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19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.

a woman, he should do it before witnesses, and this was called an espousal, or betrothing; and when a woman is espoused, although she is not yet married, or has entered her husband's house, yet she is a man's wife." Six months, and sometimes a year, intervened between the betrothment and the nuptials. "No woman," says Lightfoot, "is ever married, among the Jews, without a previous espousal." The same previous ceremony appears to have been customary among other nations. Before they came together, &c.—Before she was removed to her husband's house, and the marriage consummated.

She was found with child of the Holy Ghost.—Εκ πνεύματος αγίου, Because of the absence of the article, Wakefield translates, "by a holy Spirit," signifying, by the divine power. But Bishop Middleton has shown that after prepositions anomalous instances of the omission of the article frequently occur. Besides, we have no indication of a plurality of beings, bearing the appellation of "holy spirits," in the New Testament, and no such phrase as πνευματα αγια, That the human nature of our Lord should be thus formed supernaturally by the power of the Holy Ghost, was necessary, that he might escape the traduction of original sin, and be born and remain perfectly pure and sinless, that so the divine nature might, without moral degradation, be personally united with the human, and that he might be qualified to be a perfect example of holiness, and finally "offer himself without spot to God," as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world.

Verse 19. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, &c.—Aikalos is by some taken to signify merciful, or compassionate, a sense in which the word is seldom or never used; and which, though it appears to harmonize with the moderate conduct which Joseph purposed to pursue towards Mary, destroys in fact the force of the passage. That he was a mild and con

siderate man, appears from his being unwilling to make her a public example; but it was because he was a just man, that is, a man who regarded the law, and was observant of moral duties, that he resolved to put her away, though privily; so that here we have the character of this excellent man drawn by a brief but striking touch of the pencil of inspiration. His sense of justice prevented his affection from stooping to what then appeared to be a disgrace, and yet the mildness of his character led him to perform an act of justice without severity. Пapaderyμarioas, to make her a public example, here means, either to bring her before the magistrate, in order to her being punished capitally according to the law, Deut. xxii. 23, 24; or, more probably, as this law required witnesses of the crime, which Joseph could not produce, to divorce her in a public manner, and thereby openly expose her shame. There was, however, a method of divorce so private as to require to be done in the presence of only two persons, by simply giving the woman a bill of divorce, without assigning any reasons. This Joseph resolved to adopt; and as this proceeding illustrates the character of Joseph, so the whole circumstance of the case exhibits that of Mary. She does not appear to have made any communication to Joseph of the message of the angel. She might be forbidden to do this; or she might wisely conclude that it would be treated as an idle tale; and so she left the matter in the hands of God, supported only by her NOBLE FAITH, and submitting to temporary suspicion in patient expectation of a divine interposition at the fittest time. The idolatrous worship paid to the Virgin has perhaps led Protestants too much to overlook those striking illustrations of her character which incidentally, but powerfully, break forth in the narratives of the evangelists. They, however, unite to prove her to have been a woman equally eminent in the order of intellect and piety;

20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

21 And she shall bring forth a son," and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. 22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,

m Luke i. 31.

retired and humble, but firm, thoughtful, and singularly qualified to pass through that succession of mysterious scenes, which could only be opened fully by the resurrection of her glorious Son from the dead. Never was mother so honoured or so tried.

Verse 20. The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream.-In this mode, as well as others, God" at sundry times" made known his will to the patriarchs and prophets; so that dreams were reckoned by the Jews as one of the modes of prophetic inspiration. It was the tradition of divine revelations being made in this manner, carried into the heathen world, which led to the common notion of the significancy of dreams; and thus by abuse it became, and still continues, a fruitful source of superstition. The prophetic dreams of sacred writ were not, however, common dreams; and as they were supernaturally induced, and were admonitory, directive, or predictive, they were accompanied with an internal evidence; of what kind we cannot say, but such as distinguished them from the ordinary rovings of the mind in sleep, and afforded sufficient conviction of their supernatural character. And although this method of communication was more frequent and longer continued under those dispensations of religion which preceded Christianity, yet they were probably sometimes vouchsafed to pious Gentiles; and even now the phenomenon of dreaming, a very powerful instrument of working upon the mind of man, may occasionally be employed to warn the wicked and direct the good, although as the medium of revealing religious truth dreams are no longer ne

cessary. The use or abuse of this doctrine will, however, depend upon sobriety

of mind.

Verse 21. And thou shalt call his name Jesus.-Mary being taken home to be the wife of Joseph, it belonged to him as the father, in the legal construction, to give the child a name; and he was directed to call him Jesus, which is the Hebrew Joshua in the Greek form, and signifies a Saviour, from yw to save. Hence the angel adds, for he shall save his people from their sins. He does not say, according to the expectation of the Jews, he shall save his people ISRAEL from their Gentile ENEMIES; but indefinitely, his people, all who believe on him, whether Jew or Gentile; and that not from temporal calamity or degradation, but from their sins: thus, from the beginning, was the notion of a political Messiah excluded from the minds of Joseph and Mary. The very name of our Lord, given by divine command, lays a firm foundation for the trust of the guilty; and opens the most glorious hope to man, even that of SALVATION from the guilt and penalty, from the power and pollution, of sin in this life, and beyond it a resurrection from the dead, immortality, and eternal felicity.

