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<h2>Sketches of Jewish Social Life in the Days of Christ</h2> <ul class="blue1">
<li><a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches00.html">Preface</a><br><br></li>
<li><a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html">Chapter 1. Palestine Eighteen Centuries Ago</a><br><br></li>
<li><a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html">Chapter 2. Jews and Gentiles in "the Land"</a><br><br></li>
<li><a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html">Chapter 3. In Galilee at the Time of our Lord</a><br><br></li>
<li><a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html">Chapter 4. Travelling in Palestine: Roads, Inns, Hospitality,<br> Custom-house Officers, Taxation, Publicans</a><br><br></li>
<li><a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html">Chapter 5. In Judaea</a><br><br></li>
<li><a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html">Chapter 6. Jewish Homes</a><br><br></li>
<li><a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html">Chapter 7. The Upbringing of Jewish Children</a><br><br></li> <li><a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html">Chapter 8. Subjects of Study. Home Education in Israel; <br>Female Education. Schools and Schoolmasters</a><br><br></li>
<li><a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html">Chapter 9. Mothers, Daughters, and Wives in Israel</a><br><br></li>
<li><a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html">Chapter 10. In Death and after Death</a><br><br></li>
<li><a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches11.html">Chapter 11. Jewish Views on Trade, Tradesmen, and <br>Trades' Guilds</a><br><br></li>
<li><a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches12.html">Chapter 12. Commerce</a><br><br></li>
<li><a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html">Chapter 13. Among the People, and with the Pharisees</a><br><br></li>
<li><a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches14.html">Chapter 14. The "Fraternity" of Pharisees</a><br><br></li>
<li><a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches15.html">Chapter 15. Relation of the Pharisees to the Sadducees and <br>Essenes, and to the Gopsel of Christ</a><br><br></li>
<li><a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html">Chapter 16. Synagogues: Their Origin, Structure, and<br> Outward Arrangements</a><br><br></li>
<li><a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html">Chapter 17. The Worship of the Synagogue</a><br><br></li>
<li><a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html">Chapter 18. Outline of Ancient Jewish Theological Literature</a><br><br></li>
<li><a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches19.html">Appendix 1. Translation of the Mishnic Tractate "Middoth"</a><br><br></li>
<li><a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html">Appendix 2. Translation of Selections from the Babylon<br> Talmud,
Tractate "Beracoth"</a><br><br></li>
<li><a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches21.html">Indexes</a><br><br>
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<p align="center"><b>Title Page Information</b></p>
<table>
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<td>Title:</td>
<td>Sketches of Jewish Social Life in the Days of Christ</td></tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td>Author:</td>
<td>Alfred Edersheim</td></tr> <tr valign="top">
<td>Publisher:&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
<td>Hodder and Stoughton</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td>Date:</td>
<td>1904</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td>Source:</td>
<td>Text adapted from the version at the <a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/http://www.ccel.org/">Christian Classics Ethereal Library</a> website.</td>
</tr>
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<h2 id="ii-p0.1">Preface</h2>
<p id="ii-p1">The object of this volume is kindred to that of my previous book on <i>The Temple, its Ministry and Services as they were at the Time of Jesus Christ</i>. In both I have wished to transport the reader into the land of Palestine at the time of our Lord and of His apostles, and to show him, so far as lay within the scope of each book, as it were, the scene on which, and the persons among whom the events recorded in New Testament history had taken place. For I believe, that in measure as we realise its surroundings&#8212;so to speak, see and hear for ourselves what passed at the time, enter into its ideas, become familiar with its habits, modes of thinking, its teaching and worship&#8212;shall we not only understand many of the expressions and allusions in the New Testament, but also gain fresh evidence of the truth of its history alike from its faithfulness to the picture of society, such as we know it to have been, and from the contrast of its teaching and aims to those of the contemporaries of our Lord.</p>
<p id="ii-p2">For, a careful study of the period leaves this conviction on the mind: that&#8212;with reverence be it said&#8212;Jesus Christ was strictly of His time, and that the New Testament is, in its narratives, language, and allusions, strictly true to the period and circumstances in which its events are laid. But in another, and far more important, aspect there is no similarity between Christ and His period. "Never man";&#8212;of that, or any subsequent period&#8212;"spake like this man"; never man lived or died as He. Assuredly, if He was the Son of David, He also is the Son of God, the Saviour of the world.</p>
<p id="ii-p3">In my book on <i>The Temple, its Ministry and Services</i>, I endeavoured to carry the reader with me into the Sanctuary, and to make him witness all connected with its institutions, its priesthood, and its solemnities. In this book I have sought to take him into ordinary civil society, and to make him mingle with the men and women of that period, see them in their homes and families, learn their habits and manners, and follow them in their ordinary life&#8212;all, as illustrative of New Testament history; at the same time endeavouring to present in a popular form the scenes witnessed.</p>
<p id="ii-p4">Another, and perhaps the most important part in its bearing on Christianity, yet remains to be done: to trace the progress of religious thought&#8212;as regards the canon of Scripture, the Messiah, the law, sin, and salvation&#8212;to describe the character of theological literature, and to show the state of doctrinal belief at the time of our Lord. It is here especially that we should see alike the kinship in form and the almost contrast in substance between what Judaism was at the time of Christ, and the teaching and the kingdom of our Blessed Lord. But this lay quite outside the scope of the present volume, and belongs to a larger work for which this and my previous book may, in a sense, be regarded as forestudies. Accordingly, where civil society touched, as on so many points it does, on the theological and the doctrinal, it was only possible to "sketch" it, leaving the outlines to be filled up. To give a complete representation of the times of our Lord, in <i>all</i> their bearings&#8212;to show not only who they were among whom Jesus Christ moved, but what they knew, thought, and believed&#8212;and this as the frame, so to speak, in which to set as a picture the life of our Blessed Lord Himself, such must now be the work, to which, with all prayerful reverence and with most earnest study, I shall henceforth set myself.</p>
<p id="ii-p5">It seemed needful to state this, in order to explain both the plan of this book and the manner of its treatment. I will only add, that it embodies the results of many years' study, in which I have availed myself of every help within my reach. It might seem affectation, were I to enumerate the names of all the authorities consulted or books read in the course of these studies. Those mentioned in the foot-notes constitute but a very small proportion of them.</p>
<p id="ii-p6">Throughout, my constant object has been to illustrate the New Testament history and teaching. Even the "Scripture Index" at the close will show in how many instances this has been attempted. Most earnestly then do I hope, that these pages may be found to cast some additional light on the New Testament, and that they will convey fresh evidence&#8212;to my mind of the strongest kind&#8212;and in a new direction, of the truth "of those things which are most surely believed among us." And now it only remains at the close of these investigations once more to express my own full and joyous belief in that grand truth to which all leads up&#8212;that "CHRIST IS THE END OF THE LAW FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS TO EVERY ONE THAT BELIEVETH."</p>
<p id="ii-p7">Alfred Edersheim.</p>
<p id="ii-p8">The Vicarage, Loders, Bridport:</p>
<p id="ii-p9">November, 1876.</p>
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<h2 id="iii-p0.1">Chapter 1 </h2>
<h3 id="iii-p0.2">Palestine Eighteen Centuries Ago</h3>
<p id="iii_p1">Eighteen and a half centuries ago, and the land which now lies desolate&#8212;its bare, grey hills looking into ill-tilled or neglected valleys, its timber cut down, its olive and vine clad terraces crumbled into dust, its villages stricken with poverty and squalor, its thoroughfares insecure and deserted, its native population well-nigh gone, and with them its industry, wealth, and strength&#8212;presented a scene of beauty, richness, and busy life almost unsurpassed in the then known world. The Rabbis never weary of its praises, whether their theme be the physical or the moral pre-eminence of Palestine. It happened, so writes one of the oldest Hebrew commentaries, that Rabbi Jonathan was sitting under a fig-tree, surrounded by his students. Of a sudden he noticed how the ripe fruit overhead, bursting for richness, dropped its luscious juice on the ground, while at a little distance the distended udder of a she-goat was no longer able to hold the milk. "Behold," exclaimed the Rabbi, as the two streams mingled, "the literal fulfillment of the promise: 'a land flowing with milk and honey.'" "The land of Israel is not lacking in any product whatever," argued Rabbi Meir, "as it is written (<a id="iii_p1_1" onClick="return mV('Deu',8,9);">Deu 8:9</a>): 'Thou shalt not lack anything in it.'" Nor were such statements unwarranted for Palestine combined every variety of climate, from the snows of Hermon and the cool of Lebanon to the genial warmth of the Lake of Galilee and the tropical heat of the Jordan valley. Accordingly not only the fruit trees, the grain, and garden produce known in our colder latitudes were found in the land, along with those of sunnier climes, but also the rare spices and perfumes of the hottest zones. Similarly, it is said, every kind of fish teemed in its waters, while birds of most gorgeous plumage filled the air with their song. Within such small compass the country must have been unequalled for charm and variety. On the eastern side of Jordan stretched wide plains, upland valleys, park-like forests, and almost boundless corn and pasture lands on the western side were terraced hills, covered with olives and vines, delicious glens, in which sweet springs murmured, and fairy-like beauty and busy life, as around the Lake of Galilee. In the distance stretched the wide sea, dotted with spreading sails here was luxurious richness, as in the ancient possessions of Issachar, Manasseh, and Ephraim and there, beyond these plains and valleys, the highland scenery of Judah, shelving down through the pasture tracts of the Negev, or South country, into the great and terrible wilderness. And over all, so long as God's blessing lasted, were peace and plenty. Far as the eye could reach, browsed "the cattle on a thousand hills" the pastures were "clothed with flocks, the valleys also covered over with corn" and the land, "greatly enriched with the river of God," seemed to "shout for joy," and "also to sing." Such a possession, heaven-given at the first and heaven-guarded throughout, might well kindle the deepest enthusiasm.</p>
<p id="iii_p2">"We find," writes one of the most learned Rabbinical commentators, supporting each assertion by a reference to Scripture (<i>R. Bechai</i>), "that thirteen things are in the sole ownership of the Holy One, blessed be His Name! and these are they: the silver, the gold, the priesthood, Israel, the first-born, the altar, the first-fruits, the anointing oil, the tabernacle of meeting, the kingship of the house of David, the sacrifices, the land of Israel, and the eldership." In truth, fair as the land was, its conjunction with higher spiritual blessings gave it its real and highest value. "Only in Palestine does the <i>Shechinah</i> manifest itself," taught the Rabbis. Outside its sacred boundaries no such revelation was possible. It was there that rapt prophets had seen their visions, and psalmists caught strains of heavenly hymns. Palestine was the land that had Jerusalem for its capital, and on its highest hill that temple of snowy marble and glittering gold for a sanctuary, around which clustered such precious memories, hallowed thoughts, and glorious, wide-reaching hopes. There is no religion so strictly local as that of Israel. Heathenism was indeed the worship of national deities, and Judaism that of Jehovah, the God of heaven and earth. But the national deities of the heathen might be transported, and their rites adapted to foreign manners. On the other hand, while Christianity was from the first <i>universal</i> in its character and design, the religious institutions and the worship of the Pentateuch, and even the prospects opened by the prophets were, <i>so far as they concerned Israel</i>, strictly <i>of</i> Palestine and <i>for</i> Palestine. They are wholly incompatible with the permanent loss of the land. An extra-Palestinian Judaism, without priesthood, altar, temple, sacrifices, tithes, first-fruits, Sabbatical and Jubilee years, must first set aside the Pentateuch, unless, as in Christianity, all these be regarded as blossoms designed to ripen into fruit, as types pointing to, and fulfilled in higher realities.<sup><a href="#iiiftn1" id="iiiftnref1">[1]</a></sup> Outside the land even the people are no longer Israel: in view of the Gentiles they are Jews in their own view, "the dispersed abroad."</p>
<p id="iii_p3">All this the Rabbis could not fail to perceive. Accordingly when, immediately after the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, they set themselves to reconstruct their broken commonwealth, it was on a new basis indeed, but still within Palestine. Palestine was the Mount Sinai of Rabbinism. Here rose the spring of the <i>Halachah</i>, or traditional law, whence it flowed in ever-widening streams here, for the first centuries, the learning, the influence, and the rule of Judaism centered and there they would fain have perpetuated it. The first attempts at rivalry by the Babylonian schools of Jewish learning were keenly resented and sharply put down. Only the force of circumstances drove the Rabbis afterwards voluntarily to seek safety and freedom in the ancient seats of their captivity, where, politically unmolested, they could give the final development to their system. It was this desire to preserve the nation and its learning in Palestine which inspired such sentiments as we are about to quote. "The very air of Palestine makes one wise," said the Rabbis. The Scriptural account of the borderland of Paradise, watered by the river Havilah, of which it is said that "the gold of that land is good," was applied to their earthly Eden, and paraphrased to mean, "there is no learning like that of Palestine." It was a saying, that "to live in Palestine was equal to the observance of all the commandments." "He that hath his permanent abode in Palestine," so taught the Talmud, "is sure of the life to come." "Three things," we read in another authority, "are Israel's through suffering: Palestine, traditional lore, and the world to come." Nor did this feeling abate with the desolation of their country. In the third and fourth centuries of our era they still taught, "He that dwelleth in Palestine is without sin."</p>
<p id="iii_p4"> Centuries of wandering and of changes have not torn the passionate love of this land from the heart of the people. Even superstition becomes here pathetic. If the Talmud (<i>Cheth</i>. iii. a.) had already expressed the principle, "Whoever is buried in the land of Israel, is as if he were buried under the altar," one of the most ancient Hebrew commentaries (<i>Ber. Rabba</i>) goes much farther. From the injunction of Jacob and Joseph, and the desire of the fathers to be buried within the sacred soil, it is argued that those who lay there were to be the first "to walk before the Lord in the land of the living" (<a id="iii_p4_1" onClick="return mV('Psa',116,9);">Psa 116:9</a>), the first to rise from the dead and to enjoy the days of the Messiah. Not to deprive of their reward the pious, who had not the privilege of residing in Palestine, it was added, that God would make subterranean roads and passages into the Holy Land, and that, when their dust reached it, the Spirit of the Lord would raise them to new life, as it is written (<a id="iii_p4_2" onClick="return mV('Eze',37,'12-14');">Eze 37:12-14</a>): "O My people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel...and shall put My Spirit in you, and ye shall live and I shall place you in your own land." Almost every prayer and hymn breathes the same love of Palestine. Indeed, it were impossible, by any extracts, to convey the pathos of some of those elegies in which the Synagogue still bewails the loss of Zion, or expresses the pent-up longing for its restoration. Desolate, they cling to its ruins, and believe, hope, and pray&#8212;oh, how ardently! in almost every prayer&#8212;for the time that shall come, when the land, like Sarah of old, will, at the bidding of the Lord, have youth, beauty, and fruitfulness restored, and in Messiah the King "a horn of salvation shall be raised up"<sup><a href="#ftn2" id="ftnref2">[2]</a></sup> to the house of David.</p>
<p id="iii_p5">Yet it is most true, as noticed by a recent writer, that no place could have been more completely swept of relics than is Palestine. Where the most solemn transactions have taken place where, if we only knew it, every footstep might be consecrated, and rocks, and caves, and mountain-tops be devoted to the holiest remembrances&#8212;we are almost in absolute ignorance of exact localities. In Jerusalem itself even the features of the soil, the valleys, depressions, and hills have changed, or at least lie buried deep under the accumulated ruins of centuries. It almost seems as if the Lord meant to do with the land what Hezekiah had done with that relic of Moses&#8212;the brazen serpent&#8212;when he stamped it to pieces, lest its sacred memories should convert it into an occasion for idolatry. The lie of land and water, of mountain and valley, are the same Hebron, Bethlehem, the Mount of Olives, Nazareth, the Lake of Gennesaret, the land of Galilee, are still there, but all changed in form and appearance, and with no definite spot to which one could with absolute certainty attach the most sacred events. Events, then, not places spiritual realities, not their outward surroundings, have been given to mankind by the land of Palestine.</p>
<p id="iii_p6">"So long as Israel inhabited Palestine," says the Babylonian Talmud, "the country was wide but now it has become narrow." There is only too much historical truth underlying this somewhat curiously-worded statement. Each successive change left the boundaries of the Holy Land narrowed. Never as yet has it actually reached the extent indicated in the original promise to Abraham (<a id="iii_p6_1" onClick="return mV('Gen',15,18);">Gen 15:18</a>), and afterwards confirmed to the children of Israel (<a id="iii_p6_2" onClick="return mV('Exd',23,31);">Exo 23:31</a>). The nearest approach to it was during the reign of King David, when the power of Judah extended as far as the river Euphrates (<a id="iii_p6_3" onClick="return mV('2Sa',8,'3-14');">2 Sam 8:3-14</a>). At present the country to which the name Palestine attaches is smaller than at any previous period. As of old, it still stretches north and south "from Dan to Beersheba" in the east and west from Salcah (the modern Sulkhad) to "the great sea," the Mediterranean. Its superficial area is about 12,000 square miles, its length from 140 to 180, its breadth in the south about 75, and in the north from 100 to 120 miles. To put it more pictorially, the modern Palestine is about twice as large as Wales it is smaller than Holland, and about equal in size to Belgium. Moreover, from the highest mountain-peaks a glimpse of almost the whole country may be obtained. So small was the land which the Lord chose as the scene of the most marvellous events that ever happened on earth, and whence He appointed light and life to flow forth into all the world!</p>
<p id="iii_p7">When our blessed Saviour trod the soil of Palestine, the country had already undergone many changes. The ancient division of tribes had given way the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel existed no longer and the varied foreign domination, and the brief period of absolute national independence, had alike ceased. Yet, with the characteristic tenacity of the East for the past, the names of the ancient tribes still attached to some of the districts formerly occupied by them (comp. <a id="iii_p7_1" onClick="return mV('Mat',4,13,15);">Matt 4:13, 15</a>). A comparatively small number of the exiles had returned to Palestine with Ezra and Nehemiah, and the Jewish inhabitants of the country consisted either of those who had originally been left in the land, or of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The controversy about the ten tribes, which engages so much attention in our days, raged even at the time of our Lord. "Will He go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles?" asked the Jews, when unable to fathom the meaning of Christ's prediction of His departure, using that mysterious vagueness of language in which we generally clothe things which we pretend to, but really do not, know. "The ten tribes are beyond the Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers," writes Josephus, with his usual grandiloquent self-complacency. But where?&#8212;he informs us as little as any of his other contemporaries. We read in the earliest Jewish authority, the Mishnah (<i>Sanh.</i> x. 3): "The ten tries shall never return again, as it is written (<a id="iii_p7_2" onClick="return mV('Deu',29,28);">Deu 29:28</a>), 'And He cast them into another land, as this day.' As 'this day' goeth and does not return again, so they also go and do not return. This is the view of Rabbi Akiba. Rabbi Elieser says, 'As the day becomes dark and has light again, so the ten tribes, to whom darkness has come but light shall also be restored to them.'"</p>
<p id="iii_p8">At the time of Christ's birth Palestine was governed by Herod the Great that is, it was nominally an independent kingdom, but under the suzerainty of Rome. On the death of Herod&#8212;that is, very close upon the opening of the gospel story&#8212;a fresh, though only temporary, division of his dominions took place. The events connected with it fully illustrate the parable of our Lord, recorded in <a id="iii_p8_1" onClick="return mV('Luk',19,'12-15',27);">Luke 19:12-15, 27</a>. If they do not form its historical groundwork, they were at least so fresh in the memory of Christ's hearers, that their minds must have involuntarily reverted to them. Herod died, as he had lived, cruel and treacherous. A few days before his end, he had once more altered his will, and nominated Archelaus his successor in the kingdom Herod Antipas (the Herod of the gospels), tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea and Philip, tetrarch of Gaulonitis, Trachonitis, Batanaea, and Panias&#8212;districts to which, in the sequel, we may have further to refer. As soon after the death of Herod as circumstances would permit, and when he had quelled a rising in Jerusalem, Archelaus hastened to Rome to obtain the emperor's confirmation of his father's will. He was immediately followed by his brother Herod Antipas, who in a previous testament of Herod had been left what Archelaus now claimed. Nor were the two alone in Rome, They found there already a number of members of Herod's family, each clamorous for something, but all agreed that they would rather have none of their own kindred as king, and that the country should be put under Roman sway if otherwise, they anyhow preferred Herod Antipas to Archelaus. Each of the brothers had, of course, his own party, intriguing, manoeuvring, and trying to influence the emperor. Augustus inclined from the first to Archelaus. The formal decision, however, was for a time postponed by a fresh insurrection in Judaea, which was quelled only with difficulty. Meanwhile, a Jewish deputation appeared in Rome, entreating that none of the Herodians might ever be appointed king, on the ground of their infamous deeds, which they related, and that they (the Jews) might be allowed to live according to their own laws, under the suzerainty of Rome. Augustus ultimately decided to carry out the will of Herod the Great, but gave Archelaus the title of ethnarch instead of king, promising him the higher grade if he proved deserving of it (<a id="iii_p8_2" onClick="return mV('Mat',2,22);">Mat 2:22</a>). On his return to Judaea, Archelaus (according to the story in the parable) took bloody vengeance on "his citizens that hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us." The reign of Archelaus did not last long. Fresh and stronger complaints came from Judaea. Archealus was deposed, and Judaea joined to the Roman province of Syria, but with a procurator of its own. The revenues of Archelaus, so long as he reigned, amounted to very considerably over 240,000 pounds a year those of his brothers respectively to a third and sixth of that sum. But his was as nothing compared to the income of Herod the Great, which stood at the enormous sum of about 680,000 pounds and that afterwards of Agrippa II, which is computed as high as half a million. In thinking of these figures, it is necessary to bear in mind the general cheapness of living in Palestine at the time, which may be gathered from the smallness of the coins in circulation, and from the lowness of the labour market. The smallest coin, a (Jewish) perutah, amounted to only the sixteenth of a penny. Again, readers of the New Testament will remember that a labourer was wont to receive for a day's work in field or vineyard a denarius (<a id="iii_p8_3" onClick="return mV('Mat',20,2);">Matt 20:2</a>), or about 8d., while the Good Samaritan paid for the charge of the sick person whom he left in the inn only two denars, or about 1s. 4d (<a id="iii_p8_4" onClick="return mV('Luk',10,35);">Luke 10:35</a>).</p>
<p id="iii_p9">But we are anticipating. Our main object was to explain the division of Palestine in the time of our Lord. Politically speaking, it consisted of Judaea and Samaria, under Roman procurators Galilee and Peraea (on the other side Jordan), subject to Herod Antipas, the murderer of John the Baptist&#8212;"that fox" full of cunning and cruelty, to whom the Lord, when sent by Pilate, would give no answer and Batanaea, Trachonitis, and Auranitis, under the rule of the tetrarch Philip. It would require too many details to describe accurately those latter provinces. Suffice, that they lay quite to the north-east, and that one of their principal cities was Caesarea Philippi (called after the Roman emperor, and after Philip himself), where Peter made that noble confession, which constituted the rock on which the Church was to be built (<a id="iii_p9_1" onClick="return mV('Mat',16,16);">Matt 16:16</a>; <a id="iii_p9_2" onClick="return mV('Mar',8,29);">Mark 8:29</a>). It was the wife of this Philip, the best of all Herod's sons, whom her brother-in-law, Herod Antipas, induced to leave her husband, and for whose sake he beheaded John (<a id="iii_p9_3" onClick="return mV('Mat',14,3);">Matt 14:3</a>, etc.; <a id="iii_p9_4" onClick="return mV('Mar',6,17);">Mark 6:17</a>; <a id="iii_p9_5" onClick="return mV('Luk',3,19);">Luke 3:19</a>). It is well to know that this adulterous and incestuous union brought Herod immediate trouble and misery, and that it ultimately cost him his kingdom, and sent him into life-long banishment.</p>
<p id="iii_p10">Such was the political division of Palestine. Commonly it was arranged into Galilee, Samaria, Judaea, and Peraea. It is scarcely necessary to say that the Jews did not regard Samaria as belonging to the Holy Land, but as a strip of foreign country&#8212;as the Talmud designates it (<i>Chag</i>. 25 a.), "a Cuthite strip," or "tongue," intervening between Galilee and Judaea. From the gospels we know that the Samaritans were not only ranked with Gentiles and strangers (<a id="iii_p10_1" onClick="return mV('Mat',10,5);">Matt 10:5</a>; <a id="iii_p10_2" onClick="return mV('Jhn',4,9,20);">John 4:9, 20</a>), but that the very term Samaritan was one of reproach (<a id="iii_p10_3" onClick="return mV('Jhn',8,48);">John 8:48</a>). "There be two manner of nations," says the son of Sirach (<span id="iii_p10_4">Ecclus. 1.25, 26), "which my heart abhorreth, and the third is no nation they that sit upon the mountain of Samaria, and they that dwell among the Philistines, and that foolish people that dwell in Sichem." And Josephus has a story to account for the exclusion of the Samaritans from the Temple, to the effect that in the night of the Passover, when it was the custom to open the Temple gates at midnight, a Samaritan had come and strewn bones in the porches and throughout the Temple to defile the Holy House. Most unlikely as this appears, at least in its details, it shows the feeling of the people. On the other hand, it must be admitted that the Samaritans fully retaliated by bitter hatred and contempt. For, at every period of sore national trial, the Jews had no more determined or relentless enemies than those who claimed to be the only true representatives of Israel's worship and hopes.</p>
<hr />
<p><sup><a href="#iiiftnref1" id="iiiftn1">[1]</a></sup>This is not the place to explain what substitution Rabbinism proposed for sacrifices, etc. I am well aware that modern Judaism tries to prove by such passages as
<a id="iiiftn1_1" onClick="return mV('1Sa',15,22);">1 Sam 15:22</a>;
<a id="iiiftn1_2" onClick="return mV('Psa',51,'16-17');">Psa 51:16-17</a>;
<a id="iiiftn1_3" onClick="return mV('Isa',1,'11-13');">Isa 1:11-13</a>;
<a id="iiiftn1_4" onClick="return mV('Hsa',6,6);">Hosea 6:6</a>, that, in the view of the prophets, sacrifices, and with them all the ritual institutions of the Pentateuch, were of no permanent importance. To the unprejudiced reader it seems difficult to understand how even party-spirit could draw such sweeping conclusions from such premises, or how it could ever be imagined that the prophets had intended by their teaching, not to explain or apply, but to set aside the law so solemnly given on Sinai. However, the device is not new. A solitary voice ventured even in the second century on the suggestion that the sacrificial worship had been intended only by way of accommodation, to preserve Israel from lapsing into heathen rites!</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref2" id="ftn2">[2]</a></sup>These are words of prayer taken from one of the most ancient fragments of the Jewish liturgy, and repeated, probably for two thousand years, every day by every Jew.</p>
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<h2 id="iv-p0.1">Chapter 2</h2>
<h3 id="iv-p0.2">Jews and Gentiles in "The Land"</h3>
<p id="iv_p1">Coming down from Syria, it would have been difficult to fix the exact spot where, in the view of the Rabbis, "the land" itself began. The boundary lines, though mentioned in four different documents, are not marked in anything like geographical order, but as ritual questions connected with them came up for theological discussion. For, to the Rabbis the precise limits of Palestine were chiefly interesting so far as they affected the religious obligations or privileges of a district. And in this respect the fact that a city was in heathen possession exercised a decisive influence. Thus the environs of Ascalon, the wall of Caesarea, and that of Acco, were reckoned within the boundaries of Palestine, though the cities themselves were not. Indeed, viewing the question from this point, Palestine was to the Rabbis simply "the land,"<sup><a href="#ftn3" id="ftnref3">[3]</a></sup> all other countries being summed up under the designation of "outside the land." In the Talmud, even the expression "Holy Land," so common among later Jews and Christians,<sup><a href="#ftn4" id="ftnref4">[4]</a></sup> does not once occur.</p>
<p id="iv_p2">It needed not that addition, which might have suggested a comparison with other countries for to the Rabbinist Palestine was not only holy, but the only holy ground, to the utter exclusion of all other countries, although they marked within its boundaries an ascending scale of ten degrees of sanctity, rising from the bare soil of Palestine to the most holy place in the Temple (<i>Chel</i>. i. 6-9). But "outside the land" everything was darkness and death. The very dust of a heathen country was unclean, and it defiled by contact. It was regarded like a grave, or like the putrescence of death. If a spot of heathen dust had touched an offering, it must at once be burnt. More than that, if by mischance any heathen dust had been brought into Palestine, it did not and could not mingle with that of "the land," but remained to the end what it had been&#8212;unclean, defiled, and defiling everything to which it adhered. This will cast light upon the meaning conveyed by the symbolical directions of our Lord to His disciples (<a id="iv_p2_1" onClick="return mV('Mat',10,14);">Matt 10:14</a>), when He sent them forth to mark out the boundary lines of the true Israel&#8212;"the kingdom of heaven," that was at hand: "Whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet." In other words, they were not only to leave such a city or household, but it was to be considered and treated as if it were heathen, just as in the similar case mentioned in <a id="iv_p2_2" onClick="return mV('Mat',18,17);">Matthew 18:17</a>. All contact with such must be avoided, all trace of it shaken off, and that, even though, like some of the cities in Palestine that were considered heathen, they were surrounded on every side by what was reckoned as belonging to Israel.</p>
<p id="iv_p3">The Mishnah (<i>Shev</i>, vi. 1 <i>Chall</i>. iv. 8) marks, in reference to certain ordinances, "three lands" which might equally be designated as Palestine, but to which different ritual regulations applied. The first comprised, "all which they who came up from Babylon took possession of in the land of Israel and unto Chezib" (about three hours north of Acre); the second, "all that they who came up from Egypt took possession of from Chezib and unto the river (Euphrates) eastward, and unto Amanah" (supposed to be a mountain near Antioch, in Syria); while the third, seemingly indicating certain ideal outlines, was probably intended to mark what "the land" would have been, according to the original promise of God, although it was never possessed to that extent by Israel.<sup><a href="#ftn5" id="ftnref5">[5]</a></sup> For our present purpose, of course, only the first of these definitions must be applied to "the land." We read in <i>Menachoth</i> vii. 1: "Every offering,<sup><a href="#ftn6" id="ftnref6">[6]</a></sup> whether of the congregation or of an individual (public or private), may come from 'the land,' or from 'outside the land, be of the new product (of the year) or of old product, except the <i>omer</i> (the wave-sheaf at the Passover) and the two loaves (at Pentecost), which may only be brought from new product (that of the current year), and from that (which grows) within 'the land.'" To these two, the Mishnah adds in another passage (<i>Chel</i>. i. 6) also the <i>Biccurim</i>, or first-fruits in their fresh state, although inaccurately, since the latter were likewise brought from what is called by the Rabbis Syria,<sup><a href="#ftn7" id="ftnref7">[7]</a></sup> which seems to have been regarded as, in a sense, intermediate between "the land" and "outside the land."</p>
<p id="iv_p4">The term <i>Soria</i>, or Syria, does not include that country alone, but all the lands which, according to the Rabbis, David had subdued, such as Mesopotamia, Syria, Zobah, Achlab, etc. It would be too lengthy to explain in detail the various ordinances in regard to which <i>Soria</i> was assimilated to, and those by which it was distinguished from, Palestine proper. The preponderance of duty and privilege was certainly in favour of Syria, so much so, that if one could have stepped from its soil straight to that of Palestine, or joined fields in the two countries, without the interposition of any Gentile strip, the land and the dust of Syria would have been considered clean, like that of Palestine itself (<i>Ohol</i>. xviii. 7). There was thus around "the land" a sort of inner band, consisting of those countries supposed to have been annexed by King David, and termed <i>Soria</i>. But besides this, there was also what may be called an outer band, towards the Gentile world, consisting of Egypt, Babylon, Ammon and Moab, the countries in which Israel had a special interest, and which were distinguished from the rest, "outside the land," by this, that they were liable to tithes and the <i>Therumoth</i>, or first-fruits in a prepared state. Of course neither of these contributions was actually brought into Palestine, but either employed by them for their sacred purposes, or else redeemed.</p>
<p id="iv_p5">Maimonides arranges all countries into three classes, "so far as concerns the precepts connected with the soil"&#8212;"the land, Soria, and outside the land" and he divides the land of Israel into territory possessed before and after the Exile, while he also distinguishes between Egypt, Babylon, Moab, and Ammon, and other lands (<i>Hilch. Ther</i>. i. 6). In popular estimate other distinctions were likewise made. Thus Rabbi Jose of Galilee would have it (<i>Bicc</i>. i. 10), that <i>Biccurim</i><sup><a href="#ftn8" id="ftnref8">[8]</a></sup> were not to be brought from the other side of Jordan, "because it was not a land flowing with milk and honey."</p>
<p id="iv_p6">But as the Rabbinical law in this respect differed from the view expressed by Rabbi Jose, his must have been an afterthought, probably intended to account for the fact that they beyond Jordan did not bring their first-fruits to the Temple. Another distinction claimed for the country west of the Jordan curiously reminds us of the fears expressed by the two and a half tribes on their return to their homes, after the first conquest of Palestine under Joshua (<a id="iv_p6_1" onClick="return mV('Jos',22,'24-25');">Josh 22:24-25</a>), since it declared the land east of Jordan less sacred, on account of the absence of the Temple, of which it had not been worthy. Lastly, Judaea proper claimed pre-eminence over Galilee, as being the centre of Rabbinism. Perhaps it may be well here to state that, notwithstanding strict uniformity on all principal points, Galilee and Judaea had each its own peculiar legal customs and rights, which differed in many particulars one from the other.</p>
<p id="iv_p7">What has hitherto been explained from Rabbinical writings gains fresh interest when we bring it to bear on the study of the New Testament. For, we can now understand how those Zealots from Jerusalem, who would have bent the neck of the Church under the yoke of the law of Moses, sought out in preference the flourishing communities in Syria for the basis of their operations (<a id="iv_p7_1" onClick="return mV('Act',15,1);">Acts 15:1</a>). There was a special significance in this, as Syria formed a kind of outer Palestine, holding an intermediate position between it and heathen lands. Again, it results from our inquiries, that, what the Rabbis considered as the land of Israel proper, may be regarded as commencing immediately south of Antioch. Thus the city where the first Gentile Church was formed (<a id="iv_p7_2" onClick="return mV('Act',11,'20-21');">Acts 11:20-21</a>) where the disciples were first called Christians (<a id="iv_p7_3" onClick="return mV('Act',11,26);">Acts 11:26</a>) where Paul so long exercised his ministry, and whence he started on his missionary journeys, was, significantly enough, just outside the land of Israel. Immediately beyond it lay the country over which the Rabbis claimed entire sway. Travelling southwards, the first district which one would reach would be what is known from the gospels as "the coasts (or tracts) of Tyre and Sidon." St. Mark describes the district more particularly (<a id="iv_p7_4" onClick="return mV('Mar',7,24);">Mark 7:24</a>) as "the borders of Tyre and Sidon." These stretched, according to Josephus (<i>Jewish War</i>, iii, 35), at the time of our Lord, from the Mediterranean towards Jordan. It was to these extreme boundary tracts of "the land," that Jesus had withdrawn from the Pharisees, when they were offended at His opposition to their "blind" traditionalism and there He healed by the word of His power the daughter of the "woman of Canaan," the intensity of whose faith drew from His lips words of precious commendation (<a id="iv_p7_5" onClick="return mV('Mat',15,28);">Matt 15:28</a>; <a id="iv_p7_6" onClick="return mV('Mar',7,29);">Mark 7:29</a>). It was chiefly a heathen district where the Saviour spoke the word of healing, and where the woman would not let the Messiah of Israel go without an answer. She herself was a Gentile. Indeed, not only that district, but all around, and farther on, the territory of Philip, was almost entirely heathen. More than that, strange as it may sound, all around the districts inhabited by the Jews the country was, so to speak, fringed by foreign nationalities and by heathen worship, rites, and customs.</p>
<p id="iv_p8">Properly to understand the history of the time and the circumstances indicated in the New Testament, a correct view of the state of parties in this respect is necessary. And here we must guard against a not unnatural mistake. If any one had expected to find within the boundaries of "the land" itself one nationality, one language, the same interests, or even one religion publicly professed, he would have been bitterly disappointed. It was not merely for the presence of the Romans and their followers, and of a more or less influential number of foreign settlers, but the Holy Land itself was a country of mixed and hostile races, of divided interests, where close by the side of the narrowest and most punctilious Pharisaism heathen temples rose, and heathen rites and customs openly prevailed. In a general way all this will be readily understood. For, those who returned from Babylon were comparatively few in number, and confessedly did not occupy the land in its former extent. During the troubled period which followed, there was a constant influx of heathen, and unceasing attempts were made to introduce and perpetuate foreign elements. Even the language of Israel had undergone a change. In the course of time the ancient Hebrew had wholly given place to the Aramaean dialect, except in public worship and in the learned academies of theological doctors. Such words and names in the gospels as Raka, Abba, Golgotha, Gabbatha, Akel-Dama, Bartholomaios, Barabbas, Bar-Jesus, and the various verbal quotations, are all Aramaean. It was probably in that language that Paul addressed the infuriated multitude, when standing on the top of the steps leading from the Temple into the fortress Antonia (<a id="iv_p8_1" onClick="return mV('Act',21,40);">Acts 21:40</a>; <a id="iv_p8_2" onClick="return mV('Act',22,1);">22:1ff</a>). But along with the Hebraic Aramaean&#8212;for so we would designate the language&#8212;the Greek had for some time been making its way among the people. The Mishnah itself contains a very large number of Greek and Latin words with Hebraic terminations, showing how deeply Gentile life and customs around had affected even those who hated them most, and, by inference, how thoroughly they must have penetrated Jewish society in general. But besides, it had been long the policy of their rulers systematically to promote all that was Grecian in thought and feeling. It needed the obstinate determinateness, if not the bigotry, of Pharisaism to prevent their success, and this may perhaps partly explain the extreme of their antagonism against all that was Gentile. A brief notice of the religious state of the outlying districts of the country may place this in a clearer light.</p>
<p id="iv_p9">In the far north-east of the land, occupying at least in part the ancient possession of Manasseh, were the provinces belonging to the tetrarch Philip (<a id="iv_p9_1" onClick="return mV('Luk',3,1);">Luke 3:1</a>). Many spots there (<a id="iv_p9_2" onClick="return mV('Mar',8,22);">Mark 8:22</a>; <a id="iv_p9_3" onClick="return mV('Luk',9,10);">Luke 9:10</a>; <a id="iv_p9_4" onClick="return mV('Mat',16,13);">Matt 16:13</a>) are dear to the Christian memory. After the Exile these districts had been peopled by wild, predatory nomads, like the Bedawin of our days. These lived chiefly in immense caves, where they stored their provisions, and in case of attack defended themselves and their flocks. Herod the Great and his successors had indeed subdued, and settled among them, a large number of Jewish and Idumaean colonists&#8212;the former brought from Babylon, under the leadership of one Zamaris, and attracted, like the modern German colonists in parts of Russia, by immunity from taxation. But the vast majority of the people were still Syrians and Grecians, rude, barbarous, and heathens. Indeed, there the worship of the old Syrian gods had scarcely given way to the more refined rites of Greece. It was in this neighbourhood that Peter made that noble confession of faith, on which, as on a rock, the Church is built. But Caesarea Philippi was originally Paneas, the city devoted to Pan nor does its change of name indicate a more Jewish direction on the part of its inhabitants. Indeed, Herod the Great had built there a temple to Augustus. But further particulars are scarcely necessary, for recent researches have everywhere brought to light relics of the worship of the Phoenician Astarte, of the ancient Syrian god of the sun, and even of the Egyptian Ammon, side by side with that of the well-known Grecian deities. The same may be said of the refined Damascus, the territory of which formed here the extreme boundary of Palestine. Passing from the eastern to the western bounds of Palestine, we find that in Tyre and Ptolemais Phrygian, Egyptians, Phoenician, and Greek rites contended for the mastery. In the centre of Palestine, notwithstanding the pretence of the Samaritans to be the only true representatives of the religion of Moses, the very name of their capital, Sebaste, for Samaria, showed how thoroughly Grecianised was that province. Herod had built in Samaria also a magnificent temple to Augustus and there can be no doubt that, as the Greek language, so Grecian rites and idolatry prevailed. Another outlying district, the <i>Decapolis</i> (<a id="iv_p9_5" onClick="return mV('Mat',4,25);">Matt 4:25</a>; <a id="iv_p9_6" onClick="return mV('Mar',5,20);">Mark 5:20</a>; <a id="iv_p9_7" onClick="return mV('Mar',7,31);">7:31</a>), was almost entirely Grecian in constitution, language, and worship. It was in fact, a federation of ten heathen cities within the territory of Israel, possessing a government of their own. Little is known of its character; indeed, the cities themselves are not always equally enumerated by different writers. We name those of most importance to readers of the New Testament. <i>Scythopolis</i>, the ancient <i>Beth-shean</i> (<a id="iv_p9_8" onClick="return mV('Jos',17,11);">Josh 17:11</a>; <a onClick="return mV('Jos',17,16);">17:16</a>; <a id="iv_p9_9" onClick="return mV('Jdg',1,27);">Judg 1:27</a>; <a id="iv_p9_10" onClick="return mV('1Sa',31,10);">1 Sam 31:10</a>; <a onClick="return mV('1Sa',31,12);">31:12</a>, etc.), was the only one of those cities situated <i>west</i> of the Jordan. It lay about four hours south of Tiberias. <i>Gadara</i>, the capital of Peraea, is known to us from <a id="iv_p9_11" onClick="return mV('Mat',8,28);">Matthew 8:28</a>; <a id="iv_p9_12" onClick="return mV('Mar',5,1);">Mark 5:1</a>; <a id="iv_p9_13" onClick="return mV('Luk',8,26);">Luke 8:26</a>. Lastly, we mention as specially interesting, <i>Pella</i>, the place to which the Christians of Jerusalem fled in obedience to the warning of our Lord (<a id="iv_p9_14" onClick="return mV('Mat',24,'15-20');">Matt 24:15-20</a>), to escape the doom of the city, when finally beleaguered by the Romans. The situation of Pella has not been satisfactorily ascertained, but probably it lay at no great distance from the ancient Jabesh Gilead.</p>
<p id="iv_p10">But to return. From what has been said, it will appear that there remained only Galilee and Judaea proper, in which strictly Jewish views and manners must be sought for. Each of these will be described in detail. For the present it will suffice to remark, that north-eastern or Upper Galilee was in great part inhabited by Gentiles&#8212;Phoenicians, Syrians, Arabs, and Greeks (Josephus, <i>Jewish War</i>, iii, 419-427), whence the name "Galilee of the Gentiles" (<a id="iv_p10_1" onClick="return mV('Mat',4,15);">Matt 4:15</a>). It is strange in how many even of those cities, with which we are familiar from the New Testament, the heathen element prevailed. <i>Tiberias</i>, which gave its name to the lake, was at the time of Christ of quite recent origin, having been built by the tetrarch Herod Antipas (the Herod of the gospel history), and named in honour of the Emperor Tiberius. Although endowed by its founder with many privileges, such as houses and lands for its inhabitants, and freedom from taxation&#8212;the latter being continued by Vespasian after the Jewish war&#8212;Herod had to colonise it by main force, so far as its few Jewish inhabitants were concerned. For, the site on which the city stood had of old covered a place of burial, and the whole ground was therefore levitically unclean (Josephus, <i>Ant</i>, xviii, 38). However celebrated, therefore, afterwards as the great and final seat of the Jewish Sanhedrim, it was originally chiefly un-Jewish. <i>Gaza</i> had its local deity <i>Ascalon</i> worshipped Astarte <i>Joppa</i> was the locality where, at the time when Peter had his vision there, they still showed on the rocks of the shore the marks of the chains, by which Andromeda was said to have been held, when Perseus came to set her free. <i>Caesarea</i> was an essentially heathen city, though inhabited by many Jews and one of its most conspicuous ornaments was another temple to Augustus, built on a hill opposite the entrance to the harbour, so as to be visible far out at sea. But what could be expected, when in Jerusalem itself Herod had reared a magnificent theatre and amphitheatre, to which gladiators were brought from all parts of the world, and where games were held, thoroughly anti-Jewish and heathen in their spirit and tendency? (Josephus, <i>Ant</i>., xv, 274). The favourites and counsellors by whom that monarch surrounded himself were heathens wherever he or his successors could, they reared heathen temples, and on all occasions they promoted the spread of Grecian views. Yet withal they professed to be Jews they would not shock Jewish prejudices indeed, as the building of the Temple, the frequent advocacy at Rome of the cause of Jews when oppressed, and many other facts show, the Herodians would fain have kept on good terms with the national party, or rather used it as their tool. And so Grecianism spread. Already Greek was spoken and understood by all the educated classes in the country it was necessary for intercourse with the Roman authorities, with the many civil and military officials, and with strangers the "superscription" on the coins was in Greek, even though, to humour the Jews, none of the earlier Herods had his own image impressed on them.<sup><a href="#ftn9" id="ftnref9">[9]</a></sup> Significantly enough, it was Herod Agrippa I, the murderer of St. James, and the would-be murderer of St. Peter, who introduced the un-Jewish practice of images on coins. Thus everywhere the foreign element was advancing. A change or else a struggle was inevitable in the near future.</p>
<p id="iv_p11">And what of Judaism itself at the period? It was miserably divided, even though no outward separation had taken place. The Pharisees and Sadducees held opposite principles, and hated each other the Essenes looked down upon them both. Within Pharisaism the schools of Hillel and Shammai contradicted each other on almost every matter. But both united in their unbounded contempt of what they designated as "the country-people"&#8212;those who had no traditional learning, and hence were either unable or unwilling to share the discussions, and to bear the burdens of legal ordinances, which constituted the chief matter of traditionalism. There was only one feeling common to all&#8212;high and low, rich and poor, learned and unlettered: it was that of intense hatred of the foreigner. The rude Galileans were as "national" as the most punctilious Pharisees indeed, in the war against Rome they furnished the most and the bravest soldiers. Everywhere the foreigner was in sight his were the taxes levied, the soldiery, the courts of ultimate appeal, the government. In Jerusalem they hung over the Temple as a guard in the fortress of Antonia, and even kept in their custody the high-priest's garments,<sup><a href="#ftn10" id="ftnref10">[10]</a></sup> so that, before officiating in the Temple, he had actually always to apply for them to the procurator or his representative! They were only just more tolerable as being downright heathens than the Herodians, who mingled Judaism with heathenism, and, having sprung from foreign slaves, had arrogated to themselves the kingdom of the Maccabees.</p>
<p id="iv_p12">Readers of the New Testament know what separation Pharisaical Jews made between themselves and heathens. It will be readily understood, that every contact with heathenism and all aid to its rites should have been forbidden, and that in social intercourse any levitical defilement, arising from the use of what was "common or unclean," was avoided. But Pharisaism went a great deal further than this. Three days before a heathen festival all transactions with Gentiles were forbidden, so as to afford them neither direct nor indirect help towards their rites and this prohibition extended even to private festivities, such as a birthday, the day of return from a journey, etc. On heathen festive occasions a pious Jew should avoid, if possible, passing through a heathen city, certainly all dealings in shops that were festively decorated. It was unlawful for Jewish workmen to assist in anything that might be subservient either to heathen worship or heathen rule, including in the latter the erection of court-houses and similar buildings. It need not be explained to what lengths or into what details Pharisaical punctiliousness carried all these ordinances. From the New Testament we know, that to enter the house of a heathen defiled till the evening (<a id="iv_p12_1" onClick="return mV('Jhn',18,28);">John 18:28</a>), and that all familiar intercourse with Gentiles was forbidden (<a id="iv_p12_2" onClick="return mV('Act',10,28);">Acts 10:28</a>). So terrible was the intolerance, that a Jewess was actually forbidden to give help to her heathen neighbour, when about to become a mother (<i>Avod. S.</i> ii. 1)! It was not a new question to St. Paul, when the Corinthians inquired about the lawfulness of meat sold in the shambles or served up at a feast (<a id="iv_p12_3" onClick="return mV('1Cr',10,25);">1 Cor 10:25</a>, <a onClick="return mV('1Cr',10,'27-28');">10:27-28</a>). Evidently he had the Rabbinical law on the subject before his mind, while, on the one hand, he avoided the Pharisaical bondage of the letter, and, on the other, guarded against either injuring one's own conscience, or offending that of an on-looker. For, according to Rabbi Akiba, "Meat which is about to be brought in heathen worship is lawful, but that which comes out from it is forbidden, because it is like the sacrifices of the dead" (<i>Avod. S</i>. ii. 3). But the separation went much beyond what ordinary minds might be prepared for. Milk drawn from a cow by heathen hands, bread and oil prepared by them, might indeed be sold to strangers, but not used by Israelites. No pious Jew would of course have sat down at the table of a Gentile (<a id="iv_p12_4" onClick="return mV('Act',11,3);">Acts 11:3</a>; <a id="iv_p12_5" onClick="return mV('Gal',2,12);">Gal 2:12</a>). If a heathen were invited to a Jewish house, he might not be left alone in the room, else every article of food or drink on the table was henceforth to be regarded as unclean. If cooking utensils were bought of them, they had to be purified by fire or by water; knives to be ground anew; spits to be made red-hot before use, etc. It was not lawful to let either house or field, nor to sell cattle, to a heathen; any article, however distantly connected with heathenism, was to be destroyed. Thus, if a weaving-shuttle had been made of wood grown in a grove devoted to idols, every web of cloth made by it was to be destroyed; nay, if such pieces had been mixed with others, to the manufacture of which no possible objection could have been taken, these all became unclean, and had to be destroyed.</p>
<p id="iv_p13">These are only general statements to show the prevalent feeling. It was easy to prove how it pervaded every relationship of life. The heathens, though often tolerant, of course retorted. Circumcision, the Sabbath-rest, the worship of an invisible God, and Jewish abstinence from pork, formed a never-ending theme of merriment to the heathen. Conquerors are not often chary in disguising their contempt for the conquered, especially when the latter presume to look down upon, and to hate them. In view of all this, what an almost incredible truth must it have seemed, when the Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed it among Israel as the object of His coming and kingdom, not to make of the Gentiles Jews, but of both alike children of one Heavenly Father; not to rivet upon the heathen the yoke of the law, but to deliver from it Jew and Gentile, or rather to fulfil its demands for all! The most unexpected and unprepared-for revelation, from the Jewish point of view, was that of the breaking down of the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile, the taking away of the enmity of the law, and the nailing it to His cross. There was nothing analogous to it; not a hint of it to be found, either in the teaching or the spirit of the times. Quite the opposite. Assuredly, the most unlike thing to Christ were His times; and the greatest wonder of all&#8212;"the mystery hidden from ages and generations";&#8212;the foundation of one universal Church.</p>
<hr />
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref3" id="ftn3">[3]</a></sup>"Israel."</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref4" id="ftn4">[4]</a></sup>The only passage of Scripture in which the term is used is <a id="ivftn4_1" onClick="return mV('Zec',2,12);">Zech 2:12</a>, or rather 2:16 of the Hebrew original.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref5" id="ftn5">[5]</a></sup>The expressions in the original are so obscure as to render it difficult to form a quite definite judgment. In the text we have followed the views expressed by M. Neubauer.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref6" id="ftn6">[6]</a></sup>Neither of the English words: "sacrifice," "offering," or "gift" quite corresponds to the Hebrew Korban, derived from a verb which in one mood means to be near, and in another to bring near. In the one case it would refer to the offerings themselves, in the other to the offerers, as brought near, the offerings bringing them near to God. The latter seems to me both etymologically and theologically the right explanation. Aberbanel combines both in his definition of Korban.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref7" id="ftn7">[7]</a></sup>Syria sent Biccurim to Jerusalem, but was not liable to second tithes, nor for the fourth year's product of plants (<a id="ivftn7_1" onClick="return mV('Lev',19,24);">Lev 19:24</a>).</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref8" id="ftn8">[8]</a></sup>For a full explanation of the distinction between Biccurim and Therumoth see my work on The Temple: Its Ministry and Services as they were at the time of Jesus Christ.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref9" id="ftn9">[9]</a></sup>The coin mentioned in <a id="ivftn9_1" onClick="return mV('Mat',22,20);">Matthew 22:20</a>, which bore an "image," as well as a "superscription," must therefore have been either struck in Rome, or else one of the tetrarch Philip, who was the first to introduce the image of Caesar on strictly Jewish coins.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref10" id="ftn10">[10]</a></sup>The practice commenced innocently enough. The high-priest Hyrcanus, who built the Tower of Baris, kept his dress there, and his sons continued the practice. When Herod seized the government, he retained, for reasons readily understood, this custody, in the fortress of Antonia, which he had substituted for the ancient tower. On similar grounds the Romans followed the lead of Herod. Josephus (Ant. xviii, 93) describes "the stone chamber" in which these garments were kept, under seal of the priests, with a light continually burning there. Vitellius, the successor of Pilate, restored to the Jews the custody of the high-priestly garments, when they were kept in a special apartment in the Temple.</p>
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<h2 id="v-p0.1">Chapter 3 </h2>
<h3 id="v-p0.2">In Galilee at the Time of Our Lord</h3>
<p id="v_p1">"If any one wishes to be rich, let him go north; if he wants to be wise, let him come south." Such was the saying, by which Rabbinical pride distinguished between the material wealth of Galilee and the supremacy in traditional lore claimed for the academies of Judaea proper. Alas, it was not long before Judaea lost even this doubtful distinction, and its colleges wandered northwards, ending at last by the Lake of Gennesaret, and in that very city of Tiberias which at one time had been reputed unclean! Assuredly, the history of nations chronicles their judgment and it is strangely significant, that the authoritative collection of Jewish traditional law, known as the Mishnah, and the so-called Jerusalem Talmud, which is its Palestinian commentary,<sup><a href="#ftn11" id="ftnref11">[11]</a></sup> should finally have issued from what was originally a heathen city, built upon the site of old forsaken graves.</p>
<p id="v_p2">But so long as Jerusalem and Judaea were the centre of Jewish learning, no terms of contempt were too strong to express the supercilious <i>hauteur</i>, with which a regular Rabbinist regarded his northern co-religionists. The slighting speech of Nathanael (<a id="v_p2_1" onClick="return mV('Jhn',1,46);">John 1:46</a>), "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?" reads quite like a common saying of the period and the rebuke of the Pharisees to Nicodemus (<a id="v_p2_2" onClick="return mV('Jhn',7,52);">John 7:52</a>), "Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet," was pointed by the mocking question, "Art thou also of Galilee?" It was not merely self-conscious superiority, such as the "towns-people," as the inhabitants of Jerusalem used to be called throughout Palestine, were said to have commonly displayed towards their "country cousins" and every one else, but offensive contempt, outspoken sometimes with almost incredible rudeness, want of delicacy and charity, but always with much pious self-assertion. The "God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men" (<a id="v_p2_3" onClick="return mV('Luk',18,11);">Luke 18:11</a>) seems like the natural breath of Rabbinism in the company of the unlettered, and of all who were deemed intellectual or religious inferiors and the parabolic history of the Pharisee and the publican in the gospel is not told for the special condemnation of that one prayer, but as characteristic of the whole spirit of Pharisaism, even in its approaches to God. "This people who knoweth not the law (that is, the traditional law) are cursed," was the curt summary of the Rabbinical estimate of popular opinion. To so terrible a length did it go that the Pharisees would fain have excluded them, not only from common intercourse, but from witness-bearing, and that they even applied to marriages with them such a passage as <a id="v_p2_4" onClick="return mV('Deu',27,21);">Deuteronomy 27:21</a>.</p>
<p id="v_p3">But if these be regarded as extremes, two instances, chosen almost at random&#8212;one from religious, the other from ordinary life&#8212;will serve to illustrate their reality. A more complete parallel to the Pharisee's prayer could scarcely be imagined than the following. We read in the Talmud (<i>Jer. Ber</i>, iv. 2) that a celebrated Rabbi was wont every day, on leaving the academy, to pray in these terms: "I thank Thee, O Lord my God and God of my fathers, that Thou hast cast my lot among those who frequent the schools and synagogues, and not among those who attend the theatre and the circus. For, both I and they work and watch&#8212;I to inherit eternal life, they for their destruction." The other illustration, also taken from a Rabbinical work, is, if possible, even more offensive. It appears that Rabbi Jannai, while travelling by the way, formed acquaintance with a man, whom he thought his equal. Presently his new friend invited him to dinner, and liberally set before him meat and drink. But the suspicions of the Rabbi had been excited. He began to try his host successively by questions upon the text of Scripture, upon the Mishnah, allegorical interpretations, and lastly on Talmudical lore. Alas! on neither of these points could he satisfy the Rabbi. Dinner was over and Rabbi Jannai, who by that time no doubt had displayed all the <i>hauteur</i> and contempt of a regular Rabbinist towards the unlettered, called upon his host, as customary, to take the cup of thanksgiving, and return thanks. But the latter was sufficiently humiliated to reply, with a mixture of Eastern deference and Jewish modesty, "Let Jannai himself give thanks in his own house." "At any rate," observed the Rabbi, "you can join with me" and when the latter had agreed to this, Jannai said, "A dog has eaten of the bread of Jannai!"</p>
<p id="v_p4">Impartial history, however, must record a different judgment of the men of Galilee from that pronounced by the Rabbis, and that even wherein they were despised by those leaders in Israel. Some of their peculiarities, indeed, were due to territorial circumstances. The province of Galilee&#8212;of which the name might be rendered "circuit," being derived from a verb meaning "to move in a circle"&#8212;covered the ancient possession of four tribes: Issachar, Zebulon, Naphtali, and Asher. The name occurs already in the Old Testament (compare <a id="v_p4_1" onClick="return mV('Jos',20,7);">Josh 20:7</a>; <a id="v_p4_2" onClick="return mV('1Ki',9,11);">1 Kings 9:11</a>; <a id="v_p4_3" onClick="return mV('2Ki',15,29);">2 Kings 15:29</a>; <a id="v_p4_4" onClick="return mV('1Ch',6,76);">1 Chron 6:76</a> and especially <a id="v_p4_5" onClick="return mV('Isa',9,1);">Isa 9:1</a>). In the time of Christ it stretched northwards to the possessions of Tyre on the one side, and to Syria on the other on the south it was bounded by Samaria&#8212;Mount Carmel on the western, and the district of Scythopolis (in the Decapolis) on the eastern side, being here landmarks while the Jordan and the Lake of Gennesaret formed the general eastern boundary-line. Thus regarded, it would include names to which such reminiscences attach as "the mountains of Gilboa," where "Israel and Saul fell down slain" little Hermon, Tabor, Carmel, and that great battle-field of Palestine, the plain of Jezreel. Alike the Talmud and Josephus divide it into Upper and Lower Galilee, between which the Rabbis insert the district of Tiberias, as Middle Galilee. We are reminded of the history of Zaccheus (<a id="v_p4_6" onClick="return mV('Luk',19,4);">Luke 19:4</a>) by the mark which the Rabbis give to distinguish between Upper and Lower Galilee&#8212;the former beginning "where sycomores cease to grow." The sycomore, which is a species of fig, must, of course, not be confounded with our sycamore, and was a very delicate evergreen, easily destroyed by cold (<a id="v_p4_7" onClick="return mV('Psa',78,47);">Psa 78:47</a>), and growing only in the Jordan valley, or in Lower Galilee up to the sea-coast. The mention of that tree may also help us to fix the locality where <a id="v_p4_8" onClick="return mV('Luk',17,6);">Luke 17:6</a> was spoken by the Saviour. The Rabbis mention Kefar Hananyah, probably the modern Kefr Anan, to the north-west of Safed, as the first place in Upper Galilee. Safed was truly "a city set on an hill" and as such may have been in view of the Lord, when He spoke the Sermon on the Mount (<a id="v_p4_9" onClick="return mV('Mat',5,14);">Matt 5:14</a>). In the Talmud it is mentioned by the name of Zephath, and spoken of as one of the signal-stations, whence the proclamation of the new moon, made by the Sanhedrim in Jerusalem (see The Temple), and with it the beginning of every month, was telegraphed by fire-signals from hill to hill throughout the land, and far away east of the Jordan, to those of the dispersion.</p>
<p id="v_p5">The mountainous part in the north of Upper Galilee presented magnificent scenery, with bracing air. Here the scene of the Song of Solomon is partly laid (<a id="v_p5_1" onClick="return mV('Sgs',7,5);">Cant 7:5</a>). But its caves and fastnesses, as well as the marshy ground, covered with reeds, along Lake Merom, gave shelter to robbers, outlaws, and rebel chiefs. Some of the most dangerous characters came from the Galilean highlands. A little farther down, and the scenery changed. South of Lake Merom, where the so-called Jacob's bridge crosses the Jordan, we come upon the great caravan road, which connected Damascus in the east with the great mart of Ptolemais, on the shore of the Mediterranean. What a busy life did this road constantly present in the days of our Lord, and how many trades and occupations did it call into existence! All day long they passed&#8212;files of camel, mules, and asses, laden with the riches of the East, destined for the far West, or bringing the luxuries of the West to the far East. Travellers of every description&#8212;Jews, Greeks, Romans, dwellers in the East&#8212;were seen here. The constant intercourse with foreigners, and the settlement of so many strangers along one of the great highways of the world, must have rendered the narrow-minded bigotry of Judaea well-nigh impossible in Galilee.</p>
<p id="v_p6">We are now in Galilee proper, and a more fertile or beautiful region could scarcely be conceived. It was truly the land where Asher dipped his foot in oil (<a id="v_p6_1" onClick="return mV('Deu',33,24);">Deu 33:24</a>). The Rabbis speak of the oil as flowing like a river, and they say that it was easier in Galilee to rear a forest of olive-trees than one child in Judaea! The wine, although not so plentiful as the oil, was generous and rich. Corn grew in abundance, especially in the neighbourhood of Capernaum; flax also was cultivated. The price of living was much lower than in Judaea, where one measure was said to cost as much as five in Galilee. Fruit also grew to perfection and it was probably a piece of jealousy on the part of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that they would not allow it to be sold at the feasts in the city, lest people should forsooth say, "We have only come up in order to taste fruit from Galilee" (<i>Pes</i>. 8 b). Josephus speaks of the country in perfectly rapturous terms. He counts no fewer than 240 towns and villages, and speaks of the smallest as containing not less than 15,000 inhabitants! This, of course, must be gross exaggeration, as it would make the country more than twice as thickly populated as the densest districts in England or Belgium. Some one has compared Galilee to the manufacturing districts of this country. This comparison, of course, applies only to the fact of its busy life, although various industries were also carried on there&#8212;large potteries of different kinds, and dyeworks. From the heights of Galilee the eye would rest on harbours, filled with merchant ships, and on the sea, dotted with white sails. There, by the shore, and also inland, smoked furnaces, where glass was made along the great road moved the caravans; in field, vineyard, and orchard all was activity. The great road quite traversed Galilee, entering it where the Jordan is crossed by the so-called bridge of Jacob, then touching Capernaum, going down to Nazareth, and passing on to the sea-coast. This was one advantage that Nazareth had&#8212;that it lay on the route of the world's traffic and intercourse. Another peculiarity is strangely unknown to Christian writers. It appears from ancient Rabbinical writings that Nazareth was one of the stations of the priests. All the priests were divided into twenty-four courses, one of which was always on ministry in the Temple. Now, the priests of the course which was to be on duty always gathered in certain towns, whence they went up in company to the Temple; those who were unable to go spending the week in fasting and prayer for their brethren. Nazareth was one of these priestly centres; so that there, with symbolic significance, alike those passed who carried on the traffic of the world, and those who ministered in the Temple.</p>
<p id="v_p7">We have spoken of Nazareth; and a few brief notices of other places in Galilee, mentioned in the New Testament, may be of interest. Along the lake lay, north, Capernaum, a large city; and near it, Chorazin, so celebrated for its grain, that, if it had been closer to Jerusalem, it would have been used for the Temple; also Bethsaida,<sup><a href="#ftn12" id="ftnref12">[12]</a></sup> the name, "house of fishes," indicating its trade.</p>
<p id="v_p8">Capernaum was the station where Matthew sat at the receipt of custom (<a id="v_p8_1" onClick="return mV('Mat',9,9);">Matt 9:9</a>). South of Capernaum was Magdala, the city of dyers, the home of Mary Magdalene (<a id="v_p8_2" onClick="return mV('Mar',15,40);">Mark 15:40</a>; <a id="v_p8_3" onClick="return mV('Mar',16,1);">16:1</a>; <a id="v_p8_4" onClick="return mV('Luk',8,2);">Luke 8:2</a>; <a id="v_p8_5" onClick="return mV('Jhn',20,1);">John 20:1</a>. The Talmud mentions its shops and its woolworks, speaks of its great wealth, but also of the corruption of its inhabitants. Tiberias, which had been built shortly before Christ, is only incidentally mentioned in the New Testament (<a id="v_p8_6" onClick="return mV('Jhn',6,1,23);">John 6:1, 23</a>; <a id="v_p8_7" onClick="return mV('Jhn',21,1);">21:1</a>). At the time it was a splendid but chiefly heathen city, whose magnificent buildings contrasted with the more humble dwellings common in the country. Quite at the southern end of the lake was Tarichaea, the great fishing place, whence preserved fish was exported in casks (Strabo, xvi, 2). It was there that, in the great Roman war, a kind of naval battle was fought, which ended in terrible slaughter, no quarter being given by the Romans, so that the lake was dyed red with the blood of the victims, and the shore rendered pestilential by their bodies. Cana in Galilee was the birthplace of Nathanael (<a id="v_p8_8" onClick="return mV('Jhn',21,2);">John 21:2</a>), where Christ performed His first miracle (<a id="v_p8_9" onClick="return mV('Jhn',2,'1-11');">John 2:1-11</a>); significant also in connection with the second miracle there witnessed, when the new wine of the kingdom was first tasted by Gentile lips (<a id="v_p8_10" onClick="return mV('Jhn',4,'46-47');">John 4:46-47</a>). Cana lay about three hours to the north-north-east of Nazareth. Lastly, Nain was one of the southernmost places in Galilee, not far from the ancient Endor.</p>
<p id="v_p9">It can scarcely surprise us, however interesting it may prove, that such Jewish recollections of the early Christians as the Rabbis have preserved, should linger chiefly around Galilee. Thus we have, in quite the apostolic age, mention of miraculous cures made, in the name of Jesus, by one Jacob of Chefar Sechanja (in Galilee), one of the Rabbis violently opposing on one occasion an attempt of the kind, the patient meanwhile dying during the dispute; repeated records of discussions with learned Christians, and other indications of contact with Hebrew believers. Some have gone farther, and found traces of the general spread of such views in the fact that a Galilean teacher is introduced in Babylon as propounding the science of the <i>Merkabah</i>, or the mystical doctrines connected with Ezekiel's vision of the Divine chariot, which certainly contained elements closely approximating the Christian doctrines of the Logos, the Trinity, etc. Trinitarian views have also been suspected in the significance attached to the number "three" by a Galilean teacher of the third century, in this wise: "Blessed be God, who has given the three laws (the Pentateuch, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa) to a people composed of three classes (Priests, Levites, and laity), through him who was the youngest of three (Miriam, Aaron, and Moses), on the third day (of their separation&#8212;<a id="v_p9_1" onClick="return mV('Exd',19,16);">Exo 19:16</a>), and in the third month." There is yet another saying of a Galilean Rabbi, referring to the resurrection, which, although far from clear, may bear a Christian application. Finally, the Midrash applies the expression, "The sinner shall be taken by her" (<a id="v_p9_2" onClick="return mV('Ecc',7,26);">Eccl 7:26</a>), either to the above-named Christian Rabbi Jacob, or to Christians generally, or even to Capernaum, with evident reference to the spread of Christianity there. We cannot here pursue this very interesting subject farther than to say, that we find indications of Jewish Christians having endeavoured to introduce their views while leading the public devotions of the Synagogue, and even of contact with the immoral heretical sect of the Nicolaitans (<a id="v_p9_3" onClick="return mV('Rev',2,15);">Rev 2:15</a>).</p>
<p id="v_p10">Indeed, what we know of the Galileans would quite prepare us for expecting, that the gospel should have received at least a ready hearing among many of them. It was not only, that Galilee was the great scene of our Lord's working and teaching, and the home of His first disciples and apostles nor yet that the frequent intercourse with strangers must have tended to remove narrow prejudices, while the contempt of the Rabbinists would loosen attachment to the strictest Pharisaism but, as the character of the people is described to us by Josephus, and even by the Rabbis, they seem to have been a warm-hearted, impulsive, generous race&#8212;intensely national in the best sense, active, not given to idle speculations or wire-drawn logico-theological distinctions, but conscientious and earnest. The Rabbis detail certain theological differences between Galilee and Judaea. Without here mentioning them, we have no hesitation in saying, that they show more earnest practical piety and strictness of life, and less adherence to those Pharisaical distinctions which so often made void the law. The Talmud, on the other hand, charges the Galileans with neglecting traditionalism; learning from one teacher, then from another (perhaps because they had only wandering Rabbis, not fixed academies) and with being accordingly unable to rise to the heights of Rabbinical distinctions and explanations. That their hot blood made them rather quarrelsome, and that they lived in a chronic state of rebellion against Rome, we gather not only from Josephus, but even from the New Testament (<a id="v_p10_1" onClick="return mV('Luk',13,2);">Luke 13:2</a>; <a id="v_p10_2" onClick="return mV('Act',5,37);">Acts 5:37</a>). Their mal-pronunciation of Hebrew, or rather their inability properly to pronounce the gutturals, formed a constant subject of witticism and reproach, so current that even the servants in the High Priest's palace could turn round upon Peter, and say, "Surely thou also art one of them for thy speech bewrayeth thee" (<a id="v_p10_3" onClick="return mV('Mat',26,73);">Matt 26:73</a>)&#8212;a remark this, by the way, which illustrates the fact that the language commonly used at the time of Christ in Palestine was Aramaean, not Greek. Josephus describes the Galileans as hard-working, manly, and brave and even the Talmud admits (<i>Jer. Cheth</i>. iv. 14) that they cared more for honour than for money.</p>
<p id="v_p11">But the district in Galilee to which the mind ever reverts, is that around the shores of its lake.<sup><a href="#ftn13" id="ftnref13">[13]</a></sup> Its beauty, its marvellous vegetation, its almost tropical products, its wealth and populousness, have been often described. The Rabbis derive the name of Gennesaret either from a harp&#8212;because the fruits of its shores were as sweet as is the sound of a harp&#8212;or else explain it to mean "the gardens of the princes," from the beautiful villas and gardens around.</p>
<p id="v_p12">But we think chiefly not of those fertile fields and orchards, nor of the deep blue of the lake, enclosed between hills, nor of the busy towns, nor of the white sails spread on its waters&#8212;but of Him, Whose feet trod its shores; Who taught, and worked, and prayed there for us sinners; Who walked its waters and calmed its storms, and Who even after His resurrection held there sweet converse with His disciples; nay, Whose last words on earth, spoken from thence, come to us with peculiar significance and application, as in these days we look on the disturbing elements in the world around: "What is that to thee? Follow thou Me" (<a id="v_p12_1" onClick="return mV('Jhn',21,22);">John 21:22</a>).</p>
<hr />
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref11" id="ftn11">[11]</a></sup>There are two Talmuds&#8212;the Jerusalem and the Babylonian&#8212;to the text of the Mishnah. The Babylonian Talmud is considerably younger than that of Jerusalem, and its traditions far more deeply tinged with superstition and error of every kind. For historical purposes, also, the Jerusalem Talmud is of much greater value and authority than that of the Eastern Schools.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref12" id="ftn12">[12]</a></sup>Three were two places of that name, one east of the Jordan, Bethsaida Julias, referred to in <a id="vftn12_1" onClick="return mV('Luk',9,10);">Luke 9:10</a>; <a id="vftn12_2" onClick="return mV('Mar',8,22);">Mark 8:22</a>; the other on the western shore of the Lake of Galilee, the birthplace of Andrew and Peter (<a id="vftn12_3" onClick="return mV('Jhn',1,44);">John 1:44</a>). See also <a id="vftn12_4" onClick="return mV('Mar',6,45);">Mark 6:45</a>; <a id="vftn12_5" onClick="return mV('Mat',11,21);">Matthew 11:21</a>; <a id="vftn12_6" onClick="return mV('Luk',10,13);">Luke 10:13</a>; <a id="vftn12_7" onClick="return mV('Jhn',12,21);">John 12:21</a>.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref13" id="ftn13">[13]</a></sup>The New Testament speaks so often of the occupation of fishers by the Lake of Galilee, that it is interesting to know that fishing on the lake was free to all. The Talmud mentions this as one of the ten ordinances given by Joshua of old (Baba Kama, 80 b).</p>
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<h2 id="vii-p0.1">Chapter 5 </h2>
<h3 id="vii-p0.2">In Judaea</h3>
<p id="vii_p1">If Galilee could boast of the beauty of its scenery and the fruitfulness of its soil; of being the mart of a busy life, and the highway of intercourse with the great world outside Palestine, Judaea would neither covet nor envy such advantages. Hers was quite another and a peculiar claim. Galilee might be the outer court, but Judaea was like the inner sanctuary of Israel. True, its landscapes were comparatively barren, its hills bare and rocky, its wilderness lonely; but around those grey limestone mountains gathered the sacred history&#8212;one might almost say, the romance and religion of Israel. Turning his back on the luxurious richness of Galilee, the pilgrim, even in the literal sense, constantly went up towards Jerusalem. Higher and higher rose the everlasting hills, till on the uppermost he beheld the sanctuary of his God, standing out from all around, majestic in the snowy pureness of its marble and glittering gold. As the hum of busy life gradually faded from his hearing, and he advanced into the solemn stillness and loneliness, the well-known sites which he successively passed must have seemed to wake the echoes of the history of his people. First, he approached <i>Shiloh</i>, Israel's earliest sanctuary, where, according to tradition, the Ark had rested for 370 years less one. Next came <i>Bethel</i>, with its sacred memorial of patriarchal history. There, as the Rabbis had it, even the angel of death was shorn of his power. Then he stood on the plateau of <i>Ramah</i>, with the neighbouring heights of Gibeon and Gibeah, round which so many events in Jewish history had clustered. In Ramah Rachel died, and was buried.<sup><a href="#ftn16" id="ftnref16">[16]</a></sup></p>
<p id="vii_p2">We know that Jacob set up a pillar on her grave. Such is the reverence of Orientals for the resting-places of celebrated historical personages, that we may well believe it to have been the same pillar which, according to an eye-witness, still marked the site at the time of our Lord (<i>Book of Jubil</i>. cxxxii <i>Apud Hausrath, Neutest. Zeitg</i>. p. 26). Opposite to it were the graves of Bilhah and of Dinah (c. p. 34). Only five miles from Jerusalem, this pillar was, no doubt, a well-known landmark. by this memorial of Jacob's sorrow and shame had been the sad meeting-place of the captives when about to be carried into Babylon (<a id="vii_p2_1" onClick="return mV('Jer',40,1);">Jer 40:1</a>). There was bitter wailing at parting from those left behind, and in weary prospect of hopeless bondage, and still bitterer lamentation, as in the sight of friends, relations and countrymen, the old and the sick, the weakly, and women and children were pitilessly slaughtered, not to encumber the conqueror's homeward march. Yet a third time was Rachel's pillar, twice before the memorial of Israel's sorrow and shame, to re-echo her lamentation over yet sorer captivity and slaughter, when the Idumaean Herod massacred her innocent children, in the hope of destroying with them Israel's King and Israel's kingdom. Thus was her cup of former bondage and slaughter filled, and the words of Jeremy the prophet fulfilled, in which he had depicted Rachel's sorrow over her children (<a id="vii_p2_2" onClick="return mV('Mat',2,'17-18');">Matt 2:17-18</a>).</p>
<p id="vii_p3">But westward from those scenes, where the mountains shelved down, or more abruptly descended towards the <i>Shephelah</i>, or wolds by the sea, were the scenes of former triumphs. Here Joshua had pursued the kings of the south; there Samson had come down upon the Philistines, and here for long years had war been waged against the arch-enemy of Israel, Philistia. Turning thence to the south, beyond the capital was royal Bethlehem, and still farther the priest-city Hebron, with its caves holding Israel's most precious dust. That highland plateau was the wilderness of Judaea, variously named from the villages which at long distances dotted it;<sup><a href="#ftn17" id="ftnref17">[17]</a></sup> desolate, lonely, tenanted only by the solitary shepherd, or the great proprietor, like Nabal, whose sheep pastured along it heights and in its glens.</p>
<p id="vii_p4">This had long been the home of outlaws, or of those who, in disgust with the world, had retired from its fellowship. These limestone caves had been the hiding-place of David and his followers; and many a band had since found shelter in these wilds. Here also John the Baptist prepared for his work, and there, at the time of which we write, was the retreat of the Essenes, whom a vain hope of finding purity in separation from the world and its contact had brought to these solitudes. Beyond, deep down in a mysterious hollow, stretched the smooth surface of the Dead Sea, a perpetual memorial of God and of judgment. On its western shore rose the castle which Herod had named after himself, and farther south that almost inaccessible fastness of Masada, the scene of the last tragedy in the great Jewish war. Yet from the wild desolateness of the Dead Sea it was but a few hours to what seemed almost an earthly paradise. Flanked and defended by four surrounding forts, lay the important city of Jericho. Herod had built its walls, its theatre and amphitheatre; Archelaus its new palace, surrounded by splendid gardens. Through Jericho led the pilgrim way from Galilee, followed by our Lord Himself (<a id="vii_p4_1" onClick="return mV('Luk',19,1);">Luke 19:1</a>); and there also passed the great caravan-road, which connected Arabia with Damascus. The fertility of its soil, and its tropical produce, were almost proverbial. Its palm-groves and gardens of roses, but especially its balsam-plantations, of which the largest was behind the royal palace, were the fairy land of the old world. But this also was only a source of gain to the hated foreigner. Rome had made it a central station for the collection of tax and custom, known to us from Gospel history as that by which the chief publican Zaccheus had gotten his wealth. Jericho, with its general trade and its traffic in balsam&#8212;not only reputed the sweetest perfume, but also a cherished medicine in antiquity&#8212;was a coveted prize to all around. A strange setting for such a gem were its surroundings. There was the deep depression of the <i>Arabah</i>, through which the Jordan wound, first with tortuous impetuosity, and then, as it neared the Dead Sea, seemingly almost reluctant to lose its waters in that slimy mass (Pliny, <i>Hist. Nat</i>. vi. 5, 2). Pilgrims, priests, traders, robbers, anchorites, wild fanatics, such were the figures to be met on that strange scene; and almost within hearing were the sacred sounds from the Temple-mount in the distance.<sup><a href="#ftn18" id="ftnref18">[18]</a></sup></p>
<p id="vii_p5">It might be so, as the heathen historian put it in regard to Judaea, that no one could have wished for its own sake to wage serious warfare for its possession (Strabo, <i>Geogr</i>. xvi. 2). The Jew would readily concede this. It was not material wealth which attracted him hither, although the riches brought into the Temple from all quarters of the world ever attracted the cupidity of the Gentiles. To the Jew this was the true home of his soul, the centre of his inmost life, the longing of his heart. "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning," sang they who sat by the rivers of Babylon, weeping as they remembered Zion. "If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy" (<a id="vii_p5_1" onClick="return mV('Psa',137,'5-6');">Psa 137:5-6</a>). It is from such pilgrim-psalms by the way as <a id="vii_p5_2" onClick="return mV('Psa',84,'all');">Psalm 84</a> or from the Songs of Ascent to the Holy City (commonly known as the Psalms of Degrees), that we learn the feelings of Israel, culminating in this mingled outpouring of prayer and praise, with which they greeted the city of their longings as first it burst on their view:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Jehovah hath chosen Zion;
<br>He hath desired it for His habitation.
<br>This is my rest for ever:
<br>Here will I dwell, for I desire after it!
<br>I will abundantly bless her provision:
<br>I will satisfy her poor with bread.
<br>I will also clothe her priests with salvation:
<br>And her saints shall shout aloud for joy.
<br>There will I make the horn of David to bud:
<br>I ordain a lamp for Mine anointed.
<br>His enemies will I clothe with shame:
<br>But upon himself shall his crown flourish.
