The Wise Men Worship Jesus.

MATTHEW, II

The Flight into Egypt.

Our

tell Herod where Christ should be born, and could expression, repeated in the next verse-another inhear of these strangers from the far East that the direct hint that Joseph was no more than the Child's Desire of all nations had actually come: but I do not guardian. Indeed, personally considered, Joseph see you trooping to Bethlehem-I find these devout has no spiritual significance, and very little place at strangers journeying thither all alone. Yet God or- all, in the Gospel history. and flee into Egypt-which, dered this too, lest the news should be blabbed, and being near, as ALFORD says, and a Roman province reach the tyrant's ears, ere the Babe could be placed independent of Herod, and much inhabited by Jews, beyond his reach. Thus are the very errors and was an easy and convenient refuge. Ah! blessed crimes and cold indifference of men all overruled. Saviour, on what a chequered career hast Thou en. and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east-implying tered here below! At Thy birth there was no room apparently that it had disappeared in the interval- for Thee in the inn; and now all Judea is too hot went before them, and stood over where the young child for Thee. How soon has the sword begun to pierce was. Surely this could hardly be but by a luminous through the Virgin's soul! (Luke, 2. 35.) How early meteor, and not very high. 10. When they saw the star, does she taste the reception which this mysterious they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. The language is Child of her's is to meet with in the world! And very strong, expressing exuberant transport. 11. And whither is He sent? To "the house of bondage?" when they were come into the house-not the stable: for Well, it once was that. But Egypt was a house of as soon as Bethlehem was emptied of its strangers, refuge before it was a house of bondage, and now it they would have no difficulty in finding a dwelling- has but returned to its first use. and be thou there until house. they saw. The received text has "found:" I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to but here our translators rightly depart from it, for it destroy him. Herod's murderous purpose was formed has no authority. the young child with Mary his mother. ere the Magi set out for Bethlehem. 14. When he The blessed Babe 18 naturally mentioned first, then arose, he took the young child and his mother by nightthe mother; but Joseph, though doubtless present, doubtless the same night-and departed into Egypt: is not noticed, as being but the head of the house. 15. And was there until the death of Herod- which took and fell down and worshipped him. Clearly this was no place not very long after this of a horrible disease: civil homage to a petty Jewish king, whom these star- the details of which will be found in JOSEPHUS guided strangers came so far, and enquired so eagerly, (Antiquities 17. 6. 1, 5, 7, 8), that it might be fulfilled and rejoiced with such exceeding joy to pay, but a which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying lofty spiritual homage. The next clause confirms (Hosea, 11. 1). Out of Egypt have I called my son. this. and when they had opened their treasures, they Evangelist here quotes directly from the Hebrew, presented-rather, 'offered'-unto him gifts. This ex-warily departing from the LXX., which renders the pression, used frequently in the Old Testament of words. From Egypt have I recalled his children,' the oblations presented to God, is in the New Testa- meaning Israel's children. The prophet is remindment employed seven times, and always in a religi- ing his people how dear Israel was to God in the days ous sense of offerings to God. Beyond doubt, there- of his youth; how Moses was bidden say to Pharaoh, fore, we are to understand the presentation of these "Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, my first-born: gifts by the Magi as a religious offering. gold, frankin- and I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve cense, and myrrh. Visits were seldom paid to sove- me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will reigns without a present (1 Kings, 10. 2, &c.); cf. Psalm slay thy son, even thy first-born" (Exodus, 4, 22, 23); 72. 10, 11, 15; Isaiah, 60. 3, 6. "Frankincense" was an how, when Pharaoh refused, God, having slain all his aromatic used in sacrificial offerings; "myrrh" was first-born, "called his own son out of Egypt," by a used in perfuming ointments. These, with the gold stroke of high-handed power and love. Viewing the which they presented, seem to show that the offerers words in this light, even if our Evangelist had not were persons in affluent circumstances. That the applied them to the recall from Egypt of God's own gold was presented to the infant King in token of beloved, Only-begotten Son, the application would His royalty; the frankincense in token of His divinity, have been irresistibly made by all who have learnt to and the myrrh, of His sufferings; or that they were pierce beneath the surface to the deeper relations designed to express His divine and human natures; or which Christ bears to His people, and both to God; that the prophetical, priestly, and kingly offices of and who are accustomed to trace the analogy of God's Christ are to be seen in these gifts; or that they were treatment of each respectively. 16. Then Herod, &c. the offerings of three individuals respectively, each As Deborah sang of the mother of Sisera, "She of them kings, the very names of whom tradition looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, has handed down;-all these are, at the best, precari. Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the ous suppositions. But that the feelings of these de- wheels of his chariots? Have they not sped?" so vout givers are to be seen in the richness of their gifts, Herod wonders that his messengers, with pious zeal, and that the gold, at least, would be highly service- are not hastening with the news that all is ready to able to the parents of the blessed Babe in their unex- receive him as a worshipper. What can be keeping pected journey to Egypt and stay there-thus much them? Have they missed their way? Has any disat least admits of no dispute. 12. And being warned of aster befallen them? At length his patience is exGod in a dream that they should not return to Herod, hausted. He makes his enquiries, and finds they are they departed-or withdrew' to their own country already far beyond his reach on their way home. another way. What a surprise would this vision be when he saw that he was mocked-was trifled with'-of to the sages, just as they were preparing to carry the the wise men. No, Herod, thou art not mocked of the glad news of what they had seen to the pious king! wise men, but of a Higher than they. He that sitteth But the Lord knew the bloody old tyrant better than in the heavens doth laugh at thee; the Lord hath thee to let him see their face again. in derision. He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. He taketh the wise in their own craftiness, and the council of the froward is carried headlong. (Psalm 2. 4; Job. 5. 12, 13.) That blessed Babe shall die indeed, but not by thy hand. As He afterwards told that son of thine-as cunning and as unscrupulous as thyself-when the Pharisees warned Him to depart, for Herod would seek to kill him-"Go ye,

