and the conquest over our passions as a virtue: They neglect wedlock, but choose other persons' children while they are pliable and fit for learning, and esteem them to be of their kindred.—Antig., XVIII., 1, 5; and J. Wars, II., 8, 2.
EUSEBIUS.—Origen, understanding the latter clause of this verse literally, went and literally fulfilled it on himself.—Eccl. Hist., VI., 8.
The Little Children Blessed
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—Women were not honored, nor children loved in antiquity as now they are;, no halo of romance and tenderness encircled them; too often they were subjected to shameful cruelties and hard neglect. But He who came to be the friend of all sinners, and the helper of all the suffering and the sick, came also to elevate woman to her due honor, and to be the protector and friend of helpless infancy and innocent childhood.—Life of Christ, Vol. II., p. 558.
The Danger of Riches
RABBI CHANINA.—Death is come to fetch me hence; Go and bring me the Book of the Law, and see whether there is anything in it which I have not kept. —G frörer., II., 102.
PLATO.—It is impossible to be exceeding good and exceeding rich.—De Leg.,
MARTIAL.—It is a difficult thing to preserve morality from the corruption of riches.—Mart., lib. xi., epis. 5.
DR. ADAM CLARKE.—A mode of expression common among the Jews to signify a thing impossible or very unusual.—Note, In loco.
AL KORAN.—Nor shall he enter heaven till a camel shall pass through the eye of a needle.—Sarat. VII., v. 37.
RABBI SHESHETH.—Perhaps thou art one of the Pambidithians who can make an elephant pass through the eye of a needle.—Lightfoot, In loco.
SOPHOCLES.—By powers immortal all things may be done.—Ajax, v. 86.
LINUS.—All things are easy to God to do, and nothing is impossible.—Fragm.
Parable of the Householder
DR. W. M. THOMSON.—We hear the Divine Teacher speak of the vineyards; of the good branches purged; of the dry ones gathered for the fire; of the penny-a-day laborers standing in the market waiting to be hired, and of their receiving their wages at the close of each day. Such things as these we now see constantly, daily, and to the minutest shade of verbal accuracy.—The Land and the Book, Vol. II., p. 85.
REV. HENRY J. VAN-LENNEP, D. D.—During the whole season when vineyards may be dug, the common workmen go early in the morning to the Soak or market-place of the village or city. The owners of vineyards come to the place and engage the number of laborers they need. These immediately go to the vineyard and work there until a little while before the sun sets. We have often seen men stand in the market-place through the entire day without finding employment, and have repeatedly engaged them ourselves at noon, for half a day's job, and later for one or two hours' work in our garden.—Bible Lands, p. 114.
PROF. R. CHENEVIX TRENCH, M. A.—The “penny" of the householder was a denarius, a Roman silver coin, which passed current as equal to the Greek drachm, though in fact some grains lighter. It was equal to 8½ d. (or about 16 cents) at the latter end of the commonwealth; afterward, something less of our money. It was not an uncommon, though a liberal day's pay.—On Parab., p. 139.
TACITUS.—The Roman soldiers required that their pay should be a denarius, or sixteen aces per day.—An., lib. i., c. 17.
MORIER.—At Hamadan we observed every morning, before the sun rose, that a numerous band of peasants collected with spades in their hands, waiting to be hired for the day to work in the surrounding fields. This custom struck me as a most happy illustration of our Savior's parable, particularly when, passing by the same place late in the day, we still found others standing idle, and remembered his words, "Why stand ye here all the day idle? " as most applicable to their situation, for on putting the same question to them they answered us, " Because no man hath hired us."—Second Journey Through Persia, p. 265.
The Ascent from Jericho to Jerusalem
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—This was as they advanced towards Jericho.... Here it was necessary to rest before entering on the dangerous, rocky, robber-haunted gorge which led from it to Jerusalem, and formed a rough, almost continuous, ascent of six hours, from 600 feet below to nearly 3,000 feet above the level of the Mediterranean.—Life of Christ, Vol. II., p. 183.
Cup of Suffering
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—This was fulfilled. James was slain with the sword by Herod (Acts 12:22And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. (Acts 12:2)). John lived many years; but he attended the Savior through his sufferings, and was himself banished to Patmos, a solitary island, for the testimony of Jesus Christ-a companion of others in tribulation. (Rev. 1: 9).—Note, In loco.
Jericho
.
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—Jericho—that famous city-the city of fragrance, the city of roses, the city of palm-trees, the " Paradise of God." It is now a miserable and degraded Arab village, but was then a prosperous and populous town, standing on a green and flowery oasis, rich in honey and leaf-honey, and myro-balanum, and well watered by the Fountain of Elisha, and by other abundant springs.—Life of Christ, Vol. II., p. 582.
Mount of Olives
DEAN STANLEY, D. D.—On the east, Jerusalem is immediately enclosed by a long ridge running north and south. From every roof of the city this long ridge forms a familiar feature—so near, so immediately overhanging the town, that it almost seems to be within it.... Three paths lead from Bethany to Jerusalem; one a steep foot-path over the summit of Mount Olivet; another, by a long circuit over its northern shoulder; the third, the natural continuation of the road from Jericho over the southern shoulder, between the summit which contains the Tombs of the Prophets and that called the "Mount of Offense." “There can be no doubt that this last is the road of the Entry of Christ."—Sinai and Pal., p. 183-187.
The Triumphant Escort
PLUTARCH.—When Cato left Macedonia to return to Rome, the soldiers spread their garments in the way and kissed his hand: instances of esteem which few generals met with from the Romans in those times.—Cato Min., c. 12.
MALCOLM.—When we approached Isfahan, the king and all his nobles went seven miles to meet the Prince (of the Usbegs). The whole road into the city was covered with rich silks, over which the two sovereigns rode.—History of Persia, Vol. I., p. 581.
The Fruitless Fig Tree
DEAN STANLEY, D. D.—Mount Olivet, besides its abundance of olives, is still sprinkled with fig trees.... Fig trees may now be seen overhanging the road from Jerusalem to Bethany, growing out of the rocky sides of the mountain—Sinai and Palestine, p. 414.
REV. W. M. THOMSON, D. D.—The custom of plucking ripe figs, its you pass by the orchards, is still universal in this country, especially from trees by the roadside, and from all that are not enclosed.— Land and Book, I., 539
The Demand for Christ's Authority
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S —Sternly and abruptly they asked him. But the answer they received surprised and confounded them. With that infinite presence of mind, of which the world's history furnishes no parallel, and which remained calm under the worst assaults, Jesus told them that the answer to their question depended on the answer which they were prepared to give to His question: “The baptism of John, was it from heaven or of men?" ... .This reduced them to a complete dilemma—reduced them to the ignominious necessity of saying, before all the multitude, “We cannot tell."—Life of Christ, Vol. II., p. 218, 219.
The Baptism of John
JOSEPHUS.—Now John, who was called the Baptist, was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to righteousness towards one another, and piety towards God, and so to come to baptism. When the people came in crowds about him, for they were greatly moved by hearing his words, Herod feared, lest the great influence John had over the people, might put it into his power and inclination to raise a rebellion, for they seemed ready to do anything he should advise.—Antiq., XVIII., 5, § 2.
EPICTETUS.—By Jupiter, one might sooner hope to convince the most unnatural debauchees, than those who are thus dead and blind to their own evils.—Epict., lib. ii., c. 20.
Parable of the Vineyard Let Out to Husbandmen
Matt. 21:3333Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: (Matthew 21:33).—Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and la it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country.
DEAN STANLEY, D. D.—One of the main characteristics of the southern scenery of Palestine—the enclosures of loose stone, with the square gray tower at the corner of each, catch the eye on the bare slopes of Hebron, of Bethlehem, and of Olivet,—at first sight hardly distinguishable from the ruins of ancient churches or fortresses, which lie equally scattered over the hills of Judea. And thus the past history of the nation concurs with our own present experience in pointing to what was one of the most obvious and familiar images of Palestine at the time when the parables were delivered, of which no less than five have relation to vineyards.—Sinai and Pal., p. 413.
PROF. H. B. TRISTRAM, LL. D., F. R. S.—The grapes were not carried home, but the juice was expressed on the spot, every vineyard possessing its own Winepress. It consisted of two vats, hewn one below the other out of the solid rock, on the slope of the hill; the two were connected by small holes bored through the rock, through which the juice streamed into the lower Vat. These ancient winepresses are among the most interesting remains of the Holy Land, perhaps the only relics still existing of the actual handiwork of Israel prior to the first captivity. They attest the culture of the vine in every part of the country, even where man has long ceased to dwell, except as a nomad. The hills of southern Judea abound with them, and in the little explored region between Hebron and Beersheba we found them on all the ranges. Among the brushwood and thickets of Mount Carmel they are very numerous; I have visited as many as eleven on the east of Carmel alone, and four very near the town of Caiffa. There are many in Galilee, especially in the neighborhood of Kedes.—Nat. Hist. of Bible, p. 408, 409.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—Vineyards were often planted to be let out for profit, the owner receiving a part of the fruit.—Note, In loco.
PLINY.—Some of my estates had hitherto been very badly managed; and, I have found that the only method in which I can get any profit from them, is to let them out on shares.—Ep., 1. 9, 37
Parable of the Marriage Feast
Matt. 22:44Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. (Matthew 22:4).—Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my failings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.
PROF. R. C. TRENCH, M. A.—This second invitation, or admonishment rather, is quite according to Eastern manners. Thus Esther invites Haman to a banquet on the morrow (Esther 5:88If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my petition, and to perform my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I shall prepare for them, and I will do to morrow as the king hath said. (Esther 5:8)), and when the time is actually arrived, the chamberlain came to bring him to the banquet (vi: 14). Modern travelers testify to the same custom now of repeating the invitation to a great entertainment, at the moment when all things are in actual readiness.—On Parab., p. 575.
REV. J. ROBERTS.—It is as common in the East for a rich man to give a feast to the poor, the maimed, and the blind, as it is in. England for a nobleman to entertain men of his own degree. Does he wish to gain some temporal or spiritual blessing? he orders his head servant to prepare a feast for one or two hundred poor guests. Messengers are then dispatched into the streets and lanes to inform the indigent, that on such a day rice and curry will be given to all who are there at the appointed time. Long before the hour, the visitors may be seen bending their steps towards the house of the Rasa, or king.—Orient. Illust., p. 535
CICERO.—Why did you attend at the banquet given by Quintus Arrius in a black robe? Whom did you ever see do such a thing before? Whom did you ever hear of?—In Vat., c. 12.
PROF. R. C. TRENCH, M. A.—It was part of the state and magnificence of kings and wealthy persons in the East, to have great store of costly dresses laid up, as at the present day a great portion of their wealth is very commonly in. vested in numerous changes of costly apparel. Moreover, costly dresses were often given as honorable presents, marks of special favor: and marriage festivals and other occasions of festal rejoicing were naturally those upon which gifts were distributed with the largest hand. If the gift took the form of costly raiment, it would reasonably be expected that it should be worn at once, as part of the purpose of the distribution would else be lost, which was to testify openly the magnificence and liberality of the giver, and also to add to the splendor and glory of the festal time,—not to say that the rejection of a gift, or the appearance of a slight put upon it, is ever naturally esteemed as a slight and contempt not of that gift only, but also of the giver.—On the Parabs., p. 183.
OLEARIUS.—The ambassadors and myself being invited to the table of the Persian monarch, it was told us by the mehmandar, that we according to their usage must hang the splendid vests that were sent us from the king over our dresses, and so appear in his presence. The ambassadors at first refused; but the mehmandar urged it so earnestly, alleging, as also did others, that the omission would greatly displease the king, since all other envoys observed such a custom, that at last they consented, and hanged, as did we also, the splendid vests over their shoulders, and so the cavalcade proceeded. Travels, p. 254.
