VI
The Controversies of the Last Week
See GilbertLJ 311-335; WeissLX III. 224-270; AndLOL 421-450; KeimJN V. 65-275; BeysLJ II. 422-434; EdersLJM II. 363-478; SandayHastBD II 632f.
The supper at Bethany. John is definite, "six days before the passover" (xii. I). Synoptists place it after the day of controversy, on the Wednesday preceding the Passover (Mk. xiv. I, 3-9; Mt. xxvi. 2, 6-13). John is probably correct. The rebuke of Judas (Jn. xii. 4-8) was probably associated in the thought of the disciples with his later treachery; consequently the synoptists report the plot of Judas and this supper in close connection.
The Messianic entry into Jerusalem is regarded by Réville as a surrender by Jesus of his lofty Messianic ideal in response to the temptation to seek a popular following. Keim with finer insight says, "Even if it had certainly been his wish to bring the kingdom of heaven near in Jerusalem quietly and gradually, and with a healthy mental progress, as in Galilee, yet ... in the face of the irritability of his opponents, in the face of the powerful means at their disposal of crushing him ... there remained but one chance,--reckless publicity, the conquest of the partially prepared nation by means, not of force, but of idea.... He came staking his life upon the venture, but also believing that God must finish his work through life or death" (JN V. 100f.).
The question about the resurrection was probably a familiar Sadducean problem with which they made merry at the expense of the scribes. On the resurrection in Jewish thought see Charles, Eschatology, Hebrew, Jewish, and Christian, by index. For the scepticism of the Sadducees see also Ac. xxiii. 8; Jos. Wars, ii, 8. 14.
On the "great commandment" see EdersLJM II. 403 ff.
The eschatological discourse presents serious exegetical difficulties. Many cut the knot by assuming that Mk. xiii. and ∥s contain a little Jewish apocalypse written shortly before the destruction of Jerusalem, which has been blended with genuine predictions of Jesus concerning his second coming. See Charles, Eschatology, 323-. 329; WendtLJ I. 9-21; HoltzmannNtTHh I. 325 ff.; and Bruce's criticism in Expos. Gk. Test. I. 287f., also Sanday's note in HastBD II. 635f.
On the relation of proselytes to Judaism see SchürerJPTX II. ii. 291-327. The synagogue in heathen lands drew to itself by its monotheism and its pure ethics the finest spirits of paganism. But few of them, however, submitted to circumcision, and became thus proselytes. Most of them constituted the class of "them that fear God" to whom Paul constantly appealed in his apostolic mission. The Greeks of Jn. xii. 20 ff. were probably circumcised proselytes.
On Judas see Plummer in HastBD II. 796 ff.; EdersLJM II. 471-478; WeissLX III. 285-289; AndLOL by index. De Quincey's essay on Judas Iscariot is an elaborate defence.