the Jewish entrenchment, that Josephus may have been as near to Kaphar Nahum as to Julias, and that the Roman troops may have been between him and the latter. (3) Evidence from tradition. Dr. Robinson makes out that all tradition from the 4th to the 17th cent. which is at all definite points to Khan Minieh. But Conder's Hdbk. to the Bible, which is likewise based on personal exploration, although deciding in favour of the latter ruin, says 'There is no reasonable doubt that from the fourth century downwards the site shown to Christian pilgrims was at the ruin of Tell Hum, which is exactly the distance from Chorazin mentioned by Jerome as that of Capernaum (325). Evidence from etymology. In Conder we find that the Rabbis interpreted huta‘sinner' in Excl. vii. 26 as meaning a son of Caphar Nahum, and that elsewhere they interpreted it as minai 'heretic': also that Rabbi Isaac Chelo says of Caphar Nahum 'Formerly there were in this village many Minim.' The ruin visited by Isaac Chelo was on the way from Arbela to Kefr 'Anân, and this precludes the idea that he means Tell Hum.' Accordingly this abode of Minim is identified with Khan Minich. The extract from Chelo given in Conder does not say that he visited the place at all, but, if that is shown by the context, it would only be 3 miles out of the present road. The philological argument ist at first sight very strong; but if Caphar Nahum were full of Minim, that is no reason why another place 3 miles off might not also have been full of them and the Rabbis of the great Jewish school of Tiberias would naturally give the name 'abode of Minim' to whichever of the two was nearer to them, and that would be Khan Minieh. On the other hand there is a strong philological argument for Tell Hum. 'Hum,' says Dr. Thomson, is the last syllable of Kefr na hum.... Thus we have Zib for Achzib, and Fik for Aphcah, etc. In this instance Kefr [village] has been changed to Tell [hill]-why, it is difficult to comprehend, for there is no proper Tell at that site. Still, a deserted site is generally named Tell, but not Kefr (which is applied to a village); and, when Capernaum became a heap of rubbish, it would be quite natural for the Arabs to drop the Kefr, and call it simply Tell Hûm.' To this I may add that the name is known to have been accented on the last syllable, and, if this represents the native pronunciation, the shortening of the name was very natural. Every philologist knows the tendency of unaccented syllables to disappear. Altogether I think that the balance of evidence is decidedly in favour of Tell Hum. in-Nephthalim] It stood in the latter tribe, but within some 7 miles of the boundary between the two, 7 Jer. xxxi. 15. 'I 16 ¶ Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, 18 In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. is, says the Rev. W. H. Lowe (Fragment &c., 69), 'perpetually in honour." of the Lord by the prophet] Render by the Lord through the prophet.' From Hos. xi. 1, 'When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.'. have I called] Render 'I called,' as in Hosea. This quotation seems also to have been contained in the Gospel according to the Hebrews. 16. the children] Render the boys.' coasts] Everywhere where this word is found in the N. T. it means no more than 'borders,' region' (even though as in Acts xxvii. 2 a seaboard-country be spoken of); such is the meaning of the Greek words which it is used to render, and such its use in older English. Thus Holland's translation of Pliny, xviii. 29: These wicked planets... proceed from other causes, and twaine especially, and those not to be found in many coasts and quarters of the heaven.' diligently enquired] See note on v. 7. T [ 17. by Jeremy the prophet] Editors read through Jeremy the prophet' (see note on i. 22)-following SVCD, the three Latin versions, the Peshitta Syriac, and Chrysostom. The reference is to Jer. xxxi. 15. 18. Rama] None of the places so called is near to Bethlehem, unless the heap of old rubbish close to Rachel's tomb to which Dr. Thomson's guide gave that name really bore it. But the name means simply hill,' is very common in one form or other throughout the country, and may have belonged to some place near Bethlehem which is either perished or now bears another name. 33 19¶ But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child's life. 21 And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judæa in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee ; 23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene. Rachel According to Gen. xxxv. 19, 20, she was buried on the road to Bethlehem and had her tomb marked by a pillar. 'Rachel's tomb' is shown to this day about a mile N. of Bethlehem at the point where the road to Bethlehem branches off from the main road from Jerusalem to Hebron. 22. Archelaus did reign] A son of Herod, who left him Judaea, Samaria, and Idumaea. Augustus only allowed him the title of Ethnarch, but was spoken of as King (as he is called here-basileuei) until the decision of Augustus was known: see Josephus, Ant. xvii. 8 § 2, 11 § 2. See also the note on xiv. 9. That Joseph should be unaware that Archelaus had succeeded Herods only natural. The will under which he did so had not been made more than 5 days before the death of Herod, who in an earlier will had left his kingdom to his son Herod Antipas. Again it was not till 5 days before his own death that Herod killed his eldest son Antipater. And, lastly, the administration might have been seized by the Roman procurator of Syria, as it actually was when Archelaus took his journey to Augustus. notwithstanding-aside] Render and having received counsel in a dream he went away.' Having reached Beersheba, the first town on his way back, and there heard of the accession of Archelaus, Joseph might strike S.E. through Aroer and Thamara and round the end of the Dead Sea, when he would be out of the dominions of Archelaus, and would not need to enter them again on his way to Galilee. The line of the western coast, though not technically part of Judaea, was on the other hand within the power of Archelaus. Galilee Left by Herod to his son Herod Antipas, and with it Peraea. 