(3.) The several circumstances related by the four evan- show: Agrippa being a Syrian, and king of a large country gelists as accompanying the crucifixion of Jesus were con- in Syria.' Line formable to the Roman custom in such executions; and, When Pilate had pronounced the sentence of condemna frequently occurring in ancient authors, do not only reflect tion on our Lord, and publicly adjudged him to be crucified, beauty and lustre upon these passages, but happily corrobo- | he gave orders that he should be scourged. Then Pilate took rate and confirm the narrative of the sacred penmen." We Jesus and scourged him. And when he had scourged Jesus, says will exhibit before our readers a detail of these as they are another of the evangelists, he delivered him to be crucified. specified by the evangelists. Among the Romans, scourging was always inflicted previ Every mark of infamy that malice could suggest was ac-ously to crucifixion. Many examples might be produced of cumulated on the head of our Redeemer. While he was in this custom. Let the following suffice. Livy, speaking of the high-priest's house, they did spit in his face and buffeted the fate of those slaves who had confederated and taken uf him, and others smote him with the palms of their hands, say- arms against the state, says, that many of them were slain, ing, Prophecy unto us, thou Christ, who is he that smote thee? many taken prisoners, and others, after they had bees. (Matt. xxvi. 67, 68. Mark xiv. 65.) Pilate, hearing that ped or scourged, were suspended on crosses. Philo, relating our Lord was of Galilee, sent him to Herod; and before he the cruelties which Flaccus the Roman prefect exercised upon was dismissed by him, Herod, with his men of war, set him at the Jews of Alexandria, says, that after they were mangled nought; and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe. and torn with scourges in the theatres, they were fastened (Luke xxiii. 11.) He was insulted and mocked by the sol- to crosses. Josephus also informs us, that at the siege of diers, when Pilate ordered him to be scourged the first time; Jerusalem great numbers of the Jews were crucified, after that by that lesser punishment he might satisfy the Jews and they had been previously whipped, and had suffered every save his life, as is related by St. John. After Pilate had wanton cruelty. condemned him to be crucified, the like indignities were repeated by the soldiers, as we are assured by two evangelists. (Matt. xxvii. 27-31. Mark xv. 16-20.) And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe, and when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it on his head, and a reed in his right hand and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail! king of the Jews. And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. "After they had inflicted this customary flagellation, the evangelist informs us that they obliged our Lord to carry to the place of execution the cross, or, at least, the transverse beam of it, on which he was to be suspended. Lacerated, therefore, with the stripes and bruises he had received, faint with the loss of blood, his spirits exhausted by the cruel insults and blows that were given him when they invested him with robes of mock royalty, and oppressed with the in These are tokens of contempt and ridicule which were incumbent weight of his cross; in these circumstances our use at that time. Dio, among the other indignities offered Saviour was urged along the road. We doubt not but in to Sejanus the favourite of Tiberius (in whose reign our this passage to Calvary every indignity was offered him. Saviour was crucified), as they were carrying him from the This was usual. Our Lord, fatigued and spent with the senate-house to prison, particularly mentioned this, "That treatment he had received, could not support his cross. The they struck him on the head." But there is ore instance of soldiers, therefore, who attended him, compelled one Simon, ridicule which happened so soon after this time, and has so a Cyrenean, who was coming from the country to Jerusagreat a resemblance to that to which our Saviour was ex-lem, and then happened to be passing by them, to carry it for posed, that it deserves to be stated at length. Caligula, the him. The circumstance here mentioned of our Lord bearing successor of Tiberius, had, in the very beginning of his reign, his cross was agreeable to the Roman custom. Slaves and given Agrippa the tetrarchy of his uncle Philip, being about malefactors, who were condemned to this death, were comthe fourth part of his grandfather Herod's dominions, with pelled to carry the whole or part of the fatal gibbet on which the right of wearing a diadem or crown. When he was they were destined to die. This constituted a principal part setting out from Rome to make a visit to his people, the em- of the shame and ignominy of such a death._ Cross-bearer peror advised him to go by Alexandria as the best way. was a term of the last reproach among the Romans. The When he came thither he kept himself very private: but the miserable wretch, covered with blood, from the scourges that Alexandrians having got intelligence of his arrival there, and had been inflicted upon him, and groaning under the weight of of the design of his journey, were filled with envy, as Philo his cross, was, all along the road to the place of execution, says, at the thoughts of a Jew having the title of king. Loaded with every wanton cruelty. So extreme were the They had recourse to various expedients, in order to mani- misery and sufferings of the hapless