The Life of Jesus of Nazareth | Page 9

the strength of the Spirit of God and "by the word of his mouth." Such
as these were ready for a ministry like John's, and not unready for the
new ideal which Jesus was about to offer them, though their highest
spiritualization of the Messianic hope was but a shadow of the reality
which Jesus asked them to accept.
18. This last conception of the Messiah is found in a group of psalms
written in the first century before Christ, during the early days of the
Roman interference in Judea. These Psalms of Solomon, as they are
called, are pharisaic in point of view, yet they are not rabbinic in their
ideas. Their feeling is too deep, and their reliance on God too
immediate; they fitly follow the psalms of the Old Testament, though
afar off. Of another type of contemporary literature, Apocalypse, at
least two representatives besides the Book of Daniel have come down

to us from the time of Jesus or earlier,--the so-called Book of Enoch,
and the fragment known as the Assumption of Moses. These writings
have peculiar interest, because they are probably the source of
quotations found in the Epistle of Jude; moreover, some sayings of
Jesus reported in the gospels, and in particular his chosen title, The Son
of Man, are strikingly similar to expressions found in Enoch. Can Jesus
have read these books? The psalms of the Devout were the kind of
literature to pass rapidly from heart to heart, until all who sympathized
with their hope and faith had heard or seen them. The case was
different with the apocalypses. They are more elaborate and
enigmatical, and may have been only slightly known. Yet, as Jesus was
familiar with the canonical Book of Daniel, although it was not read in
the synagogue service in his time, it is possible that he may also have
read or heard other books which had not won recognition as canonical.
If, however, he knew nothing of them, the similarity between the
apocalypses and some of Jesus' ideas and expressions becomes all the
more significant; for it shows that these writings gave utterance to
thoughts and feelings shared by men who never read them, which were,
therefore, no isolated fancies, but characteristic of the religion of many
of the people. With these ideas Jesus was familiar; whether he ever read
the books must remain a question.
19. This literature exists for us only in translations made in the days of
the early church. Most of these books were originally written in
Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament, or in Aramaic, the
language of Palestine in the time of Jesus. Traces of this language as
spoken by Jesus have been preserved in the gospels,--the name Rabbi;
Abba, translated Father; Talitha cumi, addressed to the daughter of
Jairus; Ephphatha, to the deaf man of Bethsaida; and the cry from the
cross, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani (John i. 38; Mark xiv. 36; v. 41; vii.
34; xv. 34). It is altogether probable that in his common dealings with
men and in his teachings Jesus used this language. Greek was the
language of the government and of trade, and in a measure the Jews
were a bilingual people. Jesus may thus have had some knowledge of
Greek, but it is unlikely that he ever used it to any extent either in
Galilee, or Judea, or in the regions of Tyre and Sidon.

II
Sources of Our Knowledge Of Jesus

20. The earliest existing record of events in the life of Jesus is given to
us in the epistles of Paul. His account of the appearances of the Lord
after his death and resurrection (I. Cor. xv. 3-8) was written within
thirty years of these events. The date of the testimony, however, is
much earlier, since Paul refers to the experience which transformed his
own life, and so carries us back to within a few years of the crucifixion.
Other facts from Jesus' life may be gathered from Paul, as his descent
from Abraham and David (Rom. i. 3; ix. 5); his life of obedience (Rom.
v. 19; xv. 3; Phil. ii. 5-11); his poverty (II. Cor. viii. 9); his meekness
and gentleness (II. Cor. x. 1); other New Testament writings outside of
our gospels add somewhat to this restricted but very clear testimony.
21. Secular history knows little of the obscure Galilean. The testimony
of Tacitus is that the Christians "derived their name and origin from
one Christ, who in the reign of Tiberius had suffered death by the
sentence of the procurator, Pontius Pilate" (Annals, xv. 44). Suetonius
makes an obscure and seemingly ill-informed allusion to Christ in the
reason he assigns for the edict of Claudius expelling the Jews from
Rome (Vit. Claud. 25). The younger Pliny in the second