Night

V.

NIGHT.

CAPERNAUM at the present time is an imposing mass of ruins extending into the lake and overgrown with tall grass, thistles, trailing plants, and underbrush. It is called Tell Hum.* The abbreviation of the name

* This name, Tell Hum (or Chum with the unpointed Arabic Hha), is given in the Arabic Geographical Lexicon of Jakut to a fortress between Syria and Cilicia, as well as the name Caphir Nachim by Benjamin of Tudela to a place between Chesa and Caesarea, which from a distance seems to overtop Carmel.

Nahum (for Capernaum means the village of Nahum) into Hum was probably common in the ancient popular language, for in like manner was the name Nechunja in Palestine mutilated into Chunja.* But it is also possible that the Arabians first made the old Nahum a popular word in this way.

It is not an Arabic proper name, neither does a herd of camels signify hum, but el-haum (el-hom). The word tell means a heap thrown up,f and hence hill or elevation; and as a constituent of the names of places it designates the position of these places either

* Frankel, Introductio in Talmud Hierosolymitanum, 8o£.

f From the verb talla, to throw upon the ground.

upon an elevation, or also at or near one. From Tell Hum the land rises northwards to the extent of half an hour, so that the place, seen from a distance, seems to have a hill behind it. A path which winds up a flat valley stretching from the northwest leads the wanderer, after he has proceeded an hour, to a small spring called Bir Kerase.* In a southwestern direction from it is an inconsiderable ruin named Khirbet Kerase.f but the foundations of dark stone yet remaining render the ruins observable from a distance. Now, the path crossing and recrossing the little stream loses itself under luxuriant grass and volcanic stones, among

* Robinson, Later Biblical Researches, 467. fRobinson, Ibid. p. 455.

which you cannot find your way without a guide, and even then it costs labor and care. There is no longer any trace of a road which connected the place lying in ruins with the springs. It was all different in the times to which we are trying to look back and to live in. At that time Galilee was scattered over with cities and towns, of which Josephus in his biography reckons more than two hundred. The smallest of them counted their inhabitants by thousands. No part of the country lay desert; it was everywhere cultivated with skill, and resembled an immense fruit-garden.* In the plain of lower Galilee, the sycamore and the date, both

* Josephus, Life, ch. 45. Josephus, Jewish Wars, III. 3, 1-3.

of which cultivated by human care, flourished luxuriantly.* Only a few decades elapsed from the time at which the events we are relating occurred, when war had already begun its devastating work on this garden-spot. Earthquakes like that of January 1, 1837, by which in Safed alone nearly five thousand inhabitants lost their lives,f contributed their portion in converting wealthy cities into heaps of ruins, and laughing fields into deserts of stone. The black basalt which, as the ruins testify, served as a buildingmaterial to ancient Capernaum, and which, scattered here and there, covered the land rising northwards, is an

* Jer. Schebiith, IX. Halacha, 2.
f Robinson, Palestine, 5, 798.

evidence of the volcanic nature of the basin of the lake and its vicinity. A road made by removing this basalt and limestone rocks mingled together, formerly led up from Capernaum towards Bir Kerase, a solitary place entirely enclosed by hills. Towards the west some scattered ruins designate an ancient locality where, in the midst of golden wheat-fields* lay the stately Chorazin. This place was often visited by Jesus in his wanderings through the country of Genesaret and the neighboring places, but without any particular result, for to this Chorazin which he compared with Tyre, and Bethsaida with Sidon, he exclaimed, in looking back to his work in Galilee, "Woe unto * Menachoth, 85a.

you, Chorazin; woe unto you, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and * Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes." The judgment with which he threatened both has annihilated them more completely than Capernaum: first Chorazin, which already in the time of Eusebius * was a desert; and then Bethsaida by the lake, the locality of which is now only conjectured.f

When Jesus had left the synagogue,

* Onomasticon, under Chorazein, p. 374, ed. Larsow et Parthey.

-{- Willibald, in A. D. 750, found a church in Chorazin, as well as in Bethsaida. Robinson, Later Biblical Researches, p. 467. But this does not conflict with the overthrow of the places thus designated.

he desired to be alone if only for a short time. He sought the nearest way out of Capernaum, and proceeded about a quarter of an hour along the valley road leading upwards toward the fountain of Chorazin, without however pursuing it further, where it turns to the left. He was desirous of having the city and the lake in full view.

He loved to be alone, that, without human interruption or conversation, he might hold converse with the Author of his origin and of his spiritual life. The external world of nature did not disturb him, for he comprehended the thoughts which the divine Creator incorporated in it, and every creature reminded him of the divine word of the Sacred Scriptures. The dry wady (valley) stretching up towards him said to him, in the words of the book of Job, "My brethren have dealt with me deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away," * and the lily bidding defiance to the thorn - bushes, broke through these melancholy thoughts with the words of Solomon's song, "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine; he feedeth among the lilies." f The worm on the ground checked his step, whilst, as if praying, he whispered, "I am a worm and no man ; " J and the block of basalt near the road gently suggested the consoling words, "For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion; he shall set me upon a

* Job vi. 15. f Sol. Song, vi. 3.

Ps. xxii. 7.

rock." There was no object in nature that was not a source of instruction. It was more congenial to him to employ natural things as means of imparting knowledge. In these solitary walks his parables assumed form. The creatures not only spoke to him words of God, but he everywhere saw in nature and the world around him reflections of the mysteries of the kingdom of God.

Not far from the Chorazin fountain stood beside the road a shady olivetree, which, taking root in the red fruitsoil imbedded between the rocks, had acquired an immense crown of leaves. Here Jesus sat down, and whether it was accident or not, a flock of wild doves and pigeons crowded the branches to the very top. After he had covered his eyes with his hand for a while, and had depressed his head, he looked up and delighted himself with the view which presented itself to him from this spot. The blue mirror of the lake, still and smooth, only here and there gently agitated by the evening wind, lay before him in its full extent, a picture of the peace which he was to bring to mankind. On the other side, like a picture of the hidden life in God and of God, lay the land of oaks and of eagles, the ancient Golan— the wooded hill-country overtopped by the mountain-ridge Gebel el-Hisch, between Jordan and Hauran. The hills near the shore reflected back the light of the sun in yellow, violet, and other colors, and below at his feet Capernaum glistened in the evening gold — Capernaum, the city by the lake, where the former territories of Naphtali and Zebulon joined each other — the point which he had selected from which to extricate the world from its difficulties, and to conduct it in a new path according to the counsels of God. He rose, and recited the words of Isaiah's prophecy over Capernaum; "Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali, and afterwards did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations." * "Yes," he continued, "the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; * Is. ix. i.

they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined* O Father of lights, make me to be the light of men as thou hast made the sun to be the light of the earth." "But," said an internal voice to him, " the sun sets in blood that it may rise gloriously again." "Precisely so," he replied; "for this have I come into the world that I might give my life as a ransom for many." Amid such thoughts, he proceeded towards the city by the lake with rapid steps. Those who met him remained standing long and looked after him as though fixed to the spot by the majesty and benignity of his person.

