Chapters
4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
8
Chapter 4
1. And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was
led by the Spirit into the wilderness.
[Was led by the Spirit.] In St.
Matthew it is, was led up of the Spirit. By which I would suppose
our Saviour caught up by the Holy Spirit into the air, and so carried
into the wilderness. The reasons of this conjecture are, I. Because we
read of the like thing done to Philip,
Acts 8:39,40. The same also is supposed concerning Elijah,
1 Kings 18:12;
2 Kings 2:16. II. It is probable the devil also might snatch Jesus
up into the air, having this occasion to pretend himself no other than
the Holy Ghost, who had caught him up and brought him already into the
wilderness: and under this notion he might require that worship from
him, as if he himself was indeed the Holy Ghost. III. We must not pass
by the method which St. Luke takes in describing the order of the
temptations, somewhat different from that of St. Matthew. The temptation
upon the pinnacle of the Temple is mentioned by St. Matthew, and that
most truly, the second in order: but in St. Luke it is reckoned the
third; adding, that "when the devil had ended all his temptation, he
departed from him for a season." But now, according to St. Luke, how did
Christ get down from the pinnacle again? He tells us, that he was
carried up thither by the devil, and there (according to his method in
the story) the temptation was ended: how then did Christ get down again?
Observe but what follows; Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit
into Galilee: and then join the stories as they are joined in St.
Luke: the devil set him on the pinnacle of the Temple, and there urgeth
him to cast himself down; but when he could not persuade him, he leaves
him standing on the pinnacle, and all the temptation was ended; and
Jesus, by the power of the Spirit returned into Galilee. May we not
suppose that the evangelist would by this give us to understand, that
Christ, after the temptation was ended, was carried through the air by
the Holy Ghost into Galilee, as he had been caught up before by him, and
been brought into the wilderness, yea, and under that pretence [or upon
that occasion], had been snatched up by the devil himself to the
pinnacle of the Temple, and to a very high mountain?
2. Being forty days tempted of the
devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended,
he afterward hungered.
[Forty days, &c.] Moses, in his
dealings with God, fasted forty days three times, one after another. It
was sufficient for Christ, having withal so great a conflict with the
devil, to do it but once. Moses' first quadragesimal was
Exodus 24:18: his second time was after he had destroyed the golden
calf,
Deuteronomy 10:10: the third was after the tables of the law had
been made anew,
Exodus 34:28. About that very time of the year wherein Moses ended
his last forty days' fast, Christ began his; viz. about the middle of
the month Tisri; and how long he continued it on in the month Marchesvan,
it is not difficult to apprehend.
5. And the devil, taking him up into
an high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a
moment of time.
[In a moment of time.] In
momento. So the Vulgar. Now what quantity of time a moment
contains, if it be worth the while to inquire, the doctors tell us:
How much is a moment? It is the
fifty-eight thousand, eight hundred, eighty-eighth part of an hour.
Very accurately calculated truly!
13. And when the devil had ended all
the temptation, he departed from him for a season.
[He departed from him for a season.]
The devil had now found by experience, how much in vain it was for him
to tempt our Saviour by suggestions, or those kinds of allurements by
which he inveigles mankind; and therefore he watches for an opportunity
of trying his arts upon him some other way: which at last he doth, both
by himself and by his instruments. And when that season drew near, and
the devil returned to his proper business, we find there is mention made
of Satan entering into Judas, and that "now the prince of this world
cometh,"
John 14:30.
16. And he came to Nazareth, where he
had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue
on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
[He stood up to read.] That we may
frame the better judgment of this action of our Saviour's, let us a
little look into the customs of the synagogue:--
I. They read standing up. Piske:
and Rabbenu Asher; "They do not read in the law otherwise than
standing up. Nay, it is unlawful for him that readeth to lean upon
any thing. Whence comes it that he that readeth in the law is bound to
stand up? Rabh Abhu saith, Because the Scripture saith, Do thou
stand by me. Nor ought any one to lean any way, as it is in the
Jerusalem. R. Samuel Bar Isaac going into a synagogue found one
expounding and leaning against a pillar. He saith to him, This is not
lawful: for as the law was given with reverence, so are we to handle it
with reverence too."
They preferred the Law before the
Prophets, and the Law and the Prophets above the
Hagiographa, or holy writings: and yet they yielded that
honour to the Prophets, that even they should not be read but standing
up. Whence that is particular which they say concerning the Book of
Esther, "A man may read out of the Book of Esther, either standing or
sitting. But not so out of the law." Christ in this followed the custom
of the synagogue, in that while he read the Law he stood up, while he
taught it he sat down.
II. He that read in the Prophets was
called Maphtir; and was appointed to that office by the ruler of
the synagogue.
"Rabh Bibai was a great man in taking
care of the things of God. And Mar was a great man in taking care
of the things of the town." The Gloss is: "Of the things of God,
that is, about the collectors of the alms, and the distribution of it,
and the ordering those that were to expound and read the Prophets."
