Mat 2:4 | PNT | STEP | And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes together . Literally, "high priests". The high priests, and perhaps the heads of the twenty-four courses of priests, are included. See . The "scribes" were the successors of Ezra, the official copyists of the Scripture, who naturally became its expounders, and were the theologians of the time of Christ. The priests, as the head of the Jewish religion, and the scribes, as the chief expounders of the Scriptures, were the proper persons to answer Herod's question. Where Christ should be born . This demand concedes: (1) That the Jews expected a Messiah; (2) That the Scriptures had foretold his coming; (3) That the very place of his birth had been pointed out.

Matthew 2:4

And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes together. Literally, "high priests". The high priests, and perhaps the heads of the twenty-four courses of priests, are included. See 1Ch 24:1-19. The "scribes" were the successors of Ezra, the official copyists of the Scripture, who naturally became its expounders, and were the theologians of the time of Christ. The priests, as the head of the Jewish religion, and the scribes, as the chief expounders of the Scriptures, were the proper persons to answer Herod's question.

Where Christ should be born. This demand concedes: (1) That the Jews expected a Messiah; (2) That the Scriptures had foretold his coming; (3) That the very place of his birth had been pointed out.