but his stay at this time was not long there, because his purpose was to go to Jerusalem From the beat the approaching feast of the passover †. As soon as our Saviour came to Jerusalem, the first thing he did was to reform the public abuse and profanation of the temple, occasioned by the shops which moneychangers had set up, and the beasts which the dealers therein used to bring into the court of the Gentiles +2. This our Lord's zeal for his Father's honour could not well brook; and therefore, with a scourge made of cords, he drove all the sellers || and barterers from the sacred ground, overturned the tables +3 of the money-changers, and commanded those who dealt in doves or pigeons to take away their goods, and "make his Father's house no longer a house of merchandise." This extraordinary procedure incensed the Jews to such a degree, that they came and demanded of him by what † authority he did these things, and to give them some This feast is so well known, and has been so fully explained at the time of its first institution, Exod. xii. that we need only remind our reader, that from the word pasach, which signifies to leap or skip over, the Jews gave the name of Pascha or Passover, to that great festival which was annually appointed in commemoration of their coming forth out of Egypt; because, the night before their departure, the destroying angel, who slew the first-born of the Egyptians, passed over the houses of the Israelites which were marked with the blood of the lamb killed the evening before, and for this reason called the paschal lamb. The feast itself began on the fourteenth day of Nisan, which is the first month in their sacred, but the seventh in the civil year, and answers in part to our March and April; but as the Jews began their days at six in the evening, this feast was to continue seven days compleat, and so ended on the one and twentieth day in the evening. Calmet's Dictionary under the word. + There were three courts belonging to the temple. The court of the priests where the altar of incense stood; the court of the Israelites where the Jews that were clean, and the proselytes of justice, i. e. those who had embraced circumcision and the whole law of Moses, met at their devotions; and the court of the Gentiles, where the unclean Jew and the Gentile, who owned the true God, without professing Judaism, were permitted to come and worship. Now, under the same pretext of having the sacrifices near at hand, as well as out of a contempt of that court where the Gentile worshippers were permitted to enter, the priests, for their sordid gain, had permitted beasts and poultry to be brought within this court, and graziers and hucksters, (whose business properly was in the markets of Jerusalem) to mix with people at their devotions, which was an abuse notoriously scandalous. Whitby's Annotations, and Eachard's Ecclesiastical History, chap. iii. It may possibly be asked, How our Blessed Lord, with nothing but a whip in his hand, should be able to execute this heroic act upon a multitude of people, who might suffer damage in their wares, and consequently be in a disposition to resist him? Now, whoever considers that our Saviour had done enough already to prove himself a prophet sent from God, and that the general concession was, that a prophet VOL. III. thus sent had sufficient authority to rectify disorders; +3 It was an appointment of the law that every man, + Whether it were the priests, the magistrates, or the common people, that put this question to our Saviour, it is certain that they do not in the least pretend to justify the profanation which he had thus reformed; and therefore their principle seems to have been," That let the corruptions and abuses in a church be never so great, yet they were not to be reformed, but either by the ordinary authority of the magistrate, or by an extraordinary authority from God. Such an authority they were ready to acknowledge in prophets; but then they expected that those who pretended to this, and to have their mission from D ginning of the Gospels to Matth. ix. 8. Mark ii. 23. Luke vi. 1. Ann. Dom. 30, &c. Vulg. Er. 28. A. M. 4034, evidence of his having a commission so to do: But to this he made no other reply than &c. or 5439. by foretelling his own resurrection, expressed in the metaphor of the temple, which they understood of the temple at Jerusalem, that had been || six and forty years a-building, but he of the temple † of his own body, which in three days, after they had slain it, he promised to revive. Though therefore at this time he refused to work any miracle at the instigation of the Jews, yet shortly after we find him working many, which surprised the whole city, and excited the curiosity of one person in particular, whose name was Nicodemus, (a considerable man in the Sanhedrim