<br><a id="vii_p5_3" onClick="return mV('Psa',132,'13-18');">Psalm 132:13-18</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p id="vii_p6">Words these, true alike in their literal and spiritual applications; highest hopes which, for nigh two thousand years, have formed and still form part of Israel's daily prayer, when they plead: "Speedily cause Thou 'the Branch of David,' Thy servant, to shoot forth, and exalt Thou his horn through Thy salvation" (this is the fifteenth of the eighteen "benedictions" in the daily prayers). Alas, that Israel knows not the fulfilment of these hopes already granted and expressed in the thanksgiving of the father of the Baptist: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He hath visited and redeemed His people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David; as He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began" (<a id="vii_p6_1" onClick="return mV('Luk',1,'68-70');">Luke 1:68-70</a>).</p>
<p id="vii_p7">Such blessings, and much more, were not only objects of hope, but realities alike to the Rabbinist and the unlettered Jew. They determined him willingly to bend the neck under a yoke of ordinances otherwise unbearable; submit to claims and treatment against which his nature would otherwise have rebelled, endure scorn and persecutions which would have broken any other nationality and crushed any other religion. To the far exiles of the Dispersion, this was the one fold, with its promise of good shepherding, of green pastures, and quiet waters. Judaea was, so to speak, their <i>Campo Santo</i>, with the Temple in the midst of it, as the symbol and prophecy of Israel's resurrection. To stand, if it were but once, within its sacred courts, to mingle with its worshippers, to bring offerings, to see the white-robed throng of ministering priests, to hear the chant of Levites, to watch the smoke of sacrifices uprising to heaven&#8212;to be there, to take part in it was the delicious dream of life, a very heaven upon earth, the earnest of fulfilling prophecy. No wonder, that on the great feasts the population of Jerusalem and of its neighbourhood, so far as reckoned within its sacred girdle, swelled to millions, among whom were "devout men, out of every nation under heaven" (<a id="vii_p7_1" onClick="return mV('Act',2,5);">Acts 2:5</a>), or that treasure poured in from all parts of the inhabited world. And this increasingly, as sign after sign seemed to indicate that "the End" was nearing. Surely the sands of the times of the Gentiles must have nearly run out. The promised Messiah might at any moment appear and "restore the kingdom to Israel." From the statements of Josephus we know that the prophecies of Daniel were specially resorted to, and a mass of the most interesting, though tangled, apocalyptic literature, dating from that period, shows what had been the popular interpretation of unfulfilled prophecy. The oldest Jewish paraphrases of Scripture, or <i>Targumim</i>, breathe the same spirit. Even the great heathen historians note this general expectancy of an impending Jewish world-empire, and trace to it the origin of the rebellions against Rome. Not even the allegorising Jewish philosophers of Alexandria remained uninfluenced by the universal hope. Outside Palestine all eyes were directed towards Judaea, and each pilgrim band on its return, or wayfaring brother on his journey, might bring tidings of startling events. Within the land the feverish anxiety of those who watched the scene not unfrequently rose to delirium and frenzy. Only thus can we account for the appearance of so many false Messiahs and for the crowds which, despite repeated disappointments, were ready to cherish the most unlikely anticipations. It was thus that a <i>Theudas</i> could persuade "a great part of the people" to follow him to the brink of Jordan, in the hope of seeing its waters once more miraculously divide, as before Moses, and an Egyptian impostor induce them to go out to the Mount of Olives in the expectation of seeing the walls of Jerusalem fall down at his command (Josephus, <i>Ant</i>. xx, 167-172). Nay, such was the infatuation of fanaticism, that while the Roman soldiers were actually preparing to set the Temple on fire, a false prophet could assemble 6,000 men, women, and children, in its courts and porches to await then and there a miraculous deliverance from heaven (Josephus, <i>Jewish War</i>, vi, 287). Nor did even the fall of Jerusalem quench these expectations, till a massacre, more terrible in some respects than that at the fall of Jerusalem, extinguished in blood the last public Messianic rising against Rome under <i>Bar Cochab</i>.</p>
<p id="vii_p8">For, however misdirected&#8212;so far as related to the person of the Christ and the nature of His kingdom&#8212;not to the fact or time of His coming, nor yet to the character of Rome&#8212;such thoughts could not be uprooted otherwise than with the history and religion of Israel. The New Testament process upon them, as well as the Old; Christians and Jews alike cherished them. In the language of St. Paul, this was "the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers: unto which our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come" (<a id="vii_p8_1" onClick="return mV('Act',26,'6-7');">Acts 26:6-7</a>). It was this which sent the thrill of expectancy through the whole nation, and drew crowds to Jordan, when an obscure anchorite, who did not even pretend to attest his mission by any miracle, preached repentance in view of the near coming of the kingdom of God. It was this which turned all eyes to Jesus of Nazareth, humble and unpretending as were His origin, His circumstances, and His followers, and which diverted the attention of the people even from the Temple to the far-off lake of despised Galilee. And it was this which opened every home to the messengers whom Christ sent forth, by two and two, and even after the Crucifixion, every synagogue, to the apostles and preachers from Judaea. The title "Son of man" was familiar to those who had drawn their ideas of the Messiah from the well-known pages of Daniel. The popular apocalyptic literature of the period, especially the so-called "Book of Enoch," not only kept this designation in popular memory, but enlarged on the judgment which He was to execute on Gentile kings and nations.";<sup><a href="#ftn19" id="ftnref19">[19]</a></sup> "Wilt Thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" was a question out of the very heart of Israel. Even John the Baptist, in the gloom of his lonely prison, staggered not at the person of the Messiah, but at the manner in which He seemed to found His kingdom.<sup><a href="#ftn20" id="ftnref20">[20]</a></sup> He had expected to hear the blows of that axe which he had lifted fall upon the barren tree, and had to learn that the innermost secret of that kingdom&#8212;carried not in earthquake of wrath, nor in whirlwind of judgment, but breathed in the still small voice of love and pity&#8212;was comprehension, not exclusion; healing, not destruction.</p>
<p id="vii_p9">As for the Rabbis, the leaders of public opinion, their position towards the kingdom was quite different. Although in the rising of Bar Cochab the great Rabbi Akiba acted as the religious standard-bearer, he may be looked upon as almost an exception. His character was that of an enthusiast, his history almost a romance. But, in general, the Rabbis did not identify themselves with the popular Messianic expectations. Alike the Gospel-history and their writings show not merely that anti-spiritual opposition to the Church which we might have expected, but coldness and distance in regard to all such movements. Legal rigorism and merciless bigotry are not fanaticism. The latter is chiefly the impulse of the ill-informed. Even their contemptuous turning away from "this people which knoweth not the law," as "accursed," proves them incapable of a fanaticism which recognises a brother in every one whose heart burns with the same fire, no matter what his condition otherwise. The great text-book of Rabbinism, the Mishnah, is almost entirely un-Messianic, one might say un-dogmatical. The method of the Rabbis was purely logical. Where not a record of facts or traditions, the Mishnah is purely a handbook of legal determinations in their utmost logical sequences, only enlivened by discussions or the tale of instances in point. The whole tendency of this system was anti-Messianic. Not but that in souls so devout and natures so ardent enthusiasm might be kindled, but that all their studies and pursuits went in the contrary direction. Besides, they knew full well how little of power was left them, and they dreaded losing even this. The fear of Rome constantly haunted them. Even at the destruction of Jerusalem the leading Rabbis aimed to secure their safety, and their after history shows, frequently recurring, curious instances of Rabbinical intimacy with their Roman oppressors. The Sanhedrim spoke their inmost apprehensions, when in that secret session they determined to kill Jesus from fear that, if He were allowed to go on, and all men were to believe on Him, the Romans would come and take away both their place and nation (<a id="vii_p9_1" onClick="return mV('Jhn',11,48);">John 11:48</a>). Yet not one candid mind among them discussed the reality of His miracles; not one generous voice was raised to assert the principle of the Messiah's claims and kingdom, even though they had rejected those of Jesus of Nazareth! The question of the Messiah might come up as a speculative point; it might force itself upon the attention of the Sanhedrim; but it was not of personal, practical, life-interest to them. It may mark only one aspect of the question, and that an extreme one, yet even as such it is characteristic, when a Rabbi could assert that "between the present and the days of the Messiah there was only this difference, Israel's servitude."</p>
<p id="vii_p10">Quite other matters engrossed the attention of the Rabbis. It was the present and the past, not the future, which occupied them&#8212;the <i>present</i> as fixing all legal determinations, and the <i>past</i> as giving sanction to this. Judaea proper was the only place where the <i>Shechinah</i> had dwelt, the land where Jehovah had caused His temple to be reared, the seat of the Sanhedrim, the place where alone learning and real piety were cultivated. From this point of view everything was judged. Judaea was "grain, Galilee straw, and beyond Jordan chaff." To be a Judaean was to be "an Hebrew of the Hebrews." It has already been stated what reproach the Rabbis attached to Galilee in regard to its language, manners, and neglect of regular study. In some respects the very legal observances, as certainly social customs, were different in Judaea from Galilee. Only in Judaea could Rabbis be ordained by the laying on of hands; only there could the Sanhedrim in solemn session declare and proclaim the commencement of each month, on which the arrangement of the festive calendar depended. Even after the stress of political necessity had driven the Rabbis to Galilee, they returned to Lydda for the purpose, and it needed a sharp struggle before they transferred the privilege of Judaea to other regions in the third century of our era (<i>Jer. Sanh</i>. i. 1, 18). The wine for use in the Temple was brought exclusively from Judaea, not only because it was better, but because the transport through Samaria would have rendered it defiled. Indeed, the Mishnah mentions the names of the five towns whence it was obtained. Similarly, the oil used was derived either from Judaea, or, if from Peraea, the olives only were brought, to be crushed in Jerusalem.</p>
<p id="vii_p11">The question what cities were really Jewish was of considerable importance, so far as concerned ritual questions, and it occupied the earnest attention of the Rabbis. It is not easy to fix the exact boundaries of Judaea proper towards the north-west. To include the sea-shore in the province of Samaria is a popular mistake. It certainly was never reckoned with it. According to Josephus (<i>Jewish War</i>, iii, 35-58) Judaea proper extended along the sea-shore as far north as Ptolemais or Acco. The Talmud seems to exclude at least the northern cities. In the New Testament there is a distinction made between Caesarea and the province of Judaea (<a id="vii_p11_1" onClick="return mV('Act',12,19);">Acts 12:19</a>, <a id="vii_p11_2" onClick="return mV('Act',21,10);">21:10</a>). This affords one of the indirect evidences not only of the intimate acquaintance of the writer with strictly Rabbinical views, but also of the early date of the composition of the Book of Acts. For, at a later period Caesarea was declared to belong to Judaea, although its harbour was excluded from such privileges, and all east and west of it pronounced "defiled." Possibly, it may have been added to the cities of Judaea, simply because afterwards so many celebrated Rabbis resided there. The importance attaching to Caesarea in connection with the preaching of the Gospel and the history of St. Paul, and the early and flourishing Christian churches there established give fresh interest to all notices of the place. Only those from Jewish sources can here engage our attention. It were out of place here to describe the political importance of Caesarea, as the seat of the Roman power, or its magnificent harbour and buildings, or its wealth and influence. In Jewish writings it bears the same name by which we know it, though at times it is designated after its fortifications (Migdal Shur, M. Zor, M. Nassi), or after its harbour (Migdal Shina), once also by its ancient name, the tower of Straton. The population consisted of a mixture of Jews, Greeks, Syrians, and Samaritans, and tumults between them were the first signal of the great Jewish war. The Talmud calls it "the capital of the kings." As the seat of the Roman power it was specially hateful to the Jews. Accordingly it is designated as the "daughter of Edom&#8212;the city of abomination and blasphemy," although the district was, for its riches, called "the land of life." As might be expected, constant difficulties arose between the Jewish and Roman authorities in Caesarea, and bitter are the complaints against the unrighteousness of heathen judges. We can readily understand, that to a Jew Caesarea was the symbol of Rome, Rome of Edom&#8212;and Edom was to be destroyed! In fact, in their view Jerusalem and Caesarea could not really co-exist. It is in this sense that we account for the following curious passage: "If you are told that Jerusalem and Caesarea are both standing, or that they are both destroyed, believe it not; but if you are told that one of them is destroyed and the other standing, then believe it" (<i>Gitt</i>. 16 a; <i>Meg</i>. 6 a). It is interesting to know that on account of the foreign Jews resident in Caesarea, the Rabbis allowed the principal prayers to be said in Greek, as being the vernacular; and that, from the time of the evangelist Philip, good work was done for Christ among its resident Jews. Indeed, Jewish writings contain special notice of controversies there between Jews and Christians.</p>
<p id="vii_p12">A brief summary of Jewish notices of certain other towns in Judaea, mentioned also in the New Testament, may throw some additional light on the sacred narratives. In general, the Mishnah divided Judaea proper into three parts&#8212;mountain, Shephelah, and valley (<i>Shev</i>. ix 2), to which we must add the city of Jerusalem as a separate district. And here we have another striking evidence of the authenticity of the New Testament, and especially of the writings of St. Luke. Only one intimately acquainted with the state of matters at the time would, with the Rabbis, have distinguished Jerusalem as a district separate from all the rest of Judaea, as St. Luke markedly does on several occasions (<a id="vii_p12_1" onClick="return mV('Luk',5,17);">Luke 5:17</a>; <a id="vii_p12_2" onClick="return mV('Act',1,8);">Acts 1:8</a>; <a id="vii_p12_3" onClick="return mV('Act',10,39);">10:39</a>). When the Rabbis speak of "the mountain," they refer to the district north-east and north of Jerusalem, also known as "the royal mount." The Shephelah, of course, is the country along the sea-shore. All the rest is included in the term "valley." It need scarcely be explained that, as the Jerusalem Talmud tells us, this is merely a general classification, which must not be too closely pressed. Of the eleven <i>toparchies</i> into which, according to Josephus (Pliny enumerates only ten), Judaea proper was arranged, the Rabbis take no notice, although some of their names have been traced in Talmudical writings. These provinces were no doubt again subdivided into districts or hyparchies, just as the towns were into quarters or hegemonies, both terms occurring in the Talmud. The Rabbis forbade the exportation of provisions from Palestine, even into Syria.</p>
<p id="vii_p13">Travelling southward from Caesarea we are in the plain of Sharon, whose beauty and richness are so celebrated in Holy Scripture (<a id="vii_p13_1" onClick="return mV('Sgs',2,1);">Cant 2:1</a>; <a id="vii_p13_2" onClick="return mV('Isa',35,2);">Isa 35:2</a>). This plain extends as far as Lydda, where it merges into that of <i>Darom</i>, which stretches farther southwards. In accordance with the statements of Holy Scripture (<a id="vii_p13_3" onClick="return mV('Isa',65,10);">Isa 65:10</a>) the plain of Sharon was always celebrated for its pasturage. According to the Talmud most of the calves for sacrifices were brought from that district. The wine of Sharon was celebrated, and, for beverage, supposed to be mixed with one-third of water. The plain was also well known for the manufacture of pottery; but it must have been of an inferior kind, since the Mishnah (<i>Baba K</i>. vi. 2) in enumerating for what proportion of damaged goods a purchaser might not claim compensation, allows not less than ten per cent for breakage in the pottery of Sharon. In <i>Jer. Sotah</i> viii. 3, we read that the permission to return from war did not apply to those who had built brick houses in Sharon, it being explained that the clay was so bad, that the houses had to be rebuilt within seven years. Hence also the annual prayer of the high-priest on the Day of Atonement, that the houses of the men of Sharon should not become their graves (see <i>The Temple</i>). <i>Antipatris</i>, the place where the foot soldiers had left St. Paul in charge of the horsemen (<a id="vii_p13_4" onClick="return mV('Act',23,31);">Acts 23:31</a>), had once been the scene of a very different array. For it was here that, according to tradition (<i>Yoma</i>, 69 a), the priesthood, under Simon the Just, had met Alexander the Great in that solemn procession, which secured the safety of the Temple. In Talmudical writings it bears the same name, which was given it by Herod, in memory of his father Antipater (<i>Ant</i>. vi, 5.2). The name of Chephar Zaba, however, also occurs, possibly that of an adjoining locality. In <i>Sanh</i>. 94 b, we read that Hezekiah had suspended a board at the entrance of the <i>Beth Midrash</i> (or college), with the notification that whoever studied not the Law was to be destroyed. Accordingly they searched from Dan to Beersheba, and found not a single unlettered person, nor yet from Gebath to Antipatris, boy or girl, man or woman, who was not fully versed in all the legal ordinances concerning clean and unclean.</p>
<p id="vii_p14">Another remarkable illustration of the New Testament is afforded by <i>Lydda</i>, the Talmudical Lod or Lud. We read that, in consequence of the labours of St. Peter and the miracle wrought on Aeneas, "all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron...turned to the Lord" (<a id="vii_p14_1" onClick="return mV('Act',9,35);">Acts 9:35</a>). The brief notice of Lydda given in this narrative of the apostle's labours, is abundantly confirmed by Talmudical notices, although, of course, we must not expect them to describe the progress of Christianity. We can readily believe that Lydda had its congregation of "saints," almost from the first, since it was (<i>Maas. Sh</i>. v. 2) within an easy day's journey west of Jerusalem. Indeed, as the Talmud explains, the second tithes (<a id="vii_p14_2" onClick="return mV('Deu',14,22);">Deu 14:22</a>; <a id="vii_p14_3" onClick="return mV('Deu',26,12);">26:12</a>) from Lydda could not be converted into money, but had to be brought to the city itself, so "that the streets of Jerusalem might be garlanded with fruits." The same passage illustrates the proximity of Lydda to the city, and the frequent intercourse between the two, by saying that the women of Lydda mixed their dough, went up to Jerusalem, prayed in the Temple, and returned before it had fermented. Similarly, we infer from Talmudical documents that Lydda had been the residence of many Rabbis before the destruction of Jerusalem. After that event, it became the seat of a very celebrated school, presided over by some of the leaders of Jewish thought. It was this school which boldly laid it down, that, to avoid death, every ordinance of the Law might be broken, except those in regard to idolatry, incest, and murder. It was in Lydda, also, that two brothers voluntarily offered themselves victims to save their co-religionists from slaughter, threatened because a body had been found, whose death was imputed to the Jews. It sounds like a sad echo of the taunts addressed by "chief priests," "scribes and elders," to Jesus on the cross (<a id="vii_p14_4" onClick="return mV('Mat',27,'41-43');">Matt 27:41-43</a>) when, on the occasion just mentioned, the Roman thus addressed the martyrs: "If you are of the people of Ananias, Mishael, and Azarias, let your God come, and save you from my hand!" (<i>Taan</i>. 18, 6).</p>
<p id="vii_p15">But a much more interesting chain of evidence connects Lydda with the history of the founding of the Church. It is in connection with Lydda and its tribunal, which is declared to have been capable of pronouncing sentence of death, that our blessed Lord and the Virgin Mother are introduced in certain Talmudical passages, though with studiously and blasphemously altered names. The statements are, in their present form, whether from ignorance, design, or in consequence of successive alterations, confused, and they mix up different events and persons in Gospel history; among other things representing our Lord as condemned at Lydda.<sup><a href="#ftn21" id="ftnref21">[21]</a></sup></p>
<p id="vii_p16">But there can be no reasonable question that they refer to our blessed Lord and His condemnation for supposed blasphemy and seduction of the people, and that they at least indicate a close connection between Lydda and the founding of Christianity. It is a curious confirmation of the gospel history, that the death of Christ is there described as having taken place "on the eve of the Passover," remarkably bearing out not only the date of that event as gathered from the synoptical gospels, but showing that the Rabbis at least knew nothing of those Jewish scruples and difficulties, by which modern Gentile writers have tried to prove the impossibility of Christ's condemnation on the Paschal night. It has already been stated that, after the destruction of Jerusalem, many and most celebrated Rabbis chose Lydda for their residence. But the second century witnessed a great change. The inhabitants of Lydda are now charged with pride, ignorance, and neglect of their religion. The <i>Midrash</i> (<a id="vii_p16_1" onClick="return mV('Est',1,3);">Esther 1:3</a>) has it, that there were "ten measures of wretchedness in the world. Nine of those belong to Lod, the tenth to all the rest of the world." Lydda was the last place in Judaea to which, after their migration into Galilee, the Rabbis resorted to fix the commencement of the month. Jewish legend has it, that they were met by the "evil eye," which caused their death. There may, perhaps, be an allegorical allusion in this. Certain it is, that, at the time, Lydda was the seat of a most flourishing Christian Church, and had its bishop. Indeed, a learned Jewish writer has connected the changed Jewish feeling towards Lod with the spread of Christianity. Lydda must have been a very beautiful and a very busy place. The Talmud speaks in exaggerated terms of the honey of its dates (<i>Cheth</i>. iii. a), and the Mishnah (<i>Baba M</i>. iv. 3) refers to its merchants as a numerous class, although their honesty is not extolled.<sup><a href="#ftn22" id="ftnref22">[22]</a></sup></p>
<p id="vii_p17">Near Lydda, eastwards, was the village of <i>Chephar Tabi</i>. We might be tempted to derive from it the name of Tabitha (<a id="vii_p17_1" onClick="return mV('Act',9,36);">Acts 9:36</a>), if it were not that the names Tabi and Tabitha had been so common at the time in Palestine. There can be no question of the situation of <i>Joppa</i>, the modern Jaffa, where Peter saw the vision which opened the door of the Church to the Gentiles. Many Rabbis are mentioned in connection with Joppa. The town was destroyed by Vespasian. There is a curious legend in the <i>Midrash</i> to the effect that Joppa was not overwhelmed by the deluge. Could this have been an attempt to insinuate the preservation and migration of men to distant parts of the earth? The exact location of <i>Emmaus</i>, for ever sacred to us by the manifestation of the Saviour to the two disciples (<a id="vii_p17_2" onClick="return mV('Luk',24,13);">Luke 24:13</a>), is matter of controversy. On the whole, the weight of evidence still inclines to the traditional site.<sup><a href="#ftn23" id="ftnref23">[23]</a></sup></p>
<p id="vii_p18">If so, it had a considerable Jewish population, although it was also occupied by a Roman garrison. Its climate and waters were celebrated, as also its market-place. It is specially interesting to find that among the patrician Jewish families belonging to the laity, who took part in the instrumental music of the Temple, two&#8212;those of Pegarim and Zippariah&#8212;were from Emmaus, and also that the priesthood were wont to intermarry with the wealthy Hebrews of that place (<i>Er</i>. ii. 4). <i>Gaza</i>, on whose "desert" road Philip preached to and baptized the Ethiopian eunuch, counted not fewer than eight heathen temples, besides an idol-shrine just outside the city. Still Jews were allowed to reside there, probably on account of its important market.</p>
<p id="vii_p19">Only two names yet remain to be mentioned, but those of the deepest and most solemn interest. Bethlehem, the birthplace of our Lord, and Jerusalem, where He was crucified. It deserves notice, that the answer which the Sanhedrists of old gave to the inquiries of Herod (<a id="vii_p19_1" onClick="return mV('Mat',2,5);">Matt 2:5</a>) is equally returned in many Talmudical passages, and with the same reference to <a id="vii_p19_2" onClick="return mV('Mic',5,2);">Micah 5:2</a>. It may therefore be regarded as a settled point that, according to the Jewish fathers, Messiah, the Son of David, was to be born in Bethlehem of Judah. But there is one passage in the Mishnah which throws such peculiar light on the Gospel narrative, that it will be best to give it in its entirety. We know that, on the night in which our Saviour was born, the angels' message came to those who probably alone of all in or near Bethlehem were "keeping watch." For, close by Bethlehem, on the road to Jerusalem, was a tower, known as <i>Migdal Eder</i>, the "watch-tower of the flock." For here was the station where shepherd watched their flocks destined for sacrifices in the Temple. So well known was this, that if animals were found as far from Jerusalem as Migdal Eder, and within that circuit on every side, the males were offered as burnt-offerings, the females as peace-offerings.<sup><a href="#ftn24" id="ftnref24">[24]</a></sup></p>
<p id="vii_p20">R. Jehudah adds: "If suited for Paschal sacrifices, then they are Paschal sacrifices, provided it be not more than thirty days before the feast" (<i>Shekal</i>. vii 4; compare also <i>Jer. Kid</i>. ii. 9). It seems of deepest significance, almost like the fulfilment of type, that those shepherds who first heard tidings of the Saviour's birth, who first listened to angels' praises, were watching flocks destined to be offered as sacrifices in the Temple. There was the type, and here the reality. At all times Bethlehem was among "the least" in Judah&#8212;so small that the Rabbis do not even refer to it in detail. The small village-inn was over-crowded, and the guests from Nazareth found shelter only in the stable,<sup><a href="#ftn25" id="ftnref25">[25]</a></sup> whose manger became the cradle of the King of Israel.</p>
<p id="vii_p21">It was here that those who tended the sacrificial flocks, heaven-directed, found the Divine Babe&#8212;significantly the first to see Him, to believe, and to adore. But this is not all. It is when we remember, that presently these shepherds would be in the Temple, and meet those who came thither to worship and to sacrifice, that we perceive the full significance of what otherwise would have seemed scarcely worth while noticing in connection with humble shepherds: "And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds" (<a id="vii_p21_1" onClick="return mV('Luk',2,'17-18');">Luke 2:17-18</a>). Moreover, we can understand the wonderful impression made on those in the courts of the Temple, as, while they selected their sacrifices, the shepherds told the devout of the speedy fulfilment of all these types in what they had themselves seen and heard in that night of wonders; how eager, curious crowds might gather around to discuss, to wonder, perhaps to mock; how the heart of "just and devout" old Simeon would be gladdened within him, in expectation of the near realisation of a life's hopes and prayers; and how aged Anna, and they who like her "looked for redemption in Israel," would lift up their heads, since their salvation was drawing nigh. Thus the shepherds would be the most effectual heralds of the Messiah in the Temple, and both Simeon and Anna be prepared for the time when the infant Saviour would be presented in the sanctuary. But there is yet another verse which, as we may suggest, would find a fuller explanation in the fact that these shepherds tended the Temple flocks. When in <a id="vii_p21_2" onClick="return mV('Luk',2,20);">Luke 2:20</a> we read that "the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God," the meaning in that connection<sup><a href="#ftn26" id="ftnref26">[26]</a></sup> seems somewhat difficult till we realise that, after bringing their flocks to the Temple, they would return to their own homes, and carry with them, joyfully and gratefully, tidings of the great salvation.</p>
<p id="vii_p22">Lastly, without entering into controversy, the passage from the Mishnah above quoted in great measure disposes of the objection against the traditional date of our Lord's birth, derived from the supposed fact, that the rains of December would prevent the flocks being kept all night "in the field." For, in the first place, these were flocks on their way to Jerusalem, and not regularly pasturing in the open at that season. And, secondly, the Mishnah evidently contemplates their being thus in the open thirty days before the Passover, or in the month of February, during which the average rainfall is quite the largest in the year.<sup><a href="#ftn27" id="ftnref27">[27]</a></sup></p>
<p id="vii_p23">"Ten measures of beauty," say the Rabbis, "hath God bestowed upon the world, and nine of these fall to the lot of Jerusalem";&#8212;and again, "A city, the fame of which has gone out from one end of the world to the other" (<i>Ber</i>. 38). "Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, and eternity." This&#8212;explains the Talmud&#8212;"is Jerusalem." In opposition to her rival Alexandria, which was designated "the little," Jerusalem was called "the great." It almost reminds one of the title "eternal city," given to Rome, when we find the Rabbis speaking of Jerusalem as the "eternal house." Similarly, if a common proverb has it, that "all roads lead to Rome," it was a Jewish saying, "All coins come from Jerusalem." This is not the place to describe the city in its appearance and glory (for this compare the two first chapters of my volume on <i>The Temple: Its Ministry and Services</i>). But one almost feels as if, on such a subject, one could understand, if not condone, the manifest exaggerations of the Rabbis. Indeed, there are indications that they scarcely expected their statements to be taken literally. Thus, when the number of its synagogues is mentioned as 460 or 480, it is explained that the latter number is the numerical equivalent of the word "full" in <a id="vii_p23_1" onClick="return mV('Isa',1,21);">Isaiah 1:21</a> ("it was full of judgment"). It is more interesting to know, that we find in the Talmud express mention of "the Synagogue of the Alexandrians," referred to in <a id="vii_p23_2" onClick="return mV('Act',6,9);">Acts 6:9</a>&#8212;another important confirmation, if such were needed, of the accuracy of St. Luke's narratives. Of the hospitality of the inhabitants of Jerusalem accounts are given, which we can scarcely regard as much exaggerated; for the city was not reckoned to belong to any tribe in particular; it was to be considered as equally the home of all. Its houses were to be neither hired nor let, but freely thrown open to every brother. Nor did any one among the countless thousands who thronged it at feast-times ever lack room. A curtain hung before the entrance of a house intimated, that there was still room for guests; a table spread in front of it, that its board was still at their disposal. And, if it was impossible to accommodate within the walls of Jerusalem proper the vast crowds which resorted to the city, there can be no doubt that for sacred purpose <i>Bethany</i> and <i>Bethphage</i> were reckoned as within the circle of Jerusalem. It calls forth peculiar sensations, when we read in these Jewish records of Bethany and Bethphage as specially celebrated for their hospitality to pilgrim-guests, for it wakes the sacred memories of our Lord's sojourn with the holy family of Bethany, and especially of His last stay there and of His royal entrance into Jerusalem.</p>
<p id="vii_p24">In truth, every effort was used to make Jerusalem truly a city of delight. Its police and sanitary regulations were more perfect than in any modern city; the arrangements such as to keep the pilgrim free to give his heart and mind to sacred subjects. If, after all, "the townspeople," as they were called, were regarded as somewhat proud and supercilious, it was something to be a citizen of <i>Jerushalaimah</i>, as the Jerusalemites preferred to write its name. Their constant intercourse with strangers gave them a knowledge of men and of the world. The smartness and cleverness of the young people formed a theme of admiration to their more shy and awkward country relatives. There was also a grandeur in their bearing&#8212;almost luxury; and an amount of delicacy, tact, and tenderness, which appeared in all their public dealings. Among a people whose wit and cleverness are proverbial, it was no mean praise to be renowned for these qualities. In short, Jerusalem was the ideal of the Jew, in whatever land of exile he might tarry. Her rich men would lavish fortunes on the support of Jewish learning, the promotion of piety, or the support of the national cause. Thus one of them would, when he found the price of sacrifices exceedingly high, introduce into the Temple-court the requisite animals at his own cost, to render the service possible for the poor. Or on another occasion he would offer to furnish the city for twenty-one months with certain provisions in her struggle against Rome. In the streets of Jerusalem men from the most distant countries met, speaking every variety of language and dialect. Jews and Greeks, Roman soldiers and Galilean peasants, Pharisees, Sadducees, and white-robed Essenes, busy merchants and students of abstruse theology, mingled, a motley crowd, in the narrow streets of the city of palaces. But over all the Temple, rising above the city, seemed to fling its shadow and its glory. Each morning the threefold blast of the priests' trumpets wakened the city with a call to prayer; each evening the same blasts closed the working day, as with sounds from heaven. Turn where you might, everywhere the holy buildings were in view, now with the smoke of sacrifices curling over the courts, or again with solemn stillness resting upon the sacred hills. It was the Temple which gave its character to Jerusalem, and which decided its fate. There is a remarkable passage in the Talmud, which, remembering that the time to which it refers was in all probability the very year in which our Lord died on the cross, reads like an unwilling confirmation of the Gospel narrative: "Forty years before the destruction of the Temple, its doors opened of their own accord. Jochanan,<sup><a href="#ftn28" id="ftnref28">[28]</a></sup> the son of Saccai, rebuked them, saying: O Temple, why openest thou of thine own accord? Ah! I perceive that thine end is at hand; for it is written (<a id="vii_p24_1" onClick="return mV('Zec',11,1);">Zech 11:1</a>): 'Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars'" (<i>Yoma</i> 39 b). "And, behold, the veil of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom" (<a id="vii_p24_2" onClick="return mV('Mat',27,51);">Matt 27:51</a>)&#8212;blessed be God, not merely in announcement of coming judgment, but henceforth to lay open unto all the way into the Holiest of All.</p>
<hr />
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref16" id="ftn16">[16]</a></sup>This appears, to me at least, the inevitable inference from <a id="viiftn16_1" onClick="return mV('1Sa',10,'2-3');">1 Samuel 10:2-3</a>, and <a id="viiftn16_2" onClick="return mV('Jer',31,15);">Jeremiah 31:15</a>. Most writers have concluded from <a id="viiftn16_3" onClick="return mV('Gen',35,16,19);">Genesis 35:16, 19</a>, that Rachel was buried close by Bethlehem, but the passage does not necessarily imply this. The oldest Jewish Commentary (Sifre, ed. Vienna, p. 146) supports the view given above in the text. M. Neubauer suggests that Rachel had died in the possession of Ephraim, and been buried at Bethlehem. The hypothesis is ingenious but fanciful.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref17" id="ftn17">[17]</a></sup>Such as Tekoah, Engedi, Ziph, Maon, and Beersheba, which gave their names to districts in the wilderness of Judaea.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref18" id="ftn18">[18]</a></sup>According to the Jerusalem Talmud (Succ. v. 3) six different acts of ministry in the Temple were heard as far as Jericho, and the smell of the burning incense also could be perceived there. We need scarcely say that this was a gross exaggeration.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref19" id="ftn19">[19]</a></sup>The following as a specimen must suffice for the present: "And this Son of man, whom thou hast seen, shall stir up the kings and the mighty from their layers, and the powerful from their thrones, and shall loose the bridles of the mighty and break in pieces the teeth of sinners. And He shall drive the kings from their thrones and from their empires, if they do not exalt nor praise Him, nor gratefully own from whence the kingdom has been entrusted to them. And He shall drive away the face of the mighty, and shame shall fill them: darkness shall be their dwelling and worms their bed, and they shall have no hope of rising from their beds, because they do not exalt the name of the Lord of spirits...And they shall be driven forth out of the homes of His congregation and of the faithful" (Book of Enoch, xlvi. 4,5,6, 8). A full discussion of this most important subject, and, indeed, of many kindred matters, must be reserved for a work on the Life and Times of our Lord.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref20" id="ftn20">[20]</a></sup>The passage above referred to has a most important apologetic interest. None but a truthful history would have recorded the doubts of John the Baptist; especially when they brought forward the real difficulties which the mission of Christ raised in the popular mind; least of all would it have followed up the statement of these difficulties by such an encomium as the Saviour passed upon John.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref21" id="ftn21">[21]</a></sup>May there not perhaps be some historical foundation even for this statement? Could the secret gathering of "the chief priests and Pharisees," mentioned in <a id="viiftn21_1" onClick="return mV('Jhn',11,47);">John 11:47</a>, have taken place in Lydda (compare vers. <a id="viiftn21_2" onClick="return mV('Jhn',11,'54-55');">11:54-55</a>)? Was it there, that Judas "communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him unto them?" There were at any rate obvious reasons for avoiding Jerusalem in all preliminary measures against Jesus; and we know that, while the Temple stood, Lydda was the only place out of Jerusalem which may be called a seat of the Rabbinical party.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref22" id="ftn22">[22]</a></sup>The Mishnah discusses how much profit a merchant is allowed to take on an article, and within what period a purchaser, who finds himself imposed upon, may return his purchase. The merchants of Lydda are certainly not placed in this discussion in the most advantageous light.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref23" id="ftn23">[23]</a></sup>Modern writers mostly identify it with the present Kulonieh, colonia, deriving the name from the circumstance that it was colonised by Roman soldiers. Lieut. Conder suggests the modern Khamasa, about eight miles from Jerusalem, as the site of Emmaus.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref24" id="ftn24">[24]</a></sup>Formerly those who found such animals had out of their own means to supply the necessary drink-offerings. But as this induced some not to bring the animals to the Temple, it was afterwards decreed to supply the cost of the drink--offerings from the Temple treasury (Shek. vii. 5).</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref25" id="ftn25">[25]</a></sup>In Echa R. 72 a, there is a tradition that the Messiah was to be born "in the Castle Arba of Bethlehem Judah." Caspari quotes this in confirmation that the present castellated monastery, in the cave of which is the traditional site of our Lord's birth, marks the real spot. In the East such caves were often used as stables.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref26" id="ftn26">[26]</a></sup>Compare here verses <a id="viiftn26_1" onClick="return mV('Luk',2,'17-18');">Luk 2:17-18</a>, which in point of time precede verse <a id="viiftn26_2" onClick="return mV('Luk',2,20);">Luke 2:20</a>. The term <i>diagnorizo</i>, rendered in the Authorised Version "make known abroad," and by Wahl "<i>ultro citroque narro</i>," does not seem exhausted by the idea of conversation with the party in the "stable," or with any whom they might meet in "the field."</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref27" id="ftn27">[27]</a></sup>The average rainfall in Jerusalem for eight years amounts to fourteen inches in December, thirteen in January, and sixteen in February (Barclay, City of the Great King, p. 428).</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref28" id="ftn28">[28]</a></sup>Caspari suggests that this was the same as the high&#8212;priest Annas, the name having only the syllable indicating the name of Jehovah prefixed.</p>
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<h2 id="viii-p0.1">Chapter 6 </h2>
<h3 id="viii-p0.2">Jewish Homes</h3>
<p id="viii_p1">It may be safely asserted, that the grand distinction, which divided all mankind into Jews and Gentiles, was not only religious, but also social. However near the cities of the heathen to those of Israel, however frequent and close the intercourse between the two parties, no one could have entered a Jewish town or village without feeling, so to speak, in quite another world. The aspect of the streets, the building and arrangement of the houses, the municipal and religious rule, the manners and customs of the people, their habits and ways&#8212;above all, the family life, stood in marked contrast to what would be seen elsewhere. On every side there was evidence that religion here was not merely a creed, nor a set of observances, but that it pervaded every relationship, and dominated every phase of life.</p>
<p id="viii_p2">Let us imagine a real Jewish town or village. There were many such, for Palestine had at all times a far larger number of towns and villages than might have been expected from its size, or from the general agricultural pursuits of its inhabitants. Even at the time of its first occupation under Joshua we find somewhere about six hundred towns&#8212;if we may judge by the Levitical cities, of about an average circumference of two thousand cubits on each side, and with probably an average population of from two to three thousand. But the number of towns and villages, as well as their populousness, greatly increased in later times. Thus Josephus (<i>Life</i>, 45) speaks of not fewer than two hundred and forty townships in Galilee alone in his days. This progress was, no doubt, due not only to the rapid development of society, but also to the love of building that characterised Herod and his family, and to which so many fortresses, palaces, temples, and towns owed their origin. Alike the New Testament, Josephus, and the Rabbis give us three names, which may be rendered by villages, townships, and towns&#8212;the latter being surrounded by walls, and again distinguished into those fortified already at the time of Joshua, and those of later date. A township might be either "great," if it had its synagogue, or small, if it wanted such; this being dependent on the residence of at least ten men, who could always be reckoned upon to form a quorum for the worship of the synagogue (the so-called Batlanin<sup><a href="#ftn29" id="ftnref29">[29]</a></sup>); for service could not be celebrated with any less number of males.</p>
<p id="viii_p3">The villages had no synagogue; but their inhabitants were supposed to go to the nearest township for market on the Monday and Thursday of every week, when service was held for them, and the local Sanhedrim also sat (<i>Megill</i>. i. 1-3). A very curious law provided (<i>Cheth</i>. 110), that a man could not oblige his wife to follow him if he moved either from a township to a town, or the reverse. The reason of the former provision was, that in a town people lived together, and the houses were close to each other; hence there was a want of fresh, free air, and of gardens, which were enjoyed in townships. On the other hand, a woman might object to exchange residence in a town for one in a township, because in a town everything was to be got, and people met in the streets and market-place from all the neighbourhood.</p>
<p id="viii_p4">Statements like these will give some idea of the difference between town and country life. Let us first think of the former. Approaching one of the ancient fortified towns, one would come to a low wall that protected a ditch. Crossing this moat, one would be at the city wall proper, and enter through a massive gate, often covered with iron, and secured by strong bars and bolts. Above the gate rose the watch-tower. "Within the gate" was the shady or sheltered retreat where "the elders" sat. Here grave citizens discussed public affairs or the news of the day, or transacted important business. The gates opened upon large squares, on which the various streets converged. Here was the busy scene of intercourse and trade. The country-people stood or moved about, hawking the produce of field, orchard, and dairy; the foreign merchant or pedlar exposed his wares, recommending the newest fashions from Rome or Alexandria, the latest luxuries from the far East, or the art produce of the goldsmith and the modeller at Jerusalem, while among them moved the crowd, idle or busy, chattering, chaffing, good-humoured, and bandying witticisms. Now they give way respectfully before a Pharisee; or their conversation is hushed by the weird appearance of an Essene or of some sectary&#8212;political or religious,&#8212;while low, muttered curses attend the stealthy steps of the publican, whose restless eyes wander around to watch that nothing escape the close meshes of the tax-gatherer's net. These streets are all named, mostly after the trades or guilds which have there their bazaars. For a guild always keeps together, whether in street or synagogue. In Alexandria the different trades sat in the synagogue arranged into guilds; and St. Paul could have no difficulty in meeting in the bazaar of his trade with the like-minded Aquila and Priscilla (<a id="viii_p4_1" onClick="return mV('Act',18,'2-3');">Acts 18:2-3</a>), with whom to find a lodging. In these bazaars many of the workmen sat outside their shops, and, in the interval of labour, exchanged greetings or banter with the passers-by. For all Israel are brethren, and there is a sort of freemasonry even in the Jewish mode of salutation, which always embodied either an acknowledgment of the God of Israel, or a brotherly wish of peace. Excitable, impulsive, quick, sharp-witted, imaginative; fond of parable, pithy sayings, acute distinctions, or pungent wit; reverent towards God and man, respectful in the presence of age, enthusiastic of learning and of superior mental endowments, most delicately sensitive in regard to the feelings of others; zealous, with intensely warm Eastern natures, ready to have each prejudice aroused, hasty and violent in passion, but quickly assuaged&#8212;such is the motley throng around. And now, perhaps, the voice of a Rabbi, teaching in some shady retreat&#8212;although latterly Jewish pride of learning forbade the profanation of lore by popularising it for the "unlearned";&#8212;or, better far, at one time the presence of the Master, gathers and keeps them spell-bound, forgetful alike of the cravings of hunger and of the lapse of time, till, the short Eastern day ended, the stars shining out on the deep blue sky must have reminded many among them of the promise to their father Abraham, now fulfilled in One greater than Abraham.</p>
<p id="viii_p5">Back to the town in the cool of even to listen to the delicious murmur of well or fountain, as those crowd around it who have not cisterns in their own houses. The watchman is on the top of the tower above the gateway; presently, night-watchers will patrol the streets. Nor is there absolute darkness, for it is customary to keep a light burning all night in the house, and the windows (unlike those of modern Eastern dwellings) open chiefly on street and road. Those large windows are called Tyrian, the smaller ones Egyptian. They are not filled in with glass, but contain gratings or lattices. In the houses of the rich the window-frames are elaborately carved, and richly inlaid. Generally the woodwork is of the common sycamore, sometimes of olive or cedar, and in palaces even of Indian sandal-wood. The entablature is more or less curiously carved and ornamented. Only there must be no representation of anything in heaven or on earth. So deep was the feeling on this point, that even the attempt of Pilate to introduce by night into Jerusalem the effigies of Caesar on the top of the Roman standards led to scenes in which the Jews showed themselves willing to die for their convictions (Josephus, <i>Ant</i>, xviii, 59); while the palace of Herod Antipas at Tiberias was burned by the mob because it was decorated with figures of animals (Josephus, <i>Life</i>, 62-67). These extreme views, however, gave way, first, before the tolerant example of Gamaliel, the teacher of Paul, who made use of a public bath, although adorned by a statue of Venus, since, as he put it, the statue was intended for the embellishment of the bath, and not the bath for the sake of the statue. If this argument reminds us that Gamaliel was not a stranger to Christianity, the statement of his grandson, that an idol was nothing if its worship had been disclaimed by the heathen (<i>Ab. Sar</i>. 52), recalls still more strongly the teaching of St. Paul. And so we gradually come down to the modern orthodox doctrine, which allows the representation of plants, animals, etc., but prohibits that of sun, moon, and stars, except for purposes of study, while, though doubtfully, it admits those of men and even angels, provided they be in sunken, not in raised workmanship.</p>
<p id="viii_p6">The rule of these towns and villages was exceedingly strict. The representatives of Rome were chiefly either military men, or else fiscal or political agents. We have, indeed, a notice that the Roman general Gabinius, about half a century before Christ, divided Palestine for juridical purposes into five districts, each presided over by a council (Josephus, <i>Ant</i>. xiv, 91); but that arrangement was only of very short duration, and even while it lasted these councils seem to have been Jewish. Then every town had is Sanhedrim,<sup><a href="#ftn30" id="ftnref30">[30]</a></sup> consisting of twenty-three members if the place numbered at least one hundred and twenty men, or of three members if the population were smaller.<sup><a href="#ftn31" id="ftnref31">[31]</a></sup></p>
<p id="viii_p7">These Sanhedrists were appointed directly by the supreme authority, or Great Sanhedrim, "the council," at Jerusalem, which consisted of seventy-one members. It is difficult to fix the limits of the actual power wielded by these Sanhedrims in criminal cases. But the smaller Sanhedrims are referred to in such passages as <a id="viii_p7_1" onClick="return mV('Mat',5,'22-23');">Matthew 5:22-23</a>, <a id="viii_p7_2" onClick="return mV('Mat',10,17);">10:17</a>; <a id="viii_p7_3" onClick="return mV('Mar',13,9);">Mark 13:9</a>. Of course all ecclesiastical and, so to speak, strictly Jewish causes, and all religious questions were within their special cognisance. Lastly, there were also in every place what we may call municipal authorities, under the presidency of a mayor&#8212;the representatives of the "elders";&#8212;an institution so frequently mentioned in Scripture, and deeply rooted in Jewish society. Perhaps these may be referred to in <a id="viii_p7_4" onClick="return mV('Luk',7,3);">Luke 7:3</a>, as sent by the centurion of Capernaum to intercede for him with the Lord.</p>
<p id="viii_p8">What may be called the police and sanitary regulations were of the strictest character. Of Caesarea, for example, we know that there was a regular system of drainage into the sea, apparently similar to, but more perfect than that of any modern town (Josephus, <i>Ant</i>. xv, 340). The same holds true in regard to the Temple-buildings at Jerusalem. But in every town and village sanitary rules were strictly attended to. Cemeteries, tanneries, and whatever also might be prejudicial to health, had to be removed at least fifty cubits outside a town. Bakers' and dyers' shops, or stables, were not allowed under the dwelling of another person. Again, the line of each street had to be strictly kept in building, nor was even a projection beyond it allowed. In general the streets were wider than those of modern Eastern cities. The nature of the soil, and the circumstance that so many towns were built on hills (at least in Judaea), would, of course, be advantageous in a sanitary point of view. It would also render the paving of the streets less requisite. But we know that certain towns <i>were</i> paved&#8212;Jerusalem with white stones (Josephus, <i>Ant</i>. xx, 219-223). To obviate occasions of dispute, neighbours were not allowed to have windows looking into the courts or rooms of others nor might the principal entrance to a shop be through a court common to two or three dwellings.</p>
<p id="viii_p9">These brief notices may help us better to realise the surroundings of Jewish town life. Looking up and down one of the streets of a town in Galilee or Judaea, the houses would be seen to differ in size and in elegance, from the small cottage, only eight or ten yards square, to the mansions of the rich, sometimes two or more stories high, and embellished by rows of pillars and architectural adornments. Suppose ourselves in front of a better-class dwelling, though not exactly that of a patrician, for it is built of brick, or perhaps of undressed, or even of dressed stone, but not of marble, nor yet of hewn stone; nor are its walls painted with such delicate colours as vermilion, but simply whitewashed, or, may be, covered with some neutral tint. A wide, sometimes costly, stair leads from the outside straight up to the flat roof, which is made to slope a little downwards, so as to allow the rainwater easily to flow through pipes into the cistern below. The roof is paved with brick, stone, or other hard substance, and surrounded by a balustrade, which, according to Jewish law, must be at least two cubits (three feet) high, and strong enough to bear the weight of a person. Police-regulations, conceived in the same spirit of carefulness, prohibited open wells and pits, insufficient ladders, rickety stairs, even dangerous dogs about a house. From roof to roof there might be a regular communication, called by the Rabbis "the road of the roofs" (<i>Babba Mez</i>. 88 b). Thus a person could make his escape, passing from roof to roof, till at the last house he would descend the stairs that led down its outside, without having entered any dwelling. To this "road of the roofs" our Lord no doubt referred in His warning to His followers (<a id="viii_p9_1" onClick="return mV('Mat',24,17);">Matt 24:17</a>; <a id="viii_p9_2" onClick="return mV('Mar',13,15);">Mark 13:15</a>; <a id="viii_p9_3" onClick="return mV('Luk',17,31);">Luke 17:31</a>), intended to apply to the last siege of Jerusalem: "And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein." For ordinary intercourse the roof was the coolest, the airiest, the stillest place. Of course, at times it would be used for purposes of domestic economy. But thither a man would retire in preference for prayer or quiet thinking; here he would watch, and wait, and observe whether friend or foe, the gathering of the storm, or&#8212;as the priest stationed on the pinnacle of the Temple before the morning sacrifice&#8212;how the red and golden light of dawn spread along the edge of the horizon. From the roof, also, it was easy to protect oneself against enemies, or to carry on dangerous fight with those beneath; and assuredly, if anywhere, it was "on the housetops" where secrets might be whispered, or, on the other hand, the most public "proclamation" of them be made (<a id="viii_p9_4" onClick="return mV('Mat',10,27);">Matt 10:27</a>; <a id="viii_p9_5" onClick="return mV('Luk',12,3);">Luke 12:3</a>). The stranger's room was generally built on the roof, in order that, undisturbed by the household, the guest might go out and come in; and here, at the feast of Tabernacles, for coolness and convenience, the leafy "booths" were often reared, in which Israel dwelt in memory of their pilgrimage. Close by was "the upper chamber." On the roof the family would gather for converse, or else in the court beneath&#8212;with its trees spreading grateful shade, and the music of its plashing fountain falling soothingly on the ear, as you stood in the covered gallery that ran all around, and opened on the apartments of the household.</p>
<p id="viii_p10">If the guest-chamber on the roof, which could be reached from the outside, without passing through the house, reminds us of Elisha and the Shunammite, and of the last Passover-supper, to which the Lord and His disciples could go, and which they could leave, without coming in contact with any in the house, the gallery that ran round the court under the roof recalls yet another most solemn scene. We remember how they who bore the man "sick of the palsy," when unable to "come nigh unto Jesus for the press," "uncovered the roof where He was," "and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus" (<a id="viii_p10_1" onClick="return mV('Mar',2,4);">Mark 2:4</a>; <a id="viii_p10_2" onClick="return mV('Luk',5,19);">Luke 5:19</a>). We know, from many Talmudical passages, that the Rabbis resorted in preference to "the upper room" when discussing religious questions. It may have been so in this instance; and, unable to gain access through the door which led into the upper room, the bearers of the sick may have broken down the ceiling from the roof. Or, judging it more likely that the attendant multitude thronged the court beneath, while Jesus stood in the gallery that ran round the court and opened into the various apartments, they might have broken down the roof above Him, and so slowly let down their burden at His feet, and in sight of them all. There is a significant parallelism, or rather contrast, to this in a Rabbinical story (<i>Moed K</i>. 25 a), which relates how, when the bier on which a celebrated teacher was laid could not be passed out at the door, they carried up their burden and let it down from the roof&#8212;on its way, not to a new life, but to burial. Otherwise, there was also a stair which led from the roof into the court and house. Approaching a house, as visitors ordinarily would do, from the street, you would either pass through a large outer court, or else come straight to the vestibule or porch. Here the door opened into the inner court, which sometimes was shared by several families. A porter opened to callers on mentioning their names, as did Rhoda to Peter on the eventful night of his miraculous deliverance from prison (<a id="viii_p10_3" onClick="return mV('Act',12,'13-14');">Acts 12:13-14</a>). Our Lord also applies this well-known fact of domestic life, when He says (<a id="viii_p10_4" onClick="return mV('Rev',3,20);">Rev 3:20</a>), "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." Passing through this inner court, and through the gallery, you would reach the various rooms&#8212;the family room, the reception room, and the sleeping apartments&#8212;the most retired being occupied by the ladies, and the inner rooms used chiefly in winter. The furniture was much the same as that now in use, consisting of tables, couches, chairs, candlesticks, and lamps, varying in costliness according to the rank and wealth of the family. Among articles of luxury we mention rich cushions for the head and arms, ornaments, and sometimes even pictures. The doors, which moved on hinges fastened with wooden pins, were barred by wooden bolts, which could be withdrawn by check keys from the outside. The dining apartment was generally spacious, and sometimes employed for meetings.</p>
<p id="viii_p11">We have been describing the arrangements and the appearance of towns and dwellings in Palestine. But it is not any of these outward things which gives a real picture of a Jewish home. Within, everything was quite peculiar. At the outset, the rite of circumcision separated the Jew from the nations around, and dedicated him to God. Private prayer, morning and evening, hallowed daily life, and family religions pervaded the home. Before every meal they washed and prayed: after it they "gave thanks." Besides, there were what may be designated as special family feasts. The return of the Sabbath sanctified the week of labour. It was to be welcomed as a king, or with songs as a bridegroom; and each household observed it as a season of sacred rest and of joy. True, Rabbinism made all this a matter of mere externalism, converting it into an unbearable burden, by endless injunctions of what constituted work and of that which was supposed to produce joy, thereby utterly changing its sacred character. Still, the fundamental idea remained, like a broken pillar that shows where the palace had stood, and what had been its noble proportions. As the head of the house returned on the Sabbath-eve from the synagogue to his home, he found it festively adorned, the Sabbath lamp brightly burning, and the table spread with the richest each household could afford. But first he blessed each child with the blessing of Israel. And next evening, when the Sabbath light faded out, he made solemn "separation" between the hallowed day and the working week, and so commenced his labour once more in the name of the Lord. Nor were the stranger, the poor, the widow, or the fatherless forgotten. How fully they were provided for, how each shared in what was to be considered not a burden but a privilege, and with what delicacy relief was administered&#8212;for all Israel were brethren, and fellow-citizens of their Jerusalem&#8212;those know best who have closely studied Jewish life, its ordinances and practices.</p>
<p id="viii_p12">But this also is rather a sketch of religious than of family life. At the outset, we should here say, that even the Hebrew name for "woman," given her at her creation (<a id="viii_p12_1" onClick="return mV('Gen',2,23);">Gen 2:23</a>), marked a wife as the companion of her husband, and his equal ("Ishah," a woman, from "Ish," a man). But it is when we consider the relations between man and wife, children and parents, the young and the aged, that the vast difference between Judaism and heathenism so strikingly appears. Even the relationship in which God presented Himself to His people, as their Father, would give peculiar strength and sacredness to the bond which connected earthly parents with their offspring. Here it should be borne in mind that, so to speak, the whole purpose of Israel as a nation, with a view to the appearance of the Messiah from among them, made it to each household a matter of deepest interest that no light in Israel should be extinguished through want of succession. Hence, such an expression as (<a id="viii_p12_2" onClick="return mV('Jer',22,10);">Jer 22:10</a>), "Weep sore for him that goeth away: for he shall return no more," was applied to those who died childless (<i>Moed K</i>. 27). Similarly, it was said that he who had no child was like one dead. Proverbial expressions in regard to the "parental relation" occur in Rabbinical writings, which in their higher application remind us that the New Testament writers were Jews. If, in the impassioned strain of happy assurance concerning our Christian safety, we are told (<a id="viii_p12_3" onClick="return mV('Rom',8,33);">Rom 8:33</a>), "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth," we may believe that St. Paul was familiar with a saying like this: "Shall a father bear witness against his son?" (<i>Abod S</i>. 3). The somewhat similar question, "Is there a father who hateth his own son?" may recall to our minds the comfort which the Epistle to the Hebrews ministers to those who are in suffering (<a id="viii_p12_4" onClick="return mV('Hbr',12,7);">Heb 12:7</a>), "If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?";</p>
<p id="viii_p13">Speaking of the relation between parents and children, it may be safely asserted, that no crime was more severely reprobated than any breach of the fifth commandment. The Talmud, with its usual punctiliousness, enters into details, when it lays down as a rule that "a son is bound to feed his father, to give him drink, to clothe him, to protect him, to lead him in, and to conduct him out, and to wash his face, his hands, and his feet"; to which the Jerusalem Gemara adds, that a son is even bound to beg for his father&#8212;although here also Rabbinism would give preference to a spiritual before a natural parent, or rather to one who teaches the law before a father! The general state of Jewish society shows us parents as fondly watching over their children, and children as requiting their care by bearing with the foibles, and even the trials, arising from the caprices of old age and infirmity. Such things as undutifulness, or want of loving consideration for parents, would have wakened a thrill of horror in Jewish society. As for crimes against parents, which the law of God visited with the utmost penalty, they seem happily to have been almost unknown. The Rabbinical ordinances, however, also specified the obligation of parents, and limited their power. Thus a son was considered independent whenever he could gain his own living; and, although a daughter remained in the power of her father till marriage, she could not, after she was of age, be given away without her own express and free consent. A father might chastise his child, but only while young, and even then not to such extent as to destroy self-respect. But to beat a grown-up son was forbidden on pain of excommunication; and the apostolic injunction (<a id="viii_p13_1" onClick="return mV('Eph',6,4);">Eph 6:4</a>), "Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath," finds almost its literal counterpart in the Talmud (<i>Moed K</i>. 17 a). Properly speaking, indeed, the Jewish law limited the absolute obligation of a father (a mother was free from such legal obligation) to feed, clothe, and house his child to his sixth year, after which he could only be admonished to it as one of the duties of love, but not legally constrained (<i>Chethub</i>. 49 b; 65 b). In case of separation of the parents, the mother had charge of the daughters, and the father of the sons; but the latter also might be intrusted to the mother, if the judges considered it for the advantage of the children.</p>
<p id="viii_p14">A few notices as to the reverence due to age will appropriately close this brief sketch of Jewish home life. It was a beautiful thought&#8212;however some may doubt its exegetical correctness&#8212;that just as the pieces of the broken tables of the law were kept in the ark, so old age should be venerated and cherished, even though it should be broken in mind or memory (<i>Ber</i>. 8 b). Assuredly, Rabbinism went to the utmost verge in this matter when it recommended reverence for age, even though it were in the case of one ignorant of the law, or of a Gentile. There were, however, diverging opinions on this point. The passage, <a id="viii_p14_1" onClick="return mV('Lev',19,32);">Leviticus 19:32</a>, "Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man," was explained to refer only to sages, who alone were to be regarded as old. If R. Jose compared such as learned of young men to those who ate unripe grapes and drank of new wine, R. Jehudah taught, "Look not at the bottles, but at what they contain. There are new bottles full of old wine, and old bottles which contain not even new wine" (<i>Ab</i>. iv. 20). Again, if in <a id="viii_p14_2" onClick="return mV('Deu',13,'1-2');">Deuteronomy 13:1-2</a>, and also, <a id="viii_p14_3" onClick="return mV('Deu',18,'21-22');">18:21-22</a>, the people were directed to test a prophet by the signs which he showed&#8212;a misapplication of which was made by the Jews, when they asked Christ what sign He showed unto them (<a id="viii_p14_4" onClick="return mV('Jhn',2,18);">John 2:18</a>, <a id="viii_p14_5" onClick="return mV('Jhn',6,30);">6:30</a>)&#8212;while in <a id="viii_p14_6" onClick="return mV('Deu',17,10);">Deuteronomy 17:10</a> they were told simply "to do according to all that they of that place inform thee," it was asked, What, then, is the difference between an old man and a prophet? To this the reply was: A prophet is like an ambassador, whom you believe in consequence of his royal credentials; but an ancient is one whose word you receive without requiring such evidence. And it was strictly enjoined that proper outward marks of respect should be shown to old age, such as to rise in the presence of older men, not to occupy their seats, to answer them modestly, and to assign to them the uppermost places at feasts.</p>
<p id="viii_p15">After having thus marked how strictly Rabbinism watched over the mutual duties of parents and children, it will be instructive to note how at the same time traditionalism, in its worship of the letter, really destroyed the spirit of the Divine law. An instance will here suffice; and that which we select has the double advantage of illustrating an otherwise difficult allusion in the New Testament, and of exhibiting the real characteristics of traditionalism. No commandment could be more plainly in accordance, alike with the spirit and the letter of the law, than this: "He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death." Yet our Lord distinctly charges traditionalism with "transgressing" it (<a id="viii_p15_1" onClick="return mV('Mat',15,'4-6');">Matt 15:4-6</a>). The following quotation from the Mishnah (<i>Sanh</i>. vii. 8) curiously illustrates the justice of His accusation: "He that curseth his father or his mother is not guilty, unless he curses them with express mention of the name of Jehovah." In any other case the sages declare him absolved! And this is by no means a solitary instance of Rabbinical perversion. Indeed, the moral systems of the synagogue leave the same sad impression on the mind as its doctrinal teaching. They are all elaborate chains of casuistry, of which no truer description could be given than in the words of the Saviour (<a id="viii_p15_2" onClick="return mV('Mat',15,6);">Matt 15:6</a>): "Ye have made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition."</p>
<hr />
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref29" id="ftn29">[29]</a></sup>From "betal," to cease&#8212;as the glossary to Baba B. 82 a explains: men without reproach, who gave up their work to give themselves wholly to the work of the synagogue. Such had a claim to support from the synagogue revenues.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref30" id="ftn30">[30]</a></sup>The name "Sanhedrim," or "Sunedrion," is undoubtedly of Greek derivation, although the Rabbis have tried to paraphrase it as "Sin" (=Sinai) "haderin," those who repeat or explain the law, or to trace its etymology, as being "those who hate to accept the persons of men in judgment" (the name being supposed to be composed of the Hebrew equivalents of the words italicised).</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref31" id="ftn31">[31]</a></sup>An ingenious attempt has lately been made to show that the Sanhedrim of three members was not a regular court, but only arbitrators chosen by the parties themselves. But the argument, so far as it tries to prove that such was always the case, seems to me not to meet all the facts.</p>
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<h2 id="ix-p0.1">Chapter 7 </h2>
<h3 id="ix-p0.2">The Upbringing of Jewish Children</h3>
<p id="ix_p1">The tenderness of the bond which united Jewish parents to their children appears even in the multiplicity and pictorialness of the expressions by which the various stages of child-life are designated in the Hebrew. Besides such general words as "ben" and "bath";&#8212;";son" and "daughter";&#8212;we find no fewer than nine different terms, each depicting a fresh stage of life. The first of these simply designates the babe as the newly&#8212;"born";&#8212;the "jeled," or, in the feminine, "jaldah";&#8212;as in <a id="ix_p1_1" onClick="return mV('Exd',2,3,6,8);">Exodus 2:3,6,8</a>. But the use of this term throws a fresh light on the meaning of some passages of Scripture. Thus we remember that it is applied to our Lord in the prophecy of His birth (<a id="ix_p1_2" onClick="return mV('Isa',9,6);">Isa 9:6</a>): "For a babe" ('jeled') is born unto us, a son ('ben') is given to us" while in <a id="ix_p1_3" onClick="return mV('Isa',2,6);">Isaiah 2:6</a> its employment adds a new meaning to the charge: "They please themselves (or strike hands) with the 'jalde'&#8212;the 'babes'&#8212;of strangers";&#8212;marking them, so to speak, as not only the children of strangers, but as unholy from their very birth. Compare also the pictorial, or else the poetical, use of the word "jeled" in such passages as <a id="ix_p1_4" onClick="return mV('Isa',29,23);">Isaiah 29:23</a>; <a id="ix_p1_5" onClick="return mV('Isa',57,4);">57:4</a>; <a id="ix_p1_6" onClick="return mV('Jer',31,20);">Jeremiah 31:20</a>; <a id="ix_p1_7" onClick="return mV('Ecc',4,13);">Ecclesiastes 4:13</a>; <a id="ix_p1_8" onClick="return mV('1Ki',12,8);">1 Kings 12:8</a>; <a id="ix_p1_9" onClick="return mV('2Ki',2,24);">2 Kings 2:24</a>; <a id="ix_p1_10" onClick="return mV('Gen',42,22);">Genesis 42:22</a>; and others. The next child-name, in point of time, is "jonek," which means, literally, "a suckling," being also sometimes used figuratively of plants, like our English "sucker," as in <a id="ix_p1_11" onClick="return mV('Isa',53,2);">Isaiah 53:2</a>: "He shall grow up before Him as a sucker";&#8212;"jonek." The word "jonek" occurs, for example, in <a id="ix_p1_12" onClick="return mV('Isa',11,8);">Isaiah 11:8</a>, and in <a id="ix_p1_13" onClick="return mV('Psa',8,2);">Psalm 8:2</a>. On the other hand, the expression in the latter passage, rendered "babes" in our Authorised Version, marks a yet third stage in the child's existence, and a farther advancement in the babe-life. This appears from many passages. As the word implies, the "olel" is still "sucking"; but it is no longer satisfied with only this nourishment, and is "asking bread," as in <a id="ix_p1_14" onClick="return mV('Lam',4,4);">Lamentations 4:4</a>: "The tongue of the 'jonek' cleaves to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the 'olalim' ask bread." A fourth designation represents the child as the "gamul," or "weaned one" (<a id="ix_p1_15" onClick="return mV('Psa',131,2);">Psa 131:2</a>; <a id="ix_p1_16" onClick="return mV('Isa',11,8);">Isa 11:8</a>; <a id="ix_p1_17" onClick="return mV('Isa',28,9);">28:9</a>), from a verb which primarily means to complete, and secondarily to wean. As we know, the period of weaning among the Hebrews was generally at the end of two years (<i>Chethub</i>. 60), and was celebrated by a feast. After that the fond eye of the Hebrew parent seems to watch the child as it is clinging to its mother&#8212;as it were, ranging itself by her&#8212;whence the fifth designation, "taph" (<a id="ix_p1_18" onClick="return mV('Est',3,13);">Esth 3:13</a>, "The 'taph' and the women in one day" <a id="ix_p1_19" onClick="return mV('Jer',40,7);">Jer 40:7</a>; <a id="ix_p1_20" onClick="return mV('Eze',9,6);">Eze 9:6</a>). The sixth period is marked by the word "elem" (in the feminine, "almah," as in <a id="ix_p1_21" onClick="return mV('Isa',7,14);">Isa 7:14</a>, of the virgin-mother), which denotes becoming firm and strong. As one might expect, we have next the "naari," or youth&#8212;literally, he who shakes off, or shakes himself free. Lastly, we find the child designated as "bachur," or the "ripened one"; a young warrior, as in <a id="ix_p1_22" onClick="return mV('Isa',31,8);">Isaiah 31:8</a>; <a id="ix_p1_23" onClick="return mV('Jer',18,21);">Jeremiah 18:21</a>; <a id="ix_p1_24" onClick="return mV('Jer',15,8);">15:8</a>, etc. Assuredly, those who so keenly watched child-life as to give a pictorial designation to each advancing stage of its existence, must have been fondly attached to their children.</p>
<p id="ix_p2">There is a passage in the Mishnah (<i>Aboth</i>. v. 21), which quaintly maps out and, as it were, labels the different periods of life according to their characteristics. It is worth reproducing, if only to serve as introduction to what we shall have to say on the upbringing of children. Rabbi Jehudah, the son of Tema, says: "At five years of age, reading of the Bible; at ten years, learning the Mishnah; at thirteen years, bound to the commandments; at fifteen years, the study of the Talmud; at eighteen years, marriage; at twenty, the pursuit of trade or business (active life); at thirty years, full vigour; at forty, maturity of reason; at fifty, of counsel; at sixty, commencement of agedness; at seventy, grey age; at eighty, advanced old age; at ninety, bowed down; at a hundred, as if he were dead and gone, and taken from the world." In the passage just quoted the age of five is mentioned as that when a child is expected to commence reading the Bible&#8212;of course, in the original Hebrew. But different opinions also prevailed. Generally speaking, such early instruction was regarded as only safe in the case of very healthy and strong children; while those of average constitution were not to be set to regular work till six years old. There is both common sense and sound experience in this Talmudical saying (<i>Cheth</i>. 50), "If you set your child to regular study before it is six years old, you shall always have to run after, and yet never get hold of it." This chiefly has reference to the irreparable injury to health caused by such early strain upon the mind. If, on the other hand, we come upon an admonition to begin teaching a child when it is three years old, this must refer to such early instructions as the of certain passages of Scripture, or of small isolated portions and prayers, which a parent would make his child repeat from tenderest years. As we shall show in the sequel, six or seven was the age at which a parent in Palestine was legally bound to attend to the schooling of his son.</p>
<p id="ix_p3">But, indeed, it would have been difficult to say when the instruction of the Hebrew child really commenced. Looking back, a man must have felt that the teaching which he most&#8212;indeed, one might almost say, which he exclusively&#8212;valued had mingled with the first waking thoughts of his consciousness. Before the child could speak&#8212;before it could almost understand what was taught, in however elementary language&#8212;before it would even take in the domestic rites of the recurring weekly festival, or those of the annual feasts&#8212;it must have been attracted by the so-called "Mesusah," which was fastened at the door-post of every "clean" apartment,<sup><a href="#ftn32" id="ftnref32">[32]</a></sup> and at the entrance of such houses as were inhabited by Jews exclusively. The "Mesusah" was a kind of phylactery for the house, serving a purpose kindred to that of the phylactery for the person, both being derived from a misunderstanding and misapplication of the Divine direction (<a id="ix_p3_1" onClick="return mV('Deu',6,9);">Deu 6:9</a>; <a id="ix_p3_2" onClick="return mV('Deu',11,20);">11:20</a>), taking in the letter what was meant for the spirit. But while we gladly concede that the earlier Jewish practice was free from some of the present almost semi-heathenish customs,<sup><a href="#ftn33" id="ftnref33">[33]</a></sup> and further, that many houses in Palestine were without it, there can be little doubt that, even at the time of Christ, this "Mesusah" would be found wherever a family was at all Pharisaically inclined.</p>
<p id="ix_p4">For, not to speak of what seems an allusion to it, so early as in <a id="ix_p4_1" onClick="return mV('Isa',57,8);">Isaiah 57:8</a>, we have the distinct testimony of Josephus (<i>Ant</i>. iv, 213) and of the Mishnah to their use (<i>Ber</i>. iii. 3; <i>Megill</i>. i. 8; <i>Moed K</i>. iii. 4; <i>Men</i>. iii.7&#8212;in the last&#8212;mentioned place, even with superstitious additions). Supposing the "Mesusah" to have been somewhat as at present, it would have consisted of a small, longitudinally&#8212;folded parchment square, on which, on twenty&#8212;two lines, these two passages were written: <a id="ix_p4_2" onClick="return mV('Deu',6,'4-9');">Deuteronomy 6:4-9</a>, and <a id="ix_p4_3" onClick="return mV('Deu',11,'13-21');">11:13-21</a>. Inclosed in a shining metal case, and affixed to the door-post, the child, when carried in arms, would naturally put out its hand to it; the more so, that it would see the father and all others, on going out or in, reverently touch the case, and afterwards kiss the finger, speaking at the same time a benediction. For, from early times, the presence of the "Mesusah" was connected with the Divine protection, this verse being specially applied to it: "The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore" (<a id="ix_p4_4" onClick="return mV('Psa',121,8);">Psa 121:8</a>). Indeed, one of the most interesting ancient literary monuments in existence&#8212;"Mechilta," a Jewish commentary on the book of Exodus, the substance of which is older than the Mishnah itself, dating from the beginning of the second century of our era, if not earlier&#8212;argues the efficacy of the "Mesusah" from the fact that, since the destroying angel passed over the doors of Israel which bore the covenant-mark, a much higher value must attach to the "Mesusah," which embodied the name of the Lord no less than ten times, and was to be found in the dwellings of Israel day and night through all their generations. From this to the magical mysticism of the "Kabbalah," and even to such modern superstitions as that, if dust or dirt were kept within a cubit of the "Mesusah," no less a host than three hundred and sixty-five demons would come, there is a difference of degree rather than of kind.</p>
<p id="ix_p5">But to return. As soon as the child had any knowledge, the private and the united prayers of the family, and the domestic rites, whether of the weekly Sabbath or of festive seasons, would indelibly impress themselves upon his mind. It would be difficult to say which of those feasts would have the most vivid effect upon a child's imagination. There was "Chanukah," the feast of the Dedication, with its illumination of each house, when (in most cases) the first evening one candle would be lit for each member of the household, the number increasing each night, till, on the eighth, it was eight times that of the first. Then there was "Purim," the feast of Esther, with the good cheer and boisterous merriment which it brought; the feast of Tabernacles, when the very youngest of the house had to live out in the booth; and, chiefest of feasts, the week of the Passover, when, all leaven being carefully purged out, every morsel of food, by its difference from that ordinarily used, would show the child that the season was a special one. From the moment a child was at all capable of being instructed&#8212;still more, of his taking any part in the services&#8212;the impression would deepen day by day. Surely no one who had ever worshipped within the courts of Jehovah's house at Jerusalem could ever have forgotten the scenes he had witnessed, or the words he had heard. Standing in that gorgeous, glorious building, and looking up its terraced vista, the child would watch with solemn awe, not unmingled with wonderment, as the great throng of white-robed priests busily moved about, while the smoke of the sacrifice rose from the altar of burnt-offering. Then, amid the hushed silence of that vast multitude, they had all fallen down to worship at the time of incense. Again, on those steps that led up to the innermost sanctuary the priests had lifted their hands and spoken over the people the words of blessing; and then, while the drink-offering was poured out, the Levites' chant of Psalms had risen and swelled into a mighty volume; the exquisite treble of the Levite children's voices being sustained by the rich round notes of the men, and accompanied by instrumental music. The Jewish child knew many of these words. They had been the earliest songs he had heard&#8212;almost his first lesson when clinging as a "taph" to his mother. But now, in those white-marbled, gold-adorned halls, under heaven's blue canopy, and with such surroundings, they would fall upon his ear like sounds from another world, to which the prolonged threefold blasts from the silver trumpets of the priests would seem to waken him. And <i>they were</i> sounds from another world; for, as his father would tell him, all that he saw was after the exact pattern of heavenly things which God had shown to Moses on Mount Sinai; all that he heard was God-uttered, spoken by Jehovah Himself through the mouth of His servant David, and of the other sweet singers of Israel. Nay, that place and that house were God-chosen; and in the thick darkness of the Most Holy Place&#8212;there afar off, where the high-priest himself entered on one day of the year only, and in simple pure white vesture, not in those splendid golden garments in which he was ordinarily arrayed&#8212;had once stood the ark, with the veritable tables of the law, hewn and graven by the very hand of God; and between the cherubim had then throned in the cloud the visible presence of Jehovah. Verily this Temple with its services was heaven upon earth!</p>
<p id="ix_p6">Nor would it have been easy to lose the impression of the first Paschal Supper which a child had attended. There was that about its symbols and services which appealed to every feeling, even had it not been that the law expressly enjoined full instruction to be given as to every part and rite of the service, as well as to the great event recorded in that supper. For in that night had Israel been born as a nation, and redeemed as the "congregation" of the Lord. Then also, as in a mould, had their future history been cast to all time; and there, as in type, had its eternal meaning and import for all men been outlined, and with it God's purpose of love and work of grace foreshadowed. Indeed, at a certain part of the service it was expressly ordained, that the youngest at the Paschal table should rise and formally ask what was the meaning of all this service, and how that night was distinguished from others; to which the father was to reply, by relating, in language suited to the child's capacity, the whole national history of Israel, from the calling of Abraham down to the deliverance from Egypt and the giving of the law; "and the more fully," it is added, "he explains it all, the better." In view of all this, Philo might indeed, without exaggeration, say that the Jews "were from their swaddling clothes, even before being taught either the sacred laws or the unwritten customs, trained by their parents, teachers, and instructors to recognise God as Father and as the Maker of the world" (<i>Legat. ad. Cajum</i>, sec. 16); and that, "having been taught the knowledge (of the laws) from earliest youth, they bore in their souls the image of the commandments" (Ibid. sec. 31). To the same effect is the testimony of Josephus, that "from their earliest consciousness" they had "learned the laws, so as to have them, as it were, engraven upon the soul" (<i>Ag. Apion</i>, ii, 18); although, of course, we do not believe it, when, with his usual boastful magniloquence, he declares that at the age of fourteen he had been "frequently" consulted by "the high priests and principal men of the city...about the accurate understanding of points of the law" (<i>Life</i>, 7-12; compare also <i>Ant</i>. iv, 31; <i>Ag. Apion</i>, i, 60-68, ii, 199-203).</p>
<p id="ix_p7">But there is no need of such testimony. The Old Testament, the Apocrypha, and the New Testament, leading us progressively from century to century, indicate the same carefulness in the upbringing of children. One of the earliest narratives of Scripture records how God said to Abraham, "I know him, that he will command his children, and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of Jehovah to do justice and judgment" (<a id="ix_p7_1" onClick="return mV('Gen',18,19);">Gen 18:19</a>)&#8212;a statement which, we may note by the way, implies the distinction between the seed of Abraham after the flesh and after the spirit. How thoroughly the spirit of this Divine utterance was carried out under the law, appears from a comparison of such passages as <a id="ix_p7_2" onClick="return mV('Exd',12,26);">Exodus 12:26</a>; <a id="ix_p7_3" onClick="return mV('Exd',13,8,14);">13:8, 14</a>; <a id="ix_p7_4" onClick="return mV('Deu',4,'9-10');">Deuteronomy 4:9-10</a>; <a id="ix_p7_5" onClick="return mV('Deu',6,7,20);">6:7, 20</a>; <a id="ix_p7_6" onClick="return mV('Deu',11,19);">11:19</a>; <a id="ix_p7_7" onClick="return mV('Deu',31,13);">31:13</a>; <a id="ix_p7_8" onClick="return mV('Psa',78,'5-6');">Psalm 78:5-6</a>. It is needless to pursue the subject farther, or to show how even God's dealings with His people were regarded as the basis and model of the parental relationship. But the book in the Old Testament which, if properly studied, would give us the deepest insight into social and family life under the old dispensation&#8212;we mean the book of Proverbs&#8212;is so full of admonitions about the upbringing of children, that it is sufficient to refer the reader generally to it. He will find there the value of such training, its object, in the acquisition of true wisdom in the fear and service of Jehovah, and the opposite dangers most vividly portrayed&#8212;the practical bearing of all being summed up in this aphorism, true to all times: "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it" (<a id="ix_p7_9" onClick="return mV('Pro',22,6);">Prov 22:6</a>); of which we have this New Testament application: "Bring up (your children) in the nurture and admonition of the Lord" (<a id="ix_p7_10" onClick="return mV('Eph',6,4);">Eph 6:4</a>).</p>
<p id="ix_p8">The book of Proverbs brings before us yet another phase of deepest interest. It contains the fullest appreciation of woman in her true dignity, and of her position and influence in the family-life. It is quite true, as we shall presently show, that the obligation to train the child rested primarily upon the father, and that both by the law of God and by the ordinances of the Rabbis. But even the patriarchal story will prepare an attentive reader to find, especially in the early upbringing of children, that constant influence of woman, which, indeed, the nature of the maternal relationship implies, provided the family-life be framed on the model of the Word of God. Lovelier pictures of this than the mother of Samuel and the pious Shunammite hostess of Elisha can scarcely be conceived. But the book of Proverbs shows us, that even in the early times of the Jewish monarchy this characteristic of Old Testament life also appeared outside the bounds of the Holy Land, wherever pious Israelites had their settlements. The subject is so deeply interesting, historically and religiously, and perhaps so new to some readers, that a slight digression may be allowed us.</p>
<p id="ix_p9">Beyond the limits of the Holy Land, close by Dumah, lay the land or district of Massa (<a id="ix_p9_1" onClick="return mV('Gen',25,14);">Gen 25:14</a>), one of the original seats of the Ishmaelites (<a id="ix_p9_2" onClick="return mV('1Ch',1,30);">1 Chron 1:30</a>). From <a id="ix_p9_3" onClick="return mV('Isa',21,11);">Isaiah 21:11</a> we gather that it must have been situate beyond Seir&#8212;that is, to the south-east of Palestine, in Northern Arabia. Whether the Ishmaelites of Massa had come to the knowledge of Jehovah, the true God; whether Massa was occupied by a Jewish colony, which there established the service of the Lord;<sup><a href="#ftn34" id="ftnref34">[34]</a></sup> or whether, through the influence of Hebrew immigrants, such a religious change had been brought about, certain it is, that the two last chapters of the book of Proverbs introduce the royal family of Massa as deeply imbued with the spiritual religion of the Old Testament, and the queen-mother as training the heir to the throne in the knowledge and fear of the Lord.<sup><a href="#ftn35" id="ftnref35">[35]</a></sup></p>
<p id="ix_p10">Indeed, so much is this the case, that the instruction of the queen of Massa, and the words of her two royal sons, are inserted in the book of Proverbs as part of the inspired records of the Old Testament. According to the best criticism, <a id="ix_p10_1" onClick="return mV('Pro',30,1);">Proverbs 30:1</a> should be thus rendered: "The words of Agur, the son of her whom Massa obeys. Spake the man to God-with-me&#8212;God with me, and I was strong."<sup><a href="#ftn36" id="ftnref36">[36]</a></sup></p>
<p id="ix_p11">Then <a id="ix_p11_1" onClick="return mV('Pro',31,'1-');">Proverbs 31</a> embodies the words of Augur's royal brother, even "the words of Lemuel, king of Massa, with which his mother taught him." If the very names of these two princes&#8212;Agur, "exile," and Lemuel, "for God," or "dedicated to God";&#8212;are significant of her convictions, the teaching of that royal mother, as recorded in <a id="ix_p11_2" onClick="return mV('Pro',31,'2-9');">Proverbs 31:2-9</a>, is worthy of a "mother in Israel." No wonder that the record of her teaching is followed by an enthusiastic description of a godly woman's worth and work (<a id="ix_p11_3" onClick="return mV('Pro',31,'10-31');">Prov 31:10-31</a>), each verse beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet (the Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters), like the various sections of <a id="ix_p11_4" onClick="return mV('Psa',119,'all');">Psalm 119</a>&#8212;as it were, to let her praises ring through every letter of speech.</p>
<p id="ix_p12">As might have been expected, the spirit of the Apocryphal books is far different from that which breathes in the Old Testament. Still, such a composition as Ecclesiasticus shows that even in comparatively late and degenerate times the godly upbringing of children occupied a most prominent place in religious thinking. But it is when we approach the New Testament, that a fresh halo of glory seems to surround woman. And here our attention is directed to the spiritual influence of mothers rather than of fathers. Not to mention "the mother of Zebedee's children," nor the mother of John Mark, whose home at Jerusalem seems to have been the meeting-place and the shelter of the early disciples, and that in times of the most grievous persecution; nor yet "the elect lady and her children," whom not only St. John, "but also all they that know the truth," loved in truth (<a id="ix_p12_1" onClick="return mV('2Jo',1,1);">2 John 1</a>), and her similarly elect sister with her children (<a id="ix_p12_2" onClick="return mV('2Jo',1,13);">2 John 13</a>), two notable instances will occur to the reader. The first of these presents a most touching instance of a mother's faith, and prayers, and labour of love, to which the only parallel in later history is that of Monica, the mother of St. Augustine. How Eunice, the daughter of the pious Lois, had come to marry a heathen,<sup><a href="#ftn37" id="ftnref37">[37]</a></sup> we know as little as the circumstances which may have originally led the family to settle at Lystra (<a id="ix_p12_3" onClick="return mV('Act',16,1);">Acts 16:1</a>; compare <a id="ix_p12_4" onClick="return mV('Act',14,6);">14:6</a>, etc.), a place where there was not even a synagogue.</p>
<p id="ix_p13">At most then two or three Jewish families lived in that heathen city. Perhaps Lois and Eunice were the only worshippers of Jehovah there; for we do not even read of a meeting-place for prayer, such as that by the river-side where Paul first met Lydia. Yet in such adverse circumstances, and as the wife of a Greek, Eunice proved one to whom royal Lemuel's praise applied in the fullest sense: "Her children arise up and call her blessed," and "Her works praise her in the gates";&#8212; of the new Jerusalem. Not a truer nor more touching portraiture of a pious Jewish home could have been drawn than in these words of St. Paul: "I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice"; and again, "From a child thou hast know the Holy Scriptures" (<a id="ix_p13_1" onClick="return mV('2Ti',1,5);">2 Tim 1:5</a>; <a id="ix_p13_2" onClick="return mV('2Ti',3,15);">3:15</a>). There was, we repeat, no synagogue in Lystra where Timothy might have heard every Sabbath, and twice in the week, Moses and the Prophets read, and derived other religious knowledge; there was, so far as we can see, neither religious companionship nor means of instruction of any kind, nor religious example, not even from his father; but all around quite the contrary. But there was one influence for highest good&#8212;constant, unvarying, and most powerful. It was that of "mother of Israel." From the time that as a "taph" he clung to her&#8212;even before that, when a "gamul," an "olel," and a "jonek";&#8212;had Eunice trained Timothy in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. To quote again the forcible language of St. Paul, "From an infant";<sup><a href="#ftn38" id="ftnref38">[38]</a></sup> (or baby) "thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus."</p>
<p id="ix_p14">From the Apocrypha, from Josephus, and from the Talmud we know what means of instruction in the Scriptures were within reach of a pious mother at that time. In a house like that of Timothy's father there would, of course, be no phylacteries, with the portions of Scripture which they contained, and probably no "Mesusah," although, according to the Mishnah (<i>Ber</i>. iii. 3), the latter duty was incumbent, not only upon men but upon women. the Babylon Talmud (<i>Ber</i>. 20 b) indeed gives a very unsatisfactory reason for the latter provision. But may it not be that the Jewish law had such cases in view as that of Eunice and her son, without expressly saying so, from fear of lending a sanction to mixed marriages? Be this as it may, we know that at the time of the Syrian persecutions, just before the rising of the Maccabees, the possession of portions or of the whole of the Old Testament by private families was common in Israel. For, part of those persecutions consisted in making search for these Scriptures and destroying them (<span id="ix_p14_1">1 Macc. i. 57), as well as punishing their possessors (Josephus, <i>Ant</i>. xii, 256). Of course, during the period of religious revival which followed the triumph of the Maccabees, such copies of the Bible would have greatly multiplied. It is by no means an exaggeration to say that, if perhaps only the wealthy possessed a complete copy of the Old Testament, written out on parchment or on Egyptian paper, there would scarcely be a pious home, however humble, which did not cherish as its richest treasure some portion of the Word of God&#8212;whether the five books of the Law, or the Psalter, or a roll of one or more of the Prophets. Besides, we know from the Talmud that at a later period, and probably at the time of Christ also, there were little parchment rolls specially for the use of children, containing such portions of Scripture as the "Shema"<sup><a href="#ftn39" id="ftnref39">[39]</a></sup> (<a id="ix_p14_2" onClick="return mV('Deu',6,'4-9');">Deut 6:4-9</a>; <a id="ix_p14_3" onClick="return mV('Deu',11,'13-21');">11:13-21</a>; <a id="ix_p14_4" onClick="return mV('Num',15,'37-41');">Num 15:37-41</a>), the "Hallel" (<a id="ix_p14_5" onClick="return mV('Psa',113,'all');">Psa 113</a>; <a onClick="return mV('Psa',114,'all');">Psa 114</a>; <a onClick="return mV('Psa',115,'all');">Psa 115</a>; <a onClick="return mV('Psa',116,'all');">Psa 116</a>; <a onClick="return mV('Psa',117,'all');">Psa 117</a>; <a onClick="return mV('Psa',118,'all');">Psa 118</a>), the history of the Creation to that of the Flood, and the first eight chapters of the book of Leviticus. Such means of instruction there would be at the disposal of Eunice in teaching her son.</p>
<p id="ix_p15">And this leads us to mention, with due reverence, the other and far greater New Testament instance of maternal influence in Israel. It is none less than that of the mother of our blessed Lord Himself. While the fact that Jesus became subject to His parents, and grew in wisdom and in favour both with God and man, forms part of the unfathomable mystery of His self-humiliation, the influence exerted upon His early education, especially by His mother, seems implied throughout the gospel history. Of course, His was a pious Jewish home; and at Nazareth there was a synagogue, to which, as we shall by-and-by explain, a school was probably attached. In that synagogue Moses and the Prophets would be read, and, as afterwards by Himself (<a id="ix_p15_1" onClick="return mV('Luk',4,16);">Luke 4:16</a>), discourses or addresses be delivered from time to time. What was taught in these synagogue-schools, and how, will be shown in another chapter. But, whether or not Jesus had attended such a school, His mind was so thoroughly imbued with the Sacred Scriptures&#8212;He was so familiar with them in their every detail&#8212;that we cannot fail to infer that the home of Nazareth possessed a precious copy of its own of the entire Sacred Volume, which from earliest childhood formed, so to speak, the meat and drink of the God-Man. More than that, there is clear evidence that He was familiar with the art of writing, which was by no means so common in those days as reading. The words of our Lord, as reported both by St. Matthew (<a id="ix_p15_2" onClick="return mV('Mat',5,18);">Matt 5:18</a>) and by St. Luke (<a id="ix_p15_3" onClick="return mV('Luk',16,18);">Luke 16:17</a>), also prove that the copy of the Old Testament from which He had drawn was not only in the original Hebrew, but written, like our modern copies, in the so-called Assyrian, and not in the ancient Hebrew-Phoenician characters. This appears from the expression "one iota or one little hook";&#8212;erroneously rendered "tittle" in our Authorised Version&#8212;which can only apply to the modern Hebrew characters. That our Lord taught in Aramaean, and that He used and quoted the Holy Scriptures in the Hebrew, perhaps sometimes rendering them for popular use into Aramaean, there can be little doubt on the part of careful and unprejudiced students, though some learned men have held the opposite. It is quite true that the Mishnah (<i>Megill</i>. i. 8) seems to allow the writing of Holy Scripture in any language; but even Simeon, the son of Gamaliel (the teacher of St. Paul), confined this concession to the Greek&#8212;no doubt with a view to the LXX, which was so widely spread in his time. But we also know from the Talmud, how difficult it was for a Rabbi to defend the study or use of Greek, and how readily popular prejudice burst into a universal and sweeping condemnation of it. The same impression is conveyed not only from the immediate favourable change which the use of the Aramaean by St. Paul produced upon the infuriated people (<a id="ix_p15_4" onClick="return mV('Act',21,40);">Acts 21:40</a>), but also from the fact that only an appeal to the Hebrew Scriptures could have been of authority in discussion with the Pharisees and Scribes, and that it alone gave point to the frequent expostulations of Christ: "Have ye not read?" (<a id="ix_p15_5" onClick="return mV('Mat',12,3);">Matt 12:3</a>; <a id="ix_p15_6" onClick="return mV('Mat',19,4);">19:4</a>; <a id="ix_p15_7" onClick="return mV('Mat',21,13,16,42);">21:13,16,42</a>; <a id="ix_p15_8" onClick="return mV('Mat',22,31);">22:31</a>).</p>
<p id="ix_p16">This familiarity from earliest childhood with the Scriptures in the Hebrew original also explains how at the age of twelve Jesus could be found "in the Temple; sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions" (<a id="ix_p16_1" onClick="return mV('Luk',2,46);">Luke 2:46</a>). In explaining this seemingly strange circumstance, we may take the opportunity of correcting an almost universal mistake. It is generally thought that, on the occasion referred to, the Saviour had gone up, as being "of age," in the Jewish sense of the expression, or, to use their own terms, as a "Bar Mizvah," or "son of the commandment," by which the period was marked when religious obligations and privileges devolved upon a youth, and he became a member of the congregation. But the legal age for this was not twelve, but thirteen (<i>Ab</i>. v. 21). On the other hand, the Rabbinical law enjoined (<i>Yoma</i>, 82 a) that even before that&#8212;two years, or at least one year&#8212;lads should be brought up to the Temple, and made to observe the festive rites. Unquestionably, it was in conformity with this universal custom that Jesus went on the occasion named to the Temple. Again, we know that it was the practice of the members of the various Sanhedrims&#8212;who on ordinary days sat as judicatories, from the close of the morning to the time of the evening sacrifice (<i>Sanh</i>. 88 b)&#8212;to come out upon the Sabbaths and feast-days on "the terrace of the Temple," and there publicly to teach and expound, the utmost liberty being given of asking questions, discussing, objecting, and otherwise taking intelligent part in these lectures. On the occasion of Christ's presence, these discussions would, as usual, be carried on during the "Moed Katon," or minor festive days, intervening between the second and the last day of the Paschal week. Joseph and Mary, on the other hand, had, as allowed by the law, returned towards Nazareth on the third day of the Paschal week, while Jesus remained behind. These circumstances also explain why His appearance in the midst of the doctors, although very remarkable considering His age, did not at once command universal attention. In point of fact, the only qualification requisite, so far as learning was concerned, would be a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures in the Hebrew, and a proper understanding of them.</p>
<p id="ix_p17">What we have hitherto described will have conveyed to the reader that the one branch of instruction aimed after or desired by the Jews at the time of Christ was religious knowledge. What was understood by this, and how it was imparted&#8212;whether in the family or in the public schools&#8212;must form the subject of special investigation.</p>
<hr />
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref32" id="ftn32">[32]</a></sup>The "Mesusah" was not affixed to any that were not "diroth cavod";&#8212;dwellings of honour. Thus not to bath rooms, wash-houses, tanneries, dyeworks, etc. The "Mesusah" was only attached to dwelling-places, not to synagogues.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref33" id="ftn33">[33]</a></sup>The tractate Massecheth Mesusah cannot be regarded as an authority for early times. But even the "Sohar" contains much that is little better than heathen superstition on the supposed efficacy of the "Mesusah." Among later superstitions connected with it, are the writing of the name "Cuso bemuchsas cuso" (supposed to be that of Israel's watching angel), the etymology of that name, etc.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref34" id="ftn34">[34]</a></sup>From <a id="ixftn34_1" onClick="return mV('1Ch',4,'38-43');">1 Chronicles 4:38-43</a> we infer colonisation in that direction, especially on the part of the tribe of Simeon. Utterances in the prophets (such as in <a id="ixftn34_2" onClick="return mV('Isa',21,'all');">Isa 21</a> and <a id="ixftn34_3" onClick="return mV('Mic',1,'all');">Micah 1</a>) seem also to indicate a very wide spread of Jewish settlers. It is a remarkable fact that, according to mediaeval Jewish and Arab writers, the districts of Massa and Dumah were largely inhabited by Jews.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref35" id="ftn35">[35]</a></sup>There can be no question that the word rendered in the Authorised Version (<a id="ixftn35_1" onClick="return mV('Pro',30,1);">Prov 30:1</a> and <a id="ixftn35_2" onClick="return mV('Pro',31,1);">31:1</a>) by "prophecy" is simply the name of a district, "Massa."</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref36" id="ftn36">[36]</a></sup>Or, according to another rendering, "Spake the man: I diligently searched after God, and I am become weary." This, of course, is not the place for critical discussion; but we may say that we have followed the general conclusions adopted alike by Delitzsch and Zockler, and by Ewald, Hitzig, and Bertheau.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref37" id="ftn37">[37]</a></sup>The language of the New Testament leads to the inference that Timothy's father was not only by birth, but continued a Greek&#8212;being not merely a heathen, but not even a Jewish proselyte.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref38" id="ftn38">[38]</a></sup>The Greek term means literally "a baby," and is so used, not only by classical writers, but in all the passages in which it occurs in the New Testament, which are as follows: <a id="ixftn38_1" onClick="return mV('Luk',1,41,44);">Luke 1:41, 44</a>; <a id="ixftn38_3" onClick="return mV('Luk',2,12,16);">2:12, 16</a>; <a id="ixftn38_5" onClick="return mV('Luk',18,15);">18:15</a>; <a id="ixftn38_6" onClick="return mV('Act',7,19);">Acts 7:19</a>; <a id="ixftn38_7" onClick="return mV('2Ti',3,15);">2 Tim 3:15</a>; and <a id="ixftn38_8" onClick="return mV('1Pe',2,2);">1 Peter 2:2</a>.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref39" id="ftn39">[39]</a></sup>The "Shema";&#8212;so called from the first word, "Shema" ("Hear, O Israel")&#8212;forms part of the regular prayers; as the section called "Hallel" ("praise") was appointed to be sung at certain seasons.</p>
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<h2 id="x-p0.1">Chapter 8 </h2>
<h3 id="x-p0.2">Subjects of Study. Home Education in Israel; Female Education. Elementary Schools, Schoolmasters, and School Arrangements.</h3>
<p id="x_p1">If a faithful picture of society in ancient Greece or Rome were to be presented to view, it is not easy to believe that even they who now most oppose the Bible could wish their aims success. For this, at any rate, may be asserted, without fear of gainsaying, that no other religion than that of the Bible has proved competent to control an advanced, or even an advancing, state of civilisation. Every other bound has been successively passed and submerged by the rising tide; how deep only the student of history knows. Two things are here undeniable. In the case of heathenism every advance in civilisation has marked a progressive lowering of public morality, the earlier stages of national life always showing a far higher tone than the later. On the contrary, the religion of the Bible (under the old as under the new dispensation) has increasingly raised, if not uniformly the public morals, yet always the tone and standard of public morality; it has continued to exhibit a standard never yet attained, and it has proved its power to control public and social life, to influence and to mould it.</p>
<p id="x_p2">Strange as it may sound, it is strictly true that, beyond the boundaries of Israel, it would be scarcely possible to speak with any propriety of family life, or even of the family, as we understand these terms. It is significant, that the Roman historian Tacitus should mark it as something special among the Jews<sup><a href="#ftn40" id="ftnref40">[40]</a></sup> &#8212;which they only shared with the ancient barbarian Germans&#8212;that they regarded it as a crime to kill their offspring!</p>
<p id="x_p3">This is not the place to describe the exposure of children, or the various crimes by which ancient Greece and Rome, in the days of their highest culture, sought to rid themselves of what was regarded as superfluous population. Few of those who have learned to admire classical antiquity have a full conception of any one phase in its social life&#8212;whether of the position of woman, the relation of the sexes, slavery, the education of children, their relation to their parents, or the state of public morality. Fewer still have combined all these features into one picture, and that not merely as exhibited by the lower orders, or even among the higher classes, but as fully owned and approved by those whose names have descended in the admiration of ages as the thinkers, the sages, the poets, the historians, and the statesmen of antiquity. Assuredly, St. Paul's description of the ancient world in the first and second chapters of his Epistle to the Romans must have appeared to those who lived in the midst of it as Divine even in its tenderness, delicacy, and charity; the full picture under bright sunlight would have been scarcely susceptible of exhibition. For such a world there was only one alternative&#8212;either the judgment of Sodom, or the mercy of the Gospel and the healing of the Cross.<sup><a href="#ftn41" id="ftnref41">[41]</a></sup></p>
<p id="x_p4">When we pass from the heathen world into the homes of Israel, even the excess of their exclusiveness seems for the moment a relief. It is as if we turned from enervating, withering, tropical heat into a darkened room, whose grateful coolness makes us for the moment forget that its gloom is excessive, and cannot continue as the day declines. And this shutting out of all from without, this exclusiveness, applied not only to what concerned their religion, their social and family life, but also to their knowledge. In the days of Christ the pious Jew had no other knowledge, neither sought nor cared for any other&#8212;in fact, denounced it&#8212;than that of the law of God. At the outset, let it be remembered that, in heathenism, theology, or rather mythology, had no influence whatever on thinking or life&#8212;was literally submerged under their waves. To the pious Jew, on the contrary, the knowledge of God was everything; and to prepare for or impart that knowledge was the sum total, the sole object of his education. This was the life of his soul&#8212;the better, and only true life, to which all else as well as the life of the body were merely subservient, as means towards an end. His religion consisted of two things: knowledge of God, which by a series of inferences, one from the other, ultimately resolved itself into theology, as they understood it; and service, which again consisted of the proper observance of all that was prescribed by God, and of works of charity towards men&#8212;the latter, indeed, going beyond the bound of what was strictly due (the Chovoth) into special merit or "righteousness" (Zedakah). But as service presupposed knowledge, theology was again at the foundation of all, and also the crown of all, which conferred the greatest merit. This is expressed or implied in almost innumerable passages of Jewish writings. Let one suffice, not only because it sounds more rationalistic, but because it is to this day repeated each morning in his prayers by every Jew: "These are the things of which a man eats the fruit in this world, but their possession continueth for the next world: to honour father and mother, pious works, peacemaking between man and man, and the study of the law, which is equivalent to them all" (<i>Peah</i>. i. 1).</p>
<p id="x_p5">And literally "equivalent to them all" was such study to the Jew. The circumstances of the times forced him to learn Greek, perhaps also Latin, so much as was necessary for intercourse; and to tolerate at least the Greek translation of the Scriptures, and the use of any language in the daily prayers of the Shema, of the eighteen benedictions, and of the grace after meat (these are the oldest elements of the Jewish liturgy). But the blessing of the priests might not be spoken, nor the phylacteries nor the Mesusah written, in other than the Hebrew language (<i>Megil</i>. i. 8; <i>Sotah</i>, vii. 1, 2); while heathen science and literature were absolutely prohibited. To this, and not to the mere learning of Greek, which must have been almost necessary for daily life, refer such prohibitions as that traced to the time of Titus (<i>Sotah</i>, ix. 14), forbidding a man to teach his son Greek. The Talmud itself (<i>Men</i>. 99 b) furnishes a clever illustration of this, when, in reply to the question of a younger Rabbi, whether, since he knew the whole "Thorah" (the law), he might be allowed to study "Greek wisdom," his uncle reminded him of the words (<a id="x_p5_1" onClick="return mV('Jos',1,8);">Josh 1:8</a>), "Thou shalt meditate therein day and night." "Go, then, and consider," said the older Rabbi, "which is the hour that is neither of the day nor of the night, and in it thou mayest study Grecian wisdom." This, then, was one source of danger averted. Then, as for the occupations of ordinary life, it was indeed quite true that every Jew was bound to learn some trade or business. But this was not to divert him from study; quite the contrary. It was regarded as a profanation&#8212;or at least declared such&#8212;to make use of one's learning for secular purposes, whether of gain or of honour. The great Hillel had it (<i>Ab</i>. i. 13): "He who serves himself by the crown (the 'Thorah') shall fade away." To this Rabbi Zadok added the warning, "Make study neither a crown by which to shine, nor yet a spade with which to dig";&#8212;the Mishnah inferring that such attempts would only lead to the shortening of life (<i>Ab</i>. iv. 5). All was to be merely subsidiary to the one grand object; the one was of time, the other of eternity; the one of the body, the other of the soul; and its use was only to sustain the body, so as to give free scope to the soul on its upward path. Every science also merged in theology. Some were not so much sciences as means of livelihood, such as medicine and surgery; others were merely handmaidens to theology. Jurisprudence was in reality a kind of canon law; mathematics and astronomy were subservient to the computations of the Jewish calendar; literature existed not outside theological pursuits; and as for history, geography, or natural studies, although we mark, in reference to the latter, a keenness of observation which often led instinctively to truth, we meet with so much ignorance, and with so many gross mistakes and fables, as almost to shake the belief of the student in the trustworthiness of any Rabbinical testimony.</p>
<p id="x_p6">From what has been stated, three inferences will be gathered, all of most material bearing on the study of the New Testament. It will be seen how a mere knowledge of the law came to hold such place of almost exclusive importance that its successful prosecution seemed to be well-nigh all in all. Again, it is easy now to understand why students and teachers of theology enjoyed such exceptional honour (<a id="x_p6_1" onClick="return mV('Mat',23,'6-7');">Matt 23:6-7</a>; <a id="x_p6_2" onClick="return mV('Mar',12,'38-39');">Mark 12:38-39</a>; <a id="x_p6_3" onClick="return mV('Luk',11,43);">Luke 11:43</a>; <a id="x_p6_4" onClick="return mV('Luk',20,46);">20:46</a>). In this respect the testimonies of Onkelos, in his paraphrastic rendering of the Scriptures, of the oldest "Targumim," or paraphrastic commentaries, of the Mishnah, and of the two Talmuds, are not only unanimous, but most extravagant. Not only are miracles supposed to be performed in attestation of certain Rabbis, but such a story is actually ventured upon (<i>Bab. Mes</i>. 86 a), as that on the occasion of a discussion in the academy of heaven, when the Almighty and His angels were of different opinions in regard to a special point of law, a Rabbi famed for his knowledge of that subject was summoned up by the angel of death to decide the matter between them! The story is altogether too blasphemous for details, and indeed the whole subject is too wide for treatment in this connection. If such was the exalted position of a Rabbi, this direction of the Mishnah seems quite natural, that in case of loss, of difficulties, or of captivity, a teacher was to be cared for before a father, since to the latter we owed only our existence in this world, but to the former the life of the world to come (<i>Bab. Mez</i>. ii. 11). It is curious how in this respect also Roman Catholicism and Pharisaism arrive at the same ultimate results. Witness this saying of the celebrated Rabbi, who flourished in the thirteenth century, and whose authority is almost absolute among the Jews. The following is his glossary on <a id="x_p6_5" onClick="return mV('Deu',17, 11);">Deuteronomy 17:11</a>: "Even if a Rabbi were to teach that your left hand was the right, and your right hand the left, you are bound to obey."</p>
<p id="x_p7">The third inference which the reader will draw is as to the influence which such views must have exercised upon education, alike at home and in schools. It is no doubt only the echo of the most ancient mode of congratulating a parent when to this day those who are present at a circumcision, and also the priest when the first-born is redeemed from him, utter this: "As this child has been joined to the covenant" (or, as the case may be, "attained this redemption"), "so may it also be to him in reference to the 'thorah,' the 'chuppah' (the marriage-baldacchino, under which the regular marriage ceremony is performed), and to good works." The wish marks with twofold emphasis the life that is to come, as compared with the life that now is. This quite agrees with the account of Josephus, who contrasts the heathen festivals at the birth of children with the Jewish enactments by which children were from their very infancy nourished up in the laws of God (<i>Ag. Apion</i>, i, 38-68, ii, 173-205).</p>
<p id="x_p8">There can be no question that, according to the law of Moses, the early education of a child devolved upon the father; of course, always bearing in mind that his first training would be the mother's (<a id="x_p8_1" onClick="return mV('Deu',11,19);">Deu 11:19</a>, and many other passages). If the father were not capable of elementary teaching, a stranger would be employed. Passing over the Old Testament period, we may take it that, in the days of Christ, home-teaching ordinarily began when the child was about three years old. There is reason for believing that, even before this, that careful training of the memory commenced, which has ever since been one of the mental characteristics of the Jewish nation. Verses of Scripture, benedictions, wise sayings, etc., were impressed on the child, and mnemonic rules devised to facilitate the retention of what was so acquired. We can understand the reason of this from the religious importance attaching to the exact preservation of the very words of tradition. The Talmud describes the <i>beau ideal</i> of a student when it compares him to a well-plastered cistern, which would not let even a single drop escape. Indeed, according to the Mishnah, he who from negligence "forgets any one thing in his study of the Mishnah, Scripture imputes it to him as if he had forfeited his life"; the reference here being to <a id="x_p8_2" onClick="return mV('Deu',4,9);">Deuteronomy 4:9</a> (<i>Ab</i>. iii. 10). And so we may attach some credit even to Josephus' boast about his "wonderful memory" (<i>Life</i>, ii, 8).</p>
<p id="x_p9">In teaching to read, the alphabet was to be imparted by drawing the letters on a board, till the child became familiar with them. Next, the teacher would point in the copy read with his finger, or, still better, with a style, to keep up the attention of the pupil. None but well-corrected manuscripts were to be used, since, as was rightly said, mistakes impressed upon the young mind were afterwards not easily corrected. To acquire fluency, the child should be made to read aloud. Special care was to be bestowed on the choice of good language, in which respect, as we know, the inhabitants of Judaea far excelled those of Galilee, who failed not only in elegance of diction, but even in their pronunciation. At five years of age the Hebrew Bible was to be begun; commencing, however, not with the book of Genesis, but with that of Leviticus. This not to teach the child his guilt, and the need of justification, but rather because Leviticus contained those ordinances which it behoved a Jew to know as early as possible. The history of Israel would probably have been long before imparted orally, as it was continually repeated on all festive occasions, as well as in the synagogue.</p>
<p id="x_p10">It has been stated in a former chapter that writing was not so common an accomplishment as reading. Undoubtedly, the Israelites were familiar with it from the very earliest period of their history, whether or not they had generally acquired the art in Egypt. We read of the graving of words on the gems of the high-priest's breastplate, of the record of the various genealogies of the tribes, etc; while such passages as <a id="x_p10_1" onClick="return mV('Deu',6,9);">Deuteronomy 6:9</a>; <a id="x_p10_2" onClick="return mV('Deu',11,20);">11:20</a>; <a id="x_p10_3" onClick="return mV('Deu',24,1,3);">24:1, 3</a> imply that the art was not confined to the priesthood (<a id="x_p10_5" onClick="return mV('Num',5,23);">Num 5:23</a>), but was known to the people generally. Then we are told of copies of the law (<a id="x_p10_6" onClick="return mV('Deu',17,18);">Deu 17:18</a>; <a id="x_p10_7" onClick="return mV('Deu',28,58);">28:58</a>, etc.), while in <a id="x_p10_8" onClick="return mV('Jos',10,13);">Joshua 10:13</a> we have a reference to a work called "the book of Jasher." In <a id="x_p10_9" onClick="return mV('Jos',18,9);">Joshua 18:9</a> we find mention of a description of Palestine "in a book," and in <a id="x_p10_10" onClick="return mV('Jos',24,26);">24:26</a> of what Joshua "wrote in the book of the law of God." From <a id="x_p10_11" onClick="return mV('Jdg',8,14);">Judges 8:14</a> (margin) it would appear that in the time of Gideon the art of writing was very generally known. After that, instances occur so frequently and applied to so many relationships, that the reader of the Old Testament can have no difficulty in tracing the progress of the art. This is not the place to follow the subject farther, nor to describe the various materials employed at that time, nor the mode of lettering. At a much later period the common mention of "scribes" indicates the popular need of such a class. We can readily understand that the Oriental mind would delight in writing enigmatically, that is, conveying by certain expressions a meaning to the initiated which the ordinary reader would miss, or which, at any rate, would leave the explanation to the exercise of ingenuity. Partially in the same class we might reckon the custom of designating a word by its initial letter. All theses were very early in practice, and the subject has points of considerable interest. Another matter deserves more serious attention. It will scarcely be credited how general the falsification of signatures and documents had become. Josephus mentions it (<i>Ant</i>. xvi, 317-319); and we know that St. Paul was obliged to warn the Thessalonians against it (<a id="x_p10_12" onClick="return mV('2Th',2,2);">2 Thess 2:2</a>), and at last to adopt the device of signing every letter which came from himself. There are scarcely any ancient Rabbinical documents which have not been interpolated by later writers, or, as we might euphemistically call it, been recast and re-edited. In general, it is not difficult to discover such additions; although the vigilance and acuteness of the critical scholar are specially required in this direction to guard against rash and unwarrantable inferences. But without entering on such points, it may interest the reader to know what writing materials were employed in New Testament times. In Egypt red ink seems to have been used; but assuredly the ink mentioned in the New Testament was black, as even the term indicates ("melan," <a id="x_p10_13" onClick="return mV('2Cr',3,3);">2 Cor 3:3</a>; <a id="x_p10_14" onClick="return mV('2Jo',1,12);">2 John 12</a>; <a id="x_p10_15" onClick="return mV('3Jo',1,13);">3 John 13</a>). Josephus speaks of writing in gold letters (<i>Ant</i>. xii, 324-329); and in the Mishnah (<i>Meg</i>. ii. 2) we read of mixed colours, of red, of sympathetic ink, and of certain chemical compositions. Reed quills are mentioned in <a id="x_p10_16" onClick="return mV('3Jo',1,13);">3 John 13</a>. The best of these came from Egypt; and the use of a penknife would of course be indispensable. Paper (from the Egyptian "papyrus") is mentioned in <a id="x_p10_17" onClick="return mV('2Jo',1,12);">2 John 12</a>; parchment in <a id="x_p10_18" onClick="return mV('2Ti',4,13);">2 Timothy 4:13</a>. Of this there were three kinds, according as the skin was used either whole, or else split up into an outer and an inner skin. The latter was used for the Mesusah. Shorter memoranda were made on tablets, which in the Mishnah (<i>Shab</i>. xii. 4) bear the same names as in <a id="x_p10_19" onClick="return mV('Luk',1,63);">Luke 1:63</a>.</p>
<p id="x_p11">Before passing to an account of elementary schools, it may be well, once and for all, to say that the Rabbis did not approve of the same amount of instruction being given to girls as to boys. More particularly they disapproved of their engaging in legal studies&#8212;partly because they considered woman's mission and duties as lying in other directions, partly because the subjects were necessarily not always suitable for the other sex, partly because of the familiar intercourse between the sexes to which such occupations would have necessarily led, and finally&#8212;shall we say it?&#8212;because the Rabbis regarded woman's mind as not adapted for such investigations. The unkindest thing, perhaps, which they said on this score was, "Women are of a light mind"; though in its oft repetition the saying almost reads like a semi-jocular way of cutting short a subject on which discussion is disagreeable. However, instances of Rabbinically learned women do occur. What their Biblical knowledge and what their religious influence was, we learn not only from the Rabbis, but from the New Testament. Their attendance at all public and domestic festivals, and in the synagogues, and the circumstance that certain injunctions and observances of Rabbinic origin devolved upon them also, prove that, though not learned in the law, there must have been among them not a few who, like Lois and Eunice, could train a child in the knowledge of the Scripture, or, like Priscilla, be qualified to explain even to an Apollos the way of God more perfectly.</p>
<p id="x_p12">Supposing, then, a child to be so far educated at home; suppose him, also, to be there continually taught the commandments and observances, and, as the Talmud expressly states, to be encouraged to repeat the prayers aloud, so as to accustom him to it. At six years of age he would be sent to school; not to an academy, or "beth hammedrash," which he would only attend if he proved apt and promising; far less to the class-room of a great Rabbi, or the discussions of the Sanhedrim, which marked a very advanced stage of study. We are here speaking only of primary or elementary schools, such as even in the time of our Lord were attached to every synagogue in the land. Passing over the supposed or real Biblical notices of schools, and confining our attention strictly to the period ending with the destruction of the Temple, we have first a notice in the Talmud (<i>Bab. B</i>. 21 b), ascribing to Ezra an ordinance, that as many schoolmasters as chose should be allowed to establish themselves in any place, and that those who had formerly been settled there might not interfere with them. In all likelihood this notice should not be taken in its literal sense, but as an indication that the encouragement of schools and of education engaged the attention of Ezra and of his successors. Of the Grecianised academies which the wicked high-priest Jason tried to introduce in Jerusalem (2 Macc iv. 12, 13) we do not speak, because they were anti-Jewish in their spirit, and that to such extent, that the Rabbis, in order to "make a hedge," forbade all gymnastic exercises. The farther history and progress of Jewish schools are traced in the following passage of the Talmud (<i>Bab. B</i>. 21 a): "If any one has merit, and deserves that his name should be kept in remembrance, it is Joshua, the son of Gamaliel. Without him the law would have fallen into oblivion in Israel. For they used to rest on this saying of the law (<a id="x_p12_1" onClick="return mV('Deu',11,19);">Deu 11:19</a>), 'Ye shall teach them.' Afterwards it was ordained that masters be appointed at Jerusalem for the instruction of youth, as it is written (<a id="x_p12_2" onClick="return mV('Isa',2,3);">Isa 2:3</a>), 'Out of Zion shall go forth the law.' But even so the remedy was not effectual, only those who had fathers being sent to school, and the rest being neglected. Hence it was arranged that Rabbis should be appointed in every district, and that lads of sixteen or seventeen years should be sent to their academies. But this institution failed, since every lad ran away if he was chastised by his master. At last Joshua the son of Gamaliel arranged, that in every province and in every town schoolmasters be appointed, who should take charge of all boys from six or seven years of age." We may add at once, that the Joshua here spoken of was probably the high-priest of that name who flourished before the destruction of the Temple, and that unquestionably this farther organisation implied at least the existence of elementary schools at an earlier period.</p>
<p id="x_p13">Every place, then, which numbered twenty-five boys of a suitable age, or, according to Maimonides, one hundred and twenty families, was bound to appoint a schoolmaster. More than twenty-five pupils or thereabouts he was not allowed to teach in a class. If there were forty, he had to employ an assistant; if fifty, the synagogue authorities appointed two teachers. This will enable us to understand the statement, no doubt greatly exaggerated, that at the destruction of Jerusalem there were no fewer than four hundred and eighty schools in the metropolis. From another passage, which ascribes the fall of the Jewish state to the neglect of the education of children, we may infer what importance popular opinion attached to it. But indeed, to the Jew, child-life was something peculiarly holy, and the duty of filling it with thoughts of God specially sacred. It almost seems as if the people generally had retained among them the echo of our Lord's saying, that their angels continually behold the face of our Father which is in heaven. Hence the religious care connected with education. The grand object of the teacher was moral as well as intellectual training. To keep children from all intercourse with the vicious; to suppress all feelings of bitterness, even though wrong had been done to one's parents; to punish all real wrong-doing; not to prefer one child to another; rather to show sin in its repulsiveness than to predict what punishment would follow, either in this or the next world, so as not to "discourage" the child&#8212;such are some of the rules laid down. A teacher was not even to promise a child anything which he did not mean to perform, lest its mind be familiarised with falsehood. Everything that might call up disagreeable or indelicate thoughts was to be carefully avoided. The teacher must not lose patience if his pupil understood not readily, but rather make the lesson more plain. He might, indeed, and he should, punish when necessary, and, as one of the Rabbis put it, treat the child like a young heifer whose burden was daily increased. But excessive severity was to be avoided; and we are told of one teacher who was actually dismissed from office for this reason. Where possible, try kindness; and if punishment was to be administered, let the child be beaten with a strap, but never with a rod. At ten the child began to study the Mishnah; at fifteen he must be ready for the Talmud, which would be explained to him in a more advanced academy. If after three, or at most five, years of tuition the child had not made decided progress, there was little hope of his attaining to eminence. In the study of the bible the pupil was to proceed from the book of Leviticus to the rest of the Pentateuch, thence to the Prophets, and lastly to the Hagiographa. This regulation was in accordance with the degree of value which the Rabbis attached to these divisions of the Bible. In the case of advanced pupils the day was portioned out&#8212;one part being devoted to the Bible, the other two to the Mishnah and the Talmud. Every parent was also advised to have his child taught swimming.</p>
<p id="x_p14">It has already been stated that in general the school was held in the synagogue. Commonly its teacher was the "chazan," or "minister" (<a id="x_p14_1" onClick="return mV('Luk',4,20);">Luke 4:20</a>); by which expression we are to understand not a spiritual office, but something like that of a beadle. This officer was salaried by the congregation; nor was he allowed to receive fees from his pupils, lest he should show favour to the rich. The expenses were met by voluntary and charitable contributions; and in case of deficiency the most distinguished Rabbis did not hesitate to go about and collect aid from the wealthy. The number of hours during which the junior classes were kept in school was limited. As the close air of the school-room might prove injurious during the heat of the day, lessons were intermitted between ten a.m. and three p.m. For similar reasons, only four hours were allowed for instruction between the seventeenth of Thamuz and the ninth of Ab (about July and August), and teachers were forbidden to chastise their pupils during these months. The highest honour and distinction attached to the office of a teacher, if worthily discharged. Want of knowledge or of method was regarded as sufficient cause for removing a teacher; but experience was always deemed a better qualification than mere acquirements. No teacher was employed who was not a married man. To discourage unwholesome rivalry, and to raise the general educational standard, parents were prohibited from sending their children to other than the schools of their own towns.</p>
<p id="x_p15">A very beautiful trait was the care bestowed on the children of the poor and on orphans. In the Temple there was a special receptacle&#8212;that "of the secret";&#8212;for contributions, which were privately applied for the education of the children of the pious poor. To adopt and bring up an orphan was regarded as specially a "good work." This reminds us of the apostolic description of a "widow indeed," as one "well reported for good works"; who "had brought up children, lodged strangers, washed the saints' feet, relieved the afflicted, diligently followed every good work" (<a id="x_p15_1" onClick="return mV('1Ti',5,10);">1 Tim 5:10</a>). Indeed, orphans were the special charge of the whole congregation&#8212;not thrust into poor-houses,&#8212;and the parochial authorities were even bound to provide a fixed dowry for female orphans.</p>
<p id="x_p16">Such were the surroundings, and such the atmosphere, in which Jesus of Nazareth moved while tabernacling among men.</p>
<hr />
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref40" id="ftn40">[40]</a></sup>Tacitus, Hist. v. 5. In general this fifth book is most interesting, as showing the strange mixture of truth and error, and the intense hatred of the Jewish race even on the part of such men as Tacitus.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref41" id="ftn41">[41]</a></sup>Let it not be thought that we have been guilty of the slightest exaggeration. The difficulty here is to tell the truth and yet find moderate terms in which to express it. That Christianity should have laid its hold on such a society, found there its brightest martyrs and truest followers, and finally subdued and transformed it, is quite as great a miracle as that of the breaking down of the middle wall of partition among the Jews, or their spiritual transformation of mind and heart from self-righteousness and externalism. In either case, to the student of history the miracle will seem greater than if "one rose from the dead."</p>
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<h2 id="xi-p0.1">Chapter 9 </h2>
<h3 id="xi-p0.2">Mothers, Daughters, and Wives in Israel</h3>
<p id="xi_p1">In order accurately to understand the position of woman in Israel, it is only necessary carefully to peruse the New Testament. The picture of social life there presented gives a full view of the place which she held in private and in public life. Here we do not find that separation, so common among Orientals at all times, but a woman mingles freely with others both at home and abroad. So far from suffering under social inferiority, she takes influential and often leading part in all movements, specially those of a religious character. Above all, we are wholly spared those sickening details of private and public immorality with which contemporary classical literature abounds. Among Israel woman was pure, the home happy, and the family hallowed by a religion which consisted not only in public services, but entered into daily life, and embraced in its observances every member of the household. It was so not only in New Testament times but always in Israel. St. Peter's reference to "the holy women" "in the old time" (<a id="xi_p1_1" onClick="return mV('1Pe',3,5);">1 Peter 3:5</a>) is thoroughly in accordance with Talmudical views. Indeed, his quotation of <a id="xi_p1_2" onClick="return mV('Gen',18,12);">Genesis 18:12</a>, and its application: "Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord," occur in precisely the same manner in Rabbinical writings (<i>Tanch</i>. 28, 6), where her respect and obedience are likewise set forth as a pattern to her daughters.<sup><a href="#ftn42" id="ftnref42">[42]</a></sup></p>
<p id="xi_p2">Some further details may illustrate the matter better than arguments. The creation of woman from the rib of Adam is thus commented on (<i>Shab</i>. 23): "It is as if Adam had exchanged a pot of earth for a precious jewel." This, although Jewish wit caustically had it: "God has cursed woman, yet all the world runs after her; He has cursed the ground, yet all the world lives of it." In what reverence "the four mothers," as the Rabbis designate Sarah, Rebekah, Leah, and Rachel, were held, and what influence they exercised in patriarchal history, no attentive reader of Scripture can fail to notice. And as we follow on the sacred story, Miriam, who had originally saved Moses, leads the song of deliverance on the other side of the flood, and her influence, though not always for good, continued till her death (compare <a id="xi_p2_1" onClick="return mV('Mic',6,4);">Micah 6:4</a>). Then "the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom" contribute to the rearing of the Tabernacle; Deborah works deliverance, and judgeth in Israel; and the piety of Manoah's wife is at least as conspicuous, and more intelligent, than her husband's (<a id="xi_p2_2" onClick="return mV('Jdg',13,23);">Judg 13:23</a>). So also is that of the mother of Samuel. In the times of the kings the praises of Israel's maidens stir the jealousy of Saul; Abigail knows how to avert the danger of her husband's folly; the wise woman of Tekoah is sent for to induce the king to fetch his banished home; and the conduct of a woman "in her wisdom" puts an end to the rebellion of Sheba. Later on, the constant mention of queen mothers, and their frequent interference in the government, shows their position. Such names as that of Huldah the prophetess, and the idyllic narrative of the Shunammite, will readily occur to the memory. The story of a woman's devotion forms the subject of the Book of Ruth; that of her pure and faithful love, the theme or the imagery of the Song of Songs; that of her courage and devotion the groundwork of the Book of Esther: while her worth and virtues are enumerated in the closing chapter of the Book of Proverbs. Again, in the language of the prophets the people of God are called "the daughter," "the virgin daughter of Zion," "the daughter of Jerusalem," "the daughter of Judah," etc.; and their relationship to God is constantly compared to that of the married state. The very terms by which woman is named in the Old Testament are significant. If the man is <i>Ish</i>, his wife is <i>Ishah</i>, simply his equal; if the husband is <i>Gever</i>, the ruler, the woman is, in her own domain, <i>Gevirah</i> and <i>Gevereth</i>, the mistress (as frequently in the history of Sarah and in other passages), or else <i>the dweller at home</i> (<i>Nevath bayith</i>, <a id="xi_p2_3" onClick="return mV('Psa',68,12);">Psa 68:12</a>).<sup><a href="#ftn43" id="ftnref43">[43]</a></sup></p>
<p id="xi_p3">Nor is it otherwise in New Testament times. The ministry of woman to our blessed Lord, and in the Church, has almost become proverbial. Her position there marks really not a progress upon, but the full carrying out of, the Old Testament idea; or, to put the matter in another light, we ask no better than that any one who is acquainted with classical antiquity should compare what he reads of a Dorcas, of the mother of Mark, of Lydia, Priscilla, Phoebe, Lois, or Eunice, with what he knows of the noble women of Greece and Rome at that period.</p>
<p id="xi_p4">Of course, against all this may be set the permission of <i>polygamy</i>, which undoubtedly was in force at the time of our Lord, and the ease with which <i>divorce</i> might be obtained. In reference to both these, however, it must be remembered that they were temporary concessions to "the hardness" of the people's heart. For, not only must the circumstances of the times and the moral state of the Jewish and of neighbouring nations be taken into account, but there were progressive stages of spiritual development. If these had not been taken into account, the religion of the Old Testament would have been unnatural and an impossibility. Suffice it, that "from the beginning it was not so," nor yet intended to be so in the end&#8212;the intermediate period thus marking the gradual progress from the perfectness of the idea to the perfectness of its realisation. Moreover, it is impossible to read the Old, and still more the New Testament without gathering from it the conviction, that polygamy was not the rule but the rare exception, so far as the people generally were concerned. Although the practice in reference to divorce was certainly more lax, even the Rabbis surrounded it with so many safeguards that, in point of fact, it must in many cases have been difficult of accomplishment. In general, the whole tendency of the Mosaic legislation, and even more explicitly that of later Rabbinical ordinances, was in the direction of recognising the rights of woman, with a scrupulousness which reached down even to the Jewish slave, and a delicacy that guarded her most sensitive feelings. Indeed, we feel warranted in saying, that in cases of dispute the law generally lent to her side. Of <i>divorce</i> we shall have to speak in the sequel. But what the religious views and feelings both about it and monogamy were at the time of Malachi, appears from the pathetic description of the altar of God as covered with the tears of "the wife of youth," "the wife of thy covenant," "thy companion," who had been "put away" or "treacherously dealt" with (<a id="xi_p4_1" onClick="return mV('Mal',2,'13-17');">Mal 2:13</a> to end). The whole is so beautifully paraphrased by the Rabbis that we subjoin it:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If death hath snatched from thee the wife of youth,
<br>It is as if the sacred city were,
<br>And e'en the Temple, in thy pilgrim days,
<br>Defiled, laid low, and levelled with the dust.
