essential points, but only granted to Archelaus the title of Ethnarch
6 Literally "governor of a fourth part," but applied indefinitely to p?tty
princes.
B.C. 4-A.D. 27. FAMILY OF HEROD. 241
("/Zu/er of a Tribe or Nation"). After a few years his tyranny pro-
voked an appeal to Augustus, who suddenly summoned him to Rome
and banished him to Vienna (Vienne), in Gaul (A.D. 7). Thus
" the sceptre departed from Judah," and Judaea, including Sama-
ria and part of Galilee, was annexed to the Roman province of Syr-
ia, but was separately governed by councils, under a procurator, whc
resided at Caesarea.
In Galilee and Peraea, HEROD ANTIPAS, or, as he is commonly
jailed in the Gospels, HEROD THE TETRARCH, aspired to be the pa-
tron and protector of the Jews. He appears twice in the Gospels ;
as the hearer and the murderer of John the Baptist, and as taking
part with Pilate in the condemnation of our Lord, who sums up the
weak but crafty character of Antipas in the epithet "that fox"
(Luke xiii. 32). After a government of forty-three years, his ambi-
tion to obtain the royal crown, and his intrigues against his nephew,
Herod Agrippa I., 6 brought upon him the sentence of deposition
from Caligula (A.D. 39), who banished him to Lugdunum (Lyon), in
Gaul ; so that the "king and ruler," who " took counsel together
against the Lord and his anointed," were neighbors in their exile.
PHILIP, or HEROD PHILIP, the tetrarch of Ituraca, Trachonitis,
and Batanaea that is, of the northern part of the country east of
Jordan was brought up at Rome, like his half-brothers Archelaus
and Antipas ; and he indulged the tastes acquired there by build-
ing the beautiful city of Coesarea Philippi, by the chief source of the
Jordan, at the foot of Anti-Libanus. This city, on the extreme
northern limit of Palestine, was also the northern limit of our
Lord's journeys, and the scene of one of his most momentous dis-
courses, when he sought a refuge both from the Jews and Herod
under the just and moderate rule of Philip (Matt. xvi. ; Mark viii.).
On Philip's death in A.D. 33, his tetrarchy was annexed to the prov-
ince of Syria.
We can now understand the concurrent dates, which St. Luke so
carefully assigns to the event which St. Mark properly calls " the
beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ," namely, the preaching of
his forerunner, JOHN THE BAPTIST, in the wilderness of Judasa''
(Luke iii. 1, 2 ; Mark i. 1 ; Matt. iii. 1). His mission, as foretold
6 This prince, under whom, by the favor of Caligula, the dominions ot
Herod were for a short time re-uuited, will be spoken of in the history of
ihe Apostles.
7 " Lysanias being tetrarch of Abilene:" this was a small and beautiful
region on the eastern slope of Anti-Libanus. " The fifteenth year of Tiberi-
us," reckoned from his association with Augustus in A.D. 12, brings ns to
A.I). 26, the date usually received ; but the fifteenth year of his own reign
would bring us to A.D. '.'s.
Q
242 SCRIPTURE HISTORY. CHAP. XXI.
by Malachi, was, like that of Elijah, to enforce repentance and amend-
ment of life on a thoroughly corrupt and ungodly generation, as the
only means of entering into that "kingdom of heaven" which he
declared to be " at hand;" and all who were willing to begin this
new life were enrolled by baptism, the well-known form by which
proselytes were admitted to the Jewish Church. The chief men of
the nation,' forming the rival sects of the Pharisees and Sadducees,
" frustrated the counsel of God against themselves, being not bap-
tized of him ;" but it was otherwise with the mass of the people, es-
pecially the Publicans. 8 Of these, "Jerusalem and all Judaja, and
all the region round about Jordan, were baptized of him in Jordan,
confessing their sins " (Matt. iii. ; Mark i. ; Luke iii.).
Assuming that John began his ministry, like Jesus, at the pre-
."ribed Levitical age of thirty (Luke iii. 23 ; comp. Numbers iv. 3,
35, 39, 43, 47), it had lasted about six months (to the end of A.D.
26), when Jesus came from Nazareth to submit himself to the in-
itiatory rite. "For thus," he said, "it became him to fulfill all
righteousness" all the claims of the law upon the sinner, in whose
likeness he had come, though having himself no sin to wash away.
