Chapter LXXXV: Part III: Three Apostles (2)

282 ‒ “The Saviour _came down_ (Lk. iv. 31; Jn. iv. 47, 51)
from the high country of Galilee, where He had hitherto
dwelt, and from henceforth made His permanent home in
the deep retreat of the sea of Galilee.... It was no
retired mountain-lake by whose shore He took up His abode,
such as might have attracted the eastern sage or western
hermit. It was to the Roman Palestine almost what the
manufacturing districts are to England. Nowhere, except
in the capital itself, could He have found such a sphere
for His works and words of mercy; from no other centre
could _His fame_ have so gone throughout all Syria (Mtt.
iv. 24).... Far removed from the capital, mingled with
the Gentile races of Lebanon and Arabia, the dwellers
by the sea of Galilee were free from most of the strong
prejudices which in the south of Palestine raised a bar
to His reception. _The people in the land of Zabulon and
Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee
of the Gentiles_, had _sat in darkness_; but from that
very cause _they saw_ more clearly _the great Light_ when
it came: _to them which sat in the region and the shadow
of death_, for that very reason _light sprang_ up the more
readily. He came to _preach the Gospel to the poor_, _to
the weary and heavy laden; to seek and to save that which
was lost_. Where could He find work so readily as in the
ceaseless toil and turmoil of these teeming villages and
busy waters? The heathen or half-heathen _publicans_ or
tax-gatherers would be there, sitting by the lake side
_at the receipt of custom_. The _women who were sinners_
would there have come, either from the neighbouring Gentile
cities, or corrupted by the license of Gentile manners.
The Roman soldiers would there be found quartered with
their slaves (Luke vii. 2), to be near the palaces of
the Herodian princes, or to repress the turbulence of the
Galilæan peasantry. And the hardy boatmen, filled with the
faithful and grateful spirit by which that peasantry was
always distinguished, would supply the energy and docility
which He needed for His followers.” Stanley’s _S. and P._
375–377; comp. Jos. _B. J._ III. 3. 2.

283 ‒ Milman, I. 177; Andrews, p. 179.

284 ‒ The notice of _the hired servants_ (Mark i. 20), the _two
vessels_ employed (Luke v. 7), and the subsequent mention
of St John’s acquaintance with one in so high a position
as the high priest (John xviii. 15), seem to indicate that
Zebedee, if not a wealthy man, was at any rate of no mean
position in Capernaum. See Ellicott, 169 n.

285 ‒ Trench, _Miracles_, 127, 128.

286 ‒ Comp. Exod. xx. 18, 19; Judg. xiii. 22; Dan. x. 17; Isai.
vi. 5.

287 ‒ Trench, 232.

288 ‒ Or “great fever,” one of the expressions often cited as
illustrating St Luke’s professional acquaintance with
disease. The Greek medical writers recognised a marked
distinction between “great” and “small” fevers.

289 ‒ See _Class-Book of Old Testament History_, p. 150.

290 ‒ Comp. Mk. vi. 11, _for a testimony unto them_, with Luke
ix. 5, _for a testimony against them_.

291 ‒ The identity of Matthew and Levi seems to follow from

(i) The perfect agreement in the narratives of the
calling of the one (Matt. ix. 10), and of the other
(Mark ii. 15; Luke v. 29);

(ii) The absence from the lists of the Apostles of any
trace of the name _Levi_, while that of _Matthew_
occurs in all.

It is not improbable that the grateful “publican” changed
his name after and in memory of his call, so that he,
who was before called Levi, was now known as Matthew, or
Matthias, which is equivalent to _Theodore_, the “gift of
God.” See Ellicott’s _Lectures_, 172 n.

292 ‒ Ellicott’s _Lectures_, p. 173.

293 ‒ By some explained as

(i) The Sabbath that succeeded the second day of the
Passover;

(ii) The 15th of Nisan, the 14th being, it is asserted,
always coincident with the Sabbath;

(iii) The first Sabbath of a year that stood second in a
Sabbatical cycle.

294 ‒ “He that reapeth corn on the Sabbath, to the quantity
of a fig, is guilty; and plucking corn is as reaping.”
Lightfoot, quoting the Mishna.

295 ‒ See above, p. 159.

296 ‒ See above, p. 159.

297 ‒ It was probably now that the Saviour called these brothers
Boanerges, “_Sons of Thunder_,” from their burning and
impetuous spirit, of which we trace indications in Lk.
ix. 54, Mk. ix. 38.

298 ‒ See above, p. 159.

299 ‒ See above, p. 159, n.

300 ‒ See above, p. 182.

301 ‒ See above, p. 148.

302 ‒ Tradition places the scene of the Sermon on the Mount on
a hill known as the “Horns of Hattin,” a ridge no great
distance from _Tell Hûm_, running east and west for about
a quarter of a mile, and called by the Latins the Mount
of Beatitudes. Stanley thinks “the situation so strikingly
coincides with the intimations of the Gospel narrative as
almost to force the inference, that in this instance the
eye of those who selected the spot was for once rightly
guided,” _S. and P._ p. 360. On the peculiar acoustic
properties of the neighbourhood, see Tristram’s _Land of
Israel_, p. 433.

303 ‒ In reference to the Sermon on the Mount as related by
St Matthew and St Luke, it may be observed that the
differences are on the whole few when compared with the
resemblances: Thus (i) both have the same beginning and
ending; (ii) the order is generally similar; (iii) the
expressions are often identical; (iv) the audience (Mtt.
iv. 25; Lk. vi. 17; Mk. iii. 7, 8) was the same, and
included crowds from every part of the land; (v) probably
St Matthew relates it _substantially_ as it was delivered,
and writing for Jews retains those portions which relate
to the Jewish sects and customs, while St Luke has
modified it to meet the wants of those for whom he more
especially wrote. Ellicott’s _Lectures_, p. 180, n. and
Andrews, p. 223.

304 ‒ Trench _On the Miracles_, pp. 225, 226.

305 ‒ Ellicott’s _Lectures_, p. 181.

306 ‒ Now called _Neïn_. It was near the source of the brook
Kishon, not far from Endor, and 2½ leagues from Nazareth.
The name means “the lovely,” and was perhaps given
on account of its pleasant situation in the plain of
Esdraelon.

307 ‒ Jos. _B. J._ VII. 6. 1–3.

308 ‒ Like Socrates, the Baptist, though in confinement, was
allowed to hold intercourse with his disciples. Comp. Mtt.
xxv. 36; Acts xxiv. 23. Lange, III. 116, n.

309 ‒ Milman, I. 215.

310 ‒ Lange, III. 108.

311 ‒ Ellicott, p. 182.

