Ebooks File in Situ Electron Microscopy Applications in Physics Chemistry and Materials Science 1st Edition Gerhard Dehm All Chapters
Ebooks File in Situ Electron Microscopy Applications in Physics Chemistry and Materials Science 1st Edition Gerhard Dehm All Chapters
Ebooks File in Situ Electron Microscopy Applications in Physics Chemistry and Materials Science 1st Edition Gerhard Dehm All Chapters
com
https://textbookfull.com/product/in-situ-electron-
microscopy-applications-in-physics-chemistry-and-
materials-science-1st-edition-gerhard-dehm/
https://textbookfull.com/product/time-resolved-electron-diffraction-
for-chemistry-biology-and-materials-science-1st-edition-anatoli-a-
ischenko/
textbookfull.com
https://textbookfull.com/product/physics-and-chemistry-of-carbon-
based-materials-basics-and-applications-yoshihiro-kubozono/
textbookfull.com
https://textbookfull.com/product/modeling-and-simulation-of-invasive-
applications-and-architectures-sascha-roloff/
textbookfull.com
https://textbookfull.com/product/how-he-man-mastered-the-universe-toy-
to-television-to-the-big-screen-brian-c-baer/
textbookfull.com
https://textbookfull.com/product/building-tools-with-github-customize-
your-workflow-1st-edition-chris-dawson/
textbookfull.com
Shotgun's (B)Ride (Men of Valor MC) 1st Edition Frankie
Love [Love
https://textbookfull.com/product/shotguns-bride-men-of-valor-mc-1st-
edition-frankie-love-love/
textbookfull.com
Edited by
Gerhard Dehm, James M. Howe,
and Josef Zweck
Hardcover
ISBN: 978-3-527-31982-4
Edited by
Gerhard Dehm, James M. Howe,
and Josef Zweck
Contents
Index 371
XIII
List of Contributors
Preface
Today, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) represents one of the most impor-
tant tools used to characterize materials. Electron diffraction provides information
on the crystallographic structure of materials, conventional TEM with bright-field
and dark-field imaging on their microstructure, high-resolution TEM on their
atomic structure, scanning TEM on their elemental distributions, and analytical
TEM on their chemical composition and bonding mechanisms. Each of these
techniques is explained in detail in various textbooks on TEM techniques, including
Transmission Electron Microscopy: A Textbook for Materials Science (D.B. Williams and
C.B. Carter, Plenum Press, New York, 1996), and Transmission Electron Microscopy
and Diffractometry of Materials (3rd edition, B. Fultz and J. M. Howe, Springer-Verlag,
Berlin, Heidelberg, 2008).
Most interestingly, however, TEM also enables dynamical processes in materials
to be studied through dedicated in-situ experiments. To watch changes occurring in a
material of interest allows not only the development but also the refinement of
models, so as to explain the underlying physics and chemistry of materials pro-
cesses. The possibilities for in-situ experiments span from thermodynamics and
kinetics (including chemical reactions, oxidation, and phase transformations) to
mechanical, electrical, ferroelectric, and magnetic material properties, as well as
materials synthesis.
The present book is focused on the state-of-the-art possibilities for performing
dynamic experiments inside the electron microscope, with attention centered on
TEM but including scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Whilst seeing is believing is
one aspect of in-situ experiments in electron microscopy, the possibility to obtain
quantitative data is of almost equal importance when accessing critical data in
relation to physics, chemistry, and the materials sciences. The equipment needed
to obtain quantitative data on various stimuli – such as temperature and gas flow for
materials synthesis, load and displacement for mechanical properties, and electrical
current and voltage for electrical properties, to name but a few examples – are
described in the individual sections that relate to Growth and Interactions (Part Two),
Mechanical Properties (Part Three), and Physical Properties (Part Four).
XVIII Preface
During the past decade, interest in in-situ electron microscopy experiments has
grown considerably, due mainly to new developments in quantitative stages and
micro-/nano-electromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS) that provide a ‘‘lab on chip’’
platform which can fit inside the narrow space of the pole-pieces in the transmission
electron microscope. In addition, the advent of imaging correctors that compensate
for the spherical and, more recently, the chromatic aberration of electromagnetic
lenses has not only increased the resolution of TEM but has also permitted the use of
larger pole-piece gaps (and thus more space for stages inside the microscope), even
when designed for imaging at atomic resolution. Another driving force of in-situ
experimentation using electron probes has been the small length-scales that are
accessible with focused ion beam/SEM platforms and TEM instruments. These are
of direct relevance for nanocrystalline materials and thin-film structures with
micrometer and nanometer dimensions, as well as for structural defects such as
interfaces in materials.
