ACCOMMODATION
ACCOMMODATION
Shalt go down to Hades.' The idea was that a complete moral and spiritual overthrow awaited her, -whereas she might have enjoyed the full and lofty freedom characteristic of the atmosphere of God's presence (see Mt ll=3 = Lk 10'').
The expression 'gates of Hades ' (Mt 1618) is similarly figura- tive, and 111 thia place has reference to the forces of death and spiritual decay. Here there is an incidental reference to the general belief that H.ade3 is an enclosed prison-like (cf. the i« pyXax ^ of 1 P319) abode whose inhabitants are locked and detained
even in Hades a broad impassable line of demarcation (' between usand you a great gulf is fixed,' Lk ICfK) between the souls of those who have lived piously here and those whose lives were selfish (cf. Lk 23*^ where the former department of Hades is called ' Paradise '). In connexion with this subject it is in- structive to note such ideas as are found in Enoch 22. 51. 63io 1025 etc., where, mth the single exception of the locale of Sheol, the general description is very simUar to that we have been
(3) One of the traditional forms of teaching was by the employment of aphoristic sayings, such as we have before us in the gnomic wisdom of the Son of Sirach, or of the Pirke Aboth in the Mishna (Schurer, ffJP II. iii. pp. 23-32). Jesus uses this method with wonderful eft'ect, as we see especi- ally in the list of utterances grouped in Mt 5-7, which were collected, we may feel sure, from many dift'erent periods of His ministry. All four Gospels afford examples of these proverbial expressions. Cf. e.g. Mk 2"- " ^- *> 12" H^s, Mt2-2» 12*, Lk 12« 16'", and the unrecorded saying in Ac 20^, Jn .^^ 4-^ 12^, while, in this Gospel, Jesus refers explicitly to a proverb current in His time ( ' Herein is the saying true,' Jn 4^). Very striking and vivid also are sucli figures as those by which the doctrine or teaching of the Pharisees is referred to by the word 'leaven' (Mk 8'*), His own suffering by the words ' cup ' and 'baptism' (Mk \V^, cf. Lk 12«'-). the relative positions of Jew and CJentUe in the kingdom of grace by the words ' children ' and ' dogs ' (Mk 7"). In the Fourth Gospel there is a striking frequency in this mode of expression. It is in this writing that Jesus speaks of Himself as ' the way ' (ri 656s, Jn 148), . the light of the world ' (8'=), ' the bread of life' (6^5), 'the vine' (ISM, 'the door' (10'). He speaks of His work as His 'meat' (4"), of His body as ' this temple ' (2"). Cf. also such passages as those which deal with the second birth (3^), the living water (4'°), the heavenly mansions (14^), and ao on. In all tliis we observe a method which is peculiarly adapted to the intelligence of those He meant to instruct ; and this is still more emphati- cally the case when, as He sometimes does, He expands these figures and similes until they assume the shape of allegories. We see examples of this in His use of the figure of ' the shepherd ' (Wo«-), 'the vine' (15"f-), 'the light' (12^'-), etc. No one who has ever heard these can fail to admire 'the wonderful art and power of popular eloquence' which He possessed. It was precisely the power to gain the attention and arouse and retain the interest of the people which Jesus ■wielded, and we can appreciate the reasons for the willingness and eagerness with which He was listened to by the proletariat (Mk 12''). See art. Wisdom.
(4) The references in the discourses of Jesus to natural or world-phenomena, and to the psycho- logical features of man's being, exhibit the same reserve, the same restraint in coiTecting popular notions, the same frank acceptance of current thoiight. A few exaniples will be sufficient to show how completely He adapted His language to the limitations of contemporary knowledge, (o) God makes His sun to rise (Mt 5") ; lightning comes out of the east and takes its swift journey towards the west (Mt 24"), or it falls down straight from heaven (Lk 10") ; the germ of life in the wheat-grain is brought into active play only
liy the (le:itli of the seed (Jn 12=^). Even the signs wliich in.ililcd men to forecast the weather were l.iid liy Ilim under contribution to emphasize a contrast (Lk Vl^*"-). The wind blows hither and tliitlier, but men know neither its beginning nor its ending (Jn 3"), any more than they can point to the origin or the destiny of the mysterious iuj) dvadey, the reality of whose existence He never- theless insists cannot be doubted. The gradual growth of the kingdom of God eludes men's ob- servation, just as that of the planted seed does, which receives the vital principle of its growth fiom the earth, and advances steadily though secretly (Mk 4-''}.
Its
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to the present writer that i is pointing to the existence of a wider field of knowledge into which man has not as yet entered. At the same time He seems to include Himself in the number of those who ' know not ' the how or the wherefore. Ages were yet to pass over the world before men discovered the laws which govern the relations of natural phenomena, and which enable them, in some cases at least, to predict with almost infallible certainty their regular sequence. Jesus consciously recognized that it was no part of His work to add to the sum total of human knowledge of these subjects.