Obrazy na stronie
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tion within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made?

5 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred 'pence, and have, been given to the poor. And they murmured against her.

6 And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me.

7 For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always.

8 She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.

9 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of

her.

10 And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the Chief Priests, to betray him unto them.

11 And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray him.

12 And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the Passover, his

disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the Passover?

13 And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him.

14 And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall cat the Passover with my disciples?

15 And he will shew you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us.

16 And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the Passover.

17 And in the evening he cometh with the twelve.

18 And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall betray me.

19 And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I?

See Matt. 18, 28.

5 Matt. 26. 14.

6 Matt. 26. 17.

7 Or, sacrificed.

8 Matt. 26. 20

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20 And he answered and said unto them, It is one of the twelve, that dippeth with me in the dish.

21 The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born.

22 And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body.

23 And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it.

24 And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.

25 Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.

26¶And when they had sung an "hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.

27 "And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. Matt; 26. 26.

28 But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee.

29 But Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I.

30 And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice.

31 But he spake the more vehemently, If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. Likewise also said they all.

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32 And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray.

33 And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;

34 And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch.

35 And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.

36 And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.

10 Or, psalm. 11 Matt. 26. 31. 12 Matt. 26. 33. 13 Matt, 26, 36.

37 And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour?

38 Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.

39 And again he went away, and prayed, and spake the same words.

40 And when he returned, he found them asleep again, (for their eyes were heavy,) neither wist they what to answer him.

41 And he cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

42 Rise up, let us go; lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand.

43 ¶ "And immediately, while he yet spake, cometh Judas, one of the twelve, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the Chief Priests and the Scribes and the elders.

44 And he that betrayed him had given them a token, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he; take him, and lead him away safely.

45 And as soon as he was come, he goeth straightway to him, and saith, Master, master; and kissed him.

46 And they laid their hands on him, and took him.

47 And one of them that stood by drew a sword, and smote a servant of the High Priest, and cut off his car.

48 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Are ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and with staves to take me?

49 I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and ye took me not: but the Scriptures must be fulfilled.

50 And they all forsook him, and fled.

51 And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the young men laid hold on him:

52 And he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked.

53 And they led Jesus away to the High Priest and with him were assembled all the Chief Priests and the elders and the Scribes.

sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire.

55 And the Chief Priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death; and found none.

56 For many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together. 57 And there arose certain, and bare false witness against him, saying,

58 We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.

59 But neither so did their witness agree together.

60 And the High Priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee?

61 But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the High Priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?

62 And Jesus said, I am: "and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of hea

ven.

63 Then the High Priest rent his clothes, and saith, What need we any further witnesses?

64 Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death."

65 And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands.

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66 And as Peter was beneath in the palace, there cometh one of the maids of the High Priest:

67 And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked upon him, and said, And thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth.

68 But he denied, saying, I know not, neither understand I what thou sayest. And he went out into the porch; and the cock crew.

69 And a maid saw him again, and began to say to them that stood by, This is one of them.

70 And he denied it again. And a little after, they that stood by said again to Peter, Surely thou art one of them: for thou art a Galilæan, and thy speech agreeth thereto.

54 And Peter followed him afar off, even into the palace of the High Priest: and he 14 Matt. 26. 47. 15 Matt. 26. 57. 16 Matt. 26. 59.

17 Matt. 24. 30. 18 Matt, 26. 69.

71 But he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this man of whom ye speak.

72 19And the second time the cock crew.

19 Matt. 26.75.

And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And 20 when he thought thereon, he wept.

20 Or, he wept abundantly, or, he began to weep.

nard; and in

Verse 3. "Spikenard."-Nagdos, which also occurs in the Old Testament, under the same name, the Latin, nardus. Although the word occurs in Hebrew, it is not supposed by lexicographers to be a proper Hebrew word, but a foreign one, probably Indian, as well as the perfume it denoted; but Sir William Jones regards the word as Persian. That the nard of the ancients came from India is generally admitted by their writers; and although some speak of a Syrian and Persian nard, not much stress is to be laid on this, as the Greeks and Romans have often mystified us with respect to other products, by regarding them as produced in the country of the people from whom they obtained them, but who really procured them from a far country. However, as it is allowed, that even if India did not alone produce the spikenard, it produced the best and most costly, there need be no difficulty in allowing that Syria, &c. may have produced a kind of spikenard, or something which went by that name, however inferior to the true Indian perfume. That the present was the Indian sort, is evinced by the high price, which clearly denotes a costly foreign commodity, as well as does the sensation which its lavish waste excited in the persons present. The Romans gave the name of nardus to the plant, and that of nardum to its aromatic essence, exhibited, apparently, as an essential oil, or attar, as it is called in the East. The classical writers bear witness to its costliness and the high estimation in which it was held. Horace describes a small quantity contained in an onyx-box, as a sort of equivalent to a large vessel of wine; and he and others describe its use at baths and entertainments. Its high price rendered it liable to much adulteration, and difficult to procure in a pure and genuine state; whence the Evangelist takes care to apply to it the epithet Ties, pure, or unadulterated.

