1 When Jesus therefore was born in Bethlehem of Juda, in the days of king Herod, behold, there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem,
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VERS. 1.-- *When therefore he was born,* etc. Although Matthew passes over the nativity, yet in relating the coming of the Magi he briefly commemorates it, saying thus: *When therefore.* Four things are here set down, confirmed by the prophets, the nativity, the name, the place and the time, etc., *as far as* of the coming of the Magi Luke is silent, and Matthew sets it forth. *Bethlehem of Juda.* To distinguish it from that which is in Galilee, in the tribe of Zabulon. For there are two Bethlehems: Bethlehem was formerly called Ephratha; Bethlehem is the house of bread, because there the living Bread was to be born, who came down from heaven, who is laid in a manger: that having fed the irrational he may make them fellows of the angels. But it signifies the Church, which is the house in which the living bread is eaten. *In the days.* He sets this down not only for the time, but that it may be seen fulfilled, etc., *as far as* the Jews point out the place: the time of the coming they do not know. Jesus was made manifest not to the learned nor to the just: for it prevails, etc., *as far as* that no great man might be proud, no weak man despair. *They came.* The Magi, not after a year: because then he would not be found in the manger, but in Egypt, but on the thirteenth day. But they were from the land of the Persians, where also is the river Saba, from which the region is named, near which is Arabia also, where the Magi were kings. Who, although they are said to have offered three gifts, are not on that account proved not to have been more than three; but that through them the Gentiles which were born of the three sons of Noe, and were to come to the faith, might be prefigured: or there were so many princes, who led many in their train. Therefore the Magi make their request chiefly at Jerusalem: because through Balaam they had heard that he was to be born of Israel. For a new star was showing forth a new man. The star is Christ, whom we ought to follow, who unless he arise in our hearts, the king of the Jews is not sought in the East.
2 Saying: Where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and are come to adore him.
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VERS. 2.-- *Where is he that is born king,* etc. It is the confusion of the Jews, when they learn the nativity of Christ from the Gentiles, and if they do not believe, they are without excuse. *For we have seen his star.* This star, the herald of the Lord's nativity, never appeared before, but the child then created it and assigned it to the Magi: which soon, its office performed, ceased to be. A mute star proclaims Christ not yet speaking; afterwards, when he spoke, the apostles announced him to the Jews, as to those using reason; a rational substance, that is, an angel, announced the birth of Christ. But an irrational thing, that is, a star, led the Magi, the firstfruits of the Gentiles, not yet using reason. To the shepherds angels, to the Magi a star, yet to both the tongue of the heavens speaks, because the tongue of the prophets was already ceasing. Whether the star arose in the east, or whether they, being placed there, saw it risen toward the west, is doubtful. For it could arise in the east, and lead them to Jerusalem. But while they seek human help, as it were from the law, they are forsaken by the divine. By the star they understood that he was born in Judaea, and therefore they come to Jerusalem, where, learning the place and then setting out upon their journey, they first have the star going before them, which they recognize. Allegorically. The star is the illumination of faith which leads to Christ. While they turn aside to the Jews, they lose it: because while they seek counsel from the wicked, they lose the true illumination. Three men follow the leading of the light from above, accompanying with intent contemplation the token of the brightness that went before them, to the acknowledgment of the truth, etc., *as far as* that the mystery of so great a vision might not lie hidden from them, and that what was shown to their eyes as unwonted might not be obscure to their minds.
3 And king Herod hearing this, was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
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VERS. 3.-- *But Herod hearing,* etc. He is called king, that by comparison with him who is sought, this one may be understood a stranger, because the proper one had already failed. *But Herod hearing.* That another king of the Jews than himself was sought; for, being a foreigner, he wished to seem the lawful king: and therefore he burned the records in which the genealogy is woven. *He was troubled,* etc. Either because he fears the end of his kingdom, or on account of the wrath of the Romans if he should allow this, who had decreed that no one should be called king or lord without their counsel. The king of heaven being born, the king of earth was troubled, because assuredly earthly height is confounded when heavenly loftiness is proclaimed. *With him.* Because of favour: because often the people the more unjustly favour those whom they endure as cruel. Whence Solomon: *A king* unjust *has all his ministers wicked*.
4 And assembling together all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where Christ should be born.
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VERS. 4.-- *And assembling all the chief priests.* Note the diligence of the inquirer, that if he should find him he might do what he afterwards showed himself to wish: but if not, that he might be excused to the Romans. He was also probing whether their king would make the Jews sad or glad. *Where Christ should be born.* From the Jews he asks the place, from the Magi the time, that he may be made certain of both.
5 But they said to him: In Bethlehem of Juda. For so it is written by the prophet:
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VERS. 5.-- *In Bethlehem of Juda.* They express the place of the nativity, which by the testimony of Scripture they had learned, so that their very knowledge might become for them a testimony of damnation, for us a help to faith. From this it is clear that not from ignorance, but from hardness of heart, they refused to believe.
6 And thou Bethlehem the land of Juda art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come forth the captain that shall rule my people Israel.
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VERS. 6.-- *And thou, Bethlehem.* He sets this down as it was said by them, because although they do not set down the words, they do in some manner set down the truth of the sense.
7 Then Herod, privately calling the wise men learned diligently of them the time of the star which appeared to them;
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VERS. 7.-- *The Magi being called privately.* The priests and scribes being removed; for he feared lest the Jews should hide the promised one as by an oracle of God, if they should perceive that he wished to destroy him. Therefore also he promised that he would adore him, lest any should perceive his guile: but that without suspicion, for the favour of his good will, they might bring him word.
8 And sending them into Bethlehem, said: Go and diligently inquire after the child, and when you have found him, bring me word again, that I also may come and adore him.
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VERS. 8.-- *That I may adore him.* Herod promises devotion, but sharpens the sword: painting the malice of his heart with the colour of humility. He feigned by countenance and by words to adore him whom with envious mind he was planning to kill. Whose person the hypocrites represent, who seek God feignedly, and never deserve to find him.
9 Who having heard the king, went their way; and behold the star which they had seen in the East, went before them, until it came and stood over where the child was.
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VERS. 9.-- *And behold the star which they had seen.* Having entered Judaea they are forsaken by the token of the star, that they may be compelled to inquire from the law. Or they who seek human help are forsaken by the divine. Nor was it fitting that a sign given to unbelievers should appear to those of the household of the law and the prophets; because, *if they hear not Moses and the prophets: neither if one from the dead,* etc. It did not keep the paths of the upper air: but being very near the house, otherwise they would not have distinguished the house.Morally. The star is a good exhortation leading to Christ. Or rather faith, which is the illumination of the mind, through which he who enters sees Christ, who is the morning star: and having seen him he rejoices with joy and does not cease to adore.
10 And seeing the star they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
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VERS. 10.-- *They rejoiced with a great joy,* etc. He rejoices with joy who rejoices for the sake of God (who is the true joy). He adds also "great," than which nothing is greater. And "they rejoiced exceedingly," because of a great thing one man can rejoice more, another less. VERS. 11. *And entering the house,* etc. Three Magi come by one journey to adore God: because in the one Christ (who is the way) the inseparable Trinity was to be adored by them. *The child with Mary his mother,* etc. Often is he named a child, that they may recognize him of whom it was said: *A child is born to us.* Why was not Joseph also found with Mary by the Magi? Lest any occasion of evil suspicion should thence be given to the Gentiles, who sent their firstfruits to adore him as soon as the Saviour was born. *They adored him.* Thus confessing him God, whom they understand to have been brought to be man, and about to die, which they show by the myrrh. *And opening,* etc. They testify their faith by mystical gifts: the gifts closed are the faith of the heart; the gifts opened, etc., *as far as* or by these three there are intimated in the same Christ royal power, divine majesty, human mortality.
11 And entering into the house, they found the child with Mary his mother, and falling down they adored him: and opening their treasures, they offered him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12 And having received an answer in sleep that they should not return to Herod, they went back another way into their country.
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VERS. 12.-- *And having received an answer.* As Moses, being silent, cried out, so these with devout affection were asking what the divine will might command. This answer is not made through an angel, but through God himself, because no other appointed the way of return, save he who says: *I am the way, the truth, and the life.* The child does not speak to them, lest the divinity be revealed before the time, and that the true humanity may be held. Whence also he is soon sent into Egypt: because faith had to be nourished unto the reward, and the life of doctrine must be prepared for the going. *By another way,* etc. In this a pattern is given to believers, that they may come devoutly to God: and that they may attend to what he commands, namely, that they return not to the devil: but that they may come by the paths of the virtues to their country, and that they who fell by despising may rise again by obeying. They adore in the flesh the Word, in infancy wisdom, in weakness power, and in the truth of man the Lord of majesty, etc., *as far as* because what was proper in the substances was not diverse in the person.
13 And after they were departed, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph, saying: Arise, and take the child and his mother, and fly into Egypt: and be there until I shall tell thee. For it will come to pass that Herod will seek the child to destroy him.
