The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 2

The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 2 – Christogenea on Talkshoe, June 1st, 2012

Over the last two weeks, we elucidated the exclusivity of Luke's gospel, and also showed that Luke's gospel was indeed the gospel of Paul as well. This must be remembered wherever Paul's epistles are considered. We also saw that claims of the scoffers, those who say that a virgin birth occurred in many ancient religions long before the time of the Hebrew promise of such a thing , and furthermore that Christianity had borrowed the idea, those claims are fully discredited by any serious and honest scholarship. Among other things, one more important aspect of this gospel that was attested here last week, is how the accounts in Luke of the promises for the people of Israel which were being fulfilled in Christ actually fit in perfectly with the teachings of Paul in his epistles, which were all written to dispersed Israelites. This will be the primary subject of a talk I shall give this Sunday at the Fellowship of God's Covenant People here in Kentucky.

1 And it happened in those days that there came out a decree from Caesar Augustus to register the whole inhabited world.

Caesar Augustus here is Gaius Octavius, a nephew of Julius Caesar who adopted him, making him his heir. He then became Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. He ruled Rome as part of a triumvirate from 43 B.C., which ended in the civil war with Marcus Antonius (Marc Antony) culminating at the Battle of Actium in 31 B.C. From 27 B.C., Octavian was sole emperor of Rome, and adopted the title Augustus, by which he is popularly known as Augustus Caesar. Subsequent emperors also adopted the name Caesar as a title, which was actually Julius Caesar's personal name, and they also adopted the use of Augustus as a title, as it is seen later in the New Testament where its Greek equivalent, Σεβαστός, 4575, is used to refer to Nero Caesar (Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus) in Acts 25:21 and 25, and 27:1.

The word οἰκουμένη (3625) is simply “world” in the King James Version but here it is rendered the “inhabited world”, meaning that portion of the “world”, or “planet”, which was occupied by Greco-Roman society, which is the κόσμος. The Romans surely did not register or take taxes from the aboriginal races of Africa or Asia, and so we have a clear example of the limited meaning of the word as it is used in the Bible, and it is exclusive of the territories inhabited primarily by the alien races. Strabo, the famous Greek geographer of the first century, described the οἰκουμένη of his own time in depth, and confined it to Europe, the Near East, and the White northern part of Africa. Strabo knew of strange lands and strange peoples beyond these, but they were not a part of his οἰκουμένη. Nor can they be considered a part of his κόσμος.

Aside from the word οἰκουμένη , there are two other Greek words in the New Testament translated as world in most Bibles. The word αἰών (165) is temporal, not spacial, and it describes an age, a long but indeterminate period of time. The word κόσμος (2889) is “order, … decency … the form, fashion of a thing … of states, order, government … an ornament, decoration, embellishment, dress ...” (Liddell & Scott). The corresponding verb, κοσμέω, is “to order, arrange … to dispose, order, rule, govern … to deck, adorn, deck, furnish, equip … to adorn, embellish ...” (Liddell & Scott). It is evident, that if the Greeks had the word οἰκουμένη to describe their physical world, then the κόσμος was the arrangement of that world, and therefore κόσμος is properly, but not always necessarily, translated as society. It is also evident, since as Strabo and other Greek writers describe, the Greeks considered the οἰκουμένη to be only that part of the planet which they inhabited, and they knew of lands and tribes outside of that part of that planet, neither the οἰκουμένη nor the κόσμος could ever be imagined to include the alien non-White races in the Biblical or Classical context!

We can see that same idea in Daniel chapter 2, where Daniel is interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the beast vision: “38 And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. 39 And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. 40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.”

The beast empires of Biblical prophecy ruled over practically all of the White people of the planet, “wheresoever the children of men dwell”, and only ruled over non-Whites where the tares (the descendants of Cain) and a small portion of mixed-race peoples happened to already be involved, for instance in later Egypt and in Arabia. The few exceptions, however, do not make the rule. The οἰκουμένη of the Greeks, and “all the earth” of the Hebrews, referred only to the White world of this planet, and not to any of the aliens or the alien lands, although of course there are also tares among the wheat.

Here are just some of the other uses of the word οἰκουμένη in the New Testament:

