Life Project Blog

M.   Joseph Has Nore Dreams, and Things Begin to Happen Matthew 2:13-23

It would seem that almost immediately after the Magi left the house in Nazareth to return home, Joseph had a word from an angel in a dream, telling him to flee with his family and go directly to Egypt, because of the plot of Herod to kill the baby.

Joseph obeyed without hesitation; Matthew doesn’t give us any more detail than that.

Egypt had long been a place for political refugees in Israel to go to when in danger (cf. 1 Kings 11:40; 2 Kings 25:26; Jer. 41:16-18; 26:21; 43:1-7). We begin to see what Matthew is up to, beginning with verse 15, for rather than tell us any details of their flight; he tells us that this fulfills the words of Hosea: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” (Hos. 11:1).  

Next, in verse 16, we find out how terrible a plot Herod had in mind; he would have all boys 2 and under murdered… in fulfillment of yet another prophecy, this time it’s Jer. 31:15:

“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.” (v. 18)

Do you see what Matthew is doing here? He really isn’t giving us a historical narrative of the life of a very young Christ at this point; he is pointing out who He is.

In the remaining verses, verses 19-23, we discover that upon the death of Herod, Joseph has another angelic visit in a dream in which he is given the “all clear” to return home, and once again, Joseph complies promptly, ending up in the dusty town of Nazareth of Galilee. Joseph seems to have gone there to avoid the new king who happens to have been Herod’s son, a little tidbit he seems to have acquired in yet another dream. Nazareth must have seemed perfect to Joseph, being very remote and off the beaten path as it was (and still is), but it just happens to fulfill more prophecy, although Matthew cites none in particular, preferring to use the plural; “prophets”.

In fact, the word “Nazarene” is not found in the Old Testament, and this gives scholars a bit of a research problem. As you might guess, there are many theories resulting from this issue, ranging from the suggestion that Matthew’s work is unreliable, to some others that are rather fantastic. Personally, after studying and reflecting on many of the ideas out there, I think the solution is something along these lines:

Matthew is playing on words, for there is an interesting similarity between the Hebrew word for “branch” and the Greek for “Nazarene”. There is a phonetic word play there… and if this is what Matthew was thinking, then the Hebrew word in question tsemach צֶמַח  is found in some interesting places (cf. Is. 4:2; 11:1; Jer. 23:5; 33:15; Zech. 3:8; 6:15) in which strong emphasis is placed upon Jesus’ Davidic roots in a clear messianic context. However you might interpret this, Matthew, in both the first and second chapters, has been very keen to demonstrate the identity of Jesus as the son of David and His inherent characteristic as Son of God.

L.  Visitors from the East   Matthew 2:1-12

JERUSALEM (and Bethlehem) 4 BC  As we have already seen, Matthew ties his story of Jesus together with Israel’s past in a variety of ways, in his account of Jesus. Clearly, in this passage, we can see that, but he does so throughout the first two chapters in which no fewer than five human decisions are the result of a dream, reminiscent of many stories of Israel’s past events (1:20; 2:12, 13, 19, 22). Four times in chapter 2 alone, Matthew concludes a scene by telling his readers that it is a fulfillment of prophecy (2:6, 15, 18, 23) giving his readers the clear impression that after a long period of silence, God is once again busy at work in the midst of His people. The two parts of this chapter give us, therefore, a deeper look at the whole character of Jesus’ messianic role, as well as His relationship with the Father.

As the first scene opens, Matthew sets time and place as “after” Jesus’ birth and in Bethlehem, once again reinforcing Jesus as son of David. By mentioning that this scene takes place during the reign of Herod, Matthew is giving his Jewish readers a clue that there is about to be trouble. Herod, half Jew, had gained power in 40 BC through shrewd political moves that enabled him to gain favor with the Romans. However, he was never accepted as a legitimate king by the Jews, and as time went on, he had become more and more paranoid about threats, not only to his person, but to his throne. He was known for wild fits of rage and anger and making rash or violent decisions, so receiving news that a true Davidic king had recently been born in Bethlehem was bound to set him off.

Most scholars agree that the “Magi” were likely astrologers from Persia or Arabia; they are Gentile, not Jewish, and we must not miss the irony that they are the ones who bring the news of the birth of the “king of the Jews” to Jerusalem. Their pilgrimage to Jerusalem and their worship at the scene also tells us that they obviously were aware of the universal implications of this birth, quite a contrast to the unbelief and complacence of Israel. When they told Herod about the birth, we might understand why he was “disturbed,” but notice in verse 3 that “all Jerusalem” was disturbed along with him; shouldn’t there have been dancing in the streets?

They were “disturbed” instead.

Herod assembles the religious experts and asks where the Messiah is to be born, and they tell him that it is to be in Bethlehem, quoting from Micah 5, sort of… Micah actually said:

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
    though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
    one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
    from ancient times.”

He will stand and shepherd his flock
    in the strength of the Lord,
    in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness
    will reach to the ends of the earth. (Micah 5:2, 4)

Matthew completely leaves out verse 3:

Therefore Israel will be abandoned
    until the time when she who is in labor bears a son,
and the rest of his brothers return
    to join the Israelites.

I know that there are teachers and scholars who have explanations of exactly why verse 3 is omitted from Matthew’s text, either by Matthew himself, or by the Jewish authorities when they quoted it to Herod. However, since as of the date of this writing, I have not had the opportunity to ask them myself, all I will say here is that this strikes me as a very interesting omission. In any event, you no doubt noticed that Matthew’s account includes a little change or two from Micah. First, Ephrathah becomes in the land of Judah which underscores once again that Jesus is from the tribe of Judah, which is the tribe David came from. Second, instead of describing Bethlehem as though you are small among the clans of Judah, it receives special attention as by no means least among the rulers of Judah. Finally, Matthew adds a line that comes from 2 Sam. 5:2 where the Lord tells David that he will “shepherd my people Israel”: All of these serve to highlight the messianic implications of this mysterious birth in Bethlehem.  

After this, Herod’s plot begins to unfold. In a secret meeting, he seeks to trick the Magi by sending them on their way to Bethlehem, and asking them to provide him with the location of the child. Instead, they follow this very odd star, and from Matthew’s description, it would seem to be something that is not explained by any natural phenomenon, and considering the intrigues and reactions we’ve already read about, I wonder if anyone else could see it at all. Whatever the explanation, they arrived at the “house” where they found Jesus and Mary; note that it isn’t a manger at this point, for it would have taken these men a considerable amount of time to arrive at the palace of Herod from Persia or Arabia. During their long journey, the census was taken and Joseph, Mary and the Baby returned home, and that is where the star took the men from the East. The story of what happened next is familiar to all, and the scene closes with one more twist; the men receive a dream in which they are told not to return to Jerusalem, and they return home by another route. Their obedient spirit, along with their true worship, leaves us with grave doubts about the religious leaders of Jerusalem.

K.  Jesus is Presented at the Temple  Luke 2:22-40

JERUSALEM 4 BC  The Law of Moses required that a male child be circumcised on the eighth day, and so Mary and Joseph left Bethlehem and traveled the few miles to Jerusalem for this purpose.  In fact, Luke mentions three ceremonies that were conducted in accordance with the custom of that time: Circumcision for the baby, the purification of his mother, and the baby’s dedication to the Lord as their firstborn male child. While it is important to the larger narrative that these ceremonies were completed properly, the real story here is that of Simeon and Anna.

Both were in their old age, both were upright and righteous people, and both were eagerly looking forward to the coming of Messiah and God’s deliverance of His people. As Luke tells us, Simeon had received God’s promise that he would not die before seeing the Messiah, and that promise is fulfilled here.

Simeon tells Mary and Joseph some interesting things as the Spirit came upon him…

“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
    you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
    which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
    and the glory of your people Israel.” (2:29-32)

Mary and Joseph marveled at this, but Simeon wasn’t quite finished:

“This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” (2:34b-35)

It’s one thing to hear praise for a newborn, but I would imagine that hearing this was quite a different matter, yet as we know, it came to pass. As this was being said, Anna the prophet was nearby giving thanks to God for the appearance of His Son in Jerusalem.

The scene ends with Mary and Joseph returning to Nazareth with the child, who would grow in strength and wisdom…

Notice that they did not return to Bethlehem as so many stories, pictures and traditions would indicate. Does this surprise you?

If you look back at the story of the Magi in Matthew 2, you will notice that after they met with Herod, the Lord guided them to the house where Jesus was, not to the manger where he was born… and Herod calculated from the time the Magi had first seen the sign to the present had had all little boys in Bethlehem murdered who were 2 and under, so it took the Magi quite some time to reach him.

Notice also that when Mary and Joseph were warned that Herod would be on the lookout for the child, they fled the country, not Bethlehem, and went to Egypt until Herod died, which wasn’t very long after that according to secular history.

That’s right dear reader, all of those pictures and plays and carols showing the Wise Men in the manger… are simply wrong.

J.  The Birth of Jesus   Luke 2:1-20

BETHLEHEM 5 BC   In due course the time came for Mary to give birth to her son; they named him Jesus, just as the angel had told them. There really is no point in my retelling of the story since it is quite possibly the most familiar story in the entire Scriptures for Christian and non-Christian alike. Even so, there are a couple of things I’d like to mention here…

First, you’ll notice that Luke’s account begins with a call by Caesar Augustus for a census to be taken throughout the Empire. Augustus was the most powerful man in the world, and he ruled the mighty Roman Empire as a military dictator. As the adopted son of Julius Caesar, who had been assassinated in 44 BC, he was his heir and became the first Emperor of Rome in 27 BC and ruled until his death in 14 AD. Augustus was not his name; he had been born Gaius Octavian− Augustus was actually his self-given title and means “majestic”. He arranged for himself to be declared divine, and all of the people of the Empire were required to worship him…

So, he demanded a census be taken so that he could be sure his treasury was collecting the full amount of tax from the people, and thus, Mary and Joseph were required to travel to Bethlehem to be counted… and so that the prophecies of old would be fulfilled. I mention all of this because in Luke’s account, the greatest and most powerful man of all, the ruler of the greatest Empire, the one who would dare to claim divinity and demand worship, became nothing more than a footnote in the story of the birth of a “nobody”, a poor carpenter’s son by all appearances, in a nowhere little town on the edge of the Empire… who just happened to be God Incarnate.

Who says God doesn’t have a sense of humor!

The child was born in a manger, just about the last place anyone would want their child to be born. The announcement of His birth wasn’t made to princes or nobles; it was made to a group of shepherds out in the fields at night. Shepherds, because of the nature of their work, were considered to be at the very lowest rung of the social ladder, and as Jewish shepherds, there was little they could do to avoid being ceremonially unclean every day of their lives. Yet, God announces the birth of His Son to them, making unclean shepherds the very first to worship the Son of God.

This Jesus, whose birth we celebrate at Christmas came into this world confounding all of the great people, the smart people, and the “beautiful” people. He continued to confound them throughout His ministry, and still does to this day, for God couldn’t care less about the glories of this world; He is the glory of heaven.