Annotations Upon the New Testament, Luke · Chapter 2
CHAP. II.
Vers. 1. ALl the world] That is, all the Provinces subject to the Romane Empire;Ad verbum tota habitabilis, ita ut subaudias terra. foreign autem non accipitur propriè, ut Psal. 24.1. de toto orbe terrarum, sed de toto orbe Romano: sicut Synodus secunda Constantinopolitana foreign dicitur apud Theodoretum, hist. Eccles. l. 5. c. 9. quamvis Congregati in ea essent Episcopi ex orientali tantum Romani orbis parte: & propriè loquendo, nulla unquam fuerit Synodus oecumenica, id est, universalis, ex Orbe toto coacta. Scultet. Delit. Evang. c. 12. the Romans arrogantly called themselves the Lords of the whole world. The Syriack hath it, universus populus possessionis, or Dominij ejus, viz. subject to Augustus, and the Romanes. à Lapide.
Joseph. Antiq. 18. c 1. foreign, not taxing but enrolling.Vers. 2. This taxing was first] Luke saith this description was first, viz. in respect of the other, which followed after ten years, or the first generall tax which happened in the whole world now in peace under Augustus and the Romans, for the other impositions were particular in certain provinces. à Lapide.
Vers. 4. And Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the City of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the City of David, which is called Bethlehem] That is, He went up from Nazareth a City of Galilee, where (as the Angel relates) the Virgin conceived Christ. Whence Christ was called by the Jews a Galilean and Nazarite.
Bethlehem] The house of bread, it received its name from the goodness and fertility of the earth. It was situated beyond Jerusalem, and was distant from it a journey of two hours.
Vers. 7. Her first born Son] The first born by the fault of the version (saith oneCartw. Harm.) is referred to Mary, as if Christ were her first born, when he is so called in respect of his Deity, because He is before all Creatures, and for that cause truly God, as 1 Col. 15. and Heb. 1.5.
Because there was no roome for them in the Inn.] An Inn is domus populi, open to all passengers that will take it up, Juris publici, wherein every one hath a right, yea and in the most common part of the Inn, the stable, all have interest.
Alii vertunt, stetit super illos, quasi Angelus è Coelo lapsius. à Lap. Gerh. Harm. Vide Bezam.Vers. 9. The Angel of the Lord came upon them] It signifies a sudden and unhoped for comming, Luke 21.34. and 24.4. Acts 4.1. and 10.17. and 11.11. and 12.7. 1 Thess. 5.3. It signifieth also to assist one from some higher place, Numb. 14.14. Luk. 4.39. in which sense it may be here also taken, Angelus pastoribus foreign, that is, from above, as it were from the aire hanging over their heads, stood by them.
Vers. 10. Good tidings of great joy] All Gods people throughout the whole world should greatly rejoyce in Christ.
There are Prophecies extant in the Prophets of this great joy, as Esaiah 9.3. and 35.10. and 51.5.11.
Vers. 13. A multitude of the heavenly hoast] So an orderly multitude of Angels is called,Angeli omnes Christum Deum ac Dominum suum, in terram nascentem comitati sunt, sicut aulici vel comitantur Regem peregrè proficièntem, Heb. 1.6. Cornel. à Lap. in v. 7. as elsewhere a legion of Devils; where many Angels appear there one as a Ruler is set over the rest.
Vers. 14. First the Doxologie or praise, Glory be to God on high.] Secondly, gratulation, rendring the reason thereof; because of Peace on Earth, Good will towards men; for the conjunction foreign is not to be taken here for a copulative, but as vau is frequently used in the Hebrew for a Conjunction causall.
