**(Luke 1:12 KJV) "And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him."

(7)     The crowd who had been waiting  to talk  with Zachariah had to wait, for he could only communicate with signs. When his service at the temple was done, he went back home to be with Elisabeth. *

Elisabeth did conceive and stayed in quietness for five months because God had heard her prayers.**

**(Luke 1:24-25 KJV) "And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying, {25} Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men."

American Tract Society: NAZARETH - A city of lower Galilee, about seventy miles north of Jerusalem, in the territory of the tribe of Zebulun. It was situated on the side of a hill overlooking a rich and beautiful valley, surrounded by hills, with a narrow outlet towards the south. At the mouth of this ravine the monks profess to show the place where the men of the city were about to cast Jesus from the precipice, Lu 4:29. Nazareth is about six miles west north west of Mount Tabor, and nearly half way form the Jordan to the Mediterranean. It is said in the New Testament to be "the city of Jesus," because it was the place of his usual residence during the first thirty years of his life, Mt 2:23 Lu 1:26 2:51 4:16. He visited it during his public ministry, but did not perform many miracles there because of the unbelief of the people, MT 13:54-58. It is not even named in the Old Testament, nor by Josephus; and appears to have been a small place, of no very good repute, Joh 1:46. The modern town, en-Nasirah, is a secluded village of about three thousand inhabitants, most of whom are Latin and Greek Christians. It lies about eight hundred feet above the level of the sea; and is one of the pleasantest towns in Syria. Its houses are of stone, two stories high, with flat roofs. It contains a mosque, a large Latin convent, and two or three chapels. The traditionary "Mount of the Precipitation" is nearly two miles from the town, too remote to have answered the purpose of the enraged Nazarenes; while there were several precipitous spots close at hand, where the fall is still from thirty to fifty feet.

From the summit of the hill on the eastern slope of which Nazareth lies, is a truly magnificent prospect. Towards the north, the eye glances over the countless hills of Galilee, and reposes on the majestic and snow-crowned Hermon. On the east, the Jordan valley may be traced, and beyond it the dim heights of ancient Bashan. Towards the south, spreads the broad and beautiful plain of Esdraelon, with the bold outline of Mount Tabor, and parts of Little Hermon and Gilboa visible on its eastern border, and the hills of Samaria on the south, while Carmel rises on the west of the plain, and dips his feet in the blue waters of the Mediterranean.

Says Dr. Robinson in his "Biblical Researches in Palestine," "I remained for some hours upon this spot, lost in the contemplation of the wide prospect and of the events connected with the scenes around. In the village below, the Savior of the world had passed his childhood; and although we have few particulars of his life during those early years, yet there are certain features of nature which meet our eyes now, just as they once met his."

"He must often have visited the fountain near which we had pitched our tent; his feet must frequently have wandered over the adjacent hills, and his eyes have doubtless gazed upon the splendid prospect form this very spot. Here the Prince of peace looked down upon the great plain, where the din of battles so oft had rolled, and the garments of the warrior been dyed in blood; and he liked out, too, upon the sea over which the swift ships were to bear the tidings of his salvation to nations and to continents them unknown. How has the moral aspect to things been changed!" "Battles and bloodshed have indeed not ceased to desolate this unhappy country, and gross darkness now covers the people; but from this region a light went forth, which has enlightened the world and unveiled new climes; and now the rays of that light begin to be reflected back form distant isles and continents, to illuminate anew the darkened land where it first sprung up."

Strong's Greek Dictionary: 2424 Iesous ee-ay-sooce' of Hebrew origin (3091); Jesus (i.e. Jehoshua), the name of our Lord and two (three) other Israelites:--Jesus. see HEBREW for 03091

Strong's Hebrew Dictionary: 3091 Yhowshuwa` yeh-ho-shoo'-ah or Yhowshua yeh-ho-shoo'-ah; from 3068 and 3467; Jehovah-saved; Jehoshua (i.e. Joshua), the Jewish leader:--Jehoshua, Jehoshuah, Joshua. Compare 1954, 3442. See HEBREW for 03068 see HEBREW for 03467 see HEBREW for 01954 see HEBREW for 03442

Strong's Hebrew Dictionary: 3068 Yhovah yeh-ho-vaw' from 1961; (the) self-Existent or Eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God:--Jehovah, the Lord. Compare 3050, 3069. See HEBREW for 01961 see HEBREW for 03050 see HEBREW for 03069

Strong's Hebrew Dictionary: 3467 yasha` yaw-shah' a primitive root; properly, to be open, wide or free, i.e. (by implication) to be safe; causatively, to free or succor:--X at all, avenging, defend, deliver(-er), help, preserve, rescue, be safe, bring (having) salvation, save(-iour), get victory.

