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| The Relatives of our Saviour. PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP
Chapter
XX.—The Relatives of our
Saviour.
1. “Of the family of the Lord there were still living the
grandchildren of Jude, who is said to have been the Lord’s
brother according to the flesh.720
720 This
Jude was the brother of James, “the brother of the Lord,”
who is mentioned in Jude 1, and is to be
distinguished from Jude (Thaddeus-Lebbæus), one of the Twelve,
whose name appears in the catalogues of Luke (Luke vi. 14 and Acts i.
13)
as the son of James (not his brother, as the A.V. translates: the Greek
words are ᾽Ιούδας
᾽Ιακώβου). For a discussion of the relationship of these men to Christ,
see above, Bk. I. chap. 12, note 14. Of the son of Jude and father of
the young men mentioned in this chapter we know nothing. |
2. Information was given that
they belonged to the family of David, and they were brought to the
Emperor Domitian by the Evocatus.721
721 According to Andrew’s Lexicon, “An Evocatus was a
soldier who, having served out his time, was called upon to do military
duty as a volunteer.”
This suspiciousness is
perfectly in keeping with the character of Domitian. The same thing is
told also of Vespasian, in chap. 12; but in his case the political
situation was far more serious, and revolutions under the lead of one
of the royal family might most naturally be expected just after the
terrible destruction. The same act is also mentioned in connection with
Trajan, in chap. 32, and there is no reason to doubt its truthfulness,
for the Jews were well known as a most rebellious and troublesome
people. | For Domitian
feared the coming of Christ as Herod also had feared it. And he asked them if
they were descendants of David, and they confessed that they were. Then
he asked them how much property they had, or how much money they owned.
And both of them answered that they had only nine thousand denarii,722
722 A
denarius was a Roman silver coin, in value about sixteen, or, according
to others, about nineteen, cents. | half of which belonged to each of
them;
4. and this property did not
consist of silver, but of a piece of land which contained only
thirty-nine acres, and from which they raised their taxes723
723 “Taxes or tributes were paid commonly in the products of the
land” (Val.). | and supported themselves by their own
labor.”724
724 Most editors (including Valesius, Heinichen, Crusè, &c.)
regard the quotation from Hegesippus as extending through §8; but
it really ends here, and from this point on Eusebius reproduces the
sense in his own words (and so Bright gives it in his edition). This is
perfectly clear, for in the first place, the infinitive ἐπιδεικνῦναι
occurs in the next sentence, a form possible only in
indirect discourse: and secondly, as Lightfoot has pointed out, the
statement of §8 is repeated in chap. 32, §6, and there in the
exact language of Hegesippus, which differs enough from the language of
§8 to show that the latter is a free reproduction. |
5. Then they showed their hands,
exhibiting the hardness of their bodies and the callousness produced
upon their hands by continuous toil as evidence of their own
labor.
6. And when they were asked
concerning Christ and his kingdom, of what sort it was and where and
when it was to appear, they answered that it was not a temporal nor an
earthly kingdom, but a heavenly and angelic one, which would appear at
the end of the world, when he should come in glory to judge the quick
and the dead, and to give unto every one according to his
works.
7. Upon hearing this, Domitian
did not pass judgment against them, but, despising them as of no
account, he let them go, and by a decree put a stop to the persecution
of the Church.
8. But when they were released
they ruled the churches because they were witnesses725
725 μ€ρτυρας. On the use of this word, see chap. 32, note 15. | and were also relatives of the Lord.726
726 Compare Renan’s Les Evangiles, p. 466. | And peace being established, they lived
until the time of Trajan. These things are related by
Hegesippus.
9. Tertullian also has mentioned
Domitian in the following words:727
727 Tertullian, Apol. chap. 5. |
“Domitian also, who possessed a share of Nero’s cruelty,
attempted once to do the same thing that the latter did. But because he
had, I suppose, some intelligence,728
728 τι
συνέσεως. Lat. sed qua et homo. | he very
soon ceased, and even recalled those whom he had
banished.”
10. But after Domitian had
reigned fifteen years,729
729 Domitian reigned from Dec. 13, 81 a.d.,
to Sept. 18, 96. | and Nerva had
succeeded to the empire, the Roman Senate, according to the writers
that record the history of those days,730
730 See
Dion Cassius, LXVIII. 1 sq., and Suetonius’ Domitian,
chap. 23. |
voted that Domitian’s honors should be cancelled, and that those
who had been unjustly banished should return to their homes and have
their property restored to them.
11. It was at this time that the
apostle John returned from his banishment in the island and took up his
abode at Ephesus, according to an ancient Christian tradition.731
731 Literally, “the word of the ancients among us”
(ὁ τῶν παρ᾽
ἡμῖν ἀρχαίων
λόγος). On the
tradition itself, see chap. 1, note 6. | E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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