70. That have been since the world began (ảπ' aiŵvos). A needlessly verbose rendering, retained by Rev. The American Rev. insists on of old.

74. Serve (aтpevew). Originally to serve for hire, from λáτpov, hire. Plato uses it of the service of God. λάτρον,

75. Holiness and righteousness (oσióтηTI Kai dikaιoσvvy). The adjective oσios, holy, is properly what is confirmed by ancient sanction and precept. 'Ooía is used in classical Greek to denote the everlasting principles of right, not constituted by the laws or customs of men, but antedating them; such as the paying of the proper rites of sepulture. Compare the fine passage in the "Antigone" of Sophocles (453-55):

"Nor did I deem thy edicts strong enough,

That thou, a mortal man, shouldst overpass

The unwritten laws of God that know not change.

They are not of to-day nor yesterday,

But live forever, nor can man assign
When first they sprang to being."

Hence oσións is concerned primarily with the eternal laws of God. It is "the divine consecration and inner truth of righteousness" (Meyer). Throughout the New Testament its look is godward. In no case is it used of moral excellence as related to men, though it is to be carefully noted that Sıxaιoσúvη, righteousness, is not restricted to rightness toward men. Compare Eph. iv. 24; true holiness; literally, holiness of the truth.

77. Knowledge of salvation. Wyc. has the science of health.

78. Tender mercy (σπλáyɣva exéovs). Lit., bowels of mercy. See on 1 Pet. iii. 8; Jas. v. 11. Rev. gives heart of mercy in margin. Wyc., frightfully, entrails of mercy.

The day-spring from on high (åvatoλý é§ üovs). Lit., the rising. The word occurs in the Septuagint as a rendering

of branch, as something rising or springing up, by which the Messiah is denoted (Jer. xxiii. 5; Zech. vi. 12). Also of the rising of a heavenly body (Isa. lx. 19, Sept.). Compare the kindred verb arise (àvatéλλw) in Isa. lx. 1; Mal. iv. 2. This latter is the sense here. See on Matt. ii. 2. Wyc. has he springing up from on high.

Hath visited (ẻπEσKÉ↓аτO). See on Matt. xxv. 36; 1 Pet. ii. 12. Some, however, read éπionéfeтai, shall visit. So Rev.

79. To guide (KaтEVIûvaι). From evJús, straight. Wyc. has dress, which is formed through the old French dresser, to arrange, from the Latin dirigere, to set in a straight line, draw up. Hence the military term dress for arranging a line.

80. The deserts (Taîs épýμois). The article indicating a well-known place.

Shewing (avadeiews). The word was used of the public announcement of an official nomination; hence of the public inauguration of John's ministry.

CHAPTER II.

1. Decree (dóyμa). Wyc., mandment. From Sokéw, to think. Hence, strictly, a personal opinion; and, as the opinion of one who can impose his opinion authoritatively on others, a decree.

The world (Tv oiкovμévηv). Lit., the inhabited (land). The phrase was originally used by the Greeks to denote the land inhabited by themselves, in contrast with barbarian countries; afterward, when the Greeks became subject to the Romans, the entire Roman world; still later, for the whole inhabited world. In the New Testament this latter is the more common usage, though, in some cases, this is conceived in the mould of the Roman empire, as in this passage, Acts xi. 28; xix. 27. Christ uses it in the announcement that the Gospel shall be

preached in all the world (Matt. xxiv. 14); and Paul in the prediction of a general judgment (Acts xvii. 31). Once it is used of the world to come (Heb. ii. 5).

Be taxed (ảπoypápeσJai). The word means properly to register or enter in a list. Commentators are divided as to whether it refers to an enrolment for taxation, or for ascertaining the population. Rev., enrolled, which may be taken in either sense.

2. And this taxing was first made (αűτη ý áπoɣρapǹ πράτη ¿yéveтO). Rather, this occurred as the first enrolment; or, as Rev., this was the first enrolment made; with reference to a second enrolment which took place about eleven years later, and is referred to in Acts v. 37.

3. Went (éπopЄúοvтO). The A. V. and Rev. alike miss the graphic force of the imperfect tense, were going. The preparation and bustle and travel were in progress.

