warned of God in Reflections on the slaughter of infants. a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee : it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene. xiii. 87 Mat. he was afraid to go thither to settle, or so much SECT. as to take it in his way; but, being again divinely admonished in a dream, he withdrew into the region of Galilee, which was under the govern- II. 22. ment of Herod Antipas", a prince of a milder character; and who was then on such hostile terms with Archelaus, that there was no danger 23 And he came of his giving them up to him. And he went 23 and dwelt in a city and dwelt in a little city, on the confines of Zacalled Nazareth: that bulon and Issachar, which was called Nazareth, where he had formerly resided before he went to Bethlehem; and being thus returned to his own city, Jesus was there brought up and educated in a place so very contemptible among the Jews, that it was grown into a proverb with them, That no good thing could be expected from thence (John i. 46. vii. 52.) so that by this a way was further opened by the providence of God, that it might be fulfilled what had been spoken in effect by many of the prophets. "He shall be called a Nazaraan ";" that is, he shall appear in mean and despicable circumstances, and be treated as the mark of public contempt and reproach. IMPROVEMENT. What is our fallen nature, that it can be capable of such enormities as we have now been surveying! Or what imagin- Ver. able circumstances of grandeur and power can free the mind of an 16 ambitious creature from servitude and misery! Who can behold n Galilee-under the government of Herod Antipas.] Herod the Great divided his dominions by his last will, appointing Archelaus to succeed him as king of Judea, Herod Antipas to be Tetrarch of Galilee and Peræa, and Philip to be Tetarch of Trachonitis and the neighbouring countries. (Joseph. Antiq. lib. xvii. cap. 8. (al. 11.) § 1. But Herod Antipas endeavoured to supplant his brother Archelaus, when application was made to the Romans to confirm the will, and went to Rome, with a view of obtaining the kingdom, (which was left to him in a former will,) in which he was supported by the interest of the whole family who hated Archelaus, and thought his brother to be far more worthy of the kingdom; and, though he did not carry his point, the attempt was such as could not but widen the breach there was before between them, and left no room for any future correspond Herod ence. See Joseph, Antiq. lib. xvii, cap. • He shall be called a Nazaræan.] If the 88 xiii. Reflections on the preservation of Jesus in Egypt. SECT. Herod under the agitation of such a barbarous rage, and not see the vanity even of royal dignity, when the man that sways the Mat. sceptre over others hath no rule over his own spirit? Surely none 11. 21. of the innocent victims of Herod's wrath felt so much from the sword of their barbarous murderers as the guilty mind of the tyrant from its own unnatural transports. The indignation which arises in our minds on the view of so 18 much wickedness, finds a secret satisfaction in this thought. But how grievous is it to reflect on what the parents of these poor babes felt while the sword that murdered their children in their very sight pierced through their own bowels? Happy, in comparison with these, were the wombs that never bare and the paps that never gave suck! Let parents remember how soon their dearest hopes may be turned into lamentation and learn to moderate their expectation from their infant offspring and check too fond a delight in them. Let us all learn to be very thankful that we are not under the arbitrary power of a tyrant, whose sallies of distracted fury might spread desolation through houses and provinces. Let us not say, Where was the great Regent of the universe when such a horrible butchery was transacted? His all-wise counsels knew how to bring good out of all the evil of it. The agony of a few moments transmitted these oppressed innocents to peace and joy, while the impotent rage of Herod only heaped on his own head guilt, infamy and horror. He conceived mischief, and he brought forth canity, (Job xv. 35:) and while he studied to prevent the establishment of the Messiah's kingdom, and set himself with impious rage against the Lord, and against his Anointed, He that sitteth in the heavens did laugh, yea, the Lord had him in derision. (Psalm ii. 2, 4.) That God, who discerns every secret purpose of his enemies, and foresees every intended assault, knows how, whenever he pleases, by a thought, by a dream, to baffle it. The preservation of the holy child Jesus in Egypt may be considered as a figure of God's care over his church in its greatest 13 danger. God doth not often, as he easily could, strike their persecutors with immediate destruction; but he provides a hidingplace for his people, and, by methods not less effectual, though less pompous, preserves his chosen seed from being swept away, even when the enemy comes in like a flood. 14, 15 Egypt, that was once the seat of persecution and oppression to the Israel of God, is now a refuge to his Son: and thus all places will be to us what Divine Providence will be pleased to make them. When, like Joseph and Mary, we are cut off from the worship of his temple and perhaps removed into a strange land, he can be a little sanctuary to us and give us, in his gracious presence, a rich equivalent for all that we have lost. They Jesus goes up with his parents to Jerusalem. xiii. 89 They continued here till he gave the signal for their departure. SECT. Let us, in like manner, remember that it is God's part to direct and ours to obey; nor can we be out of the way of safety and Ver. of comfort while we are following his directions, and steering 19 our course by the intimations of his pleasure! Jesus survived his persecutors, and returned into the land of 20 Israel again; but such was his condescension, that he abode at Nazareth, which seems to have been alloted him as the most humble station. Let us never be unwilling to bear reproach for 23 him, who from his infancy endured it for us; nor take offence at the meanness of his condition, whose removes were directed by angelic messengers, as immediate envoys from the God of heaven! SECT. XIV. Jesus, at the age of twelve years, comes up to the passover at Jerusalem, and there discourses with the doctors in the temple. Luke II. 40. to the end. LUKE II. 40. AND the Child grew, and waxed strong in Spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him. 41 Now his parents went to every year at the feast of the passover. Luke II. 40. SECT. xiv. Luke AND the child Jesus, being returned to Na- Now his pious parents went yearly to Jerusa- 41 Jerusalem lem at the feast of the passover; as it was usual for those families to do that were remarkably