Matthew — Chapter 4

Then was fulfilled , &c. They are nol, because indeed, as far as the body was concerned they perished \ in that they were slain by Herod ; but as to their souls, they were carried into eternity, says S. Hilary. I have explained this passage in my Commentary on Jeremiah xxxi. 1 5, which see. S. Augustine graphically portrays this weeping of the mothers (6Vm. 1 de Innocent.), and thus concludes : “The lamentation of the FOR THE LITTLE ONES. 87 mothers was mingled with the oblation of the little ones, as they passed into heaven.” Tropologically , Rachel, the sheep, as the word signifies in Hebrew, bewails the death of her lambs; but the angels rejoice, yea, even the little ones, because their souls passed to the society of the angels. • Whence S. Augustine ( Serm . 3 de Innocent .) : “ Behold, the profane enemy could never have benefited the little ones by kindness as much as he did by hatred. And wherefore ? Be- cause they received the dignity of eternal life before they received the use of time present.” Therefore, in being born, they died unto the world; and by dying, they began to live in heaven. To these infants are most appropriate those words of S. Paul: “We are become a spectacle (Gr. Ocarpov, a theatre) to the world, and to angels, and to men.” (1 Cor. iv. 9.) That is to say, in the circus, in the amphitheatre, we are seen of all. We are fivoOwaroi , — i.e. we are exposed to gladiators and to wild beasts. Wherefore consider : by this infanticide God would teach us, as by a scenic representation, that the whole of a Christian's life, from childhood unto death, is perpetual persecution, the cross and death ; and that the fortitude and courage of a Christian consist rather in enduring hardness than in doing hard things; in con- stant patience than in fighting : for it is more difficult to suffer than to act and fight. “ To act bravely,” saith one, “is the part of a Roman ; to suffer bravely is the part of a Christian.” When Christ suffered for us, He said, “ I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting.” (Isaiah 1 . 6.) These little ones in their turn, for Christ's sake, gave their limbs to be mangled by the executioners. A Christian may do the same, and for God's sake give his body for a prey, give it unto death, unto labours, unto torments of every kind. Thus did S. Eusebius, Bishop of Vercelli, who writes to his flock, “ I have given my body to the Arians for a prey.” By them he was tor- mented, and became a glorious martyr of Christ, and a defender 83 CHRIST bJeTURNS FROM EGYPT. of His Godhead, even unto death. Truly saith S. Fulgentius (de Epiph .), “To this end God permitted Herod to slay the infants, that He might cause them to triumph over Herod.” Lastly, S. Cyprian (lib. 4, Epist . 6 ad Thibarit.} says, “An age not suit- able for battle was made fit for a crown. The Son of God suffered that He might make us sons of God; and the Son of Man wills not to suffer, that He may continue to be the Son of God. Now when Herod was dead \ &c. (verses 19, 20). Herod died a few days after the slaughter of Antipater, as Josephus says, and so but a few days after the murder of the Innocents, as is clear from Macrobius. Hence Christ does not appear to have remained in Egypt more than two years. For He did not go there more than one year before Herod’s death ; and after Herod’s death, when Archelaus his son had been to Rome and returned, Christ came back from Egypt, as the Gospel here states. Thus Onuphrius Pavinus, (in his Fasti), and before him S. Epiphanius {Hares. 78) ; although Baronius thinks that Christ returned from Egypt in the ninth year of His age. They are dead \ &c. They , viz., Herod and his sons Aristobulus, Alexander, and Antipater, who, it would appear, entered into a conspiracy with the Scribes and Pharisees against their father, and by consequence against Messiah, and were by Herod put to death.

