Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 2:1

"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, Wise-men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying," — Matthew 2:1 (ASV)

In the days of Herod the king — Herod’s death took place in the year of Rome 750 A.U.C., just before the Passover. This year coincided with what would be 4 BC in our common chronology. We must therefore recognize that our standard calculation is incorrect and place the date of the Nativity at 5 or 4 BC.

No facts recorded in either St. Matthew or St. Luke shed much light on the season of Christ’s birth. The flocks and shepherds in the open field suggest spring rather than winter. The traditional date of December 25th was not kept as a festival in the East until the time of Chrysostom; it was then accepted as resting on the tradition of the Roman Church. It has been conjectured, with some probability, that this date was chosen to substitute the purified joy of a Christian festival for the license of the Saturnalia, which was celebrated at that season.

The wise men probably arrived (we can say no more with certainty) after the Presentation in the Temple mentioned in Luke 2:22. The star’s appearance coincided with the birth. The journey from any part of the region vaguely called “the East” would have taken at least several weeks.

Wise men from the east — The Greek word is Magi. This name appears in Jeremiah 39:3 and 39:13 in the title Rab-Mag, meaning “the chief of the Magi.” Herodotus speaks of them as a priestly caste of the Medes, known as interpreters of dreams (I. 101, 120).

Among the Greeks, the word was often applied with scorn to impostors who claimed supernatural knowledge. Indeed, magic was the art of the Magi, and the term was commonly used this way throughout the Roman world when the New Testament was written; for example, Simon Magus is “Simon the sorcerer.”

However, alongside this negative use, there was also a recognition of the higher ideas the word could represent. We can hardly think that the Gospel writer would have used it in its lower, derogatory sense. For him, as for Plato, the Magi were considered observers of the heavens and students of the secrets of nature.

We cannot tell where these wise men came from. The name was too widespread at the time to point with certainty to its original home in Persia, and that country was north, rather than east, of Palestine. The practice of watching the heavens, implied in the narrative, belonged more to Chaldea than to Persia.

The popular legends—that they were three in number, that they were kings, that they represented the three great races of the sons of Noah, and that they were named Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar—are simply apocryphal additions. These traditions likely originated in dramatic representations and were perpetuated by Christian art.