It is probable that Christ did at this
time offer himself as a Maphtir, or as one that would read in the
Prophets, and preach upon what he read; not before hand appointed to it
by the ruler of the synagogue, but rather approved of when he had
offered himself. For those of Nazareth had heard of some miracles which
he had wrought at Capernaum, verse 23: and therefore no wonder if they
were very desirous to hear something from him answerable to those great
things he had done.
III. Piske: "He that reads in the
Prophets ought not to read less than one-and-twenty verses." Here our
Saviour doth not seem to have observed the custom of the synagogue, for
he read but two verses: and yet he did nothing but what was both
allowable and usual. And that is worth our taking notice of which we
meet with, "If there be an interpreter or preaching on the sabbath
day, they read out of the prophets, three, or five, or seven verses,
and are not so careful to read just one-and-twenty."
"If there be an interpreter [or
interpretation] on the sabbath day": was there not always one on every
sabbath day? So that neither Moses nor the Prophets might be read unless
one stood by that could expound: as seems abundantly evident both from
the traditions and the rules that concerned such a one.
These words, therefore I would
understand in such a sense; 'If either the interpreter should in his
exposition enlarge himself into a sermon, or any other should preach,'
&c. For the interpreter did sometimes comment and preach upon what they
read. And probably Christ did at this time both read and properly
interpreted.
"Jose the Maonite expounded in the
synagogue of Maon. 'Hear, O ye priests; hearken, O house of Israel; and
give y ear, O house of the king,'
Hosea 5. He said, The holy blessed God is about to snatch away the
priests and set them in judgment, saying unto them, 'Why have ye not
laboured in the law? Have you not had the use and enjoyment of
four-and-twenty portions belonging to the priests?' They say unto him,
'They have not given us any thing.' 'Hearken, O ye house of Israel, why
have you not given those four-and-twenty portions to the priests which I
have commanded you in the law?' They answer him, 'Because of those who
are of the house of the prince, who devour all themselves.' 'Give ear, O
house of the king, for judgment is towards you; for to you I have said
that this should be the rule concerning the priests: to you, therefore,
and over you, is it turned a rule of judgment.' Rabbi [the prince] heard
this, and was displeased with it."
"After these things did king Ahasuerus
promote Haman the son of Hammedatha."
"Rabh Joseph expounded it, After
these things the king promoted Haman of Hammedatha the Agagite, the
son of Cuza, the son of Aphlet, the son of Dio, the son of Diusot, the
son of Paros, the son of Nidan, the son of Baalkan," &c. See the place,
and compare it with the Targumist upon Esther, chapter 3:1.
"A reader in the Prophet enlargeth
upon 'Shemaa'" [the manner and form of the thing we have in
Massech. Soph. cap. 14]; "he passeth before the ark, and lifteth up
his hands" (that is, in order to give him blessing); "but if he be a
child, his father or his master doth these things in his stead," &c. But
the Gloss tells us that these things are to be understood of an
ordinary reader of the prophets. Now Christ was an extraordinary
reader. However, he read here, which he did not do in any other
synagogue; for this was the synagogue to which he belonged, and he read
as a member of that synagogue.
17. And there was delivered unto him
the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he
found the place where it was written,
[And there was delivered unto him the
book of Esaias.] I. The minister of the church kept the sacred books
in his custody, and brought them out to be read when they met together
in the synagogue.
"The high priest came to read [on the
day of expiation]; the minister of the synagogue takes the book
of the law, and giveth it to the ruler of the synagogue," &c. Where the
Gloss is, The 'chazan' of the synagogue, that is, the minister.
From him did our Saviour receive the book, and to him he returned it
again.
II. If it be asked whether he received
the book of the Prophet Isaiah by itself or joined with the other
prophets, it is not easy to determine it. We may gather something from
what vulgarly obtained amongst them.
"The Rabbins deliver: 'Let a man frame
the Law and the Prophets and the holy writings into one volume': they
are the words of R. Meir. But R. Judah saith, 'Let the Law be apart by
itself; the book of the Prophets by itself; and the book of the holy
writings [Hagiographa] by itself.' And the wise men say, 'Every book by
itself.'"
But we may ask if every prophet was by
himself, Isaiah by himself, Jeremiah by himself, &c. It is probable they
were: for so they sometimes divided the law into single quintanes [or
fifth parts].
All know what title the books of the law
do bear in the front of the Hebrew Bibles, viz. The five quintanes of
the law. Genesis is the first quintane: Exodus is the
second quintane: and so of the rest...
