23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel; which being interpreted is, Gody with us. 24 Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the Butter and honey shall he eat, angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife; 25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her first-born son: and he called his name JESUS.a y John 1: 14.....z Ex. 13: 2.....a Luke 2: 1. When he shall know to reject what is evil, But before the youth shall have knowledge Shortly after uttering this prophecy Isaiah had a child by one who was, at the time of the prophecy, a virgin, and the declaration was then made by God (Isaiah 8:1-4) that before this son should be able to cry, "My father and my mother," the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria should be taken away before the king of Assyria (Isaiah 8:1-4). Ahaz carried out his contemplated plan, secured the aid of the king of Assyria, and by doing so repelled the invaders. Damascus, the capital of Syria, was taken, and Rezin was slain. Shortly after Samaria was besieged by the same Assyrian king, and Israel was carried away captive. Thus, some years before the maturity of Isaiah's son, both the allied nations, leagued against Judah, were effectually destroyed (2 Kings 16-17:6). There are two explanations of Isaiah's prophecy. One is that he referred to the birth of his own son, Mahershalalhashbaz; that his declaration should be translated as in our Bible, "the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings;" and that this prophecy was literally fulfilled by the destruction of Damascus and the death of Rezin, and by the destruction of Samaria and the captivity of Israel, as recorded in 2 Kings 16 and 17. According to this view Isaiah did not himself have in mind the future birth of the Messiah, though the birth of his own son, and the consequent deliverance of Israel, was itself a prophecy of a greater deliverance to come, just as the raising of the brazen serpent in the wilderness was prophetic of the crucifixion of Christ. The other view is that the prophecy of Isaiah was not intended as a sign of deliverance but was a rebuke to Ahaz for persisting in his appeal to the king of Assyria; that the prophecy should be translated as Henderson translates it in the passage quoted above; that by it God declared to Ahaz that though temporary relief should come, yet the end of the Jewish nation was not far off, and that before the Messiah, long-promised and long-expected, should come to years of maturity, the land which Ahaz by his wickedness corrupted and destroyed, i. e., the land of Canaan, Jehovah's land, should be forsaken of both her kings, discrowned and subject ed to a foreign power. This in fact occurred: for, at the time of the birth of Jesus, Herod was nominally king of the Jews, and after Herod's death, Archelaus, his son, reigned in his stead; but in the 12th year of our Lord, the very year in which he evinced his wonderful discrimination by disputing with the elders in the temple (Luke 2: 42-46), Archelaus was banished, and Judea was reduced to a Roman province. The former of these two interpretations is the more common one; the latter appears to me to consort best with the original prophecy, and its divine fulfillment by the birth of Jesus Christ. It seems not reasonable, on the one hand, to imagine, as some have done, that the birth of Jesus Christ was foretold by Isaiah as a sign for the purpose of assuring Ahaz of national deliverance, when, in fact, the deliverance preceded the sign over seven centuries; nor consonant with the direct declaration of Matthew that the birth of Jesus fulfilled this prophecy, if, in fact, the prophecy had only an indirect reference to it; nor does the birth of a child, who does not appear to have been called Immanuel, by a woman who was not at the time a virgin, appear to be a real fulfillment of the prophecy; nor does it seem reasonable to suppose that God would encourage Ahaz in going on with his appeal to Assyria, a heathen ally, to whom he gave "the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord" (2 Kings 16:8); while it entirely accords with the circumstances of the case to understand that the prophecies of Isaiah 7: 14-16 and 8:1-4 are distinct prophecies, the latter a declaration that Judah shall be delivered speedily from Syria and Israel; the former that immediately subsequent to the birth of the long-anticipated Messiah the entire land, Israel and Judah, should be deprived of its national glory, its kings discrowned, and itself reduced to a subject province. Actual history fulfils both prophecies, if thus understood, and thus gives to this interpretation an additional confirmation. 