The difficulty which has been felt in identifying the plant which produced this precious perfume, was felt to be almost insuperable, till Sir William Jones turned his attention to the subject while in India, and published the result of his inquiries in the Asiatic Researches,' (vol. ii. p. 405-417); where the evidence may be seen on which he concludes that the nardus of Ptolemy, the Indian sambul of the Persians and Arabs, and the spikenard of our shops, are the same with the Jatamansi of the Hindoos. This plant appears to be a native of the region of Bootan and Nepaul. It is a species of valerian, and grows erect above the ground, resembling in colour an ear of green wheat. The radical leaves, rising from the root, and enfolding the young stem, are plucked up with a part of the root, and being dried in the sun, or by an artificial heat, are sold as a drug, which from its appearance has been called spikenard; though, as observed by a Persian writer, it might be compared more properly to the tail of an ermine. When nothing remains but the dry fibres of the leaves, which retain their original form, they have some resemblance to a lock of hair, from which the Sanscrit name (Jatamansi) it seems is derived. When recent, the plant has a faint odour, which is greatly increased by the simple process of drying it. It abounds on the hills and even on the plains of Bootan, where it is collected for medicinal uses; for which it is so much valued, that the natives were very reserved in giving information concerning it. A learned Brahmin gave Sir William Jones a parcel of the drug, and told him that it was used in their sacrifices; that, when fresh, it was exquisitely sweet, and added much to the scent of rich essences, in which it was a principal ingredient. This applies to it as a drug; but its effects are still more powerful in the form of an attar, or essential oil, to which we perceive the present text to refer.

The spikenard is still brought to Syria by the ancient overland route, where it is used in substance, mixed with other perfumes, and worn in small bags; or in the form of essence, and kept in little boxes or phials, like attar of roses. The following conjectures of Sir William Jones appear to us to obviate many of the difficulties which have attended the investigation of the history of this famous perfume. "I am not of opinion that the nardum of the Romans was merely the essential oil of the plant from which it was denominated, but am strongly inclined to believe that it was a generic word, meaning what we now call attar, and either the attar of roses from Cashmir and Persia; that of cetaca, or pandanus, from the western coast of India; or that of agura, or aloe-wood, from Asam or Cochin China; or the mixed perfume called abir, of which the principal ingredients were yellow sandal, violets, orange-flowers, wood of aloes, rosewater, musk, and true spikenard: all of these essences and compositions were costly; and most of them being sold by the Indians to the Persians and Arabs, from whom, in the time of Octavius, they were received by the Syrians, they must have been extremely dear at Jerusalem and at Rome. There might also have been a nardine oil, as Athenæus calls it; but nardum probably meant an Indian essence in general, taking its name from that ingredient which had, or was commonly thought to have, the most exquisite scent.”

"She brake the box."-Some think from this that it was broken in pieces; but this does not seem very proper or probable. The original would justify us in understanding that the woman opened the box (or rather flask or phial, probably long-necked) by breaking it open, as we break open a bottle, by forcibly extracting its tightly-inserted stopple. Or, perhaps better, as the phials of nard were closely sealed up to preserve the odour, and the stopple could not be conveniently extracted, it may be that the top of the neck was broken off, together with the stopple and seal, to obtain access to the contents, on such occasions as the present.

5. "More than three hundred pence.”-That is, more than 97. 78. 6d. This was therefore truly a royal anointing, and argues that the woman was a person of substance. Anointing the principal guests with nard and other aromatics was a common and ancient custom. But the rabbins and public teachers refused to be anointed with fragrant unguents, as tending too much to luxurious niceness. This may partly explain the indignation of the disciples at what they called the "waste" of the ointment; beyond the mere regret that so precious a thing should be lost.

51. “A young man," &c.-This interesting little circumstance-so perfectly incidental and unconnected with the main narrative, that no inventor of a fictitious narrative would have thought of its introduction-is noticed only by St. Mark. It is impossible to ascertain who the young man was, though various conjectures have been offered on the subject. He may or may not have been an apostle or disciple. If an apostle (some think John), the linen cloth must be understood as being his ordinary dress; and we are to conclude, that, although he fled in the first instance, he returned, on reflection, to watch the result. Christ had none but the apostles with him: if therefore the young man was a disciple, we may suppose that, having heard so many persons pass the place where he was, and guessing or learning something of their object, his anxiety induced him to throw the linen cloth hastily around him, and follow to observe what happened. Or an indifferent person, sleeping somewhere within hearing, may have been induced, from mere curiosity, to do the same. We are inclined to think that the form of the expression would seem to imply that the

"linen cloth" had been thrown hastily around him, and that, consequently, he had probably been roused from his

rest.

