Mk. 14 And at that time king Herod, the tetrarch, heard of the fame of Jesus, and of all that was done by him; (for his name was spread abroad). And he was perplexed, because that it was said of some, that John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him. Others said, that Elias had appeared; and others, that it is a prophet, or that one of the old prophets was risen again. But when Herod heard, he said unto his servants, John have I beheaded: but who is this, of whom I hear such things? This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him. And he desired to see him. 21 And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee, and when the daughter of Herodias came in, and danced before them, and pleased Herod, and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee. 23 And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom. And she went forth, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? 25 And she said, The head of John the Baptist. And she being instructed of her mother came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me here, by and by, in a charger, the head of John the Baptist. And the king was exceeding sorry; yet for his oath’s sake, and for their sakes which sat with him at meat, he would not reject her. And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought, and to be given her. And he went and beheaded John in the prison; and brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel; and the damsel brought it and gave it to her mother. And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his body, and buried it in a tomb, and went and told Jesus.

THERE is a certain fitness, Augustine observes, such as we may trace running through the whole of the Baptist’s history, in the fact that the immediate occasion of his martyrdom was not his witness for Jesus as the Christ, or aught in immediate connection with his Lord; but rather his assertion of the holiness of the law: “It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife!” He who was the last and noblest personification of the law fitly sealed with his own blood his zeal for its holiness. At the same time he, and others who like him resisted unto blood, inasmuch as they died for the truth, did in fact die for Christ, who is the Truth; they were his martyrs as really as those who were called by his name, and shed their blood more immediately for his testimony. And on deaths like this of the Baptist, when the servants of God seem given into the hands of the wicked, who do unto them whatsoever they list, he often takes occasion to remark how different to the eye of sense the dealings of God with some of his servants, from his dealings with others. Those he gloriously delivers; these he appears to abandon to their foes; the three children are brought forth altogether unscathed from the fiery furnace; the Maccabean martyrs perish in the flames; Peter is delivered from the sword of Herod, from that sword which had just been stained with James’s blood; one John the malice of an emperor fails to hurt, and he is plunged unharmed into the boiling oil; another falls a victim to a wicked woman’s spite, and his life is given away at a wanton dancing girl’s request. But shall we therefore conclude that those God delivered, and these he did not deliver? Would such language rightly express the facts of the case? Should we not rather say those were delivered openly, and in the face of the world—these as really delivered; however their deliverance did not as manifestly appear, but like so much besides, is at present seen and apprehended only by the eye of faith? T.

14. Herod Antipas had been, while at Rome, the guest of his brother Herod Philip—not the tetrarch of that name, but a son of Herod the Great and Mariamne, daughter of Simon the Boëthusian, who, having been disinherited by his father, was living at Rome as a private person. Here Antipas became entangled by the snares of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife; and he repaid the hospitality he had received by carrying her off. Everything combined to make the act as detestable as it was ungrateful and treacherous. Herodias, being the daughter of Aristobulus, was not only the sister-in-law but also the niece of Antipas; she had already borne to her husband a daughter, who was now grown up. Antipas had himself long been married to the daughter of Aretas, emir of Arabia, and neither he nor Herodias was young enough to plead even the poor excuse of youthful passion. A small fragment of the Stemma Herodum will make these relationships more clear:

| m. Mariamne, d. of Simon. | Herod “Philip.” m. Herodias. | Salome. | m. Malthace (a Samaritan). | Herod Antipas. Archelaus. m. d. of Aretas. m. Herodias. | m. Cleopatra. | Philip, tetr. of Iturea. m. Salome. | m. Mariamne, d. of Hyrcanus. | Aristobulus. | Herodias. Herod Agrippa L | | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |

It was said, that John was risen. That such thoughts must have been very rife is shown by the fact that when the army of Herod Antipas was disgracefully routed by Aretas, the people looked on it as a retribution for the murder of John. F.

(Imprisonment of John, see Section 21.)

25. Instructed. Instigated by her mother. P. S.—Herodias had a passion to gratify, stronger perhaps than any other, when it takes full possession of the human heart, and that was revenge. She had been mortally injured, as she conceived, by the Baptist, who had attempted to break her present infamous connection with Herod; and accordingly gave way to her resentment. P.—Give me here. The bleeding trophy is to be brought to her—it is to be brought to her there—not in a napkin, not held by the hair, but in a dish; so that she—that young girl—may receive it into her own hands, and take it where she pleased, without danger of soiling her rich dress with a prophet’s blood. This is frightful. It was done, nevertheless. K.

By and by; or, immediately. She desired this might be done quickly, fearing lest Herod should change his mind. Josephus informs us that John was imprisoned in the castle of Macharus, a fortress at the extremity of Perea, his territory adjoining that of Aretas, king of Arabia. Herod had married his daughter, but had put her away to take Herodias, to avenge which Aretas had declared war against him. It is then almost certain that Herod with his forces now lay at Macharus, where his leading men and officers attended him, and where his birthday was kept. Hence he sent a sentinel to behead John, which could be done, and was done immediately. Soon after Herod engaged Aretas, but was defeated with great slaughter. He never prospered after beheading John, but died in exile. B.—According to J. 6:4, the Passover was now at hand, viz., the third during our Lord’s ministry. John therefore had lain in prison not far from a year and six months; and was beheaded about three years after entering upon his public ministry. R.

