Of our Lord's labors during His brief sojourn in Galilee following His return from the region of Cæsarea Philippi we have no record aside from that of His instructions to the apostles. His Galilean ministry, so far as the people in general were concerned, had practically ended with the discourse at Capernaum on His return thither after the miracles of feeding the five thousand and walking upon the sea. It was autumn; about six months had passed since the return of the apostles from their missionary tour; and the Feast of Tabernacles was near at hand. Some of the kinsmen of Jesus came to Him, and proposed that He go to Jerusalem and take advantage of the opportunity offered by the great national

His brethren, as the visiting relatives are called, urged that He seek a broader and more prominent field than Galilee for the display of His powers. Jesus replied to their presumptuous advice: "My time is not yet come" It was not their prerogative to direct His movements, not to say when He should do even what He intended to do eventually.

He made it plain that between their status and His there was essential difference; they were of the world, which they loved as the world loved them; but the world hated Him because of His testimony. This colloquy between Jesus and His brethren took place in Galilee. They soon started for Jerusalem leaving Him behind. Some time after their departure He followed, traveling "not openly, but as it were in secret" Whether He went alone, or accompanied by any or all of the Twelve, we are not told. The agitated state of the public mind respecting Jesus is shown by the interest manifest in Jerusalem as to the probability of His presence at the feast. His brethren, who probably were questioned, could give no definite information as to

The Feast of Tabernacles was a seven day festival, followed by a holy convocation on the eighth day. Each day was marked by special and in some respects distinctive services, all characterized by ceremonies of thanksgiving and praise. "Now about the midst of the feast," probably on the third or fourth day, "Jesus went up into the temple, and taught." The first part of His discourse is not recorded, but its scriptural soundness is intimated in the surprize of the Jewish teachers, who asked among themselves: "How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?" He was no graduate of their schools; He had never sat at the feet of their rabbis. He had not been officially accredited by

Whence came His wisdom, before which all their academic attainments were as nothing? Jesus answered their troubled queries, saying: "My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me" If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." His Teacher, greater even than Himself, was the Eternal Father, whose will He proclaimed. The test proposed to determine the truth of His doctrine was in every way fair, and withal simple. Anyone who would earnestly seek to do the will of the Father should know of himself whether Jesus spoke truth or error.

The ruling classes thought that Jesus was possessed by a demon, and that He wrought wonders through the power of Beelzebub. Jesus knew that the two specifications of alleged guilt on which the rulers were striving most assiduously to convict Him in the popular mind, were those of Sabbath-breaking and blasphemy. On an earlier visit to Jerusalem He had healed an afflicted man on the Sabbath, and had utterly disconcerted the hypercritical accusers who even then had sought to compass His death. Then, with startling abruptness, He challenged them with the question, "Why go ye about to kill me?"

To this act of mercy and power Jesus now referred, saying: "I have done one work, and ye all marvel" Seemingly they were still of unsettled mind, in doubt as to accepting Him because of the miracle or denouncing Him because He had done it on the Sabbath. Then He showed the inconsistency of charging Him with Sabbath-desecration for such a merciful deed, when the law of Moses expressly allowed acts of mercy. "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment" said He.

The thought, however, was brushed aside when they remembered that all knew whence He came; He was a Galilean, and from Nazareth, whereas as they had been taught, however wrongly, the advent of the Christ was to be mysterious. Strange it was, indeed, that men should reject Him because of a lack of mystery and miracle in His advent. Had they known the truth, they would have seen in His birth a miracle without precedent or parallel in the annals of time.

At this reiterated testimony of His divine origin, the Jews were the more enraged, and they determined anew to take Him by force. Many of the people believed in their hearts that He was of God, and ventured to ask among themselves whether Christ would do greater works than Jesus had done. The Pharisees and chief priests feared a possible demonstration in favor of Jesus, and forthwith sent officers to arrest Him and bring him before the Sanhedrin. The presence of the temple police caused no interruption to the Master's discourse, though we may reasonably infer that He knew the purpose of their errand. He spoke on, saying that He would be with the people but a little while; and that after He had returned to the Father,

Some of the Jews wondered whether He intended to leave the borders of the land and go among the Gentiles. According to authorities on Jewish customs, this feature was omitted on the closing day of the feast. It may have been with reference to the bringing of water from the pool, or to the omission of the ceremony from the ritualistic procedure of the great day. Jesus cried aloud, His voice resounding through the courts and arcades of the temple: "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink"

Many people were so impressed that they declared Jesus could be none other than the Messiah. But others objected, saying that the Christ must come from Bethlehem of Judea. So there was further dissension; and though some wanted Him apprehended, not a man was found who would venture to lay hold on Him. The police officers returned without their intended prisoner. They acknowledged that they had been so affected by His teachings as to be unable to make the arrest. Their haughty masters were furious. "Never man spake like this man," they said.