<br>The man who harshly sends from him
<br>His first-woo'd wife, the loving wife of youth,
<br>For him the very altar of the Lord
<br>Sheds forth its tears of bitter agony.</p>
</blockquote>
<p id="xi_p5">Where the social intercourse between the sexes was nearly as unrestricted as among ourselves, so far as consistent with Eastern manners, it would, of course, be natural for a young man to make personal choice of his bride. Of this Scripture affords abundant evidence. But, at any rate, the woman had, in case of betrothal or marriage, to give her own free and expressed consent, without which a union was invalid. <i>Minors</i>&#8212;in the case of girls up to twelve years and one day&#8212;might be betrothed or given away by their father. In that case, however, they had afterwards the right of insisting upon divorce. Of course, it is not intended to convey that woman attained her full position till under the New Testament. But this is only to repeat what may be said of almost every social state and relationship. Yet it is most marked how deeply the spirit of the Old Testament, which is essentially that of the New also, had in this respect also penetrated the life of Israel. St. Paul's warning (<a id="xi_p5_1" onClick="return mV('2Cr',6,14);">2 Cor 6:14</a>) against being "unequally yoked together," which is an allegorical application of <a id="xi_p5_2" onClick="return mV('Lev',19,19);">Leviticus 19:19</a>; <a id="xi_p5_3" onClick="return mV('Deu',22,10);">Deuteronomy 22:10</a>, finds to some extent a counterpart in mystical Rabbinical writings, where the last-mentioned passages is expressly applied to spiritually unequal marriages. The admonition of <a id="xi_p5_4" onClick="return mV('1Cr',7,39);">1 Corinthians 7:39</a> to marry "only in the Lord," recalls many similar Rabbinical warnings, from which we select the most striking. Men, we are told (Yalkut on <a id="xi_p5_5" onClick="return mV('Deu',21,15);">Deu 21:15</a>), are wont to marry for one of four reasons&#8212;for passion, wealth, honour, or the glory of God. As for the first-named class of marriages, their issue must be expected to be "stubborn and rebellious" sons, as we may gather from the section referring to such following upon that in <a id="xi_p5_6" onClick="return mV('Deu',21,11);">Deuteronomy 21:11</a>. In regard to marriages for wealth, we are to learn a lesson from the sons of Eli, who sought to enrich themselves in such manner, but of whose posterity it was said (<a id="xi_p5_7" onClick="return mV('1Sa',2,36);">1 Sam 2:36</a>) that they should "crouch for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread." Of marriages for the sake of connection, honour, and influence, King Jehoram offered a warning, who became King Ahab's son-in-law, because that monarch had seventy sons, whereas upon his death his widow Athaliah "arose and destroyed all the seed royal" (<a id="xi_p5_8" onClick="return mV('2Ki',11,1);">2 Kings 11:1</a>). But far otherwise is it in case of marriage "in the name of heaven." The issue of such will be children who "preserve Israel." In fact, the Rabbinical references to marrying "in the name of heaven," or "for the name of God,"&#8212;in God and for God&#8212;are so frequent and so emphatic, that the expressions used by St. Paul must have come familiarly to him. Again, much that is said in <a id="xi_p5_9" onClick="return mV('1Cr',7,'all');">1 Corinthians 7</a> about the married estate, finds striking parallels in Talmudical writings. One may here be mentioned, as explaining the expression <a id="xi_p5_10" onClick="return mV('1Cr',7,14);">v. 14</a>): "Else were your children unclean; but now are they holy." Precisely the same distinction was made by the Rabbis in regard to proselytes, whose children, if begotten before their conversion to Judaism, were said to be "unclean"; if after that event to have been born "in holiness," only that, among the Jews, <i>both</i> parents required to profess Judaism, while St. Paul argues in the contrary direction, and concerning a far different holiness than that which could be obtained through any mere outward ceremony.</p>
<p id="xi_p6">Some further details, gathered almost at random, will give glimpses of Jewish home life and of current views. It was by a not uncommon, though irreverent, mode of witticism, that two forms of the same verb, sounding almost alike, were made to express opposite experiences of marriage. It was common to ask a newly-married husband: ";<i>Maza</i> or <i>Moze</i>?";&#8212;"findeth" or "found"; the first expression occurring in <a id="xi_p6_1" onClick="return mV('Pro',18,22);">Proverbs 18:22</a>, the second in <a id="xi_p6_2" onClick="return mV('Ecc',7,26);">Ecclesiastes 7:26</a>. A different sentiment is the following from the Talmud (<i>Yeb</i>. 62 b; <i>Sanh</i>. 76 b), the similarity of which to <a id="xi_p6_3" onClick="return mV('Eph',5,28);">Ephesians 5:28</a> will be immediately recognised: "He that loveth his wife as his own body, honoureth her more than his own body, brings up his children in the right way, and leads them in it to full age&#8212;of him the Scripture saith: 'Thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace' (<a id="xi_p6_4" onClick="return mV('Job',5,24);">Job 5:24</a>)." Of all qualities those most desired in woman were meekness, modesty, and shamefacedness. Indeed, brawling, gossip in the streets, and immodest behaviour in public were sufficient grounds for divorce. Of course, Jewish women would never have attempted "teaching" in the synagogue, where they occupied a place separate from the men&#8212;for Rabbinical study, however valued for the male sex, was disapproved of in the case of women. Yet this direction of St. Paul (<a id="xi_p6_5" onClick="return mV('1Ti',2,12);">1 Tim 2:12</a>): "I suffer not a woman to usurp authority over the man" findeth some kind of parallel in the Rabbinical saying: "Whoever allows himself to be ruled by his wife, shall call out, and no one will make answer to him."</p>
<p id="xi_p7">It is on similar grounds that the Rabbis argue, that man must seek after woman, and not a woman after a man; only the reason which they assign for it sounds strange. Man, they say, was formed from the ground&#8212;woman from man's rib; hence, in trying to find a wife man only looks after what he had lost! This formation of man from soft clay, and of woman from a hard bone, also illustrated why man was so much more easily reconcilable than woman. Similarly, it was observed, that God had not formed woman out of the head, lest she should become proud; nor out of the eye, lest she should lust; nor out of the ear, lest she should be curious; nor out of the mouth, lest she should be talkative; nor out of the heart, lest she should be jealous; nor out of the hand, lest she should be covetous; nor out of the foot, lest she be a busybody; but out of the rib, which was always covered. Modesty was, therefore, a prime quality. It was no doubt chiefly in jealous regard for this, that women were interdicted engaging in Rabbinical studies; and a story is related to show how even the wisest of women, Beruria, was thereby brought to the brink of extreme danger. It is not so easy to explain why women were dispensed from all positive obligations (commands, but not prohibitions) that were not general in their bearing (<i>Kidd</i>. 1. 7,8), but fixed to certain periods of time (such as wearing the phylacteries, etc.), and from that of certain prayers, unless it be that woman was considered not her own mistress but subject to others, or else that husband and wife were regarded as one, so that his merits and prayers applied to her as well. Indeed, this view, at least so far as the meritorious nature of a man's engagement with the law is concerned, is expressly brought forward, and women are accordingly admonished to encourage their husbands in all such studies.</p>
<p id="xi_p8">We can understand how, before the coming of the Messiah, marriage should have been looked upon as of religious obligation. Many passages of Scripture were at least <i>quoted</i> in support of this idea. Ordinarily, a young man was expected to enter the wedded state (according to Maimonides) at the age of sixteen or seventeen, while the age of twenty may be regarded as the utmost limit conceded, unless study so absorbed time and attention as to leave no leisure for the duties of married life. Still it was thought better even to neglect study than to remain single. Yet money cares on account of wife and children were dreaded. The same comparison is used in reference to them, which our Lord applies to quite a different "offence," that against the "little ones" (<a id="xi_p8_1" onClick="return mV('Luk',17,2);">Luke 17:2</a>). Such cares are called by the Rabbis, "a millstone round the neck" (<i>Kidd</i>. 29 b). In fact, the expression seems to have become proverbial, like so many others which are employed in the New Testament.</p>
<p id="xi_p9">We read in the Gospel that, when the Virgin-mother "was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily" (<a id="xi_p9_1" onClick="return mV('Mat',1,'18-19');">Matt 1:18-19</a>). The narrative implies a distinction between <i>betrothal</i> and <i>marriage</i>&#8212;Joseph being at the time betrothed, but not actually married to the Virgin-mother. Even in the Old Testament a distinction is made between <i>betrothal</i> and <i>marriage</i>. The former was marked by a bridal present (or <i>Mohar</i>, <a id="xi_p9_2" onClick="return mV('Gen',34,12);">Gen 34:12</a>; <a id="xi_p9_3" onClick="return mV('Exd',22,17);">Exo 22:17</a>; <a id="xi_p9_4" onClick="return mV('1Sa',18,25);">1 Sam 18:25</a>), with which the father, however, would in certain circumstances dispense. From the moment of her betrothal a woman was treated as if she were actually married. The union could not be dissolved, except by regular divorce; breach of faithfulness was regarded as adultery; and the property of the women became virtually that of her betrothed, unless he had expressly renounced it (<i>Kidd</i>. ix. 1). But even in that case he was her natural heir. It is impossible here to enter into the various legal details, as, for example, about property or money which might come to a woman after betrothal or marriage. The law adjudicated this to the husband, yet with many restrictions, and with infinite delicacy towards the woman, as if reluctant to put in force the rights of the stronger (<i>Kidd</i>. viii. 1, etc.). From the Mishnah (<i>Bab. B</i>. x. 4) we also learn that there were regular <i>Shitre Erusin</i>, or writings of betrothal, drawn up by the authorities (the costs being paid by the bridegroom). These stipulated the mutual obligations, the dowry, and all other points on which the parties had agreed. The <i>Shitre Erusin</i> were different from the regular <i>Chethubah</i> (literally, <i>writing</i>), or marriage contract, without which the Rabbis regarded a marriage as merely legalised concubinage (<i>Cheth</i>. v. 1). The <i>Chethubah</i> provided a settlement of at least two hundred denars for a maiden, and one hundred denars for a widow, while the priestly council at Jerusalem fixed four hundred denars for a priest's daughter. Of course these sums indicate only the legal <i>minimum</i>, and might be increased indefinitely at pleasure, though opinions differ whether any larger sums might be legally exacted, if matters did not go beyond betrothal. The form at present in use among the Jews sets forth, that the bridegroom weds his bride "according to the law of Moses and of Israel"; that he promises "to please, to honour, to nourish, and to care for her, as is the manner of the men of Israel," adding thereto the woman's consent, the document being signed by two witnesses. In all probability this was substantially the form in olden times. In Jerusalem and in Galilee&#8212;where it was said that men in their choice had regard to "a fair degree," while in the rest of Judaea they looked a good deal after money&#8212;widows had the right of residence in their husband's house secured to them.</p>
<p id="xi_p10">On the other hand, a father was bound to provide a dowry (<i>nedan, nedanjah</i>) for his daughter conformable to her station in life; and a second daughter could claim a portion equal to that of her elder sister, or else one-tenth of all immovable property. In case of the father's death, the sons, who, according to Jewish law, were his sole heirs, were bound to maintain their sisters, even though this would have thrown them upon public charity, and to endow each with a tenth part of what had been left. The dowry, whether in money, property, or jewellery, was entered into the marriage contract, and really belonged to the wife, the husband being obliged to add to it one-half more, if it consisted of money or money's value; and if of jewellery, etc., to assign to her four-fifths of its value. In case of separation (not divorce) he was bound to allow her a proper aliment, and to re-admit her to his table and house on the Sabbath-eve. A wife was entitled to one-tenth of her dowry for pin-money. If a father gave away his daughter without any distinct statement about her dowry, he was bound to allow her at least fifty <i>sus</i>; and if it had been expressly stipulated that she was to have no dowry at all, it was delicately enjoined that the bridegroom should, <i>before marriage</i>, give her sufficient for the necessary outfit. An orphan was to receive a dowry of at least fifty <i>sus</i> from the parochial authorities. A husband could not oblige his wife to leave the Holy Land nor the city of Jerusalem, nor yet to change a town for a country residence, or vice versa, nor a good for a bad house. These are only a few of the provisions which show how carefully the law protected the interests of women. To enter into farther details would lead beyond our present object. All this was substantially settled at the betrothal, which, in Judaea at least, seems to have been celebrated by a feast. Only a bona fide breach of these arrangements, or wilful fraud, was deemed valid ground for dissolving the bond once formed. Otherwise, as already noted, a regular divorce was necessary.</p>
<p id="xi_p11">According to Rabbinical law certain formalities were requisite to make a betrothal legally valid. These consisted either in handing to a woman, directly or through messengers, a piece of money, however small, or else a letter,<sup><a href="#ftn44" id="ftnref44">[44]</a></sup> provided it were in each case expressly stated before witnesses, that the man thereby intended to espouse the woman as his wife.</p>
<p id="xi_p12">The marriage followed after a longer or shorter interval, the limits of which, however, were fixed by law. The ceremony itself consisted in leading the bride into the house of the bridegroom, with certain formalities, mostly dating from very ancient times. Marriage with a maiden was commonly celebrated on a Wednesday afternoon, which allowed the first days of the week for preparation, and enabled the husband, if he had a charge to prefer against the previous chastity of his bride, to make immediate complaint before the local Sanhedrim, which sat every Thursday. On the other hand, the marriage of a widow was celebrated on Thursday afternoon, which left three days of the week for "rejoicing with her." This circumstance enables us, with some certainty, to arrange the date of the events which preceded the marriage in Cana. Inferring from the accompanying festivities that it was the marriage of a maiden, and therefore took place on a Wednesday, we have the following succession of events:&#8212;On <i>Thursday</i> (beginning as every Jewish day with the previous evening), testimony of the Baptist to the Sanhedrim-deputation from Jerusalem. On <i>Friday</i> (<a id="xi_p12_1" onClick="return mV('Jhn',1,29);">John 1:29</a>), "John seeth Jesus coming unto him," and significantly preacheth the first sermon about "the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." On <i>Saturday</i> (<a id="xi_p12_2" onClick="return mV('Jhn',1,35);">1:35</a>), John's second sermon on the same text; the consequent conversion of St. John and St. Andrew, and the calling of St. Peter. On <i>Sunday</i> (<a id="xi_p12_3" onClick="return mV('Jhn',1,43);">1:43</a>), our Lord Himself preacheth His first Messianic sermon, and calls Philip and Nathanael. On "the third day" after it, that is, on <i>Wednesday</i>, was the marriage in Cana of Galilee. The significance of these dates, when compared with those in the week of our Lord's Passion, will be sufficiently evident.</p>
<p id="xi_p13">But this is not all that may be learned from the account of the marriage in Cana. Of course, there was a "marriage-feast," as on all these occasions. For this reason, marriages were not celebrated either on the Sabbath, or on the day before or after it, lest the Sabbath-rest should be endangered. Nor was it lawful to wed on any of the three annual festivals, in order, as the Rabbis put it, "not to mingle one joy (that of the marriage) with another (that of the festival)." As it was deemed a religious duty to give pleasure to the newly-married couple, the merriment at times became greater than the more strict Rabbis approved. Accordingly, it is said of one, that to produce gravity he broke a vase worth about 25 pounds; of another, that at his son's wedding he broke a costly glass; and of a third, that being asked to sin, he exclaimed, Woe to us, for we must all die! For, as it is added (<i>Ber</i>. 31 a): "It is forbidden to man, that his mouth be filled with laughter in this world (dispensation), as it is written, 'Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing.' When is that to be? At the time when 'they shall sing among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them.'";</p>
<p id="xi_p14">It deserves notice, that at the marriage in Cana there is no mention of "the friends of the bridegroom," or, as we would call them, the groomsmen. This was in strict accordance with Jewish custom, for groomsmen were customary in <i>Judaea</i>, but not in Galilee (<i>Cheth</i>. 25 a). This also casts light upon the locality where <a id="xi_p14_1" onClick="return mV('Jhn',3,29);">John 3:29</a> was spoken, in which "the friend of the bridegroom" is mentioned. But this expression is quite different from that of "children of the bridechamber," which occurs in <a id="xi_p14_2" onClick="return mV('Mat',9,15);">Matthew 9:15</a>, where the scene is once more laid in Galilee. The term "children of the bridechamber" is simply a translation of the Rabbinical ";<i>bene Chuppah</i>," and means the guests invited to the bridal. In Judaea there were at every marriage <i>two</i> groomsmen or "friends of the bridegroom";&#8212;one for the bridegroom, the other for his bride. Before marriage, they acted as a kind of intermediaries between the couple; at the wedding they offered gifts, waited upon the bride and bridegroom, and attended them to the bridal chamber, being also, as it were, the guarantors of the bride's virgin chastity. Hence, when St. Paul tells the Corinthians (<a id="xi_p14_3" onClick="return mV('2Cr',11,2);">2 Cor 11:2</a>): "I am jealous over you with godly jealousy; for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ," he speaks, as it were, in the character of groomsman or "bridegroom's friend," who had acted as such at the spiritual union of Christ with the Corinthian Church. And we know that it was specially the duty of the "friend of the bridegroom" so to present to him his bride. Similarly it was his also, after marriage, to maintain proper terms between the couple, and more particularly to defend the good fame of the bride against all imputations. It may interest some to know that his custom also was traced up to highest authority. Thus, in the spiritual union of Israel with their God, Moses is spoken of as "the friend of the bridegroom" who leads out the bride (<a id="xi_p14_4" onClick="return mV('Exd',19,17);">Exo 19:17</a>); while Jehovah, as the bridegroom, meets His Church at Sinai (<a id="xi_p14_5" onClick="return mV('Psa',68,7);">Psa 68:7</a>; <i>Pirke di R. El</i>. 41). Nay, in some mystic writings God is described as acting "the friend of the bridegroom," when our first parents met in Eden. There is a touch of poetry in the application of <a id="xi_p14_6" onClick="return mV('Eze',28,13);">Ezekiel 28:13</a> to that scene, when angels led the choir, and decked and watched the bridal-bed (<i>Ab. de R. Nathan</i> iv. and xii.). According to another ancient Rabbinical commentary (<i>Ber. R</i>. viii), God Almighty Himself took the cup of blessing and spoke the benediction, while Michael and Gabriel acted the "bridegroom's friends" to our first parents when they wedded in Paradise.</p>
<p id="xi_p15">With such a "benediction," preceded by a brief formula, with which the bride was handed over to her husband (<span id="xi_p15_1">Tobit vii. 13), the wedding festivities commenced. And so the pair were led towards the bridal chamber (<i>Cheder</i>) and the bridal bed (<i>Chuppah</i>). The bride went with her hair unloosed. Ordinarily, it was most strictly enjoined upon women to have their head and hair carefully covered. This may throw some light upon the difficult passage, <a id="xi_p15_2" onClick="return mV('1Cr',11,'1-10');">1 Corinthians 11:1-10</a>. We must bear in mind that the apostle there argues with Jews, and that <i>on their own ground</i>, convincing them by a reference to their own views, customs, and legends of the propriety of the practice which he enjoins. From that point of view the propriety of a woman having her head "covered" could not be called in question. The opposite would, to a Jew, have indicated immodesty. Indeed, it was the custom in the case of a woman accused of adultery to have her hair "shorn or shaven," at the same time using this formula: "Because thou hast departed from the manner of the daughters of Israel, who go with their head covered; ...therefore that has befallen thee which thou hast chosen." This so far explains <a id="xi_p15_3" onClick="return mV('1Cr',11,'5-6');">1Cr 11: 5-6</a>. The expression "power," as applied in <a id="xi_p15_4" onClick="return mV('1Cr',11,10);">1Cr 11:10</a> to the head of woman, seems to refer to this covering, indicating, as it did, that she was under the power of her husband, while the very difficult addition, "because of the angels," may either allude to the presence of the angels and to the well-known Jewish view (based, no doubt, on truth) that those angels may be grieved or offended by our conduct, and bear the sad tidings before the throne of God, or it may possibly refer to the very ancient Jewish belief, that the evil spirits gained power over a woman who went with her head bare.</p>
<p id="xi_p16">The custom of a bridal veil&#8212;either for the bride alone, or spread over the couple&#8212;was of ancient date. It was interdicted for a time by the Rabbis after the destruction of Jerusalem. Still more ancient was the wearing of crowns (<a id="xi_p16_1" onClick="return mV('Sgs',3,11);">Cant 3:11</a>; <a id="xi_p16_2" onClick="return mV('Isa',61,10);">Isa 61:10</a>; <a id="xi_p16_3" onClick="return mV('Eze',16,12);">Eze 16:12</a>), which was also prohibited after the last Jewish war. Palm and myrtle branches were borne before the couple, grain or money was thrown about, and music preceded the procession, in which all who met it were, as a religious duty, expected to join. The Parable of the Ten Virgins, who, with their lamps, were in expectancy of the bridegroom (<a id="xi_p16_4" onClick="return mV('Mat',25,1);">Matt 25:1</a>), is founded on Jewish custom. For, according to Rabbinical authority, such lamps carried on the top of staves were frequently used, while <i>ten</i> is the number always mentioned in connection with public solemnities.<sup><a href="#ftn45" id="ftnref45">[45]</a></sup> The marriage festivities generally lasted a week, but the bridal days extended over a full month.<sup><a href="#ftn46" id="ftnref46">[46]</a></sup></p>
<p id="xi_p17">Having entered thus fully on the subject of marriage, a few further particulars may be of interest. The bars to marriage mentioned in the Bible are sufficiently known. To these the Rabbis added others, which have been arranged under two heads&#8212;as farther extending the laws of kindred (to their <i>secondary</i> degrees), and as intended to guard morality. The former were extended over the whole line of forbidden kindred, where that line was direct, and to one link farther where the line became indirect&#8212;as, for example, to the wife of a maternal uncle, or to the step-mother of a wife. In the category of guards to morality we include such prohibitions as that a divorced woman might not marry her seducer, nor a man the woman to whom he had brought her letter of divorce, or in whose case he had borne testimony; or of marriage with those not in their right senses, or in a state of drunkenness; or of the marriage of minors, or under fraud, etc. A widower had to wait over three festivals, a widow three months, before re-marrying, or if she was with child or gave suck, for two years. A woman might not be married a third time; no marriage could take place within thirty days of the death of a near relative, nor yet on the Sabbath, nor on a feast-day, etc. Of the marriage to a deceased husband's brother (or the next of kin), in case of childlessness, it is unnecessary here to speak, since although the Mishnah devotes a whole tractate to it (<i>Yebamoth</i>), and it was evidently customary at the time of Christ (<a id="xi_p17_5" onClick="return mV('Mar',12,19);">Mark 12:19</a>, etc.), the practice was considered as connected with the territorial possession of Palestine, and ceased with the destruction of the Jewish commonwealth (<i>Bechar</i>. i. 7). A priest was to inquire into the legal descent of his wife (up to four degrees if the daughter of a priest, otherwise up to five degrees), except where the bride's father was a priest in actual service, or a member of the Sanhedrim. The high-priest's bride was to be a maid not older than six months beyond her puberty.</p>
<p id="xi_p18">The fatal ease with which divorce could be obtained, and its frequency, appear from the question addressed to Christ by the Pharisees: "Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?" (<a id="xi_p18_1" onClick="return mV('Mat',19,3);">Matt 19:3</a>), and still more from the astonishment with which the disciples had listened to the reply of the Saviour (<a id="xi_p18_2" onClick="return mV('Mat',19,10);">Matt 19:10</a>). That answer was much wider in its range than our Lord's initial teaching in the Sermon on the Mount (<a id="xi_p18_3" onClick="return mV('Mat',5,32);">Matt 5:32</a>). To the latter no Jew could have had any objection, even though its morality would have seemed elevated beyond their highest standard, represented in this case by the school of Shammai, while that of Hillel, and still more Rabbi Akiba, presented the lowest opposite extreme. But in reply to the Pharisees, our Lord placed the whole question on grounds which even the strictest Shammaite would have refused to adopt. For the farthest limit to which he would have gone would have been to restrict the cause of divorce to "a matter of uncleanness" (<a id="xi_p18_4" onClick="return mV('Deu',24,1);">Deu 24:1</a>), by which he would probably have understood not only a breach of the marriage vow, but of the laws and customs of the land. In fact, we know that it included every kind of impropriety, such as going about with loose hair, spinning in the street, familiarly talking with men, ill-treating her husband's parents in his presence, brawling, that is, "speaking to her husband so loudly that the neighbours could hear her in the adjoining house" (<i>Chethub</i>. vii. 6), a general bad reputation, or the discovery of fraud before marriage. On the other hand, the wife could insist on being divorced if her husband were a leper, or affected with polypus, or engaged in a disagreeable or dirty trade, such as that of a tanner or coppersmith. One of the cases in which divorce was obligatory was, if either party had become heretical, or ceased to profess Judaism. But even so, there were at least checks to the danger of general lawlessness, such as the obligation of paying to a wife her portion, and a number of minute ordinances about formal <i>letters of divorce</i>, without which no divorce was legal,<sup><a href="#ftn47" id="ftnref47">[47]</a></sup> and which had to be couched in explicit terms, handed to the woman herself, and that in presence of two witnesses, etc.</p>
<p id="xi_p19">According to Jewish law there were four obligations incumbent on a wife towards her husband, and ten by which he was bound. Of the latter, three are referred to in <a id="xi_p19_1" onClick="return mV('Exd',19,'9-10');">Exodus 21:9-10</a>; the other seven include her settlement, medical treatment in case of sickness, redemption from captivity, a respectable funeral, provision in his house so long as she remained a widow and had not been paid her dowry, the support of her daughters till they were married, and a provision that her sons should, besides receiving their portion of the father's inheritance, also share in what had been settled upon her. The obligations upon the wife were, that all her gains should belong to her husband, as also what came to her after marriage by inheritance; that the husband should have the usufruct of her dowry, and of any gains by it, provided he had the administration of it, in which case, however, he was also responsible for any loss; and that he should be considered her heir-at-law.</p>
<p id="xi_p20">What the family life among the godly in Israel must have been, how elevated its tone, how loving its converse, or how earnestly devoted its mothers and daughters, appears sufficiently from the gospel story, from that in the book of Acts, and from notices in the apostolic letters. Women, such as the Virgin-mother, or Elisabeth, or Anna, or those who enjoyed the privilege of ministering to the Lord, or who, after His death, tended and watched for His sacred body, could not have been quite solitary in Palestine; we find their sisters in a Dorcas, a Lydia, a Phoebe, and those women of whom St. Paul speaks in <a id="xi_p20_1" onClick="return mV('Phl',4,3);">Philippians 4:3</a>, and whose lives he sketches in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus. Wives such as Priscilla, mothers such as that of Zebedee's children, or of Mark, or like St. John's "elect lady," or as Lois and Eunice, must have kept the moral atmosphere pure and sweet, and shed precious light on their homes and on society, corrupt to the core as it was under the sway of heathenism. What and how they taught their households, and that even under the most disadvantageous outward circumstances, we learn from the history of Timothy. And although they were undoubtedly in that respect without many of the opportunities which we enjoy, there was one sweet practice of family religion, going beyond the prescribed prayers, which enabled them to teach their children from tenderest years to intertwine the Word of God with their daily devotion and daily life. For it was the custom to teach a child some verse of Holy Scripture beginning or ending with precisely the same letters as its Hebrew name, and this birthday text or guardian-promise the child was day by day to insert in its prayers. Such guardian words, familiar to the mind from earliest years, endeared to the heart by tenderest recollections, would remain with the youth in life's temptations, and come back amid the din of manhood's battle. Assuredly, of Jewish children so reared, so trained, so taught, it might be rightly said: "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven."</p>
<hr />
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref42" id="ftn42">[42]</a></sup>The following illustration also occurs: A certain wise woman said to her daughter before her marriage: "My child, stand before thy husband and minister to him. If thou wilt act as his maiden he will be thy slave, and honour thee as his mistress; but if thou exalt thyself against him, he will be thy master, and thou shalt become vile in his eyes, like one of the maidservants."</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref43" id="ftn43">[43]</a></sup>Similar expressions are Sarah and Shiddah, both from roots meaning to rule. Nor is this inconsistent with the use of the word Baal, to marry, and Beulah, the married one, from Baal, a lord&#8212;even as Sarah "called Abraham lord" (<a id="xiftn43_1" onClick="return mV('1Pe',3,6);">1 Peter 3:6</a>, the expression used of her to Abimelech, <a id="xiftn43_2" onClick="return mV('Gen',20,3);">Genesis 20:3</a>, being Beulah). Of course it is not meant that these are the only words for females. But the others, such as Bath and Naarah, are either simply feminine terminations, or else, as Bethulah, Levush, Nekevah, Almah, Rachem, descriptive of their physical state.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref44" id="ftn44">[44]</a></sup>There was also a third mode of espousal&#8212;simply by cohabitation, but this was very strongly disapproved by the Rabbis.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref45" id="ftn45">[45]</a></sup>According to R. Simon (on Chel. ii. 8) it was an Eastern custom that, when the bride was led to her future home, "they carried before the party about ten" such lamps.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref46" id="ftn46">[46]</a></sup>The practice of calling a wife a bride during the first year of her marriage is probably based on <a id="xiftn46_1" onClick="return mV('Deu',24,5);">Deuteronomy 24:5</a>.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref47" id="ftn47">[47]</a></sup>The Jews have it that a woman "is loosed from the law of her husband" by only one of two things: death or a letter of divorce; hence <a id="xiftn47_1" onClick="return mV('Rom',7,'2-3');">Romans 7:2-3</a>.</p>
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<h2 id="xii-p0.1">Chapter 10 </h2>
<h3 id="xii-p0.2">In Death and After Death</h3>
<p id="xii_p1">A sadder picture could scarcely be drawn than that of the dying Rabbi Jochanan ben Saccai, that "light of Israel" immediately before and after the destruction of the Temple, and for two years the president of the Sanhedrim. We read in the Talmud (<i>Ber</i>. 28 b) that, when his disciples came to see him on his death-bed, he burst into tears. To their astonished inquiry why he, "the light of Israel, the right pillar of the Temple, and its mighty hammer," betrayed such signs of fear, he replied: "If I were now to be brought before an earthly king, who lives to-day and dies to-morrow, whose wrath and whose bonds are not everlasting, and whose sentence of death, even, is not that to everlasting death, who can be assuaged by arguments, or perhaps bought off by money&#8212;I should tremble and weep; how much more reason have I for it, when about to be led before the King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, Who liveth and abideth for ever, Whose chains are chains for evermore, and Whose sentence of death killeth for ever, Whom I cannot assuage with words, nor bribe by money! And not only so, but there are before me two ways, one to paradise and the other to hell, and I know not which of the two ways I shall have to go&#8212;whether to paradise or to hell: how, then, shall I not shed tears?" Side by side with this we may place the opposite saying of R. Jehudah, called the Holy, who, when he died, lifted up both his hands to heaven, protesting that none of those ten fingers had broken the law of God! It were difficult to say which of these two is more contrary to the light and liberty of the Gospel&#8212;the utter hopelessness of the one, or the apparent presumption of the other.</p>
<p id="xii_p2">And yet these sayings also recall to us something in the Gospel. For there also we read of two ways&#8212;the one to paradise, the other to destruction, and of fearing not those who can kill the body, but rather Him who, after He hath killed the body, hath power to cast into hell. Nor, on the other hand, was the assurance of St. Stephen, of St. James, or of St. Paul, less confident than that of Jehudah, called the Holy, though it expressed itself in a far different manner and rested on quite other grounds. Never are the voices of the Rabbis more discordant, and their utterances more contradictory or unsatisfying than in view of the great problems of humanity: sin, sickness, death, and the hereafter. Most truly did St. Paul, taught at the feet of Gamaliel in all the traditions and wisdom of the fathers, speak the inmost conviction of every Christian Rabbinist, that it is only our Saviour Jesus Christ Who "hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel" (<a id="xii_p2_1" onClick="return mV('2Ti',1,10);">2 Tim 1:10</a>).</p>
<p id="xii_p3">When the disciples asked our Lord, in regard to the "man which was blind from his birth": "master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" (<a id="xii_p3_1" onClick="return mV('Jhn',9,'1-2');">John 9:1-2</a>) we vividly realise that we hear a strictly Jewish question. It was just such as was likely to be raised, and it exactly expressed Jewish belief. That children benefited or suffered according to the spiritual state of their parents was a doctrine current among the Jews. But they also held that an unborn child might contract guilt, since the <i>Yezer ha-ra</i>, or evil disposition which was present from its earliest formation, might even then be called into activity by outward circumstances. And sickness was regarded as alike the punishment for sin and its atonement. But we also meet with statements which remind us of the teaching of <a id="xii_p3_2" onClick="return mV('Hbr',12,5,9);">Hebrews 12:5, 9</a>. In fact, the apostolic quotation from <a id="xii_p3_3" onClick="return mV('Pro',3,'all');">Proverbs 3</a> is made for exactly the same purpose in the Talmud (<i>Ber</i>. 5 a), in how different a spirit will appear from the following summary. It appears that two of the Rabbis had disagreed as to what were "the chastisements of love," the one maintaining, on the ground of <a id="xii_p3_4" onClick="return mV('Psa',94,12);">Psalm 94:12</a>, that they were such as did not prevent a man from study, the other inferring from <a id="xii_p3_5" onClick="return mV('Psa',66,20);">Psalm 66:20</a> that they were such as did not hinder prayer. Superior authority decided that both kinds were "chastisements of love," at the same time answering the quotation from <a id="xii_p3_6" onClick="return mV('Psa',94,'all');">Psalm 94</a> by proposing to read, not "teachest <i>him</i>," but "teachest <i>us</i> out of Thy law." But that the law teaches us that chastisements are of great advantage might be inferred as follows: If, according to <a id="xii_p3_7" onClick="return mV('Exd',21,'26-27');">Exodus 21:26-27</a>, a slave obtained freedom through the chastisement of his master&#8212;a chastisement which affected only one of his members&#8212;how much more must those chastisements effect which purified the whole body of man? Moreover, as another Rabbi reminds us, the "covenant" is mentioned in connection with salt (<a id="xii_p3_8" onClick="return mV('Lev',2,13);">Lev 2:13</a>), and also in connection with chastisements (<a id="xii_p3_9" onClick="return mV('Deu',28,58);">Deu 28:58</a>). "As is the covenant," spoken of in connection with salt, which gives taste to the meat, so also is "the covenant" spoken of in connection with chastisements, which purge away all the sins of a man. Indeed, as a third Rabbi says: "Three good gifts hath the Holy One&#8212;blessed be He!&#8212;given to Israel, and each of them only through sufferings&#8212;the law, the land of Israel, and the world to come." The law, according to <a id="xii_p3_10" onClick="return mV('Psa',94,12);">Psalm 94:12</a>; the land, according to <a id="xii_p3_11" onClick="return mV('Deu',8,5);">Deuteronomy 8:5</a>, which is immediately followed by <a id="xii_p3_12" onClick="return mV('Deu',8,7);">8:7</a>; and the world to come, according to <a id="xii_p3_13" onClick="return mV('Pro',6,23);">Proverbs 6:23</a>.</p>
<p id="xii_p4">As on most other subjects, the Rabbis were accurate and keen observers of the laws of health, and their regulations are often far in advance of modern practice. From many allusions in the Old Testament we infer that the science of medicine, which was carried to comparatively great perfection in Egypt, where every disease had its own physician, was also cultivated in Israel. Thus the sin of Asia, in trusting too much to earthly physicians, is specially reproved (<a id="xii_p4_1" onClick="return mV('2Ch',16,12);">2 Chron 16:12</a>). In New Testament times we read of the woman who had spent all her substance, and suffered so much at the hands of physicians (<a id="xii_p4_2" onClick="return mV('Mar',5,26);">Mark 5:26</a>); while the use of certain remedies, such as oil and wine, in the treatment of wounds (<a id="xii_p4_3" onClick="return mV('Luk',10,34);">Luke 10:34</a>), seems to have been popularly known. St. Luke was a "physician" (<a id="xii_p4_4" onClick="return mV('Col',4,14);">Col 4:14</a>); and among the regular Temple officials there was a medical man, whose duty it was to attend to the priesthood who, from ministering barefoot, must have been specially liable to certain diseases. The Rabbis ordained that every town must have at least one physician, who was also to be qualified to practise surgery, or else a physician and a surgeon. Some of the Rabbis themselves engaged in medical pursuits: and, in theory at least, every practitioner ought to have had their licence. To employ a heretic or a Hebrew Christian was specially prohibited, though a heathen might, if needful, be called in. But, despite their patronage of the science, caustic sayings also occur. "Physician, heal thyself," is really a Jewish proverb; "Live not in a city whose chief is a medical man";&#8212;he will attend to public business and neglect his patients; "The best among doctors deserves Gehenna";&#8212;for his bad treatment of some, and for his neglect of others. It were invidious to enter into a discussion of the remedies prescribed in those times, although, to judge from what is advised in such cases, we can scarcely wonder that the poor woman in the gospel was nowise benefited, but rather the worse of them (<a id="xii_p4_5" onClick="return mV('Mar',5,26);">Mark 5:26</a>). The means recommended were either generally hygienic&#8212;and in this respect the Hebrews contrast favourably even with ourselves&#8212;or purely medicinal, or else sympathetic, or even magical. The prescriptions consisted of <i>simples</i> or of <i>compounds</i>, vegetables being far more used than minerals. Cold-water compresses, the external and internal use of oil and of wine, baths (medicated and other), and a certain diet, were carefully indicated in special diseases. Goats'-milk and barley-porridge were recommended in all diseases attended by wasting. Jewish surgeons seem even to have known how to operate for cataract.</p>
<p id="xii_p5">Ordinarily, life was expected to be protracted, and death regarded as alike the punishment and the expiation of sin. To die within fifty years of age was to be cut off; within fifty-two, to die the death of Samuel the prophet; at sixty years of age, it was regarded as death at the hands of Heaven; at seventy, as that of an old man; and at eighty, as that of strength. Premature death was likened to the falling off of unripe fruit, or the extinction of a candle. To depart without having a son was to <i>die</i>, otherwise it was to <i>fall asleep</i>. The latter was stated to have been the case with David; the former with Joab. If a person had finished his work, his was regarded as the death of the righteous, who is gathered to his fathers. Tradition (<i>Ber</i>. 8 a) inferred, by a peculiar Rabbinical mode of exegesis, from a word in <a id="xii_p5_1" onClick="return mV('Psa',62,12);">Psalm 62:12</a>, that there were 903 different kinds of dying. The worst of these was <i>angina</i>, which was compared to tearing out a thread from a piece of wool; while the sweetest and gentlest, which was compared to drawing a hair out of milk, was called "death by a kiss." The latter designation originated from <a id="xii_p5_2" onClick="return mV('Num',33,38);">Numbers 33:38</a> and <a id="xii_p5_3" onClick="return mV('Deu',34,5);">Deuteronomy 34:5</a>, in which Aaron and Moses are respectively said to have died "according to the word";&#8212;literally, "by the mouth of Jehovah." Over six persons, it was said, the angel of death had had no power&#8212;viz., Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because they had seen their work quite completed; and over Miriam, Aaron, and Moses, who had died by "the kiss of God." If premature death was the punishment of sin, the righteous died because others were to enter on their work&#8212;Joshua on that of Moses, Solomon on that of David, etc. But, when the time for death came, anything might serve for its infliction, or, to put it in Rabbinical language, "O Lord, all these are Thy servants"; for "whither a man was to go, thither his feet would carry him."</p>
<p id="xii_p6">Certain signs were also noted as to the time and manner of dying. Sudden death was called "being swallowed up," death after one day's illness, that of rejection; after two days', that of despair; after four days', that of reproof; after five days', a natural death. Similarly, the posture of the dying was carefully marked. To die with a happy smile, or at least with a bright countenance, or looking upward, was a good omen; to look downward, to seem disturbed, to weep, or even to turn to the wall, were evil signs. On recovering from illness, it was enjoined to return special thanks. It was a curious superstition (<i>Ber</i>. 55 b), that, if any one announced his illness on the first day of its occurrence, it might tend to make him worse, and that only on the second day should prayers be offered for him. Lastly, we may mention in this connection, as possibly throwing light on the practice referred to by St. James (<a id="xii_p6_1" onClick="return mV('Jam',5,14);">James 5:14</a>), that it was the custom to anoint the sick with a mixture of oil, wine, and water, the preparation of which was even allowed on the Sabbath (<i>Jer. Ber</i>. ii. 2).</p>
<p id="xii_p7">When our Lord mentioned visitation of the sick among the evidences of that religion which would stand the test of the judgment day (<a id="xii_p7_1" onClick="return mV('Mat',25,26);">Matt 25:36</a>), He appealed to a principle universally acknowledged among the Jews. The great Jewish doctor Maimonides holds that this duty takes precedence of all other good works, and the Talmud goes even so far as to assert, that whoever visits the sick shall deliver his soul from Gehenna (<i>Ned</i>. 40-a). Accordingly, a Rabbi, discussing the meaning of the expression, "Ye shall walk after the Lord your God" (<a id="xii_p7_2" onClick="return mV('Deu',13,4);">Deu 13:4</a>), arrives at the conclusion, that it refers to the imitation of what we read in Scripture of His doings. Thus God clothed the naked (<a id="xii_p7_3" onClick="return mV('Gen',3,21);">Gen 3:21</a>), and so should we; He visited the sick (<a id="xii_p7_4" onClick="return mV('Gen',18,1);">Gen 18:1</a>); He comforted the mourners, (<a id="xii_p7_5" onClick="return mV('Gen',25,11);">Gen 25:11</a>); and He buried the dead (<a id="xii_p7_6" onClick="return mV('Deu',34,6);">Deu 34:6</a>); leaving us in all this an ensample that we should follow in His footsteps (<i>Sota</i> 14 a). It was possibly to encourage to this duty, or else in reference to the good effects of sympathy upon the sick, that we are told, that whoever visits the sick takes away a sixtieth part of his sufferings (<i>Ned</i>. 39 b). Nor was the service of love to stop here; for, as we have seen, the burial of the dead was quite as urgent a duty as the visitation of the sick. As the funeral procession passed, every one was expected, if possible, to join the convoy. The Rabbis applied to the observance of this direction <a id="xii_p7_7" onClick="return mV('Pro',14,32);">Proverbs 14:32</a>, and <a id="xii_p7_8" onClick="return mV('Pro',19,17);">19:17</a>; and to its neglect <a id="xii_p7_9" onClick="return mV('Pro',17,5);">Proverbs 17:5</a> (<i>Ber</i>. 18 a). Similarly, all reverence was shown towards the remains of the dead, and burying-places were kept free from every kind of profanation, and even from light conversation.</p>
<p id="xii_p8">Burial followed generally as soon as possible after death (<a id="xii_p8_1" onClick="return mV('Mat',9,23);">Matt 9:23</a>; <a id="xii_p8_2" onClick="return mV('Act',5,6, 10);">Acts 5:6, 10</a>; <a id="xii_p8_3" onClick="return mV('Act',8,2);">8:2</a>), no doubt partly on sanitary grounds. For special reasons, however (<a id="xii_p8_4" onClick="return mV('Act',9,37,39);">Acts 9:37, 39</a>), or in the case of parents, there might be a delay even of days. The preparations for the burial of our Lord, mentioned in the gospels&#8212;the ointment against His burial (<a id="xii_p8_5" onClick="return mV('Mat',26,12);">Matt 26:12</a>), the spices and ointments (<a id="xii_p8_6" onClick="return mV('Luk',23,56);">Luke 23:56</a>), the mixture of myrrh and aloes&#8212;find their literal confirmation in what the Rabbis tell us of the customs of the period (<i>Ber</i>. 53 a). At one time the wasteful expenditure connected with funerals was so great as to involve in serious difficulties the poor, who would not be outdone by their neighbours. The folly extended not only to the funeral rites, the burning of spices at the grave, and the depositing of money and valuables in the tomb, but even to luxury in the wrappings of the dead body. At last a much-needed reform was introduced by Rabbi Gamaliel, who left directions that he was to be buried in simple linen garments. In recognition of this a cup is to this day emptied to his memory at funeral meals. His grandson limited even the number of graveclothes to <i>one</i> dress. The burial-dress is made of the most inexpensive linen, and bears the name of (<i>Tachrichin</i>) "wrappings," or else the "travelling-dress." At present it is always white, but formerly any other colour might be chosen, of which we have some curious instances. Thus one Rabbi would not be buried in white, lest he might seem like one glad, nor yet in black, so as not to appear to sorrow, but in red; while another ordered a white dress, to show that he was not ashamed of his works; and yet a third directed that he should have his shoes and stockings, and a stick, to be ready for the resurrection! As we know from the gospel, the body was wrapped in "linen clothes," and the face bound about with a napkin (<a id="xii_p8_7" onClick="return mV('Jhn',11,44);">John 11:44</a>; <a id="xii_p8_8" onClick="return mV('Jhn',20,5, 7);">20:5, 7</a>).</p>
<p id="xii_p9">The body having been properly prepared, the funeral rites proceeded, as described in the gospels. From the account of the funeral procession at Nain, which the Lord of life arrested (<a id="xii_p9_1" onClick="return mV('Luk',7,'11-15');">Luke 7:11-15</a>), many interesting details may be learned. <i>First</i>, burying-places were always <i>outside</i> cities (<a id="xii_p9_2" onClick="return mV('Mat',8,28);">Matt 8:28</a>; <a id="xii_p9_3" onClick="return mV('Mat',27,7,52,53);">27:7, 52-53</a>; <a id="xii_p9_4" onClick="return mV('Jhn',11,'30-31');">John 11:30-31</a>). Neither watercourses nor public roads were allowed to pass through them, nor sheep to graze there. We read of <i>public</i> and <i>private</i> burying-places&#8212;the latter chiefly in gardens and caves. It was the practice to visit the graves (<a id="xii_p9_5" onClick="return mV('Jhn',11,31);">John 11:31</a>) partly to mourn and partly to pray. It was unlawful to eat or drink, to read, or even to walk irreverently among them. <i>Cremation</i> was denounced as a purely heathen practice, contrary to the whole spirit of Old Testament teaching. <i>Secondly</i>, we know that, as at Nain, the body was generally carried open on a bier, or else in an open coffin, the bearers frequently changing to give an opportunity to many to take part in a work deemed so meritorious. Graves in fields or in the open were often marked by memorial columns. Children less than a month old were carried to the burying by their mothers; those under twelve months were borne on a bed or stretcher. <i>Lastly</i>, the order in which the procession seems to have wound out of Nain exactly accords with what we know of the customs of the time and place. It was outside the city gate that the Lord with His disciples met the sad array. Had it been in Judaea the hired mourners and musicians would have preceded the bier; in Galilee they followed. First came the women, for, as an ancient Jewish commentary explains&#8212;woman, who brought death into our world, ought to lead the way in the funeral procession. Among them our Lord readily recognised the widowed mother, whose only treasure was to be hidden from her for ever. Behind the bier followed, obedient to Jewish law and custom, "much people of the city." The sight of her sorrow touched the compassion of the Son of Man; the presence of death called forth the power of the Son of God. To her only He spoke, what in the form of a question He said to the woman who mourned at His own grave, ignorant that death had been swallowed up in victory, and what He still speaks to us from heaven, "Weep not!" He bade not the procession halt, but, as He touched the bier, they that bore on it the dead body stood still. It was a marvellous sight outside the gate of Nain. The Rabbi and His disciples should reverently have joined the procession; they arrested it. One word of power burst inwards the sluices of Hades, and out flowed once again the tide of life. "He that was dead sat up on his bier, and began to speak";&#8212;what words of wonderment we are not told. It must have been like the sudden wakening, which leaves not on the consciousness the faintest trace of the dream. Not of that world but of this would his speech be, though he knew he had been over there, and its dazzling light made earth's sunshine so dim, that ever afterwards life must have seemed to him like the sitting up on his bier, and its faces and voices like those of the crowd which followed him to his burying.</p>
<p id="xii_p10">At the grave, on the road to which the procession repeatedly halted, when short addresses were occasionally delivered, there was a funeral oration. If the grave were in a public cemetery, at least a foot and a half must intervene between each sleeper. The caves, or rock-hewn sepulchres, consisted of an ante-chamber in which the bier was deposited, and an inner or rather lower cave in which the bodies were deposited, in a recumbent position, in niches. According to the Talmud these abodes of the dead were usually six feet long, nine feet wide, and ten feet high. Here there were niches for eight bodies: three on each side of the entrance, and two opposite. Larger sepulchres held thirteen bodies. The entrance to the sepulchres was guarded by a large stone or by a door (<a id="xii_p10_1" onClick="return mV('Mat',27,66);">Matt 27:66</a>; <a id="xii_p10_2" onClick="return mV('Mar',15,46);">Mark 15:46</a>; <a id="xii_p10_3" onClick="return mV('Jhn',11,'38-39');">John 11:38-39</a>). This structure of the tombs will explain some of the particulars connected with the burial of our Lord, how the women coming early to the grave had been astonished in finding the "very great stone" "rolled away from the door of the sepulchre," and then, when they entered the outer cave, were affrighted to see what seemed "a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment" (<a id="xii_p10_4" onClick="return mV('Mar',16,'4-5');">Mark 16:4-5</a>). Similarly, it explains the events as they are successively recorded in <a id="xii_p10_5" onClick="return mV('Jhn',20,'1-12');">John 20:1-12</a>, how Mary Magdalene, "when it was yet dark," had come to the sepulchre, in every sense waiting for the light, but even groping had felt that the stone was rolled away, and fled to tell the disciples they had, as she thought, taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre. If she knew of the sealing of that stone and of the Roman guard, she must have felt as if the hatred of man would not deprive their love even of the sacred body of their Lord. And yet, through it all, the hearts of the disciples must have treasured hopes, which they scarce dared confess to themselves. For those other two disciples, witnesses of all His deeds on earth, companions of His shame in Caiaphas' palace, were also waiting for the daybreak&#8212;only at home, not like her at the grave. And now "they both ran together." But on that morning, so near the night of betrayal, "the other disciple did outrun Peter." Grey light of early spring had broken the heavy curtain of cloud and mist, and red and golden sunlight lay on the edge of the horizon. The garden was still, and the morning air stirred the trees which in the dark night had seemed to keep watch over the dead, as through the unguarded entrance, by which lay "the very great stone" rolled away, John passed, and "stooping down" into the inner cave "saw the linen clothes lying." "Then cometh Simon Peter," not to wait in the outer cave, but to go into the sepulchre, presently to be followed thither by John. For that empty sepulchre was not a place to look into, but to go into and believe. That morn had witnessed many wonders&#8212;wonders which made the Magdalene long for yet greater&#8212;for the wonder of wonders, the Lord Himself. Nor was she disappointed. He Who alone could answer her questions fully, and dry her tears, spake first to her who loved so much.</p>
<p id="xii_p11">Thus also did our blessed Lord Himself fulfil most truly that on which the law and Jewish tradition laid so great stress: to comfort the mourners in their affliction (comp. <a id="xii_p11_1" onClick="return mV('Jam',1,27);">James 1:27</a>). Indeed, tradition has it, that there was in the Temple a special gate by which mourners entered, that all who met them might discharge this duty of love. There was a custom, which deserves general imitation, that mourners were not to be tormented by talk, but that all should observe silence till addressed by them. Afterwards, to obviate foolish remarks, a formula was fixed, according to which, in the synagogue the leader of the devotions, and in the house some one, began by asking, "Inquire for the ground of mourning"; upon which one of those present&#8212;if possible, a Rabbi&#8212;answered, "God is a just Judge," which meant, that He had removed a near relative. Then, in the synagogue, a regular fixed formula of comfort was spoken, while in the house kind expressions of consolation followed.</p>
<p id="xii_p12">The Rabbis distinguish between the <i>Onen</i> and the <i>Avel</i>&#8212;the sorrowing or suffering one, and the bowed down, fading one, or mourner; the former expression applying only to the day of the funeral, the latter to the period which followed. It was held, that the law of God only prescribed mourning for the first day, which was that of death and burial (<a id="xii_p12_1" onClick="return mV('Lev',22,4,6);">Lev 22:4, 6</a>), while the other and longer period of mourning that followed was enjoined by the elders. So long as the dead body was actually in the house, it was forbidden to eat meat or drink wine, to put on the phylacteries, or to engage in study. All necessary food had to be prepared outside the house, and as, if possible, not to be eaten in presence of the dead. The first duty was to rend the clothes, which might be done in one or more of the inner garments, but not in the outer dress. The rent is made standing, and in front; it is generally about a hand-breadth in length. In the case of parents it is never closed up again; but in that of others it is mended after the thirtieth day. Immediately after the body is carried out of the house all chairs and couches are reversed, and the mourners sit (except on the Sabbath, and on the Friday only for one hour) on the ground or on a low stool. A three-fold distinction was here made. Deep mourning was to last for seven days, of which the first three were those of "weeping." During these seven days it was, among other things, forbidden to wash, to anoint oneself, to put on shoes, to study, or to engage in any business. After that followed a lighter mourning of thirty days. Children were to mourn for their parents a whole year; and during eleven months (so as not to imply that they required to remain a full year in purgatory) to say the "prayer for the dead." The latter, however, does <i>not</i> contain any intercession for the departed. The anniversary of the day of death was also to be observed. An apostate from the Jewish faith was not to be mourned; on the contrary, white dress was to be worn on the occasion of his decease, and other demonstrations of joy to be made. It is well known under what exceptional circumstances priests and the high-priest were allowed to mourn for the dead (<a id="xii_p12_2" onClick="return mV('Lev',21,'10-11');">Lev 21:10-11</a>). In the case of the high-priest it was customary to say to him, "May we be thy expiation!" ("Let us suffer what ought to have befallen thee") to which he replied, "Be ye blessed of Heaven" (<i>Sanh</i>. ii. 1). It is noted that this mode of address to the high-priest was intended to indicate the greatness of their affection; and the learned <i>Otho</i> suggests (<i>Lexic. Rabb</i>, p. 343), that this may have been in the mind of the apostle when he would have wished himself <i>Anathema</i> for the sake of his brethren (<a id="xii_p12_3" onClick="return mV('Rom',9,3);">Rom 9:3</a>). On the return from the burial, friends, or neighbours prepared a meal for the mourners, consisting of bread, hard-boiled eggs, and lentils&#8212;round and coarse fare; round like life, which is rolling on unto death. This was brought in and served up in earthenware. On the other hand, the mourners' friends partook of a funeral meal, at which no more than ten cups were to be emptied&#8212;two before the meal, five at it, and three afterwards (<i>Jer. Ber</i>. iii. 1). In modern times the religious duty of attending to the dying, the dead, and mourners, is performed by a special "holy brotherhood," as it is called, which many of the most religious Jews join for the sake of the pious work in which it engages them.</p>
<p id="xii_p13">We add the following, which may be of interest. It is expressly allowed (<i>Jer. Ber</i>. iii. 1), on Sabbaths and feast-days to walk beyond the Sabbath limits, and to do all needful offices for the dead. This throws considerable light on the evangelical account of the offices rendered to the body of Jesus on the eve of the Passover. The chief mourning rites, indeed, were intermitted on Sabbaths and feast-days; and one of the most interesting, and perhaps the earliest Hebrew non-Biblical record&#8212;the <i>Megillath Taanith</i>, or roll of fasts&#8212;mentions a number of other days on which mourning was prohibited, being the anniversaries of joyous occasions. The Mishnah (<i>Moed K</i>. iii. 5-9) contains a number of regulations and limitations of mourning observances on greater and lesser feasts, which we do not quote, as possessing little interest save in Rabbinical casuistry. The loss of slaves was not to be mourned.</p>
<p id="xii_p14">But what after death and in the judgment? And what of that which brought in, and which gives such terrible meaning to death and the judgment&#8212;<i>sin</i>? It were idle, and could only be painful here to detail the various and discordant sayings of the Rabbis, some of which, at least, may admit of an allegorical interpretation. Only that which may be of use to the New Testament student shall be briefly summarised. Both the Talmud (<i>Pes</i>. 54 a; <i>Ned</i>. 39 b), and the Targum teach that paradise and hell were created before this world. One quotation from the Jerusalem Targum (on <a id="xii_p14_1" onClick="return mV('Gen',3,24);">Gen 3:24</a>) will not only sufficiently prove this, but show the general current of Jewish teaching. Two thousand years, we read, before the world was made, God created the Law and Gehenna, and the Garden of Eden. He made the Garden of Eden for the righteous, that they might eat of the fruits thereof, and delight themselves in them, because in this world they had kept the commandments of the law. But for the wicked He prepared Gehenna, which is like a sharp two-edged destroying sword. He put within it sparks of fire and burning coals, to punish the wicked in the world to come, because they had not observed the commandments of the law in this world. For the law is the tree of life. Whosoever observeth it shall live and subsist as the tree of life.<sup><a href="#ftn48" id="ftnref48">[48]</a></sup></p>
<p id="xii_p15">Paradise and hell were supposed to be contiguous, only separated&#8212;it was said, perhaps allegorically&#8212;by an handbreadth. But although we may here find some slight resemblance to the localisation of the history of the rich man and Lazarus (<a id="xii_p15_1" onClick="return mV('Luk',16,'25-26');">Luke 16:25-26</a>), only those acquainted with the theological thinking of the time can fully judge what infinite difference there is between the story in the Gospel and the pictures drawn in contemporary literature. Witness here the 22nd chapter of the book of Enoch, which, as so many other passages from pseudo-epigraphic and Rabbinical writings, has been mangled and misquoted by modern writers, for purposes hostile to Christianity. The Rabbis seem to have believed in a multitude of heavens&#8212;most of them holding that there were <i>seven</i>, as there were also seven departments in paradise, and as many in hell. The pre-existence of the souls of all mankind before their actual appearance upon earth, and even the doctrine of the migration of souls, seem also to have been held&#8212;both probably, however, chiefly as speculative views, introduced from foreign, non-Judaean sources.</p>
<p id="xii_p16">But all these are preliminary and outside questions, which only indirectly touch the great problems of the human soul concerning sin and salvation. And here we can, in this place, only state that the deeper and stronger our conviction that the language, surroundings, and whole atmosphere of the New Testament were those of Palestine at the time when our Lord trod its soil, the more startling appears the contrast between the doctrinal teaching of Christ and His apostles and that of the Rabbis. In general, it may be said that the New Testament teaching concerning original sin and its consequences finds no analogy in the Rabbinical writings of that period. As to the mode of salvation, their doctrine may be broadly summed up under the designation of work-righteousness.</p>
<p id="xii_p17">In view of this there is, strictly speaking, logical inconsistency in the earnestness with which the Rabbis insist on universal and immediate repentance, and the need of confession of sin, and of preparation for another world. For, a paradise which <i>might</i> be entered by all on their own merits, and which yet is to be sought by all through repentance and similar means, or else can only be obtained after passing through a kind of purgatory, constitutes no mean moral charge against the religion of Rabbinism. Yet such inconsistencies may be hailed as bringing the synagogue, in another direction, nearer to biblical truth. Indeed, we come occasionally upon much that also appears, only in quite another setting, in the New Testament. Thus the teaching of our Lord about the immortality of the righteous was, of course, quite consonant with that of the Pharisees. In fact, their contention also was, that the departed saints were in Scripture called "living" (<i>Ber</i>. 18 a). Similarly, it was their doctrine (<i>Ber</i>. 17 a, and in several other passages)&#8212;though not quite consistently held&#8212;as it was that of our Lord (<a id="xii_p17_1" onClick="return mV('Mat',22,30);">Matt 22:30</a>), that "in the world to come there is neither eating nor drinking, neither fruitfulness nor increase, neither trade nor business, neither envy, hatred, nor strife; but the righteous sit with their crowns on their heads, and feast themselves on the splendour of the Shechinah, as it is written, 'They saw God, and did eat and drink'" (<a id="xii_p17_2" onClick="return mV('Exd',24,11);">Exo 24:11</a>). The following is so similar in form and yet so different in spirit to the parable of the invited guests and him without the wedding garment (<a id="xii_p17_3" onClick="return mV('Mat',22,'1-14');">Matt 22:1-14</a>), that we give it in full. "R. Jochanan, son of Saccai, propounded a parable. A certain king prepared a banquet, to which he invited his servants, without however having fixed the time for it. Those among them who were wise adorned themselves, and sat down at the door of the king's palace, reasoning thus: Can there be anything awanting in the palace of a king? But those of them who were foolish went away to their work, saying: Is there ever a feast without labour? Suddenly the king called his servants to the banquet. The wise appeared adorned, but the foolish squalid. Then the king rejoiced over the wise, but was very wroth with the foolish, and said: Those who have adorned themselves shall sit down, eat, drink, and be merry; but those who have not adorned themselves shall stand by and see it, as it is written in <a id="xii_p17_4" onClick="return mV('Isa',65,13);">Isaiah 65:13</a>." A somewhat similar parable, but even more Jewish in its dogmatic cast, is the following: "The matter (of the world to come) is like an earthly king who committed to his servants the royal robes. They who were wise folded and laid them up in the wardrobes, but they who were careless put them on, and did in them their work. After some days the king asked back his robes. Those who were wise restored them as they were, that is, still clean; those who were foolish also restored them as they were, that is, soiled. Then the king rejoiced over the wise, but was very wroth with the careless servants, and he said to the wise: Lay up the robes in the treasury, and go home in peace. But to the careless he commanded the robes to be given, that they might wash them, and that they themselves should be cast into prison, as it is written of the bodies of the just in <a id="xii_p17_5" onClick="return mV('Isa',57,2);">Isaiah 57:2</a>; <a id="xii_p17_6" onClick="return mV('1Sa',25,29);">1 Samuel 25:29</a>, but of the bodies of the unjust in <a id="xii_p17_7" onClick="return mV('Isa',48,22);">Isaiah 48:22</a>; <a id="xii_p17_8" onClick="return mV('Isa',57,21);">57:21</a> and in <a id="xii_p17_9" onClick="return mV('1Sa',25,29);">1 Samuel 25:29</a>." From the same tractate (<i>Shab</i>. 152 a), we may, in conclusion, quote the following: "R. Eliezer said, Repent on the day before thou diest. His disciples asked him: Can a man know the hour of his death? He replied: Therefore let him repent to-day, lest haply he die on the morrow."</p>
<p id="xii_p18">Quotations on these, and discussions on kindred subjects might lead us far beyond our present scope. But the second of the parables above quoted will point the direction of the final conclusions at which Rabbinism arrived. It is not, as in the Gospel, pardon and peace, but labour with the "may be" of reward. As for the "after death," paradise, hell, the resurrection, and the judgment, voices are more discordant than ever, opinions more unscriptural, and descriptions more repulsively fabulous. This is not the place farther to trace the doctrinal views of the Rabbis, to attempt to arrange and to follow them up. Work-righteousness and study of the law are the surest key to heaven. There is a kind of purgation, if not of purgatory, after death. Some seem even to have held the annihilation of the wicked. Taking the widest and most generous views of the Rabbis, they may be thus summed up: All Israel have share in the world to come; the pious among the Gentiles also have part in it. Only the perfectly just enter at once into paradise; all the rest pass through a period of purification and perfection, variously lasting, up to one year. But notorious breakers of the law, and especially apostates from the Jewish faith, and heretics, have no hope whatever, either here or hereafter! Such is the last word which the synagogue has to say to mankind.</p>
<p id="xii_p19">Not thus are we taught by the Messiah, the King of the Jews. If we learn our loss, we also learn that "The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." Our righteousness is that freely bestowed on us by Him "Who was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities." "With His stripes we are healed." The law which we obey is that which He has put within our hearts, by which we become temples of the Holy Ghost. "The Dayspring from on high hath visited us" through the tender mercy of our God. The Gospel hath brought life and immortality to light, for we know Whom we have believed; and "perfect love casteth out fear." Not even the problems of sickness, sorrow, suffering, and death are unnoticed. "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." The tears of earth's night hang as dewdrops on flower and tree, presently to sparkle like diamonds in the morning sun. For, in that night of nights has Christ mingled the sweat of human toil and sorrow with the precious blood of His agony, and made it drop on earth as sweet balsam to heal its wounds, to soothe its sorrows, and to take away its death.</p>
<hr />
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref48" id="ftn48">[48]</a></sup>Other Rabbinical sayings have it, that seven things existed before the world&#8212;the law, repentance, paradise, hell, the throne of God, the name of the Messiah, and the Temple. At the same time the reader will observe that the quotation from the Targum given in the text attempts an allegorising, and therefore rationalistic interpretation of the narrative in <a id="xiiftn48_1" onClick="return mV('Gen',3,24);">Genesis 3:24</a>.</p>
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<h2 id="xiv-p0.1">Chapter 12</h2>
<h3 id="xiv-p0.2">Commerce</h3>
<p id="xiv_p1">The remarkable change which we have noticed in the views of Jewish authorities, from contempt to almost affectation of manual labour, could certainly not have been arbitrary. But as we fail to discover here any religious motive, we can only account for it on the score of altered political and social circumstances. So long as the people were, at least nominally, independent, and in possession of their own land, constant engagement in a trade would probably mark an inferior social stage, and imply either voluntary or necessary preoccupation with the things of this world that perish with the using. It was otherwise when Judaea was in the hands of strangers. Then honest labour afforded the means, and the only means, of manly independence. To engage in it, just sufficient to secure this result, to "stand in need of no one"; to be able to hold up one's head before friend and foe; to make unto God moral sacrifice of natural inclination, strength and time, so as to be able freely and independently to devote oneself to the study of the Divine law, was a noble resolve. And it brought its own reward. If, on the one hand, the alternation of physical and mental labour was felt to be healthy, on the other&#8212;and this had been the main object in view&#8212;there never were men more fearlessly outspoken, more unconcerned as to mere personality or as to consequences, more independent in thought and word than these Rabbis. We can understand the withering scorn of St. Jude (<a id="xiv_p1_1" onClick="return mV('Jud',1,16);">Jude 16</a>) towards those "having men's persons in admiration," literally, "admiring faces";&#8212;an expression by which the LXX translate the "respect" or "regard," or "acceptance" of persons (the <i>nasa panim</i>) mentioned in <a id="xiv_p1_2" onClick="return mV('Lev',19,15);">Leviticus 19:15</a>; <a id="xiv_p1_3" onClick="return mV('Deu',10,17);">Deuteronomy 10:17</a>; <a id="xiv_p1_4" onClick="return mV('Job',13,10);">Job 13:10</a>; <a id="xiv_p1_5" onClick="return mV('Pro',18,5);">Proverbs 18:5</a>, and many other passages. In this respect also, as so often, St. Paul spoke as a true Jew when he wrote (<a id="xiv_p1_6" onClick="return mV('Gal',2,6);">Gal 2:6</a>): "But of these who seemed to be somewhat, whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: the face of man God accepteth not."</p>
<p id="xiv_p2">The Mishnah, indeed, does not in so many words inform us how the change in public feeling, to which we have referred, was brought about. But there are plenty of hints to guide us in certain short caustic sentences which would be inexplicable, unless read in the light of the history of that time. Thus, as stated in the previous chapter, Shemaajah admonished: "Love work, hate Rabbiship, and do not press on the notice of those in power." Similarly, Avtaljon warned the sages to be cautious in their words, for fear of incurring banishment for themselves and their followers (Ab. i. 10,11). And Rabbi Gamaliel II had it (ii. 3): "Be cautious with the powers that be, for they only seek intercourse with a person for their own advantage. They are as if they loved you, when it serves for their profit, but in the hour of his need they do not stand by a man." In the same category of sayings for the times we may rank this of Rabbi Matithja: "Meet every one with a salutation of peace, and prefer to be the tail of lions, but be not the head to foxes." It is needless to multiply similar quotations, all expressive of an earnest desire for honourable independence through personal exertion.</p>
<p id="xiv_p3">Quite different from those as to trades were the Rabbinical views about commerce, as we shall immediately show. In fact, the general adoption of business, which has so often been made the subject of jeer against Israel, marks yet another social state, and a terrible social necessity. When Israel was scattered by units, hundreds, or even thousands, but still a miserable, vanquished, homeless, weak minority among the nations of the earth&#8212;avoided, down-trodden, and at the mercy of popular passion&#8212;no other course was open to them than to follow commerce. Even if Jewish talent could have identified itself with the pursuits of the Gentiles, would public life have been open to them&#8212;we shall not say, on equal, but, on any terms? Or, to descend a step lower&#8212;except in those crafts which might be peculiarly theirs, could Jewish tradesmen have competed with those around? Would they even have been allowed to enter the lists? Moreover, it was necessary for their self-defence&#8212;almost for their existence&#8212;that they should gain influence. And in their circumstances this could only be obtained by the possession of wealth, and the sole road to this was commerce.</p>
<p id="xiv_p4">There can be no question that, according to the Divine purpose, Israel was not intended to be a commercial people. The many restrictions to the intercourse between Jews and Gentiles, which the Mosaic law everywhere presents, would alone have sufficed to prevent it. Then there was the express enactment against taking interest upon loans (<a id="xiv_p4_1" onClick="return mV('Lev',25,'36-37');">Lev 25:36-37</a>), which must have rendered commercial transactions impossible, even though it was relaxed in reference to those who lived outside the boundaries of Palestine (<a id="xiv_p4_2" onClick="return mV('Deu',23,20);">Deu 23:20</a>). Again, the law of the Sabbatic and of the Jubilee year would have brought all extended commerce to a standstill. Nor was the land at all suited for the requirements of trade. True, it possessed ample seaboard, whatever the natural capabilities of its harbours may have been. But the whole of that coast, with the harbours of Joppa, Jamneh, Ascalon, Gaza, and Acco or Ptolemais, remained, with short intervals, in the possession of the Philistines and Phoenicians. Even when Herod the Great built the noble harbour of Caesarea, it was almost exclusively used by foreigners (Josephus, Jew. War, 409-413). And the whole history of Israel in Palestine points to the same inference. Only on one occasion, during the reign of Solomon, do we find anything like attempts to engage in mercantile pursuits on a large scale. The reference to the "king's merchants" (<a id="xiv_p4_3" onClick="return mV('1Ki',10,'28-29');">1 Kings 10:28-29</a>; <a id="xiv_p4_4" onClick="return mV('2Ch',1,16);">2 Chron 1:16</a>), who imported horses and linen yarn, has been regarded as indicating the existence of a sort of royal trading company, or of a royal monopoly. A still more curious inference would almost lead us to describe Solomon as the first great "Protectionist." The expressions in <a id="xiv_p4_5" onClick="return mV('1Ki',10,15);">1 Kings 10:15</a> point to duties paid by retail and wholesale importers, the words, literally rendered, indicating as a source of revenue that "from the traders and from the traffick of the merchants"; both words in their derivation pointing to foreign trade, and probably distinguishing them as retail and wholesale. We may here remark that, besides these duties and the tributes from "protected" kings (<a id="xiv_p4_6" onClick="return mV('1Ki',9,15);">1 Kings 9:15</a>), Solomon's income is described (<a id="xiv_p4_7" onClick="return mV('1Ki',10, 14);">1 Kings 10:14</a>) as having amounted, at any rate, in one year, to the enormous sum of between two and three million sterling! Part of this may have been derived from the king's foreign trade. For we know (<a id="xiv_p4_8" onClick="return mV('1Ki',9,26);">1 Kings 9:26</a>, etc.; <a id="xiv_p4_9" onClick="return mV('2Ch',8,17);">2 Chron 8:17</a>, etc.) that King Solomon built a navy at Ezion-geber, on the Red Sea, which port David had taken. This navy traded to Ophir, in company with the Phoenicians. But as this tendency of King Solomon's policy was in opposition to the Divine purpose, so it was not lasting. The later attempt of King Jehoshaphat to revive the foreign trade signally failed; "for the ships were broken at Ezion-geber" (<a id="xiv_p4_10" onClick="return mV('1Ki',22,'48-48');">1 Kings 22:48</a>; <a id="xiv_p4_11" onClick="return mV('2Ch',20,'36-37');">2 Chron 20:36-37</a>), and soon afterwards the port of Ezion-geber passed once more into the hands of Edom (<a id="xiv_p4_12" onClick="return mV('2Ki',8,'20-20');">2 Kings 8:20</a>).</p>
<p id="xiv_p5">With this closes the Biblical history of Jewish commerce in Palestine, in the strict sense of that term. But our reference to what may be called the Scriptural indications against the pursuit of commerce brings up a kindred subject, for which, although confessedly a digression, we claim a hearing, on account of its great importance. Those most superficially acquainted with modern theological controversy are aware, that certain opponents of the Bible have specially directed their attacks against the antiquity of the Pentateuch, although they have not yet arranged among themselves what parts of the Pentateuch were written by different authors, nor by how many, nor by whom, nor at what times, nor when or by whom they were ultimately collected into one book. Now what we contend for in this connection is, that the legislation of the Pentateuch affords evidence of its composition before the people were settled in Palestine. We arrive at this conclusion in the following manner. Supposing a code of laws and institutions to be drawn up by a practical legislator&#8212;for unquestionably they were in force in Israel&#8212;we maintain, that no human lawgiver could have ordered matters for a nation in a settled state as we find it done in the Pentateuch. The world has had many speculative constitutions of society drawn up by philosophers and theorists, from Plato to Rousseau and Owen. None of these would have suited, or even been possible in a settled state of society. But no philosopher would ever have imagined or thought of such laws as some of the provisions in the Pentateuch. To select only a few, almost at random. Let the reader think of applying, for example, to England, such provisions as that all males were to appear three times a year in the place which the Lord would choose, or those connected with the Sabbatic and the Jubilee years, or those regulating religious and charitable contributions, or those concerning the corners of fields, or those prohibiting the taking of interest or those connected with the Levitical cities. Then let any one seriously ask himself, whether such institutions could have been for the first time propounded or introduced by a legislator at the time of David, or Hezekiah, or of Ezra? The more we think of the spirit and of the details of the Mosaic legislation, the stronger grows our conviction, that such laws and institutions could have been only introduced before the people actually settled in the land. So far as we are aware, this line of argument has not before been proposed; and yet it seems necessary for our opponents to meet this preliminary and, as we think, insuperable difficulty of their theory, before we can be asked to discuss their critical objections.</p>
<p id="xiv_p6">But to return. Passing from Biblical, or, at least, from Old Testament to later times, we find the old popular feeling in Palestine on the subject of commerce still existing. For once Josephus here correctly expresses the views of his countrymen. "As for ourselves," he writes (Ag. Apion, i, 60-68), "we neither inhabit a maritime country, nor do we delight in merchandise, nor in such a mixture with other men as arises from it; but the cities we dwell in are remote from the sea, and having a fruitful country for our habitation, we take pains in cultivating that only." Nor were the opinions of the Rabbis different. We know in what low esteem pedlars were held by the Jewish authorities. But even commerce was not much more highly regarded. It has been rightly said that, "in the sixty-three tractates of which the Talmud is composed, scarcely a word occurs in honour of commerce, but much to point out the dangers attendant upon money-making." "Wisdom," says Rabbi Jochanan, in explanation of <a id="xiv_p6_1" onClick="return mV('Deu',30,12);">Deuteronomy 30:12</a>, "'is not in heaven'&#8212;that is, it is not found with those who are proud; neither is it 'beyond the sea'&#8212;that is, it will not be found among traders nor among merchants" (Er. 55 a). Still more to the point are the provisions of the Jewish law as to those who lent money on interest, or took usury. "The following," we read in <i>Rosh Hash</i>. 8. 8, "are unfit for witness-bearing: he who plays with dice (a gambler); he who lends on usury; they who train doves (either for betting purposes, or as decoys); they who trade in seventh year's products, and slaves." Even more pungent is this, almost reminding one of the Rabbinic gloss: "Of the calumniator God says, 'There is not room in the world for him and Me'";&#8212;"The usurer bites off a piece from a man, for he takes from him that which he has not given him" (Bab. Mez. 60 b). A few other kindred sayings may here find a place. "Rabbi Meir saith: Be sparing (doing little) in business, but busy in the Thorah" (Ab. iv. 2). Among the forty-eight qualifications for acquiring the Thorah, "little business" is mentioned (vi. 6). Lastly, we have this from Hillel, concluding with a very noble saying, worthy to be preserved to all times and in all languages: "He who engages much in business cannot become a sage; and in a place where there are no men, strive thou to be a man."</p>
<p id="xiv_p7">It will perhaps have been observed, that, with the changing circumstances of the people, the views as to commerce also underwent a slow process of modification, the main object now being to restrict such occupations, and especially to regulate them in accordance with religion. Inspectorships of weights and measures are of comparatively late date in our own country. The Rabbis in this, as in so many other matters, were long before us. They appointed regular inspectors, whose duty it was to go from market to market, and, more than that, to fix the current market prices (Baba B. 88). The prices for produce were ultimately determined by each community. Few merchants would submit to interference with what is called the law of supply and demand. But the Talmudical laws against buying up grain and withdrawing it from sale, especially at a time of scarcity, are exceedingly strict. Similarly, it was prohibited artificially to raise prices, especially of produce. Indeed, it was regarded as cheating to charge a higher profit than sixteen per cent. In general, some would have it that in Palestine no one should make profit out of the necessaries of life. Cheating was declared to involve heavier punishment than a breach of some of the other moral commandments. For the latter, it was argued, might be set right by repentance. But he who cheated took in not merely one or several persons, but every one; and how could that ever be set right? And all were admonished to remember, that "God punisheth even where the eye of an earthly judge cannot penetrate."</p>
<p id="xiv_p8">We have spoken of a gradual modification of Rabbinical views with the changing circumstances of the nation. This probably comes out most clearly in the advice of the Talmud (Baba M. 42), to divide one's money into three parts&#8212;to lay out one in the purchase of land, to invest the second in merchandise, and to keep the third in hand as cash. But there was always this comfort, which Rab enumerated among the blessings of the next world, that there was no commerce there (Ber. 17 a). And so far as this world was concerned, the advice was to engage in business, in order with the profit made to assist the sages in their pursuits, just as Sebua, one of the three wealthy men of Jerusalem, had assisted the great Hillel. From what has been said, it will be inferred that the views expressed as to Palestinian, or even Babylonian Jews, did not apply to those who were "dispersed abroad" among the various Gentile nations. To them, as already shown, commerce would be a necessity, and, in fact, the grand staple of their existence. If this may be said of all Jews of the dispersion, it applies specially to that community which was the richest and most influential among them&#8212;we mean the Jews of Alexandria.</p>
<p id="xiv_p9">Few phases, even in the ever-changeful history of the Jewish people, are more strange, more varied in interest, or more pathetic than those connected with the Jews of Alexandria. The immigration of Jews into Egypt commenced even before the Babylonish captivity. Naturally it received great increase from that event, and afterwards from the murder of Gedaliah. But the real exodus commenced under Alexander the Great. That monarch accorded to the Jews in Alexandria the same rights as its Greek inhabitants enjoyed, and so raised them to the rank of the privileged classes. Henceforth their numbers and their influence grew under successive rulers. We find them commanding Egyptian armies, largely influencing Egyptian thought and inquiry, and partially leavening it by the translation of the Holy Scriptures into Greek. Of the so-called Temple of Onias at Leontopolis, which rivalled that of Jerusalem, and of the magnificence of the great synagogue at Alexandria, we cannot speak in this place. There can be no doubt that, in the Providence of God, the location of so many Jews in Alexandria, and the mental influence which they acquired, were designed to have an important bearing on the later spread of the Gospel of Christ among the Greek-speaking and Grecian-thinking educated world. In this, the Greek translation of the Old Testament was also largely helpful. Indeed, humanly speaking, it would have scarcely been possible without it. At the time of Philo the number of Jews in Egypt amounted to no less than one million. In Alexandria they occupied two out of the five quarters of the town, which were called after the first five letters of the alphabet. They lived under rulers of their own, almost in a state of complete independence. Theirs was the quarter Delta, along the seashore. The supervision of navigation, both by sea and river, was wholly entrusted to them. In fact, the large export trade, especially in grain&#8212;and Egypt was the granary of the world&#8212;was entirely in their hands. The provisioning of Italy and of the world was the business of the Jews. It is a curious circumstance, as illustrating how little the history of the world changes, that during the troubles at Rome the Jewish bankers of Alexandria were able to obtain from their correspondents earlier and more trustworthy political tidings than any one else. This enabled them to declare themselves in turn for Caesar and for Octavius, and to secure the full political and financial results flowing from such policy, just as the great Jewish banking houses at the beginning of this century were similarly able to profit by earlier and more trustworthy news of events than the general public could obtain.</p>
<p id="xiv_p10">But no sketch of commerce among the early Jews, however brief, would be complete without some further notice both of the nature of the trade carried on, and of the legal regulations which guarded it. The business of the travelling hawker, of course, was restricted to negotiating an exchange of the products of one district for those of another, to buying and selling articles of home produce, or introducing among those who affected fashion or luxury in country districts specimens of the latest novelties from abroad. The foreign imports were, with the exception of wood and metals, chiefly articles of luxury. Fish from Spain, apples from Crete, cheese from Bithynia; lentils, beans, and gourds from Egypt and Greece; plates from Babylon, wine from Italy, beer from Media, household vessels from Sidon, baskets from Egypt, dresses from India, sandals from Laodicea, shirts from Cilicia, veils from Arabia&#8212;such were some of the goods imported. On the other hand, the exports from Palestine consisted of such produce as wheat, oil, balsam, honey, figs, etc., the value of exports and imports being nearly equal, and the balance, if any, in favour of Palestine.</p>
<p id="xiv_p11">Then, as to the laws regulating trade and commerce, they were so minute as almost to remind us of the Saviour's strictures on Pharisaic punctiliousness. Several Mishnic tractates are full of determinations on these points. "The dust of the balances" is a strictly Jewish idea and phrase. So far did the law interfere, as to order that a wholesale dealer must cleanse the measures he used once every month, and a retail dealer twice a week; that all weights were to be washed once a week, and the balances wiped every time they had been used. By way of making assurance doubly sure, the seller had to give rather more than an ounce in addition to every ten pounds, if the article consisted of fluids, or half that if of solids (Baba B. v. 10, 11). Here are some of the principal ordinances relating to trade. A bargain was not considered closed until both parties had taken possession of their respective properties. But after one of them had received the money, it was deemed dishonourable and sinful for the other to draw back. In case of overcharge, or a larger than the lawful profit, a purchaser had the right of returning the article, or claiming the balance in money, provided he applied for it after an interval not longer than was needful for showing the goods to another merchant or to a relative. Similarly, the seller was also protected. Money-changers were allowed to charge a fixed discount for light money, or to return it within a certain period, if below the weight at which they had taken it. A merchant might not be pressed to name the lowest price, unless the questioner seriously intended to purchase; nor might he be even reminded of a former overcharge to induce him to lower his prices. Goods of different qualities might not be mixed, even though the articles added were of superior value. For the protection of the public, agriculturists were forbidden to sell in Palestine wine diluted with water, unless in places where such was the known usage. Indeed, one of the Rabbis went so far as to blame merchants who gave little presents to children by way of attracting the custom of their parents. It is difficult to imagine what they would have said to the modern practice of giving discount to servants. All agreed in reprobating as deceit every attempt to give a better appearance to an article exposed for sale. Purchases of corn could not be concluded till the general market-price had been fixed.</p>
<p id="xiv_p12">But beyond all this, every kind of speculation was regarded as akin to usury. With the delicacy characteristic of Rabbinical law, creditors were expressly prohibited from using anything belonging to a debtor without paying for it, from sending him on an errand, or even accepting a present from one who had solicited an advance. So punctilious were the Rabbis in avoiding the appearance of usury, that a woman who borrowed a loaf from her neighbour was told to fix its value at the time, lest a sudden rise in flour should make the loaf returned worth more than that borrowed! If a house or a field were rented, a somewhat higher charge might be made, if the money were not paid in advance, but not in the case of a purchase. It was regarded as an improper kind of speculation to promise a merchant one-half of the profit on the sales he effected, or to advance him money and then allow him one-half of the profits on his transactions. In either case, it was thought, a merchant would be exposed to more temptation. By law he was only entitled to a commission and to compensation for his time and trouble.</p>
<p id="xiv_p13">Equally strict were the regulations affecting debtor and creditor. Advances were legally secured by regular documents, drawn out at the expense of the debtor, and attested by witnesses, about whose signature minute directions are given. To prevent mistakes, the sum lent was marked at the top, as well as in the body of the document. A person was not taken as security for another after the loan was actually contracted. In reference to interest (which among the Romans was calculated monthly), in regard to pledges, and in dealing with insolvent debtors, the mildness of the Jewish law has never been equalled. It was lawful, under certain restrictions, to take a pledge, and in the event of non-payment to sell it: but wearing apparel, bedding, the ploughshare, and all articles required for the preparation of food were excepted. Similarly, it was unlawful, under any circumstances, to take a pledge from a widow, or to sell that which belonged to her. These are only some of the provisions by which the interest of all parties were not only guarded, but a higher religious tone sought to be imparted to ordinary life. Those who are acquainted with the state of matters among the nations around, and the cruel exactions of the Roman law, will best appreciate the difference in this respect also between Israel and the Gentiles. The more the Rabbinical code is studied, the higher will be our admiration of its provisions, characterised as these are by wisdom, kindliness, and delicacy, we venture to say, far beyond any modern legislation. Not only the history of the past, the present privileges, and the hope connected with the promises, but the family, social, and public life which he found among his brethren would attach a Jew to his people. Only one thing was awanting&#8212;but that, alas! the "one thing needful." For, in the language of St. Paul (<a id="xiv_p13_1" onClick="return mV('Rom',10,2);">Rom 10:2</a>), "I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge."</p>
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<h2 id="xv-p0.1">Chapter 13</h2>
<h3 id="xv-p0.2">Among the People, and with the Pharisees</h3>
<p id="xv_p1">It would have been difficult to proceed far either in Galilee or in Judaea without coming into contact with an altogether peculiar and striking individuality, differing from all around, and which would at once arrest attention. This was the Pharisee. Courted or feared, shunned or flattered, reverently looked up to or laughed at, he was equally a power everywhere, both ecclesiastically and politically, as belonging to the most influential, the most zealous, and the most closely-connected religions fraternity, which in the pursuit of its objects spared neither time nor trouble, feared no danger, and shrunk from no consequences. Familiar as the name sounds to readers of the New Testament and students of Jewish history, there is no subject on which more crude or inaccurate notions prevail than that of Pharisaism, nor yet any which, rightly understood, gives fuller insight into the state of Judaism at the time of our Lord, or better illustrates His words and His deeds. Let us first view the Pharisee as, himself seemingly unmoved, he moves about among the crowd, which either respectfully gives way or curiously looks after him.</p>
<p id="xv_p2">There was probably no town or village inhabited by Jews which had not its Pharisees, although they would, of course, gather in preference about Jerusalem with its Temple, and what, perhaps would have been even dearer to the heart of a genuine Pharisee&#8212;its four hundred and eighty synagogues, its Sanhedrims (great and small), and its schools of study. There could be no difficulty in recognising such an one. Walking behind him, the chances were, he would soon halt to say his prescribed prayers. If the fixed time for them had come, he would stop short in the middle of the road, perhaps say one section of them, move on, again say another part, and so on, till, whatever else might be doubted, there could be no question of the conspicuousness of his devotions in market-place or corners of streets. There he would stand, as taught by the traditional law, would draw his feet well together, compose his body and clothes, and bend so low "that every vertebra in his back would stand out separate," or, at least, till "the skin over his heart would fall into folds" (Ber. 28 b). The workman would drop his tools, the burden-bearer his load; if a man had already one foot in the stirrup, he would withdraw it. The hour had come, and nothing could be suffered to interrupt or disturb him. The very salutation of a king, it was said, must remain unreturned; nay, the twisting of a serpent around one's heel must remain unheeded. Nor was it merely the prescribed daily seasons of prayer which so claimed his devotions. On entering a village, and again on leaving it, he must say one or two benedictions; the same in passing through a fortress, in encountering any danger, in meeting with anything new, strange, beautiful, or unexpected. And the longer he prayed the better. In the view of the Rabbis this had a twofold advantage; for "much prayer is sure to be heard," and "prolix prayer prolongeth life." At the same time, as each prayer expressed, and closed with a benediction of the Divine Name, there would be special religious merit attaching to mere number, and a hundred "benedictions" said in one day was a kind of measure of great piety.</p>
<p id="xv_p3">But on meeting a Pharisee face to face his identity could still less be doubted. His self-satisfied, or else mock-modest or ostentatiously meek bearing would betray him, even irrespective of his superciliousness towards others, his avoidance of every touch of persons or things which he held unclean, and his extravagant religious displays. We are, of course, speaking of the class, or, rather, the party, as such, and of its tendencies, and not of <i>all</i> the individuals who composed it. Besides, there were, as we shall by-and-by see, various degrees among them, from the humblest Pharisee, who was simply a member of the fraternity, only initiated in its lowest degree, or perhaps even a novice, to the most advanced <i>chasid</i>, or "pietist." The latter would, for example, bring every day a trespass-offering, in case he had committed some offence of which he was doubtful. How far the punctiliousness of that class, in observing the laws of Levitical purity, would go, may be gathered from a Rabbi, who would not allow his son to remain in the room while he was in the hands of the surgeon, lest he might be defiled by contact with the amputated limb, which, of course, was thenceforth dead. Another <i>chasid</i> went so far in his zeal for Sabbath observance, that he would not build up again his house because he had thought about it on the Sabbath; and it was even declared by some improper to intrust a letter to a Gentile, lest he should deliver it on the holy day! These are real, but by no means extreme cases. For, a Rabbi, contemporary with the apostles, was actually obliged to denounce, as incompatible with the continuance of society, the vagaries of the so-called "Chasid Shoteh," or silly pietist. What was meant by these will appear from such instances as the refusal to save a woman from drowning for fear of touching a female, or waiting to put off the phylacteries before stretching out a hand to rescue a child from the water!</p>
<p id="xv_p4">Readers of the New Testament will remember that the very dress of the Pharisees differed from that of others. Simple as the garb of Orientals is, it must not be thought that, in those days, wealth, rank, and luxury were not recognisable quite as much, if not more, than among ourselves. No doubt the polished Grecian, the courtly Herodian, the wealthy Sadducee, as well as many of the lady patronesses of the Pharisees (Josephus, Ant. xvii, 32-45), would have been easily recognised. At any rate, Jewish writings give us such descriptions of their toilette, that we can almost transport ourselves among the fashionable society of Tiberias, Caesarea, Jerusalem, or that of "the dispersed," who were residents of Alexandria or of the wealthy towns of Babylonia.</p>
<p id="xv_p5">Altogether, it seems, eighteen garments were supposed to complete an elegant toilette. The material, the colour, and the cut distinguished the wearer. While the poor used the upper garment for a covering at night, the fashionable wore the finest white, embroidered, or even purple garments, with curiously-wrought silk girdles. It was around this upper garment that "the borders" were worn which the Pharisees "enlarged" (<a id="xv_p5_1" onClick="return mV('Mat',23,'5-5');">Matt 23:5</a>). Of these we shall speak presently. Meantime we continue our description. The inner garment went down to the heels. The head-dress consisted of a pointed cap, or kind of turban, of more or less exquisite material, and curiously wound, the ends often hanging gracefully behind. Gloves were generally used only for protection. As for ladies, besides differences in dress, the early charge of Isaiah (<a id="xv_p5_2" onClick="return mV('Isa',3,'16-24');">3:16-24</a>) against the daughters of Jerusalem might have been repeated with tenfold emphasis in New Testament times. We read of three kinds of veils. The Arabian hung down from the head, leaving the wearer free to see all around; the veil-dress was a kind of mantilla, thrown gracefully about the whole person, and covering the head; while the Egyptian resembled the veil of modern Orientals, covering breast, neck, chin, and face, and leaving only the eyes free. The girdle, which was fastened lower than by men, was often of very costly fabric, and studded with precious stones. Sandals consisted merely of soles strapped to the feet; but ladies wore also costly slippers, sometimes embroidered, or adorned with gems, and so arranged that the pressure of the foot emitted a delicate perfume. It is well known that scents and "ointments" were greatly in vogue, and often most expensive (<a id="xv_p5_3" onClick="return mV('Mat',26,'7-7');">Matt 26:7</a>). The latter were prepared of oil and of home or foreign perfumes, the dearest being kept in costly alabaster boxes. The trade of perfumer was, however, looked down upon, not only among the Jews, but even among heathen nations. But in general society anointing was combined with washing, as tending to comfort and refreshment. The hair, the beard, the forehead, and the face, even garlands worn at feasts, were anointed. But luxury went much farther than all this. Some ladies used cosmetics, painting their cheeks and blackening their eyebrows with a mixture of antimony, zinc, and oil. The hair, which was considered a chief point of beauty, was the object of special care. Young people wore it long; but in men this would have been regarded as a token of effeminacy (<a id="xv_p5_4" onClick="return mV('1Cr',11,'14-14');">1 Cor 11:14</a>). The beard was carefully trimmed, anointed, and perfumed. Slaves were not allowed to wear beards. Peasant girls tied their hair in a simple knot; but the fashionable Jewesses curled and plaited theirs, adorning the tresses with gold ornaments and pearls. The favourite colour was a kind of auburn, to produce which the hair was either dyed or sprinkled with gold-dust. We read even of false hair (Shab. vi. 3), just as false teeth also were worn in Judaea. Indeed, as in this respect also there is nothing new under the sun, we are not astonished to find mention of hair-pins and elegant combs, nor to read that some Jewish dandies had their hair regularly dressed! However, the business of hairdresser was not regarded as very respectable, any more than that of perfumer.<sup><a href="#ftn51" id="ftnref51">[51]</a></sup></p>
<p id="xv_p6">As for ornaments, gentlemen generally wore a seal, either on the ring-finger or suspended round the neck. Some of them had also bracelets above the wrist (commonly of the right arm), made of ivory, gold, or precious stones strung together. Of course, the fashionable lady was similarly adorned, adding to the bracelets finger-rings, ankle-rings, nose-rings, ear-rings, gorgeous head-dresses, necklaces, chains, and what are nowadays called "charms." As it may interest some, we shall add a few sentences of description. The ear-ring was either plain, or had a drop, a pendant, or a little bell inserted. The nose-ring, which the traditional law ordered to be put aside on the Sabbath, hung gracefully over the upper lip, yet so as not to interfere with the salute of the privileged friend. Two kinds of necklaces were worn&#8212;one close-fitting, the other often consisting of precious stones or pearls, and hanging down over the chest, often as low as the girdle. The fashionable lady would wear two or three such chains, to which smelling-bottles and various ornaments, even heathen "charms," were attached. Gold pendants descended from the head-ornament, which sometimes rose like a tower, or was wreathed in graceful snake-like coils. The anklets were generally so wrought as in walking to make a sound like little bells. Sometimes the two ankle-rings were fastened together, which would oblige the fair wearer to walk with small, mincing steps. If to all this we add gold and diamond pins, and say that our very brief description is strictly based upon contemporary notices, the reader will have some idea of the appearance of fashionable society.</p>
<p id="xv_p7">The sketch just given will be of some practical use if it helps us more fully to realise the contrast presented by the appearance of the Pharisee. Whether sternly severe, blandly meek, or zealously earnest, he would carefully avoid all contact with one who was not of the fraternity, or even occupied an inferior degree in it, as we shall by-and-by show. He would also be recognisable by his very garb. For, in the language of our Lord, the Pharisees made "broad their phylacteries," and "enlarged the borders of their garments." The latter observance, at least so far as concerned the wearing of memorial fringes on the borders of the garments&#8212;not the conspicuous enlargement of these borders&#8212;rested really on a Divine ordinance (<a id="xv_p7_1" onClick="return mV('Num',15,'37-37');">Num 15:37</a>; <a id="xv_p7_2" onClick="return mV('Deu',22,'12-12');">Deu 22:12</a>). In Scripture these fringes are prescribed to be of blue, the symbolical colour of the covenant; but the Mishnah allows them also to be white (Men. iv. 1). They are not unfrequently referred to in the New Testament (<a id="xv_p7_3" onClick="return mV('Mat',9,'20-20');">Matt 9:20</a>; <a id="xv_p7_4" onClick="return mV('Mat',14,'36-36');">14:36</a>; <a id="xv_p7_5" onClick="return mV('Mat',23,'5-5');">23:5</a>; <a id="xv_p7_6" onClick="return mV('Mar',6,'56-56');">Mark 6:56</a>; <a id="xv_p7_7" onClick="return mV('Luk',8,'44-44');">Luke 8:44</a>). As already stated, they were worn on the border of the outer garment&#8212;no doubt by every pious Israelite. Later Jewish mysticism found in this fringed border deep references to the manner in which the <i>Shechinah</i> enwrapped itself in creation, and called the attention of each Israelite to the fact that, if in <a id="xv_p7_8" onClick="return mV('Num',15,'39-39');">Numbers 15:39</a> we read (in the Hebrew), "Ye shall look upon him" [not "it," as in our Authorised Version] "and remember," this change of gender (for the Hebrew word for "fringes" is feminine) indicated&#8212;"that, if thou doest so, it is as much as if thou sawest the throne of the Glory, which is like unto blue." And thus believing, the pious Jew would cover in prayer his head with this mysterious fringed garment; in marked contrast to which St. Paul declares all such superstitious practices as dishonouring (<a id="xv_p7_9" onClick="return mV('1Cr',11,'4-4');">1 Cor 11:4</a>).<sup><a href="#ftn52" id="ftnref52">[52]</a></sup></p>
<p id="xv_p8">If the practice of wearing borders with fringes had Scriptural authority, we are well convinced that no such plea could be urged for the so-called "phylacteries." The observance arose from a literal interpretation of <a id="xv_p8_1" onClick="return mV('Exd',13,'9-9');">Exodus 13:9</a>, to which even the later injunction in <a id="xv_p8_2" onClick="return mV('Deu',6,'8-8');">Deuteronomy 6:8</a> gives no countenance. This appears even from its repetition in <a id="xv_p8_3" onClick="return mV('Deu',11,'18-18');">Deuteronomy 11:18</a>, where the spiritual meaning and purport of the direction is immediately indicated, and from a comparison with kindred expressions, which evidently could not be taken literally&#8212;such as <a id="xv_p8_4" onClick="return mV('Pro',3,'3-3');">Proverbs 3:3</a>; <a id="xv_p8_5" onClick="return mV('Pro',6,'21-21');">6:21</a>; <a id="xv_p8_6" onClick="return mV('Pro',7,'3-3');">7:3</a>; <a id="xv_p8_7" onClick="return mV('Sgs',8,'6-6');">Canticles 8:6</a>; <a id="xv_p8_8" onClick="return mV('Isa',49,'16-16');">Isaiah 49:16</a>. The very term used by the Rabbis for phylacteries&#8212;"tephillin," prayer-fillets&#8212;is comparatively modern origin, in so far as it does not occur in the Hebrew Old Testament. The Samaritans did not acknowledge them as of Mosaic obligation, any more than do the Karaite Jews, and there is, what seems to us, sufficient evidence, even from Rabbinical writings, that in the time of Christ phylacteries were not universally worn, nor yet by the priests while officiating in the Temple. Although the words of our Lord seem only expressly to condemn the making broad of the phylacteries, for purposes of religious ostentation, it is difficult to believe that He Himself had worn them. At any rate, while any ordinary Israelite would only put them on at prayer or on solemn occasions, the members of the Pharisaic confraternity wore them all day long. The practice itself, and the views and ordinances connected with it, are so characteristic of the party, that we shall add a few further particulars.</p>
<p id="xv_p9">The "tephillin" were worn on the left arm, towards the heart, and on the forehead. They consisted&#8212;to describe them roughly&#8212;of capsules, containing, on parchment (that for the forehead on four distinct parchments), these four passages of Scripture: <a id="xv_p9_1" onClick="return mV('Exd',13,'1-10');">Exodus 13:1-10</a>; <a id="xv_p9_2" onClick="return mV('Exd',13,'11-16');">Exodus 13:11-16</a>; <a id="xv_p9_3" onClick="return mV('Deu',6,'4-9');">Deuteronomy 6:4-9</a> and <a id="xv_p9_4" onClick="return mV('Deu',11,'13-21');">Deuteronomy 11:13-21</a>. The capsules were fastened on by black leather straps, which were wound round the arm and hand (seven times round the former, and three times round the latter), or else fitted to the forehead in a prescribed and mystically significant manner. The wearer of them could not be mistaken. But as for their value and importance in the eyes of the Rabbis, it were impossible to exaggerate it. They were reverenced as highly as the Scriptures, and, like them, might be rescued from the flames on a Sabbath, although not worn, as constituting "a burden!" It was said that Moses had received the law of their observance from God on Mount Sinai; that the "tephillin" were more sacred than the golden plate on the forehead of the high-priest, since its inscription embodied only once the sacred name of Jehovah, while the writing inside the "tephillin" contained it not less than twenty-three times; that the command of wearing them equalled all other commands put together, with many other similar extravagances. How far the profanity of the Rabbis in this respect would go, appears from the circumstance, that they supposed God Himself as wearing phylacteries (Ber. 6 a). The fact is deduced from <a id="xv_p9_5" onClick="return mV('Isa',62,8);">Isaiah 62:8</a>, where the "right hand" by which Jehovah swears is supposed to refer to the law, according to the last clause of <a id="xv_p9_6" onClick="return mV('Deu',33,2);">Deuteronomy 33:2</a>; while the expression "strength of His arm" was applied to the "tephillin," since the term "strength" appeared in <a id="xv_p9_7" onClick="return mV('Psa',29,11);">Psalm 29:11</a> in connection with God's people, and was in turn explained by a reference to <a id="xv_p9_8" onClick="return mV('Deu',28,10);">Deuteronomy 28:10</a>. For "the strength" of God's People (<a id="xv_p9_9" onClick="return mV('Psa',29,11);">Psa 29:11</a>) is that which would cause all to "be afraid" of Israel (<a id="xv_p9_10" onClick="return mV('Deu',28,10);">Deu 28:10</a>); and this latter would be due to their <i>seeing</i> that Israel was "called by the name of Jehovah," this ocular demonstration being afforded through the "tephillin." Such was the evidence which traditionalism offered for such a monstrous proposition.</p>
<p id="xv_p10">The above may serve as a specimen alike of Rabbinical exegesis and theological inferences. It will also help us to understand, how in such a system inconvenient objections, arising from the plain meaning of Scripture, would be summarily set aside by exalting the interpretations of men above the teaching of the Bible. This brings us straight to the charge of our Lord against the Pharisees (<a id="xv_p10_1" onClick="return mV('Mar',7,'13-13');">Mark 7:13</a>), that they made "the Word of God of none effect" through their "traditions." The fact, terrible as it is, nowhere, perhaps, comes out more strongly than in connection with these very "tephillin." We read in the Mishnah (Sanh. xi. 3), literally, as follows: "It is more punishable to act against the words of the Scribes than against those of Scripture. If a man were to say, 'There is no such thing as "tephillin," ' in order thereby to act contrary to the words of Scripture, he is not to be treated as a rebel. But if he should say, 'There are five divisions in the prayer-fillets' (instead of four in those for the forehead, as the Rabbis taught), in order to add to the words of the Scribes, he is guilty." Assuredly, a more signal instance could scarcely be found of "teaching for doctrines the commandments of men," and of, even on their own showing, "laying aside the commandment of God," in order to "hold the tradition of men" (<a id="xv_p10_2" onClick="return mV('Mar',7,'7-8');">Mark 7:7-8</a>).</p>
<p id="xv_p11">Before passing from this subject, it may be convenient to explain the meaning of the Greek term "phylacteries" for these "tephillin," and to illustrate its aptness. It is now almost generally admitted, that the real meaning of phylacteries is equivalent to amulets or charms. And as such the Rabbinists really regarded and treated them, however much they might otherwise have disclaimed all connection with heathen views. In this connection we are not going to enter into the unsavoury subject of their heathen superstitions, such as where to find, how to detect, and by what means to get rid of evil spirits, or how to conjure up demons&#8212;as these are indicated in the Talmud. Considering the state of civilisation at the time, and the general prevalence of superstition, we should perhaps have scarcely wondered at all this, had it not been for the claims which the Rabbis set up to Divine authority, and the terrible contrast exhibited between their teaching and that&#8212;we will not say of the New, but&#8212;of the Old Testament. In reference to the "phylacteries," even the language of Josephus (Ant. iv, 212-213) savours of belief in their magical efficacy; although in this matter also he is true to himself, showing us, at the same time, that certain proverbial views of gratitude were already in vogue in his time. For, writing of the phylacteries, which, he maintains, the Jews wore in remembrance of their past deliverance, he observes, that this expression of their gratitude "served not only by way of return for past, but also by way of invitation of future favours!" Many instances of the magical ideas attaching to these "amulets" might be quoted; but the following will suffice. It is said that, when a certain Rabbi left the audience of some king, he had turned his back upon the monarch. Upon this, the courtiers would have killed the Rabbi, but were deterred by seeing that the straps of his "tephillin" shone like bands of fire about him; thus verifying the promise in <a id="xv_p11_1" onClick="return mV('Deu',28,10);">Deuteronomy 28:10</a> (Jer. Ber. v. 1). Indeed, we have it expressly stated in an ancient Jewish Targum (that on <a id="xv_p11_2" onClick="return mV('Sgs',8,3);">Cant 8:3</a>), that the "tephillin" prevented all hostile demons from doing injury to any Israelite.</p>
<p id="xv_p12">What has been said will in some measure prepare the reader for investigating the history and influence of the Pharisees at the time of Christ. Let it be borne in mind, that patriotism and religion equally combined to raise them in popular esteem. What made Palestine a land separate and distinct from the heathen nations around, among whom the ruling families would fain have merged them, was that Jewish element which the Pharisees represented. Their very origin as a party stretched back to the great national struggle which had freed the soil of Palestine from Syrian domination. In turn, the Pharisees had deserted those Maccabees whom formerly they had supported, and dared persecution and death, when the descendants of the Maccabees declined into worldly pomp and Grecian ways, and would combine the royal crown of David with the high-priest's mitre. And now, whoever might fear Herod or his family, the Pharisees at least would not compromise their principles. Again, were they not the representatives of the Divine law&#8212;not only of that given to Israel on Mount Sinai, but also of those more secret ordinances which were only verbally communicated to Moses, in explanation of, and addition to the law? If they had made "a hedge" around the law, it was only for the safety of Israel, and for their better separation from all that was impure, as well as from the Gentiles. As for themselves, they were bound by vows and obligations of the strictest kind. Their dealings with the world outside their fraternity, their occupations, their practices, their bearing, their very dress and appearance among that motley crowd&#8212;either careless, gay, and Grecianising, or self-condemned by a practice in sad discord with their Jewish profession and principles&#8212;would gain for them the distinction of uppermost rooms at feasts, and chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi ("my great one, my great one"), in which their hearts so much delighted.</p>
<p id="xv_p13">In very truth they mostly did represent, in some one or other degree of their order, what of earnestness and religious zeal there was in the land. Their name&#8212;probably in the first instance not chosen by themselves&#8212;had become to some a byword, to others a party title. And sadly they had declined from their original tendency&#8212;at least in most cases. They were not necessarily "scribes," nor "lawyers," nor yet "teachers of the law." Nor were they a sect, in the ordinary sense of the term. But they were a fraternity, which consisted of various degrees, to which there was a regular novitiate, and which was bound by special vows and obligations. This fraternity was, so to speak, hereditary; so that St. Paul could in very truth speak of himself as "a Pharisee of the Pharisees";&#8212;"a Pharisee; the son of a Pharisee." That their general principles became dominant, and that they gave its distinctiveness alike to the teaching and the practices of the Synagogue, is sufficiently known. But what tremendous influence they must have wielded to attain this position will best appear from the single fact, which has apparently been too much overlooked, of their almost incredibly small numbers. According to Josephus (Ant. xvii, 32-45), the number of the fraternity amounted at the time of Herod only to about six thousand. Yet this inconsiderable minority could cast Judaism in its mould, and for such terrible evil give its final direction to the nation! Surely the springs of such a movement must have reached down to the very heart of Jewish religious life. What these were, and how they affected the whole community, deserves and requires not merely passing notice, but special and careful attention.</p>
<hr />
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref51" id="ftn51">[51]</a></sup>The learned Lightfoot has expressed a doubt whether the name "Magdalene" is to be rendered "from Magdala" or "the hairdresser." We have noted in a previous chapter, that the inhabitants of Magdala engaged in such and similar business. But the Rabbinical passages to which Lightfoot refers are not satisfactory, since they are evidently dictated by a special animus against Christ and Christianity.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref52" id="ftn52">[52]</a></sup>The practice of modern Jews is somewhat different from that of ancient times. Without entering into details, it is sufficient here to say that they wear underneath their garments a small square, with fringes, called the little tallith (from "talal," to overshadow or cover), or the "arbah canphoth" (four "corners"); while during prayer they wrap themselves in the great tallith, or so-called prayer-cloak.</p>
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<h2 id="xvi-p0.1">Chapter 14</h2>
<h3 id="xvi-p0.2">The "Fraternity" of Pharisees</h3>
