Chapter 20

4. The most important treatment of the subject is the article JESUS CHRIST by William Sanday in the _Hastings Bible Dictionary_ (1899). It is of the highest value, discussing the subject topically with great clearness and with a rare combination of learning and common sense. S. T. Andrews, _The Life of Our Lord_ (2d ed. 1892), is a thorough and very useful study of the gospels, considering minutely all questions of chronology, harmony, and geography. It presents the different views with fairness, and offers conservative conclusions. G. H. Gilbert, _The Student's Life of Jesus_ (1896), is complete in plan and careful in treatment, while being very concise. Dr. Gilbert faces the problems of the subject frankly, and his treatment is scholarly and reverent. James Stalker, _The Life of Jesus Christ_ (1880), is a short work whose value lies in the good conception which it gives of the ministry of Jesus viewed as a whole. In simplicity, insight, and clearness the book is a classic, though now somewhat out of date. _Studies in the Life of Christ_, by A.M. Fairbairn (1882), is of great value for the topics considered. The title indicates that the treatment is fragmentary. The long treatises of Farrar (1875, 2 vols.) and Geikie (1877, 2 vols.) are useful as commentaries on the words and works of Jesus. Farrar often interprets most helpfully the essence of an incident, and Geikie furnishes a mass of illustrative material from rabbinic sources, though with less criticism than even Edersheim has used. Neither of these works, however, deals with the fundamental problems of the composition of the gospels, nor are they satisfactory on other perplexing questions, for example, the miraculous birth.

5. The most important accessory for the study of the life of Jesus is Emil Schürer, _Geschichte des Jüdischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi_ (2d ed. 1886, 1890, 2 vols. A 3d ed. of 2d part in 2 vols., 1898), translated, _A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ_ (1885-6, 5 vols.). The political history of the Jews from 175 B.C. to 135 A.D., and the intellectual and religious life of the times in which Jesus lived, with the Jewish literature of Palestine and the dispersion, are all treated with thoroughness and masterful learning. W. Baldensperger, _Das Selbstbewusstsein Jesu im Lichte der messianischen Hoffnungen seiner Zeit_ (2d ed. 1892), furnishes in the first part a survey of the Messianic hopes of the Jews which is in many respects the most satisfactory account that is accessible. The second part discusses the problem of Jesus' conception of himself in a reverent and learned way. George Adam Smith, _The Historical Geography of the Holy Land_ (1894), is indispensable for the study of the physical features of the land as they bear on its history, and on the work of Jesus. The maps are the best that have yet appeared.

6. Discussions of the Teaching of Jesus in works on Biblical Theology have much that is important for the study of Jesus' life. The most significant is H. H. Wendt, _Die Lehre Jesu_ (1886, 2 vols.). The second volume has been translated _The Teaching of Jesus_ (1892, 2 vols.); the first volume of the original work is an elaborate discussion of the sources, and has not been done into English. Reference may be made especially to H. J. Holtzmann, _Lehrbuch der Neutestamentlichen Theologie_ (1897, 2 vols.), and also to G. H. Gilbert, _The Revelation of Jesus_ (1899). Gustaf Dalman, _Die Worte Jesu_ (1898), of which the first volume only has appeared, is a study of the meaning of the most significant expressions used in the gospel records of the teaching of Jesus, made with the aid of thorough knowledge of Aramaic usage and of the language of post-canonical Jewish literature.

7. A good synopsis or Harmony of the gospels is most useful. The best _Harmony is_ that of Stevens and Burton (1894), which exhibits the divergencies of the parallel accounts in the gospels as faithfully as the agreements. A good synopsis of the Greek text of the first three gospels is Huck, _Synapse_ (1892). Robinson's _Greek Harmony of the Gospels_, edited by M. B. Biddle, using Tischendorf's text, has also valuable notes discussing questions of harmony.

