THE
LIFE OF CHRIST
BY
FREDERIC W. FARRAR,
D.D., F.R.S.
Illustrations by
GUSTAVE DORE AND
OTHERS
Digitized by Ted Hildebrandt,
with help from Amber Bensing,
Apurva
Thanju and Nick Ware, Gordon College 2007
PREFACE.
IN fulfilling a task so difficult
and so important as that of writing
the
Life of Christ, I feel it to be a duty to state the causes which led
me
to undertake it, and the principles which have guided me in carry-
ing
it to a conclusion.
1. It has long been the desire and
aim of the publishers of this
work
to spread as widely as possible the blessings of knowledge; and,
in
special furtherance of this design, they wished to place in the hands
of
their readers such a sketch of the Life of Christ on earth as should
enable
them to realize it more clearly, and to enter more thoroughly
into
the details and sequence of the Gospel narratives. They there-
fore
applied originally to an eminent theologian, who accepted the
proposal,
but whose elevation to the Episcopate prevented him from
carrying
it out.
Under these circumstances
application was made to me, and I could
not
at first but shrink from a labor for which I felt that the amplest
leisure
of a lifetime would be insufficient, and powers incomparably
greater
than my own would still be utterly inadequate. But the con-
siderations
that were urged upon me came no doubt with additional
force
from the deep interest with which, from the first, I contem-
plated
the design. I consented to make the effort, knowing that I
could
at least promise to do my best, and believing that he who does
the
best he can, and also seeks the blessing of God upon his labors,
cannot
finally and wholly fail.
And I have reason to be thankful
that I originally entered upon the
task,
and, in spite of all obstacles, have still persevered in it. If the
following
pages in any measure fulfil the
objects with which such a
2 PREFACE.
Life
ought to be written, they should fill the minds of those who read
them
with solemn and not ignoble thoughts ; they should " add sun-
light
to daylight by making the happy happier;" they should encour-
age
the toiler ; they should console the sorrowful ; they should point
the
weak to the one true source of moral strength. But whether this
book
be thus blessed to high ends, or whether it be received with
harshness
and indifference, nothing at least can rob me of the deep
and
constant happiness which I have felt during almost every hour
that
has been spent upon it. Though, owing to serious and absorb-
ing
duties, months have often passed without my finding an oppor-
tunity
to write a single line, yet, even in the midst of incessant labor
at
other things, nothing forbade that the subject on which I was
engaged
should be often in my thoughts, or that I should find in it a
source
of peace and happiness different, alike in kind and in degree,
from
any which other interests could either give or take away.
2. After I had in some small measure
prepared myself for the
task,
I seized, in the year 1870, the earliest possible opportunity to
visit
identified
with the work of Christ on earth. Amid those scenes
wherein
He moved—in the
* *
* " holy fields
.
Over whose acres walked those
blessed feet
Which, eighteen hundred years ago,
were nailed
For our advantage, on the bitter
cross" —
in
the midst of those immemorial customs which recalled at every
turn
the manner of life He lived—at
Olives,
at
along
the bright strand of the
with
a reality and vividness unknown before. I returned more than
ever
confirmed in the wish to tell the full story of the Gospels in
such
a manner and with such illustrations as—with the aid of all
that
was within my reach of that knowledge which has been accu-
mulating
for centuries—might serve to enable at least the simple
and
the unlearned to understand and enter into the human surround-
ings
of the life of the Son of God.
PREFACE. 3
3. But, while I say this to save the
book from being judged by a
false
standard, and with reference to ends which it was never intended
to
accomplish, it would be mere affectation to deny that I have hoped
to
furnish much which even learned readers may value. Though
the
following pages do not pretend to be exhaustive or specially
erudite,
they yet contain much that men of the highest learning have
thought
or ascertained. The books which I have consulted include
the
researches of divines who have had the privilege of devoting to
this
subject, and often to some small fragment of it, the best years
of
laborious and uninterrupted lives. No one, I hope, could have
reaped,
however feebly, among such harvests, without garnering at
least
something, which must have its value for the professed theolo-
gian
as well as for the unlearned. And because I believed—and
indeed
most earnestly hoped— that this book might be acceptable to
many
of my brother-clergymen, I have admitted into the notes some
quotations
and references which will be comparatively valueless to
the
ordinary reader. But, with this double aim in view, I have tried
to
avoid "moving as in a strange diagonal," and have never wholly
lost
sight of the fact that I had to work with no higher object than
that.
thousands, who have even fewer opportunities than myself,
might
be the better enabled to react that one Book, beside which
even
the best and profoundest treatises are nothing better than poor
and
stammering fragments of imperfect commentary.
4. It is perhaps yet more important
to add that this Life of
Christ
is avowedly and unconditionally the work of a believer.
Those
who expect to find in it new theories about the divine person-
ality
of Jesus, or brilliant combinations of mythic cloud tinged by
the
sunset imagination of some decadept belief, will look in vain.
It
has not been written with any direct. and special reference to the
attacks
of sceptical criticism. It is not even intended to deal other-
wise
than indirectly with the serious doubts of those who, almost
against
their will, think themselves forced to lapse into a state of '
honest
disbelief. I may indeed venture to hope that such readers, if
they
follow me with no unkindly spirit through these pages, may
here
and there find considerations of real weight and importance,
which
will solve imaginary difficulties and supply an answer to real
objections.
Although this book is not mainly controversial, and would,
4 PREFACE.
had
it been intended as a contribution to polemical literature, have
been
written in a very different manner, I do not believe that it will
prove
wholly valueless to any honest doubter who reads it in a can-
did
and uncontemptuous spirit. Hundreds of critics, for instance,
have
impugned the authority of the Gospels on the score of the real
or
supposed contradictions to be found in them. I am of course
familiar
with such objections, which may be found in all sorts of
books,
from Strauss's Leben Jesu and Renan's
Vie de Jesus, down
to
Sir R. Hanson's Jesus of History, and
the English Life of Jesus,
by
Mr. Thomas Scott. But, while I have never consciously evaded
a
distinct and formidable difficulty, I have constantly endeavored to
show
by the mere silent course of the narrative itself 'that many of
these
objections are by no means insuperable, and that many more
are
unfairly captious or altogether fantastic.
5. If there are questions wider and
deeper than the minutia of
criticism,
into which I have not fully and directly entered, it is not
either
from having neglected to weigh the arguments respecting
them,
or from any unwillingness to state the reasons why, in common
with
tens of thousands who are abler and wiser than myself, I can
still
say respecting every fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith,
MANET
IMMOTA FIDES.1 Writing as a believer to believers, as a Chris-
tian
to Christians, surely, after nearly nineteen centuries of Chris-
tianity,
any one may be allowed to rest a fact of the Life of Jesus on
the
testimony of
authenticity
of the Fourth Gospel; or may narrate one of the Gospel
miracles
without deeming it necessary to answer all the arguments
which
have been urged against the possibility of the supernatural.
After
the long labors, the powerful reasoning, and the perfect his-
torical
candor with which this subject has been treated by a host of
apologists,
it is surely as needless as it is impossible to lay again, on
every
possible occasion, the very lowest foundations of our faith. As
regards
and
briefest summary of some of the evidence which to me still
seems
adequate to prove that he was the author of the Gospel which
passes
by his name,* and minuter indications tending to strengthen
* See pp. 128, 129, passim.
PREFACE. 5
that
conviction will be found scattered throughout the book. It
would
indeed be hypocrisy in me to say with Ewald that "every
argument, from every
quarter to which we can look, every trace and
record, combine together to
render any serious doubt upon the ques-
tion
absolutely impossible ; " but I do say that, after the fairest and
fullest
consideration which I have been able to give to a question
beset
with difficulties, the arguments in favor of the Johannine
authorship
seem to me to be immensely preponderant.
Nor have I left the subject of the
credibility of miracles and the
general
authenticity of the Gospel narratives entirely untouched,
although
there was the less need for my entering fully upon those
questions
in the following pages from my having already stated
elsewhere,
to the best of my 'ability, the grounds of my belief.
The
same remark. applies to the yet more solemn truth of the
Divinity
of Christ. That—not indeed as surrounded with all the
recondite
inquiries about the perixw<rhsij2 or comrmunicatio
idiomatum,3 the
hypostatic union, the abstract impeccability, and
such
scholastic formulae, but in its broad scriptural simplicity— was
the
subject of the Hulsean Lectures before the
bridge
in the year 1870. In those lectures I endeavored to sketch
what
has ever seemed to my mind the most convincing external evi-
dence
of our faith, namely, "The Witness
of History to Christ."
Those
who have rejected the creed of the Church in this particular,
approach
the subject from a totally opposite point to our own. They
read
the earlier chapters of St. Luke and St. Matthew, and openly
marvel
that any mind can believe what to them appears to be palpa-
ble
mythology; or they hear the story of one of Christ's miracles of
power—
the walking on the
wine
— and scarcely conceal their insinuated misgiving as to honesty
of
those who can accept such narratives as true. Doubtless we
should
share their convictions in these respects, if we approached the
subject
in the same spirit and by the same avenues. To show that
we
do not and why we do not so approach
it, is — incidentally at
least
— one of the objects of this book.