23: Nazareth] A village of S. Galilee, beautifully situated on the Ꭰ Zech. vi. 12; Isai. xi. 1. (ital.) slope of hills running up to the Lebanon range, distant some 17 miles S.E. from the bay of Mt. Carmel, 18 W. from Lake Gennesaret, and about 66 N. from Jerusalem. A more primitive form of the name is Nazara. It occurs once in S, and twice in V, and is the form from which the two Greek adjectives Nazōraios and Nazarenos are derived. Julius Africanus, who wrote early in the 3rd cent. and is quoted by Eusebius (Hist. Eccl. i, 7) uses it, and it survives in the modern Nasira. By the addition of the Aramaic article, Nazara became Nazarata, shortened into Nazarat, a form found 4 times in A. From this again sprang other forms-Nazaret (6 times in SV, 3 times in A, once in D), Nazarath (twice in A, 3 times in C), and Nazareth (4 times in SVC, 7 times in D). The modern Nâsira contains from 3000 to 4000 inhabitants, nearly all Christians. that-Nazarene] Render 'that it might be fulfilled which was said through the prophets, that he should be called Nazarene.' The Greek needs not imply that there was any particular prophecy 'He shall be called a Nazarene.' It is true that the Greek is 'that he shall be called' and not that he should be called,' but, if any Greek scholar thinks that the use of the indicative implies that the actual words 'he shall be called were found in the prophets, a reference to Madvig's Syntax of the Greek Language, Browne and Arnold's translation, 1873, p. 110, or to Winer's Treatise on the Grammar of New Testament Greek, Moulton's translation, 1877, p. 376, will yield him plain examples to the contrary. Matthew refers to the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah respecting the BRANCH. In the most striking of these prophecies, Is xi. 1, And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots,' the Hebrew word used for 'branch' is NÊTSER, and Matthew saw in this prophecy and those of Jeremiah and Zechariah (though they use a different Hebrew word) a foreshadowing of the residence at NAZARA, or looked on the resi dence at Nazara as a predestined coincidence with the prophecies. It is generally held that there is a real etymological connexion between Nazara and nêtser. But, if reason to the contrary be ever shown, the following words of Farrar (Life of Christ, i. 64–5) would still hold good:-'The Old Testament is full of proofs that the Hebrews-who in philology accepted the views of the Analogistsattached immense and mystical importance to mere resemblances in the sound of words. To mention but one single instance, the first chapter of the prophet Micah turns almost entirely on such merely external similarities in what, for lack of a better term, I can only call the physiological quantity of sounds. St. Matthew, a Hebrew of CHAPTER III. IN those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wil- the Hebrews, would without any hesitation have seen a prophetic But I am inclined to go still farther and acknowledge in the words of Matthew, a special reference also to Zech. vi. 12. The Greek of our text is Nazarene shall he be called': since we, or at least Matthew, have connected Nazara with nêtser, 'branch,' let us substitute Brancher'-' Brancher shall he be called.' Now compare with this the literal Hebrew of Zech. vi. 12— Branch [shall be] his name.' Is the parallel accidental? It is quite true that in Zech. vi. 12 the word is not nêtser but tsemach. But the evangelist would not the less hold this prophecy fulfilled by the residence at Nazara. Hebrew, moreover, was a dead speech even then, and Matthew, if he knew Hebrew at all, was doubtless far more familiar with the Scriptures in his Targum, or Aramaic paraphrase: and that Targum (unhappily lost) may have used the same word in Isai, xi. 1 and Zech vi. 12, just as fur autho rized Version has done, in which case Matthew, if he knew that the original had nêtser in the former place would naturally assume it to be the word used in the latter as well. It is well to warn the reader that an explanation, still sometimes met with, which treats 'Nazarene' in this place as if the same as 'Nazarite' is altogether unsound. For (i.) the words are altogether unconnected; (ii.) there is no such prophecy; (iii.) the Nazirites (as the name should be written) kept from every kind of intoxicating drink, whereas Jesus, in his own words, came eating and drinking' and was scoffed at by his enemies as a 'winebibber.' The text seems also to have been contained in the Gospel according to the Hebrews. He-called] So the N. T. tells us that Jesus was called (even after making Capharnahum the centre of his ministry)—in Galilee and Judaea, in his life and after his death, by disciples and strangers, Jews and Romans, daemons and angels. See Matt. xxi. 11; Mark i. 24, x. 47, xiv. 67, xvi. 6; Luke iv. 34, xviii. 37, xxiv. 19; John i. 45, xviii. 5, 7, xix. 19; Acts ii. 22, iii. 6, iv. 10, vi. 14, x. 38, xxii. 8, xxvi. 9. III. 1. In those days] I.e. while they dwelt at Nazareth—not while Archelaus reigned; he had been deposed many years before, 1-12. L. iii. 1-17 M. i. 1-8. |