MATTHEW | Lesson 2 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points
Matthew, chapter 2 | Jesus Christ: King of the Jews
The immediate responses to the birth of Jesus Christ reveal both His purpose for coming and the effect His coming will have on the world into which He came.
INTRODUCTION / CONTEXT / CONNECTIONS
1 / Matthew begins this next chapter in his narrative with the words: “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea…” And this will follow up on ch 1.18: “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way…” So ch 1 describes His earthly and covenant lineage as the prophetically-promised Messiah and King who would come to bless all the families of the earth. That is the covenant significance of his dual covenant lineage “the son of David, the son of Abraham.” We drew this out in our last lesson.
2 / So now that He has been born in the ways Matthew describes, Matthew will now begin to contrast how King Jesus was received both by Gentiles represented in the Magi and by His nation, the Jews. Then this chapter of the narrative will take us to the beginnings of Jesus’ Messianic ministry…
3 / As we go through chapter 2, there is an icon that will come up over and over: ‘king.’ So let’s watch how Matthew clearly identifies Jesus as the rightful heir to the royal throne, the son of David the king, who was promised to come … and also how the announcement of the coming was received by those who recognized His arrival.
4 / “Matthew 2.1-12 presents a four-fold response to the announcement of the birth of Jesus, King of the Jews [Herod, all Jerusalem, chief priests and scribes, magi]. These responses constitute the prototypes of possible responses to God’s actions through all ages. Matthew’s readers must discern and adopt the best response to Jesus.” ~Daniel M. Doriani / ESV Expository Commentary, page 60.
I | vv 1-12 | The Magi come from the east to worship the ‘King of the Jews’
1 / Matthew is careful to give us a timestamp and dateline for the arrival of the magi: “in the days of Herod the king.” We must note this: because there is already a ‘king’ in Israel—Herod the Great. Herod had been ruling in this position from around 37 BC. He ruled until the time of his death in AD 4, see v 19. Herod had been granted the right to rule Judea by the Roman emperor under the condition that he would keep the Jews under control and in civil submission to their Roman occupation. He is both a tyrant and usurper, and had gained his kingship by force and intrigue. (He was also a master architect, commissioning and overseeing many ambitious projects; but mainly he had beautified and lavishly embellished their beloved temple [see John 2.20]). Herod was bloodthirsty cruel and had ordered the murders of anyone who threatened to oppose or rival him—even several of his own sons and his favorite wife. This will help explain Herod’s murderous attempts to eliminate this new arrival he was now hearing about.
2 / “…behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem” We call them ‘Magi’ because that is the Greek word used to describe them [‘magos’ / ‘magoi’]. These men were the reigning ruler’s advisors, counselors, or ‘wise men.’ All kings and rulers had them, but when you read the Book of Daniel, you’ll see them enter the narrative repeatedly. In fact, Daniel himself became the chief wise man because of the wisdom Yahweh gave him [Daniel 2.27-30; et al].
3 / We also have to believe that these magi were still under the influences that Daniel had left behind from 400-500 years before when he gave the kings of the Babylonians and Persians the wisdom Yahweh revealed to him about Yahweh’s prophetic agenda for the nations of the earth. They were, for the most part, observers of the heavenly bodies, looking for signs of the intents of the gods they worshiped—especially the birth of a great king. In Daniel 2.27, Daniel called them “wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers.” So, they most likely came from the regions of Persia [modern-day Iraq] to make their 800-900 mile pilgrimage.
4 / However, in this case, God had created a supernatural ‘star’ or light to appear in the heavens to announce the birth of the king of the Jews and lead them to where He was so they could worship Him. But before we go any farther, we need to dispel some commonly-believed legendary myths about these magi: [1] They were not kings; [2] Most likely, there weren’t only three of them—possibly a numerous caravan; [3] No where in Scripture are they named Balthasar, Caspar, and Melchior; [4] Gold and frankincense and myrrh were probably not the only gifts they brought to the neighboring King of the Jews, though they were representative and the most prominent gifts they brought to show their homage and adoration of such a spectacularly announced king. [5] AND, the magi weren’t present at Jesus’ birth manger. They saw the star make its appearance roughly two years before they made their pilgrimage to Bethlehem [see v 16]. When these magi found the child, He was in the house where Joseph and Mary had taken up residence in Bethlehem [v 11].
