Church Fathers Commentary Matthew 2:1-2

"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, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we saw his star in the east, and are come to worship him." — Matthew 2:1-2 (ASV)

St. Augustine of Hippo: After the miraculous Virgin Birth, a God-man proceeded by divine power from a virgin's womb. In the humble shelter of such a cradle, a narrow stall, lay Infinite Majesty in an even narrower body. A God was suckled and endured being wrapped in lowly rags. Amidst all this, a new star suddenly shone in the sky upon the earth, driving away the darkness of the world and changing night into day, so that the Day-Star would not be hidden by the night.

Hence it is that the Evangelist says, "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem."

Remigius of Auxerre: In the beginning of this Gospel passage, he presents three distinct things: the person, "When Jesus was born"; the place, "in Bethlehem of Judea"; and the time, "in the days of Herod the king." These three circumstances verify his account.

St. Jerome: We think the Evangelist first wrote, as we read in the Hebrew, "Judah," not "Judea." For in what other country is there a Bethlehem that would require this one to be distinguished as being in "Judea"? But "Judah" is written because there is another Bethlehem in Galilee.

Glossa Ordinaria: There are two Bethlehems (Joshua 19:15): one in the tribe of Zebulun, the other in the tribe of Judah, which was previously called Ephratah. ¹

St. Augustine of Hippo: Concerning the place, Bethlehem, Matthew and Luke agree; but Luke relates the cause and manner of their being there, which Matthew omits. Luke, in turn, omits the account of the Magi, which Matthew gives. ²

Pseudo-Chrysostom: Let us see what purpose this designation of time serves: "In the days of Herod the king." It shows the fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy, in which he said that Christ would be born after seventy weeks of years. For from the time of the prophecy to the reign of Herod, the years of the seventy weeks were completed.

Alternatively, as long as Judea was ruled by Jewish princes, even though they were sinners, prophets were sent for its correction. But now that God's law was held under the power of an unrighteous king and the righteousness of God was enslaved by Roman rule, Christ is born. The most desperate sickness required the greater physician.

Rabanus Maurus: Alternatively, he mentions the foreign king to show the fulfillment of the prophecy: The Sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a Lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come (Genesis 49:10).

St. Ambrose of Milan: It is said that some Idumean robbers, coming to Ascalon, brought Antipater with them among other prisoners.ⁱ He was instructed in the law and customs of the Jews and acquired the friendship of Hyrcanus, king of Judea, who sent him as his deputy to Pompey. He succeeded so well in his mission that he laid claim to a share of the throne. He was put to death, but his son Herod was appointed king of Judea by a decree of the Senate under Antony; so it is clear that Herod sought the throne of Judea without any connection or claim of birth. ³

St. John Chrysostom: He mentions "Herod the king," specifying his dignity, because there was another Herod who put John to death.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: "When He was born... behold, wise men"—that is, immediately on His birth—shows that a great God existed in a small human child.

Rabanus Maurus: The Magi are men who inquire into the nature of things philosophically, but common speech uses the term "Magi" for sorcerers. In their own country, however, they are held in different esteem, being the philosophers of the Chaldeans. Kings and princes of that nation are taught in their learning, and it was by this knowledge that the Magi themselves knew of the Lord's birth.

St. Augustine of Hippo: What were these Magi but the firstfruits of the Gentiles? Israelite shepherds and Gentile Magi, one from far and the other from near, hastened to the one Cornerstone. ⁴

Jesus then was manifested neither to the learned nor the righteous, for ignorance belonged to the shepherds and impiety to the idolatrous Magi. Yet that Cornerstone attracts them both to Himself, since He came to choose the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, and not to call the righteous, but sinners, so that no one great should exalt himself, and no one weak should despair. ⁵

Glossa Ordinaria: These Magi were kings, and though their gifts were three, it is not to be inferred from this that they were only three in number. Rather, they prefigured the coming to the faith of the nations that descended from the three sons of Noah.

Alternatively, there were only three princes, but each brought a large company with him. They did not come after a year had passed, for then He would have been found in Egypt, not in the manger, but on the thirteenth day. To show where they came from, it is said, "from the East."

