MATTHEW 2:1-12

^KJV  Matthew 2:1-3 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, ² Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. ³ When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

HEROD… THERE IS MUCH TO SAY ABOUT HEROD. His story reads like a horror movie plot, so horrifying and outrageous its details. Although I have studied this fascinating and diabolical man many times at length before, I found myself once again this week drawn into a deep study. There is much information available to us today about Herod. Because of our time restraints, let me read you just a few of the more descriptive words from my notes on Herod.

“THERE ARE MANY FASCINATING SUB-PLOTS TO HEROD’S LIFE. He was a multifaceted person: extremely capable and extremely unstable.  As pictured by Josephus, the famous Jewish historian, Herod was capable, crafty, and cruel. He was a maniacal killer. Racially Herod the Great was an Idumaean of the Edomite stock, natural enemies of the Jews.  He was Palestine’s greatest builder.  He had a passion for pretentious display in magnificent architecture and monuments.  He rebuilt the Temple for the Jews in Jerusalem (“Herod’s Temple”); an impressive fortress atop the rock mountain of Masada; and numerous monuments, theatres, luxurious palaces and fortified retreats. Herod was not only an Idumaean in race and a Jew in religion, but he was a heathen in practice and a monster in character.  During his administration as king he proved himself to be exceedingly crafty, jealous, cruel, and revengeful.  He had nine or ten wives and on the merest suspicion put to death his favorite wife (Mariamne) and her two sons.  On his deathbed, just five days before he died, he ordered his son Antipater to be slain.” – Unger/TAR…

THE GREEK WORD FOR “TROUBLED” IS ταρασσω (ta-ras-so). It means literally to stir up. Figuratively ταρασσω (ta-ras-so) means to disturb, trouble, throw into confusion. The Greek term is very descriptive.

MATTHEW USES THIS SAME STRONG WORD TO DESCRIBE THE DISCIPLES WHEN THEY IMAGINED THEY HAD SEEN A GHOST WHEN THEY SAW JESUS WALKING ON THE SURFACE OF THE SEA OF GALILEE…

^ESV Matthew 14:26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear.

HEROD, BY NATURE A SUSPICIOUS, INSECURE MAN, WAS THROWN INTO CONFUSION AND ALARM BY THE VISIT OF THE MAGI…

“THE KING’S ANXIETY IS NOT HARD TO UNDERSTAND. He was sitting on a political and religious powder keg. He had driven the Parthians out of Palestine (it is possible the magi were Parthians – TAR) but had to continue fighting the bands of Jewish zealots who wanted their country to be free of Roman occupation and domination. Especially in light of his intense jealousy and paranoia, any mention of another king of the Jews sent him into a frenzy of fear and anger” – MacArthur…

FOR THE MAGI TO USE THE HIGHLY CHARGED TITLE “KING OF THE JEWS” would have particularly set Herod off. Herod himself was the king of the Jews. To have these commanding men demand to see the king of the Jews and it was clearly meant that they did not mean Herod, would have been the most chilling words unimaginable to Herod’s unstable mind…

REMEMBER THAT BETHLEHEM WAS JUST A TINY VILLAGE. Many scholars believe that the magi could have been several hundred, even a thousand, when their accompanying servants and soldiers were counted. No person of rank or importance would have traveled apart from large numbers of soldiers and servants. Remember also what we noted earlier: the magi themselves may have rode on camels but it is more likely they rode magnificent horses. Their individual appearance was also imposing. It is very likely that they wore boldly cut, long beards, tall conical hats, and long, ornate robes. They were by all counts, imposing men, used to power, accustomed to having their way. They most probably walked, stared, and talked in a way that discouraged disagreement. The entrance of the magi and their band would have traumatized both the town and especially its unstable ruler Herod…

YES, THE TOWN. Not just Herod but the town was troubled, the Scripture says. While we cannot be certain, I believe it is likely that the townspeople were less upset by the magi than they were by the thought of what the maniacal Herod’s response would be

WE READ NEXT THAT HEROD IMMEDIATELY – probably frantically – met with the Jewish leaders as he determined his course of action…

^KJV Matthew 2:4-6 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.

“IT IS CLEAR FROM THE CONNECTION BETWEEN VERSES 2 AND 3, that the wise men did not immediately wend their way to Herod’s palace. The king indirectly heard what was happening. This is another proof from Scripture that the magi did not arrive in Bethlehem the same night Jesus was born.

