CHAPTER II.

1. All the inhabitants of the empire, aσav v oxxery. E. T. All the world. Vul. Universus orbis. Oxμm means, strictly, the inhabited part of the earth, and therefore, aTA οικεμενη, all the world, in the common acceptation of the phrase. But it is well known, that this expression was, in ancient times, frequently employed to denote the Roman empire. It has, probably, been a title first assumed by the Romans, through arrogance, afterwards given by others, through flattery, and at last appropriated, by general use, to this signification. That it has a more extensive meaning, in this place, is not, I think, pretended by any. But there are some who, on the contrary, would confine it still further, making it denote no more than Judea and its appendages, or all that was under the dominion of Herod. Of this opinion are several of the learned, Binæus, Beau. Dod. Lardner, Pearce, and others. In support of it, they have produced some passages, in which this phrase, or expressions equivalent, appear to have no larger signification. Admitting their explanation of the passages they produce, they are not parallel to the example in hand. Such hyperboles are indeed current, not only in the language of the Evangelists, but in every language. In those cases, however, wherein they are introduced, there rarely fails to be something, either in what is spoken, or in the occasion of speaking, which serves to explain the trope. For example; the term, a country, in English, denotes, properly a region or tract of land inhabited by a people living under the same government, and having the same laws. By this, which is the common acceptation, we should say that England is a country. Yet the term is often used without any ambiguity, in a more limited sense. Thus, to adopt a familiar illustration: An inhabitant of a country town, or parish, says to one of his neighbours, speaking of a young man and a young woman of their acquaintance, All the country says that they are soon to be married;" yet so far is he from meaning, by the phrase, all the country, all the people of England, that he is sensible that not a thousandth part of them knows that such persons exist. He means no more than all the village, or all the neighbourhood. Nor is he in the

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smallest danger in speaking thus, of being misunderstood by any hearer. Every body perceives that, in such cases, the phrase has a greater or less extent of meaning, according to the sphere of the persons spoken of. But if, on the other hand, he should say, "The parliament has laid a tax on saddle-horses throughout all "the country;" nobody could imagine that less than England were intended by the term country, in this application. Here the term must be considered as it stands related to parliament; in other words, it must be that which, in the style of the legisla ture, would be named the country. In like manner, though it might not be extraordinary that a Jew, addressing himself to Jews, and speaking of their own people only, should employ such a hyperbolé as all the world, for all Judea, it would be exceed. ingly unnatural in him, and, therefore, highly improbable that he should use the same terms, applied in the same manner, in relating the resolves and decrees of the Roman emperor, to whom all Judea would be very far from appearing all the world, or even a considerable part of it. In reporting the orders given by another, especially a sovereign, the reporter is presumed to convey the ideas, and even, as nearly as possible, the words, of the person or sovereign of whom he speaks. Some have, not improbably, supposed, for it is in the manner of exact narrators, that the words απογραφεσθαι της οικεμένην, were the words of the emperor's edict, and copied thence by the Evangelist. I shall only add, that the Sy. interpreter, as all the other ancient interpreters, understood the words in the same manner, Ny nɔɔ all the people of his (the emperor's) dominions. I am not insensible, that this opinion is liable to objections, from the silence of historians and the improbability of the thing: and though these objections do not appear to me so formidable, as they do to some others, the examination of them, severally, would lead into a length of discussion but ill suited to my design. I shall, therefore, only add, in general, that, for my own part, I should have less scruple in admitting that, about a point of this kind, the extent of the emperor's edict (which nowise affects the faith of a Christian), the writer might have mistaken, or been misinformed, than in giving such forced meanings, and unnatural construction, to his words, as tend but too manifestly to unsettle all lan. guage, and render every thing in words ambiguous and doubtful. May not that be here called an edict, which was no more than a

declared purpose, a purpose too not to be executed at once, but gradually, as circumstances would permit?

2 Should be registered, añoɣpaperJas. E. T. Should be taxed. Vul. and Be. Describeretur. Er. Zu. and Cas. Censeretur. Our translators have, in this instance, not so properly, in my opinion, preferred the three last. Aлoy paperdas is, strictly, to be registered, or enrolled; añoriμarda, to be taxed. Almost all the modern translations, I have seen, into Itn. Fr. or Eng. have adopted the former interpretation. As the register was commonly made with a view to taring; it may, no doubt, in many cases, be, with sufficient propriety, rendered in the manner our translators, and others, have done. However, as, in this place, there is some difficulty, it is better to adhere strictly to the import of the words. Though it was commonly for the purpose of taxing that a register was made, it was not always, or necessarily so. In the present case, we have ground to believe, that there was no immediate view to taxation, at least with respect to Judea. Herod (called the great) was then alive, and king of the country, and though in subordination to the Romans, of whom he may justly be said to have held his crown; yet, as they allowed him all the honours of royalty, there is no ground to think that either, in his life-time, or, before the banishment of his son Archelaus, the Romans would directly, by their own officers, levy any toll or tribute from the people of Judea. Nay, we have the testimony of the Jewish historian Josephus, that they did not, till after the expulsion of Archelaus, when the country was annexed to Syria, and so became part of a Roman province. But it may appear an objection to this account, that it should be considered in an imperial edict as a part, in any re. spect, of the Roman empire; and that one should be sent, by the emperor, into the country, to make an enrollment of the people. To this I answer, that as to the name, though it has been shown, that it was commonly employed to denote the Roman empire, we ought not to interpret the name empire too rigidly, as confined to the provinces under the immediate dominion of Rome. It may well be understood to comprehend all the countries tributary to, or dependent on Rome. Now, there is one important purpose that such registers, even where no tax was imposed, were well fitted to answer; they enabled those haughty lords of the world to know the state of their dependencies, and

