![present itself, but of a particular animal. Hence we cannot but be
surprised that Olshausen describes it as only the probable idea of
the narrator, that to the Messiah making his entrance into Jerusalem,
the providence of God presented everything just as he needed it; as
also that the same expositor, in order to explain the ready
compliance of the owners of the animal, finds it necessary to
suppose that they were friends of Jesus; since this trait rather serves
to exhibit the as it were magical power which resided in the name of
the Lord, at the mention of which the owner of the ass unresistingly
placed it at his disposal, as subsequently the inhabitant of the room
gave it up at a word from the Master (Matt. xxvi. 18 parall.). To this
divine providence in favour of the Messiah, and the irresistible power
of his name, is united the superior knowledge by means of which
Jesus here clearly discerns a distant fact which might be available for
the supply of his wants.
Now admitting this to be the meaning and design of the Evangelists,
such a prediction of an accidental circumstance might certainly be
conceived as [556]the effect of a magnetic clairvoyance.63 But, on the
one hand, we know full well the tendency of the primitive Christian
legend to create such proofs of the superior nature of her Messiah
(witness the calling of the two pairs of brethren; but the instance
most analogous has been just alluded to, and is hereafter to be
more closely examined, namely, the manner in which Jesus causes
the room to be bespoken for his last supper with the twelve); on the
other hand, the dogmatic reasons drawn from prophecy, for
displaying the far-seeing of Jesus here as precisely the knowledge of
an ass being tied at a certain place, are clearly obvious; so that we
cannot abstain from the conjecture, that we have here nothing more
than a product of the tendency which characterized the Christian
legend, and of the effort to base Christian belief on ancient](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/15651-250228093513-5c2ca680/85/Test-Bank-for-Nursing-Research-in-Canada-4th-Edition-By-LoBiondo-Wood-13-320.jpg)
![knowledge of Jesus, and the magical power of his name; and in
relation to the former point, it might be remembered in particular,
that Samuel also had once proved his gifts as a seer by the
prediction, that as Saul was returning homeward, two men would
meet him with the information that the asses of Kis his father were
found (1 Sam. x. 2 ). The narrative in the fourth gospel, having no
connection with the Mosaic passage, says nothing of the ass being
tied, or of its being fetched by the disciples, and merely states with
reference to the passage of Zechariah alone: Jesus, having found a
young ass, sat thereon (v. 14 ).67 [557]
The next feature that presents itself for our consideration, is the
homage which is rendered to Jesus by the populace. According to all
the narrators except Luke, this consisted in cutting down the
branches of trees, which, according to the synoptists, were strewed
in the way, according to John (who with more particularity mentions
palm branches), were carried by the multitude that met Jesus;
further, according to all except John, in the spreading of clothes in
the way. To this were added joyous acclamations, of which all have,
with unimportant modifications, the words εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος
ἐν ὀνόματι Κυρίου, Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the
Lord; all except Luke the ὡσαννὰ, Hosanna; and all, the greeting as
King, or Son of David. The first, from Ps. cxviii. 26 , ְּבֵׁשם ַהָּבא ָּברּוְך
ְיהָֹוה, was, it is true, a customary form of salutation to persons
visiting the feasts, and even the second, ָּנא חוִׁשיָעה
, taken from the
preceding verse of the same psalm, was a usual cry at the feast of
tabernacles and the passover;68 but the addition τῷ υἱῷ Δαυὶδ, to
the Son of David, and ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, the King of Israel,
shows that the people here applied these general forms to Jesus
especially as the Messiah, bid him welcome in a pre-eminent sense,
and wished success to his undertaking. In relation to the parties who](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/15651-250228093513-5c2ca680/85/Test-Bank-for-Nursing-Research-in-Canada-4th-Edition-By-LoBiondo-Wood-15-320.jpg)
![The last trait in the picture before us, is the displeasure of the
enemies of Jesus at the strong attachment to him, exhibited by the
people on this occasion. According to John (v. 19 ), the Pharisees
said to each other: we see from this that the (lenient) proceedings
which we have hitherto adopted are of no avail; all the world is
following him (we must interpose, with forcible measures).
According to Luke (v. 39 f. ), some Pharisees addressed Jesus as if
they expected him to impose silence on his disciples; on which
[558]he answers, that if these were silent, the stones would cry out.
While in Luke and John this happens during the progress, in
Matthew it is only after Jesus has arrived with the procession in the
temple, and when the children, even here, continue to cry, Hosanna
to the Son of David, that the high priests and scribes direct the
attention of Jesus to the impropriety, as it appears to them,
whereupon he repulses them with a sentence out of Ps. viii. 3 .
(Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected
praise) (v. 15 f. ); a sentence which in the original obviously relates
to Jehovah, but which Jesus thus applies to himself. The lamentation
of Jesus over Jerusalem, connected by Luke with the entrance, will
come under our consideration further on.
John, and more particularly Matthew by his phrase τοῦτο δὲ ὅλον
γέγονεν, ἵνα πληρωθῇ κ.τ.λ., All this was done that it might be
fulfilled, etc. (v. 4 ), unequivocally express the idea that the design,
first of God, inasmuch as he ordained this scene, and next of the
Messiah, as the participant in the Divine counsels, was, by giving this
character to the entrance, to fulfil an ancient prophecy. If Jesus saw
in the passage of Zechariah (ix. 9 ),69 a prophecy concerning
himself as the Messiah, this cannot have been a knowledge resulting
from the higher principle within him; for, even if this prophetic
passage ought not to be referred to an historical prince, as Uzziah,70](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/15651-250228093513-5c2ca680/85/Test-Bank-for-Nursing-Research-in-Canada-4th-Edition-By-LoBiondo-Wood-17-320.jpg)
![1
2
3
4
or John Hyrcanus,71 but to a messianic individual,72 still the latter,
though a pacific, must yet be understood as a temporal prince, and
moreover as in peaceful possession of Jerusalem—thus as one
altogether different from Jesus. But it appears quite possible for
Jesus to have come to such an interpretation in a natural way, since
at least the rabbins with decided unanimity interpret the passage of
Zechariah of the Messiah.73 Above all, we know that the
contradiction which appeared to exist between the insignificant
advent here predicted of the Messiah, and the brilliant one which
Daniel had foretold, was at a later period commonly reconciled by
the doctrine, that according as the Jewish people showed
themselves worthy or the contrary, their Messiah would appear in a
majestic or a lowly form.74 Now even if this distinction did not exist
in the time of Jesus, but only in general a reference of the passage
Zech. ix. 9 to the Messiah: still Jesus might imagine that now, on
his first appearance, the prophecy of Zechariah must be fulfilled in
him, but hereafter, on his second appearance, the prophecy of
Daniel. But there is [559]a third possibility; namely, that either an
accidental riding into Jerusalem on an ass by Jesus was
subsequently interpreted by the Christians in this manner, or that,
lest any messianic attribute should be wanting to him, the whole
narrative of the entrance was freely composed after the two
prophecies and the dogmatic presupposition of a superhuman
knowledge on the part of Jesus. [561]
Vom Erlöser der Menschen nach unsern drei ersten Evangelien, s. 114. ↑
In a treatise on the history of the Transfiguration, in his neuesten theol.
Journal, 1. Bd. 5. Stück, s. 517 ff. Comp. Bauer, hebr. Mythol. 2, s. 233 ff. ↑
Bibl. Comm. 1, s. 534 f. ↑
Olshausen, ut sup. s. 537. ↑](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/15651-250228093513-5c2ca680/85/Test-Bank-for-Nursing-Research-in-Canada-4th-Edition-By-LoBiondo-Wood-18-320.jpg)
![32
33
34
35
36
37
and 456 adduces the mythical view of this event not without signs of approval.
Compare also Kuinöl, in Matth., p. 459, and Gratz, 2, s. 161 ff. ↑
Plato also in the Symposion (p. 223, B. ff. Steph.), glorifies his Socrates by
arranging [546]in a natural manner, and in a comic spirit, a similar group to that
which the Evangelists here present in a supernatural manner, and in a tragic spirit.
After a bacchanalian entertainment, Socrates outwatches his friends, who lie
sleeping around him: as here the disciples around their master; with Socrates
there are awake two noble forms alone, the tragic and the comic poet, the two
elements of the early Grecian life, which Socrates united in himself: as, with Jesus,
the lawgiver and prophet, the two pillars of the Old Testament economy, which in
a higher manner were combined in Jesus; lastly, as in Plato both Agathon and
Aristophanes at length sleep, and Socrates remains alone in possession of the
field: so in the gospel, Moses and Elias at last vanish, and the disciples see Jesus
left alone. ↑
Weisse, not satisfied with the interpretation found by me in the mythus, and
labouring besides to preserve an historical foundation for the narrative,
understands it as a figurative representation in the oriental manner, by one of the
three eye-witnesses, of the light which at that time arose on them concerning the
destination of Jesus, and especially concerning his relation to the Old Testament
theocracy and to the messianic prophecies. According to him, the high mountain
symbolizes the height of knowledge which the disciples then attained; the
metamorphosis of the form of Jesus, and the splendour of his clothes, are an
image of their intuition of the spiritual messianic idea; the cloud which
overshadowed the appearance, signifies the dimness and indefiniteness in which
the new knowledge faded away, from the inability of the disciples yet to retain it;
the proposal of Peter to build tabernacles, is the attempt of this apostle at once to
give a fixed dogmatical form to the sublime intuition. Weisse is fearful (s. 543) that
this his conception of the history of the transfiguration may also be pronounced
mythical: I think not; it is too manifestly allegorical. ↑
Schleiermacher, über den Lukas, s. 160. ↑
Kuinöl and Gratz, in loc. ↑
Thus e.g. Lightfoot, in loc. ↑
Wetstein, Olshausen, in loc., Schleiermacher, ut sup. s. 164, 214. ↑
Vid. De Wette, in loc. ↑](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/15651-250228093513-5c2ca680/85/Test-Bank-for-Nursing-Research-in-Canada-4th-Edition-By-LoBiondo-Wood-21-320.jpg)
![60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
That the above motive will not suffice to explain the conduct of Jesus,
Paulus has also felt; for only the despair on his part of finding a more real
and special motive, can account for his becoming in this solitary instance mystical,
and embracing the explanation of Justin Martyr, whom he elsewhere invariably
attacks, as the author of the perverted ecclesiastical interpretations of the Bible.
