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Mat_2:11. Εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν ] As the Magi did not arrive till some time after the birth (Mat_2:1), it does not follow indeed from εἰς τ . οἰκ . in and by itself that the evangelist makes Jesus be born not in the stable of a friend (Luke), or in a cave (Justin and Apocrypha), but in Joseph’s house. Certainly, however, the latter follows from this, that, according to Matthew, Bethlehem is the dwelling-place of Joseph; see Remark after Mat_2:23.
τὸ παιδίον μετὰ Μαρίας ] The non-mention of Joseph is not to be ascribed to any design.
τοὺς θησαυρούς ] the chests which held their treasures, Xen. Anab. v. 4. 27; 1Ma_3:29; 4Ma_4:4. See Wetstein and Valckenaer, ad Herod. iv. 162. To find symbolical references in the individual presents is arbitrary. Tertullian and Chrysostom: Incense and myrrh they presented to Him as to a God; Irenaeus, Origen (in answer to Celsus, who ridiculed the divine worship of a νήπιος ), Theophylact, Euth. Zigabenus, Erasmus, Luther: as a king, they presented Him with gold; as a God, with incense and with myrrh, ὡς μέλλοντι γεύσασθαι θανάτου . Comp. the Christian Adamsbuch in Ewald, Jahrb. V. p. 81, which makes the three gifts and their meaning to be derived from Adam.
It was and still is the Eastern custom not to approach princes without presents, Gen_43:11; 1Sa_10:27; 1Ki_10:2; Aelian, V. H. i. 31; Harmar, Beobacht. üb. d. Orient, II. p. 1 f. That the gifts of the Magi are said to have enabled the poor parents to make out their journey to Egypt (Wetstein, Olshausen, and others), is a strange conceit.