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.
In silence they pursued their way. Upon the Mount of Olives they sat down, right over against the Temple. Whether or not the others had gone farther, or Christ had sat apart with these four, Peter and James and John and Andrew are named [5356] as those who now asked Him further of what must have weighed so heavily …
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This may be the most suitable place for explaining the Jewish expectation connected with the Advent of the Messiah. Here we have first to dismiss, as belonging to a later period, the Rabbinic fiction of two Messiahs: the one, the primary and reigning, the Son of David; the other, the secondary and warfaring Messiah…
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We have now reached the period of the coming age' (the Athid labho, or sæculum futurum). All the resistance to God would be concentrated in the great war of Gog and Magog, and with it the prevalence of all the wickedness be conjoined. And terrible would be the straits of Israel. Three times would the enemy seek to …
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But by the side of this we find much coarse realism. The land would spontaneously produce the best dresses and the finest cakes; [5396] the wheat would grow as high as palm-trees, nay, as the mountains, while the wind would miraculously convert the grain into flour, and cast it into the valleys. Every tree would be…
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Such, then, was the final Judgment, to be held in the valley of Jehoshaphat by God, at the head of the Heavenly Sanhedrin, composed of the elders of Israel. [5422] Realistic as its description is, even this is terribly surpassed by a passage [5423] in which the supposed pleas for mercy by the various nations are ad…
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At last, when these distresses have reached their final height, when signs are in the sky, ruin upon earth, and the unburied bodies that cover the ground are devoured by birds and wild beasts, or else swallowed up by the earth, [5438] would God send the King,' Who would put an end to unrighteousness. Then would fol…
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The many and persistent attempts, despite the gross inconsistencies involved, to represent the teaching of Christ concerning the Last Things' as only the reflection of contemporary Jewish opinion, have rendered detailed evidence necessary. When, with the information just summarised, we again turn to the questions a…
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Although primarily applying to them, yet alike the peculiarly Judaic, or, it might be even Christian, and the general cosmic sources of misapprehension as to the near Advent of Christ, must not be limited to the times of the Apostles. They rather indicate these twofold grounds of misapprehension which in all ages h…
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4. [5498] The Age of the Gentiles, the end of the Age,' and with it the new allegiance of His now penitent people Israel; the sign of the Son of Man in heaven,' perceived by them; the conversion of all the world, the Coming of Christ, the last Trumpet, the Resurrection of the dead - such, in most rapid sketch, is t…
650 wordsSECTION 730The Valley Of Humiliation And Death.
II. It is at least a question, whether the Lord, while distinctly indicating these facts, and intended to remove the doubt and uncertainty of their sucession from the minds of His disciples. To have done so would have necessitated that which, in the opening sentence of the Second Division of this Discourse, [5510] …
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[5350] Baba B 4 a; Sukk 51 b. [5351] St. Matt. xxiii. 37-39. [5352] St. Matt. xxiv. 1. [5353] St. Matt. xxiv. 3. [5354] St. Mark xiii. 1. [5355] According to Josephus (War vii. 1. 1) the city was so upheaved and dug up, that it was difficult to believe it had ever been inhabited. At a later period Turnus Rufus h…
424 wordsSECTION 732[5370] 132-135 A.D.