CHARDIN.—The officer through whose hands the royal robe was to be forwarded, out of spite, sent in its stead a plain habit. The vizier would not appear in the city arrayed in this, lest it should be taken as an evidence that he was in disgrace at court, and put on in its stead a royal habit, the gift of the late king, and in that made his public entry into the city. When this was known at court, they declared the vizier a dog, that he had disdainfully thrown away the royal apparel, saying, I have no need of Sha Sefi's habits. Their account incensed the king, who severely felt the affront, and it cost the vizier his life, —In Trench On Para., p. 184.
The Question of Tribute to Cesar
Matt. 22:15-2215Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. 16And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men. 17Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? 18But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? 19Show me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. 20And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? 21They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's. 22When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way. (Matthew 22:15‑22).—Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians.
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—The Herodians, as a party, had mainly a political significance; they stood outside the current of religious life. They were, in fact, mere provincial courtiers, supporters of the Herodian Family and of, Roman Imperialism. That the Pharisees should tolerate even the most temporary partnership with such men as these, whose very existence was a violent outrage on their most cherished prejudices, enables us to gauge more accurately the extreme virulence of hatred with which Jesus had inspired them. But to crush their enemy, the priests can unite with the politicians. They came to him circumspectly, deferentially, courteously: Rabbi, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man; for thou regardest not the person of men.
It was as though they would entreat Him, without fear or favor, confidentially to give them His private opinion; and as though they really wanted His opinion for their own guidance. But why all this sly undulatory approach and serpentine insalivation? Tell us, therefore—since you are so wise, so true, so courageous—tell us, therefore, is it lawful to give tribute to Cœsar, or not? He must, they thought, answer “Yes" or " No;" there is no possible escape from a plain question so cautiously, sincerely, and respectfully put. Perhaps he will answer, "Yes, it is lawful." If so, such a decision will at once explode and evaporate any regard, which the people may feel for Him. If, on the other hand, He should answer, "No, it is not lawful," then in that case, too, we are equally rid/ of Him; for then He is in open rebellion against the Roman power, and these new Herodian friends of ours can at once hand Him over to the jurisdiction of the Procurator. Pontius Pilatus will deal very roughly with His pretensions, and will, if need be, without the slightest hesitation, mingle His blood, as he has done the blood of other Galileans, with the blood of the sacrifices.
They must have awaited the answer with breathless interest; but even if they succeeded in concealing the hate which gleamed in their eyes, Jesus at once saw the sting and heard the hiss of the Pharisaic serpent. They had fawned on Him with their “Rabbi," and " true," and " impartial," and " fearless; " He blights them with the flash of one indignant word, Hypocrites! That word must have undeceived their, hopes, and crumbled their craftiness into dust.
Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Bring me the tribute money.
While the people stood round in wondering silence, they brought Him a denarius, and put it in His hand. On one side were stamped the haughty, beautiful features of the emperor Tiberius, with all the wicked scorn upon the lip; on the obverse his title of Pontifex Maximus!—Whose image and superscription is this? They say unto Him, Cœsar's. There, then, was the simplest possible solution of their cunning question. Render, therefore, unto Cœsar the things that are Cœsar's. Their national acceptance of this coinage answered their question, and revealed its emptiness: for it was understood among the Jews, and was laid down in the distinctest language by their greatest Rabbis in later days, that to accept the coinage of any king was to acknowledge his supremacy. By accepting the denarius, therefore, as a current coin they were openly declaring that Caesar was their sovereign, and they had settled the question that it was lawful to pay the poll-tax, by habitually doing so.
And when they had heard these words, they marveled, and left him, and went their way. Amazed and humiliated at the sudden and total frustration of a plan which seemed irresistible—compelled, in spite of themselves, to admire the guileless WISDOM which had in an instant broken loose from the meshes of their sophistical malice—they sullenly retired. There was nothing which even they could take hold of in his words.—Life of Christ, Vol. II., p. 228-233.
REV. W. M. THOMSON, D. D.—Everything in the, country will be found in most perfect agreement with all ascertained facts of chronology, topography, and history.... As an example—one of many equally pertinent—take the demand about the tribute money, and the answer of Jesus, " Render unto Caesar the things that are Cæsar's." We have examined the “image and superscription "of this Roman penny on the very spot where the tax-gatherer sat, and with the evidences scattered all around us that these lordly Romans were actually here. History, the treasured Coin, and these prostrate Ruins, unite in proving that the teacher Jesus, the caviling Pharisees, and the tax-gathering Romans were all here, and the entire incident is admirably illustrated and confirMed.—The Land and the Book, Vol. II., p. 83.
The Sadducees and the Resurrection
Matt. 22:23-3323The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him, 24Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. 25Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother: 26Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh. 27And last of all the woman died also. 28Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her. 29Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. 30For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. 31But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, 32I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. 33And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine. (Matthew 22:23‑33).—The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection.
JOSEPHUS. —The doctrine of the Sadducees is this, that souls die with the bodies.— Antiq., XVII., 1,§ 4.
IDEM.—The Sadducees take away the belief of the immortal duration of the soul, and the punishments and rewards in Hades.-Jewish War, IL, 8, § 14. ST.
And they asked him, saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up seed unto his brother. Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first when he had married a wife, deceased, and having no issue, left his wife unto his brother: likewise the second also, and the third unto the seventh. And last of all the woman died also. Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—Had Jesus been like any other merely human teacher, He might have treated this question with that contemptuous scorn which it deserved; but the spirit of scorn is alien from the spirit of the dove, and with no contempt He gave to their conceited and eristic dilemma a most profound reply. Though the question came upon Him most unexpectedly, His answer was everlastingly memorable. It opened the gates of Paradise so widely that men might see therein more than they had ever seen before, and it furnished against one of the commonest forms of disbelief AN ARGUMENT THAT NEITHER RABBI NOR PROPHET HAD CONCEIVED... In that heaven beyond the grave, though love remains, yet all the mere earthliness of human relationship is superseded and transfigured. They that shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, add the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; neither can they die any more; but are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.
But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. God had described himself to their great law-giver as the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. How unworthy would such a title have been, had Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, then been but gray handfuls of crumbling dust, or dead bones, which should molder in the Hittite's cave! He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err. Would it have been possible that he should deign to call Himself the God of dust and ashes? How NEW, HOW LUMINOUS, HOW PROFOUND A PRINCIPLE OF SCRIPTURAL INTERPRETATION!
And when the multitude heard this, they' were astonished at his doctrine. Even some of the Scribes, pleased by the spiritual' refutation of a skepticism which their reasonings had been unable to remove, could not refrain from the grateful acknowledgment, "Master, thou hast well said." THE MORE THAN HUMAN/ WISDOM AND INSIGHT OF THESE REPLIES created, even among his enemies, a momentary diversion in His favor.—Life of Christ, Vol. II., 233-238.
The Great Commandment
Matt. 22:34-4034But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. 35Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38This is the first and great commandment. 39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:34‑40).—Then one of the Pharisees, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—The Rabbinical schools had come to the sapient conclusion that there were in the ceremonial and moral laws 248 affirmative precepts, and 365 negative—in all 613. Now surely, out of such a large number of precepts and prohibitions, all could not be of quite the same value; some were "light," and some were "heavy." But which? and what was the greatest commandment of all? According to some Rabbis, the most important of all is that about the tephillin and the tsîtsith, the fringes and phylacteries; and “he who diligently observes it is regarded in the same light as if he had kept the whole law." Some thought the omission of ablutions as bad as homicide; some that the precepts of the Mishna were all “heavy; " those of the Law were " some heavy " and " some light." Others considered the third to be the greatest commandment.... On the question proposed by the lawyer, the Shammaites and Hillelites were in disaccord, and as usual, both schools were wrong.
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the _first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The scribe had the sense to observe, and the candor to acknowledge, that the answer of Jesus was wise and noble. “Well, Master," he exclaimed, " thou hast said the truth."—Life of Christ, Vol. II., 239-242.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
PRESIDENT TIMOTHY DWIGHT, S. T. D., LL. D.—These two precepts, notwithstanding their brevity, are so comprehensive as to include every possible moral action. The archangel is not raised above their control; nor can any action of his exceed that bound which they prescribe. The child, who has passed the verge of moral agency, is not placed beneath their regulation; and whatever virtue he may exercise is no other than a fulfillment of their requisitions. All the duties, which we immediately owe to God, to our fellow-creatures, and to ourselves, are by these precepts alike comprehended and required. In a word, endlessly various as moral action may be, it exists in no form or instance in which he who perfectly obeys these precepts will not have done his duty, and will not find himself justified and accepted by God.— Theology, Serm. XCI.
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—Love to God issuing in love to man—love to man, our brother, resulting from love to our Father, God—on these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.—Life of Christ, Vol. II., p. 241.
Those in Moses Seat to Be Obeyed
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—Moses was the legislator of the Jews. By him the Law was given; and the office of explaining that Law devolved on the Scribes and Pharisees. In the synagogues they sat while expounding the Law, and rose when they read it. By sitting in the seat of Moses we are to understand authority to teach the Law.—Note, In loco.
LUCIAN.—It is impossible to find out two more discordant things in the world than the Sophists' discourses and their actions.—Fugit., c. 19.
EPICTETUS.—We who are called Stoics say one thing and do another. We talk well and act ill.—lib. iii., c. 7.
Broad Phylacteries
DR. ADAM CLARKE.—An original phylactery lies now before me. It is a piece of fine vellum, about eighteen inches long, and an inch and quarter broad. It is divided into four unequal compartments: in the first is written, in a very fair character, the first ten verses of Ex. 13; in the second compartment is written from the 11Th to the 16th verse of the same chapter inclusive; in the third from the 4th to the 9th verse inclusive, of Deut. 6, beginning with, " Hear, O Israel," etc.; in the fourth, from the 13th to the 21St verse inclusive, of Deut. 11—Note, In loco.
The Chief Seats
CAMPBELL.—The middle couch; which lay along the upper end of the table, and was therefore accounted the most honorable place, and that which the Pharisees are said particularly to have affected, was distinguished by the name, “the first couch."—In loco.
MARTIAL.—Rufus, do you see you person who is always sitting bejeweled and perfumed, upon the front benches?—Mart., lib. ii., epig. 29.
ROSENMULLER.—According to the most ancient custom among the Jews those who had no office in the synagogue sat in the order of age. But in many places it came to be the practice, at length, that they who had acquired some reputation for learning should occupy a more honorable seat. And there are extant in the books of the Hebrews decrees or rules on this subject, from which it appears that the doctors of the law ranked the same as the Pharisees.—In loco.
Greetings
DR. ADAM CLARKE.—There were three words used among the Jews as titles of dignity, Rabh, Rabbi, Rabban. These Rabbins were looked up to as infallible oracles in religious matters, and they usurped not only the place of theme Law, but of God himself.—In loco.
LUCIAN.—The original legislator of the Christians taught them that they were all brothers.—De Mort. Pereg., c. 13.
Proselyting
HORACE.—I'll force you, like the proselyting Jews, To be like us, a brother of the muse.—Hor., lib. i., Sat. 4.
JUSTIN MARTYR.—The proselytes did not only disbelieve Christ's doctrine, but were abundantly more blasphemous against him than the Jews themselves, endeavoring to torment and to cut off the Christians wherever they could, they being in this the instruments of the Scribes and Pharisees.
Profane Swearing
Matt. 23:1616Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! (Matthew 23:16).—Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor.
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—Woe for the blind hair splitting folly which so confused the sanctity of oaths as to tempt their followers into gross profanity. The miserable quibbles by which, in consequence of such pernicious teaching, the Jews evaded their oaths, became notorious even in the heathen worlds. See Martial, Ep. XI., 94. The charges which our Lord uttered are also amply supported by Jewish testimonies.—Life of Christ, Vol. II., p. 245.