Abbreviations

AndLOL Andrews, The Life of Our Lord, 2d ed., 1892. BaldSJ Baldensperger, Das Selbstbewusstsein Jesu, 2d ed., 1892. BeysLJ Beyschlag, Das Leben Jesu, 3d ed., 2 vols., 1893. BovonNTTh Bovon, Théologie du Nouveau Testament, 1892. DalmanWJ Dalman, Die Worte Jesu, I., 1898. EdersLJM Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, 2 vols., 1883. FairbSLX Fairbairn, Studies in the Life of Christ, 1882. GilbertLJ Gilbert, The Student's Life of Jesus, 1896. GilbertRJ Gilbert, The Revelation of Jesus, 1899. HoltzNtTh Holtzmann, Neutestamentliche Theologie, 2 vols., 1897. KeimJN Keim, The History of Jesus of Nazara, 6 vols., 1876-81. RévilleJN Réville, Jésus de Nazareth, 2 vols., 1897. SandayHastBD Sanday, the article JESUS CHRIST in the Hastings Bible Dictionary, 1899. SchürerJPTX Schürer, The History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, 1885-86. Division I. vols. i. and ii.; Division II. vols. i., ii., and iii. SmithHGHL Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land, 1894. SB Stevens and Burton, Harmony of the Gospels, 1894. WeissLX Weiss, The Life of Christ, 3 vols., 1883. WendtLJ Wendt, Die Lehre Jesu, 2 vols., 1886. WendtTJ Wendt, The Teaching of Jesus, 2 vols., 1892. EnBib Encyclopedia Biblica, 1899. HastBD Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, 1898. SBD^2 Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, revision of the first volume of the original English edition, 1893.

References

Part I.--Preparatory

I

The Historical Situation

8. Read SandayHastBD II. 604-609. On the Land, its physical characteristics, its political divisions, its climate, its roads, and its varying civilization, SmithHGHL is unsurpassed. Its identifications of disputed localities are cautions. Robinson, _Biblical Researches in Palestine_, and Thomson, _The Land and the Book_, give fuller detail concerning particular localities, but no such general view as Smith.

9. On Political conditions, SchürerJPTX I. i. and ii. is the fullest and most trustworthy treatise. More concise essays are Oscar Holtzmann, _Nt. Zeitgeschichte_ (1895), 57-118; S. Mathews, _History of NT Times in Palestine_ (1899), 1-158; Riggs, _Maccabean and Roman Periods of Jewish History_ (1900), especially §§ 206-234, 257-267, 276-282. On the Religious Life and Parties in Palestine, SchürerJPTX II. i. and ii.; O. Holtzmann, _NtZeitg_, 136-177; Mathews, _NT Times_, see index; Riggs, _Mac. and Rom. Periods_, §§ 235-256; Muirhead, _The Times of Christ_ (1898), 69-150. In addition Wellhausen, _Die Pharisdäer und die Sadducäer_ (1874); on the _Essenes_, Conybeare in HastBD I. 767-772, also Lightfoot, _Colossians_, 80-98, 347-419; Wellhausen, _Isr. u. jüd. Geschichte_^3 (1897), 258-262; on the Samaritans, A. Cowley, in _Expos_. V. i. 161-174; Jew. Quar. Rev. VIII. (1896) 562-575.

10. On the Messianic hope, SchürerJPTX II. ii. 126-187; BaldSJ 3-122; Muirhead, _Times of Xt._, 112-150; Briggs, _Messiah of the Gospels_ (1894), 1-40; WendtTJ I. 33-84; Mathews, _NT Times_, 159-169; Riggs, _Mac. and Rom. Periods_, §§ 251-256.

11. On the language of Palestine see Arnold Meyer, _Jesu Muttersprache_ (1896); DalmanWJ I. 1-57; SchürerJPTX II. i. 8-10, 47-51; Neubauer, _Studia Biblica_, I. 39-74.

12. On Jewish literature dating near the times of Jesus see SchürerJPTX II. iii.; BaldSJ. 3-122; EdersLJM I. 31-39; Deane, _Pseudepigrapha_ (1891); Thomson, _Books which influenced our Lord_, etc. (1891); and special editions, such as Alexandre, _Sibylline Oracles_ (1869); Deane, _The Wisdom of Solomon_ (1881); Charles, _The Book of Enoch_ (1893), _The Apocalypse of Baruch_ (1896), _The Assumption of Moses_ (1897), and _The Book of Jubilees_ (1895); Charles and Morfill, _The Secrets of Enoch_ (1896); Ryle and James, _The Psalms of the Pharisees_ [Psalms of Solomon] (1891); Bensly and James, _Fourth Esdras_ (1895); Charles, EnBib I. 213-250; HastBD I. 109f.; Porter, HastBD I. 110-123; James, EnBib I. 249-261.

