1. For the kingdom of heaven is
like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in
the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.
[Who went out early in the morning
to hire labourers.] You have such a parable as this, but madly
applied, in the Talmud: we will produce it here for the sake of some
phrases: "To what was R. Bon Bar Chaija like? To a king who hired
many labourers; among which there was one hired, who performed his
work extraordinary well. What did the king? He took him aside, and
walked with him to and fro. When even was come, those labourers
came, that they might receive their hire, and he gave him a
complete hire with the rest. And the labourers murmured, saying,
'We have laboured hard all the day, and this man only two hours,
yet he hath received as much wages as we': the king saith to them, 'He
hath laboured more in those two hours than you in the whole day.' So R.
Bon plied the law more in eight-and-twenty years than another in a
hundred years."
[Early in the morning.] "The
time of working is from sunrising to the appearing of the stars, and not
from break of day: and this is proved from the chapter the president
of the priests saith to them; where they say, 'It is light all in
the east, and men go out to hire labourers': whence it is argued that
they do not begin their work before the sun riseth. It is also proved
from the tract Pesachin, where it is said that it is prohibited
on the day of the Passover to do any servile work after the sun is up;
intimating this, that that was the time when labourers should begin
their work," &c.
[To hire labourers.] Read here,
if you please, the tract Bava Mazia, cap. 7; which begins thus,
He that hireth labourers: and Maimonides, a tract entitled
Hiring.
2. And when he had agreed with the
labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
[Agreed for a penny a day.] A
penny of silver, which one of gold exceeded twenty-four times;
for A penny of gold is worth five-and-twenty of silver. The
canons of the Hebrews concerning hiring of labourers distinguish, as
reason requires, between being hired by the day, and being
hired (only) for some hours: which may be observed also in
this parable: for in the morning they are hired for all the day, and for
a penny, but afterward for certain hours; and have a part of a penny
allotted them, in proportion to the time they wrought.
8. So when even was come, the lord
of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give
them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.
[Call the labourers.] For "it
is one of the affirmative precepts of the law, that a hired labourer
should have his wages paid him when they are due, as it is said, 'You
shall pay him his wages in his day': and if they be detained longer, it
is a breach of a negative precept; as it is said, 'The sun shall not go
down upon him,'" &c.
13. But he answered one of them,
and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a
penny?
[Didst not thou agree with me for a
penny?] In hiring of labourers, the custom of the place most
prevailed; hence came that axiom, Observe the custom of the city;
speaking of this very thing. There is also an example, "Those of
Tiberias that went up to Bethmeon to be hired for labourers, were hired
according to the custom of Bethmeon," &c. By the by also we may observe
that which is said by the Babylonians in the place cited...as the Gloss
renders it, "Notice must be taken whether they come from several places;
for at some places they go to work sooner, and at some later."
Hence two things may be cleared in the
parable before us: 1. Why they are said to be hired at such different
hours; namely, therefore, because they are supposed to have come
together from several places. 2. Why there was no certain agreement made
with those that were hired at the third, sixth, and ninth hours, as with
those that were hired early in the morning; but that he should only say,
"Whatsoever is right I will give you": that is, supposing that they
would submit to the custom of the place. But, indeed, when their wages
were to be paid them, there is, by the favour of the lord of the
vineyard, an equality made between those that were hired for some hours,
and those that were hired for the whole day; and when these last
murmured, they are answered from their own agreement, You agreed with
me. Note here the canon; "The master of the family saith to his
servant, 'Go, hire me labourers for fourpence': he goes and hires them
for threepence; although their labour deserves fourpence, they shall not
receive but three, because they bound themselves by agreement, and
their complaint is against the servant."
22. But Jesus answered and said, Ye
know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink
of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They
say unto him, We are able.
[The baptism that I am baptized
with.] The phrase that goes before this, concerning the cup,
is taken from divers places of Scripture, where sad and grievous things
are compared to draughts of a bitter cup. You may think that the cup
of vengeance, of which there is mention in Bab. Beracoth,
means the same thing, but it is far otherwise: give me leave to quote
it, though it be somewhat out of our bounds: "Let them not talk (say
they) over their cup of blessing; and let them not bless over their
cup of vengeance. What is the cup of vengeance? The second cup,
saith R. Nachman Bar Isaac." Rabbena Asher and Piske are more clear: "If
he shall drink off two cups, let him not bless over the third." The
Gloss, "He that drinks off double cups is punished by devils." But to
the matter before us.