According to Justin, the ass designated ὑποζύγιον (that is under the yoke), is a
symbol of the Jews; the ass never yet ridden, of the Gentiles (Dial. c. Tryph. 53);
and Paulus, adopting this idea, endeavours to make it probable that Jesus, by
mounting an animal which had never before been ridden, intended to announce
himself as the founder and ruler of a new religious community. Exeg. Handb. 3, a,
s. 116 ff. ↑
Natürliche Gesch. 3, s. 566 f.; Neander, L. J. Chr., s. 550, Anm. ↑
Weisse, s. 573. ↑
Apol. i. 32: τὸ δὲ δεσμεύων πρὸς ἄμπελον τὸν πῶλον αὐτοῦ—σύμβολον
δηλωτικὸν ἦν τῶν γενησομένων τῷ Χριστῷ καὶ τῶν ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ
πραχθησομένων. πῶλος γάρ τις ὄνου εἱστήκει ἔν τινι εἰσόδῳ κώμης πρὸς ἄμπελον
δεδεμένος ὃν ἐκέλευσεν ἀγαγεῖν αὐτῷ κ.τ.λ. Binding his colt to a vine—was a
symbol indicative of what would happen to Christ; for there stood at the entrance
of a certain village, bound to a vine, an ass’s colt, which he ordered them to bring
to him, etc. ↑
Vid. Schöttgen, horæ, ii. p. 146. ↑
Midrasch Rabba, f. xcviii. ↑
On account of this silence of the fourth Evangelist, even Neander (ut
sup.) is in this [557]instance inclined to admit, that a more simple event,
owing to the disproportionate importance subsequently attached to it, was
unhistorically modified. ↑
Comp. Paulus, in loc. ↑
The citation given by Matthew is a combination of a passage from Isaiah
with that of Zechariah. For the words Tell ye the daughter of Zion, εἴπατε τῇ
θυγατρὶ Σιὼν, are from Isa. lxii. 11 ; the rest from Zechariah ix. 9 , where the
LXX. has with some divergency: ἰδοὺ ὁ βασιλεύς σου ἔρχεταί σοι δίκαιος καὶ σώζων
αὐτὸς πραῢς καὶ ἐπιβεβηκὼς ἐπὶ ὑποζύγιον καὶ πῶλον νέον. ↑](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/15651-250228093513-5c2ca680/85/Test-Bank-for-Nursing-Research-in-Canada-4th-Edition-By-LoBiondo-Wood-23-320.jpg)
![HISTORY OF THE PASSION, DEATH AND
RESURRECTION OF JESUS.
[563]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/15651-250228093513-5c2ca680/85/Test-Bank-for-Nursing-Research-in-Canada-4th-Edition-By-LoBiondo-Wood-26-320.jpg)
![[Contents]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/15651-250228093513-5c2ca680/85/Test-Bank-for-Nursing-Research-in-Canada-4th-Edition-By-LoBiondo-Wood-27-320.jpg)
![RELATION OF JESUS TO THE IDEA OF A SUFFERING
AND DYING MESSIAH; HIS DISCOURSES ON HIS
DEATH, RESURRECTION, AND SECOND ADVENT.
[Contents]
§ 111.
DID JESUS IN PRECISE TERMS PREDICT HIS
PASSION AND DEATH?
According to the gospels, Jesus more than once, and while the result
was yet distant,1 predicted to his disciples that sufferings and a
violent death awaited him. Moreover, if we trust the synoptical
accounts, he did not predict his fate merely in general terms, but
specified beforehand the place of his passion, namely, Jerusalem;
the time, namely, the approaching passover; the persons from whom
he would have to suffer, namely, the chief priests, scribes and
Gentiles; the essential form of his passion, namely, crucifixion, in
consequence of a judicial sentence; and even its accessory
circumstances, namely, scourging, reviling, and spitting (Matt. xvi.
21 , xvii. 12 , 22 f. , xx. 17 ff. , xxvi. 12 with the parall., Luke
xiii. 33 ). Between the synoptists and the author of the fourth
gospel, there exists a threefold difference in relation to this subject.
Firstly and chiefly, in the latter the predictions of Jesus do not
appear so clear and intelligible, but are for the most part presented
in obscure figurative discourses, concerning which the narrator
himself confesses that the disciples understood them not until after
the issue (ii. 22 ). In addition to a decided declaration that he will](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/15651-250228093513-5c2ca680/85/Test-Bank-for-Nursing-Research-in-Canada-4th-Edition-By-LoBiondo-Wood-29-320.jpg)
![voluntarily lay down his life (x. 15 ff. ), Jesus in this gospel is
particularly fond of alluding to his approaching death under the
expressions ὑψοῦν, ὑψοῦσθαι, to lift up, to be lifted up, in the
application of which he seems to vacillate between his exaltation on
the cross, and his exaltation to glory (iii. 14 , viii. 28 , xii. 32 ); he
compares his approaching exaltation with that of the brazen serpent
in the wilderness (iii. 14 ), as, in Matthew, he compares his fate
with that of Jonah (xii. 40 ); on another occasion, he speaks of
going away whither no man can follow him (vii. 33 ff. , viii. 21 f. ),
as, in the synoptists, of a taking away of a bridegroom, which will
plunge his friends into mourning (Matt. ix. 15 parall.), and of a cup,
which he must drink, and which his disciples will find it hard to
partake of with him (Matt. xx. 22 parall.). The two other
differences are less marked, but are still observable. One of them is,
that while in John the allusions to the violent death of Jesus run in
an equal degree through the whole gospel; in the synoptists, the
repeated and definite announcements of his death are found only
towards the [564]end, partly immediately before, partly during, the
last journey; in earlier chapters there occurs, with the exception of
the obscure discourse on the sign of Jonah (which we shall soon see
to be no prediction of death), only the intimation of a removal
(doubtless violent) of the bridegroom. The last difference is, that
while according to the three first Evangelists, Jesus imparts those
predictions (again with the single exception of the above intimation,
Matt. ix. 15 ) only to the confidential circle of his disciples; in John,
he utters them in the presence of the people, and even of his
enemies.
In the critical investigation of these evangelical accounts, we shall
proceed from the special to the general, in the following manner.
First we shall ask: Is it credible that Jesus had a foreknowledge of so](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/15651-250228093513-5c2ca680/85/Test-Bank-for-Nursing-Research-in-Canada-4th-Edition-By-LoBiondo-Wood-30-320.jpg)
![τοῖς ἀνόμοις ἐλογίσθη (comp. Luke xxii. 37 ); that his sentence
would proceed from the rulers of his own people, he might perhaps
have concluded from Ps. cxviii. 22 , where the builders,
αἰκοδομοῦντες who reject the corner-stone, are, according to
apostolic interpretation (Acts iv. 11 ), the Jewish rulers; that he
would be delivered to the Gentiles, he might infer from the fact, that
in several plaintive psalms, which are susceptible of a messianic
interpretation, the persecuting parties are represented as ָׁשִעיםְר
,
i.e. heathens; that the precise manner of his death would be
crucifixion, he might have deduced, partly from the type of the
brazen serpent which was suspended on a pole, Num. xxi. 8 f.
(comp. John iii. 14 ), partly from the piercing of the hands and feet,
Ps. xxii. 17 , LXX.; lastly, that he would be the object of scorn and
personal maltreatment, he might have concluded from passages
such as v. 7 ff. in the Psalm above quoted, Isa. l. 6 , etc. Now if
the spirit which dwelt in Jesus, and which, according to the orthodox
opinion, revealed to him the reference of these prophecies and types
to his ultimate destiny, was a spirit of truth: this reference [565]to
Jesus must admit of being proved to be the true and original sense
of those Old Testament passages. But, to confine ourselves to the
principal passages only, a profound grammatical and historical
exposition has convincingly shown, for all who are in a condition to
liberate themselves from dogmatic presuppositions, that in none of
these is there any allusion to the sufferings of Christ. Instead of this,
Isa. l. 6 , speaks of the ill usage which the prophets had to
experience;3 Isa. liii. of the calamities of the prophetic order, or
more probably of the Israelitish people;4 Ps. cxviii. of the
unexpected deliverance and exaltation of that people, or of one of
their princes;5 while Ps. xxii. is the complaint of an oppressed
exile.6 As to the 17th verse of this Psalm , which has been](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/15651-250228093513-5c2ca680/85/Test-Bank-for-Nursing-Research-in-Canada-4th-Edition-By-LoBiondo-Wood-32-320.jpg)
![and reviling would not be wanting, might likewise be inferred from
Roman custom, and the barbarity of judicial proceedings in that age.
—But viewing the subject more nearly, how could Jesus so certainly
know that Herod, who had directed a threatening attention to his
movements (Luke xiii. 31 ), would not forestall the sacerdotal party,
and add to the murder of the Baptist, that of his more important
follower? And even if he felt himself warranted in believing that real
danger threatened him from the side of the hierarchy only (Luke xiii.
33 ); what was his guarantee that one of their tumultuary attempts
to murder him would not at last succeed (comp. John viii. 39 , x.
31 ), and that he would not, as Stephen did at a later period,
without any further formalities, and without a previous delivery to
the Romans, find his death in quite [566]another manner than by the
Roman punishment of crucifixion? Lastly, how could he so
confidently assert that the very next plot of his enemies, after so
many failures, would be successful, and that the very next journey
to the passover would be his last?—But the natural explanation also
can call to its aid the Old Testament passages, and say: Jesus,
whether by the application of a mode of interpretation then current
among his countrymen, or under the guidance of his own individual
views, gathered from the passages already quoted, a precise idea of
the circumstances attendant on the violent end which awaited him
as the Messiah.9 But if in the first place it would be difficult to prove,
that already in the lifetime of Jesus all these various passages were
referred to the Messiah; and if it be equally difficult to conceive that
Jesus could independently, prior to the issue, discover such a
reference; so it would be a case undistinguishable from a miracle, if
the result had actually corresponded to so false an interpretation;
moreover, the Old Testament oracles and types will not suffice to](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/15651-250228093513-5c2ca680/85/Test-Bank-for-Nursing-Research-in-Canada-4th-Edition-By-LoBiondo-Wood-34-320.jpg)
![ἀ.), it is obvious that these could not lift him up immediately to
glory, but only to the cross; consequently, if the result above stated
be admitted as valid, John must himself have framed this expression,
or at least have distorted the Aramæan words of Jesus, and hence
he essentially falls under the same category with the synoptical
writers. That the fourth Evangelist, though the passion and death of
Jesus were to him past events, and therefore clearly present to his
mind, nevertheless makes Jesus predict them in obscure
expressions,—this has its foundation in the entire manner of this
writer, whose fondness [567]for the enigmatical and mysterious here
happily met the requirement, to give an unintelligible form to
prophecies which were not understood.
