xiii. 19), and with a village on a conspicuous conical hill,

4 or 5 miles east of Bethel, and 16 from Jerusalem. _Bib. Res._ I. 447.

435 ‒ “In this border-land it was more natural than elsewhere that they should find themselves in one company, and thus a Samaritan had found admission into this forlorn assembly.” Trench _On the Miracles_, p. 332; Alford on Lk. xvii. 11.

436 ‒ See _Class-Book of O. T. History_, p. 157.

437 ‒ Trench _On the Miracles_, p. 336.

438 ‒ Probably at Scythopolis, where there was a bridge. See Lightfoot, _Hor. Heb. et Talm._ on Lk. xvii. 11.

439 ‒ The former adopting the more lax, the latter the stricter view. Lightfoot, _Hor. Heb. et Talm._ on Mtt. xix. 3. The object of the question may also in some degree have been “to involve Him with the adulterous tetrarch in whose territory He then was.” Ellicott, p. 272.

440 ‒ The two other occasions being (i) in the neighbourhood of Cæsarea Philippi just after St Peter’s confession (see above, p. 219); (ii) shortly afterwards, during the return to Capernaum (see above, p. 225).

441 ‒ Or perhaps the mother was the actual speaker, while the two Apostles were the instigators. Ellicott, p. 374, note.

442 ‒ Perhaps, as in the case of the Gadarene demoniacs, the one, whom St Mark (x. 46) names as Bartimæus, was better known, and hence his case is more particularly recorded; and “the one who is mentioned at our Lord’s entry into Jericho as having learnt from the crowd who it was that was coming into the city (Lk. xviii. 37), was not healed _then_, but in company with another sufferer, when the Saviour was leaving the city.” Ellicott, p. 274, n.; Trench _On the Miracles_, p. 428.

443 ‒ St Luke (xix. 2) calls him ἀρχιτελώνης, an unusual term, which probably denotes an administrator of taxes, who was entrusted with the superintendence of other publicans, and perhaps was the agent of one of the Roman knights, who often filled the office of _publicanus_. “The collection of customs at Jericho, which at this time produced and exported a considerable quantity of balsam, was undoubtedly an important post, and would account for Zacchæus being a rich man, Lk. xix. 2.” On the palm-groves of Jericho and its balsam-trade, see above, p. 86.

444 ‒ See Trench _On the Parables_, p. 512.

445 ‒ It is the opinion of some that he was a connection of the family of Lazarus.

446 ‒ For another feast upon a Sabbath, comp. Lk. xiv. 1. “The Sabbath is still among the Jews preferred for the enjoyment of feasts; but the food was prepared previously, and even the tables must have been arranged in order before the Sabbath began,” Hengstenberg on St John xii. 2.

447 ‒ Of the costliness of a casket of spikenard some idea may be formed from the fact that it was among the gifts sent by Cambyses to the Ethiopians (Herod. III. 20); compare also Horace’s words, _Carm._ IV. xii. 16, 17:

Nardo vina merebere. Nardi parvus onyx eliciet cadum.

448 ‒ Τριακοσίων δηναρίων (Jn. xii. 5). On the denarius, see below, p. 269, note.

449 ‒ St John remarks that he said this, not _because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein_ (Jn. xii. 6). From which observation we gather (i) that the brotherhood of the Twelve had a common treasury, and received contributions for the poor; (ii) that Judas was their steward or almoner; (iii) that he had already proved unfaithful, and been guilty of embezzlement. See Lange’s _Life of Christ_, IV. 29.

450 ‒ Bethphage (_house of unripe figs_), a place on the Mount of Olives, on the road between Jericho and Jerusalem. “It was apparently close to Bethany, and from its being named first of the two in the narrative of a journey from East to West, it may be presumed that it lay, if anything, to the eastward of Bethany.” No remains answering to this position, according to Robinson, have been found, but see Barclay’s _City of the Great King_, p. 65.

451 ‒ Lange, IV. 39; Stanley, _S. and P._ 191. In Mk. xi. 8 the Vatican and Cambridge MSS. read ἐκ τῶν ἀγρῶν, “having cut the branches from the gardens.” Eastern gardens are not flower-gardens, nor private gardens, but the orchards, vineyards, and fig-enclosures round a town.

452 ‒ Lange’s _Life of Christ_, IV. 41, n.

453 ‒ Τὰ ἱμάτια, the “abba” or “hyke,” the loose blanket or cloak worn over the tunic or shirt (χιτών). A striking instance of the practice is mentioned by Robinson, II. 162, when the inhabitants of Bethlehem threw their garments under the feet of the horses of the English consul of Damascus, whose aid they were imploring. Stanley, _S. and P._ p. 191, n.

454 ‒ “The _branches_ (κλάδοι) cut from the trees as they went (Mtt. xxi. 8) are different from the mattings ♦στοιβάδες (Mk. xi. 8), which they had twisted out of the palm-branches as they came,” _S. and P._ 191, n.

