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.
To begin with, divorce (in the legal sense) was regarded as a privilege accorded only to Israel, not to the Gentiles. [4907] [4908] On the question: what constituted lawful grounds of divorce, the Schools were divided. Taking their departure from the sole ground of divorce mentioned in Deut. xxiv. 1: a matter of sh…
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Whatever, therefore, may be pleaded, on account of the hardness of heart' in modern society, in favour of the lawfulness of relaxing Christ's law of divorce, which confines dissolution of marriage to the one ground (of adultery), because then the unity of God's making has been broken by sin - such a retrocession wa…
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[4875] St. Matt. xix. 1, 2; St. Mark x. 1; St. Luke xvii. 11. [4876] St. Mark xv. 40, 41. [4877] Indeed, any lengthened journeying, and for an indefinite purpose, would have been quite contrary to Jewish manners. Not so, of course, the travelling in the festive band up to the Paschal Feast. [4878] St. Matthew. [4…
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[4914] Deut. xxiv. 1. [4915] Yebam. 63 b; Gitt. 90 a, b. [4916] Gitt. iv. 7. [4917] Keth. vii. 6. [4918] Erub. 41 b. [4919] Yebam. 63 b. [4920] Gitt. iv. 7, 8. [4921] These words are omitted by St. Mark in his condensed account. But so far from regarding, with Meyer, the briefer account of St. Mark as the orig…
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The actual question of the young Ruler is one which repeatedly occurs in Jewish writings, as put to a Rabbi by his disciples. Amidst the different answers given, we scarcely wonder that they also pointed to observance of the Law. And the saying of Christ seems the more adapted to the young Ruler when we recall this…
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And Jesus saw it all: down, through that intense upward look; inwards, through that question, What lack I yet?' far deeper down than that young man had ever seen into his own heart - even into depths of weakness and need which he had never sounded, and which must be filled, if he would enter the Kingdom of Heaven. …
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And so, with clouded face he gazed down into what he lacked - within; but also gazed up in Christ on what he needed. And, although we hear no more of him, who that day went back to his rich home very poor, because very sorrowful,' we cannot but believe that he, whom Jesus loved, yet found in the poverty of earth th…
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However mysterious, therefore, in their details, these things seem clear, and may without undue curiosity or presumption be regarded as the teaching of our Lord: the renewal of earth; the share in His rule and judgment which He will in the future give to His saints; the special distinction which He will bestow on H…
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But all this time, and with increasing fierceness, were terrible thoughts contending in the breast of Judas; and beneath the tramp of that fight was there only a thin covering of earth, to hide and keep from bursting forth the hellish fire of the master-passion within. One other incident, more strange and sad than …
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These words must have sunk deep into the heart of one at least in that company. [4996] A few days later, and the beloved disciple tells us of this Ministry of His Love at the Last Supper, [4997] and ever afterwards, in his writings or in his life, does he seem to bear them about with him, and to re-echo them. Ever …
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[4977] St. Mat., xx. 16; St. Mark x. 31. [4978] The words, many be called, but few chosen,' seem spurious in that place. [4979] St. Matt. xvi. 21; xvii. 22, 23. [4980] St. John xi. 8, 16. [4981] This is the precise rendering of the verb. [4982] This is the precise rendering of St. Mark x. 32. [4983] St. Luke xvi…
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We can picture to ourselves the scene, as our Lord on that afternoon in early spring beheld it. There it was, indeed, already summer, for, as Josephus tells us, [5004] even in winter the inhabitants could only bear the lightest clothing of linen. We are approaching it from the Jordan. It is protected by walls, flan…
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It was the custom, when a festive band passed through a place, that the inhabitants gathered in the streets to bid their brethren welcome. And on that afternoon, surely, scarce any one in Jericho but would go forth to see this pilgrim-band. Men - curious, angry, half-convinced; women, holding up their babes, it may…
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As bidden by Christ, Zacchæus made haste and came down.' Under the gracious influence of the Holy Ghost he received Him rejoicing.' Nothing was as yet clear to him, and yet all was joyous within his soul. In that dim twilight of the new day, and at this new creation, the Angels sang and the Sons of God shouted toge…
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Little need be said of the incident itself: it is so like the other Deeds of His Life. So to speak - it was left in Jericho as the practical commentary, and the seal on what Christ had said and done the previous evening in regard to Zacchæus. Once more the crowd was following Jesus, as in the morning He resumed the…
