The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 1 — Section 17

If these were true, surely nevor mo.n had reth, we.a able to coase to be born of her worked liko this Mo.n, They had he1Lrd, too, that holy thing which was called the Son of the crowning sign of the Itesurroctioo. of God. There were men in those first days, scat- Ver. 26.-A.nd in the Bixth month; the.t is, tered o.broo.d in o.11 lo.ncla, who hncl seen after the vision of Zache.riae in the temple. these things, who knew that the Master ho.d Unto a oity of Galilee, named Nazareth. dierl on the cross, and who hod seen him, These explanatory notes make it clear that touched him, nod spoken to him after hie St. Luke we.a writing for those who were resurrection. The mysterious miracle of strangers to Palestine. Buch details were no doubt added by St. Luke to the oral or the incarnntion was not needed for the written Hebrew narrative upon which this preaching of the first do.ye. section is entirely based. Under the Roman But time went on, and naturally enough domination the land of promiae was divided many of the thoughtful cultured men who into Judma, Samaria, Perma, and Galilee. hod accepted the doctrine of the cross bcgou Galilee was the northern department, and comprised the old territory of the tribes of to se.y-We ought to have the true story of the Zelmlua, Nophtali, and Asher. From beginnings of these marvellous events autho- Josephus we learn that at this period the ritatively written down. Here and there we northern division was rich and populous, and have hee.rd something of the birth and child- covered with flourishing towns. Nazareth, hood, why have we not the details authenti- which still exists as a large village of some cated? Men like Paul and Luke felt that three thousand inhabitants, under the name of En-Nazirah, is a.bout twenty-four miles such natural questionings should be answered. to the east of the Lake of Ti berias. It is And hence it came to pass the.t, moved by well situate in a valley among the hills the Holy Spirit-under, we believe, the which rise to the north of the Esdraelon directiou of Paul-Luke went to the fountain- plain. From one of the grassy elopes which head, to the blessed mother herself, to those rise behind Nazareth, one of the noblest viP-ws is obtained. The snowy summits of holy women some of whom we believe had Lebanon and Hermon close the prospect on boroe her company from the beginning, and the oor•h; nn the sonth the brnnd Fscl.aclon from her lips and their lips wroto down plain, with the mountains of Ephraim; what she ( or they) dictated, partly from Gilead and Tabor lie on the east; on the memory, partly perhaps from memoranda other side, the green uplant.!e of Co.nnel are bathed by the blue waves of t.he lllcditer- which she e.nd others had kept of that ranean Sea. The meaning of the name strange sweet time; and so these two chap- Nazareth has been the subject of much ters of the Third Goepel, of which the incar- learned controversy. The more nsua.lly nation is the central narrative, were written adopted derivation, ho,..-ever, refers the woril down much in the original form in which to ,io, "a shoot or branch," which conveys, as Dean Plumptre remarks, something of Luke received it, the Greek simply trans- the same meaning as our hurst or holm in lating the original Hebrew story. Around English topography. llnrckhardt, the tra- the words of the Gospel soon gathered a host veller, believes the name was originally of miraculous legends glorifying the blessed used on account of the numerous shrubs mother of the Lord. These ore utterly un- which cover the ground in this locality. Ver. 27.-To a virgin espoused to a man known to Scripture, and should be quietly whose name was Joseph, of the house of put aside. Strange speculations respecting David; more BCcurately, betrothed. The her and the manner of the wondrous birth formal ceremony of betrothe.1 took place have been in all times, nay, still ore among the Jews in most cases a year prior favourite subjects of dispute among theo• to the marriage. The question has arisen whether the ,..-ords, "of thu house of David," logiane. It is a pity to try and ho wise refer to Joseph or to l\Iary. Grammatically, beyond what is written. The believer will they woulcl seem to belong to Joseph: but content himself with just receiving tho quid the foot of the Gospel being here so closely story of lhe holy maid as Mary the mother trnosh\ted from a Hebrew (Aramaic) original, gnve it to Luke or Pe.ul, feeling assured prevents us from ln)'.ing down any strict that the snwe pow1 r of tho Higlwst by linguistic rules which belong to \he Greek language. "Who was Mary the virgin?" which the crucified Jesus was rnised from hns been often asked. Vers. 32 and 69 w0uld the tomb where he bad Inin for three days, lose their point altogether unless we reg,ml was able to overshadow the virgin of Nnza• Luke as being persuaded that the you11g  8 THE GOSPEL ACCOR.DlNG TO ST. LUKE. [cu. 1. 1-80.