&c. or 5441. Ann. Dom. A. M. 4035, strove to exercise their utmost power and dominion over their subjects; whereas, whoever expected to be great and chief among his followers must be a servant to the rest, according to his own example, who came, not to take state upon him, but to serve others, and even to lay down his life for their redemption. 31, &c. Vulg. Er. 30. As he drew near to Jericho, attended with a numerous company, one Bartimeus, who had long sat by the way-side begging, hearing the noise of a vast crowd of people passing by, and being informed that Jesus of Nazareth was among them (with another blind man who begged along with him), called aloud upon Jesus to have mercy upon him. The people who accompanied our Lord, supposing that the man asked an alms, bade him cease his noise; but the benefit which he desired was of greater moment, and therefore he raised his voice, and with more importunity cried, "Thou Son of David, have mercy upon me!" Which when our Lord perceived, he commanded both him and his companion to be brought before him; and upon their declaring what favour they expected, he touched their eyes, and immediately they received their sight, and followed him, glorifying God, as indeed all the company did who had been eye-witnesses of this miracle. As our Lord was passing through Jericho, a certain man, named Zaccheus, of great wealth and figure among the publicans, was not a little desirous to see him: but as he was a man of a low stature, and could not gratify his curiosity in the crowd, he ran before, and climbed up into a sycamore tree, where he could not fail of having a full view of him. When our Saviour came near the place, he called him by his name, and bade him come down, because he intended to be his guest that day: Whereupon Zaccheus received him with the greatest expressions of joy and respect, whilst others could not forbear reflecting upon him for entering the house of a man of so scandalous a profession. But, notwithstanding all their censures, our Saviour, who, from the intuition of his heart, as well as his own declaration, knew him to be a just and charitable man, pronounced him and his family in a state of salvation, and that he, though a publican the subjects of his kingdom, the exercise of all civil follow, that the one is as necessary, and of Divine institution, as much as the other. All therefore that our Saviour can be presumed to forbid in these words, is such a dominion, whether in church or state, as is attended with tyranny, oppression, and a contempt of the subjects that live under it. Such, for the most part, was the government that obtained in eastern countries'; and therefore, in contraposition to this, our spiritual rulers are put in mind that they "feed the flock which is among them, taking the oversight thereof, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, neither as being lords of God's inheritance, but ensamples to the flock," 1 Pet. v. 2, 3. that their highest station in the church is not so much a place of dignity, as a charge and office, which subjects them to the wants and necessities of those they rule over; and that the most honourable post they can have in Christ's kingdom, is only a larger ministry and attendance upon others; for, "Who is Paul? Who is Apollos? but ministers by whom ye believed," 1 Cor. iii. 4. "For we preach not ourselves (says the apostle to the Corinthians), but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus's sake." 2 Cor. iv. 5. Whitby's and Beausobre's Annotations. + St Mark and St Luke both make mention only of one blind man, the son of Timeus, upon this occasion; but this they doubtless did, because he was better known than the other, and bore the greater part in this transaction. Beausobre's Annotations. and an alien to the commonwealth of Israel, was nevertheless one of those to whom From Matth. the promises † made unto Abraham did belong. xii. 1. Mark ii. 23. Luke vi. 1. Mark ix. 14. The nearer they came to Jerusalem, the more the disciples began to think that their John v. 1. to Master had taken that journey to the passover, on purpose to seat himself upon his Matth. xvii. 14. throne, and assume his regal authority; and therefore, to cure their minds of all such Luke ix. 37. thoughts, he propounded a parable † to them, "of a certain great man, born heir to John vii. 1. a kingdom, and going into a far country to take possession of it; but, before he departed, calling his servants together, and giving each a sum of money to trade withal until he should return. The reason of his journey to this foreign land was, because his own countrymen, over whom he had a right to reign, were obstinately set against him, and disclaimed him for their king: When therefore he had obtained his new kingdom, and was returned home, he first called his servants, with whom he had intrusted his money, to an account, rewarding the diligent with gifts proportionate to their improvements, and punishing the negligent with perpetual imprisonment; and