The Christ Of Paul Part 10

CHAPTER XXI.

Bethlehem the birthplace of Christ, as foretold by the prophets.--Cyrus, the deliverer and ruler referred to by Micah the prophet.--The Lamentations of Jeremiah spoken of by Matthew (Chap. ii. 18), refers to the Jews, and not to the ma.s.sacre of the infants by Herod.

When Herod inquired of the wise men where Christ should be born, they said unto him, "In Bethlehem of Judea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel." (_Matt_. ii. 5, 6.)

The pa.s.sage is taken from the prophet Micah, who was a cotemporary with Jeremiah, and prophesied under the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. He lived during the time of Nebuchadnezzar, the great enemy of the Jewish nation, and witnessed a large share of the miseries he inflicted upon that people. We would infer from the first verse of the fifth chapter, that his book was written at a time when the armies of the king of Babylon were encamped around the walls of Jerusalem.

"Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: _he hath laid siege against us_; they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek." Looking forward to the time when the Jewish people will be delivered from the power of Nebuchadnezzar and the a.s.syrian nation, and of their conquest by some other power, the prophet, aroused by a prophetic spirit, announces that the time is coming when Israel shall again be free: "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet opt of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his G.o.d; and they shall abide; for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth." (_Micah_ v. 2, 3, 4.)

In the tenth verse of the fourth chapter, the captivity of the Jews, and their transportation to Babylon, is distinctly announced, and they are told that while in the hands of the a.s.syrians, they shall be as a woman in travail; but that, like her, they should in time be delivered from suffering. The third verse of the fifth chapter declares that G.o.d will not interfere in the mean time, and that they must wait for deliverance, and submit to their sufferings, as unavoidable as in the case of the woman; that at the appointed time a deliverer would come, who would save and bring back a remnant of the people, who shall grow powerful and "be great to the ends of the earth."

Now it is deliverance from a.s.syrian captivity that is referred to, and it is to violate the fitness of time, place, history, and the state of the Jews to apply it to anything else. Amidst the awful fate impending over the Jewish people, they wanted something to encourage and sustain them; and the prophet undertook to do so, by a promise, that in time their captivity should cease, and they be allowed to return to their own country.

But deliverance is to come from Bethlehem Ephratah--words which sufficiently indicate from what quarter the deliverer was to come; and to give a false direction the word Ephratah is omitted in the text in Matthew. Bethlehem in Judea is surely not intended, but the country watered by the river Euphrates. A little poetic license to create obscurity--a peculiarity of the Jewish prophets--does not at all render the meaning doubtful. Cyrus was king of all the country watered by the Euphrates; and the a.s.syrian empire ceased to exist when he restored the Jews to their own country. Cyrus was a ruler in Israel. He took the direction of their affairs, ordered the temple to be rebuilt, and directed how the means were to be provided to pay the expense. (Letter of Cyrus to Sisinnes and Sathrabouzanes. Josephus, Antiq., book xi.

chap. 1, sec. 3.) Cyrus is the ruler alluded to, and not Christ. The deliverer was to be at the head of a very ancient people--the Medes and Persians--who "have been from old--from everlasting." When did Christ rule over Israel? Never.

That Jesus lived at Nazareth until he grew to be a young man could not be disputed, and no doubt the fact was stated in the Hebrew Gospel of Matthew. He might live there, but he must be born in Bethlehem, and some excuse must be had to get Mary there at the precise time when his birth took place. The device of the tax to take her there at the time is weak and puerile, and proves that those who got it up were neither wise nor learned. Matthew barely alludes to Bethlehem as the place of Christ's birth. "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem."

Luke is more specific. "And it came to pa.s.s in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed." (_Luke_ ii. 1.) "And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, into the city of David, which is called Bethlehem (because he was of the house and lineage of David), to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child." (Luke ii. 3, 4, 5.)

The Jews were taxed at the place where their property, real or personal, was at the time of taxing, and not where their ancestors happened to be born. A law or decree of the kind mentioned would involve a movement of almost the entire population of Judea, and for no reason, unless it was to give the people a chance to defraud the tax-gatherer by concealing their effects.

The Cyrenius mentioned was sent out by Caesar "to be a judge of that nation (the Jews) and take an account of their substance." (Josephus, _Antiq_., book xviii. chap. 1, sec. I.) It would not be necessary for Joseph to go to Bethlehem, seventy-five miles away, where he had nothing, to give an account of his substance, when all he had was in Nazareth. Besides, Judea was at this time under the government of Rome, and if there ever had been a law among the Jews requiring each one of them to go to his native city to be taxed, the Romans could not have any object in enforcing it. Admit that Joseph was required to go to Bethlehem because David was born there several hundred years before, to be taxed: why was it necessary for Mary to go with him? He was to give to the Roman officer "an account of his substance:" and did this require the presence of Mary?

