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Authors: George Eliot

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But how tins anecdote can be numbered among mythi is found by some altogether inconceivable. It bears, thinks Hcydcnreich,j:
 
a thoroughly historical character (this is tlie very point to be proved)
and tlie stamp of tlie highest simplicity (like every popular legend in its original form); it contains no tincture of the miraculous, wherein tlie primary characteristic of a mythus (but not of every mythus) is lield to consist; it is so remote from all embellishment tliat there is not tlie sliglitest detail of tlie conversation of Jesus with tlie doctors (tlie legend was satisfied with tlie dramatic trait, sitting in. the midst of the doctors: as a dictum, v. 49. was alone important, and towards this the narrator liastcns without delay);
 
nay, even tlie conversation between Jesus and liis mother is only given in a fragmentary aphoristic manner (there is no trace of an omission); finally, tlie inventor of a legend would have made Jesus speak differently to liis mother, instead of putting into liis mouth words which might be construed into irreverence and indifference.
In tills last observation Hcydcnreich agrees wdth Schlciermacher, who finds in the behaviour of Jesus to his mother, liable as it is to be misinterpreted, a sure guarantee tliat the wliole history was not invented to supply something remarkable concerning Jesus, in connexion with tlie period at which the holy tilings of tlie temple and tlie law were first opened to him. §
 
In combating tlie assertion, that an inventor would scarcely have attributed to Jesus so much apparent harshness towards liis mother, we need not appeal to the apocryphal Uvangelium T/iomcr, which
* This Kaiser lias seen, bill. Theol. 1, 234. •)• Neither do we learn what IIase (Leben Jesu § 37) supposes to be conveyed in this narrative, namely, that as it exhibits the same union with Goil that constituted the’idcaof the later life of Jesus, it is an intimation that his later excellence was not the result of conversion from vouiht’ul errors, hut of the uninterrupted development of his freedom.+ relier die Uiiziil.is^iiri.eit n a f 1 S (19
 
THE LIFE OF JESUS.
 
makes the boy Jesus say to his fosterfather Josepli: insipientissime fecisti;* for even m the legend or history of tlie canonical gospels, corresponding traits are to be found. In the narrative of the wedding at Cana, we rind this rough address to Ills mother: rl Sfiol ical aol yvvai. (John ii. 4); and in the account of the visit paid to Jesus by his mother and brethren, the striking circumstance that he apparently -wishes to take no notice of his relatives (Matt. xii. 46). If these arc real incidents, then the legend had an historical precedent to warrant tlic introduction of a similar feature, even into the early youth of Jesus; if, on tlie oilier liand, they are only legends, they are the most vivid proofs that an inducement was not wanting for the invention of such features. Where flits inducement lay, it is easy to see. The figure of Jesus would stand in tlie higher relief from the obscure background of his contracted family relations, if it were often seen that his parents were unable to comprehend hia elevated mind, and if even he himself sometimes made them feel his superiority-so far as this could happen without detriment to his filial obedience, which, it should be observed, our narrative expressly preserves.
 
§ 42. ON THE EXTERNAL LIFE OF JESUS UP TO THE TIME OF HIS
PUBLIC APPEARANCE.
 
WHAT •wc’1’e tlie external conditions under which Jesus lived, from the scene just considered up to the time of his public appearance? On this subject our canonical Gospels give scarcely an indication.
 
First, as to Ins place of residence, <‘dl that we learn explicitly is
this: tliat both at tlic beginning and at tlie end of this obscure period lie dwelt at Nazareth. According to Luke ii. 51.. Jesus when twelve years old returned thither witli his parents, and according to Matthew iii. 13. Marki. 9, he, when thirty years old (comp. Luke iii. 23), came from thence to be baptized by Jolin. Thus our evangelists appear to suppose, tliat Jesus liad in tlie interim resided in Galileo, and, more particularly, in Nazareth.Tills supposition, however, does not exclude journeys, such as those to tlie feasts in
Jerusalem.
 
