PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah
Edersheim, Alfred, 1825-1889 · 873,712 words · 1020 reading sections
Transfiguration.
Apart, then, from explanations which have been shown untenable, what is the impression left on our minds of an event, the record of which is admitted to be authentic? The heathen Centurion is a real historical personage. He was captain of the troop quartered in Capernaum, and in the service of Herod Antipas. We kno…
847 wordsSECTION 362Transfiguration.
Closely considered, whatever verbal differences, there is not any real discrepancy in this respect between the Judæan presentation of the event in St. Matthew and the fuller Gentile account of it by St. Luke. From both narratives we are led to infer that the house of the Centurion was not in Capernaum itself, but i…
760 wordsSECTION 363Transfiguration.
But for the fuller understanding of the words of Christ, the Jewish modes of thought, which He used in illustration, required to be briefly explained. It was common belief, that in the day of the Messiah redeemed Israel would be gathered to a great feast, together with the patriarchs and heroes of the Jewish faith.…
865 wordsSECTION 364Transfiguration.
[2583] For a discussion of the precise date of the building of Tiberias, see Schürer, Neutest. Zeitgesch. p. 234, note 2. For details, comp. Jos. Ant. xviii. 2. 3; 6. 2; xix. 8. 1; War ii. 9. 1; 21. 3, 6, 9; Life 9, 12, 17, 66, and many other places. [2584] St. Luke x. 15. [2585] St. John iv. [2586] St. Mark iii.…
654 wordsSECTION 365Transfiguration.
[2620] Shabb. xiv. 4. [2621] {hebrew} Ab. iii. 14 comp. Jer. Kidd. 61 c middle. [2622] Sanh. 97 b; Succ. 45 b. [2623] Jer. Ber. 13 d, end. [2624] Pesiqta 16 b; Shem. R. 23. __________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER XX. THE RAISING OF THE YOUNG MAN OF NAIN - THE MEETING OF LIFE AND…
807 wordsSECTION 366Transfiguration.
Putting aside later superstitions, so little has changed in the Jewish rites and observances about the dead, [2635] that from Talmudic and even earlier sources, [2636] we can form a vivid conception of what had taken place in Nain. The watchful anxiety; the vain use of such means as were known, or within reach of t…
960 wordsSECTION 367Transfiguration.
We cannot, then, be mistaken in supposing that the body of the widow's son was laid on the bed' (Mittah), or in the willow basket,' already described (Kelibha, from Kelubh). [2664] Nor can we doubt that the ends of handles were borne by friends and neighbours, different parties of bearers, all of them unshod, at fr…
658 wordsSECTION 368Transfiguration.
And still was Jesus the link between the mother and the son, who had again found each other. And so, in the truest sense, He gave him [2675] to his mother.' Can any one doubt that mother and son henceforth owned, loved, and trusted Him as the true Messiah? If there was no moral motive for this miracle, outside Chri…
763 wordsSECTION 369Transfiguration.
And so, with all Christendom, we gladly take it, in simplicity of faith, as a true record by true men - all the more, that they who told it knew it to be so incredible, as not only to provoke scorn, [2680] but to expose them to the charge of cunningly devising fables. [2681] But they who believe, see in this histor…
650 wordsSECTION 370Transfiguration.
[2645] The mourning up to the time of burial or during the first day was termed Aninah (widowed-mourning, moaning) Jer. Horay. 48 a. The following three, seven, or thirty days (as the case might be) were those of Ebhel, mourning.' Other forms of the same word need not be mentioned. [2646] Jer. Ber. 5 d. [2647] Ke…
908 wordsSECTION 371Transfiguration.
Yet, even so, the impression left upon us by St. Matt. xi. 20-30 (which follows on the account of the Baptist's embassy) is, that Jesus was on a journey, and it may well be that those precious words of encouragement and invitation, spoken to the burdened and wearily labouring, [2692] formed part, perhaps the substa…
722 wordsSECTION 372Transfiguration.
The invitation of Simon the Pharisee to his table does not necessarily indicate, that he had been impressed by the teaching of Jesus, any more than the supposed application to his case of what is called the parable' of the much and the little forgiven debtor implies, that he had received from the Saviour spiritual …
1,044 wordsSECTION 373Transfiguration.
