Supernatural Religion Volume III Part 25

simply because they were composed with the desire to glorify him.

According to the Synoptics, when Jesus is led away to be crucified, the Roman guard entrusted with the duty of executing the cruel sentence find a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, and compel him to carry the cross.(1) It was customary for those condemned to crucifixion to carry the cross, or at least the main portion of it, themselves to the place of execution, and no explanation is given by the Synoptists for the deviation from this practice which they relate. The fourth Gospel, however, does not appear to know anything of this incident or of Simon of Cyrene, but distinctly states that Jesus bore his own cross.(2) On the way to Golgotha, according to the third Gospel, Jesus is followed by a great mult.i.tude of the people, and of women who were bewailing and lamenting him, and he addresses to them a few prophetic sentences.(3) We might be surprised at the singular fact that there is no reference to this incident in any other Gospel, and that words of Jesus, so weighty in themselves and spoken at so supreme a moment, should not elsewhere have been recorded, but for the fact that, from internal evidence, the address must be a.s.signed to a period subsequent to the destruction of Jerusalem. The other evangelists may, therefore, well ignore it.

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It was the custom to give those about to be crucified a draught of wine containing some strong opiate, which in some degree alleviated the intense suffering of that mode of death. Mark(1) probably refers to this (xv. 23) when he states that, on reaching the place of execution, "they gave him wine [------] mingled with myrrh." The fourth Gospel has nothing of this. Matthew says (xxvii. 34): "They gave him vinegar [------] to drink mingled with gall"(2) [------]. Even if, instead of [------] with the Alexandrian and a majority of MSS., we read [------], "wine," with the Sinaitic, Vatican, and some other ancient codices, this is a curious statement, and is well worthy of a moment's notice as suggestive of the way in which these narratives were written.

The conception of a suffering Messiah, it is well known, was more particularly supported, by New Testament writers, by attributing a Messianic character to Ps. xxii., lxix., and Isaiah liii., and throughout the narrative of the Pa.s.sion we are perpetually referred to these and other Scriptures as finding their fulfilment in the sufferings of Jesus. The first Synoptist found in Ps. lxix. 21 (Sept. lxviii. 21): "They gave me also gall [------] for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar [------] to drink;" and apparently in order to make the supposed fulfilment correspond as closely as possible, he combined the "gall" of the food with the vinegar or wine in strangely literal fashion,(3) very characteristic, however, of

1 We shall, for the sake of brevity, call the Gospels by the names a.s.signed to them in the Canon.

2 There have been many attempts to explain away [------], and to make it mean either a species of Vermuth or any bitter substance (Olahausen, Leidensgeech., 168); but the great ma.s.s of critics rightly retain its meaning, "Gall."

So Ewald, Meyer, Bleek, Strauss, Weisse, Schenkel, Yolk-mar, Alford, Wordsworth, &c, &c.

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the whole of the evangelists. Luke, who seems not to have understood the custom known perhaps to Mark, represents (xxiii. 36) the soldiers as mocking Jesus by "offering him vinegar "(l) [------]; he omits the gall, but probably refers to the same Psalm without being so falsely literal as Matthew.

We need not enter into the discussion as to the chronology of the Pa.s.sion week, regarding which there is so much discrepancy in the accounts of the fourth Gospel and of the Synoptics, nor shall we pause minutely to deal with the irreconcilable difference which, it is admitted,(2) exists in their statement of the hours at which the events of the last fatal day occurred. The fourth Gospel (xix. 4) represents Pilate as bringing Jesus forth to the Jews "about the sixth hour"

(noon). Mark (xv. 25), in obvious agreement with the other Synoptics as further statements prove, distinctly says: "And it was the third hour (9 o'clock a.m.), and they crucified him." At the sixth hour (noon), according to the three Synoptists, there was darkness over the earth till about the ninth hour (3 o'clock p.m.), shortly after which time

1 Luke omits the subsequent offer of "vinegar" (probably the Pasco of the Roman soldiers) mentioned by the other Evangelists. We presume the reference in xxiii. 36 to be the same as the act described in Mt xxvii. 34 and Mk. xv. 23.