24. Then Joseph took unto him his wife; perhaps so as to preclude suspicion attaching to her; perhaps to convince her that no suspicion lingered in his own mind. It was, at all events, a strong attestation of his belief in the divine message. Knew her not till she had brought forth her first-born son. Certainly there is nothing in this verse to imply the perpetual virginity of Mary. There is some doubt whether the word first-born belongs here. Alford thinks not, and suggests that it was bor CHAPTER II. NOW when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, 2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worshipd him. 3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. b Zech. 9: 9.....e Num. 24: 17; Isa. 60: 3.....d John 5: 23. rowed from Luke 2: 7. The phrase seems to imply that she had other children, a question elsewhere considered (Matt. 13 ; 55). THE NAMES OF JESUS.-It was the Hebrew custom to give names possessing a special signification (Gen. 27; 36; Exod. 2: 10); and sometimes to change the name as an indication of a change of character. Thus Abram (high father) was changed to Abraham (father of a multitude), and Jacob (supplanter), to Israel (a prince of God). Names given by parents might of course be meaningless, or might prove inappropriate, as Absalom (father of peace), and Rehoboam (liberator). The names of Jesus were given by God with the distinct recognition of their significance, and are therefore important indications of his character and work. Each of his three names, Christ, Emanuel, Jesus, are symbols of truths respecting him and his relations to us. Christ, is a Greek word corresponding to Messiah, which is Hebrew. Both mean the "Anointed One," and both are titles rather than names. The original in the O. T. is sometimes translated Messiah, sometimes the Anointed; and is applied to the high priests and to kings (Lev. 4 : 3, 5, 16; 1 Sam. 12:3, 5; 16:6; 2 Sam. 1:14; Ps. 18:50; 28:8; Is. 45: 1). Kings were not always anointed, but the essential element in the inauguration ceremonies of the high priest was anointing, and he was emphatically the "Anointed" to the Jews, as to the Romanist the pope (i. e. papa) is emphatically the Holy Father. The reiterated declaration of the prophets that redemption should come through the Messiah (Anointed One), was equiv alent to a declaration that it should come through a Great High Priest; and the high priest himself was a perpetual and living prophecy of the coming of such a deliverer. To us Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, i. e. the one whom God has anointed to be our Great High Priest, through whom we have access "with boldness to the throne of grace" (Heb. 1:9; 4: 14-16; ch. 5). Emanuel or Immanuel is a Hebrew term signifying "God with us." The heathen religions generally represent God as afar off or unknown (Acts 17:23). Natural religion also represents him as the "Unknown" and "Unknowable." "The soul can never find the soft bosom of the mother in whose heart it can nestle."-(0. B. Frothingham.) "It is alike our highest wisdom and our highest duty to regard that through which all things exist as the 'Unknowable.'"'. (Herbert Spencer.) Christianity represents him as our Shepherd, our Guardian, our Guide, our constant Companion, our supreme Comforter in sorrow, our strength in temptation, Im. T. a Guide and a Deliverer (Ps. 18:23; Ps. 104, 105, manuel, God with us. It represents him in the 107); in the N. T. a “God manifest in the flesh" (John 1:14; 1 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 1: 3. Compare Phil. 2: 5-11); and in the daily experience of the Christian he is disclosed as a God with us here and now, because he dwells with us and in us, unknown to the intellect but known to the heart (Matt. 5:8; John 14:16-20; and see John 14 and 15 throughout; and compare Gal. 2: 20, and similar passages). Jesus is a Hebrew term, signifying help, deliverance, salvation. It is a modification of the name Joshua, which is itself an abbreviation of Jehosua, i. e., Jehovah his help (Numb. 13:16; 1 Chron. 7:97). Its meaning is interpreted by the angel in verse 21, "For he shall save his people from their sins; "observe, not from the consequences of their sins, but from their sins, i. e., from the power and dominion of sin itself (Phil. 4: 13; Rom. 7: 25; 8: 27; Eph. 6 : 11, &c., &c.). This he does because as our Messiah, i. e. our high priest, he takes away the burden of the past, and as our Immanuel, i. e. God with us, he gives strength in the present, and assurance of victory in the future. Thus the three names of our Saviour-Christ, "the anointed high priest; "Immanuel, "God with us;" and Jesus, "he that saves"-embody the great doctrines of the Gospel, that he makes atonement for the past, is our companion in the present, and so delivers us from the power of sin now, and its penalty hereafter. 