So cruel a thing was the baptism of
the Jews, being a plunging of the whole body into water, when it was
never so much chilled with ice and snow, that, not without cause,
partly, by reason of the burying as I may call it under water,
and partly by reason of the cold, it used to signify the most cruel kind
of death. The Jerusalem Talmudists relate, that "in the days of Joshua
Ben Levi, some endeavoured quite to take away the washings [baptisms]
of women, because the women of Galilee grew barren by reason of the
coldness of the waters"; which we noted before at the sixth verse of the
third chapter.
1. And when they drew nigh unto
Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then
sent Jesus two disciples,
[To the mount of Olives.]
Mons Olivarum,
Zechariah 14:4.
2. Saying unto them,
Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an
ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them
unto me.
[An ass and her foal.] In the
Talmudists we have the like phrase, an ass and a little colt. In
that treatise Mezia, they speak concerning a hired ass, and the terms
that the hired is obliged to. Among other things there, the Babylon
Gemara hath these words, Whosoever transgresses against the will of
the owner is called a robber. For instance, if any one hires an ass
for a journey on the plains, and turns up to the mountains, &c. Hence
this of our Saviour appears to be a miracle, not a robbery; that without
any agreement or terms this ass should be led away; and that the owner
and those that stood by should be satisfied with these bare words, "The
Lord hath need of him."
5. Tell ye the daughter of Sion,
Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a
colt the foal of an ass.
[Meek, and sitting upon an ass.]
This triumph of Christ completes a double prophecy: 1. This prophecy of
Zechariah here mentioned. 2. The taking to themselves the Paschal lamb,
for this was the very day on which it was to be taken, according to the
command of the law,
Exodus 12:3; "In the tenth day of this month, they shall take to
them every man a lamb."
It scarce appears to the Talmudists,
how those words of Daniel concerning the Messias, that "he comes with
the clouds of heaven," are consistent with these words of Zechariah,
that "he comes sitting upon an ass." "If (say they) the Israelites be
good, then he shall come with the clouds of heaven; but if not good,
then riding upon an ass." Thou art much mistaken, O Jew: for he comes
"in the clouds of heaven," as judge and revenger; but sitting upon an
ass, not because you are, but because he is, good. "King Sapores
said to Samuel, 'You say your Messias will come upon an ass, I will
send him a brave horse.' He answers him, 'You have not a horse with a
hundred spots as is his ass." In the greatest humility of the Messias
they dream of grandeur, even in his very ass.
8. And a very great multitude
spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the
trees, and strowed them in the way.
[Strewed branches in the way.]
Not that they strewed garments and boughs just in the way under the feet
of the ass to be trod on; this perhaps might have thrown down the rider;
but by the wayside they made little tents and tabernacles of clothes and
boughs, according to the custom of the feast of Tabernacles. John also
adds, that taking branches of palm trees in their hands, they
went forth to meet him. That book of Maimonides entitled Tabernacles
and palm branches, will be an excellent comment on this place, and
so will the Talmudic treatise, Succah. We will pick out these few
things, not unsuitable to the present story: "Doth any one spread his
garment on his tabernacle against the heat of the sun, &c.? it is
absurd; but if he spread his garment for comeliness and ornament, it is
approved." Again, "The boughs of palm trees, of which the law,
Leviticus 23:40, speaks, are the young growing sprouts of palms,
before their leaves shoot out on all sides; but when they are like small
staves, and these are called young branches of palms." And a
little after, "It is a notable precept, to gather young branches of
palms, the boughs of myrtle and willow, and to make them up into a
small bundle, and to carry them in their hands," &c.
9. And the multitudes that went
before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David:
Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the
highest.
[Hosanna to the Son of David.]
Some are at a loss why it is said to the Son, and not O Son:
wherefore they fly to Caninius as to an oracle, who tells us, that those
very bundles of boughs are called Hosanna; and that these words,
Hosanna to the Son of David, signify no more than boughs to
the Son of David. We will not deny that bundles are sometimes
so called, as seems in these clauses...where it is plain, that a branch
of palm is called Lulab, and boughs of myrtle and willow bound
together are called Hosanna: but, indeed, if Hosanna to the
Son of David signifies boughs to the Son of David, what do
those words mean, Hosanna in the highest? The words therefore
here sung import as much as if it were said, We now sing Hosanna to
the Messias.
In the feast of Tabernacles, the
great Hallel, as they call it, used to be sung, that is,
Psalm 113-118. And while the words of the Psalms were sung or said
by one, the whole company used sometimes to answer at certain clauses,
Halleluia. Sometimes the same clauses that had been sung or said
were again repeated by the company: sometimes the bundles of boughs were
brandished or shaken. "But when were the bundles shaken?" The rubric of
the Talmud saith, "At that clause Give thanks unto the Lord, in
the beginning of
Psalm 118, and at the end. And at that clause, Save now, I
beseech thee, O Lord, (Psa
118:25) as saith the school of Hillel: but the school of Shammai
saith also, at that clause, O Lord, I beseech thee, send now
prosperity. R. Akibah said, I saw R. Gamaliel and R. Joshuah, when
all the company shook their bundles they did not shake theirs, but only
at that clause, Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord."
