




                            AS OTHERS SAW HIM





                            AS OTHERS SAW HIM

                             _A RETROSPECT_

                                A. D. 54

         "_It cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem_"
                                        LUKE xiii. 33

                     [Illustration: Publisher's sign]


BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
*The Riverside Press, Cambridge*
1895





                            Copyright, 1895,
                        BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.

                          _All rights reserved._




             _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._
             Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Co.





TO AGLAOPHONOS, PHYSICIAN OF THE GREEKS AT CORINTH, MESHULLAM BEN ZADOK, A
SCRIBE OF THE JEWS AT ALEXANDRIA, GREETING:--

_It was a joy and a surprise to me to hear news after many days from thee,
my master and my friend. To thee I owe whatever I have of Greek wisdom;
for when in the old days at the Holy City thou soughtest me for
instruction in our Law, I learnt more from thee than I could impart to
thee. Since I last wrote to thee, I have come to this great city, where
many of my nation dwell, and almost all the most learned of thy tongue are
congregated. Truly, it would please me much, and mine only son and his
wife, if thou couldst come and take up thy sojourn among us for a while._

_Touching the man Saul of Tarsus, of whom thou writest, I know but little.
He is well instructed in our Law, both written and oral, having received
the latter from the chief master among those of the past generation,
Gamaliel by name. Yet he is not of the disciples of Aaron that love peace;
for when I last heard of him he was among the leaders of a riot in which a
man was slain. And now I think thereon, I am almost certain that the slain
man was of the followers of Jesus the Nazarene, and this Saul was __among
the bitterest against them. And yet thou writest that the same Saul has
spoken of the Nazarene that he was a god like Apollo, that had come down
on earth for a while to live his life among men. Truly, men's minds are as
the wind that bloweth hither and thither._

_But as for that Jesus of Nazara, I can tell thee much, if not all. For I
was at Jerusalem all the time he passed for a leader of men up to his
shameful death. At first I admired him for his greatness of soul and
goodness of life, but in the end I came to see that he was a danger to our
nation, and, though unwillingly, I was of those who voted for his death in
the Council of Twenty-Three. Yet I cannot tell thee all I know in the
compass of a letter, so I have written it at large for thee, and it will
be delivered unto thee even with this letter. And in my description of
events I have been at pains to distinguish between what I saw myself and
what I heard from others, following in this the example of Herodotus of
Halicarnassus, who, if he spake rude Greek, wrote true history. And so
farewell._





                                CONTENTS.


                                                             PAGE
   I.   THE MAN WITH THE SCOURGE                                9
  II.   THE UPBRINGING                                         21
 III.   EARLIER TEACHING. SERMON IN THE SYNAGOGUE OF THE       37
        GALILAEANS
  IV.   THE TWO WAYS                                           55
   V.   THE WOMAN TAKEN IN ADULTERY. THE RICH YOUNG MAN        63
  VI.   THE TESTINGS IN THE TEMPLE                             75
 VII.   THE SECOND SERMON                                      87
VIII.   THE REBUKING OF JESUS                                  99
  IX.   JESUS IN THE TEMPLE                                   111
   X.   THE ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM                              121
  XI.   THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE                           133
 XII.   THE WOES                                              145
XIII.   THE GREAT REFUSAL                                     155
 XIV.   THE MEETING OF THE HANANITES                          167
  XV.   THE EXAMINATION BEFORE THE SANHEDRIM                  181
 XVI.   CONDEMNATION AND EXECUTION                            195
        EPILOGUE                                              207






                                   I.
                        THE MAN WITH THE SCOURGE.


I was crossing one morning the Xystus Bridge on my way to the Temple, when
I saw issuing from the nearest gate a herd of beasts of sacrifice. Fearing
that something untoward had occurred, I hurried to the gate, and when I
entered the Court of the Gentiles, I found all in confusion. The tables of
the money-changers had been overturned, and the men were gathering their
moneys from the ground. And in the midst I saw one with a scourge in his
hand. His face was full of wrath and scorn, his eyes blazed, and on his
left temple stood out a vein all blue, throbbing with his passion. He was
neither short nor tall, but of sturdy figure, and clad in rustic garb.

Now, as the money-changers were escaping from his wrath, one of them ran
against a little child that was in the court, and it fell screaming. The
fellow took no heed, but went on his course. But the man with the scourge
went to the little child and raised it to its feet, and pressed it to his
side; the hand that rested on the curly head was that of a workman, with
broken nails, and yet the fingers twitched with the excitement of the man.
But, looking to his face, I saw that a wonderful change had come over it.
From rage, it had turned to pity and love; the eyes that had flashed scorn
on the money-changers now looked down with tenderness on the little child.
I remember thinking to myself, "This man cannot say the thing that is not;
his face bewrayeth him."

