PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah
Edersheim, Alfred, 1825-1889 · 873,712 words · 1020 reading sections
From The Manger In Bethlehem To The Baptism In Jordan.
As regards the Roman rule, matters had greatly changed for the worse since the mild sway of Augustus, under which, in the language of Philo, no one throughout the Empire dared to molest the Jews. [1286] The only innovations to which Israel had then to submit were, the daily sacrifices for the Emperor and the Roman …
691 wordsSECTION 182From The Manger In Bethlehem To The Baptism In Jordan.
Such a combination of political and religious distress, surely, constituted the time of Israel's utmost need. As yet, no attempt had been made by the people to right themselves by armed force. In these circumstances, the cry that the Kingdom of Heaven was near at hand, and the call to preparation for it, must have …
772 wordsSECTION 183From The Manger In Bethlehem To The Baptism In Jordan.
How imperfectly Israel understood this Kingdom, our previous investigations have shown. In truth, the men of that period possessed only the term - as it were, the form. What explained its meaning, filled, and fulfilled it, came once more from heaven. Rabbinism and Alexandrianism kept alive the thought of it; and in…
924 wordsSECTION 184From The Manger In Bethlehem To The Baptism In Jordan.
As we pass from the Jewish ideas of the time to the teaching of the New Testament, we feel that while there is complete change of spirit, the form in which the idea of the Kingdom of Heaven is presented is substantially similar. Accordingly, we must dismiss the notion that the expression refers to the Church, wheth…
844 wordsSECTION 185From The Manger In Bethlehem To The Baptism In Jordan.
But if such had been the inner thoughts of his bearers, John warned them, that God was able of those stones that strewed the river-bank to raise up children unto Abraham; [1381] [1382] or, reverting to his former illustration of fruits meet for repentance,' that the proclamation of the Kingdom was, at the same time…
785 wordsSECTION 186From The Manger In Bethlehem To The Baptism In Jordan.
[1275] Instead of detailed quotations I would here generally refer to works on Roman history, especially to Friedländer's Sittengeschichte Roms, and to Döllinger's exhaustive work, Heidenthum and Judenthum. [1276] The only thorough resistance to this worship came from hated Judæa, and, we may add, from Britain (Döl…
653 wordsSECTION 187From The Manger In Bethlehem To The Baptism In Jordan.
[1301] Tos. Set. xiv. [1302] St. John vii. 50-52. [1303] St. John xi. 47-50. [1304] Jos. Jewish War vi. 2. 2. [1305] I do not, however, feel sure that the word high-priests' in this passage should be closely pressed. It is just one of those instances in which it would suit Josephus to give such a grandiose title …
660 wordsSECTION 188From The Manger In Bethlehem To The Baptism In Jordan.
[1329] In St. Matthew the expression occurs thirty-two times; six times that of the Kingdom;' five times that of Kingdom of God.' [1330] As in Shebhu 35 b; Ber. R. 9, ed Warsh, pp. 19 b, 20 a. [1331] As in the Targum on Ps. xiv. 7, and on Is. liii. 10. [1332] As in Targum on 1 Kings iv. 33 (v. 13). [1333] The dist…
679 wordsSECTION 189From The Manger In Bethlehem To The Baptism In Jordan.
[1353] It is difficult to conceive, how the idea of the identity of the Kingdom of God with the Church could have originated. Such parables as those about the Sower, and about the Net (St. Matt. xiii. 3-9; 47, 48), and such admonitions as those of Christ to His disciples in St. Matt. xix. 12; vi. 33; and vi. 10, ar…
678 wordsSECTION 190From The Manger In Bethlehem To The Baptism In Jordan.
[1366] In proof that such was the common view, I shall here refer to only a few passages, and these exclusively from the Targumum: Jer. Targ. on Gen. xlix. 11; Targ. on Is. xi. 4; Targ. on Amos ix. 11; Targ. on Nah. i. 6; on Zech. x. 3, 4. See also Ab. Z. 2 b, Yalkut i. p. 64 a; also 56 b (where it is shown how pla…
688 wordsSECTION 191From The Manger In Bethlehem To The Baptism In Jordan.