312 ‒ There is no real ground for identifying this woman with
Mary Magdalene. It is true that she was a victim of
Satanic influence (Lk. viii. 2), but it does not follow
that she had been guilty of sins of impurity.

313 ‒ This anointing is not to be confounded with that recorded
in Mtt. xxvi. 6, &c., Mk. xiv. 3, &c., Jn. xii. 1, &c. The
two anointings differ in time, and place, as well as the
chief actors. Trench _On the Parables_, p. 290.

314 ‒ Trench _On the Parables_, pp. 289–293.

315 ‒ See above, p. 171.

316 ‒ See Ellicott, p. 184, and note.

317 ‒ On the scenery around the lake which would suggest the
majority of the Parables now delivered, see a striking
passage in Stanley’s _Sinai and Palestine_, pp. 425–427.
“A slight recess in the hill-side, close upon the Plain
of Gennesaret, disclosed at once, in detail, and with a
conjunction I remember nowhere else in Palestine, every
feature of the great parable of the Sower;” there was

i. The undulating _corn-field_ descending close to the
water’s edge, over which hovered countless _birds_
of various kinds. Comp. also Tristram, p. 431;

ii. The _trodden pathway_ running through the midst of
it, with no fence or hedge to prevent the seed from
falling here and there on either side of it or upon
it; itself hard with the constant tramp of horse
and mule and human feet;

iii. The _rocky ground_ of the hill side protruding here
and there through the corn-fields, as elsewhere
through the grassy slopes;

iv. The large _bushes of thorn_, the “Nabk,” springing
up like the fruit-trees of the more inland parts,
in the very midst of the waving wheat;

v. The _good rich soil_, which distinguishes the whole
of the Plain of Gennesaret and its neighbourhood
from the bare hills elsewhere descending into the
lake, and which, where there is no interruption,
produces one vast mass of corn;

vi. The women and children picking out from the wheat
the tall green stalks, called by the Arabs _Zurwân_,
= the Greek _Zizania_, = the _Lollia_ of the
Vulgate, = the _tares_ of our version, which if
sown designedly throughout the fields would be
inseparable from the wheat, from which, even when
growing naturally and by chance, these are at first
sight hardly distinguishable;

vii. The _mustard-tree_ (in Arabic _Khadel_, in Hebrew
_Chardal_, in N.W. India _Khardel_), growing
especially on the shores of the Lake, [as also near
Damascus, Jerusalem, and the Dead Sea], rising from
_a small seed_ into a _large shrub or tree_, 25 ft.
high, and producing numerous branches and leaves,
among which _the birds take shelter_.

viii. The great _fisheries_, which once made the fame of
Gennesaret, with

(1) the busy fishermen plying

(a) the _drag-net_, or _hawling-net_, σαγήνη (Mtt.
xiii. 47, 48), the Latin _tragum_ or _tragula_,
the English _seine_ or _sean_, sometimes half
a mile in length (Trench, _Parables_, 134, n.);

(b) the _casting-net_, ἀμφίβληστρον (Mtt. iv. 18;
Mk. i. 16), the Latin _funda_ or _jaculum_,
circular in shape, “like the top of a tent”
(Thomson, _L. and B._ 402);

(c) the _bag-net and basket-net_, so constructed
and worked as to enclose the fish out in deep
water (Lk. v. 4–9), Thomson, p. 402.

(2) “The marvellous shoals of fish of various kinds,
the most striking phenomenon of the lake” (Tristram,
p. 432).

318 ‒ With reference to the sudden and violent tempests, to
which the lake is exposed, “we must remember,” writes
Thomson, “that it lies low, 600 feet lower than the ocean;
that the vast and naked plateaus of the Jaulan rise to
a great height, spreading backwards to the wilds of the
Hauran, and upward to snowy Hermon; that the water-courses
have cut out profound ravines, and wild gorges converging
to the head of the lake, and that these act like gigantic
funnels to draw down the cold winds from the mountains.
And moreover, these winds are not only violent, but they
come down suddenly, and often when the sky is perfectly
clear,” _The Land and the Book_, p. 374; Tristram, p. 430.

319 ‒ The MSS. in all three Evangelists vary in their readings
between Γαδαρηνῶν, Γερασηνῶν, and Γεργεσηνῶν. Gadara,
the capital of Peræa, lay S.E. of the southern extremity
of Gennesaret, at a distance of about sixty stadia from
Tiberias, its country being called Gadaritis. Gerasa lay
on the extreme E. limit of Peræa, and was too far from
the lake to give its name to any district on its borders.
It is the opinion of Dr Thomson that St Matthew, “writing
for those intimately acquainted with the topography of the
country in detail, names the obscure and exact locality
_Gergesa_, while SS. Mark and Luke, writing for those at
a distance, simply name the country _Gadara_, as a place
of importance, and acknowledged as the capital of the
district.” Directly opposite Gennesaret this traveller
visited some ruins called by his guide _Kerza_ or _Gersa_,
which he identifies with the Gergesa of St Matthew, _Land
and Book_, p. 375.

320 ‒ Trench, _Miracles_, p. 170.

321 ‒ Εἰς τὴν ἄβυσσον (Lk. viii. 31), translated in the English
version _the deep_, which leads to a confusion of ideas.
The word occurs here and in Rom. x. 7, where also _Hell_
would be the better translation, and several times in
Revelation, as ix. 1, 2, 11; xi. 7; xvii. 8; xx. 1, 3;
in which places it corresponds to τάρταρος Tartarus,
and γέεννα Gehenna (2 Pet. ii. 4), Trench, _Miracles_,
p. 171, n.

322 ‒ At _Kerza_ or _Gersa_, “while there is no precipice
running sheer to the sea, but a narrow belt of beach, the
bluff behind is so steep, and the shore so narrow, that
a herd of swine, rushing frantically down, must certainly
have been overwhelmed in the lake before they could
recover themselves,” Tristram, p. 462.

323 ‒ Trench, _Miracles_, p. 176.

324 ‒ Decapolis, “the ten cities” (Mtt. iv. 25; Mk. v. 20; vii.
31), all lay, with the exception of Scythopolis, East of
the Jordan, and to the E. and S.E. of the sea of Galilee.
They were, 1. Scythopolis, 2. Hippos, 3. Gadara, 4. Pella,
5. Philadelphia, 6. Gerasa, 7. Dion, 8. Canatha, 9. Abila,
10. Capitolias. They were rebuilt, partially colonized,
and endowed with peculiar privileges immediately after the
conquest of Syria by the Romans, B.C. 65. The limits of
the territory of Decapolis were not very clearly defined,
and the word was sometimes used to designate a large
district extending along both sides of the Jordan: see
Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._

325 ‒ Trench, _Miracles_, p. 181.

