The Harmony of the Gospels 2.17–2.24

If anyone wishes to arrange a single narrative out of everything that either of the two says or passes over concerning Christ's birth and infancy or boyhood, he can arrange it thus: “Now the generation of Christ was thus. There was in the days of Herod, king of Judea, a certain priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord. And they had no son, because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in their days. Now it happened, while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, that the lot fell to him to offer incense when he went into the temple of the Lord; and the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right of the altar of incense; and Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, ‘Do not fear, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And he will be a joy and gladness to you, and many will rejoice at his birth; for he will be great before the Lord, and he will not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the unbelieving to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready for the Lord a perfect people.’ And Zechariah said to the angel, ‘How shall I know this? For I am old, and my wife is advanced in her days.’ And the angel answered and said to him, ‘I am Gabriel, who stand before God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day these things happen, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.’ And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they wondered that he was delaying in the temple. When he came out he could not speak to them, and they knew that he had seen a vision in the temple; and he kept making signs to them and remained mute. And it happened, when the days of his service were completed, that he went to his house. After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and she hid herself for five months, saying, ‘Thus has the Lord done for me in the days when he looked upon me, to take away my reproach among men.’ In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from the Lord to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in to her and said, ‘Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women.’ When she saw him, she was troubled at his word and considered what kind of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, ‘Do not fear, Mary, for you have found grace with God. Behold, you shall conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ And Mary said to the angel, ‘How shall this be, since I do not know a man?’ And the angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore also the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for no word will be impossible with God.’ And Mary said, ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.’ And the angel departed from her. In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And it happened, when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, that the infant leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and cried out with a loud voice and said, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed, for the things spoken to her by the Lord will be fulfilled.’ And Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior, for he has looked upon the lowliness of his handmaid; for behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed, for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name; and his mercy is from generation to generation on those who fear him. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thought of their heart; he has put down the mighty from their seat and exalted the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.’ And Mary stayed with her about three months and returned to her home, and she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit. But Joseph her husband, being righteous and not wanting to expose her, wished to put her away secretly. But while he was thinking this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for what has been born in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, ‘Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel,’ which is interpreted, God with us. And Joseph, rising from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took his wife, and did not know her. Now the time was fulfilled for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had magnified his mercy with her, and they rejoiced with her. And it happened on the eighth day that they came to circumcise the child, and they were calling him by his father's name, Zechariah. And his mother answered and said, ‘No, but he shall be called John.’ And they said to her, ‘There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.’ And they made signs to his father as to what he wanted him to be called. And asking for a writing tablet, he wrote, saying, ‘John is his name.’ And they all marveled. And immediately his mouth and his tongue were opened, and he spoke, blessing God. And fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these words were spread abroad through all the hill country of Judea; and all who heard laid them up in their heart, saying, ‘What, do you think, will this child be?’ For the hand of the Lord was with him. And Zechariah his father was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and wrought redemption for his people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets who have been from of old: salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to Abraham our father, to grant us that, delivered without fear from the hands of our enemies, we might serve him in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God, in which the dawn from on high has visited us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.’ And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the deserts until the day of his manifestation to Israel. Now it happened in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be registered. This first registration took place under Quirinius, governor of Syria. And all were going to be enrolled, each to his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. And it happened, while they were there, that the days were completed for her to give birth, and she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. And there were shepherds in the same region, keeping watch and guarding the watches of the night over their flock. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood beside them, and the brightness of God shone around them, and they feared with great fear. And the angel said to them, ‘Do not fear; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people: for to you is born today a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men of good will.’ And it happened, when the angels had departed from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has shown us.’ And they came in haste and found Mary and Joseph and the infant lying in the manger. And when they saw it, they understood the word that had been spoken to them about this child. And all who heard marveled also at the things spoken to them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. And when eight days were completed for him to be circumcised, his name was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. Behold, magi came from the east to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him.’ When King Herod heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And gathering all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. And they said to him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judah; for so it is written through the prophet: And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come forth a leader who will rule my people Israel.’ Then Herod secretly called the magi and inquired of them carefully the time of the star that had appeared to them. And sending them to Bethlehem, he said, ‘Go and inquire carefully about the child, and when you have found him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship him.’ When they had heard the king, they went away. And behold, the star which they had seen in the east went before them until it came and stood over where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And entering the house, they found the child with Mary his mother, and falling down they worshiped him; and opening their treasures they offered him gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having received an answer in dreams not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country by another way. After they had departed, when the days of her purification were completed according to the law of Moses, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord, ‘Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord,’ and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And he had received an answer from the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple. And when his parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, he too took him into his arms and blessed God and said, ‘Now you dismiss your servant, Lord, according to your word, in peace; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light for revelation to the nations and the glory of your people Israel.’ And his father and mother were marveling at the things that were said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, ‘Behold, this child is set for the fall and the rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that will be spoken against; and a sword will pierce through your own soul, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.’ And there was Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in many days, and had lived with her husband seven years from her virginity, and she was a widow up to eighty-four years; she did not depart from the temple, serving with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she gave thanks to the Lord and spoke of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. And when they had completed everything according to the law of the Lord, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in dreams, saying, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother and flee into Egypt, and be there until I tell you; for Herod is going to seek the child to destroy him.’ And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and withdrew into Egypt. And he was there until the death of Herod, so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’ Then Herod, seeing that he had been tricked by the magi, was very angry, and sending, he killed all the boys who were in Bethlehem and in all its territory, from two years old and under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the magi. Then was fulfilled what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying, ‘A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and much wailing, Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be consoled, because they are not.’ But when Herod had died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in dreams to Joseph in Egypt, saying, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the child's life are dead.’ And he rose and took the child and his mother and came into the land of Israel. But hearing that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there; and being warned in dreams, he withdrew into the regions of Galilee. And he came and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled: ‘He shall be called a Nazarene.’ And the child grew and became strong, full of wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. And his parents went every year to Jerusalem on the solemn day of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, as they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast, and when the days were completed and they were returning, the boy Jesus remained in Jerusalem, and his parents did not know it. Supposing him to be in the company, they went a day's journey and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances; and not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem, looking for him. And it happened that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. And when they saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, ‘Son, why have you done this to us? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you in sorrow.’ And he said to them, ‘Why is it that you were looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in the things that are my Father's?’ And they did not understand the word that he spoke to them. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them. And his mother kept all these words in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom, age, and grace with God and men.”

