II. (1) THERE WENT OUT A DECREE. — The passage that follows has given rise to almost endless discussion. The main facts may be summed up as follows: — (1) The word “taxed” is used in its older English sense of simple “registration,” and in that sense is a true equivalent for the Greek word. The corr... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THIS TAXING WAS FIRST MADE WHEN CYRENIUS WAS GOVERNOR OF SYRIA. — Here we come upon difficulties of another kind. Publicius Sulpicius Quirinus (“Cyrenius” is the Greek form of the last of the three names) was Consul B.C. 12, but he is not named as Governor of Syria till after the deposition of A... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL WENT TO BE TAXED. — As a rule the practice in a Roman census was to register people in their place of residence; but this was probably modified in Palestine, in deference to the feelings of the people. After the death of Herod and the division of his kingdom, such a method as that implied hero c... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO THE CITY OF DAVID, WHICH IS CALLED BETHLEHEM. — St. Luke’s way of speaking of the town agrees with that in John 7:42. It would appear to have been common. It had never ceased to glory in the fact that it had been David’s city. OF THE HOUSE AND LINEAGE OF DAVID. — Others also as, for example, H... [ Continue Reading ]
TO BE TAXED. — Literally, _to register himself._ WITH MARY HIS ESPOUSED WIFE. — Many of the best MSS. omit the substantive: “with Mary who was betrothed to him.” The choice of the participle seems intended to imply the fact on which St. Matthew lays stress (Matthew 1:25). She went up with him, not... [ Continue Reading ]
SHE BROUGHT FORTH HER FIRST-BORN SON. — On the question whether anything may be inferred from the word “first-born,” as to the subsequent life of Mary and Joseph, see Note on Matthew 1:25. WRAPPED HIM IN SWADDLING CLOTHES. — After the manner of the East, then, as now, these were fastened tightly ro... [ Continue Reading ]
SHEPHERDS ABIDING IN THE FIELD. — The fact has been thought, on the supposition that sheep were commonly folded during the winter months, to have a bearing adverse to the common traditional view which fixes December 25 as the day of the Nativity. At that season, it has been urged, the weather was co... [ Continue Reading ]
CAME UPON THEM. — The Greek verb, like the English, implies a sudden appearance. The form of the angel was probably, as in Mark 16:5, that of a young man in white apparel. (See Note on Luke 1:12). The wings of angels are, without exception, an after-thought of Christian imagination, those of Isaiah... [ Continue Reading ]
FEAR NOT. — It is worth noting that this is almost the normal accompaniment of the angelic manifestations in the Gospel (Matthew 28:5; Luke 1:13; Luke 1:30). They were intended to lessen, not to increase the dread which men feel on being brought into contact with the supernatural world. I BRING YOU... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS SHALL BE A SIGN UNTO YOU. — The sign was not such in itself, but became so by its agreement with the prediction. It was something exceptional that a new-born infant should be found, not in a cradle, but in a manger; still stranger that that infant babe should be the heir of the House of David.... [ Continue Reading ]
A MULTITUDE OF THE HEAVENLY HOST. — The phrase, or its equivalent, “the host of heaven,” is common in the later books of _the_ Old Testament, but is there used as including the visible “hosts” of sun, moon, and stars, which were worshipped by Israel (Jeremiah 8:2; Jeremiah 19:13; 2 Chronicles 33:3).... [ Continue Reading ]
GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST. — The words would seem to have formed one of the familiar doxologies of the Jews, and, as such, reappear among the shouts of the multitude on the occasion of our Lord’s kingly entry into Jerusalem (Luke 19:38). The idea implied in the words “in the highest” (the Greek is... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SHEPHERDS. — Some, but not the best, MSS. give, as in the margin, “the men the shepherds,” as if to emphasise the contrast between the “angels” who departed and the “men” who remained. THIS THING.... WHICH THE LORD HATH MADE KNOWN. — Literally, _this word,_ or spoken thing. The choice of the Gr... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY CAME WITH HASTE. — The scene has naturally been a favourite subject of Christian art, and the adoration of the shepherds is, perhaps, implied, though not stated, in the narrative. The conventional accessories, however, of the ox and the ass, and the bright light glowing forth from the cradle, b... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY MADE KNOWN ABROAD ... — The fact must be borne in mind, as tending to the agitation which reached its height on the arrival of the Magi in Jerusalem. (See Note on Matthew 2:3.)... [ Continue Reading ]
