4, Coneluston. We would sum up our study of the case of this poor, blind beggar in the now somewhat trite, but still touching and tender verses of a poet lately departed —
“Blind Bartimaeus at the gates Of Jericho in darkness waits; He hears the crowd ;—he hears a breath Say, ‘It is Christ of Nazareth |’ And calls, in tones of agony, "Incod, érénody pel
©The thronging multitudes increase ; ‘Blind Bartimaeus, hold thy peace!” But still, above the noisy crowd, The beggar’s ory is shrill and loud; Until they say, ‘ He calleth thee!’ @dpoet, Eyetpat, pwvel cel
Then saith the Christ, as silent stands The crowd, ‘ What wilt thou at my handsf* And he replies, ‘Oh, give me light! , Babbi, restore the blind man’s sight ?* And Jesus answers, “Traye' ‘BH wlotis cov ocowkd cel
® Ye that have eyes, yet cannot sea, In darkness and in misery, Recall those mighty voices threa, "Inaod, édénady pel @dpoe, eyeipat, Uraye f ‘H alors cod céowxé oe f™
We may here add, in a very few words, the common solution of two seeming discrepancies of the evangelists’ narrative: viz. our Lord cured two blind men together on this occasion; but Bartimsus was better known, either previously, as already hinted, in reference to the patronymic, or subsequently as a “monument of the Lord’s miracle ;” while in reference to the place or time of cure, one of the two had made his application to our Lord as he approached or entered Jericho, yet was not cured at that time, but ta company with the second, as our Lord left the city.—J. J. @.
EXPOSITION.
The distance from Jericho to Jerusalem (about seventeen miles) would involve a journey of about seven hours. The country
tween Jerusalem and Jericho is hilly, rugged, and desolate. It is from the height
CHAPTER XI.
Wor. 1.—And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount of Olives. St. Matthew (xxi. 1)
says, “ When they drew nigh unto Jerusa- jem, and came unto Bethphage.” St. Mark
mentions the three places together, because |
Bethphageand Bethany, being near together, were also both of them close to Jerusalem.
overhanging Bethany that the finest view of Jerusalem is gained. It appears frous St. John (xii. 1) that our Lord on the pre ceding sabbath had supped, and probably | passed the night, at Bethany; and that oa
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the following day (answering to our Palm Sunday) he had come still nearer to Jeru- salem, samely, to Bethphage; and from thence he sent two of his disciples for the ase and the colt. So his way to Jerusalem was from Bethany by Bethphage, the Mount of Olives, and the Valley of Jehoshaphat. The yslley of Jehoshaphat, through which flows the brook Kedron, lies close to Jeru- galem Bethphage literally means “the house of green figs,” as Bethany, lying a short distance west of it, means “ the house of dates.” The date palm growing in the neighbourhood would furnish the branches with which the multitude strewed the way on the oscasion of our Lord’s triumphal entry. He sendeth two of his disciples. Who were they? Bede thinks that the were Peter and Philip. Jansenius, wit
reater probability, thinks that they were ee and John, because a little after this Christ sent these two to prepare for the Passover. But we know nothing certain on this point.
Ver. 2.—Go your way into the village that is over against you The village over against them would most likely be Beth- phage, towards which they were then ap- proaching. Straightway as ye enter intoit, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon no man ever yet sat. St. Mark mentions only the colt; St. Matthew mentions the ass and the colt. But St. Mark singles out the colt as that which our Lord specially needed; the mother of the animal accompanying it as a sumpter. Animals which had never before been used were alone admissible for sacred purposes. We read in Numbers (xix. 2) of “the heifer on which never came yoke.” Our Lord here beholds things absent and out of sight, as though they were present. So that he revealed this to his disciples by the gift of prophecy which his divinity added to his humanity. Here, therefore, is a manifest proof of his divinity. It was by the same Divine power that he revealed to Nathanael what had taken place under the
tree
Ver. 8—And if any one say unto you, Why @o ye thist say ye, The Lord hath need of bim ; and straightway he will send him back hither The Greek, according to the best suthorities here, is ciOdws a’tdy dwrooréAAa wdruw be: literally, straightway he sendeth # back hither again. The verb here in the
t may represent the verb in the
ture, “he will send it back.” But the word “again ” (xdA.v) is not quite 20 easily explained. There is strong authority for the insertion of this word, which necessarily peor the meaning of thesentence. With- out the rdav, the sentence would actually mean that our Lord, by his Divine lence, here tells his disciples that when the colt was
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK,
(on. x1. 1—33,
demanded by them the owner would at onee permit them to take it. But if the word daw be inserted, it can only mean that this was a part of the message which our Lord directed his disciples to deliver as from himself, “ The Lord hath need of him; and he, the Lord, will forthwith send him back again.” The passage is so interpreted by Origen, who twice introduces the adverb in his commentary on St. Matthew. The evidence of the oldest uncials is strongly in favour of this insertion. Our Lord was unwilling that the disciples should take away the colt if the owner objected. He might have taken the animals away in his own supreme right, but he chose to accom- plish his will by his providence, powerfully and yet gently ; and, if the reading here be allowed, he further influenced them by the promise that their property should be re- turned tothem. It was the will and purpose of Christ, who for these three years had gone about on foot, and travelled over the whole of Palestine in this way, to show himself at length the King of Judlah, that is, the Messiah and Heir of David; and so he resolves to enter Jerusalem, the metropolis, the city of the great King, with royal dignity. But he will not bes1rrounded with tie “ pomp and circumstance” of an earthly monarch. He rides on an ass’s colt, that he might show his kingdom to be of another kind, that is, spiritual and heavenly. And so he assumes a humble equipage, riding upon @ colt, his only housings being the clothes of his disciples. And yet there was dignity as well as humility in his equipage. The ass of the East was, and is, a superior animal to that known amongst us. The judges and princes of Israel rode on “ white asses,” and their sons on asses’ colts. So our Lord rode upon an ass’s colt; and there were no gleam- ing swords in his procession, or other signs of strife and loodahed: But there were palm branches and garments spread all along his aes evidences of devotion to him. So