and of the sect of the Pharisees), to repair to him (but privately and in the night-time, for fear of being known), and to declare freely to him, "That he verily believed he was come immediately from heaven, because the miracles 2 which he wrought were a demonstration of it." + Hereupon our Blessed Saviour took occasion to let him know, that this belief was not the only qualification requisite to become his disciple, and then proceeded to instruct him in the great mystery of regeneration, telling him, "That as no production could transcend the nature and condition of its parent flesh, for instance, though never so much diversified, could still produce no more than flesh; so this formation of a new creature was to be effected by different principles, namely, by the water of baptism washing away sins, and by the holy spirit, giving a power and efficacy to God, should be able to prove that mission by some From Herod's beginning to rebuild the temple to †The Jews had a maxim or proverbial speech among them, that the sanctuary of sanctuaries was the Messiah, and therefore there could be no impropriety in our Saviour's calling his body a temple: For if the apostle calls our bodies the temple of God, as he does 1 Cor. iii. 16. and 2 Cor. vi. 16. how much more does that title belong to the body of Christ, in which "the fulness of the Godhead dwelt" always and inseparably? Pool's and Beausobre's Annotations. But are miracles alone a demonstration of a person's being sent by God? Nicodemus was not ignorant of the caution which Moses had given the Jews against false prophets, Deut. xii. 1, &c. nor does he here speak of miracles in general, but of those particular ones which Jesus had done in the time of the passover and these were so great in their nature, so solid in their proof, so beneficial in their effects, and in their end so well designed to confirm a doctrine "the every way suitable to the Divine attributes, and to Pool's Annotations, and Calmet's Com + Some have imagined, from the seeming abruptness of the answer which our Lord gives Nicodemus, that Nicodemus might have put some previous question to him (not recorded by the evangelist) concerning the means of attaining the kingdom of God, i. e. eternal happiness, or of qualifying himself to be a disciple of the Messiah; for in that sense the kingdom of God is likewise taken. But (besides that the term answered does not always in the New Testament signify a reply to a question already propounded, but very frequently no more than the beginning of a new speech) the connection between the compli ment which Nicodemus makes our Lord and our Lord's reply to it, will not be amiss, if we can but suppose in the words this implication:-" Thy acknowledgment of my Divine mission and authori ty, free and generous though it be, will not be sufficient to render thee a member of that kingdom which I am going to set up; for "except a man be born again," i. e. renewed in his mind, will, and af. fections, by the operation of the Holy Ghost, and so become a new creature," he cannot see the kingdom of God," i. e. he cannot be a Christian here or a saint hereafter. Pool's, Whitby's, and Hammond's Annotations. +3 Those who make the water and the spirit, here mentioned by our Saviour, one and the same thing, (which, to every common reader, must at first sight appear to be distinct) would do well to consider that mens endeavours to do well; which Spirit "bloweth where it listeth," and is, as the From the bewind, certain and notorious in its effects, but secret in the principle and manner of its ginning of the production." This doctrine of regeneration (which to Nicodemus † seemed so very abstruse) "our Saviour proceeds to tell him was no more, in respect of other mysteries of the Gospel, than the earth is in comparison of the heavens, and so goes on to acquaint him with matters of a more sublime nature; with his descent from heaven, his death, his ascension, and the blessing of that redemption which he came into the world to accomplish. He instructs him in the love of the Father, the mission of the Son, the rewards of faith, and the glories of eternity. He upbraids the unbelieving and impenitent, and declares the difference between a pure and corrupt conscience, the shame and fears of the one, and the confidence and serenity of the other." This is the substance of our Saviour's discourse to Nicodemus, who afterwards became a convert; and no sooner was the passover ended, but our Lord, in company with many of his disciples, who by his miraculous works were convinced of his Divinity, went about the province of Judea †2, making proselytes wherever he came, and causing them to be baptized by the hands of his disciples, because himself was employed in greater affairs, viz. in teaching the people, and relieving their