oth its significance and earnestness
from its reference to ver. 19 of our passage: "Whosoever will not
hearken unto My words, which he shall speak in My name, I will require
it of him." _Further_,--The point at issue in this discourse of Christ
is an accusation of the Jews against Christ, [Pg 108] that He had
violated the Mosaic law. (Compare John v. 10-16, and v. 18, which
states the second apparent violation of the law.) It was thus highly
appropriate that Jesus should throw back upon the Jews the charge which
they brought against Him, and should prove to them that it was just
they who were in fatal opposition to the enactments of the Mosaic law.
_Finally_,--It is this same Moses in whom they trusted, whom they
considered as their patron, and whom to please the more, they were so
zealous for his law against Jesus,--it is this same Moses whom Jesus
represents as their accuser. And he is such an accuser as renders every
other superfluous, so that Christ did not need specially to come
forward in such a character. The accusation of Moses must, then,
according to this declaration, and in accordance with what follows,
refer to the cause of Christ. But the passage under review is the only
Messianic prophecy of a _threatening character_ which the Pentateuch
contains,--the only one in which divine judgments are threatened to the
despisers of the Messiah,--the only Mosaic foundation for the
denunciation: "Woe to the people that despiseth thee." If it be denied
that Christ refers to it,--if its Messianic character be not
acknowledged, the first words of Christ are destitute of foundation.
But if it be thus undeniable that Christ declared Himself to be the
prophet of our passage, it must be considered an indirect attack upon
His divinity to say, as _Dr Luecke_ does, that Christ did so by way of
"adaptation to the interpretation of that time." It is just this appeal
which forms the pith of Christ's discourse; it is the real death-blow
inflicted by Him upon His adversaries. If this blow was a mere feint,
His honour is endangered,--which may God forbid!--The Lord further
marks Himself out as the prophet announced by Moses, and that, too, in
a very distinct manner, in John xii. 48-50,--a passage which is
evidently based upon vers. 18 and 19 of the text under review. (Compare
John xiv. 24-31.)--To this we may add, further, that, according to St
Luke xxiv. 44, the Lord Himself explains to His disciples the
prophecies in the Pentateuch c