LIFE OF CHRIST
A Harmony of the Gospels

LESSON THREE

During the ministry of John the Baptist and Jesus there were several political and religious divisions which affected greatly the Jewish nation and the formation of the Christian church.

Political - Roman

Political, Religious - Jew

Religious - Jew

Diaspora - Jew

Basic source material for these groups comes from the New Testament, Josephus, Philo, the Talmud, Pliny, and Hippolytus.

Tiberius Caesar

Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus succeeded to the principate on the death of Augustus in A.D. 14,  becoming the second Roman Emperor.  He was born in 42 B.C.,  the son of the Empress Livia,  wife of Augustus,  by her first husband,  Tiberius Claudius Nero.

He had a distinguished military career in the East and in Germany,  and,  in the absence of direct heirs to Augustus,  was the logical successor.  Augustus,  however,  did not like Tiberius,  and Tiberius,  over many years,  was the passive witness of several attempts to bypass his claims and his abilities.

The experience of disapproval and rejection no doubt contributed to the dourness,  secretiveness,  ambiguity,  and suspicious preoccupation that marred the years of Tiberius’ power.  A morbid fear of disloyalty led to the heavy incidence of treason trials that were a feature of  Rome under its worst incumbents.

Josephus, in his Antiquities 18, 6, 5, speaking of  Euticus,  Agrippa’s freed-man, says:

 This was the 15th year of his Principality and the 13th year of his Monarchy:  for he was 2 years joint Emperor,  previously to the death of Augustus.

He began his reign August 19, A.D. 14;  reigned 23 years.
During the latter part of his reign especially,  he did all the mischief he possibly could;  and that his tyranny might not end with his life,  he chose Caius Caligula for his successor,  merely on account of his bad qualities.

Pontius Pilate

The 5th Procurator,  or governmental representative,  of imperial Rome in Palestine at the time of Christ,  holding this office A.D. 26-36.

His name Pontius was his family name,  showing that he was descended from the Roman family of  “gens”  or “pontii.”  

Pilate,  no doubt comes from the Latin  “Pilatus”  meaning  “one armed with a “pilum” or Javelin.”

It is probable that,  like the sons of many prominent Romans,  he was trained for governmental service and either because of his political astuteness or as a political plum the Emperor Tiberius gave him the hard task of governing the troublesome Jews.

Generally the governor over a province was in charge of tax and financial matters,  were appointed by the Senate,  and answered to the Senate.  But the more difficult provinces,  like Palestine,  were appointed Procurators by the Emperor himself,  and were directly responsible to the Emperor.  The Procurator also had supreme judicial authority such as Pilate used regarding Christ.

Most Procurators disliked being stationed in a distant,  difficult,  dry outpost such as Judea.  Pilate,  however,  seemed to enjoy tormenting the Jews,  although,  as it turned out,  he was seldom a match for them.  He never really understood them,  as his frequent rash and capricious acts reveal. 

The Jewish historian  Josephus tells us that he immediately offended the Jews by

The answers to these examples lie in the social and political climate of their day:

Herod the Tetrarch

A son of Herod the Great by his Samaritan wife called Malthace.
He was,  therefore,  half Idumaean and half Samaritan,  perhaps without a single drop of Jewish blood in his veins.  He was the full brother of Archelaus,  and was younger than Archelaus.
He was educated with his brother,  and with his half-brother Philip at Rome.
On his father’s death he competed with his brother for the kingdom,  but received only the tetrarchy of Galilee and Perea  (a tetrarchy was ¼ of the original kingdom,  in this case,  approximately ¼ of the kingdom of Herod the Great).
He was a great builder as was his father.  He built:

He married a daughter of Aretas,  king of the Nabataean Arabs,  whose capital was Petra;  but afterward,  while lodging at Rome with Herod Philip,  his half-brother,  he indulged a guilty passion for his host’s wife,  Herodias,  and arranged to divorce his lawful consort and take Herodias instead.  This immoral transaction was carried into effect.  Aretas resented the injury inflicted upon his daughter,  and commenced a war against Herod successfully.  Antipas was forced to appeal to Rome for help,  and the task was assigned to Vitellius,  governor of Syria.  The affair dragged on until A.D. 37,  when Tiberius died,  and Vitellius stayed his hand.

Two years later Herod was banished to Lyons in Gaul by the new Emperor, Caius Caligula.