Verse 22. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled, &c.—By this we are not to understand that the end of Christ's being born of a virgin was to fulfil the prediction; but that the event exactly corresponded to the prophecy, and was intended to fulfil it, with reference to the great purpose of our salvation, anciently promised by the prophets, and in the mode which had been revealed to them. The prediction declares that a certain event

23" Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring

n Isaiah vii. 14.

would take place; and the evangelist assures us, that the very event spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, that " a virgin shall conceive and shall bring forth a Son," was the birth of Jesus Christ of the Virgin Mary in other words, that not only did an event take place, to which the words of the prophet might be applied, by way of parallel or accommodation, but that the prophecy was now fulfilled in a strict and literal sense. Some of those commentators who contend that the quotations adduced from the prophets, by St. Matthew and other writers of the New Testament, are used as apposite illustrations, in the same manner as passages from the Greek and Latin classics by modern writers, will not even except those instances which, like the above, are introduced by the strong formula, wa wλnpwoŋ to pηlev, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken. They therefore soften the import of wanpow, to “fulfil," into the occurrence of an event bearing some resemblance to another. Michaëlis, however, who adopts this doctrine in part, makes an exception of those passages which are introduced with this form of expression. The fact is, that none of those quotations which appear with this or any other form expressive of fulfilment of any part of the Old Testament, can be taken in any other sense than as specified accomplishments of predictions, the sense of which indeed might not in many instances be obvious before they were pointed out by the Spirit of inspiration, and which, in some few instances, even then, may be somewhat difficult to trace; but if, as Dr. Owen justly observes, "the same Spirit which dictated the prophecies in the Old Testament, dictated also their interpretation in the New, he surely could best ascertain to whom or to what they were meant to be ultimately applied." If indeed it were the practice with St. Matthew and the evangelists to introduce an apposite application of the moral sentences and weighty sayings of the Old Testament, where it is manifest that no prediction is involved, the case would be altered; but it

is not so, for the supposed examples of this practice which have been adduced will not support themselves. Dr. Campbell instances, "Out of Egypt have I called my Son," which will be considered in its place, and the conclusion drawn from it refuted. His second instance, when examined, will be found against him. It is taken from the directions as to the paschal lamb, Exodus xii. 46: "None of his bones shall be broken; " which he says is a mere law, not a prophecy; and yet St. John, after speaking of our Lord's legs not being broken upon the cross, says, "For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken." But, if this law as to the paschal lamb was designed to constitute it a type, then, from the first, that law looked forward to the circumstance which accomplished the type; and that very circumstance being of a remarkable character was designed to mark out Christ's sacrifice as the true and spiritual passover. Thus the law, though simply in itself a ceremonial direction, had the nature of a prophecy, and prefigured an event which was literally fulfilled in the antitype to the Jewish paschal sacrifice. Dr. Sykes, indeed, who strongly contends for the principle of accommodation in these cases, urges that it was customary with the Jewish Rabbins to apply passages of the Old Testament in a sense very remote from that of the original author; but Dr. Marsh makes a sufficient reply, when he says that he has produced no passages from the Talmud, or from any Jewish commentator, where similar expressions to those above-mentioned,— "that it might be fulfilled," &c.,-are used to introduce instances of mere accommodation. In the case of St. Matthew, especially, this theory is in the highest degree absurd; since he wrote more immediately for the conviction of the Jews, and therefore more frequently than the other evangelists quotes the prophecies of the Old Testament, and shows their fulfilment. Had he, therefore, applied the

forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

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* Or, His name shall be called.

same form of introduction with respect to such prophecies, and to mere rhetorical allusions, he would have defeated his own purpose, by perplexing his readers. That which appears to have misled many commentators on this point, is the difficulty of discovering, in several of these quotations, a direct prediction of what related to Messiah in the scope and context of the prophetic discourse from which it was taken. But this objection has proceeded upon a faulty view of the character and genius of the Hebrew system of prophecy itself. It ought to be remembered, that, in the declarations of the prophets, as Dr. Owen again remarks, there was a grand and extensive scheme, formed by Providence from the first, which consists of different parts, some respecting the temporal, and others the spiritual, benefit of mankind; and yet there is a close and intimate connexion between them, and upon this are founded the reasons of those abrupt transitions to remote subjects, and quick changes of numbers and persons, &c., so frequent in the prophecies, so that tem poral is often introductory to, and significant of, the spiritual. For as every temporal blessing, favour, and deliverance, which the Jews obtained, sprang from the mercies of God through Christ; so they became not only preludes to, but also types and pledges of, that future deliverance and blessing which he was finally to procure by his birth, actions, and sufferings, for the whole human race." Hence it is, that some prophecies singly and literally apply to Christ; and others in a more spiritual manner are completed in and by him, than in those personal and historical types of him and the affairs of his kingdom, with which the Jewish scriptures and history abound.