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VERS. 13.-- *Take the child,* etc. When he was signifying that she was espoused to a just man, he called her wife; but after the birth she is shown only as the mother of Jesus, so that, as to the just Joseph the marriage with Mary was reckoned in virginity, so her venerable virginity as a mother might be shown in Jesus.
14 Who arose, and took the child and his mother by night, and retired into Egypt: and he was there until the death of Herod:
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VERS. 14, 15.-- *Who rising up.* Joseph is a figure of the preachers, who bore Christ, with his mother, that is, the faith of Christ and of the Church, to the Gentiles, Herod being left behind, that is, the unbelief of the Jews. *By night.* Because secretly by flight he went down to enlighten Egypt, night being left to the Jews. By night he bore him into Egypt, because in the night of ignorance he left them to those unbelieving ones from whom he himself withdrew. When he returns, no mention is made of night, because at the end of the world the Jews, receiving the faith as though Christ returning from Egypt, shall be enlightened. *Into Egypt, and he was there,* etc. He shows [Egypt] venerating a God of every kind: because Christ, not received by the Jews, passes over by preaching to the Gentiles. He fled into Egypt as he was born, that he might repair corrupted nature. So he fled, that he might call back the fugitives. That he fled was a matter of sacrament, not of fear, that he might give his own an example of fleeing. He did not flee death, who had come to die: nor did he dread the snares, who had come to lay open the craft of the devil. Of this flight Isaiah foretold: *Behold the Lord shall ascend upon a light cloud,* that is, flesh without sin: *and shall enter into Egypt*. But for seven years he lay hid in Egypt. *Out of Egypt I have called.* This is found in Osee according to the Hebrew verity: or in the book of Numbers, as some assert: because the whole was done by the disposition of God.
15 That it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: Out of Egypt have I called my son.
16 Then Herod perceiving that he was deluded by the wise men, was exceeding angry: and sending killed all the menchildren that were in Bethlehem, and in all the borders thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.
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VERS. 16.-- *Then Herod seeing.* It is likely that, since nothing had been reported to Herod by the Magi, he believed that they had been deceived by a false star, and had therefore not returned to him: whence also he rested so long from the search for the child. Then, when the things which had been done or said in the temple were made public, he perceived that he had been mocked by the Magi, and hastening to the death of Christ he slew the children.It is likely that for a year and four days from the nativity of Christ Herod raged against the children: which perhaps he deferred for this reason, that he set out for Rome, or was accused there, or that he might consult the Romans concerning those things which were said about Christ. Perhaps therefore he held himself back so long from the search for the child, that he might apprehend him the more carefully, and that he might not be able to slip away in any manner. *He slew all the children.* As soon as Christ appeared to the world, persecution began against him: which prefigured the persecution of the saints: and while the infant is sought, infants are slain; in whom the form of martyrdom is born, where the infancy of the Church is consecrated. The death of the little ones figures the passion of all the martyrs, who were slain as little ones, humble and innocent: who suffered not in Judaea only, but everywhere at the hands of the wicked, whom Herod signifies. That they were two years old: because they were perfect in doctrine and in work. Those being slain, Christ escaped: because bodies can be destroyed, the divinity cannot be touched.
17 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremias the prophet, saying:
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VERS. 17.-- *Then was fulfilled.* It is called fulfilled: because before it came to pass it was but half-full to those who read it, since what sounded in the letter secretly promised something to come. He says that the star appeared for a year, as in the destruction of the Romans signs appeared in heaven, when the voice of the angels was heard: Let us pass over from these seats.