II

The Sources

13. On the sources outside the gospels see Anthony, _Introduction to the Life of Jesus_, 19-108; KeimJN I. 12-59; BeysLJ I. 59-72; GilbertLJ 74-78; Knowling, _Witness of the Epistles_; Stevens, _Pauline Theol_. 204-208; Sabatier, _Apostle Paul_, 76-85. On Josephus as a source see also SchürerJPTX I. ii. 143-149; RévilleJN I. 272-280. On the individual gospels see Burton, _The Purpose and Plan of the Four Gospels_ (Univ. Chic. Press, 1900); Bruce, _With Open Face_, 1-61; Weiss, _Introduction to N.T._, II. 239-386; Jülicher, _Einleitung i. d. NT_, 189-207. On Matthew, Burton Bib. Wld. I. 1898, 37-44, 91-101; on Mark, Swete, _Comm. on Mark_, ix-lxxxix; on Luke, Plummer, _Comm. on Luke_, xi-lxx; Mathews, Bib. Wld. 1895, I. 336-342, 448-455; on John, Burton, Bib. Wld. 1899, I. 16-41, 102-105; Westcott, _Comm. on John_, v-lxxvii; Rhees in Abbott's _The Bible as Literature_, 281-297. On the synoptic question see Sanday SBD^2, 1217-1243, and Expositor, Feb.-June, 1891; Woods, _Studia Biblica_, II. 59-104; Salmon, _Introduction_^7, 99-151, 570-581; Stanton in HastBD II. 234-243; Jülicher, _Einl._ 207-227. A. Wright, _Composition of the Four Gospels_ (1890) and _Some NT Problems_ (1898), defends the oral tradition theory in a modified form. On possible dislocations in John see Spitta, _Urchristentum_, I. 157-204; Bacon, Jour. Bib. Lit. 1894, 64-76; Burton, Bib. Wld. 1899, I. 27-35. For the history of opinion see specially H. J. Holtzmann, _Einl._^3 340-375. On the Johannine question see Sanday, Expositor, Nov. 1891-May 1892; Schürer, Cont. Rev. Sept. 1891; Watkins SBD^2 1739-1764; Burton, Bib. Wld. 1899, I. 16-41; Reynolds in HastBD II. 694-722; Zahn, _Einl._ II. 445-564 (defends Johannine authorship); Jülicher, _Einl._ 238-250 (rejects Johannine authorship). For the history of opinion see Watkins, _Bampton Lecture_ for 1890; Holtzmann, _Einl._^3 433-438. P. Ewald, _Hauptproblem der evang. Frage_, argues the authenticity of the fourth gospel from the one-sidedness of the synoptic story. See also Jour. Bib. Lit. 1898, I. 87-102.

14. Réville proposes to reconstruct Jos. Ant. xviii. 3. 3 thus: "'At that time appeared Jesus, a wise man, who did astonishing things. That is why a good number of Jews and also of Greeks attached themselves to him.' Then follows some phrase probably signifying that these adherents had committed the error of proclaiming him Christ, and then 'denounced by the leading men of the nation, this Jesus was condemned by Pilate to die on the cross. But those who had loved him before persevered in their sentiment, and still to-day there exists a class of people who take from him their name Christians.'"

15. On the testimony of Papias (Euseb. _Ch. Hist_. iii. 39. 4) see Lightfoot, Cont. Rev. 1875, II. 379 ff., and McGiffert's notes in his _Eusebius_, 170 ff.

16. For a collection of probably genuine Agrapha see Ropes, _Die Spruche Jesu_, 154-161, and Amer. Jour. Theol. 1897, 758-776; Resch, _Agrapha_, gives a much longer list. He is criticised by Ropes. On lost and uncanonical gospels see Salmon, _Intr._^7 173-190, 580-591; Kruger, _Early Christian Literature_, 50-57. For the recently discovered Gospel of Peter see Swete, _The Gospel of Peter_; and on the so-called _Sayings of Jesus_ found in Egypt in 1896 see Harnack, _Expositor_, V. vi. 321-340, 401-416, and essay by Sanday and Lock. _Apocryphal Gospels_ are most conveniently found in _Ante-nicene Fathers_, VIII. 361-476.

III

The Harmony of the Gospels

17. The Diatessaron of Tatian is translated with notes by Hill, _The Earliest Life of Christ_. See also _Ante-nic. Fathers_, IX. 35-138.

