LESSON VIII.--NOVEMBER 20.

JUDGMENT AND MERCY.--MATT. 11:20-30.

      GOLDEN TEXT.--Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.--MATT. 11:28.
      TIME.--Same as the date of the last lesson.
      PLACE.--Somewhere in Galilee.
      HELPFUL READINGS.--Matt. 11:16-19; Luke 10:6-13.
      LESSON ANALYSIS.--1. Judgment Pronounced; 2. The Father's Revelation; 3. Rest for the Heavy Laden.

INTRODUCTION.

      The judgment pronounced upon these cities of Galilee is recorded by Matthew and Luke. It has been thought that the record of Luke 10:6-13, belongs to a later period, when his ministry was withdrawn from them, or when the seventy disciples were sent forth. Concerning the cities denounced Schaff says: "The woe has been fearfully fulfilled. Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum have utterly disappeared, and their very sites are disputed. The shores of the lake of Genessareth, once flourishing as a garden, are a wilderness with only two miserable places, Tiberias and Mejdel (the ancient Magdala), remaining. On the lake once white with sails there only remain a few rough fishing-boats."

      The very generation that rejected Christ was doomed to see, in bitter agony, these very words fulfilled. It was not thirty years before the Romans [315] swept in over those beautiful cities, leaving them only heaps of ruins. Any one who reads in the Jewish War of Josephus the sickening details of the slaughter and destruction which fell upon the whole district of Galilee will not wonder that the Jewish historian Josephus, himself exclaimed, "It was God who brought the Romans to punish the Galileans."

      I. JUDGMENT PRONOUNCED.--20. Then began he to upbraid the cities. The cities in the vicinity of the Sea of Galilee had, thus far, heard and seen the most of the Lord and had the least excuse for rejecting him. "In all the reproofs of Jesus there is an exaltation and a calmness which renders them more terrible than if they were the outburst of sudden passion. It is not angered ambition, but repulsed kindness that speaks. There is sadness in the severity. The very denunciations seem to mourn." Wherein most of his mighty works were done. We know of a number of miracles which had been wrought in these cities, the healing of the centurion's servant, of the son of the nobleman, of the diseased woman, of two blind men, and the raising of the daughter of Jairus. The Scriptures assure us that these were only a very small part of the mighty works he did. See Matt. 9:35. Because they repented not. The object of his teaching and miracles was to produce faith, and faith was sought as an essential to repentance. The great end proposed by the gospel is repentance and a new life. Faith must lead to these, or it is dead.

      21. Woe unto thee, Chorazin. Chorazin has long been extinct and its site is not certainly known. It is named only here and in Luke 10:13. Jerome, who lived within about 400 years of when these words were uttered, says that it was only about two miles distant from Capernaum. Situated about two miles from the ruins of Tel-Hum, thought to be Capernaum, there are ruins now called Kerazeh, including a synagogue, columns and walls of buildings. These are supposed by the best archæologists to mark the site of Chorazin. Others place it on the shore of the lake. Woe unto thee, Bethsaida. The word means, "House of fish," and the name would imply that it was a fishing town, and it was the home of the fishermen Peter, Andrew and Philip (John 1:44). Its locality is in dispute. Three views are named by Schaff: 1. The ancient view, which held that there was only one place of that name, on the west coast of the lake. Mark 6:45, seems to present a difficulty. 2. The usual modern view that there were two Bethsaidas, "Bethsaida, of Galilee" [316] (John 12:21) on the western shore, and "Bethsaida Julias" on the eastern shore. 3. The latest and best view: Only one place, at the north end of the lake where the Jordan emptied, on both sides of the river, hence partly in Galilee and partly in Gaulonitis. For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon. These were rich Phœnician trading cities on the east shore of the Mediterranean. Tyre was long the chief commercial city of the world; it founded Carthage, the great rival of Rome; was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar for thirteen years and the land city taken, but a new city was built on an Island half a mile from shore; was taken again by Alexander the Great after a siege of six months. Hiram, King of Tyre, was the friend of David and Solomon. These cities were denounced by the prophets for their pride and their sins (Isaiah 23:9; Amos 1:9). These cities were still in existence at the time the Savior spoke, and he perhaps meant that their Gentile inhabitants would have received the gospel if they had had the opportunities of the cities of Galilee. They would have repented. History tells us that when the gospel was offered to the Gentiles they did repent. Tyre became a Christian city; Chorazin and Bethsaida were destroyed thirty years later, but Tiberias, also on the lake, was permitted to remain, and not only did not receive the gospel, but became the center of Judaism after the fall of Jerusalem. In sackcloth and ashes. The symbols of mourning and repentance. See Jonah 3:5, on the repentance of Nineveh. The costume of mourners was a garment like a sack with holes for the arms, and it was usual to strew ashes on the head. Sackcloth was a kind of coarse cloth, woven of camel's hair.

