Bible Commentaries

Lu 2:1-7.

BIRTH OF CHRIST.

1. Cæsar Augustus--the first of the Roman emperors.

all the world--so the vast Roman Empire was termed.

taxed--enrolled, or register themselves.

2. first . . . when Cyrenius, &c.--a very perplexing verse, inasmuch as Cyrenius, or Quirinus, appears not to have been governor of Syria for about ten years after the birth of Christ, and the "taxing" under his administration was what led to the insurrection mentioned in

Ac 5:37.

That there was a taxing, however, of the whole Roman Empire under Augustus, is now admitted by all; and candid critics, even of skeptical tendency, are ready to allow that there is not likely to be any real inaccuracy in the statement of our Evangelist. Many superior scholars would render the words thus, "This registration was previous to Cyrenius being governor of Syria"--as the word "first" is rendered in

Joh 1:15; 15:18.

In this case, of course, the difficulty vanishes. But it is perhaps better to suppose, with others, that the registration may have been ordered with a view to the taxation, about the time of our Lord's birth, though the taxing itself--an obnoxious measure in Palestine--was not carried out till the time of Quirinus.

3. went . . . to his own city--the city of his extraction, according to the Jewish custom, not of his abode, which was the usual Roman method.

4, 5. Not only does Joseph, who was of the royal line, go to Bethlehem

(1Sa 16:1),

but Mary too--not from choice surely in her condition, but, probably, for personal enrollment, as herself an heiress.

5. espoused wife--now, without doubt, taken home to him, as related in

Mt 1:18; 25:6.

6. while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered--Mary had up to this time been living at the wrong place for Messiah's birth. A little longer stay at Nazareth, and the prophecy would have failed. But lo! with no intention certainly on her part, much less of Cæsar Augustus, to fulfil the prophecy, she is brought from Nazareth to Bethlehem, and at that nick of time her period arrives, and her Babe is born

(Ps 118:23).

"Every creature walks blindfold; only He that dwells in light knows whether they go" [BISHOP HALL].

7. first-born--So

Mt 1:25;

yet the law, in speaking of the first-born, regardeth not whether any were born after or no, but only that none were born before [LIGHTFOOT].

wrapt him . . . laid him--The mother herself did so. Had she then none to help her? It would seem so

(2Co 8:9).

a manger--the manger, the bench to which the horses' heads were tied, on which their food could rest [WEBSTER and WILKINSON].

no room in the inn--a square erection, open inside, where travellers put up, and whose rear parts were used as stables. The ancient tradition, that our Lord was born in a grotto or cave, is quite consistent with this, the country being rocky. In Mary's condition the journey would be a slow one, and ere they arrived, the inn would be fully occupied--affecting anticipation of the reception He was throughout to meet with

(Joh 1:11).

Wrapt in His swaddling--bands,

And in His manger laid,

The hope and glory of all lands

Is come to the world's aid.

No peaceful home upon His cradle smiled,

Guests rudely went and came where slept the royal Child.

KEBLE

But some "guests went and came" not "rudely," but reverently. God sent visitors of His own to pay court to the new-born King.

Lu 2:8-20.

ANGELIC ANNUNCIATION TO THE SHEPHERDS--THEIR VISIT TO THE NEWBORN BABE.

8. abiding in the fields--staying there, probably in huts or tents.

watch . . . by night--or, night watches, taking their turn of watching. From about passover time in April until autumn, the flocks pastured constantly in the open fields, the shepherds lodging there all that time. (From this it seems plain that the period of the year usually assigned to our Lord's birth is too late). Were these shepherds chosen to have the first sight of the blessed Babe without any respect of their own state of mind? That, at least, is not God's way. "No doubt, like Simeon

(Lu 2:25),

they were among the waiters for the Consolation of Israel" [OLSHAUSEN]; and, if the simplicity of their rustic minds, their quiet occupation, the stillness of the midnight hours, and the amplitude of the deep blue vault above them for the heavenly music which was to fill their ear, pointed them out as fit recipients for the first tidings of an Infant Saviour, the congenial meditations and conversations by which, we may suppose, they would beguile the tedious hours would perfect their preparation for the unexpected visit. Thus was Nathanael engaged, all alone but not unseen, under the fig tree, in unconscious preparation for his first interview with Jesus. (See on

Joh 1:48).

So was the rapt seer on his lonely rock "in the spirit on the Lord's Day," little thinking that this was his preparation for hearing behind him the trumpet voice of the Son of man

(Re 1:10,

&c.). But if the shepherds in His immediate neighborhood had the first, the sages from afar had the next sight of the new-born King. Even so still, simplicity first, science next, finds its way to Christ, whom

In quiet ever and in shade

Shepherds and Sage may find--

They, who have bowed untaught to Nature's sway,

And they, who follow Truth along her star-pav'd way.

KEBLE