There were sufficient inducements for the Christian legend thus to
put into the mouth of Jesus, after the event, a prediction of the
particular features of his passion, especially of the ignominious
crucifixion. The more the Christ crucified became to the Jews a
stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness (1 Cor. i. 23 ), the
more need was there to remove this offence by every possible
means; and as, among subsequent events, the resurrection
especially served as a retrospective cancelling of that shameful
death; so it must have been earnestly desired to take the sting from
that offensive catastrophe beforehand also, and this could not be
done more effectually than by such a minute prediction. For as the
most unimportant fact, when prophetically announced, gains
importance, by thus being made a link in the chain of a higher
knowledge: so the most ignominious fate, when it is predicted as
part of a divine plan of salvation, ceases to be ignominious; above
all, when the very person over whom such a fate impends, also
possesses the prophetic spirit, which enables him to foresee and
foretell it, and thus not only suffers, but participates in the divine](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/15651-250228093513-5c2ca680/85/Test-Bank-for-Nursing-Research-in-Canada-4th-Edition-By-LoBiondo-Wood-36-320.jpg)
![prescience of his sufferings, he manifests himself as the ideal power
over those suffering. But the fourth Evangelist has gone still farther
on this track; he believes it due to the honour of Jesus to represent
him as also the real power over his sufferings, as not having his life
taken away by the violence of others, but as resigning it voluntarily
(x. 17 f. ): a representation which indeed already finds some
countenance in Matt. xxvi. 53 , where Jesus asserts the possibility
of praying to the Father for legions of angels, in order to avert his
sufferings.
[Contents]
§ 112.
THE PREDICTIONS OF JESUS CONCERNING HIS
DEATH IN GENERAL; THEIR RELATION TO THE
JEWISH IDEA OF THE MESSIAH: DECLARATIONS OF
JESUS CONCERNING THE OBJECT AND EFFECTS OF
HIS DEATH.
If in this manner we subtract from the declarations of Jesus
concerning his approaching fate, attributed to him in the gospels, all
which regards the particular circumstances of this catastrophe; there
still remains on the part of Jesus the general announcement, that
suffering and death awaited him, and also that this part of his career
was a fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies relative to the
Messiah. As, however, the principal passages cited from the Old
Testament, which treat of suffering and death, are only by mistake](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/15651-250228093513-5c2ca680/85/Test-Bank-for-Nursing-Research-in-Canada-4th-Edition-By-LoBiondo-Wood-37-320.jpg)
![referred to the Messiah, while others, as Dan. ix. 26 ; Zech. xii.
10 , have not this signification:12 the orthodox, above all, must
again beware of attributing so false an interpretation of these
prophecies, to the supernatural principle in Jesus. That instead of
this, Jesus might possibly, by a purely natural combination, have
educed the general result, that since he had made the hierarchy of
his nation his implacable enemies, he had, in so far as he was
resolved not to swerve from the path of his destination, the worst to
fear from their revenge and authority (John x. 11 ff. ); that from the
fate of former prophets (Matt. v. 12 , xxi. 33 ff. ; Luke xiii. 33 f. ),
and isolated passages bearing such an interpretation, he might
prognosticate a similar end to his own career, and accordingly
predict to his followers that earlier or later a violent death awaited
him—this it would be a needless overstraining of [568]the
supranaturalistic view any longer to deny, and the rational mode of
considering the subject should be admitted.13
It may appear surprising if, after this admission, we still put the
question, whether, according to the New Testament representation,
it be probable that Jesus actually uttered such a prediction? since,
certainly, a general announcement of his violent death is the least
which the evangelical accounts appear to contain, but our meaning
in the question is this: is the sequel, especially the conduct of the
disciples, so described in the gospels, as to be reconcilable with a
prior disclosure of Jesus relative to the sufferings which awaited
him? Now the express statements of the Evangelists do not merely
tend to show that the disciples did not understand the discourses of
Jesus on his coming death, in the sense that they did not know how
to adjust these facts in their own minds, or to make them tally with
their preconceived ideas concerning the Messiah,—a difficulty which
drew from Peter the first time that Jesus announced his death, the](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/15651-250228093513-5c2ca680/85/Test-Bank-for-Nursing-Research-in-Canada-4th-Edition-By-LoBiondo-Wood-38-320.jpg)
![concerning his death; on the contrary, they appear to the very last
moment to have held the common opinion on this matter, and only
to have adopted the characteristics of suffering and death into their
conception of the Messiah, after the death of Jesus had
unexpectedly come upon them.14 At all events we have before us the
following dilemma: either the statements of the Evangelists as to the
inability of the disciples to understand the predictions of Jesus, and
their surprise at his death, are unhistorically exaggerated; or the
decided declarations of Jesus concerning the death which awaited
him, were composed ex eventu, nay, it becomes doubtful whether
he even in general predicted his death as a part of his messianic
destiny. On both sides, the legend might be led into [569]unhistorical
representations. For the fabrication of a prediction of his death in
general, there were the same reasons which we have above shown
to be an adequate motive for attributing to him a prognostication of
the particular features of his passion: to the fiction of so total a want
of comprehension in the disciples, an inducement might be found,
on the one hand, in the desire to exhibit the profoundness of the
mystery of a suffering Messiah revealed by Jesus, through the
inability of the disciples to understand it; on the other, in the fact
that in the evangelical tradition the disciples were likened to
unconverted Jews and heathens, to whom anything was more
intelligible than the death of the Messiah.
In order to decide between these alternatives, we must first examine
whether, prior to the death of Jesus, and independently of that
event, the messianic ideas of the age included the characteristics of
suffering and death. If already in the lifetime of Jesus it was the
Jewish opinion that the Messiah must die a violent death, then it is
highly probable that Jesus imbibed this idea as a part of his
convictions, and communicated it to his disciples; who, in that case,](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/15651-250228093513-5c2ca680/85/Test-Bank-for-Nursing-Research-in-Canada-4th-Edition-By-LoBiondo-Wood-40-320.jpg)
Test Bank for Nursing Research in Canada 4th Edition By LoBiondo-Wood
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- 5. Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved. 2 4. When a change in nursing practice results in decreased cost of care, what additional factor must be considered before general implementation of this change? a. Ensuring compliance of the change by nurses with diverse educational backgrounds b. Maintaining or improving the quality of care resulting from the change in practice c. Encouraging patients to be active partners in their health care decisions d. Disseminating the change beyond the discipline of nursing ANS: B Feedback A Not all nurses are responsible for supervising compliance with new measures. B Nurses are accountable to maintain quality patient care despite cost-cutting measures. C Nurses should encourage patient participation in care despite cost-cutting measures. D Nurses are not responsible for reforming other disciplines. DIF: Cognitive Level: Analysis MSC: NCLEX Client Care Needs Category: Safe and Effective Care Environment; Health Promotion and Maintenance 5. Why do nurses who do not conduct research need to understand the nursing research process? a. To identify potential participants for clinical research studies b. To assist in collecting accurate data for clinical research studies c. To teach patients and families about the usefulness of participation in research d. To be able to evaluate nursing research reports for relevance to their own clinical practice ANS: D Feedback A Nurses who do not conduct research would not influence participant identification. B Nurses who do not conduct research would not influence data collection. C Nurses who do not conduct research would not influence participant recruitment. D Nurses should be able to understand the research process by reading research reports and determining if they should modify their practice based on research evidence. DIF: Cognitive Level: Comprehension MSC: NCLEX Client Care Needs Category: Safe and Effective Care Environment; Health Promotion and Maintenance 6. How are nursing theory and nursing research related? a. Nursing theory and nursing research are independent of each other and have no direct relationship. b. Without nursing theory, research conducted by nurses would not have an impact on nursing practice. c. Nursing research drives the direction and specific content of nursing theory. d. Both advance the knowledge base of nursing. ANS: D Feedback A Theory and research are related to each other. B Research studies may be conducted without a clear theoretical framework and still influence practice. C Quantitative nursing research tests nursing theory but does not influence content. D Theory and nursing research both influence how nursing practice is conducted. DIF: Cognitive Level: Comprehension MSC: NCLEX Client Care Needs Category: Safe and Effective Care Environment; Health Promotion and Maintenance
- 6. Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved. 3 7. Which action demonstrates the role of an intelligent consumer of nursing research? a. Designing a research study b. Analyzing data to determine outcomes c. Evaluating the credibility of the research findings d. Replicate the study in another setting to confirm the findings ANS: C Feedback A A consumer applies research to practice. Consumers are not responsible for designing a study. B A consumer does not conduct data analysis of a study. The study’s primary investigator analyzes data. C A consumer of nursing research needs to understand the research process to determine the merit and relevance of evidence for research studies. D A consumer can apply research findings to practice but does not have to replicate the study itself. DIF: Cognitive Level: Evaluation MSC: NCLEX Client Care Needs Category: Safe and Effective Care Environment; Health Promotion and Maintenance 8. In designating research functions to nursing staff, which of the following functions would you designate to a staff registered nurse? a. Protecting human participants by promoting the ethical principles of research b. Providing expert consultation about the way in which clinical services are delivered c. Developing methods to monitor the quality of nursing practice in the clinical setting d. Providing leadership by assisting others in applying scientific knowledge in nursing practice ANS: A Feedback A All nurses are responsible for protecting human participants in research. B Nurses are at the bedside implementing protocols. Expert consultation is reserved for MSN- or PhD-level nurses. C Developing methods is reserved for nurses with advanced education. D Providing leadership is reserved for nurses with advanced education. DIF: Cognitive Level: Comprehension MSC: NCLEX Client Care Needs Category: Safe and Effective Care Environment; Health Promotion and Maintenance 9. Which of the following statements regarding the role of the nurse in research is true? a. Nurses must be prepared at the baccalaureate level or higher to have any role in nursing research. b. Master’s-prepared nurses (those with MSN, MN, or MS degrees) are primarily responsible for using the findings of nursing research in clinical practice. c. One role of the registered nurse is to identify issues in clinical practice that are suitable for research. d. Regardless of nursing education, the only nurse who should interpret research findings is the one who has the most comprehensive understanding of statistical analysis methods. ANS: C Feedback A Having a role in nursing research or implementing findings is not limited to BScN and MSN nurses only. B Master’s-prepared nurses can provide leadership to supervise how research findings are applied in the clinical area. All levels of nurses can apply research findings to practice. C Nurses should have an awareness of the relevance of nursing research and ask clinical questions. D Data analysis is usually conducted by an MSN- or PhD-level nurse. DIF: Cognitive Level: Comprehension MSC: NCLEX Client Care Needs Category: Safe and Effective Care Environment; Health Promotion and Maintenance
