UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. Mrs. SARAH P. WALSWORTH. Received October, 1894. No. S'tL-S'. Cte No. ^B ^:'. '.':. ^f^'lS -'^.',v- . i -' iBSm 8&m "" in the iime of " ( CHRIST. ^ Scale of Miles. - I' I i^MtpripQ h . .-V/'.WMM ! t ^ . > ; | t.MCROI$~ ! % 1 <*> : ?-JtoZZ& I fera ^KdEgy/i.. _ 7/ ^v- Ts^BWAvnWflta^.-^, ) T ?/ AfeL_ y.-. // ra*fr^^l a.BK X ry.JJ *, A /f ^-^^^- S S^ U yMM*-.* > niA. Retrsheh.i \MetJi NzmroA \^ Jaexef JE&Tv -T^.7.0 7 *'" 1 " BualTfitan l ?r v^ ZMrt 8 CONTENTS. CHAPTEE I. AT THE JORDAN. PAGl John bap izing The river described Peculiar significance in this bap- tism of Jeivi Expectation among other nations as well as in Judea, that i great Conqueror was, at that time, to appear Circumstances to give it peculiar interest now Acts of Pilate 17-21 CHAPTEK II. AT THE JORDAN. People flocking to the baptisms The Jewish hopes of universal con- quest not to be considered as extravagant John's appearance His annunciations draw closer attention to the prophecies The result Christ at the Jordan Suggestions concerning his personal appear- ance 21-32 CHAPTEE III. THE WILDERNESS OF JUDEA. Description of it The Messiah led there to be tempted The inter- mingling of the supernatural with natural Our proper position regarding such things 32-36 CHAPTEE IV. AT THE JORDAN. The deputation to John from the Sanhedrim The Pharisees and Saddu- cees described John is questioned, and his replies...., 37-46 CHAPTEE V. CONDITION OF PALESTINE. That country central, and yet singularly isolated History Judea finally becomes a Koman province 47-58 10 CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. JEWISH MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. PAOB Great religious changes wrought by the captivity Dress Manners Education Jewish physiognomy The Mezuza 58-68 CHAPTER VII. JEWISH FESTIVALS. Not so burdensome as they appear to us How they journeyed to them Some observances on their arrival 68-80 CHAPTER VIII. OVERCLOUDING OF THE JEWISH MIND. The Oral Law and its Power The Talmuds 81-88 CHAPTER IX. JOST, A MODERN JEWISH HISTORIAN. His views of that period: of the Baptist: of Christ 88-94 CHAPTER X. AT THE JORDAN. Agitations, queries and doubts among the multitudes Discipleship commenced Various circumstances of it Cephas Nathaniel's ques- tion 95-100 CHAPTER XI. AT CAN A IN GALILEE. Why Christ chose Galilee for the beginning of his ministry; and why such discipleship "What Josephus says of Galilee Christ at a Marriage feast The sensations in the company The question re- specting wines 100-109 CHAPTER XII. THE TEMPLE. The first, second, and third Temples The last described Eecent explo- rations beneath 110-125 CHAPTER XIII. THE TEMPLE CLEANSED. Abominations in its courts Cattle, money-changers, &c Christ corrects the evil..., .. 126-130 CONTENTS. \ I CHAPTER XIV. NICODEMUS. PACK Night-visit from this ruler John imprisoned 130-134 CHAPTEK XV. IN SAMARIA AND GALILEE. Jesus passes through Samaria Claims the Messiahship Goes thence to Cana Cures a nobleman's son 134-140 CHAPTEK XVI. AT NAZARETH. Plain of Esdraelon described Situation of Nazareth Christ preaches there in the Synagogue Claims the Messiahship The result 141-148 CHAPTEK XVII. THE LAKE OF GALILEE, CAPERNAUM. The lake described Plain of Gennesaret Question about the situation of Capernaum 148-166 CHAPTER XVIII. AT CAPERNAUM AND THROUGH GALILEE. Evening scene at Capernaum The Messiah goes through Galilee preaching and healing Leper healed 157-165 CHAPTER XIX. AT CAPERNAUM THE PARALYTIC HEALED. How eastern houses are built The paralytic placed before Christ and healed The Pharisees and Doctors of the Law startled 165-171 CHAPTER XX. AT JERUSALEM ; ALSO AT CAPERNAUM. Christ goes to the Passover Heals a man at the pool of Bethesda League between Pharisees and Herodians to put the Messiah to death He returns to Capernaum Heals many there 171-178 CHAPTER XXI. SERMON ON THE MOUNT. Also the teachings of their Eabbis He heals the servant of a centu- rion..., 179-188 1 2 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXII. AT NAIN. PAGE Situation of this city Ceremonies at Jewish funerals Only son of a widow restored to life 188-194 CHAPTER XXIII. CASTLE OF MACHERUS JOHN'S DEATH. Messengers from John to Christ The end of the Baptist 194-198 CHAPTER XXIV. THE TWO DINNERS. Christ makes another journey through Galilee Dines with a Pharisee, and the scene there He crosses the lake Storm; the sea calmed by his word Dinner with Levi Healings Another circuit through Galilee Again comes to Nazareth : 199-207 CHAPTER XXV. "LET us MAKE HIM A KING." He crosses the lake Five thousand fed miraculously They would make him a king Storm on the lake He walks on the water Many healings Four thousand miraculously fed 207-216 CHAPTER XXVI. THE TRANSFIGURATION. He goes to Csesarea Philippi The Transfiguration there 216-222 CHAPTER XXVII. DISPUTE AMONG THE APOSTLES ON THE WAY BACK TO GALILEE. His mode of instructing them He goes through Samaria Ten lepers healed 222-227 CHAPTER XXVIII. JERUSALEM FEAST OF TABERNACLES. This feast described Dancing in the temple court as part of it 227-234 CONTENTS. 13 CHAPTER XXIX. THE MESSIAH AT THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. PAGE Teaches there Officers sent by the rulers to watch him; the result. 234-245 CHAPTER XXX. BETHANY AND THE ROAD TO JERICHO. Situation of Bethany The road to Jericho described Parable of the Good Samaritan. 246-252 CHAPTER XXXI. THE MAN BORN BLIND. Different kinds of excommunication The blind man healed Conse- quences 252-259 CHAPTER XXXII. THE FEAST OF DEDICATION. Why instituted Christ preaching at the temple Attempt at violence upon him He goes to Perea 259-263 CHAPTER XXXIII. RAISING OF LAZARUS. Message to Christ from Bethany Death of Lazarus Scenes then and afterwards at Bethany Lazarus raised 263-271 CHAPTER XXXIV. IN EPHRAIM AND PEREA. Many teachings and parables in these places Healing also Receives and blesses little children 271-278 CHAPTER XXXV. JERICHO. The richness and beauty of its plain 278-286 CHAPTER XXXVI. THE MESSIAH AT JERICHO BLIND MEN HEALED. Zaccheus Startling rumor that the kingdom of heaven was immedi- ately to appear Bartimeus 286-291 2 14 CONTENTS. CHAPTEK XXXVII. JERUSALEM DESCRIBED. PAG* Its picturesque appearance as seen from the Mount of Olives Recent explorations under the city 295-306 CHAPTEK XXXVIII. THE PUBLIC ENTRY. The road across the Mount of Olives Christ goes from Bethany to Jeru- salem Multitudes meeting and attending him Their hosannas He weeps over the city Goes to the Temple Healings there Shouts of hosanna Indignation of the priests and Scribes 306-316 CHAPTEE XXXIX. AT THE TEMPLE WOES DENOUNCED. Christ again cleanses the temple The Pharisees wish to put Lazarus also to death They unite again with the Herodians Woes denounced against them and the Scribes He predicts his sufferings The Hero- ism of Christianity 316-327 CHAPTER XL. THE PLOT. They are determined to take the Messiah by subtilty and put him to death Difficulties in the way Their law for trials Their plot List of the high priests 327-335 CHAPTER XLI. SUPPER AT BETHANY JUDAS. Christ's head and feet anointed at the supper Indignation of Judas His probable course of reasoning He bargains to betray Christ.. 335-340 CHAPTER XLII. THE PASSOVER FEAST. Its origin The posture at table Christ and the Apostles at this supper He washes their feet Judas unmasked Usual order of the supper The Christian Eucharist instituted 340-352 CHAPTER XLIIL GETHSEMANE. The Messiah and eleven disciples retire to this place His prayers there The sweat of blood Is seized and bound.... .. 352-358 CONTENTS. 15 CHAPTER XLIV. HALL OF CAIAPHAS. PAGE The Messiah taken to the house of Annas, and why Thence to the palace of Caiaphas The trial there The adjuration by the high priest The result Christ's claims to the Godhead throughout his preachings Peter denies his Lord His remorse 358-368 CHAPTEK XLV. THE TRIAL BEFORE PILATE. This to be the Chagigah, or great day of rejoicing by the Jews The ceremony of cutting the first-fruits The regular Sanhedrim council The Messiah before them Formally condemned Taken before Pilate The governor's character by Philo The Trial there Christ is sent, next, before Herod Antipas Scene there Is returned to Pi- ^ late His crucifixion demanded How that punishment was regarded by the Romans Pilate yields to the demand, and gives sentence Judas and the Sanhedrim 368-383 CHAPTEK XLVI. THE CRUCIFIXION. The usual scourging preparatory j how severe The Messiah is taken to the place of crucifixion Nailing to the cross The agonies attending such a death Darkness over the land The final agony and cry Earthquake The centurion's exclamation The side pierced "Be- hold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world".. 383-396 CHAPTER XLVII. THE BURIAL. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus place the body in a new sepulchre The women follow it, and sit by the tomb The Jewish rulers pro- cure a guard, and seal the tomb How this night closed over Jerusa- lem..., .. 397-405 CHAPTER XLVIII. THE RESURRECTION. Moon near the full The guards at the tomb An angel appears The resurrection The guards bribed, and a false report sent abroad The Sanhedrim never dared to make issue with the apostles on this sub- ject. 405-4H 1 6 CONTENTS. CHAPTEK XLIX. AFTER THE RESURRECTION THE ASCENSION. PACK The Saviour is seen repeatedly through forty days after his resurrection Galilee chosen for the Great Commission and the great promise The final manifestation of himself at the Mount of Olives His ascension 411-426 CHAPTER L. "WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST?" The account of him in the Gospels must have been from actual life Evidences for the Gospels, from early heathen writings : from Chris- tian writers of same time Notices of the evangelists The conclu- sion..., ... 426-410 UHIVBRSIT7] LIFE-SCENES CHAPTER I. AT THE JORDAN. FT! HERE was a very strange scene at the banks of the Jordan. The time of which we are writing was about eighteen hundred and thirty-seven years ago ; and the scene referred to was a large gathering of excited people around a man of singular appearance, who was making a most won- derful announcement, and was engaging in a baptismal rite of startling significance. He was a gaunt ascetic; in his dress and manner, and in his authoritative language, remind- ing all who saw and heard him of the old prophets; and, indeed, in his appearance so much resembling Elijah, that the query was immediately started in every man's mind, whether he was not actually that prophet risen from the dead. The idea of such a resurrection of Elijah was familiar to the minds of the Jews; for the belief had long been universal among them that, restored to life, he would be the precursor of their expected Messiah. This man was proclaiming, "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." It was believed by the Jews that, at the appearing of the Messiah, they were to be initiated by baptism into the new dispensation of his kingdom; 1 and here, now, they 1 Bloomfield on Matt. iii. 1. 2* 17 l8 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. were called to come and to be baptized ; and numbers, after confessing their sins, were led down into the Jordan for that rite. The scenery all around was in character with the strange performer in this ceremony; a desert spot, represented by a modern traveller to that region as a dreary waste., " weird, and singularly wild and impressive/ 7 The Jordan is a very peculiar stream. After issuing from the Lake of Tiberias, which is itself 652 feet below the level of the Mediterra- nean, its course is southwardly, in a valley called by the present natives El Ghor, or "the depression,' 7 five or six miles wide, and sunk from 1000 to 1200 feet below the adjacent country. Running lengthwise in the Ghor is a second valley, depressed below it to a depth of fifty feet, and with a width of 400 yards; and then, sunk again in this, and winding about in a most tortuous manner, is the channel of the river. The stream has an average width of fifty-six yards, with commonly a depth of from three to five feet. The current is usually rapid, for the distance between the Lake of Tiberias and the Dead Sea is, in a straight line, sixty miles, and the descent between them is 660 feet. Sometimes the stream presents cataracts, at others it expands and has a gentle flow. Where it is rapid, the bottom con- sists of rock or sand. The channel is fringed at its imme- diate sides with rushes or cane, and also with willows and similar trees, which, in the utter barrenness around, are a pleasant relief to the eye. Such is the stream so often referred to in our hymnology, and so dear, by its associations, to every Christian heart. Its channel being so far below the level of the Ghor that its water never overflows into the latter; and this wide valley having no springs, the region is mostly a scene of desolation, and appears to have been so in the earliest times. 1 The soil at the spot we have now under 1 See Josephns De bello, iii. 10, I 7. AT THE JORDAN. 19 consideration is described by modern travellers as "unfertile, and in many places encrusted with salt, and having small heaps of white powder, like sulphur, scattered at short intervals over its surface." 1 The hills bounding the Ghor are generally abrupt and broken, and are always naked and painful to the eye. On the east they are soon succeeded by ranges 2000 or 2500 feet in height; and, back of these, is finally the very lofty range of Mount Nebo, its summit forming a horizontal line smooth and unbroken, as if an immense wall had there been built up against the sky. This will give us an idea of the wildness and desolation of the spot called in the Scriptures "the Wilderness of Judea," where this strange man was now proclaiming his startling doctrines, and was administering baptism in the Jordan. His cry that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, quickly repeated throughout Judea, and also in the regions bordering eastwardly on the river valley, sent a thrill through every Jewish heart, and met there a ready response : for there had been an expectancy of this kind universally cherished by the Jews (a temporal kingdom however), and indeed, not confined to them alone. PERCREBUERAT, says the Roman historian, Suetonius, ORIENTE TOTO, VETUS ET CONSTANS OPINIO ESSE IN FATIS, UT EO TEMPORE JlJDEA PROFECTI RERUM POTIRENTUR : There' had been greatly multiplied through all the East an old uninterrupted opinion, originating in the decree of the Fates, that, at this time, persons coming from Judea should obtain universal dominion? Tacitus informs us that the multitude [in Judea] relied upon an ancient prophecy, contained, as they believed, in books kept by the priests, in which it was foretold that, at this time, the power of the East would prevail over the nations, and a race of men 1 Eobinson's Bib. Researches. This Description of the Ghor and Jordan is drawn from Kobinson, Van de Velde, and the Dead Sea Expe- dition. 2 In Vespas. 20 LIFE- SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. should go forth from Judea to extend ilieir dominion over all ilie rest of the world. 1 Joseph us says: But now what did most elevate them [the Jews} in this war was an ambiguous oracle that was also found in their sacred writings , how, about that time y one from their country should become governor of the habitable world. 