in mockery replied, Master we would see a sign from thee; insinuating that the ejection of devils were but trifling miracles, which, for all he had said to the contrary, might be done by the help of devils, and that never so many signs of that kind should not convince them. They would not believe, unless he would prove his mission by what on another occasion they called the sign from heaven. (See on Matt. iv. 6. § 17.) 38. Then certain of the Scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we see a a would see a sign from thee. Jesus told them, their requiring a sign after so many miracles were wrought to convince them, shewed them to be a wicked and adulterous generation, (see on Mark viii. 38. § 71.) a spurious breed which had degenerated from the faith and piety of their great progenitor Abraham; for which reason they should have no other signs but such as they were every day beholding, the sign of the prophet Jonah excepted. He meant the miracle of his own resurrection from the dead, typified by the deliverance of Jonah from the whale's belly, and which he often appealed to, as the great evidence of his mission from God. 39. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: The greatness of your wickedness makes you unwilling to receive the truth, for which reason you only make a pretence of desiring more evidence. Sufficient proofs of my character and mission have already been laid before you; and no greater shall be given except the miracle prefigured by what befel the prophet Jonah. 40. For as Jonas was three day and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in

the

Ver. 40. The whale's belly.] The fish which swallowed Jonah, is in our translation called a subale; but in both the original languages, it signifies any great fish in general, and should be translated so in this passage, at least if it be true which some affirm concerning the whale, that its throat is so narrow as not to admit the body of a man.

+Ibid. Three days and three nights.] From the history of our Lord's crucifixion and resurrection, it appears that he continued in the grave only one day complete, together with a part of the day on which he was buried, and of that on which he arose again. It seems the Jews had no word answering exactly to the Greek usgor, or natural day of twenty-four hours, but they expressed that idea by the phrases nigh and day, and day and night. Thus, Dan. viii. 14. Unto two thousand and three hundred evening mornings, i. e. days, as it is in our translation, shall the sanctuary be cleansed. Thus also, what is called forty days and forty nights, Gen. vii. 12. is expressed simply forty days, ver. 17. Wherefore, as it is common in general computations, to ascribe a whole day to what takes up only a part of it, when this was done in the Jewish language, it was necessary to mention both day and night. Hence, a part of three days, was called by them, three days and three nights. Thus Esther says to the Jews, ch. iv. 16. Fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day; I also and my maidens will fast likewise, and so will I go in unto the king. Yet the history, ch. v. 1. expressly says she went to the king on the third day. A second example we

*the heart of the earth. The miraculous preservation of Jonah for three days in the belly of a fish, was to the Ninevites a certain proof of his mission from God, being credibly attested to them, either by the mariners who threw him overboard at a great distance from land, or by some other persons, who happening to see the fish vomit him alive upon the shore, might enquire his. story of him, and who in the course of their business met him afterwards at Nineveh, where they confirmed his preaching by relating what they had seen †. In like manner, Christ's resurrec tion

have, 1 Sam. xxx. 12. where the Egyptian whom David's men found in the field, is said to have eaten no bread, nor drank any water, three days and three nights. Nevertheless, in giving an account of himself, the Egyptian tok them, that his master had left him, "because three days ago he fell sick;" in the Hebrew it is, I fell sick this third day, i. e. this is the third day since I fell sick. In like manner, Luke ii. 21. it is said, when eight days were accomplished, they circumcised the child; whereas the law ordered them to circumcise on the eighth day, reckoning the day of the birth the first; so that though eight days are said to have been accomplished at the circumcision of Jesus, he might really be no more than six days old, if he was born at the end of the first day, and circumcised about the beginning of the eighth. Nay, among the Jews, things were said to be done after three days, when they were done on the third day. Thus Rehoboam says to the people, 2 Chron. x. 5. Come unto me after three days, which they understood to be an order to come on the third day. For we are told, verse 12. that Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king bade, saying, Come again to me on the third day. In like manner, Deut. Χίν. 28. μετα τρια ετη is explained ch. xxvi. 2. by εν τω έτει τω τρίτω. See also Luke ii. 46. where μc‡' quigas rgus signifies on the third day, and John xx. 26. where para surgas oxta signifies undoubtedly on the eighth day after the preceding sabbath. Agreeably to these forms, the prophecy of our Lord's resurrection from the dead is sometimes expressed by his rising after three days, sometimes by his rising on the third day. Wherefore from these examples it is evident, that his predictions concerning the time of his ly ing in the grave were exactly fulfilled, notwithstanding he remained there only one day complete, with a small part of the days on which he was buried and arose.