[1389] This is the meaning of sbestos. The word occurs only in St. Matt. iii. 12; St. Luke iii. 17; St. Mark ix. 43, 45 (?), but frequently in the classics. The question of eternal punishment' will be discussed in another place. The simile of the fan and the garner is derived from the Eastern practice of threshing …
658 wordsSECTION 192From The Manger In Bethlehem To The Baptism In Jordan.
That Kingdom had been the last word of the Old Testament. As the thoughtful Israelite, whether Eastern or Western, [1396] viewed even the central part of his worship in sacrifices, and remembered that his own Scriptures had spoken of them in terms which pointed to something beyond their offering, [1397] he must hav…
714 wordsSECTION 193From The Manger In Bethlehem To The Baptism In Jordan.
Such entire absorption in his mission, which leaves us in ignorance of even the details of his later activity, must have given force to his message. [1402] And still the voice, everywhere proclaiming the same message, travelled upward, along the winding Jordon which cleft the land of promise. It was probably the au…
790 wordsSECTION 194From The Manger In Bethlehem To The Baptism In Jordan.
Again, and most important of all, we must not seek for any ulterior motive in the coming of Jesus to this Baptism. He had no ulterior motive of any kind: it was an act of simple submissive obedience on the part of the Perfect One - and submissive obedience has no motive beyond itself. It asks no reasons; it cherish…
871 wordsSECTION 195From The Manger In Bethlehem To The Baptism In Jordan.
That one outstanding thought, then, I must be about My Father's business,' which had been the principle of His Nazareth life, had come to full ripeness when He knew that the cry, The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,' was from God. The first great question was now answered. His Father's business was the Kingdom of Heav…
693 wordsSECTION 196From The Manger In Bethlehem To The Baptism In Jordan.
Jesus stepped out of the baptismal waters praying.' [1417] One prayer, the only one which He taught His disciples, recurs to our minds. [1418] We must here individualise and emphasise in their special application its opening sentences: Our Father Which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name! Thy Kingdom come! They wil…
842 wordsSECTION 197From The Manger In Bethlehem To The Baptism In Jordan.
We make bold to maintain that no one, who has impartially examined the matter, [1423] could find any real analogy between the so-called Bath-Qol, and the Voice from heaven' of which record is made in the New Testament. However opinions might differ, on one thing all were agreed: the Bath-Qol had come after the voic…
718 wordsSECTION 198From The Manger In Bethlehem To The Baptism In Jordan.
[1396] It may be said that the fundamental tendency of Rabbinism was anti-sacrificial, as regarded the value of sacrifices in commending the offerer to God. After the destruction of the Temple it was, of course, the task of Rabbinism to show that sacrifices had no intrinsic importance, and that their place was take…
676 wordsSECTION 199From The Manger In Bethlehem To The Baptism In Jordan.
[1402] Deeply as we appreciate the beauty of Keim's remarks about the character and views of John, we feel only the more that such a man could not have taken the public position nor made such public proclamation of the Kingdom as at hand, without a direct and objective call to it from God. The treatment of John's e…
652 wordsSECTION 200From The Manger In Bethlehem To The Baptism In Jordan.
[1423] Dr. Wünsche's Rabbinic notes on the Bath-Qol (Neue Beitr. pp. 22, 23) are taken from Hamburger's Real-Encykl. (Abth. ii. pp. 92 &c.) [1424] Jer. Sot. ix. 14; Yoma 9 b; Sotah 33 a; 48 b; Sanh 11 a. [1425] Hamburger, indeed maintains, on the ground of Macc. 23 b, that occasionally it was identified with the Ho…
648 wordsSECTION 201Transfiguration.
____ ______________ {hebrew} In every passage of Scripture where thou findest the Majesty of God, thou also findest close by His Condescension (Humility). So it is written down in the Law [Deut. x. 17, followed by verse 18], repeated in the Prophets [Is. lvii. 15], and reiterated in the Hagiographa [Ps. lxviii. …
1,047 wordsSECTION 202Transfiguration.
In another respect these quotations are important. They show that such ideas were, indeed, present to the Jewish mind, but in a sense opposite to the Gospel-narratives. In other words, they were regarded as the rightful manifestation of Messiah's dignity; whereas in the Evangelic record they are presented as the su…
1,124 wordsSECTION 203Transfiguration.
