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النشر الإلكتروني

CHAPTER IV.

FROM OUR LORD'S LAST ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM TO HIS ASCEN-
SION INTO HEAVEN, CONTAINING THE TERM OF SIX WEEKS
AND FIVE DAYS.

THE HISTORY.

or 5412.

or 31.

xx. 10. to the

Luke xix. 45.

1.4037. UPON our Lord's entry into Jerusalem with such a vast retinue of people, the citi- From Matth. Dom. Zens were alarmed, and began to enquire, who this great person was? To which the end, Mark xi. Er. 33, multitude that accompanied him answered aloud, that it was Jesus, the prophet of Na-15. to the end, zareth, a town in Galilee. Having therefore permitted his kingdom and Divine autho-to the end, and rity to be thus proclaimed by others, he proceeded, in the next place, to exert it him- John xii. 19. to self: For, going to the temple, and there looking about him, he found the court of the Gentiles notoriously profaned and dishonoured by trading and merchandize. That therefore he might end, as he had begun his ministry, with the reformation of the house of God, he drove out all the buyers and sellers (as he did three years before) from the sacred ground; he overthrew the tables of the money-changers, † and the stalls of those

These money changers were not unlike our merchants or bankers, who deal in bills of exchange, and either remit money to foreign parts, or answer such draughts as, by their correspondents abroad, are made upon them: And, considering that the Jews (how far soever they lived from it) were obliged to repair to Jerusalem, there to offer their sacrifices, and pay their half shekel, for the use of the temple, Exod. xxx. 13. The institution of such dealers in money was highly necessary, that the Jews, in their several dispersions, who were to come up to Jerusalem to worship, paying their money to merchants at home, might have it, to answer their occasions, safe from thieves, and from the trouble of carriage, when they arrived at Jerusalem. Whether therefore the business of these money-changers was only to return money from distant parts, or to change foreign money into current coin, or larger money into less pieces, or perhaps to do all this, there was certainly nothing blame-worthy in the profession, had it not been for some intervening abuse. In like manner, it may be said of those who bought or sold cattle for sacrifices; since it would have been highly inconvenient for

every worshipper, who lived at a considerable dis
tance, to bring them up with him, such men were
necessary in their way; as were likewise the sellers of
doves, because every Israelite did not keep this kind
of birds, and yet no one creature was so often requi-
red in sacrifice as they. Our Saviour therefore, in
this transaction, must not be thought to blame all
such traffic in general, but only to find fault with the
people for having taken up an improper place for the
exercise of their respective callings: And therefore,
to let them know that it was not out of passion, or
any peevish resentment against them, but purely in
obedience to a Divine command, that he made this
reformation, he told them that it was written, "My
house shall be called an house of prayer." This is
the character which the prophet Isaiah gives of it,
chap. Ivi. 7.; and if it be an house appointed for
prayer, and other religious offices, then is it no proper
place for the tables of money-changers, and the
seats of those that sell doves," who have the markets
of Jerusalem, and their own shops and houses to trade
in. Hammond's and Whitby's Annotations, and Su-
renhusii Conciliationes in loca V. T. apud Matthæum..

the end.

Ann. Dom.

A. M. 4037, that sold doves; telling them, that they had made the temple, which was deservedly &c. or 5142. called an "house of prayer, a den of thieves +." [It is worthy of notice, that on this Vulg Ær. 33, occasion he speaks in a tone of higher authority than on the former. (a) He then called &c or 31. the temple His Father's house, but he now calls it His own, saying, "My house is the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves."] And to let the people see, that he had both commission and authority to act as he did, he cured, in that instant, many blind and lame persons that were brought to him into the temple.

The people indeed were filled with admiration at the sight of these things; but the chief priests and scribes, when they saw the miracles which he wrought, and heard the acclamations of the children, who cried out in the temple," Hosanna to the Son of David!" were greatly enraged, and discovered their anger by asking him, "If he heard what they said?" But he silenced their question by shewing them, that what was so displeasing to them did really fulfil the Scriptures, particularly that passage in the Psalmist, where it is said, that +2" out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise." This answer, however, did but enrage them the more, and put them upon seeking all occasions to destroy him, though their dread of the people, who heard him with the greatest eagerness and attention, was some check upon their malice.