2 These expectations, it is evident, had reference only to an earthly sovereignty; but as such they met even a heartier response among the Jews than any of a more spiritual character would have done; for the nation was just beginning to feel the full terrors of the Roman power, which had enclosed them in its iron embrace, and from which they knew there was no escape by human aid. Their indepen- dence may be said to have been fully bartered away for Eoman favor by Herod the Great. Archelaus, his successor to part of his kingdom, was deposed by Augustus Caesar, and banished to Gaul; and Roman governors were appointed to Judea; the sceptre having clearly, to every perception, departed, and their country now become only a Roman province, from which successive rulers tried who could exact the most. Roman soldiers were scattered, in garrison, in various parts; tax-gatherers ("publicans") were to be seen everywhere, and were constantly, to the eyes of the oppressed inhabitants, reminders of their subjection to foreign power, and were hated, not only for this, but for their unjust exactions; and most alarming of all, aii act of their present governor, Pontius Pilate, had shown them how insecure were their religious observances, and how exposed they were to the violation of the most cherished feelings of their nation. * Their law forbade their paying any homage to images; and the former governors, when ordering the Roman soldiers to Jerusalem, had directed them to come without the standards surmounted by the emperor's effigies, to which, 1 Hist, lib v. 12. 2 j) e bel]O) vi AT THE JORDAN. 21 when seen, honors were always required to be paid. Pilate, aware of this hostility to images, had recently directed his soldiers to be introduced into the city by night; 1 and morn- ing disclosed the hated effigies in Jerusalem, and in the castle of Antonia adjoining the temple enclosure itself. Horror seized upon all the people, and a deputation hastened with remonstrances to the governor at Csesarea. He treated their act as an insult to the emperor, and had the deputies surrounded by his soldiers; but the effort to overawe them was futile; they fell to the ground and offered their necks to the sword, rather than yield; and, finally, the obnoxious emblems were withdrawn. Afterwards, when the governor, seizing on some of the revenues of the temple, employed them in bringing water to the city, the inhabitants shocked at such use of the sacred treasures, rose in tumult; a collision with the soldiers was the consequence, and great havoc among the unarmed multitudes ensued. CHAPTER II. AT THE JORDAN. IT is not wonderful therefore, that just at this time the national heart was ready to be acted upon by such a scene as that at the Jordan, where the prophet-like man stood calling people to the cleansing of their hearts as a preparation for the new, significant rite connected with the coming of their expected great Deliverer; and that multi- tudes flocked to him from regions far and near. He had 1 Jos. Antiq. xviii. 3, \ 1. 22 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. selected a spot called Bethabara, or the house of the ford,* seemingly a thoroughfare, while also a place remote from such complications as might arise from crowded neighbor- hoods: and there, where all nature in its sternness harmo- nized with him and with the severe simplicity of his call and his act, he was soon surrounded by crowds "from Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region round about Jordan." They saw a man with only a garment of rough camel's hair such as was worn by the poorest, fastened by a leathern girdle; locusts and wild honey for his food. Lo- custs are still eaten in Syria, chiefly, however, by the Beda- win on the extreme frontiers of the desert, where after being semi-boiled and salted and dried, they are packed up and kept for use. They may be seen in the Syrian shops for sale, but are always considered as an inferior food, and are eaten only by persons of the poorest class. 2 This man had been brought up in the desert, and he still adhered to this abstemious food. Baptism was not unknown to the Jews, for it is generally admitted to have been a rite in use among them for the admission of proselytes, 3 and it was practiced by the Per- sians and other oriental nations. Josephus informs us of the Essenes, a noted sect in his nation, that "when a proselyte hath given evidence during that time of trial [a year] that he can observe their continence, he approaches nearer to their way of living, and is made a partaker of the waters of purification." 4 But the Essenes were a sect few in number and living in retired places; and these baptismal 1 Van de Velde supposes Bethabara to have been at the present ford on the way from Nablus (Sychera) to Es Salt, about twenty miles above the Pilgrims' bathing-place near Jericho. He bases this opinion on the time (two days and a half) allowed in John ii. 1, in going from the bap- tismal scene, to Cana in Galilee. The width of the Jordan at this spot is 56 yards ; the depth about four feet. 2 Thompson's Land and the Book. 3 Bloomfield. * De Bello, ii. 8, \ 7. AT THE JORDAN. 23 scenes at the Jordan had evidently a significance different from anything which the nation had previously known. The prophet-like man gave them their significance, corres- ponding to the general belief of the dispensation to be inaugurated by the Messiah. That desert was now solitary no more. Crowds were flocking to it; for the cry of the Baptist that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, repeated over all the country, had startled the people out of the lethargy wrought by oppres- sions, or by a fear that God had withdrawn from them; for, during a period of 400 years, there had been no prophet in Israel. John the Baptist looked as if he might well be Elijah himself; so like him in this hairy dress, in his manner, in his authoritative proclamation ; and yet he was speaking of himself humbly, saying that one was coming immeasurably greater than he. What might the nation not expect? What hopes could be too extravagant to be indulged? We must not think them insane in their expectation of an universal dominion; for they believed that it had been promised by Jehovah, and almost every spot in their land bore testimony to God's former powerful action in their behalf. Just below this place, where John was baptizing, God had divided the deep waters of the Jordan in its rapid flow, and had kept them divided till his people had passed over dry-shod; there, Jericho had fallen simply by his almighty will ; their history was full of his direct interpositions for their advantage, what would he not do for them now, if the Messiah himself, the Prince, were to appear? Those eastern people are excitable and demonstrative, and, in their common moods, seem often to strangers to be wildly emotional ; and we may imagine the scene, as people hurried to the river and gazed on John with an intensity of feeling that had never before been raised in them by any man; and 24 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. listened to his call to repentance and the reasons for it, and witnessed his baptisms; saw the penitents descend, with the sadness of grief in their faces; and saw them come up from the river, comforted and cheerful. Such feelings are contagious; and every new-comer felt in himself the need of penitence, and longings for relief that could be bestowed only by a power not of earth. The teachings of John were plain and simple. As a proof of penitence and of changed feelings in those apply- ing to him, he inculcated benevolence and kind acts : " He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat let him do likewise." The crowd around him was a mixed one; men among them shunned by their neighbors, looked down upon with dislike by almost every one in the nation, and yet with human feelings, and with the same longings as others to shake off the load of guilt and to be comforted. Such were the "publicans" who presented themselves before the Bap- tist. We can almost see their hesitating manner, their subdued look, and their timid approach. They were not repelled. No harshness shown, simply the injunction given, in order to prove the truth of their penitence: "Exact no more than is appointed you." Soldiers also came, with that old question of the human heart wanting relief, "What shall we do?" The Roman garrisons in Judea were drawn partly from Italy, but were chiefly composed of Syrians from the north of Palestine, or of foreign wanderers who had strayed into the country; and generally there was no good will between them and the Jews. But there were exceptions, such as we may see shortly after this, in the case of Cornelius of the Italian band. The soldiers at the Jordan pressed on towards the Baptist; for the powerful sympathies of the place had seized on them, and had changed their bold, fierce nature into one of humble inquiry. The crowds gazed earnestly, AT THE JORDAN. 25 as they advanced. How would these men, famed for rapacity and violence, be received? Some looked on them with indignation at their presumption in intruding on such scenes; some with the cordiality begot by the new feelings at the baptism; all with deep interest as the Baptist addressed them. His words had a latent reproof, and yet were gentle. a Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely, and be content with your wages." The rite was open to all coming in penitence. But there was suddenly a change in the character of this scene. A sensation was created among the multitudes by the approach of men of rank and power, who came 011 proudly in the consciousness of their position, Pharisees with high pretensions to sanctity which they carried osten- tatiously in the large phylacteries on their foreheads and arms, and in the width of the borders to their garments drawing attention to their unusual observance of the Mosaic law (see Numbers xv. 37-41); also Sadducees proud of their wealth and assumed superior intelligence. Both undisguisedly despised the ranks inferior to them. The multitudes drew back as this newly arrived party swept haughtily on; and presently these caught the eye of the Baptist. What a change there was in him! How his eyes lighted up; how indignant the expression of his face; how changed was his voice from its former gentleness! And his words were stunning. " O brood of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: and think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees ; therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but he that cometh after me is 26 LIfE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire; whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire/' The whole scene by the Jordan was becoming more and more confounding to people's apprehensions; for, not only had the bold ascetic stigmatized these Jewish leaders in a manner that must excite their wrath, but he had even seemed to cast disrespect on all claims arising from Abrahamic descent. He had ended also with words of terrific import respecting approaching events, when all false pretensions w r ould be scattered to the winds, and those who held them would be fearfully and eternally punished. Fear, awe, and a new sense of shrinking respect for the Baptist, crept through the hearts of the multitudes, while yet they con- tinued to be attracted by his general mildness and forbear- ance, and his gentleness to the truly penitent coming forward for the baptismal rite. The news of these scenes still continued to spread over the country, and crowds were still hurrying from all parts of it to that wild, dreary region, already filled with excited, wondering throngs. But who was this man, whose fame was now filling the land? People were asking the question everywhere, and the results of inquiry disclosed some very interesting facts. John's b'irth had been in the old age of his parents, and had been heralded by an angel. His father, a priest, while administering at the altar of incense in the temple, had seen the heavenly visitant who announced the approaching birth of the child, and said that he should be great in the sight of the Lord, and should be filled with the Holy Ghost. "And," continued the angel, "many of the children of Israel shall be turned to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the AT THE JORDAN. 27 hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." The father was struck dumb, at the time, on account of his unbelief; but recovered speech when the child, eight days after its birth, was brought to the temple, where, contrary to the expectations of relatives, he named his son John, according to the direction of the angel. These incidents were widely known at the time "throughout all the hill country of Judea," and produced dread as well as astonishment in the minds of the people. 1 He was, accord- ing to j:he direction of the angel, to " drink neither wine nor strong drink ;" and his training is believed to have been in that most desolate region called the " Wilderness of Judea," where probably he associated much with the Essenes, a singular people, living chiefly at the only verdant spot in that desert the fountain and ravine of En-Gedi, on the borders of the Dead Sea. In this desert 2 he "grew strong in spirit," and was prepared for his present work of teaching and baptizing. He was now about thirty years old, the age at which the Jewish priests entered upon the temple duties according to their law. Josephus says of him, that he "was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to righteous- ness towards one another, and piety towards God, and so to come to baptism; for that the washing would be acceptable to him, if they made use of it, not in order to the putting away of some sins only, but for the purification of the body ; supposing still that the soul was thoroughly purified before- hand by righteousness." 3 1 His birth is supposed by Robinson and Reland to have been at Juttah (Joshua xxi. 16,) a town about five miles south of Hebron, and twenty- five miles south of Jerusalem. 2 Luke i. 80. 8 Antiq. xviii. 5, 2. Josephus gives John's popularity as the cause for Herod's putting him to death, "since," as he says, "they came in 28 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. His exhortations were various ; ! but they all pointed clearly to the Messiah as now about to appear ; he asked no honors for himself; they were all to be given to one yet to come. In his recent address to the Pharisees and Saddu- cees, he sppjke of himself as immeasurably inferior to him whose appearance he was heralding ; for to bear the shoes of a master in that country was the task assigned to the meanest of servants, and yet the Baptist declared himself not even worthy of such an office as that. Therefore, while curiosity with regard to John was stimulated among this demonstrative people to the highest degree, it took a still more intense form as regarded the tenor of his predictions. The excitement among all classes was great. Their Kabbis pearched the Scriptures, and especially the prophecies, with an interest suited to their wonderful expectations of earthly glory and power to come with the Messiah, to their hatred of the Roman government, and to their felt position among all the nations of the earth : for the Jews were everywhere a slighted and despised people; while, on the other hand, " towards the rest of mankind," says Tacitus, " they nourished a sullen and inveterate hatred of strangers." 2 The dying words of their great progenitor, Jacob, had been, ever since his time, dwelling as a perpetual hope in the national heart "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come ; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." 3 The sceptre had departed : was Shiloh now there, as John declared ? There was also a passage in Daniel pointing with peculiar significancy to the present time ; and every- crowds about him, for they were greatly moved by hearing his words;" and "they seemed to do anything he should advise;" and the king "thought it best, by putting him to death, to prevent any mischief he might cause, and not bring himself into difficulties by sparing a man who might make him repent of it when it should be too late." 1 Luke iii. 18. 2 Hist. v. 5. s Gen. xlix. 10. AT THE JORDAN. 29 where people were now searching, with new interest, into his prophetic words. " Seventy weeks," says that prophet, " are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Know, therefore, and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the Prince, shall be seven weeks and three score and two weeks." 