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Mat_2:9. Ἀκούσαντες τοῦ βασιλ .] After they had heard the king, they set off on their journey. Description of their unsuspicious behaviour. Comp. Theophylact.
καὶ ἰδοὺ , ὁ ἀστήρ , κ . τ . λ .] They travelled by night, in accordance with Eastern custom. See Hasselquist, Reise nach Paläst. p. 152. Bengel appropriately remarks on ἰδού : “Toto itinere non viderant stellam.”
ὃν εἶδον ] The aorist in the relative sentence, where we use the pluperfect. See Kühner, II. 1, p. 145; Winer, p. 258 [E. T. 343].
προῆγεν ] is the descriptive imperfect, not praecesserat (Hermann, Süskind, Paulus, Kuinoel), as if the star had again first shone upon them after they had come to Bethlehem. This explanation is ungrammatical (Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 173 [E. T. 200]), and serves only to help to diminish the miraculous element, which is quite opposed to the character of the narrative. The common view alone is in keeping with the words: the star, which they had seen in its rising, went before them on their journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, and took up a position over the place (the house) where the child was. Amongst the Greeks also stars are mentioned as extraordinary guides, Elsner, p. 5 f.; Wetstein on the passage.
ἐπάνω οὗ ἦν ] See Mat_2:11, τὴν οἰκίαν . The going and standing of the star is miraculous; hence also the manner in which the particular house is indicated is left undetermined.