"Are ye also deceived?" they demanded; and further, "Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?" One voice of mild protest was heard in the assembly. Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin, and the same who had come to Jesus by night to inquire into the new teaching, mustered courage enough to ask: "Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?" The answer was insulting. Maddened with bigotry and blood-thirsty fanaticism, some of his colleagues turned upon him with the savage demand: "Art thou also of Galilee?" meaning, Art thou also a disciple of this Galilean whom we

Nicodemus was curtly told to study the scriptures, and he would fail to find any prediction of a prophet arising in Galilee. It is evident that Jesus was thought of as a native of Nazareth, and that the circumstances of His birth were not of public knowledge. After the festivities were over, Jesus went to the temple one morning early; and as He sat, probably in the Court of the Women, many gathered about Him and He proceeded to teach them as was His custom. "GO, AND SIN NO MORE."

A party of scribes and Pharisees said a woman in charge, who, they said, was guilty of adultery. To Jesus they presented this statement and question: "Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned; but what sayest thou?" The submitting of the case to Jesus was a prearranged snare, a deliberate attempt to find or make a cause for accusing Him. Though it was not unusual for Jewish officials to consult rabbis of recognized wisdom and experience when difficult cases were to be decided, the case in point involved no legal complications. The woman's guilt seems to have been unquestioned, though the witnesses required by the statutes are not mentioned as appearing unless the accusing scribes

While it is true that the law of Moses had decreed death by stoning as the penalty for adultery, the infliction of the extreme punishment had lapsed long before the time of Christ. One may reasonably ask why the woman's partner in the crime was not brought for sentence, since the law so zealously cited by the officious accusers provided for the punishment of both parties to the offense. The question of the scribes and Pharisees, "But what sayest thou?" may have intimated their expectation that Jesus would declare the law obsolete. Perhaps they had heard of the Sermon on the Mount, in which many requirements in advance of the Mosaic code had been proclaimed.

Had Jesus decided that the wretched woman ought to suffer death, her accusers might have said that he was defying the existing authorities. Had He said that the woman should go unpunished or suffer only minor infliction, the crafty Jews could have charged Him with disrespect for the law of Moses. To these scribes and Pharisees Jesus at first gave little heed. Stooping down He traced with His finger on the ground; but as He wrote they continued to question Him. Lifting himself up He answered them, in a terse sentence that has become proverbial: "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her"

The woman's accusers were "convicted by their own conscience"; shamed and in disgrace they slunk away. They knew themselves to be unfit to appear either as accusers or judges. What cowards doth conscience make! Jesus did not expressly condone; He declined to condemn; but He sent the sinner away with a solemn adjuration to a better life.

Sitting within the temple enclosure in the division known as the Treasury, which was connected with the Court of the Women, our Lord continued His teaching. It was another proclamation of His divinity as God and the Son of God. The Pharisees challenged His testimony, declaring it of no worth because He bore record of Himself. Jesus admitted that He testified of Himself, but affirmed nevertheless that what He said was true.

They thought, talked, and judged after the ways of men and the frailties of the flesh; He was not sitting in judgment, but should He choose to judge, then His judgment would be just. Enraged at their own discomfiture, the Pharisees would have seized Him, but found themselves impotent. "No man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come."

Jesus told the assembled that soon He would leave them, and that whither He went they could not follow. He added the fateful assurance that they would seek Him in vain and would die in their sins. This reiteration of His distinctive supremacy brought forth the challenging question, "Who art thou?"

Jesus replied, "Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning." The many matters on which He might have judged them He refrained from mentioning, but testified anew of the Father. To His Father Jesus ascribed all honor and glory, and repeatedly declared himself as sent to do the Father's will.

The evident earnestness and profound conviction with which Jesus spoke caused many of His hearers to believe on Him. These He addressed with the promise that if they continued in that belief, and shaped their lives according to His word, they should be His disciples indeed. A further promise followed: "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" At these words, so rich in blessing, so full of comfort for the believing soul, the people were stirred to angry demonstrations.

