The War Baby: Angels

2:8–20
The Real King’s Birth

2:8. Due to the proximity to Jerusalem, some scholars have suggested that the flocks here are the temple flocks raised for sacrifice. This narrative would have challenged the values of many religious people, who despised shepherds; shepherds’ work kept them from participation in the religious activities of their communities. Pasturing of flocks at night indicates that this was a warmer season, not winter (when they would graze more in the day); Roman Christians later adopted December 25 as Christmas only to supersede a pagan Roman festival scheduled at that time.

2:9. Angelic appearances, the revelation of God’s glory and consequent fear among the humans present were common in the Old Testament when God was acting in history in special ways.

2:10–12. For “Do not be afraid” see comment on 1:13, 30. “Good news” could refer to the proclamation of God’s salvation (Is 52:7), but pagans applied it also to celebrations of the cult of the emperor among all people in the supposedly worldwide empire. Particularly in celebration of his birthday (pagans publicly celebrated deities’ birthdays), the emperor was hailed “Savior” and “Lord.” But Jesus’ birth in a lowly manger distinguishes the true king from the Roman emperor, whose loyalists in Luke’s day would have bristled at (and perhaps responded violently to) the implicit comparison. “Signs” are common in prophetic literature (e.g., Is 7:14; Ezek 12:11) and function as much to provoke and explain truth as to prove it.

2:13–14. This choir contrasts with the earthly choirs used in the worship of the emperor. The current emperor, Augustus, was praised for having inaugurated a worldwide peace. The inverted parallelism (God vs. people, and “in the highest” vs. “on earth”) suggests that “in the highest” means “among heaven’s angelic hosts.”

2:15–18. The shepherds probably checked the animal stables till they found the one with the baby; Bethlehem was not a large town.

2:19–20. Mary kept these matters in her mind as Jacob had Joseph’s revelations in Genesis 37:11 (for the idiom, cf., e.g., Ps 119:11; Prov 6:21; Wisdom of Solomon 8:17).

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His birth drew the angels from heaven (vv. 8–14). How amazed the angels must have been when they saw the Creator born as a creature, the Word coming as a speechless baby. The best commentary on this is 2 Corinthians 8:9, and the best response from our hearts is wonder and worship. “Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh” (1 Tim. 3:16).

The first announcement of the Messiah’s birth was given by an angel to some anonymous shepherds. Why shepherds? Why not to priests or scribes? By visiting the shepherds, the angel revealed the grace of God toward mankind. Shepherds were really outcasts in Israel. Their work not only made them ceremonially unclean, but it kept them away from the temple for weeks at a time so that they could not be made clean. God does not call the rich and mighty; He calls the poor and the lowly (Luke 1:51–53; 1 Cor. 1:26–29).

The Messiah came to be both the Good Shepherd (John 10) and the Lamb of God sacrificed for the sins of the world (John 1:29). Perhaps these shepherds were caring for the flocks that would provide sacrifices for the temple services. It was fitting that the good news about God’s Shepherd and Lamb be given first to humble shepherds.

Shepherds are not easily fooled. They are practical men of the world who have little to do with fantasy. If they said that they saw angels and went and found the Messiah, then you could believe them. God selected hardworking men to be the first witnesses that His Son had come into the world.

First, one angel appeared (Gabriel?) and gave the glad announcement; and then a chorus of angels joined him and gave an anthem of praise. For the first time in centuries, the glory of God returned to earth. If brave shepherds were afraid at what they saw and heard, then you can be sure it was real!

“Fear not!” is one of the key themes of the Christmas story (Luke 1:13, 30, 74; and see Matt. 1:20). Literally the angel said, “I announce to you good news, a great joy which shall be to all the people.” He used the word which means “to preach the Good News,” a word Luke uses often in both his Gospel and in the Book of Acts. We see here Luke’s emphasis on a worldwide Gospel: the Good News is for everybody, not just the Jews.

What was the Good News? Not that God had sent a soldier or a judge or a reformer, but that He had sent a Saviour to meet man’s greatest need. It was a message of peace to a world that had known much war. The famous “Pax Romana” (Roman Peace) had been in effect since 27 b.c. but the absence of war doesn’t guarantee the presence of peace.

The Stoic philosopher Epictetus said, “While the emperor may give peace from war on land and sea, he is unable to give peace from passion, grief, and envy. He cannot give peace of heart for which man yearns more than even for outward peace.”

The Jewish word shalom (peace) means much more than a truce in the battles of life. It means well-being, health, prosperity, security, soundness, and completeness. It has to do more with character than circumstances. Life was difficult at that time just as it is today. Taxes were high, unemployment was high, morals were slipping lower, and the military state was in control. Roman law, Greek philosophy, and even Jewish religion could not meet the needs of men’s hearts. Then, God sent His Son!

The angels praised God at Creation (Job 38:7), and now they praised Him at the beginning of the new creation. The whole purpose of the plan of salvation is “glory to God” (see Eph. 1:6, 12, 14). God’s glory had dwelt in the tabernacle (Ex. 40:34) and in the temple (2 Chron. 7:1–3), but had departed because of the nation’s sin (1 Sam. 4:21; Ezek. 8:4; 9:3; 10:4, 18; 11:22–23). Now God’s glory was returning to earth in the person of His Son (John 1:14). That lowly manger was a holy of holies because Jesus was there!

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Judah’s shepherds are briefed (2:8–21).

1.     They watch (2:8) : They are in the fields guarding their sheep.

2.     They wonder (2:9–14): The shepherds are confused and terrified when the horizon is suddenly filled with God’s glory!

a.     The reassurance by the angel of the Lord (2:9–10): “Don’t be afraid! I bring you good news of great joy for everyone!”

b.     The revelation by the angel of the Lord (2:11–12)

(1)     In regard to God’s Son (2:11) : The Messiah has just been born in Bethlehem!

(2)     In regard to God’s sign (2:12) : They will find him wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.

c.     The rejoicing by the angels of the Lord (2:13–14): “Glory to God in the highest heaven and peace on earth to all whom God favors!”

3.     They worship (2:15–16): The shepherds kneel before the babe in the manger.

4.     They witness (2:17–21)

a.     The confirming (2:17–18, 20): When they leave, they tell everyone what has happened.

b.     The contemplating (2:19) : Mary treasures these things in her heart and thinks about them.

c.     The circumcising (2:21) : On the eighth day, the babe is circumcised and named Jesus, in accordance with what the angel said before the baby was even conceived.

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2.9     καί (1) {B}

On the one hand, the reading καὶ ἰδού is in harmony with the solemn style of Luke in chaps. 1 and 2 (where ἰδού occurs ten times). On the other hand, however, it is difficult to imagine why, if ἰδού were present originally, copyists would have omitted it. The Committee preferred the shorter reading, attested as it is by a variety of good authorities.

2.11     Χριστὸς κύριος {A}

The combination Χριστὸς κύριος, which occurs nowhere else in the New Testament,1 seems to have been quite deliberately used by Luke instead of the much more frequent Χριστὸς κυρίου. It was to be expected that copyists, struck by the unusual collocation, should have introduced various modifications, none of which has significant external attestation.

2.14     ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκίας {A}

The difference between the AV, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men,” and the RSV,

“Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!”

is not merely a matter of exegesis of the meaning of the Greek, but is first of all one of text criticism. Does the Angelic Hymn close with εὐδοκία or εὐδοκίας?

The genitive case, which is the more difficult reading, is supported by the oldest representatives of the Alexandrian and the Western groups of witnesses. The rise of the nominative reading can be explained either as an amelioration of the sense or as a palaeographical oversight (at the end of a line εὐδοκίας would differ from εὐδοκία only by the presence of the smallest possible lunar sigma, little more than a point, for which it might have been taken — thus ευδοκιασ).

The meaning seems to be, not that divine peace can be bestowed only where human good will is already present, but that at the birth of the Saviour God’s peace rests on those whom he has chosen in accord with his good pleasure.2 Prior to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls it was sometimes argued that “men of [God’s] good pleasure” is an unusual, if not impossible, expression in Hebrew. Now, however, that equivalent expressions have turned up in Hebrew3 in several Qumran Hymns (“the sons of his [God’s] good pleasure,” 1 QH iv.32 f.; xi.9; and “the elect of his [God’s] good pleasure,” viii.6), it can be regarded as a genuinely Semitic construction in a section of Luke (chaps. 1 and 2) characterized by Semitizing constructions.

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(8) The introduction of the shepherds (ποιμήν, 2:15, 18, 20*) can well be historical. J. Jeremias holds that they were the owners of the cave in which Jesus was born, and that they had a firm place in the local tradition of his birth (TDNT VI, 491). This is possible, since the shepherds knew where to find the manger; the hypothesis would be supported if we read ἐν τῇ φάτνῃ in 2:12 with TR; Diglot, but the external evidence for inclusion of the article is too weak. On the assumption that the shepherds are legendary, various attempts have been made to explain their presence in the story: 1. The story was originally that of the discovery of a foundling by shepherds (H. Gressmann**; contra Bultmann, 324). 2. Shepherds represent the ideal, paradisical world in Hellenistic bucolic poetry (Creed, 34); but there is no trace of Hellenistic ideas of this kind in the story. 3. God’s grace is revealed to a group of people held in low regard (e.g. as thieves) by the Jews. But the evidence for this view is late (SB II, 113f.), and in general shepherds receive honourable mention in the NT (Schürmann, I, 108f.). Nevertheless, the motif that God reveals the birth of the Saviour to ordinary, lowly people is undoubtedly present. 4. An allusion to the task of David as a shepherd (1 Sa. 16:11; Schürmann, I, 108) is unlikely, since it should be the child who is a shepherd, not the witnesses of his birth. 5. We have already discussed the suggestion that would link the manger with a shepherd motif based on the association of David and Bethlehem with shepherds. One might claim that shepherds were the appropriate people to be found in the vicinity of Bethlehem as witnesses of the birth of Jesus, but this fact speaks rather for the historicity of the story, since it implies that shepherds were likely to be found at hand.

The ‘same area’ refers to the area around Bethlehem. (There is no indication that Jesus was born in the open, near where the shepherds were; see 2:15f.). ἀγραυλέω**, literally ‘to make one’s ἀγρός one’s αὐλή’, is ‘to be out of doors’. φυλάσσω (8:29; 11:21, 28; 12:15; 18:21*) takes a cognate accusative. Usually such an accusative has an attribute (2:9), except where it does not simply substantivise the verbal idea (BD 1533). Here τῆς νυκτός may be attached to the accusative with an attributive function (cf. Mk. 6:48). The verse describes the normal behaviour of shepherds who kept their flocks in the open and therefore had to mount a watch at night (each shepherd taking his turn on a rota) to guard against thieves and wild animals. Flocks were kept outside in this way from April to November (SB II, 114-116) and occasionally in suitable locations during the winter (cf. Morris, 84). The traditional scene of the revelation to the shepherds near Bethlehem is sheltered and could perhaps have been used in winter for flocks, but there is nothing in the narrative to indicate the time of year (Lagrange, 73), and the celebration of Christmas in winter in the northern hemisphere finds no support here, although it is not rendered impossible.

