in the passage under consideration, the _place_ is
designated.--_Finally_--If any doubt yet remained, it must surely be
removed by the fulfilment,--by the fact that Christ was actually born
at Bethlehem; and this so much the more, that this fact cannot be
looked upon as an accidental circumstance, for Bethlehem was not the
residence of His parents.

But the Jews endeavoured, in another way, to wrest from Christian
controversialists the advantage afforded by this passage. They denied
altogether that Christ was born at Bethlehem. Thus _Abr. Peritsol_
(compare _Eisenmenger_, l. c. S. 259): "Since they called Him Jesus the
Nazarene, and not Jesus the Bethlehemite, it is to be inferred that He
was born at Nazareth, as it is written in the _Targum_ of Jerusalem."
Upon this point, however, there existed no unanimity among them. _David
Gans_, in the Book _Zemach David_, mentions, without any remark,
Bethlehem as the birth-place of the Messiah (S. 105 of _Vorst's_
translation).

2. AMONG THE CHRISTIANS.

The conviction that Christ is the subject of the prophecy under
consideration was so much the prevailing one in the Christian Church,
that the mention of any of its defenders is altogether superfluous. It
were more interesting to learn who were the opponents of it. The
assertion of _Huetius_, l. c., that _Chrysostom_, _Theophylact_, and
_Euthymius Zigabenus_ attempted an explanation by which it was referred
to Zerubbabel, rests on a misapprehension resulting from want of
memory. _Huetius_ himself ascribes to them that very view which they
most decidedly oppose as the one alleged to be held by the Jews.
But this interpretation was actually advanced by _Theodorus_ of
_Mopsueste_, whose exegetical tendencies it admirably suited. Along
with several other interpretations, it was condemned by the Council at
Rome, under Pope Vigilius; compare _H. Prado_ on Ezek. _prooem. Sect._
3, and _Hippol. a Lapide in prophet. min. prooem._, and in the remarks
on this passage. The immediate successor of _Theodorus_ was _Grotius_.
His book _de veritate relig. Christ._--where in i. 5, Sec. 17 (p. 266, ed.
Oxon. 1820), he proves [Pg 500] against the Jews the Messianic dignity
of Christ, from the circumstance that He was, in accordance with the
passage, born at Bethlehem--might, indeed, entitle us to infer that he
was not confirmed in this opinion. But perhaps he only imagined that,
in a popular work, he needed not to be so