(2) The reason of Simeon's peace in the prospect of death :
' For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou preparedst before the face of all peoples."
What we see with our eyes is sure (cf. Jn 1'^ lO-*^ and 1 Jn 1-). And Jesus Christ is salvation (Is 49*), for salvation is in Him and in none other (Ac 4'-). ^Moreover, He is the salvation which God Himself provided, not Avhich man might have fancied. ' Preparedst ' is a more correct rendering than AV 'hast prepared,' for the tense refers to a definite historical fact (cf. Lk 1^") ; and this God means for all peoples (2'*) (plural) — both the sec- tions of mankind of whom, in the next verse, Simeon is to speak, viz. the Gentiles and Israel. The Greek word used (Xaos) usually means Israel only, the people [of the Lord]. But now the privi- lege is extended, and they w ho were not a people are to be the people of the living God (Hos 2', Ko
gia. 26^ I p 213).
(3) The dili'erent prophetic functions Christ is to discharge towards the Gentiles and the Jews re- spectively :
' A light to lighten the Gentiles, And the glorj of thy people Israel.'
{a) To the Gentiles who sat in darkness (Is 9-) He is to be a Light (49'') ; but not onlj- by giving them light. The thought is greater than merelj- that Christ is to reveal truth to the Gentiles. He is a Light 'for their revealing" (et's a.TroKd\v\pLv idvQiv) — to show what the Gentiles are, how dear to Almighty God (cf. Ro 3^), and how capable they are through His grace of producing saints. The prophecy of Simeon is thus akin to that of John the Baptist (Mt 3"), and has its OT roots in such passages as Is 25' and Hos 2*. How wonderfully lias it been fulfilled — that out of Judaism He could bring a Peter, a John, a Paul ; out of decadent Rome an Augustine ami an Ambrose ; out of the wild Irish a Columba ; out of the Saxon ' knife- men ' a Wilfrid an<l a Bede I We have yet to see what He will make of China and Japan, w hen they are Christianized, (b) Of Israel, who had produced so many saints, prophets, and teachers, the ' lights of the worltl in their several generations,' Christ is to be the supreme Glory, of more honour than
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OATHS
Moses (He 3^), -with a better priesthood than Aaron (7-^), Himself the very Brightness of the Father's glory (1^), which was beheld in Him (Jn 1'*). St. Paul saw, in the 1st cent., how true is this prophecy of Christ (Ro 9*"^), and all subsequent history is its confirmation.
A parallel is given b\- Carpenter {The Synoptic Gospels) from Buddhist legend of one who, discerning in a babe the signs of perfection, predicted, ' Thou wilt be a Buddha, and remove the veils of sin and ignorance from the world.' But the Indian seer could not rejoice with Simeon, he could only weep that he would not be alive to share the light ; which reminds us that Simeon's peace is through the Christian hope of a better life to come, when we shall be with Christ.
Simeon's attitude towards the Gentiles, •^^■hile in full accord with that of the OT (Gn 22'8 49'°, Ps 98^ lOQi, Is 426 496 603), jg ^^ striking contrast to that of the nearest contemporary Jewish writings, the Psalms of Solomon, in which, though there is the same longing for Messiah and His kingdom, the lot of the heathen is not light or .salvation, but only judgment (Ps-Sol 16^).
The singular sweetness — the calm beauty, as of a perfect pearl — of the Song of Simeon has always been recognized ; and for ages it has entered into the evening service of the Church. Both the Roman Catholic and the Anglican Churches have appointed it as a hymn at Vespers, teaching us (as it does) to live each day as if we knew it to be our last ; and, embracing Christ by faith, to thank God for Hiiu and be ready in peace to dei>art in Him. In tiie Church of Scotland, while Knox's Prayer-Book held its place, and again after the introduction of the Paraphrases (1781), it became customary to use it at the close of the Communion Service ; while in a few churches, both Episcopal and Presbyterian, it is sung at funerals when the body is being carried out of the church.
LiTEBATi-RE.— T. A. Gume.v, Xunc Dimittis (1906); A. M. Stewart, Infancy and Vuuth 0/ Jesus (1905), 53 ; T. D. Bernard, Songs of the Holy Nativity (1895), 120, 131 ; S. Cox, Expositions
(1888), iv. 1. James Cooper.
0
OATHS. — Christ's teaching on the subject of oaths is set forth in one of the sections of the Sermon on the Mount, in which He contrasts His doctrine with that of the earlier dispensation (Mt 53;i-37j ^]^g position of the Law on the subject is summed up in the statement, ' Thou shalt not for- swear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths.' This is a combination of different passages in the Law (Lv 19^-, Nu 30^, Dt 23-'^), of which the first deals specially with oaths, the others with vows. But in point of obligation oaths and vows were recognized in the Rabbinical schools as on the same footing (Wiinsche, Neue Bcitmge znr Erlduterung der Evangelien cms Talmud und Midrasch, p. 57), and the statement in which Christ here represents the position of the Law was, no doubt, the current formula in which, in these schools, the doctrine of the Law on the question was summed up. In opposition to this dictum of the Law, Christ lays down an absolute prohibition, 'Swear not at all' (v.^^), and proceeds to draw out the full meaning of the 'at all' (oXws) by showing that His prohibition covers every appeal to anything beside us in confirmation of our word, and not merely such as e.xpressly intro- duce tlie name of Jehovah. The casuists among the scribes made a distinction between more and less binding oaths. The former class consisted of those which invoked the name of God ; the latter used such forms as ' Ijy heaven,' ' by earth,' ' by Jeru- salem,' 'by. the life of my head.' An oath by heaven and earth, for instance, was not considered to be binding, because one did not require to think of the Creator ; whereas if one swore by one of the letters of the Divine name, or by one oif the Divine attributes, that was regarded as binding, and he wlio treated such an oath lightly was punisliable (Wiinsche, op. cit. p. 59 ; Schiirer, HJF II. ii. 122).