13-25. THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT - THE MASSACRE AT BETHLEHEM-THE RETURN OF JOSEPH AND MARY WITH THE BABE, AFTER HEROD'S DEATH, AND THEIR SETTLEMENT AT NAZARETH. (=Luke, 2. 39.) The Flight into Egypt. (v. 13-15.) 13. And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother. Observe this form of

The Return from Egypt,

MATTHEW, II.

and Settlement at Nazareth

and tell that 'oz, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do I went thither when he found it unsafe to settle in enres to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. Nevertheless I must walk to-day, and to-morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem" Luke, 13. 1233 Bitter satire! was exceeding wroth. To be made a fool of is what none like, and proud kings cannot stand. Herod burns with rage, and is like a wild ball in a net. So he sent forth a band of hired murderers, and slew all the (male] children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts, or 'environs,' thereof from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently-carefully'-enquired of the wise men. In this ferocions step Herod was like him self-as crafty as cruel. He takes a large sweep, not to miss his mark. He thinks this will surely embrace victim. And so it had, if He had been there. But He is gone. Heaven and earth shall sooner pass away than thou shalt have that Babe into thy hands. Therefore, Herod, thou must be content to want Hi to fill up the cup of thy bitter mortifications, already fall enough -until thou die not less of a broken heart than of a loathsome and excruciating wase. Why, ask sceptics and sceptical critics, is ot this massacre, if it really occurred, recorded by JuSEPHUS, who is minute enough in detailing the cruelties of Herod? To this the answer is not diffirait. If we consider how small a town Bethlehem was, it is not likely there would be many male children in it from two years old and under; and when we think of the number of fouler atrocities which JOSEPHUS has recorded of him, it is unreasonable to make anything of his silence on this. 17. Then was filled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, aying Jeremiah, 31. 15-from which the quotation differs but verbally), 18. In Rama was there a voice beard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comfried, because they are not. These words, as they stand in Jeremiah, undoubtedly relate to the Babykish captivity. Rachel, the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, was buried in the neighbourhood of Bethlehem Genesis, 35. 19, where her sepulchre is still shown. She is figuratively represented as rising from the tomb and uttering a double lament for the loss of her children-first, by a bitter captivity, and now by • bloody death. And a foul deed it was. mothers of Bethlehem, methinks I hear you asking why your innocent babes should be the ram caught is the thicket, whilst Isaac escapes. I cannot tell you; but one thing I know, that ye shall, some of yon, live to see a day when that Babe of Bethlehem shall be Himself the Ram, caught in another sort of thicket, in order that your babes may escape a worse doom than they now endure. And if these babes of yours be now in glory, through the dear might of that blessed Babe, will they not deem it their honour that the tyrant's rage was exhausted upon themselves tead of their Infant Lord? 19. But when Herod was dead-Miserable Herod! Thou thoughtest thyself safe tra a dreaded Rival; but it was He only that was safe from thee; and thou hast not long enjoyed even this fancied security. See on v. 15. behold, an angel of the Lord. Our translators, somewhat capriciously, reader the same expression "the angel of the Lord," 15; 2. 13; and "an angel of the Lord," as here. At the same angel appears to have been employed all these high occasions-and most likely he to whom m Luke is given the name of "Gabriel," ch. 1. 19, 2-perhaps it should in every instance except the first, be rendered "the angel" 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-not to the land of Judea, for he was afterward expressly ared not to settle there, nor to Galilee, for he only

