[2301] St. Luke x. 17-20.
[2302] So also St. Paul, 1 Cor. xii. 31:xiii. 1.
[2303] St. Mark i. 35.
[2304] pro.
[2305] The circumstances will be referred to in the sequel.
[2306] The expression in St. Luke iv. 43 shows, that the coming forth' (St. Mark i. 38) cannot be limited to His leaving Capernaum.
[2307] The following are, briefly, some of the considerations which determine the chronological order here adopted: (1.) This event could not have taken place after the Sermon on the Mount, since then the twelve Apostles were already called, nor yet after the call of St. Matthew. (2) From the similes employed (about the lilies of the field, &c.), the Sermon on the Mount seems to have taken place in spring; this event in early autumn. On the other hand, the order in St. Mark exactly fits in, and also in the main agrees, with that in St. Luke, while, lastly, it exhibits the growing persecutions from Jerusalem, of which we have here the first traces.
[2308] This is ingeniously indicated in Professor Delitzsch's Entsteh. d. Kanon. Evang., although, in my view, the theory cannot be carried out in the full details attempted by the Professor. But such a general conception of the Gospel by St. Matthew is not only reasonable in itself, but explains his peculiar arrangement of events.
[2309] On the date of this feast comp. Appendix XV.
[2310] From this women were excepted, Sot. iii. 8.
[2311] Lev. xiii. 45.
[2312] They were not allowed to hold intercourse with persons under other defilement than leprosy, Pes. 67 a.
[2313] These were considered as walled since the time of Joshua, Kel. i. 7, and their sanctity equal to that of the camp of Israel, and greater than that of unwalled towns.
[2314] Neg. iii. 1; vii. 1; xi. 1; xii 1.
[2315] Neg. iii. 2.
[2316] The following parts are declared in the Mishnah as untainted by leprosy: within the eye, ear, nose, and mouth; the folds of the skin, especially those of the neck; under the female breast; the armpit; the sole of the foot, the nails, the head, and the beard (Neg. vi. 8).
[2317] Das Mos. Recht, vol. iv. p. 195.
[2318] Michaelis views the whole question chiefly from the standpoint of sanitary police.
[2319] It is, though I think hesitatingly, propounded by Strauss (vol. ii. pp. 56, 57). He has been satisfactorily answered by Volkmar (Marcus, p. 110).
[2320] u. s. pp. 53, 54.
[2321] Jesu von Naz. ii. p. 174. This is among the weakest portions of the book. Keim must have strongly felt the telling marks of the authenticity of this narrative,' when he was driven to an explanation which makes Jesus present Himself as a Scribe.'
[2322] Ant. iii. 11. 3.
[2323] Sanh. 98 b.
[2324] See the passage in full in the Appendix on Messianic Prophecies.
[2325] These are detailed in Neg. i. 1-4; ii. 1; iii. 3-6; vii. 1; ix. 2, 3.
[2326] Neg. iii. 1.
[2327] Kel. i. 7.
[2328] Pes. 67.
[2329] Neg. xiii 12.
[2330] Undoubtedly the deepest and most philosophical treatment of this subject is that in the now somewhat rare, and unfortunately uncompleted, work of Molitor, Philosophie d. Gesch. (see vol. iii. pp. 126 &c., and 253 &c). The author is, however, perhaps too much imbued with the views of the Kabbalah.
[2331] According to Tos. Neg. vi. no case of leprosy of houses had ever occurred, but was only mentioned in Scripture, in order to give occasion to legal studies, so as to procure a Divine reward.
[2332] I have here followed, or rather summarised, Maimonides. It was, of course, impossible to give even the briefest details.
[2333] Kel. i. 1-4.
[2334] Neg. xiii. 11.
[2335] Shabb. 55 a.
[2336] Nedar. 41 a.
[2337] Ber. 33 a.
[2338] The story, of which this saying is the moral, is that of the crushing of a serpent by the great miracle-monger Chanina ben Dosa, without his being hurt. But I cannot help feeling that a double entendre is here intended - on the one hand, that even a serpent could not hurt one like Chanina, and, on the other, the wider bearing on the real cause of death: not our original state, but our actual sin.