[5371] Numb. xxiv. 17. [5372] So also both Levy (Neuhebr. Wörterb. vol. iii. p. 271 a) and Hamburger (Real. Encykl. f. Bib. u. Talm., Abtheil.ii.p.768). I must here express surprise that a writer so learned and independent as Castelli (II Messia, pp. 224-236) should have argued that the theory of a Messiah, son of…
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[5407] Kethub. 111 a. [5408] On that day Gabriel had descended, cut a reed from the ocean, and planted it in mud from the sea, and on this the city of Rome was founded (Siphré 86 a). [5409] Ab. A. 24 a. [5410] Ab. Z. 3 b; Yeb. 24 b. [5411] Tanch. ed. Warsh ii. p. 115 a, top. [5412] Taan. 7a. [5413] Kethub. 111 …
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[5449] But I do not see, with Schürer, a reference to its coming down from heaven, not even in the passage in Baruch to which he refers, which is as follows: Et postea oportet renovari in gloria, et coronabitur in perpetuum.' [5450] Orac. Sibyll. iii. 47-50; and especially Psalter of Solomon xvii., particularly vv…
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[5484] St. Matt. xxiv. 9-14, and parallels. [5485] St. Luke xxi. 12. [5486] St. Mark xii. 9. [5487] St. Matt. xxiv. 9-14, and parallels. [5488] St. Matt. xxiv. 10-13. [5489] St. Matt. xxiv. 14. [5490] St. Matt. xxiv. 15-28, and parallels; note especially the language of St. Luke. [5491] St. Matt. xxiv. 3. [549…
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Like the Parable of the Ten Virgins, it had pointed to the future. If the exclusion and punishment of the Unprepared Guest did not primarily refer to the Last Day, or to the Return of Christ, but perhaps rather to what would happen in death, it pointed, at least secondarily, to the final consummation. On the other …
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Another archæological inquiry will, perhaps, be more helpful to our understanding of this Parable. The lamps' - not torches' - which the Ten Virgins carried, were of well-known construction. They bear in Talmudic wrtings commonly the name Lappid, but the Aramaised from the Greek word in the New Testament also occur…
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We have proceeded on the supposition that the oil was not carried in separate vessels, but in those attached to the lamps. It seems scarcely likely that these lamps had been lighted while waiting in the bridal house, where the Virgins assembled, and which, no doubt, was festively illuminated: Many practical objecti…
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The personal application of this Parable to the disciples, which the Lord makes, follows almost of necessity. Watch therefore, for ye know not the day, nor the hour.' [5534] Not enough to be in waiting with the Church; His Coming will be far on in the night; it will be sudden; it will be rapid: be prepared therefor…
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And here the characteristic difference appears. He that received the five talents went and traded with them, and made other five talents. In like manner he that had received the two gained [5538] other two.' As each had received according to his ability, so each worked according to his power, as good and faithful s…
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It only remains to refer to the third servant, whose sad unfaithfulness and failure of service we already, in some measure, understand. Summoned to his account, he returned the talent entrusted to him with this explanation, that, knowing his Master to be a hard man, reaping where he did not sow, and gathering (the …
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We can thus understand the allusion to the bankers,' with whom the wicked and unfaithful servant might have lodged his lord's money, if there had been truth in his excuse. To unmask its hollowness is the chief object of this part of the Parable. Accordingly, it must not be too closely pressed; but it would be in th…
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It must be admitted, that if St. Luke had really these two Parables in view (that of the King and of the Talents), and wished to combine them into new teaching, he has most admirably welded them together. For, as the Nobleman Who is about to entrust money to His servants, is going abroad to receive a Kingdom, it wa…
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[5521] St. Matt. xxiv. 36-51. [5522] St Matt. xxv. 6. [5523] Jer. Yoma 41 a, line 24 from top. [5524] Kel. ii. 8. [5525] See the Arukh, ad voc. [5526] The better reading in ver. 1. and again in ver. 7, is not atn their,' but autn. [5527] The word atn in ver. 4, their vessels,' is probably spurious. In both case…
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He had, indeed, before that, sought gradually to prepare them for what was to happen on the morrow's night. He had pointed to it in dim figure at the very opening of His Ministry, on the first occasion that he had taught in the Temple, [5551] as well as to Nicodemus. [5552] He had hinted it, when He spoke of the de…
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But it is a terrible night-study, that of Judas. We seem to tread our way over loose stones of hot molten lava, as we climb to the edge of the crater, and shudderingly look down its depths. And yet there, near there, have stood not only St. Peter in the night of his denial, but mostly all of us, save they whose Ang…
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This very gift of government' in Judas may also help us to understand how he may have been first attracted to Jesus, and through what process, when alienated, he came to end in that terrible sin which had cast its snare about him. The gift of government' would, in its active aspect, imply the desire for it. From th…
1,003 wordsSECTION 748[5483] A. D. 132-135.
