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II.

Simeon.

tions.* Though occurrences among the more devout worshippers in the temple, were perhaps less likely to reach the ear of Herod than those in any other part of the city, yet it was impossible that the solemn act of recognising the Messiah in the infant son of Mary, on so public a scene, by a man whose language and conduct was watched by the whole people, could escape observation. Such an acknowledgement, by so high an authority, would immediately have been noised abroad; no prudence could have suppressed the instantaneous excitement. Besides this, if alive at this time, Simeon, Ben Hillel, would have presided in the court of inquiry, summoned by Herod, after the appearHis bene- ance of the Magi. The most remarkable point in the benediction of Simeon is the prediction that the child, who it would have been supposed would have caused unmingled pride and joy, should also be the cause of the deepest sorrow to his mother; and of the most fearful calamities, as well as of glory, to the nation.†

diction.

The intercommunion of opinions between the

Our first and not least embarrassing difficulty in harmonising the facts recorded in the several Gospels, is the relative priority of the presentation in the temple and the visit of the Magians to Bethlehem. On one side there appears no reason for the return of the parents and the child, after the presentation, to Bethlehem, where they appear to have had no friends, and where the object of their visit was most probably effected: on the other hand, it is still more improbable, that, after the visit of the

Magians, they should rush, as it were, into the very jaws of danger, by visiting Jerusalem, after the jealousy of Herod was awakened. Yet in both cases, it should be remembered that Bethlehem was but six miles, or two hours' journey, from Jerusalem. Reland, Palestina, p. 424. See, on one side, Schleiermacher's Essay on St. Luke, p. 47. though I entirely dissent on this point from the explanation of this author; on the other, Hug's Introduction.

Matt. ii. 1-12.

II.

Jewish and Zoroastrian religions throws great light CHAP. on the visit of the Magi, or Wise Men, to Jerusalem. The impregnation of the Jewish notions The Magi. about the Messiah with the Magian doctrines of the final triumph of Ormusd, makes it by no means improbable that, on the other side, the national doctrines of the Jews may have worked their way into the popular belief of the East, or at least into the opinions of those among the Magian hierarchy, who had come more immediately into contact with the Babylonian Jews.* From them they may have adopted the expectation of the Great Principle of Light in a human form, and descending, according to ancient prophecy, from the race of Israel; and thus have been prepared to set forth, at the first appearance of the luminous body, by which they were led to Judæa.† The universal usage of the East, never to approach the presence of a superior, particularly a sovereign,

*The communication with Babylonia at this period was constant and regular; so much so, that Herod fortified and garrisoned a strong castle, placed under a Babylonian commander, to protect the caravans from this quarter from the untameable robbers of the Tracho nitis, the district east of the Jordan and of the sea of Tiberias.

What this luminous celestial appearance was has been debated with unwearied activity. I would refer more particularly to the work of Ideler, Handbuch der Chronologie, ii. 399. There will be found, very clearly stated, the opinion of Kepler (adopted by Bishop Munter), which explains it as a con

junction between Jupiter and Sa

turn.

For my own part, I cannot understand why the words of St. Matthew, relating to such a subject, are to be so rigidly interpreted; the same latitude of expression may be allowed on astronomical subjects, as necessarily must be in the Old Testament. The vagueness and uncertainty, possibly the scientific inaccuracy, seem to me the inevitable consequences of the manner in which such circumstances must have been preserved, as handed down, and subsequently reduced to writing by simple persons, awe-struck under such extraordinary events.

II.

CHAP. without some precious gift, is naturally exemplified in their costly but portable offerings of gold, myrrh, and frankincense.*

Magi in

The appearance of these strangers in Jerusalem at Jerusalem. this critical period, particularly if considered in connection with the conspiracy in the family of Herod and among the religious faction, as it excited an extraordinary sensation through the whole city, would re-awaken all the watchfulness of the monarch. The assemblage of the religious authorities, in order that they might judicially declare the place from which the Messiah was expected, might be intended not merely to direct the ministers of the royal vengeance to the quarter from whence danger was to be apprehended, but to force the acknowledged interpreters of the sacred writings to an authoritative declaration as to the circumstances of the Messiah's birth; so, if any event should occur, contrary to their version of the prophecies, either to commit them on the side of the ruling powers, or altogether to invalidate the expectation, that was dangerously brooding in the popular mind. The subtlety of Herod's character is as strikingly exhibited in his pretended resolution to join the Magians in their worship of the new-born king, as