Philip the Tetrarch

He is not the same as the first husband of Herodias.
This Philip seems to have been the best of Herod’s three surviving sons.
His remote province insulated him from some of the problems of Jewry,  but he seems in his own person to have been a man of generous mold and notable justice.
He married Salome,  the daughter of Herodias.

Lysanias

He was the Roman-appointed governor of the territory around the city Abila,  located between Damascus and Heliopolis in Syria.  Not much is known about him.

Annas - High Priest

In his 37th year,  about A.D. 6,  Annas was appointed high priest by Quirinius,  governor of Syria,  and was deposed about A.D. 15 by Valerius Gratus,  governor of Judea.
His five sons became high priests (none for very long).
He was a rich,  unscrupulous Sadducee who continued to exert power through his son-in-law Caiaphas,  who replaced him as High Priest.

Caiaphas - High Priest

From 66 B.C. the Roman rulers appointed not only the civil officers but also the high priests as well with the result that the office declined spiritually.
Joseph Caiaphas held the office from A.D. 18-36,  a testimony to his pro-Roman activities.

John the Baptist ... spoken of by Isaiah the prophet

Clothed with camel's hair

This was a coarse,  rough outer garment.  It is made of the thin coarse hair of the camel.  Some think,  because Elijah is called  “a hairy man” in 11 Kings 1:8,  that he wore a garment of this sort.  A rough garment seems to have been characteristic of a prophet  (Zech. 13:4).

A girdle of skin - A leather belt

The girdle was one of the most useful articles of  Eastern costume,  and frequently the most ornamental of them all.  With the long loose dress it became a necessity,  since it would be difficult to walk or run unless the dress were tightened.  It was also thought to give strength to the body while engaged in severe bodily labor or exercise,  and hence the word is sometimes used figuratively to denote strength.
Girdles were of various sizes,  and were made of different materials.

Graham thus describes the mode of putting on the girdle:

Locusts  and wild honey

With many of the Bedouin on the frontiers locusts are still an article of food,  though none but the poorest eat them.  They are considered a very inferior sort of food.  They are salted and dried,  and eaten with butter or wild honey.  The fact that John ate this kind of food illustrates the extreme poverty of the forerunner of Christ,  and shows the destitution he suffered by living in the wilderness far away from the haunts of men.

Shall be filled - brought low

An allusion to the practice of Eastern monarchs.
On occasions of their progress,  heralds were sent out to call on the people to clear and improve the old roads or to make new ones. 

Thomson says:
 “When Ibrahim Pasha proposed to visit certain places in Lebanon, the emirs and sheiks sent forth a general proclamation, somewhat in the style of Isaiah’s exhortation, to all the inhabitants to assemble along the proposed route and prepare the way before him.  The same was done in 1845, on a grand scale, when the Sultan visited Brusa.  The stones were gathered out, the crooked places straightened, and rough one made level and smooth. I have the benefit of these labors a few days after his majesty’s visit.  The exhortation  ‘to gather out the stones’ (Isaiah 62:10)  is peculiarly appropriate.  The farmers gather up the stones from their fields and cast them into the highway; and its is this barbarous custom that, in many places, renders the paths uncomfortable and even dangerous.”

Whose shoes I am not worthy to bear

To carry the master’s sandals was considered the most menial duty that could be performed.
On entering a house the sandals are taken off by a servant, who takes care of them, and brings them again when needed.  In India it was customary for a servant to accompany his master when he walked out.  If the master desired to walk barefoot on the soft grass of the smooth ground the servant removed the sandals and carried them in his hand. 

John felt himself unworthy to do for Christ even the meanest work of a servant.

Pharisees

Pharisaios  (far-is-ah'-yos)

a separatist, i.e. exclusively religious

Of the three prominent societies of Judaism at the time of Christ – Pharisees,  Sadducees and Essenes –  the Pharisees were by far the most influential.

The origin of this most strict sect of the Jews is shrouded in some obscurity, but it is believed the organization came out of the Maccabean Revolt (165 B.C.).  There was,  however,  a group of Jews resembling the Pharisees as far back as the Babylonian Captivity.

The Name  “Pharisee,”  which in its Semitic form means  “the separated ones, separatists,”  first appears during the reign of  John Hyrcanus (135 B.C.).

