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When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and 3 all Jerusalem with him; and when he had gathered all the chief 4 priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them

age, but simply of obeisance or high respect. Marks of great reverence were shown to kings, especially in the east. Prostration of the body upon the ground before sovereigns, and the giving of the most costly presents, were common signs of homage. The wise men, regarding the young child as a candidate for the Jewish throne, and heir to some remarkable destiny, followed the usual custom. The word worship was formerly applied to the respect paid to man, as well as the homage given to God, see 1 Chron. xxix. 20.

3. It does not appear that Herod had as yet seen the wise men. By common report he heard of their coming and object. Afterwards, ver. 7, he sent to have an interview with them.—He was troubled. Was agitated.

His fear was natural. He had laid the foundation of his throne in blood and crime, and killed several of his own family. His outraged conscience made him uneasy, jealous, and fearful. Wickedness converts men into cowards, "but the righteous are bold as a lion." Though far advanced in years, his insatiate ambition also led him to be anxious about the continuance of the government in his hands, and those of his successor; for the Pharisees, according to Josephus, had predicted the overthrow of Herod's reign, probably in sanguine expectation of the coming of their Messiah. If a legitimate heir to the throne was now born, he feared the kingdom would be taken out of his hands, for he was a foreigner and a usurper.— All Jerusalem with him. i. e. The city generally was agitated. The

friends and adherents of Herod would participate in his fear and suspicion; while his enemies might justly apprehend, what afterwards took place, ver. 16, that the tyrant would find on this occasion a pretext, however groundless, for some unheard-of atrocity. Or they might rejoice at the prospect of his downfall, and exult in the hope of the speedy coming of the Messiah.

Its

4. We may infer the extent of his consternation from the active steps he took to calm it.-Chief priests and scribes of the people. Probably a circumlocution for the Sanhedrim, or Jewish Senate, consisting of seventy persons. members were chiefly priests and Levites, including the high-priest, the ex-high-priests, and the chiefs of the twenty-four classes, into which David had divided the sacerdotal order. 1 Chron. xxiii. 6. Its jurisdiction was both civil and ecclesiastical. The scribes, elsewhere called lawyers and doctors of the law, were men of learning, versed in the laws of Moses, and the commentaries upon them. They kept the public records and registers, drew up law documents for the people, transcribed the sacred books, and acted as religious teachers and interpreters.-He demanded, &c. As they understood the sacred books and made it their business to expound them, be naturally referred to them for information respecting the birth-place of the Messiah.-Where. This was the important point with Herod. He wished to know the exact place, that he might find the child and put it to death. Observe, too, that the question indicates how strong

5 where Christ should be born. And they said unto him: In Bethle6 hem of Judea; for thus it is written by the prophet: "And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda; for out of thee shall come a Governor that shall rule my 7 people Israel." Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise 8 men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared, and he sent them to Bethlehem, and said: Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, 9 that I may come and worship him also. When they had heard the king, they departed. And, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child 10 was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great 11 joy; and when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him; and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him

the expectation of the coming of the Messiah was; though the hypocritical king thought to falsify the sure word of prophecy, and fighting against God, to destroy the infant Jesus.-Christ. Rather the Christ, or the Messiah.

5. It was a current opinion, originated by the prophecies, that the Messiah would be born at Bethlehem. John vii. 42.-The prophet. Micah v. 2. The language is not verbatim, but the essential ideas are conveyed. The Evangelist might have quoted from memory.

6. Matthew only states that the passage was adduced by the priests and scribes as a proof that the Messiah would be born at Bethlehem.-Rule. The original is, feed and tend as a shepherd. Kings were anciently called the shepherds of their people.

7. Privily called. Jealousy loves to move in the dark.-Inquired diligently. Or, procured from them exact information. He probably wished to ascertain the precise age of the child.

8. Worship him also. Also should be placed before may come, thus,

"that I also may come," &c. He veiled his purpose under the mask of hypocrisy. His conduct on this occasion was in accordance with his whole character, as drawn by Josephus and other ancient writers.

9. Which they saw in the east. A different arrangement would be better;" which they, in the east, saw." It was the custom of the old painters to represent Christ with luminous rays encircling his head; derived perhaps from the circumstance of the star, standing over the place where the young child was, or the glory which surrounded him at the Baptism, or on the Mount of Transfiguration.

10. Their joy at finding their object indicates the value they attached to it.

11. Fell down and worshipped. Prostrated themselves and did obeisance, as they would to any royal personage. There was no religious homage paid in the act.-Presented. An oriental custom, still observed. Those who would pay honor to kings, magistrates, and persons of high dignity, carry to them costly gifts. 2 Chron. ix. 1.

gifts, gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. And being warned of God 12 in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appear- 13 eth to Joseph in a dream, saying: Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word; for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he 14 arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt; and was there until the death of Herod; that it might be 15 fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying: “Out

Is. lx. 6.-Gold and frankincense and myrrh. 2 Chron. ix. 14. These were productions of Arabia and other oriental countries. They were timely aids to the not rich Joseph, for his succeeding journey into a foreign land.-Frankincense. A valuable aromatic gum, used in perfumes, sacrifices, and medicines. It exudes from incisions made in a tree during the summer.-Myrrh. A vegetable production of the gum or resin kind, of a bitter taste, employed in anointing, perfuming, and in embalming the dead. John xix. 39. It is noticeable that the same substance which was given as a birth present to Jesus was also prepared for his burial.

12. Should not return to Herod. Else the life of Jesus would have been taken, unless some other interposition had been made. The will of God could be communicated in a dream as well as in any other way.