HOW LONG AFTER JESUS’ BIRTH DID THE MAGI ARRIVE? We don’t know for certain; the text does not tell us, but there are several concrete facts we can point to that give us an idea. Each one of these points in itself does not prove how long it was, but all together tell us it was not the same night of Jesus’ birth and it could not have been longer than two years…

• The Greek word Matthew uses to describe the infant is not the normal word for “infant” (βρεφος [bref-os]; cf. Luke 2:12, 16), but another word that is usually (but not always; it can also be translated “infant”; cf. Luke 1:59) translated “child” (παιδιον [pie-dee-on]; cf. John 4:49; 1 Cor 14:20)…
• The child is now residing in a house and not the manger as described by Luke. Joseph could have found temporary employment and rented a house. It is not likely that he would have owned a house then. Nevertheless, the different terminology suggests a later time than the night of the birth.
• Certainly, the fact that Herod commanded all children “two years old and under” to be slaughtered must be seen as indicating a later date. If it were the same night, surely he would have just said all infants.
• Then there is the significant fact of Joseph and Mary’s sacrifice after the birth of Jesus. Luke tells us that they sacrificed turtledoves; that was a poor person’s sacrifice…

^NAS Luke 2:23-24 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every first-born male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord “), and to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the Law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”

THIS WAS BASED ON O.T. LEVITICAL LAW…

^NAS Leviticus 12:6-7 ‘And when the days of her purification are completed, for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the doorway of the tent of meeting, a one year old lamb for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. But if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, the one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean.'” ‘Then he shall offer it before the LORD and make atonement for her; and she shall be cleansed from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who bears a child, whether a male or a female.

• Surely turtledoves wouldn’t have been appropriate after the expensive gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh presented by the magi…
• In this same context, Mary would have had to have been ritually clean in order to even offer a sacrifice. The earliest that could have been would have been 33 days after the circumcision (cf. Lev 12:4), or about 5-6 weeks total…
• Scholars disagree, but it is likely that Jesus was more than 6 months old when the magi visited. He could have been a year old. The Scripture does not tell us; we simply cannot be certain…

MATTHEW QUOTES HERE IN VS. 5 AND 6 FROM AN INTERPRETATION of Micah 5:2 which we read before…

^KJV Matthew 2:7-8 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.

“THAT I MAY COME AND WORSHIP HIM ALSO” IS, OF COURSE, A STATEMENT OF EXTREME HYPOCRISY. Herod wanted to know where the baby was so that he could kill Jesus…

JEALOUS, SUSPICIOUS, AND CRUEL AS HEROD WAS, we therefore have no difficulty in believing this man capable of ordering the brutal slaughter of perhaps hundreds of babies. In v. 16 we read…

^NAS Matthew 2:16 Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its environs, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the magi.

“HEROD’S CRIME was made even more vile and heinous by the fact that he knew that the Child he sought to destroy was the Messiah, the Christ.  He arrogantly and stupidly set himself against God’s very Anointed.” – MacArthur…

^NAS 1 Corinthians 16:22 If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be accursed. Maranatha. (“Maranatha” means “Our Lord, Come!” – TAR)

HEROD’S DEATH – “In his Antiquities, the historian Josephus reports that Herod ‘died of this, ulcerated entrails, putrified and maggot-filled organs, constant convulsions, foul breath, and neither physicians nor warm baths led to recovery.’ A rather fitting end, it seems, for such a man.” – MacArthur…

^KJV Matthew 2:9 When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.

WE DON’T KNOW JUST HOW IT WAS THAT THE STAR “IN THE EAST” reappeared now above the place where Jesus was, nor do we know what the star itself was…

THE STAR… The Scripture tells us the wise men followed a star.  “Almost as much speculation has been made about the identity of that star as about the identity of the men who saw it. Some suggest that it was Jupiter, the ‘king of the planets.’  Others claim that it was the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, forming the sign of the fish – which was used as a symbol for Christianity in the early church during the Roman persecutions.  Still others claim that it was a low-hanging meteor, an erratic comet (but meteors and comets were generally considered to be bad omens by the ancients), or simply an inner vision of the star in the hearts of mankind.  Since the Bible does not identify or explain the star, we cannot be dogmatic, but it may have been the glory of the Lord – the same glory that shone around the shepherds when Jesus’ birth was announced to them by the angel” – MacArthur)

^KJV Luke 2:8-9 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

IT COULD HAVE BEEN A STAR, SUPERNATURALLY SENT and employed. It could have been a supernatural alignment of the planets. Or it could have been simply and profoundly the glory of God. God certainly could have uses any one of these possibilities…

 “THE REAL POINT IS THAT BY DIVINE GUIDANCE, they are able to complete their quest and find the child.” – Hagner…

 “O STAR OF WONDER, star of night, Star with royal beauty bright, Westward leading, still proceeding, Guide us to thy perfect light.”

