peareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,

mitting one of the most awful crimes, and yet there is not a single mark of exclamation; not a single reference to any other part of his conduct; nothing that could lead to the knowledge that his other conduct was not upright. There is no wanton and malignant dragging him into the narrative, that they might gratify malice, in making free with a very bad character. What was to their purpose, they record; what was not, they left to others. This is the nature of religion. It does not speak evil of others, except when necessary, nor then does it take pleasure in it.

20 Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go

19. Herod was dead. See Note on v. 15. Herod left three sons, and the kingdom was at his death divided between them. To Archelaus was given Judea, Idumea, and Samaria; to Philip, Batanea, Trachonitis, &c.; to Antipas, Galilea and Perea. Each of these was also called Herod, and these are the individuals who are so frequently referred to in the New Testament during the ministry of the Saviour and the labors of the Apostles. The following table will show at a glance the chief connexions of this family, as far as they are mentioned in the Sacred history.

into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young

child's life.

21 And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.

22 But when he heard that Ara Ex.4.19.

he died. Knowing his character, and fearing that he would not be safe there, Joseph hesitated about going there, and was directed by God to go to Galilee, a place of safety. The parts of Galilee. The country of Galilee. At this time the land of Palestine was divided into three parts: GALILEE, on the north; SAMARIA, in the middle; and JUDEA, on the south. Galilee was under the government of Herod Antipas, who was comparatively a mild prince; and in his dominions Joseph might find safety.

23. Nazareth. This was a small town, situated in Galilee, west of Capernaum, and not far from Cana. It was built partly in a valley, and partly on the declivity of a hill. Luke iv. 29. A hill is yet pointed out, to the south of Nazareth, as the one from which the people of the place attempted to precipitate the Saviour. It was a place, at that time, proverbial for wickedness. John iv. 46. It is now a large village, with a convent and two churches. One of the churches, called the church of the Annunciation, is the finest in the Holy Land, except that of the holy sepulchre in Jerusalem.

A modern traveller describes Nazareth as situated upon the declivity of a hill, the vale which spreads out before it resembling a circular basin, encompassed by mountains. Fifteen mountains appear to meet to form an enclosure for this beautiful spot, around which they rise like the edge of a shell, to guard it against intrusion. It is a rich and beautiful field in the midst of barren mountains.

Another traveller speaks of the streets as narrow and steep, the houses, which are flat-roofed, are about two hundred and fifty in number, and the inhabitants he estimates at 2000. The population of the place is variously stated, though the average estimate is 3000; of whom about five hundred are Turks, and the residue nominal Christians.

As all testimony to the truth and

chelaus did reign in Judea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstand. ing, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee :

23 And he came and dwelt in a

b c.3.13. Lu.2.39.

fidelity of the sacred narrative is im portant, we have thought ourselves justified in connecting with this article a passage from the journal of Mr. Jowett, an intelligent modern traveller; especially as it is so full an illustration of the passage of Luke already cited.

66

Nazareth is situated on the side, and extends nearly to the foot, of a hill, which, though not very high, is rather steep and overhanging. The eye na turally wanders over its summit, in quest of some point from which it might probably be that the men of this place endeavoured to cast our Saviour down, (Luke iv. 29,) but in vain: no rock adapted to such an object appears here. At the foot of the hill is a modest, simple plain, surrounded by low hills, reaching in length nearly a mile; in breadth, near the city, a hundred and fifty yards; but farther south, about four hundred yards. On this plain there are a few olive and fig trees, sufficient, or rather scarcely sufficient, to make the spot picturesque. Then follows a ravine, which gradually grows deeper and narrower towards the south; till, after walking about another mile, you find yourself in an immense chasm, with steep rocks on either side, from whence you behold, as it were beneath your feet, and before you, the noble plain of Esdraelon. Nothing can be finer than the apparently immeasurable prospect of this plain, bounded on the south by the mountains of Samaria. The elevation of the hills on which the spectator stands in this ravine is very great; and the whole scene, when we saw it, was clothed in the most rich mountain-blue color that can be conceived. At this spot, on the right hand of the ravine, is shown the rock to which the men of Nazareth are sup-. posed to have conducted our Lord, for the purpose of throwing him down With the Testament in our hands, we endeavored to examine the probabilities of the spot and I confess there is

2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

is not probable that John began to baptize or preach long before the Saviour entered on his ministry; and, consequently, from the time that is mentioned at the close of the second chapter, to that mentioned in the beginning of the third, an interval of twenty-five or more years elapsed. ¶ John the Baptist. Or John the baptizer so called from his principal office, that of baptizing. Baptism, or the application of water, was a rite well known to the Jews, and practised when they admitted proselytes to their religion from heathenism. Lightfoot. Preaching. The word rendered to preach, means, to proclaim in the manner of a public crier; to make proclamation. The discourses recorded in the New Testament are mostly brief, sometimes a single sentence. They were public proclamations of some great truth. Such appear to have been the discourses of John, calling men to repentanee. In the wilderness of Judea. This country was situated along the Jordan, and the Dead Sea, to the east of Jerusalem. The word translated wilderness, does not denote, as with us, a place of boundless forests, entirely destitute of inhabitants; but a mountainous, rough, and thinly settled country, covered, to some considerable extent, with forests and rocks, and better fitted for pasture than for tilling. There were inhabitants in those places, and even villages, but they were the comparatively unsettled portions of the country. 1 Sam. xxv. 1, 2. In the time of Joshua there were six cities in what was then called a wilderness. Joshua xv. 61, 62.