<p id="xvi_p1">To realise the state of religious society at the time of our Lord, the fact that the Pharisees were a regular "order," and that there were many such "fraternities," in great measure the outcome of the original Pharisees, must always be kept in view. For the New Testament simply transports us among contemporary scenes and actors, taking the then existent state of things, so to speak, for granted. But the fact referred to explains many seemingly strange circumstances, and casts fresh light upon all. Thus, if, to choose an illustration, we should wonder how so early as the morning after the long discussion in the Sanhedrim, which must have occupied a considerable part of the day, "more than forty men" should have been found "banded together" under an anathema, neither to eat nor to drink "till they had killed Paul" (<a id="xvi_p1_1" onClick="return mV('Act',23,12);">Acts 23:12</a>; <a onClick="return mV('Act',23,21);">23:21</a>); and, still more, how such "a conspiracy," or rather "conjuration," which, in the nature of it, would be kept a profound secret, should have become known to "Paul's sister's son" (<a id="xvi_p1_2" onClick="return mV('Act',23,16);">23:16</a>), the circumstances of the case furnish a sufficient explanation. The Pharisees were avowedly a "Chabura";&#8212;that is, a fraternity or "guild";&#8212;and they, or some of their kindred fraternities, would furnish the ready material for such a "band," to whom this additional "vow" would be nothing new nor strange, and, murderous though it sounded, only seem a farther carrying out of the principles of their "order." Again, since the wife and all the children of a "chaber," or member, were ipso facto members of the "Chabura," and Paul's father had been a "Pharisee" (<a id="xvi_p1_3" onClick="return mV('Act',23,6);">23:6</a>), Paul's sister also would by virtue of her birth belong to the fraternity, even irrespective of the probability that, in accordance with the principles of the party, she would have married into a Pharisaical family. Nor need we wonder that the rage of the whole "order" against Paul should have gone to an extreme, for which ordinary Jewish zeal would scarcely account. The day before, the excitement of discussion in the Sanhedrim had engrossed their attention, and in a measure diverted it from Paul. The apologetic remark then made (<a id="xvi_p1_4" onClick="return mV('Act',23,9);">23:9</a>...), "If a spirit or an angel hath spoken to him, let us not fight against God," coming immediately after the notice (<a id="xvi_p1_5" onClick="return mV('Act',23,8);">23:8</a>) that the Sadducees said, there was "neither angel nor spirit," may indicate, that the Pharisees were quite as anxious for dogmatic victory over their opponents as to throw the shield of the "fraternity" over one of its professed members. But with the night other and cooler thoughts came. It might be well enough to defend one of their order against the Sadducees, but it was intolerable to have such a member in the fraternity. A grosser outrage on every principle and vow&#8212;nay, on the very reason of being of the whole "Chabura";&#8212;could scarcely be conceived than the conduct of St. Paul and the views which he avowed. Even regarding him as a simple Israelite, the multitude which thronged the Temple had, on the day before, been only restrained by the heathens from executing the summary vengeance of "death by the rebel's beating." How much truer was it as the deliberate conviction of the party, and not merely the cry of an excited populace, "Away with such a fellow from the earth; for it is not fit that he should live!" But while we thus understand the conduct of the Pharisees, we need be under no apprehension as to the consequences to those "more than forty men" of their rash vow. The Jerusalem Talmud (Avod. Sar. 40 a) here furnishes the following curious illustration, which almost reads like a commentary: "If a man makes a vow to abstain from food, Woe to him if he eateth, and, Woe to him if he does not eat! If he eateth, he sinneth against his vow; if he does not eat, he sins against his life. What then must he do? Let him go before 'the sages,' and they will absolve him from his vow." In connection with the whole of this matter it is, to say the least, a very curious coincidence that, at the very time when the party so acted against St. Paul, or immediately afterwards, three new enactments should have been passed by Simeon, the son of Gamaliel (Paul's teacher), which would exactly meet the case of St. Paul. The first of these ordained, that in future the children of a "Chaber" should not be necessarily such, but themselves require special and individual reception into the "order"; the second, that the previous conduct of the candidate should be considered before admitting him into the fraternity; while the third enjoined, that any member who had left the "order," or become a publican, should never afterwards be received back again.</p>
<p id="xvi_p2">Three words of modern significance, with which of late we have all become too familiar, will probably better help us to understand the whole state of matters than more elaborate explanations. They are connected with that ecclesiastical system which in so many respects seems the counterpart of Rabbinism. Ultramontanism is a direction of religious thought; the Ultramontanes are a party; and the Jesuits not only its fullest embodiment, but an "order," which, originating in a revival of the spirit of the Papacy, gave rise to the Ultramontanes as a party, and, in the wider diffusion of their principles, to Ultramontanism as a tendency. Now, all this applies equally to the Pharisees and to Pharisaism. To make the analogy complete, the order of the Jesuits also consists of four degrees<sup><a href="#ftn53" id="ftnref53">[53]</a></sup> &#8212;curiously enough, the exact number of those in the fraternity of "the Pharisees!";</p>
<p id="xvi_p3">Like that of the Jesuits, the order of the Pharisees originated in a period of great religious reaction. They themselves delighted in tracing their history up to the time of Ezra, and there may have been substantial, though not literal truth in their claim. For we read in <a id="xvi_p3_1" onClick="return mV('Ezr',6,21);">Ezra 6:21</a>; <a id="xvi_p3_2" onClick="return mV('Ezr',9,1);">9:1</a>; <a id="xvi_p3_3" onClick="return mV('Ezr',10,11);">10:11</a> and <a id="xvi_p3_4" onClick="return mV('Neh',9,2);">Nehemiah 9:2</a> of the "Nivdalim," or those who had "separated" themselves "from the filthiness of the heathen" while in <a id="xvi_p3_5" onClick="return mV('Neh',10,29);">Nehemiah 10:29</a> we find, that they entered into a "solemn league and covenant," with definite vows and obligations. Now, it is quite true that the Aramaean word "Perishuth" also means "separation," and that the "Perushim," or Pharisees, of the Mishnah are, so far as the meaning of the term is concerned, "the separated," or the "Nivdalim" of their period. But although they could thus, not only linguistically but historically, trace their origin to those who had "separated" themselves at the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, they were not their successors in spirit; and the difference between the designations "Nivdalim" and "Perushim" marks also the widest possible internal difference, albeit it may have been gradually brought about in the course of historical development. All this will become immediately more plain.</p>
<p id="xvi_p4">At the time of Ezra, as already noted, there was a great religious revival among those who had returned to the land of their fathers. The profession which had of old only characterised individuals in Israel (<a id="xvi_p4_1" onClick="return mV('Psa',30,4);">Psa 30:4</a>; <a id="xvi_p4_2" onClick="return mV('Psa',31,23);">31:23</a>; <a id="xvi_p4_3" onClick="return mV('Psa',37,28);">37:28</a>) was now taken up by the covenanted people as a whole: they became the "Chasidim" or "pious" (rendered in the Authorised Version, "saints"). As "Chasidim," they resolved to be "Nivdalim," or "separated from all filthiness of heathenism" around. The one represented, so to speak, the positive; the other, the negative element in their religion. It is deeply interesting to notice, how the former Pharisee (or "separated one"), Paul, had this in view in tracing the Christian life as that of the true "chasid," and therefore "Nivdal";&#8212;in opposition to the Pharisees of externalism&#8212;in such passages as <a id="xvi_p4_4" onClick="return mV('2Cr',6,'14-18');">2 Corinthians 6:14-18</a>; <a id="xvi_p4_5" onClick="return mV('2Cr',7,1);">7:1</a>, closing with this admonition to "cleanse ourselves from all filthiness<sup><a href="#ftn54" id="ftnref54">[54]</a></sup> of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." And so St. Paul's former life and thinking seem ever to have served him as the type of the spiritual realities of his new state.<sup><a href="#ftn55" id="ftnref55">[55]</a></sup></p>
<p id="xvi_p5">Two points in Jewish history here claim our special attention, without attempting to unravel the whole somewhat tangled web of events. The first is the period immediately after Alexander the Great. It was one of the objects of the empire which he founded to Grecianise the world; and that object was fully prosecuted by his successors. Accordingly, we find a circle of Grecian cities creeping up along the coast, from Anthedon and Gaza in the south, northwards to Tyre and Seleucia, and eastwards to Damascus, Gadara, Pella, and Philadelphia, wholly belting the land of Israel. Thence the movement advanced into the interior, taking foothold in Galilee and Samaria, and gathering a party with increasing influence and spreading numbers among the people. Now it was under these circumstances, that the "Chasidim" as a party stood out to stem the torrent, which threatened to overwhelm alike the religion and the nationality of Israel. The actual contest soon came, and with it the second grand period in the history of Judaism. Alexander the Great had died in July 323 BC. About a century and a half later, the "Chasidim" had gathered around the Maccabees for Israel's God and for Israel. But the zeal of the Maccabees soon gave place to worldly ambition and projects. When these leaders united in their person the high-priestly with the royal dignity, the party of the "Chasidim" not only deserted them, but went into open opposition. They called on them to resign the high-priesthood, and were ready to suffer martyrdom, as many of them did, for their outspoken convictions. Thenceforth the "Chasidim" of the early type disappear as a class. They had, as a party, already given place to the Pharisees&#8212;the modern "Nivdalim"; and when we meet them again they are only a higher order or branch of the Pharisees&#8212;"the pious" of old having, so to speak, become pietists." Tradition (Men. 40) expressly distinguished "the early Chasidim" (harishonim) from "the later" (acheronim). No doubt, those are some of their principles, although tinged with later colouring, which are handed down as the characteristics of the "chasid" in such sayings of the Mishnah as: "What is mine is thine, and what is thine remains thine as well" (P. Ab. V. 10); "Hard to make angry, but easy to reconcile" (11); "Giving alms, and inducing others to do likewise" (13); "Going to the house of learning, and at the same time doing good works" (14).</p>
<p id="xvi_p6">The earliest mention of the Pharisees occurs at the time of the Maccabees. As a "fraternity" we meet them first under the rule of John Hyrcanus, the fourth of the Maccabees from Mattathias (135-105 BC); although Josephus speaks of them already two reigns earlier, at the time of Jonathan (Ant. xiii, 171-173). He may have done so by anticipation, or applying later terms to earlier circumstances, since there can be little doubt that the Essenes, whom he names at the same time, had not then any corporate existence. Without questioning that, to use a modern term, "the direction" existed at the time of Jonathan,<sup><a href="#ftn56" id="ftnref56">[56]</a></sup> we can put our finger on a definite event with which the origin of "the fraternity" of the Pharisees is connected. From Jewish writings we learn, that at the time of Hyrcanus a commission was appointed to inquire throughout the land, how the Divine law of religious contributions was observed by the people.<sup><a href="#ftn57" id="ftnref57">[57]</a></sup></p>
<p id="xvi_p7">The result showed that, while the "therumah," (see <i>The Temple</i>) or priestly "heave-offerings," was regularly given, neither the first or Levitical tithe, nor yet the so-called "second" or "poor's tithe," was paid, as the law enjoined. But such transgression involved mortal sin, since it implied the personal use of what really belonged to the Lord. Then it was that the following arrangements were made. All that the "country people" ('am ha-aretz) sold was to be considered "demai";&#8212;a word derived from the Greek for "people," and so betraying the time of its introduction, but really implying that it was "doubtful" whether or not it had been tithed. In such cases the buyer had to regard the "therumah," and the "poor's tithe" as still due on what he had purchased. On the other hand, the Pharisees formed a "Chabura," or fraternity, of which each member&#8212;"Chaber," or "companion";&#8212;bound himself to pay these tithes before use or sale. Each "Chaber" was regarded as "neeman," or "credited";&#8212;his produce being freely bought and sold by the rest of the "Chaberim." Of course, the burden of additional expense which this involved to each non-"chaber" was very great, since he had to pay "therumah" and tithe on all that he purchased or used, while the Pharisee who bought from another Pharisee was free. One cannot help suspecting that this, in connection with kindred enactments, which bore very hard upon the mass of the people, while they left "the Pharisee" untouched, may underlie the charge of our Lord (<a id="xvi_p7_1" onClick="return mV('Mat',23,4);">Matt 23:4</a>): "They bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers."</p>
<p id="xvi_p8">But the rigorous discharge of tithes was only one part of the obligations of a "Chaber." The other part consisted in an equally rigorous submission to all the laws of Levitical purity as then understood. Indeed, the varied questions as to what was, or what made "clean," divided the one "order" of Pharisees into members of various degrees. Four such degrees, according to increasing strictness in "making clean," are mentioned. It would take too long to explain this fourfold gradation in its details. Suffice it, that, generally speaking, a member of the first degree was called a "Chaber," or "Ben hacheneseth," "son of the union";&#8212;an ordinary Pharisee; while the other three degrees were ranked together under the generic name of "Teharoth" (purifications). These latter were probably the "Chasidim" of the later period. The "Chaber," or ordinary Pharisee, only bound himself to tithing and avoidance of all Levitical uncleanness. The higher degrees, on the other hand, took increasingly strict vows. Any one might enter "the order" if he took, before three members, the solemn vow of observing the obligations of the fraternity. A novitiate of a year (which was afterwards shortened) was, however, necessary. The wife or widow of a "Chaber," and his children, were regarded as members of the fraternity. Those who entered the family of a "Pharisee" had also to seek admission into the "order." The general obligations of a "Chaber" towards those that were "without" the fraternity were as follows. He was neither to buy from, nor to sell to him anything, either in a dry or fluid state; he was neither to eat at his table (as he might thus partake of what had not been tithed), nor to admit him to his table, unless he had put on the garments of "Chaber" (as his own old ones might else have carried defilement); nor to go into any burying-place; nor to give "therumah" or tithes to any priest who was not a member of the fraternity; nor to do anything in presence of an "am ha-aretz," or non-"Chaber," which brought up points connected with the laws of purification, etc. To these, other ordinances, partly of an ascetic character, were added at a later period. But what is specially remarkable is that not only was a novitiate required for the higher grades, similar to that on first entering the order; but that, just as the garment of a non-"chaber" defiled a "Chaber" of the first degree, that of the latter equally defiled him of the second degree, and so on.<sup><a href="#ftn58" id="ftnref58">[58]</a></sup></p>
<p id="xvi_p9">To sum up then: the fraternity of the Pharisees were bound by these two vows&#8212;that of tithing and that in regard to purifications. As the most varied questions would here arise in practice, which certainly were not answered in the law of Moses, the "traditions," which were supposed to explain and supplement the Divine law, became necessary. In point of fact, the Rabbis speak of them in that sense, and describe them as "a hedge" around Israel and its law. That these traditions should have been traced up to oral communications made to Moses on Mount Sinai, and also deduced by ingenious methods from the letter of Scripture, was only a further necessity of the case. The result was a system of pure externalism, which often contravened the spirit of those very ordinances, the letter of which was slavishly worshipped. To what arrant hypocrisy it often gave rise, appears from Rabbinical writings almost as much as from the New Testament. We can understand how those "blind guides" would often be as great a trouble to their own party as to others. "The plague of Pharisaism" was not an uncommon expression; and this religious sore is ranked with "a silly pietist, a cunning sinner, and a woman Pharisee," as constituting "the troubles of life" (Sot. iii. 4). "Shall we stop to explain the opinions of Pharisees?" asks a Rabbi, in supreme contempt for "the order" as such. "It is as a tradition among the Pharisees," we read (Ab. de R. Nathan, 5), "to torment themselves in this world, and yet they will not get anything in the next." It was suggested by the Sadducees, that "the Pharisees would by-and-by subject the globe of the sun itself to their purifications." On the other hand, almost Epicurean sentences are quoted among their utterances, such as, "Make haste, eat and drink, for the world in which we are is like a wedding feast"; "If thou possessest anything, make good cheer of it; for there is no pleasure underneath the sod, and death gives no respite...Men are like the flowers of the field; some flourish, while others fade away."</p>
<p id="xvi_p10">"Like the flowers of the field!" What far other teaching of another Rabbi, Whom these rejected with scorn, do the words recall! And when from their words we turn to the kingdom which He came to found, we can quite understand the essential antagonism of nature between the two. Assuredly, it has been a bold stretch of assertion to connect in any way the origin or characteristics of Christianity with the Rabbis. Yet, when we bring the picture of Pharisaism, as drawn in Rabbinical writings, side by side with the sketch of it given by our Lord, we are struck not only with the life-likeness, but with the selection of the distinctive features of Pharisaism presented in His reproofs. Indeed, we might almost index the history of Pharisaism by passages from the New Testament. The "tithing of mint and anise," to the neglect of the weightier matters of the law, and "the cleansing" of the outside&#8212;these twofold obligations of the Pharisees, "hedged around," as they were, by a traditionalism which made void the spirit of the law, and which manifested itself in gross hypocrisy and religious boasting&#8212;are they not what we have just traced in the history of "the order?";</p>
<hr />
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref53" id="ftn53">[53]</a></sup>When speaking of the four degrees in the order of Jesuits, we refer to those which are professed. We are, of course, aware of the existence of the so-called "professi trium votorum" of whom nothing definite is really known by the outside world, and whom we may regard as "the secret Jesuits," and of that of lay and clerical "coadjutors," whose services and vows are merely temporary.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref54" id="ftn54">[54]</a></sup>The Greek word for "filthiness" occurs in this passage only, but the verb from which it is derived seems to have a ceremonial allusion attaching to it in the three passages in which it is used: <a id="xviftn54_1" onClick="return mV('1Cr',8,7);">1 Corinthians 8:7</a>; <a id="xviftn54_2" onClick="return mV('Rev',3,4);">Revelation 3:4</a>; <a id="xviftn54_3" onClick="return mV('Rev',14,4);">14:4</a>.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref55" id="ftn55">[55]</a></sup>If St. Paul was originally a Pharisee, the accounts given by the earliest tradition (Euseb. H. E. ii. 23), compared with that of Josephus (Ant. xx, 197-203), would almost lead us to infer that St. James was a "Chasid." All the more significant would then be the part he took in removing the yoke of the law from the Gentile converts (<a id="xviftn55_1" onClick="return mV('Act',15,'13-21');">Acts 15:13-21</a>).</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref56" id="ftn56">[56]</a></sup>In proof of this, it may be stated that before the formal institution of the "order," R. Jose, the son of Joezer, declared all foreign glass vessels, and indeed the whole soil of heathen lands, "unclean," thus "separating" Israel from all possible intercourse with Gentiles.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref57" id="ftn57">[57]</a></sup>It may be to the decrees then enacted by Hyrcanus that Josephus refers (Ant. xiii, 293-298), when he speaks of their "abolition" after Hyrcanus broke with the Pharisaical party.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref58" id="ftn58">[58]</a></sup>It is impossible here to reproduce the Talmudical passages in evidence. But the two obligations of "making clean" and of "tithing," together with the arrangement of the Pharisees into various grades, are even referred to in the Mishnah (Chag. ii. 5, 6 and , and Demai ii. 2,3).</p>
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<h2 id="xvii-p0.1">Chapter 15</h2>
<h3 id="xvii-p0.2">Relation of the Pharisees to the Sadducees and Essenes, and to the Gospel of Christ</h3>
<p id="xvii_p1">On taking a retrospective view of Pharisaism, as we have described it, there is a saying of our Lord which at first sight seems almost unaccountable. Yet it is clear and emphatic. "All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do" (<a id="xvii_p1_1" onClick="return mV('Mat',23,'3-3');">Matt 23:3</a>). But if the early disciples were not to break at once and for ever with the Jewish community, such a direction was absolutely needful. For, though the Pharisees were only "an order," Pharisaism, like modern Ultramontanism, had not only become the leading direction of theological thought, but its principles were solemnly proclaimed, and universally acted upon&#8212;and the latter, even by their opponents the Sadducees. A Sadducee in the Temple or on the seat of judgment would be obliged to act and decide precisely like a Pharisee. Not that the party had not attempted to give dominance to their peculiar views. But they were fairly vanquished, and it is said that they themselves destroyed the book of Sadducean ordinances, which they had at one time drawn up. And the Pharisees celebrated each dogmatic victory by a feast! What is perhaps the oldest post-Biblical Hebrew book&#8212;the "Megillath Taanith," or roll of fasts&#8212;is chiefly a Pharisaic calendar of self-glorification, in which dogmatic victories are made days when fasting, and sometimes even mourning, is prohibited. Whatever, therefore, the dogmatic views of the Sadducees were, and however they might, where possible, indulge personal bias, yet in office both parties acted as Pharisees. They were well matched indeed. When a Sadducean high-priest, on the Feast of Tabernacles, poured out the water on the ground instead of into the silver funnel of the altar, Maccabean king though he was, he scarce escaped with his life, and ever afterwards the shout resounded from all parts of the Temple, "Hold up thy hand," as the priest yearly performed this part of the service. The Sadducees held, that on the Day of Atonement the high-priest should light the incense before he actually entered the Most Holy Place. As this was contrary to the views of the Pharisees, they took care to bind him by an oath to observe their ritual customs before allowing him to officiate at all. It was in vain that the Sadducees argued, that the daily sacrifices should not be defrayed from the public treasury, but from special contributions. They had to submit, and besides to join in the kind of half-holiday which the jubilant majority inscribed in their calendar to perpetuate the memory of the decision. The Pharisees held, that the time between Easter and Pentecost should be counted from the second day of the feast the Sadducees insisted that it should commence with the literal "Sabbath" after the festive day. But, despite argument, the Sadducees had to join when the solemn procession went on the afternoon of the feast to cut down the "first sheaf," and to reckon Pentecost as did their opponents.</p>
<p id="xvii_p2">We have here referred to only a few of the differences in ritual between the views of the Sadducees and those of the Pharisees. The essential principle of them lay in this, that the Sadducees would hold by the simple letter of the law&#8212;do neither more nor less, whether the consequences were to make decisions more severe or more easy. The same principle they applied in their juridical and also in their doctrinal views. It would take us too much into detail to explain the former. But the reader will understand how this literality would, as a rule, make their judicial decisions (or rather such as they had proposed) far more strict than those of the Pharisees, by a rigidly literal application of the principle, "an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth." The same holds true in regard to the laws of purification, and to those which regulated inheritance. The doctrinal views of the Sadducees are sufficiently known from the New Testament. It is quite true that, in opposition to Sadducean views as to the non-existence of another world and the resurrection, the Pharisees altered the former Temple-formula into "Blessed be God from world to world" (from generation to generation or, "world without end"), to show that after the present there was another life of blessing and punishment, of joy and sorrow. But the Talmud expressly states that the real principle of the Sadducees was not, that there was no resurrection, but only that it could not be proved from the Thorah, or Law. From this there was, of course, but a short step to the entire denial of the doctrine and no doubt it was taken by the vast majority of the party. But here also it was again their principle of strict literality, which underlay even the most extreme of their errors.</p>
<p id="xvii_p3">This principle was indeed absolutely necessary to their very existence. We have traced the Pharisees not only to a definite period, but to a special event and we have been able perfectly to explain their name as "the separated." Not that we presume they gave it to themselves, for no sect or party ever takes a name they all pretend to require no distinctive title, because they alone genuinely and faithfully represent the truth itself. But when they were called Pharisees, the "Chaberim," no doubt, took kindly to the popular designation. It was to them&#8212;to use an illustration&#8212;what the name "Puritans" was to a far different and opposite party in the Church. But the name "Sadducee" is involved in quite as much obscurity as the origin of the party. Let us try to cast some fresh light upon both&#8212;only premising that the common derivations of their name, whether from the high-priest Zadok, or from a Rabbi called Zadok, whose fundamental principle of not seeking reward in religion they were thought to have misunderstood and misapplied, or from the Hebrew word "zaddikim"&#8212;the righteous&#8212;are all unsatisfactory, and yet may all contain elements of truth.</p>
<p id="xvii_p4">There can be no question that the "sect" of the Sadducees originated in a reaction against the Pharisees. If the latter added to the law their own glosses, interpretations, and traditions, the Sadducee took his stand upon the bare letter of the law. He would have none of their additions and supererogations he would not be righteous overmuch. Suffice it for him to have to practise "zedakah," "righteousness." We can understand how this shibboleth of theirs became, in the mouth of the people, the byname of a party&#8212;some using it ironically, some approvingly. By-and-by the party no doubt took as kindly to the name as the Pharisees did to theirs. Thus far, then, we agree with those who derive the title of Sadducees from "zaddikim." But why the grammatically-unaccountable change from "zaddikim" to "zaddukim?" May it not be that the simple but significant alteration of a letter had, after a not uncommon fashion, originated with their opponents, as if they would have said: "You are 'zaddikim?' Nay, rather, 'zaddukim'" from the Aramaean word "zadu" (wasting or desolation)&#8212;meaning, you are not upholders but destroyers of righteousness? This origin of the name would in no way be inconsistent with the later attempts of the party to trace up their history either to the high-priest Zadok, or to one of the fathers of Jewish traditionalism, whose motto they ostentatiously adopted. History records not a few similar instances of attempts to trace up the origin of a religious party. Be this as it may, we can understand how the adherents of Sadducean opinions belonged chiefly to the rich, luxurious, and aristocratic party, including the wealthy families of priests while, according to the testimony of Josephus, which is corroborated by the New Testament, the mass of the people, and especially the women, venerated and supported the Pharisaical party. Thus the "order" of the "Chaberim" gradually became a popular party, like the Ultramontanes. Finally, as from the nature of it Pharisaism was dependent upon traditional lore, it became not only the prevailing direction of Jewish theological study, but the "Chaber" by-and-by merged into the Rabbi, the "sage," or "disciple of the sages" while the non-"chaber," or "am ha-aretz," became the designation for ignorance of traditional lore, and neglect of its ordinances. This was specially the case when the dissolution of the Jewish commonwealth rendered the obligations of the "fraternity" necessarily impossible. Under such altered circumstances the old historical Pharisee would often be no small plague to the leaders of the party, as is frequently the case with the original adherents and sticklers of a sect in which the irresistible progress of time has necessarily produced changes.</p>
<p id="xvii_p5">The course of our investigations has shown, that neither Pharisees nor Sadducees were a sect, in the sense of separating from Temple or Synagogue and also that the Jewish people as such were not divided between Pharisees and Sadducees. The small number of professed Pharisees (six thousand) at the time of Herod, the representations of the New Testament, and even the curious circumstance that Philo never once mentions the name of Pharisee, confirm the result of our historical inquiries, that the Pharisees were first an "order," then gave the name to a party, and finally represented a direction of theological thought. The New Testament speaks of no other than these two parties. But Josephus and Philo also mention the "Essenes." It is beyond our present scope either to describe their tenets and practices, or even to discuss the complex question of the origin of their name. From the nature of it, the party exercised no great influence, and was but short-lived. They seem to have combined a kind of higher grade Pharisaism with devotional views, and even practices, derived from Eastern mysticism, and more particularly from the Medo-Persian religion. Of the former, the fact that the one object of all their institutions was a higher purity, may here be regarded as sufficient evidence. The latter is apparent from a careful study of their views, as these have been preserved to us, and from their comparison with the Zoroastrian system. And of the fact that "Palestine was surrounded by Persian influences," there are abundant indications.</p>
<p id="xvii_p6">As a sect the Essenes never attained a larger number than four thousand and as they lived apart from the rest, neither mingling in their society nor in their worship, and&#8212;as a general rule&#8212;abstained from marriage, they soon became extinct. Indeed, Rabbinical writings allude to quite a number of what may probably be described as sectaries, all of them more or less distinctly belonging to the mystical and ascetic branch of Pharisaism. We here name, first, the "Vathikin," or "strong ones," who performed their prayers with the first dawn; secondly, the "Toble Shachrith," or "morning baptists," who immersed before morning prayer, so as to utter the Divine Name only in a state of purity; thirdly, the "Kehala Kadisha," or "holy congregation," who spent a third of the day in prayer, a third in study, and a third in labour; fourthly, the "Banaim," or "builders," who, besides aiming after highest purity, occupied themselves with mystical studies about God and the world; fifthly, the "Zenuim," or "secret pious," who besides kept their views and writings secret; sixthly, the "Nekije hadaath," "men of a pure mind," who were really separatists from their brethren; seventhly, the "Chashaim," or "mysterious ones" and lastly, the "Assiim," "helpers" or "healers," who professed to possess the right pronunciation of the sacred Name of Jehovah, with all that this implied.</p>
<p id="xvii_p7">If in any of the towns of Judaea one had met the strange apparition of a man dressed wholly in white, whose sandals and garments perhaps bore signs of age&#8212;for they might not be put away till quite worn out&#8212;but who was scrupulously clean, this man was an Essene. The passers would stop short and look after him with mingled reverence and curiosity. For he was but rarely seen in town or village&#8212;the community separating from the rest of the people, and inhabiting desert places, specially the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea and the character of the "order" for asceticism and self-denial, as well as for purity, was universally known. However strictly they observed the Sabbath, it was in their own synagogues and although they sent gifts to the altar, they attended not the Temple nor offered sacrifices, partly because they regarded their arrangements as not sufficiently Levitically clean, and partly because they came to consider their own table an altar, and their common meals a sacrifice. They formed an "order," bound by the strictest vows, taken under terrible oaths, and subject to the most rigorous disciplines. The members abstained from wine, meat, and oil, and most of them also from marriage. They had community of goods were bound to poverty, chastity, and obedience to their superiors. Purity of morals was enjoined, especially in regard to speaking the truth. To take an oath was prohibited, as also the keeping of slaves. The order consisted of four grades contact with one of a lower always defiling him of the higher grade. The novitiate lasted two years, though at the end of the first the candidate was taken into closer fellowship. The rule was in the hands of "elders," who had the power of admission and expulsion&#8212;the latter being almost equivalent to death by starvation, as the Essene had bound himself by a terrible oath not to associate with others. Their day began with sunrise, when they went to prayer. Before that, nothing secular might be spoken. After prayer, they betook themselves to agricultural labour&#8212;for they were not allowed to keep herds and flocks&#8212;or else to works of charity, specially the healing of the sick. At eleven o'clock they bathed, changed their dress, and then gathered for the common meal. A priest opened and closed it with prayer. They sat according to age and dignity the eldest engaging in serious conversation, but in so quiet a tone as not to be heard outside. The young men served. Each had bread and salt handed him, also another dish the elders being allowed the condiment of hyssop and the luxury of warm water. After the meal they put off their clothes, and returned to work till the evening, when there was another common meal, followed by mystical hymns and dances, to symbolise the rapt, ecstatic state of mind.</p>
<p id="xvii_p8">It is needless to follow the subject farther. Even what has been said&#8212;irrespective of their separation from the world, their punctilious Sabbath-observance, and views on purification their opposition to sacrifices, and notably their rejection of the doctrine of the resurrection&#8212;is surely sufficient to prove that they had no connection with the origin of Christianity. Assertions of this kind are equally astonishing to the calm historical student and painful to the Christian. Yet there can be no doubt that among these mystical sects were preserved views of the Divine Being, of the Messiah and His kingdom, and of kindred doctrines, which afterwards appeared in the so-called "secret tradition" of the Synagogue, and which, as derived from the study of the prophetic writings, contain marvellous echoes of Christian truth. On this point, however, we may not here enter.</p>
<p id="xvii_p9">Christ and the Gospel among Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes! We can now realise the scene, and understand the mutual relations. The existing communities, the religious tendencies, the spirit of the age, assuredly offered no point of attachment&#8212;only absolute and essential contrariety to the kingdom of heaven. The "preparer of the way" could appeal to neither of them his voice only cried "in the wilderness." Far, far beyond the origin of Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes, he had to point back to the original Paschal consecration of Israel as that which was to be now exhibited in its reality: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." If the first great miracle of Christianity was the breaking down of the middle wall of partition, the second&#8212;perhaps we should have rather put it first, to realise the symbolism of the two miracles in Cana&#8212;was that it found nothing analogous in the religious communities around, nothing sympathetic, absolutely no stem on which to graft the new plant, but was literally "as a root out of a dry ground," of which alike Pharisee, Sadducee, and Essene would say: "He hath no form nor comeliness and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him."</p>
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<h2 id="xix-p0.1">Chapter 17</h2>
<h3 id="xix-p0.2">The Worship of the Synagogue</h3>
<p id="xix_p1">One of the most difficult questions in Jewish history is that connected with the existence of a synagogue within the Temple. That such a "synagogue" existed, and that its meeting-place was in "the hall of hewn stones," at the south-eastern angle of the court of the priest, cannot be called in question, in face of the clear testimony of contemporary witnesses. Considering that "the hall of hewn stones" was also the meeting-place for the great Sanhedrim, and that not only legal decisions, but lectures and theological discussions formed part of their occupation, we might be tempted to conjecture that the term "synagogue" had been employed in its wider sense, since such buildings were generally used throughout the country for this two-fold purpose as well as for worship. Of theological lectures and discussions in the Temple, we have an instance on the occasion when our Lord was found by His parents "sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions" (<a id="xix_p1_1" onClick="return mV('Luk',2,46);">Luke 2:46</a>). And it can scarcely be doubted, that this also explains how the scribes and Pharisees could so frequently "come upon Him," while He taught in the Temple, with their difficult and entangling questions, up to that rejoinder about the nature of the Messiah, with which He finally silenced them: "If David then call Him Lord, how is He his Son?" (<a id="xix_p1_2" onClick="return mV('Mat',22,45);">Matt 22:45</a>). But in reference to the so-called "Temple-synagogue," there is this difficulty, that certain prayers and rites seem to have been connected with it, which formed no part of the regular Temple services, and yet were somehow engrafted upon them. We can therefore only conclude that the growing change in the theological views of Israel, before and about the time of Christ, made the Temple services alone appear insufficient. The symbolical and typical elements which constituted the life and centre of Temple worship had lost their spiritual meaning and attraction to the majority of that generation, and their place was becoming occupied by so-called teaching and outward performances. Thus the worship of the letter took the place of that of the spirit, and Israel was preparing to reject Christ for Pharisaism. The synagogue was substituted for the Temple, and overshadowed it, even within its walls, by an incongruous mixture of man-devised worship with the God-ordained typical rites of the sanctuary. Thus, so far from the "Temple-synagogue" being the model for those throughout the country, as some writers maintain, it seems to us of later origin, and to have borrowed many rites from the country synagogues, in which the people had become accustomed to them.</p>
<p id="xix_p2">The subject has a far deeper than merely historical interest. For the presence of a synagogue within the Temple, or rather, as we prefer to put it, the addition of synagogue-worship to that of the Temple, is sadly symbolical. It is, so to speak, one of those terribly significant utterances (by deed), in which Israel, all unconsciously, pronounced its own doom, just as was this: "His blood be upon us and our children," or the cry for the release of Barabbas (the son of the father), who had been condemned "for sedition" and "murder";&#8212;no doubt in connection with a pseudo-Messianic rising against the Roman power&#8212;instead of the true Son of the Father, who would indeed have "restored the kingdom to Israel." And yet there was nothing in the worship itself of the synagogue which could have prevented either the Lord, or His apostles and early followers, from attending it till the time of final separation had come. Readers of the New Testament know what precious opportunities it offered for making known the Gospel. Its services were, indeed, singularly elastic. For the main object of the synagogue was the teaching of the people. The very idea of its institution, before and at the time of Ezra, explains and conveys this, and it is confirmed by the testimony of Josephus (Ag. Apion, ii, 157-172). But perhaps the ordinary reader of the New Testament may have failed to notice, how prominently this element in the synagogue is brought out in the gospel history. Yet the word "teaching" is used so frequently in connection with our Lord's appearance in the synagogue, that its lesson is obvious (see <a id="xix_p2_1" onClick="return mV('Mat',4,23);">Matt 4:23</a>; <a id="xix_p2_2" onClick="return mV('Mar',1,21);">Mark 1:21</a>; <a id="xix_p2_3" onClick="return mV('Mar',6,2);">6:2</a>; <a id="xix_p2_4" onClick="return mV('Luk',4,15);">Luke 4:15</a>; <a id="xix_p2_5" onClick="return mV('Luk',6,6);">6:6</a>; <a id="xix_p2_6" onClick="return mV('Luk',13,10);">13:10</a>; <a id="xix_p2_7" onClick="return mV('Jhn',6,59);">John 6:59</a>; <a id="xix_p2_8" onClick="return mV('Jhn',18,20);">18:20</a>). The "teaching" part of the service consisted mainly in reading a section from the law, with which the reading of a portion from the prophets, and a sermon, or address, were conjoined. Of course, the liturgical element could in such services never have been quite wanting, and it soon acquired considerable importance. It consisted of prayer and the pronouncing of the Aaronic blessing (<a id="xix_p2_9" onClick="return mV('Num',6,'24-26');">Num 6:24-26</a>) by priests&#8212;that is, of course, not by Rabbis, who were merely teachers or doctors, but by lineal descendants of the house of Aaron. There was no service of "praise" in the synagogues.</p>
<p id="xix_p3">Public worship<sup><a href="#ftn61" id="ftnref61">[61]</a></sup> commenced on ordinary occasions with the so-called "Shema," which was preceded in the morning and evening by two "benedictions," and succeeded in the morning by one, and in the evening by two, benedictions; the second being, strictly speaking, an evening prayer.</p>
<p id="xix_p4_">The "Shema" was a kind of "belief," or "creed," composed of these three passages of Scripture: <a id="xix_p4_1" onClick="return mV('Deu',6,'4-9');">Deuteronomy 6:4-9</a>; <a id="xix_p4_2" onClick="return mV('Deu',11,'13-21');">11:13-21</a>; <a id="xix_p4_3" onClick="return mV('Num',15,'37-41');">Numbers 15:37-41</a>. It obtained its name from the initial word "shema": "Hear, O Israel," in <a id="xix_p4_4" onClick="return mV('Deu',6,4);">Deuteronomy 6:4</a>. From the Mishnah (Ber. 1. 3) we learn, that this part of the service existed already before the time of our Lord; and we are told (Ber. iii. 3), that all males were bound to repeat this belief twice every day; children and slaves, as well as women, being exempted from the obligation. There can be no reasonable doubt on the subject, as the Mishnah expressly mentions the three Scriptural sections of the "Shema," the number of benedictions before and after it, and even the initial words of the closing benediction (Ber. ii. 2, i. 4; Tamid, v. 1). We have, therefore, here certain prayers which our Lord Himself had not only heard, but in which He must have shared&#8212;to what extent will appear in the sequel. These prayers still exist in the synagogue, although with later additions, which, happily, it is not difficult to eliminate. Before transcribing them, it may be quoted as a mark of the value attached to them, that it was lawful to say this and the other daily prayers&#8212;to which we shall hereafter refer&#8212;and the "grace at meat," not only in the Hebrew, but in any other language, in order to secure a general understanding of the service (Sotah, vii. 1). At the same time, expressions are used which lead us to suppose that, while the liturgical formulae connected with the "Shema" were fixed, there were local variations, in the way of lengthening or shortening (Ber. i. 4). The following are the "benedictions" before the "Shema," in their original form:</p>
<p id="xix_p5">1. "Blessed be Thou, O Lord, King of the world, Who formest the light and createst the darkness, Who makest peace and createst everything; Who, in mercy, givest light to the earth and to those who dwell upon it, and in Thy goodness day by day and every day renewest the works of creation. Blessed be the Lord our God for the glory of His handiwork and for the light-giving lights which He has made for His praise. Selah! Blessed be the Lord our God, Who hath formed the lights."<sup><a href="#ftn62" id="ftnref62">[62]</a></sup></p>
<p id="xix_p6">2. "With great love hast Thou loved us, O Lord our God, and with much overflowing pity hast Thou pitied us, our Father and our King. For the sake of our fathers who trusted in Thee, and Thou taughtest them the statutes of life, have mercy upon us and teach us. Enlighten our eyes in Thy law; cause our hearts to cleave to Thy commandments; unite our hearts to love and fear Thy name, and we shall not be put to shame, world without end. For Thou art a God Who preparest salvation, and us hast Thou chosen from among all nations and tongues, and hast in truth brought us near to Thy great Name&#8212;Selah&#8212;that we may lovingly praise Thee and Thy Oneness. Blessed be the Lord Who in love chose His people Israel."</p>
<p id="xix_p7">After this followed the "Shema." The Mishnah gives the following beautiful explanation of the order in which the portions of Scripture of which it is composed are arranged (Ber. ii. 2). The section <a id="xix_p7_1" onClick="return mV('Deu',6,'4-9');">Deuteronomy 6:4-9</a> is said to precede that in <a id="xix_p7_2" onClick="return mV('Deu',11,'13-21');">11:13-21</a>, so that we might "take upon ourselves the yoke of the kingdom of heaven, and only after that the yoke of the commandments." Again: <a id="xix_p7_3" onClick="return mV('Deu',11,'13-21');">Deuteronomy 11:13-21</a> precedes <a id="xix_p7_4" onClick="return mV('Num',15,'37-41');">Numbers 15:37-41</a>, because the former applies, as it were, both night and day; the latter only by day. The reader cannot fail to observe the light cast by the teaching of the Mishnah upon the gracious invitation of our Lord: "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light" (<a id="xix_p7_5" onClick="return mV('Mat',11,'28-30');">Matt 11:28-30</a>). These words must indeed have had a special significance to those who remembered the Rabbinic lesson as to the relation between the kingdom of heaven and the commandments, and they would now understand how by coming to the Saviour they would first take upon them "the yoke of the kingdom of heaven," and then that of "the commandments," finding this "yoke easy" and the "burden light."</p>
<p id="xix_p8">The prayer after the "Shema" was as follows:<sup><a href="#ftn63" id="ftnref63">[63]</a></sup></p>
<p id="xix_p9">"True it is, that Thou art Jehovah our God and the God of our fathers, our King and the King of our fathers, our Saviour and the Saviour of our fathers, our Creator, the Rock of our salvation, our Help and our Deliverer. Thy Name is from everlasting, and there is no God beside Thee. A new song did they that were delivered sing to Thy Name by the seashore; together did all praise and own Thee King, and say, Jehovah shall reign world without end! Blessed be the Lord Who saveth Israel!";</p>
<p id="xix_p10">The anti-Sadducean views expressed in this prayer will strike the student of that period, while he will also be much impressed with its suitableness and beauty. The special prayer for the evening is of not quite so old a date as the three just quoted. But as it is referred to in the Mishnah, and is so apt and simple, we reproduce it, as follows:</p>
<p id="xix_p11">"O Lord our God! cause us to lie down in peace, and raise us up again to life, O our King! Spread over us the tabernacle of Thy peace; strengthen us before Thee in Thy good counsel, and deliver us for Thy Name's sake. Be Thou for protection round about us; keep far from us the enemy, the pestilence, the sword, famine, and affliction. Keep Satan from before and from behind us, and hide us in the shadow of Thy wings, for Thou art a God Who helpest and deliverest us; and Thou, O God, art a gracious and merciful King. Keep Thou our going out and our coming in, for life and for peace, from henceforth and for ever!" (To this prayer a further addition was made at a later period.)</p>
<p id="xix_p12">The "Shema" and its accompanying "benedictions" seem to have been said in the synagogue at the lectern; whereas for the next series of prayers the leader of the devotions went forward and stood before "the ark." Hence the expression, "to go up before the ark," for leading in prayer. This difference in position seems implied in many passages of the Mishnah (specially Megillah, iv.), which makes a distinction between saying the "Shema" and "going up before the ark." The prayers offered before the ark consisted of the so-called eighteen eulogies, or benedictions, and formed the "tephillah," or supplication, in the strictest sense of the term. These eighteen, or rather, as they are now, nineteen, eulogies are of various dates&#8212;the earliest being the first three and the last three. There can be no reasonable doubt that these were said at worship in the synagogues, when our Lord was present. Next in date are eulogies 4,5,6,7,9, and 16. Eulogy 7, which in its present position seems somewhat incongruous, dates from a period of great national calamity&#8212;perhaps the time of Pompey. The other eulogies, and some insertions in the older benedictions, were added after the fall of the Jewish commonwealth&#8212;eulogy 12 especially being intended against the early Jewish converts to Christianity. In all likelihood it had been the practice originally to insert prayers of private composition between the (present) first three and last three eulogies; and out of these the later eulogies were gradually formulated. At any rate, we know that on Sabbaths and on other festive occasions only the first three and the last three eulogies were repeated, other petitions being inserted between them. There was thus room for the endless repetitions and "long prayers" which the Saviour condemned (<a id="xix_p12_1" onClick="return mV('Mar',12,40);">Mark 12:40</a>; <a id="xix_p12_2" onClick="return mV('Luk',20,47);">Luke 20:47</a>). Besides, it must be borne in mind that, both on entering and leaving the synagogue, it was customary to offer prayer, and that it was a current Rabbinical saying, "Prolix prayer prolongeth life." But as we are sure that, on the Sabbaths when Our Lord attended the synagogues at Nazareth and Capernaum, the first three and the last three of the eulogies were repeated, we produce them here, as follows:</p>
<p id="xix_p13">1. "Blessed be the Lord our God and the God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; the great, the mighty, and the terrible God; the Most High God, Who showeth mercy and kindness, Who createth all things, Who remembereth the gracious promises to the fathers, and bringeth a Saviour to their children's children, for His own Name's sake, in love. O King, Helper, Saviour, and Shield! Blessed art Thou, O Jehovah, the Shield of Abraham."</p>
<p id="xix_p14">2. "Thou, O Lord, art mighty for ever; Thou, Who quickenest the dead, art mighty to save. In Thy mercy Thou preservest the living; Thou quickenest the dead; in Thine abundant pity Thou bearest up those who fall, and healest those who are diseased, and loosest those who are bound, and fulfillest Thy faithful word to those who sleep in the dust. Who is like unto Thee, Lord of strength, and who can be compared to Thee, Who killest and makest alive, and causest salvation to spring forth? And faithful art Thou to give life unto the dead. Blessed be Thou, Jehovah, Who quickenest the dead!";</p>
<p id="xix_p15">3. "Thou art holy, and Thy Name is holy; and the holy ones praise Thee every day. Selah! Blessed art Thou, Jehovah God, the Holy One!";</p>
<p id="xix_p16">It is impossible not to feel the solemnity of these prayers. They breathe the deepest hopes of Israel in simple, Scriptural language. But who can fully realise their sacred import as uttered not only in the Presence, but by the very lips of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who Himself was their answer?</p>
<p id="xix_p17">The three concluding eulogies were as follows:</p>
<p id="xix_p18">17. "Take gracious pleasure, O Jehovah our God, in Thy people Israel, and in their prayers. Accept the burnt-offerings of Israel, and their prayers, with thy good pleasure; and may the services of Thy people Israel be ever acceptable unto Thee. And oh that our eyes may see it, as Thou turnest in mercy to Zion! Blessed be Thou, O Jehovah, Who restoreth His Shechinah to Zion!";</p>
<p id="xix_p19">18. "We praise Thee, because Thou art Jehovah our God, and the God of our fathers, for ever and ever. Thou art the Rock of our life, the Shield of our salvation, from generation to generation. We laud Thee, and declare Thy praise for our lives which are kept within Thine hand, and for our souls which are committed unto Thee, and for Thy wonders which are with us every day, and Thy wondrous deeds and Thy goodnesses, which are at all seasons&#8212;evening, morning, and mid-day. Thou gracious One, Whose compassions never end; Thou pitying One, Whose grace never ceaseth&#8212;for ever do we put our trust in Thee! And for all this Thy Name, O our King, be blessed and extolled always, for ever and ever! And all living bless Thee&#8212;Selah&#8212;and praise Thy Name in truth, O God, our Salvation and our Help. Blessed art Thou, Jehovah; Thy Name is the gracious One, to Whom praise is due."</p>
<p id="xix_p20">19. (We give this eulogy in its shorter form, as it is at present used in evening prayer.) "Oh bestow on Thy people Israel great peace, for ever; for Thou art King and Lord of all peace, and it is good in Thine eyes to bless Thy people Israel with praise at all times and in every hour. Blessed art Thou, Jehovah, Who blesseth His people Israel with peace."</p>
<p id="xix_p21">Another act, hitherto, so far as we know, unnoticed, requires here to be mentioned. It invests the prayers just quoted with a new and almost unparalleled interest. According to the Mishnah (Megillah, iv. 5), the person who read in the synagogue the portion from the prophets was also expected to say the "Shema," and to offer the prayers which have just been quoted. It follows that, in all likelihood, our Lord Himself had led the devotions in the synagogue of Capernaum on that Sabbath when He read the portion from the prophecies of Isaiah which was that day "fulfilled in their hearing" (<a id="xix_p21_1" onClick="return mV('Luk',4,'16-21');">Luke 4:16-21</a>). Nor is it possible to withstand the impression, how specially suitable to the occasion would have been the words of these prayers, particularly those of eulogies 2 and 17.</p>
<p id="xix_p22">The prayers were conducted or repeated aloud by one individual, specially deputed for the occasion, the congregation responding by an "Amen." The liturgical service concluded with the priestly benediction (<a id="xix_p22_1" onClick="return mV('Num',6,'23-24');">Num 6:23-24</a>), spoken by the descendants of Aaron. In case none such were present, "the legate of the Church," as the leader of the devotions was called, repeated the words from the Scriptures in their connection. In giving the benediction, the priests elevated their hands up to the shoulders (Sotah, vii. 6); in the Temple, up to the forehead. Hence this rite is designated by the expression, "the lifting up of the hands."<sup><a href="#ftn64" id="ftnref64">[64]</a></sup></p>
<p id="xix_p23">According to the present practice, the fingers of the two hands are so joined together and separated as to form five interstices; and a mystic meaning attaches to this. It was a later superstition to forbid looking at the priests' hands, as involving physical danger. But the Mishnah already directs that priests having blemishes on their hands, or their fingers dyed, were not to pronounce the benediction, lest the attention of the people should be attracted. Of the attitude to be observed in prayer, this is perhaps scarcely the place to speak in detail. Suffice it, that the body was to be fully bent, yet so, that care was taken never to make it appear as if the service had been burdensome. One of the Rabbis tells us, that, with this object in view, he bent down as does a branch; while, in lifting himself up again, he did it like a serpent&#8212;beginning with the head! Any one deputed by the rulers of a congregation might say prayers, except a minor. This, however, applies only to the "Shema." The eulogies or "tephillah" proper, as well as the priestly benediction, could not be pronounced by those who were not properly clothed, nor by those who were so blind as not to be able to discern daylight. If any one introduced into the prayers heretical views, or what were regarded as such, he was immediately stopped; and, if any impropriety had been committed, was put under the ban for a week. One of the most interesting and difficult questions relates to certain modes of dress and appearance, and certain expressions used in prayer, which the Mishnah (Megillah, iv. 8,9) declares either to mark heresy or to indicate that a man was not to be allowed to lead prayers in the synagogue. It may be, that some of these statements refer not only to certain Jewish "heretics," but also to the early Jewish Christians. If so, they may indicate certain peculiarities with which they were popularly credited.</p>
<p id="xix_p24">Of the services hitherto noticed, the most important were the repetition of the eulogies and the priestly benediction. What now followed was regarded as quite as solemn, if, indeed, not more so. It has already been pointed out, that the main object of the synagogue was the teaching of the people. This was specially accomplished by the reading of the law. At present the Pentateuch is for this purpose arranged into fifty-four sections, of which one is read on each successive Sabbath of the year, beginning immediately after the feast of Tabernacles. But anciently the lectionary, at least in Palestine, seems to have been differently arranged, and the Pentateuch so divided that its reading occupied three, or, according to some, three and a-half years (half a Jubilee-period). The section for the day was subdivided, so that every Sabbath at least seven persons were called up to read, each a portion, which was to consist of not less than three verses. The first reader began, and the last closed, with a benediction. As the Hebrew had given place to the Aramaic, a "meturgeman," or interpreter, stood by the side of the reader, and translated verse by verse into the vernacular. It was customary to have service in the synagogues, not only on Sabbaths and feast-days, but also on the second and fifth days of the week (Monday and Thursday), when the country-people came to market, and when the local Sanhedrim also sat for the adjudication of minor causes. At such week-day services only three persons were called up to read in the law; on new moon's day and on the intermediate days of a festive week, four; on festive days&#8212;when a section from the prophets was also read&#8212;five; and on the day of atonement, six. Even a minor was allowed to read, and, if qualified, to act as "meturgeman." The section describing the sin of Reuben, and that giving a second account of the sin of the golden calf, were read, but not interpreted; those recounting the priestly blessing, and, again, the sin of David and of Amnon, were neither read nor interpreted. The reading of the law was followed by a lesson from the prophets. At present there is a regular lectionary, in which these lessons are so selected as to suit the sections from the law appointed for the day. This arrangement has been traced to the time of the Syrian persecutions, when all copies of the law were sought for and destroyed; and the Jewish authorities are supposed to have selected portions from the prophets to replace those from the law which might not be produced in public. But it is evident that, if these persecuting measures had been rigidly enforced, the sacred rolls of the prophets would not have escaped destruction any more than those of the law. Besides, it is quite certain that such a lectionary of the prophets as that presently in use did not exist at the time of our Lord, nor even when the Mishnah was collated. Considerable liberty seems to have been left to individuals; and the expression used by St. Luke in reference to our Lord in the synagogue at Capernaum (<a id="xix_p24_1" onClick="return mV('Luk',4,'17-17');">Luke 4:17</a>), "And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written," most accurately describes the state of matters. For, from Megillah iv. 4, we gather that, in reading from the prophets, it was lawful to pass over one or more verses, provided there were no pause between the reading and the translation of the "meturgeman." For here also the services of a "meturgeman" were employed; only that he did not, as in reading the law, translate verse by verse, but after every three verses. It is a remarkable fact that the Rabbis exclude from public reading the section in the prophecies of Ezekiel which describes "the chariot and wheels." Rabbi Elieser would also have excluded that in <a id="xix_p24_2" onClick="return mV('Eze',16,2);">Ezekiel 16:2</a>.</p>
<p id="xix_p25">The reading of the prophets was often followed by a sermon or address, with which the service concluded. The preacher was called "darshan," and his address a "derashah" (homily, sermon, from "darash," to ask, inquire, or discuss). When the address was a learned theological discussion&#8212;especially in academies&#8212;it was not delivered to the people directly, but whispered into the ear of an "amora," or speaker, who explained to the multitude in popular language the weighty sayings which the Rabbi had briefly communicated to him. A more popular sermon, on the other hand, was called a "meamar," literally, a "speech, or talk." These addresses would be either Rabbinical expositions of Scripture, or else doctrinal discussions, in which appeal would be made to tradition and to the authority of certain great teachers. For it was laid down as a principle (Eduj. i. 3), that "every one is bound to teach in the very language of his teacher." In view of this two-fold fact, we can in some measure understand the deep impression which the words of our Lord produced, even on those who remained permanently uninfluenced by them. The substance of His addresses was far other than they had ever heard of, or conceived possible. It seemed as if they opened quite a new world of thought, hope, duty, and comfort. No wonder that even in contemptuous Capernaum "all bare Him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth"; and that the very Temple-guard sent to make Him prisoner were overawed, and before the council could only give this account of their strange negligence: "Never man spake like this man" (<a id="xix_p25_1" onClick="return mV('Jhn',7,46);">John 7:46</a>). Similarly, the form also of His teaching was so different from the constant appeal of the Rabbis to mere tradition; it seemed all to come so quite fresh and direct from heaven, like the living waters of the Holy Spirit, that "the people were astonished at His doctrine: for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes" (<a id="xix_p25_2" onClick="return mV('Mat',7,'28-29');">Matt 7:28-29</a>).</p>
<hr />
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref61" id="ftn61">[61]</a></sup>Our description here applies to the worship of the ancient, not of the modern synagogue; and we have thought it best to confine ourselves to the testimony of the Mishnah, so as to avoid the danger of bringing in practices of a later date.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref62" id="ftn62">[62]</a></sup>This "benediction," while acknowledging the Creator, has such frequent reference to God in connection with the "lights," that it reads like a confession of Israel against the idolatries of Babylon. This circumstance may help to fix the time of its origination.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref63" id="ftn63">[63]</a></sup>In the form here given it is older than even the prayer referred to in the Mishnah (Ber. ii. 2).</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref64" id="ftn64">[64]</a></sup>The apostle may have had this in his mind when, in directing the order of public ministration, he spoke of "the men...lifting up holy hands, without wrath or doubting" (<a id="xixftn64_1" onClick="return mV('1Ti',2,'8-8');">1 Tim 2:8</a>). At any rate, the expression is precisely the same as that used by the Rabbis.</p>
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<h2 id="xx-p0.1">Chapter 18</h2>
<h3 id="xx-p0.2">Brief Outline of Ancient Jewish Theological Literature</h3>
<p id="xx_p1">The arrangements of the synagogue, as hitherto described, combined in a remarkable manner fixedness of order with liberty of the individual. Alike the seasons and the time of public services, their order, the prayers to be offered, and the portions of the law to be read were fixed. On the other hand, between the eighteen "benedictions" said on ordinary days, and the seven repeated on the Sabbaths, free prayer might be inserted; the selection from the prophets, with which the public reading concluded&#8212;the "Haphtarah" (from "patar," to "conclude")&#8212;seems to have been originally left to individual choice; while the determination who was to read, or to conduct the prayers, or to address the people, was in the hands of the "rulers of the synagogue" (<a id="xx_p1_1" onClick="return mV('Act',13,15);">Acts 13:15</a>). The latter, who were probably also the members of the local Sanhedrim, had naturally charge of the conduct of public worship, as well as of the government and discipline of the synagogues. They were men learned in the law and of good repute, whom the popular voice designated, but who were regularly set apart by "the laying on of hands," or the "Semichah," which was done by at least three, who had themselves received ordination, upon which the candidate had the formal title of Rabbi bestowed on him, and was declared qualified to administer the law (Sanh. 13 b). The Divine Majesty was supposed to be in the midst of each Sanhedrim, on account of which even that consisting of only three members might be designated as "Elohim." Perhaps this may have been said in explanation and application of <a id="xx_p1_2" onClick="return mV('Psa',82,6);">Psalm 82:6</a>: "I have said, Ye are Elohim; and all of you children of the Most High."</p>
<p id="xx_p2">The special qualifications for the office of Sanhedrist, mentioned in Rabbinical writings, are such as to remind us of the directions of St. Paul to Timothy (<a id="xx_p2_1" onClick="return mV('1Ti',3,'1-10');">1 Tim 3:1-10</a>). A member of the Sanhedrim must be wise, modest, God-fearing, truthful, not greedy of filthy lucre, given to hospitality, kindly, not a gambler, nor a usurer, nor one who traded in the produce of Sabbatical years, nor yet one who indulged in unlawful games (Sanh. iii. 3). They were called "Sekenim," "elders" (<a id="xx_p2_2" onClick="return mV('Luk',7,3);">Luke 7:3</a>), "Memunim," "rulers" (<a id="xx_p2_3" onClick="return mV('Mar',5,22);">Mark 5:22</a>), "Parnasin," "feeders, overseers, shepherds of the flock" (<a id="xx_p2_4" onClick="return mV('Act',20,28);">Acts 20:28</a>; <a id="xx_p2_5" onClick="return mV('1Pe',5,2);">1 Peter 5:2</a>), and "Manhigei," "guides" (<a id="xx_p2_6" onClick="return mV('Hbr',13,7);">Heb 13:7</a>). They were under the presidency and supreme rule of an "Archisynagogos," or "Rosh-ha-Cheneseth," "head of the synagogue" (Yom. vii. 1; Sot. vii. 7), who sometimes seems to have even exercised sole authority. The designation occurs frequently in the New Testament (<a id="xx_p2_7" onClick="return mV('Mat',9,18);">Matt 9:18</a>; <a id="xx_p2_8" onClick="return mV('Mar',5,35,36,38);">Mark 5:35-36, 38</a>; <a id="xx_p2_9" onClick="return mV('Luk',8,41,49);">Luke 8:41, 49</a>; <a id="xx_p2_10" onClick="return mV('Luk',13,14);">13:14</a>; <a id="xx_p2_11" onClick="return mV('Act',18,8,17);">Acts 18:8, 17</a>). The inferior functions in the synagogue devolved on the "chassan," or "minister" (<a id="xx_p2_12" onClick="return mV('Luk',4,20);">Luke 4:20</a>). In course of time, however, the "chassanim" combined with their original duties the office of schoolmaster; and at present they lead both the singing and the devotions of the synagogue. This duty originally devolved not on any fixed person, but whoever was chosen might for the time being act as "Sheliach Zibbur," or "legate of the congregation." Most modern writers have imagined, that the expression "angel of the Church," in the epistles to the seven churches in the book of Revelation, was used in allusion to this ancient arrangement of the synagogue. But the fact that the "Sheliach Zibbur" represented not an office but a function, renders this view untenable. Besides, in that case, the corresponding Greek expression would rather have been "apostle" than "angel of the Church." Possibly, however, the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews may refer to it, when he designates the Lord Jesus "the Apostle and High-Priest of our profession" (<a id="xx_p2_13" onClick="return mV('Hbr',3,1);">Heb 3:1</a>). Besides these functionaries, we also read of "Gabaei Zedakah," or collectors of charity, to whom the Talmud (B. Bathra, 8 b) by a <i>jeu de mots</i><sup><a href="#ftn65" id="ftnref65">[65]</a></sup> applies the promise that they "shall be as the stars for ever and ever" (<a id="xx_p2_14" onClick="return mV('Dan',12,3);">Dan 12:3</a>), since they lead many to "righteousness."</p>
<p id="xx_p3">Alms were collected at regular times every week, either in money or in victuals. At least two were employed in collecting, and three in distributing charity, so as to avoid the suspicion of dishonesty or partiality. These collectors of charity, who required to be "men of good repute, and faithful," are thought by many to have been the model for the institution of the Diaconate in the early Church. But the analogy scarcely holds good; nor, indeed, were such collectors employed in every synagogue.</p>
<p id="xx_p4">In describing the conduct of public worship in the synagogues, reference was made to the "meturgeman," who translated into the vernacular dialect what was read out of the Hebrew Scriptures, and also to the "darshan," who expounded the Scriptures or else the traditional law in an address, delivered after the reading of the "Haphtarah," or section from the prophets. These two terms will have suggested names which often occur in writings on Jewish subjects, and may fitly lead to some remarks on Jewish theology at the time of our Lord. Now the work of the "meturgeman"<sup><a href="#ftn66" id="ftnref66">[66]</a></sup> was perpetuated in the Targum, and that of the "darshan" in the Midrash.</p>
<p id="xx_p5">Primarily the Targum, then, was intended as a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into the vernacular Aramaean. Of course, such translations might be either literal, or else more or less paraphrastic. Every Targum would also naturally represent the special views of the translator, and be interesting as affording an insight into the ideas prevalent at the time, and the manner in which Scripture was understood. But some Targumim are much more paraphrastic than others, and indeed become a kind of commentary, showing us the popular theology of the time. Strictly speaking, we have really no Targum dating from the time of our Lord, nor even from the first century of our era. There can be no doubt, however, that such a Targum did exist, although it has been lost. Still, the Targumim preserved to us, although collated, and having received their present form at later periods, contain very much that dates from the Temple-period, and even before that. Mentioning them in the order of their comparative antiquity, we have the Targum of Onkelos, on the five books of Moses; the Targum of Jonathan, on the prophets (inclusive of Joshua, Judges, and the books of Samuel and of the Kings); the so-called (or pseudo) Jonathan on the Pentateuch; and the Jerusalem Targum, which is but a fragment. Probably the latter two were intended to be supplemental to the Targum Onkelos. Late criticism has thrown doubt even on the existence of such a person as Onkelos. Whoever may have been the author, this Targum, in its present form, dates probably from the third, that of Jonathan on the prophets from the fourth century.</p>
<p id="xx_p6">In some respects more interesting than the Targumim are the Midrashim, of which we possess three, dating probably, in their present form, from the first or second century of our era, but embodying many parts much older. These are&#8212;mentioning them again in the order of their antiquity&#8212;"Siphra" (the book), a commentary on Leviticus; "Siphri," a commentary on Numbers and Deuteronomy; and "Mechiltha," a commentary on certain portions of Exodus. But we have even a monument more interesting than these, of the views of the ancient Pharisees, and of their Scriptural interpretations. Some of the fathers referred to a work called "Lesser Genesis," or the "Book of Jubilees." This had been lost to theological literature, till again discovered within the present century, although not in the original Hebrew, nor even in its first or Greek translation, but in an Ethiopic rendering from the latter. The work, which no doubt dates from the era of our Lord, covers the same ground as the first book of Moses, whence the name of "Lesser Genesis." It gives the Biblical narrative from the creation of the world to the institution of the Passover, in the spirit in which the Judaism of that period would view it. The legendary additions, the Rabbinical ideas expressed, the interpretations furnished, are just such as one would expect to find in such a work. One of the main objects of the writer seems to have been the chronology of the book of Genesis, which it is attempted to settle. All events are recorded according to Jubilee-periods of forty-nine years, whence the name "Book of Jubilees," given to the work. These "Jubilees" are again arranged into "weeks," each of seven years (a day for a year); and events are classified as having taken place in a certain month of a certain year, of a certain "week" of years, of a certain "Jubilee";-period. Another tendency of the book, which, however, it has in common with all similar productions, is to trace up all later institutions to the patriarchal period.<sup><a href="#ftn67" id="ftnref67">[67]</a></sup></p>
<p id="xx_p7">Besides these works, another class of theological literature has been preserved to us, around which of late much and most serious controversy has gathered. Most readers, of course, know about the Apocrypha; but these works are called the "pseudo-epigraphic writings." Their subject-matter may be described as mainly dealing with unfulfilled prophecy; and they are couched in language and figures borrowed, among others, from the book of Daniel. In fact, they read like attempts at imitating certain portions of that prophecy&#8212;only that their scope is sometimes wider. This class of literature is larger than those not acquainted with the period might have expected. Yet when remembering the troubles of the time, the feverish expectations of a coming deliverance, and the peculiar cast of mind and training of those who wrote them, they scarcely seem more numerous, nor perhaps even more extravagant, than a certain kind of prophetic literature, abundant among us not long ago, which the fear of Napoleon or other political events from time to time called forth. To that kind of production, they seem, at least to us, to bear an essential likeness&#8212;only that, unlike the Western, the Oriental expounder of unfulfilled prophecy assumes rather the language of the prophet than that of the commentator, and clothes his views in mystic emblematic language. In general, this kind of literature may be arranged into Greek and Hebrew&#8212;according as the writers were either Egyptian (Hellenistic) or Palestinian Jews. Considerable difficulty exists as to the precise date of some of these writings&#8212;whether previous or subsequent to the time of Christ. These difficulties are, of course, increased when it is sought to fix the precise period when each of them was composed. Still, late historical investigations have led to much accord on general points. Without referring to the use which opponents of Christianity have of late attempted to make of these books, it may be safely asserted that their proper study and interpretation will yet be made very helpful, not only in casting light upon the period, but in showing the essential difference between the teaching of the men of that age and that of the New Testament. For each branch and department of sacred study, the more carefully, diligently, and impartially it is pursued, affords only fresh testimony to that truth which is most certainly, and on the best and surest grounds, believed among us.</p>
<p id="xx_p8">It were, however, a mistake to suppose that the Rabbinical views, extravagant as they so often are, were propounded quite independently of Scripture. On the contrary, every traditional ordinance, every Rabbinical institution, nay, every legend and saying, is somehow foisted upon the text of the Old Testament. To explain this, even in the briefest manner, it is necessary to state that, in general, Jewish traditionalism is distinguished into the "Halachah" and the "Haggadah." The "Halachah" (from "halach," to "walk") indicates the settled legal determinations, which constituted the "oral law," or "Thorah shebeal peh." Nothing could here be altered, nor was any freedom left to the individual teacher, save that of explanation and illustration. The object of the "Halachah" was to state in detail, and to apply to all possible cases, the principles laid down in the law of Moses; as also to surround it, as it were, with "a hedge," in order to render every unwitting transgression impossible. The "Halachah" enjoyed not only the same authority with the law of Moses, but, as being explanatory, in some respects was even more highly esteemed. Indeed, strictly speaking, it was regarded as equally with the Pentateuch the revelation of God to Moses; only the form or manner of revelation was regarded as different&#8212;the one being committed to writing, the other handed down by word of mouth. According to tradition, Moses explained the traditional law successively to Aaron, to his sons, to the seventy elders, and to the people&#8212;care being taken that each class heard it four times (Maimonides' <i>Preface to Seraim</i>, 1 a). The Talmud itself attempts to prove that the whole traditional law, as well as the writings of the prophets and the Hagiographa, had been communicated to Moses, by quoting <a id="xx_p8_1" onClick="return mV('Exd',24,12);">Exodus 24:12</a>: "I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them." "The 'tables of stone,'" argues Rabbi Levi (Ber. 5 1), "are the ten commandments; the 'law' is the written law (in the Pentateuch); the 'commandments' are the Mishnah; 'which I have written,' refers to the prophets and the Hagiographa; while the words, 'that thou mayest teach them,' point to the Gemara. From this we learn, that all this was given to Moses on Sinai."</p>
<p id="xx_p9">If such was the "Halachah," it is not so easy to define the limits of the "Haggadah." The term, which is derived from the verb "higgid," to "discuss," or "tell about," covers all that possessed not the authority of strict legal determinations. It was legend, or story, or moral, or exposition, or discussion, or application&#8212;in short, whatever the fancy or predilections of a teacher might choose to make it, so that he could somehow connect it either with Scripture or with a "Halachah." For this purpose some definite rules were necessary to preserve, if not from extravagance, at least from utter absurdity. Originally there were four such canons for connecting the "Haggadah" with Scripture. Contracting, after the favourite manner of the Jews, the initial letters, these four canons were designated by the word "<i>Pardes</i>" (Paradise). They were&#8212;1. To ascertain the plain meaning of a passage (the "Peshat"); 2. To take the single letters of a word as an indication or hint ("Remes") of other words, or even of whole sentences; 3. The "Derush," or practical exposition of a passage; and 4. To find out the "Sod" (mystery), or mystical meaning of a verse or word. These four canons were gradually enlarged into thirty-two rules, which gave free vent to every kind of fancifulness. Thus one of these rules&#8212;the "Gematria" (geometry, calculation)&#8212;allowed the interpreter to find out the numerical value of the letters in a word&#8212;the Hebrew letters, like the Roman, being also numerals&#8212;and to substitute for a word one or more which had the same numerical value. Thus, if in <a id="xx_p9_1" onClick="return mV('Num',12,1);">Numbers 12:1</a> we read that Moses was married to an "Ethiopian woman" (in the original, "Cushith"), Onkelos substitutes instead of this, by "gematria," the words, "of fair appearance";&#8212;the numerical value both of Cushith and of the words "of fair appearance" being equally 736. By this substitution the objectionable idea of Moses' marrying an Ethiopian was at the same time removed. Similarly, the Mishnah maintains that those who loved God were to inherit each 310 worlds, the numerical value of the word "substance" ("Yesh") in <a id="xx_p9_2" onClick="return mV('Pro',8,21);">Proverbs 8:21</a> being 310. On the other hand, the canons for the deduction of a "Halachah" from the text of Scripture were much more strict and logical. Seven such rules are ascribed to Hillel, which were afterwards enlarged to thirteen.<sup><a href="#ftn68" id="ftnref68">[68]</a></sup></p>
<p id="xx_p10">Little objection can be taken to them; but unfortunately their practical application was generally almost as fanciful, and certainly as erroneous, as in the case of the "Haggadah."</p>
<p id="xx_p11">Probably most readers would wish to know something more of those "traditions" to which our Lord so often referred in His teaching. We have here to distinguish, in the first place, between the Mishnah and the Gemara. The former was, so to speak, the text, the latter its extended commentary. At the same time, the Mishnah contains also a good deal of commentary, and much that is not either legal determination or the discussion thereof; while the Gemara, on the other hand, also contains what we would call "text." The word Mishna (from the verb "shanah") means "repetition";&#8212;the term referring to the supposed repetition of the traditional law, which has been above described. The Gemara, as the very word shows, means "discussion," and embodies the discussions, opinions, and saying of the Rabbis upon, or a propos of, the Mishnah. Accordingly, the text of the Mishnah is always given in the pages of the Talmud, which reproduce those discussions thereon of the Jewish Theological parliament or academy, which constitute the Gemara. The authorities introduced in the Mishnah and the Gemara range from about the year 180 BC to 430 AD (in the Babylon Talmud). The Mishnah is, of course, the oldest work, and dates, in its present form and as a written compilation, from the close of the second century of our era. Its contents are chiefly "Halachah," there being only one Tractate (Aboth) in which there is no "Halachah" at all, and another (on the measurements of the Temple) in which it but very rarely occurs. Yet these two Tractates are of the greatest historical value and interest. On the other hand, there are thirteen whole Tractates in the Mishnah which have no "Haggadah" at all, and other twenty-two in which it is but of rare occurrence. Very much of the Mishnah must be looked upon as dating before, and especially from the time of Christ, and its importance for the elucidation of the New Testament is very great, though it requires to be most judiciously used. The Gemara, or book of discussions on the Mishnah, forms the two Talmuds&#8212;the Jerusalem and the Babylon Talmud. The former is so called because it is the product of the Palestinian academies; the latter is that of the Babylonian school. The completion of the Jerusalem or Palestinian Talmud ("Talmud" = doctrine, lore) dates from the middle of the fourth, that of the Babylonian from the middle of the sixth century of our era. It need scarcely be said that the former is of much greater historical value than the latter. Neither of these two Gemaras, as we now possess them, is quite complete&#8212;that is, there are Tractates in the Mishnah for which we have no Gemara, either in the Jerusalem or in the Babylon Talmud. Lastly, the Babylon Talmud is more than four times the size of that of Jerusalem. Obviously this is not the place for giving even the briefest outline of the contents of the Mishnah.<sup><a href="#ftn69" id="ftnref69">[69]</a></sup> Suffice it here to state that it consists of six books ("sedarim," "orders"), which are subdivided into Tractates ("Massichthoth"), and these again into chapters ("Perakim"), and single determinations or traditions ("Mishnaioth"). In quoting the Mishnah it is customary to mention not the Book (or "Seder") but the special Tractate, the Perek (or chapter), and the Mishnah. The names of these Tractates (not those of the books) give a sufficient idea of their contents, which cover every conceivable, and well-nigh every inconceivable case, with full discussions thereon. Altogether the Mishnah contains sixty-three Tractates, consisting of 525 chapters, and 4,187 "Mishnaioth."</p>
<p id="xx_p13">There is yet another branch of Jewish theology, which in some respects is the most interesting to the Christian student. There can be no doubt, that so early as the time of our Lord a series of doctrines and speculations prevailed which were kept secret from the multitude, and even from ordinary students, probably from fear of leading them into heresy. This class of study bears the general name of the "Kabbalah," and, as even the term (from "kabal," to "receive," or "hand down") implies, represents the spiritual traditions handed down from earliest times, although mixed up, in course of time, with many foreign and spurious elements. The "Kabbalah" grouped itself chiefly around the history of the creation, and the mystery of God's Presence and Kingdom in the world, as symbolised in the vision of the chariot and of the wheels (<a id="xx_p13_1" onClick="return mV('Eze',1,'15-21');">Eze 1</a>). Much that is found in Cabbalistic writings approximates so closely to the higher truths of Christianity, that, despite the errors, superstitions, and follies that mingle with it, we cannot fail to recognise the continuance and the remains of those deeper facts of Divine revelation, which must have formed the substance of prophetic teaching under the Old Testament, and have been understood, or at least hoped for, by those who were under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.</p>
<p id="xx_p14">If now, at the close of these sketches of Jewish life, we ask ourselves, what might have been expected as to the relation between Christ and the men and the religion of His period, the answer will not be difficult. Assuredly, in one respect Christ could not have been a stranger to His period, or else His teaching would have found no response, and, indeed, have been wholly unintelligible to His contemporaries. Nor did He address them as strangers to the covenant, like the heathen. His was in every respect the continuation, the development, and the fulfilment of the Old Testament. Only, He removed the superincumbent load of traditionalism; He discarded the externalism, the formalism, and the work-righteousness, which had well-nigh obliterated the spiritual truths of the Old Testament, and substituted in their place the worship of the letter. The grand spiritual facts, which it embodied, He brought forward in all their brightness and meaning; the typical teaching of that dispensation He came to show forth and to fulfil; and its prophecies He accomplished, alike for Israel and the world. And so in Him all that was in the Old Testament&#8212;of truth, way, and life&#8212;became "Yea and Amen." Thus we can understand how, on the one hand, the Lord could avail Himself of every spiritual element around, and adopt the sayings, parables, ideas, and customs of that period&#8212;indeed, must have done so, in order to be a true man of the period,&#8212;and yet be so wholly not of that time as to be despised, rejected, and delivered up unto death by the blind guides of His blinded fellow-countrymen. Had He entirely discarded the period in which He lived, had He not availed Himself of all in it that was true or might be useful, He would not have been of it&#8212;not the true man Christ Jesus. Had He followed it, identified Himself with its views and hopes, or headed its movements, He would not have been the Christ, the Son of the living God, the promised Deliverer from sin and guilt.</p>
<p id="xx_p15">And so we can also perceive the reason of the essential enmity to Christ on the part of the Pharisees and Scribes. It was not that He was a new and a strange Teacher; it was, that He came as the Christ. Theirs was not an opposition of teaching to His; it was a contrariety of fundamental life-principles. "Light came into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light." Closely related as the two were, the Pharisaical Judaism of that and of the present period is at the opposite pole from the religion of Christ&#8212;alike as regards the need of man, the purposes of God's love, and the privileges of His children. There was one truth which, we are reluctantly obliged to admit, found, alas! scarcely any parallel in the teaching of Rabbinism: it was that of a suffering Messiah. Hints indeed there were, as certain passages in the prophecies of Isaiah could not be wholly ignored or misrepresented, even by Rabbinical ingenuity, just as the doctrine of vicarious suffering and substitution could not be eliminated from the practical teaching of the confession of sins over the sacrifices, when the worshipper day by day laid his hands upon, and transferred to them his guilt. Yet Judaism, except in the case of the few, saw not in all this that to which alone it could point as its real meaning: "The Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."</p>
<p id="xx_p16">And now, as century after century has passed, and the gladsome Gospel message has been carried from nation to nation, while Israel is still left in the darkness of its unbelief and the misery of its mistaken hope, we seem to realise with ever increasing force that "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined." Yes: "unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His Name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" (<a id="xx_p16_1" onClick="return mV('Isa',9,2,6);">Isa 9:2, 6</a>). For assuredly, "God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew." But "all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob" (<a id="xx_p16_2" onClick="return mV('Rom',11,2, 26);">Rom 11:2, 26</a>). "Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night" (<a id="xx_p16_3" onClick="return mV('Isa',21,'11-12');">Isa 21:11-12</a>).</p>
<hr />
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref65" id="ftn65">[65]</a></sup>Zedakah means righteousness, but is also used for "charity."</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref66" id="ftn66">[66]</a></sup>Hence also the term "dragoman."</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref67" id="ftn67">[67]</a></sup>Although the "Book of Jubilees" seems most likely of Pharisaic authorship, the views expressed in it are not always those of the Pharisees. Thus the resurrection is denied, although the immortality of the soul is maintained.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref68" id="ftn68">[68]</a></sup>It would be beyond the scope of this volume to explain these "middoth," or "measurements," and to illustrate them by examples. Those who are interested in the matter are referred to the very full discussion on Rabbinical exegesis in my History of the Jewish Nation, pp. 570-580.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref69" id="ftn69">[69]</a></sup>In Appendix I. we give as a specimen a translation of one of the Mishnic Tractates; and in Appendix II. translations of extracts from the Babylonian Talmud.</p>
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<h2 id="xxi-p0.1">Appendix 1 </h2>
<h3 id="xxi-p0.2">Massecheth Middoth<sup><a href="#ftn70" id="ftnref70">[70]</a></sup> </h3>
<h3 id="xxi-p0.4">(Being the Mishnic Tractate Descriptive of the Measurements of the Temple)</h3>
<h4 id="xxi-p0.5">Perek I.</h4>
<p id="xxi_p1">1. The priests kept watch in the Temple in three places: in the house Avtinas, and in the house Nitsuts, and in the house of Moked; and the Levites in twenty-one places: 5 at the five gates leading into the Temple (the Mountain of the House), 4 in the four angles within, 5 at the five gates of the court, 4 in its four angles without, and 1 in the chamber of offering, and 1 in the chamber of the vail, and 1 behind the Most Holy Place (the House of Atonement).</p>
<p id="xxi_p2">2. The Captain of the Temple (the man of the Temple Mount) visited each guard, and burning torches <i>were carried</i> before him. And every guard which did not stand up (which was not standing), the Captain of the Temple said to him: "Peace be to thee." If he observed that he slept, he smote him with his stick, and he had authority to burn his dress. And they said, "What is the noise (voice) in the court?" "It is the noise of a Levite who is beaten, and his clothes are set on fire, because he slept upon his watch." Rabbi Eliezer, the son of Jacob, said: "On one occasion they found the brother of my mother sleeping, and they burned his dress."</p>
<p id="xxi_p3">3. There were five gates to the Temple inclosure (Temple Mount): the two gates of Huldah from the south, which served for entrance and for exit; Kipponos from the west; Tadi from the north&#8212;it did not serve for anything; the eastern gate, upon which <i>was</i> a representation of the city of Shushan, and by it the high-priest who burned the Red Heifer, and all who assisted, went out upon the Mount of Olives.</p>
<p id="xxi_p4">4. There were seven gates in the court; three on the north, and three on the south, and one in the east. That in the south was the gate of burning; second to it, the gate of the firstborn; third to it, the water gate. That in the east was the gate of Nicanor, and two chambers belonged to it, one on the right hand, and one on the left&#8212;the one the chamber of Phineas, the wardrobe keeper, and the other the chamber of those who made the pancake offering.<sup><a href="#ftn71" id="ftnref71">[71]</a></sup></p>
<p id="xxi_p5">5. And that on the north was the gate Nitsuts, and it was after the form of an Exhedra, and an <i>Alijah</i> was built on the top of it; and the priests kept guard above, and the Levites below, and it had a door to the <i>Chel</i>. Second to it was the gate of offering; third to it the <i>Beth Moked</i>.</p>
<p id="xxi_p6">6. And four rooms were in the Beth Moked, like small bed chambers opening on a dining apartment; two in <i>the place that was</i> holy, and two in <i>that which was</i> not holy, and the heads of the beams separated between <i>that which was</i> holy and <i>that which was</i> not holy. And for what did they serve? That on the south-west was the chamber of offering; that on the south-east the chamber of the shew-bread; on the north-east, there the Asmoneans deposited the stones of the altar which the King of Javan had defiled; on the north-west, there they went down to the bath-house.</p>
<p id="xxi_p7">7. There were two gates to the Beth Moked&#8212;one opened upon the Chel, the other upon the court. Rabbi Jehudah says: "That which opened upon the court had a small wicket by which they went in to explore the court."</p>
<p id="xxi_p8">8. The Beth Moked was arched, and was a great house surrounded by extensions (perhaps terraces) of stone, and the elders of the house of their fathers slept there, and the keys of the court in their hand; and the young priests, every one with his pillow on the ground (perhaps his dress).</p>
<p id="xxi_p9">9. And there was a place there, a cubit by a cubit, and a slab of marble, and a ring was fastened on it, and the chain with the keys were hung thereon. When the time came for closing, he lifted the slab by the ring, and took the keys from the chain, and the priest closed the gates from within, and the Levite had to sleep without. When he had finished closing, he returned the keys to the chain, and the slab to its place; he placed his pillow upon it and slept there. If an accident befell one of them, he went out and had to go by the winding stair which went under the house, and lights were burning on either side, till he came to the bath-house. Rabbi Eliezer, the son of Jacob, said: "By the winding stairs he passed under the Chel, and went out and had to go through Tadi."</p>
<h4 id="xxi_p9.1">Perek II.</h4>
<p id="xxi_p10">1. The Temple inclosure (the Temple Mount) <i>was</i> 500 cubits by 500 cubits; <i>it was</i> largest on the south; next <i>largest</i> on the east; then on the north; smallest on the west. The place where there was most measurement there was also most service.</p>
<p id="xxi_p11">2. All who entered the Temple inclosure entered by the right, and turned and went out by the left, except those whom something had befallen, who turned to the left. "What <i>ails</i> thee that thou turnest to the left?" "Because I am a mourner." "He that dwelleth in this house comfort thee!" "Because I am under the bann." "He that dwelleth in this house put it in their hearts, that they restore thee!" So Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Jose says to him, "This would make it, as if they had transgressed against him in judgment; but <i>rather</i>: 'He that dwelleth in this house put it in thy heart, that thou hearken to the words of thy brethren, and they restore thee.'"</p>
<p id="xxi_p12">3. Farther on <i>was</i> the Sorag, ten handbreadths high. And thirteen breaches were in it, which the Kings of Javan had made. They restored and strengthened it, and they decreed towards them thirteen obeisances [<i>in remembrance</i>]. <i>Again</i> farther on the Chel, ten cubits; and twelve steps were there; the step half a cubit high, and half a cubit in extension. All the steps which were there, <i>each</i> step <i>was</i> half a cubit high, and the extension half a cubit, except those which were at the porch. All the doorways and gates which were there, were twenty cubits high, and ten cubits wide, except that in the porch. All the doorways which were there, had doors, except that in the porch. All the gates which were there, had lintels, except that in the gate Tadi, which had two stones resting, this on the back of that. All the gates which were there, were renewed to be with gold, except the gate of Nicanor, because there was wrought upon them a miracle, and some say, because the brass sparkled.</p>
<p id="xxi_p13">4. All the walls which were there were high, except the wall in the east, so that the priest who burned the heifer, standing on the top of the Mount of Olives, and directing himself to look, saw through the gateway of the sanctuary, at the time when he sprinkled the blood.</p>
<p id="xxi_p14">5. The Court of the women was 135 cubits long by 135 cubits broad, and four chambers were in the four angles, each 40 cubits square, and they were not roofed in. And so they are intended to be, as it is said: "And he brought me forth into the outer court, and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court, and behold, in every corner of the court a court. In the four corners of the court courts smoking"...<i>It is said</i>, they were "smoking," and that because they were not roofed. And for what did they serve? That on the south-east was the chamber of the Nazarites, where the Nazarites washed their peace-offerings, and polled their hair, and threw it under the pot. That on the north-east was the wood chamber, where the priests who were disqualified picked the wood, and every stick in which a worm was found, it was unfitted for the altar. That on the north-west was the chamber of the lepers. That on the south-west Rabbi Eliezer, the son of Jacob, said: "I have forgotten for what it served." Abba Shaul said: "There they put the wine and the oil; it was called the chamber of the house of Schamanyah." And it [the wall] was at first flush, and they surrounded it with a gallery, so that the women looked from above and the men from beneath, for the purpose that they might not be mixed together. And fifteen steps went up from there to the Court of Israel, like the fifteen degrees in the Psalms [Songs of Degrees in the Psalms]. Upon these the Levites stood singing the songs. They were not rectangular but rounded, like the arc of a rounded substance.</p>
<p id="xxi_p15">6. And there were chambers beneath the Court of Israel, and they opened upon the Court of the Women. There the Levites placed their harps, and their psalteries, and their cymbals, and all the musical instruments. The Court of Israel was 135 cubits long by 11 broad, and similarly, the Court of the Priests was 135 long by 11 broad, and the heads of the beams divided between the Court of Israel and the Court of the Priests. Rabbi Eliezer, the son of Jacob, said: There was a step, a cubit high, and upon it the <i>Duchan</i> was placed, and on it were three steps, each half a cubit. It results, that the Court of the Priests was 2 1/2 cubits higher than that of Israel. The entire court was 187 cubits long and 135 cubits broad. Thirteen obeisances took place there. Abba Jose, the son of Chanan, said: "Towards the thirteen gates." The southern <i>were</i>: nearest to the west, the upper gate, <i>then</i> the gate of burning, the gate of the first-born, and the water-gate. And why was its name called the water-gate? Because through it they brought the pitcher of water for pouring out for the "Feast of Tabernacles." Rabbi Eliezer, the son of Jacob, said: "And by it the waters were flowing down, with the direction of coming out below the threshold of the Temple." And opposite to them to the north were: (nearest to the west) the gate of Jeconiah, the gate of offering, the gate of the women, and the gate of the song. And why was it called the gate of Jeconiah? Because by it Jeconiah went out into captivity. That on the east <i>was</i> the gate of Nicanor, and it had two wickets, one on its right and the other on its left. And <i>there were</i> two [gates] to the west; they had no name.</p>
<h4 id="xxi_p15.1">Perek III.</h4>
<p id="xxi_p16">1. The altar was 32 by 32 [cubits]. Upwards 1 cubit, and contract 1 cubit: that was the base. Remain 30 by 30. Upwards 5, and contract 1 cubit: that was the circuit. Remain 28 by 28. The place of the horns, a cubit on this side and a cubit on that side. Remain 26 by 26. The place for the tread of the priests, a cubit on this side and a cubit on that side. Remain 24 by 24: the place where the sacrifice was laid out. Rabbi Jose said: "At the first it was only 28 by 28; <i>though</i> it contracted and went up, according to this measurement, until there remained the place for laying the sacrifices: 20 by 20. But when the children of the Captivity came up, they added to it 4 cubits on the south and 4 on the west like a <i>gamma</i>, because it is said, 'And Ariel shall be 12 cubits long by 12 broad, square.'<sup><a href="#ftn72" id="ftnref72">[72]</a></sup> That does not mean that it was only 12 by 12, since it is added: 'In the four corners thereof,' to teach that it measured from the middle 12 cubits in every direction."</p>
<p id="xxi_p17">And a scarlet line girdled it in the middle to separate between the upper and the lower blood-sprinklings. And the base ran round all the north and all the west side, but was shortened a cubit on the south and on the east.</p>
<p id="xxi_p18">2. In the south-western angle were two apertures, like small nostrils, and the blood, poured on the base to the west, and on the base to the south, descended through them, and co-mingled in the canal, and flowed out into the brook Kedron.</p>
<p id="xxi_p19">3. Below in the pavement, in that angle, there was a place, a cubit by a cubit, <i>with</i> a tablet of marble, and a ring was fastened in it, and here they went down into the sewer to cleanse it. And there was a sloping ascent to the south of the altar, 32 cubits long by 16 broad, and it had a pit at its west side, into which they put sin-offerings of birds that were defiled.</p>
<p id="xxi_p20">4. Both the stones of the sloping ascent and those of the altar were from the valley of Beth Cherem. And they dug beneath the virgin soil, and brought out from it undamaged (whole) stones, upon which iron had not been lifted, because iron defiles everything by contact, and by scratching. One of these stones was scratched: it was defiled; but the rest were lawful for use. And they whitened them twice in the year, once at the Passover, and once at the Feast of Tabernacles; and the Sanctuary once at the Passover. Rabbi<sup><a href="#ftn73" id="ftnref73">[73]</a></sup> says: "On the eve of every Sabbath they whitened it with a cloth, on account of the blood-sprinklings." They did not plaster it with an iron trowel, lest it might touch, and defile. For the iron is created to shorten the days of man, and the altar is created to lengthen the days of man, therefore it is not right that that which shortens should be lifted upon that which lengthens.</p>
<p id="xxi_p21">5. And rings were to the north of the altar: six rows, each of four; but some say, four rows, each of six; and in these they slaughtered the holy sacrifices. The house (place) of slaughtering was to the north of the altar. And there were eight short pillars and squares of cedar upon the top of them, and hooks of iron were fastened in them, and three rows were upon each of them, upon which they hung up, and they skinned upon marble tables which were between the pillars.</p>
<p id="xxi_p22">6. And the laver was between the porch and the altar, and inclined nearer towards the south. Between the porch and the altar were 22 cubits, and 12 steps were there, each step half a cubit high, and its extension a cubit&#8212;a cubit, a cubit, and then an extension of three (cubits); and a cubit, a cubit, and an extension of three; and the topmost, a cubit, a cubit, and an extension of four (cubits). Rabbi Jehudah said: "The topmost a cubit, a cubit, and an extension of five (cubits)."</p>
<p id="xxi_p23">7. The doorway to the porch was 40 cubits high and 20 broad, and five beams of ash were upon the top of it; the lowest protruded over the doorway a cubit on this and a cubit on that side; that above it protruded over it a cubit on this and a cubit on that side; it results, that the topmost [was] 30 cubits, and a buttress of stones was between each one of them.</p>
<p id="xxi_p24">8. And supports of cedar were fixed from the wall of the Sanctuary to the wall of the porch, lest they should bulge; and chains of gold were fixed in the roof of the porch, and by them the young priests mounted, to look at the crowns, as it is written: "And crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of the Lord." A vine of gold was standing over the entrance to the Sanctuary, and was suspended on the top of beams. Every one who vowed a leaf, or a berry, or a bunch, brought it, and hung it up there. Rabbi Eliezer, the son of Rabbi Zadok, said: "It happened (that they had to remove it) and there were numbered for it 300 priests."<sup><a href="#ftn74" id="ftnref74">[74]</a></sup></p>
<h4 id="xxi_p24.2">Perek IV.</h4>
<p id="xxi_p25">1. The entrance to the Sanctuary was 20 cubits high, and 10 cubits broad; and it had four doors [two folding-doors]: two within and two without, as it is said: "And the Sanctuary and the Holy Place had two doors." The outer doors opened <i>to the</i> inside of the doorway, to cover the thickness of the wall, and the inner doors opened inwards into the house, to cover behind the doors. For, the whole house was covered with gold, except behind the doors. Rabbi Jehudah said: "They [both pairs of doors] stood within the entrance, and were like <i>Azteramita</i>,<sup><a href="#ftn75" id="ftnref75">[75]</a></sup> and they folded backwards&#8212;these 2 1/2 cubits, and those 2 1/2 cubits. Half a cubit the door-post from this [corner], and half a cubit the doorpost from that, and so it is said: 'And the doors had two leaves alike, two turning-leaves; two for the one door, and two leaves for the other.'"</p>
<p id="xxi_p26">2. And the great gate had two wickets, one to the north and one to the south. That to the south, no man ever passed through it; and to this clearly refers what is said in Ezekiel, as it is written: "Then the Lord said unto me, This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut." He took the key, and opened the wicket, and entered the little chamber (atrium), and from the little chamber into the Sanctuary. Rabbi Jehudah said: "Along the thickness of the wall he walked, until he found himself standing between the two gates, and he opened the outer one from within and the inner one from without."</p>
<p id="xxi_p27">3. And thirty-eight little chambers were there&#8212;fifteen on the north, fifteen on the south, and eight on the west. On the north and on the south, five on the top of five, and five on their top; and on the west three on the top of three, and two on the top of them. And each one of them had three entrances, one to the little chamber on the right, and one to the little chamber on the left, and one to the little chamber on the top. And at the north-western corner were five entrances, one to the little chamber at the right, and the other to the little chamber on the top, and another to the winding-stair, and another to the wicket, and another to the Sanctuary.</p>
<p id="xxi_p28">4. And the lowermost (chamber) <i>was</i> 5 cubits, and the roofing (extension, platitude) 6; the middle (chamber) 6, and the roofing 7; and the uppermost 7, as it is said: "The nethermost chamber was 5 cubits broad, and the middle 6 cubits broad, and the third 7 cubits broad, for he made rebatements in the 'house' round about without, that [the beams] should not be fastened within the walls of the house."</p>
<p id="xxi_p29">5. And a winding-stair went up from the north-eastern angle to the north-western angle, by which they went up to the roofs of the chambers. One went up the winding-stair with his face to the west, and went all along the north side, until he came to the west. He came to the west, and turned his face to the south, and went all along the west side till he came to the south. He came to the south, and turned his face eastwards, and went along the south side, till he came to the entrance of the Alijah; for the entrance to the Alijah opened to the south, and in the entrance to the Alijah were two beams of cedar, by which they went up to the roof of the Alijah, and the heads of the beams divided in the Alijah between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. And trap-doors opened in the Alijah into the Most Holy Place, by which they let down the workmen in chests, that they might not feast their eyes in the Most Holy Place.</p>
<p id="xxi_p30">6. And the Sanctuary was 100 by 100, by 100 high; the solid foundation 6 cubits, and the height upon it 40 cubits; 1 cubit, decorated scroll; 2 cubits, the place for the water-droppings; 1 cubit covering, and 1 cubit pavement, and the height of the Alijah 40 cubits, and 1 cubit scroll-work, and 2 cubits the place for the dropping, and 1 cubit covering, and 1 cubit pavement, and 3 cubits balustrade, and 1 cubit scare-raven. Rabbi Jehudah said: "The scare-raven was not counted from the measurement, but the balustrade was 4 cubits."</p>
<p id="xxi_p31">7. From the east to the west 100 cubits&#8212;the wall of the porch 5, and the porch 11; the wall of the Sanctuary 6, and its interior space 40 cubits, 1 cubit intermediate wall, and 20 cubits the Most Holy Place, the wall of the Sanctuary 6, and the little chamber 6, and the wall of the little chamber 5. From the north to the south 70 cubits&#8212;the wall of the winding-stair 5, and the winding-stair 3, the wall of the little chamber 5, and the little chamber 6, the wall of the Sanctuary 6, and its interior space 20 cubits, the wall of the Sanctuary 6, and the little chamber 6, and the wall of the little chamber 5, and the place for the going down of the water 3 cubits, and the wall 5 cubits. The porch protruded beyond it, 15 cubits from the north and 15 cubits from the south, and it was called the house of the sacrificial knives, because there they deposited the knives. And the Sanctuary was narrow behind and wide in front, and like to a lion, as it is said: "O Ariel, the lion of God, the city where David dwelt." As the lion is narrow behind and wide in front, so is the Sanctuary narrow behind and wide in its front.</p>
<h4 id="xxi_p31.1">Perek V.</h4>
<p id="xxi_p32">1. The whole court was 187 cubits long by 135 cubits broad. From the east to the west 187: the place for the tread of Israel 11 cubits; the place for the tread of the priests 11 cubits; the altar 32; between the porch and the altar 22 cubits; the Sanctuary 100 cubits; and 11 cubits behind the house of Atonement.</p>
<p id="xxi_p33">2. From the north to the south 135 cubits: the altar and the circuit 62; from the altar to the rings 8 cubits; the place of the rings 24 cubits; from the rings to the tables 4; from the tables to the pillars 4; from the pillars to the wall of the court 8 cubits; and the rest between the circuit and the wall, and the place of the pillars.</p>
<p id="xxi_p34">3. There were six rooms in the court&#8212;three to the north, and three to the south. Those on the north: the salt-chamber, the chamber <i>Parvah</i>, the chamber of those who washed out. The salt-chamber: there they put salt to the offering. The chamber of <i>Parvah</i>: there they salted the skins of the holy sacrifices, and on the roof was the bath-house of the high-priest on the Day of Atonement. The chamber of those who washed out, where they washed the inwards of the holy things, and thence a winding-stair went up to the roof of the house of Parvah.</p>
<p id="xxi_p35">4. Those on the south: the wood-chamber, the chamber of the captivity, the chamber of "hewn stones." The wood-chamber&#8212;said Rabbi Eliezer, the son of Jacob: "I have forgotten for what it served." Abba Shall said: It was the chamber of the high-priest, and it lay behind the other two, and a roof was extended over the three (they had one common roof). The chamber of the captivity: a well was there which they of the captivity had digged, and a wheel was placed upon it, and thence they provided water for the whole court. The chamber of "hewn stones": there the great Sanhedrim of Israel sat, and judged the priesthood. And the priest in whom was found disqualification was clothed in black, and veiled in black, and went out, and had to go. And if there was not found in him disqualification, he was dressed in white, and veiled in white; he went in and served with his brethren the priests. And they made a feast-day, because there was not found disqualification in the seed of Aaron the priest, and thus spake they: "Blessed be God, blessed be He, that there has not been found disqualification in the seed of Aaron, and blessed be He Who has chosen Aaron and his sons, to stand to serve before the face of the Lord in the Most Holy House."</p>
<hr />
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref70" id="ftn70">[70]</a></sup>Middoth is the tenth Tractate of Seder V. (Kodashim) of the Mishnah. It has no Gemara either in the Jerusalem or the Babylon Talmud. In the former the whole of Seder 5 is awanting; in the latter only two and a-half Tractates (half Tamid, Middoth, and Kinnim). Middoth contains Halachah only in the following passages: i, 2, 3, 9; ii. 2, 4, 5, 6; iii. 3, 5, 8; iv. 2, 5; v. 3, 4. Throughout the Mishnah the names of 128 sages are introduced. Of those mentioned in this Tractate almost all witnessed the destruction of the Temple.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref71" id="ftn71">[71]</a></sup>For the daily offering of the high-priest.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref72" id="ftn72">[72]</a></sup><a id="xxiftn72_1" onClick="return mV('Eze',43,-16);">Ezekiel 43:16</a>, "Ariel" = the lion of God = the altar.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref73" id="ftn73">[73]</a></sup>The Rabbi, i.e. R. Jehudah the Holy.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref74" id="ftn74">[74]</a></sup>To remove or to cleanse it.</p>
<p><sup><a href="#ftnref75" id="ftn75">[75]</a></sup>The term, which seems not to have been quite understood even in Talmudical times, is rendered by Jost: twisted leaf, and derived from strepho.</p>
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<h2 id="xxiii-p0.1">Indexes</h2>
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<li><a href="#analysis">Analysis of Contents</a></li>
<li><a href="#xxiii.i-p0.1">Index to Scripture References</a></li>
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<h2><a name="analysis"></a>Analysis of Contents</h2>
<p style="font-weight:bold;text-align:center;font-variant:small-caps;margin-left:20px;text-indent:-20px;">
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html">Chap. I. &#8212; Palestine Eighteen Centuries Ago.</a></p>
<p style="margin-left:30px;text-indent:-20px;">Palestine &#8212; Its present condition &#8212; Its condition at the time of Christ &#8212; Sentiments of Rabbis Jonathan and Meir concerning it &#8212; Climate &#8212; Vegetable and animal productions &#8212; Scenery &#8212; Religious enthusiasm about Palestine &#8212; Love of the Rabbis for the land &#8212; Treatment of Babylonians schools by the Rabbis &#8212; Superstitions concerning Palestine &#8212; Present state of feeling regarding it &#8212; How swept of relics &#8212; Extent of Paestine at the time of Christ &#8212; Inhabitants &#8212; Opinions concerning the ten tribes &#8212; Government &#8212; Testament of Herod the Great &#8212; Disputes between Archelaus and Herod Antipas &#8212; Income of Archelaus, of Herod the Great, and of Agrippa II. &#8212; Coins of Palestine &#8212; Division of Palestine &#8212; Views of the Jews concerning Samaria.</p>
<p style="font-weight:bold;text-align:center;font-variant:small-caps;margin-left:20px;text-indent:-20px;">
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html">Chap. II. &#8212; Jews and Gentiles in "the Land.";</a></p>
<p style="margin-left:30px;text-indent:-20px;">Boundaries of Palestine &#8212; Views of the Rabbis on the sanctity of the land and the uncleanness of heathen soil &#8212; The three lands designated as Palestine &#8212; Offerings, from whence lawful &#8212; Countries included in Syria &#8212; Its assimilation to, and disctinction from Palestine &#8212; Jewish views of heathen countries &#8212; Arrangement by Maimonides of all countries &#8212; Places allowed by the Rabbis to bring Biccurim and Terumoth &#8212; Distinctions between the country east and west of the Jordan &#8212; Pre-eminence of Judea proper over Galilee &#8212; Antioch &#8212; The borders of Tyre and Sidon &#8212; Miracles worked there &#8212; Parties in Palestine at the time of Christ &#8212; Dialects &#8212; Spread of Grecianism &#8212; Divisions of Judaism &#8212; Separation between Pharisaical Jews and heathens &#8212; Views of the Jews and heathens respecting each other.</p>
<p style="font-weight:bold;text-align:center;font-variant:small-caps;margin-left:20px;text-indent:-20px;">
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html">Chap. III. &#8212; In Galilee at the Time of Our Lord.</a></p>
<p style="margin-left:30px;text-indent:-20px;">Distinction between Galilee and Judea &#8212; Issue of the Mishnah and of the Jerusalem Talmud from Tiberias &#8212; Sentiments of the Pharisees concerning Galilee &#8212; Prayer of a celebrated Rabbi &#8212; Rabbi Jannai &#8212; Peculiarities of Galilee &#8212; Territory &#8212; Distinction between Upper and Lower Galilee &#8212; Safed &#8212; Scenery of Upper Galilee &#8212; The great caravan road &#8212; Fruitfulness of Galilee &#8212; Towns, villages, and population of Galilee &#8212; Its industries &#8212; Nazareth &#8212; Celebrated cities of Galilee &#8212; Rabbinical views and sayings concerning it &#8212; Theological distinctions between Galilee and Judea &#8212; Character of the Galileans &#8212; The Lake of Galilee.</p>
<p style="font-weight:bold;text-align:center;font-variant:small-caps;margin-left:20px;text-indent:-20px;">
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html">Chap. IV. &#8212; Travelling in Palestine &#8212; Roads, Inns, Hospitality,<br> Custom-house Officers, Taxation, Publicans.</a></p>
<p style="margin-left:30px;text-indent:-20px;">Travelling in Palestine &#8212; Great highways &#8212; Secondary roads &#8212; Different terms for them &#8212; Roman roads &#8212; Repair of highways &#8212; Vehicles &#8212; Caravans &#8212; Hospitality &#8212; Rabbinical sayings concerning it &#8212; Rules for hosts and guests &#8212; Inns &#8212; Secret police &#8212; Tax collectors &#8212; Tolls and taxes &#8212; Royal revenues &#8212; Roman taxations &#8212; Religious scruples concerning it &#8212; Publicans &#8212; Calling of Levi.</p>
<p style="font-weight:bold;text-align:center;font-variant:small-caps;margin-left:20px;text-indent:-20px;">
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html">Chap. V. &#8212; In Judea.</a></p>
<p style="margin-left:30px;text-indent:-20px;">Judea, how distinguished above Galilee &#8212; Scenery &#8212; Places passed by pilgrims &#8212; Shiloh &#8212; Bethel &#8212; Ramah &#8212; Rachel's pillar &#8212; The Shephelah &#8212; The wilderness of Judea &#8212; Masada &#8212; Jericho &#8212; The Arabah &#8212; Jewish feelings concerning Judea &#8212; Expectations of the Messiah &#8212; False Messiahs &#8212; Sentiments of the Rabbis on this subject &#8212; Subjects engrossing the attention of the Rabbis &#8212; Privileges of living in Judea &#8212; Its boundaries &#8212; Caesarea &#8212; Divisions of Judea {lain of Sharon &#8212; Antipatris &#8212; Lydda &#8212; Chephar Tabi &#8212; Joppa of Jaffa &#8212; Emmaus &#8212; Bethlehem, how regarded in connection with the birth of the Messiah &#8212; Migdal Eder &#8212; The shepherds publishing the birth of Christ &#8212; Jurusalem 0 Rabbinical sentiments concerning it &#8212; Names given to the city &#8212; Synagogues in Jerusalem &#8212; Hospitality of its inhabitants &#8212; Bethany and Bethphage &#8212; Character of the inhabitants of Jerusalem &#8212; Jewish feelings about the city &#8212; How peopled &#8212; The Temple.</p>
<p style="font-weight:bold;text-align:center;font-variant:small-caps;margin-left:20px;text-indent:-20px;">
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html">Chap. VI. &#8212; Jewish Homes.</a></p>
<p style="margin-left:30px;text-indent:-20px;">Distinction between Jews and Gentiles &#8212; Jewish towns and villages &#8212; Number of townships &#8212; Distinction between villages, townships, and towns &#8212; Villages &#8212; Appearance of towns &#8212; The gate &#8212; Places of traffic &#8212; Guilds &#8212; Character of the Jews &#8212; Appearance of a town by night &#8212; Windows &#8212; Jewish feelings on representations of things in heaven and earth &#8212; Views of Rabbi Gamaliel &#8212; The rule of towns and villages &#8212; Local Sanhedrim &#8212; Police and sanitary regulations &#8212; Pavement of towns &#8212; Structure of houses &#8212; Roofs &#8212; The road of the roofs &#8212; Strangers' rooms &#8212; Gallery round the court &#8212; Upper rooms &#8212; Inner court &#8212; Furniture &#8212; Family life &#8212; Religious rites in the family &#8212; Family feasts &#8212; The Sabbath &#8212; Position of woman &#8212; Relation between members of a family &#8212; Childlessness &#8212; Relation between parents and children &#8212; Reverence for age &#8212; Traditionalism destructive of the spirit of reverence for parents.</p>
<p style="font-weight:bold;text-align:center;font-variant:small-caps;margin-left:20px;text-indent:-20px;">
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html">Chap. VII. &#8212; The Upbringing of Jewish Children.</a></p>
<p style="margin-left:30px;text-indent:-20px;">Terms for the stages of early childhood &#8212; Different periods of life according to Rabbi Jehudah &#8212; Age at which the Bible was begun to be read &#8212; Education, when begun &#8212; Instruction derived by a child from family life and rites &#8212; Feelings of a child in the Temple &#8212; Part taken by children in the Paschal Supper &#8212; Carefulness of parental training as illustrated by the Book of Proverbs &#8212; Position of mothers &#8212; The Queen of Massa &#8212; Agur &#8212; Lemuel &#8212; Mothers of the New Testament &#8212; Upbringing of Timothy &#8212; Religious persecution at the time of the rising of the Maccabees &#8212; Influence of pious women &#8212; Childhood of our Lord &#8212; Jesus sitting in the Temple among the doctors.</p>
<p style="font-weight:bold;text-align:center;font-variant:small-caps;margin-left:20px;text-indent:-20px;">
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html">Chap. VIII. &#8212; Subjects of Study. Home Education in Israel;<br>Female Education. Elementary Schools, Schoolmasters,<br>And School Arrangements.</a></p>
