LIFE OF CHRIST
A Harmony of the Gospels

LESSON TWO

Caesar Augustus    Luke 2:1

Caesar

Augustus

He was born on September 23, 63 B.C.,  the son of Octavius and his wife Atia,  both of noble families.  His father’s death four years later led to Octavian’s secret adoption by his mother’s uncle,  Julius Caesar.  After the death of Julius,  the adoption was made public and young Octavian soon joined a triumvirate with Mark Antony and Lepidus.   These three quickly moved in a ruthless manner to have 300 senators and 2,000 knights assassinated.
They then successfully defeated Caesar’s assassins at Philippi in 42 B.C.,  and Octavian granted citizenship to the people of this city,  Lepidus was sent to Africa,  and Antony made and alliance with Cleopatra,  queen of Egypt.   The strained relations between Octavian and Antony reached a showdown at the battle of Actium,  where Antony and Cleopatra were defeated.  Octavian thus emerged the undisputed ruler of the Roman Empire.
He declined the titles  “king”  and  “dictator”  but accepted the special title  “Augustus.” 
After the death of Lepidus in 12 B.C.,  he assumed the title  “Pontifex Maximus.”

Judea      Luke 2:4

City of David      Luke 2:4

Calling Bethlehem "the city of David" was very significant:

Bethlehem        Luke 2:4

Swaddling Clothes      Luke 2:7

Luke 2:7
When a child among the Hebrews was born,  it was washed in water,  rubbed in salt,  and then wrapped in swaddling clothes;  that is,  not garments regularly made,  as with us,  but bands or blankets that confined the limbs closely  (Ezek 16:4).  There was nothing special in the manner in which the infant Jesus was treated.
(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft)

These were bandages that were tightly wrapped around a newborn child.
The rank of the child was indicated by the splendor and costliness of these bands.

A Miss Rogers,  an English lady,  who had opportunities far beyond ordinary travelers for observing the domestic life of the Eastern people,  describes the appearance of an infant thus bandaged:

The child is laid on the cloth diagonally and the corners are folded over the feet and body and under the head, the bandages then being tied so as to hold the cloth in position. This device forms the clothing of the child until it is about a year old, and its omission (Ezek 16:4) would be a token that the child had been abandoned.
(from International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Electronic Database Copyright (c)1996 by Biblesoft)

The Inn      Luke 2:7

The khan  (or caravansary)  is a low structure,  built of rough stones,  and generally only a single story in height.
It consists for the most part of a square enclosure,  in which the cattle can be tied up in safety for the night,  and an arched floor of the recess for the accommodation of travelers.

The “leewan,”  or paved floor of the recess,  is raised a foot or two above the level of the courtyard.  A large khan might contain a series of such recesses,  which are,  in fact,  low small rooms with no front wall to them.  They are,  of course,  perfectly public;  everything that takes place in them is visible to every person in the khan.
They are also totally devoid of even the most ordinary furniture.  The traveler may bring his own carpet if he likes,  may sit cross-legged upon it for his meals,  and may lie upon it at night.  As a rule,  too,  he must bring his own food,  attend to his own cattle,  and draw his own water from the neighboring spring.
He would neither expect nor require attendance,  and would pay only the merest trifle for the advantage of shelter,  safety,  and a floor on which to lie.

But if he chanced to arrive late,  and the “leewans”  were all occupied by earlier guests,  he would have no choice but to be content with such accommodation as he could find in the court-yard below,  and secure for himself and his family such small amount of cleanliness and decency as are compatible with an unoccupied corner of the filthy area,  that must be shared with horses,  mules and camels.
The litter,  the closeness,  the unpleasant smell of the crowded animals,  the unwelcome intrusion of pariah dogs,  the necessary society of the very lowest hangers-on of the caravansary,  are adjuncts to such a position that can only be realized by any traveler in the East who happens to have been placed in similar circumstances.

In Palestine it not infrequently happens that the entire khan,  or at any rate the portion of it in which the animals are housed,  is one of those innumerable caves that abound in the limestone rocks of its central hills.

The wisdom of God - in the humility of humanity

There were shepherds - and an angel of the LORD     Luke 2:2 & 9

Luke’s Gospel is the gospel of the poor and lowly.  This revelation to the shepherds acquires additional meaning as we remember that shepherds as a class,  were under the Rabbinic ban,  because of  their necessary isolation from religious ordinances,  and their manner of life,  that rendered strict legal observance impossible.

Guided by the lamp that usually swings from the center of a rope hung across the entrance of the khan,  the shepherds made their way to the inn of  Bethlehem,  and found Mary,  and Joseph,  and the babe lying in the manger. 

The fancy of poet and painter has reveled in the imaginary glories of the scene.
They have sung of the  “bright harnessed angels”  who hovered there,  and of the stars lingering beyond their time to shed their sweet influences upon that smiling infancy.  They have painted the radiation of light from His manger-cradle,  illuminating the entire place till the bystanders are forced to shade their eyes from that heavenly splendor.

BUT ALL THIS IS BEYOND REALITY...

A Savior     Luke 2:11

Savior

soter  (so-tare')   a deliverer

Why was a Savior necessary?

