The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 142

associated with snd thoughts of idolatry and sin. Dan was near at hand-the sent ?f the old worship of the golden calf. The city itself was more than half heathen; its name told of the Roman ~uprem~cy; it had its great templo dedicated by the first Herod to Augustus Cmsar; 1t had its famous cave sacred to the Grecian Pan. But here, in the tetrarchy of Herod Philip, the Lord found that rest and freedom from pen,ecution which he could find no longer in bis own Galilee. Awful events were coming; his hou: was _at hand; he must be alone with the twelve to prepare them {~r ~he approach1_ng tr)al, St. Luke tells us that. he was _alone praying ; only his d1sc1ples were with him. There were no thronging multitudes here needing his gracious mercy; there were no Pharisees and Sadducees to disturb him with their tllunts and hypocrisies. But a great crisis was at band, and the Lord was alone praying. The holy Son of God teaches us by his own blessed example the infinite value of prayer to prepare us for times of peri1 He ever lived in unbroken communion with the Father. Those who by the help of his Spirit are learning to live in that fellowship which is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ, will naturally have recourse to prayer in all the emergencies of life; habitual communion with God leads his people to live always in the spirit of prayer, and keeps them always ready. Those who thus ever live with God will instinctively draw closer to him, and pour out their ~earts in the intense energy of earnest supplication at all the turning-points of life, lD the hour of danger or temptation, in the critical times of the history of the Chnrch. It was a critical time now. The Lord had been rejected; he had been driven from Galilee, where he was once so popular. His own action had caused this seeming failure. Not long ago the multitude sought to take him by force to make him a King. They would have flocked around him in countless numbers and in fierce enthusiasm, if, like Judas of Galilee, he had raised the standard of national independence against the Roman rule ; if he had ,announced himself publicly as the expected Messiah, he would have been hailed as the Deliverer, the Son of David, the Heir to David's throne. But instead of following the current of popular thought and popular expectation, the Lord had set himself directly against it. He bad put aside the offered crown ; he had himself forced the apostles to leave him, and had sent the 1nultitudes away in the hour of his seeming triumph. They did not understand hie mission; his kingdom was not of this world. Henceforth his work of teaching lay mainly with the twelve; he was to convince them of the true character of his Person and office. He was bringing them to the point now. He was bringing them face to face with the great truth which they had long felt in their hearts, but which had not been yet <iistinctly declared save once or twice in private. " Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?" the Lord asked. In the dignity of his conscious Divinity he had never asked such a question btfore; he heeded not the opinions of men; he sought .not their praise; he knew their hearts. But he asked for the sake of the apostles, to bring their va!rue thoughts into clearer distinctness, to deepen their convictions, .to confirm their f;ith. The well-known phrase, "the Son of man," seemed to point to the true answer ; from the time of Daniel it had a Messianic significance. It was associated with the Messiah, both by the priests (Luke :u.iL 69, 70) and by the people (John xii. 34), but not, perhaps, always certainly and distinctly. "Who is this Son of man?" the people asked in; the passage last ref~rred to. 2.. The answer of the disciples. They were men of the people; they had mixed freely with them; they had heard frequent and eager discussions a.bout their Master's teaching and miracles, about his character, his authority, his claims. Hill life must have been regarded with the deepest interest and the intensest curiosity throughout the country. It excited jealousy and opposition in many quarters; but it could not be ignored by any one. It forced itself upon public attention; it was so strange, so unlike any other life in its originality in its perfect holiness, in its Divine power. And now the Lord asked what had the disciples heard men say of him. The answer was sad, not disappointing, to him who knew all things; but e. hard thing for the apostles to confess. None _now owned him to be the Christ. There were many opinions : some, like the terrified A.ntipas, thought that he was John the Baptist risen from his martyr's tomb; _some thought that he was Elijah, come again as Malachi had prophesied; some__ sa1d he might be Jeremiah, come to restore the ark, as the Jews fondly hoped (2 Mace. u.1-8); otLi-rs imagined that he might be some one or other of the old prophets, come, perhaps, <lH. xv1. 1-28.] TUE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTIIEW. lH