As she stood behind Him at His Feet, reverently bending, a shower of tears, like sudden, quick summer-rain, that refreshes air and earth, bedewed' [2710] His Feet. As if surprised, or else afraid to awaken His attention, or defile Him by her tears, she quickly [2711] wiped them away with the long tresses of her hai…
907 wordsSECTION 374Transfiguration.
What has been explained will dispose of another controversy which, with little judgment and less taste, has been connected with this marvellous history. It must not be made a question as between Romanist and Protestant, nor as between rival dogmatists, whether love had any meritorious part in her forgiveness, or wh…
696 wordsSECTION 375Transfiguration.
[2700] Ab. iv.16. [2701] The Teraqlin was sometimes entered by an antechamber (Prosedor), Ab. iv. 16, and opened into one (Jer. Rosh haSh. 59 b), or more (Yom. 15 b), side-or bed-rooms. The common measurement for such a hall was fifteen feet (ten cubits) breadth, length, and height (Baba B. vi. 4). [2702] The stra…
679 wordsSECTION 376Transfiguration.
[2728] So literally. [2729] This distinction between the two modes of expression is marked in Moed. K. 29 a: into peace,' as said to the living; in peace,' as referring to the dead. __________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER XXII. THE MINISTRY OF LOVE, THE BLASPHEMY OF HATRED, AND T…
810 wordsSECTION 377Transfiguration.
Such details may help us more clearly to realise the home, and with it, perhaps, also the upbringing and circumstances of her who not only ministered to Jesus in His Life, but, with eager avarice of love, watched afar off' His dying moments, [2747] and then sat over against the new tomb of Joseph in which His Body …
869 wordsSECTION 378Transfiguration.
But even before these two events, that had happened which would induce the Pharisaic party to increased measures against Jesus. It has already been suggested, that the party, as such, did not attend Jesus on His Galilean journey. But we are emphatically told, that tidings of the raising of the dead at Nain had gone…
788 wordsSECTION 379Transfiguration.
But all this, when the now beginning movement shall have reached its full proportions. [2767] For the present, we mark only its first appearance. The charge of Satanic agency was, indeed, not quite new. It had been suggested, that John the Baptist had been under demoniacal influence, and this cunning pretext for re…
692 wordsSECTION 380Transfiguration.
THE ASCENT: FROM THE RIVER JORDAN TO THE MOUNT OF TRANSFIGURATION __________________________________________________________________ [2730] St. Luke viii. 1-3; St. Matt. ix. 35. [2731] Out of whom went seven devils.' Those who are curious to see one attempt at finding a rational' basis for some of the Talmudical le…
650 wordsSECTION 381Transfiguration.
[2762] St. Matt. xi. 16-19. [2763] St. Luke vii. 17. [2764] St. Matt. ix. 34. [2765] St. Mark iii. 32. [2766] St. Mark iii. 22. [2767] St. Matt. xii. 22 &c.; St. Luke xi. 14 &c. [2768] St. Matt. xi. 17, 18; St. Luke vii. 31-32. [2769] St. Matt. ix. 33, 34. [2770] At the same time I have, with not a few authorit…
826 wordsSECTION 382Transfiguration.
In the second series of Parables we mark a different stage. The fifteen Parables of which it consists [2786] were spoken after the Transfiguration, on the descent into the Valley of Humiliation. They also concern the Kingdom of God, but, although the prevailing characteristic is still parenetic, [2787] or, rather, …
712 wordsSECTION 383Transfiguration.
But, to return. In Jewish writings a Parable (Mimshal, Mashal, Mathla) is introduced by some such formula as this: I will tell thee a parable' ({hebrew}) To what is the thing like? To one,' &c. Often it begins more briefly, thus: A Parable. To what is the thing like?' or else, simply: To what is the thing like?' So…
839 wordsSECTION 384Transfiguration.