The employment of Jesus during the years of his boyliood and.
 
youth seems, from an intimation in our Gospels, to have been determined by tlie trade of his father, wlio is there called a reti-wr (Matt. xiii. 55.). This Greek word, used to designate the trade of Joseph, is generally understood in the sense of faber l-ignaruis {carpenter’) ;t a few only, on mystical grounds, discover in it a faber ferrarius (blacksmith), aurarius {goldsmith), or caementarius (ma
* Cap. v. In the Greek text also the more probable reading is Kdi /iti?,tora oii aoijiiii;.
--t,i ‘ri,:i^ ^ oy-4. TTpnfp. the title of an Arabian apocryphal wurk (according to thu
EDUCATION OF JESUS.
 
son).* The works in wood which he executed are held of different mao-nitudc by different authors: according to Justin and tlie JEvanaelium Thomce,^ t\wJ\fWQ ploughs and yokes, dpo-panai f,vya, and in tliat case lie would be wliat we call a wheelwright: according to tlie Evangcliuin infantice aral>icum,\ they were doors, milkvessels, sieves and coffers, and once Josepli makes a throne for the kin”-; so tliat here lie is represented partly as a cabinet-maker and partly as a cooper. Tlic Protevangeliu.m Jacobi, on tlie other liand, makes him work at buildings, olito6opalc,Sj without doubt as a carpenter. In tlicse labours of tlie father Jesus appears to have sliared, according to an expression of Mark, who makes tlic Nazarencs ask concerning Jesus, not merely as in tlie parallel passage of Matthew:
 
7s not this the carpenter’s son? ova avrog ea-w b TOV TKK.TOVO^ vlog ;
 
but Is not this the carpenter ? OVK av-og KUTIV o TEICTUV ; (vi. 3.) It is true tliat in replying to the taunt of Cclsus that tlie teacher of the Christians was a carpenter by trade, TEIC-W -qv rffv TE^VTJV, Origen says, he must have forgotten that in none of the Gospels received by the churches is Jesus himself called a carpenter, STI, ov6afzov ~w KV rdl(; KK.K.Xr]C!iaig  
Justin attaches especial importance to tlie fact tliat Jesus made ploughs and yokes or scales, as symbols of active life and ofjustice.ff In tlic Jiuangellum infantzcs ^traoicum, Jesus goes about with Josepli to tlie places where tlie latter lias work, to lielp him in such a manner tliat if Joseph made anything too long or too short, Jesus, by a touch or by merely stretching out Ills liand, gave to tlic object its rig-lit size ; an assistance which was very useful to Ins foster-father, because, as the apocryphal text naively remarks: nee admodum peritus erat a.rtis fabrilis.yi.
 
Apart from tlic apocryphal descriptions, there are many reasons for believing tliat the above intimation as to tlie youthful employment of Jesus is correct. In tlie first place, it accords witli the
• Via. Tliilo, Cod. Apoer. N. T. p. 3G8 f. not.
 
•)• Justin. Dial c. Tryph. P8. According to liini .k’sus main’s these implements, doubtless under the direction of Joseph.
 
In tlie Evitng. Tlwmie c. xiii. Joseph is tlie workman.% Cap. xxxviii. ap. Thiio, p. 112 ff.
§ C. ix. and xiii.|] C. Cels. vi. 3 
** Vid. Wetstein and 1’aiilus, in loc.; Wmer, Healworterlluch, 1, S. U(l.’». Note; Neander, L. J. Chr. S.
4<) f. Note.ft Ut sup.: ravra yap ru TTEKrm’iKu ^pya £’ip’/a^£ro EV uv-Qpunoil; (^v, upoTpa Kai Cv)’?c 6t,ti TOVTUV na.1 TU Ti)(; t^inaLoavvf^ avu3o?.a ^i^aatiw. nal Kvep^’ij ^iov.^ Cap.
 