From here the narrative of John's preaching begins, which all four record. For Matthew too, after those words of his that I placed last, where he recorded the testimony from the prophet, “For he shall be called a Nazarene,” goes on to add: “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the desert of Judea,” and so on. And Mark, who narrated nothing about the birth, infancy, or boyhood of the Lord, took the beginning of his Gospel from here, that is, from John's preaching. For he began thus: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way. The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’ John was in the desert, baptizing and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,” and so on. And Luke, after the words where he says, “And Jesus advanced in wisdom, age, and grace with God and men,” now goes on to John's preaching, saying: “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governing Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, under the high priests Annas and Caiaphas, the word of the Lord came upon John the son of Zechariah in the desert,” and so on. John the apostle too, the most eminent among the four evangelists, after speaking of the Word of God, who is himself the Son before all the ages of creation, because all things were made through him, at once brought in John's preaching and testimony, saying, “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.” Hence we must now see how the narratives of the four evangelists about John himself do not disagree with one another. Not that we should seek or demand in every case what we have just done concerning the beginnings of Christ born of Mary, how Matthew and Luke agree with each other, so that we made a single narrative from the accounts of both, showing the slower readers that whichever of them records what the other passes over, or passes over what the other records, does not hinder the understanding of the other's truthful narrative. Rather, by this example, whether done as I have done it or in some other, more suitable way, let everyone see that what he has observed done here can be done also in other such places.

Now, then, as I said, let us see the agreement of the four evangelists about John the Baptist. Matthew continues thus: “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the desert of Judea.” Mark did not say “in those days,” because he had set out no series of events beforehand, in whose days he could be understood to speak if he said “in those days.” Luke, however, expressed more pointedly, by the earthly authorities, the very times of John's preaching or baptism, saying: “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governing Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, under the high priests Annas and Caiaphas, the word of the Lord came upon John the son of Zechariah in the desert.” Yet we should not understand that Matthew meant these days, that is, this time of these authorities, when he said “in those days,” but that he wanted “in those days” to be taken over a much longer span of time. For as soon as he had narrated Christ's return from Egypt after Herod's death, which certainly happened in the time of his infancy or boyhood, so that what Luke narrated as done by him in the temple at Jerusalem when he was twelve years old can stand, when, then, Matthew had recorded that he was called back from Egypt as an infant or boy, he immediately added, “In those days came John the Baptist,” certainly not indicating only the days of his boyhood but all the days from his birth to the time when John began to preach and baptize, at which time Christ is found to be of youthful age, since he and John were of the same age, and he is related to have been about thirty years old when he was baptized by him.

But clearly something about Herod often troubles some people: that Luke narrated that in the days of John's baptism, when the Lord too was baptized as a young man, Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, while Matthew says that the boy Jesus came back from Egypt after Herod's death. Both cannot be true unless there are understood to have been two Herods. Since no one is unaware that this could be so, with what blindness are they mad who are more inclined to slander the truth of the gospel than to consider a little and understand that two men were called by the same name! Everything is full of examples of this. For this later Herod is said to have been the son of the earlier Herod, as was Archelaus, whom Matthew records succeeded his dead father in the kingdom of Judea, and as was Philip, whom Luke indicates was the brother of Herod the tetrarch and himself tetrarch of Ituraea. For that Herod who sought the life of the child Christ was a king, while the other Herod, his son, was called not king but tetrarch, a Greek name given from the fourth part of a kingdom.

