_AUGUSTUS TAXETH ALL THE ROMAN EMPIRE. THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST. AN ANGEL RELATETH IT TO THE SHEPHERDS: MANY ANGELS SING PRAISES TO GOD FOR IT. CHRIST IS CIRCUMCISED. MARY PURIFIED. SIMEON AND ANNA PROPHESY OF CHRIST; WHO INCREASETH IN WISDOM, QUESTIONETH IN THE TEMPLE WITH THE DOCTOR, AND IS OBEDIENT... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS, &C.— _At that time an edict was published by Caesar Augustus, that all the provinces of the Roman empire should be registered_ or _enrolled,_—as in the margin of our English version. Heylin. This was the enrolment of the _census,_ first practised by Servius Tullus, the sixth kin... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THIS TAXING, &C.— Dr. Lardner translates this verse, _This was the first enrolment of Cyrenius, governor of Syria;_ which is also favoured by the Vulgate. Dr. Lardner supposes, that Cyrenius came, in the latter end of Herod's reign, to tax Judea by order of Augustus; and that it is called Cyreni... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ALL WENT TO BE TAXED— When the _census_ was made in any country under the dominion of the Romans, the inhabitants were obligedto attend in the cities to which they belonged. See Livy, lib. 42. 100: 10. The reason was, that without a precaution of this kind, the _census_ would have been excessive... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JOSEPH ALSO WENT UP— Herod's order for the taxation being, as we observed on the last verse, that every one should repair to the city of his people to be enrolled, Joseph and Mary, the descendants of David, went from Nazareth, the place of their abode, to Bethlehem, the city where David and his... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SHE BROUGHT FORTH HER FIRST-BORN SON— The words might be rendered literally, _she brought forth her son the first-born._ The word _first-born_ is sometimes used to signify that which is of superior excellence; and if it be applied to Christ in that sense, it will denote his superiority to all th... [ Continue Reading ]
KEEPING WATCH, &C.— Literally, _Watching the watches of the night;_ which intimates their taking it by turns to watch, according to the usual divisions of the night; and as it is not probable that they exposed their flocks to the coldness of _winter-nights_ in that climate, where, as Dr. Shaw has sh... [ Continue Reading ]
CAME UPON THEM— _Stood over them,_— επεστη αυτοις, hovered in the air over their heads, surrounded with a glorious effulgence; like that _Shechinah,_ which, during the tabernacle, and the temple of Solomon, was the symbol of the divine presence.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH SHALL BE TO ALL PEOPLE— This plainly refers to the promise made to the patriarch, that _in his seed all nations should be blessed._ And as the Jews interpreted this prophesy of the Messiah, the angel's address could not but be an intimation that this prophesy was now fulfilled; and certainly t... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR UNTO YOU IS BORN, &C.— Because one of the Bodleian manuscripts reads this ημιν, _to us,_ Mr. Fleming has conjectured, that the angel who spoke was a glorified human spirit, perhaps that of Adam, all of whose happy descendants might, he thinks, make up the chorus, Luke 2:13. But considering the g... [ Continue Reading ]
GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST, &C.— This verse is very differently understood, and the original is certainly capable of different senses. Some choose to render it, _Glory to God in the highest,_ that is to say, in heaven,—_and on earth; peace, yea, favour towards men._ Others have given as the sense o... [ Continue Reading ]
AS THE ANGELS— _As soon as,_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT MARY, &C.— _But Mary observed all those sayings, perceiving their meaning in her own mind._ Elsner. Mary was greatly affected with, and thought upon the shepherd's words; the sense of which she was enabled to enter into, by what had been revealed to herself. She said nothing, however; being more... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR ALL THE THINGS, &C.— Besides what they had heard from the angel and seen at Bethlehem, Joseph and Mary would, no doubt, upon such an occasion, give them an account of those particulars, which the sacred historian has related above, respecting the conception of this divine Infant; and this interv... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN EIGHT DAYS WERE ACCOMPLISHED— Among the Jews it was reckoned dishonourableto keep company with persons uncircumcised: Acts 11:3 wherefore, to render Jesus acceptable to the Jews, to fit him for conversing familiarly with them, and to qualify him for discharging the other duties of his ministry,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THE DAYS OF HER PURIFICATION— As Jesus was circumcised, though perfectly free from sin; so his mother submitted to thepurifications prescribed by the law, notwithstanding she was free from the pollutions common in other births. It was evident, indeed, that she was a mother,—but her miraculo... [ Continue Reading ]