"They fold up the book of the Law in
the cloth of the quintanes, and the quintanes in the cloth of the
Prophets and Hagiographa: but they do not fold up the Prophets and
Hagiographa in the cloth of the quintanes, nor the quintanes in the
cloth of the Law." And a little after; "They lay the Law upon the
quintanes, and the quintanes upon the Prophets and Hagiographa; but
not the Prophets and Hagiographa upon the quintanes, nor the quintanes
upon the Law": that is, not any one single quintane upon all the
quintanes made up into one volume. So the Gloss hath it; "A quintane;
that is, a book of the law, in which there is only one quintane."
Seeing, therefore, that the book of that
Law was sometimes divided in this manner, into distinct books, we may
judge as well that the greater prophets might be thus divided also, and
the twelve lesser made up into one volume. Hence, perhaps, that passage:
"The reader of the Prophet might skip from one text to another: but
he might not skip from prophet to prophet: but in the twelve prophets it
was lawful." For they were all made up in one volume ready to his
hand; and so were not the greater prophets.
Give me leave, therefore, to conjecture
that on that sabbath wherein these things were transacted in the
synagogue at Nazareth, that section which was to be read in the Prophets
was, according to the rubric, in the prophet Isaiah; and upon that
account the minister of the synagogue delivered that book to our Saviour
when he stood up to read.
[And when he had opened the book, he
found the place, &c.] In the Talmudic language I would render it
thus, unrolling the book...
The high priest after the reading of the
law, rolling, or folding up the book, puts it into his
bosom. And yet
It is said...which we must not render
they do not fold up, but they do not unfold or unroll the
book of the law in the synagogue.
They unroll a prophet in the
congregation, but they do not unroll the law in he congregation.
That is, as the Gloss hath it, They unroll from one place or
passage to another passage in another place. So they were wont to do
in the Prophets, but not in the Law. And upon this account was it
permitted for the reader to skip in the prophet from one place to
another, because it was permitted them to unroll the prophet, either a
single prophet, or the twelve lesser in the synagogue; but as to the
Law, it was not allowed them so to do.
And they put the question How far may
he skip so that he that interprets do not break off? The Gloss is,
"Let him not skip from the place he reads, unless that he may unroll
the book, and be ready to read the place to which he skips, when the
interpreter ceaseth."
And because it was not lawful for him so
to unroll the law in the synagogue, "on the kalends of the month Tebeth,
if it proved to be the sabbath day, they brought three books of the law
and read in one of them the place for the sabbath, in another, that for
the kalends, in the third, that for the feast of dedication."
The words therefore of our evangelist to
me seem not barely to mean that he unfolded or opened the book;
but that being opened, he unrolled it from folio to folio, till he had
found the place he designed to read and expound. Which though it was not
the section appointed by the rubric for the day, yet did not Christ much
recede from the custom of the synagogue, which allowed the reader to
skip from one place to another.
25. But I tell you of a truth, many
widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up
three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the
land;
[When the heavens were shut up three
years and six months.] This number of three years and six months
is much used both in the Holy Scriptures and in Jewish writings;
concerning which we have more largely discoursed in another place. And
although both in the one and the other it is not seldom used allusively
only, yet in this place I can see no reason why it should not be taken
according to the letter in its proper number, however indeed there will
be no small difficulty to reduce it to its just account. That there was
no rain for three years together, is evident enough from
1 Kings 17, &c.: but whence comes this addition of six months?
"Elijah said to Ahab, As the Lord God of
Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain
these years, but according to my word; If there shall be these years."
These words include three years at the least, because he saith, years
in the plural, and not years in the dual.
And chapter 18, "The word of the Lord
came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go shew thyself unto Ahab, and
I will send rain upon the earth." In the third year; where then
shall we find the six months?
I. Doubtless both our Saviour and his
apostle St. James, chapter 5 verse 17, in adding six months do speak
according to the known and received opinion of that nation; which is
also done elsewhere sometimes in historical matters in the New
Testament.
St. Stephen tells us,
Acts 7:16, that the bones of the twelve patriarchs were carried over
from Egypt and buried in Sychem, when holy writ mentions only the bones
and burial of Joseph: wherein he speaks according to the vulgar opinion
of the nation.
Again, verse 30, he tells us that Moses
was forty years old when he fled into the land of Midian, and that he
tarried there forty years more, when Moses himself mentions nothing of
the circumstance: this he speaks agreeably to the opinion of the people.
II. Neither our Saviour nor St. James
says that Elijah shut up the heavens three years and six months; but
Christ tells us, "That the heaven was shut up in the days of Elias three
years and six months": and St. James, "That Elias prayed that it might
not rain, and it rained not upon the earth by the space of three years
and six months."
May I therefore have leave to
distinguish in this manner? Elijah shut up the heaven for three years,
that there might be no rain, as in the Book of Kings: and there was no
rain for three years and a half, as our Saviour and St. James relate.
III. The words of Menander in Josephus
may help a little towards the untying this knot: Menander also makes
mention of this drought in the acts of Ithobalus, king of Tyre, saying,
There was no rain from the month of October to the month of October the
year following.
