(xviii. 3) speaks of the band as made up in part of the servants of "the chief priests and Pharisees," &c. So that the whole matter, unquestionably, was managed and executed entirely by the Jews; and the progress of the story shows that they did not call in the aid of the heathen secular power, until the last bloody act required a consummation which the ordinances of Rome forbade to the Jews, and then only did they summon the aid of the governor's military force. Indeed, they were too careful in preserving their few peculiar secular privileges still left, to give up the smallest power of tyrannizing, permitted by their Roman lords.
The long nights in contrast with the heat of the day.—It should be remembered, that according to a just calculation, these events happened in the month of March, when the air of Palestine is uncomfortably cold. Conder, in his valuable topographical compilation, says, "during the months of May, June, July and August, the sky is for the most part cloudless; but during the night, the earth is moistened with a copious dew. Sultry days are not unfrequently succeeded by intensely cold nights. To these sudden vicissitudes, references are made in the Old Testament. Gen. xxxi. 40: Ps. cxxi. 6." [Mod. Trav. Palestine, p. 14.]
The cold season, ((
Hebrew characters) Qor,) immediately following the true winter, ((Hebrew characters) Hhoreph,)
took in the latter part of the Hebrew month Shebeth, the whole of Adar, and the
former half of Nisan; that is in modern divisions of time,—from the beginning of
February to the beginning of April, according to the Calendarium Palestinae, in the
Critica Biblica, Vol. III: but according to Jahn, (Arch. Bib. § 21,) from the middle
of February to the middle of April, the two estimates varying with the different
views about the dates of the ancient Hebrew months.
Galilean, ready to lie as to fight.—This may strike some, as rather too harsh a sentence to pass upon the general character of a whole people, but I believe I am borne out in this seeming abuse, by the steady testimony of most authorities to which I can readily refer. Josephus, whom I have already quoted in witness of their pugnacity, (on page 102,) seems to have been so well pleased with this trait, and also with their "industry and activity," which he so highly commends in them, as well as the richness of the natural resources of the country, all which characteristics, both of the people and the region, he made so highly available in their defense during the war with the Romans, that he does not think it worth while to criticise their morals, to which, indeed, the season of a bloody war gives a sort of license, that made such defects less prominent, being apparently rather characteristic of the times than the people. But there is great abundance of condemnatory testimony, which shows that the Galileans bore as bad a character among their neighbors, as my severest remark could imply. Numerous passages in the gospels and Acts show this so plainly, as to convey this general impression against them very decidedly. Kuinoel (on Matt. ii. 23) speaks strongly of their proverbially low moral character. "All the Galileans were so despised by the dwellers of Jerusalem and Judea, that when they wished to characterize a man as a low and outcast wretch, they called him a Galilean." On other passages also, (as on John vii. 52, and Matt. iv. 17,) he repeats this intellectual and moral condemnation in similar terms. Beza and Grotius also, in commenting on these passages, speak of Galilee as "contempta regio." Rosenmueller also, (on John vii. 52,) says "Nullus, aiunt, Galilaeus unquam a Deo donatus est spiritu prophetico: gens est Deo despecta." That is, "It was a saying among them, that no Galilean was ever indued with a spirit of prophecy: they are a people despised by God." I might quote at great length from many commentators to the same effect, but these will serve as a specimen. It should be remarked, however, that the Galileans, though they might be worse than most Jews in their general character, were not very peculiar in their neglect of truth; for from the time of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to the present moment, the Asiatic races, generally, have been infamous for falsehood, and there are many modern travelers who are ready to testify that an Oriental, generally, when asked an indifferent question, will tell a lie at a venture, unless he sees some special personal advantage likely to result to him from telling the truth.
Yet in minute legal observances, the Galileans were, for the most part, much more rigid in interpreting and following the law of Moses, than the inhabitants of Judea, as is abundantly shown by Lightfoot in his numerous Talmudic quotations, (Cent. Chor. cap. 86,) where the comparison is, on many accounts, highly favorable to such of the Galileans as pretended to observe and follow the Jewish law at all.
Thy accent betrays thee.—Lightfoot is very rich in happy illustrations of this passage, (Cent. Chor. cap. 87.) He has drawn very largely here from the Talmudic