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Jesus expired.(1) As, according to the fourth Gospel, the sentence was not even pa.s.sed before midday, and some time must be allowed for preparation and going to the place of execution, it is clear that there is a very wide discrepancy between the hours at which Jesus was crucified and died, unless, as regards the latter point, we take agreement in all as to the hour of death. In this case, commencing at the hour of the fourth Gospel and ending with that of the Synoptics, Jesus must have expired after being less than three hours on the cross.

According to the Synoptics, and also, if we a.s.sign a later hour for the death, according to the fourth Gospel, he cannot have been more than six hours on the cross. We shall presently see that this remarkably rapid death has an important bearing upon the history and the views formed regarding it. It is known that crucifixion, besides being the most shameful mode of death, and indeed chiefly reserved for slaves and the lowest criminals, was one of the most lingering and atrociously cruel punishments ever invented by the malignity of man. Persons crucified, it is stated and admitted,(2) generally lived for at least twelve hours, and sometimes even survived the excruciating tortures of the cross for three days. We shall not further antic.i.p.ate remarks which must hereafter be made regarding this.

We need not do more than again point out that no two of the Gospels agree upon so simple, yet important, a point as the inscription on the cross.(3) It is argued that "a close

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examination of the narratives furnishes no sufficient reason for supposing that all proposed to give the same or the entire inscription,"

and, after some curious reasoning, it is concluded that "there is at least no possibility of showing any inconsistency on the strictly literal interpretation of the words of the evangelist."(1) On the contrary, we had ventured to suppose that, in giving a form of words said to have been affixed to the cross, the evangelists intended to give the form actually used, and consequently "the same" and "entire inscription," which must have been short; and we consider it quite inconceivable that such was not their deliberate intention, however imperfectly fulfilled.

We pa.s.s on merely to notice a curious point in connection with an incident related by all the Gospels. It is stated that the Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus divided his garments amongst them, casting lots to determine what part each should take. The clothing of criminals executed was the perquisite of the soldiers who performed the duty, and there is nothing improbable in the story that the four soldiers decided by lot the part.i.tion of the garments--indeed there is every reason to suppose that such was the practice. The incident is mentioned as the direct fulfilment of the. Ps. xxii. 18, which is quoted literally from the Septuagint version (xxi. 18) by the author of the fourth Gospel.

He did not, however, understand the pa.s.sage, or disregarded its true meaning,(2) and in order to make the incident accord

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better, as he supposed, with the prophetic Psalm, he represents that the soldiers amicably parted the rest of his garments amongst them without lot, but cast lots for the coat, which was without seam: xix. 24. "They said, therefore, among themselves: Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be; that the Scripture might be fulfilled: They parted my garments among them, and for my vesture they cast lots. These things, therefore, the soldiers did." The evangelist does not perceive that the two parts of the sentence in the Psalm really refer to the same action, but exhibits the part.i.tion of the garments and the lots for the vesture as separately fulfilled. The Synoptists apparently divide the whole by lot.(1) They do not expressly refer to the Psalm, however, except in the received text of Matth. xxvii. 35, into which and some other MSS. the quotation has been interpolated.(2) That the narrative of the Gospels, instead of being independent and genuine history, is constructed upon the lines of supposed Messianic Psalms and pa.s.sages of the Old Testament will become increasingly evident as we proceed.

It is stated by all the Gospels that two malefactors--the first and second calling them "robbers"--were crucified with Jesus, the one on the right hand and the other on the left. The statement in Mark xv. 28, that this fulfilled Isaiah liii. 12, which is found in our received text, is omitted by all the oldest codices, and is an interpolation,(2) but we shall hereafter have to speak of this point in connection with another matter, and we now

2 "Certainly an interpolation." Wettcott, Int. to Study of Gospels, p. 325, n. 2.

3 "Certainly an interpolation." Westcott, lb. p. 326, n. 5.

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merely point out that, though the verse was thus inserted here, it is placed in the mouth of Jesus himself by the third Synoptist (xxii. 37), and the whole pa.s.sage from which it was taken has evidently largely influenced the composition of the narrative before us. According to the first and second Gospels,(1) the robbers joined with the chief priests and the scribes and elders and those who pa.s.sed by in mocking and reviling Jesus. This is directly contradicted by the third Synoptist, who states that only one of the malefactors did so (xxiii. 39 flf.): "But the other answering rebuked him and said: Dost thou not even fear G.o.d seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man did nothing amiss. And he said: Jesus, remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom.