1 Allowing years for days, the seventy weeks or four hundred and ninety years from the edict of Artaxerxes for rebuilding the city (B. C. 458) would bring the time for the appearing of the " Messiah the Prince" exactly to this period. Thus all prophecy and all history were in harmony with John's annunciations respecting the Messiah ; even foreign nations were expecting the advent of the Jewish Deliverer. How would he appear? How spread his worldly con- quests ? How flash over the earth the glory of his reign ? were questions that had long been discussed in the Jew- ish schools ; all with results tending to make the Jewish mind earthly and selfish. The whole nation was in a state of intense expectancy. The Messiah came. But how different he was from what the excited Jewish anticipations had pictured of his appearing! Their favorite prophet had declared of him 780 years be- fore, "When we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him ; he was despised, and we esteemed him not." 2 For the purpose of our redemption God saw fit that it should be so; but, notwithstanding that this pro- 1 Dan. ix. 24, 25. ' Isaiah :iii. 2 and 3. 3 * 30 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. phecy was familiar to the Jews, still what a chasm between this actual appearing and that which they expected the ap- pearing of the Messiah would be ! One day, amid those crowds at the Jordan, a stranger from Galilee presented himself for baptism ; but John drew back " I have need," he said, " to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me ?" The answer was simply : " Suffer it to be so now : for thus it becomcth us to ful- fill all righteousness." They descended to the stream, and Jesus received bap- tism of John. They appear not to have met before; 1 for their previous lives had been near the opposite extremes of Palestine, one in Galilee, the other in the desert region in the south of Palestine ; but the Divine power, under which John was acting, had given him admonition that the Messiah, whom he had been preaching, was before him ; and the stern, lofty-toned man felt awed before this higher Presence. The Messiah was there ! Of his personal appearance we have no authentic record f but never yet did a great thought take strong hold of any human being and not stamp itself for the time upon his face, and manifest itself in his eyes. Never yet was any grand emotion in the human heart, without im- pressing itself upon the features, and drawing there its un- mistakable lines. Never yet was any true, permanent greatness in man, without having, for itself, a presence, felt and known and recognized by all as such. God has not made all men great in form, or fair to look upon ; but he does make grandeur of soul stamp itself upon the face ; and he makes it heard in the intonations of the voice, and felt 1 John i. 33. 2 The description attributed to Lentulus is universally considered to be spurious. AT THE JORDAN. 31 in the manner; a something, often undefinable, and yet making clear demonstration of itself. Sometimes these things are fleeting ; and they pass with the heavenlike no- bility of soul ; the lines of care and our lower Mature resuming their place : but sometimes, even in man, benevo- lence, and gentleness, and love, and nobility and power of thought, are so habitual as to impress themselves perma- nently on his looks ; and we are drawn towards him by an attraction which our hearts cannot, and we do not wish to, resist. And if this is so in man, earthy, dark in intellect, uncertain in judgment, compelled so often to grieve over sin, what must have been Christ the sinless, through whose face the Divinity looked out upon the universe which was his, and through whose eyes shone that love unutterable which brought him to our earth, here to die for us ? What a Being there was, then, before John and the multitudes, at Jordan ! a face, where Divine greatness, not fleeting but con- stant, had drawn the lines and sat constantly enthroned ; where gentleness, and meekness, and conscious omnipotence were harmonized ; and where every glance of the eye, every intonation of the voice, every lineament in the features, while showing the Divine supremacy within, were those also of one who had come in humility to seek and to save them that are lost. Who can wonder then, that when, even in the violence at Gethsemane, Jesus turned and looked upon his persecutors, they fell to the earth ? Who can won- der that, in the same night, a single look upon Peter turned that recreant's heart into a fountain of tears ? Or, that Pi- late, drawn by that majesty of Presence in Christ during the trial, sought with such determination to let him go? As the Messiah and John ascended from the baptism, a sign was given by which the latter, at the time he received his own Divine mission, had been informed, 1 that ie should John i. 33. /^A^^Of TH** 4 ^^ tHUVBESITtf tH \ /* 32 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. recognize Him whom he was to preach, and might know that the " kingdom of heaven" had now come. He saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit of God descend and light like a dove upon Christ, while a voice came down from the supernal glory : " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." 1 The mission of the Messiah had thus its heavenly en- dorsement, and here its beginning. It began in the waters of the Jordan : it was to be sealed in blood. It began with the opening glory of heaven poured down : it was to end with the sun hidden at mid-day, and a supernatural darkness, as of night, over the earth. The heavens then opened once again, to receive him from mortal sight. CHAPTER III. THE DESERT. AMONG the mountains which, near the lower end of the Jordan, sweep in a semi-circular curve westwardly from the river and form a space for the great plain of Jericho, is one midway along called Quarantana, which rises almost perpen- dicularly from the edge of the plain to a height of twelve or fifteen hundred feet. 2 Of Jericho scarcely any vestiges can be found : the last solitary palm tree remaining from the forests of palms, for which the place was once famous, has lately disappeared : the plain, except a spot occupied by a few wretched dwellings, is desolate : the mountains bordering it have always been a scene of desolation, and the whole region is given up to lawless bands : yet, through the long 1 Matt. iii. 16, 17. 2 Robinson. THE DESERT. 33 hours of the night, a light may be seen far up among the crags of Quarantaua, showing that some pilgrim is doing penance in these wild solitudes. The front of the mountain is indeed honey-combed with hermits' cells ; for in ancient times the place was a favorite one for anchorites, and the mountain takes its name from a tradition that to it the Messiah, after the baptism in the Jordan, was " led up by the Spirit," and that he there spent the forty days of his temptations in the wilderness. It is not probable that a spot looking down over a wide scene of what was then busy life the great city and its surroundings would have been chosen for such an occasion : but back of it, that is, to the westward and southward, is a region harmonizing with all that we can conceive of those forty days of fasting and of the temptations. There, a great extent of country about 60 miles from north to south, and \ 5 wide, bordered on the east by the precincts of the Jordan, and the Dead Sea and reaching on the west to within a few miles of Jerusalem itself, is one of singular barrenness and dreariness ; looking, says the traveller Maundrell, "so torn and disordered, as if the earth had suffered some great convulsion, in which the very bowels had been turned outward." It is, indeed, a region of utter barrenness and of constant gloom. The country is all broken into hills generally of steep ascent; and both hills and ravines are bare alike. The surface is a gray mouldering rock, or a gray earth, on which no vegeta- tion will thrive ; and the whole, from century to century, has laid quite bare to the baking sun and unfertilizing rains. Travellers through the deserts of Arabia tell us that the prevailing impression on their minds there is of antiquity, and with regard to that country, the exclamation is forced from them, " how old it is !" but this region in Judea looks as if it had never been young, but had been a blasted and an accursed place from the beginning. All avoid it who can. In the days of our Saviour, robbers haunted its 34 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. thoroughfares ; and, in our time, the few paths crossing it are made by the feet of marauders; and he who sees a human being moving on its hills, however distant, expects violence, and prepares for defence. Deep chasms intersect it here and there, at the sides of which the rocks almost meet, hundreds of feet above, and shut out the day ; and in their faces are the mouths of caverns, such as gave refuge to David and his pursued band. 1 A recent traveller in notic- ing the more southern portion of this region, says the prospect before him was "indescribably stern and desolate:" and speaks of "the fantastic forms of the rocks on the foreground, a medley of gray limestones, yellowish gravel, and fragments of lava, here piled up in perpendicular cliffs, there laid one above the other in flat strata, and yonder rent asunder in frightful chasms; between these, a plain covered with a number of conical hills, white, gray and yellow, all the product of subterranean fire:" 2 this at the close of March, when vegetation in Judea is in its highest perfection. Of the more northern portions, equally desolate, we shall have a future occasion to speak more in detail. To this "Wilderness of Judea," as it was called, the Messiah, after his baptism, was " led of the Spirit to be tempted;" and there he remained forty days. We are now at one of those events in Christ's earthly ministry, where the supernatural is blended so greatly with the natural that, with our limited capacities, we have to be content with ignorance, and to gaze, though wonderingly yet silently, at the little which has been revealed. How can we understand, or expect to understand, where the spiritual and the material come thus mingled in joint action ; and where the mysteries of the unseen world, which our intellects in vain strive to penetrate, and which they could not com- 1 1 Samuel xxiv. 2 Van de Velde's "Journey through Syria and Palestine." THE DESERT. 35 prehend if seen, are so imperfectly developed that we catch but a glimpse here and there as they flit before our minds? We must remember that the times we are now considering were those when the most wonderful event of all ages was having its scene of action on our earth ; when the Divinity took our nature, and in a union incomprehensible to us, Avas in great humility among men. Incomprehensible ; for how can we understand this, when the union of our own souls and bodies is a mystery beyond our comprehension, an every-day mystery, and familiar, but yet never once penetrated by human science? How can we understand, then, the Divine and human in one, or hope in the least degree to understand ? We may gather from the Inspired Word that in those days, when heaven came down to earth, and the two were blended as never before, and never to be again, that then a general agitation occurred, and spirits gave demonstrations of presence and power, in demoniacs and the possessed, to which the world at other times had been a stranger, and which have never been repeated since. The Scriptures tell us of a time yet to be, when the powers of heaven shall be shaken ; Christ coming to judge; a time far less mysterious than this period when he was on earth, God manifest, but in humility for man's redemption to be effected in the cross. Who shall object in these matters? Who dare gainsay concerning things beyond our comprehen- sion, when we cannot understand ourselves? Men are indeed but children the oldest and wisest in the world, but children when put in comparison with the supernatural world, where, with God, "a thousand years are but as yesterday;'' and where, among the infinites, our imaginations strive in vain for a resting-place for observation ; and so turn quickly back to earth, wearied and overwhelmed. Therefore, humility is now our rational and our better part; and, with such a sense of our condition we have repeatedly to gaze on the scenes recorded in the Gospels, not 36 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. comprehending them, and compelled to be satisfied with present ignorance. It was a time, we may believe, when te the powers of heaven" and of hell " were shaken ;" as they never otherwise had been ; and our earth, the scene of action, had to witness unusual sights. Consequently, when these scenes of the temptation in the wilderness of Judea pass in those strange, shadowy forms before us, half revealed in the Gospels, half hidden, we gaze in wonder, but we acquiesce in not understanding more. How could we fully understand? Saint Paul, through the power of inspiration, tells us, " In all things it behooved Him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest;" and that " We have not a high-priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin ;' 71 and the temptations in the wilderness appear to have been suited to the higher spiritual character of the tempted. There were three of them, applied to those feelings which are the most powerful in our own nature, to ambition, to vanity, and to bodily want; each applied in this case in a concentrated form ; but each in vain. But we cease to argue in matters so evidently above our reason ; we will wait patiently, till we may ourselves merge into the supernatural, and no longer see "through a glass darkly," but "shall know even as we are known." 1 Hebrews ii. 17 j iv. 15. THE DEPUTATION. 37 CHAPTER IV. AT THE JORDAN THE DEPUTATION. JOHN was still baptizing at the Jordan, still littering his call to repent, " for the kingdom of heaven is at hand ;" and still the excitement concerning him was continuing: the public wonder and curiosity indeed were on the increase. The Sanhedrim at Jerusalem was presently stirred up to take official action in his case. This body, awedptov, assembly, consisted of seventy per- sons, with the addition of the high-priest as president; and were from the following classes of persons: 1. Officiating high-priest; 2. Ex-high-priests, and heads of the twenty- four classes of high-priests, called, by way of honor, chief- priests ; 3. Such of the elders, i. e., princes of the tribes, heads of family associations, as were elected to this place, or put there by a nomination from the ruling executive authority; and 4. Appointments in a similar way from the scribes and learned men. 1 "It was required of these men that they should be religious, and learned in the arts and language; that they should have some skill in physic, arith- metic, astronomy and astrology ; also to know what belonged to magic, sorcery and idolatry, so as to know how to judge them. They were to be without maim or blemish of body; men of years but not extremely old ; and to be fathers of families, that they might be acquainted with tenderness and compassion. Their times for sitting were from the end of the morning service to the beginning of the evening service, but might be prolonged till the night, if necessary for con- 1 Jahn's Archaeology. 38 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. eluding any business commenced during the day ; but no new business could be undertaken in the night. Their place of assembling was in a room by the courts of the Temple, and was so arranged that a portion of it projected into the priests' court, in order that it might partake of the sanctity of the place ; and part was outside of it, so that the mem- bers could sit in the council, which no one could do in the court of the priests, except a king." 1 The first mention of the Sanhedrim is about the year B. C. 69 ; its origin is supposed to have been in the Council of 70 Elders appointed by Moses at Sinai, (Numbers xi. 16-24.) It had the power to judge all persons and all matters not left to inferior courts, a whole tribe, a prophet, the high-priest, and even the king himself if there were occasion. 