66

The Jews were not the only persons who came up to Jerusalem at the passover; for many devout Greeks +3 used likewise to resort thither at that feast; and some of these

+ This expression is thought by some to be an allusion to those gangs of robbers which at this time infested Judea, and used to hide themselves in holes and dens of the mountains, as appears from the history of Josephus in several places: But our Lord here plainly refers to that passage in Jeremiah, where the prophet introduces God complaining, "Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord," chap. vii. xi. But how could the house of God become a den of robbers? How could such violence be committed in so sacred a place? St Jerom, in his Commentary upon Matth. xxi. 12, 13. ascribes all this to the avarice of the priests, and gives us a lively description of the several artifices whereby they endeavoured to extort money. "In the temple of Jerusalem, says he, the finest and most spacious of any in the whole world, whither Jews assembled almost from all countries, sacrifices of different kinds, some for the rich and others for the poorer sort, were prescribed by the law; but because those who came from afar often wanted such sacrifices, the priests took the advantage to buy up all those beasts which were appointed for this purpose, and having sold them to those that wanted, received them at their hands back again. Because some who came to worship were so very poor, that they had not money enough to purchase so much as the lesser sacrifices, which were birds; to remedy this inconveniency, the priests set up bankers in one of the courts of the temple to lend them money upon security: But finding that they could not do this without transgressing the law which forbad usury, they had recourse to another device, which was to appoint a kind of pawn-brokers instead of bankers, i. e. men who, for the advance of a small sum, took fruits, herbs, and other consumables, instead of use-money Our Lord therefore having ob served this way of traffic, which the priests had set up in his Father's house, not only expelled their

agents, but arraigned them likewise for a pack of thieves; for he is a robber, says the father, who makes lucre of religion, and whose worship is, not so much the veneration he has for God, as the opportunity of making his own interest and advantage." Beausobre's Annotations, and Calmet's Commentary.

(a) Horsley's Sermons, vol. iii. p. 48.

These words are cited from Psalm viii. 2, and seem to vary a little from the original, which is thus rendered-"Out of the mouth of the very babes and sucklings thou hast ordained strength." But when it is considered, that the only strength which can proceed from the mouth of children must be praise, or words put into their mouths to celebrate the praises of the Messiah, the phrase in the Psalmist and in the evangelist must needs mean the same thing; and our Saviour, in the application of it to the chief priests and scribes, seems to insinuate, "That these acclamations of the children were not fortuitous, but by a Divine instinct, and for the fulfilling of an ancient prophecy; and that therefore their declaring him to be the Messiah, or the Son of David, should be looked upon as a kind of call from heaven, to inform and instruct others in what they were to do." Beausobre's Annotations, and Surenhusii Conciliat. ibid.

+3 Who these Grecians were, the best of our commentators are not agreed. Some are of opinion, that they were mere Gentiles, who, either out of curiosity, viz. to see the magnificence of the temple, the solemnities of the feast, or the person of Jesus, of whose fame they had heard so much, or perhaps out of a principle of devotion, and to worship the God of Israel, might at this time resort to Jerusalem: For the Pagan religion, which admitted a plurality of gods, restrained none from worshipping the gods of other nations, so long as they were not thereby tempted to abandon those of their own. Others imagine that they were real Jews, who, being scattered in Grecian provinces after the conquests which Alexander the

end, lark xi.

to the end, and

being desirous to have a sight of Christ, addressed themselves † to Philip, one of the From Matth. apostles, and he, by the assistance of Andrew, had them introduced Our Lord was at xx 10. to the that time discoursing to the disciples of many things relating to his passion, and parti- 15. to the end, cularly of the efficacy of his death, and what a powerful means it would prove to con- Luke xi. 45. vert the world to his religion, more powerful indeed than his life could possibly be, John xii. 19. to even as corn, though it dies in the ground, †2 when sown, rises again with a vast abun- the end. dance and increase. While he was thus discoursing of his death, he seemed on a sudden to be seized with a natural horror † of its approaching hour, and was going to request of God a reprieve from it; but then recollecting, that for this purpose it was that he came into the world, he changed his petition, and, with a resolved acquiescence in his good pleasure, desired of him, in what method he should think most proper, to glorify his name; whereupon he was answered by a voice from heaven, t which some of the company took for a clap of thunder, and others for an angel's speaking to him, "that he had already glorified it, † and would glorify it again.'

