36 MES. A. S. LEWIS^ ON THE GENEALOGIES OF OUR LORD. 



that we may read verse 23 thus: "And Jesus Himself, at about 

 thirty years old (being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph), was 

 of Heli, of Matthat, of Levi, of Melchi," etc. 



Our English translators ought ^ not to have inserted the explana- 

 tory words " which' was " into that genealogy at all. 



I have little space left to speak of the star. My one great 

 objection to the theory of its having been Venus is that the 

 varying appearances of that brilliant planet must have been long 

 familiar to the Magi ; for Venus is supposed to be older than our 

 earth itself. Whether the star was a comet, or the appearance 

 of a conjunction of stars seen in the same line, it is impossible now 

 to ascertain. Astronomical calculations cannot help us much, for 

 as my friend Sir Robert Ball said to me the other day, "We are not 

 told from what country the Magi started." Dr. Zahn points out 

 that the star is said to have stood, not over the house, but over the 

 place, or rather " over where the young child was," " And when 

 they came into the house," etc. Probably arriving at the gate 

 of Bethlehem, the Magi inquired if there " were any children in it 

 who had been born so many weeks ago," according to the time when 

 they had first observed the star. 



