Luke 2:14

in the highest i. e., in highest heaven, Job 16:19; Psalms 148:1; comp. "the heavenlies" in Ephesians 1:3, &c.; Sir 43:9.

on earth peace

"No war or battle's sound

Was heard the world around;

The idle spear and shield were high uphung:

The hookèd chariot stood

Unstained with hostile blood,

The trumpet spake not to the armèd throng;

And kings sat still with awful eye

As if they surely knew their sovran Lord was by."

Milton, Ode on the Nativity.

This however is only an ideal aspect of affairs, and the closing at this time of the Temple of Janus had little or no meaning. It was not in thissense that the birth of Christ brought Peace. If we understood the expression thus we might well say with Coleridge:

"Strange Prophecy! if all the screams

Of all the men that since have died

To realize war's kingly dreams

Had risen at once in one vast tide,

The choral song of that vast multitude

Had been o'erpowered and lost amid the uproar rude."

The Angels sang indeed of such an ultimatePeace; but also of "the peace which passeth understanding;" of that peace whereof Christ said, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth give I unto you." See Proverbs 3:17, on which the Book of Zohar remarks that it means peace in heaven and on earth, and in this world and the next. As regards earthly peace He himself said, "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword," Matthew 10:34; Luke 12:51. See this contrast magnificently shadowed forth in Isaiah 9:5-6.

Good will towards men The reading eudokia, -goodwill," is found in B, but א, A, D read eudokias, and if this be the right reading the meaning is "on earth peace among men of good will " (hominibus bonae voluntatis, Vulg.), i. e. those with whom God is well pleased. "The Lord taketh pleasure in them that hope in His mercy," Psalms 147:11; comp. Luke 12:32, "it is your Father's good pleasureto give you the kingdom." The construction "men of good will" would be rare in this sense, but the triple parallelism of the verse,

Glory

to God

in the highest

Peace

to men whom God loves

on earth

seems to favour it. In either case the verse implies that "being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," Romans 5:1. In any case the "towards" is wrong, and must be altered into "among" (ἐν).

"Glory to God on high, on earth be peace,

And love towards men of love salvation and release." Keble.