⁴他就召齐了 祭司长 和 民间的 文士 ，问 他们 说：基督 当生 在何处 ？

⁴And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.

⁴ Verse 4. The chief priests] Not only the high priest for the

time being, called cohen ha-rosh, 2Ki 25:18, and his

deputy, called cohen mishneh, with those who had

formerly borne the high priest's office; but also, the chiefs or

heads of the twenty four sacerdotal families, which David

distributed into so many courses, 1Ch 24. These latter are styled

sarey ha-cohanim, chief of the priests, 2Ch 36:14;

Ezr 8:24; and

roshey ha-cohanim, heads of the priests, Ne 12:7.

Josephus calls them by the same name as the writers of the New

Testament. In his Life, sect. 8, he mentions πολλουςτων

αρχιερεων, MANY of the chief priests. The word is used in the

singular in this last sense, for a chief of the priests, Ac 19:14.



Scribes] The word γραμματευς, in the Septuagint, is used for a

political officer, whose business it was to assist kings and civil

magistrates, and to keep an account in writing of public acts and

occurrences. Such an officer is called in Hebrew seper

hamelech, ογραμματευςτουβασιλεως, the king's scribe, or

secretary. See LXX. 2Ki 12:10.



The word is often used by the LXX. for a man of learning,

especially for one skilled in the Mosaic law: and, in the same

sense, it is used by the New Testament writers. γραμματευς is

therefore to be understood as always implying a man of letters, or

learning, capable of instructing the people. The derivation of

the names proves this to be the genuine meaning of the word

γραμμα: a letter, or character, in writing: or γραμματα,

letters, learning, erudition, and especially that gained from

books. The Hebrew or sopher, from saphar, to

tell, count, cypher, signifies both a book, volume, roll, &c., and

a notary, recorder, or historian; and always signifies a man of

learning. We often term such a person a man of letters.



The word is used Ac 19:35,

for a civil magistrate at Ephesus, probably such a one as we would

term recorder. It appears that Herod at this time gathered the

whole Sanhedrin, in order to get the fullest information on a

subject by which all his jealous fears had been alarmed.