When going out of Nazareth and * Is. ix. 2.

passing before Tabor, you have arrived at the edge of the precipitous declivity above Tiberias, and for the first time you have before you the Sea of Galilee to its full extent. The overwhelming impression of this view will corroborate the thought that this is that point of the earth from which the Sun of righteousness was to rise, and that the law of the world's history ex oriente lux (light from the east) was here fulfilled. But the view landward is not calculated to foster this impression, especially if, as Robinson did in his first tour in Palestine, 1838, you visit this place in a summer month. You have before you a beautiful clear surface of water in a deep-lying basin, from which the shores rise steep and uninterrupted, except where here and there they are cut through by a ravine or deep wady. But the hills are anything else than bold, but mostly rounded and destitute of shrub or forest. The green of the spring has long withered, and the view of the sea, enlivened by no sail, no boat, is melancholy and drear. Robinson says* that he who here looks for the magnificence of the Swiss lakes, or the softer beauty of those in England, or in the United States, will be disappointed.

But he who had seen the Galilean

Sea at the time when the fisherman's

family at Capernaum was entertaining

the most exalted guest ever entertained

by man — he who had seen it on the

* Robinson, Palestine, 3, 500.

day when Jesus was returning to Capernaum from the fountain of Chorazin, would have conceived a much more favorable opinion of it. The wall of high hills which begirts the east side of the sea, and which, entirely bare and unfruitful, rises over one thousand feet above the surface of the water, made at that time, as well as now, a dreary impression; but so much more powerful was the contrast of the west bank, with its hills gently rising from Capernaum to Magdala, and from thence down to Tiberias, looming up still higher and steeper. Here Nature had poured out her richest treasures, and here had human industry and artistic skill contributed vastly towards the improvement of nature where she seemed to fail.

* The climate of the country thus enclosed by mountains is tropical, but at that time it was softened by the breezes from the densely planted soil, which was irrigated, not only by the fresh water of the sea, but by the streams running down from the hills and the springs, bursting out near the shore. It was at that time a world - renowned earthly paradise; but now, by wars, earthquakes, the insecurity of property, and ignorance, it scarcely retains any features of its former beauty. In the books of the Old Testament, this whole west coast of the Galilean or Tiberian Sea is called Kinne'reth, or Kinneroth.* The Talmud combines this name with the name of the instrument kinnor, * 1 Kings xv. 20.

guitar, or lute, where it says, "As pleasant as the sounds of the kinnor are the fruits of Kinnereth." * And it could say nothing greater in praise of these fruits than that God would not permit them to grow in Jerusalem; so that a visit to Jerusalem might not be prompted for the sake of the fruit, but only for the sake of worship.-}- But the real fact is more probably the following: There was near the sea an old city of Naphtali, called Kinnereth,J or, according to the fashion of many of the names of ancient cities, in the plural Kinneroth, § which name embraced both sea and coast. The city itself may

* Megilla, 6a. f Pesachim, 86.

% Deut. iii. 17. Josh. xix. 35.
§ Jer. Megilla I. Halacha I.

have been thus called, because, when you looked over it, it had the appearance of a guitar. This city afterwards received the name Ginnesar (Gennessar), or Ginnusar,* probably from its beautiful gardens, for the name signifies the Gardens of the Prince, and also the City of the Prince's Gardens.-}

This place must have been yet standing in the Middle Ages, for Estori haParchi, in 1320, determined from it the localities of Zereda, Tanchum, and Tiberias. One of the Talmudical teachers, named Jonathan ben-Charscha,J is called Isch Genesar (the man from Ge

* See Targum on Deut. iii. 17; Jos. xvii. 2. f Bereschith Rabba, c. 98, on Gen. xlix. 21. J Seder ha-doroth, Alphabetical Catalogue of Ancient Teachers, 41d.

nesar), as Judas the traitor is called Isch Kerijoth (the man from Kerijoth). Although none of our most celebrated travellers know anything of this place, yet there is no reason to reject the testimony of Rabbi Joseph Schwartz, who died in Jerusalem in 1865, according to which a mass of ruins, called Gansar, is found, one hour in a northwest direction from Tiberias.*

From this Ginnesar the sea received the name which it bore in ^- the times when Christianity was introduced. The first book of Maccabees and Josephus call it Sea of Genesar, while the Gospels designate sea and land by a name having a feminine termination, Gennesaret, with the exception of the * Schwartz, Das Heilige Land, 145.

fourth gospel, which calls it by its most recent name, which also prevails in Talmudical literature, the Sea of Tiberias.

The beautiful valley which opens before you in coming from Tiberias to Magdala was called the Genesar Valley, and pre-eminently the Land of Genesar. "There is here," says Josephus, "as it were a contest in nature, which seeks to unite two opposites on one point, and an amicable struggle of the seasons, each of which tries to take this territory into possession. For the soil produces the most different and apparently most incompatible fruits, not only once in the year, but almost the whole year through. The royal fruits, grapes and figs, grow ten months without intermission, and beside them, the other fruits ripen the whole year through in rotation." * Thus Josephus speaks, and thus speak all the ancient eye-witnesses of the extraordinary natural peculiarity and beauty of the coast of Genesar.

The activity which formerly reigned upon this lake of six miles long and three wide has now yielded to the silence of a graveyard dedicated to great reminiscences. On the division of the country it fell, with its western bank as far as Kinneroth, the more recent Tiberias, to Naphtali, and, according to a tradition, Joshua established the condition that fishing with the hook should be free to every one, but not fishing with seines, for that would interfere with navigation." f At the present

* Wars, III. 10, 8. f Kamma, 8o3, 81a.

time, the inhabitants fish entirely from the shore. The travellers of this century have seen either no boat upon the lake, or at farthest only one, which Holz brought from the eastern shore.* But in the time of which we are speaking the sea was crowded with vessels large and small, upon which fishermen by day and night carried on their business, and passengers and freight were conveyed along the shore and across the lake in every direction. Josephus, as generalin-chief of Galilee, once organized a feigned attack upon rebellious Tiberias from the sea-side, and collected in Tarichia, at the southwest end of the lake, a fleet of not less than two hundred

* Robinson, Palestine, 3, 511. Lynch conveyed one to the lake.

. and thirty-eight boats, each manned with four sailors.* When Vespasian and Titus, several years later, had captured Tarichia, this was the theatre of a terrible slaughter. Those who escaped in hundreds of boats upon the sea were pursued by the Romans in hastily constructed rafts. "The whole sea," says Josephus, "was colored with blood and was full of dead bodies, for not a single man escaped. Tarichia alone developed such a power of resistance, which however, owing to the want of harmony among the people, was inefficient against the united Romans." What activity and opulence must have reigned in these cities and villages of the territory of Genesar! He who looked from the Baths of Tibe* Wars, II. 21, 8. Life, c. 32,

rias towards the city and the sea had before him in the background the mountain of Safed and the snow-covered Hermon, and from Tiberias northwesterly an enchanting landscape cultivated like a garden from the banks of the lake up to the mountain ridges. It was like the shore of Lake Zurich from Zurich to Rapperswyl, all covered with houses and blooming with flowers and beautiful plantations.