criminals who were fest their indignation: one was the following:-"There condemned to this punishment, that Plutarch makes use of it was," says Philo,2 "one Carabas, a sort of distracted fellow, as an illustration of the misery of sin, that every kind of that in all seasons of the year went naked about the streets. wickedness produces its own particular torment; just as He was somewhat between a madman and a fool, the com- every malefactor, when he is brought forth to execution, carmon jest of boys and other idle people. This wretch they ries his own cross. He was pushed, thrown down, stimubrought into the theatre, and placed him on a lofty seat, that lated with goads, and impelled forward by every act of insohe might be conspicuous to all; then they put a thing made lence and inhumanity that could be inflicted. There is of paper on his head for a crown, the rest of his body they great reason to think that our blessed Redeemer in his way covered with a mat instead of a robe, and for a sceptre one to Calvary experienced every abuse of this nature, especially put into his hand a little piece of reed which he had just when he proceeded slowly along, through languor, lassitude, taken up from the ground. Having thus given him a mimic and faintness, and the soldiers and rabble found his strength royal dress, several young fellows with poles on their shoul- incapable of sustaining and dragging his cross any farther. ders came and stood on each side of him as his guards. Then On this occasion we imagine that our Lord suffered very there came people toward him, some to pay their homage to cruel treatment from those who attended him. Might not the him, others to ask justice of him, and some to know his will scourging that was inflicted, the blows he had received from and pleasure concerning affairs of state: and in the crowd the soldiers when in derision they paid him homage, and the were loud and confused acclamations of Mari, Maris; that abuse he suffered on his way to Calvary, greatly contribute being, as they say, the Syriac word for Lord, thereby inti- to accelerate his death, and occasion that speedy dissolution mating whom they intended to ridicule by all this mock at which one of the evangelists tells us Pilate marvelled? "When the malefactor had carried his cross to the place law, Cursed is every one who is hanged on a cross. Justin Martyr, Dialog. cum Tryphone, p. 271. edit. Jebb. London, 1719. See also pages 272. 283. Multi occisi, multi capti, alii verberati crucibus affixi. Livii, lib. 378. 392. See also Eusebii Hist. Eccl. pp. 171. 744. Cantab. 1 Various opinions have been offered concerning the species of thorn, intended by the sacred writers. Bartholin wrote an elaborate dissertation De Spinea Corona, and Lydius has collected the opinions of several writers in his Florum Sparsio ad Historiam Passionis Jesu Christi. (Analect. pp. 13-17.) The intelligent traveller Hasselquist says, that the naba or nabka of the Arabians "is in all probability the tree which afforded the crown of thorns put on the head of Christ: it grows very commonly in the East. This plani was very fit for the purpose; for it has many SMALL AND SHARP SPINES which are well adapted to give pain. The crown might easily be made of these soft, round, and pliant branches; and what in iny opinion seems to be the greatest proof is, that the leaves very much resemble those of ivy, as they are of a very deep green. Perhaps the enemies of Christ would have a plant somewhat resembling that with which emperors and generals were used to be crowned, that there might be calumny even in the punishment." Hasselquist's Voyages and Travels un the Levant, pp. 288, 289. In Flacc. n. 970 xxxiii. 36. Philo in Flac. p. 529. edit. Mangey. See also pages 527, 528. ejusdem editionis. The Roman custom was to scourge before all executions. The magistrates bringing them out into the forum, after they had scourged them according to custom, they struck off their heads. Polybii Ilist. lib. i. p. 10. tom. i. edit. Gronovií. 1670. Josephus de Bello Jud. lib. v. c. 2. p. 353. Havercamp. Bell. Judiac. lib. ii. cap. 14. $9. p. 182. Haverc. • Vid. Justi Lipsii de Cruce, lib. ii. cap.6 p. 1180. Vesalire. O carnificium cribrum, quod credo fore: Plautus Mostel. Act. i. sc. 1. ver. 53. edit, var. 1684 Nec dubium est quin impuleriat, dejecerint, erexerint, per sævitiam ant per lusum. Lrsius de Oruca, tom. vi. p. 1190 Veralia of the governor of the province without the city. This was of execution, a hole was dug in the earth, in which it was | whom Petronius Arbiter mentio:.s, were crucified by order to be fixed: the criminal was stripped, a stupefying potion was given him, the cross was laid on the ground, the wretch distended upon it, and four soldiers, two on each side, at the same time were employed in driving four large nails through his hands and feet. After they had deeply fixed and riveted these nails in the wood, they elevated the cross with the agonizing wretch upon it; and in order to fix it more firmly and securely in the earth, they let it violently fall into the cavity they had dug to receive it. This vehement precipitation of the cross must give the person that was nailed to it a most dreadful convulsive shock, and agitate his whole frame in a dire and most excruciating manner. These several particulars the Romans observed in the crucifixion of our Lord. Upon his arrival at Calvary he was stripped: a stupefying draught was offered him, which he refused to drink. This, St. Mark says, was a composition of myrrh and wine. The design of this potion was, by its inebriating and