In view of what has been explained, the arrangement of the Parables into symbolical and typical [2816] can only apply to their form, not their substance. In the first of these classes a scene from nature or from life serves as basis for exhibiting the corresponding spiritual reality. In the latter, what is related …
654 wordsSECTION 385Transfiguration.
We are now in some measure able to understand, why Christ now for the first time adopted parabolic teaching. Its reason lay in the altered circumstances of the case. All his former teaching had been plain, although initial. In it He had set forth by Word, and exhibited by fact (in miracles), that Kingdom of God whi…
731 wordsSECTION 386Transfiguration.
The first Parable is that of Him Who sowed. We can almost picture to ourselves the Saviour seated in the prow of the boat, as He points His hearers to the rich plain over against Him, where the young corn, still in the first green of its growing, is giving promise of harvest. Like this is the Kingdom of Heaven whic…
686 wordsSECTION 387Transfiguration.
If even the disciples failed to comprehend the whole bearing of this Mystery of the Kingdom,' we can believe how utterly strange and un-Jewish such a Parable of the Messianic Kingdom must have sounded to them, who had been influenced by the Pharisaic representations of the Person and Teaching of Christ. And yet the…
732 wordsSECTION 388Transfiguration.
With these thoughts in mind, let us now try to realise the scene pictured. Once more we see the field on which the corn is growing - we know not how. The sowing time is past. The Kingdom of Heaven is become [2845] like to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But in the time that men sleep came his enemy and over…
804 wordsSECTION 389Transfiguration.
More mysterious still, and, if possible, even more needful, was the instruction that the Enemy who sowed the tares was the Devil. To the Jews, nay, to us all, it may seem a mystery, that in the Messianic Kingdom of Heaven' there should be a mixture of tares with the wheat, the more mysterious, that the Baptist had …
723 wordsSECTION 390Transfiguration.
This is the first and main point in the Parable. The other, concerning the birds which are attracted to its branches and lodge' - literally, make tents' [2860] - there, or else under the shadow of it, [2861] is subsidiary. Pictorial, of course, this trait would be, and we can the more readily understand that birds …
777 wordsSECTION 391Transfiguration.
But even this was not all. The disciples had now knowledge concerning the mysteries of the Kingdom. But that Kingdom was not matter of the understanding only, but of personal apprehension. This implied discovery of its value, personal acquisition of it, and surrender of all to its possession. And this mystery of th…
781 wordsSECTION 392Transfiguration.
Our second question goes still farther. For, if Jesus was not a Prophet - and, if a Prophet, then also the Son of God - yet no more strangely unexpected prophecy, minutely true in all its details, could be conceived, than that concerning His Kingdom which His parabolic description of it conveyed. Has not History, i…
650 wordsSECTION 393Transfiguration.
[2811] St. John xv. [2812] St. Mark iv. 26-29. [2813] St. Matt. xiii. 33. [2814] vv. 45, 46. [2815] St. Mark iv. 26-29. [2816] So by Goebel. [2817] Phil. iii 17; 1 Tim. iv. 12. [2818] 1 Cor. x. 6, 11. [2819] St. Matt. xiii. [2820] St. Matt. xiii. 3, and parallels. [2821] St. Matt. xiii. 34; St. Mark iv. 33, 3…
650 wordsSECTION 394Transfiguration.
[2863] Ezek. xxxi. 6, 12; Dan. iv. 12, 14, 21, 22. [2864] Ezek. xvii. 23. [2865] Men. vii. [2866] Erub. viii. 2; 83 a. [2867] Comp. Herzfeld, Handelsgesch. d. Juden, pp. 183-185. [2868] Comp. Gen. xviii. 6; Judg. vi. 19; 1 Sam. i. 24; Jos. Ant. ix. 4, 5; Babha B. 9 a, &c. [2869] St. Matt. xiii. 36; comp. ver. 10…
1,001 wordsSECTION 395Transfiguration.
CHAPTER XXIV. CHRIST STILLS THE STORM ON THE LAKE OF GALILEE. (St. Matt. viii. 18, 23-27; St. Mark iv. 35-41; St. Luke viii. 22-25.) IT was the evening of that day of new teaching, and once more great multitudes were gathering to Him. What more, or, indeed, what else, could He have said to those to whom He had all …
747 wordsSECTION 396Transfiguration.