It is the general opinion that the Magi came from Arabia. Pliny and Ptolemy (Grotius, in loc.) name Arabian Magi; and the gifts were considered the produce of that country. But in fact gold, myrrh, and frankincense, are too common in the East, and too generally used as presents to a superior, to indi

cate, with any certainty, the place from whence they came. If, indeed, by Arabia be meant not the peninsula, but the whole district reaching to the Euphrates, this notion may be true; but it is more probable that they came from beyond the Euphrates.

II.

his relentless decision, when the Magians did not CHAP. return to Jerusalem, in commanding the general massacre of all the infants under the age of two years, in Bethlehem and its district.*

Egypt.

Egypt, where, by divine command, the parents of Flight into Jesus took refuge, was but a few days' journey, on a line perpetually frequented by regular caravans; and in that country, those who fled from Palestine could scarcely fail to meet with hospitable reception, among some of that second nation of Jews, who inhabited Alexandria and its neighbourhood.†

On their return from Egypt, after the death of Return to Herod, (which took place in the ensuing year,

*The murder of the innocents is a curious instance of the re-action of legendary extravagance on the plain truth of the evangelic history. The Greek church canonised the 14,000 Innocents; and another notion, founded on a misrepresentation of Revelations (xiv. 3.), swelled the number to 144,000. The former, at least, was the common belief of the church, though even in our liturgy the latter has in some degree been sanctioned, by retaining the chapter of Revelations as the epistle for the day. Even later, Jeremy Taylor, in his Life of Christ, admits the 14,000 without scruple, or rather without thought. The error did not escape the notice of the acute adversaries of Christianity, who, impeaching this extravagant tale, attempted to bring the evangelic narrative into discredit. Vossius, I believe, was the first divine who pointed out the monstrous absurdity of supposing such a number of infant children in so small a village. Matth. ii. 13-18. Some of the rabbinical stories accuse Jesus of having brought

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"his enchantments" out of Egypt.
(Lightfoot, xi. 45.) There is no
satisfactory evidence to the anti-
quity of these notions, or, absurd
as they are, they might be some
testimony to the authenticity of
this part of the Christian history.
See also Eisenmenger, i. p. 150.

The Jewish fiction of the birth
of Jesus is at least as old as
the time of Celsus (Origen contrà
Cels. 1.), but bears the impress of
hostile malice, in assigning as his
parent a Roman soldier. This is
the fable which was perpetuated
from that time by Jewish animosity,
till it assumed its most obnoxious
form in the Toldoth Jesu. How
much more natural and credible
than the minute detail which so
obviously betrays later and hostile
invention, the vague inquiry of his
own compatriots- "Is not this the
carpenter's son ?" Matth. xiii. 55.

The answer of Origen to this Jewish invention is sensible and judicious. The Christians, if such a story had been true, would have invented something more directly opposed to the real truth;

Galilee.

II.

CHAP. though the parents of Jesus did not leave Egypt till the accession of Archelaus,) Joseph, justly apprehensive that the son might inherit the jealousy and relentless disposition of the father, of which he had already given fearful indications, retired to his former residence in Galilee, under the less suspicious dominion of Herod Antipas.* There the general prejudice against Galilee might be their best security; and the universal belief that it was in Judæa that the great king was to assume his sovereignty, would render their situation less perilous; for it was the throne of the monarch of Judah, the dominion of the ruler in Jerusalem, rather than the government of the Galilean tetrarch, which would have been considered in danger from the appearance of the Messiah.

they would not have agreed so
far with the relation, but rather
carefully suppressed every allusion
to the extraordinary birth of Jesus.
Εδύναντο γὰρ ἀλλῶς ψευδοποιεῖσθαι
διὰ τὸ σφοδρὰ παράδοξον τὴν ἱστο-

ρίαν, καὶ μὴ ὡσπερεὶ ἀκουσίως συγκ καταθέσθαι ὅτι οὐκ ἀπο συνηθῶν ἀνθρώποις γάμων ὁ Ἰήσους ἐγενήθη. Contra Cels. i. 32.

* Matth. xi. 19. 23. Luke, xi. 40.

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