326 ‒ Trench, _Miracles_, p. 186.

327 ‒ Such is the usual explanation of γενέσια. Wieseler,
however, and others, consider it refers to a feast kept
in honour of his accession to the throne, and so make
the date of the Baptist’s execution April 11, A.U.C. 782,
since Herod the Great died a few days before the Passover,
A.U.C. 750. Wieseler’s _Synopsis_, p. 265; Andrews, p. 254.

328 ‒ Bethsaida-Julias was at the N.E. extremity of the lake
of Gennesaret. It had been a village, but was rebuilt and
adorned by Herod Philip, who raised it to the dignity of a
town, and called it Julias after the daughter of Augustus
(Jos. _Ant._ XVIII. 2. 1; _B. J._ II. 9. 1; III. 10. 7).

329 ‒ Jos. _Ant._ XVIII. 5. 2.

330 ‒ Greswell, _Harm._ III. 428, thinks that during the earlier
period of the Saviour’s ministry Herod had either been
engaged in hostilities with Aretas, or had been on a
visit to Rome, whither he went about this time, and so
had remained ignorant of what had already taken place.
The late mission of the Twelve would be very likely to
rouse attention, indicating, as it apparently did, a
purpose to disseminate His doctrine more widely, and to
make disciples in larger numbers, Andrews, p. 256.

331 ‒ Trench, _Miracles_, p. 262.

332 ‒ Trench, p. 262.

333 ‒ “There is now, and probably always was, one characteristic
feature of the Eastern side of the Lake――its _desert
character_. Partly this arises from its near exposure
to the Bedouin tribes, partly from its less abundance of
springs and streams. There is no recess in the Eastern
hills; no towns along its banks corresponding to those in
the Plain of Gennesaret. Thus the wilder regions became a
natural refuge from the active life of the Western shores.”
Stanley’s _S. and P._ 379.

334 ‒ Compare Trench, _Miracles_, p. 264.

335 ‒ Consisting some of 50, some of 100, and, in the graphic
words of St Mark, showing like so many _garden plots_
(πρασιαὶ πρασιαὶ), on the green turf. “Our English ‘_in
ranks_,’ does not reproduce the picture to the eye, giving
rather the notion of continuous lines. Wiclif’s was better,
‘_by parties_.’ Perhaps ‘_in groups_’ would be as near as
we could get to it in English,” Trench, _Miracles_, p. 265.
“In the parts of the plain not cultivated by the hand of
man would be found _the much green grass_ (Mk. vi. 39; Jn.
vi. 10) still fresh in the spring of the year, before it
had faded away in the summer sun――the tall grass which,
broken down by the feet of the thousands there gathered
together, would make as it were couches (Mk. vi. 39, 40)
for them to recline upon.” Stanley’s _S. and P._ 381.

336 ‒ Trench, _Miracles_, p. 271, and note.

337 ‒ The Western Bethsaida, the city of Philip, and Andrew, and
Peter, is placed by Robinson at the modern _Et-Tabighah_,
by Ritter at _Khân Minyeh_. Ellicott, 207, note.

338 ‒ The proper Jewish reckoning recognised only _three_ such
watches, entitled (i) _the first or beginning of the
watches_ (Lam. ii. 19), lasting from sunset to 10 P.M.;
(ii) _the middle watch_ (Judg. vii. 19), from 10 P.M. to
2 A.M.; (iii) _the morning watch_ (Ex. xiv. 24; 1 Sam.
xi. 11), from 2 A.M. to sunrise. After the Roman supremacy
the number of watches was increased to _four_, sometimes
described by their numerical order (as Mtt. xiv. 25),
sometimes by the terms “_even_,” closing at 9 P.M.;
“_midnight_;” “_cock-crowing_” at 3 A.M.; “_morning_” at
6 A.M.; See Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._

339 ‒ Scarcely, therefore, more than half the way, the lake
being 40 or 45 furlongs in breadth.

340 ‒ “The contrary wind, which, blowing up the lake from the
south-west would prevent the boat of the Apostles from
returning to Capernaum, would also bring _other boats_
(Jn. vi. 16–24) from Tiberias, the chief city on the south,
to Julias, the chief city on the north, and so enable the
multitudes, when the storm had subsided, to cross at once,
without the long journey on foot which they had made the
day before.” Stanley’s _S. and P._, p. 382.

341 ‒ _Verily, verily, I say unto you_, Jn. vi. 26; vi. 32;
vi. 47; vi. 53.

342 ‒ If it was not actually being celebrated. Many hold that
the day on which this momentous discourse was delivered
in the synagogue of Capernaum was the 15th of Nisan, the
second day of the Paschal Feast. See Wieseler, p. 281;
Tischendorf, _Synop. Evang._ XXXIV.; Ellicott’s _Hulsean
Lectures_, p. 210 and note.

343 ‒ Ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ θεοῦ (Jn. vi. 69): such appears to be the
preferable reading. See Scrivener’s Greek Testament.

344 ‒ It is not necessary to regard the statements in Mk. vi.
54, 55 as descriptive of an activity confined to that one
day. Andrews, p. 269.

345 ‒ Lange on Mtt. xv. 21.

346 ‒ A _woman of Canaan_ according to St Matthew (xv. 22), _a
Greek_ or _Syrophœnician_ according to St Mark (vii. 26).
The first term describes her religion, that it was not
Jewish, but heathen; the second, the stock of which she
came, “which was even that accursed stock once doomed
of God to a total excision, but of which some branches
had been spared by those first generations of Israel
that should have extirpated them root and branch. (See
_Class-Book of Old Testament History_, pp. 225–227.)
Everything, therefore, was against this woman, yet she
was not hindered by that everything from drawing nigh,
and craving the boon that her soul longed after,” Trench,
_Parables_, p. 339.

347 ‒ If not _through Sidon_, according to a reading, διὰ
Σιδῶνος, in Mk. vii. 31, found in several MSS., in several
ancient Versions, and adopted by Tischendorf, Alford,
Tregelles and others, and “which certainly appears to
deserve the preference thus almost unanimously given to
it.” Ellicott, 218, n. What part of the Decapolis the Lord
visited is not mentioned.

348 ‒ Not, indeed, absolutely dumb, but unable to utter
intelligible sounds, having, as our Version renders the
word, an impediment in his speech; Greek μογιλάλος =
βραδύγλωσσος.

349 ‒ _He put His fingers into His ears, and spat, and touched
His tongue, and looking up to heaven He sighed, and saith
unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened_ (Mk. vii. 34).

350 ‒ Trench, _Miracles_, p. 353.

351 ‒ Lange on Mtt. xv. 32.