18. For the extreme position concerning Doublets see Holtzmann, _Hand-commentar zum NT_ I. passim. E. Haupt, Studien u. Kritiken, 1884, 25, remarks that Jesus must often have repeated his teaching in essentially the same form.

IV

Chronology

19. For data and discussion of the various problems see Wieseler, _Chronological Synopsis_; Lewin, _Fasti Sacra; _ KeimJN II. 379-402; AndLOL 1-52; SchürerJPTX I. ii. 30-32, 105-143; O. Holtzmann, _NtZeitg_, 118-124, 125-127, 131-132; Turner HastBD I. 403-415; Ramsay, _Was Christ born at Bethlehem_; and von Soden in EnBib. I. 799-812. For patristic opinion concerning the length of Jesus' ministry, see HastBD I. 410. For the argument for a one-year ministry, see KeimJN II. 398; O. Holtzmann, _NtZeitg_, 131f. For two years, see Wieseler, _Chron. Synop_. 204-220; WeissLX I. 389-392; Turner, in HastBD. For three years, see AndLOL 189-198; note by Robertson in Broadus, _Harmony of the Gospels_, 241-244. Compare RévilleJN II. 227-231; Zahn, _Einl._ II. 516f.

V

The Early Years

20. On the problem of the Virgin birth see GilbertLJ 79-89; WeissLX I. 211-233; Swete, _Apos. Creed_, 42-55; Bruce, _Apologetics_, 407-413; Ropes, Andover Rev. 1893, 695-712; FairbSLX 30-45; Godet, _Comm. on Luke_, Rem. on chaps. I. and II.; BovonNTTh I. 198-217. These maintain historicity. The other side: BeysLJ I. 148-174; Meyer, _Comm. on Matt_., Rem. on 1.18; Keim JN II. 38-101; Réville, New World, 1892, 695-723, and JN I. 361-408; HoltzmannNtTh I. 409-415. On the early years of Jesus see EdersLJM I. 217-254; WeissLX I. 275-293; Hughes, _Manliness of Xt_, 35-60; WendtTJ I. 90-96; Stapfer, _Jesus Christ before his Ministry; _ FairbSLX 46-63; BeysLJ II. 44-65; RévilleJN I. 409-438.

21. For some of the early legends concerning the birth and childhood of Jesus, see the so-called _Protevangelium of James_, the _Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew_, and the _Gospel of Thomas_, Ante-nic. Fathers, VIII. 361-383, 395-398. For Jewish calumnies see Laible, _J. X. im Thalmud_, 9-39.

22. On the two genealogies see AndLOL 62-68; WeissLX I. 211-221; Godet on Luke, iii. 23-38. These refer Luke's genealogy to Marv. Hervey SBD^2 1145-1148, Plummer on Luke, iii. 23, EdersLJM I. 149, GilbertLJ 81f., with the early fathers (see Plummer), refer both to Joseph. For the view that they are unauthentic see Holtzmann, _Hand-comm._ I. 39-41; Bacon in HastBD II. 137-141.

23. On the "brethren" of Jesus see Mayor, HastBD I. 320-326; AndrewsLOL 111-123. These make the brethren sons of Joseph and Mary. Lightfoot, _Galatians_^10, 252-291, regards them as sons of Joseph by a former marriage.

VI

John the Baptist

24. On the character and work of John the Baptist see KeimJN II. 201-266 and references in the index under John the Baptist. Keim's is much the most satisfactory treatment; it is, moreover, Keim at his best. See also Ewald, _Hist, of Israel_, VI. 160-200; WeissLX I. 307-316; FairbSLX 64-79; W. A. Stevens, Homil. Rev. 1891, II. 163 ff.; Bebb in HastBD II. 677-680; Wellhausen _Isr. u. judische Geschichte_, 342f.; Feather, _Last of the Prophets_. Reynolds, _John the Baptist_, obscures its excellencies by a vast amount of irrelevant discussion.

25. On the existence of a separate company of disciples of John see Mk. ii. 18, Mt. ix. 14, Lk. v. 33; Mk. vi. 29, Mt. xiv. 12; Mt. xi. 2f., Lk. vii. 18f.; Lk. xi. 1; Jn. i. 35f.; iii. 25; Ac. xix. 1-3. Consult Lightfoot, _Colossians_, 400 ff.; Baldensperger, _Der Prolog des vierten Evangeliums_, 93-152.