And he said unto him: Verily, I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." It requires very little examination to detect that this story is legendary,(2) and cannot be maintained as historical. Those who dwell upon its symbolical character(3) do nothing to establish its veracity. This exemplary robber speaks like an Apostle, and in praying Jesus as the Messiah to remember him when he came into his kingdom, he shows much more than apostolic appreciation of the claims and character of Jesus. The

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reply of Jesus, moreover, contains a statement not only wholly contradictory of Jewish belief as to the place of departed spirits, but of all Christian doctrine at the time as to the descent of Jesus into Hades. Into this, however, it is needless for us to go.(1) Not only do the other Gospels show no knowledge of so interesting an episode, but, as we have pointed out, the first and second Synoptics positively exclude it. We shall see, moreover, that there is a serious difficulty in understanding how this conversation on the cross, which is so exclusively the property of the third Synoptist, could have been reported to him.

The Synoptics represent the pa.s.sers by and the chief priests, scribes, and elders, as mocking Jesus as he hung on the cross. The fourth Gospel preserves total silence as to all this. It is curious, also, that the mocking is based upon that described in the Psalm xxii., to which we have already several times had to refer. In v. 7 f. we have: "All they that see me laughed me to scorn: they shot out the lip; they shook the head (saying), 8. He trusted on the Lord, let him deliver him, let him save him (seeing) that he delighteth in him."(2) Compare with this Mt.

xxvii. 39 ff., Mk. xv. 29 ff., Luke xxiii 35. Is it possible to suppose that the chief priests and elders and scribes could actually have quoted the words of this Psalm, there put into the mouth of the Psalmist's enemies, as the first Synoptist represents (xxvii 43)?(3) It is obvious that the speeches ascribed

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to the chief priests and elders can be nothing more than the expressions which the writers considered suitable to them, and the fact that they seek their inspiration in a Psalm which they suppose to be Messianic is suggestive.

We have already mentioned that the fourth Gospel says nothing of any mocking speeches. The author, however, narrates an episode (xix. 25-27) in which the dying Jesus is represented as confiding his mother to the care of "the disciple whom he loved," of which in their turn the Synoptists seem to be perfectly ignorant. We have already elsewhere remarked that there is no evidence whatever that there was any disciple whom Jesus specially loved, except the repeated statement in this Gospel. No other work of the New Testament contains a hint of such an individual, and much less that he was the Apostle John. Nor is there any evidence that any one of the disciples took the mother of Jesus to his own home. There is, therefore, no external confirmation of this episode; but there is, on the contrary, much which leads to the conclusion that it is not historical.(1) There has been much discussion as to whether four women are mentioned (xix. 25), or whether "his mother's sister" is represented as "Mary, the wife of Clopas," or was a different person.

There are, we think, reasons for concluding that there were four, but in the doubt we shall not base any argument on the point. The Synoptics(2) distinctly state that "the women that followed him from Galilee," among which were "Mary Magdalene and Mary

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the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of Zebedee's sons,"(l) and, as the third Synoptic says, "all his acquaintance"(2) were standing "afar off" [------]. They are unanimous in saying this, and there is every reason for supposing that they are correct.(3) This is consequently a contradiction of the account in the fourth Gospel that John and the women were standing "by the cross of Jesus." Olshausen, Lucke and others suggest that they subsequently came from a distance up to the cross, but the statement of the Synoptists is made at the close, and after this scene is supposed to have taken place. The opposite conjecture, that from standing close to the cross they removed to a distance has little to recommend it. Both explanations are equally arbitrary and unsupported by evidence.

It may be well, in connection with this, to refer to the various sayings and cries ascribed by the different evangelists to Jesus on the cross.

We have already mentioned the conversation with the "penitent thief,"

which is peculiar to the third Gospel, and now that with the "beloved disciple," which is only in the fourth. The third Synoptic(4) states that, on being crucified, Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," a saying which is in the spirit of Jesus and worthy of him, but of which the other Gospels do not take any notice.(5) The fourth Gospel again has a cry (xix. 28): "After this, Jesus knowing that all things are now fulfilled, that the Scripture might be accomplished, saith:

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I thirst."(1) The majority of critics(2) understand by this that "I thirst" is said in order "that the Scripture might be fulfilled" by the offer of the vinegar, related in the following verse. The Scripture referred to is of course Ps. lxix. 21: "They gave me also gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar [------] to drink;" which we have already quoted in connection with Matth. xxvii. 34. The third Synoptic (xxiii. 36) represents the vinegar as being offered in mockery at a much earlier period, and Matthew and Mark(3) connect the offer of the vinegar with quite a different cry from that in the fourth Gospel.