It is true he shortens the space of this
drought by making it continue but one year; but however, having
placed the beginning of it in the month of October, he gives us a key
that opens us a way into things more inward and secret.
IV. Consider the distinction of the
former and the latter rain,
Deuteronomy 11:14;
Jeremiah 5:24;
Joel 2:23.
"The Rabbins deliver: the former is
in the month Marchesvan; the latter in the month Nisan."
The Targumist in
Joel 2:23: "Who hath given you the first rain in season and the
latter in the month Nisan." See also our note upon chapter 2:8.
R. Solomon, upon
Deuteronomy 11, differs a little; but we are not solicitous about
the order, which should be the first, either that in the month
Marchesvan, or that in the month Nisan: that which makes to our purpose
is, that rains were at those stated times; and for the rest of the year
generally there was no rain.
V. Those six months mentioned by our
Saviour and St. James must be accounted before the beginning of the
three years, and not tacked to the end of them, as is very evident from
this, that it is said, "The third year Elijah shewed himself to
Ahab," &c.
In the beginning therefore of those
three years we believe Elijah shut up heaven upon the approach of that
time wherein the rains were wont to fall in the month of Marchesvan, and
opened heaven again the same month at the end of three years. Nor is it
nothing that Menander speaks of the drought, taking its beginning
in the month October, which in part answers to the Jews' Marchesvan: for
consult that passage, chapter 18; "Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go into the
land unto all the fountains of water, and unto all brooks: peradventure
we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive." No one will say
this search was made in the winter, but in the summer: not before
or in the month Nisan, wherein the rains were wont to fall; for
what hay or grass could be expected at that time? But when the year grew
on to the summer, then was it a seasonable time to inquire after hay and
grass. Reckon therefore the time of Ahab's and Obadiah's progress in
this search: the time wherein Elijah and Obadiah meeting together, Ahab
fell in with them: the time wherein the Israelites and the prophets of
Baal were gathered together at mount Carmel; when Elijah sacrificed
there, and the followers of Baal were killed: and certainly it will be
more probable that the unlocking of the heavens and the fall of the
rains happened in that usual and ordinary season, the month Marchesvan,
than any other part of the year. Three years agone, in that month when
the rains were expected, according to the common season of the year,
Elijah shut heaven up that it should not rain; and now at the close of
three years, when the season for those rains recurred, he unlocks the
heavens and the rains fall abundantly.
VI. Now, go back from Marchesvan, the
month wherein the prophet locked up heaven, to the month Nisan
preceding, and those six months between, they were also without rain,
according to the ordinary course of the year and climate. In the month
Nisan it rained; the rest of the year to Marchesvan it was fair and held
up: when that month came the rains were expected; but Elijah had shut
the heavens up, and they remained shut up for the space of three years
ensuing. So that though he did not shut up heaven above the space of
three years, yet there was no rain for three years and six months.
27. And many lepers were in Israel in
the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving
Naaman the Syrian.
[Naaman the Syrian.] These
instances galled those of Nazareth upon a twofold account:
I. That they looked upon themselves as
vilified by these examples; especially if we consider the occasion upon
which our Saviour brought them. 'Thou hast wrought miracles in
Capernaum; do something also here in thine own city.' 'No, you are
unworthy of it, as Israel of old was unworthy of the prophets Elijah and
Elisha, who were therefore sent amongst the Gentiles.'
II. That by these instances he plainly
intimated the calling of the Gentiles, than which nothing could be more
grating in the ear of the Jews. Elijah was sent to a heathen woman, and
a heathen man was sent to Elisha: and both of them were turned from
heathenism to the true religion. Those words therefore of Naaman,
2 Kings 5:17,18, I would thus render; "Thy servant will henceforth
offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice to strange gods, but unto
Jehovah. And concerning this thing the Lord pardon thy servant [viz.
concerning my former idolatry], that when my master went into the
house of Rimmon to worship there, and leaned upon my hand, I also bowed
myself in the house of Rimmon; for that I bowed myself in the house of
Rimmon, the Lord pardon thy servant concerning this thing."
29. And rose up, and thrust him out
of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city
was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
[That they might cast him down
headlong.] By what authority, or by what legal process could those
of Nazareth do this? There was, indeed, a court of judicature consisting
of three men, because a synagogue was there; but it was not in the power
of that court to decree any thing in capital matters. It may be asked,
whether that license that was permitted the zealots extended thus
far: "He that steals the consecrated dishes and curseth by a conjurer"
(that is, curseth God in the name of an idol), "and goes in to a heathen
woman (that is, openly, as Zimri,
Num 25:6), the zealots slay him. And the priest that
ministers in his uncleanness, his brethren the priests beat out his
brains with clubs." But doth this license of the zealot belong to all
persons upon all occasions? When Nathanael said, [John
1:46] "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?" he does not
seem there to reflect so much upon the smallness and insignificancy of
the town, as the looseness and depravity of its manners.