The sceptic — and let me here say at
once that I hope to use no
single
word of anger or denunciation against a scepticism which I
6 PREFACE.
know
to be in many cases perfectly honest and self-sacrificingly
noble
— approaches the examination of the question from a point of
view
the very opposite to that of the believer. He looks at the
majestic
order and apparently unbroken uniformity of Law, until
the
Universe becomes to him but the result mechanically evolved
from
tendencies at once irreversible and self-originated. To us such
a
conception is wholly inconceivable. Law to us involves the neces-
sity
of postulating ai Law-giver, and "Nature," which we only use
as
an unscientific and imaginative synonym for the sum total of
observed
phenomena, involves in our conceptions the Divine Power
of
whose energy it is but the visible translucence. We believe that
the
God and Creator of "Nature" has made Himself known to us,
if
not by a primitive intuition, at any rate by immediate revelation
to
our hearts and cpnsciences. And therefore such narratives as
those
to which I have alluded are not nakedly and singly presented
to
us in all their unsupported and startling difficulty. To us they
are
but incidental items in a faith which lies at the very bases of our
being—they
are but fragments of that great whole which comprises
all
that is divine and mysterious and supernatural in the two great
words,
Christianity and Christendom. And hence, though we no
longer
prominently urge the miracles of Christ as the proofs of our
religion,
yet, on the other hand, we cannot regard then as stumbling-
blocks
in the path of an historical belief. We study the sacred books
of
all the great religions of the world ; we see the effect exercised by
those
religions on the minds of their votaries ; and in spite of all the
truths
which even the worst of them enshrined, we watch the failure
of
them al.l to produce the inestimable blessings which we have our-
selves
enjoyed from infancy, which we treasure as dearly as our life,.
and
which we regard as solely due to the spread and establishment
of
the faith we hold. We read the systems and treatises of ancient
philosophy,
and in spite of all the great and noble elements in which
they
abound, we see their total incapacity to console, or support, or
deliver,
or regenerate the world. Then we see the light of Chris-
tianity
dawning like a tender dayspring amid the universal and
intolerable
darkness. From the first, that new religion allies itself
with
the world's utter feeblenesses, and those feeblenesses it shares;
PREFACE. 7
yet
without wealth, without learning, without genius, without arms,
without
anything to dazzle and attract — the religion of outcasts and
exiles,
of fugitives and prisoners—numbering among its earliest
converts
not many wise, not many noble, not many mighty, but such
as
the gaoler of Philippi, and the runaway slave of
no
blessing apparently upon it save such as cometh from above—
with
no light whatever about it save the light that comes from
heaven—it
puts to flight kings and their armies; it breathes a new
life,
and a new hope, and a new and unknown holiness into a guilty
and
decrepit world. This we see ; and we see the work grow, and
increase,
and become more and more irresistible, and spread "with
the
gentleness of a sea that caresses the shore it covers." And
seeing
this, we recall the faithful principle of the wise and tolerant
Rabbi,
uttered more than 1,800 years ago —"If this counsel or
this
work be of men, it will come to nought; but if it be of God,
ye
cannot overthrow it, lest haply ye be found to fight against
God."1
And when we have thus been led to
see and to believe that the
only
religion in the world which has established the ideal of a per-
fect
holiness, and rendered common the attainment of that ideal, has
received
in conspicuous measure the blessing of God, we examine its
truths
with ,t deeper reverence. The record of these truths—the
record
of that teaching which made them familiar to the world — we
find
in the Gospel narrative. And that narrative reveals to us much
more.
It not only furnishes us with an adequate reason for the
existence
and for the triumphs of the faith we hold, but it also brings
home
to us truths which affect our hearts and intellects no less power-
fully
than "the starry heavens above and the moral law within."
Taught
to regard ourselves as children of God, and common brothers
in
his great family of man, we find in the Gospels a revelation of
God
in His Son which enables us to know Him more, and to trust
Him
more absolutely, and to serve Him more faithfully, than all
which
we can find in all the other books of God, whether in Scrip-
ture,
or history, or the experience of life, or those unseen messages
which
God has written on every individual heart. And finding that
1 Acts v. 38. 39.
8 PREFACE.
this
revelation has been recorded by honest men in narratives which,
however
fragmentary, appear to stand the test of history, and to
bear
on the face of them every mark of transparent simplicity
and
perfect truthfulness- prepared for the reception of these glad
tidings
of God's love in man's redemption by the facts of the
world
without, and the experiences of the heart within-we thus
cease
to find any overwhelming difficulty in the record that He
whom
we believe to have been the Son of God—He who alone
has
displayed on earth the transcendent miracle of a sinless life—
should
have walked on the
wine.
And when we thus accept the truth of
the miracles they become to
us
moral lessons of the profoundest value. In considering the mira-
cles
of Jesus we stand in a wholly different position to the earlier
disciples.
To them the evidence of the miracles lent an overwhelm-
ing
force to the teachings of the Lord ; they were as the seal of God
to
the proclamation of the new kingdom. But to us who, for nine-
teen
centuries, have been children of that kingdom, such evidence is
needless.
To the Apostles they were the credentials of Christ's
mission;
to us they are but fresh revelations of His will. To us
they
are works rather than signs, revelations rather than portents.
Their
historical importance lies for us in the fact that without them
it
would be impossible to account for the origin. and spread of Chris-
tianity.
We appeal to them not to prove the truth of Christianity,
but
to illustrate its dissemination: But though to us Christianity
rests
on the basis of a Divine approval far more convincing than the
display
of supernatural power — though to us the providence which
for
these two millenniums has ruled the destinies of Christendom is
a
miracle far more stupendous in its evidential force than the raising
of
the dead or the enlightenment of the blind—yet a belief in these
miracles
enables us to solve problems which would otherwise be
insolvable,
as well as to embrace moral conceptions which would
otherwise
have found no illustration. To one who rejects them— to
one
who believes that the loftiest morals and the divinest piety which
mankind
has ever seen were evoked by a religion which rested on
PREFACE.
9
errors
or on lies — the world's history must remain, It seems to me, a
hopeless
enigma or a revolting fraud.1
6. Referring to another part of the
subject, I ought to say I do
not
regard as possible any final harmony of the Gospels. Against
any
harmony which can be devised some plausible objection could
be
urged. On this subject no two writers have ever been exactly
agreed,
and this alone is sufficient to prove that the Gospel notices of
chronology
are too incomplete to render certainty attainable. I have,
of
course, touched directly, as well as indirectly, on such questions as
the
length of the ministry ; and wherever the narrative required some
clear
and strong reason for adopting one view rather than another on
some
highly disputed point — such., for instance, as the Feast alluded
to
in John v. 1 — I have treated the question as fully as was consist-
ent
with brevity, and endeavored to put the reader in possession of
the
main facts and arguments on which the decision rests. But it
would
have been equally unprofitable and idle to encumber my pages
with
endless controversy on collateral topics which, besides being
dreary
and needless, are such as admit of no final settlement. In
deciding
upon a particular sequence of events, we can only say that
such
a sequence appears to us a probable
one, not by any means that
we
regard it as certain. In every instance I have carefully examined
the
evidence for myself, often compressing into a few lines, or even
1 "Que
la philosophic' est ingénieuse et profoude Bans ses conjectures!" writes
De
Lamennais its his scornful style. "Comme les événemeus qui
paraissaient les
plus extraordinaires, deviennent simple dès qu'elle
daigne 1esi~ expliquer! Vous
ue concevez pas clue le Christianisme se soft propagé
naturellement: elle va vous
le faire comprendre. Les Apôtres out dit, ‘Nous vous annoncons
1'Évanigile an
nom de l'Éternel, et vous devez nous croire, car nous
soutntes doués du pouvoir
miraculeux. Nous rendons la santé aux malades, aux. perch
s l'usage de leurs
membres, la vue aux aveugles, l’ouie aux sourds, la vie
aux marts.' A ce discours
le peuple est account de toutes parts, pour être témoin
des miracles promis avec
tant de confiance. Les malades n'ont point été gueris,
les perclus n'ont point
marché, les aveugles n'ont point vu, les sourds n'ont point
entendu, les molls n'ont
point ressuscité. Alois, transporté d'aumiration, Is
peuple est tombé aux pieds
des Apôtres, et s'est écrié, ‘Ceux-ci sent manifestement
les envoyés de Dieu, les
ministres de sa puissance!' et sur le champbrisant ses
idoles, il a quitté le culte
des plaisirs pour le cuite de la croix; it a renoncé à
ses habitudes, à ses préjuiés,
ses passions ; it a réformé ses moeurs et embrassé la pénitence;
les riches out
vendu leurs biens, pour on distribuer he prix aux
indigens, et tons out préféré les
plus horribles tortures et une snort inf«ute aux remords
d'abandonner une religion
qui leur était si solidement prouvée." (Ess. sus l'Indifférence,
iv. 458.) 4
10 PREFACE.
into
an incidental allusion, the results of a long inquiry. To some
extent
I agree with Stier and Lange in the order of events which
they
have adopted, and in this respect, as well as for my first insight
into
the character of several scenes (acknowledged in their place), I
am
perhaps more indebted to the elaborate work of Lange than to
any
others who have written on the same subject. When an author
is
writing from the results of independent thought on the sum total
of
impressions formed during a course of study, it is not always pos-
sible
to acknowledge specific obligations ; but Whenever I was con-
sciously
indebted to others, I have, throughoi'it the book, referred
especially
to Ewald, Neander, Schenkel, Strauss, Rase, Sepp, Stier,
Ebrard,
Wieseler, Hofmann, Beim, Caspari, Ullmann, Delitzsch, De
Pressense,
Wallon, Dupanloup, Capecelatro, Ellicott, Young, An-
drews,
Wordsworth, Alford, and many others, as well as to older
writers
like Bonaventura and Jeremy Taylor. I have also to
acknowledge
the assistance which Y have gained from the writings
of
Dean Stanley, Canons Lightfoot and Westcott, Professor Plumptre,
Dr.
Ginsburg, Mr. Grove, and the authors of articles in the Encyclo-
pmdias
of Ersch and Grube, Herzog, Zeller, Winer, and Dr. W.
Smith.
Incidental lights have of course been caught from various
archEeological
treatises, as well as works of ^geography and travel,
from
the old Itineraries and Beland down to Dr. Thomson's Land
and Book, and Mr. Hepworth
Dixon's
7. It is needless to add that this
book is almost wholly founded on
an
independent study of the four Gospels side by side. In quoting
from
them I have constantly and intentionally diverged from the
English
version, because my main object has been to bring out and
explain
the scenes as they are described by the original witnesses.
The
minuter details of those scenes, and therewith the accuracy of
our
reproduction of them, depend in no small degree upon the discov-
ery
of the true reading, and the delicate observance of the true usage
of
words, particles, and tenses. It must not 'be supposed for a mo-
ment
that I oiler these translations— which are not unfrequently
paraphrases
— as preferable to those of the English version, but only
that,
consistently with the objects which I had in view, I have aimed
at
representing with more rigid accuracy the force and meaning of
PREFACE. 11
the
true text in the original Greek. It will be seen, too, that I have
endeavored
to glean in illustration all that is valuable or trustworthy
in
Josephus, in the Apocryphal Gospels, and in traditional particu-
lars
derived from the writings of the Fathers.
8. Some readers will perhaps be
surprised by the frequency of the
allusions
to Jewish literature. Without embarking on "the sea of
the
Talmud" (as the Rabbis themselves call it) — a task which would
require
a lifetime — a modern reader may find not only the amplest
materials,
but probably all the materials it can
offer for the illustra-
tion
of the Gospel history, in the writings not of Christians only, but
also
of learned and candid Rabbis. Not only in the well-known
treatises
of Lightfoot, Schöttgen, Surenhuys, Wagenseil, Buxtorf,
Otho,
Reland, Budeus, Gfrörer, Herzfeld, McCaul, Etheridge, but
also
in those of Jews by birth or religion, or both, like Geiger,
Jost,
Grätz, Derenbourg, Munk, Frankl, Deutsch, Raphall, Schwab,
Cohen,
any one may find large quotations from the original authori-
ties
collected as well by adversaries as by reverent and admiring stu-
dents.
