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"Light from thy car: but, soft; step not on earth,
Lay not thy foot. O king! Troy's overturner,
On the bare ground. Why dally ye, my women,
Who have 't in charge, by my command, to lay
The field with tapestry whereon he walks?

Quick strew it, cover it; let all the road
Be like a purple pavement to the house,
That Dice to his house may lead him on
As the unhoped-for comer should be led."

SYMMONS.

A still earlier instance of this custom occurs in 2 Kings ix. 13. Among numerous other illustrations which might be adduced from ancient writers and modern travellers, we shall only allude to Plutarch's description of the people as spreading their garments on the ground for Cato to walk on: and to the reception of the prince of the Usbegs by Abbas II. of Persia. "When he approached Isfahan, the king and all his nobles went seven miles to meet him. The whole road into that city was covered with rich silks, over which the two sovereigns rode." (Malcolm i. 581.)

"Cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way."-This is another custom of honour, perhaps more ancient, and certainly more extensively used than even the former. There is perhaps no country in which distinguished persons have not been honoured by branches, herbs, and flowers being strewed on the road they were to traverse. In the form of strewing flowers, it is not entirely extinct among ourselves. The parallel description in John xii. 31 states that the people also carried branches in their hands. This is another very general usage, still preserved in the East, and existing in other parts of the world. A friend, in a manuscript account of a journey through Mesopotamia, says, in recording the arrival of his party at Merdin, "The report that great English travellers were approaching procured for us a reception that we did not at all like, and we knew not what would come of it. Half-way down the mountain we were met by an escort of cavalry, dressed in all their finery, and women with large branches of trees; for which, however, they expected large presents."

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What the multitude did on this occasion appears, however, to have had some reference to the ceremonies observed at the Feast of Tabernacles, as we shall have occasion to notice under the parallel chapters in the other Evangelists, to which we may also refer for notes on such other particulars as are not peculiar to the present chapter.

19. "He saw a fig tree in the way."-This was in the way from Bethany to Jerusalem; and as Bethphage and its district was interposed between those places, it was probably in that locality that the transaction took place. We mention this, because Bethphage appears to have derived its name (house of figs ") from the fig-trees which grew in its neighbourhood. The abundance and excellence of the figs in Palestine we have already had much occasion to notice. Some remarks on the present miracle will be found under Mark xi., where the parallel narrative suggests a difficulty, requiring explanation, which does not appear in the present chapter.

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1 Luke 14. 16. Revel. 19.9.

0 So those servants went out into the 26 Likewise the second also, and the third, highways, and gathered together all as unto the seventh. many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. 11 ¶ And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:

12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.

13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

14 For many are called, but few are chosen.

15 Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk.

16 And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man for thou regardest not the person of men.

17 Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Cæsar, or

not?

18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? 19 Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a 'penny.

20 And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and 'superscription?

21 They say unto him, Cæsar's. Then saith he unto them, "Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's; and unto God the things that are God's.

22 When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.

23 The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him,

24 Saying, Master, 'Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.

25 Now there were with us seven brethren and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother:

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27 And last of all the woman died also. 28 Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.

29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.

30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.

31 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,

32 oI am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. 33 And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine.

34 "But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.

35 Then one of them, which was a Lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37 Jesus said unto him, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great command

ment.

39 And the second is like unto it, 13Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.

41 ¶ "While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,

42 Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David.

43 He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying,

44 "The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?

45 If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?

46 And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from ti at day forth ask him any more questions.

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Verse 3. "To call them that were bidden.”—It is still customary in the East not only to give an invitation some time beforehand, but to send round servants at the proper time to inform the invited guests that "all things are ready."

The custom was the same among the Greeks and Romans, the former of whom called the messengers sent round on such occasions xλntwgis, and the latter vocatores, or callers.