• Matthew 24:14: “And this good message of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in the whole inhabited earth for a testimony to all the Nations, and then shall the end come.”
• Luke 4:5: “And bringing Him up he showed Him all of the kingdoms of the inhabited earth in a moment of time, 6 then the False Accuser said to Him: 'I will give to You the authority over all this, and their honor, because to me it was delivered and to whomever I wish I could give it.'”
• Acts 11:28: “And there arose one of them named Hagabos who indicated through the Spirit that a great famine is going to come upon the whole inhabited world, which happened in the time of Klaudios.”
• Acts 17:6 “And not finding them they dragged Iason and some brethren before the rulers of the city, crying that “They who have been upsetting the inhabited world are also come here”.
• Romans 10:18 “But I say, have they not heard? Yea, rather, “into all the land went out their voice, and to the western extremities of the habitable world their words.””
• Hebrews 1:6: “Then again, when He introduces the First Born into the inhabited world He says: “and all messengers of Yahweh must worship Him.” ”
• Revelation 3:10: “Because you have kept My Word with patience, I also shall keep you from the hour of trial about to come upon the whole inhabited earth to test those dwelling upon the earth. ”
• Revelation 12:9: “And the great dragon had been cast down, that serpent of old, who is called the False Accuser and the Adversary; he who deceives the whole inhabited earth had been cast into the earth, and his messengers had been cast down with him.”
• Revelation 16:14: “For they are the spirits of demons making signs, which go out to the kings of the whole inhabited earth to gather them to the battle of the great day of Yahweh the Almighty.”

The οἰκουμένη – the White Adamic part of the “world”, the dwelling place of men - is the concern of the Scripture, and the κόσμος is its adornment, which we properly call society. The scope of the Biblical story does not change with time, and the Biblical concern is not extended to aliens simply because the White man has enlarged his own boundaries.

2 This first registration happened while Kurenios was governor of Syria.

Kurenios (the Roman Sulpicius Quirinius) is recorded as being governor of Syria in 6-7 A.D., and he most certainly had an earlier tenure, as Luke tells us here, in 3 B.C. although this has not been verified in the fragmentary Roman records of the period. It is generally not known among secular historians just who the Roman governors of Syria were from 4 through 1 B.C. The office was typically held for two years, and often its holders were reappointed to additional terms. Because of this lapse in the records which we have available, there is dispute over Luke and the time of Christ's birth. Accepting the Biblical record, one should be persuaded that Sulpicius Quirinius was governor of Syria during this period also, at least during the years 4 and 3 B.C. There are records of Quirinius' presence in Syria in various capacities before 4 B.C. The year 3 B.C. would be Augustus’ 25th anniversary as emperor, and also the 750th anniversary of the year traditionally recognized by the Romans as the year in which the city was founded (753 BC). There is archaeological evidence from Paphlagonia and Armenia that an oath of allegiance to the emperor was required along with a registration at this very time. From his own words in the Res Gestae Divi Augusti (The Deeds of the Divine Augustus), which was his own funerary inscription and sort of an abbreviated autobiography, Augustus wrote that in 2 B.C. he was granted the title “Father of my Country” by “the senate and the equestrian order and the entire Roman people”, which seems to have been the primary purpose of this very registration. The registration most likely began in 3 B.C., when Joseph and Mary were registered in Bethlehem, and completed early in 2 B.C., in time for the emperor’s anniversary festivities. Many commentators insist that Christ was born before or during 4 B.C., which is impossible considering Luke 3:1 and 3:23, where we find Luke's own comments concerning the age of Christ being “about 30 years old” in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, which has to be near the fall of 28 AD.

The commentators who place the birth of Christ back to before 4 B.C. do so because Herod was alive for some time after Christ’s birth (as it is evident in Matthew chapter 2), and the historian Josephus places Herod’s death near an eclipse of the moon. One eclipse is known to have occurred, through astronomical calculations, in March of 4 B.C., and they assume that this is the eclipse which Josephus mentioned. Yet there was another eclipse, which seems not to be mentioned by the commentators, which occurred on January 10th of 1 B.C. This later eclipse is a much more likely candidate by which to mark Herod’s death. While its author is just another mainstream dispensationalist, the book The Birth of Christ Recalculated, by Ernest L. Martin, is a thorough argument in favor of the January 10th, 1 B.C. eclipse. [His research in this area is also available in an online article, The Lunar Eclipse of Josephus, at askelm.com.]

3 And all had gone to be registered, each to his city.

The Codex Alexandrinus (A) and the Majority Text have “...each to his own city...”; The Codex Ephraemi Syri (C) has “...each to his own land...”; The Codex Bezae (D) has “...each to his fatherland...”. The text follows the Codices Sinaiticus (א), Vaticanus (B), and Washingtonensis (W).

4 So then Ioseph went up from Galilaia, from the city Nazareth, into Judaea to a city of David which is called Bethlehem, because of his being of the house and family of David,

That the Greeks “went up” to Jerusalem and certain other places is a common illustration in the New Testament. In modern times Americans usually go “up” north or “down” south, evidently because of the way in which we orientate our maps. The word here is ἀναβαίνω (305), to go up or to mount. The Greeks went “up” in altitude, or to go inland from the sea. They went “down” in altitude or traveling to the sea. A famous story, from the noun form of ἀναβαίνω, is Xenophon's The Anabasis, often translated The March Inland, which in the book was from the coasts of Western Anatolia to Babylonia.