26-28. And so, at the asking of a worthless girl, in spite of the wretched king’s undissembled grief and reluctance, the minister of death is sent to the prison, the greatest of the sons of men is foully slain, and the holy lips which had uttered the message of God’s Spirit to Israel are given into the hands of the wanton, are passed about for the gaze of the revellers, and finally delivered up to the criminal wife herself to insult and cast out. And the end of the glorious career of the forerunner of the world’s King is to fall as it were by a chance blow, victim to the spite of a worthless woman. A.—

The Baptist had not turned back, on any occasion, from his perilous duty—he had kept his Nazarite ritual, both in body and spirit, sustaining the one upon the simplest meat, and the other upon the hardest conditions. The Almighty heard the voice which he spoke always for his well-beloved Son; He saw that he spoke truth, and held his integrity steadfast unto the end. And, perceiving in his servant such noble and excellent qualities, He resolved to perfect him for a high place in heaven, and so directed his footsteps to the fiery furnace of a court, that the temper of his truth and piety might be purified manifold. And in the fiery furnace He walked with his servant, so that his spirit was not harmed; and having thus annealed his nature to the utmost which this earth could do, He took him hastily away, and placed him among the glorified in heaven. Irving.

Section 66.—The Twelve return. Cross the Lake. Five Thousand fed.

Plain of Butaiha.

J. 22 AFTER these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea; and there he 23 tarried with them, and baptized. And John also was baptizing in Enon near to Salim, 24 because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized. For John was not yet cast into prison. 25 Then there arose a question between some of John’s disciples and the Jews, about 26 purifying. And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men 27 come to him. John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given 28 him from heaven. Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but 29 that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bride- 30 groom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. 31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speak- 32 eth of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all. And what he hath seen and 33 heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony. He that hath received 34 his testimony, hath set to his seal that God is true. For he whom God hath sent, 35 speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. The 36 Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life: but the wrath of God abideth on him. L. 19 But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by John for Herodias his brother Philip’s wife, 20 and for all the evils which Herod had done, added yet this above all, that he shut up Mk. 17 John in prison. For Herod himself had sent forth, and laid hold upon John, and 18 bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias’ sake: for he had married her. For 19 John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife. There- fore Herodias had a quarrel against him, and would have killed him; but she could not: 20 for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him: M. 5 and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly. And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.

THE first thought which suggests itself is, that a magnificent career is cut short too soon. At the very outset of ripe and experienced manhood, the whole thing ends in failure. John’s day of active usefulness is over; at thirty years of age his work is done; and what permanent effect have all his labors left? The crowds that listened to his voice, awed into silence by Jordan’s side, we hear of them no more. Was all indeed failure? No, it was sublimest victory. John’s work was no failure; he left behind him no sect to which he had given his name, but his disciples passed into the service of Christ, and were absorbed in the Christian Church. Words from John had made impressions, and men forgot in after-years where the impressions first came from, but the day of judgment will not forget. John laid the foundations of a temple, and others built upon it. There is a lesson for us in all that, if we will learn it. Work, true work, done honestly and manfully for Christ, never can be a failure. Your own work, which God has given you to do, whatever that is, let it be done truly. Leave eternity to show that it has not been in vain in the Lord. Let it but be work, it will tell. F. W. R.

22. After the occurrences connected with the first Passover, Jesus entered upon a wide preaching-tour, which (Peter states in Acts 10 : 37) extended “throughout all Judea.” The word “tarried,” elsewhere translated continued or abode, intimates a prolonged tour, occupying about eight or nine months. This seems to have been his only ministry in the rural territory of Judea. J. G. B.—Judea extended on the south to the edge of the wilderness at Beersheba; to the lowlands of the Philistine plain on the west; to the line of the Jordan and the Dead Sea on the east; and on the north to the frontier of Samaria, twenty-five miles from Jerusalem. Jesus found willing hearers and many disciples in the cities and towns of Galilee, but he made little impression on Judea. He “tarried” from time to time at different points, he himself preaching and teaching, and his disciples baptizing the converts gained. (See next section, verse 2.) It was not fitting that Jesus should himself administer the rite which admitted citizens to his spiritual kingdom. The material baptism was but the symbol, and might well be left to his disciples, himself retaining the far grander ministry of the dispensation of the Spirit, which cleansed the moral nature.

23. In this opening period John still continued his great preparatory work. He had crossed from the eastern to the western side of Jordan, and was baptizing at Enon, near Salim—a place the position of which is not positively known. He had apparently expected Jesus to begin his work as the Messiah, by an open assumption of the title. The idea of a great national movement, with Jesus at its head, was natural to him; nor does he seem to have realized that the sublimest self-proclamation our Lord could make was by the still small voice of his divine life and words. John was waiting for a signal to retire, which had not yet been given. Nor was it a superfluous work to continue to point the multitudes to the Lamb of God, and thus prepare them, by the weight of a testimony so revered, for accepting him to whom he thus directed them.