2:1-12. VISIT OF THE MAGI. THE LIGHT OF NATURE IS BUT STARLIGHT.-IT LEADS HONEST INQUIRERS TO CHRIST BY FIRST LEADING THEM TO THE SCRIPTURE. HE WHO FOLLOWS WHAT LIGHT HE HAS WILL BE GIVEN MORE LIGHT.-THE HEATHEN ENTER THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST BEFORE THE SCRIBES (Matt. 8: 11, 12).-GOD ADAPTS HIS TEACHING TO THE LEARNER; HE TEACHES THE MAGI BY THE STARS, THE SCRIBES BY THE SCRIPTURES.-IT IS BETTER TO BELIEVE THE TEACHING OF NATURE AND OBEY IT, THAN TO BELIEVE THE TEACHING OF THE SCRIPTURE AND DISOBEY IT.-HEROD IS AN EXAMPLE OF AN UNBELIEVING BELIEVER; HE BELIEVES THE SCRIPTURE, BUT "HOLDS IT IN UNRIGHTEOUSNESS," AND WRESTS IT TO HIS OWN HURT (Rom. 1: 18 and note; 2 Pet. 3:16).—THE SCRIBES POINT TO CHRIST AND YET ARE CAST-AWAY (1 Cor. 9: 27).—The near ARE SOMETIMES AFAR OFF; AND THE AFAR OFF NEAR.-THE MAGI SAW THE STAR, AND REJOICED; HEROD HEARD OF CHRIST, AND WAS TROUBLED (1 Kings 18: 17; Matt. 10: 34). DOES THE COMING OF CHRIST GIVE YOU JOY OR TROUBLE? 1. Now when Jesus was born. The evangelist passes over the intervening results and the account of Christ's birth, and the reasons which had led his parents to Bethlehem, all of which are given in Luke 2:1-20. Bethlehem of Judea. A village five miles south of Jerusalem. Its name Beth-lehem (house of bread) was due to the fertility of the adjacent cornfields. The modern village contains about five hundred houses, a famous convent, within which is a large rock-hewn cave which the monks point out as the manger where Christ was born. Over this cave stands the Basilica built by St. Helena A.D. 325-327, in honor of Christ, the oldest monument of Christ existing in the world. Bethlehem is one of the oldest towns in Palestine, and has a sacred history. Near it is the tomb where Jacob'buried Rachel. The supposed site is still shown to travelers. In the adjoining fields Ruth gleaned for grain and gained a husband. Here David was born and anointed king (Gen. 35: 16, 19; Ruth 1:19; 1 Sam. 16: 1-13; 2 Sam. 23: 15-17). And here, in the fourth century after Christ, Jerome, fleeing from persecution, accomplished the great work of his life, the "Vulgate," the translation of the Scriptures into Latin, the accepted version of the Roman Catholic Church. It is called Bethlehem in Judah or Bethlehem-Judah (Judg. 17: 7, 8, 9; 1 Sam. 17: : 12), to distinguish it from another Bethlehem in the tribe of Zebulun near the sea of Galilee (Josh. 19:15). It was also called Ephrath, the fruitful (Gen. 35: 19; 48: 7), or Ephratah (Micah 5: 2). Herod the king. Herod is the name of a family which plays an important part in the history of Palestine. Seven of that name are mentioned in the N. T., as follows: I. Herod the Great. II. Herod Archelaus. He was a son of Herod the Great, was made by his father's will one of his heirs; the will was confirmed by Augustus Cæsar, and Herod Archelaus, with the title of monarch, received the one-half of his father's dominions, viz., Judea, Samaria, and Idumea, with the cities of Joppa and Cæsarea. He is the Herod referred to below in ver. 22. III. Herod Antipas, another son of Herod the | omon's Temple; he also constructed another on Great, and by his father appointed tetrarch of Mt. Gerizim for the Samaritans and established Galilee and Perea. His illicit marriage to Hero-heathen worship in Cæsarea for the Romans. By dias, wife of his half-brother Philip, was rebuked nature jealous and suspicious, a terrible distemby John the Baptist; the rebuke led to the lat-per, which finally brought his wretched life to a ter's execution. He was the Herod before whom our Lord was sent by Pilate during the Passion week (Luke 23: 7). For some account of his life and character see Matt. 14: 1, note. IV. Herod Philip I, known in the N. T. as Philip, a third son of Herod the Great, the first and lawful husband of Herodias, and the father of Salome (Matt. 14: 2, 6). He must not be confounded with the tetrarch Philip. Owing to his mother's treachery he was excluded from all share in his father's possessions and lived in a private station. V. Herod Philip II, a fourth son of Herod the Great and made tetrarch of Batanea, Trachonitis, Auranitis and some parts about Jamnia. His territory lay east of Galilee and north of Perea. He was the founder of Cæsarea Philippi, and made a new city, which he called Julius, out of Bethsaida, on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. He married Salome, the daughter