6. ἐξ οἴκου καὶ πατριᾶς Δαυίδ, “of the house and family of David”. Being of the house of David seems to denote a right to the inheritance of what belonged to David, in line with or in the absence of other heirs, as is evident at Genesis 15:2-3, II Samuel 3:10, et al. Being of the family of David ensures us that Joseph actually descended from David, hence the terms are not redundant, as many seem to infer that they are. Πατριά (3965), elsewhere in the N.T. only at Acts 3:25 and Ephesians 3:15, is “lineage, pedigree, by the father’s side...II. ...a clan, house, family...” (L & S). This may also be the reason for the two separate genealogies of Matthew and Luke, as shall be discussed when Luke chapter 3 is presented, although it cannot be told with any absolute certainty.

5 to be registered with Mariam, whom was promised in marriage to him, she being pregnant. 6 And it happened to them while being there that the days of which she was to bear had been fulfilled.

The Codex Alexandrinus (A) and the Majority Text have “promised in marriage to him for a wife”; the text follows the Codices Sinaiticus (א), Vaticanus (B), Ephraemi Syri, Bezae (D) and Washingtonensis (W). The verb μνηστεύω, “promised in marriage” was discussed at length at Luke 1:27, where it was explained that both betrothed and engaged are possible alternatives. Here Luke again stresses the fact that Joseph is not the natural father of the baby which Mariam carries.

7 And she gave birth to her first-born Son, and swathed Him and laid Him in a feeding-trough, since there was not a place for them at the inn.

Only the fifth-century Codex Washingtonensis wants the word which is rendered “first-born” here. It appears in all other ancient manuscripts where this verse is attested. That Luke would go out of his way to explain that Yahshua was Mariam's first-born son elucidates the fact, as it has often been presented here, that Mariam indeed had other children later on in life, as we see James and Joses and Jude, who are called “the brethren of the Lord” in the King James Version, and also a couple of daughters, all who are mentioned in her company several times in later Scriptures.

Matthew 12:46-47, from an account also supplied by Luke and Mark: “46 While He yet spoke to the crowds, behold, His mother and brethren stood outside seeking to speak with Him. 47 And someone said to Him: 'Behold, Your mother and Your brethren stand outside seeking to speak with You!'” Since not one, but at least several of these children were still accompanying their mother in her travels as Christ was already over thirty years of age, it is evident that they were somewhat younger than Christ. She must have had children later on in life.

Mariam “laid Him in a feeding-trough”. A φάτνη (5336) is a “manger, crib, feeding-trough” (Liddell & Scott) and certainly not, as we use the word today, a crib as an infant’s bed. Rather, a crib in this sense is “a rack or trough for fodder; a manger” (The American Heritage College Dictionary, crib, 2.b.). While manger is a kinder word than feeding-trough, it seems not to retain the prophetic impact which the event was foretold by: for as four-legged sheep eat their grain from a feeding-trough, Christ is the bread of life for His own sheep, as He Himself explains at John 6:30-50. We have life by eating out of that trough.

8 And there were shepherds in that area, dwelling in the field and keeping a watch by night over their sheep. 9 And a messenger of Yahweh stood over them, and the effulgence of Yahweh shone about them, and they feared a great fear. 10 Then the messenger said to them: “Do not fear, for behold! I bring to you a message of great joy which is for all the people [not 'all peoples']: 11 That today there has been born to you a Savior, who is the Anointed Prince, in the city of David. 12 And this is a sign for you, you shall find an infant swathed and lying in a feeding-trough.”

The word χριστός (5547), usually “Christ”, is primarily a Greek adjective which means “anointed”. Therefore here it is “the Anointed Prince”. Generally the Christogenea New Testament renders the word κύριος where it is a title for Christ as prince, rather than as lord.

On the surface, the accounts of Luke and Matthew are strikingly different accounts of the circumstances surrounding the birth of Christ. However they by no means conflict with one another. Matthew's account is centered on the magi. Chapter 2 of Matthew's gospel opens in this manner: “1 Now Yahshua being born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herodas the king, behold! Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, 2 saying 'Where is He having been born King of the Judaeans? For we have seen His star in the east and we have come to worship Him!'” After the magi see the Christ child (Matthew 2:11) only then does Joseph go to Egypt (Matthew 2:13-14). The misconception is that the magi appeared on or immediately after the night of Christ's birth. But Matthew never explicitly tells us how long it had been between the birth of Christ and the appearance of the magi. At Matthew 2:11, Joseph and Mary are already staying in a house, a house which they did not have at the birth of Christ, and therefore the child was no longer in a manger. It may have been several months, or even many months, from the birth of Christ unto the time when the magi appeared in Jerusalem! One thing is certain, the magi never saw the manger, but these shepherds described by Luke certainly did.