- 7. Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved. 4 10. Which of Florence Nightingale’s actions formed the foundation for modern-day nursing research methods? a. Establishing the St. Thomas Hospital School of Nursing in England b. Writing the curricula for the nineteenth–century nurse training programs c. Lobbying the British parliament to enact changes in law for better health care d. Collecting data systematically on the health status of British soldiers during the Crimean War ANS: D Feedback A Establishing a school of nursing is not a form of scientific investigation. B Developing curricula is not a form of scientific investigation. C Lobbying a parliament is more about advocacy and health care reform. D Systematic, objective data collection during the Crimean War formed the basis for modern-day nursing research methods. DIF: Cognitive Level: Knowledge MSC: NCLEX Client Care Needs Category: Safe and Effective Care Environment; Health Promotion and Maintenance 11. What was the focus of most nursing research studies conducted during the first half of the twentieth century? a. Nursing education methods and outcomes b. Effects of sanitation on health promotion and disease prevention c. Use of epidemiology as a method of identifying risk for specific illnesses d. Identification of the most effective means to disseminate positive findings from nursing research ANS: A Feedback A Nursing education has been documented to have been the focus of nursing research in the early twentieth century. B Disease prevention was a focus in the 1960s. C Florence Nightingale used epidemiology in her early research. D Dissemination of nursing research findings grew in the 1980s. DIF: Cognitive Level: Knowledge MSC: NCLEX Client Care Needs Category: Safe and Effective Care Environment; Health Promotion and Maintenance 12. What was the outcome of the 1932 Weir report? a. Recognition of research as part of the roles and responsibilities of the registered nurse b. Recommendation of changes to improve standards of education and practice c. Establishment of multiple entry levels to the nursing profession d. Publication of the Canadian Journal of Nursing ANS: B Feedback A The focus was on advancing the delivery of nursing education to improve practice. B The Weir report identified serious problems in nursing education that affected nursing practice. C The standardization of BScN, MSN, and PhD programs was suggested, but it took 50 years for its full adoption. D No publication called the Canadian Journal of Nursing exists. DIF: Cognitive Level: Knowledge MSC: NCLEX Client Care Needs Category: Safe and Effective Care Environment; Health Promotion and Maintenance 13. What action or strategy can limit the depth of nursing research? a. Addressing physiological and psychological responses to actual or potential health problems b. Employing both qualitative methods and quantitative methods in the same study c. Developing programs of research that build on prior investigations d. Using singular measures to assess phenomena ANS: D Feedback A Addressing the physical and psychological aspects of a phenomenon provides depth to research outcomes. B Multiple-method studies can provide greater depth of understanding of a phenomenon. C Building on prior research allows for deeper exploration of human phenomena. D Using a single measure will not allow a researcher to examine the complexity of human phenomena. DIF: Cognitive Level: Analysis MSC: NCLEX Client Care Needs Category: Safe and Effective Care Environment; Health Promotion and Maintenance
- 8. Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved. 5 14. Which of the following is the overall value of developing evidence-informed nursing practice? a. Demonstration of how nursing makes a difference in patient outcomes b. Implementation of the most cost-effective nursing practice patterns c. Separation of nursing research from the research of other disciplines d. Development of new nursing theories ANS: B Feedback A Evidence-informed practice provides a research foundation for nursing interventions. B Implementation of more cost-effective nursing interventions may occur based on evidence, but it is not the overall value of developing evidence-informed nursing practice. C Developing a unique body of nursing knowledge is important but is not the overall value of developing evidence-informed nursing practice. D Developing nursing theory is important, but evidence-informed nursing practice is focused on the more concrete aspects of clinical practice. DIF: Cognitive Level: Comprehension MSC: NCLEX Client Care Needs Category: Safe and Effective Care Environment; Health Promotion and Maintenance 15. How does an international research perspective contribute to the discipline and science of nursing? a. By unifying the definition of the term health b. By increasing the dissemination potential of research findings c. By emphasizing the cultural aspects of nursing care d. By testing innovative and cost-effective patient care delivery models ANS: D Feedback A Nursing models can be tested in a variety of settings, which strengthens the credibility of the evidence. Health is a subjective term. B Dissemination of findings is one of the benefits of an international perspective, but the primary focus is testing of models. C Emphasis on cultural considerations is one of the benefits of an international perspective, but the primary focus is testing of models. D An international research perspective can lead to the formation of a global research community. DIF: Cognitive Level: Comprehension MSC: NCLEX Client Care Needs Category: Safe and Effective Care Environment; Health Promotion and Maintenance 16. Which of the following is the identified priority for future nursing research efforts? a. Improvement in patient quality of life b. Cost containment of health care delivery c. Promotion of excellence in nursing science d. Promotion of advanced education in nursing ANS: C Feedback A Patient quality of life is a desired outcome but not the identified priority for future nursing research. B Cost containment is not the identified priority for future nursing research. C Nursing is rising to the challenge of developing the science to improve health care. Advancing nursing science is therefore a priority. D Promotion of advanced education in nursing is not the identified priority for future nursing research. DIF: Cognitive Level: Knowledge MSC: NCLEX Client Care Needs Category: Safe and Effective Care Environment; Health Promotion and Maintenance
- 9. Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved. 6 17. Review the information from four abstracts below and identify which study is an example of outcome-based research. a. This study used a school-based community sample (N = 920) to examine trajectories of depressive symptoms, self-esteem, and expressed anger in the critical years of emerging adulthood (ages 18 to 25). b. To identify reasons for lower organ donation rates by knowledge and attitudes about brain death, donation, and transplantation and trust in the health care system were examined. c. An exploratory study was undertaken with a racially diverse group of custodial grandfathers to fill a gap in the literature about the vulnerability for elder abuse, exploitation, and neglect as expressed by older Indigenous, Caucasian, and South Asian custodial grandfathers. d. A multicentre, international clinical trial was conducted in 3,500 patients with documented coronary heart disease to determine whether a brief education and counselling intervention delivered by a nurse can reduce prehospital delay in the face of symptoms. ANS: D Feedback A Exploration of anger in adulthood is not an outcomes research study. B Surveying families about consent for organ donation is not an outcomes research study. C Exploration of elder abuse is not an outcomes research study. D Outcomes research examines how nursing interventions affect patient outcomes. This study examines the effectiveness of nursing interventions. DIF: Cognitive Level: Evaluation MSC: NCLEX Client Care Needs Category: Safe and Effective Care Environment; Health Promotion and Maintenance 18. Why should a nursing research study that demonstrates a positive outcome for a specific intervention be replicated before the intervention can be accepted for implementation? a. Findings that are reproducible in a series of replicated studies increase the generalizability of the results. b. Being able to replicate existing studies increases the opportunity for nurses to be involved in nursing research. c. Replicated studies provide more data for statistical analysis and measurement of reliability. d. If a high level of significance is associated with the study results, replication is unnecessary. ANS: A Feedback A Studies that can be replicated in and generalized to many settings demonstrate the reliability of the study results. B Replication is not an excuse for involving nurses in research. C Multiple replications of a study will neither generate new data nor ensure reliability. D Even studies that have a high level of significance should be replicated. DIF: Cognitive Level: Comprehension MSC: NCLEX Client Care Needs Category: Safe and Effective Care Environment; Health Promotion and Maintenance 19. How is using multiple measures to assess a clinical phenomenon useful to nursing research or practice? a. When multiple measures are used, qualitative data and quantitative data are always obtained. b. Using multiple measures reduces the number of participants needed in a sample size to reach statistical significance. c. Comparison of various methods of measurement may reduce the need to use invasive methods in measuring physical parameters in future studies. d. The results of studies using multiple measures to assess a clinical phenomenon are more likely to be published in journals other than nursing journals as well. ANS: C Feedback A Not all studies that have multiple measures use both quantitative and qualitative approaches. B Using multiple measures does not reduce the number of participants in a study. C Qualitative data help provide essential descriptive data on how patients experience a particular phenomenon. D Multiple-method studies should be conducted with the intent of disseminating the results through professional nursing journals. DIF: Cognitive Level: Comprehension MSC: NCLEX Client Care Needs Category: Safe and Effective Care Environment; Health Promotion and Maintenance
- 10. Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved. 7 20. Taking into account the future priorities of nursing research, which of the following studies would most likely be funded by the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation (CHSRF)? A study to a. examine trajectories of depressive symptoms, self-esteem, and expressed anger in the critical years of emerging adulthood (ages 18 to 25). b. identify reasons for lower organ donation rates c. fill a gap in the literature about the vulnerability for elder abuse, exploitation, and neglect as expressed by older Indigenous, Caucasian, and South Asian e custodial grandfathers. d. determine whether a brief education and counselling intervention delivered by a nurse can reduce prehospital delay in the face of symptoms. ANS: D Feedback A While mental health is a priority of CHSRF, this study is not the most likely to be funded. B Organ donation is not a priority for CHSRF at this time. C Older adults are considered a vulnerable population and studies relevant to this population are a priority of CHSRF; however, interventions studies are granted higher priority. D Intervention studies that examine ways to improve service and health among those suffering with chronic illness are of the highest priority to CHSRF. DIF: Cognitive Level: Application MSC: NCLEX Client Care Needs Category: Safe and Effective Care Environment; Health Promotion and Maintenance