To his own city. The town to which the village or place. of their birth belonged, and where the house and lineage of each were registered.

4. House and lineage. According to the Jewish mode of registration the people would be enrolled by tribes, families or clans, and households. Compare Josh. vii. 16-18. Rev., house and family.

5. To be taxed with Mary. We may read either, went up with Mary, denoting merely the fact of her accompanying him; or, to enrol himself with Mary, implying that both their names must be registered.

Espoused. Not merely betrothed. See Matt. i. 20, 24, 25; also on Matt. i. 18.

Great with child (eykú). See on Ch. i. 24. Only here in New Testament.

7. Her first-born son. The Greek reads literally, her son, the first-born.

Wrapped in swaddling-clothes (eσrapyávwoev). Only here and ver. 12. Naturally found often in medical writings. Swaddle is swathel, from the verb to swathe.

(ἐν φάτνῃ).

In a manger (èv párvη). Used by Luke only, here and xiii. 15. Wyc. has a cracche, spelt also cratch. Compare French crèche, a manger. Quite possibly a rock-cave. Dr. Thomson says: "I have seen many such, consisting of one or more rooms, in front of and including a cavern where the cattle were kept" ("Land and Book").

In the inn (ev TO KATAλÚμATI). Only here, ch. xxiii. 11; (ἐν καταλύματι). Mark xiv. 14, on which see note. In both these passages it is rendered guest-chamber, which can hardly be the meaning here, as some have maintained. (See Geikie, "Life and Words of Christ," i., 121.) In that case the expression would be, they found no Kaτáλvpa, guest-chamber. The word refers to the ordinary khan, or caravanserai. Tynd., hostrey. "A Syrian khan is a fort and a mart; a refuge from thieves; a shelter from the heat and dust; a place where a man and his beast may lodge; where a trader may sell his wares, and a pilgrim may slake his thirst. Where built by a great sheikh, it would have a high wall, an inner court, a range of arches or lewans, an open gallery round the four sides, and, in many cases, a tower from which the watcher might descry the approach of marauding bands. On one side of the square, but outside the wall, there is often a huddle of sheds, set apart from the main edifice, as stables for the asses and camels, the buffaloes and goats. In the centre of the khan springs a fountain of water, the first necessity of an Arab's life; and around the jets and troughs in which the limpid element streams, lies the gay and picturesque litter of the East. Camels wait to be unloaded; dogs quarrel for a bone; Bedaween from the desert, their red zannars choked with pistols, are at prayer. In the archways squat the merchants with their bales of goods.

Half

.

naked men are cleansing their hands ere sitting down to eat. Here a barber is at work upon a shaven crown; there a fellah lies asleep in the shade. Each man has to carry his dinner and his bed; to litter his horse or camel; to dress his food; to draw his water; to light his fire, and to boil his mess. of herbs" (Hepworth Dixon, "The Holy Land”).

8. Shepherds. Luke's Gospel is the gospel of the poor and lowly. This revelation to the shepherds acquires additional meaning as we remember that shepherds, as a class, were under the Rabbinic ban, because of their necessary isolation from religious ordinances, and their manner of life, which rendered strict legal observance wellnigh impossible.

Keeping watch (φυλάσσοντες φυλακάς). Φυλακή is sometimes used of a watch as a measure of time, as in Matt. xiv. 25; Mark vi. 48;. Luke xii. 38. So possibly here. See Rev. in margin, night-watches. There is a play upon the words: watching watches. There was near Bethlehem, on the road to Jerusalem, a tower known as Migdal Eder, or the watch-tower of the flock. Here was the station where shepherds watched the flocks destined for sacrifice in the temple. Animals straying from Jerusalem on any side, as far as from Jerusalem to Migdal Eder, were offered in sacrifice. It was a settled conviction among the Jews that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, and equally that he was to be revealed from Migdal Eder. The beautiful significance of the revelation of the infant Christ to shepherds watching the flocks destined for sacrifice needs no comment.

Their flock (Tην πоíμνην). May not the singular number fall in with what has just been said?-the flock, the templeflock, specially devoted to sacrifice. The pronoun their would furnish no objection, since it is common to speak of the flock as belonging to the shepherd. Compare John x. 3, 4.

9. Behold. Omitted by the best texts.