The ruins of Tell Hum lie on the northern shore of the lake, an hour's . distance from the place where the Jordan, throwing off a mass of white foam, enters the lake between the steep declivity of the shore on one side, and the delta of a fruitful plain on the other. If the large city whose houses in an

cient times were mirrored in the sea in long rows, was not Capernaum, or more correctly pronounced and written Capharnaum, what other city could it have been? Robinson and others, who place Capernaum farther south in the vicinity of Ain et-Tin (the Fig Fountain), near Megdel, the ancient Magdala, are bound to answer this question. When Josephus, in a battle which he fought with the Romans at Bethsaida-Julias, fell to the ground with his horse, and, badly hurt, was conveyed to the place called Kepharnome, it coincides with the locality of Capernaum, which was the most considerable place nearest Bethsaida, which lay eastward from the mouth of the Jordan, where Josephus could hope to find surgical aid, and to remain con

cealed. Jesus, after he heard of the execution of John the Baptist, sailed in a boat, with his disciples, to BethsaidaJulias. The people in great crowds followed him on foot, taking the road along the lake-shore, and thus they arrived first at the place.* This also can be best explained by regarding Capernaum (the chief station of his activity) as the place of his embarkation and the gathering - point of the people who sought him, and by looking for it nowhere else than where the ruins of Tell Hum now lie. The disciples also returned to Capernaum after they had witnessed at Bethsaida the miraculous feeding of five thousand people, and Jesus had left them that he might be

* Matt. xiv. 13. Luke ix. 10. Mark vi. 33.

alone. A storm which the returning disciples encountered threatened them with destruction, but Jesus, walking upon the sea, came to their help,* and, contrary to their apprehensions, "immediately the ship was at the land whither they went," which was the landing-place at Capernaum.

But next morning the people saw that the boat which Jesus had brought over was no longer there, and learned that the disciples, but not Jesus with them, had already sailed away. Under the impression that Jesus had taken the land route, they embarked on some boats of Tiberias, which were lying there in the vicinity of Bethsaida; and again it is Capernaum to which they * John vi. 16-27. Matt. xiv. 34.

sail for the purpose of seeking Jesus, and where they also find him.* You cannot resist the impression that Capernaum lay diagonally across from Bethsaida - Julias, and that the principal scene of the operations of Jesus was on either side of the northern margin of the lake, as predicted in the book of Isaiah.f

"Besides the mild climate," says Josephus,J in describing the land of Genesar, "the fertility of the soil is also owing to the fact that it is watered by a very powerful' spring, which the natives call Kapharnaum. Many regarded it as a vein of the Nile, because it produces fish which resemble the

* John vi. 22-25. f Is. ix. 1.

J Wars, III. 10, 8.

Coracinus (so called from its raven-like blackness), which occurs in the Sea of Alexandria." It is Genesar in a restricted sense, of which Josephus here speaks — that delightful section of country which is bounded on the north by Khan Minije, and on the south by hills stretching towards the sea at Megdel. If, then, Kapharnaum was a fountain, so called from a city of the same name, it appears that this city must have been located in the vicinity of Khan Minije, where Robinson places it, and that the Tell Hum, lying one .hour farther north, cannot be regarded as the ancient Capernaum. But this conclusion cannot be safely drawn from the statement of Josephus, for in itselfit is exceedingly improbable. The name Kapharnaum (Kapernaum) means, as we have before remarked, the village of Nahum. Now, it often occurs that a place is named after a fountain in its vicinity: as the beautiful Engedi, which was embellished with Solomon's gardens, which word signifies Rams' Fountain; and the town in Silesia called Warm Spring, from its sulphur springs in the neighborhood. But it is unheard of, on the contrary, that a fountain should bear a name coupled with "village" (Kefar). The statement of Josephus would be as preposterous as if I were to say, between Soden and Hochheim, in the Taunus Plain, there is a sulphur spring which is called the village of Weilbach. But if we correct the statement (of

Josephus) thus far, and assume that the spring was not called Kapharnaum, but Gen Kapharnaum (spring of the village of Nahum), and suppose that thereby one of the springs at Khan Minije is meant, and even that one that is situated farthest towards Capernaum, called Tabigha (Tabika), which abounds in marine fishes, and where there are still remains of conduits and pipes, which in former times conveyed these strong waters up and down over the land; *

* Whilst Raumer, Palestina, p. 131, and Robinson, III. 546, do not find the description of Josephus properly applicable to any of the springs of the territory of Gennesaret, yet they have made too small account of the Spring of Tabigha, near the Ain Madawara and Ain et-Tin; our view agrees with that of Dixon, The Holy Land, p. 313.

yet even this would not exclude the designation from that Capernaum that lay an hour farther to the north. For Capernaum did not possess any fountain of its own; but if it was supplied with water from this spring,* it is still possible that it was considered as belonging to this place by the sea as the most important next to Tiberias, and was called after it. True, the lakewater is itself fit to drink; the properties ascribed to it by Josephusf establish this fact. It is sparkling, clear, sweet, mild, and cool. Hence, the poorer Ca

* The spring at Capernaum, which Schubert mentions, 3, 252, is the Spring of Figs. He confounds Tell Hum, where he never was, with the inconsiderable ruins in the vicinity of this Fountain of Figs.

f Wars, III. 10, 7.

pernaites, on their own account, certainly did not go to the Spring of Figs, or to any other place, an hour distant, to fetch their drinking-water. But the more wealthy must have found the spring-water more agreeable on account of its purity, for what fastidious citizen would readily drink the water of a river draining a city, or of the sea in which men bathed, and in which clothes were washed, but particularly in which all the offal was emptied?

We dare not, however, overlook the fact that there is a tradition, which located ancient Capernaum at the northern end of the territory of Genesar, in a restricted sense, which is now called el-Ghuweir, in the vicinity of the present Khan Minije. By khan is meant, in the East, an uninhabited

one-story building, which is erected for

accommodating travellers by night. It

is what in Latin is called diversorium,

but not a tavern, only a covert to serve

as a gratuitous lodging-place. When,

then, the Minorite Quaresimus, in his

prolix work on the Holy Land, which.

appeared in 1639 in two folio volumes,

says, in vol. II., p. 868, "At present we

see, where Capernaum stood, many

ruins, and a miserable diversorium,

called Menich in Arabic." The present

dilapidated Khan is meant, between

which and the bank of the sea, beneafh

a large fig-tree, the so-called Spring of

Figs streams forth, and occasions by

the side of the rush-covered bank a

stretch of the most luxuriant green. Robinson and his associates encamped here, on May 19, 1852, in a beautiful clover-field. The ruins lying upon a gentle elevation a few paces south of the Khan, are those, as it appears, of a not inconsiderable place, but they now constitute irregular masses, and which were then grown over by a wheat-field nearly ripe for the sickle. Was this perhaps the location of Kefar Tanchumin, or more properly Kefar Techumin,* mentioned in the Palestine Jewish writings? Its name is similar to that of Capernaum, but it does not correspond to it, for it means the border village, and seems to suit that position on the northern end of the valley of Genesar. The disproportionately more extensive ruins * Neubauer, Geographie des Talmud, p. 221.

of Tell Hum designate the locality of Kefar Nahum, or Capernaum, which is not to be confounded with Kefar Techumin.* The French Bishop Arculf saw the ancient Capernaum at that place in the end of the seventh century. On his return from his pilgrimage, and being cast away on the coast of West Britain, he gave to the Abbot Adamnonus on St. Columba, one of the Hebrides Islands, the following description: "Those who, on returning from Jeru

* Sepp inverts the matter. The' inconsiderable ruin at Khan Minije passes with him for Capernaum, and the ruin city Tell Hum, of which he says, "The view of it put me in a condition of perplexity," he regards as Kefar Techumin, the "border village" between Upper and Lower Galilee. But this border place is, according to Matt. iv. 13, nothing else than Capernaum.

salem, wish to visit Capernaum, travel straight to Tiberias, and have to pass by the side of the Galilean Sea, and the place where Jesus fed the five thousand. From thence, proceeding along the beach of the same sea, without using this road, inclining to the shore for any length of time, you come to the marine city of Capernaum. I saw it from a neighboring hill. Without being provided with a wall, and limited to a narrow compass between the hill and the sea, it extends in long strips along the coast, having the hill on the north behind it, and the sea on the south before it. It spreads out in the direction from west to east,* accord

* See the Latin text in Robinson's Latin Researches, p. 466.

ing to the law of perspective." Capernaum must really have presented itself thus, when viewed from an elevated point to the south of it. The gentle rising ground behind it suddenly became precipitous, the longer side of the city became more narrow as it stretched out, and the sea formed the foreground, which there seemed to terminate.