of Herod Philip I and Herodias. He was by far the best of the ruling sons of Herod the Great; is referred to in the N. T. only in Luke 3: 1. VI. Herod Agrippa I, a grandson of Herod the Great. He is the Herod mentioned in Acts 12: 1-3, 23. See notes there. more wretched end, aggravated the asperities of his temper. In succession, his wife's grandfather, his wife herself, and three of his own sons were slain by his command. His course on hearing that another "king of the Jews" was born, was quite in keeping with all that secular history records of his character. He died miserably in the 70th year of his age, and the 38th year of his reign, issuing on his death-bed a characteristic order for the massacre of the courtiers whom he had called about him in his last illness. Thus he said he should secure universal mourning at his death. The events recorded in this chapter took place near the close of his reign, probably during the last year. There came wise men from the east. Concerning these "wise men" three questions naturally call for some answer: (1) Who were they? (2) From what country did they come? (3) How should they know that the star foretold the coming of Christ? (1.) The original expression is "Magi from the East." The term magi is that from which comes our modern word "magician." Its etymology is uncertain. It is probably derived from a word (mogh, priest) found in the Zend, the ancient VII. Herod Agrippa II, a son of Herod Agrip-language in which the sacred books of the Perpa I. In A.D. 52, he was made ruler, with the title of king, of northern Palestine, the previous dominions of Philip and Lysanias. He is the Agrippa before whom Paul was tried (Acts 25: 13, 22, 23; 26: 27, 28). See notes there for life and character. There were other members of the Herodian family, but these are the only ones mentioned in the N. T. sians were written, and is connected with a similar word (mahal, great) in the Sanscrit, from which the Latin magnus and our words major, magnify, magnificent, etc., are derived. This derivation corresponds with what is known of the magi, who were the priests and the great men, first of Media, afterwards of the Medo-Persian empire. The earliest notice, in Scripture, of this class is in Jer. 39: 3, 13, where mention is made of Rab-mag, which is probably not a proper name, but a compound word signifying chief magi, after the analogy of such words as chief eunuch and chief butler. The same class is referred to in Jeremiah 50: 35, where our English version entitles them "wise men." But the most frequent references to them are in the book of Daniel. To this class Nebuchadnezzar appealed in vain for the exposition of his dream (Dan. 2: 1-13), and Belshazzar for the interpretation of the handwriting on the wall (Dan. 5: 1-9). Daniel himself seems to have been in some measure identified with them, intercedes to save them from death (Dan. 2: 24), and accepts the office of the "master of the magicians " (Dan. 5: 11), which was probably that of Rab-Mag or ChiefMagi. The origin of this class is involved in obscurity. It is believed, however, to have origi The Herod here referred to is the father, Herod misnamed the Great, the second son of Antipater, an Idumean, appointed procurator of Judea by Julius Cæsar, B.C. 47, and subsequently receiving the title of "King of Judea " from the Roman Senate. He possessed energy of character, but an unscrupulous ambition, and was remorselessly cruel. He was made governor of Galilee at the early age of fifteen, and distinguished himself by his campaign against the brigands who infested the mountains. He transferred his allegiance without scruple from Cassius to Antony, and from Antony to Cæsar, as in succession they secured the possession of the political power of Rome. By Antony's influence he was made king of Judea, and on Antony's fall was confirmed in his position by Cæsar. He rebuilt the temple in great magnificence in Jerusalem, which is consequently known in history as Herod's Temple, to distinguish it from Sol-nally existed in the Chaldean empire, to have 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. 