This book provides an overview of dynamic experiments in electron microscopy,
and is especially targeted at students, scientists, and engineers working in the fields
of chemistry, physics, and the materials sciences. Although experience in electron
microscopy techniques is not a prerequisite for readers, as the basic information on
these techniques is summarized in the first two chapters of Part One, Basics and
Methods, some basic knowledge would help to use the book to its full extent. Details
of specialized in-situ methods, such as Dynamic TEM and Reflection Electron Micro-
scopy are also included in Part One, to highlight the science which emanates from
these fields.
Part I
Basics and Methods
In-situ Electron Microscopy: Applications in Physics, Chemistry and Materials Science, First Edition.
Edited by Gerhard Dehm, James M. Howe, and Josef Zweck.
Ó 2012 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA. Published 2012 by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.
j3
1
Introduction to Scanning Electron Microscopy
Christina Scheu and Wayne D. Kaplan
The scanning electron microscope is without doubt one of the most widely used
characterization tools available to materials scientists and materials engineers. Today,
modern instruments achieve amazing levels of resolution, and can be equipped with
various accessories that provide information on local chemistry and crystallography.
These data, together with the morphological information derived from the sample,
are important when characterizing the microstructure of materials used in a wide
number of applications. A schematic overview of the signals that are generated when
an electron beam interacts with a solid sample, and which are used in the scanning
electron microscope for microstructural characterization, is shown in Figure 1.1. The
most frequently detected signals are high-energy backscattered electrons, low-energy
secondary electrons and X-rays, while less common signals include Auger electrons,
cathodoluminescence, and measurements of beam-induced current. The origin of
these signals will be discussed in detail later in the chapter.
Due to the mechanisms by which the image is formed in the scanning electron
microscope, the micrographs acquired often appear to be directly interpretable; that
is, the contrast in the image is often directly associated with the microstructural
features of the sample. Unfortunately, however, this may often lead to gross errors in
the measurement of microstructural features, and in the interpretation of the
microstructure of a material. At the same time, the fundamental mechanisms by
which the images are formed in the scanning electron microscope are reasonably
straightforward, and a little effort from the materials scientist or engineer in
correlating the microstructural features detected by the imaging mechanisms makes
the technique of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) being extremely powerful.
Unlike conventional optical microscopy or conventional transmission electron
microscopy (TEM), in SEM a focused beam of electrons is rastered across the
specimen, and the signals emitted from the specimen are collected as a function
of position of the incident focused electron beam. As such, the final image is collected
in a sequential manner across the surface of the sample. As the image in SEM is
formed from signals emitted due to the interaction of a focused incident electron
probe with the sample, two critical issues are involved in understanding SEM images,
as well as in the correlated analytical techniques: (i) the nature of the incident electron
probe; and (ii) the manner by which incident electrons interact with matter.
In-situ Electron Microscopy: Applications in Physics, Chemistry and Materials Science, First Edition.
Edited by Gerhard Dehm, James M. Howe, and Josef Zweck.
Ó 2012 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA. Published 2012 by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.
4 j 1 Introduction to Scanning Electron Microscopy
Figure 1.1 Schematic drawing of possible signals created when an incident electron beam interacts
with a solid sample. Reproduced with permission from Ref. [4]; Ó 2008, John Wiley & Sons.
1.1
Components of the Scanning Electron Microscope
Figure 1.2 Schematic drawing of the major probe, and to control the beam current density.
components of a scanning electron The demagnified beam is than scanned across
microscope. The electron lenses and apertures the sample. Various detectors are used to
are used to demagnify the electron beam that is register the signals arising from various
emitted from the electron source into a small electron–matter interactions.