necessities. John the Baptist had at this time removed his station from Bethabara to Ænon, a place remarkable (as its name imports) for springs and waters, and therefore of great conveniency for baptizing. While he was there, a dispute happened to arise between his disciples and certain Jews who were present, which of the baptisms, that of John or that of Jesus was preferable? And when his disciples, by way of appeal to John, came and acquainted him, that the person of whom he had given such honourable testi the question between Christ and Nicodemus was about what was requisite to prepare a man for the kingdom, i. e. God's church, and make him partaker of the gospel blessing. Certain it is, that " baptism by water" was not only the common method of receiving proselytes into the Jewish church, but it is declared likewise by our Lord himself to be the ordinary way of entering into his kingdom; " for he that believeth and is baptized, says he, shall be saved," Mark. xvi. 16. and therefore he gave commission to his apostles "to make disciples in all nations by baptizing them," Matth. xxviii. 19. Nay, so far are the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit from superseding the necessity of this ordinance, that in the apostolic age, we find them rather esteemed a proper predisposition for it for when the Holy Ghost fell upon Cornelius and his company, in the same manner that it fell upon the apostles on the day of Penticost, Acts ii. 2. what is St Peter's inference from these miraculous gifts? Is it that the persons on whom they rested had no need of baptism? No; but rather that these extraordinary gifts were a full evidence that they were the proper objects of it; for, "can any one (says he) forbid water, that these should not be baptized?" So far is the baptism of the Spirit (even where it is undeniable) from excluding the baptism of water, and so strong a proof is the instance before us, that the graces of the Spirit may be the foundation of a just claim to baptism, but never (where the sacrament can be had) a lawful dispensation to any man for the refusal or neglect of it. Whitby's Annotations, and Stanhope on the Epistles and Gospels vol. iii. + Our Blessed Saviour might well wonder at Nciodemus's ignorance in the point of regeneration, when this was the common notion of proselytism among the Jews, that he who was washed, and circumcised, was looked upon as a recens natus, an infant new born: And when there were so many passages in the law and the prophets relating to this very doctrine; for what else can the meaning be of the "circumcision of the heart," commanded by Moses, Deut. x. 16. of the "renewal of a clean and right spirit," prayed for by David, Psal. li. 10. of the "putting God's law in the inward parts," mentioned by Jeremiah chap. xxxi. 33. and the giving of his people a "new heart and a new spirit," promised by God; Ezek. xxxvi. 26? These, and many more, were intimations of the doctrine of regeneration; but the Pharisees were so taken up with their rites and traditions, that they gave small attention to the spiritual things of nearer and much greater concernment to their souls. Pool's and Beausobre's Annotations. + The evangelist does no where mention the particular place where our Saviour began his baptism; but there is reason to presume that it was somewhere about Jericho, because there it was that John the Baptist first entered upon his ministry; because it seems expedient, that he should open the first scene of his office, where his faithful forerunner had given such glorious and advantageous testimonies of him, and in one and the same place, compleat John's baptism of repentance for sins, (which was preparatory to his coming) by the baptism of remission of sins, which he alone had proper power to give. Calmet's Commentary. Gospels to Matth. ix. 8. Mark ii. 23. &c. or 5439. Ann. Dom. 30, &c. A. M. 4034, mony, received proselytes (and that in vast numbers) by the same ceremony of baptism as he did, John repeated the same testimony again, and reminded his disciples how frequently he had told them, "That the person of whom they spake was the Messiah, Vulg. Er. 28. whom God had sent into the world for the salvation of mankind, and himself no more than his herald; and that his ministry therefore was now going to decline, even as, upon the approach of the sun, the glory of the morning star decreases." And having said many things of the like nature to prove Jesus to be the Son of God, and co-equal with the Father, he closed up his commission with these important words "He that believes on the Son, hath everlasting life; but he that believeth not on the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him " John was at this time in the territories of Herod Antipas *, and as he was a man of great freedom of speech