THIS chapter opens the fact that Israel is in bondage to the Roman power, the fourth beast; and, in submitting to the decrees of that power, Jesus is born in Bethlehem, not amid the happy exaltations of a thankful people, but unknown and unthought of, in a stable, in a manger, apart from even the haunts of men, because “there was no room for Him in the inn.” It is a little, but very emphatic notice in the very dawn of the day, showing how Israel would receive Him. None of the shepherds of Israel were looking out for Him as the morning without clouds. Little they felt the grinding rule of Rome. Little did they feel the poverty and apostasy of the nation, when there was no straining of their necks in earnest, anxious expectation of a deliverer. None such as these in Israel. The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light. The shepherds of man’s sheep put to shame the shepherds of Israel, and to them is revealed the glories of grace as symbols of the fit characters for such blessing. When Saul did not tend the sheep of God, David, who tended his own sheep well, was chosen to fill his place. Here again is another notice of the un-readiness of Israel to receive the Lord of glory. No scribe or lawyer to announce and proclaim abroad the wonderful manifestations of the mercy of God to Israel! The shepherds fill this place. The sanctioned functionaries are unfit for the task, and God chooses more suitable instruments; “who made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning the child,” but to the Jew only. No intimation, as yet, that this now and heavenly light would radiate to any but Israel. Everything is in Jewish order. On the “eighth day” Jesus is circumcised. “The days of purification according to the law of Moses being accomplished, he is brought to Jerusalem, to be presented to the Lord, and to offer the sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord.” All confined within Jewish limits— but now Jesus being born as a Jew, circumcised as one, presented to the Lord as one—there falls from the mouth of one who waited only to see the Consolation of Israel, that this light which was shed on Israel would traverse beyond the limits of Palestine, and beyond the connection of any one people. Simeon, in the evidence of the Holy Ghost, could survey the wide unlimited range it was yet destined to occupy— “A light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel.” This is the first notice that any but a Jew should participate in this great blessing. No honest Jew, on reading these chapters, could cavil on the plea that he was not sufficiently considered. No; the Lord again provides an instrument to speak of Jesus to all them who looked for redemption in Jerusalem, or Israel. All must justify God in turning to the Gentiles. Where are their shepherds? Whore are those to comfort the mourners in Zion? Have not those who profess to fill these offices “fed themselves and fed not my flock”? The teachers of Israel were hid in a corner, yet God sought Him out shepherds who would tell abroad His grace, and now Anna, a prophetess, an aged widow, is the organ of comfort to all them “who looked for redemption in Israel.” When the Lord saw there was no man, His own arm brought salvation. Anna, weighed down by years and sorrows, is charged with a message of the comfort to all the mourners wherewith she herself is comforted of God. Never was one so patient and long-suffering as God. If none of the recognized shepherds and elders of Israel can be used of God in the offices they had dishonored and abused, yet He who declared the Father, and faithfully witnessed of His mercy, is found, as His earliest service, sitting in the midst of the doctors or teachers, hearing them, and asking them questions, if haply they might be reformed. “Let it alone this year also till I shall dig about it and dung it,” was to the end the expression of Christ’s service towards Israel.