10. Death of Herod.--(note 4 end of section). After Herod's death, Joseph was again visited, in a dream, by an angel, who commanded him to return with the child and his mother into the land of Israel; for they who had sought the young child's life were dead. Then was fulfilled that which was { 15}spoken by the prophet of the Lord, (Hosea), "Out of Egypt have I called my son." Joseph obeyed the commandment, but as he approached Judea and learned that Archelaus [Ar-ke-la-us] the son of Herod reigned in his father's stead, he was fearful and instead of remaining in Judea, he went into Galilee [Gal-i-lee] and dwelt in the little town of Nazareth--his former home--"that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene" [10] [Naz-a-reen].
1. The Year of Messiah's Birth.--"The Birth of Christ was first made an era, from which to reckon dates," says the learned translator of Dr. Mosheim's _Institutes_,--Murdock--"by Dionysius Exiguus, [Di-o-nish-i-us Exs-ig-u-us] about A. D. 532. He supposed Christ to have been born on the 25th of December, in the year of Rome 753, and this computation has been followed in practice to this day; notwithstanding the learned are well agreed that it must be incorrect." It will be seen, however, from what follows, from the same author, that all is uncertainty with the learned in respect to this subject:
"To ascertain the true time of Christ's birth, there are two principal data afforded by the Evangelists: I. It is clear, from Matt. ii: 1, etc., that Christ was born before the death of Herod the Great, who died about Easter, in the year of Rome 749 or 750. Now, if Christ was born in the December next before Herod's death, it must have been in the year of Rome 748 or 749; and, of course, four, if not five years anterior to the Dionysian or Vulgar era: II. It is probable, from Luke iii: 1, 2, 23, that Jesus was 'about' thirty years of age in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. Now, the reign of Tiberius may be considered as commencing at the time he became sole emperor, in August of the year of Rome 767; or (as there is some reason to suppose that Augustus made him partner in the government two years before he died), we may begin his reign in the year of Rome 765. The fifteenth year of Tiberius will therefore be either the year of Rome 781 or 779. From which deduct 30, and we have the year of Rome 751 or 749 for the year of Christ's birth; the former two and the latter four years earlier than the Dionysian computation. Comparing these results with those obtained from the death of Herod, it is generally supposed the true time of Christ's birth was the year of Rome 749, or four years before the Vulgar era. { 16} _But the conclusion is not certain, because there is uncertainty in the data_. (1.) It is not certain that we ought to reckon Tiberius' reign as beginning two years before the death of Augustus. (2.) Luke says '_about_ thirty years of age.' This is indefinite and may be understood of twenty-nine, thirty, or thirty-one years. (3.) It is not certain in which of the two years mentioned Herod died; nor how long before that event the Savior was born. Respecting the month and day of Christ's birth, we are left almost wholly to conjecture."