He is one of the Prophets. The expectation of a prophet like one of the prophets is based upon the promise given to Moses: 'I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.'1 Such was the authority of Moses that men hoped for this prophet in the height of their prosperity no less than in the depth of their despair. When the Hasmonaeans triumphed, the Jews and the priests were well pleased that Simon should be their leader and high-priest for ever, until there should arise a faithful prophet.'" 2 The crowds, who only needed a leader to embark upon another futile and fatal revolt against Rome, said to Jesus, 'What sign then doest thou, that we may see and believe thee? What workest thou? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert, as it is written, "Bread from heaven he gave them to eat." Jesus said therefore to them, "Verily, verily, I say to you, not Moses gave you the bread from heaven... "3 And Christians like Peter and Stephen appealed to the same promise, joining hands with the Galilean peasants, with the guerrillas of Simon and with Philo the Alexandrine Jew. The promise was yoked with a warning against disobedience and also with a sign by which the prophet should be known. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. But the prophet, which shall speak a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken: the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously, thou shalt not be afraid of him. They desiderated then a faithful prophet who should do what Moses did, and some believed that they had found him in Jesus. In his reference to this form of the Hope Philo says: 2 I Macc. xiv 41: cf. ib. iv 44-46. 1 Deut. xviii 18: cf. ib. 15. 3 Since in all men there is planted a passion for knowledge of the future and by reason of this passion they turn to sacrifices and all forms of divination in the hope of discovering certainty thereby-but these are full of uncertainty and are always self-detected—; such means therefore Moses strenuously forbids them to follow. But he says that, if they are truly pious, they shall not go wanting knowledge of the future. No, suddenly appearing a prophet divinely inspired shall give oracles and say nothing of his own-for not even if he says can he comprehend it, if he be really possessed and rapt-but all his teaching shall pass through him as if another were prompting him. For the prophets are God's interpreters: he uses their organs to signify his will.' He is Jeremiah. St Matthew inserts a fourth opinion, which is perhaps a closer definition or a particular form of the third: Others said, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.' The view that Jeremiah was the promised prophet like Moses is expounded in the Midrash. In a document incorporated in the Second Book of Maccabees it is told on the authority of the records' or 'the writing' how Jeremiah bade the tabernacle and the ark follow him to the mountain, whence Moses beheld God's heritage, and hid them there, until God should gather the People's ingathering. Later in the body of the same book Judas relates to his followers a vision which he had seen : 2 And the vision of that dream was this: He saw Onias, him that was high priest, a noble and good man, reverend in bearing, yet gentle in manner and well-spoken, and exercised from a child in all points of virtue, with outstretched hands invoking blessings on the whole body of the Jews thereupon he saw a man appear, of venerable age and exceeding glory, and wonderful and most majestic was the dignity around him and Onias answered and said, This is the lover of the brethren, he who prayeth much for the people and the holy city, Jeremiah the prophet of God: and Jeremiah stretching forth his right hand delivered to Judas a sword of gold, and in giving it addressed him thus, Take the holy sword, a gift from God, wherewith thou shalt smite down the adversaries. Finally, in illustration of this idea of the present activity and future return of Jeremiah the congener of Moses, one may quote 1 de Monarchia i 9 (ii p. 221 f M). 2 2 Macc. ii 1-8. a passage of Philo in which he ranks Jeremiah almost on a level with Moses. In his revelation of the mystery contained in the mystic rite of marriage 1 he quotes Jeremiah: For though I was initiated into the great Mysteries in the School of Moses, nevertheless when I saw Jeremiah the prophet and realized that he was not only a mystic but also a competent Adept I did not hesitate to frequent him." But, as will appear later, the whole scene recalls-fulfils—a scene in the life of Jeremiah, which in itself justifies, if it did not suggest, the identification of Jesus with Jeremiah. These then are the categories in which men have placed Jesus. But with this reply from His disciples He is not content, and He probes their minds until He elicits from Simon a definition which is capable of containing and including all the rest-provided always that it be taken wiselier than the speaker meant, like all prophetic utterances. For John, Elias, and the Prophet were certainly not Messiahs in the sense which the word conveyed to And on the other hand, Jesus was surely not merely -if at all-the Messiah, Son of David, for