Because of the significant role they played in the life of the Lord and the Apostles,  knowledge of the character and teachings of this group is of great importance for the understanding of the New Testament.  They are mentioned dozens of times,  especially in the Gospels,  and often form the foil and fabric of  the works and words of Jesus.

Three facets or characteristics of the Jewish nation contributed to the development of the Pharisees,  or paradoxically,  it may be said that the Pharisees made these contributions to Judaism,  so that ultimately Pharisaism and Judaism became almost synonymous.

They made life difficult for themselves and bitter for others.
They despised those whom they did not consider their equals and were haughty and arrogant because they believed they were the only interpreters of God and His Word.
It is only natural that ultimately such a religion became only a matter of externals and not of the heart,  and that God’s grace was thought to come only from doing the Law.

Their doctrines included

Sadducees

Saddoukaios  (sad-doo-kah'-yos)

probably from  Sadducaean (i.e. Tsadokian), or follower of a certain Israelite:

The origin of this group is uncertain.
But it is to be sought in the period in Jewish history between the restoration of the Jews to their own land  (536 B.C.)  and the Christian era.  No evidence of Sadduceeism is to be found in Israel before the captivity.

The origin of the name of the sect is obscure.
The root of the word means  “to be righteous,”  and the word has sometimes been taken to be an adjective,  “the righteous ones,”  but since the Sadducees were not particularly distinguished for their righteousness,  it is unlikely that they got their name from this word.
The probability is that the name is derived from some person named Zadok:

The chief authorities for our knowledge of this sect are Josephus,  the New Testament,  and the Talmud.

Josephus says:
“They only gain the well-to-do; they have not the people on their side.”

Annas and Caiaphas were both Sadducees.

The Sadducees contrasted strongly with the Pharisees in a number of their beliefs:

Scribes

While the Pharisees were a religious party,  the Scribes held an office.
The double designation  “Scribes and Pharisees”  distinguishes them from the Pharisees,  but the majority of the scribes belonged to the Pharisee party that recognized the legal interpretations of the scribes.

The powerful position of the scribes in the New Testament was the result of a long development.
In pre-exilic days they were public writers,  governmental secretaries,  and copiers of the law and other documents.
The distinctive nature of the office first comes into view with Ezra,  who set himself to the task of teaching the law to the returning exiles.  By New Testament times they held undisputed sway as the recognized exponents of the law and the revered representatives of Judaism.

Proudly they claimed the positions of first rank,  sought the public acclaim of the masses,  and dressed in long robes like the nobility.  They demanded from their disciple’s utmost reverence,  claiming an honor surpassing that due to parents.

Because of their legal knowledge the scribes were often called upon to serve as judges in Jewish courts.

EXCERPTS FROM FARRAR CONCERNING THE MINISTRY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

Then Jesus came

In the 30th year of His life,  Jesus came from Galilee.
John was his kinsman by birth,  but the circumstances of their life had entirely separated them:

John tried to prevent him

Though Jesus was not yet revealed as the Messiah,  there was something in His look,  something in the sinless beauty of His ways,  something in the solemn majesty of His aspect,  which at once overawed and captivated the soul of John.

The battle-brunt that legionaries could not daunt – The lofty manhood before which hierarchs trembled and princes grew pale – resigns itself,  submits,  adores before a moral force that is weak in every external attribute and armed only in an invisible mail.

John bowed to the simple stainless manhood before he had been inspired to recognize the Divine commission.  He earnestly tried to forbid the purpose of Jesus.  He who had received the confessions of all others,  now reverently and humbly makes his own:

 "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?"

Suffer it now

The answer contains the second recorded utterance of Jesus,  and the first word of His public ministry  –

"Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness."

“I will sprinkle clean water upon you,  and ye shall be clean” – such seems to be the burden of John’s message to the sinners who had become sincerely penitent.

Here we have the Great Example:

He was not only impelled INTO the wilderness,  or led into it by an OUTWARD force,  but the Spirit with which He was filled guided him  IN  the wilderness.

We have here,  in Matthew,  Mark and Luke  a three-fold description of Lucifer in his fallen state:

There were 3 great fasts:

Hunger always leaves after a few days of a fast and returns after about 40 days or when all toxic poisons have been expelled from the body.  The breath at this time becomes as sweet as a baby’s.  Any normal healthy person can fast this long without any harm.  Starvation only begins after hunger returns.  One must use water in long fasts and break the fast gradually.

