Chapter XLVIII (continued, part 17)
oll'erers were persons in aflluent circumstances. That (lie gold was presented to the infant King in token of His royalty; the frankincense in token of His divinity, and the myrrh, of His sufferings; or that they were designed
to express His Divine and human natures; or that the prophetical, priestly, and kingly olhces of Christ are to be seen in these gifts ; or that tliey wore the oflerings of tliree Individuals respectively, each of them kings, tlie very names of whom tradition has handed down—all these
The Flight into Egypt. MATTHEW II. ZVie Massacre of the Innocents,
already far beyond his re^ch on their way home, when he saw that he was mocked—
are, at the best, precarious suppositions. But that the feelings of tliese devout givers are to be seen in the richness of their gifts, and that the gold, at least, would be highly serviceable to Wie parents of the blessed Babe in their unexpected journey to Egypt and stay there—tlius much at least admits of no dispute. V.l, And being warned of God in a dream tliat tliey slioiild not return to Herod, tliey departed—or
' M"as trilled with'—of th« wise men—No, Herod, thou art not mocked of the wise men, but of a Higher than they. He that sitteth in the heavens doth laugh at thee; the Lord hath thee in derision. He disappointetli the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. He taketli the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel of the
' witlidrew'—to tlielr own country anotUer way—What a surprise would this vision be to the sages, just as they were preparing to carry the glad news of what they had seen to the x>ious king
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 IJcrod would seek to kill Him—"Go ye, and tell that fox. Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures
But the Lord knew the bloody old tyrant better than to
let him see their face again.
13-25. The Flight into Egypt—The Massacre at Bethlehem—The Bbturn of Joseph and Mary with THE Babe, after Herod's Death, and their Settlement at Nazareth. (==Luke 2. 39.) The Flight into Egypt,
to-da^' and to-morrow, and the third day I shall be per-
fected. 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. 32, 3;3). Bitter saiire • was exceeding wroth—To be made a fool of is what none
{v. 13-15.) 13. And wlicn tliey were departed, behold, tUe angel of tlie Lord appearctli to Joseph in a dream, saying. Arise, and take tlic young child and his mother—Observe this form of expression, repeated in the next verse—another indirect hint that Joseph was no more than the Child's guardian. Indeed, personally considered, Joseph has no spiritual significance, and very
like, and proud kings cannot stand. Herod burns with rage, and is like a wild bull in a net. So he sent forth a band of hired murderers, and slew all the [male] children that were in Betlilehem, and in all the coasts, oi 'environs,' thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he Itad diligently
little place at all, in the Gospel history, and flee into Egypt—which, being near, as Alford says, and a Roman province independent of Herod, and much inhabited by Jews, was an easy and convenient refuge. Ah ! blessed Saviour, on what a chequered career hast Thou entered here below ! At Thy birth there was no room f<5r Thee in the Inn ; and now all Judea is too hot for Thee. How soon has the sword begun to pierce through tlie Virgin's soul (Luke 2. 35) ! How early does she taste the reception which this mysterious Child of hers is to meet with in the world! And whither is He sent? To "the house of bondage?" Well, it once was that. But Egypt was a house of refuge before it was a house of bondage, and now
'carefully'—inquired of the wise men—In this ferocious step Herod was like himself—as crafty as cruel. He takes a large sweep, not to miss Ills mark. He thinks this will surely embrace his victim. And so it had, if He had been there. But He is gone. Heaven and earth shall sooner pass away than thou slialt have that Babe into thy hands. Tlierefore, Herod, thou must be content to want Him: to All up the cup of thy bitter mortilications, already full enough—until thou die not less of a broken heart than of a loathsome and excruciating disease. Why, ask skeptics and skeptical critics, is not this mas-
sacre, if it really occurred, recorded by Josephus, who is minute enough in detailing the cruelties of Herod? To this the answer is not diillcult. 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 anytliing of his silence on this. 17. Then was fulfilled that wliicli was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying—(Jeremiah 31. 15, from which the quotation dilTers but verbally)—18. In Rama was there n voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not—These words, as they stand in Jeremiah, undoubtedly relate to the Babylonish 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 tiguiatively represented as rising from the tomb and uttering a double lament for the loss of her childreu
it has but returned to its tirst use. and he thou there until I bring tliee word ; for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him—Herod's muiderons purpose was formed ore tlie Magi set out for Bethlehem. U, When h« arose, he took the young child and his mother by night—doubtless the same night—and departed ii>to Egypt; 15. And was there until tlie death of Herod—wliich took place ucft very long after this of a horrible disease ; tlie details of which will be found in Josephus (Antiquities, 17. 6. 1, 5, 7, 8). that It might be fulfilled which was spolsen of the Lord by tlie prophet, saying (Hosua 11. 1), Out of Egypt have I called my son—Our Evangelist here quotes directly from the Hebrew, warily departing from the LXX., which renders the words, " From "Egypt have I recalled his children," meaning Israel's children. The prophet is reminding his people how dear Israel was to God in the days of his youth; how Moses was bidden to say to Pharaoh, "Thus saith the Lord, Israel is myao?i, iny first-born ; and
I say unto thee. Let iny son go, tliat he may serve me ; and
-first, by a bitter captivity, and now by a bloody death. And a foul deed it was. O ye mothers of Bethlehem ! metliinks I hear you asking why your innocent babes should be the ram caught in the thicket, whilst Isaac escapes. I cannot tell you; but one thing I know, that ye shall, some of you, 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 tliey now endure. And if these babes of yours be now in glory, through the dear might of that blessed Babe, will thej^ not deem it their honour that the tyrant's rage was exhausted upon themselves instead of their Infant Lord? 19. But when Herod was deadMiserable Herod ! Thou thoughtest thyself safe from a dreaded Rival; but it wiui He only that was safe from thee; and thou hast not long enjoyed even this fancied security. Seeoni'. 15. behold, an angel of the Lord—Our translators, soniewliat capriciously, render the same expression "the angel of the Lord," cli. 1. 20; 2. 13; and "an angel of the Lord," as here. As the same angel appears to have been employed on all tln^so high occasions—and most likely hetowiiom in Luke is given the name of " Ua-
if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy first-born" (Exodus 4. 22, '23) ; how, when Pharaoh refused, God having slain all liis first-born, " called his own son out of Egypt," by a stroke of higli-lianded power and love. Viewing the words in this light, even if our Evangelist had not applied them to the recall from Egypt of God's own beloved. Only-begotten Son, tlie application would liivve been irresistil)ly made by all who have learnt to pierce beneath the surface to the deeper relations which Christ bears to His people, and both to God; and who are accustomed to trace tlie analogy of God's treatment of each respectively. 16. Then Herod, &c.—As Deborah sang of tlie mother of Sisera, "She looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice. Why is his chariot so long In coming? wliy tarry the wiieels of his chariots? Have they not sped?" so Herod wonders that his messen-
^;ers, with pious zeal, are not hastening with the news ihat all Is ready to receive him as a worshipper. What
L-iin be Iceeplng them? Have they missed their way? Has any disaster befallen them ? At length his patience
tM exhausted He makes his inquiries, and finds they are 8
Chrht Browjld uijuin to Galilee. MATTHEW III. Preaching of John the Bapiiat
pel with the other's before him—thougli many think this a precarious inference, that it might lieftilfilled wliiili was spoken by the propliets, lie shall be called a Nazarene—better, perhaps, 'Nazarene.' Tlie best explanation of the origin of this name appears to be that which traces it to the word netzer in Isaiah 11. 1—the small twig,
hrlel,"' ch. J. 19, 26—perhaps it should In every Instance
except the first, he rendered " Ifie angt l." appearetU In a dream to JosepU Im Egypt, 20. Saying, Arise, and take
the young cl>il<l and his mother, and go Into the land of Israel—not to the land of Judea, for he was afterward
expressly warned not to settle there, nor to Galilee, for he
sprout, or sucker, which the prophet there says, "shUll come forth from the stem (or rather ' stump') of Jesse, the branch which should fructify from his roots." The
only went thither when he found it unsafe to settle in
Judea, but to "the land of Israel," in its most general
sense; meaning t!ie Holy Lnnd at large—the particular province being not as yet indicated. SoJosepli and the
little town of Nazareth—mentioned neither in the Old Testament nor in Josephus—was probably so called from
Virgin had, like Abraham, to "go out, not knowing whither they went," till they should receive further di-
Its Insignificance—a weak twig in contrast to a statelj' tree ; and a special contempt seemed to rest upon it—" Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" (Jolm 1. 46)—over and above the general contempt in which all Galilee was held, from the number of Gentiles that settled in the upper territories of it, and, in the estimation of the Jews, debased it. Thus, in the providential arrangement by which our Lord was brought up at the Insignificant and opprobrious town called Nazareth, there was Involved,
rection, for tUcy 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 i. 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
first, a local humiliation; next, an allusion to Isaiah's prediction of His lowly, twig-like upspringing from the branchless, dried-up stump of Jesse ; and yet further, a standing memorial of that humiliation which " tlie prophets," In a number of the most striking predictions, had attached to the Messiah.
