Matthew 2


The Visit of the Magi

¹After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem ²and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
³When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. ⁵"In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:
    ⁶" 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
       are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
   for out of you will come a ruler
       who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'"
⁷Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."
⁹After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. ¹²And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

Matthew 2:1-12

Explanation:

The First Star Trek (Matthew 2:1-12)
As early as the second century, Bethlehemites believed they could identify the exact cave where, following Luke's account of the manger, Jesus had been born (Stauffer 1960:21; Finegan 1969:20-23; for echoes of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem in early rabbinic disputes, see Herford 1966:253-55).
A microcosm of Matthew's Gospel as a whole, this passage reminds us that we must preach the gospel to all people because we cannot always predict who will hear the message and who will not. Those we least expect to honor Jesus may worship him, and those we least expect to oppose him may seek his death. This passage confronts Matthew's readers with a summons to personal decision by contrasting the main characters (contrasting characters was a standard ancient literary device; see, for example, Schuler 1982:50). The Magi worship Jesus; Herod seeks his death; Jerusalem's religious elite-forerunners of the opponents of Matthew's audience-take Jesus for granted. The reader must identify with the pagan Magi rather than with Herod or Jerusalem's religious elite, and hence are compelled to recognize God's interest in the mission to the Gentiles. The God who sought servants like the Roman centurion (8:5-13) from the pagan west also sought previously pagan servants from the east (2:1; compare Is 2:6) like the Magi (see 8:11).

Matthew challenges prejudice against pagans. The first story after Jesus' birth opens with Magi who have traveled a long distance to offer homage to a new king born in Judea. They enter Jerusalem with a large enough caravan to attract the city's attention (2:3); they must have assumed that they would find the newborn king in Herod's palace in Jerusalem.

Magi were astrologers from the royal court of the king of Persia. Part of their job description was to make the king of Persia look good, but here they come to promote another king. Kings would often send congratulations to new rulers in other realms, but the king of Persia called himself "king of kings," that is, the highest of kings (compare, for example, Ezra 7:12; Dan 2:37). We might not expect the Magi to worship Jesus, especially if they found him not in the royal palace but in a cave.

More unexpectedly, these Magi are astrologers, which is why they noticed the star to begin with. Many sources from this period report the skill of Magi in divination, but Matthew's audience would probably recall first the Magi of their Greek translation of the Old Testament: Daniel's enemies, whom Daniel's narratives portray in a negative light as selfish, incompetent and brutal pagans (Dan 2:2, 10). (Their identity is even clearer in some later Greek versions of the Old Testament. In this period the Magi probably would have been Zoroastrian, but Matthew's readers would think more of Daniel's pagan accusers.)


Although the Bible forbade divination (Deut 18:9-13), which includes astrology (Is 47:13; see also Deut 4:19), for one special event in history the God who rules the heavens chose to reveal himself where the pagans were looking (compare Acts 19:12, 15-20). Without condoning astrology, Matthew's narrative challenges our prejudice against outsiders to our faith (see also 8:5-13; 15:21-28): even the most pagan of pagans may respond to Jesus if given the opportunity (compare Jon 1:13-16; 3:6-10). What a resounding call for the church today to pursue a culturally sensitive yet uncompromising commitment to missions!

Yet even supernatural guidance like the star can take the astrologers only so far; for more specific direction they must ask the leaders in Jerusalem where the king is to be born (2:2). That is, their celestial revelation was only partial; they must finally submit to God's revelation in the Scriptures, preserved by the Jewish people (see Meier 1980:11).

Matthew challenges prejudice that favors political power. Another central character in this narrative is Herod (2:3, 7-8). That Herod is dismayed by the Magi's announcement is not surprising (2:3); in this period most Greeks, Romans and even Jews respected astrological predictions. Further, a cosmic signal of another ruler would necessarily indicate the end of the current ruler's reign (as in Suet. Vespasian 23; Artem. 2.36). Other rulers also proved paranoid about astrologers (see MacMullen 1966:133; Kee 1980:71), and some had been ready to kill their own descendants to keep the throne (Herod. Hist. 1.107-10). But as many incidents during Herod's reign illustrate, he was more paranoid than most other rulers (see comment on 2:16). For Herod, little room existed for two kings in his realm: although he was Idumean by birth (Jos. War 1.123, 313; see Deut 17:15), he considered himself king of the Jews (compare 2:2). Here the one who reigns as king of God's people acts just like the oppressors of old: in Jewish tradition, both Pharaoh and his people feared when they learned in advance of the coming of Israel's deliverer (Jos. Ant. 2.206; Allison 1993b:146).