9. "Go ye therefore into the highways," &c.-This was, no doubt, an unusual measure, under all the circumstances; yet it as certainly involved much less departure from common Oriental usage than any analogy derived from our own customs would seem to intimate. Those who were now invited to the feast, and became the primary guests, were probably of the same class as those who would have been the secondary guests had those who were first invited arrived, or, in other words, who would have received the benefit from the surplus provision which is usually made on such grand occasions. It is then always customary to provide far more meats and drinks than are required for the invited guests, or than the servants can consume. Yet, on such occasion, it is not customary to reserve any part of that which has been provided. The poor who pass by, or whom the rumour of the feast brings to the neighbourhood, are called in to consume what remains. This they often do in an outer room, to which the dishes are removed from the apartment in which the invited guests have feasted; or, otherwise, every invited guest, when he has done, withdraws from the table, when his place is taken by another person of inferior rank, and so on, till the poorest come and consume the whole. The former of these modes is, however, the most common. We may also observe, without at present investigating the cause, that in the East persons in the humbler walks of life are admitted to greater familiarity with the great, and less rigidly excluded from their tables, than in most countries of Europe, and our own in particular. Indeed, it may be observed that any poor man who happens to be present when a meal is going on (and meals are often very public affairs in the East) is usually invited to partake. Of many instances of this which occur to us, one which Sir John Malcolm relates of Hajee Mohammed Hoosein, one of the chief ministers of the late king of Persia, may be cited. "A friend of mine one day breakfasting with him, was surprised to hear him say to a poor man, who brought a pair of slippers to sell, 'Sit down, my honest friend, and take your breakfast; we will bargain about the slippers afterwards."" To this Sir John adds, "The admission of inferiors to their society at meals is not, however, uncommon with men of rank in Persia. It arises out of a sense of the sacred duties of hospitality, and out of parade, if they have not the reality of that humility so strongly inculcated in the Koran. Besides, their character and condition often disposes them to relax with those beneath them, and even with menial servants, whom they admit to a familiarity, which at first view appears contradictory to those impressions we have of their haughty character." (Sketches of Persia,' vol. ii. p. 185.) This explanation will afford illustration to several passages of Scripture besides the present.

11. “A man which had not on a wedding garment."―This would not seem to mean a garment peculiarly appropriated to weddings; but a garment suitable to appear in at a royal feast, and here called a "wedding garment" from the occasion. We have never heard of garments being provided for the guests of a wedding feast: and this might lead to the conclusion that the present is a peculiar case; in which the king, being disappointed of his expected guests. and having taken in their stead poor people who could not be expected-either from their means or the suddenness of the occasion-to be provided with suitable raiment-caused them himself to be supplied with suitable robes, of which the Oriental princes have always a large store. We seem more inclined, however, to explain the passage by reference to an ancient and still subsisting Oriental custom of royal banquets, at which none appear but in a robe of honour received from the king. The custom for Eastern kings to bestow dresses of honour on those whom they favour, has been fully explained on former occasions. This dress, which every one receives who is deemed worthy to enter the monarch's presence or to appear at his feast, must be worn by those who appear before him. No one can be admitted who is not thus arrayed, and should any manage to introduce himself without it, he would not fail to be expelled with ignominy and punishment. To refuse the dress when offered, or not to appear in it before the king when received, is considered to convey the strongest possible expression of insult and disrespect, and proportionable is the indignation and displeasure it creates. This seems to furnish a very adequate explanation of the circumstance which the parable records, while it admits of being applied with more force than any other in that interpretation which it usually obtains.

17. “Is it lawful to give tribute unto Cæsar, or not?”—This question involved one of the most cunningly devised snares which was ever laid for Christ. If he had answered in the affirmative, they calculated rightly that he would alienate and offend his disciples and all the people. For there was never a people by whom the yoke of bondage was felt more heavily than by the Jews: which may easily be accounted for by their peculiar institutions, and the recollection of the signal privileges which they had enjoyed and the deliverances with which they had been favoured. Their servitude was hateful to them: and they even questioned whether it was lawful for them to live in bondage to idolaters and foreigners, and whether their duty to God and their country did not require them to throw all fear aside and assert their own independence, looking to Heaven for such support as their fathers had received. The general opinion of the people was that their condition of servitude to the Romans was not only degradi..g but unlawful. This opinion was fermenting in their minds, although, for the present, they remained quiet. not more from a feeling that resistance would be ill-timed and unavailing, than from the confident expectation of the speedy appearance of the Messiah to lead them to victory and independence. The long pent up feeling did however at last burst forth with unconquerable fury, and led to that great national overthrow which our Saviour on other occasions foretold.

