The Sadducees held aloof from the Measianic expeittition to wliich they were not clearly com- pelled by the few allusions in the Pentateuch, and which would have been only a disturbing element in their policy of making the best — for themselves — of things as they were. Some of the scribes must have also done what they could to discour- age the belief. It is well known that Hillel is .iaid to have asserti'd that the prophecies of the Messiah were fulfilled in Hezekiah. But there is almndant evidence that in spite of this the expecta^ til in was widely ditTnsed. It must have been con- stantly preached in the .synagogues of Palestine, and it certainly took a strong hold of the popular mind. It was differently received and understood by different hearers. With some quiet (Jod-fearing souls, 'poor in .spirit' like those who come before ns at the beginning of the evangelical narrative in Lk 1. 2, it w;us cherished secretly with awed and wistful longing (Lk 2-^*''). With the mass of the piipniatioii, as well teachers as taught, it took its place only too easily among the body of hard, narrow, materialized beliefs which were so char- acteristic of the time — a visible earthly kinjdom reserved for Israel as its right, and canying with it domination over other nations, with such un- limited command of enjoyment as a sovereign people might expect under conditions specially created for its benefit : all this introduced by supernatural means, wielded by One who is vari- ously called ' Messi.ih ' or 'Anointed,' ' the righteous King.' 'the Elect' or 'Son of Man,' not (if the question were pressed) in the strict seii.se God, thoui^'li endi>wed by God with (ilenary powers, a fit Head for the Cho.sen People in its golden age. which was at bust about to begin. And scattered amonn these nuisses there were many — some aandc'd together under the name of Zealots, and thousands more who were ready to join them at the lii-st signal — men not of drc'ams but of action, who Were only waiting for the hader and the hour to jiut their hand to the sword and rise in revolt against the hated foreiijners who oppressed them, jirepared to take a fearful vengeance, and jiroud in the thought that in doing so they would be 'doing God service' and establishing His kingdom.
LiTKHATCRi:. — ViAt ^lon'-* of onliTcHl iimtorlBl nrr rontalneil In Schflivr'ft frrvnt work odif. caIUhI Xtuttnt. Zeiti/fitcJtichU
(y'TZ<;\. and now as tn tlie Ene. tr. IHnt. nf tlie Jtwiith People in the Time of JeHUH Chrint ( 1/Jl'). The Kng. tr. from the 2nA much enlarireii wl. caiue out In lSi5-90: a :Jrd etl.. stiU further enlarged, hai bt't^un to appear (vols. it. and iii., l^V^). The late Dr. Edersheim's f.t/e amj Timenof Jetiutt the MenKiah (revised eds. from ISS»i) is also full of illustrative matter, other work? bv the same author may also be consulted ; esp. liiHtory o/ thfi Jetcinh Xitfinii afterthf I)entructiono/Jerun. under TitUH^inU ed. carefully revised by II. \. White, Isilli). Another vjry useful work is Weber's Si/ntem tl. tlltftt/nat/off. PttltiHt. Theot.^ now called Jttdixfhe Theoloijie (*Jnd eil.. somewhat improved, 1897). .\s there is always a dani^er of confusing' 'lewisb teaching of very different dates, this book .sliouhl be cheeked as far as possible by coini)arison with tlie IWiitle]tigrti]thit, I'liilo. NT, and the early 'I'altnudic work Piri^e Aliolh tStii/hiijH i>f the Jeiciult Ftithern, ed. Taylor, 1S77. and enlarged in 1^^117). To these authoritiec should now be arMed tl. Dalman, Die Worte Jetiu (Hd. i., 1&9S /tit.), the most critical and scieiilillc e.xamination of the leading conceptlt»n9 of the Gospels that has yet apjieared.
Mention may be made amonf; older works of Drummond's Jei-Cinh MenHiah tl>77) and Stanton's .Jeicith and ChriMian iieiiftiah (lss7). llausrath's XT Timen (Ensr. tr. Is7n-^0) is picturcsijuely written, luit far less trustworthy than Schiirer; and Wunsche's Xeue Beitriige s. Krtanteriinff d. Kvr. lls7SHs much criticised. MoiileJiore's llihtieri /,cc/«;y»(l'?yL'land arts, in J<2U from an attractive apology for .ludaism.
II. The PfHLir Ministuy. — We .shall now be in a position to approach the stjidy of the Public Ministry of our Lord iit the maiini'r indicated at the outset. We shall be able to ])l,ace ourselves at the standpoint of a sympathetic spectator. We shall have some rcntgh conceiition of the kind of ideas which would be in his mind, and of the kind of conditions wliich he would see around him. We shall thus be able to follow the course of the Public Ministry with a certain amount of intelli- gence. We do not as yet attempt to penetrate the whole of its secret. Broadly sjieaking, we suppose ourselves to see what a privileged spec- tator might be expected to see, antl no more. We reserve until a later stage the introduction of those special details of illuminative knowledge which, as a matter of history, were not accessible to the first spectators, but were only disclo.sed after a time. But we liold ourselves at liberty to collect and group the facts which were not re- moved from the cognizance of a spectator, in any way that may be most convenient to secure clear- ness of presentation.
It may be well to avail ourselves of this freedom at once, 'oefore giving an outline of the ministry, to state summarily certain conclusions which seem to arise out of the study of it. We shall hold the threads in our miinis more lirnily if we see to what results they are tending.