22 and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. 23 And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli, company this sacred rite. In a bodily shape like a dove., i. e. visibly, or with a bodily appearance, and with the gentle and wavy motion, as of a dove. Commas after shape and dove would better preserve the sense. The visible descent of the Holy Spirit gave Jesus a preeminence over other previous divine messengers, upon whom it descended only invisibly. 23. Began to be. This is a difficult clause. The preferable sense, as given by many worthy commentators, is, that Jesus began his ministry, or began to preach. - Thirty years of age. This was the age of admission to the Jewish priesthood. Num. iv. 43, 47. — Being (as was supposed.) This implies that he was not literally, but only legally, the son of Joseph. Hence the phrase has been rendered, "Being (as was esteemed in the law.)"- Which was the son of Heli. Many have conjectured, and with some justice, that the object of the writer was not to show that Joseph was the son, but the son-in-law, of Heli, or, in other words, that Mary, the wife of Joseph, was the daughter of Heli. Hence the genealogy of Jesus, given by Luke, is regarded as the ancestral line of Mary, his mother, though ostensibly it is that of her husband, who is mentioned because it was not allowable to admit female names into a genealogy. It is also a fact, tending to confirm this view, that Mary is called the daughter of Heli by the Jewish Rabbins. Both Matthew and Luke express in their genealogies the fact of the miraculous conception, though in different ways. Matthew, chap. i. 16, says, that Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom — feminine gender in the original, referring to Mary was born Jesus. Luke says, being (as was supposed, or as was recorded in the law, or record, but not in reality) the son of Joseph. There are, indeed, many points of incidental and undesigned coincidence between the first chapters of Matthew and those of Luke, which serve to strengthen their genuineness, whilst the discrepancies are such as might naturally arise between two independent writers, though it may now be impossible to explain and perfectly reconcile them. Matthew was writing to Jews, and he therefore traces back the genealogy of Joseph, the legal father of Jesus, to Abraham, the head of the nation. Luke was writing to Gentiles, and he marks the descent of Jesus from Adam, the great progenitor of the whole human family. It has been suggested, that the reason why Matthew gives the lineage of Joseph, who was not the natural father of Jesus, was to furnish an argumentum ad hominem to those who denied the miraculous conception, and such there were, - and to prove to them that Christ was the son of David, by giving them the descent of Joseph, his reputed father. If the genealogy in Luke does not give the ancestry of Mary, then it does not appear that Jesus was the son of David at all, except in a legal sense, as being the son of Mary, the wife of Joseph, who was of David's line. Yet it was essential, as the Jews understood, that the Messiah should be actually of the house of David, and the apostles supposed that which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi, which 24 was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Janna, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Mattathias, which was 25 the son of Amos, which was the son of Naum, which was the son of Esli, which was the son of Nagge, which was the son of Maath, 26 which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of Semei, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Juda, which 27 was the son of Joanna, which was the son of Rhesa, which was the son of Zorobabel, which was the son of Salathiel, which was the son of Neri, which was the son of Melchi, which was the son 28 of Addi, which was the son of Cosam, which was the son of Elmodam, which was the son of Er, which was the son of Jose, 29 which was the son of Eliezer, which was the son of Jorim, which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi, which was 30 the son of Simeon, which was the son of Juda, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Jonan, which was the son of Eliakim, which was the son of Melea, which was the son of Me- 31 such was his lineage. Acts ii. 30, xiii. 22, 23; Rom. i. 3. An additional remark should here be made. It has been contended, not without reason, that Luke himself has indicated, and as strongly as his brief style would permit, that he intended to give the descent of Jesus through his mother Mary; for he says, Jesus, being, as was reputed, the son of Joseph, was really the son of Heli, or his grandson, by his mother's side; in a word, that the evangelist has positively distinguished, by his parenthesis, the real from the legal or reputed descent. If it be asked, why Mary is not mentioned in the genealogy, and Joseph is said to be the son of Heli; Horne replies, that this mode of speaking is warranted by Old Testament usage. For in Neh. vii. 63, we are told that a person of the tribe of Levi took to wife a daughter of Barzillai, and that he and the issue of this marriage, were regarded as children of Barzillai, though properly the son of Levi, and though the mother's name is not mentioned. So Joseph, taking the daughter of Heli to wife, is called the son of Heli. There are great difficulties connected with the subject of the genealogies, as given by Matthew and Luke; but there is reason to believe, that they are genuine transcripts from the Jewish archives, and they appear never to have been attacked by early Jewish or infidel assailants of Christianity. If there are irreconcilable discrepancies, they are chargeable upon the records, not upon those who copied them. And if the authorities, to which the evangelists appealed, were not impugned in their day, can they be successfully impugned now? nan, which was the son of Mattatha, which was the son of Na32 than, which was the son of David, which was the son of Jesse, which was the son of Obed, which was the son of Booz, which 33 was the son of Salmon, which was the son of Naasson, which was the son of Aminadab, which was the son of Aram, which was the son of Esrom, which was the son of Phares, which was the son 34 of Juda, which was the son of Jacob, which was the son of Isaac, which was the son of Abraham, which was the son of Thara, 35 which was the son of Nachor, which was the son of Saruch, which was the son of Ragau, which was the son of Phalec, which 36 was the son of Heber, which was the son of Sala, which was the son of Cainan, which was the son of