0 ye

Judea. but to "the land of Israel," in its most general sense; meaning the Holy Land at large-the particular province being not as yet indicated. So Joseph and the Virgin had, like Abraham, to "go out, not knowing whither they went," till they should receive further direction. for they are dead which sought the young child's life-a common expression in most languages where only one is meant, who here is Herod. But the words are taken from the strikingly analogous case in Exodus, 4. 19, which probably suggested the plural here; and where the command is given to Moses to return to Egypt for the same reason that the Greater than Moses was now ordered to be brought back from it-the death of him who sought his life. Herod died in the seventieth year of his age, and thirty-seventh of his reign. 21. And he arose. and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel-intending, as is plain from what follows, to return to Bethlehem of Judea, there, no doubt, to rear the Infant King, as at His own royal city, until the time should come when they would expect Him to occupy Jerusalem, "the city of the Great King." 22. But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea in the room of his father Herod. Archelaus succeeded to Judea, Samaria, and Idumea; but Augustus refused him the title of king till it should be seen how he conducted himself; giving him only the title of Ethnarch (JOSEPHUS Antiquities, 17., 11, 4). Above this, however, he never rose. The people, indeed, recognised him as his father's successor; and so it is here said that he "reigned in the room of his father Herod." But, after ten years' defiance of the Jewish law and cruel tyranny, the people lodged heavy complaints against him, and the emperor banished him to Vienne in Gaul, reducing Judea again to a Roman province. Then "the sceptre" clean "departed from Judah." he was afraid to go thitherand no wonder, for the reason just mentioned. notwithstanding-or more simply, but'-being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside-withdrew'-into the parts of Galilee, or the Galilean parts. The whole country west of the Jordan was at this time, as is well known, divided into three provinces-GALILEE being the northern, JUDEA the southern, and SAMARIA the central province. The province of Galilee was under the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas, the brother of Archelaus, his father having left him that and Perea, on the east side of the Jordan, as his share of the kingdom, with the title of tetrarch, which Augustus confirmed. Though crafty and licentious, according to JoSEPHUS — precisely what the Gospel History shows him to be see on Mark, 6. 14-30, and on Luke, 13. 31-35) he was of a less cruel disposition than Archelaus; and Nazareth being a good way off from the seat of government, and considerably secluded, it was safer to settle there. 23. And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth-a small town in Lower Galilee, lying in the territory of the tribe of Zebulon, and about equally distant from the Mediterranean sea on the west and the sea of Galilee on the east. N.B.-If, from Luke, 2. 39, one would conclude that the parents of Jesus brought Him straight back to Nazareth after His presentation in the temple-as if there had been no visit of the Magi, no flight to Egypt, no stay there, and no purpose on returning to settle again at Bethlehem-one might, from our Evangelist's way of speaking here, equally conclude that the parents of our Lord had never been at Nazareth until now. Did we know exactly the sources from which the matter of each of the Gospels was drawn up, or the mode in which these were used, this apparent discrepancy would probably disappear at once. In neither case is there any inaccuracy. At the same time it is difficult, with these facts before us, to con

John Rebuketh

MATTHEW, III.