At Matthew 2:7 it is seen that “Herodas calling the magi secretly, exacted precisely from them the time of the appearance of the star”. It must have taken the magi quite some time, after seeing this star, to prepare for the trip that they had to take once they saw this star, especially since they most likely came from Parthia. The Magi were a priesthood found primarily among the Persians, Medes, and Parthians. Babylon, one of the closest major cities of ancient Parthia to Jerusalem, was 500 miles across the desert, and most of Parthia was much further away than that. Therefore “Herodas, seeing that he had been mocked by the magi, had been exceedingly angered, and sending he slew all the children who were in Bethlehem and in all of its borders from two years and below, according to the time which he exacted from the magi” (Matthew 2:16). So the magi must have estimated that the Christ child was possibly as old as two years when they came into Jerusalem.

Luke's account of the birth of Christ ends at the beginning of the second month of His life, in the temple at Jerusalem, which is evident in verses 22 through 24 of this chapter. Aside from the words of Sumeon and Anna which were spoken in the temple at that time, and which Luke recorded, there was nothing extraordinary about the appearance in the temple of the infant Christ which should have attracted any attention. The presentation and circumcision of a new-born infant at the temple was an ordinary event. Therefore the account of these events found in Luke concerning the birth of Christ easily took place in the interim between His birth and the appearance of the magi, which most likely occurred many months later. These accounts of Matthew and Luke neither conflict, nor do they even overlap one another.

13 And suddenly there were with the messenger a multitude of the heavenly army praising Yahweh and saying: 14 “Honor to Yahweh in the heights, and peace upon the earth among approved men.”

The Codices Vaticanus (B) and Bezae (D) have “of the army of heaven”.

The King James Version ends verse 14 with the words “and on earth peace, good will toward men”, a reading of the Greek which does not exist in any manuscript from before the 6th century, but which is found in the Majority Text. That edition, upon which the King James Version was based, has εὐδοκία (2107) in the Nominative case, which may also be read “...and peace upon the earth, goodwill among men”; the text of the Christogenea New Testament follows the original readings of the Codices Sinaiticus (א), Alexandrinus (A),Vaticanus (B), and Washingtonensis (W), all of which have εὐδοκίας, which is the Genitive case, “...and peace upon the earth among approved men”, which may also have been written “...and peace upon the earth among men of approval”. Other versions which have realized this error, such as the ASV and the NAS, have offered translations that treat the noun εὐδοκίας as a verb: “And on earth peace among men in (or with) whom he is well pleased.”

15 And it happened, as the messengers departed from them into the heaven, the shepherds had said to each other “Indeed we should pass through unto Bethlehem and see this account which happened which Yahweh has made known to us.” 16 And being eager they went, and discovered both Mariam and Ioseph, and the infant lying in the feeding-trough. 17 And seeing it they made known concerning the account which had been spoken to them about this child. 18 And all of those hearing wondered concerning the things being spoken to them by the shepherds. 19 And Mariam kept together all of these words, collecting them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, honoring and praising Yahweh for all which they heard and saw, just as it had been spoken to them.

“And Mariam kept together all of these words, collecting them in her heart”: Here Luke tells us inexplicitly just how he had managed to acquire these accounts in order to write them so intimately: for they were passed down directly from Mariam herself. This event with the shepherds did happen in the first week of the life of Christ, which is readily evident as Luke's account proceeds.

21 And when eight days were fulfilled for which to circumcise Him then His name was called Yahshua, which He had been called by the messenger before His conception in the womb.

At Luke 1:31, the angel says to Mariam: “Now behold, you shall conceive in the womb and you shall beget a Son, and you shall call His name Yahshua.”

In chapter 1 of Luke, concerning the birth of Iohannes (John the Baptist), we read: “59 And it happened upon the eighth day that they came to circumcise the child and they called him by the name of his father, Zacharias. 60 And replying his mother said 'No, rather he shall be called Iohannes!'” Therefore the custom is apparent, that a male child was named upon his circumcision.

22 And when the days of their purification were fulfilled, according to the law of Moses, they brought Him into Jerusalem to stand before Yahweh, 23 just as it is written in the law of Yahweh that “every male opening the womb shall be called holy to Yahweh,” 24 and to give an offering according to that spoken in the law of Yahweh, “a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons.”

That every male opening the womb (every first-born male) is sacred to Yahweh paraphrases Exodus chapter 13, verses 2, 12, and 15. The duration of the mother’s purification, during which she was separated from normal social intercourse, was 33 days after the child’s circumcision, in addition to the 7 days prior to the circumcision, for which see Leviticus 12:2-4. For reasons that can only be conjectured, the duration is much longer when the infant is a female 12:5.

Aside from illustrating the customs which occurred here in the law, Leviticus chapter 12 also shows, in verse 8, that Joseph and Mariam were indigent, since upon the birth of their son they sacrificed two doves, rather than a dove and a lamb: “1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean. 3 And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. 4 And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled. 5 But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation: and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days. 6 And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtledove, for a sin offering, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest: 7 Who shall offer it before the LORD, and make an atonement for her; and she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood. This is the law for her that hath born a male or a female. 8 And if she be not able to bring a lamb, then she shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons; the one for the burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering: and the priest shall make an atonement for her, and she shall be clean.”