52. "The linen cloth."-Some of those who acquiesce in the conclusion just stated, consider it necessary to suppose that the "linen cloth" was one of the sheets in which the young man had lain-forgetting that the ancients did not use sheets, and that the Orientals do not to this day. We cannot recollect any thing, answering to the description, likely to have been at the hand of a person roused from sleep, unless something that he had worn during the day. Therefore, so far as this linen cloth is concerned, it amounts to the same whether we conceive him to have been a person in his ordinary dress, or one who had thrown something hastily around him when roused from sleep; especially as we learn from the Law, that poor people used their ample outer robe-perhaps their only one-for a covering when they slept. Bishop Pococke has something on this subject which deserves attention. It is almost a general custom among the Arabs and Mohammedan natives of the country (Egypt) to wear a large blanket, either white or brown, and in summer a blue and white cotton sheet, which the Christians constantly use in the country; putting one corner before, over the left shoulder, they bring it behind, and under the right arm, and so over their bodies, throwing it behind over the left shoulder, and so the right arm is left bare for action. When it is hot, and they are on horseback, they let it fall down on the saddle; and about Faiume I particularly observed that young people especially, and the poorer sort, had nothing on whatever but this blanket; and it is probable the young man was clothed in this manner, who followed our Saviour when he was taken, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and when the young men laid hold on him, he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked." (Description of the East,' vol. i. p. 190.)

The loose, sleeveless abba, or cloak, which is also used by the Arabs, and which may be slipped or pulled off with the most perfect ease, when the wearer does not detain it, might also be proposed as an alternative.

The original word day is the same as that which describes the "linen cloth" in which the body of Christ was wrapped, when hastily laid in the sepulchre of Joseph of Arimathea; but this was a circumstance which proves nothing for the present case, as a mere web of cloth, like the hyke mentioned by Pococke, or such an ample, square, and shapeless robe as the abba, might very well have served for such a purpose. Lightfoot adduces many rabbinical authorities to show that the sindon was that outer garment to which the memorial "fringes" were attached.

"Fled from them naked."-Many understand that this means absolutely naked; yet there seems to us considerable difficulty in admitting this conclusion. If the man was in his usual dress, it is not likely that he had on but one garment, and that too of linen; particularly when we observe that the nights were cold at this time of the year, and are indeed expressly informed that this night was cold (John xviii. 18). We also know that the Jews generally wore two garments; it was unlikely that the inner one should be dispensed with, when the outer one was only of linen. Neither does the alternative, that the man had risen hastily from bed, improve this common conjecture; for the Orientals do not take off all their clothing when they retire to rest, but sleep in more of their personal clothing than Europeans. But the linen cloth" being the outer garment, it is clear that, if roused from sleep, the man throwing this over that part of his dress which he wore while asleep, could be little less than completely dressed. As, therefore, "to be naked," in Scripture, often implies no more than to be destitute of the external robe, we incline to think it must be here so understood. We indeed see not how the "young man" could have been absolutely naked in any other hypothesis than the rather forced one of Lightfoot,-that he was one of those austere sectaries who macerated their bodies, among other ways, by wearing but one robe when others wore two.

CHAPTER XV.

1 Jesus brought bound, and accused before Pilate. 15 Upon the clamour of the common people, the murderer Barabbas is loosed, and Jesus delivered up to be crucified. 17 He is crowned with thorns, 19 spit on, and mocked: 21 fainteth in bearing his cross: 27 hangeth between two thieves: 29 suffereth the triumphing reproaches of the Jews: 39 but confessed by the centurion to be the Son of God: 43 and is honourably buried by Joseph.

AND 'straightway in the morning the Chief Priests held a consultation with the elders and Scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate.

2 And Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answering said unto him, Thou sayest it.

3 And the Chief Priests accused him of many things: but he answered nothing.

4 And Pilate asked him again, saying, Answerest thou nothing? behold how many things they witness against thee.

5 But Jesus yet answered nothing; so that Pilate marvelled.

1 Matt. 27.1.

6 Now at that feast he released unto them one prisoner, whomsoever they desired.

7 And there was one named Barabbas, insurrection with him, who had committed which lay bound with them that had made murder in the insurrection.

8 And the multitude crying aloud began to desire him to do as he had ever done unto them.

9 But Pilate answered them, saying, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?

10 For he knew that the Chief Priests had delivered him for envy.

11 But the Chief Priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them.

12 And Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews?

13 And they cried out again, Crucify him. 14 Then Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil hath he done? And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify him.

* Matt. 27. 13.

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