Strong's Hebrew Dictionary: 1954 Howshea` ho-shay'-ah from 3467; deliverer; Hoshea, the name of five Israelites:--Hosea, Hoshea, Oshea. See HEBREW for 03467

Strong's Hebrew Dictionary: 3442 Yeshuwa` yay-shoo'-ah for 3091; he will save; Jeshua, the name of ten Israelites, also of a place in Palestine:--Jeshua. See HEBREW for 03091

(Luke 1:34 KJV) "Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?"

from a derivative of <3415>; ; v

AV-espouse 3; 3

1) to woo her and ask her in marriage
2) to be promised in marriage, be betrothed

It would not have been appropriate for Mary and Joseph to offer a lamb for Jesus, for "He was the Lamb of God":

(John 1:29 KJV) "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."

(John 1:36 KJV) "And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!"

Matthew 2:1[Now when Jesus was born.] We thus lay down a scheme of the times when Christ was born:

I. He was born in the year of the world 3928.

For from the creation of the world to the deluge are commonly reckoned 1656 years.

From the deluge to Abraham's promise are 427 years. This being supposed, that Abraham was born the 130th year of Terah: which must be supposed.

From the promise given, to the going out of Egypt, 430 years, Exodus 12:40; Galatians 3:17.

From the going out of Egypt to the laying the foundations of the Temple are 480 years, 1 Kings 6:1.

The Temple was building 7 years, 1 Kings 6:38.

Casting up, therefore, all these together, viz. 1656 + 427 + 430 + 480 + 7 = The sum of years amounts to 3000. And it is clear, the building of the Temple was finished and completed in the year of the world 3000.

The Temple was finished in the eleventh year of Solomon, 1 Kings 6:38: and thence to the revolting of the ten tribes, in the first year of Rehoboam, were 30 years. Therefore, that revolt was in the year of the world 3030.

From the revolt of the ten tribes to the destruction of Jerusalem under Zedekiah were three hundred and ninety years: which appears sufficiently from the chronicle computation of the parallel times of the kings of Judah and Israel: and which is implied by Ezekiel 4:4-6: "Thou shalt sleep upon thy left side, and shalt put the iniquities of the house of Israel upon it, &c. according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days. And when thou shalt have accomplished them, thou shalt sleep upon thy right side the second time, and shalt take upon thee the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days." Concerning the computation of these years, it is doubted, whether those forty years are to be numbered together within the three hundred and ninety years, or by themselves, as following after those three hundred and ninety years. We, not without cause, embrace the former opinion, and suppose those forty years to be included within the sum of three hundred and ninety& but mentioned by themselves particularly, for a particular reason. For by the space of forty years before the destruction of the city by the Chaldeans, did Jeremiah prophesy daily, namely, from the third year of Josias to the sacking of the city: whom the people not hearkening to, they are marked for that peculiar iniquity with this note.

Therefore, these three hundred and ninety years being added to the year of the world, 3030, when the ten tribes fell off from the house of David, the age of the world when Jerusalem perished, arose to the year 3420.

At that time there remained fifty years of the Babylonian captivity to be completed. For those remarkable seventy years took their beginning from the third year of Jehoiakim, Daniel 1:1, whose fourth year begins the Babylonian monarchy, Jeremiah 25:1. And, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, the Temple was destroyed, 2 Kings 25:8, when now the twentieth year of the captivity passed; and other fifty remained: which fifty being added to the year of the world 3420, a year fatal to the Temple, the years of the world amount, in the first year of Cyrus, unto 3470.

From the first of Cyrus to the death of Christ are seventy weeks of years, or four hundred and ninety years, Daniel 9:24. Add these to the three thousand four hundred and seventy, and you observe Christ crucified in the year of the world 3960. When, therefore, you have subtracted thirty-two years and a half, wherein Christ lived upon the earth, you will find him born in the year of the world 3928.