Further, he may read the entire Mishua (if he have the time
and
patience to do so) in the Latin version of Surenhusius, and may
now
form his judgment respecting large and important treatises even
of
the Gemara, from such translations as the French one of the Bera-
choth
by M. Moïse Schwab. I have myself consulted all the author-
ities
here named, and have gained from them much information
which
seems to me eminently useful. Their researches have thrown
a
flood of light on some parts of the Gospels, and have led me to
some
conclusions which, so far as I am aware, are new. I have,
indeed,
in the second Excursus of the Appendix, shown that nothing
of
the slightest importance can be gleaned from the Talmudists
about
our Lord Himself. The real value of the Rabbinic writings
in
illustrating the Gospels is indirect, not direct — archeological, not
controversial.
The light which they throw on the fidelity of the
Evangelists
is all the more valuable because it is derived from a
source
so unsuspected and so hostile.1
9. If in any part of this book I
have appeared to sin against the
1 I take this opportunity
of saying that the reader will not find in the following
pages
any one rigid or uniform system of transliteration
of Hebrew words into
English.
This is due to the fact that, in most instances, my references to the
12 PREFACE.
divine
law of charity, I must here ask pardon for it. But at least I
may
say that whatever trace of asperity may be found in any page
of
it, has never been directed against men, but against principles, or
only
against those men or classes of men in long-past ages whom we
solely
regard as the representatives of principles. It is possible that
this
book may fall into the hands of some Jewish readers, and to
these
particularly I would wish this remark to be addressed. I have
reason
to believe that the Jewish race have long since learnt to look
with
love and reverence on Him whom their fathers rejected; nay,
more,
that many of them, convinced by the irrefragable logic of his-
tory,
have openly acknowledged that He was indeed their promised
Messiah,
although they still reject the belief in His divinity. I see,
in
the writings of many Jews, a clear conviction that Jesus, to whom
they
have quite ceased to apply the terms of hatred found in the
Talmud,
was at any rate the greatest religious Teacher, the highest
and,
noblest Prophet whom their race produced. They, therefore,
would
be the last to defend that greatest crime in history—the Cru-
cifixion
of the Son of God. And while no Christian ever dreams
of
visiting upon them the horror due to the sin of their ancestors,
so
no Jew will charge the Christians of to-day with looking with
any
feeling but that of simple abhorrence on the long, cruel, and
infamous
persecutions to which the ignorance and brutality of past
ages
have subjected their great and noble race. .W e may humbly
believe
that the day is fast approaching when He whom the Jews
crucified,
and whose divine revelations the Christians have so often
and
so grievously disgraced, will break down the middle wall of
partition
between them, and make both races one in religion, in
heart,
and life — Semite and Aryan, Jew and Gentile, united to bless
and
to evangelize the world.
Talmud
have been derived from the numerous sources mentioned in the above
paragraphs,
and in referring such passages to the author who is responsible for
their
accuracy, I have generally adopted his mode of spelling. Scripture navies
I
have mostly left in the form in which they occur in our English version ; and
in
many terms that have acquired,a common currency, like Mishna, Gemara, Tal-
mud,
&c., I have left the words in the shape most usually adopted. Besides these
sources
of difference there may doubtless be others "quas aut incuria fudit aut
humana
parum cavit natura."5 For these errors, where they occur, as
well as for
all
others, I must ask the indulgence of the candid reader, who will appreciate
the
difficulties of a task accomplished under conditions far from favorable.
PREFACE. 13
10. One task alone remains—the
pleasant task of thanking those
friends
to whose ready aid and sympathy I owe so much, and who
have
surrounded with happy memories and obligations the comple-
tion
of my work. First and foremost, my heartiest and sincerest
thanks
are due to my friends, Mr. C. J. Monro, late Fellow of
Museum.
They have given me an amount of time and attention
which
leaves me most largely indebted to their unselfish generosity;
and
I have made claims on their indulgence more extensive than I
can
adequately repay. To my old pupil, Mr. H. J. Boyd, late scholar
of
tents.
I have also to thank the Rev. Professor Plumptre and Mr.
George
Grove not only for the warm interest which they have taken
in
my work, but also for some valuable suggestions. There are many
others,
not here named, who will believe, without any assurance from
me,
that I am not ungrateful for the help which they have rendered;
and
I must especially offer my best acknowledgments to the Rev. T.
would
not have been undertaken — and to those who with so much
care
and patience have conducted it through the press.
And now I send these pages forth not
knowing what shall befall
them,
but with the earnest prayer that they may be blessed to aid
the
cause of truth and righteousness, and that He in whose name
they
are written may, of Its mercy,
" Forgive them where they fail
in truth,
And in His wisdom make
me wise."
F.
W. F.
THE
LODGE,
Monday
before Easter, 1874.
LIST OF
AUTHORITIES.
The
following (without any attempt at completeness in the list) are some of the
books
and
editions frequently referred to in this work: --
|
Akerman, Numism. Illustr. of the New Testament. Alford, Greek Testament. Second Edi- tion. Andrews, Bible Student's Life of our Lord. Bengel, Gnomon. Second Edition. Tu- bingen, 1759. Bible Educator, The. Edition, 1850. Bonaventura,
Vita Christi. Browne, H., Ordo Saeclorum. 1844. Browning,
R., A Death in the Desert. Bruce, Training of the Twelve. Budaeus, Philosoph. Hebraeorum. 1720. Buxtorf, Lexicon Talmudicum. ________. Synag. Judaica. Basle, 1661. Capecelatro, La
Vita di Gesu Cristo. Napoli,
1868. Caspari, Chronologische-Geographisehe
Einleitung in das Leben Jesu. Hamburg,
1869. Cohen, Les
Deieides. E. Tr. London, 1872. Cowper, B. H., The
Apocryphal Gospels. Davidson, Introd. to New Testament. 2 vols. Delitzsch,
F., Jesus und Hillel. Erlan- gen,
1867. De Pressense, Jesus
Christ. Derenbourg, L'Hist.
et la Georg, de in Palestine d'apres les Thalmuds. Paris,
1867. De Saulcy, Inst.
d'Herode. Deutsch, Literary Remains [The Tal- mud, &c.]. 2 vols. Döllinger, The Jew and the Gentile. E. Tr. 2 vols. _____ The First Age of the Church. Second
Edition. London, 1867. Dupanloup, Hist.
de Notre Sauveur Jesus
Christ. Ebrard, Gospel History. Edinb., 1869. Ecce Homo. 1867. Ellicott,
Bishop, Historical Lectures on the
Life of our Lord Jesus Christ. Fifth Edition. Etheridge, Introduction to Hebrew Liter- ature. |
Ewald, Geschichte Christ us and seiner Zeit
(Gesell. des Volker V.).
Dritte Ausgabe.
Göttingen, 1867. Frankl, The Jews in the East. E. Tr. Gaussen, Theopneustia. E. Tr. Lon- don, 1866. Gfrörer, Das Jahrhundert des Heils. Stuttgard,1838. Glass, Philologia Sacra. 1694. Graetz, Geschichte des Juden. Guder, König Herodes der Grosse. Guizot, Meditations
sur l'Esprit de Chris- tianisme. Hanna, Dr., Life of Jesus. 1869. Hanson, Sir
R., The Jesus of History, Hase, Leben Jesu. Fünfte Auflage. Hervey,
Rev. Lord A., (Bishop of and Wells), The Genealogies of. Our
Lord. Herzfeld, Geschichte des Volkes Herzog, Encyclopcedia. E. Tr. Ed. Bomberger, 1860. Hilgenfeld,
Messia Judaeorum. 1869. Hofmann, Das Leben Jesu nach den Apo- kryphen. Jahn, 1828. _______. Archaeologia Biblica. Third Edi- tion. E. Tr. Oxford, 1836. Josephus, Antiquitates Judaicae, Bel- turn Judaicum, Vita Contra Apionem. Edit. Richter, 1826, and Whiston's Translation. Jost, Geschichte des Judenthums. Judged by His Words. Kelm, Geschichte Jesu von Nazara. Zu- rich, 1867. Kitto, Biblical Cyclopaedia. Third Edi- tion. Lange, Leben Jesu. E. Tr. 6 vols. Lightfoot, Horae Hebraicae. Cantab., 1658. Lightfoot, The Revision of the New Tes- tament. Lynch, Exploration of the |
LIST OF
AUTHORITIES.
15
|
Madden, History of Jewish Coinage. Maurice, Unity of the New Testament. McCaul, The Old Paths. McGregor, The Rob Roy on the Messiah, The. Mill, Mythical Interpretation of the Gos- pels. Milman, History of Christianity. Monod, Adolphe, Enfance
de Jesus. Munk, Meander, The Life of Jesus Christ. E. Tr. 1869. Otho, Lexicon Rabbinicuin. Pearson, On the Creed. Twenty-first Edition.
London, 1839. Perrone, Joan, De D. N. Jesu Christi Dicinitate. Plumptre, Christ and Christendom. Boyle Lectures. Porter, J. L.,
Handbook for Raphall, History of the Jews. Reland, Antiq. Hebraicai. Ed. 3. 1717. _________. Analecta Rabbinica 1711. Renan, Vie de Jesus. 13me ed. Paris, 1867. _________. L'Antechrist.