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But it was not as they had imagined. Without concealment Christ came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom He had raised from the dead. He came there six days before the Passover - and yet His coming was such that they could not take Him.' [5019] They might as well take Him in the Temple; nay, more easily. For, the…
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It is ever the light which throws the shadows of objects - and this deed of faith and love now cast the features of Judas in gigantic dark outlines against the scene. He knew the nearness of Christ's Betrayal, and hated the more; she knew of the nearness of His precious Death, and loved the more. It was not that he…
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[5021] St. John xii. 10,11. [5022] On the precise dates, see the Commentaries. It has been impossible here to discuss in detail every little difficulty. Rather has it been thought best to tell the events, as we regard them as having taken place. See Nebe, Leidensgesch. i. pp. 23, 24. [5023] St. John xii. 1. [5024…
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It was a bright day in early spring of the year 29, when the festive procession set out from the home at Bethany. There can be no reasonable doubt as to the locality of that hamlet (the modern El-Azariye, of Lazarus'), perched on a broken rocky plateau on the other side of Olivet. More difficulty attaches to the id…
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If such were the circumstances, all is natural. We can understand, how eager questioners would gather about the owners of the colt (St. Mark), there at the cross-roads at Bethphage, just outside Jerusalem; and how, so soon as from the bearing and the peculiar words of the disciples they understood their purpose, th…
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They were but broken utterances, partly based upon Ps. cxviii., partly taken from it - the Hosanna,' [5061] or Save now,' and the Blessed be He that cometh in the Name of the Lord,' [5062] forming part of the responses by the people with which this Psalm was chanted on certain of the most solemn festivals. [5063] M…
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We turn once more to the scene just described. For, it was no common pageantry; and Christ's public Entry into Jerusalem seems so altogether different from - we had almost said, inconsistent with - His previous mode of appearance. Evidently, the time for the silence so long enjoined had passed, and that for public …
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Again, as regards their welcome of Christ, deeply significant as it was, we must not attach to it deeper meaning than it possessed. Modern writers have mostly seen in it the demonstrations of the Feast of Tabernacles, [5073] as if the homage of its services had been offered to Christ. It would, indeed, have been sy…
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[5045] St. Mark and St. Luke. [5046] St. Augustine has it, recapitulando dixerunt. [5047] St. Matt. xxvi. 6-13; St. Mark xiv. 3-9. [5048] Comp. St. Luke xxii. 8. [5049] Num. xix. 2; Deut. xxi. 3. [5050] St. Mark; comp. also St. Matthew. [5051] St. John xii. 12. [5052] St. Luke xix. 39; St. John xii. 19. [5053] …
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It was very early [5078] on the morning of the second day in Passion-week (Monday), when Jesus, with his disciples, left Bethany. In the fresh, crisp, spring air, after the exhaustion of that night, He hungered.' By the roadside, as so often in the East, a solitary tree [5079] grew in the rocky soil. It must have s…
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These two things follow: faith gives absolute power in prayer, but it is also its moral condition. None other than this is faith; and none other than faith - absolute, simple, trustful - gives glory to God, or has the promise. This is, so to speak, the New Testament application of the first Table of the Law, summed…
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Nor did the Temple-authorities now, as on the former occasion, seek to raise the populace against Him, or challenge His authority by demanding the warrant of a sign.' The contest had reached quite another stage. They heard what He said in their condemnation, and with bitter hatred in their hearts sought for some me…
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[5099] St. Luke. [5100] St. Mark. [5101] We may here note, once for all, that the manner of answering used by Christ, that of answering a question by putting another in which the answer appeared with irresistible force. was very common among the Jews ({hebrew}). Another mode was by an allegory - whether of word o…
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For, there was no principle more firmly established by universal consent than that authoritative teaching [5112] required previous authorisation. Indeed, this logically followed from the principle of Rabbinism. All teaching must be authoritative, since it was traditional - approved by authority, and handed down fro…
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The point in our Lord's reply seems to have been strangely overlooked by commentators. [5119] As His words are generally understood, they would have amounted only to silencing His questioners - and that, in a manner which would, under ordinary circumstances, be scarcely regarded as either fair or ingenuous. It woul…