the Pharisees. about Jordan. From the metropolitan centre to the Though the stern speaker may have pointed as he extremities of the Judean province the cry of this spake to the pebbles of the bare clay hills that lay great preacher of repentance and herald of the ap-around (so STANLEY's Sinai and Palestine), it was proaching Messiah brought trooping penitents and clearly the calling of the Gentiles-at that time stoneeager expectants. 6. And were baptized of him in Jor-dead in their sins, and quite as unconscious of it-into dan. confessing-probably confessing aloud-their sins. the room of unbelieving and disinherited Israel that This baptism was at once a public seal of their felt he meant thus to indicate. (See ch. 21. 43; Romans, reed of deliverance from sin, of their expectation of 11. 20, 30.) 10. And now also-'And even already ’— the coming Deliverer, and of their readiness to the ax is laid unto-lieth at'-the root of the trees-as welcome Him when He appeared. The baptism it were ready to strike an expressive figure of imitself startled. and was intended to startle them. pending judgment, only to be averted in the way They were familiar enough with the baptism of pro- next described. therefore every tree which bringeth writes from heathenism; but this baptism of Jews not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. themselves was quite new and strange to them. 7. Language so personal and individual as this can But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees scarcely be understood of any national judgment like come to his baptism, he said unto them-astonished at the approaching destruction of Jerusalem, with the such a spectacle-0 generation of vipers-Viper-brood;' | breaking up of the Jewish polity and the extrusion expressing the deadly influence of both sects alike of the chosen people from their peculiar privileges upon the community. Mutually and entirely anta- which followed it; though this would serve as the gonistic as were their religious principles and spirit, dark shadow, cast before, of a more terrible retributhe stern prophet charges both alike with being the tion to come. The "fire," which in another verse poisoners of the nation's religious principles. In ch. is called "unquenchable," can be no other than that 12 34, and 23, 33, this strong language of the Baptist future "torment" of the impenitent, whose "smoke is anew applied by the faithful and true Witness to ascendeth up for ever and ever," and which by the the Pharisees specifically-the only party that had Judge Himself is styled "everlasting punishment" zeal enough actively to diffuse this poison. who hath (Matthew, 25, 46). What a strength, too, of just indigwarned you-given you the hint,' as the idea is-to nation is in that word "cast" or "flung into the fire!" fee from the wrath to come?- What can have brought The Third Gospel here adds the following imporyou hither? John more than suspected it was not so tant particulars, Luke, 3. 10-16: Ver. 10. "And the mach their own spiritual anxieties as the popularity people"-rather, the multitudes'-"asked him, sayof his movement that had drawn them thither. What ing, What shall we do then?"-that is, to show the an expression is this, "The wrath to come!" God's sincerity of our repentance. Ver. 11. "He answer"wrath," in Scripture, is His righteous displeasure eth and saith unto them. He that hath two coats, let against sin, and consequently against all in whose him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath skirta sin is found, arising out of the essential and meat" provisions,' 'victuals'-"let him do likeeternal opposition of His nature to all moral evil. wise." This is directed against the reigning avarico This is called "the coming wrath," not as being wholly and selfishness. (Cf. the corresponding precepts of fature-for as a merited sentence it lies on the sinner the Sermon on the Mount, ch. 5. 40-42.) Ver. 12. already, and its effects, both inward and outward, are "Then came also the publicans to be baptized, and to some extent experienced even now-but because said unto him, Master," or "Teacher," "what shall we the impenitent sinner will not, until "the judgment do?"-in what special way is the genuineness of our of the great day," be concluded under it, will not have repentance to be manifested? Ver. 13. "And he said sentence publicly and irrevocably passed upon him, unto them, Exact no more than that which is apwill not have it discharged upon him and experience pointed you." This is directed against that extortion its effects without mixture and without hope. In which made the publicans a by-word. (See on ch. 6. this view of it, it is a wrath wholly to come-as is im- 46; and on Luke, 15. 1.) Ver. 14. "And the soldiers' plied in the noticeably different form of the expres--rather, 'And soldiers'-the word means 'soldiers on son employed by the apostle in 1 Thessalonians, 1. 10. active duty'-"likewise demanded (or asked) of him, Not that even true penitents came to John's baptism saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto with all these views of "the wrath to come." But them, Do violence to," or 'Intimidate,' "no man." what he says is, that this was the real import of the The word signities to shake thoroughly,' and refers itself. In this view of it, how striking is the word probably to the extorting of money or other property. be employs to express that step-fleeing from it-as "neither accuse any falsely"-by acting as informers of one who, beholding a tide of fiery wrath rolling vexatiously on frivolous or false pretexts and be ratedly towards him, sees in instant flight his only content with your wages," or 'rations.' We may take escape! 8. Bring forth therefore fruits-the true read-this, say WEBSTER & WILKINSON, as a warning ing clearly is 'fruit-meet for repentance-that is, such fruit as befits a true penitent. John, not being gifted with a knowledge of the human heart, like a true mmister of righteousness and lover of souls, here directs them how to evidence and carry out their repentance, supposing it genuine; and in the following Verses warns them of their danger in case it were not. 9 And think not to say within yourselves. We have Abraham to our father-that pillow on which the nation so fatally reposed, that rock on which at length it phit for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham-q.d., Flatter not yourselves with the fond delusion that God stands in Deed of you, to make good his promise of a seed to Abraham; for I tell you that, though you were all to perish, God is as able to raise up a seed to Abraham out of those stones as He was to take Abraham himself out of the rock whence he was hewn, out of the hole of the pit whence he was digged' (Isaiah, 61. 1).