Paris, 1873. Robinson, Biblical
Researches. Boston, 1856. Salvador, J., Jesus Christ et sa Doctrine. Two vols. Sanday, The Authorship and Historical Character
of the Fourth Gospel. Schenkel, Character of Jesus, E. Tr. Schleusner,
Lex. Nov. Testamenti. Third Edition. Schöttgen,
Horae Hebraicae. 1733. Scott, English Life of Jesus. Scrivener, Introduction to the Criticism of
the New Testament. 1861. Sepp, Das Leben Jesu. 1852–62 |
Smith, Dictionary of the Bible. 1860. 1866. Stier, R., Reden Jesu. 8 vols. E. Tr. Strauss, Leben Jesu; and A New Life of Jesus. E. Tr. London, 1865. Surenhusius,
Mischna. 6 vols., fol. Am- sterdam, 1700. Thomson, The Land and the Book. New Tischendorf,
Synopsis Evangelica. Ed. Tert. Trench, On the Miracles. Ninth Edition, 1870. _______. On the Parables. Tenth Edition, 1866. _______. Sermon on the Mount. _______. Studies in the Gospels. Turpic, The Old Testament in the New. Ullmann, Die Sündlosigkeit Jesu. 1863. 7th Aufl. ________. Historisch, oder Mythisch? 2te
Ault Waehner's Antiq. Hebraieae. 2 vols. Göttingen, 1712 Wageniseil,
Tela Ignea Satanae. 2 vols. Altdorf,
1801. Wallon, H., Vie de Notre Seigneur Jesus Christ. Westcott, Introduction to the Study of the
Gospels. Third
Edition, 1867. _______. Characteristics of the Gospel Mira- cles. _______. Gospel of the Resurrection. Lon- don 1860. Wieseler, Synopsis of the Four Gospels. B. Tr. Cambridge, 1861. Williams, The Nativity. Winer, Rethworterbuch. ________. Grammar of the New Testament. E. Tr. Sixth Edition, 1866. Wordsworth
Bishop, The Four Gospels Seventh Edition. Young, The Christ of History. |
LIST OF
ILLUSTRATIONS
Frederic
William Farrar Frontispiece
Map
of
The
Nativity 40
A
Star Over
The
Massacre of the Innocents 60
He
Grew As Other Children Grow 70
The
Shadow of the Cross 74
Phylacteries
94
Early
Greek Writing 94
Jesus
and the Woman of
Stilling
the Tempest 258
Healing
the Sick 346
Bust
of Vespasian 434
Mary
Anointing the Feet of Jesus 494
Pray
That Your Flight Be Not On the Sabbath Day 502
The
"Desolation" of
The
Jesus
Crowned With Thorns 626
The
Death of Jesus 652
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE NATIVITY.
PAGE.
The
Fields of the Shepherds.—An Eastern Khan.—The
—The Enrolment.—Joseph and
Mary.—"No room for them in the
the Shepherds.-Fancy and Reality.—
Contrast of the Gospels and the
Apocrypha 31
CHAPTER II.
THE PRESENTATION IN
Four
Circumstances of the Infancy.— Order of Events.--The Circumcision.—
The name Jesus.—The Presentation in
the Temple.— Simeon.— Anna 43
CHAPTER III.
THE VISIT OF THE MAGI.
Importance
of the Epiphany.— Herod the Great.— " Magi."— Traditions.—
Causes of their Journey.— General
Expectation of the World.— The Star
in the East.— Astronomical
Conjectures of Kepler, &c. — Evanescent
Stars.— Gifts of the Magi 43
CHAPTER
IV.
THE FLIGHT INTO
Departure
of the Magi. -- Legends of the Flight into Egypt.— Massacre of the
innocents.— Its Historical
Credibility.— Character of Herod the Great.—
Silence of Josephus.—Death and
Burial of Herod the Great,— The Spell
of the Herodiau Dominion broken.—
Accession of Archelans.— Settle-
ment in
CHAPTER
V.
THE BOYHOOD
or JESUS.
Geography
of Palestine.— Galilee.— Nazareth.— Reticence of the Evangelists.
—Truthfulness of the
Gospels.—Contrasted with Apocryphal Legends.
— Life of Galilaean Peasants.—
Imagination and Fact..— "He shall be
called a Nazarene." 67
18 CONTENTS
CHAPTER VI.
JESUS IN THE
PAGE.
Jesus
Twelve years old.— Journey from
the Way.— Numbers of Passover
Pilgrims.—Jesus missing from the
Caravan.— The Search.— Rabbis in the
Temple.— "Hearing them and
asking them questions."—
"Why did ye seek Me?—"They understood
not."— Submissiveness. 77
CHAPTER VII.
THE HOME AT
The
Carpenter."— Dignity of Poverty.— Dignity of Toil.— The Common
Lot.-- Wisdom better than
Knowledge.— Originality.— The Language
spoken by Jesus.— The Books of God.—
Jesus in His Home.—Work and
Example of those
Years.—Peacefulness.—"The brethren of the Lord."
—Solitude.—The Hill-top at
Nazareth.—Plain of Esdraelon.—Central-
ity of
CHAPTER VIII.
THE BAPTISM
OF JOHN.
Characteristics
of the Age.—Darkness deepest before Dawn.—Asceticism.—
John the Baptist.—His Character.—His
Teaching.--His Audience.—
Scene of His Teaching.— His
Message.— Bearing of John in the Pres-
ence of Jesus.— Why Jesus was
baptized.— Recognition as the Messiah. 103
CHAPTER IX.
THE
TEMPTATION.
Quarantania.—"
With the wild beasts."— " Forty days. The Moment of
Exhaustion.—Reality of the
Temptation.—" Tempted like as we are."—
Fasting.— LapidesJudaici. —The First
Temptation.-- Subtlety of it.—
"Not by bread alone." —
The Suggested Doubt.—The Order of the
Temptations.— The
The Splendid Offer.—The Roman
Emperor.—The Victory 113
CHAPTER X.
THE FIRST
APOSTLES.
Appearance and Personal Ascendency
of Jesus.— Philip.— Nathanael.
— " Come and see." "
Under the fig-tree."— " Angels ascending and
descending." 127
CHAPTER XI.
THE FIRST
MIRACLE.
"On
the third day."— An
Answer to the Virgin.— The Miracle.—
Characteristics of this and other
Miracles.
141
CONTENTS. 19
CHAPTER
XII.
THE SCENE OF THE MINISTRY.
PAGE.
Contrast
between the
nesareth.— Character of the
Scenery.— Its Present Desolation and Past
Populousness — Prophecy of Isaiah.
—Centrality. — Christ's Teaching
there.— Site of Capernaum 150
CHAPTER
XIII.
JESUS AT
THE PASSOVER.
Visit
to Jerusalem.--Purification of the Temple.— State of the Court of the
Gentiles. — Crowd of Traders.—
Indignation of Jesus. —Why they did
not dare to resist.-- Question of
the Rulers. —"Destroy this temple."
Impression made by the Words.—Their
deep Significance.—Extent to
which they were understood 157
CHAPTER XIV.
NICODEMUS.
Talmudic Allusions to Nicodemus. — His
Character.— Indirectness of his
Questions. —Discourse of Jesus.--His
Disciples Baptize.—Continued
Baptism of John.-- AEnon, near
Salim.—Complaint of John's Disciples.
Noble and Sad Reply 160
CHAPTER
XV.
THE WOMAN
OF
Retirement
of Jesus to
Scene. -- Conversation with the
Woman. -
Revelation of Messiahship. — Return
of Disciples. — The Fields White
unto Harvest. — Believing Samaritans
172
CHAPTER
XVI.
REJECTED BY THE
NAZARENES.
Sequence
of Events.-- A perfect “Harmony" impossible.— A Prophet in
his own Country. — A Jewish
Synagogue. Nature of the Service.
Sermon of Jesus.-- Change of Feeling
in the (Audience.— Their Fury.
Escape of Jesus-- Finally leaves
CHAPTER
XVII.
THE BEGINNING OF TILE GALILEAN
MINISTRY.
Thie
Courtier's Entreaty.— His Faith.-- Sequence of Events. —
the Synoptists.— Jesus stays at
Capernaum.—His First Sabbath there.—
Preaches in the Synagogue. -- The
Demoniac. — Peter's Mother-in-law.—
The Evening. —Eagerness of the
Multitude.— His Privacy invaded.—
Preaches from the Boat. — Call of
Peter, James, and John. — "Depart
from me."— Publicans. — The
Publican Apostle 189
20 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE TWELVE, AND THE SERMON ON
THE MOUNT.
PAGE.
A
Night of Prayer. — Selection of the Twelve. — Conjectures respecting
them. — James and John. — Peter.—Kûrn
Hatton. — Contrast with Moses
on Sinai.— Beatitudes.— Sketch of
the Sermon on the Mount.—" Not as
the Scribes." — Authority. —
Christ and other Masters. — Perfection. —
Beauty and Simplicity 202
CHAPTER XIX.
FURTHER
MIRACLES.
A
man full of Leprosy. — Violation of the Letter. — Why was Publicity for-
bidden? — Deputation of Batlanim. —
Message of the Centurion. — Pres-
sure of the Ministry.— The
Interfering Kinsmen 219
CHAPTER XX.
JESUS AT NAIN.
Nain.—A
Funeral.—The Widow’s Son Raised.—Message from John the
Baptist.—Overclouding of his
Faith.—How accounted for.—Machaerus.
--God’s Trial of His
Servants.—Answer of Jesus.—Splendid Eulogy of
John.—“The least in the kingdom of
heaven” 227
CHAPTER XXI.
THE SINNER AND THE
PHARISEE.
Simon
the Pharisee. — Jewish Customs at Meals. — The Weeping Woman.—
Simon's Disgust.— Answer of Jesus.—
Parable of the Debtors.— Cold
Courtesy of Simon.—Pardoning of
Sins.—Was it Mary of Magdala? - 235
CHAPTER
XXII.
JESUS AS HE
LIVED IN
A
Scene in
Poverty—of Toil—of Health— of Sorrow
—and yet of Holy Joy 242
CHAPTER XXIII.
A GREAT DAY IN THE
LIFE OF JESUS.
Order
of Events. — Teaching from the Boat. — Parables. -- Parable of the
Sower.— Other Parables.—Effect
Produced.— Urgent Desire for Rest.—
The
manner of Man is this?" --
Miracles.— Gergesa.— The Naked Demoniac
from the Tombs. —" Thy
name." — Loss of the Swine. -- Alarm of the
Gadarenes.— Their Request.—Request
of the Demoniac 252
CHAPTER
XXIV.
THE DAY OF
MATTHEW'S FEAST.
Return
to
forgiven thee." —Feast in
Matthew's House.— Scorn of the Pharisees.—
Question about Fasting.—'lie New
Wine and the Old 268
CONTENTS. 21
CHAPTER XXV.
THE DAY OF MATTHEW'S
FEAST (continued).
PAGE.
Jairus.—
The Woman with the Issue.— The Touch of Faith.—Message to
Jairus.— The Hired Mourners.—
Raising of Jairus's Daughter.— The
Blind Men.— They disobey Christ's
Injunction. - 274
CHAPTER
XXVI.
A VISIT
TO
Phases
of the Ministry.--Mission of the Twelve.— Their Instructions.— A
Feast of the Jews.— Arrangement of
St. John.—Days of Jewish Feasts.
— Nature of the Purim Feast.— Reason
for Christ's Presence. 279
CHAPTER
XXVII.
THE MIRACLE AT
Pool
of Bethesda.— Interpolated Verse.--Healing of the Impotent Man.—
Jealous Questioning.--
Sabbath-breaking.— The Man's Meanness.—Anger
of the Rulers.— Answer of Jesus.—
Dangerous Results. 286
CHAPTER
XXVIII.
THE MURDER OF JOHN
THE BAPTIST.
