Back | Table of Contents
| Forward
A Commentary on the New Testament
from the Talmud and Hebraica
John Lightfoot
(1602-1675)
Exercitations upon the Evangelist St. Luke
Chapters 4-8
1. And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the
Spirit into the wilderness.
[Was led by the Spirit.] In St. Matthew it is, was led up of the Spirit.
By which I would suppose our Saviour caught up by the Holy Spirit into the air, and so
carried into the wilderness. The reasons of this conjecture are, I. Because we read of the
like thing done to Philip, Acts 8:39,40. The same also is supposed concerning Elijah, 1
Kings 18:12; 2 Kings 2:16. II. It is probable the devil also might snatch Jesus up into
the air, having this occasion to pretend himself no other than the Holy Ghost, who had
caught him up and brought him already into the wilderness: and under this notion he might
require that worship from him, as if he himself was indeed the Holy Ghost. III. We must
not pass by the method which St. Luke takes in describing the order of the temptations,
somewhat different from that of St. Matthew. The temptation upon the pinnacle of the
Temple is mentioned by St. Matthew, and that most truly, the second in order: but in St.
Luke it is reckoned the third; adding, that "when the devil had ended all his
temptation, he departed from him for a season." But now, according to St. Luke, how
did Christ get down from the pinnacle again? He tells us, that he was carried up thither
by the devil, and there (according to his method in the story) the temptation was ended:
how then did Christ get down again? Observe but what follows; Jesus returned in the
power of the Spirit into Galilee: and then join the stories as they are joined in St.
Luke: the devil set him on the pinnacle of the Temple, and there urgeth him to cast
himself down; but when he could not persuade him, he leaves him standing on the pinnacle,
and all the temptation was ended; and Jesus, by the power of the Spirit returned into
Galilee. May we not suppose that the evangelist would by this give us to understand, that
Christ, after the temptation was ended, was carried through the air by the Holy Ghost into
Galilee, as he had been caught up before by him, and been brought into the wilderness,
yea, and under that pretence [or upon that occasion], had been snatched up by the devil
himself to the pinnacle of the Temple, and to a very high mountain?
2. Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and
when they were ended, he afterward hungered.
[Forty days, &c.] Moses, in his dealings with God, fasted forty days three
times, one after another. It was sufficient for Christ, having withal so great a conflict
with the devil, to do it but once. Moses' first quadragesimal was Exodus 24:18: his second
time was after he had destroyed the golden calf, Deuteronomy 10:10: the third was after
the tables of the law had been made anew, Exodus 34:28. About that very time of the year
wherein Moses ended his last forty days' fast, Christ began his; viz. about the middle of
the month Tisri; and how long he continued it on in the month Marchesvan, it is not
difficult to apprehend.
5. And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, showed unto him all the
kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
[In a moment of time.] In momento. So the Vulgar. Now what quantity of
time a moment contains, if it be worth the while to inquire, the doctors tell us:
How much is a moment? It is the fifty-eight thousand, eight hundred, eighty-eighth
part of an hour. Very accurately calculated truly!
13. And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a
season.
[He departed from him for a season.] The devil had now found by experience, how
much in vain it was for him to tempt our Saviour by suggestions, or those kinds of
allurements by which he inveigles mankind; and therefore he watches for an opportunity of
trying his arts upon him some other way: which at last he doth, both by himself and by his
instruments. And when that season drew near, and the devil returned to his proper
business, we find there is mention made of Satan entering into Judas, and that "now
the prince of this world cometh," John 14:30.
16. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was,
he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
[He stood up to read.] That we may frame the better judgment of this action of
our Saviour's, let us a little look into the customs of the synagogue:--
I. They read standing up. Piske: and Rabbenu Asher; "They do not read in
the law otherwise than standing up. Nay, it is unlawful for him that readeth to
lean upon any thing. Whence comes it that he that readeth in the law is bound to stand
up? Rabh Abhu saith, Because the Scripture saith, Do thou stand by me. Nor ought any
one to lean any way, as it is in the Jerusalem. R. Samuel Bar Isaac going into a
synagogue found one expounding and leaning against a pillar. He saith to him, This is not
lawful: for as the law was given with reverence, so are we to handle it with reverence
too."