Originally one of the greatest and most beautiful of all God’s created beings who was “the anointed cherub that covereth,”  Lucifer, who Isaiah 14:12 describes as  “son of the morning,”  and whose very name means  “morning-star,”  became,  through the sin of pride and self-exaltation,  the arch-enemy of God Himself. 
Not willing to endure his punishment alone with those angels who followed him in his first insurrection,  he is consumed with the desire to destroy God’s most precious possession and crowning achievement of creation: mankind.
Having been successful with the perfect man,  Adam,  he now tries relentlessly to bring that perfect Jesus,  Son of God,  yet Son of Man,  down to his own heinous level,  and with Him damn all mankind forever.

“IF thou be”  is so typical of the sly approach of the master tempter,  even as he did with Eve when he said, “HATH God said…”

The IF automatically raises the response:

Jesus did not argue the question of whether or not He was the Son of God  (even as Eve should not have argued the question of whether God had said,  and what He meant by it).  There was no need to argue the settled fact.>

Jesus was hungry,  and  “these stones”  were perhaps those siliceous accretions,  sometimes known under the name of  “lapides judaici,”  which assume that exact shape of little loaves of bread,  and which were represented in legend as the petrified fruits of the Cities of the Plain.

The pangs of hunger work all the more powerfully when they are stimulated by the added tortures of a quick imagination;  and if the conjecture were correct,  then the very shape and traditional origin of these stones would give to the temptation added force.

The order of the temptations is given differently by Matthew and Luke.

Pinnacle

Herod’s temple had two wings,

The southern was the higher and grander;  that being the direction in which the chief enlargement of the temple area made by Herod was practicable.  Building up walls of solid masonry from the valley below effected that enlargement,  according to Josephus.

The final temptation savoring of nothing but diabolical impudence,  Jesus did not treat as the others;  but,  with Divine authority,  commanded the tempter to return to his own place.

Ended every temptation

The verb  “suntelesas,”  meaning  “to bring to one end together,”  or to  “complete,”  actually gives the idea that Satan literally exhausted himself trying to tempt Jesus, to cause Him to bend to his own diabolical will.

A CORRELATION OF THE TWO GREAT TEMPTATIONS

The Jews     verse 19

This is used more than 50 times in the Gospel of John,  while it occurs in only  4  passages in the other three Gospels.  In John’s Gospel they are distinguished from the multitude:

The Multitude - By the former  “o ochlos”  is meant the aggregate of the Jewish inhabitants of Palestine:

The Leaders - By the latter  “oi ioudaioi”  is meant more particularly the leaders of Judaism in opposition to Jesus:

Elijah  (Elias)     verse 21

Elias is the Greek rendering of Elijah.
The scribes had taught that Elijah would return physically.
This they supported by a literal translation of  Malachi 4:5.

The Prophet     verse 21

This was the prophet spoken of by Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15 & 18

Why then do you baptize?     verse 24

Baptism was a very common ceremony among the Jews,  who never received a proselyte into the full enjoyment of a Jew’s privileges,   till he had been both baptized and circumcised.

Behold! The Lamb of God      verse 29

There can be no doubt that the image is derived from Isaiah 53.
But the idea of vicarious suffering endured with perfect gentleness and meekness,  which is conveyed by the prophetic language  (comp. Jeremiah 11:19),  does not exhaust the meaning of the image:

Jesus lays the foundation of the New Covenant

Two of his (John the Baptist) disciples

One of those two youths who came earliest to Christ was Andrew.
The other suppressed his own name because he was the narrator,  the beloved disciple, John.
No wonder that the smallest details,  down even to the very hour of the day,  were treasured in his memory,  never to be forgotten,  even in extreme old age.

You are - You shall be

Simon the son of John   (John is from the Hebrew, Jonas, or “dove”).

“You are Simon,  the son of the  “dove”.  You shall be as the rock in which the dove hides.
The dove represents the Holy Spirit.
It was, indeed, a play upon the word, but one that was memorably symbolic and profound.  Especially when you consider that it was in the form of a dove that the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus.

