Volume 2

Jesus in Nazareth 233
of the Precursor in the desert, and said that all things
should be made even, the crooked ways straight, etc.
The instructions over, Jesus accepted a meal that had
been prepared for Him. The people behaved toward Him
in a very friendly manner, and told Him that they had
many sick whom He must cure. Jesus excused Himself.
But they thought that He meant: "Not today. Wait till
tomorrow." After the meal, He returned to the Essenians
outside the city. As they were congratulating HilTI upon
the kind reception He had received, He told them to wait
till the following day when they would have another story
to tell.
When Jesus went next morning to the synagogue, a
Jew whose turn it was to read was about to take the roll
of Scriptures. But Jesus desired them to hand it to Him.
He taught from Deuteronomy, chapter 4, of the obedience
due to the Commandments, from which nothing
must be taken and to which nothing must be added. He
reminded them that, although Moses had zealously repeated
to the Children of Israel all that God commanded,
yet they had frequently violated His ordinances. The Ten
Commandments presented themselves in the course of the
reading, and Jesus explained the first, that on the love of
God. He spoke very severely, reproaching them with the
additions they made to the Law, laying burdens upon the
poor people, and not fulfilling the Law itself. He assailed
thern so sharply on this point that they became angry, for
they could not say that He was uttering falsehood. But
they murmured and said one to another: "How does He
dare all at once to speak so boldly! He has been away
from His native city only a short time, and now He wants
to pass I-limself off for some extraordinary personage. He
speaks as if He were the Messiah. But we know His
father, the poor carpenter, well, and we know Him too.
Where did He learn the Scriptures? How can He dare
presume to interpret for us?" And so they went on,