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Mat 2:1. Ἐν Βηθλεὲμ τῆς Ιὀυδαίας, in Bethlehem of Judaea) It is thus distinguished from Bethlehem of the Zabulonites, mentioned in Jos 19:15.-Ἡρώδου, of Herod) i.e. Herod the Great, a native of Ascalon, a foreigner by descent, the sceptre being just on the point of departing from Judah. Amongst his sons[74] were Archelaus, mentioned in Mat 2:22, the Herods Antipas and Philip, mentioned in the 14th chapter of St Matthew and the 23d of St Luke, and Aristobulus, the father of Herod Agrippa, who is mentioned in Acts 12-ἰδοὺ, behold) This particle frequently points to a thing unexpected. The arrival of the Magi at Jerusalem had not been announced.-Μάγοι, Magi) Μάγος occurs frequently in the Septuagint version of Daniel for the Hebrew אשף, and signifies with the Persians a wise man or a philosopher. St Matthew considers it sufficient to denote them by this their condition; he does not define either the rest of their dignity or their number, nor whether or no they had ever been addicted to curious arts, nor in what part of the East they were born; by which last omission he intimates the unrestricted universality of this great salvation. Magus is a word of ambiguous signification and of wide extent in the East. These Magi appear to have been descendants of Abraham, but not of Jacob; for the name of Magi does not apply to Jews, and the mention of gold and frankincense directs our attention to Isa 60:6, where he speaks of the coming in of the Gentiles, so that in this place already are seen the preludes of the Messiah being received rather by the Gentiles than by His own people. (See Luk 4:26, etc.) The King of the Jews, they say, not, our king, showing thereby that they were not themselves Jews. If you make two classes, the one of those who received, the other of those who rejected our Lord, and observe the variety of men on either side, you will be able to draw many useful observations from the whole of the New Testament.-απὸ ἀνατολῶν, from the East) cf. ch. Mat 8:11. The north and the south occur in Greek only in the singular number. The east and the west occur also in the plural. The rationale of this is clear: when we look either due north or due south, our eyes are always turned toward one precise spot, the North or South Pole, which is not the case when we look eastward or westward, since there is no stationary point of east or west longitude.-παρεγένοντο, arrived) After He had received the name “JESUS,” and, consequently after His circumcision.[75]-εἰς Ιἐροσόλυμα, at Jerusalem) It was natural to suppose, that the metropolis would be the place where the truth would be most easily ascertained, and they conceived, no doubt, that the King had been born there.
[74] The following genealogy of the Herodian Family, extracted from Lewin’s Life of St Paul will be useful to the student:-
[75] Nay even we have no reason to doubt, that the arrival of the Magi, and the flight into Egypt, which was intimately connected with it, took place after His παράστασις, presentation, as recorded in Luk 2:22-23. And, more over, this very order of events, whereby the παράστασις in the temple, the arrival of the Magi, and the departure to Egypt, are in continuous succession, affords us most useful consequences. For 1) the poverty of Jesus’ parents, (a fact, which is proved by their sacrifice in accordance with the law, Lev 12:6; Lev 12:8, concerning those unable to make the more costly offering) was relieved by the Fatherly providence of GOD, through the gifts of the Magi, so that they were thereby supplied with the means of livelihood during their exile.-2.) We may observe the various features of Propriety [“Decorum”] which characterise this series of events. First of all Jesus, as being the First-begotten, was presented to the Lord: then next, the first-fruits of the Gentiles presented themselves to Jesus Himself. In His παράστασις He was Himself made manifest to the Israelites of Jerusalem, and a short while afterwards to the Gentiles also. We may conjecture, from the words of the Magi, in which they draw the conclusion as to the birth of the King of the Jews, from the Star which they had seen, and also from the age of the little children slain by Herod, in accordance with the time which he had ascertained from the Magi-that the star was seen by them at the time of Christ’s conception, and that it was by it their long journey was directed; so that at the time most suitable, namely after the lapse of six months from the nativity, they arrived and paid their adorations.-3.) Simeon foretold of Jesus, that He was to be a Light to lighten the Gentiles, immediately subjoining the statement as to the Cross. Both truths were to His parents, at the time of presentation, as a communication strange, and such as they had not heretofore realised; therefore it was not till afterwards, though not long afterwards, that the one prophecy began to be fulfilled by the arrival of the Magi, the other by the flight into Egypt.-4.) The presentation was made in the temple on that very day of the week, which was subsequently called the Lord’s day.-5.) It is most easy to understand how it was that the King of the Jews remained unknown, all along from His birth to His presentation in the temple, to King Herod, inasmuch as that king was at the time aged, sick, torn with anguish on account of his sons, and hated by the Jews, and did not become known to him sooner than through the Magi. In fact, it was similarly that Herod the Tetrarch heard nothing of the miracles which Jesus performed before the beheading of John, notwithstanding the length of the interval from the beginning of the Lord’s miracles.-6.) If you place the departure into Egypt before the παράστασις, you must suppose the former to have been accomplished wholly in the winter: but the true order of events leads to the inference which is more in accordance with suitability of seasons, viz. that the flight occurred at the approach of spring, and the return at the spring season itself.-Harm, p. 53, 55, 56.