MARY KEPT ALL THESE THINGS. — On the assumption that the whole narrative is traceable to the Virgin herself as its first author, these brief and simple touches as to her own feelings are of singular interest. She could not as yet understand all that had been said and done, but she received it in fai... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN EIGHT DAYS WERE ACCOMPLISHED... — Hence the Feast of the Circumcision in the Church Calendar comes on January 1st, and so, not without design, perhaps, came to coincide with the beginning of the civil year. The contrast between this and the narrative of John’s circumcision is striking. Here the... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THE DAYS OF HER PURIFICATION ... — The primary idea of the law of Leviticus 12:1, would seem to have been that of witnessing to the taint of imperfection and sin attaching to every child of man, just as that of circumcision (its merely physical aspects being put aside) was that of the repressio... [ Continue Reading ]
A PAIR OF TURTLE DOVES. — The law of Leviticus 12:8 allowed these to be substituted for the normal sacrifice of a lamb as a burnt-offering, and a pigeon or dove as a sin-offering, when the mother was “not able” to offer the former. We may see, therefore, in this fact, another indication of the pover... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSE NAME WAS SIMEON. — Some writers have identified the man thus described with a very memorable Simeon in the annals of the Jewish scribes, the son of Hillel, and the father of Gamaliel. He became president of the Sanhedrin, A.D. 13. Singularly enough, the Mishna, the great collection of expositi... [ Continue Reading ]
IT WAS REVEALED UNTO HIM. — The Greek word is the same as that rendered “warned” in Matthew 2:12. It implies a divine oracular communication, but rests on a different idea from the “unveiling,” which lies at the root of the word “reveal.” The message in this case came clearly as an answer to prayers... [ Continue Reading ]
HE CAME BY THE SPIRIT. — Better, as in Revelation 1:10, _in the Spirit_ — i.e., in a spiritual state in which the power of the Divine Spirit was the pervading element. THE PARENTS. — Here, as in Luke 2:33; Luke 2:48, St. Luke does not shrink from reproducing what was obviously the familiar phraseol... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW LETTEST THOU THY SERVANT DEPART IN PEACE. — It is not expedient to alter the translation, but we have to remember that the central idea is that of the manumission of a slave. The word for Lord is not the usual _Kyrios,_ but _Despotes_ — a word but seldom used of God, and then almost always of th... [ Continue Reading ]
MINE EYES HAVE SEEN THY SALVATION. — The Greek word is not the usual feminine noun expressing the abstract idea of salvation, but the neuter of the adjective — that which brings or works out salvation. Its use here is probably determined by its appearance in the LXX. version of Isaiah 52:10, as quot... [ Continue Reading ]
BEFORE THE FACE OF ALL PEOPLE. — Literally, _of all peoples._ The word expresses the universality of the salvation which the next verse contemplates in its application to the two great divisions of the human family.... [ Continue Reading ]
TO LIGHTEN THE GENTILES. — Literally, _for a revelation to the Gentiles._ The idea is strictly that of the withdrawal of the “veil spread over all nations” of Isaiah 25:7. THE GLORY OF THY PEOPLE ISRAEL. — Here, again, the language is the natural utterance of the hope of the time, not the after-tho... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JOSEPH AND HIS MOTHER. — The better MSS. give, _His father and his mother._ The present reading has apparently been substituted for this through feelings of reverence, but it has quite sufficient authority in Luke 2:27; Luke 2:48.... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS CHILD IS SET FOR THE FALL AND RISING AGAIN. — The words start from the thought of Isaiah 8:14. The Christ is seen by Simeon as the stone on which some fall and are bruised (Luke 20:18), while others plant their feet upon it and rise to a higher life. Primarily the clause speaks of the contrast... [ Continue Reading ]
A SWORD SHALL PIERCE THROUGH THY OWN SOUL ALSO. — The word used for “sword” here, occurs also in the Apocalypse (Revelation 1:16; Revelation 2:12, _et. al._)_,_ but not elsewhere in the New Testament. It was the large barbaric sword used by the Thracians, as distinguished from the shorter weapon of... [ Continue Reading ]
ONE ANNA, A PROPHETESS. — The fact is in many ways remarkable. We find a woman recognised as a prophetess at a time when no man is recognised as a prophet. She bears the name of the mother of the founder of the School of the Prophets, identical with that which the legends of Apocryphal Gospels assig... [ Continue Reading ]
