n the Lord, having eaten and drunk in His company, and that He had
taught upon their streets; but to them who had failed to accept the
truth when offered the Lord shall say: "I tell you, I know you not
whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity." The people
were warned that their Israelitish lineage would in no wise save them,
for many who were not of the covenant people would believe and be saved,
while unworthy Israelites would be thrust out.[945] So is it that "There
are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last."

JESUS WARNED OF HEROD'S DESIGN.[946]

On the day of the discourse last noted, certain Pharisees came to Jesus
with this warning and advice: "Get thee out, and depart hence: for Herod
will kill thee."[947] We have heretofore found the Pharisees in open
hostility to the Lord, or secretly plotting against Him; and some
commentators regard this warning as another evidence of Pharisaic
cunning--possibly intended to rid the province of Christ's presence, or
designed to drive Him toward Jerusalem, where He would be again within
easy reach of the supreme tribunal. Ought we not to be liberal and
charitable in our judgment as to the intent of others? Doubtless there
were good men in the fraternity of Pharisees,[948] and those who came
informing Christ of a plot against His life were possibly impelled by
humane motives, and may even have been believers at heart. That Herod
had designs against our Lord's liberty or life appears most probable in
the answer Jesus made. He received the information in all seriousness,
and His comment thereon is one of the strongest of His utterances
against an individual. "Go ye," said He, "and tell that fox, Behold, I
cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day
I shall be perfected." The specifying of today, tomorrow, and the third
day, was a means of expressing the present in which the Lord was then
acting, the immediate future, in which He would continue to minister,
since, as He knew, the day of His death was yet several months distant,
and the time at which his earthly work would be finished and He be
perfected. He placed beyond doubt the fact that He did not intend to
hasten His steps, neither cut short His journey nor cease His labors
through fear of Herod Antipas, who for craft and cunning was best
typified by a sly and murderous fox. Nevertheless it was Christ's
intention to go on, and soon in ordinary course H