Antoninus Martyr, who visited Capernaum some decades earlier, found there a basilica which enclosed the reputed house of Peter, as a chapel in Nazareth encloses the reputed workshop and house of Joseph. Until the time of the Emperor Constantine, Jews exclusively inhabited Capernaum. But this emperor authorized a Jewish Christian named Joseph to erect churches in Capernaum and other places until then exclusively Jewish. The double columns hewn out of one block, the fallen and beautifully ornamented portal, the friezes covered with sculptured figures, which now lie upon that field of ruins amid grass and thorns, may be the remains of the basilica, which still was standing about the year 600; but the ruins of the Galilean synagogue, which resemble them, make it more probable that this was the incomparably large and beautiful synagogue of Capernaum*

Capernaum lay upon a prominent curve of the beach, in which it had a natural dam against the sea, which lay somewhat deeper, but which was swol* Robinson, p. 455.

len high during the winter rains, when the wadys from the east and west emptied their masses of water into it. The houses were partly built so near the sea that the rear ends extended to the very edge; others stood somewhat more distant from it, and had before them towards the sea either gardens or drying-places for nets. Near the middle of this street along the shore, where there was an inlet in the beach, was the harbor where the boats landed and unloaded their passengers and freight.* Here, on the evening of which we are speaking, there was unusual animation. The report that Jesus of Nazareth would appear there by the sea that

* Pococke thought that he observed this small, round inlet.

evening, spread like wildfire through all the neighboring places. True, to reach the opposite shore, the time from the evening worship until now was too short. But still not much more than an hour had elapsed when it was already known in Bethsaida, and in Chorazin, to which the news had been brought during the time that Jesus had sat near the fountain under the olive-tree. It was also already known in Magdala, the village of dyers,* and in Arbel, lying half an hour westward of Magdala, with its fortified series of caves called Talmanutha,f and in the village at the Spring of Figs, the name of which is now lost. From all these

* The Midrasch calls it Magdala of the Dyers, f Probably the same mentioned in Mark viii. 10.

places streamed crowds of people, the majority impelled by curiosity, but many also by the desire of being healed. Here and there one rode upon an ass. This animal is there much more noble and intelligent than with us, and is nearly as fast as the horse, and more so than the camel.

In Magdala a sick woman, notwithstanding her vigorous struggles, was put into a boat. Her old mother, who was kneeling at her head, had great trouble, by persuasion and holding her down, to overcome her resistance. The boat, owing to the absence of any breeze, proceeded very slowly along the shore. Occasionally one of the two ferrymen would step out into the shallow water, at the urgent importunity of the mother, and draw the boat forward by a line. But where was it to land? The old woman often looked up to heaven to receive an answer to this question when her daughter had become a little composed. Among the crowd who there stood around the harbor, that was also the anxious question, Where will he take his stand? True, many were too stupid to make any inquiry about it. Here one gazed upon the beautiful and large fishes which a fisherman was fortunate enough to catch; another examined the empty bags to guess at what they had contained; a third one conversed from the wharf with the pilot of a vessel which at the mouth of the Jordan had taken in a cargo of iron ware from the smithshops of Lebanon, and bellowed to him in the usual mixture of Latin, Greek, and Aramaean, antiki tabli, prakmata schopine (beautiful freight, splendid wares). Here and there some embarked in a boat and rowed out into the lake to have a view of the coast, so that they might soon reach the place wherever Jesus might appear. Those who lingered about the harbor hoped that he would at least pass by here, for it was more than probable that he would not speak to the people where the vessel loaded with iron ware and other boats were discharging their cargoes. But will he gather the people around him to the right hand or to the left before the city? That was the question which, with presenting all the grounds for the

one or the other possibility, occasioned a very lively discussion among them.

It was a delightful evening. The lake presented a picture of profound quiet. The splashing of its short broken waves with the foam advancing and receding resembled the pleasant dreams of one calmly sleeping. And as one travelling far away looks back upon his loved ones, from whom he is separated only by space and not in heart, so the sun sinking behind the western hills sent his evening salutation to the lake, and to the Jordan, which, with a proud valuation of its own selfdependence, flows through it; * the beautiful blue of the waves glittered in

* Frankl, Nach Jerusalem, 2, 352; and Ritter, Erdkunde, XV. i, 308.

their gold, and the clouds above sparkled in all the splendid colors of the jewels on the breast-plate of the HighPriest. But the hills on the other side, already of a reddish hue in themselves, and now that color deepened by the crimson of the setting sun, concealed themselves more and more as the evening shades advanced, as it were, in the smoke of the evening sacrifice. On this side, a gentle breeze mingled together all the fragrancy of the cultivated trees and gardens and of the oleander wreathing the shore with a rosy glimmer, and thus produced a costly incense. On the short-stemmed nebek or lotus, with its reddish plum-like fruit,*

* The tree designated by Linne as Rhamnus Lotus, now Zizyphus Lotus, is in Arabic nebk, or, according to the Turkish, nebek.

doves cooed and warblers chirped their evening hymn. Here and there was also seen a pelican,* weary of diving, flying towards its roosting-place on the neighboring cliffs. It was only at the harbor that this holiday solemnity of nature was interrupted by clamorous voices of men who cared nothing about a brilliant sunset or gorgeously crimsoned clouds. Those who, in expectation of the great preacher and miracle worker, sauntered up and down, could not help enjoying this quiet scene in nature. The children, frisking about like lambs, hunted muscles and pearls on the shore, gathered wreaths of lilies, crocus, scabiosas, and other plants, and here and there throwing a flat stone * Ritter, Erdkunde, XV. i, 307.

upon the surface of the water made it skip for many yards. These juvenile performances diversified the evening picture, without disturbing it. Much more animated was that side of the coast towards the mouth of the Jordan in the direction of Magdala. It was most probable that, coming from Chorazin, he would make his appearance on this side, and besides, two women were walking here, who, it was presumed, must certainly know. It was the wife of Peter with Mary, who was easily persuaded to remain in Capernaum this evening, with the hope of hearing the word of life from the lips of her son, and to see him engaged in his appointed work.

"We are, perhaps, after all," said Mary, "on the wrong side." "No," answered her attendant, "he will certainly come from his favorite place at the fountain of Chorazin; we shall not miss him."

"I know the wife of Simon the fisherman," said a woman of Chorazin, who was behind the two above mentioned, to a Capernaite; "but who is that plainly-dressed old woman, who walks with such a majestic step and gives evidence in her appearance of distinction?" "That is Mary, the daughter of Eli," * said the other, "the mother of the Nazarene, who has come to-day to visit him." Upon this the man of Chorazin hurried before the woman; but scarcely had he turned to look into Mary's face, when * Lightfoot on Luke iii. 23.

he was compelled again to turn away without gratifying his curiosity as he desired, for he was not able to endure the flash of her eyes.

