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Authors: George Eliot

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rather than to divine providence.
 
The false interpretations of Old Testament passages in tins chapter arc crowned by tlie last verse, where it is said tliat by the settlement of the parents of Jesus at Nazareth was fulfilled the saying of the prophets : lie shall be called a Jfazarene. Now this passage is not to be found in the Old Testament, and unless expositors, losing courage, take refuge in darkness by supposing tliat it is extracted from a canonical || or apocryphal’[ book now lost, they must
* Joseph. B.j. I, xxx. 3. Comp. Antiq, xvii. iv. 1. 1- Macroh. Saturnal. ii. 4:
 
Quum audisset (Augustus) inter pueros, quas in Syria IIerodes rex Judmrum intra bimaturn jussit interjici, jilium quoqiie ejus orcistim, ait; •nwlius est, Ilerodls porcum (ur) esse min.-m. Sliuia (vibv\
 
t Vid. Wetstein, Kuinol, Olshausen in loc. Winer d. A. Herodea.
 
BIETII AND EAKLY LIFE OF JESUS.165
 
admit the conditional validity of one or other of tlie following charges against the evangelist.. If, as it has been alleged, lie intended to compress the Old Testament prophecies tliat the Messiah would be despised, into the oracular sentence, He shall be called a Nazarene, i. e. the citizen of a despised city,1” we must accuse him of the most arbitrary mode of expression; or, if lie be supposed to give a modification of ‘“|i’’3 (nasir) we must tax him with tlie moat violent, transformation of the word and the grossest perversion of its meaning, for even if, contrary to the fact, tins epithet were applied to the Messiah in the Old Testament, it could only mean either that lie would be a Nazarite,f which Jesus never was, or that he would be crowncd,{ as Joseph Gen. xlix. 26, in no case that lie would be brought up in the petty town of Nazaretli. The most probable interpretation of tills passage, and tliat wliicli lias tlie sanction of the Jewish Christians questioned on tlie subject by Jerome, is, tliat the evangelist here alludes to Isa. xi. 1. where tlie Mcssiali is called •’ai “W (^surculns Jess’’) as elsewhere I’l’^. § But in every case tliere is tlie same violence done to tlie word by attaching to a mere appellative of tlie Mcssiali, an entirely fictitious relation to the name of the city of Nazaretli.
 
§ 35. ATTEMPTS AT A NATURAL EXPLANATION OF THE HISTORY OF
THE MAGI-TRANSITION TO THE MYTHICAL EXPLANATION.
 
TO avoid the many difficulties wliicli beset us at every step in interpreting this chapter after .the manner of tlie supranaturalists, it is quite worth our wliile to seek for aiiotlier exposition wliicli may suffice to explain the wliole according to physical and psychological laws, without any admixture of supranaturalism.
 
Such an exposition lias been tlie most successfully attempted by Paulus.
 
How could heathen magi, in a remote country of tlie east, know any tiling of a Jewisli king about to be born ? Tills is tlie first difficulty, and it is removed on tlie above system of interpretation by supposing tliat tlie magi were expatriated Jews. But this, apparently, is not tlie idea of tlie evangelist. For tlie question wliicli lie puts into tlie mouth of tlie magi, “ Where is he, that is born Kiny of the Jews?’1’1 distinguishes them from that people, and as regards the tendency of tlie entire narrative, tlie church seems to liave apprehended it more correctly than Paulus thinks, in representing tlie visit of tlie magi as tlie first manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles.
Nevertheless, as we have above remarked, tills difficulty may be cleared away without having recourse to tlie supposition of Paulns.
 
Further, according to the natural explanation, tlie real object of the journey of these men was not to sec the new-born king, nor was its cause the star wliicli. tlicy liad observed in tlie cast; but tlicy
v:’ Kuinol, ad Matth, p. 44 f.
 
f Wctstein, in loc. ^ Sc-hneekpnbcr^cr, Ueitra^e zur Einlrituns in il;ia N. T, S, 42.
 
§ Gitwkr, Stu.Uon und Kritiki-ii, 18;S1, a. Het’t, S. iiSti f.
 
THE LIFE OF JESUS.
 
1G6
 
happened to be travelling to Jerusalem pcrliaps with mercantile views, and hearing t’;ir iind wide in the land of a new-Lorn king, a celestial phenomenon which tliny liad recently observed occured to their rcmeinLrance, and tliev earnestly desired to see tlie child in question. By tills means, it is true, tlic difficulty arising from the sanction given to astrology by tlie usual conception of tlic story is diminished, but only at tlic expense of unprejudiced interpretatiol-!.
For even if it were admissible unccrimoniously to transform magi fzayov^ into merchants, their purpose in tills journey cannot have been a commercial one, for their first inquiry on arriving at Jerusalem is after tlic new-born king, and they forthwith mention a star, seen by them in the cast, as tlic cause not only of their question, but also of their present journey, the object of wliicli they aver to be the presentation of their homage to the new-born cliild. (v. 2.)
 
The darfip (.star) becomes, on this method of interpretation, a natural meteor, or a. comet,* or finally, a constellation, that is, a conjunction of plancts.f Tlic last idea was put, forth by Kepler, and lias been approved by several astronomers and theologians. Is it more easy, on any one of tlicac suppositions, to conceive tliat tlic star could precede tlie magi on their way, and remain stationary over a particular liousc, according to the representation of tlic text ? We have already examined tlie two lirst hypotheses; if we adopt tlic third, we must either suppose the verb -n-poayeir (v. 9) to signify llic disjunction of tl’-c planets, previously in apparent union, ^ though tlic text docs not imply a partition “but a forward movement of tlic entire phenomenon ; or we must call Siiskind’s pluperfect to our aid, and imagine tliat tlic constellation, which tlic magi could no longer sec in tlic valley between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, again burst on their view over tlic place where tlic cliild dwelt. § For tlic ‘expression, irrdvw w ‘ijv -o -raiSlov (v. 9.), denotes merely tlie place of abode, not tlie particular dwelling of the cliild and Ids parents. Tills we grant; but when tlic evangelist proceeds thus: Kal eloe/.Ouv-Ei;
 
E(C -rfjv olnlav, (v. 9.) he gives tlic more general expression tlie precise meaning of dwelling-house, so tliat tills explanation is clearly a, vain effort to abate tlie marvcllousneds of tlic evangelical narrative.
 
