All the vaunted -wisdom of the Rabbis Jesus he'd in very slight esteem. It was not indeed His manner to despise the searcliings of earnest souls after the knowledge of God, but the theology of His day was the very arrogance of ignorance, and blinded its votaries to the truth. It is a patlietic fact that nothing so etl'ectually prevented the re- cognition of Jesus by the men of Jerusalem as their fancied knowleclge of the things of God. Bred in an atmosphere of disputation, they were all controversialists, and at every turn they would raise some theological objection to His claims. Once, when some wondered if He were the Messiah, others answered that His origin was known, and, according to the Rabbinical teaching, the Messiah would appear suddenly, none would know wlience, like a serpent by the way or a treasure-trove (Jn 720-27 . gf v.-"'-). Again it was objected tliat He testified concerning Himself ; and it was a Rab- binical maxim that a man's testimony concerning himself was invalid (Jn 8").S Thus it fared with the Messiali when He made His appeal to the men of Jerusalem. Their minds were fenced by an im- penetrable barrier of theological prejudice. It was otlierwise in Galilee. Among the unsophisticated folk of that despised province the gospel "ained a fair hearing and a ready welcome. All the .\postles save Judas were Galiloeans. ' I thank
. on Jn S«.
EGG
EGYPT
509
tion'
thee. Father, Lord of heaven and earth,' said Jesus, perhaps when He was leaving; Jerusalem, rejected by her wise men (Jn Iff'"- '"'),* ' that thou didst hide these things from wise and understand- ing, and didst reveal them to babes' (Mt 11"'').
It is important to take account of this. Does it not explain a difficulty which has been felt in con- ne.xion with the Fourth Gospel ? St. John repre- sents Jesus as a controversialist absolutely unlike the gracious Teacher of the Synoptists ; and it has been alleged that these representations are incom- patible. If Jesus spoke as the Synoptists report. He cannot have spoken after the Johannine fashion. But the ditt'erence is really a mark of verisimilitude. Jesus had different audiences in Galilee and in Jerusalem. To the simple ])eople of the north He spoke the language of the heart, and couched His teaching in parable and poetry ; but in Jerusalem He had to do with men whose minds were steeped in theology, and He met them on their own ground, talked to tlieni in their own language, and encountered them with tlieir own weapons. He adapted His teaching to His audiences. See, further, art. Boyhood.
44 ff. ; art. on ' Educa-
David Smith. EGG.— See Animals, p. m\
EGYPT The Gospel narrative comes into con- tact with the land of Egypt at one point alone, and then only incidentally, in a manner wliich seems to have exercised no influence and left no trace upon the course of sacred history. The record, moreover, is confined to the first of the Evangelists, and is by him associated with the fulfilment of prophecy, as one of the links which drew together the ancient Hebrew Scriptures and the life of our Lord. The narrative is simple and brief. St. Matthew relates that Joseph, in obedi- ence to the command of God, conveyed by an angel in a dream, took refuge in Egypt witli the child and His mother from the murderous inten- tions of Herod the king (Mt 2"'-). The return to Palestine, again at the bicUling of an angel of the Lord in a dream, isdescribed (v.'^"-). Joseph, how- ever, feared to enter Judjiea because of Archelaus, Herod's son and successor ; and in obedience to a second vision directed his course to Galilee, and settled at Nazareth (v.-'-).
To St. Matthew it would appear that the chief interest of the history lies in its rclatinii to OT prophecy. Both movements, the I'li.lil :iihI the Return to Nazareth, are desiril..',! a^ lullihnents of the word spoken ' througli the prupiiet ' (v.'=), or ' through the prophets ' (v.'=2). In the first instance the passage quoted is Hos ll^ 'When Israel was a chfld, then I loved him, and called my son out ofE^ypt' {'ah -riN-ii; Dnssp, LXX ri Wkto avroO, ' his, i.e. Israel's, children '). Hosea recalls the de- liverance and mercies of the past (cf. G. A. Smith, Twelve Prophets, in Ion. ) ; the Evangelist sees history repeating itself in a new exodus, which, like the earlier departure from Egypt, signalizes the beginning of a new national life, and is the promise and pledge of Divine favour. Egypt, therefore, to tlie narrator is no mere ' /geographical expression.' The name recalls the memories of a glorious past, when Israel's youth was guided and sustained by the miracles of Divine interposition. And to him it is significant of much that this land .should tlius be brought into connexion with the birth of a new era for the people, in the Person of
^ Mt. and Lk. jpive this lotion in dilferent connexions, neitlier suitable (Mt HMn = Lk lo^i- 22). it is probably one ot the fugitive fragments which the Synoptists have preserved of the . „!_■•„»-.. .,. : rkably Johannine. Cf. Jn. 3^5 13^
a greater Son, in whom lie saw tlie fulfilment of the best hopes and brightest anticipations of Israel's ancient prophets.