intoxicating quality, to blunt the edge of pain, and stun the quickness of sensibility. Our Lord rejected this medicated cup, offered him perhaps by the kindness of some of his friends, it being his fixed resolution to meet death in all its horrors; not to alleviate and suspend its pains by any such preparation, but to submit to the death, even this death of crucifixion, with all its attendant circumstances." He had the joy that was set before him, in procuring the salvation of men, in full and immediate view. He wanted not, therefore, on this great occasion, any thing to produce an unnatural stupor, and throw "While they were thus attending them, it is said, our oblivion and stupefaction over his senses.2 He cheerfully Saviour complained of thirst. This is a natural circumstance. and voluntarily drank the cup with all its bitter ingredients, The exquisitely sensible and tender extremities of the body which his heavenly Father had put into his hands. Our being thus perforated, the person languishing and faint with Lord was fastened to his cross, as was usual, by four soldiers, loss of blood, and lingering under such acute and excruci two on each side, according to the respective limbs they ating torture, these causes must necessarily produce a veheseverally nailed. While they were employed in piercing his ment and excessive thirst. One of the guards, hearing this hands and feet, it is probable that he offered to Heaven that request, hastened and took a sponge, and filled it from a most compassionate and affecting prayer for his murderers, vessel that stood by, that was full of vinegar. The usua in which he pleaded the only circumstance that could possi-drink of the Roman soldiers was vinegar and water. The bly extenuate their guilt: Father, forgive them, for they know knowledge of this custom illustrates this passage of sacred not what they do! It appears from the evangelist that our history, as it has sometimes been inquired, for what purpose Lord was crucified without the city. And he bearing his cross was this vessel of vinegar? Considering, however, the dewent forth to a place called the place of a skull, which is called rision and cruel treatment which Jesus Christ had already in the Hebrew Golgotha. (John xix. 17.) For the place where received from the soldiers, it is by no means improbable tha! Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city. (ver. 20.) And the one of them gave him the vinegar with the design of aug apostle to the Hebrews has likewise mentioned this circum-menting his unparalleled sufferings. After receiving this, stance: Wherefore Jesus also suffered without the gate. (Heb. Jesus cried with a loud voice, and uttered with all the vehexiii. 12.) This is conformable to the Jewish law, and to ex-mence he could exert, that comprehensive word on which a amples mentioned in the Old Testament. (Num. xv. 35.) volume might be written, It is finished! the important work And the Lord said unto Moses, The man shall surely be put to of human redemption is finished; after which he reclined death all the congregation shall stone him with stones without his head upon his bosom, and dismissed his spirit." (John the camp. (1 Kings xxi. 13.) Then they carried him [Na- xix. 30. Matt. xxvii. 50.) both] forth out of the city, and stoned him with stones that he died. This was done at Jezreel, in the territories of the king of Israel, not far from Samaria. And if this custom was practised there, we may be certain the Jews did not choose that criminals should be executed within Jerusalem, of the sanctity of which they had so high an opinion, and which they were very zealous to preserve free from all ceremonial impurity, though they defiled it with the practice of the most horrid immoralities. It is possible, indeed, that they might, in their sudden and ungoverned rage (to which they were subject in the extreme at this time), upon any affront offered to their laws or customs, put persons who thus provoked them to death, upon the spot, in the city, or the temple, or wherever they found them; but whenever they were calin enough to admit the form of a legal process, we may be assured that they did not approve of an execution within the city. And among the Romans this custom was very common, at least in the provinces. The robbers of Ephesus, 1 Sese multimodis conculcat ictibus, myrrhæ contra presumptione mu. nitus. Apuleii Metamorph. lib. viii. Again: Obfirmatus myrrhæ presumptione nullis verberibus, ac ne ipsi quidem succubuit igni. Lib. x. Apuleii Met. Usque hodie, says St. Jerome, Judæi omnes increduli Dominicæ resurrectionis aceto et felle potant Jesum, et dant ei vinum myr; rhatum, ut dum consopiant, et mala eorum non videat. Hieronymus ad Matt. xxvii. See Dr. Benson's Life of Christ, p. 508. Monet nos quoque non parum evangelista, qui quatuor numerat milites crucifigentes, scilicet juxta quatuor meinbra figenda. Quod clarum etiam est ex tunicæ partitione, quae quatuor militibus facienda erat. Cornelii Curtii de Clavis Dominicis, p. 35. edit. Antwerpiæ, 1670. The four soldiers who parted his garments, and cast lots for his vesture, were the four who raised him to the cross, each of them fixing a limb, and who, it seems, for this service had a right to the crucified person's clothes. Dr. Macknight, p. 604. second edition, 4to. Credo ego istoc examplo tibi esse eundum actutem extra portam, dispessis manibus patibulum quem habebis. Plaas in Mil. Glor. act. ii. Acem 4. And when The last circumstance to be mentioned relative to the crucifixion of our Saviour, is the petition of the Jews to Pilate, that the death of the sufferers might be accelerated, with a view to the interment of Jesus. All the four evange lists have particularly mentioned this circumstance. Joseph of Arimathea went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus; then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. Joseph had taken the body, he laid it in his own new tomb. (Matt. xxvii. 