“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,”
Matthew 2:1 — Greek Interlinear
Church Fathers on Matthew 2:1
After the miraculous Virgin-birth, a God-man having by Divine power proceeded from a virgin womb; in the obscure shelter of such a cradle, a narrow stall, wherein lay Infinite Majesty in a body more narrow, a God was suckled and suffered the wrapping of vile rags - amidst all this, on a sudden a new star shone in the sky upon the earth, and driving away the darkness of the world, changed night into day; that the day-star should not be hidden by the night.
In the beginning of this passage of the Gospel he puts three several things; the person, 'When Jesus was born,' the place, 'in Bethlehem of Judaea,' and the time, 'in the days of Herod the king.' These three circumstances verify his words.
We think the Evangelist first wrote, as we read in the Hebrew, 'Judah,' not 'Judaea.' For in what other country is there a Bethlehem, that this needs to be distinguished as in 'Judaea?' But 'Judah' is written, because there is another Bethlehem in Galilee.