On every day of the feast, they used
once to go round the altar with bundles in their hands, singing this,
Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord; I beseech thee, O Lord, send now
prosperity. But on the seventh day of the feast they went seven
times round the altar, &c. "The tossing or shaking of the bundles was on
the right hand, on the left hand, upwards and downwards."
"The reason of the bundles was this,
because it is written, 'Then let all the trees of the wood sing,' (Psa
96:12). And afterward it is written, 'Give thanks unto the Lord,
because he is good,' (Psa
106:1). And afterward, 'Save us, O Lord, O our God,' &c. (Psa
106:47). And the reason is mystical. In the beginning of the year,
Israel and the nations of the world go forth to judgment; and being
ignorant who are to be cleared and who guilty, the holy and blessed God
commanded Israel that they should rejoice with these bundles, as a man
rejoiceth who goeth out of the presence of his judge acquitted. Behold,
therefore, what is written, 'Let the trees of the wood sing'; as if it
were said, Let them sing with the trees of the wood, when they go out
justified from the presence of the Lord," &c.
[For more information on feast
days, please see
"The
Temple: Its Ministry and Services" by Alfred Edersheim.]
These things being premised
concerning the rites and customs of that feast, we now return to our
story:--
I. It is very much worth our
observation, that the company receives Christ coming now to the Passover
with the solemnity of the feast of Tabernacles. For what hath this to do
with the time of the Passover? If one search into the reason of the
thing more accurately, these things occur; First, The mirth of that
feast above all others; concerning which there needs not much to be
said, since the very name of the feast (for by way of emphasis it was
called Festivity or Mirth) sufficiently proves it.
Secondly, That prophecy of Zechariah, which, however it be not to be
understood according to the letter, yet from thence may sufficiently be
gathered the singular solemnity and joy of that feast above all others;
and, perhaps, from that same prophecy, the occasion of this present
action was taken. For being willing to receive the Messias with all
joyfulness, triumph, and affection of mind (for by calling him the
Son of David, it is plain they took him for the Messias),
they had no way to express a more ardent zeal and joy at his coming,
than by the solemn procession of that feast. They have the Messias
before their eyes; they expect great things from him; and are therefore
transported with excess of joy at his coming.
II. But whereas the Great Hallel,
according to the custom, was not now sung, by reason of the suddenness
of the present action, the whole solemnity of that song was, as it were,
swallowed up in the frequent crying out and echoing back of Hosanna;
as they used to do in the Temple, while they went round the altar. And
one while they sing Hosanna to the Son of David; another while,
Hosanna in the highest; as if they had said, "Now we sing
Hosanna to the Son of David; save us, we beseech thee, O thou [who
dwellest] in the highest, save us by the Messias."
12. And Jesus went into the temple
of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and
overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that
sold doves,
[He cast out all them that sold
and bought in the Temple.] I. There was always a constant market in
the Temple in that place which was called the shops; where every
day was sold wine, salt, oil, and other requisites to sacrifices; as
also oxen and sheep, in the spacious Court of the Gentiles.
II. The nearness of the Passover had
made the market greater; for innumerable beasts being requisite to this
solemnity, they were brought hither to be sold. This brings to mind a
story of Bava Ben Buta: "He coming one day into the court found it quite
empty of beasts. 'Let their houses,' said he, 'be laid waste, who have
laid waste the house of our God.' He sent for three thousand of the
sheep of Kedar; and having examined whether they were without spot,
brought them into the Mountain of the House"; that is, into the Court of
the Gentiles.
[Overthrew the tables of the
moneychangers.] Who those moneychangers were, may be learned
very well from the Talmud, and Maimonides in the treatise Shekalim:--
"It is an affirmative precept of the
law, that every Israelite should give half a shekel yearly: even the
poor, who live by alms, are obliged to this; and must either beg the
money of others, or sell their clothes to pay half a shekel; as it is
said, 'The rich shall give no more, and the poor shall give no less.'"
"In the first day of the month Adar,
they made a public proclamation concerning these shekels, that every one
should provide his half shekel, and be ready to pay it. Therefore, on
the fifteenth day of the same month, the exchangers sat in every
city, civilly requiring this money: they received it of those that gave
it, and compelled those that did not. On the five-and-twentieth day of
the same month they sat in the Temple; and then compelled them to give;
and from him that did not give they forced a pledge, even his very
coat."
