The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 1 — Section 98

goguee, being glorified of all. Hie miracles, Ver. 18.-The Spirit of the Lord is upon his words touching and. eloquent, perhaps me. St. Luko here '}Holes, with a fow 11n- too a dim memory of marvde whi,·h had important vari11tione, from the LXX. nf Isa. hnpponorl years before e.t hie birth, eho,l bi. I, 2. The ch1uso, "t-0 set nt liberty round the now Teaoher a halo of glory. It them that are bruised," does not occur i" wae only when, instead of the Messianic hopes the present text of Isaiah. Tho brio-ht, of conqueMt and power which they cherish,·d, comforting words of the great propho:t "the a lifo of brave self-denial ancl quiet gene- Lord chose as giving a. genera.I summary or rosity was preached, that the re1tetion what he designed to carry out in !,is minis- against him set i11. The men or Naz,;roth, try. It could be no undesigned coincidence with their violent antagonism, which we are th~t th~ opening words of the passage co11- about to consider, were only, after all, a few t11m a smgularly clear mention of the three months in advance of the rest of the nation Persons of the blessed Trinity-the Spirit, iu their rejection of the Messiah. the Father, and the Anointed (}Iessiah). Ver. 16.-And he oame to Nazareth, where Beoause he hath anointed me to preach the he had been brought up : and, as his oll8tom gospel to the poor, etc. The common inter- was, he went into the syuagogue on the pretation referred this passage to the state sabbath day. This had been for years his of the people on the return from the Cap- practice in the little synagogue of the villf1ge tivity. Nothing, however, that the people where was hie carpenter's shop. Children had yet experienced in e.ny way satisfkd at the age of five years were admitted into the brilliant picture painted in the great the synagogue, and at thirteen atteudance prophecy. A remnant certainly hiul re- there was part of the legal life of the Jew. turned several centuries bflck from their These synagogues were the regular pll\ces distant exile, bnt the large majority of the for religious gatherings every sabbath day, chosen people were scattered abroad ; their and also usually on Mondays and Tueedaye, own land was crushed under what seemed a besides on other specie.I occasions: We hear hopeless servitude: poverty, ic,;norance, uni- of them after the return from the Captivity, versal discontent, reigned alike in J eruaa:em, and probably they existed long before, garrisoned with Rome.n legionaries, a~d in Some think that in Ps. lxxiv. 8 there is a the most distant of the poor upland villages reference to them. And stood up for to read. of Galilee. Only coulil deliverance come The holy books were always read standing. e.nd e. golden age of prosperity return with The ruler or elder presided over and directed the promised Messiah. This was the inter- the synagogue service. The priest and Lo- pretation which the choicest spirits in Israel vito had no recognized position in the syna- applied to the great Ise.iah prophecy read gogue. Their functions were confined to that sahbath day in the little synagogue of the temple and to the duties prescribed in Nazareth. This was the meaning "hich ihe Law. It was not unusual for the syna- Jesus at once gave to it, only he startled his gogue officials, if any stranger was present hearers by telling them thttt in him they who was known to be competent, to ask him saw the promised long-looked-for Deliverer. to read.sod to expound a passage in the Law We only possess, it is ~vitlent, the very or Prophets. Our Lord was well known in barest abstre.ct of the words of the Teacher Nazareth, and of late had evidently gained Jesus on this occasion. They must have a great reputation as a preacher. It was, been singularly eloquent, winning, and therefore, most natural that he should be pO\verful to he.ve extorted the wonder and asked to take a prominent part in the se.b- e.dmiration e.lluded to in the twenty-second be.th services. verse. Ver. 17.-And there was delivered unto Ver. 20.-And he closed the book, and he him the Book of the Prophet Esaias. In tho ga.ve it again to the minister, and sat down. sabbe.th service there were two lessons rel\d. This was the usual position adopted by a The first we.s a.I ways taken from the Penta- Jewish preacher, The chair of the preacher tench (the Law). 'fhe five books of l\Ioses was placed near the spot where the lesson were written on parchment, (usue.lly) be- was reaci These synagogues were built tween two rollers, 11nd the day's lesson was with the end pointed towards Jerusalem, in left unrolled for the reader's convenience. which direction the Jew ever loved to turn The Prophets were on single rollers. no e.s he prayed (D,m. vi. lll). The men sat special portion being left open. It has been on one side of the building, the womeu on suggested the.t the great and famous l\:les- the other. There was a.lwavs e.t the end aie.uio passage read by our Loril w11s the of the che.mber an ark of wood, e. memory of lesson for the de.y, This is quite uncertain; the sacred a.rk of the coveuo.nt, which once, iude,•d, it is more probable that Josue, when with its golden mercy-see.t, hallow~d Dt>W the roll of Isaiah was handed to hiiu by the e.nd again with the preseuce of the visible rulor of the synagogue, speoi111ly selected glory, was the chiof tretlsure ot' the tewple the ~cctiou contaiuiug this pass,i0 e. on Mount Ziou Iu the" ark" weru kupt  00 THE GOSPEL AOOORDING TO BT. LUKE. [on. rv. 1-44.