in the Christian tradition, and so surpasses the range of the profane conceptions, that we can hardly reject the idea tliat it must have operated to enhance the estimate of Clirist's dignity. It has been suggested as possible (Paulus, Leben Jesu, i, 97 sq.) that the hope had already formed itself in tlie soul of jMary that she would become the mother of the Jlessiah (wliich, however, is contra- dicted by her evident surprise and difficulty at the an- nouncement, Luke i, 29, 34), and that this" had drawn nourishment from a vision in a dream, as the angelic annunciation (Luke i, 26 sq.) has been (but with the greatest violence) interpreted (see, however. Van Oos- terzee, Be Jesu e Virr/ine nato, Utr. 1840). See Coxcei-
TION.
Bethlehem, too (Wagner, De loco nat. J. Chr. Colon, Brandenb. 1673), as the i)lace of Clirist's birth, has been deemed to belong to the mythical dress of the narrative (comp. JMic. V, 1 ; see Thiess, Krit. Comment, ii, 414), and it has therefore been inferred that Jesus was not only begotten in Nazareth, but also born there (Kaiser, Bibl. Theol. i, 230)— which, nevertheless, does not follow from John i, 46. That Jesus was born in Bethlehem is stated in two of the evangelical accoimts (Matt, ii, 1 ; Luke ii, 4), as may also be elsewhere gathered from the events which follow his birth. But a more direct discrepancy between ISIatthew and Luke (Hase, p. 44), respecting Jo- seph's belonging to Bethlehem (Jlatt. ii, 22, 23 ; Luke i, 26 ; ii, 4), cannot be substantiated (compare generally Gelpe, Jugendgesch. d. Herrn, Beme, 1841.) See Beth- lehem.
6. Among the relatives of Jesus, the following are named in the N. Test. : (a) Mary, Jesus's mother's sister (John xix, 25). According to the usual apprehension of this passage [see Salo.^ie], she was married to one Clopas or Alphteus (q. v.), and had as sons James (q. v.) the younger (Acts i, 13) and Joses (:Matt. xxvii, 56; Mark xv, 40). See JIarv. (6) Elizabeth, who is called the relative (o-nyyft'/jr,"' cousin") oi ilary (Luke i,36). Respecting the degree of relationship, nothing can be determined : it has been questioned (Paulus, Comment. i, 78) whether she was of the tribe of Levi, but this ap- pears certain from Luke i, 5. In a fragment of Hippol- ytus of Thebes (in Fabricii Pseudepirir. ii. 290) she is caMedSube, the daughter of Clary's mother's sister. She was married to the priest Zacharias, and bore to him John the Baptist (Luke i, 57 sq.). See Elizabeth. (c) Brethren of Jesus (ftcfX^oi, Matt. xii,46, and paral- lel passages; John ii, 12; vii, 3, 5, 10; Acts i, 14; o^{\- 0o( rov Ki'pioc, 1 Cor. ix, 5), by the name of James, Joses (q. v.), Simon, and Judas (Matt, xiii, 55, and the j parallel passage, Mark vi, 3). (On these see Clemen, iu ! the Zeitschr.f. iriss. Theol. iii, 329 sq.; A.H. BIoom,'/)e j r(.(c uSi^ipm^ et ralg ah\<p. tui> Kvpiov, Lugd. 13at. j 1839; Wicselcr,in the Sludien u. Kritik.l8i2,i,71 sq.; Schaff, Das Vcrhdltn. des Jacob. Bi-ud. d. Herrn zu Jacob. A Iphai, Berl. 1842, p. 11 sq., 34 sq. ; Grimm, in the Ihdl. I Encijcl. 2, sect, xxiii, p. 80 sq. ; Method. Quar. Rev. Oct. 1851, p. 670-672; on their descendants, Y.nsth. Hist. Ev. iii, 20, 33; see Korncr, De propingtior. Servatoris perse- cutione, Lips. 1782.) In the passages Matt, xii, 46; xiii, 55; John ii, 12; Acts i, 14, are unquestionably to be un- derstood proper brothers, as they aie all together named conjointly with the mother of Jesus (and with Joseph; jMatt. xiii, 55) ; the same is the n.atural inference from I the statement (John vii, 5) that the brethren {a£tX<poi) I of Jesus had not believed in liim as the iSIess iah. On i "James, the brother of the Lord" ('laKwSoQ 6 d^fX^tic Kcpi'oi', Gal. i, 19), see Jajies. These brethren were regarded as mere relatives, or, more exactly, cousins ! (namely, sons cf Marv', Jesus's mother's sister), by the Church fathers (especially Jerome, ad Matt, xii, 46) ; also lately by Jessieu {Authentic epist. ,Tud. p. 36 sq.), Schneckenburger {Ep. Jac. p. 144 sq.), Olshausen {Com- ment, i, 465 sq.), Gliickler {Evavr/. i, 407), Kuhn (Jahrb. f. Theol. und christl. Philos. 1834, iii, pt. i), and others, partly on the ground that tlie names James and Joses appear among the sons of the other Mary (Matt, xxvii.