<p style="margin-left:30px;text-indent:-20px;">Influence of the Bible in raising the standard of public morality &#8212; Superiority of Jewish family life &#8212; Knowledge of the law of God &#8212; Study of languages &#8212; Study of the Thorah or law &#8212; Legends concerning the importance of the Rabbis &#8212; Influence of exclusive study of the law upon education &#8212; Home teaching &#8212; Manner of teaching to read &#8212; Writing &#8212; The Scribes &#8212; Use of initial letters &#8212; Falsification of signatures and documents &#8212; Writing materials &#8212; Education of girls &#8212; Elementary schools &#8212; Schooolmasters &#8212; Moral and intellectual training &#8212; Regulations for teachers &#8212; Study of the Mishnah and Bible &#8212; Schools in the synagogues &#8212; Care for the children of the poor and for orphans.</p>
<p style="font-weight:bold;text-align:center;font-variant:small-caps;margin-left:20px;text-indent:-20px;">
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html">Chap. IX. &#8212; Mothers, Daughters, and Wives in Israel.</a></p>
<p style="margin-left:30px;text-indent:-20px;">Position of woman in Israel &#8212; The holy women of old &#8212; Rabbinical ideas on the creation of Eve &#8212; The four mothers &#8212; Miriam &#8212; Deborah &#8212; Manoah's wife &#8212; Samuel's mother &#8212; Abigail &#8212; The wise woman of Tekoah &#8212; Huldah &#8212; The Shunammite &#8212; Ruth &#8212; Esther &#8212; Social equality of woman &#8212; The ministry of women &#8212; Polygamy &#8212; Views concerning divorce at the time of Malachi &#8212; Brides &#8212; Four reasons for marriage &#8212; <i>Maza</i> or <i>Moze</i>? &#8212; Qualities desireable in a woman &#8212; Rabbinical reasons for the creation of Eve from Adam's side &#8212; Marriage a religious obligation &#8212; Age at which a man ought to marry &#8212; Money cares &#8212; Betrothal, how regarded &#8212; Writings of betrothal, or Shitre Erusin &#8212; Marriage contracts or Chethubah &#8212; Dowries &#8212; Legal formalities at betrothal &#8212; The marriage ceremony &#8212; Marriage days &#8212; The week before the marriage in Cana &#8212; That marriage as illustrative of Jewish practices &#8212; Marriage feasts &#8212; Friends of the bridegroom &#8212; Children of the bridechamber &#8212; Bride's attire &#8212; Bridal veil and crown &#8212; Bridal lamps &#8212; Bars to marriage &#8212; Divorce, for what reasons allowed &#8212; Obligations incumbent on husbands and wives &#8212; Women of the New Testament &#8212; Birthday texts.</p>
<p style="font-weight:bold;text-align:center;font-variant:small-caps;margin-left:20px;text-indent:-20px;">
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html">Chap. X. &#8212; In Death and after Death.</a></p>
<p style="margin-left:30px;text-indent:-20px;">Death of Rabbi Jochanan ben Saccai and of Rabbi Jehuhah the Hold &#8212; Gospel teaching on death &#8212; Influence of the spiritual state of parents upon their children &#8212; Sickness, how regarded &#8212; Chastisements &#8212; Rabbinical laws and regulations for heath &#8212; Physicians &#8212; Medicines used &#8212; Duration of life &#8212; Premature death &#8212; Death without leaving a son &#8212; 903 different kinds of death &#8212; Death by the mouth of Jehovah &#8212; Persons over whom the Angel of Death had no power &#8212; Signs as to time and manner of death &#8212; Visitation of the sick &#8212; Burial &#8212; Funeral of the young man at Nain &#8212; Burial ceremonies &#8212; Sepulchres &#8212; The resurrection of Christ &#8212; Treatment of mourners &#8212; Distinction between the <i>Onen</i> and the <i>Avel</i> &#8212; Mourning &#8212; Anniversaries of death &#8212; Teaching of the Rabbis concerning the future state &#8212; Paradise and hell &#8212; Sin &#8212; Rabbinical parables resembling that of the wedding guests &#8212; Doctrinal views of the Rabbis respecting Purgatory and Paradise.</p>
<p style="font-weight:bold;text-align:center;font-variant:small-caps;margin-left:20px;text-indent:-20px;">
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches11.html">Chap. XI. &#8212; Jewish Views on Trade, Tradesmen,<br>and Trades' Guilds.</a></p>
<p style="margin-left:30px;text-indent:-20px;">Sayings of the Mishnah concerning trade &#8212; Rabbi Nehorai's views &#8212; Influence of Jewish surroundings on the Gospel-history &#8212; Our Lord and His disciples &#8212; Dignity of labour as set forth by St. Paul &#8212; Respect of the Rabbis for honest labour &#8212; Superiority of Jewish views on this subject &#8212; Combination of study with manual labour &#8212; Labour, how regarded in the Old Testament and in the Apocrypha &#8212; Trades of the Rabbis &#8212; Their priciples concerning trade &#8212; The Mishnah on labour &#8212; Resemblance and difference between the teaching of the Rabbis and that of Christ &#8212; Rabbinical teachings on the dignity of labour &#8212; Trades forbidden by the Mishnah &#8212; Weavers &#8212; Workmen in the Temple &#8212; Traditions concerning Alexandrian workmen &#8212; Alexandrian guilds &#8212; Palestinian guilds &#8212; Places called after workmen &#8212; Workmen engaged by Herod the Great in rebuilding the Temple &#8212; The Veil of the Most Holy Place &#8212; Difficulties of Jewish employers with their workmen &#8212; Trade-unions.</p>
<p style="font-weight:bold;text-align:center;font-variant:small-caps;margin-left:20px;text-indent:-20px;">
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches12.html">Chap. XII. &#8212; Commerce.</a></p>
<p style="margin-left:30px;text-indent:-20px;">Change in the views of the Rabbis concerning manual labour &#8212; Rabbinical sayings enjoining submission to the authorities &#8212; Jewish views on commerce &#8212; Israel not a commercial people &#8212; Palestine unsuited to commercial pursuits &#8212; Trade in the time of Solomon and of Jehoshaphat &#8212; Income of Solomon &#8212; Attacks on the antiquity of the Pentateuch answered &#8212; Rabbinical views on commerce &#8212; Persons declared unfit for witnessbearing &#8212; Inspectors of weights and measures &#8212; Prices &#8212; Percentage &#8212; Dishonesty, how regarded &#8212; Change of Rabbinical views on commerce &#8212; The Jews of Alexandria &#8212; Articles of trade &#8212; Imports and exports &#8212; Laws regulating trade and commerce &#8212; Bargains &#8212; Money-changers &#8212; Laws against dishonest dealing &#8212; Price of corn &#8212; Usury &#8212; Debtors and creditors &#8212; Pledges.</p>
<p style="font-weight:bold;text-align:center;font-variant:small-caps;margin-left:20px;text-indent:-20px;">
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html">Chap. XIII. &#8212; Among the People, and with the Pharisees.</a></p>
<p style="margin-left:30px;text-indent:-20px;">The Pharisees &#8212; Prayers of the Pharisees in the streets &#8212; Rabbinical teaching on the efficacy of prayer &#8212; Degrees of Pharisees &#8212; The Chasidim &#8212; Fashionable dress of the time &#8212; Dress of ladies &#8212; Hair, how worn and adorned &#8212; Jewels &#8212; Borders of garments &#8212; Fringes &#8212; Phylacteries or <i>tephillin</i> &#8212; Where and when worn &#8212; Value and importance of phylacteries in the eyes of the Rabbis &#8212; Rabbinical legends concerning phylacteries &#8212; Charge of Christ against the Pharisees &#8212; History of the "fraternity" &#8212; Their vows and obligations &#8212; The Pharisees as representing earnestness and religious zeal &#8212; Their influence.</p>
<p style="font-weight:bold;text-align:center;font-variant:small-caps;margin-left:20px;text-indent:-20px;">
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches14.html">Chap, XIV. &#8212; The "Fraternity" of the Pharisees.</a></p>
<p style="margin-left:30px;text-indent:-20px;">The order of the Pharisees &#8212; Conspiracy against St. Paul explained &#8212; Absolution from vows &#8212; Resemblance of Pharisaism to Ultramontanism, the Ultramontanes, and the Jesuits &#8212; The <i>Nivdalim</i> of the time of Ezra and Nehmiah &#8212; The <i>Perushim</i>, or Pharisees &#8212; Application of the terms <i>Chasidim</i> and <i>Nivdalim</i> to the Christian life &#8212; Grecianising policy of the successors of Alexander the Great &#8212; Insurrection of the Maccabees &#8212; Amalgamation of the <i>Chasidim</i> with the Pharisees &#8212; Principles of the <i>Chasidim</i> &#8212; Origin of the Pharisees &#8212; Regulations for the Therumah and tithes at the time of John Hyrcanus &#8212; <i>Chabura</i> of Pharisees &#8212; Obligations of the <i>Chaberim</i> &#8212; Degrees of Pharisees &#8212; Vows binging the fraternity &#8212; Their system of externalism &#8212; Contempt of the Rabbis and Sadducees for the sect &#8212; Antagonism between Pharisaism and the Gospel.</p>
<p style="font-weight:bold;text-align:center;font-variant:small-caps;margin-left:20px;text-indent:-20px;">
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches15.html">Chap. XV. &#8212; Relation of the Pharisees to the Sadducees<br>and Essenes, and to the Gospel of Christ.</a></p>
<p style="margin-left:30px;text-indent:-20px;">Triumph of the Pharisees over the Sadducees &#8212; A Sadducean high-priest at the Feast of Tabernacles &#8212; Doctrinal views of the Sadducees &#8212; Origin of the name &#8212; Classes to which the Pharisees and the Sadducees chiefly belonged &#8212; The Esssenes &#8212; Connection between their views and the relgion of Zoroaster &#8212; Number of Essenes &#8212; Sectiaries belonging to the mystical and ascetic branch of Pharisaism &#8212; Dress and appearance of the Essenes &#8212; Their religious observances &#8212; Vows and regulations imposed on the sect &#8212; Their manner of spending the day &#8212; Difference and resemblance between Essenism and Christianity &#8212; Essential contrariety between the Gospel of Christ and the Pharisees, Sadduceed, and Essenes.</p>
<p style="font-weight:bold;text-align:center;font-variant:small-caps;margin-left:20px;text-indent:-20px;">
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html">Chap. XVI. &#8212; Synagugues: Their Origin, Structure, and<br>Outward Arrangements.</a></p>
<p style="margin-left:30px;text-indent:-20px;">Rabbi Jochanan's views of prayer &#8212; Prayer in the house and in the synagogue &#8212; The Babylon Talmud on frequenting the synagogue &#8212; Derivation of the name synagogue &#8212; The <i>Edah</i> and the <i>Kahal</i> &#8212; Origin and history of the synagogue &#8212; Smallest number forming a congregations &#8212; number of synagogues in Jerusalem &#8212; Situation and architecture of these buildings &#8212; The synagogue at Capernaum &#8212; John vi. 25, etc., explained by the device on the lintel of this synagogue &#8212; Oldest synagogue still extant &#8212; Manner of prayer in the synagogue &#8212; Legend about Elijah &#8212; Rabbi Seira on running to the synagogue &#8212; The Church in the house &#8212; Money collections in the synagogue &#8212; Sanctity of the building &#8212; Oratories &#8212; Separation of the sexes in the synagogue &#8212; Arrangements of the interior of the synagogue &#8212; Synagogue rolls of the law &#8212; Seats in the synagogue.</p>
<p style="font-weight:bold;text-align:center;font-variant:small-caps;margin-left:20px;text-indent:-20px;">
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html">Chap. XVII. &#8212; The Worship of the Synagogue.</a></p>
<p style="margin-left:30px;text-indent:-20px;">The synagogue in the Temple &#8212; The hall of paved stones &#8212; Temple worship superseded by that of the synagogue &#8212; Opportunities afforded by the synagogue for the furtherance of the Gospel &#8212; Synagogue liturgy &#8212; The <i>Shema</i> &#8212; The benedictions &#8212; The prayer after the Shema &#8212; Evening prayer &#8212; The eighteen eulogies &#8212; Leaders of the devotions in the synagogue &#8212; Benediction of the priests &#8212; Attitude, dress, and appearance in prayer &#8212; The lectionary &#8212; Number and time of the services &#8212; Sermons &#8212; Christ in the synagogue.</p>
<p style="font-weight:bold;text-align:center;font-variant:small-caps;margin-left:20px;text-indent:-20px;">
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html">Chap. XVIII. &#8212; Brief Outline of Ancient <br>Jewish Theological Literature.</a></p>
<p style="margin-left:30px;text-indent:-20px;">Appointments of the Synagogue &#8212; The Sanhedrim &#8212; Ordination of the Sanhedrists &#8212; Qualifications &#8212; The <i>Chassanim</i> or ministers of the synagogue &#8212; The <i>Sheliach Zibbur</i> &#8212; the <i>Gabaei Zedakah</i> &#8212; The <i>Meturgeman</i> &#8212; The <i>Targumim</i> &#8212; The <i>Midrashim</i> &#8212; The Book of Jubilees, or Lesser Genesis &#8212; The pseudo-epigraphic writings &#8212; Their arrangements &#8212; The <i>Halachah</i> &#8212; The <i>Haggadah</i> &#8212; The four cannons and thirty-two rules connecting the Haggadah with Scripture &#8212; Numerical value of words &#8212; The <i>Mishnah</i> &#8212; The <i>Gemara</i> &#8212; The <i>Jerusalem</i> and the <i>Babylon Talmud</i> &#8212; Arrangement of the Mishnah &#8212; The <i>Kabbalah</i> &#8212; Relation between Christ and the men of His period.</p>
<p style="margin-left:20px;text-indent:-20px;">
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches19.html" style="font-variant:small-caps;font-weight:bold">Appendix I.</a> &#8212; Translation of the Mishnic Tractate <i>Middoth</i>.</p>
<p style="margin-left:20px;text-indent:-20px;">
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html" style="font-variant:small-caps;font-weight:bold">Appendix II.</a> &#8212; Translation of the Selections from the Babylon<br>Talmud, Tractate <i>Berachoth</i>.</p>
<h2 id="xxiii.i-p0.1">Index to Scripture References</h2>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Genesis</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p12_1">2:23</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p6_3">3:21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p7_3">3:21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p14_1">3:24</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xiiftn48_1">3:24</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iii_p6_1">15:18</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p6_4">18:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p7_4">18:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p1_2">18:12</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p7_1">18:19</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xiftn43_2">20:3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p6_5">25:11</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p7_5">25:11</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p9_1">25:14</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p9_2">34:12</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#viiftn16_3">35:16</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#viiftn16_3">35:19</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p23_5">37:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p23_4">37:9</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p28_3">40:16</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p28_2">41:12</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p28_1">41:13</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p29_1">41:32</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p23_6">41:46</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p1_10">42:22</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p8_3">42:27</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p8_4">43:21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p26_3">48:16</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p26_1">49:22</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Exodus</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p1_1">2:3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p1_1">2:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p1_1">2:8</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p8_4">11:4</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p7_2">12:26</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p9_1">13:1-10</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p7_3">13:8</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p8_1">13:9</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p9_2">13:11-16</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p7_3">13:14</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p9_1">19:16</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p14_4">19:17</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p19_1">21:9</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p19_1">21:10</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p3_7">21:26</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p3_7">21:27</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p9_3">22:17</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iii_p6_2">23:31</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p17_2">24:11</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p8_1">24:12</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Leviticus</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p3_8">2:13</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches12.html#xiv_p1_2">19:15</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p5_2">19:19</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#ivftn7_1">19:24</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p14_1">19:32</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p12_2">21:10</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p12_2">21:11</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p12_1">22:4</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p12_1">22:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#xii_p10_4">24:3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches12.html#xiv_p4_1">25:36</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches12.html#xiv_p4_1">25:37</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Numbers</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p10_5">5:23</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p22_1">6:23</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p22_1">6:24</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p2_9">6:24-26</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p9_1">12:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p27_2">12:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p5_1">14:27</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p7_1">15:37</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p14_4">15:37-41</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p4_3">15:37-41</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p7_4">15:37-41</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p7_8">15:39</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p2_1">20:17</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p2_1">20:19</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p2_2">21:22</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p9_2">24:16</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p5_2">33:38</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Deuteronomy</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p7_4">4:9</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p8_2">4:9</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p7_4">4:10</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p4_4">6:4</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p4_2">6:4-9</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p14_2">6:4-9</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p9_3">6:4-9</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p4_1">6:4-9</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p7_1">6:4-9</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p7_5">6:7</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p8_2">6:8</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p3_1">6:9</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p10_1">6:9</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p7_5">6:20</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p3_11">8:5</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p3_12">8:7</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iii_p1_1">8:9</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches12.html#xiv_p1_3">10:17</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p4_3">11:13-21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p14_3">11:13-21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p9_4">11:13-21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p4_2">11:13-21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p7_2">11:13-21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p7_3">11:13-21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p8_3">11:18</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p7_6">11:19</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p8_1">11:19</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p12_1">11:19</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p3_2">11:20</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p10_2">11:20</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p14_2">13:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p14_2">13:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p7_2">13:4</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p14_2">14:22</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p14_6">17:10</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p6_5">17:11</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p10_6">17:18</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p14_3">18:21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p14_3">18:22</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p2_6">19:3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p5_6">21:11</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p5_5">21:15</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p5_3">22:10</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p7_2">22:12</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p25_3">23:5</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches12.html#xiv_p4_2">23:20</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p10_3">24:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p18_4">24:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p10_3">24:3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xiftn46_1">24:5</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p14_3">26:12</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p2_4">27:21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p9_8">28:10</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p9_10">28:10</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p11_1">28:10</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p30_1">28:31</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p30_3">28:32</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p30_2">28:41</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p10_7">28:58</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p3_9">28:58</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iii_p7_2">29:28</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches12.html#xiv_p6_1">30:12</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p7_7">31:13</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p9_6">33:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p6_1">33:24</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p5_3">34:5</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p6_6">34:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p7_6">34:6</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Joshua</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p5_1">1:8</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p10_8">10:13</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p9_8">17:11</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p9_8">17:16</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p10_9">18:9</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p4_1">20:7</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p6_1">22:24</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p6_1">22:25</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p10_10">24:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p10_9">24:26</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Judges</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p9_9">1:27</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p6_1">7:19</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p10_11">8:14</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p2_2">13:23</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">1 Samuel</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p5_7">2:36</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#viiftn16_1">10:2-3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p25_6">14:45</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iiiftn1_1">15:22</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p9_4">18:25</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p25_9">25:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p17_6">25:29</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p17_9">25:29</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p8_3">30:17</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p9_10">31:10</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p9_10">31:12</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">2 Samuel</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iii_p6_3">8:3-14</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p8_6">16:23</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p8_8">20:23</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">1 Kings</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p4_2">9:11</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches12.html#xiv_p4_6">9:15</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches12.html#xiv_p4_8">9:26</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches12.html#xiv_p4_7">10:14</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches12.html#xiv_p4_5">10:15</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches12.html#xiv_p4_3">10:28</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches12.html#xiv_p4_3">10:29</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p1_8">12:8</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p2_3">12:18</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches12.html#xiv_p4_10">22:48</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">2 Kings</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p1_9">2:24</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p3_4">4:23</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches12.html#xiv_p4_12">8:20</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p5_8">11:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p4_3">15:29</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p3_1">22:8</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">1 Chronicles</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p9_2">1:30</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ixftn34_1">4:38-43</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p4_4">6:76</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p25_8">12:18</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p8_5">27:34</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">2 Chronicles</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches12.html#xiv_p4_4">1:16</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches12.html#xiv_p4_9">8:17</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p4_1">16:12</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches12.html#xiv_p4_11">20:36</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches12.html#xiv_p4_11">20:37</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Ezra</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p10_1">4:13</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p2_4">4:13</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p10_1">4:20</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p2_4">4:20</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches14.html#xvi_p3_1">6:21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p10_2">7:24</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p2_5">7:24</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches14.html#xvi_p3_2">9:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches14.html#xvi_p3_3">10:11</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Nehemiah</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p11_2">8:4</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches14.html#xvi_p3_4">9:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches14.html#xvi_p3_5">10:29</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Esther</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p16_1">1:3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p1_18">3:13</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Job</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p6_4">5:24</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches12.html#xiv_p1_4">13:10</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Psalms</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p1_13">8:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p9_7">29:11</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p9_9">29:11</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches14.html#xvi_p4_1">30:4</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p25_1">30:11</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches14.html#xvi_p4_2">31:23</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches14.html#xvi_p4_3">37:28</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iiiftn1_2">51:16</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iiiftn1_2">51:17</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p25_4">55:18</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p8_11">57:8</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p5_1">62:12</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p9_1">63:4</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p3_5">66:20</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p14_5">68:7</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p2_3">68:12</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p3_3">74:8</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p7_8">78:5</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p7_8">78:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p4_7">78:47</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p1_3">82:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p1_2">82:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p5_2">84</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p24_1">91:10</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p3_6">94</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p3_4">94:12</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p3_10">94:12</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p6_2">109:31</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p14_5">113</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p14_5">114</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p14_5">115</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p14_5">116</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iii_p4_1">116:9</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p14_5">117</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p14_5">118</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p11_4">119</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p6_2">119:62</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p8_1">119:147</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p6_3">119:148</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p4_4">121:8</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p1_15">131:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p5_3">132:13-18</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p5_1">137:5</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p5_1">137:6</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Proverbs</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p5_4">1:21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p3_3">3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p8_4">3:3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p8_5">6:21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p3_13">6:23</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p8_6">7:3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p8_2">7:9</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p9_2">8:21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p9_1">8:34</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p7_7">14:32</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p7_9">17:5</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches12.html#xiv_p1_5">18:5</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p6_1">18:22</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p7_8">19:17</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p7_9">22:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p26_5">24:17</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p26_5">24:18</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ixftn35_1">30:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p10_1">30:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p11_1">31:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ixftn35_2">31:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p11_2">31:2-9</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p11_3">31:10-31</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Ecclesiastes</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p23_2">3:14</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p1_7">4:13</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p21_1">7:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p9_2">7:26</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p6_2">7:26</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p30_4">9:7</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches11.html#xiii_p7_1">9:9</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Song of Solomon</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p13_1">2:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p16_1">3:11</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p5_1">7:5</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p11_2">8:3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p8_7">8:6</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Isaiah</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iiiftn1_3">1:11-13</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p23_1">1:21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p5_3">2:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p12_2">2:3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p1_3">2:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p5_2">3:16-24</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches11.html#xiii_p12_1">7:3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p1_21">7:14</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p4_5">9:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p16_1">9:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p1_2">9:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p16_1">9:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p1_12">11:8</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p1_16">11:8</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ixftn34_2">21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p9_3">21:11</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p16_3">21:11</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p16_3">21:12</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p1_17">28:9</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p1_4">29:23</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p1_22">31:8</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p13_2">35:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p25_5">35:10</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p17_7">48:22</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p8_8">49:16</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p1_4">50:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p1_11">53:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p1_2">55:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p17_5">57:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p1_5">57:4</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p4_1">57:8</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p25_7">57:19</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p17_8">57:21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p16_2">61:10</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p9_5">62:8</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p13_3">65:10</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p17_4">65:13</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p1_1">66:20</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Jeremiah</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p1_5">12:4</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p1_24">15:8</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches11.html#xiii_p7_4">17:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches11.html#xiii_p7_5">17:8</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p1_23">18:21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p12_2">22:10</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p23_3">23:28</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p2_1">25:30</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p25_2">31:13</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#viiftn16_2">31:15</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p1_6">31:20</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p2_1">40:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p1_19">40:7</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p8_5">41:17</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Lamentations</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p1_14">4:4</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Ezekiel</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p13_1">1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p1_20">9:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p24_2">16:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p16_3">16:12</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p14_6">28:13</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iii_p4_2">37:12-14</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches19.html#xxiftn72_1">43:16</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Daniel</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p29_2">2:29</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p29_3">2:30</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p2_15">12:3</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Hosea</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p9_3">6:3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iiiftn1_4">6:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p9_4">11:10</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Micah</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ixftn34_3">1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p19_2">5:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p2_1">6:4</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Zechariah</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#ivftn4_1">2:12</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches20.html#xxii_p27_1">10:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p24_1">11:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p11_1">12:11-14</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Malachi</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p4_1">2:13-17</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Matthew</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p9_1">1:18</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p9_1">1:19</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p19_1">2:5</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p9_1">2:16</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p2_2">2:17</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p2_2">2:18</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iii_p8_2">2:22</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iii_p7_1">4:13</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iii_p7_1">4:15</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p10_1">4:15</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p2_1">4:23</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p9_5">4:25</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p4_9">5:14</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p15_2">5:18</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p7_1">5:22</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p7_1">5:23</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p18_3">5:32</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p5_5">6:5</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches11.html#xiii_p2_1">6:26</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches11.html#xiii_p7_2">7:24</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p25_2">7:28</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p25_2">7:29</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p9_11">8:28</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p9_2">8:28</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p7_1">9:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p8_1">9:9</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p14_2">9:15</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p2_7">9:18</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p7_3">9:20</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p8_1">9:23</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iii_p10_1">10:5</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p2_1">10:14</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p7_2">10:17</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p9_4">10:27</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#vftn12_5">11:21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p7_5">11:28-30</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p15_5">12:3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p7_3">13:54</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iii_p9_3">14:3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p7_4">14:36</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p15_1">15:4-6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p15_2">15:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p7_5">15:28</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p9_4">16:13</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iii_p9_1">16:16</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p2_2">18:17</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p14_2">18:25</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p14_1">18:28</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p18_1">19:3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p15_6">19:4</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p18_2">19:10</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iii_p8_3">20:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p1_11">20:17</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p1_11">20:29</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p15_7">21:13</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p15_7">21:16</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p15_7">21:42</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p17_3">22:1-14</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#ivftn9_1">22:20</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p17_1">22:30</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p15_8">22:31</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p1_2">22:45</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches15.html#xvii_p1_1">23:3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches14.html#xvi_p7_1">23:4</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p5_1">23:5</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p7_5">23:5</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p6_1">23:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p11_5">23:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p11_6">23:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p6_1">23:7</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p9_14">24:15-20</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p9_1">24:17</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p16_4">25:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p7_1">25:36</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p5_3">26:7</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p8_5">26:12</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p10_3">26:73</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p9_3">27:7</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p14_4">27:41-43</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p24_2">27:51</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p9_3">27:52</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p9_3">27:53</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p10_1">27:66</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Mark</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p7_4">1:21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p2_2">1:21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p7_4">1:29</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p10_1">2:4</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p9_12">5:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p9_6">5:20</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p2_3">5:22</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p4_2">5:26</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p4_5">5:26</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p2_8">5:35</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p2_8">5:36</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p2_8">5:38</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p2_3">6:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iii_p9_4">6:17</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#vftn12_4">6:45</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p7_6">6:56</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p10_2">7:7</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p10_2">7:8</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p10_1">7:13</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p7_4">7:24</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p7_6">7:29</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p9_7">7:31</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p9_2">8:22</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#vftn12_2">8:22</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iii_p9_2">8:29</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p17_1">12:19</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p6_2">12:38</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p6_2">12:39</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p12_1">12:40</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p7_3">13:9</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p9_2">13:15</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p8_2">15:40</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p10_2">15:46</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p8_3">16:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p10_4">16:4</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p10_4">16:5</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Luke</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ixftn38_1">1:41</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ixftn38_2">1:44</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p10_19">1:63</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p6_1">1:68-70</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p8_1">2:7</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ixftn38_3">2:12</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ixftn38_4">2:16</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p21_1">2:17</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p21_1">2:18</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#viiftn26_1">2:17</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#viiftn26_1">2:18</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p21_2">2:20</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#viiftn26_2">2:20</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p16_1">2:46</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p1_1">2:46</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p9_1">3:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iii_p9_5">3:19</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p2_4">4:15</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p15_1">4:16</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p21_1">4:16-21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p2_3">4:17</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p24_1">4:17</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p14_1">4:20</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p11_3">4:20</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p2_12">4:20</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p12_1">5:17</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p10_2">5:19</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p1_1">5:29</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p2_5">6:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches11.html#xiii_p7_3">6:47</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p7_4">7:3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p2_2">7:3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p7_2">7:5</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p9_1">7:11-15</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p8_4">8:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p9_13">8:26</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p2_9">8:41</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p7_7">8:44</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p2_9">8:49</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p9_3">9:10</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#vftn12_1">9:10</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p1_6">9:53</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p7_1">10:5-11</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#vftn12_6">10:13</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p1_9">10:30</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p8_6">10:34</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p4_3">10:34</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iii_p8_4">10:35</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p8_2">10:35</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p6_3">11:43</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p9_5">12:3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p14_3">12:58</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p10_1">13:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p2_6">13:10</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p2_10">13:14</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p15_3">16:17</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p15_1">16:25</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p15_1">16:26</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p8_1">17:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p4_8">17:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p1_7">17:11</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p9_3">17:31</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p2_3">18:11</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ixftn38_5">18:15</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p4_1">19:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p1_10">19:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p4_6">19:4</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iii_p8_1">19:12-15</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iii_p8_1">19:27</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p1_10">19:28</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p6_4">20:46</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p12_2">20:47</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p8_6">23:56</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p17_2">24:13</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">John</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p12_1">1:29</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p12_2">1:35</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p12_3">1:43</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#vftn12_3">1:44</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p2_1">1:46</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p8_9">2:1-11</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p14_4">2:18</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p14_1">3:29</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p1_8">4:4</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iii_p10_2">4:9</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iii_p10_2">4:20</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p1_8">4:43</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p8_10">4:46</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p8_10">4:47</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p8_6">6:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p8_6">6:23</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p7_5">6:25-28</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p14_5">6:30</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p7_6">6:31</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p2_7">6:59</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p25_1">7:46</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p2_2">7:52</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iii_p10_3">8:48</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p3_1">9:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p3_1">9:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p11_4">10:22</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p9_4">11:30</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p9_4">11:31</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p9_5">11:31</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p10_3">11:38</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p10_3">11:39</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p8_7">11:44</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#viiftn21_1">11:47</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p9_1">11:48</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#viiftn21_2">11:54</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#viiftn21_2">11:55</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#vftn12_7">12:21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xix_p2_8">18:20</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p12_1">18:28</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p8_5">20:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p10_5">20:1-12</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p8_8">20:5</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p8_8">20:7</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p8_7">21:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p8_8">21:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p12_1">21:22</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Acts</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p12_2">1:8</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p7_1">2:5</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p10_1">2:46</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p8_2">5:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p8_2">5:10</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p10_2">5:37</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p10_2">5:42</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p23_2">6:9</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p5_2">6:9</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ixftn38_6">7:19</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p8_3">8:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p4_1">8:28</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p1_5">9:32-43</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p14_1">9:35</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p17_1">9:36</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p8_4">9:37</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p8_4">9:39</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p1_4">10:23</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p1_4">10:24</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p12_2">10:28</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p12_3">10:39</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p12_4">11:3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p7_2">11:20</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p7_2">11:21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p7_3">11:26</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p10_3">12:13</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p10_3">12:14</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p11_1">12:19</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p2_2">13:15</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p1_1">13:15</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p12_4">14:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p7_1">15:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches14.html#xviftn55_1">15:13-21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p2_1">15:21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p3_2">15:21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p12_3">16:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p10_7">16:13</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p4_1">18:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p4_1">18:3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches11.html#xiii_p3_1">18:3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p2_11">18:8</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p2_11">18:17</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p2_4">20:28</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches11.html#xiii_p3_3">20:34</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches11.html#xiii_p3_3">20:35</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p5_1">21:5</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p11_2">21:10</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p8_1">21:40</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p15_4">21:40</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p8_2">22:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches14.html#xvi_p1_3">23:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches14.html#xvi_p1_5">23:8</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches14.html#xvi_p1_4">23:9</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches14.html#xvi_p1_1">23:12</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches14.html#xvi_p1_2">23:16</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches14.html#xvi_p1_1">23:21</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p13_4">23:31</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p1_3">23:31</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p8_1">26:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches05.html#vii_p8_1">26:7</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Romans</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xiftn47_1">7:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xiftn47_1">7:3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p12_3">8:33</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p12_3">9:3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches12.html#xiv_p13_1">10:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p16_2">11:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p16_2">11:26</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p10_3">16:3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p10_3">16:5</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">1 Corinthians</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p5_9">7</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p5_10">7:14</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p5_4">7:39</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches14.html#xviftn54_1">8:7</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches11.html#xiii_p3_2">9:18</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p12_3">10:25</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p12_3">10:27</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p12_3">10:28</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p15_2">11:1-10</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p7_9">11:4</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p15_3">11:5</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p15_3">11:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p15_4">11:10</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches13.html#xv_p5_4">11:14</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p10_4">16:19</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">2 Corinthians</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p10_13">3:3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p5_1">6:14</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches14.html#xvi_p4_4">6:14-7:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p14_3">11:2</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Galatians</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p1_2">1:17</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p1_2">1:18</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches12.html#xiv_p1_6">2:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches02.html#iv_p12_5">2:12</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Ephesians</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches11.html#xiii_p10_1">4:28</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p6_3">5:28</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p13_1">6:4</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p7_10">6:4</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Philippians</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p20_1">4:3</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Colossians</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p4_4">4:14</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p10_5">4:15</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">1 Thessalonians</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches11.html#xiii_p3_4">2:9</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches11.html#xiii_p3_5">4:11</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches11.html#xiii_p3_5">4:12</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches11.html#xiii_p3_6">4:13-18</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">2 Thessalonians</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p10_12">2:2</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">1 Timothy</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches17.html#xixftn64_1">2:8</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p6_5">2:12</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p2_1">3:1-10</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p15_1">5:10</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches11.html#xiii_p14_1">6:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches11.html#xiii_p14_1">6:2</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">2 Timothy</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p13_1">1:5</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p2_1">1:10</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p13_2">3:15</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ixftn38_7">3:15</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p10_18">4:13</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Philemon</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p10_6">1:2</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Hebrews</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p2_13">3:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p3_2">12:5</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p12_4">12:7</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p3_2">12:9</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches04.html#vi_p6_1">13:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p2_6">13:7</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">James</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p11_1">1:27</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p11_7">2:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches16.html#xviii_p11_7">2:3</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches10.html#xii_p6_1">5:14</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">1 Peter</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ixftn38_8">2:2</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p1_1">3:5</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xiftn43_1">3:6</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches18.html#xx_p2_5">5:2</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">2 John</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p12_1">1:1</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p10_14">1:12</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p10_17">1:12</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p12_2">1:13</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">3 John</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p10_15">1:13</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p10_16">1:13</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Jude</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches12.html#xiv_p1_1">1:16</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Revelation</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches03.html#v_p9_3">2:15</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches14.html#xviftn54_2">3:4</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches06.html#viii_p10_4">3:20</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches14.html#xviftn54_3">14:14</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Tobit</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches09.html#xi_p15_1">7:13</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">1 Maccabees</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches07.html#ix_p14_1">1:57</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">2 Maccabees</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p12_1">4:12</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches08.html#x_p12_1">4:13</a></p></blockquote>
<p style="font-weight:bold;">Sirach</p><blockquote><p>
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iii_p10_4">1:25</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches01.html#iii_p10_4">1:26</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches11.html#xiii_p6_1">38:24-31</a>,
<a href="./Comm/alfred_edersheim/sketches/sketches11.html#xiii_p6_2">38:33</a></p></blockquote>
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<tr><td colspan="2" style="font-weight:bold;" align="center">The Two Covenants<br>and<br>The Second Blessing<br><br></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" style="font-weight:bold;" align="center">Table of Contents</td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
<tr><td></td>
<td><a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two_intro.html">Introduction</a></td></tr>
<tr><td>I.</td>
<td><a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two01.html">A Covenant God</a></td></tr>
<tr><td>II.</td>
<td><a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two02.html">The Two Covenants: Their Relation</a></td></tr>
<tr><td>III.</td>
<td><a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two03.html">The First Covenant</a></td></tr>
<tr><td>IV.</td>
<td><a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two04.html">The New Covenant</a></td></tr>
<tr><td>V.</td>
<td><a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two05.html">The Two Covenants: In Christian Experience</a></td></tr>
<tr><td>VI.</td>
<td><a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two06.html">The Everlasting Covenant</a></td></tr>
<tr><td>VII.</td>
<td><a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two07.html">The New Covenant: A Ministration of the Spirit</a></td></tr>
<tr><td>VIII.</td>
<td><a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two08.html">The Two Covenants: The Transition</a></td></tr>
<tr><td>IX.</td>
<td><a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two09.html">The Blood of the Covenant</a></td></tr>
<tr><td>X.</td>
<td><a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two10.html">Jesus, The Mediator of the New Covenant</a></td></tr>
<tr><td>XI.</td>
<td><a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two11.html">Jesus, the Surety of the Better Covenant</a></td></tr>
<tr><td>XII.</td>
<td><a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two12.html">The Book of the Covenant</a></td></tr>
<tr><td>XIII.</td>
<td><a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two13.html">New Covenant Obedience</a></td></tr>
<tr><td>XIV.</td>
<td><a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two14.html">The New Covenant: A Covenant Of Grace</a></td></tr>
<tr><td>XV.</td>
<td><a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two15.html">The Covenant of An Everlasting Priesthood</a></td></tr>
<tr><td>XVI.</td>
<td><a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two16.html">The Ministry of the New Covenant</a></td></tr>
<tr><td>XVII.</td>
<td><a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two17.html">His Holy Covenant</a></td></tr>
<tr><td>XVIII.</td>
<td><a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two18.html">Entering the Covenant: With All the Heart</a></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"></td></tr>
<tr><td>Note A</td>
<td><a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two_note_a.html">The Second Blessing</a></td></tr>
<tr><td>Note B</td>
<td><a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two_note_b.html">The Law Written in the Heart</a></td></tr>
<tr><td>Note C</td>
<td><a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two_note_c.html">George Muller and His Second Conversion</a></td></tr>
<tr><td>Note D</td>
<td><a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two_note_d.html">Canon Battersby</a></td></tr>
<tr><td>Note E</td>
<td><a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two_note_e.html">Nothing of Myself</a></td></tr>
<tr><td>Note F</td>
<td><a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two_note_f.html">The Whole Heart</a></td></tr>
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<p class="scripture"> "Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments."—<a onclick="return mV('Deu',7,9);">Deu 7:9</a>.</p>
<p>MEN often make covenants. They know the advantages to be derived from them. As an end of enmity or uncertainty, as a statement of services and benefits to be rendered, as a security for their certain performance, as a bond of amity and goodwill, as a ground for perfect confidence and friendship, a covenant has often been of unspeakable value.</p>
<p>In His infinite condescension to our human weakness and need, there is no possible way in which men pledge their faithfulness, that God has not sought to make use of, to give us perfect confidence in Him, and the full assurance of all that He, in His infinite riches and power as God, has promised to do to us. It is with this view He has consented to bind Himself by covenant, as if He could not be trusted. Blessed is the man who truly knows God as his Covenant God; who knows what the Covenant promises him; what unwavering confidence of expectation it secures, that all its terms will be fulfilled to him; what a claim and hold it gives him on the Covenant-keeping God Himself. To many a man, who has never thought much of the Covenant, a true and living faith in it would mean the transformation of his whole life. <b><i>The full knowledge of what God wants to do</i></b> for him; <b><i>the assurance that it will be done</i></b> by an Almighty Power; <b><i>the being drawn to God Himself</i></b> in personal surrender, and dependence, and waiting to have it done; all this would make the Covenant the very gate of heaven. May the Holy Spirit give us some vision of its glory.</p>
<p>When God created man in His image and likeness, it was that he might have a life as like His own as it was possible for a creature to live. This was to be by God Himself living and working all in man. For this man was to yield himself in loving dependence to the wonderful glory of being the recipient, the bearer, the manifestation of a Divine life. The one secret of man's happiness was to be a trustful surrender of his whole being to the willing and the working of God. When sin entered, this relation to God was destroyed; when man had disobeyed, he feared God and fled from Him. He no longer knew, or loved, or trusted God.</p>
<p>Man could not save himself from the power of sin. If his redemption was to be effected, God must do it all. And if God was to do it in harmony with the law of man's nature, man must be brought to desire it, to yield his willing consent, and entrust himself to God. All that God wanted man to do was, to believe in Him. What a man believes, moves and rules his whole being, enters into him, and becomes part of his very life. Salvation could only be by faith: God restoring the life man had lost; man in faith yielding himself to God's work and will. The first great work of God with man was to get him to believe. This work cost God more care and time and patience than we can easily conceive. All the dealings with individual men, and with the people of Israel, had just this one object, to teach men to trust Him. Where He found faith He could do anything. Nothing dishonored and grieved Him so much as unbelief. Unbelief was the root of disobedience and every sin; it made it impossible for God to do His work. The one thing God sought to waken in men by promise and threatening, by mercy and judgment, was faith.</p>
<p>Of the many devices of which God's patient and condescending grace made use to stir up and strengthen faith, one of the chief was - the Covenant. In more than one way God sought to effect this by His Covenant. First of all, His Covenant was always <b><i>a revelation of His purposes</i></b>, holding out, in definite promise, what God was willing to work in those with whom the Covenant was made. It was a Divine pattern of the work God intended to do in their behalf, that they might know what to desire and expect, that their faith might nourish itself with the very things, though as yet unseen, which God was working out. Then, the Covenant was meant to be<b><i>a security and guarantee</i></b>, as simple and plain and humanlike as the Divine glory could make it, that the very things which God had promised would indeed be brought to pass and wrought out in those with whom He had entered into covenant. Amid all delay and disappointment, and apparent failure of the Divine promises, the Covenant was to be the anchor of the soul, pledging the Divine veracity and faithfulness and unchangeableness for the certain performance of what had been promised. And so the Covenant was, above all, to give man a hold upon God, as the Covenant-keeping God, to link him to God Himself in expectation and hope, to bring him to make God Himself alone the portion and the strength of his soul.</p>
<p>Oh that we knew how God longs that we should trust Him, and how surely His every promise must be fulfilled to those who do so! Oh that we knew how it is owing to nothing but our unbelief that we cannot enter into the possession of God's promises, and that God cannot—yes, cannot—do His mighty works in us, and for us, and through us! Oh that we knew how one of the surest remedies for our unbelief—the divinely chosen cure for it—is the Covenant into which God has entered with us! The whole dispensation of the Spirit, the whole economy of grace in Christ Jesus, the whole of our spiritual life, the whole of the health and growth and strength of the Church, has been laid down and provided for, and secured in the New Covenant. No wonder that, where that Covenant, with its wonderful promises, is so little thought of, its plea for an abounding and unhesitating confidence in God so little understood, its claim upon the faithfulness of the Omnipotent God so little tested; no wonder that Christian life should miss the joy and the strength, the holiness and the heavenliness which God meant and so clearly promised that it should have.</p>
<p>Let us listen to the words in which God's Word calls us to know, and worship, and trust our Covenant-keeping God it may be we shall find what we have been looking for: the deeper, the full experience of all God's grace can do in us. In our text Moses says: "<b><i>Know therefore</i></b> that the Lord thy God, He is God<b><i>, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant</i></b> with them that love Him." Hear what God says in Isaiah: "The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from thee<b><i>, neither shall My covenant of peace be removed</i></b>, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee." More sure than any mountain is the fulfillment of every Covenant promise. Of the New Covenant, in Jeremiah, God speaks: "<b><i>I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them</i></b>, to do them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me." The Covenant secures alike that God will not turn from us, nor we depart from Him: He undertakes both for Himself and us.</p>
<p>Let us ask very earnestly whether the lack in our Christian life, and specially in our faith, is not owing to the neglect of the Covenant. We have not worshipped nor trusted the Covenant-keeping God. Our soul has not done what God called us to—"to take hold of His Covenant," "to remember the Covenant"; is it wonder that our faith has failed and come short of the blessing? God could not fulfil His promises in us. If we will begin to examine into the terms of the Covenant, as the title-deeds of our inheritance, and the riches we are to possess even here on earth; if we will think of the certainty of their fulfillment, more sure than the foundations of the everlasting mountains; if we will turn to the God who has engaged to do all for us, who keepeth covenant for ever, our life will become different from what it has been; it can, and will be, all that God would make it.</p>
<p>The great lack of our religion is—we need more of God. We accept salvation as His gift, and we do not know that the only object of salvation, its chief blessing, is to fit us for, and bring us back to<b><i>, that close intercourse with God</i></b> for which we were created, and in which our glory in eternity will be found. All that God has ever done for His people in making a covenant was always to bring them to Himself as their chief, their only good, to teach them to trust in Him, to delight in Him, to be one with Him. It cannot be otherwise. If God indeed be nothing but a very fountain of goodness and glory, of beauty and. blessedness, the more we can have of His presence, the more we conform to His will, the more we are engaged in His service, the more we have Him ruling and working all in us, the more truly happy shall we be. If God indeed be thereby Owner and Author of life and strength, of holiness and happiness, and can alone give and work it in us, the more we trust Him, and depend and wait on Him, the stronger and the holier and the happier we shall be. And that only is a true and good religious life, which brings us every day nearer to this God, which makes us give up everything to have more of Him. No obedience can be too strict, no dependence too absolute, no submission too complete, no confidence too implicit, to a soul that is learning to count God Himself its chief good, its exceeding joy.</p>
<p>In entering into covenant with us, God's one object is to draw us to Himself, to render us entirely dependent upon Himself, and so to bring us into the right position and disposition in which He can fill us with Himself, His love, and His blessedness. Let us undertake our study of the New Covenant, in which, if we are believers, God is at this moment living and walking with us, with the honest purpose and surrender, at any price, to know what God wishes to be to us, to do in us, and to have us be and do to Him. The New Covenant may become to us one of the windows of heaven through which we see into the face, into the very heart, of God.</p>
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<p class="scripture"> "It is written, that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondmaid, and one by the freewoman, Howbeit, the one by the bondmaid is born after the flesh; but the son by the freewoman is born through promise. Which things contain an allegory: for these women are two covenants"—<a onclick="return mV('Gal',4,'22-24');">Gal 4:22-24</a>.</p>
<p>THERE are two covenants, one called the Old, the other the New. God speaks of this very distinctly in Jeremiah, where He says "The days come, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, not after the covenant I made with their fathers" (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',31,31);">Jer. 31:31</a>). This is quoted in Hebrews, with the addition "In that—He saith a new covenant, He hath made the first old." Our Lord spoke Himself of the New Covenant in His blood. In His dealings with His people, in His working out His great redemption, it has pleased God that there should be two covenants.</p>
<p>It has pleased Him, not as an arbitrary appointment, but for good and wise reasons, which made it indispensably necessary that it should be so, and no otherwise. The clearer our insight into the reasons, and the Divine reasonableness, of there thus being two covenants, and into their relation to each other, the more full and true can be our own personal apprehension of what the New Covenant is meant to be to us. They indicate two stages in God's dealing with man; two ways of serving God, a lower or elementary one of preparation and promise, a higher or more advanced one of fulfillment and possession. As that in which the true excellency of the second consists is opened up to us, we can spiritually enter into what God has prepared for us. Let us try and understand why there should have been two, neither less nor more.</p>
<p>The reason is to be found in the fact that, in religion, in all intercourse between God and man, there are two parties, and that each of these must have the opportunity to prove what their part is in the Covenant. In the Old Covenant man had the opportunity given him to prove what He could do, with the aid of all the means of grace God could bestow. That Covenant ended in man proving his own unfaithfulness and failure. In the New Covenant, God is to prove what He can do with man, all unfaithful and feeble as he is, when He is allowed and trusted <b><i>to do all the work</i></b>. The Old Covenant was one dependent on man's obedience, one which he could break, and did break (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',31,32);">Jer 31:32</a>). The New Covenant was one which God has engaged shall never be broken; <b><i>He Himself keeps it and ensures our keeping it: so He makes it an Everlasting Covenant.</i></b></p>
<p>It will repay us richly to look a little deeper into this. This relation of God to fallen man in covenant is the same as it was to unfallen man as Creator. And what was that relation? God proposed to make a man in His own image and likeness. The chief glory of God is that He has life in Himself; that He is independent of all else, and owes what He is to Himself alone. If the image and likeness of God was not to be a mere name, and man was really to be like God in the power to make himself what he was to be, he must needs have the power of free will and self determination. This was the problem God had to solve in man's creation in His image. Man was to be a creature made by God, and yet he was to be, as far as a creature could be, like God, self made. In all God's treatment of man these two factors were ever to be taken into account. God was ever to take the initiative, and be to man the source of life. Man was ever to be the recipient, and yet at the same time the disposer of the life God bestowed. When man had fallen through sin, and God entered into a covenant of salvation, these two sides of the relationship had still to be maintained intact. God was ever to be the first, and man the second. And yet man, as made in God's image, was ever, as second, to have full time and opportunity to appropriate or reject what God gave, to prove how far he could help himself, and indeed be self-made. His absolute dependence upon God was not to be forced upon him; if it was really to be a thing of moral worth and true blessedness, it must be his deliberate and voluntary choice. And this now is the reason why there was a first and a second covenant, that in the first, man's desires and efforts might be fully awakened, and time given for him to make full proof of what his human nature, with the aid of outward instruction and miracles and means of grace, could accomplish. When his utter impotence, his hopeless captivity under the power of sin had been discovered, there came the New Covenant, in which God was to reveal how man's true liberty from sin and self and the creature, his true nobility and God-likeness, was to be found in the most entire and absolute dependence, <b><i>in God's being and doing all within him.</i></b></p>
<p>In the very nature of things there was no other way possible to God than this in dealing with a being whom He had endowed with the Godlike power of a will. And all the weight this reason for the Divine procedure has in God's dealing with His people as a whole, it equally has in dealing with the individual. The two covenants represent two stages of God's education of man and of man's seeking after God. The progress and transition from the one to the other is not merely chronological or historical; it is organic and spiritual. In greater or lesser degree it is seen in every member of the body, as well as in the body as a whole. Under the Old Covenant there were men in whom, by anticipation, the powers of the coming redemption worked mightily. In the New Covenant there are men in whom the spirit of the Old still makes itself manifest. The New Testament proves, in some of its most important epistles, especially those to the Galatians, Romans, and Hebrews, how possible it is within the New Covenant still to be held fast in the bondage of the Old.</p>
<p>This is the teaching of the passage from which our text is taken. In the home of Abraham, the father of the faithful, Ishmael and Isaac are both found—the one born of a slave, the other of a free woman; the one after the flesh and the will of man, the other through the promise and the power of God; the one only for a time, then to be cast out, the other to be heir of all. A picture held up to the Galatians of the life they were leading, as they trusted to the flesh and its religion, making a fair show, and yet proved, by their being led captive to sin, to be, not of the free but of the bond woman. Only through faith in the promise and the mighty quickening power of God could they, could any of them, be made truly and fully free, and stand in the freedom with which Christ has made us free.</p>
<p>As we proceed to study the two covenants in the light of this and other scriptures, we shall see how they are indeed the Divine revelation of two systems of religious worship, each with its spirit or, life-principle ruling every man who professes to be a Christian. We shall see how the one great cause of the feebleness of so many Christians is just this, that the Old Covenant spirit of bondage still has the mastery. And we shall see that nothing but a spiritual insight, with a whole-hearted acceptance, and a living experience, of all the New Covenant engages <b><i>that God will work in us</i></b>, can possibly fit for walking as God would have us do.</p>
<p>This truth of there being two stages in our service of God, two degrees of nearness in our worship, is typified in many things in the Old Covenant worship; perhaps nowhere more clearly than in the difference between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place in the temple, with the veil separating, them. Into the former the priests might always enter to draw near to God. And yet they might not come too near; the veil kept them at a distance. To enter within that, was death. Once a year the High Priest might enter, as a promise of the time when the veil should be taken away and the full access to dwell in God's presence be given to His people. In Christ's death the veil of the temple was rent, and His blood gives us boldness and power to enter into the Holiest of all and live there day by day in the immediate presence of God. It is by the Holy Spirit, who issued forth from that Holiest of all, where Christ had entered, to bring its life to us, and make us one with it, that we can have the power to live and walk always with the consciousness of God's presence in us.</p>
<p>It is thus not only in Abraham's home that there were the types of the two covenants, the spirit of bondage and the spirit of liberty, but even in God's home in the temple. The priests had not yet the liberty of access into the Father's presence. Not only among the Galatians, but everywhere throughout the Church, there are to be found two classes of Christians. Some are content with the mingled life, half flesh and half spirit, half self-effort and half grace. Others are not content with this, but are seeking with their whole heart to know to the full what the deliverance from sin and what the abiding full power for a walk in God's presence is, which the New Covenant has brought and can give. God help us all to be satisfied with nothing less.</p>
<p>(<a href= "./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two_note_a.html">See Note A, on the Second Blessing</a>.)</p>
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<p class="scripture"> "Now therefore, if ye will <i>obey My voice, and keep My covenant,</i> ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me."—<a onclick="return mV('Exd',19,5);">Exd 19:5</a>.</p>
<p class="scripture"> "He declared unto you <i>His covenant, which He commanded you to perform,</i> even ten commandments."—<a onclick="return mV('Deu',4,13);">Deu 4:13</a>.</p>
<p class="scripture"> "<i>If ye keep</i> these judgments, <i>the Lord thy God shall keep</i> unto thee the covenant,"—<a onclick="return mV('Deu',7,12);">Deu 7:12</a>.</p>
<p class="scripture"> "I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, <i>not according to the covenant</i> which I made with their fathers, which My covenant they brake."—<a onclick="return mV('Jer',31,31,32);">Jer 31:31-32</a>.</p>
<p>WE have seen how the reason for there being two Covenants is to be found in the need of giving the Divine and the human will, each their due place in the working out of man's destiny. God ever takes the initiative. Man must then have the opportunity to do his part, and to prove either what he can do, or needs to have done for him. The Old Covenant was on the one hand indispensably necessary to waken man's desires, to call forth his efforts, to deepen the sense of dependence on God, to convince of his sin and impotence, and so to prepare him to feel the need of the salvation of Christ. In the significant language of Paul, "The law was our schoolmaster unto Christ." "We were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith, which should afterwards be revealed." To understand the Old Covenant aright we must ever remember its two great characteristics—the one, that it was of Divine appointment, fraught with much true blessing, and <b><i>absolutely indispensable</i></b> for the working out of God's purposes; the other, that it was only provisional and preparatory to something higher, and <b><i>therefore absolutely insufficient</i></b> for giving that full salvation which man needs if his heart or the heart of God is to be satisfied.</p>
<p>Note now the terms of this first Covenant. "<b><i>If ye</i></b> will obey My voice and keep My covenant, ye shall be unto Me a holy nation." Or, as it is expressed in Jeremiah (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',7,23);">Jer 7:23</a>, <a onclick="return mV('Jer',7,11);">11:4</a>), "Obey My voice, and I will be your God." Obedience everywhere, especially in the Book of Deuteronomy, appears as the condition of blessing. "A blessing if ye obey" (<a onclick="return mV('Deu',11,27);">Deu 11:27</a>). Some may ask how God could make a covenant of which He knew that man could not keep it. The answer opens up to us the whole nature and object of the Covenant. All education, Divine or human, ever deals. with its pupils on the principle—faithfulness in the less is essential to the attainment of the greater. In taking Israel into His training, God dealt with them as men in whom, with all the ruin sin had brought, there still was a conscience to judge of good and evil, a heart capable of being stirred to long after God, and a will to choose the good and to choose Himself. Before Christ and His salvation could be revealed and understood and truly appreciated, these faculties of man had to be stirred and wakened. The law took men into its training, and sought, if I may use the expression, to make the very best that could be made of them by external instruction. In the provision made in the law for a symbolical atonement and pardon, in all God's revelation of Himself through priest and prophet and king, in His interposition in providence and grace, everything was done that He could do, to touch and win the heart of His people and to give force to the appeal to their self-interest or their gratitude, their fear or their love.</p>
<p>Its work was not without fruit. Under the law, administered by the grace that ever accompanied it, there was trained up a number of men whose great mark was the fear of God, and a desire to walk blameless in all His commandments. And yet, as a whole, Scripture represents the Old Covenant as a failure. The law had promised life; but it could not give it (<a onclick="return mV('Deu',4,1);">Deut. 4:1</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Gal',3,21);">Gal. 3:21</a>). The real purpose for which God had given it was the very opposite: it was meant by Him as "a ministration of death." He gave it that it might convince man of his sin, and might so waken the confession of his impotence, and of his need of a New Covenant and a true redemption. It is in this view that Scripture uses such strong expressions—"By the law is <b><i>the knowledge of sin</i></b>: that <b><i>every mouth</i></b> may be stopped, and <b><i>the whole world</i></b> may become guilty before God." "The law <b><i>worketh wrath</i></b>." "The law entered, that <b><i>the offence might abound</i></b>." "That sin by the commandment might appear <b><i>exceeding sinful</i></b>." "As many as are of the works of the law are <b><i>under the curse</i></b>." "We were kept under the law, shut up to the faith, which should afterwards be revealed." "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith." The great work of the law was to discover what sin was: its hatefulness as accursed of God; its misery, working temporal and eternal ruin; its power, binding man down in hopeless slavery; and the need of a Divine interposition—as the only hope of deliverance.</p>
<p>In studying the Old Covenant we ought ever to keep in mind the twofold aspect under which we have seen that Scripture represents it. It was God's grace that gave Israel the law, and wrought with the law to make it work out its purpose in individual believers and in the people as a whole. The whole of the Old Covenant was a school of grace, an elementary school, to prepare for the fullness of grace and truth in Christ Jesus. A name is generally given to an object according to its chief feature. And so the Old Covenant is called a ministration of condemnation and death, not because there was no grace in it—it had its Own glory (<a onclick="return mV('2Cr',3,'10-12');">2 Cor 3:10-12</a>)—but because the law with its curse was the predominating element. The combination of the two aspects we find with especial clearness in Paul's epistles. So he speaks of all who are of the works of the law as under the curse (<a onclick="return mV('Gal',3,10);">Gal 3:10</a>). And then almost immediately after he speaks of the law as being our benefactor, a schoolmaster unto Christ, into whose charge, as to a tutor or governor, we had been given, till the time appointed of the Father. We are everywhere brought back to what we said above. The Old Covenant is absolutely indispensable for the preparation work it had to do; utterly insufficient to work for us a true or a full redemption.</p>
<p>The two great lessons God would teach us by it are very simple. The one is the lesson of SIN, the other the lesson of HOLINESS. The Old Covenant attains its object only as it brings men to a sense of their utter sinfulness and their hopeless impotence to deliver themselves. As long as they have not learnt this, no offer of the New Covenant life can lay hold of them. As long as an intense longing for deliverance from sinning has not been wrought, they will naturally fall back into the power of the law and the flesh. The holiness which the New Covenant offers will rather terrify than attract them; the life in the spirit of bondage appears to make more allowance for sin, because obedience is declared to be impossible.</p>
<p>The other is the lesson of Holiness. In the New Covenant the Triune God engages to do all. He undertakes to give and keep the new heart, to give His own Spirit in it, to give the will and the power to obey and do His will. As the one demand of the first Covenant was the sense of sin, the one great demand of the New is faith that that need, created by the discipline of God's law, will be met in a Divine and supernatural way. The law cannot work out its purpose, except as it brings a man to lie guilty and helpless before the holiness of God. There the New finds him, and reveals that same God, in His grace accepting him and making him partaker of His holiness.</p>
<p>This book is written with a very practical purpose. Its object is to help believers to know that wonderful New Covenant of grace which God has made with them, and to lead them into the living and daily enjoyment of the blessed life it secures them. The practical lesson taught us by the fact that there was a first Covenant, that its one special work was to convince of sin, and that without it the New Covenant—could not come, is just what many Christians need. At conversion they were convinced of sin by the Holy Spirit.</p>
<p>But this had chiefly reference to the guilt of sin and, in some degree, to its hatefulness. But a real knowledge of the power of sin, of their entire and utter impotence to cast it out, or to work in themselves what is good, is what they did not learn at once. And until they have learned this, they cannot possibly enter fully into the blessing of the New Covenant. It is when a man sees that, as little as he could raise himself from the dead, can he make or keep his own soul alive, that he becomes capable—of appreciating the New Testament promise, and is made willing to wait on God to do all in him.</p>
<p>Do you, my reader, feel that you are not fully living in the New Covenant, that there is still somewhat of the Old-Covenant spirit of bondage in you?—do come, and let the Old Covenant finish its work in you. Accept its teaching, that all your efforts are failures. As, at conversion, you were content to fall down as a condemned, death deserving sinner, be content now to sink down before God in the confession that, as His redeemed child, you still feel yourself utterly impotent to do and be what you see He asks of you. And begin to ask whether the New Covenant has not perhaps a provision you have never yet understood for meeting your impotence and giving you the strength to do what is well-pleasing to God. You will find the wonderful answer in the assurance that God, by His Holy Spirit, undertakes to work everything in you. The longing to be delivered from the life of daily sinning, and the extinction of all hope to secure this by our efforts as Christians, will prepare us for understanding and accepting God's new way of salvation—Himself working in us all that is pleasing in His sight.</p>
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<p class="scripture"> "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."—<a onclick="return mV('Jer',31,33,34);">Jer 31:33-34</a>.</p>
<p>ISAIAH has often been called the evangelical prophet, for the wonderful clearness with which he announces the coming Redeemer, both in His humiliation and suffering, and in the glory of the kingdom He was to establish. And yet it was given to Jeremiah, in this passage, and to Ezekiel, in the parallel one, to foretell what would actually be the outcome of the Redeemer's work and the essential character of the salvation He was to effect, with a distinctness which is nowhere found in the older prophet. In words which the New Testament (<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',8,'all');">Hebrews 8</a>) takes as the divinely inspired revelation of what the New Covenant is of which Christ is the Mediator, God's plan is revealed and we are shown what it is that He will do in us, to make us fit and worthy of being the people of which He is the God. Through the whole of the Old Covenant there was always one trouble: man's heart was not right with God. In the New Covenant the evil is to be remedied. Its central promise is a heart delighting in God's law and capable of knowing and holding fellowship with Him. Let us mark the fourfold blessing spoken of.</p>
<p>1. <b><i>"I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts."</i></b> Let us understand this well. In our inward parts, or in our heart, there are no separate chambers in which the law can be put, while the rest of the heart can be given up to other things; the heart is a unity. Nor are the inward parts and the heart like a house, which can be filled with things of an entirely different nature from what the walls are made of, without any living organic connection. No, the inward parts, the heart, are the disposition, the love, the will, the life. Nothing can be put into the heart, and especially by God, without entering and taking possession of it, without securing its affection and controlling its whole being. And this is what God undertakes to do in the power of His divine life and operation, to breathe the very spirit of His law into and through the whole inward being. "I will put it into their inward parts, and write it in their hearts." At Sinai the tables of the Covenant, with the law written on them, were of stone, as a lasting substance. It is easy to know what that means. The stone was wholly set apart for this one thing—to carry and show this Divine writing. The writing and the stone were inseparably connected. And so the heart in which God gets His way, and writes His law in power, lives only and wholly to carry that writing, and is unchangeably identified with it. So alone can God realize His purpose in creation, and have His child of one mind and one spirit with Himself, delighting in doing His will. When the Old Covenant with the law graven on stone had done its work in the discovering and condemning of sin, the New Covenant would give in its stead the life of obedience and true holiness of heart. The whole of the Covenant blessing centers in this—the heart being put right and fitted to know God: "I will give them <b><i>an heart to know Me</i></b>, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God; for they shall return unto Me <b><i>with their whole heart</i></b>" (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',24,7);">Jer. 24:7</a>).</p>
<p>2. "<b><i>And I will be their God, and they shall be My people</i></b>." Do not pass these words lightly. They occur chiefly in Jeremiah and Ezekiel in connection with the promise of the everlasting Covenant. They express the very highest experience of the Covenant relationship. It is only when His people learn to love and obey His law, when their heart and life are together wholly devoted to Him and His will, that He can be to them the altogether inconceivable blessing which these words express, "<b><i>I will be your God</i></b>." All I am and have as God shall be yours. All you can need or wish for in a God, I will be to you. In the fullest meaning of the word, I, the Omnipresent, will be ever present with you, in all My grace and love. I, the Almighty One, will each moment work all in you by My mighty power. I, the Thrice-Holy One, will reveal My sanctifying life within you. I will be your God. <b><i>And ye shall be My people</i></b>, saved and blessed, ruled and guided and provided for by Me, known and seen to be indeed the people of the Holy One, the God of glory. Only let us give our hearts time to meditate and wait for the Holy Spirit to work in us all that these words mean.</p>
<p>3. "<b><i>And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, with the Lord."</i></b> Individual personal fellowship with God, for the feeblest and the least, is to be the wonderful privilege of every member of the New Covenant people. Each one will know the Lord. That does not mean the knowledge of the mind,—that is not the equal privilege of all, and that in itself may hinder the fellowship more than help it,—but with that knowledge which means appropriation and assimilation, and which is eternal life. As the Son knew the Father because He was one with Him and dwelt in Him, the child of God will receive by the Holy Spirit that spiritual illumination which will make God to him the One he knows best, because he loves Him most and lives in Him. The promise, "They shall be all taught of God," will be fulfilled by the Holy Spirit's teaching. God will speak to each out of His Word what he needs to know.</p>
<p>4. <b><i>"For I will forgive their iniquities, and I will remember their sin no more."</i></b> The word for shows that this is the reason of all that precedes. Because the blood of this New Covenant was of such infinite worth, and its Mediator and High Priest in heaven of such Divine power, there is promised in it such a Divine blotting out of sin that God cannot remember it. It is this entire blotting out of sin that cleanses and sets us free from its power, so that God can write His law in our hearts, and show Himself in power as our God, and by His Spirit reveal to us His deep things—the deep mystery of Himself and His love. It is the atonement and redemption of Jesus Christ wrought without us and for us, that has removed every obstacle and made it meet for God, and made us meet, that the law in the heart, and the claim on our God, and the knowledge of Him, should now be our daily life and our eternal portion.</p>
<p>Here we now have the Divine summary of the New Covenant inheritance. The last-named blessing, the pardon of sin, is the first in order, the root of all. The second, having God as our God, and the third, the Divine teaching, are the fruit. The tree itself that grows on this root, and bears. such fruit, is what is named first—the law in the heart. (<a href= "./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two_note_b.html">On the law written in the heart, see Note B</a>.)</p>
<p>The central demand of the Old Covenant, "Obey My voice, and I will be your God," has now been met. With the law written in the heart, He can be our God, and we shall be His people. Perfect harmony with God's will, holiness in heart and life, is the only thing that can satisfy God's heart or ours. And it is this the New Covenant gives in Divine power, "I <b><i>will give them an heart</i></b> to know Me; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people; for they shall turn to me <b><i>with their whole heart</i></b>." It is on the state of the heart, it is on the new heart, as <b><i>given by God</i></b>, that the New Covenant life hinges.</p>
<p>But why, if all this is meant to be literally and exactly true of God's people, why do we see so little of this life, experience so little in ourselves? There is but one answer: Because of your unbelief. We have spoken of the relation of God and man in creation as what the New Covenant is meant to make possible and real. But the law cannot be repealed that God will not compel. He can only fulfil His purpose as the heart is willing and accepts His offer. In the New Covenant all is of faith. Let us turn away from what human wisdom and human experience may say, and ask God Himself to teach us what His Covenant means. If we persevere in this prayer in a humble and teachable spirit, we can count most certainly on its promise: "They shall no more every man teach his neighbour: Know the Lord, for they shall all know Me." <b><i>The teaching of God Himself, by the Holy Spirit, to make us understand what He says to us in His Word, is our Covenant right</i></b>. Let us count upon it. It is only by a God-given faith that we can appropriate these God-given promises. And it is only by a God-given teaching and inward illumination that we can see their meaning, so as to believe them. When God teaches us the meaning of His promises in a heart yielded to His Holy Spirit, then alone we can believe and receive them in a power which makes them a reality in our life.</p>
<p>But is it really possible, amid the wear and tear of daily life, to walk in the experience of these blessings? Are they really meant for all God's children? Let us rather ask the question, Is it possible for God to do what He has promised. The one part of the promise we believe—the complete and perfect pardon of sin. Why should we not believe the other part—the law written in the heart, and the direct Divine fellowship and teaching? We have been so accustomed to, separate what God has joined together, the objective, outward work of His Son, and the subjective, inward work of His Spirit, that we consider the glory of the New Covenant above the Old to consist chiefly in the redeeming work of Christ for us, and not equally in the sanctifying work of the Spirit in us. It is owing to this ignorance and unbelief of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, as the power through whom God fulfils the New Covenant .promises, that we do not really expect them to be made true to us.</p>
<p>Do let us turn our hearts away from all past experience of failure, <b><i>as caused by nothing but unbelief</i></b>; do let us admit fully and heartily, what failure has taught us, the absolute impossibility of even a regenerate man walking in God's law in his own strength, and then turn our hearts quietly and trustfully to our own Covenant God. Let us heir what He says He will do for us, and believe Him; let us rest on His unchangeable faithfulness and the surety of the Covenant, on His Almighty power and the Holy Spirit working in us; and let us give up ourselves to Him as our God: He will prove that what He has done for us in Christ is not one whit more wonderful than what He will do in us every day by the Spirit of Christ.</p>
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<p class="scripture"> "These women are two covenants: one from Mount Sinai, bearing children unto bondage, which is Hagar. Now this Hagar answereth to Jerusalem that now is, for she is in bondage with her children. But the Jerusalem which is above is free, which is our mother. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. With freedom did Christ set us free. Stand fast, therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage." — <a onclick="return mV('Gal',4,'24-31');">Gal 4:24-31</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Gal',5,1);">5:1</a>.</p>
<p>THE house of Abraham was the Church of God of that age. The division in his house, one son, his own son, but born after the flesh, the other after the promise, was a divinely-ordained manifestation of the division there would be in all ages between the children of the bondwoman, those who served God in the spirit of bondage, and those who were children of the free, and served Him in the Spirit of His Son. The passage teaches us what the whole Epistle confirms: that the Galatians had become entangled with a yoke of bondage, and were not standing fast in the freedom with which Christ makes free indeed. Instead of living in the New Covenant, in the Jerusalem which is from above, in the liberty which the Holy Spirit gives, their whole walk proved that, though Christians, they were of the Old Covenant, which bringeth forth children unto bondage. The passage teaches us the great truth, which it is of the utmost consequence for us to apprehend thoroughly, that a man, with a measure of the knowledge and experience of the grace of God, may prove, by a legal spirit, that he is yet practically, to a large extent, under the Old Covenant. And it will show us, with wonderful clearness; what the proofs are of the absence of the true New Covenant life.</p>
<p>A careful study of the Epistle shows us that the difference between the two Covenants is seen in three things. <b><i>The law and its works</i></b> is contrasted with the hearing of faith, <b><i>the flesh and its religion</i></b> with the flesh crucified, <b><i>the impotence to good</i></b> with a walk in the liberty and the power of the Spirit. May the Holy Spirit reveal to us this twofold life.</p>
<p>The first antithesis we find in Paul's words, "Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or the hearing of faith?" These Galatians had indeed been born into the New Covenant; they had received the Holy Spirit. But they had been led away by Jewish teachers, and, though they had been justified by faith, they were seeking to be sanctified by works; they were looking for the maintenance and the growth of their Christian life to the observance of the law. They had not understood that, equally with the beginning, the progress of the Divine life is alone by faith, day by day receiving its strength from Christ alone; that in Jesus Christ nothing avails but faith working by love.</p>
<p>Almost every believer makes the same mistake as the Galatian Christians. Very few learn at conversion at once that it is only by faith that we stand, and walk, and live. They have no conception of the meaning of Paul's teaching about being dead to the law, freed from the law—about the freedom with which Christ makes us free. "As many as are led by the Spirit are not under the law." Regarding the law as a Divine ordinance for our direction, they consider themselves prepared and fitted by conversion to take up the fulfillment of the law as a natural duty. They know not that, in the New Covenant, the law written in the heart needs an unceasing faith in a Divine power, to enable us by a Divine power to keep it. They cannot understand that it is not to the law, but to a Living Person, that we are now bound, and that our obedience and holiness are only possible by the unceasing faith in His power ever working in us. It is only when this is seen, that we are prepared truly to live in the New Covenant.</p>
<p>The second word, that reveals the Old Covenant spirit, is the word "flesh", Its contrast is, the flesh crucified. Paul asks: "Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye made perfect in the flesh?" Flesh means our sinful human nature. At his conversion the Christian has generally no conception of the terrible evil of his nature, and the subtlety with which it offers itself to take part in the service of God. It may be most willing and diligent in God's service for a time; it may devise numberless observances for making His worship pleasing and attractive; and yet this may be all only what Paul calls "making a fair show in the flesh," "glorying in the flesh," in man's will and man's efforts. This power of the religious flesh is one of the great marks of the Old Covenant religion; it misses the deep humility and spirituality of the true worship of God—a heart and life entirely dependent upon Him.</p>
<p>The proof that our religion is very much that of the religious flesh, is that the sinful flesh will be found to flourish along with it. It was thus with the Galatians. While they were making a fair show in the flesh, and glorying in it, their daily life was full of bitterness and envy and hatred, and other sins. They were biting and devouring one another. Religious flesh and sinful flesh are one: no wonder that, with a great deal of religion, temper and selfishness and worldliness are so often found side by side. The religion of the flesh cannot conquer sin.</p>
<p>What a contrast to the religion of the New Covenant! What is the place the flesh has there? "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with its desires and affections." Scripture speaks of the will of the flesh, the mind of the flesh, the lust of the flesh; all this the true believer has seen to be condemned and crucified in Christ: he has given it over to the death. He not only accepts the Cross, with its bearing of the curse, and its redemption from it, as his entrance into life; he glories in it as his only power day by day to overcome the flesh and the world. "I am crucified with Christ." "God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ, by which I am crucified to the world." Even as nothing less than the death of Christ was needed to inaugurate the New Covenant, and the resurrection life that animates it, there is no entrance into the true New Covenant life other than by a partaking of that death.</p>
<p>"Fallen from grace." This is a third word that describes the condition of these Galatians in that bondage in which they were really impotent to all true good. Paul is not speaking of a final falling away here, for he still addresses them as Christians, but of their having wandered from that walk in the way of enabling and sanctifying grace, in which a Christian can get the victory over sin. As long as grace is principally connected with pardon and the entrance to the Christian life, the flesh is the only power in which to serve and work. But when we know what exceeding abundance of grace has been provided, and how God "makes all grace abound, that we may abound to all good works," we know that, as it is by faith, so too it is by grace alone that we stand a single moment or take a single step.</p>
<p>The contrast to this life of impotence and failure is found in the one word, "the Spirit." "If ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law," with its demand on your own strength. "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not"—a definite, certain promise—"ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh." The Spirit gives liberty from the law, from the flesh, from sin. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, peace, joy." Of the New Covenant promise, "I will put <b><i>My Spirit</i></b> within you, and <b><i>I will cause</i></b> you to walk in My statutes, and <b><i>ye shall keep</i></b> My judgments," the Spirit is the center and the sum. He is the power of the supernatural life of true obedience and holiness.</p>
<p>And what would have been the course that the Galatians would have taken if they had accepted this teaching of St. Paul? As they hear his question, "Now that ye have come to know God, how turn ye back again into the weak and beggarly rudiments, whereunto ye desire to be in bondage again?" They would have felt that there was but one course. Nothing else could help them but at once to turn back again to the path they had left. At the point where they had left it, they could enter again. With any one of them who wished to do so, this turning away from the Old Covenant legal spirit, and the renewed surrender to the Mediator of the New Covenant, could be the act of a moment—one single step. As the light of the New Covenant promise dawned upon him, and he saw how Christ was to be all, and faith all, and the Holy Spirit in the heart all, and the faithfulness of a Covenant-keeping God all in all, he would feel that he had but one thing to do—in utter impotence to yield himself to God, and in simple faith to count upon Him to perform what He had spoken. In Christian experience there may be still the Old Covenant life of bondage and failure. In Christian experience there may be a life that gives way entirely to the New Covenant grace and spirit. In Christian experience, when the true vision has been received of what the New Covenant means, a faith that rests fully on the Mediator of the New Covenant can enter at once into the life which the Covenant secures.</p>
<p>I cannot too earnestly beg all believers who long to know to the utmost what the grace of God can work in them, to study carefully the question as to whether the acknowledgment that our being in the bondage of the Old Covenant is the reason of our failure, and whether a clear insight into the possibility of an entire change in our relation to God, is not what is needed to give us the help we seek. We may be seeking for our growth in a more diligent use of the means of grace, and a more earnest striving to live in accordance with God's will, and yet entirely fail. The reason is, that there is a secret root of evil which must be removed. That root is the spirit of bondage, the legal spirit of self-effort, which hinders that humble faith that knows that God will work all, and yields to Him to do it. That spirit may be found amidst very great zeal for God's service, and very earnest prayer for His grace; it does not enjoy the rest of faith, and cannot overcome sin, because it does not stand in the liberty with which Christ has made us free, and does not know that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. There the soul can say: "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus <b><i>hath made me free</i></b> from the law of sin and death." When once we admit heartily, not only that there are failings in our life, but that there is something radically wrong that can be changed, we shall turn with a new interest, with a deeper confession of ignorance and impotence, with a hope that looks to God alone for teaching and strength, to find that in the New Covenant there is an actual provision for every need.</p>
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<p class="scripture"> "They shall be My people, and l will be their God. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me."—<a onclick="return mV('Jer',32,38,40);">Jer 32:38, 40</a>.</p>
<p class="scripture"> "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them. Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them: it shall be an everlasting covenant with them."—<a onclick="return mV('Eze',36,26,27);">Eze 36:26-27</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eze',37,26);">37:26</a>.</p>
<p>WE have had the words of the institution of the New Covenant. Let us listen to the further teaching we have concerning it in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, where God speaks of it as an everlasting Covenant.</p>
<p>In every covenant there are two parties. And the very foundation of a covenant rests on the thought that each party is to be faithful to the part it has undertaken to perform. Unfaithfulness on either side breaks the covenant.</p>
<p>It was thus with the Old Covenant. God had said to Israel<b><i>, Obey My voice, and I will be your God</i></b> (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',7,23);">Jer 7:23</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jer',11,4);">11:4</a>). These simple words contained the whole Covenant. And when Israel disobeyed, the Covenant was broken. The question of Israel being able or not able to obey was not taken into consideration: disobedience forfeited the privileges of the Covenant.</p>
<p>If a New Covenant were to be made, and if that was to be better than the Old, this was the one thing to be provided for. No New Covenant could be of any profit unless provision were made for securing obedience. Obedience there must be. God as Creator could never take His creatures into His favor and fellowship, except they obeyed Him. The thing would have been an impossibility. If the New Covenant is to be better than the Old, if it is to be an everlasting Covenant, never to be broken, it must make some sufficient provision for securing the obedience of the Covenant people.</p>
<p>And this is indeed the glory of the New Covenant, the glory that excelleth, that this provision has been made. In a way that no human thought could have devised, by a stipulation that never entered into any human covenant, by an undertaking in which God's infinite condescension and power and faithfulness are to be most wonderfully exhibited, by a supernatural mystery of Divine wisdom and grace, the New Covenant provides a guarantee, not only for God's faithfulness, <b><i>but for man's too</i></b>! And this in no other way than by God Himself undertaking to secure man's part as well as His own. Do try and get hold of this.</p>
<p>It is just because this, the essential part of the New Covenant, so exceeds and confounds all human thoughts of what a covenant means, that Christians, from the Galatians downwards, have not been able to see and believe what the New Covenant really brings. They have thought that human unfaithfulness was a factor permanently to be reckoned with as something utterly unconquerable and incurable, and that the possibility of a life of obedience, with the witness from within of a good conscience, and from above of God's pleasure, was not to be expected. They have therefore sought to stir the mind to its utmost by arguments and motives, and never realised how the Holy Spirit is to be the unceasing, universal, all-sufficient worker of everything that has to be wrought by the Christian.</p>
<p>Let us beseech God earnestly that He would reveal to us by the Holy Spirit the things that He hath prepared for them that love Him; things that have not entered into the heart of man; the wonderful life of the New Covenant. All depends upon our knowledge of what God will work in us. Listen to what God says in Jeremiah of the two parts of His everlasting Covenant, shortly after He had announced the New Covenant, and in further elucidation of it. The central thought of that, <b><i>that the heart is to be put right</i></b>, is here reiterated and confirmed. "I will make an everlasting covenant with them, <b><i>that I will not turn away from them, to do them good.</i></b>" That is, God will be unchangeably faithful. He will not turn from us. "<b><i>But I will put My fear into their heart, that they shall not depart from Me</i></b>." This is the second half: Israel will be unchangeably faithful too. And that because God will so put His fear in their heart, that they shall not depart from Him. As faithfully as He undertakes for the fulfillment of His part, will He undertake for the fulfillment of their part, that they shall not depart from Him!</p>
