John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus (Doubleday, 1991), 1:211-212.
More difficult to harmonize are the differing accounts of the journeys of Joseph and Mary in the two Infancy Narratives and the two “geographical” plots at the basis of the two stories. In the case of Matthew, the first place name that occurs in his narrative proper (1:18-2:23) is Bethlehem of Judea (2:1). Since no indication of a change of place is given at this point, the reader who knows only Matthew’s story would naturally take the preceding story of “the annunciation to Joseph” (1:18-23) as located in Bethlehem too. This fits in perfectly with details in the Magi story. The Magi find Mary and Jesus when they enter “into the house” (2:11), not into a stable or cave. Presumably this is the house Joseph and Mary dwell in permanently in Bethlehem. This in turn tis well with the fact that Herod, having ascertained from the Magi the time of the star’s appearance (in order to calculate the child’s age), orders the slaughter of all boys in Bethlehem and the surrounding region “two years of age and younger.” Matthew emphasizes the point by adding the explanation “according to the time he [Herod] had carefully ascertained from the Magi (2:16). In other words, Matthew’s story does not presume that Jesus has just been born when the Magi arrive. To ensure Jesus’s murder, Herod must have boys even as old as two years slaughtered. Obviously, we are not dealing in Matthew as in Luke with a birth during a quick trip to Bethlehem from Nazareth, to be followed by a fairly swift return to Nazareth after a visit to Jerusalem.
The Amateur Exegete 