The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 60

(If the aoul.8 ofy011ng children, which ln the aight of God is more tffllel and deadly than the killing of their bodier_ When fair young lives are blighted and innocent charactera stained by vicious example&, a fate worse than death haa overtaken them, and those who exercised the bal.efol influence have a very heavy account to answer for. IL THE CHILDBn'a Jl'ATE. The death of young children is alwayB a mystery. We .cannot understand why innocent infants should be permitted to suffer great pain. It is a piteous sight t.o observe a baby-face drawn and pinched with agony. This is a very acute pha.se of the great mystery of suffering. It may be that greater evil in the future is thereby a.voided. But even in that case the method of saving the children is terribly perplexing. Two points of light, however, emerge in the midst of the darkness of this mystery. 1. The BV,ffering of the innocent iB vicarious. These babe8 of Bethlehem have been regarded by a fond fancy as early martyrs for Christ. It was in hill ca.W!e that-they were stain.· They died for Christ, as Christ aft.erwards died for men. 2. The flljfering of Christ', childr.en i, but the door to bleuednes11. The hope of a fnture life lights much of the gloom of this scene. Holman Hunt'a wonderful picture represents .the murdered children just awakening t.o a new life as they are drawn after the infant Jesils with Mary and Joseph on their flight t.o Egypt,-like a trail of rosy clouds. IIL '£BE D1v1l!IE DESTINY. The murder of the children at Bethlehem was foreseen by God.· It accomplished an ancient prophecy. This does not. mean that God ordered it, but it shows that it could not frustrate God's purpo-porposes which were laid down in full knowledge of Herod's attempt t.o nullify them. Therefore Herod was doomed t.o failure. His guilt was not the less because bis crime was oseless, but hi.<J power as an enemy of Christ is thus shown t.o be quite futile. Nothing can ultimately frustrate God's great desi.,"11&. Christ ha.a come to conquer, and he will win the victory in spite of hill foes. The first Herod was not allowed t.o touch him when it was essential to God's plan that he should live. The second Herod was permitted. to have a hand in his death, but only when his time had come, and when the Divine destiny was fulfilled by means of the crime of slaying Chri.st.-W. F. A. Ver. 23.-The N<J1Zarem. We need not be troubled if we cannot find exact verbal precedents for the words here recorded. The idea that i ■ 1111ggested. by the title ., Nazarene" is apparent in more than one ancient prophecy; l!.g. Ila. !iii. I. CRBIBT SHOWED BIS OONDESCZNBIOl!il IN APPEABL'ifG AMONG JIUllBLE ..urn EVD coNTEHPTIBLE SCElll'EB. Nazareth was an obscure provincial town. Nathanael seems to have considered it t.o be a place with a. bad repctation (John i. 46). Yet here our Lord spent the greater part of his life-more than nin~tenths of it. Here he was brought up as .a Boy, no doubt attending the elementary synagogue school, and later working at Joseph's bench. Over the neighbouring hills he had roamed, and there he bad learnt .t.o love the flowers which abound in this highland retreat; there, too, he had been able to love his brother-men as he saw them in their daily work and in the homely society of the little town. He was not kept, like Sakya Muni, from all sights of misery until his adult age forced them on his notice. Borrow, suffering, sio, and death must often have come before his eyes. He never shrank into selfish isolation. but took his place with his suffering brethren, quite natorally, with lowliness and per• feet simplicity, not a spark of pretentiousness ever leading them to expect that he would subsequently put forth the highest claims. II. CHBIST WAS NOT TR.& CREATURE OF HIS CIBCUlISTANCES. His genealogy showed that he was not a mere product of bis ancestry; n:ow his local surroundings make it apparent that he was not formed by the world about him. Had he been brought up at Jerusalem, or Athens, or Alexandria, or Rome, some might ha\'B tried t.o explain him as an expression of.some great movement in the city of his early dayL But no one can say that Nazareth could prodoce Christianity. III. CHBIST WAS BEEl!il nt· EXTEBN'AL LOWLINESS llEFOBB ma DIVID GREATNESS COULD BE PDCEIVED, He was known as the Nazarene before he was recognized o.s the Bon of God. Many heard his local name who never saw his true greatness. Tb.is local name wu even a hinJrance t.o some; they could not believe in the Nazarene. Th us it was no great advantage to have known Christ after the flesh. His own people were slow t.o believe in him. Nazareth treated him bnclly, tried even to murder him by throwing him from a precipice of the rock-built town. It is possible now t.o blind our-  48 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. [oa, u. 1-23, --------------------------------- !'ekes t·, toe trnt, greatness and grace of Christ by looking too exclusively at his. uxtcrnal life. We need to know Christ spiritually to enjoy the real blessedness of £ellowship with him. IV. CHRIST REDEEMED THE LOWEST TIIINQS THAT HE TOUOHED. He has made the title" Nazarene" one of honour, as he has converted the shameful cross iato a token regarded with adoring gratitude. Now we take pilgrimages to the once obscure Nazareth. as to one of the most sacred spots on earth. If Christ enters a lonely life he uplifts it and sheds over it a new and unexpected beauty. 'l'o him nothing is common or unclean. As the Friend of publicans and sinners, he does not only condescend to asso- ciate with degraded and neglected people; he lifts these people up to a new life.- W. F. A.