At the outset, it is only truthful to state, that the distinction does not seem of quite so vital importance as it has appeared to some, who have used in regard to it the strongest language. [1451] On the other hand it must be admitted that the narrative, if naturally interpreted, suggests an outward and real event…
819 wordsSECTION 204Transfiguration.
To obtain, if we can, a clearer understanding of this subject, two points must be kept in view. Christ's was real, though unfallen Human Nature; and Christ's Human was in inseparable union with His Divine Nature. We are not attempting to explain these mysteries, nor at present to vindicate them; we are only arguing…
702 wordsSECTION 205Transfiguration.
To restate in order our former conclusions, Jesus had deliberately, of His own accord and of set firm purpose, gone to be baptized. That one grand outstanding fact of His early life, that He must be about His Father's Business, had found its explanation when He knew that the Baptist's cry, the Kingdom of Heaven is …
957 wordsSECTION 206Transfiguration.
And this was, indeed, the essence of His last three great temptations; which, as the whole contest, resolved themselves into the one question of absolute submission to the Will of God, [1468] which is the sum and substance of all obedience. If He submitted to it, it must be suffering, and only suffering - helpless,…
656 wordsSECTION 207Transfiguration.
The Spirit of God had driven Jesus into the wilderness; the spirit of the Devil now carried Him to Jerusalem. Jesus stands on the lofty pinnacle of the Tower, or of the Temple-porch, [1473] presumably that on which every day a Priest was stationed to watch, as the pale morning light passed over the hills of Judæa f…
1,080 wordsSECTION 208Transfiguration.
Foiled, defeated, the Enemy has spread his dark pinions towards that far-off world of his, and covered it with their shadow. The sun no longer glows with melting heat; the mists have gathered or the edge of the horizon, and enwrapped the scene which has faded from view. And in the cool and shade that followed have …
662 wordsSECTION 209Transfiguration.
[1440] Thus Gfrörer can only hope that some Jewish parallelism may yet be discovered (!); while Keim suggests, of course without a title of evidence, additions by the early Jewish Christians. But whence and why these imaginary additions? [1441] Yalkut on Is. ix. 1, vol. ii. p. 56. [1442] Keim (Jesu von Naz. i. b, …
688 wordsSECTION 210Transfiguration.
[1468] All the assaults of Satan were really directed against Christ's absolute submission to the Will of God, which was His Perfectness. Hence, by every one of these temptations, as Weiss says in regard to the first, rüttelt er an Seiner Volkommenheit.' [1469] I regard the memory as affording the basis for the Tem…
723 wordsSECTION 211Transfiguration.
Tidings of what these many months had occurred by the banks of the Jordan must have early reached Jerusalem, and ultimately stirred to the depths its religious society, whatever its preoccupation with ritual questions or political matters. For it was not an ordinary movement, nor in connection with any of the exist…
725 wordsSECTION 212Transfiguration.
The origin of the two great parties of Pharisees and Sadducees has already been traced. [1490] They mark, not sects, but mental directions, such as in their principles are natural and universal, and, indeed, appear in connection with all metaphysical [1491] questions. They are the different modes in which the human…
662 wordsSECTION 213Transfiguration.
These two great obligations of the official' Pharisee, or Associate' are pointedly referred to by Christ - both that in regard to tithing (the vow of the Neeman); [1505] and that in regard to Levitical purity (the special vow of the Chabher). [1506] In both cases they are associated with a want of corresponding inw…
706 wordsSECTION 214Transfiguration.
The fundamental dogmatic differences between the Pharisees and Sadducees concerned: the rule of faith and practice; the after death;' the existence of angels and spirits; and free will and pre-destination. In regard to the first of these points, it has already been stated that the Sadducees did not lay down the pri…
825 wordsSECTION 215Transfiguration.
Connected with this was the equally Rationalistic opposition to belief in Angels and Spirits. It is only mentioned in the New Testament, [1536] but seems almost to follow as a corollary. Remembering what the Jewish Angelology was, one can scarcely wonder that in controversy the Sadducees should have been led to the…
802 wordsSECTION 216Transfiguration.