Unless perhaps someone is troubled by this again: since Matthew said that Joseph, returning with the child, was afraid to go into Judea because Archelaus his son was reigning there in place of his father Herod, how could he go into Galilee, where another son of his, Herod, was tetrarch, as Luke testifies? As if the times in which there was fear for the child then were the same as those Luke has now recorded, which had changed so much that in Judea itself Archelaus was no longer king; rather, Pontius Pilate was not king of the Jews but governor, and in his times the sons of the elder Herod, living under Tiberius Caesar, held not a kingdom but a tetrarchy. This had certainly not yet come about when Joseph, fearing Archelaus reigning in Judea, took himself with the child into Galilee, where his city of Nazareth also was.

Or perhaps this too troubles someone: how Matthew can say that Jesus' parents went with the child into Galilee because for fear of Archelaus they did not want to go into Judea, when they seem rather to have gone into Galilee because their city was Nazareth of Galilee, as Luke did not pass over. But it must be understood that when the angel said to Joseph in dreams in Egypt, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go into the land of Israel,” Joseph at first understood it to mean that he was commanded to go into Judea, for that could be understood first as the land of Israel; but afterward, when he learned that Archelaus, the son of Herod, was reigning there, he did not want to expose himself to that danger, since the land of Israel could also be understood in such a way that Galilee too was counted in it, because the people of Israel lived there too. Although this question can also be solved in another way: it could have seemed to Christ's parents that with the child, about whom they had learned such things through angelic responses, they should live nowhere but in Jerusalem, where the temple of the Lord was; and that for this reason, returning from Egypt, they would have gone there and lived there had they not been frightened by the presence of Archelaus. For they were not divinely commanded to live there, so as to be obliged to disregard what they feared from Archelaus.

Or does someone say this too: how, then, as Luke narrates, did his parents go to Jerusalem every year of Christ's boyhood, if they were kept from going there by fear of Archelaus? This would not be difficult for me to resolve even if one of the evangelists had stated how long Archelaus reigned there. For it could happen that during the feast, among so huge a crowd, they went up unnoticed, soon to return, though they feared to live there on other days, so that they would neither be irreligious by passing over the solemnity nor conspicuous by staying continuously. But since all have been silent about how long Archelaus's reign lasted, this interpretation too is open: that we take what Luke says, that they used to go up to Jerusalem every year, as done when Archelaus was no longer feared. And if any history besides the gospel, which seems worthy of belief, shows that Archelaus's reign lasted somewhat longer, what I said above will suffice: that the child's parents feared to live in Jerusalem, yet out of fear of God did not pass over the solemn feast, in which they could very easily remain unnoticed. For it is not incredible that people seize suitable moments of days or hours to go to places where they are afraid to be.

Hence that question too is solved, if it troubles anyone: since that elder Herod was already anxious, struck by the magi's news that the king of the Jews had been born, how could they safely go up with him to the temple when the days of his mother's purification were completed, so that the things Luke records might be done concerning him according to the law of the Lord? For who does not see that even that one day could have escaped the notice of a king occupied with many things? But if it does not seem likely that Herod, who was waiting very anxiously for what the magi would report to him about the child, realized he had been tricked only after so many days, so that it occurred to him to seek the child's life and kill so many little ones only after the time of his mother's purification had passed, after the solemnity of the firstborn had been performed for the infant in the temple at Jerusalem, and even after their departure into Egypt; if this troubles anyone, I pass over saying by how many and how great occupations the royal concern could have been distracted and, for very many days, either turned away from that aim altogether or hindered. For the causes by which this could have happened cannot be enumerated; yet no one is so inexperienced in human affairs as to deny or doubt that they could have been many and great. For to whose mind does it not occur how many other, more terrifying things, true or false, could have been reported to the king, so that he who had feared that the infant king would oppose him or his sons after some years, shaken by the terrors of some more pressing dangers, would rather turn his mind, snatched away from that concern, to guarding against other more immediate things? But to pass over these things, I say this: after the magi reported nothing to Herod, he could have believed that they had been deceived by the sight of a false star and, after not finding the one they had thought was born, were ashamed to return to him; and so, his fear dispelled, he gave up inquiring after and pursuing the child. When, then, after his mother's purification they had come to Jerusalem with him, and the things narrated by Luke had been done in the temple, because the words of Simeon and Anna prophesying about him, once they began to be spread abroad by those who had heard them, were going to recall the king's mind to his former aim, Joseph, warned in a dream, fled into Egypt with the infant and his mother. Then, when the things that had been done and said in the temple were spread abroad, Herod realized that he had been tricked by the magi and then, wishing to bring about Christ's death, killed many infants, as Matthew narrates.