In all this we perceive already, in part, the internal connection between the teaching of that day and the miracle of that evening. Both were quite novel: the teaching by Parables, and then the help in a Parable. Both were founded on the Old Testament: the teaching on its predictions, [2879] the miracle on its proc…
781 wordsSECTION 397Transfiguration.
Thus far the history, related, often almost in the same words, by the three Evangelists. On all sides the narrative is admitted to form part of the primitive Evangelic tradition. But if so, then, even on the showing of our opponents, it must have had some foundation in an event surpassing the ordinary facts in the …
733 wordsSECTION 398Transfiguration.
Again, the narrative expresses very markedly, that the interposition of Christ, alike in itself, and in the manner of it, was wholly unexpected by, indeed, contrary to the expectation of, the disciples. This also holds true in regard to other of the great manifestations of Christ, up to His Resurrection from the de…
700 wordsSECTION 399Transfiguration.
CHAPTER XXV. AT GERASA - THE HEALING OF THE DEMONISED. (St. Matt. viii. 28-34; St. Mark v. 1-20; St. Luke viii. 26-39.) THAT day of wonders was not yet ended. Most writers have, indeed, suggested, that the healing of the demonised on the other side took place at early dawn of the day following the storm on the Lake…
688 wordsSECTION 400Transfiguration.
In calling attention to this and similar particulars, we repeat, that this must be kept in view as characteristic of the demonised, that they were incapable of separating their own consciousness and ideas from the influence of the demon, their own identity being merged, and to that extent lost, in that of their tor…
856 wordsSECTION 401Transfiguration.
With irresistible power the demonised was drawn to Jesus, as He touched the shore at Gerasa. As always, the first effect of the contact was a fresh paroxysm, [2909] but in this peculiar case not physical, but moral. As always also, the demons knew Jesus, and His Presence seemed to constrain their confession of them…
755 wordsSECTION 402Transfiguration.
This identification of the demons with the demonised, in consequence of which he thought with their consciousness, and they spoke not only through him but in his forms of thinking, may also account for the last and most difficult part of this narrative. Their main object and wish was not to be banished from the cou…
704 wordsSECTION 403Transfiguration.
One other point as regards the healing of this demonism deserves special consideration. Contrary to what was commonly the case, when the evil spirits came out of the demonised, there was no paroxysm of physical distress. Was it then so, that the more complete and lasting the demoniac possession, the less of purely …
692 wordsSECTION 404Transfiguration.
[2902] In this, as in all other instances, I can only indicate the critical results at which I have arrived. For the grounds, on which these conclusions are based, I must refer to the works which bear on the respective subjects. [2903] St. Matt. viii. 28. [2904] See Appendix XIII., Angelology and Demonology:' and …
740 wordsSECTION 405Transfiguration.
CHAPTER XXVI. THE HEALING OF THE WOMAN - CHRIST'S PERSONAL APPEARANCE - THE RAISING OF JAIRUS' DAUGHTER (St. Matt. ix. 18-26; St. Mark v. 21-43; St. Luke viii. 40-56.) THERE seems remarkable correspondence between the two miracles which Jesus had wrought on leaving Capernaum and those which He did on His return. In…
769 wordsSECTION 406Transfiguration.
Jairus, one of the Synagogue-rulers [2925] of Capernaum, had an only daughter, [2926] who at the time of this narrative had just passed childhood, and reached the period when Jewish Law declared a woman of age. [2927] Although St. Matthew, contracting the whole narrative into briefest summary, speaks of her as dead…
783 wordsSECTION 407Transfiguration.
Be this as it may, when Jesus followed the Ruler to his house, the multitude thronging Him' in eager curiosity, another approached Him from out that crowd, whose inner history was far different from that of Jairus. The disease from which this woman had suffered for twelve years would render her Levitically unclean.…
843 wordsSECTION 408Transfiguration.
In regard to the covering of the head, it was deemed a mark of disrespect to walk abroad, or to pass a person, with bared head. [2953] Slaves covered their heads in presence of their heads in presence of their masters, and the Targum Onkelos indicates Israel's freedom by paraphrasing the expression they went out wi…
912 wordsSECTION 409Transfiguration.