(9) The night may have seemed an appropriate time to Luke for a divine revelation (Drury, 37; cf. G. Delling, TDNT IV, 1123-1126). καὶ ἰδού is read by A D Θ f1 f13 pl; TR; Diglot; but, if original, it is hard to see why ἰδού was omitted (Metzger, 132). The angel of the Lord (1:11) may well be Gabriel (1:19, 26). There is no indication that a separate tradition is being used (contra Schürmann, I, 109 n. 99), nor is it necessary to regard the angel of the Lord and the chorus of angels (2:13) as belonging to two separate traditions (2:13 note). The verb ἐφίστημι, ‘to stand near, approach’, is Lucan (2:38; 4:39; 10:40; 20:1; 21:34; 24:4; Acts, 11x; 1 Thes. 5:3; 2 Tim. 4:2, 6**); it may perhaps convey the sense of a sudden appearance (AG s.v.). The appearance of the angel is accompanied by the blazing glory which marks the presence of the divine (cf. 9:34; Acts 12:7; Ezk. 1). For δόξα in this sense cf. Acts 7:55; Tit. 2:13; Rev. 15:8; 21:23; et al.; also Lk. 9:26, 31f.; 21:27. This usage, derived from the LXX, is quite different from the Classical sense of ‘opinion’ (Ex. 16:10; 24:16; 40:34f.; Ezk. 1:28; 3:12, 23; et al.; G. von Rad and G. Kittel, TDNT II, 232-253, especially 248f.; for the association of deity with light see also A. Oepke, TDNT IV, 16-28; H. Conzelmann, TDNT IX, 319f.). Some authorities omit κυρίου after δόξα (D pc it; θεοῦ is a weakly attested variant) and this reading is adopted by Sahlin, 212, and (with hesitation) by Schürmann, I, 109 n. 97; cf. 9:31. περιλάμπω (Acts 21:13**) is ‘to shine around’. The inevitable effect of such a heavenly visitation is fear (1:12f.); for the cognate accusative, see Schürmann, Paschamahlbericht, 5-7.

(10) The angelic message is a command not to fear followed by a reason (1:13, 30); the situation calls rather for joy since the angel brings good news (1:19 note) of an event that signals great joy (χαρά (1:14) is used concretely). Correspondingly with its joyful nature (ἥτις, as rendered by Kostermann, 37), this will be for all the people (πᾶς ὁ λαός is Lucan: 3:21; 7:29; 8:47; 9:13; 18:43; 19:48; 20:6, 45; 21:38; 24:19;* cf. 1:10; 2:31; Acts, 6x). The ‘people’ means Israel rather than the gentiles (Wilson, 34f.), but it is just possible that a wider reference is beginning to creep in, since the message echoes Hellenistic announcements affecting the whole world. To see the outlook of a Jewish Christian community expecting the conversion of Israel before the parousia is unwarranted (pace Schürmann, I, 110 n. 105).

The announcement is in rhythmic prose, and finds an interesting parallel in a statement about the birth of Augustus: ἦρξεν δὲ τῷ κόσμῳ τῶν διʼ αὐτὸν εὐαγγελι(ῶν ἡ γενέθλιος) τοῦ θεοῦ … (Ditt.Syl. 458). This shows that such language was in common currency rather than that the present statement was necessarily contrived in opposition to imperial claims.

(11) The ὅτι clause expresses both the content of the good news and the reason for great joy. A birth has taken place which will benefit the shepherds and all who hear the news (ὑμῖν is dative of advantage). σήμερον is literally ‘today’ since the reference is clearly to the actual birth of Jesus, rather than metaphorically to the era of salvation now inaugurated (Sahlin, 214; Ellis, 80). The term σωτήρ, already applied to God (1:47), is comparatively rare and late in the NT (Jn. 4:42; Acts 5:31; 13:23; Eph. 5:23; Phil. 3:20; 2 Tim. 1:10; Tit. 1:4; 2:13; 3:6; 2 Pet. 1:1, 11; 2:20; 3:2, 18; 1 Jn. 4:14). The background is the OT concept of God as Saviour; he now acts to save men through Jesus. The term was also applied to the Roman emperor and other Hellenistic rulers, and was employed in the mystery religions and the cult of Asclepius (G. Fohrer and W. Foerster, TDNT VII, 1003-1021; F. Stolz, THAT I, 785-790). The origins of the language here can be satisfactorily explained in terms of the Jewish background (W. Foerster, TDNT VII, 1015), but Luke may well have expected his readers to see a contrast with rival Hellenistic statements. Although the title is rare, the thought of Jesus as Saviour pervades the NT and is fully expressed in the birth story (1:69, 71, 77; Voss, 45-55).

The difficult phrase Χριστὸς κύριος may be translated ‘Christ (and) Lord’ (cf. Acts 2:36; W. Grundmann, TDNT IX, 533 n. 276) or ‘an anointed Lord’ (cf. 23:2). Many scholars think that there is a primitive error in the text for Χριστὸς κυρίου, ‘the Lord’s anointed’ (P. Winter*). This reading has in fact some weak textual attestation (β r1 syh pal Tat Ephr). The problematic phrase is found in La. 4:20 LXX (where it is a mistranslation) and Ps. Sol. 17:36 (cf. Ps. 88:52 LXX). The resemblance of the variant reading to a Hebrew construct phrase without the article supports its originality, as does its resemblance to the Lucan phrase in 2:26. On the other hand, the existing text gives a reasonable sense and fits in with Lucan usage in 23:2. We should probably, therefore, retain the text (Metzger, 132) and take it to mean that Jesus is ‘the Messiah (and) the Lord’. Behind it may lie the idea of a Saviour who is to be regarded as the ‘Messiah-Yahweh’; cf. the thought of the epiphany of the Lord in T. Levi 2:11; see also T. Sim. 6:5; T. Levi 5:2 (Sahlin, 214-218; Marshall, 100f.). But the phrase could also represent a Lucan elucidation of ‘Messiah’ for non-Jewish readers (Schürmann, I, 111f.; cf. Laurentin, 127-130; W. Foerster, TDNT VII, 1015 n. 63). The mention of the city of David fits the birth of the Messiah (Mi. 5:2).

Schürmann, I, 110 n. 107, notes a difference between the christology here and in 1:26-38, in the earlier passage the (original) expectation of a future fulfilment, but here the sense of present fulfilment. This difference is not, however, due to the use of two different traditions, but to the change of perspective brought about by the actual birth of the promised child.

(12) A sign of the truth of the message is now given. Although the article τό is omitted before σημεῖον by B pc; Synopsis, it should be retained, since it is a fixed part of the phraseology (Ex. 3:12; 1 Sa. 2:34; 14:10; 2 Ki. 19:29; 20:9; Is. 37:30; 38:7; 1 Sa. 10:1 LXX; K. H. Rengstorf, TDNT VII, 231 n. 211). The formulation thus falls into line with OT usage whereby God confirms what he is about to do by the provision of a confirmatory sign. The purpose here is not only to identify the child by indicating where he is to be found (cf. Mt. 2:9) but also in this way to authenticate the messianic proclamation. The shepherds will find an infant (βρέφος, 1:41) newly born and lying in a manger (καὶ κείμενον is omitted by א D, probably by homoioteleuton; see also 2:8 note on the text). This is a paradoxical sign, since the promised Messiah is to be found in lowly conditions, but it brings the shepherds to the manger, so that they in turn act as a confirmatory sign to Mary.

(13) A second sign follows suddenly, i.e. immediately (ἐξαίφνης, 9:33; Acts 9:3; 22:6; Mk. 13:36**).The angel is joined by a great number of the host of heaven. στρατιά, ‘host, army’, is used to refer to a heavenly company in the LXX (1 Ki. 22:19; 2 Ch. 33:3, 5; Je. 8:2; 19:13; Zp. 1:5; 2 Esd. 19:6); the usual phrase is πλῆθος στρατιᾶς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, which Luke may have adapted here. The phrase may refer to the stars, but it is clearly used of angels in 1 Ki. 22:19; 2 Esd. 19:6. αἰνέω, ‘to praise’ (2:20; 19:37; 24:53 v. 1.; Acts 2:47; 3:8f.; Rom. 15:11; Rev. 19:5**) is used in the plural ad sensum (Mk. 9:15; BD 1341b) with στρατιᾶς; for the thought cf. Ps. 102:20f.; SB II, 117.

C. Westermann* argues that in this narrative there are two quite different concepts with different OT roots, namely the angel of the Lord and the heavenly attendants around God’s throne; the manifestation of the latter is in effect a kind of theophany, whereas the angel of the Lord comes in an epiphany. In the present narrative vs. 13f. can easily be separated off; in v. 9 the element of heavenly glory which properly belongs to a theophany has been inserted in the description of the epiphany of the angel of the Lord, thus linking the two appearances together.

To assert that vs. 13f. may be separated off from the rest of the narrative, however, is not to prove that they must be. Luke saw no incompatibility between the two types of manifestation, and obviously thought of the earlier appearance of the angel to Zechariah as supernatural. The suggestion raises again the problem whether the angelic appearances are to be taken literally and historically or are essentially symbolical means of conveying a divine interpretation of historical events, drawn from different literary categories. In any case, the experience is regarded as visionary (since it will not have been seen by any other people in the neighbourhood), and it is not impossible that God should have revealed his message to the shepherds in the sort of way that fitted their expectations of how he would act.

(14) The angelic song is in effect a proclamation of the results of the birth of Jesus rather than a hymn of praise directly addressed to God. Older commentators saw in it a unit of three lines, based on the reading εὐδοκία (Θ f1 f13 pl sys p bo Orpt Eus Epiph Cyr; TR; so AV). But the external evidence favours εὐδοκίας (א* A B* D W pc latt sa got Orpt Irlat patr occ) and the internal evidence also supports this reading (WH App., 52-56; Metzger, 133). This means that the song is a couplet. The older interpretation is still favoured by D. Flusser*; for the modern view, see G. Schrenk, TDNT II, 747-750.