Jesus made it clear that He had not referred to freedom in its physical or political sense alone. A bond-servant, Jesus reminded them, was allowed in the master's house by sufferance only. Though they were of Abrahamic lineage in the flesh, they were no heirs of Abraham in spirit or works. Now, if the Son of God made them free they would be free indeed.

Our Lord's mention of His Father as distinct from their father drew forth the angry reiteration, "Abraham is our father", to which Jesus replied: "If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham" In their blind anger they apparently construed this to imply that though they were children of Abraham's household some other man than Abraham was their actual progenitor, or that they were not of unmixed Israelitish blood. They failed to understand because of their stubborn refusal to listen dispassionately. "We be not born of fornication" they cried, "we have one Father, even God."

With forceful accusation Jesus told them whose children they actually were, as evinced by the hereditary traits manifest in their lives. He challenged them to find sin in Him; then asked why, if He spake the truth, they so persistently refused to believe Him. Answering His own question, He told them that they were not of God and therefore they understood not the words of God. The Master was unimpeachable; His terse, cogent assertions were unanswerable. In impotent rage the discomfited Jews resorted to invective and calumny.

They had before called Him a Galilean; that appellative was but mildly depreciatory, and moreover was a truthful designation according to their knowledge. But the epithet "Samaritan" was inspired by hate, and by its application they meant to disown Him as a Jew. "Now we know that thou hast a devil" they cried, and as evidence of what they professed to regard as His insanity, they cited the fact that great as were Abraham and the prophets they were dead, yet Jesus dared to say that all who kept His sayings should be exempt from death. "Whom makest thou thyself?" they demanded. "Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father

The Lord's reply was a disclaimer of all self-aggrandizement. His honor was not of His own seeking, but was the gift of His Father, whom He knew. "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad" This was an unequivocal and unambiguous declaration of our Lord's eternal Godship.

"Jehovah" is the equivalent of "Yahveh," or "Jahveh" and signifies "The Self-existent One" Jesus was as literally the Firstborn in the spirit-world, as He was the Only Begotten in the flesh. Christ is as truly the Elder Brother of Abraham and Adam as of the last-born child of earth. At Jerusalem Jesus mercifully gave sight to a man who had been blind from his birth. BODILY AND SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS—SIGHT GIVEN TO A MAN ON THE SABBATH.

The miracle is an instance of Sabbath-day healing, of more than ordinary interest because of its attendant incidents. Jesus and His disciples saw the sightless one upon the street. The disciples, eager to learn, asked: "Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" The Lord's reply was: "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him"

It is further to be seen that they looked upon bodily affliction as the result of personal sin. The Lord's reply was sufficing; the man's blindness would be turned to account in bringing about a manifestation of divine power. As Jesus explained respecting His own ministry, it was necessary that He do the Father's work in the season appointed, for His time was short. With impressive pertinency as relating to the state of the man who had been in darkness all his days, our Lord repeated the affirmation before made in the temple, "I am the light of the world"

"He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay"; and then directed him to go to the pool of Siloam and wash in its waters. The man went, washed, and came seeing. They brought the man to the Pharisees, who questioned him rigorously; and, having heard his account of the miracle, tried to undermine his faith by telling him that Jesus who had healed him could not be a man of God since He had done the deed on the Sabbath. Some doubted that the man they questioned was the once sightless beggar; but he assured them of his identity, and told how he had been made to see

Some of those who heard demurred to the Pharisaic deduction, and asked: "How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles?" The man was questioned as to his personal opinion of Jesus, and promptly answered: "He is a prophet." The inquisitorial Jews were afraid of the result of such a wondrous healing, in that the people would support Jesus whom the rulers were determined to destroy. They assumed it to be possible that the man had not been really blind; so they summoned his parents, who answered their interrogatories by affirming that he was their son. They refused to commit themselves, knowing the rulers had decreed that any one who confessed Jesus to be the Christ should be cast out

With pardonable astuteness the parents said of their son: "He is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself" He replied fearlessly, and with such pertinent logic as to completely offset their skill as cross-examiners: "Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see." He very properly declined to enter into a discussion with his learned questioners as to what constituted sin under their construction of the law. But on one matter he was happily and gratefully certain, that whereas he had been blind,. now he could see.