The writer of Luke fixes the time when this tax was to be levied. It was when Cyrenius was Governor of Syria. Now this Cyrenius, according to Josephus, was a Roman senator, who was sent to Judea "to take an account of the substance of the people," as a basis of taxation. This was after Archelaus, the son of Herod, had been deposed, and ten years after the death of Herod. Christ was ten years old when Cyrenius was made Governor, so that the journey of Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem was ten years before the decree to tax was made. The following are the words of Josephus: "Now Cyrenius, a Roman senator, and one who had gone through other magistracies and had pa.s.sed through them till he had been Consul, and one who, on other accounts, was of great dignity, came at this time into Syria, with a few others sent by Caesar, to be a judge of that nation, _and to take an account of their substance_." (Josephus, _Antiq_., book xviii. chap. I, sec. I.)

Had the writer of Matthew known anything of Jewish history, he never would have made so gross a blunder, and saved the immense amount of labor that it has taken to explain away the effects of his ignorance.

One explanation of this mistake is, that there were two a.s.sessments--one about the time Jesus was born, and the other ten years after. The first has been proven to be a forgery, and was never made. (Renan's _Life of Christ_, chap. I. See note.) "In Ramah was there a voice of lamentation and weeping and great mourning. Rachel weeping for her children and would not be comforted." This, it is claimed, referred to the cruelties of Herod, to escape from which Joseph and Christ were forced to fly into Egypt; so that his subsequent return to Nazareth would answer to the prophecy, which says, "_Behold, from Egypt I have called my Son_."

In the first place, the story of Herod's cruelties in the case of the infants is an invention, without the least claim to truth, and was a lame excuse, as we have just stated, to get Christ into Egypt. "Then Herod, when he saw he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men." A very short time, not more than two or three days, elapsed after the birth of Christ, when Herod, not hearing from the wise men, gave the command for the wholesale murder of the infants. It was certainly giving Herod more credit for cruelty than was necessary, even on that occasion, for as Christ was only a few days old when the order was given, it was useless murder to include all under two years: ninety-five per cent, of the infants might as well have been spared as not.

It is a matter of surprise that Josephus, the Jewish historian, who suffers nothing deserving notice to escape his pen, has made no mention of a fact which, if true, would have filled Bethlehem and the country round about it with mourning. He could afford to make mention of the quarrels in Herod's family; but not one word to say about the wholesale slaughter of the infants. The story is so absurd, so easily exposed, and of no possible use, that it is omitted in Mark, Luke, and John.

But if the story is true, what has it to do with the troubles of Rachel?

The pa.s.sage from Jeremiah refers to a time in the history of the Jews when Jerusalem was taken and held by the a.s.syrians, and a great number of that people had taken refuge in Egypt. The Jews were undergoing great afflictions, and G.o.d, through Jeremiah, undertakes to console and comfort them. The Lord, in plain language, says: I know that there is great suffering in Ramah--much lamentation and bitter weeping. Israel has lost many of her children, and she suffers great sorrow and grief.

"Thus saith the Lord: Refrain thy voice from weeping, for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy." (_Jeremiah_ x.x.xi. 15, 16.) What has this to do with the cruelty of Herod?

We have stated that the ma.s.sacre of the infants was an invention to form an excuse to get Jesus into Egypt; for his return from that country would serve to prove that he was the one referred to when the Lord is made to say, "Out of Egypt I have called my son." Here, we confess, we are at a loss to express our astonishment. In the eleventh chapter of Hosea, the Lord complains of the ingrat.i.tude of the Jewish nation, and reminds them what he had done for them in times past. He expresses the love he had for them when the nation was young, and required the power of his arm to protect them. "_When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt_" (_Hosea_. 1.) It need not be said, that this refers to the deliverance of the Jews from the hands of Pharaoh.

Israel is the son spoken of who had _already_ pa.s.sed out of Egypt. "And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, _He shall be called a Nazarene_."

(_Matthew_ ii. 23.) There is no such prophecy to be found in the Old Testament.

CHAPTER XXII.

Christ and John the Baptist

"THE beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of G.o.d; As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."

(_Mark_ i. 1,2, 3.) As in Matthew, at the very outset, the second Gospel starts out to show that Christ is the one foretold by the prophets, and that a direct reference is made to him by Isaiah, as one who was to be preceded by another who was to prepare the way for his advent.

Cotemporaneous history, and a critical examination of the words of the prophet, will dispel the delusion.

