LUKE XXI. MARK XIII. cockcrowing, or in the morning: 36 lest coming suddenly he find you 37 sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch. things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. EX § 129. TRANSITION TO CHRIST'S FINAL COMING AT THE DAY OF JUDGMENT. HORTATION TO WATCHFULNESS. PARABLES: THE TEN VIRGINS; THE FIVE TALENTS.-Mount of Olives. Third Day of the Week, 43 MATT. XXIV. 43-51. XXV. 1-30. But know this,' that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have 44 suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready:2 for in 45 such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh, Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to 46 give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord 47 when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall 48 make him ruler over all his goods. But and if that evil servant shall say 49 in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;3 and shall begin to smite his 50 fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour 51 that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. XXV. 1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which 2 took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them 3 were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, 4 and took no oil with them: but the wise took oil in their vessels with their 5,6 lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye 7 out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are 9 gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were 11 ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. After12 ward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he 13 answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh. 14 For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who 15 called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man 16 according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and 17 made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he 1 Our Lord here makes a transition, and proceeds to speak of his final coming at the day of judgment. This appears from the fact, that the matter of these Sections is added by Matthew after Mark and Luke have ended their parallel reports relative to the Jewish catastrophe; and Matthew here commences, with ver. 43, the discourse which Luke has given on another occasion, Luke 12. 39, sq. This discourse in Luke has reference obviously to our Lord's final coming; and that it has here the same reference is appa rent from the appropriateness of the subsequent 2 Comp. 1 Thess. 5. 1-6. 4 Comp. Luke 13. 25, 26. MATT. XXV. 18 also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in 19 the earth, and hid his lord's money. After a long time the lord of those 20 servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five 21 talents more. His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler 22 over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two 23 talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou 24 into the joy of thy lord. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou 25 hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: and I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is 26 thine. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest1 that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I 27 have not strawed: thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with 28 usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which 29 hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that 30 which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 31 § 130. SCENES OF THE JUDGMENT DAY.-Mount of Olives. Third Day of the Week. MATT. XXV. 31-46. When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels 32 with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, 33 as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of 35 the world: for I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, 36 and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye 37 came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 39, 40 or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it 41 unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye 42 cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me 43 no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed 44 me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also 1 Thou knewest: better interrogatively, Didst thou know? Was such thy opinion? Then "out of thine own mouth will I judge thee" (according to the parallel in Luke 19. 22); for thy opinion MATT. XXV. answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye 46 did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment:" but the righteous into life eternal.2 $131. THE RULERS CONSPIRE. THE SUPPER AT BETHANY. Jerusalem. Bethany. Fourth Day of the Week. MARK XIV. 1-11. After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death. But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be anuproar of the people. And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head." And there Into everlasting punishment, &c. This solemn declaration, made by the divine and compassionate Redeemer himself, clearly teaches that the misery of the wicked will be as enduring and endless as the blessedness of the righteous; for the same term in the Greek (aiwvios) denotes the duration of both states. Compare Luke 16. 23-26. 2 Comp. Dan. 12. 2; John 5. 29; Rom. 2. 7-9. 3 Comp. Psa. 2. 2. 4 Not on the feast. This counsel was soon TREACHERY OF JUDAS. LUKE XXII. 1-6. abandoned by the rulers, owing to the unexpected offer of Judas quietly to betray Jesus into their hands. See at the end of this Section. 