The first line ascribes δόξα (supply ἐστιν, Sahlin, 224f.) to God in heaven where he dwells (ἐν ὑψίστοις, 19:38; cf. 1:78). In 2:9 δόξα meant the bright appearance of glorious light, indicative of the presence of God. Here the reference could be to the visible majesty of God, which is based ultimately on the graciousness of his character. The phrase will then be a recognition that glory and majesty belong to God, so that as a whole it forms an ascription of praise to him. Men and angels glorify God by recognising that he already possesses glory and worshipping him for it; in this sense they increase his glory. The word can thus also mean ‘praise’ (Schürmann, I, 114; C. Westermann*, 325 n. 17), but this is unlikely to be the primary meaning here, since it spoils the parallelism with the second line which also speaks of God’s attributes and gifts (Grundmann, 84).

If the glory of God in heaven is revealed in the coming of his Son, the effect for men on earth is summed up in εἰρήνη (1:79). Here, however, more than the cessation of strife is meant, and the word is used to indicate the full sum of the blessings associated with the coming of the Messiah (Is. 9:5f.; Mi. 5:4). He brings a new situation of peace between God and men in which his blessings can be communicated to them; εἰρήνη is thus tantamount to σωτηρία (W. Foerster, TDNT II, 413; Grundmann, 84f.).

This gift is for ἄνθρωποι εὐδοκίας (ἐν is omitted in some authorities, but should be retained). εὐδοκία is ‘will, good pleasure’ (10:21 par. Mt. 11:26; cf. Pss. Sol. 3:4; 8:39; 16:12; 1 En. 1:8 Gk.; T. Levi 18:13; Shemoneh Esreh 17). It corresponds to Hebrew rāṣôn, used of the will of God (Pss. 51:18 (50:20); 89:17 (88:18); 106:4 (105:4)). Earlier scholars (G. Schrenk, ibid.) suspected that the unusual phrase here was the equivalent of ‘ans̆ē rāṣôn or benē reṣônô or the corresponding Aramaic phrase. This guess has now been raised to virtual certainty by the attestation of such phrases at Qumran (1QH 4:32f.; 11:9; 4QAram Apoc; C.-H. Hunzinger*; further literature listed in Schürmann, I, 114 n. 143; C. Westermann*, 322 n. 12; cf. also Sir. 15:15; 39:18). The phrase means ‘those upon whom God’s will/favour rests’, and expresses the thought of God’s free choice of those whom he wills to favour and save. Hence the older translation ‘men of goodwill’ (homines bonae voluntatis, vg; cf. Zahn, 144-146; Lagrange, 76-78), unlikely on theological grounds with its suggestion of human merit, can be dropped from consideration.

The phraseology demonstrates decisively that a Semitic original must be postulated for the couplet; cf. Sahlin, 229f.; Black, 168; G. Schwarz*.

(15) Heaven is regarded as the dwelling place of God and the angels, to which they now return. οὐρανός is normally used by Luke in the singular form (31x; plural, 10:20; 12:33; 18:22; 21:26); both forms are used indifferently for the sky and heaven (G. von Rad and H. Traub, TDNT V, 497-536, especially 533). For οἱ ποιμένες, some MSS read καὶ οἱ ἄνθρωποι οἱ ποιμένες (A D f13 pm; TR; Diglot), a form which Easton, 24, regarded as ‘eminently in Luke’s style’. It could be a Hebraism with καί (for Hebrew we) in apodosis (Sahlin, 231f.). A contrast between the angels and the men left below on earth is possible (Godet, 133). The preference of UBS for the shorter text rests on the external evidence (Metzger, 134). The wording of the shepherds’ decision to go to Bethlehem is Lucan in style. διέρχομαι is ‘to go, go through’ (10x; Acts, 20x; rest of NT, 11x). ῥῆμα here means ‘event’ (1:37 note). For τὸ γεγονός cf. 8:34-36; 24:12; Acts 4:21; 5:7; 13:12; Mk. 5:14**; 1 Sa. 4:16. γνωρίζω (2:17; Acts 2:38; 7:13**) is used especially of ‘God’s declaration of his secret counsel of salvation’ (R. Bultmann, TDNT I, 718). δή* is a particle of emphasis, especially with commands (cf. Hebrew -nā’; Acts 6:13; 13:2; 15:36*; et al.).

(16) Like Mary (1:39) the shepherds go in haste; σπεύδω is Lucan (19:5f.; Acts 20:16; 22:18; 2 Pet. 3:12**); for the use of the participle see 1 Sa. 4:14, 16; Jos. Bel. 1:222. The search is rewarded by success, ἀνευρίσκω (Acts 21:4**) implying that the object sought is actually found. Note the use of τε (bracketed in Diglot; omitted by D). This is a common connective particle in Lk.-Acts (12:45; 14:26; 15:2; 21:11a, b; 22:66; 23:12; 24:20; Acts, 140x; Mt., 3x; Mk., 0x; rest of NT, 55x). It is used in conjunction with καί to mean ‘both … and …’ Normally it follows the noun to which it refers (A. τε … καὶ B.), but precedes a noun which has the article, as here. It may be followed, as here, by more than one καί phrase (BD 443f.).

(17) It is not absolutely clear to whom the shepherds made known the saying about the child. The wording ‘this child’ may imply that other people were already present with Mary and Joseph and the child (cf. Easton, 25), but the analogy of 1:66 may suggest that the shepherds went and told other people in the neighbourhood. ῥῆμα here must mean ‘saying’, but Creed, 36, translated ‘matter’.

(18) Three reactions to the event are described, those of the hearers, of Mary (v. 19) and of the shepherds (v. 20). The hearers are filled with wonder (1:63; cf. 1:21; 2:33). ‘The astonishment … is a means to prepare the ground for the fact that the story of Jesus has the character of revelation’ (G. Bertram, TDNT III, 39). There is no strong external evidence for preferring ἐθαύμαζον (D; Diglot) to ἐθαύμασαν. The Diglot reading reflects Kilpatrick’s judgment (199) that scribes tended to alter Hellenistic imperfects to Atticising aorists.

(19) Mary was able to take a deeper view of the situation, if δέ is meant to express a contrast with the preceding verse. It is less natural to suppose that the contrast is between the words of the shepherds and the silence of Mary (pace Creed, 36). It is possible that the narrator intended to separate Mary from the wonderers in v. 18 and to take into account her earlier knowledge of her child’s destiny (see, however, 2:33). The MSS vary between Μαριάμ (A W pm; TR; UBS; Diglot) and Μαρία (א B D al; Synopsis). συντηρέω is ‘to protect’, ‘to hold or treasure up (in one’s memory)’ (Mt. 9:17; Mk. 6:20**; cf. Sir. 39:2; Dn. 7:28; T. Levi 6:2; and for the thought see Gn. 37:11). συμβάλλω is frequent in Lk.: ‘to consider, ponder’; ‘to converse’ (Acts 4:15; 17:18); ‘to meet’ (14:31; Acts 20:14); ‘to help’ (Acts 18:27**). The sense here is that Mary continued to think and ponder over the events as a whole so that she was able to discern their meaning (see van Unnik*, who shows that the verb means ‘to get at the right meaning’).

Earlier commentators held that the verse pointed to the source of Luke’s story, namely Mary herself (2:51; Zahn, 147; Easton 25); Schürmann, I, 117, holds that the purpose of the verse is christological, to emphasise that a fulfilment of the promises made here was to be expected in the future. Neither interpretation excludes the other. The Lucan style of the verse has suggested that it is redactional and based on 2:51 (Dibelius, Botschaft, I, 54 n. 90; Hahn, 270); in fact its form and function are similar to those of 1:66.

(20) Finally, the shepherds depart, glorifying God. δοξάζω with θεόν as object is frequent in Luke (5:25f.; 7:16; 13:13; 17:15; 18:43; 23:47; cf. 4:15). ὁῖς is by relative attraction for ἅ. πᾶς ὅς / ὅσος is frequent in Lk. (12:8, 10, 48; 14:33; 18:12, 22; 19:37; 24:25; Mt. 22:10; Mk., 0x). Thus the coincidence of what they had heard from the angels with what they had seen led the shepherds to praise; by itself the birth of the child would have seemed to be a perfectly ordinary event. The motif of praise fittingly closes several pericopes in Lk. (especially 24:53).

[5]

Luke 2.8.

Exegesis kai poimenes ēsan en tē chōra tē autē ‘and there were shepherds in the same region’.

poimēn ‘shepherd’; according to rabbinic sources shepherds in Israel were despised and considered unreliable, cp. Strack-Billerbeck II, 113f.

chōra ‘district’ (as here), ‘country’, ‘(cultivated) land’; the phrase en tē chōra tē autē is sometimes translated less emphatically, “in that region” (RSV, cp. Kingsley Williams, Goodspeed) instead of ‘in the same region’.

agraulountes kai phulassontes phulakas tjs nuktos ‘staying out in the fields and keeping the night watches’, appositive to poimenes and describing the activity of the shepherds. The accusative phulakas is the cognate accusative or accusative of content (cp. Bl-D§ 153.3), etymologically related to the preceding main verb phulassontes ‘watching’ and thus specifying its meaning: the shepherds keep watch over their flock by means of phulakai. tēs nuktos is either genitive of time (but then usually without article, cp. Bl-D, § 186.2), going with phulassontes phulakas ‘keeping watches at night’, or, preferably, qualifying genitive with phulakas: ‘night watches’.

phulassō active: ‘to watch’, ‘to protect’, middle: ‘to guard against’, ‘to look out for’.

phulakē ‘guarding’, ‘watch of the night’, ‘prison’.

Translation Shepherds usually can be described as ‘men who tend (or, feed/lead/care-for/watch) the sheep’. In some cases such a rendering would lead to tautology, because the rest of the sentence comes near to a description of a shepherd’s job; then it is preferable simply to render ‘men’. For ‘sheep’ see references on 15.4.

Out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. In a context like this some languages (e.g. Javanese, Kapauku) render ‘to (keep) watch’ by ‘to stay with’; in others the rendering requires a second verb to express the connexion with the object, e.g. ‘to (keep) watch, staying-with/taking-care-of’ (cp. Balinese). In some cases the language renders the phrase ‘to keep watch at night’ by one verb (East Toradja); elsewhere the language possesses one verb to render ‘to be/stay at night’, ‘to pass the night’. In the latter case the structure of the sentence may better be slightly changed, cp. ‘they were-passing-the-night in the fields, staying-with their flock’ (Javanese, Toba Batak).—Out in the field, or, ‘in the grass (i.e. open uncultivated areas)’ (Tagabili), ‘in (the-) country (i.e. brushland, suitable for grazing), but in (the-)open’ (Kituba, which has to use two expressions in order to make it clear that they were not inside a house). For flock, i.e. a number of domesticated animals tended by a herdsman, some languages have a specific term, e.g. a word related to ‘gathered group’ (Lokele), or ‘enclosure’, by extension also used to indicate the animals normally kept there (Zarma). In other languages “their flock” has to be rendered by, ‘those-they-tend/feed’ (Balinese, Toba Batak), ‘the sheep they had to care for’, ‘their sheep’. For night cp. N.T.Wb. /57.