25,26. There arose a question.** A Jew [not “the Jews”], who had apparently attended the ministry of both John and Jesus, had shown the common bias of his race by getting into a discussion with some of John’s disciples, about the value of their master’s baptism, as a means of purification, as compared with that of Jesus. A theological controversy between Jews, as between Christians, is dangerous to the temper, and, indeed, the rabbis denounced quietness and composure in such matters as a sign of religious indifference. Warmth and bitterness were assumed to prove zeal for the law. Hence, no doubt, there was abundant heat and wrangling on an occasion like this, the whole resulting in a feeling of irritation and jealousy on the part of the champions of John, against One who had thus been set up as his rival. In this spirit they returned to their master.

27-30. The grand humility of John—inaccessible to a jealous thought—was contented to be a mere voice, sending men away from himself to his great successor. His greatness could not have been shown more strikingly than in his reply. G.—In this, his last testimony respecting Christ, the former legal preaching of the Baptist completely passes into the purest gospel. Especially sweet and touchingly beautiful are his words in verses 29, 30. C. B.—He saw Jesus able to loose every evil, to unfold every mystery, to detect every snare, to brighten every darkness, to guide into all truth, and to form to all goodness, and to no hands could he leave the concerns of religion, and the spiritual interests of those to whom he had ministered, but in those of Christ. In the splendor of his grace and truth, John was happy to be darkened, and in such fame he was content to be forgotten. Had his honors been ten thousand times brighter than they were, he would have laid them all at Christ’s feet. John in his ministry was not like the evening star, sinking into the darkness of night, but like the morning star, lost to our view in the brightness of day. Bel-frage.

30. I must decrease.** In uttering these words the Baptist probably had a presentiment that the end of his career was at hand. When he returned to the other side of the river, Herod Antipas, who ruled in Perea, succeeded in laying hold of him. The rigid censor of morals, who had no respect for persons where the holy law of God was concerned, had offended the tetrarch; and, by order of the latter, he was conveyed as a prisoner to the border fortress of Macharus. N.—Ten miles southward from the northeast angle of the Dead Sea, on one side of a ravine which breaks the high coast range of rocky precipices, was the fortress of Macharus, where John was imprisoned and beheaded. J. G. B.—This castle, known as “the diadem,” from its crown-like seat on the lofty rocks, and as “the black tower,” lay on the east side of the Dead Sea, almost on a line with Bethlehem. It was the southern stronghold of Perea, as the Macedonian colony of Pella was the northern. G.

31-34. John’s final testimony upon this occasion to the character and office of Jesus is as striking as the involuntary display that he makes of his own character, going much beyond what he had said before, and containing much that bears a singular likeness to what Jesus said of himself to Nicodemus: “He that cometh from above,” etc. H.—He who in faith receives the witness of Jesus is a living letter of acknowledgment testifying to the truthfulness of God who gave this Jesus to be the life of sinners; the believer’s joy and perfect satisfaction is, so to speak, a seal of confirmation to that great charter of God which God has set before the world in the person of his only-begotten Son, in whom all his promises are yea and amen. 35. Observe the names which he gives to Christ, and by which he distinguishes him from himself who is “a man.” He calls him the bridegroom—him that cometh from above, from heaven—him who has been sent from God, anointed with the Holy Ghost without measure. But here he calls him by the highest name of all—the Son. That name John had heard in the voice from the Father, which, while the Holy Ghost was descending on the baptized Jesus, called down from heaven, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” R. B.

35,36. Such thoughts filled John’s heart with tender adoration, which embodied itself in closing words of wondrous sublimity. “You may well believe on him,” said he, “for the Father has given all things into his hand—eternal life and outer darkness. He has not only the divine anointing of the Messiah, but the awful power. To be saved by the works of the law is, moreover, hopeless: faith in him is the one salvation. It is momentous, therefore, that you receive him, for to reject him is to perish. Blessed is he who believes in him; he has, even now, the beginnings in his soul of the divine life, which survives death and never dies. Woe to him who will not hear his voice! He shall never see life; but the wrath of God will burn against him abidingly!” G.

Believe, and thou art saved; thou hast life, and shalt never see death. He who has not life now in faith, his eyes never will see it. Would that all Christians really knew these three things! First, what they were without Christ—lost; what they are through Christ for them—righteous; what they become through Christ in them—holy. For then should we have peace, and, as blessed possessors of eternal life, we should await, with longing indeed, but without disquiet, the appearance of that which as yet we are not—to be crowned with the crown of manifested glory. Abideth. The wrath of God does not now first come on the unbeliever, but remains on him, who, being the child, by nature, of wrath, despises to become by grace, through Christ, a child of love. The unbeliever is condemned. R. B.—The contrast here is striking: The one has already a life that will endure forever; the other not only has it not now, but shall never have it—never see it. B.—This statement is strictly absolute and final; it denies unqualifiedly; no form of statement possible to human speech can be stronger. It shuts off all questions of limitation. If the unbelieving sinner shall not see life, his die is cast beyond hope of reversing it. The blessedness of life with God, and with all the pure-hearted above, he can never enjoy. H. C.

