46 Rosen müller's Scholia on New Test. i. 329. CHAP. XLV. my being the Messiah, as if none had been given, when many unmistakable ones invite you in your own Scriptures, in the events of the day, the preaching of John, and in my own miracles, teaching, and life.46 An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign of the approach of the kingdom of God to suit it, while it is blind to the signs around, that the Messiah must come, if the nation is not to perish. I will give you no sign but that of the prophet Jonah, for as the warning of his words, was the only one given to the Ninevites, my preaching will be the only sign given to you. It is its own evidence. Apart from my miracles; my life, and the divine and heavenly truth I preach, are sufficient proof that I am sent by God. Hereafter, indeed, Jonah will become a sign in another sense, for as he was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so I, when put to death, shall be the same time in the grave." So saying, He left them. It was clearly unsafe to stay in their neighbourhood. Henceforth He could only lead a fugitive outlawed life, and with a deep sigh at the hopelessness of winning over men blinded by prejudice, and hardened in heart, He entered the boat once more, and crossed the Lake to the lonely and secure eastern side. ( 231 ) THE CHAPTER XLVI. IN FLIGHT ONCE MORE. HE renewed attempt to involve Jesus in a damaging dis- CHAP. XLVI pute had failed. He had not made an ostentatious display of supernatural power at the bidding of His enemies, but had turned sharply on them, and had left them discomfited before the multitude. They had hoped to depreciate Him as a mere unauthorised intruder into the office of Rabbi, and to have an easy triumph, but His modest, yet dignified and keen retort had put them to shame. Their bitterness against one, now hated and feared more than ever, was so much the greater. His departure that autumn evening might well have sadlened His heart. It was His final rejection on the very spot where He had laboured most, and He was leaving it, to return, indeed, for a passing visit, but never to appear again publicly, or to teach, or work miracles. As the boat swept out into the Lake, and the whole scene opened before Him -the white beach, the green plain, the wooded hills behind, the white houses reflected in the water, and over them the stately synagogue, in which He had taught so often, and done such mighty acts,—it was no wonder that He sighed deeply in spirit, borne down by the thought of the darkened mind, the perverted conscience, and the stony heart that had rejected the things of their peace. As He sat in the boat amidst His disciples He was still full of such thoughts. They had heard His words to His enemies, but they did not seem to realize all the danger implied in the incident. Many had been led away from Him by the deceitful slanders, or specious arguments CHAP. XLVI. of the hierarchical party, and it was well that they should be put on their guard. "Take heed, beware," said He solemnly, "of the leaven Matt. 16. 5-12. of the Pharisees and Sadducees, and of the party of Herod."1 Mark 8. 14-21. It so happened, however, that in their hurried flight, having had no time to lay in provisions, there was only one loaf in the boat, and with the childishness of uneducated minds, they at once fancied He referred to their having come without bread. At the well of Samaria they had thought He referred to common food when He spoke of the meat of the soul; they had been as dull in catching the metaphor of His flesh being the bread of life, and hereafter they were to think only of natural rest when He spoke of the dead Lazarus as sleeping. Reflection, like continuity of thought, comes only with mental training. The uncultured mind, whether old or young, learns slowly. They might have remembered from the twice repeated miraculous feedings of the multitude, that it was indifferent how little they had with them when their Master was in their midst, but it needs a thoughtfulness and depth beyond that of average fishermen and pea sants, such as they were, to reason and reflect. "He tells us, they whispered, "that if we buy bread from a Pharisee or a Sadducee, the bread would defile us, as it would if we 2 Rosenmiller's bought it from a Samaritan."2 So rude was the spiritual Scholia on New Test. i. material from which Jesus had to create the founders of 331. Hor. Heb. 233. Buxtorf, Syn. Jud. 401. 