Luke 2.9.

Exegesis aggelos kuriou, cp. on 1.11.

epestē autois ‘stood by them’, denoting a movement towards the shepherds, hence “came upon them” (BFBS), and implying a note of suddenness, cp. A-G s.v. 1 a.

ephistēmi usually in present or aorist tense only, ‘to stand by’, ‘to approach’, ‘to appear’, often of the appearing of divine beings in dreams and visions.

doxa kuriou perielampsen autous ‘the splendour of the Lord shone around them’.

doxa ‘brightness’, ‘splendour’, ‘magnificence’, ‘honour’; here it appears visibly as a radiant light, cp. Zürich, Lichtglanz. In the Septuagint doxa kuriou translates kebōd yahwe(h), God’s visible presence, cp. e.g. Ex. 16.10; 24.16; 40.34f.

perilampō (‡) ‘to shine around someone’.

kai ephobēthēsan phobon megan lit. ‘and they feared (with) a great fear’; phobon megan is accusative of content (cp. on v. 8) and here has the function of an adverb of degree, cp. “greatly afraid” (BFBS).

Translation For the Lord (also in vv. 15, 22ff, 26, 29, 39) see on 1.6 sub (c).

Appeared to them. The verb (in the original differing from the one used in 1.11) has also been rendered, ‘came and stood at the side (or, in the midst, or, in front) of’ (cp. Sranan, Kanarese, Tagabili).

The glory of the Lord shone around them, or more analytically, ‘shone-on them, it surrounded them’ (Kituba). Often the expression usually rendering glory (cp. TBT, 1.28f, 1950; 4.169–72, 1953; 13.86, 153, 1962; Nida, BT, 192f, s. vs. “glory” and “majesty”; TH-Mk on 8.38; 10.37; 13.26) clearly conveys the concept of ‘brightness’, ‘radiance’; then it may be better to render the verb simply by ‘was around them’, ‘enveloped/surrounded them’, cp. ‘great the brightness...all around them’ (Tagabili). Elsewhere the usual rendering does not go idiomatically with ‘to shine’; then it may be possible to say, ‘the radiance of the majesty...shone-on them all-around’ (Balinese), or to shift to a simile, e.g. ‘the greatness/majesty...was around (or, enveloped) them like a flame/radiance’.

They were filled with fear, or, ‘they became very afraid’, refers to the effect of the two preceding events; hence a connective like, ‘therefore’, ‘consequently’, ‘so’ (cp. Javanese, Toba Batak).

Luke 2.10.

Exegesis idou gar ‘for behold’, cp. on 1.44.

euaggelizomai humin charan megalēn ‘I bring (-as) -good-news to you a great joy’, cp. on 1.19.

hētis estai panti tō laō “which will be for all the people” (BFBS): hētis is here equivalent to the simple relative pronoun hē, cp. Bl-D, § 293.3.

panti tō laō is best understood as a dative of advantage: ‘a joy which will be to the benefit of all the people’. For laos cp. 1.68, 77; the reference is not to ‘people’ in general, i.e. mankind, but to ‘the people’, i.e. Israel.

Translation I bring you good news of a great joy, i.e. news that gives great joy, or, causes people to rejoice greatly. Some other restructured renderings of the phrase are, “I bring you good tidings, news of a great joy” (Rieu), “I have good news for you: there is great joy coming to...” (NEB, making ‘great joy’ the grammatical subject of the next clause); or, toning down the force of the verb, ‘...tell the news which will give great joy’ (Bolivian Quechua), ‘great joy word (s) wish-to-tell-you I-have-come’ (Kapauku). For to bring good news cp. also on 1.19.

Which will come to all the people, or, ‘which will be the share of this whole-people’ (East Toradja), ‘in which the whole country will take part’ (Sranan), ‘a blessing for all the people’ (Toba Batak, using an appositional construction), ‘over which all the people will be-glad’ (East Toradja 1933). The people, or, to make it clear that here Israel is meant, ‘this people’, ‘your people’ (Balinese), ‘the people in your country’ (Tagabili), ‘(the people of) Israel’; see also on 1.17.

Luke 2.11.

Exegesis hoti etechthē humin sēmeron sōtēr ‘for there has been born for you today a saviour’, or, ‘viz. that there has been born for you today a saviour’, preferably the latter. Thus interpreted the clause is epexegetic to charan megalēn in v. 10.

humin ‘for you’ dative of advantage, as usual in ancient proclamations of royal births (cp. Klostermann); there is no contradiction with panti tō laō (v. 10) ‘for all the people’ because the persons addressed represent all the people concerned.

sēmeron ‘today’. According to Jewish time reckoning the day begins at sunset.

sōtēr ‘saviour’, cp. on 1.47. Because of the subsequent relative clause hos estin Christos kurios ‘who is Messiah (and) Lord’ (see below), which serves to identify the sōtēr whose birth is announced, it is better to understand sōtēr not as a title but as an agent-noun.

hos estin Christos kurios ‘who is Messiah (and) Lord’. The absence of a connective between Christos and kurios (for which see on 1.6) is awkward and has been variously explained: (1) BFBS understands the words as a hendiadys (i.e. two words expressing together one idea) and translates “the Anointed Lord” (cp. Moffatt “the Lord messiah”); (2) NEB, Segond and Zürich interpret both words as titles, cp. “the Messiah, the Lord’ (NEB); (3) RSV and others understand Christos as a name and kurios as a title, cp. “Christ the Lord” (RSV). As (2) meets with less difficulties than (1) and (3) there is reason to adopt it.

en polei Dauid ‘in the town of David’, to be connected with etechthē ‘was born’.

Translation To you is born. In some receptor languages the translator is compelled to decide how the angels came to know the facts told. In Foe, which has six evidential aspect forms, the choice is between a form indicating a statement based on evidence the speaker has previously seen, and one indicating that the speaker describes something he can see going on; the latter is used here. Similarly in Huli a past active form is chosen, which indicates that the statement is not based on deduction but on known fact in which the speaker took part or which he saw going on.—In this position the dative of advantage is often difficult to express; hence shifts to, ‘you have received to-day a saviour, (who is) born in...’, ‘born is your Saviour’ (Javanese, similarly Kapauku).

This day, or, ‘today’, ‘now’, ‘at this time’, or, ‘(in) this night’ (Kituba, Tagabili, Toba Batak).

A Saviour, i.e. ‘One who saves you’.

Christ (also in 2.26; 3.15; 4.41; 9.20; 20.41; 22.67; 23.2, 35, 39; 24.26, 46). There is a strong tendency amongst translators to transliterate Gr. christos, both where it still is a noun or title, and where it already has become a proper name or nearly so. When that line is followed, the translator has only to consider how, and to what extent, the form of the name has to be adjusted to phonemic patterns of the receptor language, e.g. Kedays (Tagabili), Kaditoti (Kapauku, but later replaced by Keristus, as used in the language of prestige), Kerisitu (East Toradja), Klisto (Kituba), Chitu (Chinese); cp. also TBT, 4.104–106, 1953.

Other problems arise if one tries to translate the word, where it is to be taken as a noun or title (see Exegesis), cp. e.g. NEB, where (ho) christos is rendered by “the Messiah”, and once by “(God’s) Anointed” (23.35), or Goodspeed, where “the Messiah” is used here and in v. 26, “an anointed (king)” in 23.2, and “(the) Christ” in all other passages. Working along this line the translator may have the choice of three alternatives. (1) In several languages ‘Messias’, ‘Messiah’ (a borrowing by way of Gr. messias and Aramaic meshiha from Hebrew mäshiaḥ ‘the anointed one’) has been taken over in the sense it had acquired amongst the Jews, i.e. a God-promised or God-sent saviour-king. In that case it is possible to use the word here, in the phonemic form already existent in the receptor language. (2) In languages spoken in predominantly Muslim areas, the term (al) masih may be known, going back to the form which mashiah or meshiha took on in Arabic, where it was used by Mohammed in reference to Isa (Jesus) (e.g. Sura 3.45, 9.30f). This term has often been used to render ‘Christ’ (see e.g. the above mentioned list), on the assumption that the meaning of the borrowing and the original term are the same. This assumption, however, rather questionable in general, is especially so in this case, because in the Koran the word had fairly well lost its Old Testament meaning to become part of the name of Isa, the prophet of the Christians (see on 1.31). This may be the reason why in some receptor languages the rendering (al) masih, after having been used for some time, has been discarded afterwards, e.g. in Malay. (3) Apart from these renderings, which make use of terms originally foreign to the receptor language, attempts have been made to describe the concept in indigenous terms, e.g. ‘the anointed one’ (cp. N.T.Wb. /10), ‘the consecrated one’, ‘the one God has inaugurated’. A cultural equivalent found in one version is, ‘Son of heaven’; this interesting solution, however, is thought a questionable one by some translators (cp. TBT, 3.166 and 171, 1952; 4.184, 1953), especially because of undesirable associations with mythological concepts such as the holy marriage of the god of heaven with mother earth.

The opinion of the present author is that, in all passages reflecting Messianic concepts current among the Jews of Jesus’ days, translation is preferable. In practice, however, transliteration will often have to prevail, e.g. because of existing tradition in the receptor language, or in a neighbouring language of prestige (cp. also Nida, BT, 215; TH-Mk on 8.29).

The Lord, see on 1.6, sub (b).

Luke 2.12.

Exegesis kai touto humin to sēmeion ‘and this for you the (or ‘a’) sign’, with either estin ‘is’ (cp. BFBS), or estai ‘will be’ (cp. Goodspeed) understood, preferably the latter. touto ‘this’ points to the subsequent description of the sign; humin ‘for you’, dative of advantage.

sēmeion ‘sign’, ‘distinguishing mark’, ‘miracle’. Here the sign serves either to identify the new-born child or to prove the truth of what has been said about the child, but these interpretations do not exclude each other; the latter is preferable.

esparganwmenon kai keimenon en phatnj ‘wrapped up and lying in a manger’, cp. on v. 7; strictly speaking only the second part of the phrase denotes something out of the ordinary and has therefore the character of a sign.

Translation This will be a sign for you, or, ‘this the you-will-recognize sign’ (Kapauku), ‘by this you will recognize him (Leyden), following the first interpretation mentioned in Exegesis, or, “this will prove it to you” (Goodspeed), following the other interpretation. For sign cp. also on 2.34.

Find. Receptor languages may distinguish between (1) ‘find/come-across’ (by chance), and (2) ‘find/obtain’ (as a result of deliberate seeking), as is the case here. Cp. also TH-Mk on 1.37. In some languages one verb covers the concepts ‘to see’ and ‘to find’ (e.g. Tagabili), or ‘to see’, ‘to meet’ and ‘to find’ (e.g. Balinese).

A babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. The verbs used are the same as in v. 7 but the aspect is different. This may be expressed by the use of different aspect forms, or by other means, compare e.g. ‘wrapped-him-up with/by-means-of swaddling-cloths’, suggesting an act, in v. 7, with ‘wrapped-up in swaddling-cloths’, suggesting repose, here (Bahasa Indonesia KB), ‘was wrapped by her in swaddling-cloths’ with ‘having-swaddling-cloths’ (Balinese), or, ‘put him in a manger’ with ‘lying in a manger’ (Sranan). In some languages a one-word rendering such as ‘wrapped-up’ or ‘swaddled’ is more idiomatic that a literal rendering of the phrase “wrapped up in swaddling cloths”. This may help to make it possible to recast the whole expression in such a way as to focus the attention on the second part, cp. ‘find a wrapped-up babe which was lying in a manger’ (cp. Toba Batak 1885). For babe cp. on v. 17.

Luke 2.13.

Exegesis kai exaiphnēs egeneto sun tō aggelō ‘and suddenly (or, ‘unexpectedly’) there was with the angel...’; egeneto is used here as a substitute for a form of eimi ‘to be’, cp. A-G s.v. ginomai II, 4. exaiphnēs also 9.39.

plēthos stratias ouraniou ‘a great company of the heavenly army’; the genitive refers to content (to be interpreted as ‘consisting of’).

stratia ouranios (both words _) ‘heavenly army’, scil. of angels, cp. 1 Kings 22.19.

ainountōn ton theon kai legontōn ‘praising God and saying’; both participles are appositive to the preceding stratias ouraniou but are in the plural as if aggelōn preceded, cp. Bl-D, § 134. legontōn ‘saying’ serves to introduce the content of the praise.

Translation There was with the angel..., or, ‘suddenly there-appeared/became-visible near the angel’ (Bahasa Indonesia KB, similarly Kapauku), ‘there joined themselves to the angel...’ (Jerusalem, similarly Tagalog), ‘the angel was surrounded by...’ (Vai), ‘there came to the side of the angel...’ (Sranan).

A multitude of the heavenly host, or, ‘a numerous heavenly army’ (Sundanese), ‘many heavenly soldiers’ (Toba Batak). For multitude cp. on 3.7, for heavenly on “heaven” in v. 15. Since in host the emphasis is not on the military aspect, “heavenly host” may also be rendered by ‘those from heaven’ (Tagabili), ‘inhabitants of heaven’ (Thai).

Praising God and saying. In some receptor languages words of praise are preferably not introduced by ‘to say’; hence, ‘they praised..., thus their praise’ (Balinese, Sundanese), “praising God and singing” (Rieu). To praise is often rendered by a descriptive expression, e.g. ‘make-great, or, make-great the name of’ (East Toradja, in v. 20), ‘to speak well of’ (Tarascan), ‘lift up the name of’ (Cuna, Kpelle), ‘to sing the name of’ (Tepehua), ‘to make good’ (Totonac), ‘to say good about’ (Tzeltal), ‘to make known something good about’ (Navajo).

Luke 2.14.

Exegesis When the reading eudokias ‘favour’ in the genitive is adopted the hymn consists of two corresponding lines connected by kai; the parallelism between the various parts of each line is very close but does not strictly follow the word order: doxa ‘glory’ corresponds with eirēnē ‘peace’, en hupsistois ‘in the highest’ with epi gēs ‘on earth’, and theō ‘to God’ with en anthrōpois ‘among men’. When however the reading eudokia in the nominative is adopted this parallelism is lost because eudokia is then a third predicate besides doxa and eirēnē. The reading eudokias is preferable, cp. Plummer and Schrenk, TWNT, II, 745ff.

doxa en hupsistois theō ‘glory in the highest to God’; the form of the verb einai that is to be understood with the phrase, is either eiē ‘may be’ (optative) or estin ‘is’ (indicative), cp. Bl-D,§ 128.5; neither form however expresses the meaning of the doxology adequately because a doxology is not merely a wish (‘may glory be given to God’) nor just a statement (‘God has glory’), but rather “a statement of that which is, in terms of a praise of God” (cp. Kittel, TWNT, II, 251); in the present context ‘that which is’ is the birth of the Saviour and the doxology expresses what this birth means in heaven and on earth.

doxa ‘glory’, cp. on v. 9; here it does not have the connotation of ‘radiant light’.

hupsista ‘the highest’, cp. on 1.32; en hupsistois goes with theo as indicating the place where God is (cp. RSV, NEB, and others) or with the phrase as a whole, indicating the place where glory is given to God (cp. BFBS, Rieu); the latter seems preferable because of the place of en hupsistois before theō and of the parallelism with epi gēs ‘on earth’.

epi gēs eirene en anthrōpois eudokias ‘on earth peace among men of his favour’.

gē ‘soil’, ‘ground’, ‘land’, ‘earth’.

eirēnē ‘peace’, cp. on 1.79.

eudokia (also 10.21) ‘good will’ of men, cp. “men of good will” (Rieu), or ‘favour’, ‘pleasure’, of God, cp. “men on whom his favour rests” (NEB); the latter interpretation is adopted by the great majority of commentators and translators and supported by the repeated occurrence of the same phrase in Hebrew in the Dead Sea Scrolls, where the possessive suffix makes clear that God is the subject of the act implied in the verbal nouns ‘favour’ or ‘pleasure’, cp. Grundmann and Bl-D,§ 165. The genitive is qualifying. There is no reason to assume a contradiction between panti tō laō ‘all the people’ in v. 10 and en anthrōpois eudokias ‘among men of his favour’ as if the latter would impose a restriction upon the former: it only serves to express that the initiative in establishing peace on earth is not with men but with God.

Translation Glory to God. Often a verb must be added, ‘praise be/is-offered to God’ (Javanese), or the syntactic pattern changed, e.g. ‘most exalted (is) God’ (Balinese), or ‘honoured should God be’ (Sundanese), ‘let God be greatly praised’ (Bolivian Quechua).

In the highest. Some versions have to add a word for ‘place’ (Telugu, Sundanese). Where the context is not sufficient to show that place to be God’s abode in heaven it is better to add ‘heaven(s)’. Balinese uses a term, ‘highest-world’, referring to the highest of the layers of heaven, cp. also ‘upper world’ (Kanarese).

On earth. The rendering must be the normal counterpart of the term chosen for “in the highest”. Thus Balinese employs ‘sphere-of-mortals’ (thought of as taking the middle position between heaven and netherworld and, as such, also called ‘middle sphere’), because this term, not ‘earth’, is commonly used in one pair with ‘highest-world’.

Peace among men, or, ‘peace reign(s) among men’, ‘men (may) receive peace’, ‘men’s condition is (or, may be) peaceful’. For peace, here used in its positive meaning, see on 1.79.

With whom he is pleased. Some versions keep closer to the Greek construction, only adding a possessive pronoun, cp. “men of his choice” (BFBS, similarly Sinhalese). Several do as RSV does, and shift to a relative verbal clause, e.g. “men he favors” (Goodspeed), ‘men he rejoices in’ (Chinese), ‘people that he accepts/approves of’ (Kituba, using a continuative present tense), ‘people He likes’ (Tagabili, lit. ‘people where stays his breath’), ‘men who are-pleasing to His heart’ (Bahasa Indonesia KB), ‘people who fit God’s eye’ (Sranan). When the verb is specific, and normally used with God as agent, it is sometimes possible to omit the indication of the agent, e.g. ‘men who are elected’ (Javanese). When a relative clause is impossible one may shift to, ‘peace for men: he favours (or, is pleased with, or, loves) them’. For pleased see references on “well pleased” in 3.22.

In some languages incongruity between the two lines of the verse in matters of word order would destroy the meaning of the whole clause, or at least impair the stylistic impression aimed at; then the word order of the two lines should be made more closely parallel. Similar considerations may make preferable the use of more closely parallel renderings of the prepositions, e.g. ‘is given to God...comes to the earth’ (Sranan), “glory to God...peace to the men” (Goodspeed), ‘most exalted (is) God...very peaceful (are) the men’ (Balinese).

Luke 2.15.

Exegesis kai egeneto hōs apelthōn...hoi aggeloi, hoi poimenes elaloun... lit. ‘and it happened when the angels had gone away, that the shepherds said...’, cp. note on 1.8.

hōs apelthōn ap’ autōn eis ton ouranon hoi aggeloi ‘when the angels had gone away from them back to heaven’; the Greek verb aperchomai means both ‘to go away’ and ‘to go back’ (cp. on 1.23)

hoi poimenes elaloun pros allēlous ‘he shepherds repeatedly said to one another’; the imperfect tense elaloun marks repetition.

dielthōmen dē heōs Bēthleem ‘let us then go over to Bethlehem’.

dierchomai ‘to go through’, ‘to go’, but always the implication that a certain distance is to be traversed, cp. Moulton-Milligan 160.

dē (‡) ‘then’, lends greater urgency to the exhortation (cp. A-G s.v.).

heōs as a preposition ‘as far as’ or in more general sense ‘to’, cp. A-G s.v. II.2.a.

to rēma touto to gegonos ‘this thing that has happened’, cp. on 1.37; the expression is Hebraistic, cp. 1 Sam. 4.16, where Leroy Waterman in An American Translation translates “what has happened?” The participle gegonos ‘happened’ does not add to the meaning of ēma ‘thing’ but stresses the perfective aspect of the ‘thing’.

ho ho kurios egnōrisen hēmin ‘which the Lord has made known to us’, implying that the angel has been the mouthpiece of the Lord; the first ho (with accent) is the relative pronoun, referring back to ēma.

gnōrizō (also v. 17) ‘to make known’, not a specifically religious term.

Translation Went away from them into heaven, one verb with two indicators of direction. Idiom may require the addition of a verb, e.g. ‘they left them going (or, and went, or, to go) back to heaven’ (cp. Kapauku, Telugu, Tamil, Kituba, South Toradja), or the omission of ‘from them’ (Tagabili, Sudanese); the latter does not mean an actual loss of information, since the point of departure is clear from the context. Some languages prefer to be more specific, saying ‘went up/ascended to heaven’ (e.g. Kapauku, Pampango, East Toradja).—In the Bible heaven may refer to the abode of God or to the vault of heaven, the firmament/sky. In the former meaning it occurs here and in 3.22; 6.23; 10.18 (?), 20; 11.16; 12.33; 15.7; 18.22; 19.38; 22.43, 51, and as an adjective ‘heavenly’ in 2.13; 11.13; and metonymically, cp. on 15.18. The latter meaning occurs in 3.21; 4.25; 9.16, 54; 10.18 (?); 17.29; 18.13; 21.10, 26; also in combination with “Hades” or with “earth” in 10.15 and 21 (which see). Some languages distinguish between these concepts (cp. also TH-Mk on 1.10); elsewhere the sky is seldom associated with God, e.g. in Samoan, cp. TBT, 18.77, 1967. In such cases a descriptive term ‘place where God lives’ may be an acceptable rendering. The Greek word used here is more everyday than “the highest” in v. 14, but in some languages, e.g. in Tagabili, one rendering has to cover the two terms.

