4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. 5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. 7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. 8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 9 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: 10 For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: Il And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Or, fall down before me. 12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 13 And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season. 14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. 16 And he came to "Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. 17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears. 22 And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son? 23 And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. 24 And he said, Verily I say unto you, No 'prophet is accepted in his own country. 25 But I tell you of a truth, 'many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; 26 But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. 27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. 28 And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29 And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the "brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. 30 But he passing through the midst of them went his way, 31 And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days. 32 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power. 10 33 And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, 34 Saying, "Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God. 35 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not. 36 And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out. 37 And the fame of him went out into every place of the country round about. 38"And he arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon's house. And Simon's wife's mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought him for her. 39 And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them. 40 Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them. 41 13 And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they kn w that he was Christ. 42 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them. 43 And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent. 44 And he preached in the synagogues of Galilee. 8 Or, edge. ¡l Or, Away. verse 16. "He went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read." &c.-It may occur to some readers to ask. how it was that Jesus, although not of the tribe of Levi, was allowed to read and expound the Scripture in the synagogues? There was an officer of the synagogue, whose duty it was to superintend its services, to offer up the public prayers, and to preach when there was no one else to perform that office. It was not his proper duty to read the Scriptures; but the members of the synagogue being for the most part known to him, he called out those whom he knew to be properly qualified, and desired them to read. He called seven persons in succession-first a priest, then a Levite, and then five Israelites of any tribe or station. And the readings for the day being subdivided into seven sections, one was read by each person. Those who wished to read might offer themselves without being called; but they could not read till the presiding officer had signified his approbation. As Jesus was a member of the synagogue at Nazareth, he was perhaps called out to read on this occasion, or he may possibly have offered himself without being asked. Permission to read or preach was, in general, readily granted to qualified persons, and particularly to prophets, workers of miracles, and to such as appeared in the character of heads or leading persons of new sects→ probably that the audience might be fairly informed of their principles, and not condemn them unheard and unknown. In the present case, the townspeople of Jesus had heard of his miracles at Capernaum, which might make them parti cularly anxious to hear what he would say, and explains the fixed attention with which they prepared to listen to him. The Scripture was read standing-the reader might not even lean: but an exception was made for the wook of Esther, the reader of which might sit if he pleased. 17. "There was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias."-Why this book in particular? Because there was an appointed portion of the Law, and another from the Prophets or other sacred writings, for every sabbath of the year; and it appears that the readings could be from no other portion than those thus settled. Originally the Law only was read, its five books being divided into as many sections (called Paraschioth) as there were sabbaths in the year. But the reading of the Law having been forbidden by Antiochus Epiphanes (163 B.C.), the Jews selected from the prophets and other sacred books, an equal number of sections which they read on the sabbaths instead of the former, and which were called Haphtoroth. When they afterwards recovered their liberty, they resumed the reading of the Law; but instead of discontinuing the sections from the Prophets and the Hagiographa, they thenceforth read them as an additional service. Both services were read in the original Hebrew, and were interpreted to the people by a proper officer in the language which had become vernacular. The reader spoke in a very low tone to the interpreter, who stood by his side and pronounced aloud in Chaldee that which had thus been communicated to him. The ensuing discourse or exposition, if there were any, was of course delivered in the vernacular tongue. The Law was read first, and with much more strict adherence to rule and regularity, than was required in the reading of the prophets, in which considerable latitude was allowed to the reader, provided he confined himself to the portion allotted to the day. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that our Lord read from the lesson of the day, under the arrangement stated in the preceding note. The roll delivered to Jesus probably contained only the book of Isaiah, which he may be supposed to have unrolled till he came to the section for the day. On this subject there does not seem to have been any certain rule: sometimes the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa, formed three separate rolls or volumes, while at others one large book, or several small ones put together, formed a distinct roll. 20. "The minister."-This minister or servant of the synagogue, appears to be the same whom the Jewish writers call the Chazan (1). The duties are not clearly defined: but he appears to have been an inferior officer, who had no duties of reading or instruction to perform, but who attended to what may be called the keeping of the synagogue. One of his functions was to take charge of the sacred books-to produce them from the chest, deliver them to the reader, and to receive them back again. "Sat down."-It was the custom in the synagogues, for a person who undertook to expound or teach, to sit down when he had finished reading, and commence his address to the congregation. Indeed it was customary for all teachers, in all places, to deliver their instructions in a sitting posture. 31. “Capernaum."