Слике страница
PDF
ePub

Julian Period, 4740, Vulgar Æra,

27.

41 And many more believed because of his own word; Samaria. 42 And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.

SECTION III.

Second Miracle at Cana, in Galilee".

JOHN iv. 43. to the end.

43 Now after two days he departed thence, and went Cana, in into Galilee.

44 For Jesus himself testified that a prophet hath no honour in his own country.

45 Then, when he was come into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast for they also went unto the feast.

46 So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine". And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum.

10 Michaelis does not appear to have given so much attention to his Harmony of the New Testament, as we might have required from one whose authority is so great. He observes, on the contents of this section, "In point of Chronology this does not belong to the present place, not even according to St. Luke: but I place it here, because St. Luke has introduced it immediately after the preceding history. Perhaps it belongs to No. 50, though I have not placed it there, because it does not exactly agree with the accounts quoted in that article from St. Matthew and St. Mark." That is, it is quite uncertain, in the opinion of Michaelis. I have followed the authority of Doddridge, Pilkington, Newcome, and Lightfoot, in placing it here: and, independantly of these authorities, the internal evidence is peculiarly decisive. Christ began his public ministry in his own country, and, after having traversed Judea and Samaria, has arrived at the town where he was brought up, there to commence his teaching.

Michaelis, however, it must be in justice observed, expressly
declares, that his harmony of the four Gospels must not be
considered as a chronological table: though Bishop Marsh is
of opinion, from examining Michaelis's Arrangement, sect. 29-
42, that he intended to arrange the facts in chronological order
as far as he was able.-See Marsh's Notes to Michaelis, vol. iii.
p. 67.

11 The healing of the nobleman's son at Capernaum is placed
after the conversation with the woman of Samaria, by all the
harmonizers. After staying two days at Samaria, he departed
into Galilee, (John iv. 43.) Archbishop Newcome inserts those
passages which I have placed as a preface to this chapter, after
the account of the interview with the Samaritan woman.
is correct in this arrangement, as to the precise time in which
the events occurred. I have, however, thought it advisable to
place them before that event, as a preface to the general bistory
of his ministry, which began after the imprisonment of the

He

Galilee.

Julian Pe

47 When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judea Cana, in

riod, 4740. into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he Galilee.

Vulgar Era,

27.

Baptist. It must, however, excite some surprize that Arch-
bishop Newcome has not himself adopted this order, as he has
expressed (Notes to the Harmony, p. 9.) the same opinion which
has induced me to adopt this deviation. To use his own words:
"Matt. iv. 17. and Mark i. 14, 15. refer to a more solemn and
general teaching after John's imprisonment by Herod, and
Jesus's departure into Galilee; and to a teaching according to
the tenor of particular words. Though in Judea and Jerusa-
lem, Jesus shewed his divine knowledge, taught, made dis-
ciples, and ordered his followers to be initiated by baptism,
wrought miracles, and, when he had purged the temple, inti-
mated, among other important truths, that he was the Son of
God: yet still he might, with great wisdom, chuse a more re-
mote scene for preaching publicly and plainly the completion
of the time, for the approach of God's kingdom, and repent-
auce followed by belief in the Gospel." He might have added,
that his first declaration of his Messiahship to the woman of
Samaria, in his way to Galilee, may be considered as a kind
of prelude to his more solemn teaching: and, as it happened on
his way to Galilee, the detached verses which so briefly relate
the ministry in Galilee, may very properly be prefixed to the
account of that ministry.

On consulting the map of Galilee, it will be seen that our Lord's
direct road from Samaria to Cana in Galilee, would be through
Nazareth. He is supposed, however, by Archbishop Newcome,
to have gone by another route, in order to avoid that city for the
present, that he might work his first public miracle at the same
place where he had primarily manifested himself to the people.
He then proceeds, as in the next section, to Nazareth, thence
to Capernaum, where he continued for some time, teaching in
their synagogues. He calls four disciples, cures a demoniac, and
Peter's wife's mother. He then proceeds throughout Galilee,
heals a leper and a paralytic, calls St. Matthew, and goes up
to Jerusalem to a feast, most probably not a Passover.

Archbishop Newcome supposes the distance between Sichem, the capital of Samaria, and Cana, in Galilee, to be forty miles; between Cana and Nazareth, ten; between Nazareth and Capernaum, twenty-three; between Capernaum and Jerusalem, sixty-five.