Said to one another is often expressed by a reciprocal form of the verb, cp. on 4.36; in Bamiléké by a complex pronoun (lit. ‘they-they’) with reciprocal meaning, ‘they among themselves said’.

In some cases the clause structure of the following direct discourse must be changed, e.g. ‘The Lord has made known to us what has happened. Let us go...and look at it’ (cp. Telegu).

Let us go over to, or, ‘go (straight) to’ (cp. TEV, NEB). The hortatory mood is often expressed by a specific form of the verb, e.g. an imperative (Kituba), or by the use of an interjection (cp. Sudanese), or of a combination of both. In some cases the verb must be rendered by a specific term for going from the countryside to the central town or village.

Thing that has happened or, ‘what has happened’, ‘event that has taken place (lit. is-born)’ (Thai), ‘things that have taken place (lit. have fallen) there’ (Kituba); or here, ‘this that they told us about just now’ (Tagabili, which does not possess such a generic term as ‘happened’). Considerations of sentence structure may make it preferable to render the phrase by one term, e.g. “this event” (Phillips), ‘that matter’ (Balinese).

Which the Lord has made known to us. Whereas the preceding relative clause is restrictive, this one is non-restrictive, cp. ‘what has happened here, as has been known...’ (Javanese). God was the ultimate source of the message but the angels were the actual conveyors; therefore it may be necessary to say ‘which God has caused to be told (or, caused the angels to tell) us’.

Luke 2.16.

Exegesis kai ēlthon speusantes ‘they went with haste; the participle speusantes qualifies the action of the main verb as happening with haste or quickly (cp. RSV, NEB, Jerusalem, Zürich).

speudō (also 19.5f.) ‘to hurry’, ‘to make haste’, in Luke always as a participle qualifying the main verb.

kai aneuron ‘and they found’.

aneurō (‡) ‘to find out’, implying a search as in Acts 21.4, cp. “they found their way to Mary and Joseph” (NEB).

tēn te Mariam kai ton Iōsēph kai to brephos keimenon en tē phatnē ‘Mary and Joseph and the child lying in the manger’; the series of connectives te...kai...kai admits the following interpretations: (1) ‘Mary, Joseph and the child’, i.e. te is taken to be followed by more than one corresponding kai, cp. Moffatt, A-G s.v. te 3a; (2) ‘Mary and Joseph, and the child’, i.e. te is connected with the first kai only and this connection expresses that Mary and Joseph are one group as compared with the child, cp. RSV, BFBS, Phillips, Goodspeed, Zürich; (3) the second kai is taken to be connect two co-ordinate clauses, cp. “they found...Mary and Joseph; and the baby was lying in the manger” (NEB). Of these interpretations (2) is the most probable because when te is followed by more than one kai usually te and the first kai connect concepts which are nmore closely related to each other than to what follows, cp. Lk. 12.45, Acts 1.8, Heb. 2.4; this is here supported by the fact that the participle keimenon ‘lying’ goes with brephos only.

Translation Found, or, because of the implied search, ‘they looked for and found’, ‘in their search they saw’ (Cuyono).

Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. To avoid the danger that the participle would be taken with the three persons mentioned, various ways are open, such as the use of different connectives, e.g. ‘Mary with Joseph, and the babe...’ (Bahasa Indonesia KB), ‘M. and J., more-over the babe...’ (Javanese, Balinese), or of a deictic element after ‘Joseph’, giving to the next phrase a rather independent position (Sundanese); or the repetition of the verb, cp. ‘found M. with J., and found the babe lying...’ (Thai); or again, a repetition of ‘babe/child’, cp. ‘...found M., J. and child; child lying...’ (Kituba).

Luke 2.17.

Exegesis idontes ‘having seen’, the object has to be supplied from the preceding clause and is either Mary, Joseph and the child, cp. “them” (Kingsley Williams), or the child only, cp. “him” (NEB), “it” (RSV), preferably the former.

egnōrisan peri tou rēmatos tou lalēthentos autois peri tou paidiou toutou lit. ‘they made known about the word that had been spoken to them about this child’; peri tou rēmatos has the function of a direct object in the accusative with egnōrisan (cp. v. 15); when connected with a form of the verb laleō ‘to speak’ ēma means ‘word’, not ‘thing’, but here it refers rather to the content of the word than the word itself: hence many translators render tou rēmatos tou lalēthentos autois as “what had been told them” (BFBS) or a similar translation. egnōrisan has no indirect object, which is supplied variously: (a) “them”, i.e. Mary and Joseph (Kingsley Williams); this seems the natural supplement when the omission of the indirect object is not intentional; (b) “everybody” (Phillips), this is in accordance with the following verse which presupposes that the story has been spread. In the order of the story it is only logical to think of Joseph and Mary as the first persons to receive the message of the shepherds, but Luke has already in mind what follows, i.e. the reaction of all who heard that message, and in order to prepare the reader for what follows he does not mention the indirect object of egnorisan ‘they made known’. According to this interpretation Luke’s omission of the indirect object is intentional.

paidion ‘little child’, cp. on 1.59. The term brephos ‘babe’ (vv. 12, 16), paidion (here, v. 27 and v. 40) and pais ‘boy’ (v. 43) apparently are used to suggest phases of Jesus’ growth, the end of which is indicated by the use of ‘Jesus’ without a qualifying apposition (v. 52). But this is not to be pressed, as is shown by the facts that brephos can also mean ‘embryo’ (1.41, 44), and that paidion here has the same referent as brephos (v. 12), although its general range of meaning is wider, covering the whole period of childhood.

Translation When they saw it, or ‘them’, as preferred in Exegesis.

They made known, the same verb as in v. 15, probably in order to suggest that God’s message brought by the angels now finds its parallel in the message brought by the shepherds. NEB has “made known” in v. 15, but here “recounted”, another way to refer the reader to the first message; similarly South Toradja, ‘go-along-the-whole-length’, i.e. tell again, keeping exactly to the original message. Some translators, taking the indirect object here to be ‘everybody’ (as preferred in Exegesis) have chosen a somewhat more encompassing expression, ‘to tell all’ (Tagabili), ‘to make-widely-known’ (Bahasa Indonesia), ‘to make known everywhere’ (Kapauku).

The saying which had been told them, or, ‘what the angels had told them’. Tagabili renders ‘that which they had heard’, probably to avoid repetition of ‘to tell’.

Child, cp. on 1.7. The series “babe”—“child”—“boy” will require careful handling in receptor languages that have a different division and/or a different number of grades, or no grading at all, as in East Toradja. In some other cases a grading term, though existing, is unacceptable in this context for various reasons, stylistic, as in Dutch (where the usual term for the first grade, a borrowing from English “baby”, would sound ridiculous), or honorific, as in Balinese (which, though possessing a word for “babe”, cannot use it when referring to a child of high rank), or semantic, as in Bahasa Indonesia (where the term ‘boy’ came to be primarily associated with the concept ‘servant’).

Luke 2.18.

Exegesis pantes hoi akousantes ‘all who heard’, without specific object; this is either the shepherds, cp. “them” (Phillips, Segond) or what the shepherds told, cp. “it” (RSV, Goodspeed, Zürich), preferably the latter.

peri tōn lalēthentōn hupo tōn poimenōn pros autous lit. ‘about the things that had been told by the shepherds to them’.

Translation Some possibly necessary changes of the sentence structure are, ‘the things the shepherds had told them astonished all people who had heard them’ (Sranan), ‘all who heard what the shepherds told wondered (at it)’.

Wondered at, see on 1.21.

What (or, the things/matter) the shepherds told them, or ‘the words of the shepherds (to them)’, ‘the shepherds’ story’ (Javanese).

Luke 2.19.

Exegesis hē de Mariam ‘but Mary’, in contrast with pantes hoi akousantes ‘all who heard’ in v. 18.

panta...ta rēmata tauta ‘all these things’; panta is emphatic, as shown by its position.

ēmata ‘things’ (many translators) or ‘words’ (Dutch versions, Goodspeed, Zürich); the former interpretation implies a reference to all that Mary had seen, heard and experienced and is, therefore, wider in scope than the latter and as such preferable.

sunēterei ’(she) treasured up’; as compared with the aorist tense in the preceding verse the imperfect tense here suggests that Mary kept her experiences in mind not for a moment but for a long time.

suntēreō (‡) ‘to keep carefully’, ‘to treasure up in one’s memory’.

sumballousa en tē kardia autēs ‘pondering in her heart’, scil. all these things; the object is to be taken over from sunetērei ‘she treasured up’; en tē kardia may go with sunetērei, or with sumballousa; because of the word order preferably the latter.

sumballō (also 14.31) transitive ‘to bring together’, hence ‘to compare’, ‘to interpret’, or, in a more weakened sense, ‘to ponder’.

Translation Kept all these things, pondering them in her heart. In some receptor languages ‘to keep/to treasure’, in the sense intended here, requires a reference to the place where the things are kept, whereas ‘to ponder’ can go without; hence such transposition of the locative phrase as ‘placed in her heart and considered’ (Tamil, Kanarese), ‘she-put in her breath and...she-thought’ (Tagabili, similarly in Tagalog). In other languages both verbs have to be qualified; hence a transposition of the object, e.g. ‘kept and pondered all these things in her heart’ (Bahasa Indonesia RC).—To keep, or, ‘to keep in the heart’. A connotation of secrecy (which can slip in rather easily because of the esoteric tendencies of many religions) must be avoided. Cp. also N.T.Wb./49, category (1). Ponder, or, ‘continually think-about’ (Tagabili), ‘turn around in the mind’ (Toba Batak), a reiterative form of ‘think’ (several other Indonesian languages), ‘puzzle forth, puzzle back’ (Sranan).

Luke 2.20.