<p>Listen to God's word in Ezekiel, in regard to one of the terms of His Covenant of peace, His everlasting Covenant. (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',34,25);">Eze 34:25</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eze',36,27);">36:27</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eze',37,26);">37:26</a>): "I will put My Spirit within you, <b><i>and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep</i></b> My judgments, and do them." In the Old Covenant we have nothing of this sort. You have, on the contrary, from the story of the golden calf and the breaking of the Tables of the Covenant onward, the sad fact of continual departure from God. We find God longing for what He would so fain have seen, but was not to be found. "O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear Me, and keep all My commandments always" (<a onclick="return mV('Deu',5,29);">Deu 5:29</a>). We find throughout the Book of Deuteronomy, a thing without parallel in the history of any religion or religious lawgiver, that Moses most distinctly prophesies their forsaking of God, with the terrible curses and dispersion that would come upon them. It is only at the close of his threatenings (<a onclick="return mV('Deu',30,6);">Deu 30:6</a>) that he gives the promise, of the new time that would come: "The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and <b><i>thou shalt obey</i></b> the voice of the Lord thy God." The whole Old Covenant was dependent on man's faithfulness: "The Lord thy God <b><i>keepeth covenant</i></b> with them <b><i>that keep</i></b> His commandments." God's keeping the Covenant availed little, if man did not keep it. Nothing could help man until the "<b><i>If ye shall diligently keep</i></b>" of the law, was replaced by the word of promise, "I will put My Spirit in you, and <b><i>ye shall keep</i></b> My judgments, and do them." The one supreme difference of the New Covenant; the one thing for which the Mediator, and the Blood, and the Spirit were given; the one fruit God sought and Himself engaged to bring forth was this: a heart filled with His fear and love, a heart to cleave unto Him and not depart from Him, a heart in which His Spirit and His law dwells, a heart that delights to do His will.</p>
<p>Here is the inmost secret of the New Covenant. It deals with the heart of man in a way of Divine power. It not only appeals to the heart by every motive of fear or love, of duty or gratitude. That the law also did. But it reveals God Himself, cleansing our heart and making it new, changing it entirely from a stony heart into a heart of flesh, a tender, living, loving heart, putting His Spirit within it, and so, by His Almighty Power and Love, breathing and working in it, making the promise true, "<b><i>I will cause you</i></b> to walk in My statutes, and <b><i>ye shall keep</i></b> My judgments." A heart in perfect harmony with Himself, a life and walk in His way—God has engaged in Covenant to work this in us. He undertakes for our part in the Covenant as much as for His own.</p>
<p>This is nothing but the restoration of the original relation between God and the man He had made in His likeness. He was on earth to be the very image of God, because God was to live and to work all in him, and he to find his glory and blessedness in thus owing all to God. This is the exceeding glory of the New Covenant, of the Pentecostal dispensation, that by the Holy Spirit God could now again be the indwelling life of His people, and so make the promise a reality: "I will cause you to walk in My statutes." With God's presence secured to us every moment of the day—"I will not turn away from them"; with God's "fear put into our heart" by His own Spirit, and our heart thus responding to His holy presence; with our hearts thus made right with God, we can, we shall walk in His statutes, and keep His judgments.</p>
<p>My brethren, the great sin of Israel under the Old Covenant, that by which they greatly grieved Him, was this: "they limited the Holy One of Israel." Under the New Covenant there is no less danger of this sin. <b><i>It makes it impossible for God to fulfil His promises</i></b>. Let us seek, above everything, for the Holy Spirit's teaching, to show us exactly what God has established the New Covenant for, that we may honor Him by believing all that His love has prepared for us.</p>
<p>And if we ask for the cause of the unbelief, that prevents the fulfilment of the promise, we shall find that it is not far to seek. It is, in most cases, the lack of desire for the promised blessing. In all who came to Jesus on earth the intensity of their desire for the healing they needed made them ready and glad to believe in His word. Where the law has done its full work, where the actual desire to be freed from every sin is strong, and masters the heart, the promise of the New Covenant, when once really understood, comes like bread to a famishing man. The subtle unbelief, that thinks it impossible to be kept from sinning, cuts away the power of accepting the provision of the everlasting Covenant. God's Word, "I will put My fear in their heart, that <b><i>they shall not</i></b> depart from Me" "I will put My Spirit within you, and <b><i>ye shall</i></b> keep My judgment," is understood in some feeble sense, according to our experience, and not according to what the Word and what God means. And the soul settles down into a despair, or a self-contentment, that says it can never be otherwise, and makes true conviction for sin impossible.</p>
<p>Let me say to every reader who would fain be able to believe fully all that God says: Cherish every whisper of the conscience and of the Spirit that convinces of sin. Whatever it be, a hasty temper, a sharp word, an unloving or impatient thought, anything of selfishness or self—will cherish that which condemns it in you, as part of the schooling that is to bring you to Christ and the full possession of His salvation. The New Covenant is meant to meet the need for a power of not sinning, which the Old could not give. Come with that need; it will prepare and open the heart for all the everlasting Covenant secures you. It will bring you to that humble and entire dependence upon God in His Omnipotence and His Faithfulness, in which He can and will work all He has promised.</p>
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<p class="scripture">"Ye are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not on tables of stone, but on tables that are hearts of flesh...Our sufficiency is of God; who also made us sufficient as ministers of the New Covenant; not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. For if the ministration of death came with glory, how shall not rather the ministration of the Spirit be with glory? For if the ministration of condemnation is glory, much rather doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory."—<a onclick="return mV('2Cr',3,3, '5-10');">2 Cor 3:3, 5-10</a>.</p>
<p>IN this wonderful chapter Paul reminds the Corinthians, in speaking of his ministry among them, of what its chief characteristics were. As a ministry of the New Covenant he contrasts it, and the whole dispensation of which it is part, with that of the Old. The Old was graven in stone, the New in the heart. The Old could be written in ink, and was in the letter that killeth; the New, of the Spirit that maketh alive. The Old was a ministration of condemnation and death; the New, of righteousness and life. The Old indeed had its glory, for it was of Divine appointment, and brought its Divine blessing; but it was a glory that passed away, and had no glory by reason of the glory that excelleth, the exceeding glory of that which remaineth.</p>
<p>With the Old there was the veil on the heart; in the New, the veil is taken away from the face and the heart, the Spirit of the Lord gives liberty, and, reflecting with unveiled face the glory of the Lord, we are changed from glory to glory, into the same image, as by the Spirit of the Lord. The glory that excelleth proved its power in this, that it not only marked the dispensation on its Divine side, but so exerted its power in the heart and life of its subjects, that it was seen in them too, as they were changed by the Spirit into Christ's image, from glory to glory.</p>
<p>Think a moment of the contrast. The Old Covenant was of the letter that killeth. The law came with its literal instruction, and sought by the knowledge it gave of God's will to appeal to man's fear and his love, to his natural powers of mind and conscience and will. It spoke to him as if he could obey, that it might convince him of what he did not know, that he could not obey. And so it fulfilled its mission: "The commandment which was unto life, this I found to be unto death."</p>
<p>In the New, on the contrary, how different was everything. Instead of the letter, the Spirit that giveth life, that breathes the very life of God, the life of heaven into us. Instead of a law graven in stone, the law written in the heart, worked into the heart's affection and powers, making it one with them. Instead of the vain attempt to work from without inward, the Spirit and the law are put into the inward parts, thence to work outward in life and walk.</p>
<p>This passage brings into view that which is the distinctive blessing of the New Covenant. In working out our salvation God bestowed upon us two wonderful gifts. We read: "<b><i>God sent forth His Son</i></b>, that He might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons <b><i>God sent forth the Spirit of His Son</i></b> into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." Here we have the two parts of God's work in salvation. The one, the more objective, what He did that we might become His children—He sent forth His Son. The second, the more subjective, what He did that we might live like His children He sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. In the former we have the external manifestation of the work of redemption; in the other, its inward appropriation; the former for the sake of the latter. These two halves form one great whole, and may not be separated.</p>
<p>In the promises of the New Covenant, as we find them in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, as well as in our text and many other passages of Scripture, it is manifest that God's great object in salvation is to get possession of the heart. The heart is the real life; with the heart a man loves, and wills, and acts; the heart makes the man. God made man's heart for His own dwelling, that in it He might reveal His love and His glory. God sent Christ to accomplish a redemption by which man's heart could be won back to Him; nothing but that could satisfy God. And that is what is accomplished when the Holy Spirit makes the heart of God's child what it should be. The whole work of Christ's redemption—His Atonement and Victory, His Exaltation and Intercession, His glory at the right hand of God—all these are only preparatory to what is the chief triumph of His grace: the renewal of the heart to be the temple of God. Through Christ God gives the Holy Spirit to glorify Him in the heart, by working there all that He has done and is doing for the soul.</p>
<p>In a great deal of our religious teaching a fear, lest we should derogate from the honor of Christ, has been alleged as the reason for giving His work for us, on the Cross or in heaven, a greater prominence than His work in our heart by the Holy Spirit. The result has been that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and His mighty work as the life of the heart, as very little known in true power. If we look carefully at what the New Covenant promises mean, we shall see how the "sending forth of the Spirit of His Son into our hearts" is indeed the consummation and crown of Christ's redeeming work. Let us just think of what these promises imply.</p>
<p>In the Old Covenant man had failed in what he had to do. In the New, God is to do everything in him. The Old could only convict of sin. The New is to put it away and cleanse the heart from its filthiness. In the Old it was the heart that was wrong; for the New a new heart is provided, into which God puts His fear and His law and His love. The Old demanded, but failed to secure obedience; in the New, God causes us to walk in His judgments. The New is to fit man for a true holiness, a true fulfillment of the law of loving God with the whole heart, and our neighbors as ourselves, a walk truly well-pleasing to God. The New changes a man from glory to glory after the image of Christ. All because the Spirit of God's Son is given into the heart. The Old gave no power: in the New all is by the Spirit, the mighty power of God. As complete as the reign and power of Christ on the throne of heaven, is His dominion on the throne of the heart by His Holy Spirit given to us. (<a href= "./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two_note_c.html">SEE NOTE C, on GEORGE MÜLLER</a>.)</p>
<p>It is as we bring all these traits of the New Covenant life together into one focus, and look at the heart of God's child as the object of this mighty redemption, that we shall begin to understand what is secured to us, and what it is that we are to expect from our Covenant God. We shall see wherein the glory of the ministration of the Spirit consists, even in this, that God can fill our heart with His love, and make it His abode.</p>
<p>We are accustomed to say, and truly so, that the worth of the Son of God, who came to die for us, is the measure of the worth of the soul in God's sight, and of the greatness of the work that had to be done to save it. Let us even so see, that the Divine glory of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Father and the Son, is the measure of God's longing to have our heart wholly for Himself, of the glory of the work that is to be wrought within us, of the power by which that work will be accomplished.</p>
<p>We shall see how the glory of the ministration of the Spirit is no other than the glory of the Lord, as it is not only in heaven, but resting upon us and dwelling in us, and changing us into the same image from glory to glory. The inconceivable glory of our exalted Lord in heaven has its counterpart here on earth in the exceeding glory of the Holy Spirit who glorifies Him in us, who lays His glory on us, as He changes us into His likeness.</p>
<p>The New Covenant has no power to save and to bless except as it is a ministration of the Spirit. That Spirit works in lesser or greater degree, as He is neglected and grieved, or yielded to and trusted. Let us honor Him, and give Him His place as the Spirit of the New Covenant, by expecting and accepting all He waits to do for us.</p>
<p>He is the great gift of the Covenant. His coming from heaven was the proof that the Mediator of the Covenant was on the throne in glory, and could now make us partakers of the heavenly life.</p>
<p>He is the only teacher of what the Covenant means: dwelling in our heart, He wakens there the thought and the desire for what God has prepared for us.</p>
<p>He is the Spirit of faith, who enables us to believe the otherwise incomprehensible blessing and power in which the New Covenant works, and to claim it as our own.</p>
<p>He is the Spirit of grace and of power, by whom the obedience of the Covenant and the fellowship with God can be maintained without interruption.</p>
<p>He Himself is the Possessor and the Bearer and the Communicator of all the Covenant promises, the Revealer and the Glorifier of Jesus, its Mediator and Surety.</p>
<p>To believe fully in the Holy Spirit, as the present and abiding and all-comprehending gift of the New Covenant, has been to many a one an entrance into its fullness of blessing.</p>
<p>Begin at once, child of God, to give the Holy Spirit the place in thy religion He has in God's plan. Be still before God, and believe that He is within thee, and ask the Father to work in thee through Him. Regard thyself, thy spirit as well as thy body, with holy reverence as His temple. Let the consciousness of His holy presence and working fill thee with holy calm and fear. And be sure that all that God calls thee to be, Christ through His Spirit will work in thee.</p>
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<p class="scripture">"Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep, in the blood of the everlasting covenant, even our Lord Jesus, make you perfect in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ."—<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',13,20,21);">Heb 13:20-21</a>.</p>
<p>THE transition from the Old Covenant to the New was not slow or gradual, but by a tremendous crisis. Nothing less than the death of Christ was the close of the Old. Nothing less than His resurrection from the dead, through the blood of the everlasting Covenant, the opening of the New. The path of preparation that led up to the crisis was long and slow; the rending of the veil, that symbolised the end of the old worship, was the work of a moment. By a death, once for all, Christ's work, as fulfiller of law and prophets, as the end of the law, was for ever finished. By a resurrection in the power of an endless life, the Covenant of Life was ushered in.</p>
<p>These events have an infinite significance, as revealing the character of the Covenants they are related to. The death of Christ shows the true nature of the Old Covenant. It is elsewhere called "a ministration of death" (<a onclick="return mV('2Cr',3,7);">2 Cor 3:7</a>). It brought forth nothing but death. It ended in death; only by death could the life that had been lived under it be brought to an end. The New was to be a Covenant of Life; it had its birth in the omnipotent resurrection power that brought Christ from the dead; its one mark and blessing is, that all it gives comes, not only as a promise, but as an experience, in the power of an endless life. The Death reveals the utter <b><i>inefficacy</i></b> and <b><i>insufficiency</i></b> of the Old; the Life brings nigh and imparts to us for ever all that the New has to offer. An insight into the completeness of the transition, as seen in Christ, prepares us for apprehending the reality of the change in our life, when, "like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also walk in newness of life."</p>
<p>The complete difference between the life in the Old and the New is remarkably illustrated by a previous passage in the Epistle (<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',9,16);">Heb 9:16</a>). After having said that a death for the redemption of transgressions had to take place ere the New Covenant could be established, the writer adds, "Where a testament is, there must of necessity be the death of him that made it." Before any heir can obtain the legacy, its first owner, the testator, must have died. The old proprietorship, the old life, must disappear entirely before the new heir, the new life, can enter upon the inheritance. Nothing but death can work the transference of the property. It is even so with Christ, with the Old and the New Covenant life, with our own deliverance from the Old and our entrance on the New. Now, having been made dead to the law by the body of Christ, we have been discharged from the law, having died to that wherein we were holden—here is the completeness of the deliverance from Christ's side; "so that we serve"—here is the completeness of the change in our experience "in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter."</p>
<p>The transition, if it is to be real and whole, must take place by a death. As with Christ the Mediator of the Covenant, so with His people. the heirs of the Covenant. In Him we are dead to sin; in Him we are dead to the law. Just as Adam died to God, and we inherit a nature actually and really dead: in sin, dead to God and His kingdom, so in Christ we died to sin, and inherit a nature actually dead to sin and its dominion. It is when the Holy Spirit reveals and makes real to us this death to sin and to the law too, as the one condition of a life to God, that the transition front the Old to the New Covenant can be fully realised in us. The Old was, and was meant to be, a "ministration of death"; until it has completely done its work in us there is no complete discharge from its power. The man who sees that self is incurably evil and must die; who gives self utterly to death as he sinks before God in utter impotence and the surrender to His working; who consents to death with Christ on the cross as his desert, and in faith accepts it as his only deliverance; he alone is prepared to be led by the Holy Spirit into the full enjoyment of the New Covenant life. He will learn to understand how completely death makes an end to all self-effort, and how, as he lives in Christ to God, everything henceforth is to be the work of God Himself.</p>
<p>See how beautifully our text brings out this truth, that just as much as Christ's resurrection out of death was the work of God Himself, is our life equally to be wholly God's own work too. Not more direct and wonderful than was in Christ the transition from death to life, is to be in us the experience of what the New Covenant life is to bring. Notice the subject of the two verses. In ver. 20 we have what God <b><i>has done</i></b> in raising Christ from the dead; in ver. 21 what God <b><i>is to do in us</i></b>, working in us what is pleasing to Him.</p>
<blockquote><p>
<div style="font-size=75%;margin-bottom:1px;float:left;"> 20 </div> &nbsp;"The God of peace, who brought from the dead that great Shepherd of the sheep, even our Lord Jesus,"<br>
<div style="font-size=75%;margin-bottom:1px;float:left;"> 21 </div> &nbsp; "Make you perfect in every good thing to do His will, working in you that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ." (<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',13,20,21);">Heb 13:20-21</a>)
</p></blockquote>
<p>We have the name of our Lord Jesus twice. In the first case it refers to what God has done to Christ for us, raising Him; in the second, to what God is doing through Christ in us, working His pleasure in us. Because it is the same God continuing in us the work He began in Christ, it is in us just what it was in Christ. In Christ's death we see Him in utter impotence allowing and counting upon God to work all and give Him life. God wrought the wonderful transition. In us we see the same; it is only as we give ourself unto that death too, as we entirely cease from self and its works, as we lie, as in the grave, waiting for God to work all, that the God of resurrection life can work in us all His good pleasure. <br> <br>
<p>It was "through the blood of the everlasting Covenant," with its atonement for sin, and its destruction of sin's power, that God effected that resurrection. It is through that same blood that we are redeemed and freed from the power of sin, and made partakers of Christ's resurrection life. The more we study the New Covenant, the more we shall see that its one aim is to restore man, out of the Fall, to the life in God for which he was created. It does this first, by delivering him from the power of sin in Christ's death, and then by taking possession of his heart, his life, for God to work all in him by the Holy Spirit. The whole argument of the Epistle to the Hebrews as to the Old and New Covenants is here summed up in these concluding verses. Just as He raised Christ from the dead, the God of the everlasting Covenant can and will now make you perfect in every good thing to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ. Your doing His will is the object of creation and redemption. God's working it all in you is what redemption has made possible. The Old Covenant of law and effort and failure has ended in condemnation and death. The New Covenant is coming to give, in all whom the law has slain and brought to bow in their utter impotence, the law written in the heart, the Spirit dwelling there, and God working all, both to will and to do, through Jesus Christ.</p>
<p>Oh for a Divine revelation that the transition from Christ's death, in its impotence, to His life in God's power, is the image, the pledge, the power of our transition out of the Old Covenant, when it has slain us, to the New, with God working in us all in all!</p>
<p>The transition from Old to New, as effected in Christ, was sudden. Is it so in the believer? Not always. In us it depends upon a revelation. There have been cases in which a believer, sighing and struggling against the yoke of bondage, has in one moment had it given to him to see what a complete salvation the New Covenant brings to the heart and the inner life, through the ministration of the Spirit, and by faith he has entered at once into his rest. There have been other cases in which, gradual as the dawn of day, the light of God has risen upon the heart. God's offer of entrance into the enjoyment of our New Covenant privileges is always urgent and immediate. Every believer is a child of the New Covenant, and heir of all its promises. The death of the Testator gives him full right to immediate possession. God longs to bring us into the land of promise; let us not come short through unbelief.</p>
<p>There may be someone who can hardly believe that such a mighty change in his life is within his reach, and yet who would fain know what he is to do if there is to be any hope of his attaining it. I have just said, the death of the testator gives the heir immediate right to the inheritance. And yet the heir, if he be a minor, does not enter on the possession. A term of years ends the stage of minority on earth, and he is no longer under guardians. In the spiritual life the state of pupilage ends, not with the expiry of years, but the moment the minor proves his fitness for being made free from the law, by accepting the liberty there is in Christ Jesus. The transition, as with the Old Testament, as with Christ, as with the disciples, comes when the time is fulfilled and all things are now ready.</p>
<p>But what is one to do who is longing to be thus made ready? Accept your death to sin in Christ, and act it out. Acknowledge the sentence of death on everything that is of nature: take and keep the place before God of utter unworthiness and helplessness; sink down before Him in humility, meekness, patience, and resignation to His will and mercy. (If you would understand the full meaning of this clause and know how to practise its teaching, consult a little book just published, Dying to Self: A Golden Dialogue. By William Law, with Notes by Rev. Andrew Murray. (Nisbet &amp; Co.) (<a href= "./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two_note_e.html">See also Note E</a>.) Fix your heart upon the great and mighty God, who in His grace will work in you above what you can ask or think, and will make you a monument of His mercy. Believe that every blessing of the Covenant of grace is yours; by the death of the Testator you are entitled to it all—and on that faith act, knowing that all is yours. The new heart is yours, the law written in the heart is yours, the Holy Spirit, the seal of the Covenant, is yours. Act on this faith, and count upon God as Faithful and Able, and oh! so Loving, to reveal in you, to make true in you, all the power and glory of His everlasting Covenant.</p>
<p>May God reveal to us the difference between the two lives under the Old and the New; the resurrection power of the New, with God working all in us; the power of the transition secured to us in death with Christ and life in Him. And may He teach us at once to trust Christ Jesus for a full participation in all the New Covenant secures.</p>
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<p class="scripture"> "Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you."—<a onclick="return mV('Exd',24,8);">Exo 24:8</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',9,20);">Heb 9:20</a>.</p>
<p class="scripture">"This cup is the new covenant in My blood."—<a onclick="return mV('1Cr',11,25);">1 Cor 11:25</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mat',26,28);">Mat 26:28</a>.</p>
<p class="scripture">"The blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified."—<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',10,29);">Heb 10:29</a>.</p>
<p class="scripture">"The blood of the everlasting covenant."—<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',13,21);">Heb 13:21</a>.</p>
<p>THE blood is one of the strangest, the deepest, the mightiest, and the most heavenly of the thoughts of God. It lies at the very root of both Covenants, but specially of the New Covenant. The difference between the two Covenants is the difference between the blood of beasts, and the blood of the Lamb of God! The power of the New Covenant has no lesser measure than the worth of the blood of the Son of God! Your Christian experience ought to know of no standard of peace with God, and purity from sin, and power over the world, than the blood of Christ can give! If we would enter truly and fully into all the New Covenant is meant to be to us, let us beseech God to reveal to us the worth and the power of the blood of the Covenant, the precious blood of Christ!</p>
<p>The First Covenant was not brought in without blood. There could be no Covenant of friendship between a holy God and sinful men without atonement and reconciliation; and no atonement without a death as the penalty of sin. God said: "I have given you the blood upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul." The blood shed in death meant the death of a sacrifice slain for sin of man; the blood sprinkled on the altar meant that vicarious death accepted of God for the sinful one. No forgiveness, no covenant without blood-shedding.</p>
<p>All this was but type and shadow of what was one day to become a mysterious reality. What no thought of man or angel could have conceived, what even now passeth all understanding, the Eternal Son of God took flesh and blood, and then shed that blood as the blood of the New Covenant, not merely to ratify it, but to open the way for it and to make it possible. Yea, more, to be, in time and eternity, the living power by which entrance into the Covenant was to be obtained, and all life in it be secured. Until we learn to form our expectation of a life in the New Covenant, according to the inconceivable worth and power of the blood of God's Son,—we never can have even an insight into the entirely supernatural and heavenly life that a child of God may live. Let us think for a moment on the threefold light in which Scripture teaches us to regard it.</p>
<p>In the passage from <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',9,15);">Hebrews 9:15</a> we read "For this cause Christ is the Mediator of a new covenant, that a death having taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they that have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance." The sins of the ages, of the First Covenant, which had only figuratively been atoned for, had gathered up before God. A death was needed for the redemption of these: In that death and blood shedding of the Lamb of God not only were these atoned for, but the power of all sin was for ever broken.</p>
<p>The blood of the New Covenant is redemption blood, a purchase price and ransom from the power of Sin and the Law. In any purchase made on earth the transference of property from the old owner to the new is complete. Its worth may be ever so great and the hold on it ever so strong, if the price be paid, it is gone for ever from him who owned it. The hold sin had on us was terrible. No thought can realize its legitimate claim on us under God's law, its awful tyrant power in enslaving us. But the blood of God's Son has been paid. "Ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things as silver and gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb without spot, even the blood of Christ." We have been rescued, ransomed, redeemed out of our old natural life under the power of sin, utterly and eternally. Sin has not the slightest claim on us, nor the slightest power over us, except as our ignorance or unbelief or half-heartedness allows it to have dominion. Our New Covenant birthright is to stand in the freedom with which Christ has made us free. Until the soul sees, and desires and accepts, and claims the redemption and the liberty which has the blood of the Son of God for its purchase price, and its measure, and its security, it never can fully live the New Covenant life.</p>
<p>As wonderful as the blood-shedding for our redemption is the blood-sprinkling for our cleansing. Here is indeed another of the spiritual mysteries of the New Covenant, which lose their power when understood in human wisdom, without the ministration of the Spirit of life. When Scripture speaks of "having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience," of "the blood of Christ cleansing our conscience," of our singing here on earth (<a onclick="return mV('Rev',1,5);">Rev 1:5</a>), "To Him that washed us from our sins in His blood," it brings this mighty, quickening blood of the Lamb into direct contact with our hearts. It gives the assurance that that blood, in its infinite worth, in its Divine sin-cleansing power, can keep us clean in our walk in the sight and the light of God. It is as this blood of the New Covenant is known, and trusted, and waited for, and received from God, in the Spirit's mighty operation in the heart, that we shall begin to believe that the blessed promise of a New Covenant life and walk can be fulfilled.</p>
<p>There is one more thing Scripture teaches concerning this blood of the New Covenant. When the Jews contrasted Moses with our Lord Jesus, He spake: "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have not life in yourselves. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, abideth in Me, and I in him." As if the redeeming, and sprinkling, and washing, and sanctifying does not sufficiently express the intense inwardness of its action and its power to permeate our whole being, the drinking of this precious blood is declared to be indispensable to having life. If we would enter deep into the Spirit and power of the New Covenant, let us, by the Holy Spirit, drink deep of this cup—the cup of the New Covenant in His blood.</p>
<p>On account of sin there could be no covenant between man and God without blood. And no New Covenant without the blood of the Son of God. As the cleansing away of sins was the first condition in making a covenant, so it is equally the first condition of an entrance into it. It has ever been found that a deeper appropriation of the blessings of the Covenant must be preceded by a new and deeper cleansing from sin. We know how in Ezekiel the words about God's causing us to walk in His statutes are preceded by <b><i>"From all your filthiness will I cleanse you</i></b>." And then later we read (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',37,23, 25);">Eze 37:23, 25</a>), "Neither shall they defile themselves any more with any of their transgressions; <b><i>I will cleanse them</i></b>: so shall they be My people, and I will be their God. Moreover, I will make a Covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting Covenant with them." The confession and casting away, and the cleansing away of sin in the blood, are the indispensable, but all-sufficient, preparation for a life in everlasting Covenant with God.</p>
<p>Many feel that they do not understand or realize this wonderful power of the blood. Much thought does not help them; even prayer does not appear to bring the light they seek. The blood of Christ is a Divine mystery that passes all thought. Like every spiritual and heavenly blessing, this too, but this especially, needs to be imparted to us by the Holy Spirit. It was "through the Eternal Spirit" that Christ offered the sacrifice in which the blood was shed. The blood had the life of Christ, the life of the Spirit, in it. The outpouring of the blood for us was to prepare the way for the outpouring of the Spirit on us. It is the Holy Spirit, and He alone, who can minister the blood of the everlasting Covenant in power. Just as He leads the soul to the initial faith in the pardon that blood has purchased, and the peace it gives, He leads further to the knowledge and experience of its cleansing power. Here again, too, by faith—a faith in a heavenly power, of which it does not fully understand, and cannot define, the action, but of which it knows that it is an operation of God's mighty power, and effects a cleansing that does give a clean heart. A clean heart, first known and accepted by the same faith, apart from signs or feelings, apart from sense or reason, and then experienced in the joy and the fellowship with God it brings. Oh! let us believe in the blood of the everlasting Covenant, and the cleansing the Holy Spirit ministers. Let us believe in the ministration of the Holy Spirit, until our whole life in the New Covenant becomes entirely His work, to the glory of the Father and of Christ.</p>
<p>The blood of the Covenant, O mystery of mysteries! O grace above all grace! O mighty power of God, opening the way, into the holiest, and into our hearts, and into the New Covenant, where the Holy One and our heart meet! Let us ask God much, by His Holy Spirit, to make us know what it is and works. The transition from the death of the Old Covenant to the life of the New was, in Christ, "through the blood of the Everlasting Covenant." No otherwise will it be with us.</p>
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<p class="scripture">"I give thee for a covenant of the people."—<a onclick="return mV('Isa',42,6);">Isa 42:6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',49,8);">49:8</a>.</p>
<p class="scripture">"The Lord shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in."—<a onclick="return mV('Mal',3,1);">Mal 3:1</a>.</p>
<p class="scripture">"Jesus was made Surety of a better covenant. "—<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',7,22);">Heb 7:22</a>.</p>
<p class="scripture">"The Mediator of the Better Covenant, established upon better promises...The Mediator of the New Covenant...Ye are come to Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant."—<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',8,6);">Heb 8:6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',9,15);">9:15</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',12,24);">12:24</a>.</p>
<p>WE have here four titles given to our Lord. Jesus in connection with the New Covenant. He is Himself called a Covenant. The union between God and man, which the Covenant aims at, was wrought out in Him personally; in Him the reconciliation between the human and Divine was perfectly effected; in Him His people find the Covenant with all its blessings; He is all that God has to give, and is the assurance that it is given...He is called the Messenger of the Covenant, because He came to establish and to proclaim it...He is the Surety of the Covenant, not only because He paid our debt, but as He is Surety to us for God, that God will fulfil His part; and Surety for us with God, that we will fulfil our part...And He is Mediator of the Covenant, because as the Covenant was established in His atoning blood, is administered and applied by Him, is entered upon alone by faith in Him, so it is experimentally known only through the power of His resurrection life, and His never-ceasing intercession. All these names point to the one truth, that in the New Covenant Christ is all in all.</p>
<p>The subject is so large that it would be impossible to enter upon all the various aspects of this precious truth. Christ's work in atonement and intercession, in His bestowal of pardon and the Holy Spirit, in His daily communication of grace and strength, are truths which lie at the very foundation of the faith of Christians. We need not speak of them here. What specially needs to be made clear to many is how, by faith in Christ as the Mediator of the New Covenant, we actually have access to and enter into the enjoyment of all its promised blessings. We have already seen, in studying the New Covenant, how all these blessings culminate in the one thing that the heart of man is to be put right, as the only possible way of his living in the favor of God, and God's love finding its satisfaction in him. That he is to receive a heart to fear God, to love God with all his strength, to obey God, and to keep all His statutes. All that Christ did and does has this for its aim; all the higher blessings of peace and fellowship flow from this. In this God's saving power and love find the highest proof of their triumph over sin. Nothing so reveals the grace of God, the power of Jesus Christ, the reality of salvation, the blessedness of the New Covenant, as the heart of a believer, where sin once abounded, with grace now abounding more exceedingly within it.</p>
<p>I do not know how I can better set forth the glory of our Blessed Lord Jesus as He accomplishes this, the real object of His redeeming work, and as He takes entire possession of the heart He has bought and won and cleansed as a dwelling for His Father, than by pointing out the place He takes, and the work He does, in the case of a soul who is being led out of the Old Covenant bondage with its failure, into the real experience of the promise and power of the New Covenant. (<a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two_note_d.html">For a practical illustration in the life of Canon Battersby, see Note D</a>). In thus studying the work of the Mediator in an individual, we may get a truer conception of the real glory and greatness of the work He actually accomplishes, than when we only think of the work He has done for all. It is in the application of the redemption here in the life of earth, where sin abounded, that its power is seen. Let us see how the entrance into the New Covenant blessing is attained.</p>
<p>The first step towards it, in one who has been truly converted and assured of his acceptance with God, is the sense of sin. He sees that the New Covenant promises are not made true in his experience. There is not only indwelling sin, but he finds that he gives way to temper, and self-will, and worldliness, and other known transgressions of God's law. The obedience to which God calls and will fit him, the life of abiding in Christ's love which is his privilege, the power for a holy walk, well pleasing to God, —in all this his conscience condemns him. It is in this conviction of sin that any thought or desire of the full New Covenant blessing must have its rise. Where the thought that obedience is an impossibility, and that nothing but a life of failure and self-condemnation is to be looked for, has wrought a secret despair of deliverance, or contentment with our present state, it is vain to speak of God's promise or power. The heart does not respond: it knows well enough, it is sure, the liberty spoken of is a dream. But where the dissatisfaction with our state has wrought a longing for something better, the heart is open to receive the message.</p>
<p>The New Covenant is meant to be the deliverance from the power of sin; a keen longing for this is the indispensable preparation for entering fully into the Covenant.</p>
<p>Now comes the second step. As the mind is directed to the literal meaning of the terms of the New Covenant, in its promises of cleansing from sin, and a heart filled with God's fear and God's law, and a power to keep God's commands and never to depart from Him; as the eye is fixed on Jesus the Surety of the Covenant, who will Himself make it all true; and as the voice is heard of witnesses who can declare how, after years of bondage, all this has been fulfilled in them—the longing begins to grow into a hope, and the inquiry is made, as to what is needed to enter this blessed life.</p>
<p>Then follows another step. The heart-searching question comes whether we are willing to give up every evil habit, all our own self-will, all that is of the spirit of the world, and surrender ourselves to be wholly and exclusively for Jesus. God cannot take so complete possession of a man, and bless him so wonderfully, and work in him so mightily, unless He has him very completely, yea, wholly for Himself. Happy the man who is ready for any sacrifice.</p>
<p>Now comes the last, the simplest, and yet often the most difficult step. And here it is we need to know Jesus as Mediator of the Covenant. As we hear of the life of holiness, and obedience, and victory over sin, which the Covenant promises, and hear that it will be to us according to our faith, so that if we claim it in faith it will surely be ours, the heart often fails for fear. I am willing, but have I the power to make, and what is more, to maintain this full surrender? Have I the power, the strong faith, so to grasp and hold this offered blessing, that it shall indeed be and continue mine? How such questions perplex the soul until it finds the answer to them in the one word: Jesus! <b><i>It is He who will bestow the power to make the surrender and to believe</i></b>. This is as surely and as exclusively His work, as atonement and intercession are His alone. As sure as it was His to win and ascend the throne, it is His to prove His dominion in the individual soul. It is He, the Living One, who is in Divine power to work and maintain the life of communion and victory within us. He is the Mediator and Surety of the Covenant—He, the God-man, who has undertaken not only for all that God requires, but for all that we need too.</p>
<p>When this is seen, the believer learns that here, just as at conversion, it is all of faith. The one thing needed now is, with the eye definitely fixed on some promise of the New Covenant, to turn from self and anything it could or need do, to let go self, and fall into the arms of Jesus. He is the Mediator of the New Covenant: it is His to lead us into it. In the assurance that Jesus, and every New Covenant blessing, is already ours in virtue of our being God's children; with the desire now to appropriate and enjoy what we have hitherto allowed to lie unused; in the faith that Jesus now gives us the needed strength in faith to claim and accept our heritage as a present possession; the will dares boldly to do the deed, and to take the heavenly gift—a life in Christ according to the better promises. By faith in Jesus you have seen and received Him as to you, in full truth, the Mediator of the New Covenant, both in heaven arid in your heart. He is the Mediator who makes it true between God <b><i>and you</i></b>, as your experience.</p>
<p>The fear has sometimes been expressed that, if we press so urgently the work that Christ through the Spirit does in the heart, we may be drawn off from trusting in what He has done and ever is doing, to what we are experiencing of its working. The answer is simple. It is <b><i>with the heart alone</i></b> that Christ can be truly known or honoured. It is <b><i>in the heart</i></b> the work of grace is to be done, and the saving power of Christ to be displayed. It is <b><i>in the heart</i></b> alone the Holy Spirit has His sphere of work; <b><i>there</i></b> He is to work Christ's likeness it is there alone He can glorify Christ. The Spirit can only glorify Christ by revealing His saving power <b><i>in us</i></b>. If we were to speak of what <b><i>we are to do</i></b> in cleansing our heart and keeping it right, the fear would be well-grounded. But the New Covenant calls us to the very opposite. What it tells us of the Atonement, and the Righteousness of God it has won for us, will be our only glory even amid the highest holiness of heaven: Christ's work of holiness here in the heart can only deepen the consciousness of that Righteousness as our only plea. The sanctification of the Spirit, as the fulfilment of the New Covenant promises, is all a taking of the things of Christ and revealing and imparting them to us. The deeper our entrance into and our possession of the New Covenant gift of a new heart, the fuller will be our knowledge and our love of Him who is its Mediator; the more we shall glory in Him alone. The Covenant deals with the heart, just that Christ may be found there, may <b><i>dwell there by faith</i></b>. As we look at the heart, not in the light of feeling or experience, but in the light of the faith of God's Covenant, we shall learn to think and speak of it as God does, and begin to know what it is, that there Christ manifests Himself and there He and the Father come to make their abode.</p>
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<p class="scripture">"And inasmuch as it is not without the taking of an oath: by so much also hath Jesus become the Surety of a better covenant. Wherefore also He is able to save completely them that draw near unto God through Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them."—<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',7,20,22,25);">Heb 7:20,22,25</a>. </p>
<p>A SURETY is one who stands good for another, that a certain engagement will be faithfully performed. Jesus is the Surety of the New Covenant. He stands surety with us for God—that God's part in the Covenant will faithfully be performed. And He stands surety with God for us, that our part will be faithfully performed too. If we are to live in covenant with God, everything depends upon our knowing aright what Jesus secures to us. The more we know and trust Him, the more assured will our faith be that its every promise and every demand will be fulfilled, that a life of faithful keeping of God's Covenant is indeed possible, because Jesus is the Surety of the Covenant. He makes God's faithfulness and ours equally sure. </p>
<p>We read that it was because His priesthood was confirmed by the oath of God, that He became the Surety of a so much better Covenant. The oath of God gives us the security that His suretyship will secure all the better promises. The meaning and infinite value of God's oath had been explained in the previous chapter. "In every dispute the oath is final for confirmation. Wherein God, being minded to show more abundantly unto the heirs of the promise the immutability of His counsel, interposed with an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement." We thus have not only a Covenant, with certain definite promises; we have not only Jesus, the Surety of the Covenant; but at the back of that again, we have the living God, with a view to our having perfect confidence in the unchangeableness of His counsel and promise, coming in between with an oath. Do we not begin to see that the one thing God aims at in this Covenant, and asks with regard to it, is an absolute confidence that He is going to do all He has promised, however difficult or wonderful it may appear? His oath is an end of all fear or doubt. Let no one think of understanding the Covenant, of judging or saying what may be expected from it, much less of experiencing its blessings, until he meets God with an Abraham like faith, that gives Him the glory, and is fully assured that what He has promised He is able to perform. The Covenant is a sealed mystery, except to the soul who is going without reserve to trust God, and abandon itself to His word and work. </p>
<p>Of the work of Christ, as the Surety of the better Covenant, our passage tells us that, because of this priesthood confirmed by oath, He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him. And this, because "He ever liveth to make intercession for them." As Surety of the Covenant, He is ceaselessly engaged in watching their needs, and presenting them to the Father, in receiving His answer, and imparting its blessing. It is because of this never-ceasing mediation, receiving and transmitting from God to us the gifts and powers of the heavenly world, that He is able to save completely—to work and maintain in us a salvation as complete as God is willing it should be, as complete as the Better Covenant has assured us it shall be, in the better promises upon which it was established. These promises are expounded (<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',8,'7-13');">Heb 8:7-13</a>) as being none other than those of the New Covenant of Jeremiah, with the law written in the heart by the Spirit of God as our experience of the power of that salvation. </p>
<p>Jesus, the Surety of a better Covenant, Jesus is to be our assurance that everything connected with the Covenant is unchangeably and eternally sure. In Jesus the keynote is given of all our intercourse with God, of all our prayers and desires, of all our life and walk, that with full assurance of faith and hope we may look for every word of the Covenant to be made fully true to us by God's own power. Let us look at some of these things of which we are to be fully assured, if we are to breathe the spirit of children of the New Covenant. </p>
<p>There is the love of God. The very thought of a Covenant is an alliance of friendship. And it is as a means of assuring us of His love, of drawing us close to His heart of love, of getting our hearts under the power of His love, and filled with it—it is because God loves us with an infinite love, and wants us to know it, and to give it complete liberty to bestow itself on us, and bless us, that the New Covenant has been made, and God's own Son been made its Surety. This love of God is an infinite Divine energy, doing its utmost to fill the soul with itself and its blessedness. Of this love God's Son is the Messenger; of the Covenant in which God reveals it to us He is the Surety; let us learn that the chief need in studying the Covenant and keeping it, in seeking and claiming its blessings, is the exercise of a strong and confident assurance in God's love. </p>
<p>Then there is the assurance of the sufficiency of Christ's finished redemption. All that was needed to put away sin, to free us entirely and for ever from its power, has been accomplished by Christ. His blood and death, His resurrection and ascension, have taken us out of the power of the world and transplanted us into a new life in the power of the heavenly world. All this is Divine reality; Christ is Surety that the Divine righteousness, and the Divine acceptance, that all sufficient Divine grace and strength, are ever ours. He is Surety that all these can and will be communicated to us in unbroken continuance. </p>
<p>It is even so with the assurance of what is needed on our part to enter into this life in the New Covenant. We shrink back, either from the surrender of all, because we know not whether we have the power to let it go, or from the faith for all, because we fear ours will never be so strong or so bold as to take all that is offered us in this wonderful Covenant. Jesus is Surety of a better Covenant. The better consists just in this very thing, that it undertakes to provide the children of the Covenant with the very dispositions they need, to accept and enjoy it. We have seen how the heart is just the central object of the Covenant promise. A heart circumcised to love God with all the heart, a heart into which God's law and fear have been put, so that it will not depart from Him—it is of all this Jesus is the Surety under the oath of God. Let us say it once more: Surely the one thing God asks of us, and has given the Covenant and its Surety to secure<b><i>—the confident trust that all will be done in us that is needed</i></b>—is what we dare not withhold. </p>
<p>I think some of us are beginning to see what has been our great mistake. We have thought and spoken great things of what Christ did on the Cross, and does on the Throne, as Covenant Surety. And we have stopped there. <b><i>But we have not expected Him to do great things in our hearts</i></b>. And yet it is there, in our heart, that the consummation takes place of the work on the Cross and the Throne; in the-heart the New Covenant has its full triumph; the Surety is to be known not by what the mind can think of Him in heaven, but by what he does to make Himself known in the heart. <b><i>There</i></b> is the place where His love triumphs and is enthroned. Let us with the heart believe and receive Him as the Covenant Surety. Let us, with every desire we entertain in connection with it, with every duty it calls us to, with every promise it holds out, look to Jesus, under God's oath the Surety of the Covenant. Let us believe that by the Holy Spirit the heart is His home and His throne. Let us, if we have not done it yet, in a definite act of faith, throw ourselves utterly on Him, for the whole of the New Covenant life and walk. No surety was ever so faithful to his undertaking <b><i>as Jesus will be to His on our behalf, in our hearts</i></b>. </p>
<p>And now, notwithstanding the strong confidence and consolation the oath of God and the Surety of the Covenant gives, there are some still looking wistfully at this blessed life, and yet afraid to trust themselves to this wondrous grace. They have a conception of faith as something great and mighty, and they know and feel that theirs is not such. And so their feebleness remains an insuperable barrier to their inheriting the promise. Let me try and say once again: Brother, the act of faith, by which you accept and enter this life in the New Covenant, is not commonly an act of power, but often of weakness and fear and much trembling. And even in the midst of all this feebleness, it is not an act in your strength, but in a secret and perhaps unfelt strength, which Jesus the Surety of the Covenant gives you. God has made Him Surety, with the very object of inspiring us with courage and confidence. He longs, He delights to bring you into the Covenant. Why not bow before Him, and say meekly: He does hear prayer; He brings into the Covenant; He enables a soul to believe; I may trust Him confidently. And just begin quietly to believe that there is an Almighty Lord, given by the Father, to do everything needed to make <b><i>all</i></b> Covenant grace wholly true in you. Bow low, and look up out of your low estate to your glorified Lord, and maintain your confidence that a soul, that in its nothingness trusts in Him, will receive more than it can ask or think. </p>
<p>Dear believer, come and be a believer. Believe that God is showing you how entirely the Lord Jesus wants to have you and your life for Himself; how entirely He is willing to take charge of you and work all in you; how entirely you may even now commit your trust, and your surrender, and your faithfulness to the Covenant, with all you are and are to be, to Him, your Blessed Surety. If thou believest, thou shalt see the glory of God<b><i>. What Christ has undertaken, you may confidently count upon His performing.</i></b> </p>
<p>In a sense, and measure, and power that passeth knowledge, Jesus Christ is Himself all that God can either ask or give, all that God wants to see in us. "<b><i>He that believeth in me</i></b>, out of him shall flow rivers of living water" (<a onclick="return mV('Jhn',7,38);">John 7:38</a>). </p>
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<p class="scripture">"And Moses took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these wards."—<a onclick="return mV('Exd',24,7,8);">Exo 24:7-8</a>, ; comp. <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',9,'18-20');">Heb 9:18-20</a>. </p>
<p>HERE is a new aspect in which to regard God's blessed Book. Before Moses sprinkled the blood, he read the Book of the Covenant, and obtained the people's acceptance of it. And when he had sprinkled it, he said, "Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made <b><i>concerning all these words</i></b>." The Book contained all the conditions of the Covenant; only through the Book could they know all that God asked of them, and all that they might ask of Him. Let us consider what new light may be thrown both upon the Covenant and upon the Book, by the one thought, that the Bible is the Book of the Covenant. </p>
<p>The very first thought suggested will be this, that in nothing will the spirit of our life and experience, as it lives either in the Old or the New Covenant, be more manifest than in our dealings with the Book. The Old had a book as well as the New. Our Bible contains both. The New was enfolded in the Old; the Old is unfolded in the New. It is possible to read the Old in the spirit of the New; it is possible to read the New as well as the Old in the spirit of the Old. </p>
<p>What this spirit of the Old is, we cannot see so clearly anywhere as just in Israel when the Covenant was made. They were at once ready to promise: "All that the Lord hath said will we do and be obedient." There was so little sense of their own sinfulness, or of the holiness and glory of God, that with perfect self-confidence they considered themselves able to undertake to keep the Covenant. They understood little of the meaning of that blood with which they were sprinkled, or of that death and redemption of which it was the symbol. </p>
<p>In their own strength, in the power of the flesh, they were ready to engage to serve God. It is just the spirit in which many Christians regard the Bible; as a system of laws, a course of instruction to direct us in the way God would have us go. All He asks of us is, that we should do our utmost in seeking to fulfil them; more we cannot do; this we are sincerely ready to do. They know little or nothing of what the death means through which the Covenant is established, or what the life from the dead is through which alone a man can walk in covenant with the God of heaven. </p>
<p>This self-confident spirit in Israel is explained by what had happened just previously. When God had come down on Mount Sinai in thunderings and lightnings to give the law, they were greatly afraid. They said to Moses, "Let not God speak with us, lest we die; speak thou with us, and we will hear." They thought it was simply a matter of hearing and knowing; they could for certain obey. They knew not that it is only the presence, and the fear, and the nearness, and the power of God humbling us and making us afraid, that can conquer the power of sin and give the power to obey. It is so much easier to receive the instruction from man, and live, than to wait and hear the voice of God and die to all our own strength and goodness. It is no otherwise that many Christians seek to serve God without ever seeking to live in daily contact with Him, and without the faith that it is only His presence can keep from sin. Their religion is a matter of outward instruction from man: the waiting to hear God's voice that they may obey Him, the death to the flesh and the world that comes with a close walk with God, are unknown. They may be faithful and diligent in the study of their Bible, in reading .or hearing Bible teaching; to have as much as possible of that intercourse with the Covenant God Himself which makes the Christian life possible—this they do not seek. </p>
<p>If you would be delivered from all this, learn ever to read the Book of the New Covenant in the New Covenant Spirit. One of the very first articles of the New Covenant has reference to this matter. When God says, I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, He engages that the words of His Holy Book shall no longer be mere outward teaching, but that what they command shall be our very disposition and delight, wrought in us as a birth and a life by the Holy Spirit. Every word of the New Covenant then becomes a Divine assurance of what may be obtained by the Holy Spirit's working. The soul learns to see that the letter killeth, that the flesh profiteth nothing. The study, and knowledge of, the delight in, Bible words and thoughts, cannot profit, except as the Holy Spirit is waited on to make them life. The acceptance of Holy Scripture in the letter, the reception of it in the human understanding, is seen to be as fruitless as was Israel's at Sinai. But as the Word of God, spoken by the Living God through the Spirit into the heart that waits on Him, it is found to be quick and powerful. It then is a word that worketh effectually in them that believe, giving within the heart the actual possession of the very grace of which the Word has spoken. </p>
<p>The New Covenant is a ministration of the Spirit (<a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two07.html">see Chap. VII.</a>). All its teaching is meant to be teaching by the Holy Spirit. The two most remarkable chapters in the Bible on the preaching of the gospel are those in which Paul expounds the secret of this teaching (<a onclick="return mV('1Cr',2,'1-16');">1 Cor. 2:1-16</a> ; <a onclick="return mV('2Cr',3,'1-18');">2 Cor. 3:1-18</a>). Every minister ought to see whether he can pass his examination in them. They tell us that in the New Covenant the Holy Spirit is everything. It is the Holy Spirit entering the heart, writing, revealing, impressing upon it God's law and truth, that alone works true obedience. No excellency of speech or human wisdom can in the least profit God must reveal by His Holy Spirit to preacher and hearer the things He hath prepared for us. What is true of the preacher is equally true of the hearer. One of the great reasons that so many Christians never come out of the Old Covenant, never even know that they are in it, and have to come out of it, is that there is so much head knowledge, without the power of the Spirit in the heart being waited for. It is only when preachers and hearers and readers believe that the Book of the New Covenant needs the Spirit of the New Covenent, to explain and apply it, that the Word of God can do its work. </p>
<p>Learn the double lesson. What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. The Bible is the Book of the New Covenant. And the Holy Spirit is the only minister of what belongs to the Covenant. Expect not to understand or profit by thy Bible knowledge without seeking continually the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Beware lest thy earnest Bible study, thy excellent books, or thy beloved <b><i>teachers take the place of the Holy Spirit</i></b>! Pray daily, and perseveringly, and believingly for His teaching. He will write the Word in thy heart. </p>
<p>The Bible is the Book of the New Covenant. Ask the Holy Spirit specially to reveal to thee the New Covenant in it. It is inconceivable what loss the Church of our day is suffering because so few believers truly live as its heirs, in the true knowledge and enjoyment of its promises. Ask God, in humble faith, to give thee in all thy Bible reading, the spirit of wisdom and revelation, enlightened eyes of thine heart, to know what the promises are which the Covenant reveals; and what the Divine security in Jesus, the Surety of the Covenant, that every promise will be fulfilled in thee in Divine power; and what the intimate fellowship to which it admits thee with the God of the Covenant. The ministration of the Spirit, humbly waited for and listened to, will make the Book of the Covenant shine with new light, even the light of God's countenance and a full salvation. </p>
<p>All this applies specially to the knowledge of what actually the New Covenant is meant to work. Amid all we hear, and read, and understand of the different promises of the New Covenant, it is quite possible that we never yet have had that heavenly vision of it as a whole, that with its overmastering power compels acceptance. Just hear once again what it really is. <b><i>True obedience and fellowship with God</i></b>, for which man was created, which sin broke off, which the law demanded, but could not work, which God's own Son came from heaven to restore in our lives, <b><i>is now brought within our reach and offered us.</i></b> Our Father tells us in the Book of the New Covenant that He now expects us to live in full and unbroken obedience and communion with Him. He tells us that by the mighty power of His Son and Spirit <b><i>He Himself will work this in us</i></b>: everything has been arranged for it. He tells us that such a life of unbroken obedience is possible because Christ, as the Mediator, will live in us and enable us each moment to live in Him. He tells us that all He wants is simply the surrender of faith, the yielding ourselves to Him to do His work. Oh! let us look, and <b><i>see this holy life, with all its powers and blessings, coming down from God in heaven, in the Son and His Spirit</i></b>. Let us believe that the Holy Spirit can give us a vision of it, as a prepared Gift, to be bestowed in living power, and take possession of us. Let us look upward and look inward, in the faith of the Son and the Spirit, and God will show us that every word written in the Book of the Covenant is not only true, but that it can be made spirit and truth within us, and in our daily life, <b><i>This can indeed be</i></b>. </p>
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<p class="scripture">"Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a holy nation unto Me."—<a onclick="return mV('Exd',19,5);">Exo 19:5</a>. </p>
<p class="scripture">"And the Lord Thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul. And thou shalt obey the voice of the Lord, and do all His commandments."—<a onclick="return mV('Deu',30,6,8);">Deu 30:6, 8</a>. </p>
<p class="scripture">"And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments."—<a onclick="return mV('Eze',36,27);">Eze 36:27</a>. </p>
<p>IN making the New Covenant, God said very definitely, "Not after the covenant I made with your fathers." We have learnt what the fault was with that Covenant: it made God's favour dependent upon the obedience of the people."<b><i>If ye obey</i></b>, I will be your God." We have learnt how the New Covenant remedied the defect: God Himself provided for the obedience. It changes "<b><i>If ye keep</i></b> My judgments" into "I will put My Spirit within you, and <b><i>ye shall keep</i></b>." Instead of the Covenant and its fulfilment depending on man's obedience, God undertakes to ensure the obedience. The Old Covenant proved the need, and pointed out the path, of holiness: the New inspires the love, and gives the power, of holiness. </p>
<p>In connection with this change, a serious and most dangerous mistake is often made. Because in the New Covenant obedience no longer occupies the place it had in the Old, as the condition of the Covenant, and free grace has taken its place, justifying the ungodly, and bestowing gifts on the rebellious, many are under the impression that obedience is now <b><i>no longer as indispensable as it was then</i></b>. The error is a terrible one. The whole Old Covenant was meant to teach the lesson of the absolute and indispensable necessity of obedience for a life in God's favour. The New Covenant comes, not to provide a substitute for that obedience in faith, but through faith to secure the obedience, by giving a heart that delights in it and has the power for it. And men abuse the free grace, that without our own obedience accepts us for a life of new obedience, when they rest content with the grace, without the obedience it is meant for. They boast of the higher privileges of the New Covenant, while its chief blessing, <b><i>the power of a holy life, a heart delighting in God's law</i></b>, and a life in which God causes and enables us, by his indwelling Spirit, to keep His commandments, is neglected. If there is one thing we need to know well, it is the place obedience takes in the New Covenant. </p>
<p>Let our first thought be: <b><i>Obedience is essential</i></b>. At the very root of the relation of a creature to his God, and of God admitting the creature to His fellowship, lies the thought of obedience. It is the one only thing God spoke of in Paradise when "the Lord God commanded the man" not to eat of the forbidden fruit. In Christ's great salvation it is the power that redeemed us: "By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." In the promise of the New Covenant it takes the first place. God engages to circumcise the hearts of His people—in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ—to love God with all their heart, and to obey His commandments. The crowning gift of Christ's exaltation was the Holy Ghost, to bring salvation to us as an inward thing. The first Covenant demanded obedience, and failed because it could not find it. <b><i>The New Covenant was expressly made to provide for obedience</i></b>. To a life in the full experience of the New Covenant blessing, obedience is essential. </p>
<p>It is this indispensable necessity of obedience that explains why so often. the entrance into the full enjoyment of the New Covenant has depended upon some single act of surrender. There was something in the life, some evil or doubtful habit, in regard to which conscience had often said that it was not in perfect accord with God's perfect will. Attempts were made to push aside the troublesome suggestion. Or unbelief said it would be impossible to overcome the habit, and maintain the promise of obedience to the Voice within. Meantime, all our prayer appeared of no avail. It was as if faith could not lay hold of the blessing which was full in sight, until at last the soul consented to regard this little thing as the test of its surrender to obey in everything, and of its faith that in everything the Surety of the Covenant would give power to maintain the obedience. With the evil or doubtful thing given up, with a good conscience restored, and the heart's confidence before God assured, the soul could receive and possess what it sought. Obedience is essential. </p>
<p><b><i>Obedience is possible</i></b>. The thought of a demand which man cannot possibly render, cuts at the very root of true hope and strength. The secret thought, "No man can obey God," throws thousands back into the Old Covenant life, and into a false peace that God does not expect more than that we do our best. Obedience is possible: the whole New Covenant promises and secures this. </p>
<p>Only understand aright what obedience means. The renewed man has still the flesh, with its evil nature, out of which there arise involuntary evil thoughts and dispositions. These may be found in a truly obedient man. Obedience deals with the doing of what is known to be God's will, as taught by the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and conscience. When George Muller spoke of the great happiness he had had for more than sixty years in God's service, he attributed it two things—He had loved God's Word, and "he had maintained a good conscience, not wilfully going on in a course he knew to be contrary to the mind of God." When the full light of God broke in upon Gerhard Tersteegen, he wrote: "I promise, with Thy help and power, rather to give up the last drop of my blood, than knowingly and willingly in my heart or my life be untrue and disobedient to Thee." Such obedience is an attainable degree of grace. </p>
<p>Obedience is possible. When the law is written in the heart; when the heart is circumcised to love the Lord with all our heart, and to obey Him; when the love of God is shed abroad in the heart; it means that the love of God's law and of Himself has now become the moving power of our life. This love is no vague sentiment, in man's imagination of something that exists in heaven, but a living, mighty power of God in the heart, working effectually according to His working, which worketh in us mightily. A life of obedience is possible. </p>
<p><b><i>This obedience is of faith</i></b>. "By faith, Abraham obeyed." By faith the promises of the Covenant, the presence of the Surety of the Covenant, the hidden inworking of the Holy Spirit, and the love of God in His infinite desire and power to make true in us all His love and promises, must live in us. Faith can bring them nigh, and make us live in the very midst of them. Christ and Hie wonderful redemption need not remain at a distance from us in heaven, but can become our continual experience. However cold or feeble we may feel, faith knows that the new heart is in us, that the love of God's law is our very nature, that the teaching and power of the Spirit are within us. Such faith knows it can obey. Let us hear the voice of our Saviour, the Surety of the Covenant, as He says, with a deeper, fuller meaning than when He was on earth: "Only believe. If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." </p>
<p>And last of all, let us understand: <b><i>Obedience is blessedness</i></b>. Do not regard it only <b><i>as the way</i></b> to the joy and blessings of the New Covenant, but as itself, in its very nature, joy and happiness. To have the voice of God teaching and guiding you, to be united to God in willing what He wills, in working out what He works in you by His Spirit, in doing His Holy Will, and pleasing Him,—surely all this is joy unspeakable and full of glory. </p>
<p>To a healthy man—it is a delight to walk or work, to put forth his strength and conquer difficulties. To a slave or a hireling it is bondage and weariness. The Old Covenant demanded obedience with an inexorable <b><i>must</i></b>, and the threat that followed it. The New Covenant changes the must to <b><i>can</i></b> and <b><i>may</i></b>. Do ask God, by the Holy Spirit, to show you how "you have been created in Christ Jesus unto good works," and how, as fitted as a vine is for bearing grapes, your new nature is perfectly prepared for every good work. Ask Him to show you that He means obedience, not only to be a possible thing, but the most delightful and attractive gift He has to bestow, the entrance into His love and all its blessedness. </p>
<p>In the New Covenant the chief thing is not the wonderful treasure of strength and grace it contains, nor the Divine security that that treasure never can fail, but this, that the living God gives Himself, and makes Himself known, and takes possession of us as our God. For this man was created, for this He was redeemed again, for this, that it maybe our actual experience, the Holy Spirit has been given and is dwelling in us. Between what God has already wrougbt in us, and what He waits to work, obedience is the blessed link. Let us seek to walk before Him in the confidence that we are of those who live in the noble and holy consciousness: my one work is to obey God. (In a volume just published, The School of Obedience, the thoughts of this chapter are more fully worked out.) </p>
<p>What can be the reason, I ask once again, that so many believers have seen so little of the beauty of this New Covenant life, with its power of holy and joyful obedience? "Their eyes were holden that they knew Him not." The Lord was with the disciples, but their hearts were blind. It is so still. It is as with Elisha's servant, all heaven is around him and he knows it not. Nothing will help but the prayer, "Lord, open his eyes, that he may see." Lord, is there not someone who may be reading this, who just needs one touch to see it all? Oh! give that touch! </p>
<p>Just listen, my brother. Thy Father loves thee with an infinite love, and longs to make thee, even to-day, His holy, happy, obedient child. Hear His message: He has for thee an entirely different life from what thou art living. <b><i>A life in which His grace shall actually work in thee every moment all He asks thee to be</i></b>. A life of simple childlike obedience, doing for the day just what the Father shows thee to be His will. A life in which the abiding love of thy Father, and the abiding presence of thy Saviour, and the joy of the Holy Spirit, can keep thee, and make thee glad and strong. </p>
<p>This is His message. This life is for thee. Fear not to accept this life, to give up thyself to it and its entire obedience. In Christ it is possible, it is sure. </p>
<p>Now, my brother, just turn heavenward and ask the Father, by the Holy Spirit, to show thee the beautiful heavenly life. Ask and expect it. Keep thine eyes fixed upon it<b><i>. The great blessing of the New Covenant is obedience; the wonderful power to will and do as God wills</i></b>. It is indeed the entrance to every other blessing. It is paradise restored and heaven opened—the creature honouring his Creator, the Creator delighting in His creature; the child glorifying the Father, the Father glorifying the child, as He changes him, from glory to glory, into the likeness of His Son. </p>
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<p class="scripture">"Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace."—<a onclick="return mV('Rom',6,34);">Rom 6:34</a>.
<p>THE words, Covenant of grace, though not found in Scripture, are the correct expression of the truth it abundantly teaches, that the contrast between the two covenants is none other than that of law and grace. Of the New Covenant, grace is the great characteristic: "The law came in, that the offence might abound; but where sin abounded, grace did abound more exceedingly." (<a onclick="return mV('Rom',5,'20-21');">Rom 5:20-21</a>) It is to bring the Romans away entirely from under the Old Covenant, and to teach them their place in the New, that Paul writes: "Ye are not under the law, but under grace." (<a onclick="return mV('Rom',6,14);">Rom 6:14</a>) And he assures in them that if they believe this, and live in it, their experience would confirm God's promise: "Sin shall not have dominion over you." (<a onclick="return mV('Rom',6,14);">Rom 6:14</a>) What the law could not do—give deliverance from the power of sin over us—grace would effect. The New Covenant was entirely a Covenant of grace. In the wonderful grace of God it had its origin; it was meant to be a manifestation of the riches and the glory of that grace; of grace, and by grace working in us, all its promises can be fulfilled and experienced.
<p>The word <b><i>grace</i></b> is used in two senses. It is first the gracious disposition in God <b><i>which moves Him</i></b> to love us freely without our merit, and to bestow all His blessings upon us. Then it also means that power through which this grace does its work in us. The redeeming work of Christ, and the righteousness He won for us; equally with the work of the Spirit in us, as the power of the new life, are spoken of as Grace. It includes all that Christ has done and still does, all He has and gives, all He is for us and in us. John says, "We beheld His glory, the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." (<a onclick="return mV('Jhn',1,14);">John 1:14</a>) "The law was given by Moses grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." (<a onclick="return mV('Jhn',1,17);">John 1:17</a>) "And of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." (<a onclick="return mV('Jhn',1,16);">John 1:16</a>) What the law demands, grace supplies. The contrast which John pointed out is expounded by Paul: "The law came in, that the offence might abound," (<a onclick="return mV('Rom',5,20);">Rom 5:20</a>) and the way be prepared for the abounding of grace more exceedingly. The law points the way, but gives no strength to walk in it. The law demands, but makes no provision for its demands being met. The law burdens and condemns and slays. It can waken desire, but not satisfy it. It can rouse to effort, but not secure success. It can appeal to motives, but gives no inward power beyond what man himself has. And so, while warring against sin, it became its very ally in giving the sinner over to a hopeless condemnation. "The strength of sin is the law."</p>
<p>To deliver us from the bondage and the dominion of sin, grace came by Jesus Christ. Its work is twofold. Its exceeding abundance is seen in the free and full pardon there is of all transgression, in the bestowal of a perfect righteousness, and in the acceptance into God's favour and friendship. "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin according to the riches of His grace." (<a onclick="return mV('Eph',1,7);">Eph 1:7</a>) It is not only at conversion and our admittance into God's favour, but throughout all our life, at each step of our way, and amid the highest attainments of the most advanced saint; we owe everything to grace, and grace alone. The thought of merit and work and worthiness is for ever excluded.
<p>The exceeding abundance of grace is equally seen in the work which the Holy Spirit every moment maintains within us. We have found that the central blessing of the New Covenant, flowing from Christ's redemption and the pardon of our sins, is the new heart in which God's law and fear and love have been put. It is in the fulfilment of this promise<b><i>, in the maintenance of the heart in a state of meetness for God's indwelling</i></b>, that the glory of grace is specially seen. In the very nature of things this must be so. Paul writes: "Where sin abounded, grace did more exceedingly abound." (<a onclick="return mV('Rom',5,20);">Rom 5:20</a>) And where, as far as I was concerned, did sin abound? All the sin in earth and hell could not harm me, were it not, for its presence in my heart. It is there it has exercised its terrible dominion. And it is there the exceeding abundance of grace must be proved, if it is to benefit me. All grace in earth and heaven could not help me; it is only in the heart it can be received, and known, and enjoyed. "Where sin abounded," in the heart, there "grace did more exceedingly abound; that as sin reigned in death," working its destruction in the heart and life, "even so might grace reign," in the heart too, "through righteousness into eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord." As had been said just before, "They that receive the abundance of grace shall reign in life through Jesus Christ."
<p>Of this reign of grace in the heart Scripture speaks wondrous things. Paul speaks of the grace that fitted him for his work, of "the gift of that grace of God which was given me according to the working of His power." (<a onclick="return mV('Eph',3,7);">Eph 3:7</a>) "The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant, with faith and love." (<a onclick="return mV('1Ti',1,14);">1 Tim 1:14</a>) "<b><i>The grace</i></b> which was bestowed upon me was not found vain, but <b><i>I laboured more abundantly</i></b> than they all; yet not I, but <b><i>the grace</i></b> of God which was with me." (<a onclick="return mV('1Cr',15,10);">1 Cor 15:10</a>) "He said unto me, <b><i>My grace</i></b> is sufficient for thee; My strength is made perfect in weakness." (<a onclick="return mV('2Cr',12,9);">2 Cor 12:9</a>) He speaks in the same way of grace as working in the life of believers, when he exhorts them to "be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus"; (<a onclick="return mV('2Ti',2,1);">2 Tim 2:1</a>) when he tells us of "the grace of God" exhibited in the liberality of the Macedonian Christians, and "the exceeding grace of God" in the Corinthians; when he encourages them: "God is able to make all grace abound in you, that ye may abound unto every good work." (<a onclick="return mV('2Cr',9,8);">2 Cor 9:8</a>) Grace is not only the power that moves the heart of God in its compassion towards us, when He acquits and accepts the sinner and makes him a child, but is equally the power that moves the heart of the saint, and provides it each moment with just the disposition and the power which it needs to love God and do His will.
<p>It is impossible to speak too strongly of the need there is to know that, as wonderful and free and alone sufficient as is the grace that pardons, is the grace that sanctifies; we are just as absolutely dependent upon the latter as the former. We can do as little to the one as the other. The grace that works in us must as exclusively do all in us and through us as the grace that pardons does all for us. In the one case as the other, everything is by faith alone. Not to apprehend this brings a double danger. On the one hand, people think that grace cannot be more exalted than in the bestowal of pardon on the vile and unworthy; and a secret feeling arises that, if God be so magnified by our sins more than anything else, we must not expect to be freed from them in this life. With many this cuts at the root of the life of true holiness. On the other hand, from not knowing that grace is always and alone to do all the work in our sanctification and fruit-bearing, men are thrown upon their own efforts, their life remains one of feebleness and bondage under the law, and they never yield themselves to let grace do all it would.
<p>Let us listen to what God's Word says: "By <b><i>grace</i></b> have ye been saved, <b><i>through faith</i></b>; not of works, lest any man should glory. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them." (<a onclick="return mV('Eph',2,'8-10');">Eph 2:8-10</a>) Grace stands in contrast to good works of our own not only before conversion, but after conversion too. We are created <b><i>in Christ Jesus</i></b> for good works, which God had prepared for us. It is grace alone can work them in us and work them out through us. Not only the commencement but the continuance of the Christian life is the work of grace. "Now if it is by grace it is no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace; therefore, it is of faith that it may be according to grace." (<a onclick="return mV('Rom',11,6);">Rom 11:6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rom',4,16);">4:16</a>) As we see that grace is literally and absolutely to do all in us, so that all our actings are the showing forth of grace in us, we shall consent to live the life of faith—a life in which, every moment, everything is expected from God. It is only then that we shall experience that sin shall not, never, not for a moment, have dominion over us.
<p>"Ye are not under the law, but under grace." (<a onclick="return mV('Rom',6,14);">Rom 6:14</a>) There are three possible lives. One entirely under the law; one entirely under grace; one a mixed life, partly law, partly grace. It is this last against which Paul warns the Romans. It is this which is so common, and works such ruin among Christians. Let us find out whether this is not our position, and the cause of our low state. Let us beseech God to open our eyes by the Holy Spirit to see that in the New Covenant everything, every movement, every moment of our Christian life, is of grace, abounding grace; grace abounding exceedingly, and working mightily. Let us believe that our Covenant God waits to cause all grace to abound toward us. And let us begin to live the life of faith that depends upon, and trusts in, and looks to, and ever, waits for God, through Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit, to work in us that which is pleasing in His sight.
<p>Grace unto you, and peace be multiplied!</p>
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<p class="scripture">"That My covenant might be with Levi. My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared Me, and was afraid before My name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips; he walked with Me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity."—<a onclick="return mV('Mal',2,'4-6');">Mal 2:4-6</a>.
<p>ISRAEL was meant by God to be a nation of priests. In the first making of the Covenant this was distinctly stipulated. "If ye will obey My voice, and keep My covenant, ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests." They were to be the stewards of the oracles of God; the channels through whom God's knowledge and blessing were to be communicated to the world; in them all nations were to be blessed. Within the people of Israel one tribe was specially set apart to embody and emphasise the priestly idea. The first-born sons of the whole people were to have been the priests. But to secure a more complete separation from the rest of the people, and the entire giving up of any share in their possessions and pursuits, God chose one tribe to be exclusively devoted to the work of proving what constitutes the spirit and the power of priesthood. Just as the priesthood of the whole people was part of God's Covenant with them, so the special calling of Levi is spoken of as God's Covenant of Life and Peace being with Him, as the Covenant of an everlasting priesthood. All this was to be a picture to help them and us, in some measure, to apprehend the priesthood of His own Blessed Son, the Mediator of the New Covenant.
<p>Like Israel, all God's people, under the New Covenant, are a royal priesthood. The right of free and full access to God, the duty and power of mediating for our fellowmen and being God's channel of blessing to them, is the inalienable birthright of every believer. Owing to the feebleness and incapacity of many of God's children, their ignorance of the mighty grace of the New Covenant, they are utterly impotent to take up and exercise their priestly functions. To make up for this lack of service, to show forth the exceeding riches of His grace in the New Covenant, and the power He gives men of becoming, just as the priests of old were the forerunners of the Great High Priest, His followers and representatives, God still allows and invites those of His redeemed ones who are willing, to offer their lives to this blessed ministry. To him who accepts the call, the New Covenant brings in special measure what God has said: "My Covenant of Life and Peace shall be with him"; it becomes to him in very deed "the Covenant of an everlasting priesthood." As the Covenant of Levi's priesthood issued and culminated in Christ's, ours issues from that again, and receives from it its blessing to dispense to the world.
<p>To those who desire to know the conditions on which, as part of the New Covenant, the Covenant of an everlasting priesthood can be received and carried out, a study of the conditions on which Levi received. the priesthood will be most instructive. We are not only told that God chose that tribe, but what there specially was in that tribe that fitted it for the work. Malachi says: "I gave him My covenant for the fear wherewith he feared Me, and was afraid before My name." The reference is to what took place at Sinai when Israel had made the molten calf. Moses called all who were on the Lord's side, who were ready to avenge the dishonour done to God, to come to him. The tribe of Levi did so, and at his bidding took their swords, and slew three thousand of the idolatrous people (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',32,'26-29');">Exd 32:26-29</a>). In the blessing with which Moses blessed the tribes before his death, their absolute devotion to God, without considering relative or friend, is mentioned as the proof of their fitness for God's service (<a onclick="return mV('Deu',33,'5-11');">Deu 33:5-11</a>): "Let Thy Thummim and Thy Urim be with Thy holy one, who said unto his father and to his mother, I have not known thee; neither did he acknowledge his own brethren, nor know his own children: for they have observed Thy word and kept Thy covenant."
<p>The same principle is strikingly illustrated in the story of Aaron's grandson, Phineas, where he, in his zeal for God, executed judgment on disobedience to God's command. The words are most suggestive. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, hath turned away My wrath from the children of Israel, in that <b><i>he was jealous with My jealousy</i></b> among them, so that I consumed them not in My jealousy. Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him My covenant of peace: and it shall be unto him, and his seed after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because <b><i>he was jealous for his God</i></b>, and made an atonement for the children of Israel" (<a onclick="return mV('Num',25,'10-13');">Num 25:10-13</a>). To be jealous with God's jealousy, to be jealous for God's honour, and rise up against sin, is the gate into the Covenant of an everlasting priesthood, is the secret of being entrusted by God with the sacred work of teaching His people, and burning incense before Him, and turning many from iniquity (<a onclick="return mV('Deu',33,10);">Deut. 33:10</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mal',2,6);">Mal. 2:6</a>).
<p>Even the New Covenant is in danger of being abused by the seeking of our own happiness or holiness, more than the honour of God or the deliverance of men. Even where these are not entirely neglected, they do not always take the place they are meant to have—that first place that makes everything, the dearest and best, secondary and subordinate to the work of helping and blessing men. A reckless disregard of everything that would interfere with God's will and commands, a being jealous with God's jealousy against sin, a witnessing and a fighting against it at any sacrifice—this is the school of training for the priestly office.
<p>It is this the world needs nowadays—men of God in whom the fire of God burns, men who can stand and speak and act in power on behalf of a God who, amid His own people, is dishonoured by the worship of the golden calf. Understand that as you will, of the place given to money and rich men in the church, of the prevalence of worldliness and luxury, or of the more subtle danger of a worship meant for the true God, under forms taken from the Egyptians, and suited to the wisdom and the carnal life of this world. A religion God cannot approve is often found even where the people still profess to be in covenant with God. "Consecrate yourselves to-day unto the Lord, even every man upon his brother." This call of Moses is as much needed to-day as ever. To each one who responds there is the reward of the priesthood.
<p>Let all who would know to the full what the New-Covenant means, remember God's Covenant of Life and Peace with Levi. Accept of the holy calling to be an intercessor, and to burn incense before the Lord continually. Love, work, pray, believe, as one whom God has sought and found to stand in the gap before Him. The New Covenant was dedicated by a sacrifice and a death: reckon it your most wonderful privilege, your fullest entrance into its life, as you reflect the glory of the Lord, and are changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord, to let the Spirit of that sacrifice and death be the moving power in all your priestly functions. Sacrifice yourself, live and die for your fellowmen.
<p>One of the great objects with which God has made a Covenant with us is, as we have said so often, to waken strong confidence in Himself and His faithfulness to His promise. And one of the objects that He has in wakening and so strengthening the faith in us, is that He may use us as His channels of blessing to the world. In the work of saving men, He wants intercessory prayer to take the first place. He would have us come to Him to receive, from Him in heaven, the spiritual life and power which can pass out from us to them. He knows how difficult and hopeless it is in many-eases to deal with sinners; He knows that it is no light thing for us to believe that in answer to our prayer the mighty power of God will move to save those around us; He knows that it needs strong faith to persevere patiently in prayer in cases in which the answer is long delayed, and every year appears farther off than ever. And so He undertakes, in our own experience, to prove what faith in His Divine power can do, in bringing down all the blessings of the New Covenant on ourselves, that we may be able to expect confidently what we ask for others.
<p>In our priestly life there is still another aspect. The priests had no inheritance with their brethren; the Lord God was their inheritance. They had access to His dwelling and His presence, that there they might intercede for others, and thence testify of what God is and wills. Their personal privilege and experience fitted them for their work. If we would intercede in power, do let us live in the full realisation of New Covenant life. It gives us not only liberty and confidence with God, and power to persevere; it gives us power with men, as we can testify to and prove what God has done to us. Herein is the full glory of the New Covenant, that, like Christ, its Mediator, we have the fire of the Divine love dwelling in us, and consuming us in the service of men. May to each of us the chief glory of the New Covenant be that it is the Covenant of an everlasting priesthood.
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<p class="scripture">"Ye are our epistle, written in our hearts, known and read of all men: being made manifest that ye are an epistle of Christ<b>, ministered by us</b>, written not with ink, but <b>with the Spirit of the living God</b>: not in tables of stone, but in tables that are hearts of flesh. And such confidence have we through Christ Godward: not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God: who also made us sufficient as <b>ministers of a new covenant</b>; not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter killeth, but <b>the Spirit giveth life</b>."—<a onclick="return mV('2Cr',3,'2-6');">2 Cor 3:2-6</a>.
<p>WE have seen that the New Covenant is a ministration of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit ministers all its grace and blessing in Divine power and life. (It may be well to read again and compare <a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two07.html">Chapter VII.: "The New Covenant: A Ministration of the Spirit."</a>) He does this through men, who are called ministers of a New Covenant, ministers of the Spirit. The Divine ministration of the Covenant to men, and the earthly ministry of God's servants, are equally to be in the power of the Holy Spirit. The ministry of the New Covenant has its glory and its fruit in this, that it is all to be a demonstration of the Spirit and of power.
<p>What a contrast this to the Old Covenant. Moses had indeed received of the glory of God shining upon him, but had to put a veil on his face. Israel was incapable of looking on it. In hearing and reading Moses, there was a veil on their hearts. From Moses they might receive knowledge and thoughts and desires,—the power of God's Spirit, to enable them to see the glory of what God speaks, was not yet given. This is the exceeding glory of the New Covenant, that it is a ministration of the Spirit; that its ministers have their sufficiency from God, who makes them ministers of the Spirit, and makes them able so to speak the words of God in the Spirit, that they are written in the heart, and that the hearers become legible, living epistles of Christ, showing the law written in their heart and life.
<p>The ministry of the Spirit! What a glory there is in it! What a responsibility it brings! What a sufficiency of grace there is provided for it! What a privilege, to be a minister of the Spirit!
<p>What tens of thousands we have throughout Christendom who are called ministers of the gospel. What an inconceivable influence they exert for life or for death over the millions who depend upon them for their knowledge and participation of the Christian life. What a power there would be if all these were ministers of the Spirit! Let us study the word, until we see what God meant the ministry to be, and learn to take our part in praying and labouring to have it nothing less.
<p><b><i>God hath made us ministers of the Spirit</i></b>. The first thought is that a minister of the New Covenant must be a man personally possessed of the Holy Spirit. There is a twofold work of the Spirit: one in giving a holy disposition and character, the other in qualifying and empowering a man for work. The former must always come first. The promise of Christ to His disciples, that they should receive the Holy Spirit for their service, was very definitely given to those who had followed and loved Him, and kept His commandments. It is by no means enough that a man have been born of the Spirit. If he is to be a "sufficient minister" of the New Covenant, he must know what it is to be led by the Spirit, to walk in the Spirit, and to say, "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Who that wants to learn Greek or Hebrew would accept a professor who hardly knows the elements of these languages? And how can a man be a minister of the New Covenant, which is so entirely "a ministration of the Spirit," a ministration of heavenly life and power, unless he knows by experience what it is to live in the Spirit ? The minister must, before everything, be a personal proof and witness of the truth and power of God in the fulfilment of what the New Covenant promises. Ministers are to be picked men; the best specimens and examples of what the Holy Spirit can do to sanctify a man, and by the working of God's power in him to fit him for His service.
<p><b><i>God hath made us ministers of the Spirit</i></b>. Next to this thought, of being personally possessed by the Spirit, comes the truth that all their work in the ministry can be done in the power of the Spirit. What an unspeakably precious assurance—Christ sends them to do a heavenly work, to do His work, to be the instruments in His hands, by which He works He clothes them with a heavenly power. Their calling is "to preach the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven." As far as feelings are concerned, they may have to say as Paul: "I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling." That does not prevent their adding, nay rather, that may just be the secret of their being able to add: "My preaching was in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." If a man is to be a minister of the New Covenant, a messenger and a teacher of its true blessing, so as to lead God's children to live in it, nothing less will do than a full experience of its power in himself, as the Spirit ministers it. Whether in his feeding on God's word himself, or his seeking in it for God's message for his people, whether in secret or intercessory prayer, whether in private intercourse with souls or public teaching, he is to wait upon, to receive, to yield to the energising of the Holy Spirit, as the mighty power of God working with him. This is his sufficiency for the work. He may every day afresh claim and receive the anointing with fresh oil, the new inbreathing from Christ of His own Spirit and life.
<p><b><i>God hath made us ministers of the Spirit</i></b>. There is something still, of no less importance. The Minister of the Spirit must especially see to it that <b><i>he lead men to the Holy Spirit</i></b>. Many will say, If he be led of the Spirit in teaching men, is not that enough? By no means. Men may become too dependent on him; men may take his Scripture teaching at second-hand, and, while there is power and blessing in his ministry, have reason to wonder that the results are not more definitely spiritual and permanent. The reason is simple. The New Covenant is: they shall no longer every man teach his brother, know the Lord, for all shall know Me, from the least even to the greatest. The Father wants every child, from the least, to <b><i>live in continual personal intercourse with Himself</i></b>. This cannot be, except as he is taught and helped to know and wait on the Holy Spirit. Bible study and prayer, faith and love and obedience, the whole daily walk must be taught as entirely dependent on the teaching and working of the indwelling Spirit.
<p>The minister of the Spirit, very definitely and perseveringly, points away from himself to the Spirit. This is what John the Baptist did. He was filled with the Holy Spirit from his birth, but sent men away from himself to Christ, to be by Him baptized with the Spirit. Christ did the same. In His farewell discourse He called His disciples to turn from His personal instruction to the inward teaching of the Holy Spirit, who should dwell in them, and guide them into the truth and power of all He had taught them.
<p>There is nothing so needed in the Church to-day. All its feebleness and formalities and worldliness, the lack of holiness, of personal devotion to Christ, of enthusiasm for His cause and kingdom, is owing to one thing—the Holy Spirit is not known and honoured and yielded to, as the one only, as the one all-sufficient source of a holy life. The New Covenant is not known as a ministration of the Spirit in the heart of every believer. The one thing needful for the Church is—the Holy Spirit in His power dwelling and ruling in the lives of God's saints. And as one of the chief means to this there are needed ministers of the Spirit, themselves living in the enjoyment and power of this great gift, who persistently labour to bring their brethren into the possession of their birthright: the Holy Spirit in the heart, maintaining, in Divine power, an unceasing communion with the Son and with the Father. The ministration of the Spirit makes the ministry of the Spirit possible and effectual. And the ministry of the Spirit again makes the ministration of the Spirit an actual experimental reality in the life of the Church.
<p>We know how dependent the Church is on its ministry. The converse is no less true. The ministers are dependent on the Church. They are its children; they breathe its atmosphere; they share its health or sickliness; they are dependent upon its fellowship and intercession. Let none of us think that all that the New Covenant calls us to is to see that we personally accept and rejoice in its blessings. No, indeed; God wants everyone who enters into it to know that its privileges are for all His children, and to give himself to make this known. And there is no more effectual way of doing this than taking thought for the ministry of the Church. Compare the ministry around you with its pattern in God's word (see specially <a onclick="return mV('1Cr',2,'all');">1 Cor 2</a>; <a onclick="return mV('2Cr',3,'all');">2 Cor 3</a>). Join with others who know how the New Covenant is nothing, if it be not a ministration of the Spirit, and cry to God for a spiritual ministry. Ask the leading of God the Holy Ghost to teach you what can be done, what you can do, to have the ministry of your Church become a truly spiritual one. Human condemnation will do as little good as human approbation. It is as the supreme place of the Holy Spirit, as the representative and revealer of the Father and the Son, is made clear to us, that the one desire of our heart, and our continual prayer, will be, that God would so discover to all the ministers of His word their heavenly calling, that they may, above everything, seek this one thing,—to be sufficient ministers of the New Covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit
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<p class="scripture">"To remember His Holy Covenant; to grant unto us that we, being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, should serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all our days."—<a onclick="return mV('Luk',1,'68-75');">Luke 1:68-75</a>.
<p>WHEN Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, he spoke of God's visiting and redeeming His people, as a remembering of His Holy Covenant. He speaks of what the blessings of that Covenant would be, not in words that had been used before, but in what is manifestly a Divine revelation to him by the Holy Spirit; and gathers up all the former promises in these words "That we should serve Him without fear<b><i>, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life</i></b>." Holiness in life and service is to be the great gift of the Covenant of God's Holiness. As we have seen before, the Old Covenant proclaimed and demanded holiness; the New provides it; holiness of heart and life is its great blessing.
<p>There is no attribute of God so difficult to define, so peculiarly a matter of Divine revelation, so mysterious, incomprehensible, and inconceivably glorious, as His Holiness. It is that by which He is specially worshipped in His majesty on the throne of heaven (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',6,2);">Isa 6:2</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',4,8);">Rev 4:8</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',15,4);">15:4</a>). It unites His righteousness, that judges and condemns, with His love, that saves and blesses. As the Holy One He is a consuming fire (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',10,17);">Isa 10:17</a>); as the Holy One He loves to dwell among His people (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',12,6);">Isa 12:6</a>). As the Holy One He is at an infinite distance from us; as the Holy One He comes inconceivably near, and makes us one with, makes us like Himself. The one purpose of His holy Covenant is to make us holy as He is holy.
<p>As the Holy One He says: "I am holy; be ye holy; I am the Lord which hallow you, which make you holy." The highest conceivable summit of blessedness is our being partakers of the Divine nature, of the Divine holiness.
<p>This is the great blessing Christ, the Mediator of the New Covenant, brings. He has been made unto us "both righteousness and sanctification" —righteousness in order to, as a preparation for, sanctification (Remember that the words sanctify, sanctity, saint are the same as make holy, holiness, holy one) or holiness. He prayed to the Father: "Sanctify them; for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves may also be sanctified in truth." In Him we are sanctified, saints, holy ones (<a onclick="return mV('Rom',1,7);">Rom 1:7</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Cr',1,2);">1 Cor 1:2</a>). We have put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and holiness. Holiness is our very nature.
<p>We are holy in Christ. As we believe it, as we receive it, as we yield ourselves to the truth, and draw nigh to God to have the holiness drawn forth and revealed in fellowship with Him, its fountain, we shall know how divinely true it is.
<p>It is for this the Holy Spirit has been given in our hearts. He is the "Spirit of Holiness." His every working is in the power of holiness. Paul says: "God hath chosen us unto salvation, in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." As simple and entire as is our dependence on the word of truth, as the external means, must our confidence be in the hidden power for holiness which the working of the Spirit brings. The connection between God's electing purpose, and the work of the Spirit, with the word we obey, comes out with equal clearness in Peter: "<b><i>Elect, in sanctification of the Spirit</i></b>, unto obedience." The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the life of Christ; as we know, and honour, and trust Him, we shall learn and also experience that, in the New Covenant, as the ministration of the Spirit, the sanctification, the holiness of the Holy Spirit is our covenant right. We shall be assured that, as God has promised, so He will work it in us, that we "should serve Him without fear, in righteousness and holiness before Him, all the days of our life." With a treasure of holiness in Christ, and the very Spirit of holiness in our hearts, we can live holy lives. That is, if we believe Him "who worketh in us both to will and to work."
<p>In the light of this Covenant promise, with the Blessed Son and the Holy Spirit to work it out in us, what new meaning is given to the teaching of the New Testament. Take the first epistle St. Paul ever wrote. It was directed to men who had only a few months previously been turned from idols to serve the Living God, and to wait for His Son from heaven. The words he speaks in regard to the holiness they might aim at and expect, because God was going to work it in them, are so grand that many Christians pass them by, as practically unintelligible (<a onclick="return mV('1Th',3,13);">1 Thess 3:13</a>): "The Lord make you to increase and abound in love, to the <b><i>end He may stablish your hearts unblamable in holiness</i></b> at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints." That promises holiness, unblamable holiness, a heart unblamable in holiness, a heart stablished in all this by God Himself. Paul might indeed say of a word like this: "Who hath believed our report?" He had written of himself (<a onclick="return mV('1Th',2,10);">1 Thess 2:10</a>): "Ye know how holily <b><i>and righteously and unblamably</i></b> we behaved ourselves." He assures them that what God has done for him He will do for them—give them hearts unblameable in holiness. The Church believes so little in the mighty power of God, and the truth of His Holy Covenant, that the grace of such heart-holiness is hardly spoken of. The verse is often quoted in connection with "the coming of our Lord Jesus with His saints"; but its real point and glory,—that when He comes we may meet Him with <b><i>hearts stablished unblamable in holiness</i></b> by God Himself: all too little this is understood or proclaimed or expected.
<p>Or take another verse in the Epistle (<a onclick="return mV('1Th',5,23);">1 Thess 5:23</a>), also spoken to these young converts from heathenism, in reference to the coming of our Lord. Some think that to speak much of the coming of the Lord will make us holy. Alas! how little it has done so in many cases. It is the New Covenant Holiness, wrought by God Himself in us, believed in and waited for from Him, that can make our waiting differ from the carnal expectations of the Jews or the disciples. Listen—"THE GOD OF PEACE HIMSELF "—that is the keynote of the New Covenant what you never can do God will work in you "SANCTIFY YOU WHOLLY"; this you may ask and expect,—"<b><i>and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire</i></b>, UNBLAMABLE<b><i>, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ</i></b>." And now, as if to meet the doubt that will arise: " <b><i>Faithful is He that calleth you</i></b>, WHO WILL ALSO DO IT." Again it is the secret of the New Covenant—what hath not entered into the heart of man,—GOD WILL WORK in them that wait for Him. Until the Church awakes to see and believe that our holiness is to be the immediate <b><i>almighty working of the Three-One God in us</i></b>, and that our whole religion must be an unceasing dependence to receive it <b><i>direct from Himself</i></b>, these promises remain a sealed book.
<p>Let us now return to the prophecy of the Holy Spirit by Zacharias, of God's remembering the Covenant of His Holiness, to make us holy, to stablish our hearts unblamable in holiness, that we should serve Him IN HOLINESS AND RIGHTEOUSNESS. Note how every word is significant.
<p><b><i>To grant us</i></b>. It is to be a gift from above. The promise given with the Covenant was: "I the Lord have spoken it<b><i>; I will perform it</i></b>." We need to beseech God to show us both what <b><i>He will do</i></b>, and that <b><i>He will do it</i></b>. When our faith expects all from Him, the blessing will be found.
<p>"<b><i>That we, being delivered out of the hands of our enemies</i></b>." He had just before said<b><i>: He hath raised up an horn of salvation for us; salvation from our enemies and the hand of all that hate us</i></b>. It is only a free people can serve a Holy God, or be holy. It is only as the teaching of Rom 6-8. is experienced, and I know what it is that we are "freed from sin," and "freed from the law," and that "the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death," that in the perfect liberty from every power that could hinder, I can expect God to do His mighty work in me.
<p><b><i>Should serve Him</i></b>. My servant does not serve me by spending all his time in getting himself ready for work, but in doing my work. The Holy Covenant sets us free, and endows us with Divine grace, that God may have us for His work,—the same work Christ began, and we now carry on.
<p><b><i>Without fear</i></b>. In childlike confidence and boldness before God. And before men too. A freedom from fear in every difficulty, because having learnt to know that God works all in us we can trust Him to work all for us and through us.
<p><b><i>Before Him</i></b>. With His continued unceasing presence all the day, as the unceasing security of our obedience and our fearlessness, the never failing secret of our being sanctified wholly.
<p><b><i>All our days</i></b>. Not only all the day for one day, but for every day, because Jesus is a High Priest in the power of an endless life, and the mighty operation of God as promised in the Covenant is as unchanging as is God Himself.
<p>Is it not as if you begin to see that God's word does appear to mean more than you have ever conceived of or expected? It is well that it should be so. It is only when you begin to say, <b><i>Glory to Him</i></b> who is able to do <b><i>exceeding abundantly above all</i></b> we can ask or think, and expect God's almighty, supernatural, altogether immeasurable power and grace to work out the New Covenant life in you, and to <b><i>make you holy</i></b>, that you will really come to the place of helplessness and dependence where God can work.
<p>I pray you, my Brother, do believe that God's word is true, and say with Zacharias, "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who hath visited His people, to remember HIS HOLY COVENANT, and to grant us, that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, should serve Him without fear, <b><i>in holiness rind righteousness before Him, all our days."</i></b>
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<p class="scripture">"And they entered into the covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart, and all their soul."—<a onclick="return mV('2Ch',15,12);">2 Chron 15:12</a> (see <a onclick="return mV('2Ch',34,31);">2 Chron 34:31</a>, and <a onclick="return mV('2Ki',23,3);">2 Kings 23:3</a>).
<p class="scripture">"The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul."—<a onclick="return mV('Deu',30,6);">Deu 30:6</a>.
<p class="scripture">"And I will give them an heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God: for they shall turn to Me with <b>their whole heart</b>."—<a onclick="return mV('Jer',24,7);">Jer 24:7</a> (see <a onclick="return mV('Jer',29,16);">Jer 29:13</a>).
<p class="scripture">"I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me. Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, <b>with My whole heart and My whole soul</b>."—<a onclick="return mV('Jer',32,40);">Jer 32:40</a>.
<p>IN the days of Asa, Hezekiah, and Josiah, we read of Israel entering into "the Covenant" with their whole heart, "to perform the words of the Covenant which are written in the book." Of Asa's day, we read: "They sware unto the Lord; and all Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn <b><i>with their whole heart</i></b>, and sought Him <b><i>with their whole desire</i></b>; and He was found of them." Wholeheartedness is the secret of entering the Covenant, and God being found of us in it. Wholeheartedness is the secret of joy in religion—a full entrance into all the blessedness the Covenant brings. God rejoices over His people to do them good, <b><i>with His whole heart and His whole soul</i></b>: it needs, on our part, <b><i>our whole heart and our whole soul</i></b> to enter into and enjoy this joy of God in doing us good with His whole heart and His whole soul. With what measure we mete, it shall be measured unto us again.
<p>If we have at all understood the teaching of God's word in regard to the New Covenant, we know what it reveals in regard to the two parties who meet in it. On God's side there is the promise to do for us and in us all that we need to serve and enjoy Him. He will rejoice in doing us good, with His whole heart. He will be our God, doing for us all that a God can do, giving Himself as God to be wholly ours. And on our side there is the prospect held out of our being able, in the power of what He engages to do, to "turn to Him with our whole heart," "to love Him with all our heart and all our strength." The first and great commandment, the only possible terms on which God can fully reveal Himself, or give Himself to His creature to enjoy, is, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." That law is unchangeable. The New Covenant comes and brings us the grace to obey, by lifting us into the love of God as the air we breathe, and enabling us, in the faith of that grace, to rise and be of good courage, and with our whole heart to yield ourselves to the God of the Covenant, and the life in His service.
<p>Wholeheartedness in the love and the service of God! how shall I speak of it? Of its imperative necessity? It is the one unalterable condition of true communion with God, of which nothing can supply the want. Of its infinite reasonableness? With such a God, a very Fountain of all that is loving and lovely, of all that is good and blessed, the All-glorious God: surely there cannot for a moment be a thought of anything else being His due, or of our consenting to offer Him anything less, than the love of the whole heart. Of its unspeakable blessedness? To love Him with the whole heart, this is the only possible way of receiving His great love into our heart and rejoicing in it—yielding oneself to that mighty love, and allowing God Himself, just as an earthly love enters into us and makes us glad, to give us the taste and the joy of the heavenliness of that love. Of its terrible lack? Yes, what shall I speak of this? Where find words to open the eyes and reach the heart, and show how almost universal is the lack of true wholeheartedness in the faith and love of God, in the desire to love Him with the whole heart, in the sacrifice of everything to possess Him, to please Him, to be wholly possessed of Him? And then of the blessed certainty of its attainableness? The Covenant has provided for it. The Triune God will work it by taking possession of the heart, and dwelling there. The Blessed Mediator of the Covenant undertakes for all we have to do. His constraining love shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit can bring it and maintain it. Yes, I ask how shall I speak of all this?
<p>Have we not spoken enough of it already in this book? Do we not need something more than words and thoughts? Is not what we need rather this—quietly to turn to the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, and in the faith of the light and the strength our Lord gives through Him, accept and act out what God tells us of the God-given heart He has placed within us, the God-wrought wholeheartedness He works? Surely the new heart which has been given us to love God with, with God's Spirit in it, is wholly for God. Let our faith accept and rejoice in the wondrous gift, and not fear to say: I will love Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart. Just think for a moment of what it means that God has given us such a heart.
<p>We know what God's giving means. <b><i>His giving depends on our taking</i></b>. He does not force upon us spiritual possessions. He promises, and gives, in such measure as desire and faith are ready to receive. He gives in Divine power; as faith yields itself to that power, and accepts the gift, it becomes consciously and experimentally our possession.
<p>As spiritual gifts God's bestowings <b><i>are not recognised by sense or reason</i></b>. "Ear hath not heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, <b><i>the things which God bath prepared</i></b> for them that love Him. But God hath <b><i>revealed them unto us by His Spirit</i></b>. We have received the Spirit which is of God, that we might <b><i>know the things which are freely given us of God."</i></b> It is as you yield yourself to be led and taught by the Spirit, that your faith will be able, despite of all lack of feeling, to rejoice in the possession of the new heart, and all that is given with it.
<p>Then, <b><i>this Divine giving is continuous</i></b>. I bestow a gift on a man; he takes it, and I never see him again. So God bestows temporal gifts on men, and they never think of Him. But spiritual gifts are only to be received and enjoyed in unceasing communication with God Himself. The new heart is not a power I have in myself, like the natural endowments of thinking or loving. No, it is only in unceasing dependence upon, in close contact with God, that the heavenly gift of a new heart can be maintained uninjured, can day by day become stronger. It is only in God's immediate presence, in unbroken direct dependence on Him, that spiritual endowments are preserved.
<p>Then, further, <b><i>spiritual gifts can only be enjoyed by acting them out in faith</i></b>. None of the graces of the Christian life, like love, or meekness, or boldness, can be felt or known, much less strengthened, until we begin to exercise them. We must not wait to feel them, or to feel the strength for them; we must, in the obedience of the faith that they are given us, and hidden within us, practise them. Whatever we read of the new heart, and of all God has given into it in the New Covenant, must be boldly believed and carried out into action.
