HEALING OF BLIND BARTIMÆUS—THE PLOT AT JERUSALEM—AT BETHANY, (St. Luke xix. 1-10; St. Matt. xx. 29-34; St. Mark x. 46-52; St. Luke xviii. 35-43; St. John xi. 55-xii. 1; St. Matt. xxvi. 6-13; St. Mark xiv. 3-9; St. John xii. 2-11.) ONCE more, and now for the last time, were the fords of Jordan passed, and Christ was on the soil of Judæa proper. Behind Him were Peræa and Galilee; behind Him the Ministry of the Gospel by Word and Deed; before Him the final Act of His Life, towards which all had consciously tended. Rejected as the Messiah of His people, not only in His Person but as regarded the Kingdom of God, which, in fulfilment of prophecy and of the merciful Counsel of God, He had come to establish, He was of set purpose going up to Jerusalem, there to accomplish His Decease, 'to give His Life a Ransom for many.' And He was coming, not, as at the Feast of Tabernacles, privately, but openly, at the head of His Apostles, and followed by many disciples-a festive band going up to the Paschal Feast, of which Himself was to be the Lamb' of sacrifice. The first station reached was Jericho, the City of Palms,' a distance of only about six hours from Jerusalem. The ancient City occupied not the site of the present wretched hamlet, but lay about half an hour to the north-west of it, by the so-called Elisha-Spring. A second spring rose an hour further to the north-north-west. The water of these springs, distributed by aqueducts, gave, under a tropical sky, unsurpassed fertility to the rich soil along the 'plain' of Jericho, which is about twelve or fourteen miles wide. The Old Testament history of the City of Palms' is sufficiently known. was here also that King Zedekiah had, on his flight, been seized by the Chaldeans, and thither a company of 345 men returned under Zerubbabel. In the war of liberation under the Maccabees It BOOK 50 b Jos. Ant. xvii. 6, 5; Jewish War i. 33, 6 the Syrians had attempted to fortify Jericho. These forts were after- 1 Macc. ix. first plundered, and then partially rebuilt, fortified, and adorned Jericho. It was here that he died. His son Archelaus also built there a palace. At the time of which we write, it was, of course, under Roman dominion. Long before, it had recovered its ancient fame for fertility and its prosperity. Josephus describes it as the richest part of the country, and calls it a little Paradise. Antony had bestowed the revenues of its balsam-plantations as an Imperial gift upon Cleopatra, who in turn sold them to Herod. Here grew Cant. i. 14 palm-trees of various kinds, sycamores, the cypress-flower, the myrobalsamum, which yielded precious oil, but especially the balsamplant. If to these advantages of climate, soil, and productions we add, that it was, so to speak, the key of Judæa towards the east, that it lay on the caravan-road from Damascus and Arabia, that it was a great commercial and military centre, and, lastly, its nearness to Jerusalem, to which it formed the last station' on the road of the festive pilgrims from Galilee and Peræa-it will not be difficult to understand either its importance or its prosperity. We can picture to ourselves the scene, as our Lord on that afternoon in early spring beheld it. There it was, indeed, already War iv. 8. summer, for, as Josephus tells us,d even in winter the inhabitants could only bear the lightest clothing of linen. We are approaching it from the Jordan. It is protected by walls, flanked by four forts. These walls, the theatre, and the amphitheatre, have been built by Herod; the new palace and its splendid gardens are the work of Archelaus. All around wave groves of feathery palms, rising in stately beauty; stretch gardens of roses, and especially sweetscented balsam-plantations-the largest behind the royal gardens, of which the perfume is carried by the wind almost out to sea, and which may have given to the city its name (Jericho, the perfumed'). It is the Eden of Palestine, the very fairyland of the old world. And how strangely is this gem set! Deep down in that hollowed valley, through which tortuous Jordan winds, to lose his waters in the slimy mass of the Sea of Judgment. The river and the Dead Sea are nearly equidistant from the town-about six miles. Far across the river rise the mountains of Moab, on which lies the purple and violet colouring. Towards Jerusalem and northwards stretch those bare limestone hills, the hiding-place of robbers along the desolate road towards the City. There, and in the neighbouring wilderness lonely dwellings of anchorites-and over all of Judæa, are also the 6 CHAP. XXIV this strangely varied scene has been flung the many-coloured mantle of a perpetual summer. And in the streets of Jericho meets a motley throng: pilgrims from Galilee and Peræa, priests who have a station' here, traders from all lands, who have come to purchase or to sell, or are on the great caravan-road from Arabia and Damascusrobbers and anchorites, wild fanatics, soldiers, courtiers, and busy publicans for Jericho was the central station for the collection of tax and custom, both on native produce and on that brought from across Jordan. And yet it was a place for dreaming also, under that glorious summer-sky, in those scented groves-when these many figures from far-off lands and that crowd of priests, numbering, according to tradition, half those in Jerusalem," seemed fleeting as in a vision, Jer. Taan. and (as Jewish legend had it) the sound of the Temple-music came from Moriah, borne in faint echoes on the breeze, like the distant sound of many waters.b It was through Jericho that Jesus, ‘ having entered,' was passing.1 Tidings of the approach of the festive band, consisting of His disciples and Apostles, and headed by the Master Himself, must have preceded Him, these six miles from the fords of Jordan. His Name, His Works, His Teaching-perhaps Himself, must have been known to the people of Jericho, just as they must have been aware of the feelings of the leaders of the people, perhaps of the approaching great contest between them and the Prophet of Nazareth. Was He a good man; had He wrought those great miracles in the power of God or by Satanic influence-was He the Messiah or the