The disciples must have the more readily applied this prediction of His Coming to Palestine, since the woes' connected with it so closely corresponded to those expected by the Jews before the Advent of Messiah. [3073] Even the direction to flee from persecution is repeated by the Rabbis in similar circumstances and established by the example of Jacob, [3074] of Moses, [3075] and of David. [3076]
In the next section of this Discourse of our Lord, as reported by St. Matthew, [3077] the horizon is enlarged. The statements are still primarily applicable to the early disciples, and their preaching among the Jews and in Palestine. But their ultimate bearing is already wider, and includes predictions and principles true to all time. In view of the treatment which their Master received, the disciples must expect misrepresentation and evil-speaking. Nor could it seem strange to them, since even the common Rabbinic proverb had it: [3078] It is enough for a servant to be as his lord' ({hebrew}). As we hear it from the lips of Christ, we remember that this saying afterwards comforted those, who mourned the downfall of wealthy and liberal homes in Israel, by thoughts of the greater calamity which had overthrown Jerusalem and the Temple. And very significant is its application by Christ: If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebul, [3079] how much more them of His household.' This charge, brought of course by the Pharisaic party of Jerusalem, had a double significance. We believe, that the expression Master of the house' looked back to the claims which Jesus had made on His first purification of the Temple. We almost seem to hear the coarse Rabbinic witticism in its play on the word Beelzebul. For, Zebhul, ({hebrew}) means in Rabbinic language, not any ordinary dwelling, but specifically the Temple, [3080] [3081] and Beel-Zebul would be the Master of the Temple.' On the other hand, Zibbul ({hebrew}) means [3082] sacrificing to idols; [3083] and hence Beel-zebul would, in that sense, be equivalent to lord' or chief of idolatrous sacrificing' [3084] - the worst and chiefest of demons, who presided over, and incited to, idolatry. The Lord of the Temple' (which truly was His Church) was to them the chief of idolatrous worship,' the Representative of God that of the worst of demons: Beelzebul was Beelzibbul! [3085] What then might His Household' expect at their hands?
But they were not to fear such misrepresentations. In due time the Lord would make manifest both His and their true character. [3086] [3087] Nor were they to be deterred from announcing in the clearest and most public manner, in broad daylight, and from the flat roofs of houses, that which had been first told them in the darkness, as Jewish teachers communicated the deepest and highest doctrines in secret to their disciples, or as the preacher would whisper his discourse into the ear of the interpreter. The deepest truths concerning His Person, and the announcement of His Kingdom and Work, were to be fully revealed, and loudly proclaimed. But, from a much higher point of view, how different was the teaching of Christ from that of the Rabbis! The latter laid it down as a principle, which they tried to prove from Scripture, [3088] that, in order to save one's life, it was not only lawful, but even duty - if necessary, to commit any kind of sin, except idolatry, incest, or murder. [3089] Nay, even idolatry was allowed, if only it were done in secret, so as not to profane the Name of the Lord - than which death was infinitely preferable. [3090] Christ, on the other hand, not only ignored this vicious Jewish distinction of public and private as regarded morality, but bade His followers set aside all regard for personal safety, even in reference to the duty of preaching the Gospel. There was a higher fear than of men: that of God - and it should drive out the fear of those who could only kill the body. Besides, why fear? God's Providence extended even over the meanest of His creatures. Two sparrows cost only an assarion ({hebrew}), about the third of a penny. [3091] Yet even one of them would not perish without the knowledge of God. No illustration was more familiar to the Jewish mind than that of His watchful care even over the sparrows. The beautiful allusion in Amos iii. 5 was somewhat realistically carried out in a legend which occurs in more than one Rabbinic passage. We are told that, after that great miracle-worker of Jewish legend, R. Simeon ben Jochai, had been for thirteen years in hiding from his persecutors in a cave, where he was miraculously fed, he observed that, when the bird-catcher laid his snare, the bird escaped, or was caught, according as a voice from heaven proclaimed, Mercy,' or else, Destruction.' Arguing, that if even a sparrow could not be caught without heaven's bidding, how much more safe was the life of a son of man' ({hebrew}), he came forth. [3092]