Whilst the people in this manner, full of expectation, were moving to and fro, the Jerusalemitish rabbis might have been seen in the garden of a country house some distance from the city, from the terrace of which there was a magnificent view towards the north-west of the hill of Safed, and farther north still, of the snow-covered peak of Hermon. The owner of the house and several of the wealthiest and most distinguished of the Capernaites, .whom he had invited in honor of his guests, and also, as he expressed it, to witness the spectacle of this evening, were sitting in an arbor of the garden, in view of his beautiful oranges, lemons, and roses, and were engaged in animated conversation, whilst his servants handed round confectionery and the choicest fruits of Genesar upon silver plates. The conversation dwelt for some time upon the casuistry of tithes. "I have," said the host, "below in the valley three huts, in which my fruit-gatherers live. Dare my children and people eat of the fruits there without their being first tithed?" "They dare," answered the Jerusalemites. "But," continued the host, "in one of the huts the people have entirely domiciled themselves; they have there a hand-mill, and they keep fowls." "Even such a hut," said the rabbis "is not subject to tithes." "Be attentive! listen to it!" said the host to one of his sons standing by. "He who lingers in a perfumery shop, though he himself neither sells nor buys, still comes out with fragrant clothes."* "You Jerusalemites are very happy," exclaimed another of the guests, who sat at the Fountain of the Law. "Now then," was the reply, "do not break your connection with Jerusalem, in following after this Jesus." "Our people," said a wealthy ship-owner, "are as ignorant as asses." He uttered the word chamorin so indistinctly, that they were uncertain whether he meant ass or sheep. "Yes," said one of the rabbis, in a satirical manner, agreeing with him, "that you are ignorant is very * Jalkut Mischle, § 550.

evident from the jargon of your language." This remark offended their Galilean pride, and put them out of humor. An old man, who was at least as old as the two rabbis together, replied, calmly and smiling, "Not so hard, ye masters of Hierosolyma.* Galilee has not only beautiful scenery, but also great men, and you must acknowledge that this Jesus is a great man, though he may not be a lamdan (learned) according to your pattern." "No! no!" they both exclaimed, as with one voice. "He is a meschummad (apostate); he is a min (heretic); he is not better than a goj (heathen); he is such a am haarez (common fellow) of whom Rabbi Jochanan has said,' You may tear * Thus the Jews called their city.

him to pieces like a fish.'" "Men of Jerusalem," exclaimed the host, in order to restore the social equilibrium, "do not judge so uncharitably of this man, to whom so many sick of Capernaum and of the vicinity owe their restoration. You have but recently come here; observe him this evening, and besides, do not come to such sudden conclusions." Both felt that by such impassioned language they did more harm than good, and continued: "Men of Galilee, dear brethren, have you not read in the book of Job,* 'Do ye imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate? which are as mind.' Zeal for our nation, whose unity was never more necessary than at present, makes

* Job vi. 26.
P

us so rude. Does not even the name of Tiberias on this side, and of Bethsaida Julias on the other side of this beautiful lake, remind you that you are no longer masters of your own country? A garrison, consisting of heathen hirelings, makes you feel that you are the servants of a Herod, and that he is a servant of the Romans.* You must endure the bust of the Roman emperor upon the denarius, and every copper coin you give out or take in at least bears his name. Shall we, the sons of free men, forever continue to be slaves? No; our teachers have said, 'Between the present period of the world and the days of the Messias, there is no other difference than the * Schegg, on Luke vii. 1-3.

government of foreigners.' Hence, when the Messias comes, He will gather Israel around him and break the yoke of this ungodly Roman empire, and purify the land of Israel from the abominations of heathenism, the theatres and amphitheatres, and circus and images, of which the land is now full from Jerusalem to Caesarea, from Tiberias to Acco, from Neapolis (Sichan) to Berytus. Now, look for a moment at this Nazarene, and say whether he can be the Messias, whom the Minim of this Capernaum take him to be. Think for a moment of the helm upon his head, and the sword in his hand. Ye cannot do it. He is not the man who will overthrow Rome. Instead of uniting the nation, he divides it by his new doctrines, and, instead of leading the people to war and victory against that empire, he preaches submission to slavery and obedience to tyrants."

In this strain the two men discoursed. When one paused, the other continued. The national pride and religious fervor of these disciples of the Pharisees had something imposing in them when compared with the selfish servility of the adherents of the Romans and of the Herodians, and with the dreamy and retired life of the Essenes. But as they looked round, curious to hear what reply would be made, the whole company was attracted by another curiosity, which irresistibly compelled their attention. On the street just in front of the house there was great commotion. The trampling of hurried steps was heard, and from the confused crowd there arose the exclamation which was heard distinctly over the garden-fence, "He is coming! coming by water! Hurry, hurry to the Magdala side!" "My honored guests," said the host, "follow me if you wish to see him; for if he is coming by water, he must pass near by us." The whole company hastened with the host, and took their positions under a pavilion upon an artificial mound in the corner of the garden, from which they had an extensive view of the wide expanse of water.

It was not long before an enviable view was presented to those assembled on the mound. To them was applicable the word, which they did not yet know how to appreciate, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see." * But we also regard ourselves as blessed who can in spirit transfer ourselves to that place and discern with our spiritual eyes what they were permitted to behold.

The boat, which sailed by them, carried Jesus and the four first apostles; for Peter and Andrew had waited for him with their boat out at sea, and James and John had hurried over from Bethsaida.f Behind at the rudder sat Simon, with a grave countenance, in which was depicted the proud consciousness of being able to call him who sat before him, the guest of his

* Luke x. 23.

f Comp. Luke v. 10 with John i. 45.

house. Seated upon the front bench and with their eyes immovably fixed upon Jesus, Andrew and James parted the gentle waves with such powerful strokes of the oar that the boat, though without sails, shot forward with the swiftness of the wind. On the middle seat sat Jesus, and on his left hand the disciple whom he loved. Jesus with his right hand had grasped the right of John and pressed it to his heart, and John feeling the pulse-strokes of that heart was overwhelmed in silent rapture. And Himself— how shall I describe him, the Indescribable! Youthfulness and manliness, tenderness and vigor, unimpaired strength and nameless suffering, sublime majesty and bland humility, were all wonderfully blended together in his countenance and demeanor. Heaven and earth were united in him. Heaven radiated through the earth, and the earth softened the rays of heaven. His appearance was different from that of the earlier part of the day; he was not cast down, nor was his mind so absorbed as to observe nothing; but, with his head elevated and cheerfully looking on all around him, he sat like a king in his bark, and the many boats which followed the direction of his had the appearance of being his fleet. He loved the evening above any other part of the day.* On this evening he looked back with satisfaction upon the work of the day, which his Father in Heaven had

* Let the reader remember how often the word evening occurs in the gospels.

assigned him. He found himself secluded from the world, and yet visible to all the world, in the midst of his church or congregation, which was represented in his four apostles. He felt the anticipation of the Sabbath, upon which he would finally enter to rest from his labors.