Return
to Galilee.— Herod Antipas.—Herodias.—Consequences of the Adul-
terous Marriage.— Credulity and
Unbelief.— The Banquet.— Salome.—
Her Request.— Murder of the Baptist.
— Herod's Remorse.— He inquires
about Jesus.— Ultimate Fate of
Herod. 295
CHAPTER
XXIX.
THE
FEEDING OF THE FIVE THOUSAND, AND WALKING ON THE SEA.
of the Multitude.— Dismissal of the
Disciples.— Jesus alone on the
Mountain.— The Disciples alone in
the Storm.—" It is I."— Peter's Bold-
ness and Failure.— Nature of the
Miracle. 305
CHAPTER
XXX.
THE DISCOURSE AT
Astonished
Query of the Multitude.—Reproof of Jesus.—They ask for a
Sign.— His Answer.— The Bread of
Life.— Their Dull Materialism.—
Their Displeasure.-- Abandonment of
Jesus.— Sad Question to the Dis-
ciples.— Answer of Peter.— Warning
to Judas. 314
CHAPTER
XXXI.
GATHERING
OPPOSITION.
Gathering
Clouds.--1. "Thy sins be forgiven thee." 2. " A gluttonous
man and a winebibber." 3.
"Thy disciples fast not." 4. "With pub-
licans and
sinners."—"Mercy, not sacrifice."—The Prodigal Son.—
Religionism and Religion.—5. Charges
of violating the Sabbath.—Jew-
ish Traditions.—Abhôth and Tôlduth.--i.
In the Corn-fields.-- Analogy
of David's Conduct.--" No
Sabbatismn in the temple."— Incident in the
22
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Codex
Bezae.— ii. The Stone-mason with the Withered Hand.—Good or
Evil on the Sabbath? — The Objectors
foiled.— Unwashen Hands.—
Jewish Ablutions.—"Your
tradition."—The Oral Law.— Hagadôth. and
Halachoth.—"That which cometh
from within."— Evil Thoughts 322
CHAPTER XXXII.
DEEPENING
OPPOSITION.
Agitations
of the Life of Jesus.—Prayer at Dawn.—The Lord's Prayer.—
Parable of the Importunate
Friend.—Lights and Shadows of the Life of
Jesus.— The Blind and Dumb
Demoniac.-- Exorcism.-- Slander of the
Scribes.—Beelzebub.—Answer of
Jesus.—Warning against Light Words.
—Who are truly blessed?
—"Master, we would see a sign." -- Sign of
the Prophet Jonah.— Interference of
His Kinsmen 342
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE
DAY OF CONFLICT.
Alone
with Pharisees at the Midday Meal.— Unwashen Hands.— Reproof
of Jesus.— The Lawyers included in
the Reproof.— Spurious Civility.—
Open Rupture.—Danger of Jesus.—He
goes out to the Multitude.—
Denunciation of Hypocrisy.— Foolish
Appeal.— The Parable of the Rich
Fool.--Peter's Question.—Jesus
troubled in Spirit. 351
CHAPTER
XXXIV.
AMONG THE HEATHEN.
The
Region of Tyre and Sydon.—The Syro-phoenician Woman.—Her Peti-
tion apparently rejected.— Her
exalted Faith.— Her Faith rewarded.—
Heathen Lands.— Return to
Decapolis.— Deaf and Dumb
phatha "— Reception by the
Multitudes.— Feeding of the Four Thousand 358
CHAPTER
XXXV.
THE
GREAT CONFESSION.
Reception
of Jesus on His return to
Demand of a Sign.— Reproof and
Refusal.— Sadness of Jesus. — He sails
away. -- The Prophetic Woe. — Leaven
of the Pharisees and of Herod.—
Literal Misinterpretation of the
Apostles. — Healing of a Blind Man at
Questions.— "Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the Living God." — The
Rock. -- Foundation of the Church. —
Misinterpretations. -- Warnings
about His Death — Rash Presumption
of Peter. —"Get thee behind me,
Satan."—The Worth of the Human
Soul.—" The Son of Man coming in
His Kingdom" 364
CHAPTER XXXVI.
THE
TRANSFIGURATION.
The
Mountain.— Not Tabor, but Hermon.—The Vision.— Moses and Elias.—
Bewildered Words of Peter. — The
Voice from Heaven. — Fading of the
Vision.-- The New Elias 380
CONTENTS.
23
CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE DEMONIAC BOY. PAGE.
The
Contrast.—The Disciples and the Scribes. —Arrival of Jesus.— The
Demoniac Boy. Emotion of
Jesus.—Anguish of the father. — "If thou
must"— The Deliverance,— Power
of Faith to remove Mountains. —
Secluded Return of Jesus. — Sad
Warnings.—Dispute which should be
the Greatest. — The Little Child.—
John's Question. — Offending Christ's
Little Ones.— The Unforgiving Debtor 386
CHAPTER
XXXVIII.
A BRIEF
REST IN
The
Jesus puts the Question in its true
light. — The Stater in the Fish's
Mouth. — Peculiar Characteristics of
this Miracle 392
CHAPTER XXXIX.
JESUS AT THE FEAST
OF TABERNACLES.
Observances
of the Feast of Tabernacles. — Presumption of the Brethren of
Jesus.— "I go not up yet unto
this feast."—Eager Questions of the
Multitude. — Their differing
Opinions.— Jesus appears in the
His reproachful Question.—"Thou
Last a devil."—Appeal to His Works.
— Indignation of the Sanhedrin. — Observances
of the Last Day of the
Feast.--"The joy of the drawing
of water."—"Rivers of Living Water."
—Divided Opinions.—"Never man
spake like this
pellation of Nicodemus.—Answering
Taunt of the Pharisees 396
CHAPTER XL.
THE WOMAN TAKEN IN
ADULTERY.
Question
as to the Genuineness of the Narrative. — The Evidence on both
sides.—Jesus at the Mount of
Olives.— Returns at Dawn to the
— Hilarity of 'the Feast. --
Immorality of the Age. — The Water of
Jealousy. — Base Cruelty of the
Pharisees. — The Woman dragged into
the Temple.—"What sayest
That?"—Subtlety of the Assault.—Writing
on the Floor. — ''Him that is
without sin among you." — Conscience-
stricken. — Misery left alone with
Mercy. —"Go, and sin no more." —
Absolute Calm less of Jesus under
all Attacks. — Eighth Day of the
Feast. — The great Candelabra. — The
Light of the World. — Agitating
Discussions with the Jews.—A burst
of Fury.—Jesus leaves the
CHAPTER XLI.
THE
MAN BORN BLIND.
Jewish
Notion of Nemesis.—"Which did sin?" —"Go wash in the Pool of
Siloam." -- On the Sabbath
Day.-- The Man examined by the Sanhedrin
—A sturdy Nature.—Perplexity of the
Sanhedrists.—"We know that
this man is a sinner."—
Blandishments and Threats.— The Man Excom-
municated.—Jesus and the
Outcast.--True and False Shepherds 419
24
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XLII.
FAREWELL
TO
The
Interval between the Feasts of Tabernacles and Dedication. — Great
Episode in St. Luke. — Character of
the Episode. — Mission of the
Seventy. — News of the Galilaeans
massacred by Pilate. — Teachings
founded on the Event. — Stern
Warnings. — The Barren Fig-tree. — The
Pharisees' Plot to hasten His Departure.
— "Go and tell this fox." —
Herod Antipas.—Jesus sets
forth.—Farewell to the Scene of His Minis-
try. — Fate that fell on the Galilaeans.—
Jesus exults in Spirit. — "Come
unto me all ye that labor."—
Noble Joy 425
CHAPTER XLIII.
INCIDENTS
OF THE JOURNEY.
Possible
Routes. — The Village of En-gannim. — Churlishness of the Samari-
tans. — Passion of the Sons of
Thunder. — Gentle Rebuke of Jesus. —
Counting the Cost.—Perma.—The Ten
Lepers.—Thanklessness.—"Where
are the nine?" 436
CHAPTER XLIV.
TEACHINGS
OF THE JOURNEY.
Sabbatical
Disputes. — Foolish Ruler of the Synagogue. --Healing of the
Bowed Woman.— Argumentum ad hominem.
— Ignorant Sabbatarianism.
—Religious Espionage.— The Man with
the Dropsy.— Question of Jesus.
—Silence of Obstinacy.—The Man
Healed.—Self sufficiency of the Phari-
sees. — Struggles for Precedence. —
A Vague Platitude.— Parable of the
King's Marriage-feast.—The Unjust
Steward.— Avarice of the Pharisees.
—Their Sycophancy to Herod.—The Rich
Man and Lazarus.—"Are there
few that be saved?"— "What
must I do to obtain Eternal Life?"— The
Good Samaritan. — Return of the
Seventy. — The Love of Publicans and
Sinners. — The Parable of the
Prodigal Son. — Solemn Warnings. —
"Where, Lord?"—The Eagles
and the Carcass
CHAPTER XLV.
THE FEAST
OF DEDICATION.
The
House at
Chantlkkah. - Solomon's Porch. —
Reminiscence of the Feast. — Jesus
suddenly surrounded. —" How
long dost thou hold us in suspense?" —
No Political Messiah.—" I and
My Father are one."—They seek to stone
Him. — Appeal of Jesus to His Life
and Works. — He retires to
beyond
CHAPTER XLVI.
THE LAST
STAY IN PERAEA.
Question
about Divorce. — Importance of the Question. — Hillel and Shammai.
--Dispute as to the meaning of
Ervath Dabhar. --Lax Interpretations.—
Both Schools wrong. — Simple
solution of the question. — Permission of
CONTENTS. 25
PAGE.
Divorce by Moses only
temporary.--Corruption of the Age. — Teachings
of Jesus about Moral Purity. --Celibacy
and Marriage. — Jesus blesses
Little Children.-- The eager Young
Buler.—" Good Master."—" What
must I do? "—An heroic
Mandate.-- "The Great Refusal."—Discourage-
ment of the Disciples. — Hundredfold
Rewards. — The Laborers in the
Vineyard 467
CHAPTER XLVII.
THE
RAISING OF LAZARUS.
Message
to Jesus. — Two Days' Delay. —"Let us also go that we may die
with Him —He approaches Bethany.—Martha
meets him.—"The Resur-
rection and the Life."—Mary's
Agony.—Deep Emotion of Jesus.— Scene
at the Grave. — "Lazarus, come
forth." — Silence of the Synoptists.—
Meeting at the House of C'aiaphas. —
His wicked Policy. -- The Fiat of
Death.— Retirement to Ephraim 477
CHAPTER XLVIII.
Pilgrim-caravans.