upon all occasions, he was not afraid, when he came to Herod's court, to reprove him for his many enormities, and particularly for his cohabiting with Herodias *2, the wife of his brother Philip, who was still living. This exasperated the woman against him to such a degree, that though Herod at first had some esteem and reverence for him, yet, by her malicious instigations †, she prevailed with him to cast him into prison, with a purpose to have him destroyed, whenever she could find out a proper opportunity. About the time of John's imprisonment, our Lord, who, by the hands of his apostles +2, had been baptizing for near seven or eight months in Judea, understanding that *This Antipas, or Antipater, (for they are words of the same signification) was the son of Herod the Great, by one of his wives named Cleopatra, a native of Jerusalem. In his first will, his father (as we said before) named him successor to his kingdom; but afterwards he changed his mind, made his son Archelaus king of Judea, and gave to Antipas the title only of Tetrarch of Galilee and Petræa, which made him appeal to Augustus at Rome, in order to have his father's former will confirmed, and the latter reversed, but he did not attain his end. Joseph. Antiq. lib. xvii #2 This woman was the daughter of Aristobulus and Bernice, sister to king Agrippa, and grand-daughter to Herod the Great. She was at first married to her uncle Philip, son of the same Herod by Mariam ne, by whom she had a daughter named Salome, the same who pleased Herod so well in her dancing; and how she came to run from one brother to live with another, Josephus has thus related the story.“ Antipas, in his passage to Rome, made some stay with his brother Philip, where he fell so passionately in love with his wife Herodias, that he could not for bear expressing it to her, and promised her withal, that at his return from Rome, he would put away his own wife and marry her. Upon these conditions Herodias accepted of the offer; and as soon as Antipas was returned, and his wife gone, (for she having notice of the engagement between her husband and Herodias, made her escape to her father Aretas, king of Petra) she, with her daughter Salome, left her husband Philip, and, coming directly to Antipas, for ever after lived with him in a state of incest, Lev. xviii. 15. nor was her ambition much less criminal than her lust: For, growing uneasy to see her bro. ther Agrippa promoted to the title of a king, while her new husband Antipas had no more than that of a te trarch, she pressed him so much, that he determined to make a journey to Rome, with an intention to ask The evangelists have assigned the true reason for the Baptist's imprisonment: But since the Pharisees, very probably, represented him as an author of a new sect, promoter of seditions and rebellions, and a person dangerous to the government, by reason of the multitude of his followers, Antipas craftily made that his pretence (as appears from Josephus, lib. xviii. c. 7.) for contining him: and the better to remove him from the people, sent him bound out of Galilee into Petræa, to a strong castle, called Machærus, near the Dead Sea, and towards the borders of Arabia, where he continued above a year in prison. Eachard's Ecclesiastical History, c. 3. + Several reasons may be assigned why our Saviour delegated the office of baptizing to his apostles. 1. Because it was no ways proper for him to baptize in his own name. 2. Because the baptism that was peculiarly his was the baptism of the Holy Ghost, Acts xi. 16. 3. Because it was an office of more importance to preach the Gospel than to baptize, 1 Cor. i. 17. And, 4. Because Christ's baptizing of any might possibly have occasioned disgusts and jealou sies among the disciples, in the same manner as, in the early ages of the church, we find people valuing Gospels to the Pharisees began to be envious at him for the great multitudes of people that resort. From the be ed to him, resolved to leave that province and pass into † Galilee, in order to enter ginning of the upon the more solemn part of his ministerial function. In this journey it was neces- Matth. ix. 8. sary for him to pass through Samaria †2; and, as he travelled on foot, and the weather Mark ii. 23. was hot, when he came within a little of +3 Sychar, he sent his disciples into the city to buy provisions, and sat himself down by the side of a famous well, called Jacob's well +4. While he was sitting there, a woman of a loose life and conversation came out of the city to draw water; and when he requested some of her to drink, she, perceiving that he was a Jew, took the freedom to ask him, How he could offer any such request to a Samaritan, since there were so great feuds, and so little dealings + between them and themselves and despising others, upon