31-36. Whether these verses were spoken by John the Baptist, or by John the Evangelist, is not clear; but in either case the lesson is instructive. If the former spoke them, then they form an attestation from the lips of the preacher of repentance, to the impotency of repentance without faith to secure salvation; and if the latter, they are as strong an attestation from the preacher of love to the reality of the divine judgments. In the one case, it is the preacher of repentance, who bids men to believe; in the other, it is the preacher of love expatiating on the fearfulness of the wrath of God; and we may be sure it is in substance the attestation of both. J. A.

L. 19, 20. Herod’s own wife was the daughter of Aretas, King of Arabia; but he persuaded Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, to forsake her husband and live with him, on condition that he should put away his own wife. This involved him in a war with Aretas, who totally defeated him. From the effects of this defeat he was never able to recover himself. B.—Mk. 17. Josephus differs from the gospels as to Herod’s reasons for imprisoning John; according to the latter, it was done because John had reproved him for carrying off and marrying his brother Philip’s wife; according to the former, the tetrarch was induced by fear of political disturbances. Josephus gave the ostensible and the Evangelists the real and secret reason that impelled Herod. As the Baptist did not claim to be Messiah, and exhorted the people to fidelity in the several relations of life, Herod could have had no political fears except such, indeed, as might arise from John’s honest boldness in reproving his sins. N.—18. Not lawful. Because the wife of Herod Antipas was still living, the husband of Herodias was still living, and Herodias and Herod Antipas were relatives within the degrees of consanguinity, within which marriage was forbidden by Lev. 18: 11. L. A.

20. Herod, though in his palace, surrounded with his royal guards, feared him. He knew the Baptist was stronger than he, for truth is mighty, and mightily prevaleth: and being already conscious of his offendings, and having enough to do to keep down the voices of crime and transgression within him, he feared this righteous man, whose words gave such edge to his self-accusations, such point to his remorse. Unarmed, the Baptist daunted him more than an army of men, an embattled city, or a fenced tower, or any other source of physical and outward force. Irving.—John, though defenceless, had a kingly divinity of truth and goodness, that for a time hedged him round from death. Herod’s uneasy conscience, and natural indisposition to violence, and the slow, cruel delays of

Eastern justice, left John alive. He was even allowed to have intercourse with some of his people, whose love braved personal danger, and brought them to his prison to visit him. G.

Observed him. The Greek verb is elsewhere rendered preserved and kept. He guarded John from his wife’s malice, and at the same time kept him in prison, and so silenced his public rebuke. L. A. —How thorough-going was the fidelity of the Baptist to his royal hearer, and how strong must have been the workings of conscience in that slave of passion, when, notwithstanding such plainness, he “did many things and heard John gladly!” But this only shows how far Herodias must have wrought upon him, as Jezebel upon Ahab, that he should at length agree to what his awakened conscience kept him long from executing. B. (Read Section 65.)

Section 22.—To a Woman of Samaria declares himself the Messiah.

Sychar, or Shechem.

Mk.30 And the apostles, when they were returned, gathered themselves together unto Jesus, 31 and told him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. And when Jesus heard he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much 32 as to eat. And he took them, and departed thence by ship privately, and went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias, and went aside into a desert place belonging 33 to the city called Bethsaida. And the people saw them departing, and many knew him and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent them, and came together unto him. J. 2 And a great multitude when they knew it followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased. 3, 4 And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a Mk.34 great company come unto him, he was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd. And he received them, and began to teach them many things, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing. 35 And when the day was now far spent, when it was evening, the twelve disciples came 36 to him, and said, This is a desert place, and the time is now far past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about, and lodge, and buy 37 themselves victuals; for they have nothing to eat. But Jesus answered, and said unto J. 5 them, They need not depart, give ye them to eat. And he saith unto Philip, Whence 6 shall we buy bread that these may eat? (And this he said to prove him: for he himself 7 knew what he would do.) Philip answered him, Two hundred penny-worth of bread Mk.37 is not sufficient for them, that every one may take a little. And they say unto him, 38 Shall we go and buy two hundred penny-worth of bread, and give them to eat? He J. 8 saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, one of 9 his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him, There is a lad here which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes; but what are they among so many? We have no more; except we should go and buy meat for all this people. He said, Bring them hither to me.

Mk. 39 Now there was much grass in the place. And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies on the green grass. And they did so, and sat down in ranks, by hundreds and by fifties in a company. Then he took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them; and when he had given thanks he brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the multitude; and likewise the two fishes he divided among them all. And the disciples distributed to the multitude that were set down, as much as they would. And they did all eat, and were all filled. When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves and of the fishes, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten. And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children. Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that Prophet that should come into the world.

Mk. 45 And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go before him to the other side unto Bethsaida, while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, when Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again, and went himself alone up into a mountain to pray.

THE day is wearing away; this is a desert place; there are hungry perishing multitudes around us, and Christ is saying to us all, Give ye them to eat. Say not, We cannot, we have nothing to give. Go to your duty, every one, and trust yourselves to him; for he will give you all supply, just as fast as you need it. Take upon you readily, have it as a law to be always doing great works, that is, works that are great to you; and this in the faith that God so clearly justifies, that your abilities will be as your works. Make large adventures. Trust God for great things. With your loaves and two fishes, he will show you a way to feed thousands. H. B.