Arphaxad, which was the son of Sem, which was the son of Noe, which was the son of Lamech, 37 which was the son of Mathusala, which was the son of Enoch, which was the son of Jared, which was the son of Maleleel, which 38 was the son of Cainan, which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God. CHAPTER IV. The Temptation, Preaching, and Miracles of Christ. AND Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan, 2 and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: 3 and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this 4 stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by 5 every word of God. And the devil, taking him up into a unto him all the kingdoms of the world And the devil said unto him, All this high mountain, showed 6 in a moment of time. power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is deliv 36. Cainan. This name is recorded in the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, but not in the Hebrew original. CHAPTER IV. 1-13. See commentary on Mat. iv. 1-11; also Mark i. 12, 13. VOL. II. 8 4. Compare Deut. viii. 3. 5. The order of the last two temptations is different here from that of Matthew. It has been somewhat fancifully observed, that Luke has arranged them according to their force, the strongest being put last, while Matthew has placed them ac ered unto me, and to whomsoever I will, I give it. If thou there- 7 fore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered 8 and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a 9 pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence. For it is written, He shall 10 give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: and in their hands 11 they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. And Jesus answering, said unto him, It is said, Thou 12 shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And when the devil had 13 ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season. And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: 14 and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of 15 all. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought 16 up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered 17 unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had cording to the natural succession in which they assail man at different periods of life. 8. Deut. vi. 13, x. 20. 10, 11. See Psalm xci. 11, 12. 12. Deut. vi. 16. 13. For a season. Jesus was afterwards severely tempted, though his temptations were of a different character. Luke xxii. 39-46; John xiv. 30. In reference to the temptation of our Lord, a late writer observes, that, "however interpreted, the moral purport of the scene remains the same-the intimation, that the strongest and most lively impressions were made on the mind of Jesus, to withdraw him from the purely religious end of his being upon earth; to transform him from the author of a moral revolution, to be slowly wrought by the introduction of new principles of virtue, and new rules of individual and social happiness, to the vulgar station of one of the great monarchs or conquerors of mankind." 15. Being glorified of all, i. e. receiving universal applause. 16. As his custom was. Our Saviour was faithful in observing the institutions and ordinances of religion, and has set an example in this respect worthy of the imitation of all his followers. He kept the Sabbath holy. He frequented the places where prayer was wont to be made. He observed the great festivals of his nation, and resorted to Jerusalem with the rest of his countrymen. He submitted to all the rites and ceremonies of the Jewish faith, and to the baptism of John. How will they excuse themselves, who neglect to fulfil the simpler observances of the Christian religion? — Stood up for to read. The ruler of the synagogue was accustomed to call upon different individuals, capable of the duty, to take part in the exercises. He probably invited Jesus to read and to address the people. 17. The prophet Esaias. After 18 opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 20 to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened 21 on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scrip22 ture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness, and won 19 dered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. 23 And they said, Is not this Joseph's son? And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, the prophets, as well as the law of Moses, were read, a fixed portion of each on every Sabbath day. - Opened the book. Or, rather, unrolled it. The books of the ancients consisted, for the most part, of long strips of parchment, or vellum, like charts or maps, having at each end a stick, around which they were rolled up towards the middle. Hence the word volume, (volumen in Latin,) a thing rolled up. He found the place, &c. Is. lxi. 1, 2. It is a point which cannot now be decided, whether Jesus read from the appointed lesson of the day, or made a selection of his own, as persons were sometimes accustomed to do. 18. Recovering of sight to the blind. Referring, perhaps, to those who had been made blind as a punishment, as was not unfrequent in the east.Bruised, i. e. by their fetters in prison. 19. The acceptable year, i. e. the year of jubilee, Lev. xxv., when, the trumpet of redemption being blown, all debts were cancelled, estates restored to their former owners, and slaves emancipated. We have in these two verses a beautiful description, in Jewish phraseology, of the sublime moral plan which Jesus came to accomplish. Have we brought our hearts and lives to harmonize with that plan? 20. Closed the book. He rolled it up again. The minister. Here is an instance, where the present version gives totally incorrect impressions. This individual was a subordinate officer or servant called chazan, who kept the sacred books, and brought them forward when wanted. - Sat down. The appropriate posture of a teacher. This has been 21. Fulfilled. understood by some, as a case of accommodation, rather than the actual fulfilment of a prophecy. But either theory is attended with difficulties. The gracious words, i. e. graceful, eloquent; see verse 32. The manner, rather than the matter, is probably to be understood. Is not this Joseph's son? Admiration soon gives place to envy. They are reminded that the speaker is the son of a carpenter, their neighbor and acquaintance. This is sufficient, in their narrow minds, to obliterate all the moral impressions of his powerful address. Mark vi. 3. 23. He notices the change in their thoughts, and shapes his discourse accordingly.— Physician, heal thyself. |