18 A voice in Rama was heard, lamentation and great mourning; Rachel bewailing her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
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VERS. 18.-- *A voice in Rama.* That is, in a high place it was spread far and wide. Allegorically. Or, the voice of the Church groaning over the slaughter of her members ascends to the throne of the judge on high. *A voice in Rama.* On account of the Levite's wife, destroyed by fornication and divided into twelve parts according to the number of the tribes, all Israel destroyed the tribe of Benjamin save three hundred men: the weeping and wailing of those who survived was heard as far as Rama, which is a place near Gabaa, at the twelfth milestone from Bethlehem. *Was heard.* He heightens it, so that hyperbolically Rachel, already dead, is said with the feeling of one grieving to be already weeping for her sons. Whence by this the history concerning the Chaldeans is woven, that the devastation to come from them upon the people of the Jews would be like to the former disaster. But more truly, the Spirit revealing it through the evangelist, the prophecy is taken of the slaughter of the children. He says therefore that what was spoken was then completed, because although the word of the prophecy looks to the impending captivity, yet in it, as in a shadow, the future truth of the slaughter of the infants is proclaimed. *Rachel.* Because she was buried near Bethlehem, and from the earthly lodging of her body received the name of mother. Or because many of Benjamin and Joseph were slain. Of Rachel was Benjamin born, to whose lot Bethlehem does not belong, but only to the tribe of Judah. But because Judah and Benjamin are neighbouring tribes in the borders of Bethlehem, many also of the tribe of Benjamin were slain. Note that the figure of the sacrament is better intimated through Rachel (than if Bethlehem were said to have wept), because through her in all things the pattern of the Church is commended, which weeps not so much for those carried off by death as for those destroyed by torment. *Rachel.* That is, the Church, weeps for her tender lambs destroyed: neither will she be comforted in the present, because they are not: but she sends forward all her hope and consolation to the eternal life. The Church weeps, and will not be comforted here: because her sons are not of this world. Or she weeps: because while she brings forth, she has justice, whence it is said: *You shall weep,* etc., but a consolation is added: *Your sorrow shall be turned into joy*.
19 But when Herod was dead, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph in Egypt,
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VERS. 19.-- *But Herod being dead, behold,* etc. Because, the perfidy of the Jews being lulled to sleep, and Elias and Enoch preaching, Judaea shall receive the word of God. The king being dead, his accomplices straightway perish, so, the persecution of the Church ceasing, she is invited to heavenly things.
20 Saying: Arise, and take the child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel. For they are dead that sought the life of the child.
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VERS. 20.-- *Into the land.* He does not determine into what part, so that, Joseph doubting, the angel may return: and that by his frequent address Joseph may be made the more certain. Because he did not distinguish into what part, therefore Josephus understood Judaea, which was the worthier part of the kingdom. *They are dead.* Some relate that Herod caused the nobler of the Jews to be slain over his own funeral, that he might so compel the Jews to weep for his death.
21 Who arose, and took the child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.
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VERS. 21.-- *Who rising up.* Allegorically. Joseph bears the figure of the apostles, by whose office Christ is carried about. The apostles came first into the land of Israel: because they preached first to the Jews. But because of Herod, that is, the hereditary unbelief remaining, they fear and withdraw, being admonished to preach grace to the Gentiles, and to carry Christ over to them. The land of Israel being named, it seemed to Joseph that such a child ought to dwell nowhere but in Jerusalem, where the temple was and the celebration of the prophets. Yet the angel wished Galilee to be understood, which the Jews also inhabited, which shows that it had thus been predestined, because he shall be called a Nazarene.
22 But hearing that Archclaus reigned in Judea in the room of Herod his father, he was afraid to go thither: and being warned in sleep retired into the quarters of Galilee.
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VERS. 22.-- *He feared to go thither.* If he feared Judaea on account of Archelaus, the heir of his father's cruelty, why not Galilee also, where another Herod, his brother, was reigning? Because Archelaus after his father obtained the sole rule of the whole kingdom: but growing insolent he was cast down by Tiberius Caesar into exile at Lyons, and then the kingdom was divided into four tetrarchies, one of which, that is Galilee, Herod his brother obtained. It is asked: why did Joseph not fear to go into Galilee as into Judaea, since Archelaus reigned there also? But he could better lie hid in Nazareth (which was remote) than in Jerusalem, where was the head of the kingdom and Archelaus constantly present. *He withdrew into the parts.* That Christ is not carried over thither where Archelaus was reigning signifies that Christ shall be hidden from those in whom Antichrist shall reign.
23 And coming he dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was said by the prophets: That he shall be called a Nazarene.
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VERS. 23.-- *Nazareth.* Nazareth is interpreted *a new shoot* or *the flower of the field*, from the root of which shoot the holy of holies is read to have ascended, to signify the substance of his eternity. As therefore he chose the time in which he should be born and the place, so also the city in which he should grow up: whose name is a token that he who is holiness itself, nurtured in holiness, is rightly called the holy of holies: whence also his disciples were first called Nazaraeans, but afterwards from Christ were called Christians. Nazareth of Galilee, whither he is carried over, signifies that part of the same nation which was to receive the faith: whence it is interpreted *a flower*: because the more ardently the Church passes over from earthly things to heavenly, the more it abounds in the flower and shoot of the virtues. *By the prophets.* He says prophets in the plural, because we have no fixed instance from Scripture: he shows that he took the sense, not the words. Or in the same words in Isaiah according to the Hebrew verity: *A Nazarene shall ascend from his root*.