This idea may have influenced those NT passages where Jesus is represented as the ' Morning Star ' (Rev 22^8 2-^), though it must be remembered that the angels are described symbolically in tlie Bk. of Enoch (Ixxxvi. 1, 3) as 'stars' — a metaphor which helps to explain the symbolism by which Jesus is here described as 'the Morning Star.' 'Among the stars of the spiritual firmament,' Jesus is ' the brightest in the whole galaxy '(Swete, Apocalypse, p. 306). A similar conception meets us in 2P P" ( ' Take heed unto the lamp of prophecy until the day dawn, and the day-star [<;6cj(r^6pos] arise in your hearts'), and, in fact, the essential idea is ^jresent in all those passages of the NT which speak of the spiritual illumination that accompanies the revelation of the Messiah (cf. the fragment of an old Christian hymn in Eph 5'* ' Awake, thou that sleepest . . . and Christ shall 5^ me upon thee'; cf. Jn P Christ ' the Light which lightens every man coming into the world,' etc.). There is also the remarkable description of the Messiah as the ' Day- spring from on high' (dcaroX?; e^ ui/'ovs) in the Song of Zacharias (Lk P^), which may possibly have been associated in thought with the Messianic Star.J
The association of the idea of light with the Messiah and the Messianic age was well established in Jewish Literature. This idea is founded on — or, at any rate, finds classical expression in — Is 60"- ('Arise, shine ; for thy light is come '). The Midrash (Yalkut Shim.) on this passage is in- structive. It comments thus :
' What is asserted by the words of the Psalm, " In thy light shall we see light " (Ps 3610)? It is the light of the Messiah that is meant. For when it is said, " God saw the light that it was good " (Gn 14), it Is thereby taught that the Holy One (Blessed be He) contemplated the generation of the Messiah and his works, before the world had been created, and that He con- cealed the light for the Messiah and his generation beneath His throne of glory. Then spake Satan before the Holy One (Blessed be He): " Lord of the World, for whom is the light hidden beneath Thy throne of glory destined ? " [Answer] "For him who in the time to come will subdue thee and bring thee to shame." '
The Midrash then goes on to relate that at liis request Satan was allowed to see the Messiah, and at the sight of him treml led and sank to the ground, crying out: 'Truly this is the Messiah,
* Cf. the Pesikta Zutarta (ed. Wilna, 1880, p. 129*>) and Jellinek's Beth ha midrasch, iii. p. 141, etc.
t For an early Christian application of Nu 2417 to Christ, cf. Justin Martyr, Apol. i. 32 : ' Isaiah, another prophet, prophesy- ing the same things by other expressions, thus spake : " There shall rise a star out of Jacob, and a blossom shall ascend from the root of Jesse," ' etc.
t See an art. by the present writer in ZNTW, vol. vi. p. 90 f. (Feb. 1905), where this point is specially discussed.
who will deliver me and all heathen kings over to Gehenna.' *
Gressmann (Der Ursprung der isr.-jiid. Eschatologie, p. 307 f.) traces the association of light in connexion with the Servant of Jahweh, who is represented as the Light of the World in Deutero-Isaiah (Is 496 514), to the mythical representation of the World-Ruler as a solar hero in the old Saga.
In fact, under the figure of light the salvation and felicity of the Messianic age are constantly depicted (see esp. Volz, Jiid. Eschatologie, pp. 328- 331). The heavenly Jerusalem of the Ai^ocalypse is a city filled with celestial light (Rev 2r'^3- "^ 22^). The long drawn out contrast between light and darkness that pervades the Fourth Gospel is also significant in this connexion. G. H. Box.
STATE AFTER DEATH.— See Dead and EsCHA-
TOLOGY, I. (A.) § 5 (c).
STATER.— See Money. STATURE.— See Age.
STEWARD, STEWARDSHIP.—
The former word is a tr. of 'urii-po^ot in Mt 208, Lk 83, and of oixovofMS in Lk 1242 igi. 3. s ; the latter, of o'ixi>t,iiiu.ix. in Lk 162- 3. 4. In v.2 the verb oixovo/ij,i7v occurs. The distinction between irri- rporo! and oIxovo/m; has been Aariouslj' stated. Home treats them as synonyms ; Meyer says the former is a more general term ; Schleusner, that the It. is appointed b}' law or a magis- trate, the oix. by will ; Elliott and Lightfoot agree in thinking that £T., like our ' guardian,' has special reference to ' persons' ; clx., like ' steward,' to property (see their notes on Gal 42 and references there cited, and Smith's Diet, of Gr. and Bom. Ant., s.v. iriTf^orro;). The last view is probably the right one. But the exact duties of each of them doubtless varied in different cases and under different masters, and often the two are used inter- changeably (so Meyer on Mt 20**). Meyer's view is probably true of the Gospels, although if Chuza as iTiTpo^o; (Lk 8^) had special charge of the education of the royal children, it rnight lend further colour to Sanday's theory of Joanna's relation to the authorship of Lk 1. 2. In Mt 2445 ioZxo^ is used of one whose position is evidently that of the steward, as may be seen by comparison with Lk 1242. Usually, indeed, the steward is a slave or freedman, corresponding to Lat. dispensator or villiciis (as in Lk 12, Mt 24) ; occasionally he is a freeman, Lat. pro- curator (Lk 16). See Plunnner in JCC on Lk 1242 igl, and Hatch, Bihl. Greek, p. 62.