and beneficent nature of Christ's miracles and personal ministry; his perseverance in the midst of opposition, without engaging in contentious disputation; and his kind and tender dealing with weak and tempted believers. And these prophecies received a full accomplishment by the effusion of the Holy Spirit when he was baptized, Matt. 3. 13; Mark 1. 9; Luke 3. 21; John 1. 32. § 13. That he should be a prophet, Deut. 18. 15; and that he should preach the word of the Lord, Ps. 2. 7; Is. 2. 3; 61. 1; Mic. 4. 2;—of the fulfilment of which the various discourses and parables of our Lord furnish an ample evidence, such as when taken to Jerusalem at twelve years of age, Luke 2. 42 ;—his conversation with Nicodemus, John 3.1, &c.;-with the woman of Samaria, 4, 1, &c. ;—his discourse on the mount, Mat. 5; 6; 7;—a similar one on the plain, Luke 6. 20;—his discourse with the Pharisees about fasting, Matt. 9. 14; Mark 2. 18; Luke 5. 33; when walking in the corn fields, Matt. 12. 1; Mark 2. 23; Luke 6. 1; -to the twelve apostles, Matt. 10. 2; Mark 3. 13; Luke 6. 13;— about the sin against the Holy Ghost, Matt. 12. 24; Mark 3. 22; Luke 11. 15;—about John the Baptist, Matt. 11. 7; Luke 7. 24;—about the heavenly bread in the synagogue at Capernaum, John 6. 22, &c. ;—concerning his mission, 17;—concerning traditions, Matt. 15. 1; Mark 7.1; —about a sign from heaven, Matt. 16. 1; Mark 8. 11; Luke 12. 54;— by foretelling his sufferings, Matt. 16. 21; 17. 22; Mark 8. 31; Luke 9. 18;-concerning humility and forgiveness, Matt. 18. 1; Mark 9. 33; Luke 9. 46;-by foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem, Luke 13. 34; 17. 20; 21.5; Matt. 24. 1, &c.; Mark 13. 1, &c. ;—his discourse with the Jews about his mission, at the feast of tabernacles, John 7. 11 ;—his address to the woman taken in adultery, 8. 1;—with the Jews about his being the light of the world, 12;-concerning Abraham's seed, 31;-about the Galileans slain by Pilate, 13. 1;—about humility and suffering in his cause, 26;-about his being the Messiah, at the feast of dedication, John 10. 22;-concerning divorces, Matt. 19. 1; Mark 10. 1;-respecting a rich young man, Matt. 19.16; Mark 10. 17; Luke 18. 18;-foretelling his sufferings a third time, Matt. 20. 17; Mark 10. 32; Luke 18. 31;—his lamentation over Jerusalem, Luke 19. 41 ;— concerning his mission, 30;—concerning the baptism of John, Luke 20. 1;-about tribute to Cæsar, Matt. 22. 15; Mark 12. 13; Luke 20. 20;about the resurrection, Matt. 22. 23; Mark 12. 18; Luke 20. 27;— about the great commandment, Matt. 22. 35; Mark 12. 28;-about the Messiah as the son of David, Matt. 22. 41; Mark 12. 35; Luke 20. 41; -against the Pharisees, Matt. 23. 1; Mark 12. 38; Luke 20. 45;-his observation on the poor widow's mite, Mark 12. 41; Luke 21. 1;-discourse on watchfulness, Matt. 24. 42; Mark 13. 33; Luke 21. 34; 12. 35;-description of the last judgment, Matt. 24. 31-46;-his censure of the contest among the disciples about who should be greatest, Luke 22. 24;—about the last supper, Matt. 26. 20; Mark 14. 18; Luke 22. 14; his discourse to comfort his disciples, John 14. 1, &c. ;-comparing himself to a vine, 15. 1, &c.;-the promise of the Holy Ghost, 16. 16, 26; 15. 26; 16. 7;-prayer for his disciples, 17. 1, &c. ;-discourse with two disciples going to Emmaus, Luke 24. 13; Mark 16. 12;—his final instructions, Matt. 28. 18; Mark 16. 15; Acts 1. 3; 22. 17,*-his Parables,—of the unclean spirit, Matt. 12. 1,3; Luke 11. 24;-of the sower, Matt. 13. 3; Mark 4. 3; Luke 8. 