But there is another aspect of this question also. While the Pharisees thus held the doctrine of absolute preordination, side by side with it they were anxious to insist on man's freedom of choice, his personal responsibility, and moral obligation. [1545] Although every event depended upon God, whether a man served…
693 wordsSECTION 217Transfiguration.
These may seem trifling distinctions, but they sufficed to kindle the passions. Even greater importance attached to differences on ritual questions, although the controversy here was purely theoretical. For, the Sadducees, when in office, always conformed to the prevailing Pharisaic practices. Thus the Sadducees wo…
789 wordsSECTION 218Transfiguration.
This bold hypothesis seems, indeed, to have been invented chiefly for the sake of another, still more unhistorical. The derivation of the name Sadducee' has always been in dispite. According to a Jewish legend of about the seventh century of our era, [1581] the name was derived from one Tsadoq (Zadok), [1582] a dis…
653 wordsSECTION 219Transfiguration.
This uncertainty as to the origin of the name of a party leads almost naturally to the mention of another, which, indeed, could not be omitted in any description of those times. But while the Pharisees and Sadducees were parties within the Synagogue, the Essenes (Esseno or 'Essaoi - the latter always in Philo) were…
716 wordsSECTION 220Transfiguration.
Before stating our conclusions as to its relation to Judaism and the meaning of the name, we shall put together what information may be derived of the sect from the writings of Josephus, Philo, and Pliny. [1600] Even its outward organisation and the mode of life must have made as deep, and, considering the habits a…
900 wordsSECTION 221Transfiguration.
It is evident that, while all else was intended as safeguards of a rigorous sect of purists, and with the view of strictly keeping it a secret order, the last-mentioned particulars furnish significant indications of their peculiar doctrines. Some of these may be regarded as only exaggerations of Judaism, though not…
897 wordsSECTION 222Transfiguration.
It deserves special notice that this intercourse with Angels, this secret traditional literature, and its teaching concerning mysterious remedies in plants and stones, are not unfrequently referred to in that Apocalyptic literature known as the Pseudepigraphic Writings.' Confining ourselves to undoubtedly Jewish an…
871 wordsSECTION 223Transfiguration.
This derivation of the name Essenes, which strictly expresses the character and standing of the sect relatively to orthodox Judaism, and, indeed, is the Greek form of the Hebrew term for outsiders,' is also otherwise confirmed. It has already been said, that no direct statement concerning the Essenes occurs in Rabb…
829 wordsSECTION 224Transfiguration.
[1480] This chapter contains, among other matter, a detailed and critical examination of the great Jewish Sects, such as was necessary in a work on The Times.' as well as The Life,' of Christ. [1481] i. 19-28. [1482] This point is fully discussed by Lücke, Evang. Joh., vol. i. pp. 396-398. [1483] Comp. St. John v…
652 wordsSECTION 225Transfiguration.
[1518] Sanh. 33 t Horay 4 a. [1519] Some traditional explanation of the Law of Moses was absolutely necessary, if it was to be applied to existing circumstances. It would be a great historical inaccuracy to imagine that the Sadducees rejected the whole pardosis tn presbutron (St. Matt. xv. 2) from Ezra downwards. …
685 wordsSECTION 226Transfiguration.
[1544] Those who understand the character of Josephus' writings will be at no loss for his reasons in this. It would suit his purpose to speak often of the fatalism of the Pharisees, and to represent them as a philosophical sect like the Stoics. The latter, indeed, he does in so many words. [1545] For details comp…
678 wordsSECTION 227Transfiguration.
[1587] Ps. xxx. 4; xxxi. 23; xxxvii. 28. [1588] vi. 21; ix. 1; x. 11; Neh. ix. 2. [1589] Comp. generally, Sketches of Jewish Social Life,' pp. 230, 231. [1590] Ber. v. 1; comp. with Vayyikra R. 2, ed. Warsh. t. iii. p. 5 a. [1591] Here it deserves special notice that the Old Testament term Chasid, which the Pharis…
715 wordsSECTION 228Transfiguration.
[1613] War ii. 8.7. [1614] Can this possibly have any connection in the mind of Josephus with the later Nationalist movement? This would agree with his insistance on their respect for those in authority. Otherwise the emphasis laid on abstinence from robbery seems strange in such a sect. [1615] I venture to think …
703 wordsSECTION 229Transfiguration.