13. Egypt. During their troubles at home, the Jews had flocked in great numbers to that country, where they enjoyed toleration. Thus, by a strange vicissitude in human affairs, the land of their fathers' bondage became their asylum of liberty, and the refuge of their endangered Messiah. Several circumstances combined to recommend this country for the purpose for which Joseph fled to it. It was

free from Herod's jurisdiction. Its border was near, only about sixty miles south-west from Bethlehem. Joseph and his family would find sympathy among their countrymen. By the gifts of the wise men, they had been furnished with the means of subsistence and comfort while away from home and their customary occupations.-Herod will seek. This prediction was afterwards fulfilled. Joseph seems not to have been aware of any hostility to the child on Herod's part, until he was divinely acquainted with it.

14. By night. To conceal his departure, and escape from danger as soon as possible. There is no trustworthy history or tradition of the events that befel them during their sojourn in Egypt.

15. Death of Herod. Probably their residence there was short, as Herod is supposed to have died in the second year after Christ's birth. See ver. 16.-Prophet. Hos. xi. 1. Hosea clearly refers here to the past history of the Israelites. He utters no prediction. Matthew quotes his words by way of allusion or accommodation, not as the accomplishment of a prophecy, for there was none. He says there was a striking coincidence between God's calling the children of Israel, and his son Jesus Christ, out of Egypt.

16 of Egypt have I called my Son." Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth; and sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had 17 diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which 18 was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying: "In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning; Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because

16. Mocked. Was trifled with, or deceived.—Exceeding wroth. Angry beyond measure. Josephus

describes him as a man of most ungovernable passions.-Slew all the children, &c. If this had been related of any other man, it would have seemed incredible, but it accorded with Herod's character. For he had put to death a brother-in-law, one of his wives, and three of his children, besides great numbers of the Jews at different times and under different pretexts. The slaughter of the Innocents harmonized therefore with the diabolical character of this man of blood. It is likely that only a small number suffered. The masculine gender of the noun in the original, and the circumstances of the case indicate that none but male infants were killed. Bethlehem was not a large village, and it has been conjectured that the number of victims was somewhere between ten and fifty.-Coasts. Borders, adjacent places.-Two years old and under. Herod thought in this way to insure the destruction of the helpless babe that had stirred up his fear and wrath.-According to the time, &c. Not that he had been making inquiries for two years of the Magians, or had thus long awaited their return, but such as had entered upon the second year suffered together with those under that age, which would accord with the information he had derived from the wise men, and insure, as

he thought, the death of the distinguished child.

17. The grief of the mothers of Bethlehem, bereft of their infants, reminds Matthew of a parallel poetical scene in Jeremiah xxxi. 15. The description of the old prophet was fulfilled, or verified, or made good. In this manner the New Testament writers not unfrequently quote from the Old.

18. Rama. This was a city in the tribe of Benjanin, not far from Bethlehem in Judah. As Rachel was the mother of Benjamin, she is introduced as most nearly concerned in the calamities of her posterity. It is only by way of accommodation, that this passage, originally relating to what transpired in the tribe of Benjamin, when the Israelites were carried into captivity, is used to describe what took place in Judah in the days of Herod. There was great force and beauty in the introduction of this poetical figure, and it chimed exquisitely with the feelings and associations of the Jews, for whose special edification Matthew was writing.-Lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning. As if to express the abjectness of grief by adding word to word.-Rachel weeping for her children. The tears of the living were not enough to bewail their disasters. Jeremiah calls to his assistance those of the departed, and particularly of Rachel, whose tomb was in the route

they are not." But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the 19 Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying: Arise, and 20 take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel; for they are dead which sought the young child's life. And he arose, 21 and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea, in the 22 room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither; notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee. And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth; that it 23 might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets: He shall be called a Nazarene.

along which they were led captive to Babylon, and who is represented as rising from the dead to bewail the fate of her posterity. What

Jewish heart would not be thrilled by this allusion and quotation from Jeremiah by the Evangelist!—Because they are not. This is one among many instances of the touching simplicity characteristic of the Scriptures.

19. Herod was dead. The tyrant, after a reign of forty years, died of a horrible, loathsome disease. It seemed as if the pains of all he had killed were concentrated in his own person. Yet the ruling passion was strong even in death; and a few days before he expired he ordered his son Antipater to be executed, and imprisoned the chiefs of the Jewish nation, with the command, which happily was not executed, that they should all be destroyed, in order that sincere grief might be felt at his funeral. His kingdom was partitioned between his sons; Archelaus obtaining Judea, Samaria, and Idumea; Antipas, Galilee and Peræa; and Philip, Trachonitis, Gaulonitis, and Batanea.

20. They are dead. Either the plural is here used, as is sometimes the case, for the singular number, which is the opinion of Winer, and the idea is that Herod was dead,

the chief foe of Jesus; or that both Herod and his son Antipater, who was heir apparent to the throne, were dead.

21. Young child. The residence in Egypt did not extend probably beyond a few months.-The land of Israel. This comprised not only the dominions of Archelaus, but also Galilee and other provinces.

22. Archelaus. He succeeded to the throne by his father's will, and received the confirmation of his power from the Roman emperor, Augustus. He proved such a tyrant, that, being accused by the Jews to the emperor, he was banished, after a reign of seven years, to Vienne in Gaul, where he died.-He turned aside. Not so, but he went up, or went on, to Galilee; which was under the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas.

23. Nazareth. A small town in lower Galilee, situated in a hilly region; down one of the precipices of which its inhabitants endeavored to throw their townsman, Jesus Christ. Luke iv. 29. It is now a large village of three thousand inhabitants, and contains a convent and two churches.-The prophets. There is no place in the prophets still extant, where this precise saying occurs. The prophets, however, represented the coming One as a

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