<p>All this is especially true of wholeheartedness, and loving God with all our heart. You may at first be very ignorant of all it implies. God has planted the new heart in the midst of the flesh, which, with its animating principle, SELF, has to be denied, to be kept crucified, and by the Holy Spirit to be mortified. God has placed you in the midst of a world, from which, with all that is of it and its spirit, you are to come out and be entirely separate. God has given you your work in His kingdom, for which He asks all your interest, and time, and strength. In all these three respects you need wholeheartedness, to enable you to make the sacrifices that may be required. If you take the ordinary standard of Christian life around you, you will find that wholeheartedness, intense devotion to God and His service, is hardly thought of. How to make the best of both worlds, innocently to enjoy as much as possible of this present life, is the ruling principle, and, as a natural consequence, the present world secures the larger share of interest. To please self is considered legitimate, and the Christlike life of <b><i>not pleasing self</i></b> has little place. Wholeheartedness will lead you, and enable you too, to accept Christ's command and sell all for the pearl of great price. Though at first afraid of what it may involve, do not hesitate to speak the word frequently in the ear of your Father: <b><i>with my whole heart</i></b>. You may count on the Holy Spirit to open up its meaning, to show you to what service or what sacrifice God calls you in it, to increase its power, to reveal its blessedness, to make it the very spirit of your life of devotion to your Covenant God.
<p>And now, who is ready to enter into this New and Everlasting Covenant with his whole heart? Let each of us do it.
<p>Begin by asking God very humbly to give you by the Spirit, who dwells in you, the vision of the heavenly life of wholehearted love and obedience, as it has actually been prepared for you in Christ. It is an existing reality, a spiritual endowment out of the life of God which can come upon you. It is secured to you in the Covenant, and in Christ Jesus, its Surety. Ask earnestly, definitely, believingly, that God reveal this to you. Rest not till you know fully what your Father means you to be, and has provided for your most certainly being.
<p>When you begin to see why the New Covenant was given, and what it promises, and how divinely certain its promises are, <b><i>offer yourself to God unreservedly to be taken up into it</i></b>. Offer, if He will take you in, to love Him with your whole heart, and to obey Him with all your strength. Hold not back, be not afraid. God has sworn to do you good with <b><i>His whole heart</i></b>: do say, do not hesitate to say, that into this Covenant, in which <b><i>He promises to cause you</i></b> to turn to Him and to love Him with your whole heart, you now with your whole heart enter. If there be any fear, just ask again and believingly for a vision of the Covenant life: God swearing to do you good with His whole heart; God undertaking to make and enable you to love and obey Him with <b><i>your whole heart</i></b>. The vision of this life will make you bold to say: Into this Covenant of a wholehearted love in God and in me I do with my whole heart now enter: here will I dwell.
<p>Let us close and part with this one thought. A redeeming God, rejoicing with His whole heart and whole soul to do us good, and to work in us all that is well-pleasing in His sight: this is the one side. Such is the God of the Covenant. Gaze upon Him. Believe Him. Worship Him. Wait upon Him, until the fire begin to burn, and your heart be drawn out with all its might to love this God. Then the other side. A redeemed soul, rejoicing with all its heart and all its soul in the love of this God, entering into the covenant of wholehearted love, and venturing, ere it knows, to say to Him: With my whole heart I do love Thee, God, my exceeding joy. Such are the children of the Covenant.
<p>Beloved reader! rest not till you have entered in, through the Gate Beautiful, though Christ the door, into this temple of the love, of the heart, of God.
<p>(<a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two_note_f.html">See Note F.—The Whole Heart</a>)
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<p>IT is often said that the great aim of the preacher ought to be to translate Scripture truth from its Jewish form into the language and the thought of the nineteenth century, and so to make it intelligible and acceptable to our ordinary Christians. It is to be feared that the experiment will do more harm than good. In the course of the translation the force of the original is lost. The scholar who trusts to translations will never become a master of the language he wants to learn. A race of Christians will be raised up, to whom the language of God's Word, and with that the God who spoke it, will be strange. In the Scripture words not a little of Scripture truth will be lost. For the true Christian life nothing is so healthful and invigorating as to have each man come and study for himself the very words in which the Holy Ghost has spoken.</p>
<p>One of the words of Scripture, which is almost going out of fashion, is the word Covenant. There was a time when it was the keynote of the theology and the Christian life of strong and holy men. We know how deep in Scotland it entered into the national life and thought. It made mighty men, to whom God, and His promise and power were wonderfully real. It will be found still to bring strength and purpose to those who will take the trouble to bring all their life under control of the inspiring assurance that they are living in covenant with a God who has sworn faithfully to fulfil in them every promise He has given.</p>
<p>This book is a humble attempt to show what exactly the blessings are that God has covenanted to bestow on us; what the assurance is the Covenant gives that they must, and can, and will be fulfilled; what the hold on God Himself is which it thus gives us; and what the conditions are for the full and continual experience of its blessings. I feel confident that if I can lead any to listen to what God has to say to them of His Covenant, and to deal with Him as a Covenant God, it will bring them strength and joy.</p>
<p>Not long ago I received from one of my correspondents a letter with the following passage in it:-"I think you will excuse and understand me when I say there is one further note of power I would like so much to have introduced into your next book on Intercession. God Himself has, I know, been giving me some direct teaching this winter upon the place the New Covenant is to have in intercessory prayer...I know you believe in the Covenant, and the Covenant rights we have on account of it. Have you followed out your views of the Covenant as they bear upon this subject of intercession? Am I wrong in coming to the conclusion that we may come boldly into God's presence, and not only ask, but claim a Covenant right through Christ Jesus to all the spiritual searching, and cleansing, and knowledge, and power promised in the three great Covenant promises? If you would take the Covenant and speak of it as God could enable you to speak, I think that would be the quickest way the Lord could take to make His Church wake up to the power He has put into our hands in giving us a Covenant. I would be so glad if you would tell God's people <b><i>that they have a Covenant</i></b>." Though this letter was not the occasion of the writing of the book, and our Covenant rights have been considered in a far wider aspect than their relation to prayer, I am persuaded that nothing will help us more in our work of intercession, than the entrance for ourselves personally into what it means, that we have a Covenant God.</p>
<p>My one great desire has been to ask Christians whether they are really seeking to find out what exactly God wants them to be, and is willing to make them. It is only as they wait, "that the mind of the Lord may be showed them," that their faith can ever truly see, or accept, or enjoy what God calls "His salvation." As long as we expect God to do for us what we ask or think, we limit Him. When we believe that as high as the heavens are above the earth, His thoughts are above our thoughts, and wait on Him as God to do unto us according to His Word, as <i>He</i> means it, we shall be prepared to live the truly supernatural, heavenly life the Holy Spirit can work in us the true Christ life.</p>
<p>May God lead every reader into the secret of His presence, and " show him His Covenant."</p>
<p style="text-align: left">Wellington, South Africa<br>1st November 1898.<br>ANDREW MURRAY.</p>
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<p>IN the life of the believer there sometimes comes a crisis, as clearly marked as his conversion, in which he passes out of a life of continual feebleness and failure to one of strength, and victory, and abiding rest. The transition has been called the Second Blessing. Many have objected to the phrase, as being unscriptural, or as tending to make a rule for all, what was only a mode of experience in some. Others have used it as helping to express clearly in human words what ought to be taught to believers as a possible deliverance from the ordinary life of the Christian, to one of abiding fellowship with God, and entire devotion to His service. In introducing it. into the title of this book, I have indicated my belief that, rightly understood, the words express a scriptural truth, and may be a help to believers in putting clearly before them what they may expect from God. Let me try and make clear how I think we ought to understand it. I have connected the expression with the two Covenants. Why was it that God made two Covenants-not one, and not three? Because there were two parties concerned. In the First Covenant man was to prove what he could do, and what he was. In the Second, God would show what He would do. The former was the time of needed preparation; the latter, the time of Divine fulfilment. The same necessity as there was for this in the race, exists in the individual too. Conversion makes of a sinner a child of God, full of ignorance and weakness, without any conception of what the whole-hearted devotion is that God asks of him, or the full possession God is ready to take of him. In some cases the transition from the elementary stage is by a gradual growth and enlightenment. But experiences teaches, that in the great majority of cases this healthy growth is not found. To those who have never found the secret of a healthy growth, of victory over sin and perfect rest in God, and have possibly despaired of ever finding it, because all their efforts have been failures, it has often been a wonderful help to learn that it is possible by a single decisive step, bringing them into a right relationship to Christ, His Spirit, and His strength, to enter upon an entirely new life.</p>
<p>What is needed to help a man to take that step is very simple. He must see and confess the wrongness, the sin, of the life he is living, not in harmony with God's will. He must see and believe in the life which Scripture holds out, which Christ Jesus promises to work and maintain in him. As he sees that his failure has been owing to his striving in his own strength, and believes that our Lord Jesus will actually work all in him in Divine power, he takes courage, and dares surrender himself to Christ anew. Confessing and giving up all that is of self and sin, yielding himself wholly to Christ and His service, he believes and receives a new power to live his life by the faith of the Son of God. The change is in many cases as clear, as marked, as wonderful, as conversion. For lack of a better name, that of A Second Blessing came most naturally.</p>
<p>When once it is seen how greatly this change is needed in the life of most Christians, and how entirely it rests on faith in Christ and His power, as revealed in the Word, all doubt as to its scripturalness will be removed. And when once its truth is seen, we shall be surprised to find how, throughout Scripture, in history and teaching, we find what illustrates and confirms it.</p>
<p>Take the twofold passage of Israel through water, first out of Egypt, then into Canaan. The wilderness journey was the result of unbelief and disobedience, allowed by God to humble them, and prove them, and show what was in their heart. When this purpose had been accomplished, a second blessing led them through Jordan as mightily into Canaan, as the first had brought them through the Red Sea out of Egypt.</p>
<p>Or take the Holy Place and the Holiest of All, as types of the life in the two covenants, and equally in the two stages of Christian experience. In the former, very real access to God and fellowship with Him, but always with a veil between. In the latter, the full access, through a rent veil, into the immediate presence of God, and the full experience of the power of the heavenly life. As the eyes are opened to see how terribly the average Christian life comes short of God's purpose, and how truly the mingled life can be expelled by the power of a new revelation of what God waits to do, the types of Scripture will shine with a new meaning.</p>
<p>Or look to the teachings of the New Testament. In Romans, Paul contrasts the life of the Christian under the law with that under grace, the spirit of bondage with the Spirit of adoption. What does this mean but that Christians may still be living under the law and its bondage, that they need to come out of this into the full life of grace and liberty through the Holy Spirit, and that, when first they see the difference, nothing is needed but the surrender of faith, to accept and experience what grace will do by the Holy Spirit.</p>
<p>To the Corinthians, Paul writes of some being carnal, and still babes, walking as men after the flesh; others being spiritual, with spiritual discernment and character. To the Galatians, he speaks of the liberty with which Christ, by the Spirit, makes free from the law, in contrast to those who sought to perfect in the flesh, what was begun in the Spirit, and who gloried in the flesh; —all to call them to recognise the danger of the carnal, divided life, and to come at once to the life of faith, the life in the Spirit, which alone is according to God's will.</p>
<p>Everywhere we see in Scripture, what the state of the Church at the present day confirms, that conversion is only the gate that leads into the path of life, and that within that gate there is still great danger of mistaking the path, of turning aside, or turning back, and that where this has taken place we are called at once, and with our whole heart, to turn and give ourselves to nothing less than all that Christ is willing to work in us. Just as there are many who have always thought that conversion must be slow, and gradual, and uncertain, and cannot understand how it can be sudden and final, because they only take man's powers into account, so many cannot see how the revelation of the true life of holiness, and the entrance on it by faith out of a life of self effort and failure, may be immediate and permanent. They look too much to man's efforts, and know not how the second blessing is nothing more nor less than a new vision of what Christ is willing to work in us, and the surrender of faith that yields all to Him</p>
<p>I would fain hope that what I have written in this book may help some to see that the second blessing is just what they need, is what God by His Spirit will work in them, is nothing but the acceptance of Christ in all His saving power as our strength and life, and is what will bring them into, and fit them for, that full life in the New Covenant, in which God works all in all.</p>
<p>Let me close this note with a quotation from the introduction to a little book just published, <i>Dying to Self: A Golden Dialogue,</i> by William Law, with notes by A. M.: "A great deal has been said against the use of the terms, the Higher Life, the Second Blessing. In Law one finds nothing of such language, but of the deep truth of which they are the, perhaps defective, expression, his book is full. The points on which so much stress is laid in what is called Keswick teaching, stand prominently out in his whole argument. The low state of the average life of believers, the cause of all failure as coming from self-confidence, the need of an entire surrender of the whole being to the operation of God, the call to turn to Christ as the One and Sure Deliverer from the power of self, the Divine certainty of a better life for all who will in self-despair trust Christ for it, and the heavenly joy of a life in which the Spirit of Love fills the heart-these truths are common to both. What makes Law's putting of the truth of special value is the way in which he shows how humility and utter self-despair, with the resignation to God's mighty working in simple faith, is the infallible way to be delivered from self, and have the Spirit of Love born in the heart,"</p>
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<p>THE thought of the law written in the heart sometimes causes difficulty and discouragement, because believers do not see or feel in themselves anything corresponding to it. An illustration may help to remove the difficulty. There are fluids by which you can write so that nothing is visible, either at once or later, unless the writing be exposed to—the sun or the action of some chemical. The writing is there, but one who is ignorant of the process cannot think it is there, and knows not how to make it readable. The faith of a man who is in [on] the secret believes in it though he see it not.</p>
<p>It is even thus with the new heart. God has put His law into it. "Blessed are the people in whose heart is God's law." But it is there invisibly. He that takes God's promise in faith, knows that it is in his own heart. As long as there is not clear faith on this point, all attempts to find it, or to fulfil that law, will be vain. But when by a simple faith the promise is held fast, the first step is taken to realise it. The soul is then prepared to receive instruction as to what the writing of the law in the heart means. It means, first, that God has implanted in the new heart a love of God's law, and a readiness to do all His will. You may not feel this disposition there, but it is there. God has put it there. Believe this, and be assured that there is in you a Divine nature that says—and you therefore do not hesitate to say it—"I delight to do Thy will, O God!" In the name of God, and in faith, say it.</p>
<p>This writing of the law means, further, that in planting this principle in you, God has taken all that you know of God's will already, and inspired that new heart with the readiness to obey it. It may as yet be written there with invisible writing, and you are not conscious of it. That does not matter. You have here to deal with a Divine and hidden work of the Holy Spirit. Be not afraid to say: Oh, how love I Thy law! God has put the love of it into your heart, the new heart. He has taken away the stony heart; it is by the new heart you have to live.</p>
<p>The next thing implied in this writing of the law, is that you have accepted all God's will, even what you do not yet know, as the delight of your heart. In giving yourself up to God, you gave yourself wholly to His will. That was the one condition of your entering the Covenant; Covenant grace will now provide for teaching you to know, and strengthening you to do, all your Father would have you do.</p>
<p>The whole life in the New Covenant is a life of faith. Faith accepts every promise of the Covenant, is certain that it is being fulfilled, looks confidently to the God of the Covenant to do His work. Faith believes implicitly in the new heart, with the law written in it, because it believes in the promise, and in the God who gave and fulfils the promise.</p>
<p>It may be well to add here that the same truth holds good of all the promises concerning the new heart—they must be accepted and acted on by faith. When we read of "the love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit," of "Christ dwelling in the heart," of "a clean heart," of "loving each other with a clean heart fervently," of "God establishing our heart unblamable in holiness," we must; with the eye of faith, regard these spiritual realities as actually and in very deed existing within us. In His hidden unseen way God is working them there. Not by sight or feeling, but by faith in the Living God and His Word, we know they are as the power for the dispositions and inclinations of the new heart. In this faith we are to act, knowing that we have the power to love, to obey, to be holy. The New Covenant gives us a God who works all in us; faith in Him gives us the assurance, above and beyond all feeling, that this God is doing His blessed work.</p>
<p>And if the question be asked what we are to think of all there is within us that contradicts this faith, let us remember what Scripture teaches us of it. We sometimes speak of an old and a new heart. Scripture does not do so. It speaks of the old, the stony, heart, being taken away—the heart, with its will, disposition, affections, being made new with a Divine newness. This new heart is placed in the midst of what Scripture calls the flesh, in which there dwelleth no good thing. We shall find it a great advantage to adhere as closely as possible to Scripture language. It will greatly help our faith even to use the very words God by His Holy Spirit has used to teach us. And it will greatly clear our view for knowing what to think of the sin that remains in us if we think of it and deal with it in the light of God's truth. Every evil desire and affection comes from the flesh, man's sinful natural life. It owes its power greatly to our ignorance of its nature, and our trusting to its help and strength to cast out its evil. I have already pointed out how sinful flesh and religious flesh is one, and how all failure in religion is owing to a secret trust in ourselves. As we accept and make use of what God says of the flesh, we shall see in it the source of all evil in us; we shall say of its temptations: "It is no more I, but sin that dwelleth in me"; we shall maintain our integrity as we maintain a good conscience that condemns us for nothing knowingly done against God's will; and we shall be strong in the faith of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in the new heart, so to strengthen that we need not and "shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh."</p>
<p>I conclude with an extract of an address by Rev. F. Webster, at Keswick last year, in confirmation of what I have just said: "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. 'Make no provision for the flesh.' The flesh is there, you know. To deny or ignore the existence of an enemy is to give him a great chance against you; and the flesh is in the believer to the very end, a force of evil to be reckoned with continually, an evil force inside a man, and yet, thank God, a force which can be so dealt with by the power of God, that it shall have no power to defile the heart or deflect the will. The flesh is in you, but your heart may be kept clean moment by moment in spite of the existence of evil in your fallen nature. Every avenue, every opening that leads into the heart, every thought and desire and purpose and imagination of your being, may be closed against the flesh, so that there, shall be no opening to come in and defile the heart or deflect the will from the will of God.</p>
<p>"You say that is a very high standard. But it is the Word of God. There is to be no secret sympathy with sin. Although the flesh is there, you are to make it no excuse for sins. You are not to say, I am naturally irritable, anxious, jealous, and I cannot help letting these things crop up; they come from within. Yes, they come from within, but then there need be no provision, no opening in your heart for these things to enter. Your heart can be barricaded with an impassable barrier against these things. 'No provision for the flesh.' Not merely the front door barred and bolted so that you do not invite them to come in, but the side and back door closed too. You may be so Christ-possessed and Christ-enclosed that you shall positively hate everything that is of the flesh.</p>
<p>"<b><i>Make no provision for the flesh."</i></b> The only way to do so is to 'put on the Lord Jesus Christ.' I spoke of the heart being so barricaded that there should be no entrance to it, that the flesh should never be able to defile it or deflect the will from the will of God. How can that be done? By putting on the Lord Jesus Christ. It has been such a blessing to me just to learn that one secret, just to learn the positive side of deliverance—putting on the Lord Jesus Christ."</p>
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<p>IN the life of George Miller of Bristol there was an epoch, four years after his conversion, to which he ever after looked back, and of which he often spoke, as his entrance into the true Christian life.</p>
<p>In an address given to ministers and work after his ninetieth birthday, he spoke thus of it himself: "That leads to another thought—the full surrender of the heart to God. <b><i>I was converted</i></b> in November 1825, <b><i>but I only came, into the full surrender of the heart</i></b> four years later, in July 1829. The love of money was gone, the love of place was gone, the love of position was gone, the love of worldly pleasures and engagements was gone. God, God, God alone became my portion. I found my all in Him; I wanted nothing else. And by the grace of God this has remained, and has made me a happy man, an exceedingly happy man, and it led me to care only about the things of God. I ask, affectionately, my beloved brethren, have you fully surrendered the heart to God, or is there this thing or that thing with which you are taken up irrespective of God? I read a little of the Scriptures before, but preferred other books, but since that time the revelation He has made of Himself has become unspeakably blessed to me, and I can say from my heart, God is an infinitely lovely Being. Oh! be not satisfied until in your inmost soul you can say, God is an infinitely lovely Being!"</p>
<p>The account he gives of this change in his journal is as follows. He speaks of one whom he had heard preach at Teignmouth, where he had gone for the sake of his health. "Though I did not like all he said, yet I saw a gravity and solemnity in him different from the rest. Through the instrumentality of this brother the Lord bestowed a great blessing upon me, for which I shall have cause to thank Him throughout eternity. God then began to show me that the Word of God alone is to be our standard of judgment in spiritual things; that it can only be explained by the Holy Spirit, and that in our day, as well as in former times, He is the Teacher of His people. <b><i>The office of the Holy Spirit I had not experimentally understood before that time</i></b>. I had not before seen that the Holy Spirit alone can teach us about our state by nature, show us our need of a Saviour, enable us to believe in Christ, explain to us the Scriptures, help us in preaching, etc.</p>
<p>"It was my beginning to understand this point in particular which had a great effect on me; for the Lord enabled me to put it to the test of experience by laying aside commentaries and almost every other book, and simply reading the Word of God and studying it. The result of this was that the first evening that I shut myself into my room to give myself to prayer and meditation over the Scriptures, I learned more in a few hours than I bad done during a period of several months previously. <b><i>But the particular difference was that I received real strength in my soul in doing so.</i></b></p>
<p>"In addition to this, it pleased the Lord to lead me to see a <b><i>higher standard of devotedness</i></b> than I had seen before. He led me, in a measure, to see what is my glory in this world, even to be despised, to be poor and mean with Christ...I returned to London much better in body. And as to my soul, the change was so great that it was like a second conversion."</p>
<p>In another passage he speaks thus: "I fell into the snare into which so many young believers fall, the reading of religious books is preferred to the Scriptures. Now the scriptural way of reasoning would have been: God Himself has condescended to become an author, and I am ignorant of that precious Book which His Holy Spirit has caused to be written; therefore I ought to read again this Book of books most earnestly, most prayerfully, and with much meditation. Instead of acting thus, and being led by my ignorance of the Word to study it more, my difficulty of understanding it made me careless of reading it, and then, like many believers, I practically preferred for the first four years of my Christian life, the works of uninspired men to the oracles of the Living God. The consequence was that I remained a babe, both in knowledge and grace. In knowledge, I say, for all true knowledge must be derived by the Spirit from the Word. This lack of knowledge most sadly kept me back from walking steadily in the ways of God. For it is the truth makes us free, by delivering us from the slavery of the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life. The Word proves it, the experience of the saints proves it, and also my own experience most decidedly proves it. For when it pleased the Lord, in August 1829, to bring me really to the Scriptures, my life and walk became very different.</p>
<p>"If anyone would ask me how he may read the Scriptures most profitably, I would answer him:—</p>
<p>"1. Above all he must seek to have it settled in his own mind <b><i>that God alone, by the Holy spirit, can teach him</i></b>, and that, therefore, as God will be inquired for all blessings, it becomes him to seek for God's blessing previous to reading, and also while reading.</p>
<p>"2. He should also have it settled in his mind that though <b><i>the Holy spirit is the best and sufficient Teacher</i></b>, yet that He does not always teach immediately when we desire it, and that, therefore, <b><i>we may have to entreat Him again and again</i></b> for the explanation of certain passages; but that <b><i>He will surely teach us at last</i></b>, if we will seek for light prayerfully, patiently, and for the glory of God."</p>
<p>Just one more passage, from an address given on his ninetieth birthday: "For sixty-nine years and ten months he had been a very happy man. That he attributed to two things. He had maintained a good conscience, not wilfully going on in a course he knew to be contrary to the mind of God; he did not, of course, mean that he was perfect; he was poor, weak, and sinful. Secondly, he attributed it to his love of Holy Scripture. Of late years his practice had been four times every year to read through the Scriptures, with application to his own heart, and with meditation; and that day he was a greater lover of God's Word than he was sixty-six years ago. It was this, and maintaining a good conscience, that had given him all these years peace and joy in the Holy Ghost."</p>
<p>In connection with what has been said about the New Covenant being a ministration of the Spirit this narrative is most instructing. It shows us how George Miiller's power lay in God's revealing to him the work of the Holy Spirit. He writes that up to the time of that change he had "not experimentally understood the office of the Holy Spirit." We speak much of George Müller's power in prayer; it is of importance to remember that that power was entirely owing to his love of, and faith in, God's Word. But it is of still more importance to notice that his power to believe God's Word so fully was entirely owing to his having learned to know the Holy Spirit as his Teacher. When the words of God are explained to us, and made living within us by the Holy Spirit, they have a power to awaken faith which they otherwise have not. The Word then brings us into contact with God, comes to us as from God direct, and binds our whole life to Him.</p>
<p>When the Holy Spirit thus feeds us on the Word, our whole life comes under His power, and the fruit is seen, not only in the power of prayer, but as much in the power of obedience. Notice how Mr. Muller tells us this, that the two secrets of his great happiness were, his great love for God's Word, and his <b><i>ever maintaining a good conscience</i></b>, not knowingly doing anything against the will of God. In giving himself to the teaching of the Holy Spirit, as he tells us in his birthday address, he made a full surrender of the entire heart to God, to be ruled by the Word. He gave himself to obey that Word in everything, he believed that the Holy Spirit gave the grace to obey, and so he was able to maintain a walk free from knowingly transgressing God's law. This is a point he always insisted on. So he writes, in regard to a life of dependence upon God: "It will not do—it is not possible—to live in sin, and at the same time, by communion with God, to draw down from heaven everything one needs for the life that now is." Again, speaking of the strengthening of faith: " It is of the utmost importance that we seek to maintain an <b><i>upright heart and a good conscience</i></b>, and therefore do not knowingly and habitually indulge in those things which are contrary to the mind of God. All my confidence in God, all my leaning upon Him in the hour of trial, will be gone if I have a guilty conscience, and do not seek to put away this guilty conscience, but still continue to do things which are contrary to His mind."</p>
<p>A careful perusal of this testimony will show us how the chief points usually insisted upon in connection with the second blessing are all found here. There is the full surrender of the heart to be taught and led alone by the Spirit of God. There is the higher standard of holiness which is at once set up. There is the tender desire in nothing to offend God, but to have at all times a good conscience, that testifies that we are pleasing to God. And there is the faith that where the Holy Spirit reveals to us in the Word the will of God, He gives the sufficient strength for the doing of it. "The particular difference," he says of reading with faith of the Holy Spirit's teaching, "was that I received real strength in my soul in doing so." No wonder that he said: <b><i>The change was so great, that it was like a second conversion.</i></b></p>
<p>All centres in this, that we believe in the New Covenant and its promises as a ministration of the Spirit. That belief may come to some suddenly, as to George Muller; or it may dawn upon others by degrees. Let all say to God that they are ready to put their whole heart and life under the rule of the Holy Spirit dwelling in them, teaching them by the Word, and strengthening them by His grace. He enables us to live pleasing to God.</p>
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<p>I Do not know that I can find a better case by which to illustrate the place Christ, the Mediator of the Covenant, takes in leading into its full blessing than that of the founder of the Keswick Convention, the late Canon Battersby. It was at the Oxford Convention in 1873 that he witnessed to having "received a new and distinct blessing to which he had been a stranger before." For more than twenty-five years he had been most diligent as a minister of the gospel, and, as appears from his journals, most faithful in seeking to maintain a close walk with God. But he was ever disturbed by the consciousness of being overcome by sin. So far back as 1853 he had written, "I feel again how very far I am from enjoying habitually that peace and love and joy which Christ promises. I must confess that I have it not; and that very ungentle and unchristian tempers often strive within me for the mastery." When in 1873 he read what was being published of the Higher Life, the effect was to render him utterly dissatisfied with himself and his state. There were indeed difficulties he could not quite understand in that teaching, but he felt that he must either reach forward to better things, nothing less than redemption from <b><i>all</i></b> iniquities, or fall back more and more into worldliness and sin. At Oxford he heard an address on the rest of faith. It opened his eyes to the truth that a believer who really longs for deliverance from sinning must simply take Christ at His word, and reckon, without feeling, on Him to do His work of cleansing and keeping the soul. "I thought of the sufficiency of Jesus, and said, I <b><i>will rest</i></b> in Him, and I did rest in Him. I was afraid lest it should be a passing emotion; but I found that a presence of Jesus was graciously manifested to me in a way I knew not before, and that <b><i>I did abide in Him</i></b>. I do not want to rest in these emotions, but just to believe, and to cling to Christ as my all." He was a man of very reserved nature, but; felt it a duty ere the close of the Conference to confess publicly his past shortcoming, and testify openly to his having entered upon a new and definite experience.</p>
<p>In a paper written not long after this he pointed out what the steps are leading to this experience. <b><i>First</i></b>, a clear view of the possibilities of Christian attainment—a life in word and action, habitually governed by the Spirit, in constant communion with God, and continual victory over sin through abiding in Christ. <b><i>Then</i></b>, the deliberate purpose of the will for a full renunciation of all the idols of the flesh or spirit, and a will-surrender to Christ. And then this last and important step: <b><i>We must look up to, aged wait upon our ascended Lord for all that we need to enable us to do this.</i></b></p>
<p>A careful perusal of this very brief statement will prove how everything centred here in Christ. The surrender for a life of continual communion and victory is to be to Christ. The strength for that life is to be in Him and from Him, by faith in Him. And <b><i>the power</i></b> to make the full surrender and rest in Him <b><i>was to be waited for from Him, alone.</i></b></p>
<p>In June 1875 the first Keswick Convention was held. In the circular calling it, we read: "Many are everywhere thirsting that they may be brought to enjoy more of the Divine presence in their daily life, and a fuller manifestation of the Holy Spirit's power, whether in subduing the lusts of the flesh, or in enabling them to offer more effective service to God. It is certainly God's will that His children should be satisfied in regard to these longings, and there are those who can testify that He has satisfied them, and does satisfy them with daily fresh manifestations of His grace and power." The results of the very first Convention were most blessed, so that after its close he wrote: "There is a very remarkable resemblance in the testimonies I have since received as to the nature of the blessing obtained, viz., <b><i>the ability given</i></b> to make a full surrender to the Lord, and the consequent experience of an abiding peace, far exceeding anything previously experienced." Through all the chief thought, was Christ, first drawing and enabling the soul to rest in Him, and then meeting it with the fulfilment of its desire, the abiding experience of His power to keep it in victory over sin, and communion with God.</p>
<p>And what was the fruit of this new experience? Eight years later Canon Battersby spoke; " It is now eight years since that I knew this blessing as my own. I cannot say that I have never for a moment ceased to trust the Lord to keep me. But I can say that so long as I have trusted Him, He has kept me; He has been faithful."</p>
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<p>ONE would think that no words could make it plainer than the words of the Covenant state it—that the one difference between Old and New is, that in the latter everything is to be done by God Himself. And yet believers and even teachers do not take it in. And even those who do, find it hard to live it out. Our whole being is so blinded to the true relation to God, His inconceivable Omnipresent Omnipotence working every moment in us is so far beyond the reach of human conception, our little hearts cannot rise to the reality of His Infinite Love making itself one with us, and delighting to dwell in us, and to work all in us that has to be done there—that, when we think we have accepted the truth, we find it is only a thought. We are such strangers to the knowledge of what a GOD really is, as the actual life by which His creatures live. <b><i>In Him</i></b> we live and move and have our being. And specially is the knowledge of the Triune God too high for us, in that wonderful, most real, and most practical indwelling, to make which possible the Son became Incarnate, and the Holy Spirit was sent forth into our hearts. Only they who confess their ignorance, and wait very humbly and persistently on our Blessed God to teach us by His Holy Spirit what that all-working indwelling is, can hope to have it revealed to them.</p>
<p>It is not long since I had occasion, in preparing a series of Bible Lessons for our Students Association here, to make a study of the Gospel of St. John, and of the life of our Lord as set forth there. I cannot say how deeply I have been afresh impressed with that which I cannot but regard as the deepest secret of His life on earth, <b><i>His dependence on the Father.</i></b> It has come to me like a new revelation. Some twelve times and more He uses the word <b><i>not</i></b> and <b><i>nothing</i></b> of Himself. <b><i>Not</i></b> My will. <b><i>Not</i></b> My words. <b><i>Not</i></b> My honour. <b><i>Not</i></b> Mine own glory. I can do <b><i>nothing</i></b> of Myself. I speak <b><i>not</i></b> of Myself. I came <b><i>not</i></b> of Myself. I do <b><i>nothing</i></b> of Myself.</p>
<p>Just think a moment what this means in connection with what He tells us of His life in the Father. "As the Father hath life in Himself, so He hath given to the Son to have life in Himself" (<a onclick="return mV('Jhn',5,26);">John 5:26</a>). "That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father" (<a onclick="return mV('Jhn',5,23);">John 5:23</a>). And yet this Son, who hath life in Himself even as the Father has, immediately adds (<a onclick="return mV('Jhn',5,30);">John 5:30</a>): "I can of mine own self do <b><i>nothing</i></b>." We should have thought that with this life in Himself He would have the power of independent action as the Father has. But no. "The Son can do <b><i>nothing</i></b> of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do." The chief mark of this Divine life He has in Himself is evidently unceasing dependence, receiving from the Father, by the moment, what He bad to speak or do. <b><i>Nothing of Myself</i></b> is manifestly as true of Him as it ever could be of the weakest or most sinful man. The life of the Father dwelling in Christ, and Christ in the Father, meant that just as truly as when He was begotten of the Father, He received Divine life and glory from Him, so the continuation of that life came only by an eternal process of giving and receiving, as absolute as is the eternal generation itself. The more closely we study this truth, and Christ's life in the light of it, the more we are compelled to say, the deepest root of Christ's relationship to the Father, the true reason why He was so well-pleasing, the secret of His glorifying the Father, was this: <b><i>He allowed God to do all in Him</i></b>. He only received and wrought out what God wrought in Him. His whole attitude was that of the open ear, the servant spirit, the childlike dependence that waited for all on God.</p>
<p>The infinite importance of this truth in the Christian life is easily felt. The life Christ lived in the Father is the life He imparts to us. We are to abide in Him and He in us, <b><i>even as</i></b> He in the Father and the Father in Him. And if the secret of His abiding in the Father be this unceasing self-abnegation—"I can do nothing of Myself"—this life of most entire and absolute dependence and waiting upon God, must it not far more be the most marked feature of our Christian life, the first and all-pervading disposition we seek to maintain? In a little book of William Law's, that has just been issued, (Dying to Self: A Golden Dialogue. By William Law. With Notes. The thought is worked out with exceeding power, and the lesson taught that the only thing man can do for his salvation is to deny and cease from himself, that God may work in him.) he specially insists upon this in his so striking repetition of the call, if we would die to self in order to have the birth of Divine love in our souls, to sink down in humility, meekness, patience, and resignation to God. I think that no one who at all enters into this advice, but will feel what new point is given to it by the remembrance of how this entire self-renunciation was not only one of the many virtues in the character of Christ, but, indeed, that first essential one without which God could have wrought nothing in Him, through which God did work all.</p>
<p>Let us make Christ's words our own: <b><i>"I can do nothing of Myself</i></b>." Take it as the keynote of a single day. Lookup and see the Infinite God waiting to do everything as soon as we are ready to give up all to Him, and receive all from Him. Bow down in lowly worship, and wait for the Holy Spirit to work some measure of the mind of Christ in you. Do not be disconcerted if you do not learn the lesson at once: there is the God of love waiting to do everything in him who is willing to be nothing. At moments the teaching appears dangerous, at other times terribly difficult. The Blessed Son of God teaches it us—this was His whole life: I can do nothing of Myself. He is our life; He will work it in us. And when as the Lamb of God He begets this His disposition in us, we shall be prepared for Him to rise on us and shine in us in His heavenly glory.</p>
<p>"Nothing of Myself"—that word spoken eighteen hundred years ago, coming out of the inmost depths of the heart of the Son of God—is a seed in which the power of the eternal life is hidden. Take it straight from the heart of Christ, and hide it in your heart. Meditate on it till it reveals the beauty of His Divine meekness and humility, and explains how all the power and glory of God could work in Him. Believe in it as containing the very life and disposition which you need, and believe in Christ, whose Spirit dwells in the seed to make it true in you. Begin, in single acts of self-emptying, to offer it to God as the one desire of your heart. Count upon God accepting them, and meeting them with His grace, to make the acts into habits, and the habits into dispositions. And you may depend upon it, there is nothing that will lift you so near to God, nothing that will unite you closer to Christ, nothing that will prepare you for the abiding presence and power of God working in you, as the death to self which is found in the simple word—NOTHING OF MYSELF.</p>
<p>This word is one of the keys to the New Covenant Life. As I believe that God is actually to work all in me, I shall see that the one thing that is hindering me is, my doing something of myself. As I am willing to learn from Christ by the Holy Spirit to say truly, <b><i>Nothing of myself</i></b>, I shall have the true preparation to receive all God has engaged to work, and the power confidently to expect it. I shall learn that the whole secret of the New Covenant is just one thing: GOD WORKS ALL! The seal of the Covenant stands sure: "I the Lord have spoken it, AND I WILL DO IT."</p>
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<p>LET me give the principal passages in which the words "the whole heart," "all the heart," are used. A careful study of them will show how wholehearted love and service is what God has always asked, because He can, in the very nature of things, ask nothing less. The prayerful and believing acceptance of the words will waken the assurance that such wholehearted love and service is exactly the blessing the New Covenant was meant to make possible. That assurance will prepare us for turning to the Omnipotence of God to work in us what may have hitherto appeared beyond our reach.</p>
<p>Hear, first, God's word in Deuteronomy—</p>
<p><a onclick="return mV('Deu',4,29);">Deu 4:29</a>: "If thou seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find Him, if thou <b><i>seek Him</i></b> with all thy heart and all thy soul."</p>
<p><a onclick="return mV('Deu',6,4,5);">Deu 6:4-5</a>: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord ; and thou shalt <b><i>love the Lord thy God</i></b> with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might."</p>
<p><a onclick="return mV('Deu',10,12);">Deu 10:12</a>: "What doth the Lord thy God require of <b><i>thee</i></b> but <b><i>to fear</i></b> the Lord thy God, to <b><i>walk in all His ways</i></b>, and <b><i>to love Him</i></b>, and to <b><i>serve Him</i></b> with all thy heart and all thy soul."</p>
<p><a onclick="return mV('Deu',11,13);">Deu 11:13</a>: "Hearken diligently unto My commandments, <b><i>to love</i></b> the Lord your God, and to <b><i>serve Him</i></b> with all your heart and all your soul."</p>
<p><a onclick="return mV('Deu',13,3);">Deu 13:3</a>: "The Lord your God proveth you, whether <b><i>ye love</i></b> the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul."</p>
<p><a onclick="return mV('Deu',26,16);">Deu 26:16</a>: "Thou shalt therefore <b><i>keep these statutes and do them</i></b> with all thy heart and all thy soul."</p>
<p><a onclick="return mV('Deu',30,2);">Deu 30:2</a>: "Thou shalt <b><i>obey His voice</i></b> with all thine heart and with all soul."</p>
<p><a onclick="return mV('Deu',30,6);">Deu 30:6</a>: "The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, <b><i>to love</i></b> the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul" (see also <a onclick="return mV('Deu',5,9, 10);">Deu 5:9-10</a>).</p>
<p>Take these oft-repeated words as the expression of God's will concerning His people, and concerning yourself; ask if you could wish to give God anything less. Take the last-cited verse as the Divine promise of the New Covenant—that He will circumcise, will so cleanse the heart to love Him with a wholehearted love, that obedience is within your reach; and say whether you will not vow afresh to keep this His first and great commandment.</p>
<p>Listen to Joshua (<a onclick="return mV('Jos',22,5);">Jos 22:5</a>): "Take diligent heed <b><i>to love</i></b> the Lord your God, and to walk in all His ways, and <b><i>to keep</i></b> His commandments, and <b><i>to cleave</i></b> unto Him, and <b><i>to serve</i></b> Him, with all your heart and with all your soul."</p>
<p>Listen to Samuel (<a onclick="return mV('1Sa',12,20,24);">1 Sam 12:20, 24</a>): "Turn not aside from following the Lord, but <b><i>serve the Lord</i></b> with all your heart. Only fear the Lord, and <b><i>serve Him</i></b> in truth with all your heart."</p>
<p>Hear David repeating God's promise to Solomon (<a onclick="return mV('1Ki',2,4);">1 Kings 2:4</a>):</p>
<p>"If thy children take heed to their way, <b><i>to walk before Me</i></b> in truth with all their heart and all their soul."</p>
<p>Hear God's word concerning David (<a onclick="return mV('1Ki',14,8);">1 Kings 14:8</a>): "My servant David, <b><i>who followed Me</i></b> with all his heart, to do that only which was right in Mine eyes."</p>
<p>Hear Solomon in his temple prayer (<a onclick="return mV('1Ki',8,48);">1 Kings 8:48</a>): "If they <b><i>return to Thee</i></b> with all their heart and all their soul, bear Thou their prayer."</p>
<p>Listen to what is said of Jehu (<a onclick="return mV('2Ki',10,31);">2 Kings 10:31</a>): "The Lord said unto Jehu, Thou hast done well in executing that which is right in Mine eyes. <b><i>But</i></b> Jehu took no heed <b><i>to walk</i></b> in the, law of the Lord with all his heart."</p>
<p>Of Josiah we read (<a onclick="return mV('2Ki',23,3,25);">2 Kings 23:3, 25</a>): "The king and all the men of Judah made a covenant with the Lord, <b><i>to walk after the Lord</i></b>, with all their heart and with all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. There was no king like him, that <b><i>turned to the Lord</i></b> with all his heart, and all his soul, and all his might."</p>
<p>The words concerning Asa, in <a onclick="return mV('2Ch',15,12, 15);">2 Chron 15:12, 15</a>, we had as our text.</p>
<p>Of Jehoshaphat, men said (<a onclick="return mV('2Ch',22,9);">2 Chron 22:9</a>): "He <b><i>sought</i></b> the Lord with all his heart."</p>
<p>And of Hezekiah it is written (<a onclick="return mV('2Ch',31,21);">2 Chron 31:21</a>): "In every work that he began, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart and prospered."</p>
<p>Oh that all would ask God to give them, by the Holy Spirit, a simple vision of Himself!—claiming, giving, accepting, blessing, delighting in, the love and service of the whole heart—the sacrifice of the whole burnt-offering. Surely they would fall down and join the ranks of those who have given it; and refuse to think of anything as religious life, or worship, or service, but that in which their whole heart went out to God.</p>
<p>Turn to the Psalms. Hear David (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',9,1);">Psa 9:1</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',111,1);">111:1</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',138,1);">138:1</a>):</p>
<p>"I will praise Thee with my whole heart." And in Psalm 119, the Psalm of the way of blessedness: "Blessed who seek Him with the whole heart. With my whole heart have I sought Thee. I shall keep Thy law, yea I shall observe it with my whole heart. I entreated Thy favour with my whole heart. I will keep Thy precepts with my whole heart. I cried with my whole heart." Praise and prayer; seeking God and keeping His precepts; all equally with the whole heart.</p>
<p>Shall we not begin asking more earnestly than ever, as often as we see men engaged in their earthly pursuits in search of money, or pleasure, or fame, or power, with their whole heart. Is this the spirit in which Christians consider that God must be served? Is this the spirit in which I serve Him? <b><i>Is not this the one thing needful in our religion</i></b>? Lord, reveal unto us Thy will!</p>
<p>Now, just a few words more from the Prophets about the new time, the great change that can come into our lives.</p>
<p><a onclick="return mV('Jer',24,7);">Jer 24:7</a>: "<b><i>I will give them an heart</i></b> to know Me that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people and I will be their God; for <b><i>they shall return to Me</i></b> with their whole heart."</p>
<p><a onclick="return mV('Jer',29,13);">Jer 29:13</a>: "Ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart. <b><i>And I will be found of you, saith the Lord</i></b>."</p>
<p><a onclick="return mV('Jer',32,'39-41');">Jer 32:39-41</a>: —Let my reader not be weary of reading carefully these Divine words: they contain the secret, the seed, the living power of a complete transition out of a life in the bondage of halfhearted service, to the glorious liberty of the children of God<b><i>.—"I will give them one heart</i></b>, that they may fear Me for ever. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that <b><i>I will not turn away</i></b> from them to do them good; but <b><i>I will put</i></b> my fear in their heart, that they <b><i>shall not depart</i></b> from Me. Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, with <b><i>My whole heart and My whole Soul</i></b>!"</p>
<p>It is to be all God's doing. And He is to do it with His whole heart and His whole soul. It is the vision of this God with His whole heart loving us, longing and delighting to fulfil His promise, and make us wholly His own, that we need. <b><i>This vision makes it</i></b> <b><i>impossible not to love Him with our whole heart</i></b>. Lord, open our eyes that we may see!</p>
<p><a onclick="return mV('Joe',2,12);">Joel 2:12</a>: "Therefore also now, saith the Lord, <b><i>turn ye</i></b> even to Me with all your heart."</p>
<p><a onclick="return mV('Zep',3,14,15);">Zeph 3:14-15</a>: "Shout, 0 Israel; Be glad and rejoice with all the heart; the LORD hath taken away thy judgments. He hath cast out thine enemy; the king of Israel, the LORD, is in the midst of thee; thou shalt not see evil any more."</p>
<p>Now one word from our Lord Jesus (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',22,37);">Mat 22:37</a>): "Jesus said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." This is the first and great commandment. This is the sum of that law He came to fulfil for us and in us, <b><i>came to enable us to fulfil</i></b>. "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending His own Son, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk after the Spirit."</p>
<p>Praise God! this righteousness of the law—loving God with all—the heart, for love is the fulfilling of the law—this righteousness of the law is fulfilled <b><i>in us,</i></b> who walk after the Spirit. Jesus came to make it possible. He gives His Spirit—the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus—to make it actual. Let us not fear to give ourselves a whole burnt-offering, acceptable to God; loving Him with all our heart and mind and strength.</p>
<p>May I ask the reader just once again to peruse <a href="./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two06.html">Chapter VI</a>., on "<a href= "./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two06.html">The Everlasting Covenant</a>," and <a href= "./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two18.html">Chapter XVIII</a>., on "<a href= "./Comm/andrew_murray/two/two18.html">Entering into the Covenant with the Whole Heart</a>." And say then, if you leave never yet entered fully into this covenant of the whole heart, whether you are not ready to do it now. God demands, God works, God is, oh, so infinitely worthy of, the whole heart! Fear not to say He shall have it. You may confidently count upon the blessed Lord Jesus, the Surety of the Covenant, whose it is to make it true in you by His Spirit, to enable you to exercise the faith that knows that God's power will work what He has promised. In His Name say: With my whole heart I do love Thee!</p>
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<div class="head">Arthur Custance</div>
<div class="subhead">Journey out of Time</div>
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<p style="font-weight:bold;text-align:center;">Chapter Five</p>
<p style="font-weight:bold;text-align:center;">When Time Became an Eternity</p>
<p>There are two 'schools' of thought about the best way of eating candy. They are mostly composed of children. There are those who plop a candy into the mouth and let the sweet juices slowly dissolve, bathing the taste buds gently and for quite a long time. Then there are those who find this delivery system quite unsatisfactory. They immediately start breaking up the candy with their molars and the enhanced flow of sweetness which results from the greatly increased surface area of the many smaller pieces proves far more rewarding.</p>
<p>For a while the volume of taste is marvelous and absorbs all their attention. They stare into space wholly occupied with delight, until suddenly they discover the candy is all gone; the last fragment has surreptitiously slipped down the throat with almost indecent haste. All too soon there is nothing left: nothing, that is, except the resolve next time to suck it more slowly! This resolve is strengthened as the supply of candies runs out and only becomes firm when they are all gone.</p>
<p>There are many of the former school, mostly girls I suspect: but there are perhaps more of the latter, mostly boys I think. I always resolved to make the candy last and always failed to keep that resolve and still do, sixty years later.</p>
<p>Herein is an analogy. Enjoyment may be mild and long, or deep and intense: as it is with pleasure, so it is with <I>pain.</I>Not infrequently we have a choice, even in the matter of pain. We can stay away from &quot;the house&quot; so that mother will not at once send us to that highly paid torturer, the dentist. We endure the gnawing ache until it either becomes unbearable and cannot be concealed, or until for some reason it eases up and finally stops altogether - for a few days at least. Alternatively, we can go home like a martyr about to be thrown to the lions, and for a few agonizing moments we can allow some eager dentist to probe relentlessly. He hits it with a sledgehammer, all the while supposing he is merely tapping it in order to identify the offending tooth which must be obvious to anyone. And then he asks, &quot;Does it hurt&quot;? while he can see we are suffering agonies even from his mere looking at it. Then all of a sudden he presents the offending tooth before our eyes, and we are not even quite sure when he took it out!</p>
<p>So there we have a principle: the alternative of long and mild, or short and awful. This is a principle of very wide application. We meet it in our handling of criminals, for instance. We can chop off a man's head (France still does, I believe), or we can imprison him for twenty years. We assume, of course, that twenty years of imprisonment is always to be preferred by the prisoner, but we do so only because neither he nor we can know what a long slow painful death those twenty years are likely to be unless, of course, there is hope of reprieve for &quot;good&quot; behaviour.</p>
<p>Having one's head cut off or being shot by a firing squad is at least quick, and perhaps hanging is not much more protracted; but given the choice, men opt for the long and the slow rather than the quick and the short. At least, most men do. A few very brave or perhaps strangely misguided (?) individuals prefer the short and the quick. But most people facing such an alternative naturally choose the one that allows some small chance of remission. Yet even where there is no possibility of a reprieve, men still often choose the long and the slow, hoping against hope.</p>
<p>In our society, we have now confused the issue by supposing life to be better than death, no matter what the conditions are. Even in a concentration camp only a very small percentage of people deliberately tried to commit suicide. It is when all hope is gone, all hope of a foreseeable end and release, that death seems preferable. If, for some reason, the circumstances are such that death cannot be embraced as a means of release from the agony of life so that there is no hope of escape even by this means, then the penalty becomes utterly unbearable.</p>
<p>As we shall see, this was the position that the Lord Jesus Christ was in when He became a sin-offering for us. Only when the suffering entailed in that sacrifice was paid in full could He then embrace death and find release. And as we shall also see, those three hours of darkness must have been an eternity while they were endured.</p>
<p>Now the point of this preamble, and indeed of all that has been reviewed in the previous chapters, is that there is some kind of equation in the scales of justice between punishment which is <I>extensive</I>and punishment which is <I>intensive;</I>between punishment that, judged by our relative standards, is long-lasting but sufferable, and punishment which is brief but insufferable.</p>
<p>Moreover, the nature or character of the sufferer has a bearing on the matter. Consider the penalty of total isolation, for example. Total isolation would do little for a cow - though being a herding animal, it would probably get lonely now and then. But total isolation for a human being has proved to be so severe a punishment that it can amount to torture if it is sustained; and the nations are near to agreeing (at least, professedly) that it should be outlawed entirely. Such international abhorrence will probably not put an end to it, but at least the confession of abhorrence is itself proof enough of the severity of isolation as a punishment.</p>
<p>So man suffers more than a cow in certain situations. But it is also true that some men suffer more than other men. In the same situation, punishment that seems comparatively innocuous for one may devastate another. Thus the principle of sentencing to so many years in prison, or to so many lashes, or to a fine of so many dollars, on a sliding scale fixed for each offense by consent of society, is essentially unjust because it does not take into consideration the &quot;sensitivity&quot; of the prisoner. Such sensitivity <I>is,</I>of course, taken into account sometimes, though in times of public danger these refinements are abandoned. Yet that it should be done at all demonstrates another important point: namely, that <I>the capacity of the</I>prisoner to suffer predetermines to a large extent the severity of the penalty from <I>his</I>point of view.</p>
<p>A hardened criminal shrugs off a term of two or three years as merely an inconvenience. These two or three years can even be to his advantage. After all, he goes to 'school' among experts in his craft and can improve his technique while being supplied with free board and lodging and some entertainment. The naive individual who, though admittedly for selfish reasons, has allowed himself to be trapped into some skullduggery and to get caught, suffers far more from the same sentence for a similar crime. He may not be a criminal at all, only a spineless human being, perhaps with a low IQ. <I>The fitting of the punishment to</I>the crime depends not merely on the nature of the CRIME, but also on the nature <I>of the criminal.</I></p>
<p>What, then, of the suffering imposed unjustly upon a Man who is morally perfect, who is completely innocent, whose imaginative powers are developed to the highest degree possible for a human being, who is without spot or blemish in his character, and who has a capacity for suffering for others infinitely beyond that of the rest of men? Because of our selfishness most of us have too little capacity for this kind of suffering, but the capacity of the Lord Jesus for suffering with and for others was infinite. Every one who touched Him, expectantly, drew strength out of Him, and He was always consciously drained by this kind of human contact (<a onClick="return mV('Luk',8,46);">Luke 8:46</a>). He wept at the grave of Lazarus not because Lazarus was dead, for He knew that within a few moments He would be raising Lazarus to life again. He wept because He shared so totally the grief of Martha and Mary, and was overwhelmed in his spirit by the sadness of the fact of death in the midst of life. Because He was God made Man, this capacity for sharing human suffering must have been inexhaustible: yet it was deeply deeply felt nevertheless. On the <I>intensive</I>side of the scales, there was no imaginable limit to what the penalty of our sins could impose upon Him in agony of soul when He accepted responsibility for them in our place.</p>
<p>How long, then, must <I>He</I>actually suffer in his own body on the cross (<a onClick="return mV('1Pe',2,24);">1 Peter 2:24</a>) in order to atone for our sins? Clearly, the answer lies in the extent of his capacity. And that capacity was infinite. The <I>depth</I>dimension in this equation reaches down so far in the infinitude of his capacity that the length dimension, the length of time He must suffer when measured in hours, almost ceases to have any consequence. It is necessary to say <I>almost</I>for reasons which will become apparent in due time.</p>
<p>It would seem, in fact, that the Lord Jesus could have been made a curse for us for only one <I>second</I>of time by our clocks and still have paid in full the moral consequences of our sins, perfectly satisfying the demands of the law - because of the intensity of that one second of suffering. The unfathomable depth of his agony of soul would fully have compensated for the seeming shortness of his sentence.</p>
<p>Now a diagram seems inappropriate in such a context. Yet the significance of this tremendous truth can be illuminated in some ways by such a means. Let us assume, for instance, that the length of a man's three year sentence is represented by a line (AB, Fig. 4) thus:</p>
<p align="center"><img src="./Comm/arthur_custance/fig4j.jpg" width="270" height="105" align="bottom" border="2" /></center></p>
<p>If the terms of his imprisonment are only mild, the depth of his suffering throughout this period could be represented by a <I>shallow</I>rectangle (Fig. 5) in which the dimension AB is still the length of his sentence, but the depth BC is the measure of the intensity of his suffering during that period. Thus the area ABCD stands, visually; for the total effective weight of his sentence, for the real measure of his punishment.</p>
<p align="center"><img src="./comm/arthur_custance/fig5j.jpg" width="273" height="106" align="bottom" border="2" /></center></p>
<p>Let us take the case of another individual who has committed the same offense and ought therefore to have the same penalty imposed upon him. However in this case, either because he is a first offender or because of old age or frail health, let us suppose that the judge, recognizing the greater sensitivity of the offender, shortens his sentence to two years instead of three. We now have a rectangle whose long dimension (AB in Fig. 6) is only two years but whose vertical dimension (BC) is now half again as deep as that of the vertical dimension in Fig. 5.</p>
<p align="center"><img src="./comm/arthur_custance/fig6j.jpg" width="209" height="128" align="bottom" border="2" /></center></p>
<p>The area of this rectangle turns out to be the same as the area of Fig. 4: in fact both sentences are the same in their weighting, though the second individual has received a significantly shorter sentence in terms of years. The sensitivity of the victim, the capacity of the victim to suffer, has been taken into account by shortening the extensity of the sentence. The total penalty is unaffected.</p>
<p>How far could this shortening go? How short can the line AB become while strictly forming an equivalent penalty if compensated by increased depth? Obviously the two rectangles can simply be up-ended without in any way altering their total weighting. Thus the line AB becomes greatly abbreviated and the intensity, BC, is greatly extended (Fig. 7), and if the proportions of these two lines are preserved, the total area must remain constant, and the penalty itself as imposed by the judge remains unchanged.</p>
<p align="center"><img src="./comm/arthur_custance/fig7j.jpg" width="162" height="329" align="left" border="2" /></p>
<p>We may go one step further yet. If this tall thin column were to be narrowed still further and deepened accordingly, the principle would remain intact, for the rectangle could be adjusted in depth to maintain a constant total area. In the end the AB or horizontal or <I>time</I>factor line could be almost negligible but the depth factor BC then becomes all important. Capital punishment represents this kind of situation: the intensity of the punishment far outweighs its extensity. Carried to its logical conclusion, if the intensity of the suffering is infinite, the line AB representing the time factor can be reduced to <I>a point</I>- i.e., theoretically, to no <I>time</I>at all. There is nothing absurd about this, for as we have seen, there <I>is</I>a reality which is conceivably time-less.</p>
<p>Had the Lord Jesus Christ been suffering only as God, the torment of the penalty would have been infinite in its depth and the time element would have been reduced to zero, since time would have been eclipsed by eternity. But because the Son was not only God but also Man, and because He was placed in this position as a suffering <I>human</I>being, He could not altogether escape from the bondage of our time frame. He had to remain conscious <I>within</I>time and, in some sense, of time. In this sense He <I>endured</I>the cross (<a onClick="return mV('Heb',12,2);">Heb. 12:2</a>). How long, then, did He endure?</p>
<p>Throughout history man has experienced the terror of physical torture; and from what has been recorded of it in recent years we may learn some things about that other kind of torture with which we are particularly concerned in the present instance, the torture of the soul. We have noted later, the profound insight of Viktor Frankl into the nature of suffering endured when there is no hope of an end. Intense suffering of this kind concentrates attention entirely upon the present moment. There is no looking to the future in hope. Hope is a powerful sustainer when an end is foreseen, but as Frankl observes, a man who cannot see the end ceases to live for the future and therefore exists altogether without hope. This was precisely the position in which the Lord was confined when He became a sin-offering for us. For in the absolute condemnation which this involved, He suffered as One from whom the termination of his sentence was completely hidden. He experienced total forsaking not merely by man but by his heavenly Father whom He had never disobeyed throughout his whole earthly life - nor even displeased. Because He had not the slightest inkling of a foreseeable end, His suffering became, in fact, an eternal punishment.</p>
<p>Yet while He thus suffered eternally, the soldiers who guarded Him continued to live in time, no doubt eagerly awaiting the end of the day when they would go off duty. Frankl observes that the prisoners and the guards in the concentration camps lived in entirely different worlds of time. The prisoners often experienced such agony of soul that time ceased to have any significance to them whatever, while their guards continued to live entirely by the clock.</p>
<p>The man whose suffering is bearable can keep his eye on the passage of time and, if he knows when the end is to be, he can gain some comfort by saying to himself, &quot;I'm halfway through&quot; or &quot;It's nearly over.&quot; The existence of hope and the sense of the passage of time run together: and when intensity of suffering is so great that the sense of time is lost, hope is lost. Pain is locked into the immediate present and any comfort in the thought of an end is eclipsed. Suffering takes on an experienced quality of endlessness. Extreme agony of soul pins down all consciousness to a point in time, kaleidoscoping both future and past and effectively converting the momentary <I>now</I>into endlessness.</p>
<p>Because we conceive of punishment as being much or little in terms of duration, we interpret the Scriptures which tell us that it will be <I>eternal</I>(which is a more correct translation of the original Greek) to mean <I>everlasting</I>(which is probably a far less correct translation of the original Greek). It could be that the biblical meaning of eternal has no direct reference to <I>duration</I>at all. It could conceivably be a qualitative term rather than a quantitative one, carrying the idea of intensity or depth rather than extensity of length - as it almost certainly does in reference to eternal life. Eternal life is another kind of life, a quality of life, a life of depth, a life more abundant (<a onClick="return mV('Jhn',10,10);">John 10:10</a>). The question of duration is not denied: it is simply not at issue. Perhaps eternal punishment really means punishment whose intensity cannot actually be conveyed to our time-bound minds except by saying that it will be experienced with an intensity that will make it effectively interminable while it lasts.</p>
<p>In some unfathomable way, the Lord Jesus Christ as our substitute must have experienced <I>eternal</I>punishment. One has to ask then, How does this quality of eternity relate to the three hours of darkness on the cross? Was this experienced by the Lord as three hours, or was this just the time period accounted for by the guards on duty who had some kind of candle or water clock to keep a record of their time? Did the supernatural darkness of those hours actually signify (among other things) that the one agency of God's economy in the heavens by which our time is regulated had been &quot;stopped&quot; for that interval? I do not mean to suggest that it was literally stopped in its passage but effectively stopped because its movement could no longer be <I>seen.</I>The Lord Himself was thus left on the cross without a clock.</p>
<p>Did time then stop for Him? Did He experience such a sense of timeless-ness that what was already endured did not contribute in any way towards the reduction of what remained yet to be endured in order to fulfill the total penalty which must be paid? Was this a form of <I>endless</I>punishment with no foreseeable termination, though when it was over it had occupied only three hours by our clocks?</p>
<p>Do we not in fact have here a case of truly <I>eternal</I>torment which had, nevertheless, been fulfilled in a period of three hours? (Ref. 1)</p>
<p>Can we have even the remotest conception of what it would mean for One who was morally perfect, pure in spirit in the absolute sense, without the slightest taint of guilt in any form and altogether sinless, to be suddenly held responsible for the appalling record of crime and injustice and brutality and hatred and insane cruelty that marks the frightful record of human history from the murder of Abel to the extermination centres and labour camps of today? What would it mean to be so accounted guilty that the Father Himself turned away from his beloved Son as One who now, as the sin-bearer, was abhorrent in his sight?</p>
<p>In these three hours the Lord Jesus was made a sin-offering; that is to say He became effectively the doer of this frightfulness not only in the sight of man, but in the sight of God and the whole host of heaven. He who was Himself blameless assumed full responsibility and was to blame. He who was pure was made vile. He who was holy was made unholy with the leprosy of our sin. He who was the very expression of love became as hateful as sin itself. He who was without spot was infected with the cancer of our wickedness. He who knew no sin was actually made sinful by identification.</p>
<p>He descended into hell, into the utter solitude that on the Day of Atonement was symbolized by the sending forth of the scapegoat into an uninhabited desert of evil marked by the absence of all other relationships. It was not for a few hours only that this terrible penalty was imposed upon Him but - in his experience - <I>forever</i>: for He could not know in his darkness how long it would take to pay the price. Nor could He have any anticipation of when the price had been paid in full until, at last, He became aware once more of his Father's presence. He could not anticipate the end, and with no anticipation of the end, his suffering became infinite. He could not cry out, &quot;Father, forgive Me!&quot; He could not cry, &quot;God, have mercy upon Me!&quot; On what grounds could mercy be extended to HIM? On no ground, except the completion of his sacrifice, could any mercy be extended to <I>anyone.</I>On what basis could <I>his</I>reprieve be granted - except all others forfeit the forgiveness He had come to guarantee <I>them?</I>For on the fullness of his sacrifice depended all other forgiveness.</p>
<p>He could atone for the sins of others and pray the Father to forgive <I>them</I>(<a onClick="return mV('Luk',23,34);">Luke 23:34</a>) but there was no way in which He could save Himself if He was to save us. They were right who mocked Him thus (<a onClick="return mV('Mat',27,42);">Matt. 27:42</a>). In Gethsemane He had said to his disciples, &quot;Could ye not watch with Me for one hour?&quot; (Matt. 25:40). Here He could only say, &quot;My God! My God! Why hast Thou forsaken Me?&quot; (<a onClick="return mV('Mat',27,46);">Matt. 27:46</a>).</p>
<p>Of course, He had known this had to be. But anticipating that a fearful agony is to be borne, even though He knew in prospect that it must come to an end since He had told his disciples He would rise again, such knowledge did not serve to ameliorate it when the intensity of that agony fell upon Him. I cannot believe He had a <I>fear</I>of it as He foresaw what was to happen, but He must have had an awful <I>horror</I>of what it would entail. His prayer in Gethsemane bears this out. And when the blow fell who can possibly know what He endured in that eternity in order that our eternity of punishment might be commuted to total blamelessness because He for an eternity had borne the penalty for us.</p>
<p>Because He was <I>God,</I>his capacity for suffering was infinite. And we must suppose that with this capacity there need have been no time dimension at all. But because He was <I>Man,</I>the time factor could not altogether be dispensed with, and by our clocks that moment of time was stretched into hours. Justice must not only be done: it must also be <I>seen</I>to be done. Had the Lord fulfilled the requirements of the penalty in such depth as to make its duration in time a matter only of moments, we should never have been fully persuaded that He really did suffer for us sufficiently to write &quot;paid in full&quot; across our debt. His triumphant cry, &quot;It is finished!&quot; <I>(tetelestai,</I><a onClick="return mV('Jhn',19,30);">John 19:30</a>) is now known to have been what was officially stamped as an acknowledgment of receipt, in Greek and Roman times, on all bills &quot;PAID IN FULL!&quot; (Ref. 1)</p>
<p>In point of fact, the hours of which we have a record bear virtually no relevance to his sacrifice as a sin-offering for our sins. It seems clear to me that all that was accomplished on the cross could indeed have been fulfilled in a moment of our time. Did not Satan show Him all the glories of the world's kingdoms in &quot;a moment of time&quot; (<a onClick="return mV('Luk',4,4);">Luke 4:5</a>)? Then, having fulfilled his role as the Lamb of God, He might in a few moments or even instantly have dismissed his life and terminated the whole ordeal in triumph. But to us, constituted as we are, there would have been an apparent falling short of justice.</p>
<p>Perhaps it was chiefly to satisfy our sense of justice; but it was also because He suffered as <I>Man</I>that the time element had to be introduced as it was - and set on record as it has been. The three hours of our clocks were an eternity to his soul. It was an eclipse of time, timelessness within time.</p>
<p>There remains one final thought. Did the Father also suffer for an eternity in the loss of his Son? It seems that this could have been so. The Father could foresee the end of his Son's exile and rejoice in anticipation of his return to his Bosom, even as the Son must have done so in prospect and given his disciples assurance accordingly. But I think that something of the agony of soul which the Lord Jesus suffered as our sin-offering must have been shared in some way by the Father in heaven, when his Son ceased to be an object of joy and became a thing abhorrent and contaminated with our sin. The sacrifice which the Father made was thus as great an exhibition of love for mankind as the sacrifice which the Son made. It is not merely that the Son lost the Father: the Father lost the Son. The sacrifice of separation must have been felt both ways. Could it be truly said otherwise that God <I>gave</I>his Son as a proof of his love?</p>
<p>For God not only &quot;gave his only begotten Son&quot; (<a onClick="return mV('Jhn',3,16);">John 3:16</a>) but He &quot;laid on Him the iniquity of us all&quot; (<a onClick="return mV('Isa',53,6);">Isa. 53:6</a>) so that the Lord was literally &quot;smitten of God&quot; (<a onClick="return mV('Isa',53,4);">Isa. 53:4</a>). In this sense the Son was punished by the Father, and that the Father should do this to his beloved Son - sparing nothing of the punishment which sin deserved - must surely have been an agony for Himself also?</p>
<p>Thus was the love of God, Father and Son alike, made manifest towards us. &quot;Herein is love; not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins&quot; (<a onClick="return mV('1Jo',4,10);">1 John 4:10</a>).</p>
<p>But how impossible it is to write worthily of such an event as this.</p>
<hr />
<p><B>References:</B></p>
<p>1. See J. H. Moulton and G. Milligan, <I>The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament,</I>Eerdman's, Grand Rapids,1972,p. 630 under &quot;teleo.&quot;</p>
<p>2. Some time after completing this chapter, I acquired a copy of<I> A Body of</I> <I>Divinity</I> by John Gill (1697 - 1771) and came across, to my delight the following. I have taken the liberty of rephrasing his sentences slightly in order to make his meaning clearer. Reference to the original will show that I have not betrayed his meaning in any way.</p>
<p>He wrote as follows:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&quot;When He was made sin and a curse...it was tantamount to an eternal death, or the suffering of the wicked in hell. For though the two kinds of suffering differ as to circumstances of time and place, the persons being different, the One finite and the Other infinite, yet as to the essence of these sufferings, they were the same. Eternal death consists in two things: Punishment in the form of deprivation, and punishment in the form of actual affliction. The former lies in an eternal separation from God, or a deprivation of his presence for ever: and the latter lies in an everlasting affliction in the everlasting fire of God's everlasting fire of God's wrath.</p>
<p>&quot;Now Christ endured what was answerable to both of these. Eternity is not the essence of punishment but it is consequent of the fact that the sufferer cannot all at once bear the whole - being finite as sinful man is finite. And as it cannot be borne all at once it is continued <I>ad infinitum</I>. But Christ being an infinite Person, was able to bear the whole at once and the infinity of his Person abundantly compensates for the eternity of the punishment.&quot; Grand Rapids, Baker reprint,1978,Vol. I, p. 574.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><I>It may be asked, Why all this concern about the meaning and nature of time? Does it really matter? After all, we are not going to worry about time in heaven anyway! The answer is in Part II and III</I><br></p>
<p>Corrections, April 26, 1997.</p>
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<p class="cite"><b>Used With Permission</b>&nbsp;&#169; <a href="https://custance.org" target="_blank">Arthur Custance Library</a>.</p>
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The Outline – <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Act',1,'1-11');">Act 1:1-11</a>
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The author’s preface – <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Act',1,'1-5');">Act 1:1-5</a>
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The great commission – <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',1,'6-8');">Act 1:6-8</a>
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The ascension – <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',1,9);">Act 1:9</a>
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The promise of Christ’s return – <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',1,'10-11');">Act 1:10-11</a>
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The Text
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The author’s preface – <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Act',1,'1-5');">Act 1:1-5</a>
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“The former treatise” – the Gospel of Luke
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Theophilus
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Living in Rome
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Gentile convert
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The treatise
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The former - all that Jesus began to do and to teach
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The present - the continuing work of the risen and ascended Lord
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The risen Lord and the apostles
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The resurrection appearances – <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('1Cr',15,'1-8');">1Co 15:1-8</a>
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Resurrection - the “cornerstone” of Christianity
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Resurrection - the supreme message
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The “proofs”
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He appeared to them “showed Himself alive”
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He spoke to them
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He ate with them
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The chosen apostles
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The commandment to wait in Jerusalem – <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Luk',24,49);">Luk 24:49</a>; <a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('Isa',2,3);">Isa 2:3</a>; <a id="si_11" onclick="return mV('Mic',4,2);">Mic 4:2</a>
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Given through the Holy Spirit
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The promise of the Holy Spirit - the baptism of the Spirit – <a id="si_12" onclick="return mV('Gal',3,'13-14');">Gal 3:13-14</a>; <a id="si_13" onclick="return mV('Jhn',14,'16-17');">Jhn 14:16-17</a>; <a id="si_14" onclick="return mV('Jhn',14,26);">Jhn 14:26</a>; <a id="si_15" onclick="return mV('Jhn',15,26);">Jhn 15:26</a>; <a id="si_16" onclick="return mV('Jhn',16,7);">Jhn 16:7</a>; <a id="si_17" onclick="return mV('Jhn ',7,'37-39');">Jhn 7:37-39</a>
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The baptism of John - repentance
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The baptism of the Holy Spirit - placed into the body of Christ – <a id="si_18" onclick="return mV('1Co',12,13);">1Co 12:13</a>
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Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit – <a id="si_19" onclick="return mV('Luk',4,14);">Luk 4:14</a>; <a id="si_20" onclick="return mV('Act',10,38);">Act 10:38</a>
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The question about the Kingdom - “Is it now?”
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The answer about the Kingdom - “The Father knows”
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The Great Commission – <a id="si_21" onclick="return mV('Act',1,6,7,8);">Act 1:6-8</a>
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The Gospels – <a id="si_22" onclick="return mV('Mat',28,18,19,20);">Mat 28:18-20</a>
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The Acts – <a id="si_23" onclick="return mV('Act',1,8);">Act 1:8</a>
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Witnesses “unto me” - the message proclaimed
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“My witnesses” - the relationship stated – <a id="si_24" onclick="return mV('Act',10,40,41,42);">Act 10:40-42</a>
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The witnessing
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The source
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The force
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The need for spiritual power which comes “from above”
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The necessity of being “led of the Spirit”
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The course
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Jerusalem
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Judea and Samaria
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The world
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The glorious ascension – <a id="si_25" onclick="return mV('Act',1,9);">Act 1:9</a>
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The literal event – <a id="si_26" onclick="return mV('Psa',104,3);">Psa 104:3</a>
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The meaning
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Sin has been atoned
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Satan has been destroyed
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Death has been defeated
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The Law has been kept
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The Son is glorified – <a id="si_27" onclick="return mV('Jhn',17,3);">Jhn 17:3</a>; <a id="si_28" onclick="return mV('Jhn',20,17);">Jhn 20:17</a>
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The Head of the Church – <a id="si_29" onclick="return mV('Eph',1,20,21);">Eph 1:20-21</a>; <a id="si_30" onclick="return mV('Rev',7,17);">Rev 7:17</a>; <a id="si_31" onclick="return mV('Rev',6,16,17);">Rev 6:16-17</a>
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He will be unseen but present by His Spirit
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The promise of His return – <a id="si_32" onclick="return mV('Act',1,'10-11');">Act 1:10-11</a>
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The angelic messengers
</li>
<li>
The message
<ul>
<li>
Do not mourn
</li>
<li>
Do not gaze into heaven
</li>
<li>
Live with hope
<ul>
<li>
“This same Jesus”
<ul>
<li>
The same body
</li>
<li>
The same power
</li>
<li>
The same compassion
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
“Shall come again”
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Great Historical Events That Determine Our Destiny and Our Lifestyle
<ul>
<li>
The birth of Christ
</li>
<li>
The death of Christ
</li>
<li>
The resurrection of Christ
</li>
<li>
The ascension of Christ
</li>
<li>
The return of Christ
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>
The Author’s Introduction – <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Act',1,'1-5');">Act 1:1-5</a>
</li>
<li>
The Great Commission – <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Act',1,6,7,8);">Act 1:6-8</a>
</li>
<li>
The Glorious Ascension – <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',1,9);">Act 1:9</a>
<ul>
<li>
The literal event
<ul>
<li>
Bodily
</li>
<li>
Publicly
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The meaning
<ul>
<li>
Sin has been atoned
</li>
<li>
Death has been defeated
</li>
<li>
Satan has been destroyed – <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Heb',2,14);">Heb 2:14</a>
</li>
<li>
The Law has been fulfilled
</li>
<li>
The Son is glorified – <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Jhn',17,'1-5');">Jhn 17:1-5</a>
</li>
<li>
The Son is the ruling power – <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Eph',1,20);">Eph 1:20</a>;
<a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Col',1,18);">Col 1:18</a>;
<a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Rev',6,16,17);">Rev 6:16-17</a>
</li>
<li>
The Holy Spirit will come to indwell believers – <a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('Jhn',7,'37-39');">Jhn 7:37-39</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Promise of His Return – <a id="si_11" onclick="return mV('Act',1,'10-11');">Act 1:10-11</a>
<ul>
<li>
The angelic messengers
</li>
<li>
The message
<ul>
<li>
“This same Jesus”
</li>
<li>
“Shall so come”
</li>
<li>
“In like manner”
</li>
<li>
“As you have seen Him go”
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Great Historical Events that Determine Our Destiny and Govern Our Life
<ul>
<li>
The Birth of Christ - the gracious provision of our Saviour. We have no right to question God’s goodness
</li>
<li>
The Death of Christ - we have no right to continue in sin or in guilt
</li>
<li>
The Resurrection of Christ - we have no right to live as though He is dead
</li>
<li>
The Ascension of Christ - we have no right to be in control or power
</li>
<li>
The Return of Christ - we have every right to live with hope and optimism and joy
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Ten Days of Waiting – <a id="si_12" onclick="return mV('Act',1,'12-26');">Act 1:12-26</a>
<ul>
<li>
They were together
</li>
<li>
The upper room
</li>
<li>
The unity
</li>
<li>
The prayer
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
They were obedient
</li>
<li>
They completed the Apostolate
<ul>
<li>
The vacancy left by Judas
</li>
<li>
The Scriptural direction
</li>
<li>
The purpose
<ul>
<li>
For the foundation of the Church
</li>
<li>
For witnessing of the resurrection
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<ul class="noindent">
<li>
The Applications
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
The importance of obedience
</li>
<li>
The importance of togetherness
<ul>
<li>
In one accord
</li>
<li>
In united prayer
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>
Moving Out from Jerusalem
</li>
<li>
The New Center at Antioch
</li>
<li>
The Ministry of Barnabas
<ul>
<li>
He was a righteous man
</li>
<li>
He was controlled by the Holy Spirit
</li>
<li>
He was controlled by faith
<ul>
<li>
His faith was stronger than his fears
</li>
<li>
His faith was stronger than his problems
</li>
<li>
His faith was stronger than his temptations
</li>
<li>
His faith was stronger than his doubts
</li>
<li>
His faith was stronger than his depressions
</li>
<li>
His faith made him optimistic
</li>
<li>
He believed in God’s sovereignty
</li>
<li>
He counted on God’s sovereignty
</li>
<li>
He lived by God’s sovereignty
</li>
<li>
He believed God and expected God to act
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
What he did – <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Act',11,23);">Act 11:23</a>
<ul>
<li>
He came to Antioch
</li>
<li>
He saw the grace of God
</li>
<li>
He was thankful
</li>
<li>
He edified the Church through spiritual instruction
<ul>
<li>
He exhorted them to be faithful
</li>
<li>
To do so with a purpose or plan
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Many were added to the Lord
</li>
<li>
He brought Paul to Antioch – <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Act',11,25,26);">Act 11:25-26</a>
</li>
<li>
The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch –
<a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',11,26);">Act 11:26</a>;
<a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('1Pe',4,16);">1Pe 4:16</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Jerusalem Church and the Antioch Church Were Brought Together
<ul>
<li>
The need in Jerusalem: warned of future famine
</li>
<li>
The generosity in Antioch
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>
The Events in <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Act',12,'1-');">Acts 12</a>
<ul>
<li>
The murder of James the Apostle by Herod – <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Act',12,1,2);">Act 12:1-2</a>
</li>
<li>
The imprisonment of Peter – <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',12,3,4,5);">Act 12:3-5</a>
</li>
<li>
The deliverance of Peter – <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',12,'6-11');">Act 12:6-11</a>
</li>
<li>
The prayer meeting – <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',12,12);">Act 12:12</a>
</li>
<li>
The death of Herod – <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Act',12,'20-23');">Act 12:20-23</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Murder of James
<ul>
<li>
The murderer: Herod
<ul>
<li>
He is known as Herod Agrippa
<ul>
<li>
Not the one before whom Jesus appeared
</li>
<li>
The father of the Herod before whom Paul will later appear
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
He is opposed to Christ
</li>
<li>
He is a cunning politician
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The victim: James – <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Act',12,2);">Act 12:2</a>
<ul>
<li>
He is the brother of John
</li>
<li>
He is the son of Zebedee
</li>
<li>
He was on the Mount of Transfiguration – <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Mat',17,1);">Mat 17:1</a>
</li>
<li>
He was the first Apostle to die
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The execution
<ul>
<li>
His head was chopped off with a sword – <a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('Act',12,2);">Act 12:2</a>
</li>
<li>
It was commanded by Herod
</li>
<li>
It pleased the Jews
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The timing
<ul>
<li>
The year - 44 AD
</li>
<li>
The Passover season - Spring time
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Imprisonment of Peter – <a id="si_11" onclick="return mV('Act',12,'3-11');">Act 12:3-11</a>
<ul>
<li>
Herod commands the arrest of Peter
<ul>
<li>
A matter of political gain
</li>
<li>
A strategic time – Easter / Passover
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Peter is secured in prison
<ul>
<li>
He is chained to two soldiers on guard
</li>
<li>
Special guards are assigned to around the clock duty – <a id="si_12" onclick="return mV('Act',5,19);">Act 5:19</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Peter is sleeping in prison
<ul>
<li>
He has been there before
</li>
<li>
He is not afraid
</li>
<li>
Yet he is surprised
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Supernatural Deliverance of Peter – <a id="si_13" onclick="return mV('Act',12,'7-11');">Act 12:7-11</a>
<ul>
<li>
The angel of the Lord appears
</li>
<li>
He is in charge
<ul>
<li>
The guards are helpless
</li>
<li>
The chains are no problem
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
He directs Peter
<ul>
<li>
Tells him everything to do
</li>
<li>
Helps him out of the prison
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Very “Human” Church – <a id="si_14" onclick="return mV('Act',12,'13-17');">Act 12:13-17</a>
<ul>
<li>
Peter at the door
</li>
<li>
Rhoda answers the knock
<ul>
<li>
Rhoda’s problem
</li>
<li>
The cautious recognition
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The answered prayer
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Death of Herod – <a id="si_15" onclick="return mV('Act',12,21,22,23);">Act 12:21-23</a>
<ul>
<li>
The execution of guards
</li>
<li>
The pride of man - playing God
</li>
<li>
The weakness of man - worshiping Herod
</li>
<li>
The sovereignty of God
<ul>
<li>
Herod dies a horrible death
</li>
<li>
The folly of those who defy God
</li>
<li>
The tragedy of those who give God no glory
</li>
<li>
The blinded, distorted, twisted, pride of men who attempt to live without a sense of dependence upon God
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Marvelous Results – <a id="si_16" onclick="return mV('Act',12,24,25);">Act 12:24-25</a>
<ul>
<li>
The Word of God grew and multiplied
<ul>
<li>
Despite all the opposition
</li>
<li>
Paul and Barnabas are being trained for their future ministry
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The certainty of justice
</li>
<li>
The indestructibility of the church
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Prayer Meeting – <a id="si_17" onclick="return mV('Act',12,5);">Act 12:5</a>
<ul>
<li>
James is murdered
</li>
<li>
Peter is delivered
</li>
<li>
The difference – <a id="si_18" onclick="return mV('Act',12,5);">Act 12:5</a>
<ul>
<li>
But prayer was made
<ul>
<li>
The difference in weapons
<ul>
<li>
Herod – sword
</li>
<li>
Church – <a id="si_19" onclick="return mV('2Cr',10,3,4,5);">2Co 10:3-5</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Prayer
<ul>
<li>
To build dependence
</li>
<li>
To participate in the sovereignty of God
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
By the Church
<ul>
<li>
Not by the government
</li>
<li>
Not by the world
</li>
<li>
The unique calling of the Church
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Unto God
<ul>
<li>
They called upon the Lord
</li>
<li>
They did not trust in anything or anyone else
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Without ceasing
<ul>
<li>
They were persistent
</li>
<li>
God delayed the answer
<ul>
<li>
The people learned
</li>
<li>
Peter learned
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
For him Peter
<ul>
<li>
The definite request
</li>
<li>
The direct answer
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Purpose of Recording the Events of <a id="si_20" onclick="return mV('Act',12,7);">Act 12:7</a>
<ul>
<li>
To reveal God’s sovereign determinism
<ul>
<li>
Over Rome
</li>
<li>
Over Herod
</li>
<li>
Over Jews
</li>
<li>
Over persecution of the Church
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
To reveal God’s inclusion of His people in carrying out His purposes
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
God’s People Participate in His Sovereign Determinism
<ul>
<li>
God’s predestined plan will be fulfilled
</li>
<li>
God’s plan includes the participation of His people
<ul>
<li>
The prayer
</li>
<li>
The evangelism
</li>
<li>
The serving
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Can Peter be released from prison if the church does not pray? Yes<br>
Will the Church pray? Yes, God wills it
</li>
<li>
God has willed to use the prayer of His people as the means to the end
</li>
<li>
Prayer – any participation by God’s people is our great privilege and opportunity and involvement with God
</li>
<li>
Since God determines everything, why pray?
<ul>
<li>
Because He commands it
</li>
<li>
For our good
</li>
<li>
For our learning
</li>
<li>
For dependence
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>
The Logistics
<ul>
<li>
The time involved - two years
</li>
<li>
The date approximated - 46-48 AD
</li>
<li>
The distance traveled - 1400 miles
</li>
<li>
The people involved - Paul, Barnabas, and John Mark
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Witness on the Isle of Cyprus – <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Act',13,'4-12');">Act 13:4-12</a>
<ul>
<li>
In Salamas - “They proclaimed the Word of God in the synagogues of the Jews”
</li>
<li>
Their direction
<ul>
<li>
There is no record of God telling them where to teach
</li>
<li>
They did what seemed right
</li>
<li>
Grace does not eliminate our decisions
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
In Paphos – <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Act',13,'6-12');">Act 13:6-12</a>
<ul>
<li>
The conversion of Sergius Paulus
<ul>
<li>
Bar-Jesus - The Hebrew name
</li>
<li>
Called himself a follower
</li>
<li>
He is a sorcerer
</li>
<li>
He is controlled by Satan
</li>
<li>
He is an enemy of righteousness
</li>
<li>
He is filled with deceit
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The ministry of Paul
<ul>
<li>
He has discernment
</li>
<li>
He speaks with authority
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The judgment on Elymas
<ul>
<li>
He is blinded
</li>
<li>
The signs of an Apostle – <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('2Cr',12,12);">2Co 12:12</a>
</li>
<li>
Sergius Paulus believes
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Witness in Antioch, Pisidia – <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',13,'13-52');">Act 13:13-52</a>
<ul>
<li>
The departure of John Mark
</li>
<li>
The message to the Jews in Antioch – <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',13,'16-41');">Act 13:16-41</a>
<ul>
<li>
The historical introduction – <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Act',13,'16-25');">Act 13:16-25</a>
<ul>
<li>
His sovereignty – <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Act',13,17);">Act 13:17</a>
</li>
<li>
His omnipotence – <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Act',13,17);">Act 13:17</a>
</li>
<li>
His patience – <a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('Act',13,18);">Act 13:18</a>
</li>
<li>
His faithfulness – <a id="si_11" onclick="return mV('Act',13,23);">Act 13:23</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The doctrinal content – <a id="si_12" onclick="return mV('Act',13,'23-37');">Act 13:23-37</a>
<ul>
<li>
The redemptive work of Christ
<ul>
<li>
His genealogy
</li>
<li>
His incarnation
</li>
<li>
His substitutionary death
</li>
<li>
His resurrection
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The result of His work
<ul>
<li>
Forgiveness
</li>
<li>
Justification – <a id="si_13" onclick="return mV('Act',13,39);">Act 13:39</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>
The Ministry in Iconium – <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Act',14,'1-6');">Act 14:1-6</a>
<ul>
<li>
They went together into the synagogue
</li>
<li>
They spoke boldly in the Lord
<ul>
<li>
With a clear message
</li>
<li>
With a direct testimony
</li>
<li>
With a persuasive manner
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
They remained (6 months)
</li>
<li>
The results
<ul>
<li>
The Lord confirmed the message
<ul>
<li>
The physical signs
</li>
<li>
The spiritual miracles
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Many believed
</li>
<li>
Many opposed
<ul>
<li>
Subtle opposition
<ul>
<li>
Questioning
</li>
<li>
Negative
</li>
<li>
Critical
</li>
<li>
Poisonous propaganda
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Viscious-violent opposition
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Departure to Lyconia
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Ministry at Lystra – <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Act',14,'6-20');">Act 14:6-20</a>
<ul>
<li>
They preached the Gospel
</li>
<li>
The lame man was healed – <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',14,'8-10');">Act 14:8-10</a>
<ul>
<li>
The man
<ul>
<li>
He was crippled from birth
</li>
<li>
He was helpless
</li>
<li>
He heard Paul’s message and believed
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Paul
<ul>
<li>
He looked directly at the man
</li>
<li>
He discerned that the man was responding
</li>
<li>
He spoke with authority
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The healing
<ul>
<li>
The man obeyed the Gospel
</li>
<li>
The man leaped and walked
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The results
<ul>
<li>
The people begin to worship Paul and Barnabas as gods – <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',14,14);">Act 14:14</a>
</li>
<li>
The response of Paul and Barnabas
<ul>
<li>
They stopped them – <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',14,14);">Act 14:14</a>
</li>
<li>
They corrected them – <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Act',14,15);">Act 14:15</a>
</li>
<li>
They taught them – <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Act',14,'15-18');">Act 14:15-18</a>
<ul>
<li>
Declared that they were human and refused worship
</li>
<li>
Exhorted them to turn from empty rituals and vain ceremonies
</li>
<li>
Referred to the living God
<ul>
<li>
He has revealed Himself through creation
</li>
<li>
He has provided a source of joy
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Return Home to Antioch, Syria
<ul>
<li>
They returned through Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch; places of persecution
</li>
<li>
Their ministry
<ul>
<li>
To strengthen believers in their faith – by teaching the Word of God
</li>
<li>
To encourage believers in their faith – exhorting them to continue
</li>
<li>
To fortify them for suffering
</li>
<li>
To organize them for effective service – they appointed elders in every church
</li>
<li>
To pray with them and for them
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The arrival at home – <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Act',14,27,28);">Act 14:27-28</a>
<ul>
<li>
The rehearsal of what God had done through them
</li>
<li>
The fulfillment through grace
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>
The Principle of Unanimous Agreement – <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Act',15,'22-29');">Act 15:22-29</a>
<ul>
<li>
The Word of God
</li>
<li>
The teaching through gifted men
</li>
<li>
The Word of God and the mind of the Spirit are in unanimous agreement
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Learning and Understanding the Word of God – <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',15,'30-35');">Act 15:30-35</a>
<ul>
<li>
Attention to the basics
</li>
<li>
The waiting on God
</li>
<li>
When the guidance is not clear
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Principle of Responsible Concern – <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',15,'36');">Act 15:36</a>
<ul>
<li>
They remembered the people
</li>
<li>
They wanted to “see how they are”
</li>
<li>
Concern for their growth
</li>
<li>
They took the initiative
</li>
<li>
They moved out in response to opportunity
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Principle of Separation – <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',15,'37-41');">Act 15:37-41</a>
<ul>
<li>
Agreeing to disagree
</li>
<li>
Paul and Barnabas disagreed
</li>
<li>
It was not good to remain in contention
</li>
<li>
It was better to separate
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Principle of Flexibility – <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Act',16,'1-5');">Act 16:1-5</a>
<ul>
<li>
Titus - all Greek
</li>
<li>
Timothy
<ul>
<li>
Father - Greek
</li>
<li>
Mother – Jew
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Timothy is circumcised – Titus was not
</li>
<li>
The governing principle – <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('1Cr',9,22);">1Co 9:22</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Inner Witness of the Spirit – <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Act',16,6,7,8);">Act 16:6-8</a>
<ul>
<li>
Paul used common sense and went to the logical places
</li>
<li>
The Holy Spirit did not allow them to go into Bithynia – <a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('Act',16,7);">Act 16:7</a>
</li>
<li>
The inner sense of confirming peace
</li>
<li>
The inner sense of denial
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Sovereign Direction Through the Bible
<ul>
<li>
A dream
</li>
<li>
A vision
</li>
<li>
The immediate obedience
</li>
<li>
The action of faith
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Some More Principles
<ul>
<li>
The priority of God’s will involves relationship, not program
</li>
<li>
The priority of God’s will involves being, not doing
</li>
<li>
The will of God concerning character is universal –
<a id="si_11" onclick="return mV('Rom',8,'28-31');">Rom 8:28-31</a>;
<a id="si_12" onclick="return mV('Gal',5,22,23);">Gal 5:22-23</a>
</li>
<li>
The will of God concerning service is individual
</li>
<li>
Discovering the will of God is primarily a matter of acceptance and not guidance
</li>
<li>
God does not usually unfold the details of our future, but does lead day by day
</li>
<li>
We should act on what we already know to be right
</li>
<li>
We must live with expectancy toward God
</li>
<li>
We should be willing to obey whatever
</li>
<li>
We should not see conditions
</li>
<li>
We must not avoid the responsibility of making decisions
</li>
<li>
We have great freedom
</li>
<li>
We must use our common sense
</li>
<li>
We should not keep looking for subjective confirmation
</li>
<li>
Don’t be overly suspicious about your desires
</li>
<li>
Don’t think that right decisions bring exemption from problems
</li>
<li>
Trust God’s over-all sovereignty to overlook all our wrongs
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>
The Witness in Lystra – <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Act',15,'4-');">Act 15:4</a>-<a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Act',16,'1-3');">16:3</a>
<ul>
<li>
In Syria and Cilicia – <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',15,41);">Act 15:41</a>
<ul>
<li>
The local churches
</li>
<li>
Strengthening the churches
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
In Derbe and Lystra – <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',16,'1-3');">Act 16:1-3</a>
<ul>
<li>
Timothy’s background
<ul>
<li>
He was a disciple
</li>
<li>
He was Hebrew-Greek – <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',16,1);">Act 16:1</a>
</li>
<li>
He was respected by the believers
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Timothy’s ministry with Paul – <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Act',16,3,4);">Act 16:3-4</a>
<ul>
<li>
He journeyed with Paul
</li>
<li>
He was trained on the job
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Witness from Lystra to Troas – <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Act',16,'4-10');">Act 16:4-10</a>
<ul>
<li>
The content: the triumph of the Gospel of Grace
</li>
<li>
The result
<ul>
<li>
The churches were strengthened (edified) in the faith
</li>
<li>
They increased in number daily
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The divine direction – <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Act',16,6,7,8);">Act 16:6-8</a>
<ul>
<li>
The Holy Spirit led
</li>
<li>
The men followed
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The call to Macedonia – <a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('Act',16,9,10);">Act 16:9-10</a>
<ul>
<li>
The vision
</li>
<li>
The response
</li>
<li>
The reason Europe needed the Gospel
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Witness in Philippi – <a id="si_11" onclick="return mV('Act',16,'11-40');">Act 16:11-40</a>
<ul>
<li>
The city is an important colony
</li>
<li>
A church was established that was dear to Paul’s heart – <a id="si_12" onclick="return mV('Phl',1,'1-9');">Phl 1:1-9</a>
</li>
<li>
The conversion of Lydia, the first believer on European soil
<ul>
<li>
The setting – <a id="si_13" onclick="return mV('Act',16,14);">Act 16:14</a>
<ul>
<li>
It was the Sabbath
</li>
<li>
There was a prayer meeting at the riverside
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Lydia
<ul>
<li>
A seller of purple cloth
</li>
<li>
From the City of Thyatira
</li>
<li>
She worshipped God
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The manner of her conversion
<ul>
<li>
It was brought about by providential circumstances
<ul>
<li>
She was from Thyatrira
</li>
<li>
Paul is forbidden to go there
</li>
<li>
Paul and Lydia must meet at Philippi
<ul>
<li>
Paul must be directed
</li>
<li>
He must be brought to Troas
</li>
<li>
On a ship going to Samothrace
</li>
<li>
Landing at Neapolis
</li>
<li>
He must go down by the river
</li>
<li>
Lydia must be present
</li>
<li>
God brought them together
</li>
<li>
God’s providence is working everything together for the salvation of His elect
</li>
<li>
God will not allow one elect soul to miss the predestined moment!
</li>
<li>
God is in control of salvation!
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The grace in preparing the heart
<ul>
<li>
She knew something of the Word of God
</li>
<li>
She worshipped
</li>
<li>
She did not know Christ
</li>
<li>
God was preparing her heart
</li>
<li>
Grace opened her heart
<ul>
<li>
She did not open her own heart
</li>
<li>
Her prayers did not do it
</li>
<li>
Paul did not do it
</li>
<li>
Nothing short of divine power can do it – <a id="si_14" onclick="return mV('Jhn',1,13);">Jhn 1:13</a>
</li>
<li>
Faith is the gift of God – <a id="si_15" onclick="return mV('Eph',2,8,9);">Eph 2:8-9</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
God uses “means”
<ul>
<li>
She went to a prayer meeting
</li>
<li>
She heard the message
</li>
<li>
God used the witness of Paul
</li>
<li>
The truth entered the open heart
<ul>
<li>
Her desires were awakened
</li>
<li>
Her understanding was enlightened
</li>
<li>
Her heart was influenced to believe
</li>
<li>
Her life was exercised in faith
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The evidence of her conversion – <a id="si_16" onclick="return mV('Act',16,15);">Act 16:15</a>
<ul>
<li>
She is obedient to baptism
</li>
<li>
She communicates to her household
</li>
<li>
She is gracious in hospitality
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Our conversion
<ul>
<li>
Same natural condition
</li>
<li>
Same providential work
</li>
<li>
Same marvelous grace
</li>
<li>
Same miraculous believing
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Our response
<ul>
<li>
Thankful hearts for the providences which brought us to the place where Christ was revealed to us
</li>
<li>
Appreciation that results in devotion, obedience, and service
</li>
<li>
Faith in continuing grace to provide and empower
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>
The Witness in Thessalonica – <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Act',17,9);">Act 17:9</a>
<ul>
<li>
The city
<ul>
<li>
The capital of Macedonia
</li>
<li>
A busy commercial metropolis
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The content of the witness – <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Act',17,3);">Act 17:3</a>
<ul>
<li>
The deity of Christ
</li>
<li>
The death of Christ
</li>
<li>
The resurrection of Christ
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The result of the witness
<ul>
<li>
Many believed – <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',17,4);">Act 17:4</a>
</li>
<li>
Many opposed – <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',17,'5-9');">Act 17:5-9</a>
</li>
<li>
Paul and Silas leave
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Witness in Berea – <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',17,'10-13');">Act 17:10-13</a>
<ul>
<li>
The immediate response – <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Act',17,11);">Act 17:11</a>
<ul>
<li>
The reception of the Word
</li>
<li>
The readiness of the mind
</li>
<li>
The research of the people
<ul>
<li>
Examining Scripture daily
</li>
<li>
To find the truth
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The result – <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Act',17,13,14);">Act 17:13-14</a>
<ul>
<li>
Many believed
</li>
<li>
Many opposed
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Witness in Athens – <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Act',17,'14-34');">Act 17:14-34</a>
<ul>
<li>
The city - famous for art, philosophy, and religions
</li>
<li>
The home of the Stoics and the Epicureans, Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle
<ul>
<li>
The Stoics - Pantheists - followers of Zeno, believing that everything is God
</li>
<li>
The Epicureans - Atheists - denied God’s existence and anything after death
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Paul’s message on Mars Hill – <a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('Act',17,'16-34');">Act 17:16-34</a>
<ul>
<li>
The background
<ul>
<li>
The philosophical debates
</li>
<li>
The pagan city
</li>
<li>
The stirring of Paul’s spirit to teach
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The content – <a id="si_11" onclick="return mV('Act',17,'22-31');">Act 17:22-31</a>
<ul>
<li>
The introduction
<ul>
<li>
He commends their religious pursuit
</li>
<li>
He observes their altar
</li>
<li>
He identifies their “unknown god” (daimon)
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The thesis – <a id="si_12" onclick="return mV('Act',17,'22-29');">Act 17:22-29</a>
<ul>
<li>
The nature of God
</li>
<li>
God is Creator – <a id="si_13" onclick="return mV('Act',17,24,25);">Act 17:24-25</a>
</li>
<li>
God is universally sovereign – <a id="si_14" onclick="return mV('Act',17,26);">Act 17:26</a>
<ul>
<li>
Does not dwell in buildings
</li>
<li>
Man cannot worship what man can make
</li>
<li>
God directs the destiny of men and nations
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The application
<ul>
<li>
An appeal to forsake idolatry – <a id="si_15" onclick="return mV('Act',17,29);">Act 17:29</a>
</li>
<li>
A plea to repent – <a id="si_16" onclick="return mV('Act',17,30,31);">Act 17:30-31</a>
<ul>
<li>
The urgency – now
</li>
<li>
The imperative – God commands it
</li>
<li>
The universality – men everywhere
</li>
<li>
The reality
<ul>
<li>
God has appointed a day of judgment
</li>
<li>
The standard of God’s judgment is righteousness
</li>
<li>
The righteousness demanded is the righteousness of Christ
</li>
<li>
The assurance is the fact of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The result
<ul>
<li>
Some mocked
</li>
<li>
Some wavered
</li>
<li>
Some believed
</li>
<li>
Paul departed
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>
The Witness in Corinth – <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Act',18,'1-17');">Act 18:1-17</a>
<ul>
<li>
The city of Corinth
<ul>
<li>
A political center – Capital of Achaia
</li>
<li>
A commercial center
</li>
<li>
A pagan center
<ul>
<li>
The temple of Aphrodite, goddess of sex
</li>
<li>
The mystery religions
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
A wicked center
<ul>
<li>
Prostitution in the religions
</li>
<li>
Homosexuality in the city
</li>
<li>
The problem of drunkenness
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Paul’s new friends – <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Act',18,'1-4');">Act 18:1-4</a>
<ul>
<li>
Aquila and Priscilla
<ul>
<li>
They were Jewish
</li>
<li>
They had to leave Rome due to anti-Semitism under Claudius
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
They were tentmakers
<ul>
<li>
They were faithful workers
</li>
<li>
They helped the Apostle Paul
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The ministry of Paul – <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',18,'4-11');">Act 18:4-11</a>
<ul>
<li>
In the Synagogue
<ul>
<li>
He reasoned with them
</li>
<li>
He persuaded them
</li>
<li>
He appealed to mind and to will
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The arrival of Silas and Timothy
</li>
<li>
The stubborn resistance of the Jews – <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',18,6);">Act 18:6</a>
</li>
<li>
The turning to the Gentiles – <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',18,6);">Act 18:6</a>
</li>
<li>
The new converts – <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Act',18,7,8);">Act 18:7-8</a>
<ul>
<li>
They heard
</li>
<li>
They believed
</li>
<li>
They were baptized
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The new encouragement – <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Act',18,9,10);">Act 18:9-10</a>
<ul>
<li>
The promised presence
</li>
<li>
The promised protection
</li>
<li>
The promised people
<ul>
<li>
The sovereignty of God in salvation
</li>
<li>
The sovereign election - “I have many people in this city”
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The response to the Lord – <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Act',18,11);">Act 18:11</a>
<ul>
<li>
Paul continued preaching
</li>
<li>
He stayed a year and a half
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The attempt to silence the witness – <a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('Act',18,'12-17');">Act 18:12-17</a>
<ul>
<li>
The occasion – <a id="si_11" onclick="return mV('Act',18,12);">Act 18:12</a> - A new pro-consul came to Corinth
</li>
<li>
The accusation – <a id="si_12" onclick="return mV('Act',18,13);">Act 18:13</a> - That Paul persuaded men to worship God contrary to the Law
</li>
<li>
The failure of their attack – <a id="si_13" onclick="return mV('Act',18,14,15,16);">Act 18:14-16</a>
<ul>
<li>
Gallio threw the case out of court
</li>
<li>
He ruled that it was a Jewish religious matter and not a Roman concern
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The rage of the Jews - they beat their own leader, Sosthenes
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Observations and Applications
<ul>
<li>
Paul wrote his first epistles from Corinth - <a id="si_14" onclick="return mV('1Th',1,'1-');">1</a> and <a id="si_15" onclick="return mV('1Th',2,'1-');">2 Thessalonians</a>
</li>
<li>
The decision of Gallio gave freedom to preach the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire without being charged with breaking the Roman law
</li>
<li>
Sosthenes became a believer – <a id="si_16" onclick="return mV('1Co',1,1);">1Co 1:1</a>
</li>
<li>
From Athens to Corinth, from intellectual pride to sensual lust
</li>
<li>
The message proclaimed – <a id="si_17" onclick="return mV('1Co',2,'1-5');">1Co 2:1-5</a>
</li>
<li>
The church in Corinth
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>
The Witness from Corinth to Antioch – <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Act',18,'18-22');">Act 18:18-22</a>
<ul>
<li>
Enroute to Ephesus – <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Act',18,18);">Act 18:18</a>
<ul>
<li>
He took Aquila and Priscilla
</li>
<li>
He took a vow
<ul>
<li>
He shaved his head
</li>
<li>
A vow of thanksgiving
</li>
<li>
Had not cut his hair for 30 days
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The witness in Ephesus – <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',18,'19-21');">Act 18:19-21</a>
<ul>
<li>
The preaching in the Synagogue
</li>
<li>
The promise to return
</li>
<li>
The departure - Paul wanted to be in Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The arrival at Antioch - having been away for about two years
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Third Missionary Journey – <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',18,'23-');">Act 18:23-28</a>; <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',19,'1');">Act 19</a>; <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Act',20,'1-');">Act 20</a>; <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Act',21,'1-17');">Act 21:1-17</a>
<ul>
<li>
Paul’s witness in Ephesus – <a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('Act',18,'24-');">Act 18:24</a>-<a id="si_11" onclick="return mV('Act',19,'1-41');">19:41</a>
<ul>
<li>
The city
<ul>
<li>
The captial of Western Asia
</li>
<li>
The Temple of Diana
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The ministry of Apollos – <a id="si_12" onclick="return mV('Act',18,'24-28');">Act 18:24-28</a>
<ul>
<li>
He was an Alexandrian Jew
</li>
<li>
He was very eloquent
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The introduction to Paul’s witness – <a id="si_13" onclick="return mV('Act',19,'1-6');">Act 19:1-6</a>
<ul>
<li>
The disciples of John the Baptist
</li>
<li>
The question to them
</li>
<li>
Their salvation
<ul>
<li>
They believed in Christ
</li>
<li>
They were baptized by the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ – <a id="si_14" onclick="return mV('Act',19,5);">Act 19:5</a>
</li>
<li>
They received the gift of languages – <a id="si_15" onclick="return mV('Act',19,6);">Act 19:6</a>
<ul>
<li>
A sign gift to unbelieving Jews
</li>
<li>
An announcement of judgment
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
They prophesied - proclaimed the truth of God – <a id="si_16" onclick="return mV('Act',19,6);">Act 19:6</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The truth established
<ul>
<li>
Belief in Christ brings the Holy Spirit
</li>
<li>
The Holy Spirit is not a “second blessing”
</li>
<li>
The Holy Spirit in our lives - making Christ visible through us
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>
The Introduction to Paul’s Witness – <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Act',19,'1-7');">Act 19:1-7</a>
<ul>
<li>
The disciples of John the Baptist – <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Act',19,'1-3');">Act 19:1-3</a>
</li>
<li>
Paul’s question to them – <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',19,2);">Act 19:2</a>
<ul>
<li>
He discerned a problem
<ul>
<li>
There was something missing
</li>
<li>
The similar problem of Apollos
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Their answer: “No, we have not even heard about the Holy Spirit.” – <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',19,2);">Act 19:2</a>
</li>
<li>
Paul’s second question: “What baptism did you receive?” – <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',19,3);">Act 19:3</a>
</li>
<li>
Their answer: “The baptism of John the Baptist.”
