2. The historical value of the narrative has been frequently impugned, the principal objections being as follows. The account of the Magi is found in the First Gospel only, and is not corroborated by either Lk. or Josephus or smj pagan liistorian. (The references in Macrobius, Sat. ii. 4. 11, and Chalcidius, Tim. 7. 126, cannot be regarded as in- dependent evidence). Moreover, it is not easy to see how Mt.'s narrative can Ije harmonized with that of Luke. ^lany of the details, again, are suspicious ; the conduct of Herod, as here repre- sented, seems inexplicable (Meyer, in loc. ). Finally, the story in general is vague, and on a priori grounds may even be held to be improbable. These objections are not without force. Doubtless too niucli stress has been laid on the absence of con- firmatory evidence, and the argument from the silence of Josephus can scarcely be sustained (Edersheim, i. pp. 214, 215; Trench, p. 102 tf. I. The difficulties in connexion with Herods attitude have also teen overestimated CWeiss. i. p. 269). Yet the divergence between Mt. and Lk., though certainly not incapable of explanation (Ellicoitt, Huls. Lert. p. 70), is sufficiently serious ; and the positive eWdence for the truth of the nan-ative is slender. It may be urged, liowever. that there is no reason for denying the existence in the nan-ative of at least a substratum of historical fact, though possibly the facts have been treated with a cer-
tain amount of freedom. Such a view, at any rate, appears to account for the story better than any rationalistic explanation hitherto put forward.
Of these attempted explanations the most important may briefly be summarized, (o) The older scliool of critics sought for the basis of the history mainly in the prophecies of the OT. Thus Strauss laid great stress on Xu 24i^, while Keim empha- sized Is 60. From these and other prophetical passages (e.ij. Is 9^ 42« 49»>- ", Ps 6S-^- 31 7210), supplemented possibly by Jewish or pagan tradition, the Evangelist is supposed to have built up his storj\ But it is incredible that the liistory could have been constructed from such material, or that sucli a fulfilment could ha\ e been deliberately devised for prophecies which at the time were understood to ha\e so different a significance (Mei-slieim, i. p. 2o9). Moreover, it should be noted that ' the Evangelist who at other times searches zealously for the fulfii- ment of OT predictions, nowhere refei-s in this narrative to one of these prophetical passages, from wliicli it is said to have arisen (Weiss, i. p. 267). Qj) A different, and very fanciful ex- planation has been offered by W. Soltau, Usener, and others (Soltau, Birth of Jesus Christ ; Usener in Encyc. Bill. art. ' Nativity,' cf. his lieligiotisgeschichtliche Untersuchungen, i. ' Das Weihnachtsfest '). According to this, Mt.'s account is the outcome parti}' of tlie operation of heathen superstitious ideas, partly of the transformation of a storj' recorded by Dio Cassius and Pliny. Thus, for the incident of the star, Soltau appeals to the A\idesi)read belief that such portents were manifested in connexion with the birth and death of kings and heroes (for instances see Wetstem, in loc.; Winer, Biblisehes RealicHrter- hiich, vol. ii. p. 613) ; and, for the Massacre of the Innocents, Usener refers to the story of Marathus concerning the birth of Augustus (Suet. Aug. 94). The visit of the Magi is represented as a Christian transformation of the story related by Dio and Pliny about the visit of Tiridates and his Magians to" Nero (see the passages quoted by Soltau, op. cit. pp. 7S, 74). In the year A.n. 66 the Parthian king Tiridates, the i'?gus, bringing other Magi with him, journeyed to Rome, worshipped Xero as the sun-god Mithra, and afterwards travelled home by another way through the cities of Asia. Xow to the Christians of the East Xero was Antichrist : hence it is argued t";.ut just as. in the early legends, the miraculous events of Christ's fife vcre trans- ferred to Antichrist, so the story of being wcrsb'.-fpefl by ilagi ma\- have been transferred from the Antl^iirist Sero to the Christ. The whole narration of the Magi, then, Soitau dis misses as an insertion ' of Hellenistic origir: ' (o;). cV p. 49). But he does not explain how this insertion received io char- acteristic a Jewish form, or why such a]ie>: elenient* should have ' crystallized themselves in just tbe most ;ii.-;vkedly Jewish part of the Xew Testament, while they are passed over in silence elsewhere' (Interpreter, Jan 1906, pp. 19,5- 207). On the whole it is easier to supple'-- rhat the events recorded actually took place, than to believe the far-fetched explanations of them offered by Soltau and Vsener. (c) Other critics, again, resort to a mythological sob't'-on, and regard the adoration of the Magi and the attenda".T events as ' not history, but pious transformations of current mythic stories.' Reville believes that it was suggested by the Miihraic legend, though he admits that the supposition is incapable of proof (Etudes publiees en hnrnmage d la faculte de theologie de .1/o«<auAaH, 1901, p. 339 ff.). Pfleiderer and Cheyne maintain that the star, the worship of the wise men, and the persecution of the Hol.v Cliild have many protot.viies in tales concerning heroes of old, and belong to a pre-Christian international myth of the Redeemer (Pfleiderer, Early Christian Conception of Christ ; Cheyne, Bible Problems) ; on which it mav be re- marked that although striking parallels can undoubtedly be produced, yet resemblances do not necessarily presuppose an imitation, (d) Another suggestion is that the narrative ex- hibits the characteristic features of Je\vish Midrash or Hag- gada, and is governed by an apologetic purpose. The writer's object is to show that the prophecy of Dt 1S15 was fulfilled in Jesus, and he endeavours to do this by drawing a parallel between the early career of Moses and that of the Christian Messiah (see the iiidrash Rabbd to Exoflus in the section which deals with the birth of Moses, and cf. Jos. Ant. ii. ix. 2). Jesus is throughout represented as the antit}-pe of Jloses. This is the underl.\ing motive of the narrative, to which mav be added another influential idea, viz. the desire to suggest the homage of the Gentile world (G. H. Box in Interpreter, loc. cit.). The simplicit.v of the Gospel story, however, seems to be at variance with this hj-pothesis.