Anf-01 ix.iv.x Pg 13
Matt. ii. 2.
and that, having been led by the star into the house of Jacob to Emmanuel, they showed, by these gifts which they offered, who it was that was worshipped; myrrh, because it was He who should die and be buried for the mortal human race; gold, because He was a King, “of whose kingdom is no end;”3384 3384
Anf-03 iv.iv.ix Pg 8
See Matt. ii.
We know the mutual alliance of magic and astrology. The interpreters of the stars, then, were the first to announce Christ’s birth the first to present Him “gifts.” By this bond, [must] I imagine, they put Christ under obligation to themselves? What then? Shall therefore the religion of those Magi act as patron now also to astrologers? Astrology now-a-days, forsooth, treats of Christ—is the science of the stars of Christ; not of Saturn, or Mars, and whomsoever else out of the same class of the dead213 213 Because the names of the heathen divinities, which used to be given to the stars, were in many cases only names of dead men deified.
it pays observance to and preaches? But, however, that science has been allowed until the Gospel, in order that after Christ’s birth no one should thence forward interpret any one’s nativity by the heaven. For they therefore offered to the then infant Lord that frankincense and myrrh and gold, to be, as it were, the close of worldly214 214 Or, heathenish.
sacrifice and glory, which Christ was about to do away. What, then? The dream—sent, doubtless, of the will of God—suggested to the same Magi, namely, that they should go home, but by another way, not that by which they came. It means this: that they should not walk in their ancient path.215 215 Or, sect.
Not that Herod should not pursue them, who in fact did not pursue them; unwitting even that they had departed by another way, since he was withal unwitting by what way they came. Just so we ought to understand by it the right Way and Discipline. And so the precept was rather, that thence forward they should walk otherwise. So, too, that other species of magic which operates by miracles, emulous even in opposition to Moses,216 216
Npnf-201 iii.vi.viii Pg 3
Npnf-201 iii.vi.viii Pg 6
Anf-03 iv.ix.xiii Pg 51
See Matt. xxvii. 11–14; Mark xv. 1–5; John xix. 8–12.
); for “in humility His judgment was taken away: His nativity, moreover, who shall declare?” Because no one at all of human beings was conscious of the nativity of Christ at His conception, when as the Virgin Mary was found pregnant by the word of God; and because “His life was to be taken from the land.”1428 1428
Anf-03 v.iv.v.xlii Pg 7
Luke xxiii. 3.
in order that He might not seem to have been driven by a fear of his power to give him a fuller answer. “And so the Lord hath stood on His trial.”5126 5126 Constitutus est in judicio. The Septuagint is καταστήσεται εἰς κρίσιν, “shall stand on His trial.”
And he placed His people on their trial. The Lord Himself comes to a trial with “the elders and rulers of the people,” as Isaiah predicted.5127 5127
Edersheim Bible History
Lifetimes x.xiv Pg 1.2
Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge, Chapter 15
VERSE (2) - Mt 2:2; 27:11 Lu 23:3 Joh 18:33-37; 19:19-22 1Ti 6:13