352 ‒ _Where_ is not very distinctly specified. All we can
certainly gather is that it was on the Eastern side of the
lake, and in a _desert spot_ (Mtt. xv. 33), possibly about
the middle or southern end of the Lake.

353 ‒ The baskets on this occasion are called σπυρίδες (comp.
Acts ix. 25), on the occasion of the feeding of the
Five Thousand, κόφινος (Mtt. xiv. 20 and the parallels).
When alluding to the two miracles subsequently (Matt.
xvi. 9, 10; Mk. viii. 19, 20), the Saviour preserves
the distinction. For the word κόφινος, compare Juvenal,
III. 13,

Judæis, quorum cophinus fœnumque supellex.

354 ‒ Possibly the ship kept specially for His own use.

355 ‒ Now unanimously identified with a miserable collection
of hovels (Stanley’s _S. and P._, p. 382) known as
_el-Mejdel_, on the western side of the lake, and at the
S.E. corner of the Plain of Gennesaret. Its name “is hardly
altered from the ancient Magdala or Migdol, so called,
probably, from an ancient watch-tower that guarded the
entrance of the plain.” Stanley, _l. c._; compare Tristram,
p. 425; Thomson, _L. and B._

356 ‒ “Just before reaching Mejdel we crossed a little open
valley, the _Ain-el-Baridah_, with a few rich corn-fields
and gardens straggling among the ruins of a village, and
some large and more ancient foundations by several copious
fountains, and probably identified with the Dalmanutha of
the New Testament.” Tristram, _l. c._ “We conjecture that
the Lord touched the shore somewhere between these two
villages.” Lange on Mtt. xv. 39.

357 ‒ Comp. Jn. ii. 18, above, p. 164; Jn. vi. 30, above,
p. 211. A sign from heaven denoted either (i) some visible
manifestation of the _Shechinah_, or (ii) some change in
the sun or moon, some meteor, or thunder and lightning.
Comp. Lange on Mtt. xvi. 1.

358 ‒ A town, not Canaanite but Roman, “in its situation, in
its exuberance of water, its olive-groves, and its view
over the distant plain, almost a Syrian Tivoli.” Stanley’s
_S. and P._, p. 398. (i) Its ancient name was _Panium_ or
_Paneas_ (Jos. _Ant._ XV. 10. 3, and see above, p. 13), so
called from a cavern near the town, “abrupt, prodigiously
deep, and full of still water,” adopted by the Greeks of
the Macedonian kingdom of Antioch as “the nearest likeness
that Syria affords of the beautiful limestone grottos
which in their own country were inseparably associated
with the worship of the sylvan Pan,” and dedicated to that
deity. Hence its modern appellation, _Banias_. (ii) The
town retained its old name under Herod the Great, who
built here a splendid temple, of the whitest marble, which
he dedicated to Augustus Cæsar (see above, p. 94). But
Herod Philip made great additions to the town (Jos. _Ant._
XVIII. 2. 1; _B. J._ II. 9. 1), and called it Cæsarea
Philippi, partly after his own name, and partly after
that of the Emperor. Agrippa II. afterwards called it
Neronias (Jos. _Ant._ XX. 9. 4), and here Titus exhibited
gladiatorial shows at the close of the Jewish war (Jos.
_B. J._ VII. 2. 1).

359 ‒ i. The _Baptism_ (Lk. iii. 21); ii. The _Election of
the Twelve_ (Lk. vi. 12, 13); iii. The _Discourse in
the Synagogue_ of Capernaum (Mtt. xiv. 23); iv. Now
_the Transfiguration_ (Lk. ix. 28); v. The _Agony_ (Lk.
xxii. 44).

360 ‒ Stier, II. 329; Lange’s _Life of Christ_, III. 229.

361 ‒ Already by His very name the deepest purport of His
mission had been declared to be the _delivery of His
people from their sin_ (Mtt. i. 21); already the aged
Symeon had foreseen _heart-piercing anguish_ in store for
His mother (Lk. ii. 35); already the Baptist had twice
pointed Him out as the _Lamb of God_ destined _to take
away the sin of the world_ (Jn. i. 29); already at the
first Passover He had spoken to the Jews of a _Temple
to be destroyed and rebuilt in three days_ (Jn. ii. 19);
and to Nicodemus of _a lifting up of the Son of Man_ even
as Moses had _lifted up the serpent in the wilderness_
(Jn. iii. 12–16); already at the second Passover He had
declared that He was about to give His flesh _for the life
of the world_, that His flesh was _meat indeed_, and His
blood _drink indeed_ (Jn. vi. 47–51).

362 ‒ See above, p. 201.

363 ‒ Stanley, _S. and P._, 399; Lightfoot on Mk. ix. 2.

364 ‒ It is clear that the occurrence was no waking vision
or “dream.” Peter and they that were with him _had been
weighed by sleep_ (ἦσαν βεβαρημένοι ὕπνῳ), _but they
thoroughly roused themselves_ (διαγρηγορήσαντες δέ),
_and saw_ His glory and the two men standing with Him.
Lk. ix. 32. See Alford _in loc._

365 ‒ Ἔλεγον τὴν ἔξοδον αὐτοῦ, Lk. ix. 31. “An unusual
construction of λέγειν,” it has been remarked, “though
it occurs again in Rom. iv. 6, and in the earliest
ecclesiastical writers, in the sense of _recounting,
relating the details of, describing_.” Westcott’s _Introd.
to the Study of the Gospels_, p. 298, n. For the word
Ἔξοδος here used compare Wisdom vii. 6; 2 Pet. i. 5.

366 ‒ Trench, _Miracles_, p. 361.

367 ‒ The _Didrachma_ (Matt. xvii. 24) was exactly the sum
mentioned in Ex. xxx. 11–16, due for the current expenses
of the tabernacle, and afterwards of the Temple. The
shekels, half-shekels, and quarter-shekels, which the
Jews were permitted in the time of the Maccabees to coin
(see above, pp. 55, 56), becoming scarce, and not being
coined any more, “it became the custom to estimate the
Temple-dues as two drachmas (the δίδραχμον here required),”
Trench, _Miracles_, p. 373.

368 ‒ Κῆνσος = the capitation-tax; τέλη = customs or tolls on
goods, Trench, _Miracles_, p. 380.

369 ‒ The coin he was told he would find in the fish’s mouth
was a _Stater_ (στατήρ, Matt. xvii. 27) = a whole shekel,
which amounted to about 3 shillings and 3 pence, or just
the sum required.

370 ‒ From Mtt. xiii. 56 we learn that their names were _James_,
_Joses_, _Judas_, and _Simon_. By some they are regarded
as the actual brethren of our Lord; by others as his first
cousins, being the sons of Alphæus or Clopas and Mary the
sister of the Virgin.

