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Messiah. These branches also bore the name of Hosannah, as well as all the days of the feast. In the same manner was Jesus Christ conducted into Jerusalem by the believing Jews, who, considering him to be the promised Messiah, expressed their boundless joy at finding in him the accomplishment of those petitions, which they had so often offered to God for his coming, at the feast of Tabernacles (Matt. xxi. 8. 9.) During its continuance, they walked in procession round the altar with the above mentioned branches in their hands, amid the sound of trumpets, singing Hosanna; and on the last or seventh day of the feast, they compassed the altar seven times. This was called the great Hosanna. To this last ceremony St. John probably alludes Rev. vii. 9. 10. where he describes the saints as standing before the throne, “clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands," &c.

XXI.-12. "And cast out all those that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers." To supply the Jews who came to Jerusalem from all parts of the Roman empire to pay the half-shekel with coins current there, the money changers stationed themselves at tables in the courts of the temple, and chiefly, it should seem, in the court of the Gentiles, for which they exacted a small fee, kolbon. It was the tables on which these men trafficked for this unholy gain, which were overturned by Jesus Christ. The money changers (St. Matthew xxi. 12. and St. John ii. 14.) were also those who made a profit by exchanging money. They supplied the Jews, who came from distant parts of Judæa and other parts of the Roman empire, with money, to be received back at their respective homes, or which perhaps they had paid before they commenced their journey. It is likewise probable that they exchanged foreign coins for such as were current at Jerusalem.-Horne, vol. iii. p. 178. "And the seats of them that sold doves." Selden (de Diis Syris, Syntag. ii. c. iii. p. 276) tells us he had learned from

Ferdinandus Polonus, that the keepers and sellers of pigeons were looked upon as men of infamous character among the Jews and held in no better estimation than thieves, gamblers, and the like; mentioning at the same time the opinion of Scaliger, that the persons here spoken of were those who taught pigeons to fly and carry messages.--Burder's O. Customs, vol. ii. p. 306. XXI.-16. "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise." This is a quotation from Psal. viii. 2. and varies a little from the original Hebrew, which reads-Thou hast ordained strength. St. Matthew, however, appears to quote from the Greek of the Septuagint which reads as he has got it.

XXI.-19. "And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, &c." The fig trees of Palestine are of three kinds: 1st. The untimely fig, which puts forth at the vernal equinox, and before it is ripe is called the green fig, but when it is ripe the untimely fig. (Sol. Song ii. 13. Jer. xxiv. 2. Hos. ix. 3.) It comes to maturity towards the end of June (Matt. xxi. 19. Mark xi. 13) and in flavor surpasses the other kinds. 2d. The summer or dry fig: it appears about the middle of June and is ripe in August, 3d. The winter fig, which germinates in August, and does not ripen until about the end of November; it is longer and of a browner colour than the others. All figs, when ripe, but especially the untimely, fall spontaneously. (Nahum. iii. 12.) The early figs are eaten, but some are dried in the sun, and preserved in masses which are called cakes of figs in 1 Sam. xxv. 18. xxx. 12. 1 Chron. xii. 40. It is well known that the fruit of these prolific trees always precedes the leaves: consequently, when Jesus Christ saw one of them in full vigor having leaves (Mark xi. 13.) he might according to the common course of nature, very justly look for fruit and haply find some boccores or early figs, if not some winter figs likewise upon it. The parable in

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Luke xiii. 6. 9. is founded on the Oriental mode of gardening: and the method of improving the palm (whose barrenness may be remedied in the way there mentioned,) is transferred to the fig tree. Horne, vol. iii. page 60.

XXI.- -21. "Ye shall say unto this mountain-Be thou removed," &c. Removing a mountain is an eastern figure for performing a difficult matter. Ben Azzai, say the Talmudists, was so profound a teacher, that there was not, in his days, such another rooter up of mountains as he.Valpy's Greek Testament.