VII

The Messianic Call

26. On the baptism of Jesus see WendtTJ I. 96-101; EdersLJM I. 278-287; BaldSJ 219-229. WeissLX I. 316-336 says that the baptism meant for Jesus, already conscious of his Messiahship, "the close of his former life and the opening of one perfectly new" (322); KeimJN II. 290-299 makes it an act of consecration, but eliminates the Voice and Dove; BeysLJ I. 215-231 thinks that Jesus, conscious of no sin, yet not aware of his Messiahship, sought the baptism carrying "the sins and guilt of his people on his heart, as if they were his own" (229). Against Beyschlag see E. Haupt in Studien u. Kritiken, 1887, 381. Baldensperger shows clearly that the Messianic call was a revelation to Jesus, not a conclusion from a course of reasoning.

27. On the temptation see WendtTJ I. 101-105; WeissLX I. 337-354; EdersLJM I. 299-307; FairbairnSLX 80-98; BaldSJ 230-236; BeysLJ I. 231-237; KeimJN II. 317-329. All these see in temptation the necessary result of the Messianic call at the baptism.

28. The locality of the baptism of Jesus cannot be determined. Tradition has fixed on one of the fords of the Jordan near Jericho, see SmithHGHL 496, note 1. On the probable location of Bethany (Bethabarah) (Jn. i. 28) see discussion in AndLOL 146-151; EnBib 548; and especially Smith's note as above.

29. On the anointing of Jesus with the Holy Spirit see WeissLX I. 323-336; BeysLJ I. 230f. For the influence of the Spirit in the later life of Jesus see Mk. i. 12; Mt. iv. 1; Lk. iv. 1; iv. 14, 18, 21; Mk. iii. 29, 30; Mt. xii. 28; Jn. iii. 34; compare Ac. i. 2; x. 38. Clearly these refer not to the ethical and religious indwelling of the Divine Spirit (comp. Rom. i. 4), but to the special equipment for official duty. This is the OT sense, see Ex. xxxi. 2-5; Jud. iii. 10; I. Sam. xi. 6; Isa. xi. 1f.; xlii. 1; lxi. 1; and consult Schultz, _Old Test. Theol._ II. 202f. Jesus seems to have needed a like divine equipment, notwithstanding his divine nature. See GilbertLJ 121f.

30. How this Messianic anointing is to be related to the doctrine of Jesus' essential divine nature cannot be determined with certainty. It must not be forgotten, however, that it is a _datum_ for Christology, and that it cannot be explained away. It indicates one of the particulars in which Jesus was made like unto his brethren. What was involved when the Son of God "emptied himself and was made in the likeness of men" (Phil. ii. 7) we can only vaguely conceive. Two views of early heretical sects seem rightly to have been rejected. The Docetic view, held by some Gnostics of the 2d cent., dates the incarnation from the baptism, but distinguishes Christ from the human Jesus, who only served as a vehicle for the manifestation of the Son of God; the Christ descended on Jesus at the baptism, ascending again to heaven from the cross, compare Mt. iii. 16 and xxvii. 50 in the Greek; see Schaff _Hist. of Xn Church_^2, II. 455f. The recently discovered Gospel of Peter presents this view, Gosp. Pet. § 5. The Nestorian view represents that the baptism was, in a sense, Jesus' "birth from above" (Jn. iii. 3, 5); thus the incarnation was first complete at the baptism though the Logos had been associated with Jesus from the beginning. See Schaff, _Hist, of Xn Church_^2, III. 717 ff.; Conybeare, _History of Xmas_, Amer. Jour. Theol. 1899, 1-21.

31. The traditional locality of the temptation is a mountain near Jericho called _Quarantana_, see AndLOL 155; the tradition seems to date no further back than the crusades. It is, however, probable that the "wilderness" (Mt. iv. 1, Mk. i. 12, Lk. iv. 1) is the same wilderness mentioned in connection with John's earlier life and work (Mt. iii. 1, Mk. i. 4), the region W and NW of the Dead Sea, see SmithHGHL 317. Others (Stanley, _Sinai and Palestine_, 308; EdersLJM I. 300, 339 notes) hold that the temptation took place in the desert regions SE of the sea of Galilee; this is possibly correct, though the record in the gospels suggests the wilderness of Judea. On the source of the temptation story see WeissLX I. 339 ff.; BeysLJ I. 234; Bacon, Bib. Wld. 1900, I. 18-25.