33. And in the synagogue there was a
man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud
voice,
[Who had a spirit of an unclean devil.]
An expression something unusual. Perhaps it points towards the pythonic
or necromantic spirit: how these are distinguished amongst the doctors
we may see in Ramban in Sanhedrin, cap. 7. hal. 4. Both of them
(though in a different manner) invited and desired the inspirations of
the devil. But of this thing I shall treat more largely at chapter
13:11.
1. And it came to pass, that, as the
people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of
Gennesaret,
[To hear the word of God, he stood by
the lake, &c.] For they were wont to teach also without the
synagogue and Beth Midrash, in the highways and in the streets. "Rabban
Jochanan Ben Zaccai taught in the street before the Mountain of the
Temple the whole day." See the Gloss upon it: "Ben Azzai taught in the
streets of Tiberias."
This custom R. Judah forbade in this
canon: "Let not the doctors teach their disciples in the streets." And
accordingly he severely rebuked R. Chaijam, because he taught his
brothers' sons in the street.
And yet it is related of the same R.
Judah, R. Judah sat labouring in the law [labouring in the
word and doctrine, as the expression is
1 Timothy 5:17], "before the Babylonish synagogue in Zippor: there
was a bullock passed by him to the slaughter, and it lowed." This
bullock because he did not deliver from the slaughter, he was struck
with the toothache for the space of thirteen years.
5. And Simon answering said unto him,
Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing:
nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.
[We have toiled all night.] In
the Talmud's way of expressing it laborious all night. Labouring all
the day.
12. And it came to pass, when he was
in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell
on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou
canst make me clean.
[When he was in a certain city,
behold, a man full of leprosy.] "The walled cities are more holy
than the land of Israel in general, because they cast out the leprous
from them." Which must be understood (if we allow of the Rabbins for
interpreters) of cities that had been walled from the days of Joshua. If
this city which the evangelist here mentions were of that number, no
leper would have been suffered in it, unless absolved from his
uncleanness by the priest. For the leprosy remained after that
absolution; and the sick man was not healed but restored to the church.
That the man is here said to be full of leprosy; the passage may
not impertinently be compared with
Leviticus 13:12,13.
Whether he had been purified by the
priest before or no, however, Christ sends him to the priest, to offer
what was required from the leper that was cleansed. The law of
Moses hardly supposeth the leper healed when he was made clean.
It is a question, indeed, whether the disease was ever curable but by a
miracle. And therefore is this man sent to the Temple to shew himself to
the priest, and offer for a testimony unto them, verse 14: that
is, that he might bear witness, that the leprosy, an incurable disease,
was now healed by miracle, as formerly it had been in Miriam and Naaman:
and so there was now a great prophet arisen in Israel.
17. And it came to pass on a certain
day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the
law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea,
and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal
them.
[On a certain day.] In Talmudic
writing it is on a certain time.
27. And after these things he went
forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom:
and he said unto him, Follow me.
[At the receipt of custom.]
The house of tribute. "This thing is like a king of flesh and blood
passing by the house of tribute. He saith to his servants, Pay
the tax to the publicans."
39. No man also having drunk old
wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.
[The old is better.] Is not
the old better? The Gloss is, Old wine: that is, of three years
old.
Wine of three leaves. The Gloss
is, "Of three years: because from the time that the vine had produced
that wine, it had put forth its leaves three times."
1. And it came to pass on the second
sabbath after the first, that he went through the corn fields; and his
disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in
their hands.
[On the second sabbath after the
first.] I have spoken to this already in notes upon
Matthew 12: let me add a few things in this place.
It is a controversy amongst the Jewish
doctors and the Baithuseans, about the exposition of those words that
concern the offering of the sheaf of the first-fruits; On the morrow
of the sabbath,
Leviticus 23:10,11.
Gloss: "The Baithuseans desired that the
first day of the Passover should be on the sabbath, that the offering of
the sheaf might fall on the first day of the week: and that the feast of
Pentecost might also fall on the first day of the week. For they
interpreted those words, The priest shall wave the sheaf on the
morrow of the sabbath, as if the sense of them were, On the morrow
of the sabbath of the creation."
Against this the Rabbins dispute with
one consent, and indeed truly enough, affirming, that by the morrow
after the sabbath must be understood the morrow after a
sabbatical day, or after the first day of the feast. So the
Targumist, Siphra, Solomon, Menahem, &c. So also the Greek
version. We may see their arguments in Siphra, and Pesikta,
and Menacoth, fol. 65. 1. The principal argument is that of
Rabban Jochanan disputing with a Baithusean in the place last quoted:
"One scripture (saith he) saith, You shall number fifty days" (that is,
from the day wherein you offer your sheaf unto Pentecost),
Leviticus 23:16. "Another scripture saith, Ye shall count seven
sabbaths,
Leviticus 23:14;
Deuteronomy 16:9. This, if the first day of the feast happen on
the sabbath: that, if the first day of the feast happen in the middle of
the week.