The Pharisaical inquisitors next tried to get the man to repeat his story of the means employed in the healing, probably with the subtle purpose of leading him into inconsistent or contradictory statements. But he replied with emphasis, and possibly with some show of impatience, "I have told you already, and ye did not hear" They retorted with anger, and reviled the man; the ironical insinuation that they perchance wished to become disciples of Jesus was an insult they would not brook. "Thou art his disciple," said they, "but we are Moses' disciples. We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is"

"Why herein is a marvellous thing," said he, "that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes" For such an affront from a layman there was no precedent in all the lore of rabbis or scribes. Unable to cope with the sometime sightless beggar in argument or demonstration, they could at least exercize their official authority, however unjustly, by excommunicating him.

Jesus said that one purpose of His coming into the world was "that they which see not might see" Some of the Pharisees caught the remark, and asked in pride: "Are we blind also?" The Lord's reply was a condemnation: "If ye were blind, ye should have no sin"

The figure is an effective one, and all the more so when we consider the circumstances under which it was used by the Master. Pastoral conditions prevailed in Palestine, and the dignity of the shepherd's vocation was very generally recognized. By specific prophecy a Shepherd had been promised to Israel. David, the king of whom all Israelites were proud, had been taken directly from the sheepfold, and had come with a shepherd's crook in his hand to the anointing that made him royal. As the Teacher showed, a shepherd has free access to the sheep. When they are folded within the enclosure of safety, he enters at the gate; he neither climbs over nor creeps in. He, the owner of the sheep loves

Continuing the allegory, which the recorder speaks of as a parable, Jesus designated Himself as the door to the sheepfold. True, there were some who sought by avoiding the portal and climbing over the fence to reach the folded flock. But these were robbers, trying to get at the sheep as prey. Their selfish and malignant purpose was to kill and carry off. Changing the figure, Christ proclaimed: "I am the good shepherd." He then further showed, and with eloquent exactness, the difference between a shepherd and a hireling herder.

While the shepherd is ready to fight in defense of his own, and if necessary even imperil his life for his sheep, the hireling flees when the wolf approaches, leaving the way open for the ravening beast to scatter, rend, and kill. Never has been written or spoken a stronger arraignment of false pastors, unauthorized teachers, self-seeking hirelings who teach for pelf and divine for dollars. For this cause was Jesus the Father's Beloved Son—that He was ready to lay down His life for the sake of the sheep. With effective repetition Jesus continued: "I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I

The power to lay down His life was inherent in Himself, as was the power to take up His slain body in an immortalized state. A natural effect of His immortal origin, as the earth-born Son of an immortal Sire, was that He was immune to death except as He surrendered thereto. The life of Jesus the Christ could not be taken save as He willed and allowed. These teachings caused further division among the Jews.

Some pretended to dispose of the matter by voicing anew the foolish assumption that Jesus was but an insane demoniac, and that therefore His words were not worthy of attention. Others with consistency said "These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?" So it was that a few believed, many doubted though partly convinced, and some condemned.

When to them the resurrected Christ appeared He thus spake: "And verily, I say unto you, that ye are they of whom I said, other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice" The Jews had vaguely understood Christ's reference to other sheep as meaning in some obscure way, the Gentile nations. Jesus had withheld any plainer exposition of His meaning, for so, He informed the Nephites, had the Father directed.

On the same occasion the Lord declared that there were yet other sheep, those of the Lost, or Ten, Tribes, to whom He was then about to go, and who would eventually be brought forth from their place of exile. The feast of Tabernacles was also known as the "feast of ingathering" (Exo. 23:16); it was both a memorial and a current harvest celebration.

In commemoration of their long journeying in the wilderness following their deliverance from Egypt, the people of Israel were required to observe annually a festival lasting seven days. The festival lasted from the 15th to the 22d of the month Tizri, the seventh in the Hebrew calendar, corresponding to parts of our September and October. It was made to follow soon after the annual Day of Atonement which was a time of penitence and affliction of the soul in sorrow for sin (Lev. 23:26-32).

The altar sacrifices at the feast of Tabernacles exceeded those prescribed for other festivals. Rabbinism invested this number, seventy, and the graded diminution in the number of altar victims, with much symbolical significance not set forth in the law. At the time of Christ, tradition had greatly embellished many of the prescribed observances.