2 In every city there was a smaller tribunal of the judges and Levites for slighter cases: also a tribunal of 23 judges (synagogue tribunals, John xvi. 2,) which tried questions of a religious nature. The Sanhedrim felt now, that it had become of the high- est consequence to settle the important questions concerning John, which were agitating the public mind. Although the ascetic had not put himself forward as a leader, and good order had been maintained at the Jordan, yet the people were in an inflammable condition, and tumults might arise, in which case the Roman power would interfere, with ven- geance upon the whole nation. A wonderful prophet, too, this seemed to be, and the excitement was the greater from the lapse of centuries since a prophet had appeared. His annunciation of the kingdom of heaven as at hand was thrilling to every expectant heart: he was introducing a great revolution by initiating the crowds flocking to him, into a new religion ; and this without authority given, or asked of the rulers. He had offended also the two leading Lightfoot on the Temple. 2 Jalin's Archaeology. THE DEPUTATION. 39 sects in Judea, by his invective hurled upon them as a brood of vipers, yet the people were quiescent, though admiring his boldness. The impression was growing, everywhere, that he was something beyond a mortal like themselves ; that he was Elias (Elijah), or Jeremiah, risen from the dead ; and, among some misinterpreting his declarations to the contrary, that he was the Messiah himself. The Pharisees believed that the power of baptizing Jews, and thereby forming a new religion, was to be confined to the Messiah and his precursors, the prophets, who they supposed would return to life for this purpose ; and although it was true that John's ancestry did not fully agree with the require- ments of their ancient prophets respecting the Christ, yet his mother was of the lineage of David ; and although in addition his place of birth had not been at Bethlehem, still it was not fully determined among the doctors that the Mes- siah must be born there. 1 So there was room for discussion among the Sanhedrim, even on the question whether John might not be the Messiah himself. Therefore, this national council, taking Pharisees, who were also priests and Levites, 2 for their deputation, sent them to John. 3 The Jewish rulers were almost exclusively 1 See Bloomfield in loco. a John i. 19 ; i. 24. 3 John i. 1 9. It is well to remark here on a circumstance in St. John's Gospel, of which I have seen no notice among critics, except Alford, al- though it is an important one. It is the distinction which this Evangel- ist appears to make between " the Jews" and "the people." By the former he seems to mean the leaders; by the latter, the masses. There is a striking example of this in ch. vii. v. 13, when the people (v. 12) were secretly querying about Christ, " but no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews" The same distinction seems to be kept up uniformly in John, except where the term Jew is used as a distinctive national one. We have something like it when we use the words, " the English," and the "English people," meaning by the former a kind of abstraction of the rulers, or the sentiment seen in their government, and by the latter, the masses. 40 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. Pharisees, or persons professing to be such ; and that sect was more particularly interested in the proceedings at the Jordan : for their power lay in their influence over the masses of the people, the only instrument they could oppose to their rivals, the smaller but wealthier sect of the Saddu- cees ; and the masses were drawn powerfully to this prophet at the Jordan. The origin of both these leading sects is unknown, and we have no distinct traces of them previous to the Ptolemies, (B. C. 332), about which time the oral or traditional law also comes before our notice. The Pharisees were the advo- cates and conservators of this ; the Sadducees opposed it, adhering only to the written law. The Pharisees believed " that souls have an immortal vigor in them, and that un- der the earth there will be rewards and punishments, accord- ingly as they have lived virtuously or viciously, in this life; and the latter are to be detained in an everlasting prison, but that the former shall have the power to revive and live again." 1 The Sadducees asserted " that souls die with the bodies :" and in this opposition of belief on vital points, we have at once the groundwork of endless disputes between these sects. The Sadducees, however, were content to keep their cold philosophy to themselves, and seldom at- tempted to make proselytes ; but they were the wealthy men, and prided themselves on their superior wisdom and higher philosophy; to which the Pharisees opposed an affected sanctimoniousness, which drew to them the multitudes, over whom they had great influence, and by whom they more than counterbalanced the power in wealth belonging to their opponents. So domineering, indeed, was their influence in the nation in consequence of their successful zeal in making and keeping proselytes among the masses, that when a Sad- ducee had to take office, (which that sect did unwillingly), Jahn's Archaeology. THE DEPUTATION. 41 he was often compelled, for his own comfort, to assume the character and pretend to the belief of the Pharisees. The latter had in the unwritten law, as we shall see by-and-by, an immense power, capable of bearing down any adversary who might oppose them, especially among the ignorant. With all this courting of popular favor, they however, thoroughly despised the populace, and called them in their writings " worms/' " people of the earth ;" and with other opprobrious epithets, refused heaven to them, declaring that " he who has not studied is never pious." 1 They affected a great outward show of religion, ostentatiously standing while at prayer, (standing was the usual Jewish posture in prayer), at the corners of the streets, so as to be seen in two direc- tions ; and sometimes commencing a prayer at one place and going to finish it at another. They made broad their phy- lacteries (written passages of Scripture, folded up and bound to the forehead and arm), and in their dress had an osten- tation of a similar kind. They were so fearful of contami- nation that they would not eat with their own people, if holding the unpopular office of tax-gatherers; and were dis- posed to spurn from their presence all who were not of their own sect ; 2 nor would they drink until the water had been strained, lest they might inadvertently swallow some unclean animalcules. With all this, they enjoined no internal right- eousness, substituting externals for it: forms took the place of holiness : an omission to wash the hands before meat was considered worthy of death, no matter what iniquity might be in the heart ; and they had brought the Jewish people into disrepute abroad as a nation of perjurers, 3 by teaching that an oath by the altar, temple, heaven, earth, sacrifices, etc., etc., was of small if any obligation, unless in it the name of God had been used. They were divided into sev- eral subordinate sects; and the Jewish official books, the 1 Lightfoot. * Jahn's Archaeology. s Martial's Epigrams, xi. 95. 4* 42 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. Talmuds, mention several distinct classes, under characters which show them to have been deeply immersed in the idlest and most ridiculous superstitions. Among them were the Truncated Pharisee, who, that he might appear in pro- found meditation, as if destitute of feet, scarcely lifted them from the ground ; the Mortar Pharisee, who, that his medi- tations might not be disturbed, wore a deep cap in the shape of a mortar, that would only permit him to look on the ground at his feet; and the Striking Pharisee, who shutting his eyes as he walked to avoid the sight of women, often struck his head against the wall. 1 Such were the men who came now, in the authority of office, to settle the questions which had been discussed for weeks with deepest earnestness in Jerusalem and throughout all Judea and the regions beyond ; questions of momentous interest, but to which no one could yet give a satisfactory reply. It was known that John had made disclaimers of any high position ; but still the public mind was agitated ; for with these disclaimers, he was yet performing a rite be- longing only to the old prophets risen again, or to the Mes- siah : so, at least, they always believed. The crowds saw the officials approaching, and could easily surmise who they were, and why they came. All knew that it was among the duties of the Sanhedrim to inquire offi- cially into the pretensions of any one setting himself up as a prophet; and here were the inquisitors come now to do that work. The important queries which had so agitated the multitudes there, but which they had shrunk from putting to the Baptist would, they thought perhaps, be answered at last. The crowds gave way. Probably, in those haughty looks of the Pharisees they could read their own condemnation for being captivated by one not officially recognized, and not a Bloomfield. THE DEPUTATION. 43 Rabbi ; their old reverence for priest and Levite, and addi- tionally for Pharisees, conservators of the unwritten law with its mysterious, undefined power, crept through their hearts again, as they saw these men approach, perhaps there to overwhelm all the Baptist's claims, and to hurl on his prose- lytes objurgations or even excommunications for having sub- mitted to the new rite. The deputation came in a man- ner to make impression of their authority, and to procure full and ready answers to their questions ; bearing the phy- lacteries upon their brows and arms, and the wide fringes to their robes, as became Pharisees and men of rank. We must give attention to them ; and we notice first the phylacteries, an awkward appendage, but which habit made less so to them. To construct a phylactery four pieces of parchment were taken, on which, with ink specially prepared for this purpose, were written four passages from the law, Ex. xiii. 3-10; Ex. xiii. 11-16; Deut. vi. 4-9; Deut. xi. 13-21. These four pieces were folded together in a square form, and inserted in a leather case, from which proceeded thongs of the same material. Such a case was laid on the forehead between the eye-brows ; and the thongs, being passed behind the head, were tied there in a particular manner, and then carne round so as to fall over the chest. Another was laid on the inside of the left arm, at the elbow, and fastened there by thongs, one of which was wound spirally along the arm, and so, crossing the palm of the hand, was fastened to the fingers. This usage was founded on Ex. xiii. 9. The name phylactery is from the Greek, and signifies observatory, because it put them in mind of the law. In process of time the phylacteries came to be considered as a protection against evil spirits, or charms, and the Talmud says, " It is necessary that the phylacteries should be repeated at home at nights to drive away devils." 1 It is not certain Lightfoot. 44 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. PHYLACTERIES. Far the head. For tJie arm. whether all the Jewish people wore them, or only those who were called scholars, and who pretended to more knowledge and devotion and study than the common people ; ! but all, both learned and unlearned, were bound alike to say over the phylactery sentences morning and evening, every day, no matter where they were. The time for this was at earli- est dawn, and in the evenings some time before the first watch. 2 Our Saviour condemns the width of the phylacte- ries, made for ostentation and vanity. The modern Jews, it is said, wear them at morning and evening prayers. This deputation approached, not over-confident of a favor- able reception, knowing as they did the Baptist's address to their Pharisee brethren on the former occasion : and now there was a striking scene ; that gaunt, sunburnt man, in his coarse dress of camel's hair bound by a leathern girdle; his unabashed manner before the officers, and his fiery eyes seeming to pierce them through ; their own stateliness and effort at ease and assurance, while their pretension to sanc- tity and the author itativen ess of office were impressing the Lightfoot. 2 Ib. THE DEPUTATION. 45 crowd; the multitudes glancing from the new, admired favorite to their old, feared masters ; and back again to the fearless John. " Who art thou ?" the rulers asked. The words were authoritative and abrupt. He answered, not to their question, but to what he knew was in every per- son's mind. " I am not the Christ," " What then ? art thou Elias ?" " I am not." "Art thou that prophet?" 1 "No." " Who art thou ? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?" " I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias :" (the reply having allusion to a custom prevailing in those eastern countries, when a monarch was about to make a jour- ney ; at which times men were sent before to remove ob- structions and to make level the roads). " Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?" "I baptize with water: but there staudeth one among you, whom ye know not ; he it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose." Among them !! And all interest in the officials and in John himself must have been lost, as men started and turned inquiring glances among the crowd, making scrutiny for him about whom the astounding announcement had been made. No one could doubt that John meant by this, TJie Christ, the great Messiah that had been promised to the 1 It is supposed that they referred to Jeremiah. (See Dout. xviii. 15-19 and Matt. xvi. 14.) 46 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. world. That was their answer, and such the intelligence that the emissaries were to carry back to Jerusalem, and to the Sanhedrim. Curiosity was at its utmost tension now: and the next day, as the crowds were watching John with a closeness of observation which they had never exercised before, they heard from him a sudden announcement " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world I" The multitudes turned quickly ; Was that the Christ ! He came with no pomp, but quietly among them : no earthly parade of power, no attendance ; not even with scho- lastic state, and disciples following him : but alone, in sim- plicity of dress and simplicity of manner. His kingdom was not of this world. But the multitudes might have noticed the wonderful dignity and majesty on that brow ; the quiet composure of manner, where conscious omnipotence calmly rested; the winningness of features, where unbounded love drew the lines, and fully impressed itself; and when he spake, the modulations of his voice, where gentleness and benevolence ruled, although at times that voice could take the impres- sive tones of command. John described to the earnest listeners how the demonstra- tion of the Messiahship had been made to himself, including the announcement from heaven, " The same is he which bap- tizeth with the Holy Ghost." He ended with proclaiming to the gazing, earnest, wondering multitude, thrilled with so many hopes, " And I saw and bare record, that THIS is THE SON OF GOD." CONDITION OF PALESTINE. 