5 And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judæa: for thus it is written by the prophet; 6 And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not e Ps. 2: 2....f Micah 5: 2; John 7: 42. been preserved in the successive changes which wars of conquest produced in the political organization and national complexion of the eastern world, and to have remained intact, though modified, in the successive Assyrian, Median, and Persian kingdoms. This hypothesis of the origin of this priestly class is confirmed by the fact that in the O. T. it is not unfrequently designated by the title Chaldeans (Dan. 2: 4, 5, 10, etc.). It certainly was not of Persian origin, and it is equally certain that it was reorganized and reformed by contact with the Persian religion. Under the Persian empire the magi existed in three orders; they wore a peculiar dress; they had direction of the education of the monarch, who, as the special privilege of his rank, was permitted to become acquainted with their learning; next to the king's wives and eunuchs, they stood nearest to his person, and constituted his chief counsellors (Esther 1: 13). These peculiar prerogatives were due to the religious veneration which was paid to them (see Dan. 2: 46). They performed all public religious rites, were the teachers of all religious truths, and were regarded as the sole medium of communication between the Deity and his creatures. They practised divination, and by various means-auguries, dreams, and especially a study of the stars-assumed to read the destiny of mankind, and to interpret the problems of the future. It was Daniel's pre-eminent success in interpreting the dream which the magi could not interpret that placed him at their head (Dan. 2: 47, 48). The fact that he accepted this office, and still more the fact that Nebuchadnezzer introduced as a novelty a golden image to be worshipped, and Darius, by special edict, forbade all petitions to god or man for thirty days (Dan., chaps. 3 and 6), indicate that the magi were not image-worshippers, and that their superstitions were mainly, or at least largely, those of honest seekers after truth, having, however, no other manifestation of God than was afforded them by nature. In later days they degenerated into mere soothsayers and fortune-tellers. In the N. T., except in this one passage in Matt., they appear only as impostors. To this class belonged, or pretended to belong, Simon the Sorcerer (Acts 8: 9-11) and Bar-jesus (Acts 13: 8). In classic history they are treated as a despicable class. But the itinerant magi, seeking personal aggrandizement among ignorant, by the use of an honored name, ave been impostors, and yet the true magi - own country, studying nature as the sole revelation given to them of an unknown God, may have been honest, honorable, and learned men, and sincere seekers after the truth; and this appears to have been the case with those magi who followed the star in the East in their search for the Messiah. Of the later legends respecting them it must suffice to say that there is nothing historical in any of them; the legend that they were kings possibly grew out of such passages as Psalms 68: 29; 72: 10, 11, 15, and Isaiah 60: 3, which it is hardly necessary to say do not refer to the worship and gifts proffered by the magi to the infant Jesus; the legend that they were three in number, preserved in song and in art, is said to have grown out of a desire to find in their visit confirmation of the doctrine of the Trinity, or to see in them representatives of the three great divisions of the human family, descended from Noah. During the middle ages the bodies of these magi were, it was pretended, discovered; they were brought to Constantinople, thence to Milan, and finally to Cologne, in whose cathedral the shrine of the three kings is still shown as the greatest of its many treasures. (2.) "The East" was then, as it now is with us, a very general term. Probably the country indicated to the mind of any Palestinian Jew would be the region stretching forward from the Jordan to the Euphrates. Somewhere in this general district we must look for the home of the magi who visited the infant Jesus; but whether in Arabia, Persia, Chaldea, or Parthia cannot with certainty be known. (3.) Secular history affords some answer to the third question-How should they know that the star foretold the coming of Christ? An opinion, derived possibly through the Scriptures, prevailed throughout the ancient world that a Messiah would come at about this time. Confucius, in China, had prophesied the appearance of such a deliverer, and a deputation of his followers, going forth in search of him, were the means of introducing Buddhism into China. This belief is also recognized by Roman writers, as Tacitus and Justinius. But the clearest of all these prophecies was one by Zoroaster, the founder of the reformed religion of Persia, who had foretold the coming of a prophet, supernaturally begotten, who should found a kingdom of righteousness and peace; and later traditions, borrowed perhaps from the faith of the Jews and the prophe. cies of Daniel, during the captivity, led the Zoroastians to expect that this Messiah would be |