      22. It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment. These solemn words teach: 1. That there will be a day of judgment for all, cities, nations and men. 2. That men will be judged according to their opportunities; that those who have had and neglected fine opportunities will be held most guilty. 3. That there will be different degrees of future punishment, according to guilt and opportunities; that those whose opportunities have been greatest will receive the greater punishment, if these are neglected. Every man will be judged and punished according to his opportunities and works. The idea of a hell of the same severity for all the unsaved is nowhere taught by Christ.

      23. And thou, Capernaum. Capernaum was at that time a city of 30,000 inhabitants. Its site also is disputed. Some locate it on the lake shore, and others [317] about three miles north of the ruins of Tell-Hum. It enjoyed signal advantages as being the Galilean home of Christ, who taught in its streets, houses and synagogue and worked many miracles there. Shalt thou be exalted unto heaven? The Revision, which follows the best MSS., makes this a question. It had been highly exalted in privileges; after its rejection of the gospel would it be still further exalted? The question implies a negative answer. Shalt be brought down to hell. Not Gehenna, but Hades, in the Greek; the abode of the dead, rather than the place of future punishment. This implies ruin, desolation, death, as Hades was the place of the dead. In about thirty years the place was overthrown and made desolate by the Romans, and has been extinct ever since. The country around where it once stood is a picture of entire desolation at this day, and is overgrown with thorns and thistles. If . . . had been done in Sodom. Sodom had been destroyed for its sins, and its name is a synonym for wickedness, but had it enjoyed such exalted opportunities as Capernaum it would have repented. And remained until this day. Note the inference. 1. Sodom was destroyed for its sins. 2. Had it not been sinful it would have "remained." 3. Therefore it is sins that destroy cities and nations. Jerusalem, Babylon, Sodom, Capernaum, and other extinct ancient cities have perished on account of their sins. 4. Modern cities which scoff at God and revel in iniquity will "be brought down to Hades" also. Permanent temporal prosperity depends on righteousness.

      24. More tolerable for Sodom in the day of judgment. Sodom had fallen two thousand years before Christ and had been extinct ever since, yet the Lord speaks of a future day of judgment for both Sodom and Capernaum. Therefore, 1. There is a judgment after death. 2. Temporal punishment for wickedness does not satisfy eternal justice. The Sodomites were held to a future judgment. 3. The inhabitants of Sodom had not been annihilated, but were alive, waiting the judgment.

      II. THE FATHER'S REVELATION.--25. At that time. Immediately after this judgment upon the impenitent cities was denounced. O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. Christ addresses God as his Father, not as his Lord. The obedience he yields is that of a Son, not of a subject. Four more times, in deep emotion, Christ thus addresses the Father (John 11:41; 12:28; 17:1; Luke 23:34). Here the cause of the emotion was the impenitence of his own [318] people in contrast with the devout, childlike faith of the believers. That thou didst hide these things from the wise and prudent. From the worldly wise Pharisees and Jews. God had hid these things from this latter class through the natural operation of their own corrupted hearts and perverted minds, and he had revealed them to the former class through their more teachable mental and moral condition; the same light shining on both alike.--McGarvey. God "revealed" and "hid" by the laws of our being, of which he is the author. By these laws the spiritually proud and worldly wise have such trust in themselves that they are blinded to the simple truths of the gospel, while those who are simple, childlike and humble, are in the condition to become believers. Why should the Lord be thankful for this? Because if the "wise and prudent" had received the gospel they would at once have perverted it, as they did three hundred years later; while the "babes" would not be wise enough in their own conceits to change and corrupt it.

      26. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good, etc. "Even so" is better rendered "Yea." Yea, I thank thee, that it seemeth good "to hide these things from the wise and prudent and reveal them unto babes."

      27. All things have been delivered unto me of my Father. The Lord speaks, in part, in anticipation. It was the divine purpose, in sending the Son, to deliver "all things," the gospel, salvation, judgment, the rule of heaven and earth, to him. When he had "finished" his work on the cross and risen from the dead, "all power in heaven and earth was given" to the Son. Who does not feel that such words as these could hot fall from the lips of a sinful man, but only from one whose nature and life lay far above all human imperfection? . . . Who would think of claiming the stately dignity of sole representative of the Unseen God, and who could speak of God as his Father in the same way as Jesus? And who would dare to link himself with the Eternal in a communion so awful, and a relation so absolute? It makes us feel, as we listen, that we are face to face with the incarnate divine.--Geikie. No one knoweth the Father but the Son. He only is in the secret of the Divine counsels. And he to whom the Son willeth to reveal him. Christ is the revelation of God to man. "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." Those who "know" Christ by humble obedience and docility learn to know the Father also, for the "Father is in me and I in him."