religious, though only the adult males were by the law obliged to appear before the Lord on this 42 And when he occasion. (Compare 1 Sam. i. 3, 7, 21.) And 42 was twelve years old, when he was twelve years old, and so, according salem, after the custom to the Jewish maxims, came under the yoke of the law, his parents, when they went up to Jerusalem, they went up to Jeru of the feast. a Came under the yoke of the law.] Though I am not satisfied of the truth of Grotius's assertion, that the Jewish children under this age were called KETANIM, or Little ones, and afterwards NEKHARIM, Or children, (since it is certain that the word NEKHAR is often used for those under that b Three 90 xiv. He conferreth with the doctors in the temple, SECT. rusalem, according to the usual custom of the feast, thought it proper to take him with them. to ceLuke lebrate that glorious deliverance which God I. 42. had so many ages ago wrought for his people when he brought them out of Egypt, the memory of which was carefully to be transmitted to every succeeding generation. (Compare Exod. xii. 26, 27.) 43 un 43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried bchind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. 44 But they suppos the company, went a And when they had finished all the religious solemnities to be observed in the days of leavened bread, and were returning home, the child Jesus, charmed with the sacred entertainments of the temple, and eagerly desirous of improving in the knowledge of his Father's law, staid behind them in Jerusalem: and neither Jo44 seph nor his mother were aware [of it.] But though they saw he was not with them, yet ing him to have been in knowing his sociable temper, they supposed he was day's journey; and they somewhere in the company (as several families sought him among their travelled together on such occasions): And they kinsfolk and among went a whole day's journey before they missed their acquaintance. him; and then, in the evening, they sought for him amongst their kindred and acquaintance, who were their companions in the journey, and with 45 whom they concluded he had been. And, not finding him with them, they returned immediately, and came back to Jerusalem, seeking him every where with great concern, and ready to suspect that some hostile assault might have been made upon him. 45 And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. 46 And, three days after their setting out, they 46 And it came to found him in an apartment of the temple, where pass that, after three days, they found him the teachers of the law used to lecture upon it in the temple, sitting to the people; and where young persons in par- in the midst of the ticular were examined and had a liberty to ask doctors, both hearing them, and asking them what questions they thought proper for their questions. farther information. Here was Jesus sitting in the midst of the doctors, whose profession it was to teach on these occasions; for he had placed himself among others at their feet, and was, b Three days after their setting out.] The first day was spent in their journcy homeward, the second in their return to Jerusalem, and the third in searching after Christ there.---The word yo, it came to pass, is a mere expletive; and, not imagining that the rules of the most faithful and exact translation would oblige me always to retain it, I have frequently omited it. For their farther information.] All with these things are so well illustrated and confirmed by Dr. Lightfoot, in his Hor. Heb. on this place, that I cannot but refer the reader thither. See also Drusius's excellent note on this place. d Sitting- -at their feet.] I have often thought it a great injury to the character of our Blessed Redeemer, to represent this story, whether in pictures or words, as if Christ, at this tender age, went up into the seats of the doctors, and there disputed And accounts for it to his mother, when she found him. 47 And all that heard his understanding and answers. xiv. 91 with all possible diligence, both attending to them, SECT. and asking them such questions as he judged XIV. proper for the further illustration of what they Luke said. II.46. And all who heard him, considering the ten- 47 him were astonished at derness of his age, were in a perfect transport of admiration at his understanding, and at the penetration which he shewed, both in the questions he put to them, and also in the answers he returned to what they asked him. 48 And when they saw him, they were amazed and his mo And when he was discovered by his parents, 48 and they saw him thus employed, they likewise ther said unto him, were struck with wonder: and his mother said Son, why hast thou unto him, O my son, why hast thou dealt thus thus dealt with us? be- with us? behold, this is now the third day that have sought thee sor- thy father and I have sought thee, from place to place, with inexpressible anxiety and distress. hold, thy father and I rowing. 49 And he said un ye sought me? wist ye And he said unto them, What is the cause that 49 to them, How is it that you have sought me with so much concern? and not that I must be about why is it, you were at such a loss where you my Father's business? should find me? Did ye not know that I ought to be at my Father's? and that wherever I was, I should be so employed in his service as to be secure of his protection? And they did not per- 50 fectly understand the words which he spake unto them upon this occasion, as being expressed in something of a concise and ambiguous manner. 50 And they understood not the say ing which he spake unto them. with them. Not one word is said of his disputing by the Evangelist, but only of his asking some questions and answering others, which was a very usual thing in these assemblies and indeed the very end of them. All was, no doubt, conducted with the utmost modesty and decorum. And if he were with others at the feet of these teachers (where learners generally sat, see Luke x. 39. and Acts xxii. 3.) he might be said to be in the midst of them, as they sat on benches of a semicircular form, raised above their auditors and disciples. e Were in a transport of admiration.] Every learned reader must know that the word av here, and enhaynov in the next verse, are much more forcible than our translation of them, and much more literally rendered here. f I ought to be at my Father's; 9 TOIS TH walls me du uz μ.] There is a known ambiguity in the original. I have chosen with Grotius, Capellus, Fuller, &c. to follow the Syriac version of the words, where it is rendered in my Father's house, which it is certain they will well bear; and so Josephus puts iv tog ty Dios for in Jupiter's temple; contra Apion. lib. i. § 18. p. 449. And Haverc. (Compare John xix. 27. Esther They did not perfectly understand the to |