190 BRIEF NOTES, CHIEFLY CHRONOLOGICAL. CHAPS, 78, 79. The account of the institution of the Lord's Supper is put before the warnings to Peter, or some twelve verses earlier than in Robinson's original arrangement, and thus more nearly agrees with the order of Matthew, Mark and Luke, which Robinson had reversed at this point on insufficient grounds. Frofessor Ridd'e has also made a similar change in Robinson's Harmony, by transposing Sections 135, 137. CHAP. 83. In verses 27, 28, Matthew's order is transposed on account of a change in the text of the Revised Version. The words, "do that for which thou art come." are of course more likely to have been uttered before than after the act of betrayal. The scene of a moment is that presented in these verses. Judas steps 1orward, and is about to bestow the traitorous kissJesus interruts with the reproachful question, "Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?'-at this udas wayers: Christ then adds, "do that for which thou art come"-and Judas completes the betrayal. CHAPS. 84, 85. The accounts of the examinations of Jesus before the Jewis rulers are somewhat intricate. There is much diversity of opinion regarding the order here. The view upon which the text of these Chapters is arranged is that there was no exam naton, or none that is recorded, before Aunis; that the one before the Sanhedrim extended through the night, except as it may have been suspended (once or more) while witnesses were bein got together; that perhaps there was a short recess towards morning, followed by a general muster of the Sanhedrim "as soon as it was day." It is difficult to believe that John ( 8. 152 mans Annas when he speaks of "the high priest;" and if, as some hold, Aumas and Caiaphas were in the same house, where was the need that Annas should send Christ "bound" to Caiaphas? Peter's denials are to be understood as having taken place during the night trial of Christ. CHAP. 85. In verse 25 it is stated of te accusers of Christ that "they entered not into the Prætorium that they might not be defiled, but might eat the pas over." As this was the day after the pisch 1 supper some have failed to reconcile this statement of John with VIII the records of the other Gospels, but it is not necessary to limit the term "passover" to the opening supper of a festival that was to extend over a week. To have entered the Prætorium would have disqualified them for the observance of the remainder of the festival. CHAP. 87. Some harmonists place the sui ide of Judas, according to Matthew's order, immediately after the Sanhedrim's determination to hand Christ over to Pilate; and of course it is possible that the remorse of an aroused conscience may have driven language however. (Verse 1) seems to him to desperation at this point. His imply that the sentence of deata had bee passed, and this (see Chapter 85. Verse 9) the Sanhedrim could not pronounce. Other harmonists, with Robinson, put the suicide of the traitor after Plate's final sentenc, which is unnecessarily late. It appears that Pilate gave sentence twice. fter the first occasion Christ was scourged, arrayed in mock-royal robes, and exposed to other indignities at t e hands of te soldiery. Then Pilate's sense of justice, stimulated probably by some resh incident in the eventful drama being enacted around him, prompted a further attempt to release this strange prisoner in Woom he could "find no crime." What was that incident? May it not have been the suicide of Judas? Such an event, coming after the warning dream of Pilate's wife, could not fal to produce a powerful impression upon his mind. As there seems no reason why the suicide of Judas should not come next after Pilate's first sentence, it has been so arranged (Ve ses 1-9) in the text. In V. 23 (also 15 and 22 of Chap. 90) "the Preparation" referred to is the preparation for the Sabbath-the Passover Sabbath-not for the paschal supper, which had already takea pace. expression is John's, who is not very minute in his account of the Passover. He is writing, be it remembered, long afte the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple had resulted in the virtual collapse of the Mosaic system His mind, in his old age, has become a sort of palimpsest, on which the dull ritual of Judaism is fading behind the fuller life and more vivid scenes of the new dispensation. John's phrase, "about the sixth hour," in this VIII, IX BRIEF NOTES. CHIEFLY CHRONOLOGICAL. PART IX. CHAP. 90. In arranging the order of events here, clear specifications of time are foliowed. What occurred "late on the Sabbath' (Verse 1) of course precedes what happened "when the Sabbath was past" (Verse 2). As at Verse 3 the stone is assumed to be still at "the door of the tomb," while at Verse 7 it has been removed, Verses 4-6 state the cause of its removal. In like manner it would seem that a visit to the tomb, which takes place "eary" in the morning, while it is "yet dark," should take precedence of a visit which occurs at sun-rise. Moreover, as long as the last twelve Verses of Mark's Gospel remain in the canon it is impossible to ignore of satisfactorily to explain away the plain statement that Christ, after 191 His resurrection, "appeared first to CHAP. 92. In Verse 1 the two expressions, "at early dawn" and "when the sun was risen," appear inconsistent. The former belongs to Luke's account, and the la ter to that of Mark. According to the view of some, Luke's expression may mark the time of starting, and Mark s, that of arrival at the tomb, In any cas, the apparet inconsistency between the two vanishes when we note that Mark combines the expression "very early' with his own phrase, "when the sun was risen." There are no further difficulties requiring comment, the difficult point of this Part being practically confined to the scenes of Easter morning. The order of those scenes as presented in the text differs in various degrees from the theories of Robinson, Andrews, Greswell, and most other harmonists. To some it may appear that the text of Chapters 91, 92 unties a troublesome knot with a knie; it is hoped that to others it may afford a satisfactory clue to an old puzzle. In any case, the order of the statements contained in those Chapters is deliberately and hopefully adopted in full view of most of the theories extant regarding the scenes of the resurrection morning. XXXII-LXIV INDEX. 193 CHAP MATTHEW. 32 9. 1, 10-22. MARK. 2. 15-22; 5. 21-34.. 9. 23-10. 1; 13. 54-58. 5. 35-6. 7. 34 10. 2-42 6. 8-11 3. 21-47 94 10. 25-42 8. 48-59 96 10. 17-21; 11. 1-13. 9. 1-12 194 INDEX. LXV-XCVI MATTHEW 65 21. 1-9 22. 1-33 11. 1-10 MARK. LUKE. JOHN. PAGE 19. 29-40 12. 12-19 11. 11-26 19. 41-48 124 11. 27-12. 12. 20. 1-19 127 12. 13-27 20. 20-40 129 22. 34-23. 12. 12. 28-39 20. 41-46 131 134 12. 41-44 21. 1-4 12. 20-50 135 21.5-19 137 13. 14-27 21. 20-28 138 24. 32-51 13. 28-37. 21. 29-36 140 75 25. 1-30 141 28.16-20(Acts 1.3-12) 16.19, 20(1 Cor.15.6,7) 24. 50-53 [Any erroneous references found in the headings of Chapters may be corrected by comparison with the above Index.] 24. 13-35 175 20. 19-29 176 21. 1-24 178 20. 30, 31; 21. 25 180 |