then taking cognizance of his countrymen, who, upon his going to be inthroned in another kingdom, disclaimed all obedience to him, he ordered them, in his presence, to be put + Whether Zaccheus was a Jew or Gentile, our commentators are not agreed. The majority of them account him a Jew; but the words of our Blessed Saviour, "This day salvation is come to this house, for asmuch as he also is the son of Abraham," Luke xix. 9. do very much incline us to think the contrary. "Abraham believed," we are told," and it was imputed to him for righteousness," Rom. iv. 22. And therefore Zaccheus is here called his son, because he readily believed in the Divine mission of our Saviour Christ: "For the seed of Abraham was not that only which is of the law, but that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all," Rom. iv. 16. It is not to be doubted, therefore, but that this day, in pursuance of our Lord's declaration, Zaccheus was fully converted to the Christian faith; but whether he was afterwards ordained by St Peter to be bishop of Cæsarea in Palestine, is not so very clear from Church-history; but that they who advance this notion may be supposed to have confounded him with another Zaccheus, bishop of that church, who lived in the second century. Calmet's Commentary. [The question started in this note is of very little importance; but I cannot help thinking that it should be decided otherwise than it has been by our author and Calmet. Our Saviour says expressly, that he was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Is rael; he forbids his apostles to preach to the Gentiles or Samaritans; the apostles accordingly avoided the Gentiles till St Peter's vision of the great sheet, &c. the publicans were in general native Jews; and therefore it appears to me indisputable that Zaccheus was a Jew.] + This parable, we may observe, consists of two parts. The former of which is contained in Luke xix. 12, 14, 15, to 27. and relates to the rebellious subjects of this prince, who "went into a far country to receive a kingdom; the latter is included in the 13th, 15th, and so on to the 27th verse, and relates to this prince's servants, to whom he had committed his money for them to improve in his absence; and the explication of the whole is generally supposed to be this:-The nobleman or prince here is our Lord himself, the eternal Son of God; his going into a far country to receive a kingdom, is his ascension into heaven, to sit down at the right-hand of the Divine Majesty, and take possession of his mediatorial kingdom; his servants may be either his apostles and disciples, who, upon his return, were to give an account of the progress of his Gospel; or Christians in general, who, for every talent, whether natural or acquired, are accountable. His citizens are, questionless, the Jews, who not only rejected him with scorn, but put him to an ignominious death; and kis return, is the day of his fierce wrath and vengeance upon the Jewish nation, which came upon them about forty years after this time, and was indeed so very terrible as to be a kind of emblem and representation of that great day of accounts, when he will render "to every one according to his works." It is observed, however, by some commentators farther, that our Lord took the rise of this parable from the custom of the kings of Judea (such as Herod the Great, and Archelaus his son), who usually went to Rome to receive their kingdom from Cæsar, without whose permission and appointment they durst not take the government into their hands. Archelaus indeed, the resemblance is so great, that almost every circumstance of the parable concurs in him. He was this vytvs, or man of great parentage, as being the son of Herod the Great. He was obliged to go into a far country, i. e. to Rome, to receive his kingdom of the emperor Augustus. The Jews, who hated him because of his cruel and tyrannical reign, sent their messengers after him, desiring to be freed from the yoke of kings, and reduced to a province of Rome. Their complaint however was not heard: he was confirmed in the kingdom of Judea; and, when he returned home, tyrannized for ten years over those that would have shook off his dominion: but then there is this remarkable difference between his case and that in the parable, that the Jews, upon their second complaint to Cæsar, prevailed against him, and procured his banishment to Vienna. met's Commentary, and Beausobre's and Whitby's Annotations. In the case of Cal A. M. 4035, to death, as so many rebels;" intimating hereby, both the punishment of negligent &c. or 5441. Christians, and the destruction of the contumacious Jews. Ann. Dom. 31, &c. By the time that our Lord arrived at Bethany, Lazarus had now been four days Vulg. Er. 30. dead † and buried; and several friends and others from Jerusalem were come to condole + with the two sisters, Martha and Mary, for the loss of their brother. Upon the first news of our Lord's approach, the two sisters, attended with