His meaning is this: If the first day of
the seven-day's feast of the Passover happen on the sabbath, then the
sheaf being offered the next day after, the feast of Pentecost will fall
on the next day after the seventh sabbath. But if that first day happen
in the middle of the week, then, from the offering of the sheaf the next
day, we must not count seven sabbaths but fifty days.
For instance, suppose we the lamb eaten
on the third day of the Jewish week, which with us is Tuesday, Wednesday
was the first day of the feast; and on Thursday the sheaf was offered;
then on Thursday again, accounting fifty days, is the feast of
Pentecost. Here seven sabbaths come between, and four days after the
last sabbath, before the Pentecost. Where numbering by sabbaths shortens
the space of time; but numbering by fifty days fixes the matter beyond
scruple. And at once it concludes these two things: I. That the offering
of the sheaf was not restrained to the next day after the sabbath, but
to the day after the sabbatical day, viz. the first day of the feast.
II. That the day of Pentecost was not restrained to the first day of the
week, as the Baithuseans would have it, but might fall on any day of the
week.
What should be the Baithuseans' reason
why they so earnestly contended to reduce the day of Pentecost always to
the morrow after the sabbath, or the first day of the week, is not easy
to comprehend. Perhaps he that disputes the matter with Rabban Jochanan
gives some hint of it, when he tells us, "Our master Moses loved Israel,
and knowing that the feast of Pentecost should be but for one day,
did therefore appoint it on the morrow after the sabbath, that Israel
might rejoice two days together."
Whatever the reason was, it is certain
they misunderstood that phrase as to the offering the sheaf the
morrow after the sabbath, when it was to be understood of the
morrow after a sabbatical day. And so the Greek version, and he
shall offer the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you, on the
morrow after the first day of the feast.
Let us take an instance of this in the
last Passover our Saviour kept.
The paschal lamb was eaten on the fifth
day of the week, our Thursday; the first day of the feast was the sixth
day of the week, our Friday, the day on which our Lord was crucified.
The day declining towards night (about the time that our Lord was
buried), they went out that were deputed by the Sanhedrim to reap the
sheaf: and on the morrow, that was their sabbath, whiles our Saviour
slept in the grave, they offered that sheaf. That day therefore was the
second day, and from thence they counted the weeks to Pentecost. And the
sabbaths that came between took their name from that second day.
The first sabbath after that was the first sabbath after the second
day; and the next sabbath after that was the second sabbath after
the second day; and so of the rest.
"The first day of the Passover is called
the sabbath; and they counted after that seven sabbaths that had
relation to that." Note that, that had relation or alliance.
[For more info on Pentecost, please
see "The Temple: Its Ministry and Services,
Chapter
13: The Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Day of Pentecost" by
Alfred Edersheim.]
12. And it came to pass in those
days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night
in prayer to God.
[In prayer to God: or In the
prayer of God.] Compare this kind of phrase with what is said,
Beracoth, fol. 7. 1: "R. Jochanan in the name of R. Jose saith,
How doth it appear that the holy blessed God doth pray? From thence,
that it is said, I will bring them to my holy mountain and make them
joyful in the house of 'my' prayer. It is not said of their prayer,
but of 'my' prayer. Whence it follows that the holy blessed God
doth pray. But how doth he pray? saith Rabh Zutra Bar Tobijah; Rabh
saith, Let it be my good pleasure that my mercy overcome my wrath."
"The holy blessed God made him a
tabernacle and prayed in it: as it is said, His tabernacle is in
Salem, and his dwellingplace in Zion. Now what doth he say when he
prayeth? Let it be my good pleasure that I may see my dwellingplace
built."
I cannot but laugh at their triflings,
and yet withal observe the opinion that nation had, and compare it with
this phrase, the prayer of God. They will have it that God prays,
not by way of supplication, but authority: "So let it be." Thus our
blessed Lord sometimes, Father, I will,
John 17:24. Whether the phrase in this place should be thus
interpreted, I do not determine.
38. Give, and it shall be given unto
you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over,
shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete
withal it shall be measured to you again.
[Good measure, pressed down, &c.]
I. Concerning measures heaped up and stricken off, see
Menacoth, fol. 87: "R. Meir saith, It is said, a tenth, a tenth
to every lamb. Whence is hinted, that there were decimaries
[or tithing measures] in the Temple: one heaped up, the other
stricken off. The heaped up was that by which they measured all
their bread-corn for holy uses. That which was stricken off was
that whereby they measured the cakes or the high priest's loaves." "All
the measures in the Temple were heaped up, besides that of the
high priests." Now the Gloss, giving the reason why this was not
heaped up as well as the other, tells us, "It was because he was to
divide the flour into two tenths; if therefore the measure was heaped
up, some of the fine flour would spill upon the ground as he moved
it this way and that way in dividing it."