Remigius of Auxerre: It should be known that opinions vary regarding the Magi. Some say they were Chaldeans, who are known to have worshiped a star as a god; thus, their false deity showed them the way to the true God. Others think they were Persians; still others, that they came from the farthest ends of the earth. Another, more probable opinion is that they were descendants of Balaam. Having his prophecy, There shall rise a Star out of Jacob (Numbers 24:17), they would have known that a King was born as soon as they saw the star.

St. Jerome: They knew that such a star would rise from the prophecy of Balaam, whose successors they were. But whether they were Chaldeans, Persians, or from the farthest ends of the earth, how could they arrive in Jerusalem in such a short time?

Remigius of Auxerre: Some used to answer, "It is no marvel if that boy who was born could draw them so quickly, even if it were from the ends of the earth."

Glossa Ordinaria: Alternatively, they had dromedaries and Arabian horses, whose great speed brought them to Bethlehem in thirteen days.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: Alternatively, they had set out two years before the Savior's birth, and though they traveled all that time, neither food nor drink failed in their bags.

Remigius of Auxerre: Or, if they were the descendants of Balaam, their kingdoms are not far from the promised land, and they could have easily come to Jerusalem in such a short time.

But why does he write "from the East"? Surely because they came from a country east of Judea. But there is also great beauty in this: they "came out of the East," since all who come to the Lord come from Him and through Him, as it is said in Zechariah, Behold the Man whose name is the East (Zechariah 6:12).

Pseudo-Chrysostom: Or, from where the day springs, from there came the firstfruits of the faith, for faith is the light of the soul. Therefore, they came from the East, but to Jerusalem.

Remigius of Auxerre: Yet the Lord was not born there; thus, they knew the time but not the place of His birth. Since Jerusalem was the royal city, they believed that such a child could not be born in any other.

Alternatively, it was to fulfill that Scripture, The Law shall go out of Sion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:3). And Christ was first preached there. Or it was to condemn the slowness of the Jews.

Pseudo-Augustine: Many kings of Judea had been born and died before, yet had Magi ever sought out any of them for adoration? No, because they had not been taught that any of these spoke from heaven. These men, who were foreigners to the land of Judea, had never thought such honor was due to any ordinary king of Judea.

But they had been taught that this Child was one whom, in worshiping, they would certainly secure the salvation that is from God. His age was not such as to attract human flattery. His limbs were not robed in purple, His brow was not crowned with a diamond, and no pompous entourage, no fearsome army, no glorious fame from battles attracted these men to Him from the most remote countries with such earnest supplication.

A Boy lay in a manger, newly born, of infantile size and in pitiable poverty. But in that small Infant lay hidden something great, which these men, the firstfruits of the Gentiles, had learned not from earth but from heaven. As it follows, "We have seen His star in the east." They announce the vision and ask; they believe and inquire, signifying those who walk by faith and desire to see. ⁶

St. Gregory the Great: It should be known that the Priscillianists—heretics who believe every person is born under the influence of some planet—cite this text in support of their error. They consider the new star that appeared at the Lord's birth to have been His fate. ⁷

St. Augustine of Hippo: And, according to Faustus, this introduction of the account of the star would lead us to call this part of the history "The Nativity" rather than "The Gospel." ⁸

St. Gregory the Great: But far be it from the hearts of the faithful to call anything "fate."

St. Augustine of Hippo: For by the word "fate," in its common meaning, is meant the disposition of the stars at the moment of a person's birth or conception, to which some assign a power independent of the will of God. Such ideas must be kept far from the ears of all who desire to be worshipers of God in any way.

Others, however, think the stars have this power committed to them by the great God. In this they greatly wrong the heavens, by imputing to their splendid host the decreeing of crimes—crimes so great that if any earthly people were to decree them, their city would, in the judgment of humanity, deserve to be utterly destroyed. ⁹

Pseudo-Chrysostom: If, then, anyone were to become an adulterer or a murderer by means of the planets, how great is the evil and wickedness of those stars—or rather, of Him who made them? For since God knows things to come and what evils will spring from those stars, if He would not hinder it, He is not good; if He would but could not, He is weak.