They preferred the Law before the Prophets, and the Law and the Prophets
above the Hagiographa, or holy writings: and yet they yielded that honour to
the Prophets, that even they should not be read but standing up. Whence that is particular
which they say concerning the Book of Esther, "A man may read out of the Book of
Esther, either standing or sitting. But not so out of the law." Christ in this
followed the custom of the synagogue, in that while he read the Law he stood up, while he
taught it he sat down.
II. He that read in the Prophets was called Maphtir; and was appointed to that
office by the ruler of the synagogue.
"Rabh Bibai was a great man in taking care of the things of God. And Mar
was a great man in taking care of the things of the town." The Gloss is:
"Of the things of God, that is, about the collectors of the alms, and the
distribution of it, and the ordering those that were to expound and read the Prophets."
It is probable that Christ did at this time offer himself as a Maphtir, or as
one that would read in the Prophets, and preach upon what he read; not before hand
appointed to it by the ruler of the synagogue, but rather approved of when he had offered
himself. For those of Nazareth had heard of some miracles which he had wrought at
Capernaum, verse 23: and therefore no wonder if they were very desirous to hear something
from him answerable to those great things he had done.
III. Piske: "He that reads in the Prophets ought not to read less than
one-and-twenty verses." Here our Saviour doth not seem to have observed the custom of
the synagogue, for he read but two verses: and yet he did nothing but what was both
allowable and usual. And that is worth our taking notice of which we meet with, "If
there be an interpreter or preaching on the sabbath day, they read out of the
prophets, three, or five, or seven verses, and are not so careful to read just
one-and-twenty."
"If there be an interpreter [or interpretation] on the sabbath day": was
there not always one on every sabbath day? So that neither Moses nor the Prophets might be
read unless one stood by that could expound: as seems abundantly evident both from the
traditions and the rules that concerned such a one.
These words, therefore I would understand in such a sense; 'If either the interpreter
should in his exposition enlarge himself into a sermon, or any other should preach,'
&c. For the interpreter did sometimes comment and preach upon what they read. And
probably Christ did at this time both read and properly interpreted.
"Jose the Maonite expounded in the synagogue of Maon. 'Hear, O ye priests;
hearken, O house of Israel; and give y ear, O house of the king,' Hosea 5. He said, The
holy blessed God is about to snatch away the priests and set them in judgment, saying unto
them, 'Why have ye not laboured in the law? Have you not had the use and enjoyment of
four-and-twenty portions belonging to the priests?' They say unto him, 'They have not
given us any thing.' 'Hearken, O ye house of Israel, why have you not given those
four-and-twenty portions to the priests which I have commanded you in the law?' They
answer him, 'Because of those who are of the house of the prince, who devour all
themselves.' 'Give ear, O house of the king, for judgment is towards you; for to you I
have said that this should be the rule concerning the priests: to you, therefore, and over
you, is it turned a rule of judgment.' Rabbi [the prince] heard this, and was displeased
with it."
"After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha."
"Rabh Joseph expounded it, After these things the king promoted Haman of
Hammedatha the Agagite, the son of Cuza, the son of Aphlet, the son of Dio, the son of
Diusot, the son of Paros, the son of Nidan, the son of Baalkan," &c. See the
place, and compare it with the Targumist upon Esther, chapter 3:1.
"A reader in the Prophet enlargeth upon 'Shemaa'" [the manner and form
of the thing we have in Massech. Soph. cap. 14]; "he passeth before the ark,
and lifteth up his hands" (that is, in order to give him blessing); "but if he
be a child, his father or his master doth these things in his stead," &c. But the
Gloss tells us that these things are to be understood of an ordinary reader of the
prophets. Now Christ was an extraordinary reader. However, he read here, which he did
not do in any other synagogue; for this was the synagogue to which he belonged, and he
read as a member of that synagogue.
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,
[And there was delivered unto him the book of Esaias.] I. The minister of the
church kept the sacred books in his custody, and brought them out to be read when they met
together in the synagogue.
