There is no good reason to doubt the fact itself, and the flight of the holy family to Egypt, which
is inseparably connected with it. For, although the horrible deed is ignored by Josephus, it is in
keeping with the well-known cruelty of Herod, who from jealousy murdered Hyrcanus, the
grandfather of his favorite wife, Mariamne; then Mariamne herself, to whom he was passionately
attached; her two sons, Alexander and Aristobulus, and, only five days before his death, his oldest
son, Antipater; and who ordered all the nobles assembled around him in his last moments to be
executed after his decease, so that at least his death might be attended by universal mourning. For
such a monster the murder of one or two dozen infants in a little town^108 was a very small matter,
which might easily have been overlooked, or, owing to its connection with the Messiah, purposely
ignored by the Jewish historian. But a confused remembrance of it is preserved in the anecdote
related by Macrobius (a Roman grammarian and probably a heathen, about a.d. 410), that Augustus,
on hearing of Herod’s murder of "boys under two years" and of his own son, remarked "that it was
better to be Herod’s swine than his son."^109 The cruel persecution of Herod and the flight into Egypt
were a significant sign of the experience of the early church, and a source of comfort in every period
of martyrdom.
The Star of the Magi.
(2) Another chronological hint of Matthew 2:1–4, 9, which has been verified by astronomy,
is the Star of the Wise Men, which appeared before the death of Herod, and which would naturally
attract the attention of the astrological sages of the East, in connection with the expectation of the
advent of a great king among the Jews. Such a belief naturally arose from Balaam’s prophecy of
"the star that was to rise out of Jacob" (Num. 24:17), and from the Messianic prophecies of Isaiah
and Daniel, and widely prevailed in the East since the dispersion of the Jews.^110
The older interpretation of that star made it either a passing meteor, or a strictly miraculous
phenomenon, which lies beyond astronomical calculation, and was perhaps visible to the Magi
alone. But Providence usually works through natural agencies, and that God did so in this case is
made at least very probable by a remarkable discovery in astronomy. The great and devout Kepler
observed in the years 1603 and 1604 a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, which was made more
rare and luminous by the addition of Mars in the month of March, 1604. In the autumn of the same
year (Oct. 10) he observed near the planets Saturn, Jupiter and Mars a new (fixed) star of uncommon(^108) Tradition has here most absurdly swelled the number of Innocents to 20,000, as indicated on the massive column, which
marks the spot of their supposed martyrdom in the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem. XX M[artyres], i.e. martyrs, have
become XX M[ilia], i.e. twenty thousands.
(^109) Macrob., Sat., ii 4: "Augustus, cum audisset, inter pueros, quos in Syria Herodes, rex Judaeorum, intra bimatum [perhaps
taken from Matt. 2:16, Vulg.: a bimatu et infra]jussit interfici, filium quoque eius occisum, ait: melius est Herodis porcum esse
quam filium." It is a pun on the similar sounding Greek terms for sow and son (ὗς and υἱός). Kepler already quoted thispassage
in confirmation of Matthew.
(^110) Tacitus (Hist., v. 13) and Suetonius (Vespas.,c. 4) speak of a widespread expectation of that kind at the time of the Jewish
war and before (Suetonius calls it a vetus et constans opinio), but falsely refer it to the Roman emperors Vespasianus and Titus.
In this the heathen historians followed Josephus, who well knew and believed the Messianic hopes of his people (comp. Ant.,
iv. 6, 5; x. 10, 4; 11, 7), and yet was not ashamed basely to betray and pervert them, saying (Bell. Jud. vi. 5, 4): "What did the
most to elevate the Jews in undertaking this war, was an ambiguous oracle that was found also in their sacred writings, how
’about that time, one from their country should become governor of the habitable earth.’ The Jews took this prediction to belong
to themselves in particular, and many of the wise men were thereby deceived in their determination. Now, this oracle certainly
denoted the goverment of Vespasian, who was appointed emperor in Judaea." Comp. Hausrath, N.T. Ztgesch., I. 173. The
Messianic hopes continued long after the destruction of Jerusalem. The false Messiah, who led the rebellion under the reign of
Hadrian (a.d. 135), called himself Bar-Cochba, i.e. "Son of the Star," and issued coins with a star, in allusion probably to Num.
24:17. When his real character was revealed, his name was turned into Bar-Cosiba, "Son of Falsehood."
A.D. 1-100.