Verse 23. Behold, a virgin shall conceive, &c.-This illustrious prophecy was delivered by Isaiah, (chap. vii.,) in the reign of Ahaz, king of Judah, when he and his people were under great apprehensions that the state would be subverted by the

invasion of the confederated kings of Israel and Syria. God by the prophet promises deliverance to Ahaz, who appears to have been utterly distrustful in the message of God, and in this spirit to have refused to ask a sign from God, "either in the depth, or in the height above," that is, any natural prodigy within the compass of observation. This he did, secretly trusting in the help of his ally, the king of Assyria, rather than in God; but covering his unbelief with a pretence of not being willing to "tempt the Lord." Upon this the prophet, losing sight of Ahaz, and the sign he had refused to ask, turns to the people, "the house of David," and says to them, not to Ahaz, “The Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call his name Emmanuel." This was "6 a sign" to them, as it was the utterance of a new prophecy and ASSURANCE respecting the coming of Messiah, made under special inspiration; and it was 66 a sign or pledge, also, that the house of David, and the kingdom of Judah, should not be destroyed, for they all knew that Messiah was to be the heir and possessor of David's throne, as his descendant; and thus it had in it the nature of “ a sign," encouraging for the occasion, although the Messiah was not to be born till a distant period, beside that the prophecy was a new disclosure respecting him, and unveiled the most important particulars concerning him: as, 1. That he should be born of a virgin, then for the first time explicitly announced, although intimated in the first promise, where he is called the seed of the woman. 2. That he should be a divine person, according to his name, "Emmanuel, God with us." 3. That he should also be truly a man, being fed from a state of childhood with the common meats of the land, until he attained maturity,-" Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know," or till he shall know, "to refuse the evil, and choose the good;" that is, in the

Hebrew mode of speaking, till he is grown up to the age of discernment. Some suppose that this allusion to butter and honey was an assurance that the land should remain cultivated, and yield food for its inhabitants, till the time of his birth. But I am inclined to think, that this part of the prediction is to be taken as an indication of the lowly state in which this wondrous personage was to pass his youth. Butter, the hemah of Scripture, is proba bly the same as the haymak of the Arabs, which is cream produced by simmering sheep's milk over a slow fire, which with wild honey was the common food of persons in humble life; and, as it is noticed of John the Baptist that his food was "locusts and wild honey," to indicate that he spent his early life in desert solitudes, so of Emmanuel it is thus predicted, that he should spend his childhood and youth in obscurity among a rural and poor people, and not in the palaces of the great, which was the fact. This view receives confirmation from the 22d verse of the same chapter, where for the people to eat butter and honey is placed among the effects of a desolated and wasted state of the country, which no longer afforded them luxuries. So many important particulars respecting the Messiah did this explicit prophecy contain. What man but a prophet inspired of God could have foreseen an event not only so improbable, but apparently impossible, and that seven hundred years before it took place? Here is the express prophecy recorded in the sacred books of the Jews; and no one has ever pretended that it was fulfilled in the case of any human being, but in "the man CHRIST JESUS." The verse which follows,-" For before the child," or this child, "shall know to refuse the evil, or to choose the good, the land which thou abhorrest," that is, Israel and Syria, "shall be forsaken of both her kings," may be understood to signify, that within that period of time in which this or any other child comes to years of understanding, the two invading kings should be destroyed, as they were soon afterwards, by the king of Assyria; or, with others, we may understand it to be a distinct

prophecy, and that the child now spoken of and pointed to was the prophet's own son, whom he was commanded to take with him to meet Ahaz, Isaiah vii. 3. For why this child was taken by the prophet, by express command, on such an occasion, as Dr. Kennicott observes, but that something remarkable was to be said of him, does not otherwise appear.

To so striking a fulfilment of this prophecy in our Lord, the Jews object, that the word by is not to be strictly translated a virgin; to which the answer is conclusive, that it is so rendered in their own Septuagint, which translation was made three hundred years before St. Matthew wrote; and, although it is rendered veavis, a young girl, and not wapDevos, a virgin, by the Jews Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, this was subsequently to the Christian era, and to serve the cause of their own unbelief. They al o interpret the prophecy, as the modern Socinians, of a young woman then a virgin being married, and bringing forth a child in the ordinary way; which could be no such extraordinary matter, as to be introduced so emphatically: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive!" &c. and could be no "sign," or miracle, denoting a supernatural interposition, to confirm the hope of "the house of David.”

:

They shall call his name Emmanuel, &c. This is not a proper name, but a name of description; and the phrase, “they shall call his name," is the same as "he shall be called," as it is expressed in some of the earlier versions; and to be called is in the Hebrew idiom to be; as "my house shall be called a house of prayer;" that is, it shall be so. Christ is therefore God, and "God with us," otherwise he could not be Jesus, the Saviour; and so the real name which was given to our Lord implies all that is expressed by his prophetic designation.

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