58-60. Mark xv. 45, 46. Luke xxiii. 50–53. John xix. 38-40.) And it may be fairly concluded, the rulers of the Jews did not disapprove of it: since they were solicitous that the bodies might be taken down, and not hang on the cross the next day. (John xix. 31.) The Jews therefore, says St. John, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath-day (for • Quum interim imperator provinciæ latrones jussit crucibus adfigi, se. cundum illam eandem casulam, in qua recens cadaver matrona deflebat Satyr. c. 71. Quid enim attinuit, cum Mamertini more atque instituto sao crucem fixisset post urbem in via Pompeia; te jubere in ea parte figere, quæ ad fretum spectaret? In Verr. lib. v. c. 66. n. 169. Dion Cassius, lib. liv. p. 732. edit. Reimar, 1750. See also Suetonius in • See instances in Suetonius, in Caligula, c. 34.; and in Domitian, c. 10. 10"It is with much propriety that Matthew calls this are accusation: for it was false, that ever Christ pretended to be king of the Jews, in the sense the inscription held forth: he was accused of this, but there was no proof of the accusation; however, it was affixed to the cross." Dr. A. Clarke on Matt. xxvii. 37. 11 Miles cruces asservabat, ne quis corpora ad sepulturam detraheret. Petronius, Arbiter, cap. 111. p. 513. edit. Burman. Traject. ad Rhen. 1799. Vid. not. ad loc. 12 The Roman soldiers, says Dr. Huxham, drank posca (viz. water and vinegar) for their common drink, and found it very healthy and useful Dr. Huxham's Method for preserving the Health of Seamen, in his Essay on Fevers, p. 263. 3d edition. See also Lamy's Apparatus Biblicus, vol p. 278. See also Macknight in loc. hat Sabbath-day was an high day), besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Burial was not always allowed by the Romans in these cases For we find that sometimes a soldier was appointed to guard the bodies of malefactors, that they might not be taken away and buried. However it seems that it was not often refused unless the criminals were very mean and infamous. Cicero reckons it one of the horrid crimes of Verres's administration in Sicily, that he would take money of parents for the burial of their children whom he had put to death.2 Both Suetonius3 and Tacitus1 represent it as one of the uncommon cruelties of Tiberius, in the latter part of his reign, that he generally denied burial to those who were put to death by his orders at Rome. Ulpian, in his treatise of the duty of a proconsul, says, "The bodies of those who are condemned to death are not to be denied to their relations:" and Augustus writes, in the tenth book of his own life," that he had been wont to observe this custom;" that is, to grant the bodies to relations. Paulus says, "that the bodies of those who have been punished [with death] are to be given to any that desire them in order to burial." It is evident, therefore, from these two lawyers, that the governors of provinces had a right to grant burial to the bodies of those who had been executed by their order: nay, they seem to intimate that it ought not usually to be denied when requested by any. Hence it appears, that burial was ordinarily allowed to persons who were put to death in Judæa: and the subsequent conduct of Pilate shows that it was seldom denied by the Roman governors in that country. There is, moreover, ar express command in the law (of which we know that the latter Jews were religiously observant), that the bodies of those who were hanged should not be suffered to remain all night upon the tree. (Deut. xxi. 23.) "On this account it was, that, after the crucifixion, a number of leading men among the Jews waited on Pilate in a body, to desire that he would hasten the death of the malefactors hanging on their crosses. (John xix. 31.) Pilate, therefore, despatched his orders to the soldiers on duty, who broke the legs of the two criminals who were crucified along with Christ; but when they came to Jesus, finding he had already breathed his last, they thought this violence and trouble unnecessary; but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, whose point appears to have penetrated into the pericardium, or membrane surrounding the heart; for St. John, who says he was an eye-witness of this, declares that there issued from the wound a mixture of blood and water. This wound, had he not been dead, must necessarily have been fatal. This circumstance St. John saw, and has solemnly recorded and attested " CHAPTER IV. ON THE JEWISH AND ROMAN MODES OF COMPUTING TIME, MENTIONED IN THE SCRIPTURES. 1. Days.-II. Hours.-Watches of the Night.-III. Weeks.-IV. Months.-V. Years, civil, ecclesiastical, and natural, Jewish Calendar.—VI. Parts of the Time taken for the Whole.-VII. Remarkable Eras of the Jews. Ir is well known that, in the perusal of ancient authors, we are liable to fall into many serious mistakes, if we consider their modes of computing time to be precisely the same as ours and hence it becomes necessary that we observe their different notations of time, and carefully adjust then to our own. This remark is particularly applicable to the sacred writers, whom sceptics and infidels have charged with various contradictions and inconsistencies, which fall to the ground as soon as the various computations of time are considered and adapted to our own standard. The knowledge of the different divisions of time mentioned in the Scriptures will elucidate the meaning of a multitude of passages with regard to seasons, circumstances, and ceremonies. I. The Hebrews computed their DAYS from evening to evening, according to the command of Moses. (Lev. xxiii. 