Vv. 5-6. The answer oy the experts.— οἱ δὲ εἶπον, etc. This is not a Chris- tian opinion put into the mouth or the scribes. It was the answer to be ex-
measures, — καὶ
72
i here only. jin Heb.vii.
Il.
αὐτῷ, “Ev Βηθλεὲμ τῆς Ιουδαίας. οὕτω γὰρ γέγραπται διὰ τοῦ
5 is same προφήτου, 6. ‘Kai σύ, Βηθλεέμ, γῇ Ιούδα, ' οὐδαμῶς ἐλαχίστη ef
k Acts vii. 10. C/.Lk. xxii. 26.
1 John xxi.
16. Acts λάθρα 1 καλέσας τοὺς pdyous, τοῦ Φαινομένου ἀστέρος, 8. καὶ πέµψας αὐτοὺς εἰς Βηθλεὲμ εἶπε,
xx. 28. 1 Pet. v. 2. m here and
ἐν τοῖς ἡγεμόσιν Ιούδα" ἐκ god yap ἐξελεύσεται " ἡγούμενος, ὅστις | ποιμανεῖ τὸν λαόν µου τὸν Ισραήλ.”
7. Τότε Ἡρώδης, ” ἠκρίβωσε παρ) αὐτῶν τὸν χρόνον
in ver. 16.“ Πορευθέντες " ἀκριβῶς "ἐξετάσατε” περὶ τοῦ παιδίου " Ρ ἐπὰν δὲ
n Lk. i. 3
Acts xviii. εὕρητε, ἀπαγγείλατέ pot, ὅπως κἀγὼ ἐλθὼν προσκυνήσω αὐτῷ.” 25. ft
ochap. x. 11. John xxi. 12.
Thess. v. 2
| λαθρᾳ as in i. 19 in W.H.
p Lk. xi. 22, 34 (with aor. sub.).
* ekeracare ακριβως in BCD, which accords with Mt.’s usual order.
pected from them as reflecting the current opinion of the time. The Targum put upon the oracle in Micah a Messianic interpretation (Wetstein, and Winsche, Beitrage). Yet with the Talmudists the Messiah was the one who should come forth from a strange, unknown place (Weber, Die Lehren des Talmud, p. 342). Vide on this point Schanz, who quotes Schegg as denying the statement of Wetstein, and refers to Celsus as object- ing that this view about Messiah's birth- place was not current among the Jews. (Origen, c. Celsum, i. 51. Cf. John vii. 27, and 42.) ap Ύεγραπται, etc. : The Scripture pr that Messiah's birth-place was Bethlehem 1s taken from Micah v. 2. The oracle put into the mouth of the experts consulted by Herod receives its shape from the hand of the evangelist. It varies very considerably both from the origi Hebrew and from the Sept. The “least’’ becomes ‘“by no means the least,”’ “among the thousands" becomes ‘“‘among the princes,” and the closing clause, “ who shall rule my people Israel,’ departs from the prophetic oracle altogether, and borrows from 2 Sam. ν. 2, God's promise to David; the connecting link apparently being the poetic word de- scriptive of the kingly function common to the two places—wotpavet in Micah Vv. 3, ποιμανεῖς in 2 Sam. v. 2. The second variation arises from a different pointing of the same Hebrew word spon, by = among the thousands, Soya = among the heads of thousands. Such facts are to be taken as they stand. They do not cor-
respond to modern ideas of Scripture proof,
Vv. 7, 8. Herod's next step.—rére ‘H . κος ἀστέρος: τότε, frequent formula of transition with our evangelist, cf. vv. 16, 17; iv. 1, 5, Τα, ete. Herod wished to ascertain precisely when the child the Magi had come to worship was born, He assumed that the event would synchronise with the ascent of the star which the M seen in its rising, and which still continued to be seen
v). Therefore he made par- ticular inquiries ( ) as to the time of the s<sr, t.¢., the time of its first appearing. This was a blind, an affec- tation of t interest in all that related to the child, in whose destinies even the stars were involved.—Ver. 8. καὶ πέµψας . . . αὐτῷ: his hypocrisy went further. He bade the strangers go to Bethlehem, find out the whereabouts of the child, come back and tell him, that he also might go and worship Him. Worship, ie., murder! “Incredible motive!" (H.C.). Yes, as a real motive for a man like Herod, but not as a pretended one, and quite likely to be believed by these simple, guileless souls from the east.—épas εἶπε : the sending was synchronous with the directions accord- ing to De Wette, prior according to Meyer. It is a question of no importance here, but it is sometimes an important ques- tion in what relation the action