* Ver. 40. The heart of the earth.] This expression in our Lord's prediction, does not imply that he was to be buried in the middle of the earth, but in the earth simply. Thus, (Ezek. xxviii. 2.) Tyre is said to be "in the heart of the sea," though it was so near the continent, that when Alexander besieged it, he carried a causeway from the land to the city.

If the suppositions mentioned above are thought improbable, we may account for the credit which the Ninevites gave to Jonah's story in the following manner: He told them how unwilling he was to bring God's message to them; that to shun it, he had taken ship to fly to Tarshish. That a great storm coming upon them, he was thrown overboard by the mariners, in consequence of the lot's falling on him. That he was swallowed by a fish, in whose helly he was miraculously preserved three days, and then vomited up alive, in order to be sent anew with the irksome message. All this might appear credible to the Ninevites, from the gravi ty and sobriety of Jonah's conversation, from the length of the journey he had come to deliver this message, without the least advantage to himself, and from the earnestness and grief with which he delivered the dreadful denunciation. Whatever way it was, certain we are from our Lord's testimony,

tion from the dead, after having been three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, being credibly attested to the Jews, should clearly demonstrate that he came from God. Farther, Jesus told his hearers, that the Ninevites being judged at the same time with the men of that generation, and their behaviour being compared with theirs, should make their guilt appear in its true colour, and condemn them. For though they were idolaters, they repented at the preaching of Jonah, a stranger, a poor person, and one that continued among them only three days, and did no miracle to make them believe him. But the men of that generation, though worshippers of the true God by profession, could every day hear unmoved the much more powerful preaching of a prophet infinitely greater than Jonah, even the preaching of the eternal Son of God, who confirmed his doctrine by the most astonishing miracles. Likewise he told them, that the queen of the south being judged with them, would condemn then, she having undertaken a long journey to hear the wisdom of Solomon, whereas they would not hear one much wiser than Solomon, though he was come to their very doors. Or if they condescended to hear his wisdom, they would not embrace it. Mat. xii. 41. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, (ανατήσονται εν τη κρίσει μετα της γενεας ταυτης, shall rise in the judgment, or at the day of judgment, along with this generation) and shall condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonas, and behold, a greater than Jonas is here. 42. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment (syseInotras e in xgies, shall be raised up in the judgment) with this generation, and shall condemn it; for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, a greater than Solomon is here. To conclude, in allusion to the occasion of the dispute, our Lord finished his defence with the parable of the possessed person, who after having had the devil expelled out of him, received him back again, and thereby was brought into a worse condition than ever. 43. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none: When convictions

testimony, that the Ninevites believing his story, were so moved with his message, as sincerely to repent of the enormous sins, by which they had awakened the divine vengeance.

* Ver. 42. The queen of the south] The country over which this queen reigned, is in the Old Testament called Sheba, and is supposed to have been that which in profane authors goes by the name of Sabea. Yet Josephus does not allow her to have been queen of that country, because Arabia Felix, of which Sabea was a part, lay more to the east than to the south of Judea. He says she took her title from Saba, a city of Meroe, an island in the Nile, over which she reigned, and the queens of which were afterwards called Candace.