47 CHAPTER V. CONDITION OF PALESTINE. THE Messiah had come : but before following him in his wonderful ministry, we must endeavor to familiarize our- selves with the country where this ministry was to be exer- cised, and the people who were to be its immediate recipients. The reader will excuse interruptions, for such purposes, in the narrative portions of this book. They will be as brief as possible : but without them we cannot understand the narratives themselves. The two ranges of mountains, Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, keep parallel with each other and with the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, for a distance of 150 miles, when finally, Anti-Lebanon shoots up into the majestic Hermon, rising to 9376 1 feet above the level of the sea, its summit covered nearly all the year with snow. The region having for its northern boundary the southern extremities of these ranges (lat. 33 30' K), and on its south, the border of the Arabian Desert (31 10'); with the Jordan and its line of lakes on the east, and the Mediterranean on the west, is in modern times usually designated as Palestine; and such in this book will be the use of the word. It forms an extent of 170 statute miles from north to south, by a mean width of about 50 miles : and is generally a hilly country, with large plains interspersed however, among which that of Esdraelon (lat. 32 40') is of great dimensions ; while, just south-west of this commences the plain of Sharon, which thence onward southwardly, forms a wide and fertile border Survey by Majors Scott and Pope. 48 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. along the Mediterranean. The region of abrupt hills be- tween this plain and Jerusalem forms what was called " The Hill country of Judea :" the utterly barren and blasted coun- try east of the latter, extending to the Dead Sea, has been already described. A cross section, from west to east in the latitude of Jerusalem, would give: 1st, The plain of Sharon, 17 miles wide; 2d, The Hill country, 20 miles; and 3d, The wilderness, 15 in width; and then, the great depression of the valley of the Jordan. 1 Jerusalem is about 2610 above, and the Dead Sea 1312 below the level of the Mediterranean. If leaving Palestine we continue across the river eastwardly at this latitude, we come immediately to the very lofty wall- like range of Nebo beyond which is a hilly pastoral region, soon succeeded by immense wastes of sand. Profile, Section of Palestine E. and W. from the mountains of Moab to the Mediterranean in the latitude of Jerusalem. The horizontal distances are on a scale of 20 miles to an inch. The heights and depressions on a scale of 4000 feet to an inch. In such a profile the same scale for heights and distances cannot be preserved. The horizontal line shows the level of the Mediterranean. II Plain of Sharon, 17 miles. Hill country, 20 miles. Jerusalf 2610 fe Wilderness of Judea, 15 miles. Dead Sea. Depression 1312 feet. Its depth 1300 feet. 1 These measurements are from Van de Ve*lde's trigonometrical sur- veys in Syria and Palestine. Capt. Lynch gives 2610 feet for the eleva- tion of Jerusalem : the aneroid 2749. CONDITION OF PALESTINE. 49 Profile, Station of Palestine N. and S., from the Dead Sea towards Mount Herman, along the line of the Jordan. The horizontal distances are on a scale of 35 miles to an inch: the eleva- tions 15,000 feet to an inch. The line marked a a a shows the level of the Mediterranean. Hebron. Dead Sea and Jordan to the Lake of Galilee, Palestine was thus a country of small extent, and singu- larly situated ; quite central to what was the civilized world in those ancient times, and therefore well adapted to be a radiating point of divine knowledge; and yet, by these northern mountains, by the Arabian desert, by the western sea, and by the sand on the east, almost isolated, and little open to corrupting influences from heathen neighbors. It had no safe harbor on its whole extent of coast, until Herod the Greatj at immense cost, formed one midway along ; build- ing there also, his political capital, Csesarea, named after his patron, Augustus Caesar. This latter was settled immediately by a motley population of Syrians and Greeks chiefly, as well as Jews : and from this mixture sprang finally the troubles which eventuated in the destruction of Jerusalem itself. 1 At the time of which we are now writing, Palestine was divided into three nearly equal portions : the northern called Galilee ; the central, Samaria ; and the southern, Judea ; each with its distinctive and peculiar people, although those of Galilee and Judea went under the general appellation of Jews. A full understanding of the New Testament history requires that we should take some notice of the history of each. i See Jos. Antiq. xx. 8, 9. 50 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. When Canaan was first parceled out among the twelve tribes, the large tribe of Judah had assigned to it the chief portion of what afterwards became Judea : while Ephraim had most of what was subsequently Samaria, the two being separated by the small tribe of Benjamin wedged between then at the east, and by the equally diminutive region of Dan at the west. Benjamin however, though small, was composed of a bold and energetic set of people: it gave Saul as the first king of Israel ; and afterwards Paul, the greatest of the Christian leaders and among the earliest martyrs for Christ. Judah and Ephraim, from their superior size and their position, soon took the lead among the tribes, and also be- came jealous of each other: 1 and finally (B. C. 975), their rivalship culminated in a separation of the tribes ; Benjamin alone adhering to Judah, while all the others went off and became a kingdom by themselves, Ephraim in this taking the lead. Its main city, Shechem, in the valley of Samaria unsurpassed in fertility and loveliness, became the capital of its new king. Among these people a semi-idolatrous religion soon took the place of the old Mosaic faith. Two hundred and fifty-four years after this (B. C. 721) the ten tribes were carried into captivity by Shalmanezer* king of Assyria; and their existence became eventually blotted out from history. The exceedingly fertile plain of Ephraim and its borders on the north, being rapidly covered with jungle, was becoming overrun with wild-beasts, when Shalmanezer sent colonists from Babylonia and other parts of his eastern dominions to occupy it, with whom a few of the former in- habitants who had been left behind, united : and thus was formed the distinct and very peculiar race of the Samaritans, retaining in part their eastern heathenism, and partly im- bued with the questionable religion of the ten tribes. One hundred and thirty-three years after the captivity of the 1 See aiso Isaiah xi. 13. CONDITION OF PALESTINE. 51 ten tribes (B. C. 588) Judah and Benjamin were also led captive to the east, Jerusalem having been taken by Nebu- chadnezzar, and their temple destroyed. Chaldea, now the ruling power in the east, had become the possessor of all Palestine. But this captivity did not long continue; for Cyrus, the Persian, having taken Babylon, (B. C. 538) gave these two tribes permission to return to Palestine and to re- build their temple, the sacred vessels of which he also re- stored. Some of the Jews remained in Babylon, while the others hastened back to their country : but during this time of their absence changes of importance among themselves had occurred. Their original language had ceased to be a spoken one. The Hebrew had for a long time been declining in pu- rity. The period about the time of Moses is called by critics its golden age ; that between David and Hezekiah, its silver age. From Hezekiah to the captivity it deterior- ated so much by the further introduction of foreign terms, that its iron age is placed in that period ; and during the captivity it ceased to be a spoken language at all. 1 Not that the transition had been very great. The dialects spoken all over the East had a general similitude, so great that the designation used by the Hebrews for very remote nations was that these did not understand their language. 2 But still the change, during this stay in Babylon, was such that, gene- rally, they could not any longer understand the Hebrew Scriptures when read in their religious assemblies; and al- though the original was still used in public worship, properly qualified persons had to be employed to give immediately a translation into the vernacular. 3 The new dialect which the people brought home with them was the Aramaic some- times called Syro-Chaldaic and was the language of Pales- tine in our Saviour's time. 1 Jahn's Introduction to the Old Testament, \ 69. 2 Deut. xxviii. 49, and Jer. v. 15. 3 See Nehemiah viii. 8. 52 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. But there were differences also in this dialect. The places of captivity had stretched along the Euphrates, where the Chaldee and Syriac dialects were in use. On their return, those using the former settled in Judea, the others in Gali- lee j 1 and hence existed a difference of speech, by which a Galilean was speedily recognized as such by the dwellers further south. The Jews had permission from Cyrus to rebuild also the wall around their city ; and they came back with hearts full of zeal and of joy at the royal favor, in both of which the Samaritans would have gladly shared. But these people were repelled as a half-heathenish race; and immediately a settled feud began, which has continued down to the present time. The Samaritans endeavored to excite jealousies in the Persian monarch respecting the repairs in the city walls, and for some time with success ; but they finally ceased from such opposition, and established rival services, building also a rival temple on the mount Gerizim, which rises immediately above their capital city, Shechem, and which, with its oppo- site mountain, Ebal, had been the scene of a most singular event in the ancient times of Israel. There, after Canaan had been conquered, had been gathered the twelve tribes, one-half placed on Gerizim to bless, and half on Ebal to curse ; indeed, what region is there in all the country of Palestine that has not witnessed strange and wonderful events? To us, also, there is a standing miracle in the ful- fillment of the words of Moses when, after commanding the full assemblage to take place on Ebal and Gerizim, he added that if they and their posterity would not observe God's commandment they should become "an astonishment, a proverb, and a by-word among all nations," whither the Lord should lead them. 2 The Maccabean, Hyrcanus, de- stroyed this temple (B. C. 108), and annexed the whole 1 Jakn's Introduction. 2 See Deut. xi. 29; xxvii. 12-26; xxviii. CONDITION OF PALESTINE. 53 {Samaritan country to the Jewish nation ; and the bitterness from subjugation was then added to the former hatred and jealousies. The Samaritans, while receiving the Pentateuch, rejected all the other Jewish Scriptures ; and were, there- fore, still considered by the Jews as only a more dangerous set of heathen. What a Samaritan ate as food became, from that fact, as swine's flesh in the eyes of a Jew ; no Samari- tan might be made a proselyte ; no one of them could by any possibility, in Jewish estimation, attain to everlasting life. This was the country lying between the two Jewish dis- tricts of Galilee and Judea, and which had to be traversed in the frequent journeys between the two, unless a large detour was made across the Jordan and along its eastern banks. The two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, after their re- turn from captivity, still formed a part of the Persian kingdom, and were heavily taxed for its support. Their temple had been rebuilt, (commenced B. C. 535), but Jeru- salem remained without walls, until the increase of the Greek power made it necessary to oppose obstacles to the ex- tension of that nation. Then Nehemiah was empowered by the Persian government to fortify the city ; but he had to do it by stealth, and at night, as the jealousies of the neigh- boring Rtates, particularly Samaria, were ever throwing ob- stacles in the way. The Persian nation finally succumbed before Alexander, and the Jews passed quietly into the power of that universal conqueror (B. C. 332), and through him, afterwards, of the Ptolemies. They lived under suc- cessive kings of that race, generally oppressed, and often treated with great cruelty, till Antiochus Epiphanes, the Illustrious or the Madman, for he had both these^. sur- names, fearing (B. C. 167) that they might seek relief from his tyranny in the increasing power of Rome already triumphant in Egypt, determined to wipe out their distinc- 54 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. live character, and entirely destroy their individuality as a nation. He let loose his soldiers on the Sabbath, upon the unresisting Jewish people, and encouraged a general mas- sacre : the streets of Jerusalem ran with blood : the women were carried off into slavery : he ordered a general uni- formity of religion in all his dominions ; forced the people to profane the Sabbath, and to eat swine's flesh, and forbade the national rite of circumcision. He dedicated their tem- ples to Jupiter, placed an image of that god on their high altar, and ordered sacrifices to be there made to the Olym- pian deity ; and, finally, substituted the Bacchanalian rites for their great feast of tabernacles. Resistance only led to slaughter : barbarities and outrage had full possession of the land. The Maccabean family 1 now rose into eminence, first by slight resistance; then, after gathering strength, by heading a general revolt; and, finally, (B. C. 144), by establishing the complete independence of the Jewish nation. The alliance of Rome was sought for, and secured; and, finally, under Hyrcanus, Samaria, as already stated, and Galilee on the north, and Iduraea on the south, were (B. C. 108) brought into subjection to the triumphant kingdom of Judea. But a new power the Roman was spreading around, soon to absorb the Judean kingdom, as it did the rest of the world. In the case of Judea, Rome followed its usual successful policy of insinuating itself into nations through their intestine disputes. Two competitors for the Jewish throne, Hyrcanus and Aristobolus, both of the Maccabean family, asserted their claims, and appealed to Pompey (B. C. 64) as the umpire; he ended by seizing on the kingdom; and from that time, although for twenty years there were resistances, and various bloody revolutions, Judea was under 1 "Asmonean family" properly, but better known by the name of Maccabean, supposed to be derived from a standard which they bore. CONDITION OF PALESTINE. 55 control of the Roman empire. Antipater. an Idumean of noble birth, profiting adroitly by these dissensions, had, as the supporter of Hyrcanus, risen into distinction; and at last, having procured from Rome the High Priesthood for his favorite, he was himself made Procurator of Judea. He was the father of Herod the Great, and appointed this son as governor of Galilee. The latter, after various reverses subsequently to his father's death, had the crown of Judea conferred upon himself by Augustus and Antony (B. C. 39 ;) and having, with the assistance of the Romans, rid that country and Samaria of all competitors, and freed Galilee from the bands of robbers that had infested it, he found himself, though still subordinate to Rome, firmly seated on the throne of Palestine. Herod was a man of extraordinary energies of mind and body. He rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, strengthened them with towers of great size and beauty, made for himself, on Mount Zion, a palace of vast extent and architectural magnificence, and completed the walls around Moriah, producing on that eminence a level platform of great eleva- tion; 1 thus making it a vast mountainous substructure for supporting the cloisters and temple with which he proposed to crown its heights. The temple erected by Zerubbabel 500 years before, had suffered greatly from wars and the lapse of time; but the Jews looked with keen jealousy on any plans for its demolition ; and it was only by making large preparations of materials ready for the new edifice, previous to commencing any changes, that Herod could keep their apprehensions within bounds. The new temple and cloisters, built by Herod will be noticed in a future chapter of this book. The amazing sums necessary for his outlays for architectural and warlike purposes were procured partly i Josephus says 450 feet at the spot of the smallest elevation ; 600 feet at the greatest, i. e., at the eastern side; but this is considered an exaggeration. 