On the other hand, had Christ declared the tribute unlawful, or let fall one word which might have been fortuned to that meaning, they would doubtless have denounced him to the Romans as a promoter of sedition; and, under the reign of Tiberius, his death would have been the inevitable consequence of such an accusation.

19. “A penny.”—This was a denarius, of which see the note on ch. xx. 2. This tribute was probably the capitation tax. It does not follow that a single piece of this coin formed the entire amount, but that the amount, whatever it were, was paid in this coin. As the Hebrews were averse to this and other coins of idolaters, the Romans probably required the tax to be paid in this coin, in order to render it current, as an evidence of their dominion over the country. This will appear the more marked if we understand with Dr. Hammond (after Occo) that the denarius, circulated in Judea, bore not only the head of the emperor but an inscription expressing the subjection of Judea. The answer of Christ to the ensnaring question was quite in conformity with the abstract opinion entertained by the Jews themselves: for their doctors taught, that to admit the impression and inscription of any prince on their current coin, involved an acknowledgment of their subjection to him.

CHAPTER XXIII.

1 Christ admonisheth the people to follow the good doctrine, not the evil examples, of the Scribes and Pharisees. 5 His disciples must beware of their ambition. 13 He denounceth eight woes against their hypocrisy and blindness: 34 and prophesieth of the destruction of Jerusalem.

THEN spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,

2 Saying, The Scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:

3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.

4 'For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,

6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, 7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.

8 'But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.

9 And call no man your father upon the earth: 'for one is your Father, which is in heaven.

10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.

11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.

12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

13 But 'woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that them that are entering to go in.

14 Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

15 Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple,

1 Luke 11. 46.

Num. 15. 38. Deut. 22. 12.

it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!

17 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?

18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.

19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?

20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things

thereon.

21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.

22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.

23 Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

25 Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! "for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

27 Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

29 Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,

30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto your selves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.

32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

3 Mark 12. 38, 39. Luke 11. 43. 4 James 3. 1. Luke 14. 11, and 18. 14 7 Luke 11. 52. 8 Mark 12. 40. Luke 20. 47. Or, debtor, or, bound. 11 Luke 11. 39.

5 Mal. 1. 6.
10 Luke 11. 42.

33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and Scribes and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:

35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, "from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.

12 Gen. 4. 8. 13 Luke 13. 34.

36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

37 10 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would ISI have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. 14 2 Chron. 24. 21. 152 Esdr. 1. 30.

Verse 7. "Rabbi, Rabbi.”—This title, meaning "Master," does not occur in the Old Testament, nor, as a prefix to a proper name, does it appear to have been employed until the time, or a little before the time, of our Saviour. We have not however met with any thing to show that it might not have been employed earlier in such respectful greeting and salutation as is here indicated. As a personal title, however, the Jewish writers agree that it did not exist before the time of the famous teacher Hillel, and that it was not borne even by him, but was assumed by his son, Rabban Simeon, who is supposed by many to have been the same person who took the infant Jesus in his arms in the temple (Luke ii.). After this it was assumed by the disciples of the opposite schools of Hillel and Shammai, in opposition to or in imitation of each other, until at last it became exceedingly common, and was applied to all teachers and learned men. They were mightily delighted to be addressed by the title of Rabbi, and exacted it as their due. Teachers gave it to each other, and pupils to their masters, as did also the people generally to men of known learning. Besides "Rabbi" there were, as old Purchas quaintly observes, “ A rabble of like titles,” derived from the same root and of corresponding signification. Of these, Rab, Rabbi, and Rabban were the most usual; and concerning them it was held that "Rabban" was a more honourable title than "Rabbi," and Rabbi than Rab. The high title of Rabban has only been given to seven great teachers, and all these were of the posterity of Hillel. One of them, as we have seen, was Rabban Simeon, and another was Rabban Gamaliel, the teacher at whose feet Saul sat in his youth.