Herod's brutal power, played out in the following narrative, contrasts starkly with the human defenselessness of the Child and his mother (2:11, 19, 21). Whereas pagan Magi act like God's people (v. 11), the king of God's people acts like a notorious pagan king of old (v. 16; compare Ex 1:16). When we side with the politically powerful to seek human help against common foes, we could actually find ourselves fighting God's agendas (compare Is 30:1-5; 31:1-3). Jesus came and served among the weakest, depending solely on God's vindication (Mt 11:29; 12:19-21; 18:3-4; 19:14).

Matthew challenges the prejudice that respects spiritually complacent religion. Not knowing himself where the king would be born, Herod gathers the religious experts, the chief priests and scribes (2:4), most of whom in this period were loyal to his agendas (compare Jos. Ant. 15.2, 5). These experts immediately identify the place where the Messiah will be born on the basis of Micah 5:2 (Mt 2:5-6). But while the religious leaders know where the Messiah will be born, they do not join the Magi in their quest. These are the religious leaders, but they fail to act on all their Bible knowledge. Jesus is just a baby, and they take him for granted.

Although these authorities did not desire to kill Jesus as Herod did, their successors a generation later-when Jesus could no longer be taken for granted-did seek his death (26:57, 59). One is tempted to note that the line between taking Jesus for granted and wanting him out of the way may remain very thin today as well. And we must not forget that the sin of taking Jesus for granted is the sin not of pagans who know little about him, but of religious folk and Bible teachers.

Matthew reinforces these points by reminding us that it is the pagans who worshiped Jesus. After the Magi have left Jerusalem, they come and worship Jesus (2:9-11). A road led south to Bethlehem, which was about six miles from Jerusalem, so the rest of the Magi's journey probably did not take very long. That they offer Jesus both homage and standard gifts from the East (2:11) fits Eastern practices; for instance, royal courts there used frankincense and myrrh (though these spices also had many other uses). The Magi's homage to Jesus may reflect biblical language alluding to the pilgrimage and homage of nations in Psalm 72:10 or Isaiah 60:6, or to the queen of Sheba's visit to Solomon (1 Kings 10:1-13), or to all three texts; a late midrash on the queen of Sheba story includes a miraculous star (Bruns 1961). If Matthew has Psalm 72 or 1 Kings 10 in mind, he expects us to recognize Jesus as King Solomon's greatest son (compare Mt 1:6-7; 12:42).

At any rate, the threefold repetition of homage (2:2, 8, 11) reinforces the point of the narrative: if God's people will not honor Jesus, former pagans will (Harrington 1982:17). Throughout this Gospel, homage to Jesus reflects some degree of recognition of his identity (as in 8:2; 9:18; 14:33; 15:25), climaxing in the ultimate homage of 28:9, 17, a context that declares Jesus' royal authority equivalent to the Father's (28:18-20). But such a hint may be present even in this Gospel's first example of homage: Matthew's audience may have expected Persians like the Magi to have intended more than merely human respect when they offered homage (compare Esther 3:2).

That the Magi needed a supernatural revelation to warn them not to return by way of Jerusalem (2:12) suggests their innocent naivety) . Even without Herod's unadmirable character (see comment on 2:16), few kings would be ready to surrender their own rule to a nonrelative some foreigners hailed as king! (For that matter, not only powerful people in society but many others today seem reluctant to acknowledge Jesus' right to direct their lives.) The Magi's innocence compared to Herod's murderous shrewdness again reminds Matthew's readers not to prejudge the appropriate recipients of the gospel (compare 13:3-23). Jesus is for all who will receive him, and God may provide Jesus' servants with allies in unexpected places if we have the wisdom to recognize them.

Matthew 2


The Escape to Egypt

¹³When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." ¹⁴So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, ¹⁵where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."
¹⁶When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. ¹⁷Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
    ¹⁸"A voice is heard in Ramah,
       weeping and great mourning,
   Rachel weeping for her children
       and refusing to be comforted,
   because they are no more."

