Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
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Remigius of Rheims
AD 533
In the beginning of this passage of the Gospel he puts three several things; the person, “When Jesus was born,” the place, “in Bethlehem of Judaea,” and the time, “in the days of Herod the king.” These three circumstances verify his words.
It should be known that opinions vary respecting the Magi. Some say they were Chaldaeans, who are known to have worshipped a star as God; thus their fictitious Deity showed them the way to the true God. Others think that they were Persians; others again, that they came from the utmost ends of the earth. Another and more probable opinion is, that they were descendants of Balaam, who having his prophecy, “There shall rise a Star out of Jacob,” as soon as they saw the star, would know that a King was born.
Some used to answer, ‘No marvel if that boy who was then born could draw themso speedily, though it were from the ends of the earth.’
Yet was not the Lord born there; thus they knew the time but not the place of His birth. Jerusalem being the royal city, they believed that such a child could not be born in any other. Or it was to fulfil that Scripture, “The Law shall go out of Sion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” And there Christ was first preached. Or it was to condemn the backwardness of the Jews.
Some affirm this star to have been the Holy Spirit; He who descended on the baptized Lord as a dove, appearing to the Magi as a star. Others say it was an Angel, the same who appeared to the shepherds.