What is sin?

Who is guilty, and needs the Savior?

Christ      Luke 2:11

Christ

Christos  (khris-tos')     anointed

Why did it have to be a man to bring salvation?

I Timothy 2:14	When the first man, Adam, sinned, it was by his choice
I Corinthians 15:21	"For since by MAN came death, by MAN came also the resurrection of the dead." Man anthropos  (anth'-ro-pos)  man-faced, a human being from Strong's NT:444
Since sin came deliberately by man, it must be paid for by man.
But not just any man, for sinful man cannot atone sin for another - it had to be a sinless man.

Why could ONE man atone for the sin of the whole world?

the Lord     Luke 2:11

Lord

kurios  (koo'-ree-os)  (supremacy);   Supreme in Authority

If all have inherited the sin nature from Adam, then where can  salvation come from?

The ultimate aim is to restore man beyond the perfection of  Adam

Peace on earth     Luke 2:14

That is,  the gospel will bring peace. The Savior was predicted as the Prince of peace  (Isa 9:6).
The world is at war with God;  sinners are at enmity against their Maker and against each other.
There is no peace to the wicked.
But Jesus came to make peace;  and this he did,

The dealings of God - in the Majesty  of Silence

The inventions of man differ wholly from the dealings of God.
In His designs there is

“The unfathomable depths of the Divine counsels,”  it has been said,  “were moved;  the fountains of the great deep were broken up;  the healing of the nations was issuing forth:  but nothing was seen on the surface of human society but this slight rippling of the waters:  the course of human things went on as usual,  while each was taken up with little projects of his own.”

When 8 days were accomplished for circumcising

Circumcision was a symbolical and bloody removal of the body of sin  (Col 2:11,13;  cf. Deut 10:16;  Jer 4:4;  Rom 2:29).  But as if to proclaim,  in the very act of performing this rite,  that there was no body of sin to be removed in His case,  but rather that He was the destined Remover of it from others,  in obedience to express command from heaven.  So significant was this,  that His circumciser,  had he been fully aware of what he was doing,  might have said to Him,  as John afterward did,  "I have need to be circumcised of Thee, and comest Thou to me?"  and the answer,  in this case as in that,  would doubtless have been,  "Suffer it to be so now:  for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness"  (Matt 3:14-15).  Still,  the circumcision of Christ had a profound bearing on His own work.  For since he that is  "circumcised is a debtor to do the whole law"  (Gal 5:3), 

His name was called Jesus

It was on this day,  too,  that Christ first publicly received that name of Jesus.
“Hoshea”  meant salvation; 
Joshua.  “Whose salvation is Jehovah;” 
Jesus is but the English modification of the Greek form of the name.

At this time it was a name extraordinarily common among the Jews.
It was dear to them as having been borne by:

Henceforth – not for Jews only,  but for the entire world – it was destined to acquire a significance infinitely more sacred as the mortal designation of the Son of God.

The days of her purification     Luke 2:22

The mother of a child was Levitically unclean for 40 days after the birth of a son,  and for 80 days after the birth of a daughter.

Women on this errand commonly rode to the temple on oxen  (that the body of so large a beast between them and the ground might prevent any chance of defilement from passing over a sepulchre (grave) on the road).

To present Him to the LORD     Luke 2:22

The first-born son of every household must be redeemed of  the priest at the price of 5 shekels of the sanctuary: about $2.50.

The Law  of the LORD      Luke 2:23

The word  “law”  occurs in this chapter 5 times

Luke emphasizes the fact that Jesus  “was made under the law” (see also Gal. 4:4),  and accordingly elaborates the details of the fulfillment of the Law by the parents of both John the Baptist and Jesus. 

Jesus,  as Perfect Man,  was the only One who ever did  or could  fulfill all the Law.

A pair of turtle doves or 2 young pigeons     Luke 2:24

The proper offering on such occasions was:

But with that beautiful tenderness,  that is so marked a characteristic of the Mosaic legislation  (before the legalistic man corrupted it),

While the lamb would probably cost about $1.75,  the doves would cost about 16 cents.

With this humble offering Mary presented herself to the priest.
At the same time Jesus,  as being a first-born son,  was presented to God,  and in accordance with the law,  was redeemed from the necessity of  Temple service by the ordinary payment of 5 shekels of the sanctuary.

According to Vincent,  Mary would not bring the creatures themselves,  but would drop the price into one of the thirteen trumpet–shaped chests in the Court of the Women.

Simeon       Luke 2:25-35

Of  Simeon we are simply told that:

He entered the Temple, and recognizing the Holy Child, took Him in his arms, and burst into the glorious song:

Anna     Luke 36 & 37

Anna was:

Herod the king      Matthew 2:1

Herod the Great,  who,  after a life of splendid misery and criminal success,  had now sunk into the jealous decrepitude of his savage old age,  was residing in his new place on Zion,  when,  half maddened as he was already by the crimes of his past career,  he was thrown into a fresh paroxysm of alarm and anxiety by the visit of some Eastern Magi,  bearing the strange intelligence that they had seen in the East the star of a new-born King of the Jews,  and had come to worship Him.