some of the company that was in the house, went out to meet him; and pouring out a flood of tears for the loss of their dear brother, fell prostrate at his feet, and wished, over and over again, that he had come a little sooner; for then they were certain that he would not have died. The sight of their tears and sorrow, accompanied with the lamentations of their followers, affected the Son of God so, that he groaned within himself; and then demanding where they had laid the body +3, he followed them to the place, sympathizing with their sorrow, and weeping as well as they, which made some of the company remark how well he loved him, and others wonder why he did not prevent his death †4. When he was come to the grave +, and had ordered the stone to be removed from it, (after a short address of adoration and thanksgiving to his Father to for his continual rea + It was customary among the Jews (as Dr Light foot tells us from Maimonides and others) to go to the sepulchres of their deceased friends, and visit them for three days; for so long they supposed that their spirits hovered about them: But when once they perceived that their visage began to change, as it would in three days in these countries, all hopes of a return to life were then at an end. After a revolution of humours, which, in seventy-two hours, is compleated, their bodies tend naturally to putrefaction, and therefore Martha had reason to say, that her brother's body (which appears by the context to have been laid in the sepulchre the same day that he died) would now, in the fourth day, begin to stink. Whitby's and Hammond's Annotations. The time of mourning for departed friends was anciently, among the Jews, of longer continuance. For Jacob they mourned forty days, Gen. 1. 3. and for Aaron and Moses thirty, Numb. xx. 29. and Deut. xxxiv. 8. For persons of an inferior quality, the days, very probably, were fewer, but some they had for all, and the general term, both among the Jews and Gentiles, was seven; for so Ovid brings in Orpheus lamenting the death of his wife : Septem tamen ille diebus Squalidus in ripâ, Cereris sine munere, sedit: Cura, dolorque animi, lacrymæque, alimenta fuêre. Metam. lib. x. An expression not unlike that in the royal Psalmist, "My tears have been my meat day and night," Psalm xlii. 3. During this time, their neighbours and friends came to visit them, and to alleviate their sorrows with the best arguments they could. They pray with them; they read with them the xlixth Psalm: Pray for the soul of the dead, and distribute their comforts in proportion to their loss; but nobody opened his mouth until the afflicted person had first spoke, because Job's three friends who came to comfort him, we find did the same, Job ii. 13. All which ceremonies made the concourse to Martha's house, at this time, the greater, and gave more Jews an op. portunity to be the eye-witnesses of her brother's re surrection. Pool's and Beausobre's Annotations, and Basnage's History of the Jews, lib. v. c. 23. +3 This our Saviour could not but know, who knew all things, even the secrets of mens hearts; yet he thought proper thus to ask, that being conducted by them to the sepulchre, there might be no resemblance of any fraud or confederacy. Whilby's Annotations. The words in the text are," Some of them said, could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?" John xi. 37. which some imagine were spoken only in admiration, that having given sight to a blind man, that was a mere stranger to him, he did not cure his sick friend: But others conceive a vile sarcasm in the words, as if they went about to weaken his reputation, in a miracle wherein he had manifestly shewn his Divine power, because he did not preserve his friend from dying. Pool's Annotations. +5 The common form of a burial place among the ancient Jews was a vault hewn out of a rock, six cubits long, and four broad, in which eight other little cells or niches (or, as some say, thirteen) were usually made, as so many distinct receptacles for the bodies that were to be laid in them. The mouth or entrance of this vault was closed with a large stone, which, whenever they buried any, was removed; and our Saviour here ordered the removal of that which lay upon Lazarus, to make the miracle appear more evident, because it would have looked more like an apparition than a resurrection, had Lazarus come forth when the door of his sepulchre was so firmly shut. Goodwin's Jewish Antiquities, and Pool's Annotations. + As our Blessed Saviour, in virtue of his union with God the Father, had naturally, and in himself, a power of working miracles, there was no need for his addressing himself to heaven every time that he did any: However, upon this, and some other occasions, we find him praying to God under the title of his Father, that all the company might know that what he did was by a Divine, not diabolical, power, and that God, in granting his petition, acknowledged him to be his Son. Beausobre's Annotations. 