Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1890-12-20
THE JEWISH NATION AT THE
FIRST ADVENT OF CHRIST.


The religious condition Of th
Jews, at the time of the first adver
= Of our Lord, was one of spiritus
I confusion. 1t resembled, in man
respects, our own age and gave, Ii
j.. its state Of corruption, evidence Q
the necessity Of the appearance Of
Savior before the whole econom.
. had passed. beyond the possibility @
salvation.
, For a period of almost four hun
dred years, from the days Of Mala
chi, there had been no iuspiret
prophet among the people. They
had gathered up the accien
sacred manuscripts and countes
every letter. every iota, therein
but the true meaning of tine Wort
was hidden to them. They had
Notwithstanding their adherence Il
, the letter of the Law, strayed so fal
away as to have forgotten Him who
gave 1t. And 50, when the time
came for God again to reveal Him
self, they did not recognize Hi.
voice. He did not find any Of the
priests, who had charge Of the
sanctuary and of the sacred things.
willing or worthy to be His mes.
senger, but He had to commission
one whose voice was heard in the
wilderness. And this messenger,
sent to prepare the way for the
Savior, was rejected by those who
called themselves the servants OF
the Lord, and finally was put to
death, because he testified against
sin aud corruption. John the Bap-
tist, the herald Of the first advent of
Christ, was received no better than
Joseph Smith the Prophet, the
mighty herald Of His second ad.
vent.
The lack Of the voice Of inspira-
ton among the Jews had resulted
in their breaking up into numerous
factions. The Pharisees were the
leading sect at the time. Not only
were they in a majority, but they
were held in high repute among the
common people. The members Of
this sect professei to be emineutly
holy and pious. Their name is
probably derived from the Hebrew
word "pharash" meaning "sepa-
rated, :" aud was applied to them be-
cause they held themselves to be
above everybody else. They are
often noted in the New Testament
as they came in contact with our
Lord, and they received from Him
the severest rebukes. And well they
deserved those rebukes from Him,
who could see how far they in reality
were from what they protested to
be. 1t is known that they treated
not only strangers, but the poor and
the unlearned among their own
people as an ''accursed" mob, un-
worthy Of the mercy Of God; they
were strict observers Of the Sabbath
as far as the ceremsnial law
was concerned, while they had
no idea of worshiping God in !
spirit and in truth; they took oaths,
but held that they were not bound
by them, if there had been q men,
tai reservation to the contrary; they
accounted their evil desires Of no
importance; nor did they feel con-
demned for INDUCING In avarice
and extortion, SO long as they paid
a little tithing of mint and auise
and cummin and other equally
Insignificant herbs: In the words Of
q modern divine, they thought
they could justify their stealing of a
goose by giving the intestines to the
Lord; their whole religion consisted
in outward Ger, monies. Mosheim
observes that their whole system
was founded on hypocrisy. Yet,
hey had such an influence over
he people that they were
'ble TO exercise some infiu- (
,nce on the direction Of the I
public affairs. And they did this,
eading the blind mass on to destruc- 1
ion. FJr to their fsnaticism is to
De traced the events that led to the
asst desolation Of Jerusalem and the
overthrow Of TIE Jewish polity.
With all their faults, with all {
heir hatret towards Jesus, il must
'e said to their credit that they c
ook hardly any part in the cruel {
condemnation and death Of the
ord. The honor OF this must be S
aid utterly to the priests OF that age. {
The Pharisees were no friends Of the 4
riests, who were presided over by ?
Sadducee, appointed by the Ro- d
,an.. They had, therefore, a double g
ause for hating the priests. These : :,
sverends Of the Jews had. besides. :
trough their avarice, defiled the :.
ample by introducing various !.
ranches Of business therein for !,
leir own profit, and 1t is known e,
lat this vas one Of the points Of c.
larrel between the Pharisees and Ii
Induces. When our Lord It
eansed the temple, his act was, no til
'ubt, endorsed by the Pharieees ar
Id the majority Of the people. Sc
ut it gained for Him the deadly ~
tired Of the priests, and they swore Sc
take his life, although they had ",
be somewhat cautious about their 80
oceedings, just on account Of the ~,
position among the people. And tuI
ey probably could not have sue At
eded In their dark deed, had they Of
had the assistance of the Roman TO
xer. As long as our Lord wan the
ed about in Palestine, His most fai
ter opponents were the Pharisees; enc
1t Ia not known that they at Jeo
,pted to assassinate Him. As 'ue
a as He had defied the priests, 49,
Sc turned against Him and MUIR -,
ed Him. Inc
We have mentioned the Saducees. Oh,
s sect was not 50 numerous as the VIII,
,risees. but many of the wealth. lara
Jews belonged to them. The T
i'm Of them is traced back to ne,
ut $50 years before Christ, to q attr
ident Of the Sanh-drim, named seei
lRus He fanvbt that