371 ‒ Ellicott, 246 n.

372 ‒ Ellicott, 249.

373 ‒ See _Class-Book of Old Testament History_, p. 403.

374 ‒ Comp. Jn. v. 16–18, and see above, p. 173.

375 ‒ Milman, I. 244.

376 ‒ See _Class-Book of O. T. History_, p. 154, and note.

377 ‒ “This was not historically true; for two prophets at least
had arisen from Galilee: Jonah of Gath-hepher, and the
greatest of the prophets, Elijah of Thisbe; and perhaps
also Nahum and Hosea. Their contempt for Galilee made them
lose sight of historical accuracy.” Alford _in loc._

378 ‒ Milman, _Hist. of Christianity_, I. 246.

379 ‒ Milman, I. 246.

380 ‒ Lightfoot (Wks. I. 325) says they were 13 in number, and
stood in the Court of the Women.

381 ‒ Ellicott, p. 256.

382 ‒ From the fact that the Jews divided the heathen world into
70 nations, it has been supposed that this mission of “the
Seventy” hinted at the future destination of the Gospel
for the whole world, just as the mission of “the Twelve”
Apostles typified its first offer to the twelve tribes of
Israel. Lightfoot, _Hor. Heb. in Joann._ VII. 37. Lange’s
_Life of Christ_, III. 403 n. E. T.

383 ‒ This village, now called _el’ Azarîyeh_, from the name
of Lazarus, is situated on the E. slope of the Mount of
Olives, “not very far from the point at which the road
to Jericho begins its more sudden descent towards the
Jordan valley.” Bethany is usually taken to mean _House of
Dates_, just as Bethphage close by denotes _House of Figs_.
Another explanation is _House of Misery, Poor-House_,
see Deutsch’s Note in Hepworth Dixon’s _Holy Land_, II.
214–219.

384 ‒ Several circumstances appear to indicate that the family
at Bethany were not amongst the poorest of their people:
_e.g._ (i) They possess a family vault (Jn. xi. 38),
which was a privilege of the wealthier orders; (ii) The
number of Jews (Jn. xi. 19) who assembled from Jerusalem
to condole with them were of the higher class (comp.
St John’s use of the term Ἰουδαῖοι in i. 19; vii. 13;
viii. 22; ix. 22, &c.); (iii) the costly box of spikenard
with which Mary anointed the Saviour’s feet (Jn. xii. 3).
Trench _On the Miracles_, 410.

385 ‒ “To this period we may assign that instructive series of
discourses which extend from the middle of the xth to the
middle of the xiiith chapter of St Luke.” Ellicott, p. 257.

386 ‒ Such as the cure of a deaf and dumb demoniac (Lk. xi.
14, 15).

387 ‒ On the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias, who
perished between the sanctuary (ναός) and the altar of
burnt-offering, see _Class-Book of O. T. History_, p. 425,
and note.

388 ‒ Trench _On the Parables_, p. 341.

389 ‒ Distracting anxiety. Such is the full force of μέριμνα,
from μερίζειν _to divide, cleave asunder_.

390 ‒ On the “Lily” of Palestine, see Stanley, _S. and P._
pp. 139, 429. “The lilies of the field are all out, a few
tulips cover the rocks, but the scarlet anemone (_Anemone
coronaria_, L.) now dominates everywhere, and a small
blue bulbous iris, almost rivalling it in abundance and
brilliancy of colour. There have been many claimants for
the distinctive honour of _the lilies of the field_; but
while it seems most natural to view the term as a generic
expression (comp. Stanley, _S. and P._, p. 429), yet if
one special flower was more likely than another to catch
the eye of the Lord as He spoke, no one familiar with
the flora of Palestine in spring-time can hesitate in
assigning the place to the anemone,” Tristram’s _Land of
Israel_, p. 433.

391 ‒ See above, p. 151.

392 ‒ See above, p. 148.

393 ‒ This outrage very probably was, if not the cause, at least
one of the causes of the quarrel between Herod and Pilate,
alluded to in Lk. xxiii. 12.

394 ‒ Trench _On the Parables_, p. 343.

395 ‒ Compare the same argument as addressed to the patriarch
Job, _Class-Book of O. T. History_, p. 24.

396 ‒ Probably close to the fountain of Siloam: see above,
p. 235.

397 ‒ Trench _On the Parables_, p. 346.

398 ‒ _Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish._ “As the
tower of Siloam fell and crushed 18 of the dwellers at
Jerusalem, exactly so multitudes of its inhabitants were
crushed beneath the ruins of their temple and their city;
and during the last siege and assault of that city, there
were numbers also who were pierced through by the Roman
darts, or more miserably yet by those of their own frantic
factions (Jos. _B. J._ V. 1. 3), in the courts of the
temple, in the very act of preparing their sacrifices, so
that literally their blood, like that of these Galilæans,
was mingled with their sacrifices, one blood with another.”
Trench _On the Parables_, p. 346.

399 ‒ Trench _On the Parables_, p. 323.

400 ‒ Trench _On the Parables_, p. 326.

401 ‒ See the Calendar in _Class-Book of O. T. History_, p. 155.

402 ‒ For its institution, see above, p. 36, and _Class-Book of
O. T. History_, p. 154.

403 ‒ See above, p. 96. “This cloister had its name from the
circumstance that, according to the Jewish tradition, it
was a relic of Solomon’s temple, left standing when the
Babylonians destroyed the rest of the sacred edifice.”
Lange’s _Life of Christ_, III. 432, n. E. T.

404 ‒ Lange’s _Life of Christ_, III. 432, E. T.

405 ‒ See above, p. 235.

406 ‒ For illustrations of this, see Josephus, _Ant._ XX. 9. 7;
XVII. 10. 2; XVII. 9. 3.

407 ‒ The _Law_ here alluded to is used in its widest
acceptation for the whole Old Testament, as in Jn. xii. 34;
xv. 25.

408 ‒ This Psalm is directed against the tyranny and injustice
of judges in Israel, and the argument is, if in any sense
they could be called _gods_ (as in Ex. xxi. 6; xxii. 9,
28), how much more He, “the only One, sealed and hallowed
by the Father, and the Son of God,” Alford on Jn. x. 36.

409 ‒ See above, p. 153.

410 ‒ Lange’s _Life of Christ_, III. 374, E. T.; Alford on Lk.
xiii. 31; Bengel _in loc._

411 ‒ Ellicott, 263, and note.

412 ‒ Milman’s _History of Christianity_, I. 262.

417 ‒ “Every murder of a prophet, perpetrated by the Jews,
proceeded either mediately or immediately from the rulers
of the people, whose residence was at Jerusalem,” Oosterze
on Lk. xiii. 31.