MARTIAL.—Behold, thou deniest and swearest to me by the temples of Jupiter; I will not credit thee: swear, O Jew, by the temple of Jehovah.—Martial, Ep. XI., 95.
MICHAELIS.—There came a doctrine into vogue among the Jews, in the time of Christ, which made such a nice distinction between what was and what was not an oath, that illiterate people were really incapable of comprehending it, or indeed forming any idea of it: and thus a Jew had it in his power to be guilty of the greatest treachery to his neighbor, even when the latter thought he had heard him swear by all that was sacred. Who could suppose, for instance, that a Jew did not speak seriously, when he swore by the temple. Yet by this doctrine, such an oath was merely nothing, because the stones of the temple were not consecrated! The Pharisees were in the way of saying, “If a man swear by the temple, he is not bound by that oath; but if he swear by the gold of the temple, he is, bound." This was a very paradoxical distinction; and no one who heard their oaths, could possibly divine it, unless he happened to be initiated into the whole villainy of the business. But the foundation of the refined distinction made by the Pharisees was, that the gold was sanctified, but not the materials of the edifice. Again, the Pharisees said, “If a man swear by the altar, it is no oath; but if he swear by the offering, he is bound; “because, forsooth, the offering was consecrated, but the stones of the altar, nothing more than common stones.—Com. on Laws of Moses.
Tithing Mint and Anise
Matt. 23:2323Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. (Matthew 23:23).-Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint, and anise, and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
ISOCRATES.—Show your gratitude to heaven, not only by sacrifices, but by a sacred observance of all oaths: the first, indeed, shows munificence; but the latter only, a truly good and noble disposition.— Orat., I.
Whited Sepulchers
Matt, 23:27.—Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
JAHN.—The doors of sepulchers, indeed the whole external surface, unless they were so conspicuous without it, as to be really discovered and known, were painted white, on the last month of every year, that is, the month Adar. The object of this practice was, by a timely warning, to prevent those, who came to the feast of the Passover, from approaching them, and thus become contaminated. —Bib. Archœ., § 207.
HARMER.—The Passover was at hand when our Lord made this comparison, as is evident from the context; and therefore it is likely the sepulchers were just whitened afresh, when the season for such rainy and bad weather as is wont to wash off these decorations was just over, and the time was at hand when Israel were about to assemble in Jerusalem at their national solemnities, which were all or nearly all held in the dry part of the s ear.—Observations, Vol. III., p. 92.
Tombs of the Prophets
VITRINGA.—We may not doubt but that the synagogues were built at first near the sepulchers of distinguished men, thus to perpetuate their memory with posterity. For if ever men were inclined to build the tombs of the prophets and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous, the Jews were those men. Thus we read in the Cippis Helraicis, that they were accustomed to honor the tomb of Mordecai by a certain annual religious celebration: " From all over that region the Jews congregated together on the day of Purim, and proceeded towards his sepulcher, chanting canticles and eulogies, with drums and choirs exulting and rejoicing, because a miracle was there perforMed." The same is said of the tomb of Esther. Benjamin of Tudela says, “Before one of the synagogues are the tombs of Mordecai and Esther." The opinion was prevalent, at that time, that the souls of the dead hovered about the tombs which enclosed the bodies, and help from God could be obtained with more facility by their intercession. The sepulcher of Moses was concealed, lest this folly should take place.—De Synagoga.
BURDER.—It was a custom among the Greeks, as well as among the Jews, not only to erect, but also to repair and adorn the monuments of those who had merited well of them, or who had suffered an undeserved death.—Orient. Cust.
Messengers of Grace Persecuted
Matt. 23:3434Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: (Matthew 23:34).—Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes; and some of them ye shall kill and crucify, and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city.
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—He did send them apostles and other teachers of religion: some of these were killed, as Stephen and James; some of them were imprisoned, as Peter and John; some of them were beaten, as were the whole company of the apostles at the command of the Jewish council; and multitudes of them were pursued even to strange cities.—Note, In loco.
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—And did not all the righteous blood shed upon the earth since the days of Abel come upon that generation? Did not many of that generation survive to witness and feel the unutterable horrors which Josephus tells?—to see their fellows crucified in jest, "some one way and some another," till "room was wanting for the crosses, and crosses for the carcasses?”—to experience the "deep silence" and the kind of deadly night which seized upon the city in the intervals of rage?—to see 600,000 dead bodies carried out of the gates?—to see friends fighting madly for grass and nettles, and the refuse of the drains?—to see bloody zealots "gaping for want, and stumbling and staggering along like mad dogs? "—to hear the horrid tale of the miserable mother who, in the pangs of famine, had devoured her own child? —to be sold for slaves in such multitudes that at last none would buy them?—to see the streets running with blood, and the " fire of burning houses quenched in the blood of their defenders? "— to have their young sons sold in hundreds, or exposed in the amphitheaters to the sword of the gladiator or the fury of the lion, until at last, "since the people were now slain, the Holy House burnt down, and the city in flames, there was nothing farther left for the enemy to do?” In that awful siege it is believed that there perished 1,000,000 men, beside the 97,000 who were carried captive, and most of whom perished subsequently in the arena of the mine; and it was an awful thing to feel, as some of the survivors and eye-witnesses—and they not Christians—did feel, that "the city had deserved its overthrow by producing a generation of men who were the causes of its misfortunes; " and that " neither did any other city ever suffer Such miseries, nor did any age ever breed a generation more fruitful in wickedness than this was, since the beginning of the world." (Every detail in this paragraph is taken from Josephus' B. J. V., 6—VI., 10, passim.)—Life of Christ, Vol. II., p. 250.
Jerusalem Lamented
Matt. 23:3737O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! (Matthew 23:37).—O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
DR. ADAM CLARKE.—The metaphor which our Lord uses here is a very beautiful one. When the hen sees a bird of prey coming, she makes a noise to assemble her chickens, that she may cover them with her wings from the danger. The Roman Eagle is about to fall upon the Jewish state—nothing can prevent this but their conversion to God through Christ—Jesus cries throughout the land, publishing the Gospel of reconciliation—they would not assemble, and the Roman Eagle came and destroyed them.—Note, In loco.
The Coming Desolation
REV. MATTHEW HENRY.—Both the City and the Temple, God's house and their own, shall be laid waste-shall be left desolate, left a wilderness.—Com., In loco.
JOSEPHUS.—But as for that House, God had for certain long age doomed it to the fire: and now that fatal day was come, according to the revolution of ages; it was the 10th day of the month Ab. At which time, one of the Roman soldiers, without staying for any orders, and without any concern or dread upon him at so great an undertaking, and being hurried only by a certain divine fury, snatched somewhat out of the materials that were on fire, and being lifted up by another soldier, he set fire to a golden window, through which there was a passage to the rooms that were round about the Holy House, on the north side of it. As the flames went upward, the Jews made a great clamor, such as so mighty an affliction required, and ran together to prevent it: and now they spared not their lives any longer, nor suffered anything to restrain their force, since that Holy House was perishing, for whose sake it was that they kept such a guard about it. —Jewish Wars, VI., 4, § 5.
REV. W. M. THOMSON, D. D.—No traveler thinks of leaving Jerusalem without paying a visit to the Wailing place of the Jews, in the Tyropean, at the base of the wall which supports the west side of the Temple area. Those stones, no doubt, formed part of the foundations of the Holy House. No sight meets the eye in Jerusalem more sadly suggestive than this wailing of the Jews over the ruins of their Temple. It is a very old custom, and in past ages they have paid immense sums to their oppressors for the miserable satisfaction of kissing the stones and pouring out lamentations at the foot of their ancient sanctuary. With trembling lips and tearful eyes, they sing, Be not wroth very sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity forever: behold, see, we beseech Thee, we are all Thy people. Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and beautiful House, where our fathers praised Thee, is burned up with fire, and all our pleasant things are laid waste.—Land and Book, II., 587.
PROF. J. LESLIE PORTER, A. M.—It was on Friday I found myself in the “Jews’ Place of Wailing." A crowd of miserable devotees had assembled—men and women of all ages, and from all countries, dressed in their quaint and various costumes. Old men were there,—pale, haggard, careworn men, tottering on pilgrim staves; and little girls with white faces, and lustrous black eyes, gazing wistfully now at their parents, now at the old wall. Some were on their knees, chanting mournfully from a book of Hebrew prayers, swaying their bodies, to and fro; some were prostrate on the ground, pressing forehead and lips to the earth; some were close to the wall, burying their faces in the rents and crannies of the old stones; some were kissing them, some had their arms spread out as if they would clasp them to their bosoms, some were bathing them with tears, and all the while sobbing as if their hearts would burst. It was a sad and touching spectacle. Eighteen centuries of exile and woe have not dulled their hearts' affections, or deadened their feelings of national devotion. Here we see them assembled from the ends of the earth, poor, despised, downtrodden outcasts,—amid the desolations of their fatherland, beside the dishonored ruins of their ancient Sanctuary,—chanting, now in accents of deep pathos, and now of wild woe, the prophetic words of their own Scripture.—Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 128.
Destruction of the City and Temple Foretold
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—And now Jesus left the temple for the last time; but the feelings of the apostles still clung with the loving pride of their nationality to that sacred and memorable spot. They stopped to cast upon it one last lingering gaze, and one of them was eager to call his attention to its goodly stones and splendid offerings—those nine gates overlaid with gold and silver, and the one of solid Corinthian brass yet more precious; those graceful and towering porches; those beveled blocks of marble forty cubits long and ten cubits high, testifying to the toil and munificence of so many generations; those double cloisters and stately pillars; that lavish adornment of sculpture and arabesque; those alternate blocks of red and white marble, recalling the crest and hollow of the sea-waves; those vast clusters of golden grapes, each cluster as large as a man, which twined their splendid luxuriance over the golden doors. They would have him gaze with them on the rising terraces of courts—the Court of the Gentiles with its monolithic columns and rich mosaic; above this the flight of fourteen steps which led to the Court of the Women; then the flight of fifteen steps which led up to the Court of the Priests; then, once more, the twelve steps which led to the final platform crowned by the actual Holy, and Holy of Holies.-It is as though they thought that the loveliness and splendor of this scene would intercede with Him, touching his heart with mute appeal. But the heart of Jesus was sad. To Him the sole beauty of a Temple was the sincerity of its worshippers, and no gold or marble, no brilliant vermilion or curiously-carven cedar-wood, no delicate sculpturing or votive gems could change for Him a den of robbers into a House of Prayer.—Life of Christ, Vol. p. 254.
TACITUS. —The situation of Jerusalem was steep and high, and fortified besides with works and ramparts, such as would have proved a sufficient defense even to a place standing on a plain. There were two hills immensely high, and enclosed by a wall built purposely crooked with angles and windings. They had also great towers, some built upon the summit, and raised sixty feet high, others upon the sides of the hills mounting up to a hundred and twenty feet. The temple was raised like a great castle, and enclosed with fortifications of its own, in structure and strength superior to all the others. Even the portals and cloisters built round the Temple were a noble fortress.—Hist., lib, v., c. 11, 12.
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—Thirty-five years afterward i. e., from Christ's prophetic utterance) that Temple sank into the ashes of its destruction; neither Hadrian, nor Julian, nor any other, were able to build upon its site; and now that very site is a matter of uncertainty.—Life of Christ, Vol. II., p. 256.
JOSEPHUS. —The city taken—and no more people left to slay or plunder—Cæsar gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city and Temple, but should leave as many of the towers standing as were of the greatest eminency, and so much of the wall as enclosed the city on the west side. But for all the rest of the wall, it was so thoroughly laid even with the ground by those that dug it up to the foundation, that there was left nothing to make those that came thither believe it had ever been inhabited. This was the end to which Jerusalem came-a city of great magnificence, and of mighty fame among all mankind.—Jewish Wars, VII., I, § I.