32.) It is remarkable that the evening or natural night precedes the morning or natural day in the account of the creation (Gen. i. 5, &c.): whence the prophet Daniel employs the compound term evening-morning (Dan. viii. 14. marginal reading) to denote a civil day in his celebrated chronological prophecy of the 2300 days; and the same portion of time is termed in Greek νυχθημεριν. The Romans had two different computations of their days, See the passage cited from Petronius Arbiter, in note 11, p. 71. Rapiunt eum ad supplicium dii patrii: quod iste inventus est, qui e complexu parentum abreptos filios ad necein duceret, et parentes pretium pro sepultura posceret. In Ver. lib. i. cap. 3. Neino punitoruin non et in Gemonias adjectus uncoque tractus. Vit. Tiber. c. 61. See an instance, incidentally mentioned by Josephus. De Bell. Jud. lib. iv. c. 5. § 2. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true; and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. John xix. 35. Tacitus, speaking of the ancient Germans, takes notice that their account of time differs from that of the Romans; and that instead of days they reckoned the number of nights. De Mor. Germ. c. 11. So also did the ancient Gauls (Cæsar de Bell. Gall. lib. vi. c. 17.); and vestiges of this ancient practice still remain in our own country. We say last Sunday se'n night or this day fortnight. The practice of computing time by nights, stead of days, obtains among the Mashoos, an inland nation, dwelling in he interior of South Africa. Travels by the Rev. John Campbell, vol. i. 18 (London, 182. 8vo.) and two denominations for them. The one they called the civil, the other the natural day; the civil day was from mid night to midnight; and the natural day was from the rising to the setting sun.10 The natural day of the Jews varied in length according to the seasons of the year: the longest day in the Holy Land is only fourteen hours and twelve minutes of our time; and the shortest day, nine hours and forty-eight minutes. This portion of time was at first divided into four parts (Neh. ix. 3.); which, though varying in length according to the seasons, could nevertheless be easily discerned from the position or appearance of the sun in the horizon. Afterwards the natural day was divided into twelve hours, which were measured from dials constructed for that purpose. Among these contrivances for the measurement of time, the sun-dial of Ahaz is particularly mentioned in 2 Kings xx. 11. Jahn thinks it probable that Ahaz first introduced it from Babylon.12 II. The earliest mention of Hours in the Sacred Writings occurs in the prophecy of Daniel (iii. 6. 15. v. 5.); and as the Chaldæans, according to Herodotus, 13 were the inventors of this division of time, it is probable that the Jews derived their hours from them. It is evident that the division of hours was unknown in the time of Moses (compare Gen. xv. 12 xviii. 1. xix. 1. 15. 23.); nor is any notice taken of them by the most ancient of the profane poets, who mentions only the morning or evening or mid-day.14 With Homer corres ponded the notations of time referred to by the royal Psalmist, who mentions them as the times of prayer. (Psal. lv. 17.) The Jews computed their hours of the civil day from six in the morning till six in the evening: thus their first hour corresponded with our seven o'clock; their second to our eight; their third to our nine, &c. The knowledge of this circumstance will illustrate several passages of Scripture, particularly Matt. xx., where the third, 10 Pliny, Hist. Nat. lib. ii. c. 77.; Censorinus de Die Natali, c. 23.; Macrobius Saturnal. lib. iii. c. 3. See also Dr. Ward's Dissertations on several passages of Scripture, p. 126. ; and Dr. Macknight's Harmony, vol. i. Prelím. Obs. v. Adam's Roman Antiquities. d. 305 11 Few topics have caused more discussion among biblical commentatora than the sun-dial of Ahaz. As the original word signifies, properly, steps or stairs, many have imagined that it was a kind of ascent to the gate of the palace, marked at proper distances with figures showing the division of the day, rather than a regular piece of dial-work. On this suc-ert the reader will find some very ingenious and probable illustrations, together with a diagram, in Dr. A. Clarke's Commentary, on 2 Kings xx. 12 Jahn, Archæol. Hebr. 101. 1 Lib. ii. c. 10). Ήως, η δειλ., η μεσον ήμαρ.-Hom. H lib. xνι 3 16 sixth, ninth, and eleventh hours (ver. 3. 5. 6. 9.) respectively six. our passover," the antitype of the paschal lamb, "expired t the ninth hour, and was taken down from the cross at the eleventh hour, or sunset." III. Seven nights and days constituted a WEEK; Six of these were appropriated to labour and the ordinary purposes of life, and the seventh day or Sabbath was appointed by God to be observed as a day of rest, because that on it he had restea from all his work which God had created and made. (Gen. ii. 3.) This division of time was universally observed by the descendants of Noah; and some eminent critics have conjectured that it was lost during the bondage of the Israelites in Egypt, but was revived and enacted by Moses agreeably to the divine command. This conjecture derives some weight from the word Sabbat or Sabbata, denoting a week among the Syrians, Arabians, Christian Persians, and Ethiopians, as in the following ancient Syriac Calendar, expressed in Hebrew characters:9 ... One of the Sabbath, or Week...Sunday. ... Two of the Sabbath... *nav-non... Three of the Sabbath. N-NYA... Four of the Sabbath.. Navon... Five of the Sabbath.. ·Eve of the Sabbath.. ער־שבתא The Sabbath... 