"The high priest came to read [on the day of expiation]; the minister of the
synagogue takes the book of the law, and giveth it to the ruler of the
synagogue," &c. Where the Gloss is, The 'chazan' of the synagogue, that
is, the minister. From him did our Saviour receive the book, and to him he returned
it again.
II. If it be asked whether he received the book of the Prophet Isaiah by itself or
joined with the other prophets, it is not easy to determine it. We may gather something
from what vulgarly obtained amongst them.
"The Rabbins deliver: 'Let a man frame the Law and the Prophets and the holy
writings into one volume': they are the words of R. Meir. But R. Judah saith, 'Let the Law
be apart by itself; the book of the Prophets by itself; and the book of the holy writings
[Hagiographa] by itself.' And the wise men say, 'Every book by itself.'"
But we may ask if every prophet was by himself, Isaiah by himself, Jeremiah by himself,
&c. It is probable they were: for so they sometimes divided the law into single
quintanes [or fifth parts].
All know what title the books of the law do bear in the front of the Hebrew Bibles,
viz. The five quintanes of the law. Genesis is the first quintane: Exodus is
the second quintane: and so of the rest...
"They fold up the book of the Law in the cloth of the quintanes, and the
quintanes in the cloth of the Prophets and Hagiographa: but they do not fold up the
Prophets and Hagiographa in the cloth of the quintanes, nor the quintanes in the cloth of
the Law." And a little after; "They lay the Law upon the quintanes, and
the quintanes upon the Prophets and Hagiographa; but not the Prophets and Hagiographa upon
the quintanes, nor the quintanes upon the Law": that is, not any one single quintane
upon all the quintanes made up into one volume. So the Gloss hath it; "A quintane;
that is, a book of the law, in which there is only one quintane."
Seeing, therefore, that the book of that Law was sometimes divided in this manner, into
distinct books, we may judge as well that the greater prophets might be thus divided also,
and the twelve lesser made up into one volume. Hence, perhaps, that passage: "The
reader of the Prophet might skip from one text to another: but he might not skip from
prophet to prophet: but in the twelve prophets it was lawful." For they were all
made up in one volume ready to his hand; and so were not the greater prophets.
Give me leave, therefore, to conjecture that on that sabbath wherein these things were
transacted in the synagogue at Nazareth, that section which was to be read in the Prophets
was, according to the rubric, in the prophet Isaiah; and upon that account the minister of
the synagogue delivered that book to our Saviour when he stood up to read.
[And when he had opened the book, he found the place, &c.] In the Talmudic
language I would render it thus, unrolling the book...
The high priest after the reading of the law, rolling, or folding up the book,
puts it into his bosom. And yet
It is said...which we must not render they do not fold up, but they do not
unfold or unroll the book of the law in the synagogue.
They unroll a prophet in the congregation, but they do not unroll the law in he
congregation. That is, as the Gloss hath it, They unroll from one place or passage
to another passage in another place. So they were wont to do in the Prophets, but not
in the Law. And upon this account was it permitted for the reader to skip in the prophet
from one place to another, because it was permitted them to unroll the prophet, either a
single prophet, or the twelve lesser in the synagogue; but as to the Law, it was not
allowed them so to do.
And they put the question How far may he skip so that he that interprets do not
break off? The Gloss is, "Let him not skip from the place he reads, unless that
he may unroll the book, and be ready to read the place to which he skips, when the
interpreter ceaseth."
And because it was not lawful for him so to unroll the law in the synagogue, "on
the kalends of the month Tebeth, if it proved to be the sabbath day, they brought three
books of the law and read in one of them the place for the sabbath, in another, that for
the kalends, in the third, that for the feast of dedication."
The words therefore of our evangelist to me seem not barely to mean that he unfolded
or opened the book; but that being opened, he unrolled it from folio to folio, till
he had found the place he designed to read and expound. Which though it was not the
section appointed by the rubric for the day, yet did not Christ much recede from the
custom of the synagogue, which allowed the reader to skip from one place to another.
25. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when
the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all
the land;
[When the heavens were shut up three years and six months.] This number of three
years and six months is much used both in the Holy Scriptures and in Jewish writings;
concerning which we have more largely discoursed in another place. And although both in
the one and the other it is not seldom used allusively only, yet in this place I can see
no reason why it should not be taken according to the letter in its proper number, however
indeed there will be no small difficulty to reduce it to its just account. That there was
no rain for three years together, is evident enough from 1 Kings 17, &c.: but whence
comes this addition of six months?
"Elijah said to Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there
shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word; If there shall be
these years." These words include three years at the least, because he saith, years
in the plural, and not years in the dual.
And chapter 18, "The word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go
shew thyself unto Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth." In the third year;
where then shall we find the six months?
I. Doubtless both our Saviour and his apostle St. James, chapter 5 verse 17, in adding
six months do speak according to the known and received opinion of that nation; which is
also done elsewhere sometimes in historical matters in the New Testament.
St. Stephen tells us, Acts 7:16, that the bones of the twelve patriarchs were carried
over from Egypt and buried in Sychem, when holy writ mentions only the bones and burial of
Joseph: wherein he speaks according to the vulgar opinion of the nation.
Again, verse 30, he tells us that Moses was forty years old when he fled into the land
of Midian, and that he tarried there forty years more, when Moses himself mentions nothing
of the circumstance: this he speaks agreeably to the opinion of the people.
II. Neither our Saviour nor St. James says that Elijah shut up the heavens three years
and six months; but Christ tells us, "That the heaven was shut up in the days of
Elias three years and six months": and St. James, "That Elias prayed that it
might not rain, and it rained not upon the earth by the space of three years and six
months."
May I therefore have leave to distinguish in this manner? Elijah shut up the heaven for
three years, that there might be no rain, as in the Book of Kings: and there was no rain
for three years and a half, as our Saviour and St. James relate.
III. The words of Menander in Josephus may help a little towards the untying this knot:
Menander also makes mention of this drought in the acts of Ithobalus, king of Tyre,
saying, There was no rain from the month of October to the month of October the year
following.
It is true he shortens the space of this drought by making it continue but one year;
but however, having placed the beginning of it in the month of October, he gives us a key
that opens us a way into things more inward and secret.
IV. Consider the distinction of the former and the latter rain,
Deuteronomy 11:14; Jeremiah 5:24; Joel 2:23.
"The Rabbins deliver: the former is in the month Marchesvan; the latter in the
month Nisan."
The Targumist in Joel 2:23: "Who hath given you the first rain in season and
the latter in the month Nisan." See also our note upon chapter 2:8.
R. Solomon, upon Deuteronomy 11, differs a little; but we are not solicitous about the
order, which should be the first, either that in the month Marchesvan, or that in the
month Nisan: that which makes to our purpose is, that rains were at those stated times;
and for the rest of the year generally there was no rain.
V. Those six months mentioned by our Saviour and St. James must be accounted before the
beginning of the three years, and not tacked to the end of them, as is very evident from
this, that it is said, "The third year Elijah shewed himself to Ahab,"
&c.
In the beginning therefore of those three years we believe Elijah shut up heaven upon
the approach of that time wherein the rains were wont to fall in the month of Marchesvan,
and opened heaven again the same month at the end of three years. Nor is it nothing that
Menander speaks of the drought, taking its beginning in the month October, which in
part answers to the Jews' Marchesvan: for consult that passage, chapter 18; "Ahab
said unto Obadiah, Go into the land unto all the fountains of water, and unto all brooks:
peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive." No one will say
this search was made in the winter, but in the summer: not before or in the
month Nisan, wherein the rains were wont to fall; for what hay or grass could be expected
at that time? But when the year grew on to the summer, then was it a seasonable time to
inquire after hay and grass. Reckon therefore the time of Ahab's and Obadiah's progress in
this search: the time wherein Elijah and Obadiah meeting together, Ahab fell in with them:
the time wherein the Israelites and the prophets of Baal were gathered together at mount
Carmel; when Elijah sacrificed there, and the followers of Baal were killed: and certainly
it will be more probable that the unlocking of the heavens and the fall of the rains
happened in that usual and ordinary season, the month Marchesvan, than any other part of
the year. Three years agone, in that month when the rains were expected, according to the
common season of the year, Elijah shut heaven up that it should not rain; and now at the
close of three years, when the season for those rains recurred, he unlocks the heavens and
the rains fall abundantly.
