THE WISE MEN FROM THE EAST. v. 1. NOW WHEN JESUS WAS BORN IN BETHLEHEM OF JUDEA, IN THE DAYS OF HEROD THE KING. The transition which the evangelist employs fitly connects the narrative of the circumstances surrounding the birth of the Savior with the story of the adoration of the Magi. It is an acc... [ Continue Reading ]
SAYING, WHERE IS HE THAT IS BORN KING OF THE JEWS? FOR WE HAVE SEEN HIS STAR IN THE EAST, AND ARE COME TO WORSHIP HIM. There was an assertion contained in their question. Their knowledge was definite as to His having been born. It was a fact beyond question or discussion. A Child has been born that... [ Continue Reading ]
The message of the Magi was brief:... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN HEROD THE KING HAD HEARD THESE THINGS, HE WAS TROUBLED, AND ALL JERUSALEM WITH HIM. The consternation of Herod may be explained in two ways. As king, because of his position as king, Herod was troubled. Having himself reached his position of ruling sovereign by methods which were not at all uno... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN HE HAD GATHERED ALL THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND SCRIBES OF THE PEOPLE TOGETHER, HE DEMANDED OF THEM WHERE CHRIST SHOULD BE BORN. Not the entire Sanhedrin, or Great Council of the Jewish people, for that included also the elders, many of whom Herod had put to death, but the chief priests, the pres... [ Continue Reading ]
Herod's measures to meet the emergency:... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SAID UNTO HIM, IN BETHLEHEM OF JUDEA; FOR THUS IT IS WRITTEN BY THE PROPHET,... [ Continue Reading ]
a. And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah. Their opinion was given without hesitation; it reflected the current opinion and agreed with Talmudic tradition. In their Scriptural proof they do not quote the Old Testament passage literally, but combine the... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN HEROD, WHEN HE HAD PRIVILY CALLED THE WISE MEN, ENQUIRED OF THEM DILIGENTLY WHAT TIME THE STAR APPEARED. It was a secret conference, just fitting in with his political trickery. Had he made his inquiries in a public reception, his own courtiers might have become suspicious, but the unsuspectin... [ Continue Reading ]
Herod carried out his scheme: 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. Eager for the success of his plans, he nevertheless manages to make his guileless visitors feel that he has nothing but the favorable... [ Continue Reading ]
In simple trustfulness, the Magi proceed to act according to the king's words: 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 WAS. They left Jerusalem, apparently all alone and with only... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THEY SAW THE STAR, THEY REJOICED WITH EXCEEDING GREAT JOY. They were overjoyed. Their long journey was successful. their arduous quest was ended. The most intense gladness, a fairly ecstatic delight, took possession of them, as the evangelist expresses it. At once they carried out the purpose... [ Continue Reading ]
The effect of its appearance upon the Magi;... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THEY WERE COME INTO THE HOUSE, THEY SAW THE YOUNG CHILD WITH MARY, HIS MOTHER, AND. FELL DOWN, AND WORSHIPED HIM. So vivid is Matthew's description that the words fairly gush forth in a joyful stream. The Magi saw with their own eyes Him whom they had longed to behold, the Child, the Messi... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew concludes the narrative of the adoration: AND BEING WARNED OF GOD IN A DREAM THAT THEY SHOULD NOT RETURN TO HEROD, THEY DEPARTED INTO THEIR OWN COUNTRY ANOTHER WAY. Here is another instance of divine intervention to frustrate the bloodthirsty designs of Herod toward the Savior. It does not a... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT AND THE RETURN TO NAZARETH. One part of Herod's plan had not worked out: the Magi did not return to reveal the exact whereabouts of the Child. Now the Lord also foiled the design against the Child's life. AND WHEN THEY WERE DEPARTED, BEHOLD, THE ANGEL OF THE LORD APPEARETH TO... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN HE AROSE, HE TOOK THE YOUNG CHILD AND HIS MOTHER BY NIGHT, AND DEPARTED INTO EGYPT:... [ Continue Reading ]
Joseph again was obedient to the angel's word:... [ Continue Reading ]
and was there until the death of Herod; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called My Son. Matthew relates the carrying out of the command in the very words in which the angel had spoken them in order to show the obedient spirit of Jose... [ Continue Reading ]
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 DILIGENTLY ENQUIRED OF THE WISE MEN. The evangelist, afte... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN WAS FULFILLED THAT WHICH WAS SPOKEN BY JEREMY THE PROPHET, SAYING,... [ Continue Reading ]
Here again there is the fulfillment, not of a literal, but of a typical prophecy:... [ Continue Reading ]
In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. The passage as penned by the prophet, Jeremiah 31:15, is the narration of a vision with reference to the deportation of Israel into captiv... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT WHEN HEROD WAS DEAD, BEHOLD, AN ANGEL OF THE LORD APPEARETH IN A DREAM TO JOSEPH IN EGYPT,... [ Continue Reading ]
The evangelist now returns to the story of the Savior:... [ Continue Reading ]
saying, Arise, and 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. Herod died at Jericho in the year 750 after the founding of Rome. And his son Antipater, heir apparent to the throne, who had inherited his father's cruel d... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE AROSE, AND TOOK THE YOUNG CHILD AND HIS MOTHER, AND CAME INTO THE LAND OF ISRAEL. But when he reached Judea, a new danger confronted him, causing his fears to be renewed:... [ Continue Reading ]
Joseph lost no time in obeying the command:... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT WHEN HE HEARD THAT ARCHELAUS DID REIGN IN JUDEA IN THE ROOM OF HIS FATHER HEROD, HE WAS AFRAID TO GO THITHER. Herod, indeed, was dead, but Augustus had divided his kingdom among his three sons. Archelaus obtained Judea, Idumea, and Samaria, with the designation of ethnarch; Herod Antipas, Galile... [ Continue Reading ]
B. 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 might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene. So Joseph returned to his former city, which had also been Mary'... [ Continue Reading ]