Ver. 15.-0ree.t in the sight of the Lord. Herod and hie friends; the sons, on the other To the pious olu Jewish priest the etmnge hand, being Zealots attached to the national visitant's words would bear a deep eignifl- party, bitterly hostile to the Herodians. ca.tion. Za.cbarias would quickly CLLtch the So also in one house some would belong to angel's tboughtA. Hie son was not to be the the Pharisee, others to the Se.rldncee, sect. Mceeiah of the people's bnpe, but wae to be 'fhese fatal divisions would, in many cases, like ono of those great ones loved of God, be healed by the influence of the coming of whom the women of IBra.el sang on their one. There is, however, another interpre- eoloinn fee.et-de.ye-one like Samson, only tation far deeper and more satisfactory; for purer, or Samuel, or the yet greater :Elijah. nothing in the preaching of the Baptist, Bil Could all this deep joy be true? Shall far as Wi are awe.re, bore specially on the drink neither wine. The old curse then as domestic diBBensions of the people; it hR.d now. God's heroes must be free from even a much wider range. The true sense of the the semblance of temptation. They must o.ngel's words here should be gathered from stamp their high lives, from the beginning, prophet.ic po.ssages such as Isa. xxix. 22, 23, by the solemn vow of self-denial and absti- u Jucob shall no more be ashamed, neither
nence. It is remarkable how many of the shall his face wax pale, when he seeth (•;, great deliverers o.nd teachers of the chosen inlrp) bis children become the work of my people were commanded from chilclhoocl to han'ds;" Isa.. I.xiii. 16, "Doubtless thou art enrol themselves among the abstainers from our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of all strong driuk. Nor strong drink. The us, and Isro.el o.cknowledge us not: thou, word o-1,«pa. includes all kinds of fermented 0 Lord, a.rt our Father, our Redeemer l " - drink except that made from the grape; it The patriarchs, the fathers of Israel, behold- was especially applied to palm wine. ing from their abodes of rest the works and Ver. 16.-And many of the children of days of their degenerate children, mourned Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. over their fall, and, to use earthly language, The state of the people at tliis period was "were a.shamed" of the conduct of their indeed unhappy. The dominant Italian unworthy descendants. These would be power had introduced into Syria and Pa.les- glad and rPjnice nver the rr~nlt of tl.e tine the vices and profligate life uf Italy pr~e.chi11g of the coming propliet. Go<let and Greece. Th~ great Syrian city Antioch, well sums up the angel's words: "It will be for instance, in vice and sensuality, ho.cl gone John's mi-sion then to reconstitute the far beyond her conqueror, and was perhaps moral unity of the people by restoring the at that time the most wicked city in tha broken relation between the patriarchs a.ad world. In the court of Herod, patriotism their degenerate d~iicendauts." ancl true nobility were dead. The priests Ver. 18.-Whereby shall I know this 1 e.ncl scribes were for the most part deeply for I am an old man. There we.a something corrupted, and the poor shepherdless com- evidently blamable in this hesitution on mon folk only too readily followed the the part of Zacharias to receive the o.ngel's example of the rich an<l great. The boy promise. It seems as though the radiant who wus to be born was to be 11. great glory of the messenger, n.s he stood before preacher of righteousness; his glorious mis- the curtain of the silent sanctuo.ry in his sion woulcl be to turn many of these poor awful beauty, ought to have convinced the wanderers to the Lonl their God. doubting old mo.u of the truth of the strange Ver. 17.-In the spirit and power of Elias. messr1ge. The words of the angel, which There was a conficlent hope among tl1e ,Tews, follow, seem to imply this. What I do you de.ting from the days of the prophecy of doubt my message? "I am Gabriel, who Male.chi, some four hundred years before sto.ncl in the presence of the Eternal." the viMion of Zuche.riua, tlmt the clnys of Others in Old Testament story before-for llfrssiuh woulcl be heruldecl by an 11ppe11r- instance, Abraham (Gen. xv.) e.ncl Gideon ance of the Prophet Elijah. The selfSRme (Judg. vi.)-ho.d aeon and listened to an expectation is still cherishecl by every pious angel, had at first doubted, but ho.d received J ow. To turn the hearts of the fathers to in consequence no rebuke, no punishment, the children, and the disobedient to the for their want of faith. Zo.charias was, wisdom of the just. The usu11l explnnation howovor, conclemnecl, we lenrn, to e. long of t~,cse words of the ungel, who uses here pcriocl of dumbness. the language of lllale.chi (iv. 5, 6), is that Vor. 19.-I am Gabriel The rneuning of the result of tho preaching of tliis now the name Gabriel is "Hero of God," or prophet, who is nbout to be raised up, will "l\lighty One of Goel." In the canonical be to restoro hnrmony to the brnkcn and books only two of the heavenly ones o.ro disturbccl li,ruily life of I~racl, whcrcus now mentioned by name. Gabriel (here e.ud the home lifo of the choson rncc wns split Do.a. viii. 1G 1md ix. 21) and Michael, up-the fnthet·s, perhnps, siding with tl10 which signifies" Who is like God" (Jude foreign or Rom11n ruction, ne represented by 9; Rev. xii. 7; 1n<l in Dau. x. 13, 21; 6 THE GOSI'EL ACCORDING TO ST, LUKE. [cR. I. l~0.