Matthew 2:1

§ 13. COMING OF THE MAGI, Matthew 2:1-10 .

1. In Bethlehem of Judea Called in the Old Testament Bethlehem-Judah, to distinguish it from Bethlehem of the tribe of Zebulun. The name Bethlehem anciently signified the town or house of bread; in modern Arabic it seems to signify the house or place of flesh.

Bethlehem was noted as the scene of the Book of Ruth; and at this day, as then, the fields of wheat abound, and the reaper is accustomed to leave a remnant for the gleaner, who is often a maiden like Ruth. It was still more noted as the birthplace of David, who here spent his boyhood, and from hunting the bear and the lion in the neighbouring caves and gorges, grew up to be a warrior against wicked men. But its chief note arises from its being the birthplace of David’s illustrious descendant, the Lord Jesus, whose birth the evangelist is now narrating.

Bethlehem is situated upon the summit of the hill country of Judea, from which it commands an extensive prospect eastward toward Jordan, and westward toward the Mediterranean. It is about six miles south of Jerusalem, on the road toward Hebron. It contains at the present time about 4,000 inhabitants, chiefly Christians of the Greek Church, who obtain much of their subsistence from the sale of relics to pilgrims and visitors. A cave is shown as the place in which the birth of the Saviour occurred. But there is little reason to suppose from the sacred narratives that the birthplace was a cave. The Church of the Nativity, which marks the traditional spot, is a venerable piece of architecture, built probably by the Empress Helena.

Judea Palestine, as lying between the Mediterranean on the west, and Jordan, with its lakes or seas, upon the east, was divided into three provinces, Galilee, Samaria, and Judea. Of these three, Judea was the most southerly. It lay mainly between the Dead Sea and Mediterranean. The name Judea is derived from the patriarch Judah, to whose tribe a large share of the territory belonged. It is the scene of the most important events of old Jewish history. Most of our Saviour’s ministry transpired in Galilee. But points of intense interest in his ministry, as well as the solemn close of his earthly mission, took place at the celebrated capital of Judea, Jerusalem.

The surface of Judea is distinguished into hill-country, valley, and plain. The mountain, or hill-country of Judea, was that broad back of mountains which cuts the centre of the country from Hebron northward to beyond Jerusalem. The plain was the low country extending toward the coast of the Mediterranean. The vale is defined as extending from Engedi to Jericho, and appears to have included such parts of the Ghor, or great plain of the Jordan, as lay within the territory of Judea. That which is called the wilderness of Judea was the wild and inhospitable region lying eastward of Jerusalem, in the direction of the Jordan and Dead Sea.

Herod the king In our note on Matthew 1:17, we slightly traced the history of the last fourteen generations of the Jewish nation to the time of Herod, called, or rather miscalled the Great, in the closing part of whose reign the Messiah was born. This Herod was the son of Antipater, a distinguished Idumean general, who, by his own bravery and the favour of the Romans, had obtained supreme power over his native Idumea, and great authority in Judea. At the early age of fifteen, Herod was placed in command in Galilee, where he distinguished himself by his bravery, talent, and personal popularity. By these same qualities and the favour of the Romans he became king of Judea, a term which embraced all Palestine. As he advanced in age he became suspicious, cruel, and extremely bloodthirsty. He put to death his beautiful wife, the celebrated Mariamne, the illustrious descendant of the line of Maccabean princes. His two sons also by Mariamne, the innocent and accomplished favourites of the nation, he sent to execution. His last son, Antipater, he ordered to be slain five days before his own death. As he saw his end approaching, he ordered a large number of the most illustrious citizens to be executed as soon as he had breathed his last, in order, as he said, that there might be mourning at his death. But the commands of a dead tyrant possess little authority, and this ferocious order was never executed. Amid the wholesale murders committed by this bloody despot, the slaughter of a few infants in Bethlehem would be but a drop in the ocean, too slight for general history to mention.