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Feigning themselves just men, they now came to Jesus with honeyed words, intended to disarm His suspicions, but, by an appeal to His fearlessness and singleness of moral purpose, to induce Him to commit Himself without reserve. Was it lawful for them to give tribute unto Cæsar, or not? were they to pay the capitati…
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It was an answer not only most truthful, but of marvellous beauty and depth. It elevated the controversy into quite another sphere, where there was no conflict between what was due to God and to man - indeed, no conflict at all, but Divine harmony and peace. Nor did it speak harshly of the Nationalist aspirations, …
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Would that to all time its lesson had been cherished, not theoretically, but practically, by the Church! How much richer would have been her treasury:' twice blessed in gift and givers. But so is not legend written. If it had been a story invented for a purpose or adorned with the tinsel of embellishment, the Savio…
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As we see these Greeks' approaching, the beginning of Christ's History seems re-enacted at its close. Not now in the stable of Bethlehem, but in the Temple, are the wise men,' the representatives of the Gentile world, offering their homage to the Messiah. But the life which had then begun was now all behind Him - a…
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The Jews who heard it, so far understood Him, that His words referred to His removal from earth, or His Death, since this was a common Jewish mode of expression ({hebrew}). [5152] [5153] But they failed to understand His special reference to the manner of it. And yet, in view of the peculiarly shameful death to the…
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Once more, and more empatic than ever, was the final appeal to His Mission by the Father. [5166] From first to last it had not been His own work: what He should say, and what He should speak, the Father Himself' had given Him commandment. Nay, this commandment, and what He spoke in it, was not mere teaching, nor La…
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[5131] However pictorial, the sketch of this given by Keim (Jesu von Nazara,' iii. 1, pp. 131 &c.) is - as too often - somewhat exaggerated. [5132] By a strange concurrence the coin, which on Christ's demand was handed to Him, bore the image' of the Emperor. It must, therefore, have been either a foreign one (Roman…
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[5161] Hence the effect which is Isa. vi. is ascribed to the prophet, is here assigned to God. We say decreed' - but not decreed beforehand, and irrespective of their conduct. The passage is neither quoted from the Hebrew nor from the LXX., but Targumed. [5162] The paraphrase of this passage in the Targum Jonathan …
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Besides, the Sadducees would allow no appeal to the highly poetic language of the Prophets, to whom, at any rate, they attached less authority, but demanded proof from that clear and precise letter of the Law, every tittle and iota of which the Pharisees exploited for their doctrinal inferences, and from which alon…
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But all the more, that it was so keenly controverted by heathens, Sadducees, and heretics, as appears from many reports in the Talmud, and that it was so encumbered with realistic legends, should we admire the tenacity with which the Pharisees clung to this doctrine. The hope of the Resurrection-world appears in al…
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In His argument against the Sadducees Christ first appealed to the power of God. [5200] What God would work was quite other than they imagined: not a mere re-awakening, but a transformation. The world to come was not to be a reproduction of that which had passed away - else why should it have passed away - but a re…
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2. The answer of our Lord was not without its further results. As we conceive it, among those who listened to the brief but decisive passage between Jesus and the Sadducees were some Scribes' - Sopherim, or, as they are also designated, lawyers,' teachers of the Law,' experts, expounders, practitioners of the Jewis…
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3. The Scribe had originally come to put his question with mixed motives, partially inclined towards Him from His answer to the Sadducees, and yet intending to subject Him to the Rabbinic test. The effect now wrought in him, and the silence which from that moment fell on all His would-be questioners, induced Christ…
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To begin with - Christ would have them understand, that, in warning them of the incompetence of Israel's teachers for the position which they occupied, He neither wished for Himself nor His disciples the place of authority which they claimed, nor yet sought to incite the people to reisitance thereto. On the contrar…
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Detailed proof is scarcely required of the charge of vanity and self-seeking in claiming marked outward honours, such as the upper-most places at feasts and in the Synagogue, respectful salutations in the market, the ostentatious repetition of the title Rabbi,' or Abba,' Father,' or Master,' [5239] [5240] or the di…