418 ‒ It seems not unreasonable to suppose that these words were
uttered on two different occasions, now and afterwards,
as recorded in Mtt. xxiii. 37 sq. See Ellicott, 264, n.;
Alford on Lk. xiii. 34.

419 ‒ Ἦσαν παρατηρούμενοι, Lk. xiv. 1. Comp. vi. 7; xx. 20; Mk.
iii. 2. See Trench _On the Miracles_, p. 328, n.

420 ‒ Where our Lord now probably was. See Lange’s _Life of
Christ_, III. 388.

421 ‒ See above, p. 239, and note.

422 ‒ Trench _On the Miracles_, p. 391.

423 ‒ For other indications of the character of St Thomas,
see Jn. xiv. 5; xx. 25. We gather that he was (i) deeply
attached to his Master, (ii) prepared to die with Him, but
(iii) ever ready to take the darker view of things, and
(iv) unable to believe other and more than he saw.

424 ‒ “He had most likely died on the same day that the
messenger announcing his illness had reached the Lord
... the day of his arrival would be one day; two our Lord
abode in Peræa after He had dismissed him, and one more He
would have employed in the journey from thence to Bethany
... dying upon that day, he had, according to the custom
of the Jews, which made the burial immediately to follow
on the death, been buried upon the same day” (cf. Acts v.
6–10). Trench _On the Miracles_, p. 397.

425 ‒ Compare Thomson’s _Land and the Book_, pp. 102, 103.

426 ‒ See _Ibid._ pp. 101, 2.

427 ‒ The question of some of the spectators, _Could not this
Man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused
that even this man should not have died?_ (Jn. xi. 47)
is characteristic of the exact truth of the narrative
... dwellers in Jerusalem, they refer to a miracle so
well known amongst themselves, rather than to the former
raisings of the dead, of which, occurring at an earlier
period and in the remote Galilee, they had probably heard
by rumour only. Trench, p. 408; Lange’s _Life of Christ_,
III. 473, n.

428 ‒ Trench _On the Miracles_, p. 407.

429 ‒ “Sometimes natural (Gen. xxiii. 9), sometimes artificial,
and hollowed out by man’s labour from the rock (Isai. xxii.
16; Mtt. xxvii. 60), in a garden (Jn. xix. 41), or in some
field, the possession of the family (Gen. xxiii. 9, 17–20;
xxxv. 18; 2 K. xxi. 18).” Trench _On the Miracles_, p. 409.

430 ‒ Neander’s _Life of Christ_, p. 378.

431 ‒ See above, pp. 150, 151.

432 ‒ “Having much to risk, and nothing to gain by change, the
Sadducees, or aristocratic party, were anxious to keep
things safe, so as to prevent any action on the side of
Rome.” H. Dixon’s _Holy Land_, II. 221. Josephus says of
the Sadducees, εἰσὶ περὶ τὰς κρίσεις ὠμοὶ παρὰ πάντας τοὺς
Ἰουδαίους, _Ant._ XX. 9. 1, and the spirit of the family
of Annas, whose son-in-law Caiaphas was, was haughty, bold,
and cruel. See Jos. _Ib._; _Bell. Jud._ II. 8. 14.

433 ‒ “Caiaphas was only consciously stating what he deemed
politically advisable, but he was nevertheless, as the
inspired Evangelist distinctly tells us (Jn. xi. 51), at
the time actually prophesying.” Ellicott’s _Lectures_,
269, n. Alford on Jn. xi. 51.

434 ‒ Robinson identifies Ophrah with Ephraim (comp. 2 Chr.
xiii. 19), and with a village on a conspicuous conical hill,
4 or 5 miles east of Bethel, and 16 from Jerusalem. _Bib.
Res._ I. 447.

435 ‒ “In this border-land it was more natural than elsewhere
that they should find themselves in one company, and thus
a Samaritan had found admission into this forlorn assembly.”
Trench _On the Miracles_, p. 332; Alford on Lk. xvii. 11.

436 ‒ See _Class-Book of O. T. History_, p. 157.

437 ‒ Trench _On the Miracles_, p. 336.

438 ‒ Probably at Scythopolis, where there was a bridge. See
Lightfoot, _Hor. Heb. et Talm._ on Lk. xvii. 11.

439 ‒ The former adopting the more lax, the latter the stricter
view. Lightfoot, _Hor. Heb. et Talm._ on Mtt. xix. 3. The
object of the question may also in some degree have been
“to involve Him with the adulterous tetrarch in whose
territory He then was.” Ellicott, p. 272.

440 ‒ The two other occasions being (i) in the neighbourhood
of Cæsarea Philippi just after St Peter’s confession (see
above, p. 219); (ii) shortly afterwards, during the return
to Capernaum (see above, p. 225).

441 ‒ Or perhaps the mother was the actual speaker, while the
two Apostles were the instigators. Ellicott, p. 374, note.

442 ‒ Perhaps, as in the case of the Gadarene demoniacs, the one,
whom St Mark (x. 46) names as Bartimæus, was better known,
and hence his case is more particularly recorded; and “the
one who is mentioned at our Lord’s entry into Jericho as
having learnt from the crowd who it was that was coming
into the city (Lk. xviii. 37), was not healed _then_, but
in company with another sufferer, when the Saviour was
leaving the city.” Ellicott, p. 274, n.; Trench _On the
Miracles_, p. 428.

443 ‒ St Luke (xix. 2) calls him ἀρχιτελώνης, an unusual term,
which probably denotes an administrator of taxes, who was
entrusted with the superintendence of other publicans,
and perhaps was the agent of one of the Roman knights, who
often filled the office of _publicanus_. “The collection
of customs at Jericho, which at this time produced
and exported a considerable quantity of balsam, was
undoubtedly an important post, and would account for
Zacchæus being a rich man, Lk. xix. 2.” On the palm-groves
of Jericho and its balsam-trade, see above, p. 86.

444 ‒ See Trench _On the Parables_, p. 512.

445 ‒ It is the opinion of some that he was a connection of the
family of Lazarus.

446 ‒ For another feast upon a Sabbath, comp. Lk. xiv. 1.
“The Sabbath is still among the Jews preferred for the
enjoyment of feasts; but the food was prepared previously,
and even the tables must have been arranged in order
before the Sabbath began,” Hengstenberg on St John xii. 2.

447 ‒ Of the costliness of a casket of spikenard some idea may
be formed from the fact that it was among the gifts sent
by Cambyses to the Ethiopians (Herod. III. 20); compare
also Horace’s words, _Carm._ IV. xii. 16, 17:

Nardo vina merebere.
Nardi parvus onyx eliciet cadum.