-This town, so honoured by becoming the temporary residence of our Lord after his expulsion from Nazareth, is not mentioned in the Old Testament, and was therefore probably one of those built by the Jews subsequent to their return from Babylon. Its destruction was foretold by Jesus (x. 15); and this has been so thoroughly fulfilled, that even its site cannot now with any certainty be determined. It was certainly situated near the lake of Tiberias, and probably, as Reland and others conjecture, on its north-western shore. On this part of the coast, at a place called Tel-hoom (Telhoue of Pococke, and Tal-hhewm of Buckingham), occur some considerable ruins, which are supposed by Burckhardt and Buckingham to mark the site of Capernaum; for which the evidence, certainly not conclusive, appears to be, that Capernaum is probably to be sought in this quarter, and that the termination of its name (Capharnaoom) has some resemblance to that of Tel-hoom. These ruins extend considerably along the northern end of the lake, more than ten miles N.N.E. of Tiberias, near a rivulet called El Eshe. Though now only a station of Bedouins, there are evident marks that the place was once a considerable settlement, as ruined buildings, hewn stones, broken pottery, &c. are scattered around, in all directions, over a wide extent of ground. Among these, the foundations of a large and magnificent edifice are still to be traced, although there remains not sufficient of the building itself to decide whether it was a temple or a palace. There are about twenty pedestals of columns within the area of this edifice, besides many others overturned and removed. All the capitals are of the Corinthian order and of large size. The whole has the appearance of great antiquity, both from its outward appearance and almost complete destruction; but the style of the architecture is evidently Roman. The blocks of this great edifice are extremely large, and these, as well as the materials of the smaller buildings, and the fragments scattered around in every direction, are chiefly of the black porous stone which abounds throughout the western shores of the lake. Some masses of coarse white marble are seen, however, in the centre of the large ruin, and some subterraneous work appears to have been constructed there of that substance. The remains are more fully described by Buckingham. See also Burckhardt's 'Syria,' p. 319. From an attentive consideration of our Saviour's journeys to and from Capernaum, and his voyages thence across the lake, we incline to think that it could not have stood so near the northern end of the lake as this Tel-hoom; and that it must have been nearer to Tiberias. Besides, although Capernaum was "exalted unto heaven" by our Lord's residence and preaching, it may be doubted whether it was so important a town as Tel-hoom appears to have been; else it would probably have been noticed, on some occasion or other, by Josephus. But he only mentions a fine fountain of excellent water which the people of the country called Capharnaum, and which, we may suppose, gave its name to the town, or received it therefrom. As the inhabitants are remarkable for preserving the ancient names of places, we might expect its site to be indicated by some more resembling name than Tel-hoom. When Dr. Richardson was near the village of Mensura, about six miles west of the lake, he asked some natives if they knew such a place as Capernaum. They answered, "Cavernahum va Chorasi,-they are quite near, but in ruins." This is an important circumstance, from their joining Chorasin, which the Doctor had not named, to Capernaum,-as did our Saviour in his famous denunciation; and from their adding, that they were in ruins, whereas they could not have known but that the inquirer had in view an existing town or village. By "quite near," they probably meant the nearest part of the shore of the lake, which, from Mensura, would be a point about four miles S.S.W. of Tel-hoom, and eight nearly north of Tiberias-a situation which agrees much better than any other with the intimations which may be collected from the Gospels. Moreover, Bishop Pococke found just in this neighbourhood a fine fountain, which ran off in a stream through the plain to the lake, and which he supposed might correspond to the spring called Capharnaum, mentioned by Josephus. Future travellers will probably make more careful inquiries and researches: and meanwhile the site of Capernaum must be regarded as very uncertain. Capernaum still existed in the sixth century, when it was visited by Antoninus Mastyr, who mentions a church erected over the spot where St. Peter's house was supposed to have stood: and the old rhyming traveller, whose work was printed by Purchas from the MS. in Sir R. Cotton's library, seems to mention the site as being known in his time (about 400 years since). The following couplet occurs between those in which he mentions mount Tabor and the sea of Galilee: "There is that cite that hight Cafarnaum Where Crist many miraclez hath don." CHAPTER V. 1 Christ teacheth the people out of Peter's ship: 4 in a miraculous taking of fishes, sheweth how he will make him and his partners fishers of men: 12 cleanseth the leper: 16 prayeth in the wilderness 18 healeth one sick of the palsy: 27 calleth Matthew the Publican: 29 eateth with sinners, as being the physician of souls: 34 foretelleth the fastings and afflictions of the apostles after his ascension: 36 and likeneth fainthearted and weak disciples to old bottles and worn garments. AND 'it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. 3 And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. 4 Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. 5 And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. 6 And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. 7 And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. 1 Matt 4. 18. 8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. 9 For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken : 10 And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. 11 And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him. 14 And he charged him to tell no man : but go, and shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. 15 But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities. 16 And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed. 17 And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judæa, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. 18 And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to ay him before him. 19 And when they could not find by what vay they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, nd let him down through the tiling with is couch into the midst before Jesus. 20 And when he saw their faith, he said nto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. 21 And the Scribes and the Pharisees gan to reason, saying, Who is this which caketh blasphemies? Who can forgive ns, but God alone? 22 But when Jesus perceived their oughts, he answering said unto them, hat reason ye in your hearts? 23 Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk? 24 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go unto thine house. 25 And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. 26 And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day. 27 And after these things he went forth, and saw a Publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me. 28 And he left all, rose up, and followed him. 29 And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of Publicans and of others that sat down with them. 30 But their Scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with Publicans and sinners? 31 And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. 32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. 33 And they said unto him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink? 34 And he said unto them, Can'ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? 35 But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. 36 And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. 37 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. 38 But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved. 39 No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better. |