Herod married ten wives, by five of whom there was posterity, including persons mentioned in the New Testament. The careless reader finds the name of Herod repeated in the Scriptures, and is apt to imagine that it is always the same person. He forgets that the first Herod died during the infancy of Jesus. The following diagram will show, so far as is necessary for our purpose, how they were connected with Herod the Great, and with each other:

Wise men In the original, Magi. The Magi, according to the best accounts, were, in a very early antiquity, a tribe among the ancient Medes, similar to the Levites among the Hebrews. That is, they were a priestly tribe, or learned class in the nation. The word is derived by some from the old Pehlvic term mog, which signifies priest. The word probably forms the root of our words mag nates, magi strate, mas ter, and even mister. It is found in the Latin, mag nus, and the Greek, μεγας . After the union of the Median and Persian empire, the Magian class obtained great ascendancy in Persia. Subsequently they appear in great power in Babylon. The chief Magian is mentioned in Jeremiah 39:3, under the title of Rab-Mag. The prophet Daniel probably filled the office of chief Magian in his day. It may be thence inferred that the true religion, with greater or less purity, may have existed with at least a part of this class. Hence we need not wonder that from this class there should come a number to Jerusalem, under divine inspiration and guidance, to seek the new-born Messiah.

After the time of Christ, Magianism, like the religions of Greece and Rome, waned and sunk into discredit. In this condition of decay we find Simon Magus, or Simon the Magian. From the word Magi is derived the word magic; and thus in process of time this illustrious class sunk to the rank of magicians, sorcerers, and wandering fortune-tellers. Their mode of divination was by astrology, dream interpretation, and soothsaying with cups. The books of sorcery burned at Ephesus by the converted Christians, as related in the Acts of the Apostles, doubtless contained the false science of these pretenders.

From the east It is very probable that Matthew was not informed from what particular country the Magi came. The event was early in the history of our Lord, and great as was the excitement produced by their coming, the common people would but vaguely know from what region in the East they came; and when the transaction passed off, and seemed to come to nothing, it would be very much forgotten. The Jewish writers use the phrase the East very extensively and vaguely. Thus, “unto the sons of the concubines which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country.”

Genesis 25:6. Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country. It seems probable that the wise men came from Persia. the primitive land of the Magi. We know that the Persian Magi believed in a Messiah or future Saviour, (whom they called Sosiosch,) who should in the latter day appear and renew the world in righteousness. These views they may have directly derived from the primitive promise in Eden by their own tradition; or they may have had original revelations from God; or they may have learned much from the Jews in the captivity. Who knows how much of a real, acceptable faith and piety there was among them?

Jerusalem This is the first occurrence of the name of the Holy City in the New Testament. Jerusalem is not only one of the most celebrated, but one of the most ancient cities in the world. It is first mentioned in Genesis, under the name of Salem, with Melchisedek for its king, a type of the future Messiah. It was to this same spot that Abraham brought Isaac to be sacrificed, namely, upon the very mountain where Christ, the antitype of Isaac, was sacrificed ages afterward. When the land of Canaan was invaded under Joshua, the Jebusites held possession of Mount Zion in spite of every effort to dislodge them. David, however, at a later time, conquered Mount Zion from the Jebusites, and it became the City of David, the place of his palace, the abode of the Tabernacle, the capital of the monarchy. From that time it underwent the various fortunes of the Jewish state until the time of Christ. Here Christ was nationally rejected, and, according to prophecy, was put to death. About forty years afterward the city was taken after one of the severest struggles in history; the inhabitants were slaughtered, and the city destroyed. The Jewish state was overthrown; the sacrifices were abolished; the tribes were scattered, and still remain in dispersion among the various nations of the world. But, though scattered, they are not destroyed. Like the bush of Moses, they are burned, but not consumed.

Other nations rise and perish, but Israel seems indestructible. He is reserved through ages, for purposes known to God alone.