liim who sought his life. Herod died in the seventieth
year of his age, and thirty-sevenlli of his reign. 31. And he arose, and tools ll»e young child and his mother, and came into tlie 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 Ue heard that Archelaus did reign In Judea in the room of Ills father Herod— Archelaus succeeded to Judea, Samaria, and Idumea; but Augustus refused him the title of kini/ till it should be seen how he conducted himself; giving him only the title
Ver. 1-12. ^Preaching and Ministry of John. (= Mark 1. 1-8 ; Luke 3. 1-18.) For the proper introduction to this section, we must go to Luke 3. 1, 2. Here, as Bengkl well observes, the curtain of the New Testament is, as it were, drawn up, and the greatest of all epochs of the Church commences. Even our Lord's own age is determined by it {v. 23). No such elaborate chronological precision Is to be found elsewhere in the New Testament, and It comes fitly from him who claims it as the peculiar recommendation of his Gospel, that 'he had traced down
of Ethnctrch [Josephus, Antiquities, 17., 11, 4J. Above this, however, he never rose. The people, indeed, recognized him as his father's successor; and so it is here said that
lie " reigned in the room of his father Herod." B"t, after ten years' defiance of the Jewish law and cruel tyranny, the people lodged Iieavy complaints against him, and the emperor banislied him to Vienne in Gaul, reducing Judea again to a Roman province. Then the "sceptre" clean "departed from Judah." he was afraid to go thltlier and no wonder, for the reason just mentioned, notiicithstanding—or more simply, ' but'—l>elng warned of Ciod 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 lime, as is well known, divided into three provinces—Galilee being the northern, JCDEA the southern, and Samakia the central prov-
all things with precision from the very first' (ch. 1. 3). Here evidently commences his proper narrative. Ver. 1. " Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cassar" —not the fifteenth from his full accession on tlie death of Augustus, but from the period when he was associated with him in the government of the empire, three years earlier, about the end of the year of Rome 779, or about four years before the usual reckoning. "Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea." His proper title was Procura-
tor, but with more than the usual powers of that office. Alter holding it for about ten years, he was summoived toRome to answer to charges brought against him ; but era he arrived Tiberius died (A. d. 35), and soon after miseraVila Pilate committed suicide. "And Herod being tetrarcli of Galilee (see on Mark 6. 14), and his brother Philip"—a very different and very superior Philip to the one whose name was Herod Philip, n»nd whose wife, Herodias, went to live with Herod Antipas (see on Mark 6. 17j—" tetrarch of Itarea"—lying to the north-east of Palestine, and so called from Itur or Jetur, Ishmael's son (1 Chronicles 1. 31), and anciently belonging to the half-tribe of Manasseh. " and of the region of Trachonitis"—lying farther to the nortiieast, between Iturea and Damascus; a rocky district infested by robbers, and committed by Augustus to Herod the Great to keep in order, "and Lysanlas the tetrarch of Abilene"—still more to the north-east; so called, says Robinson, from Abila, eighteen miles from Damascus. Ver. 2. "Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests." The former, though deposed, retained much of his influence, and, probably, as Sagan or deputy, exercised mucli of the power of the high priesthood nlong with Caiaphas his son-in-law (John 18. 13; Acts 4.8). In David's time both Zadok and Abiathar acted as high priests (2 Samuel 15. 3.5), and it seems to have been the fixed prac-
ince. 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-:io)—he was of a less cruel disposition than Archelaus; and Nazareth being a good way off from the seat o( government, and considerably secluded, it was
saft;r to settle there. !i3. And lie came and dwelt im a city called Nazareth—a small town in Lower Galilee, lying In tlie territorjof 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.— lf, 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 Egj'pt, no stay there, and no purpose on returning to settle again at Bethlehem—one might, from our Evangelist's waj' 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 Hme It is difHcult, with these facts before us, to conoelve that either of these two Evangelists wrote his Gos-
tice to have two (2 Kings 25. 18). "the word of God came, unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness." Such a way of speaking Is never once used when speaking o^ Jesus, because He was Himself The Living Word ; whereas to all merely creature-messengers of God, the word iaoy
John's OJJice, Life, aid Baptism. MATTHEW III. ffe Reprchendelh the PharisecM.