Mk. 30. He seems to have selected the place of meeting after this first missionary tour was completed. “The apostles,” we are told, “gathered themselves together, and told him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught.” How delightful this confidence! They told him of their failures and of their successes; of their wisdom and of their folly; of their reliance and of their unbelief. We seem to see Christ listening with affectionate earnestness to the recital of their adventures; and interposing from time to time a word of encouragement or of caution, as the character and narrative of each might demand. The heart of each was unveiled, and the words spoken were eminently in season. The fatigues of their journey were none of them remembered, as each received from the Saviour the smile of his approval. J. A.

31. When Jesus heard. While the twelve are absent preaching in the name of Christ, Herod causes John the Baptist to be beheaded in the castle of Macherus at the southern extremity of Perea, near the Dead Sea. In consequence of the preaching of the apostles, Herod hears the fame of Jesus; is conscience-smitten, and declares him to be John, risen from the dead. The disciples of John come and tell Jesus; and the twelve also return with the same intelligence; upon which Jesus retires to the northeastern coast of the lake, not far from the northern Bethsaida or Julias. All these events seem to have taken place near together. R.

Come ye apart and rest. In our day, a waking rest of travel, change of scene, new society, is permitted, and when it is a privilege assumed by faithful men, to recruit them for their works of duty, they have it by God’s sanction, and even as a part of the sound economy of life. The true blessing of rest is on us only when we carry a good mind with us, able to look back on works of industry and faithfulness, suspended for a time, that we may do them more effectually. Going in such a frame, we shall rest awhile as none but such can rest. Nature will dress herself in beauty to our eye, calm thoughts will fan us with their cooling breath, and the joy of the Lord will be strength to our wasted brain and body. H. B.

32. Tiberias was quite a modern town when our

Lord frequented this region, having been built and named by Herod about the time of his advent. Seventy years afterward, Josephus found it an important city, and no other in Galilee is so often mentioned by him. Almost every other city was destroyed by Vespasian and Titus, but this was spared, and rewarded for its adherence to the Romans by being made the capital of the province. John, writing many years after these events, would naturally mention both the city and the lake, and call the latter by its then most familiar name, Tiberias. But the other apostles wrote before these events had taken place, and therefore do not speak of Tiberias at all. W. M. T.—It ultimately became the favorite resort and refuge of the scattered Jews not long after the destruction of Jerusalem. For three centuries the Sanhedrim held its assemblies within its walls; it contained schools and a university for the higher education of Jewish youths; and learned rabbins pursued their studies in it, comparatively free from molestation. The rabbi Jonathan wrote here the Jerusalem Talmud. It is to this day one of the four holy cities of the Jews, along with Jerusalem, Hebron, and Safed, in which prayers are offered up for the world twice every day, without which, it is believed, it would return to its primeval chaos. Jews gather to it especially from Spain and Barbary, from Poland and Russia, in order to be buried within its hallowed precincts; for next to the valley of Jehoshaphat and the sides of Olivet, it is the highest privilege for a Jew to have a grave here. No wonder, when it is one of their most cherished expectations that the Messiah, when he comes, shall emerge from the waters of the Sea of Galilee, and first reveal himself in Tiberias; after which he shall establish his world-empire up in the mountain-city of Safed. A. Thomson.

Bethsaida. At the northeastern corner of

Looking a little east of north from above the modern Tiberias. The desert plain of Butaiha rises from the middle of the farther lake line, at the right of the Jordan’s entrance. Snow-crowned Hermon in the far distance.

the lake, a little beyond the point where the Jordan enters it, was a second Bethsaida, or “Fish-house,” once, like its western namesake, a small village, but recently enlarged and beautified by Philip, tetrarch of Iturea, and called, for the sake of distinction, Bethsaida Julias. F.—The tetrarch Philip, who raised the village of Bethsaida (on the east side) to the dignity of a city, distinguished it from the village of the same name on the west side, by adding the name Julias, from the emperor’s daughter. It is not strange that the name, meaning a place of fish, a fishing-town, should be applied to two places on different sides of a lake abounding in fish. N.

J. 4. A great multitude followed him, and around the mountain upon which he had retired with the disciples were soon gathered crowds of Jews who were on their way up to Jerusalem to the feast of the Passover. R. B.—Mk. 34. Ascending the hill-side, and gathering the vast throng before him, he “spake unto them of the kingdom of God.” The day was spent in this arduous labor, but the people still lingered. They had been fed with the bread of truth, and as they sat and stood round him, they forgot their bodily wants in the beauty and power of his words. G.

J. 5. To prove him. Philip was of a thoughtful, anxious disposition, not like Peter, impetuous and soon rushing to a believing conclusion; for that reason the Lord, seeking in love to train the minds of his disciples, addresses himself to him in particular. R. B.—God tests us benevolently, to prove and exercise our faith; the devil tempts malevolently, to weaken and extinguish it. Q.—Mk. 39. “Make the men,” he said, “sit down by fifties in a company”—an order indicative of our Lord’s design that there might be no confusion and that the attention of all might be directed to what he was about to do.

