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Mat 2:6. Καὶ σὺ Βηθλεὲμ κ.τ.λ., and thou Bethlehem, etc.) The passage referred to is in Mic 5:2, thus rendered by the LXX., καὶ σὺ Βηθλεὲμ ὁ οἶκος Εὐφραθᾶ, ὀλιγιστὸς εἶ τοῦ εἶναι ἐν χιλιάσιν Ἰούδα· ἐκ σοῦ μοι ἐξελεύσεται, τοῦ εἶναι εἰς ἄρχοντα τοῦ Ἰσραήλ. On which passage see Hallet’s Notes.[82] Let the following be accepted as a paraphrase of both the Prophet and the Evangelist. And thou Bethlehem Ephrata, or district in the tribe of Judah, art small, להיות, to be, in other words, inasmuch as thou art (quæ sis) (consult on ל Noldii[83] Concordantiæ Particularum, p. 458), among the thousands of Judah, if this dignity which is not otherwise to be despised, and which far exceeds thy proportion and measure, be compared with that dignity exclusively thine own, by virtue of which thou art by no means the least, but altogether the greatest among the princes and thousands of Judah, sc., that from thee shall go forth for Me, להיות, one who is to be (qui sit) the Ruler in Israel. A similar mode of expression occurs in 2Sa 7:19; Isa 49:6. The greater honour obscures and absorbs the less.-γῆ Ἰούδα, a land of Judah. The land or district is put by Synechdoche,[84] for the township, as in Luk 9:12, fields for cantons: Judah was the tribe of the Messiah. Both words supply the place of Ephrata in the Hebrew. The LXX. have in Joshua 15, either between Jos 15:58 and Jos 15:59, or between Jos 15:59 and Jos 15:60, the following passage: Θεκὼ καὶ Ἐφραθά· αὕτη ἐστὶ Βηθλεὲμ κ.τ.λ.-Theko and Ephrata, which is Bethlehem, etc. If this passage (instead of having fallen out of the Hebrew text from coming between two which have the same ending), be redundant in the Septuagint, it affords a proof, that, at the time when the land of Canaan was divided amongst the tribes of Israel, Bethlehem was not even reckoned among the cities; Cf. Joh 7:42. It must, however, have been so reckoned as early at any rate as the reign of Rehoboam, as we learn from 2Ch 11:6. Micah addresses it in the masculine gender, with an implied reference to אלפים, thousands, families, Cf. אַלְפִי, ἡ κιλιάς μου, my thousand, i.e., my family, in Jdg 6:15. Wherefore St Matthew, after putting ἘΛΑΧΊΣΤΗ, least, in the feminine gender (to agree with γῆ, land, understood), mentions, instead of the thousands themselves, the princes of thousands (for אלף a thousand, family, etc., and אלוף, a chief, leader, etc., are cognate words) over whom he places one prince (ἩΓΟΥΜΈΝΟΝ), even Christ: nor does he so much give the preference to this city or thousand over the other cities or thousands of Judah, as to the Prince who came forth thence, over the other Princes of Thousands.-ἘΚ ΣΟῦ ΓᾺΡ ἘΞΕΛΕΎΣΕΤΑΙ, FOR from thee shall go forth) The LXX., as we have seen, have, from the Hebrew ἐκ σοῦ ΜΟΙ ἐξελεύσεται, from thee shall go forth FOR ME, a reading which is followed by the Codex Basiliensis Β,[85] and the Aldine reprint of Erasmus’ first edition.[86] Others combine both readings thus, ἐκ σοῦ ΓΑΡ ΜΟΙ ἐξελεύσεται-FOR from thee shall go forth FOR ME.[87] The pronoun MOI (to, or for, ME) evidently represents God the Father, speaking of Christ as His Son.-See Luk 1:32, and Cf., Mat 2:13. But the conjunction γαρ (for or because) points out the birthplace of Christ more significantly. The word γεννᾶται, shall be born (nascetur), which occurs in Mat 2:4, is synonymous with the ἐξελεύσεται, shall go forth, of the present passage. The יצא of the Hebrew; the derivative of which מוצאת (rendered by the LXX., ἔξοδοι, goings forth) ought also to be understood of birth or generation, and that from everlasting: Cf. מוצא in Job 38:27, and Num 30:13. The LXX. render צאצאים more than once by ΤΈΚΝΑ, children.-ἡγούμενος ὅστις ποιμανεῖ, a prince who shall shepherd) In 1Ch 11:2, concerning David, the LXX. have ΣῪ ΠΟΙΜΑΝΕῖς ΤῸΝ ΛΑΌΝ ΜΟΥ, ΤῸΝ ἸΣΡΑΉΛ· ΚΑῚ ΣῪ ἜΣῌ ἘΙς ἩΓΟῪΜΕΝΟΝ ἘΠῚ ΤῸΝ ΛΑΌΝ ΜΟΥ ΤῸΝ ἸΣΡΑΉΛΝ, thou shalt shepherd My people Israel, and thou shalt be for a prince over My people Israel. Concerning the expression to shepherd, see Psa 78:71-72. It is indeed a word worthy the kingly office, and at the same time according with the pastoral youth of David at Bethlehem. By the word ΠΟΙΜΑΝΕῖ (He shall shepherd) the evangelist includes also and condenses the third [fourth] verse of the chapter of Micah already cited, where the LXX. have the same expression.-τὸν λαόν Μου, MY people) which corresponds with the expression in Micah, ΜΟῚ ἘΞΕΛΈΥΣΕΤΑΙ, shall go forth for ME, i.e., GOD.-ΤῸΝ ἸΣΡΑῊΛ, Israel) The article is added to the name of a man, when put for that of a people. Israel, i.e., all the tribes of Israel. In the subsequent narrative no further mention occurs of Bethlehem, so that it may be doubted whether our Lord ever returned thither.
[82] JOSEPH HALLET, a dissenting minister, born at Exeter, 1692; died 1744.-(I. B.)
[83] CHRISTIAN NOLDIUS, author of “Concordantiæ Particularum Hebræo-Chaldæorum,” was an eminent Dutch divine, born 1626, died 1683.-(I. B.)
[84] See Explanation of Technical Terms in Appendix.-(I. B.)
[85] A MS. in the Basle Library, entitled there B. vi. 25; but designated as β by Bengel, for the sake of convenience.-See App. Crit., p. 90.-(I. B.)
[86] See Tregelles on the printed text of the Greek New Testament, pp. 19-26.-(I. B.)
[87] The only very ancient authority for γὰρ μοι ἐξελ is C. Theodoret and the Armen. Vers. follow it; but Z (and probably B) and D, and Vulg. omit μοι.-ED.