Furthermore, if it is because of a star that we are either good or bad, we have neither merit nor demerit, since we are involuntary agents. Why should I be punished for a sin I have committed not willfully, but by necessity? The very commands of God against sin and His exhortations to righteousness overthrow such foolishness. For if a person has no power to act, or no power to refrain from acting, who would command him either to do or to forbear?

Gregory of Nyssa: Moreover, how vain is prayer for those who live by fate? Divine Providence is banished from the world along with piety, and humanity is made a mere instrument of the stars' motions, for they say these motions compel not only the body's limbs but also the mind's thoughts. In a word, those who teach this take away everything that is within us and the very nature of contingency, which is nothing less than to overturn everything. For where, then, will there be free will? But that which is in us must be free.

St. Augustine of Hippo: It cannot be said to be utterly absurd to suppose that stellar influence affects the state of the body. We see that the seasons of the year are varied by the sun's approach and departure, and that many things, like shells and the wondrous tides of the ocean, increase or decrease as the moon waxes and wanes. But it is not so to say that the dispositions of the mind are subject to the impulse of the stars.

Do they say that the stars merely foretell rather than cause these results? How then do they explain the great diversity often found in the lives of twins—in their actions, successes, professions, honors, and all other circumstances? People from different countries are often more alike in their lives than twins, between whose births there was only a moment's interval, and between whose conceptions in the womb there was no interval at all.

The small interval between their births is not enough to account for the great difference between their fates. Some give the name "fate" not only to the configuration of the stars but to the entire series of causes, while at the same time subjecting everything to the will and power of God.

This kind of subjection of human affairs to fate is a confusion of language that should be corrected, for "fate" strictly refers to the configuration of the stars. We do not call the will of God "fate," unless perhaps we derive the word from "speaking" (Latin: fari), as in the Psalms: God has spoken once; twice have I heard this (Psalm 62:11). There is no need, then, for much contention over what is merely a verbal controversy. ¹⁰

But if we refuse to subject the birth of any person to the influence of the stars, in order to vindicate the freedom of the will from any chain of necessity, how much less must we suppose that stellar influences ruled at the temporal birth of Him who is the eternal Creator and Lord of the universe?

The star that the Magi saw at Christ's birth in the flesh did not rule His fate but served as a testimony to Him. Furthermore, this was not one of those stars that, from the beginning of creation, follow their paths of motion according to their Maker's law. Instead, it was a star that first appeared at the birth, serving the Magi who sought Christ by going before them until it brought them to the place where the infant God, the Word, was. ¹¹

According to some astrologers, the connection of human fate with the stars is such that at the birth of certain men, stars have been known to leave their courses and go directly to the newborn. Indeed, they suppose the fortune of the one who is born is bound up with the course of the stars, not that the course of the stars is changed after the day of any person's birth.

If, then, this star was one of those that follow their courses in the heavens, how could it determine what Christ would do, when it was commanded at His birth to leave its own course? If, as is more probable, it was first created at His birth, then Christ was not born because the star arose, but the star arose because Christ was born. Therefore, if we must connect fate with the stars, this star did not rule Christ's fate; rather, Christ ruled the star's fate.

St. John Chrysostom: The purpose of astrology is not to learn the fact of someone's birth from the stars, but to forecast the fate of those who are born from the hour of their birth. But these men did not know the time of the nativity in order to forecast the future from it; they did the opposite.

Glossa Ordinaria: "His star"—that is, the star He created as a witness to Himself. ¹²

To the shepherds, angels announced Christ, and to the Magi, a star pointed Him out. To both, the tongue of Heaven spoke, since the tongue of the prophets was silent. The angels dwell in the heavens and the stars adorn it; therefore, through both, "the heavens declare the glory of God." ¹³

St. Gregory the Great: To the Jews, who used their reason, a rational creature—that is, an angel—was sent to preach. But the Gentiles, who did not know how to use their reason, were brought to the knowledge of the Lord not by words, but by signs. To the one group, prophecy was given, as to the faithful; to the other, signs were given, as to unbelievers.

