PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah
Edersheim, Alfred, 1825-1889 · 873,712 words · 1020 reading sections
The Valley Of Humiliation And Death.
The authority and power over the demons,' attained by faith, was not to pass away with the occasion that had called it forth. The Seventy were the representatives of the Church in her work of preparing for the Advent of Christ. As already indicated, the sight of Satan fallen from heaven is the continuous history of…
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These words, as recorded by St. Matthew - the Evangelist of the Jews - must have sunk the deeper into the hearts of Christ's Jewish hearers, that they came in their own old familiar form of speech, yet with such contrast of spirit. One of the most common figurative expressions of the time was that of the yoke' ({he…
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From this interruption, which, but for the teaching of Christ connected with it, would have formed a terrible discord in the heavenly harmony of this journey, we turn to a far other scene. It follows in the course of St. Luke's narrative, and we have no reason to consider it out of its proper place. If so, it must …
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And so Jesus came - and, with Him and in Him, Heaven's own Light and Peace. He was to lodge in one of the booths, the sisters in the house, and the great booth in the middle of the courtyard would be the common living apartment of all. It could not have been long after His arrival - it must have been almost immedia…
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[3876] Comp. Sanh. i. 6. [3877] St. Matt. xi. 7-19. [3878] St. Matt. xi. 20-24; comp. with St. Luke x. 12-16. [3879] St. Matt. ix. 36-38. [3880] St. John iv. 35. [3881] The first word means literally torn.' The second occurs sixty-two times in the LXX. as equivalent for the Hebrew (Hiphil) Hishlikh, projicio, ab…
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[3925] Shemoth R. 30. [3926] Midr. Shoch. Tobh. ed. Lemb. p. 20 a. [3927] Yalkut ii. p. 43 a, Section 275, lines 10 &c. from bottom. [3928] This is mentioned as an answer given in the great Academy of Jerusalem by Elijah the prophet to a question propounded to him by a student. [3929] Ber. ii. 2. [3930] Comp. Sk…
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Early on the 14th Tishri (corresponding to our September or early October), all the festive pilgrims had arrived. Then it was, indeed, a scene of bustle and activity. Hospitality had to be sought and found; guests to be welcomed and entertained; all things required for the feast to be got ready. Above all, booths m…
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We know not what was the subject of Christ's teaching on this occasion. But the effect on the people was one of general astonishment. They knew what common unlettered Galilean tradesmen were - but this, whence came it? [3964] How does this one know literature (letters, learning), [3965] never having learned?' To th…
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A general disclaimer, a cry Thou hast a demon' (art possessed), who seeks to kill Thee?' here broke in upon the Speaker. But He would not be interrupted, and continued: One work I did, and all you wonder on account of it' [3973] - referring to His healing on the Sabbath, and their utter inability to understand His …
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[3949] Also Cholo shel Moed and Moed Qaton. [3950] See ch. iii. of this Book. [3951] Jos. Ant. viii. 4. 1. [3952] For a full description of the Feast of Tabernacles in the days of Christ, I must refer to The Temple and its Services.' [3953] Sukk. 55 b; Pesiqta, ed. Buber, p. 17 a; 194 a; Shabb. 88 b. [3954] Sukk.…
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[3982] St. John vii. 29. [3983] On the heads and chief officials of the Priesthood, see The Temple and its Services,' ch. iv., especially pp. 75-77. [3984] Only those unacquainted with the judicial procedure of the Sanhedrin could imagine that there had been a regular meeting and decree of that tribunal. That woul…
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But to return. When the Temple-procession had reached the Pool of Siloam, the Priest filled his golden pitcher from its waters. [4004] Then they went back to the Temple, so timing it, that they should arrive just as they were laying the pieces of the sacrifice on the great Altar of Burnt-offering, [4005] towards th…
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We can have little difficulty in determining at what part of the services of the last, the Great Day of the Feast,' Jesus stood and cried, If any one thirst, let Him come unto Me and drink!' It must have been with special reference to the ceremony of the outpouring of the water, which, as we have seen, was consider…
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And so we scarcely wonder that many, on hearing Him, said, though not with that heart-conviction which would have led to self-surrender, that He was the Prophet promised of old, even the Christ, while others, by their side, regarding Him as a Galilean, the Son of Joseph, raised the ignorant objection that He could …
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[3987] Comp. Yoma 3 a, and often. [3988] Hence the benediction said at the beginning of every Feast is not only said on the first of that of Tabernacles, but also on the octave of it (Sukk. 48 a). The sacrifices for that occasion were quite different from those for Tabernacles;' the booths' were removed; and the p…