npnke was a foreign element. See on John 3. 31. We are now prepared for the opening words of Matthew. 1. in those clays—of Christ's secluded life at Nazareth, where Mie last chapter left Him. came Jolin tlie Baptist, preacSiiiig—about six months before his Master. Ji» tlie wllfleriiess of Jmlea—the desert valley of the Jordan, thinly peopled and baie in pasture,a little north of Jerusalem. 3. Ami saying, Repent ye—Though the word
expressing the deadly influence of both sects alike upon the community. Mutually and entirely antagonistic as were their religious principles and spirit, the stern prophet charges both alilje witli being the poisoners of the nation's religious principles. In ch. 12. 31, and 2.!. 33, this strong language of the Bapiist is anew applied by the faitliful and true Witness to tlie Pharisees speciflcally— the only party that had zeal enough actively to diffuse this poison, who hath warned yon—'given you the hint,' as the idea is—to flee from tlie wi-ath to cornel 'What can have brought i/oit hither?' John more than suspected it was not so much their own spiritual anxieties as the popularity of his movement that had drawn them thither. What an expression is this, "The wrath to come!" God's " wrath," in Scripture, is His righteous displeasure against sin, and consequently against all in whose skirts sin is found, arising out of the essential and eternal opposition of His nature to all moral evil. This
strictly denotes a change of mind, it has respect here, and wherever it is used in connection with salvation, primarily to that sense of sin which leads the sinner to flee from the wrath to come, to look for relief only from above, and eagerly to fall in with the provided remedy, for the kingdom of lieaven is at hand—This sublime phrase, used in none of the other Gospels, occurs in this peculiarly Jewish Gospel nearly thirty times; and being suggested by Daniel's grand vision of the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven to the Ancient of days, to receive His investiture in a world-wide kingdom (Daniel
is called " the coming wrath," not as heing wIioUjfuture for as a merited sentence it lies on the sinner already, and its eflects, both inward and outward, are to some extent experienced even now—but because the impenitent sinner will not, until "the judgment of the great day," be concluded under it, will not have sentence publicly and irrevocably passed upon him, will not have it discharged upon him and experience its effects without mixture and without hope. In this view of it, it is a wrath wholly to come, as is implied in the noticeably diflerent form of t he expression employed by the apostle in 1 Thessalonians 1. 10. Not that even true penitents came to John's baptism with all these views of "the wrath to coine." But what he says is, that this was the real import
7. 13, 14), it was fitted at once both to meet the national expectations and to turn them into the right channel. A kingdom for which repentance was the proper preparation behooved to be essentially spiritual. Deliverance from
sin, the great blessing of Christ's kingdom (ch. 1. 21), can be valued by those only to whom sin is a burden (ch. 9.
12). John's great work, accordingly, was to awaken this
feeling, and liold out the hope of a speedy and precious remedy. 3. For tliis is he that was spoken of l>y the prophet Esalas, saying (ch. 11. 3), The voice of one crying in tlie -wilderness (see on Luke 3. 2)—the scene of his ministry corresponding to its rough nature. Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight—This prediction is quoted in all the four Gospels, showing that
of the step itself. In this view of it, how striking Is the word he employs to express that step—/Jeeing' from it—as of one who, beholding a tide of fiery wrath rolling rai>- idly towards him, sees in instant llight his only escape!
it was regarded as a great outstanding one, and the pre-
dicted forerunner as the connecting link between the old and the new economies. IJke the great ones of the earth, the Prince of peace was to have His immediate approach proclaimed and His way prepared; and the call heretaking it generally—is a call to put out of the way whatever would obstruct His progress and hinder His com-
8. Bring forth therefore fruits—the true reading clearly
is ' fruit '—meet for repentnnce—that is, such fruit as befUs a true penitent. John now being gifted with a know» ledge of the human heart, like a true minister of righteousnoss and lover of souls here directs them how to evidence and carry out tlieir repentance, supposing it genuine; and in the following verses warns them of their danger in case it were not. 9. And thi~nk not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to otir fathei^ that pillow on which the nation so fatally reposed, that rock on which at length it split, for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham g. d., 'Flatter not yourselves with the fond delusion that God stands in need of yon, to make good his promise of a seed to Abraham ; for I tell yon that, though you were all to perish, God is as able to raise up a seed to Al)raham 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 51,
plete triumpli, whether those hindrances were public or personal, outward or inward. In Luke (3. 5, G) the quota-
tion is thus continued : " Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall he made smooth ; and all Hesh shall see the salvation of God." Levelling and smoothing are here the obvious
figures wliose sense Is conveyed in the first words of the proclamation—"Prepare ye the way of the Lord." The idea is, that every obstruction shall be so removed as to reveal to the whole world the salvation of God in Him whose name is tlie "Saviour." (Cf. Psalm 98. 3; Isaiah 11.
10; 49.fi; 52. 10; Luke 2. 31, 32; Acts 13. 47.) 4. And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair—tliat is, woven of it—and a leathern girdle about his loins-the prophetic dress of Elijah (2 Kings 1. 8; and see Zechariali
1). Though the stern speaker may have pointed as he spake to the pebbles of the bare clay hills that lay around
13. I), and his meat was locnsts—the great, well-known Eastern locust, a food of the poor (Leviticus 11. 22). and wild honey—made liy wild bees (1 Samuel 14. 25, 2G). This dress and diet, M'ith the shrill cry in the wilderness, would
(so Stani.ey's Sinai and Palestine), it was clearly the calling of the Gentiles—at that time stone-dead in their sins, and quite as unconscious of it—into the room of unbelieving and disinherited Israel that he meant thus to indicate (seech. 21.43; Romans 11. 20,30). 10. And now also—'And even already'—tlic axe is laid nnto—'lieth at'—the root ofthe trees—as it were read.v to strike : an expressive figure of impending judgment, only to be averted in the way next described, therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is Ixcwn down, and v-nat into the
recali the stern days of Elijah. 5. Tlien went out to him .Terusalcni,and all Judea, and all the region round aliout .Jordan—From the metropolitan centre to the extremities of the Judean province the cry of this great preacher of repentance and herald of the approaching Messiah brought trooping penitents and eager expect-
ants. 0. And were baptized of Ikim In Jordan, confcsslng— probably confessing aloud—their sins— This baptism was at once a public seal of their felt need of deliverance from sin, of their expectation of the coming De-
tire. Ijjinguage so personal and individual as this can scarcely be understood of any national judgment like the approaching destruction of Jerusalem, with the breaking up of the Jewish polity and the extrusion of the chosen people from their peculiar privileges which followed It; though this would serve as the dark shadow, cast before, of a more terrible retribution toconie. The "fire," whlcli In another verse is called "unquenchable," can be no other than that future "torment'' of the impenitent whose "smoke ascendcth up foi ever and ever," and which by the Judge Himself is styled "everlasting pun
liverer, and of their readiness to welcome Him when He appeared. The baptism itself startled, and was intended
to startle, tliem. They were familiar enough with the bap-
tiim of proselytes from heathenism ; but this baptism ofJews tliemselves was quite new and strange to them. 7. But when he saw many of the Pharigccg and Sadducees come to his baptism, he gnid unto tlitem—astonished at such a spcctaclL—O generation ofvipers—
' Viper-brood •'
John Reprehendelh the Pharisees, MATTHEW III. The Baptism of Clirisl by John,
most familiar emblems—ii'aier and ^re—are employed to set forth the same purifying operations of the Holy Gliosl upon the soul. 13. Whose [winnowing] fan Is in lil* hand—ready for use. Tliis is no other tlinn tlie preacliing' of tire Gospel, even now lieginning, the effect of whicii would be to separate tlie solid from the spiritually wortli-
Ishnicnt " (Matthew 25. 48). What a strength, too, of just indignatiou is in that word "cast" or "flung into the
lire !" The third Gospel here adds the following import-
ant particulars, Luke 3. 10-16: ver. 10. "And the people"—
rather, ' the multitudes '—" asked him, saying. What shall we do then ?"—that is, to show the sincerity of our repent-
ance. Ver. 11. He answereth and saith unto them. He that nath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and
less, as wheat, by the winnowing fan, from tlie cliatt". (Cf. the ^milar representation in Malachi, 3.1-3.) and he will througlUy purge his fthresliing] floor—that is, the visible Cliurch. and gather hiswheat.—His true-heiirted saints; so called for their solid worth (cf. Amos 9. 9; Luke
he that hath meat"—'provisions,' 'victuals '—"let him do
likewise." This is directed against the reigning avarice end selfishness. (Cf. the corresponding precepts of tlie Sermon on the Mount, ch. 5. 40-42.) Ver. 12. "Then came also
22. 31.) into the garner—" tlie kingdom of tlielr Father," as this "garner" or "barn" is beautifully explained by our Lord in the parable of the Wheat aiid the Tares (ch.