One and the same Christ is preached. When He is of a mature age, He is preached by the Apostles; when He is an infant and not yet able to speak, He is announced by a star to the Gentiles. For the order of reason required this: speaking preachers proclaimed a speaking Lord, while silent signs proclaimed a silent infant. ¹⁴

St. Leo the Great: Christ Himself is the expectation of the nations. He is that innumerable posterity once promised to the most blessed patriarch Abraham—a posterity to be born not of the flesh, but of the Spirit. This posterity was therefore compared to the stars in multitude, so that from the father of all nations, not an earthly but a heavenly progeny might be expected. ¹⁵

Thus the heirs of that promised posterity, prefigured in the stars, are roused to the faith by the rising of a new star. And where the heavens had been first called to bear witness, the aid of Heaven is continued.

St. John Chrysostom: This was clearly not one of the common stars of heaven. First, because no star moves in this way, from east to south, which is the position of Palestine relative to Persia. Second, because of the time of its appearance—it was visible not only at night, but also during the day. Third, because it was visible and then invisible again; when they entered Jerusalem it hid itself, and then reappeared when they left Herod. Furthermore, it had no fixed motion; when the Magi were to go on, it went before them, and when they were to stop, it stopped, like the pillar of cloud in the desert. Fourth, it signified the Virgin's delivery not by being fixed high above, but by descending to earth, showing itself to be like an invisible power that had taken on the visible appearance of a star.

Remigius of Auxerre: Some affirm this star to have been the Holy Spirit; He who descended on the baptized Lord as a dove appeared to the Magi as a star. Others say it was an angel, the same one who appeared to the shepherds.

Glossa Ordinaria: "In the east." It is uncertain whether this refers to the location of the star or of those who saw it. It might have risen in the east and then gone before them to Jerusalem. ¹⁶

St. Augustine of Hippo: Do you ask from whom they had learned that the appearance of a star was to signify the birth of Christ? I answer: from angels, by the warning of some revelation. Do you ask if it was from good or evil angels? Truly, even wicked spirits—namely, the demons—confessed Christ to be the Son of God. But why should they not have heard it from good angels, since in their adoration of Christ their salvation was sought, not their wickedness condemned? The angels might have said to them, "The star which you have seen is the Christ. Go, worship Him where He is now born, and see how great is He who is born." ¹⁷

St. Leo the Great: Besides that star seen with the physical eye, an even brighter ray of truth pierced their hearts; they were enlightened by the illumination of the true faith. ¹⁸

Pseudo-Augustine: They might have thought that a king of Judea was born, since the birth of temporal princes is sometimes attended by a star. These Chaldean Magi inspected the stars not with malicious intent, but with a true desire for knowledge, following, it may be supposed, the tradition from Balaam. Thus, when they saw this new and unique star, they understood it to be the one of which Balaam had prophesied, marking the birth of a King of Judea. ¹⁹

St. Leo the Great: What they knew and believed might have been sufficient for themselves, so that they did not need to seek to see with the physical eye what they saw so clearly with the spiritual eye. But their earnestness and perseverance to see the Babe was for our benefit. It benefited us that Thomas, after the Lord's resurrection, touched and felt the marks of His wounds; and so for our benefit, the Magi's eyes looked on the Lord in His cradle.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: Were they then ignorant that Herod reigned in Jerusalem? Or that it is high treason to proclaim another king while one is still alive? But while they thought of the King to come, they did not fear the king who was. While they had not yet seen Christ, they were ready to die for Him. O blessed Magi! who, before the face of a most cruel king and before having beheld Christ, were made His confessors.

1. ord.
2. de Cons. Evan., 2, 15
3. Luc., iii, 41
4. Serm. 202
5. Serm. 200
6. Append. Serm. 132
7. M. in Evan., i. 10. n. 4
8. contr. Faust, ii, 1
9. City of God, book v, ch. 1
10. City of God, Book 5, ch. 6
11. cont. Faust. ii, 5
12. interlin.
13. ord.
14. Hom. in Ev. Lib. i. Hom. 10
15. Serm. 33, 2
16. ord
17. Serm. 374
18. Sermon 34, 3
19. Hil. Quaest. V. and N. Test. q. 63