MAIMONIDES. —The very foundations of the Temple were Jigged up, according to the Roman custom. On that 9th day of the month Ab, fatal for vengeance, the wicked Terentius Rufus, of the children of Edom, plowed up the Temple, and the places round about it, that the saying might be fulfilled, “Zion shall be plowed as a field."—Taanith, c. 4.
JOHN HURRAY, F. S. A.—Jesus had already foretold that of the holy Temple “Not one stone should be left upon another that would not be thrown down." How literally that event was verified in the destruction of Jerusalem, by Titus Vespasian, history proclaims, and existing monuments record. This terrible calamity, both Tacitus and Josephus have described; and the ARCH OF TITUS, at Rome, still affords, in its falling splendor, a memorial to the truth of this fact. This triumphal Arch of Titus, designed to commemorate the taking of Jerusalem, was erected on the via sacra, which commenced at the Circus Maximus, and extended to the Capitol. The sides of the arch-way are decorated by bas-reliefs: on the south side is seen the triumphant entry into Rome; and on the opposite side is shown the procession of captive Jews, “with staves in their hands," bearing the spoils of the temple: the Golden Candlestick, with its seven branches; the Golden Table, the Censer, the Silver Trumpets, etc.
There can be no doubt that these are exact representations of the sacred furniture of the Temple— Truth of Rev. Dem., p. 368.
False Christs
JOSEPHUS.—There appeared about that time many men who deceived and deluded the people under pretense of Divine Inspiration; and these prevailed with the multitude to act like madmen, and went before them into the wilderness, as pretending that God would there show them the signals of liberty.—Jewish Wars, II., 13, § 4.
IDEM.—Now it came to pass, while Fadus was procurator of Judea, that a certain magician, whose name was Theudas, persuaded a great part of the people to take their effects with them, and follow him to the River Jordan, for he told them he was a prophet, and that he would at his own command, divide the River, and afford them an easy passage over it; and many were deluded by his words.—Antq., XX, 5, § I.
IDEM.—Now, as for the affairs of the Jews, they grew worse and worse continually, for the country was again filled with robberies, and impostors who deluded the people. Yet did Felix catch, and put to death, many of these impostors every day.... And now these impostors and deceivers persuaded the multitude to follow them into the wilderness, and pretended they would exhibit manifest wonders and signs, that should be performed by the providence of God. And many that were prevailed on by them suffered the punishments of their folly. Moreover there came out of Egypt about this time to Jerusalem, one that said he was a prophet, and advised the multitude of the common people to go along with him to the Mount of Olives. He said farther, that he would show them from hence, how at his command, the walls of Jerusalem would fall down; and he promised them, that he would procure them an entrance into the city through those walls, when they were fallen down.— Antq., XX., 8, § 5, 6.
Wars and Rumors of Wars
BISHOP NEWTON, D. D.—According to these words of Christ, there were "wars and rumors of wars," as appears in all the historians of those times, and above all in Josephus. To relate the particulars would indeed be to transcribe great part of his history of the Jewish wars. There were more especially " rumors of wars," when Caligula, the Roman Emperor, ordered his statue to be set up in the temple of Jerusalem, which the Jews refused to suffer, and persisted in their refusal; and having therefore reason to apprehend a war from the Romans, were in such a consternation that they omitted even the tilling of their lands but this storm was soon blown over, and their fears were dissipated by the timely death of that emperor.—Dissertations, p. 333.
See JOSEPHUS.—Antq., lib. 18, c. 9, and Bel. Jud., lib. 2, c. 10, and TACITUS, Hist., lib. 5, C. 9.
BISHOP NEWTON, D. D.—Here, Christ declares that greater disturbances than those which happened under Caligula, should fall out in the latter times of Claudius, and in the reign of Nero. That of “nation against nation " portended the dissensions, insurrections, and mutual slaughter of the Jews, and those of other nations, who dwelt in the same cities together: as particularly at Caesarea, where the Jews and Syrians contended about the right of the city, which contention at length proceeded so far, that above 20,000 Jews were slain, and the city was cleared of the Jewish inhabitants. At this blow the whole nation of the Jews were exasperated; and dividing themselves into parties, they burnt and plundered the neighboring cities and villages of the Syrians, and made an immense slaughter of the people. The Syrians in revenge destroyed not a less number of the Jews, and every city, as Josephus expresseth it, was divided into two armies. At Scythopolis the inhabitants compelled the Jews who resided among them to fight against their own countrymen, and after the victory basely setting upon them by night, murdered above 13,000 of them, and spoiled their goods. At Ascalon they killed 2,500, at Ptolemais 2,000, and made not a few prisoners. The Syrians put many to death, and imprisoned more. The people of Gadara did likewise, and all the other cities of Syria, in proportion as they hated or feared the Jews. At Alexandria the old enmity was revived between the Jews and heathens, and many fell on both sides, but of the Jews to the number of 50,000. The people of Damascus too conspired against the Jews of the same city, and assaulting them unarmed, killed 10,000 of them. That of “kingdom against kingdom " portended the open wars of different Tetrarchies and Provinces against one another: as that of the Jews who dwelt in Peræa against the people of Philadelphia concerning their bounds, while Cuspus Fadus was procurator; and that of the Jews and Galileans against the Samaritans, for the murder of some Galileans going up to the feast of Jerusalem while Cumanus was procurator; and that of the whole nation of the Jews against the Romans and Agrippa, and other allies of the Roman emperor, which began while Gessius Florus was procurator. But, as Josephus saith, there was not only sedition and civil war throughout Judæa, but likewise in Italy, Otho and Vitellius contending for the empire.—Dissertations, p. 333.
DR. ALEXANDER KEITH.—As a proof of the troublous and warlike character of this period, it may be stated that, within the brief space of two years (A. D. 68 and 69) four emperors, Nero, Galba, Otho and Vitellius, suffered death. Eva from Proph., p. 57.
Famines, Pestilences, and Earthquakes
LUKE.—And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world; which came to pass in the days of Claudius Cæsar (A. D. 46, 47, 48). —Acts 11:2828And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. (Acts 11:28).
SUETONIUS.—During a scarcity of provisions, occasioned by bad crops for several successive years, Claudius was stopped in the middle of the Forum by the mob, who so abused him, at the same time pelting him with fragments of bread, that he had some difficulty in escaping into the palace by a back door. He therefore used all possible means to bring provisions into the city, even in winter.—Claud., c. 19.
JOSEPHUS.—Queen Helena went down to the city Jerusalem, her son conducting her on her journey a great way. Now her coming was of very great advantage to the people of Jerusalem; for whereas a famine did oppress them at that time, and many people died for want of what was necessary to procure food withal, queen Helena sent some of her servants to Alexandria with money to buy a great quantity of corn, and others of them to Cyprus, to bring a cargo of dried figs. And as soon as they were come back, and had brought those provisions, which was done very quickly, she distributed food to those that were in want of it; and left a most excellent memorial behind her of this benefaction, which she bestowed on our whole nation. And when her son Izates was informed of this famine, he sent great sums of money to the principal men in Jerusalem.—Antiq., 20, 2, 5.
TACITUS.—Many prodigies happened this year (A. D. 52). Among them was reckoned the barrenness of the season, and the effect of it, famine. Nor were the complaints of the people confined to houses and corners; they even gathered in tumultuous crowds around the prince. It is certain that there was then in Rome but just provision for fifteen days.—Ann., lib. xii., c. 43.
And earthquakes in divers places.
BISHOP NEWTON, D. D.—Earthquakes—as particularly that in Crete in the reign of Claudius, mentioned by Philostratus in the life of Apollonius, and those also mentioned by Philostratus at Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, Samos, in all which places some Jews inhabited; and those at Rome mentioned by Tacitus; and that at Laodicea in the reign of Nero, mentioned by Tacitus, which city was overthrown, as were likewise Hierapolis and Colosse; and that in Campania, mentioned by Seneca; and that at Rome in the reign of Galba mentioned by Suetonius; and that in Judea mentioned by Josephus.— Dissertations, p. 335.
TACITUS.—The city of Apamea, having been overturned by an earthquake, a remission of tribute was granted it for five years.—Ann., XII., 43.
IDEM.—In this year (A. D. 62) Laodicea, one of the capital cities of Asia, "having been overthrown by an earthquake, rose again by her own ability and means into her former luster.—Ann., lib. xiv., c. 27.
SENECA.—During the consulship of Regulus and Virginius, an earthquake devastated Campania; and that too in the month of February, although our ancestors were in the habit of assuring themselves that no such calamity would ever happen during the winter. Pompeii was destroyed, and much of the surrounding country.—Quæst. Nat., lib. vi., c. I.
SUETONIUS.—As Galba was entering Rome (A. D. 68) he was welcomed by an earthquake.— Galb., c. 18.
JOSEPHUS.—In the night there broke out a most terrible tempest, and violent strong winds with the most vehement showers, and continual lightnings, and horrid thunderings, and prodigious bellowings of the shaken earth: and it, was manifest, that the constitution of the universe, was confounded for the destruction of men; and any one might easily conjecture, that these things portended no common calamity.—Jewish Wars, IV., 4, § 5.
Hatred and Violence Towards Christians
BISHOP NEWTON, D. D.—We need look no further than the Acts of the Apostles for the completion of these particulars. —Disserts., p. 338.
CAVE.—Peter, Simeon, and Jude were crucified. Paul was beheaded. James was killed with a sword. Matthew, Thomas, Matthias, Mark and Luke were put to death in different countries, and in various manners.—Lives of the Apostles.
MOSHEIM.—The Jewish priests and rulers, zealous for the laws of Moses, and plainly perceiving that if Christianity should prevail there would be an end of their authority and emoluments, opposed the doctrine of Christ with all imaginable violence and rancor; and availing themselves of every favorable opportunity to lay hold on his apostles and their disciples, they threw them into prison, where they were threatened and scourged, and had every other species of evil heaped on them without reserve: some of them being even made to undergo capital punishment. Of the malevolence and injustice which the first teachers of Christianity thus experienced at the hands of the Jews, abundant testimony is left on record.... Not content with doing this in their own country, they dispatched legates or missionaries into all the different provinces, for the purpose of animating their distant brethren with similar sentiments of jealousy and hatred towards the Christians, and stirring them up to seek for every occasion of annoying and persecuting this inoffensive flock. And, as with one consent, the Jews everywhere made it their endeavor, by various calumnies and infamous machinations, to draw on the Christians the indignation and of the presidents, the magistrates, and the people at large.
The Romans, it is true, extended their toleration to every kind of religion, from whence no danger to the public safety was to be apprehended; but, at the same time, they would not endure that any one should deride or attempt to explode the religion of the state, or that which had the support of the laws; for there existed between the government and religion of the Romans such an intimate connection and dependence on each other, that whoever attacked or endeavored to undermine the latter, could not of necessity appear to them otherwise than as hostile to the former, and inimical to the dignity of the state. But the Christians, from their very principles, strenuously endeavored to make the Romans renounce their vain and idolatrous superstitions, and were continually urging the citizens to give up and abolish those sacred rites, on the observance of which, as they thought, the welfare and dignity of the commonwealth so much depended. For this reason, the Christians, though they intended no ill whatever to the state, came to be looked upon and treated as enemies of the Roman government.
The fact that the Christians boldly asserted the falsehood and insufficiency of every other religious system in the world, was an additional cause of offense. For the inference which the Romans drew from this was, that the members of this sect were not only immeasurably arrogant and supercilious in their pretensions, but were also filled with hatred toward all those who differed from them in opinion, and were consequently to be regarded as persons likely to sow amongst the people the most inveterate discord, and to occasion disturbances of a very serious, nature to the state.... These considerations had the effect of stirring up the emperors, the senate, the presidents, and the magistrates, to endeavor, as far as in them lay, to arrest the progress of Christianity by means of most rigorous laws and punishments.
