The Illustrative Teachings of Jesus (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1914 Excerpt: ... CHAPTER ONE Teachings Eased on Family Life THE family life of the Hebrews was beautiful. Of the nations of the ancient world they alone developed and maintained a home life and family organization worthy of the name. This was because they were monogamists, and believed the marriage relation a divine institution. The Hebrew family had its origin when man and woman were created. God made male and female for each other and the two became one flesh, and God blessed the union. Creation's story gave woman an essential equality in relation to her husband, and the Hebrew home life took its lofty character from the noble position of the woman. Practically, however, the husband was supreme in his authority. In the Old Testament story the patriarchal narratives reflect a good historical account of the character and growth of the family organization. Possibly under the form of family incidents the writers have depicted tribal life. But within the tribe always existed the smaller family circle, which was the primal unit of society and a most vital factor in the later greatness of Israel in giving to the world the invaluable legacy of a pure monotheistic faith. "While some of the early leaders are represented as having fallen from the original family ideal, there were extenuating conditions, as in the cases of Abraham and Jacob; and evils are shown to have directly resulted from this departure from the monogamic standard. In Jesus' day divorce had become a prevalent evil; for at the smallest pretext men might put away their wives. On this question Jesus said that the Mosaic law of divorce was only temporary in its application, and 1 that the early ideal was the divine and meant to be the perpetual status. However, the bulk of the people and leaders of Israel remained fai...