THE LIFE ffiP JESUS.
 
ing sufferers (Mark x. 5.), ‘but even the pharisaic apxuv Nicodemua (John iii. 2.) did not refuse him this title. We cannot however conclude from hence that Jesus had received the scholastic instruction of a rabbin ;* for the salutation Rabbi, as also tlie privilege of reading in the synagogue (Luke iv. 16 ff.), a particular which lias likewise been appealed to, belonged not only to graduated rabbins, but to every teacher who liad given actual proof of Ills qualifications.f The enemies of Jesus explicitly assert, and lie does not contradict them, tliat lie had never learned letters : TW<- ov-oq ypa.iii.ia-a ol6e pri y,ewO’i]K.u(;; (John vii. 15.) and the Nazarenes are astonished to find so much wisdom in him, wlience we infer tliat lie had not to tlieir knowledge been a student. These facts cannot be neutralized by the discourse of Jesus in wliicli lie represents himself as tlic model of a scribe well-instructed unto the kingdom of heaven \ (Matt. xiii.
52.) for tlic word ypa^arEvf; here means a doctor of the law in general, and not directly a doctor qualified in tlic scliools. Lastly, the intimate acquaintance witli tlic doctrinal traditions, and tlic abuses of tlie rabbins, which Jesus exhibits,§ especially in tlie sermon on the mount and the anti-pharisaic discourse Matt. xxiii., lie might acquire from tlie numerous discourses of tlie Pharisees to tlie people, witliout going through a course of study under them. Thus the data on our present subject to be found in the Gospels, collectively yield tlic result that Jesus did not pass formally through a rabbinical school; on tlie other hand, the consideration that it must have been tlie interest of the Christian legend to represent Jesus as independent of human teachers, may induce a doubt witli respect to these statements in the New Testament, and a conjecture tliat Jesus may not have been so entirely a stranger to tlie learned culture of his nation. But from tlie absence of authentic information we can
arrive at no decision on this point.
 
Various hypotheses, more or less independent of tlie intimations given in tlie Kcw Testament, have been advanced both in ancient and modern times concerning tlic intellectual development of Jesus:
 
they may be divided into two principal classes, according to tlieir agreement with tlie natural or tlie supernatural view. Tlie supernatural view of tlie person, of Jesus requires that lie should be the only one of his kind, independent of all external, liuman influences, self-taught or rather taught of God; hence, not only must its advocates dctcnninedly reject every supposition implying tliat he borrowed or learned anything, and consequently place in the most glaring liglit tlic difficulties v/hich lay in the way of tlie natural development of Jesus ;|| but, t’.ie more surely to exclude every kind of reception, they must also Lc disposed to assign as early an appearance as possible to that spontaneity which we find in Jesus in his
* Such, however, are the arguments of Panlus, at. sup. 275 ff. •}• Comp. Base, Leben Jcsu, | 3a ;Kaander, 1.. J. Chr. S. 4.’) f.f Paulus, ut sup. 
|1 As e.g. Itrinhard does,
EDUCATION OF JESUS. 205
 
mature age. This spontaneous activity is twofold; it is theoretical and practical. As regards tlie theoretical side, comprising judgment and knowledge, tlie effort to give as early a date as possible to its manifestation in Jesus, displays itself in the apocryphal passages which have been already partly cited, and which describe Jesus as surpassing his teachers long before his twelfth year, for according to one of them he spoke in his cradle and declared himself to be the Son of God.* Tlie practical side, too, of that superior order of spontaneity attributed to Jesus in his later years, namely, tlie power of working miracles, is attached by the apocryphal gospels to his earliest cliildliood and youth. The JEvangelium T/wmce opens with the fifth year of Jesus the story of his miracles,! and the Arabian .Evangelmrn Infantice fills tlie journey into Egyyt with miracles •which tlie mother of Jesus performed by means of the swaddling bands of her infant, and tlie water in which lie was washed, f Some of the miracles which according to these apocryphal gospels were wrought by Jesus when in his infancy and boyhood, are analogous to those in the JNTew Testament-cures and resuscitations of the dead; others are totally diverse from tlie ruling type in tlie canonical Gospels-extremely revolting retributive miracles, by which every one who opposes the boy Jesus in any matter whatever is smitten with lameness, or even witli death, or else mere extravagancies, such as tlie giving of life to sparrows formed out of mud.}.
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