LiTER.ATURE.— Harnack, Hist, of Dogma, or Outlines ; Mathe- son, Growth of the Spirit of Christianity ; Fairbairn, Christ in Mod. TheoL, bk. i. ; Herrmann, Communion with God ; Imita- tion of Christ; John Woolman's Journal; J. Campbell Whit- tier, Poems; Stopford Brooke, Christ -in Mod. Life; Watson, Inspiration of our Faith, 274 ; Moore, From Advent to Advent, 63, 98 ; D. Young, Crimson Boole, 237 ; Phillips Brooks, Mystery of Iniquity, m. A. NORMAN ROWLAND.
PRESENTATION (in the Temple) (Lk 222-40)._ When St. Paul had mentioned (Gal 4-*) the sending forth of the Son of God into our world, he i«poke of it in two stages, ' born of a woman,' ' born under the law ' (KV) ; and in both those acts or stages the Pauline Evangelist St. Luke is able and careful in his history of Jesus to exhibit Him. To the narrative of His nativity accordingly he sub-
joins (Lk 2-1) a notice of His circumcision on the eighth day, in obedience to Gn 17^^; and now on the fortieth day He is brought to Jerusalem to be otiered or presented (KV, TrapaaT-^aai) to the Lord, in accordance with the legal requirements of Ex 13'^ (freely quoted in v. 2") and Nu 3. 12. 18. Along with the rite of the Presentation of the Child there was fulfilled on the .same occasion another for the Purification of the Mother ; but we shall consider that afterwards.
1. The law as to the Child is described in OT as having its origin in Egypt. From patriarchal times, indeed, the hrstborn had been the priest in the family ; but a new obligation Avas laid on the firstborn in Israel by the circumstances of the Exodus. When God sent Moses to Pharaoh, the Divine mes-sage to the king ran, ' Israel is my son, even my firstborn : if thou refuse to let him go I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn ' (Ex 4"'^-' -*). Pharaoh refused. Nine successive plagues were sent on him in vain. The time had come for the execution of God's threatening. The Lord was to pa.ss through the land of Egypt to execute the judgment. Israel was not so guilty as her op- pressors ; but neither could she stand before God if once He were angry ; and God luovided for her in the Paschal lamb a victim under which each Israelite household that wovild believe His word and keep His commandment might find shelter. ' By faith they kept the passover and the sprinkling of blood ' (He 11-^) ; but in token that their firstborn had been due to death and rescued by God's mercy, all the firstborn ('every male that openeth the womb ') were to be sanctified to Him (Nu 8^"). God might have slain each, or kept him for His own especial service. He would not slay him : He per- mitted him (and required him) to be redeemed (Ex 13'2'i5). Instead of the firstborn, however, God took for the service of His sanctuary the tribe of Levi (Nu 31^ 8^^'^^), requiring, at the time of this substitution, that as many firstborn as there were in Israel in excess of the nuuiber of the Levites must be redeemed by the payment of five shekels for each one (Nu 3«-5i). Afterwards (Nu IS''- i«), every firstborn son must be presented and redeemed by the payment of this amount. Our Lord might have claimed exemption, as the Son of God ; just as afterwards when they asked Him to pay the Temple rate He declared, ' Therefore the sons are free' (Mt 17'-^ RV). But He came not to claim exemptions but to share our burdens, carry our sorrows, take away our sins, and, more particularly, to redeem them that are under the Law (Gal 4). He ' came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many ' (Mt 20'-*') ; and ' thtis it became him to fulfil all righteousness ' (3'^). Moreover, by being thus redeemed from the personal obligation of serving in the Temple, His love to it, which at His next visit to it He was to manifest (Lk 2^^ RV), and His zeal for it which devoured Him (Jn 2"), were brought into clearer light. They were not of constraint, but willing. Still, the leading thought in the history of His Presentation in tide Temple is that of His having come 'that the .scripture might be fulfilled' (Lk 2122-24 24-*-»), ' and that the whole life of the God- man on earth might present a realization of that ideal depicted in the prophetic writings of the OT ' (Oosterzee).
The act of presenting Him would be performed by Joseph (Ex 13'^) as the putative father, at once the shield of Mary and the protector of her child (Lk 3-^) ; not by the Virgin, as Cornelius k Lapide assumes, although there is some beauty in his interpretation of the five shekels, which constituted the redemption money, as ' symbolizing the Five Wounds at the price whereof Christ redeemed the race of man' (Com. in loc). The Law does not
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seem to have prescribed any particular tinie for tlie redemption of tbe tirstbom, but many fathers -would doubtless act as Joseph did, and perform the rite on the day appointed by the Law for the sacrifice of his wife's puritication. There is hardly time for the visit of the Wise Men, the Flight into E ypt, and tlie Return thence, between the Birth of Christ and His Presentation in the Temple ; moreover, a public service at Jerusalem m ould have been fraught with danger after the inquiries of the Magi had aroused the jealous fears of Herod. But neither is there any need for supposing that the Wise Mens vis^it can'ie so soon after the Nativity. ' From two years old and under' (Mt 2^*) was the age which Herod supposed the newlx)m 'King of the Jews" might be. Marys availing herself of the permis- sion, as a ix)or woman, to offer the two doves instead of the costlier lamb is not consistent with the idea that the gold offered by the Wise Men was at her disposal : while St. Lukes mention of the Holy Family returning into Galilee and Nazareth (Lk'2*) is of the nature of a foreshortening, and does not imply that no event intervened between the Presentation and the journey to the North.