- 11. Other documents randomly have different content
- 12. high occasion of his messianic entrance, may have chosen to use only a sacred animal. But regarded more closely, this reason will appear frivolous, and absurd also; for the spectators had no means of knowing that the ass had never been ridden before, except by the unruliness with which he may have disturbed the peaceful progress of the triumphal train.61 If we are thus unable to comprehend how Jesus could seek an honour for himself in mounting an animal which had never yet been ridden; we shall, on the contrary, find it easy to comprehend how the primitive Christian community might early believe it due to his honour that he should ride only on such an animal, as subsequently that he should lie only in an unused grave. The authors of the intermediate gospels did not hesitate to receive this trait into their memoirs, because they indeed, in writing, would not experience the same inconvenience from the undisciplined animal, which it must have caused to Jesus in riding. The two difficulties already considered belong respectively to the first Evangelist, and the two intermediate ones: another is common to them all, namely, that which lies in the circumstance that Jesus so confidently sends two disciples for an ass which they would find in the next village, in such and such a situation, and that the issue corresponds so closely to his prediction. It might here appear the most natural, to suppose that he had previously bespoken the ass, and that consequently it stood ready for him at the hour and place appointed;62 but how could he have thus bespoken an ass in Bethphage, seeing that he was just come from Jericho? Hence even Paulus in this instance finds something else more probable: namely, that about the time of the feasts, in the villages lying on the high road to Jerusalem, many beasts of burden stood ready to be hired by travellers; but in opposition to this it is to be observed, that Jesus does not at all seem to speak of the first animal that may happen to
- 13. present itself, but of a particular animal. Hence we cannot but be surprised that Olshausen describes it as only the probable idea of the narrator, that to the Messiah making his entrance into Jerusalem, the providence of God presented everything just as he needed it; as also that the same expositor, in order to explain the ready compliance of the owners of the animal, finds it necessary to suppose that they were friends of Jesus; since this trait rather serves to exhibit the as it were magical power which resided in the name of the Lord, at the mention of which the owner of the ass unresistingly placed it at his disposal, as subsequently the inhabitant of the room gave it up at a word from the Master (Matt. xxvi. 18 parall.). To this divine providence in favour of the Messiah, and the irresistible power of his name, is united the superior knowledge by means of which Jesus here clearly discerns a distant fact which might be available for the supply of his wants. Now admitting this to be the meaning and design of the Evangelists, such a prediction of an accidental circumstance might certainly be conceived as [556]the effect of a magnetic clairvoyance.63 But, on the one hand, we know full well the tendency of the primitive Christian legend to create such proofs of the superior nature of her Messiah (witness the calling of the two pairs of brethren; but the instance most analogous has been just alluded to, and is hereafter to be more closely examined, namely, the manner in which Jesus causes the room to be bespoken for his last supper with the twelve); on the other hand, the dogmatic reasons drawn from prophecy, for displaying the far-seeing of Jesus here as precisely the knowledge of an ass being tied at a certain place, are clearly obvious; so that we cannot abstain from the conjecture, that we have here nothing more than a product of the tendency which characterized the Christian legend, and of the effort to base Christian belief on ancient
- 14. prophecy. In considering, namely, the passage quoted in the first and fourth gospels from Zechariah, where it is merely said that the meek and lowly king will come riding on an ass, in general; it is usual to overlook another prophetic passage, which contains more precisely the tied ass of the Messiah. This passage is Gen. xlix. 11 , where the dying Jacob says to Judah concerning the Shiloh, ׁשילח , Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine, δεσμεύων πρὸς ἄμπελον τὸν πῶλον αὐτοῦ καὶ τῇ ἕλικι τὸν πῶλον τῆς ὄνου αὐτοῦ. Justin Martyr understands this passage also, as well as the one from Zechariah, as a prediction relative to the entrance of Jesus, and hence directly asserts that the foal which Jesus caused to be fetched was bound to a vine.64 In like manner the Jews not only held the general interpretation that the Shiloh was the Messiah, as may be shown already in the Targum,65 but also combined the passage relative to the binding of the ass with that on the riding of it into Jerusalem.66 That the above prophecy of Jacob is not cited by any one of our Evangelists, only proves, at the utmost, that it was not verbally present to their minds when they were writing the narrative before us: it can by no means prove that the passage was not an element in the conceptions of the circle in which the anecdote was first formed. The transmission of the narrative through the hands of many who were not aware of its original relation to the passage in Genesis, may certainly be argued from the fact that it no longer perfectly corresponds to the prophecy. For a perfect agreement to exist, Jesus, after he had, according to Zechariah, ridden into the city on the ass, must on dismounting, have bound it to a vine, instead of causing it to be unbound in the next village (according to Mark, from a door by the way-side) as he actually does. By this means, however, there was obtained, together with the fulfilment of those two prophecies, a proof of the supernatural
- 15. knowledge of Jesus, and the magical power of his name; and in relation to the former point, it might be remembered in particular, that Samuel also had once proved his gifts as a seer by the prediction, that as Saul was returning homeward, two men would meet him with the information that the asses of Kis his father were found (1 Sam. x. 2 ). The narrative in the fourth gospel, having no connection with the Mosaic passage, says nothing of the ass being tied, or of its being fetched by the disciples, and merely states with reference to the passage of Zechariah alone: Jesus, having found a young ass, sat thereon (v. 14 ).67 [557] The next feature that presents itself for our consideration, is the homage which is rendered to Jesus by the populace. According to all the narrators except Luke, this consisted in cutting down the branches of trees, which, according to the synoptists, were strewed in the way, according to John (who with more particularity mentions palm branches), were carried by the multitude that met Jesus; further, according to all except John, in the spreading of clothes in the way. To this were added joyous acclamations, of which all have, with unimportant modifications, the words εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνόματι Κυρίου, Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord; all except Luke the ὡσαννὰ, Hosanna; and all, the greeting as King, or Son of David. The first, from Ps. cxviii. 26 , ְּבֵׁשם ַהָּבא ָּברּוְך ְיהָֹוה, was, it is true, a customary form of salutation to persons visiting the feasts, and even the second, ָּנא חוִׁשיָעה , taken from the preceding verse of the same psalm, was a usual cry at the feast of tabernacles and the passover;68 but the addition τῷ υἱῷ Δαυὶδ, to the Son of David, and ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, the King of Israel, shows that the people here applied these general forms to Jesus especially as the Messiah, bid him welcome in a pre-eminent sense, and wished success to his undertaking. In relation to the parties who
- 16. present the homage, Luke’s account is the most circumscribed, for he so connects the spreading of the clothes in the way (v. 36 ) with the immediately preceding context, that he appears to ascribe it, as well as the laying of the clothes on the ass, solely to the disciples, and he expressly attributes the acclamations to the whole multitude of the disciples only (ἅπαν τὸ πλῆθος τῶν μαθητῶν); whereas Matthew and Mark make the homage proceed from the accompanying mass of people. This difference, however, can be easily reconciled; for when Luke speaks of the multitude of the disciples, πλῆθος τῶν μαθητῶν, this means the wider circle of the adherents of Jesus, and, on the other hand, the very great multitude πλεῖστος ὄχλος in Matthew, only means all those who were favourable to him among the multitude. But while the synoptists remain within the limits of the company who were proceeding to the feast, and who were thus the fellow-travellers of Jesus, John, as above noticed, makes the whole solemnity proceed from those who go out of Jerusalem to meet Jesus (v. 13 ), while he represents the multitude who are approaching with Jesus as testifying to the former the resurrection of Lazarus, on account of which, according to John, the solemn escort of Jesus into Jerusalem was prepared (v. 17 f. ). This cause we cannot admit as authentic, inasmuch as we have found critical reasons for doubting the resurrection of Lazarus: but with the alleged cause, the fact itself of the escort is shaken; especially if we reflect, that the dignity of Jesus might appear to demand that the inhabitants of the city of David should have gone forth to bring him in with all solemnity, and that it fully harmonizes with the prevailing characteristics of the representation of the fourth gospel, to describe, before the arrival of Jesus at the feast, how intently the expectations of the people were fixed upon him (vii. 11 ff. , xi. 56 ).
- 17. The last trait in the picture before us, is the displeasure of the enemies of Jesus at the strong attachment to him, exhibited by the people on this occasion. According to John (v. 19 ), the Pharisees said to each other: we see from this that the (lenient) proceedings which we have hitherto adopted are of no avail; all the world is following him (we must interpose, with forcible measures). According to Luke (v. 39 f. ), some Pharisees addressed Jesus as if they expected him to impose silence on his disciples; on which [558]he answers, that if these were silent, the stones would cry out. While in Luke and John this happens during the progress, in Matthew it is only after Jesus has arrived with the procession in the temple, and when the children, even here, continue to cry, Hosanna to the Son of David, that the high priests and scribes direct the attention of Jesus to the impropriety, as it appears to them, whereupon he repulses them with a sentence out of Ps. viii. 3 . (Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise) (v. 15 f. ); a sentence which in the original obviously relates to Jehovah, but which Jesus thus applies to himself. The lamentation of Jesus over Jerusalem, connected by Luke with the entrance, will come under our consideration further on. John, and more particularly Matthew by his phrase τοῦτο δὲ ὅλον γέγονεν, ἵνα πληρωθῇ κ.τ.λ., All this was done that it might be fulfilled, etc. (v. 4 ), unequivocally express the idea that the design, first of God, inasmuch as he ordained this scene, and next of the Messiah, as the participant in the Divine counsels, was, by giving this character to the entrance, to fulfil an ancient prophecy. If Jesus saw in the passage of Zechariah (ix. 9 ),69 a prophecy concerning himself as the Messiah, this cannot have been a knowledge resulting from the higher principle within him; for, even if this prophetic passage ought not to be referred to an historical prince, as Uzziah,70
