THE •KING’S BUSINESS
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the commentators of his day. Herod was very thorough in his search to find out where the Christ was^to be born: he-“gath ered together all the chief priests and all of the scribes.” Not only did he gather them together, but he inquired diligently of these wise men as to “where the Christ should be born.” vs. 5, 6 . “And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea : for thus it is writ ten by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the (Judah, art in no wise) least among the princes of Juda; for (Judah: for) out of thee shall come (add, forth) a Governor, that (Gov ernor which) shall rule (be shepherd of) my people Israel. The scribes were well instructed from the scriptures and were perfectly orthodox. They knew just where the Christ should be born, nevertheless they had no interest in His coming. They just gave the theoretic opinion and there their interest seemed to end. There is much of that sort of Scripture knowledge and orthodoxy still. It did the scribes no good, and the same kind of knowledge will do no one any good today.. Christ must be born in Bethlehem, for thus it was written by the prophet; and whatever is written in God’s Word must come to pass. vs. 7, 8 . “ Then Herod, when he had (omit, when he had) privily called the Wise men, inquired (and learned) of them' diligently (carefully) what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and. said, Go and search dilligently (out carefully) for (concerning) ~ the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again (omit, again) ■ that I (I also) may come and worship him also (omit, also)." We see Herod’s thorough ness again. He not only inquired dili gently of the chief priests and scribes where, according to their Scriptures, their Christ should be born, but he also inquired carefully of the magi as to the time when the star appeared. And he bade them go and “search carefully” and bade them to bring him back word again. He did this
purposes “to worship Him.” They recog-' nized the deity of this new born King and there are many today who call themselves Christians, who have not even got as far along as these magi. They honor Jesus, they believe in Jesus for salvation, they serve Jesus but they do not worship Jesus. They do not recognize the true and full Deity of our Lord. v. 3. “ When (And when) Herod the king had (omit, had) heard these things (it), he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him." The tidings, that came to Herod that the true King was come should have brought him joy, but in reality these tidings troubled him. Why did they trou ble him? Because he wanted to be king himself. And so it is with many a heart today, we ought to welcome Christ as King with joy; but we are troubled that Christ is King; for we wish to be King our selves. But not only was Herod troubled, but all Jerusalem as well. Jerusalem the city of the great King, whose whole glory was to center in Him, was unwilling to receive Him when He came. Jerusalem was troubled at His coming instead of rejoicing at it (cf. John 1:11). Just so, many in the Church would be troubled if they knew Jesus was coming again tomor row. Indeed there are many who get very angry when you tell them that the prob ability is that Jesus will soon come to reign. v. 4. “And when he had gathered (gathered together) all the chief priests and scribes of the people together (omit, together), he demanded (inquired) where Christ (the Christ) should be bom " Herod thought the proper place to go for information about the Christ was to the Scriptures. In that he was right (John 5:39). If he had studied the Bible as he ought for himself, it would have not been necessary for him to go to the chief priests and scribes to tell him; but many kings and many common people, instead of searching the Scriptures for themselves depend upon the theologians; so Herod went to the theologians, the ecclesiastics,
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