Matthew 2:13-18

Explanation:

The Persecuted Child (2:13-18)
This passage provides some important lessons for Matthew's first audience and for us today.
God Protects Jesus and His Family (2:13) Matthew here narrates God's protection for Jesus (2:13-15) and Herod's brutal massacre of other children (2:16-18). Although the narrative rings with inspired grief and rage against Herod's act, God does not stop the injustice in this narrative any more than in most of the narratives we hear played on the evening news. Yet this narrative contains a kernel of good news that human reporters often cannot adequately discern until after the fact: the injustice of a world run by rebels against God cannot thwart his ultimate purposes for justice in that world.


Jesus Is a Refugee, a Model for Suffering (2:14)

If we read 2:13-14 in the context of Matthew's Gospel, we realize that even in his childhood the Son of Man already lacked a place to lay his head (8:20). Disciples would face the same kind of test (10:23; 24:16).

Jesus' miraculous escape here should not lead us to overlook the nature of his deliverance (compare, for example, 1 Kings 17:2-6). Jesus and his family survived, but they survived as refugees, abandoning any livelihood Joseph may have developed in Bethlehem and undoubtedly traveling lightly. Although travel within Egypt was easy for visitors with means (Casson 1974:257), many Judeans had traditionally regarded refuge in Egypt as a last resort (2 Macc 5:8-9; compare 1 Kings 11:17, 40; Jer 26:21).

Some Christians in the West act as if an easy life were their divine right, as if to imply that suffering Christians elsewhere lack faith or virtue. Yet from its very beginning the story of Jesus challenges such a premise. Of the millions of refugees and other impoverished people throughout the world (for reports, see, for example, B. Thompson 1987), some are our brothers and sisters in Christ; many others have never yet heard how much he loves them. Reports of hundreds of thousands of civilians being tortured or slaughtered each year for political, ethnic or religious reasons can inoculate us against the reality of the human pain involved, but firsthand accounts from some of my closest African friends have brought the tragedy of this plight home to me. Many could resonate with the story of Jesus the refugee who identified with their suffering. Indeed, Western Christians should not be so arrogant as to think that we could never face such affliction ourselves; in due time Christians in all nations will receive their share of hardship (see 24:9).

Like other episodes in Matthew's first narrative section (1:18-4:25), the accounts of Jesus' childhood fulfill Scripture, with at least one explicit quotation per section. But all four stories in chapter 2 also surround place names rooted in Scripture. Jesus is "forced to wander from place to place," King of a world hostile to him (Schweizer 1975:41, 45). The world's treatment of Jesus likewise promises little better for his followers (10:23-25). While Christians are right to work for change within this world, we should not be surprised when we face hostility, false accusations or even death for Jesus' name (10:17-39; 13:21; 16:24-27; 24:9-14; compare 1 Thess 3:3; 1 Pet 4:12-13).


In Jesus the Anticipated Salvation of God's People Has Begun (2:15)

When Matthew quotes Hosea, he knows Hosea's context. The past exodus with which Jesus identified (Hos 11:1) was the historic sign of the covenant anticipating a new exodus (Hos 11:11). By quoting the beginning of the passage, Matthew evokes the passage as a whole and shows how Jesus is the forerunner of the new exodus, the time of ultimate salvation. Matthew uses God's pattern in history to remind us that our call and destiny, not the ridicule of outsiders, must define us. We are the people of the new exodus, the people of God's kingdom.

Matthew declares (2:15) that Jesus' sojourn in Egypt fulfills Hosea's prophecy Out of Egypt I called my son (Hos 11:1). But this second line in Hosea's verse directly parallels the first, "When Israel was a child, I loved him." Thus by citing Hosea 11:1 Matthew evokes the new exodus in Jesus, who embodies Israel's purpose and mission (Longenecker 1975:144-45). But by emphasizing that Jesus' return from Egypt reveals his sonship, Matthew again emphasizes that Jesus' mission is for all peoples (compare Acts 6:13; 7:33).

Matthew's quotation from Hosea also reminds us that Jesus identifies with his people's heritage. Jesus appears as the promised one greater than Moses (Deut 18:18; compare Mt 4:2; 17:2) and the heir of God's call to Israel. As God protected Moses when Pharaoh killed the male Israelite children, so God protects Jesus.

