in llfns<>s without finding it; th(lv (lrtnnot his favour. Whn.t the scribes persistently ~estmin th~mselws from testify{ng their repelled, and in the end condemntJd him Joyful surprise. Aware from this time forth for, was his asse,·tion of Divinity. In this tlu,t <'Very snn.re laid for him will be the passage he shows from their own Scriptures O(l(lnsion for a glorious manifestRtion of his that whoever was I\Iessia.h must be Divine. wis,lnm, they give up this method of attaok" He spoke over 11nd over ago.in as Me~siah ; (Go<lct). he acted with the power and in the Yers. 41-44.-The question respecting authority of Messiah ; he allowed himself Chr;st's being Davia's Son. on several publio occasions to be sRlutcd as Ver. 41.-And he B&id unto them, :How such: who would venturti, then, to question ~~y they that Christ is David's Son 1 St. tha.t he was fully conscious of his Divinity? l\Iat.t.hew gives ns more details of what This conclusion is drawn, not from St. went before the following saying of Jesus John, but exclusively from the 1·ecito.ls of in which he asserts the Divinitv of Messiah. the three synoptists. Jesus asked the P!larisees, "What think ye Ver. 42.-A.nd David himself aa.ith in the of Christ? whose Son is he ? 'fhey say Book of Pss.Ims, The Lord said unto my Lord, unto him, The Son of David. He saith unto Sit thou on my right hand. 'l'he Hebrew them, How then doth David in spirit call runs thus: ''Jehove.h said to my Lord him Lord, saying. The Lord said unto my (Adonai)." The Eternal is represented as Lord," etc.? (Nfatt. xxii. 42-44). This is speaking to David's Lord, who is also one of the most remarkable sayings of our David's Son (this appears clearer in St. Lor,] reported by the syuoptists; in it he Matthew's account, xxii. 41-46). The disti 11ctly claims for himself Divinity, partici- Eternal addresses this Person as One raised pation in omnipotence. Unmistakably, lately, to sit by him, that is, as a. Pai·ticipator in under the thinnest veil of parable, Jesus his all-power, and yet this one is also David's lrn.d told the people that he was Messiah. Son ! 'fhe scribes are asked to explain this For instance, his words in the parable of mystery ; alone this can bo done by re- the " wicked husbandmen;" in the parable ferring to the golden cha.in of Hebrew of " the pounds ; " in his late acts in the Messianic prophecy ; no scribe in the days of temple-driving out the sellers aud buyers, our Lord woul,d do this. Such passages as allowing the children in the temple to Isa. ix. 6, 7 ; Mice.h v. 2 ; o.nd Mo.I. iii. I, welcome him with Messianic salnta.tion, re- give a complete and exhaustive answer to ceiving ns Messiah the welcome of the the question of Jesus. Passover pilgrims a.nd others on Palm Sun- Ver. 44.-David therefore oalleth him day as he entered Jernsalem. In his later Lord, how ill he then his Son 1 That Jesus paraule~, too, he had with startiing clearness was the acknowledged deseendant of David predicted hill approaching violent death. during his earthly ministry, is indisputable; Now, Jesus was aware that the capital we need but refer to the c1·ies of the charge which would be brought against him populace on Palm Sundat, the words of would be blasphemy, that he ha.d called the woman of Canaan, of blind Bartimmus, himself, not only the Messiah, but Divine, and others. History bears its witness to the the Son of God (John v. 18; x. 33; Matt. same fa.et. The Emperor Domitian, it is xx,·i. 65). He was desirous, tben, before well known, summoned the kinsmen of the end '3ame, to show from an acknowledged Jesus, the sons of Jude, his so-called Messianic psalm that if he was Messiah- brother, to Romo as "the sons of David." and unquestionably a large proportion of Vere. 45-47.-St. Luke's b2·ief summary of the people rec-Pived hirn as such-he was theLord' s denunciation of the scribes and others. also Divine. The words of the psalm (ex.) Vers. 45, 46.-Then in the audience of indisputaLly show this, viz. tha.t the coming all the people he ea.id unto hie disciples, llfossi11h was Divlne. This, he pointed out l!ewe.re of the scribes. Here, in St. Matthew, to them, was the old faith, the doctrine follows the great denunciation of the Su.nh_e- taught in their own inspired Scriptures. drist authorities with the other rabb1S, But this was not the doctrine of the Jews in Pharisees, and public teachers and leaders the time of our Lord. They, like the Ebionites of the people. It fills the whole of the in early Chri•tian days, expected for their twenty-third chapter of the First Gospel. Messiah a mere "belo-ced Man." It is most The details would be scarcely interesting noticeable that the Messianic claim of Jesus, to St. Luke's Gentile ree.ders, so he thus nlthough not, of course, conceded by the briefly summarizes them. Which desire to scribes, was never protested against by wallt in long roboe, " With special con- them. That would have been gla.ringly un- spicuoUBness of fringes (Numb. xv. 38-40). popular. So many of the people, we know, • 'l'he s•1preme tribunal,' so.id R. Nachman, were pereuad ed of the truth of these pre- 'will duly punish hypocrites who wrap their t,,1,sirrns; Jesus bad evide.11.lv the ~ea.test talliths round them to nppe11r, what they ditticulty t, blay the pE:OjJle's eut:,wsi,\Slll in arn not, ti·ue l'harisccs '" (I!'o.rrn,r). on. xx. 1-47.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. 171
Ver. 47.-Which devour widows' houses. from self-interest; • Stumblers,' ~n mock- Josephus specially alludes to the influence humble U1at they will not raise their feet which certain of the Pharisees hacl acquired from the ground; ' Bleeders,' so mock- over women as directors of the conscience. m0clest thnt, because they will not raise For a show; rather, in pretence. "Their tlieir eyes, they run against walls, etc. hypocrisy was so notorious that even the Thus the Jewish writers themselves depict Talmud rer,ords the warning given by the Pharisees as the Tartuffes of antiquity" Alexander Jannrous to his wife on his death- (Farrar). Shall rec~ive greater damnation ; bed against painted Pharisees. And in rnther, judgment. The translators of our their seven classes of Pharisees, the Tal- beautiful English version a.re most un- mudic writers place 'Shechemite,,' Pharisees happy in their usual rendering of t<piµ.a..