6 j 1 Introduction to Scanning Electron Microscopy
oxidation, which would limit the lifetime of the gun and may cause instabilities in the
intensity of the emitted electrons. Second, a high level of vacuum is required to
prevent the scattering of electrons as they traverse the column from the gun to the
specimen. Third, it is important to reduce the partial pressure of water and carbon in
the vicinity of the sample, as any interaction of the incident electron beam with such
molecules on the surface of the sample may lead to the formation of what is
commonly termed a carbonaceous (or contamination) layer, which can obscure
the sample itself. The prevention of carbonaceous layer formation depends both on
the partial pressure of water and carbon in the vacuum near the sample, and the
amount of carbon and water molecules that are adsorbed onto the surface of the
sample prior to its introduction into the microscope. Thus, while a minimum level of
vacuum is always required to prevent the scattering of electrons by molecules (the
concentration of which in the vacuum is determined from a measure of partial
pressure), it is the partial pressure of oxygen in the region of the electron gun, and the
partial pressure of carbon and water in the region of the specimen, that are in fact
critical to operation of the microscope. Unfortunately, most scanning electron
microscopes do not provide such measures of partial pressure, but rather maintain
different levels of vacuum in the different regions of the instrument. Normally, the
highest vacuum (i.e., the lowest pressure) is in the vicinity of the electron gun and,
depending on the type of electron source, an ultra-high-vacuum (UHV) level
(pressure <108 Pa) may be attained. The nominal pressure in the vicinity of the
specimen is normally in the range of 103 Pa. Some scanning electron microscopes
that have been designed for the characterization of low-vapor pressure liquids,
moist biological specimens or nonconducting materials, have differential
apertures between the regions of the microscope. This allows a base vacuum as
high as approximately 0.3 Pa close to the sample. These instruments, which
are often referred to as environmental scanning electron microscopes, offer
unique possibilities, but their detailed description is beyond the scope of the present
chapter.
1.1.1
Electron Guns
The role of the electron gun is to produce a high-intensity source of electrons which
can be focused into a fine electron beam. In principle, free electrons can be generated
by thermal emission or field emission from a metal surface (Figure 1.3). In thermal
emission, the energy necessary to overcome the work function is supplied by heating
the tip. In order to reduce the work function an electric field is applied (Schottky
effect). If the electric field is of the order of 10 V nm1, the height and width of the
potential barrier is strongly reduced, such that the electrons may leave the metal via
field emission.
Although several different electron sources have been developed, their basic
design is rather similar (see Figure 1.4). In a thermionic source, the electrons are
extracted from a heated filament at a low bias voltage that is applied between the
source and a cylindrical cap (the Wehnelt cylinder). This beam of thermionic
1.1 Components of the Scanning Electron Microscope j7
Figure 1.3 Schematic drawing of the The work function can be lowered by applying an
electrostatic potential barrier at a metal surface. electric field (Schottky effect). If the field is very
In order to remove an electron from the metal high, the electrons can tunnel through the
surface, the work function must be overcome. potential barrier. Redrawn from Ref. [1].
Figure 1.4 Schematic drawings of (a) a Wehnelt cylinder). (e) In FEGs, the electrons are
tungsten filament and (b) a LaB6 tip for extracted by a high electric field applied to the
thermionic electron sources. (c) For a field- sharp tip by a counterelectrode aperture, and
emission gun (FEG) source, a sharp tungsten then focused by an anode to image the
tip is used. (d) In thermionic sources the source. Reproduced with permission from
filament or tip is heated to eject electrons, which Ref. [4]; Ó 2008, John Wiley & Sons.
are then focused with an electrostatic lens (the
The effective source size can be significantly reduced (leading to the term high-
resolution SEM) by using a cold field emission gun (FEG), in which the electrons
tunnel out of a sharp tip under the influence of a high electric field (Figures 1.3
and 1.4). Cold FEG sources can generate a brightness of the order of 107 A cm2 sr1,
and the sharp tip of the tungsten needle that emits the electrons is of the order of
0.2 mm in diameter; hence, the effective source size is less than 5 nm. More often, a
hot source replaces the cold source, in which case a sharp tungsten needle is
heated to enhance the emission (this is termed a thermal field emitter, or TFE). The
heating of the tip leads to a self-cleaning process; this has proved to be another benefit
of TFEs in that they can be operated at a lower vacuum level (higher pressures). In the
1.1 Components of the Scanning Electron Microscope j9
Table 1.1 A comparison of the properties of different electron sources.
so-called Schottky emitters, the electrostatic field is mainly used to reduce the work
function, such that electrons leave the tip via thermal emission (see Figure 1.3). A
zirconium-coated tip is often used to reduce the work function even further.
Although Schottky emitters have a slightly larger effective source size than cold
field emission sources, they are more stable and require less stringent vacuum
requirements than cold FEG sources. Equally important, the probe current at
the specimen is significantly larger than for cold FEG sources; this is important
for other analytical techniques used with SEM, such as energy dispersive X-ray
spectroscopy (EDS).