to form a judgment both as to the sums of money which might be reasonably exacted from their respective princes, and as to the number of soldiers which might be obtained in case of war. Nor is it at all improbable, that when a census was making of the empire, properly so called, the enrollment of the families might be extended to Judea, with a view to the exaction of an oath of fidelity, as Wet. supposes, founding his opinion on a passage of Josephus, and with no design of taxing the country then. Yet the register, taken at that time, might be afterwards used by the Romans, for assisting them in levying a tax.

2. This first register took effect when Cyrenius was president of Syria, αυτη η απογραφη πρωτη εγενετο, ἡγεμονεύοντος της Συρίας Κυ ças. E. T. And this taxing was first made, when Cyrénius was governor of Syria. Vul. Hæc descriptio prima facta est a præside Syria Cyrino. About the import of this verse, there is a great diversity of opinions among the critics. Yet, when we attend to it, as it lies, without taking into consideration the knowledge we derive from another quarter, we should hardly think there were a verse in the Gospel about which there is less scope for doubt. That which has principally given rise to the questions that have been agitated on this subject, is a passage in Josephus (Ant. b. 18. c. 1.), from which it appears, that the tax levied by Cyrenius, which was the first imposed on the people by the Romans, happened about ten or eleven years after the time here spoken of by L.; for, according to Josephus, it was after the expulsion of Archelaus, when Judea was reduced to the condition of a Roman province. As, at the time when that historian wrote, the event was both recent and memorable, it having given birth to an insurrection under Judas of Gallilee, which ⚫though soon quelled to appearance, became the latent source of a war, that ended in the ruin of the nation; it is impossible to think that that historian could either have erred through igno. rance, or have attempted wilfully to misrepresent what must have been known to thousands then living. We cannot, therefore, with Maldonat, and others, cut short the matter at once, by sacrificing the credit of the historian to the authority of the Evangelist; because this will be found, in the issue, to do a material injury to the Evangelist himself. Let us try, then, whether, without doing violence to the words of Scripture, which, in cases of this kind, is too often done, we can explain them, so as not to be

inconsistent with the account given by the historian. And, first, as to the attempts which have been made by others, with the same view; it is hardly necessary to mention, that some are for extirpating this verse altogether, as an interpolation. This is an expeditious method of getting rid of a difficulty, which I am sorry to see some learned men, in this age, so ready to adopt ; though, it must be owned, this expedient tends very much to shorten the critic's labour. But it is a sufficient answer to this, that it is a mere hypothesis, and, I will add, a most licentious hypothesis, inasmuch as it is not pretended, that there is a single MS. or edition, ancient translation, or commentary, in which the verse is wanting. When the thing, therefore, is properly viewed, we have here a cloud of witnesses, numerous and venerable, the same by whom the Gospel itself is attested to us, in opposition to a mere possibility. Of the same kind is the substitution of Saturninus or Quintilius for Cyrenius. Others, more moderate, attempt to remove the difficulty by a different interpretation of the passage, rendering it, after The. This register was made before Cyrenius was governor of Syria; and, for this sense and application of the superlative paros, for the comparative Teorepos, examples are quoted from the Gospel of J. Thus, paros μs, He was before me, J. i. 15. 30. and μ w iuar peμsonnev, It hated me before it hated you, xv. 18. For some time past, this solution of the difficulty appears to have been the most favoured by interpreters, both abroad and at home. Now, there are several considerations which oppose the admission of such an idiom in the present case. First, among the sacred writers, it seems to be peculiar to the Evangelist J. Nothing similar is found in this Gospel or the Acts, both written by L. nor in any other writer of the N. T. I see no reason to consider it as an Hellenistic idiom, being without example in the Sep. Nor can it be called Oriental, as the Orientals have neither comparatives nor superlatives, but express the meaning of both by periphrasis. Secondly, The expressions are not similar. In such anomalous phrases, the discovery of the sense depends on the strictest observance of the arrangement. Пleros, in the instances quoted, is immediately prefixed, like a preposi-' tion, to the word it governs : thus, πρωτος με, πρώτον ύμων, whereas, here, it is separated from the word governed, Kugu, both by the verb syTo, and by other terms intervening. Thirdly,