the 'publicans to be baptized, and said unto him. Master,"'
or 'Teacher,' "what shall we do?"—in what special way is the genuineness of our repentance to be manifest«d? Ver. 13. "And he said unto them. Exact no more than
13. 30, 43). but he will burn uji the chaff—empty, wor( li-
less professors of religion, void of all solid religious principle and character (see Psalm 1. 4). with unquenchable
that which is appointed you." This is directed against
flre—Singular is the strength of this apparent contradiction of figures :—to be burnt up, but with a flre that is unquenchable; the one expressing the utter destruction of all that constitutes one's true life, the other the continued
that extortion which made the publicans a byword. (.See on ch. 5. 46; and on Luke 15. 1.) Ver. 14. "And the sol-
diers "—rather, ' And soldiers '—the word means ' soldiers on active duty'—"likewise demanded (or asked) of him, saying. And what shall we do? And he said unto them. Do violence to," or 'Intimidate,' "no man." The word
co-nscioiisne.ss of existence in that awful condition. Luke adds the following important particulars, 3. 18-20 : Ver. 18. "And many other things fn his exhortation preached lie unto the people," showing that we have here but an abstract of his teaching. Besides what we read in John 1.
signifies to 'shake thoroughly,' and refers probably to the extorting of money or other property, "neither accuse any falsely "—by acting as Informers vexatiously on frivolous or false pretexts—"and be content with your wages," or ' rations.' We may take this, sayWebster and Wilkinson, as a warning against mutiny, which the officers attempted to suppress by largesses and donations. And thu^ the "fruits " which would evidence their repentance were just resistance to the reigning sins—particularly of rhec?aj«to which the penitent belonged—and the mani-
29, 33, 34 ; 3.27-30; the incidental allusion to his liaving taught his disciples to pray (Luke 11.1)—of which not a word is said elsewhere—shows how varied his teacliing was. Ver. 19. " But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done." In tliis last clause we have an important fact, here only mentioned, showing how thorouc/h-going was the fldelity of the Baptist to his loj-al hearer, and how strong must have been tlie workings of conscience in that slave of passion wlien, notwithstanding such plainness, he "did many things, and heard Jolin gladly" (Mark 6. 20). Ver. 20. "Added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison." This imprisonment of John, however, did not take place for some time after this; and it is here recorded merely because the Evaiigpl-
festation of an opposite spirit. Ver. 15. "And as the peo-
ple 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 success-
ful he had been In awakening the expectation of Messiah's immediate appearing, and the high estima-
ist did not intend to recur to his history till he had occasion to relate the message which he sent to Clirist from his prison at Macheerus (Luke 7. 18, &c.).
tion, and even reverence, which his own character commanded. Ver. 16. "John answered "—either to that <leputation from Jerusalem, of which we read in John 1. 19, (tc, or on some other occasion, to remove impressions derogatory to his blessed Master, wliich he knew to be taking hold of the popular mind "saying unto them all" — in solemn protestation: (We now return to the first Gospel.) 11. 1 Indeed baptize yon with water unto repentance (see on v. 6) : but l»e tliat cometli after me is mightier than I. In Mark and IjUke this is more emphatic — "But there cometh the Mightier than I," whose shoes, or 'sandals,' I am not worthy to bear—The sandals were tied and untied, and Iwrne aboui by the meanest servants, he shall baptize you—the em/ Viatic "He:" 'He It is,' to the exclusion of all others, ' that shall baptize you.' with the Holy Ghost —'So far from entertaining such a thought as laying claim to the honours of Messiahshlp, the meanest services
13-17. Baptism of Christ, and Descent of the Si'iwit UPON Him immediately thereafter. (=Mark 1.9-11; Luke 3.21, 22; John 1.31-34.) Bapti-mi of Clirist {v. 13-1.1). 13. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jo2°dan unto John, to be baptized of him—Moses rashly anticipated the Divine call to deliver his people, and for this was fain to flee the house of bondage, and wait in obscurity for forty years more (Exodus 2. 11, ifcc). Not so this greater than Moses. All but thirty years had He now spent in privacy at Nazareth, gradually ripening for His pal>lic work, and calmly awaiting tlie time appointed of tlie Father. Now it had arrived; and this movement from Galilee to Jordan is tlie step, doubtless, of deepest interest to all heaven since that first one which brouglit Him into the world. Luke (3.21) has this important a<]dition— "Nowu/Tien all the people were baptized, it came to pasSj that Jesus being baptized," Ac. — implying that Jesus waited till all other applicants for baptism that day had been disposed of, ere He stepped forwai'd, that He might not seem to be merely one of the crowd. Thus, .as He rode into Jerusalem upon an ass " whereon yet never man sat" (Luke 19. 30), and lay in a sepulchre "wherein was never man yet laid" (John 19.41), so in His baptism, too. He would be " separate from sinners." 14. Bnt John forbade him—rather, 'was [in the act ofj hindering him,' or ' attempting to hinder him'—saying, I hare need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me!—(How John came to recognize Him, when he says lie knew Him not, see on John 1. 31-34.) The emphasis of this most remarkable speech lies all in the pronouns: 'What! Shall the Master come for baptism to the servant—the sinless Saviour to a sinner ?' That thus much is in the Baptist's words will be clearly seen If it be observed that he evidently regarde<l Jesus as Himself needing no pwifleaUoru
I can render to that " Mightier than I that Is coming after rae" are too high an honour for me ; I am but tlie servant, but the Master is coming; I administer but the outward Kj'mbol of purification; His it Is, as His sole prerogative, to dispense the inward reality.' Beautiful spirit, distinguishing this servant of Christ throughout! and with Are—To take this as a distinct baptism from that of the Spirlt^a baptism of the Impenitent with hell-fire-is exceedingly unnatural. Yet this was the view of Origen among the Fathers; and among moderns, of Neandeb, Meyer, De Wette and Lanqe. Nor is it much better to refer it to the fire of the great day, by which the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Clearly, as we think. It is but the yJerj^ character of the Spirit's operations upon the soul—searching, consuming, refining, sublimating—as nearly all good Interpreters understand the words. And thus, In two successive clauses, the twa
Descent of the Holy Ghost inform of a Dove, MATTHEW IV. Chrisl Fasielh Forty Days, awl is Templed.