VI. Now, go back from Marchesvan, the month wherein the prophet locked up heaven, to
the month Nisan preceding, and those six months between, they were also without rain,
according to the ordinary course of the year and climate. In the month Nisan it rained;
the rest of the year to Marchesvan it was fair and held up: when that month came the rains
were expected; but Elijah had shut the heavens up, and they remained shut up for the space
of three years ensuing. So that though he did not shut up heaven above the space of three
years, yet there was no rain for three years and six months.
27. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of
them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
[Naaman the Syrian.] These instances galled those of Nazareth upon a twofold
account:
I. That they looked upon themselves as vilified by these examples; especially if we
consider the occasion upon which our Saviour brought them. 'Thou hast wrought miracles in
Capernaum; do something also here in thine own city.' 'No, you are unworthy of it, as
Israel of old was unworthy of the prophets Elijah and Elisha, who were therefore sent
amongst the Gentiles.'
II. That by these instances he plainly intimated the calling of the Gentiles, than
which nothing could be more grating in the ear of the Jews. Elijah was sent to a heathen
woman, and a heathen man was sent to Elisha: and both of them were turned from heathenism
to the true religion. Those words therefore of Naaman, 2 Kings 5:17,18, I would thus
render; "Thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice to
strange gods, but unto Jehovah. And concerning this thing the Lord pardon thy servant
[viz. concerning my former idolatry], that when my master went into the house of
Rimmon to worship there, and leaned upon my hand, I also bowed myself in the house of
Rimmon; for that I bowed myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord pardon thy servant
concerning this thing."
29. And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the
hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
[That they might cast him down headlong.] By what authority, or by what legal
process could those of Nazareth do this? There was, indeed, a court of judicature
consisting of three men, because a synagogue was there; but it was not in the power of
that court to decree any thing in capital matters. It may be asked, whether that license
that was permitted the zealots extended thus far: "He that steals the
consecrated dishes and curseth by a conjurer" (that is, curseth God in the name of an
idol), "and goes in to a heathen woman (that is, openly, as Zimri, Num 25:6), the
zealots slay him. And the priest that ministers in his uncleanness, his brethren the
priests beat out his brains with clubs." But doth this license of the zealot belong
to all persons upon all occasions? When Nathanael said, [John 1:46] "Can there any
good thing come out of Nazareth?" he does not seem there to reflect so much upon the
smallness and insignificancy of the town, as the looseness and depravity of its manners.
33. And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil,
and cried out with a loud voice,
[Who had a spirit of an unclean devil.] An expression something unusual. Perhaps
it points towards the pythonic or necromantic spirit: how these are distinguished amongst
the doctors we may see in Ramban in Sanhedrin, cap. 7. hal. 4. Both of them (though
in a different manner) invited and desired the inspirations of the devil. But of this
thing I shall treat more largely at chapter 13:11.
Chapter 5
1. And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of
God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret,
[To hear the word of God, he stood by the lake, &c.] For they were wont to
teach also without the synagogue and Beth Midrash, in the highways and in the
streets. "Rabban Jochanan Ben Zaccai taught in the street before the Mountain of the
Temple the whole day." See the Gloss upon it: "Ben Azzai taught in the streets
of Tiberias."
This custom R. Judah forbade in this canon: "Let not the doctors teach their
disciples in the streets." And accordingly he severely rebuked R. Chaijam, because he
taught his brothers' sons in the street.
And yet it is related of the same R. Judah, R. Judah sat labouring in the law [labouring
in the word and doctrine, as the expression is 1 Timothy 5:17], "before the
Babylonish synagogue in Zippor: there was a bullock passed by him to the slaughter, and it
lowed." This bullock because he did not deliver from the slaughter, he was struck
with the toothache for the space of thirteen years.
5. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have
taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.
[We have toiled all night.] In the Talmud's way of expressing it laborious
all night. Labouring all the day.
12. And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of
leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou
wilt, thou canst make me clean.