"Rabh Papa asked, the filling of the
priest's hand whereof we have mention, was it by the measure
stricken off or heaped up? R. Aba saith to Rabh Ishai, The filling
of the priest's hand, of which we have mention, was neither by the
measures stricken off nor heaped up, but by measures floating
over."
II. Every one may observe that our
evangelist in his repetition of this sermon upon the mount doth omit
many things that are set down in St. Matthew; those especially that have
relation to the dictates and glosses of the scribes and Pharisees about
manslaughter, oaths, divorces, &c.; or their customs in their prayers,
fasts, and alms, &c. Writing for the service of the Gentiles, he passeth
over what respecteth the Jews.
2. And a certain centurion's servant,
who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die.
[Who was dear unto him.] So was
Tabi to his master Rabban Gamaliel: of whom we meet with several things
up and down, particularly that in Beracoth, fol. 16. 2: "When his
servant Tabi was dead, he received consolations for him. His disciples
say unto him, 'Master, thou hast taught us that they do not use to
receive consolations for their servants.' He answered them saying, 'My
servant Tabi was not as other servants, he was most upright.'"
5. For he loveth our nation, and he
hath built us a synagogue.
[He hath built us a synagogue.]
I. It was no unusual thing for one single man to build a synagogue at
his own charge: "If any man build a house, and afterward consecrated it
to a synagogue, it is of the nature of a synagogue." Gloss: "Any one
that builds a synagogue and gives it to his fellow citizens," &c.
And the doctors in that treatise dispute
much upon this question, Whether it be lawful to sell a synagogue or to
alienate it to any civil use: and amongst the rest, they suppose some
one building a synagogue, but would at last reserve it to his own proper
use.
II. They had no scruple as to a
Gentile's building it, since the holiness of the place consisted not so
much in the building as in its being set apart and dedicated to holy
use; of which we have some instances in Herod's building the Temple.
Such a one had this centurion approved himself towards the Jewish
nation, that concerning his liberality and devotion in being at the
charges of building, they found no reason to move any scruple.
12. Now when he came nigh to the gate
of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of
his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with
her.
[There was a dead man carried out.]
Amongst the Talmudists, a dead corpse going out, is commonly a
phrase which is first understood of carrying the corpse out of the
court-gate.
"At what time do they take their beds
lower? From the time that the person deceased is carried out of the
court-gate of his own house."
Secondly, It is taken also for carrying
the corpse out of the city: for the burying-places were not near the
city.
"The infant dying before it be thirty
days old, is carried out in the bosom: and is buried by one woman
and two men."
"An infant of thirty days old is
carried out in a little coffin. R. Judah saith, Not in a coffin that
is carried on men's shoulders, but in their arms."
A child of three years old is carried
out in a bed: and so onward from that age.
[Much people was with her.] R.
Simeon Ben Eliezer saith, for the dead that is carried out on his bed
there are many mourners: but if he be not carried out on his bed
[but in a coffin], there are not many mourners.
If the deceased person be known to
many, then many accompany him.
There were ordinarily at such funerals
those that carried the bier, and some to take their turns, and some
also to take their turns again. For as the Gloss hath it, every
one desired that office.
There were also those that stood in
order about the mourners to comfort them.
14. And he came and touched the bier:
and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say
unto thee, Arise.
[Touched the bier.] In Syriac,
he approached to the bier. The Talmudist would say, he came to
the bed of the dead: which indeed is the same,
2 Samuel 3:31, David followed after the bed. The Targumist,
after the bier.
"Jacob said to his sons, Beware ye,
that no uncircumcised person touch my bed, lest he drive away thence
the Divine presence."
37. And, behold, a woman in the
city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in
the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,
[A woman which was a sinner.] I.
Women of an ill name amongst the Jews were such as these:
"She who transgresseth the law of
Moses, and the Jewish law." The Gloss is, "The Jewish law, that is, what
the daughters of Israel follow, though it be not written."
"Who is she that transgresseth the law
of Moses? She that gives her husband to eat of what is not yet tithed:
she that suffers his embraces while her menstrua are upon her: she that
doth not set apart a loaf of bread for herself: she that voweth and doth
not perform her vow."
"How doth she transgress the Jewish
law? If she appears abroad with her head uncovered: if she spin in the
streets: if she talk with every one she meets. Abba Saul saith, If she
curse her children. R. Tarphon saith, If she be loud and clamorous." The
Gloss is, "If she desire coition with her husband within doors, so very
loud that her neighbours may hear her."
Maimonides upon the place: "If when she
is spinning in the street, she makes her arms so naked that men may see
them: if she hang either roses or myrtle, or pomegranate, or any such
thing either at her eyes or cheeks: if she play with young men: if she
curse her husband's father in the presence of her husband," &c.
