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Matthew 2
Matthew does not tell us much of the infancy of
Jesus. There is something very beautiful, however, in
the little we have in this first Gospel. It gives us a
glimpse of the way the world, outside of His own
country, received Him. There was no room for Him
in the inn, and He was born in a stable; but Matthew
shows the Far East waiting for Him and honoring
Him. A little later, too, it shows Egypt sheltering
Him. Jerusalem was the place where naturally the
Messiah should have been first and most highly
honoredbut Jerusalem heard of the great event of
His coming, from the Eastern Magi.
The coming of the wise men to the cradle of Jesus is
an intensely interesting incident. The time was
probably soon after the presentation in the temple.
Paintings often wrongly represent the wise men and
the shepherds together in the cave-stable, adoring
the Christ-child. As the flight into Egypt came
immediately after the visit of the wise men, and the
Holy Child probably kept for many months away
from the country, it is evident that their appearance