5 ;—of the tares, Matt. 13. 24 ; -of the grain of mustard-seed, 13. 31; Mark 4. 30; Luke 13. 18;-of the leaven, Matt. 13. 33; Luke 13. 20;-of the hidden treasure, Matt. 13. 44;-of the pearl of great price, Matt. 13. 45;—of the seed opening insensibly, Mark 4.26;—of the net cast into the sea, Matt. 13. 47;—of the unmerciful servant, 18. 23;-of the labourers in the vineyard, 20. 1;— of the two sons sent into the vineyard, 21. 28;—of the wicked husbandmen, 33; Mark 12, 1; Luke 20. 9;-of the servant returning from the field, Luke 17. 7;-of the ten pounds, Luke 19. 11;-of the invitation to the marriage feast, Matt. 22. 1; Luke 14. 16;-of the man without the wedding garment, Matt. 22. 11;-of the ten virgins, 25. 1;—of the talents, 14;—of the good shepherd, John 10. 1;—of the barren fig-tree, Luke 13. 6;-of the prodigal son, 15. 11;-of the foolish rich man, Luke 12. 13;-of the good Samaritan, 10. 30;-of the rich man and Lazarus, 16. 19;—of the unjust steward, 16. 1;-of the lost sheep, 15. 4; Matt. 18. 12;—of the lost piece of money, Luke 15. 8;—of the importunate widow, 18. 1;-of the Pharisee and publican, Luke 18. 10;— of the nobleman who went to receive a kingdom, 19. 11;—of the creditor who had two debtors, 7. 41.† §14. That he should work miracles, Isa. 35. 5, of which prophecy the vast multitude of miracles effected by our Lord attests the completion. Thus he changed water into wine, John 2. 1;-cured a nobleman's son of Capernaum, John 1. 46;-the demoniac in the synagogue, Mark 1. 21; Luke 4. 33;-Peter's wife's mother, Matt. 8. 14; Mark 1. 29; Luke 4. 38;-cured a leper, Matt. 8. 1; Mark 1. 39; Luke 5. 12;the centurion's servant, Matt. 8. 5; Luke 7. 2;—raised the widow's son at Nain, Luke 7. 11;-stilled a tempest, Matt. 8. 24; Mark 4. 35; Luke 8. 22;-cured the demoniac at Gadara, Matt. 8. 28; Mark 5. 1; Luke 8. 27;-a paralytic at Capernaum, Matt. 9. 1; Mark 2. 1; Luke 5. 17; -cured a woman of a bloody issue, Matt. 9. 20; Mark 5. 25; Luke 8. 43;-raised Jairus's daughter, Matt. 8. 25; Mark 5. 41; Luke 8. 54; -gave sight to two blind men, Matt. 9. 27;-cured a dumb demoniac, Matt. 9. 32;-cured a man with a withered hand, Matt. 12. 10; Mark 3. 1; Luke 6. 6;-cured a blind and dumb demoniac, Matt. 12. 22; Luke 11. 14;-fed five thousand, Matt. 14. 14; Mark 6. 30; Luke 9. 10; John 6. 1;-walked on the sea, Matt. 14. 22; Mark 6. 45; John 6. * Comprehensive Bible, Index of Subjects, under Jesus. 15;-cured a lame man at the pool of Bethesda, John 5. 2;-cured the Syrophonician woman's daughter, Matt. 15. 21; Mark 7. 24;—cured a person who was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech, Mark 7. 32; -healed a multitude of various diseases, Matt. 15. 30;-fed four thousand, Matt. 15. 32; Mark 8. 1 ;-cured a blind man, Mark 8. 22;—was transfigured, Matt. 17. 1; Mark 9. 2; Luke 9. 28; 2 Pet. 1. 16;— cured a demoniac, Matt. 17. 14; Mark 9. 17; Luke 9. 22;-healed ten lepers, Luke 17. 12-14;-cured a man born blind, John 9. 1, &c. ;cured an infirm woman, Luke 10. 11;—cured a man who had the dropsy, Luke 14. 1;—raised Lazarus, John 11. 1, &c.;—cured two blind men near Jericho, Matt. 10. 29; Mark 10. 46; Luke 18.35;-cursed the barren fig-tree, Matt. 21. 17; Mark 11. 12.* § 15. That he should cast the buyers and sellers out of the temple, Ps. 69.9, which was fulfilled when he cleansed the temple, as recorded in Matt. 21. 12; Mark 11. 11; Luke 19. 45; John 2. 14. § 16. That he should be a priest and offer sacrifice, Ps. 110. 