Some crimson evening rays seem to have belated themselves to die out upon his face; and, as if to see him, the full moon, in her mantle purple, rose behind the brown hills on the other side, and a gentle evening wind sprung up, as if to cool the brow of the Lord, and the sea rose and sank, as if in solemn rhythmical motion, and its waves dancing around his boat threw back their 20*

glittering diamonds to him. It was an overpowering view.

As the boat sailed rapidly past the garden, Peter directed the attention of Jesus to the crowd of spectators under the alkit* He looked over towards it with a gracious smile. A youth among them cried out with a loud voice, "Elaha de Iisrael,den Malca Meschicha!" (by the God of Israel, that is the King Messias!) And the old man impressed the seal upon this exclamation by saying, with a determined tone, "ihu nihu" (it is he). Upon this, the two Jerusalemites constrained as many of the company as

* Buxtorf: definition of this Hebrew word is, a house standing upon four columns, that the air might everywhere penetrate, and still affording shade.

they could to leave, in crying out, "Turn your eyes away: woe unto you, you will be bewitched!"

On the south side was the landingplace for the boats which brought wood from Golan, the forest hill country, from the east to the west shore. The boat which conveyed Jesus was steered to this place, after having rapidly shot by the harbor of Capernaum and the city in its whole length. When it had arrived at its destination, very few persons had assembled there, and they appeared to have no other object in view than to inspect the lumber and fuel deposited there. On the other hand, it was more than a fortunate event that the boat with the sick woman from Magdala, whose struggles and cries it cost her mother the most vigorous efforts to suppress, had landed just at that place. "Lord," said John, "here's work for thee already." "Certainly," replied Jesus, "I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day; the night cometh, when no man can work." *

Scarcely had the mother of the sick woman perceived him, when she immediately recognized him, The Unmistakable One, and exclaimed in heart-rending tone, "O Jesus, our teacher and helper, thou who art sent of the Almighty, help my poor child, for the Holy One, blessed be He, hath heard my prayer in that we have found thee and thou hast found us!"

Upon this, Peter, with the aid of the * John ix. 4:

two rowers, who as yet but gently let their oars splash in the water, so directed the boat that it was brought to lie close alongside of the other boat. Jesus rose; the woman fell upon her knees, but the sick one exerted all her strength to break loose and to plunge head foremost into the water from the other side of the boat. The steersman and John, who had sprung over, held her by the arms, and her mother convulsively embraced her and hid her face in the long tresses of her daughter's hair. Her tears ceased to flow, her thoughts were absorbed in the interest of this momentous crisis, and her soul devoutly engaged in silent prayer. "Where do these people come from?" Jesus asked the steersman; and when he heard they had come from Magdala, he said to his disciples, "Woe to this Magdala, for it will come to a heap of ruins for its licentiousness; all the rich gifts it carries to Jerusalem will not help it, for, as the prophet says, 'For she gathered it of the hire of a harlot, and they shall return to the hire of a harlot.' * Then," said he, "turn her face this way that I may see her."

It was difficult to do this, for she had • inclined her head down towards the water as far as possible. But the kind and persuasive words of John prevailed. "Mary," said he, for he had leaned down, and in a low tone had asked her mother for her name,—" Mary, art thou willing to continue forever under the * Micha i. 7.

power of the demons? Behold, the conqueror of the demons is before thee! look at him, that thou mayest be healed! We are all praying for thee as Moses, our teacher, (peace be with him,) once prayed for his sister,— 'Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee.' * So do not bring our prayer to shame. Now is the time when thou canst make thyself and thy mother happy." These words had the desired effect; she no longer resisted; she allowed them to raise up her head and her face to be turned towards Jesus. When she came to see him, her whole body was seized with such strong convulsions that the boat began to rock, and she uttered such heart - piercing * Numb. xii. 13.

shrieks of lamentations that they echoed far over the water. But Jesus held her gaze upon him fast with the overpowering lustre of his own eyes. He thoroughly scanned her inmost spirit, and, with the fire of his celestial glance, he melted the seven-fold chain which fettered her soul. She who had been so furious had become submissive, and needed no longer to be held. Her convulsions ceased, the distortions of her face and the restlessness of her eyes vanished; drops of perspiration gathered upon her brow, and mingled with the tears rolling from her eyes. Her mother made room for her, and, sinking down where the former had kneeled, she looked up to Jesus, and, with a trembling, low-toned voice, thus spoke: "O Lord, I am a great sinner; is the door of repentance open also for me?" "Be of good comfort, my daughter," * replied he; "God hath no pleasure in the death of a sinner; f thy soul was the dwelling-place of evil spirits; be thou now a temple of the living God." J He interrupted the mother, who exclaimed to him, "Thanks to thee, thou comforter of Israel," by saying, "Return now in haste to Magdala, and do not talk much about this thing, but thank God in tranquillity."

John returned to the boat of Jesus, and soon the other boat floated out upon the lake. Both the women sat upon the middle bench. Mary Mag

* Matt. ix. 22. fEzek. xviii. 23.

% 2 Cor. vi. 16-18.

dalen gratefully held her mother in fond embrace, and both sat silent, with their eyes intently fixed upon Jesus, until a curve in the western shore hid him from their sight.

When the boat containing the women had sailed away, Peter fastened his to the post to which the other had been attached; but Jesus remained in the boat, absorbed with his own deep thoughts, and without looking around for a moment. The disciples, whose reverence for him would not permit them to propose disembarking, continued with him. In the meantime, the inhabitants of Capernaum, men, women, and children, came together in crowds. Among them were soldiers of the Herodian-Roman garrison, and many strange faces, who had come from Peraea, Decapolis * and Syria, by the land route, and this afternoon had reached their destination. A happy chance had led many, who had struck the mountain road, from Tiberias by the lake, to arrive precisely this evening at this place, which they were obliged to pass in order to reach Capernaum. The toll-house of Matthew, who at that time was already much concerned about Jesus, also detained some strangers, who, taking advantage of this favorable opportunity of coming near to Jesus, delayed their journey further.

When the place was full, Peter said in a soft tone, behind which he concealed his impatience, "Mardna Merab* Matt. iv. 25

bona (our Lord and Master), the people are assembled and are waiting for thee." Then Jesus rose. Peter threw a plank from his boat to the shore, and hastened over it himself first, to test its security and to make room for Jesus, for just at this spot the mass of people pressed forward and the confusion was overpowering. Jesus now left the boat, followed by the three other disciples, and after he had landed, he said, "Schim on Kefd, (thus he called him when, in affairs relating to his kingdom, he had need of his energetic service,) I have selected the palm there as my position." It was, however, hard to advance, for those who had ranged themselves on the shore near the boat were for the most part sick people, to whom this position in front had been permitted from sympathy. And scarcely had Jesus set his foot upon the shore, when cries for help in various tongues and manifold expressions of homage were heard from every direction: "Rabbi! Rabbani! Holy One of the Highest! Son of David! Son of God!" all mingled together in the strangest confusion. And when Jesus, waving them away with his hand, said, "Forbear! this evening is not set apart for the healing of your bodily ailments, but that you may hear the word of life for your souls," they still rushed up towards him, that they might at least touch him * When, finally, by the help of his disciples, who, each in his own way, with * Mark ii. 10.

kind words, had hushed the multitude, he had worked his way to the palm, he motioned to the people that they should sit down. The elevation of the ground upon which the palm stood was rather low, but, as the crowd had sat down in rows, it could still be seen. The lumber lying around had been taken possession of, as far as it reached, by the women and children.