For, when an ambition which rests only on selfishness gives way there lies close by it the coarse lust of covetousness, as the kindred passion and lower expression of that other form of selfishness. When the Messianic faith of Judas gave place to utter disappointment, the moral and spiritual character of Christ's T…
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It must have been intense relief when, in their perplexity, the traitor now presented himself before them with his proposals. Yet his reception was not such as he may have looked for. He probably expected to be hailed and treated as a most important ally. They were, indeed, glad, and covenanted to give him money,' …
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Deeper - farther out into the night! to its farthest bounds - where rises and falls the dark flood of death. The wild howl of the storm has lashed the dark waters into fury: they toss and break in wild billows at his feet. One narrow rift in the cloud-curtain over-head, and, in the pale, deathlike light lies the Fi…
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[5563] St. Luke xxii. 3. [5564] St. John xiii. 2 and 27. [5565] This apart from the question of the exceptional sin against the Holy Ghost. [5566] St. John xii. 5, 6. [5567] 1 Cor. xii. 28. [5568] On the relation between ambition and covetousness, generally, and in the case of Judas, see p. 77. [5569] Ab. Zar. …
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It was probably after the early meal, and when the eating of leaven had ceased, that Jesus began preparations for the Paschal Supper. St. John, who, in view of the details in the other Gospels, summarises, and, in some sense, almost passes over, the outward events, so that their narration may not divert attention f…
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Two things here deserve marked attention. The disciples were not bidden ask for the chief or Upper Chamber,' but for what we have rendered, for want of better, by hostelry,' or hall' - katluma - the place in the house where, as in an open Khan, the beasts of burden were unloaded, shoes and staff, or dusty garment a…
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Perhaps it is not wise to attempt lifting the veil which rests on the unnamed such an one,' whose was the privilege of being the last Host of the Lord and the first Host of His Church, gathered within the new bond of the fellowship of His Body and Blood. And yet we can scarcely abstain from speculating. To us at le…
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On the supposition just made, the task of Peter and John would, indeed, have been simple. They left the house of Mark with wondering but saddened hearts. Once more had they had evidence, how the Master's Divine glance searched the futher in all its details. They had met the servant with the pitcher of water; they h…
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Little more remained to be done. The sacrifice was laid on staves which rested on the shoulders of Peter and John, flayed, cleansed, and the parts which were to be burnt on the Altar removed and prepared for burning. The second company of offerers could not have proceeded far in the service, when the Apostles, bear…
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[5587] These phrases occur frequently in Jewish writings for dying: the hour has come' to depart out of this world.' Thus, in Targum on Cant. i. 7, when the hour had come that Moses should depart out of the world;' Shem. R. 33, what hour the time came for our father Jacob that he should depart out of the world.' […
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[5630] If it had been the evening from Friday to Saturday, instead of from Thursday to Friday, it would have been two hours earlier. See the rubric in Pes. v. 1. [5631] Although, so far as we know, not of practical importance here, we should perhaps bear in mind that John was a priest. [5632] If we may suppose tha…
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And, in truth, as we think of it, we can understand not only why the Lord could not have offered any other Sacrifice, but that it was most fitting He should have offered this one Pascha, partaken of its commemorative Supper, and connected His own New Institution with that to which this Supper pointed. This joining …
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From the Gospel-narratives we infer, that St. John must have reclined next to Jesus, on His Right Hand, since otherwise he could not have leaned back on His Bosom. This, as we shall presently show, would be at one end - the head of the table, or, to be more precise, at one end of the couches. For, dismissing all co…
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The words which the Master spoke as He appeased their unseemly strife must, indeed, have touched them to the quick. First, He showed them, not so much in the language of even gentlest reproof as in that of teaching, the difference between worldly honour and distinction in the Church of Christ. In the world kingship…
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The cup, in which, according to express Rabbinic testimony, [5656] the wine had been mixed with water before it was blessed,' had passed round. The next part of the ceremonial was for the Head of the Company to rise and wash hands.' It is this part of the ritual of which St. John [5657] records the adaptation and t…
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From the position which, as we have shown, Peter occupied at the end of the table, it was natural that the Lord should begin with him the act of footwashing. [5667] Besides, had He first turned to others, Peter must either have remonstrated before, or else his later expostulation would have been tardy, and an act e…
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And still do all these words come to us in manifold and ever-varied application. In the misunderstanding of our love to Him, we too often imagine that Christ cannot will or do what seems to us incongruous on His part, or rather, incongruous with what we think about Him. We know it not now, but we shall understand i…