3 Wieseler's Beiträge, 124. Christianity! "O ye of little faith," interrupted He, "why do ye reason among yourselves because ye have no loaves? Are your hearts hardened that you cannot understand? Have you forgotten when I broke the five loaves among the five thousand, and the seven among the four thousand, how many baskets and wallets full of fragments ye took up? How could you think you would ever want after that, whether we had bread with us or not? Do you not see that when I spoke of loaves I was thinking not of loaves, but of instruction? Beware of the teaching of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians,3 about me or about religion. They would gladly fill your minds with slanders and misleading fancies; draw you away from me; and corrupt your hearts by their superstition, and religious acting, and self-righteous CHAP. XLVL pride, or by their worldliness and unbelief." The course of the boat was directed to the head of the Lake, to Bethsaida, newly renamed Julias by the tetrarch Philip, in honour of the daughter of Augustus, his patron. The old name of the village had not yet been lost, however. It was on the route to the district to which Jesus was hurrying, and might well have detained Him as a resting place, under other circumstances. Lying on the green hill above the plain of Batiha—the scene of the miraculous feeding-it overlooked, at a short distance, the entrance of the Jordan into the Lake. To the west stretched the wide tract of black basalt, rough and barren, reaching from the marshes of Jordan, dotted with buffaloes luxuriating in the mire, to Chorazin and Capernaum. To the south rose the bare table-land on the east of the Lake, and the town itself, boasting the splendid tomb just built by Philip, for his own use, was not wanting in beauty. But Jesus had no leisure to stay, nor was there an inducement in any kindly bearing of the population towards Him. He had often taught in their streets and synagogue, and had lived in their houses, and done many mighty works before them, yet, like the people of Chorazin and Capernaum, they had listened to their Rabbis rather than to Him, and had refused to repent. There still, however, were some who had better thoughts, and these, seeing Him enter the town, hurriedly brought a blind man, and besought Him to touch him. Even in a place that would not hear Him His tender heart could not withhold its pity. It would have attracted notice when He most sought to avoid it, had He healed the sufferer in the public street, and, therefore, taking him by the hand, He led him into the fields outside. He might have wrought the cure by a word, but He chose to use the same simple form as in the case of the dumb man in the Decapolis. Touching the blind eyes with His moistened finger, perhaps to arrest the wandering thoughts and predispose him to trust in the Healer, He asked the blind man "if he saw aught?" The supernatural power of the touch had had due effect. With upturned eyes, the hitherto blind could Thomson, Land and Palästina, 124 Luke 13. 26. Matt. 12. 21. a "Go CHAP. XLVI. see indistinctly. Men moved before him, in undefined haze, like trees. The partial cure must have strengthened his faith, and thus prepared him for perfect restoration. An• Tηλavyws. other touch, and he could see clearly, far and near. to your home," said Jesus, "without returning to the town, and tell no one about it." b The less publicity given to His acts or words, the safer for Christ. The retreat to which Jesus was making was the town of Cæsarea Philippi. It lay on the north-east of the reedy and marshy plain of El Huleh. It was close to Dan, the extreme north of the bounds of ancient Israel, as Beersheba was the extreme south. It was almost on a line with Tyre, and thus, far out of the reach of the Rabbis and High Priests. A town, Baal-Gad-named from the Canaanite god of fortune-had occupied the site from immemorial antiquity; but Philip had rebuilt it splendidly, three years before Christ's birth, and, in accordance with the prevailing flattery of the Emperor, had called it Cæsarea, in honour of Augustus. It had been the pleasure of his peaceful reign to adorn it with altars, 7 Ant. xv. 10. 3. Votive images, and statues, and his own name had been 3; iii. 10. 7. added by the people, to distinguish it from the Cæsarea on Renan, chap. 8. the sea-coast.8 Herod the Great, Philip's father, had already, Thomson, 228. nineteen years before Christ, in grateful acknowledgement Bell. Jud i. 21. Vita, 13. Röhr, 183. Furrer, 362. of the gift of the districts of Panias and Ulatha, adorned the spot with a grand temple of white marble, in heathen flattery of the Emperor, deified, thus, while still alive, by the king of the Jews. The worship of the shepherd god Pan, to whom a cave out of which burst the waters of the Jordan, was sacred; had given its second name-Paniasnow, Banias-to the place. It was one of the loveliest spots in the Holy Land, built on a terrace of rock, part of the range of Hermon, which rose behind it seven or eight thousand feet. Countless streams murmured down the slopes, amidst a unique richness and variety of flower, and shrub, and tree. The chief source of the Jordan, still bursts in a full silver-clear stream from a bottomless depth of water, in the old cave of Pan, at the foot of the mountain, from beneath a high perpendicular wall of rock, adorned with |