"

against mutiny, which the officers attempted to suppress by largesses and donations. And thus the "fruits" which would evidence their repentance were just resistance to the reigning sins-particularly of the class to which the penitent belonged-and the manifestation of an opposite spirit. Ver. 16. "And as the people were in expectation"-in a state of excitement, looking for something new-"and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not"-rather, whether he himself might be the Christ." The structure of this clause implies that they could hardly think it, but yet could not help asking themselves whether it might not be; showing both how successful he had been in awakening the expectation of Messiah's immediate appearing, and the high estimation, and even reverence, which his own character commanded. Ver. 16. "John answered"-either to that deputation from Jerusalem, of which we read in John, 1. 19, &c., or on some other occasion, to

Birth of Christ.

MATTHEW. II.

Birth of Christ.

applied, in its most sublime and comprehensive sense, to the promised Deliverer, inasmuch as He was to be consecrated to an office embracing all three by the immeasurable anointing of the Holy Ghost Isaiah, 61. 1; cf. John, 3. 34) 17. So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away (or migration into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into the migration of') Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations. That is, the whole may be conveniently divided into three fourteens, each embracing one marked era, and each ending with a notable event, in the Israelitish annals. Such artificial aids to memory were familiar to the Jews, and much larger gaps than those here are found in some of the old Testament genealogies. In Ezra, 7. 1-5, no fewer than six generations of the priesthood are on itted, as will appear by comparing it with 1 Chronicles, 6, 3-15. It will be observed that the last of the three divisions of fourteen appears to contain only thirteen distinct names, including Jesus as the last. LANGE thinks that this was meant as a tacit hint that Mary was to be supplied, as the thirteenth link of this last chain, as it is impossible to conceive that the Evangelist could have made any mistake in the matter. But there is a simpler way of accounting for it. As the Evangelist himself (e. 17) reckons David twice-as the last of the first fourteen and the first of the second-blood out of every kindred and people and tongue so, if we reckon the second fourteen to end with Josiah, who was coeval with the "carrying away into cap tivity" (v. 11), and the third to begin with Jechoniah, it will be found that this last division, as well as the other two, embraces fourteen names, including that of our Lord.