[When he was in a certain city, behold, a man full of leprosy.] "The walled
cities are more holy than the land of Israel in general, because they cast out the
leprous from them." Which must be understood (if we allow of the Rabbins for
interpreters) of cities that had been walled from the days of Joshua. If this city which
the evangelist here mentions were of that number, no leper would have been suffered in it,
unless absolved from his uncleanness by the priest. For the leprosy remained after that
absolution; and the sick man was not healed but restored to the church. That the man is
here said to be full of leprosy; the passage may not impertinently be compared with
Leviticus 13:12,13.
Whether he had been purified by the priest before or no, however, Christ sends him to
the priest, to offer what was required from the leper that was cleansed. The law of
Moses hardly supposeth the leper healed when he was made clean. It is a
question, indeed, whether the disease was ever curable but by a miracle. And therefore is
this man sent to the Temple to shew himself to the priest, and offer for a testimony
unto them, verse 14: that is, that he might bear witness, that the leprosy, an
incurable disease, was now healed by miracle, as formerly it had been in Miriam and
Naaman: and so there was now a great prophet arisen in Israel.
17. And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were
Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee,
and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
[On a certain day.] In Talmudic writing it is on a certain time.
27. And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at
the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me.
[At the receipt of custom.] The house of tribute. "This thing is
like a king of flesh and blood passing by the house of tribute. He saith to his
servants, Pay the tax to the publicans."
39. No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith,
The old is better.
[The old is better.] Is not the old better? The Gloss is, Old wine:
that is, of three years old.
Wine of three leaves. The Gloss is, "Of three years: because from the time
that the vine had produced that wine, it had put forth its leaves three times."
Chapter 6
1. And it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first, that he went through
the corn fields; and his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them
in their hands.
[On the second sabbath after the first.] I have spoken to this already in notes
upon Matthew 12: let me add a few things in this place.
It is a controversy amongst the Jewish doctors and the Baithuseans, about the
exposition of those words that concern the offering of the sheaf of the first-fruits; On
the morrow of the sabbath, Leviticus 23:10,11.
Gloss: "The Baithuseans desired that the first day of the Passover should be on
the sabbath, that the offering of the sheaf might fall on the first day of the week: and
that the feast of Pentecost might also fall on the first day of the week. For they
interpreted those words, The priest shall wave the sheaf on the morrow of the sabbath,
as if the sense of them were, On the morrow of the sabbath of the creation."
Against this the Rabbins dispute with one consent, and indeed truly enough, affirming,
that by the morrow after the sabbath must be understood the morrow after a
sabbatical day, or after the first day of the feast. So the Targumist, Siphra,
Solomon, Menahem, &c. So also the Greek version. We may see their arguments in Siphra,
and Pesikta, and Menacoth, fol. 65. 1. The principal argument is that of
Rabban Jochanan disputing with a Baithusean in the place last quoted: "One scripture
(saith he) saith, You shall number fifty days" (that is, from the day wherein you
offer your sheaf unto Pentecost), Leviticus 23:16. "Another scripture saith, Ye shall
count seven sabbaths, Leviticus 23:14; Deuteronomy 16:9. This, if the first day of the
feast happen on the sabbath: that, if the first day of the feast happen in the middle of
the week.
His meaning is this: If the first day of the seven-day's feast of the Passover happen
on the sabbath, then the sheaf being offered the next day after, the feast of Pentecost
will fall on the next day after the seventh sabbath. But if that first day happen in the
middle of the week, then, from the offering of the sheaf the next day, we must not count
seven sabbaths but fifty days.
For instance, suppose we the lamb eaten on the third day of the Jewish week, which with
us is Tuesday, Wednesday was the first day of the feast; and on Thursday the sheaf was
offered; then on Thursday again, accounting fifty days, is the feast of Pentecost. Here
seven sabbaths come between, and four days after the last sabbath, before the Pentecost.
Where numbering by sabbaths shortens the space of time; but numbering by fifty days fixes
the matter beyond scruple. And at once it concludes these two things: I. That the offering
of the sheaf was not restrained to the next day after the sabbath, but to the day after
the sabbatical day, viz. the first day of the feast. II. That the day of Pentecost was not
restrained to the first day of the week, as the Baithuseans would have it, but might fall
on any day of the week.