,עבר מלכא

[ocr errors]

It is a very probable supposition of Lightfoot, that the word rendered in our translation "a certain nobleman" (riç baviλıKòc,) but which ought rather to be translated with the Syriac, one of the king's servants," denoted one of those who took part with Herod the Great, and who was now a follower of his son, Herod the Tetrarch. Lightfoot supposes that the preaching of John the Baptist had produced some effect at the court of Herod, and that many of the courtiers were consequently acquainted with the mission of our Lord; and that the nobleman who now sent to Christ, that his son might be healed, was Manaan, (Acts xiii. 1) who had been brought up with Herod; or Chuza, (Luke viii. 3.) Herod's steward, both of whom were among the earliest converts.

This miracle was greater than the first which had taken place at Cana, and demonstrated a higher degree of power. Our Lord by it shewed that he possessed a power superior to that which had been claimed or exercised by any merely human prophet, or teacher sent from God. It is true that the degree of supernatural agency seems to be equal in one miracle to that of ano

Julian Pe- would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the Cana, in riod, 4740. point of death.

Vulgar Era,

27.

48 Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.

49 The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die.

50 Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way.

51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth.

52 Then inquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the

seventh hour the fever left him.

53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house.

54 This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judea into Galilee.

Galilee.

SECTION IV.

First public Preaching of Christ in the Synagogue at Na-
zareth, and his danger there 12.

LUKE iv. 16―30.

16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been Nazareth. brought up; and, as his custom was 13, he went into

ther; but in this instance the divine attribute of ubiquity was
evidently manifested. Capernaum was distant from Cana about
twenty-five miles.

12 This visit to Nazareth was certainly different from that men-
tioned below. It was before our Saviour went to Capernaum,
Luke iv. 16–31. Matt. iv. 13. The other took place after the
recovery of Jairus's daughter, when he left that city. Compare
Mark vi. 1. xai éžñλ0ɛv ¿ket̃0ev, i. e. from Capernaum, with Matt.
iv. 13. Luke iv. 31.

13 Lightfoot supposes the words, "as his custom was," refers to the usual attendance of our Lord on the public service, when our Lord lived at Nazareth as a private individual. He now enters the synagogue as an acknowledged Prophet, and, as a member of it, joins in the services, and reads publicly there, which only members were allowed to do. Hence we find that this is the only place on record where our Saviour read publicly, although he preached in every synagogue where he came. It is not to be supposed that the public worship at that time was less corrupt than ours of the present period-nor that the conduct of the Jewish teachers was irreproachable; we have, indeed, a lamentable instance to the contrary, v. 29. yet we find that our blessed Saviour did not separate himself, as too many have since done, and continue to do, on this account from the appointed public worship, although there was much to be condemned in it.

L

Julian Pe- the synagogue on the sabbath-day, and stood up to Nazareth. riod, 4740. read".

Vulgar Era, 27.

17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written 15,

Our Lord's example also sanctions to us the use in all Churches of forms of prayer, or Liturgies, the public reading of the Scriptures, the use of vestments, &c. Christ complied with human forms, and joined in liturgical services-are we wrong in following the example of our blessed Redeemer ?

14 It may be asked here, by what authority Christ was permitted to teach and preach in the synagogue. The tribe of Levi alone possessed the priesthood, attended the service of the temple, and was appointed to teach the people, as well as to superintend the schools or universities in their forty-eight cities, Josh. xxi. Deut. xxxiii. 10. Malachi ii. 7. Yet it sometimes happened that men of other tribes studied the law, and became preachers, as well as the priests and Levites. They were ordained when qualified by the Sanhedrim to that office. They were ordained to some particular employment in the public administration, and they might not go beyond the power they had received, or intrude upon the ministry of another. The Jews also had a law, that if any man came in the spirit of a prophet, and assumed the office of a teacher on that ground, he was always permitted to preach; but the Sanhedrim was constituted the judge of his pretensions; and he who was declared by them to be no prophet, and yet continued to preach, did so at his peril. It was probably on this claim, in the manner and office of a prophet, that our Saviour obtained permission to address the people of Nazareth.-Vide Lightfoot, vol. i. p. 614.