JESUS CHRIST
880
JESUS CHRIST
56), partly that it is not certain that Mary, after her first conception bv the Holy Spirit, ever became the mother of other children by her husband (see Oritjen, in Mall. iii,-lC3. ed. de la line; comp. P^isebius, UUf. Eccl. ii, 1). The latter argument is of no force (see Schaff, p. 29) ; on the former, see below. But the term " brethren" {alik- 0oO, since it does of itself indicate blood relatives, can- not witliout utter confusion be used of mere cousins in immediate connection with the mother. And if it de- notes jiroper brothers, as also Bloom and Wieseler sup- pose, the question still remains whether these had both jjarents the same with Jesus (i. e. were his full brothers), or were the sons of Josepli by a former marriage (half- brothers; compare Theophyl. ad 1 Cor. 9). The latter opinion [see Joskimi J, which is based upon an old (Ebi- onitic) tradition (see Tabricius, Pseudepifjr. i, 291 ; Thilo, Cod. Apocr. i, 109, 208, 362 sq.), is held as probable by Grotius {ad .lac. i, 1), Yorstius (^l)e Ilebr. Nov. Test. ed. Fischer, p. 71 sq.), Paulus {Comment, i, G1I3), Bertholdt {Kinleit.y, 656 sq.), and others; the former by Herder {Briefe zweener Br'uder J. p. 7 sq.). Pott {Proletj. in Ep. Jac. p. 90), Ammon {Bill. Theol. ii, 259), Eichhorn {Kinl. ins X. T. iii, 570 sq.), Kuiniil {ad Matt, xii, 46), Clement {ut sup.), Bengel (in his X. A rc/ii/:, ii, 9 scj.), Stier (.-1 n- deut. i, 404 sq.), Fritzsche {ad Matt. 481), Neander {Leb. Je««, p. 39 sq.), Wieseler and Schaff {ut sup.), and oth- ers. An intimation that favors this last view is con- tained in the expression " first-born" (JNIatt. i, 25 ; Luke ii, 7), which is further corroborated by the statement of abstinence from matrimonial intercourse imtil the birth of Jesus (j\Iatt. i, 25 ; but see Olshausen, ad loc), which seems to imply that the brothers in question were later sons of Josepli and JMary. The circumstance that the sister of Jesus's mother had two sons similarly named — James and Joses (or three, if wc understand 'lovSa^ '!«- Kibjiov [ Luke vi, 16] to mean '■ brother of .James" [see Judas J) — is not conclusive against this view, since in two nearly-related families it is not even now unusual to find children of the same name, especially if, as in the present case, these names were in common use. Eich- horn's explanation {ut sup. p. 571) is Ijased upon a long since exploded hypothesis, and requires no refutation. John xix, 26, contains no valid counter-argument : the brothers of Jesus may have become convinced by his resurrection (^latt. xxviii, 10), and, even had they been so at liis deatli, yet perhaps the older and more spiritu- ally-kindred John may have seemed to Jesus more suit- able to carry out his last wishes than even his natural brothers (see Pott, ut sup. p. 76 sq. ; Clement, ut sup. p. 360 s(i.). At all events, the brothers of Jesus are not only expressed as having become at length believers in liim, but they even appear somewhat later among the publishers of the Gospel (Acts i, 14 ; 1 Cor. ix, 5). See BKoriiKits. ((/) Sisters of Jesus are mentioned in iMatt. xiii, 56 ; Mark vi, 3 (in JMark iii, 32, the words Kai c'l uh\(}>ai arc of very doubtful authenticity). Their names are not given. That we are to undeVstand own sisters is jjlain from the foregoing remarks respecting his brotiiers. {e) Finally, an ecclesiastical tradition makes Salome, the wife of Zebedee, and mother of the apostles James and John (Mark xv, 40 ; xvi, 1, etc.), to have been a relative of Jesus. (See llase, p. 55.) See Salo.mk.