by Alfred Edersheim
PREFACE
THE object of this volume is kindred to that of my
previous book on The Temple, its Ministry and Services as they were at the Time
of Jesus Christ. In both I have wished to transport the reader into the land of
Palestine at the time of our Lord and of His apostles, and to show him, so far
as lay within the scope of each book, as it were, the scene on which, and the
persons among whom the events recorded in New Testament history had taken
place. For I believe, that in measure as we realize its surroundings -- so to
speak, see and hear for ourselves what passed at the time, enter into its
ideas, become familiar with its habits, modes of thinking, its teaching and
worship -- shall we not only understand many of the expressions and allusions
in the New Testament, but also gain fresh evidence of the truth of its history
alike from its faithfulness to the picture of society, such as we know it to
have been, and from the contrast of its teaching and aims to those of the
contemporaries of our Lord.
For, a careful study of the period leaves this conviction on the mind: that --
with reverence be it said -- Jesus Christ was strictly of His time, and that
the New Testament is, in its narratives, language, and allusions, strictly true
to the period and circumstances in which its events are laid. But in another,
and far more important, aspect there is no similarity between Christ and His
period. "Never man" -- of that, or any subsequent period -- "spake like this
man; "never man lived or died as He. Assuredly, if He was the Son of David, He
also is the Son of God, the Savior of the world.
In my book on The Temple, its Ministry and Services, I endeavored to carry the
reader with me into the Sanctuary, and to make him witness all connected with
its institutions, its priesthood, and its solemnities. In this book I have
sought to take him into ordinary civil society, and to make him mingle with the
men and women of that period, see them in their homes and families, learn their
habits and manners, and follow them in their ordinary life -- all, as
illustrative of New Testament history; at the same time endeavoring to present
in a popular form the scenes witnessed.
Another, and perhaps the most important part in its bearing on Christianity,
yet remains to be done: to trace the progress of religious thought -- as
regards the canon of Scripture, the Messiah, the law, sin, and salvation -- to
describe the character of theological literature, and to show the state of
doctrinal belief at the time of our Lord. It is here especially that we should
see alike the kinship in form and the almost contrast in substance between what
Judaism was at the time of Christ, and the teaching and the kingdom of our
Blessed Lord. But this lay quite outside the scope of the present volume, and
belongs to a larger work for which this and my previous book may, in a sense,
be regarded as forestudies. Accordingly, where civil society touched, as on so
many points it does, on the theological and the doctrinal, it was only possible
to "sketch" it, leaving the outlines to be filled up. To give a complete
representation of the times of our Lord, in all their bearings -- to show not
only who they were among whom Jesus Christ moved, but what they knew, thought,
and believed -- and this as the frame, so to speak, in which to set as a
picture the life of our Blessed Lord Himself, such must now be the work, to
which, with all prayerful reverence and with most earnest study, I shall
henceforth see myself.
It seemed needful to state this, in order to explain both the plan of this book
and the manner of its treatment. I will only add, that it embodies the results
of many years' study, in which I have availed myself of every help within my
reach. It might seem affectation, were I to enumerate the names of all the
authorities consulted or books read in the course of these studies. Those
mentioned in the foot-notes constitute but a very small proportion of them.
Throughout, my constant object has been to illustrate the New Testament history
and teaching. Even the "Scripture Index" at the close will show in how many
instances this has been attempted. Most earnestly then do I hope, that these
pages may be found to cast some additional light on the New Testament, and that
they will convey fresh evidence -- to my mind of the strongest kind -- and in a
new direction, of the truth "of those things which are most surely believed
among us." And now it only remains at the close of these investigations once
more to express my own full and joyous belief in that grand truth to which all
leads up -- that "CHRIST IS THE END OF THE LAW FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS TO EVERY ONE
THAT BELIEVETH."
ALFRED EDERSHEIM.
THE VICARAGE, LODERS, BRIDPORT:
November, 1876.