L. 16. He chose here as elsewhere—might we not say as everywhere?—to veil the workings of his omnipotence—to hide, as it were, the working of his hand and power, mingling it with that of human hands and earthly elements. H.—As the widow’s oil increased, not in the vessel, but by pouring out; as, here, the barley bread multiplied, not in the whole loaf, but by breaking and distributing; and as the grain bringeth increase, not when it lieth on a heap in the garner, but when scattered upon the land: so spiritual graces are best improved, not by keeping them together, but by distributing them abroad. Sanderson.—Jesus never wrought a miracle except to meet a want, to heal a malady, to satisfy hunger, or in some shape to contribute to the happiness of mankind. . . . It needs as much of Deity to translate spring into harvest, as to transform a few barley loaves into food for so many thousands. J. C.

17. Were all filled. Those whom he professes to feed must needs have enough. The measure of his bounty cannot but run over. Will he feast his auditors in the wilderness? if they have not dainties, they shall have plenty; “They were all satisfied.” Neither yet, O Saviour, is thy hand closed. Not according to our meanness, but according to thy state, are we fed. We are full of thy goodness; oh, let our hearts run over with thanks! Bp. H.—Thus he, all whose works were signs, did in this miracle proclaim himself the true bread of the world, that should assuage the hunger of men, the inexhaustible source of all life, in whom there should be enough and to spare for all the spiritual needs of hungering souls in all ages. T.

J. 12. When all were abundantly satisfied, Jesus, not only to show his disciples the extent and reality of what had been done, but also to teach them the memorable lesson that wastefulness is wholly alien to the divine economy, bade them gather up the fragments that remained, that nothing might be lost. F.—It is a common, but a Christian proverb, “Waste not, want not,” and he that wastes needlessly deserves to want. And he that has plenty ought not to waste; for the Lord of all plenty, the Maker, Creator, and Proprietor of all, would not allow one fragment to fall that could be useful to a single human being. J. C.—God loveth a bountiful, not a wasteful hand. Sandys.

13. Twelve baskets. Probably each apostle took a basket in which to gather; hence the twelve. This union of careful savingness with creative power is a feature so peculiar that it impresses, beyond all mistake, a heavenly character on the narrative. Such things are not invented! O.—Baskets were taken by Jews on journeying, to carry their provisions, etc., that they might not have to depend on Gentiles and so incur the risk of ceremonial pollution. B.—All the Evangelists alike here use kophinoi for the common vicker-baskets, in which these fragments were collected; and the word spurides, or “rope-baskets,” when they speak of the feeding of the four thousand. F.—The twelve baskets were an apt symbol of that love which exhausts not itself by loving, but after all its outgoings upon others, abides itself far richer than it would have done but for these, of the multiplying which there ever is in a true dispensing. T.

Mk. 45. This was the Bethsaida on the west, which is always styled simply “Bethsaida,” as if it was well known, while the other on the east is “the city called Bethsaida.” J. M.—46. To make him a king. The effect on the multitude was in keeping with the ideas of the time. Murmurs ran through the excited throng, that Jesus must be the expected prophet—the Messiah. Like Moses, he had fed Israel by a miracle, in the wilderness, which the rabbis said the Messiah would do. They had no higher idea of the Messianic kingdom than the outward and political, and would hasten its advent by forcing him, if possible, to proclaim himself king, and thus open the longed-for war with the hated Romans, in which God would appear on their behalf. While visions of national splendor dazzled the thoughts of his countrymen, the ideal of greatness for himself and them lay with Jesus in humiliation. Hiding his glory in outward lowliness, and never seeking honor from men, he had, throughout, identified his will with that of God, with a self-restraint which showed the grandest force of will. He would not use force, and they were bent on it. His refusal to carry out their plan made opposition inevitable, and it necessarily grew deeper each day as that refusal became more clearly final. That he had declined to be led by them to the throne of David in their way, was, in reality, a step toward the cross. G.—This climax of his miracle-working power produced one, also, in their opinions. “He that can do such a miracle can be no other than Messiah; we must do homage to him as theocratic king, and urge him to establish his kingdom among us.” Plans of this sort Christ had to evade; and he returned alone to the mountain. N.—Into a mountain. A remarkable feature of the lake must have been the concentration of varied life and activity in a basin so closely surrounded with desert solitudes. It was those “desert places,” thus close at hand, on the table-lands, or in the ravines of the eastern and western ranges, which seem to be classed under the common name of “the mountain” that gave the opportunities of retirement for rest or prayer. A. P. S.—To pray. Thus it is that our Lord’s was an angelical life (as Leighton calls it), devoted both to contemplation and to activity. And we need in this respect to copy him. Contemplation we require, that our troubled spirits may be quieted; that truth may produce its appropriate impression upon our hearts; and then activity, that we may spend the strength gained by prayer in beneficent consecration. True piety ought ever to be energetic and practical; it ought also to be meditative and secluded. Days spent among the multitude need nights of calmness and devotion. J. A.

Section 67—The Night-storm on Galilee. Christ walks on the Sea.