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CHAPTER VIII. TEACHING IN THE TEMPLE ON THE OCTAVE OF THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. (St. John viii. 12-59.) The startling teaching on the last, the Great Day of the Feast' was not the only one delivered at that season. The impression left on the mind is, that after silencing, as they thought, Nicodemus, the leaders of …
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What has just been stated shows, that the Messianic hope of the aged Simeon [4051] most truly expressed the Messianic thoughts of the time. It also proves, that the Pharisees could not have mistaken the Messianic meaning in the words of Jesus, in their reference to the past festivity: I am the Light of the world.' …
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This underlies, and is the main object of these Discourses of Christ. As a corollary He would teach, that Satan was not a merely malicious, impish being, working outward destruction, but that there was a moral power of evil which held us all - not the Gentile world only, but even the most favoured, learned, and exa…
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The reasoning of Christ, without for a moment quitting the higher ground of His teaching, was quite unanswerable from the Jewish standpoint. The Pharisees felt it, and, though well knowing to Whom He referred, tried to evade it by the sneer - where (not Who) His Father was? This gave occasion for Christ to return t…
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If the Jews failed to understand the expression lifting up,' which might mean His Exaltation, though it did mean, in the first place, His Cross, there was that in His Appeal to His Words and Deeds as bearing witness to His Mission and to the Divine Help and Presence in it, which by its sincerity, earnestness, and r…
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But whence this misunderstanding of His speech? [4093] [4094] Because they are morally incapable of hearing it - and this because of the sinfulness of their nature: an element which Judaism had never taken into account. And so, with infinite Wisdom, Christ once more brought back His Discourse to what He would teach…
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It was, as repeatedly observed, this death as the consequence of the Fall, of which the Jews knew nothing. And so they once more misunderstood it as of physical death, [4110] and, since Abraham and the prophets had died, regarded Christ as setting up a claim higher than theirs. [4111] The Discourse had contained al…
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[4039] The Court of the Women' (gunaikons), Jos. Jew. War v. 5. 3; comp. also v. 5. 2), so called, because women could not penetrate further. It was the real Court of the Sanctuary. Here Jeremiah also taught (xix. 14; xxvi. 2). But it is not correct to state (Westcott), that the Council Chamber of the Sanhedrin (Ga…
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[4070] vv. 25, 26. [4071] ver. 26. [4072] ver. 27. [4073] As Canon Westcott rightly points out (St. John xii. 32), the term lifting up' includes both the death and the glory. If we ask ourselves what corresponding Hebrew word, including the sensus malus as well as the sensus bonus would have been used, the verb N…
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[4108] St. John viii. 50. [4109] The word is that peculiar and remarkable one, thereo, to gaze earnestly and intently, to which I have already called attention (see vol. i. p. 692). [4110] He spoke of seeing,' they of tasting' death (vv. 51, 52). The word {hebrew} taste,' is used in precisely the same manner by th…
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It is not difficult to realise the scene, nor to understand the remarks of all who had part in it. It was the Sabbath - the day after the Octave of the Feast, and Christ with His disciples was passing - presumably when going into the Temple, where this blind beggar was wont to sit, probably soliciting alms, perhaps…
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To make this the reality to us, was the work of Him' Who sent, and for which He sent, the Christ. And rapidly now must He work it, for perpetual example, during the few hours still left of His brief working-day. [4129] This figure was not unfamiliar to the Jews, [4130] though it may well be that, by thus emphasisin…
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Presently they bring him to the Pharisees, not to take notice of his healing, but to found on it a charge against Christ. Such must have been their motive, since it was universally known that the leaders of the people had, of course informally, agreed to take the strictest measures, not only against the Christ, but…
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We can understand, how everyone would dread such an anathema. But when we remember, what it would involve to persons in the rank of life, and so miserably poor as the parents of that blind man, we no longer wonder at their evasion of the question put by the Sanhedrin. And if we ask ourselves, on what ground so terr…
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The argument was unanswerable, and in its unanswerableness shows us, not indeed the purpose, but the evidential force of Christ's Miracles. In one sense they had no purpose, or rather were purpose to themselves, being the forthbursting of His Power and the manifestation of His Being and Mission, of which latter, as…
