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Luke xix. 39.

Luke xix. 40.

John xii. 19.

And some of the Pharisees from among the Jerusalem, multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples,

And he answered and said unto them, I tell
you, that if these should hold their peace, the
stones would immediately cry out.

The Pharisees therefore said among themselves,
Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the
world is gone
after him.

MATT. xxi. 9.

9-Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord

MARK xi. ver. 8, 9.

8 And many spread their garments in the way; and others cut down branches off the trees, and strawed them in the way.

9 And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

LUKE xix. part of ver. 36. and 38.

36 And-they spread their clothes in the way.

38-Saying

SECTION II.

Christ's Lamentation over Jerusalem, and the Prophecy of its

Luke xix. 41.

Destruction.

LUKE xix. 41-45.

And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,

Luke xix. 42. Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine

Luke xix. 43.

Luke xix. 44.

eyes.

For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,

And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

Jerusalem.

g Mark xi. 15. John ii. 13.

SECTION III.

Christ, on entering the City, casts the Buyers and Sellers out of the Temple.

MATT, xxi. 10-14.

MARK xi. part of ver. 11.

LUKE xix. 45, 46.

And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the Mark xi. 11. temple:

8 And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the Matt. xxi. 10. city was moved, saying, Who is this?

And the multitude said, This is Jesus the pro- Matt. xxi. 11. phet of Nazareth of Galilee.

And Jesus went into the temple of God, and Matt. xxi. 12.

Mann, in his work, On the true Time of Christ's Life, is of opinion that the buyers and sellers were driven once only from the temple. Some harmonizers conclude that they were now, the second time, driven out, on the day of his triumphant entry, others on the day after. I have preferred the arrangement proposed by Pilkington, and adopted by Doddridge; both because the literal interpretation of the narrative appears to support the opinion; and it is probable that the repeated opposition of our Lord to the traffic which so much benefited the priests, by whose permission the merchants sat in the court of the temple, contributed to his apprehension. It is not likely that one repulse from the temple would have been sufficient to banish them entirely from so lucrative an employment.

The general opinion is, that the buyers and sellers were three times expelled from the temple. Once at the first passover, and twice at this time.

St. Matthew's account runs thus: on the day of the triumphant entry, Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought, &c.

St. Mark mentions that Jesus, at his triumphal entry, went into the temple, when he had looked round about upon all things, he went out of the city. Dr. Lightfoot observes, (Hora Heb. in loc.) that the word weρibλeɣáμeros, Mark xi. 11. signifies not," a bare beholding, or looking upon," but,-“ a looking upon with indignation, reproof, and correction." And he supposes the word, so understood, to allude to the casting the buyers and sellers out of the temple, at the time spoken of by St. Matthew. At his return the next morning, he cursed the barren fig-tree, and he again cast the buyers and sellers out of the temple. It is not improbable, that the traders and money-changers should be returned to the temple again, though they were cast out the day before: and it may well be expected that, if Jesus found them there, he would drive them out again; so far the supposition of there being two facts related is very probable. And, besides, we may observe, that St. Mark mentions a restraint, that either was not laid upon the people the day before, or, at least, is not mentioned by St. Matthew, viz. that he would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple: an additional circumstance, which makes it appear still more probable that Jesus cast them out twice, at the several times mentioned by the two Evangelists.-Pilkington, notes to the Evangelical History, p. 47, 48.

Matt. xxi. 13.

cast out all them that sold and bought in the Jerusalem. temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,

h

And said unto them, It is written, My house h Isa. lvi. 7. shall be called the house of prayer; i but ye have i Jer. vii. 11. made it a den of thieves.

LUKE xix. ver. 45, 46.

45 And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought;

46 Saying unto them, It is written, My house the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Mark xi, 17.

SECTION IV.

Christ heals the Sick in the Temple, and reproves the Chief

Matt. xxi. 14.

Matt. xxi. 15.

Matt. xxi. 16.

Priests.

MATT. xxi. 14-17.

And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.

And when the Chief Priests and Scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased,

And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye

k

never read, Out of the mouth of babes and k Psa. viii. 2. sucklings thou hast perfected praise ?

SECTION V.

Some Greeks at Jerusalem desire to see Christ"-The Bath Col is heard.

John xii. 20.

JOHN Xii. 20—44.

And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast:

5 Where, or on what day, these Greeks came to see Jesus, is not particularly recorded. But, as in St. John's present order, this account immediately follows that of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, we have some reason to conclude that it was on that day, and in that place; and therefore I have thought it necessary to arrange this, and the three following sections, amongst the transactions of that day, and before Jesus departed out of the city, as mentioned Matt. xxi. 17, 18. and Mark xi. 11, 12.

It may farther be observed, that there are some notations in these sections,

Jerusalem.

1 Matt. x 39.

The same came therefore to Philip, which was John xii. 21. of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying,

Sir, we would see Jesus.

Philip cometh and telleth Andrew and again John xii. 22. Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.

