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Julian Pe- cording to the time which he had diligently inquired of Bethlehem.

riod, 4709. the wise men

Before the
Vulgar Æra,

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17 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,

18 In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are

not.

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19 But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,

20 Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child's life ".

39

known that about thirty years after the slaughter, and the latter end of
Herod's reign, Jesus (who was said to be born at Bethlehem,) being
then about thirty years of age, styled himself King of the Jews, and
did many things, to say no more in proof of it." Dr. Lardner then
proceeds to discuss at some length the time and occasion of Augnstus's
jest. That no argument against this part of the Gospel narrative can
be derived from the silence of Josephus, is ably shewn also by Bishop
Warburton, who mentions several very important omissions of this
writer. See his Divine Legation of Moses, vol. iv. p. 281, 282. A
German writer has written a whole treatise on the wilful omissions of
Josephus. He makes them, if I remember right, sixty-two in number.
The remark of Michaelis, that historians generally know little of the
events of the thirty years immediately preceding them, and on this
account it was probable that Josephus had not heard of the slaughter of
the Innocents, does not appear sufficient to account for his silence. It
seems utterly impossible that Josephus could have been ignorant of this
event. His silence was more likely to have been in this, as in other
instances, wilful and interested.

38 ̓Απὸ διετοῦς καὶ κατωτέρω. Sir Norton Knatchbull, in his
Annotations on difficult Texts, has endeavoured to prove that
it is not necessary to suppose, from these words, that Herod
killed all the children in Bethlehem who had completed, but
those only who had just begun, their second year. The Hebrew
expression would have been now a, filius duorum annorum.
P. 6. Cambridge. 8vo. edit. 1693.

39 Mr. Mann conjectures that Antipater, who was the heir apparent to the crown of Herod, when Christ was born, was one of the principal advisers of the massacre at Bethlehem. He had already procured the death of his two elder brothers, to prepare his way to the succession. His alarm would be as great as that of his father, when he heard that a king of the Jews was born. As this Antipater was executed only five days before Herod died, both might be referred to in the words of the angelThey are dead which sought the young child's life. The very

Egypt.

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21 And he arose, and took the young child and his Egypt. mother, and came into the land of Israel.

22 But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judæa in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee :

40

23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: Nazareth that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene "

LUKE ii. 40.

40 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.

Julian Pe

SECTION XVII.

History of Christ at the age of twelve years "2.

LUKE ii. 41-52.

41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at Jerusalem. riod, 4720. the feast of the passover.

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same words are applied to Moses, under similar circumstances,
Exod. iv. 19. Vide Doddridge's Family Expositor, 8vo. edit.
vol. i. p. 86.

40 The reign of Archelaus commenced inauspiciously: for
after the death of Herod, before he could leave the kingdom to
obtain the confirmation of his father's will from the emperor at
Rome, the Jews behaved themselves so tumultuously in the
temple, in consequence of his having refused them some de-
mands, that this king ordered his soldiers to attack them, on
which occasion upwards of 3000 were slain. It was, probably,
from his knowledge of this circumstance, and a general appre-
hension of the cruelty of the character of Archelaus, that Jo-
seph was afraid to return to his own country.

St. Matthew seems in this passage to apply as it were in a collective sense all the prophecies in the Old Testament that refer to the abject and low condition in which the Messiah should appear. Nazareth, where Christ was now conducted, was the most contemned part of the Holy Land, agreeing well with that prediction-He was despised and rejected of men. The Evangelist, says Lightfoot, does not quote one prophet, (τὸ ῥηθὲν διὰ τῶν Προφητῶν) but all. All the prophets do teach the vile and abject condition of Christ; but none that his condition should be out of Nazareth. Christ seems destined to that abject place, to fulfil in a general sense these prophecies. This seems to be the best interpretation of the passage; preferable to those which represent St. Matthew as playing upon the words, and . Vide Lightfoot. Heb. et Talm. Exerc. vol. ii. p. 112.

42 The canons of the Jewish law required parents to instruct their children in their intended trade at twelve years of age. It is probable, therefore, that this was the period also when they began to comply with the law, Exod. xxxiv. 23. which required

Julian Pe 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem. riod, 4720. Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.

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all the male children to present themselves at Jerusalem three
times every year. As the Jews were accustomed to go up in
(ovvodiais, Heb. л,) caravans, in parties composed of great
numbers, it cannot excite surprise that the Holy Child Jesus
was not at first missed by Joseph and Mary. They found him,
Lightfoot attempts to prove, in the hall, or room adjacent to
that of the Sanhedrim, proposing and answering questions, as
the Jewish youths were permitted to do, of the doctors of the
law. There were in the temple, I. The great Sanhedrim in
the room Gazith, consisting of seventy-one members, with the
nasi, or prince, or president, at their head; and the father of
the court, the Ab beth den on his right hand.-II. Twenty-
three judges in the gate of the court of Israel.-III. Twenty-
three judges in the gate of the court of the Gentiles. Sanhedr.
cap. xi. hal. 2. In each of these it was permitted to ask ques-
tions concerning the law. Instances are given in Lightfoot,
from Hieros. Taanith, fol. 67-4. R. Gamaliel said to a dis-
ciple, "To-morrow, in the consistory, do thou come forth and
question me on this matter." There was often a full audience
of many people (a).