But this was not all. Attached to the service of that host of deities which the Romans worshipped, both in public and private, there was an immense number of priests, augurs, soothsayers, and ministers of inferior order, who not only derived from it the means of living at their ease, with every luxury at command, but were also, from the sacred nature of the functions with which they were invested, sure to stand high in the estimation of the people, and to possess no inconsiderable degree of influence over them. When all these perceived that it was highly probable, or rather felt it to be morally certain, that if once the Christian religion should become predominant with the public, there would immediately be an end to all the emoluments, honors, and advantages, which they then enjoyed; a regard for their own interests naturally prompted them to endeavor, by every means in their power, to lessen the credit of the Christians, and to render them obnoxious to the people and to the magistrates. Associated with these in their efforts to put down Christianity, there was an innumerable multitude of persons of various other descriptions, to whom the public superstitions were a source of no small profit; such as merchants who supplied the worshippers with frankincense and victims, and other requisites for sacrifice, architects who planned the temples and the altars, vintners, gold and silver smiths, carpenters, statuaries, sculptors, players on the flute, harpers and others to all of whom the heathen polytheism, with its numerous temples, and long train of priests, and ministers, and ceremonies, and festivals, was a principal source of affluence and prosperity.
The results of all these things were frequent and most violent persecutions, during which great numbers suffered death in the cause of Christ. These are facts that stand supported by the weightiest and most positive evidence.—Historical Commentaries, Vol. I., p. 120-536.
TACITUS.—At that period, these people were commonly known by the name of Christians. The author of that name was Christ, who, in the reign of Tiberius, was put to death as a criminal, under the procurator Pontius Pilate. But this pestilent superstition, checked for a while, broke out afresh, and spread not only over Judea, where the evil originated, but also in Rome, where all that is evil on the earth finds its way and is practiced. At first those only were apprehended who confessed themselves of that sect; afterward a vast multitude discovered by them; all of whom were condemned, not so much for the, crime of burning the city (of which they were innocent), as for their enmity to mankind. Their executions were so contrived as to expose them to derision and contempt. Some were covered over with the skins of wild beasts, that they might be torn to pieces by dogs; some were crucified; while others, having been daubed over with combustible materials, were set up for lights in the nighttime, and thus burned to death. For these spectacles Nero gave his own gardens, and, at the same time, exhibited there the diversions of the circus; sometimes standing in the crowd as a spectator, in the habit of a charioteer, and at other times driving a chariot himself: until at length these men, though really criminal and deserving exemplary punishment, began to be commiserated, as people who were destroyed, not out of regard to the public welfare, but only to gratify the cruelty of one man.—Tacit., lib. xv., c. 44.
SUETONIUS.—Nero inflicted punishments on the Christians, a sort of people who held a new and impious superstition.—Nero, c. 16.
MOSHEIM.—The example of Nero was, in this respect, pretty uniformly copied after by his successors during three centuries; although their severity was not always carried to the same extent: and hence the professors of Christianity had to endure a long series of dire afflictions, or to use a more familiar term, persecutions, to which an end was not put until the time of Constantine the Great.— Hist. Comments., I., 125.
Defections
Matt. 24:1111And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. (Matthew 24:11).—And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
DR. ALEXANDER KEITH.—The Apostle of the Gentiles often complained of "false brethren," that many turned away from him, and that he stood alone, forsaken by all, when he first appeared before Nero. —Evid. from Proph., p. 58.
TACITUS. —At first, those only were apprehended who confessed themselves of that sect; afterward a vast multitude discovered by them; all of whom were condemned.—Ann., lib. xv., c. 44.
False Prophets
BISHOP NEWTON.—Such particularly was Simon Magus, and his followers, the Gnostics, were very numerous. Such also were the Judaizing teachers, "false prophets," as they are called by St. Paul, " deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ." Such also were Hymeneus and Philetus, of whom the apostle complains, that they affirmed " the resurrection to be past already, and overthrew the faith of some."—Disserts., p. 339.
The Gospel Preached in All the World
Matt. 24:44And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. (Matthew 24:4).—And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
PAUL.—The gospel, which is come unto you, as it is in all the world... The hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven.—Col. 1:6, 236Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth: (Colossians 1:6)
23If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; (Colossians 1:23).
IDEM.—So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But I say, Have they not heard? Yes, verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.—Rom. 10:17, 1817So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 18But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. (Romans 10:17‑18).
CLEMENT.—Paul was a preacher both in the East and in the West: he taught the whole world righteousness, and traveled as far as to the utmost borders of the West—Ep. ad Cor. I., c. 5.
EUSEBIUS.—The apostles preached the gospel in all the world, and some of them passed beyond the ocean to the Britannic Isles.—Dem. Evang., III., 5.
THEODORET.—The apostles had induced, not the Romans only, but every nation and kind of men to embrace the gospel.—Serm. IX.
BISHOP NEWTON.—It appears from the writers of the history of the church, that before the destruction of Jerusalem (A. D. 70) the gospel was not only preached in Lesser Asia, and Greece, and Italy, the great theaters of action then in the world; but was likewise propagated as far northward as Scythia, as far southward as Ethiopia, as far eastward as Parthia and India, as far westward as Spain and Britain.—Disserts., p. 341.
GIBBON.—While the great Roman Empire was invaded by open violence, or undermined by slow decay, a pure and humble religion gently insinuated itself into the minds of men, grew up in silence and obscurity, derived new vigor from opposition, and finally erected the triumphant banner of the cross on the ruins of the Capitol. Nor was the influence of Christianity confined to the period or to the limits of the Roman Empire. After a revolution of thirteen or fourteen centuries, that religion is still professed by the nations of Europe, the most distinguished portion of human kind in arts and learning as well as in arms. By the industry and zeal of the Europeans, it has been widely diffused to the most distant shores of Asia and Africa; and by means of their colonies has been firmly established from Canada to Chili, in a world unknown to the ancients.—Decline and Fall of R. E., Chapter 15
DR. ADAM CLARKE.—What but the wisdom of God could foretell this? and what but the power of God could accomplish it?—Note, In loco.
The Abomination of Desolation
BISHOP NEWTON.—" The abomination of desolation," according to Luke, is the Roman army, which was thus designated, for its ensigns and images, which, were an "abomination" to the Jews. As Chrysostom affirms, every idol and every image of a man was called an abomination among the Jews. The object of that army would be to "desolate" Jerusalem. When therefore the Roman army shall advance to besiege Jerusalem, then let them who are in Judea consult their own safety, and fly into the mountains. This counsel was wisely remembered, and put in practice by Christians afterward.—Disserts., p. 344
EUSEBIUS.—The Christians were commanded by an oracle revealed to the best approved among them, that before the wars began, they should depart from the city, and inhabit a village beyond Jordan, called Pella. And this they did, and so escaped the general ruin which befell the city.— Euseb., lib. iii., c. 5.
The Warning
BISHOP NEWTON.—Our Savior maketh use of these expressions to intimate that their flight must be as sudden and hasty as Lot's was out of Sodom. And the Christians escaping just as they did was the more providential, because afterward all egress out of the city was prevented (Jos. J. B. 4, 9, I). Disserts., p. 345.
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—By such warnings the Christians were preserved. Before John of, Giscala had shut the gates of Jerusalem, and Simon of Gerasa had begun to murder the fugitives— before the Roman eagle waved her wing over the doomed city, or the infamies of lust and murder had driven every worshipper in horror from the Temple Courts—the Christians had taken timely warning, and in the little Peræan town of Pella were beyond the reach of all the robbery, and murder, and famine, and cannibalism, and extermination which made the siege of Jerusalem a scene of greater tribulation than any that has been since the beginning of the world.—Life of Christ, Vol. II., p. 262.
Extreme Sufferings
BISHOP NEWTON.—For neither will such persons be in a condition to fly, neither will they be able to endure the distress and hardships of a siege. This woe was sufficiently fulfilled in the cruel slaughters which were made both of the women and children, and particularly in that grievous famine, -which so miserably afflicted Jerusalem during the siege. —Disserts., p. 345.
JOSEPHUS.—The famine was too hard for all other passions or affections; insomuch that children pulled the very morsels that their fathers were eating out of their very mouths; and what was still more to be pitied, so did the mothers do as to their infants and when those that were most dear were perishing under their hands, they refrained not from taking from them the very last drops that might preserve their lives.—Jewish Wars, V., 10, 3.
IDEM.—All hope of escaping out of the city was now cut off. The famine widened its progress, and devoured the people by whole houses and families; the upper rooms were frill of women and children that were dying by famine.—Jewish Wars, V., 12, 3.
IDEM. —A certain woman, Mary of Bethezub, eminent for her family and he wealth, had fled to Jerusalem with the rest of the multitude, and was with them besieged therein at this time. Having been stripped and plundered of all her substance and provisions by the soldiers, out of necessity and fury, she attempted a most unnatural thing: snatching up her son, who was a child sucking at her breast, she said: " O thou miserable infant! for whom shall I preserve thee in this war, this famine, and this sedition? Should the Romans spare our lives, we must be slaves. But this famine will destroy us before that slavery comes. And these seditious murderers more terrible than both. Come on; be thou my food, and be thou a fury to these wicked wretches, and a byword to the world, which is all that is now wanting to complete the calamities of us Jews." As soon as she had said this, she slew her son, and then roasted him, and ate the one-half of him, and kept the other half by her, concealed.... When this shocking deed became known, the whole city was filled with horror.... Those that were thus distressed by the famine were very desirous to die, and those already dead were esteemed happy.—Jewish Wars, VI., 3, 4.
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—Never was a narrative more full of horrors, frenzies, unspeakable degradations, and overwhelming miseries, than is the history of the siege of Jerusalem. Never was any prophecy more closely, more terribly, more overwhelmingly fulfilled than this of Christ.—Life of Christ, Vol. II., p. 249.
JOSEPHUS.—Jerusalem had arrived at a higher degree of felicity than any other city under the Roman government, and yet at last fell into the sorest of calamities again. Accordingly, it appears to me that the misfortunes of all men, from the beginning of the world, if they be compared to these of the Jews, are not so considerable as they were. This makes it impossible for me to contain my lamentations.— Preface to Jewish Wars, § 4.
IDEM.—To speak briefly, no other city ever suffered such miseries, nor did any age ever breed a generation more fruitful in wickedness than this was from the beginning of the world.—J. B., v. 10, § 5.
BISHOP PORTEUS.—Is not this precisely what our Savior says, " There shall be great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the world, no, nor ever shall be?" It is impossible, one would think, even for the most stubborn infidel not to be struck with the great similarity of the two passages; and not to see that the prediction of our Lord, and the accomplishment of it as described by the historian, are exact counterparts of each other, and seem almost as if they had been written by the same person. Yet Josephus was not born till after our Savior was crucified, and he was not a Christian, but a Jew, and certainly never meant to give any testimony to the truth of our religion.—Lectures on Matthew, in loc.
