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HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS.

PART I.

EVENTS CONNECTED WITH THE BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD
OF OUR LORD.

TIME: About thirteen years and a half.

1. PREFACE TO LUKE'S GOSPEL.1

LUKE I. 1-4.

1 FORASMUCH as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewit3 nesses, and ministers of the word; it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee 4 in order,2 most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.

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§ 2. AN ANGEL APPEARS TO ZACHARIAS.*-Jerusalem; in the Temple.

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There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia:5 and his wife was of the daughters

The short Preface of Mark, and the longer one of John, are not put here, but in Part II.; because they both include a reference to the preaching of John the Baptist, and none at all to the infancy of Jesus.

2 In order (kalens), i. e. in succession or continuously, without necessarily implying a strictly chronological arrangement. Though the order of time is doubtless generally followed in Luke's narrative, yet there are cases of obvious departure from it, as in ch. 3., where our Lord's baptism is related (ver. 21, 22) after John's imprisonment (ver. 19, 20). Even Greswell, who strenuously maintains (Dissert. I. vol. i.) the chronological regularity of this Gospel, and whose Harmony is arranged according to that view, allows that the order of time has not been strictly followed in the above instance, as well as in ch. 4. 5-8; ch. 21. 37, 38; ch. 22. 20; and ch. 22. 63-65. Robinson, with the majority of Harmonists, assumes the amount of irregularity to be much greater, and accordingly he transposes many other parts of Luke in the synoptical arrangement.

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3 Acts 1. 1.

Their

4 The vision of Zacharias is assumed by some as having occurred on the great day of Atonement, the tenth of the seventh month. But on that day the high priest himself officiated, entering into the holy of holies; Lev. 16. 3, 29, 32-34. Zacharias was an ordinary priest of the class of Abia, one of the twenty-four classes instituted by David for the service of the temple, which relieved each other in succession every sabbath: see 1 Chr. 24. 319; 2 Chr. 8. 14; Joseph. Ant. 7. 14. 7. service included the daily burning of incense on the altar of incense in the first or outer sanctuary; and this was what Zacharias was now doing; Luke 1.9; Ex. 30. 6-8; 1 Chr. 23. 13.-It follows, that no inference whatever can hence be drawn as to the year, or season of the year, when the vision took place. Nor is it said how long a time elapsed between the vision and Elisabeth's conception; the expression after those days, in ver. 24, being quite vague.

5 1 Chr. 24. 10, 19.

LUKE I.

6 of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord 7 blameless. And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.

8 And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's office before God 9 in the order of his course, according to the custom of the priest's office, his 10 lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple1 of the Lord. And

the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of in11 cense. And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the 12 right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was 13 troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him, Fear not,

Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee 14 a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and 15 gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink;2 and he 16 shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And 17 many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to 18 make ready a people prepared for the Lord. And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well 19 stricken in years. And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to 20 show thee these glad tidings. And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because 21 thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.

And

the people waited for Zacharias, and marvelled that he tarried so long in 22 the temple. And when he came out, he could not speak unto them: and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple: for he beckoned unto them, and remained speechless.

23

And it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his ministration were ac24 complished, he departed to his own house. And after those days his wife 25 Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying, Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men.

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3. THE SAME ANGEL APPEARS TO MARY.-Nazareth.

LUKE I. 26-38.

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city 27 of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was 28 Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the 29 Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.

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And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour 31 with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a

1 Temple (vaós), i. e. the holy place or sanctuary, where the altar of incense stood (Ex. 30. 1, 6-8). When temple is used (as in most cases in the Gospels) for the courts or whole area about the sanctuary, it is always expressed by another word (ἱερόν).

Num. 6. 2-4.

3 Comp. Mal. 4. 5, 6.

4 Gen. 30. 23; Isa. 4. 1.

5 The sixth month here refers back, not to the vision, but to the conception of Elizabeth: see ver. 36.

6 The words of the house of David are, probably, intended here to describe not Joseph, though he too was of the royal descent, but Mary; for in ver. 32 she is told that her Son is to have the throne of his father David. See also the Note to § 13 in the Appendix.

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