\ I IS
1 I > 1 1 / s / / l->a)
111 a I factoi m e hit iti n > i of the
reatt t 1 i itmce In oui I ci 1 s time theie was fiol al I\ in il liti nlya clojlattle ynagogue taUpjht ly t / \ icligi us atniosihere
suiioun k 1 tl I 1 fioin the first and the
mothci \ a tl her As soon as the
chil 1 coul 1 I 1 taught him a veise of
theTorah(onU ty H 1 , and on the election
of Israel). See art. Childhood.
3. AH interest in this suViject, so far as the Gospels arc concurneil, is focussecl in the home at Nazareth, wjiere .lesiis spenl iie.-uly the whole of Hislife. Actual iiilui nianuii as i., 'the life in that home is of the sranlie i ; liiit there can be no question that I he liest ti.ulitidiis of the Jewish home at its tiest were all exemplified there. There eould never have been a better mother-teacher than Mary. The round of religious observances and ihitics would not fail of senipnlnns jierformance. The conditions of the Inane ii ~elf w ere no doubt of the simjilest and lowliisl kind ; hul an abundance of human afiection wa^ an aini-le compensation. There was nothing to eri|i]>lc or blight in any way the wonderful young life that was there unfolding. There is room also for interesting rellexion as to the history and experience of that family circle at Nazareth during all the years that Jesus was a member of it. The great crises of all domestic life — births, marriages, deaths — must surely, some or all of them, have marked the history of the home of Jesus during those years. As we think of Joseph, who, as it is commonly agreed, appears to have died at an early period, and of our Lord's 'brothers' and 'sisters' (Mk 3'' 6'), there is every reason to conclude that within the circle of the home Jesus had the experience of human bereave- ment and sorrow, and also of rejoicing, as His very own.
i. From the day of His leaving Nazareth for the Jordan, Jesus ceased to have any settled home. 'The Son of Man,' He once .said, 'hath not where tolay his head' (Mt 8-» || Lk 9=8). It is true that this saying is not to he taken too literally (see Bruce, With Open Face, ch. ix.), for Jesus would be welcome in the houses of many friends, as He was notably in the home at Bethany. Still, during His public ministry He surrendered all the quiet joys of the old home life at Nazareth, and often in the course of His constant journeys must have had to endure the hardships and privations of a wan- derer. When He called His first disciples to follow Him (Mt i'sf- II Mk li«'f-, Lk 5="-), Ho was sum- moning them to a life of homelessness resembling His own. He made readiness to li'ave home, with all its possessions and eii.leannenls, a test of fitness to be His tnie disei].le i Lk '.)■'"- || Mt 8'"-", cf. Mt 19=' II). And thouuh He -enl une hunie who wished to follow Him (Alk .V ■ l.k s '), lie laii-ht that, in principle at lea -l . 1 1 1 - ilie!|il(.- slaaiM ke \\illing to fors.ake not call \ Ihni-e ami knel^, km |iarents and brethren and si^lei,, and e\en wife and cdiildren, for the Kingiloia ..f Ged's sake (Lk 1S=™- || Mt 19=«, Mk lO-"-). See, further, art. Family.
LlTr.R.«Ti;nK.— Si-e tliu works cited at end of art. Cimldiiood, and add E. Stapfer, Palestine in the Time of Jesus Chritt, Eng.
HONESTY
HONEY
tr., chs. vii. and viii. ; Stalker, Imaijo ChrMi, ch. a. ; Dale, Laws of Christ, ch. xi.
J. S. Clemens. HONESTY (the subst. does not occur in the Gospels; the adj. 'honest' is found in both A V and RV of Lk 8» as a rendering of /caX6s=Lat. hon^stus, 'noble,- 'excellent.' See Hastings Dh s ^ ) —This virtue does not take the prominent placV in the teaching of Jesus Christ that it Assumes in most systems of ethics. Our Lord never discusses or enjoins it. The reasons tor Hi^ seeming neglect of the subject may be (D that there Avas no dispute about it in His day, the bixtu commandment being taken for granted as univers- ally binding, (2) that He went beneath the precept to the principles underlying it when (a) He dis- couraged covetousness (Mk 7-, Lk 12'5), and (6) He bade His disciples do to others as they would that others should do to them (Mt 7i==Lk 6'i), and (3) that He treated considerations of property as ot secondary iiiq .urt ance, so that when it was a question of sutYii ill" fi"ui dishonesty— not committing it, He advised -uliiiiissiun (Mt 5"); and when the question of the division of an inheritance was submitted to Him, He dismissed it as not mthin His provmce, and that with a tone of contempt, as though such a matter had not the importance people usually attached to it (Lk 12"'-)- In life we see that dishonesty generally indicates a radical rottenness of character. It cannot be dealt with on pruden- tial lines such as are indicated by the proverb, ' Honesty is the best policy.' By creating the Christian character, Jesus cuts out the roots ot dishonesty in deceit, treachery, and greed ; an(l implants those principles of truth and honour of