but rather qualified to impart it to those who did. And do not all liis other testimonies to Christ fully bear out tliis nense of the words? But it were a pity if, in the glory of this testimony to Christ, we should miss the Ijeautiful spirit in which it was borne—'Lord, must /baptize Theef fan I bring myself to do such a thing?'—reminding us of
One," the "separate from sinners?" "Thou art fairer than the children of men; grace is poured into Thy lips; therefore God hath blessed Thee for ever !" But the fourth Gospel gives us one more piece of information here, on the authority of one who saw and testified of it: "John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit desc^cnding from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon Hui." And lest we siiould think that this was an accidental thing, he adds that this last particular was expressly given him as part of the sign by which he was to recognize and identify Him as the Son of God: "And I knew Him not: but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me. Upon whom thou Shalt see the Spirit descending and ViEMAiiiiNGON Him, the same is He which baptizetli with the Holy Ghost. And I saw and bare record that tliis is the Son of Gotl" (John 1. 32-34). And when with this we compare the predicted descent of the Spirit upon Messiah (Isaiah 11.2), " And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him," we cannot doubt that it was this permanent and perfect resting of the Holy Ghost upon the Son of God now and henceforward in His official capacity—that wtis here visibly manifested. 17. And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is—Mark and Luke give it in the direct form, "Thou art"—ray beloved Son, in whom 1 am well pleased—The verb is put In the aorist to express absolute complacency, once and for ever felt towards Him. The English here, at least to modern ears, is scarcely strong enough. ' I delight" comes the nearest, perhaps, to that inelTable comptacenej/ which is manifestly intended ; and this is the rather to be preferred, as it would immediately carry the thoughts back to that august Messianic prophecy to which the voice from heaven plainly alluded (Isaiah
I'eter's exclamation at the supper-table, " Lord, dost Thou w^ash my feet?'' while it has nothing of the false humility and presumption which dictated Peter's next speech. 'Thou shalt never wash my feet" (John 13. 6, 8). 15. And Jesus answering said unto him, SulTcr it to be so now —
' Let it pass for tlie present;' q. d., 'Tliou recoilest, and no wonder, for the seeming incongruity is startling; but In the present case do as tiiou art bidden.' for thus it becometh us—"uj," not in the sense of ' me and thee,' or
' men in general,' but as in John 3. 11. to fulfil all righteousness—If tills be rendered, with Scrivener, 'every ordinance,' or, with Campbell, 'every institution,' the meaning is obvious enough ; and the same sense is brought out "all righteousness," or compliance with everything enjoined, baptism included. Indeed, if this be the meaning, our version perhaps best brings out the force of the opening word "Thus." But we incline to thinlt that our Lord meant more than tills. The import of Circumcision and of Baptism seems to be radically the same. And if our remarks on the circumcision of our Lord (on Luke. 2. iJl-24)are well founded. He wov.ld seem to have said, 'Thus do I impledge myself to the whole righteousness of tlie Law—thus symbolically do enter on and engage to fulfil it all.' Let the thoughtful reader weigh this. Then he snlFered him—with true humility, yielding to higher authority than his own impressions of propriety.
42. 1), " Behold mj' Servant, whom I uphold; mine Elect, IN WHOM MY SOUL DELiGHTETH." Nor are the words which follow to be overlooked, "I have put my Spirit upon Him; He shall bring forth judgment to the Gen-
Descent of the Spirit rcpon the Baptized Redeemer (i>. IG, 17). 16. And Jesus when he was baptized, went up istraightway out of—rather, ' from'—the water. Mark has "out of th« water." and—adds Luke (3. 21), " while He was praying;" a grand piece of information. Can there be a doubt about the burden of that prayer; a prayer sent up,
tiles." (The LXX. pervert tills, as they do most of tho Messianic predictions, interpolating the word "Jacob," and applying it to the Jews.) Was this voice heard by th« bystanders? From Matthew's form of it, one might sup* pose it so designed ; but it would appear that it was not, and probably John only heard and saw any Ih Ing peculiar about that great baptism. Accordingly, the words " Heal ye Him" are not added, as at the Transfiguration.
prol)al)ly, while yet in the water—His blessed head suffused with the baptismal element; a prayer continued likely as He stepped out of the stream, and again stood upon the dry ground; the work before Him, tlie needed and expected Spirit to rest upon Him for it, and the glory
He would then put upon the Father that sent Him—would not these fill His breast, and find silent vent in such form as this?—'Lo, I come; I delight to do thy will, O God. Father, glorify thy name. Show me a token lor good. Let the Spirit of the Lord God come upon me, and 1 will preach the Gospel to the poor, and heal the brokenhearted, and send forth judgment unto victory.' Whilst He was yet speaking—lo, tlie heavens were opened Mark says, sublimely, "He saw the heavens cleaving." and lie saw the Spirit of God descending—tliat is. He only, witli the exception of His honoured servant, as he
Verl-U. Tkmptation of Christ. (—Mark 1. 12,13; Luke 4. 1-13.) 1. Then—an indefinite note of sequence. But Mark's word (1. 12) fixes what we should have presumed was meant, that It was "immediately" after His baptism; and with this agrees the statement of Luke (4..
1). was Jesus led up i. e., from the low Jordan valley to some more elevated spot, of the Spirit—that blessed
Spirit immediately before spoken of as descending upon Him at His baptism, and abiding upon Him. Luke, connecting these two scenes, as if the one were but the sequel of the other, says, "Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan, and was led," Ac. Mark's expression has a startling sharpness about it—" Immediately the
tells us himself, John 1. 32-34; the bystanders apparently seeing nothing, like a dove, and lighting upon him—Luke says, "in a bodily shape" (3. 22); that is, the blessed Spirit, assuming the corporeal form of a dove, descended thus upon His sacred head. But why in this form? The Scripture use of this emblem will be our best guide here. "My dove, my undefiled is one," says the Song (6. 9). This Is chaste purity. Again, "Be ye harmless an doves," says Christ Himself (Matthew 10. 16). This is the same thing, in the form of Inotlensiveness towards men. " A conscience void of ofTence toward God
Spirit drlveth him," ' putteth,' or ' hurrieth Him forth,' or 'impelleth Him.' (Seethe same word in Mark 1.43; 5.40; Matthew 9. 25 ; 13. 52; John 10. 4.) The though t thus strongly expressed is the mighty constraining impulse of the Spirit under which He went; while Matthew's more gentle expression, "was led up," intimates how purely voluntary on His own part this action was. into the wilderness— probably the wild Judean desert. The particular spot which tradition has fixed upon has hence got the name
aJid toward men" (A^its 24. 16) expresses both. Further, when we read in the Song (2. 14), "O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rocks, in the secret places of the stairs (see
iBaiiUi 60. 8), let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely"— it is shrinking modesty, meekness, gentleness,
of Quarantaria or Qxtaranlaria, from the forty days,—'an almost perpendicular wall of rock twelve or fifteen hundred feet above the plain.' [Uobinson's Palestine.] The supposition of those who Incline to place the Temptation amongst the mountains of Moab is. we think, very improbable, to be tempted— The Greek word (pei7-azeiH) means simply tofrj/ormakeproofof ;and when ascribed to
that is thus charmingly depicted. In a word—not to allude to the historical emblem of the dove that tiew back
to the ark, bearing In its mouth the olive leaf of peace
(GeiK^sis 8. 11)—when we road (Psalm (i8. 13), "Ye shall be
as the wings of adovecovcred with silver, and her I'eatliers
(i()(l In llisdeallngswith men, itmeans,aiul can nieiui no more than this. Thus, Genesis 22. 1, " 11 came to pass thai
witli yellow gold," It is bcaiifeousness that is thus licld
l5rt!i. And was not such that " holy, harmless, undellled
Christ Fasteth Forty Days, MATTHEW IV. and is Tempted by the DetiU.