23. Luke vi. 1. diness to hear him), he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth;" whereupon From Matth. he that was dead immediately arose from his bed of darkness, and in such sound health, xii. 1. Mark ii. that when his grave-clothes were unloosed, he was able to walk along with them to John v. 1. to Bethany. Matth. xvii. 14. This great and apparent miracle caused the utmost surprise and astonishment among Luke ix. 37. all the spectators, and the greatest part of them was, from that time, convinced and John vii. 1. believed on him; but others, more obstinate, went and reported the thing to the Pharisees at Jerusalem, who thereupon called together their Sanhedrim; where, after some solemn debate, it was concluded, "That whether the man was a prophet sent from God or not, for fear of giving any umbrage to the Roman powers †, it was highly expedient that he should die, rather than that the whole nation, for his sake, should incur the danger of being ruined." And from that time they entered into a combination to have him apprehended and put to death; but as "his hour was not yet come," at present he declined their fury by retreating from the public, and retiring to a little place called Ephraim +2, in the tribe of Benjamin, where he continued for a few days with his apostles, until the time of the passover was approaching. Six days before that solemn feast began, our Lord, in his way to Jerusalem, called at Bethany, where he was kindly entertained at supper +5 by the two sisters of Lazarus, Martha and Mary. Martha, according to her custom, dressed the supper, but Lazarus, whom he had raised, was one of the company that sat at table with him, while Mary, to express her love and bounty, took a vial of the most valuable essence, made of spikenard †, and pouring it upon his feet, anointed them, and wiped them with her hair, so The Jews, seeing the miracles which Jesus did, (this especially of raising Lazarus) did greatly fear, lest, taking upon him the public character of the Messiah, he would attempt to make himself king, and, by the admiration which he had gained among the people, be quickly enabled to accomplish his ends, unless he was timely prevented. If then he was permitted to go on in his pretensions, the consequence seemed visible to them, that the Romans, to whom they were already subject, would look upon this as a rebellion, and so be provoked to come with an army, and destroy them utterly. That this was their fear is evident from the many groundless objections which they made against our Saviour, as that "he forbade to give tribute to Cæsar, and that he made himself a king," and so opposed the title of Tiberius. Not that they desired the continuance of Cæsar's dominion over them, but the apprehension of a still farther conquest from the Romans made them unwilling to provoke them, and that more especially, because they had an ancient tradition, that one Armolus (which is by an easy change Romulus), before the end of the world, would come and destroy them. This seems to be but the depravation of some prophecy from God, which foretold the coming of the Romans in the last days (meaning thereby the days of the Messiah) to destroy them. It demonstrates, however, that they both believed and expected that the Romans were the people from whom the change of their religion, and the total subversion of their government, were to come, and for this reason they were, upon all occasions, so very fearful to offend them. But herein they were sadly mistaken: For the prophecy of the Romans coming to destroy their temple and nation was fulfilled, not by their letting Christ alone, or be lieving in him, but by their thus opposing and conspi- + It was situated between Bethel and Jericho, a- +3 Some interpreters are of opinion, that this was the same supper which our Saviour was invited to in the house of Simon the leper; that St John has related it in its proper place as a thing which happened six days before the passover; but that the other evangelists have mentioned it, by way of recapitula. tion, to shew what might be the probable occasion of Judas's treachery, even his vexation for being disappointed of the money that might have been made of this precious ointment, had it been sold and put in the bag for him to purloin. But others suppose that this supper was different from that which is mentioned Matth. xxvi. 6. and Mark xiv. 3. 1st, Because this was in the house of Lazarus, John xii. 2. that in the house of Simon the leper, Matth. xxvi. 6. 2dly, Here Mary anoints the feet of Christ, John xii. 3, there a woman not named pours ointment on his head, Matth. xxvi. 7. 