455 ‒ “Again the procession advanced. The road descends a slight declivity, and the glimpse of the city is again withdrawn behind the intervening ridge of Olivet. A few moments, and the path mounts it again, it climbs a rugged ascent, it reaches a ledge of smooth rock, and in an instant the whole city bursts into view.” _S. and P._ 193; Tristram’s _Land of Israel_, p. 196.

456 ‒ εἰ ἄρα, if, as was reasonable to expect under such circumstances, fruit was to be found. Ellicott, 294, n.; Lange on Mk. xi. 4.

457 ‒ “This tree, so to speak, vaunted itself to be in advance of all the other trees, challenged the passer by that he should come and refresh himself with its fruit. Yet when the Lord accepted its challenge, and drew near, it proved to be but _as_ the others, without fruit as they; for indeed, as the Evangelist observes, the time of figs had not yet arrived,――its fault, if one may use the word, lying in its pretension, in its making a show to run before the rest, when it did not so indeed.” Trench _On the Miracles_, p. 440; Lange on Mtt. xxi. 18. Thomson, _The Land and the Book_, p. 349, states that in sheltered spots figs of an early kind may occasionally be found ripe as soon as the beginning of April.

458 ‒ See above, p. 158.

459 ‒ Trench _On the Miracles_, 211, 212.

460 ‒ Lange’s _Life of Christ_, IV. 69; Milman, I. 287.

461 ‒ For their distinctive tenets, see above, pp. 114–119.

462 ‒ Lange, IV. 69; Ellicott, 302.

463 ‒ See above, p. 148.

464 ‒ “The little silver coin (in value about 7½d.), bearing on its surface the head encircled with a wreath of laurel, and bound round with the sacred fillet――the well known features, the most beautiful and the most wicked, even in outward expression, of all the Roman Emperors――with the superscription running round, in the stately language of imperial Rome, _Tiberius Cæsar, Divi Augusti filius Augustus, Imperator_.” Stanley’s _Canterbury Sermons_, p. 108.

465 ‒ See above, p. 115.

466 ‒ The Sadducees appear to have held that the soul perishes with the body: as “the cloud faileth and passeth away,” they said, “so he that goeth down to the grave doth not return.” Lightfoot on Mtt. xxii. 23; Comp. Jos. _Ant._ XVIII. 1. 4; _B. J._ II. 8. 14.

467 ‒ See above, p. 115.

468 ‒ Which seems to confirm Lightfoot’s opinion that the enquiry turned on the importance of the ceremonial as compared with the moral law. Lightfoot on ♦Mark xii. 28.

469 ‒ Some, however, would refer to this occasion the question respecting the woman taken in adultery (Jn. viii. 1–11). See Ellicott’s _Lectures_, 310, and notes.

470 ‒ It is not improbable that the solemn apostrophe to Jerusalem, uttered on the occasion of the triumphal entry, was now in part repeated. See Ellicott’s _Lectures_, 314, and note.

471 ‒ So called, not because “women only entered in there, but because women might not go further,” just as the court of the Gentiles was so called, “not, because heathens only might enter there, but because they might not go further.” Lightfoot _in loc._

472 ‒ “Before the Passover, free-will offerings, in addition to the temple-tax, were generally presented.” Lange on Mk. xii. 41.

473 ‒ Λεπτὰ δύο, ὅ ἐστιν κοδράντης, Mk. xii. 42. The λεπτόν was the very smallest copper coin. Two made one Roman quadrans, which was ¼th of an _as_. The _as_ in Cicero’s time = nearly a halfpenny, and the _quadrans_ = one tenth of a penny. Lange on Mk. xii. 41.

474 ‒ The regular word for which is Ἑλληνισταί, but Ἕλληνες, Gentile Greeks. Lange, IV. 53. See above, p. 110. For the attendance of proselytes of the gate at the feasts at Jerusalem, comp. Acts viii. 27, Jos. _B. J._ VI. 9. 3, and Lightfoot on Ju. xii. 20.

475 ‒ Or they may have come from some of the Greek towns of Galilee――Galilee of the Gentiles. See Lightfoot on Jn. xii. 20, and above, p. 145, n.

476 ‒ _Præludium regni Dei a Judæis ad gentes transituri._ Bengel. “These men from the West represent at the end of Christ’s life that which the wise men from the East represented at its beginning; but those came to the cross of the King, even as these came to His manger, and receive presently more full intelligence,” Stier, VI. 78.

477 ‒ Concurrebat horror mortis, et ardor obedientiæ: Veni in hanc horam, ut venirem in hanc horam, eamque exemplarem. Bengel.

478 ‒ See above (i) p. 156 and (ii) p. 223.