22. When he arose , he took the young child , <Scc. Observe, Archelaus reigned as tetrarch, not as king. The angel had said to Joseph, Go into the land of Israel . Joseph understood Judaea, because that was the most important part of the land of Israel, and therein was the temple. Thither, therefore, he thought of going to render God thanks for his happy return, especially because, by God’s command, all the Hebrew males were commanded to go up to the temple thrice a year. Whence St. Augustine (lib. 2 de Consensu . Evang . c. 9) : “ The angel does not express into what part, that he may return to him again, when he is in doubt ; but because he had not told him expressly, Joseph understood Judaea, the more worthy part of the ARCHELAUS REIGNS AS TETRARCH. 89 kingdom : for he thought that with such a boy he might only dwell at Jerusalem. But the angel meant Galilee.” Moreover, Joseph turned aside into Galilee, although he knew that Herod Antipas, the brother of Archelaus, ruled there. He did so, both because Archelaus was more ambitious and cruel than Antipas, as because the infant slaughter of Herod of Ascalon, the father of Archelaus and Antipas, had taken place in Judaea, namely, in Bethlehem. Wherefore Archelaus would remember it, and would easily perceive that when Christ came back to Judaea He had escaped the slaughter, and would there- fore again seek to put Him to death. Fully to enter into this history ad ovo , as they say, consult Josephus, Ant . lib. io, c. 10, et seq. When Herod died, in the thirty-seventh year of his reign, two of his surviving sons — Archelaus, and Herod Antipas, who clothed Christ in His Passion with a white robe, to mock Him — contended together for the possession of his kingdom. Augustus entrusted the settlement of the dispute to Caius Caesar, his grandson by his daughter Julia, who decided as follows — that neither disputant should succeed to the kingdom, but that it should be divided into four tetrarchies, whose rulers should be tetrarchs, not kings. In pursuance of this he assigned Judaea to Archelaus, Galilee to Antipas, Trachonitis to their third brother, Philip, Abilene to Lysanias. This is clear from Luke iii. I. When, therefore, S. Matthew says, Archelaus reigned ’ you must not understand that he was a king, or had the title of a king, but of a tetrarch, or toparch, but yet with the hope of the kingdom and the kingly name, if he conducted himself well, according to the promise of Augustus Caesar. After Archelaus had reigned as tetrarch for nine years, he was sent into exile for his bad government, thirty-seven years after the battle of Actium, and seven before the death of Augustus. So Josephus, Eusebius, Scaliger, &c. After Archelaus was exiled, Augustus appointed governors of Judaea, who ruled it in his name. There were three of those who presided over JudaBa during the seven years which elapsed before MEANING OF 90 the death of Augustus. The first was Coponius, who, together with Quirinus, prefect of Syria, confiscated the riches of Archelaus; the second was M. Ambinius ; the third was Annius Rufus. From these facts much light is thrown upon the narratives of SS. Matthew and Luke. And, in the first place, it is clear why Matthew says that Joseph turned aside into Galilee from fear of Archelaus, reigning in Judaea. It was lest he, following in the steps of his father Herod, should seek to slay Christ, as the King of the Jews. In the second place, we see why Christ only went up to the temple in Judaea when He was twelve years old: Archelaus had been then deprived of the tetrarchy, and driven into exile. In Archelaus the race of Herod ceased to rule in Judaea, and were succeeded by Roman governors, from whom Christ had nothing to fear, for they knew Him not, and had not heard even His name.