This voice he told them was not so much for his information in the will of heaven, as it was for their conviction of his Divine mission; and so he went on discoursing to them of his death, and the beneficial effects of it, until some of them, perceiving in what he said an inconsistency (as they thought) with some passages of Scripture, told him, that they could not rightly comprehend what he meant by his death, since some prophecies + had assured them that the "Messiah was to live for ever." But to this

Great and his successors made upon the Jews, still continued in these countries, but kept so close to their ancient religion, as to come in great numbers to Jerusalem upon the return of every passover. These were generally called Hellenists: And that there was great plenty of them in several provinces of Asia, is manifest from St Peter's address of his first epistle to the strangers (as he calls them) who were scattered through Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia Minor, and Bithynia, 1 Pet. i. 1.; but the most general opinion is, that these Greeks were proselytes of the gate, who worshipped the God of heaven and earth, lived among the Jews, and conformed to their political laws, but would not engage in circumcision, or the observance of their ceremonies; and they came to Jerusalem at this time, not because they were per mitted to celebrate the feast along with the Jews, but because they were indulged the privilege to behold their solemnities, and to pay their adorations to the Creator of the universe (even while the Jews were in the height of their public worship) in the court of the Gentiles, as appears from the case of the eunuch of queen Candace, Acts viii. 27. Basnage's History of the Jews, lib. v. c. 6. Calmet's Commentary, Pool's and Hammond's Annotations.

+ These Greeks, says Grotius, seem to have been Syro-Phoenicians, who dwelt perhaps about Tyre and Sidon, and so might easily be acquainted with the Galileans, with whom they had commerce, and with Philip of Bethsaida, to whom they made application for access to Christ.

+ Our Saviour's words upon this occasion are not amiss paraphrased in this manner,-"Look, as you see in your ordinary husbandry the grains of wheat are first buried in the earth, and lose their form, be fore they spring and shoot up again, and bring forth fruit; so it must be with me. I must be first lifted up, before I shall draw men after me; I must first be VOL. III.

2 K

crucified, before my Gospel shall be preached to all
nations, and the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in:
But when I am once dead, and have risen, then shall
ye see this abundant fruit." Pool's Annotations.

+3 That men might not have it to say, that our
Blessed Saviour, in point of suffering, was no proper
example for our imitation, because he had no dread
of death, or sense of pain, to make sufferings distaste-
ful to him, whereas we are most tenderly affected
with these things, he herein shews us, that he had the
same natural concern for life, and dread of death, that
we have, only that he over-ruled them by a desire of
promoting his Father's glory. Whitby's Annotations.

The only way of revelation which the Jews, since the Babylonish captivity and extinction of their prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, pretend to, is that of Bath Koll, or the daughter of a voice, so called, because it has some resemblance (though, as to its distinctness, but an imperfect one) of that voice which was uttered from the holy of holies, when the Lord spake to Moses, and, according to them, it is the will of God revealed in thunder from heaven; and therefore, though upon this occasion some of the company thought it thundered, and others, that an angel spake, yet neither of them were mistaken, because in this Bath-Koll there was always thunder joined with an articulate voice. Hammond's Annotations. +506

+5" I have glorified it, "by causing my glory to be published and proclaimed in the world by thy preaching, and by the miracles which I have given in testimony of thy mission; "And I will glorify it again," by thy resurrection and exaltation to the right hand of glory, by the mission of the Holy Ghost upon thy apostles, and by their carrying the "sound of the Gospel even unto the ends of the earth." Pool's and Whitby's Annotations.

+ The prophecies from whence the Jews may be supposed to have drawn this conclusion are,-2 Šam.

A. M. 4037, objection he made no other reply, than that it well behoved them to make good use of his &c. or 544?. instructions for the short time they were to have them; and so he withdrew from them, Vulg. Ær. 33. as well perceiving, that neither his Divine discourses, nor miraculous cures, could gain

Ann. Dom.