J. 16 AND when even was come, his disciples went down unto the sea, and entered into a 17 ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and the ship 18 was in the midst of the sea, and Jesus alone on the land was not come to them. And Mk.48 the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew. And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them; and the ship was now in the midst of the sea tossed with waves. And about the fourth watch of the night, when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, Jesus cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would 49 have passed by them. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, and draw- 50 ing nigh unto the ship, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out for fear. (For they all saw him and were troubled.) And immediately he talked with them, and saith M. 28 unto them, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, 29 Lord, if it be thou, bid me come to thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, 31 saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? Then he 32 went up unto them into the ship, and they willingly received him. And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased; and immediately the ship was at the land, 33 whither they went. Then they that were in the ship were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered. For they considered not the miracle of the loaves; for their heart was hardened. And they came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God. Mk.53 And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret, and drew to 54 the shore. And when they were come out of the ship, and when the men of that 55 place had knowledge of him, straightway they sent out into all the country round about, and began to carry about in beds those that were sick, where they heard he 56 was: and brought unto him all that were diseased. And whithersoever he entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch, if it were but the border of his garment; and as many as touched him were made perfectly whole.

EVERY one of us is no other than a little bark rowing against the wind, in a tempestuous sea, encompassed with the darkness of the night, and destitute of all help and succor. He who is not afraid in this condition, sees not the danger of it; whoever sees it, and does not pray, knows nothing of his own weakness. Christ leaves us sometimes to ourselves, on purpose that we may know ourselves, and the need we have of him; but he never loses sight of us. Q.—Peter is here the image of all the faithful, in the seasons of their weakness and fear. So long as they are strong in faith, they are able to tread under foot all the most turbulent agitations of an unquiet world; but when they lose heart and fear, when instead of “looking unto Jesus,” they look at the stormy winds and waters, then these prevail against them, and they begin to sink, and were it not for Christ’s sustaining hand, which is stretched out in answer to their cry, they would be wholly overwhelmed. T.

Sure and sweet is the revelation of Christ to the believer in the time of darkness and sorrow. Many a storm has he passed through; but every one has been glorified by the presence of the Redeemer. Many more may await him, but he need not fear. His trust is in One who treads the wildest billows into a sea of glass, and who hushes the roar of the tempest into the murmuring of the evening zephyr. One more night of trial must come to all ere the voyage of life is ended. We are sailing right into the darkness of the unknown sea of death. Yet we will not fear. Our deliverer will come to us even there. Beautiful will be his feet upon the sullen waves; sweet will be the sound of his voice through the gloom, saying to us: “It is I; be not afraid;” and then the morning of eternity will break in beauty over the purple shores of the Canaan that we love. Z. E.

J. 16, 17. From the region of the northern Bethsaida or Julias, the disciples embark for Bethsaida of Galilee (Mk. 6 : 45); or for Capernaum, according to J. 6 : 17. They land on the plain of Gennesaret (Mk. 6 : 53). The next day the multitudes follow in boats to Capernaum seeking for Jesus, and find him there (J. 6 : 24, 25, 29). It follows, as a necessary conclusion, that Capernaum was on or near the plain of Gennesaret; most probably at its northeastern extremity. R. (Section 189.)—In J. 6 : 16, it is said that “when even was come the disciples went down unto the sea.” In the other gospels, however, evening is spoken of as having already come, or being near, before the multitude was fed. The explanation is that while John has followed the usual Greek mode of speaking, the others make use of the Hebrew, or rather the Pharisaic, way of reckoning the day. By this, there were two evenings: the first corresponding to our afternoon, from three to six, the other from six to nine, after which came “the darkness.” G.—A ship. When the Sea of Galilee was fringed by towns and villas, trees and corn-fields, then the water was covered by little vessels sailing about in hundreds. It is not easy to ascertain what was the size of the largest of these vessels; but probably, as the distances were short, and the ports were shallow, the boats were not larger than they are now, say about thirty feet long and seven feet beam. J. M.

Alone on the land. The darkness deepens; the tempest rises; midnight comes with its gusts and gloom. There—somewhere on that mountain, sheltered or exposed—there, for five or six hours, till the fourth watch of the night—Jesus holds his secret and close fellowship with heaven. H.

18. A great wind.** To understand the causes of these sudden and violent tempests, we must reremember that the lake lies low—six hundred feet lower than the ocean; that the vast and naked plateaus of the Jaulan rise to a great height, spreading backward to the wilds of the Hauran, and upward to snowy Hermon; that the water-courses have cut out profound ravines and wild gorges, converging to the head of this lake, and that these act like gigantic funnels to draw down the cold winds from the mountains. No wonder the disciples toiled and rowed hard all that night; and how natural their amazement and terror at the sight of Jesus walking on the waves! The faith of Peter in desiring and daring to set foot on such a sea is most striking and impressive; more so, indeed, than its failure after he made the attempt. W. M. T.

Mk. 48. Five and twenty or thirty furlongs, scarcely more than half of their way, the lake being forty or forty-five furlongs in breadth. T.—We may reckon the furlong or stadion (by the best authorized computation) at 202 yards, so that twenty-seven furlongs and a half, the mean of the distances given, would be about three miles. J. M.—He saw them. He knew where the tempest-tossed bark was. His knowledge directed him; his love constrained him; their need invited him. He had seen them from the mount of fellowship with God. An.