II. However, I presume the word
sinner, sounds something worse than all this, which also is commonly
conjectured of this woman; viz. that she was actually an adulteress, and
every way a lewd woman. It is well known what the word sinners
signifies in the Old Testament, and what sinners, in the New.
38. And stood at his feet behind
him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe
them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed
them with the ointment.
[And stood at his feet behind him.]
She washed his feet as they lay stretched out behind him: of which
posture we treat more largely in our notes upon
John 12.
47. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her
sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom
little is forgiven, the same loveth little.
[For she loved much.] If we
consider these two or three things, we shall quickly understand the
force and design of the word for, &c.
I. That this was not the first time
when this woman betook herself to our Saviour; nor is this the first of
her receiving remission of her sins. It is supposed, and that not
without good reason, that this was Mary Magdalene. If so, then had her
'seven devils' been cast out of her before; and at that time her sins
had been forgiven her, our Lord at once indulging to her the cure both
of her body and her mind. She therefore, having been obliged by so great
a mercy, now throws herself in gratitude and devotion at the feet of
Christ. She had obtained remission of her sins before this action: and
from thence came this action, not from this action her forgiveness.
II. Otherwise the similitude which our
Saviour propounds about forgiving the debt, would not be to the purpose
at all. The debt is not released because the debtor loves his creditor,
but the debtor loves because his debt is forgiven him. Remission goes
before, and love follows.
III. Christ doth not say, She hath
washed my feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her
head, and anointed me with ointment, therefore her sins are forgiven;
but for this cause I say unto thee, Her sins are forgiven her. He
tells Simon this, that he might satisfy the murmuring Pharisee.
"Perhaps, Simon, thou wonderest within thyself, that since this hath
been so lewd a woman, I should so much as suffer her to touch me: but I
must tell thee that it is very evident, even from this obsequiousness of
hers, and the good offices she hath done to me, that her sins are
forgiven her: she could never have given these testimonies and fruits of
her gratitude and devotion, if she had still remained in her guilt, and
not been loosed form her sins."
2. And certain women, which had been
healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of
whom went seven devils.
[Mary called Magdalene.] Whence
should she have this name?
I. We have observed above, in our notes
upon
Matthew 27:56, that there is mention made in the Talmudic authors of
Maria Magdila the daughter of Maria, a plaiter of women's hair;
who they say was the wife of Papus Ben Juda, but an adulteress.
They make this Papus contemporary with Rabban Gamaliel (of Jafneh)
and R. Joshua, and with R. Akibah: who all lived both before and after
the destruction of Jerusalem: so that the times do not very much
disagree. And probable it is, that the Gemarists retained some memory of
our Mary Magdalene, in the word Magdila.
II. We further observe in our notes
upon
John 12, that there was a certain town near Jerusalem called
Magdala, of a very ill fame, which perhaps was Bethany itself; or be
it some other, yet might our Mary (if she was the sister of Lazarus) not
unfitly be called Magdalene, either as she might have lived there some
time, being there married, or have imitated the whorish customs of that
place. But I am apt to think that Bethany itself might go under the name
of Magdala.
[Out of whom went seven devils.]
As to the number seven, we contend not, when there is hardly any
thing more useful than to put this certain number for an uncertain. Our
difficulty is, whether these words are to be taken according to their
letter, or according to the Jewish sense, who were wont to call vices by
the name of devils: as "An evil affection is Satan": "Drunkenness by new
wine is a devil." If this Mary be the same with the woman that was a
sinner in the foregoing chapter, as is believed, then by devils
seems to be understood the vices to which she was addicted:
especially when both the Pharisee and evangelist call her a sinner,
rather than demoniac. But this we leave at the choice of the
reader.
3. And Joanna the wife of Chuza
Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him
of their substance.
[The wife of Chusa.] We meet
with such a name in Haman's genealogy: "The king promoted Haman the
Hammedathite, the Agathite, the son of Cusa," &c. The Targumist,
Esther 5, reckoning up the same genealogy, mentions not this name,
and differs in others. Only this let us take notice of by the way, that
Chusa is a name in the family of Haman the Edomite, and this Cusa
here was in the family of Herod, who himself was of the blood of the
Edomites.
18. Take heed therefore how ye hear:
for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from
him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.
[For whosoever hath, to him shall be
given.] God's measure is not like the measure of flesh and blood.
The measure of flesh and blood is this: An empty vessel is receptive,
but a full one can take in no more. But God's measure is this, The full
vessel is receptive of more, but the empty vessel receives nothing;
according as it is said, If hearing thou wilt hear; that is, If
thou hearest thou shalt hear; if thou dost not hear, thou shalt not
hear. The Gloss is, "If thou accustom thyself to hear, then thou shalt
hear, and learn and add." That is not much unlike Beracoth, fol.
55. 1: "God doth not give wisdom but to him with whom is wisdom
already."
Table of Contents