- 18. 1 2 3 4 or John Hyrcanus,71 but to a messianic individual,72 still the latter, though a pacific, must yet be understood as a temporal prince, and moreover as in peaceful possession of Jerusalem—thus as one altogether different from Jesus. But it appears quite possible for Jesus to have come to such an interpretation in a natural way, since at least the rabbins with decided unanimity interpret the passage of Zechariah of the Messiah.73 Above all, we know that the contradiction which appeared to exist between the insignificant advent here predicted of the Messiah, and the brilliant one which Daniel had foretold, was at a later period commonly reconciled by the doctrine, that according as the Jewish people showed themselves worthy or the contrary, their Messiah would appear in a majestic or a lowly form.74 Now even if this distinction did not exist in the time of Jesus, but only in general a reference of the passage Zech. ix. 9 to the Messiah: still Jesus might imagine that now, on his first appearance, the prophecy of Zechariah must be fulfilled in him, but hereafter, on his second appearance, the prophecy of Daniel. But there is [559]a third possibility; namely, that either an accidental riding into Jerusalem on an ass by Jesus was subsequently interpreted by the Christians in this manner, or that, lest any messianic attribute should be wanting to him, the whole narrative of the entrance was freely composed after the two prophecies and the dogmatic presupposition of a superhuman knowledge on the part of Jesus. [561] Vom Erlöser der Menschen nach unsern drei ersten Evangelien, s. 114. ↑ In a treatise on the history of the Transfiguration, in his neuesten theol. Journal, 1. Bd. 5. Stück, s. 517 ff. Comp. Bauer, hebr. Mythol. 2, s. 233 ff. ↑ Bibl. Comm. 1, s. 534 f. ↑ Olshausen, ut sup. s. 537. ↑
- 19. 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Olshausen, 1, s. 539; comp. s. 178. ↑ Thus Tertull. adv. Marcion, iv. 22; Herder, ut sup. 115 f., with whom also Gratz agrees. Comm. z. Matth. 2, s. 163 f., 169. ↑ Comp. Fritzsche, in Matth., p. 552; Olshausen, 1, s. 523. ↑ Olshausen, ut sup. ↑ Rau, symbola ad illustrandam Evv. de metamorphosi J. Chr. narrationem; Gabler, ut sup. s. 539 ff.; Kuinöl, Comm. z. Matth. p. 459 ff.; Neander, L. J. Chr. s. 474 f. ↑ Schulz, über das Abendmahl, s. 319; Schleiermacher, über den Lukas, s. 148 f.; comp. also Köster, Immanuel, s. 60 f. ↑ Bauer has discerned this, ut sup. s. 237; Fritzsche, p. 556; De Wette, exeg. Handb. 1, 2, s. 56 f.; Weisse, die evang. Gesch. 1, s. 536; and Paulus also partly, exeg. Handb. 2, s. 447 f. ↑ Paulus, exeg. Handb., 2, 436 ff.; L. J. 1, b, s. 7 ff.; Natürliche Geschichte, 3, s. 256 ff. ↑ Ut sup. ↑ Paulus, exeg. Handb., s. 446; Gratz, 2, s. 165 f. ↑ Comp. De Wette, Einleitung in das N. T. § 79. ↑ Thus Schneckenburger, Beiträge, s. 62 ff. ↑ Neander, because he considers the objective reality of the transfiguration doubtful, also finds the silence of the fourth Evangelist a difficulty in this instance (s. 475 f.). ↑ Olshausen, s. 533, Anm. ↑ Vid. Rau, in the Programme quoted in Gabler, neuestes theolog. Journal, 1, 3, s. 506; De Wette, in loc. Matth. ↑ Fritzsche, in Matth., p. 553; Olshausen, 1, s. 541. Still less satisfactory expedients in Gabler, ut sup. and in Matthäi, Religionsgl. der Apostel, 2, s. 596. ↑ This even Paulus admits, 2, s. 442. ↑ Schleiermacher, über den Lukas, s. 149. ↑
- 20. 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 This is an answer to Weisse’s objection, s. 539. ↑ Comp. Jalkut Simeoni, p. 2 f. x. 3, (ap. Wetstein, p. 435): Facies justorum futuro tempore similes erunt soli et luna, cælo et stellis, fulguri, etc. ↑ Bereschith Rabba, xx. 29, (ap. Wetstein): Vestes lucis vestes Adami primi. Pococke, ex Nachmanide (ibid.): Fulgida facta fuit facies Mosis instar solis, Josuæ instar lunæ; quod idem affirmarunt veteres de Adamo. ↑ In Pirke Elieser, ii. there is, according to Wetstein, the following statement: inter docendum radios ex facie ipsius, ut olim e Mosis facie, prodiisse, adeo ut non dignosceret quis, utrum dies esset an nox. ↑ Nizzachon vetus, p. 40, ad Exod. xxxiv. 33 (ap. Wetstein): Ecce Moses magister noster felicis memoriæ, qui homo merus erat, quia Deus de facie ad faciem cum eo locutus est, vultum tam lucentem retulit, ut Judæi vererentur accedere: quanto igitur magis de ipsa divinitate hoc tenere oportet, atque Jesu faciem ob uno orbis cardine ad alterum fulgorem diffundere conveniebat? At non præditus fuit ullo splendore, sed reliquis mortalibus fuit simillimus. Qua propter constat, non esse in eum credendum. ↑ From this parallel with the ascent of the mountain by Moses may perhaps be derived the interval—the ἡμέραι ἓξ—by which the two first Evangelists separate the present event from the discourses detailed in the foregoing chapter. For the history of the adventures of Moses on the mountain begins with a like statement of time, it being said that after the cloud had covered the mountain six days, Moses was called to Jehovah (v. 16 ). Although the point of departure was a totally different one, this statement of time might be retained for the opening of the scene of transfiguration in the history of Jesus. ↑ Vide Bertholdt, Christologia Judæorum, § 15, s. 60 ff. ↑ Debarim Rabba, iii. (Wetstein): Dixit Deus S. B. Mosi: per vitam tuam, quemadmodum vitam tuam posuisti pro Israelitis in hoc mundo, ita tempore futuro, quando Eliam prophetam ad ipsos mittam, vos quo eodem tempore venietis. Comp. Tanchuma f. xlii. 1, ap. Schöttgen 1, s. 149. ↑ This narrative is pronounced to be a mythus by De Wette, Kritik der mos. Gesch. s. 250; comp. exeg. Handb., 1, 1, s. 146 f.; Bertholdt, Christologia Jud. § 15, not. 17; Credner, Einleitung in das N. T. 1, s. 241; Schulz, über das Abendmahl, s. 319, at least admits that there is more or less of the mythical in the various evangelical accounts of the transfiguration, and Fritzsche, in Matt. p. 448 f.
- 21. 32 33 34 35 36 37 and 456 adduces the mythical view of this event not without signs of approval. Compare also Kuinöl, in Matth., p. 459, and Gratz, 2, s. 161 ff. ↑ Plato also in the Symposion (p. 223, B. ff. Steph.), glorifies his Socrates by arranging [546]in a natural manner, and in a comic spirit, a similar group to that which the Evangelists here present in a supernatural manner, and in a tragic spirit. After a bacchanalian entertainment, Socrates outwatches his friends, who lie sleeping around him: as here the disciples around their master; with Socrates there are awake two noble forms alone, the tragic and the comic poet, the two elements of the early Grecian life, which Socrates united in himself: as, with Jesus, the lawgiver and prophet, the two pillars of the Old Testament economy, which in a higher manner were combined in Jesus; lastly, as in Plato both Agathon and Aristophanes at length sleep, and Socrates remains alone in possession of the field: so in the gospel, Moses and Elias at last vanish, and the disciples see Jesus left alone. ↑ Weisse, not satisfied with the interpretation found by me in the mythus, and labouring besides to preserve an historical foundation for the narrative, understands it as a figurative representation in the oriental manner, by one of the three eye-witnesses, of the light which at that time arose on them concerning the destination of Jesus, and especially concerning his relation to the Old Testament theocracy and to the messianic prophecies. According to him, the high mountain symbolizes the height of knowledge which the disciples then attained; the metamorphosis of the form of Jesus, and the splendour of his clothes, are an image of their intuition of the spiritual messianic idea; the cloud which overshadowed the appearance, signifies the dimness and indefiniteness in which the new knowledge faded away, from the inability of the disciples yet to retain it; the proposal of Peter to build tabernacles, is the attempt of this apostle at once to give a fixed dogmatical form to the sublime intuition. Weisse is fearful (s. 543) that this his conception of the history of the transfiguration may also be pronounced mythical: I think not; it is too manifestly allegorical. ↑ Schleiermacher, über den Lukas, s. 160. ↑ Kuinöl and Gratz, in loc. ↑ Thus e.g. Lightfoot, in loc. ↑ Wetstein, Olshausen, in loc., Schleiermacher, ut sup. s. 164, 214. ↑ Vid. De Wette, in loc. ↑
- 22. 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 Fritzsche, in Marc. p. 415: Marcus Matthæi, xix. 1, se auctoritati h. l. adstringit, dicitque, Jesum e Galilæa (cf. ix. 33) profectum esse per Peraeam. Sed auctore Luca, xvii. 11, in Judæam contendit per Samariam itinere brevissimo. ↑ Paulus, 2, s. 293, 554. Comp. Olshausen, 1, s. 583. ↑ Schleiermacher, ut sup. s. 159. ↑ Paulus, 2, s. 294 ff. ↑ Paulus, ut sup. 295 f., 584 f. ↑ Schleiermacher, ut sup. s. 161 f.; Sieffert, über den Urspr., s. 104 ff. With the former agrees, in relation to Luke, Olshausen, ut sup. ↑ Tholuck, Comm. z. Joh., s. 227; Olshausen, 1, s. 771 f. ↑ Tholuck and Olshausen, ut sup. ↑ Paulus, exeg. Handb. 3, a, s. 92 ff., 98 ff.; Schleiermacher, über den Lukas, s. 244 f. ↑ Schleiermacher, ut sup. ↑ Comp. Lücke, 2, s. 432, Anm. ↑ Hase, L. J. § 124. ↑ Comp. De Wette, exeg. Handb. 1, 1, s. 172. ↑ Paulus, 3, a, s. 115; Kuinöl, in Matth., p. 541. ↑ Olshausen, 1, s. 776. ↑ Comm. in Matth., p. 630. His expedient is approved by De Wette, exeg. Handb. 1, 1, s. 173. ↑ Paulus, ut sup. s. 143 f. ↑ Glassius, phil. sacr., p. 172. Thus also Kuinöl and Gratz, in loc. ↑ N. T. Gramm., s. 149. ↑ Eichhorn, allgem. Bibliothek, 5, s. 896 f.; comp. Bolten, Bericht des Matthäus, s. 317 f. ↑ Vide Fritzsche, in loc. This is admitted by Neander also, s. 550, Anm. ↑ Schulz, über das Abendmahl, s. 310 f.; Sieffert, über den Urspr., s. 107 f. ↑
- 23. 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 That the above motive will not suffice to explain the conduct of Jesus, Paulus has also felt; for only the despair on his part of finding a more real and special motive, can account for his becoming in this solitary instance mystical, and embracing the explanation of Justin Martyr, whom he elsewhere invariably attacks, as the author of the perverted ecclesiastical interpretations of the Bible. According to Justin, the ass designated ὑποζύγιον (that is under the yoke), is a symbol of the Jews; the ass never yet ridden, of the Gentiles (Dial. c. Tryph. 53); and Paulus, adopting this idea, endeavours to make it probable that Jesus, by mounting an animal which had never before been ridden, intended to announce himself as the founder and ruler of a new religious community. Exeg. Handb. 3, a, s. 116 ff. ↑ Natürliche Gesch. 3, s. 566 f.; Neander, L. J. Chr., s. 550, Anm. ↑ Weisse, s. 573. ↑ Apol. i. 32: τὸ δὲ δεσμεύων πρὸς ἄμπελον τὸν πῶλον αὐτοῦ—σύμβολον δηλωτικὸν ἦν τῶν γενησομένων τῷ Χριστῷ καὶ τῶν ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ πραχθησομένων. πῶλος γάρ τις ὄνου εἱστήκει ἔν τινι εἰσόδῳ κώμης πρὸς ἄμπελον δεδεμένος ὃν ἐκέλευσεν ἀγαγεῖν αὐτῷ κ.τ.λ. Binding his colt to a vine—was a symbol indicative of what would happen to Christ; for there stood at the entrance of a certain village, bound to a vine, an ass’s colt, which he ordered them to bring to him, etc. ↑ Vid. Schöttgen, horæ, ii. p. 146. ↑ Midrasch Rabba, f. xcviii. ↑ On account of this silence of the fourth Evangelist, even Neander (ut sup.) is in this [557]instance inclined to admit, that a more simple event, owing to the disproportionate importance subsequently attached to it, was unhistorically modified. ↑ Comp. Paulus, in loc. ↑ The citation given by Matthew is a combination of a passage from Isaiah with that of Zechariah. For the words Tell ye the daughter of Zion, εἴπατε τῇ θυγατρὶ Σιὼν, are from Isa. lxii. 11 ; the rest from Zechariah ix. 9 , where the LXX. has with some divergency: ἰδοὺ ὁ βασιλεύς σου ἔρχεταί σοι δίκαιος καὶ σώζων αὐτὸς πραῢς καὶ ἐπιβεβηκὼς ἐπὶ ὑποζύγιον καὶ πῶλον νέον. ↑
- 24. 70 71 72 73 74 Hitzig, über die Abfassungszeit der Orakel, Zach. ix.–xiv. in the Theol. Studien, 1830, 1, s. 36 ff. refers the preceding verse to the warlike deeds of this king, and the one in question to his pacific virtues. ↑ Paulus, exeg. Handb. 3, a, s. 121 ff. ↑ Rosenmüller, Schol. in V. T. 7, 4, s. 274 ff. ↑ In the passage cited Introd., § 14, from Midrasch Coheleth, the description, pauper et insidens asino in Zechariah, is in the very first instance referred to the Goël postremus. This ass of the Messiah was held identical with that of Abraham and Moses, vid. Jalkut Rubeni f. lxxix. 3, 4, ap. Schöttgen, i. s. 169; comp. Eisenmenger, entdecktes Judenthum, 2, s. 697 f. ↑ Sanhedrin f. xcviii. 1 (ap. Wetstein): Dixit R. Alexander: R. Josua f. Levi duobus inter se collatis locis tanquam contrariis visis objecit: scribitur Dan. vii. 13 : et ecce cum nubibus cœli velut filius hominis venit. Et scribitur Zach. ix. 9: pauper et insidens asino. Verum hæc duo loca ita inter se conciliari possunt: nempe, si justitia sua mereantur Israëlitæ, Messias veniet cum nubibus cœli: si autem non mereantur, veniet pauper, et vehetur asino. ↑
- 25. THIRD PART.