Nothing could be more natural than that, after protracted agony, the patient sufferer should cry: "I thirst," but the dogmatic purpose, which dictates the whole narrative in the fourth Gospel, is rendered obvious by the reference of such a cry to a supposed Messianic prophecy. This is further displayed by the statement (v. 29) that the sponge with vinegar was put "upon hyssop" [------],--the two Synoptics have "on a reed"

[------],--which the Author probably uses in a.s.sociation with the paschal lamb,(4) an idea present to his mind throughout the

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pa.s.sion. The first and second Synoptics(1) represent the last cry of Jesus to have been a quotation from Ps. xxii. 1: "Eli (or Mk., Eloi), Eli, lema sabacthani? that is to say: My G.o.d, my G.o.d, why didst thou forsake me?" This, according to them, evidently, was the last articulate utterance of the expiring Master, for they merely add that "when he cried again with a loud voice," Jesus yielded up his spirit.(2) Neither of the other Gospels has any mention of this cry. The third Gospel subst.i.tutes: "And when Jesus cried with a loud voice, he said: Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit, and having said this he expired."(3) This is an almost literal quotation from the Septuagint version of Ps.

x.x.xi. 5. The fourth Gospel has a totally different cry (xix. 30), for, on receiving the vinegar, which accomplished the Scripture, he represents Jesus as saying: "It is finished" [------], and immediately expiring. It will be observed that seven sayings are attributed to Jesus on the cross, of which the first two Gospels have only one, the third Synoptic three, and the fourth Gospel three. We do not intend to express any opinion here in favour of any of these, but we merely point out the remarkable fact that, with the exception of the one cry in the first two Synoptics, each Gospel has ascribed different sayings to the dying Master, and not only no two of them agree, but in some important instances the statement of the one evangelist seems absolutely to exclude the accounts of the others. Every one knows the hackneyed explanation of apologists, but in works which repeat each other so much elsewhere, it certainly is a curious phenomenon that there is so little

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agreement here. If all the Master's disciples "forsook him and fled,"(1) and his few friends and acquaintances stood "afar off" regarding his sufferings, it is readily conceivable that pious tradition had unlimited play. We must, however, return to the cry recorded in Matthew and Mark,(2) the only one about which two witnesses agree. Both of them give this quotation from Ps. xxii. 1 in Aramaic: Eli (Mark: Eloi), Eli,(3) lema sabacthani. The purpose is clearly to enable the reader to understand what follows, which we quote from the first Gospel: "And some of them that stood there, when they heard it said: This man calleth for Elijah.... The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elijah cometh to save him."(4) It is impossible to confuse "Eli" or "Eloi" with "Elijahu"(5) and the explanations suggested by apologists are not sufficient to remove a difficulty which seems to betray the legendary character of the statement. The mistake of supposing that Jesus called for Elijah could not possibly have been made by those who spoke Aramaic; that strangers not perfectly understanding Aramaic should be here intended cannot be maintained, for the suggestion is represented as adopted by "the rest." The Roman soldiers had probably never heard of Elijah; and there is nothing whatever to support the allegation of mockery(6) as accounting for the singular

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episode. The verse of the Psalm was too well known to the Jews to admit of any suggested play upon words.

The three Synoptics state that, from the sixth hour (mid-day) to the ninth (3 o'clock), "there was darkness over all the earth" [------].(1) The third Gospel adds: "the sun having failed" [------](2)

By the term "all the earth" some critics(3) maintain that the evangelist merely meant the Holy Land,(4) whilst others hold that he uses the expression in its literal sense.(5) The fourth Gospel takes no notice of this darkness. Such a phenomenon is not a trifle to be ignored in any account of the crucifixion, if it actually occurred. The omission of all mention of it either amounts to a denial of its occurrence or betrays most suspicious familiarity with supernatural interference. There have been many efforts made to explain this darkness naturally, or at least to find some allusion to it in contemporary history, all of which have signally failed. As the moon was at the full, it is admitted that the darkness could not have been an eclipse.(6) The Fathers

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