Harmony of the Gospels, Section 5
SECTION V.
S. LVKE. CHAP. 1.
The Birth and Circumcision of John the Baptist, and the tongue of his father restored, &c.
Vers. 57.
NOw Elisabeths aThough the conceived her child above the course of nature, yet his time in the wombe was according to it.full time came that she should bee delivered, and shee brought forth a Son.
58 AndbHebron was inhabited by Aaronites: but the fields and villages about with children of Juda, Josh. 21. 11. These two are Elisabeths neighbours and cousins. her neighbours, and her cousins heard how the Lord had cGreek, Had magnified mercy; foreign as in Psal. 18. 50. the Hebr. and Lxx and Psal. 1…6. 2.shewed great mercy upon her, and they rejoyced with her.
59 And it came to passe on the eighth day, they came to circumcise the childe, and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.
60 And his mother answered and said, Not so, but hee shall bee called John.
61 And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name.
62 And they made signes to his father, how he would have him called.
63 And he asked fordVulg. Pugillarem. of which see Plin. lib. 13. cap. 11. E'foreign. Batrachom. a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John, and they marvailed all.
64 And his mouth waseforeign in Hebrew signifieth both to …p…n and to unloose, and so the loosing of his tongue, which is not expre…sed in the Greek, toidem verbis, is implied in the word A'foreign, by an Hebraisme. opened immediatly, and his tongue loosed, and hee spake, and praised God.
65 And feare came on all that dwelt round about them, and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill Countrey of Judea.
66 And all they that had heard them,fSee Gen. 37. 11. Prov. 2. 1. & 3. 1. & 7. 1. laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this bee?gVulg, For the hand of the Lord was with him: contrary to the orig. Arab. and Syr. and the hand of the Lord was with him.
67 And his Father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophecied, saying,
68 Blessed bee the Lord God of Israel, for hee hath visited and redeemed his people:
69 And hath raised up a horne of salvation for us, in the house of his servant David.
70 As hee spake by theh[By the m…uth] that is by the m…s one number for another, as tree for trees, Gen. 3. 1. frog for frogs, Exod, 9. 2. &c. yet is the observation of Albertus magnus, ingenuous and true. All th… Prophets spake of Christ, un… ore, things so …greeable, as if they had all sp…ken with one mouth. mouth of his holy Prophets, which have beene since the World beg…n.
71iIn the Orig it is only foreign, Salvation or deliverance, and so in the Arab. and Vulg Lat. now it may be read either in apposition to foreign, in vers. 69. He hath raised up an h…rne of Salvation, namely, salvation from cur enemies, or in subsequence to the verbe he spake, vers 70. He spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets of Salvation: and this is the more genuine and proper, Bez…. That we should be delivered from our enemies, and from the hands ofkTwo phrases used to heighten the sense, 2 Sam. 2…. 18. 41. Psal 44. 10. & 68. 1. & 19. 23. & 106. 16. them that hate us.
72lforeign, as Josh. 2. 12. 2 Sam 9. 1. &c. The Syr. reads conjunctively, And hee hath shewed mercy; and so doth the Arab. the other clause, And hee hath remembred. To performe the mercy promised to our fore-fathers, and to remember his holy Covenant,
73m…p…or: In the accusative case, either in apposition to Cor…u Sa…is, vers. 69. as Tollet, or foreign understood, as Calvin… or following the verbe To performe in vers. 72. As the Syr. and an old English. or that the verbe foreign governeth two cases, foreign and foreign. The oath which he sware to our Father Abraham,
74nforeign. This clause standeth in the Orig. and in all translations in the end of the vers. preceding. See Syr. Arab. Vulg. France, Spaine, Dutch, D…date, V…ab▪ Erasin. Beza, &c. That he would grant unto …, that wee being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, might serve him without feare,
75 In holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the dayes of our life.
76 And thou child shalt be called the Prophet of the …most Highest, for thou shalt go… before the face of the Lord, to prepare his wayes.
77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people, by the remission of their sins.
78 Through†Greek: The Bowels of mercy. the tender …mercy of our God, whereby the day-spring from an high hath visited as.
79 To give light to them that sit in darknesse, and in the shadow of death; to guide our feet into the way of peace.
80 And the child grew, and waved strong in Spirit, and was in the desert, till the day of his shewing unto Israel.
Reason of the Order.
