We come now to Matthew 2 and once
again we take especial notice of some unexpected details. Chapter 1 concluded with Joseph and Mary
ending their betrothal period and beginning life together to prevent gossip as
Mary’s pregnancy became apparent. But
there is no record of the birth itself, or the travel to Bethlehem and the
adoration of the shepherds as Luke so vividly recounts in his gospel. Instead, the narrative picks up after the
birth of Jesus to further opposition to the Child. Matthew notes in verse 11 that they now are
living in a house. They are not still in
the stable behind the inn that Luke talks about. In verse 16 we also note that it has been as
much as two years but probably somewhat less since Jesus’ birth.
Wise Foreigners
Seek the Redeemer
Matthew introduces us to “wise men from the east” who have come
to worship the king of the Jews as they had seen declared in the heavens. Matthew does not tell us who these wise men
are, how many of them there are, how they knew about the Messiah’s birth (other
than a star sign in the sky), or precisely where they are from. But the word Matthew uses to describe them (magoi) is the same word the Greek
translation of the scriptures used to describe the clan of wise men in Persia
that the prophet Daniel once headed up.
Persia was indeed located to the east and the magoi were renowned for their knowledge and observations of the
heavenly bodies. These foreigners
traveled 600 miles to worship another king and they naturally sought him in the
capital city, Jerusalem.
Notice that not only the current king of the Jews, Herod the
Great, was upset but all Jerusalem with him.
Herod had killed many supposed usurpers – even his wife and some of his
sons. The city worried that someone
else would die and Herod worried for his throne.
Matthew points out that Herod had his own wise men – the religious experts –
brought in for help? He
either believed the Bible might be correct or, more likely, he surmised that
the people would believe and rally around a usurper as they had done
before. The
experts pointed to the prophet Micah and his prediction that the Messiah would
come from Bethlehem. Micah wrote
about the same time as Isaiah whose sign to King Ahaz serves as the background
for the virgin birth of the Messiah.
Micah addressed the same coming judgment upon Israel and Judah but also
a coming deliverance by a divine Ruler who had always been around but would be
born in Bethlehem. He would set up a
worldwide kingdom.
Why didn’t Herod and his wise men go
to Bethlehem six miles down the road right then and there? He probably didn’t want to advertise the
message of the wise men nor did he want to worship this child as would be
expected of him should they find Him. His scribes and
chief priests were not seeking the true Messiah, either, for they did not offer to go to Bethlehem, either.
But Herod did want to know how to find this child—should he
exist. So, he secretly solicited from the wise men the
time the star first appeared and directed them to return and give him the exact
location.
The star had initially led the
wise men to Israel where they sought more specific help in Jerusalem, the capital
city. But after getting further
directions from the Bible scholars in Jerusalem and setting out for Bethlehem (six
miles away), the star reappeared and this time led them to a specific
place and house. This was obviously no
ordinary star. No object beyond our
atmosphere could serve. This was
supernatural.
Their reaction upon seeing Jesus filled them with great joy
and they worshipped Him. They gave him
gifts befitting a king. In the ancient world, emissaries from subservient
kingdoms sent rich gifts to a new king to demonstrate their fealty.
Wise, indeed, were these magoi
who knew how to discern wisdom not only from a sign
in the sky, then from the words of the prophet Micah, and now from a God-given
dream warning them to go home a different way.
A Foreign Land
Shelters the Redeemer from the Massacre in Bethlehem
Joseph now has his second dream
from the Angel of the Lord. To
protect Jesus from the wrath of Herod he is told to flee to Egypt. We can
also see that those expensive gifts would be needed for the trip to and from
Egypt. At this point, Matthew quotes from the prophet Hosea who also wrote at the
same time as Isaiah and Micah and spoke of Israel returning to Egypt in a reverse
exodus to protect themselves. But God
would bring them back and Matthew sees the Messiah also seeking temporary protection
in Egypt and then returning.
While Jesus was gone, and since
the wise men had not reported back, Herod ordered the murder of all the baby
boys near Bethlehem who were two and under. Herod calculated this age from the date the
wise men had first seen the star. So, he
reasoned that Jesus was likely less than two years of age. This murder would likely have removed most if
not all infant male descendants of David whose families were required to move
to their own ancestral towns to assess the tax value of their lands (as Luke
reports).
Moses, also, had escaped such a
massacre at his birth. Matthew does not
mention this but instead recalls Jeremiah’s lament over the metaphorical wailing
of Rachel (Jacob’s long-dead wife who was buried near Bethlehem) over her
children as they were killed or marched off to slavery in Babylon. Nearly six hundred years before, Ramah was the
collection point for the exiled Jewish slaves as they set off in the long
sorrowful caravans of tears for Babylon.
The Redeemer is
Called a Nazarene
Matthew now recalls Joseph’s third dream from the Angel of
the Lord telling him to return to Israel because Herod is dead. Herod died in 4
BC so Jesus was probably born between 6 and 7 BC! As they made their way back, Joseph has a fourth dream telling him not to return
to Bethlehem (which was in Judea ruled by Herod’s son Archelaus). So, he went to the town where Mary and he had
lived before they got married (according to Luke) which was Nazareth. This was in Galilee which was ruled over by
another son of Herod called Antipas.
Matthew now alludes to other Old Testament prophets saying,
“He would be called a Nazarene.” What is
he talking about? Many Old Testament
prophets allude to the fact that the Messiah will not be highly esteemed. Even Nathaniel quotes a saying based on this
idea: “Can any good come out of Nazareth?”
Galilee was considered the spiritual opposite of the holy city of
Jerusalem. Even today the Arabs call
Christians ‘Nazarenes’ as a pejorative term. How will the Messiah bring in His kingdom by
starting in the spiritual backwater of the nation?
© 2018 Eric Thimell
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