Meanwhile the money-changers and those with them had collected together
near the gate by which I had entered, and stood there whispering and
muttering among themselves. All at once they turned towards the man as he
was soothing the little child, and shouted out together, "_Mamzer!
Mamzer!_" which in our tongue signifieth one born out of wedlock. Then the
man looked up from the little child, his face once more full of rage, and
the blue vein throbbing on his temple. He took a step towards the men, and
then he stopped. His face changed to a look of pity, and the men
themselves, in fear and shame, slunk away before his look through the gate
and were gone.

Then he turned towards those that had for sale doves as sacrifices for the
women and the poor. To these he spoke in a tone that was calm and yet full
of authority, and then I noticed that his voice had the burr of our
northern peasantry. He said unto them, "Take these things hence; make not
my Father's house a house of merchandise." And these, too, went away
through the gates, carrying with them the wicker cages full of doves. Ever
since that time the doves have been for sale in Hanan's Bazaar on the
Mount of Olives.

Now I must tell thee that at this time there had been much disputing
between the Pharisees and the Sadducees as to the sale of beasts for
sacrifice. The Pharisees held that each man might buy such beasts wherever
he would; but the Sadducees, being mainly priests, or of priestly blood,
would have it that the beasts of sacrifice could only be purchased from
the salesmen duly authorized by the High Priest; for they said, "Who shall
tell that the beasts are according to the Law, if they are bought from any
chance person?" Yet many thought they only did this in order that they
might share the profit from the sale of the animals. And, indeed, the
great riches of the High Priests came mainly from this source. When,
therefore, I saw the man with the scourge getting rid of these sacrificial
animals from the courts of the Temple, my first thought was that he was of
the sect of the Pharisees. Yet these are rarely found in the country
parts, and the man bore no great marks of special piety; his phylacteries
were not broader than my own; the fringes of his garment were not more
conspicuous, nor did he seem as one of the fanatics who are so many in our
land. He had done what he had done in all calmness, and with a certain air
of authority. My wonder was aroused to think what manner of man this could
be, who did the work of the Pharisees, and was not one himself.

While I thus thought, the man turned to a group of men clad in the same
rustic garb, saying, "Be ye rather approved money-changers, holding fast
the good and casting forth the false;"(1) and, after other words, he
turned from them and went up the steps leading to the Women's Court.

Now thou knowest, Aglaophonos, that at the entrance of this court standeth
an inscription which saith, "LET NONE OF ALIEN BIRTH PASS WITHIN THE
TEMPLE CLOISTERS: HE THAT TRANSGRESSES IS GUILTY OF DEATH." As the man
with the scourge would enter the Women's Court, the Roman sentry stopped
him, and pointed to this inscription with his spear. He shook his head,
saying in faulty Greek, "Jewish I am," and showed the soldier the fringes
of his garment after the Jewish fashion. Then the sentry drew back, and
the man passed through.

Thereupon I went up to the men to whom the man with the scourge had
spoken, and greeted them with the greeting of peace.

"Peace unto thee, master," said one of them in the same northern accent I
had noticed in their leader.

"Who is that man," I said, "that has just gone into the Temple cloister?"

"Jesus of Nazara, in Galilee."

"And whose son is he?" I asked.

The man looked at his companions ere he answered,--

"Of Joseph ben Eli the carpenter, and Miriam his wife."

"And what is his trade?" I continued.

"A wheelwright," he said; "the best wheels and yokes in all Capernaum are
made by him."

"But is he of the country-folk,(2) or a pupil of the wise?"

"Nay, master, he knoweth the Law and the Prophets."

"Of what party is he? Boethusian he cannot be, nor Sadducee; but is he
Pharisee or Zealot, Essene or Baptist?"

"He is of no party."

"But from whom hath he received the tradition of the elders? At whose feet
has he sat? Whom calleth he master?"

"He hath been baptized by Jochanan his kinsman, but none calleth he
master."

"If he have not the tradition, he cannot teach the Law, for his words will
not be binding. Doth he sit in judgment or pronounce _Din_?"

"Nay, master, he but teacheth us to be good."

"Ah," said I, "he is but a homolist of the Hagada; he addeth naught to the
_Halacha_. Then what is his motto?"(3)

"He saith, 'Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"

Then I took the man away from his companions, and out of hearing of the
Roman sentry, and asked him in a low tone, "And who shall be the king
thereof?"

But the man answered not, but said only, "Lo! he cometh."