4. This Psalm was probably composed by David after Nathan's prophetic address; and from the grandeur of the subject and the sublimity of the expressions, it is evident that it can only refer, as the ancient Jews fully acknowledged, to the royal dignity, priesthood, victories, and triumphs of the Messiah. Accordingly, he died for our sins, Matt. 20. 28; Rom. 4. 25; 5.6; 1 Cor. 15. 3; Gal. 1. 4; Ep. 5. 2; Heb. 9. 28;—and is our high-priest, Heb. 5. 1, &c.* § 17. That he should be hated and persecuted, Ps. 22.6; 35. 7, 12; 109. 2; Is. 49. 7; 53. 3; and that the Jews and Gentiles should conspire to destroy him, Ps. 2. 1; 22. 12; 41. 5; agreeably to which our Lord was taken and carried before Caiaphas, Matt. 26. 57; Mark 14. 53; Luke 22. 56; John 18. 12;-was brought before Pilate, Matt. 27. 11; Mark 15. 1; Luke 23. 2; John 18. 28;-examined by Herod, Luke 23. 6;—and crucified, Matt. 27. 33; Mark 15. 21; Luke 23. 33; John 19. 17.* § 18. That he should ride triumphantly on an ass into Jerusalem, Ps. 8. 2; Zech. 9.9; which was actually the case, Matt. 21.1; Mark 11.1; Luke 19. 29; John 12. 12.* The Rabbins thus expressly refer this prophecy to the Messiah: "When Shapoor, king of Persia, said to Rabbi Samuel, 'You say your Messiah will come upon an ass; I will send him a noble horse ;' he replied, You have not a horse with a hundred spots like his ass."'" Bab. Sanhed. fol. 98. See also Bereshith Rabba, fol. 66. 2. and 85. 3. Zohar in Gen. fol. 127. 3. in Num. fol. 83. 4. and in Deut. fol. 117. 1. and 118. &c.‡ § 19. That he should be sold for thirty pieces of silver, Zech. 11. 12; and that he should be betrayed by one of his familiar friends, Ps. 41. 9; 55. 12; which was fulfilled when Judas betrayed him, Matt. 26. 14, 15. * Comprehensive Bible, Index of Subjects under Jesus. + Idem, Note in loco. "Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the Chief Priests, and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver." Probably shekels or staters, as some read, which, reckoning the shekel at 3s. with Prideaux, would amount to about £4 10s. the common price for the meanest slave! See Ex. 21. 32.* Matt. 26. 48, 49. "Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he, hold him fast. And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him." Karεpi\noɛv, he kissed him affectionately, eagerly, or repeatedly, from кara, intensive, and piλɛw, to kiss, still pretending the most affectionate attachment to our Lord.* § 20. That his disciples should forsake him, Zech. 13. 7;-fulfilled, Matt. 26. 56; Mark 14. 50-52; John 16. 32; and when denied by Peter, Matt. 26. 69; Mark 14. 66; Luke 22. 54; John 18. 15.† § 21. That he should be accused by false witnesses, Ps. 27. 12; 35. 11; 109. 2; Compare Matt. 26. 59-61. "Now the Chief Priests, and Elders, and all the Council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death; but found none : yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses, and said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days." The words of our Lord were widely different from this statement of them; so that the testimony of these witnesses was false, though it had the semblance of truth.* § 22. That he should not plead upon his trial, Ps. 38. 13; Is. 53. 7; and fulfilled as recorded in Matt. 26. 63; 27. 12-14; Mark 14. 61; 15. 5; Luke 23. 9; John 19. 9; 1 Pet. 2. 23. § 23. That he should be insulted, buffeted, and spit upon, Ps. 35. 15, 21; -and should be scourged, Is. 50. 