be made bread—rather, " loaves," answering to "stones" in the plural; whereas Luke, having said, "Command this stone," in the singular, adds, " that it lie made bieaJ," in tlie singular. The sensation of hunger, unfelt during all tlie forty days, seems now to have come on in ail its keenness—no doubt to open a door to the tempter, of whicli lie is not slow to avail himself: q. d., 'Tliou still clingest to that vainglorious confidence that thou art the Son of God, carried away by tliose illusory scenes at the Jordan. Thou wast born in a stable ; but thou art the Son of God ! hurried otT to Egypt for fear of Herod's wrath
God di<l t«mpt Abraham," or put his faith to a severe proof. (See Deuteronomj' 8. 2.) But lor tlie most part in Scripture
tlie word is used in a bad sense, and means to entice, so-
licit, or provolie to sin. Hence the name here given to the wicked one—" the tempter" (i-. 3). Accordingly " to be tempted" here is to be understood botii ways. The Spirit conducted Him into the wilderness simply to have His
faitli tried; but .ns the agent in this trial was to be the wicked one, whose whole object would be to seduce Him from His allegiance to God, it was a temptation in the bad sense of the term. The unworthy inference wliich some would draw from this is energeticallj' repelled by an apostle (James 1. 13-17). of the devil. The word signifies a slanderer— one who casts imputations upon another. Hence that other name given him (Revelation
but tiiou art the Son of God! a carpenter's roof supplied thee witli a home, and in the obscurity of a despicable town of Galilee tliou liast spent tliirty years, yet still Uio\x art the Son of God! and a voice from heaven, it seems, proclaimed it in thine ears at the Jordan ! Be it so; but alter that, surely thy days ol obscurity and trial should have an end. Wliy linger for weeks in tliis desert, wandering among the wild beasts and craggy rocks, uni>onoured, unattended, unpilied, ready to starve for want of the necessaries of life ? Is this betiLtiug " tlie Son of God 7" At the bidding of "the Son of God" sure those stones siiall all be turned into loaves, anil in a moment presmt an abundant repast?' 4. But Ite answered and said, It is written (Deiiteronomy 8. 3), Man shall not live by bread alone—more emphatically, as in tiie Greek, "Not by bread alone shall man live"—but by every word tl»n ( proceedetli out of the mouth of God. Of all passages i u Old Testament Scripture, none could have been pitched upon more apposite, perhaps not one so apposite, to our Lord's purpose. " The Lord led thee (said Moses to Israiil, at the close of their journeyings) these forty years in the wilderness, to humble tliee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with maiuia, whicli thou knewest not, neither did tliy fathers know; tliat he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only," &c. ' Now, if Israel spent, not forty days, but forty years in a waste, howling wilderness, where tliere were no means of human subsistence, not starving, but divinely provided for, on purpose to prove to every age that human support depends not upon bread, but upon God's unfailing word of promise and pledgeofall needful providential care, am I, distrusting this word of God, a.i-d despairing of relief, to take the law into my own hand? True, the Son of God is able enougli to turn stones into bread : but what the Son of God is able to do is not the present question, but what is man's duty under want of the necessaries of life. And as Israel's condition in the wilderness did not justify their unbelieving niurmurings and frequent desperation, so neither would mine wari-ant
12. 10), "Tlie accuser of the ijrethren, who accuseth them before our God day and night." Mark (1. 13) says, "He was forty days tempted of Satan," a word signifying an adversary, one who lies in wait for, or sets himself in opposition to another. These and other names of the same fallen spirit point to different features in his character or operations. What was the high design of this? First, as wejudge, to give our Lord a taste of what lay before Him in the work He had undertaken; next, to make trial of the glorious furniture for it which He had just received
further, to give Him encouragement, by the victory now to be won, to go forward spoiling principalities and powers, until at length He should make a show of them openly, triumphing over them in His cross; that the tempter,
too, might get a taste, at the very outset, of the new kind of material in man which he would find he had here to deal with; finally, that He might acquire experimental ability "to succour thorn that are tempted" (Hebrews 2.
18). The temptation evidently embraced two stages : tlie one continuing tliroughout the forty days' fast; the other, at the conclusion of that period. First Stage: 2. And when he had fa«ted forty days and forty nights. Luke says, " Wlien they were quite ended." he was afterward an hungered—evidently Implying that the sensation of hunger was unfelt during all the forty days; coming on only at their close. So it was apparently with Moses (Exoduis 34. 28) and Elijah (1 Kings 19. 8) for the same period. A supernatural power of endurance was of course Imparted to the body, but this probably operated through a natural law—the absorption of tlie Redeemer's Spirit in the dread conflict with the tempter. (See on Acts 9. 9.) Had we only this Gospel, we should suppose the temptation did not begin till after this. But it is clear, from Mark's statement, that "He was in the wilderness forty days tempted of Satan," and Luke's, " being forty days tempted of the devil," that there was a forty days' temptation be/ore tlie three specific temptations afterwards recorded. And this is what we have called the First Stage. What the precise nature and object of the forty days' temptation was is not recorded. But two things seem plain enough. First, the tempter had utterly failed of his
tlie exercise (if the power of the Son of God in snatching despairingly at unwarranted relief. As man, therefore, I will await Divine supply, nothing doubting tliat at the fitting time it will arrive.' Tlie second temptation in this Gospel is in Luke's the third. Tliat Matthew's order is the right one will appear, we think, pretty clearly in tlie sequel. 5. Then the devil talieth him up—latiier, ' couductetli him'—into the holy city—so called (as in Isaiah
object, else it had not been renewed ; and the terms in which he opens his second attack imply as much. But further, the tempter's whole object during the forty days evidently was to get Him to distrust the heavenly testimony borne to Him at His baptism as the Son of God—
48. 2; Nelieniiah 11. 1) from its being "the city of tlie Great King," the seat of tlie temple, tlie metropolis of all Jewish worship, and settetli him on a pinnacle—ratlier, 'the pinnacle' — of the temple— a certain well-known pro-
to persuade Him to regard it as but a splendid illusion and, generally, to dislodge from His breast the consciousness of His Sonship. With what plausibility the events of His previous history from the beginning would be urged upon Him in support of this temptation it is easy
jection. Whether this refer to the liighest summit of the temple, which bristled with golden spikes (Josepuus,
to imagine. And it makes much in support of this view of the forty days' temptation that the particulars of it are not recorded ; for how the details of such a purely internal struggle could be recorded it is hard to see. If this be cor-
Antiquities,?). 5, 6); or whetlier it refer to another peak, ou Herod's royal portico, overhanging tlie ravine of Kedron, at the valley of Hinnom—an immense tower built on the very edge of this precipice, from the top of which diz.zy height JosEPHUS says one could not look to the bottom {Antupjilies, 15. 11, 5)— is not certain; but the latter
rect, how naturally does the Second Staoe of the temptation open! In Mark's brief notice of the temptation there is one expressive particular not given either by Matthew or by Luke—that " He was with the wild beasts," no doubt to a<ld terror to solitude, and aggravate the horrors of the whole scene. 3. And when the tempter came In him. Evidently we ha^e here a new scene, he said, It thoa be the Son of God. command that these stones
is probably meant. 6. And saith unto Itim, If thou be the Son of Uod—As this temptation starts with llie same point as the first—our Lord's determination not to be disputed out of His Sonship—it seems to us clear that the one came directly after the other; and as the remaining temptation sliows that the hope of carrying tba(
Christ is Tempted by the DevU. MATTHEW IV. Ue is MinlUered to by Angels.