"They sat in the cities, with two
chests before them; in one of which they laid up the money of the
present year, and in the other the money of the year past. They sat in
the Temple with thirteen chests before them; the first was for the money
of the present year; the second, for the year past; the third, for the
money that was offered to buy pigeons," &c. They called these chests
trumpets, because, like trumpets, they had a narrow mouth,
and a wide belly.
"It is necessary that every one
should have half a shekel to pay for himself. Therefore, when he comes
to the exchanger to change a shekel for two half shekels, he is obliged
to allow him some gain, which is called kolbon. And when two pay
one shekel [between them], each of them is obliged to allow the same
gain or fee."
And not much after, "How much is
that gain? At that time when they paid pence for the half shekel,
a kolbon [or the fee that was paid to the moneychanger] was half a
mea, that is, the twelfth part of a penny, and never less. But
the kolbons were not like the half shekel; but the exchangers
laid them by themselves till the holy treasury were paid out of them."
You see what these moneychangers were, and whence they had their
name. You see that Christ did not overturn the chests in which the holy
money was laid up, but the tables on which they trafficked for this
unholy gain.
[Of those that sold doves]
Sellers of doves. See the Talmudic treatise of that title. "Doves
were at one time sold at Jerusalem for pence of gold. Whereupon
Rabban Simeon Ben Gamaliel said, By this temple I will not lie
down this night, unless they be sold for pence of silver, &c. Going into
the council-house, he thus decreed, A woman of five undoubted labours,
or of five undoubted fluxes, shall be bound only to make one offering;
whereby doves were sold that very day for two farthings." The offering
for women after childbirth, and fluxes, for their purification, were
pigeons, &c. But now, when they went up to Jerusalem with their
offerings at the feasts only, there was at that time a greater number of
beasts, pigeons, and turtles, &c. requisite. See what we have said at
the fifth chapter, and the three-and-twentieth verse.
15. And when the chief priests and
scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in
the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the son of David; they were sore
displeased.
[The children crying in the
temple, and saying, Hosanna.] Children, from their first
infancy, were taught to manage the bundles, to shake them, and in
shaking, to sing Hosanna. A child, so soon as he knows how to wave
the bundle, is bound to carry a bundle Where the Gemara saith thus;
"The Rabbins teach, that so soon as a little child can be taught to
manage a bundle, he is bound to carry one: so soon as he knows how to
veil himself, he must put on the borders: as soon as he knows how to
keep his father's phylacteries, he must put on his own: as soon as he
can speak, let his father teach him the law, and to say the
phylacteries," &c.
19. And when he saw a fig tree in
the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only and
said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And
presently the fig tree withered away.
[Found nothing thereon but leaves
only.] This place is not a little obscure, being compared with
Mark 11:13, who seems to say, that therefore figs were not found on
this tree, because it was not yet the time of figs. Why then did
our Saviour expect figs, when he might certainly know that it was not
yet the time of figs? And why, not finding them, did he curse the
tree, being innocent and agreeable to its own nature?
I. We will first consider the
situation of this tree. Our evangelist saith, that it was in the way.
This minds me of a distinction used very often by the Talmudists,
between the fruits of trees of common right, which did not belong
to any peculiar master, but grew in woody places, or in common
fields; and the fruits of trees which grew in gardens, orchards, or
fields, that had a proper owner. How much difference was made between
these fruits by the canonists, as to tithing, and as to eating, is in
many places to be met with through the whole classes, entitled Seeds.
This fig-tree seems to have been of the former kind: a wild fig-tree,
growing in a place or field, not belonging to any one in particular, but
common to all. So that our Saviour did not injure any particular
person, when he caused this tree to wither; but it was such a tree, that
it could not be said of it, that it was mine or thine.
II. He found nothing thereon but
leaves, because the time of figs was not yet a great while,
Mark 11:13.
1. "At what time in the seventh year
do they forbear to lop their trees? The school of Shammai saith All
trees from that time, they bring forth [leaves]." The Gloss, "The
beginning of leaves is in the days of Nisan."
2. "Rabban Simeon Ben Gamaliel saith,
From the putting forth of leaves, till there be green figs, is fifty
days; from the green figs, till the buds fall off, fifty days; and from
that time till the figs be ripe are fifty days." If, therefore, the
first putting out of the leaves was in the month Nisan, and that was
five months' time before the figs came to be ripe, it is plain enough
that the figs of that year coming on were not expected by our Saviour,
nor could be expected.