+ Ver. 43. Dry places.] Avudev, deserts; see Psal. cvi. 14. LXX. This some understand of the devils going among the Gentiles, who did not give

them

victions are raised in the mind of a sinner, whether by God's word, or by the chastisements of his providence, the devil is vowed out of him, and the man forms many strong resolutions against his sins. The evil spirit thus expeiled walks to and fro in desert places, seeking to seduce God's subjects from their allegiance. But meeting with little opportunity of gratifying his malicious dispositions in these solitudes, he leaves them, in hopes of getting access into his former habitation. 44. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came gut; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished, that is, notwithstanding the man had so peremptorily resolved against his sins, the devil findeth hin void of all his former convictions, good thoughts and resolutions, but at the same time completely furnished with his lusts and passions, and every thing that can make him a commodious habitation for an evil spirit. Matt. xii. 45. Then goeth he, and taketh avith himself seven other spirits, i. e. a great many, the number seven denoting perfection, whether of good or had things more wicked than himself, and they enter in and divell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first: they get easy access, and take a sevenfold stronger possession of him than they had before. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation, who resist the convictions which my doctrine and miracles have raised in them. This parable, therefore, is designed to teach men in every age, the danger of resisting their convictions, and of breaking through their resolutions, the effect being VOL. II. commonly

I

them such a welcome reception and quiet possession as the Jews did. Dr Doddridge thinks, that after the devil was driven out, he would be under A kind of restraint for a while, and that the circumstance of his going into desert places is beautifully imagined, to represent those malignant beings as impatient of the sight of mankind, when restrained from hurting them, and as chusing on such occasions to seek their rest in the prospect of a sandy desart. But it is needless thus to stretch the minung Circumstances of a parable. If the moral intended is clearly expressed by the chief strokes of it, a variety of lesser circumstances may without any particular signification be added, to unite and enliven the principal members of the composition, as in history-painting many things are put into the piece, which though not absolutely necessary to the general design, give beauty and perfection to the whole. In the interpretation of a parable, therefore, we are not under the least necessity of assigning a moral meaning to every particular circumstance. 't the same time, if all of them naturally suggest such a meaning, the parable is so much the more perfect. In this of the ejected demon, the circumstance of his going away to deserts after he was dispossessed, seems to be one of the kind mentioned, and like the other parts of the allegory, was adapted to the rotions of the people for whom I was designed. It seems the Jews believed, that evil spirits frequented deserts, when they were not directly employed in hurting mankind. See the translation which the LXX. have given of Isa. xii. 21. Nor is their pinion inconsistent either with Scripture (see Rev. xviii 2.) or reason. For since evil spirits are permitted to wander up and down the world tempting men, they may be supposed, among other places, to be something in deserts.

commonly to render them much more obdurate and abandoned than before. See 2 Pet. ii. 20.

In the heat of this debate, our Lord's mother who had come from Nazareth to visit him, perhaps with an intention to carry him home, having got notice where he was, and what he was doing, went to call him away. She was attended by her sister's children, who were the cousins, or according to the Hebrew dialect, the brethren of Christ. See the account given of James the son of Alpheus, Thaddeus, and Simon Zelotes, 6 37. If these were the persons called here our Lord's brethren, they were his disciples and apostles. Probably Mary on her arrival at Capernaum had sent for them; and being informed by them where her Son was, she and they came to him together. If by our Lord's brethren some other of his cousins or more distant relations are meant, they came with his mother from Nazareth. Being come to the house, they spake to the people about the door. Mat. xii. 46. While he yet talked to the people, behold his mother and kis brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him, (Mark, sent unto him, calling him). 47. Then one said unto him, Behold thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. It was on this occasion that Jesus uttered that excellent saying, which will never be forgotten while there are memories in the world to retain it, or tongues to repeat it. 48. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? Mark iii. 34. And he looked round about on them which sat about him. Matt. xii. 49. And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren. 50. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, (Mark, the will of God) the same is my brother, and sister, and mother. This short speech, related by the evangelists with great simplicity, is, without their seeming to have designed it, one of the finest encomiums imaginable. Could the most elaborate panegyric have done Jesus Christ and his religion half the honour which this divine sentiment hath done them. Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother! I regard obedience to God so highly, that I prefer the relation it constitutes, and the union which it begets, to the strongest ties of blood. They who do the will of my Father, have a much greater share of my esteem than my kinsmen as such. I love them with an affection tender and steady, like that which subsists between the nearest relations; nay, I reckon them, and them only my brethren, my sisters, and my mother. An high commendation this, and not a reflection upon our Lord's mother, who without doubt was among the chief of those who did the will of God. What veneration should live in the hearts of men for Jesus and his religion, which exhibits an idea of such perfection in goodness!

§ XLIX.