Philip

Alone of the apostles Philip had a Greek name,  derived,  perhaps,  from the Tetrarch Philip,  since the custom of naming children after reigning princes has always been a common one.  If so,  he must at this time have been under thirty.  Possibly his Greek name indicated his familiarity with some of the Greek-speaking population who lived mingled with the Galileans on the shores of Gennesareth;  and this may account for the fact, that he,  rather than any of the other Apostles,  was appealed to by the Greeks who wished to see Jesus.

Nathanael

In the list of apostles,  he is generally,  and almost undoubtedly,  identified with Bartholomew;  for Bartholomew is less a name than a designation  – “Bar-Tolmai,”  “Son of Tolmai” –  and while Nathanael is only in one other place mentioned under this name (John 21:2),  Bartholomew is never mentioned in the same list with Nathanael,  and he is always associated with Philip.

As his home was at Cana of Galilee,  the son of Tolmai might easily have become acquainted with the young fishermen of Gennesareth.

Can any good thing come out of Nazareth

Nathanael expressed surprise that Jesus should have come from Nazareth,  a poor village,  even the name of which does not occur in the Old Testament.  Contrary to the popular view,  there is no evidence that Nazareth was any worse than other places.  It was a proverb,  that no prophet was to come from Galilee  (John 7:52).

A Marriage feast

The custom was to celebrate for several days, usually seven.

CANA OF GALILEE:
So called each time when mentioned in the Gospel, to distinguish it from Cana in Coelo-Syria. Cana of Galilee is identified with “Kefr Kenna,” about 4-½ miles northwest of Nazareth.

The mother of Jesus

In the Gospel of John alone,  the name of  “the mother of Jesus”  is not mentioned,  even when Joseph is named.
It shows the respect John had for Mary,  as he would his own mother.

Woman

In the New Testament Greek there is not the least tinge of reproof or severity in the term.
The address is that of courteous respect,  even of tenderness.  It could be similar to our “Madam.”

My hour has not yet come

The ministry of Jesus was to officially begin at the Passover Feast when He would cleanse the temple.
This is not the last time that Jesus allowed faith to alter His schedule.  (See Matt. 15:21-28).

The depth,  obscurity,  and naturalness of this conversation reveal a very real truth:

Twenty or thirty gallons apiece

The  “metretes,”  or  “firkin,”  was the principal Greek liquid measure,  and contained a little more than eight gallons.  Three firkins would be somewhere between 24 and 30 gallons.

The governor of the feast

Among the Greeks,  at all formal feasts,  there was a  “symposiarch,”  which was one of the guests,  and was selected to take charge of the feast.  It was his duty to

Among the Romans was a corresponding officer who was called  “rex convivii”  or  “arbiter bibendi.”
Also there was a custom of hiring a special servant to overlook the other servants,  and to fulfill this office of governor of the feast.John 2:6-12

From The Bible Exposition Commentary
Dispensational Lessons
Israel was ignorant of its own Messiah.

The people had external ceremonies, but they had nothing to satisfy them within.

The Doctrinal Lessons
A thirsty crowd

Empty waterpots

Filled with water

Water to wine

The third day

The beginning of miracles

THE FIRST PASSOVER	Top Previous Section

It is impossible not to feel the change that at this point comes over the narrative.
There is a change of:

This was the first Passover after Christ's baptism.
The second is mentioned, Luke 6:1.
The third, John 6:4.
And the fourth, which was that at which he was crucified, John 11:55.

Excerpts from Farrar concerning Jesus at the First Passover

My Father's House

The Jews considered the Gentiles as defiled;  therefore the Court of the Gentiles was not holy to them.
Jesus,  however,  considered,  it just as holy and precious as any other part of the temple.
It was all part of His Father’s house.
He came to redeem people of all nations,  and not just a chosen few.

How close is the resemblance of these remarkable words to those in Luke 2:49, "Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business!".

Mal 3:1
"Behold,  I send My messenger (John the Baptist),
And he will prepare the way before Me.
And the Lord, whom you seek,
Will suddenly come to His temple,
Even the Messenger of the covenant,
In whom you delight.
Behold, He is coming,"
Says the LORD of hosts.
NKJV

What sign do You show

When Moses came to deliver Israel,  he gave signs,  or miracles,  that he acted under a Divine commission.
His answer was similar to the one He gave His disciples later on  (Matt. 12:38-40).
His resurrection was the Sign of Signs.

Luke 11:29
"This is an evil generation.  It seeks a sign,  and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.
NKJV

This is the First time Jesus refers to His death and resurrection.