making itself up to the painful step, yet planning how to do it in the way least offensive- at the last extremity the Lord Himself interposes. behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David. This style of address was doubtless advisedly chosen to remind him of what all the families of David's line so early coveted, and thus it would prepare him for the marvellous announcement which was to follow. fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: q. d., Though a dark cloud now overhangs this relationship, it is unsullied still.' for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. 21. And she shall bring forth a son. Observe, it is not said, 'she shall bear thee a son,' as was said to Zacharias of his wife Elizabeth (Luke, 1. 13). and thou as his legal father shalt call his name JESUS-from the Hebrew meaning 'Jehovah the Saviour: in Greek JESUS-to the awakened and anxious sinner sweetest and most fragrant of all names, expressing so melodiously and briefly His whole saving office and work! for he shall save. The "He" is here emphatic-'He it is that shall save:' He personally, and by personal acts (as Webster and Wilkinson express it. his people - the lost sheep of the house of Israel, in the first instance; for they were the only people He then had. But, on the breaking down of the middle wall of partition, the saved people embraced the "redeemed unto God by His and nation." from their sins-in the most comprehensive sense of salvation from sin (Revelation, 1. 5; Ephesians, 5. 25-27). 22. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet (Isaiah, 7. 14), saying, 23. Behold, a virgin-it should be the virgin;' meaning that particular virgin destined to this unparalleled distinction. shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which, being interpreted, is, God with Not that He was to have this for a proper name (like "Jesus"), but that He should come to be known in this character, as God manifested in the flesh, and the living bond of holy and most intimate fellowship between God and men from henceforth and for ever. 24. Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, (and all his difficulties now removed) did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife. With what deep and reverential joy would this now be done on his part; and what balm would this minister to his betrothed one, who had till now lain under suspicions of all others the most trying to a chaste and holy woman-suspicions, too, arising from what, though to her an honour unparalleled, was to all around her wholly unknown! 25. And knew her not till she had brought forth her first-born son: and he called his name JESUS. The word "till" does not necessarily imply that they lived on a different footing afterwards as will be evident from the use of the same word in 1 Samuel, 16, 35; 2 Samuel, 6. 23; Matthew, 12, 20); nor does the word "first-born" decide the much disputed question, whether Mary had any children to Joseph after the birth of Christ; for, as LIGHTFOOT says, 'The law, in speaking of the first-born, regarded not whether any were born after or no, but only that none were born before.' (See on ch. 13. 65, 56.) CHAPTER II

us.

Ver. 18-25. BIRTH OF CHRIST. 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, or 'thus: When as his mother Mary was espoused rather, 'betrothed' - to Joseph, before they came together, she was found (or discovered to be) with child of the Holy Ghost. It was, of course, the fact only that was discovered: the explanation of the fact here given is the Evangelist's own. That the Holy Ghost is a living conscious Person is plainly implied here, and is elsewhere clearly taught (Acts, 5. 3, 4, &c.; and that, in the unity of the Godhead. He is distinct both from the Father and the Son, is taught with equal distinctness Matthew, 28. 19; 2 Corinthians, 13. 14). On the Miraculous Conception of our Lord, see on Luke, 1. 35. 19. Then Joseph her husband: cf. v. 20, "Mary, thy wife." Betrothal was, in Jewish law, valid marriage. In giving Mary up, therefore, Joseph had to take legal steps to effect the separation. being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example-or to expose her' (see Deuteronomy, 22. 23. 24)-was minded to put her away privily (privately-by giving her the required writing of divorcement Deuteronomy, 24. 1, in presence only of two or three witnesses, and without cause assigned, instead of having her before a magistrate. That some communication had passed between him and his betrothed, directly or indirectly, on the subject, after she returned from her three months' visit to Elizabeth, can hardly be doubted. Nor does the purpose to divorce her necessarily imply disbelief, on Joseph's part, of the explanation given him. Even supposing him to have yielded to it some reverential Ver. 1-12. VISIT OF THE MAGI TO JERUSALEM assent-and the Evangelist seems to convey as much, AND BETHLEHEM. The Wise Men reach Jerusalemby ascribing the proposal to screen her to the justice The Sanhedrim, on Herod's demand, pronounce Bethof his character-he might think it altogether unsuit-lehem to be Messiah's predicted Birth-place (v. 1-6). able and incongruous in such circumstances to follow out the marriage. 20. But while he thought on these things. Who would not feel for him after receiving such intelligence, and before receiving any light from above? As he brooded over the matter alone, in the stillness of the night, his domestic prospects darkened

1. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea-so called to distinguish it from another Bethlehem in the tribe of Zebulun, near the sea of Galilee (Joshua, 19. 15): called also Beth-chem-judah, as being in that tribe Judges, 17. 7); and Ephrath (Genesis, 35. 16); and combining both, Beth-lehem Ephratah (Micah, 5. 2).