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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Jesus. See App-98.
in. Greek. en. App-104.
Bethlehem = house of bread. Five miles south of Jerusalem. One of the fenced cities of Rehoboam, originally called Ephrath (Gen_35:16, Gen_35:19).
Herod the king. To distinguish him from other Herods. See App-109.
wise men. Greek. magoi. It nowhere says they were Gentiles, or that there were only three, or whether they were priests or kings. The "adoration of the Magi" must have taken place at Nazareth, for the Lord was presented in the Temple forty-one days after His birth (8+ 33 days. Lev_12:3, Lev_12:4. Compare Luk_2:21-24), and thence returned to Nazareth (Luk_2:39). App-169. There, in "the house" (Mat_2:11), not "in a stable" at Bethlehem, they found the Lord. They did not return to Jerusalem from Nazareth (Mat_2:12); but, being well on their way home, easily escaped from Herod. Herod, having enquired accurately as to the time, fixed on "two years" (Mat_2:16), which would have thus been about the age of the Lord. After the flight to Egypt, He returned once more to Nazareth (Mat_2:23. This chapter (Matthew 2) comes between Luk_2:39 and Luk_2:40.
east. North and south are always in Greek only in singular. East and west are relative to the north and therefore occur in the plural also to Jerusalem. The most likely place.