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[4116] Godet supposes that it had taken place on the evening of the Octave of the Feast. On the other hand, Canon Westcott would relegate both ch. ix. and x. to the Feast of the Dedication.' But his argument on the subject, from another rendering of St. John x. 22, has failed to convince me. [4117] St. John ix. 14…
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[4166] St. John ix. 35. [4167] With all respect for such authority as that of Professors Westcott and Hort (The N.T.' p. 212), I cannot accept the proposed reading Son of Man,' instead of Son of God.' Admittedly, the evidence for the two readings is evenly balanced, and the internal evidence seems to be strongly i…
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How different He, Who comes in and leads us through God's door of covenant-mercy and Gospel-promise - the door by which God had brought, and ever brings, His flock into His fold! This was the true Shepherd. The allegory must, of course, not be too closely pressed; but, as we remember how in the East the flocks are …
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II. This forms also the transition to the second leading idea of the allegory: the True and Good Shepherd. Here we mark a fourfold progression of thought, which reminds us of the poetry of the Book of Psalms. There the thought expressed in one line or one couplet is carried forward and developed in the next, formin…
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4. In the final Step of Ascent' [4192] the leading thoughts of the whole Discourse are taken up and carried to the last and highest thought. The Good Shepherd that brings together the One Flock! Yes - by laying down His Life, but also by taking it up again. Both are necessary for the work of the Good Shepherd - nay…
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Another series of similar allegorical questions in connection with R. Joshua b.Chananyah is recorded in Bekhor. 8 a and b, but answered by the Rabbi in an anti-Christian sense. See Mandelstamm, Talmud. Stud. i. But Mandelstamm goes too far in his view of the purely allegorical meaning, especially of the introductor…
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But to return. From the introductory expression: When (or whenever) ye pray, say' - we venture to infer, that this prayer was intended, not only as the model, but as furnishing the words for the future use of the Church. Yet another suggestion may be made. The request, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught hi…
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But, secondly, beneath this logical argumentation lies deep and spiritual instruction, closely connected with the late teaching during the festive days in Jerusalem. It is directed against the flimsy, superstitious, and unspiritual views entertained by Israel, alike of the Kingdom of evil and of that of God. For, i…
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4. Both logically and morally the Words of Christ were unanswerable; and the Pharisees fell back on the old device of challenging proof of His Divine Mission by some visible sign. [4229] But this was to avoid the appeal to the moral element which the Lord had made; it was an attempt to shift the argument from the m…
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6. Once more was the Discourse interrupted, this time by a truly Jewish incident. A woman in the crowd burst into exclamations about the blessedness of the Mother who had borne and nurtured such a Son. [4236] The phraseology seems to have been not uncommon, since it is equally applied by the Rabbis to Moses, [4237]…
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[4194] St. John x. 19. [4195] St. John x. 22-39. [4196] 28 a.d. [4197] 29 a.d. [4198] The reasons for his insertion of this part must be sought in the character of this Discourse and in the context in St. Matthew's Gospel. [4199] St. Luke xi. 14 to xvii. 11. [4200] On the characteristics of this Section, Canon C…
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Some distinctive points, however, must here be noted. The remarks already made will explain, how some time may have elapsed between this and the former Discourse, and that the expression And as He spake' [4252] must not be pressed as a mark of time (referring to the immediately preceding Discourse), but rather be r…
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Let us suppose the guests assembled. To such a morning-meal they would not be summoned by slaves, nor be received in such solemn state as at feasts. First, each would observe, as a religious rite, the washing of hands.' Next, the head of the house would cut a piece from the whole loaf - on the Sabbath there were tw…
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This is not the place to furnish what may be termed a list of menus at Jewish tables. In earlier times the meal was, no doubt, very simple. It became otherwise when intercourse with Rome, Greece, and the East made the people familiar with foreign luxury, while commerce supplied its requirements. Indeed, it would sc…
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We have no difficulty now in understanding what passed at the table of the Pharisee. When the water for purification was presented to Him, Jesus would either refuse it; or if, as seems more likely at a morning-meal, each guest repaired by himself for the prescribed purification, He would omit to do so, and sit down…