</li>
<li>
Paul’s reply
<ul>
<li>
The baptism of John was a baptism of repentance – <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Act',19,4);">Act 19:4</a>
</li>
<li>
He taught them about Christ
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The result
<ul>
<li>
They were baptized in the name of Christ – <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Act',19,5);">Act 19:5</a>
</li>
<li>
The Holy Spirit came to indwell them – <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Act',19,6);">Act 19:6</a>
</li>
<li>
They received two gifts
<ul>
<li>
The gift of languages
</li>
<li>
The gift of prophecy
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Lessons Learned
<ul>
<li>
The condition of the men
<ul>
<li>
They were not saved
</li>
<li>
They did not know the grace of God
</li>
<li>
They did not have faith in Christ
</li>
<li>
John’s baptism did not bring salvation
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The ministry of Paul
<ul>
<li>
What he did
<ul>
<li>
He taught them about Christ
</li>
<li>
They were baptized in the name of Christ
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
What he did not do
<ul>
<li>
He did not teach about the Holy Spirit
</li>
<li>
He did not teach about the baptism of the Holy Spirit
</li>
<li>
He did not teach two baptisms
</li>
<li>
He did not press for a second experience
</li>
<li>
He did not teach second blessing, deeper commitment, more faith, greater yieldedness or agonizing waiting
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The effect of that ministry
<ul>
<li>
Through faith in Christ the Holy Spirit came to indwell
</li>
<li>
Two spiritual gifts were given
<ul>
<li>
The gift of languages
<ul>
<li>
A sign gift to unbelieving Jews
</li>
<li>
An announcement that God was turning from the Jews to the Gentiles
</li>
<li>
The gift was associated with the Apostles
</li>
<li>
The gift ceased with the Apostles
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The gift of prophecy
<ul>
<li>
The proclamation of God’s Truth
</li>
<li>
The purpose of edification
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Holy Spirit in Our Life
<ul>
<li>
Believe in the Son - the Holy Spirit lives within –
<a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('Jhn',7,'37-39');">Jhn 7:37-39</a>;
<a id="si_11" onclick="return mV('Rom',8,9);">Rom 8:9</a>;
<a id="si_12" onclick="return mV('1Cr',3,16);">1Co 3:16</a>;
<a id="si_13" onclick="return mV('1Cr',6,19);">1Co 6:19</a>;
<a id="si_14" onclick="return mV('1Jo',2,24);">1Jo 3:24</a>
</li>
<li>
Live and walk in the Spirit
<ul>
<li>
Accept His Person
</li>
<li>
Acknowledge His Presence
</li>
<li>
Agree with His Purpose
</li>
<li>
Appropriate His Power
<ul>
<li>
Fresh Faith
</li>
<li>
Fresh Fruit
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>
The Nature of Paul’s Witness in Ephesus – <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Act',19,'8-20');">Act 19:8-20</a>
<ul>
<li>
It was extensive – <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Act',19,10);">Act 19:10</a>
</li>
<li>
It was expanded – <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',19,10);">Act 19:10</a>
</li>
<li>
It was effectual – <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',19,'11-20');">Act 19:11-20</a>
<ul>
<li>
The gift of healing was present – <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',19,12);">Act 19:12</a>
<ul>
<li>
This was not magic
</li>
<li>
The cloth was a symbol
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The counterfeit
<ul>
<li>
The Jewish attempt to “join-up”
</li>
<li>
The seven sons of Sceva
<ul>
<li>
They are overcome by the evil spirit
</li>
<li>
Satan’s kingdom is divided
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Lives were transformed – <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Act',19,18,19);">Act 19:18-19</a>
<ul>
<li>
The great bonfire
</li>
<li>
They were free from bondgage
</li>
<li>
The deceit of evil
<ul>
<li>
The promise of new power
</li>
<li>
The call for yielding
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Word of God grew and prevailed – <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Act',19,20);">Act 19:20</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Parenthesis – <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Act',19,21,22);">Act 19:21-22</a>
<ul>
<li>
Paul’s plans
<ul>
<li>
To visit Macedonia and Achaia
</li>
<li>
To go to Jerusalem
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Opposition to the Witness – <a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('Act',19,'23-41');">Act 19:23-41</a>
<ul>
<li>
The city
<ul>
<li>
A center for witchcraft
</li>
<li>
Superstition and demonism reigned
</li>
<li>
Filled with occult leaders
</li>
<li>
People lived in darkness and fear
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The occasion for the opposition – <a id="si_11" onclick="return mV('Act',19,23-27);">Act 19:23-27</a>
<ul>
<li>
The effectiveness of the witness
<ul>
<li>
The darkness was challenged with the weapon of truth!
</li>
<li>
The extensive teaching
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The loss of “idol-business”
</li>
<li>
The concern for “Diana”
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The intensity – <a id="si_12" onclick="return mV('Act',19,'28-34');">Act 19:28-34</a>
<ul>
<li>
They were filled with wrath
</li>
<li>
They were filled with confusion
</li>
<li>
They incited a riot
</li>
<li>
They were determined to stop the witness
</li>
<li>
They rejected the Jewish spokesman
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The settlement – <a id="si_13" onclick="return mV('Act',19,'35-41');">Act 19:35-41</a>
<ul>
<li>
The city clerk’s recommendations
<ul>
<li>
Diana needs in defense
</li>
<li>
The Christians have not robbed the temples nor blasphemed the goddess – <a id="si_14" onclick="return mV('Act',19,37);">Act 19:37</a>
</li>
<li>
Rome will not accept the illegal assembly
</li>
<li>
Dismiss and work through the law
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The assembly is dismissed – <a id="si_15" onclick="return mV('Act',19,41);">Act 19:41</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Application – <a id="si_16" onclick="return mV('Eph',6,'10-13');">Eph 6:10-13</a>
<ul>
<li>
How the Christian lives
<ul>
<li>
By the authority of the Word
</li>
<li>
In the power of the Spirit
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The strongholds around us
<ul>
<li>
Drugs and drinking
</li>
<li>
Witchcraft – occult
</li>
<li>
Perversion
<ul>
<li>
Men as women
</li>
<li>
Women as men
</li>
<li>
Homosexuality
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Crime
</li>
<li>
Terrorism
</li>
<li>
Family break-down
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The weapons of our warfare – <a id="si_17" onclick="return mV('2Cr',10,4-5);">2Co 10:4-5</a>
<ul>
<li>
Strong in the Lord
<ul>
<li>
Our strength is in Him –
<a id="si_18" onclick="return mV('2Cr',3,5);">2Co 3:5</a>;
<a id="si_19" onclick="return mV('Jhn',15,5);">Jhn 15:5</a>
</li>
<li>
Not in self
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The power of His might
<ul>
<li>
A deep, settled conviction that He is almighty in power
</li>
<li>
That His almighty power is committed toward us
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The ties that inspire faith in His almighty power to us
<ul>
<li>
We are His by choice
</li>
<li>
His by birth
</li>
<li>
His by gift
</li>
<li>
His by purchase
</li>
<li>
His by conquest
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>
The Pentecostal Event
<ul>
<li>
The significance
<ul>
<li>
The partial fulfillment of prophecy – <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Act',2,'16-21');">Act 2:16-21</a>;
<a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Joe',2,28);">Joe 2:28</a>
</li>
<li>
The inauguration of a new age
<ul>
<li>
The age of the Spirit of Christ
</li>
<li>
The age of grace
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The foundation of a new fellowship
<ul>
<li>
The birthday of the Church
</li>
<li>
The fellowship in Christ without barriers: geographical, cultural, racial, Jew and Gentile
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The beginning of the indwelling Holy Spirit – <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',2,'1-4');">Act 2:1-4</a>
</li>
<li>
The embarkation of a new mission: proclamation
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The circumstances
<ul>
<li>
The day
<ul>
<li>
The Feast of Harvest
</li>
<li>
Fifty days after Passover
</li>
<li>
Thousands of Jews in Jerusalem
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The assembly of disciples
<ul>
<li>
They waited in Jerusalem
</li>
<li>
They waited prayerfully
</li>
<li>
They were together
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The baptism of the Spirit: they were immersed into one body
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Inspired Interpretation of Pentecost – <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',2,'14-36');">Act 2:14-36</a>
<ul>
<li>
The preacher
<ul>
<li>
He was courageous
<ul>
<li>
He was before the crowd that had crucified Christ
</li>
<li>
He openly identified Himself with the Lord
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
He was confident
<ul>
<li>
He knew the truth
</li>
<li>
He did not compromise the truth
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The preacher’s method
<ul>
<li>
He “lifted up his voice”
</li>
<li>
He used simple words
</li>
<li>
He was direct
</li>
<li>
He was scriptural
<ul>
<li>
He had a text
</li>
<li>
He explained the meaning of the text
</li>
<li>
He declared the application
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
He was convincing
<ul>
<li>
He believed
</li>
<li>
He led others to believe
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The preacher’s message
<ul>
<li>
The explanation of Pentecost – <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',2,'15-21');">Act 2:15-21</a>
<ul>
<li>
Denies drunkenness
</li>
<li>
Refers to the Holy Spirit – <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Act',2,17,18);">Act 2:17-18</a>
<ul>
<li>
The Scripture involved – <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Joe',2,'28-32');">Joe 2:28-32</a>
</li>
<li>
The Scripture explained
<ul>
<li>
The culminating character of the New Testament days
<ul>
<li>
“The last days” – <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Act',2,17);">Act 2:17</a>
</li>
<li>
From Pentecost to the end of the millenium
</li>
<li>
The time immediately surrounding the return of Christ
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The universal character of the New Testament days
<ul>
<li>
The Spirit upon “all flesh”
<ul>
<li>
Jew
</li>
<li>
Gentile
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The witness to all the world – <a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('Act',1,8);">Act 1:8</a>; <a id="si_11" onclick="return mV('Act',2,32);">Act 2:32</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>
Summary of Paul’s Ministry
<ul>
<li>
He preached the Kingdom – <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Act',20,25);">Act 20:25</a>
</li>
<li>
He served with a clear conscience – <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Act',20,26);">Act 20:26</a>
</li>
<li>
He faithfully declared the whole “counsel” of God – <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',20,27);">Act 20:27</a>
</li>
<li>
He earnestly warned the church of peril – <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',20,31);">Act 20:31</a>
</li>
<li>
He did not live for material gain – <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',20,33);">Act 20:33</a>
</li>
<li>
He worked with his hands – <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Act',20,34);">Act 20:34</a>
</li>
<li>
He taught them to give – <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Act',20,35);">Act 20:35</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Exhortation to the Elders – <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Act',20,28);">Act 20:28</a>
<ul>
<li>
The concern about your own lives
<ul>
<li>
They must obey the truth they teach
</li>
<li>
Genuine obedience brings authority
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Take care of the Church
<ul>
<li>
The titles: 3 titles are used interchangeably for the same men – Elder, Bishop, and Pastor
</li>
<li>
To take care of means to “shepherd”
</li>
<li>
The shepherd ministry
<ul>
<li>
Feeding
<ul>
<li>
Sheep are not self-feeders
</li>
<li>
Sheep need help
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Guarding
<ul>
<li>
Sheep must be protected
</li>
<li>
Sheep must be defended
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Healing
<ul>
<li>
Sheep get sick
</li>
<li>
Sheep get hurt
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Watching
<ul>
<li>
Close observance
</li>
<li>
Alert evaluation
</li>
<li>
Correct interpretation
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Guiding
<ul>
<li>
Sheep are not independent travelers
</li>
<li>
They must be led
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Rescuing the lost
</li>
<li>
Loving
<ul>
<li>
“He calls His sheep by name” – <a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('Jhn',10,3);">Jhn 10:3</a>
</li>
<li>
Love always individualizes
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
It is the Church of God
<ul>
<li>
Christ loves the Church
</li>
<li>
Christ bought the Church with His own blood
<ul>
<li>
Redemption
</li>
<li>
Atonement
</li>
<li>
Ownership
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Watch for perils – <a id="si_11" onclick="return mV('Act',20,'29-30');">Act 20:29-30</a>
<ul>
<li>
Imposters - Wolves in sheep’s clothing
<ul>
<li>
They talk like
</li>
<li>
They act like
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Outsiders who persecute
</li>
<li>
They shall not spare the flock
</li>
<li>
They are from the inside
<ul>
<li>
They divide and separate
</li>
<li>
They seek a following
</li>
<li>
They draw people to themselves
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Follow Paul’s example – <a id="si_12" onclick="return mV('Act',20,'31-35');">Act 20:31-35</a>
<ul>
<li>
Admonish with compassion – <a id="si_13" onclick="return mV('Act',20,31);">Act 20:31</a>
</li>
<li>
Use the word of grace – <a id="si_14" onclick="return mV('Act',20,32);">Act 20:32</a>
</li>
<li>
Be selfless in serving – <a id="si_15" onclick="return mV('Act',20,34,35);">Act 20:34-35</a>
</li>
<li>
Work hard in order to give
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The commitment – <a id="si_16" onclick="return mV('Act',20,32);">Act 20:32</a>
<ul>
<li>
I commend you to God
<ul>
<li>
Acknowledge sovereignty
</li>
<li>
Release them
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
I commend you to the word of His grace –
<a id="si_17" onclick="return mV('Rom',5,2,20);">Rom 5:2, 20</a>;
<a id="si_18" onclick="return mV('2Ti',2,1);">2Ti 2:1</a>;
<a id="si_19" onclick="return mV('Tit',3,7);">Tit 3:7</a>;
<a id="si_20" onclick="return mV('2Co',9,8);">2Co 9:8</a>;
<a id="si_21" onclick="return mV('2Co',12,9);">2Co 12:9</a>
<ul>
<li>
It builds up
</li>
<li>
It secures inheritance
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The word of His grace
<ul>
<li>
Electing love
</li>
<li>
Effective atonement
</li>
<li>
Effective calling
</li>
<li>
Eternal security
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Farewell – <a id="si_22" onclick="return mV('Act',20,36,37,38);">Act 20:36-38</a>
<ul>
<li>
Prayer was real
</li>
<li>
Love was real
</li>
<li>
Sorrow was real
</li>
<li>
Separation was real
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>
The Witness in Macedonia and Greece – <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Act',20,'1-24');">Act 20:1-24</a>
<ul>
<li>
Revisiting the churches
</li>
<li>
The traveling seminary
</li>
<li>
The experience of Eutychus – <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Act',20,'7-12');">Act 20:7-12</a>
<ul>
<li>
Christians were meeting on the first day of the week
</li>
<li>
Paul preached till midnight
</li>
<li>
Eutychus fell and died
</li>
<li>
He was miraculously restored
</li>
<li>
The communion service lasted till daybreak
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Witness at Miletus – <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',20,'17-38');">Act 20:17-38</a>
<ul>
<li>
The elders from Ephesus join Paul
</li>
<li>
Paul reviews his ministry – <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',20,'18-21');">Act 20:18-21</a>
<ul>
<li>
Consistent - “I lived among you”
</li>
<li>
Humble - “Serving the Lord with all humility”
</li>
<li>
Earnest – “With tears”
</li>
<li>
Dangerous – “With triaIs and plots”
</li>
<li>
Fearless - “I shrank not”
</li>
<li>
Tireless - “Publicly and from house to house”
</li>
<li>
Redemptive - “Repentance and faith”
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Paul states his commitment to serve – <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',20,'22-24');">Act 20:22-24</a>
<ul>
<li>
The trouble awaiting him
</li>
<li>
His attitudes and convictions
<ul>
<li>
The danger does not affect him
</li>
<li>
He does not count his life as precious to himself – <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Phl',3,'7-10');">Phl 3:7-10</a>
<ul>
<li>
He wants nothing for himself
</li>
<li>
He lives only for God’s glory
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
His goal is to accomplish God’s purpose – <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Jhn',4,31);">Jhn 4:31</a>
<ul>
<li>
He had received his ministry from the Lord Jesus – <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Act',9,15);">Act 9:15</a>
</li>
<li>
He was to testify to the Gospel of the Grace of God
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
A Gospel Worth Dying For
<ul>
<li>
It was the Gospel of the grace of God
<ul>
<li>
The Gospel news
<ul>
<li>
God will pardon transgression
</li>
<li>
God will take away sin
</li>
<li>
God will justify the ungodly
</li>
<li>
God will cover the sinner with righteousness
</li>
<li>
God will accept the sinner into His favor
</li>
<li>
God does it out of pure grace – <a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('Rom',9,16);">Rom 9:16</a>
<ul>
<li>
No goodness can bring us in
</li>
<li>
No badness can shut us out
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
How God removes sin
<ul>
<li>
God gave His Son
</li>
<li>
The Son gave His life
</li>
<li>
The blood is a just payment
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The message to us
<ul>
<li>
Do not look within
</li>
<li>
Do not search for personal merit
</li>
<li>
Do not look for strength or ability
</li>
<li>
The command of God is to believe
<ul>
<li>
God calls for faith
</li>
<li>
God supplies the faith
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
It was Paul's life cause to testify to the Gospel of the Grace of God
<ul>
<li>
A graceless Gospel is not worth dying for
</li>
<li>
The Gospel of Grace is the greatest need of the world
<ul>
<li>
It glorifies God
</li>
<li>
It saves the sinner
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Application
<ul>
<li>
What are you living “for”?
<ul>
<li>
A purpose
</li>
<li>
A cause
</li>
<li>
Fulfillment
</li>
<li>
Sense of contribution
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
What does a Christian do with self?
<ul>
<li>
Living for self is destructive
</li>
<li>
We must have a greater purpose
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Paul valued the Gospel as greater than his own life
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>
Paul’s Witness in Jerusalem – <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',21,'18-');">Act 21:18-40</a>; <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',22,'1-');">Act 22</a>; <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',23,'1-37');">Act 23:37</a>
<ul>
<li>
Before the mob – <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Act',21,'18-');">Act 21:18-40</a> - <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Act',22,'1-23');">Act 22:23</a>
</li>
<li>
Before the Sanhedrin – <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Act',22,30);">Act 22:30</a> - <a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('Act',23,'1-');">Act 23</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Paul’s Witness in Caesarea – <a id="si_11" onclick="return mV('Act',23,'12-26');">Act 23:12-26</a>
<ul>
<li>
Before Governor Felix – <a id="si_12" onclick="return mV('Act',24,'1-27');">Act 24:1-27</a>
<ul>
<li>
The false accusers – <a id="si_13" onclick="return mV('Act',25,'1-8');">Act 25:1-8</a>
<ul>
<li>
Ananias, the High Priest - filled with hatred
</li>
<li>
The Elders
</li>
<li>
Tentullus, the lawyer, a clever orator
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The accusations – <a id="si_14" onclick="return mV('Act',25,'2-9');">Act 25:2-9</a>
<ul>
<li>
Praise to Felix
</li>
<li>
Paul, a trouble-maker, a serious charge
</li>
<li>
Leader of a revolution, such as Barabas
</li>
<li>
Profaner of the Temple
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Defense – <a id="si_15" onclick="return mV('Act',25,'10-21');">Act 25:10-21</a>
<ul>
<li>
The refutation of the accusations – <a id="si_16" onclick="return mV('Act',25,'10-13');">Act 25:10-13</a>
<ul>
<li>
Denied the charges
</li>
<li>
Demanded proof
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The statement of the real reason for their opposition – <a id="si_17" onclick="return mV('Act',25,'14-21');">Act 25:14-21</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The effect – <a id="si_18" onclick="return mV('Act',25,22,23);">Act 25:22-23</a>
<ul>
<li>
Felix is not impressed with the accusers
</li>
<li>
He postponed the case
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The second witness before Felix – <a id="si_19" onclick="return mV('Act',25,24,25,26);">Act 25:24-26</a>
<ul>
<li>
The occasion: He wanted his wife, a Jew, to hear Paul
</li>
<li>
The content
<ul>
<li>
Righteousness – Condemning the hypocrisy of the ruler
</li>
<li>
Temperance or self-control – Condemning the illegal marriage
</li>
<li>
Judgment
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The result
<ul>
<li>
Felix was terrified – <a id="si_20" onclick="return mV('Act',24,25);">Act 24:25</a>
</li>
<li>
He kept Paul in custody
</li>
<li>
He tried to extort money
</li>
<li>
He committed spiritual suicide
</li>
<li>
Felix was a cruel ruler – <a id="si_21" onclick="return mV('Act',24,27);">Act 24:27</a>
<ul>
<li>
He was living in adultery
</li>
<li>
He was corrupt
</li>
<li>
He was a man of perpetual compromise
</li>
<li>
He was a man of procrastination
</li>
<li>
He was a man of vacillation
</li>
<li>
Vacillation becomes hardness
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>
The Witness from Miletus to Jerusalem – <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Act',21,'1-17');">Act 21:1-17</a>
<ul>
<li>
In Tyre – <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',21,'1-6');">Act 21:1-6</a>
</li>
<li>
In Caesarea – <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',21,'7-14');">Act 21:7-14</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Arrival in Jerusalem – <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',21,'15-17');">Act 21:15-17</a>
<ul>
<li>
The reception
</li>
<li>
The opposition
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>
The Prisoner of Rome – Act 21:18-28:31</a>
</h3>
<p>
The events in this section cover a period of about four years (58-62). During this time the apostle was a prisoner of the Roman government. The sovereignty of God prevailed in that the Gospel of Christ was given with power and authority.
</p>
<ul>
<li>
Paul’s Witness in Jerusalem – <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Act',21,'18-40');">Act 21:18-40</a>; <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Act',22,'1-');">Act 22</A>; <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Act',23,'1-10');">Act 23:10</a>
<ul>
<li>
The Judaistic Christians – <a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('Act',21,'18-26');">Act 21:18-26</a>
<ul>
<li>
They charged Paul with turning believers to forsake Moses and Jewish traditions
<ul>
<li>
Paul had rejected for himself the Law of Moses and the customs of Judaism
</li>
<li>
He had not demanded that others do the same
</li>
<li>
He concurred with the conference (<a id="si_11" onclick="return mV('Act',15,'1-');">Act 15</a>) that rites and ceremonies did not bring salvation
</li>
<li>
Paul was convinced that under the teachings of grace these observances would disappear
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The request of the elders – <a id="si_12" onclick="return mV('Act',21,'22-26');">Act 21:22-26</a>
<ul>
<li>
Submit to the vow of purification
</li>
<li>
Paul complied with their request
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The non-Christian Jews – <a id="si_13" onclick="return mV('Act',21,'27-31');">Act 21:27-31</a>
<ul>
<li>
The Jews from Asia stirred up hatred – <a id="si_14" onclick="return mV('Act',21,27);">Act 21:27</a>
</li>
<li>
They brought false accusations – <a id="si_15" onclick="return mV('Act',21,28,29);">Act 21:28-29</a>
</li>
<li>
They were intent on killing him – <a id="si_16" onclick="return mV('Act',21,30,31);">Act 21:30-31</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Roman authorities – <a id="si_17" onclick="return mV('Act',21,'31-40');">Act 21:31-40</a>
<ul>
<li>
They rescued Paul from death
</li>
<li>
They discovered his identity
</li>
<li>
They permitted him to speak to the mob – <a id="si_18" onclick="return mV('Act',21,40);">Act 21:40</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Paul’s message – <a id="si_19" onclick="return mV('Act',22,'1-21');">Act 22:1-21</a>
<ul>
<li>
His defense against the charges
<ul>
<li>
That he spoke against the Jewish traditions
</li>
<li>
That he spoke against the law of Moses
</li>
<li>
That he spoke against the temple
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The sketch of his early religious life – <a id="si_20" onclick="return mV('Act',22,'3-5');">Act 22:3-5</a>
<ul>
<li>
The conversion
</li>
<li>
The calling
<ul>
<li>
Chosen
</li>
<li>
To know His will
</li>
<li>
To see Christ as righteous
</li>
<li>
To hear His word
</li>
<li>
To be His witness
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The conversion, the calling and the message were all of divine origin
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The effect of Paul’s message – <a id="si_21" onclick="return mV('Act',22,'22-29');">Act 22:22-29</a>
<ul>
<li>
The rage of the Jews boiled over
</li>
<li>
The Romans took him into custody
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Citizenship
<ul>
<li>
Roman
</li>
<li>
Heavenly
<ul>
<li>
Acquired through the new birth
</li>
<li>
It is the gift of God
</li>
<li>
It is sealed by the Spirit of God
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Applications
<ul>
<li>
What are the fixed points on which we must not give way?
</li>
<li>
What are the points which may be yielded?
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>
The Witness in Jerusalem – <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Act',21,'18-40');">Act 21:18-40</a>; <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Act',22,'1-');">Act 22</A>; <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',23,'1-10');">Act 23:1-10</a>
<ul>
<li>
Before the Jerusalem mob – <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',21,'18-40');">Act 21:18-40</A>; <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',22,29);">Act 22:29</a>
</li>
<li>
Before the Jerusalem Sanhedrin – <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Act',22,30);">Act 22:30</a>; <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Act',23,'1-10');">Act 23:1-10</a>
<ul>
<li>
The Sanhedrin – The fifth trial concerning the Lord Jesus Christ
<ul>
<li>
The trials of Jesus
</li>
<li>
Peter and John – <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Act',4,'5-22');">Act 4:5-22</a>
</li>
<li>
The twelve – <a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('Act',4,'27-40');">Act 5:27-40</a>
</li>
<li>
Stephen – <a id="si_11" onclick="return mV('Act',6,'12-15');">Act 6:12-15</a>; <a id="si_12" onclick="return mV('Act',7,'1-60');">Act 7:1-60</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Paul’s Defense – <a id="si_13" onclick="return mV('Act',23,'1-6');">Act 23:1-6</a>
<ul>
<li>
His declaration of good conscience
</li>
<li>
The command of Ananias
<ul>
<li>
His high priesthood is questionable
</li>
<li>
He is haughty, arrogant, gluttonous and violent-tempered
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Paul’s reply
<ul>
<li>
“God shall smite you” – <a id="si_14" onclick="return mV('Act',23,3);">Act 23:3</a>
</li>
<li>
“You white-washed wall”
<ul>
<li>
Clean on the outside
</li>
<li>
Dirty on the inside
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Paul’s apology - obedience to authority
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Paul’s appeal to the Pharisees – <a id="si_15" onclick="return mV('Act',23,6);">Act 23:6</a>
<ul>
<li>
He perceived the division among the Sanhedrin
</li>
<li>
He declares himself a Pharisee
</li>
<li>
He refers to the hope and resurrection of the dead
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The effect of the witness – <a id="si_16" onclick="return mV('Act',23,'7-10');">Act 23:7-10</a>
<ul>
<li>
The enraged conflict between the Pharisees and the Sadducees
</li>
<li>
The violent dispute
</li>
<li>
The rescue by the Roman military
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The personal encouragement – <a id="si_17" onclick="return mV('Act',23,11);">Act 23:11</a>
<ul>
<li>
The Lord Jesus Christ “stood by” Paul
</li>
<li>
The message
<ul>
<li>
“Be of good courage”
</li>
<li>
“As you have testified about me in Jerusalem”
</li>
<li>
“So you must testify in Rome”
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Witness in Caesarea – Act 23:12-26:32</a>
<ul>
<li>
The plot of the Jews
<ul>
<li>
They formed a conspiracy
</li>
<li>
They were bound by an oath
</li>
<li>
Their goal: the murder of Paul
</li>
<li>
Their sinister plan – <a id="si_18" onclick="return mV('Act',23,6);">Act 23:15</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The failure of their mission – <a id="si_19" onclick="return mV('Act',23,-16-24');">Act 23:16-24</a>
<ul>
<li>
The nephew
</li>
<li>
The transfer to Governor Felix
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The journey to Caesarea – <a id="si_20" onclick="return mV('Act',23,'25-35');">Act 23:25-35</a>
<ul>
<li>
The explanatory letter
</li>
<li>
The arrival under guard
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Paul remains a prisoner
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>
The Witness in Jerusalem – <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Act',21,'18-40');">Act 21:18-40</a>; <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',22,'1-');">Act 22</a>; <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',23,'1-10');">Act 23:1-10</a>
<ul>
<li>
Before the mob – <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',21,'18-40');">Act 21:18-40</a>; <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Act',22,'1-29');">Act 22:1-29</a>
</li>
<li>
Before the Sanhedrin – <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Act',22,30);">Act 22:30</a>; <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Act',23,'1-11');">Act 23:1-11</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Witness in Caesarea – <a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('Act',23,'12-35');">Act 23:12-35</a>; Act <a id="si_11" onclick="return mV('Act',26,32);">26:32</a>
<ul>
<li>
The move to Caesarea – <a id="si_12" onclick="return mV('Act',23,'12-35');">Act 23:12-35</a>
</li>
<li>
Before Governor Felix – <a id="si_13" onclick="return mV('Act',24,'1-27');">Act 24:1-27</a>
</li>
<li>
Before Governor Festus – <a id="si_14" onclick="return mV('Act',24,27);">Act 24:27</a>; <a id="si_15" onclick="return mV('Act',25,'1-12');">Act 25:1-12</a>
<ul>
<li>
Paul’s defense – <a id="si_16" onclick="return mV('Act',25,'1-11');">Act 25:1-11</a>
</li>
<li>
The result – <a id="si_17" onclick="return mV('Act',25,12);">Act 25:12</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Before King Agrippa – <a id="si_18" onclick="return mV('Act',25,'13-27');">Act 25:13-27</a>; <a id="si_19" onclick="return mV('Act',26,'1-32');">Act 26:1-32</a>
<ul>
<li>
Paul’s defense – <a id="si_20" onclick="return mV('Act',26,'1-23');">Act 26:1-23</a>
</li>
<li>
The effect – <a id="si_21" onclick="return mV('Act',26,'24-32');">Act 26:24-32</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
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</li>
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<li>
From Caesarea to Fair Havens – <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Act',27,'1-12');">Act 27:1-12</a>
<ul>
<li>
The personal account by Luke – <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Act',27,'1-8');">Act 27:1-8</a>
</li>
<li>
The Roman guard - Julius – <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',27,'1-4');">Act 27:4</a>
</li>
<li>
The Course to Myra – <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',27,5);">Act 27:5</a>
</li>
<li>
The new ship – <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',27,6);">Act 27:6</a>
</li>
<li>
The Counsel to Fair Havens – <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Act',27,7,8);">Act 27:7-8</a>
</li>
<li>
At Fair Havens – <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Act',27,'9-12');">Act 27:9-12</a>
<ul>
<li>
Paul’s admonition – <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Act',27,10);">Act 27:10</a>
</li>
<li>
The Centurion’s Response – <a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('Act',27,11);">Act 27:11</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
From Fair Havens to Melita – <a id="si_11" onclick="return mV('Act',27,'9-44');">Act 27:9-44</a>
<ul>
<li>
The Storm – Euroclydon – <a id="si_12" onclick="return mV('Act',27,14);">Act 27:14</a>
</li>
<li>
The Voyage – <a id="si_13" onclick="return mV('Act',27,'15-20');">Act 27:15-20</a>
</li>
<li>
The Faith of Paul – <a id="si_14" onclick="return mV('Act',27,'1-26');">Act 27:1-26</a>
<ul>
<li>
The loyalty of the Lord – <a id="si_15" onclick="return mV('Act',27,24,25);">Act 27:24-25</a>
</li>
<li>
The response of Paul – <a id="si_16" onclick="return mV('Act',27,35);">Act 27:35</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Shipwreck – <a id="si_17" onclick="return mV('Act',27,'27-43');">Act 27:27-43</a>
</li>
<li>
The Safe Arrival of All – <a id="si_18" onclick="return mV('Act',27,44);">Act 27:44</a>
</li>
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</li>
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<ul>
<li>
The Signs of an Apostle – <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('2Cr',12,12);">2Co 12:12</a>
<ul>
<li>
The poisonous snake miracle – <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Act',28,'1-6');">Act 28:1-6</a>
<ul>
<li>
The people
<ul>
<li>
Described as “barbarous”
<ul>
<li>
They did not speak Greek
</li>
<li>
They were not savages
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
They treated the shipwrecked people with kindness
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The snake bite – <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',28,'3,4,5);">Act 28:3-5</a>
<ul>
<li>
Paul was gathering firewood
</li>
<li>
The poisonous snake clung to his arm
</li>
<li>
The people thought Paul was being punished for sin
<ul>
<li>
Human ideas of justice
</li>
<li>
Human ideas of judgment
</li>
<li>
The explanation of Christ – <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Jhn',9,'1-');">Jhn 9</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Paul suffered no harm
</li>
<li>
The people now thought Paul was “a god”
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The healing of the father of Publius – <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',28,7-8);">Act 28:7-8</a>
<ul>
<li>
The man was sick
</li>
<li>
The healing was instantaneous and miraculous
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The healing of the people – <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Act',28,9);">Act 28:9</a>
<ul>
<li>
The rest of the sick came to Paul
</li>
<li>
They were all healed
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The principles involved
<ul>
<li>
The gift of healing was an apostolic sign
</li>
<li>
The gift of miracles was an apostolic sign
</li>
<li>
The sign gifts ended with the apostles
</li>
<li>
No one today has the sign gifts
</li>
<li>
The sign confirmed the message of resurrection
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The people honored the apostolic party - <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Act',28,10);">Act 28:10</a>
<ul>
<li>
Gratitude produces generosity
</li>
<li>
They loaded the ship with supplies
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Trip from Malta to Rome – <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Act',28,'11-16');">Act 28:11-16</a>
<ul>
<li>
Three days on the Island of Sicily – <a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('Act',28,11,12);">Act 28:11-12</a>
</li>
<li>
Landing at the port of Puteoli – <a id="si_11" onclick="return mV('Act',28,13,14);">Act 28:13-14</a>
<ul>
<li>
130 miles from Rome near the city of Naples
</li>
<li>
Paul was met by Christians – <a id="si_12" onclick="return mV('Act',28,14);">Act 28:14</a>
<ul>
<li>
The miraculous witness of the Gospel
</li>
<li>
The wide spread of Christianity
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
On to Rome – <a id="si_13" onclick="return mV('Act',28,15,16);">Act 28:15-16</a>
<ul>
<li>
Two groups of Christians meet up with Paul
<ul>
<li>
Some at the forum of Appius (40 miles from Rome)
</li>
<li>
Some from the three taverns (30 miles from Rome)
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
They welcomed him
</li>
<li>
They prayed with him
</li>
<li>
They encouraged him
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
In Rome – <a id="si_14" onclick="return mV('Act',28,'17-31');">Act 28:17-31</a>
<ul>
<li>
Paul invites the local Jewish leader to meet with him
<ul>
<li>
He explained his predicament – <a id="si_15" onclick="return mV('Act',28,'17-23');">Act 28:17-23</a>
</li>
<li>
He points out the real reason for Jewish opposition: for the hope of Israel
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The next meeting – <a id="si_16" onclick="return mV('Act',28,23);">Act 28:23</a>
<ul>
<li>
Paul led in Bible study
</li>
<li>
The subject: The Lord Jesus Christ
</li>
<li>
The study of Moses and the prophecies
</li>
<li>
The result – <a id="si_17" onclick="return mV('Act',28,24);">Act 28:24</a>
<ul>
<li>
Some believed
</li>
<li>
Some did not believe
</li>
<li>
Paul’s observation of Isaiah’s word – <a id="si_18" onclick="return mV('Act',28,'25-28');">Act 28:25-28</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Two years in Rome – <a id="si_19" onclick="return mV('Act',28,30,31);">Act 28:30-31</a>
<ul>
<li>
Paul was preaching and teaching - The Lord Jesus Christ
</li>
<li>
Paul was “unhindered”
</li>
<li>
Paul wrote Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians and Philemon
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Paul’s History
<ul>
<li>
Released
</li>
<li>
Rearrested
</li>
<li>
Beheaded
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>The Occasion – <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Act',3,'1-10');">Act 3:1-10</a>
<ul>
<li>
The circumstances
<ul>
<li>
Peter and John are going together to the Temple to pray
</li>
<li>
At the Temple gate there is a lame beggar
</li>
<li>
Peter and John were used by the Lord to give this man a miraculous healing
</li>
<li>
The result
<ul>
<li>
The man was healed
</li>
<li>
The people were amazed
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The spiritual principles taught by this miracle
<ul>
<li>
A picture of the Church
<ul>
<li>
Peter and John are together
</li>
<li>
They are going to pray
</li>
<li>
They stopped to help
</li>
<li>
They trusted the Lord
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
A picture of the world
<ul>
<li>
The lame man reveals the helplessness of every man out of Christ
<ul>
<li>
The lost condition of society
</li>
<li>
The total depravity of man
</li>
<li>
Lost in sin
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The lame man reveals the Church’s opportunity
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Church’s gift
<ul>
<li>
What Peter and John did not do
<ul>
<li>
They did not give “silver and gold”
</li>
<li>
They did not give a scientific philosophy of feet and ankles
</li>
<li>
Did not build a school to teach why the man is lame
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The transforming power of the Lord Jesus Christ
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The healing transaction
<ul>
<li>
The direct eye contact
</li>
<li>
The Church must make personal, immediate, direct contact with lame humanity
</li>
<li>
The Church must go to the man outside the gate - and take him by the hand
</li>
<li>
The Lord Jesus Christ through His Church was making contact with a human need
</li>
<li>
The miraculous power
<ul>
<li>
“In the name of Jesus Christ rise up and walk”
</li>
<li>
He took Him by the hand, He lifted Him up and immediately the man received strength
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The completeness of conversion
<ul>
<li>
Christ takes a man who is lame and puts him on his feet
</li>
<li>
The man: arose, stood, walked, leaped and praised God
</li>
<li>
Christ cancels disability and communicates ability
</li>
<li>
Christ makes the person useful
</li>
<li>
Christ makes the man whole and complete – <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Col',2,9);">Col 2:9</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The purpose of the miracle
<ul>
<li>
To help the man directly
</li>
<li>
To open up a witness to the people – <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',3,'12-');">Act 3:12</a>-<a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',4,'1-4');">4:4</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Application
<ul>
<li>
We are the Church
</li>
<li>
We have the name of Jesus Christ
</li>
<li>
We are to exercise faith in His name
</li>
<li>
His name is working today
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>
From the Natural to the Spiritual
<ul>
<li>
The teaching of Jesus in the Gospels
</li>
<li>
From the “limb” to the Spirit
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Salvation!
<ul>
<li>
What is included
<ul>
<li>
Cleansing of our conscience from all guilt
</li>
<li>
Delivery of our soul from the dominance of evil
</li>
<li>
The undoing of all that Adam did
</li>
<li>
The total restoration from our fallen estate
</li>
<li>
Lifted far above principalities and powers
</li>
<li>
Salvation crowns us with Christ forever
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The way of salvation
<ul>
<li>
The negative
<ul>
<li>
The tolerance of religion
</li>
<li>
The intolerance of God
<ul>
<li>
“Thou shalt have no other gods before me” – <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Exd',20,3);">Exo 20:3</a>
</li>
<li>
“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one LORD” – <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Deu',6,4);">Deuteronomy 6:4</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The tolerance of liberalism
<ul>
<li>
The many roads to Heaven
</li>
<li>
The pursuit of the ecumenical
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The intolerance of Christianity
<ul>
<li>
“I am the way...” – <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Jhn',14,6;">Jhn 14:6</a>
</li>
<li>
“There is no other name...” – <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',4,12);">Act 4:12</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
A thousand errors can live together
</li>
<li>
But truth must stand alone
</li>
<li>
There is no salvation apart from Christ
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The positive - there is salvation in Christ
<ul>
<li>
His purity is greater than our depravity
</li>
<li>
He is almighty God
</li>
<li>
God the Father has accepted the sacrifice of Christ
</li>
<li>
God the Father has accepted Christ as our substitute for punishment
</li>
<li>
The judge is satisfied
</li>
<li>
The guarantee; the resurrection
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The approach to salvation
<ul>
<li>
Confess the need
</li>
<li>
Believe that Christ is the Saviour
</li>
<li>
Submit to His process
</li>
<li>
Trust Him
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Salvation Is God’s Work
<ul>
<li>
The negative
<ul>
<li>
Not by ritual
</li>
<li>
Not by self-righteousness
</li>
<li>
Not by good works
</li>
<li>
Not by our own will
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The positive
<ul>
<li>
By God’s love – <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('1Jo',4,10);">1Jo 4:10</a>
</li>
<li>
By God’s grace – <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Eph',2,8);">Eph 2:8</a>
</li>
<li>
By God’s will – <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Rom',9,'1-');">Rom 9</a> and <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Rom',11,'1-');">Rom 11</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Doctrine of Sovereign Grace
<ul>
<li>
Grace is God’s blessing upon the unworthy
<ul>
<li>
The least likely from human viewpoint
</li>
<li>
The ability to change the worst of sinners
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Salvation is all of grace from first to last
<ul>
<li>
By God’s choice before creation of the world – <a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('Eph',1,4);">Eph 1:4</a>
</li>
<li>
By God’s will (decree) – <a id="si_11" onclick="return mV('Jhn',1,13);">Jhn 1:13</a>
</li>
<li>
By God’s drawing work in the sinners heart
<ul>
<li>
<a id="si_12" onclick="return mV('Jhn',6,64,65);">Jhn 6:64-65</a>, <a id="si_13" onclick="return mV('Jhn',6,44);">Jhn 6:44</a>
</li>
<li>
Lydia – <a id="si_14" onclick="return mV('Act',16,13,14);">Act 16:13-14</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
By the gift of faith – <a id="si_15" onclick="return mV('Eph',2,8,9);">Eph 2:8-9</a> He who gives the Gospel to believe also gives the faith to believe the Gospel
</li>
<li>
Man left to himself is an unbeliever and will remain so
</li>
<li>
Grace continues our believing what God initiates - He maintains what is born of self - will die of self
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Gospel of the grace of God – <a id="si_16" onclick="return mV('Act',20,24);">Act 20:24</a>
<ul>
<li>
Worth dying for
</li>
<li>
Worth living for
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Grace
<ul>
<li>
No goodness can commend us
</li>
<li>
No badness can shut us out
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Grace
<ul>
<li>
Casts us entirely upon God
</li>
<li>
Carnality is counting on self
</li>
<li>
Spirituality is resting on the activity of God
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>
The Jerusalem Church
<ul>
<li>
It was characterized by great unity – <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Act',4,32);">Act 4:32</a>
<ul>
<li>
They were of one heart (spirit level)
</li>
<li>
They were of one soul (experience level)
<ul>
<li>
Cannot be organized
</li>
<li>
Cannot be programmed
</li>
<li>
It is the gift of God
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
They belonged to each other
</li>
<li>
They belonged to the same family
</li>
<li>
They had everything in common
<ul>
<li>
Same depravity
</li>
<li>
Same Saviour
</li>
<li>
Same indwelling Spirit
</li>
<li>
Same church (body)
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
It was characterized by great generosity – <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',4,34,35,36);">Act 4:34-36</a>
<ul>
<li>
Everything belongs to God
</li>
<li>
Everything is available to those who need it
</li>
<li>
Nothing is mine exclusively
</li>
<li>
They shared their possessions generously
</li>
<li>
Instead of clinging - they were giving
</li>
<li>
Christian living is not just to stop doing wrong - but to love one another
</li>
<li>
This is not communism
<ul>
<li>
The Government was not involved
</li>
<li>
This is voluntary love
<ul>
<li>
It is during a time of persecution
</li>
<li>
It is evidently restricted to the Jerusalem Church
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
It was characterized by great power – <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',4,33);">Act 4:33</a>
<ul>
<li>
Christ was made visible through the Body
</li>
<li>
The witnessing power
<ul>
<li>
Through the Apostles
</li>
<li>
About the resurrection
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
It was characterized by great Grace
<ul>
<li>
The grace produced generous sharing
</li>
<li>
The grace produced the exercise of gifts
<ul>
<li>
The Apostles
</li>
<li>
Barnabas
<ul>
<li>
A man of some wealth
</li>
<li>
Became poor for Christ
</li>
<li>
The gift of giving
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Danger of Spiritual Hypocrisy – <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',5,'1-11');">Act 5:1-11</a>
<ul>
<li>
The sin of Ananias and Sapphira
<ul>
<li>
They wanted to give
</li>
<li>
They wanted recognition
</li>
<li>
They lied
</li>
<li>
They pretended
</li>
<li>
The mutual agreement
</li>
<li>
The one should have restrained the other
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>
The Occasion of the Witness – <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Act',3,'1-11');">Act 3:1-11</a>
</li>
<li>
The Contents of the Witness – <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Act',3,'12-26');">Act 3:12-26</a>
</li>
<li>
The Results of the Witness – <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',4,'1-31');">Act 4:1-31</a>
<ul>
<li>
The first persecution – <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',4,'1-7');">Act 4:1-7</a>
<ul>
<li>
The arrest of Peter and John
</li>
<li>
The priests, the captain of the temple and the Sadducees
<ul>
<li>
They were outraged by the proclamation of the resurrection
</li>
<li>
Their leadership was threatened
</li>
<li>
They placed Peter and John in custody – <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',4,3);">Act 4:3</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The great parenthesis
<ul>
<li>
Some heard the Word of God
</li>
<li>
Some believed the Word of God
</li>
<li>
God made the difference, not man
</li>
<li>
The number of men was 5000 - how many women?
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The trial
<ul>
<li>
The Sanhedrin
<ul>
<li>
The rulers, the elders, the scribes, the High Priest and all his relatives
</li>
<li>
The crucial question: “By what power, or by what name, have you done this?”
<ul>
<li>
They were afraid
</li>
<li>
They were determined to stop it
<ul>
<li>
Many governments today are opposed to this message
</li>
<li>
They are opposing it with all their might
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Another witness to the Sanhedrin
<ul>
<li>
To identify with Christ was certain death or imprisonment
</li>
<li>
The amazing courage displayed
</li>
<li>
The source of their courage - the indwelling Holy Spirit – <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Act',4,8);">Act 4:8</a>
<ul>
<li>
The first weakness among believers lies in not knowing our resources
</li>
<li>
The second weakness among believers lies in not believing in (counting on, relying upon) our resources
<ul>
<li>
Others can tell us what to do
</li>
<li>
Only the Spirit of the risen Christ can empower us to do it
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The evidence of courage – <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Act',4,10,11);">Act 4:10-11</a>
<ul>
<li>
Immediate exaltation of Christ
</li>
<li>
Direct accusation against them
</li>
<li>
Contrast Peter at the trial of Christ
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The content of the witness – <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Act',4,10,11,12);">Act 4:10-12</a>
<ul>
<li>
The crucifixion of Christ
</li>
<li>
The resurrection of Christ
</li>
<li>
The continuing ministry of Christ
</li>
<li>
The identity of Christ – <a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('Act',4,11);">Act 4:11</a> – He is the Jewish Messiah
</li>
<li>
The salvation in Christ – <a id="si_11" onclick="return mV('Act',4,12);">Act 4:12</a>
</li>
<li>
The message of Christ – <a id="si_12" onclick="return mV('Act',4,10);">Act 4:10</a> – to all the people of Israel
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>
The Occasion of the Witness
<ul>
<li>
The Apostles imprisoned
</li>
<li>
The Lord sets them free
</li>
<li>
The Angel charges them to teach the people
</li>
<li>
The Apostles obey the Lord
</li>
<li>
The Jewish leaders apprehend them again – <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Act',5,'20-27');">Act 5:20-27</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Content of the Witness
<ul>
<li>
The charge – <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Act',5,28);">Act 5:28</a>
<ul>
<li>
You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching
</li>
<li>
You are accusing us
</li>
<li>
You have disobeyed our command
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The reply – <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',5,29);">Act 5:29</a>
</li>
<li>
The message
<ul>
<li>
Loyalty to the Lord
</li>
<li>
Loyalty to the facts of the Gospel
<ul>
<li>
He maintained the death and resurrection of Christ – <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',5,30);">Act 5:30</a>
</li>
<li>
He maintained the lordship of Christ – <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',5,31);">Act 5:31</a>
<ul>
<li>
He is a Prince
<ul>
<li>
To be honored and obeyed
</li>
<li>
He has power and dominion
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
He is a Saviour
<ul>
<li>
He has accomplished the saving work
</li>
<li>
He is approachable
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Approach Him as a Prince
<ul>
<li>
With a confession of sin (past rebellion)
</li>
<li>
Accept His great purpose
<ul>
<li>
To love God
</li>
<li>
To be like God
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Submit to His rule
</li>
<li>
Surrender everything to Him
<ul>
<li>
You are not your own
</li>
<li>
You belong to Him
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Give Him your loving loyalty
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Approach Him as a Saviour
<ul>
<li>
Confess your need of a Saviour
</li>
<li>
Believe that He is able to save you
</li>
<li>
Submit yourself entirely to His salvation
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Receive His gifts
<ul>
<li>
Repentance
<ul>
<li>
Change of mind
</li>
<li>
Change of living
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Forgiveness
<ul>
<li>
As though your sin had never been
</li>
<li>
Eternal removal of the penalty
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Ask Him for them
<ul>
<li>
Humbly
</li>
<li>
Believingly
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
He maintains the redemptive work of Christ – <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Act',5,31);">Act 5:31</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Loyalty to the Holy Spirit – <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Act',5,32);">Act 5:32</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Result of the Witness – <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Act',5,'33-42');">Act 5:33-42</a>
<ul>
<li>
On the Council – <a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('Act',5,33);">Act 5:33</a>
<ul>
<li>
They were “cut to the heart”
</li>
<li>
The convicting work of the Holy Spirit
</li>
<li>
Thrown into an uncontrollable rage with intent to kill
</li>
<li>
They hated the truth – <a id="si_11" onclick="return mV('Eph',6,12);">Eph 6:12</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
On Gamaliel – <a id="si_12" onclick="return mV('Act',5,'34-39');">Act 5:34-39</a>
<ul>
<li>
An appeal to common sense
</li>
<li>
An appeal to the sovereignty of God
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
On the Disciples – <a id="si_13" onclick="return mV('Act',5,40,41,42);">Act 5:40-42</a>
<ul>
<li>
Suffering - “They beat them”
</li>
<li>
Joy – <a id="si_14" onclick="return mV('Act',5,41);">Act 5:41</a>
<ul>
<li>
They were rejoicing
</li>
<li>
Suffering in His name is a privilege – <a id="si_15" onclick="return mV('Mat',5,11);">Mat 5:11</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Continuing witness – <a id="si_16" onclick="return mV('Act',5,42);">Act 5:42</a>
<ul>
<li>
When? Every day
</li>
<li>
Where? Temple and home
</li>
<li>
How? They ceased not
</li>
<li>
What? To teach and preach Jesus as the Christ
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>
The Occasion of Stephen’s Witness – <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Act',6,'8-15');">Act 6:8-15</a>
<ul>
<li>
Stephen’s ministry
<ul>
<li>
The basis of it
<ul>
<li>
A man full of faith – <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',6,5);">Act 6:5</a>
</li>
<li>
A man full of the Holy Spirit – <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',6,5);">Act 6:5</a>
</li>
<li>
A man full of grace (power) – <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',6,8);">Act 6:8</a>
</li>
<li>
A man full of wisdom – <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Act',6,10);">Act 6:10</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The fruit of it – <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Act',6,8,10);">Act 6:8, 10</a>
<ul>
<li>
Great wonders and signs
</li>
<li>
Powerful conviction
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The bitter opposition – <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Act',6,9, '11-15');">Act 6:9, 11-15</a>
<ul>
<li>
The identity of the opponents – <a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('Act',6,9);">Act 6:9</a>
<ul>
<li>
Jews freed from Roman slavery
</li>
<li>
Greek speaking synagogue
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The method they employed – <a id="si_11" onclick="return mV('Act',6,'11-15');">Act 6:11-15</a>
<ul>
<li>
They resorted to treachery and lying
</li>
<li>
They set up false witnesses
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The accusation they made
<ul>
<li>
That he had spoken against God and Moses
</li>
<li>
That he had spoken against the Temple and the Law – <a id="si_12" onclick="return mV('Act',6,13,14);">Act 6:13-14</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Content of Stephen’s Witness – <a id="si_13" onclick="return mV('Act',7,'2-53');">Act 7:2-53</a>
<ul>
<li>
The general character
<ul>
<li>
It is historical
</li>
<li>
It is doctrinal
<ul>
<li>
Reveals the sovereignty of God
</li>
<li>
Reveals the depravity of man
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The contrast between failure and faith
<ul>
<li>
The men of faith: Abraham, Joseph, and Moses
</li>
<li>
The failures
<ul>
<li>
Joseph’s brethren – <a id="si_14" onclick="return mV('Act',7,9);">Act 7:9</a>
</li>
<li>
The people in Egypt – <a id="si_15" onclick="return mV('Act',7,25,35);">Act 7:25,35</a>
</li>
<li>
The nation
<ul>
<li>
In the wilderness – <a id="si_16" onclick="return mV('Act',7,38,39,40);">Act 7:38-40</a>
</li>
<li>
In idol worship – <a id="si_17" onclick="return mV('Act',7,'44-50');">Act 7:44-50</a>
</li>
<li>
In rejecting the prophets – <a id="si_18" onclick="return mV('Act',7,52);">Act 7:52</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The people to whom Stephen witnessed failed – <a id="si_19" onclick="return mV('Act',7,51,52,53);">Act 7:51-53</a>
<ul>
<li>
They rejected the Prophet
</li>
<li>
They crucified the Just One
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Result of Stephen’s Witness – <a id="si_20" onclick="return mV('Act',7,'54-');">Act 7:54</a>-<a id="si_21" onclick="return mV('Act',8,1,2,3);">8:3</a>
<ul>
<li>
The madness of the mob
<ul>
<li>
They were cut to the heart
</li>
<li>
They were filled with rage
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The vision of Stephen – <a id="si_22" onclick="return mV('Act',7,55,56);">Act 7:55-56</a>
<ul>
<li>
He saw the glory of God
</li>
<li>
He saw the Lord Jesus Christ – <a id="si_23" onclick="return mV('Mar',14,62);">Mar 14:62</a> (This is what every believer sees at death)
</li>
<li>
He told what He saw
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The stoning – <a id="si_24" onclick="return mV('Act',7,'57-');">Act 7:57</a>-<a id="si_25" onclick="return mV('Act',8,1);">8:1</a>
<ul>
<li>
They would not listen
</li>
<li>
They put him to death
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The triumph – <a id="si_26" onclick="return mV('Act',7,59,60);">Act 7:59-60</a>
<ul>
<li>
He died in prayer
</li>
<li>
He died in peace
</li>
<li>
He died in grace
</li>
<li>
He was “faithful unto death” – <a id="si_27" onclick="return mV('Rev',2,10);">Rev 2:10</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The extension of the Church – <a id="si_28" onclick="return mV('Act',8,1);">Act 8:1</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Observation about the Death
<ul>
<li>
It happened at the high point in his life and ministry
</li>
<li>
It was painful and filled with what would be dreaded
</li>
<li>
His departing moments were calm, peaceful, and joyous
<ul>
<li>
He rose above all fear of man
</li>
<li>
He kept his mind on Christ
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
He had no resentments
</li>
<li>
He died as a conqueror
</li>
<li>
His death was useful
<ul>
<li>
Conversion of Saul
</li>
<li>
Spread of the Church
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
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The Background or Stephen’s Witness
<ul>
<li>
The problem that developed
<ul>
<li>
The problem - murmuring
<ul>
<li>
The Helenists - Jews who spoke Greek
</li>
<li>
The Hebrews - Jews who spoke Aramaic
</li>
<li>
Murmuring
<ul>
<li>
Complaining which spreads discontent
</li>
<li>
Complaining which spreads dissension
</li>
<li>
Complaining to the wrong people
</li>
<li>
Murmuring brought the judgment of God in the wilderness – <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Exd',15,'1-');">Exd 15</a>; <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Exd',16,'1-');">Exd 16</a>; <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Exd',17,'1-');">Exd 17</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The occasion: distribution of aid
<ul>
<li>
The support of the widows
</li>
<li>
The charge of neglect by the Hellenists
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The solution to the problem
<ul>
<li>
The Apostles leadership – <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',6,2,3,4);">Act 6:2-4</a>
<ul>
<li>
It was direct - they acted
</li>
<li>
It was wise
<ul>
<li>
They used other men
</li>
<li>
They allowed the gifts in the Body
</li>
<li>
They continued in their own calling - tithe, ministry of the Word, and prayer
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The appointment of seven men
<ul>
<li>
To take care of the needy
</li>
<li>
To free the Apostles from unnecessary duties
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The qualifications of those appointed – <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',6,3);">Act 6:3</a>
<ul>
<li>
They were to be men, not women
</li>
<li>
They were to be from the group, that is, believers
</li>
<li>
They were to be of honest reputation
</li>
<li>
They were to be spiritual men
<ul>
<li>
Carnal - a Christian who counts on something in himself
</li>
<li>
Spiritual - a Christian who is resting in Christ
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
They were to be men of wisdom
<ul>
<li>
Able to apply Scriptural truth to practical situations
</li>
<li>
Wisdom is the use of common sense - Scriptural truth
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The men selected were Hellenists
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The appointment of the men – <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Act',6,6);">Act 6:6</a>
<ul>
<li>
They prayed together
</li>
<li>
The Apostles laid their hands on them - the act / of identification
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The results – <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Act',6,7);">Act 6:7</a>
<ul>
<li>
The Word of God increased
</li>
<li>
The number of disciples multiplied greatly
</li>
<li>
A great many priests were obedient to the faith
</li>
<li>
Stephen did great miracles
<ul>
<li>
The miracles were to confirm association with the Apostles
</li>
<li>
To confirm new things - the extension of ministry
</li>
<li>
The miracles did not continue after the Apostles and completion of Scripture
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
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The Expansion of the Church – <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Act',8,'1-5');">Act 8:1-5</a>
<ul>
<li>
The paragraph begins with persecution
</li>
<li>
The paragraph ends with proclamation
</li>
<li>
God uses opposition
<ul>
<li>
The murder of Stephen by the Council
</li>
<li>
The rage of Saul
<ul>
<li>
Forced the Church out of Jerusalem
</li>
<li>
Made it necessary for all believers to be “ministers”
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Christ rules in the midst of enemies
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Philip in Samaria – <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',8,'4-24');">Act 8:4-24</a>
<ul>
<li>
It was a transitional witness
<ul>
<li>
Samaria is between Judea and Galilee
</li>
<li>
Samaritans are a bridge between Jews and Gentiles
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
It was a genuine ministry of the Spirit
<ul>
<li>
There was response to the truth (Christ) – <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',8,5,6);">Act 8:5-6</a>
</li>
<li>
There was the accompaniment of power
<ul>
<li>
There were miracles of healing
</li>
<li>
The physical demonstrated the power of the spiritual
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
There was great joy in that city – <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',8,8);">Act 8:8</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The real thing vs. the counterfeit – <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Act',8,'9-24');">Act 8:9-24</a>
<ul>
<li>
Simon the magician
<ul>
<li>
He was involved in sorcery
</li>
<li>
The marks of counterfeit faith – <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Act',8,9);">Act 8:9</a>
<ul>
<li>
Counterfeit faith exalts the human – <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('2Cr',4,5);">2Co 4:5</a>
</li>
<li>
False Christianity attempts to interject a mediator between a believer and God – <a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('1Ti',2,5);">1Ti 2:5</a>
<ul>
<li>
Someone who claims an “in” with God
</li>
<li>
A special channel that others don’t have
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Counterfeit power
<ul>
<li>
The “magic” was an occult practice – <a id="si_11" onclick="return mV('Deu',18,'9-12');">Deu 18:9-12</a>
</li>
<li>
The demonic produces miracles
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The counterfeit can deceive many
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The devil joins the Church – <a id="si_12" onclick="return mV('Act',8,13);">Act 8:13</a>
<ul>
<li>
Simon openly identified himself with the Church
</li>
<li>
The other Scripture passages reveal that Simon was unregenerate
<ul>
<li>
He said the right words
</li>
<li>
He was a phony
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The weakness of the Church
<ul>
<li>
Unregenerate coming in and going through the motions
</li>
<li>
Calling themselves Christian, but remaining unchanged in their heart
</li>
<li>
The “mixed” multitude in the wilderness
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Samaritans and the Holy Spirit
<ul>
<li>
The ministry of Peter and John
</li>
<li>
Prayer and laying on of hands
</li>
<li>
The Holy Spirit and the Samaritans
<ul>
<li>
Placing them into the Body
</li>
<li>
Preventing the possibility of two churches
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The exposure of Simon
<ul>
<li>
He tried to buy spiritual power with money
</li>
<li>
Peter’s rebuke
<ul>
<li>
“You and your money are both going to hell”
</li>
<li>
You have spoken blasphemy
</li>
<li>
Simon’s heart is not right before God. God reads hearts
</li>
<li>
Simon is full of bitterness and the slave of iniquity
</li>
<li>
The call to repentance
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Simon’s reply
<ul>
<li>
No real repentance
</li>
<li>
He desired to escape the penalty
</li>
<li>
No concern about his insult against God
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Simon became one of the chief opponents of the Gospel
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>
The Ministry of Ananias – <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Act',9,'10-19');">Act 9:10-19</a> – “Body Life”
<ul>
<li>
His identity - “A disciple in Damascus”
</li>
<li>
His call and commission – <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',9,10,11);">Act 9:10-11</a>
<ul>
<li>
He was selected by the Lord
</li>
<li>
He was to communicate God’s will to Paul
</li>
<li>
His question to the Lord – <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',9,13,14);">Act 9:13-14</a>
</li>
<li>
The Lord’s reply
<ul>
<li>
“Go”
</li>
<li>
The message
<ul>
<li>
Concerning Paul’s election – <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',9,15);">Act 9:15</a>
</li>
<li>
Concerning Paul’s mission – <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Act',9,15,16);">Act 9:15-16</a>
<ul>
<li>
To speak to the world
<ul>
<li>
Gentiles
</li>
<li>
Jews
</li>
<li>
Kings
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
To suffer in His name
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The obedience of Ananias – <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Act',9,17);">Act 9:17</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Lord’s Working in Paul
<ul>
<li>
“Behold he is praying” – <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Act',9,11);">Act 9:11</a>
<ul>
<li>
Prayer is a convincing evidence of spiritual resurrection
</li>
<li>
Prayer reveals a change in Saul
</li>
<li>
His praying
<ul>
<li>
It was real
</li>
<li>
It was right
</li>
<li>
It was in Jesus’ name
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Paul received his sight – <a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('Act',9,18);">Act 9:18</a>
</li>
<li>
Paul was baptized
</li>
<li>
Paul was controlled by the Holy Spirit – <a id="si_11" onclick="return mV('Act',9,17);">Act 9:17</a>
</li>
<li>
Paul was strengthened
</li>
<li>
Paul witnessed in Damascus – <a id="si_12" onclick="return mV('Act',9,20);">Act 9:20</a>
<ul>
<li>
It was immediate
</li>
<li>
It was faithful - proclaimed that Jesus is the Son of God
<ul>
<li>
The Lordship of Christ
</li>
<li>
When you accept His authority, He becomes Saviour – <a id="si_13" onclick="return mV('Act',10,9);">Rom 10:9</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
It was effective – <a id="si_14" onclick="return mV('Act',9,21,22);">Act 9:21-22</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Paul’s time in the Arabian desert “D.D. degree”
<ul>
<li>
His time there could have taken place between <a id="si_15" onclick="return mV('Act',9,22,23);">Act 9:22-23</a>
</li>
<li>
<a id="si_16" onclick="return mV('Gal',1,'15-18');">Gal 1:15-18</a> reveals that Paul was in Arabia before he conferred with any of the Apostles in Jerusalem
</li>
<li>
In the stillness of the Arabian desert, a Jewish Pharisee was transformed into the Apostle of Christ to the Gentiles
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Paul back in Damascus – <a id="si_17" onclick="return mV('Act',9,23,24,25);">Act 9:23-25</a>
<ul>
<li>
The hatred of the Jews
</li>
<li>
The help of the disciples
</li>
<li>
The escape to Jerusalem
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Paul in Jerusalem – <a id="si_18" onclick="return mV('Act',9,'26-29');">Act 9:26-29</a>
<ul>
<li>
His first action - to join with the disciples
</li>
<li>
His cold reception
<ul>
<li>
They were afraid of him
</li>
<li>
They did not believe that He was a disciple
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
His gracious friend, Barnabas
</li>
<li>
Paul’s bold witness – <a id="si_19" onclick="return mV('Act',9,29);">Act 9:29</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Paul sent to Tarsus – <a id="si_20" onclick="return mV('Act',9,30);">Act 9:30</a> - He stayed there 7 or 8 years
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Churches of Judea, Samaria and Galilee – <a id="si_21" onclick="return mV('Act',9,31);">Act 9:31</a>
<ul>
<li>
They had rest and peace
</li>
<li>
They were increasing in number
</li>
<li>
They were being edified
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>
The Churches of Judea, Samaria, and Galilee
<ul>
<li>
They had rest
<ul>
<li>
No inner turmoil
</li>
<li>
No persecution from without
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
They were being edified
<ul>
<li>
Instructed in the Apostles' teaching
</li>
<li>
They helped each other
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
They were godly
<ul>
<li>
Living in respect for the Lord
</li>
<li>
Living in the strength of the Holy Spirit
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
They were growing
<ul>
<li>
Believers were multiplied
</li>
<li>
Believers were established in the faith
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Peter’s Witness in Lydda – <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Act',9,'32-35');">Act 9:32-35</a>
<ul>
<li>
It was a consistent witness - throughout all parts
</li>
<li>
It was a personal witness - He found a certain man
</li>
<li>
It was a faithful witness - Christ was preeminent
</li>
<li>
It was an effective witness - Aeneas was made whole
</li>
<li>
It was a prosperous witness - many turned to the Lord
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Peter’s Witness in Joppa – <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Act',9,'36-43');">Act 9:36-43</a>
<ul>
<li>
The occasion of the witness
<ul>
<li>
Dorcas, a disciple, was dead
</li>
<li>
The disciples sent for Peter
</li>
<li>
Peter responded immediately
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The miracle – <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',9,40);">Act 9:40</a>
<ul>
<li>
Peter exercised the power of prayer
</li>
<li>
Peter exercised the power or faith
</li>
<li>
The Lord brought her to life
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The result
<ul>
<li>
Many believed in the Lord
</li>
<li>
This was an “Apostolic sign,” or a miracle
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
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<ul>
<li>
Before Conversion
<ul>
<li>
The activity of Saul –
<a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Act',7,58);">Act 7:58</a>;
<a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',8,1,2,3);">Act 8:1-3</a>;
<a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',9,1,2);">Act 9:1-2</a>;
<a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',22,3,4,5);">Act 22:3-5</a>;
<a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Act',26,9,10,11);">Act 26:9-11</a>;
<a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('1Ti',1,13);">1Ti 1:13</a>;
<a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Phl',3,6);">Phl 3:6</a>;
<a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('1Cr',15,9);">1Co 15:9</a>
</li>
<li>
The activity of God
<ul>
<li>
Perfect patience
<ul>
<li>
He withheld judgment
</li>
<li>
He waited for His own timing
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Marvelous mercy –
<a id="si_11" onclick="return mV('Psa',52,8);">Psa 52:8</a>;
<a id="si_12" onclick="return mV('2Cr',1,3);">2Co 1:3</a>;
<a id="si_13" onclick="return mV('1Pe',1,3);">1Pe 1:3</a>;
<a id="si_14" onclick="return mV('1Ti',1,13,16);">1Ti 1:13, 16</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
At Conversion – <a id="si_15" onclick="return mV('Act',9,1);">Act 9:1</a>
<ul>
<li>
The Lord’s initiative
<ul>
<li>
He revealed Himself to Paul
</li>
<li>
He secured Paul’s attention
</li>
<li>
He invoked a positive response from Paul
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Lord’s election
<ul>
<li>
He selected Paul – <a id="si_16" onclick="return mV('Act',9,15);">Act 9:15</a>
</li>
<li>
He arrested Paul – <a id="si_17" onclick="return mV('Act',9,3);">Act 9:3</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
The Lord’s salvation
<ul>
<li>
Paul was forgiven
</li>
<li>
Paul was pardoned
</li>
<li>
Paul was justified
</li>
<li>
Paul was regenerated
</li>
<li>
Paul was redeemed
</li>
<li>
Paul was reconciled
</li>
<li>
Paul was glorified
</li>
<li>
Paul was given eternal life – <a id="si_18" onclick="return mV('Eph',2,8,9);">Eph 2:8-9</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Paul’s response – <a id="si_19" onclick="return mV('Act',26,13-29');">Act 26:13-29</a>
<ul>
<li>
Paul believed
</li>
<li>
Paul trusted
</li>
<li>
Paul obeyed
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
After Conversion
<ul>
<li>
God’s power to change
<ul>
<li>
The new creation – <a id="si_20" onclick="return mV('2Cr',5,17);">2Co 5:17</a>
</li>
<li>
The new business – <a id="si_21" onclick="return mV('Act',9,15,16);">Act 9:15-16</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
God’s power to use
<ul>
<li>
The work he did
</li>
<li>
The influence he had
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
God’s power to keep – <a id="si_22" onclick="return mV('2Cr',12,9,10);">2Co 12:9-10</a>
<ul>
<li>
In suffering – <a id="si_23" onclick="return mV('2Cr',11,'23-33');">2Co 11:23-33</a>
</li>
<li>
In ministry – <a id="si_24" onclick="return mV('2Ti',4,6,7,8);">2Ti 4:6-8</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Application
<ul>
<li>
God’s grace toward Paul is God’s grace toward every believer
</li>
<li>
Our response
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>The Title
<ul>
<li>The acts of the risen Christ</li>
<li>By the Spirit of Christ</li>
<li>Through the apostles and other believers</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The Author: Luke
<ul>
<li>A physician and historian – <a id="si_1" onclick="return mV('Col',4,14);">Col 4:14</a></li>
<li>A companion of Paul – <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('2Ti',4,11);">2Ti 4:11</a>; <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Phm',1,24);">Phm 24</a></li>
<li><a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Act',1,1);">Act 1:1</a>; <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Act',16,'10-17');">Act 16:10-17</a>;
<a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Act',20,'5-38');">Act 20:5-38</a>;
<a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Act',21,'1-18');">Act 21:1-18</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Historical Coverage from 33-64 A.D.</li>
<li>Its Place in the New Testament
<ul>
<li>It is the bridge</li>
<li>The New Testament
<ul>
<li>The Gospels: revealing the person of Christ (biographical)</li>
<li>The Acts: record of the preaching of Christ (historical)</li>
<li>The Epistles: instructing the people of Christ (practical)</li>
<li>Revelation: displaying the glory of Christ (prophetical)</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The Importance of the Book
<ul>
<li>Doctrinally
<ul>
<li>Concerning Christ
<ul>
<li>His Lordship
<ul>
<li>Resurrection</li>
<li>Ascension</li>
<li>Head of the Church</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Concerning the Holy Spirit
<ul>
<li>He is the Spirit of Jesus Christ</li>
<li>He does the work of Christ</li>
<li>He is predominate over the human in the Church</li>
<li>He indwells believers</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Concerning the Church
<ul>
<li>The beginning of the Church</li>
<li>The growth of the Church
<ul>
<li>Numerically</li>
<li>Geographically</li>
<li>Culturally</li>
<li>Racially</li>
<li>Religiously</li>
<li>Jew and Gentile</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The message of the Church
<ul>
<li>Forgiveness of sins</li>
<li>The resurrection of Christ</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The preservation of the Church</li>
<li>The life of the Church
<ul>
<li>The teaching</li>
<li>The fellowship</li>
<li>The sharing</li>
<li>The witnessing</li>
<li>The danger </li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Practically
<ul>
<li>Enables us to see how God can accomplish His purpose in spite of opposition</li>
<li>Enables us to see how God can use the least and weakest of all humans for His purpose</li>
<li>Enables us to see the devotion of those who respond to the grace of God</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Summary and Application
<ul>
<li>The book of Acts is the continuation of the Gospels about the “Acts” of the risen Lord Jesus Christ</li>
<li>The resurrection is the pivot around which all New Testament theology proceeds</li>
<li>The witness is not centered on an attempt to systematically prove the resurrection</li>
<li>The most convincing evidence is that of changed lives through contact with the risen Christ</li>
<li>Acts is the record of those who lived by what they were convinced was true</li>
<li>The resurrection dominated their life</li>
<li>What dominates our life?</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<h2>Bill Acton Sermon Outlines on Acts Index</h2>
<table>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/Introduction.html">Introduction</a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/1.html">Acts 1</a></td><td class="t">The Apostle's Ministry Before Pentecost</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/1-11.html">Acts 1:1-11</a></td><td class="t">Authorial Intent</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/2.html">Acts 2</a></td><td class="t">Pentecost</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/3.html">Acts 3</a></td><td class="t">The Witness on Solomon's Porch (Part 1)</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/4.html">Acts 4</a></td><td class="t">The Witness on Solomon's Porch (Part 2)</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/4-12.html">Acts 4:12</a></td><td class="t">The Salvation of the Soul</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/4-32-5-11.html">Acts 4:32 - 5:11</a></td><td class="t">Great Unity, Power, Grace, and Fear</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/5.html">Acts 5</a></td><td class="t">The Witness Before the Jewish Council</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/6.html">Acts 6</a></td><td class="t">Stephen's Witness Before the Council (Part 1)</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/6-7.html">Acts 6 &amp; 7</a></td><td class="t">Stephen's Witness Before the Council (Part 2)</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/8.html">Acts 8</a></td><td class="t">Philip's Witness in Judea and Samaria</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/9.html">Acts 9</a></td><td class="t">A Pattern of God's Grace</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/9-10-30.html">Acts 9:10-30</a></td><td class="t">The Preparation of Paul as a Witness for Christ</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/9-31-43.html">Acts 9:31-43</a></td><td class="t">Peter's Witness in Lydia and Joppa</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/11.html">Acts 11</a></td><td class="t">Important Transitions</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/12.html">Acts 12</a></td><td class="t">Persecution, Peter, Prison, Power</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/13.html">Acts 13</a></td><td class="t">The First Missionary Journey</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/14.html">Acts 14</a></td><td class="t">Paul's Ministry Abroad</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/15-22-16-10.html">Acts 15:22 - 16:10</a></td><td class="t">The Will of God</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/16.html">Acts 16</a></td><td class="t">The Witness on the Second Missionary Journey (Part 1)</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/17.html">Acts 17</a></td><td class="t">The Witness on the Second Missionary Journey (Part 2)</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/18a.html">Acts 18</a></td><td class="t">The Witness on the Second Missionary Journey (Part 3)</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/18b.html">Acts 18</a></td><td class="t">The Witness on the Second Missionary Journey (Part 4)</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/19a.html">Acts 19</a></td><td class="t">The Third Missionary Journey (Part 1)</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/19b.html">Acts 19</a></td><td class="t">The Third Missionary Journey (Part 2)</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/20.html">Acts 20</a></td><td class="t">Heading Home</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/20-25-38.html">Acts 20:25-38</a></td><td class="t">Paul Departure from Ephesus</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/21-22.html">Acts 21 &amp; 22</a></td><td class="t">The Prisoner of Rome</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/23.html">Acts 23</a></td><td class="t">Paul's Witness as a Prisoner of Rome</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/21-18-23-37.html">Acts 21:18 - Acts 24:27</a></td><td class="t">Paul's Witness as a Prisoner</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/25-26.html">Acts 25 &amp; 26</a></td><td class="t">Paul's Witness as a Prisoner</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/27.html">Acts 27</a></td><td class="t">Paul's Continuing Journey</td></tr>
<tr><td class="t"><a href="./Comm/bill_acton/act/28.html">Acts 28</a></td><td class="t">From Malta to Rome</td></tr>
</table>
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<ul>
<li>Introduction: Author is Paul, in 58 AD, from Corinth during his third missionary trip</li>
<li>Theme: God saves sinners completely</li>
<li>Subject Matter: God declares sinners righteous through the merit of Christ, and calls them, and enables them to pursue righteous living</li>
</ul>
<h4>The Salutation</h4>
<ul>
<li>About Paul Himself
<ul>
<li>As to his ministry
<ul>
<li>The is a servant of Christ Jesus</li>
<li>The is an apostle</li>
</ul></li>
<li>As to his life
<ul>
<li>He is called</li>
<li>He is separated
<ul>
<li>To a relationship</li>
<li>To a purpose</li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
<li>About His Message
<ul>
<li>It is the Gospel of God</li>
<li>It was prophesied through the prophets</li>
<li>It was personified in Christ
<ul>
<li>His humanity &#8212; the seed of David</li>
<li>His deity &#8212; the Son of God</li>
<li>His authority
<ul>
<li>The resurrection</li>
<li>The Spirit of holiness</li>
</ul></li>
<li>His grace
<ul>
<li>The gives apostleship</li>
<li>The gives effectual calling</li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
<li>About His Readers
<ul>
<li>They are the called of God</li>
<li>They are the saints of God</li>
<li>Their testimony &#8212; their faith is known</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>The Self-righteous Sin by Judging Others &#8212; <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Rom',2,1);">Rom 2:1</a></li>
<li>The Self-righteous Are Lost Because the Judgment of God Is Based on Justice and Truth &#8212; <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Rom',2,'1-16');">Rom 2:1-16</a>
<ul>
<li>God's judgment is just because it is based on His omniscience &#8212; <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Rom',2,'1-3');">Rom 2:1-3</a></li>
<li>God's judgment is just because He gives ample time for repentance &#8212; <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Rom',2,4,5);">Rom 2:4-5</a></li>
<li>God's judgment is just because it is according to man's works &#8212; <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Rom',2,'6-11');">Rom 2:6-11</a>
<ul>
<li>The nature and end of accepted works &#8212; <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Rom',2,7);">Rom 2:7</a>,<a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Rom',2,10);">10</a></li>
<li>The nature and end of rejected works &#8212; <a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('Rom',2,8,9);">Rom 2:8-9</a>
<ul>
<li>Character of the unrighteous
<ul>
<li>Contentious &#8212; factions seek their own gain</li>
<li>Obey not the truth</li>
<li>Obey unrighteousness</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Condemnation of the unrighteous
<ul>
<li>Wrath</li>
<li>Indignation</li>
<li>Tribulation</li>
<li>Anguish</li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
<li>God's judgment is just because it is according to man's response to the light He has &#8212; <a id="si_11" onclick="return mV('Rom',2,'12-16');">Rom 2:12-16</a>
<ul>
<li>The Gentile and his light of conscience &#8212; <a id="si_12" onclick="return mV('Rom',2,'12-16');">Rom 2:12-16</a></li>
<li>The Jew and his light given in the Law of God &#8212; <a id="si_13" onclick="return mV('Rom',2,3);">Rom 2:3</a>,<a id="si_14" onclick="return mV('Rom',2,12);">12</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li>God's judgment is just because it is according to the Gospel of Christ &#8212; <a id="si_15" onclick="return mV('Rom',2,16);">Rom 2:16</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li>The Jew Had Failed &#8212; <a id="si_16" onclick="return mV('Rom',2,'21-29');">Rom 2:21-29</a>
<ul>
<li>The nature of their failure &#8212; <a id="si_17" onclick="return mV('Rom',2,21,22);">Rom 2:21-22</a></li>
<li>They taught one thing and acted another &#8212; hypocrites &#8212; <a id="si_18" onclick="return mV('Mat',23,'1-');">Mat 23</a>
<ul>
<li>They were thieves &#8212; <a id="si_19" onclick="return mV('Rom',2,21);">Rom 2:21</a>;<a id="si_20" onclick="return mV('Mat',23,14);">Mat 23:14</a></li>
<li>They were adulterers &#8212; <a id="si_21" onclick="return mV('Rom',2,22);">Rom 2:22</a></li>
<li>They were guilty of sacrilege &#8212; <a id="si_22" onclick="return mV('Rom',2,22);">Rom 2:22</a></li>
<li>They gained wealth by robbing heathen temples &#8212; <a id="si_23" onclick="return mV('Act',19,'24-27');">Act 19:24-27</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li>The tragic consequence of their failure &#8212; <a id="si_24" onclick="return mV('Rom',2,23,24);">Rom 2:23-24</a><br>
They made the Name of God an offense to the Gentiles through their actions. God is always judged by the lives of those who profess to be His people &#8212; <a id="si_25" onclick="return mV('2Ti',2,19);">2Ti 2:19</a></li>
<li>The cause of their failure &#8212; <a id="si_26" onclick="return mV('Rom',2,'25-29');">Rom 2:25-29</a>
<ul>
<li>Obedience in the test of reality &#8212; <a id="si_27" onclick="return mV('Rom',2,25,26);">Rom 2:25-26</a>
<ul>
<li><a id="si_28" onclick="return mV('Mat',7,21,22,23);">Mat 7:21-23</a></li>
<li><a id="si_29" onclick="return mV('Rom',6,'14-23');">Rom 6:14-23</a></li>
<li><a id="si_30" onclick="return mV('Jam',1,'22-25');">Jas 1:22-25</a></li>
<li><a id="si_31" onclick="return mV('2Ti',3,5);">2Ti 3:5</a> &#8212; Having a form of Godliness but denying the power thereof</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Faith and obedience are above the ordinance, sign, liturgy, ritual. An ordinance is a sign; if there is no accompanying personal faith, the sign has no value in us. &#8212; <a id="si_32" onclick="return mV('Rom',2,26,27);">Rom 2:26-27</a>
<ul>
<li>The Jew thought circumcision was essential to eternal life</li>
<li>Abraham was righteous before circumcision</li>
</ul></li>
<li>True relationship to God is a matter of the heart &#8212; not outward ceremony and ritual &#8212; <a id="si_33" onclick="return mV('Rom',2,28,29);">Rom 2:28-29</a><br>
The inner man must be transformed by the regenerative power of the Holy Spirit.</li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>Attitudes &#8212; <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Rom',14,'1-6');">Rom 14:1-6</a>
<ul>
<li>Welcome each other</li>
<li>Do not judge each other</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Personal Responsibility &#8212; <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Rom',14,5);">Rom 14:5</a></li>
<li>God's Viewpoint &#8212; <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Rom',14,6);">Rom 14:6</a>
<ul>
<li>Observe every day in honor of God</li>
<li>Eat or do not eat in honor of God</li>
<li>Be thankful in doing and not doing</li>
<li>Do not make rules</li>
</ul></li>
<li>We Do Not Have Proper Ability to Judge &#8212; <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Rom',14,'7-12');">Rom 14:7-12</a>
<ul>
<li>There is only one Lord</li>
<li>We are not lords of one another</li>
<li>Christ is Lord of the dead</li>
<li>Christ is Lord of the living</li>
<li>We live in relationship to Him</li>
<li>We die in relationship to Him</li>
<li>We do not live or die alone</li>
<li>Christ will judge everyone</li>
<li>We are only free to judge ourselves</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Another Word to the Strong, Free Christians &#8212; <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Rom',14,'13-15');">Rom 14:13-15</a>
<ul>
<li>The law of liberty &#8212; <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Gal',5,1);">Gal 5:1</a>;
<a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('1Co',10,'23-33');">1Co 10:23-33</a></li>
<li>The limits of love
<ul>
<li>Love will not hinder others</li>
<li>Love will not cause others to stumble</li>
<li>We must not insist that others live according to our own conscience</li>
<li>"Do not let what you eat bring ruin on one whom Christ died"
<ul>
<li>Ruin &#8212; refers to a wasted life</li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
<li>Don't Major on the Minor &#8212; <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Rom',14,'16-21');">Rom 14:16-21</a>
<ul>
<li>The important matter is not eating and drinking</li>
<li>The important matter is righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Spirit</li>
<li>The spiritual is above the material</li>
</ul></li>
<li>What Is Right and What Is Wrong
<ul>
<li>It is neither right or wrong to eat meat or drink wine</li>
<li>It is wrong if it is a hindrance to someone else</li>
<li>What is right &#8212; that which builds the Body of Christ</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>The Background of the Passage
<ul>
<li>Doubtful things for Christians of the First Century
<ul>
<li>Eating meat that had been offered to idols</li>
<li>Drinking wine that had been offered to idols</li>
<li>Observance of certain "Holy" Days</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Doubtful things for Christians of the Twentieth Century
<ul>
<li>Areas of life where Scripture does not speak specifically</li>
<li>Areas of life where conscience rules</li>
<li>Areas of life that are influenced by cultural background</li>
<li>The long list of "Christian taboos"
<ul>
<li>"Sanka" &#8212; the Christian coffee</li>
<li>"Basic H" &#8212; the Christian soap</li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
<li>The Exposition of the Text
<ul>
<li>The first attitude for all believers
<ul>
<li>The stronger believer is to receive or welcome the weaker</li>
<li>The "strong" believer has entered into the full freedom which is his birthright; He is strong in faith &#8212; <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Gal',5,1);">Gal 5:1</a></li>
<li>The weaker believer is to receive or welcome the stronger &#8212; <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Rom',14,3);">Rom 14:3</a></li>
<li>The "weaker" believer is the one who is governed by legalism and is ruled by negative restrictions that are not forbidden by Scripture</li>
<li>Believers are not to argue or dispute over these matters
<ul>
<li>We are not to make up the mind of the other person</li>
<li>We must not be judgmental where Scripture is silent</li>
</ul></li>
<li>We are to welcome the other believer because God has &#8212; <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Rom',14,3);">Rom 14:3</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li>The second attitude for all believers is "judge not" &#8212; <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Rom',14,'3-4');">Rom 14:3-4</a>;
<a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Col',2,'16-17');">Col 2:16-17</a>;
<a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('1Ti',4,'3-5');">1Ti 4:3-5</a>
<ul>
<li>Definition of "judging" &#8212; to condemn, label, categorize, criticize</li>
<li>Believers are to confront each other in the areas where Scripture speaks</li>
<li>Reasons for not judging one another
<ul>
<li>We do not have the right
<ul>
<li>Christ is Lord</li>
<li>The alone is their Master</li>
</ul></li>
<li>It does not help us or them or the Body of Christ
<ul>
<li>Christ will uphold him</li>
<li>Christ alone is able</li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
<li>There is no merit in doing or abstaining &#8212; <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Rom',14,'5-6');">Rom 14:5-6</a></li>
<li>The Lordship of Christ demands individual freedom &#8212; <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Rom',14,5);">Rom 14:5</a>
<ul>
<li>Let every man</li>
<li>Be fully convinced</li>
<li>In his own mind</li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
<li>General Principles
<ul>
<li>Learn the "whole counsel of God"</li>
<li>Stay away from "all appearance of evil" &#8212; <a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('1Th',5,22);">1Th 5:22</a></li>
<li>Seek to build the faith of others</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>Review
<ul>
<li>Attitudes
<ul>
<li>Receive</li>
<li>Do not judge</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Personal responsibility
<ul>
<li>Be fully convinced in our own mind</li>
<li>Judge myself</li>
</ul></li>
<li>The Law of Liberty</li>
<li>The Law of Love</li>
<li>The Kingdom of God
<ul>
<li>Not eating and drinking</li>
<li>Joy in the Lord</li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
<li>Exposition of<a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Rom',14,'22-23');">Romans 14:22-23</a>
<ul>
<li>Sin is lack of faith</li>
<li>Faith is casting ourselves into Christ</li>
<li>Faith in Romans &#8212; the attitude of dependence upon the indwelling Lordship of Christ to meet all our needs for any occasion
<ul>
<li>Our conduct must proceed from faith</li>
<li>All conduct that does not proceed from faith &#8212; is sin</li>
<li>"Without faith it is impossible to please God" &#8212; <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Heb',11,6);">Heb 11:6</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li>We must eat by faith</li>
<li>We must live by faith</li>
<li>Faith and clear conscience &#8212; <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Rom',14,22);">Rom 14:22</a></li>
<li>Acting in faith
<ul>
<li>Acting with conviction that it is agreeable to the will of God</li>
<li>We should not do that which is in doubt</li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
<li>The Testimony of Joy
<ul>
<li>Abundant life &#8212; <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Jhn',10,10);">Jhn 10:10</a></li>
<li>Delighting in the Lord &#8212; <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Psa',37,4);">Psa 37:4</a></li>
<li>Rejoicing in the Lord &#8212; <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Phl',4,'4-7');">Phl 4:4-7</a></li>
<li>The joy of the Lord is your strength &#8212; <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Neh',8,10);">Neh 8:10</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li>The Law of Liberty
<ul>
<li>The Holy Spirit brings freedom &#8212; <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('2Co',11,7);">2Co 11:7</a></li>
<li>Keep the freedom that God gives &#8212; <a id="si_10" onclick="return mV('Gal',5,1);">Gal 5:1</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li>The Purpose of Our Calling
<ul>
<li>Holiness &#8212; <a id="si_11" onclick="return mV('Eph',1,4);">Eph 1:4</a></li>
<li>Depart from iniquity &#8212; <a id="si_12" onclick="return mV('2Ti',2,19);">2Ti 2:19</a></li>
<li>Filled with righteousness &#8212; <a id="si_13" onclick="return mV('Phl',1,11);">Phl 1:11</a></li>
<li>Walk worthy of the Lord &#8212; <a id="si_14" onclick="return mV('Col',1,10);">Col 1:10</a></li>
</ul></li>
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<ul>
<li>How Christians Live Together &#8212; <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Rom',15,'1-2');">Rom 15:1-2</a>
<ul>
<li>The strong sustain the weak
<ul>
<li>Bearing weakness together
<ul>
<li>We all have areas of strength</li>
<li>We all have areas of weakness</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Not living just to "please" self
<ul>
<li>The sacrifice of personal desires</li>
<li>The desire for growth for others</li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
<li>The strong encourage the weak
<ul>
<li>By sharing how God helps</li>
<li>By patient loving kindness</li>
<li>By remaining firm to convictions</li>
</ul></li>
<li>The weak encourage the strong
<ul>
<li>By willingness to learn</li>
<li>By response to God's Word</li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
<li>The Example of Christ &#8212; <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Rom',15,3);">Rom 15:3</a>
<ul>
<li>The did not live for Himself</li>
<li>The took all the hatred of the world for God upon Himself</li>
<li>The gave His life completely</li>
</ul></li>
<li>The Encouragement of the Scripture
<ul>
<li>The Old Testament is for our learning
<ul>
<li>Through the historical experiences we learn about the nature of God</li>
<li>Through the historical experiences we learn how we should respond &#8212; <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('1Co',10,'1-15');">1Co 10:1-15</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li>All of God's Word builds comfort and patience</li>
<li>God's Word is given for the purpose of building hope</li>
</ul></li>
<li>The Enabling Power of God
<ul>
<li>God gives strength
<ul>
<li>Strength to do beyond our own abilities</li>
<li>Strength to submerge our own interests for the interests of the entire Body of Christ</li>
</ul></li>
<li>God gives unity of purpose
<ul>
<li>One voice</li>
<li>Praise to God</li>
<li>The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ</li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
<li>The Relationship Desired
<ul>
<li>Accept one another</li>
<li>As Christ accepts us
<ul>
<li>In our unworthiness</li>
<li>In our poor response</li>
<li>In our failing performance</li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
<li>Our Relationship to Adam or to Christ Determines Our Position Before God</li>
<li>Our Fellowship with Christ Determines Our Relationships to Each Other</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>Report for Duty &#8212; <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('2Ti',2,4);">2Ti 2:4</a>
<ul>
<li>To the commander</li>
<li>Without plans</li>
<li>Without reservations &#8212; "anything but"</li>
<li>With total availability &#8212; <a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Rom',12,'1-2');">Rom 12:1-2</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li>Follow Orders
<ul>
<li>Daily communication</li>
<li>Daily relationship</li>
<li>Daily guidebook</li>
<li>Begin to do what you know is right
<ul>
<li>Use common sense</li>
<li>Do the obvious</li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
<li>The Hindrances
<ul>
<li>Having a greater love &#8212; <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Mat',6,33);">Mat 6:33</a></li>
<li>Refusing to part with some thing</li>
<li>Refusing to part with some person</li>
<li>Receiving ungodly counsel &#8212; <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Psa',1,1);">Psa 1:1</a>
<ul>
<li>Use common sense</li>
<li>Do the obvious</li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>Context &#8212; Accepting One Another
<ul>
<li>Accept one another as an example of Christ</li>
<li>Statement about the church at Rome &#8212; <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Rom',15,14);">Rom 15:14</a></li>
<li>"Competent to Counsel" &#8212; the Word</li>
<li>Inspire, endorse, support, strengthen, stimulate, motivate, aid, lift,<br>
relieve, comfort, restore, instruct, nourish, cheer, encourage</li>
</ul></li>
<li>The Ability to Counsel
<ul>
<li>The knowledge from Scripture
<ul>
<li>What a Christian knows: about God, Bible, sin, guilt, confession, faith, death, Heaven, hell, the world, society, hope, security, values, money, relationships, trials, suffering, righteousness</li>
<li>Insights into the real issues of life</li>
<li>The Christian knows the truth!</li>
</ul></li>
<li>The goodness from salvation
<ul>
<li>Regeneration</li>
<li>Sanctification</li>
<li>New</li>
<li>Holiness, purity and decency</li>
<li>Love God</li>
</ul></li>
<li>The power from the Holy Spirit
<ul>
<li>The urgent need</li>
<li>Internal growth</li>
<li>Work in the world</li>
<li>The outward work is dependent on the internal growth</li>
<li>Not to refuse or reject</li>
<li>To choose or select
<ul>
<li>David took five stones</li>
<li><a id="si_3" onclick="return mV('Heb',5,1);">Heb 5:1</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li>High Priest selection
<ul>
<li>The disciples &#8212; <a id="si_4" onclick="return mV('Mat',17,1);">Mat 17:1</a></li>
<li>To receive adoption &#8212; <a id="si_5" onclick="return mV('Gal',4,5);">Gal 4:5</a></li>
<li>We receive &#8212; <a id="si_6" onclick="return mV('Col',2,6);">Col 2:6</a></li>
<li>The acceptance is a response, an agreement</li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
<li>The experience of His acceptance
<ul>
<li>By the power of the Holy Spirit</li>
<li>His work of regeneration</li>
<li>The makes it known &#8212; the notification of our election</li>
<li>We respond &#8212;<ul>
<li>Law or works: I obey God, God sees my works,<br>
God accepts me</li>
<li>Grace: God accepts me, I see His acceptance,<br>
I respond to Him</li>
</ul></li>
<li>We receive</li>
<li>We accept &#8212; believing is receiving</li>
<li>The glory of knowing His acceptance
<ul>
<li>Rest &#8212; Peace &#8212; Joy</li>
<li>All undeserved</li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
<li>The Practice of Our Accepting
<ul>
<li>Grace undeserving &#8212; <a id="si_7" onclick="return mV('Rom',15,7);">Rom 15:7</a></li>
<li>The qualities involved
<ul>
<li>Sincerity &#8212; "Do you care about me?"</li>
<li>Approachable &#8212; available</li>
<li>Unshockable</li>
<li>Trustworthy</li>
<li>Listening
<ul>
<li>A quality and a skill</li>
<li>Requires patience, endurance and energy</li>
<li>How to listen
<ul>
<li>To what is said &#8212; content</li>
<li>To how it is said &#8212; feelings</li>
<li>To what is not said &#8212; omissions</li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
<li>The encouragement provided
<ul>
<li>We all need it &#8212; rejection is devastating</li>
<li>Discouragement can be deadly
<ul>
<li>Hate, bitterness and withdrawal</li>
<li>Contagious</li>
</ul></li>
<li>How to encourage
<ul>
<li>Continually reaffirm the commitment to the relationship
<ul>
<li>Acceptance: permanent &#8212; unconditional</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Continually reaffirm the priority
<ul>
<li>"You are most important to me"</li>
<li>I give you my life</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Meet at the same level
<ul>
<li>Tell how we have been helped</li>
<li>Come alongside</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Reinforce that which is good
<ul>
<li>Good qualities</li>
<li>Concentrate on the potential</li>
<li>Speak that which edifies &#8212; <a id="si_8" onclick="return mV('Eph',4,29);">Eph 4:29</a></li>
<li>No cuts &#8212; no chops &#8212; no accusations</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Speak the truth in love &#8212; <a id="si_9" onclick="return mV('Eph',4,13);">Eph 4:13</a>
<ul>
<li>Direct Biblical approach</li>
<li>Approach &#8212; "Man on a tack"</li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>The Source of All Blessing &#8212; "The God of Hope"</li>
<li>The Blessings Requested
<ul>
<li>Joy</li>
<li>Peace</li>
<li>Abounding hope</li>
</ul></li>
<li>The Channel Through Whom the Blessings Are Given &#8212; "Through the power of the Holy Spirit"</li>
<li>How the Gifts of God Become Personal and Real to Us &#8212; "in believing"</li>
<li>Study of Faith from <a id="si_2" onclick="return mV('Rom',4,'13-25');">Rom 4:13-25</a></li>
</ul>
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