CHALT Rey:
1. Bethlehem. Hebrew, House of Bread, probably from its fertility. The birthplace of him who calls himself the Bread of Life (John vi. 35), and identified with the history of his human ancestry through Ruth, who was here married to Boaz, and was the ancestress of David (i. 5, 6), and through David himself, who was born there, and anointed king by Samuel (com-
pare Luke ii. 11, cvty of David).
Wise men, or Magi (udyor). Wycliffe renders kings. A priestly caste among the Persians and Medes, which occupied itself principally with the secrets of nature, astrology, and medicine. Daniel became president of such an order in Baby- Jon (Dan. ii. 48). The word became transferred, without dis- tinction of country, to all who had devoted themselves to those sciences, which were, however, frequently accompanied with the practice of magic and jugglery ; and, under the form magz- cian, it has come to be naturalized in many of the languages of Europe. Many absurd traditions and guesses respecting these visitors to our Lord’s cradle have found their way into popular belief and into Christian art. They were said to be kings, and
20 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Cu. II.
three in number; they were said to be representatives of the three families of Shem, Ham, and Japhet, and therefore one of them is pictured as an Ethiopian; their names are given as Caspar, Balthasar, and Melchior, and their three skulls, said to have been discovered in the twelfth century by Bishop Reinald of Cologne, are exhibited in a priceless casket in the great cathedral of that city.
9, The east (dvaron}). Literally, the rzsing. Some com-- mentators prefer to render at dts risong, or when tt rose. In Luke i. 78, the word is translated dayspring, or dawn. The kindred verb occurs in Matt. iv. 16, “Slight did spring up”
(avérevdev).
4, All the chief priests. Weshould expect only one chief priest to be mentioned ; but the office had become a lucrative one, and frequently changed hands. A rabbi is quoted as say- ing that the first temple, which stood abont four hundred and ten years, had only eighteen high-priests from first to last; - while the second temple, which stood four hundred and twenty years, had more than three hundred high-priests. The refer- ence here is not to a meeting of the Sanhedrim, since the elders, who are not mentioned, belonged to this; but to an extraordi- nary convocation of all the high-priests and learned men. LBe- sides the high-priest in actual office, there might be others who had been his predecessors, and who continued to bear the name, and in part the dignity. It may possibly have included the heads of the twenty-four courses of priests.
6. Land of Judah. To distinguish it from Bethlehem in the territory of Zebulon.
Shall be shepherd of (aovuave), from rouuyv, a shepherd. So Rev., rightly, instead of shall rude. The word involves the whole office of the shepherd—guiding, guarding, folding, as well as feeding. Hence appropriate and often applied to the guides and guardians of others. Homer calls kings “ the shep- herds of the people.” To David the people said, “The Lord
Cu. IL] MATTHEW. 21
said to thee, Thou shalt feed (as a shepherd) my people Israel ” (2 Sam. v. 2; compare Ps. Ixxviii. 70-72). God is often called a shepherd (Gen. xlviii. 15; Ps. xxiii. 1; Ixxvii. 20; Ixxx. 1; Isa. xl. 11; Ezek. xxxiv. 11-31). Jesus calls himself the good shepherd (John x. 11). Peter, who is bidden by Jesus to shep- herd his sheep (John xxi. 16, zro{wawve, Rev., tend), calls him the Shepherd of Souls (1 Pet. ii. 25), and the Chief Shepherd (1 Pet. v. 4); and in the Epistle to the Hebrews (xiii. 20), he is styled the great Shepherd of the sheep. In Apoe. ii. 27, rude is literally to shepherd (compare xix. 15); but Christ will shep- herd his enemies, not with the pastoral crook, but with a sceptre of iron. Finally, Jesus will perpetuate this name and office in heaven among his redeemed ones, for “the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall be their shepherd (Apoce. vii. 17, Rev.). In this verse the word governor is in harmony with the idea of shepherding, since the word 7yovpevos originally means one who goes before, or leads the way, and suggests Christ’s words about the good shepherd in Jolin x. 3, 4: “He calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. . . . He goeth before them, and the sheep follow him.”