point was abandoned, and all was staked upon a desperate ventuie, we think that remaining temptation is tlius shown to be the last; as will appear still more when we come to it. cast thyself down ("from hence," Luke 4.
In this case his offer to our liOrd was that of a depxUed supremacy commensurate with his own, though as hU
gift and for his ends. If tlion wilt fall down and worsl>ip me — This was the sole but monstrous condition. No Scripture, it will be observed. Is quoted now, because nonecould be found to support so blasphemous a claim. In fact, he has ceased now to present his temptations under tl^e mask of piety, and stands out nnblusliingly as the rival of God Himself in his claims on the homage of men. Despairing of success as an ange! of light, he throws off all disguise, and with a splendid bribe solicits Divine honour. This again shows that we are now at the last c)f the temptations, and that Matthew's order is the true one. 10. Tlien gaitli Jesus unto him, Get thee lienre, .Satan—Since the tempter has now thrown off the mask, and stands forth in his true character, our Lord no longer deals with him as a pretended friend and pious counsel-
C): for it is written (Psalm 91. 11, 12). 'But what is this I
r;ee?' exclaims stately Bishop Hall— ' Satan himself with
I). Bible under his arm and a text in his mouth !' Doubt-
less the tempter, having felt the power of God's word in ihe former temptation, was eager to try the effect of it from his own mouth (2 Corinthians 11. 14). He shall give IiU angels charge concerning thee: and in— ratlier,
' on'—tlieir hands they shall bear thee np, lest at any time thoii dash thy foot against a stone—The quotation
is precisely as it stands in the Hebrew and LXX., save
tliat after the first clause the words, " to keep thee in all
tliy ways," are here omitted. Not a few good expositors have thought that this omission was intentional, to conceal the fact that this would not have been one of "His ways," t. e., of duty. But as our Lord's reply makes no allusion to this, but seizes on the great principle Involved in the promise quoted, so when we look at the promise
lor, but calls him by his right name—His knowledge of which from the outset He had carefully concealed till now —and orders him off. This is the final and conclusive evidence, as we think, that Matthew's must be the right order of the temptations. For who can well conceive of the tempter's returning to the assault after this, in the pious character again, and hoping still to dislodge theconsciousness of His Sonship, while our Lord must in that case bo supposed to quote Scripture to one He had called the devil to his face—thus throwing His pearls before worse than swine? for it is written — (Deuteronomy 6.13.) Thus does our Lord part with Satan on the rock of Scripture. Tliou shalt worship—In the i?e6rew and LXX. it
itself, it is plain that the sense of it is precisely the same whether tlie clause in question be inserted or not. 7. Jesns said unto him, It is written again—(Deuteronomy 6. 16), q. d., 'True, it is so written, and on that prom-
ise I implicitly rely; but in using it there is another scripture which must not be forgotten. Then shalt not tempt the Lord thy God—Preservation in danger is divinely pledged : shall I then create danger, either to put the promised security skeptically to the proof, or wantonly to demand a display of it? That were "to tempt the Lord my God," which, being expressly forbidden, would forfeit the right to expect preservation.' 8. Again,
is, "Thou shalt fear;" but as the sense Is the same, so " worship" is here used to show emphatically that wliat the tempter claimed was precisely what God had forbidden,
tlie Lord thy God, and Iiim only shalt thou serve—The word " serve" in the second clause. Is one never used by the LXX. of any but religious service; and in this sense exclusively Is it used in the New Testament, as we find it here. Once more the word "only," in the second clause —not expressed In the Hebrew and LXX.— Is here added to bring out emphatically the negative and prohibitory feature of the command. (See Galatlans 3. 10 for a similar supplement of the word " all" In a quotation from Deuteronomy 27. "26.) 11. Then the devil leaveth him—Lu ke says, "And when the devil had exhausted"—or 'quite ended,' as in Luke 4. 2—" every (mode of) temptation, he departed from him till a season." The definite "season" here indicated is expressly referred to by our Lord in John 14. 30 and Luke 22. 52, 53. aitd, behold, angels came and intjiistered unto him—or supplied Him with food, as the same expression means in Mark 1. 31 and Luke 8. 3. Thus did angels to Elijah (1 Kings 19. &-8). Excellent
tlie devil taketh him up— ' conducteth him,' as before into, or 'unto,' an exceeding high mountain, and sliowetli liim all tiie Itlngdoms of the world, and the glory ofthem—Luke (4. 5) adds the important clause, " in a moment of time ;" a clause which seems to furnish a key
to the true meaning. That a scene was presented to our Lord's natural eye seems plainly expressed. But to limit
(ills to the most extensive scene which the natural eye could take in, is to give a sense to the expression, " all the kingdoms of the world," quite violent. It remains, then,
to gather from the expression, "in a moment of time" which manifestly is Intended to Intimate some supernatural operation—that it was permitted to the tempter
to extend preternaturally for a moment our Lord's range
' of vision, and throw a "glory" or glitter over the scene
of vision : a thing not inconsistent with the analogy of other scriptural statements regarding the permitted operations of the wicked one. In this case, the "exceeding height" of the "mountain" from which this sight was beheld would favour tlie effect to be produced. 9. Antl
critics think that they ministered, not food only, but Bupernattiral support and cheer also. But this would be the natural eftect rather than the direct object of the visit, which was plainly what we have expressed. And after having refused to claim the illegitimate ministration of angels In His behalf, oh with what deep Joy would He accept their services when sent, unasked, at the close of all this temptation, direct from Him whom He had so gloriously honoured! What "angels' food" would this repast be to Him! and as He partook of it, might not a Voice from heaven be heard again, by any who could read the Feather's mind, 'Said I not well. This
gaitit tinto liim, All these things will I give thee "and the glory of them," adds Luke. But Matthew having already said that this was "showed Him," did not need to repeat it here. Luke (4. 6) adds these other very important clauses, here omitted—"for that is," or 'has been,' "delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give It." Was this wholly false? That were not like Satan's usual policy, which Is to Insinuate his lies under cover of some truth. What truth, then, is there here? We answer. Is not Satan thrice called by our Lord Himself, "the prince of this world" (John 12. 31; 14. 30; 18.
is my beloved Son, In whom I am well pleased?'