II. He was born in the one-and-thirtieth year of Augustus Caesar, the computation of his monarchy beginning from the victory at Actium. Of which matter thus Dion Cassius writes: "This their sea-fight was on the second of September: and this I speak upon no other account (for I am not wont to do it), but because then Caesar first obtained the whole power: so that the computation of the years of his monarchy must be precisely reckoned from that very day." We confirm this our computation, by drawing down a chronological table from this year of Augustus to the fifteenth year of Tiberius, when Christ, having now completed the nine-and-twentieth year of his age, and entering just upon his thirtieth, was baptized. Now this table, adding the consuls of every year, we thus frame:

A.M. A.U.C. Augustus A.D. CONSULS. 3928 754 31 1 Caes. Aug. XIV. and L. Aemil. Paulus. 3929 755 32 2 Publius Vinicius and Pub. Alfenus Varus. 3930 756 33 3 L. Aelius Lamia, and M. Servilius. 3931 757 34 4 Sext. Aemilius Carus, and C. Sentius Saturninus. 3932 758 35 5 L. Valerius Messala, and Cn. Corn. Cinna Magn. 3933 759 36 6 M. Aemil. Lepidus, and L. Aruntius. 3934 760 37 7 A. Licin. Nerv. Silanus, and Q. Caecil. Metell. Cret. 3935 761 38 8 Furius Camillus, and Sext. Nonius quintilianus. 3936 762 39 9 Q. Sulpit. Camarin, and C. Poppaeus Sabinus. 3937 763 40 10 Pub. Corn. Dolabella, and C. Junius Silanus. 3938 764 41 11 M. Aemil. Lepid. And T. Statilius Taurus. 3939 765 42 12 Germanicus Caes. And C. Fonteius Capito. 3940 766 43 13 L. Munatius Plancus, and C. Silius Caecina. 3941 767 44 14 Sext. Pomp. Sexti F. and Sext. Apuleius Sexti F. [A.M Latin anno mundi = in the year of the world.

A.U.C. Latin ab urbe condita = from the year of the founding of the city (of Rome).]

Augustus Caesar died the 19th day of August: on which day he had formerly entered upon the first consulship. He lived seventy-five years, ten months, and twenty-six days. He bore the empire alone, from the victory at Actium, forty-four years, wanting only thirteen days.

"Tiberius held the empire in great slothfulness, with grievous cruelty, wicked covetousness, and filthy lust."

A.M. A.U.C. Tiberius A.D. CONSULS. 3942 768 1 15 Drusus Caes. And C. Norbanus Flaccus. 3943 769 2 16 C. Statil. Sisenna Taurus, and Scribonius Libo. 3944 770 3 17 C. Caecil. Rufus, and L. Pomponianus Flaccus. 3945 771 4 18 Tiber. Caes. Augu. III. And Germanicus Caes. II. 3946 772 5 19 M. Julius Silanus, and L. Norban Flac. vel Balbus. 3947 773 6 20 M. Valerius Messala, and M. Aurel. Cotta. 3948 774 7 21 Tiber. Caes. Aug. IV. and Drusus Caes. II. 3949 775 8 22 D. Haterius Agrippa, and C. Sulpitius Galba. 3950 776 9 23 C. Asinius Pollio, and C. Antistius Veter. 3951 777 10 24 Sext. Cornel. Cethegus, and Visellius Varro. 3952 778 11 25 M. Asinius Agrippa, and Cossus Cornel Lentulus. 3953 779 12 26 Cn. Lentulus Getulicus, and C. Calvisius Sabinus. 3954 780 13 27 M. Licinius Crassus, and P. L. Calphurnius Piso. 3955 781 14 28 Appius Jul. Silanus, and P. Silvius Nerva. 3956 782 15 29 C. Rubellius Geminus, and C. Fusius Geminus. In the early spring of this year came John baptizing. In the month Tisri Christ is baptized, when he had now accomplished the nine-and-twentieth year of his age, and had now newly entered upon his thirtieth. The thirtieth of Christ is to be reckoned with the sixteenth of Tiberius.