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It was not a break in the Discourse, [5258] rather an intensification of it, when Christ now turned to make final denunication of Pharisaism in its sin and hypocrisy. [5259] Corresponding to the eight Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount with which His public Ministry began, He now closed it with eight denunciatio…
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The fifth Woe referred to one of the best-known and strangest Jewish ordinances, which extended the mosaic law of tithing, in most burdensome minuteness, even to the smallest products of the soil that were esculent and could be preserved, [5276] such as anise. Of these, according to some, not only the seeds, but, i…
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[5167] St. Matt. xvi. 1. [5168] There seems some reference to this question put to Christ in what we regard as covert references to Christianity in that mysterious passage in the Talmud (Yoma 66 b) previously referred to (see pp. 193, 194). Comp. the interesting dissertation of Töttermann on R. Eliezer ben Hyrcano…
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[5206] phmose (St. Matt. xxii. 34). The word occurs also in St. Matt xxii. 12: St. Mark i. 25; iv. 39; St. Luke iv. 35: 1 Cor. ix. 9; 1 Tim. v. 18; 1 Peter. ii 16. [5207] Comp. the two accounts in St. Matthew xxii. 34-40 and in St. Mark xii. 28-34. [5208] Ab. ii. 1; iv. 2. [5209] Sanh. xi. 3. [5210] Deb. R. 6. …
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[5268] Gen. xii. 5. [5269] Ber. R. 39, ed. Warsh. p. 72 a, and Vayy. R. 1. [5270] Anyone who would see how Jewish ingenutiy can, for the purpose of misrepresenting the words of Christ, put a meaning even on Jewish documents which they can never bear, is advised to read the remarks of the learned Jellinek on St. Ma…
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(ST. Matt. xix. 30, xx. 16; St. Matt. xxi. 28-32; St. Mark xii. 1-12; St. Luke xx. 9-19; St. Matt. xxii. 1-14.) ALTHOUGH it may not be possible to mark their exact succession, it will be convenient here to group together the last series of Parables. Most, if not all of them, were spoken on that third day in Passion…
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We mark, first, the bearing of the householder, who went out immediately, at earliest morn (ma pro), to hire labourers into his vineyard.' That he did not send his steward, but went himself, [5291] and with the dawn of morning, shows both that there was much work to do, and the householder's anxiety to have it done…
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And now it is even. The time for working is past, and the Lord of the vineyard bids His Steward [here the Christ] pay His labourers. But here the first surprise awaits them. The order of payment is the inverse of that of labour: beginning from the last unto the first.' This is almost a necessary part of the Parable…
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Another point still remains to be noticed. If anywhere, we expect in these Parables, addressed to the people, forms of teaching and speaking with which they were familiar - in other words, Jewish parallels. But we equally expect that the teaching of Christ, while conveyed under illustrations with which the Jews wer…
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3. Closely connected with the two preceding Parables, and, indeed, with the whole tenor of Christ's sayings at that time, is that about the Evil Husbandmen in the Vineyard. [5314] As in the Parable about the Labourers sought by the Householder at different times, the object here is to set forth the patience and goo…
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The meaning of the Parable is sufficiently plain. The owner of the vineyard, God, had let out His Vineyard - the Theocracy - to His people of old. The covenant having been instituted, He withdrew, as it were - the former direct communication between Him and Israel ceased. Then in due season He sent His Servants,' t…
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The other Jewish Parable [5341] is of a king who committed to his servants the royal robes. The wise among them carefully laid them by while the foolish put them on when they did their work. After a time the king asked back the robes, when the wise could restore them clean, while the foolish had them soiled. Then t…
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But the condign punishment of these rebels forms only part of the Parable. For it still leaves the wedding unprovided with guests, to sympathise with the joy of the king, and partake of his feast. And so the narrative continues: [5346] Then' - after the king had given commandment for his armies to go forth, he said…
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And here the Parable closes with the general statement, applicable alike to the first part of the Parable - to the first invited guests, Israel - and to the second, the guests from all the world: For' (this is the meaning of the whole Parable) many are called, but few chosen.' [5349] For the understanding of these …
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[5313] Looking away from the very profane use made of the saying in the Talmud, we may quote as a literary curiosity the following as the origin of the proverb: He that will not when he may, when he will he shall have nay, {hebrew} Ber. 7 a, line 8 from bottom. [5314] St. Matt. xxi. 33 &c. and parallels. [5315] ve…
867 wordsSource & rights
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.