We can now form an approximate idea of the outward appearance of Jesus on that spring-morning amidst the throng at Capernaum. He would, we may safely assume, go about in the ordinary, although not in the more ostentatious, dress, worn by the Jewish teachers of Galilee. His head-gear would probably be the Sudar (Sud…
811 wordsSECTION 410Transfiguration.
We can picture her to our minds as, mingling with those who thronged and pressed upon the Lord, she put forth her hand and touched the border of His garment,' most probably [2992] the long Tsitsith of one of the corners of the Tallith. We can understand how, with a disease which not only rendered her Levitically de…
739 wordsSECTION 411Transfiguration.
Taking this narrative in its true literality, there is no reason to overweight and mar it by adding what is not conveyed in the text. There is nothing in the language of St. Mark [2995] (as correctly rendered), nor of St. Luke, to oblige us to conclude that this forthgoing of Power, which He perceived in Himself, h…
715 wordsSECTION 412Transfiguration.
Within, the tumult' and weeping, the wail of the mourners, real or hired, and the melancholy sound of the mourning flutes [3004] - sad preparation for, and pageantry of, an Eastern funeral - broke with dismal discord on the majestic calm of assured victory over death, with which Jesus had entered the house of mourn…
967 wordsSECTION 413Transfiguration.
Yet to all time has this question engaged the minds of men: Was the maiden really dead, or did she only sleep? With it this other and kindred one is connected: Was the healing of the woman miraculous, or only caused by the influence of mind over body, such as is not unfrequently witnessed, and such as explains mode…
730 wordsSECTION 414Transfiguration.
The unpleasant task of stating and refuting these objections seemed necessary, if only to show that, as of old so now, this history cannot be either explained or accounted for. It must be accepted or rejected, accordingly as we think of Christ. Admittedly, it formed part of the original tradition and belief of the …
668 wordsSECTION 415Transfiguration.
[2942] Ber. 28 a. [2943] Horay. 13 b. [2944] In general, I would here acknowledge my indebtedness on the very difficult subject of dress to Sachs, Beiträge z. Sprach- u. Alterth.-Forsch.; to the Articles in Levy's Dictionaries; and especially to Brüll, Trachten d. Juden. The Article in Hamburger's Real-Encykl. is…
669 wordsSECTION 416Transfiguration.
[2988] Zebhach. 19 a, b. [2989] As the question is of considerable practical importance, the following, as bearing upon it, may be noticed. From Jer. Ber. 4 c, we gather: 1. That at one time it was the practice to wear the phylacteries all day long, in order to pass as pious. This is denounced as a mark of hypocri…
663 wordsSECTION 417Transfiguration.
[3005] Is. xlii. 3. [3006] The reading which accordingly seems best is that adopted by Westcott and Hort, Taleith kom. The Aramaic or Rabbinic for maiden is either Talyetha or Talyutha ({hebrew}). In the second Targum on Esther ii. 7, 8, the reading is {hebrew} (Talutha), where Levy conjectures the reading {hebrew…
666 wordsSECTION 418Transfiguration.
Upon their own showing their unbelief was most unwarrantable. If ever men had the means of testing the claims of Jesus, the Nazarenes possessed them. True, they were ignorant of the miraculous event of His Incarnation; and we can now perceive at least one of the reasons for the mystery, which was allowed to enwrap …
670 wordsSECTION 419Transfiguration.
But in Nazareth they knew nothing of all this; and of Him only as that Infant Whom His parents, Joseph the carpenter and Mary, had brought with them months after they had first left Nazareth. Jewish law and custom made it possible, that they might have been married long before. And now they only knew of this humble…
767 wordsSECTION 420Transfiguration.
It was, indeed, more than a difficulty - an impossibility - to account for it on their principles. There could be no delusion, no collusion, no deception. In our modern cant-phraseology, theirs might have been designated Agnosticism and philosophic doubt. But philosophic it certainly was not, any more than much tha…
665 wordsSource & rights
Public Domain; source text supplied by Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.