49. Saw him walking on the sea.** What Job celebrates as the distinguishing prerogative of God, “Who alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea”—what Agur challenges as God’s unapproachable prerogative, to “gather the wind in his fists, and bind the waters in a garment”—this is here done in flesh by the Son of man. B.—There surely can be no question in the mind of an unprejudiced reader that it is John’s intention to relate a miracle; nor again, that there could be in the minds of the disciples no doubt about that miracle—no chance of a mistake as to what they saw. They were afraid: but, upon being reassured by his voice, they were willing to take him into the ship: and upon their doing so, the ship in a comparatively short time was at the land to which they had been going, viz., by the storm ceasing, and the ship making smooth way. A.—Walking upon the sea was thought so impracticable, that the picture of two feet walking on the sea was an Egyptian hieroglyphic for an impossible thing. D.

50. It is I.** So soon as they had made proof that without him they could do nothing, he was with them once more. For it had been his purpose in all this to discipline and lead them up to higher things than they had learned before. When he has tried them to the uttermost, he appears beside them, thus teaching them for all their after-life, in all coming storms of temptation, that he is near them, a very present help in the needful time of trouble. T.—There is something in those two little words, “Tis I” (Gr. “I am”), which from the mouth that spake it and the circumstances in which it was uttered passes the power of language to express. B.—Oh, if we feel, often and often, that the water-floods threaten to drown us, and the deep to swallow up our faith, may it again and again be granted us to hear amid the storm and the darkness those two sweetest of the Saviour’s utterances—“Fear not. Only believe.” “It is I. Be not afraid.” F.

M. 28. Rather do the words mean: “Since it is thou, command me to come unto thee.” He feels rightly that Christ’s command must go before his coming. In that “Bid me,” the fault lay. He would go before the other disciples. But Christ does not reply, “Come to me”—only “Come;” that is, “Come, if thou wilt; make the experiment, if thou desirest.” T.

30. A doubt is too heavy for any one to carry who would walk the waters; and Peter’s doubt had sunk him into the deep, but that the Lord had mercy upon him. K.—“Save me!” It was the cry of weakness, of wild alarm, yet it had in it one grain of gold. It was a cry to Jesus, as to the only one that now could help; some true faith mingling now with all the fear. H.—Short prayers are long enough. There were but three words in the petition which Peter gasped out, but they were enough for his purpose. Not length, but strength, is desirable. A sense of need is a mighty teacher of brevity. Precious things lie in small compass, and all that is real prayer in many a long address might have been uttered in a petition as short as that of Peter. Spurgeon.

31. Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him.** It was not Peter’s laying hold of

Christ, it was Christ’s laying hold of him, that bore him up. And in our extremity it is not our hold of Jesus, but his of us, on which our trust resteth. Our hand is weak, but his is strong; ours so readily relaxes—too often lets go its hold; but his—none can pluck out of it, and none that are in it can perish. H.—Wherefore doubt? This rebuke was not administered while Peter was sinking—not till Christ had him by the hand, both reinvigorating his faith and with it enabling him again to walk upon the crested wave. B.—The energy of faith was palsied for action; but the earnestness of faith was revived for trusting. Jesus, who mingled tenderness with rebuke, recognized the reality and sincerity of his faith, while he reproved him for its feebleness; for “little faith” is a different thing from faithlessness. The essence of faith is an unfaltering faith in Christ, and its strength lies in its simplicity as an undivided act. J. P. T.

32. The occurrences here related were calculated to make such an impression upon the disciples, that they would be able to receive in faith his discourse on eating his flesh and drinking his blood, and to look forward to a future understanding of it, although at the time a great part might appear unintelligible to them. That which did not appear as if it could be sufficient food to satisfy so many, he had made sufficient; and now when they knew him to be far from them, and themselves to be far from the end of their voyage, he had miraculously approached them, and had brought them to the land whither they were going. Hofman.

33. Worshipped him.** This new illustration of the superhuman power of their Master was so transcendent, that their wonder passed into worship. The impression, like many before, might soon lose its force; but for the moment they were so awed that, approaching him in lowliest reverence, they paid him homage in the words—“Of a truth thou art the Son of God.” G.

The eternal future is clear only in Christ. When the powers of the world to come lay their arrest on a man, when time dwindles, when eternity opens in its awful proportions, it is God’s purpose that there should be no place for a man to flee to but Christ. He darkens all the sky save where he appears, and leaves the soul with Christ alone. And when at last a man is forced to quit his hold of all the known, and venture forth into that void, who can give the soul a footing in the empty place, and bring it safe to the shore of a new world? There is but One. The ship is tossed until the morning watch, but there can be no calm around, nor peace within, till He appear. God has willed that morning should break only at his coming, and calm fall in the track of his footsteps. He “who treadeth the waves of the sea”—who has his throne in the upper calm, and his feet on the lower storms—is still walking the waters of death for the help of them who love his appearing. The waters may rise even to the soul, the gloom of death-shade gather over it, and the heart may so fail as to cry out for fear in presence of the Deliverer. But the ear that has learned to recognize his voice will hear the words of the Son of man, “It is I; be not afraid”—words that assure us of a kindred nature, and a gracious purpose. Then shall we receive him gladly, and be immediately at that land whither we are going—“We shall behold his face in righteousness, and shall be satisfied when we awake with his likeness.” Ker.

Section 68.—Christ the Bread of Life.

Capernaum.