II rolment must have been of the nature of a popu- CHAP. lation census; for any property, possessed by Joseph or Mary, must have been at Nazareth; and the enrolment, which seems to have included both husband and wife, was made at the place where the genealogical registers of the tribes were kept. About this period Josephus gives an account of an oath of allegiance and of fidelity, to Cæsar and to the interests of the reigning sovereign, which was to be taken by the whole Jewish nation. The affair of this oath is strangely mingled up with predictions of a change of dynasty, and with the expected appearance of a great king, under whose all powerful reign the most extraordinary events were to take place. Six thousand of the Pharisees, the violent religious party, resolutely refused to take the oath. They were fined, and their fine discharged by the low-born wife of Pheroras, the ria till several years later. The another version. That followed by Mr. Greswell, notwithstanding CHAP. brother of Herod, into whose line certain impostors II. or enthusiasts, pretending to the gift of prophecy, *Though inclined to agree with Lardner in supposing that the census or population-return mentioned by St. Luke was connected with the oath of fidelity to Augustus and to Herod, I cannot enter into his notion, that the whole circumstantial and highly credible statement of Josephus is but a maliciously disguised account of the incidents which took place at the birth of Christ. Lardner's Works, vol. i. (4to edit.) p. 152. + Independent of the nature of this promise, on which I am intentionally silent, the text of Josephus (Ant. xvii. 2. 6.) is unintelligible as it stands, nor is the emendation, proposed by Ward, a friend of Lardner's, though ingenious, altogether satisfactory. Ibid. The chronological difficulties in this case do not appear to me of great importance, as the whole affair of the oath may have occupied some time, and the enrolment may have taken place somewhat later in the provinces than in the capital. prophets, and to proclaim an immediate change of dynasty, the whole conduct of Herod, as described by the evangelists, harmonises in a most singular manner with the circumstances of the times. Though the birth of Jesus might appear to Herod but as an insignificant episode in the more dangerous tragic plot which was unfolding itself in his own family, yet his jealous apprehension at the very name of a new-born native king, would seize at once on the most trifling cause of suspicion; and the judicial massacre of many of the most influ ential of the Pharisees, and of his own kindred in Jerusalem, which took place on the discovery of this plot, was a fitting prelude for the slaughter of all the children under a certain age in Bethlehem. CHAP. 11. Christ. But whether the enrolment, which summoned Birth of Joseph and Mary to the town where the registers of their descent were kept, was connected with this oath of fidelity to the emperor and the king; or whether it was only a population-return, made by the command of the emperor, in all the provinces where the Roman sovereignty or influence extended*, it singularly contributed to the completion of the prophecy to which we have alluded, which designated the city of David as the birth-place of the Messiah. Those who claimed descent from the * This view is maintained by Tholuck, and seems to receive some support from the high authority of Savigny, writing on another subject it is supported by two passages of late writers, Isidore and Cassiodorus. Augusti siquidem temporibus orbis Romanus agris divisus censuque descriptus est, ut II. CHAP. families, whose original possessions were in the neighbourhood of Bethlehem, crowded the whole of the small town; and in the stable of the inn or caravansera was born THE CHILD, whose moral doctrines, if adopted throughout the world, would destroy more than half the misery by destroying all the vice and mutual hostility of men; and who has been for centuries considered the object of adoration, as the Divine Mediator between God and man, by the most civilised and enlightened nations of the earth. Of this immediate epoch only one incident is recorded; but in all the early history of Christianity, nothing is more beautiful, nor in more perfect unison with the future character of the religion, than the first revelation of its benign principles, by voices from heaven to the lowly shepherds.* The proclamation of "Glory to God, Peace on earth and good will towards men," is not made by day, but in the quiet stillness of the nightt; not in the stately temple of the ancient worship, but among the peaceful pastures; not to the religious senate of the Jewish people, or to the priesthood arrayed in all the splendour of public ministration, but to peasants employed on their lowly occupation.‡ us on this period of history, of *Luke ii. 8. 20. + Neander has well observed that the modesty of this quiet scene is not in accordance with what might be expected from the fertility and boldness of mythic in vention. The year in which Christ was born is still contested. There is still more uncertainty concerning the time of the year, which learned men are still labouring to determine. Where there is and can be no certainty, it is the wisest course to acknowledge our ignorance, and not to claim the authority of historic truth for that which is purely conjectural. The two ablest modern writers who have II. In eight days, according to the law, the child CHAP. was initiated into the race of Abraham, by the rite of circumcision: and when the forty days of purification, likewise appointed by the statute, are over, the Virgin Mother hastens to make the customary presentation of the first-born male in the temple. Her offering is that of the poorer Jewish females, who, while the more wealthy made an oblation of a lamb, were content with the least costly, a pair of turtle doves, or two young pigeons.* Only two persons are recorded as having any knowledge of the future destiny of the child, Anna, a woman endowed with a prophetical character, and the aged Simeon. That Simeon ‡ was not the celebrated master of the schools of Jewish learning, the son of Hillel, and the father of Gamaliel, is fairly inferred from the silence of St. Luke, who, though chiefly writing for the Greek converts, would scarcely have omitted to state distinctly the testimony of so distinguished a man to the Messiahship of Jesus. There are other insurmountable historical objec orti luminis ignorare, quum appa- * Luke ii. 21. 39. This was the notion of Lightfoot, who, though often invaluable as interpreting the New Testament from Jewish usages, is sometimes misled by his Rabbinism into fanciful analogies and illustrations. Hist. Jews, iii. 97. note. |