What should be the Baithuseans' reason why they so earnestly contended to reduce the
day of Pentecost always to the morrow after the sabbath, or the first day of the week, is
not easy to comprehend. Perhaps he that disputes the matter with Rabban Jochanan gives
some hint of it, when he tells us, "Our master Moses loved Israel, and knowing that
the feast of Pentecost should be but for one day, did therefore appoint it on the
morrow after the sabbath, that Israel might rejoice two days together."
Whatever the reason was, it is certain they misunderstood that phrase as to the
offering the sheaf the morrow after the sabbath, when it was to be understood of
the morrow after a sabbatical day. And so the Greek version, and he shall offer
the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you, on the morrow after the first day of the
feast.
Let us take an instance of this in the last Passover our Saviour kept.
The paschal lamb was eaten on the fifth day of the week, our Thursday; the first day of
the feast was the sixth day of the week, our Friday, the day on which our Lord was
crucified. The day declining towards night (about the time that our Lord was buried), they
went out that were deputed by the Sanhedrim to reap the sheaf: and on the morrow, that was
their sabbath, whiles our Saviour slept in the grave, they offered that sheaf. That day
therefore was the second day, and from thence they counted the weeks to Pentecost. And the
sabbaths that came between took their name from that second day. The first sabbath
after that was the first sabbath after the second day; and the next sabbath after
that was the second sabbath after the second day; and so of the rest.
"The first day of the Passover is called the sabbath; and they counted after that seven
sabbaths that had relation to that." Note that, that had relation or alliance.
[For more info on Pentecost, please see "The Temple: Its Ministry
and Services,
Chapter 13: The Feast of Unleavened Bread and
the Day of Pentecost" by Alfred Edersheim.]
I cannot but laugh at their triflings, and yet withal observe the opinion that nation
had, and compare it with this phrase, the prayer of God. They will have it that God
prays, not by way of supplication, but authority: "So let it be." Thus our
blessed Lord sometimes, Father, I will, John 17:24. Whether the phrase in this
place should be thus interpreted, I do not determine.
II. Every one may observe that our evangelist in his repetition of this sermon upon the
mount doth omit many things that are set down in St. Matthew; those especially that have
relation to the dictates and glosses of the scribes and Pharisees about manslaughter,
oaths, divorces, &c.; or their customs in their prayers, fasts, and alms, &c.
Writing for the service of the Gentiles, he passeth over what respecteth the Jews.
Chapter 7
2. And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to
die.
[Who was dear unto him.] So was Tabi to his master Rabban Gamaliel: of whom we
meet with several things up and down, particularly that in Beracoth, fol. 16. 2:
"When his servant Tabi was dead, he received consolations for him. His disciples say
unto him, 'Master, thou hast taught us that they do not use to receive consolations for
their servants.' He answered them saying, 'My servant Tabi was not as other servants, he
was most upright.'"
5. For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue.
[He hath built us a synagogue.] I. It was no unusual thing for one single man to
build a synagogue at his own charge: "If any man build a house, and afterward
consecrated it to a synagogue, it is of the nature of a synagogue." Gloss: "Any
one that builds a synagogue and gives it to his fellow citizens," &c.
And the doctors in that treatise dispute much upon this question, Whether it be lawful
to sell a synagogue or to alienate it to any civil use: and amongst the rest, they suppose
some one building a synagogue, but would at last reserve it to his own proper use.
II. They had no scruple as to a Gentile's building it, since the holiness of the place
consisted not so much in the building as in its being set apart and dedicated to holy use;
of which we have some instances in Herod's building the Temple. Such a one had this
centurion approved himself towards the Jewish nation, that concerning his liberality and
devotion in being at the charges of building, they found no reason to move any scruple.
12. Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man
carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city
was with her.
[There was a dead man carried out.] Amongst the Talmudists, a dead corpse
going out, is commonly a phrase which is first understood of carrying the corpse out
of the court-gate.
"At what time do they take their beds lower? From the time that the person
deceased is carried out of the court-gate of his own house."
Secondly, It is taken also for carrying the corpse out of the city: for the
burying-places were not near the city.