— Jesus on his way.-- Revelation of the Crowning Horror.
— The Sons of Zebedee. — The Cup and
the Baptism. — Humility before
Honor.—Jericho.—Bartintleus.--
Zacclneus.— His Repentance. — Parable
of the Pounds. --- Events which
suggested it. — Arrival at
"Simon the Leper." —
Intentional Reticence of the Sy noptists. — Mary's
Offering. —Inward Rage of Judas.
—Blessing of Mary by Jesus.—" For
my burying." — Interview of the
Traitor with the Priests 486
CHAPTER XLIX
PALM SUNDAY.
Excitement
of Expectation. — Three Roads to
Ass's Colt.—A humble Triumph.
--Hosanna!—Turn of the Read.—The
ment of the Woe. — The Two
Processions. — Indignation of ithe Phari-
sees. — "Who is this?" —
Jesus once more cleanses the
Hosannas of the Children.
--"Have ye never read?" — The Greeks
who desired an Interview. — Abgarus
V. — Discourse of Jesus. — Voice
from Heaven. — The Day closes in
Sadness. — Bivouac on tIut Mount of
Olives 498
CHAPTER L.
MONDAY IN PASSION
WEEK.—A DAY OF PARABLES.
Jesus
Hungers.—The Deceptive Fig.—Hopelessly Barren.— Criticisms on the
Miracle. —Right View of it. —
Deputation of the Priests. —"Who gave
thee this authority?"
—Counter-question of Jesus.-- The Priests reduced
to Silence. — Parable of the Two
Sons. — Parable of the Rebellious
Husbandmen. —The Rejected
Corner-stone. —Parable of the Marriage
of the King's Son. — Machinations of
the Pharisees 510
26 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER LI.
THE
DAY OF TEMPTATIONS.—THE LAST AND GREATEST DAY OF THE
PUBLIC
MINISTRY OF JESUS. PAGE.
The
Withered Fig-tree. — Power of Faith. — Plot of the Herodians. Its
Dangerous Character.—The Tribute
Money.—Divine and Ready Wisdom
of the Reply of Jesus.— Attempt of
the Sadducees. — A poor Question of
Casuistry.— The Sevenfold
Widow—"As the Angels of God." — "The
God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob." — Implicit Teaching of Immortality 520
CHAPTER LII.
THE GREAT
DENUNCIATION.
"Master,
thou has well said." — "Which is the great commandment?" —
Answer of the Rabbis. — Answer of
Jesus. — "Not far from the kingdom
of heaven."— Question of Jesus
to the Scribes.— David's Son and David's
Lord. — Their Failure to Answer.-.
The Final Rupture. —"Woe unto
you, Scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites I "— The Voice which broke in
Tears. —"O
The Denunciation Fulfilled 528
CHAPTER LIII.
FAREWELL
TO THE
A
happier Incident. — The poor Widow. -- True Almsgiving. — Splendor of
the
Olives.--"When shall these
things be?"— The great Eschatological Dis-
course. — The Two Horizons. —
Difficulties of the Discourse, and mode of
meeting them. — What must come
before the Final End. — The Immedi-
ate Future. — Warning Signs. —
Parable of the Fig-tree — of the Ten
Virgins — of the Talents. - After
Two Days. — Last Evening Walk to
CHAPTER LIV.
THE BEGINNING OF THE END.
Meeting
of Conspirators in the
Judas demands an Interview. — Thirty
pieces of Silver. — Motives of
Judas. —" Satan entered into
Judas."— The Wednesday passed in Retire-
ment. — Last Sleep of Jesus on Earth
548
CHAPTER
THE
LAST SUPPER.
“Green
Thursday.”— Preparations for the Meal. — The Upper Room. — Dis-
pute about Precedence. — Jesus
washes the Disciples' Feet. — Peter's
Surprise and Submission. -- "Ye
are clean, but not all." — Teaching about
Humility. — Troubled in Spirit.
—" One of you shall betray me." —"Lord,
is it I?" —Peter makes a sign
to John. — Giving of the Sop. —"Rabbi,
is it I?"—"He went out,
and it was night." — Revived Joy of the Feast.
— Institution of the Lord's Supper 554
CONTENTS.
27
CHAPTER
LVI.
THE
LAST DISCOURSE. PAGE.
{t
Now is the Son of Mart glorified."—" Little Children." — The New
Coin-
mandment.
—" Lord, whither goest Thou ?"— Warning to Peter. —
"Lord,
here are two swords."— Consolations. —" IIow can we know the
way?"—"Lord,
show us the Father." — Difficulty of Judas Lebbteus.—
Last
Words before Starting. -- The True Vine. — Plain Teachings. --
Gratitude
of the Disciples. -- Fresh Warnings to them. — The High-
Priestly
Prayer 565
CHAPTER
LVII.
GETHSE\TANE.
— THE AGONY AND THE ARREST.
Walk
through the Moonlight to
pathy.—
The First Struggle with Agony of Soul.—Its Intensity. — The
Bloody
Sweat. — Not due to Dread of Death. —" Simon, sleepest thou ? "—
The
Second Agony. -- The Disciples Sleeping. — The Third Agony and
Final
Victory. — "Sleep on now, and take your rest." — Torches in the
Moonlight.
— Steps taken by Judas. — " Comrade." — The Traitor's Kiss.
—
Jesus Advances. --" Whom seek ye ? "—" I am He." — Terror
of the
Band.
— Historical Parallels. — Jesus Arrested. — Peter's Blow. — " Suffer
ye
thus far." — The Young Man in the Linen Sheet. — Jesus Bound and
Led
away 57:i
CHAPTER
LVIII.
JESUS
BEFORE THE PRIES'T'S AND THE SANHEDRIN.
Asserted
Discrepancies. -- Sixfold Trial. -- " To Annas first." — Hanan, the
High
Priest de jure. -- His Character. -- His Responsibility for the Result.
—
Degradation of the then Sanhedrin. — Pharisees and Sadducees. —
Greater
Cruelty of the Latter. — The Sadducees, the Priestly Party. —
Cause
of their Rage and Hatred. — " The Viper Brood." — Jesus repudi-
ates
the Examination of Hanan. — "Answerest Thou the High Priest so ? "
—Noble
Patience. -- The Second Phase of the Trial. — In the Palace of
Caiaphas.
— Committees of the Sanhedrin. —" Sought false witness "—
Total
failure of the Witnesses. —" Destroy this
Jesus.
— Despair of Caiaphas. — His violent Adjuration.— Reply of Jesus.
—"
Blasphemy." —" Isla maveth" -
. 588
CHAPTER
LIX.
THE
INTERVAL BETWEEN THE TRIALS.
The
First Derision. — The Outer Court. — John procures Admission for Peter.
—
The First Denial. — The Second Denial. — The Galilean Accent. —
The
Third Denial.-- The Look of Jesus. — The Repentanoe of Peter. —
Brutal
Insults of the Menials. — The Dawn. — The Meeting of the
Sanhedrin.
— Their Divisions. — Third Phase of the Trial. — A Contrast
of
two Scenes before the Sanhedrin. — Jesus breaks His Silence. — The
Condemnation.
— The Second Derision. — The Fate of Jesus - -
600
28 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
LX.
JESUS
BEFORE PILATE. PAGE.
"Suffered
under Pontius Pilate." — What is known of Pilate. — First Out-
break of the Jews against him on his
Arrival. —The Aqueduct and
the Corban. — The gilt Votive
Shields.--The Massacre of Galilaeans.—
The Massacre of Samaritans.— The
ace.— Led before Pilate.— Pilate
comes out to the Jews.—1. His Roman
Contemptuousness.-- Determines to
try the Case.—Vagueness of the
Accusations.—"Art Thou the King
of the Jews?"--"What is truth?"
-- First Acquittal.-- 2. Fierceness
of the Jews. — Jesus sent to Herod
Antipas.— Cruel Frivolity of Herod.—
Second Acquittal.— 3. Last Phase
of the Trial.— Temporizing of
Pilate.-- Dream of his Wife.— Cowardly
Concession.—Jesus or Bar-Abbas
?—"Crucify Him."— The Scourging.—
Third Derision.— The Crown of
Thorns.—"Behold the Man!"— Last
efforts of Pilate to save Him.— Last
Warning to Pilate.--" The Son of
God."—"Behold your
King."— Pilate terrified at the name of Caesar.—
He gives way.— He washes his
Hands.—" His blood be on us, and on our
children!"— Fulfilment of the
Imprecation. 611
CHAPTER LXI.
THE
CRUCIFIXION.
"I, miles, expedi crucem."— Two
Malefactors.— The Cross.— Procession to
Golgotha.— Simon of Cyrene.— The
Daughters of Jerusalem.— The
Green and the Dry Tree.-- Site of
Golgotha.— The Medicated Draught.--
The Method of
Crucifixion.—"Father, forgive them."-- Agony of Cruci-
fixion.— The Title on the Cross.—Rage
of the Jews.— The Soldiers.—
Parting the Garments.— Insults of
the Bystanders.— The Robber.—
Silence of the Sufferer.— The
Penitent Robber.—''To-day shalt thou be
with me in
thy son."— The Noonday
Darkness. --"Eli, Eli, lama sabachthaui?"
--"I thirst."—Vinegar to
Drink.—"Into Thy hands."--"It is finished."
The Centurion.—The Multitude.— What
the Cross of Christ has Done.
The Crurifragium.— Water and Blood. 633
CHAPTER LXII.
THE
RESURRECTION.
Utter
apparent Weakness of Christianity at the Death of Christ.— Source of
its subsequent Strength.— Joseph of
Arimathaea.— Nicodemus.— The
Garden and the Sepulchre.— The Women
mark the Spot.— Request of
the Sanhedrin that the Tomb might be
guarded.—The Dawn of Easter Day.
--The Women at the Sepulchre.— The
Empty Tomb.-- Peter and John.
--1. First appearance to Mary of
Magdala.— 2. Appearance to the
Women.— Story Invented by the Jews.—
3. Appearance to Peter.— 4.
The Disciples at Emmaus.—5. The
Assembled Apostles.— 6. The Apos-
tles and Thomas.— 7. At the
my lambs."—" What shall
this man do ? "— 8. The Five Hundred on the
Mountain.--9. Appearance to James.—
10. The Ascension.—" At the
right hand of God, the Father
Almighty." 656
APPENDIX.
PAGE.
EXCURSUS I.
THE
DATE OF' CHRIST'S BIRTH 673
EXCURSUS II.
CHRIST
AND THE CHRISTIANS IN THE TALMUD 675
EXCURSUS
III.
JESUS
AND HILLEL. 676
EXCURSUS
IV.