That we may pursue the matter
somewhat home, and make it appear that the text of Mark, as it is
commonly read, for the time of figs was not yet, is uncorrupted,
I. We must first observe what is said
about the intercalation of the year: "They intercalate the year upon
three accounts; for the green year, for the fruit of the tree, and for
Tekupha." Maimonides is more large; whom see. Now if you ask what
means the intercalation for the fruit of the tree, the Gloss answers,
"If the fruit be not ripened till Pentecost is past, they intercalate
the year; because Pentecost is the time of bringing the firstfruits: and
if at that time one should not bring them along with him when he comes
to the feast, he would be obliged to make another journey." But now this
is not to be understood of all trees, but of some only, which put forth
their fruit about the time of the Passover, and have them ripe at the
feast of Pentecost. For thus Maimonides in the place cited: "If the
council sees that there is not yet any green ear, and that the fruit of
the trees which used to bud at the feast of the Passover is not yet
budded [mark that, 'used to bud'], moved by these two causes, they
intercalate the year." Among these the fig-tree can by no means be
reckoned: for since, our Saviour being witness, the putting forth of its
leaves is a sign that summer is at hand, you could not expect any ripe
figs, nay (according to the Talmudists), not so much as the putting out
of leaves, before the Passover. When it is before said that Pentecost
was the time of bringing the firstfruits, it must not be so understood
as if the firstfruits of all trees were then to be brought, but that
before Pentecost it was not lawful to bring any; for thus it is provided
for by a plain canon, "The firstfruits are not to be brought before
Pentecost. The inhabitants of mount Zeboim brought theirs before
Pentecost, but they did not receive them of them, because it is said in
the law, 'And the feast of harvest, the firstfruit of thy labours which
thou hast sown in thy field.'"
II. There are several kinds of figs
mentioned in the Talmudists besides these common ones; namely, figs of a
better sort, which grew in gardens and paradises: 1. Shithin.
Concerning which the tract Demai, among those things which were
accounted to deserve lesser care, and among those things which
were doubtful as to tithing were shithin: which the
Glosser tells us were wild figs. 2. There is mention also in the
same place of...a fig mixed with a plane-tree. 3. But among all
those kinds of figs, they were memorable which were called a kind of
fig; and they yet more, which were called white figs; which,
unless I mistake, make to our purpose: not that they were more noble
than the rest, but their manner of bearing fruit was more unusual. There
is mention of these in Sheviith, in these words, we will render
the words in the paraphrase of the Glossers: "...white figs, and
a kind of fig: the seventh year" (that is, the year of release)
"is to those the second" (viz of the seven years following); "to these,
the gong out of the seventh. White figs put forth fruit every
year, but it is ripe only every third year: so that on that tree every
year one might see three sorts of fruit, namely, of the present year, of
the past, and of the year before that. Thus the kind of fig bring
forth ripe fruit in two years," &c.
Concerning white figs thus the
Jerusalem Gemara: "Do they bear fruit every year, or once in three
years? They bear fruit every year; but the fruit is not ripe till the
third year. But how may one know which is the fruit of each year? R.
Jona saith, 'By the threads that hang to them.' The tradition of Samuel,
'He makes little strings hang to it,'" &c.
III. The fruit of very many trees
hung upon them all the winter, by the mildness of the weather, if they
were not gathered or shaken off by the wind: nay, they ripened in
winter. Hence came those cautions about tithing: "The tree which puts
forth its fruit before the beginning of the year of the world" [that is,
before the beginning of the month Tisri, in which month the world was
created], "must be tithed for the year past: but if after the beginning
of the world, then it must be tithed for the year coming on. R. Judan
Bar Philia answered before R. Jonah, 'Behold the tree Charob puts forth
its fruits before the beginning of the world, and yet it is tithed for
the year following.' R. Jissa saith, 'If it puts forth a third part
before the year of the world, it must be tithed for the year past; but
if after, then for the year following.' R. Zeira answers before R. Jissa
'Sometimes palm-trees do not bring forth part of their fruit till after
the beginning of the year of the world; and yet they must be tithed for
the year before.' Samuel Bar Abba saith, 'If it puts forth the third
part of its fruit before the fifteenth day of the month Shebat, it is to
be tithed for the year past; if after the fifteenth day of the month
Shebat, for the year to come.'" Hence that axiom in Rosh Hashanah, "The
first day of the month Shebat is the beginning of the year for trees,
according to the school of Shammai; but, according to that of Hillel,
the fifteenth day."
