But we know this man, &c. We know that His parents are Joseph and Mary, and they themselves confessed elsewhere in general that they knew He was to be born in Bethlehem of the seed of David. But these were the words of the ignorant people, who thought that Christ would suddenly appear to the world from unknown ancestors, that He would remain hid in Bethlehem for a long time, or else be carried away to a distance, be there brought up to man's estate, and then appear unexpectedly in Judea. Other strange myths were invented concerning Him, derived mainly from wrong interpretations of Isaiah 53:8; Hebrews 7:3; Micah 5:2, and Psalms 109:3 (see Vulg.), "Before the morning star I begat Thee from the womb:" all which passages should be understood of His divine and not of His human nature. But the Jews considered Him a mere man, and thought that He had been begotten from eternity in Bethlehem. On which account Christ teaches them that they knew His human, but not His divine origin. So Toletus and others.

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Old Testament