XXI.- -44. "Whosoever shall fall on this stone, shall be broken," &c. Here is a transposition: this verse should immediately follow verse 42nd. The sense seems to be, whosoever shall stumble at my doctrine, while I am here upon earth, he shall be damaged by it; but whosoever shall oppose me after my exaltation to glory, he will bring upon himself unavoidable destruction.-Doddridge. Lightfoot says, that the judicial mode of stoning among the Jews, to which this appears to allude, was this; that the first witness endeavoured to crush the criminal with a large stone, but if that had not its effect, they threw upon his heart a stone as much as two men could lift.-Valpy's Greek Testament. XXII. 66 And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding." To explain the reason why the servants were sent to call them that were already bidden, Grotius informs us, that it was sometimes customary to give two invitations to a feast.-Burder's Oriental Customs, vol. ii. page 306.

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XXII.—11. “A wedding garment." The following extract will shew the importance of having a suitable garment for a marriage feast, and the offence taken against those who refuse it when presented as a gift. "The next day, December 3, the king sent to invite the ambassadors to dine with him once more. The Mehemander told them, it was the

custom that they should wear over their own clothes the best of those garments which the king had sent them. The ambassadors at first made some scruple of that compliance : but when they were told that it was a custom observed by all ambassadors, and that no doubt the king would take it very ill at their hands if they presented themselves before him without the marks of his liberality, they at last resolved to do it; and, after their example, all the rest of the retinue."-Burder's Oriental Customs, vol. ii. page 307.

The people of the East among whom the fashion of clothes was not changeable as with us, esteemed it a principal part of their magnificence to have their wardrobes stored with rich habits. Thus Job, speaking of the wicked, says, "Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay," chap. xxvii. 16. We may therefore very naturally suppose, that this king, having invited his guests to his feast, would order his servants to make each of them a present of splendid apparel, as a farther mark of his respect, and that they might be all clothed in a manner becoming the magnificence of the solemnity; doubtless, therefore, the man that was sentenced to be bound and cast into outer darkness, had been offered a wedding garment with the rest, but would not receive it, and haughtily entered the palace in his ragged and filthy dress.-Ostervald.

XXII. -16. "The Herodians." The Herodians were rather a political faction than a religious sect of the Jews; they derived their name from Herod the Great, king of Judæa, to whose family they were strongly attached. They were distinguished from the other Jewish sects, first, by their concurring in Herod's plan of subjecting himself and his people to the dominion of the Romans; and secondly, in complying with the latter in many of their heathen practices, such as erecting temples with images for idolatrous worship, raising statues, and instituting games in honour of Augustus; which

symbolising with idolatry upon views of interest and worldly policy, is supposed to have been a part, at least, of the leaven of Herod, against which Jesus Christ cautioned his disciples (Mark viii. 15.); consequently they were directly opposed to the Pharisees, who, from a misinterpretation of Deut. xvii. 15. maintained that it was not lawful to submit to the Roman emperor, or to pay taxes to him. But Herod and his followers, understanding the text to exclude only a voluntary choice and not a necessary submission where force had overpowered choice, held an opinion directly contrary, and insisted that in this case it was lawful both to submit to the Roman emperor, and also to pay taxes to him.-Horne, vol. iii. p. 370.

XXII.-23. "The Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection." The sect of the Sadducees derived its name from Sadok, a pupil of Antigonus Sochæus, president of the Sanhedrim, or great council; who flourished about two hundred and sixty years before the Christian æra, and who inculcated the reasonableness of serving God disinterestedly, and not under the servile impulse of the fear of punishment, or the mercenary hope of reward. Sadok, misunderstanding the doctrine of his master, deduced the inference that there was no future state of rewards or punishments. Their principal tenets were the following: 1st. That there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit, (Matt. xxii. 23. Acts xxiii. 8.) and that the soul of man perishes together with the body. 2nd. That there is no fate or overruling providence, but that all men enjoy the most ample freedom of action; in other words, the absolute power of doing either good or evil according to their own choice; hence, they were very severe judges. 3rd. They paid no regard whatever to any tradition, adhering strictly to the letter of Scripture, but preferring the five books of Moses to the rest. Horne, vol. iii. p. 360. XXII.

30. "For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage." This declaration of Christ is di

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