We begin this last portion of our study of The Christmas Story at Matthew 2:1-23. Last week, we heard of ceremonies that Jesus and His family went through, as part of Jewish law, since He was born “under the law” and was to fulfill it perfectly and completely, in our place. Now we hear of an important story that happened “after Jesus was born in Bethlehem.” We do not know just when, but Herod (the Great) was still living and was the king in Israel at that time. Herod had been appointed to this po...
We begin this last portion of our study of The Christmas Story at Matthew 2:1-23. Last week, we heard of ceremonies that Jesus and His family went through, as part of Jewish law, since He was born “under the law” and was to fulfill it perfectly and completely, in our place. Now we hear of an important story that happened “after Jesus was born in Bethlehem.” We do not know just when, but Herod (the Great) was still living and was the king in Israel at that time. Herod had been appointed to this position by the Roman Senate in 40 BC, and reigned from 37 BC till 4 BC, or some say, 1 BC. He was not even Jewish, but was a powerful leader and builder, including having much work done on the temple in Jerusalem (Matthew 2:1).
Wise men then came to him in Jerusalem from the East, asking, “Where is He who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” These men were called “magoi" or "magi” and were not kings but advisors to a king, probably from the area of Babylon, in what had been the Persian empire.
You can find this same word in Daniel 2:2,10 for wise men, “magicians,” who probably used astronomy and astrology and other ancient “arts” in order to give advice to a king. Daniel was a young Jewish man taken as a captive to Babylon long before, but by the power and wisdom of God, he became a trusted advisor of the king at that time. (See Daniel 2:44, 46-48.)
Daniel also knew the Old Testament Scriptures and used them in helping and teaching his fellow advisors. There were many prophecies of a future king, including one in Numbers 24:17, combining the coming of a star and a scepter, an instrument of a king. We don’t know for sure, but maybe these Scriptures and others were preserved and helped the wise men around the time of Jesus to know that the unusual star that appeared to them was the sign of the coming king of Israel. They then traveled from the area of Babylon, most likely, to Jerusalem, assuming the newborn king would be born in the capital city (Matthew 2:2).
King Herod and others in Jerusalem were not excited but “troubled” (shaken up, stirred up) probably by the thought of a newborn king who could be a threat to them and their power and authority. Herod called together the chief priests and scribes and asked where “the Christ,” the promised Messiah, the Anointed One, was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet” Micah. They then quoted, in their own way, Micah 5:2,4. A shepherd and ruler is to come from Bethlehem, as David was, long ago (Matthew 2:3-6). (See also 1 Chronicles 11:2 and 2 Samuel 5:2, where much the same is said of David, and the discussion later on among ordinary Jews who knew the Christ was to come from Bethlehem, in John 7:40-42.)
Herod, who had his own ideas about all this, then called and questioned the wise men secretly about when the star had appeared. As we shall hear, it seems to have been about two years earlier. He then sent the wise men to Bethlehem to find the child, and then to return and tell him where the child was, so that he, Herod, could also worship him (Matthew 2:7-8).
The star seems to have disappeared at some point, but as the wise men headed for Bethlehem, only about 5-6 miles away, the star reappeared and led them and rested over the place where the child was. Clearly, this was no ordinary star or conjunction of stars and planets, at this time. Like no other star could, it led them right to Jesus, and they “rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.” They found Jesus in a “house” with Mary His mother, where Joseph was able to move them, some time after Jesus was born (Matthew 2:9-11).
Often the Christmas story is pictured with the wise men coming to the stable and manger, along with the shepherds, on the very night that Jesus was born, but the wise men clearly came later. Maybe you remember the Christmas song, “We three kings of Orient are.” As we can see from Matthew 2, the wise men were not kings. There is no indication of how many of them came (the guess comes from the number of gifts given), and they were not from the Orient as we often use that term today, from East Asia, but from the Middle East, likely Iraq.
The wise men did realize that this was not just a human child, but also one sent from God, for they fell down and worshiped Him, as they would worship God. They also gave Him gifts of gold (a gift worthy of a king) and frankincense (a fragrant gum resin used in offerings made to God) and myrrh (a resin used as a perfume for embalming the dead). This all predicted that Jesus was a king and God and would one day make the ultimate sacrifice, giving His life for the salvation of the world. (See how myrrh was used on the body of Jesus after his death, before being put in the grave, in John 19:39.) Note also that only Jesus was worshiped and given gifts. Joseph and Mary were not honored in this way (Matthew 2:11).
The wise men were then warned in a dream, a revelation, not to go back to Herod, and they departed, withdrew, from Israel and went back to their own country another way. Then an angel appeared to Joseph, also in a dream, and told him to rise, take the child and Mary, and flee, probably that very night, to Egypt, since Herod would soon search for Jesus in order to kill Him. They were to stay in Egypt until told by the angel that they could return to Israel.
All this fulfilled another prophecy, from Hosea 11:1, “Out of Egypt I have called My Son.” The people of Israel were God’s children, and He had called them out of slavery in Egypt and brought them to the Promised Land, working through Moses and Joshua and others. Now God would rescue His own Son, Jesus, the Son of God, from danger and then from Egypt and bring Him back to the Promised Land, to grow up and do His saving work for the whole world.