15 It was the custom among the Jews to divide the law into fifty-two or fifty-four portions for every Sunday in the year. When this was prohibited by Antiochus, a similar division of the prophets was substituted. The passage from Isaiah, read by our Lord, is the part of the sacred writings appointed to be used about the end of August; and Macknight, with other harmonists, have therefore concluded that this circumstance fixes the date of the event recorded (a).

The prophetical books were divided into five parts, to correspond with the five divisions of the law. We may consider Genesis as corresponding with Isaiah-Exodus with Jeremiah -Leviticus with Ezekiel, &c. &c. the twelve minor prophets were held as one volume, or quintane.

It is of little consequence whether the portion of Scripture our Saviour fixed upon, was or was not, the proper lesson of the day: for, in reading of the prophets, it was customary for the, or reader, to turn from passage to passage, for the better illustration of his subject; and in the twelve minor prophets he was permitted to refer from one to another-but, in all probability, (see v. 20) Christ was standing up as a member of the synagogue, appointed by the minister of the congregation the reader of the prophets, or the second lesson of that day, according to an established custom. On these occasions the minister called the reader out, and delivered to him the book of the prophets; he himself standing at the desk with an interpreter at his side, to render into Syriac all that was read. "When Christ had finished he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister," v. 20. He did all these things according to the established order of the Jewish Church (b).

Julian Pe

riod, 4740. Vulgar Era,

18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath Nazareth.

It is to be remarked here, that our Saviour closed the book before he came to that part of the prophecy where he is represented as declaring the day of vengeance. This applied to events of a subsequent date: whereas he confined himself to those words only, which the Jews referred more immediately to the Messiah, and applying them to himself, openly declared, in the presence of all his early acquaintances, that he who had so long lived among them as their equal and their companion, was the predicted Messiah, the expected Saviour of the Jewish nation. He asserts that his public ministry had begun-that the Spirit of the Lord had descended upon him to preach the Gospel to the meek and to the humble, y-to heal the broken-hearted-to preach deliverance to the captives, whether Jew or Gentile-the recovering of sight, or opening the eyes of the blind (c) and idolatrous Gentiles-so far this prediction was taken from Isa. Ixi. 1, 2. but the remainder is to be found in Isa. xlii. 7. The first verse of Isa. Ixi. 1. ends with the words mp-npbox, to those which are bound the opening of the prison. The verse inserted from Isa. xlii. 7. begins with the last word of the verse, and seems quoted by our Lord either from association of ideas, or by actual reference to the passage,

y np, &c. &c. to open the blind eyes. This solution of the difficulty, which is agreeable to the established custom of the synagogue, which allowed the privilege of illustration from another passage of the same prophet, appears much preferable to that of Michaelis (d).

Having thus asserted himself to be the Messiah, our Lord observed the wonder and astonishment excited by his words; and, knowing the prejudices he had to overcome, as well as the inveterate obstinacy of his hearers, he declined giving them any other proof of his divine mission than that which had been already offered them, at the town of Capernaum.

We have here an account of our Saviour's preaching for the first time in his own city of Nazareth. He asserts himself to be the Messiah-he then declines working a miracle, though he had done so elsewhere. What was the cause of this refusal ?

Our Lord's conduct on this occasion appears to me to afford one of the most powerful evidences of the truth of his lofty claims, and a most striking instance of that part of the plan of the divine government, which denies to man more evidences in support of any truth than are sufficient to satisfy an unbiassed mind. As the commentators have not alluded to this idea, I give it with diffidence; but to me it appears satisfactory. Our Lord had lived at Nazareth nearly thirty years. At the end of that time he commenced his office with supernatural evidences that his mission was from above. He worked miracles to demonstrate this truth, in places where he was less known than at Nazareth, and between which and the latter city there must have been a constant communication. The people of Nazareth had known him from infancy, pure, holy, and undefiled-a man, like other men, sin only excepted. They had heard of his miracles, they knew, from the testimony of others, that he had given undeniable proofs of his power, and he now came among them to announce himself as their Messiah, appealing to them by the purity and holniess of his life, and by applying to himself, and fulfilling in his own person, the predictions of their prophets. He asserted himself to be the Messiah, and required them to believe on account of their previous knowledge of his motives, life and conduct, and by the power they acknow

« ПретходнаНастави »