VIII

The First Disciples

32. SandayHastBD II. 612f.; GilbertLJ 144-157; WeissLX I. 355-387; AndLOL 155-165; EdersLJM I. 336-363; BeysLJ II. 129-148 (assigns here a considerable part of the synoptic account of work in Capernaum).

33. _The early confessions_. On the genuineness of the Baptist's testimony to "the Lamb of God" see M. Dods in _Expos. Gk. Test_. I .695f.; Westcott, _Comm. on John_, 20; EdersLJM 1. 342 ff.; WeissLX 1. 362f. (thinks the evangelist added "who taketh away the sin of the world"); Holtzmann, _Hand-comm._ IV. 38f. holds that the evangelist has put in the mouth of the Baptist a conception which was first current after the death of Jesus. On the confessions of Nathanael and the others, see Jour. Bib. Lit. 1898, 21-30.

34. _Cana_ is probably the modern Khirbet Kana, eight miles N of Nazareth. A rival site is Kefr Kenna, three and one-half miles NE from Nazareth. See EnBib and HastBD, also AndLOL 162-164.

35. _The miracles of Jesus_ are challenged by modern thought. It is customary in reading other documents than the N.T. instantly to relegate the miraculous to the domain of legend. Miracles, however, are integral parts of the story of Jesus' life, and those who attempt to write that life eliminating the supernatural are constrained to recognize that he had marvellous power as an exorcist and healer of some forms of nervous disease. So E. A. Abbott, _The Spirit on the Waters_, 169-201. Our knowledge of nature does not warrant a dogmatic definition of the limits of the possible; see James, _The Will to Believe_, vii.-xiii., 299-327. The question is confessedly one of adequate evidence. The evidence for the supreme miracle--the transcendent character of Jesus--is clear, see Part III. chap. iv.; and the miraculous element in the story of his life must be considered in view of this supreme miracle. In association with him his miracles gain in credibility. In estimating the evidence for them their dignity and worthiness is important. What the devout imagination would do in embellishing the story of Jesus is exhibited in the apocryphal gospels; the miracles of the canonical gospels are of an entirely different type, which commends them as authentic. By definition a miracle is an event not explicable in terms of ordinary human experience. It is therefore futile to attempt to picture the miracles of Jesus in their occurrence, for the imagination has no material except that furnished by ordinary experience. For our day the miracles are of importance chiefly for the exhibition they give of the character of Jesus; they can be studied with this in view without regard to the curious question how they happened. Read SandayHastBD II. 624-628; and see Fisher, _Grounds of Christian and Theistic Belief, _ chaps, iv.--vi., _Supernatural Origin of Christianity_^3, chap, xi.; Bruce, _Miraculous Element in the Gospels; Apologetics_, 409 ff.; Illingworth, _Divine Immanence_; Rainy, Orr, and Dods, _The Supernatural in Christianity_.

Part II.--The Ministry

I

General Survey

36. SandayHastBD II. 609f.; GilbertLJ 136-143; AndLOL 125-137; BeysLJ I. 256-295.

II

The Early Ministry in Judea

37. SandayHastBD II. 612^b-613^b; WeissLX II. 3-53; EdersLJM I. 364-429; BeysLJ II. 147-168; GilbertLJ 158-179.

38. On _the chronological significance of John iv_. 35 see AndLOL 183; WeissLX II. 40; Wieseler, _Synop_. 212 ff, who find indication that the journey was in December. EdersLJM I. 419f.; Turner in HastBD I. 408, find indication of early summer. Some treat iv. 35 as a proverb with no chronological significance; so Alford, _Comm. on John_.

39. Geographical notes. _Aenon_ near Salim has not been identified. Most favor a site in Samaria, seven miles from a place named Salim, which lay four miles E of Shechem, see Conder, _Tent Work in Palestine_, II. 57, 58; Stevens, Jour. Bib. Lit. 1883, 128-141. But can John have been baptizing in Samaria? WeissLX II. 28 says "it is perfectly impossible that he [John] can have taken up his station in Samaria." Other suggestions are: some place in the Jordan valley (but then why remark on the abundance of water, Jn. iii. 23?); near Jerusalem; and in the south of Judea. See AndLOL 173-175. _Sychar_ is the modern 'Askar, about a mile and three-quarters from Nablus (Shechem), and half a mile N of Jacob's well. See SmithHGHL 367-375.