are told elsewhere. It is altogether probable that some men of the upper classes and of the Pharisees would be attracted by the personality and teaching of Jesus, and that they would seek with \arying degrees of caution to know more of Him. To a certain extent the Synoptics conflrm this (cf. Lk 7^6 83 19=). We may add that the personality of Nicodemus stands out clearly in spite of the brevity of the reference to him. The protest in the Sanhedrin shows the same blending of courage with caution as the interview by night. There was a sufficient sense of truth and justice, and of personal interest in Jesus, to enable him to risk the anger of the majority by a protest, but enough of caution or timidity to put the protest into an indirect and tentative form rather than into a bold defence of the Master. The personality of Nicodemus and the conduct ascribed to him do not weaken the case for the historic credi- bility of the Evangelist.
It has been urged with some measure of plausi- bility that the conversation in Jn 3 bears the marks of artificial construction. It is said that it is really a brief sermon by the Evangelist, and follows the regular plan of the Johannine discourses : — a preg- nant saying by the Master ; a remark by an inter- locutor who misunderstands the text by taking it literally and not spiritually ; then a further exposition by the speaker : the whole being ' a thoroughly artificial construction on a set plan ' (Gardner, A Historic Viciv of the NT, sec. vi.). There is a very general agreement that the dis- courses in the Foui'th Gospel owe something of their form to the Evangelist. Differences of opinion on that point are almost entirely confined to the question of the extent to which the writer has gone in condensing or re-shaping the Master's utterances. Without surrendering the conviction that we have a faithful report of the .substance of a real conversation, we may readily admit that the Evangelist has put his material into the form which seemed best fitted to make the truth clear to his readers. He is, we may suppose, chiefly interested in Nicodemus ' as instrumental in elicit- ing from Jesus' the sayings which he records. But this does not make Nicodemus a mere lay figure, and his questions mere ' rhetorical artifice.
Dr. Gardner says of the question in v.4 ; ' Such crassness is scarcely in human nature.' Yet when we give due weight to the prejudices of a Pharisee and allow for the deadening effect of respectable religious legalism, it is not hard to understand the sheer bewilderment of Nicodemus at the idea that he — no Gentile, no publican — needed to be born anew. How common it is for men of such a type to be utterly unable to understand even an elementary spiritual truth, if it cuts across their con- ventions and challenges their privileges. Nicodemus did not at all suppose that a second physical birth was meant. He was simpl}' unable to conceive what kind of new birth could be needed by one who was already a Jew and a keeper of the Law. His questions are simply his bewilderment beating the air.
The last reference to Nicodemus (Jn 19^") appears to show greater boldness and a more dehnite dis- cipleship on his part. His gift of spices was cer- tainly an expression of respect and reverence for the Master, and its amount is the lavish gift of a rich man. Whether it expressed faith in the Messiahshij) of the Crucified, ' the Saviour typified by the brazen servient which Jesus had explained to him beforehand (3^*) ' (Godet), is less certain. Nicodemus may have regarded Jesus simply as a martyred teacher, whose cause had perished, but who deserved to be held in loving memory. He could hardly at that moment have anticipated the Resurrection. He may even have been en- couraged to bring his gift by the thought that Jesus dead was no longer feared by the authorities, and that it ■was no longer a serious risk to show respect to His name.
Christian tradition records many legends of Nicodemus, and his name is associated with one of the Apocrj-phal Gospels ; but nothing further is recorded that has any historical value.
Literature. — Hastings' DB, art. 'Nicodemus'; Edersheim, Life and Times, i. 381 ; W. Boyd Carpenter, Son of Man, 185 ; \V. M. Clow, In the Day of the Cross, 279 ; A. B. Davidson, The Called of God, 247 ; G. Matheson, Representative Men of the N.T. 115 ; Expos. Times, iv. (1893) 382, 478, 527, xii. (1901) 210, 307, xiv. (1903) 194 ; J. Reid, Jesus and Nicodemus (190G).
E. H. TiTCHMARSH.
NIGHT
NIGHT
245
NIGHT.— 1. Associations of the word 'night.'—
(a) It was the season for all that demanded secrecy. Travellers on a dangerous errand went by night, as Joseph did, after he had received warning in a dream (Mt 2"). Nicodemus for fear of his col- leagues came to Jesus by night at tiie Passover season ; the interview maj' have been on the roof of some friendly house, or in one of the tents used by tlie pilgrims (Jn 3- \^^) ; niglit was also the time for theft, and drunkenness, and revelling (Lk 12^'', cf. I Th 5'-- ', Ro 13^2), and was convenient for plots and stratagems (Mk U'^). The cliief priests bribed the guard to say tliat tlie disciples liad taken away the body of Jesus by night (Mt 281^).