      III. REST FOR THE HEAVY LADEN:--28. Come unto me. This is one of the [319] sweetest passages in the New Testament. It shows the willingness of the Lord. The kings of earth and the great are usually difficult of access, while Jesus is not only willing but invites us to come to him. Note how gracious is the invitation! 1. It is the Lord who speaks. 2. He invites to come to him. 3. The invitation is to those who labor and are heavy laden. 4. He promises to all these weary ones who come, rest. No mere man, unless impiously presumptive, or a lunatic, could ever have given such an invitation, accompanied by such a promise. As all the world admits that Jesus was neither of these, it follows that he was not a mere man, but a divine being, who spoke. In the mouth of our Lord such words seem natural. To hear a man like ourselves use such language would seem blasphemous. All ye that labor and are heavy laden. This describes a large class; all who have sorrow, anxiety, the burden of sin, or are oppressed by the yoke that superstition has imposed upon them. All who feel their burdens are invited to come for rest. I will give you rest. This is what men want. Nowhere else is it found. Some seek it in pleasure, or in religious forms, or in philosophy, but these leave an aching void unfilled; leave the soul ill at ease and full of anxiety. The weary toilers, the sorrowing ones, the sin-sick souls, all ask for rest, and Christ says, "I will give it to all who come unto me." Can he? Does he? There are millions who have put him to the test. Where is one who has come in his appointed way that has failed to find it? It is like God to offer rest; it is a demonstration of Godlike power that he does give it.

      29. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. He has first asked us to come, and made a gracious promise. He next shows us how to come. Many would like to come who are blind as to the way. Hence he states again what is needful in order to find rest. We are to come by taking his yoke upon us. Taking on the yoke is a symbol of submission. To take Christ's yoke is to obey him, live under his authority and leadership; in other words, to take him as King. This is the first step; the second is to learn of Christ, or to become his disciple. The two steps by which we come, and secure the promise of "rest unto our souls" are then, 1. Submission to Christ. 2. Becoming his disciple.

      30. For my yoke is easy. The yoke that sin imposes is heavy, and bearing it brings no rest. So too the yoke of false or corrupted religion is burdensome; but Christ's yoke is easy. It is not hard to bear it because it is borne in love. His burden, even if it be the cross, is light, because he helps us to bear it. [320]

PRACTICAL AND SUGGESTIVE.

      Faithful preaching makes those who reject the message still more guilty.

      Those who have the Bible, Sunday-schools, churches, and yet neglect duty, will have a fearful account.

      Our privileges are not less than those of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum. If we do not repent it will be more tolerable for those of Sodom in the day of judgment than for us.

      There is a future Judgment, a judgment beyond the grave. Men will be judged according to their opportunities and punished according to their degree of guilt.

      One must "be converted and become as a little child" in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. It is childlike spirits which are open to spiritual light and truth.

      Christ invites us to come. Men can either accept or reject the invitation. All who accept it will hear Christ say again, in the judgment, "Come, ye blessed of my Father." All who reject it will be rejected of Christ in that day.

      Christ's yoke is easy because we love him. A little girl ironing clothes was asked by a visitor if it was not hard to do such work. "Ah," said she, "it is not hard to do something for my mother."

POINTS FOR TEACHERS.

      1. Note the opportunities that the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum had enjoyed; Christ's presence, his example, his teaching, his miracles. 2. Note the difference in the opportunities of Tyre, Sidon and Sodom; no gospel, few opportunities. 3. Observe the judgment pronounced upon the Galilean cities, and the ground of that judgment. 4. Point out the proofs here that the wicked inhabitants of Sodom were not annihilated; that there is a future judgment, that men will be judged and punished according to opportunity, that the fate of cities and nations depends on their moral condition. 5. Show how the Lord's "woe" upon these three cities has been fulfilled; that their sin was the rejection of Christ, that some present in the class may be guilty of the same sin. 6. Show that the proud, the great, the puffed up, the worldly wise are blind to the revelation of divine truth, and why? Why, too, it is revealed unto babes. 7. Bring out the full meaning of the Gracious Invitation. We do not have to beg to come; nor is he indifferent; he invites. 8. Note who invites. It is the Lord, the Divine One. It is the weary and the heavy laden who are invited. 9. Note that they are invited to come to him, and told how to come; by taking his yoke, and by learning of him. 10. Observe the promise; REST, rest to the soul. [321]

Source: Barton Warren Johnson. The Christian International Lesson Commentary for 1887. Des Moines, IA: