Matthew 2
1Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem
The wise men of the east where men of learning who focused themselves mainly on astronomy and the interpretation of dreams. They came from the East which now is believed to be the area of current Iran. They were not only high priests but they were magistrates also, and as such, they had the power to elect kings. This means that they not only filled a religious position but a politic position as well. Some experts believe that this secret society of wise men was founded by the prophet Daniel. They see Dan 4:19; 5:11 as a reference to this. Apparently Daniel did receive a revelation from God concerning the birth of the Messiah, which was up until His birth a secret. In this secret the star was going to be of utter importance. This might explain why knew that the Messiah was born and why they followed the star. This was the perfect guarded secret by this society. Another interesting aspect of this society was that you inherited the title of wise men, you could not be chosen.
2Saying, 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.
The wise men had traveled with a large retinue and this of course, alarmed Herod above measure, because he thought that they had came to cause him problems. He was frightened that he could loose his crown, because he was not very popular with the Jews. At the time of their arrival and birth of Jesus, Herod was not in the least assured of his throne you see. Those were turbulent and political unstable times and people where to say the least very unhappy because of the Roman rule. It is therefore understandable that he was not particularly thrilled with their arrival and especially not with the reason (the real king of the Jews) for their visit.
We read from above verses that the people of Jerusalem became restless by their visit too. Herod felt particularly threatened by what they said about the King of the Jews. Herod was not a Jew, he was an Idomite and he wanted of course to know who this king of the Jews was. Of the restlessness of the people we could say two things. One reason why they became so restless might be that they felt uneasy as to what might happen to them now, and the second reason, they might be restless because they might have believed that the long awaited Messiah had been born. This news must have caused some stir.
4And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. 5 And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea: for thus it is written by the prophet,:
There are innumerable prophecies in the OT which spoke of the birth and the arrival of Jesus, the long awaited Messiah. Some references to this are found in Jes. 7:14; Mica 5:2; Hosea 11:1; Ps. 16:10 and 22:14 - 17; Matt. 2:1-6; 1:18-25 etc.These are but a few of the many! Consequently when Herod asked the High Priests to specify this prophecy to him, they of course knew that the Scriptures said that the King of the Jews had to be born in Bethlehem according to the prophecy of Mica 5:11.
6And 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. 7 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. 8 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.
We see here a clear attack of the devil on the child Jesus. He tried to kill Jesus using Herod. You must understand that from the minute that Jesus was born, Satan tried to kill him. In fact the whole Bible is an account between the warfare that goes on between God and Satan! Herod had no intention of worshipping the child. His only intention was to kill it because he felt threatened of this throne by the child.
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. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. 11 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. 12 And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
Concerning the star that led the wise men to the child there have been many speculations across the centuries. Some said that the star was a meteor, others said that the star was a particular constellation of stars that where unique at that time and so on. All of these explanations have been refuted so far by the experts. Personally I think that the star was from God. It was there to fulfill prophecy and to lead the wise men to Christ. One of the reasons I think that this particular star was from God, is the reason that there has not been one incident recorded apart from this one time, that there was a star that directed people exactly to a particular spot and then stood stil! Think about it, there might be some truth in it.
Now let’s discuss the barn where Jesus was born. At the time of the arrival of the wise men, Jesus’ parents had already moved to a house. The night of His birth the hostels and the inns might have been full but it is unreasonable to think that they remained full for a couple of days, so we can conclude that His parents were already in a house when they arrived. Unfortunately the Bible does not specify how old Jesus the child was at that particular point of their arrival; however, we must conclude that He was at least a couple of days old.
Regarding their gifts for the child, these can be seen as prophetic gifts of Jesus life, and who He was and still is. As you recall the gifts were gold, frankincense and myrrh. Gold stands for His royalty, the frankincense stands of His divinity, and the myrrh stands for his suffering and death. Myrrh was used to embalm kings. We can thus say that these three gifts speak of Jesus as a Prophet, as a Priest and as a King. The Bible is full with this type of interesting details!
13 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.
God would not be God if He did not know the intentions of men. He clearly saw Herod’s intentions of killing the child and He sent an angel to warn off Josef. The tone of the angel’s voice must have been of urgency for Josef departed that same night!.Vers 15 refers to the prophecy in Hosea 11:1 : When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.”
In order to understand Hosea 11:1 and its connection with Jesus Christ you must understand how the Jewish people interpret prophecy. The Jewish people not only interpret prophecy literal but they interpret it parallel as well. This means that you can read it in a double manner. Hosea 11:1 speaks of Israel, but is also speaks of Jesus. For more examples of this see Isa. 41:8; and Isa. 52:13-15.
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.
Theologians speculate that Herod’s soldiers killed approximately 20 to 25 children in the age of 0-2. Vers 18 is a reference to the prophecy of Jeremiah 31:5 and makes reference to the suffering of Rachel when she begat Benjamin. The sepulcher of Rachel lies in Ramah and this is yet again a parallel that refers to the suffering of the Jewish people during their Babylonian captivity.
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 Judea 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.
After Herod died, his son Archelaus took over. Archelaus would also have felt threatened by Jesus and His title, because Archelaus was a procurator of Judea and not a king. He longed for the title of king but Rome did not see him fit to be a king. This meant that it would have been dangerous for Jesus and his family to go back to Jerusalem, and thus another prophecy was being fulfilled (Joh. 1:46-47) when they settled in Nazareth. The branch had to come out of Nazareth. The word Nazareth comes from the word netzer which means branch. Branch is yet again a reference to Zech. 3:8, 6:12. Nazareth was not a well seen place by the Jews. Nazareth also is a symbol of Jesus’ humbleness.