FROM THE FIRST PASSOVER TO THE SECOND.
=1. As is generally supposed=, the first miracle, at Cana, was
performed during the first year of our Lord’s public ministry. His
attendance upon the first Passover at Jerusalem brings us to consider
the state of the city at the time of his visit.
At the great event of =a Passover= the city would be crowded with
visitors, not only from Judæa and the surrounding country, but from
distant lands. At this time the Jews were scattered over almost every
province under Roman control, and even beyond the Roman Empire.
Josephus informs us that for these occasions immense preparations
were made, not only to accommodate the people, but also that they might
bring with them their flocks, and he estimates that at the Passover
celebrated in the time of Nero the number of lambs sacrificed was
256,500.[162]
=2. The presence of Jews= from so many countries would of necessity
bring into the city not only purchasers, but tradesmen with various
moneys requiring an exchange or brokerage; and some of the Rabbinical
writers say that an immense traffic was carried on in cattle and other
animals for victims and for food, and much extortion was practised, a
great part of the profits of which went to the priests.[163]
It was on this occasion of his first Passover that our Saviour drove
out the sheep and oxen and upset the tables of the exchangers, as
recorded in John 2:15, using the material with which the animals were
bound for a whip or scourge.
=3.= From the very evident divine power which the Saviour exhibited
at this Passover, a member of the Sanhedrin, =Nicodemus=, sought an
=interview= with him at night, John 3, at which time Christ made the
announcement of his special mission to this world in those remarkable
words: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not
perish, but have eternal life,” John 3:14, 15.
=4.= The =Passover being ended=, Jesus left Jerusalem, but seems to
have remained in Judæa near the Jordan, perhaps on the plain at the
north end of the Dead Sea. John was baptizing in the same region. It
must have been somewhere on these plains that Herod Antipas met the
Baptist and received the reproof of which we have spoken before. This
Herod[164] was the ruler of Galilee and Peræa, and was at first married
to the daughter of Aretas, king of Arabia Petræa, but forsook her for
Herodias, the wife of his half-brother (see preceding table). This
brought on a war with Aretas on the confines of his territory on the
south, and it is probable that on his way to meet Aretas Herod received
the reproof from the Baptist and condemned the latter to imprisonment
in his castle at Machærus.
MACHÆRUS AND PERÆA.
=5. This castle= was seven miles east of the Dead Sea, and the ruins
remain at a place about 25 miles south of the north end of the sea. It
is 3,800 feet above its level and 2,507 feet above the Mediterranean.
Josephus says that John the Baptist was imprisoned here, and here he
must have been beheaded. The region of Peræa extended from this place
to Pella, near the Jordan, about 60 miles north, and Herod Antipas was
at that time ruler of all Galilee and Peræa, which included the castle
Machærus.
ENON AND SALIM.
=6. During the Saviour’s stay in Judæa=, after the Passover just spoken
of, it appears that he remained for a time near the Jordan while his
disciples baptized. The two preachers were therefore not far distant
from each other, and the disciples of John, evidently with a spirit
of rivalry, communicated the fact that greater crowds attended the
ministry of Jesus.
This brought out the testimony of John to the greater glory and future
progress of the gospel of Jesus. John was at this time at “Enon near
Salim,” and the sites of these two places have not yet been settled.
Enon is the Greek form of the Aramaic word for “springs,” and Salim is
the word for “peace,” and both of these words are frequently found in
varying forms in several places.
It has been thought that the little village now called Salim, not
far east of Shechem, was the site of the Scripture Salim, and that
Enon was to be identified with a little ruin called Ainun, nearly eight
miles northeast. But apart from the fact that these places are not near
each other, they are entirely too near the very heart of the Samaritan
district, Salim being only four miles east of Shechem.
It is not at all probable that John ever left Judæa, and it is
exceedingly improbable that he would have gone into the Samaritan
region to baptize. There is a little valley three or four miles
northeast of Jerusalem which yet bears a name somewhat similar to Salim,
where there are waters described by Dr. Barclay; but neither of these
Biblical places has yet been satisfactorily identified.
=7. Our Saviour now left Judæa= and passed to Galilee upon the shortest
road, which leads through Samaria, John 4:3. The season seems to have
been in December, John 4:35, as it was “four months to harvest,” which
began in April. On the way he sat down upon the well called Jacob’s,
and the scene described in John 4 took place.
JACOB’S WELL, SYCHAR, John 4.
=8. Jacob’s well= has always been identified with that well cut in the
solid rock which is about a mile and a half east by south from Shechem.
It formerly had a small chapel built over it, in the fourth century,
and was about 80 feet in depth when examined by the writer, but the
original depth must have been greater, for there are many stones at
the bottom. It is not now a well of constant supply, but varies with
the season, and was dry when we examined it. Hence perhaps the remark
of our Saviour, John 4:10, in which he alludes to “living water.”
Sychar was probably at the little village now called Askar, about
one-half of a mile northeast from the well. Some have supposed that
Sychar and Shechem were the same; but it is not probable that the
woman spoken of in the context would have walked a mile and a half from
Shechem, where there was an abundance of water, to draw water from this
deep well. The probabilities are that Askar was the site of Sychar,
where there are caves and remains of ancient tombs.
MATT. 4:12‒17; MARK 1:14, 15; LUKE 4.
=9. Jesus passed through= Samaria to Galilee, stopping for a short time
in Nazareth, Matt. 13:53‒58; and then going to Capernaum, announced
as he went the great object of his mission, and especially that the
appointed time had arrived which had been foretold for the appearance
of the Messiah as spoken of in the prophets, Mark 1:14, 15. That he
himself was this Messiah he distinctly asserted at Jacob’s well to the
Samaritan woman, John 4:26.
=10. Passing on from Nazareth= he again visited Cana, where the miracle
of the healing of the nobleman’s son was performed, John 4:46‒54. He
then went down to Capernaum, which hereafter seems to have been adopted
as his favorite place of abode.
CAPERNAUM.
=11. This place= has not yet been certainly identified. Some have
supposed that it was on the west side of the Sea of Galilee at a place
called Khan Minyeh, which is on the plain of Gennesaret, five miles
southwest of the mouth of the Upper Jordan; others have located it at
a ruin farther north of this sea, called Tell Hum. To some this name
seems to be all that remains of the ancient name Capernaum, which, as
they think, means the village (caper) of Nahum (Naum).
At Capernaum many of our Saviour’s miracles were performed, and the
place is referred to sixteen times by name.
=12.= A miracle performed here at this time in the history confirmed
the faith of Andrew, Peter, James, and John, who were fishing in the
waters of the sea not far off from the village, Luke 5:1‒11.
Soon after this the restoring of the demoniac to his senses in the
synagogue took place, Luke 4:33, and immediately after this the healing
of Peter’s wife’s mother, as recorded in the same chapter. Many other
miracles were performed the same evening.
=13. Jesus then began to travel= throughout Galilee, preaching and
healing. One miracle on this journey is recorded, that of healing a
leper, as narrated in Matt. 8:2; Mark 1:40; Luke 5:12. On his return
to Capernaum he heals a paralytic, Matt. 9:2; Mark 2:1‒12; Luke 5:18.
In the narrative of this last-mentioned miracle we have an illustration
of the use of _double names_ among the Jews, for Matthew, 9:9, calls
himself Matthew, whereas the other evangelists in their accounts called
him Levi,[165] and moreover Matthew adopts the usual method of Greek
historians in speaking of themselves in the third person to avoid
egotism. Compare Matt. 9:10; Mark 2:15; Luke 5:29.