&c. or 31,

the faith of any, except the populace; for though some of their rulers might believe in him, yet such was their timidity, that they durst not declare it openly, for fear of excommunication, and because " they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God."

Towards the evening, however, he returned again to the temple, † and exhorted the people to believe in him, as a messenger sent from God to offer salvation to mankind; and, in case that they persisted in their infidelity, he threatened them with Divine vengeance in the last day, when the very Gospel, which he then preached to them, would rise up in judgment against them, and condemn them; and, with these words, he left the temple, and taking his apostles with him, returned to Bethany, where he lodged that night:

The next morning as he returned to Jerusalem, finding himself a little hungry, he went to a fig-tree, that was in the way, in hopes of finding some fruit upon it: But when he found none, to signify his Almighty power, he cursed the tree, and so proceeding to the temple, began again to clear it of all the traders that were got again into it; and there continued all the day long, teaching and instructing the people. While he was doing this, the chief priests, scribes, and rulers of the people, knowing that he had no commission from the Sanhedrim +2, came and demanded of him by what authority he proceeded in that manner; but instead of answering their question directly, he put another to them, viz. Whether the baptism of John was of Divine, or only of human institution? To say that it was of Divine institution, would be to accuse themselves of impiety and incredulity; and to say that it was purely human, would be to provoke the people (who all looked upon him as a prophet) to stone them; and therefore, in this dilemma, they concluded that ignorance would be the best answer, and thereupon declared that they could not tell; to which our Saviour rejoined, "Neither is it necessary for me to give you an account of my commission and authority, since you seem to grant, that a man may lawfully preach and baptize and entertain disciples as John did, without the appointment and permission of the Sanhedrim." And so he proceeded in

vii. 16. where God, by the mouth of Nathan, promi-
ses David, "Thine house and thy kingdom shall be
established for ever before thee; thy throne shall be
established for ever;" in much the same words, where
in he had sworn unto David himself, Psal. lxxxix. 29.
"His seed will I make to endure for ever, and his
throne as the days of heaven." To the same pur-
pose they found the prophet Isaiah promising, chap.
ix. 7. "My servant David shall be their king for ever,
and of his government there shall be no end:" But
what seemed to express the matter in the clearest
terms was this passage in Daniel, chap. vii. 13, 14.
And "behold, one like the Son of Man came with
the clouds of heaven, and came to the ancient of
days, &c. and there was given him dominion, and
glory, and a kingdom, &c. His dominion is an ever-
lasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his
kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." Thus
the Jews wrongfully applied to the person of the Mes-
siah the things which related to his kingdom; but
then they gave little or no heed to what the same
prophets said of the body, wherein the Messiah was
to suffer, and of his hands and feet, which were to be
pierced, Psalm xxii. 16.-xl. 6. of « his giving up

his life a sacrifice for sin," Isaiah liii. 12. and of his being "cut off, but not for himself," Dan. ix. 26. all which was not incompatible with his abiding for ever; seeing that, after his sufferings, he was to rise again, Psalm xli. 10. and enter into glory, 1 Peter i. 11. So that, by comparing these things together, they might have easily removed this scruple, especially when he had told them so often, and they so well remembered that he had told them, that " after three days he would rise again." Whitby's and Beausobre's Annotations.

It is very probable that the priests, who had the advantage of letting these shops, and were therefore not so well pleased with the reformation which our Saviour had made, ordered the traders to reassume their places, promising to know of him by what authority he made those innovations. Calmet's Commentary.

+ It is pretended by some, that the person who preached in the temple was to have a licence from the Sanhedrim, but that any might speak publicly in the synagogues without any such faculty, because we find our Saviour preaching in the latter almost every Sabbath-day, without any molestation. However

xx. 10. to the

several parables, (such as the parable (a) of the two sons †, that (b) of the wicked hus- From Matth. bandmen +2, and that (c) of the guest † invited to the marriage feast) to upbraid them end, Mark xi. with their hypocrisy, cruelty, and contempt of religion; and for these to denounce the 15. to the end, severe judgments of God against them.

Luke xix. 45. to the end, and

The Pharisees, who had as great a share in the application of these parables as any John xii. 19. to other, went away much enraged, and with a firm resolution to find out some occasion the end. against him. To this purpose, therefore, they sent some of their disciples, together with the Herodians †, to propound this insidious question to him, "Whether it was

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(a) Matth. xxi. 28.

