Then Herod, when he had privately called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.
All Commentaries on Matthew 2:7 Go To Matthew 2
Theophylact of Ochrid
AD 1107
He summoned them secretly on account of the Jews, for he suspected that perhaps the Jews would highly esteem the Child and devise means to save Him as their future liberator. Therefore Herod meets with the Magi secretly.
That is, he learned the exact time. The star had appeared to the Magi before the Lord was born. Since their journey would take a long time, the star appeared well before His birth so that they could worship Him while He was still in swaddling clothes. Some say that the star appeared simultaneously with Christ’s birth, and that the Magi came two years later and found the Lord neither in swaddling clothes nor in the manger, but in the house with His mother when He was two years old. But you, O reader, consider the former interpretation to be better.
