and where zúgos is used emphatically, as corresponding with the Hebrew " or "my lord, or Jehovah.” Ver. 44, 45. The first person in the speech of Elizabeth changes towards the conclusion into the third person; she speaks in her prayers of Mary, and praises her faith. The latter she recognises very correctly in the Holy Ghost as being the fundamental cause of the humble disposition of Mary's mind, and as the condition of her happiness. The word reλeiwois, “fulfilment,” refers to the fulfilment of all that had been promised concerning her son, ver. 32, 33, and with regard to the nature of iris "faith," it is clear that it denotes here no dogma of any kind, but that it is intended only to describe that disposition of soul thus resigned to the will of God, in which Mary found herself on the annunciation of the heavenly message. The term ioris "faith," signifies a susceptibility of the effects of Divine grace, and their reception into the heart (comp. the context with Matth. viii. 2). Ver. 46, 47. Let us suppose Mary as living and acting according to the Holy Scriptures, the promises of which, no doubt, had often affected her mind, and called forth the wish that God might help his people and send the Redeemer, nay even the desire to become the blessed mother of the Messiah, an expression, then, of such enthusiastic joy as now broke forth will present nothing remarkable; possessed of the knowledge of becoming a partaker of the highest degree of happiness, she gives utterance by prophetic inspiration to her gratitude for the mercy she has experienced, and for the fulfilment of the promises made by God, (which she conceives in her prophetic spirit as already realised,) in the to her so familiar words of Scripture, especially drawn from those of the song of thankfulness uttered by Hannah under similar circumstances (1 Sam. ii. 1-10). Regarded in such a manner, these poetical effusions will lose that striking or remarkable character which they seem to present at first sight. Schleiermacher has already seized upon them, in order to demonstrate the probability that the history of Christ's infancy has been composed as a mythos. Were these poetical effusions indeed poems of an independent character, they, in that case, might no doubt leave room for conjecture and doubt; but as they are mere reminiscences from the Old Testament, which we must presuppose as being fully known to the persons here acting, so it is by no means difficult to imagine, or any way inappropriate, that they should have been here inserted. The hymn which follows (ver. 46-55) is, moreover, usually called the magnificat (from the initial word in the Vulgate); an excellent practical exposition of it was left to us by Luther (Meyazúva "to magnify," Acts of the Apostles x. 46, xix. 17; Phil. i. 20). The simultaneous or combined use of vua, "spirit," and 4", "soul," for the distinction of which compare the context with 1 Thess. v. 23, depicts the whole internal being; the powers of the Spirit, both high and low, as excited with joy (comp. Ps. ciii. 1, “my soul," and "all my inner parts." The reference made to an external orgia, "safety, preservation," (according to ver. 52) cannot certainly be wholly excluded from the passage i Orowrig mou, "in God my Saviour;" Mary, without doubt, looked for the exaltation of her own race of David. Yet the deep religious sincerity which is expressed in the song of praise does not permit us to concede a predominance to this idea, or to look upon it, indeed, in a rude and sensual manner, especially since we are naturally bound to presuppose (according to ver. 35) the enlightenment of Mary by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. The entire fullness of the blessings comprised in the appearance of the Messiah lay spread before her, and hence she applied the owrngía "salvation," (internally, i.e. spiritually as well as externally) likewise to herself. In Christ, God was likewise her awrng, "Saviour," and as she now was called upon to conceive in her womb, i.e. to give birth to the Son of man bodily, in like manner she was called upon at a subsequent period to conceive in her heart the Son of God spiritually (comp. with Luke ii. 35). Ver. 48-50. As to the use of the word razivaois, “humiliation, lowliness," which next occurs, the religious conception of this passage will not lead us to suppose that the external political lowliness of Mary, who was, indeed, of the race of David, is here particularly alluded to; it rather expresses a humble conviction of internal poverty, which is unable to discover in itself any prerogative whatever, on account of which such happiness should become her portion (Tamós, "low," "humble, poor,' comp. Matth. xi. 29. It is closely related to rwys, "poor, indigent,' Matth. v. 3). Yet it would not be well to exclude entirely a reference to external circumstances; as a consequence of the Divine mercy that had fallen to her share, Mary perhaps conceived or ex pected likewise external splendour. But if this circumstance has been made use of for the purpose of demonstrating and accounting for the mental progress of the Redeemer, and to insinuate that herein may be traced those hopes of Messiahship which Christ had imbibed with his mother's milk, so is it clear that his glory would thereby only be enhanced, inasmuch as he spiritualised the doctrine of the Messiah in the highest degree. The opinion, moreover, that the Messiah would exercise a mighty influence likewise upon external affairs, was not at all unfounded-the error contained in this popular view consisted only in their wish to receive the outward benefits without the inward. If the people of Israel had permitted him to work in them a true change of heart, he would have gained in that case a mighty influence over external circumstances. But even if Mary, at solitary moments, was tempted by vanity, a circumstance very natural, inasmuch as she was not altogether without sin, yet her views with regard to the Messiah were entirely Scriptural. According to the Old, as well as the New Testament, the most complete revolution as to outward things is to be the result of the ministry of the Messiah in the spiritual world; Christ becomes the King of kings, and the highest earthly power henceforth becomes his footstool.