A WIDOW OF ABOUT FOURSCORE AND FOUR YEARS. — The better MSS. read, “_up to the point_ of fourscore and four years,” pointing to the fact that this was the duration of her widowhood. Assuming her to have been married at fifteen, this places her actual age at 106. She had lived through the whole centu... [ Continue Reading ]
GAVE THANKS. — The word so translated occurs here only in the New Testament, but it is found with this meaning in the LXX. version of Psalms 79:13. THAT LOOKED FOR REDEMPTION IN JERUSALEM. — The better MSS. give, “the redemption of Jerusalem,” the phrase being the counterpart of the “consolation of... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY RETURNED INTO GALILEE. — Filling up the narrative from St. Matthew, we have to insert after the Presentation, the visit of the Magi, the massacre of the Infants, and the flight into Egypt. It seems probable that St. Luke was not acquainted with St. Matthew’s narrative, nor St. Matthew with St.... [ Continue Reading ]
WAXED STRONG IN SPIRIT. — The better MSS. omit the last two words. FILLED WITH WISDOM. — The Greek participle implies the continuous process of “being filled,” and so conveys the thought expressed in Luke 2:52, of an increase of wisdom. The soul of Jesus was human, _i.e.,_ subject to the conditions... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS PARENTS WENT TO JERUSALEM. — The law of Moses required the attendance of all males at the three feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles (Exodus 23:17; Deuteronomy 16:16). The dispersion of the Jews had, of course, relaxed the obligation for those who lived at a distance; but it was still... [ Continue Reading ]
(42)WHEN HE WAS TWELVE YEARS OLD. — The stages of Jewish childhood were marked as follows: — At three the boy was weaned, and wore for the first time the fringed or tasselled garment prescribed by Numbers 15:38, and Deuteronomy 22:12. His education began, at first under the mother’s care. At five he... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHILD JESUS TARRIED BEHIND IN JERUSALEM. — The words do not imply that He intentionally stayed behind. If we deal with the history on its human side, the probable course of things was this: — The Passover Feast lasted seven days; on each of those days, after the first, we may well believe the _“... [ Continue Reading ]
SUPPOSING HIM TO HAVE BEEN IN THE COMPANY. — The company was probably a large one, consisting of those who had come up to keep the Passover from Nazareth and the neighbouring villages. It is not certain, but in the nature of things it is sufficiently probable, that the boys of such a company congreg... [ Continue Reading ]
SITTING IN THE MIDST OF THE DOCTORS. — A chamber of the Temple was set apart as a kind of open free school. The “doctors” or teachers — famous “doctors of the Law” (Acts 5:34) — sat “in Moses’ seat;” the older students on a low bench; the younger on the ground, literally “at the feet” of their instr... [ Continue Reading ]
AT HIS UNDERSTANDING AND ANSWERS. — The first word seems to point to the discernment which showed itself in the questions as well as the answers. The egotism of Josephus leads him to speak of himself as having, at the age of fourteen — when he too had become “a child of the Law” — caused a like asto... [ Continue Reading ]
(48)BEHOLD, THY FATHER AND I HAVE SOUGHT. — The latter clause expresses a continuous act, _We were seeking thee;_ and our Lord uses the same tense in His answer.... [ Continue Reading ]
WIST YE NOT...? — This is, as it were, the holy Child’s defence against the implied reproach in. His mother’s question. Had they reflected, there need have been no seeking; they would have known what He was doing and where He was. ABOUT MY FATHER’S BUSINESS. — Literally, _in the things that are My F... [ Continue Reading ]
They understood not the saying. — We are apt to think that they should have understood, and sceptical criticism has seen in this a contradiction to the previous history of the Annunciation and the Birth. Twelve years, however, of the life of childhood after the outward pattern of that of other child... [ Continue Reading ]
WAS SUBJECT UNTO THEM. — There was, therefore, in the years that followed, no premature assumption of authority — nothing but the pattern of a life perfect in all its home-relationships. In such a household as that of the carpenter of Nazareth, this subjection must, in the nature of things, have inv... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS INCREASED IN WISDOM AND STATURE. — Here again we have nothing but a normal orderly development. With Him, as with others, wisdom widened with the years, and came into His human soul through the same channels and by the same processes as into the souls of others — instruction, _e.g.,_ in the sc... [ Continue Reading ]