Further, Jesus goes to Egypt like Israel under the first Joseph, and like Pharaoh, Herod slays male Israelite children (Ex 1:16-2:5; Ps-Philo 9:1). To persecuted Christians, Herod's Pharaoh-like behavior is significant. Infanticide and more frequently child abandonment constituted typically pagan offenses that the Jewish people despised (for example, Wis 12:5-6; 14:23; Ps-Philo 2:10; 4:16); only such pagan evildoers as Antiochus IV Epiphanes had repeated Pharaoh's murder of Israelite babies (1 Macc 1:60-61; 2 Macc 6:10; 8:4).

Part of the moral of the story is therefore how it reflects on rulers among God's people: if a supposed "king of the Jews" can be a new Pharaoh, one cannot necessarily count on one's own people for allies. Matthew again challenges his readers' prejudice against Gentiles, reminding them of their opposition from fellow Jews. In a world still divided by racial and national ties, Christians from all peoples must remember that no group of people is incapable of producing evil. Herod's behavior may thus summon us to examine the sins of our own people first (compare 7:1-5).

A Ruler's Injustice Is Denounced (2:16-17)

We lack concrete historical record for Matthew's next episode (except a garbled account from Macrobius; Ramsay 1898:219), but it certainly fits Herod's character (France 1979; compare Soares Prabhu 1976:227-28; Stauffer 1960:35-41). When Herod's young brother-in-law was becoming too popular, he had a "drowning accident" in what archaeology shows was a rather shallow pool; later, falsely accused officials were cudgeled to death on Herod's order (Jos. War 1.550-51). Wrongly suspecting two of his sons of plotting against him, he had them strangled (Jos. Ant. 16.394; War 1.550-51), and five days before his own death the dying Herod had a more treacherous, Absalom-like son executed (Ant. 17.187, 191; War 1.664-65). Thus many modern writers repeat the probably apocryphal story that Augustus remarked, "Better to be Herod's pig than his son" (Ramsay 1898:219-20).

The murder of the children of Bethlehem thus fits Herod's character; yet it is not surprising that other early writers do not mention this particular atrocity. Herod's reign was an era of many highly placed political murders, and our accounts come from well-to-do reporters focused on the royal house and national events. In such circles the execution of perhaps twenty children in a small town would warrant little attention-except from God (see France 1979:114-19).

Matthew does not simply report this act of injustice dispassionately; he chooses an ancient lament from one of the most sorrowful times of his people's history. Jeremiah 31:15 speaks of Rachel weeping for her children, poetically describing the favored mother of Benjamin (standing for all Judah) mourning because her descendants were led into exile (see Montefiore 1968:2:10-11). Rachel, who wept from her grave in Bethlehem during the captivity, was now weeping at another, nearer crisis significant in salvation history (compare Mt 1:12, 17).

More important, however, the context in Jeremiah 31 also implies future hope. Rachel weeps for her children, but God comforts her, promising the restoration of his people (Jer 31:15-17), because Israel is "my dear son, the child in whom I delight" (Jer 31:20; compare Mt 2:15; 3:17). This time of new salvation will be the time of a new covenant (Jer 31:31-34). The painful events of Jesus' persecuted childhood are the anvil on which God will forge the fulfillment of his promises to his people, just as the cross will usher in the new covenant (Mt 26:28).

This text shows that God called his son Jesus to identify with the suffering and exile of his people (as in 1:12, 17; compare Jer 43:5-7) as he identified with their exodus (Mt 2:15). In his incarnation Jesus identified not only with humanity in an abstract sense but with the history of a people whose history is also spiritually the history of all believers (because we have been grafted into their history and use their Scriptures).

Yet we may also suspect that this identification speaks of a God who feels our human pain as deeply as we do. While philosophers and theologians must address the problem of evil intellectually, many grieving people inside and outside our churches face it existentially. To broken people wounded by this world's evil, Jesus' sharing our pain offers a consolation deeper than reasoned arguments: God truly understands and cares-and paid an awful price to begin to make things better.

Matthew 2


The Return to Nazareth

¹⁹After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt ²⁰and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead."
²¹So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. ²²But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, ²³and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."