whom Simon looked and was to look.3 II. PETER'S CONFESSION OF HIM. And he was enquiring of them, ' But ye-whom say ye that I am?' Peter answers and says to him, 'Thou art the Messiah.' And he rebuked them that to none they should say it of him. Alone of all the Twelve, Simon confesses that this Jesus is the Messiah. In the Johannine account he is made to say, when the Twelve are asked if they also will depart, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of the life of the world to come. And we have believed and known that thou art the Holy One of God. But the disciple, whom Jesus loved, had seen the other Apostles rise to share the faith of Peter his record anticipates the general enlightenment consequent either upon this declaration or upon the Resurrection. As yet only Peter can say, Thou art the Christ.' 5 4 1 Compare Eph. v 32. 3 John xviii 10 f. 2 Philo de Cherub. § 14 (i p. 147 f M). 4 John vi 68. This point is brought out very clearly in St Matthew's report of our Lord's response. Of the four reports of this confession St Mark's is the shortest. St Luke has the normal phrase,' The Christ of God,' that is, 'the Lord's Anointed'. It is natural to suppose that the discrepancy is due rather to abbreviation than to amplification of the original. The curt brevity of St Mark can hardly arise from a reverential avoidance of the Holy Name; for the other three evade successfully the technical offence of naming Jehovah. It is rather appropriate to a watchword or symbol, in which is retained all that is essential and nothing else.1 Christ soon became a proper name. But St Matthew gives a still fuller phrase: 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.' Some support for this addition might be derived from the report of St John. But whether it be really part of the original utterance of St Peter or not, it recalls a Scripture which might well have been coupled with this inspired word. By the mouth of the prophet Hosea God reaffirmed the promise, which He had made to Abraham, and said, 'It shall come to pass that, in the place where it was said to them, Ye are not my people, it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together and they shall appoint themselves one head and shall go up from the land'; and again, 'Afterward shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God and David their king.' Jesus and His disciples were travelling through the district of Caesarea Philippi. The town was built in honour of Tiberius Caesar by Philip, the son of Herod the Great, on the site of a village which had been named Paneas for the great god Pan. It was a place where everything cried aloud to the Jews, that they were not the people of Jehovah, that for their apostasy they had been delivered to other overlords. The living God had left them to the dead idols and to mortal kings. And here Peter is enabled to designate the head of this company as the Messiah, whom the scribes called the Son of David, and whose presence is a pledge that God no longer averts His face from them. Great Pan is dead: Herod and Caesar are passing away. As in the ancient days the Living God, for whom the soul of the Pious 1 Compare Κύριος Ἰησοῦς of St Paul. thirsted, is among them. Twelve men out of the tribes of Israel have been taken-for every tribe a man.1 And one of them is inspired to assert that he of whom the prophets had spoken is come. Doubtless his prophetic insight is as fitful as that of John Baptist; but it is real insight, and not a superficial, facile guess. In the homeless outcast, whose followers are deserting him for want of more loaves and fishes, Peter has found once more, and now more surely, the Christ, to whom his brother led him long ago. His fellows might acquiesce in Hillel's decision-Israel has no Messiah to look for, because they have already eaten him in the days of Hezekiah 2-and take refuge in one or other of the popular theories with which they were familiar. Peter follows in the steps of John Baptist and plays the part which tradition assigned to Elias: he recognizes the Messiah as such, who else was unconscious of His own vocation. The reward of Peter and of those who followed his lead was that they should learn what Messiah must suffer. The secret which was thus revealed through Peter must not be divulged as yet. His faith was not yet perfected by temptation, nor could it receive as yet its final corroboration. The seed must still be sown in weakness and in secrecy. III. THE REPLY OF JESUS TO SIMON'S CONFESSION. Jesus answering said to him, Blessed art thou, Simon bar Jona; for flesh and blood did not reveal to thee, but my father which is in heaven. Moreover I also say to thee, Thou art Peter, and on this Petra I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou bind upon earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou loose upon earth shall be loosed in heaven. The concluding promise that his binding and loosing shall be ratified by God is given elsewhere to others also. In neither case does the present context of the saying affect the natural meaning of the words as spoken by a Jewish Rabbi. To bind is to forbid to loose is to permit. Whoever performed these chief |