tion in the narrative of St. Matthew is clearly equivalent to the place which it similarly occupies in St. Mark; and on this point there can be no difficulty. St. Luke may have omitted it, partly because he had specified another, so recently, before it; partly because St. Matthew and St. Mark had both recorded this, as they had both passed over that. Yet he also, as well as they, relates the fact of the mission of the Twelve; a fact, which arose out of the circuit itselfas Matt. ix. 36-x. 1. is sufficient to prove. The immediate motive to a second progress over all Galilee, so soon after the former, I cannot help ascribing to the recent transactions in Capernaum. The rooted malignity, twice consecutively displayed, of the Pharisees, in imputing our Lord's miracles to Beelzebub, seems to have determined him to remove at once from their vicinity; in which case, he could not, perhaps, be otherwise employed, at this period of his ministry, than upon a general circuit. That, between the close of the last such progress, and the expiration of the present year, there was room and opportunity for another like this, no one will deny; and, did we not suppose something of that kind to have now intervened, that we could not fill up the hiatus in the continuity of events, or account satisfactorily for the disposal of the residue of the is year, equally indisputable. Its duration, I assume, as in former instances, to have been about three or four months; whence, if it began in October it might be over in February; and, whatever time it occupied in particular, yet along with the mission and ministry of the Twelve, which arose out of it, that it must have taken up on the whole about six months will appear more clearly from the sequel. Towards the middle, if not the beginning, of this circuit, for reasons which have been stated in the first volume 5, I think it most probable that, after an imprisonment of about eighteen months in duration, John the Baptist was put to death. The account of this death is related by St. Matthew and St. Mark h, though in the way of an historical di & Diss. viii. Appendix. h Matt. xiv. I—12. Mark vi. 14-29. gression; whereas St. Lukei, though he makes Herod say, John have I beheaded; but who is this? and, therefore, plainly supposes the fact of his death, yet enters into no explanation of the allusion. For this omission it would not be easy to account, except by admitting that he must have considered his readers already too well aware of the fact, to render any such explanation necessary; and, consequently, that he also considered them to be previously acquainted with the Gospels of St. Matthew, or of St. Mark, which only could have made them aware of it. If so, he must have written after one, or both, of them-and had seen either that one, or both, of them. This circuit, like every other but the last, we may presume would terminate at Capernaum; where, like every other also, it had originally begun: and, therefore, that the mission of the Twelve, which took place at, or towards, its close, took place from Capernaum. It is certain that, after their mission, they rejoined our Lord at Capernaum; and it is not probable they would be sent from one quarter, and be expected to rejoin him at another. The reference to some city k, in the course of the charge, where both Christ and they were present at the time, can be understood of no city with so much propriety as of this. No city was so likely to have been the place where our Lord would stop to commission, and despatch, his Apostles upon a circuit by themselves, as Capernaum, their common residence and his. It strengthens the argument, that there is every reason to conclude the Seventy also were sent, upon a similar mission, from the same place. Besides, the Twelve, if they were ever called as disciples, were almost all called there, and, when they were ordained as Apostles, were certainly all ordained there; with which it was but consistent that they should proceed on their first Apostolic errand from thence. The reference also in μετέβη ἐκεῖθεν ', compared with the different passages elsewhere, in which we meet with a similar reference to specify some exact place, yet in dependent of any thing before or after m, it will be concluded can be properly understood only of so well known a place as Capernaum. The length of the time, for which the Apostles would be absent, must be determined by the interval between the probable close of our Saviour's circuit just before, and the precise period of their return. This period was certainly just before a Passover, which fell out in the middle of April; and we have assumed that they were probably despatched three or four months after a feast of Tabernacles, which expired on the first of October. They might therefore be sent upon their ministry in February, and return to our Lord in March; the duration of their absence being one half, or one third, of the length of our Lord's circuits in general. And, indeed, if three or four months was the ordinary duration of one of these, as performed by our Lord singly, one month or two months must have been sufficient for the discharge of their's, begun, and going on while it lasted, in six different companies, and in six