1. Nazareth.--Nazareth was in Galilee, a part of Palestine, which was held in disesteem for several reasons: it had a provincial dialect; lying remote from the capital, its inhabitants spoke a strange tongue, which was rough, harsh, and uncouth, having a peculiar combination of words, and words also peculiar to themselves. Its population was impure, being made up not only of provincial Jews but also of heathens of several sorts, Egyptians, Arabians, Phoenicians. As Galilee was a despised part of Palestine, so was Nazareth a despised part of Galilee, being a small, obscure, if not mean place. Accordingly its inhabitants were held in little consideration by other Galileans, and, of course, by those Jews who dwelt in Judea. Hence the name of Nazarene came to bear with it a bad odor and was nearly synonymous with a low, ignorant and uncultivated, if not un-Jewish person.--"Biblical Literature", Kitto. 2. The Passover.--The Passover, like the Sabbath and other institutions had a two-fold reference--historical and typical. As a commemorative institution, it was designed to preserve among the Jews a grateful sense of their redemption from Egyptian bondage, and with the protection granted to their first born, on the night when all the first born of the Egyptians were destroyed (Exodus xii: 27,) as a typical institute its object was to shadow forth the great facts and consequences of the Christian sacrifices (I. Cor. v: 7). That the ancient Jews understood this institution to prefigure the sufferings of the Christ is evident, not only from the New Testament, but from the Mishna, where, among the five things said to be contained in the _Great Hallel_ (a hymn composed of several songs and sung after the Paschal supper,) one is, the suffering of Messiah, for which they refer to Psalm cxvi. * * * * * The Passover also denotes the whole solemnity, commencing on the fourteenth and ending on the twenty-first day of Nisan.--Kitto. 3. The Youth of Christ.--It is written that there was once a pious, godly bishop who had often earnestly prayed that God would manifest unto him what Jesus had done in his youth. Once the bishop had a dream to this effect. He seemed in his sleep to see a carpenter working at his trade, and beside him a little boy who was gathering up chips. Then came in a maiden clothed in green, who called them both to come to the meal, and set porridge before them. All {40} this the bishop seemed to see in his dream, himself standing behind the door that he might not be perceived. Then the little boy began and said: Why does that man stand there? Shall he not also eat with us? And this so frightened the bishop that he awoke. Let this be what it may, a true history or a fable, I none the less believe that Christ in his childhood and youth looked and acted like other children, yet without sin; in fashion like a man.--Martin Luther.