As he came up from the water, a double sign was given from heaven
to the eyes and ears of the people among whom he stood. They
saw the sky open, and a dove the emblem of the Spirit of God
descending and resting upon him ; they heard a voice from heaven
that Voice of God which was known as the Bath-Col 9 attesting
his mission : " THOU ART MY BELOVED SON, IN WHOM I AM WELL
PLEASED." All saw and heard; but to John it was revealed bv
God that these signs marked him whose coming he had announced
as One greater than himself, "who should baptize with./zre and the
Holy Ghost" with an inward, thorough, spiritual purification.
After being thus shown for a moment, Jesus was withdrawn
from the eyes of the people, for he, as well as they, needed a fur-
ther preparation. While they remained, or returned to their homes,
to learn further and to practise the repentance preached by John,
he was led, or, as Mark says, " driven " (like Elijah) by the Spirit
into the wilderness, to undergo, during forty days and nights of
solitude and fasting, the great moral trial of his humanity the
second great trial of human nature itself. And it came to him in
the same threefold form as the first, by the agency of Satan appeal-
This name, which properly denotes the great farmers of the Roman reve-
nue, was also applied to the subordinate officers who collected the tribute
(properly called portitores). The latter are the "Publicans" of the New
Testament a class doubly hateful for their extortion, and as the officers of
the foreign master.
Literally " daughter of the voice,"
B.C. 4-A.D. 27. JOHN THE BAPTIST. 243
ing to the pleasures of sense, the love of praise, the desire of gain.
" He was in all points tempted just as we are, yet without sin ' ;
(Matt. iv. 1-11; Mark i. 12, 13 ; Luke iv. 1-13).
It was probably during his absence that the rulers at Jerusalem,
alarmed at the news that came from the desert, sent priests imd
Levites requiring John to tell them plainly who he was, and received
the answer which marked him as the forerunner of the Messiah, as
foretold by Isaiah (John i. 19-25; romp. Deut. xviii. 15, 18 ; and
Isa. xl. 3). But presently this denial of his own Messiahship was
followed by the emphatic words, " There standeth one ainony you,
whom ye know not," who was his Lord and theirs. For Jesus had
now returned from the scene of his temptation ; and, on the next
day, John pointed to him in person as " THE LAMB OF GOD, THAT
TAKETII AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD." But SUC'h is the law by
which truth works this public proclamation was less effective than
its private repetition on the following day apparently about the
time of tiie evening sacrifice to two of John's disciples, of whom
one was ANDREW, and the other (we may safely declare from in-
ternal evidence) was the Evangelist JOHN, who tells the story. In
his words we read how these two followed Jesus, and how Andrew
sought his brother Peter with the assurance, "We have found the
Messiah," and so, on that evening, three fishermen, sitting with
Jesus in a hut beside the Jordan, already formed the CHRISTIAN
CHURCH ; how, on the next day, as Jesus went on to Galilee, the
little band was increased by the call of PHILIP, of Bethsaida, who
brought his friend NATHANAEL, W of Cana; and in what weighty
words Jesus already told them the mysteries of his future course,
and the parts suited to their characters (John i. 26-51).
Thus early surrounded by the first of those "chosen witnesses of
all his deeds, who ate and drank with him" (Acts x. 39, 41), he
gave the first proof of his divine power, in the narrow circle of a
family party, by performing, at his mother's invitation but not
without a rebuke of her too great eagerness to see him put forth
his claims the miracle of turning water into wine at the marriage-
feast at Cana, in Galilee (John ii. 1-12). This wonder so signifi-
cant of the nature of his kingdom was "the beginning of his
miracles," not only as the first in time, but as introducing the great
principle of all his miracles, at once to "make manifest his glory, '
nnd to cause " his disciples to believe on him" (ver. 11). His re-
tirement to Capernaum, with his mother, brethren, nnd disciples, for
tli<> brief space before the opening of his public ministry at Jerusa-
lem, brings us to the eve of the Passover of A.D. 27 (John ii. 12).
10 His more usual name BAB-THOJ.OMKW (itapSoXo/iaior) is a patronymic,
meaning " Sou of Talmai " (Matt. x. 3 ; Mark iii. 18 ; Lnke vi. 14).
CHAPTER XXII.
FIRST YEAR OF CHRIST'S PrBLIC MINISTRY. FROM HIS FIRST
TO HIS SECOND PASSOVER. A.D. 27, 28.
ST. JOHN'S narrative now carries our Saviour up to the Passover
at Jerusalem, and relates some incidents of great importance ; and
then takes him back to Galilee to enter on his ministry in that land
to which the other three Evangelists pass directly from his baptism.