479 ‒ Compare Acts ix. 4, 7, with Acts xxii. 9, and xxvi. 14. (i) “The more dull-hearted heard the _sound_, recognized from whence it came, but mistook it for thunder; (ii) the more susceptible hearers perceived it to be a _voice_, but were unable to distinguish what was uttered; (iii) the smaller circle, of which the Apostle who relates the occurrence was one, both heard the voice, knew whence it came, and were enabled to understand the _words_ that were spoken,” Ellicott, 318, n.

480 ‒ Compare the intimation made to Nicodemus two Passovers before, above, p. 165.

481 ‒ Their remarks were possibly called forth by His own words, Mtt. xxiii. 38. On the nature of the buildings, see Jos. _Ant._ XI. 5; _B. J._ V. 5. 6; and above, pp. 95, 96.

482 ‒ “It is impossible to conceive a spectacle of greater natural or moral sublimity than the Saviour seated on the slope of the Mount of Olives, and thus looking down, almost for the last time, on the Temple and City of Jerusalem, crowded as it then was with near three millions of worshippers. It was evening, and the whole irregular outline of the city, rising from the deep glens, which encircled it on all sides, might be distinctly traced. The sun, the significant emblem of the great Fountain of moral light, to which Jesus and His faith had been perpetually compared, may be imagined sinking behind the western hills, whilst its last rays might linger on the broad and many fortifications on Mount Zion, on the stately palace of Herod, on the square tower, the Antonia, at the corner of the Temple, and on the roof of the Temple, fretted all over with golden spikes, which glittered like fire; while below, the colonnades and lofty gates would cast their broad shadows over the courts, and afford that striking contrast between vast masses of gloom and gleams of the richest light which only an evening scene, like the present, can display.... The effect may have been heightened by the rising of the slow volumes of smoke from the evening sacrifices, while even at the distance of the slope of Mount Olivet the silence may have been faintly broken by the hymns of the worshippers.” Milman’s _History of Christianity_, I. 294, 295.

483 ‒ Wieseler, _Chronol. Synop._ p. 363.

484 ‒ Lange’s _Life of Christ_, IV. 151.

485 ‒ See above, pp. 96, 108, n.

486 ‒ See above, p. 253.

487 ‒ Lange’s _Life of Christ_, IV. 151; Milman, I. 301.

488 ‒ Neander’s _Life of Christ_, 419 and note; Milman, I. 303.

489 ‒ Amongst the motives which led him to the betrayal of his Master we may perhaps give prominence to three. (i) Avarice; (ii) Disappointment of his carnal hopes; (iii) A gradual growth of hostility to his Master.

(i) _Avarice._ This feature in his character has been already noticed above, p. 260, note. The germs of this vice probably unfolded themselves gradually (Stier, VII. 40–67), and in spite of many warnings which he must have heard from his Lord, as Mtt. vi. 19–34; xiii. 22, 23; Lk. xvi. 11; Mk. x. 25 (Article _Judas_ in Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._); but gathered strength and developed into unfaithfulness and embezzlement as he became entrusted with larger sums. Hence when he presented himself before the Sanhedrin, _he probably expected more, but was not unwilling to take what they offered_.

(ii) _Disappointment of his carnal hopes._ What were the Messianic expectations of the Apostles we have seen again and again――a visible kingdom, an earthly throne, high places, and temporal blessings; these they looked forward to in common with their nation. To one like Judas, then, the issue of the Triumphal Entry must have been a deep disappointment.

(iii) _A gradual growth of hostility towards his Master._ His practical and administrative talents which caused him to be made treasurer were closely allied with carnal selfishness (Neander’s _Life of Christ_, 424) which was early rebuked (Jn. vi. 70), see above, p. 213, but still more sharply during the supper at Bethany (see above, p. 260). As he became aware that his real character was known to the Lord, and found his earthly hopes more and more disappointed, his “attachment to his Master would turn more and more into aversion; when the manifestation of Christ ceased to be _attractive_ it became _repulsive_, and more and more so every day.” (Neander, p. 424, and comp. Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._ I. 1066.)

490 ‒ “Thirty shekels = 120 denarii, and one denarius was at that time the ordinary wages for a day’s labour (Mtt. xx. 2); so that the whole sum amounted to about 4 months’ wages of a day-labourer. Thirty shekels, it is to be noticed, was the value set upon a single slave, according to Exod. xxi. 32.” Neander’s _Life of Christ_, 421, n.

491 ‒ Probably a believing follower: _Discipulus, sed non ex duodecim_. Bengel. See also Stier, VII. 77; Ellicott’s _Lectures_, 321, n.

492 ‒ At this point it may be well to try and realize the manner in which the Paschal Feast was at this time celebrated by the Jews.

The company at the Table, which might not be less than 10 persons, usually included from 10 to 20, according to the family, or the number of strangers that might be present. They met in the evening and reclined on couches, this being the usual posture then, as standing had been originally.

The rites of the Feast were regulated according to the succession of 4, sometimes 5, cups of red wine mixed with water, which were placed before the head of the house, or the most eminent guest, who was called the Celebrant, the President, or _Proclaimer of the Feast_.