MRS. A. S. LEWIS, ON THE GENEALOGIES OF OUR LORD. 23 



two pedigrees from the same remote ancestors ; for in one of the 

 priestly pedigrees in Chronicles we have two Elkanahs, and in 

 another two Zadoks, two, if not three, Azariahs, and two Ahitubs, 

 sons of Amariah and besides Isaiah's witness Zechariah, son of 

 Jeberechiah, there seem to have been two Zechariahs, sons of 

 Berachiah, known to history — the prophetic writer and a martyr 

 who must have suffered long after that writer's period of religious 

 revival : Isa. viii, 2 ; Zech. i, 1 ; and Matt, xxiii, 35. 



Colonel Mackinlay said : Our heartiest thanks are due to 

 the learned lady who has so kindly responded to our invitation 

 to lecture to us. Her deep knowledge of Syriac MSS. gives great 

 value to all her papers, but specially perhaps to her remarks about 

 the true meaning of Luke i, 27. 



With regard to the star (p. 18), allowing that the words of 

 Matt, ii, 2, may mean " We, being in the east, have seen His star," 

 it does not necessarily follow that the star had been in the west 

 because the Magi had journeyed in a westerly direction. We are 

 not told that they were led by the star to Jerusalem ; they evidently 

 came there because they expected to find those who could tell them 

 where Christ was to be born. Afterwards we are told the star 

 *' went before," this seems to be mentioned as a striking fact, and 

 naturally suggests that during the long journey to Jerusalem the 

 star had not been in front of them. 



The star would be more likely to be seen in the east than in the 

 west,*the place of power rather than of decadence. 



Colonel Mackinlay then gave his reasons for believing that the 

 star was an exceptionally bright appearance of the planet Venus, and 

 concluded by again thanking the Lecturer for her interesting paper. 



Dr. Thirtle : Much of the Bible criticism of our time is vitiated 

 by a lack of sympathy with Oriental ideals and modes of thought 

 on the part of critics and expositors. The learned lecturer this 

 afternoon has come to us with an equipment which, in this 

 important respect, is altogether exceptional ; and we cannot but 

 express our gratitude to her for the paper she has read. 



I desire to make a few remarks upon the passage in which 

 Mrs. Lewis dealt with the relation subsisting between Joseph and 

 Mary at the time of the journey to Bethlehem, for the enrolment 

 mentioned in Luke ii. Was it a state of betrothal or marriage 1 or 

 might it not, very properly, be described by either of these terms 1 