5 / They came to Jerusalem because that is where the star first brought them, and they naturally assumed that if this King of the Jews had been born, they would expect to find him in the capital city.
6 / Before we go any farther, let’s go back into the prophetic Scriptures to see how Yahweh had purposed and foretold that when Messiah comes, He will come to be the Light and Salvation for the Gentile nations also … and not just for the Jews:
- Genesis 49.10: The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
- Numbers 24.17: I see him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall arise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth.
- Isaiah 42.6: I am The LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations.
- Isaiah 49.6: He says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
- Isaiah 60.1-3, 6: Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the Glory of The LORD has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but The LORD will arise upon you, and His Glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising … A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of The LORD.
- Psalm 72.8-11: May He have dominion from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth! May desert tribes bow down before Him, and His enemies lick the dust! May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render Him tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts! May all kings fall down before Him, all nations serve Him!
7 / And, as we noted in our last lesson, Matthew is crafting his storyline of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the end in view, when Jesus will command His disciples: “All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…” Jesus is making disciples of all the nations [Gentiles] even from the time of His birth!
8 / And as we read through Matthew, we will note how he highlights and stresses Christ’s salvation mission to the Gentiles: 1.5-6; 4.15; 8.10-12; 15.21-27; 28.18-20.
9 / Herod the king got wind that these magi had come to Jerusalem and were 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!” Well, this was threatening news to Herod—he was already ‘king of the Jews’ [see Luke 1.5] and would tolerate no competitors! And now these foreign astrologers, heavenly star-gazers, international political prognosticators, and royal emissaries are coming to pay homage, worship, and seek the favor of another King of the Jews who has just been born![?] “When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.” He was troubled with jealousy, paranoia, and self-preservation of his own position and power. And since Herod is troubled, all Jerusalem is troubled with him because they know his cruel ruthlessness and murderous determination to hold onto his power.
10 / Herod frantically assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people and inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. Of course, in their national and political hopes, they were expecting a Messianic King to come—though not for the spiritual and redemptive purposes prophesied in the Scriptures. But they knew Micah 5.2, and that their Ruler would be born in Bethlehem of Judah. [Bethlehem is about six miles S of Jerusalem.] So, Herod then re-consulted with the magi, told them to please “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” Of course, we know what Herod’s intentions were, but the magi take him at his word and follow the star on to Bethlehem. “And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary His mother, and they fell down and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered Him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.”
11 / We’ll just note here the contrasts of these four responses to King Jesus’ arrival in our world: [1] Herod will seek to kill Him; [2] all Jerusalem is uninterested—they don’t want their civil ‘peace’ to be disturbed [except of course of the faithful believing remnant among them; see Luke 2.15-20, 25, 36-38]; [3] the chief priests and scribes don’t care enough to go and seek for themselves about their long-awaited Messiah/King even when He was said to have come; [4] but these Gentile magi rejoice with exceedingly great joy, give Him lavish gifts, and at least recognize His Heavenly Majesty and confess the Glory of the God of Israel.
12 / God warns the magi of Herod’s murderous plot to kill the rival King, so they bypass returning to him; and skirting around Jerusalem, they departed to their own country by another way.
II | vv 13-15 | Joseph, Mary, and Jesus flee to Egypt to escape Herod’s murderous plot
1 / As soon as the magi depart to return to their own country, an angel of The LORD appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and His mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the Child, to destroy Him.” This is just the latest—but also a historical climactic—attempt of the Dragon [Satan, the Devil] to destroy the Christ. This ages-long vendetta of the Dragon against the Christ is described for us in a compressed synopsis in Revelation 12, especially vv 1-5. But God has always preserved ‘the seed of the woman’ from beginnings of time so He can fulfill His redemptive covenant promises. And He does so here…
2 / This flight to Egypt seems to have transpired within one day/night’s time. The magi visit, they return home ignoring [and seriously insulting] Herod, and Joseph flees to Egypt before Herod discovers he’s been slighted and insulted. They would have found refuge in numerous enclaves of Jewish immigrants in Egypt. But it’s also the prophetic fulfillment of the pre-enactments that God has performed before. Israel was first saved out of Egypt in the Exodus. At that time, Yahweh called Israel my firstborn son [Exodus 4.22]. Israel is a pre-figure and pre-enactment of the Christ who will come in the fullness of time to fulfill God’s Covenant of redemption. Yahweh renews that covenant picture and promise in Hosea 11.1: When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. Now, Christ has come as the True Israel, the True Firstborn Son. And so, God providentially sends Christ back to Egypt and then will call and deliver Him out of Egypt to enact the pre-enactment. The Exodus was the prequel; Christ is the Event.