By the Man in the parable is signified God, and by his two sons, the Jews and the Gentiles. The Jews are the second son: They promised to God a perfect obedience, and yet did nothing: The Gentiles are the other son, who at first refused to obey, and gave themselves up to idolatry, and all manner of wickedness, but, upon the preaching of the Gospel, repented; and after their conversion applied themselves in earnest to do the will of God. The para ble, according to our Lord's own interpretation of it, Matth. xxi. 32. is applicable likewise to two kinds of Jews, the scribes and Pharisees, who pretended to so much religion, and such mighty zeal for the performance of the law, when in reality they observed none of its weightier precepts; and the publicans and sinners, who, though at first they lived in practices quite abhorrent to the precepts of religion, yet, upon the preaching of John the Baptist, were several of them converted, and, attending to the doctrine of Christ and his apostles, in process of time became obedient to their heavenly Father's will, verse 31. Calmet's Commentary. (b) Matth. xxi. 33.

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time to time commissioned to reprove, exhort, and
quicken to their duty, both priests and people, by de-
nunciations of vengeance and promises of reward;
that the Son, whom he sent at last, was our Blessed
Saviour, whom the Jewish priests and rulers treated
in no better manner than they had done the prophets
of old, but, instead of reverencing him as the Son of
God, and as he proved himself to be by divers ma-
nifestations of Divine power, put him to a cruel and
ignominious death; and therefore well might the Lord
of the vineyard "destroy these wicked men, &c." as
we find from the Jewish historian Josephus, as well
as other writers, that God, for their great impiety,
brought the Roman armies upon that nation, and by
them burnt their city and temple, destroyed and dis-
persed the people, and carried his Gospel to the Gen-
tiles," to other husbandmen who should render him
the fruits in their seasons," ver. 43. Calmet's Com-
mentary, Whitby's Annotations, and Stanhope on the
Epistles and Gospels, vol. iv.

(c) Matth. xxii. 2.

+3 The king in this parable represents God the Father; the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is frequently described as the Spouse of his church; and the marriage-feast, the dispensation of the Gospel. The guests that were first invited to the feast were the Jews; the servants sent forth to call them were the prophets, John the Baptist, and the apostles; upon their refusal, the other guests brought in to supply their room were the Gentiles; and the person who wanted the wedding-garment, is an emblem of all those who profess and receive, but do not live up to the principles of Christ's religion, [or rather, who trust in their own righteousness, and hope to be saved without faith in Christ as the Redeemer of the world.] Calmet's Commentary, and Stanhope on the Epistles and Gospels, vol. iii.

For the explication of this parable we must observe, That the householder here, Matth. xxi. 33. is Almighty God, and the vineyard is the Jewish people, considered in their spiritual capacity; that his "planting and hedging it about," signifies his peculiar favour and Providence in communicating to them his will, and, by laws and ordinances peculiar to themselves, distinguishing them from all other na- + The Herodians are commonly, and most probations to be his own people; that the wine-press, and bly supposed to signify the partisans and favourers of tower, and other suitable conveniences, denote the Herod; but what their principle was, as to the other temple and altar which he built among them, toge matter now in hand, is not so generally agreed. ther with all those advantages and opportunities of Some think them enemies to the Roman government, serving him acceptably, which he afforded them; that and that they only watched a favourable opportunity the husbandmen to whom this vineyard was let out, to make Herod's family absolute. Others think them were the priests and Levites, the doctors and rulers entirely in the interest of the emperor, as Herod of that church and people, who are here represented himself then was; for having, by his indulgence, as wanting in their duty, and negligent in cultivating been advanced to the regal state, he acted for, and the vineyard, or instructing the people committed to under him, in collecting the customs and public dues. their charge; that the fruits are no other than re- This opinion seems the more probable, because it is turns of duty, proportioned to the advantages of more agreeable to the Pharisees present design: For, knowing and performing it; that the servants sent to had they sent persons all of one sentiment, Christ demand the fruits, were the prophets whom God from_might have easily satisfied them all; but now, by

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