[5313] Looking away from the very profane use made of the saying in the Talmud, we may quote as a literary curiosity the following as the origin of the proverb: He that will not when he may, when he will he shall have nay, {hebrew} Ber. 7 a, line 8 from bottom.
[5314] St. Matt. xxi. 33 &c. and parallels.
[5315] ver. 36.
[5316] ver. 43.
[5317] ver. 44.
[5318] An hedge' against animals or marauders, a winepress,' or, more specifically (St. Mark), a winefat' (polnion), into which the juice of the grapes flowed, and a tower' for the watchmen and labourers generally. We may here remark that the differences in the narration of this Parable in the three Gospels are too minute for discussion here. The principal one, in St. Matt. xxi. 40, 41, comp. with the parallels, will be briefly referred to in the text.
[5319] Is. v. 7
[5320] St. Luke xx. 9.
[5321] St. Matt. xxi. 45.
[5322] Jer. Bikk. 64 b
[5323] Shem. R. 41, ed. Warsh, p. 54 b last line.
[5324] Tos. Demai vi.
[5325] Babha Mets. 104 a.
[5326] Jer. Bikk. 64 b.
[5327] as in the A. and R. V.
[5328] St. Luke vii. 26.
[5329] St. Matt. xxiii. 34-36.
[5330] St. Matt. xxi. 41.
[5331] The only Jewish parallel, even in point of form, so far as I know, is in Vayy. R. 11 (ed. Warsh., p. 18 a, near beginning), where we read of a king who sent his treasurer to collect tribute, when the people of the land killed and plundered him.
[5332] St. Matt. xxii. 1-14.
[5333] Shabb. 153 a, and 152 b.
[5334] Midr. on Eccles. ix. 8; Midr. on Prov. xvi. 11.
[5335] St. Matt. xxii. 1-9 and 10-14.
[5336] Shabb. 153 a.
[5337] This Parable is only in the Talmud in this connection, not in the Midrashim.
[5338] Shabb. 152 b.
[5339] The reader will find both these Parables translated in Sketches of Jewish Social Life,' p. 179.
[5340] In the Talmud he invites his servants; in the Midrash, others.
[5341] Shabb.. 152 b.
[5342] This rather than marriage-feast.'
[5343] St. Luke xiv. 16, 17.
[5344] ed. Warsh. p. 73 b.
[5345] Reference is only made to that part who were murderers. Not that the others escaped suffering or loss, but, in accordance with the plan of the Parable, this is not mentioned. When we read of their city,' may there not here be also a reference to a commonwealth or nation?
[5346] St. Matt. xxii. 8.
[5347] St. Luke xiv. 21-24.
[5348] as in St. Matt. xxii. 34; see the note on it.
[5349] St. Matt. xxii. 14. __________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER VI. THE EVENING OF THE THIRD DAY IN PASSION-WEEK - ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES: DISCOURES TO THE DISCIPLES CONCERNING THE LAST THINGS.
(St. Matt. xxiv.; St. Mark xiii.; St. Luke xxi. 5-38; xii. 35-48.)
THE last and most solemn denunciation of Jerusalem had been uttered, the last and most terrible prediction of judgment upon the Temple spoken, and Jesus was suiting the action to the word. It was as if He had cast the dust of His Shoes against the House' that was to be left desolate.' And so He quitted for ever the Temple and them that held office in it.
They had left the Sanctuary and the City, had crossed black Kidron, and were slowly climbing the Mount of Olives. A sudden turn in the road, and the Sacred Building was once more in full view. Just then the western sun was pouring his golden beams on tops of marble cloister and on the terrced courts, and glittering on the golden spikes on the roof of the Holy Place. In the setting, even more than in the rising sun, must the vast proportions, the symmetry, and the sparkling sheen of this mass of snowy marble and gold have stood out gloriously. And across the black valley, and up the slopes of Olivet, lay the dark shadows of these gigantic walls built of massive stones, some of them nearly twenty-four feet long. Even the Rabbis, despite their hatred of Herod, grow enthusiastic, and dream that the very Temple-walls would have been covered with gold, had not the variegated marble, resembling the waves of the sea, seemed more beauteous. [5350] It was probably as they now gazed on all this grandeur and strength, that they broke the slience imposed on them by gloomy thoughts of the near desolaateness of that House, which the Lord had predicted. [5351] One and another pointed out to Him those massive stones and splendid buildings, or speak of the rich offerings with which the Temple was adorned. [5352] It was but natural that the contrast between this and the predicted desolation should have impressed them; natural, also, that they should refer to it - not as matter of doubt, but rather as of question. [5353] Then Jesus, probably turning to one - perhaps to the first, or else the principal - of His questioners, [5354] spoke fully of that terrible contrast between the present and the near future, when, as fulfilled with almost incredible literality, [5355] not one stone would be left upon another that was not upturned.