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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadGreater Men and Women of the Bible by James Hastings: 596. The Martyrdom
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The Martyrdom
(1) The account of Hegesippus is full of improbabilities. It is quoted by Eusebius as follows: The charge of the Church then (after the Ascension) devolved on James the brother of the Lord in concert with the Apostles. He is distinguished from the others of the same name by the title “Just” (righteous) which has been applied to him from the first. He was holy from his mother's womb, drank no wine or strong drink, nor ate animal food; no razor came on his head, nor did he anoint himself with oil, or use the bath. To him alone was it permitted to enter into the Holy Place, for he wore no woollen, but only linen. And alone he would go into the temple, where he used to be found on his knees, asking forgiveness for the people, so that his knees became hard like a camel's, because he was ever upon them worshipping God and asking forgiveness for the people. Accordingly through his exceeding righteousness he was called righteous (“Just”) and “Oblias,” which being interpreted is “the defence of the people” and “righteousness,” as the prophets declared of him. Some of the seven sects, which I have mentioned, inquired of him, “What is the door of Jesus? “and he said that he was the Saviour, where-upon some believed that Jesus is the Christ. Now the fore-mentioned sects did not believe in the resurrection, or in the coming of one to recompense each man according to his works. But as many as did believe, believed through James. So when many of the rulers believed, there was a disturbance among the Jews and the Scribes and the Pharisees, saying that there was a danger that all the people would look to Jesus as the Christ. They came together therefore and said to James, “We pray thee restrain the people, for they have gone astray in regard to Jesus thinking him to be the Christ. We pray thee to persuade all that have come to the passover about Jesus. For we all listen to thee. For we and all the people bear witness that thou art just, and hast no respect of persons. Do thou therefore stand on the pinnacle of the temple, so that thou mayest be conspicuous and thy words may be well heard by all the people, and persuade them not to go astray about Jesus. For all the tribes have come together with the Gentiles also on account of the Passover.” Then the forementioned Scribes and Pharisees set James on the pinnacle of the temple and cried to him, “O thou just one to whom we are all bound to listen, since the people are going astray after Jesus who was crucified, tell us what is the door of Jesus.” And he answered with a loud voice, “Why do you ask me concerning Jesus the Son of Man? He is both seated in Heaven on the right hand of Power, and will come on the clouds of heaven.” And when many were convinced and gave glory to the witness of James, and cried, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” the same Scribes and Pharisees said to each other, “We have done ill in bringing forward such a testimony to Jesus, but let us go up and cast him down that they may fear to believe him.” And they cried out saying, “Oh, oh, even the just has gone astray,” and they fulfilled that which is written in Isaiah, “Let us take away the just, for he is not for our purpose; wherefore they shall eat the fruits of their deeds.” So they went up and they cast down James the Just, and said to one another, “Let us stone James the Just.” And they began to stone him, since he was not killed by the fall; but he turned round and knelt down saying, “O Lord God my Father, I beseech thee, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” While they were thus stoning him one of the priests of the sons of Rechab, of whom Jeremiah the prophet testifies, cried out, “Stop! What do ye? The Just is praying for you.” And one of them who was a fuller smote the head of the Just one with his club. And so he bore his witness. And they buried him on the spot, and his pillar still remains by the side of the temple (with the inscription), “He hath been a true witness both to Jews and Greeks that Jesus is the Christ.” And immediately Vespasian commenced the siege.
(2) The much more probable account of Josephus (Ant. Jud. xx. 9, 1) says: During the interval between the death of Festus (probably in the year 62 a.d.) and the arrival of his successor Albinus, the high priest Ananus the younger, being of rash and daring spirit and inclined like the Sadducees in general to extreme severity in punishing, brought to trial James, the brother of Jesus, who is called the Christ, and some others before the court of the Sanhedrin, and having charged them with breaking the laws, delivered them over to be stoned. Josephus adds that the better class of citizens and those who were versed in the law were indignant at this, and made complaints both to King Agrippa and to Albinus, on the ground that Ananus had no right to summon the Sanhedrin without the consent of the procurator; and that Agrippa in consequence removed him from the high priesthood.
Origen (Cels. i. c. 47, Lomm. xvii. p. 87) and Eusebius (H.E. ii. 23) also cite Josephus as ascribing the miseries of the siege to the Divine vengeance for the murder of James the Just; but this does not occur in his extant writings.1 [Note: J. B. Mayor, The Epistle of St. James.]
“ΔΙΚΑΙΟΤΑΤΟΣ” is the epitaph inscribed on Lord Aberdeen's monument in Westminster Abbey. The love of justice was, no doubt, strong in him, but, like nearly all attempts to describe a complex human character in a single word, the title of “most just” conveys but a partial idea of what manner of man Lord Aberdeen in truth was. Many have equalled him, perhaps have surpassed him, in devotion to exact justice, who have altogether failed to gain that deep respect and confidence which were invariably given to Lord Aberdeen by those who were brought into close association with him. Nor is the cause of this far to seek, for the existence of a keen sense of justice is quite compatible with the absence of other qualities which Lord Aberdeen also possessed in no common measure; and the possession of which, even had that particular virtue been less strongly developed in him, would have sufficiently accounted for the influence over others which he obtained.1 [Note: A. Gordon, The Earl of Aberdeen, 307.]
2. If the traditions are true which say that James was a Rechabite; that is, that he was brought up like John the Baptist, so that from his birth he never drank wine or strong drink, never had his hair cut, and never took a bath, we must conclude that the children in that home of Nazareth were brought up under an austere and rigid discipline. And this makes it the more remarkable that our Lord Himself, when He reached manhood, gave up the severity of His earlier habits, so that men contrasted His way of life with the way of John the Baptist. And perhaps this may also throw light on the unbelief of James and the rest of His brothers. When Christ began to live a life so much freer than theirs, when He broke through the austere restraint which they had associated with the highest forms of righteousness, they would find it difficult to believe that He was really a religious teacher sent from God.
The fact is that purification and austerity are even more necessary for the appreciation of life and laughter than for anything else. To let no bird fly past unnoticed, to spell patiently the stones and weeds, to have the mind a storehouse of sunsets, requires a discipline in pleasure and an education in gratitude.2 [Note: G. K. Chesterton, Twelve Types.]
3. James was a great figure. A strong man, he had the rigidity of his strength; a safe man, he had the natural conservatism which accompanies steadfastness. He had zeal enough to rejoice in the daring radicalism of Peter, and breadth and spirituality enough to sympathize with the grand universalism of Paul; but for himself, he was always place-bound and parochial, and Christianity always remained to him an offshoot, though immeasurably the greatest offshoot, of Judaism.
It is interesting to consider the Epistle of James in connexion with the relationship of the writer to our Lord. There are few direct allusions to the teaching of Christ, and many remarkable omissions. There is no reference to the pre-existence of Christ, to the Atonement, to our Lord's death, or to His resurrection. On the other hand, this Epistle contains more echoes of the teaching of Jesus than any other New Testament book, except the Gospels, which actually record this teaching. The figurative language of the Epistle recalls our Lord's love of parables. There is a very marked resemblance to the Sermon on the Mount, and it has been pointed out that the similarity is not that of actual quotation but rather that of thought, due to intimate knowledge of our Lord's mind, though not expressed in His words.
The worst of St. James was that when a sermon was preached from his Epistle, there was always a danger lest somebody in the congregation should think that it was against him it was levelled.1 [Note: W. Hale White, The Early Life of Mark Rutherford, 17.]