66 .Monday. .Tuesday. .Wednesday ☛ ..Thursday. .Friday. .Saturday. During the time of our Saviour, the night was divided into four watches, a fourth watch having been introduced among The high antiquity of this calendar is evinced by the use the Jews from the Romans, who derived it from the Greeks. of the cardinal numbers, one, two, three, &c. instead of the The second and third watches are mentioned in Luke xii. 38.; ordinals, first, second, third, &c. following the Hebrew idiom; the fourth in Matt. xiv. 25.; and the four are all distinctly as in the account of the creation, where we read in the origi mentioned in Mark xiii. 35. Watch, therefore, for ye know nal," one day-two day-three day," &c.; where the Sepnot when the master of the house cometh; at EVEN (4, or the tuagint retains it in the first, calling it up. It is relate watch), or at MIDNIGHT (TUT), or at the COCK-CROW-markable that all the evangelists follow the Syriac calendar, ING (anexTop125), or in the MORNING (, the early watch). both in the word accura, used for " a week," and also in reHere, the first watch was at even, and continued from six till taining the cardinal number μ 662тav," one of the week," nine; the second commenced at nine and ended at twelve, or to express the day of the resurrection. (Matt. xxviii. 1. Mark midnight; the third watch, called by the Romans gallicinium, xvi. 2. Luke xxiv. 1. John xx. 1.) Afterwards Mark adopts lasted from twelve to three; and the morning watch closed at the usual phrase, porn abbar," the first of the week" (Maik A double cock-crowing, indeed, is noticed by St. Mark xvi. 9.), where he uses the singular Carey for a week; and (xiv. 30.), where the other evangelists mention only one. so does Luke, as Norww dis T8 σa66278, "I fast twice in the (Matt. xxvi. 34. Luke xxii. 34. John xiii. 38.) But this week." (Luke xviii. 12.) may be easily reconciled. The Jewish doctors divided the cock-crowing into the first, second, and third; the heathen nations in general observed only two. As the cock crew the second time after Peter's third denial, it was this second or principal cock-crowing (for the Jews seem in many respects to have accommodated themselves to the Roman computation of time) to which the evangelists Matthew, Luke, and John refer. Or, perhaps, the second cock-crowing of the Jews might coincide with the second of the Romans." It may be proper to remark that the word hour is frequently used with great latitude in the Scriptures, and sometimes implies the space of time occupied by a whole watch. (Matt. xxv. 13. xxvi. 40. Mark xiv. 37. Luke xxii. 59. Rev. iii. 3.) Perhaps the third hour mentioned in Acts xxiii. 23. was a military watch of the night." The Jews reckoned two evenings: the former began at the ninth hour of the natural day, or three o'clock in the afternoon; and the latter at the eleventh hour. Thus the paschal lamb was required to be sacrificed between the evenings (Exod. xii. 6. Lev. xxiii. 4.); which Josephus tells us, the Jews in his time did, from the ninth hour until the eleventh. Hence the law, requiring the paschal lamb to be sacrificed "at even, at the going down of the sun" (Deut. xvi. 6.), expressed both evenings. It is truly remarkable, that "Christ During the siege of Jerusalem, the Jewish historian relates that the priests were not interrupted in the discharge of their sacred functions, but continued twice a day, in the morning, and at the ninth hour (or at three o'clock in the afternoon), to offer up sacrifices at the altar. The Jews rarely, if ever, ate or drank till after the hour of prayer (Acts x. 30.), and on Sabbath-days not till the sixth hour (twelve at noon, Josephus, de vita sua $ 54.): which circumstance well explains the apostle Peter's defence of those on whom the Holy Spirit had miraculously descended on the day of Pentecost. (Acts ii. 15.) 2 Dr. A. Clarke on Exod. xiv. 11. Thus the 134th psalm gives an instance of the temple watch: the whole psalm is nothing more than the alternate cry of two different divisions of the watch. The first watch addresses the second (ver. 1, 2.) reminding them of their duty; and the second answers (ver. 3.) by a solemn blessing. The address and the answer seem both to be a set form, which each individual proclaimed or sung aloud, at stated intervals, to notify the time of See Homer, Iliad, lib. x. v. 252, 28. Livy, lib. vii. c. 35. and Zenophon, Anab. lib. iv. p. 250. (edit. Hutchinson.) the night. Bishop Lowth's Isaiah, ol. ii. p. 357. Lightfoot, Hor. Heb. on John xiii. 38. (Works, vol. ii. p. 597.) Grotius and Whitby on Matt. xxvi. 34. Dr. Hales's Analysis of Chronology, vol. 1. p. 112. By w ich writers various passages of classical authors are cited. See also Mr. Townsend's Harmony of the New Testament, vol. i. pp. 480-482 Fragments annexed to Calmet's Dictionary, No. cclxm. p. 164. 66 The Syriac name for Friday, or the sixth day of the week, is also adopted by Mark, who renders it purov," sabbath eve" (xv. 42.), corresponding to paruan," preparation-day." (Matt. xxvii. 62. Mark xv. 42. Luke xxiii. 