Glory when it is referred to God, often signifies the Divine presence, or Shecinah, as in 9. v. 2. the high and glorious supereminency or majesty of God,In Excelsis referri potest tum ad Deo, quasi dicerent, Gloria est Deo qui habitat in Coelis altissimis, ibique gloriam suam Angelis & beatis ostendit; tum potius ad Gloria, quasi dicerent, In Coelis altissimis Angeli dant gloriam Deo, sicut in terra homines fruuntur pace per Christum jam natum. Cornel. à Lap. which consisteth in his three-fold Supremacy, of power, of wisdome, and of Goodness, so here, and then to glorifie, or give glory unto God, is nothing else but to acknowledge this Majesty or greatness of his supereminent Power, Wisdome, and Goodness. Mr. Mede in loc.
We translate it from the Greek, and unto men good will. Maldonate confesseth that all the Greek Copies now extant have it good will (viz. of God) unto men, and Bellarmine saith this is the better. Bishop Mortons Appeale.Good will] Some refer it to God, and take it for the eternall love of divine complacency which moved him first to the work of our redemption. See Cornel. à Lap. Others refer it unto men, and make it a limitation of that which goes before, reading foreign for foreign, not peace on Earth, to men good will, but peace on earth to men of good will, so Austin, Cyprian, Ambrose, and most of the ancient and learned Fathers. The Rhemists translate out of the Latine, peace unto men of good will.
Vers. 19. Pondered them in her heart] That is, by meditating upon them in her mind,Vide Piscat. she had wrought them into her heart and affections.
Vers. 21. And when eight dayes were accomplished for the Circumcising of the Child] After eight dayes were consummated that he might be circumcised:foreign dictum, ut significaret ur impletum id tempus quod ex lege Circumcisionis erat praestitutum, cujus temporis dies ultimus erat à natali octavus. Grotius. Vide Brugens. So Erasmus and the vulgar Latine read it; but if the eight dayes were consummated, the infant against the precept of the Law was circumcised the ninth day; therefore Beza's version is better, cum advenisset dies octavus ut circumciderent puerculum, when the eighth day came, that they circumcised the Child: so 2 Act. 1. Beza renders it cum advenisset dies Pentecostes.
Vers. 23. Every Male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord] Whereupon divers Fathers, viz. Theophylact, Ambrose and Origen, said, that Christ was that immaculate one,Aperiens urerum sic enim mavult Laurentius homo superstitiosè verecundus, quasi verò vulva sit obscaenum vocabulum. Erasmus. who alone (without the preceding act of man) Matris suae vulvam aperuit, as witnesseth their own Bishop Jansenius, yet the Papists condemne us for saying, that the blessed Virgin did in bearing Christ vulvam aperire, which the Romanists will have to be all one with virginitatem corrumpere. Bishop Mort. Protest. Appeal. l. 5. c. 22. Sect. 1.
Vers. 24. A paire of Turtle Doves or two young Pigeons] A manifest signe of her poverty (for all à Lapides shifts) for the Law was that they should offer a Lamb with a little bird, but those whose poverty would not suffer them to do it,Licet tres Reges magnam vim auri Christo obtulissent, tamen B. Virgo paupertatis studiosa, ut ostenderet se spernere omnia terrena, ex illis pauca duntaxat quasi libando accepit, quae brevi consumpsit. Cornel. à Lap. Vide. plura ibid. Vide Cartwright. Harm. in Evang. they brought two little birds, whence we may collect that the Wise men gave not much gold, since they brought it rather to honour Christ than to exercise their liberality, as their Custome was to come to their Kings. Grotius.
Vers. 25. Waiting for the consolation of Israel] That is,foreign vox Lucae peculiaris, qui bis praeterea usurpat, Act. 2.25. & 8.2. Hebraeorum imitatione quibus Religiosus dicitur Jare sed plerumque addito Dei nomine, ut Isa. 1.16. Grotius. when Christ would come who is consolation in the abstract, the only ground of comfort to the Israel of God. See 40. Isaiah 1. and 51.3. and 61.1.
Vers. 29. As if he should say, I have now Lord lived long enough;Quasi necessitate quadam teneretur in hac vita, non voluntate, saith Ambrose. Let me now depart in peace, seeing I have seen thy Christ my Saviour.