[1639] In Sanh. x. 1. [1640] Meg. 24 b. [1641] The Epicureans,' or freethinkers,' are explained to be such as speak contemptuously of the Scriptures, or of the Rabbis (Jer. Sanh. 27 d). In Sanh. 38 b a distinction is made between stranger' (heathen) Epicureans, and Israelitish Epicureans. With the latter it is unw…
771 wordsSECTION 230Transfiguration.
One picture was most brightly reflected on those pages of Isaiah. It was that of the Anointed, Messiah, Christ, the Representative Israelite, the Priest, King, and Prophet, [1648] in Whom the institution and sacramental meaning of the Priesthood, and of Sacrifices, found their fulfilment. [1649] In his announcement…
1,000 wordsSECTION 231Transfiguration.
Yet, as we view it, and without needlessly imputing malice prepense to the Pharisaic deputation, their questions seemed but natural. After his previous emphatic disclaimer at the beginning of his preaching (St. Luke iii. 15), of which they in Jerusalem could scarcely have been ignorant, the suggestion of his Messia…
747 wordsSECTION 232Transfiguration.
The reward of his overcoming temptation - yet with it also the fitting for still fiercer conflict (which two, indeed, are always conjoined), was at hand. After His victorious contest with the Devil, Angels had come to minister to Jesus in body and soul. But better than Angels' vision came to refresh and strengthen …
771 wordsSECTION 233Transfiguration.
If further proof were required that, when John pointed the bystanders to the Figure of Jesus walking towards them, with these words: Behold, the Lamb of God,' he meant more than His gentleness, meekness, and humility, it would be supplied by the qualifying explanation, Which taketh away the sin of the world.' We pr…
753 wordsSECTION 234Transfiguration.
As we picture it to ourselves: in the early morning of that Sabbath John stood, with the two of his disciples who most shared his thoughts and feelings. One of them we know to have been Andrew (v. 40); the other, unnamed one, could have been no other than John himself, the beloved disciple. [1683] They had heard wh…
702 wordsSECTION 235Transfiguration.
It must not, of course, be supposed that this represents all that had passed between Jesus and Peter, any more than that the recorded expression was all that Andrew and John had said of Jesus to their brothers. Of the interview between John and James his brother, the writer, with his usual self-reticence, forbears …
721 wordsSECTION 236Transfiguration.
These are, of course, only suppositions; but it might well be that Philip had found him while still busy with such thoughts. Possibly their outcome, and that quite in accordance with Jewish belief at the time, may have been, that all that was needed to bring that happy age to come' was, that Jacob should become Isr…
770 wordsSECTION 237Transfiguration.
[1648] Is. ix. 6 &c.; xi.; xlii.; lii. 13 &c. [iii.]; lxi. [1649] Is. liii. [1650] Is. xxxiii. 17. [1651] I cannot agree with Mr. Cheyne (Prophecies of Is. vol. i. p. 183), that there is no Messianic reference here. It may not be in the most literal sense personally Messianic;' but surely this ideal presentation …
718 wordsSECTION 238Transfiguration.
[1678] For the reasons of this, comp. Sketches of Jewish Social Life,' p. 151. [1679] St. John 1. 43. [1680] This may be regarded as another of the undesigned evidences of the Hebraic origin of the fourth Gospel. Indeed, it might also be almost called an evidence of the truth of the whole narrative. [1681] St. Jo…
657 wordsSECTION 239Transfiguration.
[1702] So in Tanchuma. [1703] Pesiqta. [1704] Ps. cxlvi 5; Pesiqta, ed. Buber, p. 62 a. [1705] Tanchuma, u. s. [1706] This, as it would seem, needless addition (if the narrative were fictitious) is of the highest evidential value. In an Ephesian Gospel of the end of the second century it would have been well-nigh…
774 wordsSECTION 240Transfiguration.
At the same time it must be borne in mind, that marriage conveyed to the Jews much higher thoughts than merely those of festivity and merriment. The pious fasted before it, confessing their sins. It was regarded almost as a Sacrament. Entrance into the married state was thought to carry the forgiveness of sins. [17…
1,031 wordsSource & rights
Public Domain; source text supplied by Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.