However, fig-trees were not among
those trees that put forth their fruit after the beginning of Tisri; for
you have seen before, out of the Talmudists, that they used to put forth
their leaves in the month Nisan: and that their fruit used to be ripe in
thrice fifty days after this. Yet, perhaps, it may be objected about
them, what we meet with in the Jerusalem Gemara, at the place before
cited: "One gathers figs (say they), and knows not at what time they
were put forth" (and thereby is at a loss for what year to tithe them).
"R. Jonah saith, 'Let him reckon a hundred days backwards; and if the
fifteenth day of the month Shebat falls within that number, then he may
know when they were put forth.'" But this must be understood of figs of
a particular sort, which do not grow after the usual manner, which is
plain also from that which follows; for, "they say to him, 'With you at
Tiberias there are fig-trees that bear fruit in one year': to which he
answers, 'Behold, with you at Zippor there are trees that bear fruit in
two years.'" Concerning common fig-trees, their ordinary time of putting
out green figs was sufficiently known; as also the year of tithing them:
but concerning those trees of another sort, which had ripe fruit only in
two or three years, it is no wonder if they were at a loss in both.
IV. Christ, therefore, came to the
tree seeking fruit on it, although the ordinary time of figs was not
yet; because it was very probable that some fruit might be found there.
Of the present year, indeed, he neither expected nor could expect any
fruit, when it was so far from being the time of figs, that it
was almost five months off: and it may be doubted whether it had yet so
much as any leaves of the present year. It was now the month Nisan, and
that month was the time of the first putting out of leaves; so that if
the buds of the leaves had just peeped forth, they were so tender,
small, and scarce worth the name of leaves (for it was but the eleventh
day of the month), that to expect figs of the same year with those
leaves had not been only in vain, but ridiculous. Those words seem to
denote something peculiar, having leaves; as if the other trees
thereabout had been without leaves, or, at least, had not such leaves as
promised figs. Mark seems to give the reason why he came rather to that
tree than to any other; namely, because he saw leaves on it, and thereby
hoped to find figs. "For when he saw (saith he) a fig tree afar off
having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon." From
the leaves he had hopes of figs: these, therefore, certainly were not
the leaves of the present spring, for those were hardly so much as in
being yet: but they were either the leaves of the year past, that had
hung upon the tree all winter; or else this tree was of that kind which
had figs and leaves together hanging on it for two or three years before
the fruit grew ripe. And I rather approve of this latter sense, which
both renders the matter itself more clear, and better solves the
difficulties that arise from the words of Mark. This tree, it seems, had
leaves which promised fruit, and others had not so; whereas, had they
all been of the same kind, it is likely they would all have had leaves
after the same manner. But when others had lost all their leaves of the
former year by winds and the winter, and those of the present year were
not as yet come out, this kept its leaves, according to its nature and
kind, both summer and winter. St. Mark, therefore, in that clause, which
chiefly perplexes interpreters, for the time of figs was not yet,
doth not strictly and only give the reason why he found no figs, but
gives the reason of the whole action; namely, why on that mountain which
abounded with fig trees he saw but one that had such leaves; and being
at a great distance when he saw it, he went to it, expecting figs only
from it. The reason, saith he, was this, "Because it was not the usual
time of figs": for had it been so, he might have gathered figs from the
trees about him; but since it was not, all his expectation was from
this, which seemed to be the kind of fig or white fig, which never
wanted leaves or figs. For to take an instance in the tree: That tree
(suppose) bore figs such a summer, which hung upon the boughs all the
following winter; it bore others also next summer; and those, together
with the former, hung on the boughs all this winter too: the third
summer it bore a third degree, and this summer brought those of the
first bearing to ripeness, and so onwards continually; so that it was no
time to be found without fruit of several years. It is less, therefore,
to be wondered at, if that which promised so much fruitfulness by its
looks, that one might have expected from it at least the fruit of two
years, did so far deceive the hopes it had raised, as not to afford one
fig; if that, I say, should suffer a just punishment from our Lord, whom
it had so much, in appearance, disappointed: an emblem of the punishment
that was to be inflicted upon the Jews for their spiritual barrenness
and hypocrisy.
21. Jesus answered and said unto
them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall
not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye
shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the
sea; it shall be done.
[But if ye shall say unto this
mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be
done.] this is a hyperbolical way of speaking, taken from the common
language of the schools of the Jews, and designed after a manner for
their refutation. Such a hyperbole concerning this very mountain you
have
Zechariah 14:4.
The Jews used to set out those
teachers among them, that were more eminent for the profoundness of
their learning, or the splendour of their virtues, by such expressions
as this; He is a rooter up (or a remover) of mountains.
"Rabh Joseph is Sinai, and Rabbah is a rooter up of mountains."