GREEK
LEARNING. 681
EXCURSUS V.
THE
TALMUD AND THE ORAL LAW 682
EXCURSUS VI.
TRADITIONAL
DESCRIPTION OF' THE APPEARANCE OF O['R LORD 684
EXCURSUS
VII.
JEWISH
ANGELOLOGY AND DEMONOLOGY 685
EXCURSUS
VIII.
THE
UNNAMED FEAST OF JOHN V. 1, AND THE LENGTH OF' THE MINISTRY 686
EXCURSUS
IX.
HYPOCRISY
OF THE PHARISEES 689
EXCURSUS X.
WAS
THE LAST SUPPER AN ACTUAL PASSOVER? 691
EXCURSUS XI.
OLD
TESTAMENT QUOTATIONS 698
EXCURSUS XII.
NOTES
ON THE TALMUD 699
EXCURSUS XIII.
THE
SANHEDRIN 704
EXCURSUS
XIV.
PHARISEES
AND SADDUCEES 706
EXCURSUS
XV.
TRADITIONAL
SAYINGS OF CHRIST 709
THE
LIFE OF CHRIST.
CHAPTER
I.
THE
NATIVITY.
Au]to>j e]nhnqrwphsen
i !na h[mei?j qeopoihqw?men.6--ATHAN., De Incarn., p.
54
(Opp. i. 108).
ONE mile from
of
olives, stands the hare and neglected chapel known by the name
of
"the Angel to the Shepherds." 1 It is built over the
traditional
site
of the fields where, in the beautiful language of St. Luke more
exquisite
than any idyl to Christian ears – "there were shepherds
keeping
watch over their flock by night, when, lo, the angel of the
Lord
came upon them, and the glory of the Lord2 shone round about
them,"
and to their happy ears were uttered the good tidings of great
joy,
that unto them was born that day in the city of David a Saviour,
which
was Christ the Lord.
The associations of our Lord's
nativity were all of the humblest
character,
and the very scenery of His birth place was connected with
memories
of poverty and toil. On that night, indeed, it seemed as
though
the heavens must burst to disclose their radiant minstrelsies;
and
the stars, and the feeding sheep, and the "light and sound in the
1 Angelus ad Pastores." Near this spot once stood a tower called
Migdal
perhaps,
a mere fragment of a church built over the spot by
par,
Chronologisch-Geographische Einleitung,
p. 57.) The prophet Micah (iv. 8;
v.
2) had looked to Migdal Eder with Messianic hopes; and
Hebr.), writing with views
of prophecy which were more current in the ancient
than
in the modern Church, ventures to say "that by its very name it
fore-signi-
ned
by a sort of prophecy the shepherds at the birth of the Lord."
2 By do<ca
Kuri<ou
(Luke ii. 9) is probably meant the Shechinah or cloud of
brightness
which symbolized the Divine presence.
MAP OF ISRAEL 31
32 THE LIFE
OF CHRIST.
darkness
and stillness," and the rapture of faithful hearts, combine to
furnish
us with a picture painted in the colors of heaven. But in the
brief
and thrilling verses of the Evangelist we are not told that those
angel
songs were heard by any except the wakeful shepherds of an
obscure
village; — and those shepherds, amid the chill dews of a
winter
night, were guarding their flocks from the wolf and the rob-
ber,
in fields where Ruth, their Saviour's ancestress, had gleaned, sick
at
heart, amid the alien corn, and David, the despised and youngest
son
of a numerous family, had followed the ewes great with young.1
"And
suddenly," adds the sole Evangelist who has narrated the
circumstances
of that memorable night in which Jesus was born,
amid
the indifference of a world unconscious of its Deliverer, " there
was
with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God,
and
saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among
men
of good will."2
It might have been expected that
Christian piety would have
marked
the spot by splendid memorials, and enshrined the rude
grotto
of the shepherds in the marbles and mosaics of some stately
church.
But, instead of this, the Chapel of the Herald Angel is a
mere
rude crypt; and as the traveller descends down the broken
steps,
which lead from the olive-grove into its dim recess, he can
hardly
persuade himself that he is in a consecrated place. Yet a half
1 Ps. lxxviii. 71.
2Luke ii. 14, e]n
a]nqrw<poij eu]doki<aj: such is the reading of the best MSS.,
x, A, B, D, and some of the best versions, the
Vetus Itala, Vulgate, Gothic, &c.
Moreover,
however dear the other reading may be-to us front long and delightful
association,
this best maintains the obvious poetic parallelism :
Glory to God in the highest,
Peace to men of good will on earth.
By
a]nqrw<poij eu]doki<aj we may perhaps understand with
Valcknaer, "men
with
whom God is pleased." As I shall not unfrequently refer to the text of the
Greek
Testament, I may take this opportunity of telling the ordinary reader that
by
is meant the Codex Sinaiticus, now at
St. Petersburgh, discovered by
Tischendorf
in 1844, and perhaps as old as the fourth century ; by A, the Codex
Alexandrinus in the
by
B, the Codex Vuticanus in the
fourth
century; by C, the Codex Ephraemi, a
palimpsest in the Imperial
Library
at
University
Library at
Codex Basiliensis, about the eighth
century; by F, the Codex Boreeli at
by
L, the Codex Regius Parisiensis, an
accurate and important MS. of the eighth
century.
I shall seldom refer to the readings of any later MSS. A full and con-
venient
account of them may be found in the Rev. F. Scrivener's Plain Introduc-
tion to the Criticism of
the New Testament
(1861), and in the Prolegomena to
Alford's
Greek Testament, i. pp. 83-90.
THE LIFE OF
CHRIST.
33
unconscious
sense of fitness has, perhaps, contributed to this apparent
neglect.
The poverty of the chapel harmonizes well with the humble
toil
of those whose radiant vision it is intended to commemorate.
"Come now! let us go into
has
come to pass, which the Lord made known to us," said the shep-
herds,
when those angel songs had ceased to break the starry silence.
Their
way would lead them up the terraced hill, and through the
moonlit
gardens of
grey
ridge on which the little town is built. On that summit stood
the
village inn. The khan (or caravansary) of a Syrian village, at
that
day, was probably identical, in its appearance and accommoda-
tion,
with those which still exist in modern
low
structure, built of rough stones, and generally only a single story
in
height. It consists for the most part of a square enclosure, in
which
the cattle can be tied up in safety for the night, and an arched
recess
for the accommodation of travellers. The leewan,
or paved
floor
of the recess, is raised a foot or two above the level of the court-
yard.
A large, khan — such, for instance, as
that of which the ruins
may
still be seen at Khan Minyeh, on the shore of the
—
might contain a series of such recesses, which are, in fact, low
small
rooms with no front wall to them. They are, of course, per-
fectly
public; everything that takes place in them is visible to every
person
in the khan. They are also totally devoid of even the most
ordinary
furniture. The traveller may bring his own carpet if he
likes,
may sit cross-legged upon it for his meals, and may lie upon it
at
night.2 As a rule, too, he must bring his own food, attend to his
own
cattle, and draw his own water from the neighboring spring.
He
would neither expect nor require attendance, and would pay only
the
merest trifle for the advantage of shelter, safety, and a floor on
which
to lie. But if he chanced to arrive late, and the leewans were
1 Luke ii. 15 die<lqwmen
dh>=adedum. I must remark at the outset that
in
most
of ny quotations from the Gospels I do not slavishly follow the English ver-
sion,
but translate from the original Greek.
2 "It is common to find two
sides of the one room where the native farmer
resides
with his cattle, and the remainder elevated about two feet higher for the
accommodation
of the family" (Thomson, Land and
Book, II., ch. xixiii.). See,
too,
Lane's Modern Egyptians, i. 18.—Leewan is a corruption el-eewan, which
sig-
nifies
any raised place to sit upon. My description is, however, drawn directly
from
my own experiences, especially one night at a poor and lonely place called
Khan
Hulda, between
A
distinction has been drawn between kata<luma (Luke ii. 7), and pandoxei?on
(Luke
x. 34), but probably the only distinction is that the former was a free place
of
shelter, and had no host.
34 THE LIFE OF CHRIST.
all
occupied by earlier guests, he would have no choice but to be con-
tent
with such accommodation as he could find in the court-yard
below,
and secure for himself and his family such small amount of
cleanliness
and decency as are compatible with an unoccupied corner
on
the filthy area, which must be shared with horses, mules, and
camels.
The litter, the closeness, the unpleasant smell of the crowded
animals,
the unwelcome intrusion of the pariah dogs, the necessary
society
of the very lowest hangers-on of the caravansery, are
adjuncts
to such a position which can only be realized by any traveller
in
the East who happens to have been placed in similar circum-
stances.
In
at
any rate the portion of it in which the animals are housed, is one
of
those innumerable caves which abound in the limestone rocks of
its
central hills. Such seems to have been the case at the little town
of
Bethlehem-Ephratah, in the
Apologist,
who, from his birth at Shechem, was familiar with Pales-
tine,
and who lived less than a century after the time of our Lord,1
places
the scene of the nativity in a cave. This is, indeed, the
ancient
and constant tradition both of the Eastern and the Western
Churches,
and it is one of the few to which, though unrecorded in
the
Gospel history, we may attach a reasonable probability.2 Over
this
cave has risen the Church and Convent of the Nativity, and it
was
in a cave close beside it that one of the most learned, eloquent,
and
holy of the Fathers of the Church — that great
whom
we owe the received Latin translation of the Bible -- spent
thirty
of his declining years in study, and fast, and prayer.3
From
their northern home at Nazereth, in the mountains of Zabu-
lon,
Joseph, the village carpenter, had made his way along the wintry
roads
with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.4 Fallen
1 Justin Martyr was born
at Flavia Neapolis, A. D. 103, and died A. D. 166. The
date
of his First Apology was about A. D. 138. (Gieseler, Ch. Hist. i. 153, E. Tr.)
2 It is impossible to
stand in the little Chapel of the Nativity, and to look with-
out
emotion on the silver star let into the white marble, encircled by its sixteen
ever-burning
lamps, and surrounded by the inscription, "Hic de Virgine Maria
Jesus
Christus natus est."'
3 He settled in Bethlehem
A. D. 386 and died A. D. 420. His allusions to the
sacredness
of the spot are very touching, and the most splendid offers of prefer-
ment
were insufficient to tempt him away from that holy ground (Ep. 24 ad
Marcell.).
4 It appears to be
uncertain whether the journey of Mary with her husband was
obligatory
or voluntary. From Dion. Hal. iv. 15 (ed. Sylb., p. 221) and Lact. De
port.
persec. 23, the former seems not unlikely. Women were liable to a capita-
tion
tax, if this enrolment (a]pografh<) also involved taxation
(a]poti<mhsij).