THe order of this Section may bee briefly contrived, and illustrated, thus. Elisabeth when Mary commeth to her, wa… about sermoneths gone with child, Luke 1. 26. 36. and about nine moneths when shee departed from her, vers. 56. Shee comming to her owne house, is suspected by Joseph to have played the harlot; and is in danger of a secret divorce: while these things are thus passing betwixt them two at Nazaret, the time of Elisabeths delivery is fully come.
Harmony and Explanation.
Verse 59. They came to circumcise the Child.
IN Hebron, and about the time of Easter, was Circumcision first ordained, Gen. 17. And in the same place, and at the same time of the yeere, was John Baptist borne and cicumcised; who was to bring in Baptisme in stead of Circumcision: as may bee apparent by observing the time of the Angel Gabriels appearing, and message to his father Zacharias, in the preceding Kalendar, and it shall bee to the full explained and proved hereafter, when we come to treat of the time of our Saviours birth.
§ And they called his name Zacharias.
A thing hardly to be parallel'd againe in all the Scripture, that a child should be named by the name of his father: an extraordinary action, in an extraordinary case.
Because Abraham and Sarah had their new names given them at the giving of circumcision; therefore did after-times reserve this custome to name their children at their circumcising.
The name was sometime given to the child by the mother, but that was ever at the birth, and it was upon some weighty and speciall reason, as Gen. 29. 32, 33, 34, 35. and 30. 6, 7. &c. 1 Sam. 4. 21. 1 Chron. 4. 29. and sometimes by the standers by at the birth, as Gen. 38. 29. and 25. 25. Ruth 4. 18. but the father at the Circumcision, had still the casting voice, whether the name should bee so, or no; as appeareth by Jacobs changing Ben-oni, into Benjamin. Now Zacharie being dumbe, and the mother having given it no name at the birth, the persons present undertake to call it by the name of the Father.
And now is hee in circumcising, that is the man appointed to bee the first overthrow of Circumcision, by bringing in Baptisme instead of it.
R. Solomon from the Talmud in Sanbedrin, expoundeth Jerem. 25. 10. I will take from them the sound of the milstones, and the light of the candle, to this sense. The sound of the milstones, signifieth the Feast at a Circumcision; because they ground or bruised Spices, for the healing of the sore; and the light of the Candle, signifieth the Feast it selfe. Thus doe they confesse a decay of Circumcision to be foretold by the Prophet, and yet they sticke not to deny most stiffely, that Circumcision must ever decay.
Vers. 63. [Hee wrote saying] That is, expressing, or To this purpose, as Exod. 18. 6. And Jethro said to Moses, I Jethro come to thee: That is, he signified so much by Letter; as the serious viewing of the story will necessarily evince. And so 2 King. 5. 6. And bee brought the Letter to the King of Israel, saying; not that Naaman that brought the Letter, spake the words that follow, but the Letter it selfe spake them.
[John] The Lord hath been gracious. A name most fit for him that was to bee the first Preacher of the Kingdome of grace, and to point out him that was grace it selfe. Rabbi Jochanan said, what is the name of the Messias? Some said Haninah, Grace, as it is said, I will not give you Haninah, that is, the Messias, who shall bee called gracious, Jer. 16. 13. Talmud bab. in Pesach. cap. 4.
Vers. 64. [And his mouth was opened] Infidelity had closed his mouth, and now faith or beleeving doth open it againe. And herein, may this case of Zachary be fitly compared with the like of Moses, Exod. 4. For he for distrust is in danger of his life, as Zachary for the same fault is strucke dumbe: but upon the circumcising of his child, and recovery of his faith, the danger is removed▪ as Zacharies dumbnesse is at such a time a…d occasion; as Psal. 116. 10. He beleeveth, and therefore doth he speak. And the tongue of the dumb doth sing, Esay. 35. 6.
[And his tongue] Out English hath added loosed for illustration, as also hath the French; and some say it is found in some Copies▪ foreign. But first, no such word is expressed either in the Syrian, Arabick, Vulgar Latine, Italian, Erasmus, or other Translators. Nor secondly, needeth there any such word to make a perfect sense, but it may well help the simple and vulgar capacity, what our English hath added.