The Gloss; "They called Rabh Joseph Sinai, because he was very
skilful in clearing of difficulties; and Rabbah Bar Nachmani, A
rooter up of mountains, because he had a piercing judgment." "Rabba
said, I am like Ben Azzai in the streets of Tiberias." The Gloss; "Like
Ben Azzai, who taught profoundly in the streets of Tiberias; nor was
there in his days such another rooter up of mountains as he." "He
saw Resh Lachish in the school, as if he were plucking up mountains
and grinding them one upon another."
The same expression with which they
sillily and flatteringly extolled the learning and virtue of their men,
Christ deservedly useth to set forth the power of faith, as able to do
all things,
Mark 9:23.
33. Hear another parable: There
was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round
about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out
to husbandmen, and went into a far country:
[Planted a vineyard.]
Concerning vines and their husbandry see Kilaim, where there is a large
discourse of the beds of a vineyard, the orders of the vines, of the
measure of the winepress, of the hedge, of the trenches, of the void
space, of the places within the hedge which were free from vines,
whether they were to be sown or not to be sown, &c.
35. And the husbandmen took his
servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.
[Beat; killed; stoned.] There
seems to be an allusion to the punishments and manners of death in the
council: 1. Beat, which properly signifies the flaying off of the
skin, is not amiss rendered by interpreters beat; and the
word seems to related to whipping where forty stripes save one
did miserably flay off the skin of the poor man...2. Killed,
signifies a death by the sword...Four kinds of death are delivered to
the Sanhedrim, stoning, burning, killing, and strangling.
38. But when the husbandmen saw
the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill
him, and let us seize on his inheritance.
[This is the heir, &c.]
Compare this verse with
John 11:48; and it seems to hint, that the rulers of the Jews
acknowledged among themselves that Christ was the Messias; but being
strangely transported beside their senses, they put him to death; lest,
bringing in another worship and another people, he should either destroy
or suppress their worship and themselves.
44. And whosoever shall fall on
this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will
grind him to powder.
[And whosoever shall fall on this
stone shall be broken, &c.] Here is a plain allusion to the manner
of stoning, concerning which thus Sanhedrim: "The place of
stoning was twice as high as a man. From the top of this, one of the
witnesses striking him on his loins felled him to the ground: if he died
of this, well; if not, the other witness threw a stone upon his heart,"
&c. "R. Simeon Ben Eleazar saith, There was a stone there as much as two
could carry: this they threw upon his heart."
9. Go ye therefore into the
highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
[Go ye into the highways, &c.]
That is, 'Bring in hither the travellers.' "What is the order of sitting
down to meat? The travellers come in and sit down upon benches or
chairs, till all are come that were invited." The Gloss; "It was a
custom among rich men to invite poor travellers to feasts."
16. And they sent out unto him
their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou
art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for
any man: for thou regardest not the person of men.
[With the Herodians.] Many
things are conjectured concerning the Herodians. I make a
judgment of them from that history which is produced by the author
Juchasin, speaking of Hillel and Shammai. "Heretofore (saith he) Hillel
and Menahem were (heads of the council); but Menahem withdrew into the
family of Herod, together with eighty men bravely clad." These, and such
as these, I suppose were called Herodians, who partly got into
the court, and partly were of the faction both of the father and son.
With how great opposition of the generality of the Jewish people Herod
ascended and kept the throne, we have observed before. There were some
that obstinately resisted him; others that as much defended him: to
these was deservedly given the title of Herodians; as
endeavouring with all their might to settle the kingdom in his family:
and they, it seems, were of the Sadducean faith and doctrine; and it is
likely had leavened Herod, who was now tetrarch, with the same
principles. For (as we noted before) 'the leaven of the Sadducees' in
Matthew, is in Mark 'the leaven of Herod.' And it was craftily contrived
on both sides that they might be a mutual establishment to one another,
they to his kingdom, and he to their doctrine. When I read of Manaem or
Menahem, the foster-brother of Herod the tetrarch, it readily brings to
my mind the name and story before mentioned of Menahem, who carried over
with him so many eminent persons to the court of Herod.
20. And he saith unto them, Whose
is this image and superscription?
[Whose is this image and
superscription?] They endeavour by a pernicious subtilty to find out
whether Christ were of the same opinion with Judas of Galilee. Which
opinion those lewd disturbers of all things, whom Josephus brands
everywhere under the name of zealots, had taken up; stiffly
denying obedience and tribute to a Roman prince; because they persuaded
themselves and their followers that it was a sin to submit to a heathen
government. What great calamities the outrageous fury of this conceit
brought upon the people, both Josephus and the ruins of Jerusalem at
this day testify. They chose Caesar before Christ; and yet because they
would neither have Caesar nor Christ, they remain sad monuments to all
ages of the divine vengeance and their own madness. To this fury those
frequent warnings of the apostles do relate, "That every one should
submit himself to the higher powers." And the characters of these
madmen, "they contemn dominations," and "they exalt themselves against
every thing that is called God."
