day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. And his mother an- 60 swered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John. And they 61 said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. And they made signs to his father, how he would have 62 him called. And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, 63 His name is John. And they marvelled all. And his mouth was 64 opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God. And fear came on all that dwelt round about 65 them and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill-country of Judea. And all they that heard them, laid 66 them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him. And his fa- 67 ther Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited 68 and redeemed his people, and hath raised up a horn of salvation 69 for us, in the house of his servant David: as he spake by the 70 mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world : They called him. More precisely, in conformity to the imperfect tense, they were calling him, they were in the act of doing it, when arrested by the mother. The Jews were accustomed to name their children, at the time of being circumcised, as Christians do theirs when they are baptized. 63. A writing table. The original is diminutive-tablet. The ancients wrote with styles, or pointed instruments of iron, on plates of wood, ivory, and metal, covered with wax. 65. The remarkable circumstances attending the birth of John the Baptist, must have contributed powerfully to support him in delivering, and also prepared the people for hearing, his message from God. See note, verse 35. 67. Was filled with the Holy Ghost. Was inspired with an impassioned fervor and devotion. - Prophesied. Gave utterance, with his loosed tongue, to a strain of earnest praises and thanksgivings. This was the bursting forth of a mind that had long been imprisoned within itself, and unable to express freely its thoughts in speech. Most of the pious ejaculations of Zacharias are to be found in some part of the Old Testament, with which he was, undoubtedly, very familiar, and which the Jews quoted as we do the Scriptures now. 69. A horn of salvation. Ps. cxii. 9. This figure is frequent in the Bible, and is taken from animals whose strength and defence often lie in their horns. Hence the horn is used as an emblem of power and dignity. A horn of salvation means a powerful salvation, or Saviour. Some suppose, with less naturalness, that reference is made to the horns of the altar, to which an offender, by clinging, might save himself from death. 70. Since the world began. From the creation, or, as some think, from the beginning of the Jewish world or dispensation. 71 began that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the 72 hand of all that hate us; to perform the mercy promised to our 73 fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; the oath which he 74 sware to our father Abraham, that he would grant unto us, that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve 75 him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all 76 the days of our life. And thou, child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest, for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to 77 prepare his ways; to give knowledge of salvation unto his peo78 ple, by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us, 79 to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of 80 death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel. 76, 77. To prepare his ways. Mal. iii. 1.By the remission of their sins. This expression, "which to a Christian ear may bear a different sense, to the Jew would convey a much narrower meaning. All calamity, being a mark of the divine displeasure, was an evidence of sin; every mark of divine favor, therefore, an evidence of divine forgiveness." 78. Through the tender mercy of our God. This is the cause of causes in the various revelations that have blessed mankind. This sent Moses and the long line of prophets. This sent John as the morning herald of the gospel. This sent Jesus and his apostles to consummate the sublime and benevolent work. Our salvation is due to the merits of no being whatever, but to the free, unpurchased, unmerited, infinite mercy of God, beyond and antecedent to all other causes. It is from this boundless sea, that all the drops and showers of our blessings have come. Rise, rise, my heart, to this great and good Being; in songs of gratitude and gladness chant his loving kindness and tender mercy.-The day-spring from on high. This is in apposition with "Thus, when fraud and rapine threw "Tears of joy and gratitude Hailed the Baptist's natal morn, 80. Mat. iii. 1, 4; Mark i. 6. This is the sum of John's childhood and youth: a desert home growthstrength of spirit-preparing, in freedom from Jewish prejudices, for the day of his showing unto Israel, his induction into the office of a reformer and forerunner. How much after the manner of Scripture is this verse written terse, concentrated, and suggestive! It was thus in the wilderness, among savage rocks and hoary-headed mountains, that Moses and Elijah dwelt apart from men, and nursed in solitude that heroic spirit, CHAPTER II. The Birth and Childhood of Jesus. AND it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Cesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And 2 this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) which, touched with the fire of heaven, made one the founder, and the other the restorer, of Israel. It is from solitudes, that the great ones of the earth have often come, to do their work in the world. The sons of the wilderness have shaped the destinies of mankind. CHAPTER II. 1. In those days. About the time of the birth of John the Baptist, recorded in the preceding chapter. · Cesar Augustus. Cesar was the family name. The first was Julius Cesar. His nephew, Octavianus, who is referred to in the text, succeeded him in the supreme power at Rome, and took the additional title of Augustus, august; hence the name of one of the months. Cesar became the designation of the line of Roman emperors, as Ptolemy was that of the Egyptian kings. Acts xxv. 8, 10, 12. All the world. Literally, all the habitable earth. This phrase is used not unfrequently to signify one land or empire, and probably means here the territory of Palestine, or Syria, as the next verse intimates. Some understand it as applying to the Roman world, or sovereignty; but history relates no universal enrolment at this time. Taxed. The better word would be registered, or enrolled; for it was not a tax that was now levied, but a census of the population, and a registration of property, which was now made, with a view, as it would seem, to taxation afterwards. 