1.1.2
Electromagnetic Lenses
Within the scanning electron microscope, the role of the general lens system is to
demagnify an image of the initial crossover of the electron probe to the final size of
the electron probe on the sample surface (1–50 nm), and to raster the probe across
the surface of the specimen. As a rule, this system provides demagnifications in the
range of 1000- to 10 000-fold. Since one is dealing with electrons rather than photons
the lenses may be either electrostatic or electromagnetic. The simplest example of
these is the electrostatic lens that is used in the electron gun.
Electromagnetic lenses are more commonly encountered, and consist of a large
number of turns of a copper wire wound around an iron core (the pole-piece). A small
gap located at the center of the core separates the upper and lower pole-pieces. The
magnetic flux of the lens is concentrated within a small volume by the pole-pieces,
and the stray field at the gap forms the magnetic field. The magnetic field distribution
is inhomogeneous in order to focus electrons traveling parallel to the optical axis onto
a point on the optical axis; otherwise, they would be unaffected. Thereby, the radial
component of the field will force these electrons to change their direction in such a
way that they possess a velocity component normal to the optical axis; the longitudinal
component of the field would then force them towards the optical axis. Accordingly,
the electrons move within the lens along screw trajectories about the optical axis due
Random documents with unrelated
content Scribd suggests to you:
must presume that the Baptist gave credence to this sign; according
to the fourth Gospel, he expressly attested his belief (i. 34 ), and
moreover uttered words which evince the deepest insight into the
higher nature and office of Jesus (i. 29 ff. 36 ; iii. 27 ff. );
according to the first Gospel, he was already convinced of these
before the baptism of Jesus. On the other hand, Matthew (xi. 2 ff. )
and Luke (vii. 18 ff. ) tell us that at a later period, the Baptist, on
hearing of the ministry of Jesus, despatched some of his disciples to
him with the inquiry, whether he (Jesus) was the promised Messiah,
or whether another must be expected.
The first impression from this is, that the question denoted an
uncertainty on the part of the Baptist whether Jesus were really the
Messiah; and so it was early understood. 37 But such a doubt is in
direct contradiction with all the other circumstances reported by the
Evangelists. It is justly regarded as [220]psychologically impossible
that he whose belief was originated or confirmed by the baptismal
sign, which he held to be a divine revelation, and who afterwards
pronounced so decidedly on the Messianic call and the superior
nature of Jesus, should all at once have become unsteady in his
conviction; he must then indeed have been like a reed shaken by the
wind, a comparison which Jesus abnegates on this very occasion
(Matt. xi. 7 ). A cause for such vacillation is in vain sought in the
conduct or fortunes of Jesus at the time; for the rumour of the
works of Christ, ἔργα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, which in Luke’s idea were
miracles, could not awaken doubt in the Baptist, and it was on this
rumour that he sent his message. Lastly, how could Jesus
subsequently (John v. 33 ff. ) so confidently appeal to the testimony
of the Baptist concerning him, when it was known that John himself
was at last perplexed about his Messiahship? 38
Hence it has been attempted to give a different turn to the facts,
and to show that John’s inquiry was not made on his own account,
but for the sake of his disciples, to overcome in them the doubt with
which he was himself untainted. 39 Hereby it is true, the above-
named difficulties are removed; in particular it is explained why the
Baptist should contrive to send this message precisely on hearing of
the miracles of Jesus; he plainly hoping that his disciples, who had
not believed his testimony to the Messiahship of Jesus, would be
convinced of its truth by beholding the marvellous works of the
latter. But how could John hope that his envoys would chance to find
Jesus in the act of working miracles? According to Matthew, indeed,
they did not so find him, and Jesus appeals (v. 4 ) only to his
former works, many of which they had seen, and of which they
might hear wherever he had presented himself. Luke alone, in giving
his evidently second-hand narrative, 40 misconstrues the words of
Jesus to require that the disciples of John should have found him in
the exercise of his supernatural power. Further, if it had been the
object of the Baptist to persuade his disciples by a sight of the works
of Jesus, he would not have charged them with a question which
could be answered by the mere words, the authentic declaration of
Jesus. For he could not hope by the assertion of the person whose
Messiahship was the very point in debate, to convince the disciples
whom his own declaration, in other cases authoritative, had failed to
satisfy. On the whole, it would have been a singular course in the
Baptist to lend his own words to the doubts of others, and thereby,
as Schleiermacher well observes, to compromise his early and
repeated testimony in favour of Jesus. It is clear that Jesus
understood the question proposed to him by the messengers as
proceeding from John himself; (ἀπαγγείλατε Ἰωάννῃ, Matt. xi. 4 ;)
and he indirectly complained of the want of faith in the latter by
pronouncing those blessed who were not offended in him (ver.