Of Augustus, now entering upon his one-and-thirtieth year, wherein Christ was born, Dion Cassius hath moreover these words: "Having now completed thrice ten years, being compelled, indeed, to it, he continued his government, and entered upon a fourth ten of years: being now more easy and slothful by reason of age." In this very year was the taxation under Cyrenius, of which Luke speaks, chapter 2. So that if it be asked when the fifth monarchy of the Romans arose, after the dissolution of those four mentioned by Daniel, an easy answer may be fetched from St. Luke, who relates that in that very year wherein Christ was born, Augustus laid a tax upon the whole world.

III. Christ was born in the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Herod: which we gather from the observation of these things: 1. Herod reigned, from that time he was first declared king by the Romans, seven-and-thirty years. 2. Between the death of Herod and the death of Augustus there was this space of time:

1. The ten years current of the reign of Archelaus.
2. Coponius succeeds him, banished to Vienna in the presidentship of Judea.
3. Marcus Ambibuchus [Ambivius] succeeds Coponius.
4. Annius Rufus succeeds Ambibuchus [Ambivius], during whose presidentship Augustus dies.

Since, therefore, only fourteen years passed from the nativity of Christ to the death of Augustus, out of which sum when you shall have reckoned the ten years current of Archelaus, and the times of the three presidents, we must reckon that Christ was not born but in the last years of Herod. Thus we conjecture:

In his thirty-fifth Christ was born.

In his thirty-seventh, now newly begun, the wise men came: presently after this was the slaying of the infants; and, after a few months, the death of Herod.

IV. Christ was born about the twenty-seventh year of the presidentship of Hillel in the Sanhedrim. The rise of the family of Hillel took its beginning at the decease of the Asmonean family (Herod, indeed, succeeded in the kingly government); a family sprung from Babylon, and, as was believed, of the stock of David. For "a book of genealogy was found at Jerusalem" (which we mentioned before), "in which it was written, that Hillel was sprung from the stock of David, by his wife Abital." Now Hillel went up out of Babylon to Jerusalem, to inquire of the wise men concerning some things, when now, after the death of Shemaia and Abtalion, the two sons of Betira held the chief seats. And when he who had resorted thither to learn something, had taught them some things of the Passover rites, which they had forgot, they put him into the chair. You have the full story of it in the Jerusalem Talmud. We mention it chapter 26:1.

Now Hillel went up to Jerusalem and took the chair a hundred years before the destruction of the city: "Hillel and his son Simeon, and his son Gamaliel, and his son Simeon, bare the government for a hundred years before the laying waste of the Temple." Of those hundred years if you take away two-and-thirty and a half of the life of Christ, and forty years (as it is commonly deputed) coming between the death of Christ and the destruction of the city, there remain the twenty-seven years of Hillel before the birth of our Savior

Hillel held the government forty years: so that his death happened about the twelfth or thirteenth year of Christ. his son also held it after him, and his grandsons, in a long succession, even to R. Judah the Holy. The splendor and pomp of this family of Hillel had so obscured the rest of the families of David's stock, that perhaps they believed or expected the less, that the Messias should spring from any of them. Yea, one in the Babylonian Gemara was almost persuaded, that "Rabbi Judah the Holy, of the Hillelian family, was the Messias. Rabh said, If Messiah be among the living, our Holy Rabbi is such: if among the dead, Daniel was he."

V. Christ was born in the month of Tisri; somewhat answering to our September. This we conclude, omitting other things, by computing backwards from his death. For if he died in his two-and-thirtieth year and a half, at the feast of the Passover, in the month Nisan, you must necessarily lay the time of his birth in the month Tisri. But that he died at that age, not to make any delay by mentioning more things, appears hence, that he was baptized now beginning his thirtieth year, and that he lived after his baptism three years and a half; as the space of his public ministry is determined by the angel Gabriel, Daniel 9; "In the half of a week" (that is, three years and a half), "he shall make the sacrifice to cease," &c. But of this hereafter.

This month was ennobled in former times, 1. For the creation of the world. Weigh well Exodus 23:15; Joel 2:23. 2. For the nativity of the first fathers; which the Jews assert not without reason. 3. For the repairing the tables of the law. For Moses, after the third fast of forty days, comes down from the mountain, a messenger of good things, the tenth day of this month, which was from hence appointed for the feast of Expiation to following ages. 4. For the dedication of the Temple, 1 Kings 8:2. And, 5. For three solemn feasts, namely, that of the Beginning of the Year, that of Expiation, and that of Tabernacles. From this month also was the beginning of the Jubilee.