2. Repent ye. Repentance implies sorrow for past offences (2 Cor. vii. 10.); a deep sense of the evil of sin as committed against God (Ps. li. 4.); and a full purpose to turn from transgression and to lead a holy life. A true penitent has sorrow for sin, not only because it is ruinous to his soul, but chiefly because it is an offence against God, and is that abominable thing which he hates. Jer. xliv. 4. It is produced by seeing the great danger and misery to which it exposes us; by seeing the justness and holiness of God (Job xlii.

3 For this is he that was spoken ofa by the prophet Esaias, saying,

a Is.40.3.

6.); and by seeing that our sins have been committed against Christ, and were the cause of his death. Zech. xii. 10. Luke xxii. 61, 62. There are two words in the New Testament translated repentance; one of which denotes a change of mind, or a refor. mation of life; and the other sorrow or regret that sin has been committed. The word used here is the former: calling the Jews to a change of life, or a reformation of conduct. In the time of John, the nation had become extremely wicked and corrupt, perhaps more so than at any preceding period. Hence both he and Christ began their ministry by calling to repentance. ¶ The kingdom of heaven is at hand. The phrases, kingdom of heaven kingdom of Christ; and kingdom o God; are of frequent occurrence in the Bible. They all refer to the same thing. The expectation of such a king dom was taken from the Old Testa ment, and especially from Daniel, ch. vii. 13, 14. The prophets had told o a successor to David that should sit on his throne. 1 Kings ii. 4; viii. 25; Jer. xxxiii. 17. The Jews expected a great national deliverer. They sup posed that when the Messiah should appear, all the dead would be raised; that the judgment would take place; and that the enemies of the Jews would be destroyed, and themselves advanced to great national dignity and honor.

The language in which they were accustomed to describe this event was retained by our Saviour and his apostles. Yet they early attempted to correct the common notions respecting his reign. This was one design, doubtless, of John in preaching repentance. Instead of summoning them to military exercises, and collecting an army, which would have been in accordance with their expectations, he called them to a change of life; to the doctrine of repentance a state of things far more accordant with the approach of a kingdom of purity.

The phrases kingdom of God and kingdom of heaven, have been supposed to have a considerable variety of

The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

4 And the same John had his

a 2 Ki.1.8. Mat.11.8.

meaning. Some have thought that they refer to the state of things in heaven; others, to the personal reign of Christ on earth; others, that they mean the church, or the reign of Christ in the hearts of his people. There can be no doubt that there is reference in the words to the condition of things in heaven, after this life. But the church of God is a preparatory state to that beyond the grave; a state in which Christ pre-eminently rules and reigns; and there is no doubt that it sometimes refers to the state of things in the church; and it means, therefore, the state of things which the Messiah was to set up-his spiritual reign begun in the church on earth, and completed in heaven.

The phrase would be best translated, 'the reign of God draws near.' We do not say commonly of a kingdom that it is moveable, or that it approaches. A reign may be said to be at hand; or the time when Christ would reign was at hand. In this sense it is meant that the time when Christ should reign, or set up his kingdom, or begin his dominion on earth, under the Christian economy, was about to commence. The phrase, then, should not be confined to any period of that reign, but includes his whole dominion over his people on earth and in heaven.

In the passage here it clearly means that the coming of the Messiah was near; or that the time of the reign of God which the Jews had expected was coming.

The word heaven, or heavens, as it is in the original, means sometimes the place, so called; and sometimes is, by a figure of speech, put for the Great Being whose residence is there; as in Daniel iv. 26; "the Heavens do rule." See also Mark xi. 30. Luke xv. 18. As that kingdom was one of purity, it was proper that the people should prepare themselves for by turning from their sins, and directing their minds to a suitable fitness for his reign.

3. The prophet Esaias. The prophet Isaiah. Esaias is the Greek mode

raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins and his meat was locusts and wild honey.

b Le.11.22.

of writing the name. This passage is taken from Isaiah xl. 3. It is here said to have been spoken in reference to John, the forerunner of Christ. The language is such as was familiar to the Jews, and such as they would understand. It was spoken at first with reference to the return from the captivity at Babylon. Anciently it was customary in the march of armies to send messengers, or pioneers, before them, to proclaim their approach; to provide for them; to remove obstructions; to make roads, level hills, fill up valleys, &c. Isaiah, describing the return from Babylon, uses language taken from that custom. A crier, or herald, is introduced. In the vast deserts that lay between Babylon and Judea, he is represented as lifting up his voice, and, with authority, commanding a public road to be made for the return of the captive Jews, with the Lord as their deliverer. Prepare his ways, make them straight, says he;' or, as Isaiah adds, 'Let the valleys be exalted, or filled up, and the hills be levelled, and a straight, level highway be prepared, that they may march with ease and safety.' See my Notes on Isa. xl.

As applied to John, it means, that he was sent to remove obstructions, and to prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah; like a herald going before an army on the march, to make preparations for their coming.

4. His raiment, of camel's hair. His clothing. This is not the fine hair of the camel from which our elegant cloth is made, called camlet; nor the more elegant stuff, brought from the East Indies, under the name of camel's hair; but the long, shaggy hair of the camel, from which a coarse, cheap cloth is made, still worn by the poorer classes in the East, and by monks. This dress of the camel's hair, and a leathern gir dle, it seems, was the common dress of the prophets. 2 Kings, i. 8. Zech. xiii. 4. THis meat was locusts. His food. These constituted the food of the common people., Among the Greeks,