2. This taxing. This enrolment or census. An anachronism, or error in chronology, involves this verse in great difficulty of interpretation. The date of Cyrenius being governor of Syria, was about 12 years after the birth of Christ, as usually reckoned; and his taxation was not therefore until after the dethronement of Archelaus, the son and successor of Herod the Great, in the last years of whose reign, according to Matthew, our Lord was born. But the text represents that event, as taking place at the time Cyrenius was enrolling the inhabitants of Judea. To remove this difficulty, several different constructions have been given. It has been proposed to construe the verse thus, taking the original of the verb was made, in the sense it sometimes has, of took effect. So Campbell reads, "This first register took effect when Cyrenius was president of Syria,” i. e. the census was originally taken at the time, spoken of in the text, when Jesus was born; but no direct consequences of importance followed until about 12 years after, when that census was made the basis, essentially, of a taxation under the governorship of Cyrenius. Again, it has been proposed to render it as follows: "This register was made before Cyrenius was governor of Syria." But some violence is done to the usages of language by this mode. Further, it has been translated, "This was the first census of Cyrenius, governor of Syria," referring to another which he made afterwards, and which was the cause of great tumults, and ultimately of the Jewish overthrow, by their collision with Rome. Cyrenius is supposed to be called governor, not 3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Jo4 seph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, (be5 cause he was of the house and lineage of David,) to be taxed 6 with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that while they were there, the days were accomplished 7 that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling-clothes, and laid him in that he then held that office, but that he did afterwards; and the title is applied to him retrospectively, as is not unusual in similar cases. But when the ingenuity of critics has been exhausted, may we not allow the possibility of a confusion, in the writer, or his transcribers, of the registration in the time of Herod the Great, when Jesus Christ was born, with the taxation which took place several years afterwards, during the presidency of Cyrenius over Syria. If there is an error, it is not essential. 3. Taxed. Enrolled. Into his own city. The Jews, being accustomed to cluster together according to their tribes and families, would resort, upon such an occasion, to the towns and cities from which their ancestors originally sprang. 4. Galilee, &c. See Mat. ii. and notes.- The city of David. He was born and brought up at Bethlehem. 1 Sam. xvi. Because he was, &c. This is proved in the genealogy of Mat. i. 1-16. 5. With Mary. The fact that they both resort to the same place, has been deemed as an evidence, that they both belonged to the house or family of David, as represented in the genealogies of both Matthew and Luke. 6, 7. The precise day, month, and year of our Lord's birth are unknown. It is generally believed, from a computation of historical facts, to have occurred about 5 or 6 years earlier than the beginning of the Christian era, as now established. The 25th of December is usually observed as the birthday. But this description contains some items, as the taking of the census, and the shepherds' tending their flocks by night, which render it improbable that the winter, which has some severity in Palestine, was the period. The exact date we cannot now wrest from the remorseless grasp of oblivious antiquity. But we feel, that the 25th of December is as much embalmed in the associations and affections of the Christian world, and is therefore as cordially to be observed with Christmas festivities and solemnities, as if the precise natal hour were known to have been on that day. There is said to have been a fanciful reason, why the birth of Christ received its present date; for since it is about the time the sun, after the winter solstice, begins to return to the earth, as the popular phrase is, it was deemed proper to fix the nativity of Jesus also, or the approach of the Sun of righteousness, at that period. First-born. Mat. i. 25.-Wrapped him in swaddling-clothes. Or, swathing-bands; or swathed him. A custom of old to prevent distortion.- Laid him in a manger. Or, crib. Some would read stall or stable, but there seems to be no sufficient reason to adopt any other, than the obvious idea conveyed in the English version. The humble place in which his infant limbs reposed, was an emblem of after-life, a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the 8 field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel 9 of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid. And the angel 10 said unto them, Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born 11 this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the 7 when he had not where to lay his head. —No room, &c. The number of strangers was so great as to crowd the places of public lodging, and prevent Joseph and his wife from obtaining, critical as was her condition, the best accommodations. Inn. Which was not like our houses of public entertainment, but a khan, or caravanserai, or public building, untenanted by a landlord, to which travellers resorted to lodge, carrying their own food and bedding. Some inns, however, had landlords. 8. In the same country. In the neighborhood of Bethlehem.—Abiding in the field. Probably not in the open air, but in tents or booths, erected for temporary shelter, away from their usual habitations. Keeping watch over their flock. Keeping the night-watches. It was customary to take their flocks out in the spring, about the month of March, into the deserts, or mountainous and uninhabited region, and pasture them there until the rainy season commenced, in October or November, and then drive them home. It would seem to have been during the summer pasturage, that the events in the text and context occurred. If so, our Lord was probably born between the months of March and November, rather than as late as the 25th of December. It was on the hills of Bethlehem, one thousand years before, that David, in his youth, tended his flock. Well is that called the Holy Land, for precious and enkindling associations hallow every rock and stream. "These are the ancient holy hills 9. And lo, the angel of the Lord. It was singularly in unison with the history and character of the new religion, that the coming of its Founder should be heralded by these celestial voices. The story wears indubitable marks of truth and original beauty. Instead of deeming it incredible, should we not, on the contrary, have been astonished if the heavens had remained dumb, when the Holy Child was born, who was to reconcile the world to God? Job xxxviii. 7; Luke xv. 10. 10. Good tidings of great joy. Beautiful description of pure religion, as it appeared to a celestial intelligence. Not to pass sentence of wrath and condemnation on the world, but to save it, did Christ come. Joy, then, vast and all-pervading gladness, should welcome his advent. The religion also he was about to establish, was to be a universal one, good tidings to all people, and that was reason for the most joyous congratulations of angels and archangels. 11. Saviour - Christ - Lord. An epitome of the offices of the Messiah. He was to save his people from their sins. He was to be the anointed Prophet and Messenger of God. He |