And he came and dwelt ', Ac. S. Mark (i. 24), following the Latins, has Na£api7vo$ ; the other Evangelists write No £ap<uos. Adrichomius (Descr. Terra Sand a, p. 241, num. 73) gives the following account of Nazareth, which he has collected out of S. Jerome, Eusebius, Brochard, and others: — “ Nazareth, which is interpreted a flower , is a fair and flourishing city of Galilee, not far from Capernaum. It is built upon a mountain, which it girds like a crown. It is two leagues from Mount Tabor, and three days' journey from Jerusalem. Here Blessed Mary, the Flower of Virgins, was born ; here Christ, our Lord and Saviour, our glory and our crown, like a flower of the field, as Jerome says, was conceived and brought up in all virtues, and lived for four- and-twenty years. Hence this was His own and His father's city; hence, also, He was called Nazarenus , or Nazaraus , and a Galilaan ; hence, too, we who now are called Christians were anciently called Nazarenes and Galilaeans, as terms of reproach." “ Moreover," says Rabanus, “ Galilee is interpreted migration, Nazareth a flower , because the more earnestly the Church passes over to heavenly things, the more she abounds in the flowers of virtues. NA&ARENZ. 91 That it might be fulfilled — a Nazarene. The name of Nazareth does not once occur in the Old Testament Hence we are unable to tell whether it were written in Hebrew with zain or tsade. If with the former, Nazareth means sanctified \ separate , consecrated ; if with tsade, full of flowers, or guarded. The question arises, by what prophet, when, and wherefore was Christ called a Nazarene ? There are several opinions ; two are most probable : — 1. Christ was called a Nazarene, in Hebrew nazir, or nozeri, written with zain, meaning separate, holy , consecrate, crowned, religious, because Christ, as man, being separated from every other thing, was hypos tatically and wholly united to the Word. For the word nazar signifies to separate, to consecrate, to crown. Where- fore the religious, under the old law, who separated them- selves from wine and from the world, and consecrated them- selves to God, were called Nazarites. (See Numb. vi. 2, seq.) But that Christ would be holy, and consecrated to God, all the prophets foretold, especially Daniel (ix. 24) : “ The Holy of Holies— i.e^ Christ — shall be anointed/' (Vulg.) Thus, too, Samson, who was a type of Christ, was a Nazarite. (Judg. xiii. 7.) j So, too, was Joseph. (Gen. xlix. 2.) And as Joseph, after his imprisonment, was made lord of Egypt, so Christ, after His death, was made lord of the universe. So S. Ambrose and Ruperti. These Nazarites, however, are called in Greek N alapaiot, written v(ith alpha ( Nazarcei ) ; but Christ i$ always called Nafwpaios, ( Nazorceus ), written with omega, to distinguish him from the Nazarites, because he was not a Nazarite by vow, like them, but was called Nazarceus, from his country, Nazareth. Christ drank wine, which was forbidden to the Nazarites by their vow. The above is the explanation of S. Jerome on this passage, and of Eusebius (lib. 7, de Demonstrate c. 2, Dem . 5), where he cites Levit. xxi. 12, concerning the Aaronic priest, who was a type of Christ: “Neither shall he go forth out of the holy place, because the oil of the holy anointing of his God is upon him/' Instead of holy, as qualifying anointing, the Hebrew has nezar, i.e., consecration. 92 KAZARENZ MEANS SANCTIFIED. or sanctification with the oil of the anointing of his God. The index of Hebrew words usually found at the end of our Bibles, and Paul of Burgos, think that the passage which is here cited is Psalm cxxxii. 18: “ ‘ Upon him shall flourish my sanctification.” (Vulg. — Heb. nizn\ which S. Jerome translates his diadem .) Whence also the golden plate affixed to the pontifical tiara, on which was inscribed. Holiness to the Lord \ is called nezor, *>., a crown or diadem of holiness. (Ex. xxix. 6.) It was a type, yea, an index of Christ of Nazareth, holy and crowned. To this the Apostle alludes (Heb. ii. 9) : “We see Jesus, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour.” On which see my comment. Eusebius says, the LXX translate nazer by holy ; Aquila has sepa- ration ; Symmachus, untouched . From these, therefore, the name Nazarcetis signifies either holy, or separate , or untouched . But some of the ancient priests, who were anointed with the prepared oil, which was called by