And, indeed, at that moment Jesus came down by the steps he had ascended
and beckoned to his companions. And as they went towards him I was
surprised, and at the same time horrified, to see amongst them two persons
whom I little thought to find in any public place in Jerusalem, still less
in the courts of the Temple. One was a woman in the yellow veil of a
_hetaera_; the other, a mere _Nathin_ who had no name among men, but was
called _Dog o' Dogs_. These two pressed close to Jesus; the woman rushed
forward with a sob and raised the hem of his garment to her lips, while to
the man he spoke some friendly words, smiling on him as they walked
towards the entrance.

I was astonished. The man had seemed so careful of the purity of the
Temple that he would not allow even the necessary arrangements for its
service to be performed in its precincts, yet he allowed its courts to be
defiled by the vilest of the vile. Perchance, I thought, he had prevailed
upon them to perform the vows enjoined by the Law, and cleanse themselves
of their sin. Or was it that he was ignorant of their characters, being
but newly come from rural parts? He must, indeed, be different from other
rabbis, who kept themselves apart from all transgressors against the Law
till they had repented and done penance.

While I thus meditated, I saw the High Priest Hanan, whom ye Hellenes call
Annas, enter into the court of the Gentiles with his guard. Thou
rememberest the man, Aglaophonos--how his tyranny extended over all the
city. He was still called High Priest, though Valerius Gratius, the
Procurator, had deposed him years before, lest haply he might regain the
regal power of the Maccabaeans. Still, even after his deposition, he had
sufficient power to get his sons or sons-in-law named High Priests. It was
one of the latter, Joseph Caiaphas, who at that time held the office; yet
the people still called Hanan High Priest, and he himself wore on high
days the bells and pomegranates round his tunic as a sign of his dignity.
Thou must remember his keen-cut face, his nose like an eagle's, his long
white beard, bent neck, and sinewy hand. Was it thou or I that first
called him "the Old Vulture"?

He had heard of the insult to his dignity by the removal, without his
orders, of the money-changers and others to whom the people paid the fees
from which he and his made such display in his grand dwelling on the Mount
of Olives. "Where is he? where is he?" he cried, as he came bustling up,
with neck extended, and looking more than ever like a bird of prey. He
soon found that the man he sought had gone; but he had given his orders,
and before I left the court, I saw the money-changers reenter and the
cattle driven back. I had to attend a meeting of the Sanhedrim, for that
year I had risen to the third and highest bench of disciples who sit under
its members when they give judgment. Next year I was elected of the
Seventy-One myself in the section of Israelites. It must, therefore, have
been in the sixteenth year of Tiberius the Emperor, nearly five-and-twenty
years agone, that I thus saw for the first time Jesus the Nazarene.





                                   II.
                             THE UPBRINGING.


Thou canst imagine the wonder and excitement in Jerusalem at this bold
deed of the Nazarene. Not even the oracle of Delphi is regarded with so
much reverence as our sacred fane, and none in our time had dared to
interfere with its regulations, which have all the sacredness of our
traditions. And of these none was regarded by the priestly guardians of
the Temple as of greater weight for them than the right of sale of beasts
of sacrifice. It is from this, as I have said, that the priestly order
gain their wealth, and no more deadly blow could be struck at their power
than to deprive them of this. Hence had the Pharisees protested against
this right, but none had hitherto dared to carry out the protest in very
deed. All the poor and all the pious would have been glad if they could
buy their offerings to the Lord wheresoever they would.

But more than all, men of Jerusalem were amazed at the daring of the
Galilaean stranger in opposing the High Priest Hanan. This man had been the
tyrant of the Temple and of the city for the whole span of a generation of
men, and no man had dared say him nay for all that time. Even the Romans,
who had deposed him from his position as High Priest, had not dared to
interfere with him otherwise. Yet had this rude countryman, who had never
been seen, never been known to set foot in Jerusalem before, dared to
strike at the root of his power and wealth. Thou canst not wonder that men
were curious to know what manner of man he might be who had dared this
great thing, and busy rumor ran through all the bazaars of Jerusalem,
asking, Who is this Jesus of Nazara? All that I learnt of his kindred and
early life I learnt at this time, and I here set it forth in order.

It was natural that I should first direct my inquiries as to his birth,
for the insulting cry of the money-changers still rang in my ears. Thou
knowest our pride of birth; I learnt from thee to abate it. Every man in
Israel taketh his place in the nation according as he is a son of Aaron or
of Levi, a simple Israelite, or a proselyte that fears the Lord; each man
knoweth his own and his neighbor's genealogy. The greatest slur upon a man
is to accuse him of "mixture," the greatest insult is to call him
"bastard." Why had the money-changers cast this slur upon the Nazarene?
Thou and I, Aglaophonos, who boast to be citizens of the Kosmos, would not
think the worse of him if the taunt were true. Yet thou canst understand
how great, even if he only thought it to be true, would be the influence
of such a slur on this mans mind and on his career. If in after-days he
showed himself so careless of the nation's hopes, may it not have been
that