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LIEUT.-COL. G. MACKINLAY^ R.A., ON 



stars . . . when the sun aiiseth they flee away " — if it is 

 allowable for the verb to refer to the stars as well as to the 

 locusts ; and both refer to the great men of Mneveh. We thus 

 see that the figure of the rising sun extinguishing the light of 

 the stars is associated with conflict, punishment and judgment, 

 w^hich certainly did not represent the relationship between 

 Christ and his forerunner John. Hence we conclude that the 

 explanation of the figure suggested by Mimpriss, wdiich we have 

 called (2), is not a probable one. But no objection can be 

 brought against the other, which we have called (1). Our 

 diagram tells us that the first and more probable of the two 

 explanations is fulfilled in the circumstance under consideration. 



(d) The imprisonment of John took place soon after the last 

 utterance, if, as the Eev. Dr. Sanday* thinks, the events of 

 John ii, 13-iv, 45, did not occupy more than three or four 

 wTeks, because when the Lord arrived in Galilee the impression 

 of His public acts at Jerusalem was still fresh, John iv, 45 

 (this would lead us to explain the ambiguous latter half of 

 John iv, 35, the description of " the field white for harvest " as 

 actually existing, and, " Say ye not, etc.," as a proverb). The 

 estimate that the imprisonment of the Baptist took place very 

 soon after the Passover is somewhat strengthened by the fact 

 that the synoptic gospels record no events in the Lord's 

 ministry belore John was delivered up, except the temptation, 

 Matt, iv, 12, Mark i, 14, see also Luke iv, 14 ; and because the 

 apostle Paul said that "as John was fulfilling his course 

 [" towards the end of his career," Weymouth's translation], he 

 said, ' What suppose 3^e that I am ? I am not He. But 

 behold, there cometh One after me the shoes of whose feet I 

 am not worthy to unloose,' " Acts xiii, 25 — words which tend to 

 place the end of John's career as early as is allowable, because 

 the message referred to was uttered by the Baptist when he 

 announced Christ, John i, 26-27. We therefore estimate that 

 John w^as impiisoned about the middle or end of April, when 

 we see from the diagram that the morning star appropriately 

 was not shining. 



(e) The next reference to the Baptist under this simile is a 

 very striking one Christ speaks of him as "the lamp that 

 burnetii and shineth ; and ye were willing for a season to rejoice 

 in his light," John v, 35. Though he was in prison, Christ said 

 of him at this time, " You sent to John, and he both was and 



* Outlines from the Life of Christ, p. 49. Eev. W. Saiulay, D.D. 