Moses nazer \ were named Nazarites from this word nazer . But our Saviour and Lord, by His own nature pos- sessing in Himself holiness and separation, neither having need of any human anointing, still obtained the title of a Nazarite among men ; not as though He were so called from any oil named nazer, but from the city Nazareth, where He was brought up among His own relations, forasmuch as He was a man. Christ, there- fore, was a Nazarite, i.e., separated from other men, sanctified, consecrated, and crowned High Priest, Legislator, Teacher, Redeemer, and Sanctifier of the Universe. The letter which is employed favours this opinion. The Evangelists always wrote Nazarceus , or Nazarenus , with the letter *, which is the one which occurs in the Hebrew nezer and nazir. For if Nazarene is derived from TO nezer , with tsade, so as to signify flourishing, it ought to be written Nasarene with an s. In all other names the Hebrew letter tsade is represented by an s (in the Vulg.), as in Bosra, Asor (see Joshua, chaps, xii. and xv., where some suppose Asor to be Nazareth), Melchisedech, Sabaoth, &c. On the other hand the Hebrew zain is translated by our z , as appears from Zabulon, Zacharias, Beelzebub, &c. NASARENE MEANS FLOURISHING. 93 Let us add, it is more worthy the dignity of Christ that He should be called Nazarene , with the letter zain, i.e., holy, than Nasarene , with tsade, that is, flourishing . For in nazer ; *>., holiness , the consecration and crown of Christ, man, was the hypostatic union, or rather the actual Godhead of the Word, which crowned, sanctified, separated to Itself, united, and consecrated the whole Humanity of Christ. Lastly, it is in favour of this opinion that S. Matthew says, 44 which was spoken by the prophets ," not by the prophet ; 44 by which he shows," says S. Jerome, 44 that he was not quoting the words of one passage of Scripture, but the sense of several." 2. It is the opinion of others that Christ is called a Nasarene from TO neser, with tsade — i.e., flourishing , from flower — or, rather, germinating , from germ. For both Aquila and Theodotion, according to S. Jerome, render neser in Isaiah xi. 2 by germen. In Isaiah xi. 2, the Vulg. has, 44 A flower shall spring up from his root," translating the Hebrew neser by flower. Nazarene, there- fore, is the same as flourishing or germinating, growing into a great and glorious tree, and producing abundant fruit. The first reason is that Christ is elsewhere called no¥ tsemach — ■!>., germen , which the Vulg. renders Oriens ; the dawn, or day- star, as though arising out of the earth. (See Zech. vi. 12; iii. 8.) For Christ sprung from the Virgin as an undefiled germen, or plant, and pure from every stain of sin. So He flourished with every virtue, and scattered the odour of His sweetness far and wide. Whence S. Ambrose (lib. de Spirit. Sanct ., c. 5) says, 44 When a flower is plucked, it does not lose its smell; when it is bruised, it increases it" So, when Christ was bruised in His Passion, He the more manifested the power of His Divinity and His grace. The second reason is that in the inscription placed on the Cross of Christ, which is preserved in the Basilica of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem, in Rome, *TO notseri is written with tsade, not zain. So says Pagninus, from ocular inspection. So, too, the Syrian and Arabic versions write Nazarene with tsade. And the modern 94 HOW WRITTEN ON Jewish Rabbis call Christians Notserim — i,e., Nazarcnes , writing the word with tsade. I myself have often seen the title of the Cross at Rome and carefully inspected it, but the letters are so worn away that I have never been able to see that the Hebrew inscription has tsade . On the contrary, zain, not tsade , seemed to me to be the letter. Bosius (lib. I de Cruce triumph .) has a perfectly exact impression of the superscription of the Cross. Examine it, and you will agree with me. Besides, this title was written by Pilate the Roman governor, or his Roman servants, who had little know- ledge of Hebrew, and could not tell whether Nazarene were spelt with a tsade or a zain , and certainly would not care for the dis- tinction between them. Various commentators, as Rabanus, Salmeron, Jansen, &c., write Nazarene with a tsade , and translate it flourishing , but most of them seem to have been influenced by Pagninus, who said that he had found notseri spelt with a tsade on the title of the Cross. Both opinions may be conjoined and reconciled with each other by saying that if you look strictly to the letters you will find HO nezer with zain — that is to say, holiness , consecration, crown ; yet that there is an allusion to netser with tsade — *>., a shoot , a flower — for these two letters are somewhat akin both in form and sound, and are occasionally interchanged both with one another and with some other Hebrew letters, as appears in the conjugation Hispael. (See Bel lar mine’s Hebrew Grammar.) Wherefore the Psalmist conjoins the two (Ps. cxxxii. 