6 ). 41
If then it must be granted that John made his inquiry on his own
behalf, and not on that of his disciples, and if nevertheless we
cannot impute to him a sudden lapse into doubt after his previous
confidence; nothing remains but to take the positive instead of the
negative side of the question, and to consider its scepticism as the
mere garb of substantial encouragement. 42 On this
[221]interpretation, the time which Jesus allowed to escape without
publicly manifesting himself as the Messiah, seemed too tedious to
John in his imprisonment; he sent therefore to inquire how long
Jesus would allow himself to be waited for, how long he would delay
winning to himself the better part of the people by a declaration of
his Messiahship, and striking a decisive blow against the enemies of
his cause—a blow that might even liberate the Baptist from his
prison. But if the Baptist, on the strength of his belief that Jesus was
the Messiah, hoped and sued for a deliverance, perhaps miraculous,
by him from prison, he would not clothe in the language of doubt an
entreaty which sprang out of his faith. Now the inquiry in our
evangelical text is one of unmixed doubt, and encouragement must
be foisted in, before it can be found there. How great a violence
must be done to the words is seen by the way in which
Schleiermacher handles them in accordance with this interpretation.
The dubitative question, σὺ εἶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος; he changes into the
positive assumption, thou art he who was to come; the other still
more embarrassing interrogatory, ἢ ἕτερον προσδοκῶμεν; he
completely transfigures thus: wherefore (seeing that thou
performest so great works) do we yet await thee?—shall not John
with all his authority command, through us, all those who have
partaken of his baptism to obey thee as the Messiah, and be
attentive to thy signs? Even if we allow, with Neander, the possibility
of truth to this interpretation, a mere summons to action will not
accord with the earlier representation of Jesus given by the Baptist.
The two enunciations are at issue as to form; for if John doubted not
the Messiahship of Jesus, neither could he doubt his better
knowledge of the fitting time and manner of his appearance: still
farther are they at issue as to matter; for the Baptist could not take
offence at what is termed the delay of Jesus in manifesting himself
as the Messiah, or wish to animate him to bolder conduct, if he
retained his early view of the destination of Jesus. If he still, as
formerly, conceived Jesus to be the Lamb of God that taketh away
the sins of the world, ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ Τεοῦ, ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ
κόσμοῦ, no thought could occur to him of a blow to be struck by
Jesus against his enemies, or in general, of a violent procedure to be
crowned by external conquest; rather, the quiet path which Jesus
trod must appear to him the right one—the path befitting the
destination of the Lamb of God. Thus if the question of John
conveyed a mere summons to action, it contradicted his previous
views.
For so foreign to the current opinion, at least, was this notion of the
Messiah, that the disciples of Jesus, during the whole period of their
intercourse with him, could not reconcile themselves to it; and when
his death had actually resulted, their trust in him as the Messiah was
utterly confounded (Luke xxiv. 20 ff. ). How, then, could the Baptist,
who, according to the solemn declaration of Jesus, Matt. xi. 11 ,
confirmed by the allusions in the Gospels to his strict ascetic life,
ranked below the least in the kingdom of heaven, to which the
apostles already belonged—how could this alien discern, long before
the sufferings of Jesus, that they pertained to the character of the
Messiah, when the denizens were only taught the same lesson by
the issue? Or, if the Baptist really had such insight, and
communicated it to his disciples, why did it not, by means of those
who left his circle for that of Jesus, win an entrance into the latter—
nay, why did it not, by means of the great credit which John
enjoyed, mitigate the offence caused by the death of Jesus, in the
public at large 48? Add to this, that in none of our accounts of the
Baptist, with the exception of the fourth Gospel, do we find that he
entertained such views of the Messiah’s character; for, not to
mention Josephus, the Synoptical Gospels confine his representation
of the Messianic office to the spiritual baptism and winnowing of the
people. Still it remains possible that a penetrating mind, like that of
the Baptist, might, even before the death of Jesus, gather from Old
Testament phrases and types the notion of a suffering Messiah, and
that his obscure hints on the subject might not be comprehended by
his disciples and cotemporaries.