448 ‒ Τριακοσίων δηναρίων (Jn. xii. 5). On the denarius, see
below, p. 269, note.

449 ‒ St John remarks that he said this, not _because he cared
for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the bag,
and bare what was put therein_ (Jn. xii. 6). From which
observation we gather (i) that the brotherhood of the
Twelve had a common treasury, and received contributions
for the poor; (ii) that Judas was their steward or almoner;
(iii) that he had already proved unfaithful, and been
guilty of embezzlement. See Lange’s _Life of Christ_,
IV. 29.

450 ‒ Bethphage (_house of unripe figs_), a place on the Mount
of Olives, on the road between Jericho and Jerusalem. “It
was apparently close to Bethany, and from its being named
first of the two in the narrative of a journey from East
to West, it may be presumed that it lay, if anything, to
the eastward of Bethany.” No remains answering to this
position, according to Robinson, have been found, but see
Barclay’s _City of the Great King_, p. 65.

451 ‒ Lange, IV. 39; Stanley, _S. and P._ 191. In Mk. xi. 8 the
Vatican and Cambridge MSS. read ἐκ τῶν ἀγρῶν, “having cut
the branches from the gardens.” Eastern gardens are not
flower-gardens, nor private gardens, but the orchards,
vineyards, and fig-enclosures round a town.

452 ‒ Lange’s _Life of Christ_, IV. 41, n.

453 ‒ Τὰ ἱμάτια, the “abba” or “hyke,” the loose blanket or cloak
worn over the tunic or shirt (χιτών). A striking instance
of the practice is mentioned by Robinson, II. 162, when
the inhabitants of Bethlehem threw their garments under
the feet of the horses of the English consul of Damascus,
whose aid they were imploring. Stanley, _S. and P._
p. 191, n.

454 ‒ “The _branches_ (κλάδοι) cut from the trees as they went
(Mtt. xxi. 8) are different from the mattings ♦στοιβάδες
(Mk. xi. 8), which they had twisted out of the palm-branches
as they came,” _S. and P._ 191, n.

455 ‒ “Again the procession advanced. The road descends a slight
declivity, and the glimpse of the city is again withdrawn
behind the intervening ridge of Olivet. A few moments,
and the path mounts it again, it climbs a rugged ascent,
it reaches a ledge of smooth rock, and in an instant the
whole city bursts into view.” _S. and P._ 193; Tristram’s
_Land of Israel_, p. 196.

456 ‒ εἰ ἄρα, if, as was reasonable to expect under such
circumstances, fruit was to be found. Ellicott, 294, n.;
Lange on Mk. xi. 4.

457 ‒ “This tree, so to speak, vaunted itself to be in advance
of all the other trees, challenged the passer by that
he should come and refresh himself with its fruit. Yet
when the Lord accepted its challenge, and drew near, it
proved to be but _as_ the others, without fruit as they;
for indeed, as the Evangelist observes, the time of figs
had not yet arrived,――its fault, if one may use the word,
lying in its pretension, in its making a show to run
before the rest, when it did not so indeed.” Trench _On
the Miracles_, p. 440; Lange on Mtt. xxi. 18. Thomson,
_The Land and the Book_, p. 349, states that in sheltered
spots figs of an early kind may occasionally be found ripe
as soon as the beginning of April.

458 ‒ See above, p. 158.

459 ‒ Trench _On the Miracles_, 211, 212.

460 ‒ Lange’s _Life of Christ_, IV. 69; Milman, I. 287.

461 ‒ For their distinctive tenets, see above, pp. 114–119.

462 ‒ Lange, IV. 69; Ellicott, 302.

463 ‒ See above, p. 148.

464 ‒ “The little silver coin (in value about 7½d.), bearing on
its surface the head encircled with a wreath of laurel,
and bound round with the sacred fillet――the well known
features, the most beautiful and the most wicked, even in
outward expression, of all the Roman Emperors――with the
superscription running round, in the stately language
of imperial Rome, _Tiberius Cæsar, Divi Augusti filius
Augustus, Imperator_.” Stanley’s _Canterbury Sermons_,
p. 108.

465 ‒ See above, p. 115.

466 ‒ The Sadducees appear to have held that the soul perishes
with the body: as “the cloud faileth and passeth away,”
they said, “so he that goeth down to the grave doth not
return.” Lightfoot on Mtt. xxii. 23; Comp. Jos. _Ant._
XVIII. 1. 4; _B. J._ II. 8. 14.

467 ‒ See above, p. 115.

468 ‒ Which seems to confirm Lightfoot’s opinion that the
enquiry turned on the importance of the ceremonial as
compared with the moral law. Lightfoot on ♦Mark xii. 28.

469 ‒ Some, however, would refer to this occasion the question
respecting the woman taken in adultery (Jn. viii. 1–11).
See Ellicott’s _Lectures_, 310, and notes.

470 ‒ It is not improbable that the solemn apostrophe to
Jerusalem, uttered on the occasion of the triumphal entry,
was now in part repeated. See Ellicott’s _Lectures_, 314,
and note.

471 ‒ So called, not because “women only entered in there, but
because women might not go further,” just as the court of
the Gentiles was so called, “not, because heathens only
might enter there, but because they might not go further.”
Lightfoot _in loc._

472 ‒ “Before the Passover, free-will offerings, in addition
to the temple-tax, were generally presented.” Lange on
Mk. xii. 41.

473 ‒ Λεπτὰ δύο, ὅ ἐστιν κοδράντης, Mk. xii. 42. The λεπτόν was
the very smallest copper coin. Two made one Roman quadrans,
which was ¼th of an _as_. The _as_ in Cicero’s time =
nearly a halfpenny, and the _quadrans_ = one tenth of a
penny. Lange on Mk. xii. 41.

474 ‒ The regular word for which is Ἑλληνισταί, but Ἕλληνες,
Gentile Greeks. Lange, IV. 53. See above, p. 110. For
the attendance of proselytes of the gate at the feasts at
Jerusalem, comp. Acts viii. 27, Jos. _B. J._ VI. 9. 3, and
Lightfoot on Ju. xii. 20.

475 ‒ Or they may have come from some of the Greek towns of
Galilee――Galilee of the Gentiles. See Lightfoot on Jn.
xii. 20, and above, p. 145, n.

476 ‒ _Præludium regni Dei a Judæis ad gentes transituri._
Bengel. “These men from the West represent at the end
of Christ’s life that which the wise men from the East
represented at its beginning; but those came to the cross
of the King, even as these came to His manger, and receive
presently more full intelligence,” Stier, VI. 78.

477 ‒ Concurrebat horror mortis, et ardor obedientiæ: Veni in
hanc horam, ut venirem in hanc horam, eamque exemplarem.
Bengel.