The ancient Greeks had this same custom of a woman remaining separate due to impurity after childbirth, although the time was far reduced. David Kovacs translates Euripides' Electra, line 654 and the words of the title character, in this manner: “Ten days ago, the time a woman who has given birth keeps pure.” A footnote in the Loeb Classical Library edition states “In the Greek view birth, like death, produces a taint (miasma), and the woman abstains from intercourse with her husband to avoid passing it on. After ten days she is ritually purified by a sacrifice.”

25 And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Sumeon and this man was righteous and devout, expecting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it was forewarned to him by the Holy Spirit, not to see death before he should see the Anointed Prince. 27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and in there being introduced to the parents of the child Yahshua, upon their doing that which is according to the custom of the law concerning Him, 28 then he took Him into his arms and praised Yahweh, and said: 29 “Now release Your servant, Master, in peace according to Your word:

Sumeon was very old, had been promised to live until this time, and he could now die in peace, on which account he spoke the words “now release your servant, Master”.

Sumeon was expecting “the consolation of Israel”. That word, παράκλησις, may also be rendered as comfort. Isaiah 51:3: “For the LORD shall comfort Zion”. Hebrews 6:18: “That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us”.

30 Because my eyes have seen Your Salvation, 31 which You have prepared in front of all the people:

“In front of all the people”, the words τῶν λαῶν, the Genitive plural form of λαός (2992), with the article, are “the people, both in singular and plural” according to Liddell & Scott, Brenton nevertheless writes “peoples” in his Septuagint translation in some places (i.e. Psalm 117:1). The A.V. has “people” here, ignoring the presence of the definite article. Thayer makes no definite comment but “the plural...seems to be used of the tribes of the people” giving Genesis 49:10, Deuteronomy 32:8, Isaiah 3:13, and Acts 4:27 as examples. Contextually, all of the tribes of the people of Israel is the apparent reference here, as a single unit, though they be many nations by this time (see the note at v. 32). However if the phrase is to be understood as the King James has it, that is also a fair understanding in light of Psalm 98:2, and Isaiah 40:5 and 52:10:

Psalm 98, from the Septuagint: “2 The Lord has made known his salvation, he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.”

Isaiah 40: “5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.”

Isaiah 52: “10 The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.”

32 a light for the revelation of the Nations and honor of Your people Israel!”

The phrase φῶς εἰς ἀποκάλυψιν ἐθνῶν here is “a light for the revelation of the Nations”, and it may have been rendered “a light for a revelation of the Nations”. The word ἀποκάλυψις (602) is a noun, meaning an uncovering, a revelation (Liddell & Scott), and it is the same word which supplies the alternate name for the Book of Revelation in our Bible, the Apocalypse. The King James Version rendering, “a light to lighten the Gentiles”, uses the noun ἀποκάλυψις as a verb, which is both impossible and inexcusable. Furthermore, the King James Version rendering would require that the noun for nations be in the accusative case, to be a direct object of the non-existent verb, which it is not. Paul defines the faith which Abraham had as being the belief in the promise of Yahweh, that his offspring would become many nations, in Romans Chapter 4. Here we see that it is the light of the Gospel which would make those nations manifest, and certainly it did once the people of Europe became known collectively as Christendom. This wonderful truth of the Christian Israel fulfillment of Scripture is therefore hidden in the mistranslations of the King James Version and most other Bibles.

While some versions attempt to correct the King James Version's plain grammatical error, not having any understanding they twist other parts of the statement. For instance, the NAS has the phrase “A light of revelation to the Gentiles”, but the preposition εἰς and the Accusative intend “for a revelation”, where the NAS rendering would require the preposition ἐκ, meaning of or from, and the Genitive form of the noun. The ASV rendering is just as treacherous. Here the phrase is “A light for revelation to the Gentiles”. That rendering would require that the word ἐθνῶν, which is the Genitive case plural “of [the] Nations”, instead be in the Dative case plural ἔθνεσιν.

Let us read verse 32 once more: “a light for the revelation of the Nations and honor of Your people Israel!”Although it is not properly a hendiadys, which is a grammatical construction that employs a definite article and different nouns which refer to the same entity, neither do we have here any construction which would distinguish them: the Nations and the honor here certainly both belonging to “Your people Israel”, meaning the Israel of Yahweh of the Old Testament. The Israelites were prophesied to leave Palestine at an early time (II Samuel 7:10; I Chronicles 17:9; Genesis 28:14) and to become many nations (Genesis 35:11; Acts 9:15 et al.).