- 26. HISTORY OF THE PASSION, DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS. [563]
- 27. [Contents]
- 28. CHAPTER I.
- 29. RELATION OF JESUS TO THE IDEA OF A SUFFERING AND DYING MESSIAH; HIS DISCOURSES ON HIS DEATH, RESURRECTION, AND SECOND ADVENT. [Contents] § 111. DID JESUS IN PRECISE TERMS PREDICT HIS PASSION AND DEATH? According to the gospels, Jesus more than once, and while the result was yet distant,1 predicted to his disciples that sufferings and a violent death awaited him. Moreover, if we trust the synoptical accounts, he did not predict his fate merely in general terms, but specified beforehand the place of his passion, namely, Jerusalem; the time, namely, the approaching passover; the persons from whom he would have to suffer, namely, the chief priests, scribes and Gentiles; the essential form of his passion, namely, crucifixion, in consequence of a judicial sentence; and even its accessory circumstances, namely, scourging, reviling, and spitting (Matt. xvi. 21 , xvii. 12 , 22 f. , xx. 17 ff. , xxvi. 12 with the parall., Luke xiii. 33 ). Between the synoptists and the author of the fourth gospel, there exists a threefold difference in relation to this subject. Firstly and chiefly, in the latter the predictions of Jesus do not appear so clear and intelligible, but are for the most part presented in obscure figurative discourses, concerning which the narrator himself confesses that the disciples understood them not until after the issue (ii. 22 ). In addition to a decided declaration that he will
- 30. voluntarily lay down his life (x. 15 ff. ), Jesus in this gospel is particularly fond of alluding to his approaching death under the expressions ὑψοῦν, ὑψοῦσθαι, to lift up, to be lifted up, in the application of which he seems to vacillate between his exaltation on the cross, and his exaltation to glory (iii. 14 , viii. 28 , xii. 32 ); he compares his approaching exaltation with that of the brazen serpent in the wilderness (iii. 14 ), as, in Matthew, he compares his fate with that of Jonah (xii. 40 ); on another occasion, he speaks of going away whither no man can follow him (vii. 33 ff. , viii. 21 f. ), as, in the synoptists, of a taking away of a bridegroom, which will plunge his friends into mourning (Matt. ix. 15 parall.), and of a cup, which he must drink, and which his disciples will find it hard to partake of with him (Matt. xx. 22 parall.). The two other differences are less marked, but are still observable. One of them is, that while in John the allusions to the violent death of Jesus run in an equal degree through the whole gospel; in the synoptists, the repeated and definite announcements of his death are found only towards the [564]end, partly immediately before, partly during, the last journey; in earlier chapters there occurs, with the exception of the obscure discourse on the sign of Jonah (which we shall soon see to be no prediction of death), only the intimation of a removal (doubtless violent) of the bridegroom. The last difference is, that while according to the three first Evangelists, Jesus imparts those predictions (again with the single exception of the above intimation, Matt. ix. 15 ) only to the confidential circle of his disciples; in John, he utters them in the presence of the people, and even of his enemies. In the critical investigation of these evangelical accounts, we shall proceed from the special to the general, in the following manner. First we shall ask: Is it credible that Jesus had a foreknowledge of so
- 31. many particular features of the fate which awaited him? and next: Is even a general foreknowledge and prediction of his sufferings, on the part of Jesus, probable? in which inquiry, the difference between the representation of John and that of the synoptists, will necessarily come under our consideration. There are two modes of explaining how Jesus could so precisely foreknow the particular circumstances of his passion and death; the one resting on a supernatural, the other on a natural basis. The former appears adequate to solve the problem by the simple position, that before the prophetic spirit, which dwelt in Jesus in the richest plenitude, his destiny must have lain unfolded from the beginning. As, however, Jesus himself, in his announcements of his sufferings, expressly appealed to the Old Testament, the prophecies of which concerning him must be fulfilled in all points (Luke xviii. 31 , comp. xxii. 37 , xxiv. 25 ff. ; Matt. xxvi. 54 ): so the orthodox view ought not to despise this help, but must give to its explanation the modification, that Jesus continually occupied with the prophecies of the Old Testament, may have drawn those particularities out of them, by the aid of the spirit that dwelt within him.2 According to this, while the knowledge of the time of his passion remains consigned to his prophetic presentiment, unless he be supposed to have calculated this out of Daniel, or some similar source; Jesus must have come to regard Jerusalem as the scene of his suffering and death, by contemplating the fate of earlier prophets as a type of his own, the Spirit telling him, that where so many prophets had suffered death, there, à fortiori, must the Messiah also suffer (Luke xiii. 33 ); that his death would be the sequel of a formal sentence, he must have gathered from Isa. liii. 8 , where a judgment ִמְׁשִּפט is spoken of as impending over the servant of God, and from v. 12 , where it is said that he was numbered with the transgressors, ἐν
- 32. τοῖς ἀνόμοις ἐλογίσθη (comp. Luke xxii. 37 ); that his sentence would proceed from the rulers of his own people, he might perhaps have concluded from Ps. cxviii. 22 , where the builders, αἰκοδομοῦντες who reject the corner-stone, are, according to apostolic interpretation (Acts iv. 11 ), the Jewish rulers; that he would be delivered to the Gentiles, he might infer from the fact, that in several plaintive psalms, which are susceptible of a messianic interpretation, the persecuting parties are represented as ָׁשִעיםְר , i.e. heathens; that the precise manner of his death would be crucifixion, he might have deduced, partly from the type of the brazen serpent which was suspended on a pole, Num. xxi. 8 f. (comp. John iii. 14 ), partly from the piercing of the hands and feet, Ps. xxii. 17 , LXX.; lastly, that he would be the object of scorn and personal maltreatment, he might have concluded from passages such as v. 7 ff. in the Psalm above quoted, Isa. l. 6 , etc. Now if the spirit which dwelt in Jesus, and which, according to the orthodox opinion, revealed to him the reference of these prophecies and types to his ultimate destiny, was a spirit of truth: this reference [565]to Jesus must admit of being proved to be the true and original sense of those Old Testament passages. But, to confine ourselves to the principal passages only, a profound grammatical and historical exposition has convincingly shown, for all who are in a condition to liberate themselves from dogmatic presuppositions, that in none of these is there any allusion to the sufferings of Christ. Instead of this, Isa. l. 6 , speaks of the ill usage which the prophets had to experience;3 Isa. liii. of the calamities of the prophetic order, or more probably of the Israelitish people;4 Ps. cxviii. of the unexpected deliverance and exaltation of that people, or of one of their princes;5 while Ps. xxii. is the complaint of an oppressed exile.6 As to the 17th verse of this Psalm , which has been
- 33. interpreted as having reference to the crucifixion of Christ, even presupposing the most improbable interpretation of כארי by perfoderunt, this must in no case be understood literally, but only figuratively, and the image would be derived, not from a crucifixion, but from a chase, or a combat with wild beasts;7 hence the application of this passage to Christ is now only maintained by those with whom it would be lost labour to contend. According to the orthodox view, however, Jesus, in a supernatural manner, by means of his higher nature, discovered in these passages a pre-intimation of the particular features of his passion; but, in that case, since such is not the true sense of these passages, the spirit that dwelt in Jesus cannot have been the spirit of truth, but a lying spirit. Thus the orthodox expositor, so far as he does not exclude himself from the light dispensed by an unprejudiced interpretation of the Old Testament, is driven, for the sake of his own interest, to adopt the natural opinion; namely, that Jesus was led to such an interpretation of Old Testament passages, not by divine inspiration, but by a combination of his own. According to this opinion,8 there was no difficulty in foreseeing that it would be the ruling sacerdotal party to which Jesus must succumb, since, on the one hand, it was pre-eminently embittered against Jesus, on the other, it was in possession of the necessary power; and equally obvious was it that they would make Jerusalem the theatre of his judgment and execution, since this was the centre of their strength; that after being sentenced by the rulers of his people, he would be delivered to the Romans for execution, followed from the limitation of the Jewish judicial power at that period; that crucifixion was the death to which he would be sentenced, might be conjectured from the fact that with the Romans this species of death was a customary infliction, especially on rebels; lastly, that scourging
- 34. and reviling would not be wanting, might likewise be inferred from Roman custom, and the barbarity of judicial proceedings in that age. —But viewing the subject more nearly, how could Jesus so certainly know that Herod, who had directed a threatening attention to his movements (Luke xiii. 31 ), would not forestall the sacerdotal party, and add to the murder of the Baptist, that of his more important follower? And even if he felt himself warranted in believing that real danger threatened him from the side of the hierarchy only (Luke xiii. 33 ); what was his guarantee that one of their tumultuary attempts to murder him would not at last succeed (comp. John viii. 39 , x. 31 ), and that he would not, as Stephen did at a later period, without any further formalities, and without a previous delivery to the Romans, find his death in quite [566]another manner than by the Roman punishment of crucifixion? Lastly, how could he so confidently assert that the very next plot of his enemies, after so many failures, would be successful, and that the very next journey to the passover would be his last?—But the natural explanation also can call to its aid the Old Testament passages, and say: Jesus, whether by the application of a mode of interpretation then current among his countrymen, or under the guidance of his own individual views, gathered from the passages already quoted, a precise idea of the circumstances attendant on the violent end which awaited him as the Messiah.9 But if in the first place it would be difficult to prove, that already in the lifetime of Jesus all these various passages were referred to the Messiah; and if it be equally difficult to conceive that Jesus could independently, prior to the issue, discover such a reference; so it would be a case undistinguishable from a miracle, if the result had actually corresponded to so false an interpretation; moreover, the Old Testament oracles and types will not suffice to