VI. It is probable Christ was born at the feast of Tabernacles.

1. So it ariseth exactly to three-and-thirty years and a half, when he died at the feast of the Passover.

2. He fulfilled the typical equity of the Passover and Pentecost, when, at the Passover, he offered himself for a Passover, at Pentecost he bestowed the Holy Ghost from heaven, as at that time the law had been given from heaven. At that time the first-fruits of the Spirit were given by him (Rom 8:23), when the first-fruits of corn had been wont to be given, Leviticus 23:17. It had been a wonder if he had honored the third solemnity, namely, the feast of Tabernacles, with no antitype.

3. The institution of the feast of Tabernacles agrees excellently with the time of Christ's birth. For when Moses went down from the mount on the tenth day of the month Tisri, declaring that God was appeased, that the people was pardoned, and that the building of the holy tabernacle was forthwith to be gone in hand with (hitherto hindered by and because of the golden calf), seeing that God now would dwell among them, and forsake them no more; the Israelites immediately pitch their tents, knowing they were not to depart from that place before the divine tabernacle was finished, and they set upon this work with all their strength. Whence the tenth day of that month, wherein Moses came down and brought this good news with him, was appointed for the feast of Expiation; and the fifteenth day, and seven days after, for the feast of Tabernacles, in memory of their dwelling in tents in the wilderness, when God dwelt in the midst of them: which things with how aptly typical an aspect they respect the incarnation, when God dwelt among men in human flesh, is plain enough.

4. Weigh Zechariah 14:16, 17: "And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up, from year to year, to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem, to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no more rain."

[In Beth-lehem.] It will not be improper here to produce the Gemarists themselves, openly confessing that the Messias was born now a good while ago before their times. For so they write: "After this the children of Israel shall be converted, and shall inquire after the Lord their God, and David their king, Hosea 3:5. Our Rabbins say, That is king Messias: if he be among the living, his name is David; or if dead, David is his name. R. Ranchum said, Thus I prove it: 'He showeth mercy to David his Messiah' (Psa 18:50). R. Joshua Ben Levi saith, His name is A branch (Zech 3:8). R. Judan Bar Aibu saith, His name is Menahem [that is, the comforter]. And that which happened to a certain Jew, as he was ploughing, agreeth with this business:--A certain Arabian travelling, and hearing the ox bellow, said to the Jew at plough, 'O Jew, loose thy oxen, and loose thy ploughs: for behold! the Temple is laid waste.' The ox bellowed the second time; the Arabian said to him, O Jew, Jew, yoke thy oxen and fit thy ploughs, for behold! King Messiah is born. But, saith the Jew, 'What is his name?' 'Menahem,' saith he. 'And what is the name of his father?' 'Hezekiah,' saith the Arabian. To whom the Jew, 'But whence is he?' The other answered, 'From the palace of the king of Bethlehem Judah.' Away he went, and sold his oxen and his ploughs, and became a seller of infants' swaddling-clothes, going about from town to town. When he came to that city [Bethlehem], all the women bought of him, but the mother of Menahem bought nothing. He heard the voice of the women saying, 'O thou mother of Menahem, thou mother of Menahem, carry thy son the things that are here sold.' But she replied, 'May the enemies of Israel be strangled, because on the day that he was born the Temple was laid waste!' To whom he said, 'But we hoped, that as it was laid waste at his feet, so at his feet it would be built again.' She saith, 'I have no money.' To whom he replied, 'But why should this be prejudicial to him? Carry him what you buy here; and if you have no money to-day, after some days I will come back and receive it.' After some days he returns to that city, and saith to her, 'How does the little infant?' And she said, 'From the time you saw me last, spirits and tempests came, and snatched him away out of my hands.' R. Bon saith, What need have we to learn from an Arabian? Is it not plainly written, 'And Lebanon shall fall before the powerful one?' (Isa 10:34). And what follows after? 'A branch shall come out of the root of Jesse'" (Isa 11:1).

The Babylonian doctors yield us a confession not very unlike the former: "R. Chaninah saith, After four hundred years are past from the destruction of the Temple, if any one shall say to you, 'Take to thyself for one penny a field worth a thousand pence,' do not take it." And again; "After four thousand two hundred thirty-and-one years from the creation of the world, if any shall say to you, 'Take for a penny a field worth a thousand pence,' take it not." The Gloss is, "For that is the time of redemption; and you shall be brought back to the holy mountain, to the inheritance of your fathers: why, therefore, should you misspend your penny?"

