Matthew 2:4

Matthew 2:4. All the chief-priests. Probably not a formal meeting of the Sanhedrin, since to this belonged the ‘elders' also, who are not mentioned here. Literally: ‘high priests.' It includes, besides the one actual high-priest, those who had held the office (for the Romans often transferred it, contrary to the Jewish law), and, perhaps, the heads of the twenty-four courses of priests.

Scribes of the people. The successors of Ezra, the official copyists of the Scriptures, who naturally became its expounders. These two classes were the proper ones to answer Herod's question.

Where the Christ should be born. An acknowledgment that the Messiah had been promised by God. Herod's subsequent cruelty was a defiance of God. The scribes knew the letter, but not the spirit of the Scripture. The Magi, with less knowledge but more faith, were nearer the truth. The indifference of the former was hostility in the germ.