And the reason is plain. The first three Evangelists dwell upon
our Saviour's ministry in Galilee, where his public preaching really
began. The Galilean disciples, from whom they derived their in-
formation, were either (like Matthew himself) not yet called, or (like
Peter and Andrew, Philip and Nathanael) were not yet called as
his constant followers. These four appear to have remained at
home, while John, already "the beloved disciple," alone went up
with Jesus to Jerusalem, and saw and heard the deeds and dis-
courses which he relates manifestly of his own knowledge (John
ii., iii., iv.). Over this ground, then, we have to follow him.
A.D. 27, 28. CHRIST AT JERUSALEM. 245
After the short stay at Capernaum, John adds : "And the Jews'
Passover was at hand," and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Mala-
chi's prophecy of the "messenger," who, God said, was to be sent
" to prepare the way before me," goes on, " and the Lord, whom ye
seek, shall suddenly come to his temple" (Mai. iii. 1). On these
words the Jews, ever "seeking for a sign, 1 ' are said to have built
the expectation of some signal appearance of the Messiah in glory v
which would at once reveal him to the worshippers. But they
knew him not when he appeared to rebuke the traffic and disorder
by which they profaned the temple to make gain out of the visitors
to the Passover. 1 He did come with authority, driving out the pol-
lutions, and calling the house of God " MY FATHER'S house." But
this only provoked cavil ; and their demand for a sign was answer-
ed by his prophecy of the murderous lengths to which their unbe-
lief would rage against him, and of the crowning evidence which
would be given by his resurrection (John ii. 13-22). To this sign
he added miracles, which gained many hasty hollow converts (John
ii. 23-25). The most genuine, and not the less so for his hesitation,
was one of the most unlikely and the most secret in his profession ;
but the Pharisee and ruler who came to Jesus by night, and meek-
ly submitted to have his learned ignorance rebuked and enlighten-
ed, afterwards spoke up for him in the Sanhedrim, and helped to
lay his body in the tomb. Meanwhile the timid faith of Nicodemus
was rewarded by that wondrous discourse which contains the spirit-
ual essence of the Gospel, and which we can not doubt that John
sat by and heard (John iii. 1-21).
The statement that "Jesus did not commit himself" to those
professed disciples, whose hearts he too well knew (John ii. 24, 25),
seems to imply a scheme for proclaiming him thus early as King
of the Jews ; for their passions were now fermenting beneath the
tyranny of Pilate," and the Passover was the usual season of insur-
rection. Such may have been the reason of his withdrawing, witli
those disciples who chose to follow him, to the country districts of
Judaea. Here he began openly to receive converts, who were bap-
tized, not by himself, but by his disciples ; and the rapid increase of
his followers called forth from John the Baptist that discourse to
his jealous disciples which formed his last and clearest testimony
to Christ and his Gospel (John iii. 22-2G ; comp. iv. 1, 2). It was
while Christ " tarried " some time in those parts (ii. 22) that John
was thrown into prison by Herod ; and the removal of the one
! The sheep, oxen, and doves were for sale to the worshippers for sacri-
fices ; the tables of the money-changers for the convenience of those who
had to pay the temple-tax of half a shekel.
* Pontius Pilate was Procurator of Jndsea. A. p. 20-30.
246 SCRIPTURE HISTORY. CHAP. XXII
prophet may have encouraged the Jews to plot against the other
(John iv. 1, 2). Upon hearing both of John's imprisonment and of
their schemes, Jesus resolved to remove from Judaea into Galilee
(ver. 3 ; Matt. iv. 12). This may seem a strange step, considering
that it was Herod who had imprisoned John. But our Lord's real
danger was from the Je\vs ; and in the retired district round the
Lake of Galilee he would be safe from Herod till he gave him somo
personal offense.
The route which Christ followed is particularly marked by John .
" He must needs go through Samaria " (John iv. 4) that is, the
district, not the city. It is by no means to be assumed that this
was just the natural route. Even from Jerusalem, travellers often
followed the route up the Jordan, to avoid contact with the hated
Samaritans ; and the appearance of a Jewish traveller at Jacob's
Well was unusual enough to cause surprise. But from our Lord's
starting-point, on the Jordan, and apparently rather high up its
course, the valley of the river was much the nearest road to the
Lake of Galilee ; and he went out of his way, when he turned to
the left through a pass leading into the valley of Sliechem. Hence
St. John's use of that "ms<," the force of which we have now to
notice. It marks the order in which our Saviour's public mission
was fulfilled. Driven from Jerusalem and Judaea, he repaired to
the more ancient sanctuary of Israel, where Abraham, Jacob, and
Joshua had set up the worship of Jehovah. Sitting by the well,
which tradition still cherishes as the gift of Jacob, in the valley be-
tween Mounts Gerizim andEbal, he expounded to a degraded wom-
an of the half-heathen people of Sychar (Shechem), who yet boasted
to be the true children of the patriarchs, his own great gift of living
water in the heart, and the spiritual worship which should supersede
that both of Jerusalem and Gerizim. Her eagerness to impart the
news to her fellow-townsmen brought to him disciples, who at once
received him with that spiritual faith in his true mission which the
Jews had wanted: "We have heard him ourselves, and know that
this is indeed the CHRIST, the Saviour of the world" (John iv.
1-42).
After two days spent at Sychar with these earnest converts, Jesne
went on to Galilee, where it was appointed for him to begin the
public preaching of his Gospel, and where he well knew the rejection
that awaited him : " For Jesus himself testified that a prophet hath
no honor in his own country" (John iv. 43, 44). Let the young
reader observe that this saying so often misquoted by the querulous
selfishness of men who forsooth call themselves prophets is not the
reason for his leaving Judaza to avoid contumely, but for his going
on to Galilee to face it. At first the Galileans "received him."
A.D. 27, 28. CHRIST'S RETURN TO GALILEE. 247
Many of them had been to the Passover and seen his miracles at
Jerusalem ; and they were proud to have their own prophet back
among them (John iv. 45). Their true spirit is disclosed by his own
words, " Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe "
(John iv. 48). It was probably to avoid their curiosity that he
went to Cana, living (it seems) in quiet retirement, till a courtier
of Herod Antipas, residing at Capernaum, came to ask him to heal
his son of a fever ; and his seconc 1 miracle wrought at this favored
spot proved the power of his word to act afar as well as near (John
iv. 46-54).
And now the time had come for the opening of our Lord's public
ministry as the Prophet and Teacher of his Gospel. At Jerusalem
he had offered himself in the temple, the centre of religion, and on
the great feast which was his own type, to Jews from all parts of
the world, and specially to the priests and rulers, by signs, which
ought to have revealed their expected Messiah. But their hearts
were hardened, and their eyes were blinded ; and the plain and
open preaching of his Gospel in words was reserved for the least
likely part of the Jewish world. It was fit that the message of sal-
vation alike to Jew and Gentiie should be proclaimed in that part
of the Jewish land whose mixed population was by birth half hea-
then, and for that reason probably the freer from Judaic narrowness.
"Galilee of the Gentiles" had been named by Isaiah, seven centuries
before, as the land on which the promised " day-spring " should first
rise, and now "The people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light
sprang up " (Isa. ix. 1,2; Matt. iv. 14-16). "The word ivhich be-
gan from GALILEE, after the baptism which John preached," is St.
Peter's description of our Saviour's ministry (Acts x. 37) ; and the
first two Evangelists date its commencement from his arrival in
Galilee after the imprisonment of John the Baptist ; while Luke
marks it still more emphatically by the words, "And Jesus returned
IN THE rowEU OF THE SPIRIT into Galilee " (Matt. iv. 12 ; Mark i.
15; Luke iv. 14). The "fame of him, which went out throughout
all the regions round about" (Luke, /. c.), seems to refer to the quiet
time he spent at Cana; but soon "he taught in their synagogues,
being glorified of all" (ibid.), "preaching the GOSPEL OF THE
KINGDOM OF GOD, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom,
of God is at hand: repent ye and believe the Gospel " (Mark i. 15).
These first words seem only to re-echo the note of preparation sound-
ed by his forerunner, but with one striking difference he invites to
FAITH as well as repentance. And he soon revealed the GOSPEL
which they were required to believe, and he chose one Sabbath and
one synagogue to expound more plainly the prophecies which, in
248 SCRIPTURE HISTORY. CHAP. XXII
foretelling the time which now was fulfilled, pointed to himself as
the Messiah, the King of that promised kingdom.
Following that order of quiet and natural progress which was the
law of his kingdom working like leaven, and appealing first to those
who ought to have been prepared to receive it "He came to his
own, and his own received him not." Coming to his home at Naz-
areth, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath-day, " as his cus-
itom was." According to the usage of the synagogues, he was in-
vited to read the Scriptures and to address the people. The " minis
ter" or clerk of the synagogue handed to him from the sacred chest
a roll, which, in the regular course, happened (as men say) to ba
"the Book of the prophet Isaiah." He opened it and read this
passage: " The Spirit of Jehovah is upon me, because he hath
anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to
heal the broken-hearted, and to preach deliverance to the captives,
and recovering of sight to the blind ; to set at liberty them that are
bound; to preach the acceptable year of Jehovah " (Isa. Ixi. 1,2),
the Jubilee of the world. He closed the book, and returned it to
the officer of the synagogue who kept the sacred rolls, and sat down.
But all eyes remained fixed upon him in an expectation, which he
satisfied rather than surprised, by announcing himself as the CHRIST,
who was thus filled with the Spirit, to preach this Gospel : ' ' THIS
DAY IS THIS SCRIPTURE FULFILLED IN YOUR EARS." It is hard for
us to understand the effect of this announcement. If a new proph-
et, who had proved himself such by no doubtful miracles, were to
stand up in one of our churches, and to follow the reading of the
unfulfilled prophecies of the Millennium by the same words, our
astonishment might be some measure of theirs, and (such is human
nature) the like incredulity would soon prevail.
At first the hearers were divided between admiration of the
Prophet and offense at his origin, as the son of their humble fel-
low-townsman Joseph. But when, foreseeing that they would
raise the selfish cry for signs and wonders to glorify his own city,
Jesus intimated that he was sent to the Gentiles such as the Sido-
nian widow to whom Elijah ministered, and the Syrian leper whom
Elisha healed, the prophet's own countrymen being passed over in
both cases then their wonder turned to rage. They dragged him
out of the city, to cast him from the hill on which it was'built ; but he
passed unseen from the midst of them, and went his way and came
to Capernaum, on the Lake of Galilee (Luke iv. 16-31). His resi-
dence at this city, which had already witnessed one of his greatest
miracles, and perhaps more, is referred to by himself as having
raised the place to heaven in privilege, though its unbelief cast it
down to hell (Matt. xi. 23). Meanwhile the place became the
A.D. 27, 28. CHRIST AT NAZARETH. 249
centre from which the "great light," predicted by Isaiah, shone
round upon the land of the old tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali,
"the people that walked in darkness," and "sat in the region and
shadow of death."
Henceforth our Saviour's chief resort was the margin of that
beautiful lake which is variously called the Sea of Galilee, of
Tiberias, and of Gennesareth. " He walked by the Sea of Galilee."
Days begun in preaching were filled up with the relief of hundredi
tvho were sick, maimed, or tormented with devils ; and the ensuing
nights were spent in lonely agonies of prayer, or in crossing over
the stormy lake. Here Christ is first presented to our view as
preaching the Word of God to such multitudes that he was fain to
seek a station whence to address them on the lake itself. Two fish-
ing-boats were drawn up on the beach, while their owners were em-
ployed in washing their nets. Jesus entered one of them, which
was Simon's, as St. Luke simply tells us, without any allusion to his
previous call. But the command to SIMON and his brother AN-
DRKW, to put out into deep water and let down their nets, called
forth the recognition "Master" "at THY word." It is needless
to repeat the details of the miraculous draught, which he explain-
ed to Peter by the promise, "Henceforth thou shalt catch men."
They left all fish, nets, and ship to become now his constant
followers ; and the same course was taken by their partners JAMES
and JOHN, whom Christ called as they were mending their nets
upon the shore (Luke v. 1-11 ; Matt, iv! 18-22; Mark i. 16-20).
Their call was followed on the ensuing Sabbath by the casting
out of a devil in the synagogue at Capernaum, and the healing of
Peter's wife's mother of a fever on the same evening. Then, as soon
as sunset ended the Sabbath, a number of diseased persons and de-
moniacs were brought to him to be healed. The ever-comforting
prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled, " Himself took our infirmities, and
bare our sicknesses" (Luke iv. 31-41 ; Mark i. 21-34 ; Matt. viii.
14-17; comp. Isa. liii. 4). The devils, as they left the possessed
bodies, repeated the witness borne by the one cast out in the syna-
gogue, "Thou art Christ the Son of God ;" but he at once silenced
;he testimony which seems designed to bring upon him the charge
"of casting out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils." This
is nor. the place to discuss the subject of demoniacal possession, the
reality of which is clearly taught in Scripture. Sin was the first
cause of all disease ; and when Satan tempted men to sin, he
gained a power over the body, the limits of which we can not un-
derstand ; but in the full control of Christ over the evil spirits we
sec at once the proof of his mission and the means of resisting their
power over us : "Jesus went about healing all that were oppressed
250
SCRIPTURE HISTORY.
CHAP. XXII.
of the devil." The memorable Sabbath, the events of which arc
thus circumstantially recorded, may give us an example of our
Lord's labors in his ministry, and show us how he fulfilled his own
great saying concerning doing good on the Sabbath-aays : "My
Father worketh hitherto, and I work."
Map of Galilee.
The next morning shows us another aspect of our Saviour's char-
acter. Instead of indolent repose after such a day of labor, he