Matthew 2:1-23; Luke 2:40
After Joseph had re-established himself in Bethlehem and his little family had been living there for some time,1 three astrologers2 from the east showed up in Jerusalem, wanting to know where the new king of the Jews was. They said that in the east they had seen his star, and wished to worship him. Everybody was very interested in this news, which could easily spell trouble from the Romans who would brook no challenge to their rule. King Herod was especially worried. He was well known for getting rid of anyone who might pose a challenge.
Herod summoned a meeting of the leading priests and and experts in scripture and demanded that they tell him where the Messiah was to be born. (The Hebrew word Messiah and the Greek word Christ both mean Anointed. Every proper king of Israel was anointed with oil as a sign that he had been chosen by Jehovah. Many hoped that God would send a man anointed by God as the king chosen to save the Jews and Israel. This then implied that such a "son of man" would have been born a descendant of David, since it was believed that only David's descendants had a right to be king.)
After consulting one another, they told Herod, "In the Bethlehem that is in Judaea. We refer you to the scripture that says,
And you Bethlehem, in Judah,(Matthew quotes what we know as Micah 5:2.3)
are not in any way the least among the clans of Judah
for out of you will come a governor
who will be the shepherd of my people, Israel.
English translations of Matthew vary on this passage. The Matthean version came across something like this: Bethlehem is not to be counted as insignificant with respect to Israel's rulers because out of Bethlehem is to come a good ruler who will shepherd God's people, Israel.
Once the room had cleared, Herod had the three brought in secret to his court, where he questioned them carefully as to exactly when they first saw the star. This permitted him to calculate the child's age. The king then sent them to Bethlehem to locate (and identify) the child. He told them to let him know when they had found him so that he might also go to worship the child.
Having obtained the information they needed, the three traveled to Bethlehem, which was only five miles away. Once there, they were able to locate the child.
Luke says the star led them directly to the right house, but if so, one wonders why they had to ask around in Jerusalem. They doubtless went to Jerusalem because, as the capital of the Jewish land, that seemed a logical place for the birth of a messiah. In any case, as Bethlehem was rather small, it doesn't seem that, with diligent inquiries, they would have had much trouble finding a male child of the right age.
On reaching the right house, they found the baby boy with his mother Mary. They fell to their knees and worshiped him and then opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.3a
Before leaving Bethlehem, one of them was warned in a dream to steer clear of Herod, and so they left for their own land by a route that avoided Jerusalem.
After their departure, Joseph also had a dream in which one of Jehovah's angels told him: "Get up right now! Take the baby and his mother and flee to Egypt and stay there until I tell you differently. Herod is about to try to destroy the baby."4
So Joseph arose and did as he was told. He and his family remained in Egypt until after Herod's death. (This episode fulfills the saying, "Out of Egypt have I called my son."5)
Once Herod realized that the astrologers had made a fool of him, he went into a terrible rage. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys under age two in and around Bethlehem. Herod knew how old his target was by what the astrologers had told him.6
This atrocity fulfilled a passage of the prophet Jeremiah:
A voice was heard in Ramah –Once Herod was dead, Joseph had another dream in which Jehovah's angel appeared. The angel told him, "Arise and take the youngster and his mother and go back to the territory of Israel. They are dead8 who sought the child's life.
Weeping and great mourning;
Rachel weeping for her children
And she would not be comforted,
because they are not7
Joseph did as he was told, but as he entered Jewish territory, he heard that Herod's son, Archelaus, was now in charge (Caesar Augustus had denied him the kingship but named him ethnarc, or national leader). Joseph feared to go anywhere near the Herods and so decided to stay out of Judaea9, instead taking his little family up north to Galilee, back to the town of Nazareth. This choice fulfilled what was said by the prophets, that the Messiah would be called a Nazarene.10
The child grew strong, and was exceptionally intelligent. God gave him wonderful spiritual gifts.
1. I must assume this statement in order to bring Matthew and Luke into partial conformity to each other. You will also see that I insert other relevant detail based on modern research and knowledge.
2. These men were very probably skilled in astrology, as well as in other areas of occult knowledge. The word magic stems from the Greek word magus (magi is the plural). By the time of Herod, any form of divination was shunned by Jews, who would then not have been aware of such a sign. By worshiping Jesus, and giving him gifts, the magi symbolically acknowledged that he was granted mastery of all worldly power, the spiritual power associated with Satan.
The 17th century astronomer Johannes Kepler suggested that the magi saw a nova, a fairly common astronomical event in which two nearby stars interact, appearing to us as a "new star." Indeed, they may have seen a supernova, whereby a star is destroyed by explosion. The light output is fantastically high and, when close enough (not too close, God willing!), can be seen from earth for as much as several months.
3. Micah 5:2
But you Bethlehem Ephratah, though you be little among the clans of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me him who is to be ruler in Israel – whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.Notice that the final clause implies the pre-existence of the one who comes out of Judah to save Israel, even though he is to come forth to God. The doctrine of the dual sonship of God and his humanity is here implicit. If we then regard the Holy Spirit as effectively the mind of God, we have the doctrine of the Trinity.
3a. The Psalms and Isaiah use poetic imagery as they forecast the reign of Israel's deliverer. A more or less literal fulfillment of that theme is given by Matthew.
Psalm 72:10-15
10 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.Isaiah 60:6
11 Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him.
12 For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.
13 He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy.
14 He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in his sight.
15 And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba: prayer also shall be made for him continually; and daily shall he be praised.
The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall shew forth the praises of the Lord.
4. History records that Herod was a very dangerous man. He even had three of his adult sons executed.
5. Hosea 11:1
When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
6. We should not assume that Jesus was two years old at that time, though he might have been. Herod was quite capable of trying to make very sure that the child was not overlooked by setting an age threshold well above the lad's actual age.
7. Jeremiah 31:15
Thus says Jehovah:As with other Old Testament scriptures quoted in Matthew, some object that the passage is taken out of context and that the prophet was not conveying the message that Matthew relates. An answer: The Holy Spirit is the one who helps Christians interpret scripture. Thus, scripture means whatever God says it means. God speaks through his old word in new ways. In fact, the story of Jesus itself proves that fact!
A voice was heard in Ramah –
lamentation, and bitter weeping.
Rachel weeping for her children
would not be comforted,
because they were not.
8. "They" may refer to Herod and his inner circle.
9. Matthew says God warned Joseph not to settle in Judah. My intuition is that God would have told Joseph to head for Galilee while he was back in Egypt. So what may have occurred is that God, though he would have protected Joseph and his family in Judaea, but he permitted Joseph to act on his fear of the Herods and head up to Galilee.
10. The writer of Matthew sees the move to Nazareth as providential, as he finds here a divine pun. Nazirite means consecrated one. Certainly during Jesus' 40 "days of separation" in the wilderness, Jesus met the criteria of a Nazirite (see below). Further, as God's Anointed, who could be more consecrated than Jesus? In fact, the word messiah – more accurately rendered mashiach – means a person anointed, which is to say, consecrated, to serve God.
One of the prophets referring to an anointed deliverer is Daniel. In chapter 9 of the book Daniel, we have,
25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. 26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.Perhaps the writer of Matthew did not name Daniel because he saw the prophecy as too difficult for his readers. Elsewhere in the Old Testament are at least 40 references to a messiah, although that word is not used.
Numbers 6
1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the Lord:
3 He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried.
4 All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk.
5 All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.
6 All the days that he separateth himself unto the Lord he shall come at no dead body.
7 He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die: because the consecration of his God is upon his head.
8 All the days of his separation he is holy unto the Lord.
No comments:
Post a Comment