56 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. by heavy extortions from his people; and came partly by contributions from Jews, scattered now over nearly the whole civilized world. The constant drain of wealth always tending towards Jerusalem was the cause of serious appre- hensions, even at Rome. Pompey found 2,000 talents 1 in the treasury of the temple at the time of his visit: Crassus plundered it of 10,000 talents; and both these incidents occurred at times when Jerusalem was also constantly sub- jected to visits from plundering hordes. But, while indulging the national feeling in thus orna- menting the city and its sacred mountain, Herod was trying to undermine the national faith by foreign usages and amusements. "He built a theatre within the walls of Jerusalem, and an amphitheatre of immense size without. He celebrated quinquennial games on a scale of unrivalled splendor; invited the most distinguished proficients in every kind of gymnastic exercise, in chariot racing, boxing, and every kind of musical and poetic art; offered the most costly prizes; and even introduced the barbarous spectacles of the Romans, fights of wild beasts, and also combats of wild beasts with gladiators. The zealous Jews looked on in amazement, and with praiseworthy though silent abhorrence, at those strange exhibitions, so contrary to the mild genius of the great law-giver's institutions." 2 Herod was, as already stated, from Idumea. When that country was added by Hyrcanus to Judea, the inhabitants were compelled to adopt the Jewish faith. But such a forced proselytism left the Idumeans still semi-pagan in belief; and hence we see the doubtful Judaism in Herod. He married, both from policy and affection, the beautiful Mariamne, a princess of the Maccabean family; but he failed still to secure the confidence of the Jews. 1 A talent of silver was worth $1,505 ; of gold, $24,000. * Mill man's History of the Jews. CONDITION OF PALESTINE. 57 Judea was, even during Herod's magnificent reign, fast becoming a Roman province; its independence and the glory of the Maccabean dynasty had departed. Herod, after a life of daring and successful ambition, and of domestic wretchedness, died, leaving by will his kingdom divided between his two sons, Herod Antipas and Archelaus; to the former, Galilee and Perea; to the latter, Samaria, Judea, and Idumea. Archelaus went immediately to Rome to have his limited kingship confirmed; and there met Herod Antipas, preferring a counter-claim under a former will of their father, made it was asserted, when he was in a saner state of mind. While they were absent contesting their claims, both regions of country fell into confusion; and the Prefect of Syria residing at Antioch, had to interfere; the wretched people being plundered and abused on every side. A deputation of five hundred Jews went to Rome to petition for the total abolition of the kingly government and the restitution of their ancient constitution ; and were joined in this by eight thousand of their countrymen resi- dent in that city. Herod's will was, however, confirmed by the imperial edict, and Archelaus took possession of his government: but his sovereignty, marked by injustice and cruelty, after continuing for nine years, was suddenly brought to a conclusion by a summons to Rome : his brothers and subjects were his accusers ; he was condemned and banished to Yienne, in Gaul, and his kingdom (A. D. 12) reduced to a Roman province. P. Sulpicius Quirinius was now made Prefect, or governor-general of Syria, all Palestine coming under his jurisdiction ; and Coponius, a man of equestrian rank, was appointed governor of Judea. To the latter, two years afterwards, succeeded M. Ambivius ; then came Annius Rufus : next (A. D. 16) Valerius Gratus, and finally (A. D. 27) Pontius Pilate. Jerusalem itself had sunk, during the rule of these governors, into secondary political consequence, the residence of the governors being 58 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. at Caesarea ; but the people, since the time of Archelaus, had enjoyed an unusual state of rest. This history, necessarily brief, can give the reader scarcely any conception of the disorders, tumults, exactions, and cruelties often barbarities, to which the people of Palestine had been subjected, through nearly the whole of this long period of time. The government was now unequivocally Roman : Pilate was over Judea as Procurator, and Herod Antipas Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea ; both subject to the Proconsul of Syria ; the Jewish laws and institutions, so far as they did not conflict with the Koman, were still left in force, the power of inflicting capital punishment being the only ex- ception ; that being reserved for the representatives of Rome. Such was the political condition of Palestine when our Sa- viour's public ministry commenced. CHAPTER VI. JEWISH MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. THE captivity had wrought one very remarkable change in the Jewish character : it had cured them of their dispo- sition towards idolatry. It may seem strange that there should ever have existed such inclinations among a people distinguished, as they had been, by signal manifestations of God's power for them ; who had his law in their hands ; and who knew both the sternness of his prohibitions against this wickedness, and his irrevocable purposes for punishing it. But the whole world around them was given to idola- try: and they found it difficult to spiritualize even their own grand and wonderful system ; while, among all other nations religion was sensuous, that is, directed to the outer MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 59 senses, which could more easily comprehend the nature and demands of such belief. To look inward and bind the soul to God, making it while on earth a part of the kingdom which is not of this world, is the highest act of our being; and the Jews had not only not attained to this, but had a very imperfect idea of what it could mean. When just re- leased from Egypt they were ignorant and they had for long years been brutalized by slavery. God, compassion- ating their ignorance and weakness, allowed them a religious system in some respects sensuous, but in every item typify- ing the unseen ; that is the tabernacle, the ark, the table of show-bread, the candlestick, the altar of incense, the mercy- seat, the cherubim, the golden ornaments, the purple hang- ings, the Urim and Thummim in which he condescended to make himself especially known and felt. So afterwards, also with the temple on Mount Moriah, honored as no other temple has ever been. But they regarded only the exterior; and by their own want of effort and by their worldliness, that which was meant to guide them to look within and then up to God, led them to the further sensuousness of their neighbors, often of the grossest kind. Temple, altar, cherubim, Urim and Thummim, all were swept away by the Assyrian conqueror; and only blackened ruins remained behind in their stead. In their captivity the Jews had to look more directly to God ; and they did it in mournings and humiliations, such as well befitted them, after so many vile apostasies in their own land. When they returned there was soon evident a great change and great improvement in these outward things. They had now the proseuchce and synagogues all over the country. The proseucha was a place of prayer, a simple, open space without ostentation or ornament, but generally in a spot outside of their cities or towns, shaded by trees. Here the traveller or the resident could bo\\ in soul, in God's 60 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. great temple not made with hands ; and feeling that Jeho- vah was present, could lift up his voice and heart to him. The synagogues were places of more formal worship, and were soon in general use : there being, it is said, in Jerusa- lem alone, not less than four hundred and eighty during its later times. The worship in these was doubtless more of a spiritual nature than that in the temple itself; and what was also of consequence, oral instruction was here largely combined with singing, reading, and prayers. The Jew- ish people, in all this, had evidently taken a most important step in improvement ; but still there were counteracting cir- cumstances, (to be noticed presently, p. 81-88), terribly cor- rupting their hearts. The synagogues were of various sizes, but generally not large. As far as possible they were built in imitation of the temple at Jerusalem with an open court and corridors sur- rounding the court. In this was a chapel, or small build- ing, ornamented with four columns ; and in the chapel, on an elevated place, were the books of the law kept ready for use. The " uppermost seats in the synagogue" were those nearest this chapel, and these were the most honorable. In addition, there was erected in the court a large hall or ves- try, into which people could retire when the weather hap- pened to be unfavorable, and where each family had its own particular seat. To each building there were officers : 1st. The Ruler of the Synagogue, who presided over the assem- bly and invited readers and speakers, unless some persons who were acceptable, voluntarily offered themselves, (Luke viii. 41, and xiii. 14, 15). 2d. The Elders of the synagogue TrpsfffluTspot, or presbyters ; they appear to have been coun- sellors of the head or ruler, and were chosen from among the most powerful and learned of the people. The council of the elders not only took part in the management of the in- ternal concerns of the synagogue, but also punished trans- gressors of the public laws, either by turning them out of MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 6 1 the synagogue or decreeing the punishment of thirty-nine stripes, (John xii. 42 ; xvi. 2 ; 2 Cor. xi. 24). 3d. The Col- lector of alms; and, 4th. Servants of the synagogue. When the people were collected together for worship the services began, after the usual greeting, with a doxology. A selection was then read from the Mosaic law, (Acts xv. 21). Then followed, after singing of a second doxology, the read- ing of a portion from the Prophets. (Luke iv. 17). The person whose duty it was to perform the reading placed upon his head, as is done at the present day, a covering called Tal.ith. (See 2 Cor. iii. 15). The sections which had been read in the Hebrew were rendered by an interpreter into the vernacular tongue ; and the reader, or some one else, then addressed the people. (Acts xiii. 15). It was on occasions such as this that Jesus and after- wards the Apostles, taught the people. The meeting, as far as religion was concerned, was ended with prayer, to which the people responded, Amen; after which a collec- tion was taken for the poor. Such was the synagogue worship of that period, often sanctioned by our Saviour's presence, and by his taking a part himself in the services. The modern Jewish synagogues are, as far as possible, imitations of those ancient ones ; and a visit to them is re- commended to any one who may desire to look far back into the remote times. We may also gain in them some idea of the adaptation to music of the language in which David wrote: for in these services the Hebrew is still almost ex- clusively used. It is desirable, however, to select a syna- gogue of the higher order : for in the inferior ones, both the language and the service are often repulsive, seeming to be a discordant jargon with but little appearance of devotion. On entering we notice that the heads of the men, as well as of the women, are all kept covered as in the ancient 62 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. usages : also that the standing posture is that of prayer, as was the case in those former days. The eye too is caught immediately by a white garment, a simple, rectangular piece of cloth, six or eight feet long by three or four wide, which each male worshipper puts on as he takes his place, and leaves behind when he retires. In the wealthier synagogues it is of silk, in others of woollen stuff; but it is always white, with blue stripes across at the ends; sometimes, but not uniformly, a fringe at each end ; and in every case it has a number of cords a foot or so in length, of the same stuff, appended to each of the corners. In viewing this garment we are carried at once into the remotest antiquity : for these blue stripes at the end are "the ribbon of blue," and the cords at the corners represent the fringes commanded by Moses (Numbers xv. 3241, but more especially Deut. xxii. 12) to be worn as a reminder of the penalty for trans- gressing the Sabbath : " and it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it and remember all the com- mandments of the Lord and do them." The garment is called Taliihj and is sometimes made to cover also the head of the persons officiating in their religious service. It is worn by the congregation mostly over the shoulders, but also in a variety of ways across the back ; and forms not an ungraceful drapery. I have seen, in a country church in Scotland, every man with his plaid across the shoulder, making a very picturesque congregation ; but although the plaid is of the same size and shape as this garment, it wants the sacred associations of the Taliili: the latter is always white. The language is deeply guttural ; and to my own ear, traveller as I have been among the Turks, and also the Ger- mans, it has, as chanted in these synagogues, a familiar and very far from unmusical sound ; for it has both richness and power. Especially at the close of the worship, when the whole assembly unite in the singing, may we have some MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 63 idea of the rich music as it floated in the old times from the heights of Moriah in the daily sacrifices ; or from their companies to and from the festivals, as they travelled over hill and valley, singing on their way their great hymns to God. Those ancient synagogues, and the nature of the worship offered there, in a large portion of which the whole assembly united, and also the address and instructions on those occa- sions, must have had a powerful influence in keeping the Jews, after the captivity, from the idolatrous tendencies so striking in the national character previous to that time. Of education there seems to have been little in our full meaning of that word. The sons remained at home under the care of the mother until five years of age, when the fa- ther took them in charge and taught them in the arts and the duties of life, and more especially in the Mosaic law, and all other things connected with their religion, (Dent. vi. 2025; vii. 19; xi. 19). For further instruction, private teachers were provided ; or they were sent to a priest or Le- vite, who sometimes had numbers under his care. We may infer from Samuel, (1 Samuel i. 24-28), that there was at that time near the tabernacle, a school for the instruction of youth ; but the instruction, except in religious matters, was very limited. Astronomy in those days was apt to run into astrology, which was forbidden to the Jews : a lit- tle knowledge of mathematics sufficed for their wants : the sciences, in all nations at that period were few in number. The whole bent of the Jewish scholars was towards the study of their written and their traditional law, and the questions to which these gave rise. Their teachers enjoined on all parents to have their children taught some art or handicraft: and the Talmuds particularize many learned men who were engaged in manual labor. "What is commanded," says a Talmudic writer, " of a father toward his son ? To circum- cise him; to teach him the law; to teach him a trade/' 64 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. Their great cabalist, Rabbi Judah, " Our Holy Rabbi," as he was called, wrote, " He that teacheth not his son a trade, does the same as if he taught him to be a thief;" and Gama- liel (Saul's teacher) said, " He that hath a trade in his hand, to what is he like? He is like a vineyard that is fenced." " There prevailed among the Hebrews no little propriety and refinement of manners. The Orientals would be thought by Europeans to be excessive in their gestures and expres- sions of good-will, when in truth they mean no more than very moderate ones among us. " In the time of Christ the ancient mode of addressing those who were worthy of being honored, viz., My lord, or words to that effect, was in a measure superseded, and the more extravagant address of Rabbi, i. e., the great mighty, which originated in the schools, had become common among the people. " The salutation between friends was an occurrence which consumed much time : for this reason it was anciently incul- cated upon messengers who were sent upon business which required despatch, not to salute any one by the way, (2 Kings iv. 29 ; Luke x. 4). " The ancient Hebrew in particular rarely used any term of reproach more severe than those of adversary or opposer, raca, contemptible, nabal, fool ; an expression which means wicked man or atheist. When anything was said which was not acceptable, the dissatisfied person replied, It is enough, (Deut. iii. 26). The formula of assent was, Thou hast said, or thou hast said rightly. This is the form of expressing as- sent or an affirmative to this day." l Their dress, unchanged from century to century, was generally simple and plain. It consisted of a tunic (also worn by the Romans, as we see in their sculptures), which was a loose garment encircling the body, with short sleeves, Jahn's Archaeology. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 65 and reaching nearly to the knees. The Babylonians, Egyp- tians and Persians wore another and outer tunic of more costly material, a custom also adopted by the Jews, and re- ferred to in Matthew x. 10 and Luke ix. 3. The tunic being loose and bound by a girdle at the middle, made something like drapery, as we see in the ancient sculptures of Greece and Rome. The girdle was of leather, or flax, or silk, and was a hand's breadth in width. Over this was worn the Simlah or upper garment (the Talifli), simply a rectangular piece of cloth, eight or nine feet long by five or six in width, and thrown over the shoulders, or over one shoulder with the corners tied under the other, or wrapped around the body, or in any other manner that the wearer might choose. However worn, it was always a becoming drapery. Thrown over the head and held there by a fillet, as by the Arabs of the present day, it formed a protection from the sun. It was so large that burdens could be carried in it, (Exodus xii. 34; 2 Kings iv. 39), and one end thrown over the shoul- der in front and tied could be made a convenient receptacle or pocket, as in Luke vi. 38. At night the Hebrew wrapped himself in this simlah, and if travelling, his girdle un- clasped and laid on a stone for a pillow made all the pre- parations necessary for his repose. This is seen in those countries at the present time. So necessary was this simlah to the Jew that Moses enacted a law that when given as a pledge it should be returned before night. (Exodus xxii. 25-27 ; Deut, xxiv. 13). These simple garments, the drawers, tunic and simlali, formed the usual costume of the Jew, a convenient and ap- propriate one in that southern climate : in winter the legs were often bound in cloth for warmth, and cloaks were worn also as a shelter from the weather. The cloak referred to in 2 Tim. iv. 13, was a Roman garment worn as a protection from the rain, or on journeys. Long garments were worn by those affecting particular sanctity or wisdom. The Tal- 66 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. mud says, "Rabbi Jochanon asked Rabbi Baruaah, what kind of garment is the inner garment of the disciple of the wise man ? It is such an one that the flesh may not be seen underneath him." The glossis is, " It is to reach to the very soles of the feet." 1 White was esteemed the most appropriate color for cotton cloths, and purple for others ; black was used for common wear and particularly for mourners. On festival days, the rich and powerful robed themselves in white cotton, and the fullers had discovered a method of giving it a dazzling bril- liancy, which was very highly esteemed. Scarlet was much admired. The tunics of the women were longer than those of the men, and their dress was usually of finer quality of cloth ; they always wore veils, even at home, except in the presence of servants and of those relatives with whom nup- tials were interdicted : their hair was also dressed differently from that of the men. Add to the sandals, tunic, and simlah, a beard and some- times a turban or covering for the head, and we have an idea of the outward appearance of the Jew of those ancient times. The face which we call Jewish is by no means uni- versal : any one who will now, look around in a Jewish synagogue of the better kind, will see many faces of our own type, which would be not at all distinguishable in the street ; and doubtless in those remote periods the Jewish features gene- rally were of a cast superior to these seen now, after the long centuries, during which these people have been as the Pariahs of mankind. That universal traveller, Bayard Taylor, says of the Jews whom he met in Palestine, " The native Jewish families in Jerusalem, as well as those in other parts of Pa- lestine, present a marked difference from the Jews of Europe and America, They possess the same physical characteris- tics in the dark, oblong eye, the prominent nose, the strongly Lightfoot. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 67 marked cheek and jaw ; but in the latter these traits have become harsh and coarse. Centuries devoted to the lowest and most debasing forms of traffic, with the endurance of persecutions and contumely, have greatly changed and vul- garized the appearance of the race. But the Jews of the Holy City still retain a noble beauty, which proved to my mind their descent from the ancient princely house of Is- rael. The forehead is loftier, the eye larger and more frank in its expression, the nose more delicate in its prominence, and the face of a purer oval. I have remarked the same distinction in the countenance of those Jewish families of Europe whose members have devoted themselves to art or literature. Mendelssohn's \vas a face that must have belonged to the house of David." l Miss Martineau remarks on the same subject : " The idlers who hung about us [at Hebron] were a very handsome set of people ; and in the town we were yet more struck with the beauty of those we passed. Among all the Jews we saw, I observed only one who had what we call the Jewish cast of countenance. Here and at Jerusalem and elsewhere we saw many Jews with fair complexions, blue eyes, and light hair. Such eyes I never saw as both the blue and the brown ; soft, noble eyes, such as bring tears into one's own, one knows not why. The form of the face was unusually fine, and the complexion clear brown or fair ; the hair beau- tiful." 2 That singular addition to their costume, the phylacteries, has already been described. When a Jew wished to make a profession of unusual strictness in observing the law, he en- larged their size, so as to make them a more striking object to the public eye. Mezuza was a name given to an appendage of a similar kind designed for the door-posts of their houses, both the " The Land of the Saracen." " Eastern Life.' 68 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. outer doors and their chambers, and attached also to the knockers of doors on the right side. They wrote on parch- ment with a peculiar kind of ink, Deut. vi. 4-9, and xi. 13 : the parchment was rolled up and put in a case on the out- side of which was inscribed HP Shadai, one of the names of God, and the case was nailed to the door-post. As often as they passed this they touched the name of the Deity with a finger which they afterwards kissed. The Mezuza are still used in Jewish houses, and may sometimes be seen in our own country. The Mezuza. 1 CHAPTER VII. JEWISH FESTIVALS. rilHBICE in the year every adult male was bound to appear ~L at Jerusalem ; namely, at the feasts of Passover, of Pen- tecost, and of Tabernacles. This seems to have been a great demand on their time and means ; but religious observances were to the Jews no simple pastime, but the main business of life ; as their Sabbath, Sabbatical years, their tithes, sacri- 1 This affords a good opportunity for elucidating Matt. v. 18: "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." The small letter on the left, the least in the Jewish alphabet is Yod, (Yot, Jot,) and the tips at the upper part of the letter on the right is what is meant by tittle (in the Greek of this pas- sage xtpaia, tip or horn). "Not the smallest letter or least part of a let- ter shall be dropped from the words of the law," &c. JEWISH FESTIVALS. 69 fices, and feasts and festivals may testify. Their whole polity was a great religious system. God, according to this, was their owner as well as king. Their means, and they them- selves, were his. He had a right to their first-born of chil- dren : the firstlings of their flocks had to be offered to him ; so also the first of their fruits : nay more ; of the remain- der, one-tenth was still to be taken to the temple ; or to be changed into money if the owner was too remote to offer the substance; the money to be given for religious uses. There were also numerous other offerings which we will not stop here to particularize. In lieu of taking the first-born child, (due to God because he had saved the first-born of Israel from the destroying angel in Egypt), he had accepted for himself a tribe, that of Levi, and had set it aside for his service. Of this tribe he had then taken a portion the distinguished family of Aaron for the priesthood; the remainder being reserved for the other offices of the tabernacle and temple. But even after this, the first-born of all children had to be brought to the temple, and had to be there redeemed with money, ac- cording to the estimate of the priest, which was never to exceed five shekels ($2,50) in amount. The first-born of cat- tle could not be redeemed, but had to be offered to God : so also the first-fruits of the earth. These three journeys to Jerusalem, made each year, were not the inconvenient, laborious tasks which they may per- haps seem to us to have been. The two extremes of Pales- tine were only 170 of our statute miles apart : from the most remote portions of it a good pedestrian could reach Jerusa- lem in about four days; travelling as they did, with fami- lies and cattle, this distance would take about six; the nearer places, of course, less in proportion. Their word for feast, an cliag, means rejoicing ; l and such was doubtless the feeling 1 From jjn to dance, to celebrate a feast by dancing. 70 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. strongest in the heart of old and young in their families, while making preparations for such a journey, and while they were on the way. The writer of this work is the more able to picture to himself this act of going up to their festivals from having once travelled a day and a half with companies of German pilgrims on their way to a celebrated shrine, that of Maria Zell, (the Virgin of Zell), lying about forty miles to the southward of Vienna. The circumstances were all so peculiar and marked with the picturesque, and were so illustrative of what may have been in Judea, in those ancient times, that he will briefly describe them, speaking in the first person for the sake of convenience. I was making a pedestrian tour through Europe, and was at this time (August, 1833), proceeding from Trieste to Vienna. Having stopped at a wayside inn for refresh- ment one day, after dinner, I was dozing on the porch when I was roused up by three women travellers standing there bargaining for some soup. They had great loaves of brown bread on their heads, and were soon, by such aid, engaged in making a hearty meal. I asked them where they were going, and they said, "to Maria Zell." My informant, pointing to one of the company added, "This woman is becoming blind, and wanted to go there and pray; for Maria of Zell is powerful to help; this other is quite blind already." "But surely you cannot expect Tier to be restored." "No, but she would not stay at home." The person speaking could see, and was their guide; their whole journey to the shrine would occupy nine days. On the second day after this, while travelling on, I was passed by a young man, a long staff in his hand, and going like the wind; and he soon left me behind. In answer to my inquiry, as he lingered a minute with me, he said that he was going to Maria Zell. That evening I crossed a small stream, and followed a JEWISH FESTIVALS. 71 winding road from it to the village of Fronleiten, on its bank, where I stopped to spend the next day, the Sabbath. At the tavern the} 7 gave me a bed in a large music room, as was often the case in the villages in Germany. Some time, during the night, it seemed as if the spirit of song was haunting the chamber and mixing itself with my dreams; and finally the music, soft yet strong, grew so powerful that I started from my sleep. The next act was to spring from my bed and to throw up a window opening upon the street. There was a spectacle below quite in unison with such dreams. The moon was about half an hour from setting, and cast a dim light on objects around. Along the middle of the street was a procession of pilgrims, in double file; they seemed, to my glance, to be all in white; and their rapid gait, in the dull moonlight, appeared more like the flitting of ghosts than the tread of earthly forms. As they passed, they were singing a hymn to some tune that harmo- nized with the scene and the occasion. They soon grew indistinct, and their hymn floated on the night air as if spirits were singing; and then we had again only the deserted street and the splashing of water in the fountain below. At sunrise I was again aroused by singing from many voices in the street; and found, on looking out, that it came from another company of pilgrims winding up from the river and entering the church. After concluding their worship, they proceeded on their way. Other processions succeeded ; and during the whole day, pilgrims were passing on towards Maria Zell. I found, on inquiry, that they were from the rural districts of Styria; that it was customary to make appointments each year, for particular districts, and that this was the year for pilgrims from that region. I began my journey early on the following day : and as the road, since leaving Gratz, had been most of the time ascend- ing, and was now fairly among the German Alps, the 72 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. scenery on every side was marked with grand and striking features. I knew that there were pilgrims not far ahead, and by rapid walking soon joined a company of thirty-five, seated on the grass, at their morning meal. They appeared to be a family party; and there was a venerable-looking man at the head of it, by whose word they were governed, as they presently arose and formed a procession in double file. They were all provided for the journey with huge loaves of bread, which the women carried on their heads. Not long after setting out, the leader uncovered his head, and all the other men doing the same, the whole party engaged in solemn prayer; still, however, continuing their walk. This over, the hats were replaced and they all commenced singing a hymn. The effect was very fine. Their voices were good; the tune was a pleasant one; the grandest and most sublime forms of nature were all around us; a stream was dashing by our side, mingling its sounds not inharmoniously with the singing; and the gentle moving of the forest trees, as we passed along, seemed by the graceful motions and the soft murmurings, to intimate that nature herself was joining in the worship offered to nature's God. I looked in the faces of my companions, and read there clear signs of the sincerity of their devotions. Thus we travelled on, the whole party engaged in singing and praying alternately, for more than an hour; at the end of which time we arrived at a little chapel by the roadside, which they entered in order to commence more formal devotions. Here I left them ; and passing on, I soon joined a party of about 150 resting in the little town of Oflanrls; and this company, being more miscellaneous, was organized more carefully than the other. They occupied much of the time, as we proceeded, in singing and prayer: a slight rain, lasting two or three hours, did not interrupt either the journey or their devotions. They also stopped in the afternoon ; and I proceeded and JEWISH FESTIVALS. 