THE LIFE OF
CHRIST. 35
as
were their fortunes, they were both of the house and lineage of
David,
and they were traversing a journey of eighty miles to the vil-
lage
which had been the home of their great ancestor while he was
still
a ruddy shepherd lad, tending his flocks upon the lonely hills.
The
object of that toilsome journey, which could not but be disagree-
able
to the settled habits of Oriental life, was to enrol their names as
members
of the house of David in a census which had been ordered
by
the Emperor Augustus. In the political condition of the Roman
Empire,
of which
Emperor
was sufficiently powerful to secure the execution of his
mandates
in the remotest corners of the civilized world. Great as
are
the historic difficulties in which this census is involved, there seem
to
be good independent grounds for believing that it may have been
originally
ordered by Sentius Saturninus,1 that it was begun by Pub-
lius
Sulpicius Quirinus,2 when he was for the
first time legate of
But,
apart from any legal necessity, it may easily be imagined that at such a
moment
Mary would desire not to be left alone. The cruel suspicion of which she
had
been the subject, and which had almost led to the breaking off of her betrothal
(Matt,
i. 19), would make her cling all the more to he protection of her husband.
1
Tert.
Adv. Marc. v. 19. It has been held
impossible that there should have
been
a census in the kingdom of an independent prince; yet the case of the
Clitae
("Clitarum natio, Cappadoci Archelao subjecta, quia nostrum in modum
deferre census, patri tributa adigebatur," 8 &c., Tac. Ann. vi. 41) seems to be closely
parallel.
That the enrollment should be conducted in the Jewish fashion at the
place
of family origin, and not in the Roman fashion at the place of residence,
may
have been a very natural concession to the necessities of Herod's position.
It
may be perfectly true that this plan would give more trouble; but, in spite of
this,
it was far less likely to cause offence. Yet although the whole proceeding
was
probably due to a mere desire on the part of Augustus to make a breviarium
imperii, or Domesday Book,
which should include the regna as
well as the prov-
inces
(Tac. Ann. i. 11), it is very
doubtful whether it actually did not cause dis-
turbances
at this very time (Jos. Antt. xvii.
2, § 2), as we know that it did ten years
later.
How deeply the disgrace of a heathen census was felt is shown by
the
Targum of Jonathan, Hal). iii. 17, where for "The flock shall be cut off
from
the folds, and there shall be no herd in the stalls," he has, "The
Romans
shall
be rooted out; they shall collect no more tribute from
= census, v. Buxtorf, s. v.; Gfrörer Jahrund. des Heils, i. 42).
2 Cyrenius (P. Sulp. Quirinus) was a man of low
extraction, at once ambitious
and
avaricious, but faithful to Augustus (Tac. Ann.
ii. 30; iii. 22—48). Other
passages
bearing more or less directly on this famous census are Tac. Ann. i. 11;
Suet.
Aug. 28, 101; Dio Cass. liv. 35,
&c.; Suidas, s. v. a]pografh. No less
than
three censuses of Roman citizens are mentioned in the Monumentum An-
cyranum;
and Strabo (under Tiberius) speaks of them as common. Zumpt has,
with
incredible industry and research, all but established in this matter the
accuracy
of St. Luke, by' proving the extreme probability
that Quirinus was twice
governor
of
the
former period that he completed the
first census which had been commenced
36 THE LIFE OF CHRIST.
In
deference to Jewish prejudices, any infringement of which
was
the certain signal for violent tumults and insurrection, it was
not
carried out in the ordinary Roman manner, at each person's
place
of residence, but according to Jewish custom, at the town to
which
their family originally belonged. The Jews still clung to
their
genealogies and to the memory of long-extinct tribal relations ;
and
though the journey was a weary and distasteful one, the mind
of
Joseph may well have been consoled by the remembrance of that
heroic
descent which would now be authoritatively recognized, and
by
the glow of those Messianic hopes to which the marvellous cir-
by
Varus (Zumpt, Das Geburtsjahr Christi;
Hist. Chronol. Untersuchungen, Leipz.,
1870).
The argument mainly turns on the fact that in IA. U. C. 742, Quirinus was
consul
and afterwards (not before A. U. C. 747) proconsul of
time
between this year and A. U. C. 753 (in which year he was appointed rector to
C.
Caesar, the grandson of Augustus) he conquered the Homonadenses in
(Tac.
Ann. iii. 48). He must therefore have been at this time propraetor of the im-
perial
Cilicia
(Asia,
man
could not be proconsul twice,
Quirinus could not have been governor in any
of
these. It is not possible here to give the ingenious and elaborate arguments
by
which Zumpt shows that the Homonadenses must at this time have been under
the
jurisdiction of the Governor of Syria. Further than this, we know that P.
Q.
Varus was propraetor of
750),
and it is extremely likely that Varus may have been displaced in favor of
Quirinus
in the latter year, because the close friendship of the former with
Archelaus,
who resembled him in character, might have done mischief. It may
therefore
be regarded as all but certain, ou independent grounds, that Quiriuus
was
propraetor of
instead
of having been guilty of a flagrant historical error by antedating, by ten
years,
the propraetorship of Quirinus in
historical
fact of his having been twice propraetor, or, to give the full title, Lega
tus
Augusti pro praetore a fact which we should have been unable to learn from
Josephus
or Dio Cassius, whose histories are here imperfect. For the full argu-
ments
on this point the reader must, however, consult the exhaustive treatise of
A.
W. Zumpt. The appeals of Tertulliau to census-records of Saturninus, and of
Justin
Martyr to the tables of Quirinus, as proving the genealogy of our Lord,
are
(so far as we can attach any importance to them) an additional confirmation of
these
conclusions, which are not overthrown by Mommsen (Res. Gest. Div. Aug.,
p.
123) and Strauss (Leben Jesu, i. 28)
; see Merivale, IIist. iv. 45. Quirinus, not
Quirinius,
is probably the true form of the name (Orelli ad Tac. Ann. ii. 30)
For
further discussion of the question see Wieseler, Synops. of the Four Gospels,
E.
Tr., pp. 65-106. I may, however, observe in passing that, although no error
has
been proved, and, on the contrary, there is much reason to believe that the
reference
is perfectly accurate, yet I hold no theory of inspiration which would
prevent
me from frankly admitting, in such matters as these, any mistake or
inaccuracy
which could be shown really to exist.
THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 37
cumstances
of which he was almost the sole depositary would give a
tenfold
intensity.1
Travelling in the East is a very slow and
leisurely affair, and was
likely
to be still more so if, as is probable, the country was at that
time
agitated by political animosities. Beeroth, which is fifteen miles
distant
from
six
miles off, may have been the resting-place of Mary and Joseph
before
this last stage of their journey. But the heavy languor, or
1 That Joseph alone knew
these facts appears from Matt. i. 19, where the best
reading
seems to be not paradeigmati<sai but deigmati<sai—i. e., not "make
her
an example," but, as Eusebius points out, "reveal her condition to
the world."
The
e]nqumhqe<ntoj of verse 20 means that this intention continued
until the ex-
planation
had been revealed to him. There is nothing surprising in the fact that
the
descendant of a royal house should be in a lowly position. Hillel, the great
Rabbi,
though he, too, was a descendant of David, spent a great part of his life
in
the deepest poverty as a common workman. The green turban, which marks
a
descendant of Mahomet, may often be seen in
paupers
and beggars. Similar facts exist quite commonly among ourselves; and,
ages
before this time, we find that the actual grandson of the great Lawgiver
himself
(Judg. xviii. 30, where the true reading is "Moses," not "
Manasseh")
was
an obscure, wandering, semi-idolatrous Levite, content to serve an irregular
ephod
for a double suit of apparel and ten shekels (i. e. about thirty shillings) a
year
(Judg. xvii. 10). On the genealogies given in St. Matthew and St. Luke, see
the
learned and admirable article by the Bishop of
Dict. of the Bible, and his more elaborate
work on the same subject. Here I need
only
add that remarkable confirmations of the descent of Jesus from David are
found
(1) in the story of Domitian and the Desposyni, alluded to in infr. Chap.
IV.;
and (2) in a statement by Ulla, a Rabbi, of the third century, that "Jesus
was
treated
exceptionally because of His royal
extraction" (hvh tvnlml bvrqd vwy ynxw,
Sanhedrin, 43 a, in non-expurgated
editions) (Derenbourg, L'Hist. de la
Palestine,
p.
349). It is now almost certain that the genealogies in both Gospels are geneal-
ogies
of Joseph, which, if we may rely on early traditions of their consanguinity,
involve genealogies of Mary
also. The Davidic descent of Mary is implied in Acts
ii.
30; xiii. 23; Rom. i. 3; Luke i. 32, &c. St. Matthew gives the legal
descent
of
Joseph, through the elder and regal line, as her to the throne of David; St.
Luke
gives the natural descent. Thus the real father of Salathiel was heir of the
house
of Nathan, but the childless Jeconiah (Jer. xxii. 30) was the last lineal rep-
resentative
of the elder kingly line. The omission of some obscure names and
the
symmetrical arrangement into tesseradecads were common Jewish customs.
It
is not too much to say that after the labors of Mill (On the Mythical Interpreta-
tion of the Gospels, pp. 147—217) and Lord
A. C. Hervey (On the Genealogies of Our
Lord, 1853), scarcely a single serious difficulty remains in reconciling
the apparent divergencies. And thus, in this, as in so many other instances,
the very discrepancies which appear to be most irreconcilable, and most fatal
to the historic
accuracy
of the four Evangelists, turn out, on closer and more patient investiga-
tion,
to be fresh proofs that they are not only entirely independent, but also
entirely
trustworthy.
2 St. Matthew calls it Bethlehem of Judæa (ii. 1)
to distinguish it from Bethle-
hem
in Zebulun (Josh. xix. 15). It is the Ephrath of Gen. xlviii. 7. Cf. Micah v.
2.
38 THE LIFE OF
CHRIST.
even
the commencing pangs of travail, must necessarily have retarded
the
progress of the maiden-mother. Others who were travelling on
the
same errand, would easily have passed them on the road, and
when,
after toiling up the steep hill-side, by David's well, they
arrived
at the khan —probably the very one which had been known
for
centuries as the House of Chimham,1 and if so, covering perhaps
the
very ground on which, one thousand years before, had stood the
hereditary
house of Boaz, of Jesse, and of David —every Zeman
was
occupied. The enrolment had drawn so many strangers to
thel
little town, that "there was no room for them in the inn." In
the
rude limestone grotto attached to it as a stable, among the hay