Christ answers the treachery of the
question propounded, out of the very determinations of the schools,
where this was taught, "Wheresoever the money of any king is current,
there the inhabitants acknowledge that king for their lord." Hence is
that of the Jerusalem Sanhedrim: "Abigail said to David, 'What
evil have I done, or my sons, or my cattle?' He answered, 'Your husband
vilifies my kingdom.' 'Are you then,' said she, 'a king?' To which he,
'Did not Samuel anoint me for a king?' She replied, 'The money of our
lord Saul as yet is current'": that is, 'Is not Saul to be accounted
king, while his money is still received commonly by all?'
23. The same day came to him the
Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him,
[The Sadducees, who say that there
is no resurrection.] "The Sadducees cavil, and say, The cloud
faileth and passeth away; so he that goeth down to the grave doth not
return." Just after the same rate of arguing as they use that deny
infant baptism; because, forsooth, in the law there is no express
mention of the resurrection. Above, we suspected that the Sadducees were
Herodians, that is to say, courtiers: but these here mentioned were of a
more inferior sort.
32. I am the God of Abraham, and
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead,
but of the living.
[God is not the God of the dead.]
Read, if you please, the beginning of the chapter Chelek, where you will
observe with what arguments and inferences the Talmudists maintain
the resurrection of the dead out of the law; namely, by a manner of
arguing not unlike this of our Saviour's. We will produce only this one;
"R. Eliezer Ben R. Josi said, In this matter I accused the scribes of
the Samaritans of falsehood, while they say, That the resurrection of
the dead cannot be proved out of the law. I told them, You corrupt your
law, and it is nothing which you carry about in your hands; for you say,
That the resurrection of the dead is not in the law, when it saith,
'That soul shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity is upon him.' 'Shall
be utterly cut off'; namely, in this world. 'His iniquity is upon him':
when? Is it not in the world to come?" I have quoted this, rather than
the others which are to be found in the same place; because they seem
here to tax the Samaritan text of corruption; when, indeed, both the
text and the version, as may easily be observed, agree very well with
the Hebrew. When, therefore, the Rabbin saith, that they have
corrupted their law, he doth not so much deny the purity of the
text, as reprove the vanity of the interpretation: as if he had said,
"You interpret your law falsely, when you do not infer the resurrection
from those words which speak it so plainly."
With the present argument of our
Saviour compare, first, those things which are said by R. Tanchum: "R.
Simeon Ben Jochai saith, God, holy and blessed, doth not join his name
to holy men while they live, but only after their death; as it is said,
'To the saints that are in the earth.' When are they saints? When they
are laid in the earth; for while they live, God doth not join his name
to them; because he is not sure but that some evil affection may lead
them astray: but when they are dead, then he joins his name to them. But
we find that God joined his name to Isaac while he was living: 'I am the
God of Abraham and the God of Isaac.' The Rabbins answer, He looked on
his dust as if it were gathered upon the altar. R. Berachiah said, Since
he became blind, he was in a manner dead." See also R. Menahem on the
Law.
Compare also those words of the
Jerusalem Gemara: "The righteous, even in death, are said to live; and
the wicked, even in life, are said to be dead. But how is it proved that
the wicked, even in life, are said to be dead? From that place where it
is said, I have no delight in the death of the dead. Is he
already dead, that is already here called dead? And whence is it
proved that the righteous, even in death, are said to live? From that
passage, 'And he said to him, This is the land, concerning which I sware
to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob'...He saith to him, Go and tell the
fathers, whatsoever I promised to you, I have performed to your
children."
The opinion of the Babylonians is the
same; "The living know that they shall die. They are righteous who, in
their death, are said to live: as it is said, 'And Benaiah, the son of
Jehoiada, the son of a living man,' [The son of a valiant man.
A.V.
2 Samuel 23:20] " &c. And a little after; "The dead know nothing:
They are the wicked who, even in their life, are called dead, as
it is said, And thou, dead wicked prince of Israel." The word
which is commonly rendered profane in this place, they render it
also in a sense very usual, namely, for one wounded or dead.
There are, further, divers stories
alleged, by which they prove that the dead so far live, that they
understand many things which are done here; and that some have spoke
after death, &c.
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