NOTES for Mat 2:1-12
The coming of the Magi troubled not only Herod but also, as noted, all Jerusalem. Herod's anxiety is understandable, for he, like any cruel ruler, imagines everywhere if not conspiracies, then rivals. But other people, to whom Herod's tendencies do not seem to belong, are also worried that the birth of the Child may bring some important changes into their lives as well. And any changes, even the most long-awaited, are inevitably connected with discomfort.
Thus from the very first days of the Messiah's earthly life a dramatic discord begins in the souls of many of those who, after a long expectation of His coming, proved not ready to meet Him. But in these same days there also begins the coming to Christ of many of those who had long wandered along paths far from true knowledge of God, but who even in the forest of paganism managed to find a trail leading out of it. And if the Magi came to Bethlehem following the star, they returned already having received revelation and therefore no longer needing their former divinations. The Magi went back by another way not only because of the danger from Herod, but also because the former paths had been exhausted after Christ came into the world.