You may fetch the reason of this calculation, if you are at leisure, out of the tract Sanhedrim: "The tradition of the school of Elias, The world is to last six thousand years," &c. And a little after& "Elias said to Rabh Judah, 'The world shall last not less than eighty-five jubilees& and in the last jubilee shall the Son of David come.' He saith to him, 'Whether in the beginning of it, or in the end?' He answered him, 'I know not.' 'Whether is this whole time to be finished first, or not?' He answered him, 'I know not.' But Rabh Asher asserts that he answered thus, 'Until then expect him not, but from thence expect him.'" Hear your own countrymen, O Jew, how many centuries of years are past by and gone from the eighty-fifth jubilee of the world, that is, the year 4250, and yet the Messias of your expectation is not yet come.

Daniel's weeks had so clearly defined the time of the true Messias's coming, that the minds of the whole nation were raised into the expectation of him. Hence it was doubted of the Baptist whether he were not the Messias, Luke 3:15. Hence it was that the Jews are gathered together from all countries unto Jerusalem [Acts 2], expecting, and coming to see, because at that time the term of revealing the Messias, that had been prefixed by Daniel, was come. Hence it was that there was so great a number of false Christs, Matthew 24:5, &c., taking the occasion of their impostures hence, that now the time of that great expectation was at hand, and fulfilled: and in one word, "They thought the kingdom of God should presently appear"& Luke 19:11.

But when those times of expectation were past, nor did such a Messias appear as they expected (for when they saw the true Messias, they would not see him), they first broke out into various and those wild conjectures of the time; and at length all those conjectures coming to nothing, all ended in this curse (the just cause of their eternal blindness), May their soul be confounded who compute the times!

[Wise men from the east.] Magi, that is, wizards, or such as practiced ill arts: for in this sense alone this word occurs in holy writ.

From the east. This more generally denotes as much as, 'Out of the land of the heathen,' in the same sense as 'the queen of the south' is taken, Matthew 12:42; that is, 'a heathen queen.' Consider this passage in the Talmud, "From Rekam to the east, and Rekam is as the east: from Ascalon to the south, and Ascalon is as the south: from Acon to the north, and Acon is as the north." These words R. Nissim quotes from R. Judah, and illustrates it with this Gloss, "From Rekam to the furthest bounds of the land eastward is heathen land; and Rekam itself is reckoned for the east of the world, and not for the land of Israel. So also from Ascalon onwards to the south is the heathen country, and Ascalon itself is reckoned for the south": that is, for heathen land.

Those countries where the sons of Abraham by his wife Keturah were dispersed, are more particularly called the 'eastern' countries, Genesis 25:6, Judges 6:3, and elsewhere often. And hence came these first-fruits of the Gentiles: whence it is not unlikely that Jethro also came, the first proselyte to the law. And that which is spoken by the Gemara concerning the Arabian, the first pointer-out of the Messias born, is perhaps some shadow of this story of the magicians' coming out of Arabia, and who first publicly declared him to be born.

Jameson Faucett Brown: Matthew 2:9 9. When they had heard the king, they departed--But where were ye, O Jewish ecclesiastics, ye chief priests and scribes of the people? Ye could tell Herod where Christ should be born, and could hear of these strangers from the far East that the Desire of all nations had actually come; but I do not see you trooping to Bethlehem--I find these devout strangers journeying thither all alone. Yet God ordered this too, lest the news should be blabbed, and reach the tyrant's ears, before the Babe could be placed beyond his reach. Thus are the very errors and crimes and cold indifferences of men all overruled.

And, lo, the star, which they saw in the east--implying apparently that it had disappeared in the interval.

went before them, and stood over where the young child was--Surely this could hardly be but by a luminous meteor, and not very high.

37)     An angel came to Joseph and told him to take his family to Egypt, the king would try to kill the child. This was also done so that prophecy would be fulfilled Indeed when Herod heard the Magi were gone he was furious. Mt. 2:13-16 ; Hosea 11:1

a. He killed every male baby two years old and under for this is when the Magi said they had first seen the star. Mt. 1:16-18

b. This was done that another prophecy might be fulfilled Jer. 31:15