[4442] So literally.
[4443] Shabb. 153 a line 16 &c. from top.
[4444] Ecclus. xi. 18, 19.
[4445] Jer. Shabb. 14 c, top.
[4446] Debar. R. 9, ed. Warsh. p. 19 b, line 6 from top and onwards.
[4447] St. Luke xiii. 6-9.
[4448] See ch. xiii. of this Book.
[4449] Baba K. 91 b.
[4450] War. iii. 10. 8.
[4451] Phaggim, Shebh. iv 7.
[4452] Shebh. v. 1.
[4453] Shebh. i. 3.
[4454] Peah i. 4.
[4455] Shebh. ii. 5.
[4456] Moreh Nebhukh. iii. 37, apud Wetstein, ad loc.
[4457] Baba B. 19 b.
[4458] Deut. xx, 19; Baba K. 91 b; 92 a.
[4459] Kil. vi. 5.
[4460] Joel i. 7.
[4461] Ber. 57 a; Mikr. on Cant. i. 1.
[4462] St. Matt. xx. 1&c.; xxi. 33 &c. In Jewish thought the two were scarcely separated.
[4463] Not after three years, but evidently in the third year, when the third year's crop should have appeared.
[4464] katarge. Grimm renders the word, enervo, sterilem reddo.
[4465] es t mllon. Goebel points to a similiar use of es in St. Luke i. 20; Acts xiii. 42.
[4466] Dean Plumptre regards the fig-tree as the symbol of a soul making fruitless profession; the vineyard as that of Israel. For homiletical purposes, or for practical application, this is, of course, perfectly fair; but not in strict exegesis. To waive other and obvious objections, it were to introduce modern, Christian ideas, which would have been wholly unintelligible to Christ's hearers.
[4467] Goebel.
[4468] St. Luke xiv. 16-24.
[4469] St. Luke xiv. 1-11.
[4470] vv. 12, 13.
[4471] St. Luke xiv. 14.
[4472] The expression eating bread' is a well-known Hebraism, used both in the Old Testament and in Rabbinic writings for taking part in a meal.
[4473] ver. 16.
[4474] Rather the principal meal, which was towards evening.
[4475] Is. xxv. 6, 7.
[4476] St. Luke xiv. 13.
[4477] B. Bathr. 4 a, lines 8-10 from bottom.
[4478] It is most sad, and seems almost incredible, that this constrain to come in' has from of old been quoted in justification of religious persecution. __________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER XVII. THE THREE PARABLES OF THE GOSPEL: OF THE RECOVERY OF THE LOST - OF THE LOST SHEEP, THE LOST DRACHM, THE LOST SON.
(St. Luke xv.)
A SIMPLE perusal of the three Parables, grouped together in the fifteenth chapter of St. Luke's Gospel, will convince us of their connection. Although they treat of repentance,' we can scarcely call them The Parables of Repentance;' for, except in the last of them, the aspect of repentance is subordinate to that of restoration, which is the moral effect of repentance. They are rather peculiarly Gospel-Parables of the recovery of the lost:' in the first instance, through the unwearied labour; in the second, through the anxious care, of the owner; and in the third Parable, through the never-ceasing love of the Father.
Properly to understand these Parables, the circumstance which elicited them must be kept in view. As Jesus preached the Gospel of God's call, not to those who had, as they imagined, prepared themselves for the Kingdom by study and good works, but as that to a door open, and a welcome free to all, all the publicans and sinners were [constantly] drawing near to Him.' It has formerly been shown, [4479] that the Jewish teaching concerning repentance was quite other than, nay, contrary to, that of Christ. Theirs was not a Gospel to the lost: they had nothing to say to sinners. They called upon them to do penitence,' and then Divine Mercy, or rather Justice, would have its reward for the penitent. Christ's Gospel was to the lost as such. It told them of forgiveness, of what the Saviour was doing, and the Father purposed and felt for them; and that, not in the future and as reward of their penitence, but now in the immediate present. From what we know of the Pharisees, we can scarcely wonder that they were murmuring at Him, saying, This man receiveth "sinners," and eateth with them.' Whether or not Christ had on this, as on other occasions, [4480] joined at a meal with such persons - which, of course, in the eyes of the Pharisees would have been a great aggravation to His offence - their charge was so far true, that this One,' in contrariety to the principles and practice of Rabbinism, received sinners' as such, and consorted with them. Nay, there was even more than they charged Him with: He not only received them when they sought Him, but He sought them, so as to bring them to Him; not, indeed, that they might remain sinners,' but that, by seeking and finding them, they might be restored to the Kingdom, and there might be joy in heaven over them. And so these are truly Gospel-Parables, although presenting only some aspects of it.