The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 1 — Section 176

wltioh the mneeflngers witneeseil that d11,y, Lord, rearrul le■t the people who had been st1ikin,; though they were, were no novel st11nding by e.nd listening to the ')lleation onee in the work of our Lord. They were, which the Baptist hlld pnt, end bis answer, too, precisely similar to those which had shonld enterti\in any dispe.re.ging thonght n,lren,ly boon reported to him in hie prieon of a great and sorely tried saint of God, {ver. 18). llut Josue, pointing to these spoke the following noble testimony con- wigns, bnde the friends of tlio B&ptist re\um cerning the.t true, faithful witness. lt has and toll their mnetor whnt they hud seen been termed the funeral oration of John; in these worcls. The great Mosei,rnic prophet, for not long after it had been spoken he whose wdlings were eo well known to John, we.a put to death by Herod Antipa.s. What hnd soid thl\t Meseinh'e advent would be went ye out into the wildemllse for to see 1 h~re.lded by these very e.c.ts. John would A reed shaken with the wind 1 The imagery in a moment catch the meAning of the we.a taken from the scenery in the midst reply. The passe.ges in question e.re Isa. of which John the Baptist had principally xxix. 18 and xxxv. 4, 6. Wordsworth, on exercised hie miniatry-the reedy banks of these works wrought by the gree.t Physician, Jordan. H we.a surely to see an everyrlay very be11.utifully writes, " One of the most sight-a weak vacillating man blown to and consolatory rdlections produced by these fro with every wind. John, though his mighty e.nd merciful works of Christ on faith failed him for a moment perhaps, ee.rth is the e.ssure.nce they give the.t at was no wavering reed. the great de.y of resurrection he will re- Ver. 25.-But what went ye out for to move all infirmities and blemishes from the see 1 A man clothed in soft raiment 1 Be- Lodiee of hu- servants, e.nd clothe them in hold, they whioh are gorgeously apparelled, immortal bee.Ith, beauty, and glory, so as and live delicately, are in kings' courts. to be like hie own glorious body, once Was it, again., to see one of earth's so-called m~rred on the cross, but raised by himself great ones-. favourite of the reigning from the dead, and now reigning for ever monarch, a courtier of the magnificent in glory" (Bishop Wordsworth).- To the Herod? John we.s no conrt favourite, no poor the gospel is preached. John would powerful or princely noble. Dean Plnmptre be able to drow his inference, too, from thinks that here e. reference is m11.de to this feature in Jeane' work. Hie messengers the fact that, in the early de.ye of Herod would have heard the Teacher's words, the Great, a section of the scribes had and would he.ve marked from whe.t class attached themsel vee to his policy and especially his hearers were drawn. H was party, and in doing so had laid Bliide the 11, new experience in the world's story, sombre raiment of their order, and had this tender care for the poor. No heathen e.ppee.red in the gorgeollS raimeut worn by teacher of Rome or Athens, of Alexe.ndria Herod's other courtiers. "We me.y trace," or the far East, had ever cared to make e.dds the dean, "with very little hesitation, this ve.et class of nnprofitable hearers the e. vindictive retaliation for these very objeots of their teaching. The rabbis of words in the 'gorgeons robe' with which Israel cared nothing for them. In the Herod arrayed him in mockery, when the Talmud we often find them spoken of with tetrarch and Christ stood for one brief contempt. Bnt John knew the.t this speak- hour face to face with eaoh other" ( eh. ing to and consorting with the poor would xxiii. 4). be one of the marked ehu.racteristice of Ver. 26.-Bnt what went ye out for to Messiah when he came. see 1 A prophet 1 Yee., I say unto yon, Ver. 23.-And blessed is he, whosoever and muoh more than a prophet. The great shall not be o:lfended in me. Our Lord here Teacher proceeds in his discourse. From ahows that he understood that this question the scene and the surroundinga-the reeds came from the Baptist himself. Dean of the banks of Jordan-he went on to Plumptre calla attention to the tender we.y speak of the great Jordan preacher, so in whioh our Lord dealt with the im- unlike, in Hpite of this one weak wavering patience whioh John's question implied. hour, the reeds in the midst of which he " A warning was needed, but it we.a given in preached. Jesns thus painted the grave, the form of e. beatitude, which it we.a still allStere man, first in his stern enmity to open to him to claim e.nd make his own. the seduotive maguifioence of a court-life, Not to find e. stumbling-block in the manner then in his severe austerity e.s reg-,ude in whioh Christ he.d actually come, there himself. Who, tl.ten, was he-this preacher w11e this condition of entering fully into the to whom the people he.d resorted in such bleeseclnese of hie kingdom." erowd~ to see and hear? Was he a prophet? Ver. 2-l.-And when the messenger■ of we.a he one more of those men who in pLl.~t J'ohn were dep11.rted, he began to apee.k unto ages he.d boen the salt which preserved \he people oonoerning ;John. When the Ismel from decay? Yee; th11.t is what he meBse11ger1 of Juhu were deput11d the wH, th11t true great ontl-e. provh~t in llie  174 TUE GOSrEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. [oa. vn. 1-60.