Genesis 28:14: “And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”

These things certainly happened, as it is revealed by a study of ancient history that many of the Greeks, Romans, Trojans, Phoenicians, and other peoples descended from Israelites migrating out of Palestine long before the Assyrian deportations, and that the Parthians, Scythians, Kimmerians, and others which became the Germanic tribes all descended from the Israelites of the Assyrian deportations. Along with certain Japhethite tribes (for example, the Ionians at Athens whom Paul addresses at Acts 17:22-31), these Israelites make up the population of Europe, and are the White Europeans (as opposed to the later Arab and Turkic invaders) of today. To them did the Apostles bear the light of the gospel, and in them is found Christendom, fulfilling the Old Testament prophesies which concerned the true Israelites, and not the jews.

Micah chapter 7: “7 Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. 8 Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me. 9 I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.”

Isaiah chapter 51: “3 For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody. 4 Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people. 5 My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust. 6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.”

Of course, Christ Himself is the light which made the Nations and Glory of Israel manifest. John chapter 1 explains that Christ was the light come into the world, and at John 8:12 Christ exclaims: “I am the light of the Society. He following Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life!”

Again we see that Luke is the Christian Identity gospel, since while all of the gospels are important, Luke preserves for us the very purpose of the gospel better than any of the others. Luke chapter 1 informs us that through the fulfillment of the promises, speaking of God, “54 He has come to the aid of His servant Israel, to call mercy into remembrance, 55 just as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring for the age.” Later in Luke chapter 1 we have spelled out for us by Zacharias the very purpose of the coming of the Christ: “68 Blessed is Yahweh the God of Israel, that He has visited and brought about redemption for His people, 69 and has raised a horn of salvation for us in the house of David His servant, 70 just as He spoke through the mouths of His holy prophets from of old: 71 preservation from our enemies and from the hand of all those who hate us! 72 To bring about mercy with our fathers and to call into remembrance His holy covenant, 73 the oath which He swore to Abraham our father, which is given to us: 74 being delivered fearlessly from the hands of our enemies to serve Him 75 in piety and in righteousness before Him for all of our days.” Now here in Luke chapter 2 we see these same Old Testament promises to Israel reiterated in the words of Sumeon: “30 Because my eyes have seen Your Salvation, 31 which You have prepared in front of all the people: 32 a light for the revelation of the Nations and honor of Your people Israel!” Luke's gospel was also Paul's gospel, and those who would despise it would cast away these assurances of absolute Israelite exclusivity and the proofs of Israel Identity found in our Scriptures. Those who would despise it cast aside the links in Scripture between the ancient Hebrew and the Aryan people of God, for no other writings in Scripture reveal these things to the same extent as Luke and Paul reveal them.

33 And His father and mother were wondering at the things being spoken concerning Him. 34 Then Sumeon blessed them and said to Mariam His mother: “Behold, He is set for a fall and a restoration of many in Israel, and for a sign speaking in opposition. 35 But a sword shall pass through your own soul also, that the reasonings of the hearts of many should be revealed.”

Sumeon reveals the travails that Mariam herself would undergo on account of her Son. Christ was set for a “fall and a restoration of many in Israel”: those who ignored or rejected him and sided with His enemies would fall. All of those who would accept Him would be restored.

“He is set for a fall and a restoration of many in Israel...” From John chapter 12, after a discourse between Christ and the leaders at Jerusalem: “42 Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: 43 For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.”

This is the meaning of the illustration which Paul makes in Romans chapter 11. Paul is not speaking of the cursed Edomites here, whom he already tells us in Romans chapter 9 are the children of Esau and “vessels of destruction”. Rather, he is only talking about the children of Jacob, the “vessels of mercy”:

Here is Paul's allegory of the olive trees, from Romans chapter 11, along with some comments: “11 Now I say, did they stumble in order that they would fall? [Meaning the true Israelites in Judaea.] Certainly not! [Because all Israel shall be saved.] But in their fall is preservation to the Nations [Without the crucifixion of Christ, there is no reconciliation for Israel because the law of divorce is not fulfilled.], for the provocation of them to jealousy. [Since they do not understand the dispersions of Israel and the mercy that the people of the dispersions are to receive, but rather they sought to justify themselves by the law.] 12 But if their fall is the wealth of the Society, and their defeat the wealth of the Nations [restoration for all of Israel], how much more their fullness [when they too are granted mercy]? 13 Indeed I speak to you, the Nations [of Abraham through Jacob, evident in Paul's discourse at 1 Corinthians chapter 10], because I am an ambassador of the Nations [the dispersed of Israel], I honor my office, 14 if possibly I would provoke to jealousy my kinsmen, and preserve some from among them [as Paul told us in the beginning of Romans 9, he only cared for his kinsmen who are the true Israelites of Judaea]. 15 Indeed if the disposal of them is the reconciliation of the Society, what would the acceptance be, if not life from among the dead [that they too would be preserved]? 16 Now if the first fruit is sacred [the earliest Christians], then also the balance, and if the root is sacred, also the branches. [It is the whole seed of Israel that is holy!] 17 But if some of the branches have been broken off and you, being of a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, having become a partaker of the richness of the root of the olive tree, 18 you must not exult over the branches; but if you exult, you will not sustain the root, or the root you. [In all of Paul's letters, only the Romans are likened to the wild olive tree: they are Israelites whose ancestors departed from the main body in Egypt before Israel received the law and the covenants. For this reason they are still olives, but they are wild olives, yet they are still Israelites under the promises.] 19 Now you will say, Those branches have been broken off, in order that I would be grafted in? [The dispersion of Israel had no reconciliation without the death of Christ.] 20 Correct, in disbelief they were broken off, and you in faith stand. Be not proud, but reverent. 21 Indeed if Yahweh spared not the natural branches, perhaps you may not be spared. [Those who continued to reject him ended up mixing in with the Edomites and all the races they later mixed with in turn, being excluded from the empire once it turned to Christianity.] 22 Behold then the goodness and severity of Yahweh: certainly upon those who have fallen, severity; but the goodness of Yahweh upon you, if then you abide in that goodness, otherwise you also will be cut off [falling in the trials of fire in this life]. 23 Moreover they also, if they do not remain in disbelief, shall be grafted in; indeed Yahweh is able to graft them in anew. [Again, all Israel shall be saved.] 24 If you from out of a naturally wild olive tree had been cut off, and contrary to nature had been grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more can those natural ones be grafted into their own olive tree?”

“And for a sign speaking in opposition”: The King James Version is “and for a sign which shall be spoken against”, and the ASV and NAS also retain that sense. Somehow ἀντιλεγόμενον is treated as a Passive Participle by those translations when in fact it is an Accusative singular Present Medium Participle of ἀντιλέγω (483), “to speak against...contradict...Passive to be disputed...absolute to speak one against the other, speak in opposition...” (Liddell & Scott). Therefore in the Christogenea New Testament it is the sign which is doing the speaking: the crucifixion of Christ is seen as having convicted His enemies.

36 Then there was Anna a prophetess, a daughter of Phanouel, from the tribe of Asher. She was advanced greatly in age, living with a husband for seven years from her maidenhood, 37 and she is a widow for as long as eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, serving with fasting and in supplication night and day. 38 And at that hour standing nearby she confessed to Yahweh and spoke concerning Him to all those awaiting redemption in Jerusalem.

The end of v. 36, with the beginning of v. 37, may be read literally: “...she was advanced in many days, living with a husband seven years from her maidenhood and she is a widow up to eighty-four years...”. The traditional age of marriage for a woman was no younger than 16, although a promise in marriage may be made much sooner (betrothal). If Anna was 16 when she lost her virginity, she became a widow at 23, and so she was 107 years old here, or perhaps only 97 if the reading of the Codex Sinaiticus (א) is correct, as that manuscript has 74 years rather than 84. Reading 84 years, Anna would have been born around 110 B.C.! The word παρθένος, “maidenhood” in the text, may have been read “virginity”.

As it is evident in the gospels, many of the people of Judaea were awaiting a Messiah at this very time, as we have also seen that Sumeon at verse 25, was “expecting the consolation of Israel.” Daniel’s 70 week prophecy, found at Daniel 9:24-27, must have been understood in some degree, and there was messianic expectation throughout the region at the time (as the woman at the well in Samaria also displayed, which is recorded at John 4:25). Yet it is obvious that Daniel chapter 9 was not fully understood, since the prophecy that Messiah “shall...be cut off” was not on the minds of the people, who rather expected Him to become their temporal ruler at that time (Mark 15:43; Luke 19:38; Acts 1:6).

It is quite plausible that Israelites of the tribe of Asher remained in Palestine and were cognizant of their identity until this time. For while most of the Israelites, including Judah and Benjamin, were taken away by the Assyrians between 741 and 676 B.C., and the inhabitants of Jerusalem along with the mainland city of Tyre were taken away by the Babylonians, the island city of Tyre remained intact all through these deportations and the throughout the Persian period, right up to the time of Alexander the Great. It is more than evident in the Old Testament that the tribe of Asher, along with some of the northern Israelite tribes, fully inhabited Tyre and the coasts of what the Greeks called “Phoenicia”, and that they were the principal people of the “Phoenicians” of Greek literature. From Herodotus and other sources it is evident that the Phoenicians of Tyre, the island city, prospered well during the Persian period and had every opportunity to spread themselves back to the mainland, before Alexander built a mole out to the island and destroyed it for not capitulating to him, which happened circa 330 B.C. While it is obvious that “Phoenicia” became a mere geographic distinction, and that the Canaanites of the region were later also called “Phoenicians” by the Greeks (compare Matt. 15:22, Mark 7:26), because they dwelt in that land, the Canaanites and related tribes were absorbed into all of the other Greco-Roman districts in this same manner (i.e. Judaea, Syria, Ituraea, Cappadocia, etc.), yet certainly not all of the region’s inhabitants were of the polluted Canaanite stock.