18), saying : “ My sanctifica- tion (nazer) shall flourish (nazarene) upon him." (Vulg.) So also S. Jerome says, u Nazaroeus is interpreted holy” All Scripture testifies that the Lord shall be holy. We are able also to use, in another sense, what is written in the same words in the Prophet Isaiah according to the Hebrew verity, “ Behold a rod shall come forth from the root of Jesse, and a Nazarene shall arise out of his root." Lastly, as in their letters, so also in their significations these two words are closely connected ; for He who is Nazaretius — i.*., separated from earthly pleasures — is likewise Nasarceus-- TIIE TITLE OF THE CROSS. 95 f>., flourishing- with virtues. Hence some derive the Greek ayios, holy from a, not and yfj the earth ; for he who is separated from the earth, cultivates heavenly things, and is holy. Matthew adds this, because Nazareth was a small and despised town. Hence the name of Nazarene seemed both to Jews and Gentiles vile and mean, so that on account of it many were kept back from Christ, and from acknowledging Him as Messiah. Whence Nathanael said to Philip, “ Can any good thing come out of Nazareth ? " And Julian the Apostate was wont, in contempt, to call Christ " the Galvan/’ and “the Nazarene." When he was struck by a dart from heaven, and was about to die, he cried, “Thou hast conquered, O Galilaean, thou hast conquered." Matthew, therefore, here shows that the name of Nazarene was a glorious one, forasmuch as it had been spoken of by the prophets, and assigned to Christ many ages previously. The sense then is as follows— although Christ was born in Bethlehem He was conceived and brought up in Nazareth, a city small and obscure, that He might the better elude Herod and his posterity when they sought to slay Him, and that He might give us an example of humility and contempt of the pomps of the world. Whence He was called a Nazarene from the city of Nazareth, but so that not only the name Nazarene, but what was signified by the name, that is, holiness, should apply to Him. So there was in reality fulfilled what Isaiah and the prophets foretold concerning Christ, that He was nazir, holy, and nosen) or Nasarceus , flourishing with all virtue and grace. Consequently, the name of Nazarene, which the Jews and others gave to Christ by way of reproach, is most illustrious, yea, a note and mark of the true Messiah ; for by this very title the prophets indicated and glorified Messiah. Tropologically , Christ is a Nazarene, i.e., separated from the world and consecrated to God, flourishing with all virtues, and the origin, father, and prince of the Nazarenes, that is, the religious, who despise the world, and dedicate' themselves wholly to God, that they may flourish in virtues, according to those words in Lam. iv. 7. 96 MARY SIGNIFIED BY NAZARETH. 44 Her Nazarites were fairer than snow, whiter than milk; they were more ruddy than ancient ivory, brighter than sapphires/* (Vulg.) Where see my Comment. Salmeron adds, Nazarene is the same as Samaritan, t\e., a keeper (for 1Y3 natsar , is to keep, to guard) namely of men ; accord- ing to those words of Job, 44 What shall I do unto thee, O thou keeper of men ? ” (Vulg.) And Psalm cxxi., 44 He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep/’ So, too, Francis Lucas says, Nazarene. that is, keeper, preserver, defender. By Nazareth, therefore, the Blessed Virgin is represented, of whom Christ the Nazarene was born. For she was kept from original sin, from the shame of conception, from the corruption and pain of child-birth, and from turning to dust after death. For the body of the Virgin was not resolved into ashes after her death, as is the lot of other bodies ; but it was, together with her soul, taken up into heaven. N These things are true, but rather symbolical than literal.