their being baptized by such or such an eminent apostle, 1 Cor. i. 12. Beausobre's Annotations. have now is only a little place of worship, to which, at certain seasons, they nevertheless repair for the performance of the rites of their religion; but what It is a province of Palestine, which extends it those rites are, it is not easy to say. The whole place, self chiefly into the northern parts thereof. The tribes in short, is strangely decayed from what it was anwhich it contains are, Issachar, Zebulun, Naphthali, ciently; for it consists only of two streets, that lie paand Asher, with part (as some say) of Dan, and Parallel under Mount Gerizzim, but it is full of inhabiræa, beyond the Jordan. On the north it is bounded tants, and the seat of a Bassa. Wells's Geography of by Lebanon and Syria; on the west by Phoenicia; on the New Testament. the south by Samaria; and on the east mostly by the river Jordan, and the sea of Galilee. It is generally divided into two parts, the Upper and the Lower Galilee, whereof the former is called Galilee of the Gentiles, Matth. iv. 15. either because it was chiefly possessed by the Gentiles, with Jews interspersed among them, or rather because it bordered upon Gentile nations, such as the Phoenicians, Syrians, and Arabians. The whole country (according to Josephus) was fruitful and well cultivated, and the people laborious and industrious. The number of its towns and villages was prodigiously great, and so well inhabited, that the least of them did not contain less than fifteen thousand souls. The natives were a bold intrepid race of men, who defended themselves bravely against the foreign nations that surrounded them, but then their wealth and prowess made them seditious, and very apt to rebel against the Romans, for which they sometimes suffered very much. Whitby's Alphabetical Table. + It is a province of Palestine (so called from its eity of the same name, that was once the capital of the kingdom of Israel), which lies exactly between Judea to the south and Galilee to the north, and extends itself from the Mediterranean Sea westward to the river Jordan eastward, taking up the most considerable part of what formerly belonged to the tribe of Ephraim, and the half tribe of Manasseh, on the west side of Jordan. Wells's Geography of the New Testament. +3 Sychar is only a corrupt pronunciation of Sy. chem, or Shechem, which is the capital of the country that was once called Samaria. At present it is called Naplosa, and stands in a narrow valley, between Mount Gerizzim on the south (at the foot of which it is situate), and Ebal on the north. On Mount Gerizzim they had once a temple, which seemed to rival that of Jerusalem, but in the time of the Maccabees, it was destroyed by Hyrcanus, and what they +4 It is much to be questioned, whether the well that is at present shewn to travellers for Jacob's well, be that where our Saviour discoursed the Samaritan woman, because it seems to be too remote from the town for women to come thither to draw water; unless we suppose, that the city did formerly extend itself farther that way than it does now. However this be, the well is at present covered with a small vault into which you get down through a very strait hole, and then removing a broad flat stone, you discover the mouth of the well itself. It is dug in a firm rock, about three yards in diameter, and thirty five in depth; and, to confute the story which is commonly told to travellers, (viz. that it is all the year dry, except on the anniversary when our Saviour sat upon it, but that then it bubbles up with abundance of wa ter) Mr Maundrell tells us, that when they came to sound it, they found no less than five yards of water in it. Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, and Wells's Geography of the New Testament. + The chief reasons of the Jewish hatred against the Samaritans were these three, Ist, The foreign ex. traction of the Samaritans, they being most of them descendants from the Cutheans whom Salmanazar sent to Samaria, when he carried away the ten tribes into captivity, 2 Kings xviii. 9. 2dly, The difference of their religion and worship, forasmuch as that of the Samaritans was a kind of mixture of Jewish and Pagan rites together; and, 3dly, The rival temple which the Samaritans had built on Mount Gerizzım, and consecrated to Jupiter Olympus, in order to avoid the persecution of Antiochus. Joseph. Antiq. lib. xii. c. 7. These were the chief causes of the animosities between them. The Jews, however, did not carry their resentment so high, but that in some cases they would traffic or buy any thing of them; but then the Pharisees came in with a tradition that they were not to borrow any thing of them, or receive any kindness from them, nor drink of their water, or eat of their Luke vi. 1. |