478 ‒ See above (i) p. 156 and (ii) p. 223.

479 ‒ Compare Acts ix. 4, 7, with Acts xxii. 9, and xxvi. 14.
(i) “The more dull-hearted heard the _sound_, recognized
from whence it came, but mistook it for thunder; (ii) the
more susceptible hearers perceived it to be a _voice_, but
were unable to distinguish what was uttered; (iii) the
smaller circle, of which the Apostle who relates the
occurrence was one, both heard the voice, knew whence it
came, and were enabled to understand the _words_ that were
spoken,” Ellicott, 318, n.

480 ‒ Compare the intimation made to Nicodemus two Passovers
before, above, p. 165.

481 ‒ Their remarks were possibly called forth by His own words,
Mtt. xxiii. 38. On the nature of the buildings, see Jos.
_Ant._ XI. 5; _B. J._ V. 5. 6; and above, pp. 95, 96.

482 ‒ “It is impossible to conceive a spectacle of greater
natural or moral sublimity than the Saviour seated on
the slope of the Mount of Olives, and thus looking down,
almost for the last time, on the Temple and City of
Jerusalem, crowded as it then was with near three millions
of worshippers. It was evening, and the whole irregular
outline of the city, rising from the deep glens, which
encircled it on all sides, might be distinctly traced. The
sun, the significant emblem of the great Fountain of moral
light, to which Jesus and His faith had been perpetually
compared, may be imagined sinking behind the western hills,
whilst its last rays might linger on the broad and many
fortifications on Mount Zion, on the stately palace of
Herod, on the square tower, the Antonia, at the corner
of the Temple, and on the roof of the Temple, fretted
all over with golden spikes, which glittered like fire;
while below, the colonnades and lofty gates would cast
their broad shadows over the courts, and afford that
striking contrast between vast masses of gloom and gleams
of the richest light which only an evening scene, like
the present, can display.... The effect may have been
heightened by the rising of the slow volumes of smoke from
the evening sacrifices, while even at the distance of the
slope of Mount Olivet the silence may have been faintly
broken by the hymns of the worshippers.” Milman’s _History
of Christianity_, I. 294, 295.

483 ‒ Wieseler, _Chronol. Synop._ p. 363.

484 ‒ Lange’s _Life of Christ_, IV. 151.

485 ‒ See above, pp. 96, 108, n.

486 ‒ See above, p. 253.

487 ‒ Lange’s _Life of Christ_, IV. 151; Milman, I. 301.

488 ‒ Neander’s _Life of Christ_, 419 and note; Milman, I. 303.

489 ‒ Amongst the motives which led him to the betrayal of
his Master we may perhaps give prominence to three.
(i) Avarice; (ii) Disappointment of his carnal hopes;
(iii) A gradual growth of hostility to his Master.

(i) _Avarice._ This feature in his character has been
already noticed above, p. 260, note. The germs of this
vice probably unfolded themselves gradually (Stier, VII.
40–67), and in spite of many warnings which he must have
heard from his Lord, as Mtt. vi. 19–34; xiii. 22, 23;
Lk. xvi. 11; Mk. x. 25 (Article _Judas_ in Smith’s
_Bibl. Dict._); but gathered strength and developed into
unfaithfulness and embezzlement as he became entrusted
with larger sums. Hence when he presented himself before
the Sanhedrin, _he probably expected more, but was not
unwilling to take what they offered_.

(ii) _Disappointment of his carnal hopes._ What were the
Messianic expectations of the Apostles we have seen again
and again――a visible kingdom, an earthly throne, high
places, and temporal blessings; these they looked forward
to in common with their nation. To one like Judas, then,
the issue of the Triumphal Entry must have been a deep
disappointment.

(iii) _A gradual growth of hostility towards his Master._
His practical and administrative talents which caused
him to be made treasurer were closely allied with carnal
selfishness (Neander’s _Life of Christ_, 424) which was
early rebuked (Jn. vi. 70), see above, p. 213, but still
more sharply during the supper at Bethany (see above,
p. 260). As he became aware that his real character was
known to the Lord, and found his earthly hopes more and
more disappointed, his “attachment to his Master would
turn more and more into aversion; when the manifestation
of Christ ceased to be _attractive_ it became _repulsive_,
and more and more so every day.” (Neander, p. 424, and
comp. Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._ I. 1066.)

490 ‒ “Thirty shekels = 120 denarii, and one denarius was at
that time the ordinary wages for a day’s labour (Mtt.
xx. 2); so that the whole sum amounted to about 4 months’
wages of a day-labourer. Thirty shekels, it is to be
noticed, was the value set upon a single slave, according
to Exod. xxi. 32.” Neander’s _Life of Christ_, 421, n.

491 ‒ Probably a believing follower: _Discipulus, sed non ex
duodecim_. Bengel. See also Stier, VII. 77; Ellicott’s
_Lectures_, 321, n.

492 ‒ At this point it may be well to try and realize the manner
in which the Paschal Feast was at this time celebrated by
the Jews.

The company at the Table, which might not be less than 10
persons, usually included from 10 to 20, according to the
family, or the number of strangers that might be present.
They met in the evening and reclined on couches, this being
the usual posture then, as standing had been originally.

The rites of the Feast were regulated according to the
succession of 4, sometimes 5, cups of red wine mixed with
water, which were placed before the head of the house, or
the most eminent guest, who was called the Celebrant, the
President, or _Proclaimer of the Feast_.

i. When they had reclined, he began by taking one of the
four cups of wine in his right hand, and pronounced the
benediction over the wine and the feast, saying, _Blessed
be Thou, O Lord our God, the King of the universe_, who
hast created _the fruit of the Vine_. He then drank the
first cup, and the remainder of the household followed his
example.

ii. Water was then brought in, and he blessed for the
washing of hands, and washed, followed by the rest.

iii. The table was next set out with the unleavened bread,
the sauce called Charoseth, the Paschal Lamb, and the
flesh of the _Chagigah_ or feast-offerings.

iv. The Proclaimer of the Feast then blessed God for the
fruits of the earth, and taking a portion of the bitter
herbs dipped it in the sop, and ate it with all who
reclined at the table.

v. The _Haggadah_ or _showing forth_ now commenced, and
the Celebrant declared the circumstances of the delivery
from Egypt, as commanded in the law (Ex. xii. 27; xiii. 8).
Then the second cup of wine was filled, and a child or
proselyte enquired, _What mean ye by this service_?
(Ex. xii. 26), to which reply was made according to a
prescribed formula or liturgy, and the wondrous events of
the Exodus were related, after which Psalms cxiii, cxiv.
were repeated, followed by a solemn blessing and drinking
of the second cup.