Annotations Upon the New Testament, Luke · Chapter 3
CHAP. III.
Verse 2. ANnas and Caiphas being the High-Priests] Not as if at one and the same time there had been two chiefe Priests,Vide Seldenum de Successione in Pontificatum Hebraeorum. l. 1. c. 12. Chemnit. Sacerdotij honor dimidia exparte apud Annam Pontificis socerum residebat. Calvinus. Scriptura summo Pontifici suum substituit non semel vicarium, ut rectè Theodorus Beza observavit Marci primo. Summus Sacerdos dicebatur Pontifex primus, vel magnus; Alter Pontifex secundus sive vicarius, ut 2 Reg. 25.18. Sic 2 Paraelipom, 24. Nadab & Ahihu conjunguntur, item Eleazar & Ithamar, sic alibi alij, ut rectè vir Clarisimus adnotavit Casaub. exercit. 13. ad Annal. Eccles. for this by the Law was not lawfull, neither do we read in histories that it was done. But when the last of the Roman Governours did violate the Laws of the Temple, Annas, who according to the Law ought to be chiefe Priest in the whole time of his life, was removed from the Office, and after divers changes Caiphas at length was brought into his roome, or which is more probable, those two were Priests by turnes. Iohn 18.13. and Act. 4.6.
Under the high-Priesthood both of Annas the Father in Law to Caiphas, and of Caiphas Son in Law to Annas, ruling successively; so as Iohn preached in the severall yeares where they succeeded in Government to each other. Dr Hals Paraphrase upon the hard Texts of Scripture.
Vers. 7. O generation of vipers] Christ in generall seemes to have respect to that which is written, Gen. 3.15. of the seed of the Serpent, which namely are of the Devill, Ioh. 8.44. and 1 Ioh. 3.8. for thereby is signified a nature infected with the poison of sin by the Serpent, which by malice, wicked education, corrupt instruction, may be made incurable and deadly poison as that of the Viper is described to be, Act. 28.4. and Mat. 23.33. the Pharisees are called Serpents, a generation of Vipers.
Vers. 8. Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance] Or meet for, as the very same phrase is translated, Mat. 3.8. Evill fruits deserve repentance, and therefore worthy here cannot imply any matter of desert.
Vers. 11. He that hath two coats let him impart unto him that hath none] That is, He that hath things necessary and in abundance, let him give freely, yet so as he reserve one coate to himselfe.
Vers. 14. Do no violence to no man, neither accuse any falsly] The first word signifies, tosse no man too and fro: The other, get nothing by Sycophancy. Be content with your wages *foreign Graeci vocant non sola stipendia, sed omnia milìtiae merita, in quibus est & annonae praebitio & alia commoda quae sub imperio Romano erant non invidenda, si laborum militarium justa habeatur ratio. Grotius.] These are three commendable things in Souldiers.
Vers. 16. Shall baptize with the Holy Ghost, and with fire] That is, with the Holy Ghost which is like fire, not only in purging away their dross and corruptions, but mightily heating them, and stirring up strong and ardent affections in them for God and his glory.
Vers. 23. And Jesus began himself to be about 30. years of age] Only Luke expresly saith,Chemnit. Christ was almust thirty years old, ferè triginta annorum, for he wanted above two months. See à Lapide in loc. and Mr Lightfoot on Acts 1.9. that in the thirtieth yeare of the age of Christ according to the flesh assumed this was done: in which age the Priests of the Leviticall kind were admitted to the publike Ministry. Numb. 4.3.
Vers. 36. Which was the Son of Cainan] In the Genealogy of Christ the name Cainan is brought, which is not in the Hebrew Edition,Gen. 11.12. 1 Chro. 1.10, 24. but in the Edition which the Hellenists used: For learned men thinke that it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, when the history of the Gospell was delivered in Greeke to come to the Gentiles (which were to compare this narration of Luke with the Greeke Edition) to pardon that, it being now a received errour, although besides the truth. For we must not think that Luke opposeth the truth of the History, but somewhat indulgeth for a time the publike errour which was so deeply rooted, untill there were a fitter place for the Church to order something concerning that thing without a greater losse. Although their opinion seemes to be the sounder, which deny that the name of Cainan was inserted either by the Septuagint, or by Luke, River. Isag. ad Script. Sac. c. 10.and that it rather crept in elsewhere after the Gospell was written by Luke, of which their conjecture they had good reasons, as we may see in Cornelius à Lapide his Commentary on the 11 Chapter of Genesis. Compare this place with Gen. 10.25. and 1 Chron. 1.8. there Arphaxad is said to have begotten Sala, and so Gen. 11.12. the yeare of Arphaxad is designed in which he was borne from that Sala, viz. 35. It is a wonder that Cainan is inserted between Arphaxad and Sala, as if Sala were not the Son of Arphaxad, but the Grandchild of Cainan. There are which would have Luke follow the Lxx. Interpreters, with which you may read in the like manner, Gen. 10.25. and the following Chapter. Therefore they think that the Evangelist in a matter of no great moment, and which nothing pertaines to the faith, with a holy condescention, had rather follow those that erre,Bocharri Geograph. Sac. parte priore. l. 2. cap. 13. Vide plu… ib. Vide Grotium than by an unseasonable dissent cast a scruple, or else to bring the authentickness of their Gospell into danger with the weak or obstinate, which he had perswaded, that these pen-men of it were without errour. But in this opinion (by the authors favour) there seemes to be nothing sound. Therefore I see not how Luke and Moses can be better reconciled (saith Bochartus) than by following the opinion of Cornelius a Lapide a famous Jesuite, who thinks that by the errour of the Scribes the name Cainan crept into the sacred Text, and so into the Edition of the Lxx. & multa suadent imo persuadent, that that is not rashly affirmed by him, 1. Because Philo and Iosephus who do follow the Greeke Edition in other things, have not remembred this Cainan. 2. Ierome in the book of his Questions upon Genesis, in which by comparing the Greeke and Hebrew Copies he diligently notes if they any where differ, simply writes that Arphaxad begat Sala, neither doth he observe any difference between the Books. Lastly, A most ancient Copie of the New Testament, which Beza used, had nothing of Cainan, as he himselfe testifieth in his Annotations.