just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.
But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in
a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for
that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and
thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their sins. Now all this was
done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold,
a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son; and His name shall be called716
Emmanuel, which, being interpreted, is, God with us. Then Joseph, being raised from sleep,
did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife; and knew her not
till she had brought forth her first-born son;717 and he called His name Jesus. Now when
Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa, in the days of Herod the king, and so forth.718
15. With respect to the city of Bethlehem, Matthew and Luke are at one. But Luke ex-
plains in what way and for what reason Joseph and Mary came to it; whereas Matthew gives
no such explanation. On the other hand, while Luke is silent on the subject of the journey
of the magi from the east, Matthew furnishes an account of it. That narrative he constructs
as follows, in immediate connection with what he has already offered: Behold, there came
wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for
we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him. Now, when Herod the king
had heard these things, he was troubled.719 And in this manner the account goes on, down
to the passage where of these magi it is written that, “being warned of God in a dream that
they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.”720
This entire section is omitted by Luke, just as Matthew fails to mention some other circum-
stances which are mentioned by Luke: as, for example, that the Lord was laid in a manger;
and that an angel announced His birth to the shepherds; and that there was with the angel
a multitude of the heavenly host praising God; and that the shepherds came and saw that
that was true which the angel had announced to them; and that on the day of His circumcision
He received His name; as also the incidents reported by the same Luke to have occurred
after the days of the purification of Mary were fulfilled,—namely, their taking Him to Jeru-
salem, and the words spoken in the temple by Simeon or Anna concerning Him, when,
filled with the Holy Ghost, they recognized Him. Of all these things Matthew says nothing.
716 Vocabitur. The mss. give vocabunt, they shall call; one ms. gives vocabis, thou shalt call. [The proper
reading is probably vocabunt; at all events, this accords with the Greek text. The variations can be accounted
for by the presence of vocabitur and vocabis in previous part of the paragraph.—R.]
717 [The best Greek mss. read “a son” in Matt. i. 23. In Luke ii. 7 “first-born” occurs.—R.]
718 Matt. i. 19–21.
719 Matt. ii. 1–3.
720 Matt. ii. 12.
236
A Statement of the Manner in Which Luke’s Procedure is Proved to Be in Harmony…