Matthew Chapter 2
The wise men arrive in Jerusalem. They ask where the new king is. At this point, it doesn't say they asked this of Herod himself. Just that they asked, and they asked because they'd seen his star. The time of their arrival is "after Jesus was born in Bethlehem". So literally, it could be any time, from five minutes to five decades. This doesn't really narrow it down. The narrowing is only that Herod was King. Herod is "troubled" as is all Jerusalem. Herod inquires of his wise men, and learns that this child, this king, was prophesied to be born in Bethlehem. MSB says in a footnote that this was Herod the Great, first of the Herodian dynasty. He ruled from 37-4 BC. This pins Jesus birth down to 4 BC or earlier, obviously. Another footnote indicates that they were "continuously asking" where the king was, so I got that right. To this point, they have not spoken to Herod.
2021 - The magi - who were undoubtedly recognized for the almost mystical knowledge of everything that they possessed - show up in the capitol city asking about a new king. That's like aliens showing up in Washington DC and asking to see the new King of the US. It would have sowed anxiety and perplexity through that whole city, and likely spread through the rest of the country from there.
2021 - An interesting thing in vs. 2. There is a TCR that seems to indicate that the verse can read either "in the east" or "when it rose". In fact, in the KJV, the phrase is almost exclusively translated "in the east". Begs the question of why ESV translates it "when it rose". Here is the same word in a different verse: 27 For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. [Mat 24:27 ESV] You probably wouldn't say when the lightning rises...Just interesting I think.
2021 - Note that Herod first summons the chief priests and scribes. He turns first to the Jewish religious authorities, not to his own secular advisors. And he asks where Christ will be born. He apparently sees this possibility as the only explanation for the questions of the Magi.
2024 - This verse:
4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. [Mat 2:4 ESV]
4 Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. [Mat 2:4 NASB95]
4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. [Mat 2:4 KJV]
To show that NASB95 for some reason translates "Christos" as Messiah here, but elsewhere translates the word as "Christ". You wouldn't say the "Lord Jesus Messiah" would you? So why did they do this? Also interesting is that the KJV leaves out the definite article before Christ, while ESV and NASB put it in. Why, I wonder?
Matthew quotes OT scripture, from Mic 5:2, as to the place He would be born.
In vs 7, Herod summons the wise men, and speaks to them personally. He was most interested in when the star had appeared. They go on to Bethlehem - perhaps Herod even informed them that was the place to look - or not, since the star reappeared and guided them. In any case, they do find Jesus in Bethlehem. 2021 - Herod exchanges information with them. He gives them a location, they give him a time frame. Both gain information they did not previously have.
They follow the star to "the house" - not the stable - and find Jesus there. Either a room opened up in the inn, or this was some time later. (MSB note says they had moved to a house by this time.) The wise men worship Jesus, then go home by another route - NOT back through Jerusalem, because they are warned in a dream. 2021 - There is also an implication that the guiding star was very precise as to the location where Jesus would be found. To the very street address it seems.
2024 - This verse:
12 And having been warned [by God] in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi left for their own country by another way. [Mat 2:12 NASB95]. Note that "by God" is entirely inserted in NASB95. ESV doesn't put that in there. That whole phrase "having been warned by God" is a single word in Greek - chrēmatisthentes. It has a very extensive set of meanings:
to transact business, esp. to manage public affairs
to advise or consult with one about public affairs
to make answer to those who ask for advice, present inquiries or requests, etc.
of judges, magistrates, rulers, kings
to give a response to those consulting an oracle, to give a divine command or admonition, to teach from heaven
to be divinely commanded, admonished, instructed
to be the mouthpiece of divine revelations, to promulgate the commands of God
to assume or take to one's self a name from one's public business
to receive a name or title, be called
So I am going with the bolded definition. But I think there ought to be an acknowledgement here that the Magi likely inquired of God before they decided what to do next. It is also quite clear what NASB was trying to do by inserting "God" into the translation.