Are we now to assume that Jesus spoke to this assembly in a standing position? This idea would be against the gospel history, from which, above all things, we have to derive the colors of our picture. When he delivered the Sermon on the Mount, which as the programme of his Messianic kingdom is the antitype of the Sinaitic declaration of law, and at the same time a type of his method of preaching, he sat. When Luke says that when he came down from the mountain and stood in the plain, it is meant that he took position upon such a terrace, but in a sitting posture.* In the Synagogue of Nazareth he stood, whilst he was reading the Haftara, that is, the prophetical selection for that Sabbath; but after he folded up the roll and delivered it to the schammasch (the sexton of the synagogue), he pronounced his derascha (discourse) sitting, as generally the darschan or speaker of the synagogue sat, and only he who was authorized to interpret to the congregation what had been preached, or to repeat it in a

* Luke vi. 17.

louder tone of voice, was obliged to stand. Jesus also sat while teaching in the Temple at Jerusalem ;* and when, at the Feast of Tabernacles, he stood in the Temple, and, in connection with the festal custom of bringing water up from Siloam and pouring it upon the altar, he cried out, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink," -j- this was only an appeal to the crowd, and not a discourse. We also see him sitting on the mount at the feeding of the five thousand and the four thousand, J and where the three evangelists, who, in a connected series of parables, give us a picture of our Lord's teaching by para

* John viii. 2.

f John vi. 3, vii. 37; Matt. xv. 29.

J Matt. xiii. 1,2; Luke vi. 3; Mark iv. 1.

bles, he sits on the shore of the Sea of Genesar, and as the immense crowd incommoded him, "He entered into one of the ships which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land; and he sat down and taught the people out of the ship." * We also see him in Capernaum sitting. In this posture, he called the Twelve to him, and, taking a child into his arms, he delivers a discourse on becoming like little children.-)- And when his mother and his brethren are seeking him in Capernaum, they find him in the house, and the multitude sat about him.J This is a scene similar to that when Ezekiel, the prophet of the Babylonish

* Mark ix. 35-37.

fMarkiii. 31. JEzek. viii. 1.

exiles, is seated in his house at Tel Abib, and the elders of Juda are seated around him, hearing the word of God.* We would then be committing an error if we represented Jesus as speaking to the people in a standing posture.

Under the solitary palm-tree there lay a shapeless stone, upon which many a one before had sat, either for the purpose of meditation under the shadow of its leaves, or to enjoy a view of the active life upon the lake before him. The academy at Jabne (Jamnia) had the form of an arena; and, seated upon a simple stone after the destruction of Jerusalem, Eliezer ben-Azaria, elevated to the Patriarchate, held his lectures.

* Derenbourg, Hist, et Geog. de la Palestine d'apres les Thalmuds, I. p. 366.

It was hence nothing extraordinary, if Jesus, the extraordinary rabbi, should at this time take his seat upon a stone, and use it as his pulpit.

How did he begin? we ask further; how did he address the assembly? The evangelists give us no direct information, for their interest in the form of Christ's discourses is subordinate to the interest in their master. The discourses to the Apostles, which the four gospels report, do not contain any preliminary address, and of the sermons to the people,* there is only one given to us in an extensive form, which is the Sermon on the Mount, which begins with beatitudes, and in which we could not look

* To the people, or, according to Matt. v. I, Luke vi. 20, to the larger circle of disciples.

for anything like an address. At other places, we hear him addressing Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, over which he utters woes; and the Pharisees and Scribes, from whom in eightfold woes he tears the hypocritical mask; and Jerusalem, the prophet-murdering city, to which, amid tears, he announces its destined judgment, which it had brought upon itself by the rejection of the offered salvation.* But with what words he began his discourses to the people assembled in the synagogues, in Jerusalem, and in the open air, we do not hear. We must then be contented with the following conclusion: When he addresses the women of Jerusalem, who, weeping and lamenting, followed * Matt, xxiii. 37; Luke xix. 41-44.

him to the place of execution, as "Daughters of Jerusalem," * so would he address his audience composed chiefly of men as "Sons of Israel," because he preferred calling his people by that honorable historical name Israel. \ Only once, in conversation with the woman of Samaria, did he use the name Jew, and not even then without according to the Jew the honor due him, in saying, "For salvation is of the Jews." % But how he addressed the Israelites of Galilee, or of Judea, or of Jerusalem, we may conjecture from that exclamation in Acts i. 2: "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?" If the Lord, as on the

* Luke xxiii. 28. f Matt. xiii. 10; vi. 23. X John iv. 21.

evening of which we are speaking, had spoken to a crowd assembled around him in Galilee, his address would have been, "Sons of Israel, Men of Galilee!" (Bene Iisrael, Ansche ha-Galli f)

Moreover, when we represent to our minds the style of Jesus' preaching, we dare not measure it by our rhetorical and homiletical conceptions. As he took upon him our flesh and blood, so he shows himself in his discourses, notwithstanding the new and peculiar character of their matter, to be the son of a Semitish and especially of a Jewish people. The Japhetic style of discourse is characterized by establishing a point, then describing a circle around that point, and within this circle drawing radii to all parts of the circle. The Semitic, on the other hand, joins point to point in a linear direction, and is contented with the internal unity of spirit and of design. This combination of thought is further distinguished from the development of thought of the Japhetic style in this, that the idea struggles out of its pure conception into embodiment, and either clothes itself in a figurative expression, or illustrates itself by a picture or a parable. He who is acquainted with the Talmud and Midrasch, knows that illustration by parables is a characteristic and fundamental feature, particularly of the Jewish method of instruction. A natural consequence of this predilection for sententiousness and figurative speech is brevity of discourse. It dare not extend itself to any length, so as not to overburden the hearers, but to allow them time for reflection. And as with teachers, who are not themselves organs of divine revelation, everything deserving recognition must be gathered from the existing revealed records, so these discourses have this in common, that they in part begin with Scripture language as their foundation, and in part end with it as their proof. An example may serve as an illustration. Founded on the words, "For he hath closed me with the garments of salvation," from that same 61st chapter of Isaiah, from which Jesus took his text in the Synagogue of Nazareth, there is extant an ancient discourse.* * Pesikta de-Rab Cahana, 149*.

There are seven garments, which the Holy One, blessed be he, has put on, and will put on, since the creation of the world until the hour when he shall punish the ungodly Edom (a figurative designation of the Roman empire). When he created the world he clothed himself in honor and majesty, for it is said in Psalm civ. i, "Thou art clothed with honor and majesty." When he revealed himself at the Red Sea, he clothed himself in glory, for it is said in Psalm xciii. i, "The Lord reigneth; He is clothed with majesty (glory)." When he gave the Law, he clothed himself in strength, for it is said, Psalm xciii. i, "He is clothed with strength." As often as he forgave Israel's sins, he clothed himself in white, for it is said in Dan. vii. 9, "His garment was white as snow." When he punishes the nations, he clothes himself in the apparel of vengeance, for it is said in Is. lix. 17, "He put on the garments of vengeance, and was clad with zeal as with a cloak." The sixth garment he will put on when the Messiah shall be revealed; then he will clothe himself in righteousness, for it is said in Is. lix. 17, "For He put on righteousness as a breast-plate and a helmet of salvation upon his head." The seventh garment he will put on when he shall punish Edom, then he will clothe himself in Adorn, that is, in red, for it is said in Is. lxiii. 2, "Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel?" But the garment which he will put on the Messiah will beam from one end of the world to another, for it is said in Is. lxi. 10, "As a bridegroom decketh himself (as a priest) with ornaments." And the Israelites will enjoy his light and say, Blessed is the hour when the Messiah appeareth: blessed is the body that bare thee: * blessed the people who were eye-witnesses: blessed are the eyes which have seen thee! for the opening of his lips is peace and blessing; his speech is composure of mind;-)the thoughts of his heart are confidence and courage; the words of his mouth are forgiveness; his prayer is the fragrance of the sacrifice; his intercession is X holiness and purity. Oh! how

* Luke xi. 27. fMatt. xiii. 16; Luke x. 23. X " Rest for your souls," Matt. xi. 29.

blessed is Israel, for whom all this is preserved, for it is said in Psalm xxxi. 19, "Oh, how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee!"

