40 And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted B. V. Æ. 5. Elisabeth. J. P. 4709. 41 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the Hebron. salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb 11; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: 42 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. 43 And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Those in the court replied, "Is the light come so far, that thine eyes may see How far this tradition may be received I do not venture to decide; it is certain that Hebron was always regarded with particular attention by the people of Israel, and, if this tradition be correct, it must have been typical of some predicted and expected event. What place, then, in the land of Israel could have been so appropriate for the true light first to dawn before the perfect sacrifice could be offered, as the city of Hebron? Here John the Baptist was born; and here the rays of truth first shone, when, through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, the appointed Saviour was hailed for the first time near this place, as the Lamb of God, the true Sacrifice, who should take away the sins of the world. Can these remarkable and wonderful events be regarded only as coincidences? To me they appear to point out the beautiful connexion and harmony in minute points of the two dispensations, and to prove that nothing has come to pass, but what was ordained of old. If the account of Josephus (Bell. Jud. lib. 5. c. 7.) may be depended upon, Hebron was not only celebrated for the great events which had there taken place, but was renowned for its antiquity, and considered of more ancient date than Memphis in Egypt. Jerome and Eusebius likewise mention that there still remained at Mamre, near Hebron, the oak under which Abraham entertained his angelic visitors; and that the surrounding Gentiles held it in great veneration. 11 The native Jew who reads in St. Luke's Gospel this expression, would be reminded of a tradition of their fathers, that when the Israelites came to the red sea, the children in the womb leaped for joy. ,imo etiam embryones * ואפילו ואיכון עוברין במעי אמהון חוו, ומשבחן לל"בה: qui in utero matris erant, viderunt id, et Deum S. B. celebrarunt." Possibly it was in allusion to this tradition that the phrase is here used. Elisabeth may be supposed to express the greatness of her joy at the sight of her cousin, which so agitated her as to produce this effect. Elisabeth compared her happiness, in beholding the mother of the expected Messiah, to that of her countrymen when they saw before them, for the first time, the earnest of their long wished for deliverance from Egypt. Fol. 25. col. 99. apud Zohar Exod. fol. 32. col. 91. apud Schoetgen. Hor, Heb. vol. i. p. 257. B. V. Æ. 5. J. P. 4709. Hebron. believed that b Isa. li. 9. c Ps.xxxiii. 10. d1 Sam. ii. 6. e Ps. xxxiv. 10. f Jer. xxxi. 3. 20. g Gen. xvii. 19. Ps.cxxxii. 11. 45 And blessed is she that believed: fo there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord. 46 And Mary said 12, My soul doth magnify the Lord, 47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. 48 For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. 49 For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. b C 51 He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 52 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. e 53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. 54 He hath holpen his servant Israel, fin remembrance of his mercy; 55 As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever. 56 And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her own house. SECTION VI. The Birth and Naming of John the Baptist. LUKE i. 57, to the end. 57 Now Elisabeth's full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son. 58 And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her. 12 This speech of Mary is evidently the offspring of a mind thoroughly embued with the language and sentiments of the ancient Scriptures. A learned modern author has selected the original of this verse as an instance of the adoption in the New Testament of the parallel couplet, so usual in the Old Testament. It certainly may be considered as one collateral proof that the New Testament is from the same spirit of inspiration as the Old, that these singular parallelisms and forms of composition are found in each. In the present instance, however, and no doubt in the great majority of others, the composition of the speech appears to have been evidently unstudied. The effusion of those who were actually inspired did not require any laboured arrangement, according to the laws of studied composition. Bishop Jebb's Sacred Literature, p. 210. J. P. 4709. 59 And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came B. V. Æ. 5. to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. 60 And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John. 61 And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. 62 And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called. 63 And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all. 64 And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God. Hebron. 65 And fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all ♦ Or, things. the hill country of Judæa. 66 And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him. 67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, 68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, h 69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the h Ps. cxxxii. house of his servant David; 17. xxx. 10. 70 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, i Jer. xxiii. 