Depart] The Greek word foreign is properly to loose one bound with bonds, the LXX. use it Gen. 45.2. Numb. 20.29. for to dye.Hebraeum Patar & Graecum foreign est absolvere crimine debito, aut vinculis. Drus. in Miscell. l. 2. c. 12.
Vers. 30. Mine eyes have seen thy Salvation] There is a great emphasis in this pleonasme, as when we say in Latine, His ego oculis vidi, we are said to see something in mind, and opinion; here Simeon rejoyceth at the corporall sight of Christ, which yet before he had really embraced with his faith, as John 8.56.
Thy Salvation] Adumbrat Simeon nomen foreign. Dilher. Simeon shadowes out the name of Saviour. Christ Jesus is here meant. See Psal. 50.23.
Vers. 32. A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel] The light of the Gentiles is preferred before the glory of the Jews.Dr. Clerk. He puts the Gentiles before the Jews, because the second calling, the conversion of the Jewes to Christ, shall not be untill the fulnesse of the Gentiles come in.
He is called,Cartw. in Harm. Evang. The glory of the people of Israel Not as if the Gentiles had not cause to glory in Christ, for all our glorying must be in him, but the Israelites have a peculiar glory from Christ, because he came of them,Veluti scopum, contra quem tela suorum contradictionum dirigant inimici ipsius. Piscat. He shall be as a common mark whereat the arrowes of reproach shall be fully shot, Doctor Halls Paraphrase. Nescio an facilior hic locus fuisset, si nemo eum exposuisset, sed fecit multitudo & varietas interpretationum, ut difficilis videretur. Maldonatus in loc. In signum contradictionis, vel contentionis, ut vertunt Syrus & Arabicus. Tertullianus de carne Christi cap. 23. vertit, In signum contradicibile. Maldonatus & Franciscus Lucas, Christus inquiunt positus in signum, id est in scopum sagittariorum in quom Judaei & Scribae increduli, non tantum lingua verba maledica, sed & manu tela malefica conjecerunt. Basilius, Beda & Theophilactus intelligunt signum Crucis, ut alludat ad Isaiae 11.10. Ita Toletus, Cornel à Lap. in loc. Rom. 9.5. and was first appointed for them. Rom. 3.2.
Vers. 34. And for a signe which shall be spoken against] Of sixe sundry senses I select two: Signum to meane here either scopum, or vexillum, the Archers marke, or the Banner in War, which every Enemy strives to win, or throw down. This later metaphor Tolet rejects,Dr Clerke. and saith, the word beares it not, perhaps because Calvin and Beza so expound it. Maldonate, as learned a Jesuite as he, approves it. Both metaphors have the same meaning. à Lapide and others say the Evangelist alludes to that in Esay 8.18. I and my children are for signs, but a signe spoken against, many should be his adversaries.
Vers. 40. And the child grew and waxed strong in Spirit] Which word is spoken of the nourishment and augmentation of the body in children. Gen. 21.8. Iud. 13.24. The words have relation to the gifts or spirituall operations,See Mr Reynolds in the life of Christ. p. 423. Ephes. 3.16. Acts 6.3. foreign, wisdome, signifies, gifts in the mind or understanding; foreign, grace, gifts in the other inferiour faculties of the soule, in the gestures and actions, to all which a peculiar divine grace was added.
Vers. 48. They were amazed] 1. Feared lest he should leave them. Thomas in loc. 2. Lest he should fall into enemies hands. Gloss.
Thy Eather] 1. In opinion, Luk. 3.23. 2. In care. 3. Husband to Mary.
An nesciebatis oportere me in ijs esse quae Patris mei sunt.Vers. 49. That I must be about my fathers business] It is an elegant phrase, in his esse, for to be seriously imployed, as that also was used in the Sacrifices, Hoc age, as now among Christians, sursum corda.
Vers. 52. Increased in wisdome and stature] In stature really, and also in wisdome and favour with God, as Ambrose and Fulgentius interpreted it, limiting themselves to his humanity, and the state of humiliation which for our sakes he underwent. See ver. 40.