And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is John xii. 23. come, that the Son of man should be glorified.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn John xii. 24. of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

1 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he John xii. 25. that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

If any man serve me, let him follow me; and John xii. 26. where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I John xii. 27. say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.

which seem to point out the time of their coming, and the place where Jesus was. It is probable He was now in the temple, whither the Greeks, if they were devout strangers, or proselytes of the gate only, could not be permitted to come; they being allowed to go no farther than the court of the Gentiles. They therefore applied to him, to desire him to vouchsafe to come out of the temple to shew himself unto them. But, instead of complying with this request, a greater evidence was vouchsafed them: a voice came from heaven, in their hearing, which said, "I have both glorified my name, and I will glorify it again," referring to the name of God being glorified just before Jesus went into the temple, in the hosannahs of the people. The observation of Dr. Lightfoot is worthy our remark; Christ was thrice attested from heaven, according to his threefold office, king, priest, and prophet. At his baptism, when he was anointed and entered into his ministry, as the great High Priest-at his transfiguration, for the great Prophet to whom all must hearken-and now for the great King, when he had newly fulfilled this prophecy, "Rejoice, O Sion, behold thy king cometh," &c. &c.

Lardner, Vossius, and Salmasius, are of opinion that the Greeks here spoken of were idolatrous Gentiles. Whitby, that they were proselytes of the gate; and Doddridge, proselytes of righteousness. Heuman and Semler suppose that they were Jews, whose constant residence was among the Gentiles. It seems most probable, as they were now at Jerusalem, that they had come up to be present at the feast of the passover, and therefore that they were of that class of persons who are elsewhere called σεβόμενοι. The word here used is "Ελληνες -et quanquam, says Kuinoel, h. 1. non additum legitur σebóμevol, ex usu tamen loquendi N. T. quandoque, ut Hieronym. in Matt. xxvi. scribit, mutatâ re pristinum nomen manet; v. Glassius Phil. sac. p. 7. Sic quoque qui, Act. xiii. 42. τὰ ἔθνη dicuntur, v. 43. nominantur σεβόμενοι προσήλυτοι. Commode ergo, et h. 1. Proselyti simpliciter dici potuerunt "EXŋveç.—Kuinoel, Comment. in lib. Histor. N. T. vol. iii. p. 525.

John xii. 28.

6

Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.

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ON THE BATH COL," OR VOICE FROM HEAVEN.

One of the most ancient tokens of the more immediate or more manifested presence of God, was the utterance of an audible voice from heaven, in the manner here described; this voice was called by the Jews the Bath Col, or the "Daughter of the voice." It was generally attended, as in this instance, with thunder. The Jews, who were accustomed to read and to hear, that it was in this manner their fathers were accustomed to hold communion with God, said, an angel spoke; the Greeks, who were not so well instructed, thought that it thundered.

Vitringa (a), who has written a treatise expressly on this subject, has endeavoured to prove that the Bath Col was delivered in four various forms. The bp, gentle, low, and as in a whisper. In this manner Job was address

Jerusalem,

an image glided rapidly before תמונה לנגד עני דממח וקול אשמע: ed, when the

my eyes, I perceived silence, and a voice. That is, a low and still voice, whispered from the silence.

The second kind of Bath Col was an articulate but subdued tone: as Moses heard the voice as of a man speaking to him, from the mercy-seat. This also was in a gentle tone, but not so low as in the former instance. Maimonides describes it from the traditions of the Jews, as a low tone of voice, such as that which a man uses when he prays aloud, and is alone.

The third was, the usual tone of a man speaking, as when the Bath Col called to Samuel. He thought that Eli had called to him; and, in the same way, God conversed with Moses, as a man converses with his friend.

The fourth, and principal, and most frequent, was that form of the Bath Col, which was a deep and loud sound, typ and p, attended with thunder, and which is described in various passages of Scripture, as well as in the verse now under consideration.

Vitringa produces a number of curious illustrations of this mode of revelation from the ancients; among whom were preserved the wrecks and remnants of the original patriarchism, once the true religion of the assembled sons of Noah, before the corruptions of idolatry had again established vice and error among mankind.

Spencer (b) has given the same account. The Bath Col was a voice which proceeded from heaven, by the ministry of an angel: it was so called, because the voice was generally attended with thunder, which demonstrated its supernatural origin; and from which it proceeded as from the womb of its mother. Ex tonitru, tanquam ex utero matris suæ, prodierit, are the words of Danzius, to his Treatise de Inauguratione Christi, &c. &c. Danzius (c) and Harenburgh (d) both quote Tosaphoth Cod. Sanhedr. (scil. f. 11. a.) to prove that many

(a) Observ. Sacræ, vol. ii. p. 341, &c. &c. (b) De legibus Hebræor. Dissert. vii. de Urim et Thummim, vol. ii. p. 923. (c) De inauguratione Christi, &c. &c. (d) Joan. Christoph. Harenburg de Miraculo Pentecostali, in the 13th volume of the Critici Sacri, p. 574. He has defined the Bath Col

מנו ארעא ואשתומע קלא במרומי also from the Jerusalem Targum. Bath Col

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