THE SCRIPTURE AND THE “STAR” GOT THE MAGI TO BETHLEHEM. The “star” now got them to the exact place…

^KJV Matthew 2:10-11 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

NOTE THAT THE SCRIPTURE SAYS “HOUSE” NOT “STABLE.”

“WE WOULD SEE JESUS; LO! HIS STAR” IS A HYMN IN OLD HYMNALS, some of which Merry and I have. This is another hymn that is traditionally motivated and not entirely historically accurate. Nevertheless, I have taken the liberty in including it here, as it seems to capture the poetic nature of the star-story: “We would see Jesus; lo, His star is shining/Above the stable while the angels sing; There is a manger on the hay reclining; Haste, let us lay our gifts before the King”

DID YOU CATCH THE INACCURACY? The wise men didn’t go to a stable; they went to a house. The hymn says “stable”; the Bible says “house.”

IN ORDER TO FEEL CONFIDENT THAT WE ARE UNDERSTANDING THE STORY as Matthew intends us to, we must not only do some research but we must steer clear of traditional inaccuracies…

IF ANYONE IS HAVING ANY DIFFICULTY WITH THIS BLOG, or my approach to this message, allow me to respectfully ask you if you think God wants our heads to be full of traditional, emotionally-based, vague ideas about the birth of Jesus, or do you think He wants our heads to be filled with accurate facts from Scripture? Forgive me for this, but I feel I must argue that I think the answer is obvious and needs to be said. By getting rid of the misconceptions we do not diminish Christmas; quite the contray, we enhance Christmas…

^NET 2 Timothy 2:15 Make every effort to present yourself before God as a proven worker who does not need to be ashamed, teaching the message of truth accurately.

NOTE ALSO THAT THE TEXT CAREFULLY SAYS THEY WORSHIPED “HIM,” that is, Jesus… The text does not say they worshiped “them.” This is significant in the face of the wrong teaching of the divinity of Mary by the Catholic Church…

“THEY WORSHIPED HIM”… The magi worshiped Jesus as King. Remember that it is Matthew’s intention in his gospel to continuously present Jesus as King. This, I believe, is a key part in this passage…

THEY OPENED THEIR “TREASURES” IS PROBABLY BETTER TRANSLATED “treasure boxes” or “coffers” in this context. The Greek word θησαυρος (thay-sau-ros) means a place for storing treasure. It is the word from which we get our English word “thesaurus.” A thesaurus is a treasure box or a storehouse of words. The word in Matthew 2:11 is in the plural: “treasure boxes.”

“BRINGING GIFTS WAS PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT IN THE ANCIENT EAST when approaching a superior” (Carson in Expositor’s Bible Commentary). An example is…

^NAS 1 Kings 10:1-2 Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with difficult questions. So she came to Jerusalem with a very large retinue, with camels carrying spices and very much gold and precious stones. When she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was in her heart.

“FRANKINCENSE IS A GLITTERING, ODOROUS GUM obtained by making incisions in the bark of several trees. Myrrh exudes from a tree found in Arabia and a few other places and was a much-valued spice and perfume used in embalming.” – Carson…

^NAS John 19:38-40 And after these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission. He came therefore, and took away His body. And Nicodemus came also, who had first come to Him by night; bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight. And so they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.

“COMMENTATORS, ANCIENT (Origen) AND MODERN (Hendriksen), have found symbolic value in the three gifts: gold suggesting royalty, frankincense incense divinity, and myrrh the Passion and burial. But this interpretation demands too much from the Magi. The three gifts were simply expensive and not uncommon presents.” – Carson…

OUR LAST VERSE FOR TODAY IS NOT THE LAST VERSE OF THE STORY…

^KJV Matthew 2:12 And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

HERE AGAIN WE SEE GOD’S HAND DIRECTING THE PEOPLE AND events surrounding the birth of the Lord Jesus. “’In a dream’ is commonly used in reference or divine revelations and warnings. The phrase recalls the continuing control of divine providence in the entire sequence of events (cf. 1:20; 2:13). The magi return to their own country, the unknown place from which they came” (Hagner)…

LET’S READ THE REST OF THE CHAPTER AND THE CONCLUSION of the story of the Magi…

^KJV Matthew 2:13-23 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. ¹⁴ When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:  ¹⁵ And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.  ¹⁶ Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.  ¹⁷ Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,  ¹⁸ In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.  ¹⁹ But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,  ²⁰ Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child’s life.  ²¹ And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.  ²² But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee:  ²³ And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.

“O COME, LET US ADORE HIM!”

THE STORY OF “THE VISIT OF THE MAGI”…

 

– Professor Thomas A. Rohm