54. John xix. 31.) And Josephus also conforms to this usage, except that he uses acara in the singular sense, for the Sabbath-day, in his account of a decree of Augustus, exempting the Jews of Asia and Cyrene from secular services, abb204, n in p ταυτης παρασκευή, από της ώρας ανατης. "On the Sabbath-day, or on the preparation-day before it, from the ninth hour."10 The first three evangelists also use the plural acara, to denote the Sabbath-day. (Matt. xii. 5-11. Mark i. 21. and ii. 23. Luke iv. 16, &c.) Whereas John, to avoid ambiguity, appropriates the singular garov to the Sabbath-day, and the plural a66ara to the week. (John v. 9-16. vii. 22, &c. xx. 1.) The second Sabbath after the first (Luke vi. 1.), drep:πparov. or rather the second prime Sabbath, concerning which comthe first Sabbath after the second day of unleavened bread or mentators have been so greatly divided, appears to have been of the passover week. Besides weeks of days, the Jews had weeks of seven years (the seventh of which was called the sabbatical year); and weeks of seven times seven years, or or of forty-nine years, which were reckoned from one jubilee to another. The fiftieth or jubilee year was celebrated with singular festivity and solemnity." IV. The Hebrews had their MONTHS, which, like those of all other ancient nations, were lunar ones, being measured by the revolutions of the moon, and consisting alternately of twenty-nine and thirty days.. While the Jews continued in the land of Canaan, the commencement of their months and years was not settled by any astronomical rules or calculations, but by the phasis or actual appearance of the moon. As soon as they saw the moon, they began the month. Persons were therefore appointed to watch on the tops of the mountains for the first appearance of the moon after the change. as soon as they saw it, they informed the Sanhedria, and public notice was given, first, by the sounding of trumpets, to which there is an allusion in Psal. lxxxi. 3.; and after Dr. Hales's Analysis of Chronology, vol. i. p. 114. In the two following pages, he illustrates several apparently chronological contradictions be tween the evangelists with equal felicity and learning. This calendar is taken from Bp. Marsh's Translation of Michaelis's In troduction to the New Testament, vol. i. p. 136. 10 Antiq. lib. xvi. c. 6. § 2. in Dr. Hales's Analysis of Chronology, vol. i. p. 120. ards lighting beacons throughout the land; though (as the mishnical rabbins tell us) after they had frequently been deceived by the Samaritans, who kindled false fires, they used to announce the appearance by sending messengers. As, however, they had no months longer than thirty days, if they did not see the new moon the night following the thirtieth day, they concluded that the appearance was obstructed by the clouds; and, without watching any longer, made the next day the first day of the following month. But, on the dispersion of the Jews throughout all nations, having no opportunities of being informed of the appearance of the new moons, they were obliged to have recourse to astronomical calculations and cycles, in order to fix the beginning of their months and years. At first, they employed a cycle of eightyfour years but this being discovered to be defective, they had recourse to the Metonic cycle of nineteen years; which was established by the authority of rabbi Hillel, prince of the Sanhedrin, about the year 360 of the Christian æra. This they still use, and say that it is to be observed until the coming of the Messiah. In the compass of this cycle there are twelve common years, consisting of twelve months, and seven intercalary years, consisting of thirteen months.1 Originally, the Jews had no particular names for their months, but called them the first, second, &c. Thus the Deluge began in the second month, and came to its height in the seventh month, at the end of 150 days (Gen. vii. 11-24. vill. 1.); and decreased until the tenth month, when the tops of the mountains were seen. (viii. 5.) Afterwards they acquired distinct names; thus Moses named the first month of the year Abib (Exod. xii. 2. xiii. 4.); signifying green, from the green ears of corn at that season; for it began about the vernal equinox. The second month was named Zif, signifying in Chaldee glory or splendour; in which the foundation of Solomon's temple was laid. (1 Kings vi. 1.) The seventh month was styled Ethanim, which is interpreted harvests by the Syriac version. (1 Kings viii. 2.) The eighth month Bul; from the fall of the leaf. (1 Kings vi. 38.) But concerning the origin of these appellations critics are by no means agreed: on their return from the Babylonish captivity, they introduced the names which they had found among the Chaldæans and Persians. Thus, the first month was also called Nisan, signifying flight; because in that month the Israelites were thrust out of Egypt (Exod. xii. 39.); the third month, Sivan, signifying a bramble (Esth. iii. 7. Neh. ii. 1.); and the sixth month Elul, signifying mourning, probably because it was the time of preparation for the great day of atonement, on the tenth day of the seventh month. (Neh. vi. 15.) The ninth month was called Chisleu, signifying chilled; when the cold weather sets in, and fires are lighted. (Zech. vii. 1. Jer. xxxvi. 22.) The tenth month was called Tebeth, signifying miry. (Esth. ii. 16.) The eleventh, Shebet, signifying a staff or a sceptre. (Zech. i. 7.) And the twelfth Adur, signifying a magnificent mantle, probably from the profusion of Howers and plants with which the earth then begins to be clothed in warm climates. (Ezra vi. 15. Esth. iii. 7.) It is said to be a Syriac term. (2 Mac. xvi. 36.)2 6. Adar...... 7. Nisan or Abib. 10. Thammuz 12. Elul..... May and June. Some of the preceding names are still in use in Persia. 