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Mat 2:2. Ποῦ, where?) They are so sure of the event and the time, that they only ask where? The Scribes only knew the place. It was incumbent on them to learn the time from the Magi, or to avail themselves of the opportunity of learning it. The knowledge of time and of place are both necessary in this instance.-ὁ τεχθεὶς βασιλεὺς, He who is born king) They affirm His birth as having already taken place, and His right to the kingdom combined with it, and contrary to their expectation, find it to be a subject of terror to Herod. One is said to be born, who from His very birth is King. As in the Septuagint version of 1Ch 7:21, we read οἱ τεχθέντες ἐν τῇ γῇ, who were born in the land.-τῶν Ἰουδάιων, of the Jews) The name of Jews after the Babylonian Captivity included all the children of Israel, being opposed to Greeks or Gentiles. Whence it is given also to Galileans in Luk 7:3; Joh 2:6; Act 10:28, etc. The Jews, however, or Israelites, called Christ the king of Israel, the Gentiles the king of the Jews. See Mat 27:29; Mat 27:37; Mat 27:42; Joh 1:50; Joh 12:13; Joh 18:33.-εἴδομεν γὰρ κ.τ.λ., for we have seen, etc.) Prognostics both true and false occur, especially in the case of nativities.-Αὐτοῦ τὸν ἀστερα, His star) His own. In proportion as the Magi were better acquainted with the ordinary course of the stars, so much the more easily were they able to appreciate the character of the extraordinary phenomenon, and the reference of the star which was seen to this King who was born. What was their principle in either case, who can now decide? The star was either in itself new, or in a new situation, or endued with a new or perhaps even a various motion. Whether it still exists or be destined to appear again, who knows? The Magi must have undoubtedly had either an ancient revelation from the prophecies of Balaam, Daniel, etc., or a new one by a dream, cf. Mat 2:12.-[76]The Magi are led by a star; the fishermen by fishes, to the knowledge of Christ. Chalcidius,[77] in his Commentaries on Plato, has mentioned a tradition concerning this star.-ἘΝ Τῂ ἈΝΑΤΟΛῇ, in the East) They mean to indicate the quarter from whence they have come; for the article τῂ shows that the east country is intended. These words should therefore be construed with ΕἼΔΟΜΕΝ (we have seen), for whilst they were in the east they had seen the star to the west, over the geographical situation (clima) of Palestine. See Mat 2:9.-προσκυνῆσαι Αὐτῷ, to worship Him) The verb προσκυνεῖν (to worship) in the New Testament as well as with profane authors, governs mostly a dative, though it sometimes admits an accusative. The Magi acknowledged Jesus as the King of Grace, and as their Lord. See Luk 1:43. All things must however be interpreted according to the analogy of these beginnings. It was certainly not on any political grounds, that after having undertaken and performed so long and arduous a journey, and being so soon about to return home, they worshipped[78] a King distant and an infant, and that too without paying the same homage to Herod: nor did Herod (in Mat 2:8) profess an intention of paying Him political homage. That the Magi actually did worship Him, we learn from Mat 2:11.
[76] The methods of Divine revelations not unfrequently are disclosed only to those to whom they are vouchsafed.-Vers. Germ.
[77] He flourished in the third or fourth century, and wrote a commentary on the Timæus of Plato. Considerable doubt exists as to his religious opinions.-(I. B.)
[78] The verb προσκυνέω signifies either religious worship, civil homage, or any other lowly manifestation of extreme respect. Cf. the various meanings of the English word “worship”-(I. B.)