BISHOP NEWTON.—If these wars and desolations were to continue, none of the Jews would escape destruction, they would all be cut off root and branch. Josephus computes the number of those who perished in the siege at 1,000,000, besides those who were slain in other places: and if the Romans had gone on destroying in this manner, the whole nation of the Jews would certainly in a little time have been extirpated. But for the elect's sake (i. e., the Christians') those days shall be shortened. Titus himself was desirous of putting a speedy end to the siege, having Rome and the riches and the pleasures there before his eyes (Tacit. Hist., 5, 11). The besieged, too, helped to shorten the days by their divisions and mutual slaughter: by burning their provisions, which would have sufficed for many years, and by fatally deserting their strongest holds, where they could never have been taken by force, but by famine alone. By these means the days were shortened. Titus himself could not but ascribe his success to God, as he was viewing the fortifications, after the city was taken. His words to his friends were very remarkable: " We have fought," said he," with God on our side; and it is God who bath pulled the Jews out of these strongholds; for what could the hands of men or machines do against these towers?" (B. J., vi., 9, I.) God, therefore, in the opinion of Titus, as well as of the Evangelist, shortened the days.—Disserts., p. 350.
Caution Against Deceivers
Matt. 24:23-2623Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 24For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25Behold, I have told you before. 26Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. (Matthew 24:23‑26).—Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, etc.
See the testimonies under verses 4 and 5 of this chapter.
BISHOP NEWTON.—It is surprising that our Savior should not only foretell the appearance of these impostors, but also the manner and circumstances of their conduct. For some he mentions as appearing in the desert, and some in the secret chambers; and the event hath in all points answered the prediction (see Josephus, Ant., 20, 7, 6; and B. J., 2,,13, 4; and 6, 5, 2).—Disserts., 352.
The Enemy's Course
BISHOP PEARCE.—The Roman army entered into Judea on the east side of it, and carried on their conquests westward, as if not only the extensiveness of the ruin, but the very route which the army would take, was intended in the comparison of the lightning coming out of the east, and shining even unto the west. —Dissert. on the Destruct. of Jerusalem.
The Carcass and the Eagles
BISHOP NEWTON.—By the word carcass is meant the Jewish nation, which was morally and judicially dead; and by the eagles the Romans, who are properly compared to these fiercest birds of prey, and whose ensign was an eagle.—Disserts., is. 354.
PLINY.—Caius Marius, in his second consulship, abdicating the old standards, appointed the eagles for the Roman legions. Since then it has been remarked that hardly ever has a Roman legion encamped for the winter without a pair of eagles making their appearance at the spot.—Hist. Nat., lib. x., c. 5.
WHERESOEVER the carcass is.
JOSEPHUS.—While Jerusalem had to struggle with three of the greatest misfortunes, war and tyranny and sedition, there was no part of Judea but was in a like miserable condition.... The Romans pursued the Jews, and took and slew them everywhere.—B. J., 4, 7,; etc., etc.
The Civil and Ecclesiastical Issues
BISHOP NEWTON.—Some have understood this verse to refer to the end of the world, but the words "immediately after the tribulation of those days," show evidently that he is not speaking of any distant event, but of something immediately consequent upon the tribulation before mentioned, and that must be the destruction of Jerusalem. It is true, his figures are very strong, but not stronger than are used by the ancient prophets upon similar occasions. The prophet Isaiah speaks' in the same manner of Babylon, Ezekiel of Egypt, Daniel of the Jews, and Joel of this very destruction of Jerusalem. Thus, in the usual prophetic language, Christ declares the final dissolution of the Jewish polity in church and state.— Disserts., p. 361.
DR. WARBURTON.—These prophetic figures were borrowed from ancient hieroglyphics. For in the hieroglyphic writing, the sun, moon, and stars, were used to represent states and empires, kings, queens and nobility; their eclipse and extinction, to represent temporary disasters, or entire overthrow: in like manner the prophets call kings and empires by the names of the heavenly luminaries, and represent their misfortunes and overthrow by the eclipse, extinction or fall of those luminaries. So the Savior foretells, under the figures of " the sun and moon being darkened and of the stars falling," the abolition of the Jewish policy, and the establishment of the Christian.—Divine Legation, II., b. 4, § 4.
LIGHTFOOT.—The Jewish heaven shall perish, and the sun and moon of its glory and happiness shall be darkened-brought to nothing. The" sun" is the religion of the church; the " moon " is the government of the state; and the " stars" are the judges and doctors of both.... All this received its literal fulfillment.—In loco.
DR. THOMAS SCOTT.—The darkening of the sun and moon, the falling of the stars, and the shaking of the powers of the heavens, denote the utter extinction of the light of prosperity and privilege to the Jewish nation; the unhinging of their whole constitution in church and state; the violent subversion of the authority of their princes and priests; the abject miseries to which the people in general, especially their chief persons, would be reduced; and the moral or religious darkness to which they would be consigned.— Note, In loco.
DR. THOMAS SCOTT.—This destruction and overthrow would be an evident " sign " and demonstration of the Son of man's exaltation to his throne in heaven; whence he would come in his divine providence, as riding on " the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory " to destroy " his enemies, who would not have him to reign over them; " at which events, "all the tribes of the land" would mourn and lament, whilst they saw the tokens, and felt the weight, of his terrible indignation.—Note, In loco.
BISHOP NEWTON.—After the destruction of Jerusalem, Christ by his “angels," or ministers will gather to himself a glorious church out of all the nations under heaven. No one ever so little versed in history needs to be told, that the Christian religion spread and prevailed mightily after this period; and hardly any one thing contributed more to this success of the Gospel than the destruction of Jerusalem, falling out in the very manner, and with the very circumstances, so particularly foretold by our blessed Savior.—Disserts., p. 363.
DR. T. SCOTT.—He would send forth his “angels," or messengers, the preachers of the Gospel, as with a great sound of a trumpet, proclaiming the year of jubilee, "the acceptable year of the Lord." Thus he would “gather his elect " into his church, from every quarter, all over the world.—Note, In loco.
The Time Near and the Events Certain
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—The predictions of this chapter were delivered by our Savior on Tuesday of Passion Week, April the 4th, A. D. 30, (or, A. U. C. 780).—Life of Christ, Vol. II., p. 188, and 265.
JOSEPHUS.—The war with the Romans commenced in the 12Th year of the reign of Nero, or A. D. 66. —Antq., 20, II, 1.
IDEM.—The siege of Jerusalem began early in the spring of A. D. 70. —Jewish Wars, 5, 3, 1, and 6, 9, 3.
IDEM.—The Temple was burned, July 15th, A. D. 70, the same day and month on which it had been burned by the king of Babylon.—Antq., 20, II, 8.
IDEM.—The City was taken, September 12Th, A. D. 70, or in the 12Th year of the reign of Vespasian.—,Antq., b. vi., c. 10.
BISHOP NEWTON.—It appears next to impossible, that any man should duly consider these prophecies, and the exact completion of them; and if he is a believer, not to be confirmed in the faith: or if he is an infidel, not be converted. Can any stronger proof be given of a divine revelation than the spirit of prophecy, and can any stronger proof be given of the spirit of prophecy, than the examples now before us, in which so many contingencies, and I may say improbabilities, which human wisdom or prudence could never foresee, are so particularly foretold, and so punctually accomplished! At the time when Christ pronounced these prophecies, the Roman governor resided at Jerusalem, and had a force sufficient to keep the people in obedience: and could human prudence foresee that the city as well as the country would revolt and rebel against the Romans? Could human prudence foresee famines, and pestilence, and earthquakes, in divers places? Could human prudence foresee the speedy propagation of the Gospel so contrary to all human probability? Could human prudence foresee such an utter destruction of Jerusalem, with all the circumstances preceding and following it? It was never the custom of the Romans absolutely to ruin any of their provinces. It was improbable therefore that such a thing should happen at all, and still more improbable that it should happen under the humane and generous Titus, who was indeed, as he was called, "The Love and Delight of Mankind."—Disserts., p. 381.
The Warning Repeated
DR. CLARKE.—Scarcely had we reached the apartment prepared for our reception (at Nazareth), when, looking into the court-yard belonging to the house, we beheld two women grinding at the mill, in a manner most forcibly illustrating the saying of our Savior. They were preparing flour to make our bread, as is always customary in the country when strangers arrive. The two women, seated upon the ground, opposite to each other, held between them two round flat stones, such as are seen in Lapland, and such as in Scotland are called querns. In the center of the upper stone was a cavity for pouring in the corn; and by the side of this, an upright wooden handle for moving the stone. As the operation began, one of the women with her right hand pushed this handle to the woman opposite, who again sent it to her companion,—thus communicating a rotary and very rapid motion to the upper stone; their left hands being all the while employed in supplying fresh corn, as fast as the bran and flour escape from the sides of the machine.—Travels, IV., 167, 168.
JAHN.—Dichotomy, or "cutting asunder," was a method of putting criminals to death that prevailed among several ancient nations.—Archœology, 260, 265.
HERODOTUS.—Sabacôs saw in his sleep a vision:—a man stood by his side, and counseled him to gather together all the priests of Egypt and cut every One of them asunder.—Euterpe, c. 139.
IDEM.—Having thus spoken, forthwith Xerxes commanded those to whom such tasks were assigned, to seek out the eldest of the sons of Pythius, and having cut his body asunder, to place the two halves, one on the right, the other on the left of the great road, so that the army might march out between them. —Polymnia, c. 39.
AULUS GELLIUS.—Of the inhuman custom of cutting and dividing up the human body on account of debts due, it is painful even to speak.—Aul. Gell., lib. xx., c. I.
Parable of the Ten Virgins
Matt. 25:1-131Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. 2And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: 4But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. 6And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. 7Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. 8And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. 9But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. 10And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. 11Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. 12But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. 13Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh. (Matthew 25:1‑13).—Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, etc.
PROF. R. C. TRENCH, M. A.—The circumstances of a marriage among the Jews, so far at least as they supply the groundwork of the present parable, are sufficiently well known, and have been abundantly illustrated by writers on Jewish antiquities; and indeed no less through the accounts given by modern travelers in the East,—for the customs alluded to hold in full force to the present day, and form as important a part of the nuptial ceremony as they did in ancient times.—On Parabs., p. 192.
REV. WILLIAM WARD.—At a marriage, the procession of which I saw some years ago, the bridegroom came from a distance; and the bride lived at Serampore, to which place the bridegroom was to come by water. After waiting for two or three hours, at length, near midnight, it was announced, as if in the very words of Scripture, " Behold the bridegroom cometh! go ye out to meet him." All the persons employed now lighted their lamps, and ran with them in their hands to, fill up their stations in the procession. Some of them had lost their lights, and were unprepared; but it was then too late to seek them: and the cavalcade moved on to the house of the bride, at which place the company entered a large and splendidly-illuminated area before the house, covered with an awning, where a great multitude of friends, dressed in their best apparel, were seated upon mats. The bridegroom was carried in the arms of a friend, and placed in a superb seat in the midst of the company, where he sat a short time, and then went into the house, the door of which was immediately closed, and guarded by Sepoys. I and others expostulated with the door-keepers, but in vain. Never was I so struck with our Lord's beautiful parable, as at that moment. "And the door was shut."—View of the Hindoos, Vol. II., p. 29.
Parable of the Talents
Matt. 25:54-30.—For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, etc.
PROF. R. C. TRENCH, M. A.—Slaves in antiquity were often artisans, or were allowed otherwise to engage freely in business, paying, as it was frequently arranged, a fixed yearly sum to their master; or, they had money given them wherewith to trade on his account, or with which to enlarge their business, and to bring him a share of the profits.—On Parabs., p. 213.
The Final Judgment
DR. HENRY J. VAN-LENNEP. —When sheep and goats are fed together in the same pasture, the shepherd often has occasion to separate them, especially as the goats are apt to be troublesome to the sheep when folded in the same enclosure, on account of their butting propensities and general restlessness; hence it is a very common sight to see a shepherd "dividing his sheep from the goats." It is done with the crook, by striking the goats either on their bodies or their horns, and thus driving them off by themselves, while the quiet sheep remain in their places. The comparison of the righteous and the wicked to these two classes of animals has a foundation in their respective tempers and characteristic traits, and to an Oriental mind is extremely graphic and appropriate. The goat is constantly compared, by the inhabitants of Eastern lands, to the Evil One.—Bible Lands, p. 207.