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It was at this point that one of the Scribes' at table broke in. Remembering in what contempt some of the learned held the ignorant bigotry of the Pharisees, [4297] we can understand that he might have listened with secret enjoyment to denunciations of their folly.' As the common saying had it, the silly pietist,' …
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[4258] Yoma 74 b. [4259] Bezeh 16 a. [4260] As always in the East, there were many kinds of bakemeat, from the coarse barley-bread or rice-cake to the finest pastry. We read even of a kind of biscuit, imported from India (the Teritha, Ber. 37 b). [4261] Ber. 41 b. [4262] Ber. 35 a. [4263] Ps. xxiv. 1. [4264] So…
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After all, hypocrisy was only self-deception. [4310] But, [4311] there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed.' Hence, what they had said in the darkness would be revealed, and what they had spoken about in the store-rooms [4312] would be proclaimed on the housetops. Nor should fear influence them. [4313] Fe…
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Of deepest importance is the final consolation, to dismiss all care and anxiety, since the Father was pleased to give to this little flock' the Kingdom. The expression flood' carries us back to the language which Jesus had held ere parting from Jerusalem. [4329] Henceforth this designation would mark His people. Ev…
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The Parable' now passes into another aspect of the case, which is again referred to in the last Discourses of Christ. [4337] Conversely - suppose the other case, of people sleeping: the house might be broken into. Of course, if one had known the hour when the thief would come, sleep would not have been indulged in;…
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3. Thus far to the disciples. And now for its application to the multitudes' [4349] - although here also He could only repeat what on a former occasion He had said to the Pharisees. [4350] Let them not think that all this only concerned the disciples. No; it was a question between Israel and their Messiah, and the …
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All this becomes quite plain, if we regard these men as trying to turn the edge of Jesus' warning by a kind of Tu quoque' argument. Very probably these Galileans were thus ruthlessly murdered, because of their real or suspected connection with the Nationalist movement, of which Galilee was the focus. It is as if th…
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Little more requires to be added about this incident in one of the Synagogues' of Peræa. Let us only briefly recall the scene. Among those present in this Synagogue had been a poor woman, who for eighteen years had been a sufferer, as we learn, through demoniac agency. It is quite true that most, if not all, such d…
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[4304] St. Luke xii. 1-12. [4305] St. Matt. x. [4306] With St. Luke xii. 2-9, comp. St. Matt. x. 26-33; with St. Luke xii. 10, comp. St. Matt. xii. 31, 32; and with St. Luke xii. 11, 12, comp. St. Matt. x. 18-20. [4307] I prefer this rendering to that which connects the word first' as a mark of time with the prev…
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[4362] For the exposition of this Parable, I refer to that of all the Parables of that period. [4363] St. Luke xiii. 10-17. [4364] St. John v. 16. [4365] St. Matt. xii. 9-13. [4366] On the Sabbath-Law, see Appendix XVII. [4367] St. John v. 16, 17 &c. [4368] St. Matt. xii. 1-21. [4369] St. Luke xiii. 15, 16. [4…
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More interesting, perhaps, than this description of the outward observances is the meaning of this Festival and its connection with the Feast of Tabernacles, to both of which reference has already been made. Like the Feast of Tabernacles, it commemorated a Divine Victory, which again gave to Israel their good land,…
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But one logical sequence is unavoidable. Rightly understood, it is not only the last and highest announcement, but it contains and implies everything else. If the Work of Christ is really that of the Father, and His Working also that of the Father, then it follows that He and the Father are One' (one' is in the neu…
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The stones, that had been taken up, were not thrown, for the words of Christ rendered impossible the charge of explicit blasphemy which alone would, according to Rabbinic law, have warranted such summary vengeance. But they sought again to seize Him,' so as to drag Him before their tribunal. His time, however, had …
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[4403] Ps. lxxxii. 6. [4404] In Rabbinic writings the word for Law (Torah, or Oreya, or Oreyan) is very frequently used to denote not only the Law, but the whole Bible. Let one example suffice: Blessed be the Merciful Who has given the threefold Law ({hebrew}, Pentateuch, Prophets, and Hagiographa) to a threefold …
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Of the Parables of the third series it will for the present suffice to say, that they are neither symbolical nor typical, but their prevailing characteristic is prophetic. As befits their historical place in the teaching of Christ, they point to the near future. They are the fast falling, lengthening shadows cast b…
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.