This representation of the Messiah is, as it were, a mirrored picture of the appearance of Christ, an echo of the gospels. When the disciples upon the Mount of Transfiguration experienced a foretaste of his future glory, the dazzling white of his raiment was not wanting.* But, at that time, when he sat upon the stone under the palmtree, his clothing was indeed pure and neat, but not sumptuous, and in no degree remarkable. He wore upon his head, as we have already once seen * Luke ix. 29; Matt. xvii. 2

him, between Cana of Galilee and Kefar Kenna, a white sudar, fastened under the chin with a buckle, and hanging back upon the shoulders. Over the tunic, covering his body even to his feet and hands, he wore the blue tallith, with bluish-white tassels at the four corners so thrown over him and held together that the gray-red striped undergarment was almost entirely concealed, and only occasionally were his feet, furnished not with shoes, but with sandals, visible. As he sat down and cast his eyes over the assembly, the people became more and more silent, until nothing was heard except the waves of the lake gently breaking upon the shore. And as he began his discourse with Bene Iisrael, Ansche ha-Galli, he did not speak with a "loud," that is, with a forced and vehement voice, which is reported of him only on two occasions: when he cried out loud at the grave of Lazarus, and when he uttered the dying exclamation upon the cross. Herein was the realization of the idea of God's servant, of whom Isaiah prophesies,* "He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets," that is, not seek to secure recognition and adherents by charlatan display. His voice was clear, penetrating, moderate, melodious; it rang like silver tones from one end of the assembly to the other, and it was impossible not to be enchained by it. The whole energy of his soul was expressed in his * Is. xlii. 2; Matt. xii. 19.

words, and the strings of every human spirit vibrated in response, and he who without resistance yielded to the divinely potent influence of his words, was compelled to say, "My inmost being sounded like a harp." *

He sat upon the stone under the palm; to his right and left stood Simon and Andrew, the sons of Jona,f and James and John, the sons of Zebedee. The people were sitting down close up to his feet. "Sons of Israel! Men of Galilee!" thus he begaji, "the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye and believe the gospel ! J Moses, your teacher, peace be with him, has said, ⁴ The Lord thy God will raise thee up a prophet from the

*Is. xvi. 11. f John i. 42. J Mark i. 15.

midst of thee; unto him shall ye hearken; but whosoever will not hearken to him shall die.' * Amen I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.f No man knoweth the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Lord will reveal him." J And then, in a more elevated tone, he continued, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. § Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of mind, and ye shall find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light." And, coming to the conclusion, he said,

*Deut. xviii. 15. fjohnvi. 47.

J Matt. xxyii, 11. § Matt, xxvii. I a.

"Take upon you the yoke of the kingdom of heaven, for the kingdom of heaven is the fulfilment of the law and the prophets. Part with that which is of little worth, that you may secure that which is above all price. Be expert exchangers, who value sacred coins higher ihan common ones, and above everything else, the single priceless pearl. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!"

We must associate discourses of this character with the personality of the speaker in order to measure the weight of the impression they make. They penetrated into the hearts of the hearers like goads and nails,* and not a few of the expressions of Jesus, brought *Eccles. xii. 11.

into common use by Jewish Christians, are found in the Talmud and Midrasch. Many of them, however, are entirely original. That concluding appeal to reflection, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear," * is exclusively peculiar to him; and the assuring beginning of his sermons, "Amen (verily), I say unto you," which is the language of the country, is thus expressed, Amen, amena lechdn,-\ is unheard of in the whole compass of Jewish literature. This amen, prefacing the discourse, is idiomatic with Jesus, so characteristic, that not without reference to it, he is called "the Amen, the true and faithful Witness," in Rev. iii. 14.

* Matt. xi. 15; xiii. 9-43, &c. f See the author's Talmudische Studien, in Luth. Zeitschrift, 1856, p. 422-24.

In the meantime, the evening crimson of the heavens had long vanished. The full-moon had already risen so high over the hills on the other side, that it was mirrored in all the fullness of its golden splendor in the lake; and, on this side, the evening star, as if born of the twilight crimson, smiled down upon the earth, and the refreshing breeze set the leaf - stems of the palm, with their feathery leaves, into a gentle agitation. The evening was far enough advanced to give place to the watch of the night. Jesus rose, and, whilst he sometimes suddenly withdrew from the people,* he dismissed them this time with words of admonition and the salutation of peace. As he lifted up his hands in * Matt. xiii. 36; xiv. 23.

benediction,* his eyes fell upon his mother. After his farewell words, he turned to the left, and whispered to John and James, "Take care of my mother!" and departed in a southern direction, and, amid stones and brambles, ascended an elevation of the range of hills that here incline gently towards the shore. He loved the solitude of the hills, and many a hill summit of Galilee and Penea, to which he retired for prayer, was consecrated by him as a bethel (house of God). It was only after he had arrived at this place this evening, and the turmoil of the world lay at his feet, that he enjoyed perfect rest after the work of the day. Without having shut himself out from the * Luke xxiv. 50.

external world, or forgotten mankind, he was still entirely absorbed in prayer, and celebrated an internal Sabbath. His view extended over land and water, and embraced all in his affection, and rested upon all the places round about with the salutation of peace. He extended his arms, pressed the world to his heart, fell with it down before God, and lifted it up as through his heart's blood, an offering to God. He touched the very ground with his brow, and the hair of his head lay upon it like a covering veil. Soon he rose slowly, as though he were lifting up the whole earth with him, and stretched himself higher and higher towards heaven, as though he were rising above his natural

size. He spake and was silent, and spake. His prayer was an interchange of conversation with God. His speech was low, and more of a whisper than a tone. But at last it became triumphantly and jubilantly loud, so that the hillsides echoed it back. Nature all round, until now sunk in unbroken silence, became so animated, as if the morning was breaking at midnight. The locusts vied with each other in their stridulant sounds; the birds exerted all their powers of song; the treetops bent and rustled; the stream began, as if having broken through an obstruction, to splash more nimbly, and the waves of Genesar rolled over each other in their pressure towards the western shore, and struck in thundering breakers against the landing-places of f

Capernaum and Tiberias. But the mysterious man of prayer, as if overwhelmed with rapture, lay upon his face, and hastened, after he had risen, with winged steps towards the city, still wrapped in sleep, to the house upon the hill, where the mother of Peter opened the door as he knocked. She lighted him to his chamber, where he extended himself upon the couch, and immediately sank into a gentle sleep. His thoughts were smothered in the contemplation of the counsels of God. He rested in God's love, and the peace of God encircled him.