Matthew Henry

so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

“It is implied, that he had been instructed in these things either before his baptism, or since, or both, according to the rule, Matt. xxviii.”

In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah, and whose wife Elizabeth was a daughter of…

“This is taken notice of to show that the sceptre was quite departed from Judah, and therefore that now was the time for Shiloh to come, according to Jacob's prophecy, Gen. xlix.”

When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and gripped with fear.

“Though he was righteous before God, and blameless in his conversation, yet he could not be without some apprehensions at the sight of one whose visage and surrounding lustre bespoke him more than human.”

But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard.

“But God will now, in giving this mercy, look a great way back to the prayers that he had made long since for and with his wife, as Isaac for and with his, Gen. xxv.”

When he came out and was unable to speak to them, they realized he had seen a vision in the temple. He kept making signs to them but remained speechless.

“He was now to have dismissed the congregation with a blessing, but was dumb and not able to do it, that the people may be minded to expect the Messiah, who can command the blessing, who blesseth indeed, and in whom all the nations of…”

This was the first census to take place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.

“Now just at this juncture, the Messiah was to be born, for so was dying Jacob's prophecy, that Shiloh should come when the sceptre was departed from Judah, and the lawgiver from between his feet, Gen. xlix.”

So Joseph also went up from Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, since he was from the house and line of David.

“We were become by sin like an out-cast infant, helpless and forlorn; and such a one Christ was.”

And there were shepherds residing in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night.

“Tidings were brought to Moses of the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, when he was keeping sheep, and to these shepherds, who, it is probable, were devout pious men, the tidings were brought of a greater salvation.”

Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord!

“Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed; he is the Lord, Lord of all; he is a sovereign prince; nay, he is God, for the Lord, in the Old Testament, answers to Jehovah.”

And suddenly there appeared with the angel a great multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men…

“Glory to God, whose kindness and love designed this favour, and whose wisdom contrived it in such a way as that one divine attribute should not be glorified at the expense of another, but the honour of all effectually secured and advanced.”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the…

“But observe, These shepherds do not speak doubtfully, "Let us go see whether it be so or no;" but with assurance, Let us go see this thing which is come to pass; for what room was left to doubt of it, when the Lord had…”

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the Baby, who was lying in the manger.

“The poverty and meanness in which they found Christ the Lord were no shock to their faith, who themselves knew what it was to live a life of comfortable communion with God in very poor and mean circumstances.”

And all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

“The shepherds were plain, downright, honest men, and they could not suspect them guilty of any design to impose upon them; what they had said therefore was likely to be true, and, if true, they could not but wonder at it, that the Messiah should…”

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

“As she had silently left it to God to clear up her virtue, when that was suspected, so she silently leaves it to him to publish her honour, now when it was veiled; and it is satisfaction enough to find that, if no one else…”

The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, which was just as the angel had told them.

“They thanked God that they had seen Christ, though in the depth of his humiliation. As afterwards the cross of Christ, so now his manger, was to some foolishness and a stumbling-block, but others saw in it, and admired, and praised, the wisdom of God…”

(as it is written in the Law of the Lord: “Every firstborn male shall be consecrated to the Lord”),

“Christ was the first-born among many brethren, and was called holy to the Lord, so as never any other was; yet he was presented to the Lord as other first-born were, and no otherwise.”

and to offer the sacrifice specified in the Law of the Lord: “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

“Christ was not conceived and born in sin, as others are, so that there was not that occasion in his case which there is in others; yet, because he was made under the law, he complied with it.”

The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

“Note, Those, and those only, can with courage see death, and look it in the face without terror, that have had by faith a sight of Christ. The seasonable coming of Simeon into the temple, at the time when Christ was presented there,”

Led by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for Him what was customary under the Law,

“The same Spirit that had provided for the support of his hope now provided for the transport of his joy. It was whispered in his ear, "Go to the temple now, and you shall see what you have longed to see."”

Simeon took Him in his arms and blessed God, saying:

“When we receive the record which the gospel gives us of Christ with a lively faith, and the offer it makes us of Christ with love and resignation, then we take Christ in our arms.”

“Sovereign Lord, as You have promised, You now dismiss Your servant in peace.

“Moses was promised that he should see Canaan, and then die; but he prayed that this word might be altered, Deut. iii.”

Then Simeon blessed them and said to His mother Mary: “Behold, this Child is appointed to cause the rise and fall of many in Israel, and to be a sign…

“They had reason to rejoice, for this child should be, not only a comfort and honour to them, but a public blessing.”

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and…

“(2.) It is dated by the governments of the viceroys that ruled in the several parts of the Holy Land under the Roman emperor, which was another badge of their servitude, for they were all foreigners, which bespeaks a sad change with that people whose…”

during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

“One was the high priest, and the other the sagan, as the Jews called him, to officiate for him when he was disabled; or, as others say, one was high priest, and represented Aaron, and that was Caiaphas; Annas, the other, was nasi, or head…”

during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

“He received full commission and full instructions from God to do what he did. It is the same expression that is used concerning the Old-Testament prophets ( Jer. i.”