Matthew 2:19-23

Explanation:

Growing Up in a Small Town (2:19-23)
Whereas modern Western readers generally expect a series of neat, concise theological statements, God chose to reveal himself in more concrete historical forms. Matthew does not just provide abstract statements about Jesus; he explains the character of his Lord by the history that was sanctified by his presence.
Jesus Is Granted a Respite from Trouble (2:19-20)

Although Jesus would face more persecution in his adult years, Herod's death granted him a time of relative respite until his public ministry. Although Matthew mentions Herod's murder of the children, he notes Herod's own death three times-indicating that God alone holds the ultimate power of life and death (Patte 1987:36). Every unjust empire in history has ultimately fallen, but God's church continues to endure (Rev 18:1-3; 19:1-3). To oppressed Christians, whether persecuted for their faith (Mt 10:22; 1 Pet 4:13-14) or repressed for other unjust reasons (Mt 5:39-41; Jas 5:1-7), this reminder of the oppressors' mortality is a reminder that all trials are temporary and our loving Father remains in control (Mt 10:28-31; see also 1 Pet 5:10).

The angelic orders to return to the land of Israel because those seeking the child's life were dead (2:19-21) explicitly recall Exodus 4:19-20. Jewish readers would have immediately recognized the allusion: like Moses, Jesus had outlived his persecutor and would lead his people to salvation (Mt 1:21; Acts 7:35).

Wisdom Protects the Family from a Potential Danger (2:21-22)

God again protects his purpose in history from human oppressors. Joseph was wise to avoid Judea and Archelaus (compare Prov 22:3; 27:12), as a dream confirmed. Archelaus shared all his father's negative qualities and quickly provoked the opposition of many of the people (Suet. Tiberius 8; Jos. Ant. 17.311-17). Although he maintained his position as ethnarch for some time, the opposition of A.D. 6 led to his banishment to Vienna in Gaul (Strabo 16.2.46; Jos. Ant. 17.342-44).

By God's Plan, They Settle in an Obscure Place (2:23) Jewish leaders who opposed Matthew's community undoubtedly reviled Jesus by wondering how a great Messiah could come from politically insignificant Nazareth (compare Jn 1:46). Nazareth was, like many Galilean towns, "a tiny agricultural village." Earlier estimates suggested that it contained as many as sixteen hundred to two thousand inhabitants (Meyers and Strange 1981:27, 56), but more recent estimates have suggested five hundred (Stanton 1993:112). It was the sort of community where everyone would know everyone else's business, but it was a religiously orthodox town (see Meyers and Strange 1981:27; Finegan 1969:29). Though Nazareth existed in the shadow of the large, Hellenized Jewish city of Sepphoris, Galilean villages and towns were not very dependent economically on the two Hellenized cities (Goodman 1983:27, 60).


But while Nazareth was humanly insignificant, Matthew emphasizes that it was divinely significant. Jewish leaders may have been inclined to question, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" (Jn 1:46 NASB), but Matthew turns their objection around by showing divine significance in the choice of Nazareth as Jesus' hometown. Matthew accomplishes this exercise by a wordplay, a standard and accepted form of argumentation in both Jewish and Greco-Roman rhetoric (Keener 1992b:54 n. 101). Although we would not use an argument based on wordplay today (in English wordplays usually constitute bad puns rather than arguments), Matthew's argument demonstrates that we, like Matthew, should be prepared to answer our culture's objections and questions regarding our Lord Jesus in culturally relevant ways. His case for Nazareth also reminds us that God often uses the despised things of the world to accomplish his purposes (1 Cor 1:27).

That Matthew is making a play on the name Nazareth is easier to recognize than the specific word with which he is playing, and scholars divide in their opinions here. Two views are most common. Those who believe that Matthew would not use a wordplay that worked only in Hebrew usually hold that Matthew intended "Nazirite" (Patte 1987:39-40; Meier 1980:16). Scholars who argue this position typically assume that Matthew drew a typological application from Samson in Judges 13:5 (part of the former prophets), which he attributed for some reason to the Messiah.

But whereas Matthew's less skillful readers would have to have satisfied themselves that the text was in their Bible somewhere, those skillful enough to recognize that no single text said this would also recognize Matthew's method; many might also know Hebrew. Thus other scholars appeal to the prophets' messianic title "the branch" (Is 4:2; Jer 23:5; 33:15; Zech 3:8; 6:12); Isaiah 11:1 uses the same term, which is more clearly messianic than "Nazirite."