EVERY MALE, &C.— God having acquired a peculiar right to the first-born of Israel, by preserving them amid the destruction brought on the first-born of the Egyptians, though he had accepted of the tribe of Levi as an equivalent, yet would have the memory of it preserved by the little acknowledgement... [ Continue Reading ]
A PAIR OF TURTLE DOVES, &C.— This was the offering appointed for the poorer sort, Leviticus 12:6. It is evident, therefore, that although Joseph and Mary were both of the seed royal, they were in very mean circumstances. The Evangelist mentions the presentation of the child to the Lord, before the o... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CONSOLATION OF ISRAEL— This is a phrase frequently used both by the ancient and modern Jews for a description of the Messiah. The _day of consolation_ is a common phrase among them to signify the days of the Messiah; nor is there any thing more usual with them than to swear by their desire of se... [ Continue Reading ]
LORD, NOW LETTEST THOU THY SERVANT DEPART, &C.— The word rendered _depart,_ or _dimiss,_ is generally used to express _death;_ and joined to the word _peace,_ signifies _a happy and contented death._ There may, perhaps, be an allusion here to the custom of saying, especially to an inferior when part... [ Continue Reading ]
MINE EYES HAVE SEEN, &C.— Simeon, being well acquainted with the prophetic writings, knew from them that the Messiah was to be the Author of a great salvation, which, because it was planned by God, this pious man very properly refers to God;—_thy salvation._ He knew likewise that this _salvation_ wa... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, THIS CHILD IS SET FOR THE FALL, &C.— In this prediction Simeon was directed to use a metaphor, corresponding to that found in Isaiah 8:14; Isaiah 28:16 which passages St. Paul has joined in one citation, and applied to the Messiah, Romans 9:33. _Beheld I lay in Zion a stumbling-stone, and a... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE WAS ONE ANNA— While these things were transacting, there came into the temple an aged woman named _Anna,_ whose mortification to the world partly appeared by her having lived a widow ever since her husband's death; which happened while she was very young, for she had been a widow fourscore... [ Continue Reading ]
GAVE THANKS LIKEWISE— The version of 1729 renders it, _she expressed her thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Jesus;_ and it must be acknowledged, that there are in Luke 2:22; Luke 2:27 instances, in which the relative pronoun refers to a remote, and not immediately preceding substantive: but it is so e... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE GRACE OF GOD WAS UPON HIM— See the note on Luke 2:52.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN HE WAS TWELVE YEARS OLD— To shew how eminent Jesus was for his wisdom even in his childhood, the evangelist gives us the remarkable instance here recorded. When he was twelve years of age his parents carried him up to the passover, with a view to instil an early regard for religion and its... [ Continue Reading ]
SUPPOSING HIM TO HAVE BEEN IN THE COMPANY— Several families then travelled together, as they do at present on such occasions, in companies, or _caravans,_ as they are called in the East. In these companies it was not unusual for persons to leave their own families, and mix with others, for the sake... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY FOUND HIM IN THE TEMPLE— On the morrow after their arrival, the parents of Jesus, to their great joy, found him in one of the chambers of the temple, _sitting among the doctors,_ who at certain seasons, and particularly at the great festivals, taught there publicly; a custom hinted at in Jeremi... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ALL THAT HEARD HIM WERE ASTONISHED— The words rendered _astonished_ in this verse, and _amazed_ in the next, are much more forcible than our translation of them. They import, that _they were in a transport of astonishment,_ and _were struck with admiration._ As our Lord himself has told us, that... [ Continue Reading ]
WIST YE NOT, &C.— Some render this, _Know ye not that I must be in my Father's house?_ With this translation the Syriac version agrees: and it is certain that the Greek will well bear this translation, and that the reply appears with peculiar propriety, if it be supposed to signify, that though they... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY UNDERSTOOD NOT THE SAYING— They did not fully comprehend the meaning of this expression. The phrase implies, that there was something more in Christ's words than at first appeared.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT HIS MOTHER— _And his mother._... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JESUS INCREASED IN WISDOM AND STATURE— The word signifies either _age_ or _stature;_ but the latter seems evidently to be here meant. Erasmus remarks, (nearlyin these words) that all the endowments of the Man Christ Jesus were owing to the divine beneficence, and that his Deity communicated itse... [ Continue Reading ]