ence.
For our day the miracles are of importance chiefly for the exhibition they
give of the character of Jesus; they can be studied with this in view
without regard to the curious question how they happened. Read
SandayHastBD II. 624-628; and see Fisher, _Grounds of Christian and
Theistic Belief, _ chaps, iv.--vi., _Supernatural Origin of
Christianity_^3, chap, xi.; Bruce, _Miraculous Element in the Gospels;
Apologetics_, 409 ff.; Illingworth, _Divine Immanence_; Rainy, Orr, and
Dods, _The Supernatural in Christianity_.

Part II.--The Ministry

I

General Survey

36. SandayHastBD II. 609f.; GilbertLJ 136-143; AndLOL 125-137; BeysLJ I.
256-295.

II

The Early Ministry in Judea

37. SandayHastBD II. 612^b-613^b; WeissLX II. 3-53; EdersLJM I. 364-429;
BeysLJ II. 147-168; GilbertLJ 158-179.

38. On _the chronological significance of John iv_. 35 see AndLOL 183;
WeissLX II. 40; Wieseler, _Synop_. 212 ff, who find indication that the
journey was in December. EdersLJM I. 419f.; Turner in HastBD I. 408, find
indication of early summer. Some treat iv. 35 as a proverb with no
chronological significance; so Alford, _Comm. on John_.

39. Geographical notes. _Aenon_ near Salim has not been identified. Most
favor a site in Samaria, seven miles from a place named Salim, which lay
four miles E of Shechem, see Conder, _Tent Work in Palestine_, II. 57, 58;
Stevens, Jour. Bib. Lit. 1883, 128-141. But can John have been baptizing
in Samaria? WeissLX II. 28 says "it is perfectly impossible that he [John]
can have taken up his station in Samaria." Other suggestions are: some
place in the Jordan valley (but then why remark on the abundance of water,
Jn. iii. 23?); near Jerusalem; and in the south of Judea. See AndLOL
173-175. _Sychar_ is the modern 'Askar, about a mile and three-quarters
from Nablus (Shechem), and half a mile N of Jacob's well. See SmithHGHL
367-375.

40. General questions. _Was the temple twice cleansed?_ (see sect. 116).
Probably not. The two reports (Jn. ii. 13-22; Mk. xi. 15-18