5 On the date of this supper, see Note to § 131, in the Appendix. 6 Christ's head was anointed according to Matthew and Mark, and his feet according to John: but there is no contradiction in these statements, since both actions are consistent, though both are not mentioned by one evangelist; unless indeed they be so in John 11. 2. 5 7 8 9 MARK XIV. were some that had indignation within themselves and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? for it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her. 6 And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me. For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good but me ye have not always. She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her. And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them. And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray him. 10 Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, 15 and said unto them, 11 What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of 16 silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him, The disciples, or some of them, were indignant; but according to John's account it was Judas that found fault. He was actuated by a base motive; and probably his dissatisfaction led others, who did not know his real feelings, to show some uneasiness at the seeming waste of JOHN XII. the house was filled with the odour of the 4 ointment. Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot,1 Simon's son, which should betray him, 5 Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? 6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what 7 was put therein. Then said Jesus, Let her alone against the day of my burying hath she kept this. For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always. 8 the ointment, not being able fully to appreciate the affection of Mary in this memorable deed. 2 In John 11. 2, we find a striking illustration of the fulfilment of this saying: see Note5, § 92. 3 Comp. Matt. 27. 9; Ex. 21. 32. PART VIII. THE FOURTH PASSOVER; OUR LORD'S PASSION; AND THE ACCOMPANYING EVENTS UNTIL THE END OF THE JEWISH SABBATH. TIME: Two Days. INTRODUCTORY NOTE. THE PASSOVER. As the events of our Lord's passion were intimately connected with the celebration of the passover, it seems proper here to bring together, in one view, those circumstances relating to that festival, which may serve to illustrate the sacred history. A more complete article upon this whole subject (of which this Note is an abstract) was published by Dr. Robinson in the Bibliotheca Sacra for August, 1845, p. 405-436. I. Time of killing the paschal lamb. The paschal lamb (or kid, Ex. 12. 5) was to be selected on the tenth day of the first month, Ex. 12. 3. On the fourteenth day of the same month, (called Abib in the Pentateuch, and later Nisan, Deut. 16. 1; Esth. 3. 7,) the lamb thus selected was to be killed, at a point of time designated by the expression, between the two evenings, (as in the marginal reading of our version,) Ex. 12. 6; Lev. 23. 5; Num. 9. 3, 5; or, as is elsewhere said, at evening about the going down of the sun, Deut. 16. 6. The same phrase, between the two evenings, is put for the time of the daily evening sacrifice, Ex. 29. 39, 41; Num. 28. 4. The time thus marked was regarded by the Samaritans and Karaites, as being the interval between sunset and deep twilight; while the Pharisees and Rabbinists held the first evening to commence with the declining sun, and the second evening with the setting sun. Hence, according to the latter, the paschal lamb was to be killed in the interval between the ninth and eleventh hour, equivalent to our three and five o'clock p. m. That this was in fact the practice among the Jews in the time of our Lord, appears from the testimony of Josephus, Jos. B. J. 6.9. 3. The daily evening sacrifice also was offered at the ninth hour, or three o'clock p. m., Jos. Antiq. 14. 4. 3. See Acts 3. 1. The true time, then, of killing the passover in our Lord's time, was between the ninth and eleventh hour, or towards sunset, near the close of the fourteenth day of Nisan. II. Time of eating the passover. This was to be done the same evening. "And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs shall they eat it," Ex. 12. 8. The Hebrews in Egypt ate the first passover, and struck the blood of the victims on their door-posts, on the evening before the last great plague; at midnight the Lord smote all the first-born; and in the morning the people broke up from Rameses on their march towards the Red Sea, viz. "on the fifteenth day of the first month, on the morrow after the passover," Num, 33. 3. It hence appears very definitely, that the paschal lamb was to be slain in the afternoon of the fourteenth day of the month; and was eaten the same evening, that is, on the evening which was reckoned to and began the fifteenth day. III. Festival of unleavened bread. From Ex. 12. 17, 18, (comp. Deut. 16. 3, 4,) and from Lev. 23. 6, (comp. Num. 28. 17,) it appears, that the festival of unleavened bread began strictly with the passover meal, at or after sunset following the fourteenth day, and continued until sunset at the end of the twenty-first day. Comp. Jos. Ant. 3. 10. 5. We have already seen that it was customary for the Jews, on the fourteenth day of Nisan, to cease from labour at or before midday, to put away all leaven out of their houses before noon, and to slay the paschal lamb towards the close of the day; see above, and Note on § 132. Hence, in popular usage, the fourteenth day very naturally came to be reckoned as the beginning or first day of the festival. See Matt. 26. 17; Mark 14. H |