V. 1. ff. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in the land of Judaea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, the wise men came from the east to Jerusalem, saying: Where is the newborn King of the Jews? 2c.
1. to the first. The whole second chapter is divided into two main parts, the revelation and the persecution of Christ, because St. Matthew deals with these two things. The revelation was necessary because one has no desire for something unknown, and a gift of which one does not know is of no use. It would have been of no use that Christ was born if he had remained hidden. This, then, is the cause of this feast [the appearance of Christ], that we may be grateful and mindful of this gift or benefit and its revelation.
Here, whoever feels like it, can prove his oratory by praising this gift of revelation according to its necessity, according to its benefit, according to its sweetness, according to its effect, according to its fruits; and vice versa, by showing how deplorable darkness would be there, if it had not been revealed 1) [and he can elaborate this], by the danger, by the sorrow and by the opposite effects and fruits 2c. This one would already be a whole and rich sermon, which could serve for thanksgiving, for admonition and for the movement of the mind to joy and trust.
3. secondly. The revelation itself is divided into its parts: The first is the
revelatum with the Jena to read.
Star; the second the confession of the wise men; the third the testimony of the priests; the fourth the confessed fright of the godless Herod. By all these things it is preached and revealed that Christ is born; namely, by a dumb creature, the star, by the foreign Gentiles, by his own people, by the enemy and persecutor, so that he can have no excuse who does not know that Christ is born. [V. 5. f.:] "For thus it is written by the prophet: And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art by no means the least of the princes of Judah: for out of thee shall come to me a HEART over my people Israel."
Thirdly. Through these revelations, Micah's prophecy of Christ to be born is confirmed and proven, and the prophecy of a future thing has become the story of an event that has actually occurred.
(5) Here, then, is the main teaching of this Gospel, that is, full of Christ, who is described by Micah, who he should be according to his person and what he should be like according to his office. The person is from the tribe of Judah, from the city of Bethlehem, a true son of David and a true man; in front of the Father for eternity the true Son of God, true God, as is clearer from Micah [Cap. 5, 1].
6. his office is that he is the duke of the people of God, but a duke in a different way, 2) not like David and other mortals and their successors. This one is
2) Instead of äiKerentur in the Wittenberg is to be read with the Jena äitksrentsr.
the one [duke] and immortal, without a successor, because 1) he is an eternal person, as Micah says, "Which issue has been from the beginning and from everlasting."
7 V. 5: "He who is a Lord over my people Israel", that is to say, to save, to defend, to rule against sin, death and the devil. For it is certain that Micah is speaking of the promised Messiah, which is the
1) et before Huia in the Wittenberger is too much.
Priests themselves confess against Herod. So this true and only duke is the savior of the world. - Here one can extend the sermon by the contrast, how Moses, the worldly wise men, the right men, the kings, the wise men of this world are nothing against this duke, because they cannot be compared with him neither in person nor in office. Those cannot even save themselves and serve only temporally, but this one for eternity 2c.