6. which have been since the world began : 71 That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; 72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; 73 The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, 74 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear 13, 13 The Jews divide the worship of God into that which is offered an "from love," and that which is offered "from fear." In allusion to which distinction, St. Paul, one of the most learned Jews of his time, uses the expression Rom. viii. 15. πveõμa deλɛías. In the Old Testament dispensation the laws of Moses were delivered under circumstances calculated to excite the strongest fear and apprehension-the most rigid obedience was required; and the people were anxiously alarmed lest any thing should be done by them, whereby they might become polluted, and incur the anger of their God. This law was a yoke which neither they, nor their fathers, were able to bear. But in the law which was now to be ushered in by the Messiah, Zachárias announces, in this sublime prophecy, the introduction of a new worship; not ,k Gen.xxii. 16. B. V. Æ. 5. J. P. 4709. Hebron. * Or, for. + Or, bowels of the mercy. Or, sun rising, or, branch Numb. xxiv. 75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. 76 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; : 77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people * by the remission of their sins, 78 Through the † tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, 79 To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the 17. shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. 80 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel. Zech. iii. 8. Mal, iv. 2. Nazareth. 1 Luke i. 17. SECTION VII. An Angel appears to Joseph. MATT. i. 18, to the end. 18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together 14, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. from slavish fear, but from pure love to God, which is inconsistent with, and casteth out, fear. He was singing the death song of the Jewish Church. He prophesied the overthrow of the system of ceremonies, rites, and all their burthensome minutiæ; and the establishment in their place of a holy and perfect system, wherein God should be served and honoured as with the love and worship of children. Both this, and the phrases (ver. 79.), as well as others, can only be fully understood by thus keeping in view the opinions of the Jews, in the days of our Lord and his Apostles. Vide Schoetgen. vol. i. p. 261. and Faber's Hora Mosaicæ, on the Prophecy of Zacharias. 14 It was the custom among the Jews to allow some interval between the "the espousals and the nuptials," and ", "the bringing of the ייחור The words (v. 18.) πρiv espoused into the husband's house." See Deut. xx. 7. Had the Virgin been espoused, under these circumstances, to any other than a just and humane man, such as Joseph, she would in all probability have been immediately exposed, with inconsiderate rashness, to public scorn and derision: but, as it was, we find that she was treated with kindness and indulgence: and that Joseph listened to her defence. Her vindication, we may infer from the narrative, was received by her espoused husband with much surprise and incredulity; but we may suppose that he was too well acquainted with the prophecies of his Scriptures, to doubt the possibility of this event. In addition to J. P. 4709. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not B. V. Æ. 5. willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. 20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream 15, saying, which, he must have been informed of the object of Mary's journey into the hill country, of the vision, and consequent events in the temple. He pondered, he hesitated he knew not what to decide-still hoping that his unsuspected and beloved spouse was in truth the elected and favoured Virgin Mother of the Holy One of Israel. But while he thought on these things, and had at last resolved (perhaps from fear of ridicule) to put her away privily, Behold the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, and at once dispelled all his doubts and fears, by revealing the gracious designs of Providence, and assuring him of the innocence of his spotless wife. ON PROPHETIC DREAMS. 15 The occasion seems to call for the next merciful intervention of divine power that was vouchsafed, at the dawning of the day of the Messiah. The approach of the kingdom of the Messiah had been already announced by the appearance of angels, and the return of the spirit of prophecy to two of the kindred of Mary, and now likewise to herself. It is more than probable that Joseph knew this, but, as he was still unconvinced, a peculiar demonstration was given to him, in the revival of prophetic dreams; another way in which God had formerly made known his will to mankind. In the ancient and purer times of patriarchism, as well as in the earlier ages of Judaism, the Deity frequently revealed his will in this manner, both to his own people, and to some individuals of other nations. Not only were Joseph, Abraham, and Jacob, thus favoured; but Laban, Abimelech, Pharaoh, and even Nebuchadnezzar, received similar communications from on high. This, with every other miraculous evidence of God's superintendence over the Jewish Church, had been now long discontinued; and the Jews, who placed the greatest dependence on dreams, and had even formed rules and a regular system for their interpretation, had particularly regretted the want of this medium of divine communication. The revival, therefore, of this ancient mode of revealing the will of God must have convinced the pious Joseph that the anxiously anticipated event, the birth of the Messiah, was near; and that his betrothed spouse, who was of the family of David, from whom the Messiah was to descend, was certainly the virgin upon whom the honour of his birth was to be conferred. Under all the circumstances of the Incarnation, it appears that the Virgin was espoused to one who was more likely than any other to secure her from scorn-to protect her in danger to relate the truth to the believing Jews; and, by affirming that another distinct branch of evidence had been afforded him, to strengthen the conviction, that would now begin to obtain some influence, that God had visited his people. Philo, in his tract περὶ τῷ θεοπέμπτος εἶναι ὀνείρους, has described at length the difference between prophetical and monitory dreams. His first sort of divine dreams he thus defines, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἦν' ἄρχοντος τῆς κινησέως θεῖ, καὶ ὑπηχῶντος ἀοράτως τὰ ἡμῖν μὲν ἄδηλα, γνώ Nazareth. |