The ceremonial carrying of water from the spring of Siloam to the altar of sacrifice was a prominent feature of the service. This water was mingled with wine at the altar and the mixture was poured upon the sacrificial offering. At night, during the progress of the feast, great lamps were kept burning in the temple courts, and this incident Christ may have used as an objective illustration in his proclamation: "I am the light of the world"

For fuller account see any reliable and comprehensive Bible Dictionary, and Josephus Ant. viii, 4:1; xv, 3:3, etc. The following is an excerpt from Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus The Messiah, vol. ii, p. 158-160.

In further symbolism of this Feast, as pointing to the ingathering of the heathen nations, the public services closed with a procession round the altar by the priests. But on 'the last, the Great Day of the Feast,' this procession of priests made the circuit of the altar, not only once, but seven times. The writer was once approached by an incredulous student in college, who stated that he could not accept as true the published results of a certain chemical analysis.

"The names 'Shiloah' ('Shelah,' Neh. 3. The Pool of Siloam) and 'Shiloh' ('Shilah' Neh. 4. The names'shiloh', Neh. 5. The pool of Sileam') were the names of the animals in the pool. Shiloh was the name of the animal in which the pool of sileam was found. The name'shilloh' was the word for the fish. The fish was called 'Shileah' (Shela) and the name for the pool was 'ShILO' (Shiloe). The pool was found to be made of a substance called 'Sileam

'Siloam' and 'Siloah' are the exact equivalent in Hebrew and Greek, respectively, of 'Silwan' in the modern Arabic name ('Ain Silwan') of the pool at the mouth of El-Wad. In spite of its modern designation as an 'ain' (spring), Siloam is not a spring, but is fed by a tunnel cut through the rock from the Gihon, or Virgin's Fountain.

The seeming inconsistency is thus explained: The city of David, or Bethlehem in Judea, was beyond question the fore-appointed place of the Messiah's birth. But the rabbis had erroneously taught that soon after birth the Christ Child would be caught away, and after a time would appear as a Man, and that no one would know whence or how He had returned. Geikie (ii, p. 274), citing Lightfoot in part, thus states the popular criticism.

Some modern critics claim that the verses John 7:53 and 8:1-11 inclusive are out of place as they appear in the authorized or King James version of the Bible. The incident does not appear in certain of the ancient manuscript copies of John's Gospel, and that the style of the narrative is distinctive. In some manuscripts it appears at the end of the book. Other manuscripts contain the account as it appears in the English Bible. Canon Farrar pertinently asks (p. 404, note) why so many important manuscripts give place to it as we have it?

Chambers used for ceremonial purposes occupied the four corners of this court. Between these and the houses at the gates, were other buildings, of which one series constituted the Treasury wherein were set trumpet-shaped receptacles for gifts. (See Mark 12:41-44 )— The House of the Lord , pp. 57-58. The Sheepfold. "To understand the imagery, it must be remembered that Eastern folds are large open enclosures, into which several flocks are driven at the approach of night. There is only one door, which a single shepherd guards, while the others go home to rest. In the morning the shepherds return, are recognized by the doorkeeper, call their flocks round them

This was regarded as a literal fulfilment of Isa. 12:3. John 7:37, 38; compare with the assurance respecting "living water" given to the Samaritan woman, 4:10-15. John 8:12; compare 1:4, 5, 9; 3:19; 9:5; 12:35, 36, 46. See also Doc. and Cov. 6:21; 10:58, 70; 11:11; 14:9; 84:45, 46; 88:6-13; Deut. 17:6; 19:15; Numb. 35:30; Matt. 5:21-48.

Whether this incident occurred in immediate sequence to the events last considered, or at a later time after the return of Jesus to Jerusalem following an unrecorded departure therefrom, is not stated in the scriptural record. John 8:21-59. Compare P. of G.P., Moses 4:4; 5:24; B. of M., 2 Nephi 2:18; Doc. and Cov. 10:25; 93:25. Pages 174 183 . Exo. 3:14; compare 6:3. John 10:1-21. Note the promise of a Shepherd to Israel, Isa. 40:11; 49:9, 10; Ezek. 34:23;

7:15; compare 24:4, 5, 11, 24; Mark 13:22, Rom. 16:17, 18; Eph. 5:6; Col. 2:8; 2 Peter 2:1-3; 1 John 4:1; Acts 20:29. John 10:16; compare as to "one fold and one shepherd," Ezek. 37:22; Isa. 11:13; Jer. 3:18; 50:4. See "Articles of Faith," xviii,—"The Gathering of Israel." B. of M., 3 Nephi 15:21; read verses 12-24.