The Magi     Matthew 2:1

The name  “Magi,”  by which they are called in the Greek,  is perfectly vague:

They presented gifts to Him     Matthew 2:11

The people of the east never approach the presence of  kings and great personages,  without a present in their hands.  This custom is often noticed in the Old Testament.

Herod ... put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem     Matthew 2:16

Seeing that the Wise Men had not returned to him,  the alarm and jealousy of Herod assumed a still darker and more malignant aspect.  He had no means of identifying the royal infant of the seed of  David,  but he knew that the child whom the visit of the Magi had taught him to regard as a future rival of himself  or of his house was yet an infant.

Since Eastern mothers usually suckle their children for two years,  he issued his fell mandate to slay all the male children (the Greek word for “the children” is  “tous paidas”,  which is masculine,  denoting only the male children) of Bethlehem and its neighborhood  “from two years old and under.”

Of the method by which the decree was carried out we know nothing.  The children may have been slain secretly,  gradually,  and by various forms of murder;  or,  as has been generally supposed,  there may have been one single hour of dreadful butchery.

The decrees of tyrants like Herod are usually involved in a deadly obscurity;  they reduce the world to a torpor in which it is hardly safe to speak above a whisper.  But the wild wail of anguish which rose from the mothers thus cruelly robbed of their infant children could not be hushed,  and they who heard it might well imagine that Rachel,  the great ancestress of their race,  whose tomb stands by the roadside about a mile from Bethlehem,  once more,  as in the pathetic image of the prophet,  mingled her voice with the morning and lamentations of those who wept so inconsolably for their murdered little ones.

To us there seems something inconceivable in a crime so atrocious;  but our thoughts have been softened by eighteen centuries of Christianity,  and such deeds are by no means unparalleled in the history of heathen despots in the past century,  and of the ancient world.

The  Massacre of the Innocents  is profoundly in accordance with all that we know of Herod’s character.  The master-passions of  that able but wicked prince were a most unbounded ambition,  and a most excruciating jealousy.  His whole career was red with the blood of murder:

Egypt

Many Jews had settled in Egypt;  not only those who had fled in the time of  Jeremiah;  but many others who had settled there also,  on account of the temple which Onias 4th had built at Heliopolis.  Those who could speak the Greek tongue  (which Mary and Joseph probably could not)  enjoyed many advantages in that country.

Egypt was now a Roman province,  and the rage of Herod could not peruse them to this place,  even if he knew where they were.

Hosea 11:1
"When Israel was a child, I loved him,
And out of Egypt I called My son.
NKJV

When Herod was dead      Matthew 2:19

It must have been very shortly after the murder of the children that Herod died.
Only five days before his death he had made a frantic attempt at suicide,  and had ordered the execution of his eldest son Antipater.

His deathbed was accompanied by circumstances of peculiar horror,  and it has been noticed that the loathsome disease of which he died is hardly mentioned in history,  except in the case of men who have been rendered infamous by an atrocity of persecuting zeal.

On his bed of anguish,  in that splendid and luxurious palace that he had built for himself under the palms of Jericho,  swollen with disease and scorched by thirst – ulcerated externally and glowing inwardly with a  “soft, slow fire” –  surrounded by plotting sons and plundering slaves,  detesting all and detested by all – longing for death as a release from his tortures,  yet dreading it as the beginning of worse terrors – eaten of worms as though visibly smitten by the finger of God’s wrath after 70 years of successful villainy.

As he knew that none would shed one tear for him,  he determined that they should shed many for themselves,  issuing an order that,  under pain of death,  the principal families in the kingdom and the chiefs of the tribes should come to Jericho.

They came,  and then,  shutting them in the hippodrome,  he secretly commanded his sister Salome that at the moment of his death they should all be massacred.  And so,  choking as it were with blood,  devising massacres in its very delirium,  the soul of Herod passed forth into the night.

In purple robes,  with crown and scepter and precious stones,  the corpse was placed upon its splendid bier,  and accompanied with military pomp and burning incense to its grave in the Herodium,  not far from the place where Jesus was born.

But the spell of the Herodian dominion was broken,  and the people saw how illusory had been its glittering fascination.

The day of Herod’s death was,  as he had feared,  observed as a festival.  His will was disputed;  his kingdom disintegrated;  his last order was disobeyed;  his sons died for the most part in infamy and exile;  the curse of God was on his house,  and though,  by 10 wives and many concubines,  he seems to have had 9 sons and 5 daughters,  yet within 100 years the family of the  “hierodoulos”  of Ascalon had perished by disease or violence,  and there was no living descendant to perpetuate his name.

Came into Israel ... Archelaus was reigning

It seems to have been the first intention of Joseph to fix his home in Bethlehem.  But,  on his way,  he was met by the news that Archelaus ruled in the room of his father Herod.

Archelaus,  as though anxious to show that he was the true son of that father,  even before his inheritance had been confirmed by Roman authority,  “had,”  as Josephus remarks,  “given to his subjects a specimen of his future virtue, by ordering a slaughter of 3,000 of his own countrymen at the Temple.”