VII. ing the divine sanction to the presage of his future CHAP. glory. Jesus continues his discourse in a tone of profounder mystery, yet evidently declaring the immediate discomfiture of the "Prince of this world," the adversary of the Jewish people and of the human race, his own departure from the world, and the important consequences which were to ensue from that departure. After his death, his religion was to be more attractive than during his life. "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." Among the characteristics of the Messiah which were deeply-rooted in the general belief, was the eternity of his reign; once revealed, he was revealed for ever; once established in their glorious, their paradisiacal state, the people of God, the subjects of the kingdom, were to be liable to no change, no vicissitude. The allusions of Jesus to his departure, clashing with this notion of his perpetual presence, heightened their embarrassment; and, leaving them in this state of mysterious suspense, he withdrew unperceived from the multitude, and retired again with his own chosen disciples to the village of Bethany. fig tree. The second morning Jesus returned to Jeru- Cursing salem. A fig-tree stood by the wayside, of that the barren kind well known in Palestine, which during a mild winter preserve their leaves, and with the early spring put forth and ripen their fruit.* Jesus ap *There are three kinds of figs in Palestine : 1. the early fig, which blossoms in March, and ripens its fruit in June; 2. the Kerman, which shows its fruit in June, and ripens in August; and, 3. the CHAP. proached the tree to pluck the fruit; but finding that it bore none, condemned it to perpetual bar VII. Second day in renness. This transaction is remarkable, as almost the only instance in which Jesus adopted that symbolic mode of teaching by action, rather than by language, so peculiar to the East, and so frequently exemplified in the earlier books, especially of the Prophets. For it is difficult to conceive any reason either for the incident itself, or for its admission into the evangelic narrative at a period so important, unless it was believed to convey some profounder meaning. The close moral analogy, the accordance with the common phraseology between the barren tree, disqualified by its hardened and sapless state from bearing its natural produce, and the Jewish nation, equally incapable of bearing the fruits of Christian goodness, formed a most expressive, and, as it were, living apologue. On this day, Jesus renews the remarkable Jerusalem. scene which had taken place at the first Passover. The customary traffic, the tumult and confusion, which his authority had restrained for a short time, had been renewed in the courts of the Temple; and Jesus again expelled the traders from the holy precincts, and, to secure the silence and the sanctity of the whole enclosure, prohibited the carrying any vessel through the Temple courts.* Through the whole of this day the Sanhedrin, as it were, rested on their arms; they found, with * Matt. xxi. 12, 13.; Luke, xix. 45. 46.; Mark, xi. 15. 17. VII. still increasing apprehension, that every hour the CHAP multitude crowded with more and more anxious interest around the Prophet of Nazareth; his authority over the Temple courts seems to have been admitted without resistance; and probably the assertion of the violated dignity of the Temple was a point on which the devotional feelings would have been so strongly in favour of the Reformer, that it would have been highly dangerous and unwise for the magistrates to risk even the appearance either of opposition or of dissatisfaction. day. The third morning arrived. As Jesus passed The third to the Temple, the fig-tree, the symbol of the Jewish nation, stood utterly withered and dried up. But, as it were, to prevent the obvious inference from the immediate fulfilment of his malediction, -almost the only destructive act during his whole public career, and that on a tree by the wayside, the common property, Jesus mingles with his promise of power to his Apostles to perform acts as extraordinary, the strictest injunctions to the milder spirit inculcated by his precept and his example. Their prayers were to be for the forgiveness, not for the providential destruction, of their enemies. from the The Sanhedrin had now determined on the Deputation necessity of making an effort to discredit Jesus rulers. with the more and more admiring multitude. A deputation arrives to demand by what authority he had taken up his station, and was daily teaching in the Temple, had expelled the traders, and, in short, had usurped a complete superiority over CHAP. the accredited and established instructors of the people? * The self-command and promptitude of Jesus caught them, as it were, in their own toils, and reduced them to the utmost embarrassment. The claim of the Baptist to the prophetic character had been generally admitted and even passionately asserted; his death had, no doubt, still further endeared him to all who detested the Herodian rule, or who admired the uncompromising boldness with which he had condemned iniquity even upon the throne. The popular feeling would have resented an impeachment on his prophetic dignity. When, therefore, Jesus demanded their sentence as to the Baptism of John, they had but the alternative of acknowledging its divine sanction, and so tacitly condemning themselves for not having submitted to his authority, and even for not admitting his testimony in favour of Jesus; or of exposing themselves, by denying it, to popular insult and fury. The self-degrading confession of their ignorance, placed Jesus immediately on the vantage ground, and at once annulled their right to question or to decide upon the authority of his mission,- that right which was considered to be vested in the Sanhedrin. They were condemned to listen to language still more humiliating. In two striking parables, that of the Lord of the Vineyard, and of the Marriage Feastt, Jesus not obscurely intimated the rejection of those labourers who had been first summoned to *Matt. xxi. 23-27.; Mark, xi. 27-34,; Luke, xx. 1-8. † Matt, xxi. 28. to xxii. 14.; Mark, xii. 1—12.; Luke, xx. 9—18. VII. the work of God; of those guests who had been CHAP. first invited to the nuptial banquet; and the substitution of meaner and most unexpected guests or subjects in their place. day. The fourth day* arrived; and once more Jesus The fourth appeared in the Temple with a still increasing concourse of followers. No unfavourable impression had yet been made on the popular mind by his adversaries; his career is yet unchecked; his authority unshaken. His enemies are now fully aware of their own desperate situation; the apprehension of the progress of Jesus unites the most discordant parties into one formidable conspiracy; the Pharisaic, the Sadducaic, and the Herodian factions agree to make common cause against the common enemy: the two national sects, the Traditionists and the Antitraditionists, no longer hesitate to accept the aid of the foreign or Herodian faction.† Some suppose The the Herodians to have been the officers and attendants on the court of Herod, then present at Jerusalem; but the appellation more probably includes all those who, estranged from the more inveterate Judaism of the nation, and having, in some degree, adopted Grecian habits and opinions, considered the peace of the country best secured by the govern There is considerable difficulty in ascertaining the events of the Wednesday. It does not appear altogether probable that Jesus should have remained at Bethany in perfect inactivity or seclusion during the whole of this important day: either, therefore, as suppose, the triumphant entry into some Jerusalem took place on the Mon- + Matt. xxii. 15-22.; Mark, Herodians. |