Note how this passage also affirms that the Scriptures are the true Word of God. It was the Lord who spoke through Hosea and all the prophets. Angels and the Jewish authorities and now Matthew and Luke and the New Testament writers quote the Scriptures as the very Word of God (Matthew 2:12-15).
When Herod realized that the wise men were not going to return to him and tell him where the baby born to be a king was, he was furious, exceedingly angry. He realized that he had been “tricked” by them. The word used indicates that he felt they had made fun of him and mocked him. So, he quickly carried out his plan he had all along to kill this potential king. But now, he would have to send people to kill all the baby boys in Bethlehem and “in the surrounding region” who were two years old and under. He was taking no chances that he would miss Jesus, based on what the wise men had told him about the appearance of the star. Bethlehem was a very small town, but with the surrounding area, scholars guess that it might have been 5 or 6 babies or as high as 30. We don’t know, but it was a terrible slaughter for all those involved (Matthew 2:16).
Again, Matthew is led by God to quote words from Jeremiah 31:15, where the wife of Jacob, Rachel, was pictured as loudly weeping for Jewish descendants, carried away into captivity because of their sinfulness. Rachel herself had wept and died in childbirth, long ago, on her way to Ephrath, another name for the Bethlehem area. (See Genesis 35:15-19.) Now Rachel is pictured as weeping again for the Jewish babies of the Bethlehem area, killed by Herod, a supposed Jewish king, in opposition to God and His plans for the true King and Savior, Jesus (Matthew 2:17-18).
Very sadly, Herod’s action was entirely in character for him. He had a number of his own children and relatives killed because he was paranoid and afraid they would try to overthrow him. He did other terrible things described by Josephus, a Jewish historian. When he was near death, Herod ordered many Jewish leaders rounded up and put in an amphitheater he had built. When he died, they were all to be killed, so that there would be at least some mourning at his death, even if not for him. This command was never carried out. Once Herod was dead, others did not feel compelled to do what he had said.
The Jeremiah 31:15 quotation about weeping does not end with weeping, though. Just after that, we hear, “Keep your voice from weeping… There is hope for your future… I will surely have mercy… declares the Lord… For the Lord has created a new thing on the earth… Thus says the Lord… I will surely satisfy the weary soul and every languishing soul, I will replenish” (Jeremiah 31:16,17,20,22,23,25). And in Jeremiah 31:31-34, God promises a whole New Covenant, New Testament, centered in the work of Jesus and the forgiveness of sins through Him. That is what the whole New Testament is about, beginning with the Christmas story we have been studying. Always there is hope in the Lord, through Jesus, no matter what.
Matthew 2 ends with the good news that after the death of Herod the Great, the angel appeared again to Joseph and told him he could return to Israel from Egypt. He was warned in another dream, though, that a son of King Herod, Archelaus, was in control in Judea, and the family returned to their previous home, Nazareth, where Jesus grew up, also in fulfillment of prophecy (Matthew 2:19-23).
The reference to being a Nazarene probably means that Jesus would live in this small town in the despised area of northern Israel around Galilee. Jews from Jerusalem tended to look down upon Jews from the north, where there were also more Gentiles mixed in. It had been predicted that the promised Savior would be “despised and rejected by men.” (See Psalm 22:6-8 and Isaiah 53:2-3, for example.)
We then hear about Jesus only once more, when He was 12 and went to the temple in Jerusalem (Luke 2:41-52), and then not until when his public ministry began when he was about 30 (Luke 3:23).
A few last comments about Matthew 2. How different was the worshipful joy of the non-Jewish wise men, in hurrying to Bethlehem and finding the infant Jesus and honoring Him as God and King, from the attitude of King Herod and the Jews in Jerusalem. The Jews heard about the star and what the wise men said, and even found for themselves in Scripture where the Christ was to be born. They were only 6 miles away from Bethlehem; yet it seems that none of them even bothered to make that short trip to see if the infant Messiah might be there. This was sadly prophetic of how many of God’s own chosen people rejected the Savior when He came for them.
Also, Jesus escaped, by God’s grace, from Herod the Great and his son, Archelaus; but another son of Herod the Great, Herod Antipas, was ruler of Galilee and Perea during the life of Christ. This Herod had John the Baptist arrested and put to death. Jesus was sent by Pontius Pilate to this Herod, because he was a Galilean; but this Herod only wanted Jesus to entertain him with miracles and Jesus would not do any or answer his questions. So he and his soldiers “treated Jesus with contempt and mocked Him” and sent Him back to Pilate, where He was soon condemned to die (Luke 23:6-12). So this Herod failed Jesus, too.
Finally, there is a saying that “Wise men still follow the star to Bethlehem today.” We have been doing that by being in this study of the true Christmas story. We are wise people when we listen with open hearts to what is revealed about who Jesus is and why He had to be both God and man and why He was born in Bethlehem for us. Jesus is “God with us” and only He can forgive us and “save us from our sins” and guilt.
If you were a child or have children or grandchildren, you have probably seen the Charlie Brown Christmas TV movie. Charlie Brown is not sure about what Christmas means, but Linus tells him with simple childlike faith, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11). That is the essence of the Christmas story, to be believed by us all.