-In the next place, Mary gives prominence to the single idea of the fame which posterity would accord to her as the mother of the Messiah, a prophecy which has been realised in a wider sense, and to a greater extent, than her wish ever implied. (reveά, generation, spoken of the men of any age, i.e. those living in any one period; ãбayeveα, "all generations," the entire succession of future geneγενεαι, rations). She very correctly perceived, by the light of the Spirit, the importance of the birth of the Messiah, who was destined for all times and circumstances. (The expression yaλia,=, “great things," according to Ps. lxxi. 19. 'O duvarós, “the mighty one)." The words of Mary, which until now had solely a reference to herself, change towards the conclusion of ver. 49: zai äyιov Tò őνoμα aůrou x. T. 2., "and holy is his name, &c.," and assume a more general character; yet are the subsequent ideas expressed in them always to be considered as having an especial reference to the case in question. (The poßoúmeros Tov béov, "those who fear God," as opposed to the unbelieving world, are, notwithstanding all appearances, the everlasting object of his care. 'Ovoua, πᾶσαι : "name," signifying identity in general, is rendered more distinctive by the addition of the definite term äyrov, "holy." Ver. 51, 52. The contrast to the blessing of mercy conferred upon the raro, "lowly"-poßouevos, "fearers," in favour of whom the term λ05, "mercy," here is made use of, is formed by the severity of God in his chastisement of the regńpavor, "proud, arrogant." Both the blessing bestowed on the humble, and the curse awarded to the proud, Mary perceives through the Spirit as being connected with the birth of the Messiah. The passage καθαιρεῖν δυνάστας ἀπὸ θρόνων, “ to put down rulers from their) seats," comp. with ver. 32, 33, makes it not improbable that Mary expected also the secular dominion of her Son. Like the prophets, she combined in her mind, as dictated by the prophetic spirit, the kingdom of Christ, which is to be revealed hereafter, with his first appearance on earth. But even supposing that she did harbour the thought, that the dominion of Christ would be outwardly manifested, a notion based in every respect on Scripture (comp. Matth. xxiv.), still her views must necessarily and essentially have differed from the gross materialist views of the great mass of the Jewish people. (With regard to the formula υπερήφανοι διανοία καρδίας, “the proud in the imagination of their hearts," so it must be observed that in biblical anthropology zagoia, "the heart," is considered the seat of life, and of the most general and most direct functions of life, hence it is the seat of the feelings, and of the desires and ideas arising out of these feelings, whereas oλázva, "bowels, viscera," denotes feeling in the pure pathological sense. From this may be explained the frequent combination of díavoia, "understanding, intellect," and the synonymous terms 20youós, diaλoyouós, "reasoning," vóna, diavóna, "thought, reflection," ivora, "a device, conνόημα, διανόημα, trivance," with zagoía. This, however, does not imply that the drávora, “imaginations," are actions of the zagdía; on the contrary, they are actions of the vous, "mind," or λóyos, "reason;" but that the incitements to these actions of the vous have their source within the zagdía. (Compare the context with Luke ii. 35; Matth. ix. 4.) Ver. 53, 55. Ideas of a congenial character are expressed in similar figures; poverty and hunger, riches and satiety, are relative ideas. An appeasing of human longing, and a diverting from mere empty curiosity concerning Divine things, both these things are contained in the reception of the Messiah. Mary, in her views of the Messiah, nowhere betrays an erroneous notion, inasmuch as the ultima ratio of his appearance in Israel, connected with the predictions of his prophets, is to be explained according to i. 16. Concerning 'Avrikaμßáveodai, “to support, help, assist"=ßonden, "to assist," comp. the Acts of the Apostles xx. 35; Ecclus. ii. 6.-According to Exod. iv. 22, Israel is spoken of as a Oo, "the Son of God," if as does not stand here rather as―Y "servant." The words, wg aivos "for ever," must not be connected with μva, "to remember, remembering," but rather with origua, "seed," in order to denote or intimate that the blessing of the Messiah was hereafter to take effect on mankind in general, through the noble members thereof represented by the 'Aẞgaú, "seed of Abraham." The dative cases here must be considered as Dativi commodi. The construction μvnoñvai Tivòs Tivi, "to remember or be mindful of such a person or thing, to such an end or intention, is classical." igua Ver. 56. After three months Mary returned; as it is probable that she had not been married previous to her journey (see Luke ii. 39), the expression ofzos auris, "her own house," leads to the supposition that she was domesticated in Nazareth. § 4. ST JOHN'S BIRTH AND CIRCUMCISION. THE PROPHECY OF ZACHARIAS BOTH CONCERNING HIM AND OF CHRIST. (Luke i. 57-80.) Ver. 57-59. Very shortly after the departure of Mary for Nazareth, Elizabeth gave birth to the promised Son,2 who received his name according to very ancient usage (Genes. xxi. 1 The author does not here mean to say that the words " παις Θεου” are actually made use of in the text above quoted. The words of the Septuagint, Exod. iv. 22, are Υἱὸς πρωτότοκός μου Ισραήλ, “ Israel is my first-born son;" in the original Hebrew, "My son, my first born." The intention of the author is only to show that Mary had Scripture authority for calling her nation was sou, "the son or servant of God."-T. 2 The ancient church of Alexandria solemnised the birth-day of the Baptist on the 23d of April (28 Pharmuthi). At a subsequent period, both the Greek and Latin church adopted for it the 24th of June, which was evidently done in consequence of the Scriptural decision that Elizabeth's conception took place six months sooner than that of Mary. Hence they counted backwards six months from the 25th of December. |