Matthew 2:3

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Matthew 2:1-12

1. The prophecy about Bethlehem 2:1-12 The Old Testament not only predicted how Messiah would be born (Matthew 1:18-25) but where He would be born (Matthew 2:1-12). read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Matthew 2:1-23

C. The King’s childhood ch. 2There is nothing in chapter 2 that describes Jesus Himself. Therefore Matthew’s purpose was not simply to give the reader information about Jesus’ childhood. Rather he stressed the reception that the Messiah received having entered the world. The rulers were hostile, the Jewish religious leaders were indifferent, but the Gentiles welcomed and worshipped Him. These proved to be typical responses throughout Jesus’ ministry, as Matthew’s Gospel reveals. This literary... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Matthew 2:3-6

This news troubled Herod because he was very aware of the Jews’ desire to throw off the Roman yoke and his own rule in particular. Remember Pharaoh’s fear for his throne that also led to infanticide. Herod was an Edomite, a descendant of Esau, and the prospect of a Jewish Messiah’s appearance was one he could not ignore. The rest of Jerusalem’s citizens became disturbed because they realized that this news from the Magi might lead Herod to take further cruel action against them. This is what... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 2:1-23

The Wise Men1-12. The star in the east and the visit of the Magi (peculiar to St. Matthew). The incident fits well into secular history. About the time when the star appeared (7 or 6 b.c.), Herod the Great, being alarmed by a prophecy that the royal power was about to pass away from him and his line, put the authors of it to death. It is evident, therefore, that the announcement by the wise men that Herod’s supplanter in the kingdom had actually been born, would drive him to violent measures.... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Matthew 2:3

(3) Herod the king.—When the Magi reached Jerusalem, the air was thick with fears and rumours, The old king (the title had been given by the Roman Senate in B.C. 40) was drawing to the close of his long and blood-stained reign. Two years before he had put to death, on a charge of treason, his two sons by Mariamne, his best-loved wife, through sheer jealousy of the favour with which the people looked on them. At the time when this history opens, his eldest son, Antipater, was under condemnation.... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Matthew 2:1-23

Matthew 2:1 See, on the earlier part of this chapter, Mrs. Browning's striking poem, 'Christmas Gifts'. Savonarola, after quoting verses 1 and 2 in one of his sermons, proceeds to harangue the Florentines as follows: 'Mark the words and observe the mysteries. Behold then that He by whom all things were made is this day born upon earth. Behold He that is above all things begins by having a native land; He begins as the compatriot of men, the companion of men, the brother of men, and the son of... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Matthew 2:1-23

Chapter 2His Reception - Matthew 2:1-23THIS one chapter contains all that St. Matthew records of the Infancy. St. Mark and St. John tell us nothing, and St. Luke very little. This singular reticence has often been remarked upon, and it certainly is most noteworthy, and a manifest sign of genuineness and truthfulness: a token that what these men wrote was in the deepest sense not their own. For if they had been left to themselves in the performance of the task assigned them, they could not have... read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Matthew 2:1-23

2. The King Worshipped by Gentiles; Jerusalem in Ignorance of Him; the Child Persecuted. 1. The Visit of the Wise Men.(Matthew 2:1-12 .) 2. The Flight into Egypt. (Matthew 2:13-18 .) 3. The Return from Egypt. (Matthew 2:19-23 .) CHAPTER 2 The second chapter in Matthew relates events which are nowhere else recorded in the Gospels. For this reason, and this is the only reason, the authenticity of the chapter has been doubted more than once. All that which the second chapter contains belongs... read more

John Calvin

Geneva Study Bible - Matthew 2:3

2:3 When Herod the king had heard [these things], he was {c} troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.(c) Was much moved, for he was a foreigner, and became ruler by force; and the Jews were troubled; for wickedness is mad and raging. read more

L.M. Grant

L. M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 2:1-23

The deeply interesting account of Gabriel's announcement to Mary that she would be the mother of her Lord, the details as to His birth in Bethlehem, the visit of the shepherds to the manger in which He lay (Luke 1:1-80; Luke 2:1-52) are not found at all in Matthew; for these, though of engrossing personal interest, are not of importance in an official way. We shell see in chapter 2 however that the visit of the wise men from the east was of a much different character, that affected the... read more