4. The Ecclesiastical or Sacred Year began in March, or on the first day of the month Nisan, because at that time they departed out of Egypt. From that month they computed their feasts, and the prophets also occasionally dated their oracles and visions. Thus Zechariah (vii. 1.) says, that the word of the Lord came unto him in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu; which answers to our November, whence it is evident that he adopted the ecclesiastical year which commenced in March. The month Nisan is noted ir. the Old Testament for the overflowings of Jordan (Josh. iii 15. 1 Chron. xii. 15.); which were common at that season, the river being swollen by the melted snows that poured in torrents from Mount Lebanon. The following table presents the months of the Jewish ecclesiastical year, compared with our months; December and January. The Jewish months being regulated by the phases or ap pearances of the moon, their years were consequently lunar years, consisting of twelve lunations, or 354 days and 8 hours; but as the Jewish festivals were held not only on certain fixed days of the month, but also at certain seasons of the year, consequently great confusion would, in process of time, arise by this method of calculating; the spring month sometimes falling in the middle of winter, it became necessary to accommodate the lunar to solar years, in order that their months, and consequently their festivals, might always fall at the same season. For this purpose, the Jews added a whole month to the year, as often as it was necessary; which occurred commonly once in three years, and sometimes once in two years. This intercalary month was added at the end of the ecclesiastical year after the month Adar, and was therefore called Ve-Adar, or the second Adar: but no vestiges of such intercalation are to be found in the Scriptures. As agriculture constituted the principal employment of the Jews, they also divided their natural year into seasons with V. The Jews had four sorts of YEARS,-one for plants, another for beasts, a third for sacred purposes, and the fourth was civil and common to all the inhabitants of Palestine. 1. The year of Plants was reckoned from the month corres-reference to their rural work. These, we have seen, were ponding with our January; because they paid tithe-fruits of the trees which budded at that time. six in number, each of two months' duration, including one whole month and the halves of two others. See an account of them in pp. 23-25. of this volume. To this natural division of the year there are several allu 2. The second year was that of Beasts; for when they tithed their lambs, the owner drove all the flock under a rod, and they marked the tenth, which was given to the Levites.sions in the Sacred Writings: as in Jer. xxxvi. 22. where They could, however, only take those which fell in the year, and this year began at the month Elul, or the beginning of our August. But the two years which are the most known are the Civil and Ecclesiastical Years. king Jehoiakim is said to be sitting in the winter-house in the ninth sacred month Chisleu, the latter half of which fell in the winter or rainy season; so, in Ezra x. 13. it is said that the congregation of the people which had been convened on the twentieth day of the same month, were not able to stand 3. The Civil Year commenced on the fifteenth of our September, because it was an old tradition that the world was created at that time. From this year the Jews computed their jubilees, dated all contracts, and noted the birth of chil-were the initial months of these two years, instead of April and October. dren, and the reign of kings. It is said also that this month was appointed for making war; because, the great heats being passed, they then went into the fie d. In 2 Sam. xi. 1. we read that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel, to destroy the Ammonites, at the return of the year Dr. A. Clarke, at the end of his commentary on Deuteronomy, has given sit elaborately constructed tables, explanatory of the Jewish calendar. Mr Allen has also given six tables: which, though less extensive than the preceding, are well calculated to afford a clear idea of the construction and ariations of the Jewish calendar. See Modern, Judaism, pp. 369-377. Dr Hales's Analysis of Chronology, vol. 1. p. 127. The preceding view of the sacred and civil years of the Jews is that generally adopted by the most eminent writers on Jewish antiquities, after the opinions of the Jewish rabbins, who affirm that March and September That this was the case at a late period is admitted by Jahn and Ackermann, after J. D. Michaelis. But after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Remans, who commenced their year with the month of March, it appears that the Jews adopted the practice of their conquerors. In confirination not only by Josephus, but also by the genius of the Syriac and Arabic of this remark it may be observed that the rabinnical of inion is et posed languages, and by the fact that the ceremonies prescribed to be observed on the three great festival days do not agree with the months of March and September. For a further investigation of this curious question, which cannot be discussed within the limits of a note, the reader is referred to Michaelis's Cominentatio de Mensibus Hebræorum, in th: Cominentationes Regiæ Societatis Goettingensi per annos 1763-65, pp. 10. et seq., or to Mr. Bowyer's translation of this disquisition in his Select Dist curses" op the Hebrew months, &c pp. 1-2 |