- 35. explain all the particular features in the predictions of Jesus, especially the precise determination of time. If then Jesus cannot have had so precise a foreknowledge of the circumstances of his passion and death, either in a supernatural or a natural way: he cannot have had such a foreknowledge at all: and the minute predictions which the Evangelists put into his mouth must be regarded as a vaticinium post eventum.10 Commentators who have arrived at this conclusion, have not failed to extol the account of John, in opposition to that of the synoptists, on the ground that precisely those traits in the predictions of Jesus which, from their special character, he cannot have uttered, are only found in the synoptists, while John attributes to Jesus no more than indefinite intimations, and distinguishes these from his own interpretation, made after the issue; a plain proof that in his gospel alone we have the discourses of Jesus unfalsified, and in their original form.11 But, regarded more nearly, the case does not stand so that the fourth Evangelist can only be taxed with putting an erroneous interpretation on the otherwise unfalsified declarations of Jesus: for in one passage, at least, he has put into his mouth an expression which, obscurely, it is true, but still unmistakably, determines the manner of his death as crucifixion; and consequently, he has here altered the words of Jesus to correspond with the result. We refer to the expression ὑψωθῆναι, to be lifted up: in those passages of the fourth gospel where Jesus speaks in a passive sense of the Son of Man being lifted up, this expression might possibly mean his exaltation to glory, although in iii. 14 , from the comparison with the serpent in the wilderness, which was well known to have been elevated on a pole, even this becomes a difficulty; but when, as in viii. 28 , he represents the exaltation of the Son of Man as the act of his enemies (ὅταν ὑψώσητε τὸν υἱὸν τ.
- 36. ἀ.), it is obvious that these could not lift him up immediately to glory, but only to the cross; consequently, if the result above stated be admitted as valid, John must himself have framed this expression, or at least have distorted the Aramæan words of Jesus, and hence he essentially falls under the same category with the synoptical writers. That the fourth Evangelist, though the passion and death of Jesus were to him past events, and therefore clearly present to his mind, nevertheless makes Jesus predict them in obscure expressions,—this has its foundation in the entire manner of this writer, whose fondness [567]for the enigmatical and mysterious here happily met the requirement, to give an unintelligible form to prophecies which were not understood. There were sufficient inducements for the Christian legend thus to put into the mouth of Jesus, after the event, a prediction of the particular features of his passion, especially of the ignominious crucifixion. The more the Christ crucified became to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness (1 Cor. i. 23 ), the more need was there to remove this offence by every possible means; and as, among subsequent events, the resurrection especially served as a retrospective cancelling of that shameful death; so it must have been earnestly desired to take the sting from that offensive catastrophe beforehand also, and this could not be done more effectually than by such a minute prediction. For as the most unimportant fact, when prophetically announced, gains importance, by thus being made a link in the chain of a higher knowledge: so the most ignominious fate, when it is predicted as part of a divine plan of salvation, ceases to be ignominious; above all, when the very person over whom such a fate impends, also possesses the prophetic spirit, which enables him to foresee and foretell it, and thus not only suffers, but participates in the divine
- 37. prescience of his sufferings, he manifests himself as the ideal power over those suffering. But the fourth Evangelist has gone still farther on this track; he believes it due to the honour of Jesus to represent him as also the real power over his sufferings, as not having his life taken away by the violence of others, but as resigning it voluntarily (x. 17 f. ): a representation which indeed already finds some countenance in Matt. xxvi. 53 , where Jesus asserts the possibility of praying to the Father for legions of angels, in order to avert his sufferings. [Contents] § 112. THE PREDICTIONS OF JESUS CONCERNING HIS DEATH IN GENERAL; THEIR RELATION TO THE JEWISH IDEA OF THE MESSIAH: DECLARATIONS OF JESUS CONCERNING THE OBJECT AND EFFECTS OF HIS DEATH. If in this manner we subtract from the declarations of Jesus concerning his approaching fate, attributed to him in the gospels, all which regards the particular circumstances of this catastrophe; there still remains on the part of Jesus the general announcement, that suffering and death awaited him, and also that this part of his career was a fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies relative to the Messiah. As, however, the principal passages cited from the Old Testament, which treat of suffering and death, are only by mistake
- 38. referred to the Messiah, while others, as Dan. ix. 26 ; Zech. xii. 10 , have not this signification:12 the orthodox, above all, must again beware of attributing so false an interpretation of these prophecies, to the supernatural principle in Jesus. That instead of this, Jesus might possibly, by a purely natural combination, have educed the general result, that since he had made the hierarchy of his nation his implacable enemies, he had, in so far as he was resolved not to swerve from the path of his destination, the worst to fear from their revenge and authority (John x. 11 ff. ); that from the fate of former prophets (Matt. v. 12 , xxi. 33 ff. ; Luke xiii. 33 f. ), and isolated passages bearing such an interpretation, he might prognosticate a similar end to his own career, and accordingly predict to his followers that earlier or later a violent death awaited him—this it would be a needless overstraining of [568]the supranaturalistic view any longer to deny, and the rational mode of considering the subject should be admitted.13 It may appear surprising if, after this admission, we still put the question, whether, according to the New Testament representation, it be probable that Jesus actually uttered such a prediction? since, certainly, a general announcement of his violent death is the least which the evangelical accounts appear to contain, but our meaning in the question is this: is the sequel, especially the conduct of the disciples, so described in the gospels, as to be reconcilable with a prior disclosure of Jesus relative to the sufferings which awaited him? Now the express statements of the Evangelists do not merely tend to show that the disciples did not understand the discourses of Jesus on his coming death, in the sense that they did not know how to adjust these facts in their own minds, or to make them tally with their preconceived ideas concerning the Messiah,—a difficulty which drew from Peter the first time that Jesus announced his death, the
- 39. exclamation: Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee;— for we find the words of Mark (ix. 32) , But they understood not that saying, οἱ δὲ ἠγνόουν τὸ ρῆμα, thus amplified in Luke: and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not, καί ἠν παρακεκαλυμμένον ἀπ’ αὐτῶν ἵνα μὴ αἴσθωνται αὐτό (ix. 45 ); and the latter Evangelist on another occasion says: and they understood none of these things, and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things that were spoken, καὶ αὐτοὶ οὐδὲν τούτων συνῆκαν, καὶ ἠν τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο κεκρυμμένον ἀπ’ αὐτων, καὶ οὐκ ἐγίνωσκον τὰ λεγόμενα (xviii. 34 ): expressions which appear to imply that the disciples absolutely did not understand what the words of Jesus meant. In accordance with this, the condemnation and execution of Jesus fall upon them as a blow for which they are entirely unprepared, and consequently annihilate all the hopes which they had fixed on him as the Messiah (Luke xxiv. 20 f. , The chief priests and our rulers have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel). But had Jesus spoken of his death to the disciples with such perfect openness (παῤῥησίᾳ, Mark viii. 32 ), they must necessarily have understood his clear words and detailed discourses, and had he besides shown them that his death was foreshadowed in the messianic prophecies of the Old Testament, and was consequently a part of the Messiah’s destination (Luke xviii. 31 , xxii. 37 ), they could not, when his death actually ensued, have so entirely lost all belief in his messiahship. It is true that the Wolfenbüttel Fragmentist is wrong in his attempt to show in the conduct of Jesus, as described by the Evangelists, indications that his death was unexpected even to himself; but, looking merely at the conduct of the disciples, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion which that writer draws, namely, that to judge by that conduct, Jesus cannot have made any antecedent disclosure to his disciples
- 40. concerning his death; on the contrary, they appear to the very last moment to have held the common opinion on this matter, and only to have adopted the characteristics of suffering and death into their conception of the Messiah, after the death of Jesus had unexpectedly come upon them.14 At all events we have before us the following dilemma: either the statements of the Evangelists as to the inability of the disciples to understand the predictions of Jesus, and their surprise at his death, are unhistorically exaggerated; or the decided declarations of Jesus concerning the death which awaited him, were composed ex eventu, nay, it becomes doubtful whether he even in general predicted his death as a part of his messianic destiny. On both sides, the legend might be led into [569]unhistorical representations. For the fabrication of a prediction of his death in general, there were the same reasons which we have above shown to be an adequate motive for attributing to him a prognostication of the particular features of his passion: to the fiction of so total a want of comprehension in the disciples, an inducement might be found, on the one hand, in the desire to exhibit the profoundness of the mystery of a suffering Messiah revealed by Jesus, through the inability of the disciples to understand it; on the other, in the fact that in the evangelical tradition the disciples were likened to unconverted Jews and heathens, to whom anything was more intelligible than the death of the Messiah. In order to decide between these alternatives, we must first examine whether, prior to the death of Jesus, and independently of that event, the messianic ideas of the age included the characteristics of suffering and death. If already in the lifetime of Jesus it was the Jewish opinion that the Messiah must die a violent death, then it is highly probable that Jesus imbibed this idea as a part of his convictions, and communicated it to his disciples; who, in that case,