Vers. 66. [Laid them up in their hearts] It could not but affect all that heard of this strange birth of the Baptist with wonder and amazement, and singular observation, both in regard that so many and great miracles were wrought in this time, when miracles were so much abated and decayed: as also in consideration, that there was never birth before that had so many concomitants of wonder and miraculousnesse, as the birth of this child. Not of Isaac the glorious Patriarch, not of Moses the great Prophet, nor of any other whatsoever, that had beene in former times.
[And the hand of the Lord was with him] Either the speciall favour and assistance of the Lord, as Ezra 7. 6. and 8. 22, &c. or the gift of Prophecy at capable yeers, as 1 Sam. 3. 19. for so the hand of the Lord doth signifie, Ezek. 1. 3. & 37. 1. & 40. 1. Psal. 80. 17. 1 Chron. 28. 19.
Vers. 68. [Redeemed] Greek, foreign, Hee hath made or▪ wrought redemption: In the very phrase implying a price paid, for so the word foreign importeth. It is used againe, Chapt. 2. 38. and by the Lxx, Psal. 111. 9. and 130. 7. and by Theodotion for satisfaction, Prov. 6. 35.
Vers. 69. [An horne of salvation] Psal. 18. 1. 2 Sam. 22. 3.
Vers. 70. [Which have been since the world began] Adams calling his wives name Eve, or life, in apprehension of the promise of the seed of the woman, that should breake the head of the Serpent: Eves calling her Sonnes name Cain, a purchase; because shee had obtained a man, even the Lord, or the Lord to become a man; and her naming her other Sonne Sheth, or setled, &c. these were Prophecies that spake of Christ, from the beginning of the world.
Vers. 71. [That wee should bee saved from our enemies] This hath sweet reference to the promise given at the beginning of the World; from which time he had traced Prophecies in the verse preceding. I will put enmity betwixt thee and the woman, and betweene thy seed, and her seed: Hee shall breake thine head, Gen. 3. 15. Where, in the former words of the verse, I will set enmity, &c. there is an expression who are our enemies; namely, the Serpent and his seed: and in the latter, hee shall breake thine head; there is an intimation how wee shall be saved; namely, by Christs breaking the head and power of Satan. So that the former verse and this being laid together, they arise unto this sense, that all the Prophets from Adam and upward, had their eye upon the promise in that garden, and spake of salvation and delivery by Christ, by his breaking the head, and destroying the kingdome of the devil.
Vers. 76. [The Prophet of the Highest] As Aaron to Moses, Exod. 7. 1. Prophecy had been now very long decayed, and but little therof had been under the second Temple: it is now reviving in an extraordinary manner: and this child is to be the first of this race of Prophets that is in rising, and to be the Harbinger of Christ himself.
Vers. 77. [To give knowledge of salvation by remission, &c.] The knowledge of salvation that the Law held forth at the first view, was by legall righteousnesse, and absolute performance of what was commanded: but John who was to begin the Gospel, brought in another Doctrine, and gave the people knowledge of salvation by another way; namely, by the remission of sinnes, as Rom. 4. 6, 7. And this is the tenour of the Gospel.
Vers. 78. [The day-spring from an high] Greek: A foreign, used by the Lxx to translate foreign, The branch, Esa. 4. 2. Jer. 23. 5. Zech. 3. 9. & 6. 12. the name of Christ, and so it may bee understood of Christs personall comming and appearance amongst men: as God is said to have visited Sarah, Gen. 21. 1. that is, not onelyonly in mercifull dealing with her, as to give her a child, but also in personally comming unto her in visible appearance, as Chapter 18. 14. At the time appointed I will returne, &c. Or it may be taken in connexion to the sense of the Verses preceding: That after the defect of Prophecy, the dawning of that gift, and after the darknesse of the doctrine of salvation, as it was in the law, the day-spring of it from an high came now to visit us, in the brightnes of the Gospel.
Vers. 80. [And was in the deserts] Of Ziph and Maon, 1 Sam. 23. 14. 25. which were places not farre from Hebron, where John was borne; Josh. 15. 54, 55. His education was not in the Schooles at Jerusalem, but in these plaine Countrey Townes and Villages in the Wildernesse.
[Till the day of his shewing unto Israel] That is, when at thirty yeeres of age he was to be brought to the Sanctuary service; Num. 4. 3. to which he did not apply himself as the custome was, but betook himself to another course.