Matthew 2:1

ἐν Βηθλεὲμ : The first hint of the birthplace, and no hint that Bethlehem is not the home of the family. τῆς Ἰουδαίας : to distinguish it from another Bethlehem in Galilee (Zebulon), named in Joshua 19:15. Our Bethlehem is called Bethlehem-Judah in 1 Samuel 17:12, and Jerome thought it should be so written here Bethlehem of Judah, not of Judaea, taking the latter for the name of the whole nation. The name means “house of bread,” and points to the fertility of the neighbourhood; about six miles south of Jerusalem. ἐν ἡμέραις, “in the days,” a very vague indication of time. Luke aims at more exactness in these matters. It is enough for our evangelist to indicate that the birth of Jesus fell within the evil time represented by Herod. A name of evil omen; called the Great; great in energy, in magnificence, in wickedness; a considerable personage in many ways in the history of Israel, and of the world. Not a Jew, his father Antipater an Edomite, his mother an Arabian the sceptre has departed from Judah through the influence of Antony appointed King of Judaea by the Roman senate about forty years before the birth of Christ. The event here recorded therefore took place towards the close of his long reign; fit ending for a career blackened with many dark deeds. ἰδοὺ μάγοι : “Behold!” introducing in a lively manner the new theme, and a very different class of men from the reigning King of Judaea. Herod, Magi; the one representing the ungodly element in Israel, the other the best element in the Gentile world; Magi, not kings as the legend makes them, but having influence with kings, and intermeddling much by astrological lore with the fortunes of individuals and peoples. The homage of the Gentiles could not be offered by worthier representatives, in whom power, wisdom, and also error, superstition meet. μάγοι ἀπὸ ἀνατ. παρεγ., Magi from the east came so the words must be connected: not “came from the east”; from the east, the land of the sunrise; vague indication of locality. It is vain to inquire what precise country is meant, though commentators have inquired, and are divided into hostile camps on the point: Arabia, Persia, Media, Babylon, Parthia are some of the rival suggestions. The evangelist does not know or care. The east generally is the suitable part of the world for Magi to come from on this errand. εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα : they arrived at Jerusalem, the capital, the natural place for strangers to come to, the precise spot connected with their errand to be determined by further inquiry. Note the Greek form of the name, usual with Matthew, Mark and John. In Luke, the Hebrew form Ἱερουσαλὴμ is used. Beforehand, one would have expected the first evangelist writing for Jews to have used the Hebrew form, and the Pauline evangelist the Greek.