Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Then he suffered him. 16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove P[, and] lighting upon him: 17 and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

P omitted by some of

not come for that:-as yet, now, are we in another relation (viz. our Lord as the fulfiller of the law, John as a minister of it), therefore suffer it.' "This now' is spoken from the Lord's foreknowledge, that this relation of subjection to John was only temporary, and that hereafter their relative situations would be inverted." Meyer. Stier remarks that now was fulfilled the prophetic announcement of Ps. xl. 7, 8. us] not for me, but for me and thee. I cannot help thinking that this word glances at the relationship and previous acknowledged destinations of the speakers. It has however a wider sense, as spoken by Him who is now first coming forth officially as the Son of Man, extending over all those whose baptism plants them in his likeness, Rom. vi. righteousness] requirements of the law. See ch. vi. 1, where the sense is general, as here. 16. baptized] On this account I would make the following remarks. (1) The appearance and voice seem to have been manifested to our Lord and the Baptist only. They may have been alone at the time: or, if not, we have an instance in Acts ix. 7, of such an appearance being confined to one person, while the others present were unconscious of it. We can hardly however, with some of the Fathers, say, that it was "a spiritual beholding,”. or that "the appearance was a vision, not reality." (2) The Holy Spirit descended not only in the manner of a dove, but in bodily shape (Luke): which I cannot understand in any but the literal sense, as THE BODILY SHAPE OF A DOVE, seen by the Baptist. There can be no objection to this, the straightforward interpretation of the narrative, which does not equally apply to the Holy Spirit being visible at all, which John himself asserts Him to have been (John i. 32-34), even more expressly than is asserted here. Why the Creator Spirit may not have assumed an organized body bearing symbolical meaning, as well as any other material form, does not seem clear. This was the ancient, and is the only honest interpretation. All the modern explanations of the "like a dove," as importing the manner of coming down, VOL. I.

our earliest MSS.

[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

t Eph. i. 6. Col. i. 13. 2 Pet. i. 17.

belong to the vain rationalistic attempt to reduce down that which is miraculous. The express assertion of St. Luke, and the fact that all four Evangelists have used the same expression, which they would not have done if it were a mere medium of comparison, are surely a sufficient refutation of this rationalizing (and, I may add, blundering) interpretation. (3) Two circumstances may be noticed respecting the manner of the descent of the Spirit: it was, as a dove-the Spirit as manifested in our Lord was gentle and benign. This was not a sudden and temporary descent of the Spirit, but a permanent though special anointing of the Saviour for his holy office. It abode upon Him,' John i. 32. And from this moment His ministry and mediatorial work (in the active official sense) begins. Immediately, the Spirit carries Him away to the wilderness: the day of His return thence (possibly; but see notes on John i. 29) John points Him out as the Lamb of God: then follows the calling of Andrew, Peter, Philip, and Nathanael, and the third day after is the first miracle at the marriage in Cana. But we must not imagine any change in the nature or person of our Lord to have taken place at his baptism. The anointing and crowning are but signs of the official assumption of the power which the king has by a right independent of, and higher than these. (4) The whole narrative is in remarkable parallelism with that of the Transfiguration. There we have our Lord supernaturally glorified in the presence of two great prophetic personages, Moses and Elias, who speak of His decease, -on the journey to which He forthwith sets out (ch. xvii. 22, compared with xix. 1); and accompanied by the same testimony of the voice from heaven, uttering the same words, with an addition accordant with the truth then symbolized. (5) In connexion with apocryphal additions, the following are not without interest: When Jesus had gone down to the water, a flame was lit up in the Jordan: and when He had come up from the water, lo, the heavens, &c. See also, my Greek Test. on this passage.

C

u see 1 Kings xviii. 12. Ezek. iii. 14, &c.

V see note.

IV. 1 Then was Jesus "led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2 And when he had

fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. 3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4 But he answered and said, It is written, w DEUT. viii. 3. w Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word

CHAP. IV. 1-11.] TEMPTATION OF JESUS. Mark i. 12, 13: Luke iv. 1-13.