Tlie most remarkable supposition adopted by those who regard doT’/)p as a conjunction of planets, is tliat they liad hereby obtain a fixed point in accredited history, to wliicli tlie narrative of Matthew may lie attached. According to Kepler’s calculation, corrected by hielcr, there occurred, three years before tlic deatli of llerod, in the year of Home 747, a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the sign Places.
 
Tlie conjunction of tliesc planets is repeated in tlic above sign, to wliicli astrologers attribute a special relation to Palestine, about every SOU years, and according to tlie computation ot the Jew Abarbanel (1.4U3) it took place three years before tlie birth of
* Ii’or lioih these explanations, sec Kuini’il, in luc.
 
t K”l’lcr, in varioiri treatises ;
 
M.’n-i^f/n- ,i,,r s^orn
BIETH AXD EAELY LIFE OF J::SCS.
 
Moses; hence it is probable enough that tlie hope of the second.
 
great deliverer of the nation would be associated witli tlie recurrence of this conjunction in the time of Herod, and that when tlie phenomenon was actually observed, it would occasion inquiry on tlie part of Babylonian Jews. But that the star mentioned by Matthew was tills particular planetary conjunction, is, from our uncertainty as to tlic year of Christ’s birth, and also as to the period of the above astrological calculation, an extremely precarious conjecture; and as, besides, there arc certain particulars in tlic evangelical text, for instance, the words ffpoy/yer and t’or?;, wliicli do not accord with such an explanation,--so soon as another, more congruous with Matthew’s narrative, presents itself, we are justified in giving it tlie preference.
 
Tlie diflicultics connected witli the erroneous interpretations of passages from tlie Old Testament are, from the natural point of view, eluded by denying tliat tlic writers of tlie New Testament are responsible for tlie falsity of these interpretations.
 
It is said that tlie prophecy of Micali is applied to tlie Messiah and liis birth in Bethlehem by tlie Sanhedrim alone, and tliat Mattlicw lias not committed himself to their interpretation by one word of approval. But when tlie evangelist proceeds to narrate how tlic issue corresponded witli tlic interpretation, he sanctions it by the authoritative seal of fact. In relation to tlic passage from llosea, Paulus and Stcudcl*
concur in resorting to a singular expedient.
 
Mattliew, say they, wislied to a’uard a”-ainst tlic offence which it mi^’lit possibly “‘ive to
t”; 0 01«; 0
 
tlie Jews of Palestine to learn tliat tlie Messiah liad once left tlic Holy Land ; lie therefore called attention to tlie fact tliat Israel, in one sense tlic rirst-born of Ciod, liad been called out of Egypt, for wliicli reason, lie would imply, no one ought to be astonished tliat tlic Messiah, tlie son of Clod in a higher sense, liad also visited a profane land. But throughout tlie passage there is no tracef of sucli a negative, precautionary intention on tlie part of tlic evangelist in adducing this prophecy; on tlie contrary, all Ills quotations seem to have tlic positive object to confirm the Messiahship of Jesus by sliowing tliat in him tlie Old Testament prophecies liad their fulfilment. It lias been attempted witli reference to tlie two other prophecies cited in this chapter, to reduce tlic signification of the verb •TAripuOtival (to hi: fulJi.Uei.l} to tliat of mere similitude or applicability; but tlie futility of tlie effort needs no exposure.
 
Tlie various directions conveyed to tlic persons of our narrative by means of visions arc, from tlie same point of view, all explained psychologically, as effects of waking inquiries and reflections. Tills appears, indeed, to lie indicated by tlie text itself, v. 22, according to which Joseph, hearing tliat Archelaus was master of Judea, feared to go thither, and not until then did he receive an intimation from
* Pn’ii^cFs Ar’-hiv. vii. ii. \\. 42-1’. •i* At a later period, it is true, tins journey of Jesus was tin.’ occasion of raluiiinirs from tlir .lews, but those •were of an rntiruly different
natUl’r. ;1S \vill 1». ^.,.n ;n t!>,. <‘,,lL,>x-inrr *.). .1 nt-,.r
THE LIFE OF JESUS
a higher source in a dream. Nevertheless, on a closer examination
we find that the communication given in the dream was something.
new, not a mere repetition of intelligence received in waking moments. Only a negative conclusion, that on account of Archelaus it was not advisable to settle at Bethlehem, was attained by Joseph wlien awake; the positive injunction to proceed to Nazareth was superadded in his dream. To explain tlie other visions in tlie above way is a direct interpolation of the text, for tins represents both the hostility and death of Herod as being first made known to Joseph by dreams; in like manner, the magi have no distrust of Herod until a dream warns them against his treachery.
 
Thus, on the one hand, the sense of tlie narrative in Matt. ii. is opposed to tlie conception of its occurrence as natural: on tlie other liand, tills narrative, taken in its original sense, carries the supernatural into tlie extravagant, the improbable into the impossible.
We are therefore led to doubt tlie historical character of the narrative, and to conjecture that we have before us something mythical.
BOOK: Delphi Complete Works of George Eliot (Illustrated)
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