6. “I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting." The eastern people always held the beard in great veneration; and to pluck a man's beard is one of the grossest indignities that can be offered. D'Arvieux, (tom. iii. p. 214.) gives a remarkable instance of an Arab, who, having received a wound in his jaw, chose to hazard his life, rather than suffer the surgeon to cut off his beard.* Another instance of the utmost contempt and detestation is spitting. Throughout the East it is highly offensive to spit in any one's presence; and if this is such an indignity, how much more spitting in the face? All this our Lord endured, Matt. 26. 67, 68. "Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands, Saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee?" Buffeted, Exoλapioav, 'smote him with their fists,' as Theophylact interprets, and "smote him with the palms of their hands," sрражisav, 'smote him on the cheek with the open hand,' as Suidas renders. They offered him every indignity in all its various and vexatious forms.* Matt. 27. * Comprehensive Bible, Note in loco. + Idem, Index of Subjects, under Jesus. 26-30. "Then released he Barabbas unto them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified," &c. This of itself was a severe punishment, the flesh being generally cut by the whips used for this purpose; so the poet,-Horribili sectere flagello, To be cut by the horrible whip.' Hor. Sat. i. 3. 1. 119.* §. 24. That he should be crucified, Ps. 22. 14, 17; John 19. 17, 18. "And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst." Crucifixion was not a Jewish but a Roman mode of punishment. The cross was made of two beams, either crossing at the top, at right angles, like a T, or in the middle of their length, like an X: with a piece on the centre of the transverse beam for the accusation, and another piece projecting from the middle, on which the person sat. The cross on which our Lord suffered was of the former kind, being thus represented in all old monuments, coins, and crosses. The body was usually fastened to the upright beam by nailing the feet to it, and on the transverse piece by nailing the hands; and the person was frequently permitted to hang in this situation, till he perished through agony and lack of food. This horrible punishment was usually inflicted only on slaves for the worst of crimes.† § 25. That they should offer him gall and vinegar to drink, Ps. 22. 15; 69. 21, "They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." Bochart, from a comparison of this passage with John 19. 29, thinks that wê¬, rosh, is the same herb as the Evangelist calls voσwños, hyssop; a species of which, growing in Judea, he proves from Isaac ben Orman, an Arabian writer, to be so bitter as not to be eatable. Theophylact expressly tells us, that the hyssop was added we dnλnrepidɛç, as being deleterious, or poisonous; and Nonnus, in his paraphrase, says, Ωρεγεν υσσώπω κεκερασμενον οξος ολεθρου· “ One gave the deadly acid mixed with hyssop.'* § 26. That they should part his garments, and cast lots upon his vesture, Ps. 21. 18; literally fulfilled Matt. 27. 35; Mark 15. 24; Lu. 23. 34; John 19. 23, 24. "Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout." Such was the xirov, or coat, of the Jewish high priest, as described by Josephus, Ant. 1. iii. c. 7. § 4.* "They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did." § 27. That he should be mocked by his enemies, Ps. 22. 6-8; 109.25: which was literally verified in the experience of our Lord, Matt. 27. 39-44. "And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying, |
