ἡμέραις Ηρώδου τοῦ βασιλέως, ἰδού, "μάγοι ἀπὸ " ἀνατολῶν
6ο
Π , 9 : Fi
loudaias, ἐνα again in
NV aren XO
(bis), Acts xiii. 6, 8. b chap. viii 11° xxiv. 27. Lk. xiii. 29
δὲ in ver. 1, as in i. 18, is adversative only to the extent of taking the attention off one topic and fixing it on another connected and kindred. This, according to Klotz, who regards δὲ as a weak form of δὴ, is the original force of the particle. He says (in Devarius, p. 355): ‘‘Illa pazticula eam vim habet, ut abducat nos ab ea re, quae proposita est, transferat- que ad id quod, missa illa priore re, jam pro vero ponendum esse videatur”’.
Vv. 1-12. Visit of the Magi. Ver. 1, ἐν Βηθλεμ: The first hint of the birthplace, and no hint that Bethle- hem is not the home of the family.— τῆς Ἰουδαίας: to distinguish it from another Bethlehem in Galilee (Zebulon), named in Joshua xix. 15. Our Bethle- hem is called Bethlehem-Judah in 1 Sam. xvii. 12, and Jerome thought it shouid 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 neighbour- hood ; about six miles south of Jerusalem. —é€v 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 ap- pointed 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.—t6ov payou: “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 ele ment 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 for- tunes of individuals and peoples. The
79
ς Acts xiii. 14 (in
sor βασιλεὺς τῶν Ιουδαίων ; d vv. 7,9, 10; xxiv. 29. 1 Cor. xv. 41.
ho of the Gentiles could not be offered by worthier representatives, in whom power, wisdom, and also error, superstition meet.—pdyo. ἀπὸ ἀνατ.
., Magi from the east came—so the words must be connected: “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 com- mentators 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 word for Magi to come from on this errand.—ds ‘I vpa: they arrived at Jerusalem, the capital, the natural place for stran to come to, the precise spot connected with their errand to be determinea by further inquiry. Note the Greek form of the name, usual with Matthew, Mark and John. In Luke, the Hebrew form “Ἱερονσαλὴμ is ͵ Beforehand, one would have expected the first evangelist writing for Jews to have used the Hebrew form, and the Pauline evangelist the Greek.
Ver. 2, ποῦ .. . ᾿Ἰονδαίων: the Ἱπ- quiry of the Magi. It is very laconic, combining an assertion with a question. The assertion is contained in Gels. That a king of the Jews had been born was their inference from the star they had seen, and what they said was in effect thus: that a king has been born somewhere in this land we know from a star we have seen arising, and we desire to know where he can be found: “‘insigne hoc concisae orationis exemplum,” Fritzsche. The Messianic hope of the Jews, and the aspiration after world-wide dominion connected with it, were known to the outside world, according to the testimony of non-Christian writers such as Josephus and Tacitus. The visit of the Magi in quest of the new-born king is not in- credible.—eiSopev . . . ἐν TH ἀνατολῇῃ, we saw His star in its rising, not in the east, as in A. V., the plural being used for that in ver. 1. Always on the outlook, no heavenly phenomenon escaped them; it was visible as soon as it appeared above the horizon.—éerépa, what was this celestial portent? Was it phenomenal