The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 44

woulu give the impression the.t Josoph had (Rheims). On this word see cspccinlly hnd no prc,ious connexion with Nazareth. Schrader (' Cuneiform Inscriptions and the But about the pince where Joseph and l\Inry Old Testnment ') on Jcr. xxxix. 3. He con- lin,d b,,forc the birth of Jesus the crnngc- siders it to be in origin not Imnio.n (Medo- list did not concern himself ( cf. vcr. 23, Pcrsian ), but Ilabylonio.n, and to ho.ve note). Of Judiea. For tlie evangelist's primarily meant either " one who is deep pnrpose it was most importo.nt so to define whether in powor nud reputation or in it as to exclude Bethlehem of Zelmlnn insight," or one "·ho has fulness of power. (Josh. xix. 15). The inhabitants of Beth- It WIU!, perhaps, at first used with special lehem of Jud~a, n market town of a fruitful reference to astrologers and interpreters of (Ephratah) district., live chiefly by agricul- dreams, and, passing from Babylonia to ture, but also for se,eral centuries have Medin, it became the n:i.me of the Median manufactured imagrs of saints, rosaries, and priestly order. In the latter sense it is fs.nc, articles. Since 1834 it has been probably used here. In Acts xiii. 6-8 it, almost exclusively occupied by Christians apparently by reversion, is used in its wider (Sooin's • H:edekcr,' p. 243, ~eq.). From" the meaning. Of the number and rank of those House of Bread" came forth" the true Bread." who now came absolutely nothing is known. In the days of Herod the king. Hero,l the Of greater importance is Cicero's statement Great and Herod Agrippa II. (Acts xxv. 13) (' De Div.,'i. 41), "Nee quiequam rex Perea.• alone held the legal title of" king" for any rum potest esse, qui non ante magorum dis- time (but cf. eh. xiv. 1, note)-the former o.s ci plinam scientiamque perceperit." These King of the Jews (Josephus,• Bell. Jud.,' i. Magi spontaneously submit to the Babe. 14. 4 ), or King "of the Idumroans and. Sama- From tlte East. The proper home of the ritans" (Appian,' Civ., v. 75; vide Schiirer, Magi would thus be l\Iedia, and, from the i. I. 340), by a decree of an express meeting length of time employed on their journey of the Roman senate, n.c. 40; the latter by (ver. 16), it is probable that by "the East" Claudius's appointment, as king first of we must here understand Media. or some Cha.leis (A.D. 48--53) and afterwards (A.D. other part of the kingdom of Partltia, into 53--100) of the tetrarchies of Philip nnd which Media had been mostly absorbed, Lysanias (Josephw, 'Bell. Juel,' ii. 12. 8; and in which, in fact, the l\Iagi were now 13. 2), although Herod Antipas was so g-reatly honoured. Many, however(e.g. Light- spoken of by courtesy (infra, eh. xiv. 9). As foot, 'Hor. Hehr.'; and Edershei.m, ' Life,' the de.te of Agrippa H. is quite out of the etc., L 203, who points out that e. Jewish question, we are almost compelled by this 1.-ingclom of Yemen then existed), think that phrase alone to recognize the date of Christ's these Magi came from Arnbia; and with this birth as falling in the lifetime of Herod the the tradition, evidently received by Justin Great. Herod. the Great died in the spring :ll'[artyr and frequently refe1Ted to by him of A.U.c. 750, our B.c. 4 (Schurer, i. 1. 466), (ol lnro 'Appa.{Jla.s Mcl;,o,, 'Trypho,' §§ 77, 78, end as our Lord was born at least forty days 88, 102; cf. Resch, 'Agrapha,' p. 471 ), per• earlier, for the purification in the temple haps agrees. But Justin'a own opinion was must have taken place before Herod's that they came from Damascus, which" was massacre of the innocents, he cannot hnve e.ud is a, part of the land of Arabi:i." (§ 78). been born later tLnn the very beginning of It is noticeo.ble that J nstin's tradition is B.C. 4, or the end of n.c. 5. Indeed, upon confirmed by the Jerusalem Talmud(' Iler.,' the most natural deduction from ver. lG, he ii. 4), which makes e.n "Aro.bian" tell o. Jew must have been born some months earlier. that Messiah is born. The whole passage is The Church, from the days of Justin Martyr worth quotiug for its illustration of several .(' Ap.,' L 32), has loved to see in the aboli- details in this chapter. '' After this the tion by Rome of the kingdom of the Jews children of Isrnel shall be con vertcd, and at the death of Herod, or of its native shall inquire after the Lord thei.t- God, and dynasty by Herod's usurpation (Origen, David their king (Hos. iii. 5). Our rabbins • Gen. Hom.,' xvii. G), the fulfilment of say, 'That is King Meosins, if he be o.mong Jacob's prophecy (Gen. xli.x. 10). Behold, the living, his name is Do.vid, or if dead, there oe.me Wise Men from the East. The David is liis name.' Rabbi Tanchum said, true order, e.s giveu in the Revised Version, ''fhus I prove it: He showeth mercy to lays the emphasis on the office, and in a David his Messiah' (Pa. xviii. 50). Rabbi subordinate degree on the home of the Josun ben Levi saith, 'His name is no~, o. etraugers- Wise Men from the East came. Branch (Zech. iii. 8).' Tinbbi Judon bar '.rhis translation also hints at the full Aibu saith, 'His name is llfonnhem (that i.:., meaning of the verb (..-a.pe-y{vo,,.,-o), of which nap&.1<1'.11-ros, the Comforter).' And that the connoto.tion is not of the place a quo, which happened too. certain Jew, a2 he was but of the puLlici ty of their appearance at ploughiug, agrecth with this business. A the place in quo (cf. eh. iii. I). Wise Men (Mcl- certain Arabian travelling, and heo.ring -;,o,); "astromyens" (Wickliffe); "sages" 1.ile ox bellow, Enid to the Jow o.t plough, 011. u. l-23.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 31