CHRIST'S APPEALS TO PROPHECY. 51 Thus, It is remarkable that in his appeals to prophecy he never dwells on minute details, such as would indicate a miraculous foreknowledge on the part of the writers, but refers to general expressions of spiritual insight which found in himself a marked fulfilment. when he announced to the people of Nazareth that the words of Isaiah were fulfilled, "the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor," he adopted words which admirably described the purpose of his mission, but are applicable to all who labour in the same spirit. In alluding to his own rejection, he cited the words, "The stone which the builders rejected became the head of the corner: this was from the Lord, and it is marvellous in our eyes.' 991 This was a statement strictly applicable, but by no means limited in its application. Again, when the children in the temple were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" and the chief priests and scribes expressed their indignation, he replied, "Yea: did ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise ?" 2 This quotation was extremely apt; but there is no evi 1 Mark xii. 10 sq.; Matt. xxi. 42; Luke xx. 17 sq. dence either that it was a prediction, or that Jesus regarded it as such. There is a similar vagueness in relation to his sufferings. He finds support in the prophetic announcement of the providential law that the righteous must suffer for the benefit of the world, and perceives that he, more than any man, must exemplify that law: "The Son of Man goeth, even as it is written of him;" "It is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered abroad;"2 "I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and ye took me not but this is done that the Scriptures might be fulfilled;"3 "All things that are written by the Prophets shall be accomplished unto the Son of Man; "4"This which is written must be fulfilled in me, And he was reckoned with transgressors; 995 1 Mark xiv. 21; Matt. xxvi. 24. Luke changes as it is written" into "as it hath been determined," xxii. 22. 2 Mark xiv. 27; Matt. xxvi. 31. 3 Mark xiv. 49; Matt. xxvi. 55 sq. For the last words Luke substitutes, "This is your hour, and the power of darkness," xxii. 53. 4 Luke xviii. 31. 5 Luke xxii. 37. CHRIST'S APPEALS TO PROPHECY. 53 "How, then, should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be ?"1 It is obvious that the well-known argument from prophecy could not be built on such quotations as these. They are of that general kind which a devout man naturally applies to his own case; and while they lend no sanction to the idea that the Prophets had a miraculous foreknowledge of particular events, they show that Jesus found in the Scriptures a support for the religious life, and valued the Prophets as the preachers of divine truth. One other passage remains, which shows how ready he was to interpret the Prophets in the spirit, and not in the letter. "His disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the Scribes that Elijah must first 1 Matt. xxvi. 54. A similar remark will apply to Luke xxi. 22, if that be a genuine saying. For the meaning attached in Hebrew literature to the expression "fulfil," I may refer to a note by Mr. W. H. Lowe, The Fragment of Talmud Babli, p. 69, in which he says that one of its uses is to denote doing "something which fits in exactly with (or practically illustrates) the words of Scripture. . . . In this latter usage. . . . the Scripture may even have been written long after the event, which is said 'to establish it,' e.g. 'Aboth de Rabbi Nathan, i. 5. It is said that Adam sinned in the seventh hour from his creation to establish what is written (Ps. xlix. 13), 'Man cannot live over a single night in honour."" come ? And he answered and said, Elijah indeed cometh, and shall restore all things: but I say unto you, that Elijah is come already, and they knew him not, but did unto him whatsoever they listed. Even so shall the Son of Man also suffer of them. Then understood the disciples that he spake unto them of John the Baptist." The opinion of the Scribes was founded on the prediction of Malachi,2 and Jesus accordingly accepts it as true in a certain sense. But how completely he rationalizes it, bringing it within the domain of current events, and holding out no hope of a real return of the great prophet who had gone up to heaven in the chariot of fire. The literalists knew that John the Baptist was not Elijah, and, blind to the spirit of prophecy in him, rejected the only Elijah they were to have; Jesus, unfettered by the hard rules of an outward authority, recognized the spiritual identity of the two preachers of righteousness, and drew from the ancient words a lesson which was contained in their substance rather than their form. We must now turn to some passages of a different 1 Matt. xvii. 11 sqq.; Mark ix. 11 sqq. See also Matt. xi. 14. 2 iv. 5. CHRIST SETS MORAL ABOVE RITUAL LAW. 55 kind. In his denunciation of the Scribes and Pharisees, he says: "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye tithe mint and anise and cummin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the Law, judgment, and mercy, and faith: but these ye ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain out the gnat and swallow the camel."1 The commandment to pay tithe is contained in Leviticus; 2 and therefore those who were under the obligations of the Levitical Law did well to observe it. But how vehement is Christ's indignation that such observance should be placed above, or on a level with, the moral law! What blind guides he sees in men who can go wrong on such a point! It is clear that he places the conscience above the written law, and requires it to discriminate, to pick and choose, and, instead of binding itself to the letter of commandments supposed to be all alike divine, to follow the healthy judgments of an uncorrupted moral nature. He thus blamed the Pharisees for not doing what in modern times men have been blamed by his supposed representatives for doing. A similar train of thought is found in his answer 1 Matt. xxiii. 23 sq. 2 xxvii. 30. |