Antichrist; would He bring salvation to the world, or entail ruin on His own nation: conquer or be destroyed? Was it only one more in the long list of delusions and illusions, or was the long-promised morning of heaven's own day at last to break? Close by was Bethany, whence tidings had come, most incredible yet unquestioned and unquestionable, of the raising of Lazarus, so well known to all in. that neighbourhood. And yet the Sanhedrin-it was well knownhad resolved on His death! At any rate there was no concealment about Him; and here, in face of all, and accompanied by His followers-humble and unlettered, it must be admitted, but thoroughly convinced of His superhuman claims, and deeply attached-Jesus was going up to Jerusalem to meet His enemies! It was the custom, when a festive band passed through a place, that the inhabitants gathered in the streets to bid their brethren So more accurately. iv. 2 b Jer. Succ. v. 3 BOOK IV 6 welcome. And on that afternoon, surely, scarce any one in Jericho but would go forth to see this pilgrim-band. Men-curious, angry, half-convinced; women, holding up their babes, it may be for a passing blessing, or pushing forward their children that in after years they might say they had seen the Prophet of Nazareth; traders, soldiers-a solid wall of onlookers before their gardens was this 'crowd' along the road by which Jesus was to pass.' Would He only pass through the place, or be the guest of some of the leading priests in Jericho; would He teach, or work any miracle, or silently go on His way to Bethany? Only one in all that crowd seemed unwelcome; alone, and out of place. It was the chief of the Publicans'-the head of the tax and customs department. As his name shows, he was a Jew; but yet that very name Zacchæus, Saccai,' 'the just,' sounded like mockery. We know in what repute Publicans were held, and what opportunities of wrong-doing and oppression they possessed. And from his after-confession it is only too evident, that Zacchæus had used them to the full for evil. And he had got that for which he had given up alike his nation and his soul: 'he was rich.' If, as Christ had taught, it was harder for any rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, what of him who had gotten his riches by such means? And yet Zacchæus was in the crowd that had come to see Jesus. What had brought him? Certainly, not curiosity only. Was it the long working of conscience; or a dim, scarcely self-avowed hope of something better; or had he heard Him before; or of Him, that He was so unlike those harsh leaders and teachers of Israel, who refused all hope on earth and in heaven to such as him, that Jesus received -nay, called to Him the publicans and sinners? Or was it only the nameless, deep, irresistible inward drawing of the Holy Ghost, which may perhaps have brought us, as it has brought many, we know not why nor how, to the place and hour of eternal decision for God, and of infinite grace to our souls? Certain it is, that, as so often in such circumstances, Zacchæus encountered only hindrances which seemed to render his purpose almost impossible. The narrative is singularly detailed and pictorial. Zacchæus, trying to push his way through 'the press,' and repulsed; Zacchæus, little of stature,' and unable to look over the shoulders of others: it reads almost like a symbolical story of one who is seeking to see Jesus,' but cannot push his way because of the crowd-whether of the self-righteous, or of his own conscious sins, that seem to stand between him and the Saviour, SALVATION COME TO ZACCHEUS. and which will not make room for him, while he is unable to look over them because he is, so to speak, 'little of stature.' Needless questions have been asked as to the import of Zacchæus' wish to see who Jesus was.' It is just this vagueness of desire, which Zaccheus himself does not understand, which is characteristic. And, since he cannot otherwise succeed, he climbs up one of those wide-spreading sycamores in a garden, perhaps close to his own house, along the only road by which Jesus can pass-to see Him.' Now the band is approaching, through that double living wall: first, the Saviour, viewing that crowd, with, ah! how different thoughts from theirs surrounded by His Apostles, the face of each expressive of such feelings as were uppermost; conspicuous among them, he who 'carried the bag,' with furtive, uncertain, wild glance here and there, as one who seeks to gather himself up to a terrible deed. Behind them are the disciples, men and women, who are going up with Him to the Feast. Of all persons in that crowd the least noted, the most hindered in coming-and yet the one most concerned, was the Chief Publican. It is always so-it is ever the order of the Gospel, that the last shall be first. Yet never more self-unconscious was Zacchæus than at the moment when Jesus was entering that garden-road, and passing under the overhanging branches of that sycamore, the crowd closing up behind, and following as He went along. Only one thought-without ulterior conscious object, temporal or spiritual-filled his whole being. The present absolutely held him-when those wondrous Eyes, out of which heaven itself seemed to look upon earth, were upturned, and that Face of infinite grace, never to be forgotten, beamed upon him the welcome of recognition, and He uttered the self-spoken invitation in which the invited was the real Inviter, the guest the true Host. Did Jesus know Zacchæus before or was it only all open to His Divine gaze as 'He looked up and saw him'? This latter seems, indeed, indicated by the 'must' of His abiding in the house of Zacchæus as if His Father had so appointea it, and Jesus come for that very purpose. And herein, also, seems this story spiritually symbolical. As bidden by Christ, Zacchæus made haste and came down.' Under the gracious influence of the Holy Ghost he received Him rejoicing. Nothing was as yet clear to him, and still all was joyous within his soul. In that dim twilight of the new day, and at this new creation, the Angels sang and the Sons of God shouted together, and all was melody and harmony in his heart. But a few steps 353 CHAP. XXIV |