II) ? does not the apostle call him "the god of this world"
12-25. Christ Begins His Galilean Ministry-Calling OF Peter and Andrew, James and John — His First Galilean Circuit. (=Mark, 1. 14-20,35-39; Luke
(2 Corinthians 4. 4)? and still further, is it not said that Christ came to destroy by His death "him that Jia/h the power of death, that is, the devil" (Hebrews 2. 14)? No doubt these passages only express men's voluntary sub-
4. 14, 15.) There is here a notable gap in the History, which but for the fourth Gospel we should never have discovered. From the former Gospels we should have beea apt to draw three Inferences, which from the fourth one we know to be erroneous: First, that our Lonl awaited the close of John's ministry, by his arrest and ImprLsonment, before beginning His own ; next, that there was bul a brief Interval between the baptism of our Lord and th« imprlsonnu'nt of John; and further, that our I^ord not only oi>ened His work in Galilee, but never ministered out of It, and never visited Jerusalem %t all uor kept a
jection to the rule of the wicked one while they live, and his power to surround death to them, when It comes, with
all tlie terrors of the wages of sin. But as this is a real and terrible sway, so all Scripture represents men as rlghteouslj' sold under It. In this sense he speaks what
is not devoid of truth, when he says, "All this is delivered unto me." But how does he deliver this "to whomsoever he will?" As employing whomsoever he pleases Of his willing subjects In keeping men under his power.
Chiist'a Entry into Galilee. MATTHEW IV. He Preacheth in Capertujum,
saying, 15. The land of Zabiilon, and the land of Neplitlialim, [by] tl»e way of tU« sea—the coast skirting the Sea of Galilee westward — beyond Jordan—a phrase commonly meaning eastward of Jordan ; but here and iu several places it means westward of tlie Jordan. The word seems to have got the general meaning of
pasKover till He went thither to become "our Passover,
EULi iliced for us." The fourth Gospel alone gives the true
succession of events; not only recording those important openings of our Lord's public work which preceded tlie
Baptist's imprisonment— extending to the end of the
' the otlier side ;' tlie nature of the case determining whicli side tiiat, was. Galilee of the Gentiles—so called Irom its position, which made it ' tlie frontier ' between the Holy Land and the external world. While Ephraim ana Judah, as Stanley says, were separated from the world by the Jnrdau valley on one side and the hostile Philistines on aool her, the northern tribes were In the direct highway of all the invaders from the north, in unbroken communication with the promiscuous races who have always occupied the heights of Lebanon, and In close and peaceful alliance with the most commercial nation of the aucient world—the Phoenicians. Twenty of tlie cities of Galilee were actually annexed by Solomon to the adjacent kingdom of Tyre, and formed, with their territory, the " boundary " or " ofTscouring " (" Gebul " or " Cabul ") of the two dominions—at a later time still known by the general name of " the boundaries (" coasts " or " borders ") of Tyre and Sidon." In the first great transportation of the Jewish population, Naphtali and Galilee suflered the same fate as the transjordanic tribes before Ephraim or
third chupter—but so specifying the passover which oc-
curred during our Lord's ministry as to enable us to line
off, with a large measure of certainty, the events of the
£vst three Gospels according to the successive passovers which they embraced. Eusebius, the ecclesiastical histor-
ian, who, early in the fourth century, gave much attention
to this subject, in noticing these features of the Evangel-
icjil Records, says (3. 2i) that John wrote his Gospel at the entreaty of those who knew the important materials he
possessed, and tilled up what is wanting in the tirst three
Gospels. Why it was reserved for tiie fourth Gospel, pub-
lished at so late a period, to supply such important par-
ticulars in the life of Christ, it is not easy to conjecture with any probability. It may be, that though not unacquainted with the general facts, they were not furnished with reliable details. But one thing may be affirmed with tolerable certainty, thatasour Lord's teaching at Jerusalem was of a depth and grandeur scarcely so well adapted to the prevailing character of the first tliree Gos-
pels, but altogether congenial to the fourth; and as the bare mention of the successive passovers, without any account of the transactions and discourses they gave rise
. Judah had been molested (2 Kings 15. 29). In the time of the Christian era this original disadvantage of their position was still felt; the speech of the Galileans "bewrayed them " by its uncouth pronunciation (Matthew 26.73); and their distance from the seats of government and civilization at Jerusalem and Ceesarea gave them their character for turbulence or independence, according as it was viewed by their friends or their enemies. 16. The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which satin the region and stiadow of deatli light is sprung up. The proplietic strain to which these words belong commences witli Isaiah 7., to which ch. 6. is introductory,- and goes down to the end of ch. 12., which hymns the spirit of that whole strain of prophecy. It belongs to the reign of Aliaz, and turns upon the combined efTorts of the two neighbouring kingdoms of Syria and Israel to crush Judah. In these critical circumstances Judah and her king were, by their ungodliness, provoking the Lord to
to, would have served little purpose in the first three Gos-
pels, there may have been no way of preserving the unity and consistency of each Gospel, so as to furnish by means
of them all the precious information we get from them, save by the plan on which ihey are actually constructed.
Enlry into Galilee iv. 12-17). 13. Now wlieu Jesus l»ad heard that John was cast Into prison—more simply, 'was delivered up;' as recorded in ch. If. 3-5; Mark 6. 17-
20 ; Luke 3. 19, 20—he departed—rather, ' withdrew '—Into Galilee—as recorded, in its proper place, iu John 4. 1-3.
13. And leaving Nazareth—The prevalent opinion is, that this refers to a first visit to Nazareth after His baptism, whose details are given by Luke (-1. 16, &c.) ; a second
visit being that detailed by our Evangelist (ch. 13. 54-58), and by Mark (ch. 6. 1-6). But to us there seem all but insuperable difficulties in the supposition of two visits to Nazareth after His baptism ; and on the grounds slated on Luke 4. 16, &c., we think that the one only visit to Nazareth is that recorded by Matthew (13.), Mark (6.), and Luke
sell them into the hands of their enemies. What, then, Is the burden of this prophetic strain, on to the passage here quoted? First, Judah shall not, cannot perish, because Immanuel,, the Virgin's Son, is to come forth from his loins. Next, One of the invaders shall soon perish, and the kingdoms of neither be enlarged. Further, While the Lord will be the Sanctuary of such as confide in these promises and await their fulfilment, He will drive to confusion, darkness, and despair the vast multitude of tlie nation who despised His oracles, and, in their anxiety and distress, betook themselves to the lying oracles of the heathen. This carries us down to the end of the eighth chapter. At the opening of the ninth chapter a sudden light is seen breaking in upon one particular p.irt of the country, the part which was to suffer most in these wars and devastations—" the land of Zebulun, and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee and the Gentiles." The rest of the prophecy stretches over both the Assyrian and the Chaldean captivities, and terminates in the glorious Messianic prophecy of ch. 11. and the choral hymn of ch. 12. Well, this Is the point seized on by our Evangelist. By Messiah's taking, up His abode in those very regions of Galilee, and shedding His glorious light upon them, this prediction. He says, of the Evangelical prophet was now fulfilled; and