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But to return. The footwashing on the part of Christ, in which Judas had shared, together with the explanatory words that followed, almost required, in truthfulness, this limitation: I speak not of you all.' For it would be a night of terrible moral sifting to them all. A solemn warning was needed by all the discip…
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We are not in circumstances to judge whether or not Christ spoke all these things continuously, after He had sat down, having washed the disciples' feet. More probably it was at different parts of the meal. This would also account for the seeming abruptness of this concluding sentence: [5687] He that receiveth whom…
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The answer of Christ left the special person undetermined, while it again repeated the awful prediction - shall we not add, the most solemn warning - that it was one of those who took part in the Supper. It is at this point that St. John resumes the thread of the narrative. [5694] As he describes it, the disciples …
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From the meal scarcely begun Judas rushed into the dark night. Even this has its symbolic significance. None there knew why this strange haste, unless from obedience to something that the Master had bidden him. [5703] Even John could scarely have understood the sign which Christ had given of the traitor. Some of th…
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We now approach the most solemn part of that night: The Institution of the Lord's Supper. It would manifestly be beyond the object, as assuredly it would necessarily stretch beyond the limits, of the present work, to discuss the many questions and controversies which, alas! have gathered around the Words of the Ins…
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What did the Institution really mean, and what does it mean to us? We cannot believe that it was intended as merely a sign for remembrance of His Death. Such remembrance is often equally vivid in ordinary acts of faith or prayer; and it seems difficult, if no more than this had been intended, to account for the Ins…
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[5648] St. John xiii. 24. [5649] St. Luke xxii. 25, 28. [5650] Not temptation' - i.e. not assaults from within, but assults from without. [5651] The sitting down with Him' at the feast is evidently a promise of joy, reward, and fellowship. The sitting on thrones and judging Israel must be taken as in contrast to …
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[5691] Pes. 115 b. [5692] Ps. cxiii to cxviii. [5693] St. John xiii. 21. [5694] St. John xiii. 22. [5695] The reading adopted in the R.V. of St. John xiii. 24 represents the better accredited text, though it involves some difficulties. [5696] On the circumstance that John does not name himself in ver. 23, Bengel…
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At the outset we ought, perhaps, to remember the very common Jewish idea, that those in glory occupied different abodes, corresponding to their ranks. [5727] If the words of Christ, about the place whither they could not follow Him, had awakened any such thoughts, the explanation which He now gave must effectually …
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A twofold promise, so wide as this, required, it must be felt, not indeed limitation, but qualification - let us say, definition - so far as concerns the indication of its necessary conditions. Unlimited power of working by faith and of praying in faith is qualified by obedience to His Commandments, such as is the …
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Thus far then for this inward manifestation, springing from life-fellowship with Christ, rich in the unbounded spiritual power of faith, and fragrant with the obedience of love. All this He could say to them now in the Father's Name - as the first Representative, Pleader, and Advocate,' or Paraclete. But what, when…
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With the meaning and the issue of the great contest on which He was about to enter thus clearly before Him, did He now go forth to meet the last assault of the Prince of this World.' [5748] But why that fierce struggle, since in Christ he hath nothing?' To exhibit to the world' the perfect love which He had to the …
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Yet, though it be one Vine, the Church must bear fruit not only in her corporate capacity, but individually in each of the branches. It seems remarkable that we read of branches in Him that bear not fruit. This must apparently refer to those who have by Baptism been inserted into the Vine, but remain fruitless, sin…
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But what of those commandments to which such importance attached? Clean as they now were through the Words which He had spoken, one great commandment stood forth as specially His Own, consecrated by His Example and to be measured by His observance of it. From whatever point we view it, whether as specially demanded…
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3. The last of the parting Discourses of Christ, in the sixteenth chapter of St. John, was, indeed, interrupted by questions from the disciples. But these, being germane to the subject, carry it only forward. In general, the subjects treated in it are: the new relations arising from the departure of Christ and the …
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Such was the cause of Christ which the Holy Spirit as the Advocate would plead to the world, working conviction as in a hostile guilty party. Quite other was that cause of Christ which, as His Advocate, He would plead with the disciples, and quite other in their case the effect of His advocacy. We have, even on the…
904 wordsSource & rights
Public Domain; source text supplied by Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.