15. "Ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte.”—In the time of Christ, and for some time earlier, the Jews took every opportunity of making proselytes to their religion. When Hyrcanus conquered the Idumæns, he allowed them to remain in occupation of their own country, on condition of their embracing the Jewish faith; and this they did very gladly for the sake of the privileges offered in return. (Joseph. Antiq. lib. xiii. c. 9, s. 1.) The same historian has a long account of the conversion of Helena, queen of Adiabene, and her son Izates, to the Hebrew faith. The latter was, when young, residing at the court of Abennerig, king of Charax-Spanisi, when a Jewish merchant got among the king's women and taught them how to worship God after the manner of the Hebrews. Through their means, he became known to Izates, and persuaded him also to embrace the Jewish religion. When the young prince was called home by his father, he took with him this Jew, Ananias, who seems to have become his confidential adviser. On his return home he found that his mother Helena had meanwhile been converted by another Jew. When Izates succeeded his father on the throne, it became a question to his conscience whether he should or not submit to the rite of circumcision. Ananias was opposed to it, for prudential reasons, to which the king assented. But afterwards, another Jew, named Eleazer, a man of learning, came from Galilee, and so insisted on the importance of circumcision, that Izates at once submitted to the rite. The king, at a later day, sent his five sons to Jerusalem to be brought up in the Jewish learning and religion; and, as well as his mother, bestowed great favours and benefits upon the city. The queen on one occasion made a progress to Jerusalem to worship at the temple, and having been furnished with plenty of money by her son, who conducted her part of the way, her arrival was of great service to the people, who were then suffering severely from famine. We have mentioned this case the more particularly, because it seems to show that there was a particular anxiety to convert persons whose rank, wealth, and influence put it in their power to bestow temporal favours; and this our Saviour probably had partly in view, when alluding so reproachfully to the proselytizing propensities of the Pharisees, in which probably their own gain and credit were the only objects they had in view. The desire of the Jews to make proselytes, about this time, was so conspicuous as to be noticed even by the heathen, and seems indeed to have become even proverbial. So Horace (lib. i. sat. 4.) —

"We'll force you, like the proselyting Jews,

To be like us."-FRANCIS.

"Twofold more the child of hell than yourselves."-This is very strong. But we are to consider that the mischievous propensity of the Jews to turn aside from the Law, which had, in ancient times, taken the direction of idolatry, had now, as if it must have some vent or other, been turned to the corruption of the Law itself; chiefly by encumbering it with a mass of absurd traditions, which were, for the most part, not only bad in themselves, but were unutterably evil, as claiming equal, or indeed superior authority to that of the written law. The religion of the Pharisees, therefore, although ceremonially Mosaical, and based upon the law of Moses, was, as a whole, a notorious system of imposturebad in most of its essential principles, and bad in practice, for the ample scope which it offered for the indulgence of every hateful, selfish, and unholy feeling and pursuit. Their proselytes, being made such much less for God's glory than for their own, imperfectly instructed, and retaining much of the leaven of paganism, would naturally, as new converts, manifest a double measure of zeal in those corruptions of principle and practice, on which their teachers had more frequently insisted than on essential truths. They would know as much of the corrupt part of the existing Jewish system as their teachers, unchecked by the same degrees of acquaintance with the purer and truer parts; and hence the zeal of ignorance would co-operate with the zeal of newness in rendering the proselytes twofold more "the children of hell" than their teachers. Justin Martyr furnishes a remarkable corroboration of this, when he says to Trypho the Jew, "Your proselytes not only disbelieve Christ's doctrine, but blaspheme his name as much again as yourselves."

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