Day 276—We are in the TENTH month of Bible reading and studying the New Testament Gospels.

    Day 276 – Matthew 2 (Visit of the wise men, Herod, Egypt to Nazareth)

Matthew 2.  A COUPLE YEARS after Jesus was born, the family is still living in Bethlehem but in a house now. 

Herod the Great (the cruel and psycho king who was an Idumean and descended from Esau) ruled in Israel. He was so paranoid about losing his power that he killed a couple of his sons and even a favorite wife.  It was to this king that the wise men from the east came and asked about the newborn KING OF THE JEWS.  (Oops!)  He freaked out (and all of Jerusalem with him because they knew when the king was upset, THEY would suffer.) 

The wise men (see Daniel 5:11 for a description) had traveled possibly 1K miles to Jerusalem after seeing “His star.” It had taken them nearly two years. Now they needed to know WHERE this new King lived. You better believe Herod wanted to know where He lived too and not to worship him, as the wise men desired.  Herod asked the Jewish scribes, who instantly knew the prophecy of Micah 5:2 that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.  He called the wise men back and asked exactly when the star appeared, then sent them off with the request to be notified when they found him.

However, the wise men didn’t need Herod’s directions because when they left the court, the star appeared again, leading them right to the house where Jesus lived. There, they worshiped Him. Can you imagine the neighbors’ thoughts when a caravan of camels and funny-dressed rice men parked at Joseph’s house? Can you imagine Mary when these finely robed men came inside, bowed low before her toddler son, and offered those jewel-encrusted boxes of gold, frankincense, and myrrh?  They must have stayed at least one night because God warned them in a dream to go home a different way – avoiding Jerusalem and King Herod.

What was that star anyway? Some have suggested it was a comet, a unique line-up of planets, or even a supernova (star exploding).  But perhaps it was a supernatural reality similar to the Shekinah glory of God that led the Israelites through the wilderness after they left Mt. Sinai. 

What were those gifts the wise men gave?  Symbolically, the Gold represented Jesus as King. Frankincense pointed to His Deity as God.  Myrrh,  a perfume used to wrap in burial cloths, suggested Jesus would be the supreme Sacrifice for sin.  And, of course, they all could have been used as funds for traveling to Egypt and living there for a time.  God warned Joseph to flee there after the wise men left because King Herod was looking to murder the boy, Jesus.

When Herod realized the wise men were not returning, he was furious. He ordered all the baby boys two years old and younger in and around Bethlehem to be killed. NO ONE would threaten HIS THRONE!  His soldiers obeyed the command and murdered them all.  What a horror! 

Matthew quotes Jeremiah 31:15, “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted because they are no more.”  This mourning for the children killed in Jerusalem at the time of the Babylonian invasion and captivity was an echo of the current disaster caused by the insane Herod.  (Also, Jacob’s favorite wife, Rachel, died in childbirth and was buried near Bethlehem.)

Joseph obeyed his angelic dream, took Jesus and his mother, and set out for Egypt the following day. They stayed there until an angel told Joseph that Herod was dead.   They traveled back to Judea (where Bethlehem & Jerusalem were located), but the angel again warned Joseph not to stay there.  Herod’s three sons now ruled Israel, and the most wicked one, Archelaus, reigned in Judea.  Instead, Joseph took his family north into Galilee (where Herod Antipas ruled) and settled in Mary’s former town of Nazareth. 

How were the O.T. prophets’ prophecies fulfilled in that Jesus grew up in Nazareth? What did it mean that he was called a “Nazarene?” This possibly was because Nazareth was an “other side of the tracks” town. Everyone looked down on it as undesirable, even detestable.  Remember, even Nathanial asked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46)  The prophets wrote that the Messiah would be “despised, abhorred, and rejected by men” (Isaiah 49:7, Isaiah 53:3) like someone from Nazareth. A Nazarene.