The style in which the scenes between John and Jesus (John i. 29
ff. 35 ff. ) are depicted, shows them to have originated partly in
the free composition of the imagination, partly in a remodelling of
the synoptical narratives with a view to the glorification of Jesus.
With respect to the former: Jesus is walking, v. 35 , near to John; in
v. 29 he is said to come directly to him; yet on neither occasion is
there any account of an interview between the two. Could Jesus
really have avoided contact with the Baptist, that there might be no
[228]appearance of preconcerted action? This is Lampe’s conjecture;
but it is the product of modern reflections, foreign to the time and
circumstances of Jesus. Or shall we suppose that the narrator,
whether fortuitously or purposely, omitted known details? But the
meetings of Jesus and John must have furnished him with peculiarly
interesting matter, so that, as Lücke allows, 68 his silence is
enigmatical. From our point of view the enigma is solved. The
Baptist had, in the Evangelist’s idea, pointed to Jesus as the
Messiah. This, understood as a visible pointing, required that Jesus
should pass by or approach John; hence this feature was inserted in
the narrative; but the particulars of an actual meeting being
unnecessary, were, though very awkwardly, omitted. The incident of
some disciples attaching themselves to Jesus in consequence of the
Baptist’s direction, seems to be a free version of the sending of two
disciples by John from his prison. Thus, as in Matthew xi. 2 , and
Luke vii. 18 , John despatches two disciples to Jesus with the
dubitative question, “Art thou he that should come?” so in the fourth
gospel he likewise sends two disciples to Jesus, but with the positive
assertion that he (Jesus) is the Lamb of God, ἀμνὸς Θεοῦ; as Jesus
in the former case gives to the disciples, after the delivery of their
message, the direction: “Go and tell John the things ye have seen
and heard,” ἂ εἴδετε καὶ ἠκοῦσατε: so in the latter, he gives to the
inquiry concerning his abode, the answer: Come and see, ἔρχεσθε
καὶ ἴδετε. But while in the synoptical gospels the two disciples return
to John, in the fourth, they permanently attach themselves to Jesus.
Meanwhile that result is only the negative, that all which turns upon
the early acknowledgment of Jesus by John has no claim to be
received as historical; of the positive we know nothing, unless the
message out of prison may be regarded as a clue to the truth, and
we must therefore subject this side of the matter to a separate
examination. We will not extend our arguments against the
probability of an early and decided conviction on the part of the
Baptist, to a mere conjecture awakened in him at a later period that
Jesus was the Messiah; and therefore we leave uncontested the
proper contents of the narrative. But as regards the form, it is not to
be conceived without difficulty. That the Baptist in prison, ἐν τῷ
δεσμωτηρίῳ, should have information of the proceedings of Jesus;
that he should from that locality send his disciples to Jesus; and that
these as we are led to infer, should bring him an answer in his
imprisonment.
Thus at the time when the two disciples must have been sent to
Jesus, the Baptist was already imprisoned, and we have remarked
above, that he could hardly, so situated, transmit and receive
messages. But popular legend might be prompted to fabricate such
a message, that the Baptist might not depart without at least an
incipient recognition of Jesus as the Messiah; so that neither the one
nor the other of the two incompatible statements is to be regarded
as historical.
[Contents]
§ 47.
This scene, peculiar to the fourth gospel, in which John rejects the
title of Elias, with several others, demands a yet closer examination,
and must be compared with a narrative in Luke (iii. 15 ), to which it
has a striking similarity. In Luke, the crowd assembled round the
Baptist begin to think: Is not this the Christ? μήποτε αὐτὸς εἴη ὁ
Χριστός· in John, the deputies of the Sanhedrim 74 ask him, Who art
thou? σὺ τίς εἶ; which we infer from the Baptist’s answer to mean:
“Art thou, as is believed, the Messiah?” 75 According to Luke, the
Baptist answers, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier
than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to
unloose. According to John he gives a similar reply: I baptize with
water; but there standeth one among you whom ye know not; He it
is who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoes’ latchet
I am not worthy to unloose: the latter Evangelist adding his peculiar
propositions concerning the pre-existence of Jesus, and deferring to
another occasion (v. 33 ) the mention of the Messiah’s spiritual
baptism, which Luke gives in immediate connexion with the above
passage. In Luke, and still more decidedly in John, this whole scene
is introduced [232]with a design to establish the Messiahship of Jesus,
by showing that the Baptist had renounced that dignity, and
attributed it to one who should come after him. If at the foundation
of two narratives so similar, there can scarcely be more than one
fact, 76 the question is, which gives that fact the most faithfully? In
Luke’s account there is no intrinsic improbability; on the contrary it is
easy to imagine, that the people, congregated round the man who
announced the Messiah’s kingdom, and baptized with a view to it,
should, in moments of enthusiasm, believe him to be the Messiah.
