"And when the Lord had given his linen cloth to the servant of the priest, he went to James, and appeared unto him. "For James bad sworn, that be would not eat bread from that hour wherein he had drunk the cup of the Lord, until he saw him rising again from the dead. " . . . bring a table and bread. " . • . [ and ? ] he took up the bread, and blessed, and brake, and after- wards gave to James the Just, and said to him, My brother, eat thy bread, for the Son of man is risen from them that sleep." Without giving credence to the details thus brought before us, it is at least interesting to notice bow the Jewi,sh character of St. James comes out in the vow attributed to him. Compare the oath of more than forty men, "neither to eat nor drink till they have killed Paul" (Acts xxiii. 12). (2) Ensebius (Bk. II. xxiii.) has preserved the following remarkable account from Hegesippns, a writer of the second century, "who flourished nearest the days of the apostles:"-" James, the brother of the Lord, who, as there were many of this name, was surnamed the Just by all, from the days of our Lord until now, received the government of the Church with the apostles. This man was holy (ayio,) from bis mother's womb. He drank neither wine nor strong drink, and abstained from animal food. A razor never came upon his head, he never anointed himself with oil, and never used a bath. He alone was allowed to enter the sanctuary (d, Ta. ayta). He never wore woollen, but linen garments. He was in the habit of entering the temple alone, and was often found upon his bended knees, and asking for the forgiveness of the people ; so that his knees became as hard as camels', in consequence of his habitual supplication and kneeling before God. And, indeed, on account of bis exceeding righteousness, be was called the Just (8ta. Ti]V -inrEp/30X~v rij, 81KatOU1JV7J, avrov (K/J.AELTO 8{Kato,), and Oblias ('Of3X{a,;), which is in Greek 'bulwark of the people' and' righteousness,' as the prophets declare concerning him." It is impossible to accept this account as literally true. There are diffi- culties in it which cannot be explained (see Lightfoot on 'Galatians,' p. 349; and Routh, 'Reliquim Sacrm,' vol. i. 228, seq.). But there can be little doubt that there is some foundation for the portrait thus drawn; and his surname of "the Just" bears witness to his rigid observance of the Mosaic ritual. This appears to have been a. name not uncommonly given to those who were signalized by an extreme devotion to the observance of the Law (Acts i. 23; xviii. 7; Col. iv. 11; cf. Schiittgen, 'Horm HebraiciB,' vol. i. p. 407). (3) Clement of Alexandria, in a fragment of his 'Hypotyposes,' preserved. by Eusebius (Bk. II. i.), bas thus recorded St. James's appointment to the charge of the Church of Jerusalem: "Peter and James and John, after the ascension of our Saviour, did not contend for the honour, but chose James the Just as Bishop of Jerusalem." And in another fragment he says," The Lord impal'ted tho gift of knowledge to James the Just, to John, and Peter, vi INTRODUCTION TO
11fter his resurrection; these delivered it to the rest of the apostles, and they to the se,enty." (4) Epiphanius (' Hier.,' lxxviii. 14) strangely enough transfers to St. JRmes the well-known statement of Polycratcs with regard to St. John, that he wore the r.traAov br2 ~~ 1<£,f,a'),/qs (cf. Eusebius, V. xxiv.)-a state- ment which cannot be literally trne, but could never have been invented except of one who was 1..-nown to regard the Mosaic ritual with the utmost veneratioli. (5) Of the death of St. James two accounts have been preserved. (a) A brief one in Josephus, ' Ant.,' xix. ix. § 1 : " Cmsar, having learnt the death of Festus, sends Albinus as governor of J ndma ... Ananus ... supposing that he ha.d a favourable opportunity in consequence of the death of Festue, Albinus being still on the way, assembled the Sanhedrim, and brought before it James [the brother of him who is called Christ], and some others, and having charged them with breaking the laws, delivered them over to be stoned. But those of the city who seemed most moderate and most accurate in observing the Law were greatly offended at this, and secretly sent to the king, entreating him to send to Ananus with the request not to do these things, saying that he had not acted legally even before this." Eo.sebius (Bk. II. x:xiii.) and Origen (in' Matt.' xiii. 55, 'Contr. Celena,' i. 47; ii. 13) also ascribe to the Jewish historian the statement that the murder of Ja.mes was the immediate cause of the siege of Jerusalem and the troubles which fell upon the Jews. "These things happened to the Jews to avenge James the Just, who was the brother of him that is called Christ, and whom the Jews had slain, notwithstanding his pre-eminent justice." There is, however, no sort of doubt that the passage is spurious. It is not found in the existing copies of Josephus. (b) A longer and very remarkable account is given by Hegesippus in Eusebins, Bk. ll x:riii. The passage is so familiar that there is no need to repeat it here, more especially as it contains serious difficulties, and is unhesitatingly set aside by Bishop Lightfoot in favour of the shorter version of Josephus (see Lightfoot's 'Galatians,' p. 348, seg_.; and cf. Routh's 'Reliqnire Sacrre,' vol. i. p. 228, seq.). The date of St. James's death is fixed for us by Josephus as happening between the death of Festus and the arrival of his successor Albinus, i.e. in the year A.D. 62 (see the date discussed in Lewin's 'Fasti Saori,' p. lxm.; cf. No. 1931).
ill. OB.JECT AND CHARACTER 01!' THE EPISTLE, As might be expected from the position and character of the writer, the Epistle is addressed to Jewish Christians. 1. "To the twelve tribes ... scattered abroad" (eh. i. 1). "The stand- point of the Epistle," it has been well said, "is essentially Jewish : the address, as we have seen, is to the twelve tribes; the terms' rich' and• poor' •fl-IE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. vii