"The infant dying before it be thirty days old, is carried out in the bosom:
and is buried by one woman and two men."
"An infant of thirty days old is carried out in a little coffin. R. Judah
saith, Not in a coffin that is carried on men's shoulders, but in their arms."
A child of three years old is carried out in a bed: and so onward from that age.
[Much people was with her.] R. Simeon Ben Eliezer saith, for the dead that is
carried out on his bed there are many mourners: but if he be not carried out on his
bed [but in a coffin], there are not many mourners.
If the deceased person be known to many, then many accompany him.
There were ordinarily at such funerals those that carried the bier, and some to take
their turns, and some also to take their turns again. For as the Gloss hath it, every
one desired that office.
There were also those that stood in order about the mourners to comfort them.
14. And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And
he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.
[Touched the bier.] In Syriac, he approached to the bier. The Talmudist
would say, he came to the bed of the dead: which indeed is the same, 2 Samuel 3:31,
David followed after the bed. The Targumist, after the bier.
"Jacob said to his sons, Beware ye, that no uncircumcised person touch my bed,
lest he drive away thence the Divine presence."
37. And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus
sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,
[A woman which was a sinner.] I. Women of an ill name amongst the Jews were such
as these:
"She who transgresseth the law of Moses, and the Jewish law." The Gloss is,
"The Jewish law, that is, what the daughters of Israel follow, though it be not
written."
"Who is she that transgresseth the law of Moses? She that gives her husband to eat
of what is not yet tithed: she that suffers his embraces while her menstrua are upon her:
she that doth not set apart a loaf of bread for herself: she that voweth and doth not
perform her vow."
"How doth she transgress the Jewish law? If she appears abroad with her head
uncovered: if she spin in the streets: if she talk with every one she meets. Abba Saul
saith, If she curse her children. R. Tarphon saith, If she be loud and clamorous."
The Gloss is, "If she desire coition with her husband within doors, so very loud that
her neighbours may hear her."
Maimonides upon the place: "If when she is spinning in the street, she makes her
arms so naked that men may see them: if she hang either roses or myrtle, or pomegranate,
or any such thing either at her eyes or cheeks: if she play with young men: if she curse
her husband's father in the presence of her husband," &c.
II. However, I presume the word sinner, sounds something worse than all this,
which also is commonly conjectured of this woman; viz. that she was actually an
adulteress, and every way a lewd woman. It is well known what the word sinners
signifies in the Old Testament, and what sinners, in the New.
38. And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with
tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and
anointed them with the ointment.
[And stood at his feet behind him.] She washed his feet as they lay stretched
out behind him: of which posture we treat more largely in our notes upon John 12.
47. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved
much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.
[For she loved much.] If we consider these two or three things, we shall quickly
understand the force and design of the word for, &c.
I. That this was not the first time when this woman betook herself to our Saviour; nor
is this the first of her receiving remission of her sins. It is supposed, and that not
without good reason, that this was Mary Magdalene. If so, then had her 'seven devils' been
cast out of her before; and at that time her sins had been forgiven her, our Lord at once
indulging to her the cure both of her body and her mind. She therefore, having been
obliged by so great a mercy, now throws herself in gratitude and devotion at the feet of
Christ. She had obtained remission of her sins before this action: and from thence came
this action, not from this action her forgiveness.
II. Otherwise the similitude which our Saviour propounds about forgiving the debt,
would not be to the purpose at all. The debt is not released because the debtor loves his
creditor, but the debtor loves because his debt is forgiven him. Remission goes before,
and love follows.
III. Christ doth not say, She hath washed my feet with her tears, and wiped them with
the hairs of her head, and anointed me with ointment, therefore her sins are forgiven;
but for this cause I say unto thee, Her sins are forgiven her. He tells Simon this,
that he might satisfy the murmuring Pharisee. "Perhaps, Simon, thou wonderest within
thyself, that since this hath been so lewd a woman, I should so much as suffer her to
touch me: but I must tell thee that it is very evident, even from this obsequiousness of
hers, and the good offices she hath done to me, that her sins are forgiven her: she could
never have given these testimonies and fruits of her gratitude and devotion, if she had
still remained in her guilt, and not been loosed form her sins."