Exegesis kai hupestrepsan hoi poimenes ‘and the shepherds returned’, to their flocks; kai ‘and’ indicates that the account of the events immediately following the birth of Christ is resumed after mentioning in v. 19 what Mary’s attitude was.

doxazontes kai ainountes ton theon ‘glorifying and praising God’.

doxazō, always (except 4.15) with God as object, ‘to honour’, ‘to glorify’. As compared with aineō ‘to praise’ doxazō is the stronger of the two.

epi pasin hois ēkousan kai eidon ‘for all that they had heard and seen’; epi followed by the dative introduces here that upon which the glorifying and praising of the shepherds is based, cp. A-G s.v. II.1. g. The relative pronoun hois ‘that’ has been attracted into the case of the antecedent pasin ‘all’, cp. Bl-D, § 294. The verbs are in the aorist tense but are to be rendered in the pluperfect, cp. Moule 16. ēkousan kai eidon ’(what) they had heard and seen’ is best understood as one expression summing up the experience of the shepherds in Bethlehem.

kathōs elalēthē pros autous ‘as it had been said to them’, scil. by the angel, to be connected only with the preceding ‘all that they had heard and seen’.

Translation The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God, or, changing the pattern of subordination, ‘when the shepherds returned (viz. to their sheep), they were-glorifying, they were-praising God’ (Kituba); or, shifting to co-ordination, ‘the shepherds went back, (and) they glorified and praised God’. Glorifying and praising. For the first verb see TH-Mk on 2.12, and cp. Nida. GWIML, 162, and above v. 9 on “glory”. A few other renderings are, ‘to make big the precious quality of’ (Kekchi), ‘to holy-remember’ (Chontal of Tabasco). For the second verb see above v. 13. Since in several cases the renderings of the two verbs are basically the same or closely resemble each other, their combination may require some adaptation, such as using one verb with two qualifications, e.g. ‘lift up the brightness and the name’, ‘say that is great and good’, or representing the second verb as an indication of high degree, e.g. ‘to speak extremely well of’, ‘great their praising’ (Tagabili).

All they had heard and seen, as it had been told them, or to express the relationship of the two clauses more clearly, “all that they had heard and seen in fulfilment of what they had been told” (Goodspeed), “all they had heard and seen; it had been just as the angel had told them” (TEV, similarly NEB, Willibrord).

[6]

A major function of angels is as messengers and instructors. The thought of angels speaking to someone was not foreign to the audience of the NT (John 12:29). As well as by a direct presence, angels often deliver their message in a dream (Matt 1:20–21; 2:13, 19–20, 22) or a vision (Acts 10:3–6; Rev 1:10).

Moses received the Law from an angel (Acts 7:38, 53; Gal 3:19; Heb 2:2). Angels were witnesses to the incarnation (1 Tim 3:16). Paul assumes that angels can preach a gospel (Gal 1:8) and the Pharisees assume that an angel could have spoken with Paul (Acts 23:9). Angels are harbingers of the births of John the Baptist (Luke 1:11–20) and Jesus (Luke 1:26–38). They advise Joseph about the nature of Mary’s child (Matt 1:20–21). They proclaim the birth of Jesus to the shepherds (Luke 2:8–14). They warn Joseph to flee to Egypt with Mary and Jesus (Matt 2:13) as well as when to return (Matt 2:20). They give instructions to the women at the tomb (Matt 28:5–7=Mark 16:6–7=Luke 24:4–7). Two angels speak to the disciples at Christ’s ascension (Acts 1:10). An angel speaks to Moses in the burning bush (Acts 7:30, 35, 38), advises Philip where to travel (Acts 8:26) and Cornelius to send for Peter (Acts 10:3–6, 22, 30–32; 11:13–14), and reassures Paul that he would stand before Caesar (Acts 27:23–24). As typical of apocalyptic writings, an angel escorts John through his visions (e.g., Rev 17:7).

Angels are integrally involved in judgment, both ongoing and at the final consummation. In an ongoing capacity, angels killed Herod because he accepted the worship of the crowd (Acts 12:20–23). In the final consummation an archangel announces Christ’s descent at the parousia (1 Thess 4:16) and other angels announce phases of the final judgment (Rev 10:1–7; 14:6–7), begin its initial processes (Rev 5:1–2; 14:14–16), and are active in it (Rev 8–9; 15–16; 20:1–3). They will accompany Christ at his parousia (Matt 16:27; 25:31; Mark 8:38=Luke 9:26; 2 Thess 1:7; Jude 14–15), will gather the elect (Matt 24:31=Mark 13:27), and will separate the evildoers for destruction in the fire (Matt 13:39–42, 49–50; 25:31–46; Jude 14–15). Possibly as a council, they will witness Christ’s denial of those who denied him (Mark 8:38=Luke 9:26; 12:8–9; Rev 3:5; cf. Rev 14:10). The role of angels is often portrayed in military fashion (Rev 19:14, 19), as warriors at Christ’s bidding (Matt 26:53).

[7]

The answer is not hard to find. When Deborah and Barak celebrate their famous victory over Sisera, they sing that “from heaven the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera” (Judg 5:20). They believed that another army had fought alongside theirs-an army that caused a massive downpour (5:21) so that Sisera lost his strategic military advantage, the use of his chariots (4:15). In calling this hidden army “the stars,” they are employing one of the conventional ancient identifications of this hidden angelic host (see Heavenly Armies/Host). We encounter this host also in 1 Kings 22:19 (notice that military strategy is being discussed) in Deuteronomy 32:8 (where they are called “sons of God”), in Psalm 82 (where they are called “gods” and “sons of the Most High”), in Job 38:7 (where they are “sons of God” and “morning stars”) and of course in Luke 2:13 (where they are “a great company of the heavenly host”). In Isaiah 37:36 it is the singular “angel of the Lord” who fights. This army of God encamps around Elisha in 2 Kings 6:17 (cf. Ps 34:7) and marches audibly into battle ahead of David in 1 Chronicles 14:15 (cf. Ezek 1:24).

[8]

Warriors. Beyond messages, the heavenly hosts deliver the judgment of God by fighting as a mighty army. In one scene God asks for a volunteer from the hosts, and a single spirit steps forward to accept the task (1 King 22:19–23). The idea of the heavenly host, or the hosts of God, is metaphorically applied to certain human armies as well. Israel, emerging from Egypt, is commanded to arrange herself “according to [her] hosts” (Ex 6:26 NASB); God calls them his own as they proceed successfully, and his will is accomplished (Ex 7:4; 12:51; Num 33:1). Isaiah describes how the Lord creates a host from the troops of an idolatrous nation to judge Israel (Is 13). Heavenly hosts battle for the Lord, and he also employs the might of human armies to serve his ends.

In summary, all of the hosts of heaven were created by God to serve him. Those described as surrounding his throne serve him as worshippers, messengers and soldiers.

[9]

ILLUSTRATIONS

Dobie Gadient, a schoolteacher for thirteen years, decided to travel across America and see the sights she had taught about. Traveling alone in a truck with camper in tow, she launched out. One afternoon, while she was rounding a curve on I-5 near Sacramento in rush-hour traffic, a water pump blew on her truck. She was tired, exasperated, scared, and alone. In spite of the traffic jam she caused, no one seemed interested in helping.

Leaning up against the trailer, she prayed, “Please, God, send me an angel, preferably one with mechanical experience.” Within four minutes, a huge Harley drove up, ridden by an enormous man sporting long, black hair, a beard, and tattooed arms. With an incredible air of confidence, he jumped off and went to work on the truck, without even glancing at Dobie. Within another few minutes, he flagged down a larger truck, attached a tow chain to the frame of the disabled Chevy, and whisked the whole 56-foot rig off the freeway onto a side street, where he calmly continued to work on the water pump.

The intimidated schoolteacher was too dumbfounded to talk, especially when she read the paralyzing words on the back of his leather jacket: “Hell’s Angels—California.” As he finished his task, she finally got up enough courage to say, “thanks so much,” and carry on a brief conversation. Noting her surprise at the whole ordeal, he looked her straight in the eye and advised, “Don’t judge a book by its cover. You may not know who you’re talking to.” With that, he smiled, closed the hood of the truck, and straddled his Harley. With a wave, he was gone as fast as he had appeared.*

[10]

Three days into D. L. Moody’s voyage from Southampton, England, to America, he was resting on his bed, thanking God for traveling mercy when “suddenly I was startled by a terrible crash and shock, as if the vessel had been driven on a rock.… My son jumped from his berth and rushed on deck. He was back again in a few moments, saying that the shaft was broken and the vessel was sinking. I did not at first believe it could be so bad but concluded to dress and go on deck. The report was only too true.”

Moody found himself consumed with panic, and as the day wore on, his fear deepened. Evening came. “That was an awful night, the darkest in all our lives! Seven hundred men, women, and children waiting for the doom that was settling upon us! No one dared to sleep. We were all together in the saloon of the first cabin—Jews, Protestants, Catholics, and skeptics.… The agony and suspense were too great for words.”

The night passed, then another day. On the second evening of the crisis, Moody asked the captain for permission to hold a service. Nearly every passenger attended.

”With one hand clasping a pillar to steady myself on the reeling vessel, I tried to read the Ninety-first Psalm, and we prayed that God would still the raging of the sea and bring us to our desired haven. It was a new psalm to me from that hour. The eleventh verse touched me very deeply. It was like the voice of divine assurance, and it seemed a very real thing as I read: ‘He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” ’

Surely He did it.

Moody went to his cabin, found relief in personal prayer, and fell asleep. About three o’clock in the morning, his son awoke him with the news that the steamer Lake Huron had seen their flares and was approaching to rescue them.*

[11]

Macartney in his Illustration, writes: “Delayed once for several hours in the town of Dijon in France, I went into the venerable cathedral there. What I remember now about the cathedral is the finely-wrought stone pulpit, and just beneath it the figure of a recording angel, holding a tablet in one hand and a pen in the other, with face upward turned toward the pulpit, waiting to hear and record what the preacher says.

“Always the angel stands below our pulpits. He is not waiting to put down things which the congregation might like to record—in pleasure or displeasure—but whether or not the words of the preacher are true to the gospel with which he has been entrusted.”

[12]

Quote

•      “Safety consists not in the absence of danger but in the presence of God.”

•      Peace that Jesus gives is not the absence of trouble, but is rather the confidence that He is there with you always.

•      Peace is such a precious jewel, that I would give anything for it but truth. - Matthew Henry

[13]

Chapter XXVI.—Of Honorius the Emperor and Telemachus the Monk.

Honorius, who inherited the empire of Europe, put a stop to the gladiatorial combats which had long been held at Rome. The occasion of his doing so arose from the following circumstance. A certain man of the name of Telemachus had embraced the ascetic life. He had set out from the East and for this reason had repaired to Rome. There, when the abominable spectacle was being exhibited, he went himself into the stadium, and, stepping down into the arena, endeavoured to stop the men who were wielding their weapons against one another. The spectators of the slaughter were indignant, and inspired by the mad fury of the demon who delights in those bloody deeds, stoned the peacemaker to death.