73 joined a party of about 250, a little further on the road. Their singing, as we travelled on, had the finest effect ima- ginable: for the rain had now ceased ; we were quite up, among the highest parts of the Alps; the softening influ- ences of evening were beginning to be felt upon the scenery, and upon our feelings; and, if to this, we add that the voices were good, and the airs musical and swevt, some idea may be formed of the evening walk, as our procession passed, winding among the mountain tops. About sunset, we came to a small village, and stopped to rest. I walked a little to one side, so as to have a view, at leisure, of the mountain scenery : for the spot commanded a most extensive prospect; and every Alpine height was now steeped in its own peculiar hue, running through the richest shades of blue, purple, green and yellow; while over some, floated canopies of vapor with ever-changing colors, which no human art could imitate. I soon, however, thought it best to return to my company : but they were gone, nor could I find them anywhere! The road in each' direction was in sight, for some distance ; but they were not there. I looked around, perplexed and troubled : till, at last, hap- pening to raise my eyes, I espied them scattered thickly over an adjoining hill-side so steep that I had previously not thought of looking for them there. It is called the " Seher- berg;" and is so steep, that, in climbing it, I often had to dig holes in the turf with my feet before trusting myself to the next step. On the way up, I passed four pilgrims at prayer, on a more level part of the ascent. When I joined the company again, which was on the summit, I found them all on their knees, in an open area among the trees. Their faces were toward their homes ; and their leader was re- peating something which seemed to be half-vow, half-prayer. Suddenly they all rose, and faced in the contrary direction ; when, kneeling again, they repeated their devotions: and then, all rising, they broke, with full, strong voices, into a 74 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. hymn, the cadences of which were well adapted to the scene and the time. In double file, as before, and still singing, they descended the hill by a slope more gentle than on the opposite side ; and, at the bottom, we passed a large stone, which many of the company stepped to, and kissed. We came, soon after this, to a large tavern, which the pilgrims immediately filled, as their resting-place for the night. I went on to another, four miles distant; but which I found, on arriving there, to be already filled, like the other ; I how- ever succeeded there in getting a bed. On the morrow I joined this latter party, and went with them towards the shrine. At the expiration of a couple of hours, a bright object, like a gilded sun on top of a steeple, shone among the trees; and now, by a little way-side chapel, the whole company stopped for formal prayer. Soon after- wards we reached the precincts of the village, Maria Zell ; but before entering it my companions stepped aside to make their toilet at a stream crossing the road. At the church I found many others advancing on their knees through the court-yard toward the shrine. We may, from these scenes, have probably some idea of the circumstances attending the going up to the festivals at Jerusalem, in those ancient times. The chief difficulty with the German pilgrims was in finding accommodations for the night : but in those southern countries, people, when at home, often sleep from choice in the open air. The simlah, wrapped around the Jewish travellers, with the girdle folded and laid on a stone for a pillow, \vas all that was needed in that climate. Such was doubtless the night-rest of their Patriarch Jacob, when, travelling in this same country, he saw, in his dream, the angels ascending and descending; and so, in the morning he called his open-air liostdrie, where the bright stars had shone down upon him, and heaven's vault was the dome, a fit place for dreaming of angels Bethel, or the house of God. JEWISH FESTIVALS. 75 The object of the Jewish festivals was " to perpetuate the memory of great events; to keep them firm in their religion by ceremonies and the majesty of divine service; to procure them certain pleasures, and allowable times of rest; and to renew the acquaintances, correspondence and friendship of their tribes and families, which, corning from distant towns in the country, met three times a year in the holy city." 1 The periods for the festivals were: for the Passover, just when the harvest was ripening, but the gathering had not yet begun ; for Pentecost, fifty days after this, when the har- vesting had been finished ; for the feast of Tabernacles, just before seeding time had commenced : periods, consequently, when time among agriculturists could very well be spared : and the Jews were generally cultivators of the soil. Then, as regards weather, the feast of Tabernacles was about our 15th of October, before the rainy season had set in : Pente- cost was at a time when not a cloud is ever seen in Pales- tine, but yet prior to the hot season : the Passover was on the 14th Nisan, which month corresponded to the latter part of our March and beginning of April ; and at the 14th Nisan we may consider the weather of that country to have recovered from the wintry storms, and to have become settled and clear; for, from the middle of April to the middle of September, rains and thunders are there little known. The weather, therefore, for these journeys we may believe to have been clear, but not warm, and favorable for travel- ling: the time could easily be spared, and the periods came when the heart was open for rejoicing and thankfulness. We may easily imagine the members of families, male and female, including the children fit for travel (for all seem to have gone, although it was compulsory only on the adult males) starting together, joining other families from their 1 Calraet. 76 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. neighborhood, or on the road ; cheerful, happy parties, and all the happier for the "pic-nic" kind of living on the way; making the journey easy, since there was no occasion for hurrying, and they were subject to little expense on the road. The morning and evening and other occasional devotions added a sacredness to the day ; and the cheerfulness in other incidents of the journey had only a better zest from this devotion. Their grand and noble hymns (and time, even to our day, has furnished no grander or more sublime hymn- ology) were chanted ; and, often and often, the full tones, in that rich Hebrew language, rose in sublime anthems in the clear air, amid the very regions of which those anthems spoke; the mountains and plains, all witnesses of God's miraculous powers, seeming now to take a voice and to join the singers in the great anthems of praise. The cattle in- tended for the coming sacrifices helped to carry the offerings of the first fruits or other burdens of the travellers : the horns of the oxen were sometimes gilded ; trumpets were blown before the processions, to herald joyfully their ad- vances towards the holy city, the temple, and the altars. The children had with them their pet lamb or kid, also decked and sporting along, unconscious of the death so closely awaiting it ; and resting at night with the head of the child nestled against it the animal itself still, as always before, a part of the family group. It was to be the coming sacrifice, was thus a part of their religion itself was to go before God accepted by him, from and for them ; and was to open their way towards paradise, and so was a sacred object even in its sportiveness : and then again, the children while hanging around their pet, with many a secret grief at the near final parting, were told of Abraham, leading even his favorite son for sacrifice at the same Mount Moriah to which they were travelling, and of his faith which they could now all the better appreciate from the trial required of themselves. Thus were infused into their young hearts JEWISH FESTIVALS. 77 the lessons of their religion by practical teachings so well understood and never to be forgotten. But, on the whole journey, apart from the beauty of the scenery amid which the roads were laid, there were to all minds and hearts, historic lessons of strangest character and highest interest. If we suppose the festival journey to be from the northern part of Galilee, we see the travellers soon on the great plain of Esdraelon, vast in extent, and rich in beauty, on which rose the dome-shaped Tabor, with a town perched on its fortified heights. But the interest in natural beauty was sure to be mixed with grander thoughts ; for there, on Tabor, had their countryman, Barak, ranged his host of 10,000 men, while Sisera, with his immense army, and his 900 chariots of iron, waited to engage the Israelites on the plain below. There had the fearless prophetess, De- borah, without whom Barak had said that he would not go down, cried out to him, " Up, for this is the day : is not the Lord gone out before thee?" And so they had rushed down ; and the whole plain was soon covered with the flying enemy, slaughtered till not a man was left, except Sisera, who was spared to be slain by a woman's hand, because Barak had doubted God. How heartily, as the travellers passed on, did they now chant Deborah's song of victory, " Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel" ending with " So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord." 1 Far to the west of them now rose gradually on the edge of the plain and in full view, Carmel, with its history of Ahab's heathen priests, gathered there by order of Elijah; the altars prepared there; the priests cutting their own flesh in frenzy, and call- ing on their gods in vain; and the heavenly lire, at Elijah's prayer, descending and consuming his sacrifice, and licking up the water in the trenches around. Soon the way laid by Jezreel, with its story of Elijah's hurried arrival there with 1 Judges iv. and 7* 78 LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. the king, after the prophets of Baal had been slain in Ivi- shon, on the western side of Esdraelon; and of the windows of heaven then opened in rain ; and also of Jezebel's fear- ful end under the walls of Jezreel. 1 On their left, also, lay Endor, telling of Saul's night journey thither from the neighboring mountain of Gilboa, where his army lay en- camped : and of the summons to the spirit of Samuel, and of the king's heart-rending ciy to the dead prophet, " God is departed from me and heareth me no more." 2 Further to the east they could see the isolated hill of Scythopolis (Beth- shean) with precipitous sides, and a castle on its summit, against the walls of which the decapitated body of Saul had been nailed by his triumphant foes. 3 What lessons of most powerful interest there were in all this journey to their fes- tivals ! Soon now, toward the southern side of Esdraelon, they passed the isolated range of Gilboa, 1,300 feet high, where Saul was defeated and slain : and here, with their chanting, mingled saddest notes, as filled with the memory of the great slaughter of their countrymen, they sang the lament of David, " The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen! Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askalon ; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain upon you, nor fields of offerings; 4 for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil. How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle !" 5 Their journey might lead also by Sychem and Jacob's well ; and they could picture the patriarch returned once 1 1 Kings xviii. ; 2 Kings ix. 2 1 Sam. xxviii. 3 1 Samuel xxxi. 4 Gilboa is to this day remarkable for its barrenness. * 2 Samuel i. JEWISH FESTIVALS. 79 more to his native land, and finding here for a while, his home; and here, too, looking upon the two mountains, Ebal and Gerizim, they were reminded of the strange scene of blessing and cursing in the ancient times, to each item of which all Israel gathered there said, Amen. Shiloh also was on their way, with its mementos of the ark resting there for 328 years : and of Samuel brought up there : and of the sudden death of Eli, when it was an- nounced to him that his countrymen were routed in battle, and his children slain. Then they passed Bethel, where Jacob had his dream of the angels ; their whole journey from home to Jerusalem being indeed, through regions where history took to them a living and speaking form. Thus in prayer, and in singing their grand old hymns, and in pleasant intercourse they passed on ; until at last, having reached the heights of Scopus, they paused in mute admiration and joyfulness: and then they broke out in shouts of loudest praise: for, from this elevation, they looked down over a wide scene of beauty, in the midst of which lay " the joy of the whole earth," their own blest, sacred city, Jerusalem. On the road the crowds had thickened, new companies all the while uniting ; not as for one of our modern gather- ings, but for a deeply sacred and yet a glad purpose : devo- tion and joy mingled harmoniously and beamed on every face ; old associates were there with cordial greetings ; friends met from all parts of Palestine to strengthen the heart-bonds already formed. Of the feasts of Tabernacles and Passover we shall have notices in a future part of this work. The ceremonies at Pentecost were brief, and we give them here as a suitable conclusion to this part of our subject. The word Pentecost signifies the 50th : and was used because this feast was on o * the 50th day, that is, the expiration of seven weeks from the second day of the Passover feast. The object of it was So LIFE-SCENES FROM THE FOUR GOSPELS. to bring the Jews to acknowledge in the sanctuary at this, the ending of their harvest, the dominion of God over the fruits of the earth ; and also to thank him for the law given on Mount Sinai, on the fiftieth day after their coming out from Egypt. Assembled at Jerusalem, they formed into companies of twenty-four persons each, to carry their first- fruits in a ceremonious manner. Each company was preceded by an ox appointed to be sacrificed, his head crowned with gar- lands of olive branches, his horns sometimes gilded, a player on a flute preceding him. The offering of first-fruits con- sisted of two loaves of wheat bread, barley, grapes, figs, olives and dates. Each man carried his basket, and the king himself was not exempt from this act. They walked in pomp to the temple, singing hymns : and having arrived there before the priests, the Levites sang the 30th Psalm. The bearers then brought their baskets before the priest, and said : "A Syrian ready to perish was my father; and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and be- came there a nation, great, mighty and populous," &c. "And now, O Lord, I have brought the first-fruits of the land, which thou, O Lord, hast given me." 1 They placed the baskets beside the altar, and after pros- trating themselves, were free then for the social enjoyments of the occasion. Such was the nature of the Jewish institutions, and such their legitimate actions; a pleasing spectacle where religion and social joy were combined, and each helped to give a zest to the other; and where all life was made grand by its intimate relationship to God. 1 Deut. xxvi. 4-10 : see also Numbers xxviii. 26-31. THE UNWRITTEN WORD. Si CHAPTER VIII. THE UNWRITTEN WORD THE TALMUD S,