Matt. 25:3434Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: (Matthew 25:34) and 41.—Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Then shall he also say unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
PLATO.—When the judges gave judgment, they commanded the just to go on the right hand, and upwards through the heaven, having placed marks on the front of those that had been judged; but the unjust they commanded to the left, and downwards, and these likewise had behind them marks of all that they had done.—De Rep., lib. x., c. 13.
VIRGIL—
Here in two ample roads the way divides,
The right direct, our destin'd journey guides
By Pluto's palace, to the Elysian plains;
The left to Tartarus, where bound in chains
Loud howl the damn'd in everlasting pains.
—Æn., 540.
Caiaphas
people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas.
JOSEPHUS.—Caiaphas was appointed High Priest by the Procurator Valerius Gratus, Pilate's predecessor in the government of Judea, towards the end of his administration, or about A. D. 24; and his removal was one of the first acts of Vitellius, Pilate's successor, A. D. 36. Caiaphas, therefore, was High Priest during the whole of Pilate's administration.—Antiq., 18, 2, 2, and 18, 4, 3.
The Alabaster Box
PLINY. —The stone called alabaster is hollowed out into vessels for ointments, which is said to be preserved with greatest purity in these receptacles.—Hist. Nat., lib. 36, c. 8.
IDEM.—Unguents exceed in price so large a sum as 400 denarii per pound.—Hist. Nat., lib. 13, c. 4.
MARTIAL.—The perfumes I own were good, which you gave your guests yesterday; but you carved nothing. It is a curious entertainment to be anointed and starved at the same time.—Mart., lib. iii., epig. 12.
PLATO.—The man whom we esteem as a pious, wonderful, and pleasant person we should send away, pouring oil upon his head, and crowning him with a woolen chaplet.—De Rep., lib. iii., c. 9.
PLINY. —The use of unguents has begun to be adopted by our own country among the honors paid to the dead.—Nat. Hist., lib. xiii., c. I.
JUVENAL. —Crispuss, reeking with unguents more than enough to furnish two funerals.— Sat. IV., v. 108.
DR. ADAM CLARKE.—Another remarkable proof of the prescience of Christ. Such a matter as this, humanly speaking, depended on mere fortuitous circumstances, yet so has God disposed matters that the thing has continued, hitherto, as firm and regular as the ordinances of heaven.—In loco.
The Last Supper
Matt. 26:26-2826And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. 27And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; 28For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. (Matthew 26:26‑28).—And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—Never since that memorable evening has the church ceased to observe the commandment of her Lord; ever since that day, from age to age, has this blessed and holy Sacrament been a memorial of the death of Christ, and a strengthening and refreshing of the soul by the, body and blood, as the body is refreshed and strengthened by the bread and wine.— Life of Christ, II., 292.
Gethsemane
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—Their way led them through one of the city gates—probably that which then corresponded to the present gate of St. Stephen—down the steep sides of the ravine, across the wady of the Kidron, which lay a hundred feet below, and up the green and quiet slope beyond it. To one who has visited the scene at the very season of the year and at that very hour of the night-who has felt the solemn hush of the silence even at this short distance from the city wall—who has seen the deep shadows flung by the great boles of the ancient olive-trees, and the checkering of light that falls on the sward through their moonlight-silvered leaves, it is more easy to realize the awe which crept over those few Galileans, as in almost unbroken silence, with something perhaps of secrecy, and with a weight of mysterious dryad brooding over their spirits, they followed Him, who with bowed head and sorrowing heart walked before them to His willing doom!... I had the deep and memorable happiness of being able to see Gethsemane with two friends, unaccompanied by any guide, late at night and under the full glow of the Paschal moon, on the night of April 14th, 1870. It is usually argued that the eight old time-hallowed olive-trees cannot reach back to the time of Christ, because Titus cut down the trees all round the city. This argument is not decisive; but still it is more probable that these trees are only the successors and descendants of those which have always given its name to the sacred hill. It is quite certain that Gethsemane must have been near this spot, and the tradition which fixes the site is very old.—Life of Christ, Vol. II., p. 305, 308.
TISCHENDORF.—I found the traditionary locality in perfect harmony with all that we learn from the Evangelists.—Reise in den Orient, I., 312.
Pilate
BISHOP COTTON, D. D.—Pontius Pilate was the sixth Roman procurator of Judea, and under him our Lord labored, and suffered, and died, as we learn, not only from the obvious Scriptural authorities, but also from Tacitus. He was appointed A. D. 26.—Smith's Dict. of Bible, p. 2527.
JOSEPHUS. —Gratus went back to Rome, after he had tarried in Judea eleven' years, when Pontius Pilate came as his successor.—Antiq., lib. xviii., c. 2, § 2.
TACITUS. —In the reign of Tiberius, Christ suffered capital punishment by order of the procurator Pontius Pilate.—Ann., 15, 44
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—Of Pilate's origin, and of his antecedents before A. D. 26, when he became the 6th procurator of Judea, but little is known. In rank he belonged to the ordo equester, and he owed his appointment to the influence of Sejanus.—Life of Christ, II., 360.
Remorse of Judas
Matt. 27:3,43Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. (Matthew 27:3‑4).—Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.
TACITUS. —The crime committed, at once its enormity becomes apparent.—Ann., XIV 10.
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—There is in a great crime an awfully illuminating power. It lights up the theater of the conscience with an unnatural glare, and, expelling the twilight glamour of self-interest, shows the actions and motives in their full and true aspect. In Judas, as in so many thousands before and since, this opening of the eyes which follows the consummation of an awful sin to which many other sins have led, drove him from remorse to despair, from despair to madness, from madness to suicide.— Life of Christ, II., 357
I have betrayed the innocent blood.
BISHOP PORTEUS.—Judas was the constant companion of our Savior's ministry, and witness to everything he did or said. If there had been any plan concerted to impose a false religion on the world, Judas must have been in the secret. His testimony is invaluable, because it is the testimony of an unwilling witness; the testimony, not of a friend, but of an enemy.—Lectures on Matthew.
ROBERT HALDANE.—The greatest enemy, with a choice of means for detection of fraud and collusion, could not have pointed out anything better calculated to suit his purpose, than the/ placing of Judas among the apostles. It was a remarkable provision made by the Lord, for increasing, to the highest point, the value of the testimony of the twelve apostles. He, like them, although in a different way, sealed his testimony with his blood.—Evidence of Divine Revelation.
And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.
DR. F. W. FARRAR.—Did he expect them to console his remorseful agony, to share the blame of his guilt, to excuse and console him with their lofty dignity? In guilt there is no possibility for mutual respect, no basis for any feeling but mutual abhorrence.—Life of Christ, II., 358.
Pilate's Wife's Dream
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—Dreams were occasionally considered as indications of the Divine will, and among the Romans and Greeks as well as the Jews, great reliance was placed on them.— Note, In loco.
HORACE.—After midnight, when dreams are true.—Sat. I., 10, 31.
OVID.—Just before sun-rise—the time in which they were wont to have dreams that proved true.— Her., XIX., 195.
Pilate Washing His Hands
JOSEPHUS.—(Jewish mobs, as we may learn from Josephus, often proved both dangerous and abusive.) “They came about Pilate's tribunal, and made a clamor at it."—" Many myriads of the people got together, and made a clamor against him, and insisted that he should leave off that design. Some of them also used reproaches, and abused the man (Pilate), as crowds of such people usually do.... So he bade the Jews go away, but they, boldly casting reproaches upon him, etc.—Jewish Wars, 2, 9, 4; and Antiq., 18, 3, 2.
He took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person, see ye to it.
PLUTARCH.—Cataline having killed Marcus Marius, brought his head to Sylla as he sat upon his tribunal in the forum, and then washed his hands in the lustral water at the door of Apollo's temple.— Sull., c. 32.
His Blood Be on Us
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—And now mark, for one moment, the revenges of History. Has not his blood been on them, and on their children? Has it not fallen most of all on those most nearly concerned in that deep tragedy? Before the dread sacrifice was consummated, Judas died in the horrors of a loathsome suicide. Caiaphas was deposed the year following. Herod died in infamy and exile. Stripped of his procuratorship very shortly afterward, on the very charges he had tried by a wicked concession to avoid (on the trial of Jesus), Pilate, wearied out with misfortunes, died in suicide and banishment, leaving behind him an execrated name. The house of Annas was destroyed a generation later by an infuriated mob, and his son was dragged through the streets, and scourged and beaten to his place of murder. Some of those who shared in and witnessed the scenes of that day—and thousands of their children—also shared in and witnessed the long horrors of that siege of Jerusalem which stands unparalleled in history for its unutterable fearfulness. "It seems," says Renan," as though the whole race had appointed a rendezvous for extermination. "They had shouted," We have no king but Caesar! " and they had no king but Cæsar; and leaving only for a time the fantastic shadow of a local and contemptible royalty, Caesar after Caesar outraged, and tyrannized, and pillaged, and oppressed them, till at last they rose in wild revolt against the Caesar whom they had claimed, and a Caesar slaked in the blood of its best defenders the red ashes of their burnt and desecrated Temples. They had forced the Romans to crucify their Christ, and though they regarded this punishment with especial horror, they and their children were themselves crucified in myriads by the Romans outside of their own walls, till room was wanting and wood failed, and soldiers had to ransack a fertile inventiveness of cruelty for fresh methods of inflicting this insulting form of death. They had given thirty pieces of silver for their Savior's blood, and they were themselves sold in thousands for yet smaller sums. They had chosen Bar-Abbas in preference to their Messiah, and for them there has been no Messiah more, while a murderer's dagger swayed the last counsels of their dying nationality. They had accepted the guilt of blood, and the last pages of their history were glued together with the rivers of their blood, and that blood continued to be shed in wanton cruelties from age to age. They who will, may see in incidents like these the mere unmeaning chances of History; but there is in History nothing unmeaning to one who regards it as the Voice of God speaking among the destinies of men; and whether a man sees any significance or not in events like these, he must be blind indeed who does not see that when the murder of Christ was consummated, the ax was laid at the root of the barren tree of Jewish nationality. Since that day Jerusalem and its environs, with their " ever-extending miles of grave-stones and ever-lengthening pavement of tombs and sepulchers," have become little more than one vast cemetery—an Aceldama, a field of blood, a potter's field to bury strangers in. Like the mark of Cain upon the forehead of their race, the guilt of that blood has seemed to cling to them—as it ever must until that same blood effaceth it.—Life of Christ, Vol. II., p. 388-391.
Jesus Scourged
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D.—The punishment of crucifixion properly commenced with scourging, after the criminal had been stripped; hence in the common form of sentence we find "summore, lictor, despolia, verbera," etc. For this there are a host of authorities. It was inflicted not with the comparatively mild virgœ, but the more terrible flagellum, which was not used by the Jews. Into these scourges the soldiers often stuck nails, pieces of bone, etc., to heighten the pain, which was often so intense that the sufferer died under it.—Smith's Dict. of the Bible, p. 513.
LUCIAN.—In my opinion he ought to be crucified, having been first scourged. —Piscat., c. 2.
LIVY.—Some, who had been ringleaders of the conspiracy at Etruria, the Praetor scourged with rods, and then crucified.—Livy, b. 33, c. 36.
QUINTUS CURTIUS.—Alexander commanded Arimazes, with all his family, to be scourged, and then crucified.—Q. Curt., lib. vii., c. ix.
JOSEPHUS.—They also caught many of the quiet people, and brought them. before Florus, whom he first chastised with stripes, and then crucified. —Jewish Wars, 2, 14, 9.
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—He delivered Jesus over to be scourged. The Greek word used for the scourging implies that it was done, not with rods, for Pilate had no lictors, but with what Horace calls the “horrible flagellum," of which the Russian knout is the only modern representative. It was a punishment so truly horrible, that the mind revolts at it. The unhappy sufferer was publicly stripped, was tied by the hands in a bent position to a pillar, and then, on the tense, quivering nerves of the naked back, the blows were inflicted with leathern thongs, weighted with jagged edges of bone and lead; sometimes even the blows fell by accident—sometimes, with terrible barbarity, were purposely struck—on the face and eyes. It was a, punishment so hideous that, under its lacerating agony, the victim generally fainted, often died; still more frequently a man was sent away to perish under the mortification and nervous exhaustion which ensued.—Life of Christ, II., p. 379.
HORACE. —To be cut by the horrible scourge.—Sat., III.,
IDEM. —He was beaten to death with the flagellum.—Sat., II., 41.
Jesus Mocked
Matt. 27:27-3027Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. 28And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. 29And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! 30And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. (Matthew 27:27‑30).—Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it on his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee bee him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.
REV. F. W. FARRAR, D. D., F. R. S.—Among the Romans, insult and derision were the customary preliminaries to the last agony. The" et pereuntibus addita ludibria" of Tacitus (Ann. 15, 44) might stand for their general practice.—Life of Christ, II., p. 380.
JOSEPHUS.—SO they were first whipped, and then tormented with all sorts of tortures, before they died, and were then crucified before the wall of the city.—Jewish Wars, 5, II, I.
Jesus Bearing His Cross
DR. ADAM CLARKE.—In John (19:16, 17) we are told Christ himself bore the cross, and this he did for a part of the way; but being exhausted with the scourging and other cruel usage which he had received, he was found incapable of bearing it alone; therefore they obliged Simon, not I think to bear it entirely, but to assist Christ by bearing a part of it. It was a constant practice among the Romans to oblige criminals to bear their cross to the place of execution: insomuch that Plutarch makes use of it as an illustration of the misery of vice: " Every kind of wickedness produces its own particular torment, just as every malefactor, when he is brought forth to execution, carries his own cross." —Note, In loco.
DR. F. W. FARRAR.—When the cross had been prepared they laid it upon his shoulders, and led him to the place of punishment. To one enfeebled by the horrible severity of the previous scourging, the carrying of such a burden would be an additional misery. But Jesus was enfeebled not only by this cruelty, but by previous days of violent struggle and agitation, by an evening of deep and overwhelming emotion, by a night of sleepless anxiety and suffering, by the mental agony of the garden, by three trials and three sentences of death before the Jews, by long and exhausting scenes in the Prætorium, by examination before Herod, and by the brutal and painful derision which He had undergone, first at the hands of the Sanhedrim and their servants, then from Herod's bodyguard, and lastly from the Roman cohort. All these, superadded to the sickening lacerations of the scourging, had utterly broken down His physical strength. His tottering footsteps, if not His actual falls under that fearful load, made it evident that He lacked the physical strength to carry it from the Prætorium to Golgotha. Even if they did not pity His feebleness, the Roman soldiers would naturally object to the consequent hindrance and delay. But they found an easy method to solve the difficulty. They had not proceeded farther than the city gate, when they met a man coming from the country, who was known to the early Christians as "Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus;" and perhaps, on some hint from the accompanying Jews that Simon sympathized with the teaching of the Sufferer, they impressed him without the least scruple into their odious service.—Life of Christ, II., 394
EPICTETUS.—It appears from the writings of this author that for Roman soldiers to impress people to assist them, or to carry burdens for them, was no uncommon thing.—See Dissert., IV., I.
Jesus Refusing Vinegar Mingled With Gall
DR. ADAM CLARKE.—It was a common custom among the Jews to administer a stupefying potion, compounded of sour wine, frankincense and myrrh, to condemned persons, to alleviate their sufferings, or to render them insensible to them. The Rabbins say that they put a grain of frankincense into a cup of strong wine. This practice was founded on Prov. 31:66Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. (Proverbs 31:6), " Give strong drink to him who is ready to perish, and wine to him who is bitter of soul," because he is just going to suffer the punishment of death. Some person, out of kindness, administered this to our blessed Lord; but he refused it, determined to endure the fullness of pain, and to tread the winepress alone.—Note, In loco.
DR. F. W. FARRAR.—It had been the custom of wealthy ladies in Jerusalem to provide this stupefying potion at their own expense, and they did so quite irrespectively of their sympathy for any individual criminal. It was probably taken freely by the two malefactors; but when they offered it to Jesus, He would not take it. The refusal was an act of sublimest heroism. The effect of the draft was to dull the nerves, to cloud the intellect, to provide an anesthetic against some part, at least, of the lingering agonies of that dreadful death. But He, whom some modern skeptics have been base enough to accuse of feminine feebleness and cowardly despair, preferred rather "to look Death in the face"—to meet the king of terrors without striving to deaden the force of one agonizing anticipation, or to still the throbbing of one lacerated nerve.—Life of Christ, II., 400.
Jesus Crucified
TACITUS.—The founder of the Christian name was Christ, one who, in the reign of Tiberius, suffered death as a criminal under Pontius Pilate, imperial procurator of Judea; and for a while the pestilent superstition was quelled, but revived again and spread, not only over Judea, where this evil was first broached, but even through Rome.—Ann., lib. xv., c. 44.
LUCIAN.—These people worship the famous man who was crucified in Palestine for having introduced new mysteries into the world.—De Mort. Pereg., c. II.
And parted his garments, casting lots.
DR. F. W. FARRAR.—Arrived at the place of execution, the sufferer was stripped naked (Artemid. Oneirocr, II., 58); the garments being the perquisites of the soldiers who performed the disagreeable work (Dig. XLVIII., 20, 6).—Smith's Diet, of the Bible, p. 514.
Jesus Watched Upon the Cross
DR. F. W. FARRAR.—Our Lord, having been crucified, was watched, according to custom, by a party of four soldiers, whose express office was to prevent the surreption of the body. But for this guard, the persons might have been taken down and recovered, as was actually done in the case of a friend of Josephus.—Smith's Dict. of Bible, p. 554.
Jesus' Accusation
DR. ADAM CLARKE.—It was a common custom to affix a label to the cross, giving a statement of the crime for which the person suffered. This is still the case in China, when a person is crucified. Sometimes a man was employed to carry this before the criminal, while going to the place of punishment.—Note, In loco.
SUETONIUS.—A label hanging from his neck before his breast, signifying the cause of his punishment. Calig., c. 32.
IDEM.—Domitian ordered him to be dragged from the benches into the arena, and exposed to the dogs, with this label upon him, "A Parmularian guilty of talking impiously."—Dom., c. so.
See also Eusebius, V., 5, and Plutarch, Cleom., c. 39.
Jesus Reviled
JUVENAL.—How does the mob of Remus behave? Why follow fortune, as mobs always do, and hate him that is condemned.—Sat., X., 72.
Jesus' Divinity Confessed
LORD BYRON.—If ever man was God or God man, Jesus Christ was both.— Quoted in Keith's Demonst., p. 317.
ROUSSEAU.—What prepossession, what blindness must it be, to compare (Socrates) the son of Sophroniscus to (Jesus) the Son of Mary! What an infinite disproportion there is between them! Socrates dying without pain or ignominy, easily supported his character to the last; and if his death, however easy, had not crowned his life, it might have been doubted whether Socrates, with all his wisdom, was anything more than a vain sophist. He invented, it is said, the theory of morals. Others, however, before had put them in practice; he had only to say, therefore, what they had done, and to reduce their example to precept. But where could Jesus learn, among his competitors, that pure and sublime morality of which he only hath given us both precept and example? The death of Socrates, peaceably philosophizing with his friends, appears the most agreeable that could be wished for; that of Jesus, expiring in the midst of agonizing pains, abused, insulted, and accused by a whole nation, is the most horrible that could be feared. Socrates, in receiving the cup of poison, blessed the weeping executioner who administered it; but Jesus, in the midst of excruciating tortures, prayed for his merciless tormentors. Yes! if the life and death of Socrates were those of a sage, the life and death of Jesus were those of a God. —Emelius, Vol. II., p. 218.
Jesus' Grave Guarded
Matt. 27:65, 6665Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. 66So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch. (Matthew 27:65‑66).—Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went, and made the sepulcher sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.
PONTIUS PILATE.—The ancient Romans were particularly careful to preserve the memory of all remarkable events which happened in the city; and this was done either in their Acts of the Senate (Acta Senatûs), or in the Daily Acts of the People (Acta Diurna Populi), which were diligently made and kept at Rome. In like manner, it was customary for the governors of provinces to send to the emperor an account of remarkable transactions that occurred in the places where they resided, which were preserved as the Acts of their respective governments. In conformity with this usage, Pilate kept memoirs of the Jewish affairs during his Procuratorship, which were called Acta Pilati. Referring to this usage, Eusebius says: " Our Savior's resurrection being much talked of throughout Palestine, PILATE informed the Emperor of it, as likewise of his miracles, of which he had heard; and that, being raised up after he had been put to death, he was already believed by many to be a God." These accounts were never published for general perusal, but were deposited among the archives of the empire, where they served as a fund of information to historians. Hence we find long before the time of Eusebius, that the primitive Christians, in their disputes with the Gentiles, appealed to these Acts of Pilate as to most undoubted testimony. Thus, Justin Martyr, in his first apology for the Christians, which was presented to the Emperor Antoninus Pius and the Senate of Rome, about the year 140, having mentioned the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and some of its attendant circumstances, adds: "And that these things were so done, you may know from the Acts made in the time of PONTIUS PILATE." Afterward, in the same apology, having noticed some of our Lord's miracles, such as healing diseases and raising the dead, he says: "And that these things were done by him, you may know from the ACTS made in the time of PONTIUS PILATE." The learned Tertullian, in his Apology for Christianity, about the year zoo, after speaking of our Savior's crucifixion and resurrection, and his appearance to the disciples, and ascension into heaven in the sight of the same disciples, who were ordained by him to publish the Gospel over the world, thus proceeds: "Of all these things relating to Christ, PILATE himself, in his conscience already a Christian, SENT AN ACCOUNT to Tiberius the Emperor." And again, in another connection, he says: "Search your own PUBLIC DOCUMENTS, and you will there find that Nero was the first who raged with the imperial sword against this Sect, when rising most at Rome."—These testimonies of Justin and Tertullian are taken from public Apologies for the Christian Religion, which were presented either to the emperor and senate of Rome, or to magistrates of public authority and great distinction in the Roman Empire. Now it is incredible that such writers would have made such appeals, especially to the very persons in whose custody these Documents were, had they not been fully satisfied of their existence and contents.—Horne's Introduction, p. 81.
Jesus Risen
Matt. 28:8, 98And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word. 9And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. (Matthew 28:8‑9).—And they departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet and worshipped him.
JOSEPHUS. —Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was (the) Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.—Antq., XVIII., 3, 3.
M. RENAN. —This accomplished French skeptic allows that Matthew wrote the Gospel which bears his name; that he was an eye-witness and an ear-witness of what he records, or had very direct means of knowing the truth of it. He concedes all this on the internal credibility of the narrative, and on the authority of Papias, who wrote early in the second century, and of a chain of succeeding writers, who quote or refer to the Gospel. He is specially fond of insisting that Matthew preserved the discourses of our Lord—" he deserves, evidently, a confidence without limit for the discourses; " and, in particular, he grants that the parables, as being one narrative, could not be altered, and that we have them as our Lord delivered them.... I find that there are about 971 verses in Matthew's Gospel, and Renan refers to no fewer than 791 of these as giving an accurate account of the sayings or doings of our Lord. With the remaining verses he is not pleased, and contrives to dispense with them.—Dr. McCosh's Positivism, p. 225, 232.