When the admirable emperor was informed of this he numbered Telemachus in the array of victorious martyrs, and put an end to that impious spectacle.

[14]

Christmas day began quietly but once the sun was up the fraternisation began.  Again songs were sung and rations thrown to one another.  It was not long before troops and officers started to take matters into their own hands and ventured forth.  No-man's land became something of a playground.

Men exchanged gifts and buttons.  In one or two places soldiers who had been barbers in civilian times gave free haircuts.  One German, a juggler and a showman, gave an impromptu, and given the circumstances, somewhat surreal performance of his routine in the centre of no-man's land.

Kurt Zehmisch of the 134th Saxons recorded in his diary: 'The English brought a soccer ball from the trenches, and pretty soon a lively game ensued.  How marvellously wonderful, yet how strange it was.  The English officers felt the same way about it.  Thus Christmas, the celebration of Love, managed to bring mortal enemies together as friends for a time.'

The Truce lasted all day; in places it ended that night, but on other sections of the line it held over Boxing Day and in some areas, a few days more.  In fact, there parts on the front where the absence of aggressive behaviour was conspicuous well into 1915.

Captain J C Dunn, the Medical Officer in the Royal Welch Fusiliers, whose unit had fraternised and received two barrels of beer from the Saxon troops opposite, recorded how hostilities re-started on his section of the front.

Dunn wrote: 'At 8.30 I fired three shots in the air and put up a flag with "Merry Christmas" on it, and I climbed on the parapet.  He [the Germans] put up a sheet with "Thank you" on it, and the German Captain appeared on the parapet.  We both bowed and saluted and got down into our respective trenches, and he fired two shots in the air, and the War was on again.'

War Game written and illustrated by Michael Foreman. (New York: Arcade, 1994).

This is the story of four soccer-playing English boys, who caught up in the furor of August 1914, and encouraged by its World Cup atmosphere, join the army and find themselves fighting on the Western Front. They experience the filth and misery of benches, until on Christmas Day 1914, a spontaneous truce breaks out between the British and the Germans -complete with a friendly soccer game. Too soon the war commences again -- complete with a kick-off-- and both sides (teams?) are slaughtered in No-Man's-Land.

Foreman combines simple watercolor illustrations with reproductions of period recruiting posters, broadsides, advertisements, etc., for an effect of underlying authenticity. And it's a good thing, too, because without that photographic proof cynical Americans might be inclined to read over the story of the boys' capricious enlistment, and the repeated sportsmanship metaphors and assume that such innocence and naivete cannot be real, that it's only a story.

This mature and well-balanced book by Michael Foreman could only have been written (or, at least, written so well) by an Englishman. The English remember the "Great War." Even though the United States suffered twice as many men killed in World War I (in only 6 or 7 months of fighting) as were killed in the Vietnam War (over 8 years), we Americans generally don't make deep emotional connections with WWI as we do with the Vietnam War. But Foreman's poignant story shows that the British loss of innocence occurred much earlier in this century and provided lessons that we can all learn from.

The British idea of sportsmanship (that had grown during the Victorian era to achieve near-religious status during the Edwardian) flowed over into all aspects of life -- even war. In a prophetic poem popular before the Great War, Sir Henry Newbolt wrote:

The River of death has brimmed its banks,

And England's far, and Honour a name,

But the voice of a schoolboy rallies the ranks:

"Play up! play up! and play the game!"

"'Play the game!' That's what life is about. Decency, fortitude, grit, civilization, Christianity, commerce, all blend into one -- the game!" (Eksteins 122) Perhaps that's why Captain W.P. Nevill (like Freddie in the story) kicked a football as he lead his company over-the-top on the first day of the Battle of the Somme (Fussell 27). Captain Nevill was one of the 60,000 British killed, wounded and missing on the first day of a battle that was to last over four months: from July 1 into November. For perspective, recall again the war that shocked America, the Vietnam War where 57,000 American men were killed between 1965 and 1973.

Foreman knows his historical facts. That spontaneous truce of Christmas 1914 -- the fraternization, the German Christmas trees in the trenches, the German barber giving haircuts in No-Man's-Land --it's all true. Eksteins states that the same "sporting spirit is credited with producing the truce, and of course the [accompanying] suggestion is that were all men to play the game properly, there would be no war" 123). British sportsmanship was so contagious it even enveloped the Germans.

Foreman's book opens with an old Punch cartoon: The Greater Game . . . 'there's only one field today where you can get honour."' And then follows his dedication to his uncles killed in the "Great War" --four of them, aged 18, 20, 20, and 24 (the last dying of his wounds on Christmas day 1918, a month after the Armistice). Does all this seem like a contradiction? The book purports to show that the fantasy of sport must not be confused with war; that play is one thing and war is entirely another; that war is no game. And yet the boys in the story go on feeling that they are "playing" for England, "kicking-off)' their attack, and finally (as Will did) imagining in their last moments that they are going to that great soccer game in the sky.

I wondered at this: what is Foreman trying to teach children already calloused by the A-Team, Superfriends, X-Men and all the rest? I believe that Foreman, like many Britons, while being wiser for their experience, still admire (and rightly so) that sportsman-like duty, the duty to "play the game" when called upon that sustained them through two world wars. Martin Stephen has compiled the best newer anthology of Great War verse, Never Such Innocence -- and the more I read in it, the more I feel that the title (taken from a poem by Philip Larkin) is both a promise and a lament.

So what is this book? It's a history lesson in the sobering, sentimental oddities of the First World War. And what is it trying to say? Where's the wake-up call? Through sparse, tight narrative, Foreman offers a parable of good intentions ground up in the machinery of modern war. We wish that youth and sport could mix with sacrifice and honor to somehow become death-defying -- we really want it. It should be true, but it's a selfdestructive contradiction. And that's why I find so haunting the truecontradiction of Foreman's title: War Game.

Robert Means
English Language and Literature Librarian
Harold B. Lee Library

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[1]Keener, C. S., & InterVarsity Press. (1993). The IVP Bible background commentary : New Testament (Lk 2:6-19). Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press.

[2]Wiersbe, W. W. (1996, c1989). The Bible exposition commentary. "An exposition of the New Testament comprising the entire 'BE' series"--Jkt. (Lk 2:1). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.

[3]Willmington, H. L. (1999). The Outline Bible (Lk 2:21). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.

{B} {B} The letter {B} indicates that the text is almost certain.

{A} {A} The letter {A} signifies that the text is certain.

1 The combination occurs by error (instead of Χριστὸς κυρίου) in the Septuagint translation of Lm 4.20 and in Ps Sol 17.32.

AV Authorized or King James Version (1611)

RSV Revised Standard Version (New Testament, 1946)

2 It should be noted that the Sahidic version employs the possessive pronoun, “And peace upon earth among men of his desire [pleasure].”

3 According to J. A. Fitzmyer, S.J. (Theological Studies, xix [1958], pp. 225–227) the expression “among men of [his] good pleasure” has been found also in an Aramaic fragment from Qumran.

[4]Metzger, B. M., & United Bible Societies. (1994). A textual commentary on the Greek New Testament, second edition a companion volume to the United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament (4th rev. ed.) (110). London; New York: United Bible Societies.

* All the occurrences of the word in Lk. are listed (in some cases, all the occurrences in Acts are similarly noted).

TDNT G. Kittel and G. Friedrich (ed.), Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (translated by G. W. Bromiley), Grand Rapids, 1964-76

TR Theologische Rundschau

Diglot Luke: A Greek-English Diglot for the Use of Translators (British and Foreign Bible Society, London, 1962; this work incorporates the projected 3rd edition of the BFBS text of the Greek New Testament prepared by G. D. Kilpatrick)

** All the occurrences of the word in the NT are cited.

SB H. L. Strack und P. Billerbeck, Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrasch, München, 19563

BD F. Blass and A. Debrunner, A Greek Grammar of the New Testament (translated by R. W. Funk), Cambridge, 1961

AG W. F. Arndt and F. W. Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Cambridge, 1957

Ditt.Syl. W. Dittenberger, Sylloge inscriptionum Graecarum, Leipzig, 1915-24

THAT E. Jenni und C. Westermann, Theologisches Handwörterbuch zum Alten Testament, München, 1971-76

* The work cited is listed in the bibliography at the end of the introduction to the relevant section of the commentary.

Synopsis K. Aland, Synopsis Quattuor Evangeliorum, Stuttgart, 1964 (cited as giving the text of E. Nestle-K. Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, Stuttgart, 196325

WH Ibid. B. F. Westcott and F. J. A. Hort, The New Testament in Greek, London, 1881Appendix

UBS The Greek New Testament (3rd edition), United Bible Societies, London, 1976)

[5]Marshall, I. H. (1978). The Gospel of Luke : A commentary on the Greek text. Includes indexes. The New international Greek testament commentary (107). Exeter [Eng.: Paternoster Press.

RSV Revised Standard Version

‡ Greek word occurs only once in the Gospel of Luke.

NEB New English Bible

TEV Today’s English Version

[6]Reiling, J., & Swellengrebel, J. L. (1993], c1971). A handbook on the Gospel of Luke. Originally published: A translator's handbook on the Gospel of Luke, 1971. UBS handbook series; Helps for translators (110). New York: United Bible Societies.

NT New Testament

e.g. exempli gratia (for example)

cf. confer, compare

[7]Freedman, D. N. (1996, c1992). The Anchor Bible Dictionary (1:254). New York: Doubleday.

cf. cf.. compare

[8]Ryken, L., Wilhoit, J., Longman, T., Duriez, C., Penney, D., & Reid, D. G. (2000, c1998). Dictionary of biblical imagery (electronic ed.) (47). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

NASB NASB. New American Standard Bible

[9]Ryken, L., Wilhoit, J., Longman, T., Duriez, C., Penney, D., & Reid, D. G. (2000, c1998). Dictionary of biblical imagery (electronic ed.) (373). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

* Larry D. Wright, “To Illustrate,” Leadership Journal, Spring Quarter, 1988. Attributed to a newsletter, Our America.

[10]Morgan, R. J. (2000). Nelson's complete book of stories, illustrations, and quotes (electronic ed.) (27). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

* A. P. Fitt, The Life of D. L. Moody (Chicago: Moody Press, n.d.), ch. 19.

[11]Morgan, R. J. (2000). Nelson's complete book of stories, illustrations, and quotes (electronic ed.) (27). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

[12]Tan, P. L. (1996, c1979). Encyclopedia of 7700 illustrations : A treasury of illustrations, anecdotes, facts and quotations for pastors, teachers and Christian workers. Garland TX: Bible Communications.

[13]Galaxie Software. (2002; 2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press.

[14]Schaff, P. (1997). The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Second Series Vol. III. Theodoret, Jerome, Gennadius, Rufinus: Historial Writings, etc. (151). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems.