ὀπαρεγένοντο eis Ἱεροσόλυμα, 2. λέγοντες, “Mod ἐστὶν ὁ τεχθεὶς εἴδομεν γὰρ αὐτοῦ τὸν " ἀστέρα ἐν τῇ
only? an appearance in the heavens miraculously produced to guide the wise men to Judaea and Bethlehem; or a real astronomical object, a rare con- junction of planets, or a new star appearing, and invested by men addicted to astrology with a certain significance ; or mythical, neither a miraculous nor a natural phenomenon, but a creation of the religious imagination working on slender κα such as the Star of Jacob in Balaam's prophecies? All these views
have been hel Some of the fathers, especially C tom, advocated the first, vis., that it Ww > @ star, not φύσει, but Spa µόνον. H. \asons were such
as these : it moved from north to south; it appeared in the daytime while the sun shone; it appeared and disappeared ; it descended down to the house where the child lay, and so indicated the spot, which could not be done by a star in the sky (Hom. vi.). Some modern com- mentators have laid under contribution the pling ay ο. of astronomers, and supposed the ἀστήρ to have been one of several rare conjunctions of planets occurring about the beginning of our era or a comet observed in China. Vide the elaborate note in Alford’s Greek Testament. The third view is in favour with students of comparative religion and of criticism, who lay stress on the tact that in ancient times the appearance of a star was ted at the birth of all great men ( Wette), and who expect mythological elements in the N. T. as well as in the Old. (Vide Fritzsche, Strauss, L. ¥., and Holtzmann inH.C.) These diverse theories will pro- bably always find their abettors; the Fest among the devout to whom the mirac- ulous is no stumbling-block, the second those who while accepting the miraculous desire to reduce it to a min- imum, or at least to avoid its unneces- sary extension, the third among men of naturalistic proclivities. I do not profess to be able to settle the question. 1 content myself with expressing general acquiescence in the idea thrown out by Spinoza in his discussion on prophecy in the Tractatus theologico-politicus, that in the case of the Magi we have an instance of a sign given, to the false opinions of men, to guide them to the truth. The whole system
2---δ.
© ἀνατολῇ, καὶ ἤλθομεν προσκυνῆσαι αὐτῷ. 3. "Ἠρώδης 6 βασιλεὺς 1 ΄ ἐταράχθη, καὶ πᾶσα ἹἹεροσόλυμα pet αὐτοῦ " 4. καὶ ” συναγαγὼν πάντας τοὺς ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ γραμματεῖς τοῦ λαοῦ, ; »éxuvOdveto Tap αὐτῶν, ποῦ 6 Χριστὸς γεννᾶται. Ε chap. xxii. 10. John xi. 47. ‘Acts xiv. 37.
iii. 14.
19 βασιλευς Ηρωδης in BDZ.
to that in ver. 1. Σειπαν in