But that the Sanhedrim should send from Jerusalem to John on the
banks of the Jordan, for the sake of asking him whether he were the
Messiah, seems less natural. Their object could only be what, on a
later occasion, it was with respect to Jesus (Matt. xxi. 23 ff. ),
namely, to challenge the authority of John to baptize, as appears
from v. 25 . Moreover, from the hostile position which John had
taken towards the sects of the Pharisees and Sadducees (Matt. iii.
7 ), to whom the members of the Sanhedrim belonged, they must
have prejudged that he was not the Messiah, nor a prophet, and
consequently, that he had no right to undertake a βάπτισμα. But in
that case, they could not possibly have so put their questions as
they are reported to have done in the fourth gospel. In the passage
from Mathew above cited, they asked Jesus, quite consistently with
their impression that he had no prophetic authority: ἐν ποίᾳ ἐξουσίᾳ
ταῦτα ποιεῖς; By what authority doest thou these things? but in
John, they question the Baptist precisely as if they pre-supposed him
to be the Messiah, and when he, apparently to their consternation,
has denied this, they tender him successively the dignities of Elias,
and of another prophetic forerunner, as if they earnestly wished him
to accept one of these titles. Searching opponents will not thus
thrust the highest honours on the man to whom they are inimical;—
this is the representation of a narrator who wishes to exhibit the
modesty of the man, and his subordination to Jesus, by his rejection
of those brilliant titles. To enable him to reject them, they must have
been offered; but this could in reality only be done by well-wishers,
as in Luke, where the conjecture that the Baptist was the Messiah is
attributed to the people.
Why then did not the fourth Evangelist attribute those questions
likewise to the people, from whom, with a slight alteration, they
would have seemed quite natural? Jesus, when addressing the
unbelieving Jews in Jerusalem, (John v. 33 ), appeals to their
message to the Baptist, and to the faithful testimony then given by
the latter. Had John given his declaration concerning his relation to
Jesus before the common people merely, such an appeal would have
been impossible; for if Jesus were to refer his enemies to the
testimony of John, that testimony must have been delivered before
his enemies; if the assertions of the Baptist were to have any
diplomatic value, they must have resulted from the official inquiry of
a magisterial deputation. Such a remodelling of the facts appears to
have been aided by the above-mentioned narrative from the
synoptical traditions, wherein the high priests and scribes ask Jesus,
by what authority he does such things (as the casting out of the
buyers and sellers). Here also Jesus refers to John, asking for their
opinion as to the authority of his baptism, only, it is true, with the
negative view of repressing their further inquiries (Matt. xxi. 23 ff.
parall.); but how easily might this reference be made to take an
affirmative sense, and instead of the argument, “If ye know not
what powers were entrusted to John, ye need not know whence
mine are given,”—the following be substituted: “Since ye know what
John has declared concerning me, ye must also know what power
and [233]dignity belong to me;” whereupon what was originally a
question addressed to Jesus, transformed itself into a message to
the Baptist. 77
The first addition to this in the Christian legend, was, that John had
taken approving notice of Jesus. During his public ministry, it was
known that he had only indefinitely referred to one coming after
him; but it behoved him, [234]at least in a conjectural way, to point
out Jesus personally, as that successor. To this it was thought he
might have been moved by the fame of the works of Jesus, which,
loud as it was, might even penetrate the walls of his prison. Then
was formed Matthew’s narrative of the message from prison; the
first modest attempt to make the Baptist a witness for Jesus, and
hence clothed in an interrogation, because a categorical testimony
was too unprecedented.
But this late and qualified testimony was not enough. It was a late
one, for prior to it there was the baptism which Jesus received from
John, and by which he, in a certain degree, placed himself in
subordination to the Baptist; hence those scenes in Luke, by which
the Baptist was placed, even before his birth, in a subservient
relation to Jesus.
[Contents]
§ 48.