[Footnote 2: Mark ii. 18; Luke v. 33.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. ix. 14, and following; Mark ii. 18, and following;
Luke v. 33, and following.]
[Footnote 4: An allusion to some children's game.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. xi. 16, and following; Luke vii. 34, and following. A proverb which means "The opinion of men is blind. The wisdom of the works of God is only proclaimed by His works themselves." I read [Greek: ergôn], with the manuscript B. of the Vatican, and not [Greek: teknôn].]
He thus traversed Galilee in the midst of a continual feast. He rode on a mule. In the East this is a good and safe mode of traveling; the large, black eyes of the animal, shaded by long eyelashes, give it an expression of gentleness. His disciples sometimes surrounded him with a kind of rustic pomp, at the expense of their garments, which they used as carpets. They placed them on the mule which carried him, or extended them on the earth in his path.[1] His entering a house was considered a joy and a blessing. He stopped in the villages and the large farms, where he received an eager hospitality. In the East, the house into which a stranger enters becomes at once a public place. All the village assembles there, the children invade it, and though dispersed by the servants, always return. Jesus could not permit these simple auditors to be treated harshly; he caused them to be brought to him and embraced them.[2] The mothers, encouraged by such a reception, brought him their children in order that he might touch them.[3] Women came to pour oil upon his head, and perfume on his feet. His disciples sometimes repulsed them as troublesome; but Jesus, who loved the ancient usages, and all that indicated simplicity of heart, repaired the ill done by his too zealous friends. He protected those who wished to honor him.[4] Thus children and women adored him. The reproach of alienating from their families these gentle creatures, always easily misled, was one of the most frequent charges of his enemies.[5]
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxi. 7, 8.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xix. 13, and following; Mark ix. 35, x. 13, and following; Luke xviii. 15, 16.]
[Footnote 3: Ibid.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xxvi. 7, and following; Mark xiv. 3, and following;
Luke vii. 37, and following.]
[Footnote 5: Gospel of Marcion, addition to ver. 2 of chap. xxiii. of Luke (Epiph., Adv. Hær., xlii. 11). If the suppressions of Marcion are without critical value, such is not the case with his additions, when they proceed, not from a special view, but from the condition of the manuscripts which he used.]