The brief narrative of the Evangelist, which confines itself
to the simple statement of facts, without either detail or em-
bellishment, ought not to prevent us from considering the very
peculiar circumstances in which the glory of the second temple
appeared in the house of his heavenly Father. He had now
arrived at that age when the Jews were accustomed to in-
struct their children more fully in the arts of life, and the
knowledge of their religion. At this period Christ shewed him-
self to be perfectly versed in the Mosaic law. Two remarkable
circumstances now occurred: the death of Hillel, the most
eminent of the Jewish expounders of the law, and the banish-
ment of Archelaus. By the first event the Sanhedrim was
deprived of its greatest ornament; by the second the power was
more evidently shewn to be in the hands of the Romans; and
another more decisive proof afforded to the people that the
sceptre was departing. Is it not probable that the appearance
of our Lord in the temple, and his conversation there, might
have been designed to prove to the doctors that there was one
among them more learned than Hillel; and that one also, by his
well known pedigree from the direct line of David, was the heir
to the long lost, and now vacant throne of Israel. At his first
appearance as an infant in the temple, the spirit of prophecy
revived-at his present appearance he shewed himself to be
worthy of the homage of his people, as the learned successor of
their most learned instructor, and their lawful sovereign, the
heir to the crown of David.

The conversation of Jesus must have made a deep impression; and not only excited the attention, but the curiosity and admiration of the Sanhedrim. That the object of our Lord's sitting among the doctors was something more than hearing or asking questions concerning the difficulties of the Jewish law, is evidently implied in his answer to the expostulation of his mother, Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? or, as it may be translated, Wist ye not that I must be in the house of God my Father? The God of the Jewish Church did not send the Messiah to excite the amazement, or to gratify the curiosity of the Jews. He came to impress some lesson upon them, suit

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riod, 4720. Vulgar Æra, 7.

43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they re- Jerusalem. turned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.

44 But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.

45 And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.

46 And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.

47 And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.

48 And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.

49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?

50 And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.

51 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.

52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

able to the peculiar circumstances of the moment, and in con-
cordance with, or to the furtherance of his divine mission.

Lightfoot has shewn the probability that Hillel had died some
short time before our Lord visited the temple at this period.
Should his opinion be erroneous, there might have been assem-
bled round our Lord, when he conversed with the Jewish doc-
tors, Hillel and Shammai, the two most celebrated Rabbis of
the Jews; R. Judah and R. Joshua, the two sons of Bethira;
Jonathan Ben Uzziel, the author of the Chaldee Paraphrase;
and R. Jochanan ben Zacchai. Before these distinguished men
our Lord displayed that knowledge of the law, which over-
whelmed them with astonishment and admiration (b).

(a) See Lightfoot, Heb. and Talm. Exerc. in Luke, vol. ii. p. 396-7. Lightfoot thinks it is not impossible that our Lord had found admission into the very Sanhedrim, a circumstance of rare occurrence, permitted only in extraordinary cases. (b) Doddridge, Fam. Expositor, translates the word isάvro," they were in a transport of admiration." 'Elioravro, obstupescebant, mirabantur. Verbum líornui de quacunque animi commotione vehementiori, imprimis etiam de admiratione summa usurpatur. Rosenmuller in loc.

G

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Luke iii. 1.

2.

Matt. iii. 1.

SECTION XVIII.

Commencement of the Ministry of John the Baptist.

Judea.

MATT. iii. 1-12. MARK i. 2-8. LUKE iii. 1-18.
Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius The wilder-
Cæsar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judæa, and Dess of
Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip'
tetrarch of Ituræa and of the region of Trachonitis, and
Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene,

Annas and Caiaphas being the High Priests, the word
of God came unto John13, the son of Zacharias, in the
wilderness :

In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judæa.

43 The spirit of prophecy came upon John when he was thirty years of age: this was the time appointed in the law for the commencement of their ministry by the Priests and Levites. He preached in the desart, where the greatest multitudes passed-be wore a garment of camel's hair, the most coarse and common garment, similar to that worn by the prophets of old, to express his contempt for the vanities and ostentations of life. His food was the spontaneous produce of the country, shewing his self-denial, and subjection of all his appetites-his days were passed in the wilderness, far removed from the world, preparing and preaching the way of the Lord. He avoided wine and strong drink, like a Nazarite, being separated and holy to the Lord, Numb. vi. 2, 3. He was to others the example of all that he taught. Whether the locusts he ate were the animal so called, prepared in the manner usual among the Jews, or whether it was a peculiar herb growing about that country, which seems most probable, is uncertain. Many have conjectured that the wild honey, the μέλι ἄγριον, ought to be read μελεαγρίαν, which they imagine to be likewise a species of herb, indigenous in Judæa. Witsius, however, considers this opinion as quite unfounded (a).

Had any other Messenger of a different character been chosen as the forerunner of the Messiah, the Jews would indeed have been confirmed in their preconceived ideas of a temporal prince; but the austerity of the Baptist's habits, his seclusion from the world, and his contempt of all its pleasures and distinctions, were in direct opposition to all those opinions, and ought to have contradicted them :-Had he been the ambassador of any worldly sovereign he must have been invested with all the external splendour and pomp which he was appointed to represent-but as the ambassador of a spiritual Lord, and a spiritual kingdom, all these things were laid aside-his robe of state was of camel's hair-the luxuries of his table were the honey of the wilderness-and the message that he brought from his sovereign was an invitation to repentance and faith.

(a) On the locusts eaten by John, see a curious criticism in verse, by Dr. Byrom, of Manchester-Byrom's Poems, in Chalmers' edition of the poets, p. 231, vol. xv.

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