III | vv 16-18 | Herod murders the male children in Bethlehem
1/ There are two observations we need to make here.
[1]The first being: when Herod realized that his scheming plot to murder the newborn King of the Jews in particular, he then issued a sweeping mandate that all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. This is reminiscent of Pharaoh’s similar order to murder all the male Hebrews in Egypt to keep them from multiplying and increasing in ethnic strength. He would just kill them all in that surrounding region, hoping to get the newborn King in the sweep.
[2] The second observation gives us some indication of how much later the magi appeared in Bethlehem and how old Jesus may have been. The magi had reported to Herod that that had begun to notice this extraordinary, supernatural star in the range of two years prior. Then, after observing it and assessing it, they planned their pilgrimage, plus the time their journey took. All of this evolved into a couple of years.
2 / Matthew gives us another OT fulfillment [see before: 1.22; 2.5, 15 (besides all the other inferred OT allusions)]. This fulfillment is from Jeremiah 31.15: Thus says The LORD: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.” The mourning in Bethlehem for their slaughtered children is compared to that of the ancient Israelites during the times of their invasions by Assyria in 722 BC and Babylon in 586 BC. Ramah is a city about 5 miles N of Jerusalem and was situated on a major route between Israel and the eastern invading nations. It was also used by both the Assyrians and Babylonians as a staging point during their respective deportations. Not only were thousands of Jewish children massacred in the destructions of Samaria and Jerusalem, but more were killed in the deportation processes. The Jewish inhabitants were inconsolable in their grief of bereavement. Rachel is named here as the representative Jewish mother because she was Jacob’s favorite wife and the mother of Joseph [Ephraim & Manasseh] and Benjamin. And, Rachel is the one who cried to Jacob before she conceived: “Give me children, or I shall die!” [Genesis 30.1]. Now, the children God had given these Jewish mothers are no more—slaughtered. Also, Rachel is closely associated with this region since she was buried near Bethlehem [Genesis 35.16-20].
IV | vv 19-23 | Herod dies, and Joseph returns to the land of Israel—to Nazareth in Galilee
1 / Herod died—’and after that, the judgment’! He went to be judged by the God whose Firstborn Son he had just tried to murder. An angel of The LORD appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Rise, take the child and His mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” So, we follow their life journey’s itinerary: from Nazareth > to Bethlehem for the census-taking and the birth of Jesus > to Egypt > and now back to Israel.
2 / But Herod’s son, Archelaus, was reigning over the Judea/Bethlehem district; and he was a cruel and violent ruler like his father before him. So, Joseph again considered and prayed over these things, fearing that Archelaus would take up his father’s vendetta against King Jesus. God appeared again in a dream and told him to migrate back to their former hometown, Nazareth.
3 / Again, Matthew quotes the OT covenant prophecies and promises: “…so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that He would be called a Nazarene.” This is not so much a fulfillment of a specific Scripture quotation; rather it is a cumulative fulfillment of the OT’s range and scope of prophecies concerning The Christ. The moniker ‘Nazarene’ is a name for inhabitants of Nazareth. And, since Nazareth is non-descript village and not found in the OT, his being called ‘Nazarene’ could also be a dismissive epithet of scorn and contempt in their contemporary vernacular and ways of thinking—as in, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” [John 1.46. However, prophetically, it is also from the same root [netser] as the word ‘branch’ in Isaiah 11.1. Whichever of these the name ‘Nazarene’ means, Jesus Christ fulfilled all that the OT prophets had said He would be. When you read Isaiah’s Messianic resume’ in Isaiah 53.1-3, He was both the green ‘branch’ that comes from the dry root of Jesse, “like a root out of dry ground” [the broken, vacated Davidic royal succession & His virgin birth] that would revive the Throne of the Kingdom forever and bear life for the world; and be at the same time “despised and rejected by men … and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.”
~Dave Parks 