Hezekiah, king of Judea, was improvident enough to show to the son of the king of Babylon, then on a visit to him, all his treasures, and riches of every description; and "there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed him not." When Isaiah was told by the king himself what he had done, the prophet spoke and said: "Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the Lord.

And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days." (_Isaiah_ x.x.xix. S, 6, 7, 8.) The Babylonian captivity-is here referred to.

Isaiah then proceeds to declare that after great suffering, in their servitude under the a.s.syrians, the Lord would deliver the Jewish people, and that they should again be a great and prosperous nation. "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your G.o.d. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our G.o.d. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain." (_Isaiah_ xl. 1,2, 3, 4.)

With what tenderness the prophet speaks to his countrymen, to a.s.sure them that their captivity will not last forever! Divested of poetical language and figures, the Lord says: In your lost condition in slavery ("wilderness") you shall hear the voice of the Lord to comfort you. Be prepared, for he will provide the means ("highway") for your deliverance from captivity. The words wilderness, desert, and highway are symbolical terms, representing the lost condition of the Jews and the promise made by the Lord, that he would provide means for their deliverance from their enemies. What follows, holds forth to the Jews a glorious future.

"Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low." That is, the down-trodden and oppressed children of Israel shall once more take the stand of an independent nation; and the proud and lofty a.s.syrian shall in his turn be humbled, and come under the yoke of the conqueror. The idea which underlies the language of the prophet is, that the Jews will be ultimately restored to their own country, and again become a prosperous people; and as is characteristic of all these Jewish prophecies, the expressions, "and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain," are mere expletives, to obscure the sense, and increase the ambiguity. Like the oracles of Greece, a simple idea is concealed beneath figures and metaphors, and the mind distracted by the introduction of thoughts that have no meaning, and no connection with the subject.

Josephus, after giving a full account of this prophecy from Isaiah says, it was subsequently fulfilled in the captivity and restoration of the Jews, and that when he wrote, the words of the prophet had pa.s.sed into history. (_Antiq_., book x. chap. 2, sec. 2.) The Lord, by the prophet, is addressing the Jews of that day about matters which directly concerned them, and what was said had no more to do with John the Baptist preaching on the Jordan, in the neighborhood of the Arabian desert, than it had with the travels of Livingstone over the sands of Africa. The John referred to in Mark is a historic character, and all we know about him we learn through Josephus.

In his day he was a reformer. Shocked at the low condition of the Jews, who had reached the lowest deep in crimes and vices of all kinds, through the corruption of the priesthood, and tyranny of their civil Governors, he undertook to reform abuses, and elevate the moral standard of the nation. Standing on the banks of the Jordan, crowds from the surrounding country came to hear him denounce the sins of the people, and be baptized. He preached repentance, and those who did repent he purified with the mystic waters of the Jordan.

In the time of John, the Jewish people had become restive, and chafed under the government of Rome. The elements of rebellion were then at work, which, a few years later, led to open revolt, and the total ruin of the nation. While the Jews overran with discontent, the Roman Governors were filled with suspicion. Herod took alarm at the course of John, and caused him to be seized and confined in the castle of Macherus, situated on the borders of the desert, where he was afterwards put to death. All that is known of him is found in the following extract from Josephus:

"Now, some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod's army came from G.o.d, and that very justly, as a punishment of what he did against John, that was called the _Baptist_; for Herod slew him, who was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to righteousness towards one another, and piety towards G.o.d, and so to come to baptism; for that was.h.i.+ng [with water] would be acceptable to him if they made use of it, not in order to the putting away [or remission] of some sins [only], but for the purification of the body; supposing still that the soul was thoroughly purified beforehand by righteousness. Now, when [many] others came in crowds about him, for they were greatly moved [or pleased] by hearing his words, Herod, who feared lest the great influence John had over the people might put it into his power and inclination to raise a rebellion (for they seemed ready to do anything he should advise), thought it best, by putting him to death, to prevent any mischief he might cause, and not bring himself into difficulties, by sparing a man who might make him repent of it when it should be too late. Accordingly he was sent a prisoner, out of Herod's suspicious temper, to Macherus, the castle I before mentioned, and was there put to death. Now the Jews had an opinion that the destruction of this army was sent as a punishment upon Herod, and a mark of G.o.d's displeasure against him." (Josephus, _Antiq_., book xviii. chap. 5, sec. 2.)

It was this pa.s.sage, and the one from Isaiah, "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord," that suggested the story of Christ coming from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John, and the scenes that followed. As Josephus, in the pa.s.sage just quoted, speaks of what John was doing on the Jordan, and what occurred there, it is strange he takes no notice of the wonderful things which took place at the time Christ was baptized, as described in Matthew. But, as we have shown, the prophecy of Isaiah has nothing to do with John the Baptist.