39 And as they completed all the things according to the law of Yahweh, they returned into Galilaia to their city Nazareth. 40 And the child grew and was strengthened, being filled with wisdom, and the favor of Yahweh was with Him.

The Codex Bezae appends to the end of verse 39 the words “just as it was spoken through the prophet, that He would be called a Nazoraion”, for which see Matthew 2:23.

41 And His parents had gone each year into Jerusalem for the feast of Passover.

All men of Israel were commanded to appear before Yahweh on three of the yearly feasts. This is commanded at Exodus 23:14-17, and also at Deuteronomy 16:16 where it says in the King James Version: “Deuteronomy 16: 16 Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty”.

This was commanded in the law only of all of the men of Israel, and therefore of the women it was voluntary. We see evidence of this with Hannah, the mother of Samuel, at 1 Samuel chapter 1: “20 Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD. 21 And the man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer unto the LORD the yearly sacrifice, and his vow. 22 But Hannah went not up; for she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the LORD, and there abide for ever.”

42 And when He attained twelve years, upon their going up according to the custom of the feast, 43 and having fulfilled the days, upon their returning the child Yahshua had stayed behind in Jerusalem, and His parents knew it not, 44 but they believed Him to be among the travelers. Having gone a day’s journey then they sought Him among the kinsmen and acquaintances. 45 And not finding Him they returned to Jerusalem seeking Him. 46 And after three days passed, they found Him in the temple sitting in the midst of the teachers and listening to them and questioning them. 47 And all those hearing Him were amazed by His intelligence and replies. 48 And seeing Him they were astonished, and His mother said to Him “Child, why have You done thusly to us? Behold, Your father and I travailing have sought You!” 49 And He said to them: “Why have you sought Me? Do you not know that it is necessary for Me to be engaged in the matters of My Father?”

Literally only “for Me to be in”, the phrase “engaged in” is an idiomatic rendering of the word ἐν, for which at ἐν, II., 1. L & S give an example of ἐν λόγοις εἶναι, as used by Plato, “to be engaged in oratory”, where the literal meaning is only “to be in words”. The next phrase, “the matters”, is from the Dative plural Article, τοῖς, and is literally “the things”. The large 9th edition of the Liddell & Scott Greek-English Lexicon, at the Article, ὁ, ἡ, τό, B., II., 2., gives examples quite similar to this one and with similar renderings illustrating this use of the Article. Literally the entire phrase is “for Me to be in the things of My Father”.

We see an episode where Christ as a child desired to act before His appointed time. This, I am persuaded, is an example for us, that we all want to act in our own time, on our own volition, however our Father in heaven has His Own plan, and that is the plan that shall and must prevail. Christ realized this, and therefore knowing that the time was not yet, He relented and “He was keeping Himself subject to them”. The phrase indicates that He had the ability not to be subject to them, even at 12 years of age, but that He knew that it was better to await the proper time, and therefore it was meet for Him to remain subject to them. There is a lesson in that humility and patience for all of us today.

50 And they did not understand the words which He had spoken to them.

His parents must have realized that the young Yahshua was indeed an extraordinary child, but they obviously did not understand how that would impact the life they should have raising Him.

51 And He descended with them and went to Nazareth, and was keeping Himself subject to them. And His mother maintained all of these words in her heart.

καταβαίνω (2597) is to descend here, the antonym of ἀναβαίνω.

“His mother maintained all of these words in her heart”, which is how these accounts were preserved so that Luke could make a compilation of them later.

52 And Yahshua advanced in wisdom and in stature and in favor before Yahweh and men.

The British Israel interpreters love to make much about the “missing years in the life of Christ”, the 18 years in the gospel between this event which Luke has described, and his baptism by John at age 30. They usually assert that because John did not recognize Christ as his cousin when Christ first came to him, that therein lies the proof that Christ must have been in Britain during those years. This is all quite creative, and once upon a time I was actually convinced by them myself. But in the end there is no actual proof that Christ ever left Palestine. Here Luke infers that he came of age in Nazareth, where he states that Yahshua “descended with them and went to Nazareth, and was keeping Himself subject to them” and where He then “advanced in wisdom and in stature and in favor before Yahweh and men.”

It is just as easily explained by Luke why John did not recognize Christ as his own cousin. In Luke chapter 1, verse 80, it says this of John the Baptist after he was born: “And the child grew and was strengthened in spirit, and was in the wilderness until the day of his manifestation to Israel.” In the wilderness, he evidently was not in Nazareth, and did not see Christ until he was to baptize Him in the Jordan many years later.