1. led up of (by) the spirit] The Spirit carried Him away, (see Acts viii. 39,) "driveth him," Mark i. 12. Had St. Luke's "was led in (thus literally) the Spirit" been our only account, we might have supposed what took place to have been done in a vision but the expressions in the two other Evangelists entirely preclude this. The desert here spoken of may either be the traditional place of the Temptation near Jericho (thence called Quarantaria: it is described in "The Land and the Book," p. 617, as a high and precipitous mountain, with its side facing the plain perpendicular, and apparently as high as the rock of Gibraltar, and with caverns midway below, hewn in the rock), or as scripture parallelism between Moses, Elias, and our Lord, leads one to think, the Arabian desert of Sinai. to be tempted] The express purpose of His being led up. Hence it is evident that our Lord at this time was not 'led up' of his own will and design: but, as a part of the conflict with the Power of Darkness, He was brought to the Temptation. As He had been subject to his earthly parents at Nazareth, so now He is subject, in the outset of his official course, to his Heavenly Parent, and is by His will thus carried up to be tempted. In reverently considering the nature and end of this temptation, we may observe, (1) That the whole is undoubtedly an objective historical narrative, recording an actual conflict between our Redeemer and the Power of Evil. (2) That it is undetermined by the letter of the sacred text, whether the Tempter appeared in a bodily shape, or, as a spirit, was permitted to exert a certain power, as in ver. 5, and ver. 8, over the person of our Lord, even as the Holy Spirit did in ver. 1. If the latter were the case, the words spoken at the various stages of the temptation, were suggested by this Evil Power to the soul of our Redeemer. But (3) such an interpretation, while it cannot justly be accused of unreality by any who do not reject belief in the spiritual world, hardly meets the expressions of the text, "came (ap

proached) to him," ver. 9, and "leaveth him," ver. 11. Nor do the two members of ver. 11 correspond to one another in this case, for the angels must have been visible and corporeal, as in the parallel case at Gethsemane, Luke xxii. 43. 2. when he had fasted] Not in the wider ecclesiastical sense of the word, but its strict meaning, of abstaining from all food whatever; Luke, ver. 2. Similarly Moses, Exod. xxxiv. 28; and Elijah, 1 Kings xix. 8. he was afterward an hungred] Then probably not during the time itself. The period of the fast, as in the case of Moses, was spent in a spiritual ecstasy, during which the wants of the natural body were suspended.

[ocr errors]

3. when the tempter came] From the words of both St. Mark and St. Luke, it appears that our Lord was tempted also during the forty days. Whether the words of St. Mark, "he was with the wild beasts," allude to one kind of temptation, is uncertain: see note on Mark i. 13.-The words came to him " need not be understood of the first approach, but the first recorded— at a certain time the tempter approaching, &c.' If thou be] "thinking to beguile Him with his flattery," Chrys. Or, as Euthymius, "thinking that He would be irritated by this address, as being reproached with not being the Son of God." At all events, there is no doubt expressed, as some think. Son of God] Our Lord does not give way to the temptation, so as to meet him with an open declaration, I am the Son of God:' thus indeed He might have asserted his lordship over him, but not have been his Conqueror for us. The first word which He uses against him, reaches far deeper: Man shall not live,' &c. "This, like the other text, is taken from the history of Israel's temptation in the wilderness: for Israel represents, in a foreshadowing type, the Son of Man, the servant of God for Righteousness, the one that was to come, in whom alone that nature which in all men has degenerated into sin, fulfils all righteousness.' Adam stood not,-Israel according to the flesh stood not, when the Lord their God tempted them: but rather, after Satan's likeness, tempted their God: but now the

[ocr errors]

a

be

x Neh. xi. 1, 18. Isa. xlviii. 2: lii. 1. Dan.

y

ix. 24. ch. Rev. xi. 2:

xxvii. 53.

xxi. 2: xxii. 19 only.

P. xci. 11,

12.

that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on pinnacle of the temple, 6 and saith unto him, If thou the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 2 DEUT. vi. 10. 8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9 and saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship I render, the.

[ocr errors]

second Adam is come, the true Israel, by whose obedience the way of life is again made known and opened-that man truly liveth on and in the eternal word of God." Stier's "Words of the Lord Jesus." Observe also how our Lord resists Satan in His humanity; at once here numbering Himself with men, by adducing "man" as including His own case; and not only so, but thus speaking out the mystery of his humiliation, in which He had foregone his divine Power, of his own will.-By 'every word (or thing,' for the noun is not expressed in the original) that proceedeth out of the mouth of God,' we must understand, every arrangement of the divine will; God, who ordinarily sustains by bread, can, if it please Him, sustain by any other means, as in the case alluded to. Compare John iv. 32, 34. 5. taketh him up] power being most probably given to the tempter over the person of our Lord. In St. Luke, this temptation stands third. The real order is evidently that in the text; for otherwise our Lord's final answer, ver. 10, would not be in its place. It may be observed, that St. Luke makes no assertion as to succession, only introducing each temptation with and: whereas "then" and "again" here seem to mark succession. For "the holy city" see reff. setteth him -by the same power by which he brought Him. pinnacle] The general opinion, that our Lord was placed on Herod's royal portico, is probably right. That portico overhung the ravine of Kedron from a dizzy height, so as to make one giddy with looking down, as described by Josephus, Antt. xv. 11. 5. The argument that it was probably on the other side, next the court, is grounded on the perfectly gratuitous assumption, that an exhibition to the people was intended. There is no authority for

this in the text; the temptation being one
not of ambition, but of presumption. The
inference from Eusebius, who, quoting
Hegesippus, (Hist. ii. 23,) describes James
the Just as set on and thrown from the
pinnacle of the temple, among the people,
is not decisive: for this term might em-
brace either side, as the cornice,' or 'the
parapet' would.
6. It is written]
cited (nearly verbatim from the LXX, as
almost all the texts in this narrative) as
applying to all servants of God in general,
and à fortiori to the Son of God: not as a
prophecy of the Messiah.

7. again]

not on the contrary,' which the original word never simply means, not even in Gal. v. 3: 1 John ii. 8. The addition of a second Scripture qualifies and interprets the first; but does not refute it. 8.] The enquiry where and what this mountain was, is entirely nugatory, no data being furnished by the text. sheweth him all the k. of the world] The additional words in Luke, "in a moment of time," are valuable as pointing out to us clearly the supernatural character of the vision. If it be objected, that in that case there was no need for the ascent of the mountain,-I answer, that such natural accessories are made use of frequently in supernatural revelations see especially Rev. xxj. 10. The attempts to restrict "the world" to Palestine, (which was, besides, God's peculiar portion and vineyard, as distinguished from the Gentile world,) or the Roman empire, are mere subterfuges: as is also the giving to "sheweth" the sense of "points out the direction of." In this last

:

temptation the enemy reveals himselfopenly,
as the Prince of this world, and as the
father of lies for though power is given
him over this world and its sons, his asser-
tion here is most untrue.
10.] Our

[ocr errors]

a DEUT. vi. 13: I. 20.

Luke xxii.

me.

10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan : for it is written, a Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

43. Heb. 1.14. him, and, behold, angels came and 12 Now when Jesus had heard

c ch. xiv. 3.

13.

Fee Acts ii. prison, he departed into r read, he.

Lord at once repels him openly; not that He did not know him before,—but because he had thus openly tempted Him; but not even this of His own power or will; He adds, for it is written,-again, as Man, appealing to the word of God.-From this time, our Lord is known by the devils, and casts them out by a word. Mark i. 24, 34; iii. 11; v. 7. 11. leaveth him] but only for a season, see || Luke. The conflict, however often renewed in secret (of which we cannot speak), was certainly again waged in Gethsemane: see Luke xxii. 53, compare John xiv. 30. The expression in Luke x. 18, must be otherwise understood: see note there.

minis

tered] viz. with food, as in the case of Elias, 1 Kings xix. 6, 7.

12-22.] JESUS BEGINS HIS MINISTRY. CALLING OF PETER, ANDREW, JAMES, AND JOHN. Mark i. 14-20. Luke iv. 14, 15. Between the last verse and this is a considerable interval of time. After returning from the Temptation (see note on John i. 28, end) our Lord was pointed out by John the Baptist, (ib. vv. 29-34,) and again on the morrow to two of his disciples, Andrew and (probably) John, who followed Him, and were (on the next day? see note, John i. 44) joined by Simon Peter (35-43): then on the morrow Philip and Nathanael we recalled (44-52); three days after was the marriage in Cana (ii. 1-11); then our Lord went down to Capernaum and remained not many days (12); then followed the Passover; the cleansing of the temple (13-22); the belief of many on Jesus (23-25); the discourse with Nicodemus (iii. 1-21); the baptizing by Jesus (i.e. his disciples) (22-24); the question about purifying, and testimony of the Baptist (25-36); the journey through Samaria into Galilee, and discourse with the woman of Samaria (iv. 1-42); the return to Cana, and healing of the ruler's son in Capernaum (43-54); and the journey to Jerusalem related in John v. 1. After that chapter St. John breaks off the first part of his narrative; and between his v. 47 and vi. 1, comes in the synoptic narrative, Matt. iv. 12-xiv. 15: Mark i. 14-vi. 30: Luke

11 Then the devil leaveth

ministered unto him. that John was cast into Galilee; 13 and leaving Nazareth, 8 render, delivered up.

[ocr errors]

iv. 14-ix. 10. This omission is in remarkable consistency with St. Matthew's account of his own calling in ch. ix. 9. Being employed in his business in the neighbourhood of Capernaum, he now first becomes personally acquainted with the words and actions of our Lord. From what circumstance the former miracle in Capernaum had not attracted his attention, we cannot, of course, definitely say; we can, however, easily conceive. Our Lord was not then in Capernaum; for the ruler sent to Him, and the cure was wrought by word at a distance. If Matthew's attention had not been called to Jesus before, he might naturally omit such a narrative, which John gives probably from personal knowledge. The synoptic narrative generally omits this whole section of our Lord's travels and ministry. Its sources of information, until the last visit to Jerusalem, seem to have been exclusively Galilæan, and derived from persons who became attached to Him at a later period than any of the events recorded in that first portion of John's Gospel. The objections to this view are, the narrative, in the three Gospels, of the baptism and temptation: but the former of these would be abundantly testified by John's disciples, many of whom became disciples of Jesus; and the latter could only have been derived from the mouth of our Lord Himself. 12. delivered

up] This seems to have been the usual and well-known term for the imprisonment of John. The same word in the original is also the usual one for the betrayal and apprehension of our Lord Himself. departed] re

tired, withdrew; see ch. ii. 22, and note. No notice is given whence this withdrawal took place. The narrative is evidently taken up after an interval, and without any intention that it should follow closely on ver. 11. Wieseler sees in this a proof that St. Matthew recognized a ministry in Judæa during the interval. I cannot quite think this, but certainly he does not exclude it. 13. leaving Nazareth] Not on account of the behaviour of the Nazarenes to Him after the preaching in

he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: 14 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet,

d

saying, 15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephtha- d ISA. ix. 1, 2. lim, [by] the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; 16 the people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. 17 From that time

e

7.

Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the king- ech. ii. 2: x. dom of heaven is at hand. 18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and John i, 42. Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea for they

t not expressed in the original.

the Synagogue, Luke iv. 28, 29, as some-
times supposed; see notes, ib. ver. 31.
Capernaum] This town, on the
borders of the lake of Gennesareth, was cen-
tral in situation, and in the most populous
and frequented part of Galilee. It be-
sides was the residence of four at least
of the Apostles, Andrew and Peter, and
James and John-and probably of Mat-
thew. 66
Kephar Nahum," the village of
consolation. So Josephus. It is from
this time called His own city,' ch. ix. 1,
see also ch. xvii. 24.
15.] This pro-
phecy is spoken with direct reference to
the days of the Messiah. It is here freely
rendered from the Hebrew, without any
regard to the LXX, which is wholly
different. This, coming so immediately
after a string of quotations literally from
the LXX, seems to mark the beginning of
a new portion of the Gospel, agreeably to
what was said before.
the way
of the sea] the country round the coast
of the lake. All the members of this
sentence are in apposition with
another: thus beyond Jordan is not a de-
scription of the land before spoken of,
which was not thus situated, but of a
different tract. The later meaning of the
phrase, as signifying the tract to the west
of the Jordan, and which naturally sprung
up during the captivity, is not to be
thought of in Isaiah, who wrote before
that event. Galilee of the Gentiles]
Galilee superior, near to Tyre and Sidon,
which was inhabited by a variety of na-
tions. 17. began to preach..] That
is, began His ministry in Galilee. The
account of Matthew, being that of an eye-
witness, begins where his own experience
began. It is not correct to suppose, as
some of the German Commentators have
done, (De Wette, Strauss,) that this

one

:

preaching of repentance was of a different character from the after-teaching of our Lord: we recognize the same formula, though only partly cited, in ch. x. 7: Luke x. 10, and find our Lord still preaching repentance, Luke xiii. 3, after repeated declarations of His Messiahship.

18. by the sea of Galilee] The lake of Gennesareth or Tiberias (John vi. 1), called in the O. T. "the sea of Chinnereth," Num. xxxiv. 11, or Chinneroth, Josh. xii. 3. It is of an oval shape, about 13 geographical miles long, and 6 broad and is traversed by the Jordan from N. to s. "Its most remarkable feature is its deep depression, being no less than 700 feet below the level of the ocean." See the interesting article by Mr. Porter in Smith's Biblical Dictionary. If we give any consideration to the circumstances here related, we cannot fail to see that the account in John is admirably calculated to complete the narrative. We have there furnished to us the reason why these two brethren were so ready to arise and follow One, whom, if we had this account only, we should infer they had never before seen. Add to this, that there is every probability that one of the other pair of brethren, John the son of Zebedee, is there described as having gone with Andrew to the dwelling of our Lord. It also tends to confirm the chronological view here taken, that Philip, the only one mentioned expressly by John as having been called by Jesus, is not mentioned here as called: and that Andrew, and the other disciple of John the Baptist, clearly were not called by Jesus in John i. 35-40, or the words "abode with him that day," could not have been used: that these two continued disciples of the Baptist, is not probable; but that they were henceforth,

« AnteriorContinuar »