3dly, This supper was six days before the passover, John xii. 1, that only two, Matth. xxvi. 2. Mark xiv. i. and if the suppers were not the same, the Mary that anointed Christ's feet here, and the woman that anointed his head there, were not the same, Calmet's Commentary, Beau sobre's and Whitby's Annotations. +4 Nard, or spikenard, is a plant that grows in the Indies, with a very slender root, a stalk small and long, and several ears, or spikes, even with the ground, from whence it has the name or spikenard. The Indian nard (if it be right) must be of a yellowish colour, inclining towards purple, with long spikes, and &c. or 5441. Ann. Dom. 31, &c. A. M. 4035, that the whole house was filled with the fragrancy of its perfume. This action Judas Iscariot, who afterwards betrayed his master, and had, at that time, the custody of the bag, wherein money, for charitable and other necessary uses, was kept, highly blamed, Vulg. Er. 30. as a piece of prodigality, in throwing away what might have been sold for three hundred pence †, and given to the poor; not that he valued the poor, but because he was a greedy wretch, who was always purloining some part of the public money to himself. Our Saviour therefore, who knew the sincerity of Mary's, and the naughtiness of Judas's heart, in a very gentle reply, commended what she had done as a seasonable ceremony to solemnize his approaching death, but blamed the other's pretended concern for the poor, since objects of this kind they had always with them, but his continuance among them was not to be long. While they were sitting at this supper, great numbers of Jews, out of curiosity, came to Bethany, not only to have a sight of Jesus, but of Lazarus likewise, whom he had raised from the dead; but when the Sanhedrim understood that the resurrection of Lazarus occasioned many people to believe on Jesus †3, they consulted how to destroy him likewise. In the meantime, Jesus, having tarried all night at Bethany, set forward next morning with his disciples, and others attending him, on his way to Jerusalem. When he came to a place called Bethphage ++, on the side of Mount Olivet †, he sent two of his disciples into the village, to bring from thence an ass and her colt, which was not yet the bristles of its spikes large and odoriferous. Of + As the Roman penny was sevenpence half- + It was a custom, in these eastern countries, for kings and great persons to have their bodies, at their funerals, embalmed with odours and sweet perfumes; and, in allusion hereunto, our Saviour here declares of Mary, that she, to testify her faith in him as her King and Lord, had, as it were before-hand, embalmed his body with precious ointment for his burial. +3 Never was their rage and malice more unreasonable than this; for admitted that Christ had broke the Sabbath and spoken blasphemy, yet what had Lazarus done? No crime was ever alleged against him; and yet these rulers of the people conspire to put him to death, merely to preserve their own honour and reputation. But see the Providence of God, which, notmithstanding all their contrivances, was pleased to preserve him, as a monument of his glory, and a testimony of the miracle which Jesus perform ed on him, thirty years after our Saviour's death. Pool's and Whitby's Annotations, and Taylor's Life of Christ. + Bethphage signifies the house of figs, or dates, and might, very probably, have its name from the several trees of these kinds that grew there. It was a small village of the priests, situate in Mount Olivet, and, as it seems, somewhat nearer Jerusalem than Bethany. Beausobre's Annotations, and Wells's Geography of the New Testament. + This place, doubtless, had its name from the great number of olive trees that grew upon it. It lay a little without Jerusalem, on the east side of it, about five furlongs from the city, says Josephus; but he must be understood of the very nearest part of it, since St Luke makes the distance to be a Sabbathday's journey, i. e. eight furlongs, or a mile, unless we suppose that he means the summit of the hill from which our Saviour ascended, Acts. i. 12. Mr Maundrell tells us, that he and his company, going out of Jerusalem at St Stephen's gate, and crossing the valley of Jehoshaphat, began immediately to ascend the mountain; that being got above two thirds of the way up, they came to certain grottos, cut with intricate windings and caverns under ground, which were called the sepulchres of the prophets; that a little higher up were twelve arched vaults under ground, standing side by side, and built in memory of the apostles, who are said to have compiled their creed in this place; that, sixty paces higher, they came to the place, where Christ is said to have uttered his prophecy concerning the final destruction of Jerusalem; and, a little on the right-hand to another, where he is said to have dictated a second time the Lord's prayer to his disciples; that, somewhat higher, is the cave of a saint, called Pelagia; a little above that a pillar, denoting the place where an angel gave the Blessed Virgin three days warning of her death; and, at the top of all, the place of our Blessed Lord's ascension. Wells's Geography of the New Testament. * It is well remarked by Grotius, that such animals as were never employed in the service of men, were wont to be chosen for sacred purposes, insomuch, |