(2) The traders were not the only strangers who visited the Holy Land. There were Roman soldiers and Herod's mercenaries, the latter including Thracians, Germans, and Galatians (Jos. Ant. XVII. viii. 3). King Herod the Great had built a magnificent theatre at Jerusalem and an equally magnificent amphitheatre, and had instituted ath- letic contests every four years after the pattern of the Greek games. From every land {aTrb irdaris 7^s) came competitors and spectators {ib. XV. viii. 1). Still more numerous, however, was the con- course of Avorshippers who frequented the Holy City at the festal seasons. They came from all quarters (Ac 2^""). They were, indeed, devout and patriotic Jews, but they had settled in foreign countries, and had acquired the languages and manners of the strangers among whom they dAvelt and traded. Is it not reasonable to suppose that tliey would introduce into the Holy Land many a })itliy saying which they had learned in the coun- tries of their adoption ? David Smith.
PROVIDENCE. — The word 'providence' (Gr. TTpSvoia) is found only once in EV of the NT, viz. in Ac 24^, where it is applied to Felix by Tei'tullus. ' Providence' (Lat. providcntia, fr. |»'o and viderc) literally means 'foresight,' but in its recognized use a much nearer equivalent is ' forethought ' {irpovota). But providence is more even than fore- thought. It implies not only thought about the future, but practical arrangements for the purpose of securing premeditated ends (cf. Ro 13" ' Make not provision {vpovoLav — the only other occasion of the use of the word in the Gr. NT] for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof). And in the specific and most familiar sense of the word, as applied to the providence of God, it carries with it, as follows of necessity in the case of the Divine Being, the actual realization of the ends which God has determined. Though the word nowhere occurs in the Gospels, tlie subject is one that meets us con- stantly. And while it is the providence of God that is especially brought before us, there are not wanting suggestive references to providence on the part of man.
1. The Divine providence. (1) In the OT the fact of God's providence— in nature, in history, and in the individual life — is everywhere prominent ; and the problems presented by the doctrine of providence apjjear and reappear in the Prophets, and receive a special treatment in the hook of Job and in certain of the Psalms {e.g. 37. 73). In the Book of Wisdom the very word 'providence' (Trpbvoi.a) twice occurs. In 14* it is applied to God
as governing the waves of the sea ; and in 17^ the iieatlien oppressors of Israel are described as 'fugitives from the eternal providence.' From Josephus we learn that Rabbinical Judaism was mucli occupied with tlie mysteries of Divine pro- vidence in its relation to human fi'eedom ; and that, as against the Sadducees who held an ex- aggerated view of liberty, and the Essenes who maintained a doctrine of absolute fate, the Phari- sees kept to the middle patli rejjresented by tlie OT teaching, afiirming the freedom and responsi- bility of man on the one hand, and the Divine providence and omnipotence on the other {Ant. XIII. V. 9, xviii. i. 3, BJ II. viii. 14).
(2) In the Gospels, as in the NT generally, there is everywhere assumed the faith in the Divine providence which characterizes the OT writings, and is continued in orthodox post-canonical Judaism. The confidence of the Evangelists in the fulfilment of Messianic prophecy in the Person of Jesus is a testimony to their belief in the far-sighted opera- tion of the Divine counsels (Mt l-'^ l^- ^'- ^^ 3^ and passim). Their statements as to the incarnation of the Son of God furnish a supreme proof of a Providence that overrules the laws of nature by an indwelling governance, and moves down the long paths of history to the accomplishment of its own ends (Mt ps^-, Lk P^«'-, Jn P""; cf. Gal 4^).
(3) A doctrine of jirovidence underlies the lohole life and teaching of Jesus Christ. As against a Dei-stic view which makes God sit aloof from the world He has created, and a Pantheistic view which identifies Him with Nature and its laws, Jesus always takes for granted the fact of God's free and personal providence. It is in this confidence that He turns to His Father for power to work His miracles — miracles whicli in turn become signs that His trust in God's providence was not misplaced. It is in the same confidence that He goes to God in prayer (Mt ll^^ 26-^«''-, Mk P' G^s, Lk 3^1 IP 22^2, Jn 11^"- I41'' 17), and teaches His disciples to do likewise (Mt 6''- '^^- T^- 9^^ etc.). Such petitions as ' Give us this day our daily bread ' (6'^), and ' Lead us not into temptation ' (v.^*), would be mere hypoc- risies apart from an assured trust in the loving providence of our Father in heaven.
(4) Not only is a doctrine of providence a con- stant implication of our Lord's life and ministry, it foiTiis an express part of His teaching. Jesus told His disciples that God rules in nature, making the sun to shine and the rain to fall (5^^), feeding the birds of the air (6'-"), and clothing the lilies of the field (v.^^*-)- He taught them that God also rules in human lives, bestowing His blessings on the evil and the good (5*'), supplying the bodily wants of those upon whom He has conferred the gift of rational life (6^^), devoting a peculiar care to such as seek His Kingdom and His righteousness (v.**). As against the pagan notion of chance (wh. see), and the analogous idea that at most the Almighty cares only for great things and does not concern Himself with the small (cf. ' Magna dii curant, parva ne^ligunt,' Cic. de Nat. Deor. ii. 66), He affirmed tliat there is ' a special providence in the fall of a sparrow' (10^*, cf. Hcmdet, Ac. V. Sc. ii.), and that even the very hairs of our head are all numbered (v.^"). As against a doctrine of pro- vidence which would turn it into a blind fate, and make the strivings of tiie human will as meaning- less as the motions of a puppet, we have to set His constant emphasis on the momentousness of choice and ettbrt and decision (7'*- '^^ 13^5^- le^^^- 18*, etc.). As against a narrow philo.sophy of pro- vidence, according to which good men are openly rewarded in this life and wicked men openly pun- ished. He taught that God governs the woild by general laws {5*^), that persecution is often tlie earthly portion of the righteous (vv.^""^-). that dis-