THEN AND NOW. 359 "five sparkling streamlets, gushing from the hills above her." Capernaum! From the dome of yonder white marblecolumned synagogue, the priest with silver trumpet announced the approach of the holy Sabbath to all the inhabitants of the fields and shore: the fisherman hastened to land his boat and nets and repair to his cabin home; the husbandman left his plow in the furrow and tarried not till within the city's precincts; the merchant closed his shop, the publican turned over his seat, and the busy thousands who thronged Capernaum's busy streets retired for the preparation of the Jewish Sabbath morn. Where now are they? With all their pretensions to holi 360 JESUS AND THE TWELVE LEAVE GALILEE. ness, they were as "whited sepulchres," and the corruption within undermined them. Their synagogue lies low in the dust, with their priests, peasants, and merchants. They are all in Hellan! Covered up! "Woe unto thee, Chorazin! "Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! "And thou, also, Capernaum! . . . Thou shalt be brought down unto hell!"-Luke 10: 13-15. What a farewell to the home of His adoption! And sweet Magdala! Twenty squalid huts now represent her. Was she too accursed? Desolation now sits queen of all Galilee's borders. In sadness and sorrow indeed must Jesus have turned away from contemplation of the unhappy scene. Alas! that He might only go away recalling it all as it first broke upon Him in the bright spring-time of His ministry. Then on parting could He have said to "The fields, the shores, I bid you all farewell, With hope, with joy, the heart can never tell." If Jesus turned His blessed eyes toward the west, they met no responsive tenderness. Galilee was actually closed to His mercies. For all His works, His stupendous miracles there performed, the most that any would say for Him, was, "HE IS A PROPHET." Not one, save Peter, had said, "Thou art the Messiah who is to come." In His last journey through Galilee He had gone secretly. Therefore His work was done there, and He now would bid her farewell and traverse a brief portion of her border to Samaria, while "He steadfastly set His face toward Jerusa lem." "Falling leaf and fading tree, Lines of white on a sullen sea, The swallows are making them ready to fly, Wheeling out on a windy sky Good-bye, summer, good-bye! "The direct route towards Jerusalem, from Galilee, lay through Samaria."-Schaff. In consequence of the great number in His train, at every point mentioned,* and because of His following the route laid out by the Seventy (Luke 10: 1), Jesus and the Twelve did not go down the lake in the boat, but probably followed the most direct route out of Galilee. No mention is made of stopping in any Galilean village on the way, and it is not supposed that He did.-Andrews, 351; Lichtenstein, 299. CHAPTER XLII. ON SAMARIA'S BORDER. TIME-November, A. D. 29. PLACE-En-Gannim.-Farrar, Geikie, Lichtenstein. ROUTE- Out of Galilee into the border city of Samaria (Luke 9: 53), where, being repulsed, He turns eastward, passing along the mountain border between Galilee and Samaria (17: 11), past Scythopolis, over Jordan four miles eastward, into Perea (meaning "beyond "), thence south through "Judea beyond Jordan" (as per Matt. 19: 1, 2; Mark 10: 1), journeying slowly toward Jerusalem.Luke 9: 51. FTER a careful study of all which I could find, during six years, bearing on this last "JOURNEY OF JESUS" out of Galilee, I have written the above as being the most probable. It agrees with all the circumstances of the gospel narrative, and the conclusions of the wisest commentators. This is based upon the gospels, and a complete knowledge of the geography and topography of the country here indicated. We take as conclusive evidence of the starting-point of this, our Lord's final departure from Galilee, the words of Luke (9: 51), that "Jesus steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem," and that verse 52 locates the first section of the route, south of the valley of Esdraelon, as the first Samarian. city; and that chapter 17, verse 11, shows it still farther on, since it could not as usual lie directly through Samaria (Jesus being forbid to go that way, Luke 9: 52), thence into Perea. -Matt. 19: I. THE FIRST "VILLAGE" OF THE SAMARITANS. 363 "We find no grounds to believe that after this departure Jesus ever revisited Galilee" (Andrews). Therefore all of Luke from 9: 51 relates to that journey to, and the after life and works of Jesus in Judea. We reckon Perea as Judea. En-Gannim, called by Josephus "Ginea," and by the Arabs, now, "Jenin," is the first town, or "village," on the northern border of Samaria, lying on the direct route from Galilee to Judea. 'It is now the chief town between Nazareth and Nablus, and contains about two thousand inhabitants, nearly all Moslems. Its people are fanatical, rude, and rebellious. They are always quarrelling among themselves, or with their neighbors."-Thomson. In this "fountain of gardens" rises the most distant branch of the river Kishon. We have already described this village as the probable tenting ground of Galilean pilgrims en route to the feasts at Jerusalem. If it was the custom of these pilgrims to pass this way, as Josephus says, why was Jesus now repulsed on His way to Jerusalem? The Samaritans were expecting a Saviour (John 4: 25), and the ground of Christ's repulsion now, was that He was going, with His apostles, disciples, and grand retinue, to Jerusalem to be crowned king, rather than to Gerizim and the holy mount of the Samaritans. Luke makes this very plain: "And they did not receive Him because His face was steadfastly set on going to Jerusalem" (51 and 53). In what rude way these semi-savages repulsed Him is not known, but evidently with much indignity. James and John were foremost of the Twelve in resenting these Samaritans' rebuff, and to Jesus they said: "Lord, let us bid fire to come down from heaven and consume them." Sons of thunder indeed! "No," replied Jesus, gently rebuking His fierce and zealous disciples, "I came to save, not to destroy." "And He turned to another village." What forbearance was here! What patience, what long suffering! |