The story that the life of John was the price paid for a jig danced before Herod, is not only false and absurd, but in one sense impossible.

Herod was a Roman officer, and received his appointment from Rome. As the Governor of a province, he acted under, and was governed by law.

To take life without sufficient cause, from mere wantonness or caprice, subjected him to punishment and removal from office. Herod might put John to death as a promoter of sedition, but not to gratify the spite of a woman who had been accused of incest. Pilate dared not deliver over Christ to be crucified, until after he was charged by the Jews with conspiring against the government of Caesar. His claim to be king of the Jews, which was made a charge against him, was the warrant which Pilate had to surrender him to a merciless mob, which would not be satisfied with anything less than his blood. The author of Matthew, it is clear, was ignorant of the topography of Judea, the history of the Jews, and knew nothing of the fundamental principles of the Roman law.

CHAPTER XXIII.

The miracle of the cloven tongues.--Misapplication of a prophecy of Joel.

In the Acts of the Apostles, a pa.s.sage from Joel the prophet is spoken of by Peter, as foretelling what is called the miracle of tongues: At the end of forty days Christ appeared to his disciples at Jerusalem, and being a.s.sembled together with them, they were commanded not to depart from Jerusalem until certain things should take place. Now the writer of the Acts forgot what he said in his Gospel, if he wrote both, for he there tells us that Christ ascended the day of his resurrection, or at most, the day after. Taking what we can glean from the four Gospels, and taking the probabilities of the case into the account, the disciples, a very short time after the death of Jesus, returned to Galilee. The public mind was greatly moved against Jesus, which was more or less directed against his followers, and as none of them were remarkable for courage, it is hardly probable that they would tarry in Jerusalem, especially as there was nothing to keep them. But according to the writer in Luke, at the end of the forty days they were still in the city, and were commanded not to leave until certain things took place.

He next says, "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rus.h.i.+ng mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." (_Acts_ ii. 1, 2, 3, 4.)

This is something truly wonderful, and we are astonished that so strange and important an event has found no place in history--especially as a report of it must have been circulated far and wide, for the writer says, that "there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews out of every nation under heaven," who came to see for themselves. The writer includes other people besides Jews from every nation, and says: "Now when this was noised abroad, the mult.i.tude came together, and were confounded;"

and among these were "Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia"--people from "Phrygia, Pamphylia, Cretans and Arabians"--and all heard spoken the language of their native countries.

Josephus lived not long after this time, and if he did not reside in Jerusalem, he must have been often in the Jewish capital, and if anything so wonderful as this had taken place, he certainly must have heard of it, and it was not possible for him to forget it when he came to write his history, especially as things of no comparative importance are fully noted by him.

These things are so wonderful, that it is necessary to explain them by the direct action of the Deity, in fulfilment of prophecy. The writer has Peter make a speech, and Peter tells the crowd that they need not be surprised, for what had just happened had all been foretold, and was nothing more than the fulfilment of a prophecy of Joel, who said: "And it shall come to pa.s.s in the last days, saith G.o.d, I will pour put my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And on my servants and on my handmaids I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: and I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke: the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come." (_Acts_ ii.

17, 18, 19, 20.)

All this has nothing more to do with, or has no more reference to, the miracle of the cloven tongues than it has to the a.s.sa.s.sination of Julius Caesar in the Roman Senate. The Jews, at the time referred to by Joel, were suffering under great afflictions. There had been a most severe drought, and the land had been devoured by the locust, the canker-worms and caterpillar. As all calamities which befell the Jewish people were referred by them to the displeasure of G.o.d on account of their sins, Joel exhorts them to repent, and promises, if they do, the Lord will come to the rescue. "Then will the Lord be zealous for his land and pity the people. He will send down rain, and the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the locust had eaten, the cancer-worm and caterpillar and palmer-worm, my great army which I sent among you. And you shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your G.o.d, that hath dealt wondrously with you. And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your G.o.d, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed."

Now follows what Peter was made to say was the prophecy which foretold the miracle of the cloven tongues. "And it shall come to pa.s.s afterwards that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions." Which means, I will pour out my blessings ("Spirit") on all flesh, including the servants and handmaids--they shall be universal, and not confined to any cla.s.s. Then all the young and the old shall rejoice and be happy. Their happiness shall be of the most exalted kind, unalloyed with care, like delightful dreams and visions. As the prophet had said in the beginning of this chapter: "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand; a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations." (_Joel_ ii.

1, 2.)

Referring to this terrible calamity which was to come, that the fear of it _might not interrupt this general state of happiness_ which is spoken of, the Lord tells the people that he will give them timely notice, that they may be prepared: "And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come."