Note that we see this same word, and the same interpretation in NASB, in vs 22. KJV does it like NASB. ESV is the only one different. I think ESV is refusing to presume that the divine instruction comes specifically from Theos. It is interesting though that angels speak to Joseph on at least three occasions, but in these two warnings, no angel is mentioned. You can make a really good argument that this warning was from God. But translating based on the best argument is called interpretation, not translation and we see here that ESV is going to great lengths - and breaking with some pretty credible predecessors - in not doing so.
Joseph gets a second angelic message in a dream, telling him to "Rise..." and go to Egypt. The way it is worded makes it seem like he got up and headed out in the middle of the night. (2021 - Might just be that he packed the next day and then waited to leave until dark so no one would be able to direct pursuers to where they might have gone.) Perhaps so none of the residents of Bethlehem could point out the way they had gone. He was to stay in Egypt until recalled. This fulfilled another prophecy - Hosea 11:1. 2021 - Yes...but when Israel came out of Egypt in Pharoah's time, Jesus was already prophesied and seems to me to be as likely a candidate for...nooooo....Hosea was long after Egypt. Hosea wasn't talking history, he was talking future. Or not...here is the actual verse: 1 When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. [Hos 11:1 ESV] This seems to be saying that when the nation of Israel was just barely a nation, God called them - or His Son. The next verse also seems to be Hosea looking backward, not forward. Or we get into that whole "double meaning" assigned to so much of OT prophecy.
This verse, indicating the ruthlessness, cruelty, and perhaps even demonic possession of Herod:
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed 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. [Mat 2:16 ESV]
No indication of how many young males were killed. But not just in the town, but in ALL that region. Herod puts some brackets around the time the star showed up, and kills any male children born within those brackets. He could have gone back some to before it showed up, as if it signaled that He had been born, and for some time after, in case it signaled that he would be born. If he was possessed by Satan, then somehow, the actual place, time, and current location of Jesus was kept secret from Satan so that even he could not be sure of killing the right child. This makes me lean toward Herod the Great just being a living horror than toward a supernatural attack on Jesus.
Matthew quotes Jer 31:15, written of the wailing in Jerusalem when Babylon captured the city. Typology. I believe Matthew, and the other disciples, knew exactly which scriptures were near/far by this time, because Jesus taught them these things between his resurrection and ascension, plus they received the Holy Spirit in Acts. This book was written well after the actual events.
Joseph's dreams are visited for the third time by an angel. This one also says "arise", and sends him back to Israel. There is no mention of nighttime. So maybe the nighttime departure from Bethlehem was his own idea. Or maybe the angel at that time - and this - conveyed more information than is recorded. Who gave Matthew this information, after all...?
As Joseph nears Israel, he hears that Herod's son Archelaus is now reigning in Judea. Again, Joseph is warned in a dream (the fourth instance) and he "withdraws" to Nazareth, the old hometown. This fulfills another OT prophecy referenced by Matthew.
MSB note says there is no OT scripture that says this directly. MSB thinks it most likely that the term "Nazarene" was used as a metaphor for one despised and detestable. As in, it was a current idiom, or figure of speech in Matthew's time. We have similar terms. If this is the case, when Matthew says this was prophecy fulfilled, he could have been talking about these, also from MSB:
Ps 22:6-8, Isa 49:7, and 53:3.
6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. 7 All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; 8 "He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!" [Psa 22:6-8 ESV]
7 Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: "Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you." [Isa 49:7 ESV]
3 He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. [Isa 53:3 ESV]
These verses all "fit" in the context of Nazarene being a figure of speech.
11/30, found this MSB note this morning, and wanted to include it here. Good for filling in the history.
2:22 Archelaus. Herod's kingdom was divided 3 ways and given to his sons: Archelaus ruled Judea, Samaria, and Idumea; Herod Philip II ruled the regions N of Galilee (Luke 3:1); Herod Antipas ruled Galilee and Perea (Luke 3:1). History records that Archelaus was so brutal and ineffective that he was deposed by Rome after a short reign and replaced with a governor appointed by Rome. Pontius Pilate was the fifth governor of Judea. Herod Antipas is the main Herod in the gospel accounts. He was the one who had John the Baptist put to death (14:1-12), and examined Christ on the eve of the crucifixion.