different direc tions, at once. The mission of the Seventy, in the ensuing year, is a case in point; and that mission, it is probable, did not occupy even so much. We have no account of the proceedings of the Apostles, subsequent to their departure, except that they did—what our Saviour had always done preach, and teach, and work miracles of a certain description; and that, wherever they went, they were sustained by the attendant providence of their Master". From the notice, however, which occurs at Matt. xi. 1. it may be safely collected that, while they were absent on the work of their commission, our Lord himself, also, was not inactive; but similarly engaged, in the cities and the synagogues, apart from them. We possess, therefore, in this intimation, an evidence of the manner in which his time, likewise, was occupied, between the close of the last circuit, and the arrival of the next Passover; viz. in a kind of circuit, similar to what he had undertaken, at m Matt. xv. 21. Mark vii. 24. X. I. n Mark vi. 12. 13. Luke ix. 6. xxii. 35. other times, before, but necessarily on a more limited scale, and completed within a much shorter time. Of such partial circuits this will, consequently, be the second instance, which has yet occurred; and both this, and the first, will be events of the same year. It was over, however, before that of the Apostles; for they found Jesus at Capernaum, on their arrival; and were taken by him, with little or no delay, as the motive assigned for the act is sufficient to prove, to the other side of the lake, to a place which St. Luke shews was the desert of the city of Bethsaida o. On the position of this city something will be said elsewhere; at present, I assume that it was in Decapolis: and, consequently, this will be the first occasion, upon which there is any proof that our Lord had yet visited the dominions of Philip, and the second, upon which he appears to have crossed the lake. The history of the transactions on the other side, and from that time forward to the return P, is one, and the first, of the only two instances in general, when the four Gospels all coincide, and go along, in the narration of facts, with each other. The harmony—as resulting from their united accounts-is as follows. I. The season of the year in general is ascertained by John vi. 4. which states that the Passover was at hand; and the circumstance, which also he specifies, that there was much grass in the place, is a proof that the spring was far advanced. The Passover fell this year, which answers to A. U. 782. and A. D. 29. as late as it possibly could, viz. upon April 16: and the year had, consequently, been intercalated. If we fix the time of the present transaction about the close of the Jewish month Veadar, or the beginning of the Jewish month Nisan, the end of our March, or the beginning of our April, we may, perhaps, not be far from the truth 9. II. It is distinctly affirmed by St. Mark', that the multitude saw our Lord and his disciples setting out; and, con • Mark vi. 30-32. Luke ix. 10. Matt. xiv. 13. John vi. 1. xiv. 13-36. Mark vi. 32—56. Luke ix. 10—17. John vi. 1-21. P Matt. ¶ Vide cluding, as we may suppose, whither they must be going, that they ran before in great numbers, to be ready to meet them on the opposite side. As Capernaum, and also Bethsaida, were contiguous to the northern extremity of the lake, and not very far from each others, with the Jordan only between them, the breadth of which at this part of its course could be nothing considerable, (for according to the ocular testimony of Maundrell, at the ford in the neighbourhood of Jericho, much beyond this part, it was but sixty feet across,) though this might require a great effort of speed, yet it was not impossible to be effected. Hence if both parties had set out from Capernaum at the same time, early in the morning, they might both meet at the other side of the lake again, before it was noon: or by the middle of the day. III. Consistently with this supposition, when Jesus arrived, ¿¿ɛλðúv—which can be understood, perhaps, of nothing but his landing from the ship-both St. Matthew and St. Mark affirm that he beheld the multitudes; that is, he found many of them on the spot; and by this unexpected spectacle-implying the extraordinary exertion which they had made to keep pace with the ship, and, consequently, their great zeal and eagerness to be about him, and to hear him-was so touched as to be moved with an impulse of compassion; and his original purpose of conveying himself from them, or of consulting his personal ease and convenience, was changed into the contrary one of ministering to their spiritual wants. St. John, who says that he went up into the mountain, and sat down with his disciples, before he speaks of his seeing the multitudes, is not inconsistent with St. Mark or St. Matthew, but merely supplies some particulars omitted by them. For, in the first place, the attitude, in which he describes our Saviour, is the attitude of one who had either made an end of teaching, (which is, perhaps, the more probable supposition,) or was preparing to teach in which case, John vi. S. will take up and continue Mark vi. 34. as well as Matt. xiv. 14. or Luke ix. 11. : t |
