and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.

17 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,

18 In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.

19 But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,

20 Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel:

dren. Rather, "all the male children." -18. Rama was north of Jerusalem, and in the tribe of Benjamin. The prophet evidently referred to a destruction coming on the Benjamites and Ephraimites, Rachel's descendants. The evangelist quotes the prophecy not as referring to Herod's massacre in Judah, but as very applicable in its description of the loss of children to the occurrence at Bethlehem.-19. When Herod was dead. Only a few months after the massacre. 20. They are dead, i. e., Herod and his son Antipater. Or else, by a common usage, "they" is used of Herod alone.- -22. Archelaus only reigned two years and was then deposed by the Roman power, when a Roman governor took his place as ruler of Judea. Notwithstanding. Rather "and." Galilee. Herod the Great was succeeded in Galilee by his son Herod Antipas, while Archelaus took Judea. This Herod Antipas is the Herod hereafter mentioned in the gospels. See chap. xiv. 1.— 23. He shall be called a Nazarene. Rather, "that he should be called a Naz

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

23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall-* be called a Nazarene.

IN

CHAPTER III.

N those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea,

arene." It is not a quotation, but a reference to the general predictions of the prophets regarding the low estate of the Messiah (as Isaiah liii. and Zech. xii. 10), Nazareth being a proverbially insignificant place (John i. 47). So the island of Belbina in Grecce from its insignificance made the name of Belbinite a proverb (Herodotus viii. 125).

III.-1. In those days, i. e., in the days of Christ's life upon earth. Matthew is writing many years after Christ's death. John the Baptist, or John the Baptizer. Baptism was the prominent accompaniment of John's preaching. It was a token of the receiver's penitence and hope of pardon, and formed part of the preparation for Christ's enlightening words. For John's early history and his special work as Christ's forerunner, see Luke, 1st chapter. Wilderness of Judea. The sparsely settled country southeast and east of Jerusalem on the west side of the Dead Sea and Jordan. This is the eastern slope from the "hill-country" (Luke i. 39).The kingdom of heaven. A comparison

-2.

2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, 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 raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.

5 Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the ⚫ region round about Jordan,

6 And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

of Matt. xiii. 47 and John xviii. 36 shows that this much-used expression signifies God's visible Church with its spiritual methods under the Christian dispensation. We may consider this Church as established at the day of Pentecost after our Lord's ascension (Acts ii). Jewish writers used the phrase for the old polity of Israel with God at its head, and also, though rarely, for the new dispensation of the Messiah. Matthew alone of the evangelists uses the expression in this form. All the other New Testament writers use for it "the kingdom of God." Neither expression occurs in the Old Testament.- -6. In

Jordan. In John i. 28 we find Bethabara (some read Bethania) was the place at which John was baptizing. Its position cannot be ascertained, but it is supposed to be a few miles north of the Dead Sea. Afterward we find John baptizing at Ænon, near to Salim (John iii. 23). These places are also unknown.- -7. Pharisees and Saddu

8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:

9 And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. cees. The Pharisees, or Separatists (as the word implies), were a sect of high religious assumption, exceedingly exact in external rites. The Sadducees (named from Sadoc, their founder) were an infidel sect, Jewish materialists, deniers of almost everything spiritual. These apparent extremes of hyper-religion and irreligion are really closely allied. The sensuous is the law of each.We have Abraham to our father, i. e., "" as our father."- -11. With the Holy Ghost and with fire. I think that the allusion here is to the figure of the next verse. Christ was coming to winnow and to burn. That which was not driven away by the Holy Spirit (the sifting wind) would be gathered into his garner, but the rest should be baptized with fire, should be consumed. The Greek word for "Spirit" or "Ghost" also means "wind" or "breath," which fact supports this view. The "you" refers to the Jews generally.- -12. Purge his floor, i. e., cleanse or winnow his

-9.

13 Then cometh Jesus from T Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.

14 But John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?

15 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suf fered him.

16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:

17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

THEN

CHAPTER IV.

was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

2 And when he had fasted forty

threshing-floor.- -13. Galilee, wherein was Nazareth, where Jesus resided (chap. ii. 23), was the northernmost division of Palestine under the Romans. Its full name was "Galilee of the Gentiles" (chap. iv. 15 and Isaiah ix. 1), so called from the number of nonJewish residents after the captivity. The word "Galilee" means "district." -15. All righteousness, i. e., all that conduct which would be the righteous requirement of a Jew.-16. Out of. Rather "from." He saw; from John i. 32, 33, 34, we find that John the Baptist also saw this descent of the Spirit as a dove; from Luke iii. 22, we would suppose that the sight was visible to all. IV.-1. Of the Spirit, i. e., "by the Spirit." The wilderness, probably, of

days and forty nights, he was afterward à hungered.

3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,

6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

Judea. After the fasting, Christ was removed once to a high mountain and once to the pinnacle of the temple (vv. 5, 8). These removals were, doubtless, supernatural and instantaneous. I use the word "supernatural" in the sense of "contrary to human experience," for Satan may have used natural laws unex. plored by us.- -5. A pinnacle. Rather the pinnacle. This temptation is put last in Luke's gospel. Matthew's order is the correct order, as we see by the tenth verse, where Satan is ordered away by Christ. The evangelists do not give all the events of Christ's life in their chronological order,—an order not necessary nor always desirable.-8. This exhibition of all the kingdoms of the world must of course have been a

9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

12 Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galileo;

13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:

14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,

15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;

supernatural work. (See on ver. 1.) Satan, we are taught repeatedly in Scripture, has mighty power in the physical world. Our circumscribed powers must be no criterion to us of Satan's permitted operations. (See Job ii. 7 and Luke xiii. 16.)- -10. Satan means "adversary." (Comp. 1 Chron. xxi. 1 and Job i. 6 and Rev. xii. 9.) -12. John was cast into prison. The cause of this imprisonment is given in chap. xiv. 3, 4. As Herod, who imprisoned John, had no control over Judea, but only over Galilee and the east side of Jordan, John must have preached elsewhere than in Judea. He, probably, at times traversed the entire Jewish country.-13. The sea coast. Of the sea of Galilee, called also the lake of Gennesaret. John, at a later date, calls it the sea of Tiberias. It is a beautiful sheet of water through which the

16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea for they were fishers.

19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.

Jordan flows. Its dimensions are about 14 and 7 miles, and it lies about 60 miles north of the Dead Sea.-15. Beyond Jordan. This refers to the land of the Gadarenes, east of the Jordan valley. It is not put in apposition to Zabulon and Nephthalim, but as additional. It was visited by our Saviour repeatedly in person. Zabulon and Nephthalim (Zebulon and Naphtali) were the chief districts of our Lord's earthly sojourn.-19. Follow The circumstances of this call are more fully narrated in Luke v. 1-11.-24. Those which were possessed with devils and those which were lunatic. These two classes are thus separated. The former were, doubtless, supernaturally affected.-25. Decapolis (i. e., ten cities) was the name of an extensive district on both sides of Jordan, Scythopolis (Bethshean) being one of the ten

me.